Semi-weekly herald., 1911-10-09
! Britt Of f
Headquarters RS

hinslng on his desperate attempt at
escape would be of sufficient duration
to let him roll to the road He was
shocked mentally as well as physical
ly. therefore. when his fall was stopped
with a jerk, and the back of his head
struck with cruel force against the
carriage step. Just for a seconds
flight, reinforced steel and rubber
though he was. he lost consciousness
When his senses returned, he was in
the same position-head dangling,
shoulders resting against the rods OF
the step, back bent painfully over the
steel-shod threshold of the carriage
floor. legs inside, gripped in a hold
not all his struggles could break. His
ankles still were bound. So, for that
matter, were his wrists. with his
hands behind him The scarf bandag-
Ing his eyes had slipped partly to his
forehead, so that he could see a little;
but, in his upside-down position. he
could not see the sidewalk; only the
treetops and the dusk line of the
Palisades were in his line of vision.
The gag was fixed as firmly as ever.
He tried to call for help, but the cry
was smothered in his throat
Then began as strange a struggle
as any in which Britz had engaged in
all his exciting career. The men in
the cab strove to pull him inside; he
battled against their efforts. Bound
though his hands were, his fingers
We're twined tightly about the step
rods. He had grip on the rods as
powerful as that with which one of
his captors held his ankles The
crossing of his hands to bind his
wrists had made his hold only the
irmer All the leverage of each
sinewy wrist strengthened the other
The rods were so small they hurt his
hands. but unless they broke his grip
could hot be loosened. Britt clutched
them with an iron resolve not to be
drawn into the brougham again. Safe
though his life might have been at the
outset he was not certain it would be
secure after his daring defiance of the
odds against him. He still knew moth
ing OF his captors, Even their nation
ality was problematical to say moth
ing OF their purpose. He felt that his
grip on the rods might be his last
hold on eXistence-and Britt. in any
stage of his career, would have said
he was tolerably satisfied with life,
thank you,
This" said Britt to his inner con
seriousness, with touch of the grim
humor his colleagues often found dis,
concerting, "is hill-climbing under diff
ficulties." For the coachman. in spite
of-perhaps because of-the silent
struggle going on furiously at the door
of the cab. had whipped his horses to
a gallop and was speeding them up
a slope Over the edge of the scarf
that had slipped from his eyes, Britz
got glimpse of the Soldiers and
Sailors monument. He knew exactly
where he was then Next moment his
eyes fastened themselves on the faces
in the carriage, and he tried with
all his might to make out the dark
features OF the three in the gloom of
the cab; but their features still were
shadowy. He would not have liked to
pick them out OF a line in police
the lieutenant always to be sure of
his man before making an identifica-
ton. In part, that accounted for the
failure of almost every defendant In
any of his cases to establish an alihi.
Lean hands stretched forth from
the dark interior and caught him
about the middle. Other hands seized
his legs, while the pair clutching his
ankle tightened their grasp, but he
only twined his fingers the more firm
ly around their slight circumference.
BY now the carriage was rolling and
pitching like a seagoing tug. Had he
rot been held so stoutly by the six
lean hands above and his own iron
clutch below, the motion might have
swung his head against the step
again with force to crack 1t in dozen
places. The very fury of the battle
made for his safety.
The horses struck a slope that took
them out of the Drive Britt guessed
they could not go far without encoun-
tering policeman. If they did not
meet a mounted patrolman or a bicy-
Gle bluecoat in the avenue. 1t was al
most certain they would strike an
ordinary policeman in one of the by
streets. Britz chewed the gag savage
ly in the hope of freeing his voice.
Finding the bandage too tight to force
II out of his mouth, he tried to swal-
low the silken ball inside his teeth
Gulp as he might, his reversed posi-
tion distressed him so he could not
get the ball behind his tongue And.
owing TO the elusive texture OF the
gag, not all the biting and grinding oil
his strong teeth could shred it.
Abrupt as its beginning was the end
of the struggle. Britz. his eyes still
!. boring into the inner murk, saw one
the long. lean hands slip forth
again. This time the hand clutched
something between thumb and fore
finger. The arm extended until the
hand was close to the detectives
wrist. Suddenly the sleuth felt
frighful burning pain in the back OF
his hand. The agony was duplicated
In the knuckles of the other. Strive
though he did with all his grit and
strength to retain his grip, his fingers
opened against his will. the tendons
contracted by the biting agony, and