The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1916-11-04

sagcway. to whore the tunnel opened
on shelf OF rock and gravel halt way
up The hillside Screened as it was
with shrubbery she could see little OF
the valley before her. The only point
uf life that met her gaze was a black
touring car crawling along the valley
/ road. When that g turned of the
road aad twisted and rocked in be-
tween the bushes below her she
! thought. AT first. that 1t was her IN
/ known guardian returning 10 her. But
when she saw five men cautiously
energ" from that halfhidden car and
| creep SIN closer through the under
! brush, she felt sure that they were
! not approaching as friends. For mo
mcnt her heart lCaped up into her
! mouth. Then she brcathed again. for
! she saw that they were not approach
! ing her hiding place. but apparently
/ seeking one Of their own. And as they
/ fOrcgathcred behind a screen Of scrub
/ OAK not more than thirty feet below
/ her she knew both by their guarded
! tones and their general COnspratOrlal
/ aspect that they stood intent on their
own ends. quite Obvious of her and
her hiding place.
Her face paled. however, as she
heard the clearer and more authOrita-
tive tones of one of those speakers
For that voice. she knew, belonged .
LeCar, and only to Legar.
SO, if Oyster Joe wants to wipe out
that score, tell him TO have his launch
up to DOwpers landing at seven to-
night. At seven sharp, remember. for
If we want to get away with that
money, every move has to go like
clOckwOrk,"
The girl, pushing her cautious way
through the bushes, leaned even closer
over the ledge Then she held her
breath, for she saw that her move
ments had loOsened the gravel at her
feet and sent a covey of powders
careening down the hillside The
voices below at the same time came
to sudden stop. In another moment
she could hear the crash of hurrying
feet through the tangled shrubbery.
Before she could turn and fly Lee
gar and his four evil-faced followers
were charging up the slope. They
were upon her, cutting off her retreat
before she could dodge back into the
passageway. Yet she did not surren-
der without struggle. She fought
them back as best she could standing
at bay with her back against the rocky
hillside. 1t was not until Legar's hand
clamped like wise OF her arm that
she screamed, and screamed again.
A masked figure picking his eau
tious way along the crest of the hill
above them heard that cry and seemed
TO understand its meaning. For. on
hearing that repeated scream, he no
longer picked his way, but ran fran
tically, and with all his speed. So pre-
cipitately did he scurry down that
rocky hillside, in fact. that he de-
scended in a flying leap in the very
midst OF Legar's followers clustered
about the girl. lie landed like a
fallen plumb bob, heels down, knock
ing one of the conspirators sprawl
ing over the cliff edge as he came. An
other he sent with a well-aimed blow
in the same direction. The third was
adept jiu-jitsu twist of the body soon
sent this opponent diving headfore-
most into the loose gravel. Ii was
then that Legar. seeing his men going
down about him like ninepins, re-
leased his clutch on the girls arm to
draw his revolver.
At the same moment that he did
so the man in the mask, swinging the
girl sharply about, darted for the tun-
nelmouth. He was through it before
Legar could level his gun and fire. He
was half-leading. halfdragging the
painting girl down the narrow passage
before any of the band could follow.
But before he lodged for the hidden
powder house he threw up his free
hand and caught at the loop which
hung there at the end of his line. And
he pulled it vigorously as he ran.
The result of that simple movement
was both prompt and appalling. The |
thunder of great defamation shook |
the earth. The rocky hillside erupt- |
ed into a sudden volcano of fvIng |
earth and gravel. fiinging it's tons of
debris into the echoing valley. And .
under the debris could be seen the
still struggling limbs OF Legar and his
men.
But the man In the mask did not
linger TO witness those struggles Ha
iartcd with the whitefaced girl ont
Of the broken tunnel mouth. dragged
her hurriedly up the slope and circIed
down through rock and underbrush to
where his hidden car awaited him. II
vas not until they were in that car
and once more Fastening cftyward
hat Margory confided to her unknown
'escuer what she had overheard be-
ween Legar and his men.
And whatever this plot OF theirs
nay be" she explained, they intend
o fasten II on you. couldn't quite
understand. but it had something TO
10 with postscript 10 letter which
'ou had left somewhere"
That letter" announced the man
n the mask, was left in Enoch Gold
ms home. So this must mean some
ew blow at Golden. And the soon.
r We get to him, accordingly. the bet