Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1916-03-09
Il night they come and 60

All night they come and 60"
Good night, monsieur" Lanyard
cut short the old mans garrulity, and
went on up the stairs. now a little
YEARLY, Of a sudden newly conscious
Of his enervating fatigue.
He thought lOngingly of bed, yawned
involuntarily, and, reaching his door,
fumbIed the key in q most unprofes-
sional way; there were weights upon
his eyelids, a heaviness in his brain.
But the key met with no resistance
from the wards, and in q trice, appre-
ciating this fact, Lanyard was wide
awake again.
No question but that he had locked
the room securely on leaving after his
adventure with the charming somnam-
buIist.
Had she, then, contracted the habit Z?
Or was this only proof of what he
had anticipated in the beginning-a
bit of sleuthing on the part Of Roddy?
He entertained little doubt as to
the correctness Of this latter surmise
as he threw the door open and
stepped into the room, his first action
being to grasp the electric switch. But
no light answered.
"HellO!" he exclaimed softly, re-
membering that the light could read
lily have been turned off at the bulbs.
Whats the good of that?" +,
In the same breath he started vio-
Iently and swung about.
The door had closed behind him,
swiftly but gently, ecipsing the faint
light from the hall. leaving stark dark
ness
His first impression was that the in
truder-Roddy, or whoever it might
be-had darted past him and out, pull
ing the door to in the act.
Before he could consciously revise
this misconception he was fighting for
his life.
So unexpected, so swift and sudden
fell the assault that he was caught
completely off guard-between the
shutting of the door and an onslaught
whose violence sent him Keeling to the
wall, the fight of time could have
been measured by the Pickering of an
eyelash.
Two powerful arms were round his
body, pinioning his hands to his sides,
his feet were tripped from under him.
and he was thrown with a force that
fairly Jared his teeth.
For a breath he lay dazed, strug-
Cling feehlv: not long. but long enough
to enable ms antagonist to Sniff his
hold and climb on top of his body,
where he sQuatted, bearing down
heavily with knee on either of Ian
yards forearms, two hands encircling
his neck, murderous thumbs digging
into his windpipe.
He revived momentarily, pulled him
self together, and heaved nightly in
a futile effort to unseat the other.
The sole result of, this was tighten
ing pressure on his throat.
The pain grew agonizing; Lanyard's
breath was almost completely shut
off; he gasped vainly; his eyebalIs
started; a myriad lights danced blind
ingly before them; in his ears there
rang a roaring like the beat OF heavy
surf upon a rockbOund coast.
Then of a sudden he ceased to
struggle and lay slack and passive in
tae others hands.
Only an instant longer was the
clutch on his throat maintained. Both
hands left it quickly, one shifting to
his head to turn and press it roughly,
cheek to the floor. simultaneously he
was aware of the other hand fumhling
about his neck, and then of a touch
of metal and the sting of a needle
driven into the flesh beneath his ear.
That galvanized him; he came to
life again in twinkling, animate with
threefold strength and cunning. The
man on his chest was thrown off as
by young earthquake, and Lanyard's
right arm was no sooner free than It
shot out with blind but deadly accu-
racy to the point of his assailant's
jaw. A click of teeth was followed by
a sickish grunt as the man Iurched
over.
And then Lanyard was scrambling
to his feet, bit giddy, perhaps, but
still sufficiently master of his wits to
whip his pistol out before making one
further move