The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1923-05-25

that man, and what he was after now
was the same thing Eaton was after.
He drew his pistol, and loosing the
safety, he made it ready to fire with
his left hand, he cling to the short,
heavy jimmy. He stepped into the
great room through the curtains, and
treading nOiselessly in his stocking
feet, he advanced upon the man, NOV
ing forward In each period Of dark
ness between the flashes Of the cleo
trio torch.
Now, at the further side Of the
room, another electric torch flashed
out. There were at least two men in
the room, working tOgether--or rather,
one was working, the other super
vising; for Eaton heard now a steady,
almost inaudible grinding noise as the
second man worked. Eaton halted
again and waited If there were two,
there might be others.
His pulses we're beating faster and
hotter, and he felt the blood rushing
to his head and his hands growing
cold with his excitement but he was
conscious OF no fear. He crOuched
ana crept forward noiscleSsly again.
No other light appeared in the
ana there was no sound elsewhere
from the darkness but the man who
supervised had moved closer 10 the
other. The grinding noise had
stopped; it was followed by a sharp
click; the men, side by side, were
bending over something and the light
of the man who had been working,
for a fraction OF a second shot into
the face of the other. He muttered
some short, hoarSe imprecation, but
before Eaton heard the voice, he had
stopped as If struck, and his breath
had gone from him.
His instant's glimpse Of that face
%astounded, stunned, stupefed him.
He could not have seen that man! The
fact was impossible! He must have
been mad his mind must have become
unreliable TO let him even imagine 1t.
Then came the sound of the voice
the voice Of the nan whose face he
had seen, 1t was he! And, in place
Of the paralysis of the first instant,
now a wild, savage throe Of passion
seized Eaton; his pulses leaped so 1t
seemed they must burst hiAyeins, and
he gulped and choked. He had not
filed in with insane fancy the fea-
lures Of the man whom he had seen
the voice witnessed too that the man
in the dark by the wall was he whom
Eaton-if he could have dreamed such
a fact as now had been disclosed
would have circled the world to catch
and destroy: yet now with the de-
struction of that man IN his power
for he had but 10 aim and empty his
automatic pistol at five paces-such
destruction at this moment could not
suffice; mere shooting that man would
be petty, Intellectual. Eaton's fingers
frightened on the handle OF his pistol,
but he held 1t now not as q weapon
to fire but as a dull weight with which
to strike. The grip of his left hand
clamped onto the short steel bar, and
with lips notwithstanding once, 1t
seemed, for each heartbeat and yet
choking, suffocating-he leaped for
ward. /
At the same instant-so that he
could not have been alarmed by Ea-
tons leap-the man who had been
working moved his torch, and the
light fell upon Eaton.
Look out :" the man cried in alarm
TO his companion with the word the
torch vanished.
The man toward whom Eaton rushed
did not have time to switch off his
light; he dropped IT instead and as
Eaton sprang for him, he crOuched.
Eaton, as he struck forward, found
nothing; but below his knees, Eaton
felt a mans powerful arms tackling
him; as he struggled to free himself,
a swift. savage lunge lifted him from
his feet he was thrown and hurled
backward.
Eaton ducked his head forward and
struggled to turn, as he went down,
so that a shoulder and not his head
or back would strike the floor first
He succeeded in this, though In his
effort he dropped the jimmy. He
chung with his right hand to the pistol,
and as he struck the floor, the pistol
shot off; the flash Of flame spurted
toward the ceiling. Instantly the grip
below his knees was loosed; the man
who had tackled him and hurled him
back had rccoiled in the darkness.
Eaton got TO his feet but crouched
and crept about behind a table, aim
ing his pistol eel 1T IN the direction
In which he supposed the other men
must be. The sound Of the shot had
ceased to roar through the room; the
gases from the powder only made the
air heavier. The other two men in
the room also waited, Invisible and
silent. The only light. in the great
~curtained room. came from the single
electric torch lying on the floor. This
lighted the legs OF n chair. q corner
Of q desk and a circle Of books In the
cases on the wall. As Eaton's eyes
became more accustomed to the dark
ness, he could see vague shapes of
furniture. If a man moved, he might
be made out; but IL he stayed still,