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The Huron Expositor, 1933-12-08, Page 7,1‘ y 1• 4: :',),T:1747Arr,,iniONRTIroriri DECEIVIBEW 8, 1933. LEGAL Phone No. 81 JOHN J. HUGGARD Banister, 'Solicitor, Netary Pulic, Etc. Beattie Block - - Seaforth,Ont. HAYS & ME1R Succeeding R. S. Hays Barristers, Solicitors, Conveyancers and Notaries Public. 8olicitors for the Dominion Bank. Office in rear of the Dominion Bank, Seaforth. Money to loan. BEST & BEST Baniters, Solicitors, Conveyian- eers and Notaries Public, Etc. Office In the Edge Building, opposite The Expositor Office. VETERINARY JOHN GRIEVE, VS. Honor graduate of Ontario Veterin- ary College. All diseases of domestic animals treated. Calls .promptly at- tended to and charges moderate. Vet- erinary Dentletry a specialty. Office and residence on Goderich. Street, one door east of Dr. Mackay's office, Sea- forbh. A. R. CAMPBELL, V.S. Graduate a Ontario Veterinary College, University of Toronto. All diseases of domestic animals treated by the most modern prirciples. Charges reasonable. Day or night calls promptly attended to. Office on Main Street, Hensall, opposite Town Hall. Phone 116. Breeder of Scot- tish terriers. Inverness Kennels, Hensall. MEDICAL DR. F. J. R. FORSTER Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Graduate in Medicine, University of Toronto. Late assistant New York Opthal- nei and Aural Institute, Moorefield's Eye and Golden Square Throat Hos- pital, London, Eng. At Commercial Hotel, Seaforth, third *Monday in each month, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. 58 Waterloo Street, South, Statford. • DR. W. C. SP.ROAT Graduate of Faculty of Medicine, University of Western Ontario, Lan- don. •Member of College of Physic- ans and Surgeons of Ontario. Office Aberhart's Drug Store, Main St., Seaforth. Ph,one 90. DR. F. J. BURROWS Office and residence oderich Street, east of the United Ghurch, Sea - forth. Phone 46. Coroner for the County of Huron. , DR. C. MACKAY C. Mackay, homar graduate of Trin- ' ity University, and gold medalist of Trinity Medical College; -member of the College of ..Physicians and Sur- geons of Ontario. DR. H. HUGH ROSS Graduate' of University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine, member of Col- lege of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario; pass graduate course in Chicago Clinical School of Chicago; Royal Ophthalmie Hospital, London, England; University Hospital, Lon- don, England. Office --Back of Do- minion Bank, Seaforth. Phone No. 5. Night calls answered from residence, Victoria Street, Seaforth. DR. S. R. COLLYER Ceaduate Faculty of Mdiciee, Uni- versity of Western Ontario. Member College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. Post graduate work at New York Oity Hospital and Victoria Hospital, London. Phone: 56. Office, King Street, Hensall. DR. J. A. MUNN Graduate of Northwestern Univers- ity, Chicao, Ill. Licentiate Royal College of Dental Surgeons, Toronto Office over Sills' Hardware, Main St. Seaforth. Phone 151. • DR. F. J. BECHELY ;$747,,, -..-Ipmyfria„, AiwiRk. ,i.',i.,,...!,,,,;,,.,,J,,,•,i'..!:.; , r•-• . ',.4•,'4.:•:,',,...:it•,,,,t,:ii,,,, ,.. J.. 1 HURON EXPOSITOR 10 S A WESTERN ROMANCE BY CHARLES H. SNOW • (Continued from last week) Ellery similingly accepted the apolo- gies of the melt for the mistake they had made. "Don't think any more about it, gentlemen," he advised. "IVstakes will happen, and I see your side of this case. It's lucky for me though, that Uncle ISint's a good shot. He told me he could shoot out a gnat's eye." "That thar rope war wgglin' leetle," said Uncle Sim. "And I had to bea mite keerful." To the possemen it had been a wonderful shot, this cutting a taut rope at forty yards, to Ellery a mir- acle, but to Uncle Sim, who nine times out of ten could take -off a squirrels head at that distance, it was nothing at all. The old man listened while the men told ef their long hunt through the night, after Colonel Beaufort had} offered ten thousand' dollars for the discovery of his daughter. "Wal," Uncle- Sim combedhis whis- kers thoughtfully, "the way it looks to me, ye'fe on a wild goose chase up hyar