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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1940-03-14, Page 8se0 h o w th o ncost has gone DOVV R. AND MRS. AVERAGE HYDRO USER; Through the past quarter-’ century, your cost for Hydro service has become lower and lower.* While the cost of almost everything else has gone up, the cost of Hydro power has come DOWN. Today, Hydro service is your BIGGEST BARGAIN! The chart above tells you the story. Just a glance will show you that as the use of Hydro power has increased, the cost has Steadily decreased. Compare what your - money buys today with what it bought 25 years ago—and you’ll quickly see that today’s family enjoys wore than 7% times as much electrical service for only twice the 1914 cost. So, today, due to the efforts of The Hydro* Electric Power Commission of Ontario—- and your own Municipal Hydro System— it coSts you less money to live better. Remember, Hydro is your public utility service ... a service that costs only pennies a day to use and enjoy to the full! *CosI figures and comparisons based on rates and consumption in URBAN areas only. BRINGS YOU BETTER LIVING and lowers Living Costs! Very acimerateiy, wust Kimr* watching eyes, Stanley drew a wallet; from his pocket.- Inspiration had come to Stanley. He had sought a meeting to enlist' Slanty Gano’s aid in a careful plan toj have Lee Hollister and Josefa Ram* irez disappear from this part of the country on the same night. Now the elaborate and perilous- plan was thrown aside. Slanty knew-' something, Stanley’s fingers went to= the. wallet and drew out a thousand dollax* bill. Slanty’s eyes glistened greedily. Stanley watched him narrowly. Slanty was moistening avid lips with the tip of his tongue, Covetous fin-* gers stole toward the -bill, Slanty leaned forward and "whispered, a sly grin showing his discolored teeth, . , , * * * Stanley did not return directly to the Circle V. Instead he took the trail to that small huddle of adobe buildings; the Ramirez ranchito. - When he arrived there was not sigti of life about the house. There was movement, quickly still­ ed, on the slope back of him, but he did not see it. .There was other move­ ment much nearer, and a flash of col­ or as Josefa sat up behind the rock „ where she had been curled like a kit­ ten. “Oh—hello, beautiful!” He wheeled and caught sight of her, “Hiding out on me, were you?” Josefa shrugged a disdainful shoul­ der, “I been here,” she said coldly. His sand slipped inside his coat,and came out with a velvet case. Josefa’s .eyes flashed and then glistened. She had meant to be very angry with Stanley. But the case was beau­ tiful, so richly blue. On a bed of gleaming luxury a gor­ geous bracelet lay, shining with pale gold, glittering with . brilliants. “Don’t I rate a kiss for that?” “Mebbo so.” Josefa sighed happily. “I put it oh first.” She reached Cagerly for beauty, and Josefa’s him, her SYNOPSIS Lee Hollister, returning from a trip abroad to the Circle V ranch, owned by Matt Blair, who for twenty years had been like a father to Lee, decides to surprise the family. He sends them no word of his coming and rides over the hills to the ranch on” horseback. When he finally sees the wide ranch­ land before him, he is astonished at the unusual aspect of the place. He is troubled, too, when he meets Slanty Gano on Matt’s land. Then Joey—old prospector befriended by Matt—tells 'him Matt is dead by .his own hand. . . Joey says the ranch is going to ruin under Lawler, manager appointed by Virginia, Matt’s daughter, who is liv­ ing in New York with her aunt and uncle in New York—the Archers. Lee goes east and pc-rsuades Virginia to return to the ranch to save it.......... Mrs. Archer follows her, accompanied by Stanley, son of Milton Bradish. Stanley thinks he may be able to dis­ credit Lee in Virginia’s eyes. . . . and encourages Josefa Ramirez in her liking for Lee. One evening Josefa forces Lee to watch her dance, and throws herself into his arms just as Virginia rides past with Stanley. to tug at a tough little scrub that might answer to beat with, but could not get it loose. Somebody must help those toiling menf Where was Stan­ ley? A crescendo of hoofbeats brought two more Circle V men tearing along from one direction, and from another two glaring eyes appeared, bobbing and shifting. That was an automobile racing toward them with all the speed .it had, lurching insan.ely over hum­ mock and hollow. It drew up with a gasping rattle, only a battered Ford, but piled to the running boards with men. They swarmed out with a clat­ ter of axes and picks and spades, tools for fire breaks, and raced tiphill. She heard Led*s shout. • “Take it easy, Joey, here comes relief crew. Go keep an eye on horses, will you?” Joey came stumbling down slope with uncertain legs. “Why, Honey, you here?’’ "Oh, Joey, can they stop it? did it happen?” - the the back. Ravels of smoke trailed chok­ ingly against her face, wavered, thin­ ned, and came on again. “Oh, J(oey, it’s wind!!” A triumphant yell came from the fire line beyond, and her own voice joined excitedly in Joey’s thin cheer. The wind had turned. Men straight­ ened tired bodies and mopped sweat­ streaking faces, grinning in sudden cheerfulness. They moved here and there, stamp­ ing out danger' spots. Presently the volunteers returned and piled them­ selves and their implements into the elastic Ford, shy of thanks and declin­ ing Virginia’s invitation for everyone to breakfast at the Circle V. It was only part of a day’s work. Dawn streaks were showing, faint pastel shades, deepening into opales­ cent tight, and Lee was coming .to­ ward her. A streaked and ragged tramp, of a man, but somehow mark­ ed with authority, and carrying hero­ ism and disgrace with equal lightness.- “No cause for alarm now,” he said At the corral-she turned to find Stanley at her heels. “The bunk' house is empty,” he told her. “I saw a cou­ ple of men riding out like blazes as I came out. Something’s Up.” “Hurry!” she said urgently. “Which way did the boys go?” He indicated it briefly, and hurried. Virginia barely waited for him to .mount, and was off. Less than half a. mile away they saw a red glow. “Oh, it’s a new one. It’s here!” Black Lightning tossed another quarter mile behind him. There it was, just ahead of her. Leaping, lick­ ing tongues of flame, throbbing through a murk of smoke—dark pat­ ches — red patches grotesque fig­ ures that moved in a pulsating glow, with arms like flails—Stanley some­ where behind her—where was Lee? Her eyes raked the slope anxiously. “Stanley, hurry!” she called back. No answer came. She flung herself off as near to the fire line as she dar­ ed. Higher up the slope men were working like demons, with swaying bodies and threshing arms, beating out flames with brooms of hastily cut scrub, stamping with their feet. One bi them was taller than the others. She could see his strong, fast move­ ments through the smoke. She began Them boys? Shore they can stop Why, Lee fit it all alone for two hours, before me an’ Curly an’ Dar­ rell got here.’, “But how did it happen?” she per­ sisted. “Does Lee know?” Jock shook a dubious head, looks like it was set, Honey, an idee he suspicions mote’n on, &ttt they ain’t no proof,” Minutes dragged by as they watch­ ed anxiously. Virginia began hunt­ ing for a weapon of her own. Wait, Honey!” Joey grasped her arm, pulling her cheerfully. “How did you find out about it? Smell Smoke, or did some­ body arouse the house?” it. “Kinds I got he lets “I smelled smoke. And then Stan­ ley . . .” She hesitated, pulled between anger and uncertainty. Where was Stanley, and why had he lagged behind when every man was needed?. She saw the ironic glint in Lee’s eyes.” “Right here/’ drawled a careless voice, Stanley was coming up back of her, sauntering along with his usual sang froid. His ordinarily careful toilet was somewhat rumpled, his silk shirt was open at the throat and was streak­ ed and smudged, and another black streak tan across his chin, “Oh—Stanley! Where were you,?” There was sharp relief in her voice. “Over there,” He indicated the dir­ ection with a careless movement of the head. “The horse bolted, or I’d have been here sooner than I was.” He smiled with engaging frankness and held up. both hands, grimy with unaccustomed toil. Virginia; laughing, looked from Stanley’s grimed palms to Lee’s. The laugh broke off sudden­ ly with a sharp intake of breath. “Oh, Lee, you are hurtl You’re burned 1” Angry red streaks burned dully on the hands Lee had not troubled to ex­ hibit. She held one, delicately, for fear her touch would hurt him, and anxiously examined the burns. “Oh, just a scorch or two. Noth­ ing to worry about.” • His reassuring smile gave no hint that the burns were stinging viciously at that very moment. There seemed nothing more to be said. She looked at Lee; at Joey, having a little smoth­ ered tantrum of his own. “You’ve been splendid—-all of you.” This time her quick glance included Stanley. She mounted quickly, with a last glance at the wide, blackened area still hot underfoot and giving off sullen curls of smoke, and at the two men looking after her. Joey waited only until they were out of hearing.’ • “Did ye hear that?” he exploded irately. “Of all the doggone impi- dence! Whyn’t .you say somethin’, Lee Hoollister, ’stead of standin’ there trompin’ on my foot till ye dang’ near mashed it?” Joey’s voice rose to an indignant wail. “He came sneakin’ through the junipers back 'there when the fire was ’most over and began patting 'it, nice, and delicate, with a scrub Curly’d throwed away. ’Way out on the edge where the smoke pretty near hid him, takin’ doggone good care of hisself an’ rub.bin’ the smears on his dood Shirt when he thought nobody was looking.” Lee was looking after two disap­ pearing figures. “Joey,” he.said irrelevantly, “there were tears In .her eyes.” 1 * * * Stanley Bradish might be a useless young idler, but he had plenty of nat­ ural shrewdness. Several things had aroused his curiosity since he had come here, and chief among them were the activities of Lawler and Slanty Gano. More than once he had seen a sig­ nificant glancd pass between Virgin­ ia’s foreman and the ill-favored indi­ vidual who made a slouching pretense of running the Rancho Collabos for its non-resident owner. A few days after the fire he rode from blazing sunshine into the dim seclusion of a little canyon with' a breath of relief. There was a little rocky pool about halfway down, fed by a silver thread of watetfail, and here Slanty Gano was just rising front a copious drink. “How d’you. do? Pretty hot out there.” Stanley joined the hulking figure at the pool and dismounted, cupping both palms under the silver thread and drinking from them. “I passed your friend Hollister about a mile back,” Stanley volunteer­ ed carelessly. “He rides around a good deal, doesn’t he? I should think he’d be settling down to a job.” “He’s too busy mindin’ other peo­ ple’s business,” Slanty sneered. Then he grinned knowingly. “Some folks reckon Lee’s hanging around to settle- himself for life at the Circle V. Pret­ ty soft, hey?” The grin was an of­ fensive leer. “He may be disappointed,” Stanley said curtly. “He’s working against Miss Blair’s interests to promote his own, and it’s time somebody took him in hand. He’s giving my father a lot of trouble, too.” , “Trouble’s his middle name,” said Slanty sourly. “He eats it.” “Then why not feed him more* of it?” Stanley suggested. “My father and I will do a lot more for the men who stand by us than he ’ever will.” The cards Were on the table now. The two men eyed each other stead­ ily. . “If Hollister gets what, he wants, he is going to give you a bad time,’’ Stanley taunted softly. “He doesn’t like you, ’ Gano.” “Well, why don’t you? If you tell it to the right man, it might be worth while.” suddenly froze. “What’s the matter?” Stanley got no further, glance had darted beyond eyes dilating. He heard a quick gasp as she tore herself away from him; she started running like a flett little animal. Before he could even whirl to face danger, the crack of a rifle and a stinging shock came almost sim­ ultaneously. Stanley, green-eyed with fear, clap­ ped a hand to his shoulder and flung himself J behind a juniper thicket. Crouching low in its shelter he jerk­ ed his head from side to side, peering to see from what point the attack had come, but there was no further sound save those hostile reverberations just dying away. Waiting cracked his nerves. He dodged out and flung himself on his horse with a groaning curse for the twinge it gave him, and a moment lat­ er flying hoofs were carrying him away. (Continued Next Week) } Wellington Mutual Fire , Insurance Co. Established 1840. Risks taken on all classes of insur­ ance at reasonable rates. \ Head Office, Guelph, Ont. COSENS & BOOTH, Agents, Wingham. Dr. W. A. McKibbon, B.A. / PHYSICIAN ,AND SURGEON Located at the Office of the Late Dr. H. W. Colborne. Office Phone 54. HARRY FRYFOGLE Licensed Embalmer and Funeral Director Furniture and Funeral Service Ambulance Service. Phones: Day 109W. Night 109J. DR. R. L. STEWART t ■ PHYSICIAN J. W. BUSHFIELD Telephone 29. Barrister, Solicitor, Notary, Etc. Money To Loan. Office — Meyer Block, Wingham THOMAS FELLS AUCTIONEER REAL ESTATE SOLD A Thorough Knowledge of Farm Stock. ! Phone 231, Wingham. 'i 1 * F. W. KEMP LISTOWEL Auction Sales Conducted. Monuments and Monumental work. 100 Monuments to choose from. Phone: 38 or 121 - - Listowel I u DR. W. M. CONNELL PHYSICIAN and surgeon Phone 19. W. A. CRAWFORD, M.D. Physician and Surgeon Located at the office^of the late Dr. J. P. Kennedy. Phone 150 Wingham J. H. CRAWFORD Barrister, Solicitor, Notary, Etc. Bands, Investments & Mortgages Wiitigham - Ontario R. S. HETHERINGTON BARRISTER and SOLICITOR Office — Morton Block. 1 Telephone No. 66. Frederick A. Parker OSTEOPATH Offices: Centre St., Whigham, and Main St,, Listowel. Listowel Days: Tuesdays and Fri­ days. Osteopathic and Electric Treat­ ments. Foot Technique. Phone 272 Wingham Consistent Advertising in The Advance-Times Gets Results i t J. ALVIN FOX . ^Licensed Drugless Practitioner CHIROPRACTIC - DRUGLESS THERAPY - RADIONIC EQUIPMENT Hours by Appointment. Phone 191. Wingham I f 1 <■ A. R. & F. E. DUVAL' CHIROPRACTORS CHIROPRACTIC and ELECTRO THERAPY North Street — Wingham Telephone 300. 1 s i V