The Detroit times., 1916-03-01
Bu ALBERT PAYSON TER

1
an oil lamp.
A crazy door led from this tiny
bedroom 10 the room beyond. June
1 threw wide the door-aEd confront
ed scared, crouching man, who
blinked at her In dumb terror
Mr.. Gordon" she said incisively.
as IL talking TO delirium victim.
THE police arc after you. Get out
Of that bedroom window and make
for the rocks. I'll hold them till
you're out OF reach. Co"
She seized him by the arm. as she
spoke, drawing him toward the win
dow. As she die so, tbunderous
knocking" sounded at the outer door
followed by sharp summons:
! Open, in the name OF the law"
Gordon hesitated no longer. He
/ bent and kissed June's hand. Then,
he boiled out through the rear win
toward the shelter OF the headland
| rocks
June watched him 20. She meas
ured. with her ewes, the distance
from hut TO headland, then listened
10 the front door cracking and rend-
ing under the detectives blows.
Hell never make it, she NUT
( tered, unless"
She slammed ghlt the door lead
! ing from the bedroom to the from
room. Picking I'D one of handful
OF scattered matches on the bed
room table. she lishted the dirty lit
tie kerosene lamp
AT the sam" moment the TWO de-
tectives burst open the outer. door
/ and piled into the front room There,
! for a second the" halted In wonder.
/ Before them was the slightly open
! door cf The bedroom. Through the
crack between door Jamh and door
way appeared a wlite nand-a wo-
mans hand-aad part of an arm.
The hand grasped Turning kero-
sene lamp whose smoky chimney
waDbled dangerously. Yes. and on
the back Of tho whitc hand shonc
a circle Of scarlet.
"rhc Red Circle" calculated
! Poyle: and started forward-a .hu
man hound upon he scent
Back" shrilled woman's voice
from behind lIe hall-shut door-a
voice that echoed through the bare
shack like siiNcr burle's call
Back. II YOU take another step for
ward III throw his lamp"
( Rush her YELLED Boyle Wen
get 'cm both. Gordon and the Red
/ Circle woman Rush her"
/ He jOGnded forward as he spoke:
Jacobs at his heels. And. across the
little room. like flaming meteor.
whizzed the lamp.
For cnce il the history OF the
world. a woman had thrown
straight.
The blazing lamp crashed To the
Moor At Jacobs feet. There was a
| fare, an eNp.csion, and the room
WAS thick with binding smoke.
Jacobs reelad back. gasping: his
lungs turstingly agoni7ed with the
/ kerosene fumes he had swallowed.
W" fell prostIate across the wood
cn flooring which tho burning kero-
/ scne had already begun tt ignite.
Boyle stopped and CROPPED
through ,he smoke for The swooning
man. found him aud dragged him
: ! through the choking fumes 10 the
outer door. then across the thres-
hold anC on to the sand outside.
There. Ie worked frantically TO re.
store the stricken detective to con
sciousness.
Meanwhile, as soon as she had
launched the lamp at her antago.
nists June had wheeled about and
leaped through the bedroom window.
While Boyl" was seeking to get
JACOBS cut Of the burning shack. she
was speeding along the sand toward
the rock where she had left Lamar
and Mary
| (Gorton, too, had profited nightly
by her delay. From the rocks he
made his way To the highroad tha,
led from Surfton to the city. An
auto tuck, city-bound, chugged past
just n, he reached the road. With
1.-THE spring, he swung himself UP
to precarious seat At It's tail.
board)
AZ she ran, June looked backward
The shack was a pillar of fame. it's
dry boards were swift prey 10 the
blazing Kerosene Men were run.
n'nf toward IT from every direction.
She had a heoting glimpse Of BOYLE.
kneling beside the slowly recover
Ing Jacobs. on the sand.
| PRESENTLY. as she rounded tho
point, she dropbed TO a sedate walk
Mry and Lamar were coming for
| ward from the rock, to meet her
She forced her labored breathing
nto some sort OF regularity and an.
twered the eager question in their
xyes by calling out TO them:
Il was too late. He had cotton
away. But ] saw the detectives go.
ing toward the shack. II seemed tn
De on fre-or--or something"
"A hre?" echoed Lamar. locking
toward the smudge OF smoke that be-
gan to crawl upward over the tut
ting shoulder Of the point. II should
say so. And, look how .vervono is