Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1914-02-27

she got on my nerves / always dis
liked that woman with her precise
routine and large fat feet
Far of / heard the thud OF gun
shot, then three shots all together, and
afterward a fifth The evil in the
night was coming nearer. and I said
to myself, ''If were really frightened
l should close that door. I'm half a
coward"
The hero himself had strung his Vic
toria Cross upon a riband which
wore about my neck. Could wear
the cross and set an example of cow
ardice to these poor creatures who
crouched in the corners of the room?
to show fear is privilege of the un-
derbred. But | did long for Jesse.
Through the murmurs of the nearer
rain, felt throb in the ground, then
heard sound grow, OF a horse gal
Looping. The swift soft rhythm, now
loud, now very faint, then very near
echoed against the barns, Numbered
across the bridge, splashed through
the flooded yard, and ceased abruptly.
Billy had come home from the Falls,
he was stabling his roam, he was cross
ing the yard in haste, his spurs clank-
ed at the doorstep and, dreading his
news, sudden panic seized me.
| fed behind the bar.
He entered, astream with rain, shad-
ing his eyes against the candle-light;
then as | moved he called out. as
though / were at a distance, begging
me. for brandy. His face was haggard,
his hand as he drank was covered
with dried blood, he slammed the
glass on the counter so that it broke.
You heard the shots?" he said.
AT Spite House? / whispered.
He nodded.
you were there?" I asked.
Half mile beyond When | got
there 1t was all dark. Looked in
through the end window, but the rain
got down my neck, so went round.
The front door was standing open.
listened a while. No need to get shot
myself. Thought the place was
derelict. Then heard groans.
Struck bunch of matches then.
found the hall lamp, and got it alight.
Wished I'd got gun, but there wasn't
nothing handy except the poker. so !
took that and the hght-just followed
the groans. He was lying on the bar
room floor"
"Brooke?"
Yes. Shot through the throat,
blood squirting down the side of mis-
neck, making a big pool on the oil
cloth. You know the thing you make
with a stick and a scarf to twist up?
A tourniquet. yes. Well. it choked the
swine, SO | quit He whispered some
thing about my thumb hurting the
wound. so told him my fathers neck
hurt worse.
up to that I thought he was Just
acting, playing pathetic to touch my
feelings Once he muttered your
name. and then he was dead"
Brooke dead"
Yes, he'd been shooting Polly. too
traced her blood tracks all the way
to the front door. Hello. what's that?
| thought heard"
listened and there was only the
sound of the rain.
Il suppose it's all right" said Billy,
wed better close that door. though.
But before he could reach the door,
Nurse Panton called him away to her
corner, where she spoke in a whisper
so that l should not hear, sending
him, perhaps, for her cloak. Mean
while / came from behind the counter
to my former seat before the open
doorway, where / sat staring into the
darkness, unable to feel any more, but
just benumbed. Across my WEAKNESS
flickered the mournfuI soliloquy of a
poor barn-door fowl-"Y esterday an
egg, tomorrow a feather duster!
What's the good of anytin', why,
nothin'."
Then l, too, heard a sound In the
night, and because Billy and the nurse
were muttering. / stood up with the
candle-light behind me, trying to see
in the darkness. Billy said afterward
he had moved quickly, to shut the
door, but waved him back just as the
shot rang out.
The explosion blinded, deafened,
seemed even to scorch me, while the
mirror on the wall came crashing
down. Stunned. dazzled, Mortified,
felt dull rage at this attempted
murder.
A second revolver-shot stirred my
hair, and I'm afraid then that lost
my temper. / am not fish-fag that
should stoop to lighting creature
such as Polly, but | would have died
rather than let her see one trace of
fear.
Billy rushed past the firing to reach
the door and close 1t, but ordered him
to desist, then grasped the candle and
held 1t out to show better light.
Lower your lights!" l shouted into
dark, you fred too high"
A revolver crashed on the doorstep,