RANCH MYSTERY
A Story For Children
By Paula
Hath, a vlallor from the Eat,
loam thorn ha been trouble
brewing on her Untile Watter'i
ranch for numy month. Cuttle
have been ttulcn, Uncle Walter
ha been fired at by member of
an unknown gang. Someone I de
termined to force the owner to
give up hi land. Beth I inter
etted In finding out who these
people are and why they want
tht particular property. She find
the rowel of a ellver pur In one
of Hit patturo and now I pretty
euro who It owner I. Uncle Wal
ter ha ttorted to drill for water,
and when one of hi boy ride
Mo town for a now part for the
drill, he I queetloned about ao
llnltle on the ranch. The man
who I to curlou l Mori Kuttell,
the very man Beth upect. In
the mUIt of the drilling, Mart
rail and offer to buy the prop
erty, but before her Uncle can
clot the deal Beth bey him to
wait until the tell her suspicion.
Chapter 10.
MORT RUBBELL wu a dis
gruntled man when he rode
out of the ranch and headed back
to town. Ha told Uncle Walter at
the last that h! offer to buy the
ranch would not hold (or long.
With all the trouble and worry
the ranch had brought In the laat
aix month Uncle Walter could
not help but wonder If he waa
doing the light thing In not sell
ing now, lock, stock, and barrel.
The harraaaed man went out
to the paature where the well
drillers were at work. Ron, Tim
and Beth watched him amble
alowly toward them.
"Maybe Dad would've done
well to sell the ranch, but, gee,
I'd hate to see him do It, at that,"
said Ron. '
"Nothln' doln'," Tim threw
back at hla brother. "We're not
licked yet."
Beth waited until bar uncle
came up to them. There was
question In bis tired eyes.
"Well, honey," be aald, "what
was on your mind that you waa
so anxious for your old uncle not
to noil hla ranch T Mort sura
made ma a friendly offer. Did
you hav aomethln' special that
you thought woulda made any
dlfferenos?"
"Will you come into the bouse
with me, Unci Walter?" ah
asked, "and you two boya oom
along. I've got something to
show you and something to teO
you."
Ron and Tim looked surprised
Indeed, but without question
they followed. Aa they passed
through the kitchen, Aunt Mary
turned from toe oookstov.
"Don't you think they're going
to find water, Pa?" ah asked.
"Surely you haven't had 'em atop
drilling yet"
"Com on along Into the
parlor, Aunt Mary," said Beth.
'1 want you to bear what I've
got to UU, too."
"pill It, Beth. A "guy can't
wait forever." Ron could not bid
hla Impatience,
"Pip down," waa Tim's ready
retort
"Well, first of all, Uncle
Walter, I didn't want you to sell
the ranch to Mort Russell Just
yet because I don't trust him the
way you do."
Aunt Mary sat upright In the
old rocker. "Sell the ranch? What
on earth art you talking about,
child?"
"Yea, mama, Mort offered to
buy the place from me today. Bald
he knew right well we waa hav
ing a tough time makln' a go of
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Norton:
It, and ho wai willing to take It
off our hands."
"But Mort Kuaaiill has 'more
land, now, than he need for hla
herda."
"Yea, Aunt Mury," aald Beth,
"you're Juat tight Uncle Walter
truata Mort and maybe he'a right
to do ao. You've all known him
a lot longer than I have, but I
don't truat him. . , . I'll toll you
why."
"We haven't known Mort a
groat while, child. Juat you any
what you've a mind to, hore with
your own folka, and then we'll
think about it."
"Thank you, Aunt Mary." Now
everything waa eaaler. Beth
reached Into the pocket of her
jeana and drew forth the ellver,
atar-ahaped wheel. 8he placed It
on the table where everyone
could sea.
Both boya reached out for It,
and aa they turned It over Uncle
Walter aald, "It'a a rowel, Beth.
Where did you get It?"
"Yea, It'a a rowel and not an
ordinary ono, either."
"I'll aay It'a not an ordinary
one , . . It's silver," said Ron.
"Yea, It'a ellver." And Beth
plunged Into her atory. "I found
It In the pasture the day I had
my Drat riding leaaon. It waa up
In the near paature, just a few
feet from Che place where the
men are drilling out there. I
didn't think much about It at
Aral: ao I didn't mention It You
aee, Uncle Walter, I didn't even
know what It waa until the day
I went to town with Claude."
