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About The gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925 | View Entire Issue (May 21, 1914)
19 HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION HOME AND FARM MAOAZOTE MOTION SERIAL -rj . A Fool and Mis Money By Qtorg Ban MCOntetooB Copyright, 1U, By Geo. But MeCutoheoa, & SYNOPSIS OF PREVIOUS J INSTALLMENTS. & la tie opening installments of $ 8 "A Fool and His Money," George S Barr McCutcheon charming novel, S serial rights for which have been 3 & specially obtained for the Home & and Farm Magazine Section, we i j learn of John Bellamy Smart, the $ fi young man Vho is telling the story. $ S He has just written his first novel, $ E and at the same time has fallen $ & heir to an immense fortune left $ s him by his uncle. He is 35 years S years of age. After a visit to London Smart & takes a tiip on the river Danube. S E After finding an old-world town, & he discovers an ancient castle, I8 which he purchases from its owner, $ the Count. With his secretary, $ Poopendyke, he takes possession of $ 5 the immense structure, which is S g supposed to be tennanted only by 4 S the caretaker and his family, the 0 Schmicks. To Smart 's amazement, G 6 the first night, he hears the cry 4 6 of a baby. v ; . . . lG Looking out at a balcony one !G night Smart sees the white figure 8 i$ of a woman silhouetted. He im- $ G mediately begins a hunt " for $ t Schmick, the caretaker, to solve e the mystery of who the woman 3 g may be. The story continues: S & S d$.Js$S5J5J$5JJJ (Continued From Last Week.) E FOUND the four Schmicks in the J vast kitchen, watching Britton while he pressed my trousers on an oak table so large that the castle must have been built around it Herr Schmick was weighted down with the keys of the castle, which never left his possession day or night. ' ' Herr Schmick, ' ' said I, ' ' will you be o good as to inform me who the dickens that woman is over in the east wing of the castlet" " Woman, mein herrt" He almost dropped his keys. His big sons said something to each other that I couldn 't quite catch, but it sounded very much like "der duyviL" "A woman in a white dress, with dog." "A dogt" he cried. "But, mein ierr, dogs are not permitted to be in the castle." "Who is Shef How did she get there! " "Heaven defend us, sir I It must have been the ghost of " "Ghost, your granny!" I cried, re lapsing into English. "Please don't beat about the bush, Mr. Schmick. She 's over there in the unused wing, which I haven't been allowed to penetrate in spite of the fact that it belongs to me. You say you can't find the keys to that side of the castle. Will you ex plain how it is that it is open to strange .women and and dogs I" .."You must be mistaken, mein herr, lie whined abjectly. "She cannot be there. She Ah, I have itl It may have been my wife. Gretell Have you been in the east" " Nonsense 1" I cried sharply. "This won't do, Mr. Schmick. Give me that bunch of keys. We'll investigate. I can't have strange women gallivanting about the place as if they owned it. This is no trysting place for Juliets, Herr Schmick. We '11 get to the bottom of this at once. Here, you Budolph, fetch a couple of lanterns. Max, get a sledge or two from the forge. There is a forge. I saw it yesterday out there back of the stables. So don 't try to tell me there isn't one. If we can't un lock the doors, we '11 smash 'em in, They're mine, and I'll knock 'em to smithereens if I feel like it." The four Schmicks wrung their hands and shook their heads, and, then, re pairing to the scullery, growled and grumbled for fully ten minutes before deciding to obey my commands. In the meantime, I related my experience to Poopendyke and Britton. "That reminds me, sir,'.' said Britton, "that I found a rag-doll in the court yard yesterday, on that side of the building sir I should say castle, sir." 'l am guite sure I heard a baby crying the second night we were here, Mr. Smart," said my secretary nerv ously. "And there was smoke coming from one of the back chimney pots this morning," added Britton. T am thnnahf fill for a. fnnmiiL "What became of the' rag-doll, Brit tont" I inquired shrewdly. "I turned it over to old Schmick, sir" said he. He grinned. "I thought as maybe it belonged to one of his boy" fin ttin awnd Mrptjikp.r 'a raannenranee. I bluntly inquired what had become qf the doll-baby, tu was ternoiy con fused. v ' . I know nothing. I know nothinz." he mumbled, and I could see that he wna miserably uDset His sons towered and glowered and his wife wrapped and unwrapped her bands in net apron, au the time supplicating heaven to be good to the true and the faithful. Vrnm what I could eather. they all seemed to be more disturbed over the fact that my hallucination included a dog than by the claim that I had seen a wuman. . "But. confound you. Schmick," I cried in some heat, "it barked at me," "Gott in himmell" they all cried, and, to my surprise, the old woman burst into tears. "It is bad to dream of a dog," she wailed. "It means evil to all of us. Evil to" 1 Come! " said I. crabbing the keys from the old man's unresisting hand. "And, Schmick, if that dog bites me, I'll hold you personally responsible. Do you understand!" Two abreast we filed through the long, vaulted halls. Budolph carrying a gi- ,nnH lantern and Max a sledge. We traversed extensive corridors, mounted tortuous stairs and came at length to 1ib aturdv oak door that separated the east wing from ,the west: a huge, for midable thing strengthened by many and . studded with rusty bolt-heads. Padlocks as large as horse shoes, corroded by rust ana renaerea absolutely impracticable by age, con fronted us. "I have not the keys," said old Con rad Schmick sourly. "This door has not been opened in my time. It is no use." . . "Tt ia no use." repeated his grizzly sons, leaning against the mouldy walls with weary tolerance. "Then how did the woman ana ner dog get into that part of the castlet" I demanded. "Tell me that!" Thev shook their heads, almost com passionately, as much as to say: "It is always best to humour a maa man. "And the baby," added roopenayne, turning up his coat collar to protect his thin neck from the draft that smote us from the halls. 