The Seattle Star Newspaper, July 25, 1922, Page 11

{Conttnued from Yesterday Breaks and stops, falis and plunges fnto drift after drift; thru the glasses the “workers balow could see that Man was in the lead, with somothi Strapped. to his back, whieh the Woman in the rear adjusted now and then, when it became partially dis: placed by, the plunging journey, Banks of snow cut them off; snow. shoes sank in air pockets—holes Made by protruding limbs of the short, gnarled trees of timber line: and thru these the man fought Short, spasmodic lunges, breaking the way for the woman who came never stopping except to @ther strength for a fresh attack, ever coasing for obstacle or for dan. ger. Once, at the edge of an over. hanging ledge, he scrambled furious .&, tailed and feli—to drop tn a drift below, to crawl painfully back “, to the waiting dot above, and to ‘ward. Hours! The dots grew larg ‘er. The glasses no longer were meeded. On they came, stumbling, reeling, at lagt to stagger across the frosen, windswept surface of a emali lake and toward the bunk cars of the crews, The woman wavered and fell; he caught her eyes seafehing almost sighticssiy the faces of the waiting, grease-smeared men, his thick drooling over bloody lips: ly take her-—et her into the bunk cars. She's given out. T'm Tm all right. Take care of her. T've got to go on—to Tollifer!” —» CHAPTER XXII Tt Was night when Barry Houston Memped, muscles cramped and frost | Bumbed, Into the little undertaking shop at Tollifer and deposited his tiny burden. Medaine Robinette had Femained behind tn the rough care ©f the snow crews, while he, revived snowplow, running constantly, and Without extra power, between Toil!- fer and “the front,” that the lines of communication be kept open. “Nameless,” he sald with an effort, the lengthy details of certifics- ‘were asked. “The mother” a Ve came to his lips— unconscious | Ai Lith He ! Ey Riss i we steaming as they clus about the red-hot stove, their faces amudged with engine Grbas to form a coating against the stinging Dlast of the tce-laden wind, their eheeks raw and bleeding, their mouths | @wollen orifices which parted only for mumbling»; vikings of another age, the fighters of the ice gangs, of ‘which Heuston had become a part. The floor was thelr bed; silently, ing only forthe purpose of . they gulped the food that was passed out to them, taking the steam- ing coffes@mtraight down in spite of {te bufning clutch mt tender met branes, gnawing ané ing at the: meni like beasts at the kill) then, ati wadded tn thetr clothing, sinking . one another, then dropped to the first ment, then roar in snoring sirep. Against the wall a bearded giant halt leaned, half lay, one tooth touching the ragged lips and breaking the filmy skin, while the blood dripped, slow drop after slow drop, upon his Black, tousied beard. But he did not wake. Of them all, only Houston, tired even as they were tired, yet with Something that they had forgotten, a train, remained open-eyed had become of Medain: Had she recovered? Had #he too gone to Pollifer, perhaps on a later trip of plow? He sought sleep tn wetrd refrain. as tho ADVENTURES OF THE TWINS Clive Roberts Barton HOW OSCAR OWL Oscar Owl hung up the receiver of his telephone and chuckled and chuckled. “Tos, hee, hee?’ he giggied. “They say I'm wise, and no one knows it better than I. I've just telephoned to George Guinea Pig I knew where he could find a tail and to Flop Fieldmouse I knew where he could 8 to- Bight! hee! Ill have a walt Hee, for my cupper but when the time comes I'll have’ two.” About 6 Tommy Brown came along to look at Georgie. Georgie liked Tormmy. Tormmy was kind and some- times ifted him gently and etroked him. Georgie chuckled to himself. Wouldn't Tommy be surprised when he came back next day and found him with « lovely long waving tail! Pretty soon the hired man came along and stopped. “Hello, Tom!’ he said loudly. “Pver hold a guinea-pig up by his tail and watch his eyes drop out?” "Oh, youl exclaimed Tommy. in| “> * guide her, by safer paths, on down. | in spite of what she had been led to steaming clothing. Men crawled over | open spot, to flounder there a mo- | What} ‘The thoughts ran thru| head Ike the repetition of some | vain. From far away came the) whistles of locomotives, anawering snowplows ahead calling to him; again he remembered the bulky cars of machinery at Tol lifer, It was partially, at least, his battle they were flebting out there, while he remained inactive, He