Iron County register., 1916-04-13

for Lanyard 70 demonstrate MS WILL
They hadn't bothered to declare war;
with less warning than rattlesnake
gives they had struck-out Of the dark
--at his back
And so-Lanyard swore grimly-
even so would he strike. now that It
was his turn. In this temper he ar
rived. past one in the morning. under
the walls OF the Omber place.
Now II It were violation Of the ten
cts Of his craft to revisit premises
once successfully entered. he showed
them at least the prudent Difference OF
selecting fresh point of attack-one
chosen earlier. in the course of his
| first circuit of the walls. 1t hadn't es-
capped him then that this brick-and-
plaster construction was in bad re-
, pair; he had marked down several
places where the weather had eaten
the outer coat of plaster altogether
away. At the first Of these, midway
between the avenue and the junction
Of the side streets, he hesitated.
AS he had foreseen, the mortar that
bound the wall together was crumbling.
It was no great task to work loose one
Of the exposed bricks, establishing a
foothold to a position whence his other
hand, gloved, could seize the top Of the
wall, cast the ulster neatly over the
glass-toothed upper curbing and, thus
protected, swing himself bodily atop
the thing.
BUT there, momentarily, he paused
in doubt. In that singularly exposed
and comfortless position, poised ten
feet above the lifeless street on the
one hand and with the black mystery
OF the neglected park on the other, he
was seized and shaken by sudden
and unpresaged reyulsion of feeling in
no way colored by any sort of alarm.
/ He was afraid of himself-he, the
/ grim and deadly thing that walked by
night, the Lone Wolf, the creature of
i pillage and rapine, the scourged slave
Of that self which knew no law. And
for little longer he fingered there in
trembling, not knowing whether he
was to 60 back or 60 forward.
Then slowly that terror passed like
the lifting of nightmare from the
brain Of a sleeper, and with start.
with little shiver and sigh, Lam
yard went forward as one driven.
Dropping to the ground with an i'm
pact muffled by the soft, damp turf,
he made himself one with the shadows
of the park, as silent, as intangible, as
fugitive as they, until presently he
came out beneath the stars, on the
open lawn running UP to the wing that
housed the library.
From one of the library windows a
shallow stone balcony jutted out eight
feet above the lawn-a height so insig-
| nificant that, with one bound, grasping
its stone balustrade, the adventurer
was upon it in a brace of seconds.
Nor did the windows-long French
windows, opening inward-offer any
considerable obstacle; penknife ex-
peditiously removed the old, dry putty
round one of the small, lozenge-shaped
panes, then dislodged the pane itself;
his hand through this opening readily
found and turned the latch; cautious
pressure created an opening between
the two wings wide enough to permit
the passage of his body, and-he stood
inside the library. refastening the
latch.
He had made no sound and, thanks
to thorough prior acquaintance with
the combination of the safe, he needed
no light. The screen of cinnabar af
forded him all the protection he re
quired; and because he meant to &C
complish his purpose and be out Of the
house with almost inconceivable swift
ness, he didn't even trouble to explore
the household beyond a swift and
casual survey of the adjoining salons
The clock in the reception hal
chimed the three-quarters as he en-
sconced himself between screen and
| safe and grasped the combination
knob
But he did not turn it. That mellow
music died out slowly and left hin
unstirring in the silence and gloom, hi'
eyes staring wide into blackness a
nothing, his jaw set and rigid, his knit
ted forehead damp with sweat, hi
hands so tightly clenched that th'
nails bit painfully into the flesh of hi
palms, while he looked back over thu
abyss that yawned between the Lon'
Wolf of tonight and the man who had
| within the week, knelt before that SAT-
| in company with the woman he loved
| bent on making restitution Of his thief
| that his soul might be saved through
her faith in him.
He closed his eyes to shut out tn
accusing darkness, and knelt on ur
stirring, save as he shuddered now AM
. again with the sickness of stron
man rent in the conflict Of mans dug
nature.
!, Minutes passed without his know
= edge in the crisis Of that struggle.
d But at length he grew more calm
,s his hands relaxed, the muscles of hi
" brow smoothed out. he breathed NOR
n slowly and more deeply, his set lip
II parted and through them profoun
W sigh escaped, whispering through th
r. stiffness.
IN A great weariness was upon him q
10 he rose slowly and heavily from th
v. floor and stood erect, no longer tn
II hslave Of self, but its master, free {
,e last and for all time from that ancieI
es evil which SO long had held his soul
bondage.
ID And then, in that moment Of victor
ls- through the deep hush reigning in th'
cd house, he heard the sound of an inca
en- tious football on the parquetry of Il
10 hallway.