Casper Daily Tribune Newspaper, March 7, 1923, Page 10

WW : fe ile § ' Hama cen PAGE TEN. “THE SECRET TOLL” By Paul and Mabel Thorne, Authors of “The Sheridan Road Mystery” INSTALLMENT NO. FIVE. READ THIS, THEN BEGIN THE 111 bet you have got a clue—it looks STORY. as if you'd had a fight with those The Friends of the Poor are an/ men.” organization of bls mailers who| Forrester glanced down at Green's have preyed on wealthy residents of} dusty clothes. Chicago. Under threat of death, the “Seng gmorted Greek. "Thece have ordered their victims to place| ain't no me certain sums demanded in a hole in| Forrester gave a startied exclam- & “great oak treo” asper 1 @/ ation reply was curiously Ike the Noi I hern suburbs, f police! h little street i of Sheridan Road. the Negro had made to before. spite vigilance, the Fr the poor] cried Green, “I have alw th the] n superstition till last money. night, but believe me! ‘You can telt| give up tt me kind o' ghost story now and Vi ar to | kfast at a restaurant Green recounted the story of what he had |seen at the tree. Forrester was sure | the girl Green saw was the one of h Joshua had spoken to him, en to me,” went on For- jaturday morning we open our c@untry house. I want you to come up on the noon train with enough baggage to last you until we settle this case. You are to be my killed— fation, been Robert Forrester, member of latest one to receive a money—b told to pl a wealthy ce $10,000 in ght under | Tuesday. | despite rester. “On Frederick Prentice, himself a vic: the black-mailors | bodyguard when I am home, and ep a watch the house when I am away. minlotic Here's the address.” ean : mS n_ hesitated, but an assurance Charles Nevins t¢ “Woodmere,” the Forrester Waudiee wae yuntry home, was liberally stocked Chote ta Shbazeas to with drinkables, changed his attitude. Josephine Forrester, Robert's sis-| , Forrester jumped into his car and aon eit tails the notice of| “ove out Sheridan Road until familiar lanmarks told him that he pele ieee and refuses @) 45 approaching Jasper Lane. «ee ae | He had just placed his hand on t Benjamin F. Green, a private 45] enor Sue When a; Wares zon ee abe ec e, to whor oromise 0 83 bs ae {eee ce mie ne Deon eee. $20,000 unexpectedly appeared coming out of a narrow side road a short distance is not + but he! ahead. cas ds p ‘i | Both horse and rider were startled. _amphrey, a the! Snorting wildly, the horse reared on ‘Times, suggests t : @n/his hind legs with such stddenness hould app! that his rider was thrown the to jumped from his Forrester ran back. He discovered the rider was a girl, who +|had ‘sprung quickly to her feet be- fore he reached her. “I am sorry,” exciaimed Forrester. Forrester goes and as Are you hurt?" s the tree i prised by| “Oh, no,” she returned, with a Bigantic ro, ardener| smile, “it was nothing at.all. ‘It for a famii: arby who are entirely my fault. I should have a fornia. Joshua says the tree nt-|membered that I was approaching | “Snorting wildly, the horse reared on its hind legs with such sudden- mess that his rider was thrown to the ground.” t the motor highway and been Her eyes twinkled mystery of|as she added, “Just lke a woman, the tree ations. | wasn't it?" He tells of a Negro woman whose| “Well,” smiled Forrester, “I husband pad disappeared and is be-| wouldn't exactly say that.” leved by Joshua to have been killed you mind catching my by the wom | horse?” she requested. Detective s the tree at Forrester caught it and on the night. He noises—a| return trip made a study of his new sigh, rey the | acquaintance. clanking of nally the| He had already noted that her hair tolling of a bell that see s slightly reddish in hue and ve aid abundant, and that her eyes were brown. He now observed that she 4 was tall, but not too tall, and slender, to the) hut not too slender. r he picks} She greafed him with a smile as himself up about | he neared her the tree a 1 motion lle was distinctly attracted to her, to I stricken, | He could not recollect a girl of his Green lacquaintance who possessed such un- juuestionable beauty and engaging was s desk when | onality, combined with a. self- ed Thursday morning. | rel that detracted not a jot from a igh hell,” he pminity. groaned. Must we remain strangers?” he night. “You rhaps.”” she answered, vaulting into the saddle, She smiled wn at him and then, with a wave 9, of her hand, started at a