FLOYD GIBBONS Adventurers' Club "The Latch That Moved in the Night" By FLOYD GIBBONS Famous Headline Hunter. ND today, boys and girls, it’s Mrs. Margaret Alexander of Princeton, N. J., who tells us of her greatest thrill and swells the long list of names already in the New Jersey con tingent of the Adventurers’ club. You folks who live In the man-made cliffs and canyons of Manhattan might find it hard to picture yourselves alone In a lonely cabin high up In the heart of the Rocky mountains, but try and do It. You will ap preciate Margaret's story all the more. Margaret was a city gal, too, and was suddenly whisked away to the rugged gold mining country of Colorado. Dan Alex ander, her late husband, was made superintendent of the Ruby mine, out Weston Passway, some thirteen thousand feet above sea level. That’s plenty high, just about ten times as high as the Empire State building. This was all back In D7 when Margaret's son was only four years old and things weren't so settled and law-abiding In the gold districts as they are now. The little family occupied a log cabin In the valley, some miles from the mine and 20 miles away from the nearest neighbor. Dan Left Margaret an Ivory Handled Six-Shooter. When Dan had to ride Into town on business, as he did about once a month, he always left an old ivory handled six-gun with Margaret. The old gun was a gift from an early prospector and bad a couple of significant notches in the handle. Margaret knew how to use it, too. One winter's day Dan hitched up his horses to the sleigh and rode off for town after grub. He plnnned to be back that night, but he left the six gun with Margaret just In case. Town was 21) miles through the mountain passes. Well, sir, Margaret says, her husband hadn't been gone many hours before the snow begnn to fall. And what snow! It was the first real heavy fall of the winter. All day long ns mother and son played before the fire In the cozy log cabin the white flakes fell. As the drifts crept higher and higher ngnlnst the cabin wall Margaret’s fears grew greater and grenter. How would her husband ever get back? As idght enme on the prospect of being snow-bound alone with her baby in the cabin was terrifying. The baby wasn’t a bit worried, Margaret says, but Just dropped off to sleep as though nothing was wrong. The anxious mother envied him. She tried sleeping, herself, but after tossing for hours, got up, lighted the lamp, and began to write. Suddenly she sat up straight, fear clutching at her heart. A Hard-Visaged Mexican Knocked at the Door. Somebody was rapping on the cabin door! Margnret couldn’t believe her enrs. A visitor at this hour and dur ing such a snowfall seemed impossible. She picked up the six-gun nnd aHhwirtaU I The Latch on the Door Wa« Slowly Moving. opened the door. She recognized the visitor ns the cook from the camp, but she wus not at all renssured. The cook was a hard-vlsaged Mexican whom she hnd always Instinctively feared. The man wanted to know If her husband hnd returned with the pro visions he hnd gone for and Margaret was forced to admit that he had not come and that In all probability he would not be able to come for another day. The Mexican muttered something and shuffled off through the snow. Why had the man trudged through all the enow In the da-kness of night to learn something he must have already known? All thought of sleep now left her and she decided to sit In a chair, gun In hand, facing the door, for the rest of the night. The long night wore on. The stillness of the mountains In their soft white mantle begnn to be frightfully oppressive. Eleven o’clock came and went. She noticed through the window thnt the snow had stopped falling and with the promise clenr weather gave for her husband’s early return, she began to think that her fears and premonition of Impending evil that possessed her were perhaps imaginary after all. At Midnight Margaret's Nerves Were on Edge. Midnight found her dozing In her chair. Suddenly n slight sound brought every one of her nerves on edge. The sound came from the door. She sat up tense and stared In the direction from which it came. And as she did, Margaret says, she felt her hair rise. The latch on the door was slowly moving! Margaret brushed her hand across her eyes. She must be dreaming, she thought. But no, It moved again! She watched the latch, fascinated. Once more it rose and fell and the slight click told her she was not “see ing things.” Thoughts of her baby sleeping peacefully In bis little bed nerved her. She gripped the gun! “Who’s there?” she asked In a shaking voice. No answer! She waited. Her heart was In her mouth, she •ays, but her eye, glued to the sights of her gun, never left the latch. * Right Through the Door She Shot Three Times. The latch moved again—ever so slightly, and Margaret tired! Itlght through the door she shot three times—stopping only to save the rest of the bullets for un emergency. Still not a sound came from outside. Inside the baby woke up crying. “Is papa shot?" he asked. The question further terrified the mother. The thought that she had perhaps killed some other child’s papa tortured her. But she was afraid to open the door and look. The baby went back to sleep and Margaret back to her lonely vigil. She sat there rigid until the first streaks of gray lit up the mountain sky. Dawn gave her courage and she opened the door. And there on the doorstep, shot through the heart, was—the body of a FOX! A Fox Seeking Shelter Was the Target. Yes. sir, a fox, seeking shelter from the storm, had actually tried to lift the catch—as the smart animals are capable of doing—and Mar garet's bullet had hit him as he stood on his hind legs. 