The Adair County news., 1921-11-15

Equal TO meE Bahi I'm man.
YO're lot of fools. Talk about me
bein' blind. 1t was ice-blink got me-
Then ophthalmy matterin' up my
eyes. It's gold-blink's got you. YO're
cave-fsh, lot of blind suckers"
He leaned over the table pointin,;
massive square finger, thatchetl with
red wool, direct at Carlson, as if he
had been leveling a weapon.
"Carlsen's a fake! Hes got you
hipped. He thinks he's boss. becOz
he's the only navigator of yOre crowd
l amt overlooked that card, Carlson.
That amt the only string he's got on
We. Nor the three shares he expects
to pull down. He made you pore suck
erS fire off all your shells; he found
out you amt got a gun left among you
that's emmy more use than a club. He's
got gun an he showed you how he
could use it. He's sittin' back Iarfin
at the bunch of your
The men stirred. Rainey saw Carl
sens grin disappear. He dropped the
paper. His face paled, the veins
showed suddenly like purple veins in
dirty marble.
"Tve got that gun yet, Lund," he
snarled.
Lund laughed, the ring of it so con-
fident that the men glanced from him
to Carlsen nervOuSly.
"YO're a fake, Carlsen," he said.
"And I've got yOre number! To Ii
with you an yore pOp-gun. You amt
even a doctor. saw real doctors
ashore about my eyes. Niphablepsia.
they call snOw-blindness. I'll bet yOu
never heard of it. Yo're only a wom-
an-cOnning dOpe-shOoter Else you'd
have known that niphablepsia amt
permanent! I've bin gettin' my sight
back ever. since 1 left Seattle An
now, d-n you for a mOldy-hearted.
slimy-souled fakir, stand up an say
yO're my equal!"
He stood up himself, towering above
the rest as they rose from their chairs.
tearing the black glasses from his
eyes and f1inging them at CarIsen, who
was forced to throw up a hand to
ward them off. Rainey got one glimpse
of the giants eyes. They were gray
blue, the color of agateware. hard as
steel, implacable.
Garrison swept aside the spectacles
and they shattered on the floor as he
leaped up and the automatic Shone in
his hand. Lund bad folded his arms
above his great chest. He laughed
again, and his arms opened.
In an. instant Rainey caught the oh
ject of Lunds speechmaking. He had
done it to enrage Carlsen beyond en-
durance, to make him draw his gun.
Giant as he was, he moved with the
grace Of a panther, with a swlftness
too fast for the eye to register. Some
thing flashed in his right hand, gun.
that he had drawn from a holster
slung over his left breast.
The shots blended. LuDd stood
there erect, uninjured. A red blotch
showed between Carlsen's eyes. He
Slumped down into his chair, his arms
clubbing the table, his gun falling
from his nerveless hand, his forehead
striking the wood like the sound of
an aUctiOneer's gavel. Lund had beat
en- him TO the draw.
Lund, no longer a blind Samson,
with contempt in his agate eyes, sur
veyed the scattering group Qf men who
stared at the dead man DULY, as if
gripped by the exhibition of a miracle.
Its all right, Miss Simms," he said.
"Jest killed skunk. Rainey, git that
gun an attend to the young lady, will
you?"
The girl stood in the doorway of
her fathers cabin, her face frozen to
horror, her eyes fixed on Lund with
repulsiOn. As Rainey got the auto
matte, slipped it into his pocket, and
went toward her, she shrank from
him. But her voice was for Lund.
''You murderer" she cried.
Lund grinned at her, but there was
no laughter in his eyes.
"We'll thrash that out later, miss"
he said. Now, you men, jump fOr'ard,
all of you. Deming, unlock that door.
Jump! Equals, are you? I'll show
you who's master on this ship. Wait !"
His voice snapped like the crack of
a whip and they all halted, save Dem
ing, who sullenly fitted the key to the
lock of the corridor entrance.
Take this with yOu," said Lund,
pointing to Carlsen's sagging body.
when you git tired of his company,
throw him overheard. Jump to it,"
The nearest men took up the body
Of the doctor and they all filed for
ward, silently obedient to the man
who ordered them.
The girl shuddered. Rainey saw
that Lund was exhilarated by his vic
tory, that the primitive fighting brute
was prominent. CarlSen had tried to
shoot first, gOaded to it; his death
was deserved; but it seemed TO Rainey
that Lund's exhibition of savagery
was unnecessary. But he also saw
that Lund would not heed any protest
that he might make, he was still
swept on by his course of action, not
yet complete.
"Pll borrow Carlsen's seXtant," said
Lund. "Nigh noon. an erbOut time
got our reckonin'." He went into the
doctors cabin and came out with the