The Seattle Star Newspaper, December 19, 1922, Page 13

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 19 1922 OTR ROARDING HOUSE BY AHERN | THE OLI) HOME TOWN BY STANLEY. as WA HA- GUGe : 6 ‘J THEY'RE w \ fie hap dle " 7 DISH OF THEIR HAMG “THAT USED ACTING, 7 NAY HoRTENSE ! * { NEVER LET IT A)\\( ream FoR Home OR BU SIN use y MADACK M'LOVE ~ = poc SKY LINE | AT LARST WE CAN Go { FILLED v7) TO OUR LITTLE HOME WEY FILL PIORE!| Z | . ! Suor z , BE SAID “THAT 3 ' . PS hey Lit Pf vt ‘oli 1, HonNeST TACK | “10 PousH TH \ courpy't cer | Ce @ DENTIST | amen’ E DOTHILLG OF VIRGINIAS ’ WAMMERS ON OUR)\ A HAND A | | Pil cnemeeenll (oe ee ——— NEVER MORE WILL GIR DAGHLEIGH, BE ACTING, EH? = GAME OF CARDS: a nee | ane ison Marshall: =) COURTHEYS CRUEL | | GUILTY OF “TH'CRIME || NIT THEY AGONY=/7 Na it, AUGUST BLOPP Il iBaRehy é iaMm musty fe 1097-Litthe, Brown & Gampany S\ENES GAZE ON TMS / | oF MURDER«1PAID || TH NIGHT Hey Pur’! eae 7) ar f — : REN (“WOLF”) DARBY, export woodsman and canooist, ix shell-shocked FAIR WOILD= T AM en A | On “HIG GHow / | ate —_e rHe ¥ , = ZF tm France and loses hie identity after returning home, He drifta into a SO GLAD You SIR COURTNEY | LETS Go AN' Give f HO-HO-DOTS THE ) ENT criminal life, but he partly recovere while he is robbing a bank in Seattle, FRW\ GuEW HIM | // DOLLAR T OWED HIM || eM TH? PUTTY KNIFE | OS” | Nave PRETZELS As a remult he ts caught and sent to the state penitentiary at Walla Walla Se : ie FoR “Ten YEARS, SOUR WHISTL BAKED IN A LOAF OF Jt CACK~ where he ts confined until PramerAl x. + | BREA Me * EZRA MELVILLE, aged friend of his family, finds him and persuades the R AW’ We DROPPED ot SRN Nan ne WAS . , governor to parole him in his custody. Together the two men walk out ADI « MA 7 * of Beattle, northward toward British Columbia. Ezra promises Ben an (~ x EU - , PER ONS me i he Bo, lig interest in a gold mine which his brother, ‘ p > f- HIRAM MELVILLE, has found at Snowy Guich, B. C. shortly after writing to Ezra about the claim. that he had not had time to record look out for JNPPFERY NEILSON and dis gang. He withdraws hia objection, however, been in love with his mother, where we find BEATRICE NEILSON, the beautiful ing the rude advances of RAY BRENT, ber fath v Jettery Neilson and Chan Hemin- way were already in session when Ray Brent, his face flushed and his eyes still angry and red, joined them. Neilson was a tall, gaunt man, well past 60—from his manner evidently the leader of the three. He had heavy, stisated brows and rather quiet eyes, a man of deep passions and great resolve. Yet bis lean face had nothing of the wickedness of Brent's, There bad evidently been some gontling, redeeming tnfluence in his life, and altho it was not in the ascendancy, tt had softened his amile and the hard lines about his/ lips. Notortous as he was thru the/ northern provinces he was infinitely | to be preferred to Chan Heminway, who sat at his left who, a weaker man than either Ray or Netison, was | simply a tool in the latter's hand—a | smashing sledge or a cruel blade as | his master wished. He was vicious) without strength, brutal without self-| control. Locks 0f his blond hair, un-| kempt, dropped over his low fore- head Into his eyes. “Where's Beatrice 7” Nellson asked et once. “I thought I heard her voles.” Ray searched for a reply, and tn the silence all three heard the gtrl's tread as she went around the house. “ghe's going tn the back door. Likely she didn’t want to disturb us.” Ray looked up to find Netison's eyes firmly fixed upon his face. Try as he might he couldn't strain a surge of color in his cheeks. “Yes, and what's the rest nr Neilson asked. “Nothing—! know of.” “You've got some white marks on your cheeks-—where It ain't red. The can slap, can’t she——~ Ray flushed deeper, but the lines | of Netison’s face began to deepen | and draw, Then his voice broke in| @ great, hearty chuckle. He had evi-| tried to restrain It—but It got from him at last. No man look at him, his twinkling eyes this | | | i of il his joyous face, and doubt but eyed, strong-handed was the joy and He