Graham guardian., 1921-12-23
graveyard Of place when l got my
Fe~SWS~SS'FNe$SSN NENNsSRNSSS6ESN
Copynsht sy Charles soriensrs sons

form as II to say "IIello, strangerw to
me For. right down the center of that
dogs face aud dividing II as accurate
ly as II it had been drawn by some
mathematical craftsman, was a line
marking OF a black half from a white
halfl
was just taking a swallow of hot
Il nearly choked me. Luckily, | got
the swallow down before saw the
horse--a grasshopper-headed cow
pony. saddled and bridled and standing
hitched to gnawed wooden rail in
front of one of the tumble-down
shacks. "Piebald'' Is p sort OF an elas-
tic word. as the dictionaries define Il,
and II might apply to almost any
beast-markings out Of the ordinary.
But the horse ! was gaping at fell cas-
lily within any or all Of the definitions;
il was true calico" white and light
sorrel In grotesque patchings; unmis-
takably ''plebald." II purlst In the
use of the mother-tongu0- Cousin
Percy, for eSample-wished to call II
SO.
Before I could rush back to the
stewards scntry-box in the vestlbule of
the ear our train was chasing along
again.
"iley!" | shouted; whats the name
of that place where we stopped to wa
tr the engineer
"Aircpia."
'Dyalh.slccp." / translated with
grin. ut fits, all the way down to the
ground. What are the industries Of
Atropla?"
Il don't get you."
Excuse me; I'll try to put II In
simpler form. Why Is Atropla p
He Appeared to have reached the
conclusion that was an escaped luna
tie, safe enough. most probably
harmless one. lie looked firstat the lit
tie colorcd slip sticking In my hat-bnnd
and then consulted notebook drawn
from his pocket.
"Iiia: tlcketed to Angels" he NUT
terrell half To himself. And then to me:
'Was you expectin' to. have friends
meet you at Angcls?'
This was too much. an l. anxious as
| was to find out som, thing more about
Atrupla, ! felt II an Imperative duty
fool like--t" do my small part toward
eDllvening II rai.cr sad world. So I
said, solcunly.
II shall he met hy parade uf The
Angels fire department. in uniform,
and with the apparatus, headed by a
brass hand. But this Is irrelevant to
the present burning question. What
am thirsting Ia know Is why there
should he dog with face half
white and half black standing ON the
Atropia station platform, and pie
bald pony hitchcd t0 the htuse.rack
on the Atropla public square,"
That finished him.
Say. young fellcr, you've got 'em
bad" he commented. "But that'll lie
all right. just you wait till we get to
Angels, and tlieI you can find out all
these funny things you're So dead anx-
ious to know
Hold ON minute" lnterposed as
he was trying tn escape. "Atropla
hasn't always been as dead as II is
now, has It? What was its name when
was allie and able to sit up and take
iiourlshmentg"
.Huh?" he Queried; and then: "Oh,
get you. now; It used to lie called
flacervllle.""
Thank YOU; that helps Now how
much farther Is It to Angelsg"
Bout t'yenl. miles"
"All right And when will there he
train coming back TO this AtropIs
placcE
"Way-freight = tOmorruh mornin'A
eight-tlilrty cut o. Angels"
Good. Now II those fire people and
the brass band don't miss me-" [
couldn't resist the temptation to give
him y final shot and II hlt the bulls
eye, As he edged away could see hy
his expression that he still thought me
crazy.
When | 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
mo, and the negro porter shied every
time he passed my section. This was
rich. but II could have known the
tenth part Of what was going to pop
out Of this Pandora box that | had
foOlishly dug up in the dining ear, the
amusement feature would speedily
have been forgotten in pretty
Strenuous efftrt to straIghten things
out while tIrne was yet time.
descended from the train at my
ticket-named destination of Angels,
and found u typical mining camp of
single street and tawdry, dusty
dle1riness scarcely exceeded by that
pf the dend.allve Atropla. The first
thing I saw on the station platform
was my train conductor talking earu-
estly To large. Observation-Disclosures
man whose greatest need was for a
clean shave. BY the manner Of tho two
! saw that their talk was aiming itself
NJ me, the railrond man was only too
plainly warning the Angelic person
that Angels the Blest had probably
harmless but possibly dangerous,
maniac In It's midst.
Still | saw only the humorous side
~ u and refused to be disturbed. Fired
by the ambition to iud sunle way uf