Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1917-03-02

There, beside glowing furnaces half
naked men toiIed over incandegcent
~annealing boxes and cauldrons Of mol
ten metal. There gigantic track
cranes swung bowls Of liquid IRE 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, sec
ing his way blocked by a group OF
round-eyed Lithuanians, he swung.
catlIke, up into the iron network Of
the cable bridges, with his pursuor
still close at his heels. And there,
midway across that smoke-Gtained
roof, that echoed with the tumult Of
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 and
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 ard al 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 q 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 agalnst
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 q
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 1t no easy task to
make sure Of his perch above that
ever-intimidating 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 az he fought
he weakened to a realization that he
} must change his hold.
It was as he Unanswered TO bring
about this shift Of position that the
ever-watchful Legar, alert for the most
I, trivial advantage, saw his chance.
Swinging his body suddenly free from
its footing on the narrow ledge OF
: metal where he stood, he pendulumed
: towards his m~omentarily unstable op-
ponent, throwing his feet forward and
| upward, as he did 30, with all the forco
| Of a football player kicking q double
punt.
The force Of this unlooked-for I'm
: pact was too much for the man in the
mask. He tottered back, caught fran
3 tically at a soot-covered steel bar be-
side him, dropped the full length Of lts
diagonal course before he could make
Q sure of his clutch, and came into vio-
3 lent collision with the heavy iron
block of a crane ladle. There, half
stunned by the blow, he foil sprawling
across a polished steel cable which
Z dropped hoorward 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 too weak. As he
fell along its polished surface, how
ever, It offered sufficient resistance to
n carry his limp body beyond the peril
k Of that open lake of molten metal.
h which, his frantic brain kept telling
Q him, meant death. And as he dropped
e weakly from the cable loop to q pile
Of molding sand lying between a cast
n ing box and an empty spill trough, q
n score OF watching men a " utterance
to a shout Of relief and a score of
waiting hands were there to help him
8 to his feet.
8 So intent we're those astounded iron
workers on watching that perilous fall,
a however, that they paid scant alter
tion to the second figure climbing spi-
n derlike higher along the blackened
ironwork of the blackened roof. They
caught no glimpse Of him as he scram-
bled. sooty and painting, through the
n ventilating hue that opened on the
roof itself. Nor did any eye follow
him rs he crept, gorillalike, along the
d perilOus slope Of that roof until he
d came to the end OF the building. Along
n fhfo aud ha found a IguhtwNn0 wnH Wun.