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Show .Sard hoffmann pY RICHARD HOFFMANN W.N.U. SERVICE 'C":'" . -JaCTIFT1""mB''MT1'1''r'"'' Twnrnrm rled nnyone so well favon-d. so dial-lenglng dial-lenglng In looks ns well as in manner. man-ner. He smiled at llioiiL'ht of the challenge iindeni-ned. perhaps, hut slill a challenge. Prouder manners man-ners than Hint had been altered, and with less incentive. Lookout, you blue-andgold vixen; it makes me mad to he made mad, and I shall keep hooks on yon from now on. But Kerrigan firs! for himself, for the character disguise, under that scholarly remoteness of his brown eyes; and for the TratTord girl's proprietorship In him, her air almost Implying that they knew each other already. Careful, Ireland; Ire-land; first thing you kiH,v voull be glad you've come. "Kinda thought we'd put up at Ilarrishurg tonight," said Miller sleepily. "narrlshurg?" said Mrs. Pulsipher in quick suspicion; and Crack, shyly shy-ly knowing, said: "We went throujh llarrisburg a half hour ago, Hud." Miller chuckled as if at something some-thing clever and turned to Kerrigan, Ker-rigan, hisi unshaven face sleepily pleased In the light of the dashboard. dash-board. "Is that right'i" be said. "Yes," said Kerrigan. Miller chuckled. "That's a' rood one," he said, and Hal shouted a sharp "lley" to him as the white posts of a curve came filing swiftly at the front end. Miller returned his look to the road and pulled the wheel hard, but without apparent concern. "It'll be another place tip the road," he said. "Kinda like to see a garridge I likes the looks of. Cet m'valves fixed." Tie looked aside again, grinning; Kerrigan took the stubby chin in his hand and turned it forward. ' Look where you're going, like a dear old party," he muttered. "I'll find you a factory, If you'll only watch where you're going." "Thanks," said Hal with a laugh. "Think nothing of it," said Kerrigan. Kerri-gan. "Pleasure." "If you can keep those eyes, or whatever they are, turned ahead, I SYNOPSIS v. tattler's bitter crlti- Idle l'fe- Bnd the not,n" !',M need not expect any financial assistance Hal -"l, son of a wealthy Hank-h Hank-h mlf practically without ' ilti the promise of a sit-' sit-' ', sin Francisco, which city ' ,' rfaeh, from New York, : finite time limit. He takes ''' -ith cross-country auto "share expense" basis. ': companions excite his '' ';. . young, attractive girl, '"""Trafford: middle-aged Giles Sister Anastasia, a nun; dividual whom he instinc-"slikes. instinc-"slikes. Martin Crack. Barry's i annoys him. "I'll remember that," lie said, "and let you know If anything turns up." Kerrigan's eyes smiled In appreciative appre-ciative warmth, and Hal let his own answer them with an involuntary addition to civility. The after-lunch leg of the Journey Jour-ney lay through more hopeful country. coun-try. There .were strata of good smells smells of new hay, of Mowers, Mow-ers, of the fertile, country richness about cow-barns. Barry's eyes. In the mirror, were deep with their blue thoughtful-ness, thoughtful-ness, far away from the car now, oblivious of Its passengers and of Hal's studies of her smooth featured fea-tured solemnity. Then In the i. no slowly down the street. When ; he turned into the garatte at t hf far end of it. they moved to the lunrhroom door. 'The proprietor, a decent little body with a wide grin, one niisiii-rected niisiii-rected eye. and a birdiike desire Ir pli-ase, nodded weironie as they came in. "Come far todav?" "Xoo I'ork city,'' Said Pulsipher proudly. ".Win York city," Hie man repeated repeat-ed with polite interest. "Tourinu folks, "ey?" lie looked pleasantly at Kerrigan. "Traveling folks," said Kerrigan, his rich voice gentle and friendly. "Share-expense." "Ohhhh," said the man, deeply impressed, even a little worried, "And you say your driver's outside i Ain't he going to eat?'' "He's gone down to that garage nt the end of town to see about repairs," re-pairs," said Kerrigan. "I hive you got a good hotel here cheap:" "Why, yes, yes I guess so," said t!e proprietor. He looked at Pulsipher, Pulsi-pher, around at the others, and back at