Evening star., 1922-08-19


rupted his conversation with me-
Hurriedly he showed one into MISS
Customs hands, then to Lane, then u
me and to the guard who was with US.
WET them." he cried. as he fitted
his own over his nose and staggered
to a water cooler.
what is it?" 1 gasped. hoarsely, as
we all initiated his every action.
"Chlorin gas" he rasped back. the
same gas that overcame Granvllie
Barnes. These masks are impreg-
mated with glycerin solution Oh
sodium phosphate. 1t was chlorin
that destroyed the red coloring mat
ter in Barnes blood. No wonder
when this action of just Whit OF
1t on us is SO rapid. Even snort
time longer and death would follow.
1t destroys without the possibility OF
reconstruction and it leaves a dan :
gerous deposit of albumin. How DO
you feel?'
"All right I lied.
We looked out again. The things
that looked like fuses were NOT
bombs, as I had expected, but Dig
reinforced bottles of gas compressed
The supply was not ineXhaustinle.
In fact. it was decidedly limited. But
it seemed to have been calculated 10
a nicely to do the work. only tne
painting of the locomotive now broke
the stiffness as Kennedy and l moved
forward along the track.
Crack! rang out a shot.
Get on the other side of the train
quick" ordered Craig. =,
In the shadow, aside from the d.
rection in which the wind was watt
ing the gas. we could now just barely
discern heavy but powerful motor
truck and figures moving about 1t:
AS I peered out from the shelter or
the train I realized what 1T all meant.
The truck, which had probably con-
devious where they had been col
lected. was there now to convey to
some dark wharf what of the treas
ure could be seized. There the stolen
yacht was waiting to carry it off;
Don't move-don't fire." cautioned
Kennedy. perhaps they will think
it was only a shadow they saw. Let
them act first. They must. They
haven't any too much time. Let them
get impatient"
For some minutes we waited.
Sure enough, separated widely, but
converging toward the treasure train
at last, we could see several dark
figures making their way from the
road across strip of field and over
the rails. 1 made move with my
gun.
.Don't." whispered Kennedy. Let
them get together"
His ruse was clever. Evidently
they thought that 1t had been. indeed,
a wrath at which they had fired.
Swiftly now they hurried to the near
est of the gold-laden cars. We could
hear them breaking in where the
guards had either been rendered un-
conscious or had fed.
I looked around at Maude Euston.
She was the calmest of us all as she
''They are in the car. Can't we do
something?"
through under the trucks with me.
Walter, and you, Dugan." he added
to the guard, 'go down the other
side. We must rush them-in the
As Kennedy crawled under the train
again I saw Maude. Euston follow
Lane closely.
How 1t happened cannot describe,
member. I knew that it was short.
sharp dash: that the fight was fight
of fists. in which guns were dis
charged wildly in the air against
the will Of the gunner. But from the
moment when Kennedy's voice rang
time that I saw that we had the rob-
bers lined up with their backs against
the heavy cases of the precious metal
for which they had planned and risk
ed so much. it is a blank of grim
death struggle.
remember my surprise at seeing
pne of them a woman, and thought
I must be mistaken. looked about.
No; there was Maude Euston stand
Ing Just beside Lane.
I think 1t must have been that
which recalled me and made me
realfzA that II was q reality and not
q dream. The two women stood glar-
ing at each other.
1.-THE woman in the tearoom!' ex-
claimed Miss Euston. 1T was about
this-robbery-then. that I heard you
talking the other afternoon"