New Britain herald., 1922-03-22

 and his thumb slipped by mistake in- to her mouth. She promptly clamped down hard on the thumb. With q yell Rafe released his grip on her body and worked thumb and ring finger Into her checks in frantic ef- fort to force open her locked jaws,
 He jumped back against the wall dragging her with him, and began to shake her as dog does a rat And then the old Terry clock did that for which 1t surely must have been orig inally made. For. as his shoulders struck the wall, his head knocked away the bracket that held the clock. Invountarily he ducked his head, It was the worst thing he could have done, giving, as it did. the clock an extra foot to fall. It fell. One corner struck him fairly on the temple and knocked him cold as wedge
 When Hazel's reeling senses had re established their equilibrium she found herself on the floor, lying across the inert legs of Rafe Tuckleton. She raised herself on her two arms and looked at him. He was breathing very lightly,
 She dragged herself on hands and knees to where he had thrown his six shooter
 Rafe groaned a little. He rolled over and sat up, his chin sagging for l'ward on his chest. He moved his head and looked at her vacantly, The blood ran down his cheek and dripped slowly off his chin.
 The light of reason glared of a sudden in Rafe's eyes. She could see that he was absorbing the situation from every angle.
 "Ill give you five minutes to pull yourself together and get out" she announced clearly. If you're still here by the time I've counted three hundred I'll begin to shoot"
 Rafe started to go by the time she reached sixty. With the six-shooter pointing at the small of his back, her finger on the trigger, step by step she drove him out of the house to where he had left his horse.
 Hazel watched him ride away and after a little become as one with the moonlit landscape. She walked back to the house. She felt that she was taking enormous strides. In reality she was stepping short and staggering badly. She went into the kitchen She closed the door, dropped the bal into place and fell into the nearest chair.
 My God!" she said aloud, T won- der what will happen next?"
 CHAPTER XIV. | Now that we've got Dan out of jail." the district attorney battered on we've got to glom onto Bill Wingo and the sooner the better. Me, I'm going out to Walton's tonight and question Hazel"
 We'll go," said Sam Larder de- cidedly. T ain't heap attracted by your methods with the ladies, and intend to see the girl gets a square deal" . Me too," chimed in Felix Craft. l The district attorney was none toe well pleased and showed it.
 The moon was high in the heavens when the three men came to the mouth of the draw leading to the WalLOn ranCn. A quarter-mlle up tnlS draw they came upon man stand ing beside a horse. He proved to be the town marshal, Red Herring.
 Tt ain't necessary for you to be watching the Walton ranch" said the crotchety district attorney.
 T got as much right to the rewart as the next one. guess" f1ared tic marshal. If I wanna watch the ranch. I guess I got a right to dc that. too You don't want to cherish any idea that you own the earth and me, too, Artie Rale!
 Two hundred yards short of the