The Elbert County tribune., 1918-01-04

Managed to Convey to tho kncelinQ
Enemy That He Would Be Killed
II He Moved.
of covering forms In the studio with
him. He thought they were women.
And then another glance told him who
one of those women was.
But I. holding fast to poor fright
ened Marie's hand ana trying to de-
termine some way Of helping my cor
respondent who had turned out not to
be lovelorn at all, but prosecuted in
stead. felt no consciousness that the
walnut-skinned youth who was pun
melting our assailnnt so vigorously
was ]. Barton, Esquire.
1 could not distinguish between
friend and foe. 1t seemed to me that
there were Black Handlers to right of
us and Black Handlers to the left of
us, too. Also there had been the sound
OF volleying and laundering out on
the street to complete my memory of
the "Charge OF the Light Brigade"
That volleying had sounded strange
ly like bomb-and as matter OF
fact 1t was bomb, the one which had
slipped unnoticed from Jimmy's hand.
1t was that bomb which brought up
the re-enforcements that saved us.
Almost in the same second Jimmy's
pursuers darted through the skyllght
and rushed upon him and Arturo. who
had recognized that the last conner
was friend and had entered the fray
again on JImmy's side. They were
hard pressed by their assallants
when, as If by n miracle, the door
burst open and In rushed two police
men. In just few moments the four
conscious and two unconscious assnll-
ants of our peace of mind and we'll
being We're handcuffed and marched
out to the station house and to due
reckoning with the law OF whose pow
er they had moment before been
serenely scornful.
The letter which Arturo Bocetti had
hidden from Mnrie, his wife. on the
morning when she turned to me for
help had been from the dreaded
Black Hand. With cruel terseness 1t
issued its commands to the frugal
young violinist whose prosperity had
not passed unnoticed in Little Italy"
"A. Bocetti:
"You are ordered to give 5000 to our
messenger, who will make himself
known. Your wife's life Is the penalty
Of failure"
The instinct to protect what one
loves from knowledge of how much
that love is costing made Arturo de-
termine instantly to hide from Marie
what the letter had said.
| Bit by bit we pieced together our
story later on.
| The man 1 had seen lurking in the
shadows of the Venetian theater later
that night was "Beppo the Neapoli-
tan" He was one Of gang of bandits
and anarchists who made their head
quarters in Farrari's saloon.
| 1t was his knife that swung flushing
in dangerous menace above Arturo's
head when we three stood covering
| and helpless In the photographers
gallery. And the fiery creature
against whom Arturo was struggling
barehanded and unconscious of the
knife in his second foes hands. was
Cello, righthand man and co-plotter
with Beppo in Black Hand plots of
which 1talo Farrari was the moving
spirit.
1t takes SO long In the tellIng-and
1t all flashed by In second. a second
that seemed like eternity-a second
that need never have been, as we all
knew when later Arturo told us his
part of our strange story.
| Almost before he could explain,
Marie had determined that 1t was Ar
| turo's devotion instead of his faithful
ness which had cost them both so
much suffering and which was to give
Mr.. J. Barton of the Journal an ex-
elusive story worthy of absolutely
Smashing headlines"
"That's my second big story this
month, thanks to you, Miss Beatrice
said james Barton. with quiet sin
certify 1 had not expected of that vola-
tile soul
And It's the second time I've come
through alive. thanks to you" said /.
Jimmy interrupted eagerly: "when
anybody saves life-it belongs to
them; that's the etiquette of all life
saving OCCASIONS" said Mr.. Barton.
But this time 1t was who interrupt
ed-and rather severely ut that. MY
life belongs to my work"
-"and maybe you'll find that your
work belongs to me-" said the ire
pressible Jimmy.
fu,Nr or SrCoN1, u,prcnnr,