HEPPNER GAZETTE TIMES, HEPPNER, OREGON, THURSDAY, OCT. 13, 1927.
PAGE THREE
RLACICSHEEP!
& Meredith Nicholson
J8
COPYRIGHT CHARLES 9CRIBNER3 SONS - RELEASED THRU PUBLISHERS AUTOCASTER. SERVICE
INTRODUCTION
Archibald Bennett, wealthy bachelor,
travels constantly in the interest of his
health. He meets Isabel Perry, who rec
ommends a life of crime, adventure, ro
irance and excitement as a cure for his
nerves. Archie goes to Bailey Harbor to in
vestigate a summer house for his sister. A
heavy storm forces him to spend the niRht
there. During the night he is awakened
by footsteps, and in an encounter with the
intruder, who sees Archie's figure reflected
in the mirror and shoots, Archie fires in re
turn, wounding the intruder, who makes his
escape. Archie plans flight to evade pub
licity. He starts cross-country afoot now
read on:
CHAPTER III
. Archie Meets "The Governor.
The first glimmer of dawn was
breaking over a gray world, when a
curious whistle, a long pipe and then
a short quick one, in the roadside a
little way ahead brought Archie to a
halt. He drew his gun from his over
coat pocket and stood perfectly quiet.
In a few seconds the whistle was re
peated and Archie, grown suddenly
bold, checked an impulse to fly and
imitated it.
A man rose from behind a Btone
wall on the right and walked toward
him.' ' ,
"That you, Hoky?" he called Bharp
!y, peering .through the mist.
Seeing that he was not Hoky but a
stranger with a pistol, he sprang
toward and wrenched the gun from
Archie's hand.
"Stop squealing! Bad enough for
you to fool me with that whistle
without pulling a gun. Now you get
right over there by the fence where
I'm pointing and we'll consider mat
ters a little."
"I was just walking to Portsmouth,"
began Archie in a blithe tone he hop
ed would prove convincing. His cap
tcr laughed Ironically.
"Now you listen to me! You've
been up to something, so don't tell
me that you're (taking a little before
breakfast stroll to Portsmouth to
work up an appetite. In the first
place, have you seen a man about
ycur size along the road anywhere?"
"Not a soul!" declared Archie sol
fmnly. "Mighty queer Hoky doesn't turn
upl I warned the beggar against
these sea-side villus; they're all out
fitted with fancy burglar alarms that
make a deuce of a row when you step
on the wire. It rings a gong loud
enough to wake the dead and then
some chap turns on all the lights in
the house and veiy likely opens up
vith a gun before you can say Jeru
salem. But Hoky thought he knew
better."
Archie clutched at the stone fence
against which his captor had pushed
him and his breath came in long
gasps.
"You mean," he faltered, "that you
fear your friend has been shot!"
"That, my dear sir, is exactly what
troubles me!"
Archie's tongue clung to the roof
of his mouth as he tried to murmur
his sympathy for the stranger's Bor
row. The thought that he ws prob
ably talking to the accomplice of the
man he had shot was terrifying; the
stranger seemed enormously fond of
Hoky and if he knew that he had
within his grasp the person who was
responsible for Hoky's failure to re
turn from his visit to Bailey Harbor
he would very likely make haste to
avenge his friend's death. It seemed
to Archie that the gods were playing
strange , trick upon him indeed. The
man's speech was not the argot he
had assumed from his reading of
crook stories to be. the common ut
terance of the undeworld. There
was something attractive in the fel
low. He carried himself Jauntily,
and his clean-shaven, rounded face
and tine gray eyes' would not have
suggested his connection with bur
glary. He was an engaging sort of
person, and Archie decided suddenly
that the man might be of service to
him. He was in pressing need of a
change of clothes, but he was in no
condition to proceed to Portsmouth
to redeem his suitcase; an impres
sion that was confirmed unexpectedly
by his captor.
"You will pardon my candor, but
you certainly look like the devil. Let
me introduce myself to you as the
Governor. Among the powers that
prey that is my proud cognomen, not
to say alias. Now please be frank,
what mischief brings you here at this
hour "
Archie gave serioui thought to his
answer. If he could convince this
person that he was a crook he would
be less likely to suspect that he had
been the Instrument of Hoky a un
doing.
"I've got to make a getaway and
be In a hurry about it," declared
Archie in a confidential air.
"A little trouble of some sort, eh?
It rather occurred to me that you
were not promenading for mere pleas
ure," replied the Governor. "A fash
ionable defaulter, penjiaps? No?