Kerrigan. "Say," he went on diflidently, "I don't like to butt into you folks' business, but but has this feller got your grips an' all with him?" "Yes," said Crack, his Indolence pierced by direct Interest; "and our fares to California." There was a moment of silence, and the proprietor's attention sharpened sharp-ened on Kerrigan. "Well," he said, "you folks are probably all right, but they was a party like you over Lewistown way got hung up by a feller't went to get some repairs. They never did see him again. An' the Chambera Commerce had to chip in to get a couple of 'em back t'Noo York." Kerrigan looked round at Hal In grave Inquiry. In the newly empty silence, Hal felt Barry's eyes on him and he turned to her, ready to mock any share she took in this apprehension. But she had no share In it. Her look, full at him, was warm and secure in scorn, without sympathy or appeal; and the faint, untaunting smile at her closed lips said fearlessly, This will happen for all of you ; your luggage and your money don't matter; and If yours don't, why should these other peoples' to you? Without haste, her eyes confirmed his unimportance and turned away. He swung around toward the door the thing having happened so quickly that the silence of awe was still fresh on the others. "I'll go," he said to Kerrigan. And he post- eu out by the screen door and helped it slam hard behind him. One way or another, you whatever what-ever you are you'll pay for all this. Miller's mind was too much drugged with chronic sleepiness and stupidity to think of running out with car, luggage, and fares. But just suppose some habit of crookedness were .channeled through his stupidity. Suppose Hal looked more sharply at the glare of the lights and his step brightened. D n the girl. The scoring for today to-day was surely on her side. Tomorrow To-morrow was another day. Hal's gray eyes stirred with merriment. :HAPTER II Continued 1 ;. mn about twenty-three by ' .'tat far older in In experi- !- He kept the brightness in his smile widening. , seemed to please her; she i . , single laugh and looked t st"his mouth, then back at : and off to see where the ' But she said nothing. it's the pup's name?" he ' '. :r Caligari," she said, and ; looked around from an .'ind oil drum In bright in- part do you call him?" ..." she said. "I don't suppose .rtf saw that German movie a ; : 'm a;o 'The Cabinet of Doc-I'iltari'?" Doc-I'iltari'?" ; times," he said. "One of 'a best pictures I ever saw." . portly Kerrigan ambled :i the corner, the smoke wisp :he cigarette in his wide month :i tip past one squinted eye. ! fed a damp breath between i and his closed teeth as he A at HaL "You a federal i obuckled In his surprise and -J Kerrigan's face for a hint : m. "No," he said ; "are iV said Kerrigan, "I've tried s things In a short life, but r sad time for that" t bent over and snapped his 'I at Doc The dog -came at bopped his forefeet up on siiee, and tried to repay Hal's Maglng with licks at his iW off at that fella Crack York, didn't he?" Kerrigan i looked np and found Barry's him, solemn again and i hostile. "Yes," he , said. 1 "Here, Doc." She snapped itf to his collar, gave Kerrl- friendly smile and said, "1 -' HI sit In the car." i' matched her walk away, her to the unstudied, In ' grace of her long-legged 1 Kerrigan's brown eyes were r r to themselves, almost ge-, ge-, be looked at Hal. "Hoi ;' 1 guess," he said, in odd : ,"t wonder," said Hal. : ' everything," Kerrigan said : ' !"ft of wistful benevolence. ' J 10 make the number-one slle screens like her looks.' ; 1 " Miller doesn't kill us ' ''U HaL sucked a wet breath 'narrowly parted lips. "He , " lead easily In his sleep f:;,le' all right. Anything'! . "tomes under the head ol y.y anyway, and that's 1 ,:il'i'se so." ; "tinkle was more personal as Mtched him with amuse ,tlMre. "Only suppose," he I '' "Well, 1 haven't ban of a lot really." r ' ywra can say anything !?, KerrlKan kindly, un 1 t ,;J,rwomn,end the collect ' ,"Kr'w. cigar bands, post-v post-v i' Porcelain, even dollar : -,,. . Re st0PPed before , clwi Mm to. : ' e a collection T ,?la KerrIgftD without ' ''hm 1 eno"h- Some ' :,i f me because I've looked l n,.'