rose And sought the door, fumbling alm- jesaly in his pockets for his gloves. Something tnkled on Use floor as he brought them forth, and he bent to pick up the little crucifix with ite twisted, tangled chain, forgotten at Tollifer, Dully, hasily, he stared at it with his red eyes, with the faint | feeling of a duty neglected. Then: “She only said they might want %" he mumbied. “I'm sorry—T should have remembered. i'm always failing—at something.” Then, dully anxious to do his part, to take his place in the fighting line, | he replaced the tiny bit of gold in his pocket, and threading his way thru the ciroultous tunnel of snow, stepped forth into the plight. It was one of those brief spaces of starlight between storms, and the jerews were making the most of ity | The wind had ceased temporarily, | allowing every possible workman. to from the ordinary task of keeping, the thackn clear af the pick-ups” of the wind, blowing the snow down from the drifts of the bill, and to be goncentrated upon the primary task many—the clearing of the packed ings which filled the first dnowahed. Atop the oblong shed, swept clear by the wind, a/light was signalli telling the progress of the plow, its consequent engines, within. Even from the distance, Barry could hear he surge of the terrific tmpact, as the rotary, pushed by the four tre. | mendour “compounds” and Mallets | which formed tts additional motive power, amashed against the tight Jammed contents of the shed, snaried and tore at its enemy, then, beaten at last by the crusted toe of the rails, came grudgingly back, that the ice! crews, with their axes and | might break the crystallisation from | the rails and give traction for anoth. er assault. Houston started forward, She was helping with the prepara. tion of the midnight meal for the ‘And as he watched her, Houston | knew for all time that he loved her, that he wanted her abo i things, believe of him, in spite of everything, His hands extended, as tho to reach | toward hert—he aching appeal of a lonely, harassed man, striving for a thing he could net touch. Then hope surged in his heart. If the woman back there tn the ‘west country only would tell! If she would only keep the promise which! she had given him in her balf-de ‘irium! It meant the world to Barry Houston now-—something far greater even than the success for which he had struggied: she could tell so much! For Houston felt that Agnes Jier- don knew the details of practically every conspiracy that had been fash- toned against him; the substitution of the lease and contract In the pile of technical papers which he had signed, the false story which she had told! to Medaine—suddenly Barry won| dered if she really had passed the scene of his struggle with Tom Lang- | don, if she had seen anything at all; if her whole testimony had not been a manufactured thing, built merely. [for the purpose of obtaining his ut moat fidence. If she only would tell! If she only would stay by her promise to a,man who had kept his promise to her! It— But a call had come from up the ine. footing; instead, they were blowing with long foghorn blasts, an eerie jsound in the cold, crisp night—a sqund of foreboding, of danger. A dim figure made its appearance, run- ning along the box cars, at last to sight Houston and come toward him. “Which car does the engine crews sleep in?” came sharply. Houston shook his head. The whistles no longer were | “I don't know. Hag something | gone wrong?” “Plenty. Both the firemen on Number Six hi jt out from gas be) LOST HIS SUPPER “Guinea-pigs haven't any talfisf* ‘The hired man went away laugh- ing. | But Georgte’s ttle heart was {thumping. What was that he sald? “Hold him up by the tall and watch | his eyes drop out!” Why, if they'd find a taf! on him [next day they might try.tt. | Well, he'd fix that all right. tail should they find on him! Seven o'clock! Eight o'clock! Nine o'clock! George Guines-Pig was sound asleep. 