Mount Vernon signal. (Mt. Vernon, Ky.) 18??-current, 1917-02-23

; pan " lAO 1dSlOly bhO
next day, and she hated the hard
voiced foreman of the shaft room. She
turned to stare belligerently towards
Arson Applewaithe, the immaculate
son of the factory owner himself, as
he ushered into the room of whirring
shafts and flying belts small group
of visitors.
Yet the Ishmael-like young face soft
ened little as she looked at one mem
Der of that approaching group. For
one fair-haired girl Of about twenty, |
dressed in black, whom young Apple |
waithe piloted about amid the roaring |
and Gathering machinery and repeat
eddy addressed as Miss Golden" was
beautiful enough to bring a hayward
pang of envy to the breast Of Peggy
O'Mara. AS she watched her eyes sud-
denly widened in alarm. For Margery
Golden, in staring about the room, had
unconsciously moved closer to one of
the ponderous machines. There the
loose end of her motor-cape was
snapped at by spinning cog wheel, as
a hound snaps at bone. The next
moment the whirling teeth had fas-
tened themselves in the fabric of the
garment edge, carrying it back be-
tween the jaws of the twin cogs that
quickly closed on the cloth and
seemed to reach out for more.
At the same moment that Margery
Golden turned about to determine the
meaning of this sudden tug at her
clothing, the alert-eyed Peggy O'Mara
made an apparently maniacal spring
for that astounded young woman's
| throat.
With a quick jerk of her thin young
fingers Peggy tore the cape free where
it was already straining against the
white column of it's wearer's throat.
1t was not until Margery Golden
saw the iron teeth of the cog wheels
swallowing up the last of her vanish
ing cape that any inkling of her dan
ger came home to her.
Margery Golden stepped back and
leaned against a guard rail. Then, aft
er looking studiously at the slattern
and slightly abashed figure Of her de-
liyerer, she opened her pocketbook
and from it took out two or three neat
ly folded bank notes. These she held
smilingly out to the girl with the
broken-toed shoes.
But a quick flash spread over the
usually colorless cheeks of Miss Peggy
. O'Mara as she backed determinedly
away from the bills.
Don't you care to take them?'
asked the somewhat astonished young
woman in black.
mo ma'am!" was the girls almos
sullen retort. 81 amt earned 'em!"
. But rather think you have" per
sisted the other, still smiling.
You see, you saved my life. An(
, surely you won't embarrass me b.
arguing that it's not worth tina
, muchi"
9 81 don't want your money" an
nounced the sullen-eyed girl, putting
!. her hands behind her. But alread,
young Applewaithe was discreetly dc
ing his best to pilot his visitors ava,
4 from the scene.
!. Peggy O'Mara stared after the dc
parting group. So intently did sh
O stare after them that she was oblivi
v Gus of the movements of the one-arme
r man who had been STOPPING low owe
his machine, in pretense of filling it
oil cups. He crept out to where
? small gold locket had dropped fror
e Margery Golden's neck during the er
+ counter. He caught it up from the OF
, stained floor, looked at it for one shor
J. moment, and then slipped it triumph
e antly into his pocket. After that b
d stood behind his machine, we'll out @
r sight, watching the fair-haired girl i
s black as she stepped out through tn
factory door. His eyes, as he watche
l. her, were both calculating and SIM!
t ter. But the pallid-faced girl standin
e so close beside him had no means c
e knowing that this preoccrpied an
q stoop-shouldered workman who ha
lost his right hand was Jules Legal
A. long known to his enemies as th
D. Iron Claw.
' That mysterious one-armed mai
e however, was destined to become be
q ter acquainted with Peggy omar
than she imagined. For that nigh
e when the uneasy-minded girl knew he
n father to be once more shut up in b
,t cellar workroom, she was furthe
% disturbed by the sound of stealth
K steps across the bare wooden floor {
n her home. She .tiptoed out throug
X the door, crossed to the cellar step
and crept silently down into the dar
II ness.
e. There, vaguely outlined against Il
door cracks in the wall shielding h
he father, she could make out a Stealth
I'd inquisitive figure. And she knew TIL
n figure could mean no good to the houi
n Of O'Mara
be She crept as silently up the broke
be steps agai !, went to her fathers tim
worn tool chest and from it took out
ed somewhat rusty but ominous-lookii
he revolver.
w. The thin-armed girl with the thic
nd bodied revolver then crept back I
ed wards the cellar. She had reached Il
ed top Of the stairs when she saw a dal
of figure slowly emerge from the glool
d. Then a gasp of surprise broke fro