Iron County news. [volume] (Hurley, Wis.) 1913-1950, 1923-05-26
CHARLES ]. BUTTON
r,,v,szht Isa By DOdd. Mead & Co. ins.
CHAPTER VI-continued.

rl- The boxes lined the walls to
baigbt of six feet on all sides. A
sgaratte stubs on the dirt floor
owed that some one had been smok-
bur here was nothing to indicate
- he might have been. AS he
60 his examination, BARLEY said,
q moss we may as well 60 now"
mad taken of my hat when | en-
800 the vault. and placed 1t on one
+5a boxes. and now when | looked
or II could not find it. 1t occurred
me that il must have fallen behind
tox. and, taxing Bartley's torch,
-irbed upon the box and flashed
~ pgh+ into the niche behind the one
on which I thought l had laid it.
Ttera IT lay. As l reached for it my
fsns came In contact with something
hard I knew, even as my fingers
groped for the object. that 1t was a
revolver. Climbing down from the
box ! vent up to BARLEY.
look what / found!" l exclaimed.
aWhere did you get that?" he asked
excltedly as he took 1t from me.
told him of my hat falling behind
me boxes, and how the revolver had
bpen In the niche back of them. There
seemed no reason fer his being so ex-
cited over the find, but his next words
enlightened me.
THAT'S the gun that was in Sykes
hand this morning. l recognize the
.-F,,r no harrn1 -
But how did it get there?" l aS-;ed
In wonder
II don't know" was the reply. at
looks as If the person that threw 1t
back Of the boxes, did it to hide it.
He NAV intend to come for 1t later"
To my surprise, he bent over sud
denly and blew out the lantern. In
second the vault was in darkness.
Currle started to demonstrate, but
warning whisper from BARLEY stopped
him.
Both Of you get back of that door
at once. There is someone outside.
Don't make a move or sound. /
think he is going to come in"
heard Currie mutter i'll surprise
as we CROPPED our way behind the
door AT first 1 could hear nothing;
then on the other side of the wooden
door I heard some one stumble and
hand tumble for the lock. What
could it mean? If the truck had come
back for another load we were in a
bad fix indeed The men who had
dred at us before would not hesitate
to shoot 10 kill this time, and when
We We're missing gao one would think
to search for us in this vault. In a
fight, the odds were heavily against
US. as Barley alone was armed.
Currle and myself had been placed
by Barley so that when the door
opened we would be hidden by it. He
ii took pp his position on the other side,
crouChing fiat against the wall. 1t
was too dark to make out his figure,
or even that of Currle at my side. I
listened to his uneasy breathing, and
for second wondered what he was
thinking about.
Whoever was opening the door had
no fear Of making a noise He STUN
bed into the vault and swung the
door behind him with little click.
81 Then q slit Of light pierced the dark
less and we crouched against the
wall scarcely daring to breathe, ex-
peetlng every moment that he would
see us. Just what he had come for
l never knew. He played the light
rather aimlessly along the walls, then
# turned In onto the floor. All at once
It paused and I heard an astonished
g2sp. No wonder for the light was
resting on Bartleys shoes.
Tie next second he had extin-
gashed it and was making for the
aocr Almost before he had moved,
6aFliey had flashed on his own torch
ana was saying, Put up your hands.
have You covered"
The light in Bartley's hand had
been focused on the mans body, leav.
mg DIS face in darkness. As he be-
gan 10 move it upward to his face, the
A made q swift, flying dive at
h..ieE legs. The attack was so
s-4ae1 that he was taken unawares,
5l4 .aey fell to the floor together. AS
o@'leE went down, he struck the but
-" 'i his torch and extinguished it,
ea'as Us In darkness. We could
a5a' me TWO men thrashing about on
."s 4a2r put could not tell who was
Sung tae best Of It, Then 1 renem-
el me lantern and searched for
S he.shtiag 1t, I held it above
Aea1 so that the light fell on the
hartley was sitting on the man
L Pa attacked him. his face and
me sA.- streaked with dirt and a
'saaening over one eye, but he
Milling He directed me to fnd
81 aa7 which had rolled half under
ana relight it. When I had
n he rose to his feet, and.
e man up with him. told me
s0T the light on the face Of his
have look at this chap
black, scowllng face. and
eyes that blinked angrilv.
cried. why, its Sykes