The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1922-11-23
cIHAPTER XIX

ne stopped and Anita. laughing at.
her posture, clambered upon his bach,
her arms about his neck. Fairehffd
found himself wishing that he could
carry her forever, and that the road to
the sherifrs Office were twenty miles
away instead OF two But her voice
cut In on his wishes.
. I can walk now. We d get along
SO much fasterr' came her plea. '.I'H
hold on to you--and you can help me
along.
Fairchiid released her and she seized
his arm. Once, ais they ioundered
through a knee-high mass Fairchild's
arm went quickly about her waist
and he lifted her against him ais he
literally carried her through. When
they reached the other side, the arm
still held its p~lace--and she did not
resist. Some way, after that, the
stretch Of road faded swiftly. Almost
before he realized 1t, they were at the
outskirts of the city.
Grudgingly he gave up his hold up
on her, as they hurried for the side
walks and for, the sheriff's Office. There
Fairchild did not attempt to talk-he
left it all to Anita, and Bardwell, the
sheriff, listened. Taylor Bill had con-
fessed to the robbery at the Old Times
dance and to his attempt to so ar
range the evidence that the blame
would fall on Harry. Taylor Bill and
Blindeye Bozeman had been caught at
work In a cross-cut tunnel which led
to the property Of the Blue Poppy
mine, and one of them, at least, had
admitted that the sole output Of the
Silver Queen had come from this thiev-
ing encroachment. Then Anita COM
pleted the recital--of, the plans Of the
Rodaines to leave and Of their depart
ure for Center City. At last, Fairchfld
spoke, and told the happenings finch
he had encountered In the ramshackle
house occupied by Crazy Laura. 1t
was sufficient. The sheriff reached
for the telephone. -..
mo need for hurry" he announced.
Young Rodaine can't possibly. make
that trip In less than two hours. We've
got plenty of time-hello-Central2
Long distance, please. What's that7
Yeh-Long Distance. Want to put in
a call for Center City" A long wait,
while a metallic voice streamed over
the wire into the sheriff's ear. He
hung up the receiver. Blocked" he
said shortly. 'The wires down"
"But there's the telegraph!
IT'D take half an hour to get the
operator out of bed-ofice is closed.
Nope. Wen take the short cut. And
we'll beat him there by a half-hour! p
Anita started.
"You NEAR the Argonaut tunnel?"
eyes. Call up there and tell them
to get a motor ready for us to shoot
straight through. We can make it at
thirty miles an hour, and the skip In
the Reunion mine will get us to the
surface in five minutes. The tunnel
ends sixteen hundred feet under
ground, about a thousand feet from
Center City," he explained, as he noted
F%airchild's wondering gaze. t"You stay
here. TIL be getting my car warmed
up to take us to the tunnel"
A humping sound came from with
out. Harry entered with his two
charges, followed shortly by Bardwe1l,
the sheriff, while just beneath the Of
fee window a motor roared in the
process of warming up.",4
A moment more and steel door
Changed upon the two men, while the
officer led the way to his motor car.
There he looked quizzically, at Anita
Richmond, piling without hesitation
into the front seat.
It "You going toof"
81 certainly am" and she covered
her intensity with a laugh, 'tthere
are a number of things that I want
to say to Mr.. Maurice Rodaine-and
I haven't The patience to wait" ,
Bardwell aehuckled. The doors of
the car slammed and the engine reared
louder than ever. Soon they were
.churning along through the driving
snow toward the great buildings Of
the Argonaut Tunnel company, far at
the other end of town. There men
awaited them, and a tram motor, to-
gether with it's operator. The four
pursuers took their places on thu
benches of the car behind the motor.
The trolley vas attached. Then clat-
tering over the frogs, green lights
flashing from the trolley wire, the
speeding journey was begun.
Three miles, four, five, while Anita
Richmond held close to Fairchild as
the speed became greater and the
sparks from the wire above threw their
green, vicious light over the yawning
stretch before them. A last squirt,
slightly down-grade, with the motor
pushing the wheels at their greatest
velocity then the cracking OF cleo
tricity suddenly ceased, the motor
slowed in Its progress, finally to stop.
A greasy being faced them and Bard
well, the sheriff, shouted his mission.
go to catch some people that are
making q getaway through Center
City. Can you send us up In the skipf''
Eyes, two at q time"
All right" The sheriff turned to
Harry. you and I'll go on the first
trip and hurry for the Ohadi road.
Fairchild and Miss Richmond Will walt
for the second and 60 to Sheriff Ma
sons office and tell him what's up.
Meet us there. he said 10 FairchiId,
as he went forward.
"A long wait followed while Fairchild
strove to talk OF many t~hings-and
fnilnd III ali Ar thorn ThlnUu rucro