The Argosy, October 1906 — page 52: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

ee Vor won't be wid me; then?” said es j : ei ae Pat disconsolately. “No, I’ve got to be at the aiker end,” = replied Dick hastily. “‘ Don’t fail me ze <= now, Pat—old man! It means. a good =e ~geal to me to get this. report right.” _ ~ “ll be as steadfast as the -moon—if ee _ there ain’t any girl comes along to bother ~~ me,” replied the irrepressible Pat. _~ Enssler managed to get a couple of hours’ sleep at the hotel; then he started 2 _ again for the woods. : a The proceedings of the night eters were repeated. He watched the man 248 x make the connection, and at eight-thirty -. he himself lifted the pole for five” es = ae seconds, then replaced it. So again’ at --_ nine-thirty, and at each succeeding hour “% = he broke that connection for a short a gs noting the number of seconds— of from five to ten—meanwhile praying -.. most fervently that Pat had not suc- = -cumbed to any temptation, but was faith- fully watching the Sweaburg lights. * 3 He had made the last test at three- nate se ‘ thirty, and waited for the first gleam of , daylight to make anothér examination of the cable—to discover, if possible, just __- where it entered the creek-bed. — Tt was while he was engaged on this _ that he heard a footstep behind him, ae - quickly turning—saw. the man! ‘Théreesare times that the brain ae y & __. rapidly. Quick as the passage > of the cur+ 2a rent over that. sixty-mile wire came to - Enssler the realization of all that~ this discovery -of himself meant. —_- SS Within an hour or two this maak would ss \ have jndormed his confederates—the farther ‘end of the cable, wherever it-was, Mal! by would be disconnected and” tossed ae ~ He had no doubt, all day, that the cable led down the bed of the river to Swea- burg. 1 ty, ei ‘dence of where it had been connected would be gone. His job would-be but 2 half done. The glory of it would be ut- == =~ terly destroyed by its disappointing and - unprofitable ending. ~ the man furiously. “Tm admiring this clever little ¢on- trivance of yotrs, ”? said Dick coolly. att _ really does you credit. But, all the : same, [ll have to put you under arrest. You'll + come to Suswego Falls with me.” -? , One toss of the end there and all evi- “What're ye doin’ there?” demanded we es The man 1 lsuphed orn = SS. = = = “What's the arrest fer, my bicko: pees Sas “Stealing =“ juice;~"s— ~ Teplied ‘Dick 3 et laconically. = ee - The man jumped for ‘him, but ack ks dodged and got in a wicked side clip. ae Then he sprang into the open, where> = there’d be some chance of a ‘stand: -up fight. . . ae He felt that it was the only way he could do anything with this ong, raw-. a boned, ‘sinewy brute. The man rushed ~~ at him again, and again was. stopped by | Be a sturdy blow between the eyes. But the long grass and low brush. were> + — -sorely against any quick dodging, “and. ates Zz ‘the next rush the: man “grappled and. .. threw him heavily. The struggle was | furious and merciless, and,’ as. che caught the savagé gleam of the»man’s” eye, he saw that the fight was to the death. es There was no look of the frinfed! ae striving for escape in those bloodshot, E furious eyes; instead, there was murder! —the destruction and annihilation of this witness against his wrong- doing—this eS meddler with his livelihood. —_ : Twice his bony fingers closed “ote Dick’s throat with a cruelly steel-like ~~ grasp, and twi¢e Dick threw him off. The third time he jammed his knee into Enssler’s stomach with a force which | drove his breath from him, and as those = brutal fingers closed again on his throat, : and he saw the exultant gleam. of tri- | = 3 umph in the man’s eyes, he felt that the a= end had: come. 3 ae Strangling and hopeless, he flung < Qn arm - out, clutching, in his_ despairing eos agony, at the slime ‘and muck | in a little — ws = pool. Instantly and instinctively hes. oe: ws brought his hand up, jammi the con- 5 tents into the man’s face—f ling his * open, gasping mouth, and his leamin; = = murderous eyes. = me With a smothered curse, < the: Tell == slipped _ his hold and Dick, with a last, —— convulsive effort, struck one wicked blow — and threw him off. Then he lost Sone sciousness. gee It could have been but a | few minutes before he came to. y on his back, his See: purple —and D: saw that he was ‘choking. 7 Struggling to his-feet, Dick rolled over, eae him a. cha rw : — hy, - Ss eu ne ~~ Tt = ~ » i Dr