The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1912-05-11

emu MT. PrenLlce IN aStonlShment.
D.. "Of course. Only oil and
matches could have made a barn
flare up, after a three-days' rain,
as his did. Now, Bailey, to con-
tinue. You ran across the fields
to the Tuxall place and went
around-let me see; the wind
had shifted to the northeast
yes; to the northeast of the barn
and quite a distance away. There
you saw a man at work in his
shirt"
"Well-I'll = be - jiggered!"
said the boy in measured tones.
Where were you hiding, Mr..
Jones?"
mot behind the tree there,
anyway" returned the Advisor
with a chuckle. There's a tree
there, l suppose?"
Yes; and there was something
alive tied up in it with a rope"
well, not exactly alive" re-
turned Average Jones, though
the mistake is a natural one."
Il tell you, l KNOW" persist
GU w ullS MI dld WI
Farley were workin' over some
kind of a box, Skinned up the
tree"
BOLD young adventurer! And
what did you find?"
"One of the limbs was shakin'
and thrashin,' l crawled out on
1t. / guess it was kind o. crazy
q, mo hut 7 xyac uoip, 70 find ont
what If / broke my neck. There
was a rope tied to it, and some
big thing up above pullin' and
jerkin' at it, trying to get away.
Pretty soon, Mr.. and Mrs. Farley
came almost under me. He says:
is Tuxall all ready?' and she
says: He thinks we ought to
wait half an hour. The street'll
be full of folks then Then he
says: We'll l hate to risk it, but
maybe it's better Just then the
rope gave twist and came swing
in over on me, and knocked me
right off the limb. / gave yell
and then l landed. Next l knew
| was in bed. And that's all.
Now I'll take up the wondrous
tale" said Average Jones. "The
Farleys, naturally discounted by
Bailey's abrupt and informal ar
rival, were in a quandry. Here
was an inert 10Y on their hands.
He might be dead, which would
be bad. Or, he might be alive,
which would be worse, if they left
him."
How so?" asked the Reverend
Mr.. Prentice.
why, you see," explained Az
erage Jones, they couldn't tell
how much he might have seen and
heard before he made his hasty
descent. He might have enough
information to spoil their whole
careful and elaborate PLAN"
But what in the world was
their plan?" demanded the minis
ter.
That comes later. They took off
Bailey's coat and waistcoat, per-
haps to see if his back was brok-
en- (Farley nodded, and finding
him alive, tossed his clothes into
the buggy, where Farley had left
his own, and completed their
necessary work. OF course, there
was danger that Bailey might
come to at any moment and ruin
everything. So they worked at
top speed, and left the final per-
Torrance to Tuxall. In their ex-
element they forgot to find out
from their accomplice who Bailey
was. Consequently, they found
themselves presently driving
across country with an unknown
and undesired white elephant Of
a boy on their hands. One of
them conceived the idea of toss
ing his clothes upon the sea-
beach to establish false clue of
drowning, until they could de-
eide what was to be done with
him. In carrying this out they
made the mistake which lighted
up the whole train"
well, l don't see it at all"
said Farley glumly. How did
you ever get to us?"
Average Jones mildly contem-
plated the mathematical center
of his quessICner.
| Continued Tomorrow.
L