in the .snow. Thar ain't no chanet a -tall them robber's head back this way. Now if I was ye I'd scat to below snow -line. Like 's not when ye git to Columbia yell find this Miss Nancy safe and sound, and them bank robbers strung up and startin' to dry. Danged if this hyar ain't some s'prise to me! I'm shore sorry I missed all the 'citement." The cold and half-starved members of the searching party were eager en- ough to start for home, especially as another day in the high country meant that they might be snowed in. They began making quick prepara- tions for the start. S.After Jim 'n' me's peed 'bout that old .grizzy we'll skirt down toward the Nawth Fork and see what we kin see," said Uncle Sim. "If we find anything o' them robbers we'll ride in and let ye -all know, fellers." Curtis kid that this was a good plan. He lecl his men away, and Uncle Sim trudged back across the ridge. Wen, a fe* minutes later, he returned astride the sorrel mare, he found Ellery with a puzzled frown on his cold face. "Why didn't youlet them go with us, Uncle Sim?" "Huh? Them clanged fools tag a- long with us? One old she b'ar's got more sense'n that whole passel o' varAnts. Didn't they show how clanged leetle they knowed by tryin' to hang ye 'thout decent circumstan- tial evidence? Drat clang my skin, people hi this hyar country's still too ready to stretch a man at the end of a rope. Why'n hell didn't ye tell 'em' 'bout it, Jim?" • "I gave you iny word I wouldn't, Uncle •Sm." The old man's jaw dropped and his eyes bulged. "Wal}, by Gawd!" he ejaculated slowly. "I didn't mean ye wuz to keep yet} clanged mouth shet. in a cb,se like that, Jim. Them damned fools'd hung ye shore if I hadn't showed up." 01 know they would," Ellery agreed grin -11y. Uncle Sim cocked his hoary head. "Danged if we ain't 'bout the cool- est customer I 'ever seed, Jim! Most men'd be a leetle 'cited, but ye're 'bout as 'cited as them snowflakes that'sbeginnin' to come down ag'in. Wel, ye know I started fer that knot over yonder? Afore I'd gone a hun- dined yards I seed what I wanted. Then I jest took the back trail to find ye. _Kind o' lucky I did, warn% it?" "Mighty lu • • for me, Uncle Sim. Otherwise yo 'd ve found me cool- ing in the wind, with my feet off the ground." The rain had ceased and through rifts in the clouds shafts of sunlight shot, to touch the bosom of the rain - drenched valley, when Carlotta Es- queval came 'to the door of the big casa. She was a vivid creature with her crimson dress and black man- tilla, and her eyes were still drowsy and mysterious from the long night's sleep. !Smoke rolled heavily from the adobe huts that encircled the knoll; and around the corrals, peons with their shoulders swathed in blankets or gay serapes moved listlessly about their morning work. It was a soggy mornineat Rancho Linda Vista. The broad pencils of light that came through the cloud rifts were the only thine to tell that there was warmth and colour above the leaden sky. }Graduate Royal College of Dental Surgeons, Toronto. Office over W. R Smith% Grocery, Main •Street, Sea - forth. 'Phone: Office, 185 W; resi- dence, 185J. 6,•*1•44.44*.• 'AUCTIONEERS OSCAR KLOPP Honor Graduate Carey Jones' 14a- tional Sehool for Autieneering, Chi- eago. 'Special course taken in Pure Bred Live Stock, Real state, Mer- chandise and Farm Sales. Rates in keeping with prevailing markets. Sat- isfaction assured. Write or wire, Osear Klopp, Zurich, Ont. Phone: 18-9. ful face suddenly almost savage. "For what do you not want Don Jack? .Do you not knoWyeet ees heent Carlotta loffs? • Carainba!" Oen Oayetano Shrugged, for he had long ,since learned the futility of trying to reason against these out- bursts, set he nsust have a word. ("This Pon Jaek and his men will sooner or later bring dishonour on Rancho Linda Vista, querida." Carlotta shrugged now: 'For what do we care what then& the dam gringos of the .minet? 