Evening Star Newspaper, March 2, 1930, Page 107

THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, MARCH 2 1930. STORIES SPORTS £ GAMES —)— Every young housewife will know what this §s and what it is used for. But for the sake of some of the boys, we'll have to name it—the dust pan! CLEAN IT UP! The definitions are: HORIZONTAL. 2. To free from dirt, 4. A cleaning tool. Large monkey. ; . Consumed. ¥ . A plaything. VERTICAL. . To vanqguish. . A sudden, telling blow. . ‘Tidy. . Twenty-four hours. AU AWNNM two word chains, one rather hard, other quite easy: Change “fort” to “fall” in six moves. Change “fire” to “cook” in four moves, il Pill in the blank spaces and form four words, all of which end in the same three letters: An article found in every kiichen is con- cealed in the sentence below: “We r:ust make this cake last over Sunday.” e ‘Words associated with cleaning are hidden in this picture puzzle. What are they? THESE ARE USED ~IN.CLEANING Behead a word for frighten and get atten- tion; behead again and get a part of “to be”; curtail the original word and get a blemish; be- head this word and get a vehicle. ANSWERS. 1. Cross-word puzzle solution. 2. One, cleven, nine, eight, two. 3. Port, fore, fare, bare, bale, ball, fall. Pire, fore, core, cork, cook. 4. Deeper, juniper, jumper, copper. 5. Stove. 6. The words in the picture puzzle are “car- t sweeper” and ‘“steel wool.” 7. Scare, care, are. pe Scare, secar, car. " S4eBOYS and GIRLS PAGE Flight From Skeleton Valley. An Air Mishap Lecads to Further Adventures. BY W. BOYCE MORGAN. e 8 LT &NW \‘\\ Y They were engaged in a game of cards. Harry Nelson and his Uncle George fly to Calpass, a Mttle town in the eastern part of California, the State in which they live, to_examine some property inherited by the family. While passing over the mgnul they see a wreck on the railroad line below. tér examming the property. they start back in lste afternoon, and while they are over the mountains the fuel line becomes clogged with dirt from the gasoline they bought in Calpass and the engine fails. They finally succeed in landing the plave in desxolate Skeleton Valley near an old, abandoned mining town, but break a landing wheel, crippling the ship. Uncle George prepares to ex- amine v‘l‘l , while Harry starts off to explore the abandoned town. Before he leaves, Uncle George hands him his revolver, INSTALLMENT IIL The feel of the revolver in the pocket of his breeches somehow gave Harry the expectation of adventure as he walked across the sandy waste toward the shacks of the abandoned town. He had often heard of these old mining camps, centers of a riotous and dangerous life during the gold rush, and now he eagerly hur- ried to explore one of them. Five minutes’ walk brought him to the first of the; Jow frame buildings along the sandy street, with its hitching posts and its wooden sidewalks. A faded sign on the wooden struc- ture proclaimed that it had been a hay and feed store. Passing along, he came to a more elaborate structure, the “Star of the West” saloon and dance hall. Deciding that this building would be worth looking into later, he continued along the street. Then suddenly he paused, A low whining sound came to his ears. He whipped about, gazing back toward the plane that he had left just a few moments before. He could not see it. Everything was obscured by a whirling, roaring cloud of sand and dust that was bear- ing down upon him. The sandstorm had arrived! At once Harry's one thought was to get back to the plane and Uncle George. Bending his head before the gale-like wind and shielding his face from the stinging, blinding sand, he started back. But in a moment he knew that he was attempting the impossible. That wind could not be faced. Gasping for breath, grit- ting his teeth with the pain of the driv sand against his bare hands, he turned again and rushed before the wind to the shelter of the “Star of the West.” The battered door opened on rusty, creaking hinges, lefting him into a long, low-ceilinged room, dust covered and disordered. He saw a long bar, a broken mirror behind it. About the room were tables and chairs, looking as though they had been used within the month, instead of being idle for many years. He could see little in the dim light, and out- side the roar and whine of the storm made all other sounds, if there were any in this ghostly town, impossible to hear. Anxious for the safety of his uncle, he hurried to a window, but found that he could see nothing through the dirty pane except the whirling tumult of sand. He turned back, deciding to make the best of his imprisonment. Then suddenly he stopped dead in his tracks, his hair bristling with terror. From somewhere he had heard the sound of a man’s voice raised in an angry curse. Harry was not a boy who became frightened easily, but that sound in this deserted place, haunted with memories of a bloody past and surrounded by the storm roaring outside, chilled his blood. For a moment his one thought was to flee from this unknown terror. Then reason returned. That was a man’'s voice and it was in this building! Who could be in the deserted “‘Star of the West"? Harry gripped the gun in his pocket and tip- toed across the fioor toward a door that opened beside the end of the bar. Before he reached it he saw that there was a light in the room beyond. Taking every precaution to make no noise, he put his hand on the door and opened it a mere inch, so that he could see into the room. 2 This had evidently once been a private room in the resort. Now it was dirty and dilapidated, but Harry saw a table in the center of the room underneath a hanging oil lamp. About the table were seated the four most villainous-look- ing men that the boy had ev.r seen. They were engaged in a game of cards, intent upon the play, their voices rising only to make their bets or to comment on their good or bad luck. But Harry's eyes opened wide with wonder at what he saw upon the table—bank notes of all denominations, watches and other articles of jewelry. At once he knew that these things were the proceeds of a robbery and that the four men were criminals gambling for their loot. Having seen this, he realized he was in acute danger. Those men would not hesitate to use the guns they carried if they knew that they were discovered. Literally holding his breath, Harry closed the door and stole back across the room. He must find