The Washington times., 1919-02-26

feur. 'You can get another for
them
"Just as you say" the man told
/ him, believing IL an order, and
/ Knowles, jumping to the wheel, sent
it spinning down the pike toward
Pohick
Pohick Church. red and white, gated
and spired even as it was in the days
when Washington used to drive there
| in his coach from Mt. Vernon, when
George Mason would come to service
from Gunston Hall. lootned spectrally
out Of the fog. Knowles, running the
car up to the gates, realized that he
was the first at the rendezvous that
| Barry Henderson had chosen Leave
! IL to a sailor to go ghost-hunting,"
he thought as he opened the gate and
climbed back to run in the machine.
Awed a little by the time and the
place he sat at the wheel untn
another car, a smaller one, drew UP
within the enclosure, and Madeline
! and Henderson alighted. ais Kim
with your" the navy man asked.
Then let's go inside to wait for
him"
ats easier to get away IL we stay
out" Knowles objected.
"We'll need some light il he
comes" Madeline said, "and we'd bet
ter go in to have that"
Outvoted, he went with them. too
accustomed to strange happenings to
notice that Barry unlocked the door
with a key. Inside he found the
place curiously ghostly, its white
pews standing out in relief. What
tragedies had 1t seen, this old Pohick
meeting house: what romance, what
adventures? Madeline's voice brought
him from reverie. LAS soon as Kim
comes" she said, 1--WE will know il
we can piece the chart"
The moment of the elimination of
their task brought to Knowles no
thrill. Instead, the fear that Kim
ball might not come rose high in
him. Moments passed. He was grow
ing clammily cold with apprehension
when he thought he heard a fOotstep.
Then suddenly a shot rang out and
bullet pierced the window back of
where the three of them stood.
Recklessly he jumped to the door.
f1inging il open. He could see no
one, but the feeling persisted that
some one was very close. Get out in
the car" he ordered Madeline. Hen
derson lifted her from the doorway
to the machine as Knowles took the
wheel and drove the car out to the
road and toward Washington.
Somewhere on the way TO AleNan-
dria he knew that they were being
pursued.
Slowly. but reIentlessly. he could
hear another car gaining upon his.
Who was it: Wu, Fuller, and Sny-
der? Or might it be Kim? Or the
police? He threw on full power. dar-
ing the violation OF the speed laws.
but always the pursuing car gained
upon him. They were coming into
Alexandria when he tried a trick,
whirling around the machine so that
it stood on a side road. facing the
incoming car.
He threw or the lights just before
the pursuer came over the top OF the
last hill AS the car went past
them he saw two men huddled down
I'm the front seat and knew them for
Snyder and Fuller. SO that had been
their game! They had fired the shot
into the church TO bring them from
cover and they had succeeded. They
must have known that Kim was COM
ing to meet them and had taken the
way to prevent the meeting. What
fools the three Of them had been to
walk into the trap.
Knowles set his hand to the wheel
to send the car Up the by-road when
another car came over the top OF the
hill He waited its passing. AS il
went by he cursed his careIessness on
the way to Occoquan. For he knew
il for Wu Tsang's machine and knew
that II had met the Chinese on the
Richmond road, as Mrs. Thayer had
said IL would. With keen hindsight
he knew how WI had DISAPPEARED.
He had simply slipped back into Oc-
coquan creek, swan up to the Rich
mond road bridge, come out and met
the car.
Had the Chinaman seen Snyder and
Fuller, he asked himself He thought
that he must have recognized their
car and guessed at their pursuit |
Would he overtake them? And could !
the three of them outwit Snyder and |
Fuller and WI?
A sharp voice, lifting from the foS. |
sounded at his side. "Reckon I'll just |
search you" il announced and a tall |
figure climbed to the step of the car. |
For what?' Henderson snapped.
What do you s'pose? Whiskey, Of |
"well, OF all the"