"TWO ON THE ROAD"

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 October 1938, Page 12

"TWO ON THE ROAD"

PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT COPYRIGHT.

JOHN MACLEOD

BY

CHAPTER XIV. —(Continued). Mira looked at him in terror. “Let’s fly, Jim! Now! Before it’s too late. We'll find something somewhere. There’s a score of places we’d be safe in. I knew it would ” “Oh, stop drivelling, Mira!” he cut in impatiently. “If there was any chance of flying, I’d take it. Do you imagine they’ve gone to bed to let us make a clean getaway? There’s something else you don’t know. Thinking them to be at the golf links, I went along to get the suitcase myself. I though the whole house was empty. I'll swear there was no one anywhere near, when I entered the room, and yet, when I came out, there was that valet of Smith’s standing waiting for me. I wasn’t in the room twenty seconds altogether. He was nowhere near the golf links; he’d been waiting for me to make that move all the morning; and like a new born babe, I did it.” “He —he —caught you?” Mira’s voice scarcely rose above a whisper. “He caught me!” cried Lakin, furiously, “but he hasn’t got me.” He shook his fist savagely in the direction of Smith’s room. “Let them come! I’m ready for them!”

“Why didn’t he arrest you there and then?” asked Mira.

“Waited for his ally, I suppose, to get instructions.” He calmed down a bit and walked back and forth, biting his' nails. “Yes,”' he muttered, as though to himself, “Why didn’t he arrest me there and then? Nothing in the world easier; when I had the blessed case in my hand, too. A gun would more than have made up for the deficiency in his size.” “Anyway,” continued Mira, “he was at the golf links, because I saw him coming back, and just after he got here, Betty and Cyril came.” Lakin stared at her unbelievingly. “Are you sure he was at the golf links?” he demanded.

“Well, he came from that direction, anyway, so whatever he was doing, he couldn’t have been watching you.” Lakin sat down, vastly relieved on one point at least; Shep hadn’t been watching him. Not' that it made such a big difference. He had caught him, but it was rather comforting to know that it was quite accidental. “What did he say?” asked Mira. Lakin pointed to the suitcase, lying where it had been thrown.

“He' gave me that; told me the one I had in my hand had broken fastenings.” “Gave you that?” Mira stared at him in amazement. “Whatever’ for?” “I had to make some excuse for being there, so I told him I was wanting to borrow it to send some clothes to be laundered.”

“But there’s a laundry here?” said Mira, in dismay. t Lakin nodded weakly.

“I thought of that afterwards.” He was feeling much better now, though still far from easy in his mind. “I’ll speak to Smith. I can tell him I just discover there is a laundry here — anyhow, it’s quite a feasible thing for a man not to know about a laundry.” He rose again and resumed his pacing. “Now what the devil are these men? They’ve got our suitcase. If they’re not detectives, they’re tramps —but how could Smith put two hundred pounds on a horse if he was a tramp?” “Aren’t they acting rather queerly for detectives? It seems to me that Smith is doing his best to cut you out with Marie,” put in Mira.

“Me too, but I suppose it’s quite permissible for a detective to fall in love —especially if the lady is an heiress.” “Well, why do you allow yourself to be cut out? You’re engaged to Marie, aren’t you? Why not arrange the wedding and get it over and done with?”

Lakin shook his head hopelessly. “I wish it was as easy as all that. I’ve tried to rush the thing along, but she keeps putting me off. She’s cooled greatly since Smith came on the scene.”

Mira looked at him scornfully. “Ive seen the day the Ranger wouldn’t be baulked so easily.” “I also have seen that day,” he replied, angrily, “but can I adopt Ranger methods here? Find out what these swine are and I’ll know how to deal with them. We might manage to create a cute little mystery if we put two tramps out of action, but what sort of a hornet’s nest would we stir up if we put two detectives out of the way?”

Mira had no answer to this. She was the last person in the world, who wanted to stir up a hive of detectives. The thought that they might be detectives was sufficiently distracting. “Well,” she said at last. “Detective or no detective, at. least you can try and make yourself agreeable to Marie, and enter the competition. You’ve got a good start on Smith. Your face, lately, would frighten any girl off. Make an effort, look cheerful.” Lakin made no reply. Mira was right, and he knew it. He had certainly not been making much effort to hold her. He realised too, that no good could come of any show of hostility towauds Smith. After all, he was a guest of her father’s, and Marie could could hardly do less than entertain him. His behaviour was only throwing her more into Smith’s company, and lessening his own chances. “You’re right, Mira," he decided. “My nerves have been jumpy and unsettled lately. Trouble is, I’ve been worried about these two, and I’ve been letting my worry get the upper hand. They must be detectives, but they're evidently not sure of their ground or we would’ve been arrested long ago. The more sensible thing to do is to carry on as though we knew nothing about them. I’ll think up some way of making money and wc-’ll forget about the blessed suitcase."

