THE DESERT MOON
MYSTERY
BY KAY CLEAVER STRAHAN
CHAPTER XXXVIII
Lynn MacDonald
On Friday afternoon, late, I
went with John and Sam down
to Raitafl to meet the train.
When It came thundering,
anortlog op, I thought of the
last time that Sam and. I had
met a train together, and of
hoar oar entire world had
changed hi the two months.
Was it going to keep on chang
ing. I wandered. I could not
bear to took into the past; 1
found that I did not dare to
try to think into the future.
Just before the train
•topped, with its usual roar of
pretest against Rattail,
Clarence Pette swung off it.
He came over to us with a
timid air. Tike an animal just
learning to eat out of a per
son's band. He took no risks,
anti! Sam had greeted him,
real pleasantly, and politely.
Mis MacDonald is on this
train." he said to Sam and
me. “£* there anything else I
can do tar you?”
“Holm thing, If you are
positive that she is Miss Mac
Donald, except to take your
fifty—here it is—and va
moose."
24
pleasant, but there was some
thing brisk and crisp about it.
and about all of her, that
seemed to say plenty and
plenty of time for everything,
but not one precious minute
to waste.
In the background, during
this meeting, John and Danny
had been hugging and kissing.
! as if the rolling train right
l behind them, filled with star
ing people, were a peaceful,
flowing river, and the people
fishes that were swimming
past. At last, to my relief, they
came over to join us; Danny,
looking paler and more
snuffed out than usual, by
contrast, maybe, with Miss
MacDonald; John beaming
with triumph at having her
home again,
“But,” Danny said, after
Sam had Introduced her to
Miss MacDonald, and had ex
plained why Miss MacDonald
had come, “you didn’t tell me
that you were coming here.”
“You girls get acquainted
on the train?” Sam asked.
“We had breakfast together
in the diner this morning,”
Miss MacDonald answered.
“Did you know who I was?"
Danny questioned.
“It was my business to know
that, wasn’t it?” Miss Mac
Donald smiled.
“Only—why didn’t you tell
me?” Danny persisted.
*Tin positive. Thanks. Here
the comes now.”
I looked np to see her com
ing. I could hardly believe my
eyes. I don’t know what I had
expected; but I surely had not
exported anything to get off
that smoke-dirty train, in the
middle of a Nevada desert, on
• sweltering hot July evening,
that looked as she did.
In the first place, in her
pongee silk dress with coat to
match, and perky little green
bat, she looked as if she had
been fresh picked, in the last
nice California garden, and
had been kept under glass, on
Ice ever since. But that was
only » part of it. She looked,
loo. like linen sheets feel, at
Ihe raid of a long hard day;
•heels that have been hand
washed, and sun-dried, and
dew-dampened, and Ironed
•mouth fts satin. She looked
like very early on a September
morning, in our mountains—
Ihst was tiie zip and the zest
of her, combined with her
comforting freshness and
cleanness.
She was tall; taller than
most women, and with weight
enough to look durable and
nseful, but not a mite fat. She
had eyes that were as gray as
pussywillows, and that did no
monkey-tricks of changing to
green or blue; she had wavy
carrot-colored hair, that was
so fun of life it looked as if it
were trying to break Ihe bonds
of Us neat, boyish bob and go
floating off, on its own, to
make maybe a tiny sunset
d lud. Her nose was small; her
m mth was a mite too large,
•> owing freely in a smile her
ioeth. ✓little and polished,
waite. like a puppy’s.
"I don’t wonder tnat yau
ask,” Miss MacDonald said.
“And I hope that you will for
give me for seeming unfriend
ly, secretive. It is, simply, that
I never want try first history
of the case to come from the
nearest relatives. Of course
they feel too deeply to see
clearly. Mistaken impressions
are so hard to eradicate, that
I go to any lengths to avoid
them. If I had made myself
known this morning, Miss
Canneziano, I should have
had to seem more rude and
ungracious than I seemed by
acting as I did. Because,
please,” she included all of us
in her glance, “I have to ask
each of you not to talk to me
about the case. I should have
to refuse to listen. When I
need to know anything about
it—I shall need to know many
j things—I’ll ask it, as a direct
i question. Until I ask for more, j
from you, if you will do that, 1
i simply answer my questions, (
you will help me immeasur
ably.”
“That’s easy,” Sam said.
“I am afraid,” she answered,
“that it won’t be easy. And I
have to make another request
that won’t be easy to fulfill,
; either. It is, that no one will
question me. I am sorry to
have to ask that. I am afraid
that it seems as if I were try
ing to surround myself with
a glamour of mystery—pre
tending to false wisdoms and
acumens—”
“Not a bit of it,” Sam inter
rupted. “ ‘He travels the
fastest who travels alone.’ ”
“I have always questioned
that,” she said. "At any rate,
I don’t intend to travel all
alone.”
