Show I Th nE Black Box of Silence By Francis lynd l by O. O Irwin Myers Mym WHO Bertlee ht by br b Gerard Berard Chapman CHAPTER X Continued X-Continued 13 13 N not X-not not quite that bad bud nut But It was pretty dreadful As she spoke there came the crack of a gun from somewhere on ahead and then another and a B third Betty Hetty put her hands to her ears cars and said Dear Pear me met I are we going to get Into more of It It I guess not said Smith Im Inclined In dined to think that was Harding tryIng try try- Ing to stop those fellows A mile or more farther on they found the tile sheriff and two of his duties deputies deputies du- du ties standing In the road Markham pulled up and lind waited and Smith got ot out of his car and walked on to speak to the sheriff My guess was right he said when be he carne came back They went by here merely hitting bitting the high spots and larding Harding tried to stop them shot at nt their tires but tut apparently ap missed the mark An Anyhow how they didn't stop I told what they did dill to you i 1 and he say says says' hell he'll try to trail the scoundrels scoundrels scoundrels and bring Vm eni Ill to book bool I t guess were we're safe to go oti on to td town now A few v minutes minutes' fist fast driving brought them to the bridge over the and Smiths Smith's car cor turned off orr to the railroad railroad rail rail- road station The lite fast drive had been made In fn silence but after Markham had bad helped his out at the curb the young oung woman Wyman broke It Vally where could I find you or Owen quickly If I 1 should need to to she die asked Wh Why we are nt at the house I as you know Yes but Lut you are not there then all nil the time Markham did dIll a n bit hit of quick thinking Are you ou asking seriously Betty Hetty Yes Dont Don't ask me why I cant can't tell vou ou gnu yet et Hut But But- Ill promise that one or the other if f f u us will al a always s 's be within reach of the hotel phone ill that do Yes thank you flood night He Ill waited until he had hall seen her mounting the porch steps before he drove rove away toward the business dis dis- tract On the way he was wondering t why she had made her hr singular ular request request request re re- re- re quest and he was aas still wondering wandering after he had put his car up and was entering the lobby of the hotel Looking for Landis he crossed to the counter The key to their suite was as In Its pigeonhole which meant that Had not gone upstairs Markham spoke to the clerk Sr i en il l in f n of tt U. Sr T I ori any g v. v Why yes he was right here a little while ago ugo You lou dont don't know where he went wenO No Nn I hold I-hold hold on on yes I do too Mr Starbuck phoned for him from his lice across the street and nOli he went over o there that Markham snapped napped Mr Starbuck Isn't In town lie Ill went to last night to meet his wife wire and daughter lie He must have ha returned said the clerk cllrk The operator said the phone call was from him Markham turned away awny n vaguely disturbed dis dis- An attempt had hall been made to kidnap him and only the opportune appearance of Smiths Smith's car had hall made It fall Had a similar attempt been made to trap Landis As he best hesi fated he ho saw aw Smith talking to three of the lately arrived guests guest ue t at nt the cigar clar stand He Ile turned to the clerk and asked If he knew the names of the three thrle who were with Smith I do for a n fact They are the throe gentlemen you were a asking about when then you came camo a week ago Mr 1 homing ii Mr Cantrell and Mr Martin Mar tin till from Louisville They y ha e just come In on the Nevada Flyer Not ot driving No 0 they started out to drive e and came part of the way by motor Hut But they thoy had halt bad luck with their car ant and nd left It at one of their stopovers Markham looked again at the three thre men Not ot In any single particular did thy thiv resemble the three thrle who had been registering under the same names halfway across the continent and Whom hom he and Landis hid seen leavIns leanIng lean leav- Ins Ing the lobby of the hotel In company with Canby CHAPTER XI The Surgeons Surgeon's Kit At the discovery th that t the three men talking with Smith h were by no means mans the three who had traveled In the I Markhams Markham's first Impulse Was wis to Introduce himself promptly for tor the purpose of telling Smiths Smith's friends what he knew Then he remembered hared that he had hall no proof to tn offer sine l l-e l the three name forgers had a anred 11 H s next nest thought t was to go In search or Landis As he went toward the hotel entrance he saw anby step out of f an elevator levator and go quickly to shake hake hands Is with the new arrivals and no- no tl d that Smith waved the three thle n a nC C d night and turned away a away a hit of b bM bli lav iap that seemed to say Fay that he did it rare lire to be Identified with anby Markham stepped out upon the side side- IV ilk and und glanced up at the mine office ome In They rhey were wre lighted and he I cr sad d the street and climbed the Ute I stair to the second floor Hull suite butte I i The door was opened by ly on nn elderly t I j I tt man n In tn his shirt sleeves slee I I Mr Ir Starbuck said Markham U I j i i h Le be here Not now nw Rat tu ai