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About Tillamook headlight. (Tillamook, Or.) 1888-1934 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 14, 1915)
99 9 CHAPTER XXVI. clung passionate ly tc bin.-. "Tell mo again that you love me!’ »!.« oiayed. "Promise me you 1! never let anything coim hi t.n ■ i !••>. I'ruini. ■■ n. q A’an premi e me you I! be kind io *.iu al ways, di ar!” ■'t'an you doubt I will I murmured reproachfully. "1 am afraid . . sli whispered) ' H oa could I be anythi ¡5 else, lev- ing you as 1 do?" “I urn airaid . . "Why should I be unk; "It Isn't that. . . afraid.” “Of what?” “Of losing you.” "But that can never be! "You can't be sure. V were to find you’d been She caught her breath hastily—“Tliat you didn't me, I mean.” "Oil, that's ridiculous!” “1 can't be sure. Nothing iu lite ia permanent. What is love? illusion of the senses! What is happiness? A wlll-o'-the-wlsp! What is life? A make believe!" “Dearest!” He bi id her more ciose- ly still, “You are nervous and over- wrought, You don't know what you’ra saying. 1 You can't mean what you're saying. . . , But say that it’s so—> tliat life is all make-believe, Then make-believe you love me—" “Oh, but I do, I do!" “And make believe for a little we’ve caught the w ill-o’-the wisp—only for a little- until you wal.c up and realizó tLat it’s ull real and true.” She closed her eyes again: “Yes," she breathed, "you are right, Let’s make-believe it’s all true for a little longer . . . aud lorget . . .” He could by no means account for ties strange humor; but he did his best to comfort her, nene the less ten- derly because of his mystification. And1 for a long tin:” she hl illusion blind her, resting quietly In his arms, niak- iltg believe . . . Only on approaching the Twenty- third street furry they must needs muse and sit apart constrainedly for I ar some one might i,lance through the window and eurprlae their secret. Au if one needed the evidence of a carets exchanged to know that they were lovcis, v.ho had eyes to see the flushed loveliness of the girl shrink; ing back in her corner or wit to inter- plot the radiant happiness that shone In Alan’s face as he bent forward and watched wuriiy from the window. Make-Believe. For upwards of thr"': quarters of an hour of that ; olU.m aiming which fol lowed the night of hfs return to New York, Mr. Law was permitted to es- t'.iui bimseli it api est of mortals And Inasmuch as ¡his Is not only a I m f r u uninte ■ term of bapf ness s than is humanly human common but is more of that < motion th in ordinarily leavens the a hob of a :■ lifetime, Alun lib ,-nvf d, e even though was p' rhaj to Ir: er»vli disillusionin'nt !. n it came was sud- den, sharp, and to i him unspeakably plunge shocking—a swift, unprertaged i from sunlit ¡x aka of súpleme content to the black depths i of a bleak Aver- lius of despair. The beginning of the j.'ilod was synchronous with th- i lain of a taxi- cab door that shut away a jperiluous world from the company of two who loved. The sound spelled safety as well as success in Alan’s understanding. The cur slipped smoothly away from the curb, pursue d only by a little gust of semi Ironic di' <-i s Irom the little compuny of working men who had wit nessed as will as measurably partici pated in the putative elopement from the house of Trine. Vigilant for any Indication that their evasion had had a witness in that strange home of deuthlesu hatred, Alan watched it through the little window in the back of tie cab until a comer blotted out tne vision of it; then with a sigh of relief sank down by the side of the woman to whom his every thought, impulse and emotion were dedicated. “Rose!” fie whispered, and tenta tively touched one of tlie liandu that lay clenched In her lap. She respond' d with never a sign to indicate cotmclou: nene either of his touch or his whisper And reminding himu- If of the strain imposed upon her by the experlenco through which tiny had just passed, Alan excused her utn1 ; opulv1 ws.» on ground , of r- tlon, and for the time felt constr;:incd to let liis Hweetheart rest and r< ■ .In h r normal poise: there v.as bliss enuuvh for him in tlie comn lousiie: I hat he had won her safely uwiiy, that nothing now more than a short hour’s drive across town and by ferry across tho Hudson stood between them and tho marriage that should prove the cuiiHummalluii of ull their trials . , . Barring incident! Alan had too