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Show THE RICH COUNTY NEWS. RANDOLPH. UTAH GREEN FANCY 0 GEORGE BARR MECmCHEON Author 0 GRAUSTARK" THE v HOLLOW OF HER HAND. THE APR.NCE OF GRAUSTARK," ETC Gpyrighi if DoJ4 MtaJ and Company, Im CHAPTER XIV Continued. -1- 2Lying there, he made swift calculations. The quarry, no longer of use to the builder, was reasonably sure to be abandoned. In all probability some s sort of a shed would be found nearby. It would provide shelter from the fine rain that was falling and from the chill night air. He remembered that ODowd, in discussing the erection of Green Fancy the night before, had said that the stone came from a pit two miles away, where a fine quality of granite had been found. Two miles, according to Barnes quick calculations, would bring the pit close to the northern boundary of the Curtis property and almost directly on a line with the point where he and Sprouse entered the meadow at the beginning of their advance upon Green Fancy. That being the case, they were now quite close to the stake and rider fence separating the Curtis land from that of the farmer on the north. he said, more to himself Good, than to her. I begin to see light. Are jou afraid to remain here while I go down there for a look around? I sha'nt be gone more than a couple of minutes. The way I feel at present, she said, jerkily, I shall never, never from this instant till the hour in which I Mr. die, let go of your coat-tailBarnes. Suiting the action to the word, her fingers resolutely fastened, not upon the tail of his coat but upon I wouldnt stay here Ins sturdy arm. alone for anything in the world. Heaven bless you, he exclaimed, And, since you put suddenly exalted. it that way, I shall always contrive to be within arms length. And so, together, they ventured along the edge of the pit until they reached the wagon road at the bottom. As he had expected, there was a ramshackle shed hard by. It was not much of a ptace, but It was deserted and a safe shelter for the moment. A w orkmans bench lay bn Its side in the middle of the earthen floor. He righted it and drew It over to the . . . She laid her head boarding. against his shoulder and sighed deeply. He kept his eyes glued on the door and listened for the first ominous sound outside. A long time afterward she stirred. Are you cold? You are wet It was the excitement, the nervousshe said, drawing ness, Mr. Barnes, Isnt it nearslightly away from him. ly daybreak? Three lie looked at his watch. oclock, he said. There ensued another period of silence. She remained slightly aloof. Youd better lean against me, he I am softer than the said at last. beastly boards, you know, and quite as harmless. Thank you, she said, and promptly settled herself against his shoulder. It is better, she sighed. Would you mind telling me something about yourself, Miss Cameron? I should like to know whether I am to address you as princess, duchess, or just plain Miss. I am more accustomed to plain Miss, Sir. Barnes, than to either of the titles you would give me. Dont you feel that I am deserving of a little enlightenment? he asked. I am working literally as well as figuratively in the dark. Who are you? Why were you a prisoner at Green Fancy? Where and what is your native land? Sir. Barnes, I cannot answer any one of your questions without Jeopardizing a cause that is dearer to me than anything else in all the world. I am sorry. I pray God a day may soon come when I can reveal everything to you and to the world. I am of a stricken country; I am trying to serve the unhappy house that has ruled it 'or centuries and is now in the direst peril. The man you know as Loeb is a prince of that house. I may say this to you, and it will serve to explain my position at Green Fancy : he is not the prince I was led to believe awaited me there. He Is the cousin of the man I expected to meet, and he Is the enemy of the branch of the house that I would serve. Do not ask me to say stone-cutter- ... more. Your sympathies are with the entente allies, the princes are opposed? Is that part of Sprouses story true? Yes. And ODowd? Mr. Barnes, ODowd is if that conveys anything to you. He is not Wasnt it pretty risky for you to ccrry the crown jewels around In a traveling bag. Miss Cameron? I suppose so. It turned out, however, that it was the safest, surest wfly. I had them in my possession for thee days before coming to Green Fancy No one suspected. I was to deliver them to one of their rightful owners, Mr. Barnes a loyal prince of the blood. But why here? he insisted. He was to take them into Canada, and thence, in good time, to the palace of his ancestors. I am to understand, then, that