Putnam patriot., 1912-08-30
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eyes.
 Stanton, trust me all the way now" he appealed Gan you Go that? Can you take my word that your friendship is the only thing in the world I want? If l deceived you. it was so l could be here to race with you to-day. l will tell you afterward, I cant now"
 You mean
 Floyd held out his bend.
 I've got everything badly mixed up, but it's clean to offer you, Stanton"
 As swiftly impulsive as his condem- nation was stanton's movement as he bent to give the clasp.
 "AIl right" he said curtly. Get in; I ought to have given you chance" :" And as the other obeyed: "I didn't mean to meet you as I did, an hour ago. anyhow; it slipped me"
 They're signaling" warned Mir. Green, hurrying over. Are you readyf Both of you?"
 From his place beside Stanton. Floyd turned a face of incarnate sun- shine to the assistant manager face so changed in it's color and glow and warmth that all who saw drew breath in sheer wonder.
 We're ready" his Hitting tones as- sured. Don't worry"
 Stanton laughed with him. fastening on the mask. and sent the Mercury rolling forward. The world was right once more, and life sane.
 It was an exquisite morning; wind less. cool, with happy little effects of snowy cloud against a eesalt-biue sky. The October air was a summer distilled cordial. an ethereal intoxi- cant. The racers had no time to no- tiee 1t, yet the effect was there. The i speed made on the first laps was rec l ord-breaking.
 The brown or gray streak of road ahead. the deadly turns. the treacher- ous smooth hill down which it was so easy to make speed and still more easy to meet disaster-for the first hour Stanton had no attention to spare from these. Moreover. the spectators were massed over the course in many 1 places, recoiling just enough to leave
 a lane for each cars passage, and so imposing another anxiety upon the drivers who knew the swerve of foot 1 must bring death to some one.
 "Car behind" Floyd's clear accents gave the familiar cautions, from time to time. He's tryin' to get us before the turn. The Atalanta's head in the dust"
 The pace maintained was the fastest at which the Mercury could be held to the road. It was Stanton's way to gain the lead first, when possele. then keep a steady average regardless or i his rivals spurts of speed; unless the race We're too short to permit such tactics or the contest too close. Now, at the end of the second hour Floyd i made the desired announcement. as they shot past the grand-stand and the i bulletin boards
 | Were leadin'. The tires have been holdin' fine-1ook out for them this round"
 I Stanton moved his head affirmative i ly, his narrowed eyes answering from 1 the line of course ahead. Heeding the advice he did take the turns more carefully.
 The preeaution was justified. On the most dreaded angle of the course 1 came the welI-known explosion. inn mediately followed by a second from l the opposite wheel, the Mercury top i pied perilously.
 Floyd was leaning over the back. un- strapping the extra tires. before Stan ] Fl tn a Sf4n6Stlll ] The two men were out on the ground together. dragging forth tools. Ringed about by pushing, exclaiming specta- tors. they worked with quick precision, wasting no time in speech. Dust wrapped. two big cars sped by them, ] the red one hanging doggedly at the | flank of the white.
 George thinks he's winnin'," lisped 1 Floyd mockingly. But he isn't goin' i to; we are.'
 Stanton was on his feet again. "Iu with the tools he directed, with brevity.
 1 But the blue-black eyes and gray l exchanged one smiling glance before i the Mercury sprang forward. l The race began its third hour, as ] Stanton started out to regain his lost i lead. It was noon. a dazzling, breath 1 less noon of azure and gold. Down past the grand-stand with It's heaving 1 sxpanse of color and movement they swept again, the joyous applause com | ing to them across the roar of their i own motor. and on between the walls of people into the quieter back stretch | in pursuit of their rivals. There was a bridge, back there, across shallow running brook shut in ! by a strip of autumn-tinted woodland.
 Car aheadi" Floyd cried suddenly, ! as they rushed around curve and bore down on the crossing. Look out ! Stanton"
 In the center of the bridge was ! reeling. staggering car. coming to a 1 halt and striving to maintain its equi- | librium meanwhile. The chain had broken loose, it's driver afterward ex- 1 plained and was flashing the under mechanism to scrap metal Seeing too l late to stop his own machine. Stanton took the only chance ot saving any Of l the four lives and tried io twist past | the other car on the marrow bridge. Only a master-driver would have at tempted the feat; Stanton carried 1t to the verge of success. They were along side. passing. when the edge of the wooden bridge gave way under the double strain There was the rip Of splintering blanks. as the Mercury's l outside wheels crushed through the l..rch