The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1916-02-26
A CLEVER
RUSE
By WILLIAM

One morning in autumn, while taking
an outing in my touring car, I came
upon an auto standing in the road
which had evidently broken down. A
man was attempting to find the break,
while a woman sat in the car. l pull
ed up beside the couple and asked If
there was anything | could do for
them.
my wife, said the man. twas GO
ing to the railroad station at Montrose
to catch a train, but this mishap has
delayed us. Since you are going in the
opposite direction from Montrose, I
conclude you will pass through Water
ton"
To this | nodded assent.
"a train passes through Waterton
at 3 o'clock. If you would kindly car
ry my wife to that station she would
be in time"
81 would be pleased to take you both.
There is plenty of room in my car"
"Thank you very much. but l must
remain with my machine and secure a
workman to fix it or get it towed to
a garage"
During this brief dialogue the wom-
an, who was yelled, remained in the
car without saying a word. After my
offer the man went to her and said
something in Il low tone. What it was
1 did not hear, but she appeared to
give a ready assent to it, for she got
out of the car; the man took up a suit
case and put both her and the case in
my auto. Having shut the door and
given her a pressure of the hand, he
nodded to me to proceed, and l start
ed on.
1t was sufficiently late in the season
for fur u and the lady pulled them
up to her chin. She partly removed
her veil. and | saw that she was young
and quite pretty, But when she put
on a pair of dust goggles there was
very little of her face exposed. We
had not CONS far before we met an
auto coming at a furious pace. In it
were two men. the driver and another.
AS they passed us they slowed down,
and one of them called out something
that did not hear, but the other, who
was driving. turned on full speed, and
they were soon lost in a cloud of dust.
We reached Waterton in half an
hour, and what was my surprise to see
the lady's husband standing on the
station platform. He cast a quick
glance at the coming train, then at
~ ov:1onf1u panoinU tho dis
lance of each, anxious that we should
be in time. | put on full speed and
reached the platform just as the train
was pulling out. The man seized the
suit case. which seemed to concern
him more thar his wife, and both hur-
ried to the train. climbing on when it
was in motion.
My route thenceforth led me back a
few miles from Waterton on the road
/ had come to a crOssroad on which |
was to change direction. As l rode
along | wondered how the man | had
left with the broken down auto could
have reached the Waterton station
ahead of me. | had not had time to
ask him this or what he had done with
his car.
l had nearly reached the crossroad
when | saw coming a car with four
men in it dragging another car. By
this time | had become a bit suspicious
that there might be something wrong
with the couple | had assisted and
that possibly | might have been help
ing undeserving persons. Seeing the
auto dragged along caused me to re-
frain from letting it be known what
l had been doing. When the men
came to a point opposite me one of
them, looking hard at me. said:
See her.. young fellow, who was
that woman you were driving toward
WatertOn awhile ago."
1 recognized him as the chauffeur Of