The Key West Citizen Newspaper, August 28, 1947, Page 9

saci THE KEY WEST CITIZEN Sor e ‘Chapter 15 pee was sunk in sleep when the phone rang. It had been a dreamless sleep brought on by | Lil the afternoon of fresh ‘air and sunshine, bodily weariness and mental satisfaction: that the|w friendship of the other loggers | 5 had engendered. The shrill de- manding tinkle of the phone shat- tered it as rudely as though one of the lumberjack’s steel-caulked boots had come down on his face. He was nearest to it and he swung his long legs out of the bunk cursing drowsily. The big alarm clock with the radium numerals was on the, table neath the phone; he anced at it absently. Three forty. . Three forty! Three forty in the morning! Why would anyone _be calling the bunkhouse now? His hand fumbled for the receiver and found it. Elsa’s voice came over the wire as though from a great distance. “Bill? Is that you?” “Andrews speaking, Hardin isn’t here, Elsa.” “He isn’t?” For a moment she sounded strained, disappointed, then. . .. “Doug, round up the * men and get them down here, will you? There's a fire at the mill—we need help to keep it from spreading.” “OK, we’ll be there.” He answered automatically be- fore his stunned brain, could grasp the full meaning of the words. Then he switched on the brilliant light hanging from a long cord and swung it around the big room, flashing it in the faces of the. sleeping _ loggers. They muttered angrily, shielding their eyes. His words brought them upright in seconds, but he was already ahead of them, pujl- ing on his boots and trousers and racing for the truck. He had the engine roaring when the rest of them emerged. There were only thirteen be- sides himself. The married men were down at the Inlet with their families and the other single log- gers hadn’t yet straggled in from their weekend in the city. He looked around for Norway’s — People’s Forum | The Citizen weteomes expres- sions of the. views of its ee ~44 ers, but the editor reserves the right te délete any liema which are considered libelous or tnwar- ranted. The writers should he fair and confine the letters to 300 words, aud write on one side Siguature of y the letters and will be published un- fess requested otherwise. of the paper only. the writers u2s+ accompan : PLANNING BOARD Editor, The Citizen: In a recent issue of your news- paper I read the names of the members of the Planning Com- | mission and wondered. why no | native Key Wester had <a. place | on the commission. It seems that | on boards or commissions for city improvement, at least one mem- ber should be a Key Wester. The natives have stuck to their island home through all kinds of vicissitudes. They may not be | wealthy enough to engage law- j yers conversant with legal = nicalities to circumvent their properties being sold for taxes. On the contrary, the Key | may be so poor he has to stand by and see the roof sold over his head to newcomers who are here, not because they love the | Key Westers, but because they can get what they want for the proverbial song. How beautifully they are doing it is obvious. When Key West was in the | hands of Key Westers, it was the | second largest city in Florida. ! What is it today? Don’t all speak at once. Key Westers have stuck to their island when all the Moses’ who were to have led | them into the Promised Land } had folded their tents like the Arabs and stole silently away to ! better pickings and greener fields. Our schools turn out graduates each year. They are well educat- ed young men and women. Why cannot they be given positions, even if honorary, on boards and commissions to carry on as did their forefathers. with courage and integrity? Their fathers and forefathers thought it an honor ' to serve city and county without ; remuneration of any kind. The motto now seems to be, in con- nection with everything in Key! West, “What do I get out of it?” | If+there is any way to get, back to the davs when Key West was KEY WEST, for the Good ! Lord’s sake, let’s not delay in| finding it. ee rr ne re, J. B. PRIMBLE. Key West. Fla., Aug. 27, 1947. OMAHA.