'Smash those padlocks Max," I com manded resolutely. Max looked, stupidly at his father and the old man looked at his wife, and then all four of teem looked at me, al most imploringly. "Why destroy a perfectly good pad herrl" beaan Max. twirling ; the sledge in his hand as if it were a bamboo cane. "Hil Look out there!" gasped writ ton, in some alarm. "Don't let that thiniT alinl " "Doesn't this castle belong to me? O i ... . ... T demanded, considerably impressea Dy !th ease with which he swung the sledge. A very dangerous person, 1. began to perceive. . "It does, mein herr'' shouted all of them gladly, and touched their fore locks. "Evfirvthini? ls-vours." added old Conrad, with a comprehensive sweep of his hand that might have put tne wnoie universe in my name. "Smash that padlock, Max," l saia after a second's hesitation. "I'll bet he can't do it," said Brit ton, ingeniously. Very reluctantly Max bared his great arms, spit upon his hands, and, with a pitiful look at his parents, prepared to dnnl tha first blow unon the ancient padlock. The old couple turned their heads away and put tbeir lingers to their ears, cringing like things about to be whipped. "Now, one two three! " eried I, af fecting an enthusiasm I didn't feel The sledge fell upon the padlock and rebounded with almost equal force. The sound of the crash must have disturbed every bird and bat in the towers of the grim old pile. But the padlock merely shed a few scabs of rust and rattled back into its customary repose. ' "See! " cried Max, triumphantly. "It cannot be broken." Budqlph, his broad face beaming, held the lantern close to the padlock and showed me that it hadn't' been dented by the blow. "It is a very fine old lock," cried old Conrad, with a note or pride in his voice. I began to feel some pride in the thing myself. "It is indeed," I said. "Try once more, Max." It seemed to me that he struck with a great deal more confidence than before, and again they all uttered ejaculations of pleasure. I caught Dame Schmick in the act of thanking God with her fin gers. "See nero," I exclaimed, facing them angrily, "what does all this meant You are deceiving me, all of you. Now, let's have the truth every word of it or out you go tomorrow, the whole lot of you. I insist en knowing wh othat woman is, why she Is here in my hou my castle, and everything, do you understand t" Apparently they didn't understand, for they looked at me with all the stupidity they could command. "xou try, Mr. Poopendyke," I said, giving it up in despair. He sought to improve on my German, but I think he made it worse. They positively refused to be intelligent. "Give me the hammer," I said at last in desperation. Max surrendered the clumsp, old-fashioned instrument with a grin and I motioned for them all to stand back. Three successive blows with all the might I had in my body Hotel Seattle, Under new management entire change in all departments all rooms redecorated and refurnished. Particular attention is now being paid to prompt, efficient and courteous service. DAILY RATES $2.00 Up With Private Bath $1.00 Up Without Private Bath Hotel Butler Cafe -THE FINEST IN SEATTLE Service the Best ROBERT J. ROBINSOW Manager failed to- shatter the lock, whereupon my choler toss to heights hitherto un known, I being a very mild-mannered, placid person and averse to anything savouring of tha tempestuous. I de livered a savage and resounding thwack upon the broad oak panel of the door, regardless, of the destructiveness that might attend the effort. If any one had told me that I couldn t splinter an oak board with a sledge-hammer at a single blow I should have laughed in his face. But as it turned out in this case I not only failed to split the panel but broke off the sledge handle near the head, putting it wholly ont of commis sion for the time being as well as sting ing my hands so severely that I doubled up with pain and shouted words that Dame Schmick could not put into her prayers. (To bo continued.) (225,000 Paid to Farmers. The Cashmere, Wash., Fruit Grow ers' Union has just paid to the grow ers $15,500, making the total payment on apples in the 1913 pools up to the immense sum of $225,000. Based on 181,217 boxes handlod by the union in its fall "pools this amount represents an average pyament to date of $1.24 per box. This is a net figure to the grower. The union has recently closed three of its four unreported pools, leaving now only the Wincsap variety unclosed. Of this variety the management reports 11 cars are still outstanding, nine being in cold .storage in the East and two entransit sold already at good prices f. o. b. Cashmere. From the present indi cations it will be about May 1 when the final -resutls of the Winesap pool be come known. Butler Wash. Cuisine Unexcelled