often niff ri 1 tlie pen alty of di/.ip; •intment for <:v< r indul CHAPTER XXVII. gence in till falling of his f t deprecl n 11 ng the unfot cm i u, not to make the The Ring. mental rcservntlo i, "Barring nccl- Theirs wes the last vehicle Io swing dent .! ” with a lit 'I ■ Bhiver of dread. Hud uny of Trine’s household been bet v.ien the gates baiale these last v. or ■ close d. cognizant of his daughter'll escape, v.c And tills was quite as well; for Alan, Alan argued, interference must have rising for one last backward glance been Instant. through the i ir window, started in Despite the voluntarily tr«d chok 'd upon an ex, preoccupat leu wore upon him tliat lie was presently claniutlon when he descried a power no longer uble to tefrulll from disturb ful touring car tearing madly toward the ferry house, it« one passenger half ing her. "Rose!" lie begged ng.ilfl, cloning u rising from the front neat, beside tho hand tenderly over her». ’’Dourest driver, und exhibiting a countenance girl, don't worry iTiotlier instant! De purple with congested chagrin ns he culm yourself: remember we are Balt saw his car barred out of the carriage entrance. Quickly ii.',¡live to bis emotion, the girl caught nervously at Alan’s hand. "What is II, dear?" “Marrophat,’' he mapped. Bhe uttered a hushed cry of dismay. “Don t bo td.it .n -<i, however," ho hastened to contort her. "He’s lout tlie race: the > :ue..i are shut—even tho passeu.i ■ r j at<ami there must bo u com; any spotter somewbi re m ar by, for the gntemnu is virtuously refusing to be bribed l>y a roll of raouey as thick as my wt 1:1!” At that instant the taxicab rolled aboard the ferry b int; the deck gates wne dined; a hoarse whistle rent the roaring silence of tho city; winches rattled and chains clanked; end tho bout wore ponder, usly out of tts slip. “So much for Mr. Marrophat!" Alan crowed, sittiug down. “Foiled again! lie can t (top us p. iir!” "Perhaps . . “Why that p hups? Why that tone?" he d> nianded sharply, struik by the foreboding her accents con fessed. "'lius isn't the only ferry. There’s the I’enney linnla and .lie 1 acknwauna and by hard drliing lie might even manage to catch tlie boat that con nects with this from tlie Christopher . treat ferry of the Erie!" "Impossible! 1 don’t believe It! I won’t!" “Let's not," she agreed. "Eut, Ainu It She Appeared Anxious to Escape Without Being Seen. now, we folded them handily—thanks to your faith and bravery, Hweetheart! m.d everything lu golug to bo well " HI» us from now on. Over in Jersey the minister is waiting now to marry us and down at the White Star dock the boat I. waiting that la to curry us off to England the moment we re mar ried. Think of that and that I love you Nothing can possibly break tbo strength of that combination!” Fur another minute she rested as Bhe had ever »Ince sinking Into her corner of the taxicab—moveless, taut, unresponsive. Then a long sigh Bliook her to her very heart, and of a sudden the small (1st In Alan s grasp relaxed and her face turned to his like a flower to the sun. a face transtlgured. Its lips now soft and yielding, Its eyes un- i les.-d and smiling into tils a stuile all misty with unshed tears. Alan, she breathed gently. "It < n’t be true! Im trying so hard to believe but all ths while I know It can’t be true!" Ho converted a skeptic with the ute e loquence of his lips . Head upon hm ihoulder, the girl "Yes?" "Promise me If he shoulj manage to catch up with us—you won't let him talk to you. 1 mean, don’t let him—" "No fear ef that!" ho aaaervated hotly. “It ho tries to exchange one word with mi I only wish he would!" Bhe seemed itisfled with that; but the Incident had served appreciably to dull their spirits. They accomplished the remainder of that voyage in a silence that was no le a depressed be cause they sat hand in hand through out. Nor whs their taxicab three minutes out of the ferey house on the Jersey shore—though the chauffeur, stimu lator by Alaiqs extravagant promises, was doing hia best to fracture the peed Iowa and escape arrest—when the girl's fears were amply Justified; a shout from behind drew Alan's head out of the w Indow on one side and tho girl’s or the ether and proved to bath that Marrophat had indeed found soma way to make the crestiug without great delay. His touring car was within fifty yards when they first were aware of It; and Marrophat, standing on the running beard, was .diouting Inarticu