Jasper County Democrat, Volume 11, Number 59, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 December 1908 — Won by a Turnout. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Won by a Turnout.

By RUTH CAMPBELL.

' Copyrighted. 1908, by Associated ’j Literary Press.

With a derisive honk the car shot past the pedestrians and vanished In a cloud of dust. Dorothy Stanford regarded it angrily and stamped her foot “That's the third time he’s done that thing. I believe he’s doing it on purpose. If he passes us again 1*11” What she would do was not told, for at that instant there sounded another warning, and now a gray car shot past in pursuit of the red. “They have a right to the road," defended Lawrence Mayling Indulgently. He could afford to be generous to a defeated foe, since Dolly had es-, chewed automobiles and had taken to pedestrianism. Mayling had no car, but he was a good walker and the holder of the distance championship which was contested every Saturday. The Marathon races had roused the local love of athletics, wherefore the distance runner and the distance Walker were the local heroes. This had given Larry Mayling his chance with Dolly, for his long legs car-

tied him over the ground at a splendid speed, and he left all others far behind. All summer, with Dudley Blount and Paul Frazer contending for Dolly’s favor, he had seen little of her. She had loved tbe swift, easy motion of tbe high powered cars, and she had been unable to resist their charms. But since the athletic fad had struck Chesterton the owners of cars were decidedly out of it. Not alone were they regarded as persons too lazy to use nature’s own means of locomotion, but in addition they got themselves very much disliked by speeding past pedestrian parties and raising a dust that made walking unpleasant. “They should be kept off the course at least,” said Dolly severely. “The roads are for the people and not merely for a few selfish persons w’ho have money enough to buy cars.” Mayling smiled, but said nothing. Not so long ago Dolly had ‘protested against the deliberate fashion in which pedestrians occupied the road to the annoyance of autolsts. Now the shoe pinched the other foot, and she had changed her opinions. There might, after all, be a chance to win her hand before tbe walking fad died.

The situation was not due to the fact that Mayllng cared for Dolly while she did not care for him, but Stephen Stanford, Dolly’s father, had made a fortune in Chesterton, and Mayllng argued that the easiest way to win a fortune was to marry one. With the coming of the athletic craze he had seen his opportunity to win, and he bad pressed his advantage hard. Now he was training Dolly for the ladies’ race, which was to be a feature of the coming week’s sports, and he was making the most of his opportunities. Blount and Frazer, whom he chose to regard as his disappointed rivals, persisted in running their cars over the triangular course on which the races were to be tried, Dolly waxed more and more angry each time the cars passed them with the “honk” that was capable of so many interpretations. What made It worse was that she really cared for .Dudley Blount, and she was both hurt and angry at the calm ’fashion in wnich he had abandoned all effort to win her favor when she had decided that walking was the thing. Dolly bad expected that he would make some fight against the new fad, but Instead he had laughed when she urged him to take up the exercise. “You wfeuld do well to leave the car in the garage,, for awhile,” she counseled. “Walking is good for you.” “I get plenty of that when the car breaks down,” he reminded her. “I guess I*ll stick to" wheels, Dolly, and Jet you jlo the walking.” Dolly had shrugged her shoulders to show her indifference, bnt she was none the less hurt and angry and proceeded to show marked interest in Mayllng in order to teach Blount a

lesson that he seemed too Indifferent to learh. As Frazer’s red car passed them for about the tenth time in their circuit of the course Dolly had a sudden inspiration. “Mr. Blount In his gray car cannot be far behind,” phe said. “Let us pretend that we do not bear and make him take the side of the road Instead.” “Do you think that he will?” asked Mayling uneapily. “Of course he will turn out,” said Dolly confidently. “He won't try t« run us down, and when he sees that we do not Intend to move out he will have to turn.” She smiled radiantly at the Idea, but found no answering smile on her escort’s face. Mayling went white to the lips at the thought of what might happen were the plan to miscarry He did not think of the girl, only ol himself, for Mayling despite his atb letle prowess was no moral hero. He was not afraid to fight. Indeed, he rather welcomed the opportunity, for he was reasonably certain to knock out his’man, but to walk with one’s back to an auto and to dare a rival to keep on were not at all to his liking. When the faint humming of the motor told of the coming of the gray racer Dolly smiled delightedly. Noticing signs of a bolt on the part of her companion as the frantic sounding of the horn told that Blount was near, she caught at his coat. In an ecstasy of fear Mayling threw off her hold and dashed for the side of the road just as Blount, to avoid an accident, took chances on the roadside.

Mayling ran directly Into the patu of the auto, and then, with another quick twist of the steering wheel, Blount threw the car at the stone fence. The next instant there was the sound of exploding tires, and the driver was thrown heavily to the frozen ground. He lay still and white, and with a little cry of terror Dolly ran to his side. Tenderly she raised his head Into her lap and with her handkerchief stanched the flow of blood from the cut in his forehead, while Mayling stood wonderingly by. “Can’t you go for a doctor?” she asked when at last she looked up. “If you had done as I told you It would have been all right, but you bad to run at the wrong moment for all the world like a scared chicken. I thought that athletics made men brave, but I was wrong. It seems to make them foolish. That action of Mr. Blount’s was braver than anything you ever dared think of.”

“I guess I won’t need a doctor, Dolly,” murmured the injured man. “That is all the tonic I need. It would have been all right if you had kept to the road, but when Mayling ran directly in my path I” “You risked your life for his,” finished Dolly proudly. “Dudley, you were splendid.” “I guess I had better get a carriage anyhow,” said Mayling sheepishly as he started for tbe town. Tbe scene was not to his liking. Tbe two beside the road did not even seem to realize that he was gone, for in each other’s eyes they read the old, old story and found it delightfully new”. Blount had won by a turnout His ruined car and aching bead were forgotten.

“YOU RISKED YOUR LIFE FOR HIS," FIN ISHED DOLLY PROUDLY.