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About Eugene register-guard. (Eugene, Or.) 1930-1983 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 1943)
1 THE REGISTER-GUARD. EUGENE. OREGON. A VERSATILE STYLE SERIAL STORY 'I AM A MURDERER' BY MORRIS MARKEY oviawr, isaa, MM IKVICI. IHO. t 4 PRELtTDB TO TRAGEDY. -ft CHAPTER XXI ., 'I'HUS you have been witness. : good people one ami ell, to the ' accomplishment of my llfe' pur pose. You have aeen the manner of It Perhaps you would care to tk, hear the method of it Perhaps, too, to understand the reasons for Its undertaKing. It follows, then, that you must T listen yet awhile: And go to a day not long after j the ending of the First World War to a snug cabin in the aoar ' ing forests of the Cascade Moun tains in the State of Washington. It was a beautiful cabin, set be- 7 side a rushing river. And there were five people living in it One of these was John Frye. Three others were John Frye's wife, and hi growing boy, and his infant daughter. The fifth and last was Norman Tinker. John Fry and Norman Tinker were equal part ners in a lustrous enterprise. Norman Tinker was the man Whom you have met in my writ ing, and seen die therein, under the name of Wesley Hope Men wether called Colonel. John Frye and Norman Tinker were different sorts of men, al together. Their partnership had come about in a manner which was, at least to John Frye, sur prising. Frye had come back from the wars in France to his wife and i his son and his very new daugh Z ter, and he had brought with him certain disabilities of the body J which would not be helped by the resumption of his Job in the ana- ) lytlcal laboratories of a Northern ' smelting company. Bis doctors i told him to look cut of doors for I health end a long life. People told blm one man here and an Z other then that Norman Tinker was the fellow for him to see. Tinker was a college man like himself, they said, but with a Z crazy passion for prospecting in new fields gold, silver, platinum, anything. He had found some success, here and there, too. At least he was not working on a shoestring. He w.a the very man for John Frye to look up. m J CO John Frye did look him up, and found him in Chicago; found a keen-eyed, quiet-voiced man somewhat older than himself, a man who was cool, and distant and a little difficult to know. Their first talk together was not greatly productive. Norman Tinker said that he had no new projects at the moment He might, if he found one, find it useful to engage as. sistance. And in the meantime he would examine John Frye's rec ord, and attainments, in his own way, and privately, Within a month, John Frye was summoned to another meeting. Norman Tinker wasted neither time nor words arriving at the point: "I have learned it doesn't mat ter how of certain lands in the State of Washington which may yield valuable deposits. I have convinced myself that you can be of help to me. But it is necessary for me to conduct my examina tions with the greatest possible discretion. Again, the reason does not matter. And so I make you proposal: "You and I will go to this coun try I speak of, and explore its possibilities. And you will be written in for one-third of any thing we may find." Which was a generous thing to do, Indeed. John Frye was Immensely pleased. He was not a man of force and he had never been sea soned to many of the stern reali ties. Life had accommodated him to a philosophy of acquiescence, and to a slight shock of surprise when any fortune fell his way. If Norman Tinker had offered him a decent weekly wage, he would have been satisfied. How wonder ful to become a partner! It would not, perhaps, be exag geration to say that John Frye was a weak man. Not morally, of course, but temperamentally. He was easily led by stronger men. But, like all people who are called weak, he had a perverse alloy of the thing whloh is known as stub bornness. And now this stubborn ness took fire in a condition which he offered to Norman Tinker. He was overjoyed at the oppor tunity. But he would not think of going on the expedition unless he could take