gallop up Don’t Neglect a Cold tic rcs0 ‘Mothers; don't let colds get under-| | orrester ove on, stopping his| way; at the first cough or eniffle fub | “Ar near h oak He alighted, ap. Miusterole on the throat and chest, | Proached it and plunged his arm Into the opening as he had done the day ‘Musterole is a pure, white ointment; made with oil of mustard. It draws out congestion, relieves soreness, does all the work of the good old-fashioned | mustard plaster in agentler way, with- out the blister, Keep ajar handy for allemergencies; it may prevent pneumoniain your home. 4 occurred to him that hollow and some ealed within it. feeling carefully and digging his fingers more into the rotten wood, For- convinced that this hole After however, on rester was 35&65cinjarsé&tubes;hospitalsize,§3. | !n which ne pac peas of ey were placed and which was lo larger BETTER THAN A MUSTARD PLASTER | 1). . man's head, was the only | opening in the tree. | The rest of the great trunk ap 1 to be absolutely solid J us withdrew his sc 1 fore | ua tt Her around, | WHATS THIS Gossip Io Jus BM. | Peep AT | 1 FORGET | | | | | ABOUT ‘YOU AND (TITS CALA «45 IT A FACT THAT SHES GONE ON You INSTEAD OF THE COLONEL - Thars NotHING!E Gora DATE Wit HER “Thovenr, Tay Nac oF HIS- WAS THe BERRIES WaIrty SHE GETS A EYED SPARKY = SHEL CORONEL TVER Veer nis Che Casper Daily Cribune | BARNEY GOOGLE--The Rajput of Mahoot Has Nothing on Barney for S WEARING 1F SHE MY BRowA- The WONT THAT OLD BOZO BE SEALOUS Coax ‘Back \F I CAN LALA ON, SPARKY'S” 2 Tue Shock wit’ WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7, 1923. Him Tie ge Ricue By Billey De Beck | | | This time she did not smile but sat regarding him with the suggestion of a frown on her face. “Putt’ng it In or taking {t out?" she inquired. “TI—I—4on't know what you mean,” stammered Forrester. She slightly raised her eyebrow: “I presume, if I were to ask yo you would tell me you did not know that oak had a bad reputation.” | H's newly ulred detective in sserted itself. The girl was je regarding him with some: | th'ny approaching suspicion, and it * he asked, innocently. t a man who knows so little} about it.” she sald, sarcastically, | you seem to have been in a great| hurry to get here. | “Tell me,” exclaimed Forrester, | “do you live near here?” | “That is an unnecessary question | at this time. I might even say that it savors of an evasion.” “I beg your pardon,” | sald For-| reste’ stiffly. re you a victlm?” she inquired. ‘My dear young lady,” returned | Forrester, “about all we do is to ask | each other questions. Sometimes I don't get an answer.” | | “T accept the reproof and apolo. gize,” she sa'd, and smiled. “I live just a little way up this road. i nd I am—unfortunately—a vic: } admitted Forrester. “Now we're quits,” laughed the girl. ‘Let's begin again.” The girl partly withdrew her right | hand from her coat pocket. sy t quite alone,” she ar 4 Forrester saw that she a smali automatic in her hand has been covering you ever | since I rode up.” | “Certa’nly I shall nuw feel it In | cumbent upon me to answer all ques: emiled Forrester. | “Al wight.” she retorted, quickly | “what ts your name?” “Forrester.” ‘obert Forrester?” “ how did you guess?” A wicked little smile stole over the | | girl's face. “You are the last person | | I should expect to see here,” she de- clared. “Why?" queried Forrester. “IT understood you were scared to death,” she returned. | “That reporter again!’ burst out | Forrester, “Walt till I get within| reach of him!" | “Mr Forrester,” she said. "You! Jasked me a little while ago if we! | must remain strangers. I, can now, Janswer your question definitely. If you will come over to the house for a minute I will give you a letter of introduction which I have addressed to your mother. I had intended to] deliver it in person, but after arriv: | ing here I found were still in town."" Forrester was thunderstruck was too good to be true! girl concluded. “My name !s Mary Sturtevant,” the “I shall be very grad, indeed, to} deliver your letter, Miss Sturtevant,’ you sl This said Forrester. “We move out (o Woodmere on Saturday.” ] “1 you don’t mind.” she sald, “I ) like to have you come over| | should to the house now and get th The Bradbury house, which rester now knew, occupied by M.ss| stood only a short d's tance back from the road. An elder- ly woman stood on the porch. A few minutes later