Newspapers / The Elkin Tribune (Elkin, … / Jan. 25, 1940, edition 1 / Page 8
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Thnreday, January 25, 1940 6F &ESTINY % I * L6UISE PMJ6ST f? CHAPTER IV Synopsis Lee Hollister, returning un expectedly to the Circle V ranch, his home from child hood, is troubled by signs of neglect. Fresh from a trip abroad, he is worried, too, when he meets Slanty Gano, a trou ble maker. Slanty had been run off the land previously by Matt BtaJr, Lee's foster father and owner of the ranch. Slanty is now manager of the old Cehal los place. Joey, prospector be friended by Matt, tells Lee that Matt has killed himself, prob ably discouraged by hard times. The ranch is going to ruin under Lawler, manager ap pointed by Matt's daughter, Virginia, who is living with her aunt and uncle in New York— the Archers. Lee goes east and persuades Virginia to return to the ranch to save it. There were no cattle in the home pastures now, but in the distance as she rode she could see the scar of the timber slash that Lee had censured. Down there was Joey's claim, and in front of the little grey cabin a conspicuously tall young man was just rising from the do mestic task of filling a coffee pot with water at the creek. Already he had seen her, and Joey from the doorway had raised his thin halloo. "Here's Lee, Honey! Jes' turn ed up, doggone his ornery hide. Yo're comin' to supper, ain't ye?" "Glad to see you, Virginia," Lee held out his hand as a mat ter of course and gave hers a grip that was somehow reassuring. "If you don't stay to supper," Lee was remarking conversation ally, "Joey won't be fit to live with for a week, and I'd counted on hurting with him for a night or two." "Oh, are you staying with Joey?" She hesitated. As far back as she could remember, the ranch house had been Lee's home. Her father had treated him like a son. "You know, WELL DRILLING CONTRACTOR Drilled Wells are cheaper, more sanitary, affording an abundance of water that is always clear, pure and cold. For prices write R. E. FAW, HICKORY, N. C. Phone 700-2 B Burfl®' 115 ' n oV^n WsMiJ^vm^^M^^rß ■ ly re ducl n fl°« rfine H YOUR USED CAR FROM YOUR 1 toT% f ° - k rr *»• 1 CHEVROLET DEALER NOWI ■ more an^ C (, e yr°W- ®** ry w 1 now, and save costly repairs on tor and truck * n 1 n Save further depreciation on I B Iced to SELL N ° 1 * your old car. Trade up to a late B pr CAVFI 1 model used car now. B ..iif HAIAI AND JA I o Buy now—before prices rise— B gUY and save the difference. S 4 '^ ave whiter conditioning expense * on your old car. I I 5 All used cars are priced to sell fast B iktatora during thakut four y««re. I to make roomfor more trade-ins. Buy now and save. \ B Ch»*T«ll P—lm* T» N»Biiqwfr« »f USED THICK Vol—! F-W CHEVROLET COMPANY Phone 255 Elkiit, N. C. Father would always want you to feel—" "Thanks, but I'm afraid that wouldn't do. I'm not a part of the Circle V outfit now. I'll prob ably camp somewhere in the hills while I'm —looking around." She watched Joey as he bustled! about, in contrast to Lee's easier motions. Soon the pleasant smell of cedar smoke was in the airl the aroma of coffee, the hissing of trout broiling over live coals. 1 "Supper's ready," Lee called cheerfully. She had forgotten that it was possible to eat with such appe tite. And she drank coffee from a large tin cup with a business like handle and wondered, as Lee Hollister neatly placed a flat stone for a saucer, what her aunjt would say if she could see her now, side by side in the dusk with the wizened old prospector and the young man who had been onf of her father's "hands." Lee was quiet, his clean pro file showing darkly against the fire. Joey chattered contentedly. "Lee was sayin'," Joey prattled on, "that ye oughta have some woman to come help with the work." "I'll think about it, Joey—but I must go now. It's almost dark." She jumped up with a quick shiver. Night was coming on with a keen tang in the air, and her silk shirt was thin. Lee arose also and disappeared into the cabin. A moment later a man's coat was laid around her shoul ders. "Reckon you forget that this climate is half a mile up in the air and gets cold awful sudden," he drawled. "I'll ride back with you, Virginia." She was glad to have him as they left the friendly circle of the fire and plunged into a deepen ing dusk. Soon they could see the ranch with its lamp-lit win dows. "That means 'welcome home," Virginia. And I suppose Curly is rounding up the whole outfit to meet the boss." "Oh —am I a boss?" she laugh ed . Somehow it gave her a plea- THE ELHW TRIBUNE, BLKIN, NORTH CAROLINA sant sense of ownership that she had not felt before. They rode on in a star-glim mering