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Show THE MIDVALE JOURNAL Thurs day, Febru ary 12, 1931 • It •trikes one that an Ideal setting tor a mystery story would be one of those bungalow • ~ atop ot a giant hotel or apartment house; a habitation up In the sl<y, attached at the foundation to the parent structure, but otherwise separate and apart from it. There are numerous dwelling places of such character perched on the roors of the taller buildings of large cities, where the lnhabitan ts are more ~ecluded and exclusive than they would be in a resi11ear7 Klt.-.. ell dence on the ground. Web•ter. Their only contact w!:th nelghbe>rs Is In the elevators Which carry th~m to their lofty aeries. Suppose a rich man wi,hed to fit up •uch a place tor £ec1·et purposes, with alnlster design~ back or the proceeding. He could have sound-pro of walls and vaults like those of a bank. He <'Ould work alone or could house a He atatr ot trusted confederat es. could tit up a prison and Inveigle into It anyone whom he cared to detain. :Maintaini ng an exi~tence entirely Independent of th6 remainder of the building, as many actually do In such dwellings, he would be almost as secure from surveillan ce and Interference as he would be were he located · undergrou nd. It would be a choice spot In which to perpetrate a murder and keep It dark indetlnl kly. But there are no murders in Henr•· Kitchell Webster'e etory, although it 4oee Introduce a mystc·rlouR bungalow on the roof of a great hotel, a bun~a Jow In which the reader Is a witness to lome strange happening s and experiences a number of swift and bnique thrills. There I• plenty of excitement, but nothing morbid or grueeome about the tale. It Is mo~ tly a happy etory, exhibiting a del;ghtful '"ein of comedy, with the 8plrlt of 70uth and love's young dream exemplified In the characters of a sweet •lrl and an energetic, capable, go-gett•r type of young man. CHAPT ER I -1- Red Hair He touched her companio n on the arm-a very solid arm-and sald, ''May I cut in?" From the way they both ftashed around upon him you'd have said he'd surprised them equally. But In her race, which was the only one he looked at, there dawned a delighted recognition that would have convinced anybody. "I thought I saw ~·ou just a minute ago," she said. Then, to the man she was ahandouln g, "You'll excuse us, won't you? It's literally forever since we've had a dance together." Forbes felt himself wearing an indecently broad grin as he danced away with ht>r over that "literally fore,•er" of hers. Rhe had told the blighter the exact truth ! "I didn't know anythlnp: like this could happen," he said, aftl'r ther'cl danced In !':lll'nce about half-way around the floor, "and I don't know yet how it did happen. It'~ more like a perfectly gorgeous cream than any· thing ~se." "Don't wake up, then," she said. It was an easy lnjunetlon to obey. Whl'ther she was a pl'rfect dancer for all the world or had been speclall~· created fot· him, he didn't know. He might eonsidl'r lt lntl'r, but It wasn't worth speculatin g ahout now. Thi'Y m~>rely danced. When, disengag<.'tl, th••y stood lookIng at each other he S<aitl. almost re'l'erentJ~·. "Gosh !'' an•l her faintly audible siKh expt·l's~t-d the same thing. "Do )·ou han> to go baclc?" he protpstNI. '"-To him, I menn." "To ~[r. Lewis "I • ·o; I don't have to go hack to an~·hod~·." She smiled faintly as he sai•l that. He was thrown out of his stridl' for a second I>~· a pleasant percl'ptlon that she knf'w how to pt·onounce the name ''Le,vi~." "Well then, wh_,. . . . !'" he began, when he got on the ralls again. "Just becnu"e ~·ou were kind enough to ask me if I didn't want to be rescued," she explnint-d, "it doe~n't follow thnt you'v~> taken me on Indefinitely. Haven't you an)·body to go !Jack to?" He laughed. •·xot a soul,'' he told hl'r. •· Let's go up to one or those boxes ln the bulf"ony and get a soda or something ." Her wants in the way of r~>!resh ment were modest. A glass of root beer was the only thing she'd have. "It was a funnr coincidenc e," he remarked, "your saying, as you did just now, that I had asked you lf you didn't want to be rescued, because that was exactly what I did ask. I mean, those very words.'' ''Well," she innocently questioned , "why not?" "Because I didn't say It to you at all. I was standing sixty feet away from you. I said It to myself. How dld you know exactly what I said?" "Telepath y," she told hlm; but she said it with a grin. She'd leaned forward a little to watch the crowd on the floor, but just as hls gaze followed hers, she suddenly llrew back Into the shadows of the box. The reason was plain enough. The man he'd rescued her fromLewis, if that was his name--wa s comIng across the floor. 