Then let it go at murder, though I
confess you don't look as though
you would' have a stomach for homi
cide." "I came damned near getting
pinched!" asserted Archie stoutly.
"The cops back there in that town
gave me a hard run for it. I was
just crawling through the window of
a drug store when here comes a chap
tiptoeing through the alley, and I
bolted for the tall timber as hard as
I could spring. The fire bell rang,
and the whole town woke up. There'll
be a whole army looking for me; and
if your friend Hoky's been killed
they'll be keen to pinch me as an
other member of the gang."
The Governor listened patiently.
"An amateur, I take It?" he remarked.
"Hell, no," grumbled Archie scorn
fully. "But I always play the game
alone; I never had any use for pals.
They get in the way."
"Wrong, my boy; wrong! A good
partner like me is essential. As for
myself I rarely venture to expose my
self in these little affairs; but I ad
vise and counsel the brethern. You
haven't the judgment of a month-old
infant. A stormy night Always makes
householders wakeful. Your attempt,
my son, speaks for courage, but not
for discretion. You should always
ask me about such things."
"I'm sorry," replied Archie meekly,
'that I didn't run into you sooner."
"The loss is mine!" cried the Gov
ernor heortily. "But let us be prac
tical. We must make a long jump,
son, for the coast will ring with this,
particularly if Hoky is lying cold at
the undertaker's."
He walked off briskly with Archie
lose, beside him.
"When Hoky persisted in his lll-
chosen enterprise I lifted a little
roadster that I ve tucked away down
here in a peaceful lane. Thought I'd
be all ready to give the old boy a
ong pull for freedom when he came
ack, but 1"
Sure enough the roadster was there,
nd the Governor became suddenly a
man of action. Kneeling down he de
tached a New York license tag from
he machine, drew from his pocket a
Maine tag and attached it, humming
meanwhile.
The rural police haven't learned
this simple device," he explained, as
lie sent the discarded tag skimming
nto a corn field. He jumped in and
bade Archie take the scat beside him.
The car was soon bumping merrily
over a rough road that wound through
a pine. wood. They followed a grass
grown trail that ended abruptly at an
bandoned lumber camp.
"We'll shoot the car around behind
that pyramid of sawdust and walk a
bit to stretch our legs," the Governor
nformcd Archie. There was no trace
cf a path where he struck off into the
woodi, but he strode along with the
easy confidence of one who is sure of
is destination. They brought up
presently bedside a brook and in a
moment more reached a log hut plant
ed on the edge of the high bank.
"What do you think of that. Sir
Archibald?" Inquired the Governor
carelessly. Then, as Archie paused,
he added, "Oh, your name? Perfectly
easy! Archibald Bennett was neatly
sewed in your coat pocket by your
tailor as I observed when I rubbed
my hands over your waistcoat to see
if you wore a badge."
'I got these duds out of a suitcase
sneaked and that's no name of
mine, Archie (explained hurriedly,
still anxious to convince the Govern
or that he was a thief.
"Very careless of you not to rip
out the label. Men have been hanged
on slighter evidence. But Archibald
is not a name to sneeze at, and I
rather like Archie, so Archie I shall
continue to call you. Now, we'll see
what we can do to shake up a break
fast."
He drew out a key and opened the
door of the hut.
"Not a bad place, Archie. I stum
bled upon it a couple of years ago
quite by accident and use it occa-
ionally." He opened a cupboard re
vealing a quantity of provisions, and
they prepared their breakfast.
CHAPTER IV
"My friend," said the Governor
soberly as they rose from the table.
"we have dipped our hands in the
same dish and broken bread together.
I don't mind saying that you're a
likeable chap. I'll be a good pal to
you and I ask you to be straight
with me. Are we friends or "
He put out his hand and Archie
grasped it.
"All right, Archie for such you
shall be to the end of the chapter,
whether you lied about it or not. And
now let's deal with practic olaffairs.
I'm going to spend the afternoon on
that stolen machine. I'll paint 'er
white to symbolize our purity.
There's an assortment of clothes the
boys have left from time to time.
You can pick 'em over while I'm
working on the car."
In doffing the clothing he had ac
quired honestly and substituting
stolen raiment, it was almost as
though Archie were changing his
character as well. He wondered
what Isabel would say if she knew
that he had already slipped the leash
that bound him to convention and
performed even more reckless (feeds
than she had prescribed for him.
"Well, I must say you're a credit
to our gents' clothing department!"
remaked the Governor upon his re
turn. "What do you make of this?
Found it in the car. '
He extended a crumpled telegram
which read:
Bailey Harbor, Me.
