Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1915-07-31

of fear. A slight flush overspread
her face.
"You know l will, John"
eyes, by George l do" he ex-
claimed enthusiastically. "You are a
little brick"
Going to the safe he whirled the
combination backward and forward
until the heavy door swung open, and
stepping forward, placed the report
within, then closed the door and ap-
parently locked it.
II did not lock the safe," he whis-
pered as he stopped to kiss her good
bye, 1.-The shades were up when l
put the report away. have reason
to believe l was watched. When you
go back, put out the lights, secrete
the report about your person, then
close the safe and throw the COM
bination. If there is any deviltry
afoot, and it looks like it, this will
throw them off the track"
He knew his danger but thought 1t
might be just as well to face what
was coming now as later, and then,
if Nolan really had been wounded, it
would be no more than right that he
should go to him, especially as he
probably received his injuries through
loyalty to Darlington.
Snow there was and plenty OF it,
but as it had ceased falling before
the stranger with the bloody hand had
called upon him, John had no difficulty
in following the trail To his sur
prise, the tracks led away from, in
stead of toward the town. Straight
up the river road they went diverging
toward the river side of the highway.
On past the boat houses nesting be-
meath the bank of the broad, ice
coated stream, the stranger had held
a steady course passing the deserted
summer homes that now stood like
dark monuments to desolation sill
houetted against the silvery back
ground of lawn and field.
Once or twice as he walked along in
the silence of the darkest hours be-
fore dawn, Darlington felt inclined to
give up following the wide spaced
trail. He reasoned, however, that
even if this was subterfuge to get
him out of the way so the report could
be stolen from the safe it was best
for him to apparently fall into the
trap.
If he had been spied upon, and of
this he now had no doubt, he would
be Swallowed and every means taken
to prevent his getting the information
in his possession to Washington.
He did not like to drag his sister
into the game, and would not have
done so had he believed they would
suspect her of having any knowledge
of the report. Reasoning thus, he de-
termined to follow the trail to the
end, and although he and fear were
strangers, he was far more comfort
able when he felt his hammerless AM
erican revolver nesting snugly
against his hip.
Summer homes gave way to farms;
the houses grew farther and farther
apart, and yet the consul still followed
the plain trail toward Lake st. Clair.
The gray Of the early dawn was max
ing it's appearance in the east when
he passed the last road house, sum-
mer resort made popular by number
of fish loving, chicken eating Ameri-
cans f ON the City of the Straits who
came in droves during the warm
weather.
About quarter of mile beyond
this, the tracks he was following
turned into lane leading to back
concession. Thinking over the situa-
ton and becoming more and more
convinced that he was walking into a
trap. he decided to retrace his steps,
cross the river on the ice and make
for the capital In this way there
would be two ways of getting the in
formation he had stumbled upon, into
the hands of the President.
He knew the game the men were
playing was a desperate one, and now
that he had identified Fred Quigsley
with it, every effort would be made
to prevent the news of the treachery
of the mining promoter reaching the
ears of the authorities. Though he
had never liked the big blatant son of
the Hoosier State, Darlington had
no idea that the man was so vile
as to mix up in a scheme to strike
blow at the United States.
1, was now broad daylight. Turn
ing to retrace his steps toward the
river he saw lying in the middle of
the road a glove. Picking it up he
found it was from the right hand of
large sized man. 1t was wet, but not