Loading...
The URL can be used to link to this page
Your browser does not support the video tag.
The Exeter Times-Advocate, 1930-05-01, Page 3
THE EXETER TIMES-ADVOCATE thvkwat,. MAY x* w THE STORY SO FAR Ungli Drummond and Peter Darrell are interested In Mr. granger, who lives at Temple Tower, which h« has strongly fortified. Miss Vern ey accepts a position , as private secretary to Mr. Granger and her friend (Freckles) Tom Scott, is staying with Hugh. John, an old friend of Hugh, has the plans of Temple Tower but someone stole them out of his room. Freckles receives a letter from Miss Verm Cy and before they go home Gran ger opens the panel in the gate and'while talking to them he sees • a figure all in black watching him and is greatly, alarmed* Later they go ’back to Temple Tower' again and a car pulls up with the hoarder from Spragge’s Farm who hauls out a rope ladder and hides at in the hushes. NOW GO ON WITH THE STORY “With that I left him, and went ^and typed the letters. What is the fsneaning it, Tom? One thing is perfectly clear': it is. not for any "se cretarial work* that I have been en gaged. The main part of my job is obviously to sell his stuff for him. 3Buf is all seems so peculiar. Inci dentally when I took him back the letters to sign, he was down again. <on his knees by tlie fireplace, and he had' completely forgotten all about them. ' Moreover he Jivas furious at ■any walking in, though I had knock ed twice. w ’‘Lunch time—so’I will stop. What ilo you think? It seems all very Tunny to me.” “And to me” said Hugh thought fully, as Freckles folded up the let ter. “But not inexplicable, once, on* Thing is granted.” “And that is?” I asked. “Thatrthe .stuff- to be disposed of Ss stolen,”< he answered. “If this collection lid^tajfcs of was honestly come by, the 'simplest method by far ©f disposing of it would he to do xvhht Miss Verney suggests, and have a, really good man down from Lon don. Obviously he dare not. So am ’has . hit on this distinctly clever znethod. If Miss Verney walked in to a shop with an ornament such as she describes,,. 4t would arouse no susp'i'Cion^'’;Tt*’(s‘just'-the sort of thing she might* have been left by a relative. And’’ a good man would give her a fair price. If Granger walked into a shop with it they would probably ring* up Scotland ’ Yai-d after one look at is face. And af he took it to an ordinary fence he would get a -third of its value.” He yo.se and-'began to stroll up. and .down. . “We are oil the lino,” he said: “f •am sure of it, though we are the •deuce of a long way from spotting dlie whole thing. Our friend at the Temple is obviously in possession of n big lump of stolen property which ‘lie intends td sell. For that purpose She engages ' a, lady secretary, who witjiqut suspicion can get a good price for it-. , Then suddenly along comes tile bird at iSpragge’s Farm Who puts- the'l'ear of God into Gran ger. He is probably a man whom Granger double-crossed, and who is entitled to his share of the swag. So that necessitates Miss Verney's ac tivities being postpbned until he is disposed of oiye way .or the other. Does* that sound feasible?” . And the more I’though of it the more iV'did. though, as Hugh said, there were still a lot of unaccount able things.’- Where, for instance, did., the Vandalis .come in? Were they also entitled to share in the stolen property? And, if so, why Mad Granger not recognized them? And then last, but certainly not the 3§ast, whose was that mysterious Sllack figure (that had flitted silently through the'wood, and which inspir ed Granger with such ghastly terror?. Was it flio, man from .Spragge’s Farm dr ivas it yet a further complication. A sudden exclamation from Hugh interrupted my thoughts. He was .standing with his eye glued to the •focussed on Spragge’s Farm. “Activity,” he remarked, “on one <of the fronts. There is a car stand ing outside the farm—a filling that ' Jooks like a tradesman van. They sire all three of them there,-the two mop tand the woman, and they are putting.something into it. By Jove!’ lie went on excidedly after a moment *‘I Ijelicvo it is. It is just about the •shape. They are putting the rope Uadfler on boards you fellows. Now ithe woman has gone into the house, si nd one of the men lias clambered into the back of the car. They’re And now ft was easy to see the car scorning aloiig the track away from Rye' and after a while we lost sight Mf R. . , “I wondor what that signifies,” ssaicT Freckles. “It signifies that the ladder is finished,Hugh grav.cly. “And IS also sigfiifieh, If 1 mistake not, khat the game, is shortly to begin in •earnest. 