The Delta independent., 1914-09-25

veyed her there with all speed.
And, this being the presumptive case.
that small. high window of the light
might well be hers.
Directly across the street from the
Tr:ne residence. on the opposite cor
ner, a colossal apartment structure
stood half-finished. stonework to its
second story. gaunt iron skeleton rear
ing above.
To his INFINITE disgust, Alan found
the guardian very wide awake. very
much on the Job: no chance here to
steal unseen into the building.
This in itself might have been
deemed suspicious circumstance:
not for nothing does an honest night
watchman SO deny the laws OF nature
and the tenets of his craft But Alan
merely praised the man while cursing
the very fact of his existence: and. ac-
costing, overcame with bank-notes
wnat seemed an uncommoniy stubborn
reluctance. and got his way.
He could not know that another
skulked behind a barrier OF lime bar
rels and overheard all that passed and,
when Alan had ducked smartly into
the unfinished building. rose and stole
after him with footsteps as noiseless
as a cats and face that had the saw
agery OF a tigers when II was tran
silently revealed In a shaft of moon
light
At length Alan gained the gridiron
Of girders on a plane with the lighted
window across the way, and crept
along one OF these. gingerly on his
hands and knees. until he came to its
end and might, II he cared to. look
down a hundred feet to the sidewalks.
That view. however. did not tempt;
he kept his eyes level: and was re-
warded with q bare glimpse Of pref
tily.papered wall. framed In the lace OF
half-drawn curtains.
And Of sudden-whether through
fortuity. or instinct, or the psychic
logical attraction OF his steadfast con-
centration-the tenant OF the room
came to the window and stood there
for little. looking pensively out. alto
gether unconscious OF the watcher in
his aerial coign.
again hoili0ic h1i
assed him. Was the woman Rose
OF Judith? That she was one Of these
he could plainly see. But which? Dared
he assume his hopes fulfilled?
With difficulty he detached his
hungry vision from her. and drawing
from his pocket a small notebook. tore
out a blank page, placed this fiat on
the girder, found a pencil, and with
the assistance of ray or two OF
moonlight scrawled a message OF al
most stenographic brevity.
When he looked up from this task,
she had vanished.
Sitting up. astride the girder. he
took his watch-a cheap affair he had
picked up when reclothing himself in
the garments Of civilized society. at
Providence. that morning-opened the
back Of the case. and closed II upon
the folded message.
Then drawing back his arm. he
'breathed silent prayer to the god OF
all true lovers. and cast It from him
with all his might-with such force
that II almost unseated him at the end
lot the swing. But nothing less would
have served to bridge that yawning
lchasm.
And the watch few straight and
true. squarely through the lighted win.
dow and to the further wall.
At that very instant OF his exultation
over an obstacle overcome, he heard a
sound behind him of heavy breathing.
The assassin had come that close
upon his prey when Alan turned and
discovered his peril.
The same moonbeam which had
aided Alan in the composition Of his
message struck across the others face,
and showed 1t like hideous Chinese
mask Of deadly hatred, with its eye
balls glaring and its lips drawn back
from the naked blade grIpped between
its toeth-a stiletto nothing short Of
foot in length.
With q sharp startled movement,
Alan swung himself bodily about, SO
that, seated again astride the girder,
he faced the assassin who sat up,
straddling the girder. his feet hooked
beneath 1t . stiletto poised In his
right hand to strike. ~
But even now Alon was in little or
NO better case than before. II he faced
the thug. he faced him with no arms
other than his bare hands. He had not
even . pen-knife In his pockets.
With low cry Of desperation Alan
snatched on his hat, . soft and shape
les felt affair. and fung II sQuarely in
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