Evening Star Newspaper, February 22, 1931, Page 91

STORIES SPORTS' GAMES PUELZLES st We'll start off this group of puzz'es with four words in a square. Only cne of them is at all PICTURE WORD SQUARE Next we have a word diamond, built around something that we all have to wear at this time of year. The second word is a dish, the third is a measure of length, the fifth is devoutness and the sixth is to attempt. Form the diamond. R U B RUBBERS E R s —3— Reverse a small body of water and get a fold in a rope. Reverse an instrument and get plunder. i Below are four words beginning with the same three letters. Can you fill in the blank spaces and guess the words? 1, CAN——L. 2. CANA —, 3. CAN——A. 4. CANV——S. g CROSS-WORD PUZZLE. The definitions are: HORIZONTAL. . Pertaining to the moon. . Seat of national government. . Shel! of a pea.y . Hole, . Upon. . A beverage. . A denial. . Remain. . Plateau. . Point of the compass. . To wield diligently. . East Side (abr.). . Finish. . To fondle. . Decorated. To long for. VERTICAL. . Small boy. . Toward the top. . River in Egypt. . Preposition. . Strike smartly. . Satisfied. . Kind of oil used in paint. . Band of officers, . To roast bread. 2. Typography (abr.). 3. Girl’'s name. . City in Peru. . Free of moisture. . Writing tool. . That is (abr.). . Form of address (abr.). Well Cooled. Mr. Newlywed—Is the steak ready now, dear? Mrs. Newlywed—I'm sorry I'm so long, George, but it looked hopeless, grilled, and it doesn’t look much better fried, but if you'll be patient a little longer I'll see what boiling does to it. THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, FEBRUARY 22, 19 Yhe BOYS and GIRLS PAGE Secret of Mournful Swamp. A Serial Story of Adventure and Mystery. “We could see he had put up an awful fight” BY W. BOYCE MORGAN. INSTALLMENT 1. EITH FRANKLIN stood at the window of the farmhouse living room gazing out into the night. Across the road and & quarter of a mile beyond he could see a black mass, which might have been a dense wood had it been taller. Over this low, dark streak along the horizon the pale moon was rising.: Outside all was silent, as silent as the three persons who sat behind him in the living room, close to the big stove that drove the chill from the air of early The boy at the window drew up his shoulders as though he felt cold, then turned. His face, which had been serious, suddenly broke into a good-humored grin. “Golly!” he exclaimed. “You folks and your stories about Mournful Swamp have certainly made the chills chase up and down my spine. Of course, I know that all this talk of spirits and weird cries and ghostly laughter is a lot of poppycock, but when you stand and look over at the swamp you can believe almost anything about it!” The three persons grouped around the stove did not smile. One of them was Jack Taggart, Keith's cousin, and a boy of about his own age. The others were Jack’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Taggart. Keith had seen his uncle and aunt years before, but he had never met his cousin until he had come to their farm for this visit. But although he had been there only a few hours, he and Jack were already fast friends. Keith had lived all of his life in the city, while Jack had been born and raised on the Taggart farm in this remote section of the country, yet the boys had found that they had many interests in common, and both were look- ing forward to a great time in the days of com- panionship to come. AP'I‘ER supper, a meal during which Keith had been urged to eat until he could hardly get up from the table, the Taggarts and their guest had repaired to the living room. There the talk had soon turned to the great swamp that lay so close to the Taggart farm. Keith had seen it on the train that day as he arrived, and had questioned them about it. The resulting stories were enough to satisfy even the most rabid searcher for thrills. Mournful Swamp had a very sinister reputation in the country near it, and among the natives of the region not one could be found to say a good word for it. Keith resumed his chair in the circle about the stove and turned to his uncle. “Yes,” he resumed, “I'll admit some of those stories are pretty scarey. But tell me this: With the exception of this awful laughter that is supposed to be heard at night, and the ghostly lights that are sometimes seen, and all that, is there anything really definite about the swamp? I mean, has it ever actually harmed anybody?” JACK TAGGART smiled grimly, but he allowed his father to reply. “You should ask the railroad company that question, Keith,” Mr. Taggart said solemnly. “You noticed, maybe, how the track curves to run around the swamp. It runs five or six miles out of its way. Well, when they were building the railroad through here some 15 years ago they thought it would be cheaper to go across the swamp. So they started to build a fill. “BEverything went fine, and they had gone about half a mile into the swamp without much trouble. They had a good solid fill laid, track out on it, and laborers were camping on the fill, sleeping there at night. The folks around here told ’em not to do it, but they just laughed at us. ¥ X “Well, one night, without any warning, the swamp sudd-nly swallowed up that whole fill, railroad track, camp, machinery, laborers and all. By morning you'd never have known that a railroad had been built in there. Eight men lost their lives and thousands of dollars’ worth of machinery was buried. Nobody has ever seen anything of it since. It was simply gobbled up. After that the railroad company decided it would be cheaper not to fool with Mournful Swamp, and built the line around it!” Keith whistled. “You mean the whole em- bankment just sank right into the swamp all of a sudden?” he demanded. “Exactly,” said Mr. Taggart. “Those poor laborers didn't have time to save themselves. They may never even have known what hap- pened. The swamp simply has no bottom.” “Well,” said Keith emphatically, “I'll have to admit now that the place is dangerous.” ¢ JUST wait!” broke in Jack, shifting his chair excitedly. “You haven't heard the worst story yet. Tell