not only you but the committee you speak of, fell Into a carefully prepared trap. The treachery, therefore, had its inception in the loyal nest. You were betrayed by a friend. I am sure of it, she said bitterly. If this man Sprouse does not succeed in restoring the oh, I believe 1 shall kill myself, Mr. Barnes. The wail of anguish in her voice went straight to his heart. He has succeeded, take my word for it. They will be in your hands before many hours have passed. Is he to come to the Tavern with them? Or am I to meet him Good Lord I he gulped. Here was a contingency he had not considered. Where and when would Sprouse apI I fancy well pear with his booty? find him waiting for us at the Tavern. But had you no understanding? Er tentatively. The perspiration started on his brow. He was thinking of something else: his amazing stupidity in not foreseeing the very situation that now presented itself. Why had he neglected to settle upon a meeting place with Sprouse in the event that circumstances forced them to part company in flight? Fearing that she would pursue the subject, he made haste to branch off onto another line. What is the real object of the conspiracy up there, Miss Cameron? You must bear w'ith me a little longer, Mr. Barnes, she said, appealI cannot say anything now. ingly. You said that tomorrow night would be too late. What did you mean by that? She waited a few seconds and then removed her head from his shoulder. He heard the sharp intake .of hee breath and 'felt the convulsive movement of the arm that rested against his. There was no mistaking her sudden agitation. I will tell you, she said, and he was surprised by the harshness that came into her voice. Tomorrow morning was the time set for my marriage to that wretch up there. I could have avoided it only by destroying myself. If you had come tomorrow night instead of tonight you would have found me dead, that is all. Now you understand. Good God ! You were to be forced into a marriage with why, it is the most damnable ODowd God bless him I was my He knew my father. only champion. He Listen I he hissed, starting to his feet. Dont move! came from the darkness outside. I have me gun leveled. I heard me name taken in vain. Thanks for the blessing. I was wandering whether you would say some- - I am ready to return with you, Mr. There ODowd, she said distinctly. must be no struggle, no bloodshed. Anything but that. ODowd spoke out of the darkness: You forget that I have your own word for it that yell be a dead woman before the day is over. Wouldnt It be better for me to begin shooting at once and spare your soul the everlasting torture that would begin immejiately decease? after your A little cry of relief greeted this You have my word that quaint sally. I will return with you quietly If Thunderation ! exclaimed Barnes wrathfully. What do you think lam? A wrorm that Easy, easy, me dear man, cautioned ODowd. Keep your seat. Dont be deceive by my infernal Irish humor. It is my Way to be always polite, agreeable and prompt. Ill shoot in a second if ye move one step out- struggling out Of the night when they stole across the road above Harts Tavern and made their way through the stable yard to the rear of the house. His one thought was to get her safely inside the Tavern. , The door was locked. He delivered a series of resounding kicks upon Its stout fate. Revolver in hand, he faced about and waited for the assault of the men who, he was sure, would come plunging around the corner of the building in response to the racket. But there was no attack. At last there were sounds from within, A key grated in the lock and a bolt was shot. The door flew open. INTEREST IN ROADS GROWS Mr. Clarence Dillingford appeared in the opening, partially dressed, his More Attention Now Given to Imhair sadly tumbled, his eyes blinking provement in Highways Than in the light of the lantern he held Ever Before in History. aloft. Well, what the " Then his gaze The good roads movement is seeing For the love a big revival now that business is on the lady. alighted side that cabin. of The most imporbegan the embarrassed Dilling- becoming normal. ODowd, you havent the heart to ford. What the dev I say, cant tant program that has recently coma to a that beast of back her drag you see that Im not dressed? What to our attention Is that of the state Hold hard ! Well come to the point the of Michigan, which has just voted in Where without further palavering. Give me that lantern, said Barnes, favor of a $50,000,000 program that, are ye dragging her yourself, ye rasand snatched the article out of the un- when carried out, will place Michigan cal? Show me the way on the map big so far as