The Ely miner., 1923-04-13


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 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 1t.
! 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 it 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 elec-
trio torch
|
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 inaudibIe 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
tC 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 sharp
click; the men, side by side, were
bending over something: and the light
of the man who had been working,
for fraction of a second shot into
the face of the other He muttered
some short, hoarse imprecation, but
before Eaton heard the voice, he mad
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 1t.
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 ma. 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 mpty his
automatic pistol f 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 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-breathing 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-
! working moved his torch, and the
light fell upon Eaton.
Look out I" 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 tackline
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 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
cIung with his right hand to the pistol
: and as he struck the floor, the pisto
: shot off the flash of flame spurtet
: toward the ceiling. Instantly the griI
below his knees was loosed; the lnaT
;. who had tackled him and hurled hin
: back had recOiled in the darkness
: Eaton got to his feet but croucheC
: and crept about behind table. aim
!" ing his pistol over 1t in the direction
= in which he supposed the other mer
: must be. The sound Of the shot hat
:, ceased to roar through the room; tn,
= gases from the powder only made tn,
= air heavier The other two men il
;. the room also waited, Invisible ant
: silent. The only light, in the grea
. curtained room. came from the singh
electric torch lying on TIE floor. Thi
: lighted the legs of chair, corne
of desk and circle of books In th
:. cases on the wall. AS Eaton's eye
became more accustomed to the dark