New Britain Herald Newspaper, May 29, 1929, Page 13

| are; we. to .do?" . ) there. . | say. You. wen't tell him?" ing gambler of terson. Omb. Ll ohallengc “Joery's guilt, fear for v the . police they mewa that. Jerry {éward Skull Val- oF ewned a de- - mysteriously lipked GHAPTER 17 VOVE DEFIES THE IAW 1 put the.telephone down slowly. “Ob, very well,” I promised. She was off in a flash, shutting the ‘door behind her. The frent door opened. - ; ' “Hello, Miss Lucy,” Henry greet. od her, “Is Uncle John up, yet?" Lucy laughed. “Hours age, Cap- taip Deacon. We were just iooking at ‘Polyandria’s new babies. “Where are they?" Deacon ex- claimed heartily. Henry has a warm spet in hia beart for Polyandria'and I wasn't urprised to hear him follow Luey uvn the hall. Wha was going, to do with him I hadn't the slight- “In here, Captain Deacon,”. Lucy said pleasantly. “I don't wee them, Miss Lucy.” “Over -there in the corner. Go Oft to Skull Valley—to save her fiance But m 1 Jooked into her eyés 1 knéw there wonld be no knpan. it from ‘Licy. ‘9t was headquarters. Deacon is dropping in here. They—they w-m him to 1l up.” “There's something clse, an(‘lu ! Jolmv Bomething about Jerry, What s 102" “Steady,. o4 gifl" 1 pleaded, dropping an arm over Rer shoulder. Somebody. saw Jerry driving along the:, Péskells road towards Skull Valey thy night before last.” “Bkull "Valley — Torridity,” whispered. I nodded. “Probably.” “§:hought he might have gone Deacon is coming here, you she “Iwhall have to, Lucy. It I don't, | they'tf csll him at Ogden: course! Oh, dear! what 8he claspea her “What can we ¥, -of hands desperately. o - "Jerry will explain,” I mumbled, | *Don't we know he's - done nothing right in." A door slammed, a key turned, and my heart climbed into my throat. Only one deor in the house slams like that. A massive piece of finely paneled English oak. } had picked it up cheap at Hyde's and hung it in the entrance of a little storeroom near the patio. A few trunks occupy the room and the one small window is not large encugh for a man to pass through. Lucy came racing down the hall. “Uncle John!" she panted. “Are you mal!” I cried, flinging open the door of my den. “Let him out at once!" She beat on my chest with her fiets. “You promised you wouldn't interfere! Don’t you dare!" And then pleading followed frenzy. “It's Jerry's only chance, - Uncle John! Please! Please!™ “His only chance! Nonsense! You are making things worse for him. Do as I tell you!" & 8he stamped her foot at me. “Don't you see? If I get to Jerry “Torridity—nowhere was & sign of human life M M afrald of?" She turned on me fiercely, “Of course we do! And of course he'll explain, but will Deacon accept hip explonation ? It Jerry were to come back:-mow . and giva himselt up Deacon ably would. But Deacon believes -Jerry did it and if he.finds him ewt there he'll think he's hid- ing-—don’t you see?" This- was my own view of the matter, - If we could have warned Jerry that Deacon was on his trail that the boy could then have antici- pated arrest by giving himself up to the pelice. ‘A thought stuck me. “3: Jerry - has been in Skull Val- fey since the night before last he map-pot know — about his father. The ‘town.is sbandoned. There are no telephones, ro newspapers, no means af ‘communication. - That's | why % hasn’t turned up.” “Of " course that's why, Uncle Joh#,” the girl cried trensiedly. A car had stepped in front of the house. Licy's face whitened; then a queer, éxcited look leaped into her eyes and she siipped into the hall. *-Her cheeks wére burning’ when she returned. “Ft is Deacon and he's alone’ Let mé - handle him, Uncie John! Please “Handle him! My dear child! ‘Whe¥ de you mean?” “['%e got an idea! 1It's Jerry's ‘only ¢hdnce! You must let mé try it! Promise me you will Uncle, Joha!" “Why, why—good * Heavens, girl! Oh, very well! What do yeu want me to 867 He's here now.