The interior journal. [volume] (Stanford, Ky.) 1912-1984, 1916-05-05
took up the pursuit.


That pursuit led through narrow
lane between great piles of structural
iron. 1t led through an abandoned
boiler room, then on through : dimly
lighted and low-roofed structure OF
pulleys and lathes, and from there to
the brighter lighted and higher rooted
metal room of the foundry itself.
There. beside glowing furnaces half
naked men toilcd over incandescent
annealing boxes and cauldrons of mol
ten metal There gigantic track
cranes swung bowls of liquid flre from
crucibies to mold beds.
And there the harried Legar, be-
wildered by the sudden bright light,
ran like a pelted hound down the
sandy paths between forge and coke
oven and cauldron crane. There, see
ing his way blocked by a group OF
round-eyed Lithuanians, he swung,
catlike, up into the iron network Oh
the cable bridges, with his pursuer
still close at his heels. And there,
midway across that smoke-stained
roof. that echoed with the tumult or
thunderous hammers and directly over
a king cauldron of molten steel, the
two men came together.
There Legar, with his metal claw
hooked securely into the iron network
above his head, swung about ana
faced his enemy. And there, on that
grimy bridge high above the equally
grimy workmen who left their forges
and lathes and cauldrons to witness
the struggle, the two enemies, who
had so long and bitterly opposed each
other, found themselves face to face
for their final struggle.
Yet the man in the yellow mask
seemed the cooler headed of the two
for as Legar struck snarling at his
face he ducked low on his narrow
perch and at the same moment
whipped his revolver from the side
pocket of his coat. Yet Legar, with
movement equally prompt, kicked
viciously at the fingers clustered about
the gun-butt before the weapon itself
could be brought into use. The next
moment that weapon fell with hiss
and splash into the lake OF molten
metal beneath them.
Then the struggle became one OF
tendon against tendon, of straining
muscle against muscle, of empty
handed mortal strength pitted against
| mortal strength. There, like animals
of the wild, high in some Amazonian
eyrie, the two strangely entangled
figures fought and struggled and
clawed and struck.
In the matter of mere physical
strength Legar seemed to have the
advantage. And what under ordinary
circumstances might have proved
disability could now be turned to his
advantage. For the iron claw at the
end of his right arm, hooked securely
into the network of steel behind him
held him there without effort and
without strain. His opponent, on the
other hand, found it no easy task tc
make sure of his perch above that
discriminating cauldron of molten
metal. His arm shook with the ten
sion imposed on his overtaxed mus
cles. His fingers became numb with
pain, threatening to lose their pre-
! hensile power. and even as he fought
he weakened to a realization that he
must change his hold.
1t was as he Unanswered to bring
about this shift of position that the
ever-watchful Legar, alert for the most
trivial advantage, saw his chance
Swinging his body suddenly free from
its footing on the narrow ledge oil
metal where he stood, he pendulumed
towards his momentarily unstable op
ponent, throwing his feet forward and
upward, as he did so, with all the force
of a football player kicking a double
punt.
The force of this unlookedfor I'M
pact was too much for the man in the
mask. He tottered back, caught fran
tically at a soot-covered steel bar be-
side him, dropped the full length of its
diagonal course before he could make
sure of his clutch, and came into vio'
| lent collision with the heavy iron
block of a crane ladle. There, half
stunned by the blow, he fell sprawkng
across a polished steel cable which
| dropped FORWARD between the block
and it's empty metal pot. He tried to
clutch that cable as he fell, but his
speed proved too great and his over
taxed fingers were go weak. As he
fell along it's -nolished surface. how