The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1917-02-01
SEVENTEENTH EPISODE
The TeII-TaIe Envelope.

Shots that are fired from guns dc
not often hit the people they are fired
at The coolest target puncturer grows
excited when his target is man, and
more excited when 1t is woman. Gid
con Trask was not an expert with the
rife. He had been crazy enough to
take the life of Dick Freneau-to
wiring it out of him with his hands. He
thought he had escaped detection I'M
til, with an appalling abruptness, Clio
ria Stafford-though he did not know
her name-charged him with the MUIR
der and declared that she had seen
him commit it before her very eyes.
He had not been quite crazy enough
or quite wise enough to kill her then
and there when she was alone and at
his mercy. He thought to repair the
consequences of his delay by shooting
her down now that she reappeared
with an armed force at her back. SO
he fired at Gloria where she stood in
front of the pilothouse demanding
his surrender.
They told Gloria afterwards she was
brave as a veteran and faced the as
,sassin coolly. But she told the truth
when she said that she was paraiyzed
with fear, so frightened that she could
not even show her fright.
When the muzzle of Trask's rifle
Spat at her, she heard the bullet sing
past her ear. she was already WON
dering whether she were dead or alive,
whether the next one would strike
where she heard the first one thwack.
The pilot grunted and mumbled: "He
got me!'
She forgot Trask and whirled round
to see the pilot fall across his own
wheel. The yacht wavered and swerved
In its course. Gloria was the nearest
to the pilothouse. She had been a
pupil of the pilot only a few minutes
before. She ran to him, lifted him
aside and seized the wheel by its pro-
jecting spokes, just in time to keep
the yacht from crashing into the barge
at full speed. She made sharp turn,
the yacht swerved and ground along
the side of the barge. Gloria mean
while was alarmed more for the life
of the pilot than her own. She be-
gan to call stephen! Doctor Ryce!"
But Doctor Royce was too busy to
hear her call. His immediate inter-
est was not in a wounded man, but
in wounding man. When he saw
that Trask was aiming his rifle at
Gloria again, his whole being thrilled
with a ferocity unknown to him be-
fore. To save Gloria from being hurt
he would have massacred a hundred
Trasks.
He leaped aboard the canal barge
before the deckhands could make 1t
fast. He sprang at Track and seized
the rife he held. He twisted it out
of Trask's hands before he could fire
a second shot.
But he was bounced upon at once
by Jed, who pinioned his arms and
flung him to the deck. The captain
of the yacht, following close after
Royce. laid hold of Jed and dragged
him away before he could harm Royce.
But he left Royce supine on the deck,
with Trask's fatal clutch on his throat.
Gloria, wondering at Royce's not an
swering her call, chung to the wheel
till she saw the cable fast, then she
ran forward to the edge of the up
Per deck and saw why he failed her.
He was in the baleful clutch of Trask.
Gloria, looking for weapon of res
cue, could find nothing but life pre-
server tied to rope. She began to
swing it about her head in circles of
increasing diameter, like lasso.
1t was revolving at a violent rate
when it reached Trask. 1t smote him
aside and dazed him into loosening his
grip for just a moment. This was
long enough for Royce to shake free
and regain his feet. He hurled him.
self at Trask, but Trask, seeing his
victim erect and menacing, lost cour-
age and ran. At the edge of the barge
he slipped and sprawled. He would
have fallen between the yacht and the
barge into the river if the yacht had
not swung alongside in time to catch
him. 1t held him up, but it held him
as in giant lemon squeezer, and it
his bone and flesh with
dreadful force.
Gloria saw the agony in Trask's
face and the sight was horrible. She
saw the yacht swing free again.
Trasks body dropped into the wa
ter.
Now the life preserver that had
served as a weapon returned to its 4
original purpose. Gloria threw 1T to
Trask. Suffering as he was, he seized
1t automatically and hooked his elbow
through it.
Now Royce also reverted to his pur-
pose as he knelt down and clutched at
Trask's collar as Gloria hauled him
In like great fish. One OF the deck