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. 1- V ' 1*' ; T%h f ?. fsERIAL^ -I STORY - ] STANTON ? [1 WINS n / By Eleanor M. Ingram I Author of "The Game and the Candle." "The Flying Mercury," etc. Illustration* by Frederic Thorab' rgh UutU right, lstli T*- Bobba-MerrtllCompany B "is SYNOPSIS. At the beginning of Rreat RUtomohlle run the mechanician of the Mercury, Stanton's tnuehlne. drop* dead. Strange youth. Jesse Floyd, volunteers, and Is aocopied. In the rest during the twentyfour hour race Stanton meets n stranger. Miss Carlisle, who Introduces herself. The Mereury wins race. Stanton receives Mowers from Miss Carlisle, which he Ignores. Stanton meets Mis Carlisle on a train. They alight to take walk, and train leaves. Stnnton and Miss Carlisle follow In auto. Accident by which Stanton Is hurt Ih mysterious. Floyd, at lunch with Stanton, tells of his boyhood. Stanton again mdets Miss Carlisle and they line together. Stanton comes to track sick, hut makes race. They have accident. Floyd hurt, hut not seriously. At dinner Floyd tells Stanton of his twin sister, Jessica. Stanton becomes very 111 and loses consciousness, (lit recovery, at his hotel Stnnton receives Invitation, and visits Jessica. They go to theater togoth r. and meet Miss Carlisle. Stanton and Floyd meet ngntn and talk business. They agree to operate automobile factory as partners. Floyd becomes suspicious of Miss Carlisle. Stanton again visits Jessica. and they become fast frlendH Stanton becomes suspicious of Miss Carlisle 'Just before tmportnnt raeo tires needed for Stanton's care are delayed. Floyd traces the tires and brings them to enmp. Ddrlng race Stanton deliberately wrecks his car to sate machine In truck. Stnnton and Floyd thrown out and lose consclousness. Two weeks later Stanton *** -jtAvakes. and believes Floyd dead. Miss (.TtVUgte^Wdmlts she was responsible for accident to Stnnton and for his previous Illness. They part. Stanton visits Jessica. and much of mystery Is unraveled. CHAPTER XII.?(Continued.) The acute question pierced -deep. Out of Stanton's suffering leaped the truth In a cry of vehement passion and force. < T J 1 1 ' - 1 uu 1IUI nuuw: JPS6ICII, jeBKlca, I do not know! I want both. I lovo you. I want you for my wife; left with him, I would have missed you. If I * cared for you because you were like him. If I see hltn now In you, what matter? I tell you I want you. but I shall want him all my life. I want the one who rode beside me. the one who --%tood- with me through rough or f smooth, the one who know me and I " him?I want my comrade. Jes Floyd." The naked strength of pain, the fierce outcry of savage bereavement left the ntmosphero swept to primitive clarity, free of all small things. The girl drew herself erect, even her lips colorless in her absolute pallor "but her eyes meeting him on his own ground of desperate honesty, and raised her hands to her hend. Stanton saw her lace sleeves fall hnck. and a zigzag scar start into view on her slender left nrm. Idko bands of silk ribbon she unwound the heavy braids of hair and flung them arlde. letting a mass of short, boyish, bronze curls tumble about her forehead. There was no mistake possible, ever again. He did not know that he spoke. rci hid tij iub airwi ueiow. "Floyd! Floyd!" "I nin Floyd." "You?" "I am Jessica." The room reeled giddily, his vision blurred. And as his composure went down In chaos, her courage rose up to old his need. "You're goln' to take It hard." compassioned her enrnest voice. "I've been doin* wrong to you, while I thought I was only hurtln' myself. I'm sorry." The lisp, the soft excitement-born accent so blent with memories of splendid peril and comrade risk, fell on ready ears. "God!" breathed Stanton, and sank nto a chair, dropping his face upon his arm as It rested on the little teatable. "You've got to benr It; there's only me. Hut that's the only way I've deceived yoti, Stanton." The rustle of ier dress came strangely with his name In those clear tones. "All that I told you of my life Is true, except .lea. My father had to have a son. an' he made me one. At first, when I was ?lltle, it was for fun he called me Jes when I had my boy-clothes on. an' played there were two of .us. Hut when we found that all the country side, all the factory