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82 , 1928 id coâ€" ement fluous , Inc. tative To got back home, Hemmingway ~must travel by. foot, <and. Bilbeck offéers .to o with him. In violent: disagreement, | they nevertheless start out together on snowshoes and skis and soonâ€" Bilbeck tumbles over Hemmingway, the going being difficult. » .: They ‘lost their sense of direction. * They separate. â€"Bilbeck finds himself back at the Old. Soldiers‘ Home after going in a cirele, sees am intruder and jumps im a winâ€" dow, to find himself in Maryella‘s room. The Sheriff comes in, holding out a gun and say; ing he saw someone come in and Bilbeck has . to come out from under the bed, where he had been hiding. ; 4 NowW GO ON WITH THE STORY â€"In the room stood an army comâ€" prising almost all of the male populaâ€" tion. The sheriff was. taking no changes of being outnunwbered. 7 "You didn‘t know L was awake, did you?" the sheriff exulted. _"Well, I was. 1 heard you break in and I followed you to this room and locked ycou in‘ He peered nearsightedly at my face. â€" "Well I‘m blessed, durn me if T ain‘t. ‘Ain‘t you one of the _ men that started for town?" & "I am," I admitted.© Fiaxs "Tom â€" Bilbeck," _ exclaimed Jim Cooper, coming forward. "I‘m glad .you came back. It‘s all for the best. I want you to be the first to conâ€" gratulate me on my engagement to Miss Waite." © Thursday, July 11, 1929 WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE _ The Sheridan Dramatic Club, of which Tom Bibcck, tue narrator, Maryeils, the. girl he cares for,‘ and Jim Cooper, his rival, are membcers, start a performance of Pygmalion ard Galatea at the Old Soldiers‘ Home, but are interrupted by a firs.© During the rehearâ€" s:!s Tom Bilbéck is szccused by the husband of one of the actors, Mr. Hemmingway, ‘of being in love with his wife. ; . Riding away from the scene of the illâ€"fated ploy <in their: costumes and overcoats, ‘the group of players is held up by two escaped convicts, one of whom is captured by Bilbeck sfier a struggle! _. The captured thief is tied to a chair at the Old Soldier‘s Home. Unable to leave the homa as the car refuses to budge, the players must stay there, and Mr, Hemmingway, hearâ€" ing this over the phone, says he is coming right to the homeâ€"as he is suspicious of his wife and Bilbeck. Meanwhile the Sheriff arrives. Hemmingway arrives just when Bilbeck is assisting Mrs. Hemmingway, who has fainted, and of course thinks the worst. Meanwhile The Sheriff‘s horse has broken loose. Meanâ€" whil> Hemmingway suspects Bilbeck more and more, and Jim Cooper mixes in to tell Bilbeck he has arranged that the Hemmingâ€" ways be divorced and thatâ€"Bilbeck is to marty Mrs. Hemmingway. i4 3 uies o. a disturbance is heard in the cellar, and all in the house rush down to it. $ My stunned mind refused to assimâ€" ilate his statement. . In the midst of a battle‘I suppose a sgoldier would not pay much attention to the news that his sweetheart had married anâ€" other man. â€" The mention of Maryella‘s name. however, made me think with a sinkâ€" ing sensation of the predicament I had unwittingly placed her in. 1 looked .around to see bhow she was taking it. 2e 5 o She was nowhere in sight. At first I was puzzled. Then I noticed the door across the room. She must have gone in there. Probâ€" ably it was a closet.. I made no mention, however, of my suspicion. Possibly the incident ecculd be ended without her taking part in it. St, C _ "What were you doing here?" deâ€" manded the. sheriff. "There‘s someâ€" thing peculiar about thig.” o "Yes, there is," I admitted. "Come & downâ€"stairs to the main room where & is warmer and I‘ll explain what happened. 8 > n a ap . . My plan was obvious. â€" By leading the crowd off I would give Maryella an cpportunity of gettingâ€"out. â€" . â€" The men started to go whén we were stopped at the door by the hurâ€" ried~ arrival of Mr:; Hemmingway, who forced his way past the others into the room and stood, a figure of vengeance, shaking his fist under my nose. & & use at "Yes!. â€" I thought there was someâ€" thing funny about it when you agreed to separate from me out there. I suspected that you wanted to throw me off the track and\aiome back to my wife. © You didn‘t daceive me. I came back and followed yourâ€"tracks in the moonlight. And now"~ I‘ve cauzht you, you viper!" He ran around the room, looked under the bed and in bureau drawers as if he expected to find.mangled porâ€" ‘tions of his spouse cut up into conâ€" venient sizes and stored away. "Caught me? 'I repeat_ed wonderâ€" ingly. * 14 5 & All at once his eyes fell upon the dresser. There in plain view lay the strand of pearls which Maryella had worn at Galatea.