The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1914-12-29
CHAPTER XXI.
AntIcilmax.

Alan came to himself supported by
Barcus-his senses still Keeling from
the conclusion of that thunderbolt
which he had so unwittingly loosed-
the cloud Of sulphurous smoke and yet
dissipated by the wind.
Judith lay at his feet, stunned; and
round about other figures of men in
sensible, If not, for all he could say,
dead.
And then Barcus was hustling him
unceremoniously down the wharf.
Come! Comet" he rallied Alan.
Pull yourself together and keep a
stiff upper lip. Rose is waiting in
the car, and if you don't want to be
arrested you'll stir your stumps, my
son! That explosion is going to bring
the worthy burghers of New Bedford
buzzing round our ears like a swarm
of hornets!'
His prediction was justified even
before it was made; already the near
by dwellings were vomiting half
clothed humanity; already score of
people were galloping down toward
the head of the wharf; and in their
mum Der a policeman appeared as if by
magic.
And while the man hesitated Alan
grabbed him by the shoulder, threw
him bodily from the car, dropped into
his seat, cried a warning to Rose, and
threw in the clutch. The machine re-
sponded without jar; they were a
hundred feet distant from the scene
of the accident before Alan was fairly
settled in his place.
AS he grew more and more calm, he
congratulated himself on having drawn
an excellent car in the lottery of
chance. 1t was light, but the motor
ran famously, and If not capable Of
a racing pace it would serve his ends
as speedily as was consistent with
reasonable care for the life of the
woman he loved.
Yet his congratulations were prema-
ture; they were not ten minutes out
of the environs Of the city when Rose
left her seat and knelt behind his, to
communicate the intelligence that
they were already being pursued.
A heavy touring car, she said it was,
driven by man, woman In the
seat by his side-Judith the latter, the
man an old employe of her fathers
by the name of Marrophat.
Marrophat!
Alan remembered that one.
He could only trust in his skill as
in such a race.
They could overtake the fugitives
practically when they would.
But for some weird, Incompetent
sible reason they chose to hang GER
tain distance in the rear, a distance
that could readily be bridged by two
minutes of furious driving.
Why?
In the succeeding quarter-hour the
ca1mness of fatalism became Alan's
They were biding their time for some
secret and fatal purpose. The blow
was predestined to fall, but cruelty de-
ferred.
For his own part, he drove like an
exceptionally cunning mailman.
And then, quite clearly. he recog-
nized the time and the place ano the
character Of the road that lay before
him as the car sped like a dragon-fy
down slight grade.
From the bottom of the grade it
swung away in a wide, graceful curve,
bordered for some distance by railroad
tracks on slightly lower level
He had guessed the fiendish plan of
the other driver only too truly.
AS they approached at express
speed the stretch where the road par
alleled the tracks Alan sought to hug
the left-hand side Of the road, but in
vain.
Roaring, with its muffler cut out, the
pursuing car swept up and baff1ed him.
bringing it's right forward wheel up
beside the left rear wheel of his car,
then more slowly forging up until,
with it's weight, bulk and superior
power, it forced him inch by inch to
tie right, toward the tracks, until his
rfght-hand wheels left the road and
ran on uneven turf, until the left-hand
wheels as well lost grip on the road
metal, until the car began to dip Oh
the slope to the tracks.