80 was Flop Fieldmouse. | Oscar Ow! waited until 10, then went | home supperless and as mad as any | thing. | Flop Ficldmouse? You want to know about him? | Why, he didn’t go olther because his mama told him a story about a iittls dog that lost his tail and leonldn't go straight. | (To Be Continues (Copyright, 1922, by Beattie Star) No A Mamond weighing 20 carats and worth $10,000 was found in Arkan- eas, NERVE © THAT SurToF VouRS WOULD PULL A GRIM OUT. OF A WEEPING OUR BOARDING HOUSE “MART RIGGING WHAT You LACK \ , 16 ‘aT Go? WHEN You RENTED Gey PASS mGRANG BIS, ais “MAT SUIT WHY Diow'T You ASK You MAKE uP LIFE GUARD W ™' @UY FOR & POLE GO You WA-HA- YOu * COULDNT Save PICKED “TOBACCO on wis uke a Swim COULD GO CAMPING 2 AN! LOOK aT TH’ BLISTRR CLYDE OUT OF A SANDWICH! © Vou TWO JOKES OUGHT TD BY AHERN « Wa-HAe 1s QuB A LIL MUSTARD BACK aN’ HELL LOOK HoT DOG THAT Feel IN 'MINNE HAHA > THE OLD HOME TOWN ACTS SUSPICIODS TO MeB- iLu yusr KEEP MY EYE COME ON You CAME DOWN HERE TO GO ~in the show shed, We've picked up a guy out of en fee gang that’s/ wiilin’ to stand th’ gaff, but we need another one. Guess there afn’t nothin’ to do but wake up one of th’ day crew. Haté t' do it, tho—they're all yon't then, I'lijmake a try at it.” “Know anything’about firin’ en engine?” “I know enough to shovel coal— and I've got « strong palr of shoul ders.” "Come on, then.” Houston followed the figure toward | the snowshed on the hill. ‘Ten min- Mallett engine, a sleek, glistening Mallet engine, a sleek, glistening grayhound of the mountaths, taking from the superintendent the instruc tions that would enabie him to assist, at least, In the propulsion of the mo tive power, At the narrow areaway betwren the track and the high wall of the straightaway drifte thru which the plow had cut, four men were Jift- ing a limp figure, & carry it to the care. The superintendent growled. “You payin’ attention to me—er that guy they're cartin’ offf When you get in them gna pockets, stick your nose in the hollow of your elbow and keep it there til you've got your breath again. There ain't no froth air in that there shed minute these engines get inside and start throwtn’ on the Juice, it fille up with smoke, That's what gets you. Hold your nose in your arm while you take your breath. Then, if you've got to shovel, keep your mouth and your lungs shut, Get me?” “You, sir.” “Then go to it. Hey, Andy? “Yeh.” A voice had come from the engine cab. “Here's a guy thatTl swing, » shovel. I've told him about the gaa.” Barry climbed to his place on the engine. A whistle sounded, to be echoed and reechoed by the answer. ing blasts of the snowplow train— four engines and the big auger iteelf —ready now for a fresh nally into the shed. Headlights, extinguished DOINGS OF THE DUFFS WH HEF Now, DON’T ORE START PULLING : AT Me THE FIRST “Rune! momentarily, were thrown on again, Nehting up the dirty, ragged edges of the snow walls, with their black | marks of engine soot; throwing into sharp relief the emudge-faced figures of the pick-and-axe crews just emerg- ing from the black maw of the tun- nel; playing upon the amooth, white} outlines of the forbidding mountains | must be conquered ere the top of} the world was reached, Ahead came the “high-bail signa) frem the plow: two sharp blasts, to be repeated by fourth of the engines. Then throtfles lopen, fire boxes throwing their red, |mpluttering glare against the black |aky as firemen leaped to their task, the great mass of machinery moyed forward. Vaster—faster—then the like crashing into a stone wall, They were within the, anowahed now, the muger boring and tearing and snarl ing like some savage, vengeful thing apainnt the solid mass of frigidity which faced it, Inch by inch for eight feet it progressed; the offal of the big blades flying past in the glare of the headlights ike swirling rainbows; then progress ceased, while the plow ahead, answered by the en- gines which backed It, shrilled the triple signal to back up, out Into the air again, that the tce crews might hurry to their tasks, ‘The engineer opened the cab Window and grate fully sucked in the fresh, clean air. “Bight teet—that's all,® he mused. “Right feet at a time.” en, notio- ing Houston's attention, he went on: “It's alt the big screw can make. Got a hood on the front, you know, protecting the blades, It's eight feet from the front of that hood to the last trucks, When it's scooped that out, it's the finish, The wheels hit feo, and its either back out or get derailed. So we back. Huh! There she goes again. Keep your nose in elbow, youngster, this time. back pretty sudden. impact, | a By a OUR FIRST YEAR Bride LXXI—MY HUSBAND FOR THE FIRST TIMB SPURNS MY EMBRACE “I don't mean to say I watched you walking with Bart that night. I went to bed. And Bart didn’t come in for an hourf* “1 guess it was a full hourf* I re- plied defiantly, “But can you—do you actually believe I with with Bart?” Peggina®’ “A man invariably does believe his own eyes, right or wrong,” I sald bitterly, “And there's no sense