Evening Star Newspaper, November 14, 1923, Page 34

“PAWNED” An Unususl Romance of People Whose Very .Boing Is Flodged to Do the Bidding of Others. — © By FRANK L. PACKARD Aiithor of “The Miracle Man,” “From Now On,” etc. Copyright, 1922, by Public Lcdger Company, (Continied from Yesterday's Star.) - ptad e some sort. And it was night. How AWKINS pushed the swing- ing doors open and sidled up to the bar. “Hello, Hawki the barkeepe 7 ain't seen you the whole afternoon! “You mind your own Dbusines; said Hawkins surlily. nodded the me as usual?” u squar 1 bottle and toward the old man. Hawkins helped himself and drank moodily. He set his empty & on the bar; jerked down his s vest and straightened up, his resolutely fised on the door. e felt in his pocket for his b tobacco. His eves shifted from the door to his pipe. He filled it slowly. wnother, without looking barkeepor. old * grinned He slid u glass at man drank . and squared his his_pipe, Again the Jerked down hi thin shoulders. tamping the bowl forefinger. His swinging doors once I'm going hom defiantly to hi think this out” ¥ into h vest pocket for money. and produ a few small bills. He stared for a moment, hesitated, starte replace them in his pocket, h again, and the tip of his circled his 1ips: then he money across the ake the drinks out of tha and give me a bottle.” he said. don't like to be without anything the house, and I got to go home. You said something!" said the bar- lkoeper. e one » house be- fore you go?’ “No,” said Hawkins with stern de- termination, Hawkins sought the Hawkins got to toniue in crowded the bottle »f his coat, swinging d seat on the cg ar started forwa Hawkins’ med nervously At the dri ged his rear of dly in ha turned in, in an old shed at the ne of the houses, locked the shed with a padiock, and, by way of the back door, entered the house that was in front of the shed It was quite dark inside, but Haw Xins had been an inmate of the som: what seedy rooming house too mal rs either to expect that a light hould be burning at that hour, for that matter, to require any light. Te groped his way up a flight of ing stairs, opened the door of 'm. and stepped He shut door behind him, ed it, and ruck a mateh. A gas jet wheezed asthmatically, and finally flung a thin ind sullen about the acc rip of nap. a n old trun i battered table and two chairs Hawkins, with some difficulty, ex- tricated the bottle from his pocke and lifted the lid of his trunk. F thrust the bottle inside. and in the act of closing the lid upon it—hesi- | tated. “I—I ain’t myself tonight. I ain’t.” #ald Hawkins tremulously. shook me, it has—bad. so_help me God Hawkins sat down the bottle in front of And while Hawki very late At i im, tervals Hawkins talked himself. At times he starcd owlishly from a half-emptied bottle to the black square of window pane above the trunk—and once he shook his fist in that direction “Crang—er—dam you out, ou think vou got her, do vou? Some dirty, cunning trick vou’ played her! But you don't know old Hawkins. Ha, ha! You think he's only a_drunken bu Hawkins, 4 came unsteady in his seat. his head sank down upon the table. T—hic gotta think this—out.” said Hawkins earnestly CHAPTER VL The Alibl. John Bruce opened his eyes dream- ily; unsecingly; and then 1ids fluttered and closed again. There was an exquisite sense of languor upon him, o , comfortable repose: a curious absence of all material things. It see in some pended o tion. It w _not_life Perhaps it understand. Mo tried to think. He was con- scious that his mind for some long indeterminate period had been oc- cupied with the repetition of queer, Yague, broken snatches of things, fantastic things born of illusions. brain fancies, cobwebby, intangible, which had no meaning, and were without beginning or end. There was a white beach, very white, and a fall round moon, and the moon winked knowingly while he whittled with a huge jack knife at a quill toothpick. And then there was a great chasm of blackness which separated the Dbeach from some other place that seemed to have nothing to identify it except this black chasm which was the pas: way to it; and.here a man’'s face, face that was sinister in its expression, and both repulsive and unhealthy In its color, was con- stantly bending over man's head was alwauys posture—eocked # little to one s as though listening intently straining to hcar something. then, in the same place, but quently, there was another face— and this seemed to bring with it al- Ways & shaft of warm. bright light that dispelled the abom gloom, and before which the first Vanished—a beautiful drously beautiful fac that he that wa ater still, be- of ani very strange s he had ever known it. was death. IHe did not had al- | but | ways known which plague there seemed to rier between them, could not recogniz her, not speak John Bruce opened his Dimly, faintly, his mind grasping coherent realiti Zan to past, but ning, eyes again it was very crete whole. he remembered that. toothpick. was absurd! Larmoen. where now, That white beach—yes, And_the quill it was at “Been out of town? barkeeper Tully with his | or “It's Just one— t there it grew to Gradually | and fell asleep. his eye-| d as though he were It wasn't life | nd she could | nd tell him who she was, ‘med to be He be- remember fragmients of the hard to piece those fragments together into a con- Only the huge jack knife Apia with 3ut he was in a room some- and lying on a cot of { had he come here? | | He moved a little, and suddenly fe a twinge of pain in his side. His | ha nder the covering, and } s fingers came Into contact ‘with | daages ere wrapped tightly taround his body. R And in u memory turned. He remembered the fight in Ratti's wine shop, the knife stab, and | how he had dragged himself along | the lane and climbed in through her i window. "His cves now in a startled way were searching his