CENTRE HALL, PA.
By RUPERT
HUGHES
SYNOPSIS
On board the Nord-Express, with Ostend
as his immediate destination, Dr. David
Jebb is bound for America. Accompanying
him is five-year-old Cynthia Thatcher, his
temporary ward. On the train they meet
Big Bill Gaines, former classmate and fra-
ternity brother of David's. He tells Gaines
of his mission, and of his one unconquer able
vice—an overwheln ng re for liquor.
Jebb feels the t to him again,
and wants to rk
father is dead ar whose mother
her in America.
CHAPTER I—Continued
w— —
Upon the leaden silence came the
fluty ripple of a childish voice:
“Hello!”
And an exquisite face peer
through a cascade of curls
thrust into the fog of smoke:
“Nunkie Dave, are you dere?”
Jebb leaped to his feet and caught
the child to him in alarm.
‘How did you get here,
heart?”
“I just come long
Dave.”
‘She calls me Nunkie Dave,
explained. ‘It’s shorter than Mr.
Jebb. Cynthia, this is an old friend
of your Nunkie Dave's. Miss Cyn-
thia hi ate her, may I present to you
Mr. Willi 2's a good
deal of rool and a
yard wi oo
“And it was
knew better
young. He s
sion but wi
put out his | g
“I'm deli ed to meet vou,
Thatcher. Won't you come and
on my lap?”
She looked at
fair round capon-
like a globe.
“I'm ‘*ligh
Gainth, but
on.” Then sh ¢
you move ober, I li Ke to 1
vinda. if
ing
was
de hall, Nunkie
Miss
sit
him in dismay. His
lined torse
She murmured:
ited to meet you,
vou got t no
e 10 Cor
, Miss Thatcher.”
aside, far enough for ti
to establis} herself at the pane.
“Wi ir Nu
your name wi 7”
“My
1at did ye
nam
nan
Gaines threw up his
“Thin nth
; and no othe
“That's
Gaines
*
name’
said
beautifullest
ForE
i : the train rat-
tled into a village.
Behind her back the men fell to
talking about her:
“Cynthia Thatcher! That's a great
name for a child,” said Gaines;
“she’ll be an old woman before sh
learns to pronounce it.”
But Jebb was gazing at her very
solemnly.
“Poor little tike! Her history be-
gins with a rush. She's only five,
and she has already
ocean,
good-by, lost her father forever,
been left alone among strangers in
understand. And now she
a—a man like me. We've become
great chums already. She likes me,
and I-—I love her.
‘I've never had a child of my
own, Billy. I never expect to have
But I've helped dozens of children
into the world, and I've had hun-
dreds of them brought to me
maimed and twisted and defective
and wounded and sick. They've been
afraid of me, and I've had to hurt
them. And sometimes I couldn't
help them at all, and I've had to see
them slip away from me like little
drowning, frightened things.
“This is the first child, Billy, ever
put in my keeping that was sound
and well and beautify! and not
meant for my horrible knives.
“l was so happy to have her. 1
scorned the idea of a nurse. Of
course my training has taught me
more about children than all the
nurses on earth, And we set out like
two children on a junket. I was her
Nunkie Dave and she was my littie
Cynthy.
“And then that sot lurched into me
~damn him!-no!—poor dog! pe:-
haps he's like me—a decent fellow
nine-tenths of the time, and heart-
broken with an affliction he couldn’t
any more help than a dwarf can
help his size, or a rattlesnake his
poison. But he’s finished me. It's
a tough world, Billy. The only de-
cent thing fate has done for me is
to show me you.”
He reached out and their hands
met-—in no secret clutch—-but in the
firm, frank grip of the universal
brotherhood. It was some time be-
fore their clasp relaxed.
Meanwhile Miss Thatcher was try-
ing to drown the racket of the wheels
under a song which she shouted into
the pane with all the power of her
lungs:
“I had a ickel po-nee,
Hith name wath Dappie Gway;
I len tim to a la-dee
To wide a mile away.
