Gunnison news-champion., 1923-03-02

HuE p a. FL LANF NAaA AAaA- ~
Eaton halted. this ss-Und car ap-
preached and was halted, backed
and tuned
Is h-sdll Ehfs swept through the
u,sHs and revealed Eaton Tn. man
standing lH the road cried cot the
alarm and fiT-i ~ Eaton point blank:
he frrd a s.-und and third time
Patton a-I uudly back into the shAd-
0r: IS h. I'D 80. he heard the men
crying o. one another and leaplns
from the car and following him He
rrtrrafed a. the woods. went further
along and ~ala- hack 20 the road. ly-
tus fat upon bis fac" again and walt
Ing fU some other eHr In passing
.HouII give him light % See
Eaton. 81 vaE and dizzy from his
wound. ani confused by darkness and
his struggle through the woods. had
No exact Idea huy hong IL Ia! taken
him 20 s-t 20 this place but he kneE
that II could huy" bcrH hardly less
than two hours since be had left Har-
rl-t Tie men be was following
Therefore" had that much start u
him. and this mad. him Wild with i'm
patience bot did not discourage him
Ills uun wounds. Eaton understood
rardp his escape practically impoSsi-
lie. because any one who saw him
would az once challenge aud detaln
him. and the other man vas still NOR.
seriously wounded. II was no; his e.
cape that Eaton feared: {, was con
r.aimsut of him. The man had been
taken from the car because his condi.
tiou was so serious that there was no
hope OF hiding IL: Eaton thought he
must be dead. He expected to- md
the body concealed under dead leaves,
hurrIedIy hidden.
The nigh; had cleared little: 10
the north. Eaton could see stars. Sud.
denly the road and the l.aness bushe.
81 Its sides flashed out In the bright
llght Of a motorcar passing. Eaton
strained forward. He had found the
place he sought: there was no doub,
car had turned OF the road some
time before and stopped there. Tn.
passing of many cars had 50 tracked
the road that none OF the in~n In the
motors seemed TO have noticed any.
thing OF Significance there but Eaton
saw plainly In the soft ground nj
the edge OF the woods the fonimnrks
Of two men walking one behind III.
other. When the car hnd passed. b.
crept forward IN the dark and fingered
the distinct heel and toe marks In
the soft soil. For little distance
he could follow them by feeling: then
as they led him into the edge OF the
woods the ground grew harder and
he could no longer follow them In
that way
II was plain to him what had oc-
CURED: two men had got out OF the
car Lere and had lifted out and car
ried away a third. He knelt where
he could feel the last footsteps he
could detect and looked around.
The wound In his shoulder no long.
er bled. but the pain OF II twinEed
him through and through: his head
throbbed with the hurt there: his fee,
were raw and bleeding where sharp
roots and branches had cut through
his socks and torn the flesh his skin
was hot and dry with fever. and his
head swan.
There was not yet light enough 20
see any distance, out Eaton. sccus-
toned TO the darkness and bending
close to the ground, could discern the
footmarks even on the harder soil.
They led away from the road into
the woods. on the rotted leaves and
twigs WAS a dark stain: a few steps
beyond there was another Eaton
picking up leaf and lingering IL.
knew that they were blood So the
man was not dead when he had been
lifted from the car. But he had been
hurt desperately. was unable To help
himself, was probably dying: II there
had been any hope for him. his COM
narilons would not be carrying him
IN this way away from any chance OF
surgical attention.
Eaton followed, as the tracks led
through the woods The men had
gone very slowly. carrying this heavy
weight. They had stopped frequently
TO rest and had laid their burden
down. Then suddenly he came to a
place where plainly longer halt hats
been made.
The ground was trampled around
this spot: when the tracks went on
they were changed In character. The
two men were stlll carrying the third
"a heavy man whose weight strained
them and made their feet sink in
deeply where the ground was soft. +
But now they were not carefulshow
they carried him. hut went forward
merely as though bearing n ucau
weight. Now. too. no more stains sp
peared on the brown leaves where
they had passed: their burden no
longer bled. Eaton. realizing whaI
this meant. felt neither exulration
nor surprise. He had known that the
man they carried, though evidently
alive when taken from the car. was
dying But now he watched the tracks