The Glenwood post., 1923-03-15
sy UNI, BROWN, AND COMPANY.


slip his Jimmy under the bottom of
the sash, the window, to his amaze
ment, opened silently upon its hinges !;
it had not been locked. The heavy
curtains within hung just in front of
him he put out his hand and parted
them. Then he started back in aston
ishment and crouched close to the
ground; inside the room was a man
moving about, flashing an electric
torch before him and then exploring
an instant in darkness and flashing
his torch again.
Eaton had not been at all prepared
for this; now he knew suddenly that
he ought to have been prepared for it
If the man within the room was not
the one who had attacked him with
the motor, he was closely allied with
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 1t ready to fire; with
his left hand, he clung 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
tric 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 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 lis hands growing
cold with his excitem ent but he was
conscicrs 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
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 seen. 1t was he! And, in place
of the paralysis of the first instant,
now wild, savage throe of passion
seized Eaton; his pulses leaped so it
seemed they must burst his veins. and
he gulped and choked. He had not
filled in with insane fancy the fea-
lures of the man whom he had seen;
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 1t now not as weapon
to fire hut as n dull weight with which
TO strike. The grip of his left hand
clamped onto the short steel bar. and
with lips parted-breathing once, 1t
seemed for each heartbeat and yet
choking, suffocatlng-he leaped for
ward.
AT the same instnnt-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 hif
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 mans powerful arms tacklini
him; as he struggled to free himself
swift savage lunge lifted him from
! his feet; he was thrown and hurled
backward.
Eaton ducked his head forward ant
struggled to turn. as he went down
so that shoulder and not his heat
or back would strike the floor first
He succeeded in this, though In hi
effort he dropped the Jimmy HI
clung with his right hand to the pistol
nnd as he struck the floor. the pisto
shot of: the fash Of fame spurtet
toward the ceiling. Instantly the gril
below his knees was loosed; the mai
who had tackled him and hurled hin