Evening star., 1924-04-06
6Y WILL PAYNE
Illustrated bY Stephenson

orator again. 1t was very good going
until he passed a small white farm
house; then the gravel ceased and it
became a dirt road.
In a few minutes the ground sloped
down and the dirt road resolved itself
into a rutty wagon track. The road
grew worse. Overhanging bushes on
both sides lashed the churning car
, The heat and the dank smell became
stronger. Obviously, he was in q
swamp. Now and then through the
bushes, in fact, he could see where a
ditch had been run on both sides of
the road in some long abandoned at
tempt at drainage. 1t was impossible
TO turn here. The prospect of backing
up a mile through that tortuous,
rutty road was not inviting. He
pushed on, hoping to come either to
a better road or at least into a space
where he could turn around. So far
the road had been dry and baked hard
as iron. Now it dropped into lush
a squashy sound under the wheels.
Three rods ahead the miserable road
| curved out Of sight beneath over
hanging bushes.
WITH bitter thought that the road
couldn't be worse, he shifted
| into low gear, churned through the
screen of overhanging bushes at the
curve and almost Immediately stopped
tingling.
Il L, i =. =.
blocked by an automobile with the
top up. The back of the car was
scratched and the top torn in half
! dozen places. Gaping at this appari-
, ton, SINNERS first thought-which
. came with n deep pang-was that he
had no weapon. His second thought.
which came fast on the heels of the
first, was to shift the driving lever
into reverse position for backing. He
was doing that when a man stepped
out of the bushes and laid right
hand on the foredoor of the car as
though he were taking possession of
! it. Cit OUT" said the man.
He was a burly person, with broad
shoulders and a deep chest. Although
he. wore a loose, faded gray coat, one
. by a rusty leather belt that held up
his frayed trouserS-waS smaller than
his chest. He had lean loins, and in
comparison with the mighty chest the
/ legs looked almost spindling. His
collarless calico shirt was open at
the throat, showing a hairy chest and
the base of thick neck.
In other circumstances Skinner
might have admired his figure and
guessed that he was a prize fighter.
Just now he could see scarcely any
thing except the mans face foot
from his own. 1t was a swarthy, ami
NAL face and there. was a peculiar
meaning upon it-in the cat eyes that
glittered into SINNERS and on the
lips that made a straight line which
was biSected by a diagonal white
scar. That diagonal scar across the
long, straight line of the lips seemed
to belong to the face like a natural
feature of it.
That is what Skinner noticed-and
the pockets in the mans loose, faded
gray coat The mans hand was
thrust into the left pocket, where it
grasped an automatic revolver. From
the gaping right-hand pocket ham
mer protruded. 1t was clear to Skin
ner that on the approach Of his noisy
car the man had taken that hammer
out of the tool kit of the stalled car
and put it in his right-hand coat
pocket as though he had an idea of
using it, and that idea WIS implicit in
the peculiar look on the mans
swarthy face. Implicit in that look
also were the things Skinner had seen
in the weather-beaten farmhouse.
They had been beaten with hammer.
Get out where?" said Skinner, aim
Iessly. as these things swan through
his mind.
There was no mistaking the cold
ferocity with which the man replied,
opening his lips just wide enough to
emit the sounds: Cit out O. the car"
"Oh, sure" Skinner replied cheer
fully. Devil of a road, amt it?' He
shut off the engine, threw the lever
into neutral and set the hand brake
not pausing in the operations and
certainly not hurrying. Live around
here?" he inquired cheerfully, as he
slid nimbly along the seat and opened
the foredoor on the other side.
!. x x
HAVING put that little space be-
tween himself and the man, he
paused with his hand on the open
foredoor to add sociably, I'm driving
through from Indiana. Old woman at
a log cabin back there told me to
take the first turn to the left. Guess
she thought she'd play trick on me.
Rottenest road I ever saw in my
life.
Its rotten luck. too" Skinner COM
planned; rotten luck" He stepped
down to the weedy roadside, and con-
tinued: "I wanted to make a place
they call Allentown by half past
s. sure. I'd like to wiring that old scare
crows neck for sending me off herer
He was, of course, merely fighting
! for time and trying to think up some
thing. Your car break DOWN. he
added neighborly. as he stepped over
in front Of the man and looked mildly
up into his swarthy face.
BY contrast his stature seemed that
of a boy. As he looked into the sin
lister eyes, where a peculiar meaning
lay, he felt to his marrow that there
was going to be no delay, and he was
inspired to say, with a confidential
little smile and nod. Fact is, got
into some trouble last night; been
driving like the devil ever since 10
o'clock. I guess they're after me-"
He thought the mans eyes wayered
a hairs breadth, and he added. with
another confidential little nod. "I shot
a man. Can't we get out Of this?"
Plainly, then, the man hesitated,
with a slight scowl. "Know anything
about a carr" he asked.
"You bet / doi" Skinner asserted
copfideufIy 'sI was in that huSip q ss