The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1916-10-05

|
stance known as nitroglycerin, nor
did he explain to her, at the end of
his quiet yet hurried labors, that the
| looped line hanging at the tunnel
mouth was in any way connected with
| the illuminate caps which he had
placed so pregnantly close TO his bur.
led mine. But it was well, he remem-
bered, to be prepared for such men
as Legar and his followers.
Now" said the masked figure, turn
! ing to the girl, Il want you to stay
here until get back"
Waiting for her deliverer's return,
however, proved neither a pleasant
nor tranquilizing pastime. The girl
| became restless. Then she became
worried. Then she even ventured to.
creep out along the rough-shored pas
sageway, to where the tunnel opened
on a shelf Of rock and gravel half way
up the hillside. Screened as 1t was
with shrubbery she could see little OF
! the valley before her. The only point
OF life that met her gaze was a black
touring car crawling along the valley
road. When that car turned off the
road and twisted and rocked in be-
| tween the bushes below her she
! thought, at first, that 1t was her I'M
known guardian returning to her. But
when she saw five men cautiously
emerge from that half-hidden car and
| creep still closer through the under
brush, she felt sure that they were
| NOT annrpocbip0 90 friands For q mo
ment her heart leaped up into her
mouth. Then she breathed again, fer
she saw that they were not approach
ing her hiding place, but apparently
seeking one of their own. And as they
foregathered behind screen OF scrub
oak not more than thirty feet below
her she knew both by their guarded
tones and their general conspiratoriai
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 enc Of these speakers.
For that voice, she knew, belonged 10
Legar, and only to Legar.
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 a sudden stop. In another moment
| hn Iaa g i,,.r
feet through the tangled shrubbery.
Before she could turn and fly Lee
gar and his four cvil-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 a struggle. She fought
them back as best she could, standing
at bay with her back against the-rocky
hillside. 1t was not until Legars hand
clamped like wise on 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 He 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 well-aimed blow
in the same direction. The third was
not disposed OF so easily. But an
adept jiu-jitsu twist of the body socn
sent this opponent diving headfore-
most into the loose gravel 1t 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 fer the tun-
nel-mouth. He was through it before
Legar could level his gun and fire. He
was half-leading, half-dragging the
| girl hOWn ndIION pdSSdBS
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 CT his line. And
/ he pulled it vigorously as he ran.
The result of that simple movement
, was beth prompt and appalling. The
I, thunder of a great defamation shook
, the earth. The rocky hillside erupt
ed into a sudden volcano of flying
: earth and gravel, flinging its tons OF
: debris into the echoing valley. And
y under the debris could be seen the
Z still struggling limbs OF Legar and his
4 men.
J. But the man in the mask did not
!, linser to witness those struggles. He
I dsrted with the whiteraced girl out
], of the broken tunnel mouth, dragged
$ her hurriedly up the slope and circled
down through rock and underbrush tC