™ “Nothing! Jut stay Neré and don't’ thterfere whatéver 1 do! Promisl” /* tirst and he gives himself up it'll make all the difference. The evi- dence is against him—we know it is—his best way of fighting it is by coming back of his own free will. Deacon cannot -accuse him of hid- Ing in Torridity, then, can he?” “My dear child! Do you suppose after you have gone to the length of imprisoning Deacon that the act of surrender will help Jerry?” “Don’t ‘dear child" me, Uncle John! Why shoulda't it? What I do isn't Jerry's fault. Captain Deacon will be furious, but you must smooth him over!" “You have a high regard for my diplomatic abilities,” I said grimly. “Give me that key!" “I wilt not:” Her face fell into line of supplication again. “Don't let him out, Uncle John! Geodby!" Evading me easily, she went off through the front deor, sWmming it shut behind her. I was after her a8 fast as my old legs would carry me, but by the timé I got out into the garden she was climbing into Deacon's police car. What madness wasn't she capalile of! Deacon must have left the key in the igni- tion for as I rap down the .walk shouting to her the car throbbed in its vitals and slid away from lm- curh. “You promised, Uncie John!" Her vojce Nigh and clear, blew back to me, Sick at heart I tumbled on a cement bench near by. Deacon, my friend, was pounding en my o4 English door and Lucy, my niece, was on her way to Skull Vailey. Skull - Valley! If yeu want & trenchant simile for blistering héat 1884 pitiless cold there it 14 The name ira aymbol. Gold is the val- ley's heart, borax and salt its wind- blown ‘beard, poisoned waters “its bloed, and lizard, sidewinder and vulture the furtive tenants of its ovil house. A few of the mines are running; many of them are not. Here and there an abandoned ning camp rattles its bare benes in the wind blasts. Torridity is ope. And to Torridity, €0 miles away. Lucy was driving like the wind, bareheaded and without even a can- teen of water! CHAPTER 18 ' THE CITY OF SILENCE ‘What was I going to do, you ask? Well, I might smash in my English door—and let Deacon out. He would stop Lucy by telephone. Or J_might leave Deacon and take after Lucy. The first was what I ought. to do, and the second was what I was go- ing to do. Lucy's argument had im- pressed me. It seemed vitally neces- sary to Jerry's well-being that he give himself up before he was ar- rested. It Lucy had the courage to take the law into her own hands, so had I Yes, even though it cost me Henry's friendshi And, besides, #he wasn't going down to that dev- il's cemetery alone. 8lipping quietly into the house, T listened for a moment to the ter- rific uproar Deacon was making. Fortunately, the room was remote from the avenue. I made my way out to the garage, feeling uncom- fortable about leaving him behind. Filling a couple of water canteens at a faucet, 1 took them into my car with me, Two mountain ranges lay be- tween me and my destination. The first 40 miles of road would be paved or good dirt, the next 20 would fall by degrees from poor to dreadful. Lucy would make for Pltchfork Canyen, the only possible approach to Torridity from the west, and 1 hoped to reach her be- fore she began the descent. That road down {inte the 8kull is a mad- man's nightmare and I didn't fancy her making it alone. ‘The 8an Felipe Valley was drenched in sunlight and the sweet scent of orange blossoms hung like incense. This morning I had little time for sentimentalizing. however, and when, some short while later, the rhvthmic throb of the engine fell steeply into silence, 1 had even less. I got out and looked in the tank. It was empty! The nearest filling station was seven miles behind me! N\ Raging st my carelemness, 1 flung my coat into the car and sct off down the acorching read. When I finally got my hand on the wheel again Lucy was some three hours ahead of:me. Likely enough she was at Torridity. 