"I'll bet Claude told you,"
grinned Ron. "Claude lovea to
explain anything. Did he tell you
how they were made and how
much they coat?"
"Will you keep your ever-ready
mouth closed, Ron, and let Beth'
do the talking just this one?"
aald Tiro with obvious disgust,
"After w got to town w
went to the station. Claud
wanted to see the train oom In."
Ron waa about to comment on
this Idea, too, but Tim anticipated
him and clapped hla hand, none
too gently, across hla brother's
wide srall. ,
"At the depot there were two
men. On of them waa Mort Rus
sell, and the other on stranger.
While Claude talked to them I
noticed that Russell wu wearing
spurs, and on of them bad a
rowel missing. X even said aom
thlng about It to him, and then
Claud Introduced me."
The family leaned forward, all
eyes and Interest
"Mort said, yes, he had loat a
rowel off hla apur, and he had
sent to San Francisco for a new
one. Then he asked me how I
Uked the West, and all that. I
aald, 'Have you been out to see
my uncle lately?' And since I
waa pretty aure the rowel I'd
found was his, I was surely sur
prised when he said he hadn't
been on the ranch In many
months."
"Well, now, that's strange,
ain't It?" said Uncle Walter.
"Funny ho'd lie ilk that If he
wasn't with the gang that's been
raiding us right along," said
Aunt Mary.
Beth nodded and went on.
Then I decided I'd not say any
thing about the rowel I'd found
on our rancb, I figured that If he
waa aa rich a man as Claude said
he was, he wasn't stealing cattle
for any reason except to frighten
you off the land."
"But what could he want to
run me out for?"
"That's the part I don't know,
Unole, And here's the rest!"
. By now everyone was leaning
forward with eagerness and ad
miration, In their faces.
"There Is soma reason ' why
Mort wants this land. And who
waa the man he put aboard the
train that day? Claudo hadn't
ever seen him before. But this
much I noticed; on hla aultcaae
there were three letter after hla
name, They were F, a, S. Now
that muat be aome kind of a busi
ness or profession. If we knew
what those letters meant, we
might be able to figure out why
Mort Russell had that man out
here, and . . . "
Beth did not finish for Ron had
jumped to bis feet, yelling,
"Where's my school dictionary?"
(Continued next week)
LEVEL off there, fellows, and
hold that glide for a minute
while we sit her down for a lot of
the old chatter.
We were gassing with the edi
tor the other day about Western
ers who pioneered in aviation.
Naturally the name of Professor
John J. Montgomery came up.
Tou see, Professor Montgom
ery, who was member of the
faculty at Santa Clara College,
California, actually built the first
glider that ever looped.
It waa in ISM that Professor
Montgomery began building glid
er the forerunners of the Wright
Brothers' powered plan.
Over In Germany, Otto Lilian
thai had spent something like five
hour in the air; In England,
Percy Pllcher had constructed a
number of successful gliders, and
in this country, Octave Chanuta
waa gliding, also,
WELL, Professor Montgom
ery's models got better and
better until he had pretty thor
oughly licked the stability prob
lem. Finally he ran into a dreua
balloonist and parachute Jumper
named Malonay.
Tht Malonay seemd to have a
lot of what ft take he hoisted a
glider up on a balloon and cut
loose at 3500 feet And he didn't
know any too much about flying
It, either!
Needless to aay, he got down
all right but not before he cut
a few fancy figures In the atmos
phere to give the audience a thrill
regular circus stuff.
After a while, Professor Mont
gomery hired some more circus
stuntera and made a tour of the
weat coast Willi his balloon-glider
show, which caused a tremendous
amount of Interest
The professor had his troubles,
though. His dare-devil glider pi
Iota were always trying to steal
the show from each other. One
day one of them, dead set on cop
ping all the glory, cut loose from
a balloon as usual and atarted to
do some exceptionally sharp turns
on his way down. Just what hap
pened Isn't any too clear to any
one, but he turned ao fast he did
what amounted to a loop, or so
they called It i
THAT brings to mind these par
achute jumpers who rig them
selves out In a flock of fabric and
go gliding all over the place on
the way down. It'a simple to ex
plain but not so simple If the
jumper happens to get tangled up
In all that paraphernalia.