—Annoyed by a DDT-: flying over the lake where he was fishing. a man heaved a beer can at the plane and it went into the pro- peller. The pilot had no trouble landing the plane &t the nearby | Municipal airport but repairs “yf the propeller cost “five hours of | ying time.” CAN DOWNS PLANE 5 ' spraying plane BY CAMERON: DOCKERY ik te oe ee nn eee bulky shape as they piled into the truck then remembered that the huge Seandinavian had gone dove hod spend the evening with alf-breed. Funny he ha Ore. veturhed. Doug reflected. Lily was an Indian but she lived with her sister’s family and way had once remarked that ey strict concepts of morality— too strict, he coniessed, to suit his easy-going ideas of romance. The truck pounded through the night, the big hard wheels jolting over the ruts of the old skid road. After ‘hey passed the Lar- son’s house a glow was visible in the sky and the speculative grumbles of the loggers swelled to a chorus of curses. “Larson luck! ... This makes the seventh damn calamity in six months! ... Yeah, and Pll bet this wasn’t no accident either... .” Doug’s eyes left the road a second to scrutinize the pece-D face of the man squeezed in be side him. “What do you mean either?” The man glanced at him in sur- prise, “Oh hell, Andrews, we all know that wasn’t no. accident that wrecked Elmo's hand—the cable was cut.” “How do you know?” The logger frowned tien shrugged. “I forget just who told me but the word has gone around camp. Didn’t you hear it?” “Then you couldn’t really call | him. it bad luck, could you, if it’s de- liberate,” said Doug. As THEY swung into the road that curved reg the Inlet Doug saw that the entire town had turned out for the fire. A fire of any sort was a menace to a small community of frame houses but fire in the Larson Lumber yard meant a loss of livelihood to at least half the population as well, ° Luckily there was no wind. The breeze that had ruffled the Sound during the afternoon had died and the flames soared straight into the air, lighting the square glass panes of the office and the sweating faces of the fire- fighters with a garish orange glow. Doug saw that the blaze seemed to be centered near the refuse and sawdust piles but only ——_-~ ICE “Place ‘Your -Refriver: ‘ Pas a * po Dade “ yards separated it from mah a resinous fresh-milled 1 19 He pulled to a at the end of the: — nd th truck ‘Gisgorged Sw ong like 4 f spewing for er yourig. . ne raced for the shed wheré forest fire fighting equipment; wa¢ ke; and seconds later had j th group already eqmbating » blaze. Elsa was on the side lines: with a hose filling the fire pumps ‘60° that men could get - inte where the hoses wouldn't. She was too busy to more stare at him soberly “but ° ‘after | © fifteen minutes he paused” his face and cross to: nee wipe side. “Looks like it’s about : licks Elsa. That shed is a ageosac use the rest of it is mos You haven’t _ much fumb “Thanks to all of Queet’s something for me—see if you, ‘ ‘ find Grandfather and ‘see. if all right. This excitement is° for him but I couldn’t keep - out of. it.” ‘Doug moved around ‘the: row % of wooden buildings, ° pe into the faces of the bys yet knowing that old Sven: son wouldn’t be idly. wate his mill burn. He.came back. inched. around to the other's of the blaze and there he ates He was directing three,’ the younger village boys, :ha them hose down the re aed $< shed. His orders were barked‘ Z ina crisp incisive- voice %: Doug grinned. Elsa had no ease © to worry. Then his eyes went beyond ‘the! é old man to the inside: cers » where he stood, almost, prote: tively, it seemed. Doug’s n | twitched. He strode: behind~ son and picked up a hang cotton.waste, The reek of sene was overpowering.: or 4 He was examining, it carefully when it’ was's ne! ie" ig? 3 Fj, ‘let,” she said dryly. {pous: # Pah yh tt 3 #8 Say a” Snatched from. his~ tossed into the iartiing nak saw It-blazed up and. vanished,. eyes Sven Larson. ‘turned i ‘om | Doug were ice-green and. hard. “Forget. you ever .:saw. od boy!” he ordered. “~. (Se be continued) DE Rage Raat NG REAL ICE BASIS, and You Will Get GUARANTEED ne aa ech REAL ICE is More It Is nesnasittal Heelthy and Gate! Thompson Enterprises, nk (ICE DIVISION) PHONE NO. 8 MIAMI and KEY WEST | Also Serving ALL POINTS on Florida Keys Between Miami and Key West : nighi. LEAVES MIAMI SUNDAYS) at Local Schedule: (stops At All Intermediate Pcints LEAVE KEY WES PT SUNDAYS) at 8:00 o'clock A. M. and arrives at Miami at 4:08 0’: , clock P.M. 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