Motion Picture Magazine (Aug 1917-Feb 1918)

84 CAPTAIN SUNLIGHT'S LAST RAID a convenient place for fording the river about ten miles from the settlement, were some seventy-five nondescript men on horseback. Their clothes or their lack of clothes, their hats, their cartridgebelts strung over their shoulders, their swarthy faces, the bad Spanish language thev used would have told anybody in those parts that they belonged to Captain Sunlight's band. After crossing the railroad, they were riding slowly over the prairie in the direction of the town, which was hidden from them by a rise of hills. They had observed the big motor-car coming across the prairie at tremendous speed before Twitchell had observed them thru the dust of his going. This was to them an untoward and suspicious circumstance which might mean anything, and they determined to stop the car. Accordingly, two of them detached themselves from the main body and galloped rapidly toward the car. As they came in view they signaled to the driver that they wanted him to stop, and Twitchell, who had no suspicions, accordingly slowed down, allowing them to approach, and before he knew it they had covered him with their guns. They addressed him in Spanish, of which he knew nothing and at which he could only shake his head. Seeing that he did not understand, one of them made shift to convey their purpose in broken English. "We are ze men of El Capitano — Sunsheen, you call him, sefior." "Oh, you are?" "Si, sefior. We no fight wiz you." "Glad to hear it!" "If you give ze car you go back free." "You want me to give up my car, do you?" "Si, sehor, si!" "I'll see you d — d first!" said the intrepid American. He threw in the clutch, shifted the gears rapidly, and the car, which was an intensely sensitive and responsive machine, leaped into speed practically" on the instant. Two shots rang out, but the quick action of the car disconcerted the aim of the two men. The automobile struck one of the horses, knocked him over and aside, and the next moment the machine was leaping across the prairie. Twitchell burst thru the astonished gang, and before they could realize it he was whirling away like a streak of lightning. Of course they galloped after him, firing upon him, but by good fortune not a tire was hit, even the gasoline tank escaped, altho the back of the car was struck several times and the intrepid traveler himself was almost knocked senseless by a bullet that grazed his cheek. The gang had been instructed to wait for Captain Sunlight, but they were not far from the village now, and the leader realized that Twitchell would give the alarm and knew that their only hope of surprise would be in promptly following him, so they galloped at the top speed of their horses toward the town in the wake of the car. THE FIFTH EPISODE The Dash of the Racing-Car It was well toward the middle of the afternoon when Twitchell tore madly thru the outskirts of the village and down the long main street of the town in his car toward the adobe hotel on the plaza. Ordinary automobiles were familiar enough sights in the settlement, but a big, high-powered racing-car driven at such a speed aroused instant attention. The old men and boys, the women and girls, flocked toward the square. Twitchell stopped the car in front of the hotel and flung himself from it. He rightly judged that if Janet Warned were anywhere in the village he would find her there, or at least tidings of her. He burst into the main room and hurled a question abruptly at the veteran proprietor behind the bar. "Miss Warned?" he cried. "I reckon she's upstairs in her room." "Send for her quick." "What's the hurry?" "There's a band of Mexicans headed for the town. I ran thru them in a Cottonwood hollow by the big bend of the river about six miles back. They opened fire on me, but fortunately I got off." "That was a near thing," said one of the barkeepers, pointing to the red scar on Twitchell's cheek. "It's nothing. Miss Warned?"