Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1922-09-07
The Treachery of
Dale Woods
By CALVIN HENDRICKS

Hands up y
Hector Waith was more surprised
than alarmed. Four men faced him
in the rugged Kentucky mountain path
whom he had heretofore accounted as
his friends. He was too accustomed
to the rugged mandatory ways of the
group, however, to hesitate at the or
der given.
why, what is the trouble?' he
asked quietly enough, although he did
not like the CLINT in the eyes of. the
leader of the coterie, Wilson Vance.
''Sit down on that rock" directed the
leader of the quartet
/ rs this holdup or a court of in
! quiryT' he hazarded with faint smile.
Its court of justice and serious
affair."" replied Vance unbendingly.
ITO state the case briefly: You, pur-
porting to be a young business man
from the East, came out here nearly a
month ago seeking your health"
My letters should persuade you that
l am the genuine article" spoke Waith
lightly and again with the smile.
1T looks different now" declared
Vance. "You were welcomed as a tenn
| porary guest at the home of my uncle.
You took an interest in my cousin. Nell
lie, his daughter. When mans square
| the Vances treat him right. When he's
spy
What do you mean by that?" de-
manded Waith instantly and sternly.
Just what the word implies" broke
n q at
recognized the man as Dale Woods he
knew that he was in trouble. Dale
Woods was an old rejected but persist
ent sutton of pretty Nellie.
Il say you are a spy" declared
Woods, facing Waith fiercely, sand
these men know it. You lost coat
while bathing in the creek. I found
1t and in a secret pocket discovered
this"
Woods held close to the eyes Of the
astonished Waith badge of the gov
eminent secret service
ST never saw 1t before" declared
Waith.
''That won't dol" snarled Woods.
"You have come here under false pre-
lenses to get clew to the hiding place
Of my hunted BROTHER
There was silence and bowed heads.
Hector Waith knew that his fate was
sealed. He must act If he would save
his life.
The men stepped aside in low-toned
consultation. Waith saw Woods draw
out his revolver. Just beyond the copse
horse grazed untethered. With a
spring Waith gained his feet and
dashed toward the animal. He was In
the sauuIe IN u HASH.
The horse made bound along mar
row ledge skirting a deep ravine.
The pursuing coterie reached the
edge Of the ravine. They peered down
In awed silence. Only Dale Woods
said to himself, with thought of Nell
lie Vance:
THAT ends the man who came be-
tween me and my Lowell"
1t was hours afterward, when a limp
ing form with tattered and disordered
attire emerged from a remote passage
way between two walls of rock leading
from the ravine.
Ii.
a few rods down into nest of dense
enveloping vines.
Waith had chung to these, safely
sheltered from the view of his pur-
suers until they had left the spot.
The moon was up when he emerged
from the ravine.
1t was in the early hours of the
morning. The moon was just sinking,
when lying in the road before him he
made out a human FORM 1t was that
of an old woman. She was insensible
and Waith could not arouse her.
"What shall I do?" he questioned
himself ut is dangerous for me to
delay, but cannot leave this helpless
old woman to die.
Like the true man he was, Waith
thought only of the unconscious charge
on his hands and the hours passed on.
| He discovered deserted hut at a little
! distance. He carried the old woman
thither. She revived somewhat, but
was still incoherent.
For two days Waith gathered ber-
ries, nuts, whatever he could find to
! give sustenance to his charge. She
was gradually rallying her strength.
Even at the risk of coming across
any of the Woods band, / must get
word to others to care for her. as
cannot" he decided.
He had not gone half mile from
the old hut in search of some other
habitation when, turning a ledge of
rocks. he faced leveled revolver
| Dale Woods behind ii.
$50 you escaped?" he Kissed out.
"What luck March" N
"wait," demurred Waith. IAN old
woman whom found two days ago lies
very I'll in a hut near here"
"My motherr' were the first words
of Woods as he gazed upon tie face of
| the old woman.
1t was after Woods knew what he
owed to the man he had sought to de-
strov that he handed a note he had