'That’ car can got to Temple iTower from the opposite direction. “Blit he surely won’t try artd climb, the wall by daylight?” I cried. “No: but it is more than possible that he is going to hide the ladder nearer the scene of action by day light,” said Hugh. “And if he hides it. anywhere he is going to hide it in that wood. There is no particular hurry because it is going to take that car at least half an hour to get there going by that route. But I think we’ll just stroll along and see what happens.” And so once again we find our selves lying in our hiding place op posite the gate of Temple Tower, only, this time Hugh was with us. Moreover I noticed that he, every now and then, threw a glance over his shoulder into the gloom of the wood behind, as if he expected to see that mysterious black figure. But on this occasion there was no sign of;it: the wood was silent and desert ed. And after a time I even began to wonder if the whole thing had not been a trick of the light, and wheth er we hadn’t imagined it all. Ten minutes passed, quarter of an hour, and then we heard the sound of a motor in the distance. Very cautiously we peered out, and Hugh gave a little grunt of satisfaction. “It is the one I saw,” lie muttered, and we waited breathlessly to see what would happen. Forty yards away from us it pulled up, and Spragge, who was driving, said something to the passenger hidden behind. And the moment the lad der maker emerged. I don’t know about the others, but to me he seemed even more re pulsive in the daylight than he had the night before. He peered up and down the road; then, seeing there was no one in sight, he hauled his ladder out of the body of the car. The rope part was wrapped round te central bolster, and its appearance was that of a gigantic'sausage. Then, putting it under liis arm, lie dived into the undergrowth. * We heard him crashing about, and then, after' a short silence, he emerg ed, and again went to the back of the car. This time he pulled out a wooden pole about the length of a hay-rake. At one end he had con structed a sort of cradle, and its ob ject was evidently to enable him to hoist the ladder into position on the wall. He went into the wood once more • then, reappearing a second time,’he vanished into the back of the car, which drove rapidly past us towards Rye. His preparations were finished; lie was ready for the night’s We waited till the car had disap peared, and then stepped out on to the road. “There would be no harm,” re marked Hugh, “in investigating our friend’s handiwork. And there is one rather useful point. If he makes as much noise moving about at night as he did then, he won’t be hard to follow.” We found the ladder and the wooden cradle without difficulty. They had been roughly pushed under some (blackberry bushes, with but very little attempt at concealment. Relying on the fact that there was no one about, all he had done was was to put them sufficiently far from the road to escape the eye of a stray pgsser-by. “A sailor, I shoud think,” remark- 'ed Hugh thoughtfully, as he exam ined the ladder. “That canvas and tarred twine seem to smack >of the sea.” ‘ “Do we leave them there?” asked Freckles. “We do, my lad,”-laughed Hugh. ,J“Because unless I am very much mis taken to-night's entertainment is go ing tb help us' considerably to eluc- diate things. It is all right, young fellow.” he went on reassuringly. “Miss Verney is not going to come to any harm—that I promise you,. Let’s stroll back and see if John has re turned to the fold.” And even as lie spoke he swung round with that characteristic move- ill 0nt I It now So woll* TIo wds tied'* into tlie undergrowth .with every muscle braced, and every nerve alert But ri'Qthing moved: *£he silencd was still Absolute. And. after a while he relaxed anil stepped -out of the .wood into the road. ' ‘ , “What did yon see?” said Freckles eagerly. ’ . .