1\Iartln drew back, too. "Do people's names ever strike you as mlsfits7'' he asked. ..Ills does. My 'l'lle first movement was f'Ompllcuted, and, being the first, is probably worth disentangl ing. A!tt-rward , wh~>n there was time to think, :\Iartln Forbes went back to It himself. He had come to tht- Alhambra tonight at the suggestion of Babe .Jennings. Hhe was going to he there, she said, and If she gaw• him the high sign he was to take It as permissio n to cut In on her partner and dance with her. Martin took a partly professional Interest In Babe. She had a very good job on his paper as an adtaker, but she had an avocation which he was given to understan d was even more lucrative. She was, more or Jess, on the staff of the AJhambra . She Wll8 what might be called a profe~ alonal nlce girl. Men In pursuit ot vke didn't come to the Alhambra . It wasn't that sort of place. But lots of men did come who wanted a girl to dance with and take out to supper; a girl whose deportment, though not prim, woulrl still reflect" credit upon hPr companio n; a ctrl who, If she liked you, wouldn't mind your holding her hand in a taxi as you took her home, nor your kissIng her good night when you got h~>r there~ Well, Babe was 011e or the elrls who supplied this demand. To the fiction writer, which lfartln meant to be, she ought to prove a mine of variegated raw material. Even for his present job she was worth cultivatin g, he thought. His specialty was feature stories. Sometimes tlle city editor sent him out on assignmen t, but mostly they let him alone to pick things up for hlmRelf. He hadn't known whether or not Babe had anything special In mind ln sugeesting that hP. drop around at the Alhambra tof\ight, but he didn't much care. He had a !lunch tlmt he was going to pick UJ:I som• sort or story between nrJw ami bedtlmt-. At the momel!t. howen•t·, he wasn't thinking about his story. lie was wondeclng vag'i)ely whether he hadn't discovere d a new Jaw of physics. Was your repulsion to the man you saw a pretty glrl dancing with directly pro· portlonate to your attraction to the girl? There was nothing glarin~ly wrong about the bird. He might be something less than forty. He hall a meatylooking face, wlth a complacen t smile on lt, and his dress was a !Jit foppish. He danced well, but you could see he :felt he was giving the little girl a treat. No, there was no Jaw about it. Martin would have hated him anywhere. Just as the music stopped thpy turned so that he could see the girl's "Because I Didn't Say It to You at surprise, pleased sheer face, and, In All!" he smiled at her; Involuntar ily. But It was l}ke a head-on collision, for her Idea of a man named Lewis doesn't look met his absolutely true. There look like that." "It may not be his real name," she w!ls a substratum or smile about It ''Or he may have changed remarked. but above that there was a sort of else. People do somethin~ h !-serious desperatio n that bad refer- It from Is thut that's !mow ence, Martin was sure, to the man sometimes . All I the way one of tho!~e men in white she'd been dancing with. "Want to be rescued?" Martin asked, trousers Introduced him to llle. He aafely enough, since she stood twenty as~d me to call him l\Iax, but I don't , ces orr and he didn't, of course, know whether that's short for Maxwell, or Maxfield, or Maximilia n, or &peak the words aloud. But, exactly as If she'd hpard him, whPther it's his whole 'Ilame." He couldn't he sure ln the dim light 11he perceptibl y nodded her head and then looked up at her partner, who of the box, bnt he thought she'd colored ovpr this admission that she was bad spoken to her. "Leap the Instant you've looked," indebted to one of