Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1921-06-16

Both Of them breathed hard in the
quiet room. Cranston was trembling
now. shivering Just a little In his arms
and shoulders Don't get me wrong.
Lennon" he warned.
And don't have any delusions In re-
gard TO me, either" Lennon replied.
I've stood worse pain from this acci-
dent than any man can give me while
! yet live. no matter what he does. II
you want 20 get on me and hammer
me in the approved Cranston way. !
can't defend myseif-but you won't
get a civil answer out Of me. I'm used
20 pain. and ] can stand IL. I'm not
used to fawning to q coyote like you.
and can't stand It"
But Cranston hardly heard. An idea
had famed In his mind and cast q red
glamor over all the scene about him.
II was instilling a poison In his nerves
and a madness In his blood. and Il was
soaring him, like fire. In bis dark
brain. Nothing seemed real. lie sud-
denly bent forward. tense.
4hut yOux hC S&A40s
But you'd be q little more polite IL II
was Snowbird-and Dan-that would
have to pay"
Perhaps the color faded slightly IN
Lemons facet but his voice did not
change.
They'll see your footprints before
they come in and be ready" LennOx
replied evenly. They always come In
by the back way. And even with a
pistol. Snowbirds a match for you"
"Did you think that was what I
meantr' Cranston scorned. 81 know a
way to destroy those letters. and I'll
do tin the four seconds that ! said,
unless you tell. I'm not even sure I'm
goin' TO give you a chance TO tell now;
It's too good n scheme. There won't
be any witnesses then to yell around
in the courts. What II I choose to set
fire to this houseT'
cit wouldn't surprise me a great
deal. It's your own trade" Lennox
shuddered once On his place on the
floor.
II wouldn't have to worry about
those letters then, would II They are
somewhere In the house. and they'd be
burned to ashes. But that isn't all
that would be burned. You could may
be crawl out, but you couldn't carry
the guns. and you couldn't carry the
pantry full Of food. You're nearly
eighty miles up here from the nearest
occupied house, with two pair Of
snowshoes for the three Of you and
one dinky pistol. And you can't walk
at all. It would be O nice pickle,
wouldn't III Wouldn't you have q fat
chance Of getting down to civiliza-
tionr
The voice no longer held steady. II
trembled with passion. This was no
idle threat The brain had already
seized upon the scheme with every In
tention Of carrying It out. The Will
derness lay stark and bare, stripped Of
all delusion-not only in the snow
world outside but In the hearts Of
these two men. its sons.
81 have only one hope" Lennox re-
piled. II hope, unknown to me, that
Dan has already dispatched those let
tiers. The arm Of the law Is long,
Cranston. It's easy to forget that fact
up hero. II will reach you In the
end"
Cranston turned through the door,
into the kitchen. He was gone q long
time. LennOx heard him at work ;
the crinkle Of paper and then a pour
ing sound around the wallis Then he
heard the sharp crack OF q match. An
instant later the first wisp Of smoke
came curling. pungent with burning
oil. through the corridor.
"You crawled from your couch to
reach that gun" Cranston told him
when he came in. Let's see you crawl
out now"
last. dread outpouring Of an unbroken
viii. He didn't look again at the gilt
tering eyes. He scarcely watched
Cranston's further preparations: the
oil poured on the rugs and furnishings,
the kindling placed at the base Of the
curtains. Cranston was trained In this
work. He was taking no chances on
the FIRE being extinguished- And Len
nox began to crawl toward the door.
He managed to grasp the corner Of
the blanket on the divan as he went,
and he dragged Il behind him. Pain
wracked him, and smoke half-blinded
him. But he made Il at last And By
the time he had crawled one hundred
feet over the snow crust the whole
structure was In flames The red
tongues spoke with a roar.
Cranston. the hre-madness On his
face hurried 20 the outbuildingA
There he repeated the work. he
touched q match to the hay in the
barn. and the wind flung the fame
through IL In an instant The sheds
and other outbufldings were treated
with oil And seeing that his WORK
was done. he called once to the prone
body Of LeEnox on the snow and
mnshed away into the silences.
Lemons answer vas not a curse
this time. Rather Il was q prayer. IN.
uttered. and In his long years Lennon
had not prayed often. When he
prayed at all. the words were burning
nre. His prayer was that Of Samson
that for a moment his strength
might come back to him.