The Challis messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1912-current, 1924-09-17
Snappy Town to
Live In
BY RALPH D. PAINE
90 by Doubleday. Page & Coz


himself, as often as anybody would lis
! ten If customers edged away from hi
word pictures there was always tn
pretty cashier with the bobbed hair ant
the smile that beat any closeup eve
flashed on a screen. Johnny told he
this to her face. Instead of rebukins
him as fresh gink, Miss Edna mad
him dizzy with another of those mil
lion-dollar smiles.
mot that l want to run wild or pull
any freak stuff, Edna, for I'm too
sensible for that. But l simply have
gotta express myself somehow. l an
terribly ambitious. That's what ails
me. And ambition is bound to make a
fellow restless. My gosh Nothing ever
happens in this soggy dump of town.
and nothing ever will"
Adventure? Is that the big idea,
Johnny?'
"You said it, Edna. More to it than
that, though. It's up to me to make a
stake somehow. What chance have /
got here? You tell me-"
Miss Edna ceased checking up a pile
Of monthly statements and gazed at
the young adventurer with fond amuse-
ment. Then she powdered her pert
nose and inquired:
"Why the stake? You can take me
out and buy me one for supper, if you
like. What's the hurry to get rich?
You have a good job for kid"
$50 l can marry you, Edna. Haven't
l told you that fifty times?"
Il am not fortune hunter, Johnny,
dear. You better hustle and earn a raise
of salary. Heavens, but you are a
| handsome boy when you look at me
like that. Now run away, or I'll do
something rash.'
Listen If had stake of five thou
sand dollars would you marry me?"
persisted the impassioned sutton.
mo, for I'd drop dead in my tracks
before you could be widower. For
the love of Mike, shoot 1 am poor
working girl"
AS brutal anti-climax the boss
bawled from an alcove: 'Drat you,
Johnny. What in time do l pay you
for? You come get this sprayer and
load it with bug poison. Then you trot
around to Doctor Merritts house with
1t and show him how to spray his per-
later patch. He phoned that the mix
ture was no good and had the nerve
to tell me his bugs got fat on it,"
"The old dumb-bell don't know how
to use sprayer," said Johnny Beal.
81 watched him putterin' in his back
yard All right, I'll show him how"
Expertly, Johnny measured a proper
dose of the prepared poison and
dumped it into the two-gallon gal
vanized spraying tank. Then it oc-
Cured to him to make it sure death and
so avoid more trouble with the I'M
pleasant Mr.. Merritt. So he ADDED, at
of blue vitriol and a rich seasoning Of
paris green.
''That ought to put a crimp in EN-"
said he, as he poured the sprayer two |
thirds full of water and vigorously |
shook it. He slung it over his shoulder
by the strap and moved briskly out of
the store. AS he walked along he piled
the plunger to build up air pressure in
the cylinder and get ready for action.
In front of the bank he paused to
look at shade tree whose leaves were
badly eaten by caterpillars. The fuzzy
pests were crawling along the twigs,
so many of them that Johnny unlim-
)ered the sprayer for practice shot
He might as well make sure that the
machine was ready for business.
The caterpillars appeared so dis
yusted that he gave them another vol
ey The breeze carried the fine spray
against the side of a closed car stand
to wipe off the white spots
With his handkerchief. The man be-
lind the wheel swore and told him to
70 chase himself Johnny resented his
and advised him to seek a
orrid climate.
Just then a pistol shot was heard in D.,
he bank, then another. Out from the
ntrance, taking the stone steps in a
cap, came a burly figure of a man, a
mall satchel in one hand, pistol in
he other. He charged straight for the
losed car at the curb.
Johnny Beal stood petrified, his
louth open, too scared to bulge from
ne path of the outlaw. The pistol
as jerked up to fire and clear the H
'ay, but Johnny was quicker. He did X
OF mean to be. One finger happened \
, be on the nozzle valve of the spray N
:. That finger frightened convulsively. N
he nozzle was pointing straight NJ
head, with plenty Of air pressure be- M
ind it. Nj
The fleeing bank robber caught 1t m
Ill in the face-prepared poison, WI
senate of lead dash Of blue vitriol M
I'd rich seasoning of paris green. III
linded, he swerved with his hands to A
s face and crashed into the maple Nh
ee. Falling to the pavement, he NH
'oaned that he was dying, just before NH
,hnny Beal banged him over the head DIR
it'll the loaded sprayer. VII
"He fits the description of Three VIII
ngered Jake Dorsey" said the chief Nil
police, after he had snapped the VIII