Show FIFTEENTH EPISODE il The e Mystery of the Counterfeit Tickets With the tile train crews firing vainly after them the Raiders reached their autos and made off When Helen and her friends s had restored Ro Roy to COD they returned to the trains where Helen Belen urged haste Into Mountain Mountain Moun Moun- tain Springs Once there Helen Delen with Roy and a detail of police repaired to Desmonds Desmond's ls l's home to awn await It the Raiders The Raiders however suspecting no no doubt that the police would try to trap i them were afraid to return to Desmonds Desmonds Desmonds Des Des- i t monds I Instead they went to their old rooms rooms and began to dismantle them Desmond Desmond Des Des- mond noticing the printing press ordered ordered ordered or or- dered It taken and a n new retreat was found in a cabin on a fl bluff above the railroad track on the outskirts of Mountain Springs s. s Here nere having Installed installed In In- stalled the press they began counterfeIting counterfeiting counter counter- felting railroad tickets Helen Delen and the police watched Desmond's Desmonds Desmonds Desmond's Desmonds Desmond's Des Des- monds mond's house without results They then went to the old quarters of the Raiders where they saw there ther had been a hasty departure A dragnet net was spread about town but the Raiders Raiders Raid Raid- ers safely hidden continued to counterfeit counterfeit counterfeit coun coun- Kay and W. W tickets Disposing of these to scalpers they reaped a dishonest dis dl- honest revenue for tor themselves themselves' and harassed the new man Continued on Page Six Sz Continued from Page m he e I QA RAILROAD I Satisfied noy troy tic lieten len nun Webb were that the Raiders were wore responsible re re- they could prove nothing and so notorious and extensive did this activity become that the credit of or the Wilson management was further Ira I It was really an accident that revealed the plot Masters who had lost none of ot his Jils crooked Ingenuity and who fed on all nil sorts Boris of ot duplicity decided he could make maJro c. c extra money mODey for tor himself without this companions' companions knowledge He counterfeited coun coun- tickets a n batch of trip short-trip and himself brazenly went to the station station sta sta- tion where he sold them to Inquiring How long he might have succeeded In this tills without being caught by the railroad men Is hard to say What actually happened was that Desmond happening to drop Into the station saw saw Masters selling a ticket to a coun coun- tryman Desmond waited till tm the transaction was was complete and aDd without being observed ob oh- served by Masters went to the buyer asked to see his purchase and at ot once saw Masters Masters' game He returned to the cabin very angry and told his confederates confederates con con- federates exactly what the ex dence dence man was doing It did not take long Jong for tor the other conspirators to decide decide decide de de- cide that Masters must go When he be returned they were waiting In an ugly humor Desmond was as spokesman He accused accused ac oc- the ex tender of ot the gang and denounced denounced de de- him roundly for tor his treachery Masters never at a loss for tor assurance defied him and there was an on angry scene in which Masters in ID the end was forced to get out The remaining Raiders Raiders Raid Raid- ers then ignoring the new danger to which they would be exposed in their former leaders leader's resentment went ahead with their criminal world work blind as ns it proved to consequences Masters made his way sullenly to Mountain Springs It had bad not Dot taken him long to make up his mind that if he be could not work with his confederates confederates I ates he could at least get even with them for good and with this idea of ot revenge firmly fixed he took enough of his Ill gotten money to buy a whole box of ot dynamite an nn alarm clock and andall andall all aU the paraphernalia for setting off ocr a heavy charge He then repaired to a livery stable hired a horse and nd buggy and getting his bis Is stuff together drove up the road rond toward the cabin Secreting himself near Dear the shack he waited his opportunity to reach rench the house unobserved This came when the the- Raiders scattered for tor town in the afternoon and Masters unseen by anyone planted enough dynamite dynamite dy dy- dy under the house to blow up an arsenal The time fuse u e he set for early the following morning sure that the Raiders at ot that time Ume would all aU be fast asleep in the shack Having done everything in safety h he he started to drive back to town and aDd for tor greater security from observation took the canyon road rondo By the merest chance Helen Holmes had started from town in her auto about the same time to drive up river with the hope of getting some tr trace ce of the missing Raiders The lI er liveryman man had given Masters lasters a spirited horse and unluckily for Masters the horse and ond the auto autom m met t at ot a point in the road rand just above e a steep embankment The horse nervous nervous nerv Derv ous shied Masters tried to control him but could not and the frightened