The Snowflake herald., 1923-01-12


leather wallet from the tree. =,
Curiosity alone stayed Simon's finger
as Bruce had opened it. He saw the
CLEAN of the white paper in the dim
light and then he understood.
Simon was a man of rigid, unwayer-
ing self-cOntrol and his usual way
was to look long time between the
sights before he fired. Yet the sight
of that document-the missing F0lger-.
Ross agreement on which had hung
victory or defeat-sent a violent I'M
pulse through all his nervous system.
For the first time i'll his memory his
reflexes got away from him.
1t had meant too much; and his nm
ger pressed back involuntarily against
the trigger. He had not taken his US
ual deliberate aim, although he had
seen Bruce'S figure clearly between
the sights the instant before he nred.
Simon was a rifieman, bred In the
bone, and he had no reason to think
that the hasty aim meant complete
miss He did realize, however, the
difficulties of night shooting-a real
i}izatiOn that all men who have fingered
after dusk In the duck blind expert
ence sooner or later-and he looked
up over his sights to see the result Of
his shot. His self-cOntrol had COM
pletely returned to him; and he was
perfectly cold about the whole matter.
From the first second he knew he
had not completely missed. He raised
his rifle to shoot again.
But Bruce's body was no longer re-
vealed. Linda stood in the way. 1t
looked as if she had deliberately
thrown her own body as shield be-
tween.
Simon spoke then-a single, terrible
oath of hatred and jealousy. But In
second more he saw his triumph.
Bruce swayed, reeled and fell in Lin
da's arms, and he saw her half-drag
him into the house.
He stood shivering, but not from
the cold that the storm had brought.
"Come on he ordered Young Bill.
Il think we've downed him for good,
but we've got to get that paper"
But Simon did not see all things
clearly He had little real knowledge
of the little drama that had followed
his shot from ambush.
| Human nature is full of odd quirks
and twists, and among other things.
symptoms are misleading. There is
an accepted way for men to act when
they are struck with a rifle bullet.
| They are expected to reel, to throw
| their arms wide, and usually to cry
out The only trouble with these ac-
| tons, as men who have been In bat
| tlefelds know very we'll, is that they
do not usually happen in real life.
| Bruce, with Linda's eyes upon him,
! took one rather long, troubled breath.
And he did look somewhat puzzled.
! Then he looked down at his shoulder.
I'm hit, Linda" he said in quiet
way. II think just a scratch"
! The tremendous shock of any kind
Of wound from a thirty-forty caliber
bullet had not seemingly affected him
! outwardly at all. Some hours were
! to pass before he completely under
! stood. The truth was that the shock
Of that rifle bullet, ordinarily striking
a blow of a half-ton, had cost him for
rhe moment an ability to make any
| logical Interpretation of events. The
girl moved swiftly, yet without giving
an impression of leaping, and stood
! very close and in front of him. In,
one lightning movement she had made
! Of her own body a shield for his, in
case the assassin In the covert should
shoot again.
! Her arms went about and seized
! his shoulders. "Stagger," she whis-
pered quickly. pretend to fall. It's
| the one chance to save you"
| He dispelled the mists in his own
brain and obeyed her. He swayed, and
! her arms went about him. Then he
| fell forward
Her strong arms encircled his waist
and with all her magnificent young
strength she dragged him to the door.
1t was noticeable, hOwever--to all
eyes except Bruce's-that she kept
her own body as much as she could
between him and the ambush In an
instant they were in the darkened
room. Bruce stood up, once more
wholly master of himself.
You're not hurt bad?" she asked
quickly.
mo. Just a dteD scratch in the
arm muscle near the shoulder Bullet
just must have grazed me. But it's
bleeding pretty bad"
Then there's no time to he lost.
Her hands in her eagerness went
again to his shoulder. Don't you
See-he'll be here in a minute. Wen
steal out the back door and try to
ride down to the courts before they
can Overtake US"
In one instant he had grasped the
idea; and he laughed softly in the
gloom. Il know. I'll snatch two
blankets and the food You get the
| horSn0