The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1914-09-12

Bassett. That's about my luck. The bal
looms gone over the river: its In New
York, and some Harlem reporter IL leading
It down to his Office on leash to have =
photORraphed, and Tm-rm hood0o0d, that's
all"
II dunno" said the farmer. hut Of 70 asst
me, ia say that Teller in the autymobile
was maxim for the woods beyond Quirks-
borough. It's lonely up through there, m
he had somethin' in that there machine that
he wanted to keep lonely, I'm guessip'."
Bassett motioned to the driver to 90 on.
I'VE might a. we'll SEQ what It 10: the bal.
looms gone home for supper" he said BIT
terly.
In five minutes they reached the turn
where the farmer had last seen Harry Mar
win disappear. They took the turn into an
ill-kept. dust-heavy road that had cast its
blight Of brown upon the reeds that Dor.
dered it.
The woods became more and more dense
and the road more narrow. In some places
the dust was crusted. as 1t had dried after
the last rain, and the men in the automobile
could see that the wheels of another ma
chine and the hoofs Of a gallopink horse
had plunged through this crust but . short
time before.
Around a bend in the road. going at full
the first time. He stood up beside the
driver and hailed him, but Harry did not
even turn around. The beat of his horses
hoofs drowned the sound. The deep lines
his gaze and his senses to one thing alone
the rescue of Pauline.
He urged the poor beast to its last tug Of
strength. Weak and dizzy from his wound,
he knew that he could go but little way
afoot. The sturdy creature was his only
hope.
The roads high. close-set wall Of trees
was broken for the first time by a little
clearing: Harry's passing glance showed
him that there was a house in the clearing.
He was exhausted and athirst, but his eyes
swept back to the wheel tracks on the road.
The wheel tracks continued up the road.
The runabout had gone on. Harry, without
drawing rein, was about to follow. But
suddenly, weirdly, the rickety walls Of the
deserted house gave forth a sound, a rattle
and a crash. and from shattered window
beside the low-silled door bellied a gray
sheet of smoke.
Harry refined the foaming horse and
sprang OH. Freed OF his weight. the animal
STAGGERED on few PAGES and fell. painting.
in the dust.
Harry did not see It. He was batterins
at the door of the burning house.
Hicks could hardly be called Q nervous
or timid man. He was certainly not 4 cow
ard. like Owen; but neither did he have tho
shrewd, scheming mind which was the bull
At the moment when they discovered the
young lovers safe at the foot of the clin
after the escape from the balloon and rock
ledge, the two arch conspirators were two
very different men. Owen was shaking like
a leaf in his terror Of discovery-shaking
like q leaf but thinking Of q hundred
schemes to save himself Hicks was deadly
cool. and thinking Of Just one thing-im-
mediate and cold-blooded murder.
But now, although he thought he had
killed Harry, although he knew he had
Pauline gagged and bound in the bottom Of
the ruunabout. Hicks was afraid. He was
afraid Of the incompleteness of the thing.
He was eager to have done with the girl
h ~ ttovS~ 1>SS&D
out Of the way. And now this latest plan
of Ovens was but another chapter Of pro
crastination.
The incident Of the farmers curiosity had
unnerved him. too. He put back over his
face one Of the white handkerchiefs that
he had taken OF when he began the night.
He uttered a fnal EDMONTON to Pauline
! There's no more .pitythe-poor- girl stun
keep quiet. II you don't keep quiet I'll kill
YOU III kill you with my hands while
you're lying there under the blanket. I
mean what say"
He still had the instructive crook sense to
conceal his natural voice.
Hicks was afraid. but as mile after mile
fell behind them on the dusty road, and the
weSterning sun gave promise OF the early
shelter Of dark. he began to gain confidence
The old Grigsby house, Ell? Nobody
but he checked himself. Nobody but
somebody would thoughts that Less peo-
pie has lived there and moro people has
died there than in any dwe1lin' home know
Of" he added with a chuckle.
If Hicks was talking 70 himself about his
destination. 1t was the "old Grigsby house."
In front OF which the runabout came to q
stop after many miles Of travel.
The building was Get hack from the road
about three hundred yards. In front OF 1t
and ON either side the trees had been cut
away. but tangls Of riotous shrubbery
lined the path to the door. Behind tho
house the trees had been Left untouched,
and now IN its tottering condition the VEN
cradle building literally rested on two Of
the great elms, like IN old man on clutches.
The windows were few and suffered
The black steel blinds were dead ~ the
eyes Of . skull. The steel was not rusted
and only . little weather stained. One
might have guessed that the house had been