'Well, sir, Margaret was sorry she had Bred and she shed a few tears over the fate of her strange visitor. But Dan, when he returned, shed the fox's skin and Margaret still has the fur piece to remind her of her night of terror. ©—WNU Servfc*. Granite Paper Granite paper derives Its name from Its appearance, which is brought about by mixing short col ored fibers with the pulp from which the paper is made. These fibers are very short and give the paper a colored ’effect, depending upon the fibers used, even though the pulp Itself Is white. Unless the eyesight Is very superior It Is necessary to examine this paper with a magnifying glass in order to dis tinguish It from colored paper. Odd Museums In Fourges, the walled city near Mont St. Michel, in France, there la a museum devoted to shoes; in Itouam, another devoted to the art of the locksmith: in Arlen, one to Ashing. Near the site of the Tro cadero Is a museum devoted to lighthouses, containing a variety of models, and near the Prefecture Is one which by documents and other exhibits traces the development of the Parisian police system from 1007. ^BRISBANE THIS WEEK If Russia Joined Japan Not Heroic Action Lloyd George Hopeful England Still Safe Editors talk about Asia, led by Japan, conquering the world. They might speculate on a union be tween Japan and Russia. Improbable,you will say, truly, but If Russlun Japanese hostil ity could be changed Into Russian - Japan ese agreement a new world chap ter might open. You hear of Russia's “Red army,” 1,300,000 Arthur Itrlalinnr . men, thorough ly armed, and 7,000,000 reserves. You see photographs of Russia’s amphibian tanks, mounted with ma chine guns, rolling over the land and swimming rivers; you rend about Intensive training of tens of thousands of Russian air pilots, parachute jumpers, etc., and see even the broad-shouldered young Russian women drilling with rides. Western Europe may have a prob lem closer at hand than Japnn. Our British cousins In the Revo lution cheerfully let loose howling, scalping Indians on their cousins In the American colonies, and bol shevism might cheerfully turn Asi atic killing efficiency against west ern “capitalism.” You remember how cheerfully the great historian Gibbon predicted that, In the American war, “with firmness all may go well," because "Scotch Highlanders, Irish, Han overians, Canadians, Indians, etc., will all In various shapes be em ployed." There Is no reason why Russia of 1936 should he more squeamish now than England at the end of the Eighteenth century. Lloyd George, who ought to know about Europe and war since he and old Clemenceau won the big war, tells Universal Service this present war Is "off," France having learned that “even her most ardent friends In Europe shrink from war.” Lloyd George declares that peace “without derogating from the dig nity of any of the powers" will be preserved. If France does not mnke It Impossible. Lloyd George says not 1 per cent of Englishmen would vote for war, and not 10 per cent for employing sanctions agalust Germany. If enough rich Americans go to England to “escape kidnapers" the kidnapers may move over after them, ns professional gamblers fol low on big ships. London police ar rested Alfred Molyneux, thirty-one, trying to extort $1,000 from the Countess Harbara Ilutton Haug wttz-lteventlow, offering to reveal a plot to kidnap her baby. Police knew by the moderate price It could not be an American "snatcher" or confederate. Easily caught, the young man confessed he had Invent ed the plot. With “visibility cut to zero,’’ street lights burning by day, not visible across the street, dust storms are blowing over parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico. lty such displays of nature's pow er, for which man’s foolishness Is responsible, fertile areas of the world have been changed to deserts. A bill that would have limited work to five working days of six hours, or thirty hours a week. Is dead In congress for the time being. It would have given workers twer. ty-four hours MIT on Saturday and Sunday, eighteen hours off on every other day—eight hours for sleep, “ten for what we will.” All that will come some day, but not by discouraging Improved machinery. An Intelligent young man who fought well In the big war speaks of “the 2-to-l’’ advantage which modern methods give to the defense over the uttaek. To let the other man or nation come at you, If you are prepared, has been wise In the past. It might be different In future wnrs, If the attacker, with a couple of thousand airplanes, dropping ex plosive bombs and poison gas, should surprise the enemy. “De fense” would have no 2-to-l advan tage over that sort of attack. Lloyds, the great English Insur ance concern, at tirst refused to In sure against war at any price. Now Lloyds will Insure, otherwise “bet,” nine and a half to one against war within six months. Wail Street wanted this news and of course cheered up. The governor of Campeche In Mexico, rfter keeping all churches In Ills state closed for more than a year and a half, now permits all to reopen. A fight against religion often Starts violently, to wind up feebly. O Ktu* Features Syndicate, Inc. WNtl Service. A Charming Needlecraft Picture to Embroider WAAAAAAA A A AAA PATTERN 5297 The old time well—the bucket hanging there, Just waiting to be embroidered In Its natural setting. And what a lovely and colorful wall hanging you’ll have when finished! lou can use as many bright threads as fancy dictates when you begin to “paint” the old fashioned garden in lazy-dalsy. French knots, running and single stitch. And you needn’t frame the panel—Just line It,and hang It up. In -pattern 5297 you will find a transfer pattern of a wall hanging 15 by 20 Inches; a color chart; mate rial requirements; illustrations of all stitches needed : directions for finish^ ing wall hanging. Send 13 cents in stamps or coins (coins preferred) to The Sewing Cir cle, Household Arts Dept., 259 West Fourteenth Street, New York, N. Y. Token of the Timei An Okmulgee (Okla.) hardware store customer was unfamiliar with Oklahoma’s new one mill sales tax tokens until this happened: “Have you a mill?” asked the clerk after a dime purchase. “Oh, I've an old one, but how much are they?” The clerk sold him a $4.85 sausage mill. Here artPenkcl Baking Results/ I sc°^aZ /:f^> - ” This actual scoring card how cakts. baked wi CLABBER GIRL, show {erfect scores where akioi Powder coants. only I 0 everywhere_ Wrestling With Scowls Still Sport in Japan Among the few surviving old sports in Japan, wrestling still re tains all the color nnd ceremony of the past. In the ring, Samuel H. | [ Walnwrlght, .Tr.. writes In "Tleauty I In Japan,” wrestlers face each other with fists on the ground and fierce looks on their faces. If either is up set by the scowl of the other, he calls for time out, each returns to his corner, sips water and starts all over again. 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