June 11, 1917.
Putney Congdon,
Thackeray Club, N. Y.
I am offering the house for rent.
Shall take every precaution to pro
tect my children from your brutality.
A. B. C.
Archie felt the hut whirling around
him. What he held was beyond ques
tion the reply of Mrs. Congdon to
her husband's telegram that had been
left lying on the dinner table. And
if Congdon had left New York for
Bailey Harbor Immediately to put
into effect his throat to abduct his
child, it might have been Congdon
he had shot not Hoky.
The Governor's ceaseless flow of
talk fortunately diverted his thoughts
to more cheerful channels, and he
obeyed with alacrity a hint tht he
prepare luncheon. After this had
been consumed the Governor sug
gested a game of chess, produced a
set of Ivory chessmen from a cup
board and soon proved himself i
skillful player.
At the end of two hours the Gov
ernor declared that they must take a
nap before setting out and turned in
to one of the berths. He waa soon
snoring. Archie kicked about rest-
essly for a time, but finally slept
only to wander through a wild phan
tasmagoria of crime.
"To gain or lose it all," he was
stammering as he opened his eyes.
But it was not Isabel he was ad
dressing, but his confederate, bland
ly smiling.
"The boy quotes poetry!" ex
claimed the Governor. 'JArchiei you
have come in answer to my prayers!
Together we shall drink of the fount
of Castalia. We shall chum with
Apollo and the Muses Ninel But
the gods call us elsewhere! We'll
snatch a bite and be off! And we've
got a job all waiting for us. One of
the brotherhood has commissioned
me to dig up some boodle he'a planted
over in New Hampshire. You may re
call the incident. Red Leary. a rare
boy, held up an express messenger
and sauntered off with fifty thousand
dollars in new bank notes fresh from
the Treasury. Do you follow me?
He hid it somewhere and wants
your help in recovering it?"
"Kight the first time! That cash is
tucked away in the cellar of a church
and by this time tomorrow night we
will have it, all ready for old Red and
check the item from our tablets." .
' "But the numbers of those notes
are in every bank in the country; the
police are only waiting for the bills
to get into circulation to pounce on
the thief."
'I am more and more delighted
v.ith you, my son! That point had
given me no little worry. But some
thing will turn up; there will be a
way out of the difficulty. Chuck
your old duds into the creek and
close the windows. We'll hit the
long trail!"
Out of the woods and once more
on a smooth highway the stolen car
sped like a frightened ghost through
the starry night. The Governor drove
with the assurance of a man who
knows what he's about. Occasionally
the Governor lifted his voice in songs
of unimpeachable literary and musi
cal quality that rang sonorously
ibove the hum of the engine.
They struck a stretch of road un
der repair and slowing up the Gov
ernor remarked carelessly as he
picked his way through a line of red
lanterns:
"Speaking of women, my dear Ar
chie, do you share the joy of the
lyric poets in the species? It occurs
to me that you have probably had
many affairs. I'm thirty-four but
I've loved only one woman. And
strange as it may seem, she's a bish
op's daughter.
This confidence made it incumbent
UDon Archie to make some sort of re
ply. The Governor would probably be
disappointed in him if he confessed
the meagerness of his experiences.
"Well, I'm in the same boat," he
answered glibly. "There's only one
girl for me!" This reference to Isa
bel Perry, remote and guarded as it
was, he defended only on the ground
that it was necessary in some way
to meet the Governor half-way in
his confidences. And it was no lie
that he sincerely believed that he
'oved her. No other girl had ever
roused him so much, or given him ao
good reason for standing off and
taking a look at himself. He won
dered what she would lay if she
could see him with a criminal be
side him, joy-riding in a stolen car.
His thoughts of her had led him
far afield when the Governor re
marked ruminatively:
"Do you manage to see her? That's
the devil of it in my case! The
lady's forbidden to recognize me in
any way and her father ia a tart old
party and keeps sharp watch of her.
I can't see her and the regular mails
are closed to us. Nevertheless we
have an arrangement by which if she
ever needs me or thinks I can serve
her in any way she's to leave a note
in a centaiu place It's her own idea
and very pretty."
As dawn broke the whistle and rum
ble of a train caused the Governor to
stop the ear and dive into V is pockets
for time tableB of which he carried a
large supply. He scanned one and
hummed his satisfaction.
"We'll get rid of this machine right
now as there's a station over there a
little way where we can pick up a
local right into Portsmouth." He
stopped, opened a gate and ran the
car through a barnyard and into an
empty tiled.