lately and flourishing an Imperative ' baud, while the distance b. u 1 inclined to believe that Marrophat them was momentarily growing less hoped to stop the taxicab by deptiv- noticeable. ing it, in course of time, of its f’ie’ As Marrophat’s car drew abreast And with th! in mind he was present- Ala:, nodded and said quietly: "Don’t ly surprised, as the cab took a corner, be alarmed; I can attend to this gen to Bee Marrophat’s car stop at that tleman single handed." corner and Marro;!iat himself get And thiH he proceeded to demon- down. The brow oi a hill intervened, strate with admirable ease, even shutting off sight of "he th. blackguard as though called upon to do so far eoon- he knelt and lit a match, It was the er than he had thought to be—thanks girl who gave the alarm. suddenly to Marrophat’s hair-brained precipi withdrawing her head from the win tancy. Fur, failing to Influence the dow to scream at Alan: It’s flam- taxi driver by shouted demands or "He's fired the gasoli threats, or to gain the least attention from Alan, Trine’s first lieutenant ab of the leak—and eutc'.iiog up with in . ruptly and : urprisingly took his life Without pausing to put bis band to In his hand3 and in one wild bound the latch, Alan kicked ill door open. bridged the distanc- between the two “Jump!” he cried. "For your life flying cars and landed on the taxi’s Jump! As soon as that flame catches running-board. up with the tank—” f Stop!” he screamed madly. "Stop, Simultaneously the chauffeur, over I say! You don’t know what you’re hearing. shut off the power. doing! Let me tell you—” The three gained the sidewalk bare He got that far but no farther. In ly in time: the tiny trail of flames, al the same breath Alan had flung wide most imperceptible in tlie sunlight, the door and was at the fellow's throat. was not a yard from the jet tliat spurt There was a struggle of negligible ed through tlie bullet hole in the tank. .duration; Marrophat was in no way In the flutt« r of an eyelash the explo his antagonist’s match; within three sion followed. Had the cab been load seconds he threw out both hands, ed with nitroglycerin its destruction clutched hopelessly at the framework could have been no more absolute. of the cab, and fell heavily to the There was a roar . . . and then street. a heap of smoking ruins. The taxi sped on without pause, its Without waiting to admire the spec driver deaf to the hails of innocent if tacle, Alan caught the arm of the girl indignant bystanders. Alan pulled and hurried her up the street, at the himself together and looked back just same time calling to the chauffeur to in time to catch a glimpse of a num follow. And chance brought them to ber of loafers lifting Marrophat to his the next corner as another cab, fare- feet and helping him to the sidewalk chance to move aside, but seized him so fiercely by the wrists that he in stinctively lifted to ptof ct himself, and she fairly threw him kali a feet from her. He brouylit up with a crash against the wall i ven as the door slammed b hind the gill When Alan, the first to recover, gained the sidewalk, she was already in the taxicab. Whatever reward slie had promised the man. he whipped his machine away as if irom the fear of sudden death. And darting from tlie house hard on tlie min ster's heels, Marrophat leaped into bis own car and, as if he had not heard her threat or received substantial proof of her earnestness, tore off in pursuit. CHAPTER XXVIII. surprise had gained the closed door before they recovered and sought to stay him. Indifferent to them all, he shook the knob and shouted: "Rose! Rose!" Her cry came back to him, a muf- lied scream: “Alan! Help! Help!" Backing away with a mad idea of throwing himself bodily against the door and breaking it down, he was sud- denly confronted by a hideous mask of humanity—face of man all misshapen, bruised and swollen and disfigured with smears of dried blood and a dirty bandage round his temples, but none the less vaguely recognizable. The words that streamed from its distorted lips drove recognition home. “Gee, fellers, look’t who’s here! If it ain’t th’ guy what threw me off’n that girder this mornin’. Stand back and let me kill th’—” I Without the hesitation of a heart i | beat Alan swung heavily for the thug’s jaw. The blow went solidly home. The man fell like a poled ox. Pandemonium ensued. Rallying to their comrade, the ruffians attacked Alan with one mind