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

ness. In casting about for a reason
for his capture he had naturally
thought of Cain, but this act of pass
ing money around made him sure now
that the Atlanta man had hired these
men to take him and hold him. He
could not fathom Gains reasons for
paying out good money for this sort
Of a cheap revenge for fancied
wrongs After turning the matter
over in his mind for awhile, he sud
denly burst out laughing.
You know this Forrest Cain is
nothing more or less than snake.
don't your" he asked.
A look Of surprise came into the
faces Of his captors and Gordon knew
he had hit the mark
I'll tell you men something about
that fellow he continued He pro-
ceeded to do so, giving an account of
the first time he met Cain in front of
the ball park in Atlanta, the incident
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 so
How much is he giving you for the
tob?" demanded Gordon, with a smile.
He was careful to keep good-natured
all the time.
Men Keep Silent.
No answer. The men smoked on
in silence.
You know I've got some m( ley
myself" suggested Gordon Maybe
you and / can make some kind of a
deal"
No answer
"All right" said Gordon. after a
pause. Think It 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. II 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 intelli-
genCe. There was nothing even crafty
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 Jail
yard; but their vigil was unceasing
and Gordon could not move step
without one OF the men following him
within a distance of 10 or Is feet
with a gun ever ready in his hand.
II was a 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
told him that before long Mildred, or
perhaps the active minded Elmer
would decipher the hidden meaning
and would organize 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,
triumphantly, to the nearest lookup.
Some Of the youthful readers might
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
a no i
nice, indeed; but things didn't 60 that
way. Gordon had no opportunity to
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 TO
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
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 exercise
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 it came down, never having to
move more than zen feet in any di-
rection to do so. This would seem to
be a foolish performance. but 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 it. 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