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The Wingham Advance-Times, 1939-07-06, Page 6BY JACKSON GREGORY — - WINGHAM ADVANCE-TIMES I InTH TUBS■ iw„ i k# 1 n&■ SYNOPSIS | slept. When he awoke he was so stiff Barry Haveril leaves his Texas and. sore that he could scarcely stand; home to see the country, meets a man • he bad less use for a horse than ever who has just been shot who turns out! before, and vowed he would never ■to be a cousin of his, Jesse Conroy.’fork another. In a pink dawn with a Barry helps take care of his wounds | chill mountain wind blowing he break­ end Jesse gives Barry his gun, a veryj fasted and rolled his pack and went unusual one. When they part Barry | on. leaves for home but finds the family!) almost a day’s trip, north is no longer there. When he is leav- j and west, to the spot where he had Ing he suddenly comes across a deadpvatched the two border cross-breeds man who turns out to be his brother .« engaged in their primitive gold-glean- robert.| ing operations. - - - - « Down in the ravine he set his rifle He knew it was Robert the instant S aside, pulled off his worn boots, rolled Be glimpsed the sprawling form, even ’ up his overalls and went to work. He before he looked for any face, and het knew too that he was dead. So it was ’ a burning-eyed, blanched-faced, tragic | boy who burst in upon the Humph-1 reys, saying thickly as they stared at! "'him: I “He’s dead. Robert, he's dead. I Somebody killed him. Who? I want! to know who? You tell me, Texi Humphreys!” | Molly went back with him and Tex! to where the body lay, a.Molly who| was all melting black eyes from which the tears streamed unceasingly. Tex sat a long while on his heels, then looked straight up into Barry's hardened face. “He rode off this way late yester­ day,” he said, speaking softly and drawlingly. “Somebody bushwhacked him. Stood right mter yonder, by that big tree. Shot him clean through the bald.” He got up and moved about, look­ ing for sign. “Here’s where he stood, Barry. He was afoot; didn’t have any boss. An’ Robert did; he was ridin’ xny Coaly. My bes’ hoss, my Mex saddle an’ bridle—all gone! Some­ body might mebbe thought he was wo’th killin’ for that outfit; somebody afoot that wanted a hoss real bad; somebody mebbe the law was after.” “We c'n follow the tracks,” said Barry. “We c’n see which way he rode off.” Tex agreed in all heartiness. They hastened back to Humphreys’ ranch for horses. They put in a dogged, de­ termined day, and in the end turned back little wiser than when they started. $ That night Barry shook1 his head at Tex Humphreys’ invitation to stay, and turned under the stars toward his own place. He walked half the night before he ! » didn’t have a pan as the others had, i but he did have big strong capable | hands. He found a sandy place be- I tween two big rocks, scooped up a ! lot of the wet sand and smeared it | out thin and smooth on top of the i flatter boulder. Then he began pick- I ing through it, disturbing particles I with a horny fingernail, seeking the soft reddish pellets. | Next morning he tried higher up- i for his new six-gun, a terrible lot of ’em; he wondered whether he had gold enough. The next morning he set out. It was a long walk to Tylersville; Jesse had told him it must be thirty-forty mile. Tylersville, a ragged and crooked cow town, sprawled in what had been once known as Cottonwood flats. When a buckboard came dashing around a far corner in an enormous cloud of dust, he drew back against a wall as though afraid of being run down, even on a sidewalk. Then, see­ ing it close as it shot on by, he was impressed by its elegance. Two sleek, beautiful, matched bays with floating silver manes drew it; an imposing fig­ ure of a man drove it, a handsome big blond man. At his side was a little girl; she looked very little, indeed beside the man’s imposing build, and about all that Barry could make of'her as she went past was that she too wore blue and that she had a big white hat from CLOSER AND CLOSER IT CAME Joe Marco, Hungarian workman, who says he saw a “ghost” the night that the bones of 1'50 Brit­ ish officers and men were reburied be­ neath the Fort Erie monument. Marco described the uniform worn by the apparition, and it was found to be startlingly accurate, with the four