Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-09-15
(@k4heIeaeWa
X4R e.. e. So! &E 81 Is: ..,.,
By Louis
Joseph Vance

ping with him, two more seeking
to aid them, and another lay in the
roadway clutching a fractured skull
and suffering oaths and groans.
His stick was seized and wrenched
away, he vas overpowered by num-
bers. The knot of struggling figures
toEpled and went to the dust,
puchemin underneath, so weighted
down that he could o for the mo-
ment move a hand toward his pis-
toll.
Half-sti1ed by the reek of un-
Washed flesh, he heard broken
phrases growled in voices hoarss
with effort and excitement:
THE knife!". =. Hold him." -.
Stand clear and let me"
THE knife!"
Struggling madly. he worked a
leg free and kicked with all his
might. One Of his assailants howled
aloud and fell back to nurse a broked
shin. Two others scrambled out nf
the way, leaving n to pin him
down with knees upon his chest,
another to WELD the knife.
Staring eyes caught a warning
CLEAN on descending steel. Duche-
min squirmed frantically to one side,
and felt cold metal kiss the skin
over his ribs as the blade penetrated
his clothing, close under the armpit.
Before the man with the knife
could strike again, Duchemin,
reused to a mightier effort, threw off
the ruffian on his chest, got on his
knees and, raining blows right and
left as the others closed in again,
somehow managed to scramble to
his feet.
Fist-work told. For an instant he
stood quite free, the center of a
circle of uncertain assailants whose
c%owardice gave him time to whip
out his pistol. But before he could
level it a man was al his back, his
wrist was seized and the weapon
twisted from his grasp.
A cry OF triumph was echoed by
EXPLANATIONS of alarm as, disarmed
Duchemin was again left free, the
thugs standing back to let the pistol
do its work. In that instant a broad
sword of light swung round q near
by corner and smote the group; the
twin, glazing eyes of a motor car
flooded with blue-white radiance
thai tableau of one man at bay in the
middle of the road, in a ring Of
merciless enemies.
Duchemin's cry for help was ut
tered only an instant before his pis-
toll exploded in alien hands. The
headlights showed him distinctly the
face of the man who fred, the same
face of fat features black with SCOT
that he had seen by moonlight at
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS..
But the bullet went wild, and the
automobile did not stop, but drove
directly at the group and so swiftly
that the flash of the shot was still
vivid in Duchemin's vision when the
car swept between him and those
others. scattering them like chick
ems.
simultaneously the brakes were
set, the dark bulk began to slide
with locked wheels to a stop, and a
voice cried: Quick, monsieur,
quickly!"-the voice of Eve de Mon
talais.
In two bounds Duchemin overlook
The a and before it had come to a
stapdstill leaped upon the running
board and grasped the side. He had
n glimpse of the set white face
of Eve, as she bent forward, manipu-
lating the gear-shift. Then the pis-
tol spat again, it's bullet struck him
a blow of sickening agony in the
side.
Aware that he was dangerously
wounded, he put all that he had
left of strength and will into one
effort, throwing his body across
the door. AS he fell sprawling into
the tonneau consciousness departed
like a light withdrawn.
Continued in Next Issue)