had heard the the ramshackle itt 5 ‘ FE : would no longer be it to Netlson’s dicta- Some time the situation would reversed; he would be leader In- underling. taking the lion's the profit of their enter- instead of the left-overs, and hat time came he would not be obliged to endure Nellson's fests ipl $ 3 » ® loyal partner, and he tent in his chair !f he could have beheld the smoldering fires of jeal- ousy and ambition in the other's breast. The time would come when Ray would assert himself, he thought —when Beatrice was safe in his F “It may seem like a joke to you, but ft doesn’t to me,” he answered shortly. Nor was he able to keep his anger entirely from his voice. “Everything that girl does you think Ben protests against E The scene now shifts to Snowy Gulch, "# partner tn ertme. NOW GO ON WITH THE STORY. now. You know he's always had an | his will—and what did that old hound The latter died Tn his letter he explained the clatm and warned his brother to ‘a's generosity when Melville explains that he had daughter of Jeffery Neilson, repuls His tones barshened, age of his self non help me out.” and he lost the fine control, “I've stood nse from that litte Seemingly, Neilson made no per ceptible movement in his chair, What change there was showed merely in the lines of his face, and particularly in the light that dwelt in the gray straightforward ¢ “Don't finish it," he ordered simply For an instant eyes met eyes in bitter hatred—and Chan Heminway began to wonder Just where he would enough seek cover in case matters got to a oe ze shooting stage. But Ray's gaze aD BEFORE MARSHAL OTEY WALKER COULD HUSH HIM UP - broke before that of his leader "AUGUST BLOPP, THE BAKER, EXPLAINED HOw cLEM ~ “Km not going to may anything | POTTERS PUTTY KNIFE FOUND ITS WAY INTO THE HANDS™s5 shouldn't,” he protested suddenly OF THE JAILBIRDS WHO DUG THEIR WAY TO FREEDOM -27 Hut this doesn't look like you're 2 helping out my case any, You told WITH THE OLD BLADE — wes ceavice “SS 2 me you'd do everything you could for me. You even went so far as to BY ALLMAN ( (ve SAY 1TS ASTRANGE SORT OF A STUNT ~- 1 CAN'T DOPE IT ourT- | THINK SHE DOES THAT THINKING IT MAY HAVE SOME EFFECT ON YouR STAYING OVT NIGHTS! say you'd take matters in your own hands. “And I will, In reason. I'm keep- ing away the reat of the boys so you can have a chance. But if you think I'm going to tle her up to anybody against her will, you're barking up the wrong tree. She's my daughter, and her happiness happens to be my first object." Then his votce changed, good-humored again “But cool down, boy-—walt till you hear everything I've got to tell you, and you'll feel better, Of course, you know what it's about-———" | MRS DUFF HAS HAP ME RATHER WORRIED Too- SHE HAS BEEN SPENDIPG A GREAT DEAL OF HER TIME IN AN UP STAIR ROOM WITH THE DOOR LOCKED - SHE KEEPS IT LOCKED ALL OF THE TIME You SEE, THAT'S WHERE I'VE BEEN FOR THE LAST THREE WEEKS THAT SHE ToLD YOU ABOUT-1 WANTED TO KEEP IT AS A CHRISTMAS SURPRISE * FOR HER a 'D LIKE To see MR. SANDSTONE, THE LAWVER, PLEASE - " — ——_~ (xe 1S BUSY ( RIGHT NOW YouULL nh HA-HA-HA HA: THAT'S A GOOD ONE, VLLSAYV! HAVE TO WAIT WAVE A SEAT, PLEASE LET You IN, EW? STRANGE SORT OF A oTunT' “1 suppose — Hiram Melville's claim.” “That's it. Of course we don't know that he had a claim—but he had a pocket full of the most beau tiful nuggets you ever want to see No one knows that fact but me—I! saw ‘om by accident-—and I got ‘em idea that the Yuga country was worth prospecting, but we always laughed at him. Of course ft is a« Pocket country; but {t's my opinion he found a pocket that would make | many a placer look sick, before he) died.” : “But he might have got the nug- gets somewheres elae——" “Hold your horsen Where would} he get “em? There's something else | suspicious too. He wrote a letter, the day before he died, and addrensed tt to Ezra Metvilje, somewhere tn Oregon. He must just about got tt) by now—maybe a few days ago. He had the clerk mafl ft for him, and got him to witnons tt, saying It was! Freckles Has a Nightmare FRECKLES AND HIS FRIENDS } YES- EVE