The Washington times., 1915-05-31

UP here STAGING a show: ana you got
lark. Professor Stillter has had sone-
thing to do with the scenario. The
heroine is supposed to be q little looney
TSss That i. KoI Y. tims on me ySse %s
heaven, it's only acting. Why, really
thought you were mad az a hatter!"
NO" said Celestia, I'm not In the
least angry. But I'm sure don't lnow
get excited and talk fast and your eyes
smile. 1t rests me-
Tommy shook his head at her and
smiled reprovingly.
said. Come now, what's your real
name?"
"Ceiestia." she said.
"All right. II you don't want to tell
me yet; IT will keep, it's bound to. But
tell me then. are you''-- he hesitated
and blushed. I'D really like to know.
You see I'm rather crazy about you.
You're not Mrs. somebody or other. are
Tho embarrassed smile fross on his
lips. He leaped to his feet and stood
listening. Faint and clear, sounding
cheerful rather than ominous. there
rose to them from the valleys below a
baying Of dogs. Tommy had gone once
with a posse Of deputy sherifrs to sec
how a murderer is hunted down with
the bloodhounds. Whole scenes OF that
pursuit flashed through his mind. and
he knew that the baying. which now
sounded IN his ears. was not that OF
deerhounds running out OF season but
of bloodhounds following a human trail.
He climbed swiftly to the top Of the
Hub and stood listening, his field glasses
A glimpse OF two bloodhounds and
four men, one Of whom was Stilliter
and another a full-blooded Indian,
crossing an open space, recently crossed
| l,x, raIA tta And hif,nc all ltirt inc hat
hurried escape and in the same direc-
ton, brought Tommy down from the
Hub In great hurry.
That there would ever be any diff
Guilty of evading such a man as Stilliter
in the North woods had never occurred
to him. He had pictured Stilliter a man
Of resource in a laboratory or in dis
secting room with an insensible guinea
pig staked out on the operating table.
but not out of doors. The man was
fat. unhealthily' white and appallingly
near sighted. That such a man could
| be so hot upon their trail had about 1t
a sinister quality that brought Tommy's
heart into his mouth
As for Celestia-well, she couldn't he
a movie actress; no movie actress play
ing truant would be hunted down with
bloodhounds, and he felt that she must
be accounted for upon some other hy-
| pothesis, but later when there was
more time.
Meanwhile there was nothing to be
| thought of put instant getting together
of such things as might prove most
useful and fight.
We've got to beat 1t. Celestial ne
said. I'm sorry, because you are tired,
but that man"-here by encircling his
eyes with his hands he indicated Pro-
| fessor Stilliters eyeglasses-"is after
| US"
She rose obediently to her feet. Il
don't know why he wants to catch you.'
said Tommy, land. either you don't
! t4lI De- Itr-
like him and you're afraid of him, and
that's enough
A kettle, frying pan, salt. tea and
matches rolled into blanket and
glasses. AK and fishing tackle we're
| about all that Tommy could carry and
make speed under. Especially II he
had to help Celestia over difficulties
His rife he abandoned. 1t would be
better. he thought. to be unarmed than
| to attempt with light twenty-five to
oppose repeating rifles of heavy caliber.
And Furthermore, Tommy. though pre-
and fight for them, was not prepared
to kill anybody in an affair which was
| entirely mystery to him.
They were soon underway, following
the higher ground. where the granite
outcroppings neither received any i'm
/ press from their feet. nor long held the
scent of the leather soles. But the
crests Of the ridges were not all gran
lite, and Tommy knew very well that in
| places they were making what woods
men call a broad trail. A trail of foot
| prints and bent and broken branches
which an Indian will tead as casually
as corlmuter reads his newspaper:
and which. aided by bloodhounds, ~
Will follow as easily as small boys fol-
| low a procession through city street.
That broad reaches of unbroken gran
! lite woGld occasionally baffle their pur-
| suers was all that Tommy could hope
for. lie counted on these bafflements
for making up for the difference in
speed between men and dogs. travelling
light. and a girl already too tired and
| utterly unused to the woods.
He had at first only a vague idea as
to just what part of the wilderness he
would take her. but gradually his mind
cleared up on this point and he became
occupied with the problem of getting to
that place by Il route which their pur-
suers would find the most difficulty pos
sible in following. He had hopes of
throwing them completely of the trail.
Cro Be Continued Tomorrow