Copyright 1928-198, Harold Titus.
CHAPTER X-—Continued
meme ] prom
“What's the difficulty, Brandon?
Didn't you expect to see me this morn-
ing?
"Why . +. +» 1...
thought—"
Ben stepped close and dropped his
voice nearly to a whisper.
“You thought I wouldn't be walking
today? Was that it?"
“Not walking? I don't know what
you're talking about.” The older man's
self-control was coming back rapidly,
now that his fright had passed away,
“I just came In to get matters straight
between us, Brandon. Several serious
things have happened to the Hoot Owl
but in spite of them the Hoot Owl is
booming; now, I presume, I can look
for things to happen to me. Before
anything does—because I'm not rash
enough to be cocksure that it won't—
1 want you to get me straight.”
The last vestige of his smile was
gone by then. He stood spread-legged,
hands locked behind his back, eyes
boring into Brandon's gaze.
“I'm not interested in—"
“But you'll listen! You'll listen or
I'll choke you until you'll beg for the
opportunity to listen, Brandon! You'll
listen to me this morning and it'll be
the first and last time.
“lI know a great deal. I can prove
but little. I know that you
to run me out by sending
clean up my camp. Next,
to cripple my operation by having a
firebug touch off the mill. Next, you
or some of your men stole a piston
head out of the express—"
“Don’t go too far, young man !™
“l1 won't. The pits of h—I] are the
lnside limits for you, Brandon!
“After that, you timed it nicely and
blew up my trestle. You almost had
us two or three times. But you flopped!
The Hoot Owl is up on its knees, will
be on its feet In a month If we keep
going and It'll be sitting on the world
by the time breakup hits us. All
you've done to the job has only
helped it
“That's that! Next you try to get
me, thinking, prebably, that if you
knock the skipper off the bridge the
craft will founder for certaln. You're
wrong, there. You can't lick my men,
because they're tuo many for you; you
can’t stop the Hoot Owl by getting me
out of the picture. But If you want
to keep on trying, it's you own funeral
I've only one thing to ask of you: try
to play the white man, Brandon, and
fight your own fights!"
His face was dark with rage, now,
and he emphasized his last words by
downward thrusts of clenched hands
along his thighs.
Brandon smiled lightly.
“You're a queer young man” he re
marked. “You dream In broad day-
light and with your eyes open.”
“A pecullarly detailed dream. Bran-
don! [I've sald all I have .to say about
the job and about myself but there is
another matter left to be mentioned
while I'm here, I won't even utter
her name in your hearing, but any man
who would pull a trick like you did and
involve a girl . . . Brandon, a snake's
belly is sky-high compared to you I
And that touched the well-springs
of rage that had been dammed back un-
til the moment,
“You fool!” the man sald heavily.
The words came like the first break in
a levee; slow, sluggish words.
And then, like the following toss of
foam was the frothing rage in his
scream. “You fool! I'll drive you out
of this country! I'll hang your opera-
tion up for the crows to pick! I'll
string the bones of this timber and
your own bones across this country!”
He swung his arms lo wide, wild ges
tures,
He stopped, sobbing for breath. and
his reeth clicked in an agony of pas
sion,
“Dawn? Not mention her name?
Well, T will, , . She's mine, you
fool, body and soul! She's been mine
for years. . . Because she smiled
at you, because she played with you
don’t think she's interested, fool!
She's"
He swayed backward as Elllott
lurched toward him, but their bodies
did not lock,
White and trembling, Ben stayed
his own rush.
"Nol . . . Don't want to brawl
over her,” he choked. “But if you men-
tion her name to me again I'm likely to
lose my head and tear your hide off
your carcass!”
His rage was so high, so holy, that
the fear It Inspired carried through
Brandon's frenzy and the man stood
silent, perhaps in awe.
Ben relaxed,
“Now,” he sald quietly, “I've just one
thing to ask, Brandon. It's this: Aight
your own battles !™
He turned on his heel and slammed
the door behind him.
CHAPTER XI
Ben began unblanketing his team
with the haste of high temper but be
fors he had finished Able Armitage
halled him from across the street and
came hurrying through the rutted
snow,
. The old justice's face was marked
That 1s, 1
Duval to
you tried
by an expression eof concern and he
came close before he spoke.
“I hear Red Bart Delaney's in town.”
Ben nodded grimly.
“Came to see me yesterday.”
“No !"
