Senorito sv" lorena carleton *■WrrKN n,h AN» l«LM!>EI. MY rKNTKAL MUM A!tt>oriATI> « SYNOPSIS .'.1 Al.l.OItV I!AI;kI;. :. !utui|; man. JtlOIAltD UI^VTUB. YKSTERl>AY: A Mexican boy, Pcpe. tells Muiluty tliat the aulomtihilij she hna Juat put rl la.sril toriuerly bi'luit'^eU to a doctor who now la in the "clink." CHAPTER NINE MALUXiY NOW understood Pept's exclamatory whistle. "What ilo you mean, 'clink' "Just clink, senorita. Not sissy jail stuff, but the bail clink. Old Dr. Courvier now Is in the jvn." "How awful." Maliory shuddered. She had wondered briefly about liim, had thought he probably was In the Army. Hut this! "Couldn't you be wrong, Pepe?" His mouth twisted to one side jnntl made il little clicking sound. He was insulted. "No, I'm not wrong! Everybody around here knows the old coot was mixed up in a dope ring. Why, he used to come zooming back and forth across the bridge in this high-pow ered buggy nearly every night." "This very car?" Mai lory Baker looked at her prize'd possession with horror. "Ciood heavens—1 don't want any Jope car," she cried. Her voice held a hysterical note. "It's not a dope car," I'epo told her with patient slowness. Dr. Cotirvier was too smart a guy for that. He had the stuff brought up other ways. Urul' r powder in wom en's powder lioxe.s. Ho even had an old woman bringing it up inside a fish, lie had all sorts of ideas. He didn't use this pretty buj;gy for anything except to drive over and meet people." The boy's eyes were wide and glowing. "He was too smart a guy for that." Mallnry remarked coldly, "Not too smart to get caught." "Yes. you're right." l'epe looked uncomfortable at having to admit that fact. "So don't get any racketeer ideas!" To herself Mailory's words sounded like the worst sort of prim teacher. Well, what if they did? l'epe had a good beginning with his attempts to inveigle money from a traveler. "Don't bawl me out!" retorted Pepe. "I'm not going to be any dope peddler. Ami don't get funny ideas about your automobile. It's O. K. I just hartr. t seen it in so long. You see, it was left to the doc's wife and then, when she com mitted suicide, her sister tried to sell it and nobody—" "Nobody wanted it," supplied Mallory. ' A dark flush spread over Pepe's thin cheek. "Well, nobody around here. But there's nothing the mat .ter," he insisted. "Everything is O. K." Yeh, thought Mallcry grimly, ex cept that I have the sensation of being in a haunted house with something tugging at my coat tails. Again she found herself wanting to go back to New York. But, as be fore, she couldn't hear to let Tod Patrick have the satisfaction of that retreat. "Pcpe," she commanded, "let's get some lunch. And if you must talk, please make it pleasant." As it turned out, the boy did not talk at all. He just ate, ravenously. Searching for a word. Mallory thought of skill. That was what such eating amounted to. She watched Pepe tlown, without any trouble, a huge steak Willi chili sauce, several cnchilades, salad, three cups of hot chocolate and both his and her cake. As they walked out of the res taurant onto tho street, Pepe paused significantly before a shop tilled with scrapes, small rugs, woven bankets, bright pottery— ali sorts of curios. "Curiosidades," in big letters, outside the shop, pro claimed its wares. "Want to buy a lot of things, senorita?" lie inquired innocently. The avaricious cunning showed on his lean features, however. It made Mallory stern. "No, I don't, l'epe. And if you don't stop trying to make money on me, your tip is going to got smaller and smaller and smaller." Curiously, her throat brought a smile from l'epe. "Oh, no. The love ly senorita wouldn't be so cruel. Not the senorita with eyes bluer than the flowers and hair golden like an angel's in heaven. Oh, no"' he said more excitedly. "Not when I ve given her so much of my time. I've escorted hc-r to have the pho tographs. I've escorted her back to her car for her dark glasses. I've escorted her to lunch. I've given her the comfort of mv company in a strange town. And now 1 try to give her the help of ntv expert ad vice so she will not he cheated in the shop—" Ho had been enumerating on tho tips of his slim t-n lingers. "So the lovely senorita would never do me such a wrong when I already revere her almost as I do the Virgin of Guadalupe." As he had during his earlier plea, he grasped her hand with his warm, sticky lingers. "Oh, senorita, please be generous with me. Clive me many pesos so that I may go to Mexico City to sec my beloved mother." "Your mother, Pepe? You, an orphan?" The boy snapped his fingers with self-disgust, mashed his lips to gether and hit himself in the chin all at once. "Never will I