3 8kull Valley lies between the 8keleton Mountaine and - the Red Gold Range. From the west you descend into it by 8hinbone Can- yon and on'! the east you ascend from it by the Devil's Mouth. A foad of sorts spans the valley from Bhinbone to the Devil's Mouth and if you want a taste of the grim terror of the place you may cross it by car. But Torridity is ten miles south of the road which spans the valley and the inter- vening streich of desert'is impassa- Another road, a miserable af- leads into the valley by way of Pitchfork Canyon, passes through Torridity, and joins the main road at Devil's Mouth on the east. This is the only road into the town from the west! ¥Ysup- posed Jerry and Lucy had taken it] and I purposed following it myself. It was just one o'clock when J reached the summit of the 8kele- tons. Time was precious — my fears for Lucy had increased with every mile 1 had come—but noth- ing on earth could have driven me down Pitchfork until my eyes had had their desire of that sardonic masterpiece below. Never before had the valley gripped my sou) with 80 violent a sense of unholy horror and sleek and tawny heauty. The valley blazed with light and color, RBut as I looked upon this bewitching opalescence it seemed to me that something alive and watchful lurked neneath jt. Some- thing sleek seal skin, vital as a young tiger, alluring as a per- fumed goddess. Vaporous arms reached out to me and triea to cloud my senses—and I knew that its beauty masked a spirit as veno- mous as Satan. My eyes leaped to the saffron -flanks of the Red Gold Range, then fell again into the rainbow sea be. low, A last look and I started down the Pilchfork. The read had been blasted out of the side of the canyon 40 years ago. Millions in silver, gold and borax had been mule-teamed around its halrpin curves. But with the closing down of the Torridity mining properties the road had fallen into disuse. Little repair work had heen done on the road of recent years and the spring freshets had made 3 ruin of it. Below me fell a 1,000- foot drop and as I crawled around the sharp curves I looked at death u score of times. Nor did I for a moment forget. that the next bend might show me Deacon’s car upside down and Lucy's broken body. In two hours I reached the bet- tom. The opaluscent beauty of the desert had vanished. Grim and terrible, it seemed to sy, “I've got you, fool!” The trail to Torridity lay before me, and I was cheered. Ah! there were tracks, Beveral of them. Lucy was ahead of me. | would be with her in half an Bour! The trail was vile, but 1 got alonz fairly well. The empty desolation oppressed my spirit and again 1 was seized by that profound melan- choly I had felt in the canyon. The air seemed charged with sinister potency. Out of a sky as _hard as a metal bell poured a ferocious blinding heat that mads me thankful for my water canteens. A light, hot wind blew and a faint moaning sound was in the air, Perhaps I was run. ning into one of the shrilling wind- storma for which the valley is no- torious, They come in a twinkling, sometimes last for days, and cease as suddenly as they begin. Just then Torridity lifted its sun- bleached bones into blared on my horn. In the hey- day of ite glory it had been a typi- cal western mining town of 1,500 population; The présent hopeless denolation of ihe town shocked me. I have been in a few ‘“ghost cities™ of the West, but none of them had seemed quite 50 ubandoned as this one id. And here ® it was that the candle of my friend’s life had burned with such hectic brilliance that its re. flection shone up through the dust of 30 years. \What tragedy had dimmed its light? In the crooked main street, I stopped the car and with head barad listened reverent- ly. A window rattled. A door creaked. That was all. sounded the horn. 1 shouted And then: “Jerry, are you? Lucy! Luey! Jerry!" No response. 1 got out of the car. Nowhere was there sign of human life. Here and there on the rutted street were the faint imprints of car tires. 1 tried ‘to follow ‘them, but the ground was unyielding and the trail soon ended. They had been here, Getting in the car, I drove up and down the street, blar. ing my horn and calling the chil- dren by name. What has happened to Tucy and Jerry in this desert tomb? Continue the story Friday. (OMPLEXION (OMPLEXION BEAUTY dopends on ‘thorough but geatle skin cleansing. The safe soap to wee is “Lucy! where Resinol A NEW SIX AT A PRICE WITHIN THE view and 1 SEWER EXTENSIIINS PROPGSED BY CITY Prognm to Be Submitted Council at June Meeting That the board of public works wilt ask the common council for autherity to construct sewers on South street from Rocky Hill avenue o the railroad crossing and on De- von street and Lowell street when the council meets June 19, was de. cided at