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{{frabfp228.png}} || eagles of the sky ||

other was weakening in the same proportion that
Perk was gaining strength, showing that he must
have been in anything but prime condition when
the tussle started.

It was this potent fact that gave Perk his first
inkling as to the identity of the man with whom
he struggled. At first he took it for granted the
fellow was the tall confederate they had noticed
with Kearns during the late afternoon, and who
had perhaps been away and returned to the
shack just at this interesting moment to find it in
a state of siege.

He had hardly begun to get an inkling as to
the true state of affairs when one of his hands, in
seeking to get a firmer hold, chanced to come in
ocr>   contact wtih something cold and hard. Then he
fix>   contact with something cold and hard. Then he
understood just why his antagonist seemed to be
so handicapped in the scramble--he could
stretch his hands apart only so far--they were
apparently held fast in some mysterious fashion.

It burst upon Perk like a bomb from a sky
chaser--why, after all this was an old friend of
his, one whom he had only recently been
hugging with all his might and main--in fact no
other than the short confederate of Kearns whom
they had left beside the well but a brief time
previously.

In some manner, which was a complete
mystery to Perk, he had managed to get his legs

[[228]]

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