The daily Alaskan., 1917-06-11
Making an
 Acquaintance Method Was Breezy
 But Ef6ectiUe
By F. A. MITGEEEL

W -------- -s-7-I4-a-la F~N0t Erh '' W
 Miss Atherton had gone to the cOun- try for the summer. shs was a de- voted automObNist and had intended to drive herself to the summer homo of the Athertons, but tho machine broke down the day before she was to start, and 80 busy were the mechanics that no one was available to make re- pairs. Miss Atherton therefore rsluc- tantly decided to take train, and the auto went to the shop to WGit dn some one could find time to repair it.
 From the moment Miss AtheEhon reached her country home she missed her auto. She busied herself in her flower garden and returned temporarL ly to the bicycle which she had ridden as a little girl, but nOnS o6 her de- vices for killing time sunced
 A week passed and the auto did not come. To one used to motoring the perambulators provided by nature seem very inefficient Miss AtheFto1 fretted at having to walk CT b rO- main at home on a bright afternoon when she would Ike to be spinning along over smooth roads in her car.
 One morning she started for q walk. The weather was balmy and rather suggestive of a siesta than trudgmg along & country road Miss Atherton's motions were languoEous. Presently she passed a spick and span machine standing beside the road. At the end of a long walk was a house. Doubt less the car belonged to some one in the house. The lady stopped and BuE- veyed the machine coyetously. It vas a car for two persons. The nickel plate of the wheel, the starting and tuun1fnat- ing devices glistened in the sun
 Miss Atherton was tempted to open the door and rest herself on the cugh- ions. GlancIng at the house, no one was in sight, No one was coming up or down the road There was a click and Miss Atherton was in the car. Another click denoted that she had closed the door.
 Everything about her was quiet. Only birds sang.
 She touched the electric starter. There was a bur-r-r of wheels, Before she realized what she was doing she had completed turning on the power, and the machine moved. How lovely! How easy! How comfortable! How restful after walking! She would run up the road for q short distance, turn and bring the car back to the place where she had found #.
 As she moved of Jack Coolidge, the owner of the captured machine, came out of the house and from the porch saw some one running away with his machine. Instead of follow Ing on his legs, he ran around to a ga- rage, got out another machine. and gave chase.
 Quite likely stealing is often at first unlntentional. The thief admires some thing, perhaps covets 1t. He takes 1t in his hand. Surprised by, some one who enters without seeing his act, he pockets the object, intending to replace 1t when he can do so unnotced.
 Miss Atherton was about to turn with the auto when she heard the sputter of a motor engine behind her. What possessed her to act as she did was a mystery to her. Hearing the words Stop thiefw it occurred to her that if she obeyed the order she would be taken to a police station, tried for larceny and sent to state prison. Her first impulse was to put on speed; her second was to put on more speed, and the third was to use all the power Of which the machine was capable,
 Then followed a mad race. Coolidge got near enough to see that a woman was at the wheel, but he could not see what she was like. But presently, when she turned q short distance ahead of him, he got better view and was astOnished to see one who wore the apparel of a lady. The mystery deep ened. Women don't steal auto cars Such thefts are usually made by men and very rough men at that. He could not conceive of a lady stealing bis ear. She was speeding along at such break neck speed that he began to fear she would come to grief. What to do, be could not decide. He followed on as he had begun.
 An auto coming from the opposite direction met the fleeing girl, and the driver saw by the expression and the speed at which she was travelling that she was under some great excitement She flashed by him, and when in few moments her pursuer did the same 1t was evident that S mad race was on between a woman and a man. Was It a real chase or material for 6 moving picture show7 The observer did not know, but having an old fashioned ma chine he decided not to interfere and passed on, wondering. Other machines were met, and the drivers of most of them, seeing two cars. coming like the wind, drew up beside the road to give. them a safe passage,
 Coolidge was driving machine not capable of making the speed of the one heinz run away with but for a time be