OCR Text |
Show m THE "I'U.ETIX. BINGHAM CANYON. UTAH gtSJ iiMtMSMMBIstStSts1tMIMWSiMSttSSSSSMS NlKk5 CLARK NTMEEKIN jfc THE STORY THUS FAR: W.N. U. S CP.VI CI ' While mv... i i tec from England to America, Lark Shannon'! ship toes down. She It cast upon an Island, and Gait Withe, a bound servant, rescues her. At the Inn where she It taken the li made prisoner, but escapes and Is found by her sweetheart, David North, who Is disguised as a to jlp5T get a line on one Dr. Matson and his shady dealings. Lark and Gait tall Into the bands of Dr. Matson, but make their escape at night on two horses. After many harrowing experiences they arrive In Norfolk, where Lark expects to meet David North, but they are told by Mara Hastings that he Is not In town. Both lay at Mara's house and art made to leel uncomfortable. CHAPTER XVI "I seen you trying to sneak by my toll-gat- I'll learn you to cheat an honest widow woman! You come back!" Minnie grabbed Dosta's tail swearing, threatening. The mare plunged and reared. Minnie caught Lark's skirt then, pulling her down off the saddle, Lark said, "I'm sorry. We didn't know" Minnie was staring at her. She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand and stared again. Gait slipped down off the red horse, but Minnie scarcely glanced at him. "God blime me!" Her big voice was hoarse with astonishment. 'JS ? WCre 8tocki"Ks and lit-ti- e on the bed, and ruffled 2 The ""dais pinched but l00ked etching enough when she had them laced. Ine drawers were too big, but carcely Minnie's size. There were a shift and a petticoat on the chair, Bnd then Lark stared, stared at her own dress, her best dress, her good blue bombazine that she had missed rrom her portmanteau on the Tern-por- It was certainly the same dress. He was the place she had the buttons to take care of one she'd lost, and here was the Pulled thread on the lace collar, where she herself had caught It on a pin once, getting ready for churaji, in England. "Minnie!" Lark called. "Minnie, come here. . . where did this dress come from?" Minnie came and peered around the screen. "That little dress'" she asked thoughtfully. "Let me see, now. Just a little dress I had tucked off in a trunk." Then she looked at Lark and burst out laughing, shaking the screen, and making the soapy water in the tub slosh and spill. "You did steal that dress, didn't you, Minnie?" " 'Be sure your sin will And you out,' " Minnie said cheerfully. "Fun- - Finch me an wake me up. . God blime me an' bust my lights an' virtue if it ain't the Duchess of Horse!" "In the name of the good God," Minnie said reverently, "how come you wasn't drownded, honey?" "Luck," Lark said. "I was washed up on an island." "Where you been ? Where you liv-ln'- ? What you doin' here? An who's the handsome trouser-fu- l you got here with you?" Lark said, "This is Gait Withe. He rescued me from the island. We found Squire Terraine's horse on the Island. We're taking him to Great-ways.- " "We'd better get along toward Greatways, Lark." Gait looked at the sun reddening In the west. "And what's your hurry?" Min-nie wanted to know. "I'm glad to see this girl. Me an' her went through hell together on the old Temp. We be old friends. You'll both stay and have a good hot sup-per with me or I'll know the reason why!" "Even if we tried to skip your toll?" Gait asked, grinning. Minnie laughed. "All right, all right. Just the same I'm glad I caught you. I wouldn't a missed see-ing you for dough-nuts- . Where's your pretty Mr. David North at, these days?" "He's in Baltimore, on business." Minnie's deep laugh shook the great loose folds of her chin. "First charge, and drove on. "Big weddin' up to Greatways, tonight. Good toll to Minnie Buxtree an' the State of Virginny. ... A weddin' or a fu-neral is always good business, 'cept the parson goes free, an' I ask you, ain't that a unnecessary generosi-ty?" The harvest moon laid a warm amber light over the pike and the fields. The wheels passed whirring-ly- . Laughter and the sound of hoofs, the tinkle of silver, the clang of the gate bar . . . Peace and warm food and welcome . Lak in her own blue dress . . Minnie, the fattest woman on earth Gait, smiling at Lark, joking with Minnie, Gait, tall and straight in his chair. It was clear that Minnie had taken a fancy to him. He was quite the little gentleman, she said, reaching over to smack him playfully on the shoulder. He was a great buck, she said knowingly, and had left a trail of broken hearts behind him wher-ever he'd been, she'd wager. What was Lark thinking about? That Da-vid North, a man who ran insurance company ink In his veins for