Yellowstone monitor., 1914-10-01
CHAPTER XXI.
AnticIimax.

Anticlimax.
| Alan came to himself supported by
5arcus-his senses still reeling from
the concussion 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, ii not, for all he could say,
dead.
| And then Barcus was hustling him
uncerenoniously down the wharf
Come! Come!" 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 1t was made; already the near
F., by dwellings were vomiting half
clothed humanity; already a score of
people were galloping down toward
the head of the wharf; and in their
number 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 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. It was light, but the motor
ran famously. and II not capable of
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 q 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
a driver, and skill is the lesser factor
In such 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
calmness 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 4
And then, quite clearly, he recog.
nized the time and the place and the
character Of the road that lay before
him as the car sped like dragon-dy
down slight grade.
From the bottom Of the grade Il
swung away in wide, graceful curve,
bordered for some distance by railroad |
tracks on a slightly lc-er level.
He had guessed tne fendish plan OF |
the other driver only too truly.
Az 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 Ito mufler cut out, the
pursuing car swept up and baffied him,
bringing tt right forward wheel up
beside the left rear wheel Of his car,
then more slowly forging up until,
with IT. weight bulk and superior
power. It forced him inch BY inch to
the right. toward the tracks, until his
rtght.hand wheels left the road and
ran on uneven turf, until the left-hand
wheels IS well lost grip on the road
metal, until the car began 70 dip on
he slope to the tracks.
He hoard the Tar hoot-toot Of : +
lreight locomotive
There followed maniac moment,
when the world was upside down.
Alan's car slipped and skidded, swung
lidsways with frightful momentum
'oward the railroad tracks. caught IT. ,
wheels a6alnst the Ties. and
The sun swung II the heavens like !
,all o. string. There was ! crash, 4
oar There Va nothine Oh !,