FIRE IN THE DARK sc&
© By 4uTfiJA - OiSTA.fl* fn f!r * , ■ - „ I
, - ,_° - * v'-’ f-EATijGES Sr\0.-CAT£I
SYNOPSIS
Kieonore Lawrence, Air Raid
Defense C'enter worker in Sweets
burg a town humming with war
industry and rumors of saboteurs
-his been the recipient of spy ex
pose hooks, and wonders who the
anonymous sender is. She secretly
hopes it might he William Steuben,
a friend of her brother Arthur, who
hud visited the Lawrences months
ago. hut from whom she had heard
nothing since One of the air raid
officials showed distinguished look
ing R. Stea l Jones how the Center
operates. The Lawrence household,
|o ited on the lonely outskirts of
t ■ n. consists of Grandma" Law
n-mu : Sukey. Klconore’s small sis
tv . and Mamie, maid of all work.
K!.oncrc s brothers, Arthur and
Eben, are in the Navy and Coast
Guard respectively. Eleonore
learned from Fannie Edgerly, real
estate agent, that the adjoining
Wolffe estate has been leased by
R. Stead Jones. She is visited by
John Sabriski, member of Amer
ica's Counter Intelligence Corps,
who enlists her aid, much to Grand
ma’s alarm,
CHAPTER FOUR
Sabriski explained that one of
the C.LC. agents was living with a
group of aliens not far away and
that he might be hard put to get
his reports out promptly. He was
under constant surveillance; writ
ing letters would be difficult, and
mailing them out of the question.
A rural delivery mail box. used by
many, would be a poor place in
which to leave a C.I.C. report.
Her mind jumped ahead of him:
Eleonore thought of Hickory, a tiny
settlement of workers' one-story
houses, a mile down the lane leading
oft November Road. A couple of
_jien from Connecticut had bought |
an abandoned paper mill there and
were using it to reclaim rubber
from old tires. The smell was un
plea-ant and she seldom drove or i
walked that way.
"Is your man at Hickory?” she j
"Your guess at that is as good as j
i he replied briefly. ‘‘Now this
( l.i’. man ran walk along this road ;
a !■ r work, at night. He could drop
1 report at some special spot.”
sabriski took the last cigarette
f: ■ his pack, twisted the paper
.■ '.liner and flipped it over to the
s: i- of the room. “Like that.”
see nodded. “I sec. Inside the
empty pack.”
His thin mouth lifted at the,
corner in something approaching!
an approving smile. “You could I
look each morning near your bar
berry hedge for a discarded cigar
ette park, ,Hut perhaps lie wouldn't j
get as far as this house.”
"Then?" she leaned forward.
“Three other places,” Sabriski
drew a map from his pocket. “Now
you go walking wuh your dog quite '
a Gil. South of here, three-eighths
of a miie front your gate, he will1
1 f? ,h* W »wk on the left
. Th'' third place i* ilt the
, hve birch tree* growing ou, „f
I slnpl<', s,l,»'P one-half a mile from
your driveway. The fourth and !a-t
, is a >ig tamarack tree on the right
side, three-quarters of a mile from
your gate. Is that clear?"
I “Our hedge, the reek, the hirche :
the tamarack tree in that order’
AH o„ our road; none on the lane
to Hickory?”
“Right!” Ho gave her more in
structions: She must never appear
to be hunting an object, m. hint ot
her employment must over escape
her to man, woman or child; the
coded message was to he sent to a
| certain address as soon as received.
‘I mild you till mo who chose me
i ‘or ’bis work?" Eleonore asked.
; lie shrugged. "I wouldn't know,
and it s not essential, is it? In fact
I don t know the name of the agent
you're helping. I take orders and
am only told enough to carry them
: out.
I "Xo, it isn't essential,” she said
slowly. "The main thing is that 1
can he of some use.”
Elconore's eyes sparkled with
emotion, the lamp making gold
lights in her chestnut hair, hut John
Sahriski was not a susceptible
young man or had other fish to fry,
for he only said gloomily, "The
weasels got a long headstart on us
with shortwave poison from tier
many, all the Bunds and drilling,
traitors sounding otT, so now we’ve
got to buck all that plotting with
some snappy work of our own.