They stretch a webbing betweon
their legs, you see, and have an
other webbing on both arms.
Naturally the speed they're fall
ing creates a certain lift on the
"wings," just aa speed create lift
on a plane' wings. And so they
get soma support Thus far we
haven't read of any jumper glid
ing In to a safe landing on his
nose. They dump off the "wings"
' Polishing Off A Steak I
AnOfficer's Boots
By Paula Norton
ONCE there waa a VERY Im
portant officer In the Ger
man army, and he had two beau
tiful, shining black boots which
he wore ONLY on special occa
sions. The officer had a small son,
too, and the son had two little
dachshunds.
Now dachshunds are clever
little fellows and VERY fond of
mischief any mischief.
The officer's little boy used to
play In his father's room, while
, that dignified gentleman waa
away at a big garrison all day.
The boy liked that room best of
all the rooms In his horns, be
cause It was daVk and filled with
books and mysterious weapons
and many curlou souvenirs.
In the officer's room there waa
a great dark clothes cupboard,
too, and there In the shadows
hung many beautiful uniforms. '
The Dachaiea went to this in
. terestlng, mysterious-room, too,
whenever the boy went there.
' They never made much noise,
however, because they knew If
they did someone would notice
them and put them out at once.
The bey paid little attention to
them, for he waa always busy ex
ploring among the many strange
things he found there. He spent
every afternoon for a week In
that room looking at picture of
and open the 'chute while still
several hundred feet up.
YOU know there are Idt of
things not to do when you're
flying, but lota of fellows are apt
to forget this: "Don't make a
down-wind turn on the takeoff!"
Why ? Well, meat of you know,
probably, but here's a simple ex
planation. Let's say the landing speed
which Is also your takeoff speed
of the ship Is 33 miles an hour.
You're taking off Into a IB-mile-an-hour
wind. That means that
when you're going 20 miles an
hour the wind supplying the
other IB m.p.h.'s you take off.
BUT, If you turn down wind at
that time, you're still moving 20
per slower than the minimum
flying speed. And smacko, off she -falls!
That's why pilot keep straight
ahead If the motor, conk on a
takeoff ditches and fences to the
contrary notwithstanding.
'
battle acenea of Jong ago. He'd
drag the big book over to the
window to aee the details of the
fierce battle scene.
NO one came to disturb the
boy, and the Dachaiea left
him alone, too they had business
of their own to handle.
Then one day the world fell
with a crash around the ears of
the boy, and It nearly landed on
the Dachaiea.
There was to be a special, extra
fancy dress parade of the soldiers
in honor of the Emperor. The
officer hurried to his home to
dress In his special parade uni
form. - t.
It ao happened the boy and the
dogs were out fishing that after
noon, ao the officer found hla room
quite as It should have been.
Then suddenly he bellowed In
a vole like thunder.
The boy and dogs, returning
from their fishing trip, were just 4
passing under the window. THEY .
heard and all three shivered and
shook and listened!
Then the thunder slowed down,
and they heard shouts of com-'
mand to servants and any on
who would listen.
The nice, dignified. Important
officer said! "Someone, someone
has chewed a great round hole
In the heel of each of my special
parade boot. I am furious I"
' The boy grabbed a dog under
each arm and flew Into the woods,
back where he'd been fishing.
There he tied them to a tree and
at beside them. He was fright
ened and a little angry at hi
Dachaiea, too.
HE aald: "Now you've done it!
Stop wagging and listen!
What did you have to be so
smarty for anyway? How can
Father wear those boot to the
parade for the Emperor with his
whits sox showing through the
heels?" ,
. Then he got up and walked
around and around the tree. Now
the Dachsles felt badly, and they
lay down on the ground and lifted
their little brown eyebrows with ,
ashamed, aad eyes, watching the
boy.
After a long time of great si
lence, the boy untied the two vil
lains and went slowly back to the
house. He listened carefully when
he went through the halls to his
room. All waa quiet . , i the band
mualc of the parade could be
hoard In the distance.
, That night the dogs slept In the
boy's room (he built a tent house
for them out of a plaid shawl
draped over two chairs). They
were VERY quiet and VERY
good.
