The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1927-02-18

there in the bright morning sunlight, I'M
easily pacing up and down beside his car;
now and then be took of his hat, mOpped
his forehead.
At the sound Of brisk footsteps PIith
turned quickly. With a cool stare, the
young man stepped in and settled himself
wait a minute" said Plith, heavily.
Your carp"
Very swiftly the young man took from
his wallet a bill Of sale from a junked car
dealer, and silently handed it to Plith, who
scOwled uncertainty, and read it.
"Humph!' You've had this car nine days
and you run it looking like a wreck?"
when 1 can afford it" Very cOldly, /
the young man looked Plith in the eye.
the young man looked Plith in the eye.
ANY more questions"
YES" Plith answered doggedly. What
are you parked in front Of my house forF"
He made no attempt to Justify such a
question; just snarled it.
Il was looking for Mr.. DickinsOn's-tO
see his cook"
"Oh!' Plith was taken aback. The an
swers were so commonplace. The fellow
must think him a fool. He mumbled an
apology. Without replying, the young man
unhurriedly drove away.
So, then, just a nasty coincidence, after
all. In his vast relief Plith was unusually
genial and playful at the breakfast table.
That evening Mr.. and Mrs. Plith had just
stepped from their sedan in the parking
station when around the corner from the
theater when Mrs. Plith gasped, and
gripped her husbands arm. Martin! =
The gray car drew up alongside, silent as
a shadow. In the brightly lighted parking
place every sinister detail of its battered
side was pitilessly plain. Wire and the
Overdressed Dickinson cook got Out-ap-
parently not seeing the Pliths.
There was no merriment to be extracted
from the seasons reigning comedy by the
lPliths, who sat with puckered brows
though the house all about them rocked
with laughter.
ms IL Il. Al. 80
cars side by side. Mrs. Plith shivered as
with a chill-her skirts having brushed
against the buckled fender. They drove
away.
Quit that damned twisting about to
look back every minute" Plith growled
DO You think it is following us, Mar
tin?'
Hes got to take her home, hasn't hep
A mile farther Plith felt his wife cover
and tremble. Out of the tail of his eye he
saw the pale shine of the gray hoOd steal
ing up behind his left elbow. He stepped
on the acceleratOr. but the gray car swept
past and away with a faint clatter of its
wrecked tenders.
opened his window before creeping into bed
were the dimmed headlights in front OF
Dickinson's-great, mild, yellow eyes IN
the cold night fog. They were in his con-
seriousness through all his restless tOsStngs
great, mild, yellow eyes which never
blinked or faltered, just staring at him
Throughout an euuleSS night
Two DAYS later he was not thinking OF
the silver gray carat the moment. Just,
suddenly, Specter-like, it was there! Ii
kept ahead Of him in the late afternoon
stream of traffic for a few blocks, then
turned off to the south, and disappeared
He did not speak Of it at home.
But next night at dinner Mrs. Plith told
with pale lips, that the battered gray .cal
had been marked across from her club JUS
where her eyes would see it as she came
down the steps. plith angrily demanded
to know if it had followed her. No-sht
had not seen it again.
But next day, and next, the children saw
it-nOt marked close to their schools, bu'
along the way home. 1t did not follow them
That was just tit never seemed dehb
~erately to follow, never revealed a con
SciouS intent to be seen. But they saw
- Dick Wire made sure Of that! And nov
II the Pliths, all four Of them, were watching
= always watching for it, looking f~urtively
h over their shoulders, peering up SID
~ streets. 1t was almost worse when the.
~ did not see it than when they did.
,S And whichever Plith saw it came hom
- and told of it at the dinner table, ana Tn
4 plates went back to the kitchen with 700.
{, scarcely tasted. The children went to bed
20 chilly. cried out, and talked in their sleeI
10 Or, if the car had been seen during tn
evening. it would not stay out OF the break
ly fast table talk, and Plith would start 10
~ his office and the children to school wit
p. haunted minds and a feeling of helpless
is ness which made the days work a tutillty
It, To the PIiths the incident Of ArnOtt'
~ accident had seemed securely closed. Pap
be had made a mistake in his driving Judg
n ment, perhaps. But the law had no rlgh
to punish him for what he hadn't mean
lis to do. So at the inquest they had swor
falsely and put the sole blame on ArnOtt-
is who was going TO die, anyway. Then, l
it selfish security, they had settled back t
as forget the unpleasant business. But now
now, suddenly, they found themselves beln
hunted, bounded, haunted. A judgmeI
was coming upon them; a vague, myster
in Gus judgment whose end they could NJ
on see.
!! Something was going to have to be don
But what? Where could you put your NJ
ng ger and say, "This is ArnOtt's dOing!'
es: even, "This is Wires" Plith wildly II
OF called his own scOrnful words to SneddeI
you'll have a hell Of a time proving any
a thing The car just appeared and diseI
his peared and reappeared. Wire never spOk
never looked at them, never seemed to 81
that they were near. 1t was as though Il
CAR followed them of itself-a car NJ
ice steered by human hands.
mt Plith. blood guilty, Of course suffere
lat worst Of all. Especially the nights! Ca
ITO parked often in front of Dickins0n's, II
SUI the daughters were popular, and Wire VIZ
'eu the cooks STEADY" Yellow eye
1T mild, unwinking yellow eyes, seemed a
shI ways watching Pith from close by. Watcl
ing and Warrington whatg
cry Once Plith, up to his ears in a deal, 81
Ike abstractedly, staring at a dark corner III
in der his resk. Big, yellow, watching eye
He seemed suddenly to look out at him fro,
Ose under there. God! How was ne going
or. do his work if the thing kept following hi
ger even there?
on Plith grabbed his hat and went sham
II. facedly to his lawyer-thOugh everythin
was so damn plausible, so insidiOus an
Jed intangible. Between them they laid a ira
ell: for Wire which ought to make the thin
er, sure. But before it could be sprung A