good roads hand. To a place where she will be safe resisting to Miss Thackerays room, Dillingford. are concerned, writes Birkett L. Wilfrom insult, injury, degradation No time for explanations. liams, truck sales manager for a large Well, I have no fault to find with motorcar corporation. for the love of Well, ye for that, said ODowd. Bedad, I will take you to Miss Thackerays I Everywhere else yon see also more didnt believe you had the nerve to her swift- interest In good roads than In any tackle the job. You may be interested room, said Barnes, leading She period in our history. It is true to say narrow passage. to know that up to the moment I left ly through the that the war and its needs taught ns not been the house your absence had the value of good roads. Perhaps it noticed, my dear Miss Cameron. And did. Perhaps it brought home to those as for you, my dear Barnes, your dull ears of higher ups the supreme visit Is not even suspected. How the importance of an Intelligent system of divil did ye do it, Barnes? navigable highways. But more and Are you disposed to be friendly, more it comes home to the man who If you ODowd? demanded Barnes. studies the situation that back of the are not, we may just as well fight it good roads movement must be the orout now as later on. dinary man, the average man who You are not to fight! she cried in taxes and votes and thinks as he pays are What you great agitation. doing? votes. Put it away! Dont shoot!" The farmer or rural dweller In cerIs it a gun he is pulling? inquired tain sections for a long time stood in And w hat the deuce ODowd calmly. the way he wanted the roads, but he are you going to aim at, me hearty? I didnt want to pay for them. He did lantern with me. have a bulls-ey- e not realize that in the long run good From the luxurious seat behind this roads pay for themselves out of savrock I could spot ye in a second. Havings made to the community in hauling said as much I now propose arbiof people and merchandise. But mind age Would over tration. ye handing the farmer today"ls reckoning in units that tin box in exchange for my poof time. lite thanks and a courteous goodby to both of ye? Yes, he realizes the value of minutes throughout the season and he is We have no box of any description, Mr. ODowd, cried she triumphantly. just as keen in conserving time as the d man who operates a big facThank heaven, he got safely away! tory; if anything, he Is a bit keener, Do you mean to tell me you came for seasons do not wait and crops must away without the your belongings, be sowed and cultivated, reaped and Miss Cameron? exclaimed ODowd. marketed at the right time. He has They are not with me, she replied. convinced himself that time is money. Her grasp on Barnes arm tightened. And he knows that good roads save not did Oh, isnt it splendid? They time and that they save time largely " catch him. He because they make it possible to get on sacred swear both Will you your satisfactory services from motorcars Does Is She How Is She? Resting? honor that ye havent the jewels in and motortrucks. And he is not one " She Seem your possession? bit blind to the fact that operating cost v . Barnes. Unhesitatingly," said Is largely influenced by road condiwill make you comfortable for the I swear, Mr. ODoVd. is until I am able to secure a tions that good roads make gasoline that Then, said he, I have no time to room for more elastic, rubber arid steel more you. Come on, Dillingford. waste here. I am looking for a tin durable and bring markets nearer, and Miss was awake. Thackeray box. I beg your pardon for disturbthat good roads Increase property valclosed door she asked the Through ing you. ues out of all proportion to the cost on matter. was the earth what Oh, Mr. ODowd, I shall never forWill a a I hnve friend here lady. get all that you have as possible and you dress as Whist, now! There is one thing I take her in quickly with you for a little must insist on your forgetting comwhile? in all the that has happened pletely: There was no Immediate response last five minutes. What I am doing, from the inside. Then Miss Thackeray Mr. Barnes, would be my death senobserved, quite coldly: I think Id It tence if ever became known. to hear like ladys voice, if you It shall never be known through dont mind. the I .recognize yours perto shake like ODowd. Id me, your fectly, Mr. Barnes, but I am not in the hand, old man. habit of opening my said God bless you, Mr. O'Dowd, I guess I dont need to dress, said small the girl in a low, voice, singularMiss Thackeray, and opened her door. Some day I ly suggestive of tears. Come in, please. I dont know who may be in a position to you are or what youve