The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1937-03-18
FRIDAY-Continued

! SlOle out, got Hlto my podI aiiu
rowed over to Second Head. I
walked from the beach to Mrs.
Avery's place. / jumped over the
wall and went into her Spinney.
was careful to walk on the lawn
so that there would be no foot
prints. In the Spinney is a gravel
path. There was, as knew, a big
rock in the bushes close to the path.
I stepped onto it and sat there
waiting. Presently, / heard Ace
coming from one direction and al
most instantly his bootlegger, Tor
riano, coming from the other. They
met in that part of the path in the
Spinney where there is circle of
cleared space surrounded by trees
the trees all draped with wild
grape vines. BY this time, the
late moon was out. 1t was as
white as day.
''The conversation between the
two men did not last any longer
than Ace expected. From it gath
cred that Ace owed Torriano three
hundred dollars. Ace must have
given it to him in cash, for he
asked Tony to count it. Torriano,
who was obviously staggered at
getting the whole sum, counted it;
said at once, Good night chief!'
cut right through the bushes not
far from where / was hidden and
! leaped over the wall onto the road.
Presently, heard car and l
/ concluded that he had left the
Head
but l was not thinking of Tori
ano at that moment, for instantly
became aware that somebody else
had come through the Spinney path
apparently from the summit of the
Head. It was Miss Fairweather-
Margaret Fairweather. She too,
had come to meet Ace l could
not see her, bup / recognized her
voice. I heard everything she said.
1t became quite obvious what Ace
wanted of her. Apparently he was
borrowing money from her. Later
l learned that it was ten thousand
dollars and that she had brought
him a certified check. The CONVEX
sation lasted only minute. Miss
! Fairweather handed the check to
him and he gave her his note. Then
she departed the way she had
! come.
"The sound of her steps had not
! died down when / heard other steps
and / realized that Doctor Marden
was keeping his appointment
promptly The conversation be-
! tween Ace and Doctor Marden was
also brief. Ace told Doctor Mar
den that he had that afternoon
made a new will; that he would
within three days announce that
Caro- Prentiss was his daughter;
that he would give big party at
his house to celebrate the event.
Doctor Marden expressed kind
of appreciation and walked on up
the Head in the direction Margaret
Fairweather had taken.
Fortunately for me, Ace lin
gered an instant, also fortunately
for me, Doctor Marden hurried
away. At any rate, Ace had only
turned to start back in the direc-
ton of Mrs. Avery's house when l
emerged from the bushes!
For Gods sake, Bruce!' he
exclaimed. How Gomez
"As he spoke, something hap
pened inside my head. The tornado
died down. The flame stopped.
Nothing tore there. Nothing burned
there. But I knew what I had to
do. ! knew that / had to kill Ace
Blake. For I knew that Ace was
lying, lying, lying; that he had no
intention of acknowledging Sister
Dora's child until he was forced to
it. I knew that the story that he
was going to induce Molly Eames
to elope with him as soon as pos
sible was also true. knew that he
had borrowed that money from
Margaret Fairweather for that pur-
pose.
II drew my revolver and placed
it against his heart. Asa Blake,
l said, you are wicked man. And
I am the instrument God has chos-
en- to punish you for your guilt. Do
not move! Do not cry out! If you
do, I shall kill you and then my
self. But repent, repent, / bid you
repent! The time has come for
you to die!'
''Ace took it. Ace could always
take anything. He knew at once
that his time had come. He did
not even demonstrate with NEON
the issue of death / mean. First
he said, We'll, guess this is the
end of the trail!' Then he said,
Bruce, l don't want to be shot like
a dog. / want to die like man.
Let me kill mysef-like a Roman
warrior!
81 agreed. I added, I shall kill
myself as soon as the business is
settled
sit was all over very quickly.
First Ace took off his helmet.
He handed me the check which
Margaret Fairweather had given
him. See that this is returned
to Margaret Fairweather, Bruce!'
he ordered. He put the helmet
carefully down and then he drew
his sword-the one he had had
made in Rome--the short sword OF
a Roman officer.
ACE put the point of the sword
over his heart. He held the handle
firmly with his two hands and fell
forward his whole length upon it. y
81 had warned myself over and
over to remember about finger
prints. There were grapevines
hanging over the trees. / picked
some of the long leaves and using
them as guard, turned Ace over
on his face. / closed his eyelidS
/ composed his arms. / drew his