The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1926-09-30

hand.
Under the light of the shaded hos.
pital lamp he examined his own.
Very carefully he ran over the
cards upon his handling Of which
the outcome hung. He studied each
In turn. There was the regular pre-
scription. At best it had proved
poor card. There was his hypo-
dermic needle on a white enameled
table, with its group of small bot
Ties Of tablets-gOod, at best. only
for the tiding over of an emergency
of weakened vitality. There was
adrenalin. There was q tank OF
oxygen. With 1t he could prolong
the struggle probably no more.
Surely 1t was poor hand ne neid.
Sitting silent he summed up his
adyersary's strength. There was
q failing heart, labored respira-
ton. obtunding nervous sensibility,
the delirium of fever-pOisoned
brain-four cards, any one Of which
meant victory for his opponent un-
less he himself could fill his hand
with better. He glanced at the
woman's husband, while his fingers
groped lightly for her thready pulse.
The husband was a young man.
His eyes met the doctors In the
dumb appeal of mental misery.
"How is she?" he framed with his
lips rather than spoke the question
in his brain.
The physician shook his head
slightly. Then with a steady hand
he made his first stake. Filling the
hypodermic with tablet In solution,
he deftly injected the contents into
the girls white arm.
Death paused ere he returned
the lead. Almost 1t seemed to the
Doctor that he hesitated before the
hold front Of the man against whom
he played. Very slowly the thread
of the pulse under examining fingers
gained volume. A half hope stirred
CORRESPONDENCE in his heart. He
glanced at the husband again, hest
tated, sensed the pulse once more
it faltered, was failing. Death
PLAYED his return-he had raised.
The husband came to the bed.
ITS there any hopper" he begged.
"There must be-" the doctor whis-
pered. He was making ready his
next play. Again the needle came
into use. It was adrenaliD he fed
under the pallid covering Of the
woman's arm. Again he sat down
and looked across at Death with q
grim defiance In his eyes.
Again Death raised.
Cold perspiration dewed the ply
sician's forehead. AS one acting
from predetermination he dropped
the regular medicine far back upon
the patients tongue.
Death scarcely noticed the action.
The effect was negative. 1t was as
though he leered above winning
hand.
SIS there any hope?" The voice
Of the husband again.
tits gambia GAMBLE The
physician heard himself answer
while his mind ran over the game
he played. He had been bluffing,
and Death knew it. OF what use
to bluff with Death? In his wearied
condition it came to half seem that
he could sense the grim specter
across the bed. In the dim light
his opponent took on the seeming
Of a personality. Selling the Oxy-
gen tank, he wheeled 1t to the bed,
adjusted its mask to the girls face.
Again 1t appeared that his adver-
sary paused. A little color crept
into the lips of the woman, her
chest heaved less painfully. But
would it-could 1t last? Way back
In his mind the Doctor knew that
ov,or y,ooro noofb yuo,,1d ro;e,o M
glanced at the husband. He was
his last card.
"She's a little better. isn't she?"
the younger man asked.
'She needs blood-blood," said
the Doctor hoarsely. "She needs
good, healthy blood. Boy-will you
give it to her"
''How?" The reply was eager,
firm.
With quick stride the Doctor
reached small table, drew it into
the ci1cle of light. He swept his
arm above the instruments upon It.
"So-fr0m your arm to hers-trans.
fusion" he returned.
The husband merely nodded, re.
moved his coat, began rolling back
his sleeves.
Little by little, as the man grew
paler, the woman's color improved.
Little by little the pulse under the
Doctors fingers grew firmer, stead,
ied-the breathing attuned itself.
His eyes staring into the hollow
sockets of the specter with whom
he had gambled. he stood and
waited.
Suddenly he checked the flow. re-
moved the tubes and cast them
from him. He began to laugh, soft
ly, as chuckle-loude and louder.
until the cacchination rang through
the room in horrible waves of an
almost insane exultatiOn.
Her arm about him, the nurse
steadied him from the room, and
still as he went he laughed. Beat
eni I've beaten you, Death. l
held it back or you. Death. It
was my ace in the hole! You
thought you had me-but l beat
you, Death-wfth Life -
Yet no one wondered at this over
wrought emotion, for the woman
was the Doctors only child.
10. Doubleday. Page & Col