the floor managers was one of Martin's mottoes, and he for a dancing partnl'r. He'd resolved aet himself ln motion across the floor not to try to think her out untll afterto where she stood without pausing ward, but lt wns a resolution h~ to wonder whether he hadn't Imagined couldn't keep. Who was she? What that nod, or what the consequPn ces was she? He smiled at the echo or her fine would be If he had. Had he ever seen her before? Was that why he had speech ln hls mind's ear: "1\Iaxwell, amlled at herl Wei:, he was In for it or Maxfteld, or Jllaximllla n." ''There comes the orchestra, '' he 1 DOW. I By Henry Kitchell Webster Copyr~bt by The llobbs-Merr Ul Co. WNU Service "Let's go down and dance said. again." .)ust then-they 'd moved to leave the box, but even the girl wasn't yet out in the corridor- he saw Babe Jennings coming along with a client In tow, and lte got a tleetlng notion t!mt some sportive Olympian was having fun with him. For the one thing he'!l decid('(l he was e<.'rtuin ahout conc~>rn lng his own companion was Instantly demoli~hed. Bulle snill to her, v>ith sh>terly familiarity , "Ht-llo, Hed! You throu;{h with t11at box?" His glrl-"Hed ," tnueell !-answer ed In a perfectly matter-of- fact way, "Yes, com(' iJJt \Y ~>"re goln~ to dance.'' It waRn't until then that Babe recognized him. "Hello, :\[arty!" she ~ai<l, in liYI'Iy survri~e. "I',·e been looking around for you. But I {li!ln't know you two knew i-nch other." His companion smll~>d. "We don't," she admitted. "We picked each other up In the mllldle of the last dane~>." "I wi~h." Mat·tln put In, "that you'd be good enough to Introduce us." It amused hlm to see that Babe wa~ shocked. "C\flss White," she ~aid with cold formality, "let me Introduce Mr. Forbe!'." She added, as she turnNI away to summon her companio n who had been hang-Ing In the backgroun d, thnt !lhe liked some people's nerve! Babe's dl~approval of their manners advaneed their af"qualnta ncl' nnothpr step. lie l'mid to hl'r as they d:uH't-tl, •·1 don't like that namP: Babe Jennings' nlckna mp for you.'' She smlll'd good-natu redly. "Red? Why not? It fits:• "Thut's just what It doesn't" he Insisted. "I want a better name thau that to think of you by. I wil;h you'd tell me your real one." She looked ruthet· searching ly Into his fuce for a moment before she anl!wered, but the decision she'd hesitated over was in his favor. "You may not like my rPal naml' elthPr," she said. "It's Rhoda. You don't like It, do you? Or It you do," she went on, overriding the protest he mad~>, "what made you look so funny when I told you?" . He didn't try to deny that he might have looked funny. "I've got some associatio n with the name that I can't spot. I'm sure I don't know anybody named Rhoda. But the name's been In my mind within the last three days." "\Yell, don't try to find It now," she admonish ed him. "You don't dance as well when you think.'' So for the next few minutes they dispensed with thinking altogether . They allowed themselve~. indeed, to become a little too ohllvious to their surroundi ngs. In the next pause, as they stood waiting for the orcheRtra to go on, Martin saw a tucker of a frown croRs the girl's eyebrows and the next instant a voice !aid at Ills elbow, ":\Jay I have the rest ot this dance?'' -a rather ecared voice; it wouldn't be Lewis, anyhow- and he turned to see a blushing eager youngster who'd cut ln on him. Annoying as the Intrusion was, Martin couldn't help liking the glrl better for her kindliness In putting the shy boy at his ea,se. She Introduced him to Martin-H iggins, his name wasand danced away with him. It pleased Martin, though, to obsene that be danced badly. He left the ftoor and made for a vacant sofa, a low, high-back ed, overstuffed thing, one of a palr that stood back to back tllwartwls e In the slde corridor. Its fellow had, he noted, for Its solltary tenant a girl whose aggressive blondness made a really focused glance necessary to S!