The daily star-mirror., 1915-02-13
: CHAPTER xLvlII.
Full FIJI ight.

"Oh, what can it mean?" Rose whis
pered brokenly, clinging to her lovers
arm. "Surely you don't think
Surely, it must be accidental
Surely it can't mean"
"I'm afraid it does," Alan Law re
sponded gravely, eyeing the front o.
/, the Mountain house. "Our luck holds
consistently-that's all. 1t wouldn''
be us if we didn't pick out the one
place where Marrophat and Jimmy
chose to stop over night. Fortunate
ly, it's early; l doubt they're up
With half show we ought to be able
to find some way of putting gooo
distance between us and this toWn
before they waken ION!
But Mr.. Barcus was already at his
elbow, in thorough sympathy Wltn
Alan's Interpretation of the signln-
canoe to be attached to the card that
trembled in Roses hand
"Sharps the word!" he agreed.
"And there's motor car over there
In front of the blacksmith's. PROD
ably we can hire her"
"Trine's carl" Alan calculated.
swinging round and recognizing the
automobile at a glance. "Then he's
here, as WE'LL"
"Looks like it," Barcus admitted.
"But so much the better. Well just
naturally take the darn thing on his
hands, and III bet dollar there isn't
another car within a radius Of fifty
miles! Well be well out of these
giddy mountains long before he flnds
anything to chase us with"
But his confidence was demon
strated to be premature by the dis
covery. which rewarded the first cur
sorry examination, that the car was
very thoroughly out Of commission
Two minutes later, however, their
earnest inquiries ELECTED the fact
that, although Barcus was justified IN
his surmise that the neighboring
country was poverty stricken In re-
spect of motor cars, Mesquite itself
boasted two motorcycles whose own
ers were not Indifferent to a chance
to sell them secondhand at a con-
siderable advance on the retail list
price of the machines, when new.
And thus it was that, within ten
minutes from Roses discovery OF that
chance-fung warning in the dust, the
party was again in rapid motion.
His beauty sleep disturbed by the
departure Of the machine bearing
Barcus and Judith, Seneca Trine
reused on an elbow and looked out OF
the window just in time to see the
second motorcycle gathering momen-
tum Alan steering, Rose in the seat
behind.
Sixty seconds later a Haunting ban
ner of dust was all that remained to
remind Mesquite that romance had
passed that way-that. and a series
of passionate screams emanatlng
from the bedchamber Of Seneca
Urine, where the cripple lay possess
sed by seven devils of insensate rage.
His screams brought attendance
but it was a matter Of many precious
minutes before his demands could be
met and Marrophat and Jimmy reused
from their crapulous slumbers in ad-
joining chambers; and half an hour
elapsed before the chauffeur, reused
from his own well-earned rest, sue
ceeded In convincing the pair that
pursuit with the motor car was out
Of the question.
But the devil takes care of his own:
within another half hour what seemed
to be sheer, bull-headed, dumb luck
brought a casual automobile to Mes
uuite-a two-seated, high-power
racing machine Of the latest and
speediest pattern, driven by two IRE
sponsible wayfarers who proved only
TOO susceptible to Marrophat's offer OF
double the cost of the car-f. Q. 0.
Detroit-for Its immediate surrender.
The two piled out promptly enough;
Marrophat and Jimmy jumped In;
rrine from his bedroom window sped
hem on their murderous mission with
/ blast OF blasphemy
1t must have been an hour later
when Alan, checking his motorcycle
Is it surmounted the summit OF a
ong upgrade, looked back and dis
covered, several miles distant on the
ar-fung windings of the mountain |
.oad, a small crimson shape that ran
ike q mad thing tirelessly pursued
" cloud OF tawny dust like gold
N ghost.
A motor car, beyond all question,
md one of uncommon road-devouring
luality; It might or might not con-
ain Marrophat and Jimmy, once more
n pursuit. Whether or not. bitter