Evening star., 1924-10-14
THE OWLS HOUSE
A Thrilling Adventure Story
By Crosbie Garstin
ospyright, 1874. b. Frsderiek A. stokes "a

The Luddra Head was his favorite
haunt; from it's crest he could see
from the Lizard Point to the Logan
Rock, some twenty miles east and
west, and keep an eye on the ship
ping. He would watch the Mounts
Bay fishing fleets flocking out to
their grounds; the Welsh collier brigs
racing up-channel jib-boom and jib-
boom; mail packets crowding all sail
for open sea; big blue-water mer-
chairman rolling home from the
worlds ends, or a smart frigate log
gtng nine knots on a bowline, toss
ing the spray over her focsle in
clouds. He would criticize their
handling, their rigs. make guesses as
to their destinations and business
1t was comfortable up on the Head
a slab OF granite at ones back, a
springy cushion of turf to sit upon
the winter sunshine warming the
rocks. pouring all over one.
One afternoon he climbed the Head
to find a woman sitting in his par
! Gcular spot He cursed her under
his breath, turned away and then
| turned back again. Might as we'll
see what sort Of woman it was be-
fore he went; you never knew. He
crawled up the rocks, came out upon
the granite platform pretending he
had not noticed the intruder, executed
! a realistic start of surprise and said,
| Good morning to you.
| Good afternoon" the girl replied.
Ortho accepted the correction and
| remarked that the weather was fine.
| The girl did not contest the obvi-
| Gus and went on with her work, which
| was knitting.
Ortho looked her ALI over and was
| glad he had not turned back. 4 good
| looking wench this, tall yet we'll
| formed, with strong white neck, a
| fresh complexion and pleasant brown
| eyes. He wondered where she lived.
Gwithian parish? She had not come
to his Christmas and Twelfth Night
parties.
He sat down on n rock facing her.
My leg" he explained, must rest it.p
She made no remask, which he
thought unkino; she might have
| shown some interest in his leg.
Got wounded in the leg in Bar
barry"
The girl looked UP. whats that?"
Ortho reeled slightly. Was it pos
sible there was anybody in England,
: in the wide world, who did not know
where Barbary wasr
North coast of Africa, of course
he retorted.
/
/ have heard father tell of it. Dutch
colony, isn't it?'
! No" Ortho barked.
The girl went imperturbably on
with her knitting. Her shocking ig-
norance did not appear to worry her
in the least; she did not ask Ortho
| for enlightenment and he did not feel
| like starting the subject again. The
! conversation came to q full stop.
"a O.
cided; a feather-h headed country min
ny-yet remarkably good looking for
all that. He admired the fine shape
Of her shoulders under the blue cloak,
/ the thick curls OF glossy brown hair
that escaped from her hood and those
fresh cheeks; one did not find COM
piexions like that anywhere else but
here in the wet southwest. He had
an idea that a dimple would appear
in one Of those checks if she laughed
perhaps in both. He felt he must
make the ninny dimple.
Live about here?" he inquired.
| She nodded
so do l..
No reply. She was not interested
in where he lived, drat her, He sup
piled the information. Il live al
Bosula in the valley: I'm Ortho Pen
hale"
The girl did not receive this en-
thrallins intelligence with proper
emotion. She looked at him calmly
and said: "Penhale of Bosula, are e:
Then ] s'pose you'm connected with
Eli?"
Once more Ortho staggered. Tha,
any one in the Penwith Hundred
should be in doubt as to who he
was, the local hero! To be known
only as Els brother, 1t was too
much. But he Bit his lip and ex-
planned his relationship to Eli in a
level voice. The ninny was even a
bigger fool than he had thought, but
dimple she should. The conversation
came to a second full stop.
Two hundred feet below them
| waves draped the Luddra ledges with
shining foam cloths, poured back, the
crannies dribhling a with milk, and
launched themselves afresh. A sub
dued booming travelled upward, died
away in a long drawn sigh, then the
boom again. Great mile-lons stripes
and ribbons of foam outlined the
coast, twisted by the tides intc
strange patterns and arabesques
creamy white upon dark blue. Jack
DAVIS darted in and out of holes in
the cliffside and guils swept and how
e~ Il ~ invisible air currents, crying
nournfully. In 3 bed of campions
jas ,.poye the toss of the breakers, a
red dog fox lay curled up asleep in
the sun.
Come up here oftenc" Ortho in
auired. restarting the one-sided con-
yersation
NO"
"Ahem!-I do: come up here to
look at the ships
The girl glanced at him. a mis-
chievous sparkle in her brown eyes
Then wouldn't you see the poor
Il hoft =
face 'em. Squire Penhaler"
She folded her knitting, stood uI
and walked away without another
word
Ortho arose also. She had had hin,
there. Not such fool. after all, and
she had dimpled when she had made
that sally-just a wink of dimple
but entrancing. He had suspicion
she had been laughing at him, knew
who he was all the time, else why
had she called him Squire?
BY the Lord, laughing at him, was
she? That was a new sensation for
the local hero. He flushed with
anger. Blast the. girl. But she was
a damned handsome piece, for all
that. He watched her through a
peep hole in the rocks--watched her
cross the neck of land, pass the earth
ramparts of the Luddras prehistoric
inhabitants and turn left-handed
along the coast path Then, when
she was committed to her direction
he made after her as fast as he
was capable of considerable speed. but
the girl set him all the pace he needed
She was no featherweight, but she
skipped and ran along the craggy
path as lightly as a hind. Ortho
labored in the rear, grunting in ad-
miration.
Catch her he could not; it was all
he could do to keep her in sight.
Where a small stream went down to