The Meeker herald., 1923-01-06

|
and he lifted her against him as he
literally carried her through. When
they reached the other side, the arm
still held Its place-and she did not
resist. Some way, after that, the
stretch Of road faded swiftly. Almost
before he realized 1t. they were at the
outskirts Of the city.
Grudgingly he gave up his hold up
on her, as they hurried for the side
walks and for the sheriff's Office. There
Fairchild did not attempt to .tdlk-he
sheriff. listened. Taylor Bill had con-
fessed to the robbery at the Old Times
dance and to his attempt to 10 ar
range the evidence that the blame
would fall on Hurry. Taylor Bill and
! Bllndeye Bozeman had been caught ut
| work in cross-cut tunnel which led
to the property Of the Blue Poppy
mine. md one of them. at least. had
admitted that the sole output Of the
silver Queen had come from this thiev.
ing encroachment. Then Anita COM
pleted the recital-of the plans Of the
Rodaines to leave and Of their depart
ure for Center City. At last FaIrchIld
spoke. andf told the happenings fhIch
he hnd encountered In the ramshackle
house occupied by Crazy Laura. 1t
| was sufficient. The sheriff reached
for the telephone.
"No need for hurry" he announced.
young ROdaIna can't possibly make
that trip In less than two hours. We've
got plenty Of time-hello-Ce
Long distance, please. What's that?
Yeh-Long Distance. Want to put In
call for Center City" A long walt,
while 4 metallic voice streamed over
the wire into the sherifrs ear. he
hung up the receiver. Blocked" he
said shortly. 'The wires down."
But there's the telegraph"
IT'D take hnlf an hour to get the
operator out OF bed-office is closed.
Nope. Well take the short cut. And
we'll heat him there by q half-hour!"
Anita started.
"You mean the Argonaut tunnel?"
"Yes. Call up there and tell them
to get q motor ready for US to shoot
straight through. We can make It at
thirty miles an hour, and the skip in
the Reunion mine will get us to the
surface In five minutes. The tunnel
ends sixteen hundred feet under
ground. about a Thousand feet from
Center City" he explained. as he noted
Fairchild's wondering gaze. "You stay
here. I'll be getting my car warmed
up to take us to the tunnel"
A humping sound came from with
out. Harry entered with his two
charges, followed shortly by BardweIl.
the sheriff, while Just beneath the Of
fee window a motor rOared In the
process Of ''warming up"
A moment more and a steel door
changed upon the two men. while the
officer led the way to his motor Cur.
There he looked quizzically at Anita
Richmond. piling without hesitation
Into the front seat.
"You going too7"
| "I certainly am." and she covered
her intensity with a laugh. there
are number Of things that I want
to say to Mr.. Maurice Nodaine-and
haven't the patience to wait!"
Bardwell chuckled. The doors Of
the car slammed and the engine roared
louder than ever. Soon they were
| churning along through. the driving
snow toward the great buildings Of
the Argonaut Tunnel company, far at
the other end of town. There men
awaited them, and tram motor. to-
gether with its operator. The four
pursuers took their places on the
benches of the car behind the motor.
The trolley was attached. Then clat-
tering over tho frogs, green lights
flashing from the trolley wire, the
speeding journey was begun.
Three miles, four. I've, while Anita
Richmond held close to Fairchild as
the speed became greater and the
sparks from the wire above threw their
green. vicious light over the yawning
stretch before them. A last spurt.
slightly down-grade. with the motor
pushIag the wheels at their greatest
velocity; then the cracking Of cleo
tricity suddenly ceased. the motor
slowed in its progress. finally to stop.
A greasy being faced them and Bard
well. the sheriff. shouted his mission.
"Got to catch some people that are
making getaway through Center
City. Can you send us up In the skip7"
ayes. two at time"
"All right" The sheriff turned to
Harry. "You and I'll go on the first
trip and hurry for the Ohadl road.
Fairchild and Miss Richmond will walt
for the second and go to Sheriff Ma
sons office and tell him what's up.
Meet us there" he said to Fairchild,
as he went forward.
A long wait followed while Fairchiid
strove to talk of many things-and
failed In all of them. Things were
happening too swiftly for them to be
put into crisp sentences by q man
whose thoughts were muddled by the
fact that beside him waited a girl In
whipcord riding sult-the same girl
a1AN N,