The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1918-09-26


well-make you rich" In desperation
he raised his shaking hand to dash out
the candle, but even as he did so the
colonel spoke, at the same time care
fully lowering the revolver hammer.
'fYou are right. What am / thinking
about? There must be no noise.
Caramba! A pretty business that
would be. wouldn't it? With my men
running up here to see what it was
all about No, no. No gunshots. no
disturbance of any kind. You under
stand what 1 mean, eh?''
His face twisted into a grin as he
tossed the revolver aside, then under
took to detach stone from the crum-
bling curb. ''No nOise!" he chuckled.
mo noise whatever"
O'Reilly, stupefied by the sudden ap-
pearance of this monstrous creature,
! stunned by the certainty of a catas-
trophe to Rosa, awoke to the fact that
| this man intended to brain him where
he stood. In a panic he cast his eyes
about him, thinking to take shelter in
the treasure-caye, but that retreat was
closed to him, for he had wedged the
wooden timbers together at the first
alarm. He was like rat in pit, ut
terly at the mercy of this maniac. And
| CObo was a maniac at the moment; he
had SO far lost control of himself as to
allow the stone to slip out of his grasp.
1t fell with a thad at O'Reilly's- feet,
causing the assassin to laugh once
more.
'Ho, hoI" he hiccoughed. "NIy fin
gers are clumsy, Ell? But there is no
need for haste" He stretched out his
arm again, laid hold of another missile,
and strained to loosen it from its bed.
Jewels! Pearls the size of plums
And 1 poor mani can't believe it
yet" He could not detach the stone,
so he fumbIed farther along the curb
ing. Pearls, indeedI would send a
dozen men to hell for one"
O'Reilly had been standing petrified,
his body forced tightly against the
rough surface behind him, following
with strained fascination the deliberate
movements of the man above him; now
he saw Cobo, without the least appar-
emit reason, twist and shudder, saw him
stiffen rigidly as if seized with q sud-
den cramp, saw his eyes dilate and
heard him heave a deep. whistling sigh.
O'Reilly could not imagine what allied
the fellow. For an eternity, so it
seemed, CObO remained leaning upon
his outspread arms, fixed in that same
attitude of paraIysis-it looked almost
as If he had been startled by some
sound close by. But manifestly that
was not the cause of his hesitation, for
his face became conyulsed and an ex-
preston of blank and utter astOnish-
ment was stamped upon it. The men
stared fxedly at each other. O'Reilly
with his head thrown back, Cobo with
his body propped rigidly upon wooden
arms and that peculiar shocked inquiry
in his glazing eyes. But slowly this
expression changed; the colonel bent
as If beneath a great weight, his head
rose and turned back upon his neck, he
filed his lungs with another wheeling
sigh. His teeth ground together, his
head began to wag upon his shoulders
it dropped lower and lower; one hand
slipped from its hold and he 1urched
forward. An instant he hung suspend
ed from the waist; then he appeared to
let go Imply as all resistance went out
of his big body. There came a warning
rattle of dirt and mortar and pebbles
the next instant he slipped into the
well and plunged headlOng down upon
O'Reilly, an avalanche of lifeless flesh
Johnnie shielded himself with his up
flung arms, but he was driven to his
knees, and when he scrambled to his
feet, half stunned, it was to find him