The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1922-04-21

drawers upstairs. He did not doubt
that this was the same man who had
gone through the desk; but since he
had already rifled the desks, what did
he want here now? AS the man moved
out of sight, Alan crept on down as
far as the door to the library; the
man had gone on into the rear room.
and Alan went far enough into the
library so he could see him.
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 it, 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. IL
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! On 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 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 it closely,
then snapped it back into the drawer,
went on to the next of the files. He
searched in this manner through half
a 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 bIasphemy burst from him.
The beam of light from the torch in
his hand swayed aside and back and
forth. Without warning, suddenly it
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 realizing
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 it checked Alan's 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:
'rD-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 me! I'll get you'll get
you! YOu-can't save the Miwakap p
He drew back his arm and with all
his might hurled the flashlight 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 fiickered 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 his 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 arm
free and, with all his force, struck the
mans face. The man struck back
heavy blow on the side of Alan's
head which dizzied him blu. 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 wall and had TO feel
his way along it to the service room I;
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
the corridor to the door it had closed
.a.h.k.h.ff.k.ff-f.ff! ff.ff-f1f.rf1fff-
TIT YEV DEF ICE TT