“Yeah, Took a long louk at me . « .
over the sights of a rifle.”
“Ben! Why, son!”
Elliott laughed mirthlessly and told
what had happened In the Hoor Owl
chopping the day before.
“So he's gotten down to the hiring
of a killer!” Able looked anxiously
Into Ben's face. “Son . .. It can't
&0 on. Timber or no timber; success
or fallure for the Hoot Owl, you've got
to think of yourself!”
“I'm doing that. I've been to see
Brandon and tried to drive him into
the open. That's all I ask of him; that
he fights fair.”
“And if he won't, what?"
“Then I'll have to smoke him out!”
Able clicked his tongue,
“Benny, your way of doing things
scares me! Why, this can't go on. It
mustn't! It's your own affair, for sure,
when he tried to shoot you dow n, but
maybe, perhaps, possibly, I'm going to
beg you to be careful. So long as De-
laney’s In the country you've got to
keep low. Get back to camp; stay
there; let us pick some man 1 can
trust to follow Bart and Brandon night
“No.” Ben shook his head resolutely.
“Tl go on about my
should. I've never run yet and don't
like to start any fast foot work now.”
“But it's your life that's at stake,
Ben! Don't be silly. That's what reck-
lessness Is: downright silly! That's
not like you. Why, not raking preean-
tions In this thing is like monkeying
with & high tension wire”
“No good, Able. [I couldn't hold up
my head If I hid out after the play I've
made."
So ALle was forced to give up after
a time and shuffled up the street, draw.
ing off his mitten again and rubbing
his face briskly with his palm.
He had only reached his office and
was unlocking the door when Aunt Em,
walking grimly as if with a definite pur-
pose, approached.
“Good morning—" he began.
“Forget the palaver, Able Armitage!”
the woman said sharply. “You're In
trouble. So are we all, maybe. That's
why I came to see you. Is It true what
they say that this Red Bart Delaney
has showed up here in Tincup?”
“As true as disease or death or any-
thing else onpleasant.”
“That's what I'd heard!
to guess why he's come?”
Able untied his scarf and shook his
head sadly,
“No, Em. Your first guess will be
right. And he took a shot at Benny
yesterday I”
“And missed, I'd Judge from the look
of him just now. But if he's still here
there'll be a next time; and he won't
miss then. Did you do your duty and
send the boy to some safe place?”
Able sighed and told ber of his talk
with Ben,
“So you couldn't make him listen to
reason!” she muttered, “Well, if you
can't, I can’t. And, us falling, there's
only one other who would have a ghost
of a show.”
“Dawn?
She nodded. “Dawn could. But ghe
won't. She won't go to him now,
She wouldn't even listen to me talk
about him, she's In such a state. She's
up to the ears In love with Ben El-
lott or I've got three legs! And then
to have that scandalous woman do
what she did and upset It all!”
She sat down heavily In a chair and
drew a great breath.
“I don't have to ask you or any
other man about Ben Elliott, Able! |
know the clean and decent folks when
I see ‘em. I'd bet my reputation as a
Christian woman on that boy! That
plece of play acting at the dance was
some of Nick Brandon's work, you can
bet your last red cent! 1 had to glve
him a plece of my mind just for relief
the other day and, goodness me, what
a look he give me! Why, Able, that
man’s worse than ever I thought! My,
oh, my! He gave me a look that like
to froze the blood right in my veins,
after all the years of palaver and soft
talkin’ I've listened to from him!
“Well, what I'm gettin’ at is this:
The boy’s in danger of bein’ murdered
every minute of day and night unless
he takes your advice. There's no one
Do I have
. oo
left to try to talk him Into being care.
ful but Dawn. And how am 1 going to
get her to see her duty when she goes
into a cryin’ fit every time his name's
mentioned? Yes, sir. Every time she
hears his name.”
“She doesn’t yet see that the affalr
was a put-up job, then?"
“See? She can't see anything, Able
Armitage! Put yourself in her place,
Suppose you were a young girl who's
had the things to bear that she has
all her life; and suppose you fell In
love for the first time: and suppose
that young man was accused of such
nastiness right in public with every-
body listening and gawping? Would
you stop to figure that the reason he
seemed guilty was natural? That the
thing was so far fetched from the
truth and such a shock that he was all
kerflummoxed? 1 should say you
wouldn't! You'd do just what she's
doin’; make yourself all sick with
chills and fever by eryin'!"