\tlsfy hlm that she wasn't Babe Jennings. Heassured on that point he dropped Into the vacant seat behind her. But he'd hardly begun thinking about Rhoda when hls attention was sharply diverted. He felt a jar as somebody heavy sat down beside the woman on the other sofa, and heard him say to h<.'r, "Well, you were right. She's the girl." "\\'here Is she now?" "Out on the floor. She can't see us here. Well, I gueRs I've beaten the old man to It this tlme." "You'!" the woman questioned ironkallr. "Oh. that was a goon hunch you lind," he admitted. The woman's comment was a contPmpttwns laugh. Mm·tin, Interested without knowin~r "hy, found thnt I.Jy turning hls head sidewbe so that his ear pres~etl against thP hack of the sofa he could henr bPttcr. Tl1e woman w us speaking now In u more coneiliato ry mannpr, '·Tell me how ~·ou made sure. I suppose you got het· to tell you the whole story of h~>r lifP." "I made a pretty fair start with hl'r," he said complacent!~·. "She's a cngey little brat, lhOnJ!:h, and I didn't want to Pl'l'ss too hard. I'll get more next tim!'. But I found out her first name, and It fits.'' "Kept llPr own first name, did !lhe?" the woman sultl. "She's thf' ont>. then. I was tJractically sure when I saw ht>r." "I guess it's all right," th<.' mnn said. "It won't do any harm, though, If I try to find out some more about her." The woman uttered another short unpleasan t laugh. "You !istt>n here, llnx," !~he snltl. "You've got just one joh tonight. rind out where she lives. If I cnn get h<.'r adtlre!IS, we'll have C. J. where we want him. Until we know that, we're nowhere. \Ye haven't any time to waste fooling around. Shf' may see that ad tomorrow and answ<.'r lt. Find out whet'P she Ii\·e!l. As soon as you J·now, come around and tl'li me. I'll do the rest. I'll go now. • -o, sit still. I don't wnnt to take a chance on her s~>elng us tog<.'ther. .·o long!" She came around :\Ltrtin's side of the sofa, and without stirring he wut ched her nil the way to the stairs, with a mind quite blank howevl'r, as far as she was concerned . He had something else to think nhout. He had spotted his associatio n wlth the name Rhoda. For the past week some one had bPf'n adv~>rtlslng evf'ry day ln till' personal column or the News for the address of Rhocla 1\!c· Farland. It was part of Martin's dally routine to read the personal col· umn pretty carefully. Every now and then he found the beginning of a story In lt. He had espel'ially noted thl'!'le adyertlsem ents for Rhoda McFarlan d because of a minor oddity about them. Usually the adverti~;ers !or the addresses of missing per1!ons were firms of attorneys who offered their own But names and addrf'S!!es ln full. these had all been blind ads. The an· swerer was Invited to communic ate his facts to ''X-203" or something of the sort, care of the Dally News. Today the form of the ad had cl1anged. Rhoda McFarlan d, It had said, would learn something to her adwith communic ating hy vantage "X-203": Rhoda 1\IcFarlan d, though; not Rhoda White. What had made the memory of that seri~>s of advertisem ents pop Into his head so suddenly? :\fax was to find out where the girl lived tonight, hecause they hadn't any time for fooling around. She might see that ad In the paper tomorrow and answer it. Martin ~:~at suddenly erect and then slumped back again Into the corner of his sofa. Had It be~>n his Rhoda they were talking about? He hadn't yet seen the man who was still sitting on the sofa behind hlm, but the woman had called him Max, The obvious thing to do was ***************************************************** Found There Was Limit to Custo mers' Patien ce At the time of the rush Into the Palmer gold flelll, in northern Queensland, Australia, jul'!tice was rough but falr, observes the Dunedin (N. Z.) Star, In quoting an Incident of the day. The one storekeep er there, when stocking, took up a barrel of horseshoe nails, thinking that they would readlly sell to diggers who, In loading their pack horse~. eliminated to the last ounce everything of weight that was not eatable. As it chanced, how· ever, there was no demand for the nalls. Every man who had a horse carried a few In his pocket. After the nails had been on his hands for while he struck the brilliant idea that he would force sales by refusing to sell any flour or sugar or rice unless the buyer also purchased an equal weight of nails. For a time the men grumbled, but bought and, not needing the nails, put them back In the barrel, so that a Forest Fire• There are three classes of forest fires: Superficia l fire, burns leaves of the trees and is not necessaril y dangerous; crown fit·e, burns through the branches and kills th~>lll and is very deep disastrous ; and dangerous ground fire, burps orr the roots deep under the trPes and makes a very dan· gerous fire. In burning land the fir<' consumes ali the rotted leaves and destroys the soli, leaving the mineral element. they became to the storekeep er what the cru!'