de the door
with his hands still in his pockets and the purposeful look on his
face; whereas no man was ever more completely adrift and purposeless
than was Jack Corey. Now that he had lost himself from the
world--buried himself up here in these wonderfully green mountains
where no one would ever think of looking for him--there seemed nothing
at all to do. He did not even want to go fishing. And as for
journeying on to that lake which the peanut butcher had talked so much
about, Jack had never for one minute intended going there.

A tall man with shrewd blue eyes twinkling behind goldrimmed glasses
came out and stood in the pleasant warmth of the sun. He had a lot of
mail under his arm and a San Francisco paper spread before him. Jack
slanted a glance or two toward the paper, and at the second glance he
gulped.

"Los Angeles Auto Bandits Trailed" stared out at him accusingly like a
pointed finger. Underneath, in smaller type, that was black as the
meaning that it bore for him, were the words: "Sensational
Developments Expected."

Jack did not dare look again, lest he betray to the shrewd eyes behind
the glasses a guilty interest in the article. He took his cigarette
from his mouth and moistened his lips, and tried to hide the trembling
of his fingers by flicking off the ash. As soon as he dared he walked
on down the street, and straightway found that he was walking himself
out of town altogether. He turned his head and looked back, saw the
tall man glancing after him, and went on briskly, with some effort
holding himself back from running like a fool. He felt that he had
blundered in coming down this way, where there was nothing but a
blacksmith shop and a few small cottages set in trim lawns. The tall
man would know that he had no business down here, and he would wonder
who he was and what he was after. And once that tall man began to
wonder....

"Auto Bandits Trailed!" seemed to Jack to be painted on his back.
That headline must mean him, because he did not believe that any of
the others would think to get out of town before daylight as he had
done. Probably that article had Jack's description in it.

He no longer felt that he had lost himself; instead, he felt trapped
by the very mountains that five minutes ago had seemed so like a
sheltering wall between him and his world. He wanted to get into the
deepest forest that clothed their sides; he wanted to hide in some
remote canyon.

He turned his head again an