The Detroit times., 1912-07-25
N.gss PHILIP STEELE
G9,l MISUNDERSTANDING
EgSS$1 y JAMES OLIVER OURwOOD
- "a Auh1d Dsuar Tail neIisoOr Of ,heBe SoOssdk
Ma * w. 4, csSydsA. 1914 TAsB Company
~ cspyrish. 1871. rAs Bobh. Merlin Company

sledge began TO move A whip crack
ed loudly above him. a voice rose In
loud shout, and the dogs were urged
to trot. Again there came to Philips
ears the wheeling notes OF the accor-
dion. By slight effort he found that
he could turn his head sufficiently to
look through a hole on the level with
his eyes In the side OF the box. The
sledge had turned from the dark trail
into the lighted street, and stopped al
last before a brilliantly lighted front
from which there issued the sound OF
coarse voices, OF laughter and half
drunken song.
One OF his captors went into the
bar while the other seated himself on
,, the box, with one leg shutting out
Philips vision by dangling II over the
hole through which he was looking
What's up, Fingy?" inquired a
voice.
"Wekusko." replied the man on the
box. In the husky, fesh-smothered
tones OF the person who had entered
last into the cabin.
Another dead one up there, ehT
persisted the same voice.
No. Maps n things f'r Hodges,
up at the camp. Devil of a hurry,
amt he, TO order us up at night?
Teil-to hustle out with the bottle,
will you?"
The speaker sent the lash OF his
whip swapping through the air in
place of supplying a name.
Maps and things-for Hodges
Wekusko!" gasped Philip inwardly.
He listened for further information.
None came, and soon the man called
Flngy jumped from the box, cracked
MS whip with wheeling command to
the dogs, and the sledge moved on.
And so his captors were taking him
TO Wekusko-and more than that, to
hodges, chief OF construction, whose
life had been attempted by the pris.
oner whom Inspector MacGregor had
ordered him to bring down! Had Fin
gy spoken the truth? And, II SO, was
this another part OF the mysterious
plot foreseen by the inspector?
During the next half hour, in which
the sledge travelled steadily over the
smooth, hard trail into the north,
Philip asked himself these and a
score OF other questions equally per-
picking. He was certain that the
beautiful young woman whom he had
followed had purposely lured him
into the ambush. He considered him.
self her prisoner. Then why should
he be consigned. like parcel Of
freight, to Hodges, her husbands ac-
cuser, and the man who demanded
the full penalty of the law for his as
sailant?
The more he added to the ques-
lions that leaped into his mind the
more mystifed he became. The con-
hicting orders, the strange demeanor
OF his chief, the pathetic appeal that
ne had seen In the young woman's
eyes. the ambush, and now this unac-
countable ride to Wekusko, strapped
in a coffin box. all combined to plunge
him into a chaos of wonder from
which 1t was impossible for him to
struggle forth. However, he assured
himself OF two things; he was COM
paratively comfortable, and within
two hours at the most they would
reach Hodges headquarters, II the
Wekusko camp were really to be their
destination. Something must develop
then.
IL had ceased to occur to him that
there was peril In his strange posi-
ton. II that were so, would his cap
tors have left him in possession Of
his weapons, even imprisoned as he
was? IL they had intended him harm.
would Trey have cushioned his box
and placed pillow under his head
so that the cloth about his mouth
would not cause him discomfort? 1t
struck him as peculiarly significant.
now that he lad suffered no injury in
the short struggle on the trail that
no threats or intimidation had been
offered after his capture. This was
part OF the game which he was to
play! He became more and more
certain OF II as the minutes passed.
AM there occurred to him again and
again the inspectors significant
words, Whatever happens" Mac
Gregor had spoken the words with
particular emphasis, had repeated
them more than once Were they in
tended to give him warning of this.
to put him on his guard, as we'll as
at his ease?"
And with these thoughts, many,
conflicting and mystifying, he found
1t impossible to keep from associat-
ing other thoughts of Bucky Nome,
and of the woman whom he now
frankly confessed to himself that he
loved. II conditions had been a little
different, IL the incidents had not oc-
CURED just as they had, he might
have suspected the hand of Bucky
Nome In what was Transporting now.
But he discarded that suspicion the
instant that 1t came to him. That
which remained with him more and
more deeply as the minutes passed
was a mental picture OF the two wo-
men of this woman who was fight
ing to save her husband, and OF the
other. whom he loved, and for whom