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Thursday, May 15, 1947
Cameron
CHAPTER XII
Synopsis: Lotus, working
under cover for the FBI, se
cured a job as singer for Mlle.
Duval’s case. She received an
offer from Herman Balch, a
Bundist, and his associates to
report what was going on. Law
rence, FBI agent, who was
working with her, had her tell
Balch that someone was work
ing on dope smuggling. She
called at their apartment, but
was made a prisoner and tak
en to a small isle, from which
she escaped to the island oc
cupied by the Corbins. Stacy
saved her life, but she soon
realized that she was a prison
er on the island.
“All right. You say they had
that young fellow bound and
gagged. Well, he was a trespasser
in their apartment, wasn’t he?
A burglar—?” He bit down on
the dead cigar viciously. “You
say they forced you to go with
them. But they didn’t ask you to
go to their apartment, that was
your own bright little idea,
wasn’t it?”
Lotus Ames stared at Curtis
Corbin across the magnificent
polished dining table at Belle
Fleur.
He was refuting every sugges
tion she made in connection with
the police. It was what she had
expected. But she had to be sure.
She decided to make him com
mit himself even further.
“But what about the German
officer?” she demanded. “He
AiosHUiMt
tit
gk-A From where I sit... try Joe Marsh,
We Got to the Fish Fry
After All
That community fish fry was
Mre a great success. There were
plenty of appetizing extras, and
Will Dudley did a right wonder
ful job of frying the fish—soft
and flaky inside—brown and crisp
around the edges.
But we didn’t get to go. The
missus was tired after working
in the yard, and we just didn’t
want to leave her.
Then how did we know the fish
was so good? Because the folks
didn’t forget us. They sent Skippy
Henderson over with two steam-
Houses
2 new 5-room houses for sale in Bitting
Subdivision.
40-gal. Double-Unit
HOT WATER HEATERS
• •
DE SOTO
OUTSIDE INSIDE PAINT
WINDOWS
(All Standard Sizes)
DOORS
(French - Slab - Plain)
PLASTER - FINISHING
LIME - CEMENT
MORTAR MIX
• •
Bryant & Sons
LUMBER CO.
Phone 7 Summerville, Ga.
told me he was patriotic and
loved his country.”
“What’s wrong with that? The
war with Germany ended months
ago. There are thousands of pa
triotic Germans—very fine peo
ple, most of them.”
“Well, I guess that’s right. . .”
“There’s another thing.” Cor
bin senior laid the dead cigar
aside and frowned at her. “Stacy
tells me that you had a little
trouble with the police yourself.
Under the circumstances I’d
advise you not to do anything
that would invite them to look
up your past.”
The advice was given in such,
a low tone that it sounded
threatening.
After breakfast, Stacy and Lo
tus strolled on the sunlit lawn
around Belle Fleur. Her thoughts
were racing.
“Dad’s right, Rosa. From a po
liceman’s viewpoint, your story
would be leaky as a sieve. How
could you prove it? You didn’t
sign any sort of written agree
ment with these men, did you?”
“No—l didn’t even get paid.”
“Well, there you are. There’s
another point—how could you
explain the fact that you were
involved and doing business with
them?”
He reached up, ran his fingers
through her hair. “Look, sweet,
why don’t you stay out here a
week or so with us? It’ll give you
a chance to get over your scare.”
"What would Chloe say? I’d
lose my job.”
Inwardly, she was triumphant.
ing covered plates of fish, and a
pitcher of cool, sparkling beer. And
we finished them off in front of
our own fire.
From where I sit, that’s one of
the things that makes our town
so nice a place to live in: a spirit
of share and share alike. That
plate of fish and glass of beer
weren’t just great eating, they
were symbols of the thoughtful
ness that makes for better living f
Copyright, 1947, United States Brewers Foundation
THE SUMMERVILLE NEWS: SUMMERVILLE, GA.
If she could stay at Belle Fleur
for a few days it would give her
a chance to quiz the servants
and do some snooping on her
own.
“I’m going in to town today.
I’ll explain things to Mamselle
Duval and pick up your clothes.”
Stacy went inside tp dress and
Lotus took advantage of his
suggestion to make herself at
home. She decided to explore
outside first.
Toward the back, behind a big
formal garden which separated
them from the house, was a -row
of small, one-room brick cabins.
Several of these had been joined
together and cemented, and iron
bars or meshing put across their
open faces, where doors and win
dows had once yawned.
She wandered over to it, peer
ing into the varied exhibits. . . .
Zoos had always repelled Lo
tus. The frightened discontent
and restlessnes of imprisoned
animals deprived of the sun
light and their own natural hab
itat always seemed to her a tra
vesty on man’s sence of justice.
Then she came to a glassed
enclosure. There was sand on
the floor, and springing from a
large box in the center of the
glass and steel-meshed cage, the
gnarled and twisted branches of
a dead tree.
