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CHAPTER XV Ned Paxton looked stern. "What do you know of my scheme nf living? I want a woman p.t the head of my house, for the mothcr of niy children, who has an infallible Tnst.nct for the fine and beautiful things of life and the courage to go after them. And I'm going to get her. You must have thought me an easy mark when we met at the hotel. I was dazed by the news of your marriage. As the day wore on I grew suspicious. Asked a few questions. Discovered that y?u m?r" rUd u-icuurx alter you met me that morning. Why did you do it? Janice had almost liked him a8?in; trusted him as he confided his ideal of family life. Tlie ravage con tempt of his question hardened her heart. _. . , .. -?Continue sleuthing. Find out. "I have it on rather good autnon ty that Harcourt was not in love with you. I suspect it was a case of knight-errantry on his part. Uirl announces that she is married to him. What could he do but come across with the ring?" "You will have to answer that question yourself. Ned. But. after all now can you? What do you know of 'the ambitions, struggles, sacri fices. self discipline which lie be hind what you call knight-errantry? You see. You want. You buy. His face was dark with ?n&el ??You said that once before. I don t like it I'll prove to you that I can earn one thing I want-that' s you. Think I don't know that this mar riage stuff is a blurt to save your face? He drew her close. She pro tested sharply: "Ned! Let me go!' The kitchen door banged ?Pcn Tong dashed into the room. Head lowered, brush drooping, one cor ner of his lip snarled to reveal a fane, baleful eyes watchful, he stood as motionless as a creature in bronze. . ,?K Paxton released Janice. His laugh showed a tinge of strain. Pasca shuffled into the charged "Tatima in kitchen with deesh. Mees S^mp seesters send her. _ ?'Aren't they coming?" Jar!|" ? voice dripped disappointment. 1 ell Tatima to come in, Pasca. Gran entered by the front door Tubby. I'm glad you have arrived to swell the list of those present, it looks as though my party might be a frost. "Savs you. How are you, Pax ton' Where's Mrs. Hale? Well, what d'you know! See who's here! Tatima had come in from the kl"Mces Samp seesters send plate. They say, sorry they can t come to party." "Tell them that I am terribly dis appointed." The girl lingered, twist ing her bracelets in conscious ex pectancy. "I never saw so much lovely silver jewelry. Something tells me you've had a present. Tatima assumed indifference. "Who, me? Kadynma gceve to me. He gceve me much more. I marry on him. He chief's son. Some day 1 beeg cheef's squaw." There was a thread of excitement In Grant's laugh. "Kadyama s struck pay-dirt, has he? Where s his gold-mine?" __ "He noding like gol' mine. Money owe him long time for card game. Yesterday man pay. Kadyama buy silver from Ossa." "Who's the rich stranger? Id like to get up a little game with him Tatima sniffed scorn. Stranger! Pasca pay heem. Pasca have beeg fat roll of money. Kadyama say. Coming aboard Ned Paxton's boat had set old memories twanging un bearably, Janicc reflected uneasily. Mary Samp's eyes were big with wonder. She perched on the edge of the seat like a plump pigeovton a ledge ready to take off at the slight est warning. Millicent Hale, in a deck chair, had removed her black hat. Her fair hair seemed fairer in contrast to her sombre frock. Janice sniffed. Why had the fragile woman in black such power to hurt her? Was Ned Paxton intrigued by her? Admitted that it was a glorious day, that fact did not explain her presence on this boat. Tubby Grant had been responsible. That was un fair. She alone was responsible for what she did. She was white, free and considerably over twenty-one, quite old enough to make her own decisions. Had it all been Tubby's insistence, or had she been glad of the chance to be away when Bruce returned? After supper last night. Tubby had held her up outside her Waffle Shop ? had begged her to sec ond his efforts to have Millicent Hale away from headquarters when the Commissioner and Harcourt ar rived the next afternoon. From the hfs name had not beer. mentioned in the radio message, there was every reason to believe they were bringing Jimmy Chester. He had asked Paxton to co-operate by inviting a party on his yacht for a nearer view of the erupting vol cano. Grant's plan had seemed sound. Now, on thinking bock over the con versation, she wondered that he had not referred to Tatima's startling disclosure as to the source of the money which Kadyama had lavish ly expended on silver jewelry. Where could Pasca get so much cash so suddenly? Was it part of that taken from Joe Hale when he was shot? It would account for Bruce's revolver having been used, for Pasca's absence from the squaw dance. A ship's bell struck. She counted. Eight bells. Was it possible they had been three hours? Tea time. She joined the group under the awning. Paxton rose. "You stood so long staring over the rail, we decided that you were making up your mind for a swim." "Nol in this icy water. I was wondering if we could approach the volcano near enough to get a pic ture. I brought a movie camera." "I'll talk with the Captain and the native pilots. We have two aboard. Janice waved to those on the boat. Meanwhile, will you show Miss Mary the 'r.i<.rior of the boat? You know every crack and cranny of it, though you haven't seen it since I had it re-decorated ? for you." The last words were so low that Janice wondered if anyone but her self heard them. Miss Mary ad mitted: "I'd like real well to see it." Mary Samp's eyes shone, her cheeks reddened with excitement as they passed from one part of the yacht to another. The silver and blue, black and rose and gold of the staterooms reducri her to a state of thrilled speechlessness. On the threshold of the main lounge she clasped ecstatic hands. "Well, now! I suppose this is what folks call modernistic!" Two Filipino boys were bringing the tea things when they returned to the lounge deck. Janice's lips twitched with laughter as she re membered Pasca's high-held tray. That reminded her, where had the Eskimo procured the money to pay Kadyama? "Janice!" She looked up. Pax ton was standing before her fasten ing a holster belt. "That's better. You were a hundred miles from here. I'll bet you couldn't toll wheth er you've had tea or not. You have. The