They went down to lunch, Lakin deciding that he would make amends to Marie for his recent behaviour, tie had some misgivings, however, as to how he would meet Smith on the matter of the suitcase. Smith, whether he was a detective or a tramp, required some sort of explanation. But Smith failed to put in an appearance at lunch, and Lakin’s good resolutions were in grave danger of collapsing when he noticed that Marie also was absent. They were together again, evidently. Mira, seeing his angry expression, gn-

deavoured to catch his eye io /warn him. Failing in this, she attempted to kick his shins under the table, but she must have misjudged badly, for Lakin went on scowling, while Cyril jumped, and cast a reproachful look at Betty, who, all unconscious of the pantomime, was deeply engrossed in an argument with Mr Emmerson. In the face ot this discouragement, Mira made no further effort to attract Lakin’s attention, and he continued to frown through the meal. CHAPTER XV.

In the morning, true to his word, Mr Emmerson knocked up Smith when the sky was just turning grey. This was an entirely different matter from the previous morning. Then, the sun had been up, taking the cold edge off the atmosphere, and then, he hadn’t put two hundred pounds on a horse. Smith had very little desire to see

horses at all aftei - yesterday’s tragedy, However, he rose and dressed himself, this time envying yesterday’s unfortunates in being able to lie on, undisturbed.

They left the house muffled up in coats, and with thick woollen scarves around their necks, for this is the coldest hour of the twenty-four. Emmerson led the way behind the house, where there was a path leading through the woods. After following this path for- about a quarter of a mile, they came out on the bank of the river. Here the stables had been built, and here the famous Emmerson string of racers was bred and trained. The scene presented to Smith’s astonished. eyes, was one one of bustling activity.

“We’ll have a look at the training padock first,” said Emmerson. Smith had the feeling as he passed the stables that the staff hadn’t been to bed all night, so busy and wide awake did they look. Half a dozen horses were already in the paddock, arid several more were wading about in the water.

Emmerson stood for some time with a stop-watch in his hand, timing them, and nodding his head occasionally, as one or other of them pleased him. “Good stuff, Smith!” he commented. “Best lot I’ve ever had, and bred most of them myself.”

They were good stuff. Smith knew good horses, but he was in no mood just then to discuss them. Yesterday he could have taken more interest in them, and probably commented on their appearance and performance, but today was a different matter altogether. True he had given Mr Emmerson forty of the five pound notes, but he had an uneasy feeling that he shouldn't have done so.

They walked back to the stables and watched the horses coming in. Boys .were sweeping and dusting inside, while outside, the grooms were puffing and blowing, as grooms always will, when working at their horses. Emmerson explained the working of the- establishment for Smith’s benefit, and then led the way over to where a big black colt. . was being rubbed down. The trainer was going over it. feeling and examining it from every angle. “Meet the cup winner, Smith,” said Emmerson, smiling. “This is Sloth!’’ Smith winced at the reminder of his bet, and felt himself hoping that .Sloth was in the same mind about the matter at Emmerson. It was a truly magnificent animal. It seemed to Smith that it was a mass of ripplinging muscle underneath a coat of black silk. It had a broad expansion of chest, giving the impression of stamina, and long, thin legs, which spoke of speed. “It’s a wonder,” agreed Smith. "Trained to the last inch!" declared the trainer, proudly. “If he gets away, he should win handsomely.” How is he starting?” enquired Emmerson. rather anxiously, Smith thought. “We’ve had no trouble at all. lately,” replied the trainer. “The crowd might, make him a bit touchy, but he’s right on the outside, so he should be all right." “So he was a bad starter," thought Smith. There would be something like that, of course. Out of all these horses, it would have to be Sloth that played this little joke. In Smith’s mind the race was a good as lost. “This is Pecker Up!” continued Emmerson, moving on the next horse. “He’s going out in the cup. too, but more to steady Sloth than anything else. Distance is too great for Pecker Up. He’s a six furlong horse.” He showed Smith over his whole team. "Must be worth a fortune, thought Smith. The price of any one of them would have kept Shep and himself on the road for two years, easily. Well, they, would be on the road again soon; nothing surer, and this time they would be running away from justice. At least, they would be running away from the police, which wasn t quite the same thing. Smith felt that he was hardly responsible for all that had happened. He hadn’t had any intention of going so far as this with his adventure.

Instead of going home by the track through the woods, Emmerson suggested a walk along the river bank and out over the golf links. The sun having come up by this time, they left their coats and scarves to be taken over later by one of the boys. . It was a beautiful walk. Vegetation grew thickly right to the water's edge, and a narrow track had been cut through this, which followed the winding course of the river. In many places it had grown into the form of a tunnel, the bushes on either side being joined together by sweet smelling clematis. “Are you anything of an engineer. Smith?" asked Emmerson, as they went

along. “Well, I was interested in it. once," replied Smith, "but that’s about all the length it ever got. Why do you ask?” "I have a bit of a problem along here. I'll show you it as we pass.” From somewhere ahead came a faint rumbling noise, and Smith stopped to Jisten. “That's it!" said Emmerson, "You'll see it in a minute."

They moved on, and with every step the noise grew louder, until they emerged into a clearing in the forest. It was a patch of rock, covering about half an acre of ground. There was a passage through the rock about thirty “feet wide, and through this the water roared in a loaming torrent. The rest

of the river was from fifty to seventy feet wide, and for the same water to pass through the rock, it required to run twice as fast, thus forming a rapid. “This is the trouble," said Emmerson, pointing to the rock channel. “If I don’t do something here soon, there’s going to be a breakaway, and the river’s going to ruin the golf links. (To be Continued.)