hands, every one except my nurse believed Jes and Jessica twins, we let it go on. It made it easier for him in tralnin' me to be his partner. For he said I was nan fit for that. So Jes studied an' raced an' worked with him all day; in the evenln' Jessica wore frocks and frills. We lived alone In the big house; it was so easy. I used to darken my skin a bit; that was all. You're not listenin'?you want time to think it out?" lie neither moved nor contradicted. Time for readjustment he did need, for realization of this and himself. Standing, a slim, upright figure, she gave it to him, waiting whl'e the little Swiss clock on the mantle chattered through many minutes. "When my father died." she reI stinted, at last, "after I found out that L I wasn't goin' to die, too. 1 saw Jes was able to earn his llvln' while Jesalca was liable to starve. I had it in kr""' ! I told you once that the very smell of i exhaust gas drove me out of myself | with speed-fever. Every racer knows It. you know It, that feelin'. So 1 got | a place In the Mercury factory; an' 1 I luin way i met you. 1 don't Know How I to make you understand!" < He Interrupted her ruthlesBly. nl- I most roughly, as he might once have j l spoken to Floyd: not looking up. < "What of all that? You are you, ' now. You've let me think you dead for two months?you left me In hell." . "No. no!" she denied In swift defense. "Not that. I never guessed that i you could believe me dead; I thought you must know me?JesBlea." "How should I know? You never came near me. The Floyd I knew i ( would have come." the bitterness of ! those desolate nights and days choked speech. There was a pause, filled with some I strange significance beyond his fath- | omlng. "I couldn't come," she deprecated. , her low voice broken. "You're makln' this hard. When I wns picked up stunned, an' taken to the hospital, after we went off the bridge, they found 1 wasn't Jes. They talked of me?the newspapers printed stories about Stanton's mechanician?they said, they said you knew I was a woman when we went West?" The movement that brought Stanton to his feet was galvanic. He understood. finally, in one blinding flash of full comprehension: understood the doctor, the nurse, his fellow-drivers' embarrassed reticence, and Miss Oarlisle. Understood, too. that here had been a suffering acute as his own. And i in the man's hot outrusb of protection Jes and Jessica were fused Into one. "They'll talk to me," he grimly assured. "I'm not shut In a hospital. now. Why didn't you send them to me? You knew I'd come to you?" His sentence broke, ns his eyes caught and held hers; Floyd's eyes, straight and true in spite of the girl's scarlet shame burning in either check "I knew, yes. you are that kind. Hut how could I tell you would want to come? How can I tell it now? You'd see me through safely, anyhow. I'm rcmemherin' that you dismissed Floyd for one falsehood, an' I've tricked you for weeks." He drew a step nearer her; the pulse which had commenced to beat through him the day they started for Indianapolis and which had ceased two mouths ngo. suddenly woke anew with a loug steady stroke. The old rich sense of life ran warm along his veins "What of you?" he put the question "Brute enough I've been to Floyd. Perhaps he had too much of me for you to want more?" She gasped before the challenge, then abruptly ttared out. powder to spark, defiance to mastery, as so often on track or course. "You're inockin' me. Halph Stanton! An' I won't bear it. I've told you too often that I cared, trustln' you'd never know the rest. I ought to have kept away from you, an' 1 couldn't do it. I never meant you to know I was any one hut Jes Floyd, I meant to be your partner an' mechanician all my life. I | hated beln' a girl. But you came here -?jtl i j 1^ ^'^|j "You're Going to an' found Jessica when I wasn't expectin' you. When you asked tue if you might marry my sister, there at the Comet factory, you almost killed me. For then I did want to he a girl, your girl. Yes, I'm sayln' it. an' I won't marry you, I won't. 1 gave Jes slca n chance, an' you didn't love her. you loved Jes. I couldn't be happy any more, either way. I'm tired of wishln' the Mercury had. fallen on me ?you'd better go; I'm never goin' to see you again." "You're going-to