We're training men in counter
espionage as fast as we can, but a
whale of n big job is ahead of us,
and we’re short handed.”
Soon Sahriski left. Xo taxi was
waiting. He walked swiftly down '
the dark road.
Before Eleonore lowered a cur
tain. a reassuring gleam came
through the trees in the direction of |
the Wolffc house further up the
mountain. Xot that she was afraid. :
hut it was nice to have good neigh
bors within a short distance. Sa
briski s v isit made her feel uneasy,
yet somewhat important.
If a boy, she would have gone inti*
the service of her country like her
brothers, but now, she rejoiced: I'm
going to be of some use in stopping
the enemy!
Her future quickly flowered into
purpose and meaning. That stage ■
of her life when she had grieved
over the untimely death of Henry
Winters, and when her affection
leaned toward William Steuben,
was definitely over.
Eleonore tiptoed through the din
ing room to get a drink of water in
the kitchen. The swinging door to
the pantry was propped open by a !
chair, occupied by Mrs. Lawrence.
The poker from the upstairs fire
placo rolled from her lap with a
clang.
“(Iran—you here?” she cried in
dismay.
"Has he gone?” she croaked. "I !
=———----- - •—D
came down the back stair; with th*
poker Think I was poinfr to Uav«
you alone with a strange follow lilt#
that?“
"You wore listening?"
‘‘Heard every word he said.”
Kleonore eyed her sternly. "N'o,
.vent didn't. Repeat it to me if you
did.”
“One of our spies is living among
those toughs at Hickory. We’re to
l’ick up all the empty cigarette
pai kages from here to the tamarack
tree.”
I he girl turned on the faucet and
ttie tunning water smothered her
an.id ie groan. IIow many times
had Grandma reddened their faces
by the very things they didn’t want
t. I I? Site would relate it to Mamie,
hint of it to chance callers, give it
away to the grocery hoy.
"Kl'iicr Lawrence,” scolded the
old lady, "take that mad look off
your face! My father had his arm
shot off in the Civil War. ami Hen.
my baby, was killed in the last war.
I guess 1 love this United States as
much as you do!"
"N'o one was to know.” The girl's
eyes smarted. "We’d better go to
bed now.”
Somehow she must find a way to
cork up Grandma.
Kleonore worked on her grand
mother the next morning before
break last. “I’ve decided to give it
up: it s the only fair tiling to do.
i lie conditions were that I was not
to reveal it to a living person.” She
mot the torrent of protestations
that she was a viperous child not
to trust her own grandmother, im
plicitly. "N'o use, Gran. You'll even
hint that Kl’ner is working for the
F.Ii.I.”
"I’ll do nothing of the kind. I
can keep as tight a mouth as any
one. Anyone — do you hear?” Her
burning eyes riddled her grand
daughter with scorn.
”|,i' you’ll ask questions as to
what I found.”
The disappointment that over
spread the old lady’s face was piti
ful. Finally she said firmly, "I will
not!"
"N'o. Gran. I can read your
thoughts. ^ oil’ll want to lie hearing
it I had any luck. That's natural.
Rut in this more than a man’s life,
is at stake. It may he something
that affects the war, everyone, if
wo whispered or winked that we
knew there was a spy nest at Hick
ory—or some such tiling.”
"Get the Bible!" Grandma
snapped.
Holding it in her withered hands
Mrs. Lawrence swore that she
hoped that she died in an Old Ra
llies Home if she ever revealed in
any form or manner v.liat she had
heard tiie night before. Kleonore
relented. "1’retend it was all a
dream. Gran, something fantastic
that happened in a dream, and for
get it." she urged.
Grandma nodded.
(To be continued)
FIRST TRIAL BEFORE U. S. COURT IN BERLIN
HEJi IS A VIEW of the first trial to be held before th« American court in Berlin. Standing on left is the prose
cuting officer, Lt. Stephen E. Ware, reading the charge. Behind the table is the judge, Col. John MacNeill.
