Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-12-27

N1IKKY'S frst impulse. beside the car.
~ was TO cut tire. Ry getting his OPP
ponent into STOPPING position, over tho
damaged wheel. it would be easier 10
overcome. him. But "a hasty search re-
yealed that he had lost his knife In the
melee. And second thought gave him
better plan. After all. TO get the letter
was not everything. To know its des-
tination would be important He had no
t,mo TO think further. The messenger
was coming down the steps. not
stealthily. but Gathering with the ring
OF nails in the heels of heavy boots.
Milky flung his long length into the
tonneau. and there crouched. 1t was
dark enough TO conceal him, but Nikky's
was n large body in n small place. How
ever. the chauffeur only glanced at the
car. kicked tire with II nracticed foo,
and got In.
lie headed for the open country.
Very soon his passenger knew that he
was in for n long ride possibly, cold
rido certainly Within the city limits
the car moved dccorously, but when the
suburbs were reached tho driver put on
all his power.
Milky grew very uncomfortable. His
long legs ached The place between the
shoulders where the concierge had
landed his powerful blows throbbed and
beat Also he was puzzled. and he
hated being puzzled. He was unarned,
too. He lisliked that most of all Cen
orally speaking, he felt his position hui
initiating. IIc was n soldier, not spy.
His training had been 10 fight, not TO
hide and watch.
Milky, Rlt' ugh no thinker, was not
n fool, and he knew rather better tnin
most what dangers threatened the
country from outside as well. Also in
tho back of his impulsive head was a
sort of dogged quality that was near to
obstinacy. lie had started this thinG
and he would see II through. And a-
the car approached the border. he BEGAN
TO realize that this was not of the Ter
rorists at home. but something sinister
abroad.
For some time they climbed steadily
But Milky. who knew the road, bided his
time. Then at last. at . O'Clock. came
the steep ascent to the very crest of the
mountain. and n falling back gear by
gear. until they climbed slowly in tho
lowest.
Milky unfolded his length quietly. The
gears were grinding. the driver bent
low over his wheel. Very deliberately.
now that he knew what ho was going
10 do. Milky unbuttoned his tunic and
slipped it OFT II was n rash thing. this
plan he had In mind. rash under any
circumstances, in moving Car--par-
ticularly rash here, where between the
cliff and precipice that fell far away
| below. was only winding ribbon of
uneven road.
So ho waited n moment. iovcless, as
one may say, and then. with one
singularly efficient gesture, he flung his
tunic over the chauffcur's head Ifc
drove a car himself. did Nikky--not MS
own, of course llc was far too poor.
, and he counted on ono thing; an auto.
mobile driver acts from the spinal cord
and not from the brain. Therefore hie
brain my he seethinE with n Thousand
frenzies. hut he will shove out clutch
and brake feet in IN emergency. and
hold them out.
SO it happened. The mans hands left
the wheel but he stopped his car. No
too soon. Not before it had struck the
cliff, and then taken a Gickening curve
toward the edge of tho precipice Bu
stop Il did on tho very edge of eternity
and the chauffeur held It there.
"Set the hand brake! Milky said
The lamps were near enough the edg,
4 TO make him dizzy.