Evening star., 1928-04-04

! led on--all Of you--because, as soon
as get him sadd!ed and bridled. we're
! going To-"
Il chorus of walls drowned out the
| rest of the sentence. The distracted
| W >men stood outside the door. watching
/ her. Not one of them had the hardi-
| hood to put stop to her preparations
| They saw her throw blanket and high
! pommeled saddle upon the back Of the
horse, and draw the girth tight; they
witnessed her successful struggle to get
the bit into the animals mouth; and
they fled as she led him into the open.
Ten seconds later. with the grace OF a
cat she was in the saddle. She laughed
nervouSly. uncertainty. but with the
elation of one guiltily bent on MISCHIEF
as she settled herself. feeling for the
great stirrup with her foot. Salim was
Snorting with eagernesS to be of.
Don't forget to put out the lantern
Ellie" she called out. And good-by.
back all right dearest. Tomorrow's
m birthday, you know. / wouldn't
miss it for anything"
AS Selim dashed through the gate,
she raised herself in the StirrupS, waved,
and shouted:
Hi! Look out! Make way! Here
comes a bold highwayman! Hill"
An instant later she went gallopine
down the road. Far ahead. perhaps a
mile away lights danced like jack
o'-lanternS. Gerane knew them 10 be
the lights from scattered riders. Even
these soon would be lost to view. for
BroadaXe's riders we're nearing the for
eSt-hidden cleft III the mountain.
Many a time she had traversed by
day this appalling crevaSSe, a matter
s~E 4.TsN y]rs t,,ti O
had Shuddered as she looked up to the
thin strip of sky above. 1t seemed TO
her. although she knew better, that the
opening at the top was so marrow that
one could have stepped across 1t with
ease AS a matter of fact. it was good
hundred feet from side to side-aS wide
indeed. as the floor at the bottom OF the
lonc cash The middle of this passage
had been cleared of powders manv
years ago. leaving a falrly smooth
gravel road. some eight or ten feet
high with rocks. tree-limbS and debris
Of like character.
There was a gradual descent from the
valley in which the robbers made their
home 10 a point several hundred yards
fr m the lower end of the slit. Here
nature had played another incompre-
hensible trick The same mighty up
heavel that had split the gigantic mass
as cleanly as If hewn With a clever had
almost closed the lower end by tumbllng
a vast quantity Of stone and earth
down upon it, But II had left tunnel
through the great pile, with a Jagged
mouth yawning in the face OF the hlli
at the outer end, almost on level with
the far-reaching. peak-girdled plains OF
Graustark.
This mouth. however. had been skill
fully concealed a couple OF centuries
before by the progenitors Of the brothers
Digman: they had built stone tower
or fort In front of it. Succeeding Dig
mans ultimately had turned this grim
fortress into a stable that was large
enough TO accommodate half hundred
horses or COWS or whatsoever beast
tllas chose TO shelter To this day IT
still stands a squat and gloomy ruin.
A. the time OF which We write, 1t was
a most unwar-like structure, facing
stable-yard, wherein chickens and geese
and ducks dwelt in peace with pigs.
the property of Samon and Seege Dig
man
Huge slabs of rock, sliding down from
the mountain in that mighty upheavai.
formed an uneven roof over the zoo
yard outlet. and it was by means OF this
Suhterranean passage that the robbers
made their way to and from their
stronghold-an entrance and exit as
vet undiscovered by the ninionS OF the
Law. whose efforts TO trace the nriganus