animal plunging to the right threw driver buggy and all nil over the embank embank- ment Masters was hurled headfirst among the rocks Helen Belen stopped her car and ond ran to his assistance What That was her surprise and horror to find fiDd that the injured man maD lying helpless before her was none other than the thief who by Impersonating impersonating her own father at Deers Deer's Head nead station had been responsible for his unjust imprisonment Controlling her bel feelings as liS best she could Helen got him to his feet helped helped helped help help- ed him up to her car and putting hImIn him himIn In n drove him to the receiving hospital and while surgical aid old was being given him she explained things to the au au- Having done this she was able to arrange at once for her fathers father's release without waiting for the necessary necessary necessary sary red tape of ot getting a pardon for tor him When confronted by Helen later Inter Masters If practically admitted every every- th thing ng s she e accused him of ot His con con- was taken talen But though he realized he was seriously Injured and ml might ht die he abated nothing of his hatred for tor his former companions and for Helen whom he had so cruelly injured in ID In his revengeful humor he conceived conceived con con- now that his chance had come to square accounts with everybody and without hesitation he revealed to Helen Heen Hel lIel en and the police the new naty hiding place of the Raiders But dont don't go go there now he added cunningly Walt Watt till six o'clock tomorrow tomorrow tomorrow to to- morrow morning That's the time they come back from town to the shack If It Itou you ou hide in tn the bushes close by till they return you'll get them His ills whole idea Iden was to lure Helen and her friend near Dear the shack and ond when the dynamite exploded led they would be killed In 10 the same Barne explosion that was as to revenge him on the Raid Raid- ers era Helen least of all suspected the trap But the Interval afforded lcd her a chance to fo hasten basten to the penitentiary and secure the long hoped release of her father With him she hastened back to Mountain Springs hoping to r r re Defore Koy and ana Ute the should Mould start for tor the cabin But they had gotten away early and she missed them Intent on OD following she started with her father up the river road to overtake her party providing herself hersell first with a rifle and a pair of ot field glasses Unfortunately In her hast hasty driving she took tho the wrong road althe at al atthe the upper fork and missed her friends completely Searching then for the right direction Helen reached a n hill whence she could overlook the immediate country and ond with her glass she described at length on the river rh-er bluff blurt a 1 cabin which she sho thought might be the right one but at al that distance she could not be sure It Jt was nearly Dearly six sit Helen became be be- came anxious Watching closely through her glasses she presently made out the figures of ot several men creeping toward Ute the cabin and recognized In them her missing friends s. s She watched the shack narrowly but there were no signs of life Ufe Under the building Itself however ho she did pick up a slight null miff of at smoke Watching hatching intently she was soon 01 able abio 0 to perceive that it burned steadily toward toward toward tow tow- ard a box bot stenciled DYNAMITE Some treachery she realized was on foot Calculating Calculating Cal Cal- the length of the fuse she realized the explosion would occur about the time her friends were well within Its danger And down the railroad rail mil road rond track the earl early morning passenger passenger ger train was approaching It likewise would reach rench the shack shock at the danger moment There was no chance to give warning warning warn warn- ing to anyone the anyone the time was short and omI the distance great But one way was still open If she could explode the dynamite before Roy and his men reached the danger zone she could S save ye their lives UTe With beating heart she raised her rifle and nd covering the box carefully fired To her disappointment there was no DO result Again and ond again she fired hoping at least by her shots to attract attention Then a well-directed well slug reached the percussion cap the dynamite e exploded The cabin was lifted high Into the theair theair theair air and aDd its fragments hurtled down the bluff covering ering the track just ahead of the passenger train but the train was unharmed The Raiders themselves were blown into eternity even eyen Roy and two of ot the policemen were seriously serious serious- ly but not fatally hurt Helen and oDd her father hurried to the scene and the train crew took the Injured Injured injured In In- men nb aboard ard Roys Roy's first request when Holmes Bolmes greeted him was for the hand of at Helen And when he had recovered her grateful grateful grate grate- ful tul father willingly gave Helen Into his care V Webb ebb was made superintendent at ot Mountain Springs and with his bride Roy left for New r York to take up tip the real duties of president of ot the road THE END |