She twitched at the skirts of her
cloak irritably and glared at the old
Justice as though he were a sworn
enemy instead of a friend.
“Whar alls her Is shock. She aln‘t
got over the shock yet and every time
his name qr anything else about him is
mentioned It sets her off again. She'll
get over It, give her time. But then
she'll be so humiliated to. think she
didn't use her reason thar she won't be
herself for another spell. Andshe should
be herself now! There ain't any time to
lose. She should patch up her mis
understanding with him right today
right this hour—and use her influence
to persuade him to keep low. But how
it’s to be done I'd like to know. For
Lord's sake, Able, ain't you got a sin-
gle suggestion?"
The justice had been stuffing light
wood Into his stove during this. Now
he touched a match to the tinder,
opened the drafts and stood with hands
behind him, rusty overcoat unbuttoned
and drooping, deep in thought
“It's difficult to get anyone In her
state to use reason. Maybe the shock
of knowing that Ben's life is in danger
would be a counter irritant to this
other shock. Maybe not. If the affair
of last week could be cleared up, if
Dawn could be shown that this Lydia
woman was only carrying out a plan
jut I wonder , , *
Aunt Em stiffened In her chalr, She
looked hard at Able and her eyes nar
rowed a trifle,
“You see”
girl"
“Hold an, Able Armitage!” she cut
in, holding up a hand in warning.
“Hold on, now! I've got to think. . . .
Got to think, 1 tell you! And I can't
think while you carry on your gabble!
You leave me alone, now. . , . Keep
your tongue still They say a
woman's tongue is hung in the middle
and loose at both ends. . . . But . . .
Yum . . ."” As she pressed one hand
over her eyes her words dwindled to
unintelligible mumblings.
“I've got it!" she cried excitedly
after a moment. “I've got it, now!
You stay right here, Able! You stay
until 1 came back. If it works It
works, If it don't, itl] be time
to talk some more!”
She moved resolutely to the door, left
the office and strode down the street.
People of Tincup watched her pass:
people she had known for years spoke
to her and drew no response, not even
so much as a glance or a nod. On past
the bank. the post office, the pool room.
« «+ «+ On beyond all the stores, on
down to the depot
There, on the platform, she stood a
long Interval staring across the tracks
to that short row of house on Section
Thirty-Seven. The station agent came
out of the office and looked at Em in
surprise,
“Hello I" he cried. “What brings you
down here before"
“Homer,” she cut In grimly, “In
which one of them nasty places does
this Lydia woman live?"
“Why-why . . . Why, now should 1
know?" he evaded as a red flush crept
up from his collar, “In the one at this
end, 1 think. I'm not sure, of course.
« « « | think she does, though. «0»
She ..
But he no longer had a llstener,
Resolutely, slowly with something like
defiant majesty, the woman crossed the
tracks, with never another word to her
informant and never a look to right or
left. Her head was up, her mouth set,
and her long nose wrinkled as If at a
he resumed, “if the
* *
Don Stuart, old, very sick
to grab, This belongs to Dawn MeMan
murder charge hanging over his
and Ben throws him out of camp.
“to be used when the going becomes
Ben refuses to open the letter,
Was started with gasoline. Elliott
But a definite
had supposed,
which the Hoot Owl
builds a new bridge
structure to Tincup, making the
ndon compels a woman (known
Delaney, notorious
le In the woods,
but his fall has been & ruse to
killer Is proved to be Red Bart
WNU Service,
disgusting odor, A woman up by the
stores shaded her eyes and peered at
the moving figure and stared and
stopped. Aunt Em Coburn, headed for
Thirty-8even! Why, it couldn't be!
But Aunt Em mounted the steps, She
rapped at length and vigorously on the
scarred panel of the door. She went
within, leaving a dozen long-distance
watchers to wonder,
It was long before she emerged and
then , . . Ah, then Tincup had a
sight to see, a subject for speculation!
For by Aunt Em's side moved the wom-
an Lydia, collar of her fur coat high
about her face as If to hide the traces
of tears which hastily applied powder
could not eradicate,
Tears from those hard eyes? Noth-
ing less! For women know women
and before Aunt Em had talked to this
outcast five minutes she had discov-
ered the weakness In her shame, the
clean spot left in her heart. And how
Emma Coburn could talk! She talked
that clean spot to a growing, glowing,
glorious thing. She talked Lydia out
of her house, across the tracks: talked
her Into that slow, unashamed, almost
flagrant march up the malin street ;
talked her out of all but one look of
misgiving at the windows of Nicholas
Brandon's offices. And around
the corner and in beneath the hem-
locks which whispered above the snug
white house. They entered, where
Dawn McManus had hidden since the
woman's words sent her flying from
the dance hall to the sanctuary of
Aunt Em's understanding arms.
