The interior journal. [volume] (Stanford, Ky.) 1912-1984, 1916-03-31
THE IRON CLAW
(Continued from Tuesdav)

into the closed car, and, three minutes
before thei arrival CT the police for
whom the white-faced girl in the
library had so frantically telephcned,
that mysterious limousine had speeded
off into the night, carrying not only
Legar but the youth who had been so
presumptiJu as to attempt to inter
fere with Legar's exploits.
But ManAey did not altogether give
up. His heart still had the residence
of youth. He still believed in his
star.
What fretted Manley most, however,
was his lack of freedom. Rolling a
little over on his side, he studied min
utely the rough brick floor on which
he lay. After this inspection he
wyrmed his way carefully from side to
side, lying face down and trying each
row of exposed bricks with his shoe
toe, in the hope of finding one of them
loose.
He had deliberately tested eleven
rows before he found any reason for
hope in this direction. A chill of ex-
element ran through his tired body,
in fact, as he discovered one brick
which seemed less securely embedded
in cement than were it's fellows. He
worked at it patiently, labcriously,
kicking away small particles of plas-
ter, humping it with his boot heel,
prying at it with his sole until it
rocked free in it's row. Then came
the even sterner task of shifting it
from it's place. This he did by turning
about and lying close to it, on his side,
so that the fingers Of his tightly i'm
prisoned hand might come in contact
with it's edges. Time after time it fell
back, but in the end he triumphed.
Yet it was not this unearthed brick
which interested him. His attention
was directed towards the rough-edged
parallelogram where that brick had
originally rested, for the corners OF
this opening, he soon realized, pro-
vided him with a saw edge which in
time might serve to abrade and cut
through the stoutest of cotton rope'
But the consolation of this hope did
not stay with him long. For even as
he started to work, his movements
were interrupted by the sound Of a
key in the heavy iron lock on the door
that shut him in. He rolled over
quickly, twisting about so that his ap-
parently inert body covered both the
loosened brick and the spot from
which it had been taken. He con.
tinued to lie there as though in sleep
of exhaustion, for his yelled eyes had
already caught sight of the two heavy
featured ruftians advancing into the
room.
Let the poor boob Sleep" warned
the larger man, in husky whisper
Hes goin' to cash in before mornin'!'
+ But I'm sick o. markin' time down
in this rat hole. Why can't Legar get
back here xAere he belongs and do his
'own stickup work."
Il tell you Che docs up to the Col
der house maxim his haul when the
coasts clear! And if you wake that
king there you'll have to cut out the
red-eye and keep busy chokin' off his
holler!"
Manley could. hear their shutting
feet as they recrossed the rough floor
ing and then the scrape and rasp OF
the rusty lock as they once more
turned the key in the door, But the
moment they were gone he was once
more busy with the cotton rope about
his wrists, for what he had overheard
increased his passion fer liberty.
When man, however, is still youth
| fully blind enough to believe in his
| start, tc nurse the delusiOn that some
| special genius has singled him out and
watches over him, he is not easily dis
| couraged. Yet discouragement came,
even before Manleys hands were free.
It came, in fact, in the form of a
| green-bodied parrot creeping stealthily
| through the rusty crCsS-bars grilling
| the transom above the locked door
He watched the bird slip into the
room, climb along the rusty iron gas
! jet, deliberately turn it on.
Manley knew what this meant, and
| it spurred him to even more frantic
| efforts to saw through the cords, still
| holding him a prisoner, for already
the fumes of the escaping gas were
reaching his nostrils.
| When one strand of it had parted
and he had uncoiled the rest of it from
his ankles, his head was swimming
and his legs were unable to support
him. So he crossed the room on his
hands and knees, caught at the rusty
gas pipe for support and painfully
drew himself upright His trembling
hand went out, found the gas jet, and
turned it off. And the next moment
he fell face down on the rough floor,
and lay there in gray daze of weak
ness
How long he lay there he could not
tell But he was aroused by the sound
of thick voices from the outer cham
Der, punctuated by the shrill cries OF
an angry and scolding woman. He
pulled himself together and possessed
| him self Of tho brick hat as a WeaDOn