The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-08-10
CHAPTER XI Victor to the Rescue.

 calamitous nature of his arrival | without turning his head or shifting his eyes. The Apaches could not see him, but from Andree's scream rather than from any change III Kane's emotionless face, they guessed what had intervened.
 Marechal himself grasped the sit | uation in a flash. Beyond Andree's shoulder he caught sight of Kane, automatic in hand, and he pictured the scene in the room beyond his | vision.
 He swept Andree into his embrace, ! her body acting as a shield in case Kane were to shoot at him. He tried 1 to drag the girl backward, up the | stairs, but partially succeeded; put the 1.-the, wiry creature fought like 1 a. young devil, scratching, trying to bite his hands. kicking futilvely with | her little boots.
 At the racket they made. apprehen- sive lest Marechal should actually be trying to kill the girl, Kane found it | impossible to avoid a single glance | backward at them; and on the in stant. poised for just such an oppor- | tunity, ChicoQ brought up a heavy | shoe and kicked over the table upon which the one oil lamp that lighted | the house. | HIS puIpOSe Ol PAuASAhS NAAS Aoc--~ | into darkness was foiled by the igni- | ton of the oil from the broken lamp, | which spread in a pool over the un- | even floor; but the leaping flames vIs- | ible, SO clothed them with wavering | shadows and haIf-lights that the eyes | were baffled.
 | Kane fired instantly at Chicoq, | and removed part of an ear; but the next instant he was obliged to meet | oF fha Apaches. 1 As the fellow lunged at him, knife | extended, and whining like an animal | in his eagerness, Kane swung upward | and over his knife hand, the heavy brass bnuckles laying open his entire | jaw, so that the blood spurted warmly | over Kane's left wrist. The Apache l dropped without a sound. Hencefortn | he would be sufficiently marked for police identification.
 There had been only a little oil in | the lamp, and the last pool nlckereo | out in a black, odorous smudge as the | Apache fell. Had the building been | a rich museum of world treasures, or | the home of a multimfNionaire, it | would no doubt have burned to the ground; but since it was a worthless shell of a house. its seasoned wood | work did not catch fire.
 | otllHu lllS HdAl, IAdhO SOuiu tell that Marechal was succeeding in
 overcoming Andree's resistance In I pitch darkness, no longer fearful of | Kane's gun, and able to devote him. self entirely to the dancing girl, he | was dragging her upstairs. There | was no possibility of going to her aid
 until Chicoq had been settled with
 and Kane savage1y turned toward his ! two remaining enemies.
 [ The technic of the game would
 have included the frisking of the Apaches for weapons by Andree. Kane
 understood that perfectly, but his
 fear for her safety, his anxiety to gel her out at all costs and with the least possible delay, had led him delfber-
 ately to omit this formality. As Ii had turned out, nothing would have | been gained, anyhow. for Marechars | unexpected entry had altered every | and she would have been well out
 side. In any case, she would very
 likely have walked straight into his
 arms down the road.
 So far as Kane was concerned. hi:
 situation was not at all desperate. H'
 had only to slip out of the house 1T
 the dark; but with Andree in Mare
 chars hands, he must settle with tht
 two Apaches in the quickest way, ant l go upstairs to her ald.
 The lonehand has certain obvious advantages. Merely by posting him
 se1ef at the door. Kane could des patch them at his ease as they triec
 to come out. They were obliged t,
 exert some caution in order not t,
 mistake each other for him; whiI . he had only to strike at any movini
 body. regardless of which it was But there was no time for an long drawn affair. He must clean u
 below-stairs, and do it now!
 Perfectly aware of the danger, h turned on his f1ashlight for tn
 merest fraction of a second. He hell
 it far out in his left hand. the on
 still adorned with brass knuckles.
 Transient as was the beam whic,
 exposed the bare room. the respons
 was imm ediate. On Kane's retin
 was focused the overturned table an, its shattered lamp, the still iner form of the Apache on whose jaw h
 had swung. and the other tw , crouched together on the far side o
 the room. From the hand of one
 not Chicoq, who held only the knif
 of his choice-traveled a thin spur - of smoke, and a bullet glanced fror Kane's brass knuckle even as n l snapped off the light.
 , Close shooting-better than he ha , | credited them w1th-thOught Kant as he fired three times times in re
 turn. There came yell, a, smothere
 cry, and the fall of heavy bod,
 which scrabbled on the rough floor t ing; then silence.
 Kane felt sure that he now ha
 only Chicoq to deal with, belowstaIr This resourceful gentleman had nc , lost a second in getting into actio1
 He had kicked off his sabots, an = with the wink of Kane's hash1ight II
 leaped forward. The first indicatio , lof the attack to Kane, cam, l when his right hand was seized in l grip of astonishing power. Instict
 lively and luckily. his left caugr 7. Chicoq's in a similar lock. Thus tn . gun of one and the knife of th
 other were blocked, and the men weI left straining and painting in tt
 pitchy darkness.
 Kane found that he could do n ;, more than hold his own against th '- Apache's animal-like strength Eve
 as he twisted and turned. seeking trip Chicoq, and fighting off his e l. forts to bury his teeth in Kane j, wrists, door slammed On the lan6