Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1914-12-10
CHAPTER 10.
The Runaway Car.


rhe thoughts which he could not ex-
press in speech. His diary, well thumb
ed. held the history of many a lonely
might, but Of all these nights there was
one that stood out i'm his mind.
II was the darkness inclosing wom-
an on bed He still heard her whis-
Dered cry. "You speak of God, Tom,
but have no religion but mother
hood" Before his closed eyes came the
vision of lamp lit. then almost an ap-
pnritlon-the face of his daughter. One
9ife had fied, possibly appalled, by the
horrors of world that recks not OF our
Door humanity. Yet there was In the
dead woman's arms a child, gro
2csQUely asleep. as If unawakened ID
Che sOrrows this mother had known.
RUTH he cried. There was no an
swer from the still woman In the dark
ness. but thus he had christened his
only child
II seemed to him as If that echo still
reverberated from the moon washed
hills which marked the site of The
Master Key"
Il am getting old" he thought as he
Gurned the pages of the diary as If I'M
consciously counting the years since
woman had leaned over his shoulder.
Ruth" be murmured again.
The problem before him was no
fOnger dim and vague, as ii had been
IN the days of his prime, but absolutely
distinct and cienr-what was to become
of Ruth when he died2 With his train
ed business Intelligence he set himself
10 solve this question.
He reviewed in his mind all the men
and women he had known. 1t was
strange procession. They marched be.
xore his sharpened vision. old partners.
fresII young girls, mature women, men
with check books in their hands, men
dying Of thirst on the desert-and Will
SkersOn. He sternly put out of his mind
abe thought Of his former partner-the
znan-was he dead2 If he had not died
chat night In the gulch, If he were still
Salivc. knowing tie secret Of The Mas
TER Key" who would save Ruth from
his vengeance?
Then there rose before his mind the
straight. strong, almost austere figure
of his mining engineer, John Dorr-
youthful, OF course. but he had proved
hlmself wholly competent In almost
every task that had been given him.
The old man thought more deeply.
He recalled his own former years. He
himself had broken down the iron bar
Eiers OF cold world for the sake Of a
woman whose image Ruth was. He
bad seen in John DORIS eyes the grow
6ng fame of love. Long experience
had taught the old man that there is
mo passion so dependable in this world
as love-
John DOrr loved Ruth. 1t needed no
monetary bond to assure his fidelity TO
her interests, and with the sudden, !
swift. alert step Of a man who had
made his final decision he went out on
Ehe porch and called, John, Johnr'
Within the interior OF the little house
down the Hill the engineer OF Thomas
Gallons mine had abandoned his blue
prints TO study the letters on a little
DenDant which represented his first
victory. a touchdown on the football
9ieid within the last ten seconds of
play. He knew better than any one
chat his mission to Vale Vista was
futile. Using every resource at his
be could find no paying ore,
and yet-there was the pennant, the
emblem of victory hard fought and
hard won. Should he give up now?
HE heard clear. stern call from up
FEhe 1nfh--JOhn, JohnT
r. I'm win out yet for Ruth's sake"
he said as be answered that imperious
cry.
vOther ears heard that call, and as
9ohn FASTENED down the hill he saw
Ruth's figure by the side OF the bunga-
Row, and as II by the opening OF a
shutter he once more saw the lights Of
Broadway and table spread with
Einen, two people sitting there-his
evil geniuses.
In this complex and highly organized
civilization OF ours no man can be as
sured that at any moment some other
man possibly thousands OF miles dis
Gant Is not planning an act whose por-
tent would never occur to him.
At a table I'm a New York restaurant
a man and woman were sitting with
the words Gallon" "Dorr" and "Wil-
kerson" on their lips.
Harry Wilkerson has found Tom
Gallon" she said quietly. 81 wonder
what viii happenT
Her companion laughed "Gallon7 l
mad college mate named 'DOrr,' who
h working for a man named Gallon
somewhere out IN the Mines"
The woman's dark eyes III up. and
she seemed more strikingly handsome
~ she allowed her sudden passion 10 |
1cod her somber face with color.
There Is money In that mine. George
Craner she said. but this man Dorr
49, s.z.... "A aiaan- Ia hal You min.