IT IS IN MY “Book CO BAD BOYS © NOW THATS Too BAD—T WAS HOPING You WERE have to will except a mine? Next day he wrote another letter some-_ where too—but I didn’t find out who it was to. If I'd had any sumption I'd got ahold of ‘em both. The potnt | is—I'm convinced it’s worth a trip, at lenat.” | “I should say It was worth a trip.” | Ray agreed. “And a fast one, too. There might be some competition— “There won't be a rush, if that what you mean, Everybody knows it's a pocket country, and the men in this town wouldn't any more get excited about the Yuga River——" “True enough—but that Ezra Mel- ville will be showin’ up one of these days. We want to be eettin’ pretty! “rnat’s true enough—but it Mkely | when he comes.” ain't near his mine, Boys, it's « clean, “You've got the idea. It ought to open-and-shut job—with absolutely be the eastest job we ever did. It’s | nothing to interfere. If his brother my idea he had his claim all 1a!) does come up, he'll find us in pos- out, monuments up and evérything, | session—and nothing to do but go and was on his way down to Brad-| pack, Bo tomorrow we'll load up leyburg to record it when he died. | gur pack horses and light out. He just went out before he could! “Uy Poor Man creek, thru Spruce ke the rest of the trip. All we'll | pase —" have to do is to go up there, locate| “gure. Then over to the Yuga. in his cabin, and sit tight.” Old Hiram was hunting down some “Wait just a second.” Ray was kind of a scent in the vicinity of that | lost in thought, “Phere'’s an old oid cabin you speak of, last heard of cabin up that way somewhere—along nim. And I wouldn't be surprised, that still place-—on the river. It) on gecond thought, if it wasn't his EVERETT TRUE BY CONDO “AND LOOK THERE ON TH, A There's Some, Too! loonie 3 Capen tou THiS DooK tT was G@utitTLSEeD BULLY BALADS* But NOW IT MIGHT BE CALLED "A Study IN FINGERPRINTS” If HOWEVER, “THE VERY IDEA! AMAN YOUR AGE TEACHING HIS SON 70 BE GEE WHIZ, IT AINT MY FAULT? YOu ALLUS TOLD ME YOU WAS SUCH A GREAT BATTLER! ILLHAFTA STAY IN “TH” HOUSE FOR A MONTH WITH THIS EVYE.YOU SMART ALEC! 1 TOLDJA NOT TA SLUG! is perfect. Instead of encouraging her in her meanness you ought to was a trapping cabin belonging to| pase of operations.” old Bill Foulks.” “All easy enough,” Hay agreed. | I GUESS THIS PROVES IT The children were waiting for their Christmas story. Long ago Mra. Kellogg had promised it to them and now she was ready, and there was snow, and everything seemed exactly right. Mrs. Kellogg came to Beattie to attend the university nearly 60 years ago, and she has lived here ever since. But she ts an older pioneer than that. She waa little Sarah Bon- ney, and she cros#ed the plains with her family in 1852, and came on to the Sound country the next year. So of course she has lots and lots of good stories which we must skip fpr this time in order to hurry on to that first Christ- mas that she renrembers. “It was the Christmas that I was six years old,” she sald, “and we had moved into our new house. It was quite a house for those days; had a great big living room, and a large kitchen and ‘mothers’ room’ downstairs. And four bed- rooms upstairs. “But what really meant most to us was the fireplaces. There were two of those, bullt back to back, one facing the living room, the other in the kitchen, and the first thing that popped into our, ty x Se is He paused, and a queer, spec ulative look came into his wild-beast's eyes. “But what I don't see--how you can figure all this is going to help me out with Beatrice.” Jeffery Neilson turned tn his chair |"¥ou can't, eh? You need specta | Just think a moment—say you had 60 or 60 thousand all your own—to spend on a wife and buy her clothes and automobiles, Don't you think that would make you more attractive to the feminine eye?” You ReTuRNED TNS wat acct ae tates |WHEN You PROMISED i meek ong agreng "imagination THAT COVERS A MULTITUDE ow j heads wan, ‘What «@ place for Banta Claus to come.” “I remember that living room so well. There were two deep, homemade couches with soft chintz-covered cushions of carded