She fipped him, she lathed him,
She dwove him froo the mire;
I would not lend my pony now-wow
Faw aw dat la-deeth hi-ah!”
At about the twentieth repetition
of the little epic the pony stuck fast
in the mire, for the train joggled up
to a short stop. Outside the window
station. some trifling
accident, or a train dispatcher’s sig-
1ad caused the delay. The crew
or open the doors.
The guards had no explanations to
though timepieces were
whipped out of pockets in all the
worrying lest the halt compromise
ances of making the boat to
America.
Jebb was most nervous of all. He
raised the window and poked his
head out. There was no one to
question. He went into the corridor
to ask the guards. His only answer
was a blunt '' Weiss nich ts" accom-
panied by = nvincing look of stu-
pidity ) went back to hi
and played devil's tattoo on
leather.
“I hope
pens to hold us |
wailed,
feel easy
the
aim
Jebb threw his victim an
ugly look,
Of course I've got you now,
want to be on board. I'll take the
ship 's doctor into my confidence and
have him - kK me up somewhere.”
His all too experienced excitement
little girl. She had discovered that
the station had a refreshment room,
and the PElreshiment room had a
window where fruits and candies
“Oh, see de awnjes!’” she cried.
awnjes. Nunkie
must go get awnjes for poor ickle
“Nunkie Dave
but the
Jebb answered:
would love to, sweetheart,
train might start.”
The argument carried little weight
in the presence of the oranges.
“Nunkie, run fatht—buy quick—
come back. Thinthy won't let
naughty old train go!”
But Jebb shook his head and re-
peated his reasons. The child grew
frantic. Jébb was dismal.
“I know just how you feel, honey,”
said Jebb, “but I'm afraid to risk
it.”
Gaines, whose heart was as soft
and big as his bulk, smote his fat
knees with his fat hands, and rose:
“I'll get you the orcnges, Miss
Thinthy Sashel.”
Jebb checked him uneasily. ‘“Non-
sense, Billy, she doesn’t need them.
She oughtn’t to have them. She-"'
“Nonsense yoursell. I can't see a
lady perish like Miss Tantalus with
oranges just out of her reach.”
“But the train may start.”
“I'll bet my hat we'll be here for
a week. This is just the sort of
place where a train always stays a
long while. Anyway, it's just a few
steps.”
He had squeezed through the door
and was brushing both sides of the
corridor before Jebb could restrain
him, The car was vestibuled, but
Gaines knew how to manipulate the
door from within,
The anxious Jebb saw him appear
on the platform outside, glance for-
ward and aft, and satisfy himself of
the train's intention to remain,
Then he skipped, as the fat skip,
to the refreshment counter. The
woman in charge was out of sight.
She was not easily summoned. She
did not understand Gaines’ German.
He picked out three oranges and
brandished them with one hand
while the other plunged into his
pocket. He had no small money.
He found a bill. The woman went
for the change. Her motives for
leisureliness might be suspected.
Gaines suspected them. He kept
calling her and dancing impatiently.
Eying the engine always he did not
notice that a guard passing through
the train and finding the vestibule
door open, growled, and slammed it
from within.
Suddenly the train started.
Gaines left the change to the wom-
an, dashed to the door, found it
closed without hs » or foothold.
Like a melon on a stream, his
disgusted face was swept past the
window and past the staring, horri-
fled face of Jebb. Jebb thrust his
head out and watched the smooth
long side of the train glide with in-
creasing speed past the bewildered
Gaines, who searched and clutched
in vain, and was left staring, the
costly golden apples dropping from
his hands and bouncing uselessly
about the platform.
CHAPTER II
crisis of his af-
8 protector stame-
ntrol. His
ap was noth-
fairs, the los
peded Jebb 18 self-co
¢ f
Irrow ior
note the dev
d the nece
ing th into German,
He was frantic
sf
putt
him. wit
, but for the child
were once more
cord snap
heavy door sl
ts whole impact fell on Jebb’s
He managed to pull the
to release his
He was used to the sight of
peculiarly exquisite anguish of a
mashed thumb, sent a queasy thrill
to his stomach. His knees turned to
sand. He fainted and went toppling
and bumping to the floor, where the
careening train rolled him like a
loose barrel.