“You mean you are going
to take a few days to size us
up, and then get some of us
to help you?” Sam asked.
"Question number one,” she
said, and laughe'd, too.
cunting suai^iv xikjiii
• Francisco, she used no visible
cosmetics; which is much the
same as If I had said, rising
out of the Pacific Ocean, she
was as dry as a chip. But you
could no more imagine Lynn
MacDonald stopping anything,
much less herself, to peer at
her freckled nose in a vanity
easels mirror, than you could
.Imagine a baseball player
atopplng between first and
second base to take his tem
pera to re with a clinical ther
mometer.
AO of this general satls
factortness, coming through
the alkali dust and offering to
shake hands with a person,
was, I might say, disarming.
Mv impulses were all mixed.
I felt like putting my old.
muddled head down on that
nice high chest of hers and
having a right good cry. And
yet, J felt for the first time
In days, like a broad grin. I
managed it, and forewent the
other.
Her voice was low and
UilAt'J.tK AAA1A
A Trap
We had got into the sedan,
by this time, and were riding
along the Victory Highway. I
declare to goodness, a sound
that was pretty much like a
ripple of giggles went tittering
around. It did us good, every
last one of us. It was antisep
tic, as laughs so often are. Just
as I was thinking how much
more wholesome everything
felt, since I had shaken hands
with Miss MacDonald, Danny
who was riding in the front
seat beside John, spoiled it all
by emitting a shriek; it was
not a very loud one, but it
Corporation Farming.
Pmm The fled field (S. D.) Journal
Observer.
A professor at State college Ins
snaked out a plan for the industry
of agriculture which seems to us to
yotat some of the basic and inher
ent reasons for the condition of the
indtaatry as a whole and which
wnild make an experiment worth
out somewhere. He would
aO the farmers in nine sec
itows toto one giant corporation is
suing stuck to each farmer to the
catoe of his farm. Tlte first and
rent drastic saving which this plan
vtoid rffect, he says, is the con
xredretlon of farm buildings ar.d
lead tots It would shminat* the
duplication of a lot of equipment
and afford more specialized tvpes of
buildings.
A second primary auvantage
would be In the corporation’s abil
ity to hire managerial brains of the
first order as do the industrial
firms oi the east. Under the man
ager would be specialists in feeding
and breeding cattle, in small grains,
in dairying, in poultry. As far as
possible those farmers who on their
own farms had shown special apti
tudes would be allowed to exercise
them on the corporation farm.
A third advantage would be in
the use and care of farm machin
ery. The average small farm must
have a large Investment In ma
« was tnicK with norror and re
pulsion.
John talked to her for a
minute or two in a low voice,
and then explained, over his
shoulder to us, that he had
told her about “that man” be
ing on the ranch.
“Uncle Sam,” Danny
pleaded, "do I have to see
him?”
-Well, Danny,” Sam apolo
gized, “I’m right dov/n sorry
about it; but, you see, he is
staying on the place. We’ll
keep him out of your way as
much as we can.”
“Why can’t he stay, if he
has to stay at all, down at the
outfit’s quarters?” Danny
asked.
“We’ll see what Miss Mac
Donald says. I kind of
thought, maybe, she’d like to
have him where she could
keep an eye on him. I kind of
wanted, myself, to keep an
eye on him.”
Danny put her head on
John’s shoulder and began to
cry; weak, choking little sobs
that hurt like having to watch
a sick baby.
“Poor little thing,” Miss
MacDonald said to me, her
voice lowered and rich with
sympathy.
I thought she would ask me
what the trouble was, and who
the man was that was causing
it. Instead, still speaking low,
to me, she said, “So often I
get completely at odds with
my profession. And then I hear
some woman crying like that,
or something else as heart
breaking comes to me, and I
know that I am justified. Not
because I shall discover this
criminal. That won’t help this
little girl, greatly; but because
I am one of an army that is
fighting crime.”
I didn’t say it, but I felt like
telling her that she seemed
like a whole army herself—an
army with banners.
I leaned forward and tried
to soothe Danny; told her
that we would all do what we
could to keep him away from
her, and to make it easy for
her.
“It can’t be made easy,” she
answered. “You can’4; keep him
away from me. I won’t see
him, I tell you. I’ve been so
homesick—and now to come
to this. I can’t see him. I
won’t—”
Miss MacDonald, who the
minute before, had seemed all
pity for Danny, began, sudden
ly, to talk right through and
over her sobs, to Sam; to talk
in rather a loud voice about
stock raising, paying no more
attention to Danny’s troubles
than she paid to the humming
of the motor.
