The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1923-05-11

sought He crouched as near to the
road as he dared and where he could
look up and down it. This being
main road, was guarded. A motor
car with armed men in it passed him,
and presently repassed, evidently pa
trolling the road; its lights showed
him a man with a gun standing at the
first bend Of the road to the east.
Eaton drew further back and moved
parallel to the road but far enough
away from it to be hidden. A quarter
of a mile further he found a second
man. The motorcar, evidently, was
patroling only to this point; another
car was on duty beyond this. AS
Eaton halted, this second car ap-
preached, and was halted, backed
and turned.
Its headlights swept through the
woods and revealed Eaton. The man
standing In the road cried out the
alarm and fired at Eaton point blank |;
he fired a second and third time.
Eaton fled madly back into the shad-
ow; as he did so, he heard the men
crying to one. another and leaping
from the car and following him. He
retreated to the woods, went further
along and came back to the road, ly-
ing fat upon his face again and wait
ing till some other car in passing
should give him light to see.
Eaton, weak and dizzy from his
wounds and confused by darkness and
his struggle through the woods, had
no exact idea how long it had taken
him to get to this place; but he knew
that it could have been hardly less
than two hours since he had left Har-
riet. The men he was following,
therefore, had that much start of
him, and this made him wild with i'm
patience but did not discourage him
His own wounds, Eaton understood
made his escape practically impossi
BILE, because any one who saw him
would at once challenge and detain
him; and the other man was still more
seriously wounded. 1t was not his es
cape that Eaton feared; it was con
cealment of him. The man had beer
taken from the car because his condi
ton was so serious that there was NJ
hope of hiding it; Eaton thought HI
must be dead. He expected to flint
the body concealed under dead leaves
hurriedly hidden.
The night had cleared a little; t,
the north, Eaton could see stars. Sud
denly the road and the leafiess bushe
at it's sides flashed out in the brigh
light of a motorcar passing. Eatol
strained forward. He had found tn
place he sought; there was no doub
a car had turned off the road som
time before and stopped there. TIL
passing of many cars had so tracke
the road that none of the men in tn
motors seemed to have noticed any
thing of significance there; but Eato
saw plainly in the soft, ground a
the edge Of the woods the footmark
of two men walking one behind tn
other. When the car had passed, h
crept forward in the dark and fingere
the distinct heel and toe marks i
the soft soil. For a little distanc
he could follow them by feeling; the
as they led him into the edge of tn
woods the ground grew harder an
he could no longer follow them i
that way.
1t was plain to him what had o.
Cured; two men had got out of tn
car here and had lifted out and ca
ried away a third. He knelt whel
he could feel the last footsteps
could detect and looked around.
The wound in his shoulder no lon
err bled, but the pain Of it twinge
him through and through; his hea
throbbed with the hurt there; his fe
were raw and bleeding where shat
roots and branches had cut throul
his socks and torn the flesh; his SIX
was hot and dry with fever, and h
head swan.
There was not yet light enough
see any distance, but alton, accu
toned to the darkness and bendiI