The Key West Citizen Newspaper, December 27, 1952, Page 8

Paget THE KEY WEST CITIZEN Scturday, December 27, 1952 MANDRAKE THE MAGICIAN THE ONE WHO DID THIS «IS ON THE REEF NOW*«DISGUISED ASA TOAD HE'S MORE DEADLY TOUS THAN AN, ISEE, CHIEF, ITS ME \NEVER MIND. DON'T YOU TWO AREN'T POPULAR: HERE. YOU"LL BE SAFER IN JAIL. CHEE «OUT COLD! MAC AND JOE-) TOUGH GUYS+WHOEVER DIDTHIS THE GHOST WHO WALKS «THE MAN] WHO CANNOT DIE+*THE ANCIENT NEMESIS OF PIRATES<«*HE'S AND KING LOTHAR TAKES. HIS RIGHTFUL PLACE! SECRETS | Q. What is the most dangerous of all stinging fishes? A. Apparently this is the stone- fish of the tropical Pacific, Synan- jeca verrucosa. The sting of this fish has been likened to the bite of a cobra, and intense suffering and possible death will result from accidental contact with its poison- bearing dorsal spines. Because of its protective coloring and its ha- bit of laying motionless on the bottom in shallow water, the stone- fish is easily stepped upon by a careless wader. Belonging to the Family ‘of scorpionfishes, the Scorpeanidae, this fish has a num- ber of poisonous but less danger- ous relatives in Caribbean waters. Q. Why is the goose barnacle so- named? A. This barnacle (Lepas) receives its name from the appearance of its flattened shell, which somewhat resembles the outline of a goose’s body with folded wings, while a dark neckline stalk attacks this shell to floating wood, rocks, etc. In fact, the resemblance of Lepas to a tiny goose gave rise among the ancients to the belief that this barnacle would eventaully turn in- to a goose. Ridiculous as this idea may seem to us, it was widely accepted as scientific fact at the time. Q. Does the size of a fish’s mouth indicate the size of the food it eats? A. Only to a limited extent. The | teeth are a much better indicator, since they show by their form the type of food eaten. Long, sharp | teeth denote a fish with predatory | habits, while flattened or bristly teeth indicate a diet of mollusks | or seaweeds, respectively. Occa- | sionally fish with very large | mouths will feed on the smallest | of sea life, as in the basking and | whale sharks and the manta ‘ray. | In these fish the teeth are very | small or altogether absent and the ; food is trained from the water by | brush-like gill rakers. Q. Do crabs grow at the moment ' they moult? j A. No, the growth takes place a short time afterwards while the Chapter 25 @ ISLAND wes an armed camp. They were halted twice by outposts before it came in sight, and at its entrance three hard- eyed guards took charge of them and escorted them suspiciously up the curving driveway. There were armed men everywhere, cam in little groups along the wide curve of the beach for more than a quarter of a mile, lounging on the vast, tree-shaded lawn that occupied a good two hundred 7 between the beach and the jouse itself, gambling on the wide, white-pillared gallery, talking in low voices in the covered breeze- way, rigidly on guard before the closed double doors where Clay and his escort finally called a halt. The guard was surly, irritable with the enforced and inescapable duty that had fallen to his lot, resentfully determined to unload his own stifled anger upon anyone who came his way. “Morgan?” he sneered. “Great God A’mighty! There cain’t no- body git in to see Morgan now. He’s got work to do and he shore ain’t fixin’ to be disturbed. Wait over there, if you’re a mind to. He might be out toward noon, if he don’t have his dinner sent in to him, which he’s likely to do.” The guards grunted in disgust, but Clay could see that there was no intention on their part to dis- pute their surly companion’s re- pulse. If Morgan wanted to be left in peace, it was no concern of theirs. But it was no part of.Clay’s plan, to be left to cool his heels outside the door of some guerrilla politician. The regiment was wait- ing less than fifteen miles away, subject to the constant threat of discovery, and every hour that passed increased that risk tenfold. Before. they realized his inten- the tion, he had stepped forward and his knuckles set up a rumbling tattoo on the carved oak panels of the door. “Morgan!” His voice carried like a rifle bullet. “I’ve got busi- ness with you and it can’t wait. I want to see you and I want to see you