Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1917-06-22
CHAPTER Vl-continued.


81 was born here in Timanyoni, ana
you haven't been here three weeks:
do you think I'd be afraid to go any
where that you'll go?'
"WeTl see about that" he chuckled,
matching the laugh; and with that ne
let the clutch take hold, sent the car
rolling gently up to the level of the
railroad embankment and across the
rails of the main track, and pulled 1t
around until 1t was headed fairly for
the upper switch. Then he put the
motor In the reverse and began to
back the car on the siding, steering
so that the wheels on one side hugged
the inside of one rail.
"What in the world are you trying
to do?" questioned the young woman
who had said she was not afraid.
"Wait." he temporized; "just wait
n minute and get ready to hang on
like grim death. We're going across
on that trestle"
He fully expected her to shrek and
grab for the steering wheel. That, he
told himself, was what the normal
young woman would do. But Miss Co.
roma disappointed him. =
you'll put us both into the river,
and smash Colonel-daddy's car, but 1
guess the Baldwin family can stand it
II you can," she remarked quite calmly.
Smith kept on backing until the car
had passed the switch from which the
spur branched off to cross to the mate
rial yard on the opposite side of the
river. A skillful bit of juggling put
the roadster over on the ties Of the
spur-track. Then he turned to his fell
low risk.
"Sit low and hang on with both
hands," he directed. 'Now!" and he
opened the throttle.
The trestle was not much above two
hundred feet long, and, happily, the
crOss-ties were closely spaced. Steered
to a hair, the big car went humping
across, and in his innermost recesses
Smith was saying to his immediate
ancestor, the well-behaved bank clerk :
"You swabl You never saw the day
when you could do a thing like this
you thought you had me tied
up In a bunch of ribbon, didn't you?
If Miss Baldwin were frightened
she did not show it. Smith jerked the
roadster out of the ENHANCEMENT OF
the railroad track and said: "You may
sit up now and tell me which way tC
go. l don't know anything about the
roads over here"
She pointed out the way across the
hills, and a four-mile dash followed
Up hill and down the big roadster
raced, devouring the interspaces, ant
at the topping of the last of the ridges
in q small, low-lying swale which wa:
well hidden from any point of view IL
the vicinity Of the distant dam, they
came upon the interlopers. There
we're three men and two horses and ,
covered wagon, as Martins telephon,
message had catalogued them. Th,
horses were still In the traces, and jus
beyond the wagon a legal minin,
claim had been marked out by freshl.
driven stakes. At one end two of tn,
men were digging perfunctorily, Will
the third was tacking the legal motto
on a bit of board nailed to one of tn
stakes.
Smith sent the gray car rocketin
down into the swale, brought it to
stand with a thrust of the brakes, an
jumped out. Once more the primitiv
Stone Age man in him, which had slep
so long and so quietly under the Law
renceville conventionalities, was Joy
ously pitching the barriers aside.
ITS moving day for you fellows" h
announced cheerfully, picking the bis
gest of the three as the proper sui
ject for the order giving. You're o
the Timanyoni Ditch company's lanC
and you know it. Pile into the WACO
and fade awayr'
The big mans answer was a laugl
pointed, doubtless, by the fact tha
the order giver was palpably unarmet
Smiths right arm shot out, and whe
the blow landed there were only tw
left to close in on him. In such SUI
den hostilities the advantages are a
with the beginner. Having superiC
reach and a good bit more skill tina
either of the two tacklers, Smith hel
his own until he could get in q fe
more of the smashing right-hander
but in planting them he took punisl
ment enough to make him Berserl
mad and so practically invincibl
There was a fierce mingling of arm
legs and bodies, sufficiently terrifyin
one would suppose, to young wOma
sitting calmly in an automobile a hu
dred yards away.
The struggle was short in Just Or
portion to its vigor, and at the end
1t two of the trespassers were knOckt
out, and Smith was dragging the thil
over to the wagon, into which he pre-
emily heaved the man as if he hi
been a sack of meal. Miss Baldwi
sitting in the car, saw her ally di'
into the covered wagon and come o.
with a pair of rifles. Pausing on
long enough to smash the guns, Ol
after the other, over the wagon whet
he started back after the two 9th
men. They were not waiting to
carried to the wagon; they were
and running in q wide semicircle
reach theis hope of retreat unslain,
that might be. 1t was all very brut
and barbarous, no doubt, but t
colonels daughter was Western bo
and bred, and she clapped her han
and laughed in sheer enthusiasm VIII
she saw Smith make show of cha
ing tho circling runners.
He did not return to her until aft
he had pulled up the freshly driv
stakes and thrown them away, and
rhnt time the wagon, with the hors