“Nothing” lie answered curtly. “I thought I did for a moment, but it Was* my imagination. Colne "on: let’s get baeh.” He said no in Ore until we were in the house, arid then he1 waited till Freckles had loft us alone. ““Peter,” he said gravely, “the plot thickens.” “Yon* did see something in the .wood, then?” I remarked. “I saw your mysterious black friend,” he answered quietly. “He is very good at concealing himself, but I happen to know a trick or two concerning that game myself. HO was about twenty yards a why, from us.” “Why didn’t we go after him?” I cried bewildered. “There is ohe little point that I have learned in the course ef my life, Peter,” he answered, “that Influenced the situatjen. A man with out a gun js at considerable disad vantage when opposed to a man with one. .We were in the former cate gory: he was in the latter. Had we moved, we were for it: he'd got us covered.” “But do you really think he .would have dared to have shot the of us closed to a main road?” jocted. “I don’t suppose he wished a moment,” he agreed. At same time, then and there lie might have been forced to. And I wasn’t for taking the chance. Peter/’ he went on in a lower voice, “there is a damned Sjght more in this tiffair than is at present .sticking out of the surface. We big, ly. can two 'hand may have last its cunning to a certain extent, but I think that I can still guarantee to st{ilk the stalker, And next tpne he will not be the only one with a gun. Don't say any thing to the youngster.” I did not, though J couldn’t pre vent myself from thinking over this new development. That I-Iugh was perhaps mistaken never entered my head: he simply was one of those men who did not make mistakes on matters of this sort. He had the eyesight of a lynx, and if he had. seen an automatic, then there was a automatic. And as he said, it put matters on a different footing. If the owner of the gun was prepared, if forced to it, to kill three men close to a main rond, the affair was big ger than we had at first thought. But who was he; 4what was lie: where did he come from? Was he acting in collusion with the ladder maker Marillard? One thing was certain, whatever he might be: he was a very dangeraus additjon to the other side. And a further thing, too, was certain. The possibility that it might be Marillard himself who was masquerading in some guise was disposed of: that af rate we now knew. (John James had appeared on scene in tpne for dinner, eager to hear if any further doings had taken place. And having been posted up to date there was nothing further to do but to wait for darkness be fore once 'again treading the fami- liar road to Temple Tower. Hugh was unusally silent as we sat out side finishing bur brandy, ••and I guessed that he was trying to piece together the- jigsaw in is mind. And it came as a feeling of relief when, at a quarter to- ten, he got up and said .it was time to start.. . , . . ' “Come into 'my study fol* a mcH ment, Peter,” he said to me. “Look, here, old boy,” he remarked when he had shut the door, “here is one for you. I daren't other two with used to them.” I slipped a into my pocket, outline of another pi his. “Needless to say, don’t use it less it is absolutely essential,” warned. don’t wood We Hugh Freckles was obviously on edge with excitement, and Hugh smote him on the back. “Easy does it, young fellow,” he laughed. “And an unnecessary cessary sound, do something, we’ll go in two with Scott, and the 'spot where we know the ladder is hidden. Peter, you follow with John, and go to ground where we were this afternoon. Give us two or three minutes’ start.” It was practically dark when we reached our hiding-place. We had passed no one on the road, nor had we seen any sign of the other two who were some three or four dred yards ahead of us. “How long are we likely to to stop here?” whispered James to me. “Ask me another,” I answered. “Presumably until our friend from Spragge’s Farm considers start work.” Half an hour passed, an then quite suddenly from grounds there came the rible sound. It rose and i deep-throated snarling roar, savage beyond description. For perhaps a quarter of a minute it continued! then it ceased as abruptly as it had commenced. “Good God! what was that?” mut tered James in a shaking voice. “The Pekinese,” I answered, none too steadily myself. “I’ve heard it before.” And at that moment T heard Hugh’s Voice, low and urgent. “Peter, where are you?” loomed out of the darkness, have been stung,” he said, ladder is gone. We have been ing here all this time like damned fools, and the enemy is inside.” We scrambled«*to joined him. “When I went Oil, “I had a look. three I ob- to for he agreed. At the had we gone for him are up against something pretty and we have got to move wari* But there is one thing that I promise the man in the wood; people can play at his game. My dis- any the thetrust either of a gun, but you are vicious-looking and I could see Colt the un- he “But also, needless to say. forget that our friend of tlie carries one himself.” rejoined the