been up to, Dont say it! Youll spoil every- but there are times when women thing if you let me think you are in ought to stand together. And whats my debt. Bedad, dont be so sure I more, I shant ask any questions. shant see you again, and soon. She closed the door behind the unTell me how to find Harts Tavern, expected guest, and Barnes gave a old man. Ill sigh of relief. great No, Im dashed if I do. You ought Mr. Barnes, said Miss ThackSay, to be grateful to me for not stopping several hours later, coming upon eray, jou entirely, without asking me , to him in the hall, I guess Ill have to Good-bygive you a helping hand. ask you to explain a little. Shes a Good Roads Are Necessary to Efficient and God bless you. Im praying that nice, pretty girl, and all that, but she Operation of Automobiles. ye get away safely, Miss Cameron. So wont open her lips about anything. crow a were and She long, Barnes. If you of will do the talking. Im good roads to any one individual. says you wanted to roost on that big tree in a Therefore, the farmer Is now back of you know, and not espesport, good front of Harts Tavern, I dare say road Improvement. cially finicky, but Id hate to youd take the shortest way there by Does the city man feel any Interest How is she? Is she resting? Does flying as straight as a bullet from the she seem In good roads? Ask your neighbor. mouth of this pit, following your exWell, shes stretched out on my bed If he doesnt own an automobile he exg nose. tremely with my best nightie on, and she seems pects to own one, and he knows all They did not wait for the break of to be doing as well as could be expect- about where the good roads are and day. Taking O'Dowds hint, Barnes ed, said Miss Thackeray dryly. what they mean. But when his infludirected his steps straight out from ence counts big, the greatest Impetus Has she had coffee and the mouth of the quarry and pressed has now. seems am I naturally sprung from the numerit after It going ' confidently onward. In answer to a that she is in the habit of having it ous army of motorcar owners to whom question she informed him that there in bed. I wish I had her Imagination. motorcar ownership has made the termen in were no fewer than twenty-fiv- e It would be great to imagine that all ritory for miles around his neighborGreen Fancy, all of them shrewd, resohood. you have to do is to say, I think" Ill lute and formidable. Counties and states where good have coffee and rolls and one egg sent I cannot, for the life of me, see and then go on believing your wish roads have become a steady part of a up, why they took chances on Inviting me would come true. Still, I dont mind. progressive program of legislation have to the house, Miss Cameron. She seems so nice and pathetic, and in seen values shoot up In the most surShe was silent for a moment, and prising fashion, and this, again, has trouble, and I when she spoke it was with great in'.ught home the fact that good roads Miss Thackeray. If Thank you, Mr. Barnes, I had your life for themselves. Thus It Is natutensity. .jay coffee her has will see that she in my hands all the time you were at you ral that the years 1919 and 1920 will in hall the here for wait Ill Ill you Green Fancy. I shudder now when I see the most stupendous good roads proand try to explain. I cant tell you think of what might have happened. Inaugurated In America that the at present not without her grams Before you were asked to the house, I everything world has ever known. This will consent but what I do tell will be In the wider utility of motorwas coolly informed that you would to make you think you are result cars and motortrucks and, of course, not leave it alive if I so much as sufficient to a chapter of a dime novel. breathed a word to you concerning listening prove a big aid to the solution of the The word first of plight. freight traflic problem. my unhappy Putnam Jones taken He had already an appeal to you would have been the He saw no other into his confidence. NEW ROADS COST $8,000,000 signal for for your death. That is new and somewhat what they held over me. When I way out of the situation. spoke to you on the couch that night. extraordinary Utah Plans Extensive Improvement (TO BE CONTINUED ) I oh, dont you see? Dont you see on Lincoln Highway on Wyoming-Uta- h that 1 wantonly, cruelly, selfishly Be Kind and Patient. Line. risked your life not my own when There is more special grace requiI The road law just adopted by the site and manifest in watchful perseUtah state legislature will provide In There, there, now! he cried, converance in little kindnesses and habitconnection with the federal aid fund solingly, as she put her hands to