darkness, talking little. For two people who had quarrel ed so bitterly, they were strange ly content. Early the next morning Lee rode out of Joey's ravine just in time to receive a sour glance from Lawler and a grinning hail from Curly and Darrell, all on their way to the upper range, and turned up the valley again to the ranch house. He went around back to find Ling putter ing with unusual care among his pots and pans. Ling usually clattered. "Missy sleep," he confided am iably. "Bleakfas', Lee?" "Had it, thanks. I'll go in the office and hang around." It was the opportunity that Lee had been waiting for. He closed the office door behind him. Leaning against the door, he absently lit a cigarette and look ed slowly around. There was a familiar armchair, sagging some what from long years of accom modating Matt's ample frame; there was the old oak desk in the middle of the room, on whose surface a boy named Lee Hollis ter had burned the Circle V brand one day. The chair in which he had died had been moved from its usual place. Lee crossed the room soundlessly and put it back again. He stood beside it, looking to ward the closed door; he went over to a window and looked out; looked back again with thought ful in tenselless; returned to the desk and stood looking down at that, puzzling for the answer that would not come. Lee pulled out tns second drawer of the desk, slid his hand beneath the obstinate upper drawer and gave it a pressure of strong finger tips which brought it sliding out obediently. An old tobacco tin was still there, a few cartridges, some odds and ends of paper. 'Nothing very valuable. He bent lower, peering intently, pulled the drawer out, moving the haphazard contents lightly, push ing them aside and back again. Something caught his eye a tiny gleam half lost in the crack. He took out his knife and coax ed it into clearer view. It was a trifling thing when he had it, a thin, triangular scrap of metal with little enough meaning in a place where odds and ends had been dropped for years. The broken off tip of somebody's knife. He laid it on the palm of his hand. "I'd give a lot," he reflected soberly, "I'd give everything I own to know just how long you've been there." He found an old envelope, wrapped the bit of metal in it, stowed it in his pocket and closed the drawer. Then he looked up. There was a light scrabbling of bony fingers on the door panel. Ling stood on the other side. "Missy comin'," he said softly. "You stay bleakfas', Lee?" • • • Mr. T. Ellison Archer entered h£s wife's room more abruptly than was his habit. The real es tate market had receded and left him high and dry. Just now he was said to be "connected" in some way with the Bradish in terests, and at thi« precise mo ment was prickling with unplea sant apprehension lest he should be abruptly disconnected. "Have you heard from Virginia yet, my dear?" "Only the telegram saying that she had arrived safely. Why? Has anything happened?" "Well, not exactly." Mr. Arch er looked uneasy. "But I have just seen Mr. Bradish. In fact, he sent for me, and he was quite annoyed. He put it up to me rather bluntly as if Virginia's go ing were my fault." "But I don't see how we could have prevented it! We have done everything to make Virginia hap py here." "Mr. Bradish feels—" her hus band returned nervously to the subject uppermost in his mind— "that young Hollister is trying to influence Virginia to keep the ranch." Before his wife's inquiring eye Mr. Archer seemed to feel that further explanations were neces sary. "Mr. Bradish said that he had felt so certain that the place would belong to him in a short time that he had asked the man ager to keep him in touch with matters there." He paused and cleared his throat nervously. "It will be very unfortunate if this Hollister does anything to interfere with the sale." "I never liked Lee Hollister," said Mrs. Archer positively. "I never could understand Matth ew's action in bringing a child like that —no better than a foundling—right into his own home. But there's only one thing to do now, and that is to get out there and bring Virginia back if I can." Mr. Archer nodded a relieved assent, secretly envying a power of decision that he had never possessed. His wife went over to her desk and drew a telephone from its decorative hiding place. "I think," she said thoughtful ly, "that I'd better telephone Stanley about our plans. He has been really disconsolate since Virginia left." Stanley Bradish, since the ev ening when Virginia had left him flat, had been in a bad humor and distinctly sulky. Mrs. Archer's telephone call found him at home and in a state of bored restlessness. He listen ed warily, but presently