Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1918-05-17

driver acts from the spinal cord, ana
not from the brain. Therefore his,
brain may be seething with thousand
frenzies, but he will shove out clutchi
and brake feet in an emergency, and
hold them out.
So it happened. The mans hands
left the wheel. but he stopped his carl
Not too soon. Not before it had struck
the cliff. and then taken a sickeningI
curve out toward the edge of the
precipice. But stop 1t did, on the veryl
edge of eternity, and the chauffeur,
held it there.
"Set the hand brake!" Milky said
The lamps were near enough the edges
to make him dizzy.
The chauffeur ceased struggling, and
set the hand brake. His head was stin
covered. But having done that, he
commenced a struggle more furious
than forceful, for both of them were
handicapped.
And now Milky was forced to an;
unsoldierlike thing that he afterward
tried to forget. For the driver de-
veloped unexpected strength, refused
to submit, cot the tunic OF his head,
and, seeing himself attacked by one
man only, took courage and fell to.
He picked UP a wrench from the seat
beside him, and made furious pass
at Nikky'S head. Milky ducked and
after q struggle secured the weapon.
All this in the car, over the seat back,
1t was then that Milky raised tbs
wrench and stunned his man with it.
1t was hateful. The very dull thud
of it was sickening. And there was
bad minute Or two when he thought
he had killed his opponent. The man
had sunk down in his seat, soddep
lump of inanimate human flesh. And
Milky, whose business, in a way, was
killing, was Mortified.
The chauffeur Weakened, ten minutes
later, to find himself securely tied with
his own towing rope, and lying ex-
tremely close to the edge of death.
Beside him on the ground sat steady
eyed young man with cut lip. The
young man had lighted cigarette, and
was placing it carefully in the unin-
jured side of his mouth.
"Just as soon as you are up to It,"
said Milky, 1--WE shall have little
talk"
The chauffeur muttered something in
the peasant patois of Karnia.
"Come, comet" Milky observed.
Speak up. No hiding behind strange
tongues. But first, have the letter.
That saves your worrying about it.
You can clear your mind for action"
Suddenly Milky dropped his hooking
tone. He was in earnest, grim and
deadly earnest.
81 have fancy, my friend" he said.
ito take that letter of yours on to its
destination. But what that destinatioS
10, you are to tell me-"
The man on the ground grinned
sardonically. "You know better tha1
to ask that" he said. 81 will never
tell you"
Milky had thought things out fairlH
well, for him, in that ten minutes. Id
a buSinesSlike fashion he turned thu
PROSTATE prisoner on his side, so that
he faced toward the chasm. A late
moon showed it's depth, and the valley
in which the air flowed swiftly. And
having thus faced him toward the next
world Milky, throwing away his
cigarette because it hurt his lip, put d
stone or two from the roadway behind
his prisoner, and anchored him there
Then he sat down and waited.
"Any news" he asked, at the end
of ten minutes unbroken silence.
His prisoner said nothing. He wat
thinking, doubtless. Weighing things
too-perhaps life against betrayal, d
family against separation.
Milky examined the letter again. IL
was addressed to a border town In
Livonia. But the town lay far behind
them. The address, then, was false
one. He whistled softly.
Half an hour.
"Come, come" said Milky fiercely,
1--WE are losing time" He looked
fierce, too. His swollen lip did that
And he was nervous. It occurred to
him that his prisoner, in desperation.
might roll over the edge himself, which
would be most uncomfortable.
But the precipice. and Nikky's fierce
lip, and other things, had got in their
work. The man on the ground stopped
muttering in his patois, and turned on
Milky eyes full of hate.
81 will tell you" he said. "And you
will free me. And after that"
Certainly" Milky replied equally.
"You will follow me to the ends OF
the earth-although that will not be-
necessary, because don't intend to go
there-and finish me off," Then, stern.
ly: "Now, where does the letter go7
have a fancy for delivering 1t my
SELF"
eff tell you, what them"
'This: If you tell me properly, and
all goes well, will return and release
you. If do not return, naturally you
will not be released. And, for fear
you mediate a treachery, / shall gag
you and leave you, not here, but back
a short distance, in the wood we just
passed. And. because you are brave