Newspapers / The Elkin Tribune (Elkin, … / Aug. 10, 1933, edition 1 / Page 2
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SECOND INSTALLMENT SYNOPSIS: Ruth Warren, living In the East, comes-into possession of three-quarter interest in an Arizona ranch, left to her in the will of her only brother, reported to have died while on business in Merico. With her ailing hugband and small child she goes to Arizona to take posses sion, thinking the climate may prove beneficial to her husband's weak ened lungs. Arriving at the nearest town, she learns that the ranch, "Dead Lantern", is 85 miles across the desert. Charley Thane, old rancher and rural mail carrier, agrees to take them to "Dead L*n tern" gate. NOW GO ON WITH THE STORY . Listen!" commanded the girl sud denly. Her face was white, tense with sudden dread, and her lip guivered. "Oh, Kenneth!" she cried hysterically. "There's not a sound —not a sound—it's too much, I tell you! It's deathly—nothing moves, not a living thing! It's too big!" Old Charley put down his sand wich and stepping on the starter, kicked open the muffler. Ancient Lena broke into an unsteady roar. To give color to his action the old man got out of the car, threw back the hood, and stood staring skepti cally within. In the back seat the husband and wife were locked in each other's arms. Little David watched them with solemn eyes, not quite sure of his proper course. "It'll be all right dear," the man's voice came to her in a strained whisper above the grateful noise of the car. "We'll •just have to stick it out—you'll get used to it—all —" Again the thing In his chest began to flutter madly. • • • To Old Charley's mild surprise the young woman sat beside him for the rest of the afternoon. Her manner had changed. Silently, she looked about her. There was no pleasurable interest in her face as her eyes studied each detail of her surroundings—it was as though she felt it incumbent upon her to under stand this strange country. After half an hour she began to ask ques tions. "Will we see any cowboys to day?" - "We passed one an hour back." "That man on the horse? He didn't look like a cowboy. Oh. But don't they wear those—those fur rug things on their legs and high heel boots and big hats and revol vers—forty-fives?" "Hair chaps are all right on a fashion plate cowboy, or in a cold country. That man was wearin' the useful kind—plain cowhide. He was probably wearin' ridin boots—high heels. But nobody pack? a gun nowadays 'cepting hi-jackers and peace officers. Oh, it's kinda usual to carry a gun in your car for coy otes and such, but I ain't seen a cowpuncher with a holster on for fifteen or twenty years." "Why, according to you, this wild country must be as safe as a town with a good police force." "Lots safer. We got rattlesnakes and a few other things, but in town you've got high school kids scootin' around in stripped Fords." For the first time in many hours the girl laughed. She relaxed in the seat, and pulling her tight-fit ting hat from her head, let the dry wind do as it pleased with her short amber hair. "We've been awfully rude," she smiled, "we should have introduced ourselves—my husband's name is Kenneth Warren; I'm Ruth." The old man nodded. I figured maybe you might be. I think my son, Will, wrote you about—Mr. Grey." "Oh!" The girl's face went sober, "I see, ot course. Mr. Will Thane's letter came from Los Angeles and I didn't think of there being a con nection when I learned your name "this morning. Did—did you know my brother?" "Yes, pretty well. He and Will used to ride the country together quite a bit whenever Will came out. Will was here when the news waa brought about your brother Harry. "Please tell me what you know about Harry's death," asked the girl quietly. Old Charley shook bis head. "There ain't much I can tell you. I expect Will wrote about all anybody knows. Your brother went down Into Mexico last fall. After the fall cattle sellin', it was. He and his partner, J«p Scfveiy, bad been fig urin* or lookin' over some stock down that way—so Harry went. Snavely heard from him a time or two and learned Harry was sola' further into the interior. After that Bnavely didn't hear from him. For a couple of months h« didn't think nothin' about it because mall's mighty uncertain In some parts of Mexico. Then he commenced gettin' worried—he even come over to my place and asked me what should be done. Well, just about then a Mex ican came Into Palo Verde and told about findin' Harry. Close to two hundred miles below the iine, It was. The Mexican knew the body wa3 American and he brought some letters—one of them was from you. He described the clothes and so from the story the Mexican brought back and the letters and other per gonal things everybody knew it was Harry. Snavely was notified and he seen