and one intent. Murder would have been done then and there had it not been for a rotten banister-rail, which gave way, precipi tating the lot to the ground floor of the hallway. I Simultaneously the lamp on the wall was struck from its bracket and crashed to the floor, its glass well breaking and loosing a flood of kero sene to receive the burning wick. The explosion followed instantly. In a trice the hallway was a lake of burn ing oil, and hungry flames were lick ing up the rotting wallpaper and eat ing into decayed baseboards and stair treads. Still fighting like a madman, con testing every foot of the way, Alan was borne down the hall and out of the front door. A scream of “Fire!” greeted him as he reeled put into the open, It was echoed by a dozen throats. The doorway vomited men and women of the tenement. They choked it for a time, blocking both egress and ingress. By the time they broke out and left the way clear a solid wall of flame stood behind it. Thrice Alan essayed to pass that barrier of fire, and thrice it threw him back. Then, struggling and kicking to release himself and try again, he was seized by a brace of able-bodied policemen and rushed fifty feet from the house before let go. Lack of breath checked him momen tarily. He looked up, dashing from hie smarting eyes tears drawn by the stifling clouds of smoke, and saw vaguely at the second story window a woman leaning out and shrieking for help. That it was hopeless to attempt the staircase he well knew. ’Drawing aside, he endeavored to come to his sober senses, and cast about for some more feasible way to effect the rescue of bis Rose. The tenement occupied one corner of a narrow street. Directly opposite, a storage warehouse stood upon the other corner. Before this last was the common landing stage for truck de liveries, protected by a shed-roof. And, suspended from a timber that peered out over the eaves, a hoisting And the Rose. Taking the dazed young man by the hand, a« though he had been a child, the Reverend Mr. Wright led Alan back to his study and established him in a comfortable armchair beside his desk. "Sit there and compose yourself, my dear young friend,” he insisted in a soothing voice. At the elbow of the Reverend Mr. Wright a telephone shrilled impera- t'vely. With a gesture of professional patience he turned to the instrument, lifted the receiver to his ear, and spoke in musically modulated accents. "Yes . . . Yes: this is Mr. Wright. . . . Ah, yes, Mr. Digby, . . . Not coming? But, my dear sir, Mr. Law is already here. I must tell you—” He checked with a reproving glance for Alan, who was twitching his sleeve Insistently. "If you please,” Alan begged, “let me speak to Digby at once. Forgive me—’’ Reluctantly the minister surrendered the telephone. "That you, Digby?” “Alan! Bless my soul, what are you doing over there? Is Miss Trine with you? But how can that be possible?” "Rose? No. What about her?” Alan demanded, stammering with anxiety. "Why—one of my spies has just re ported by telephone. He was going on duty this morning when he saw a young woman—either Rose or Judith —wearing a rough coat over boudoir dress—climb out of one of the base ment windows of Trine’s house. She was apparently in great distress of mind and anxious to escape without being seen from the house; but before my man—whose post of observation is In the third story of one of the houses opposite—could get to the “That Woman Is Judith Trine, You Idiot—Not Rose!" street, she had been caught by several I less, hove into view. Promising its rough-looking customers, who rushed of an unsavory-looking tenement, be driver anything he might ask, in or out of Trine's house, seized the girl,, fore the ab took a corner on two- out of reason, Alan gave him the ad- and made off with her in a motor-car wheels . . .” , dress, and helped the girl In. bearing a New Jersey license number. "Not seriously injured, I fancy,” he | If Marrophat pursued Alan could see told the girl in response to her eager , no sign of him. The second car made I am sending men to watch the Jersey look. "Worse luck!" he added . better time than tho first. Unhindered, ferries. Call me up In an hour—” Without a word of response, and gloomily. and as far as could be determined, w ithout a word of apology to the Rev But it seeemed that he was to have without being followed, it covered tha greater cause than tills to complain of brief remaining distance in a grate- erend Mr. Wright, Alan dropped the receiver, snatched up hi3 hat. and fled his luck, before that ride was ended. , fully short lapse of time. that house like a man demented. Three blocks further on a tire blew The suburb dropped behind a maze Rose, escaping from Trine's house, out with a report like a cannon-crack of streets where dwellings stood shoul overpowered and made the captive of er, and the taxi lurched perilously, hesitated, slowed down, and limped der to shoulder and dooryards were Trine’s lowest creatures—gunmen pos scant. The car swept up to a corner sibly, of the stamp of that animal dejectedly to the curb. Alan and the chauffeur piled out in ' house of modest and homely aspect. whom Trine had charged with the as the same instant, the one standing Two minutes more, and Alan was ex sassination of Alan the night before! There was neither a motor-car In guard—with un eye out as well for changing salutations with and making another cab—while the other assessed his bride-to-be known to Digby's good sight for him to charter nor any time 1 friend, the Reverend Mr. V.’right. to waste in seeking one. Alan could da mages. Embarrassment worked confusion only hope to find one on his way back "Nothing for it but a new tire, sir,” this last reported sympathetically. "It with the young man's perceptive facul toward the ferry. It must have been must have been a broken bottle or ties. As this moment approached upwards of an hour before he came (something like that—It sure did rip when two should be made one who had into a street which he recognized, by the usefulness clean out of that shoe.” gone through fire and flood, literally its dinginess and squalor, as that in "Go to it," Alan advised him terse as well as figuratively, for each oth which he had thrown Marrophat from ly; "and if you make a quick job of It, er's sake, Incredulity drew a veil be the running board of the taxicab. fore his vision. He viewed the world And then, as he paused, breathless I’ll stand the cost of the new tire." and footsore, to cast about him for the “But if another cab comes along as In a glass, darkly. He was aware of a decently fur way to the ferry, a touring car turned while you're at it you'll lose us as quick as a wink. Here’s my card, in nished minister's study; of two wit a comer at top speed and slowed to a nesses in the guise of unassuming stop before that selfsame tenement of cubc we have to desert you in a hurry; you understand this is a matter of Life womenfolk of the minister’s house the unsavory aspect to whose sidewalk and death, and I’ll nave no time to hold; of the Rev. Mr. Wright himself he had seen Marrophat assisted by settle up with you. But you can call as a benevolent voice rolling sono the loafers of the quarter. And this touring car was occupied at Mr. Digby’s office and he'll tlx rously forth from a b’ack-clad pres ence; of the woman of his heart stand by some half-a-dozen ruffians In whoso things up to your satisfaction.” The man took the card and after a ing opposite him; of questions asked hands a young girl writhed and strug glauee at the name touched his hat and responses made; of a ring that gled when, immediately on the stop, was magically conjured from some they jumped out and wrestled her out with more noticeable respect. "AU right. Mr. Law,” he agreed; store apparently maintained against with brutal inconsideration. Like a shot Alan had crossed tho “anything you say.” And forthwith precisely similar emergencies; of a hand that took the hand that was to be street—but only to bring up nose to got to work. The rapidity with which he com his wife's and placed it In his; of his the panels of the tenement door, and pleted the change of tires proved him clumsy and w itless bungling with the to find himself seized and thrown '■ ~~ un excellent chauffeur, an adept at his task of fitting that ring to the finger roughly aside by a burly denizen when of his sweetheart's hand . , . he grasped the knob and made as It craft; but the delay v.as one disas And then he was aware of a door to follow in. Charged With the Assassination of trous for all that. It worked together “Keep back, young feller!" his as Alan. with what Alan pardonably described that banged violently in the hallway; us the devil's own luck to bring the of the sound of a man's voice making sailant warned him viciously. “Keep , tackle dragged the ground with Iti touring car in sight at the precise mo some indistinguishable demand; that outa this, now, if you don't want to ropes. ment when the chauffeur was cranking Ruse’s hand was suddenly whipped get into trouble.” It was the work of a minute to con up and Alan on the point of re-enter- away, before he could fit on the ring; I To the speaker's side another vince a thick-headed policemnn that that the study door was flung open and ranged, eyeing Alan with a formidable ! Ing the mb. And though they were the attempt was feasible and should that this animal of a Marrophat had scowl. At discretion he stepped back off again before Alan could close tho and turned as if persuaded tc mind his be permitted. It was the work of less door, the attempt was hopeless from precipitated himself into the room. He opened his mouth to protest- own business, then swung on his heel, than another minute to rig a loop In the start. ami Marrophat silenced him with a caught the two in the very act of open the line and fasten round his body And yet -whether or not because ing the door, and threw himself be beneath the arms. Volunteers did not Alan's distaste for Interference had cry. lack; a couple of husky longshoremen “You fool! Drop that ring! Stop tween them. been too convincingly demonstrated—• sprang to the ropes at his Jrst call. this farce! Don ’ t you know whom An elbow planted heavily in the pit the touring car for the time being contented itself with trailtag about you’re marrying? That woman is Ju- of the stomach of one disposed of him They heaved with a will. His feet left for the time being. A blow from the the ground, he soared, he caught the fifty feet in the rear, while the taxi dith Trine, you idiot—not Rose!” Blankly Alan turned to the girl. shoulder sent the other reeling to the eaves of the shed roof, and shouting to fled the tenement purlieus of-the Ho Her flaming face, her sullen eyes, gutter. And Alan was in the tene eease hauling, drew himself up on this boken waterfront aud found its way into the broader streets of an unpre her very pose, from which the man ment’s lowermost hall—a foul and ! tst, backed a little ways down it and ner of Rose had dropped like a cast evil-odored place, dark as a pit the c ilculatlng his direction nicely, vlth tentious suburban quarter. Not until they were well into tho garment, confessed the truth of Mar- instant the door was closed, its murk a running jump launched himself out suburbs, with few dwellings near and rophat's assertion. And as if this were relieved only by the flame of a kero over the street. The momentum of his leap carries! no pedestrians to interfere, did Marro not enough. Judith confessed it doubly sene lamp smoking in a bracket near hin well out over the heads of the phat’s purpose become apparent. Then, with a sudden outbreak of such rage the foot of the stairs. however—and it happened while Alan as never could have been brewed in Sounds of scuffling of feet were au- Hiri ng ass« mbled in the street and was looking back—the touring car Rose’s gentle nature. dible on the first landing. Alan ad t-tily toward that window where Rose "You devil!” she cried—and threw dressed himself impetuously to the wa» waiting. Then Its force slack drew m swiftly and easily and Marro phat. risiug in his seat, leveled a re herself in front of Marrophat with a staircase, gaining its top in half a ened. For an awful instant he be spring as lithe as that of a leopardess. ! dozen leaps, and only |n time to see a lieved that he had failed. But with the volver over the windshield and fired. 1 he crack of his weapon was prac “Take warning now from me: keep door slammed at the forward end of last expiring ounce of impetus, he was tically coincident with a metallic thud out of my way forever after this—or the hall and hear a key turned in its brought within grasping distance of the w indow sill. take the consequences! God knows." lock. beneath the rear seat of tho taxicab Not for some moments did Alan ap- ! she panted, "why I don’t kill you as A cluster of men blocked the way. ■ Ila iling himself up, he gathered her predate the viciousness of the scheme. you stand!” He didn't pause to wait ---- * for ft to be into his arms . . lie was In her way between her and cleared, but threw himself headlong I A great tongue of tawny flame licked I ■ ths o^vu door, BUe gave him red bj the bullet, be lalo their midst, and by dint of the n :iv out of the windows as be swung her back to siluty.