The Ely miner., 1914-01-16

iIOnl uOOT, unlocked IL, anu SIOle
| within.
The vigilant Mrs. Moore, who woke
at every night entrance of dodgers.
leaped out of bed, opened her door a
| crack, and observed Tommy as he
stood balancing himself under the dim
point of the gas-jet. Oblivious to the
| open door and the watchful eye, he
made turn about the newel-post and
| began putting one foot cautiously be-
fore the other, SGying over and over
a drunken refrain which ran:
"Hay foot-straw foot-one goes up
| and the other goes down." So he
| vanished from the vision OF Mrs.
Moore. By similar devices he nego-
tiated the stretch of hall carpet on
| the second floor, and took the next
| flight. He was near his haven now
| his own room, third floor front. In
the dim hall light. he balanced him
self and let his tongue play again.
Energy and perseverance-victor
| almost won," he said. "Just talk to
your feet and let 'em do your work"
But the muscular effort Of climbing
two flights had sent his liquor surging
| to his head, so that he dizzied and
staggered. He caught the banister for
support. Then something, real or
fancied, caught his eye-something
which held his drunken attention. He
| stopped and clutched at it. The effort
overbalanced him and sent him
sprawling on his hands into some
wet sticky substance.
Fearful careless housekeeping" he
said as he regained his feet, forces
me to extreme measure wiping hands
on shirt. No other place to wipe hands.
| Renewed necessity arises"-he stop
| ped and repeated the phrase with in
| ordinate delight-"renewed necessity
| for reaching own room" He caught
| the knob as he fell, and the barrier
| opened, letting him tumble on his own
! motion to the floor. He kicked the
door shut as he lay PROSTATE, and
then managed to pull himself upright
and reach the electric-light button
for Mrs. Moore burned gas in the halls
for economy, but electric lights in the
rooms. The two tumbles had thrown
him into another state of conscious
ness; his head began to clear and his
motions to steady. So he turned, his
predicament still in his mind, to the
wash-stand in the corner.
Above it hung mirror. In passing.
Tonnmy's gaze swept the glass, leaped
back, caught on what blanched his
face to a sickly white, what steadied
his unsteady figure until it stood
straight and stiff, what cleared his
head so violently that he could think
with all the swiftness as terror.
On his dress shIrt-front was the i'm
print of a huge red hand
"Whose?" Tommy asked himself
one instant. The next, his gaze
bounded from the mirror to his own
hands.
Blood mired his fingers. On his coat
was blood, on his sleeve was blood,
en- his knees was blood, on his very
shoes. He looked at the mirror again.
Across his chin zigzagged a dark red
line-blood also.
His first sane thought was that he
hdu Suk llhIOCAl, dAo Wdo UiCSolhE "
death. He looked again at his hands,
but saw no wound. Then, drunken
memories lingering little in his So
ber mind, he remembered the fall and
the process Of wiping his hands. He
ran back to the hallway, turned up
the pin-point of light on the gas-jet.
There it was, thin stream Of blood,
cnnftn6 LITTLE WI hn hod fo1lon
in it. And it was widest where 1t
began its flow-at the threshold of
Captain Hanska's door. In a weak
access of real terror, be fell to pound
ing on the wall and shouting:
Murder! Murder!"
Suddenly mastering himself, he
seized the knob of Captain Hanska's
door. The latch gave way-it was not
locked. But it opened no more than
a foot or two-scarcely enough to give
a man passage-when something
blocked it from behind. In the tempo
rary weakness of his will, Tommy
North shrank back from entering
such a place of veritable horror He
shouted again; and now Professor
| non, looking in his bathrobe like a
strange priest of a strange Eastern
rite, rushed from his room gasping:
Whats the matter?"
The blood, the pale, gibbering, dab
bled young man, were explanation
enough. He himself. opened the door
as far as it could go. and edged into
the room.
Matches, quick!" he called from
within. Tommy North found his
match-case; and the mastery of an
other mind. with the example Of better
courage, drew him after Professor
Noll. He lighted match, held it up.
1t flared and blazed until it burned
his fingers. In that Pickering transi-