the Mexican and told all he knew about it, which is about what I told you. "Was there anything to show what caused Harry's death?" "Nothin' exact. The Mexican said it looked like he'd been thrown from his horse and dragged - but it's hard to tell." "Was—Harrx buried?" "Yes, the Mexican did that and he marked the grave. He told them at the next rancbo he come to about where to find the grave and all." The girl's eyes filled. "That was kind," she murmured "l expect Will told you it would n't hardly be possible to have the body brought over the line?" "Yes. And I'd rather have thingß the way they are—l'm the only one who cares, anyway," she finished bitterly. Old Charley changed the subject. "Are you folks plannin' on stayin' *a spell?" "Yes—l suppose so." She ans wered slowly, with a nervous glance at the gaunt range of mountains they would soon be entering. "Aren't we nearly there?" "It's quite a piece yet—we've on ly come about forty-five miles. We cross this range and then we're in the San Jorge Valley. The valley's a long one—runs 'way down into Mexico. The Dead Lantern's about forty miles down the valley and up | against the mountains on the west side. My place is along there too— lies between the south Dead Lan tern fence and the Mexican line— kinda over an elbow in the moun tain range." "Why in the world is the ranch called the Dead Lantern?" "Well, you see, the .brand is the outline of a lantern an' folks got to calling it the Dead Lantern—l reckon because there wasn't no light in it. A man makes a brand and puts it on his cattle, and then folks get to calling it whatever it looks like tb them. ."By and by some name sticks, and from then on everybody calls the ranch that." The old man pansed. "I expect this'll be your first trip out this way?" he asked. "I may as well tell you," said Ruth, "my husband hasn't been do ing well in business for some time —his health, you understand. Har ry kn«jw how things were and— well, he's always been my big brother. My husband and I were very young when we married and he kept his eye on us. He felt that we had no one to fall back on but him—my father and step-mother weren't—" she paused. "When Harry came West and bought his part of the cattle ranch, he willed it to me. He wasn't married, you see, and he wanted us to have some thing to fall back on if anything happened to him.. Now that he's gone, we've come out here to the ranch. W e also think the climate will benefit Mr. Warren." Old Charley was silent for a mo ment. "Well, well," he said at last, "so you're part owner of the Dead Lantern." The car covered a hundred yards of road. "Don't sup pose you've met Jep Snavely yet?" "No. I hardly kn«|w anything about him. Harry used to mention him in his letters. Are you a friend of his?" The old man pursed his lips. "I'm a neighbor. In fact a real close neighbor to the Dead Lantern. It's only about six miles over the moun tains from the Dead Lantern house to my house." "Ah—what sort of a man -is Mr. Snavely?" "He's about fifty—a good deal slimmer me"—the old man smiled—"He'a an old cattleman: but he ain't been in this country more'n twelve years or 80. Origi nally from Texas, so Harry said. But he knows cattle and ranchin'." "I'm glad to hear that," laughed the girl; "it will be rather neces sary to have some one around who knows what to do on a ranch." "Well, yes—l expect it will." Nearly two hours after they had passed through the range of low. mountains and had turned south ward, a wire fence came down from the mountains on the western side of the valley. "That's the Dead Lantern fence," said Old Charley noncommittally. "There's twenty thousand acres of the Dead Lantern, feed enough to run two thousand head, the land's all fenced, and there's heaps of browse up in the hills." How big is twenty thousand acres?" "Sieeable. The skyline of those mountains is the western bound'ry;- to the south where that ridge runs out into the valley is the southern line. My place is 'round on the ■■ _ •• . , - THE ELKIN TRIBUNE, ELKIN, NORTH CAROLINA other side of that ridge 'bout 20 miles by road. But there's a trail over the ridge from the Dead Lantern home ranch to my «place, that makes it about six miles. "And all that land from here to the' mountain tops belong to the Dead Lantern?" "Yes. And there's a heap more of it you can't see tucked away in the canyons. If you followed the line fence on horseback it would take you about four days to ride 'round the ranch." "No wonder it can hold two thou sand COWB! What do cattle sell for apiece—I mean how much a head?" "Forty to fifty dollars lately." She made a quick calculation. "My heavens! Could we get a hundred thousand dollars for the cattle?" Old Charley smiled. "It's not quite as simple as all that," Old Charley remarked gravely as he turned from the