The Washington herald., 1911-11-13
CHAPTER XXXIII.


Ondf LEN AAA1I1.
Bess Leads to Betty.
Just where he had parted from Ware,
Darlington sat his horse. his brows knit
ard his eyes turned in the direction Of
the path. He was on his way to a
plantation below Girard, the owner OF
which had recently imported a pack OF
bloodhounds; but this unexpected en-
counter with Ware had affected him
strangely. He stu heard Toms stam-
mering speech. he was still seeing his
CHASTITY face, and he had come upon him
with startling suddenness. He had
CHANGED to look back over his shoulder
and when he faced about there had been
the planter within q hundred yards OF
him.
Presently Carrington's glance ceased To-
follow the windings Of the path. He
stared down at the gray dust and saw
the trail left by Hues and his party. For
a moment he hesitared; II the dogs wers
to be used with any hope OF success he
had no time to spare, and this was the
merest suspicion, illogical conjecture,
based on nothing beyond his distrust OF
Ware In the end he sprang from the
saddle, and leading his horse into the
woods. tied it to a sapllng.
A hurried investigation told him that
five men had ridden in and out Of that
path. OF the five, all coming from the
south, four had turned south again, but
the fifth man-Ware, in other words
had gone north. He weighed the posi-
BILE significance of these facts.
Il am only wasting time!" he con-
fessed reluctantly, and was on the point
of turning away, when, on the very edge
of the road and just where the dust
yielded to the hard clay Of the path,
his glance lighted on the print of a
small and dainty shod foot. The throb-
hing Of his heart quickened curiously.
. Betty The wo4s leaped from his
That small foot had left but the one
impress. There were other signs, how.
ever, that claimed his attention; namely,
the Footprints of Slosson and his men;
and he made the inevitable discovery
that these tracks were all confined to
the one spot. They began suddenly and
as suddenly ceased, yet there was no
mystery about these; he had the marks
Of the wheels to help him to a sure
A carriage had turned Just
here. several men had alighted; they
had with them a child, or a woman
Either they had re-entered the carriage
and driven back as they had come, or
they had gone toward the river. He
felt the soul within him turn sick
He stole along the path; The terror of
the river was ever in his thoughts, and
the specter Of his fear seemed to fit
before him and lure him on. Presently
he caught his first glimpse Of the bayon
and HIS legs shook, under him; but the
path wound deeper still into what ap-
Feared to be, an untouched solitude.
wound on between the crowdrhg tree
forms, little back from the shore.
with an intervening tangle OF vines and
bushes. He scanned this closely as he
hurried forward, scarcely conscious that
he was searching for some tranipled
space at the waters edge; but the YER
dant wall preserved its unbroken CONT
nuityr and twenty minutes later he came
within sight OF Hicks clearing and the
keel boat, where 1t rested against the
bank.
A little farther on he found the spot
where Slosson had launched the skin
the night before. The keel of his boat
had cut deep into the slippery clay;
more than this, the impress Of the small
shoe was repeated here, and just be-
side IT. was the print OF child's bare
foot
He no longer doubted that Betty and
Hannibal had been taken across the
bayou to the cabin. and he ran back up
the path the distance Of a mile ana
plunged into the woods on his right.
his purpose being to pass around the
head Of the expanse OF sluggish water
to a point from which he could later
the cabin.
But the cabin proved TO be better de-
Tended than he had foreseen; and as he
advanced. the difiiculties Of the task he
had set himself became almost insur-
yet sustained as he was by
iis imperative need. he tore his way
through the labyrinth of trailing vines,
or fioundered across acre-wide patches
of green slime and black mud, which at
zach step threatened 10 engulf him in
heir treacherous depths. until at the end
u an hour he gainedNthe southern side
IF the clearing and a frmer footing
within the shelter OF the woods.
no sE CONTINUED vo,AoRRowi