THE GIRL IN THE CAR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22119, 27 May 1935, Page 15

THE GIRL IN THE CAR

By OTTWELL BINNS Author of "The Stolen Debutante." "The Lavenham J reasure, " The Cry in the Night," etc.

SYNOPSIS As Roy Huntley is preparing to leave the train at Newton-Porcorum station the door of the next compartment opens and a man, jumping down to the pennanont way, disappems in the darkness. Roy, the only other passenger to alight, is expecting to be met by his friend. Harrey Judson. at whose house he is to stay; but Judson is not there, and bb Roy passes into the lane outside he is overpowered and dragged into a waiting motor car. which is driven awny at a high speed, A little later it collides with an approaching vehicle, driven by a girl who is thrown out. The car containing Roy and his captors drives on. and when Roy struggles to go to the girl's assistance he is rendered unconscious. He comes to his senses to find that he is in a room where he hears someone say: " You've brought the wrong man." CHAPTER I.—(Continued) The man gave a terse account of the accident and of the girl who had been left in the wrecked car, ending with a comment that rang with conviction. "If that wasn't the Laundy girl I'll eat my hat. Must have been. We know she was due to meet him, and I guess she was just late in getting to the station. There wasn't another car about, and the one we smashed up—the only one we met, mind you—was going that way with a girl at the wheel. The facts just shout, boss." "Maybe! But they don't tell us where Laundy is. And that is the thing that matters, Carroll. I wonder if this fellow knows anything." " Give him a reviver an' ask him," said Carroll. " That's the way to find out."

" All right. There's brandy over there, and glasses. Just get a nip. We may learn something if we've luck." Huntley lying quite still, rapidly considered his course of action. In a moment he was bound to revive. The brandy, unless he swallowed naturally, was certain to make him splutter, and after that any pretence of insensibility would be in vain. And there was that girl to think of. If he could get away he might still be able to help her if she were not dead. The man who had left the train surreptitiously would scarcely be waiting still, and he could do no harm to tell the ruffians what had happened. He made up his mind swiftly, and when the man began to pour the brandy into his mouth, he spluttered and coughed with convincing naturalness.

"Good stuff, boss!" laughed Carroll. "Regular corpse-lifter! Do I give him the lot? " " Yes! "

The glass was thrust to his lips again, and he swallowed the contents, then opened his eyes and, sitting upright, tooked round with assumed bewilderment. The bearded man in the glasses gave him no time to ask questions. " You look surprised, my friend," he said suavely. "I do not wonder. There has been a little error and an apology is due to you. Under a misapprehension you have been brought here instead of another man, for whom you were mistaken. But the matter shall be rectified as far as possible. 'There is a little thing, however, in which you can assist us; and for your own sake I hope you will." " What—"

" Just the answer to a simple question. When you got out of the train at Newton-Porcorum you were the only passenger to alight at that station ? " The only one at the station," answered Huntley, stressing the last three words. " Jumpiing Jehosphaphat!" cried Carroll. " Mean to say some guy slipped out when the train pulled up outside the station? " " There certainly was a man who got out. I saw him. I thought he was bilking the company —" "Bilking Hades!" shouted Carroll. "He was diddling us. Where did he go?" " Oh, across the line and over a fence into an orchard." " What make of a guy was he? " " Tall—as tall as I am. He had a suitcase —" "Laundv! Boss, that was our man. I guess he watched us snap this bird here, an' laughed in his sleeve at us. But he'll be waiting for his sister. He can't get away from that hole at this time o' riight. If the boys and I take the other c.ir we'll scoop him yet. " Then go, for heaven's sake, and don't inakp such a confounded mess-up this time."

" Don't worry, boss. It gets my rag to think of that fellow grinning at us, while we made a bloomer. We 11 get him if he's above ground. Swanny, get the other car. Sharp!" There was a movement at the other end of the room, and looking round Roy Huntley saw the man who had driven the saloon going toward the door. Then Carrol spoke again. "What about this bird here?" The man whom he addressed, turned and considered Huntley. The dark glasses hid his eyes, but there was a cold calculating look on his face which made Huntley shiver. Then the man jerked his hand, and he and Carroll moved out of earshot and talked together iri low tones. Presently Carroll returned.

" Get up, my beauty." Huntley stagged to his feet, and watched the room apparently gyrating, while he rested a hand against the wall for support. "No kick left! " Carroll laughed brutally. "Just as well. It'll save trouble. Now listen to me, mister. We're going to give you a lift down the road, an' turn you loose! —that's the boss' idea, though it ain't mine. But what he says goes. You won't be hurt unless you get fresh; an' if you do that you'll be hurt so bad you'll never be hurt again. You get that? All right! Right about face. I'm going to bandage your peepers. 'Tain't healthy • for you to be seeing too much." Huntley looked doubtfully at the man with the glasses, who reassured him in the suave tones ho had previously used. " That is quite right, though expressed a little crudely. You have nothing to fear but the little inconvenience. I am afraid you will have a wet walk; but God makes the weather no t 1. . . . But a word of advice is not unseasonable. If you are wise you will forget your little visit here and all the . . .*er . . • preliminaries, Mr. Huntley." " You know my name? cried Huntley in surprise. " Easily acquired knowledge, laughed the other genially. " It is on the tag attached to your case. . . . Ah! There is the car. 1 am afraid wo must part." " llight about." growled Carroll. " Sharp's the word." Thore seemed nothing else for it. Huntley faced the wall, and the man promptly bandaged his eyes. A second later tlie handle of his suitcase was i thrust into his hand. I

(COPy RIGHT)

A POWERFUL STORY OF LOVE AND ADVENTURE

" Here's your grip. You'll not bo leaving that," said Carioll. " Now step out. I'll be the blind mail's clog."