'Don Jack do I loff, and I will have heem come to el rancho When he likes. He ees a ver' brave caballero!" The fifth ,man of Yerkes' posse was Joe Tucker. Tucker had ridden all night with the news of Nancy Beau - fort's disappearance, and had joined the other four men only an hour be- fore. The five rode up the lane, up the slope, and reined in under the oaks. Carlotta eyed them through narrowed lids, and without cardiality. "Buenas dies, senores," saluted Don Cayetano, who never, under any circumstances, forgot his hospitality. "Alight and rest, senores. You have ridden far, no?" "From Columbia Cayetano," re- turned Yerkes. "We come lookin' for three, maybe four, Americans. Are they here?" In a few minutes the men led their animals toward the .sables. Carlotta turned upon her }faher with flashing eyes. "Foal, why did you tell them Don Jack and his friends had been here but two days ago?" she cried in Spanish. Don •Cayetano met her savage gaze squarely, though it took all his cour- age. Though he realized he was pow- erless to cope with her, he loved her with all the love in his heart. "I have told them that Don Jack was here, my dear, because, as I have said, sooner or later such men as he will bring dishonour upon our heads. Have you no shatne, daughter of mine? Do you not realize that this is no longer Mexico, but the land of the Americans?" "And a sad land it is'" she retort- ed. ."What do I care for all these clarbrod gringos who respect the law of the Americans? What makes me love Don Jack' is that he has no re - spec' for these laws!" Don Caye.tano, hoping to ward off anotheCoutburst, went into the case to order breakfast for his guests. Presently the girl followed him. When she came out she carried a hrimming pitcher of wine, and a cup. The five men were trudging up the slope. Patehes of warm crimson played under the olive skin of Carlotta's cheeks, and in her black eyes danced little mischievous lights. She was pouring a cup of wine as the five Americans -stopped before her. Her eyes lifted shyly, yet with a faint light of admiration in their smoky depths. "Por Dios, you'•brave hambres have ridden so far durin' the long night you must be ver' cold," she cried. "Take thees leetle drink, Senor Beel, and you wilt teengle with the *arinth to your ver' toes!" IBM Yerkes drained the cup, and instantly confessed that he could feel the effect of the wine to his toenails. Tt was indeed potent stuff, thie sweet wine of Rancho Linda Vista. Carlotta poured it for the other men, who drank avidly, unconscious of its high alcoholic content. 'That's sure a warmin' drink, Car- lotta," declared Yerkes. "God, but it was cold last night! Srinwin' back in the mountains, like hell." "Ah, Senor Bee]," Carlotta's eyes were suddenly wide with astonish- ment, "et ees not iverdad that the one leetle drink you fel, no? Eef eat ees true, then you are nnt the beeg, strong man Carlotta has theenk you. Caramba, just un leetlfe drink mac!" Yerkes needed little urging. nor did the other !mien; ,ancl, when they had each drained a- Ficond cup of the muscatel, their e'es were g and nearby objects seemed ar a- way. Carlotta persuaded them to take a little more wine before 'break- fast was called. It was a bounteous breakfast. as meals always were at Rancho 'Linda Vista when guests were at table. The men ate like wolves. "Cayetano, I figure that if we wait hre, that red-headed robber'll soon slicsv up," Yerkes informed his host. "You got any objections?" Don •Cayetano cast a quick glance at his daughter. Her face was vivid with approval. "Bue-no, Senor Beel!" she cried. "Un ver' wise plan eet ees! Thecs red- head hombre he ees fall in loff with me, and I hate heern! I wish you stay at el rancho and shoot heem!" Though Don Cayetano did not be- gin to think he understood this sud- den change in his daughter. he heav- ed a sigh of relief and told his visi- tors that Rancho Linda Vista was theirs as long as they cared to enjoy its hospita A „de -place -I' Or my, s said thickly, or he had drunk e wine. Carlotta leaned against the lintel off the thick wall and breathed deep- ly of the rain-tivashed air. It was good to inhale dampnoss after so many long, hot days, but Carlotta shuddered at the thought that win- ter had come. She was a creature of the sun. PPO,V1 where she stood she had a view of the trail that led southward to the foothills. Suddenly her eyes opened, then narrowed. Their drowsiness