en Spanish
smiths knew how to draw out steel to a streak of light; the handle of
the knife was from Milan. On the whole, it was a delicate and beautiful
weapon--and it had the durable suppleness of--say--hatred itself.

Lefty Joe, like a pirate in a tale, took this weapon between his teeth;
allowed his squat, heavy bulk to swing down and dangle at arm's length
for an instant, and then he swung himself a little and landed softly on
the floor of the car.

Who has not heard snow drop from the branch upon other snow beneath?
That was the way Lefty Joe dropped to the floor of the car. He remained
as he had fallen; crouched, alert, with one hand spread out on the
boards to balance him and give him a leverage and a start in case he
should wish to spring in any direction.

Then he began to probe the darkness in every direction; with every
glance he allowed his head to dart out a little. The movement was like a
chicken pecking at imaginary grains of corn. But eventually he satisfied
himself that his quarry lay in the forward end of the car; that he was
prone; that he, Lefty, had accomplished nine-tenths of his purpose by
entering the place of his enemy unobserved.

3

But even though this major step was accomplished successfully, Lefty Joe
was not the man to abandon caution in the midst of an enterprise. The
roar of the train would have covered sounds ten times as loud as those
of his snaky approach, yet he glided forward with as much care as though
he were stepping on old stairs in a silent house. He could see a vague
shadow--Donnegan; but chiefly he worked by that peculiar sense of
direction which some people possess in a dim light. The blind, of
course, have that sense in a high degree of sensitiveness, but even
those who are not blind may learn to trust the peculiar and inverted
sense of direction.

With this to aid him, Lefty Joe went steadily, slowly across the first
and most dangerous stage of his journey. That is, he got away from the
square of the open door, where the faint starlight might vaguely serve
to silhouette his body. After this, it was easier work.

Of course, when he alighted on the floor of the car, the knife had been
transferred from his teeth to his left hand; and all during his progress
forward the knife was being balanced delicately, as though he were not
yet quite sure of the weight of the weapon. Just as a prize fighter
keeps his deadly, poised hands in play, moving them as though he fe