Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1917-04-07

hlonK the prov or the DUN. lie paused
browning. Some twenty feet or so dis
tant the legs Of man, trousered and
booted, protruded from hollow be-
tween two hummocks of sand. And
the topssof the boots were digging into
the sand Indicating that the man was
lying prone; and that meant (if he
We're neither dead nor sleeping) that
he was watching the woman on the
beach,
Indignation, righteous indignation,
warmed Whitaker's bosom. It was all
very well for him to catch sight of
the woman through her cottage win
dow, by night, and to swim over to the
beach in her wake the next morning,
but what right had anybody else to
constitute himself her shadow? Be-
sides, 1t was possible that the man
was Drummond.
He strobe forward and stood over
the man, looking down at his back. It
was true. as he had assumed-the fel-
low was watching the woman. And
his back was very like Drummond's.
A little culver Of excitement mingled
with anticipative satisfaction ran
through him. Now. at last, the mys-
terry was to be cleared up, his future
relations with the pseudo-suiclde de-
fined and established.
Deliberately he extended his bare
foot and nudged the mans ribs.
'Drummond ~ he said in q
clear voice, decided but unaggressive.
With nn oath and what seemed q
single, quick motion the man jumped
to his feet and turned to Whitaker q
startled and infiamed countenance.
what the DEVIL" he cried angrily.
"Who are you? What do you want7
What d'you mean by coming round
here and calling me Drummond?"
He was no more Drummond than he
was Whitaker himself.
For that matter" something
clicked in Whitaker's brain and sub
consciously hs knew that his temper
was about to take the bridge-"what
do you mean by spying on that lady
yonder7'
1t being indisputably none of his
concern, the unfairness Of the question
only lent 1t offensive force. The man
made this painfully clear through the
medium Of an intolerable epithet and
an attempt to land his right fist on
Whitaker's face.
The face. however. was elsewhere
when the fist reached the point for
which 1t had been aimed; and Whit
nker closed in promptly rs the fellows
body followed his arm, thrown off bal
ance by the momentum Of the unob-
structed blow.
What followed had entered into the
calculations Of neither. Whitaker felt
himself suddenly falling through air
thick with II binding, choking cloud of
dust and sand. The body Of the other
WAS simultaneously wrenched violently
from his grasp. Then he brought up
against solldty with bump that
seemed to exrel every cubic inch OF
air from his lungs. And he heard him
self cry out sharply with the pain Of
his weak ankle newly twisted. :.
He sat up. gasping for breath.
brushed the sand from his fAce and
eyes, and as soon as his whirling wits
settled little. comprehended what
had happened.
Half buried in the debris OF mimi
ature landslide, ne sat at the foot Of
the bluff. Immediately above his head
a ragged break showed where the sand.
held together solely by beach grass.
had given way beneath the weight of
the antagonists.
A little distance from him the other
man was picking himself up, apparent
ly unhurt but completely surfeited.
Without delay, with not even so much
as a glance at Whitaker. he staggered
OF for a few PAGES, then settled into
heavy, numbering trot westward
along the beach. He did not wish the
woman to recognize him; therefore he
was putting himself out of her way.
For she was approaching. Sft
When Whitaker caught sight Of her,
she was already close at hand. She