. - » » - . .
All the way out to camp Dawn
snuggled close against Able in his worn
old buffalo coat. Now and again she
trembled a bit; once she cried softly
a few minutes. But much of the time
she talked.
“To think It was the man I used to
call Uncle who did that thing!” she
“Homer, in Which One of Them
Nasty Places Does This Lydia
Woman Live™
cried. “Why haven't you told me,
Able?! Why haven't you warned me?”
“What be’s done, what he's been,
what he Is, were no things for you,
Dawn, girl. I've just tried . . . to
stand between you and many unpleas-
ant things. You've had your share as
it was.”
“I could have stood this one more”
she replied, stoutly enough. “It hasn't
been 80 bad these last few years, know-
ing that everybody thinks my father
a murderer. I'd just gotten myself
above that and now , . . and now .,,
“What now?” Able asked gently,
She looked at him through tears
T0 BE CONTINUED.
Hay-Wire Does Not Mean
Individual In all things, New Eng-
used in various parts of the country
as slang. Elsewhere “hay-wire” may
be synonymous with “erratic” or a
“little mad.” In Dr. Frank Vizetelly's
records of the vernacular the slang
use of the phrase “gone hay wire” ig
defined as signifying something or
somebody “gone wrong"
of that usage are fuily understood.
“It's a hay-wire outfit” Hay wire is
used In temporary repairs. The man
who thus employs it Is foresighted and
ingenious, but the man who habitually
uses hay-wire instead of making pre
manent repairs is shiftiess,
The hay for the lumbermen’s horses
comes bound In baies. When these
bales are broken the wise teamster
saves for emergencies the hay-wire
which held them together. A good
“toter” would not start his team on a
trip without taking hay wire any more
than he would set forth without an ax
or a pall.—Philadelphia Inquirer,
Green Tea Far East's Choice
Green tea made from the unfen
mented leaf Is the cholce of the Far
Last and Is made entirely in China
and Japan. Black from the fermented
leaf Is made in India,
| 0ld Timothy Stand
Needs Fertilizing
Early Attention Is Necessary
| If Satisfactory Results
| Are Obtained.
Prepared by Ohlo State University Agricul.
tural Extension Service —~WNU Service.
It will pay to give the timothy sod
some special attention this spring, In
the opinion of agronomists at the Ohlo
| State university, who are recommend
ing a special top dressing with a nitro-
genous fertilizer,
Because of the fallure of many new
seedings last year, it 18 expected that
i
i
{
i
i
BOYS! GIRLS!
Read the Grape Nuts ad in anothes
column of this paper and learn how
to Join the Dizzy Dean Winners and
win valuable free prized. —Ady.
Saying's Foundation
A green Christmas makes & full
churchyard. (The foundation fos
this saying is the fact that open win
be plowed this spring will be kept for
another year,
The agronomists say that addl-
tional hay may be secured from these
meadows, when they are largely or
entirely timothy, by top dressing the
fleld early with 150 to 200 pounds of
sulfate of ammonia or nitrate of soda,
If calelum cyanamid Is used, the ap-
plication should have been much
earlier,
Ohlo experiments indicate that, with
normal rainfall in early spring, such
an application will raise the yield of
timothy 1,500 or 2000 pounds an acre,
Nitrogenous fertilizers, however,
should not be applied alone for more
than one or two years for, say the
agronomists, a stand of hay cannot be
maintained unless phosphates and pot-
ash are also supplied, A 1064 or
similar analysis fertilizer is recom
mended If these top dressings are con-
tinued into the third year.