road and stopped by the Dead Lantern mail box. Just beyond the mail box was the gate; a newish sign, crudely lettered in black paint, was nailed on the mid dle bar. ANYBODY COMING ON THIS RANCH IS LIABLE TO GET SHOT! When the old man heard the girl gasp he knew that she had seen the sign, and with averted eyes he be gan to rummage in the government mail sack, The girl watched her husband's face aa he read; their eyes met blankly, then turned to the, old man. CHEVROLET by the widest margin in its histoiy ♦Bosed on the latest retail registration figures from R. L Polk & I Company (all states for five full months). Since January first Chevrolet ho* sold in excess of 370,000 passenger cars and trucks. ■ People have come to expect Chevrolet to economy .. . Cushion-Balanced to blot out *■ - - lead the world in automobile sales. But this vibration ... full of snap Mid vigor—altogether year Chevrolet has done even more than that. the moat efficient engine in the low.-price According to the latest available figures, Chev- —. ... . , .. . ... . rolet alone has sold almost as many cars this year . * ® r f nt Seoondß as all the rest of the low-price field combined! ?* Starterator, Simplified Free Wheeling, the Octane Selector, long, parallel-mounted springs- When a car looms above its field like that, there more advancements than we have space to can't be any argument about it. It mutt be describe. And Chevrolet prices are as low as $445. .an ell-round better buy. And that's exactly Don't guess—buy from the leader. Get a car that what Chevrolet offers you. Fieher bodies, with " has been proved sound and dependable by more the new ventilation system and the strongest owners than any other autofaobile you can buy. . and quietest body construction of the day— CHEVROLET MOTOR CO., DETROIT, MICH, solid steel over a sturdy hardwood frame. * A . . ..... * ... ***•• '■ *>■ runt, Mich. Specie/ eeu/pjnenf estrs. Low reire-in-heed aix engine, unapproached for «i*uverw pri— ee*r o. m. a. c. term. )1A ! A OINIRAI MOTORS VAIMI F-W Chevrolet Co. Elkin, N. C. ——— . I —————— "What In the wotld does tliat mean?" asked Warren,-' "Nobody thinks it means any thing," answered Old Charley reas suringly. "Just Jep Snavely's way —he's a little ac-eentric." He pointed to a faint cloud of dust far up the two wheel paths which led from beyond the gate toward the distant mountains. "I'll be going along now—l reckon it would be best for you folks to meet your new pardner alone, anyways." He look ed into Warren's eyes. "And if something should come up sudden ,like that you'd want to get to town in a hurry just ride over the moun tain to my plage. * This old car ain't much, but she still rolls." While they werq piling the bag gage by the mail box, both the girl and her husband glanced frequently at the sign. They watched Old Charley until the car disappeared over a hill a few hundred yards south of the gate, then turned their attention to the approaching wagon on the ranch road. When the wagon stopped at the gate, an Indian boy of ten slid cau tiously to the ground and, with his wide eyes fixed on the three by the mail box, sidled to the gate and opened it. This done, he speedily rejoined the family in the wagon. Kenneth Warren went forward. "Can you tell me," he addressed the two-hundred-pound Indian on the wagon seat, "where is Mr. Snavely? Are you his man," The Indian looked at his two hundred and fifty pound squaw, glanced back among his numerous progeny, and then turned his black eyes on Warren. "No sabe." The horses started forward. "Mamma, letter for tKe man!" David, the letter from the box out stretched, started toward the re treating- wagon. "No, David, not to that man. Mama will tell you when the man comes to whom you are to give the letter." An instant later she whirl- Ed about to her husband the letter Jn her hand. "Kenneth! This let ter—it's the one I wrote over two weeks ago to Snavely—he doesn't know we're coming!" . CONTINUED NEXT WEEK Prescriptions CAREFULLY g| Ijt COMPOUNDED f| "We Check Double Check" It is important that your prescription be compounded as accurately as is possible for best results. For that reason, a prescription brought to us is compounded with painstaking care in every particular. In addition, only the best of drugs are used. For prompt, careful attention, bring us your next one. Turner Drug Co. JKI (Incorporated) Elkin, N. C. Phone 64 Thursday, Auirust 10, 1933 COAIi STRIKE TRUCK An absolute truce in the strike of Pennsylvania coal miners pending completion of a code under the na tional recovery act for the whole industry was announced early Sat urday by President Roosevelt.
The Elkin Tribune (Elkin, N.C.)
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Aug. 10, 1933, edition 1
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