Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 11 December 1936 — Page 48

BY ROBERT DICKSON (1936, NEA Service, Inc.)

of Frank Kendrick, to whom had been engaged. When shortare found in Kendrick’s business

A McDougall Osborn » who dislikes Marcia, leads him #0 believe Marcia is engaged fo another

' There is a bank holdup and police the Canfield car to follow fie bandits. The ear is wrecked and oth Marcia and her father are injured. y all, driving with Dorothy, arives on the scene and takes Marcia and Ber father to the hospital. | Their injuries are slight. Although Marcia’s arm is in a sling, she takes in an amateur play s short time A New York producer attends the performance and offers Dorothy a part in his new production. Marcia gives a party for Dorothy, Bruce goes, but misunderstandings befween him and Marcia are Increased instead of lessened. He goes to see Joan and Mike Bradford and finds them in an srgument, ; NOW GO ON WITH THE STORY

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN IKE returned with a tray and glasses, tossed another log on ‘the fire, lit a cigaret and sat down on the sofa beside McDougall. Joan on the other side. “So you can

give an ear to each of us,” she said, “and if you put cotton in the one on his side you won't be missing

. “We have a piece of money,” began Mike, “earned by the sweat of my brow...” . “And saved by my strength of mind, dof’t forget,” said Joan. . «.. and saved by my own selfdenial,” continued her husband, “which 1s available for two purposes. Bhe wants to buy a house; I want to buy a future.” ~ “Not a lot of money, you understand,” explained Joan, “but enough to pay down on a home of our

“And enough to pay down on a future,” replied Mike. “Have you ever seen the Bobbs Neck Gazette? No? It's a weekly, and it’s awful. 80 I want to buy it. ~ “But no, sir, she wants the house - Now, and I'm to stay on a pay roll for the rest of my life. “I'll grant,” said Mike, “that there ~ Would be a big debt to work off, and I'm betting my work against the burden. But I still think I could make it pay. It's a matter of - public knowledge that it used to ~ Support two families and do it well, - and if I could just struggle and get 16 back over the hill. . .” : 2 2 2 E frowned at the fire. “Don’t think I don’t sympathize with the ambition,” said Joan, more earnestly than Mecugall had ever heard her speak. ‘It's just the size of the mortgage that staggers me. I don’t want you growing gray under a debt. But what was the new idea you men~Atipned a while ago?” “Oh, that was to hire some highpriced talent,” replied Mike, grin‘ning a bit rulefully. “It just occurred to me that Bruce here could attend the village's biggest event each week and do it in sketches a half page or so. His daily stuff is getting to be known all over thecountry, but our. weekly would be the only paper printing his draw- ' Ings of local news. . . . For a minute * I thought it was a hot idea.” It was, of course, not a rare ambition, McDougall realized. He had . Worked at drawing boards in newspaper offices long enough to hear it - on many tongues: “If I could only buy me a good weekly . . .” The newspaper man's song of independ-

man. He had never written @ line in his life. Even his sketches

) ess. He could, of course, contribute the sketches Mike had sug- , but they would be mere win- ¢ dressing. There was, therefore, a problem of fractions. “One-half and one-half,” he said pud; “that makes one. Then a jaird, a third and a third; that makes one again. -So three it is!”

# " n

BW EAT may have happened ¢ earlier in the evening I i 't know,” said Mike, “but you've “had only one drink here.” “Maybe he’s balmy from listento you,” Joan suggested across ir visitor

_ figures out perfectly,’ proi McDougall. “Look here: You 6 & piece of money, I'll match That doubles the down paymakes the amount what you it to be. And makes an r mortgage. But also you are ng to put in all your time, oll newspaper training. So we partners. One-third to me for money, one-third to you for money and one-third to you your work. Because I'll con-

thing, and one-third for you

two-thirds for Mike would2’t the dar

matches?

ha 3

was by who had a living without it.

“And there still is a lot to be

of you will put into the paper would get each of you a home.”