<e was to the widow. E\·!'ntually the swindle got wind and a bi~ rumpus ensued. About a hundred diggers assembled and took charge of the store. They weighed the nails, puld full price, chucked them Into the creek, and on a signboard made of casement wood they notified all and sundry: ". 'o more nalls.'' Antlers Crow Quickly Deer's antlers are shed completel y every year, between January and March. It takes about four months, or untll about August, for the new ones to reach full growth. When the antlers are drop{)('d, the roots or pedicles exposed are rough disks of bone belonging to the frontal bone of the skull. In a week or so this is covered by the dark brown skin of the head and then• the new antlers tJegin to develop. Tile material of which they are composPd is similar to that which forms hair. The antlers of a healthy vigorous elk or caribou wiiJ grow at the rate of one·third of an in<:h per dny, or more, once they are fairly started. Not So Dumb EvPry!Jody in the ,·iflage had vainly searched for a lost cow. Finally the town nitwit went out alone and brought her ln. "\Vhy," he explained, "I jest thought er I wuz a cow where I'd go, and I went there and there she wuz.''-Am erlcan Magazine. to walk around the sofa and tuke a look at him; find out If he was the same Max that Rhoda had wanted to But to do that be rescued from. openly would probably glve away to the blighter the tact that his conversation with the woman had been overhea1·d by some one who took an lnter~>st In It. Better sit still a minute first and check up. This pair wanted to find a girl before someiJOdy else did, somebody who was advertisin g for her. The woman had thought she recognized her but hadn't bt-en sure. Apparentl y she'd sent for C\fax to come and scrape an acquainta nce with the girl and find Martin Nodded Them a Cheerful Farewell and Slipped Away Into the Crowd. ont whether she was the one tht?Y wanted. '"She's the girl, all right,~ She was a "cagey ~lax had said. little brat," but he'd found out bel' first name. And this, added to the woman's half-recog nition, he regarded as conclusive . He wouldn't han~ said that, wouldn't have gone through the process at all, ::\Inrtln reflected, had the name under which the rl was Introduced to hlm been that of the girl he was looking for. The first name fitted In, and the second one didn't : Rhoda White, Instead or Rhoda 1\!c. Farland. His sensitive rf'porter's nose had detected the trall of a story and mere profession al Instinct started him oft planning how he could run It down. Talk to Babe Jennings tonight an<t flnd out how much she know about the girl. She probably knew where she lived, anyho\v. Get at the advertising file tomorrow morning and find out who X-203 was. For a guess, he'd turn out to be the C. J. whom 1\Iax and his lady friend were trying to take ad,-antage or. And then go through all the McFarlan ds ln the "morgue" to see if he could discover any reason why a Rhoda ef that name should have changed It for the colorless name White, and disappeare d. His reporter's mlnd went as far as that point as easily as a well-Iubrlcatell car rolls down hill. But at that point it stopped with a jolt that both shocked and astonished hlm. He saw her face smiling at him In friendly confidence ·as she'd smiled when she'd danced away with Higgins. He didn't want a story about her. He hated the Idea that there was a story. If there was one that for any reason she· wanted burled, burlell It should remain for all of him. Something had happened to him. He'd never felt like that before. But now wasn't the time to go Into that. He must find Rhoda and tell her what he'd ovet·heard . Then if she needed help, he'd help her. The music stopped ~ooner