with a livelier interest. Why not? Ev erything was fearfully stale here. "Awfully good of you to ask me, Mrs. Archer. Are you sine Virginia won't think I'm a nui sance trailing along? . . . That's fine; I'll take the same train if you don't mind . . . Count on me." He hung up the receiver with a knowing smile. He went down stairs better pleased with life than he had been for some days, to be informed that his father was closeted with a caller. Stan ley strolled outside. Voices came to him. He caught the word Blair. He moved nearer to the window through which those subdued sounds drifted. He waited, listening. Milton Bradish always knew what he wanted and went after it with about as much regard for obstacles as an army tank. It was his capacity for ruthlessness which had brought Bradish where he was. Incidentally it had brought Gideon Morse, the law yer, where he was at this mo ment, traveling twenty-five hun dred miles for a few brief com ments which might not prove al together discreet on paper. "The only obstacle," he said in his curiously mild voice, 'is this man Hollister." "Get rid of him." "Not so easy," said Morse mildly. "And dangerous." "I'm not suggesting homicide," retorted his chief brusquely. "There are more w»ys of getting rid of a man than knocking him over the head. How about bring ing him in?" "Wouldn't come," said Morse laconically. "He's like a hound pup with his nose to a trail. Prob ably thinks he has a mission to reclaim the Circle V. You see, he and Matt were pretty close. You might say that he was brought up on the Circle V. Matt picked him up years ago in some dingy hole arid brought him home be cause he was a likely youngster and hadn't any folks of his own. You know Matt always had a lot of pensioners around. Anybody could go, to him with a hard luck story and get a grubstake or a job." Milton Bradish could remem ber a man with whom Matt Blair had shared his own grubstake many years before. There are some things of which it is not pleasant to be reminded. "About this young Hollister. How is it that he turns up now?" "He's been away. He and the girl are together a great deal. Rides —scenery moonlight —7 romantic stuff. Good looking chap, too. And no fool." The man who meant to have the Circle V pushed back his chair. "Break it up," he said shortly. "Get something on him. There can always be the other woman." Principal and agent looked at each other steadily. Morse nod ded. Outside, Stanley moved away from the window, "That old dump must be worth a lot," he reflected shrewd - ly. "I wonder what's up? The other woman! Whew I" He grin ned. "This is beginning to look like a pleasant little visit." (Continued Next Week) Was Interrupted Irwin—l, my friend, am a seif made man. Will—How bad you must feel about being interrupted before you had completed the job. 1 \ 1 ° F THE A"IRAQE AMER-1 iSfl 1 1 BV tHE 1 F I 1 rMIVjM'W" lip \ i B ' U E° R M I \ i What if we had to store away a half ton of candles \ \ every month ... at a cost of $343.65 ... to give us \ \ 'the light we need! Maybe we haven't been appre \ \ yW —ciating the steady, brilliant light that electric bulbs \ i ■ A. \ bring us .. . and at an average cost of $2.50 a \ . Mr month which includes Ughting, sweeping, ironing, 1 r toasting, radio, etc., and in many instances, elec -1 /(, M trical refrigeration. Tonight, check your home for 1 x (o V M adequate lighting and realizing the low cost of 1 \ \ \ proper light, improve those dark spots where better 1 | I light has long_been needed! POWER COMPANY NOTICE Tax Payers of Surry County AGAIN I WANT TO REMIND YOU TO Pay Your 1939 Tax Under the Present Law These Taxes Must Be Paid Before March Ist ON THAT DATE, LAND—IF THERE BE ANY LAND TAXES LEFT ON BOOKS—WILL BE ADVERTISED FOR SALE APRIL Ist. However, during the months of February and March we will have to enforce collection by making tax out of Personal Property and Wages Due. We cannot any longer depend on selling land to get taxes. Not withstanding, a deed will be made to purchaser at Tax Sale not later than' January 1, 1941. It is unpleasant to enforce collection of taxes, but I know of no honor able way to get around it. PLEASE SEE AND PAY THE GENERAL TOWNSHIP COLLECTOR B. F. FOLGER, Tax Collector for Surry County. Eyes Examined Office: Glasses Fitted The Bank of Elkin Boildinf DR. P. W. GREEN onomxigT Offices open daily for optical repairs and adjustments of all kinds. Examinations on Tuesdays and Fridays from 1 to 5 p,«y». By Appointment Phone 140 Say, "I saw it in The
The Elkin Tribune (Elkin, N.C.)
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Jan. 25, 1940, edition 1
8
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