Evening star., 1935-05-26
THIS WEEK
Fugitive Gold
Continued from page four
Continued from page four

me this telegram with my life." Per-
kett said slowly. II can't tell even
you. Dick" He scraped a match
along his desk. set fire to the telegram.
Dick noticed that his hand shook.
"If they spot you." Perkett said.
they'll kill you"
Dick groped across the desk, felt
Perkett's cold hand striving to return
his grip. "You should be in bed," he
said.
There was no gentle graduation from
light to shade. The sunlight bom-
barded the landscape with white-hot
brilliance. The shadows seemed jet
black. A long. dusty road pointed
toward glittering tin cans. In that hot,
dry air, the tin didn't rust. but re-
flected the sunlight like Furnished mir
rors. Back of the town. rocky foothills
rose into jagged mountains. Giant
cacti lowered more than fifty feet
against the blue-black sky.
Dick jolted the battered wreck of
an automobile along the dusty road.
The radiator boiled and hissed; the
motor knocked. The car had no top.
and the fierce sun burned Dicks skin,
bleached from his stay in the hospital,
to an angry red. Back of him, a roll of
blankets and trunk were tied to the
car. with the excessive use of rope
which proclaimed a tenderfoot
Dick coaxed the car up the grade
into the town. stopped before build
ing, in front of which was gas pump.
A bare-armed man came to the
pump; -bleached eyes that were set
in mahogany surveyed Dick apprais-
ingly.
Five gallons" Dick said.
Cheaper here than farther on"
'Okay. make it nine"
Nine filled the tank.
"Oil okay?"
Better look"
You can stand quart, and it's
pretty black. Better drain it."
Dick shook his head. Put in
quart. How far to Belton?"
About forty-fve miles,"
Good place to practice law there?"
The garage man raised his eyes from
the oil with which he was filling the
car. Hell, no!'
"I'll go and look it over. anyway"
Dick told him. Il have shingle to
hang out, and l can't stand cities"
He coughed significantly.
Nothing there" said the garage
man. accepting money for the oil and
gas.
I'm see anyway" Dick told him.
Hooked up the place on the map. It's
high and dry"
The garage man stood to one side
to avoid the cloud of dust, as Dick
rocketed down the road. He waved an
arm in friendly farewell.
Two miles beyond the town. Dick
stopped the car, crawled underneath,
unscrewed the drain plug in the
bottom of the crank case Hot oil
spurted out in steaming stream.
When the crank case was drained,
Dick started the motor. The car be-
gan to knock. Dick shifted to low gear.
The motor screamed a protest. Dick
stepped on the throttle. The car gave
forth an odor of rancid hot oil, then
suddenly stopped.
The cloud of dust which had been
streaming behind the Car drifted up
and settled over car and driver in
white powder. The motor gave forth
cracking noises. Dick got out and
stood by it helplessly. He waited for
nearly fifteen minutes and then saw
a car coming toward him, a car which
first appeared as black speck be-
meath swirling cloud of dust, then,
as it came nearer, resolved itself into
light sedan driven by woman.
Dick frowned. He hadn't intended
to drag girl into this. His coming to
Quartzburg must bear the earmarks
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