The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1916-02-17

money. We must get them or he'll be
ruined, IL 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 on the alert They
sat nea the front ioor OF the smoker,
and as Helen and the conductor began
at the rear end of the car to look ove
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 near
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 ross
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 ran to the
front platform. The train slowed. In
the river, Sykes and Dan were swim
ming. Helen made ready to drop off.
The conductor and brakeman tried to
dissuade her; they could not.
You'll have to go alone, / 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 seer by
the men she vas after, but a further
obstacle threatened. The convicts had
swum to the nearest bank and we're
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
and sped On after the fugitives.
The river bridge is at no great dis
lance from Oceanside, but Helen's
breath was pretty well exhausted be-
fore Sykes and Dan reached a suburb
an street car and boarded 1t. So close
was she after them that she gained
one platform just as the two men
stepped up o. 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 rel~entlessly on their heels.
Following them v~igilantly she inter-
cepted 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 IN obscure street, the
criminals entered a doorway and
started up a long fight of stairs, Helen
with her policeman hard behind.
Looking back from the first landing,
the convicts 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
OF 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
fired up through it.
On the outside, Sykes and Dan
jumped back like rabbits from the
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-
nue. Of escape on the top of the build |
ing, and cornered like rats as Helen
and the policemen reached them, they
put up a hand-to-hand fight.
The officer tackled Sykes. the more
powerful Of the pair, and Dan, Sec
ing his opportunity for a flank move
ment, tried to regain the trap door.
Helen pounced on him like a panther.