now!” Like a pack of wolves, the | gua.ds converged upon him from all directions, shocked into vio- lence at this sacrilege, determined By Homer Hatien gene more: me as ing the offender into pulp as evi- dence of their good intentions. Bt even as the first hand fell upon his shoulder, a voice that roared like an angry bull came rumbling through the door and held them aren arer : “Who is raising al at row ou! theie? Goddamn it, I told you—” Clay cut in, his own voice beat- ing down the other's roar by sheer force and power. “Morgan, I've come from Vera Cruz to lay a proposition before you, and you're tes to take it or leave it now. t terested, say so, and I’ll take it on to someone else in Houston.” You could feel the silence de- scend like a blanket, holding the guards rigid in their tracks, en- veloping them all as they waited for Morgan’s answer. en it came—no roar now, but a rum- bling like the faraway sound of a great waterfall tumbling over a wide-lipped precipice. is “Guard, bring that man in ere.” ‘HE guard’s look at Clay would ‘ave melted cold steel at twen- ty paces, but there was no help for ic now. Angrily he jerked the door open and tried to shove Clay in before him. But, strangely enough, Clay’s shoulder was not there when he reached for it. In- stead, he found his arm. arched above Clay’s shoulder in a rigid, back-elbowed strain. He felt Clay’s hand on his wrist, felt his own | feet leave the floor, and found the | world abruptly turned upside | down, as he was flung in a somer- sault that left him flat on his back before Morgan’s desk. Cursing, he rolled over and clawed for his m, but as his hand closed on it, ‘lay’s boot swung forward in a vicious are that caught him just above the wrist and sent the gun flying in a gray parabola across ie room. “Stay down.” There was no mercy in Clay’s voice now, noth- ing but a hint of steel that was more frightening than a drawn blade. “Stay down, if you want to stay alive.”| The guard lay still, his breath rasping in and out ae his open looked up to meet his host. | His first shocked awareness of the sheer, shell is still soft and flexible.| to clear their own skirts by beat-' like a section sawed out of one of Since crabs are normally encased in a hard, jointed shell, this must growth can occur. This is accom: |Pathtub Secret plished by the crab’s slowly back- ing out through a split a the junc- tion of the upper and lower parts Is Finally Out the massive live-ork trees that ed 2a mally bulky aimost bc) vmu_Deueving, outrageous and incredible in his immensity. And it was not his body alone. His head was like some great rock balanced upom the wide ridge of his shoulders, heavy-jowled, thick-lipped. Un- blinking, he stared at the prostrate guard, and then the almost buried eyes moved slowly to fasten them- selves upon Clay's face. “J could have you shot for that.” It was not a threat; it was an ime you're not in-| personal and unemotional states ment of fact. The eyes continued to study Clay without the slightest shadow of expression. “It may be,” he said slowly, “that I will” Clay shook his head, feeling an atavistic hatred of the gross beast before him begin to gather like a coiling spring at the back of his mind. “You won't,” he said flatly. “Not when you hear what I’ve come to say. And let’s have no more tall of shooting—now or later. This buckaroo of yours tried to shove me through the door. I don’t like to be handled that way and I won't accept it. Now, get him out of here so we can talk.” Morgan’s eyes shifted to the guards clustered rvously just inside the doorway, their guns drawn, their eyes puzzled at this roughshod invasion of a privacy ey. had never dared to question. “Is this man armed?” Morgan demanded. “He’s got nothin’ on him.” “He's been searched.” * “We wouldn't bring him in here with a gun on him.” Their protestations bubbled up. against the rocklike figure and fell back like birdshot flung against a mass of granite, He nodded slowly. His hand slipped out of sight below the desk, and when it reappeared, it held a Colt’s revolver as dark and wicked as the one Clay had borne himself less than two hours be- fore. Unsmiling, he laid it on the desk within easy reach of his hand. “We'll talk,” His eyes glittered up at Clay like dark reflections in ips, and Clay|@ pool before they shifted to the man on the floor. “Get out. Get impression was a/ your gun and get out and. shut the door behind you. I'll try to gross bulkiness of the man who| think of a—reward—for you be- faced him across the desk. He was| tween now and sundown.” (To be continued) Crossword Puzzle ACROSS 31. Place where a trial is held WE'RE NOT GOING TO. WITH YOU, CHPS,,FROM HERE ON IN; IT’S YOUR alee collog. 