stripes of a sergeant-major of 1814. thing" The Judge's voice was com­ pelling and Barry looked into that pair of bold, leaf-brown eyes. “You went to the right place when you showed your gold in the restaurant if you want word of it all over town in half an hour. Well, it’s your business and you look dry behind the ears.” He turned and went out, merely saying over his shoulder from the door; “Jf you get ip trouble it's your dping, not mine. But let me know. Just tell any­ body you’re a friend of mine. It might help." “Who’s he?” asked Barry of the storekeeper. The other stared. “Hell, don’t you know him? He’s Judge Barker Blue.". “Thought so,” nodded Barry, “How much in money does it weigh?” “Four hundred and fifty dollars,” snorted the storekeeper. “Want to take it all out in ca’tridges, huh?” “Give me the money,’’ him. Barry told “Then I’ll do some buyin’. (Continued Next Week) PHIL OSIFER OF LAZY MEADOWS By Harry J. Boyle “RAIN REMINISCENCES” HEROIC EFFORT RE-ENACTED Thursday, July 6th, 193 SB He drew back as though afraid. stream. For hours he mounted, try­ ing in alksorts of places. Before noon he found a pothole under water at the lower end of a pool. He spent about two hours at that hole, thinking that he might as well glean it out while he was at it; he could find another next time. Then figuring that he must have about all the gold he would need for the things he wanted in town, he start­ ed back cabinward. Hardly started, ------------- — -----------1 he stopped and looked back, undecid- jrolled exhausted into his blanket and ed. He'd want to get a lot of shells LIGHTNING KILLS CAPTIVE FISH This giant sturgeon held by Minnie A Hash of lightning that dazzled near- and Ken Eberhardt was on display in by residents zipped down to the tank, a large open reservoir at Wasaga When the Eberhardts investigated, Beach, Ont, where hundreds saw it their big fish was dead. 1 IB which blue ribbons streamed, and that she was laughing. Men clumped along the sidewalk most of them dusty and in high-heeled boots with dragging spurs, with big hats, the brims pushed back, and with flapping, open vests. He stopped fascinated before a window full of things to make his mouth water; some of them looked almost too pretty to eat. Barry went in. At one side was a counter, at the other a series of small tables with low partitions jutting out from, the wall to separate them. He sat down and when a waiter came, said, after drawing a long breath: “T want a hunk of choc’late cake and a hunk of the white cake that’s yellow inside and some sody water.” He has disposed of perhaps half of the choclate cake and two-thirds of the white one, when he saw the big blond man and the little girl come in; they went to a table next to his but were hidden when they sat down, by the partition. The waiter almost ran to serve them. Barry wolfed down the rest of his cake and caught the waiter’s eye. "1 didn’t bring any real money along,” he said, keeping his voice down. “You can take the price out of this.” He held a little pile of dust and fine grains of gold in his palm. Instinct­ ively he refrained from showing all he had. The waiter looked startled. “Wait a shake,” he said, and departed. Bar­ ry, leaning out from his cubby-hole, saw him go out on the sidewalk and disappear; he was seeking the propri­ etor. Presently a stocky, sandy haired man'with slate-blue eyes and a con­ stant blink, came and stood over Bar­ ry and peered hand. “Two pieces sody?" fie said. said “This one.” He unholstered put it on the counter. “Forty- he said. storekeeper reached for gun ?’’ “Got at what was in fits of fancy cake an* He scooped the con­ tents of Barry's hand into -has own.