The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1914-04-11
Saturday Short Story

time to consider her true feeling
toward the man at her side. Her
| glimpse of aerial freedom had
given her courage and magma
ton. Besides, a little shaking
might discover the latent ital-
les which seemed lacking In APP
| pleton's nature. With a quick
movement, her hand slipped to
the wheed, and under the spur OF
an opportunity so evident and APP
palling she gave it the turn that
spelled the difference between Sc
curity and catastrophe.
The road seemed to drop from
under the car and the car from
under her. The next that she
knew she was on the grassy EN-
bankment facing the seat from
which she had been precipitated.
She looked for Appleton. who had
gone In different direction. He
was rising from the water, drip
ping but uninjured.
How did 1t happen?" he
gasped, as he glanced downward
at his mud-drenched clothes.
Extraordinary" she MUIR
INJURED. Wasn't 1t creditable OF
both OF us not to scream"
Look at the machine!" he ex.
claimed, with a grievous gesture
toward the runabout, which lay
on it's side wedged into the bank
How are we ever going to pull
IL out?"
But he had overlooked the
farmland, who had dismounted
and was standing beside his horse
which was in its working harness,
Appleton leaned against the
machine in despair.
Say" drawled the farmland,
with chuckle:
why don't you both jump on
the boss an when you get to
Perkins'--that's the next house
beyond-you can rush into his
barn an get another"
Alice forgot the aeroplane,
now the size of an eagle and
pointing directly for them, and
gave the man look that might
we'll make an ogre pause.
Never! Never! Two of us in
that fashion? Never!" she said.
by jing! It's that flynn ma
chine. She's a-comin' some! An.
by jing!--yes, by jing! eff she
aint-a-going'-to-stop!" ex-
claimed the farmland, who was
enjoying a most interesting fore
noon.
The propeller was still. There
was the dead silence of the coun-
tryside and of space as the Bolt.
with the dipping swoop of a gull
at sight of piece of bread on
the waters, lowered over them
and lighted on the road few
yards away, with ease and pre-
cision. So familiar was the pub-
lie with Rodney Sharp's face
from the prints that he needed
no introduction. A faint tide of
color rose in his cheeks at sight
of Alice, and possibly also in hers.
lie had not seen her since. as A
little girl, she had watched his
first experiment. There was no
other sign of recognition on the
part of either as he asked, in the
terms Of the automobile fellow
ship of the road, If he could be
of any assistance.
With an apology for interrupt-
ing Appleton's excited repetition
or broken. hasty sentences about
trains and steamers to Europe
and ten minutes. he said, when
he had grasped the situations:
ITS only three or four miles
to the station, isn't it? That's
easy in the time you have. In
fact, | expect to be in New York
at three this afternoon. But the
Bolt is my racer, and, while I
can takeNone passengers easily, T
can't quite manage two"
Appleton had never been IN
an aeroplane. He was a conserv-
alive, with a stagecoach prefer
ence for automobiles, who re-
garded Rodney Sharp as a gallery
player. But he was ready to show
that, In this terrible crisis, he
was not afraid to do his duty.
III go with him, Alice" he
said, and you can ride the horse
and l think | can hold the Linn
TIED for a few minutes. Anyway.
your father can"
Here Alice missed her cue and
probably forfeited all right To
sympathy. What more could she
ask than to be left to herself to
take her own time to catch the
train? This new development had
befogged the very object for
which she had driven the run-
about into the creek. The awk-
ward country boy-the son of the
village blacksmith in a commun-
ity where she had known the iso-
lation of the rich-was now a
courteous man of the world, wait
ing with polite reserve on her
wishes and piquing her curiosity
as to how the transformation had
been wrought. And she was coins