THE CHINA MAIL, FRIDAY, MAY 22, 1936
11
THE STAKE
(Continued from Page 10)
And as he thought this. the despair of his heart gripped him harder. He was a failure. Noi use to fight any longer. It only remained now to perfect the plan.]
The men across the aisle came back as the train was pulling in- to North Philadelphia. The stout; fair man was with them. They were all in high humour. Before he could stop them they had breezi. ly swept him into their conversa tion. The fair man was Kunkle the thin fellow was Nelson. andi the older bald chap was Grover, all commercial travellers. Dan had one question at least he i wanted to ask of them.
"You all going through to New) York" he said.
Kunkle replied. "Yep. It'll be the Great White Way for us for
a week or so, eh, fellows***
"Do you know a decent hotel; where the price is moderate?" Dan sked.
"Sure thing! We all go to the Demarest, down on West Eleventh Street Swell place, that is, if you aren't too particular. Isn't. that so. Nelson?"
Nelson agreed with detailed en- thusiasm, and Dan made a mental note of the name and address. A cheap hotel was tegessary for him. He must busband his slender: funds until... well, as long as he would need them.
A particularly vicious drive of: sleet rattled the windows.
"Well said the fair Kunkle.! "it's going to be an old stinger of a night, all right. Not as bad as Chicago, but let me tell you, New York can put on a pretty neat little; blizzard too, when she tries!"
was
And that night New York tried. By far o'clock in the afternoon the peaks of the skyscrapers had' been levelled and lost in the snow-i heavy air. By fire, traffic siowing up, and the crowds shuf- fled through drifts into the sub- ways, their heads down, battling against the storm. By seven, the street cars and buses had given up the struggle. Only an occa- "sional churning taxi careered through the white ruts. Fifth Avenue looked deserted. Even Broadway was dimmed. An icy wind drove hard from the north and whistled up side strects and alleys It did its worst in one particular little court wedged in between Eleventh and Twelfth Streets. It was a spot given over Lo garbage cans. packing boxes. and evil-smelling cellar-ways. but avithal a place in ordinary times where homeless creatures--men or dogs-could sometimes pilfer bunk of stale bread or a night's
door in Jodging. unnoticed.
there were no
way. To-night
1
men there. but there was a dog.
a small brown tramp pup, of in-
determinate ancestry. His
hair
TROW with
was long and matted frozen snow. His brown eyes blinked anxiously below a shower of mangy icicles. He crouched in a doorway watching the drifting snow rise higher, pondering on the impenetrable fate that seemed, to be closing in on him.
As the strange while death the came nearer, the anxiety in brown eyes turned to panic. There was no hope of better haven in the alleys He had learned that long ago, thankful enough then for the shelter of the doorway. Now he shook his coat as though to reas- the familiar sure himself with motion, then with a desperate re- solve he started down the steps
Once in the court itself, it was hard going. With the first plunge from the steps he disappeared into the drift beneath. But little, by little his small, shuffling, persis- tent nose reached the air again. His feet, he discovered, were be ginning to have a peculiar numb ness in them, but they could still! obey his commands.
He experimented now and then with lying jumps, but he landed each time so deep in the snow
that he settled at last to a slow, grim battle forward. In his small the sure dog brain, there was Knowledge that death waited for him behind in the familiar door- way. And with this knowledge was a tattered bit of hope that kept him straining on: somewhere ahead, if he could only get out of the court, there might be a door that would open enough to let him scuttle through and ind warmth and safety. Nothing in
his past experience justified this Aл hope, and yet there it was. open door! The heaven of it, to e small tramp pup on a night like this! His chest seemed bursting his stomach was empty and the pads of his feet frozen, but he pressed on towards the street.
(Continued on Page 13)
CAN'T YOU REMEMBER A THING? I TOLD YOU THIS MORNING THAT I WANTED YOU TO HELP ME GET A TRUNK OUT OF THE” GARRET-
MOTHER- DID YOU SEE MY FOUNTAIN- PEN? I FORGOT WHERE I LEFT IT-
W
OH-SHE'S OUR NEW NEIGHBOR- TO BE DELIGHT- ED TO MEET
HER-
Rosie's BEAU
BY
GEO.MCMANUS
Registered U. 5. Patons Ofice.
心
WHAT'S TH' USE?
YOU REMIND ME A
DOZEN TIMES
AN HOUR
YOU'RE JUST LIKE YOUR FATHER-YOU
FORGET EVERYTHING~| AND WHY ANNOY ME? THERE GOES THE TELEPHONE-1. MUST
ANSWER 7-
WHEN I TOLD HER ! KNEW YOU - SHE TOLD ME TO CALL AND BRING YOU RIGHT OVER-SHË IS, GIVING A TEA-
FOUR HOURS LATER
Bringing Up Father
"NOW-REMEMBER-
DON'T SCRATCH THE STAIRS-
OH- MOTHER- COME HERE-
HOLD IT A MINUTE UN- TIL I SEE WHAT IT IS
DAUGHTER
WANTS
YOU SHOULD VE SEEN MRS. PAN- HEW YESTERDAY, SHE HAD ON A DRESS THAT IS AT LEAST TWO YEARS OLD-
I'M GLAD I GOT ŴY NEW SUIT TODAY- I GUESS THIS OUT FIT WILL KNOCK HIM COLD – ROSE WILL NOTICE HOW MUCH BETTER. TASTE 1 HAVE
I'M SO SORRY YOU HAVE TO
LEAVE - DO CALL AGAIN-
OH-HELLO- MISS TERTRAIN-HOW'RE YOU, CARLING ? OH- I FORGOT ABOUT OUR TEA DATE YESTERDAY- CAN YOU MAKE ANOTH-
ER ONE FOR NEXT WEEK? BY THE WAY-DID YOU HEAR THE NEWS?
WELL-
DON'T MENTION
HER TO ME.SHE'S
MY PET AVERSION
(THINK SILVER FOX WILL GO BETTER WITH MY OUTFIT THAN
MINK-
THANK YOU. MY DEAR, WE MUST GET BET- TER ACQUANTED -
ARCHE - CARLING- Į WANT YOU TO COME EARLY TONIGHT- MR. CAL O. LATE WILL BE HERE AND I WANT YOU TO MEET HIM-
OH-MRS.E. MENCE-PARDON ME FOR NOT ANSWERING THE BELL SOONER, BUT I WAS ON THE
PHONE-
YOU SHOULD
|| HAVE HEARD
113
14
11
MY HUSBAND LIKES ME IN MY HUSBAND'S || RED-HE SAYS THOUGHTS {T MATCHES WHEN I MEN-| |HIS BUSINESS TONED MINK BOOKS-
GREAT HEAVENS.!!
I FORGOT ALL ABOUT
HIM -
1936, King Features Syndicate, Loc. Great Britain rights reserved.
THAT STUFFED SHIRT- HE THINKS THAT HE IS A GOOD DRESSER-
I'LL SHOW HIM-
1936, King Features Syndicate, Inc. Great Britain, rights reserved.
THAT'S Aiher RIGHT - MY DEAR-1 WANT YOU TO COME
OVER AND MEET MRS.
PLP ONCHATTER
THEY'RE PLAY- ING BRIDGE 1 THINK-OH-YOU MUST JOIN IN-
IT'S THE GYPSY IN ME
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