4. Foray 8. Cleansing rocess 12. Individual of the shell. The new shell is soft} and rubbery at first, and during} WASHINGTON (®—Herman Perl- the next 24 hours water is gradual- | man’s secret, which won him a $500 ly absorbed by the body tissues, |U. S. bond when he disclosed it on increasing in size of the crab be-|a television network, is engraved 13, English fore the shell completely hardens. |in the White House—and on a bath composer A crab eaten at this recently-hard- | tub. 14. Celebes ox ened stage will be found to have| But it may be that even Presi- 3s Bea eagle soft and watery meat as well as|dent Truman, whose tub it is, seat an inferior flavor. didn’t know about it until Perlman 18. Study again Q. Why doesn’t the sea eventual- | told the story Thursday on the| 20. eed ly become polluted by dead fish? |CBS-TV program, “I've got a| 32 More un A. This does not occur because secret.”” 22. More unre- of the constant action of bacteria, | Perlman, who owns a local glass which quickly reduces all dead |¢carving business, was hired to Asterisk 2 Mythical “ matter to water-soluable nitrates, a 32. Number 33. Biblical king 34. Native metals 35. Short 36. Narrator 38. Armed conflict 39. Defeat at bridge 40. Helping 43, Things left out 47. Black liquid 4 Uncovered Solution of Saturday's Puzzle 49. Cunning DOWN 50. Preceding Billow night 1. Antlered a. Head covering 51. Roman date animal FIGHT. .»AND THE . Jovial . Speed contests In a line carve designs on the glass panels : ieee finial Pa Understand monster w : phosphrates, and other breakdown |0f five bath tubs when the White . Kr stint in. products which are soon dispersed | House was renovated. Vs “abvations by the mising action of wind,| He worked out appropriate de- Insect waves, and ocean currents. These | Signs: a bald eagle and an olive Pedal digit minerals returned to solution by |branch for the President, a striped - Owned bacterial action are in turn absorb- | Shield and stars for Mrs. Truman, . Wear away ed by marine plants, many of |Stars and arrows for the tub Mar- . inhabitant of: which are microscopic in size and | 8aret Truman uses. Ya uti form the basis of the “food chain’ | Then, on the back side of a panel j 4 One lost in the sea, being in turn eaten by |Of the President's tub, where it . Soaks small sea animals which are then |Can’t be seen because the panel preyed upon by fish. is sealed against a wall, he carved Stee eS AEX TES the special message which Perl- CLAIM CHALLENGED man says he “just thought up.” It jreads: PORTLAND, Ore. (# — William; “In this tub bathes the man L. (Happy) Howard’s flagpole sit-|whose heart is always clean and ting record of 196 days may be {serves his people truthfully.” challenged in some quarters. ——_-- That is because he did the sitting | Howard, atop a section of the pole, in two states. He set out to break | was moved by truck to a Portland the record June 1 across the Co- | amusement park. lumbia River in Washougal, Wash.| He climbed down on Christmas But after several months interest | Day announcing that he had set a in the project lagged there and | record. I HEAR THE PHONE / SOUR WIFE'S UNCLE WiGHES TO = HELLO: JERRY = WHAT! 17k a, Was 7 TW FIRST PASS HES . RINGING © T WONDER ( BEART YOU-SR--HE Sao res 1 i le THROWN THIS YEAR, AND eee YOUR GOINS TO ANSWER It ’ ME Ue Te CHEE : ONDUETELY BY, aa ode f . SURPRISE, , \ CHIEF : 4 OF POLI FOR TH YE BETTER ANSWER ME, YOUNG MAN=— OR LL TARN YE BcROST MY KNek=e IF YOUNG-UNS CAIN'T TALK, WHO DONE YE WISHT THEY,COULD-- ANAS SOON AS THEY DO, YE WISHT THEY WOULDN'T !! WHO BUSTED THIS > BRAND-SPANKINGNEW 4 } RUBBER 7. Part of a ehureh Disbelievers Casts s ballot sagacious Architectural pier Hub of a wheel Tall plant 3. Japanese sash Crazy Wrath |. Not in By George McManus ANO(MOAN) THERE GOES THE EXTRA UAICH ONTO / THAT By Paul Robinson Page €ISCO KID cee |