the prompt reply I j R i and then You are Mr Markham Im I'm glad to see you rOil I 1 was Just going to phone the hotel to find out I If you had come In You are needed Word came camp campa a little while ago apo that Professor Law I-aw- son had been ben hurt by n a landslide up at those fossil be beds s. s and Mr Starbuck got Mr Landis and a doctor hector and started up there thre In his car nr A few ago they phoned and u asked ked me ml to find you and send you after them with this picking up a black bag Its the doctors doctor's Instruments l Iu Must t have left them here when he came cam up lp with Mr Starbuck was dely shocked at nt the thene ne news s of the professors professor's fors for's accident How badly Is Par Doctor o tor Lawson son hurt hur he asked I Pretty badly I 1 Judge Has lIns his daughter been blen told She Is stopping with the Stillings s' s They didn't call her up Mr Starbuck Star Star- buck bUIk and Mr Landis both agreed that It was better not to tell her until they found out Just how bad It Is Where Is this fossil place Can I find It In the night lIla Maybe be you wont won't need ned to maybe you'll overtake o the other car Or I can show you rou how to go 10 so you cant can't very well miss the way that way that Is Is If it you dont don't overtake o Mr Starbuck and I I 1 f Y ii 1 ill a t f sail li lii T i 1 I II I tJ if 1 I 1 ey ld t If S Done Played a Mighty Mean Joke on Yo You I Reckon upon a n sheet shet of scratch paper the elderly man sketched a o rude outline map penciling In lu the lie road that Markham Markhum Mark Mark- hum ham should take with the various rIght aid aLd left turns Indicated by hy guiding arrows Not ot much of u a map he apologIzed apologized apologized apol apol- og but hut ma maybe be it will do Markham picked up the black bag ha saying If It they thy tel telephone phone tell them Im I'm on the way and und will tr try to overtake them At the hotel gara garage he called for tor his roadster and the Ihn hl night man to tn till the tank He lie got In tn to place the car ear for the filling keeping his seat spat until the man finished and came around for his pay For Jor this reason a R adark adark dark figure had Its chance chane to slip sill unseen unseen un un- un seen from the shadows shallows of a nearby doorway to stoop for fora a brief moment at atthe atthe atthe the rear of the car and thereafter to vanish as swiftly and silently as It had come Once across the bridge and und headed northward Markham let the roadster out lie He was glad the bookkeeper had lied told him that Starbuck and und Landis had hadnot hadnot hadnot not passed the distressing news on to Betty Hetty thus sa saving saIng Ing her a Ion long and und heartbreaking Interval nl tf i f f anxiety am and uncertainty before the worst could be known For a time nothing Intervened to tomake tomake tomake make him slacken speed With ith the paved road left behind be however Mark Markham's Markhams hams ham's began and he bad Iad to get out the scratch paper map and follow Its markings s. s nut Hut after he hf had made the first two or three thrle arrow In turns a n I speed II became be hI came strictly obligatory The road was now d degenerating Into Inlo u a country cart track among the hills Spurred on by the sharp lIc necessities Markham kept tLe roadster lr In motion shifting shirting gears only when he was obliged t to In th this thin manner he had made malle something over o twenty speedometer ter miles of the bad had going before he la- tame came to the end nd On one of the rock rock- lest of the hills the motor cou coughed a afew afew few fw times and stalled anti not for nn an any on en of the starter would It 11 Ityl t another explosion He Ill got hi his flashlight and climbed out to Investigate IlI So far as ns he could tl determine the Ignition system v is lS In perfect condition Next he tested the fuel feed by trying to hood flood the carburetor car car- burt but but r-but but It wouldn't t flood With Witha Vitha a malediction on his III ill luck he took off nit his coat got out the tool kit and began to take things apart to probe for the trouble Though he was wall a fairly air good bool me the probing process proved to be he a 1 glutton of ul time and a long period of what he could well Imagine might be a 0 life lite aue and death Ileath delay elay for ford 1 d 3 tt e filth r was wasted t h. h he e y D In n U had satisfied elf that neither the gas S I line lice nor the va u tack taik was responsible re rev for the power failure allure it was wa only as a lart last sort resort t that fiat he went to It ok li-ok k at the lie gas tank sau gauge e. e Hut But a single aiming of toe tee R r. i- i C ct at gauge all was enough Th lie he was vas assured a that he had Mt l nw Brawler w tor i r us with fth a n supply sup sup- supply ply of gasoline which should Ih have hare taken him hilI fi five fior or six times the Ibe distance he had traveled the tie tank was now empty The Ft small a drain cock In fa the tank reek IJ bottom was liS partly open with the thelast thelast last Hut residue of the liquid fuel CUll still dripping from frolD It nd T tr other con and In view cr or what had hall already happened to him and ami Landis since silice leaving Cartha Carthage his suspicions would doubtless have huva been awakened at