Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1924-04-18

to everybody, and said with dignity.
rising: ''S 5
IF no one else will call him. I
SHALL
Rum has been the curse Of the ma
tion," observed Mr.. Budlong, to whom
even thimbleful gave headache.
II wish I had a barrel of it," growled
old Mr.. Penrose. when I get home
I'm going to get me worm and make
moonsine."
ooh, how dreadful
"'Tain't," Mr.. Penrose contradicted
Aunt Lizzie, CURLY.
"'Tis!" retorted Aunt Lazzie.
They glared at each other balefully,
and while everybody waited to hear
if she could think of anything else to
say to him, Miss Eyester returned
painting:
"The doors locked and there's a
towel pinned over the window"
moi" They exclaimed in chorus,
and looked at Wallie. do you sup
pose anything's happened?"
"He locked the door because he
does not want to be disturbed, and the
towel is to keep the light out" Mr..
Stott deduced.
"Of course!" They all laughed
heartily and admired Mr.. Stott's
shrewdness.
ANY fool would have thought Of
that" growled Mr.. Penrose.
'You think you know everything"
said Aunt Lizzie, in whom his threat
to make moonshine and break the law
still ranked.
II know quite a lot, if l could just
think of it," replied Mr. Penrose, al
most good-naturedly
Cali the same" declared the cook,
securing frying-pan in the doorway,
"it's not like him to go to all that
trouble just to sleep. I'll go and see
if can raise him"
Even in the dining room they could
hear Mr.. Hicks banging on the door
with the frying-pan, and calling. He
returned in few minutes.
There's something queer about it.
It's still as a graveyard. He amt
snoring"
could he have made away with
himself?" Mr.. Appel's tone was Sc.
pulchral.
"Oh-h-h!" Miss Eyester gasped faint
ly.
Perhaps he has merely locked the
door and he is outside" suggested
Mr.. Stott.
''I'll go down and see if 1 can notice
his legs stickin' out Of the crick any
where" said Mr.. Hicks, briskly.
1T is very curious very strange
indeed" they declared solemnly,
though they all continued eating
spare ribs-a favorite dish with The
Happy Family.
The cook, returning said in a tone
that had note of disappointment:
''He amt drowned"
els his horse in the corral?" asked
Wallie.
Mr. Hicks took observations from
the doorway and reported that it
was, which deepened the mystery.
Since no human being, unless he
was drugged or dead, could sleep
through the cooks battering with the
frying pan, Wallie himself grew anx-
ious. He recalled Pinkey's gloom of
the evening before he had gone to
Prouty. II wisht I'd died when I was
little" he remembered his saying.
Also Pinkey's moroseness of the
morning and the ferocity of his ex-
preston took on special significance
in the light of his strange absence.
Instinctively Wallie looked at Miss
Eyester. The young lady was watch
ing him closely and saw his gravity.
Unexpectedly she burst into tears so
explosively that Mrs. Budlong moved
back the bread plate even as she tried
to comfort her
II know something mas happened!
I feel it When Aunt Sallie choked on
a fishbone at Asbury Park knew 1t
before we got the wire. I'm sort of
clairvoyant! Please excuse me!"
Miss Eyester left the table, sobbing.
1t seemed heartless to go on eating
when Pinkey, the sunshine of the
ranch, as they suddenly realized
might be lying cold in death in the
clubhouse, so they followed solemn
ly-all except Mrs. Henry Appel, who
fingered to pick herself out another
spare-rib, which she took with her in
her fingers.
They proceeded in a body to the
clubhouse, where Wallie applied his
eye to the keyhole, and found it had
been stuffed with something. This
confirmed his worst suspicious. No
body could doubt now but that some
thing sinister had happened.
(To Be Continued.)
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