The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1921-04-30

| '"hS 'hc NihuOW, Udrulner ordered
"Shoye the blanket aside a little ant
size up the situation before you speak
We must make sure they're there, anC
| there alone"
Gardiner waited until he saw Rifle:
fumbling carefully with the blanket
that hung in the doorway. Then he
darted quickly to the window.
While Allan sat in the little cabin he
gradually became oppressed with a
sense of great loneliness. From time
to time he looked at the face of his
sleeping father, and suddenly the
knowledge struck him like q knife that
1t was the face of an old man. Allan
could see plainly the deepening fur.
rows in his strong, still handsome face.
AS he looked a vast tenderness min
gled with his loneliness he would
have stopped and caressed him had he
not feared to disturb his slumbers.
He looked upon the sleeping man
now, with the wealth of a lifetime's
labor at his side, and the bond of trust
and confidence between them seemed
so tight 1t brought the moisture TO his
eyes. He thought of the past years !:
of their labor on the farm together
hard labor, but always relieved by
tpeir comradeship and mutual ambi-
tons.
His memory carried him still fur
Their Blackjack to the days when he
was a little child, and in the mirror
or the darkness he could see his own
small figure trudging in the track of
the pillow and hanging to the rein ends
that dropped from the knot on his IA
TIERS ample back. Back to the old
sod shanty, with it's sweet smell of
comfort when the snow beat against
the little window and the wind roared
In the rattling stove pipe, and his
mother sat by the fire and piled her
flying needles. Old lullabies stole into
his brain; a deep peace compassed
him, and consciousness faded thinner
and thinner into the sea of the inf
mite.
Allan sat up in a sudden, cold chill
of terror. Had he been asleep? What
cold breath of dread had crossed his
path! He was no coward; the sense
or fear was almost unknown to him.
but now 1t enveloped him, stifled him,
set his teeth chattering and his limbs
quaking. He had heard nothing, seen
nothing. The gun was in his hands as
IT had lain when last he remembered
1t; his father slept by his side, and
near the wall lay the precious satchel.
And yet he shook i'm absolute. unreal
soning. unfOunded terror. His eyes
wandered from the lantern to the door
TO the blanket hanging Imply In the
door; and there they stared and STAYED
as though held in the spell of a SER
pent. Subconsciously, certainly with
out any direction of will of his own.
ne raised the shot gun to his shoulder
and kept 1t trained on the sagging
blanket. - The blanket seemed TO
move! 1t swayed at first as though a
light breeze had touched it and yet |
not as though breeze had touched it.
The impulse seemed too far up-about
the height of mans shoulder. The |
blood had gone from Allan's face; he |
was as one In trance, obeying some |
non law outside the realm Of the will |
and the reason. He cooked his gun
md frightened his finger on the trig-
ger, and watched. - And then.
20 plain that it must have been real,
he saw stealthy fingers feeling their
way about the blanket.
Then Allan fired.
In an instant he was wide awake,
ind wondering terribly what had hap
'ened. The explosion blew out the
antsrn. and the building was in utter
darkness. His father was clambering
o his feet with "Allan, what is It?
What Is 1t, AllanY The blanket had
'een torn from its hangings as by a
leavy weight, and something was
In 1t in the doorway. Allan
prang up and would have rushed upon
I, but In the darkness he collided with
mother man. His fingers found his
arm and ran up 1t to his
hroat. but before they could fasten in
fatal grip there was another flash of
ght. and hot pang stabbed him in
ne breast. There was strange CUR
ling in his lungs. a choking in his
hroat. spinning dizziness in his head.
s he staggered over the mass In the
Doorway and fell into the night.
Gardiner had reached the window
lst In time to see Allan's gun trained
n the doorway. For an instant he
TODD dumbfounded; there was some
hing uncanny in the sight of the young
ian sitting there in silent, absolute
eadiness for the attack. He drew
ack to warn Rifles, but he was too
tie. At that moment the gun spoke;
lere was the sound of a heavy body
illing, and stified noises bore ample
of the accuracy of Allan's
Inn. But even In that moment of un-
,rtainty Gardiner had not lost
fought Of their purpose. and his quick
re took In the sleeping form of John
arris and the location of the leather
ag beside the wall. Without an in
ANTS hesitation he vaulted through
lie window and, revolver in hand, be-
IN to steal his way softly toward the
easure.
He had not taken three steps when
Han plunged full force into him. He
with the shock, but recov-
: