THE STORYTELLER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 81, 14 July 1910, Page 6

THE STORYTELLER.

TRAPPED. Tlie man with the dark moustache groaned painfully; the other merely shook his head in silent agreement. They were decently clothed, but obvious depressed in-.'spirits. There was that in their dejegted attitude which told of disaster, anil the way in which the bigger man's hands fidgeted in his pockets plainly indicated their emptiness.

Between sunlit but silent fields the level white road on .which, they stood stretched away two miles ahead, where its perspective vanished in a point.

"What hick!" muttered the dark man for the twentieth time.

"Oh, quit that talk," snapped his companion. "You make me tired!"

"The chance of a lifetime!'' went on the other in the monotonous tone of one reflecting on lost opportunities. "To think that we are the only two people in the world—besides the stable —who know that Velveteen can win to-mor-row! Simply—stroll in! And Y.rr we are without so much as the rail ..■..■_ to take us to the meeting."

"You've got a watch an' chain." "Shucks-! .Silver! Couldn't get a dollar on it, and the " "Well, whose fault is it?" interrupted the little man viciously. "Who would play poker with a stranger last night and lo'se all a pard's money as well as his own? Who •" He changed his tone to one of ridicule. "Xice sort of partnership, upon my word!" The dark man took no notice whatever of this outburst.

"A trial at six in the morningstripper! Us in a.straw-stack watching the finish. Velveteen, by ten lengths! . . . Was there ever such luck ?" he pondered.

The other man turned away with a short exclamation of annoyance, went to the side of the road and sat down moodily. The dark man's lips moved. He ,was making calculations. Presently he looked up; his expression changed; he listened.

A soft hum rose on the air—very faint, very distant—rose and fell again. For a few moments the dark man-s eyes searched the horizon*where the road seemed to end, Then he gave a start as a black speck showed where earth and sky touched. The hum became a rhythmic throb.

"By jingo, yes, I'll do it!" he said under his breath. He turned to the other man. "Q.iiek, quick.'' he cried. 'TfhLd th: hedge." The little n:;in jumped up suddenly. "Watcher mean?" he asked anxiously.

Before he was aware of it the dark man had him by "the arm and was pulling him down through a gap in the hedge. "Down!" he admonished, dropping to a crouching attitude.

The motorist in the bucket of the 24h.p. car looked along a mile and,a-half of deserted road.

"That's all right," he said, as his foot pressed the accelerator, and the car jumped into its top speed. "She can go!" exclaimed the pretty girl by his side. "Wait a moment, and you'll see," returned the driver proudly. The wind whistled past them. Behind, a cloud of dust hid the road. To the two in the car there came only a soft purr of smooth-running machinery; but they were eating up distance.

"Forty-five, or I'm a Dutchman!" shouted the man as they raced smoothly along. 'The words were hardly out of his mouth when a big man with a dark moustache jumped into the road a hundred yards ahead. One of his hands was raised in warning, the.other held a watch. A smaller man came through the hedge and joined him. "Trapped, by Jove!" »ried the motorist. For a moment he hesitated whether he would stop or not, then he shut off power and applied the brakes. The car came to a standstill'before the two men.

"This won't do," said the man with the dark moustache in a tone of severity. "Do you know what pace you've been going?" He consulted what, to the motorist, was the inevitable stopwatch.

"I say, look here," returned the man on the car, trying to bluff. "What's your authority for stopping me?" "Very sorry, sir, county poli<se, you know." He extracted a printed paper from his pocket, and held it for a moment before the other's eyes. "Must do my duty," he added in an apologetic tone.

;' "But we couldn't possibly have been exceeding the speed limit," said the ; girl, beaming sweetly on the dark man. "I'm sure, policeman, you wouldn't- —" yo" over the straight mile, miss. One minute forty-three seconds. That makes it 35 miles an hour." He pointed down the road. "My man's posted under the trees yonder, and signalled when you passed him. Got the car's number, William?" he asked the little man.

The little man pulled out a dirty notebook, and wrote in it hurriedly. "I'll trouble you for your driver's license, please, sir," went on the dark man in a tone of authority. The motorist was weighing matters in his mind. For answer he beckoned the dark man to his side. "Just a word," he said. "Williams," said the dark man, "step on one side a moment. Xow, sir, what is it?"

"Look here," began the motorist in an undertone, "can't we settle this between ourselves, constable?" ! "Can't be done, sir" was the reply, 1 made with, a vigorous shake of the head. Then, after a pause, "Got witnesses, you see." The motorist's hand went to I his pocket. "If a sov " 1 The dark man shook his head again. "Two?" said the motorist. The dark man did not seem to hear. '"George " The girl whisperesd something. "Oh, well," was the ceply. "All right." The dark man's hand rested on the mud-guard conveniently near. The litle man caught the "chink"—the unmistakable chink—of gold. An open

throttle began talking. The dark man stepped aside. "My mistake, of course. You'll not hear anything more about this little matter, sir," he called whimsically after the car as it gathered speed. For a moment or two they stood in the dusty road silent. Then asked the little man, "How'd you kid him about the county police?" "Dog license," said the dark man. "I'm backin' Velveteen. Come on!"