Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-03-13

The Girl, A Horse and Dog
- BY ANCI LYNDE

BY FRANCIS LYNDE.

don't go in this mans town; sce?"
I'm quite harmless ! assured him.
Give me a little information. and I'll
forthwith remove myself from the
confines of your charming city. How
faa' is it by wagon-rqad to Placer
there?" t.E,l -
My gosh!" he said gloomily; 1.-TWO
Of you in the same dog-goned week."
Even so. When did the other one
arrives"
DAY before y%istidday. Fe didn't
look SO much %bughouse as you do, but
l reckon he must "a been off his ka-
whoop. too, r he wouldn't "a gone to
'Tropia."
Let him rest in peace. Do I get my
information 2"
Shore: we'speeds the partin' guest.
ouve come apast your place. Tween
IL git you there to-morruh mornin'."
I'm going to Atropia-this after
noon" I Dragged.
:. He let me pass. and I .tramped up
the street until I found the one livery
stable. Here, again, my fool reputa-
ton a quite evidently outrun me.
The man had idle horses, plenty of
them. as couldn't help seeing, but ]
couldn't hire n for love or money.
When it came right down to the
pinch, he wouldn't wen sell me one.
BY this time I was in a hot >sweat
of Impotence to be on my way: to
bridge that twenty-one miles before
the elusive clue-if it We're the clue
could once ore dodge me and van
lsh into thin air. In that frame Of
mind told the cautious liveryman,
In gentle phrase. what I thought OF
him and his kind, and hurried down
to the railroad. hoping to be able to
catch an east-bound train Of some
kind, any kind, whose crew could be
bribed or ca5oled int carrying me to
Atropia.
1t was just as'1 was about to inquire
OF the telegraph operator what the
chances were that the great tempta-
ton rose up and slapped me In the
race. Up the grade from the westward
a tiny. three-wheeled car. CARRYING
two men, came spinning along. l rec
nlzed 1t at once as a track-inspection
car, driven by a small gasoline, en-
CINE; an evolution OF the old v~eloci.
pede car. foot and driven and
used by roadmasters and other rail-
road men for making quick. trips over
short distances. -
tied up to the station and made q
quick stop, the two men setting the
brakes and hopping off to dodge into
the telegraph office. They left the
little pop-popping engine running at
idl1ng speed, and in a flash I saw my
chance. OF course, if I should steal
the car. I'd be caught and arrested
and hauled off somewhere to be tried
and fined: but before any Of these I'M
toward things could happen, / should
have settled that biting question of
the ownership of the piabald pony and
the harlequin faced dog.
With a quick glance over my shout
der to make sure that the ocasf was
still clear. I slipped into the. driving
seat. jerked the throttle open ana re-
leased the clutch praying fervently
that the switches might be set right
for me at the upper end OF the Angels
yard.
As the machine began to gather
speed, 1 looked back. W11atsI saw was
a-plenty. Three men. one OF them.
whom I took to be the telegraph bp-
orator. in his shirt-sleeves. came run
ming up the station platform. The
shirt-sleeved man was yelling and
waving something that glistened in
the sunlight. Next I beard the dis
tance-diminished crack OF a pistol and
q blInt-nosed bullet sang a whining
little lullaby to me as 1t tore past.
flungSEup an arm5to show the pis-
|tol-firer that he had 1ltssed, and then
the small car swung around the Shout.
der of the nearest hill and Angels be.
came only q backward fitting mem