Newspaper Page Text
NO MAN'S v
LAND 4 ROMANCE
ByoLOUIS JOSEPH VANCE
_C’afim;c]-;/l;;‘/{/sp’g,ml .gfgrsmfiez fiy wskfi.
e SYNOPSIS.
| Garrett Coast, & yéun%' man of New
m Cit{x.nmeeta Dgugl@,s lackstock, who
i tes h to a card party. He accepts,.
although he dislikes Blackstock, the rea
son being that both are in love with Kath-
Thaxter. Coast fails to convince her
g Blackstock is unworthy of her
friendship. At the party Coast meets two
named Dundas amfa Van Tuyl. There is
& quarrel, and Blackstock shoots Van
Tuyl dead.
CHAPTER lil.—(Continued.)
The man looked up and nodded.
“Well, it’s too late now. That’s done
for gcod and all. We needn’t quarrel
about it.”
He went back to his seat.
. “Good Lord, how long they are!”
He began to talk, to maunder to
himself of what might have been and
what had been, speaking of his aims,
ambitions, achievements in an oddly
detached way, as he might have re
viewed another’s life, only emotional
when forced to realization of the fact
that this was the end of it all. The
phrase; “This ends it!” punctuated
the semi-confessional soliloquy mo
notonously, repeated over and over
with the same %alling inflection, Coast
detected not a word, not even a note
of regret for his crime, save inasfar
as it affected Blackstock’s fortunes—
blasted them. :
A shrill clamor' of the telephone
bell electrified them all. Dundas cried
out. Blackstock jumped up and
stumbled into the hall. Coast, rising,
heard his voice. s
“Yes. Tell them to come up.” |
He returned, almost reeiing. “Here, |
Dundas,” he said, slowly, “you let 'em |
in, will you, like a good fellow.” ~ ° .
Mute in his panic, Dundas went to
the door.
Coast could hear the whine of the
ascending elevator, the' clanking of
its safety chains. . . .
Abruptly he was conscious that
Blackstock’s temper had undergone a
change. From passive surrender to
his fate the man had passed to a mood
of active resistance. Somehow in
stinctively, Coast seemed to divine
this in the surcharged, tense atmos
phere of that moment. He shot a
swift, suspicious look at the man, and
caught in.return a look of low cunning
and desperation.
¥Yie saw Blackstock in a pose of at
tention: listening, every sense alert,
every muscle flexed—a man gathering
hifbself together as a cat about”to
spfng.
'~ The elevator was very near the
floor. & T
“By" God!” Blackstock . whispered,
wetting his lips; and again his eyes
-were blazing. “I'll fool ’em yet!”
The man turned swiftly. Outside
tigh- mlevator - gate -clanged:: Coast
hedrd ‘a confusion”’ of footfali®'+and
voices, a knocking on the door. And
suddenly he understood what Black
stock intended. = Already: he had: re
gained the side table and snatched up
the pistol. He turned with it lifted.
“They shan’t have me!” he cried, and
reversed it to his temple.
* “You fool!” Coast screamed uncon
sciously. With almost incredible
swiftness of action he flung himseif.
upon Blackstock and seized the pistol,
deflected it toward the ceiling. It
exploded.
For a moment longer he was strug
gling frantically with Blackstock to
gave the man from self-destruction.
Then, without warning, he was seized
and dragged away, holding the pistol.
A strange hand snatched that away.
Other hangs pinioned his arme to
his sides. He fought for freedom for
.an instant, then ceased tg_resist, thun
derstruck with amazement.
Blackstock towered over him, point
ing him out. “That’s your man—take
him!” he cried. *“He's done murder
and was trying suicide. I managed to
keep him quiet until he heard you
coming, then he made a grab for the
pistol. Thank God, you're in time!”
Something stuck in Coast's throat—
his tongue trying to articulate in a
mouth dry with fear and consterna
tion. “You liar!” he managed to say.
“You—"
“Shut up, you!” One of the police
men holding him clapped a hand over
“his mouth. . g
“Why,” he heard Blackstock say,
_“you saw him yourself, gentlemen. If
there’s any question in your minds,
here’'s Mr. Dundas, who saw it all
Dundas; who shot Van Tuyl? Mr.
