Evening star., 1926-10-17

<<" LIP, old lady, you're getting
fat" Nicholas Goade MUIR
INJURED ref1ectively to the
Il small white dog that sat by
his side.
Flip hated personalities. She
snapped at a passing fly, and, missing
it, yawned. Goade rose to his feet and
knocked the ash from his pipe.
Putting on weight myself" he
continued. "We'll leave the car where
1t is today and go for a tramp"
Man and dog presently left the viii
lage, where they had spent the night,
and mounted to the moorlands. They
left the road and tramped through the
sunlit spaces Of rich meadowland,
wanderings of a trout stream, fecked
with silver and clear as polished glass.
DESERVING 1t when it entered the pur-
lieuS of a private domain, they made
for the higher land, climbing for an
hour or more until they reached at last
a plateau Of wilder and more broken
country. which stretched to the foot of
distant range of hills. Goade, mop
ping the perspiration from his fore
head. threw himself upon the turf
with his arms extended and his face
upturned to the sun.
Doing us both good" he murmured
lazily.
Flip, sitting on her launches
breathing rapidly, suddenly shifted the
heather-scented air, turned her head
and emitted a short bark. Goade
turned laZily over on his side to as
certain the cause Of the disturbance.
His frame stiffened little as he
watched. He frowned slightly. Pres
emily he scrambled to his feet.
Looks odd, Flippy," he murmured,
'very odd"
A MAN running in the vicinity of a
railway station, pursuing a bus,
or moving with the somber enthusi
asm Of an athlete in training, is an
ordinary sight, but man running
across a great expanse of empty coun-
try without any apparent destination,
and following no definite track, is a
very different matter. Half-hidden by
the shadow of a rock, Goade watched
the approaching figure curiously.
The fugitive, if he were one, was a
small, dark man, somberly dressed and
of weedy build. He ran with much
effort and in slipshod fashion, his head
down, breathing heavily, taking un-
even strides, and more than once dis
appearing Altogether from sight as he
stumbled into heather bush. His
course, if persevered in, would have
taken him 80 or 40 yards away from
where Goade was standing, but seeing
the man and the dog he gave little
cry and turned straight toward them.
Almost at that moment, from some
unseen place, there came the report
of a gun. and a shower of small shot
pattered into the bushes around.
Goade. mounting a little knoll.
looked angrily in the direction from
which they seemed to come, but there
was no indication Of any other human
being within sight. He turned his at
tention to the young man. who now,
with a desperate effort. had covered
the last few intervening yards and
thrown himself upon the ground close
at hand.
What's the matter with you?''
Goade asked. And who was that fir-
inE?''
- I'm, I should think-blast inn
'ioade filled his pipe deliberately.
Il may be dense" he acknowledged,
but i'm seems to me little vague.
! should like to know who it was out
there in the middle of the moor pat
tering us with shot"
The young man raised himself upon
his elbow: he shuddered.
Mate" he said, you've card Of
wild cats and wild boars.'
My knowledge Of natural history
carries me thus far" Goade ac.
quiesced.
The other stared at him.
You wouldn't be kidding" he de-
Ciared. If you'd seed what I've seen.
I've seen a wild man. What about
that?"
Good for you.' Goade replied cool
ly. He seems to have frightened you
pretty badly. Tell me about it"
The young man pointed across the
moorland toward the belt of hills.
I'm staying at a farm there" he
explained Doctor thought l might
be turning a bit consumptive. l live
IN the Bethnal Green road-name OF
Bill Aarons. Good for business, but it
amt 'ealth resort. l come down
ere for an 'oliday.'
An excellent idea" Goade muir
INJURED. go on"
II got a motor bike and a side car.
! didn't mean to bring the side car
along. but l thought there might be a
bit of skirt angling around, so itched
Il on at the last moment. There's a
girl at the farm-stand- -offish, but all
right. l tell you. guvnor, she's a
peach
"A girl at the farm" Goade repeat
ed. Good! We're progressing"
Cant say as she's seemed partial
to me exactly, but today when I was
starting for a ride she said she'd come
along. I've arsked 'er often enough
before, but she didn't seem some'ow
TO cotton to me. Well, she would go
'er own way-made me strike across a
road that wasn't fit for a farm wagon.
let alone my outfit. l kept on wanting
to stop and talk a bit. but she made
me go on until the road ended. Then
she got out and started down this
fn q
time she said. You can stay here
and smoke cigarettes. I may be gone
an hour or two"
mot very pally, that" Goade re-
marked.
IT thought she was kidding" the
Young man confided. It's the lone
Hest part of the moor I've SEEN
huge boulders Of rocks, very little
grass even-but she started of. ]
don't know whether she expected me
to follow oEnots Ia drought