The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1937-04-23
CHAPTER XI-COntinued


'Smash-up-the side road!" Jim,
keen enough now, sprinted through
shadows to the fence that closed in
the stable yard at the rear of the
grounds. From there, lookin 6
across meadows, he was able to see
the side road which joined the
Cherry Hollow road scant quar-
ter of a mile beyond the riding
academy.
The side road had a dirt surface.
1t was one of the many winding by
ways used by horseback riders, mar
row, thinly wooded. Through a
fringe of trees Jim saw, in the clear
starlight, two discs of light, OBJ
viously the headlights of a car.
People parked in the side road,
sometimes, kids from the village,
young people looking for privacy in
romantic surroundings.
Jim had seen headlights in the
side road on fine evenings before.
The position of these particular
headlights, however, caused him to
give sharp exclamation. They
were not in horizontal alignment.
Even at this distance he could see
that one was higher than the 9TH
err, as though one side of the car
had gone off the road into ditch.
Convinced, at last, that something
was wrong, Jim vaulted the fence
and set off, running, in the direction
of the lights.
The distance across the meadows
to the side road was not more than
quarter of mile. AS he ran through
meadow-grass and goldenrod, Jim
tried to remember whether or not
there was a ditch at the left side of
the road. He had ridden along it
frequently on horseback but, now,
he could not remember. Half way
across the fields it occurred to him
that he should have driven around
L. the car. Whoever it was, if they'd
gone off the road, might need tow
line. Well, it wasn't far to go back.
Might as well keep on now.
Looking ahead through the fringe
of trees, the body of the car was
nothing more than lightish BLUR
in the shadows. 1t was long car,
he observed, a roadster with the top
folded back. One of the neighbor-
hood debutantes out on lark. 1t
wasn't late. Half-past twelve. A
gentle slope upward. He hadn't re-
membered that the road was lit
tie higher than the meadows
through which it ran.
Jim came out on the road and
was gripped for an instant in throt-
ting fear. The car at the side of
the road was Cecily's roadster.
He ran to the car, his heart thud-
ding, his breath coming in painful
gasps. There was figure slumped
down in the seat, girls figure,
terrifyingly limp and still, one arm
hanging over the door of the car.
Jim knew the instant he touched
the figure, his hands under the arms
to lift it into less cramped posi-
ton, that the girl was not Cecily
and relief flooded through him. The
interval of suspended fear was fol-
lowed, almost at once, by increduli-
ty and alarm, for when he had
lifted the inert figure higher in the
seat, and turned on the search-light
attached to the windshield, he saw
that the girl was Dolly.
She was alive, thank God for that!
but she was unconscious. Blood
oozed from a cut above her temple
where a lock of hair lay in wet
curl against her forehead. Jim
wiped away the blood, laid her
lengthwise on the seat of the car,
rubbed her wrists, took off his
coat and folded it under her head.
If only he had some water.
Dolly made no response to his
efforts to bring her to consciousness.
She lay as he had placed her, her
eyes closed, her hands with the
bright red nails crossed Imply over
her breast.
Incredulity and alarm receded be-
fore the necessity for thought and
action. Who had brought Dolly here
in Cecily's car? Tommy, of course,
Jim thought. Who else but Tommy
would have taken Cecily's car? But
where was Tommy? He had gone
for help, for a doctor, perhaps. Was
it Tommy who had knocked at the
door? He would return with assist
ance soon. There was nothing to do
but wait.
Or perhaps the roadster was not
seriously damaged. Jim examined
the position of the car. The left
front wheel, sliding into the depres-
sion at the side of the road, had
crashed against low line of stone
work, the remains of an old wall,
Jim judged, noting with the aid of
the revolving search-ight the moss
which covered the stones. Tommy
must have been driving at terrific
speed to have struck so heavily.
The tire was torn off the rim and
three or four of the wooden wheel
spokes were splintered. Jim real
lied that it would be impossible to
drive the car in that condition even
if he could get it back into the road.
Waiting for Tommy to return, he
ATTEMPTED to reconstruct the acct