When the boy's father came In
' to tell him "good night," two pairs
of soft brown eyes peeked from .
under the tent fringe. They were
watching two dusty military boots
and wondering how THEY'D
taste! . ' .
CURFEW
THE ringing of a curfew waa
first an English custom, orig
inating with William th Con
queror. The word come from x
"couvrefeu," a French . word
meaning "cover fire." The curfew
In England meant that at 8
o'clock all fires and lights had to
be "covered." . ,
Tell Time By The Flowers
No Watch Needed in Garden
Where Western Flowers Bloom
EVEN if your- watch has stop
ped it Is usually quite easy
to tell what time It is in a gar
den. A large number of plants
open their flowers at certain times
of the day and this they do with
amazing regularity. Other plant
close their flowers with the same
consistency just aa though they
hod an eye on the clock.
Probably the earliest garden
plant to open Its blooms is the well
known climber, Ipomaea, the
buds of which expand at B
o'clock. Single roses of all kinds
open about an hour later, at 9..
Practically all kinds of Llnum
and the Day Lilies (Hemerocallls)
open at 7. Just about the same
time the Shirley Popples burst
their green cases and Irises ex
pand. At 8 many kinds of Con
volvulus expand their blooms. At
9 one will see the opening of many
sorts of Veronica, Gentians, Ox
alls, to mention only a few kinds.
Arenarias, Portulacas, Each
scholtzlas and Marigolds display
their flowers at 10 o'clock. At
mid-day those great sun lovers,
the Mesembryanthemuma, open
their blooms to the warm rays.
From-about noon, until the late
Over the Captain's Coffee Cup
Travel Tales from Everywhere
By Whit Wellman
MEN YOU hear about have
wanted to accomplish cer
tain things so much that the
price didn't matter
Fame often comes unsought
Paul Gaugin deserted Paris to live
on an Island. He painted what he
saw and felt and went mad.
Recognition followed long after.
Yet before the end, for several
years of freedom his life was
satisfying. More contented, prob
ably, than the daya of his Euro
pean friends, who lived In the
"world that Is" He did what he
wanted.
Not everyone can live accord
ing to their heart's desire. Re
sponsibilities, conventions stifle
all but one in a thousand or so.
It takes strength not to care
what people think. Stout belief in
your own talent or simply "know
ing that the customary routine is
not for you. Of such are the beach
combers, , rOcket-of-leave" men,
planters on some forgotten Islet
who'd rather swim In a warm
coral lagoon than own a business.
A man will drop a good job to
build a boat and put out for the
Pacific Islands. Any Island, ao It'a
far enough. Gold I found up a
waterway in Guinea, where canni
bals have their own convention of
"long-pig." Few have grown
wealthy on corpa or sago plan
tations. Not many have brought
out enough yellow metal from un
explored Papua to make up for
malaria and Wackwator fever
for native sorceries they've seen
and cannot talk about or forget
SEEKING NEW
frontiers some few win disregard
three meals a day, a place to
sleep. In San Francisco a young
portrait artist fishes much of the
daylight hours near Fort Mason.
Evening sees him sketching pa
trons of a Bohemian resort on the
edge of Telegraph Hill At a dol
lar a head, he gets little but ex
peri en ae which an artist needs
more than anything he could buy.
Independent he says "No" to
more faces than be sketches, and
depends upon an Intuitive sens
of selection when he "accepts" a
model. In the dim candle light hla
drawings line th walls, some ex
cellent, . others experiments In
technique. His last nam 1 some
thing Bwedlah, hla first Is Rich a
blond lad, who steadily sees mora
behind a (mil than th surface
pose. A philosophy of hla own
poking around from city to city
concerned more In developing hi
work than In wealth or comfort
He'a doing what he wants to do.
Sacrifice now some day, fame.
SPEAKING OF SAGO
and copra, coffee, rubber, and
cacao planting there exlat even
today opportunities In British
Guinea for men with a few thou
aanda of dollars. Between two and
Ave You can lease land for 80
years at a nominal figure, so low
It's almost free. Native labor Is
higher than In Malaya or Africa,
but this is amply balanced by th
low living cost You live as you
please, cheaply or expensively
plant a crop of whatever strikes
your fancy, and reap the harvest
within a few years. Everything
grow quickly In th rich coll and
tropical climate. No great for
tune are made you don't go
down to become a millionaire
but your plantation and bush
mad house can be beautiful,
your boat is manned by loyal
natives, the forest and rivers are
virtually your privet hunting
preserves. A decent living, privacy
freedom.