a meeting of the board last night. The board will also recommend that property owners on Hatch street and Acorn street put in curbs and walks by August 1. A petition for an extra gasoline pump at the Suburban Filling sta- tion, 1113 Stanley street, was ap- proved by the board. The pump, it was pointed out, will be 76 feet from the sidewalk line. No objections to the petition were heard. Four hundred doliars, according to members ot the board, is too much for a sewer right of way on Stapley street, It was pointed out by P. A, Merian, city engineer, that the city should be responsible only for the Gamage which is done when it crosses a property. Another dis- cussion of the rame subject will take place at the next meeting of the board. A temporary filtration system will be tried at the sewage disposal plant June 6. Numercus petitions regarding the cutting away of trees, curbings, and sidewalks were also heard, although action on these was deferred pend- ing hearings. Street lights will be placed on Tremont atreet from Allen street to Lasalle street, the board| decided. The members of the hoard also discussed grading Osgooqd street from Farmington avenue to Corbin ave- nue, “There really is no reason why this should not be done,” was the view expressed by City Engineer Merian, “This is an accepled street and the city should take care of it.” Action on the project was deferred until the next meeting of the board. “On Bouth street there is consid- erable grading to be done,” contin- ued the city engineer. ‘“The gas company is about to put in a main, and the electric light and telephone companies also are figuring on changing the locations of their poles. The grade, I believe, will be as it i at the present time.” Action on this was also deferred. During June, July and August, full time laborers for the board will be REACH OF MILLIONS BUILT BY BUICK - SATURDAY On this new automobil has been con- centrated all of Buick's seasoned manu- facturing experience gained through its long leadership in fine ccr building. The Marquette has the distinction you expect in the smortest of modern cars, with bodies BUICK MmOTOR CouFANY. Comadien Factorios wou-.ou Division of Genere! by Fisher, and the added value you enficipate in a Buick-built product. But foremost emeng oll its fine qualities is o type of performance never before achieved in any cor of parcbio price. See the Marquette when it goes on display this coming Seturdey. FLINT, MICNIGAN | Motors Coporstion gyn ond m--.h CAPITOL BUICK CO. 1141 STANLEY STREET . Associate Dealers Kuliperg’s Garage. Plainville ILES TELEPHONE 2807 Boyd J. Height, Southington A4 sranted a half ‘holiday e‘eh Satur- [owry day, the board decided. future he ‘bank at Market street and [eiveot Novllflfi avenue wus ordered cut|lt s bank stands is owned by the eity.: A petition against dumping om Kelsey and Heary streets was also heard by the board. It was referred to the board of health, L Hillcrest avenue . residents want | between Nm dry days this salt is Just the same/ ORDINARY salt acts as a barometer—rune ning free in fine weather and caking up in foul. You've noticed it on your own table, haven't you? And found it sanoying? The remedy is an evtraordinary salt —International Salt. It just won's get hard—anywhere—any time. It will stay forever fine and free—on the dealer’s shelves or in your dining-room. It's gauaranteed! More than that, lnternanoml Salt is the cleanest, purest salt that can be. made. It is the product of the world’s largest salt manufacturer. A big blue and-gray box costs only a mickel st your grocer's, Ask for it today, “Safest Rlde in Town It's Really--The Sensible Way From an economical standpoint you are wise when you call a Yellow Cab, instead of walk- ing . ... in all probability your time is worth considerably more than your cab fare would be. Phone for a Yellow Cab—prompt, satis- factory service—your comfort and safety al- ways assured. Are you enjoying the instructive and inter- esting safety talks—The Universal Safety Series over WTIC every Saturday evening at seven-fifteen—daylight saving time? ONE FARE! NO CHARGE for extra pas- sengers. NO CHARGE for extra stops. Pay what the meter reads.