Const, here?” -«
Dimly as through a haze Coast saw
‘pundas emerge from the press of men
in the room, a ghost of a man, eyelids
quivering, :limbs shaking, features
working in his small, pasty face. And
§n his anguish of anger, fear and re
sentment, Coast detected the look, un
observed by any other, of secret un
derstanding that passed between the
e e T yi ¥ g v
lous. “Why—why, of course, Mr.
Coast did at”
. Coast-felt the chill of handcufiz on
his wrist—a chill that ate into his
L T g
€HAPTER HIl. - .
Warburton had forgotten nothing.
Coast walked out of Sing Sing to en
ter his own car, his departure so con
trived and timed that he was con
sclous neither of a strange face nor a
curious stare. The occupant of the
driver’s seat proved to be:the mechan
ician who had driven for him prior to
his trial and conviction; his “Good
morning, Mr. Coast; it's a pleasure to
seeyou looking so well, sir,” conveyed
precisely the right degree of respect
ful congratulation; in this, too, Coast
recognized the hand of his lawyer.
He was grateful, further, for the hamp
er containing an excellent cold lunch,
as well as for the fact, which Warbur
ton presently disclosed, that the affair
of his release had been managed so
swiftly and quietly that only the
lates editions of that day’s evening pa
pers would contain the news:
“We tried to give you as much time
as we could,” Warburton told him.
Eét.,"-,‘ '¢ _ -
ek 6 o
an . ) : S
o a) 8“ /////'///// 2
=== S - U
S 0 2t T e .
s : ‘ Tm = ;
LU | 'y
43y NI3 ’/'3
::s" : S .
( oi~=_J~
sl ~\ : 5 it I
(5= 4
He “Found Appalling the Thought of Re-entering It.
“Whatever your plans are, you’ll be
glad not to be.mobbed before you get
a chance to put 'em across.”
Coast’s swift smile was reward
enough for the little man. He snug
gled comfortably into his corner of
the tonneau, the: broad eccentrie
curves of his plump face and figure
radiating pride of conquest in addi
tion to the honest delight he felt be
cause of his client’s deliverance.
To his client and friend the world
rocked in a sea of emotions rediscov
ered. The sense of freedom, of space,
of motion, the soft buffeting in his
tace of the clean, sweet, unpent air,
the recognition of a mew-born world
a-riot with color—vernal green, inef
fable empyrean blue, flooding gold of
sunlight—played upon his heart a
muted melody. ok
Again he thanked his God his father
and mother had not lived to know the
day of his arrest. . . .. . o
He experienced a curious freak of
memory, very suddenly seeing be
tween him and the glorious world a
fragment of a scene, his trial, exceed
ingly vivid; Blackstock groping a ‘slow
way toward the witness stand, his .dark
face the darker for an eye-shade, his
eyes masked sinisterly with smoked
glasses. . - . :
Poor old Van Tuyl! . . .
His nerves crawled with apprehen
[csa it de Ot ey
»’L.!,w-( 98?;-- L N a"‘,:m; ,*m, e ;
érmgx«,mbm&&%&“fiwfiwtf&
city of his birth and banishment; the
city inexorable, insatiable, argus-eyed,
peopled with its. stating millions, ‘rav
ening with curiosity, whose appetite
should long since have been glutted
with details of his disgrace. He found
appaliing the thought of reentering it,
of trying to take up his former life in
its easy, ordered groove, of coming
and going in the company of those
in whose eyes his brow would be for
ever branded with the mark of Cain—
yes, even though he were exoner
ated of “the' crime of which he had
been accused, for which he had been
placed on trial, convicted and sen
tenced. Would they ever learn to be
ilieve: him guiltless, even though the
truth . were published broadcast,
trumpeted frem the housetops? Would
bhe not remain to them always the
questionable hero of a sensational
murder trial, whose escape from the
electric chair had been due simply
and solely to the exertions of his in
fluential friends? . . .
' Exoneration!
The word was sweeter to him than
the name of Freedom had been to his
forebears in 1776 and 1861. He dared
not breathe it—yet; he dared not hope
for it nor even question whether or
not it had been made his.
