The Man in the Twilight

ll direct, passing hurriedly through the aisles of scented woods which shadowed its face. The ot

up from his work. The quick, black eyes were questioning. He was perhaps

ke coldly, e

l. Now see and get this clearly, Loale. It's important. It's so important I can't stand for any sort of mistake. When

us attitude of an attentive dog. But that was always h

isgraced a second-hand dealer's stores of waste. But for all his lack in these directions there was that in the man which was more than worth

he manner of a child determined to make no mistake. "He'

let him think there's a soul inside that r

f-breed

inside that room, an' don't worry me with it, I'm busy.'

aid. Then he turned to Bat. "We'll get in

closed behind them and Standing move

al

riend's purpose. His wit was unequal to the rapi

ell. Then he flung it aside and adopted a fountain-pen which he drew from his waistcoat poc

dicated. "That's it. Just sit around, and you won't see or even hear the fellow with the mail fall in through the door. And maybe, sitting there, you'll want to smoke your foul old pipe. Sort of pipe of peaceful m

" Bat filled an

e'll quit talk, old friend. Just smoke, and

yes. It was in the constant shifting of the feet which the table revealed. For the time, at least, the cowardice Standing claimed f

It was at the sound of Standing's fiercely scratching pen. And his quick gaze took

red morocco. There were a few carefully selected pictures upon the walls, hung with an eye to the light upon each. But it was not an extravagant room. It suggested the homeland of Scotland, from

e did its duty with hearty goodwill. There was the sound of strident voices

pitched upon the soft pile of the carpet. And through the open door

?" he cried. "If you fancy throwing things around you best get out an

the protest was cut off. Bat swung about in his ch

lorman in dungaree, who stood gazing up at him questioningly. The sight appealed to the grim humour of the manager. He wanted to

he pleasure of encountering you was in Detroit. That's years ago. How many? Nearly seven. It seems to me I remember a bright-looking 'sleuth,' neat, clean, spruce, with a crease to his pant-legs like a razor edge, a fellow more concerned for his bath than his religion. Say, where did you raise all

ard the key turn in the lock of the door. He wai

he hill. Yet-A bitter fury was driving him. He realised the trap that had been laid. He realised something

lse in the world but seafaring men, it was easy enough for Bat to visualise the dapper picture, that other picture of Walter Idepski that Standing had described. The man possessed a well-knit, sinuous figure which his dungarees could not disguise. His alert eye

tanding, who displayed no sign of relaxing his hold upon it. He fl

You'll take that seat against my writing table. But first, Bat, here, is going to relieve you of the useless weapons I see you

d. He was on his feet in an instant. Idepsk

ands off!" he cri

of furious purpose. The fighting spirit in him yearned, and in a moment his victim was caught up in a

he had discovered from their hiding places. Then in a moment Ideps

pocket of his overalls as though nothing had occurred. It was an act of studied coolness that did not

is. But I don't figger you're out for loot, anyway." Then he glanced up at the man watching him so interestedly. "Maybe you'll o

te irresistible an

y, and picked up the mat

tained the required light. Then he passed round

watched him from his place at the window. Standing placed the revolver and sheath

ss you've said a deal calculated to rile, and your pardner's done more," he w

was leaning bac

tely. "I know he's persistent. He's angry. And he's the sort of man who doesn't cool down easily. But it's taken him seven years to locate me here. And during all that time I've been looking on, watching his every move." He shook his head. "He's badly served,

from his lips and dropped the

ecause I'll get you-in th

rha

If the agent failed to detect it, the watchful eyes of Bat missed nothing. To him the danger signal lay in the curious flicker

figgers, but it seems to me if it's taken you seven years to locate us here, it's go

on of being drawn. He

beam'll get Leslie Martin, or Standing as he chooses to call himself now, just where he needs him. And if I know Hellbeam t

nfully aware. Perhaps he was just fencing, or even putting up a bluff in view of

jaws gripped. He sat up, and his whole attitude expr

er's closing down in a month, and Labrador and Northern Quebec aren't wholesome territory for any man to set out to beat the trail in winter, especially with folks around anxious to stop him. You reckon I'm to pass a while in a States penitentiary. Well, meanwhile you're going to try what this country can show you in the way of a-prison ground. And you're going to try it for at least a year. You'll be treated white. But you'll need to work for your grub like other folks, and if you don't feel like working you won

m his seat at the window.

he starts out right away. He needs to be wel

y regarding the man who had listened without comment to the sentence passed on him,

e cigarette. His dark eyes were levelled at the man across the writing table. "A tough place, eh?

head. He was without

ichever side of a dispute will pay you best. You're taking Hellbeam's money in the dispute between him and me, and you'll go on taking it till you pull off the play he's asking, or get broken in the work of it. That's all right as far as I'm concerned. You've nerve, you've courage, or you wouldn't be the crook you are. I guess you'll go on because I've no intention of competing with Hellbeam for your services. But I want you to understand clearly you've jumped into a mighty big fight. This is a country where a fight can go on without the prying eyes of the laws of civil

ed towards the man smoking at the table, much in the fashion of a warder

obbed him of something of that nerve which was his chief asset. He glanced for the first time at the burly figure of Bat. He contemplated the rugged features of the man whose battling instinct was his strongest characteristic. He read the purp

u give me credit for nerve and courage. That's all right. You think these things, and I don't have to worry. But you've robbed Hellbeam. You've robbed him like any common 'hold-up'-of millions. It's not for you to talk of crooks and blackmailers. The laws of the States are going to find you the crook, and Hellbeam'll see they don't err for leniency. Hellbeam'll get you as sure as God. You've got months to think it over, and w

he stood his eyes looked

his lighted cigarette on the pile of the carpet, an

*

pression of his reflective eyes they were scarcely those of a man confident of victory. Had Bat been there to

abrador winter under conditions of hardship he had not yet realised. Meanwhile Stan

do-well, don't forget Hellbeam's

at of them appealed to an i

ide. Then he leant back in his chair and his fine eyes were lit with an agony of doubt

suddenly caught and held by the mail bag, still lying where the man had flung it. It was like the swift passing of a

l Cove and the ancient city of the early French, Nancy! That woman-that devoted wife who was striving with all the power of a frail

acket of less than half a hundred letters, and the rest was an assortment of parcels of all shape

rewd, obscure lawyer in the country town of Abercrombie. He had never yet failed him. He would not

ed handwriting. The impulse of the moment was to tear open the letter forthwith, to snatch at the tidings he felt it to contain. But something deterred. Something left him doubting, hesit

dreadful, bitter end, he read the hideous news his loyal friend had to impart. Twice, during the reading, the sharp intake of breath, that almost whistled in the silence of th

where the letter had fallen from them. His face had lost its healthful hue. It wa

sciousness of articulation. "Dea