The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1921-04-28

ShoVe the blanket aside q little and
size up the situation before you speak.
We must make sure they're there, and
there alone"
Gardiner waited until he saw Rifles
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
10 time he looked at the face of his
sleeping father, and suddenly the
knowledge struck him like 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 10 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 it 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
their comradeship and mutual ambi-
lions.
His memory carried him still fur
Their blackjack to the days when he
was a little child, and in the mirror
of 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
theirs ample back. Back to the old
sod shanty, with its sweet smell of
comfort when the snow beat against
the little window and the wind rOared
in the rafting stove pipe, and his
mother sat by the fire and piled her
flying needles. Old lulIabies 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
of fear was almost unknown to him,
but now it envelOped him, stified him,
set his teeth chattering and his limbs
quaking. He had heard nothing, seen
nothing. The gun was in his hands as
ii had lain when last he remembered
it; his father slept by his side. and
near the wall lay the precious satchel.
And yet he shook in absolute, unrea-
sOning. unfOunded terror. His eyes
wandered from the lantern TO the door
ha in, NIa
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,
he raised the shot gun to his shoulder
and kept 1t trained on the sagging
blanket. /" The blanket seemed to
novel 1t swayed at first as though a
light breeze had touched it and yet
not as though a breeze had touched ii.
The impulse seemed too far up-abOut
the height of a mans shoulder The
blood had gone from Adams face; he
was as one in trance, Obeying some
iron law outside the realm of the will
and the reason. He cooked his gun
and frightened his finger on the trig-
ger, and watched. And then,
so plain that 1t must have been real,
he saw stealthy fingers feeling their
way about the blanket.
Then Allan fired.
In an instant he was wide awake,
pened. The explosion blew out the
lantern. and the building was in utter
darkness. His father was clambering
TO his feet with "Allan, what is it?
What is II, AllanY' The blanket had
been torn from its hangings as by a
heavy weight, and something was
writhing in il in the doorway. Allan
sprang up and would have rushed upon
II, but in the darkness he collided with
another man. His fingers found his
adversary's arm and ran up it to his
throat, but before they could fasten in
fatal grip there was another flash Of
light, and a hot pang stabbed him in
the breast. There was a strange CUR
Cling in his lungs, a choking in his
throat, spinning dizziness in his head.
as he staggered over the mass in the
doorway and fell into the night.
Gardiner had reached the window
just in time to see Allan's gun trained
on the doorway. For an instant he
stood dumbfounded; there was some
thing uncanny in the sight of the young
man sitting there in silent. absolute
readiness for the attack. He drew
back TO warn Rifles, but he was too
late. At that moment the gun spoke (;
there was the sound of a heavy body
falling, and stified noises bore ample
evidence OF the accuracy of Allan's
aim. But even in that moment of I'M
certainty Gardiner had not lost
thought of their purpose, and his quick
eye took in the sleeping form of John
Harris and the location OF the leather
bag beside the wall. Without an in
staints hesitation he vaulted through
the window and, revolver in hand, be
gan TO steal his way softly toward the
treasure.
He had not taken three steps when
Allan plunged fun force into him. He
staggered with the shock. but recov-
cred himself only to find the young
farmers strong fingers clutching fer
his throat. 1t had been no part of
| GARDENERS plan that there should be
bloodshed in the carrying out of the
robbery, but he was a man of quick