What if his release had been solely
due to the offices of his friends, to
pressure brought to bear upon the
‘state executive? . . . He felt that
to discover such to be the case would
iprove insufferabie. Death itself were
preferable to life without vindication
‘of the charge that had been laid
‘against Himes"oi s
So terribly he feared to learn the
wuths 0,
His friends, those who stood by him,
those who had been silent, those who
had denied him; what would be their
receptiom of*him now? ‘He conned the
names of a dozen of the dearest; did
they belleve in him, even now, in
their secret hearts? Had they ever
had absolute faith in his Innocence,
despite thelr protestations?. Would
he himself ever cease to doubt them se
cretly?. . ol R
Not Up to Expectations
Mankind and the World Frequently
Disappointing to Hopeful ~Youth,
. Says Theodore Parker.
I suppose many of us are a little
disappointed with mankind. The
world ‘of the girl’s dream is not the
world: of the. young woman's actual
sight and touch, and still less is it so
-of the woman no longer young. In
the moonlight of dreamy youth, as
we look out of the windows and re
‘joice in the blooming apple trees, how
different does.the world seem from
what we find it the next day, when In
the heat of a- May sun, we go about
and remove the caterpillars from the
scrubby trees. A boy bred In a
' wealthy family in a little village, se
cluded from the eyes of men, filling
his consclousness with nature and the
~poems and this grest magnificest |
' Katherine Thaxter . .. .!
'He had heard nothing of or from
‘her since his conviction; before that,
little enough; a mote or two of halt
‘ing sympathy, tinctured by a con
‘straint he had been afraid to analyze.
Whether it had been due to belief ‘in
‘his guilt, or to a thing more dreadful
}in his understanding, he had never
found the courage to debate, not even
in the longest watches of the hope
‘less nights when he had lain in wa
}klng’ torment in his cell, listening to
some miserable ccndemned wretch
moaning in his &leep a door or two
down the row. . . . ;
His thoughts had swung the fall
circle. He ceased to think coherently.
In time Warburton touched Coast’s
arm with a gentle hand. “Lunch?” he
queried, almost plaintive.
To see Coast smile once more was a
keen delight. . . . :
When they had finished, Coast, re
freshed and strengthened, diverted
and enlivened, boldly grasped the net
tle.
“Well—?” he asked with a steady
glance of courage.
Warburton pounced nimbly upou his
chance. “It’s exoneration,” he bezan,
and unconsciously hit upon the word
so squarely that he caught himself up
with a gasp at Coast’s reception of it.
“Why?” he cried, alarmed, “you’re
white as a sheet, man! I said exon
eration—full and clear!”
Coast reassured him with a gesture.
“It’s just joy,” he explained simply.
He put his head back against the
cushions, closed his eyes and drew a
long breath. “How was I to guess
how all this had been brought about?
I was afraid to ask, afraid to surmise,
even. Tell me, please.”
“It came—like thunder out of a
clear sky, Garrett; none more amazed
than I.” Warburton reverted to the
habit of clipped phrases that charac
terized his moments of excitement.
“] suppose you know—you’'ve seen the
papers?”
“Only infrequently. I . . . was
a bit cowardly about them, 1 pre
sume.” ”
“Then you hadn’'t heard about
Blackstock?’ Coast shook his head.
“Well, his eyes went back on him-~
were failing during the trial, if you'll
remember. - I heard he’d injured them
|somehow——-with his wireless experi
ments, you know. He went mnearly
blind and ‘took himself out of the
country—to Germany, the papers said,
to consult a Berlin specialist, perhaps
to undergo an operation.”
“One moment.” Coast took a deep
breath. “Did he go alone?”
“So far as I know. Why?”
“No matter. Call it idle curiosity.”
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
TAKES BACK THE EMPTY PODS
Thaddeus Obediently Returns to Gro
., cer, but Is Exceedingly Busy
o En Route. :
Little Thaddeus is ‘an East side boy
who. likes uncooked young green peas
These- tid-bits he devours’ with relish
direct from the pods, in whatever
quantities are obtainable. His weak
ness for young green peas x_'ecently
came near getting him into trouble
as it led him to petty larceny.
