Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1916-08-04


Lois. David mentioned the loss of his
automobile. Neither he nor Pierpont
thought of Gloria as the thief They
continued the search among the cram
MES of the enormous hotel and among
the cottages of their friends.
But DR.. Royce had been speaking of
Gloria's rebellious neart only that aft
ernoon. He ran at once TO a parking
space where automobiles were kept. The
chauffeurs were not about and he did
not pause to haggle. He threw away
For Hire" card and, leaping into the
saddle so to speak, of a siX-cylinder
thoroughbred. dug his spurs into It's
side and piled the lash.
The car broke into such a run that
It's own chauffeur did not recognize 1t
as IT shot into the main road. Royce
checked his speed only when he met
occasional saunterers along the ROADS
From most of these he got no informa-
ton. From one negro on bicycle cha'r
he had the comforting answer:
sYassa l done seen barhaided young
missy in a auterbile going licketty split
.-yassa She turned sothe at the next
cornder. If l hadn't throwed TINS
year wheel over mighty peart I'd "a
Royce was not interested in the ne
gro's might nave beens. He was al
ready at the next corner, and he turned
south, too. H had no interest in the
beauty Of the foliage, or in the moon.
lit sky, or in the quiet sea alongside.
His eyes were probing the distance
ahead. He spoke to the car as If It
were horse, and perhaps he swore at
1t. At any rate, a few people cross
ing the road later shifted a curious
mixture of gasoline and birthstone.
Now and then a red light ahead
cheered Royce on, but when he over
took II II was never on the car that
carried Gloria. He overlook and passed
everything. There was not much to
overtake in that lone road at that hour
In one or two of the villages he found
some one awake who had seen a young
girl or a comet shoot through. He
possible and trying to drive little fas-
ter.
After miles on miles of exceeding ev-
cry speed limit except that of his en-
CINE he began to fear that he had come
on wild goose chase-where the wild
goose was not known. He knew that
people are usually ready to tell a
roadside lie and say that they have
seen anything that any wayfarer asks
If they have seen. Probably Gloria had
not come this way at all.
and endure the laughter that would
greet him. Long ago, no doubt, Glo-
ria had reappeared and been reseu-
fenced to bed.
But even as he slowed up for the
turn, he caught sight of tire tracks
swerving wildly and turning off into the
sand between two dunes. He shut off
his power and set his brakes, drew
into the side of the road and Jumped
out
He passed the barrier of the dunes
and caught sight of David's racing car
in the waves. The pillows flaming
with moonlight were sweeping over the
little machine with terrifying ruthless
ness. now tossing up spray which the
moon turned to jewelry, now smother
ing it all from view.
Royce gazed aghast. He tore his
hair at the vision. He could almost
see Gloria caught in the wheel and held
fast while she drowned slowly. choK-
ingly. 'T
He was about to dash into the sea
and fight It for the body of the little
runaway when he saw footprints in
the wet sand. Robinson Crusoe could
not have felt so wild a thrill of Joy.
DIR. Royce did not see the marks of a
black mans sole; he saw the tiny inn
press Of slippers. They were like ex-
clamation marks and the toes were
pointing away from the water
With a cry of relief DR.. Royce
followed them across the sand to
the highway. But Gloria had not
turned north in the road She had
been wooed into the dense, lush foliage.
The doctor regarded 1t with dread. He
could not imagine how tempting 1t had
been to Gloria's truant heart He was
a hn oiuh hos
mind with fear.
thicket when he lost trace of her Dense
shadows alternated with patches of al
most noontime light. He found a clew
again, lost 1t again. He sprang aside
from a dry, whirring coil that was a
rattlesnake. He tripped on a snakclike
vine and dived through bushes. He fear
ed at any moment that he might come
across Gloria dead or dying. He called
and called, then paused to listen. He
had no answer. At last, however, he
heard a faint cloppety-clop of hoofs on
the road
He ran back, hoping that he might
find some courier with news. Instead he
met a boy from a pineapple plantation.
Royce hailed him and learned thet he
was going for a doctor. He had heard
and seen exactly nothing of Gloria. He
stared at Royce Win uneaSlneSS. Inc
doctor was indeed a suspicious looking
object. His evening dress had recorded
every sprawl in the sand and mud and
most of the brambles that he had
passed. But he was not crazy, though
he looked it. He was not crazy enough
to think that he could find Gloria in the
everglades without help.
He knew the history of that vast
maze, so inhospitable to allssave the In
dams that only two or three white men
have ever crossed it's 5000 square miles
of painless waste. Those who have gone
in to search for others have usually had
to be searched for themselves.
If Royce had not known this the boy
would have told him, for when Royce
asked him to get down and help in the
search for Gloria the boy shook his head
with emphasis:
"Ump-umm, mister! Not me! Folks
that gifts lost back IN yonder stays lost
for keeps"
This did not for a moment tempt
Royce to give up. He was about to let
the boy go when II occurred to him that
Gloria's father would be frantic for
some word of her whereabouts. He
found a prescription pad in his pocket
and a bit of pencil and he wrote a note.
Pierpont Stafford. Royal Poinciana: I
found Gloria's car in the surf and her
footprints leading into the everglades.
I am following them, but think you
had better organize searching parties
to beat the whole district.
STEPHEN ROYCE
He gave this to the boy and a bill
from the small roll he found in his