Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1918-01-10

asd haDed forward II N bat 6esp.
" at the hass At tie spane. and Percy
Cuthfest felt al consciousness Of biz
lower limbs leave him. TAen The clerk
fell heavily up0n him. clutching him
BY the throat with feeble Ansefs- The
sharp bite OF the AZ had caused Cuth-
fert to drop the pistol. and % bis
lungs painted for release be fumbled
aimlessly for It among the blankets.
Then he remembered. He slid Q hand
up the clerks belt to the sheath knife.
and they drew very close to each other
In that last clinch.
Percy Cuthfert felt his strength leave
him. The lower portion Of his body
was useless. The inert weight Of
Weatherbee crushed him-crushed him
and pinned him there like a bear under
q trap. The cabin became filled with
a familiar Odor. and be knew the bread
to be burning, Yet what did It mat.
ter? He would never need 1t. And
there were all Of six cupfuls OF sugar
In the cache. II he had foreseen this
he would not have been SO saving the
last several days. Would the wind
vanc ever move? 1t might even be
vecrfng now. Why not? Had he not
seen the sun today? He would 60 and
see. No; It was impossible to move.
He had not thought the clerk 90 heavy
q man.
How quickly the cabin cooled! Tho
Gre must be out. The cold was fore.
Ing in. 1t must be below zero al.
ready. and the ice creeping up the in.
side Of the door. He could not see 1t,
but his past experience enabled him
to gauge its progress by the cabins
temperature. The lower hinge must
be white ere now. Would the tale Of
this ever reach the world? How
would his friends take it? They would
read 1t over their coffee, most likely,
and talk. it over at the clubs. He could
see them very clearly. "Poor old Cuth.
fertw they murmured. mot such a
bad sort Of chap. after all" He
smiled ut their eulogies and passed on
in search of a Turkish bath. 1t was
the same old crowd upon the streets.
Strange they did not notice his moose
hide moccasins and tattered German
socks! He would take a cab. And
after the bath a shave would not be
bad. No; he would eat first. Steak and
potatoes and green ~things-how fresh
1t all was! And what was that
| Squares Of honey, streaming liquid am.
Der! But why did they bring so much!
Ha, ha! He could never eat it all.
Shine? Why. certainly. He put his
foot on the box. The bootblack looked
curiously up at him, and he remem.
bered his moose hide moccasins and
went away hastily. =
Hank! The wind vane must be sure.
" spinning. No; a mere singing in his
ears; that was ala mere singing.
The ice must have passed the latch by
now. More likely the upper hinge was
covered. Between the moss chinked
roof poles little points of frost began
to appear. How slowly they grew!
| No, not SO slowly. There was a new
one, and there another--two-three-
four--they were coming too fast to
count. There were two growing to-
gether, and there-a third had Joined
them. Why, there were no more spots
They had run together and formed q
| sheet.
Well. he would have company. I!
Gabriel ever broke the silence Of the
north they would stand together. hahd
in hand, before the great white throne
And God would judge them, God would
Judge them!
Then Percy Cuthfert closed his eyes
and dropped Off to sleep.