Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1924-07-02

whirl of arms and legs, of flying kimo-
nos,
A narrow space beaween the panels
showed that Kayama was surveying
the scene.
Here was excitement! Not to be
reckoned in the bill. There was moth
Ing to be feared from this drunken,
red-lidded-eyed white man, who wore
frayed pair of trousers under XII
mono that crept with vermin. In
deed, as one bandit whispered to his
fellow, the seiyo-jin (foreigner) was as
brown as themselvesI
But not until (by accident having
tripped, as he said afterward) the inn
keeper was forced to his back did as
sistance come One of the outlaws
staggered to his feet, visions of free
rice, wine giving him courage, and his
eating-knife made circles about the
milling pair.
The same impetus stirred the entire
room, and in split-second the in
truder was buried under an arm-wav-
ing, snarling, gouging heap, each
shouting valiantly to the others.
When the muddle of bodies slowly
detached from the PROSTATE whites,
KayamaSan ventured into the room.
The host was offering libation to the
rescuers (not that he had needed help,
but for their good Willy, who were
loud in explanation, detailed, as to
their particular part in the fighting.
The room was quickly righted. The
table was appended Two or three
helped the host to roll the inert figure
to dark corner The lamp, extin-
guished in the scuffle, was lighted
again, and as Kayama, curious, bent
to examine the white man it flared
starlike for an instant. For long
enough to make Kayama bend closer
and humble unbelievably to himself.
| The light was poor; he stopped
| lower. There was a cut above one eye,
where the outlaws knife had touched.
The face was tanned, a creamy brown,
sun-clear :. it might have been, with
| the exception of the bushy eyebrows,
| Kayama's Jwn. That the othc~s had
not seen the resemblance-m re, the
striking similarity, only the darkness
and the excitement had prevented
Kayama scratched his head, then
rolled the unconscious man over on his
face Then he grinned.
cts it permitted" he asked the host,
ITO take this to an inner room" He
stirred the body with a toe.
"WhyY' The most had ideas for i'm
mediate disposal of the white man to
some distant street. Questions might
be asked.
"Why? For money" He patted
Itoia's arm confidentially. "For money
and no talk"
The host shrugged his shoulders.
"For FIVE yen, l agree"
Kayama's eyes lit with the joy of
bargaining. 1.-TWO"
"Four."
| Finally they agreed upon three yen,
twenty sen, Itoia muttering that in
the old days, when gentleman had
something to be done, he did not
haggle like shopkeeper from the Chi
nese quarter.
Kayama dragged and showed the In
ert form Of the white man along a
labyrinthine corridor. Finally he
dropped the lax figure upon a dingy
notified brownish-yellow mating that
had once been a pure chrome. He
knelt beside him, immobile as q
temple Unexpectedly sober-his
bloodless skin pale as the vellum Of
! the kakemonO in the sacred corner.
his watchful eyes, intensely bright in
their deep sockets, showing something
of the excitement under which he was
laboring.
AS ne watched thoughts scudded
through his brain. 1t could be done
1t would need care but it was
possible. He remembered the deep
tones of the fellows voice. Like his
ownl
Kayama was galvanized into action
Time pressed. Bit by bit, with CULVER
ing fingers, he plucked hairs from the
others eyebrows, until they were as
narrow and as curving as his own. He
pulled off the ragged, dirty kimono,
slipped the remnant of shirt beneath
over the mans head, fumbling a mo-
ment with uncertain fingers to loosen
a pair of gold cuff links; scrutinized
the broad chest earnestly. Exploring
fingers ran along his own chest. With
the span of his hand he measured this
hidden thing for size, for position,
drawing the resultant figure upon the
floors dirt: a Jagged lightninglike
scar.
Satisfied at last, after changing the
figure twice. he drew the knife from
his sleeve, and with the pattern in the
dust as model, traced with quick
sharp strokes The design upon the
! white mans chest. Blood spurted.
This he staunched with more dust
from the floor, giving the wound the
appearance of age. The white man