surroundings. | Porhaps this was the room! = He could not be quite sure, but emed to be something tbout it. The light was lilc a gas jet turned down, 1 not make out where from. nor could he s | through which he might climbed He frowned in a_trouhled way true that as he t night, he had not dition to take much note of the but yet it did seem to be the place. The vanished. W | did it matter? Knew now bey any question whose face it was that had come to him so often in that aft of sunlight. Yes, it did matter! must have been unconscious, per- | s for only a few hour Thaps it this was ame was here. as br: not one | his own longing, but actual n, a living then flash re- | place, fiement created out jhere in her breathin ality the traveling pawnshop. and-—- John Bruce found himsclf listenin Jwith sudden intentnes W drifting _back into unconsciousness again, into that realm of unreal things, where the mind, fevered and broken, wove out of its sick in ration quecr, meaningless fan was strange that unre seem so reall Wasn® imal | of some s the wall | of_the hou i his head slightly from th pillow—and held it the A voice from within the room ched him in | angry, rasping r you, Birdi House down don't ¥ and have done - ho ou | ou up formed a wi wasn't time. H r now as it had eve The voice came the head of his coat. no one in the room: natural enough since tion in which he line of vision wa stricted: what seemed sible, though. taken in with’ the words he h was that his own pre peared to be comple He twisted his he tight st a W n - this s b been from b He had but t from th was 1y decided! in his | life, wa nodded to him ccounted 1o seraping sound labored breathing John Bruce tretched out ! just reach the screen t of some soft, silken materia his fingers found no difliculty in drawing this back a little from the edge of that portion of the upright framework which was directly in tront of him He scarcely breathed now. he was in so weak a state mind faltered if crowded, was so much to.see that k seem to grasp it ture. He gazed fasc d. The de- | | tails came slowly—one by o 1t | was the room where he had crawled | {in through the win nd had fallen | senseless to the floor- v er that had been! That was there curiously other man was awling i {it now! And there was wh {And two other men w | standing in the room, but he not see their faces because backs were turned to him Then one of the two swung around | in the direction of the window, bring- | ing his face into view. John Bruce !rlosefl his eyes for a moment. Yes, | it must be that! His mind was off | | wandering_once more, painting and picturing for itself fanciful un- realities, bringing back again the character it had created,.the man with the pallow | unhealth Perhaps that hi: for there could not | ngle pie th spoke Come on, get busy, Bird as long to crack th window breakfa just like a swell here's the comb up to the The man addre: build, with a poc bidding countenance. from his exertior now, he leaned . “That's all right, Doc!” he grunted. «That's all right! But how about his nibs over there behind the screen? {Aain't he ever coming’ out of his nap?” Phe man addressed as “Doc” rolled up the sleeve of his left arm, and produced a hypodermic syringe from {his_pocket. here's | y of| and for- | panting the safe over there, | Birdie,” he drawled, as he pricked his | arm with the needle and pushed home the plunger. “Get busy!” I know you know your busine Toc.” he said uncasily; “but 1 guess yme an' Pete here'd feel more comfor- table if you'd have put that shot of coke into the guy I'm speakin' about instead of into yourself. Ain't I wht, Pete?” | The third against the wall, to John Bruce - “Sure,” he said; “but 1 guess vou ave it to Doc. A guy that's win’ the air for two days ain't | man _was lounging his back still turned CHERRY LIPS ‘soft and smooth with MENTHOLATUM Massage lightly and i freely at yields to this treatment. Apply Sloan’s gently without rubbing. A tingling glow, a comforting warmth tells you that the lini ment is taking effect. The pain ceases —then — how welcome! - grateful relief. Get a bottle from your druggist today—35 ceats. Sloan’s Liniment—kills pain! N THE EVENING REG’LAR FELLERS—Well We Wouldn’t Have to Wash, Anyway. MY PATHER 16 A &ood SeMHLR.Teo! HE CAN SWIA FRoA HERE To CUNA (M A PENCH OF A SWMMER. Now! | cAN swnS| sTROKES! likely to butt in much all of a sud- man with the hvpodermic, in | ot of replacing the syringe ia scket, drew it i “Coming from 1 causticall bright idea the last three hou interesting addrs trum of dclirium, and I should was quite safe. Still, to oblige nd make you feel mor we'll aet on your SuUBge ‘ve been here for | listening to his from the *s teeth gritted together. he was! His s ached the slignt strain of cx- beyond his head to the uc ak even it »m tending And then he smiled grimly it it isn't @ case of strength n was it? He was obviously quite | s in’ that respect. This man the called Doc believed him to be stiil uncons and—he drew his arm tucked it in under hlanket that covered nd even if | couldn't w “tion of morphine, or | ever it was that ‘the trio_indulged | take effect.’ crough to and bsed his ist supreme croc buld not ought Get Two Trial Boxes PAZO OINTMENT is a Guaran- teed Remedy for all forms of Piles. . Pay your druggist $1.20 for two boxes of PAZO OINTMENT. When you have used the two boxes, if you are not satisfied with the results obtained, we will send $1.20 to your druggist and request him to hand it to you. ‘We prefer to handle this through the druggist becauss bis cus- tomers are usually his friends and will be honest with him. PARIS MEDICINE COMPANY, St. Loais, Me. CORNSs lift right off Doesn't hurt a bit! Drop a littie| “Freezone” on an aching corn, instantly | that corn stops hurting, then shortly you lift it right off with fingers. 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