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Show THE RICH COUNTY REAPER, RANDOLPH. UTAH GRANVILLE CHURCH " CHAPTER VII The trip down river to Tempujo was a quick one, running with the current. In the car going back to San Alejo they stopped but once at the culvert and cribbing on which Hendersons crew was still at work. Curt had to talk with Henderson, get behind that reserve hed met with yesterday, learn some facts he could get his teeth into. Getting warnings was no good unless you knew what they were aimed against. But he needed a reason for stopping, for the senor was reluctant. Curt told Montaya he wasnt satisfied about the size of culvert being installed. It wouldnt take too much strain to wash out that, fill, he pointed out. Better to be safe than sorry. Curt clambered down the steep embankment to examine the concrete pipe. He squatted on his heels, Henderson beside him, to make jottings in his little notebook. He measured the flume and hammered on it. An act for The Dark Lily, for they were not many feet from Montaya. By lowering their heads they could speak in tones that wouldnt carry to the man above. Curt wasted no time. You put a note in my bag yesterday? Yes, Curt. Look, Curt, Ive got to have a long talk with you. But not here and now, not in front of Montaya. Well manage it soon. Bill, Slats Monahan tells me Mitch was worried for days before his murder. That right? Well-yes, Curt, he was. What about? I uh, dont know. He didnt let me in on it. Hendersons voice had gone flat, lifeless. Curt considered, tried again. Why was he in a dither about getting to the Zone? Henderson looked startled, j He wasnt, the lanky man said j He only I know a felslowly. low there, name of Collins, comes from my home town, and Mitch Henderson let go oh, hell, Curt, this.s why I want to disgustedly, talk to you, to tell you just enough to keep you from messing around about Mitchs murder. I know you from way back when something dirty pops up. Anyway, whats done is done and its no skin off your nose. You keep out of it and Ill give you some dam good reasons why, soons we can have a talk. You leave it to me. I know what to do and how to do it, and theres nobody waiting for me with a candle in the window." Its no skin off my nose, Curt growled, unless whatever did for Mitch is a danger to me by taking over his job." It wont be if you watch your- That will bring you to Friday, Friday and Saturday you can study what you have seen, then we can get together say Sunday? There is so much to be done, no time to lose. Sunday will do very well. I am giving you a ah, a sort of Montaya secretary - bodyguard, went on, carefully. But you must not be alarmed. I simply do not want anything to happen to you, Mr. Curtis, that is all. Engineers with your background in ' this work we do not find you say? growing on bushes. Curt waited. The mans name is Emilio Vargas. Tomorrow he will report to you. It is my wish that he go everywhere with you when you are out on the job. Everywhere. Please, Mr. Curtis, observe this closely. You will find him a competent stenographer and quite helpful in relieving you of minor details. Curt pondered. A bodyguard for himself! That seemed to hint at danger to the Chief Engineer. In the morning Emilio Vargas reported at Curts office. He was a slick looking hombre, with sharp d features, skin, snapping eyes. He had pointed teeth, anc perfumed pomade glued his black hair flat to his skull. A revolver, a fancy chased affair in a holster that had seen service, hung at his side. From his mouth drooped one of the d native, sickly-swee- t, no? - olive-tinte- brown-jackete- cigarettes. Curt found Emilio a good guide Montayas feet, above, crunched crushed rock as he tested a foothold for the easiest descent. Curt rocked back on his heels, made another note in his little book, then rose and climbed the embankment. Montaya was patently annoyed but got into the car without a word. Curt, his foot on the running board, called down to Henderson. By the way, Bill, try to get up to San Alejo this week-enCome to dinner Saturday night and meet the kids. Montaya regained his suavity in a few minutes and began to talk of the work in general and plans for the morrow. You have yet to go over the rest of the tract before getting down to work. I should like you to cover it tomorrow and the next day. Unfortunately, I shall not be free. Its a lot of territory, Curt said Would you use a thoughtfully. plane? Is there a place to land on the flats? No, was the snap answer to It will be fatiguing but you this. can do it by mule. The main drainage canal will take you one full day, and there you can use an outboard motorboat. You can catch the rest on the second day. home-prov- ACTS2mYS ATonce.. ... but this There had been a brief