Passing’ a small grocery near his
home, the youngster spled a basket
of peas, and, seeing that no one was
looking, he grabbed a fistfull and
toddled ‘hurriedly off. ‘' Reaching’
home with his plunder he was about
to git down and leisurely enjoy him
self, when his mither discovered him
with the goods on, and demanded to
know where he got the peas. !
“I taked ’emt sum B’own’s 'tore,” eX
plained the youngster, nibbling a pea
appreciatively. -
“Thaddeus,” said the mother stern
{y, “you take those peas right back to
Mr. Brown, and when you give them
back to him you tell him you are:a
thiet.” S
Thaddeus obediently got up and
started back toward the store, but he
must have been exceedingly busy en
route, for it was a handful of empty
pea hulls that he handed to the gro
cer. t
“Hey, Misser B'own,” he sald, “take
em. I'm a fief.” :
Bible and other religious books mir
ror dowp into his own soul, goes out
into the world, and finds things very
different from what they appeared
when seen through the windows of
‘ the home which his father’s and moth
‘er's affection colored with the rose
and violet of their own nature.—The
’odore Parker.
| Beneath the Table.
! George—" Didn’t you notice that I
‘pressed your® foot at the dinner to
‘night?” Mazie—*“Why, it wasn’t my
‘foot you pressed! Oh, George, I won
dered why mamma was smiling so
sweetly at the minister!”—Michigan
Gargoyle.
- Ben Jonsen declared for a face
R 4 '.r,’y'-.v"‘}':";':';l.’-':"’n{v vv"‘/" "
E’J’f—.fi' !‘“»«! Efi;’“m‘;‘é‘é'«ffi';_ewfim
~ Booth Tarkington the Amefican
playwright and novelist; 18 a'very early
rises,- and, swhen. the . English play
wright and novelist, Arnold Bennett,
visited him at his charming residence
in. Fndidnapolis, Mr. Tarkington said,
‘the first evening at dinner: |
“I believe in the simple life. T get
up with the sun. Will you take a ten
mile walk with me at 6 o’clo¢k tomor
row merning?”’
.. “Thank you, Mr. Tarkington,” the
Englishman answered, “but I don’t
wall in"my sléep.’™ . & i
b FREE ‘ASTHMA CURE:"
D. J. Lane, a chemist at 700 Lane Build
ing, St. Mary’s, Kansas, manufactures a
remedy for asthma in which he has so
much confidence that he sends !}.?l bot
tle by express to any one who will write
him for it. His offer is that he is to be
paid for it if it cures, and the one taking
the treatment is to be the judge.
The Commander.
“Does Mrs. Peck’s husband com
mand a good salary?”
“He earns a good salary; she com
mands it.”
ITCH, ITCH relieved in 30 minutes by
Woolford’s Sanitary Lotion. At Druggists,
The true man is one who will neith
er seek an indirect advantage by a spe
cicus word, nor take an evil path to
secure a good purpose.—Scott.
= o Y B .
1’ - -A‘:MJ ;”K :::_ X
H g %
4 To Miake SIOO Per Month §
Above Expenses :
2 ) aro now making
4 About 2000 Ken 53 tou.oins
& our Medxclpes,-Extyacts, Spices, Soaps, Per- &
# fumes, Toilet Articles, Stock and Poultry
& Preparations, Polishés, Ete. Our Company
fastestgrowing, most progressive, most suc-
A cessful. Established over 17 years. Capital |§
# and surplus over §2,000,000. Big Branch
@ Warehouses at Memphis, Tenn. and Chester,
#4 Pa. make low freight rates and quick ser
§ vice. Total floor space in factories and ware
¥ houses, over 10 acres.
one man in each unoceupied
5 w‘ Now want locality to take full charge of
3% all deliveries to farmers and others from a wagon sim
-8 ilar to the one below; in short, & manable to take full
M charge of everything pertaining to our business in his
i district. Not every man can fill this position nor can
& wo afford to contract with one who is too extravaggzot
or too old or too young. We want to hear from men
who have been fairly successful--honest, industrious
men who will be satisfied to make not less than
SIOO Per Month Clear Profit
ahove expenses the first year, SIBOO the recond
year, snd $24 00 the third year.