his family with him. This was not In Norman Tinker's book, and he scoffed at the notion. It was absurd, and furthermore it was dangerous, he said. 1 John Frye said, in reply, that hl wife and - children were absolutely So the strong man and tha stubborn man wrestled the mat ter, and the strong man surren dered because he, also possessed of stubbornness though of a dif ferent weave, was determined that John Frye was his man. T REMEMBER that cabin as If a' A precisely detailed painting of It were upon the wall before my eyes at this moment. It was like paradise. The Douglas firs that reached their magnificent spires toward the sky, the swift cold wa ter, the beasts that came down to stare at us, the .trout and the salmon that smelled so fins , against the smell of coffee in the evening. And I remember as vividly that night John Frye came in, very tired, with a sack full of new samples. They were, he said, from a rather curious outcropping in the next valley. He and Nor man Tinker went to the work bench which they had built in the end of the room, and got down vessels and tools and bottled chemicals, while at the other end of the same room Martha Frye hummed to her baby girl and tha hissing of the frying pan was loud in the air. The next thing, two men were staring at each other and saying, Good Lord, man that can t be true!" The new and curious outcrop ping which John Frye had found was a thing of inestimable worth. Early next morning the two men were gone, and they came back changed altogether from the two men of yesterday. For they were rich indeed, and the excitement of that knowledge was a grave thing to bear lightly. Martha Frye Joined eagerly In their excitement, opening a bot tle of red wine which she had saved against an illness and shar ing the toasts to fortune which were lifted in loud voices. Even the boy which boy was I caught more than a touch of the) fever and grew red with avarice, with the sudden, fabulous assur ance that here were white ponies hitched to basket carts, and soda pop beyond all dreaming, and buckets of candy, and a tolerant generosity toward the lesser men of the school back home. It was a night of hurly-burly. with the lad trying to understand when these mysterious creatures, the grown-ups, urged each other to be calm urged that there might yet be a flaw in the great discovery. There was no flaw. The next day's explorations, and the next necessary to him after nil year day's, fortified every hope, in the wars. (To Be Con tinned) I CAUSE FOR VENGEANCE Z CHAPTER XXJI iVN tha fifth dav. whan It aeemsd - j . likely that tha next procedure . would be to mow calmly down to . tha Settlement and begin certain arrangements with the Land Of . flee, Norman Tinker had a tugges Z tlon. He had spent many hours oS by himself, walking along the 'water upstream, and now he had this to say: "I have an idea, John, that we Z had better find out what lies up ; the river. We're going to have the problem of bringing machinery I in and maybe wa can barge up tha stream. I'd like for you to take one of the panoes and go as Z tar as you can, and make tome J sketch maps you're so much bet- ter at that sort of thing than I t am." J "But I went up there," John Frye said, "The rapids begin about two miles above us." J "They extend only a little way," said Norman Tinker, "My point Is this. See if you can get through J them and see If there la naviga- ble water beyond.'" , Martha Frye said, "But John is J not much of a hand with the ca- noe." J "Tush," said Norman Tinker. J "Let him take tha boy along. You can paddle, can't you, sonnyt" And , he looked at the boy for perhaps the first time In his life, k "Sure. I'll help." Z" John Frye looked at his wife. "I think U will be all right, my dear." J "I think it's Just foolish, and dangerous, too." "Nonsense," Norman Tinker Z laughed. "Get going early to- morrow, will you, John?" I "You bet I will." And so John Frye and his son got the canoe into the water with , the dawn, and paddled hard up- J stream. They atruck into tha rapids, and tha exertion made J.John Frye cough furiously. The . boy tried