The daily Alaskan., 1922-06-13


 flew up. and the man damned It as though it had startled him; then. after an instant, he pulled it down again.
 Alan crept still farther down and at Inst caught sight of him. He was big, yOung-loOking man, with broad shoulders and very evident vlgori Alan guessed his age at thIrty-fve; he was handsome-he had a straight forehead over daring. deep-set eyes; his nose, lips and chin were power fully formed; and he was expenslvely and very carefully dressed. The light by which Alan saw these thinFs came from a flat little pocket searchlight that the man carried in one hand which threw little brilliant circle of light as he directed lt; and now, as the light chanCed to fall on his other hnnd-pOwerfu and heavily muscled Allan recOllected the look and size of the finger prints on the chest Of drawers upstairs. He did no' doubt tbnt this was the same man who had gone through the desk; hut since he had already rlfled 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 go he could see him.
 He had pulled open one of the draw CTS 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 It's contents and examining them. He went through one after another of thr drawers of the tahle like thls; after examining them, he rose and kicked the last one shut disgustedly; he stood looking about the room ques- tinningly. then he started toward the front room.
 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 lmpatiently into the draw CTS. he slammed th"m shut. one nfrpr another. He straiGhtPned and stared about. "D-n Ben! D-n Ben" he calculated viu .ntly and returned to the rear room. Alan. again following him found him on his knees In front of one of the drawers under the hook. cnseS. As he continued searching through the drawers. his irritation be- came grpnter and grenter. He ierked one drawer entirely out of Its case, and the contents flew In every dlrec- ton; swearing al It. hp gathered up fine letters. One suddenly caught his attention he began reading It closely, then snapped it back Into the drawer, crammed the rest on top of IL, and vent on tn the next nf the files He RenrchPd In this manner through half q dozen drawers. pln!nly finding noth' Ing al an he wanted he dragged some ut the books from their cases, felt be hind them and showed back some of ihe books but dropped others on the floor and bluSphemy 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 gleamed Into AL ans face. the mun looked that way and saw him.
 The effect of this upon the man was so strange and SO bewlldering 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 rOarcd out something in a hollow thick with fear and hor- TOT; he seemed to choke with terror. l 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 grlpped swayed back and forth and showed him Alan again, and he raised his arm before his face as he reCoiled.
 The consternatiOn of the man was SD complete that II checked Alan's rush i toward him: he halted, then advanced i silently and watchfully. As he went forward. and the light shone upon his face again, the big man cried out | hOarsely:
 "D-n you, d--n you, with the hole above your eyel The bullet got you ! i And now you've got Ben! But you can't get me! Go back to hell You cant get me! Fl get you-IH get | you! Y0u-cnn't save the Miwaka" (Continued on Thursday)