Evening star., 1927-09-28
THE BLACK JOKER
BY ISABEL OSTRANDER.

fore. but this time her senses were
keenly alert and she grew despairing
as s o'clock came and then 8, and still
the woman sat watchfully by the can
delight.
At last, however, Mrs. Carlin blew
ii out and left the room, bolting the
door as before, and her footsteps had
scarcely died away down the hall when
Janet was out of bed and cropping TO
see if her file and knife blade were still
safe. Finding them, she dressed hur-
riedly in the dark and then, with the
implements in her hands, she lifted the
shade cautiously and seated herself
by the window, staring out into the
blackness Of the clouded night.
She had fancied, before Mrs. Carlin
left the room, that she heard the drone
of an airplane coming nearer anu
nearer and then ceasing abruptly, but
she could not be sure, and now, as the
church clock struck 10 and the silence
continued, broken only by the hoot of
an owl and the sleepy murmur of
chickens housed somewhere near. her
heart sank. She could not have un-
derstood. or else something had gone
wrong with the plans made to help her.
At any moment the woman might
come back to see if she still slept, and
of coming storm. The time had passed;
1t was useless to hope longer.
Then all at once her heart missed a
beat, for a slight sound reached her
ears--a muff1ed, rubbing against the
window ledge. Janet strained her eyes
and beheld two long poles. wrapped in
rags, scraping upward from the sill
the ends of ladder!
She rose and stood with hands
clasped upon her breast waiting while
the dark outline of a head rose before
her and in the tiny light which darted
out for a fraction of a second she saw
the face of the pseudo artist,
"Good' he whispered. Got that
file? You take that side Of the netting
and I'll take this. Well soon have a
space large enough to pull you
through. No noise. mindr'
He squirted oil ON the netting and
Janet, her heart racing now. fell 81
lently on the wires, but each strand
resisted tenaciously, and to her
alarmed ears the grating noise seemed
to reverberate through the house.
Some one must be awake, on guard!
After her escape of the night before.
they must know that even though AL
ford was dead others would come to
her aid,
But inch by inch the netting gave
away and still no interruption came
until at last the young man, working
with nippers, ran them swiftly across
the top, then bent the loose netting
out and down, leaving an aperture am
pie for the passage of her slim body.
Gomez he whispered. IN turn
my back and you climb UP and hold
tight around my neck. Then I'll face
the ladder again and carry you down"
Janet obeyed, kneeling upon the sill
and crawling through to clasp her
arms about his neck and grip his waist
with her knees. Slowly he lowered
her to the ground, then laid the ladder
fiat behind some shrubbery and seized
her hand.
"The dog" she whispered in re-
newed fear.
Poisoned" he replied tersely. 1--WE
a car waiting down the lane. Hurry"
This time no alarm was raised be-
hind them and, reaching the lane in
safety, she stumbled pantingly along
ie with her guide TILL after full quar-
ter of a mile, they came upon little
roadster.
Didn't dare bring it closer" he said
as he helped her in. Its only mile
or two to the field where Mats waiting
with the plane. Ever been up before?"
NO she replied. I'm not afraid,
though. I didn't know Nat was an
aviator. too
He's a wizard with any kind of
gas engine" They were moving slow.
ly down the lane. but their speed
gradually increased. He'll drop you
near the outskirts of Brookmead in
about an hour and you can find your
way home"
oh" 1t was an exclamation of
fervent gratitude, but she added,
please tell me, doesn't Daddy know?
About me, / mean? gave Mr.. Afford
a wire to send for me, but perhaps he
didn't have time before they got him.
Didn't Nat or some one of you get
word to him? If he knows, I can't un-
derstand why he hasn't notified the
police to have me traced"
The man beside her hesitated oddly.
you don't know about the police
methods in this. country" he said
finally. ''They take weeks, sometimes
months, to trace missing persons, and
often fail. I'm only obeying instruc-
tions, and don't know what word has
reached your father. You'll be with
him before any message could reach
there now"
They turned into the highroad and
now the little car fairly flew, but Janet
was lost in troubled thought Was he
keeping something from her? She
knew Daddy! He'd be combing the
country for her If he had learned the
truth. Were these people really his
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