“What does he want a nouse for?” asked Mike, “he’s not married.” “He can get married, can’t he?” retorted Joan reasonably. “Really, Bruce—you and Mike have been talking about the Gazetle as a bargain, but there are a lot of house bargains here, too, and you wouldn’t be making any mistake if you got yourself at least a lot now, because they're bound to go up and when you need one youll have to pay more for it.” “Leave him alone,” said Mike. “What do you want to-do—build his house for him, pick out a girl and get him married?” “Somebody ‘will have to arrange it for him some day,” Joan replied. “It might as well be me.” “It might as well, IT guess,” said Mike, “after all, you arranged mine.” Jay Ud “T'll be going,”. said * McDougall, atop there’s an argument. I wal

and I'm walking out with a newspaper on my hands. I'll get started before anything happens to me.”

‘starlight of 2 o'clock in the morning, McDougall suddenly stopped in his tracks and laughed. “A few weeks ago ‘I came to ‘town and settled down fo a new ,” he told himself, “and thought I had started on enough of the future to keep me busy for a long while. Three hours ago I walked

and came ouf with another chunk of the future to be wrestled with. It’s a little faster pace than I've been used to—but I like it. Anything can. happen now.” : His way led past the foot of a hill up’ which a road disappeared in the darkness of night and many trees. He knew that road, and the site at the crest of the hill. Half an acre, Once it had been a spot to build a hope on. ’ “But now,” grinned McDougall, daring the dream to come back, “having spent my money, there's none- left ‘for ‘real estate anyway.”

.. .(To Be Continued)

NN NN yw

Ls S80

ATCHES are cheap, a penny a box. Mebbe they don’t mean much to you, but they mean a lot to me. I never light a pipe, that I don’t think o’ that night. And it was 20 years ago. ... -

By 5 o'clock, Tom and I knew we were lost. The fishing schooner had disappeared in a great bank vo’ fog, and our dory drifting around since 3, when we'd finished our trawls. It’s an awful thing to be 200 miles from land in an open boat 16 feet long, and a sea comin’ on. The fog was slitherin’, like it does before a blow. And man, it was cold! Tom—he was an old hand—rested on his oars. “Jack,” he says, “have ye got We'd best light the lantern, an’ maybe some one'd see it.” I crawled up to the bow, the dory hoppin’ around, .and groped under the seat where we kept our supplies. There was biscuits in there, hooks and extra trawl lines, but devil a bit could I put eyes on a match, and the dark was comin’ op. A cold, sickening fear came over me. It was my job to see we had matches whenever the dory went out.

” # 8

SEARCHED my pockets over and over. And there was Tom watchin’ me, like a ghost. “Mebbe you might have some,” I said weakly. He took off his oilskin coat and emptied his pockets. Not a match. “Jack,” he said, “how many times have I told you that your life and mine might depend on those matches?” “Twenty times, Tom, or mebbe a hundred. So often that I got kind o’ used to it and forgot ‘em today. It seems kind o’ hard that, this one day in a hundred—" “No, Jack,” he says, “that’s life, an’ didn't I-tell ye? It's not enough to be on yer guard 99 days in a hundred. - And this is winter. If we ain’t picked up tonight, we'll be froze to the dory.” . My teeth were chattering then, and Tom had a blue look under his

“Hush,” says he. “Ye're enly a boy—maybe yell live to come through.

: 7101 38 8 ie i Ez

g i 53 1 Bs i SE

8 ; fr gi ) 4

ip!

NO MATCHES = By John D. Whiting Daily Short Story

212

I jumped up and hollered like I was out of my head.

our blood from freezin’. Up we'd go on a big wave, and then down. 8 8 = HEN a half-frozen- man’s "rowed for hours on end, he gets kind o’ nutty. I can remember all kinds o’ ships that I'put eyes on that night. Mebbe they was real. I'd get my hand off the oar—it

stuck with the ice—and wave to the ships, yellin’ for help. Only, my voice sounded way off, like somebody else’s.” Then Tom would turn half around and give me a crack with his oar, and I'd come to. And the big lantern’d’ rattle around with every hop o’ the dory, as if to remind me of the matches. “When the gray dawn was comin’, Tom collapsed. I knelt over him, and batted him hard. : “Wake up!” I yelled. “Wake up Tom, or you'll freeze!” There was a sob in my breath. His hands were as stiff as the claws of a bird. I hauled at him, shook him, and punched him, but I was weak, d’ye see. Still an’ all, I got him up and, after a bit, he took hold of an oar. The wave tops loomed black against the edges of the dawn, and the sea was bleak and empty. Then it was me that gave up. I dropped on the bottom o’ that dory and didn’t care any more. ; . .