once Rut Put laboring ander an an- der th the th burden of his hi responsibility as a doctors doctor's messenger he thought of or nothing else and the open half-open drain cock merely sug suggested ested one of the many road accidents that may happen Obsessed by the thought that the lift 1 of ot Betts Bettys father might be In Inthe Inthe inthe the balance for the lack of the Instruments ments meats In tn the surgeons surgeon's bag he snatched It and the penciled map out of the cur and with the flashlight for Cor a It lantern lan Ian lantern tern started on afoot Hour after hour he pushed over a road which finally became road no-road at atall atall all ull but upon which he could occasionally occasionally occasion occasion- ally see the tracks of an nn automobile It was these faint tire lire marks that kept hIlt him going and It was not until the graying dawn found him halting to stare Mare at a worn way-worn car drawn up In front of a log cabin beside the road which here ended abruptly that the suspicion that he had been cleverly victimized struck him Before he could recover reco from the blow the tile cabin door opened and an unshaven un un- shaven sliu haired gray man came out to voice oice astonishment at ot finding that he ha had hod d a visitor Well ell well stranger erl 1 Where on top of If earth did dill you tumble from he be called out Briefly and hurriedly Markham explained ex ci- and the haired gray one laughed done clone played a mighty moan mean Joke on you ou I reckon Tier aint the matter with old Docor Doc Doc- lor tor or as ns we Wl call him lie Ill was teas down here to see se If I wouldn't drive e the LizzIe to town and r f him out some more picks and shovels hovels The place where hes he's bone bone bone- Is only about six mile on nn through the hills lie He aint hurt none No o l I I reckon Its It's a Joke and Ill I'll sa say it was a 1 mighty mean one You been all night A good part of It It said Markham convinced con now that he lie had been ben gotten out of Brewster by subterfuge Then overwhelmed by a sudden realization of what the plot ml might ht mean not only to lf but also to LandIs a and pos pos- possibly possibly sibly to Betty retty It Isn't a n Joke Its It's the way a bunch of crooks crool took to get me out ut of town and lost In those these hills hili I Youve You've got a n car and It will b be worth wortha a hundred dollar bill hili to you yon ou to get me hack to my car and give gl me gas enough h to run rum me to Brewster Will you do It If It I had tie the gas ras I wouldn't hold you ou up lip for no robbin deal like that But Iut I got pot It dont don't reckon rN I got moren enough to run to some place where I kin b borra enough to get In with Moron Moren that t I got to do a little on the Uzzle lizzie afore shell she'll run You come on In nn an well we'll see sel w what all we kin do with the lil old buzz- buzz wagon Markham entered the cabin with his host and helped him fools cool a 1 breakfast t tf of f bacon hacon and pan bread pan bread lIe He learned that his entertainer was a pro prospector rail find that his name nane was Jackson Triggs also ulso that he le knew Starbuck well Sure I know Billy Hilly was the wa way he lie put It him when he used to punch cows In other end o 0 the Park ParI After Arter breakfast they fell upon the outworn flivver The old machine was little more than a wreck overhauling o killed all nil of the forenoon before It was completed a period In which Markham's Markhams Markhams Markham's Mark Mark- hams ham's anxiety became a maddening thorn In the flesh flesh What lied had the plotters whoever the they were wre been heen doing In his absence What had they done to Landis That Owen Oen too roo had been hlen put out of the wa way he hf could not doubt for a 0 moment That was wail the meaning of the telephone call rail which had taken Landis out of the hotel hotel n a call coll doubtless sent by hy th the haired gray accomplice who vho had gained access to the Little Alice offices and hind had posed as ns the bookkeeper Then there was Petty Betty Wa Wasn't nt her hr danger as al great as that which menaced Landis and himself For Tor she she knew he must know that know that she was wa the one who at Canby's Instigation had opened W 11 s safe are for the abstraction of or the black box hox At A i l the long last the oar ear consented t 11 trun run rim and the return to Brewster was wa t.-p t. r. r n Ii It was a slow bu business 1 over the ne wretched road rondo and Markham's Markhams ree 1 of sleep sheep was sn so o overpowering that he h. slept In his seat at mo mont moat t of the way As Griggs had predicted he has hall barely gas enough nough to enable them to reach th the first house on the paved road hut but here they borrowed enough h to make male the run nm to town At the hotel entrance Markham pressed a liberal lib era eral reward upon the old pro prospector and aUlI hurried In As he hp passed through the revolving revolting doors a n man accosted him It was wa and before he spoke Markham had read rad the story of anxious worry In his face Miss Betty Hetty said saH the lawyer quick quick- t r Do you know what has hns become of fit her I left her at your house last night about nine Do you mean to say say say- She didn't go Into the house Still Still- Stillings ings |