vanished. She stepped from the doorway, peered for a mom- ent, then stepped back into it. "Padre!" she called. °Some one comes!" IDon Cayetano appeared, crossing the big room. He, too, looked toward the trail. "Five horsemen," "They are coming There shall be five feed at breakfast." I"Fie more, and from what I see five unwelcome ones," said the girl "One of the cahallers ees that dam Bed Yerkes from Sonora. That man I do not like!" "Beel Yerkes?" Don Cayetano cried with vvhst't sounded like relief in his fine old voice. "I had thought it was that infamous Jack Finney and his men returning, querida. Por Dios I hope they come no more!" She Whirled upon him, her beautl. he commented. here, Carlotta more mouths to / • • ay. `1I'd like o iind som men to sl p," Yerk but with nee, two !more cups o Carlotta she likes the men so heeg and strong. O0000h!" "Am WI tired, Carlotta," Yerkes confessed, 'stretching his arms: a n d yawning. He tried with a sudden in- ward sweep to catch her, but she stepped niznlbly !back. She flashed in- to the casa, and in a minute flashed out, bearing a pitcher,-. of wine. INow she sat down •besitle him and slipped one arm about his neck while she filled the cup he held nsteadily. A quarter of an hour later she gent- ly slid front his embrace and got to her feet. The contempt in her eyez was illimitable as she looked down at him. She spat insolently. }"Puerco! }Peeg of a fool!'' she hissed. "You wjll sleep long, and ver' sound, no?" IShe called a mos° and told him to saddle La Reina. •As she came from the house, clad in Marro trousers and bolero, and with a poncho flung across her arm, she stopped long en- ough to stare contemptuously at Yer- kes, who was leaning grotesquely a- gainst the bole of the tree,- and snor- ing. Then she galloped away toward the cabin at the southerly end of the great rancho in the hope that she would find Jack Finney and his rnen, that she might warn them. She kite* she would he back before Yerkes or hist' tired men awoke, for more than once she herself had tested the sleep - inducing potency of the sweet wine of the rancho. CHAPTER X From the crest of a 'white ridge Uncle Sim and Ellery had a magnifi- cent view of the white world. The storm had abated temporarily except for squalls that trailed across the white forest. To their left was a mighty canyon, so deep that the snow line came half way down its rugged sides. "That thar's the Stanislaus," the old man explained. "Turrible rough. Best b'ar country I ever seed" • It was rough country, but little rougher than that immediately ahead of the eold travellers -gash -like cuts in the range, high ridges, some tim- bered and others with the snow ly- ing on bare granite; tall peaks. A- bove all the -Crolid 'fmass was drawn like leaden line from north to south. The snow now lay a foot and a half deep. Through it the tired horses trudged. along timbered slopes, skirt - • • Ai, ''':.}"a}•'.,,a 4 'Then I low they Weaftli)e no harul in tellin"em to en," said the old man. "Now ye listen leerful, and if ye dn% he ye're clanged l4kely to leave yer bones up hyar in the sow." ?The thrill of adventure, of immin- ent battle was in Ellery's -veins as they started on. H,e forgot the cold. He had reloaded and capped his re- volvers lest some of the snow water naight have made powder or caps use- less. Uncle ISim always took meticu- lous tare to keep the breech of his 'heavy rifle dry, but he paid no, par- ticular attention, to his revolver. They had hot travelled an hour more before they came to a pass be- tween a dome-hke hummock and a high ride. at was the natural place for the trail, and when they halted in the thick timber in the bottorn of the pass Uncle Sim slid from his saddle and .began examining the ground. From) his saddle Ellery Made out horse tracks. Be dismounted and bent over them. "Here's the tracks of the girl's horse, Uncle Sim!" "Wal, don't yell it to the mounting tops, dang ye! 1 seed it." Leading their horses, they followed the trail, and had not gone a hundred yardsbefore they came upon the blackened, soggy embers of a camp fire. About it 'Were411e tracks of Many horses and men. Uncle Sim began examininethem