Page:Ritchie - Trails to Two Moons.djvu/112

 logs. He heard her breath come in a half sob of anguish.

Zang, sensing instantly the advantage Original's strategy had turned, summoned every ounce of his strength to push out from the trap and free his ally. But a sharp catching of breath in his ear told him his effort was only crushing Hilma the more. He tried to edge to one side, leaving her a hole to slip through.

Original forestalled him by a second terrific drive of his shoulder into the pit of the stomach. Zang lifted his wounded right hand, from whose wrist dangled the ugly unfilled mate of the wristlet of steel biting into the flesh, then he flailed the cuff down on the black head beneath his chin. The blow landed true. For just an instant the pressure of determined muscle against his body slackened.

That instant Zang seized to twist eel-like out of the cul-de-sac of the chimney corner, though he could not shake Original's grip from him. Hilma, freed, leaped past the struggling men and again brought up the point of her weapon to slay.

But a rally by Original brought Whistler's body whirling round as a shield against a