learn not to open my mouth so wide. But I do open it and tho words simply roll out." Nevertheless, ho was not act ually chagrined. "Let'- have a coky-coly, senorita." Not waiting for her answer, he sent a peremptory whistle toward a boy loitering in the short street at the end of the bridge. The tiny fellow ran swiftly, his bare feet making a swirl of dust. Pope's lord liness lasted until they wore in pos session of the bottles. Then he mo tioned to tho bahy-sizod vendor that the senorita would pay, ami stopped back to loan against an adobo wall in a pose of laziness that came with no trouble whatso ever. Rosa's hour was not 60 minutes. It extended over exactly two hours and thirty-eight minutes. Mallory knew this, because when she sent l'epe after her photographs she watched for him to emerge from Roe-.'s shop. At that instant she looked at her watch. Pope's lazi ness as he proceeded along the narrow sidewalk made her want to pot back of him and boot him. Still, what difference did it make? She had lost so much time. Because she had planned the customs inspec tion as a matter of minutes only, she was doubly inccnsed over the — I, •May. Aiitl it was not yet over. The pictures hud to be ailixed to lie.- various passports. Also, "And now jour cur. Miss LSakor. Of course you understand you must ■nuke u 2.r>0-prso deposit on it?" "But why?" "Because you are going to work." "lie «irl did not care to start that argument all over again, so she just nodded. "It s refunded to you when you return," she was informed. "Now, your jewelry ? W.uit ure you taking?" She moved hrr shoulders irrita bly. "This ruby and red-gold wrist watch. a string of pearl.-, ami a dia mond bracelet." The man looked at the coat slung over her arm. "And a mink coat." He looked up from his writing to explain. "All this is t.. protect you when you come back north, a. great many people buy jewels and furs in the city, so we have to know which is which—now, about your smallpox vaccination. Haw you a certificate?" Heavens, no! But 1 have been vaccinated." He lulled her Instantly. "All right, Miss Baker. If you swear you have, we'll let that pass. Its all Tor your own protection. The women arc Inspecting your two bags now. Let's see if they have finished." To gether they walked out to the far ther end of the bridge. Mallor.v's luggage was on to,» a high wooden shelf. A sad-cycd Mexican woman ex tended Mallory's pistol toward tlio customs inspector. "Ah. Miss Bak er," he deplored. "Why?" "Yuu were laying something about protection." "It is not permitted. And it is not necessary. We," he assured, "have a most peaceful country. No trouble whatsoever. The highway in like wall ing through your own liv ing room. You will have to leave this with me, Miss Baker." At last, at a little before 4 o'clock, after having passed out tips—a particularly liberal one to Pepe for his escort serviec—Mal lory Baker drove over the Rio Grande. As she left Niievo La redo s sun-baked buildings she camc to an apparently uninhabited des ert-land. Mallory began to drive faster. She had 110 miles to drive to Monterrey, something she knew she could not do before dusk. She knew, too, that, although the countryside appeared uninhabited, it could not possibly be. There were too many herds of goats dashing back and forth across the highway. They were managed by sandal-foot ed or barefooted men in wide som breros and loose white cotton suits that looked like pajamas. Little boys, exact replicas in identical clothes, often were along, carrying, as did their fathers, huge machetes. Occasionally a woman, in bright clothes, a baby strapped across her back, was the goat herder. But, as dusk approached, the goats and peons disappeared. They have gone to their rough little homes, decided Mallory, thinking at the same time, "The customs in spector was right. This truly is a peaceful country." As abruptly she changed her mind. The scene that loomed up in the sh.-.dowy daylight was responsible. The men were not fixing a tire, as she had sur mised. One was being thoroughly and brutally murdered by the other two. (To Be Continued^ JAP BOMBERS RETALIATE AT GUADALCANAL AN AMERICAN WARSHIP (loft) steams into port at Guadalcanal soon after the departure of Jap bombers which left flames and smoke rising from shore installations. The ship's gun crews stand at their posts ready for a return visit by the Japs to the island, which is still a fighting zone. U. S. Navy i>huto. (International) rm r: 1 ^ S A HOUNO t>06 BECOME A^ 'WATCH C0<&"WHEA) HES PULL OF TICKS T GEO, FULLERTTON ATLANTA, SA— C>EA6 MOAH~ CO PABBrr HUN»"m«S USE- ''HAI5E TfclCfSEe*&UNi? , ' JOE CALV/M JP, CMA<8LOTtK, A>C »OSTcTA*C> VOUR? NuMNOTiONi to * OCA* NOAll'^c^t or m/% — (viiKtH »r rt»i f»n.m rtoAti Numskull At ACsN\n! E>EAR HOW CAM VOU TELL TIME AfTBS AN ''ALU AROUND TMI5 CLOCK*BOMBW /A FELLOW STAY SIMOWA» ? WADE WEAVER SgQTTOALE, VEMMA Postca«C> A'nummy Vo'/yaw N«W»1 »r K»»| tfr**•<• ton C5EAR MOAH=* IS A COW THfr" BUTTER HALF "OF THE COW FAMILY? BUPStSS BONN »;i CHAIficrrre, N C. DC AW NOAH= IF I PUT tmeVunnv sheets" Om MY BEt>,will i HAVE HAPPY WOEA.MS? C>. hsaly jacksoa# , MtiaHl Ss Al Y OOiT C.