The Elk Mountain pilot., 1922-05-25

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.
can't get me! Go back to hell! You
can't get mel I'll get you'll get
you! YOu-can't save the Miwaka
He drew back his arm and with all
his might hurled the fiashlight at
Alan. 1t missed and crashed some
where behind him. bu. did not go out;
the beam of light shot back and wa
vered and flickered over both of them.
as the torch rolled on the floor. Alan
rushed forward and, thrusting through
the dark, his hand struck the mans
chest and seized hts coat.
The man caught at and seized Al
ans arm; he seemed to feel of it and
assure himself of its realty.
"Fleshl Flesh!" he roared In re-
lief; and his big arms grappled Alan
AS they struggled. they stumbled and
fell to the floor, the big man under
meath. His hand shifted its hold and
caught Alan's throat; Alan got an ann
free and, with all his force. struck the
mans face, The man struck back
a heavy blow on the side of AIan's
head which dizzied him bu. left him
strength to strike again, and his
knuckles reached the mans face once
more, but he got another heavy blow
In return. The man was graphing
no longer; he swung Alan to one side
and off of him. and rolled himself
away. He scrambled to his feet and
dashed out through the library, across
the hall, and into the service room.
Alan got to his feet; dizzied and not
yet familiar with the house, he blum
dered against a wall and had to feel
his way along 1t to the service room |;
as he slipped and stumbled down the
stairway, a door closed loudly at the
end Of the corridor he had seen at
the foot of the stairs. He ran along
with spring lock, and seconds passed
while he felt in the dark for the catch :
he found 1t and tore the door open
and came out suddenly into the cold
air Of the night In a paved passage
way beside the house which led in one
direction 20 the street and in the
other to gate opening on the alley.
He ran forward to the street and
looked up and down, but found 1t emp.
ty; then he ran back to the alley. At
the end Of the alley, where 1t inter.
sected the cross street, the figure Of
the man running away appeared sud
NA ehc Ito
appeared; Alan. following as far M
the street, could see nothing more Of
him; this street too was empty.
He ran a little farther and looked,
then he went back to the house. The
side door had swung shut again and
latched. He lie. himself in at the front
door and turned on the light IN the
reading lamp in the library. The
electric torch still was burning on the
floor and he picked 1t up and extin-
guished IT.; he went upstairs and
brought down his shoes. He had seen
a wood fire set ready for lighting in
the library, and now he lighted 1t and
sa. before 1t drying his wet socks be-
fore he put on his shoes. He was still
shaking and breathing fast from his
struggle with the man and his chase
after him, and by the strangeness Of
what had taken place.
When the shaft of light from the
torch had flashed across Alan's face
in the dark library, the man had not
taken him for wha. he was-a living
person; he had taken him for a spec
ter. His terror and the things he had
cried out could mean only that. The
specter of whom? Not Of Benjamin
Corvet; for one of the things Alan
had remarked when he saw Benjamin
Corvet's picture was that he himself
did not look at all like his father. Be-
sides, what the man had said made 1t
certain that he did no: think the spec
ter was Ben: for the specter had
"got Ben" Did Alan look like some
one else. then? Like whom? Evi-
IDENTIFY like the man-now dead, for
ne had a ghost-who had got" Ben,
in .he big mans opinion. Who could
that he?
Alan got up and went to look at
himself in the mirror he had seen in
the hall He was white, now that the
flush Of the fighting was going; he
probably had been pale before with
excitement and over his right eve
thcre was round black mark. Alan
looked down at his hands; little
skin was off one knuckle, where he
h;d struck the man, and his fingers
wore slnutlged with black and sotty
lust. He hid smudged them on the
,urers rpsfrirS or else In feeling his
ny ahout the dark house. and at
suIiie time he had touched his fore
head and left the black mark. That
had been the ''bullet hole
The res- that the man had said had
heen a reference to some name; Alan
had nc trouble to recOllect the name,
~, while he did not understand II