blood? David North who'd get what was coming to him when he married the Hastings cold-pie- ? Mara Hastings thought a bed was for praying by, and sleeping in, and for nothing else in the wide world! Minnie chuckled. She listened with Interest to the story of Lark's and Gait's adven-tures, but clucked with scorn over the idea of returning Red Raskall to Jarrod Terraine's stable. "He's got horses thicker'n fleas on a hound-dog- , now," she argued. "Is it reasonable for him to get that horse God give you right out of the ocean? Reward nothin'l You two keep that horse an' run him at the Fair an' save the money for your brats." Gait reddened, and Lark said, "We have to return him, Minnie. We hate to, but well we'd just have to do that." "Conscience." Minnie nodded. "I got one, too. Lot of trouble, con-science. They all works different. . . . What if you take your horse to old Jarrod, and he won't give you any reward money?" "He offered the reward," Lark said. "He's a rich man." "That was better'n six weeks ago, he offered the reward," Minnie said. "Remember that. Lots of things can happen in less time than that. I was never one to take much stock in gossip, but there's a tale " She broke off suddenly and leaned for-ward, listening. Lark said, "Minnie, a while ago you started to say something about Squire Terraine and the reward money, didn't you?" "I don't remember. Did I?" Min-nie yawned. "He's cuttin' a figure tonight, I bet, up there at Great-way- s likkerin' up half the county. . . . Taffy's finished clearin'. No use our settin' here all night. Want to set in the parlor?" For an hour Minnie entertained them with stories of the Fair. She showed them her collection of mot-toes and birds' eggs. Finally Lark said, "If we're going to take Red Raskall to Greatways, we'd better go, hadn't we? The wed-ding must be over." "Where you goin' to sleep at?" Minnie wanted to know. "I took for granted you was stayin' with me. Where you puttin' up?" "Here," Gait said firmly. "Right here. You were good enough to take us in, and Lark's worn out. There's time enough in the morning to take the horse to Greatways." "That's the first good sense I heard in a hour." Again Minnie's yawn disturbed her chins. "I got to eat me a half pie to keep up my weight. Then I'm for bed. Any-body want to join me, they better speak up." Laughing hugely, Minnie shooed Gait off to his end room. Then she brought sheets and a blanket and arranged the guest-roo- bed for Lark, fussing over her hair, button-ing a starchy night-dres- s snugly on her, tucking her in, and kissing her moistly, noisily, before ambling away to her own bed. Lark slept late next morning. The closed shutters kept the room quiet and dark. It was comfort past belief to burrow deep in the feather tick, to feel the slick soft surface of linen sheets, to smell the lavender scent of the fluffy blanket. It was the warm rich smell of fry-ing bacon that wakened her. While she was dressing, Minnie tip-toe- d ponderously in, roared a hearty "good morning" when she saw Lark awake, and pushed the shutters open to a flood of violent sunshine. "Guess who turned up?" Minnie grinned at her. Lark's heart began to quicken, and Minnie shook her head. "Naw, not David North." "I didn't say David." "Well you looked David! That little brown Cupsie from your sweet Mara Hastings'. Rid here with the mail man. Used to work here, onct. Right good help. Seems she took a mad on, at the way Miss Hastings done you, an' wants to stay here." Cupsie stuck her head in the door, smiling broadly at Lark. "YoO got a bill o' goods," Minnie said. "Cupsie, she likes you. She's bound she'll work for you. Maybe she can tell you something about the North buckaroo." (TO BE CONTINUED) business in England an then busi-ness up to Baltimore. An' while he's all that busy, you finds another little gent, an' a damn handsome one, ask me. . . . You two ben't married to one another by any chance?" "No," Lark said. "No, of course not." "You ever get to see the super-fin- e Miss Hastings you was always air-I-over, back on the old Temp?" Minnie asked slyly. "Yes. We spent several days with her." Lark said, "Minnie, we've got to go. I'm glad we saw you. I'm glad you didn't drown." She turned to mount the mare, but Minnie put a massive arm about her, pulling her back to the ground. "My God, you're skin and bone!" Minnie's big hand ran down Lark's leg to her knee, experimented then on her arm and shoulder. "I was Just funnln' with you about North and that Hastings cat. You been In for a bad time, if it wasn't just only that God-woef- shipwreck. You're goin' to my place an' rest an' eat. Don't bother