others, . and looked at them critically. “What do we do now?” I asked, “Go round the wall,” he answered “keeping yaiu' eyes skinned for tlie ladder. We ought just td be able to see that bolster thing against the sky, if we can’t we are done, be cause the ladder itself will be in side. I’ll lead* Peter, you bring up the rear.”, We started off in single tile, keep ing to the road. As Hugh had said, jl was possible to see the top ot the wall outlined against, the sky, there hud been no sign of the vas ner. the ing haye it we had come the right way. Not fifty yards from where we bad turned we saw it on top of the wall. “Now,” said Hugh, “which of you two is the lightest? iScott, I should think. Up yon go, young fellow, on my .sbbulders: get astride that hol ster and pass the ladder over to this side.” It proved easier than one would have thought, and ten seconds later Freckles was setting astride the wall and Hugh was climbing up the lad der. Then lie threw it over to the other side and disappeared down it, leaving Freckles tq pass it back to us. John James went next and I followed, and three minutes from the time we had found it we Were all- .inside. There was plenty of cover to con ceal our cautiously place was ed after. between the trees, and there was no semblance of even .the crudest track or footpath. At last we came to an opening. Ahead of us, some fifty yards away, lay.the house, and a light -was burning jn one ol’ the ground floor windows. Then sudden ly another light went on, this time on the second floor, and outlined against it was the figure of a girl. She was peering out, and Freckles gave a quick, exclamation. “Shut up,” growled Hugh. “Not a sound.” It time save “I wh;spered Hugh, the left, keeping under cover.” We followed him, dodging from tree to tree, until he halted before another open space. In front of us was what looked like an old ruined wall, as far as one could see in the darkness. It was broken do.wn and crum-bl'ing, and in .some places was on a level with the ground. '“The old chapel,” he muttered, and John James grunted assent. And we were just on the point of going on when there came the sound of voices from the house. It, was too far off to hear what was said, but they were loud and angry. Both were men’s and it was obvious that a quarrel was boing on. And then, just for an instant, I saw-,.the tWo of them silhouetted agajnst the the light, and recognized Granger and the servant Gaspard. Granger was shaking his fists in the air, and Gaspard'was standing sullenly with his hands in his pockets. Then they disappeared, and the light went out. (To be continued.)G don’t forget—not word, not an unne- And if I tell you to jump to it. Now pairs. I’ll go first we will go beyond hun- have John hour, and inside the most ter fell in a our feet, as that hound to wonder, is not there, He “We ‘The sitt- Scott ’ ho So I Our heard began J; . __ ____ friend is inside. the wall. Moreover,” ho continued gririily, “the dog seems to bo aware of the fact.” X’ Pass—Harvey Lovle 54,.3. Absent fer examinations, Clifford Hicks, Reg. Hodgson. Number on, roll 29. Those ebtainiitg highest marks in Arithmetic, Jack Hepburn 99 and Lloyd Heaman 991 in spelling Al lan Richards 98, Stanley Hicks 98, Lloyd Heaman 98. Beryl A. Hill, teacher S i56.9,Or- OF FENCE School Reports HURONDALE SCHOOL REPORT t* t TO1THE SELECT ON fi and can* cor- from i i sack when we reached the There we struck away road at right angles, still follow- the wall. And as luck would was Miss Verney, and after a she put out the light again, for the ground-floor room. . want to see into that room,” ' . “Skirt round to movements as we crept forward. The whole unkempt and badly look- Thick undergrowth grew Win. McFails has exchanged Phimer to class I •F Beatrice Will er t 5 8.5 i « Gertrude pybus 65, Vera Bopp 43.7. class*—Doris Thomson-’ (10, Dick 58.88. class I to cittss H .88, Stuart "Dick IV—Evelyn Harlton 77, Lu* Lo.chner .68, Sam. Switzer 64*, Lamport 61, Arnold Gaiser 56, IV-—-Lorraine' Baker 61, Roy Stuart Dick. Highest mark pi history Elgin Johnson, in reading Benson Dick. Q. j. Finnigan, teacher ,55.2, Bilge Ray Squire,, 46.5.0 class, honours—Frayne 86.2. 