Page:Oriental Stories Volume 01 Number 04 (Spring 1931).djvu/30

 With a swift sidewise thrust of his leg, Carruthers shoved Tado out of the way as the other flying figure caught him about the waist from behind. His long length was lifted in that deadly grip as his antagonist tried to whip him from the ground.

Carruthers recognized the grip instantly. Coldly alert, he turned completely over in midair, landing cat-like on his feet, his arms pumping up and down in short, savage, murderous blows.

A knife stung him on the leg. His swift downward glance showed him the other Japanese, lips drawn back in a wordless snarl, aiming another upward blow with the flashing steel.

A tiny figure hurtled in; Tado fell ferociously on that upraised arm; lightning- like his lithe arms shot over and under that other brawny one; Tado's weight dropped with a sickening, crunching snap; the Japanese screamed eerily as his elbow shattered and the knife dropped from his nerveless fingers.

"Mah!" Tado grunted explosively; his own naked blade glittered at the Eta's throat.

"Tado! Stop!" Carruthers snapped, and turned to meet the other once more. The dark figure ducked suddenly, but Carruthers' smashing fury of blows tore the knife from his hand with a paralyzing blow on the man's wrist. No further sound came from Tado and the other Eta; dimly Carruthers wondered if Tado had been killed. He went berserk, raining a storm of blows at his half-seen antagonist whose clawing hands were reaching for his legs.

Once those steel talons hooked about his kneecap in an agonizing grip, but Carruthers tore loose and flung himself bodily after his elusive enemy. They rose to their feet simultaneously; the Japanese had found his knife again.

Carruthers felt a searing pain as the knife glanced against his ribs; his shirt grew warm and sticky with blood as he jabbed viciously at the figure before him, momentarily outlined against the glow emanating from the eating-house.

Again the Japanese rushed him, stabbing wildly. Carruthers leaped to one side, closed in, seized an arm and twisted it violently inward. The Japanese grunted, coughed with a choking, gurgling sound—Carruthers' astounded eyes saw the other’s knife protruding from his torn kimono. The seiyo-jin had forced the knife intended for himself into the other’s chest, instead. The Eta sagged to the ground, dying. As Carruthers stared aghast, Tado rose, wiping his own dripping blade.

"Come, danna-san," he panted. "Let us run before these fools in the eating-house find the dead and call the police!" Setting the example he hurried forward. In a bound Carruthers was beside him, running like a sprinter.

"The other one" the man gasped.

"He is dead, too, danna-san," Tado answered. "I did not mean to do it, but he would not lie still. He caught my foot with his good hand and"

Tado saved his breath for running, his legs twinkled in and out as he strove to keep up with the god-like one. Behind them rose a chorus of shouts, an excited clamor. The diners, attracted by the noise of the battle, had found the dead bodied of the two Eta.

Tado carommed into his master as Carruthers sped into a narrow alley.

"Danna-san! Danna-san!" he panted.

Carruthers slackened his pace.

"What is it, my little fire-eater?" he whispered.

"We must be almost there, danna-san," Tado panted.

"Almost where, my little samurai?"

"Where Takagawa lodges, danna-san," Tado gasped.