The Elbert County tribune., 1916-08-04


for Jules Legar himself.
Now One-Lamp Louis gave no prom
| ise of either active or passive inter-
ference with these duly appointed NOR
tuary exercises until the city itself
had been left well behind. Then.
awakening to the fact that they were
traversing a desirably sequestered
stretch of road. he watched intently
for certain prearranged signals from
his one-armed accomplice. Immediate
ly after the discovery of those looked
for signs the spirited team driven by
One-Lamp Louie showed unexpected
yet unmistakable evidencef of restive-
ness
But there was limit to what that
team of spirited blacks would endure.
And they suddenly, to all intents and
purposes, determined to follow their
own line of travel at their own rate
of speed. for. as the driver sat on the
box apparently saving on the reins,
that exasperated team plunged sud
denly forward. swerved across the
road. and went galioping down a tree
screened bypath which was little more
than cart trail winding in and out
through slopes of greensward and
shrubbery
Half mile deeper in that shrub
berry this runaway team would surely
have reached the spot where a black
limousine stood hidden away in the
shadow OF laurelcopse. had not still
another and an equally unheralded fac
tor entered into the situation This
factor took the form of a high-power
roadster in which was seated a man
wearing a yellow mask. His irrup-
tion into that orderly little procession,
indeed, proved as abrupt as One-Lamp
Louie's eruption from 1t. And he
seemed plainly suspicious of both
Louie's motives and movements, for
he lost no time in swinging from the
highway and plunging recklessly after
the runaway carriage.
AS his car approached the runaway
cab that mysterious stranger. known
as the Laughing Mask. stepped to the
running board of his roadster, leaning
far out as the two swerving vehicles
drew together. One-Lamp Louie, what
ever he may have thought of that ap-
proach, had little means of evading
1t. To swing off what narrow road re-
mained before him seemed frankly
suicidal. To lash his team to greater
effort was already out of the question.
To take his hands from the reins,
even. along that uncertain road. was
equally foolhardy. So the strange race
went on, the swaying and bounding
cab with a white-faced girl tossed
about under its hood, the leaping and
lurching roadster every second draw
ing closer down on its quarry yet
every second threatening to turn tur-
tie over one OF the grassy embank-
ments above which 1t shuddered and
slowed.
1t was the Laughing Mask, leaning
far out from his running-board, who
threw open the cab-door and called
sharply to the startled girl
Quick" he commanded
For one moment she hestated.
Then she reached out for the unsteady
hand cropping for her.
The next moment she found herself
sitting back. little breathless. in the
herupholstered seat of the road
ster and the man in the Laughing
Mask smiling down at her.
The Black Watch.
A number of things had happened
and were happening to disconcert, II
not to discourage, the redoubtable Le-
gar. That astute young adventures,
Betsy LIE Marsh, alias Williamsburg
Elsie. who. with the aid of divers
forged recommendations, had installed
herself in the Golden household, re-
peatediy and stubbornly reported that
David Manley was dead.
Williamsburg Elsie also expressed
strong desire to migrate from the
house in which she found herself so
inquisitive a maid, since that house.
she declared. was too full of queer
things" for her comfort.
When. at Legar's suggestion, she
had tried to pump a needleful o.
dope" into her altogether unsuspecting
mistress, a dead mans face had sud-
denly appeared between her and the
bedroom door. And on two different
occasions, after midnight, when she
had yentured down to the housekeep-
ers telephone to send in secret mes
sage to Legar himself, she had found
herself confronted by a ghost in white.
Nor was Betsy LIE Marsh the only
malcontent. Even Red Egan himself,
one of the best "cold-steel' men in
all the group that clustered about the
OWLS Nest, had of late shown unmis-
taxable signs OF mental disturbance.
A dead mans ghost, he declared. had
looked in through one of the head
quarters windows. Red Egan. 1t is
true. had promptly emptied his six
shooter at that phantasmal intruder,
but with nothing more to show for 1t