® # #

I CAME to in a ship’s galley, by the stove, and the devil's pain in my arms and legs. And there was Terry O'Neil, one o’ the best out o’ Gloucester, standin’ by with a bottle o’ rum. He told me old Tom was alive, but I could hear him

yellin’ ‘mad-—callin’ for a match io} light the lantern. He was off his|

head entirely. After a while, I got out my pipe and the rubber pouch o’ tobacco I carry in my hip pocket. Absentminded, I put my swollen fingers into that tobacco. And there, man, buried deep in the weed, I touched something. It was a match. . .. Here it is—hung on this cord round my neck. Twenty years, I've carried it there, and I've never used it yet. ... . THE END

(Copyright, _ 1936, United Peat Syndicate, Inc.) Biure

The characters in this story are fictitious.

Ask The Times

Inclose a 3-cent stamp for reply when addressing any question of fact or information to The In

ALKING home, in the cold|

into the Bradford's house for a chat |

Zz 7.4. REG. 1. S. PAT. OFF &

\ 1936BY NEA SERVICE, INC.

LI'L ABNER

“This Christmas shopping has about got me down! *Just relax. After all, the holiday spirit is mostly give and fake.” 3 3 12=1

TOGETHER BY TH TRAIT OF

._ WHE SCENE. IFTS THE EEEHSROR TAN NEW YORK CITY:

’ EE BROLIGHT )¢ A BEAUTIFUL GIRL-AND OF THE STRANGE RESULTS REOF.

WE GOTTA MOVE FAST, OR ) ABOARDY/ IWUR AN TUNK XT on) WILL GET TMOO) Jil")

FRECKLES AND HIS FRIENDS

ALLEY OOP

AWRIGHT, YOU GUYS-HOIST THAT LOAD OF SALT UP ONTO DINNY, AN GIT

JARs ) f

- -eS —g f= mT Sy

‘GRIN AND BEAR IT

BP 1ST VERY. GooD,

(LOO-TH MIGHT OF MOO 15 AT YOUR COMMAND! IF YOUR BROTHER) ' OL! TUNK SHOW LIP AROUND

{ )

| Ji Ee

‘ PICTURE 1 WAN T TO SEE. “ERIC. YA vERs « THEY SAY Ts

5% "WC ADORABLE?

Paid iid TA ae dd NO, IT ISN'T SO HOT... IT. SEEMS TO BE HAVING

AN AVFUL TIME KEEPING TIME WITH

ME!

gy 0 de

KP 1) d

JR HIN

¥* the em— ~ - |. 15 Corrosion. ‘i 17 To obtain. ‘| 18 Eaten. “19 God of war. .| 21 Mortise tooth. 1 22 Ocean. ; 23 Timepiece. 25 Scarlet. AlLl

1 WOULDN'T COUNT TOO MUCH ON THOSE MOOVIANS, OUR HIGHNESS - THEY'RE

SO LONG, SAWALLA- WE'LL BE SEEIN' YOU AGAIN,

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

HORIZONTAL = Answer to Previous Puzzle [13080 who foul 1 Vertebrate (STANFFE] [TTTACITANL A] 12 Crescs” . pictured here. JAIGIGIINIE IRIOJRO/SITIRP A 71t is one of |HEILIEIAKIIRIAMMNPIEIN | [EISCIORTMPIAN EMP NETS oe CIAINIT

CHIMEL DENAICIRE S{HIAIMERMIAI PIS] ARIE BEN TIOYIRPIAILIONISIE| TERMIT RIES] 1 [SITIERIENI IL! BIEIAITIRI ICIE] ICIOIMIEID]Y! 47 Sound of pleasure." ‘48°All right. 49 Company. $1 Data. 52 Hastenen. * 56 Naval 5 To free. 46 Sailors. 4 assislant. 6 To accomplish. 50 Single things, 57 It has a = 8 Calendar 52 Wine vessel. $81Its skin is 9 Pair. . 55 Morindin dyes used for ——.10 Child, 56 Exclamation,