Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-07-07
THE CAR OF DESTINY
from
Continued from page II

OF men WOULD De sent out 10 SCOul
the country for the escaped brigands.
The King, whom the civil guard recognized
with respectful surprise, was now anxious tC
get back to Seville, where he was due in the
royal box for the Good Friday procession, and
must appear by five o'clock at latest He
delayed only long enough to be sure that his
chauffeur was not hurt beyond slight con-
cusson of the BRAIN to speak few kind word:
to the guard, and to say a significantly en-
phaszed 'An reJ0fr" to Dick and me. Then
taking the wheel himself while the half dazed
chauffeur lay in the tOnneau, he backed the big
reddish brown off the barricade, and darted
away in a cloud of dust at good forty miles
an hour
1t was left for us to do what we could tc
advance the civil guard with their task; and
though we had already lost too much time fol
my peace of mind, it was our plain duty to help
those who had helped us. When we had leveled
the rough barricade, we reluctantly bundled
the wounded men into our tonneau, and going
at pace which enabled the civil guards tC
gallop close behind us, we steered for the farm
of which they had spoken. There the brigands
were piled into cart in buzz of excitement
and, leaving them to follow, presided over by
one mounted guard leading his comrade':
horse. we took the other on to Jerez in our car
SO that the search party might be organized
the sooner.
Sometimes virtue brings its own reward
and mine came when | learned that our new
companion had met an automobile going at &
great pace toward Jerez. 1t had gone SO fast
that, in the dust, he not sure of the color Oh
number of persons inside, but he thought that
he had seen several ladies.
If he could he would have compelled us tc
stop in Jerez and give evidence of the attack
by brigands; but laughingly we told him that
rather than be delayed again we would spill
him out by the roadside and vanish into space
before he could set the telegraph to work. A:
for the brigands, the leader with three other:
L ~ ~.
were not known to the guard. But the tact
that they had been seven was significant in hi
opinion: and he believed that they would
prove to be men of Ecija, forming band of
fcially supposed to be defunct.
Should we give hint of our suspicious, WE
knew well that every effort would be made t
detain us at Jerez, and such a catastrophe
would have avoided at almost any price I'm
less there had been hope OF handlcapplns
Carnona. But that there was no such hope,
as that the abortive plan had beer
organized by him.
How he had communicated so quickly witt
his friends the Seven. l did not pretend to say
unless he had known where to find their leade
and visited him this morning in his car. What
ever he had done, however, he would not have
been fool enough to jeopardize his reputation
for the sake of LAYING me by the heels. The
fact that he had claimed the aid OF bandit
proved that he wished to dispose of me with
out duplicating himself though why he haC
not adopted the far simpler plan of denouncinl
me as Casa Triana to the police. | could no
conceive. Still, there was ingenuity in thi
idea. If young man, or two young men
were captured in lonely place known to b.
infected with brigands; if such young ner
were held for ransom and kept out of the way
for weeks or months,-what was all that to
Duke of Carmona? What if, when one o
those young men appeared in the world again
minus ear finger, perhaps, he told
fairy story about the enmity OF the Duke, anC
reminded the public of an old nurses tale con
corning bond between the house of Cannon;
and the leader of the seven famous brigands
who would believe him, Who would not thinl
it a silly and spiteful attempt on the part o
an ernbittered to in lure a grandee o
Spain: Carmona would not have taken tn
whole seven into his confidence, that was Ger
tain. He would have appealed to the leade
alone. That leader had escaped; and even i
he was captured he would not betray the Duke
Why should he since it would not help him
self; whereas, if he was loyal, Carrnona woulc
secretly use his influence to Tighten his lot,
Dick and | discussed these matters in Eng
lish under the nose of the civil guard
drove on to Jerez and, shrewd Yankee as hi
was, for once he accepted the Spanish point o
view. If we were to get even with Carmoni
and pay him out for this, p" it must be in some
less clumsy way, Dick agreed.