Roanoke Rapids herald. [volume] (Roanoke Rapids, N.C.) 1914-192?, 1914-09-18
CHAPTER XXI.
Anticlirnax.

Alan came to himself supported by
IBarcus-his senses still Keeling from
the concussion of that thunderbolt
which he had so unwittingly toosed
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 swarm
Of hornets!
His prediction was justified even
before it was made already the near
by dwellings, were vomiting half
clothed humanity; already a score OF
people were gallopng down toward
the head of the wharf; and in their
number policeman appeared as ii 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 We're
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 Oh having drawn
an excellent car in the lottery of
chance. 1t was light, but the motor
ran tamously, and If not capable of
a racing pace 1t would serve his ends
as speedily as was consistent with
reasonable care for the life Of the
woman he loved
Yet his congratulations We're prema-
Iture, they were not ten minutes out
,of the enyirons Of the city when Rose
left her seat and knelt behind his, 10
communicate the intelligence that
they were already being pursued
A heavy touring car She said 1t was
driven by man woman In the
seat by his side-Judth 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 a race.
They could oyertake the fugitiyes
practically when they would
But for some weird Incompetent.
sible reason they chose to hang a Ger.
tain distance in the rear, distance
that could readily be bridged by two
minutes of furious driving.
Why?
In the succeeding quarterhour the
calmness of fatalism became Alans,
They were hiding 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 and the
character of the road that lay before
him as the car sped like dragon fly
down a slight grade
From the bottom Of the grade it
swung away in a wide, graceful curve,
bordered for some distance by railroad
tracks on a slightly lover level.
He had guessed tne hendish 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 mutfler cut out, the
car swept up and balTled him,
bringing its right forward wheel up {
beside the left rear wheel of his car,
then more slowly forging up until
With its weight, bulk and superior
power, 1t forced him inch by inch to
he right toward the tracks, until his
'ight-hand wheels left the road and
an on uneven turf, until the left-hand r
wheels as well lost grip on the road !.
metal, until the car began to dip on
he slope to the tracks. I
He heard the far hoot-toot of a
relght locomotive
There followed a maniac moment
when the world was upside down.
Alans car slipped and skdded, swung t
ideways with frightful momentum
oward the railroad tracks, caught its
wheels against the ties, and
The sun swung in the heavens like
all on a string. There was a crash, Z
oar There was nothing-ob. a
The car had turned turtle, pinning
lose and Alan beneath It,
"Alan!" she gasped. you are not t