71.7. Hepburn 87.6, Lloyd Heaman 85.3, Orville Mitchell 77. GIVE REAL STUDY' ATexitpdie%,.74.5, Elgin.' Johnson REPORT S* S, SL 7, STEPHEN Sr. IV, honors—Marjorie Oke 83.1 Richard Etherington 79.7. Pass—Rbss Oke 60.6.' Below pass, Harold' Cudmore 59.1'. Jr. IV, pass-—Lloyd Reynolds.73.6 Alex Strang 64.7* Eelow pass—Audrey Rowcliff^'52.S, Elmore Dunn 41.3. J Jr. Ill, pass—Oljve Parsons 69$, Jack Boa 63.3. Below pass—Chester Dunn 57gL Marjorie Etherington Rowcliffe 47.6, Second Parsons 7 6.8. | Pass—Wilfred Buchanan 63.3. I Below .pass—Gordon .Squire,*46.K. First class, lio'nouTS---iJack Kestle 77.8, Grace Beckler 7'5.6. '• | Pass—Billie Kestle 6'1.6. | Below pass—Lawrence Dunn 511 Andrew Boa, absent. Primer, honours—Margaret Dou- gail 82.2. Pass—Russell Ferguson 73.2. Below pass—Bobby Jeffrey 52. Nellie L. Baker, teacher Report s. s. no. 14, hay The following is the report of the Easter examinations of S. S. No. 14, Hay. Sr. IV—Myrtle Thomson ,77.6, J. Alexander 6,7.3, Stewart Crerar 64.9, Gladys* Jarroft 53.3, Jr. IV—Shirley Kaehler 70,. Mar garet 58.6, Smith 3rd Bert 60.2. Promoted from 2rid tb*Junior HI —^Alfred Ropy SO.S3, Maygatet.’Mac Gregor 76.33, Mildred Fyftuk 6S.8J, Archie McGregor 63*83, J.e.W John son 60.66, Benson Promoted from —Irma Ferguson 54.5. Promoted from —Blanche Thomson, Harold Wilfert, Xlgkcst .mai’k M^Auithmetic 'Wac The following is the report of S, No- 7, Stephen.- The average marks ©f the Easter tests are given. iSr, - ' “ ” ” cille John Jr. Dietrich 57. Sir. HI—Nola Sweitzer 67, Arthur Gaiser 60, Greta Dietrich ..5, Orval Melijn 45. Jr.* HI—Dorothy Harlton 65, Jean McKenzie 60, Eva Pickering 57, Ruth Lamport 54, Wray (Sweitzer 51, Milton Sweitzer 44, 2nd Clasa*—James Clarke 68, Ev-1he had passed away in his sleep. Mr. elyn Clarke 63, Ida Sweitzer 61, Roy ilMcLinchey was boi'h ’dn on"—-- - ’ • *3, Ufte Goshen line, Stanley and' after’ MaheF his marriage they farmed at Ade* Since the death of his fifteen years ago he has lived his daughter, Mrs, James N, , of -Clinton, He is survived by daughters, three brothers and sister Mr his 100 acre farm on the 2nd con, Biddulph for the Central Hotel iri- Lucan with Alex Hodgins and has taken possession, Death came suddenly to James Me- Linchey, of Clinton. He had retired in his usual health but in the morn-’ ing when he did not arise an inves* tigatipn was made it was found that Baynham 58, Iva Pickering 48 1st Class—.Ada- Gaiser 70, I Harlton 66, Malieda Clarke 60, Earljaide, Ont, Pickering 59, Ralph Smith 49. Primer—-Harold Finkbeiner Robert Gower 73 7'2 r. 9 j wife 82,' with Hazel Pickering Reid; Edward Smith 59, Kenneth Baker two Rena Gaiser 52. four G. B. Schilbe, teucher! .■ REPORT S. S. NO. 1, STEPHEN The following report of S. S. -No, 1, Stephen, Fairfield is as follows: iSr. IV, honors—Dorothy Hicks 84.9, Gerald Schroeder 80.5. ' Pass—Roy Lovie 67.7, William A. Elliott 66.7. Jr. IV, pass—Aaron Hodgins 67.7. Sr. Ill, honors—Mildred Hicks 90.4, Harry Hodgins 85, Mildred El liott 79.3, Walter Mitchell 78. Pass—Leroy -Schroeder 72.6, Kathleen Lawson 68.2. Jr. Ill, honors—Evelyn Heaman 84.8, Allan Richards 79.6. Pass—Marion Lovie 66.5, Ilene Walker 6'3.4. 2nd class, honors—Earl Schroeder 80.7. Pass—Gerald Lawson 71.5, Alden Walker 71, Stanley Hidks 64.3. Failed,—Adrian' White pha Hodgins 49.7. Sr. Pr.—Audrey Powe . Pass—Donald Penaale 1 Jr. Pr., honors—Jack Dry, Hacking Cough Was- Caused By A Bronchial Cold Mrs. J. Fearman, Selkirk,- 'Ont., writes;—“ Early last winter I'suffered from a severe bronchial cold fhgt left me with a provoking, dry, hacking cough. After being bothered, both day and night, with it for some time I had a friend recommend. Dr. Wood’s Norway Plrto which I tried with. wondMraul results, and now it 13 the only rrfmedy I ever use for colds. 1 “I have also usetb yoi^r MjlburiPe Heart and Nerve Fills with wonderful results.” “Dr. Wood’s” is 35 cents a bottle; large family size 60 cents, at all drug gists and dealers. Put up only by The T. Milburn Co Ltd., Toronto, Ont. ’day the successful farmer overlooks no ' will enabfe him to profit through the ^scientific control of stock and crops. In &is respect he finds fence <3f vital importance ■ Because.. countless farmers have given real stt)dy to the problem of .selecting fence--more “O JIB WAY” ZIJSTC INSUL ATBD'Fence, made by Canadian Steel Corpora- tion, Limited, is in use in Canada than any other make.. 'Sturdily constructed of finest material- and heavily ZINC INSULAl'lEit),' it resists corrosion tb’ the’ utmost." Easily erected/&bod looking and loxig l^stingi’ it is made in vary ing styles tjo'/rbeet eizery. feqnin5fiient‘. . iU, Near yon is One Of out4, dealers. Ask him to dssist you iri selecting the“OjIBWAY”jFence mest Suited to your needs ‘ j '’.r Mills rind* Hedjd Ofiicc :■ (Subway, Essex County, OriMtib; AVarthbusts ‘ Hamilton atid AVinnibcg