New Britain herald., 1922-01-31

thicket, Quick, they've stopped their car 1! They'll be here in a minute, shut up yon little fool !" to Katie. If you scream again or utter one sound m shoot you"
 l saw her plan, of course Under no circumstances must any one of us be connected with this accident. whether the man were dead or alive. Ordinarily Lillian, the most humane of women, would have been first at the mans side 10 render every possible aid, But that this affair meant some thing of moment 10 the mysterious in- vestigation for the government in which she was engaged, 1 more than suspected, and knew that she placed no consideration above that task of high trust,
 Katie went limp in our hands as we reached the shelter of the thicket. and we laid her flat on the ground, l thought she had swooned. but she pressed my hand feebly when lifted 1t to feel her pulse. and l knew that she was simply so terror-stricken al the unexpected turn of affairs that she could not stand erect And then we tried to stife our very breathing as three men came running down the road, one of them babbling incoherent- ly.
 That he was the driver of the ma chine, overcome by the thought that he had killed a man, l guessed, and my suspicion was confirmed at the first words he articulated sanely enough for us to distinguish.
 Imagination
 "Oh. Ed Do you suppose I killed him?" he Groaned. Did I kill him? l didn't see him coming till he was right on me"
 "Of course you didn't, Tom" an- other voice, almost as agitated replied. You couldn't be blamed. He didn't have any light"
 But l was going too fast over this cursed road. know it. O-oh, there he is I can't look. boys. I'm sick. Tell me, is he dead ?"
 The other two men bent over the sprawled, inert body in the road. l fancied l could hear Lilian's heart beat, and while one of my hands held katie's the other one found itself clutching Lillian's in frenzied sus- pense.
 Hes breathing, but I'm afraid he's all broken to pieces" one of them said after a little. "One merciful thing he's unconscious. He isn't even groaning."
 "I thought l heard woman scream as we hit him." the third man said, standing up and suddenly flashing light around. Its beams struck on our thicket, and I never had so strong an impulse to scream as I had in that instant. AS he spoke had felt Lil lians hand withdraw itself from mine, and l realized that she had again firmly closed Katie's lips. preventing her betrayal of us.
 Imagination the man addressed as Ed" pronounced. You heard this poor devil shriek. But now, what's to be done? We must get him to the hospital at once.
 The driver Of the car gave hoarse exclamation,
 steady Just Minutc."
 One of you fellows will have 10 drive" he said, his voice quavering like that of an old man. I'd land us all in the ditch before we'd gone twenty feet. I'll do anything else but drive. Don't ask me that"
 "I'l drive" promised Ed, who seemed to have the strongest nerves of the three, "I'll go and get the car
 
 down here, so we won't have to carry him any farther than is necessary. You follows take off your coats Here's mine and see if you can fix up a stretcher with some branches from those trees. Here's my knife"
 l do not believe I ever have known so bizarre an experience as that which we three women went through in the next few minutes. From bush to bush near us the two men went hunting branches for their improvised stretch CT Once they were so near us that l could have touched the man named Ed that l stretched my arm out to it's full length. We expected discov- cry at any moment, and poor Katie must have been nearly smothered, for Lillian did not take her hand from the girls mouth until the men had cut their branches and were once more safe distance from us.
 The noise of the approaching motor car gave us an instant's respite, and Lillian took advantage of it to whisper reassuringly:
 Steady just 8 minute or two longer"
 But when at last the task of trans ferring the inanimate figure from the ground to the tonneau had been com pleted, and the car. with Ed at the wheel, had disappeared in the direc- ton Of the hospital. Lillian was as glad as l 10 slump down quivcringly upon the soft moss, and to gather nervous strength for the journey back to the farm house