sea is running smooth. If you want to get near enough to the vol cano .o take a picture, the Captain says that it will be perfectly safe for the native pilots to take you in the launch." Janice's premonition nerves tin gled. Darn her imagination. Here was the opportunity of a lifetime. Would she let her fear-complex rule? She would not. "I'm all excited! Am I to go alone?" "No. I'll go to make sure that you don't fall out of the boat in your excitement. The sky is not quite so clear as it was, we'd better get a move on. The yacht will follow. We will turn back the moment you say the word." Z. .'H in the launch, Janice waved to the two women and the Captain bending over the rail to watch them start. Miss Mary's eyea were troubled. Milliccnt Hale's in scrutable, the Captain's complacent as he listened to the purr of the mo tor, rhythmic as a kitten's breath ing. observed the skill of the native pilots who had shed their coats and caps, gold braided with the yacht's insignia, and had stolidly wriggled into kamalaykas, which looked like waterproof overshirts with a hood. When at a proper distance, Jan ice focused the camera on the group on the deck. She cranked until the faces were dim. "There! I wonder what Tubby will say to that. He is teaching me the motion-picture art. I've even learned to develop films When I return to civilization I will be equipped to go on the lecture plat form." "Then you expect to return to civilization?" Apparently absorbed in the intri cacies of the black box she held, she answered abstractedly : "Return! Of course. Then some day we are going to South America to build a bridge." Paxton laughed skeptically before he crouched down behind the engine to light a cigarette. Frnn> whence ihnt !ride?ce?>t bit of fabrication bubbled, Janice demanded of herself in dismay. From the rows and rows of Spanish books in the H house? Had those spelled South America to her sub conscious? The launch was running parallel with a green shore from which twin mountains lightly clothed with al ders and willows, arid, with vol cano ash, rose in a graceful sweep to taper into dazzling white cones. Beyond towered higher peaks like purple shadows. She could make out an abandoned Indian village, its tumble-down huts shining weirdly white in the distance. Were those uprights carved totem poles? She turned eagerly to Paxton as he came aft. "See that Indian village, Ned. I wish ? " The sentence died on her lips as a rain of tiny rocks showered upon the boat. They burned as they struck her hands, hissed as they fell into the water to float away like dingy snow-flakes. Orange and scarlet flames fired curling vapor, belching smoke, till the sky seemed one frightful conflagration. "Hoi' tight! Hoi' tight!" Janice hadn't needed the hoarse shouts of the pilots as a warning. Instinctively she had gripped the side of the launch. "Come about! Make for the yacht!" Paxton shouted. Too late. With the roar as ot all | the thunder-bolts forged in Vulcan's workshops let loose, with a crash which rocked the world, the vol cano blew up. Fascinated eyes on the spectacle, Janice saw what looked to be the back of a great sea monster rise to the surface. An island being born? Paxton caught her in one arm, clung tight with the other hand. A wave which seemed mountains high rolled to ward the launch, caught it as though it had been a chip in a puddle, swept it shoreward with incredible speed. Sweat ran down the bronze face of one pilot as he strained at the wheel. The eyes of both bulged with terror. Overhead feathery, scooting clouds merged. The world which had been all sapphire, em erald and crystal went dreadnaught gray. Stinging white foam flew back in drenching spray. Smoke rolled and twisted like a boa-constrictor in the throes of acute indigestion. The boat climbed a huge roller, lunged sickeningly in the trough, staggered and shuddered when a fresh wave struck it. The sea snarled and hissed under a shower j of hot stones. Spray blurred Jan- I ice's eyes as she strained them in an effort to see what lay ahead. Another mighty smash and shock of water, greater than its predeces sor, lifted the boat like a toy and flung it on the shore. For a dazed instant she sat with eyes tightly shut. She had thought that last plunge would end every thing. Paxton touched her shoulder. "We're safe, Jan. Don't, don't go to pieces now that the dange is over." "Go to pieces!" She blinked, forced a smile. "I was merely ori enting myself, that's all." The launch was stranded on a peb bly beach. The native pilots were huddled in the bow. Paxton, livid, tense, was standing over them. With a final word he came back to her. "We'll have to camp here until the yacht picks us up. The men say there is a hunter's shack some where on this shore. They are dumb with fright. That was all I could screw out of them. We'd better find it before another wave catches us." , ITO HF CONTINUED) BBI | ASK ME i ANOTHER A quiz with answers offering information on various subjects The Questions 1. How many stairs to the top Washington monument? 2. What is a recidivist? 3. The Arc d'Triomphe in Paris was built to commemorate the victories of what ruler? 4. What is the area of Guam Island? 5. Whsft mythological character ferried the souls of the dead across the River Styx? 6. Who was the mother ol Solo mon? 7. What fictional character trained boys and girls to be 2. A habitual criminal. 3. Napoleon. 4. Guam Island is 206 square miles in area. 5. Charon. 6. Bath-shcba. 7. Fagin. Guide to U. S. Armed Forces Each Branch Has Its Insignia. r\0 YOU know all you'd like to know about our Army and Navy set-up? Or do you still won der how to tell a llier from an artilleryman, a company from a battalion, a cruiser from a battle ship? Ovr new 32-patre booklet toll* how our armed forces are organized and com manded. describes activities of the vari ous services. Has pictures of Army. Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard in signia? chevrons, branch identifications and special mark<. Lists pay of privates, officers. Send your order to: READER-HOME SERVICE 635 Sixth Avenue New York C ity Enclose 15 cents for your copy of GUIDE TO THE UNITED STATES AHMED FORCES. 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The Cherokee Scout (Murphy, N.C.)
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March 12, 1942, edition 1
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