Payette enterprise. (Payette, Canyon Co., Idaho) 1909-1935, 1916-08-03
ron. II led through an abandoned


boiler room, then on through dimly
lighted and low-roofed structure O
pulleys and lathes, and from there tt
the brighter lighted and higher rooted
metal room of the foundry itself
There, beside glowing furnaces half
naked men toiled over incandescent
annealing boxes and cauldrons of mol
ten metal. There gigantic track
cranes swung bowls of liquid fire from
crucibles 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 group Oh
round-eyed Lithuanians, he swung,
catlike, up into the iron network OF
the cable bridges, with his pursuer
still close at his heels. And there,
midway across that smoke-stained
roof, that echoed with the tumult of
thunderous hammers and directly over
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 and
faced his enemy And there, on that
grimy bridge high above the equally
grimy workmen who left their FORCES
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
a 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 a 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
might have proved
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 1t no easy task to
make sure of his perch above that
cauldron of molten
metal. His arm shook with the ten
sion imposed on his overtaxed mus
lies. His fingers became numb with
pain, threatening to lose their pre-
tensile power, and even as he fought
aust change his hold. :
It was as he Unanswered to bring
bout this shift of position that the
Legar, alert fer the most
rival advantage, saw his chance.
swinging his body suddenly free from
is footing on the narrow ledge Of
netal where he stood, he pendulumed
owards his momentarily unstable OPP
onent, throwing his feet forward and
pward, as he did so, with all the force
a football player kicking q double
unit.
The force Of this unlooked-for i'm
act was too much for the man in the
TASK. He tottered back, caught fran
cally at soot-covered steel bar be-
de him, dropped the full length of its
iagonal course before he could make
ire Of his clutch, and came into vio-
mt collision with the heavy iron
ock Of a crane ladle. There, half
by the blow, he fell sprawling
cross 4 polished steel cable which &
-ooped foorward between the block
Id It's empty metal pot He tried to
utch that cable as he fell, but his 9
iced proved too great and his over
xed fingers were too weak. As he
II along Its polished surface, how
-er, 1t offered sufficient resistance to
Try his limp body beyond the peril
that open lake of molten metal,
nich, his frantic brain kept telling
N, meant death. And as he dropped
sakly from the cable loop to a pile
holding sand lying between a cast. =
box and an empty spill trough,
pre- Of watching men gave utterance i
shout Of relief and q score of ~
4iting hands were there to help him
his feet.
SO intent were those astounded iron.
rkers on watching that perilous fall,
wever, that they paid scant atten-
n to the second figure climbing spi-
like higher along the blackened
nwork OF the blackened roof. They r
light no glimpse Of him as he scram- 1
d. SOOty and nantinp fbro,rh a.