- “AU right, buddy; we'B call it square. this time," fie said. And then Barry was conscious of the big blond man, the Judge, stand­ ing up, lowering over the partition. Barry looked straight into a pair of bold, very dark brown eyes, “What is it, Al?” the Judge asked the proprietor. “Doesn’t happen to be gold now, does ft?" Al whirled about, “Hello, Judge” he said. “I didn’t see you and Miss Lucy.” “I reckon not." The Judge smiled after a fashion to warm a man. At least, so Barry thought Al said bur* riedly: “I was just goin* to step out an’ get it weighed so's I could give this youflg feller his change." “Sure.1* smiled the Judge, “Sure.” ' He Cktewded his hand and Al said, the his he any “Shore, Judge,” and gave him the gold. Scarcely glancing at it, the Judge returned it to Barry. “Step right next door into the Gen­ eral Hardware Store,” he said. “You can get it weighed there and you’l get honest weight. I’ll pay for your lunch here.” “I’m obliged, Judge,” said Barry, “but I like to pay my own way.” The judge laughed; Barry saw iMiss Lucy’s bright eyes peeking out at him from behind the big man. “It won’t amount to much, I reck­ on,” the Judge said, “and you can pay me back. Go ahead into the store; I’m dropping in there myself in a minute,” So Barry thanked him again and took his hat and rifle and went out, conscious all the while of those lively bright eyes of Miss Lucy’s. “She is real pretty,” he thought. “Something like Sister Lucy, too.” It was but a few steps to the store. As Barry stepped in he thought: “Judge, huh? Why, he's Judge Blue! Sure to be. And he can tell me about Lucy and all my folks!” To the man behind the counter he said, “I want to buy some things. The Judge told me you could weigh my gold for me.” “I short can if you ain’t got so much as to- break my scales down,” the storekeeper admitted. “What do you want to buy?” “Some shells for my six-gun,” Barry, it and fives,” The gun; hei turned it over slowly in hand, seeming to study it. “Where’d you get this asked. “It's mine,” said Barry, shells for it?”, ' “Seems like I’ve heard of a gun like this before,” said the other, still turn­ ing it over. “Don’t know what kind of wood this is; manzanita maybe, but it’s so bloody-red a man sort of remembers it. Where’d you say you got it?” “Didn’t say,” answered Barry. “Got any shells for it?” “That gun belonged once to a kill­ er, kid. They call him the Laredo Kid.” “What's he look like?” asked Barry, “Never saw him, an’ glad of it. You ain’t him, are you?” “No. And I guess there’s other guns dike this. Let’s see your shells.” He holstered the six-gun; he meant to holster further discussion along with it. Just then the Judge came in. “Hello, Digby,” he said. "I told this young man you could handle his gold' for him. Fix him up all right?" “Evenin', Judge,” said Digby. “Let the Judge see your gun, kid." “He says one like this belonged to the Laredo Kid,” said Barry, and held it out for the Judge to look at. The Judge seemed, interested; he handled the heavy weapon just as the storekeeper had done, then handed it back without saying anything, “I asked him where he got it at," said Digby. The Judge’s lips twitched into a smile, “What did he say?” he asked of Digby though he was looking straight at Barry. "He didn't say," snorted Digby, and the Judge laughed softly. "All right, all right," muttered Digby. | “Pour out your dust, young feller, an’ I’ll tel! you how much," This time Barry emptied his pouch on a piece of wrapping paper, making a small neat gold hill, Digby jerked up his brows but said nothing; he did look sharply at the Judge, This time it was the Judge who spoke, briskly, “Look here young fellow, I don’t know where you got that—" “It’s mine, all right," said Barry, To Digby he said, “Are you goin* to weigh it?" “But I am going to tell you some* I the drove to the village yesterday in old top buggy. Possibly, I ap­ peared to be slightly cracked to my neighbours, for idling along the road with the rain coming down in a verit­ able downpour. Perhaps they remark­ ed that I was so stingy I didn’t want to get the car wet. At any1 rate I en­ joyed the moist, earthy smell of the rain and the way Annabelle, the or­ iginal old grey mare, slouched along, she was really having the time of her life. I never will forget that time my city cousin Hekimer came down to give we country folks the thrill of our lives. He had a car, one of those ear­ ly demons of the road that whizzed along, when they worked, at about ten miles an hour. That was consid­ ered quite a thrill. We sat in the back, while Herkimer with his girl, sat bundled up in the front, like some spook in a long linen duster and goggles. What a thrilling ride that was! Part of the time we spent fixing a flat tire. The rest of the time we spent being jerked along, while the embarassed Herkimer complained of the poor quality of the gasoline. Then the thunder clouds rolled up