Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-09-19
MY MARRIAGE
A1 PROBLEMS
Adele Garrison's
New Phase off,.
REVELATIONS
OF A WIFE
HOW MADGE WON A FREE PATH
DOWN THE ROAD

coVEv EbI thSFN
1 have heard of drowning people hv-
ing a lifetime in a minute, but L never
want to come nearer the experience
than the emotions which swept me
when / saw the car which | had eluded
swing across the cross road and block
my path.
If | kept on in the road, | would hit
the other machine squarely, with almost
|certain death as the result. Yet it was
unthinkable to stop, especially as the
men in the other car, who, with the
!pertinacity of intoxication, still held
their anger against me because of my
refusal to stop when they had signailed
me, jumped from the car as it stopped
and spread themselves out along the
road, whooping and yelling in irrespon-
sible drunken glee at the coup they had
accomplished.
If only the fences had been down, as
they often are in the country, l would
have had a chance then to swing out to
one side or Their other and bump over
the ruts in the potato fields. But stout
wire fences guarded both roads on both
sides, and to make matters worse, both
roads were unusually narrow.
When / had first caught sight OF the
car as it stopped, it seemed to fill the
road from one side to the other. But
as | neared it l saw that the drunken
men had miscalculated and that on n
side. between the car and the fence
there might be room for q car to pass.
1t was a feat at which an expert driver
might have baked. so uneven was the
Iground, so close the margin of width
between the fence and the other car.
but I could not be worse off than 1
was. and with a desperate little prayer
] swereved my car just as reached the
other machine, and / went crashing
and swaying and humping down a space
through which my soberer judgment
would have said a much smaller car
than Dicky's could never pass.
A Miraculous Escape
One ~running-board scraped the wire
of the fence, the other caught a front
fender of the big car and tore 1t loose.
Taken by surprise. the men who had
Ispread out to intercept me tried to get
out of the way, but l felt the ear jolt
twice against something which | knew
was not earth or wood, and a chorus
of screams and Oaths following my
progress told me that | had inflicted
more punishment than / had received.
And then | was clear, miraculously
unhurt, and with the car still running.
| was conscious of several strong
noises connected with the mechanism,
and I guessed that the local garage
would have a job next day. But at every
turn of the wheels it was carrying me
farther and farther from the sinister
menace behind me. And with a queer
little tug of affection such as one might
feel for a faithful horse, l patted the
steering wheel a~bsurdly, murmurlng
ifoolish1y. Good old fellow
"Dld You Get IT."
The question of the gas troubled me,
but | resolved to put the greatest space
possible between myself and the
drunken men before stopping. | was
sure that one at least of their number
had been struck, and guessed that they
would be delayed in starting again. And
perhaps fate would relent and permit
met to get home on the reserve gas.
1t was with a fling of ~worshipful
Igratitude that / finally drove the car
Into u own yard and ran into the
jhouse with the precious drug from he
hospital clutched tightly in my hand.
The scene downstairs was unchanged
save for the presence of DIR. Petit,
who evidently had been hearing an ac-
count of the affair from Lillian. Smith,
still bound, lay in the corner of the
room, only his malevolent eyes show
ing that he was anything but an inert
bundle of clothing.
DIR. Pettit's face held more than his
usual professional gravity as he ad-
vanced toward me, and ] knew that
Tom Chester was in grave danger from
the tense eagerness with which ne
asked:
did you get it,
For answer. | laid the package in his
hands. He seized it eagerly, tore the
~wrappings off while Lillian gave me a
Ilov[toned explanation of the reason for
Ihis gravity.
"f couldn't remember the spelling.
and he couldn't make anything of
!Smith's surly words
DIR. Petit looked up blankly as he
finally got the package open.
II don't know what this is" he said
honestly.
Next-The Disclosure the Man Smith
Made.
r~TE TDEC