The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-08-09

 Kane was on the outside of a build ing containing an unknown number of armed desperadoes, and he was a,i unauth horized agent acting entirely on his own risk.
 His instinct brought him at length beneath a small, dark window at the rear of the house. It was unsnu,- tered. and his fingers made out that it's glass paneS were unproKen; aiso, that it was locked.
 Listening intentIy, and failing to hear any sound within, save the now almost inaudible murmur of the voices from the other side Of the
 house, Kane drew from pocket ring set with a diamond solitaire Firmly, and with only the faintest dry l scratching, he cut little nalr-rnoon | in the glass directly over the upper | middle half of the window. He next produced little strip of surgeons plaster. which he breathed upon and attached to the glass, so
 that it covered the deep circular | groove he had, made. A sharp tap with his knuckles and the moon- shaped segment of glass swung loose | ly, attached to the rubber tape.
 Through the opening he inserted | thumb and finger, and cautiously turned the catch.
 | All this was much quicker and easier than raising the window itself.
 Quitely evidently this latter operation | had not been done for a long time | The frame was warped, and stuck ob- | sttRately. Even to raise it at all was no easy task, and he had to do so with | the minimum of noise. Of cousre, | with the beautiful little folding jimmy | of duraluntin which he had, with
 other compact and high speed tools of his craft, dropped into the North | River before leaving New York. it would have been easy enough With
 his bare hands, it was not. Much knowledge of the anatomy | of windows, coupled with patience
 and unusual strength, won at length
 Kane stood presently upon the stone floor of a damp and empty kitchen The room extended the width of the house. It contained an enormous table some rude chairs, and a great cold fireplace. Not daring to use his
 flashlight at first, it took him some time to cover 1t all foot by foot. Not until he had done so did he venture, | holding the flash light extended far
 to one side, to snap it on. Its beams i added nothing to his information.
 Many cobwebs. some old battered l stew pans, hanging on the wall, | shelves containing broken crockery- | nothing else.
 | He pocketed his light. and moved | toward the door which led to the | front of the house.
 l To his immense relief, it was un- | locked. He had strengthened out
 and filed down a buton-hook in his
 room at the hotel, fashioning a rude I fly effective skeleton key; but a
 glance at the immense iron lock on
 the thick plank before him showed | how futile this would have been | against the fabrication of some de- | parted village smith.
 With little difficulty he turned the
 latch and slipped through. He left | the door ajar, that it and his forced
 window might form an emergency | line of retreat. He even returned
 and placed some of the heavy chairs
 directly in front of the door, to form | a temporary obstacle to any pur- | suers rushing after him from the | lighted room, and certain to blunder | into the cha oirs in the dark. He | fixed their position in his own mind {;
 then, for the first time slipping the
 brass knuckles over his left hand,
 and with the little automatic in his
 right, he returned to the hall, to | that part of the house which con-
 tained the object of his visit. | Standing there, he rapidly scanned | the layout.
 I EVlQenIly there were put TWO IOOIllS
 on the ground floor From the
 one in front, through a ,falf-opened
 door, the voices he had before heard
 indistinctly were now plainly audi b1e. He could make out only an occasional word, however, since the talk was in that Apache jargon
 which is comprehensible to few Pari-
 sians.
 As before. there seemed to be two | oh h | name once or twice; but-and the
 blood raced in his steady arteries there was now an addition an occa- sional phrase, more like a broken soE than words, from woman, and the
 voice was Andree's!
 Leading up from the hall at the end
 of which he stood was a short flight of stairs. He very much wished that he might explore this upper region
 to learn if it were tenanted, and by
 whom. Kane detested leaving any loose ends. Engaged below, in the front room, as he soon would be. he
 did not wish his attention divided by
 the possibility of re-enforcements
 down that stairway.
 It was hardly to be expected that
 he could steal past the door unde-
 tected, but the proposed to try. If he
 failed, it would merely precipitate the climax. Not a sound came from
 above; but for all he knew, there
 might be three or four of Chicoq's assassins asleep up there Silent a:
 a cat on his rubber so1es. he be. gan to edge down the dimly lighted | hall.
 , Could he have understood the con- versation taking place in the front room, he would have been greatly
 intrigued. Chicoq sat in there witt , Andree and two of his tribe. En-
 ragged at the girls steadfast scorn ot , himself, the hatred which always glowed in her eyes when he was ir , her presence, he was consumed b,
 the desire to hurt her. He cou16
 have done that in a physical sense . easily enough, at any timex but he
 was cunning enough to realize that there were keener weapons in his armory.
 Il While Kane stood almost within arms reach of the door, the Apache leader, seated before Andree. his ho ] breath in her face uyas telling he,