He stepped out, and was guided out of the house to a terrace, where the soft purr of an engine proclaimed the waiting ear. He was led to it, and once more found himself seated between two of his captors, and by reason of his bandage in complete darkness. The car began to move. He wondered if he dare slip the bandage and obtain a glimpse of his surroundings, but as if he had read his thoughts, in the same moment Carroll's voice spoke harshly: "No hanky-panky, Mister what's-your-name, or as sure as God made little apples you get it." The hard thrust against his ribs which he had previously experienced was renewed, and that grim threat was not to be ignored. He remained quite still, and made no effort to loosen the bandage. The pace of the car accelerated. A minute and a-lialf later it turned sharply to the right, the unexpected swerve throwing him against one of the men; and ho guessed that the car had swung through a gateway into the high road. The speed increased. Neither of his guards spoke, and, other than the swish of the wheels on the wet road and the purr of the engine, the only sound was the patter of heavy rain on the roof. A considerable time elapsed, and he was trying to calculate the number of miles they must have travelled, when one of the men at his side gave a sharp whistle.

The car slowed down and camo to a standstill. Then a door was opened; the pistol was jabbed against his side, and Carroll's voice gave the order.

" Out you get.' Mind the step." Ho stumbled out to the road, then again caught Carroll's jibing voice. "So long, ba-ba! A pleasant walk." A door crashed heavily. Ho heard the car move off, and in the same second lie tore the bandage from his eyes and looked round. In the driving rain the only visible thing was the red tail-light of the car gleaming like a ruddy star. It gave hini his direction, and facing the rain he b< -an to follow the receding car. His hea l ached intolerably, the driving, rain chilled him to the bone, and he felt utterly exhausted, but he tramped steadily on, spurred by a single thought—that girl.

He did not know whether she was in front or behind him, but the thing to do was to get help. There would be a house somewhere, the inmates of which would respond to the call of humanity and . . . unexpectedly he found himself walking uphill. The rise was a eteep one, and remembering that it was nt the crest of such a hill the accident had befallen, a sudden excited anticipation stirred in him. In spite of the incline his pace quickened, and when he reached the crest he stared breathlessly through the rain and darkness. A shadow on the wet road caught his eyes. " The car."

He ran toward it. Just as lie reached it he saw something else —a smudge of white against the dark background of the bank. He looked more closely, and made out the outlines of a feminine figure reclining there, with pale face turned upward toward the weeping sky. In a flash he divined the truth. Here was the girl for whom he had been so greatly concerned. She must have revived and crawled out of the wreckage of the car, then, overborne, have thrown herself on the slope of the bank and again lapsed into unconsciousness, or

A sharp fear that she was dead assailed him. Hurriedly he stretched a hand and touched the pale cheek. As he did so the girl gave a little start, her eyes opened and stared fearfully into the darkness. Whereat, infinitely relieved, Roy Huntley cried in heartfelt gladness. "Alive! Thank God. Alive!" CHAPTER n. As Roy Huntley cried the words which voiced his relief, the girl's dark eyes turned to him wonderingly. A moment later she gave a little inarticulate cry and tried to lift herself from the bank. To Roy Huntley's ears the cry seemed burdened with fear, and he hastened to reassure her.

" Don't be afraid. I am a friend and I am here to help you. There was an accident, you know." The girl moved again at that, and cried a little hysterically: "Yes! Yes! A big car—"

Her voice broke and she shivered violently, sagging back again to the bank. Huntley, with a fear that she had suffered some injury that was not apparent to him, spoke quickly, his voice tense with concern. " You are hurt?" he asked. " Tell me. I must get help from somewhere." The girl recovered a little at the words, and answered brokenly: " No bones . . . but my head —is hurt, I think . . . and I feel dizzy . . . and sick."

He found the words reassuring. The dizziness and sickness and even the shivering were no more than was to be expected after the physical shock she must have suffered, and he answered her soothingly: " That is natural after so bad a crash. May I look at your head? It may need bandaging."

The girl made no demur. She had lost her hat. and her hair, worn long, had broken down from its fastenings and was soaked with the rain. In the darkness it was not easy for him to see anything; but presently his fingers found a bump at the back "of her head. As he touched it the girl pave a little cry of pain, and even in the darkness he could see a stain on the light-coloured woolly which she wore.

" There is a bruise and, I am afraid, a cut —nothing worse, I hope, Miss Laundy "

As, without much thought, he gave her the name, which had been in his mind from the beginning, the girl started violently, half-lifted herself from the bank. "Steady!" he cried, but the girl lifted herself higher. " My name!" she broke ont challengingly. " How do you know —P" Her voice failed, choked by the stress of emotion, but from the white face the dark eyes stared at him almost hostilely, and he macli haste to reassure her. " 1 learned it by accident. I will tell you presently. Just now you must trust me. Believe me, I am your friend. You must lev me bind your head and then I will help you to some place where you can rest.''

" 'Rest!' 1 have no time for that . . . 1 must get to —to Newton-Porcorum, quickly." " I am afraid that will not be very easy," he answered quietly. " Your car is wrecked, and this is a rather lonely road, with little traffic on it at this hour'. But, no may find a house, and perhaps a vehicle of some kind " I can walk!" interrupted the girl. " I must go at once. There is. . . someone waiting for me." " I know." be said quietly. " Your brother."

" How do you know that?" The girl's voice was suddenly stronger, and the challenging note was there again. Huntley sensed the hostility behind the challenge, and answered quickly: (To be continued daily)