It was like coming upon an
evil, leering stranger whom you
had hoped never to run into
again. The boa which she had
last seen on the dock in New Or
leans was staring at her. His
partially coiled, muscular body
was suspended in ropelike loops
from the dead tree.
As she returned his malevo
lent stare, a hand was placed on
her sore shoulder, spinning her
around roughly. . . .
“What are you doing here?”
Curtis Corbin’s voice was very
harsh, the expression in his cold
blue eyes almost as venomous as
the reptile’s.
For a cold, panick moment
Lotus was afraid. Then the grip
of Curtis Corbin’s fingers on her
shoulder relaxed and her com
posure returned.
“Stacy told me to make myself
at home,” she explained. “I was
just looking at the animals.”
Before he took his hand away
he slid it down her arm to her
elbow. She bit her lips to repress
a shudder.
“What do you think of my
i Brazilian boa, eh?”
“He’s evil looking,” she said
frankly. “What became of his
mate?”
The eyes were hard again,
probing. “His mate? How did you
know he had one, Rosa?”
“I saw it. I was with Stacy
when the snakes arrived on the
ship—the Gongales. It was Mar
di Gras day. There were two
snakes then.”
He was obviously startled and
annoyed. Evidently Stacy had
either forgotten or thought it
[ better not to mention what he
did on Carnival day or whom he
had spent it with.
“Well, the other snake died. It
was practically dead on arrival.
I’m having it stuffed for my
I study in the house.
“You must like reptiles.”
She studied him curiously. The
whole idea of snakes was ex
iceedingly repugnant to her but
Corbin’s eyes were glowing with
an almost fanatical light.
| Stacy, dressed smartly in a
cream gabardine suit, stood on
[the long narrow dock leading
from the island. He was about
[to step into a streamlined little
motor boat whose brass fittings
and paintwork were now reflect
ed dazzlingly in the water. He
waved and Lotus ran over to
him. Suddenly she was filled
with an uncontrollable dread of
! being left alone on this island
with a man like Curtis Corbin.
“Stacy, take me with you!”
He stared at her. “What is it,
Rosa? What’s happened?”
She was still rubbing her
shoulder in a gingerly way.
“Nothing much your father
wanted me to watch the boa
constrictor being fed. The idea
was more than I could take. It
—it upset me.”
I “I’m sorry.” He really looked
contrite. His eyes seemed to hold
| a certain wonderment at his
father. “Dad takes su'ffi pleas
ure in his zoo himself that he
doesn’t realize that some other
I people are repelled by the sight
! of caged animals.”
He realizes it only too well,
she thought, and takes a malici
lous delight in teasing them.
“Can’t I go into town with
you?” she pleaded.
“Os course not. There’s no
[point in it—you’re here for a
[short vacation.” His voice was
| light but firm. “You write a note
ito Mamselle explaining things
and I’ll go speak to Dad for a
moment.”
He handed her a small note-
I book and a pencil and left.
Lotus wrote a brief note. The
sort of note which would inform
Stu Lawrence she was safe and
still on the job if he inquired ‘of
Chloe. In general it was so in
nocuous that even strange eyes
would see nothing subtle in its
meaning.
The panic had been momen
tary. She still had things to do
at Belle Fleur and of course must
remain there.
Besides there was no other
course. She was a prisoner. She
was certain of it now.
Her arrival at Belle Fleur had
been no surprise to either Stacy
or his father. They had been
forewarned and were expecting
her.
The Corbins used that beacon
light on the belvedere at night
but it had been kept on during
the early morning hours to guide
her to the island. The dip and
suck of a pole she had thought
she had heard as she rested her
pirogue on the hyacinch-cov
i ered lake had indeed been an
other dugout following to make
'sure she reached the correct is
land.
The shadows were deepening
and the gray beards of Spanish
moss seemed to take on a purple
; tinge as she followed the shore
pine towards the cypress swamp
[at the other end of the island.
She stood there thinking of
[what Stacy had said and peer
ing into the thickets of the
marsh undergrowth when the
bow of a pirogue came nosing
around the bole of cypress. The
dugout held the sleek wet bodies
of several recently trapped
muskrats and was poled by a
swarthy ill - kempt individual
with a cap pulled low over his
eyes.
The set of the straight shoul
ders was familiar. It was Stu
Lawrence!
“Thank God you’ve come!” he
said fervently.
“I never thought you’d be that
glad to see me.”
“The fact that I’ve spent half
the day paddling around these
damn bayous might have some
thing to do with it, you know.”
How bitter and insulting he
could be she thought, and how
charming when the occasion de
manded. Since she had known
him there seemed to have been
few such occasions.
He studied her analytically.
“Are you all right?”
“Quite. I don’t think they- sus
pect me, but they won’t let me
go back to town.”
|F Non-operating railroad unions are
r demanding still another raise of
1 5 568,000,000°°j
' > ■ : ’ '■ -----
- -
t •
MR. & MRS. CONSUMER MR. SHIPPER & MR. FARMER MR. & MRS. PASSENGER
You would foot the bill I
Look out! There’s another big rail
road wage demand headed your way!
