The Connecticut labor news., 1921-10-28
"A Princess of Mars" l uIIIIIIIL by EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS IIIIIIIIIN
Copyright, A. C. McClurg & Company

complete as going concern. l sue | ceeded in getting an offer of the $4O,- | OOO you set on it, and had all the pa l pers drawn up, when I discovered that among us we had made a serious omis- | sion. You will remember that, a good i many years ago, when you were talk | ing on some fresh obligations. you transferred the homestead into your | Wife's name. I assured the purchaser | that there would be no difficulty about | getting title from your wife. but as all the buildings are on the homestead | quarter he would agree to nothing bet.
 ter than paying $20,OOO for the rest of your land, leaving the homestead | quarter with the buildings, stock and | implements out of the tranSac action. AS his price seemed a fair one for the
 balance of the property, and as l as- sumed your need of the money was
 urgent, I closed a deal on that basis,
 cashed the agreement and remitted the proceeds to you at once by wire.
 l trust my actions in the matter meet 1 with your approval.
 "YOurS sincerely, GEORGE BRADSHAW" Harris placed the letter in the hands of his wife. She tried to read it, but a great happiness enveloped her as a flood and the typewriter
 characters seemed to swim before her.
 What does it mean, John?" she asked,
 noting his restrained excitement. What does 1t mean?"
  ter was not sold-after alI-that it is
 still yours, with the buildings, and ma
 chinery, and stock, and this years
 crop just ready for cutting"
 She raised her eyes to his. "Still
 ours, John, you mean. Still ours."
 In the rapid succession of events
 everyone seemed to have forgotten, or
 disregarded, Gardiner. But at this
 moment the doctor came rushing out
 of the house.
 "Gardiner's gone!" he exclaimed,
 as he came up to the men. Some of the party removed their hats.
 "Oh, not that way-not that Way!"
 exclaimed the doctor. "I mean he's
 -skipped-beat it, if you under stand. Most extraordinary I was
 taking his pulse. It was about normal,
 and he seemed resting easier, so 1 slipped downstairs for the antidote. When l went back was only gone a
 moment-there wasn't sight or sound of him."
 Sergeant Grey conducted a swift examination, not of Gardiner's room, hut of @Io ing. He was rewarded by finding the little slip of paper, with a few crys-
 tals of powder still clinging to it. The
 coroner examined the crystals through
 his magnifying glass; then, somewhat dubiOusly, raised them on a moiStened finger to his tongue, and after a mo- ment's hesitation swallowed in an inn pressive, scholarly fashion. "Saccharum album!" he exclaimed. Common white sugar! Most extraor-
 dinary!"
 But Sergeant Grey was at the open
 window. It was only an eight-fOot
 drop to the soft earth, and to the po- liceman there was no longer any mys-
 tery in Gardiner's disappearance The
 mock suicide was a carefully-panned
 ruse to be employed by Gardiner if the
 worst came to the worst.
 ''I want all of you men, and a horse
 for each," said Grey, quickly, turning
 upon them like general marshaling his officers. "There are dozen differ
 ent trails he may follow, and we must put man on each. I will give imme- diate pursuit, in the hope of riding
 him down before he can throw us off
 the scent and 1 will leave it to you,
 MT. Arthurs, to organize the posse and
 SCOUT the whole country until he is To-
 cated.'
 Grey knew that the main road. if
 followed far enough, dwindled into a pack trail, which in turn semed to lose itself in the fastnesses of the noun
 tains, but in reality opened into a pass
 leading through the range. He gave Gardiner credit for knowing as much, and concluded that the fugitive would
 make a bolt straight through the mountains.
 An hours hard riding brought him into a tremendously rough country, where the trail at times was nothing more than a narrow defle or ledge, and sheer walls of rock rose thou
 sands of feet above, their giant edges cutting the blue sky like the teeth of | a mighty saw. Far below, a ribbon of i green and white, the river rolled in it's l canyon. Here and there thin stream of water sprayed down the mountain side, cutting a damp, treacherous belt across the trail. But at one such spot l Grey's heart leaped within him, for | there, unmistakably clear in the thin 1 soil and soft rock, were the marks of | a horses shoe, not an hour old. 1 few minutes later he saw Gardiner l swinging round a spur of rock half 1 mile further up the pass.
 Suddenly. at turn in the path, his l eye caught a sight which made him 1 throw his horse back on his tracks. A ] sheer precipice fell away a thousand l feet below him. and beetling cliffs cut 1 off the sky above. Across the path l trickIed a little stream. And there in | the stream, so clear they could not be | misread, were the marks cut by a 1 horses feet sliding over the preci- 1 pice.
 The policeman diSmOunted carefully. | hi fo