him about the Duncans, dad.” Mr. Taggart sat for a moment without speak- ing. Then he b:gan, speaking slowly and im- pressively. “It’'s pretty hard for some people to believe in anything supernatural,” he said. “I'm like that myself, and although I had lived here for a long time, and heard lots of weird stories about the swamp, I used to put most of them down to people's imaginations and just plain lyin’. But after what happened to the Duncans, I'm not so sure. ERaaRt Il | “The Duncans, as we called them, were three brethers, who farmed the place across the road and just beyond our place. Their land bordered right on the swamp, and was about the richest land in these parts. Not only that, but those Duncan boys were the smartest farmers in this section of the country. “They lived all alone over there, with not a woman on the place. John was the oldest brother, an honest man, but a hard one, and he ran the farm and ruled the other boys. I guess he was a pretty stern ruler at times, too. Henry was next, and he was a queer sort of chap, a hard worker, but very quiet, with sort of a funny eye and not much talk for anybody. Dave was the youngest, and the one I knew best. He was a fine man, if there ever was one, and if he had a fault at all, it was that he was too easy-going. He did just about anything his older brothers asked of him. “WELL, the three men lived over there, farmed the place, and made money at it. In fact, I guess making a little money was what ruined them, for they got greedy for more. Finally they got the idea of draining the part of the swamp bordering their land, and planting it. John said it was the richest soil he had ever seen, and would yield crops like this part of the country had never raised before. “Well, everybody around these parts was dead against the idea. This was about fve years ago, and they 5till remembered what had happened when the railroad company tried to cross the swamp. But John Duncan was ob- stinate, and he convinced his brother Henry that they should drain this swamp land. But, strangely enough, he couldn’t persuade Dave, who was usually the easy-going one. ° “I guess Dave had never crossed John before, and they had a big row, which ended up in Dave’s leaving home. After he had gone, John and Henry went ahead with their plan. They dug ditches, drained off several acres of the swamp and planted it. And for a while it looked as though their idea would be successful. Their crops that Summer, on what had been the swamp land, were the marvel of the neign- borhoed.” i : “I suppose that_ground would ‘be very rich;” CRAFTS JOKES j PUZZLES : Keith broke in, “since it had been covered with wvater and decaying vegetation for so long.” Mr. Taggart nodded his agreement, and continued with his story. “Then it happened,” he said dramatically. “People around the village began to remark that the Duncan boys hadn’'t been seen for sev- eral days. I was their nearest neighbor, and I hadn't seen hide nor hair of them for two or three days, at least. We began to get worried, so finally I and two other men went over to investigate.” R. TAGGART paused again, then draw & deep breath. farm house, we cculd see that something was wrong. Inside the house, we found what it was. John, the oldest brother, was lying dead in his room, which showed signs of a desperate strug- gle. We could see he had put up an awful fght. There was blood in Henry's room, too, aut we couldn’t find Henry. “However, what we did find was enough tc throw this neighborhood Into a panic. The bloodstains led from Henry's room out of the house, across that rich land and into the swamp! Whatever had done this terrible deed had evidently carried Henry's body away with it!” Mr. Taggart stopped. Kreith, with wide eyes, gasped, “But what was it? What killed John and Henry Duncan?” With an almost weary gesture, Mr. Taggart shrugged his shoulders. “Who knows,” he said, slowly. “People around here said it was the evil spirit of the swamp, angry because the brothers had tried to steal its land. Others said it was some wild animal, but nobody ever sa™ any man-eating animals in these parts, or animals that kill men like that. As for me— well, I don't know. But thc less I have to do with Mournful Swamp the safer I'll feel.” (To be continued next Sunday.) Kitten Tricks. BY HORACE MITCHELL. “ KITI‘ENS can be taught many interesting tricks. When old Tom was young and playful we taught him to jump over our hands. I would crouch down with the cat between my knees, facing toward the front. My arms would be extended, with the fingers clasped together, Mother would call the cat and I'd say “Jumpl! Jump!” while I held my hands about eigh$§ inches off the floor. With a little urging Tommy jumped, and now he will flip over the barrier every time he is told. One day, while he was still just a Kkitten, Tom got away from us and went down to the rearing field where there were five or six hune dred baby pheasants with their bantam fostere mothers. Tom smelled the birds and ecrept up close to one of the coops where the door happened to be open. Slowly and silently ‘Tommy crept up on a young pheasant in the grass. The bunches of weeds partedeas Tom's head slipped through them. His eyes glowed like yellow headlights and every inch of his body was tightly strung, except the twitching tip of his tail. He was just like a monster tiger sneaking through the jungle, only Tom was much smaller. Just the instant before the cat was to spring on the phcasant the bantam mother saw and dashed out of the coop with wings spread. Pow! She struck Tom like a hurricane. Wings, feathers, cat and hen whirled around together, and then Tom broke free and sailed for the house, while the hen paused with a beak full of cat hair and clucked to her brood. If you want to have some fun with your kitten, tie a piece of paper or cloth to a string and drag it along the floor in front of hes. ANSWERS. 1. The square is cops, oboe, pole and seer. 2. The diamond is R, cup, cubit, rubbers, piety, try, S. 3. Pool—loop. Tool—loot. 4. Cancel, canal, Canada and canvass. 5. Cross-word puzzle solution. “When we got over to the I