"Now for a brisk walk!" They
crossed the railroad and were soon
buying tickets from a sleepy station
master. They alighted, at Portsmouth
without mishap, and Archie wired his
sister that the Congdon house would
not do. Then he redeemed his suit
case in the check room and joined the
Governor.
. They drove to the hotel, where they
commanded the best service of the
inn. The Governor registered elab
orately as Reginald Heber Saulsbury
and wrote Archie down as Ashton
Comly, indicating the residence of
both as New York.
, At the breakfast, table, the Gov
ernor scanned a local paper, and with
a chirrup passed it to Archie, point
ing to a double column headline,
which read, "A Carnival of Burglary
in Maine." Archie's eyes flel upon
the bizarre photograph of a dead
man with which the page was Illus
trated, and he choked on a fragment
of grapefruit as he read the inscrip
tion: "Dead Thief, Identity Un
known." "That's poor old Hoky all right,"
murmured the Governor, buttering a
piece of toast reflectively. "As you
seem to be entranced with the liter
ary style of our Bailey Harbor cor
respondent, I shall take the liberty of
helping you to a fried egg."
However, Archie's appetite was
pretty effectually spoiled by this
paragrpah :
An odd circumstance, more or less
remotely connected with the killing of
the burglar in the fashionable colony,
still remains to be explained. Officer
Verkes shortly before two o'clock, the
hour at which ehe Mf was shot in Mr.
Cummings' home, saw a man hurrying
through Water street. He bore the ap
pearance of a gentleman, and the offi- -cer
did not accost him, thinking him a
yachtsman from one of the boats in
the harbor who had been visiting with
friends ashore. The man walked oddly,
pausing now and then as though in
pain, snd was carrying his right hand
upon his left shoulder. This morning
drops of blood were found on the
PHONE
s
or leave orders at
Phelps Grocery Co.
Home Phone 1 102
HEPPNER TRANS
. FER COMPANY
Mrs. Housewife
IS BAKING A GRIEF OR A
JOY)
If you are using SPERRY FLOUR there
is but one answer; JOY. For SPERRY
Flour is always the same, uniform, de
pendable quality.
OLYMPIC FLOUR
for which we are Heppner headquarters,
is a SPERRY products
We also carry a full line of SPERRY cer
eals including Farina, Pancake Flour, and
many different breakfast foods.
You will not go wrong if you
Ask for SPERRY'S
Phelps Grocery Company
PHONE 53
boardwalk crossed by the stranger, and
it is believed that this was another of
the burglar-gang who was wounded In
a struggle somewhere in the interior
and was seeking the help of his confed- -erate,
presumably the man shot in the
Cummings house.
As the paper fell from Archie's
hand the Governor took it up. -
"You seem agitated, Archie! You
must learn to conceal your feelings!"
He read the paragraph and glanced
quickly at Archie.
"Your work, possibly?" murmured
the Governor. "Compose yourself.
I'm afraid you lied to me about the
drug store. No! he held up his hand
warningly "tell me nothing! But
if we've got a murder behind us we
shall certainly be most circumspect
in our movements. You interest me
mere and more, Archie. I congratu
late you on your splendid nerve."
Archie's nerve was nothing lie
could admire himself, but a second
cup of coffee put warmth into his vi
tals and he recovered sufficiently to
pay the breakfast check. If it was
Congdon he had shot there was stiP
hope, encouraged by the newspaper,
that the wounded man v.as in no
haste to report his Injury to the
police. But Archie found little com
fort in the thought that somewhere
in the world there was a man he had
shot and perhaps fatally wounded.
Ha must conceal hit anxious con
cern from the Governor; for mora
than ever he must rely upon his
stung friend for assistance in es
caping from the consequences -f the
duel in the Congdon cottugt.
Consult Dr. Clarke about your eyes.
In Heppner Saturday and Sunday,
Oct. 15th and 16th, at Hotel Heppner,
on his regular monthly trip.
WANTED Small band of good
ewes. A. P. Ayers, Boardman, Ore.
WARNING
of eyestrain and defective eyes is often ' .. .
given by headaches, BUT NOT ALWAYS.
Nervousness, dizziness, irritability, stomach disorders, fatigue, and other
bodily disorders are often caused by eyestrain.
Only a thorough and scientific eye examination will disclose the facts
about your eyes.
Dr. Samuel H. Tyler
Eyesight Specialist
(OF BEND, ORE.)
WILL BE IN HEPPNER AT BUHN'S JEWELRY STORE
October 16-17
EYES EXAMINED GLASSES FITTED
(REGULAR VISITS WILL BE MADE)
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