she was introduced tq him as Mrs. Morris, and he gathered | |that she was a paid companion to ‘the girl. Miss Sturtevant produced | ‘the letter for his mother, and after a few brief words, which included an | invitation to Forrester to come again, letter,’ | For | Sturtevant, | they parted. wires yee | Forrester had at first been in a} | quandary. as to the character !n/ ‘which he should approach the “bad West Indian Niggress.” It would be unwise for him to pose as a detective, or openly. confess to being a victim of the “Friends of the Poor.” Wh not, he thought suddenly, assume. the So Sipe —- Fo! re INSTANCE, ETe WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT — HERMAN GOING INTO: PHYLLIS BLOSSOMS APARTMENT — Now Take THIS CUROPEAN STVATIon— | THINK ILE write Harving ABout THat— THE THING To Do 'T SEEMS © We IS OVERCOAT ? CLOTHES — THAT'S ALL HE C THINKS ABOUT !, GWan-HIKE Back TO Youre CLASSES -NO FRESHIE EVER Gor BY Me YET. » DUDE ! FLOWERS TOO! NOT AS BIG A BOX AS | TOOK THOUGH. AND DID YOU GET ONTO THAT Owoo! WHobd ever THAK ‘'D SINK TO TH LEVEL OF 6 HAW GuarD - IT Susr SHOWS WHAT WIMMIN — | Just Gtanced THRU ‘PROF EClusTeIs THcory OF RELATIVITY TooAY— —\ GoT HE Boy's DRIFT RIGHTOFF AND! SURE. AGREE WITH Him —\'Lt EXPLAIN ITT You tt A few Words Rs GQ SS AN: \ N SS > ~ —MABEL— ISN'T HE TERRIBLE— — 1M AFRAID IT'S AFFECTED HIS MIND To HAVE MADE oT HIS INCome TAX REIDRN CORRECTLY WITHOUT AID ics IMPOSSIBLE To Cive With VM Now— a9 MARRYING 1 WONDER IF HE CALLS HER PHYLLIS, TOO? | QUEERED MYSELF THERE ALL RIGHT. OH WELL, I'M NOT THINKING OF BuT we HAVE No Pass, LILLUMS! NOW THIS 1S ONE OF OUR MOST EXCLUSIVE | WELL, I'VE GOT TO HAVE SOMETHING SNAPPY. IS THAT ff THE WORST YOU'VE ) UKE TO See ANY OF THESE SMART Altec Hale Guards STEP Me! BUT MR. DAZZLE, 1 WROTE THAT LETTER EXACTLY AS You DICTATED IT !t THE FAULT IS NOT MINE II! 1Spose its MY FAULT, HUH? WELL, JES' FOR THAT, YOU'RE FIRED !! OUTFIT AND NOT HEAR CONTINUAL ARGUMENTS !!° S LHATE TO LOSE THIS JOB, BUT IT WILL BE A RELIEF TO GET AWAY FROM THIS RAZZLE -DAZZLE OH - vO MY. PARTNER FIRED YOU . DID HE 27 Dans-course weno. character of Humphrey and approach her as a reporter? Leaving the road, Forrester fol: |Jowed the path around the cak and The thick ray of ‘sun- could well and silence full play the woods. out every hack into follage shut Nght and Forrester imagine how the gloom of these woods would give to superstitious minds. A. savige snar ted Forrester us he stepped. into small, clea front of the cottage he took Ing in to be hers half edd 1 he saw a dog facing him with teeth bared and halr bristling. The cottage door opened and am 0 Negress stood in the doorway. was tall and thin, with wiry, black hair that contrasted stra with the sickly yellow of her skin. “would you mind calling off that dog?” requested Forrester. “I want to have a chat with you." “About what?" she asked “Ob, about yourself and the yak tree, and what has been going on there lately.” “I don’t know anything about it,” she snapped. Her manner grew more friendly when Forrester told he was a reporter. Before the door had been opened Forrester had also noted that the cottage was a one-story affair and as he now passed through the door he marked a partition, with a door-| way, running across th tre concluded that the interior cottage was divided into two rooms. As the Negress closed the door be and | of of the| | YES. AND 1 LEAVING By THE NEAREST EXIT RIGHT Now !1! You A FEW Y, aly Wf y DION'T I FIRE MINUTES AGO? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERES WHY IM THE NEW STENOGRAPHER !! YOUR PARTNER, MR. RAZZLE JUST HIRED ME IIE i, Boule, Vi hind him Forrester quickly scanned the room into which he had been ushered. This was about twelve by fifteen feet, and quite obviously served as both kitchen and sitting room A small fron cook-stove stood in one corner, a table occupied tho center of the room, and a. ro’ hair and two straight-backed ¢ ancient design completed the ft nishings On a smail Lin t y {next to the vance door an old glass aquarium covered with wire netting It contained no water, howeyer, and Forrester discovered several snakes slowly cojling themselves around on the gravel in the bottom. It instant- ly recalled to his mind that the | Voodoo worshippers of: the West ndies used serpents in their cere mon: Copyright, 1922, by the B nd (Another fine installment of this story tomorrow)