his best But in a little 2 while John Frye was exhuted, . and there was blood in his rough- Ing. The canoe sweDt aimin.it a 2 boulder and began to roll In the Wild water, over and over again, ' e TN some fsihion the boy made - A him 4 U V.... L. l along the bank, tearing his clothes and his face and his hands upon the bushes, and at last staggering into the little clearing beneath the Or trees. "Daddy!" he cried. "My Dad dy is up there in the water!" They got his body out. Nor man Tinker said, "This is ter rible, terrible, terrible. . . , But wa must bury him here and not try to take him down to the Set tlement." Martha Frye wai too stunned with anguish to protest She helped to dig tha grave. Then, early In tha afternoon, life and consciousness of life flowed back into her, and she walked to the table where Nor man Tinker waa waiting, with bowed head, for her to bring his food. She said: "You murdered him." The boy's eyes flew wide, and Norman Tinker looked up slowly. "You are upset," he said. "I decline to be offended because you don't know what you're saying." You tried to murder the boy, too." "This Is very foolish of you, Martha." "I am not afraid of you. You have murdered him. And I am going to the Settlement and tell them so." She started for the door, with her daughter in her arms and the boy walking beside her. The three of them got to the water's edge, and even Into the canoe, before Norman Tinker came rushing from the bouse. "Wail!" he cried. "Stop! Waltl' In that moment the guilt and the fear were cut deep Into his face. "Walt!" Tha canoe was almost fully water-borne, the boy giving It one last above, when Norman Tinker came up to it He lunged and caught at the gunwhale, and stumbled, and fell into the water. The canoe swirled out Into the stream. The boy fell, too, not far rrem Norman Tinker, and wal lowed for a moment But he got to his feet and yelled, "I'm com ing, Mother. I'll be there. Go aneau. Go. Go. ATARTHA FRYE plunged the tha canoe, sending it down stream. The boy ran Into the woods. Norman Tinker hesitated for a moment- Ha almost started after tha boy. Then he looked at the canoe, and looked at another canoe, pulled up on the sandy lit tle beach. He rushed toward it, and fought It into the water, and swung the paddle fiercely until he . too was in midstream. The boy struck away through the woods. He reached the Settlement three days later. A few men, were there, sitting along the Jetty with their fishing lines in the water. They told him that a canoe had coma in one canoe. It was a long, brown canoe, paddled by a tired-looking man who had, of all absurd things, a baby wrapped in blankets in the bows. No. No woman at all. The man had got hold of tha only automobile 'round about, and gone off. Whereupon the boy, from ex haustion and from hunger and from fear, fell into delirious cries. A woman took him in and nursed him and listened to his muttered raving. She almost believed him, and said to her dubious husband, "Well, tell me what a tike like that is doing, wandering around me mg woods, au by himself? There must be some reason for it" The husband shook his head. If he had learned one lesson in his life, he told her, it was to keep hands off other folks' doings. especially Jf the other folks seemed to be in trouble. "I never trouble trouble." he Intoned gravely, "till trouble troubles me." But then he said, "I'll tell Sheriff Raven whenever I see him next." But Sheriff Raven did not eet around 'to the Settlement very often. The country was as big a many a state. There was no tel ephone in the Settlement, and no automobile save the one that Nor man Tinker had hired to take him away. People who had horses had work of their own to do. Then the man who owned tha automobile came back. He came back very drunk, because he had come upon unexpected money. Ha rougnt with two men, and waa hurt quite badly, so that he did not feel like driving for a while. But ho did tell tha boy, when both he and the boy were some what recovered, that Norman Tinker had taken the baby to Spokane, and had said something or another about a train down