Kitting in front of the table is Cpl. Frank H. Reed, court clerk, North Hollywood, Calif. Standing in center is
defendant Hans P. Fannschmidt, with Mrs. Gerda Gottschalk, of New York, interpreter. On extreme right is
Pvt. A. Mallin, bailiff, Kansas City. The defendant is charged with having made false statements when he
failed to admit former membership in the Nazi Party in filling out a labor form. Gale matin nail
BOMBS BLAST HONSHU'S RAIL-FERRY LINK
HERI GOES ANOTHER LINK in Japan’s communication lines, against which U. S. plane carriers and warships
are directing a large percentage at their efforts. When, just a few days ago, Admiral Halsey’s 3rd units struck
the northern end of Honshu, one of the targets was this rail-car ferry which operated between Aomori, on
Honshu, and Hakodate. Hokkaido. Official U. S. Navy Radiouhoto. • International Suundunoto)
S
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BEING A REALIST PAYS
IT IS NOT a question of what
you could do against absolutely
perfect play by your opponents.
Winning or losing play in bridge
depends or. your moves against
the action actually taken by the
other side. In other words, the
thing to ilo is to be a realist, and
face the facts that are really pre
sented for you to consider Taking
fullest advantage of the other fel
low's slips is just as important as
avoiding them yourself—and
sometimes much more so.
4 A Q 10
4 K 10 2
4 A K 6
* A J 7 6
4 K J 6 Tr 4 9 7 2
4 Q J 9 7 4 w p 4 A 8 3
4 8 7 U ^ 4 J 10 4 3
*9 5 3 S *K 8 2
4 8 5 4 3
4 6 5
4 Q 9 5 2
*Q 10 4
(Dealer: North. North-South
vulnerable.!
North East South West
2 * Pass 2 NT Pass
3 NT
At more of the duplicate tables
in a big game. North started the
bidding of this deal with 2-No
Trumps and South went to game
in it But more interesting play
developments came at the three
tables where the deal was bid as
given, with North making what
might be called a slight overbid.
At all of these West led the
heart Q.
Here's one way the contract got
made. The K covered the heart Q,
the A won it. East returned the 8
to the J and the 7 to the 10
cleared the suit. Three diamond
tops were scored, bad play, setting
up the J. but it didn't prevent
panic. The club Q lost to the K,
the diamond J was scored and club
2 returned to the 10 A spade
finesse, the spade A and club A
and J completed the contract
At another table, play began
with the same first trick won by
the heart A, but when the 8 was
returned, West played low, letting
the 10 win. When East later got
the lead with the club K. he sent
the heart 3 to the J, and West ran
two more hearts to bi.it the con
tract.
One South made it by sounder
play to the first trick Instead of
covering the heart Q lead with the
K, he played the 2. Ready to play
the 10 if the next lead was low,
he used the K when the second
lead was the J. Notice how this
was hound to block the suit later,
so that West could never get the
lead to run his now set-up hearts.
That declarer made his game
without having to he helped by
defenders' ineptitude Not only
that, but he made an extra trick,
losing only a club and two hearts
and getting throe spades, one
heart, three diam mils and three
clubs.
* * *
Tomorrow''- Problem
* Q 7 5 3
A J 10 8
A Q J «
* 10 9 7
A K 9 6 -1 A J
A Q 7 6 4 N A 0 3
A K 10 7 2 W E ♦ A 9 4 3
+ 82 S + A Q J 6
--- 5 4
+ A 10 8 4 2
A A K 9 2
A 8 5
+ K 3
(Dealer: South. East-West vul
nerable.)
If South's 1-Spade here is passed
to East, who bids 2-Cluba, what
action should follow?
Distributed by Ilinii Features Syndicate, Inc
Wife Preservers
“weeps,” it may be because the tilling
hasn’t been sufficiently cooked. Next
time pour the hot mixture of cornstarch,
flour and milk over the beaten egg yolk,
then stir and cook for two minutes.
Wife Preservers
What do you do when your electrical
appliances develop trouble? 1 >o you leave
the appliance connected and then: poke
around trying to locate the trouble? If
you do. you may expect either an
live repair job or a funeral.