The Holly chieftain., 1922-06-01

into the hall to the head Of the stairs,
where he looked down and listened.
From here the sound of some one NOV
Ing about came to him distinctly; he
could see no light below. but when he
ran down to the turn Of the stairs, 1t
became plain that there was very
dim and fickering light In the library.
He crept on farther down the stair
case. His hands were cold and moist
from his excitement and his body was
hot and trembling.
Whoever 1t was that was moving
about downstairs. even II he was not
one who had q right to be there, at
least felt secure from interruption.
He was going with heavy step from
window to window: where he found a
shade up. he pulled 1t down brusquely
and with a violence which suggested
great strength under nervous strain /;
shade. which had been pulled down.
few up, and the man damned 1t as
though II had startled him; then. after
an instant. he pulled II down again.
Alan crept still farther down and at
last caught sight Of him. He was II
btg. young-looking man. with broad
shoulders and very evident vigor;
Alan guessed his age at thirty-five; he
was handsome-he had straight
forehead over daring. deep-set eyes j;
his nose. lips and chin were power
fully formed; and he was expenslvely
and very carefully dressed. The light
by which Alan saw these things came
from fiat little pocket searchlight
that the man carried In one hand.
which threw a little brilliant circle Of
light as he directed 1t; and now. as
the light CHANGED to fall on his other
hnnd-pOwerful and heavily muscIed
Alan recollected the look and size
of the finger prints on the chest Of
drawers upstairs. He did not doubt
that this was the same man who had
gone through the desk; but since he
had already rifed the desks, what did
he want here now? AS the man moved
out Of sight. Alan crept on down MS
far as the door to the library; the
man had gone on into the rear room.
and Alan went far enough into the
~ itC NOulu oCC hilhs
He had pulled open one of the draw.
ers In the big table in the rear room
and with his light held so high as to
show what was In 1t. he was tumbling
over Its contents and examining them.
He went through one after another of
the drawers Of the table like this; !;
after examining them, he rose and
kicked the last one shut disgustedly;
he stood looking about the room ques-
tioningly, then he started toward the
front room.
He had, as yet, neither seen nor
heard anything to alarm him. and as
he went to the desk in the front room
and peered impatiently into the draw
ers, he slammed them shut. one after
another. He Strengthened and stared
about. "D-n Ben! D--n Benz" he
calculated Violently and returned to
the rear room. Alan, again following
him. found him on his knees in front
of one Of the drawers under the book
cases. AS he 4. continued searching
through the drawers. his irritation be-
came greater and greater. He jerked
one drawer entirely out of Its case,
and the contents flew In every direc-
ton; swearing at It, he gathered up
the letters. One suddenly caught his
attention; he began reading 1t closely,
then snapped 1t back into the drawer,
crammed the rest on top Of 1t, and
went on to the next Of the files. He
searched In this manner through half
dozen drawers, plainly finding moth.
ing at all he wanted; he dragged some
of the books from their cases, felt be-
hind them and showed back some Of
the books but dropped others on the
floor and blasphemy burst from him.
The beam Of light from the torch in
his hand swayed aside and back and
forth. Without warning, suddenly 1t
caught Alan as he stood In the dark
of the front room; and as the dim
white circle of light cleaned into Al
ans face, the man looked that way
and saw him.
The effect Of this upon the man was
SO strange and so bewildering to Alan
that Alan could only stare at him.
The big man seemed to shrink into
himself and to shrink back and away
from Alan. He rOared out something
in below thick with fear and hor-
ror; he seemed to choke with terror.
There was nothing In his look akin to
mere surprise or alarm at renlizing
that another was there and had been
seeing and overhearing him. The
light which he still gripped swayed
back and forth and showed him Alan
again. and he raised his arm before
his face as he recOiled.
The CONSERVATION of the man was
so complete that 1t checked Alans rush
toward him; he halted, then advanced
silently and watchfully. AS he went
forward, and the light shone upon his
face again, the big man cried out
hoarsely:
"D-n you, d-n you, with the hole
above your eye The bullet got you !!
And now you've got Ben! But you