wool, and desp valances of the chintz. There were the places on either side of the chimney to put the lamp on; we called them the ‘jambe.” “1 can see it now, that cheer. ful room. I remember the paper which father had put on some- time after the house was finish. od. There was a little scene from FINGSGR PRINTS ! SHAKE! Such @ sum meant wealth, the power ‘his ambitious nature hed always craved, idleness and the gratification of all his lusts, He was no stranger to greed, this degenerate son of the North. “It'd help some,” he admitted in a low voice. “But what makes you think it would be worth that much?" “Becatise old Hiram talked a little, half-delirious, before he died ‘A quarter of @ million,’ he kept saying. ‘Right there in sight—a quarter of a million’ If he really found that much stowed away in the rocks, that’s 60 or 60 aplece for you and Chan.” Ray's mind worked swiftly. Sixty thousand aplece—and that left one ieee hundred and thirty thousand for . with a handsome J tneir leader's portion, ‘The old eab in the foreground. On the | rage and jealousy that had preyed upon his mind so long swept over him, more compelling than, ever, “Go on,” he urged. “What's the rest seat of the cab sat a man in liv- ery looking so grand. In the back- ground was a wee church steeple “No, I don’t intend she a Iittle suspicious ever since that sat’ back, contemplating all its|and she was wistful and imaginative which somehow seemed the most of it?” jcome up now. Not till we're set- nkins deal, Besides, it wouldn’t be prominent thing in the picture “The second thing is—we'll need | tied,” any pleasure for her until we find | phases, “It's slick enough,’ hej|as never before. This was just t Under each little scene the word some one to cook and look after us, “Why not?” a claim and get settled. When she|agreed, “It ought to do the trick,’ normal expression of her starved But if he had known the girl's| girlhood-—the same childlike wistful- PARIS was written, though, I when we get up there, Who should! “Think a minute, and you'll comes up we'll be established in a thoughts, as she sat alone in the back | ness with which a Cinderella might suppose the paper never saw | it be but Beatrice? She wouldn’'t/why not, You know how she re-|ocouple of cabins—one for her and Paris. want to stay here; you know how|gards this business of jumping|me and one for you two—and she|part of the house, he wouldn't have |long for her prince—just as natural felt so confident. She was watching | and as wholesome and as much a part won't know but that we made the original find.” “How will she know just where to find us?” “We're bound to be somewhere near the old cabin on the Yuga. We'll set a date for her to come, and 1 can meet her there. his blasphemy of her dreams. Tho It was, Ray was forced to admit, | sptrit of commendable scheme. He —in claims, She's dead against it if any one could be—bless her heart!” “Don't go getting sentimental, Neilson,” she loves the woods, And if you know anything about girls, you know that nothing counts like having ‘em alone. There wouldn't be any of the other boys up there to trouble you.| “And don’t let that mouth of yours You'd have a clear field.” get you into trouble, either.” Once wait and see. Ray's dark eyes shone. “It'd help| more their eyes dersett gee spare “60 wait too, and nee.” some,” he admitted. “That means—|Ray looked away. "I hope is ‘ag 4 ~~ hunt up an extra horse for her to-| ways stay that way, too. As I say, “Bo that waa the house we had our firet real Christmas in, and that’s when my brother Sam and 1 learned a thing or two about Santa Claus, You just wait and neo what happened to us, just you the moon over the spruce forest, and she was thinking, with repugnance in her heart, of the indignity to which she had been subjected at her fath- ers door, Yet the Kisses Ray had forced on her were no worse than of youth as laughter and happiness, “I won't believe him, I won't be- lieve him,” she told herself. Her thought turned to other channels, and her heart spoke Its wish, “Wherever he is—some time he'll come to me.” |