The Argosy, March 1907 — page 31: what you’re looking at

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

-- [=% > = ‘THE PLACE, THE TIME, AND THE MAN. ‘desperate energy, still bit and struggled, while the flying car swayed and jolted over the rails. Both men were fully alive to the danger which menaced them; both knew that every passing second ren- dered escape more hazardous; and yet they grimly battled on, each seemingly determined not to give in. Still fighting, they shot into the gloomy entrance of ‘the mine, and whizzed along the steep grade leading downward to the shaft. Then, at last, each seemed to perceive at once the futility of further struggle. As though by mutual consent, they unclasped their straining embrace and rolled toward _ opposite sides of the car. Gardiner raised himself on his hands and knees, so as to spring off the edge in such a way as to sustain the least in- jury, but ere he could make the attempt there was a sudden crash. He felt himself hurled headlong through the air as from a catapult, the universe crumbled and -went to pieces about him in a chaos of pyrotechnic tumult, and he knew no more! CHAPTER XI. DANGERS ON. EVERY HAND. WueEN Davis slowly returned to con- sciousness he was at a loss, for a moment, to comprehend where he could be. A Cimmerian blackness encompassed him, and the dank, cold air was heavy on his lungs. ‘The trickle of running water sounded in his ears, and the rough, uneven earth upon which he lay was any- thing but a restful couch. He started to raise his hand feebly toward his head, but as he did so felt a sharp twinge at the shoulder-joint, which served better than anything else to restore his scattered senses. Memory came back in a rush, and he now realized that he was within the abandoned mine, probably flung to the side of the track by a lurch of the run- away car and knocked senseless by the shock of impact with the earth. The throbbing of his shoulder and the uselessness of his right arm also told him that he had suffered a fracture or dis- location; but he paid*little heed to that. A question of more serious moment was whether he had received other injuries. which might prevent his immediate de- parture. . To his relief, however, a very brief his" examination convinced him that powers of locomotion were unimpaired. His body and limbs were bruised and sore, but there was plainly no damage that could not be remedied by a liberal application of arnica and a day or two in. bed. _ Therefore, he started to struggle to his feet, with the intention of making his way toward the-outer air. But all at once he recollected his com- panion. What had become*of Spear? Had he gone on with the car and been dashed into the gulf, or had he also fallen off and been stunned or disabled? How long he himself had lain uncon- scious, Gardiner could not tell. It might have been a dozen hours, or no- longer than half a minute; and since it was un- likely that the mountaineer had stayed on the car, the probabilities were that his experiences had not been dissimilar to Davis’s own. Indeed, if the period of the engineer’s insensibility had ‘been inappreciable, it might well be that the other, unhurt and 603 in full possession of his faculties, was — now groping about in the darkness to find his vietim and complete the deadly job upon which he had started. And in such a case, how was a man with his right arm powerless to withstand an attack? True, one would infer that under such circumstances Spear would -+have made a light to guide him in his search, or that some noise would indicate his move- ments; but on. the one premise Davis reasoned that the fellow might be with- out matches, and on the other, that not knowing how thoroughly his adversary was hors du combat, he would proceed with the greatest caution, in order to gain the advantage of a surprise. In fact, the more he thought about it the more certain became Gardiner that his assassin had already located him and was now creeping stealthily in his direc- tion, perhaps even at that moment poising himself for the spring which Should mark the reopening of the struggle. Imagination tricked his vision until he — == GComicboo <SicO