California way. his way to tha bank, and ran I tha swift current caught hold of I The bov atarted cut to walk ta paddle Into the water and I California. (To Be Continued) If you take pride in the way you dress your child, you'll want this Anne Adams Pattern, 43ia. you can make it up in so many varia tions lor play, for school, lor best." The bodice buttons in back: tho waistline points high in front. Pattern 4316 is available In chil dren's sizes 2, 4, 6, 8. Size 6. views A or B, takes 2 Mi yards 35-inch fabric; view C, Ha yards 35-inch labric and M yard contrast Send SIXTEEN CENTS in coins for this Anne Adams pattern. Write plainly SIZE, NAME, AD DRESS and STYLE NUMBER. Our Spring - Pattern Book Is ready! It contains a FREE dickey pattern; a special salvage design; smart, easy-to-sew Spring outfits for the entire family. Send TEN CENTS for your copy now! Send your order to Register Guard Pattern Department SHOWER GIF LINENS nTmHTn f s fell mmjwuy-THEY toe f wou-Drr ( pyscrtvl rr E I I TWrrPMON? OXJ1TB AUTHENTIC- TM BE SAFE? 1 SEEMS Okl AREMT f. m5JJ LS?WT SSSySSS I pSflcsSSl THE FORMULA IS THE FOOLS (N THE JOLLV MIXER V teJlSjSy-W tLytf0. V. SeKWSsShE AMONG THOSE PAPERS THE VILLAGE V YOU USED TOB6. ( AnE23S T. . JSxJWj2'kj. I iSmdo for could dspose op her to talk, as J THev mss olq . r eSSiS" 2v ""thS&tw I PrWil noh op course- J lrr- Malcolm Vfrl afSeSS S " jl'' ' kITTLE ORPHAN ANNB ' ttliL i GASOLINE ALLE1 'J fcwiv . ,,llKcS''' """"j CWSV SMELLS W J Jjlfti tT, DREAM 1 St - 4 BLOND1E Q IMl K .-In. Ii.lj-. nrto - COB'. WrKKT'M TrVaKirS0i z TWE AtmWb Or r 6WKft CPKCH 5 -Flashes Oi Life-lhU'bS door- wmie WM under - WHERE'S WILLIET t, . NEW YORK The police J Marched diligently for Willie, 7, w after his family said he had dis- OH. ABSOLUTELY! SAN PEDRO, Calif. Baker Pietro Dl Carlo shrugs his should ders. Should he obey Secretary Wick arH'a nnti, t a M-lli- .... . -..., .... uiuuirr pacea me living cut bread to his customers, start. J rn floor. Willie's dog, Fluffy, , ing next week? appeared. No Willie, A 1 , 1 , . ntwr iiuuii ui irarcning ana army contract to deliver sliced bread daily to Fort MacArthur? OR RECKLESS SKATING? SPOKANE, Wash. Traffic of ficers stepped a speeding auto mobile. They looked at the 17-year-old youth at the wheel, then charted i i ins next uwki i.; ..... . : a i ara' aaP" i i utp i .in fc 'd' "w k rl. Vfai., to, tl tfii . mlfS"'" V I TJ3MT THIWtC YOU BUT THE VOO V if THAT IS HMmA '( ' VES.' V Df 6000 TMANIC MXJ fyJampiKeelcv tlLl' Vr? l AM HERB, PLACES 8ENEATH THIS ) VtHOBOWHWESS OF W MAJOR, THEBES A jfiXV ATAU0THB? ARE MOT 'v V OLD DESK OU V . PBEfiUTW done in gay embroidery moUf,: $!$r Jt&?H?I VhIPCBM mAYI5EE f Juht TH f) Even a first-try needlewoman will LitIu? tftA. i K. tA WHEBE I 4 ; ' . V ,4 4 have no difficulty with this simple BZu A'i5' tfff2AM5U KEEP V"- r 4 1 ' JFr" n I stitchcry. Pattern 361 contains . KUOrrt -Ji w- ilf J "74!. IT? ' "J 1 I f ' Va motifs averaging 6x7 Inches; color isi" f ikZt, rf! , I 1 f schemes; materials required; 11- I i.-s I Wflara I- f ' f ' I I I lustrations of stitches. isdJl 'KV : -V?.;'. jEaIVr : !.';,' J& Qr-iV, jst' i I - I L f 1 Send ELEVEN CENTS in coins ' J i..-: S". .TTall 11 I'ifii ' I fL J Sfid for this pattern to Register-Guard '' :3r V wVvJVw:'' WViv pV' J rltt fQ Ncedlecrnft Dept. Write plainly ' fcp-- " :. ' mvm,mK!r Ji I sV2r J PATTERN NUMBER, your NAME SaT ft ETB A f-",! Z ZJL. f aj53 and ADDRESS. WASH XUBBS ma nt I aYalaaasI' KV "W, V, t, T", rr, J " 1i il ' GREW C6AR.! MOTMIN& Wmt HlfATHE- W WISH I COULD " . .. ' r ' f I CMO TX SEEfvc "TO OME ABOUT & HELP SOU TL)ME A,HAT ? A JAP TAR I WELL.THEPES NO K INTRIGUE THIS PAPOOSE.' HOWTUE WlNOOQTTHE SOLO ' v, Bl ?yL?H' JAPS' DSE CHAMGIM' 'EM , t) Hte BEEM UTTERING DERBS (N CHgf7 J I SASS! tIIFTEEO fl K J COWAMCHE SELLS ALLTf AK)D SOU FOONiD J MORE ABOUT EOWM. ITS A L n1gefiSUB' 1 APTERNOO.'-XMELL, V ITTVIO SEARS , BABIES THN A W.-, WsQzzZy THOU wiTrTEM.' J P ' jtjP CAM SOU ZAMlES j( LATER ON A DEER'S CRICKET DOES KJiA I 'MT Vj1 U W,TH H " u&&ESTTt Kj y : " ''" -Z-' L . THE K1EW SLAKJT .... .-..iUK OLB BOAKD1NQ HOl'SI OCT OVS WAX
