The Bridgeport times and evening farmer. (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1918-1924, 1922-06-23

4
in her own behalf. But he silenced
| her gruffly whenever she addressed
| MIN and she gave up at last, in her
| fear of bringing his wrath upon her.
| She could see that he was deeply in
tent upon his. object to get her away
from Black Rock where none could
find her And what then?
In a wild impulse-a moment of
| desperation, she broke away from
him and ran, but he caught her easily,
for by this time she was very tired.
him, hand to hand, but he read her
mind and drew a pistol, pushing her
on ahead of him as before, threatening
bodily injury. But this time she had
learned to believe him capable of any
cruelty. But she thanked God that
the dangers that Threatened were only
hose which could come from brutal
snenly and in his very brutality she
even found refuge from the other and
more terrible alternative of his anna
bility. As Hawk had said. he wasn't
ION that lay this trip"
But what his ultimate purpose was
she had no means of determining. She
knew that he was totally without
scruple and had thought in her first
moments of terror that he meant to
take her far back into the woods
and there kill her as he had done her
father, thus again destroying all claim
But as the moments passed and she
saw that he had some definite OBJ
jective, the feeble remnants of her
courage gathered strength. Her a1-
tempt to escape had failed. of course.
but his tolerance gave her hope thar
he did not dare to do the dreadful
violence of which she had thought.
For hours-it seemed-they went
through underbrush and swamp-land,
stopping from time to time at Hawk >
command while he listened and got
their bearings. Beth had never been
in this part of the woods, but she had
an idea, from the crossing Of the road
and the character of the trees, that
they were now somewhere in the
Lower Reserve and not very far from
the lumber camp. 1t was there that
Peter Nichols was. Her heart leaped
at the thought of his nearness. All
memory of the heliotrope envelope
and of it's contents seemed to have
been wiped from her consciousness by
the rough usage of this enemy to them
both, 1t seemed to matter very little
now who this woman was that Peter
had known. She belonged to a nys-
FERROUS and unhappy pastor he had
limited at that-which had nothing to
do with the revelation that Beth had
read in his eyes as to the meaning OF
the wonderful present for them both.
She knew now that he could have eX-
planned, if she had given him the
chance. Instead of which she had
rushed heedlessly to misfortune. the
victim of a childish pride, plunging
them both into this disaster. That
pride was a pitifuI thing now, like
her disordered hair and her bedrao-
gled frock, which tapped It's ribbons
soaked and muddy, about her knees.
But as long as she was still alive
and in no immediate danger, she tried
to hope for some incident which would
send Peter back to Black Rock ear
Iier than Hawk had expected, where,
at the cabin, he would guess the truth
as to her meeting with Hawk and what
had followed.
But how could he guess all that?
The difficulty dfsmayed her. He
would hunt for her. of course, as soon
as he learned of her disappearance,
but clever as he was there seemed
no way in which he could solve the
mystery of her flight, still less, hav-
ing guessed Hawk Kennedy's pur-
pose, follow any trail through the
wilderness by which her captor had
led her.
Even in the apparent hopelessness
of her situation. she had not reached
the point of actual despair Youth
and her customary belief in all that
was good in the world sustained her.
Something would happen-something
must happen AS she
trudged along, she prayed with her
whole heart, like David. to be de-
livered from the hand of the oppress-
or.
That prayer comforted her and
gave her strength. and so when they
came out at the edge of the swamp
some moments later she obeyed his
instructions more hopefully. There
was a path along the edge of the
water which presently led into the
heart of the woods again, and there
almost before she was aware of it she
found herself facing a small wooden
house or shanty which seemed in a
fairly good state of preservation
Silently. Hawk Kennedy unfasten-
ed the hasp which held the door. and
gruffly ordered her to go inside. Won
dering, she obeyed him But her
captor now acted with a celebrity
which. while it gave her new fears.
set other fears at rest for he took
the handkerchiefs from his pockets
and gagged and bound her arms and
wrists again. pushing her down on a
pile of sacking which had served
some one for a bed. tying her feet
and knees with ropes that were there
so that she could neither move nor |
make a sound.
There for a moment ne stood. star |
ing down at her with a grim kind OF
humor, born of his successful fight. |
some kid. nv c., I'm kinder |
if J. amt But We hadn't |
any business bein' who We are. I be- |
iieve I'd rather kill We outright than |
hurt We any more that I would. |
Maybe I won't have to do either. Tn |
derstan6? But 1 got sOmethin' to I
do first. 1t amt any Child's play an |
| amt got much time 10 spare Be |
a good kid an lie quiet an go to |
sleep and I'll be back after a while |
an set We free Understand -
Beth nodded help&ss1y. for il was |
he only thing that she could do. and
with relief watched his evil shape |
1arken the doorway out of which he /
vent carefully closing the door and |
fastening the hasp on the outside
Then she heard the crunch of his |