The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1920-12-04
THE SLIDE FOR LIFE

# rocks and debris crashing down or
the bridge which Ralph Moore and
Tom, his faithful servant, are cross.
ing in the treasure car. While Ralph's
sister, Ethel, his sweetheart, Ruth
Sawyer and Abe Sawyer. her father.
look on, petrifei with horror. they
see bridge and car crash down. 4
smoldering wreck, into the rocky
gulch below.
But Ralph, on the alert, has seen
Spider standing on ridge nearby,
and as the dynamite explosion takes
place, Ralph shouts: Jump f.r your
life" and follows has own warning
by leaping from the car as it speeds
on to the bridge, and sliding down
the steep slope of the ravine. Tom
and Ralph, clinging to the side of the
gulch, are covered with debris, but are
unhurt, much to the chagrin of
Spider and his men.
Sawyer is for making off at once,
but Ralph insists on desc ending in
to the gully on a rope, gathering up
the gold treasure scattered there and
bringing it up again. That night, at
the Sawyer home, the treasure is ex-
amined and marvelled over, then
placed for the night in a cabinet in
the library, Ruth LOCKING it and re-
tanning the key.
Later, in the guest-room, Ethel
commences to disrobe, then becomes
suddenly drowsey and relaxes into I'M
consciousness. No sooner is she
oblivious to what is happening than
the canopy of the big four-poster
bed in the room descends silently and
the yelled woman steps out from a
secret panel in the wall back of it,
picks Ethel up and steps back, the
bed rising to its normal position.
Tom has been left on guard at the
Sawyer home as an extra precaution,
and he now sees the yelled woman
emerge, earring Ethel, wrapped in a
blanket, and hand her over to Spi-
der, who is waiting with several gang
sters and car. AS the machine speed
off, Tom runs after it and bitches on,
but one of the band sees him and
tells the Spider.
LET him stick there-we'll get
him later" Spider says, and the
others grin evilly.
At midnight the car reaches the
rendezvous of the yelled woman's
gang in the lonely and remote farm
house Of All Sing, a Chinese farmer
in league with the band. While Ethel
is carried to the top room of the
Tom is smoked out of
his perch by one of the gangsters and
threatened with the third degree by
the savage Spider.
Tom is ordered to write a note at
Spiders direction to Ralph, but re-
fuses, and is thrown into a small pri-
son room, windowless which is one
Of the chambers opening off the big
farm, -house kitchen. Suddenly the
door of the room opens and a bony
hand, draped in white, slowly comes
into view. The door opens wide, and
a very tall figure, covered entirely by
a white shroud, enters and advances
toward the terror-stricken Tom.
What do you want, Mistah
Ghost?" Tom chatters, grovelling on
the floor.
Write as I say" a sepulchral
voice answers, and the superstitious
negro, impervious to bullying, sue
cumbs to the fear of the unknown and
ndites a note, asking Ralph to go at
once to a designated spot NEAR a red
barn with three maple tree in front
of it."
Outwitting the gangsters, Ralph
hides in the farm garage. From the
vantage place Ralph sees the gang
sters lift blanket from the car and
disclose the treasure which he
thought reposing safely in the cabi-
net at the Sawyer home.
The gangsters take the gold to a
cellar through a secret trapdoor,
operated from the farmhouse, just as
All Sing, the Chinese farmer, enters
and starts to fill basket with wood.
Ralph rises softly and leaps upon
him, throttling him into submission.
"Tell me-where is the black
MANI" he asks the terrified Oriental,
and the latter tells Ralph that Tom is
in a room off the kitchen. Ralph
changes clothes with the Chinese,
after gagging him, and proceeds to-
wards the kitchen. There is one
gangster there, idly playing cards.
and Ralph knocks him out after 2
fight.
There are two closed doors leading
from the kitchen, and Ralph is in per
plexity as to which one to choose,
when one starts to open. He makes =
dash for the other, unlocks it and
jumps in, slamming the door behind
him. Ralph finds himself with Tom in
the prison room, with Spider and the
gang hammering at the door, threat
ening to smash it down any minute.
Spider starts firing through the
door and the kitchan able il hrnuoht