carefully, but no more carefully than did Ellery. • "Uncle Sim, look here!" Ellery suddenly called. He was kneeling, peering down. When the old man had taken one quick look he said calmly: "It's jest the gal's trak, Jim. I seed !nother like it jest as ye called." "But, good God, Uncle 'Sim, they've got her!" "Wal, she's a danged sight better off with thenen .bein' hyar alone." "But why did they take her, Uncle Sim?" Ellery again felt the convic- tion that he was to blame for the girl's peril. • "Thar's gin'rilly a reason fer.ev- erything, Jim." ,. lEllery swung wrathfully upon the old map. "Uncle Sim, why don't you tell .me what you know?" "'Cause I don't know nothin"cept they got the gal, and whar goin', boy. Jest keep yer shirt on." Uncle Sim soon announced that here was where the bandits had spent most of the night. "They wuz jest 'bot hyar when the storm busted -loose, and they wuz so clanged cold 'n' tired they figgered is he better to wait till mornin'." }When they started on the old man took the lead. There was now a plain trail in the snow. It wound up the broad, plateau -like ridge between the deep canyons. For two hoars the trailers followed it. Then behind a timbered spur Uncle Sim called a halt."Leave the hsses," he intructed. They climbed to the crest, from where Ellery saw a small vally-like depression. almost entirely rimmed by the snow -laden forest. Through ting peaks, winding about the heads the trees, however, he caught a of canyons too rugged to be crossed. se of a small patch of white lev- About ; mid -forenoon Ellery saw an- glinIP other deep canyon far to the right. el. Uncle Sim explained that it was the north fork of the Tuolumne, Beyond it the forested land stretched white, cold, Snow was falling again, great wet, soggy flakes that melted as they struck the men and horses. Ellery and Uncle Sim Were now chilled to the bone. One minute• Ellery was sure that the !bandits had not harmed Nancy Beaufort, merely taken her fine horse and turned her afoot. The next he was certain she was in their clutch- es. His determination tb overtake the bandit gang became an obsession. It warned him, comforted him, justi- fied the long ride, the storm. every- thing. With this determination, his faith in Uncle Sim Knight grew, for he was never to forget the bullet that had cut the rope which in an- other moment would have been chok- ing out his life. The old man was surely no braggart, at least about his trva.rksmanship. As for Uncle Sint he was as silent most of the time as a grey old sphinx, Now he broke trail on the little sorrel mare. Then Ellery on the larger-Tirese tracked down the path which the mare followed. It was past noon when Uncle Sim, called a halt in a thick patch of timiber into which but little snow had drifted. "I'd give a dollar fer a snort o' cawn-juice," he grunted as he slid stiffly from the saddle. •"I'd give a hundred," Ellery retort- ed. While Ellery unSaddled, the old man got a fire going with *hat seemed like magic, for everything in the for- est was wet. They spread their hands to the warmth of the leaping flame. "It's a lad storm;" said Ellery. "All storms is bad, Jim, but thar never vvuz one so danged bad it couldn't 'a' been wuss. Ye orter see this country three months from now, boy. Thar won't be nothin' in sight but the treetops." "I don't want to see it then," 'de- clared Ellery. They broiled their venison, warmed their bread, munched them down. But for Ellery's faith in the old Carolina man he 'would have turned back. He could hardly believe that even the most desperate of ,bandits would pen- etrate this snow -clad region. with only thelprospeet of deeper snow a- head, "Uncle •Sim. do you really know where we are going?" he demanded. "If I didn't, I Wouldn't be goin', Jim. Jest what are ye goin' to do when we git thar, boy? It won't be "I'm going to begin .shooting." Uncle Sim eyed hint long and sar- eastically. "Then by Gawd, ye might 's well turn back right hyar! I don't 'tend to have miedammed shootin' fool 'long with me. I flggered ye had sense, boy. I'm sort o' disapp'inted in ye." "Well, what would you have me do, Uncle Sim?" "Show ye got somethin' under yer hat 'sides skin and bone!" snorted the old man. "Jinn, don't yet know that whn,we run on to this gang we'll find ebbe half a dozen, mebbe a dozen? Ye'n m's jest two." lEllery was thoughtftd for a long time. Then he said: .P111 do what you iay, Uncle Sim. I'll admit I don't know your plans. I wish I did." • '"Bueno!" Don Cayetano agreed. He wanted to escort the men to the best bedroarri's, but they insisted upon merely having blankets. They sprawl- ed upon the floor of the big rom. 