The non-operating unions alone
—whose members do not actually
operate trains are demanding a
flat increase of 20 cents an hour.
These demands would cost the rail
roads of the country five hundred
sixty-eight million dollars a year!
Last year these employes had
an increase of IB’/z cents an
hour. This was their third major
wage increase since 1939. Their
average weekly pay has gone up
75%, as against a cost-of-living
rise of 54%.
Since 1939, railroad wage and
material costs have gone up more
than three times as much as freight
rates, and five times as much as
passenger fares. That is why in
“That’s because some of their I
goons are still working around
the Case Duval and it might be
bad if you recognized them. That
little runt Paul is still doing
business at the same old stand.
Find out anything?”
“Only that the servants don’t
particularly like the Corbins, but
stay because Corbin pays better
than other employers.” She told
him briefly what had happened
to her since their last meeting.
“The dope came in on the Goh
zales, all right,” he said when
she was through. “It’s thick in
the city—the jails are bulging
with addicts.”
“Why can’t you force one of
them to tell you his source of
supply?”
“Because they don’t know
•themselves. It’s distributed by a
variety of systems. They’ve even
been using the mails. Someone
mingles with their crowd, the
word is passed along and the [
addicts mail money to a certain [
post office box and enclose their •
address. The equivalent amount[
in dope is mailed back to them.
The number is changed fre
quently.
“Why don’t you station people
at the post office?”
“We have, and this week no
[one has come to collect the mail.
I’m afraid they’re wise to us.”
“Have you checked on the re
cipients of cargoes on the Gon
zales?”
“All but Corbin. We’re saving
him for the piece de resistance.”
“I don’t see how he could have
gotten it—all he received was
two boa constrictors in a steel
cage.”
“Have you seen the snakes?”
“One of them, the other is
dead.”
“Dead, eh?” His mouth tight
ened. “What’s he done with it?”
“Says he’s having it- stuffed
for his den.”
“See if you can get a look at
it.”
He was looking beyond her.
She turned and saw that Lac
hene the gardener, was coming
toward them 'across the lawn.
“Guess I’ll be leaving,” Lawrence
said. “Try to be out here at this
same time each afternoon and
I’ll show up if there’s any news.”
Lachene’s gold front tooth [
made his smile seem sinister as
he came us to Lotus. “What you
do, Mamselle, eh?”
Lawrence was pushing off into |
1946, with the largest peacetime
traffic in history, the net income of
railroads went down to the equiva
lent of only 2%% of the net prop
erty investment.
What About 1947?
Even with the recent freight rate
increase, preliminary figures indi
cate that the railroads will make
only about the same low return in
1947 as in 1946. This will be because:
—the wage increase made in 1946
will be in effect for all of 1947;
We are publishing this and other advertisements to talk with you
at first hand about matters which are important to everybody.
I the shadow. Lotus let him get
' further out in the water before
[she answered the gardener:
[ ‘ This man tells me he has some
beautiful muskrat skins at his
home. He wants to sell me some,
to £ave a coat made.”
Lotus guessed he was going to
report the incident to Curtis
Corbin.
(To Be Continued)
SYMPATHETIC JUDGE
RICHMOND, Va.—When a de
fendant faced the court plead
[ guilty to a charge of being drunk
explaining, “I had four teeth
pulled yesterday,” the sympa
thetic judge replied, “I don't
blame you for getting drunk.
Case dismissed.”
Military necessity leads argu
ments for universal training.
What drd^you do
about thepayment
you matted that
went astray?
Nothing to it I simply
stopped payment on my
deck and wrote an ■
d/ier It sure is conven
ient P a jdy check.
MBKaMja and its SAFE /
Farmers & Merchants Bank
SUMMERVILLE. GA.
Member Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
FIREMEN CHASE FIRE
: I LONGVIEW, Wash.—Answer
ing a downtown alarm box sig
: nal, firemen saw, chugging down
> the center of the street, unoc
, cupied and with smoke rolling
out from under the hood, a car
) [of jalopy vintage. An electric
>[short circuit caused the fire and
also started the automobile.
A GRATEFUL MAN
CANON CITY, Col.—Because
his mother considered no sacri-
■ fice too great in her attempt to
I clear her son of a murder charge
: Loren Hamby turned the SIO,OOO
i given him by the state for six
• years spent unjustly in the pen
; itentiary over to his mother. In
. the fight to clear his name, a
cotton plantation in Texas was
sold, the family home was mort-
■ [gaged, SI,OOO was borrowed and
other debts incurred.
—special payroll taxes on railroads
have recently been increased;
—and passenger traffic has declined.
Where Would the Money
Come From ?
We can’t pay out w hat we don’t take
in. And we are not taking in enough
now to meet present costs and to
complete the improvements in serv
ice that you need and that we want to
give you.
You Would Foot the Bill!
PAGE SEVEN