Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1929-05-21
UNDERGROUND 7 A5Gx5 a s4Ssy

By J.JEFFERsoN FARJEoN

you out? What would happen to
me. II I were to let you out? II you'd
been content to work quietly.
Cunningham, you'd have had your
money, and could have enjoyed the
fruits of i'll But you kicked-and
that's why I call you a fool. You
kicked, and you forced my hand
You forced me to do things that
otherwise I would never have done.
mine. and 50 you're goinS 10 suffer
for them. You and all the other
meddlers in there with you'll But
you've got q short while TO think
over your folly. The floor won't
open till five TO six"
Listen! called q voice from
within.
1t was Ruperts voice. Hardly
daring to breath. Charlie conainued
to creey closer. He crept slowly.
There must be no noise. =. Not q
single sound until he was right be-
hind Brill, and ready TO leap upon
his back.
Listen? Why should I listen?"
retorted Brill. II suppose YOU want
to make terms, eh? And you'd keep
them, wouldn't you, when you were
free? No, we're beyond termsl
We're up against Self-preservation-
the only real terms the world ever
understands. And the only terms II
ever keeps"
He laughed again. His reaction
seemed to be turning him into a
temporary lunatic. Let him 60 on
laughing. In a few seconds now.
And If you're counting on the as
SiStance of your friends outside, you
car give that idea up" cried Brill,
delivering his parting thrust. The
little fellow called Brown Is well
drawn and quarter by tbs time
and that flabby, fat fellow we locked
In bedroom, and who escaped. and
who Is creeping UP behind me at this
monument"
MY Godl" gasped Charlie, and
leaped.
But he struck the door, for as he
leaped. Brill dropped TO the ground
A shot rang out. Two bodies
swayed, and grasped each other;
then rolled apart. A scond shot re-
sounded through the b~lackness.
Then silence.
Brown couldn't do many things
well, but he could run, and his speed,
as he flashed through the garden Of
Coomber House and di7ed around 20
the right, outside the gate, was
meteoric.
Once he had been full OF plans.
He had done queer things, faced
angry people, smashed doors in. and
created diversions for the sake Of
a glowing ideal. Now. however, his
ideal slipped away from him, and his
plans became reduced to one single
primitive object. He was running as
he had never run before, to save his
own skin.
When he saved his skin-if that
unlikely work Of rescue were achiev-
ed-he could think about saving the
skins Of other people. For the mo-
ment his own skin was unapproved
fashion, with his head down In
these circumstances, It was all the
more remarkable that he established
a speed record. He was furthed
hamperel by the course het tok,
which was zig-zag. Had he run
straight, he would have been an
easier mark for those two bullets,
and had ne kept his head up 1t
might have received one Of them. SO
he zig-zagged, head down while his
two pursuers zig-zagged after him.
He did not look back. III his pur-
suers were not there, there would be
nothing to see, where IS III they were
there he did % want to see them.
He tore past the ditch In which the
dead lab0rer lay. reached the OPEN
Ing where the motor car had been
left by Simon Brill on the evening
before. dived through @ gap and, fol-
lowing ome blind instinct, made for
the hin. on top OF which rose the
gibbet-like structure The structure
was, In reality. the carcass on long
defl1nct mine machinery. and It was
mere accident that gave it now the
grim appearance Of gallows. a uueed
sort OF sanctuary fer Brown 70
choosei But his mind was muddled
and his Judgment clouded, and In an