in the west, and Herkimer fairly whizzed along at eleven miles an hour in an endeavour to beat the storm. Then came those first big, warning drops of rain. The car came to a shudder­ ing stop, and we tried to raise the pat­ ented cover. We pulled and fussed with gadgets and levers and straps . . . we cussed under our breath . . . we yanked and we tugged and at last managed to sort of put it up enough so that the girls could sit in the back- One of the features of the colorful ceremony at Port Eric will be the re­ living of the spectacular attempt to Storm the fort, in which so many Bri­ tish soldiers suffered. These soldiers, in the old costumes, leap across ther wall, lunging with their bayonets, just as their gallant prototypes did 125- years ago. under the roof, while we hardy souls endured the rain in the front seat and coaxed the wheezing and asthmatic engine along the road towards home. How that rain came down! My ten dollar and fifty cent suit was drawing up and getting skin-tight every step of the way home. What a tragic thing the rain was for poor Herkimer that day. • The rain made me think of the time that it rained for our church social. Thus all the festivities had to be held in the church shed. I was a gangling, awkward lad of sixteen then and hold­ ing the role of a corpse in the great thriller ... “The Mystery of Well­ ington Adair’s Death.” After duly getting killed in the first hectic mo­ ments of the play, I was to ,sit per­ fectly motionless in the chair while the great detective Sherlock Winston gathered all the suspects in the room and by the Nick Carter method of de­ duction Jound the killer. All went well and I was sitting and behaving myself like a good corpse when the rain started to come down. Unfortunately, that was the year they didn’t have enough money to shingle the church and it leaked rather badly over the stage. The actors had to be careful they didn’t upset the pans set to collect the water. Then came the tense moment, when Sherlock Win­ ston was questioning the suspects. Well sir,- I certainly became inter­ ested in that play. Robin Jones, play- ing the part of the detective was* thundering out his questions. About that time a leak developed in the rooF immediately over my head. It splat­ tered down on my ear. Next time it ran down my neck and I shivered . . and as Robin thundered . . . “Look at that corpse” ... a great spot of raiTZWjfc hit my nose and I absent-mindedlylBP; reached up and brushed it off. > The crowd roared . . . they con­ vulsed themselves in laughter . . and. for five solid minutes I had to sit there and endure their guffaws. The- whole thing demoralized the cast of the play. That ruined my career as- an actor. For months. I winced when­ ever anyone mentioned the word corpse. And these were the thoughts that rambled through my mind, as Anna­ belle plodded her way into the village and the rain splashed and splattered on the top of the old buggy. YOUR EYES NEED ATTENTION Our 25 Point Scientific Examin­ ation enables us to give you Cleat?, Comfortable Vision F. F. HOMUTH Optometrist Phone 118. Harriston '<£ Business and Professior lai Directory 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. Colbome. 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 PHYSICIAN Telephone 29. J. W. BUSHFIELD 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. Dr. Robt. C. REDMOND M.R.C.S. (England) L.R.C.P. (London) PHYSICIAN AND SURGEON J. H. CRAWFORD Barrister, Solicitor, Notary, Etc. Bonds,* Investments & Mortgages Wingham Ontario Consistent Advertising in The Advance-Times • Gets Results ...................... DR. W. M. CONNELL PHYSICIAN AND SURGEON Phone 19- R. S. HETHERINGTON BARRISTER and SOLICITOR Office — Morton Block. Telephone No. 66. J. ALVIN FOX Licensed Diugless Practitioner CHIROPRACTIC - DRUGLESS THERAPY - RADIONIC EQUIPMENT Hours by Appointment Phone 19L Wingham W. A. CRAWFORD, M.D. Phyrician and Surgeon Located at the office of the late Dr. J. t». Kennedy. Phone151, Wingham a Frederick ,A. Parker OSTEOPATH Offices: Centre St., Wingham, and Main St* Listowel. Listowel Dayfl! Tuesdays arid Fri­ days. Osteopathic and Klectrie Treat­ ments. Foot Technique. Phone 272 Wingham A< R» & F- E. DUVAL CHIROPRACTORS CHIROPRACTIC and ELECTRO THERAPY North Street Wingham Tdephqne S99.