Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1916-04-14

"OhOy VIC nluSt 6Ct Lutm Ut u6 ii D6
ruined, If he isn't ruined by this ter
rible fire. You must help me, conduc-
tor, both of you"
Followed by the brakeman, the two
walked forward. 1t was rather a long
train.
The conductor could not be hurried,
and the search went all too slowly for
Helen, who feared what did, in fact,
presently occur Sykes and Dan, un
easy in the fear of special agents on
their trail, were OF the alert. They
sat e the front door of the smoker,
and as Helen and the conductor began
at the rear end of the car to look over
the passengers, Sykes, espying Helen,
quietly slid through the front door
left open to let the smoke QUITO the
platform, Dan following. They sat
down on the steps looking for a good
place to jump off. While the conduc-
tor was walking forward, with Sykes
casting furtive glances at him through
the front window, the train drew neal
the San Pablo river. I'm off here"
growled Sykes to his confederate
briefly.
Dan protested; a jump was not to
his taste, but Sykes, the big fellow,
did not hesitate. The train was cross,
ing the San Pablo. Sykes leaped from
the step into the river, Dan reluctantly
following suit.
Helen, through an open window OF
the smoker, saw Sykes jump. She
caught the conductors arm and begged
him to stop the train. He pulled the
cord and, with the conductor and
brakeman after her, Helen raj to the
front platform. The train slowed. In
the river, Sykes and Dan were swim.
ming. Helen made ready to drop of.
The conductor and brakeman tried to
dissuade her; they could not.
You'll have to go alone, I can't
leave this train," shouted the conduc-
tor to her.
Helen only waved her hand as she
dropped to the ground.
Luckily. she had not been seen by
the men she was after, but a further
obstacle threatened. The convicts had
swum to the nearest bank and were
now across the river from Helen. A
passing boat was awaiting the draw,
and the moment the train passed the
jackknife had been started up by the
bridge tender. Helen was running to
get to the other side before it was too
late. Sykes and Dan, ashore, were
hurrying away, and the ponderous
jackknife was rising under Helen's
fleeing feet. The draw span, already
high in the air, made a widening gap
between her and the abutment, but
Helen, running to the rising end,
jumped from it recklessly to the abut-
ment below. She landed, bruised, on
the track, but she picked herself up
n sped On after the fugitives.
The river bridge is at no great dis
lance from Oceanside, but Helen's
breath was pretty we'll exhausted be-
fore Sykes and Dan reached a suburb
an street car and boarded it. So close
was she after them hat she gained
stepped up on the other. Concealing
herself behind a seat, Helen hid in ter
ror, but with all their astuteness the
criminals failed to discover her. When
the two left the car in the city, Helen
was again ~relentlessly or their heels.
Following them vigilantly she inter-
copied an officer, told him of her
chase, and he instantly joined her in
the pursuit of the men, now disappear
ing in the distance.
Turning into an obscure street. the
criminals entered a doorway and
started up a long flight of stairs, Helen
with her policeman hard behind.
Looking back from the first landing,
the convicts now saw their pursuers.
Springing up a second flight of stairs,
they knocked hurriedly at the first
door. 1t was opened by their confed-
crate, The Bat, who, inside the room,
had been diverting himself by count
ing the stolen money.
They're after u.s." exclaimed Sykes
to him. We've got to get out of here.
Beat it, Bat. The girl and the cop are
ON the stairs"
Make for the roof" cried the Bat.
The hard-pressed pair ran for the
trap ladder. The Bat, keeping to his
room, slammed the door shut. Once
through the trap door, which Sykes
and Dan dropped behind them, and
on the roof, the pair imagined them
selves safe, but Helen and her officer
were close behind, and when they
found the trap door closed against
them the officer drew his revolver and
fred up through it.
On the outside, Sykes and Dan
Jumped back like rabbits from tho
shots. Helen and her helper threw
open the trap unopposed, and, gain
ing the roof, faced the convicts. No
where could the robbers find an ave-
of escape or the top of the build
ing, and cornered like rats as Helen
and the policemen reached them, they
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