-AWD Youe nijMNotioms to / 'bfiAP aicjam^t-o osw/ IVrtWH *f K'-| rIm Hazards on the Home Front By LOGAN CLENDENING. M. D. WINTFK IS tin1 season when the home is the most dangerous. "Little Willie in the best of sashes Fell in the fire and burned to ' ashes." is not simply an example of the mordant humour of Col. Slaugh Dr. Clcndening will answer questions of general interest only, and then only through his column. ter: some such occurrence is hap pening this very second in some homo in the land. The most dangerous room in the house is the bathroom. The cellar is a close second. A year or so ago I mentioned the hazards of the cel lar—going down the steps in the dark and hitting the step Father forgot to fix; getting up 011 the rickety stepladder that is not sol idly on all fours to get a jar of preserves, etc., etc. But the bathroom takes the prize. It is an electrocution cham ber, nn icy street, a boiling vat, a sharp razor, a shallow lake with a reputation for drownings, a pre cipitator of the fata! complica tions of angina, high blood pres sure and fainting spells, and many other things. "How to take a hath and live!" was the subject of an at tide by Dr. Dublin, of New York, in which he listed the statistics of the rec ord of thi3 chamber of horrors. And another statistician of the bathroom ended his remarks by the sapient supposition that— "Not many people would di'lib erately shut themselves inside a closet with a tiger, a rattlesnake sn'l a Hash of lightning." Not a few of bathroom hazard* ore the fault of architects. Why should the bottom of the huthtuiit let alotiu the sides, be so smooth that Siinja Heiiie would shrink from tliem? The bottonv of the bathtub could be corrugatcd or even sandy—the water will bouy you up so that you do not get any pattern 011 your delicate hinder shin. Xo bathroom should be de signed so that electric switches an- within reach of the bather. They may be human rat traps. A Denver woman of t>7 not wedded under the faucet.'', and, cilice she lived alone, was not discovered for four days. As to the boilinfi vat, a New York hotel could testify to that. An actress sued it because scald ing water came out of the faucet and spoiled her beauty. She was awarded $100,00(1.00. Carelessness Cause of Accidents It isn't necessary in the winter time to take a bath once a day. It' old people with atrophied skin would lea 1 n this their itchin^s would i;o away. Kvery room in a house lias its own kind of danircr. Counting mi nor ones, there are probably 111010 injuries occu.-rinir in the "safety of the home" than on the streets. Hut if we used ordinary precau tions, and common sense, most of the accidents wouldn't happen. Must of them can be put down to laziness, carclr sness, thought lessness and losimr the old temper — the sticking door to which you say "Oh! you won't come open, eh?" and then it does come open ami ftives you a black eye or a bloody nose. Alter the accident happens the fust sent'-nce the vic tim sp"::l - Ih'jm!i- "I hould li.ive known better than to—." Wife Preservers Try cleaning marble by rubbing with Rait; or mix salt with an equal quantity of powdered pumiee stoni* and e:.ou?h water to make a thick errant. Wasli mar ble with this, allow it to soak a few tnin* litis, then cleanse with sail water. SCOTT'S SCRAP BOOK vjAVAHia BIUEVffHt HEAP o\ A. H^iVl K SAIRED - IF A Foiei^Mtk ♦ll-f<5 OR tVLK "IbuirftS A KA.4 ? f ARSlqllftf NESS MR ^OWM VC A LOS AK^tLtS S-foctC sUow. WEI<;«4luCi oHl/ 260 Pounds A-wt> 34 inches ih MEic,M1 « PBoBABiy -<((£_ ■fiNiEvf Adult Bull in -ftti wokip By R J SCOn THIMBLE THEATRE—Starring Popeye "Signs Of Life." VOU'RE A SPLENDID GPEClMEKS OF MAU HOOD.POPE^E —PUTOM S«?UR CLOTHES WHILE I SEE CUM AT (JjE CAM DO ABCUT" VOUR eve jt^jk THINKS VA'ILTAKE WE BLONDIE-—(,lecls,ercU L »• 1'atcnl Life Is Blind! By Chic Young ; sur T OM SJE5 K\'? _"MOKT J/ £JP WELL -OL) O* TPM OP «.vM OUT, yS- "••- ■ ETTA KETT 8EAS6 Y IS SURE '■ acting kys^hrious i ■ LATELY i MUST BE THAT SCHOOL 1 PLAV HEG WORK IMS Of I he SA/S irs ) A CHILLER ' THuTS :•! ,-l K v L ; \i \ AA' Uy HAUL ROBjNjON GOOD EVEN IMC Ty&L FfiiEfJDo'y1 " I . • • % !•¥ ^FvL %$k% « sC /£ t-r^ LWj I he Gumps - Farewell To (Ned's) Arms •'pou r WOVEY. foiPLS U