~ ’ "My wife‘s pearls!" he exclaimed savagely. "So you came right to her rcom! My God, I can‘t conceive of such iniquity. © Where is she now? What have you done with her?" "Have you killed manded â€" hoarsely. bedy ?2" v At lost he saw the other door and approached it. & "Don‘t go in there," I warned. "Why not? Ha! So that‘s where vou have her concealed?" _I preserved a dignified silence Wheat use to argueâ€"with,. a raving maniac like that? I barred his way, but he ran at me like an enraged bull and hurled me aside with insane violence. "I‘ve caught you," he said, glaring I ‘drew back the covers from the inanimate form on the couch. her?" he deâ€" Where is the T H E P R E S â€"Standing in the doorway blinking at the‘sudden light was a man whom I recognized ‘ after "a . momeft® as Julius, the esceaped convict! :* _ Jhep He yanked the door open and then fell back in open mouthed amazeâ€" ment. e &0 Tuke $ W § â€" No one was any more surprised at the turn of events than I was. To be expecting toâ€"see a beautiful girl in negligee emerge from a closet, and instead to behold a~ toughâ€"looking man ‘with three days‘ growth of whiskers, is startling. â€"_ & . © Where was Maryella? I did not ask the question out loud. f "Evening, gents," said Julius geâ€" nially. â€" & LW,.. & C © "What are you doing here?" the sheriff inquired. ; "Why, it was sort of cold outside," explained Julius, "and I thought you wouldn‘t mind myâ€"coming in to get warm. Besides I thought it was about time for Bill and me to be moving, so I come to get him." "Well, of all the cussed nerveâ€"!" the sheriff wondered. morsâ€"* "Then where is my wife?" shouted Hemmingway. *"What have you done with the women I love?" "Oh, John, do you mean that?" From the rear of the crowd came Mrs. Hemmingway‘s voice. Shestruggled through the throng to reach the side of her mate. He held out his arms to her, but paused suspiciously" â€" "Where have you been?" . â€" "But your pearls were on the dresser!" . "I lent them to Maryella for the show." "Safe in bed until all this racket woke. me up." . "Then this isn‘t vour room?" The explanation seemed satisfacâ€" tory. Without asking any further questions he folded her into his arms and they cooed over one another with shanicless disregard of the audience. While interest was centered on the reunited Hemmingway family, Julius the convict seized the opportunity to edge near the door. No one noticed his gradual progress, and now, all at once he made a quick dash for libâ€" erty. ’ Fortunately for Julius most of his pursuers were at least twice his age, and were further impeded by rheumaâ€" tism, canes and crutches. I might possibly have caught him, but I hadn‘t the heart.. I was in_too low spirits myself to wish to see any other human being in trouble. The rest followed. him outdoors, but I considered that I had done my duty when‘I had gone as far as the main floor. . Somethingâ€"eise was worâ€" rying me. The problem of Maryella‘s disappearance was of a thousandfold more interest to me than the mere capture of the exâ€"convict. H No wonder .she had fainted. . To step into a closet as a haven of refâ€" uge and unexpectedly to find it ocâ€" »cupied by another humanâ€"being was enough to shake the strongest heart. Knowing that I was safe from inâ€" terruption for a moment, I went upâ€" stairs to Maryella‘s room once more. It was empty. The Hemmingways had evidently retired to her.room. to settle their differences as best they could. ho . Maryella‘s room was certainly a wreck. ~The dismantled bed gave a very dejected air to the entire apartâ€" ment. There was only one place she could be. I walked directly to the closet, the door of which stood open,* and pehetrated its obscure depths. _â€"There, hidden by old clothes, I found her unconscious upon the floor, huddled up in a disconsolate heap. I lifted her out. How â€"beautiful she was even in ‘a faint! How clear her> skin and how soft the flesh around her throat! I put her down on the floor while Treconstructed the bed. . After I hadâ€"put her upon it I hunted up Mrs. Lillielove, to whom I briefly explained the facts in the case, swearing her to secrecy. She was immensely flattered at being taken into one of my amorous advenâ€" tures, and agreed to help. i Together we worked over Maryâ€" ella until she. showed signs of returnâ€" ing consciousness. â€" Then, at. Mrs. Lillielove‘s suggestion, I left. â€" It would be better to reserve explanaâ€" tions until after Maryella had been rested by a long sleep. I was glad to let it go. at that. I <was unbelievably. tired myself. The long hike on.skis and the néxvous strain of the_last hour had worn me out_completely.? .. Coan migh Oe I hunted up the cot which had been assigned me in the first place and threw myself upon it, perfectly conâ€" tent to let things stand in statu quo Uuntil morning. CHAPTER XIII. ~ By Iceâ€"Boat The searching party had given up the chase of Julius long before I got up. It was aâ€"mighty tiréd* bunch of old men that assembled for breakâ€" fast. â€" They were going to eat and then go to bed for an allâ€"day snooze. : As for me, I.was tremendously reâ€" freshed "and ready to face anything that came along. While we were at breakfast the sheriff, who had gone in to look ~at his other prisoner, came back wideâ€" eyed and trembling. (Continued on following page) d started in >â€"mmingways yo . Ya», pursuit, to their leavyâ€" 33 s t