etermined, yet kindly tone.
"Ensal, you and I have been friends all of our lives. We sat in school
together and hunted birds' nests in the woods side by side. I have
sought your counsel from time to time and you have served as a check to
me in many instances. But my mind is fully made up now, and it will not
pay for even such a friend as you are to stand in my way. I warn you,
beware!"

Ensal decided that it was time to act. He quickly pinioned Earl and
backed him up against the iron railing. He had just heard the city clock
strike one and felt that he could hold Earl in his grasp for one hour,
at which time a policeman would come along, whereupon he could deliver
Earl over to the officer. With Earl out of the way he felt that he could
get around and dissipate the forces that he had organized.

Earl remembered that in Ensal's earlier days, he had suffered a fracture
of his left arm, and in his struggling Earl now weighed heavily on that
arm which began to weaken. Ensal soon saw that he was not going to be
able to pinion Earl for the hour to intervene before the coming of the
officer. So deciding, he concluded to stake all on a fall. He felt that
if he could get Earl down and get the famous neck hold, which they had
practiced so much in their youth, he could succeed in holding him in
that way.

To and fro the two men swayed, each man feeling that the welfare of
millions depended upon the outcome of this duel of the muscles.

At last Ensal gained an advantage and Earl was thrown. Earl pretended to
be making violent efforts to hurl Ensal off of himself, but this was
merely a feint. By skillful maneuvering unknown to Ensal he got hold of
his pistol and sought to so aim it that he could shoot Ensal through the
heart. Concluding that he now had the pistol at the right angle, he
pulled the trigger. The trembling condition of his hand could not insure
a steady aim and the pistol falling down sent the bullet crashing into
his own side. Ensal leaped up, but Earl lay motionless upon the bridge.

It was now only a few moments before the policeman was due at that point
and Ensal was in a quandary as to what to do. He was not long in doubt,
however. Lifting the wounded man, he half dragged and half carried him
to one end of the bridge where there were steps leading down to the
river. He disappeared down the steps and hid under the bridge just in
time to escape the eyes of the officer.

[Illustration: "To and fro the two men swa