Cynthia screamed.
Passengers appeared at all the
doors and jammed the corridor.
A woman wrapped her arms about
the distracted child, who was sob-
bing:
“Nunkie Davie's dead!
Davie's dead!"
Nunkie
A man knelt and raised his head.
‘““He’s fainted, that's all. Has any-
body got any brandy?”
As Cynthia was withdrawn from
the scene, a Frenchman produced a
flask:
“Je n’al pas de brandee,
sieur, mais voice du cognac.”
“Meme monseer,”’ said the
American, -as he pried Jebb's
teeth apart and poured a liberal po-
tion into his clenched throat.
A shiver quaked through Jel
whole length; he strangled, 1
opened his eyes, looked :
“What's the m
“You sn )
boy, and keeled
had s b rand
it on you.’
“No, no!" gasped Je
“not brandy!”
“Yes, and good, too, by the sniff of
it. You look a little green, old
Have some more.”
“No!” cried Jebb as
away.
“You better, said the Yankee,
holding it under his nostrils.
“Yes,” said Jebb, with a deep
breath. He seized the flask greedily
and took a generous draught. He
offered it back, but as the
n put out his ha
mons-
chose,
set
atter?
man.
he pushed it
re
French-
Jebb recon-
“En servez
Frenchm:
All Iron
up-
counte-
leaked
f he Saig:
Jebb threw his
his
tet, and with
ol
The
Gaul
and the money
Jebb was fo
there,
»d him, pa dl
aside,
flan
LOor.
along the ¢
sry: sont
partmet
The Yanke yrought to
he had g sred up in the Er
with the instinct that leads people
to pick up other people's runaway
hats for them.
Jebb thanked him for the little
girl but waved the money away
magnificently.
“What's a little silver to me?” he
said a trifle thickly.
The American laughed and, laying
the money on the seat, vanished to
his own compartment,
With complete disregard of all his
asepticism, Jebb wrapped his un-
sterilized handkerchief about his
bleeding thumb. It was shrieking
and throbbing, but an unleashed de-
mon within him was shrieking and
throbbing too. He was sick, sick,
too grievously tormented to bind his
own wound properly.
(TO BE CONTINUED)
CLEVELAND.-—The House News, |
published almost weekly by young
Neal Smith, has perhaps the great-
est reader interest of any paper in
lation.
It has an unfailing circulation of
one,
The staff of the House News con-
sists of Editor Neal Smith and his
dark-eyed star reporter Virginia—
who also is his 10-year-old twin.
The News may not fare so well
financially as papers go, but it is
successful, nevertheless.
It is a labor of love, written ex-
clusively for the mother of the de-
voted twins, who is in poor health.
The little paper is printed in pen-
cil by Neal, who does the art work.
“Th’ big story this week,” said
the little boy, working hard to get
out the edition, *‘is about Nellie—
she lives on the next street—who
fell off the porch and scratched her
face. We're bannering it!”
Most of the time the paper is four
pages—one sheet of writing paper
doubled in two, but sometimes,
when there is a big story, it is eight.
When Mrs. Wallie Warfield and
King Edward VIII were front-page
news the world over the two chil-
dren were just as busy as metropol-
itan editors.
“We were in favor of the mar
riage," Virginia said earnestly. “So
we put down just what we thought—
They did get married!”
Another good news week was the
one preceding the marriage of their
elder sister, They ran stories about
what the bride would wear, what
they thought of the bridegroom, and
the prospects for good weather for
the event.
When the wedding took place,
they couldn't think of anything to
say about it.
“Ev'ryone was there, anyhow,”
Editor Neal said. ‘No ure writin’
what ev'ryone knows about.”
In a recent issue there was a
squib about a fire on the next street.
