Under His Thumb — page 139: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

130 UNDER HIS THUMB. “You must not cast your lot with mine, Katie. For if you do——”’_* ‘‘Never you mind me. I’m not the black sheep to turn me back on a friend when she needs one. Come with me, and I’ll show you how to outwit the police and the mean curs that are setting them on.,”’ The cheerful speech of the warm-hearted girl awakened Stella’s natural resoluteness of purpose. ‘“‘T shall not let them take me if I can help it,”’ she firmly declared, joining her friend in her prepara- tions for flight. An hour later they stole forth upon the street, both so muffled and disguised that it would have been difficult for one familiar with them to make sure of their identity. They made their way to one of the least crowded ferries to Long Island City, and were soon on their way to the other side. oe They had scarcely landed at the Long Island City slip, when Stella, with a thrill of horror, saw a fa- miliar form coming toward them. It was a slouching figure, and a coarse, reckless face that met the startled gaze of the girls—the face and figure of Bill Leary, the ‘‘tough.’’ He passed quite close to them, but gave them only a passing glance. “He did not recognize us,’’ Stella exclaimed, clutching the arm of her friend. ‘“Who is it?’’ the latter asked. ‘‘His name is Leary—the same with whom I had such a strange adventure night before last.”’ Stella had already acquainted her friend with the details of that experience. “We needn’t be afraid if he doesn’t know us.”” “Yet I am afraid to have him so near.” comicboo s.com