The diamond drill., 1921-11-19

sH'm; TIcketed TO Angels" He Nut
tered Half TO Himself.
and then consu
from bis pocket. i,
HIN; ticketed TO Angels he NUT
tered half to himself. And then to me q
WAS you expectin' to have friends
meet you at Angelsr
This was too much. and. anxious az
i was to find out something more about
Atropia, felt II an imperative duty
fool-iike-to do my small part toward
enlivening rather sad world. So Il
said, solemnly:
| Il shall be met by parade Of the
Angels fire department, In Uniform,
and with the apparatus. headed by a
brass band. But this Is irrelevant to
the present burning question. What X
am thirsting TO know Is why there
should be dog with face half
white and half black standing on tho
Atropia station platform, and a pie,
bald pony hitched TO the horse-rack<
on the Atropia public square,"
| That finished him. NJ
Say, young felIer, you've got 'eml
bad" he commented. "But thatrl be
all right. Just you wait till we get TO
Angels. and then you can find out all
these funny things you're so dead anx-
ious TO know"
Hold on a minute" ! interposed as
he was trying to escape. "Atropia
hasn't always been as dead as IL Is
now, has IL? What was its hame when
IL was alive and able TO sit up and take
nourishmentT
"Huh" he queried; and then: "Oh.
get you,. now; II used to be called
Placerville."
THANK you; that helps. Now how
much farther is 1t TO Angels?"
Bout twenty miles"
"All right And when will there be-
train coming back to this Atropia
place7"
"Way-freight - tomorruh mornin'---
eight-thirty out o. Angels" 4
"Good. Now IL those fire people and
the brass band don't miss me- l.
couldn't resist the temptation TO give
him final shot. and II hit the bulls
eye. AS he edged away could see by
his expression that he stu thought me
crazy.
When I got back TO my Pullman
after luncheon perceived at once that
| the train conductor had promptly
passed the word about the episode In
the dining car. The Pullman conduc-
tor evidently had his weather eye on
me. and the negro porter SHE'D every
time he passed my section, This was
rich. but IL / could have known the
tenth part OF what was going TO pop
out OF this Pandora box that I had
foolishly dug UP In the dining car, the
amusement feature would speedily
have been forgotten in pretty
strenuous efftrt to sraighten tl,.ngs
/ out while there was yet time.
descended from the train nj my
ticket-named destination OF Angeis.
and found typical mining camp OF
single street and q tawdry. dusty
dre1rlness scarcely exceeded by that!
OF the dead-alive Atropla. The first
thing saw on the station platform
was my train conductor talking earn
estly TO q large. esperadoish-looking
man whose greatest need was for
clean shave. BY the manner of the two
saw that their talk was aiming itself
at me; the railroad man was only too
plainly warning the Angelic person
that Angels the Blest had a probably
harmless. but possibly dangerous.
maniac In It's midst.
Still saw only the humorous side
Of II and refused TO be disturbed. Fired
by the ambition to find some way OF
returning at once 10 Aropia. before
the magic horse and dog should disap-
pear. / tramped of In search OF place
where could leave my two grips. The
place that offered. and the only one.
was the Celestial flc,el," and I won
dered what sly wag had suggested the
name. which was double pun upon
the name OF the town and the fact that
the tavern, half restaurant and half
lodging-house. was kept by n China
man.
But I secured accommodation. and
as I was turning to leave the restau-
rant-tavern trouble loomed up In the
shape OF the heavy-shouldered des-
peradoish-looking person whom had
seen at the station talking with the
train conductor.
"Im onto you with both feet" he re-
marked, boring me with an eye that I
could easily fancy might strike terror
into the heart Of the most reckless
criminal. 'Tm givin' You warnin' righE
this mans town seef'
"Tm quite harmless" | assured him.
m