see me." corrected Stanton, slowly dete. "forever. You're going to marry me tc-'ay." She lifted her face to him as he >?tood over her, the girl's piteous beauty of it, the boy-comrade's direct candor, the mechanician's unmurmuring obedience, and he saw her trembling whose courage matched his own "Don't make me unless you want ne. truly." she whispered. "We're \ jlayln* square now." His reply was Inarticulate, the ex- | iresslon which leaped Into his eyes j ivns that with which ho once had looked at Floyd across the cups of chocolate. Only now It cant3 with the Herce movement, that crushed her supple figure in an embrace blending ev cij irasaiim io uo spent on man or woman. "Jess. Jess?comrade Jess. love less!" After a while, she made the last essay. "You're sure. Ralph?" "flush." "You've lost your racln' mechanician." "I'm not going to race; we're going to Buffalo to open the Comet automobile factory" "I've known you every minute; you didn't all know cither Jes or Jessica." For the first time since the Mercury car changed tires on the Cup race course. Stanton's blue-black eyes laughed Into the gray ones. "Perhaps not. but I know Jess Stanton. Get your hat and furs and come sign your contract; we're team-mated for the long run. my girl." THE END. THRIFT OF OZARK COUPLE Took Matter of Presents Into Their Own Hands on Silver Wedding Anniversary. Everyone who has got several gilts exactly alike will appreciate the shrewdness of this O/.ark couple who. In the matter of presents, took things into their own hands. "Speakln* of being thrifty," said 111 Buck, "reckon Cy Wasson and his wile, that came here from Iowa, about take the prize." "How's that?" asked the stranger who was waiting in front of the black-1 smith shop while t.ls horse was being shod. "Well, you see Cy and Mlrnndy wanted to celebrate their silver wedding They had never celebrated any anniversary herore because, as Mlrandy told my wife, the sll\'er wedding was the tlrst one where the presents would ho worth more than the victuals. "Even then they worried a Rood deal for fear everybody would bring pickle lorks or butter knives Hut alter a while they lilt on an idea that worked first rate. "They wrote at the bottom ot the invitations, nsklng the folks not.to buy presents until they got there, for the jeweler from Buckeye .Bridge would he in the yard with a full line of silverware, and no two pieces alike." "That was clever." said the stranger. "Picked out their own presents, you might say." "Yes" said 111, "but that wasn't the best part of it. We learned afterward they flickered with the Jeweler and got ' him to give them 20 per cent, on all ho sold."?Youth's Companion. An Expert Name Manufacturer. At a dinner In New York William Kay Gardiner, the advertising expert, i IIf-, : '! -L - a! Marry Me Today." scored neatly off an advertiRlng fad that lias of late been rather overdone. "A young couple," he began, "had been blessed with the advent of a little son. and the wife, at dinner one evening, said: " 'What shall wo name our darling, Jim?* "Jim wrinkled his brow and replied: " 'Well, I submit Chllda. Flrstbornlo, Thebol, Ailours, Sonne, Ourown. Ourownson?' "Hut at this point his wife shut him up. He could, of course, have kept on Indefinitely. You see, he was one of I those advertisement writers ,vho Invent new names for breakfast foods, tinned soups and patent medicines." Optimistic. It is better to be picked too youna thin canned too late.?Judge. SHARKS ATTACK MEN | AND OVERTURN BOAT Monster Hammerhead Fish. reinforced by Othtrs, Camu Near Winning Fight. Portland. Mo.?Three great ham- 1 merhead sharks attacked and came near causing the drowning of Melville and Frank Darling while they were fishing jf Cape Porpoise, on the east roast of Maine. The men reached South Portland after a battle which lasted two hour- and during which they were thrown into tho ocean twice and the clothes were literally torn from their bodies. Two of the sharks were badly wounded. The third was Threw the Men Into the Sea. frightened olT 1/ the men splashing water and shouting as it approached. The Darling l-vttlu rs encountered the first shark wticn they were nine miles off Richmond island. As Frank had never seen one of the big fish, they pulled close. Apparently the shark was not