Belt Valley times. [volume] (Armington, Mont.) 1894-1977, 1923-04-12

He drew his pistol, and loosing the
safety, he made II ready to fire: with
| bis left hand. he chung { o the short.
. heavy Jimmy. He stepped into the
great room through the curtains. and
freading noiselessly In his stocking
feet he advanced upon the man.
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.
n was working. the other super
wishing; for Eaton heard now = steady.
almost inaudibls grinding noise as the
second mar worked. Eaton halted
again and waited; If there were two,
thec 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 1t 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. hoarss imprecation. but
before Eaton heard the voice, he had
stopped as II struck, and his breath
had gone from him.
His instant's glimpse of that face
~astounded. stunned, stupened him.
He could not have Q e that a The
fact was IMPOSSIBLE He must have
been mad his mind must have become
unreliable 10 let him even imagine It.
Then came the sound Of the voice
the voice Of the man whose face he
had seen II WAS he And, In place
of the paralysis Of the first instant.
now a wild. savage throe Of passion
seized Eaton; his pulses leaped 30 1t
seemed they must burst his veins, and
he gulped and chokad. He had not
filled 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-
structlon 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 IL 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 parted-bresthing once. IL
seemed. for each heartbeat and yet
sufrocating-he leaped for
ward.
At the same instant-so that he
could not have been alarmed by Ea-
leap-the man who had been
working moved his torch, and the
light fell upon Eaton.
"Look out !" the man cried In alarm
his companion; with the word the
orch vanished.
The man toward whom Eaton rushed
lid not have time to switch or his
light; he dropped 1t instead; and as
eaton sprang for him. he crouched.
Cation, as he struck forward, found
but below his knees. Eaton
cit a mans powerful arms tackling
lin as he struggled to free himself,
swift, savage lunge lifted him from
'ackward.
Eaton ducked his head forward and
truggled to turn, as he went down,
o that a shoulder and not his head
r back would strike the floor first.
fe succeeded in this, though In his
fort he dropped the Jimmy. He
lung with his right hand TO the pistol,
as he struck the floor, the pistol
hot of the flash Of flame spurted
,ward the ceiling. Instantly the grip
dow his knees was loosed: the man
had tackled him and hurled him
ack had recoiled In the darkness
atom got to his feet but crouched
crept about behind a table, aim
Is his pistol over II in the direction
which he supposed the other men
Iust be. The sound Of the shot had
to roar through the o the
asses from the powder only made tho
Ir heavier. The other two men In
Ie oom also waited. invisible and
lent. The only light. In the great
room, came from the single
ectric torch lying on the floor. This
GIFTED the legs of a chair, q corner
a desk and a circle of books In the
SEES OF the wall. As Eaton's eyes
came more accustomed 10 the dark
he could see vague shapes OF
rniture. II a man moved. he might
made out; but II he stayed still.
obabiy he would remain indIstin-
Iishable.
The other men seemed also to have
cognixed this 7; no one moved In the
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