her ual patience at home, in abstinence face and gave way to sobs. from conversational disparagement of a total of about $8,000,000 for highI way construction In that state. Pres Forgive me, she murmured. others, and In resistance to habits of ent plans call for extensive Improvedidnt mean to be so silly." In sloth and undue ment on the Lincoln highway, particIt helps, to cry sometimes, he said private life than in the performance line ularly between the Wyoming-Uta- h lamely. of great public duties unda the oband Salt Lake City. Tlie first faint signs of day were servation of multitudes. city-bre- good-lookin- Dun't Move!" Came From the Dark- ness Outside. thing pleasant about me and, thank the good Lord, I was patient. But Id advise you both to sit still just the same. A chuckle rounded out the gentle admonition of the invisible Irishman. CHAPTER XV. Large Bodies Move Slowly But Mr. Sprouse Was Smaller Than the Average. There was not a sound for inauj seconds. She was the first to speak MUI Mary Graham 6y f Bonner AUTHOR jj THE FIELDS. "It was in the summer time that the fields were waving and cliatfing and saying these things to each other. Of course they were at their best and the season had been just right for them. There had been enough ru.n hut not too much, enough sunshine but not too much. In fact, it had been quite a perfect season so far. The fields always spoke of. things having been nice so far for they never knew what the weather was going to be any more than the farmers did, and they heard the farmers talking in that way to each other. So the fields used to wonder if it would be dry and without even any showers for the rest of the season, or whether It would rain every day and hurt them ! But this special day they were feeling very well and very happy. Im so good for food, said the barley field. I am pretty and feathery, too. Im such a lovely pale green color, said the oats. And I am good and substantial looking, said the winter wheat. I am very good for the feed of animals, said the oats, and so are peas. I come in pretty usefully myself, said the winter wheat. How about me? asked the sorrel, a plant with yellowish blossoms. " All right, said the oats, but I am such a lovely shade of green. You admire yourself, eli? asked the sorrel. I do, said the oats. So do I, remarked the winter wheat. And I like myself, too, said the barley field. We are liked by others, It added. We are, too, said the winter wheat. Ah, ah, ah, dont boast too much, said a voice. And who are you, pray tell the fields asked. Why shouldnt .e boast when we have something to boast for? They Were at Their Best. You may boast, said the voice, but not too much for I want to do some of It myself. Then the fields noticed that the voice came from the direction of the clover hay field. - Oh, ho, said winter wheat, so clover hay wants to do some talking. Certainly, said clover hay. Well, what have you to say for yourself? asked the others. Quite a lot, said clover hay. Pray tell us what it is then, the others asked. You are all very useful. You all make good food for the animals, both in the summer and in the winter. "Winter wheat bowed gracefully. It was much flattered to be especially noticed. But I have a special distinction, said clover hay. What is clover hay talking about? the others asked. Dont use such big words, said the barley. Fields dont understand.1 T mean that I have something special to boast of, said clover hay, so I dont want all of you to take up the whole summer-tim- e in boasting. Ah, we see, said the oats, clover hay doesnt want us to boast so it can get a good chance at It. Right, said clover hay. Youre perfectly right. What are you going to boast about? asked the winter wheat. Myself, of course, said clover lay Yes, it continued, waving about, T can boast about myself and boast beautifully. I am the food the animals love so ; they actually call me the animals dessert. I am to the animals what Ice cream Is to the children and to the grown-uptoo. Its all very well, all very well, to be regular, ordinary feed, but I, the clover hay, have the honor showed to me of being considered the best part of the animals meal. And what clover hay boasted of was true, for clover hay is the dessert for the farm animals. s, , Recalcitrant The rich old uncle from whom much was hoped for was visiting his niece, who had been telling him how and dearly his little namesake loved his school and how well he was getting on with his studies. "Well, Teddy, said the uncle jovially, upon the return of the little boy, what do you do in school all day? he said Teddy pondered, "Well, gravely, mostly I wait until It s time to go home. great-nephe- |