disturbed, even when ne i>ru<i(!c(i it with an oar. Then Frank struck the tlsli a territic blow with a steel harpoon. For an install* the fish lay quite still. Then he appeared to recover from the blow and, churning the water to roam, lashed the stern of the boat with his tail. Moth men were thrown to their knees. When they arose there was no sign of the shark. Fishing was poor, so the brothers turned toward Cape Porpoise, and. while fishing in that vicinity an hour later, saw a shark that was acting -queerly. The tish would poke his nose heavenward and then lash about In a < ircle. They supposed it was the shark they had wounded ^and thought to put it to death. Frank, using a harpoon, stabbed the tish twice. The blows were not fatal and in an instant the tish darted under the boat, turning it almost bottom up and threw the two men into the sea. A second shark rushed at them while they were still In the water and received a blow which stunned it. Then came the third, which was frightened away by shouts and the splashing of water. When the men reached -port they were exhausted, and their clothes were in tatters. LOVERS MAY KISS IN PARKS Pittsburgh Police Will Protect All Real Sweethearts, but Woe to the Mashers. Pittsburgh, Pa.?Orders were issued recently by Superintendent of Police Thomas A. .McQuaide, instructing the police to encourage legitimate courtshin ia the city parks. Real sweethearts will he protected in their love making by sympathetic policemen, hut woe unto "mashers," for the park ofilcers have positive orders to hurry all such persons to jail. Superintendent McQuaide's orders are as follows: "Send all mashers to jail. "Real lovers tnay kiss and may walk or sit with the arms about each other's waists, either under arc lights or in the shadows." WILDCAT CAUGHT IN PRISON Makes Its Escape After Being Fired at Nine Times and Caught In a Trap. Nashville, Tenn \V. A. I'urslev. an official at the penitentiary, trapped a large wildcat which had been com- j mitting depredations about the prison for several weeks. Ho disapproved of the looks of the animal and, drawing his revolver, fired nine shots at the creature. This so unnerved the cat that it tore itself loose ;in<l took to the timber, carrying on-' of Mr. Pursley's traps with ii Traps wor? sot again and the rat I was recaptured. A cage was made for the creature, but it bent the bars asunder and escaped by scaling the walls of the prison. Mr. Pursley announced that he was perfectly willing to quit if the cat was. Dog Saves Four Kittens. San Francisco, Cal.?Four little motherless kittens, owned by a family | in tliis city, owe their lives to a fox j errier. The house caught fire, but '.he terrier, who had adopted the kit- I tens, kept her head and through the turmoil that followed, carried her fos- i ter children to safety, one at a time j He Com< Smiling ^ Y?u can't kc down. He he'd he kid nappe a Wall street raid< liest girl in the vv him for a week i wildest, merriest ri emergency he cai i A. Comedy Delicately j which makes a pai those who love gc drawn characters, cc tion and wholesome Our Next Serial, lil' L ?? ??? | He Ccmes | | Up Smiling | The "first ai;! for the ^ j crouch" of a popular I pj entertainer is an ex- In pression which mi^ht [g 1 """"" I 1 He 1 1'r' fn 1 Gomes I i $ U? I 1 Smiling 1 [n a sprightly romance m of love, adventure and n] humor which we have K 5] secured as our next serial story. The Chicago Daiiy gj News saysof it. " The [g plot is new ant! the k] various adventures are uj K full of ingenuity and H jg good humor. It is a fine story." j)] [)] Better read the first In- jj] K stallment. After that H lg we l^now you will want qJ [g to finish it. K a D LfeSH5^5^!^^5ZS^5^5^5Z5^5^S^S^s '1 3S Up ? By~ jf&ffc Charles Sherman cp a good man had no idea imi d by a general, and the loveorld ? thev crof n a motor, the 1 de?but in every me up smiling. j! Novel Romantic rticular appeal to lj >od humor, well |j >nvincing descrip- j romance. i Don't Miss It! jj "Watermelon" Cira. I 1i_iYti niccL liniir j He's a knight of the . highway, who admits his contempt for work of any kind. But he's no ordinary tramp as you will soon leam after starting the new serial we are about to begin. he\ COMES UP \ SMTT/IIMCX You'll, come up smiling when you read it.