The Washington times., 1920-07-14
BOOKS

HIDDEN TRAILS BY william meter P.t,sr-
son White. New York: DoupiooAy'
Page & Company.
EVERYTHING was serene In
= the Happy Heart Saloon In
- the town OF Farewell. Three
cow-punchers leaned against the
bar drinking "old Crow" and nve
more young men were engaged In
draw poker. The hero. aloof. built
himself a cigarette. and was bored
A red-hesded "jigger" looked In
at the window. The hero was at
once alert-no longer bored. He
knew what was coming. This red
headed guy looked in at the window
on page five OF this startling story
OF the West in the days of the stage
coach. and bad men. and COW
punchers. BY the time page ten Is
reached. the red-headed man had
two fingers. of whiskey, had played
in the poker game. and had killed
a man. On page thirteen Is re-
corded his exit from town, at the
request Of the town marshal. and
six pages later a sage coach en-.
ters with a guard shot dead and
the driver, CREASED"
Thereafter events move rapidly
along, and the reader, like the hero,
Johnny Ramsay, is bored no longer.
For there is a stirring dog fght on
page eighteen. and page thirty six
records the death of two men ana
horse. Then the story pursues
it's placid way to the narration OF
a frustrated lynching. with Johnny.
the hero as the intended victim.
This on page sixty-fye. En- pas
SAINT. a citizen has two teeth knock
ed out, on page forty-five. Rescued
from the lynching party Johnny de-
votes. himself to wooing the beaute-
Gus maid, Dorothy Burr, and to
plans to clean out the band OF bad
men who are terrorizing the neigh
borhood. All is quiet for fifty-three
pages. Venus in the ascendant and
Mars nowhere.
Alas for Venus. Page 118, and a
hapless deputy sheriff dies, and the
marshal of Farewell is badly
wounded. Skinny Devinney is hurl-
ed through a window, which, no
one has thought to open. Window
Is ruined-also Skinny's reputation
as a fighting man. Nine pages of
piping times Of peace. and a sheriff
enters with one in custody who has
snuffed out a peaceful barkeeper.
Bang! Thud! Bang! and a gray
haired hatless man tumbles over
the saddle horn and runs a bit
Another bang, and he falls forward,
and is forever still. This on page
146. Meanwhile the energetic
Iohppu nlaua and dis
covers clues leading to the dis
covery of the identity of the bad
men. He also comes under the in
fluence of Lolita, the vamp, and e&-
periences the pangs of jealousy.
More love stun and detective work
to page 257, where the lid blows
off. and a messenger and guard are
blown to atoms by dynamite and
another guard wounded, while $780,
600 is gathered in by the bandits.
295. This page bears the caption
"a Fair and Summer Morning."
Five men ride up Main street lead
ing four horses. Each led horse
has a corpse tied to the saddle.
Fourteen pages fit by, and the flve
cavaliers of Main street have Joined
the four corpses. They are hang
ing by the neck in the cottonwoods.
Grand finale. Johnny visits the
vamp. and is entertained in her
luxuriously furnished parlor. The
red-headed "jigger" who looked in
at a window in Chapter enters the
parlor, accompanied by two friends.
Smoke, flame. flashes, bangs, and
thuds, and three more men are
dead. The red-headed digger"
turns out to be the vamp's husband.
so the vamp joins the great major
ity via a bowie knife. This brings
the total dead up to twenty-five.
Johnny and Dorothy occupy one
chair on page 335. which bears the
peaceful legend 1.-The End"