Omaha daily bee., 1916-11-20

again; but If you don't get me out
of this she never will be-"
81 am at loss" began Chrtsto-
pher, but his visitor cut him short
lust wait till l tell you the story,
and YOU won't be at loss. 1t isn't
exciting; it's only silly; too silly to
be true. / bought Hansard car, sec
ond-handed of an alleged friend, and
l was too much Of an amateur to
dream he was palming off regular
back number on me. Once I got to
know something of motors, as l soon
did, wasn't satisfied to go about the
world with thing like that. I'd Just
sold my last toy-a yacht-with
which I'd worked hard at amusing
myself for several years, and I
wanted car that was worth having.
So I ordered a forty-horse-power
Ressler and tried to sell the Hansard.
But 1t was so old-fashioned couldn't
get buyers at any price, though had
her painted up. new gearing put in
and gave her new tires. l got tired
of paying garage for a car I never
used and never meant to use, so the
next thing tried was to give the car
away. Not soul would have her!
Who wants to be saddled with an
antediluvian? ] grew desperate, and
determined to abandon the beastfy
nuisance somewhere. Needleham was
the place l selected. Well, you know
what happened. I had to pretend
that l was delighted to get the brute
back. 1 began to see that, If l wasn't
foxy, she would always be returning
on my hands in the same way, So
being an impulsive, impatient sort
of chap said to myself, I'll shave
off my beard, destroy the number on
my car, with all other means of trac-
ing the owner, and send the Hansard
to Davy Jones' locker This seemed
to me good joke, and quite looked
forward to seeing in the papers that
a lonely automobile had been found
putting out to sea. After had driven
on the beach-you know whereas
near the water as / could get at that
state of the tide, it occurred to me
that it would be awkward walking,
a long distance and then travelling by
train in a motor coat and cap. l hid
mine where 1 thought they wouldn't
be discovered and make any bother,
and went off as fast as / could in the
night, wearing another sort of cap
which found in the overcoat pocket
Naturally I never thought there'd
be such a fuss. My idea was that a
few people in the neighborhood would
wonder little. and there might be
a paragraph in a local paper. But
forgot the Daily Recorder. When the
row did begin 1 determined to let it
burn itself-out, for l didn't want to
be conspicuous, and if only my Ress-
Ter had been ready when 1t was prom
Used, l should have been safely out of
England taking tour I'd planned in
France. AS it was, wrote to some
chaps I'd tried to sell and give away
the car to, and asked them to keep
mum. They were good fellows, so
they did. q.
Il thought everything was coming
out right till last night, when I STUN
bled across you at that inn and recog-
nized you as the bloodhound on my
track. That's why I whirled away to
Dover and caught the boat across.
But this morning when I learned in
the paper that hadn't shaken you off,
saw the game was up. Now, as a
fellow motorist, haven't you some
sympathy for me, and won't you help
me to disappear
II might call my dogs off for bit,
ehho 6iNO you tlillC " Sdll lOI SdudQd,
said Christopher.
Fortescue started. why do you
suggest Canada?"
Because" But the screen did not
give Christopher time to finish. It
fell with crash, and a beautiful
young woman ran out from behind it
"Oh, you darling boy!" she ex-
claimed. ''if you are going to Canada,
take me with youi"
That is the reason why the blue
motor car has been mystery until
now; why the editor and readers of
the Daily Recorder do not now think
as highly of the detective ability Of
Christopher Race as they did at first,
and why large and magnificent
yellow Ressler was sold at Dover at
a marvellous bargain.