your head about sayin' no. because you're go-I-n I thought about you lot of times since that wreck, thought how you was drowned like my Dan. Re-member Dan? I thought how proud an' all you acted, though you was young an' green as they come. I kind of liked you, Lark, from the first An' seein' you now, after a experience we had together that was enough to straighten the hair on a pirate's chest, I'm goin' to feed you and rest you before you go another it is! Inch of the way wherever Suddenly. Lark was crying, the slipping down big tears brimming, clucking like a her cheeks. Minnie, disturbed and sympathetic old hen the path to the hustled her along road and the toll-gat- "Barnes " Minnie bellowed, you Barnes! Fetch these here horses to the stable and show the young gent Dan's old room, will you? a while, waking to almofdark room, with Minnie an pulhng a.M lighting an oil lamp around the day bed where screen blue tin tub of water had been a square of Measure of soap, two big towels seemed to be a pile of ,nd what at hand on fresh clothes, were near ' now!" Mir.Pthe to ,tf wide face appeared ove on "You was a great the screen. on tne oiu to wash and fancy up. on Supper s Temp. I call to mind. the hot. my girl!" rubbed her WW Lark bathed and voluptuous tow hard with the clean Then she looked at Lark and burst out laughing. ny thing the way a old sayin' will work out. That's your dress, for a fact, honey, an' ain't it God's bless-i- I took it from you on the old Temp?" "You probably took my brooch, too." "Prob'ly. In the worry of that wreck it's a caution what I might've gone an' stuck away in my little old carpet bag. Ain't many folks come out of a sinkin' ship with a dress to they back, let alone a bag of things like I did. I'll have a look for that there brooch, but I can't promise." "You didn't happen to tuck that money I lost in your bag. too, did you?" Lark asked sternly. "The money in my money belt, remem-ber?" "I remember your takin' on about some money. Mighty high an' mighty you acted on the old Temp." Minnie's teasing grin irritated Lark. "I hadn't known any thieves be-fore," Lark said coldly. "You and Dan--" " 'Nothing but good about the dead.' " Minnie came to her, pulled her down on the day bed beside her. "I reckon I been a thief, Lark, lot o' times. I never thought much about it till that fearful wreck come. But I tell you, I thought about it since. Many's the night I've woke wide up, seein' you, right in the room by me, holdin' out your hands for your things. You was sent my way for me to make it up to you. I can see that clear. Like I said, Be sure your sin' " Gait, bathed, dressed in clean lin-en joined Minnie and Lark at the cheery window table. Taffy loaded It with ham, sweet potatoes soaked in whisky and glazed to a candy, corn pones, pork tips in eggs and vinegar sauce. There was a big clatter of river croppie fried to a brown crisp. There were chunks of muscavado sugar, rice cakes, grits strong black coffee. bread pickles, Minnie talked steadily as they ate. How she'd thought Lark drowned mistake. How she'd soon be and no eoing to join the Fair circuit as the fattest woman on earth, a duty she performed every fall of the year and on it. How she made good money missed Dan who'd been like a hus-band to her, and better in many ways What a neat piece of proper-t- v ihe owned here, and how the gen-try always spoke to her nicely, see-h-she kept the best and most hon-est toll-gat- e in several counties. Good money!" Minnie waved her drew up on the knife as a carriage beyond their window, paid Dike just toll to the midget Negro now in j SgyiVC CIRCLE PATTERNS Simple, Easily Made School Frock n.J Pattern No 1385 Is designed for sizes d, " sV-- "j fjt' k r;T7" J'-- 8. 1". 12 n(l 1 years. Size 8 requires Hi f$ZKi 'ill' " IxH y""ls ot 35 or 39'l,,ch material. rMjtyTjjljl I i iJfSfyjjp Send your order to: TNf EjljjjE XtSl UWING CIRCLE PATTERN DIR. CS t T 'WrJVl iVxfi V " "Ok 149 New Montgomery St. 5; Enc,se 25 cenU 1,1 colns 'r each l$jf 'i 1 HERE is a charming school Wk that shine. tOOTH for the grade school H PILOa'01 crowd. She'll like the sweetheart ,Htinrfy7ffiifiB neckline, short puffed sleeves and gay bow. Easy to make mother can run it up in no time. Buy War bavings Bonds I CORN FLAKES I I s $$rmdf ''Tta 6r,lM Ari 6r,,t Foo- -t ' ht 1 I A AnUl KpIIork's Corn Flakes bring you nearly all M 1 1 If ra ,,lc Pr"trr,lve foo1 elements of the whole jHMuseulqr Aches and Paint Stiff Joints Bruises BlWWCTtTfflf sssP . (jKfi- tfl RnlksKlil kiOT long ago, Russian armies We must add our strength to the were lined up on the Oder, fac- - surging movement