Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1923-04-18


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 chung 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 were 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
and crept forward noiseleSsly again
| No other light appeared in the room,
and there was no sound elsewhere
| from the darkness but the man who
! supervised had moved closer to 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, stupefied 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 It,
| Then came the sound of the voice
the voice of the man whose face he
| had scent 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 his veins, 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 to 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 it now not as a 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-
toms leap-the man who had been
working moved his torch, and the
light fell upon Eaton.
"Look out v' the man cried inIalarm
| 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 1t 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
/ SllOI On the IIdSu VI
toward the ceiling. Instantly the grip
below his knees was loosed; the man
who had tackled him and hurled him
back had recoiled in the darkness.
Eaton got to his feet but crouched
and crept about behind a table, aim
ing his pistol over 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 a chair, corner
Of a desk and 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 If he stayed STILL