The Carlisle independent., 1917-05-10

CT they approached the cabin. Morton flung open the door.
 Shes escaped, the little devil" he snarled. T feared as much when I saw the basket. She had help from outside, of course"
 Whats this?" exclaimed Olga, spy ing on the table the two books.
 'Merciful heaven :" she cried, point ing to Patten's name on the flyleaf of one of them. '"They're the very books we have been looking for! How did they get here?'
 I've no more idea than you have" said Morton. utterly stupefed. T didn't see a sign of any books when I brought the girl here. Of all the hell ish coincideDces To think that I should have stumbled on the cabin of the very man We have been trying to find and not have known itl
 You may well call it a hellish CO., incidence" she snapped, holding up the volume from which Hope had cut the key to the code This tells the story. The naval officer that you are always sneering at has been too smart for you. He has not only found his way here and rescued the girl, but he has evidently discovered the secret of the submarine. You idiot You block head You fool,' she screamed. far ing into a sudden passion. You had the secret almost in your hands and you have let it get away from us Was there ever such incredible imbe- eility?"
 But Morton was too stunned by the disaster to reply to her taunts. The imposing edifice that his imagination had erected had suddenly collapsed. Cleo's escape ended his scheme of forcibly marrying her and thus ob- taining possession of the fortune which she had inherited from Calvin Montgomery. And, as though this were not enough, the secret of the sub- marine. on finding which he had staked everything, had slipped through his very fingers and was now, he was convinced, in the hands of his rival, the man whom he hated more than any other-JarYis Hope. The lavish i expenditures he had made in prose cutting the search had almost exhaust 1 ed his means. Gerald Morton was a desperate and a dangerous man.
 Well" demanded Olga, when her anger had somewhat subsided, what are we going to do about it? There is nothing to be gained by sulkiag like disappointed children"
 We are going to follow them" said Morton grimly. I'm going to get that formula if I have to kill them both"
 That" said Olga approyingly, "is the way to talk. Let us be going"
 Their mutual jealousies and sus- pieions forgotten in the loss of the for mula, they reerossed the chasm and climbed into the aeroplane A mo- ment later and, with a roar from it's propellers, 1t rolled forward across the mesa and scared into the air. During their brief stay in the cabin, however, the wind, already dangerously high, had risen to q gale, and as their craft, leaving the comparatively sheltered mesa, climbed skyward, it was buffet ed as a ship is buffeted by the waves. But it was impossible to return to the mesa now, and to attempt to descend elsewhere was but to invite disaster. The driving force of its powerful en- zines notwithstanding, the aeroplane was as helpless as a skiff in storm. Yet so masterly was Morton's driving, so perfect his coordination of hand and brain, that it seemed as though his skill would triumph over the ele- ments and that he would succeed in reaching the plain in safety. But sud denly windsQuall leaped out at them from a canyon over which they were passing; the frail machine reeled and quivered before the blow, and, despite Morton's desperate efforts, turned sideways, capsiZed and plunged like wounded bird into the gulf below.
 An hour or so later a party of cow punchers. returning to their ranch af- ter rounding up bunch of strays in the hills, saw on the rocky slope of the canyon a tangled mass of canvas, wood, and steel. Galloping up, they perceived, half buried beneath the wreckage of the aeroplane, the bodies of Olga and Morton.
 .They're still breathing, boys" pro- nounced one of the punehers when he and his companions had succeeded in extricating the inanimate forms. They're in pretty bad shape. The girls ribs are all stove in and I'm afraid the follows cracked his skull. Bill, you chase down to the ranch and bring up the spring wagon. Better put in a mattress and plenty of blank cts, and bring along some whisky. Send one of the boys off to town for the doctor-and tell him to get a move on, too. These people are hurt mighty bad"
 So that when Morton and Olga re- gained consciousness, days later, they found themselves in a ranch-house in a mountain valley, with cowboys nurs- ing them back to health.
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