LETTERS DRIFT IN
not only from foreign porta, but
afternoon, one must tell the time
not by the opening of flowers but
by their closing. Mallows of vary
ing klnda close from 1 to 2, as
also do the garden forma of
Hawkweed (Hieradum). Potato
and Tomato flowers shut up about
3, whilst an hour later, the Esch
acholtziaa and Marigolds close. At
S you will see the glorious flowers
of the Water Lilies draw their pet
als together and begin to sink be
low the surface.
At 6 quite a remarkable open
ing of flower begin again. Then
the Honeysuckle open in addl-.
tion to the Evening Primrose and
many kinds of Lychnis. At 8
comes the Night-scented Stock
and MirabiU Jalapa. At 9 many
of the Catchflles (Silene) ex
pand for the first, time and the
Woodruff and Whit Tobaccoea do
the same.
Those who have greenhouses,
and grow the Night-flowering
Cacti, will notice that the marvel
ous flowers of this plant open al
' most on the stroke of 10, only to
be a mass of faded and crumpled
petals a few hour later.
from the Pacific Coast as well.
Brigadier General J. A. Woodruff
replies to an inquiry about the
disappearance of Captain Mc
Lellan of the transport Republic
It seems doubtful if further
' ever be thrown on the
matter."
.jpublic brought the body
oi r ather Damlen "leper priest of
Molokai" to Ban Francisco for '
high mass at Old St Mary's . . .
then sailed with the remains for
jaeigiuiu. nawaiJaua ujuuuuh
that a curse would strike anyone
removing a body buried in sacred
ground. At 5:13 in the morning
between the Farallon Islands and
the lightship Captain McLellan
. vanished. More of this later. In
vestigations are still under way.
Mrs. Jay Harvey, of Yelm,
Washington Dallas Ataman, of
Astoria, Oregon have collections
. of those Interesting glass balls
that sweep In with the Japanese
current rolling up on northwest
ern beaches. This Is not a trading
column but If you'd Ilk to
posas rather lovely and unusual
globe In rainbow colors, drop
them a line. ...
buried Treasure
la not always a myth. If you feel
the urge to dig for dead men'
gold and jewels, there are places
today supposed to bold fabulous
wealth.
. Millions In plate and bar gold
treasure of Lima still evade
. seekers on Coco Island Some
where on Trinidad la buried a
fairly well-authenticated treasure.
W understand that even charts
are obtainable. South of Madeira
lie the Salvages, where a chest of
two million silver dollars was
sunk In the sand by a mutinous
crew, which did away with their
Captain and laid his body atop
the treasure. In 'M the sailing
ship General Grant was loat off
th Auckland Ialanda bearing
60,000 ounces of gold. Th vessel
drove Into a cliff cave and broke
up. The hull la still visible, but
the huge combers and swift un
dertow have prevented diver
from rescuing the booty.
ONE OF DEWEY'S SHIPS
lies In San Francisco Bay the
. U. 8. B. Botton, which I tied up
at th south end of Yerba Buena
Island. Th Navy ha used it for
year aa a Receiving Ship, doing
dull routine duty after th excit
ing Battle of Manila Bay. She I
on of th few vessels left that
served the Admiral when he hum
bled th Spanish fleet Thousand
of commuter pas within sight of
her every day, completely un
aware that close at hand la on
of th romantic relic of th cen
tury. Time move ao swiftly, no on
has time these days for memories.
But anyone with a good reason,
or a bump of curiosity, can ask
for a pass to board her at 1
, Harrison Street Headquarters of
the 12th Naval District
IF YOU'VE LIVED
through adventure In any part of
th world . . . and want to ae
them published In this column
. . , writ them down and send
them to The Captain, Five star
Weekly, S0 Mills Tower, Ban
Francisco, California.
ROGS
STAST
ACKYAID
I ! sotaMJ.
llMMdaf ItnlO.
Amw tltmttm
forfn. A MimiC AN ImOO CANNHS
A Ml
V a.
PA4I 8IVBN