Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1921-06-15

rendered me for the moment utterI,
helpless. was blinded, and so tightly
grasped at the throat as TO be nearly
strangled. / only diInIy realized that
my assailant was a man. his grip thar
of giant. Then, TO my surprise, the
/ fellow laughed oddly, swapping out his
light, and releasing his grip.
We'll, if this don't beat HILL" he
said, in the tone Of cheerful disgust.
Come in here and let me look you
over"
His hand closed on the sleeve Of my
coat, and before scarcely found time
TO catch my breath again i had been
! dragged through narrow opening and
became aware that door shut silent
ly behind me.
The fellow gave me little opportuni-
ty 10 either act, or think match
hared, and was held aIoft to a gas jet
which instantly broke into a dull fame.
sufficient to render visible the full ex-
tent Of the small room in which we
stood. In some semi-conscious way
was aware of bare walls. of a small
AeADAC Vl'BbG1tE WIN EDiBE NlAlAii% ma
terials on ii. and short bench covered
by a blanket. / suppose / saw these
things, yet all that / seemed TO per-
ceiye was the man fronting me. who
stared in my face, a quizzicaI smile on
his lips. as though still half uncertain
of the reality of my presence. He was
tall, trifle angular, but exceedingly
well-dressed, with closely trimmed
irOn-gray beard and peculiar eyes
deeply set In a rather chalky face. He
broke the silence, evidently inclined TO
look upon this meeting as joke.
Don't recognize me, reckon? Wei,
that amt to be wondered at, for likely
enough you never saw me before.
Beats the devil though why you
should drift In here; now l suppose it
will have TO be fifty-fifty."
His words and manner gave me a
new lease on life. Whoever the follow
might be he was seemingly friendly.
must meet the fellow In that same
spirit and endeayor to extract from
him some knowledge of whom he sup
posed me to be.
81 do not quite get the drift of all
this ventured. you imply that you
know me-"
"H-ll, yes Over in Bow Street. on
the other side. The Hartlebury rob-
berry case. I'd been hearing about you
for years, and when that came on, 1
took a chance and drifted into court
one day just to see what you looked
like. You've shaved your mustache,
and look ten years younger, but /
knew you, all right. ! never forget a
face. Say, who put you onto this game
-Waldron"
/ nodded. taking chance. I'D have
bet my life he was the guy. l might
have known he would double-cross me
some way. OF course a tips a tip in
this game, and l don't blame you for
horning in. Naturally you never knew
this was my game-how could you?
Waldron never said word about me,
did he?"
"Not once
".rhat is how had # sized up. so
don't hold any grudge against you.
Now listen" and he bent forward con-
Gdentially, lowering his voice, so
could barely distinguish the words
Wen talk It all over later, when we're
alone. 'Taint exactly safe here, for
these walls are thin, and there is quite
a bunch around tonight. There's plenty
for the two of us If we play the cards
Might. and Wen let Waldron hold the
bag. What do you say, Daly?"
So my name was "Daly." Well, that
was interesting at least, although IT
gave me no new light. However, moth /
ing remained for me to do except agree
to his blind proposition.
That's mighty handsome of you.
What's the fgureT'
"a million !" enthusiastically. "Wait /
until get a chance to explain the
plan; it looks like Providence had just
handed us out the money"
"Why not explain the scheme to
me-"
mot now; there amt time" He
glanced at his watch, "and besides, for
all ! know, some guy might be listen
ing In to what we say. You see there
is a bunch o hell-cats in there waiting
for me to give them a song and dsnfs. /
I'm the big end right now, but I've got /
TO sing low until I'm sure what word
these gays have got from Washington |
After that I'll know how to trim sail. |
You wait until / come back, DAILY, and /
then Wen plan this thing out. You
think I'm aiming 10 play fair. don't
you?"