tn | a woman's offering any defense. After that spesoh, Jack and I were silent a long time, “Jack has no, job," I kept telling yet beyond, mountains which still) the first, the second, the third and | WHEN MARSHAL OTEY WALKER CLOSED HIS WATCH WITH AS SNAP TODAY, THE STRANGER WHO HAS BEEN HANGING AROUND THE CENTRAL HOTEL JUMPED THREE FEET AS LONG AS THIS 1S GOING ‘TO. BE A DUCKING PARTY WE'LL START WITH You! eo¢ « *@. sie “Daddy,” David begged, after Pessy had run away tontell the doctor story to motherdear, “I wonder why @irls and mothers and grandmothers only like the stories that turn out to be funny, or nobody gets hurt, or anything. "Course I don’t like to have peo- pis getting burt, but you know, if @ person's going to be hurt any- way, I'd—I'd just kinda like to be there. Why ts that?” Daddy smiled, “Total depravity of the human mals, son,” he said, which was no answer at all, but David Ifked it because he went right on telling him a story which was, of course, what David want- ed, o true story that had a ter ribly sad—but this is the story daddy told: “In the year 1853 the Oglesby train crossed the plains, It wasa big company with many wagons, and such @ lot of wagons carried dig families, six and eight and 10 ehildren in each wagon. A sort of children’s company. “Little Sytba Oglesby was Just @ years old when they crossed, and least important of our worrles. must b tender. On the other hand, I perversely wished not to explain that Bonny, in my dress, had been mistaken by my husband for, me, At last I under stood why our motor trip had been such @ failure. And because he had believed his ‘eyes, he ought to suffer, even if his eyes had lied. I contradicted myself every five minutes, Back and forth I swung between little pictures of “] patient—and I want to be “A man must believe his own eyes, | myself, altho that fact seemed the Jack in forlorn, lonesome bankruptcy +e PLP rh le TE Page 737 QUICKSAND eo eee , {S$ “Ov Don't Cov6 me Anr More 3! ee now she ts a grandmother, and sho told me the #tory, There's & lot of ft; we'll skip {t all but the black sp@, son,” daddy said, giving David an understanding Pat on his strong boy shoulder. “You know, In ’64 there were trains and trains of people cross- ing the plains, some under one | captain and some under another, and one day, when they came to a bad river crossing, just before they crossed the Rockies, Sytba noticed a family in another train whose wagon was right close to their own, “It was a terrible crossing, be- cause there was a shifting, sandy bottom to the river, and besides that, Capt. Oglesby was afraid there was quicksand. “Mrs. Oglesby was a wonderful Pioneer wife, so gentle and brave and strong, and when they came to any great danger, the captain would go back to the far end of the train and leave his wife tn charge up tn front, and everybody loved and trusted her, “One team at a time the eap- tain took them over, picking out the way carefully, and trusting only one woman to a wagon, and that's how Sylba got separated from her mother.” (To Be Continued) to his feet and evaded my embrace. “Oh, can't you seer Peggins? It isn't that—the love we want ign’t just a case of hand in hand and'ilp to lip, cheek to cheek and clasping arms. “I'm human, but I know how you've managed me. For your arms about my heck I've forgotten the| [t seemed impossible. Never since rest of life. You've twisted me our first kiss had my man refused around your finger—when we should | to be solaced—in any trouble—by the have talked business, touch of my. hand upon his, “Now, girl, let's be honest, You} It was unexplainably — unendwm and I have to face what there ts tn | able! (To Be Continued) marriage besides the human touch. | There's truth about love-~and its’ (Copyright, 1922, by Seattle Stn opposite. And if we don't see the same truth what's the sense in the rest of marriage?” “If you're hunting for sense, Itstem to a little! If Jack could be hard, T could be fee. Jack—my own husband—-had turned away trom my caresses. exciting my sympathy, and magni. fied pictures of Jack, my accusor, turning me to. stone. My husband sat with hin face in his hands, No job, No money. A | wife to take care of—a wife who took long walks with other ment I went across the room softly, I would tell my poor boy how his eyes | |had deceived him. I slipped an arm | |around his neck, I wanted to ereep | clone to him, to put my face against his, Jack shivered slightly. Then al- most rudely in his haste, he rose