The Mena weekly star., 1918-01-24

e~NA'O teieSrdH, lC was rom Lin- da, and 1t read:
 Charlie badly hurt. Can you come?' i Stella reached for the telephone re- ceiyer. The night clerk at the c. P. R. depot told her the first train she could take left at 6 in the morning. That meant reaching the Springs at 9:30- nine and a half hours to sit with idle hands in suspense. She did not know what tragic denouement awaited there. what she could do once she reached there. She knew only that fever of impatience burned in her. The mes sage had strung her suddenly taEt as If a crisis had arisen in which willy lilly she must take a hand. ! So, groping for the relief of action. some method of spanning that nine hours wait. her eye fell upon a card tucked beside the telephone case. She held it between finger and thumb, her brows puckered
 TAXES AND TOURING CARS
 Anywhere. Any time
 She took down the receiver again and asked for Seymour 9X
 Western Taxi" mans voice drawled.
 T want to reach Roaring Springs in the shortest time possible" she told him rather breathlessly. Gan you fur nish me a machine and a reliable chauffeur7"
 Roaring Springer he repeated. How many passengersT"
 "One. Myself"
 Just minute"
 She heard a faint burble of talk away at the other end of the wire. then the same voice speaking crisply:
 We gotta big six roadster and first class driver. It'll cost you $75 in ad- vance"
 Your money will be waiting for you here.' she answered calmly. How soon can you bring the car around to the Hotel GranadaT
 Tn ten minutes, if you say so."
 Say twenty minutes. then"
 All right"
 She dressed herself took the elevator down to the lobby, instructed the night clerk to have maid pack her trunk and send 1t by express to Hopyard, care of St. Allwoods hotel, on the lake. Then she walked out to the broad stepped carriage entrance.
 A low hung. low hooded yellow car stood there, exhaust purring faintly. She paid the driver, sank into the soft upholstering beside him, and the big six slid out into the street. There was no traffic. In few minutes they were on the outskirts of the city, the long asphalt ribbon of Kings way lying like silver band between green, bushy walls.
 Ninety miles of road. good. bad and indifferent, forest and farm and roll ing hill and the swamps of Sumas prairie. lies between Vancouver and Roaring lake. At in the morning, with dawn an hour old, they woke the Rosebud ferryman to cross the river. Twenty minutes after that Stella was stepping stiffiy out of the machine be- fore Roaring Springs hospital. The doctors Chinaman was abroad in the garden. She beckoned him.
 You sabe Mir. Benton Charlie Ben toni" she asked He in doctors house3"
 The Chinaman pointed across the road. Mist Bentle obah dah." he said. "Velly much sick Missa Bentle lib dah. all same gleen house."
 Stella ran across the way. The front door of the green cottage stood wide. An electric drop light burned in the front room, though it was broad day. When she crossed the threshold she saw Linda sitting in chair. her arms folded on the table edge. her head rest ing on her hands. She was asleep, and she did not raise her head til Stella shook her shoulder.
 Linda Abbey had been a pretty girl, very fair. with apple blossom skin and a wonderfully expressive face. It gave Stella a shock to see her now. to auge her suffering by the havoc it had wrought. Linda looked old. haggard, drawn. There was weary droop b her mouth. Her eyes were dull, life less, just as one might look who is utterly exhausted in mind and body. Oddly enough, she spoke first of some thing irrelevant, inconsequential.
 q fell asleep" she said heavily. What time is it?"
 Stella looked at her watch.
 Half past 4, she answered. How is CharlitE What happened to him?"
 "Monohan shot hing
 Stella cauSlt her lseath. She hadn't been prepared for that.
 "Is he-is he''- She could not utter the words.