The Dolores star., 1923-05-04
CHAPTER xxl-Continued.

II lneSe ueidSS ne came several
times upon narrow, unguarded roads
and crossed them: at other times the
little wilderness which protected him
changed suddenly to well-kept lawn
where some great house with its
garages and outbuildings loomed
ahead. and afraid to cross these open
places, he was Obliged to retrace his
steps and find a way round. The dis
tance from the bridge to the place
where the men he was following had
got out OF their motor. he had thought
to be about two miles; but when he
had been travelling more than an hour,
he had not yet reached 1t. Then,
suddenly he came upon the road for
which he was looking; somewhere to
the east along II was the place he
sought. He crouched as near to the
road as he dared and where he could
look up and down 1t. This being a
main road, was guarded. A motor
car with armed men in 1t passed him,
and presently repassed, evidently pa
trolling the road; its lights showed
him man with gun standing at the
drst bend of the road to the east.
Eaton drew further back and moved
parallel to the road but far enough
away from 1t to be hidden. quarter
OF mile further he found 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 fiat 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 1t had taken
him to get to this place; but he knew
that 1t could have been hardly less
than two hours since he had left Har-
rlet. 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 been
taken from the car because his condi-
ion was so serious that there was no
hope Of hiding 1t; Eaton thought he
must be dead. He expected to find
the body concealed under dead leaves,
hurriedly hidden.
The night had cleared a little; to
the north, Eaton could see stars. Sud-
denly the road and the leafess bushes
at Its sides flashed out In the bright
light of motorcar passing. Eaton
strained forward. He had found the
place he sought; there was no doubt
car had turned Off the road some
time before and stopped there. The
passing Of many cars had SO tracked
the road that none Of the men in the
motors seemed to have noticed any
thing Of Significance there; but Eaton
saw plainly in the soft ground at
the edge of the woods the footmarks
of two men walking one behind the
other. When the car had passed. he
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.
1t was plain to him what had oc-
CURED; two men had got out of the
car here and had lifted out and car
ried away third. He knelt where
he could feel the last footsteps he
could detect and looked aronnd
The wound in his shoulder no long
er bled, but the pain of 1t twinged
him through and through; his head
throbbed with the hurt there; his feet
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 to
see any distance but Eaton, accus-
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 dark stain; a few steps
beyond there was another. Eaton
picking up leaf and lingering it,
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; IL there