rain tonight, clearing the atmosphere. .... on ADOUT COLDS time-test- ed ... self- . ay 1, d. With Supplement Stricken SERVICE The average mans mind is as Buck I hear Robinson is back in the the evening at the clubhouse that hospital. easy to read as an open book, Bill gets here in one piece and sober. Private Yeah; he took a sudden turn declared the eminent psychologist. Ill even dance with you without an for the nurse. And what of a womans mind? argument. his audience. asked Lee snapped him up on that. Its The problem was to give an exAlso as easy to read as an open ,a bet and; Ill hold you to it, Master- ample of a paradox and the stubook in Chinese. printed mind, see if I dont! I can get Ines dent wrote Two M. D.s. to stay this evening, in case the Kick Off kids wake up. She whipped up the Thats It Medical Officer Young man, print dress, put it back, and pushed Teacher What is the main crop have you ever been bothered with hangers back and forth. Lets see, of Iowa? athletes foot? something to dance in . . . Jane I dont know. Recruit Yes, sir, once when a She selected a pastel organdie and Teacher What do they put in football player caught me kissing Curt found himself pressed into cribs? his girl. service, to fasten the rhinestone Jane Babies. shoulder buckles. The hour passed and Bill Henderson hadnt arrived. Curt became Lady Voiced Appreciation gradually quieter during that time, At the Earliest Moment fiddling unconsciously with his pipe. Lee knew the signs, knew, he was At two oclock in the morning a puzzled and disturbed. She ragged woman phoned the manager of a him some about giving her the eve large department store. After ning so glibly, and made a show od: much ringing, the manager answered with a sleepy and gruff getting out his coat and panama Just to be ready. But they sat Hello! down to dinner alone. This is Mrs. Soandso, said the The meal was not yet over when woman in a syrupy voice; I just the phone rang. Lee answered. couldnt help calling you personalNow when colds strike, relievo For you, dear, she said, one ly to tell you that the hat I bought miseries with Vicks hand over the transmitter. Her nose at your store last week is simply VapoRubthat wrinkled as at a bad odor. The stunning. I dont know when Ive Dark Lily. And youre not to go liked anything so much. back to the office tonight, you hear Thats all very nice, yawned me? You lost fair and square, and the manager, but would you mind its my evening. Were going to the telling me why you call me at club! this hour of the night about a hat It PENETRATES to upper bronchial Curt frowned as he took the re- you bought last week? tubes with soothing medicinal vapors. It STIMULATES chest and ceiver from her. Montayas words she replied sweetly, Because, back surfaces like a warming were crisp and direct. has van delivered it. your just poultice. And whats more, it I have just been told from Temkeeps right on working for hours even whils you sleep! pujo that Mr. Henderson has had an accident. He is unconscious and Just rub throat, chest and back Egyptian Divorce with good old Vicks VapoRub at old As are an An sinking rapidly. you Egyptian woman who gets a bedtime. VapoRub goes to work friend divorce and then changes her mind Instantly to relieve coughing Ill be right along. Youre going, cannot go back to her former husspasms, ease muscular soreness or tightness. It invites restful, of course? Can we use a plane? band until she has been married comforting sleep. And often by Sorry, we have no lights at the and divorced by another man. morning most of the misery is Tempujo field for night landing. You Usually an ugly or blind man is gone. Try VapoRubs special can get to the station in five min- employed for this purpose. She can action tonight! When a cold strikes, be sure you use utes, no? Bueno. Dr. Berry has marry and divorce him and be Vicks VapoRub, been notified free to remarry her husband all Ill be there! within two or three hours! Curt sprinted to the bedroom and returned buckling on his gun belt. He grabbed up his coat and hat, gave Lee a flying kiss and explained on the way to the door. Henderson. Accident. Tempujo. Be back when I get here. . Besides the, mestizo driver in the car that clanked down the mountainside, there was Montaya, spotless as usual from fresh white shoes to panama; Dr. Berry, the American head of the hospital; a young burnt-blon- d fellow named Lister, carrying camera, flash, tripod and finally, Curt. It would Montaya was saying: appear he was drunk . . . you know his failing, Mr. Curtis. So long as he did his job I had no objection, W.W.U. THE STORY SO FAR: Jeff Curtis and Us wife, Lee, are already on their way to Tlerra Libre when Jeff receives a note from Zora Mitchell warning them not to come. Jeff is to be