The Washington times., 1912-07-06
CHAPTER XVII.
The Prince Passes.

= ATE that evening Margaret, tired
in soul and body, found herself
seated before a fire. She was
dimly conscious that she was in
the house OF a quiet, sad little woman,
called Mrs. Grant, and that the house
was in the village of Morag, about fif-
teen miles from the Cothouse.
How she arrived here she hardly
knew. 1t had been a wild race, in
which her physical strength and mental
determination had been tried to the ut
most. She had confused memory of
following at the heels of two stalwart
big smuggler, Captain Grant, Mrs.
Grants husband-and the road was
rough and unbeaten. Indeed, 1t was
not a road at all. Circumstances had
forced, the trio from the beaten paths,
and they had skulked over the heath
late in the dusk of the day, hiding at
intervals and pressing on at every op-
portunity.
Yes, it was confused memory of
turmoil, fraught with terror and physi-
cal pain. Margaret's nerves had been
strung to tense pitch. Exhausted as
she now was, the very tension of what
she had undergone left her sleepless.
She merely sat before the fire, rigid in
WEAKNESS, and stared in to the glowing
peat.
And before the race-what was it?
She remembered a rapid tattoo upon
her door at the Cothouse, and the shep-
herd whispering frantically. When she
emerged, fully dressed, she found the
shepherd impatiently awaiting her,
while standing by the closed door of the
living room, with his ear bent to the
Come" said McHendrick. THE
prince is gone. He is either in the
hands Of the redcoats or on his way to
Morag. If he is caught, we can do
ha lFnn
what to do and where his only chance
Aes-at Morag. Come, girl"
Very we'll" said Margaret coolly.
What am l to do? am waiting"
me window with laugh. He opened
1t gently. peered down, and dropped
TO the ground. At the same time loud
voices came from the downstairs por-
Jump said McHendrick, urging
Margaret toward the window. 1T is
not far, and he viii catch you"
Margaret blindly obeyed.
Heather Bloom. the smuggler,
caught her in his great arms and
lowered her gently to her feet Then
ne looked up at the window, and
-Easy, old man. You're bones are
,McHendrick lowered himself down
the wall until Heather Bloom could
grip his knees; Then he let go and
slid ungracefully to the ground, fall
ing in a heap at the smuggler's feet.
The shepherd scrambled up without
g word. Then the race began
Five minutes later Margaret was
laboring forward as in a dream, one
hand clinging to the crook of Nc
Hendricks STAFF, the other in use to
from stumbling.
For two or three miles the two men
ana the woman went on in the gath
eIing dusk. Finally the smuggler fell
tn a
ground with frantic down jerking
of his hand Margaret put her face
close to the heather and heard. min
Cling with the thud of her own heart,
"Yon's Captain Kilby," whispered
McHendrick. THAT means three
bodies of redcoats on the search"
Silence followed the dying away of
the smuggler whisper:
Later, when it was quite dark, and
they had gained a sheltered spot in
wood, the smIGgler called a halt.
For few minutes they half lay on
the ground, painting.
"Therll be no whisky on the This
tel Down tonight" said the notorious
smuggler, with a bit of a chuckle.
Just as weu. They will have less sus-
picion of what the ship does carry. y
"What does it all mean?" asked
Margaret impatienuy.
Heather Bloom laughed softly in
the darkness and echoed her Oues-
tion, half mockiingly. 1t was McHen-
drick who replied.
at came sudden" said he, "and We
had 10 move quickly. The Red Mole
the red headed man, .lass-went to
and found a dead man on the turf"
"Who was it7" asked Margaret
quickly and almost shrilly