Worcester Democrat and the ledger-enterprise. (Pocomoke City, Md.) 1921-1953, 1935-10-04
CHAPTER II

IL was nail pdSC CHTSS IA 1iiS AAAoiA "a
ing when Lucinda, lying in the middle
of the hay in the old barn, her soii-
tary garment an ancient sack, awoke
with a terrified shudder.
Something had touched her!
Good heavens! where was she?
It was pitch dark. Her body ached.
Sweet-smelling, prickly stuff was all
about her.
But of course this was dream! She
was at home. She had only to call
out, and Bubbles would answer her.
But somehow her tongue Glove to
the roof of her mouth. She was
afraid. She couldn't move. Her body
was rigid.
Something, with little points like
knives, ran over her bare leg like a
flash. Lucinda jerked her leg up in
the darkness. A cold perspiration
broke out over her.
The barn? Was she still there? It
couldn't be! The gang-Bubbles-
Howard-where were they?
What was that? Was she going
mad? Someone was breathing close
to her.
She dare not move. She lay alb
solutely still, the only sound In her
ears the laundering Of her own heart,
and that queer, terrifying breathing.
Came the little knives over her leg
again. A rat? But there were
worse things than a rat close to her.
Suddenly flash of lightning lit the
barn, followed by clap of thunder,
and another flash. Something heavy
moved. A hand shot out, touched her.
AS she saw his face-an old, hideous
face-Lucinda screamed, and her
whole body galvanized into action.
With one frantic leap she was up and
out of the hay, and in the third flash
of lightning at the door, her terrified
eyes turned back to see that the old
tramp was not following her.
He had bald head, and grotesque
face, and eyes as startled as her own,
not in the least realizing that in his
slumbers in the hay he had had so
close companion!
Rats he knew. In his peregrlna-
lions round the countryside were they
not his nocturnal companions!
Sheltering from the storm tonight
in this inviting barn, he had cursed a
disturber of his peace-a rat. 1t did
not percolate now to his dazed old
brain that in threshing after rat, he
had inadvertently touched beautiful
maiden.
Lucinda ran. In her thin shoes.
Through wind and torrential rain, her
only guide the lightning.
She ran for at least two miles be-
fore she dared to stop. Indeed, it was
only lack of breath and utter fatigue
that halted her.
The last flash of lightning had
shown her a green bank of grass by
the roadside. She sank down on 1t.
It was only matter of minutes
before beams of light more binding
than the electrical storm lit up the
Quaint. soaked figure that was Lucn-
da. Lamps of big car swept upon
her. The car stopped. Some one said
and ever afterwards in her life LII
>cinda was to remember charming cad
ences in that voice-"Holy smoke!
it's a GIRL" and somehow, sitting up
there on the bank, she knew she had
a rescuer.
.You poor little kid! You funny
little kidd" said Carter Chalalre as ne
helped Lucinda into his big car after
wrapping his coat about her.
And Lucinda, her terror, exhaus-
ton, wetness forgotten, was saying 10
herself: "He's the handsomest BOY
I've ever seen-and surely the kind
est"
In a few quick, breathless words,
there in the glare of the lights OF his
car. she had told him her stupid little
story of revelry-and it's sequel.
He had flung back his head, and
1auohed. But Immediately he had be-
come all pity.
"Such a rotten trick, leaving you
alone like that! But of course they
were probably all tight! Look here
this is my home. I've my own Key
The pater and the mater are asleep
I'll smuggle you in and get you some
clothes and drive you back to town.
You'll get your death the way you
are. You're soaking"
Lucinda could see now that she mao
halted at the gates of an estate on
Long Island. Perhaps some instinct