I sat ana suixea ana nursea
my disappointment. If I had
been a man—which praise the
Lord I am not—it would have
been a case of love at first
sight with me toward Lynn
MacDonald. But now I told
myself bitterly that I had been
a fool to expect real womanly
sympathy and kindnesses from
a person in her profession.
Ferreting out criminals would
make anyone as hard as nails.
I was right, in a way. That was
not the last time I was to see
her turn, suddenly, from a
sympathetic woman into a
crime analyst. It was sort of a
pity, though, that I had to
see that side of her so soon;
so long before I could begin
to understand it.
Not until Danny had quieted
down, and had turned to us
with stammered apologies and
attempted explanations, did
Miss MacDonald ask, “Who is
this man?”
“Dreadful as it must seem to
you,” Danny answered, “ he is
my father. But he has brought
sorrow, and fear and trouble
to my mother, and to my
sister, and to me, whenever he
came near us. He is a wicked
man.”
“Wouldn’t it be possible,”
Miss MacDonald turned to
Sam, “to have someone go
ahead of us to the house, and
ask him to keep to his room,
this evening?”
“Well—” Sam hesitated.
"But Danny will have to meet
him, sooner or later.”
“Better later, in this case,
I should say. She will be rested
! to-morrow. Possibly, too, it
would be easier for her if their
chinery which for the greater part
of thi year stands idle. On the cor
poration farm these would De util
ized a maximum amount of time
thus malting a relatively smaller in
vestment for machinery. Specialist*
in the care of machinery would cer
tainly be found among the 25 farm
ers who on the average now inhabit
nine square miles.
The state college professor of
course, recognizes that there is no
panacea for any industry. And in
agriculture in particular no group
of farmers can band themselves to
gether to bring rain when it is
needed or consume a world surplus
of such basic products as wheat
Eves so we believe that much may
i iir.n meeting couid oe m
private. Shouldn't you rather
see him alone, Just at first.
Miss Canneziano?”
“Oh, no!” Danny exclaimed
“I hope I need never see him
alone. Please—don’t any ol
you ever leave me alone with
him, not for a minute, if you
can help it.”
For all the fuss she hac
made about it, I will say that
Danny did very well when wr
all went into the house ant*
she saw Canneziano, standing
over by the east windows
smoking a cigarette.
“What ho, Dan,” he saic
smiling his smooth, -mirking
smile at her. “You are looking
seedy. Bad times around here
lately.”
She didn’t go near him. Shr
edged closer to John; but sht
answered, looking at hiir
straight and lifting her chin
in a pretty, dignified way sht
had, “Very, very bad times in
deed.” She and John walked
through the room to the stair
way, and up the steps, and oul
of sight.
Canneziano stood watching
them, a dark, ugly look on his
face. “There’s filial affection
for you,” he said. And then
with a half laugh, as he li;
another cigarette, and shook
the flame from the match
“The girl is a fool.”
CHAPTER XL
The Missing Box
Miss MacDonald came dowi,
to breakfast in the morning
trim and white as a new
candle. She ate heartily, com
plimenting the food. She askec
atfer Danny, who had not
come down for breakfast. She
talked about how splendidly
the high altitude and the mar
velous Nevada air made hei
feel. She told us, who had
lived here all our lives and
didn’t know it, that the air ir
Nevada was supposed to bt
the best in the entire United
States for growing things. And
all the time, she was either not
noticing, or pretending not tc
notice, how we were all hang
ing on her every word, and
watching her every movement
I guessed the others were
doing as I was doing; watching
for penetrating glances, and
listening for catches in hei
innocent questions. But, at
that, I blushed for them; par
ticularly for John, who sat
and stared at her as if she
were something he had tc
learn by heart, before the meal
was over. She caught him al
it, several times; but, though
he would then have the grace
to blush, and go glancing
about, he’d begin again, at the
beginning, the minute she
looked away.
When we had finall>
finished breakfast, she askec
Sam if she might detain him
I stayed on, when the others
had left the dining-room. She
said pointedly, though politelj
and to Sam, not to me, that
she wanted to speak to hiir
! alone.
1 LOOK inyatrii un. uuu
open window in the pass pan
try was too big a temptation:
so I went in there, softly, and
stood far back and to one side
Her very first words took mt
right off my feet. “Mr. Stan
ley,” she questioned, “do yot
trust your housekeeper?”
“Mary?” Sam drawled
"Well, now,, I don’t know ai
to trusting—”
I don’t know how to exprest
what my feelings were when I
heard Sam say that. Pulver
ized is a word that would edge
it, I guess—as if I had beer
caught in a sausage machine
and ground up into small
pieces, each one hurting or
its own hook.
