Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-06-24

of Cain driving him to the outskirts
Of the city at night and the chastise-
ment administered to him, and lastly,
the affair Of recent date in which
Mildred, Elmer and himself were in
volved with Cain. The mountaineers
listened attentively, but as the beard
ed man made no comment, the others
refrained from doing 50
How much is he giving you for the
Job?' demanded Gordon, with a smile.
He was careful to keep good-natureG
all the time.
Men Keep Silent.
No answer. The men smoked on
in silence.
You know I've got some money
myself suggested Gordon. Maybe
you and 1 can make some kind of a
deal"
No answer
"All right" said Gordon. after
pause. Think 1t over. When you
get ready to talk business let me
know"
But the men were never ready to
talk. He took up the subject more
than once, but could get nothing
out Of the men. 1t became evident
that they preferred the bird in the
hand rather than a bird in the bush
they were not sure of getting. After
studying his captOrs for several DAYS
Gordon became convinced that they
were not Overburdened with inteli-
gence. There was nothing even crafty
about them. They were not mean or
vicious and they never bothered
Gordon or interfered with him so long
as he stayed within the prescribed
limits of what might be called the iail
haFT toll
and Gordon could not move a step
without one Of the men following him
within distance Of 10 or Is feet.
with gun ever ready in his hand.
II was peculiar situation and
would have been laughable for Cor
don except for the annoyance of the
whole thing He was allowed to write
to Mildred every five or six DAYS. but
Of course, he could not write the
words he desired to write, nor could
he tell her openly where he was or
why he could not come to her. He
continued the simple cryptogram he
began in his first letter Something
| tod him that before long Mildred. or
perhaps the active minded Elmer.
would decipher the hidden meaning
ana would organize a rescue party.
Closely Watched.
If there be youthful readers of this
narrative. they have doubtless asked
themselves why Gordon Kelly. the
big, strong, powerful man, did not sail
into the mountaineers, take their
guns away from them, give them all
a good thrashing and march them.
I trtumphantly, to the nearest lookup.
I IF .
not be satisfied unless Gordon Kelly
killed them all and left them for the
/ buzzards, while he rushed back to
/ the bungalow and threw himself IN
/ Mildred's arms. That would be very
/ nice, indeed; but things didn't 90 that
way Gordon had no opportunity tn
end his captivity in this sanguinary
manner. He looked for loopholes of
escape, and he watched carefully
/ (While appearing not to do sol for an
opening which would enable him 20
! spring upon his guard, wrest the
weapon from his hand and turn the
/ tables on, his captors. But while these
men might have been considerably
/ below the average in intelligence, and
while they might be sluggish in their
movements, they certainly knew how
! to do the work they had cut out for
/ themselves. which was simply 10
watch over Gordon Kelly night and
/ day SO that he could not get away
! from them or overcome them.
For example, when he desired to
/ exercise with bat and ball, not less
I than two of them went with him to a
little cleared space near the cabin
and saw to it that he was never more
than twenty feet from them at any
time. And what kind of eXerecis Sc
could Gordon take with bat and ball
alone? He had the knack of batting
/ the ball straight up in the air to a
/ tremendous height and catching il
when 1t came down. never having to
move more than ten feet IN any d.
/ rection to do so. This would seem to
/ be a foolish performance, but i
I served to keep his muscles limbered
/ up, his eyes bright, his condition good
and his hands toughened to the shock
/ of catching a baseball
Two Flashes.
And so the days passed. And the
weeks passed, with Gordon Kelly still
bottled up in the log cabin or within
few feet of ii. And then one day
there came a change.
His Captors had procured newspa-
pers for Gordon now and then. and
one afternoon he was seated in the
shade of a tree. with his back
against the trunk of it. reading. The
guard sat fifteen feet in front of him,
pistol in hand. And while he was
absorbed in the baseball scores some
thing flashed across the page of his
newspaper. A moment later there
came another flash. He cautiously
lowered the newspaper and glanced
at his guard. Finding his attention
had not been attracted, Gordon
brought the, paper up to his face
again and gave a little gesture with
one Of his hands. Then, holding the
paper in such a way as to hide his
head from the mountaineer, he slowly
turned.
What he saw caused him to smile
and put his paper aside and arise
and stretch himself and yawn.