!' ,1,ere's a couple " "ke to fill." snll Hal. ' Sbt'y met with dlf 'Mlt. '" Kerr'f"n said Wanee of caution , I f V would think the hole '"Bm!e on tl,e senm- , 'tith Ive ncver been " to hman-a man who de ; ; be k"'ed-and killed ;;' , ,f;irchpH f y " '0 thl K 80,"e traC8 f ' WUM V Wn' wIse l00k- "i, ' eee none. He laughed lence, watching the endless concrete con-crete run In from the contours and tvhite-posted curves ahead, Hal wine slowly by the illusion of some presence riding with them In the car something that had been there all along but was perceptible only now that the first stiff fringes of strangeness had been talked away, were being dozed away. It seemed faintly very faintly, when Hal tried to fix it and examine It portentous, por-tentous, like thunder muttering In the next valley after a sultry day. The man's driving is getting me, Hal thought: at my time of life, too. Or Is It because the low hour of the day's coming, without signs of a bath or clean clothes or whisky and soda? Hal was honestly trying to marshal mar-shal some innocent and friendly remark re-mark to draw Barry from her Isolation Iso-lation and scare off his own faint uneasiness when somewhere down on the floor the impetuous rattle of a smothered alarm clock hurried up into the silence. Doc sprang up, barking, and Mrs. Pulsipher dove forward with a scared grunt, as If for the start of a shoe-tying contest. con-test. Burrowing with grim diligence dili-gence into her black, near-leather hold all, she brought up the alarm clock and- stopped it just before it could trail wearily off of Itself. "Why did you wind It again, John?" she said all In a breath, her face red, her eyes angry as if she had been lucky to escape with a mere fright John was terribly embarrassed. "I I I I don't know," he said. "I I I don't know." In the mirror, Hal watched Barry's Bar-ry's look at ohn's bewilderment an Indulgent look, with a hint of amused tenderness, as If John were another dog who might be friends with Doctor Caligari. Then her reflected look met his. The tenderness ten-derness went forth from It, her eyes barely remembered him, shared nothing with him, remained on him for only a second of half-hostile disinterest dis-interest before they returned to the moving roadside. That faint visit of omlnousness was finished now, with every one awake, crampedly stretching, and resettling. Or was It finished? Had It simply returned to Its hiding, to wait again? A silly thought. What could there be ominous In this shabby car, except the way Miller drove? The Hat strap of concrete curved, dipped and ran on Into Pennsylvania Pennsyl-vania and found the steel cities. Mrs. Pulsipher gave the lmpres sion of knowing it was a conspiracy conspir-acy entered Into by her husband, amcng others that kept them from reaching Harrlsburg while the visibility visi-bility was good. John half-heartedly tried to get her to admit that the bridge lights, contained In glass stars, were beautiful; but she wouldn't. Something was at work clearing the moody sluggishness from Hal's head. A drifting sense of loneliness, loneli-ness, of melancholy that had seemed to belong with the broad river slowly slow-ly mourning the sunset, ran away out of his spirit ne was, after all, a human being with faculties com pactly contained In a fit and use fill body, and with rights to his own character He was on his way to California, to a job, and to the confusion of his father. Sullenness was nonsense, wasteful waste-ful nonsense: premonition was nonsense. non-sense. (Vhnt could happen that he didn't want to happen? Why make a whole fertile week blank by want ing nothing to happen, by Ignoring his power to make things happen? Ills father had ald Hal didn't know people, among other things among almost all other things: well, he would arrive on the coast know Ing at least seven and ready to dare the Old Man to believe any two of them. He thought vividly of the Trafford slrl behind him her eyes, though he couldn't see them now. still solemnly sol-emnly absorbed in their own defensive de-fensive continence. Far. far worse