cUef engineer for a newly organized fruit company. They rrlv in'Tierra Libre to find both Zora and her husband dead, and Jeff suspects they were murdered. Conversations with Us employer, Senor Montaya, and with Us friends Jerry Mclnnis, Bill Henderson and Slats Monahan confirm Us suspicions that there is sometUng strange going on and that Mitchell and Zora were killed because they knew too much. Now on a tour of inspection with Montaya he Is troubled by the apparently unfriendly attitude of Henderson and Monahan. A talk with Monahan reveals that he, too, suspects sometUng is wrong. NOW CONTINUE WITH THE STORY v ft Curt found Emilio a good guide. and untiring in the saddle. Furthermore,, the young man was as good at taking dictation in English as Montaya had said. So he was an asset. He was also company of a sort. First impressions, suggestions, questions of the work at last on paper and out of the way, Curt phoned Montaya for an appointment early on Sunday, then went home. It was his first breathing space since arriving six days ago. He played with the children for two hours. Curt took quickly to Zora Mitchells small daughter. The shyness of her first few days had worn off in the lively company of Buddy and Chuck, and her loneliness for her mother was gradually fading. Lee had seen to that. When it came time for the childrens supper, Lee broke up the play in brisk fashion. She sent Curt to the shower, took charge of the children, and by the time Curt had had his bath and a cocktail, and was stretched out on the bed for a few minutes of relaxation before dressing, the youngsters were out of the way for the night. Dinner time approached. This was the night Bill Henderson would be in for dinner. And that talk! Curt was thinking, as he blew smoke rings ceilingward. Hed make the mug talk! But how to do it without Lee wising up? Thought of Lee was his Nemesis. She came breezing into the room shooed him off the bed, made him dress. Well give Bill Henderson one hour, no more, said she firmly, laying out a print dress. Ive planned dinner so. Unless hes changed . . . Wrong this time, honey, Curt said cheerfully. He tucked a clean sport shirt inside his fresh white ' ducks. Tell you what, Ill bet you Though the airfield was a full kilometer away, grinding around a curve Curt saw plainly the lighted swimming pool and could make out tiny figures diving. Two more human ants were at tennis on the bright court. Very little was said during the run to Tempujo, which took scarcely thirty minutes. On the lower badly ballasted stretches the car rocked dangerously. Young Lister chewed gum incessantly, vigorously; Montaya smoked his oversize Turkish cigarettes, lighting one from another he was on his third as they hit the many switches of the storage yards. Dr. Berry dozed. Henderson was stretched out on an examination table in the dispensary, in charge of Dr. Fisher, a newly graduated interne from the States. Dr. Fishers chief duties at Tempujo had been dishing out quinine or bandaging minor hurts of the laboring force, and the present case seemed to be beyond him. But so was it beyond his superior. Dr. Berry straightened up after an examination of only a few seconds, to shake his head. Hopeless, he said bluntly. Both legs broken, and several ribs at least five or six; a blow on the back of the head that has probably fractured the skull; the chest caved in, one lung punctured. Its a wonder he wasnt killed instantly or that hes lived this long. Bill Henderson was still alive, though unconscious, and frothing pink at the mouth in his wracking efforts to breathe. Hed lost a great deal of blood. Young Fisher kept swabbing the lips clean with gauze. Still about Henderson was the smell of raw whiskey. Curts thoughts were bitter. Hed seen so good men, clean of many men heart lose out here in the tropics because of drink. Now, Bill Henderson. And only a few days ago Bill had said hed been on the wagon for some time. To be sure some time with him might not mean what it would to another, but would he have gone to drinking tonight, when expected for dinner at San Alejo? That wasnt like the old Bill. (TO BE CONTINUED J weeds With sons in the service, with experienced men from stores and banks and shops gone to work in war plants and shipyards, we cannot afford to waste any s through skidding man-hour- accidents. Save every precious hour. Save wasted time and expense. Avoid accidents and delays in your winter driving of car or truck. Get your Weed Chains out now and have them conditioned if necessary. Need new chains? Ask for Weed American they give double mileage. If theyre not in stock ask for Weed Regular. And look for the name Weed on every hook. ed AMERICAN CHAIN DIVISION York, Pa. 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