The Holbrook news., 1921-07-08

Shelby shook his head gloomily, his eyes searching the floor for any evil dence and finding none. To all ap- pearances 1t appeared smooth and solid.
 q don't know" he said. "That idea may be as good as any. You might take this broken knife of mine an see if you can start anything. What was goin' on out there?"
 Nothing much that I could see. There are men hiding behind the bank of the creek; think they are Indians, and there may be others off to the right in the weeds"
 "Just guard left there to see that we don't get away. They'll wait until dark and then try to burn us out, l reckon; the bucks don't like my shooting. That was a rifle"
 "Yes; the bullet struck the log"
 He crossed over and looked out anx- iously.
 T thought 1t might be a signal, but I guess not. Don't seem to be any thing moving"
 
 surveying the room. "If we only had two more in this outfit we might give those devils a run for their money. The trouble is we can defend only two sides, an they know ft-anyhow, Laud does. Pm goin' to haul this bench over on that side; then you can stand up there, and shoot through that hole in the window while I pepper them from here in front. We'll make it hot while it lasts"
 She watched him shift the bench, and then stood upon it to look out. The sun had gone down, and the val ley swan in a purple haze. If she would utilize what little light still re- mained. she must search at once.
 Nothing out thereY
 q can see nothing moving. It Is growing dark. Let me take the knife"
 He gave 1t to her, and she got down upon her knees on the floor, anxiously testing the openings between the blocks with the broken blade. Shelby turned his head occasionally, barely able 10 distinguish her movements, yet felt little confidence in the success of the effort. Any attempt at escape through the door would be suicidal; in all probability, in spite of the silence, and seeming loneliness of the scene without, a dozen rifles were even then trained on the entrance, ready to shoot them down the instant either appeared. And there was no other way out, unless 1t might be through some secret passage existing under ground. Macklin had certainly disap- peared somewhere; the vanishing of his body was no miracle, and this theory of how it might have been ac- complished alone appeared reasonable. In spite of his doubts, the man held to a measure of hope; nothing else than this remained which he could cling to; their only chance lay in some such discovery. Yet the woman, groping on her knees in the deepen ing darkness gave no sign of encour- agement. Shelby could bear the strain no longer in silence.
 "There is nothing to be found?" he asked anxiously, mo appearance of trap?"
 OnG ACdOB hAlA AoNC turned toward him.
 "Nothing that seem able to move," she answered. "I have found a block which does not appear to fit as tightly as the others; I can get the knife blade between, and 1t doesn't seem to touch any earth below, yet the slab is immovable."
 CT of me trv my strength"
 He started back to join her, but at that instant there came a sudden burst of rifle fire without, bullets thudding into the cabin walls. the sound punctuated by savage yells. Shelby whirled about instantly. and dropped to his knees with eyes peer ing out through the opening between the logs. Olga also deserted her search, and climbed to her post of de fense on the bench. The bullets did no damage, generally finding billet in the solid logs, although a few crashed through the planking of the door. To Shelby the meaning was sufficiently