toward unity ing desperate Nazi resistance before among all men of good-wil- l in Berlin. On the 14th of February, every part of the globe. We must nearly 4,000 bombers and fighters, pledge our unswerving support to part British, part American, Flew to that movement, give our statesmen that vital sector and smashed at and legislators the support they enemy strong points and concen- - need to make it effective. We must trations. Some planes actually un- - determine to make the necessary start, loade.l their bombs only 12 miles even though the first step is not as in front of the Russian spearhead! altogether perfect as we might wish. That was Combined Operations. Will you play your part in this In Burma, a British Admiral led greatest of all Combined Opera-toug- h U. S. Rangers, Tommies tions? Will you take vour place in from all parts of the Empire, Indian tne ranls w'th vour fellow men in Ghurkas and Sikhs, Chinese foot the striving toward permanent soldiers, carrying weapons made peace? in Bridgeport. All wore different , , uniforms. But all shared in their fir"' formed et.andf f? rT t a single determination-- to posaIs for pcace and imRrna. destroy the to con- - fional cooperation whicti are quer the common enemy. now before us. Read and listen That is Combined Operations to the discussions of them, two words that affect the future of Ask :,ur P"bhc Llbrafy for mankind. matenal on ,nem' We have learned the lesson that Second, interest your friends in win this had these questions. Get them dis- - to war we to fight side by side with our allies, regardless USSed soc,aI' Jabor' bus' of race, ,'. iness, religious or other groups religion or politics. to which you belong. And now, with durable peace within our Third, say Xvhat you think-f- or grasp we cannot aban- - or againsin writing, to your don that lesson. Unity, efficiency, Congressman and Senators, to fellowship, international coopera- - your newspaper. Declare your- - tion must be continued. self. Speak up. Every Amesican citizen, every m , , man and woman in the nation, has t0ky 5 P"' ' a definite contribution to children may live tomorrow. make toward seeing that a petmanent in- - il l ternational body to maintain peace be made a going concern. rrtcniEi it tie hi iiteiti:iii ciiiciiiM I STwSnths warm up and Kws mM ft world series vie H Mack's Athletics. the Braves' ki Stalling! I Tyler and James this successive larder for three Months, because Lost managers to- - I day bve deep rouble m getting I by one game with ,hree pitchers. Day after day back in 1914 it was Rudolph - Tyler -J-ames - Rudolph I - Tyler James through July-- on through August -.t-ember until the same order -a-ckmen In this in four Here was tfernoons. t rema-kab- com. .trhing hist ry Dick M - ,mes that sea-Wv-ably supported jKJme! Rudolph after the man Interesting angle every third much better chance jontrol, to keep oar , condition, and to nfidence. I can see it pitch-- jtrj third or fourth Walsh worked In 66 1908 or 1909 and l, saving 10 or 12 tn strong pitching k because their best ry fifth or sixth day. work to strengthen or to keep his cort-- i, control is a lot natter of bases on 1t matter of putting you want it to go, r the outside or the u can't get that sort tag every fifth or after pitching most faults for three still in top shape ries. It has always hat pitchers should mething well over b season to keep and to keep them leir best work. I and how we won i the big series, vork in the box to Fas Right every fact you can ives that Dick Rudolph er We have seen most pitchers of baseball. In ii have to include Cy liter Johnson, ChriBty Grover Alexander, Carl Bob Feller. I always good for bet--I innings. Walter John-be- st years averaged Wngs. Alexander and 'Waged around 360 in-- two best years, 1915 tender worked 376 and fl of pitching turned l steel. It helped them ball where they wanted kept them conditioned, ,! big factor in keep-- infident. n with these brilliant P lormer years, take a modem breed. Last year to!? two pitchers in the taeue who worked over W they were Hal New-- d Dizzy Trout. What ther they won 56 ' "ot another pitcher in 1 League worked over "one of the others drew 'an a warm up, doing tturd a season's job. " the National league? o! the Giants with 313 I Pitcher In this circuit M inning mark. None is reached 290, Most of 250 innings. This W where a pitcher has '"thard working pitch-tav- e sore aims. i'U;one of 'it best is "0 sub. 0rk'' T)iis goes for have a pitcher who E0 innings" .man. Ml wh, n he brought at most pitch-"- r underworked. most of us are nav. Bettmg ji(cher whQ mungs." This is true, working only 