Virginia covered the fire, ran over
and got an eyewitness story--and
then dashed breathlessly back just
in time to make the edition,
When they see an illustration in
a newspaper they like, the two
transfer it to their paper by rub-
bing it with wax, laying the print
on their paper and rubbing hard,
Neal does a weekly comic-strip
which he calls “Herky Boy,” and
which is one of his favorite features,
“It makes mommy laugh,” he
said, “even when she’s lonely."
“The Name
Is Familiar™
BY
FELIX B. STREYCEMANS
and ELMO SCOTT WATSON
Solon
W HEN we want to say that a
man is wise we call him a
solon and we call lawmakers solons,
This doesn’t mean that we
think all lawmakers are wise men—
heaven forbid! The reason is that
the World 8 origi nal lawmaker on a
big al as a very wise man and
That name is
or a 8t name—
it is all the name
the man had and
‘ 1e needed, He
Innit
IONE ago
Solon
u 2% i
n $vx. A ts aarrar = Tareny
in Athens about
rewrote practically
hat were in existence
and the first
i15& a code ti at gave
nstead of merely pro-
rom
was
doing
trans-At-
perature toam
is and ounced
iS no
and st
Jed ann
where there
where molecules st
» was William The
and he was born in Belfast in 1824,
the son of a professor of mathe-
matics at the Royal Academical In-
stitution of Belfast. As early as
1852 he foresaw the practicability
of heating and cooling buildings by
means of currents of air. When he
built a mansion of his own in 1874
on the Scottish coast, he built in
heating ducts and ventilating facili-
ties. When he died in 1907, he had
received every degree a scholar
could obtain and had made a for-
tune of many millions of dollars.
» - .
ymson
‘Rich as Croesus’
HEN a man is so rich that he
actually reeks with wealth, we
call him a Croesus. The word is
pronounced like those things in a
man's trousers—-and we don’t mean
wrinkles, like in ours.
But don’t misunderstand — we
don’t call a rich man a Croesus be-
cause he is the only one who can
afford them in his pants. Perhaps
we never should
have brought the
matter up.
Croesus is a
word for a rich
'way back to 560
B. C.,, when the
original Croesus,
a Greek king of
Lydia, was born.
He was richer
than any king be-
fore him, hence
the use of his
name. Living in
the time when men wore togas, you
can see that he didn’t even wear
pants—or did they wear pants with
togas? Now we are sorry we brought
the matter up.
Lydia, at the time Croesus was
king, included practically all of
Asia Minor, and his wealth was ob-
tained mainly from the mines and
gold dust of the river Pactolus.
Proud of his treasures, he carried
his love of splendor to extravagance
and thought he was the happiest of
men,
All of which proves it isn't the
wealthy.
that mak makes on You oa
estern Newspaper Union)
® A General Quiz
The Questions
1. The United States-Canada
the world,
2. Is the Chi-
name “Confucius’’
3. How long have
been used?
4. How many gallons of maple
sap have to be evaporated to pro-
duce one of sirup?
Pres
inaugur al at
advertising
5. Which the
1
Hr
i
SPEEDS OKAY
IN FLYING —
BUT FOR THE
‘EXTRAS’
IN CIGARETTE
PLEASURE,
GIVE ME
SLOW-BURNING
CAMELS.
THEYRE
PAUL COLLINS, f
President of
Boston-Maine Airways, Inc
CIENCE points the way and the
experience of millions of smok-
ers confirms it: For the important
extras in smoking pleasure, stay om
the slow-burning side. The slower-
burning cigarette that gives you ex-
tra mildness, extra coolness, extra
favor—and extra smoking per ciga-
e...per pack-—is Camel.
In recent laboratory tests,
CAMELS burned 25% slow-
er than the average of the
15 other of the largest sell.
ing brands tested — slower
than any of them. That
means, on the average, a
smoking plus equal to
EXTRA
SMOKES
FOR EXTRA MILDNESS,
EXTRA COOLNESS,
EXTRA FLAVOR