Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-09-14
XVIII.
At the Border of the Stream.

of the early morning. the spire Of the
parish church at Gigantic looked down
on them, and before them stretched the
long street of the village. with its houses
almost touching each other. and the long
lines of fence. which divide the narrow
strips of farmland running into the dis
tances.
Grimbleshaw was thinking of the few
| words that Beckwith had had time to ex-
change with him. Brief as the time was
Beckwith had found il sufficient to get
the story of Billings and the Touchdown
and to give his Endorsement of the judg-
ment that Grimbleshaw had based there
| on. Then he had said
"Trafford is usually quite clear-sighted
for a man who hasn't had the advantages
of full legal training and / was sur
prised when he said that pistol had
ceased to have significance. After you
left | made him see that it had very
important place in this affair. Those
boxes had held the money and papers
They were empty. Hence. the money and
papers had been taken out. But these
| been stolen. The murder and the theft
must be parts of the same crime. Now
the pistol couldn't have been put there.
inasmuch as it was found when the vault
was broken open, until after the theft had
occurred. No one had been in there
after the night of the murder until the
vault was broken open. Therefore, it
must have been put where it was found
by whoever robbed the vault after the
murder was committed. Yet Trafford
claiming to be a detective tells us that
the pistol has ceased to be significant"
All night long in his intervals of wake
fulness these words had rung through his
head. and all night long he had seen
Horace Calden standing, flushed and
stammering. with eyes fixed on the pis-
toll that he had. on the spur of the mo-
ment. admitted to be his own. What did
1t mean. and why had Beckwith. loyal as
he was to his clients, been at such pains
to put Trafford on track that he seemed
to have missed? At last the perplexity
of this question had almost banished the
happiness of those last brief moments
with Judith. and he came to the new
days work wearted and apprehensive, an
ticipating some new trouble to throw a
cloud over the girl who was trusting him
SO fully.
After breakfast. at tiny but inlmacu-
lately clean inn. somewhat away from the
| hustle of the railway station. Trafford
left him to his own devices and went
about the business that had brought
them there. Grimbleshaw had just fin
ished his first real letter to Judith when
Trafford came in and seating himself OPP
posite him, said:
We're to start in fifteen minutes. That
is. am, and l take it you will want to
as we'll. There's a white man at ST.
IdTtlnS, Ulteen miles from mere, VINO s
been there since three weeks ago Friday
morning. Nobody knows where he drop
ped down from. for in these border towns
they've learned not to ask questions curl
Gus as they are by nature. Their living
comes largely from Americans who don't
take questioning kindly. but who do shed
| money with a good deal of freedom
among the non-questioning kind. Your
friend Billings usually comes to the line
about thirty miles from St. Martins. in a
"a wifi Ia
abiding citizens. In fact, It's section
where there's a good deal of doubt as to
just where the line runs. and that's held
by a gang of outlaws who make their
living out of the needs of fugitives from
justice. If an American officer attempts
to serve a process he finds he's on Can
adam soil. while if Canadian attempts
it. he's In the United States. It's said
| tries joined in the effort, and since neither
of them has been seen to this day it re-
mains a mystery just what they did en-
counter as to Jurisdiction. While ST
Martins is confessedly on Canadian soil,
its excellent hotel, speaking comparative
ly, temp;s many of the weather. of the
fugitives out of the Refuge, as the sec
ton I'm speaking of is popularity named
but there are always scouts out to give
warning. and 1t generally happens that
before the officers can reach St Martins
the man they're after is we'll on his way
| to some shelter where no officer will fol-
low him, and where he's sure of protec-
ton as long as he pays the price and
| keeps faith. We're going to make the eff
fort to see this white man at ST. Martins.
and we've got to work a little carefully,
or all We'll really see is the streak of
dust he makes on his way to the debat-
able land"
With the whole town looking on they
| took the local for Tring Junction which
| would take them in the opposite direction
to that which Trafford had indicated as
their destination Twenty miles they
went on the train without sign Of change
in plan but as they drew up to bare
PLATFORM In the midst of what seemed an
unbroken forest, an auto. carrying two
men. snorted down the road and drew up
near the train. Trafford was talking with
the conductor of the train. who seemed
in no hurry 10 start again, while the
| train crew and a half-dozen passengers
took the opportunity to study the motor.
I'm afraid you'll find some rough 60
conductor was saying. Il shouldn't Won
der if you'd make quicker time to go
round by Beauce. following pretty closely
the lines of the railroads. If you get out
down you'll walk to the next place
where you can find a horse"
TraffOrd came to the edge of the plat
form and appealed to one of the men In
the car:
Are you going to be able to make it,
He spoke loudly and as If a trifie anx-
ious. Hold on a minute, captain" he
warned the conductor, who was about to
signal the train to start, I'VE may go with
you after all. What do you say?" he de-
manded again. sharply, turning to the
man in the motorcar.
What we've agreed to do we'll do
answered the man. sulenly. IF you
don't &C. III hold you to your bargain;
I've done my part.
oh said the conductor. shifting to
the side of the men he counted his coun-
trymen I've no doubt it'll be all right.
really don't know the roads. l merely
warned you on general principles
Well. If you'd tend to your own bust
ness and leave us to ours you'd get to
''''i"" IN time. maybe. and that's more'n
grow,ed the man in the car
That appeared to break the friendly
feeling that had promised to establish it
self. and Trafford and Grimbleshaw
climbed into the car to the noise of the
departing train. whose engine might be
fancied as SnOrting in sympathy with the
indignation OF the conductor.
Isn't this little cOnspicuous?' asked
Grimbleshaw. as they started putting into
the sudden depth of trees.
"Of course 1t is" said Trafford. but
what are you going to do? It's our only
chance. and, of course, slim one. ST.
Martins owns an auto, and fast one,
too, with a chauffeur who knows every
rock and rut in the road to the American
creek"
On they rushed. over roads hard frozen.
but as yet without snow enough to inn
pede and Grimbleshaw felt his heart
beating fast at the prospect before them.
while Ira ford sat aODarentlv unmOved,