180 or m AP'I to October Krle,auny ehan to de- - fV-c- h better frael,! Work more r at least find Tt,, ' wing the ball h. liny Dneeedd stronger. better con-ca- n W this in no is While Walter Winchellls away, this month, his column will be con-ducted by guest columnists. By JACK LAIT Coast-to-Coastin- g : Herman Shumlin, Broadway-mad- e director, now a Hollywood wage-- I slave (at what a wagel) is hot for realism. For a scene in film with Charles Boyer and Lauren Bacall. he wanted a photo of a bullet hit-ting a wall and he wanted it au-thoritatively authentic. At 2 o'clock In the morning, he got four Warner lot cops to stand off and pop their 44 s at a studio wall and had each hot shot from several angles. . . . j He still didn't get just what he was after. . . . But, came the dawn, H. M. Warner sent for his whole force and demanded to know what crackpot had been shooting up his bungalow? It's right past the wall. The place looked like Berlin! Mike Romanoff, the Great Pre-tender, who now owns the most prosperous cafe in California, has won his naturalization papers, thus disproving canards that his Imperial Highballness was born in Brooklyn. Mike is a native of London. Strangely, his true name is Roman-- ' off, which gave him his original in-- I spiration to "adopt" the czarist clan. He says he will definitely not change the monicker now to Mike Stalin. . . . Dr. Irving Berman, Hoi--! lywood eye specialist, has it figured out that persons with normal sight should sit four times the height of the screen from the screen. Bring vour own tape-measur- The Commies In and around the movie Industry have set op rach an organized and agon-ised howl against a proposed Red probe that their activities are accentuating the positive far more than another official In-vestigation Is likely to. That Hol-lywood Is crummy with every bade of bolshy lovers is obvious to anyone who can see or hear. A recent California legislative survey turned up conditions even more malodorous than surface symptoms had Indicated. Stars, producers, executives with no understanding of what the Rus-sian system means plug for it. Crimson propaganda creeps Into costly films. Anyone who thinks democracy and a republic are pretty sweet Is a fascist Isola-tionist; anyone who thinks we're lend-leasin- g like fools Is a Tory reactionary. The victory of the radicals in Britain was toasted and celebrated In mansions and wank cafes In the community which glorifies the Soviets and squawks about high TJ. S. income taxes In the same breath! Tim Gayle has left Fred Waring exploitation to start another musical mag, "Preview." He formerly pub-lished "The Baton." He was going to call his new periodical "Finale,'" but Westbrook Pegler, whose ad-vice he asked, didn't like that said It sounded pessimistic. Peg also said in his letter: "I think anyone who starts a business enterprise to-day on his own money deserves either a medal or a scholarship in Matteawan. Anything that old Sam doesn't take away from you, in the improbable event that you make a dollar in the first place, will be taken by the unions and the lawyers whose services will be necessary to keep you out of prison from day to day." And Peg advises against pes-simism! Hollywood is where: A fortune rides on the turn of ankle or the tilt of a nose; everything is so irrespon- - slble and goofy that a dozen new Billionaires emerge every year; everybody wears slacks and owns race-horse- s; biggies loves yesmen and hire high-price- d monitors to stop them from doing what they'd love to do; everyone denies that the movies are just entertainment and Insists the screen is a medium of education, culture, enlightenment and patriotism; and the cast and crew of "The Kid from Brooklyn" put in 48,400 man-hour- s in a prize fight sequence that runs 3 minutes, 14 seconds, when you see it. Connie Bennett Is back again, just a trouper on the payroll. Her ambi-tious venture as a producer came rather a cropper. . . . "Paris Under-world," a great story, was washed out with VE Day. But Connie had fun while it lasted ordering people around, refusing this, turning down that, one Constance picnic. Freddie Steele, champ, couldn't get East for the "Story of G.I. Joe" premiers, but Pvt. Robert Mitchum (who plays the captain) got travel priority because he's in the army. Both are film finds and will be heard from plenty more. . . Faye Emerson is heart-sick. A few months ago she blazed up as Elliot Roosevelt's bride, daughter-in-la- of the President. Since then, she's had some tough publicity breaks and the Roosevelt name no longer works magic. Soon Elliot win be back in private life, |