Nitrogenous
expected to
yield to
should farmers
be
seed
acre,
forage
dressing
increase timothy
two bushels an
with sufficient
top may
one
desire to produce seed,
Demand for timothy
expected to
supply for at least another year, ac-
cording the university specialists,
Timothy seed production in 1938 was
oniy half normal; io 1834 It was one.
seventh normal. Since many seedings
falled last year, production in 19385 will
probably be less than normal.
be
the
seed may
continue to exceed
fo
Wet Spots Cause of Farm
Waste; Drainage Needed
he drainage of wet spots in other-
wise good fields Is probably the most
worthy Improvement that can be made
on land today, says Prof. A. M. Good-
man of the New York State
of Agriculture,
“These wet spots not only waste seed
and fertilizer,” he points out, “but
they cause greater waste In plowing
and harrowing. They cause planting
trouble, they Interfere with cultiva-
tion, and are a nuisance at harvest
time,
Usually a few rods small-sized
drain tile, laid so that it is about two
feet deep under the part of
these wet holes and with a slope of
four to six Inches to every 100 feet In
length, is all that Is needed to clear up
College
of
lowest
such a hole,
The backfill over the tile is one of
the most essential things to keep In
mind. The land did not drain before
because the water could not get
through the subsoil. Do not put this
impervious subsoil back directly over
the tile. Place sod, surface soll, and
stubble, at least one foot deep, directly
over the tile: and put the subsoil, that
has come out of the bottom of the
ditch near the surface of the ground.
Butter Fat Content Varies
Carefully checked tests show that
the butter fat content of the milk
from the same herd of cows varies
sharply from day to day. Errors In
testing can account for only about
two-tenths of 1 per cent, but the
actual variation Is often as much as
1 per cent from one day to another.
of factors. Weather conditions have a
marked effect as does the feed given
the cattle. Some breeds show a
pleteness of the milkings also have
their effects.
milk are usually lower than those of
night's milk-—Pathfinder Magazine,
Alfalfa Again
5,000 years.
seven-inch layer of surface soll, on an
| =~Hoard's Dairyman.
Down the Lane
the highest color and flavor.
* * »
use in California, 2,900,000 are oll burn-
ing.
. & 9
Wool production In this country last
pounds, or about 9,000,000 less than In
1033, “ve
A cord of wood from one acre each
year, or 500 to T00 board feet, is a
reasonable amount to expect from a
well-stocked woodlot,
. » »
Skim mitk and buttermilk are rich
in protein and mineral matter and
make good additions to farm grains
to grow and Tatten pigs,
Farm families are less likely to
move from place to place In New York
state, than rural people not on farms
or people In cities, according to a re
cent study,
Bilious Attacks, Dizziness
“Bilious attacks” dizziness, spots
before the eyes, a feeling of fullness
after ordinary meals, be hing up of
gas, a dull, sluggish feeling—due to
constipa - are usually driven
away by a dose or two of old, re.
lable Thedford’s Black-Draught,
“I take Black-Draught for bilious.
ness, dizziness, and when I feel dull,
tired and stupid,” writes Mr. M. kL.
Simmons, of Pickens, 8. C. “It seems
to cleanse the system and make one
feel a hundred cent better.”
Thousands men and women
prefer this purely vegetable laxative.
THEDFORD’S BLACK-DRAUGHT
Consider Occasion
There is a time to speak and *
time to be silent. One defeats one's
own ends by not observing those
times. —Havelock Ellis.
“T've baked
j over 300 Prize
Winning
cakes, pies
and pastries”.
CLABBER GIRL
BAKING POWDER
SAVE MONEY! BUY DIRECT)
Special Shetland Floss] ox. bali le
Boucle, Womted, Germantown,
Write for samples, Mall Onders
Free Beastifo! Knitting Bag Offer
DON HENRY CO. Dept. 5, P.O. Box 282, Chicage, I,
SICK HEADACHES
Indicate Acid Condition
Chew one or more Milnesia
Wafers and obtain relief
Sond for ome weel's libers! supply—FRER
SELECT PRODUCTS, inc, 4402 23rd
Street, Long island City, New York
MILNESIA
pe ; Bika bi
NE Fe,
health and has
. E. Noel, 17060
WATCH YOUR
KIDNEYS!
Be Sure They Properly
Cleanse the Blood
YOUR kidneys are constantly fil.
tering impurities from the blood
Then you may suffer nagging
backache, attacks of dizziness,
burning, scanty or too freguent
urination, getting up at night,
swollen feet and ankles, rheumatic
pains; feel “all worn out”
Don't delay! For the quicker you
Use Doan's Pills. Doan's are for
mote normal functioning of the
the irritating poisons. Doan's are
recommended by users the country
over. Get any druggist,
DOAN’S PIL
WNU—4 21-3