“But,” Sam continued, “il
Mary were going on a long
journey, to indefinite foreigr
parts, and felt the need of m>
right eye to take along witt
her, I’d loan it to her for a?
long as she wanted it—nc
questions asked. I can’t sa>
that I’d go much further thar
that, though.”
I was whole again, ano
warm and glowing. Sam, the
old ninny, getting his dandei
up, and to a beautiful woman
like that, just because she had
asked him a simple question
(TO B* CONTINUED)
be done co-operauveiy n ■
lure that Is now done individually
and at cross purposes. The larmei
is proud of his independence and
individualism and rightly so. Yet
we believe that he will come to be
iust as proud of his ability to work
together where that course seems
to'be the better one^_
Portland. Ore.—(UP)—The bridt
whow as left waiting at the church
couldn't be much more chagrined
than Miss Ethel Maranay. 19 year!
i old. who reported to police that a
thief entered her apartment and
stole her wedding dress a few days
before she was to be married.
Restoring Exhausted Soil
Prof, S. Krnvkov, a Russian soil
Scientist, told his colleagues at tlie j
second international congress of soil
science at Leningrad that lie Iws do- |
veloped a method fo( restoring fer
tility to apparently exhausted soils j
without tlie use *■( fertilizers. It j
consists of keeping tlie soil to he |
treated under optimum physical eon- ,
ditions, especially ns regards tem
perature. moisture and aeration,
while (lie natural rnlerohiolie (topti
lation builds itself up and capture*
nitrogen front t lie air. Professor
Kravkov stated that lie had increased
tlie nitrogen content of ••podsol," a
poor gray soil, found in certain for
est lands, approximately tenfold by
his method.
Perfect dyeing
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The anilines in Diamond Dyna
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Diamond Dyes never give things
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Highest Quality for SO Yeans
Shetland Gets Lifeboat
The tlrst lifeboat over in tin* Slier- j
tain! Island* was received recently
with great enthusiasm h.v ihe people
of l.erwh k. Vessels blew their sirens
civic representatives were on the
pier and a brass hand was playing
The craft is a motor vessel capable
of 1,000 miles cruising radius and
will accommodate 100 persons in art
emergency.
Real Thinj
“lines lie kiss nicely, Gladys?’’
“oh, Ann. when you're in love you
forget all about technique.”
Too Mu:!i to Hope For
“If v.e wus as Anxious.'* said Uacle
Kben, “to ^ii even foil every favoh
done ns as v.e is fob every injury,
dar wnuldif be tiiglt so much fussin’
an’ back talk to listen to.”—Wash
in"ion Star.
The Antwer
“Should political speakers add ivk&
meetings, or talk over the radio?"
“No :**
Castoria | raft _
corrects jBggff
CHILDREN'S
, W src«£B
ailments i g£ j 1
W HAT a relief and satisfaction IilVv11 Car*{'$°*“* ‘“12" B
it is for mothers to know that there ■ Sum * H
is always Castoria to depend on IjY K
when babies get fretful and uncom- fl
fortable! Whether it's teething, *»{l ChoA0^^)' fl
colic or other little upset, Castoria j|* T«c£HMo^aNc*jgfl
always brings quick comfort; and,
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And when older, fast-growing '
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Because Castoria is made ex- has a coated tongue, is fretful and
pressly for children, it has just the out of sorts. Be sure to get the
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can always depend on it to be signature on the package.
Something—or Somebody?
Mrs. B(ngs—Just as sure ns you
are horn something escaped my mind
today.
Mr. Bings—Something? You mean
somebody, don't you, Jane?
He Hat Enough
Mrs. Maggs—Wot excuse does your
husband make fer not lookin’ fer a
Job?
Mrs. Daggs—All of ’em.—Sidney
Bulletin.
Ingenious Oregonians
Lumbermen In central Oregon have
Invented the “rubbermnn.” One end
of the saw is fastened to a portion
of an old inner tube attached to an
iron slake driven in the ground. The
sawyer pulls the saw toward him
and the rubberman pulls away.
A Lengthy Stay
“When is your wife coming buck?'*
“I don’t know. Site is taking part
in a vacation marathon!”
ASPIRIN"
r^^^jffliiiiytiiiHimiiiRMinniiifuiiiiiiiiuuuiMniiiMmimuiiimiiiiMiiiiaiiniZIZZJ
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The name Bayer means genuine Aspirin. It
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When you ^
meter • CM. f
I
1 >> +<**s^Should Be Used!
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Cooporatlm, SUUta, Hut // L
