The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-08-28
CHAPTER FORTY-FIvE

MIGHT came suddenly IL the
~ forest, dropping like a curtain
before JOS frightened eyes Her
first impulse-one she recognized
dimly as wrong yet could not resist
was to rush in blindly, wherever
her legs would take her.
In her swift panic she chung TO
the hope that by sheer good fortune
she might stumble again into the
dust Of the road.
But in the blackness she kept
brushing against the rough. unyield-
ing tree trunks, and lowhanging
boughs struck her with a force that
seemed moving and human. Even
in the little clearings she sank al
most waist-deep in the underbrush,
as confusing and clutching as quick
sands.
At length she drew herself up on
the hard surface of a fallen tree,
rested there. breathless. i must
stay right here now" she told her
self. 4 must stay right here until
morning when I can see" She add
ed, half-aloud in the lone darkness,
In the morning III be able to get
out"
But as she clung there she kept
remembering snatches of stories
she had heard-Of men lost for days
almost within calling distance Of
help, unable 10 find their bearings.
And of what was in the woods, what
dangerous animal enemies, 10 could
only guess.
The clearing around Crest Lake
Inn had been friendly, but she knew
that beyond it Todd Barston and
Douglas Marsh and their hunting
companions had reported bear and
an occasional wildcat.
1t was hardly comforting to as
sure herself that the airport could
rot be far away, that the road must
be nearer still. Not knowing their
direction, she might as we'll have
been hundreds of miles from them
and she realized that in her fight
and her subsequent efforts to locate
the road she might have penetrated
more deeply into the woods than
she'd thought.
Though the air was warm, she
couldn't have slept even if she had
been able to accept the bark Of the
fallen tree as a bed. The mysteri-
Gus night sounds were too frighten-
ing. She had always imagined the
forest as quiet, but now it was
filled with namelesS sounds.
HOW long 10 chung to the broken
Il Il tree, lying almost prone as
though it were a rock jutting up
from a tossing sea, she never knew.
But as long as she lived she would
not forget the CLEAN of light which
she saw beyond the dark outlines
of the trees.
At first it flickered weakly, then
kept up its intermittent flashes even
when it grew in intensity. With a
joyful start, she recognized the light
as from a moving car. Coming down
the distance beyond the thick wood,
it seemed to flicker as it passed be-
mind the trees.
10 leaped from her haven and
into the yielding underbrush. But
there was no panic in her heart
now. for the lights of the car told
her the direction of tbs road-tOld
her, too, that the road was not far
1t was difficult going, but she knew
she had a chance to reach the high
way before the car came abreast Of
her.
Suddenly she stopped. 1t might
be Bret Paul, returning to find her!
Suppose he had gone to the Inn
and then, when she did not appear,
started in search of her? Her
fright in the woods had not weak
ened JOS resolve never to face him
again
Nevertheless she must use the bea-
con which the lights of this car
furnished. once those lights were
gone she might get to her feet after
a sudden fall without the least idea
as to the direction she should take.
Resolutely she hurried on as best
she could over fallen trees, through
underbrush, lodging beneath low
hanging boughs when she had the
good fortune to see them in time.
The lights of the car were much
closer now and she could hear the
drone Of the motor family. Should
she hail the car on the chance that
it wouldn't be driven by Bret Paul
or should she stand in the shad-
ows and let it pass after it had
lighted her way to the road?
1t was long way to Crest Lake
Inn: and the little airport station
would be locked now. for there were
no plane arrivals until morning.
But when she reached the road
and heard the motor more clearly
she knew that it could not be the
small car which Bret had parked
by the airport station. This, obvi-
ously. was large and powerful
model. Even its rushing speed
showed that it had been built to
disregard the none too easy road
bed.
10 stepped for a moment into
the long beam of the headlights.
heard the motor lessen its roar.
caught the sound of brakes. Soon
the big, cleaning sedan halted be-
side her and the dust of the road
drifted over it like a cloud.
nNE Of the front glasses slid