Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1917-08-30

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a. break In tho door
lila. ha" laughed Rul. "She shall,
be very funny yoke"
We fclt our way III the dcor. which
WAS solid one Of plain wool with M
glass panels,
could you knock that or from Its
hingesr' | whispered,
IL bet" Rill replied: easy"
"Ail right. then. Get ready. One,
two. three!"
Crash! Bill sprang ut the door. aud
1t fell inward.
stepped across the threshold and
leyele<i my monkey wrench like re-
volver.
Throw up your handsr' l COM
manded.
To my surprise. found that was
addressing whiskered individual clad
In white swimming tights only, who
was backed up against door In far
corner Of the room. He threw up one
hand. keeping the other one behind
him.
up with the other hand!" shouted.
advancing into the room to get better
view Of its occupant, but keeping suf
ficiently in the shade Of the lamp so
that the real nature of my weapon
would not be Immediately evident
Throw up your other hand!"
II can't" said NY prisoner stub
bornly.
Cant" l repeated in surprise
why can't your"
Because I've got my thumb over the
keyhole and there is a woman on the
other side trying to peek through
l grabbed the lamp from the table
and held it so the full light fell on his
face.
Upton s. Clair" exclaimed.
Il admit that l did not expect to be
recognized in this island wilderness"
he began pompously, careful to gestic-
ulate, however. only with his free
hand, "but why should not be here
as well as anywhere else?"
Because when l saw you last you
were going to swim to the mainland"
"Who are your" he demanded In turn,
trying to see past the light which
held in front Of me.
"Montmorency Blainey," l replied.
Eyes, yes; l understand" Then sud
denly he shrank more closely into the
doorway. "Is that wOman-my fiancee
Miss Dunmore-with your
treasured him and asked him how
he came to be where had found him.
II found the swimming trifle more
strenuous than had expected" he be-
gan. II discovered that it was prac-
tically impossible for me either to
reach the mainland or to get back to
Green's island. The general trend of
the waves was in this direction, and
was forced to go along, saving my
strength for keeping my head above
water.
THE rest of my story is absurdly
simple. l saw land here and came
ashore. 1t was not quite dark, and I
came up the path to the house without
noticing the light In the window.
had no thought Of there being any in
habitants, and my intention was to
rummage around until l found some
thing to eat and some dry clothes.
las soon as l opened the door l
saw that l had committed a social
| blunder. There was a woman stand
ing at the telephone, and when she
saw me she screamed and ran through
this door, slamming and locking it aft
er her. 1t was useless to try to ex-
plain to a frightened female the in
nocuOus nature of my visit, so l re-
| Trained. l was about to partake of
soIae Of the food ! found OH the ia
BILE there when l heard the key being
carefully withdrawn from the lock on
asked myself the question, why do
people withdraw the keys from locked
doors?' The answer struck me in
stantly. so that they may look
through the keyholes, Of course l
recollected my costume. With one
bound jumped to the door and put
my thumb over the keyhole. where it
has been ever since"
Surely you have heard the telephone
bell ringing"
Yes, 1t has been making an infer
nal racket ever since I arrived, but
how could l leave my post to answer
it," He helplessly waved his free
hand In the direction Of the keyhole.
"Ouch! Stop he yelled, jerking his
thumb away and dancing up and down
frantically.
what has happened?"
"She tabbed a pin into my thumb.
I'm bleeding to death. Put your
thumb over the keyhole minute while
swear"
l was about to do that. foolish as il
was. when there was the sound Of a
rife shot somewhere outside, and al
most simultaneously the lamp which
held fell apart In my hand and crash.
ed to the floor.
"Ha. ha, ha!" laughed Bill Johnson
in the darkness. II see the yoke now. .
What happened?" Clair asked.
"Some one shot out the light"
"What for?" .%
II can't imagine"
Any further conversation was Gu,
short by scattering fusillade Of shots
some Of which came through the win