some shelter from the fury of the sandstorm. And then the thought suddenly came to him that if these men were here they must have some means of transportation. Horses? Perhaps. But an automobile was more probable. If they had a car, perhaps he and Uncle George could get away with it. Steeling himself for the ordeal, he opened the outside door and faced the wind and sand again. Cautiously he circled the building. In the rear he ran into a large touring car left in the shelter of a shed. This, then, was the means they had used to come to Skeleton Valley. Harry hastily examined the car. Peer- ing into the rear seat in the semi-darkness, he saw several bulky objects. He felt them, and then drew a quick breath. They were railway mail pouches! A sudden memory of the wrecked train they had seen that morning flashed through his brain. These men were train robbers! They had wrecked and then robbed that train in the mountains. And train wrecking was punishable by death in California. Harry now knew that his peril was greater than ever. The first fury of the storm had abated somewhat. Desperately he started to fight his way back to the airplane, where he hoped he would still find Uncle George safe. (To be continued next Sunday.) POSERS 1. Of what material are bathtubs usually made? 2. What kick is used with the “side stroke” in swimming? 3. Where is the United States Naval Acad- emy located? 4. What city is the capital of South Dakota? 5. What is a young goose called? 6. Who invented the electric light? 7. What ancient nation was famous for its athletic games? 8. How many pockets are usually found in a man’s three-piece suit? ANSWERS. 1. Iron, covered with porcelain. 2. The scis- sors. 3. Annapolis, Md. 4. Pierre. 5. A gos- ling. 6. Thomas A. Edison. 7. Greece. 8. Thirteen, five in the trousers, four in the vest and four in the coat. Help! Help! Jack—Lately T have fallen into the habit of talking to myself, 2 Myrtle—I wonderéd why you looked 50 Bored. Ruins of Babylon. If you lock at a map of Arabia you will find two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates, cours- ing through the northern part of this country and emptying into the Persian Gulf. Although these rivers drain one of the most fertile regions on earth, you will find, if ever you sail up them, but few towns of importance. You would hardly imagine that this region was onee the very center of a great civilization and that these two rivers were once among the most important known to man. Prosperous towns and cities dotted their shores and a great com- merce, carried down the rivers in many boats, g4 and over the country on camel backs, made the country a wealthy and an important one. But if' you were to travel up the Euphrates for about 200 miles from its mouth, you would cocme upon at least the ruins of one of the greatest cities of the ancient land, a city which was once among the greatest on earth, but mow only a heap of ruined houses, temples and walls, much of it still underneath the dust and the sands that have covered it for almost 2,500 years. You will find here the site of ancle t Babylon, the capital of the Chaldean Empi . For almost three miles along the river streteh 1 this city of Babylon, city of thousands of homes, palaces, temples, monuments, all embowered in beautiful trees and flowers, and surrounded by a high stone wall over five miles in length. It was the city of Nebuchadnezzar, the great king who ruled here about 2,500 years ago and who, afier his many wars of conquest, spent many years in enlarging and beautifying his city. His ambition was to become the greatest builder in history and he erected structures that rivaled even those of the Egyptians for beauty and dimensions. He was especially fond of erecting shrines to the gods. “Like dear life,” reads one of the inscriptions, “love I the build- ing of their lodging places.” Of precious stones, gold and silver ard bronze, he built these tem- ples, making the sacred abodes as “bright as . the stars of heaven.” But all this is in ruins. Part of the old ity wall is still to be seen, and much of the old temple and buildings has been brought to the light by excavators, but most of the glory that was Babylon's is as dead as is the famous king who wrought it, Ancient Aqueducts. - If ever you travel through Southern Eurepe, particularly in Italy and in parts of France, you'll see many a large stone structure stretch- ing in some cases for miles along thé country- side. These look very much like high brick and stone walls containing hundreds of open doorways. If you climb on top of one of these ruined structures, though, you will note that it contains a hollow pipe running throughout its length, and a little study will serve to convince you that the arches which form what you thought was a wall are merely the supperts for this long stone pipe. If you could follow such a structure all the way to its end you would find that it reached toward a lake, perhaps up in the mountains, or a river of fresh water, and you might also learn that the other end of the arched wall reached into some large city, perhaps 50 miles _ or so distant from the water. And you might guess that the entire structure was some sort of method of conveying water from a reliable _ source to inhabitants in a distant village or city. Your guess would be correct, for it was by means of such long aqueducts, as they ares. called, that the anclents brought their water over long stretches of country to places where it was needed. Most of these old aqueducts are now in ruins and no longer furnishing water, for we have found other ways in which water might be given to inhabitants who live far from fresh- water rivers and lakes. But they are interest- ing to us, for they tell us something of the manners of the people who lived over 2,000 years ago, and they tell us, too, that these people were highly skilled as engineers and as builders. Less Gold From Golden Gate THE production of gold in California during 1929 showed a very decided decrease from the amount produced in 1928, the output being between 20 and 25 per cent lower. The State which lured the forty-niners yielded $8,392,800 in the yellow metal last year, while during the preceding 12 months the total was valued at $10,785,315. Silver and lead also dropped off appreciably but the gain in copper ontput kept the total for the metals only ) Tftle ‘below 1928's figures. \