'Carlotta was now diplornaticaly bracing the big deputy as they walk- ed outside. Yerkes had told his men he would stand the first watch. Without his knowing how he got there, he found himself sitting on the bench against the big oak, and blearily saw the -girl smiling down at 'You are steel the vet.' tired man, Senor Beol. Un poco mac vine, and you will be O'er' strong again, be? "It's only a mountain meadow, Uncle Sim," he said disappointedly. "Thar's fresh trail leadin' into it, ain't that'?" fGetting the horses, they led them across the ridge, They did net re- mount now. Uncle Sim led tbe way, and, several times as they descended through the forest he turned quickly end grasped the nostril§ of the mare to stifle a whinny. Real was restive now, and Ellery watched him, closely lest he should lift his head and trum- e Theyhae3,c. alslt. ruck the head of a short canyon, its slopes magnificently for- ested with pines and firs. In the canyon itself maples, and dog -woods still flamed against the snow. "I 'low we better leane the hosses hyar," Uncle Sim, said when they came to a little flat across which the trail led. "Theyll whickf'shore if we take em closer." A hundred yards farther on he turned to Ellery, who was at his heels. Ellery had already seen what the old man was to point out -four horses picketed in the little snow - clad meadow which was so complete- ly shrouded in the forest that discov- ery of it would have been sheer Rel - dent by any one except Uncle Sim Knight. "1 war up hyar b'ar huntin' not so long ago," whispered the old man. "1 seed somethin' that set me to ei • 4,, think - "They're here, Uncl Ellery cried softly. "Wal, chid ye figger they wouldn't be?" They crept from tree to tree, to a spot near the edge of the snow-cov- ered meadow. Seven horses wero now in sight. Two -of them were pawing away the snow to get at the long, dry grass. Ellery saw the beau- tiful sorrel Nancy Beaufort had rid- den. The animal's back was hunch- ed and its coat was rough. Heif5lt: ed at the thought that Nancy her- self had probably fared worse than her horse. "Where's the cabi, Uncle Sim?' he called softly to the old man. "yander to yer right, sigin that clump o' saplin's." lEllery had to look twice before he discovered a fair-sized log cabin, it had been that carefully screened, "I 'lowed that thar cabin warn't fer no good puppose," growled Uncle Sim. "Struck me as clanged 'spic- ious fust tinte I seed it. I war track - in' a big b'arlong to'other side yan- der when I spied it." • Uncle Sinn beckoned Ellery back into the timber When they were safely away from the meadow El- lery demanded: "What are we going to do?" He had to strangle the impulse to rush the cabin single-handed. Thy114,40r" . • kaisly.. "Rele:itelt PO A. beet we can 4. • unolo 1,04c, risk thoit .bairOpv Min. 414,v.' they may have harmed har*Ixt it. "To ntS -wy o? tioldrf•tat .." liiey. •Tha'e sneatbin! fleaP Si ,, ander all this hyae. It glutpst• asi* dent, boy." Uncle Sim had but a vague iden of the plot. He did not know that for months the 'bandits had heen lay- ing- theie plans for the 'bold 4.trfAge they had so far auccesetully contam- inated. They had - diseovered the• hidden meadow, built the cabin, stock ed it with provision. For weeks first one of them, then another, had been in Columbia, spying upon the bank, upon Colonel Beaufort and his daughter. "If any of 'ems outside we got to take our chances," Uncle Sini advis- ed as he lifted himself into the sad - tile. "Jim, ye jest preepared to back up some o' the dartgest lyin' ye ever heerd, and do some on yer own 'count. And do 'er with a straight face.'; 4Vthink 1 know about what to say, Uncle Sim. I promise I won't shoot unleas it seems the only svay out."' 