luck there could have been than this of catching a car that car- To find his way past those solemn defenses of hers would bo a zestful job; to chasten that clear, willful cussedness amounted to a necessity now, a duty as well as a pleasure. Hal was walking out with decision de-cision when he cleared the last building. And there in the white light of the yard stood the long-suffering long-suffering car with Its corded bale of luggage behind. Hal gave a laugh, half relief, half triumph. It would be fun to press that Into her steady blue eyes when he got back. Through the plate glass of the office he could see Miller talking to a man In a white monkey-suit. Something In Miller's attitude was different; not precisely an alertness, alert-ness, but the sleepy suggestion of Interest, of purpose almost. If I go, Hal thought, she'll say my coming com-ing made him change his mind; if I just stand here watching, he can get away as clean as If I were back there eating the dinner for which my system decorously calls. He stood another moment trying to define the change In Miller's listless list-less posture. Then he walked carefully care-fully over gravel to the car, carefully care-fully opened the door his eyes watchful of the odice and climbed Into the tonneau. On the floor behind be-hind the jump-seat there was room ln which to lie curled and hidden. There were voices soon, and the crunch of gravel under slow feet. "I kinda thought," Miller was saying, say-ing, "it was some pnrty hills over there, but I jus' didn't remember where they begun." He chuckled ln sleepy cleverness. "Well, good night," said another voice; and Miller said, "Sure." The car tipped creaking toward one running board, the door slammed, and Miller's short, contemplative con-templative breathing sounded close overhead, flal steeled himself to he touched, but then there was the hard catch and churning of the starter. A lurch over the curb confused his judgment of the direction ln which Miller turned. But quickly the car was In high, and running fast; It was the open road under them. ar:tf Hal's breath flood still for a suspended sus-pended instant of dismay. (TO DF. COT!MTD) What Could There Be Ominous In This Shabby Car, Except the Way Miller Drove? might still be young when we get to the Coast." "S'pose he'd let you drive?" said Kerrigan. "Doubt It," said Hal. Pulsipher snapped his fingers as If he'd just remembered something. "Hu-hu-hungry," he said. "So'ra I," said Mrs. Pulsipher. "We ought to stop for supper." "Let's say the next town," said Kerrigan. "Yes," said Mrs. Pulsipher. "Awful hungry," said John. So as they entered the next place, there were hopeful stirrings and estimates es-timates of the degree of civilization civiliza-tion shown by the buildings. "There, whirlwind," Kerrigan said to Miller. "A garage for princes. All white inside, and a mechanic In a white monkey-suit. You'll like it there and they'll like you." In another moment a spasm seized Pulsipher, shooting out his arm and making him cry, "Whoa! Eat, It says; look, that sign, Eat." "It looks clean," said Mrs. Pulsipher Pulsi-pher mistrustfully. "Clean's a horse-chestnut shell, ma'am," said Kerrigan. "Shall we try it?" "Yes yes yes," said Pulsipher quickly, so that no one could beat him with doubts. They got out stiffly. The ladles and Pulsipher went In. Hal and Kerrigan stayed to hear the momentous mo-mentous plan In ferment behind Miller's bleary eyes, with Crack leaning quietly against the car to listen. "Y'see," said Miller, "it's monn-talns monn-talns on the road pretty soon and It'd he kinda nice to get them valves fixed 'fore we get to 'em." "Good idea," said Kerrigan, "A kitty. And. so?" "Well," said Miller, chuckling at having figured it out by himself, 'why don't I go hack to that garridge gar-ridge and kinda look around and see what It looks like while you folks start eatln'? Then If I like the looks and the price Is right. I'll letive her (here and we can put up in this place." He ground the gears portentously, portentous-ly, and the car lumbered up on fhe opposite curb ns he turned around, liy tacit consent they watched him I |