The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1916-12-16

most vita. u fAN-. was. perhaps. lAt
porsora,' Of IN, driver OF Ia" third
| rarriug. ID that small cortcge which
wrul.a It's way go IsCorously from tae
| Golden home For under the funcreaI
| oItar ot this placid eyed driver re-
| posed the stalwart body OF certain
OnoLamp LoIie. long known among
| his associates a. an hab.,uc Of me
Owls Nest and an underground agent
for Jules Logar himself.
Now Ou"-Lamp Louis gave no prom
/ is- q either active or passive inter
ference with these duly appointed NOR
tuary exercises until the city itself
mad been left well behind Then,
awakening to the fact that they were
traversing a desIrably scquostered
stretch of road. he watched intcntly
tor certain prcarrangcd signals from
his One-armoi accOmpliCe. Immediate
" after the discovery OF those looked
for signs ale spirited team driven by
One-Lamp Louie showed unexpected
vet unmistakabic evidences OF FESTIVE
ness The girl in that carriage Of
mourning. Of course, had small chance
TO discover that these movements were
being CirCuitously created and Sus
tanned by One-Lamp Louis himself
through artiul manipulation OF both
bit and whip.
But there was A limit to what that
team of spirited blacks would endure.
h, oil int nd
purposes, determined to follow their
own line of travel at their own rate
OF speed, for, as the driver sat on the
box apparently saving on the rcIns.
that eXaspcratcd team plunged sud
denly forward. swerveG across tn"
road. and went gallOping down tree
screened bypath which was little more
than cart trail winding in and out
through slopes of greensward and
shruhbery.
Half a mile deeper in that shrub
berry this runaway team would surely
have reached the pot where a black
Limousine stood hidden away in the
shadow of laurelcopse. had not still
another and an equally unheraldcd fac
tor entered into the situation. This
factor took tho fOrI. of a high-pOwer
roadster in which was seated man
wearing a yellow mask. His irTup-
ton into that orderly little procession.
indeed. proved as abrupt as ncI.amp
LOuies eruption from il. And he
seemed plainly suspicious OF both
Louic's motives and movements. for
he lost no time in swinging from the
highway and plunging rccklcssly after
the runaway carriage.
As his car approached the runaway
| cab that mysterious stranger. known
/ as the LAUGHING Mask. stepped to the
running board of his roadster. leaning
/ far out as the two swCrving vehicles
/ drew together. Onc-Lamp Louie. what.
/ ever he may have thought OF that ap-
4 prOach, had little means of evading
/ it, To swing OF what narrow road re-
manned before him seemed frankly
/ suicidal To lash his team to greater
| effort was already out of the question.
To take his hands from the rcins.
! even, along that uncertain road. was
/ equally foOlhardy. SO the strange race
went on, the swaying and bounding
| cab with a white-faCed girl tossed
| about under its hood, the leaping and
| lurching roadster. every second draw
! ing closer down on its quarry vet
| every second threatening to turn tur-
tie over one of the grassy cmbank-
n.ents above which it shuddercd and
! slowed.
II was the Laughing Mask. leaning
far out from his INNING board who
threw open the cab-doOr and called
sharply 10 the startled girl
Quick" he commanded
For one moment she hesitated
Then she reached out for the unsteady
hand cropping for her She caught
AT the muscular young arm supporting
her as she half climbed and half tum-
bled cut to the Cab-step. Then. re-
lnQuishing her grasp on the hand IA
she surrendered to the clutch Of this
arm as it encircled her and swung her
bodily from her feet.
The next moment she found herself
sitting back. a little breathless. in the
| leathcr-upholstere seat of the road
I ster and ;he man in the Laughing
Mask smiling down at her with his
cnigmatic smile.
IT was risky, know" he explained.
But not half as bad as meeting Jules
/ I.cgar on the other side of that laurel
grove"