The Coolidge examiner., 1939-06-01
CHAPTER XII-Continued

rected. III you slip, calcn me ABOVE
the waist"
How they ever reached the side
porch, Marne did not clearly know.
Kelsey carried his burden TO the sofa
and lowered it. Hardly could
Marne's lips form the whispered
question:
"Dead?"
II don't know"
81 tried" she muttered.
"Of course you did. Nobody could
have stopped that BEAM"
She sat beside him after she
had cleansed and bandaged the
dreadful wounds across the scalp,
then forced some whiskey into the
slack mouth. Chunk stirred. His
lids futtered. She uttered small
cry.
He's alive all right" said Kel-
sey heartily. II doubt if it's even a
fracture" He was exploring the
head beneath his hands. Skull like
a lump of granite. But there's a
bad conclusion"
They busted themselves putting
their patient to bed. He lay disturb
ingly quiet. Marine asked:
How are the others going to get
back?"
They aren't"
"Then we can't get any help for
Glunk?"
Il don't see how"
There was long silence, during
which she studied her companions
expression. 1t was somber, intent,
repressed. Several times he lifted
his head sharply, as if through some
impulse hidden from her, and
moved uneasily. The explanation
leapt to her mind.
You're in paint" she exclaimed.
mo"
"Then what is the matter? There's
something"
mo. I'm just a little on edge"
~ believe you're afraid" she said
slowly.
Right. l am"
what off"
I'm worried about you"
Marine could not find it in her
soul to be frightened. She was too
immersed in another thought which,
if she had put it into words, would
have run about like this:
Here we are. together. What
ever happens to one, will happen to
the other. We're beginning to I'M
derstand each other. 1t can't be
very bad"
AS if he had some inkling of her
thought, he looked across the bed
at her and smiled. She smiled back,
her resolution stimulated.
"Kelsey!"
"Yes."
I've sort of stopped short, didn't
we? Isn't there something else?"
"Yes. l love you"
81 thought it might be that" said
she contentedly.
On the ceiling above them, there
glowed and vanished a faint radi-
ance like that of a firefly. 1t reused
the injured man. With a howl, born
of some obscure terror, he hurled
himself to the floor. They grappled
with him and the three threshed
about the room in human tangle,
scattering the furniture as they
fought. In his depleted state, Kel-
sey was no s3atch for the delirious
strength of the other, and his ally
could do little but try to prison one
failing arm, to which she had at
tached herself. They were dragged
to the window. Chunk was bent on
climbing out Strive to anchor him
as they would, he was half way out
when the beam fell across his face.
Light" he muttered, and went
limp in their frantic grip.
They saw it plainly, now, sharp
flicker through bushes down by the
lakeside.
Light" repeated the gnome, and
collapsed.
They bundled him back into his
bed and ran to the door. In foun-
dered Gloria Glamour.
Sweet cheese'n crackersI What
a night! We've been-what's the
matter?"
Chunks hurt"
"Badly?"
"I'm afraid So"
Martin Holmes, who had followed
in with the electric torch, went to
the bed and peered down.
He looks pretty ghastly. What
hit him?"
"a scantling. He was stuck in the
we'll"
Marne asked him: How did you
get here?"
Boat"
"Sieve," Indignantly amended
Gloria. i've been bailing till my
spine crackles."
"Its the only one I could find in
this hullabaloo."
Gould you take Chunk back?"
'T doubt it. Even if he were fiji
to be moved"
"Then can you get doctor out
here?"
Its possible. But the hospital is
filling up with casualties. I'll do
my best if this old washtub lives