The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1929-06-14
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POKER FACES

The storm dashed at the building
and loose boards ratified like skeleton.
dancing In a closet. I was vaguely
aware of the man investigating the
| other side of the wall. He would rap
| on the door with the butt of his pis-
tol. then hurl himself upon it, but
without effect. I was too i'll to care
and too dazed to move. Some time
passed and then I heard him no more
Presently I began to feel better.
/; The room was pitch black. I still had
a single match. Treasuring it between
/ my fingers. I was 10th to use it.
If I struck the match the flame
I would burn out and I would have lost
my last anchorage in reality. In q
| way, I think I feared the light even
| more than I did the dark, for I had
an uncanny sense of some fresh hor-
| ror awaiting me. This sounds absurd,
but it will indicate to you the abnor-
NAL state of my mind and how unfit
ted I was to pass on the nature of
what was to follow.
I tried to rid my mind Of its OBJ
session by focusing my attention on
the events that had brought me to
this graveyard town. Gold bullets
-. poker chips -. playing cards .
the man Jerry" -. Andrew Ogden
and Alex Peterson the same man -. .
blackmail . Mrs. Joe Lundy -.
Dillon -. Furie -. Jerry flying for
his life-but it wasn't Jerry! 800.
Nathan Hyde -. Jerry and Lucy driv-
ing into the sandblast. And then:
who has fired on me at the mine?
Furie - Dillon? Dillon Furie?
Furie-?
God help mel" I thought. ut
can't be real! Or else I am going
mad!"
l found. then, that the storm had
! stopped. When, I did not know, for
I had lost track of time. The silence
! was more devastating to my tortured
nerves than the uproar which had
i preceded it. I wanted to weep. to
laugh, to scream. to dash my head
against the floor.
And then I made a discovery. The
| room wasn't as dark as it had been
| when I fell in through the door. I
| made out the shape of a small win
dow on the north side of the room.
J AS I continued to stare at the window
a paralyzing coldness came over my
body.
! was not alone in the room
Two men we're sitting facing each
other over q table in front of the
window. The outline Of their heads
and shoulders merged into the
shadows which enclosed the frame,
but they were Enthusiastically there.
That Is. unless I were mad, and I was
not sure that I was not! They must
know I was here. Why didn't they
speak, or come to me? They sat per-
fectly still. Why didn't they move?
They sat in darkness. Why didn't
they make a light?
I moved my lips in speech. but no
word fell from them. and I hammered
on the floor with my fists. Again I
tried to speak, this time with better
success.
Say, there! I wish you'd help me"
The two men neither spoke nor
moved.
That paralyzing GOODNESS began to
creep over me again, but I shook 1t
off. Struggling nightly, I managed
to get to my launches. Then ! re-
membered the solitary match in my
hand. The very thing to attract their
attention!
drew the match sharply across the
floor: but it must have been defective,
for while the PHOSPHORUS flared up
it did not light the stick, but Missed
and sputtered and begain to go out.
The brief and feeble flame made little
impression on the dark face of the
room but it did slightly illuminate the
surface of the table. At what I saw