'Wal, when it seems that away, ye better count fifty afore ye shoot." They regiodown the trail now, tak- ing ne particular trouble to conceal tlieraselve.s, and mit into the sparsr' timber at the edge of the flat. Here they eeined up: "Thar don't 'Pear to be nobody out- side," said the old man. "That thee - smoke from the Chimley shore looks invitin'." • "I'm glad they're at least keeping Miss Beaufort warm," declared El- lery. . . .. • The old man turned toward him, and grinned. ) . "Hell's rated a warm place, Jim, but I never heerd o' nobody wantin' togo thar. Have ye?" "No!" Elieryls heart was heavy with fear of what might have hap- pened to the girl, and filled with Bay- ne determination to carry through to the limit. They rode knee to knee now, straight toward the cabin which, in the door side, hadno other opening. The door was closed. The pillar of smoke that rolled frOm the. rock chimney loomed :Mee against the white forest. Out in the flat the hors- es had thrown , up their head. Two 4,9 of them began to whinny0 tug at their picket ropes. }Ellery dropped a hand to within easy, reach of a revolver. T.Tricle Sim flOgged the sorrel mare with his heels and she broke into a trot. Ellery touched Real With a spur. The hoofs of the horses made no sound in the soft snow. Almost before the door they reined up. Uncle Sim flung up his head, then across the white waste rang his war - whoop, a quavering, eerie, _blood- curdling yell. It died in a weird, tremulous cry, then: "What 'n hell ye -all mean in thar, a, takinmy caLn? Come out and give a 'count o7rse1's!" In the utter silence that seemed to endure for an hour Ellery tried to sit nonchalantly in his saddle, but his every? nerve and muscle was tensed. It took all his will to keep his hands off his guns. Uncle Sim Knight, however, seem- ed as cool as the snow itself. He was lolling in his saddle and biting a chew off- t twist of natural „leaf •as th.e door flung open to admit a deluge of grim men: . . • CHAPTER XI Ellery had eicpected. nothing less than a-hailat. bullets out of which he -was determined to sell his life dearly, hut he was disappointed. Though each of the six men who em- erged from the -cabin was armed, not one made a movement toward a gun. Uncle Sims face was now a bewhis- kered mask. Ellery had instantly recognized Finney, Rugg, and Bailey. The other three were as hard looking. Ellery saw. too, that he had been recognized hy the three men. "Howdy," said Uncle Sim. "Seems ye're right comfortable." It was a situation where a wrong word, even a wrong look rr.ight mean sudden death. Ellery waited, but not long. "What you want?" drawled Fin - 'fey. He ',was a handsome follow ev en in his rough garb. Like 'Rugg and Halley, he had forsaken the Mxican attire. "We'd like first of all to get in out of the cold, and have some grub" said Ellery. "Lord, but it's bad storm!" "Well, you can't get either here." g-rowled Finney. "There ain't any 1 oom. Besides, we've only got grub for a few days, The storm caught Uncle Sim spat copiously. entirely unmoved by the lack of hospitality. "I'd sorter hate to call yo a' pack o' dAmned liars," he declared with a grin, "but not so long ago I happen- ed onto this hyar cabin, and it's fair well stocked with gub, I was figor- in' on holin' up hyar after I'd done my last job down in the mines" Finney's cold eyes continued to question Ellery. He demanded fierce- ly: ''Ho"w come you here? Last time S•av you was at Rancho Lificia Vis- ta?' "I'd have been ther& yet if -you'd had your way, Buck Harper," Ellery said, unruffled. "That was a slick game you andthe Mexican girl hatch- ed up, but it didn't work." Finney had tensed like an over- strained fiddlestring. His arnis were crooked, his hands close to his guns. Everybody else was now looking at the two. "What the hell are you talk -in' a- bout?" Finney thrust out his jaw.• Ellery's chuckle increased t h tenseness of Finney's body, the pal- lor of his face. 'You didn't think I'd be caught in such a crude trap as you and Car-, lotto. set for fine, did you, Harper?' he asked good-naturedly. "That was as easy tin see through as an open window, man!" Finney took a step. His tautened fingers crept closer to his gun han- dles. 