Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1908-05-01

III
, esvaea ~ ~ uurses must nate $1,000 uils,
qvjsa a. come dine. He surmised that
ne Iasstes Of ne carriage had taken
aayaAsss OF fhs stop to get out and
go ahsa while stsatbgate lay stunned.
he .sts puzzled to account for the
4 pY.Atdof the mans shoes by the side
/ q H. carriage door. They were too
seaai for Ssrsthgste's foot. He al.
yinef that the prints Of the woman's
shoe IN the soft ground were made
By tebbie's feet. The other must have
beti made By Lady E!len's, although
| shit she was doing with a mans
shbe on he could by no means under.
| sand He did not know in what
sass she had escaped from the hall
He tried to follow the trail of the
separate footsteps but lost It in the
bard ground. After a few moments
ne went back to the carriage and stud.
Iied the matter deeply, but could come
70 no conclusion. There were only
two thoughts thst gave him any com.
fort One was that he was evidently
on the right track; the second was
that some one vas In a state Of en-.
nifty toward 6trsthgate, else how &C.
count for the pistol bullet through the
seat This thought nightly encour.
aged him. He IVES puzzled to know
vhy the traces had been cut, but at
last decided that Strathgate must have
mounted the Two women on one Of thu
horses and himsslf On the other one
asd have gone % IN the direction Of
the first fight n be had turned back
toward the hall SETON would have met
him, or would have heard from Il in
some way, Tor the horses under such
conditions could make but slow time.
After . nnL search OF the intsri-,
OF the carriage Ia which he was re.
esrded BY finding . Tiny bowknot Of
scarlet ribbon which he thought he
recognized - o. that had trimmed
Mistress Debbiss gown, for II was 4
color she sfscAsd, and which be
tucked carefully away In bis pocket,
Ne mounted Ais horse and started
westward once Asfe This time he
vent more slowly. Il should BE- no
trtcs TO ovsrtske two tired coach
horses heavily bufdsned, and lest they
night have turned aside or stopped q
different places - resolved 70 pass
no farmhouse q 10 Cross read with.
out examining II. Wherever he could
hs made inquiries, but learned moth.
ing. His mind began TO missiys him,
Ae must have overlooked some DOS.
siblsa hiding plsce, but he pressed on.
An hour from the carriage he came
upon Q bay coach horse struggling By
the wayside, with certain portions Of
harness dragging from him. Here wa
another mystery. II there had been
two horses, where was the other!
Why was b abandoned In the high
road not . soul being near! The
horse permitted him 10 get close
enough to enable him to zee that the
traces which dangled from bis sides
had been sessrsd By Q knife. There
could be NO doubt that this was ons
OF Carringtoa's coach horses. There
was no evidences that Il had been rid
den and Seton was puzzled. He rode
! to the TOP Of . little hilIock aad sur
veyed the country. TAsrs vas no pisc<
OF possible shsltse tos q mile around
He was completely q Q loss to IN
derstand TIE sitastion, but concluded
to ride forward He rode on for q
hour, seeing nothing. obtaining NJ
satisfactory answer to Bis questions
1t was hardly possible that three psc
pie could hass fiddea on oas horse
There was ne teassn On earth. II thsJ
had started out % tVo. fcs sbandoninl
one. .a'
1T vas nov nearly II o'clock IN Il,
morning. He concluded that he mus
have passed the fusitises On the va,
and so he tuRasd and retrsced hi
steps, poAdesihs deeply. After hal
an hours hard galioptns be came /,
a little. cross road. He had noticed /
'before' ana had been told hat Il 10,
TO the sea- Something checked hin
In the rdad He stopped 70 breath,
his horse a. moment ana consider hi
course WIEN Il flashed iAss his min,
that peFhaps The party in Default q
horses would eAdeavof 10. escape b,
boat he knew that Ellen was an y
comphshed sailor, ana he cursed hi
stuUieity tAat he bad not though, 3
it baseeA..
! lie. eallopsA iowa ne road ana 4
! a few minutes came % Q Yitsie fisb,n,
Village. Some Of the fishermen hs
gone OF for the day's werR IN thei
hoats. bus one grizslsd sailor VA
noodily pacing Up sAd do1u tAA It'll
whagf. Refining Mis- hosse n On y
shores Seton Aailaa min.
Il my man."4s SAID hare sau sse
anything oe%wo % three .DsoDie. In
women aad spaA tassisas TOT Q has
this morning."
no" grovlea' ne naa; 90 { IA
> boat sh1this shasl. ghe bese boz
IN the haven. ana wAea { come dow
this morning st ave .o'alses AZ IA
gone" ~
"Gone!" cried Seton, dlsmouaeia
fron his horse In his sxcitsneu
1 A..