than he'd expected lt to and he got up pre· cipitately. If he'd seen Babe Jennings coming along he'd have eat still for another three seconds ~tnd let her go by. As it was she saw him a.nd sang out to him as she approache d, "Hello, :\[arty! What ha ,.e yolO done with Red Whlte1" He could think of nothing better to do than stay where he was and answer her. "I had to let her dance away wlth another man," he said. "But I've got the next one with her and I'm going to find her now." The thing he feared, but hadn't seen how to avoid, happened. With a mighty upheaval the big man on the other sofa got to his feet and turned around. Babe gave a sort of gasp or squeal of surprise, and then waited to see what was going to happen. "Oh, hello!" Max Lewis said. "I didn't know you were here. Did I heat· you say you were going to dance this dance with C\Iiss White?" "I suppose that's what you heard," "I said it." Then he ~[artiu r<.'plied. had what he welcomed as an Inspiration. "Oh, I beg your pardon," he went on, as if ju:-;t awakened to hls social obligation s. ":'lll:<s Jennings, will you let me. Introduce Mr. Max Lewis?" Babe said she was delighted, and lt seemed to ~Iartin that her enthusiasm Apparentl y Lewis was unfeigned . thought so, too. Anyhow, neither of them olJjected when :Martin nodded them a cheerful farewell and slipped away into the crowd. (TO Bill CO:<Tl:S'IJII ID.) Docto r's. 3 RULES Big Help to Bowels What a joy to have the bowels move like clockwork , every day I It's easy, if yon mind these simple rules of a famous old doctor: 1. Drink a big tumblertu l of water before breakfast , and several times a day. 2. Get plenty of outdoor exercise without unduly fatiguing your· self. S. Try for a bowel movemen t at exactly the same hour every day. Everyone 's bowels need help at times, but the thing to use is Dr. Caldwell's Syrup Pepsin. You'll get a thorough cleaning-o ut, and lt won't leave your Insides weak and watery. This famlly doetor's preacriptlon is just fresh, laxative herbs, pnre pepsin and other helpful Ingredien ts that CQUldn't hurt a chlld. But how 1t wakes up those lazy bowels ! How good you feel with your system rid ot all that poisonous waste matter. Clean up that coated tongue, sweeten that bad breath, and get rid of those bll1ous headaches . A. little Syrup Pepsin will soon free the bowels :!rom all that waste matter that makes the whole SJ&tem sluggish. You'll eat better, sleep better and feel better. You'll like the way Dr. Caldwell's Syrup Pepsin tastes. The way It works will delight yon. Big bottles -all drugstore s. DR. W. B. CALDWEu •s SYRUP PEPSIN A Doctor"$ Fami{y Laxative Love in Rough Marria~es among the Formosan uborigines are arranged by force. When a young man loves a girl, hll friends call a conferenc e, says an article in the Japan Atlverti~et·. They Imprison the youth, kidnap the girl and ht·ing her to her wooer. After the kidnaping they start negotiatio ns with the girl's parents for the union. In ca~e the proposal Is rejected the men turn both the routh and girl out of their circles. tiere eCOUGHS tr:y First dose soothes ·,.. l!lam/Ji. Relief GUAR· ~ ~t' -w-ith aaU Boschee's Svi ·up .Am'EED • "' At dmggim Marked Oddity Relax-So there was something lo your wife's speech that souu.ded strange? Reflux-Y es, a pause. A gem ot thought Is often J.m. paired by a bad setting. Her Reward When children are weak and rundown, they are easy prey to colds or children's diseases. So it Is never wise to neglect those weakenIng nnd depressin g symptoms ot bad breath, coated tongue, fretfulness, feverishne ss, biliousnes s, lack of energy and appetite, etc. Nine times out ot ten these thlngs point to one trouble-e onstipati onand mothers by thousands know this is easll~·. safely relieved by California Fig Syrup. llfrs. Chas. J. Connell, 1434 Cleary Ave., St. Louis, Mo., says: "I gave Virginia Callfornla Fig Syrup for constipati on and she was more than rewarded for taldng it. It regulated her bowels, helped her d!gestfo:a, increased her appetite, made her strong and energetic. " (['he genuine, endorsed by doctors for 50 years, always bears the word Oc.lltornia. Al.l drugstore s have it. .ffMI!tiiW·' LAXATIV E·TONIC [or CHILDRE N |