¥ 1f you are fairly well acquainted ip your locality and
M think you can fill the position, lose no time in writing
R us for particulars as wo arc mow rapidly filling all
8 vacant territory. We do not want”to hear from men
under 20 or over b 0 yeurs of age, coléred people, or
women. To get this. position a man must be able to
furnish 1 or 2 horses to conduct the business, alse good
business men as references. If you canuot mest these
requirements do not write: if you can meet them, write
us; you are the man we are looking for. The position
| pays big, is honorable and permanent.
W. T. Rawleigh Co. Freeport, I, &
= " o o % Sy b
N R 37Liberty St. SRS N
Tl . R e
SO TR RS, 2_ i "W‘}.;\
B | | Ret
Jonfradricins loH T e P e |
N ~".,‘L.\‘ ol ) y
\3&‘\ DI P % \4
RSP A £ & »
v‘v RO o eUs oßt
‘fi\ k} R\ o 1 Bl BAt
Shoe Polishes
FINEST QUALITY LARGEST VARIETY
,_,,:/»
PR | ION Te os
Y=o R e T S
i v TN iicglgfg”na oB R
AT oo h;}.{)_R_ISSING':-“" 'u‘-;.:; ";n‘zn :
L (g <2 e cewi el SR g i
Le | R e
RV (RS T DI
?--if ¥8 T :wmtfifi [(%gfliw}flf_- il S ey
VPGS (R gl TR
,J»j'ummoa:.. W IITORITE |ik ) e
Gt sany TG PTAETRRG e |
sl (ot el |
e ffi%’,‘m,»-fi ioo |
Lt ST e Vi iy AR
?:‘;;;;-»ci:'.‘fl irmw:&”{as’“ ‘L? : ‘;“E" B
GBS [
«
GILT EDGE the cply ladies’ shoo-dressing
that positively contains Ofl. Blacks and Polishes
iadies’ and children’s boots and shoes, shines
without rabbing, 2ic. *‘French Gloss,” 10c.
STAR compination for eleaning and polishing all
kinds of russci or tan shoes, 10¢. “Dandy’’ size 2bc.
QUICK WHITE (in liquid form with sponge)
?uickdlyz‘cleans and whitens dirty canvasshoes.
Ue and 2¢.
1A BY ELITE combination for genticmen who
take pride in having thelr shoes look AL’ Restores
zolor and-lustre to all black shoes. Polish with a
brush or cloth, 10 cents. *‘‘Elite” size 25 cents,
If your dealer does not keep the kind you want,
send us the iflm in stamps and we will send you a
full size package charges paid. {
WHITTEMORE BROS. & CO.,
20.26 Albany Bt., Cambridge, Mass,
The Oldest and Largest Manu, ac!urcrs of
Shoe Polishes in the World, - :
Fwa - - s __}“-‘.‘-‘4 4
B MONEY N TRAPPING, oA p 3
| We tell you how srd R 1
pay bestprices. Write ! /
tor weekly price list % ” o,
B and reforences. B P
M.SABEL & SONS (MG
LOUIBVILLE, KY. -
B vt it FURS W
£ Betablished 1858, N
ZIENZCAREN] J| FOR WALLS
(Ce-FLAT P S -9\ AND
Ly I =2 I &N CEILINGS
GOES OR LIKE PAINT; LOOKS LIKE WALL PAPER; YOU CAN WASH IT
A beautiful illustratea book of 24 colors and Photo
iga!ms sent free. Send iournume and address to the
YSTONE VARNISH CO., Brookiyn, N.Y.
nnopsv TREATED. Give-quick ro
lief, usually remove swel
ling and short breath in a few days and
entire rel.ef in 15-45 days, trial treatment
FREE. DR. GREENS SONS, Box 4, Atiants, U,
N | ACTIVE MAN IN EACH
‘VA) TED LOCALITY To join this So
ciety. Bick, n.ceidemxdeash benefits. And introduce
our Memberships, All or;dmre time. SSO to S3OO n
Donth. Write foF pians. BOX D-293, COVIXGTOR, KY.
TAKE A DOSE QF
; ,@,fi COUCHS &5 COLDS |