'What you mean by callin' me Har- per?" (Continued next week.) MD. IT YOU *014. E1006, TASTY, ltiEXPEAt •FOOD SERVED KAMA. ojoiste.0 Rota 11,50 HOTEL WAVERLEY7 TORONTO wain tea 191,4441 New Grades For Eggs lImportant amendments whereby further protection is afforded to both producers and consumersehave hem made in the egg regulations by Ors der -in -Council. The new grades con- sist of 'A-1', 'A'. 93' and in place of "Secials," "Extras," "Firsts" and "Seconds," The words "New Laid" nsav be applied only to grade 44, and the word "fresh," or any other equivalent of that word to grades A1 and A. Grades 4lsaidel. A are divided te- seectively into three classes, Large, Medium and Pullet and all eggs pos- sessing the quality of Grade A may he sold in that grade irrespective a size, but the eggs of different sizes muStbe packed separately, with the size indicated on thb container. As grade A-1 its a super 'grade, the pack- ing of eggs of this grade may be done only by producers authorized by the Dominion Department of Agri- culture. Storage eggs are net per- mitted to be sold in a higher grade than B. "B" grade consists of reasonably} clean eggs, sound in shelf and eggs weighing less than the rate of 22 ounces to the dozen shall not be graded in B. There are two classes, Large (24 ounces) and Medium (22 to 24 ownces). "C" grade consists of all eggs be- low A and B grades, but which are fit for human consumption. Official Crop Report The latest official crop bulletin shows that with the exception of sugar beets, the yield per acre at all field crops in Ontario this year is below last year. A severe period; ofdrought and intense heat ,during July reduced the yield of ',spring grains and hay and clover crops. During August and Septemlber more favourable growing weather prevail- ed and the yield of late crops turn- ed out much better than mid -summer prospects indicated. The volume -Of production of all field crops for 1933 is about eight per cent. below 1932. But farm prices show considerable improvement over last year and are 15.6 per cent. higher. As a result the value of these crops is estimated to be 3121,553,000. compared with $114,150.500 in 1932, or an increase of $7,403,000 in spiteof-the smaller output. Fall plonving got away to a good tart, but was made difficult by dry weather and, later by heavy snow- falls. Parmers planned to sow a much larger acreage to fall wheat, but owing to lack of soil moisture, rrany fields that were already pre - Jared. were not seeded. The sawn acreage of fall wheat is estimated at 830.709 acres compared with :395,o0 in 1932. an increase of 6 per cent. The condition of fall wheat at the end of Octo'5er was 96 per cent. of the long-time average and fall dye 95 per cent. "Thar's seven hosses whieh means six men," said the old man. "We could likely rush 'em, and git meb- be two or three, and we could lay out Flyer and freeze' and pick 'ern off as they come, if they come; but that'd -likely mean they'd harm the gal, or wuss. Thar ain't mo other way'n mine, Jim," Uncle Sim detailed his plan as they trudged back up the trail for the horses. The sheer boldness and au- dacity of it grade Ellery's blood run hot With pleasure. He admired the old man more than before. LONDON AND WINGHAM South. P.M. Wingham 1.55 Belgrave 2.11 Blyth 2.23 Londesboro 2.30 Clinton 3.08 Brucefield 3.27 Kippen , . 3.35 Hensall 3.41. Exeter , 3.55 Canada shipped 2,487 tons of hay to Onlba in 1902. North. A.M. Exeter 10.42 Henson 10.55 Kippen 11.01 Brucefield 11.09 Clinton • 11.54 Lenclesboro 12.10 Blyth 12.19 Belgrave 12.30 Wingham 12.50 C. N. R. East. • . A.M., goderich 6.45 Clinton 7.08 Seaforth 7.22 Dublin 7.33 Mitchell 7.42 P.M. 2.30 3.00 3.18 3.31 3.43 West: TZehlin 11.19 9.82 eaforth 11.34 9.45 clinfOn 11.50 9.59 Goderich . . 12.10 10.25 C. P. R. TIME TABLE East. A.M. Goderieh 5.50 Menset , . 5.55 MeGaw 6.04 Auburn 6.11 Blyth 6.25 Walton 6.40 MeNaught 6.52 Toronto 10.5 West'. A.M. Toronto 7.40 MeNaught 11.48 Walton . ... at... 12.01 • i ' Blyth 12.12 4. Auburn 12.23 McGaw 12.114 Monset 12.41 Goderich 1246