1927-10-17 — Page 11

NEW SERIAL STORY

THE MERAFIELD MYSTERY.

CHAPTER I.

By R. A. J. WALLING.

(Author of "The Third Degrao," "Fatal

Glove," etc.).

!

Jachmٴ3e0|m|fm|fw|n]]w

THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH,

STRIKE OVER ONE MAN.

MAY MEAN A "HOLD-UP" "OF "LONDON.

ELECTRICAL DISPUTE.

Con-

MONDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1927.

LION-HUNTING, OLD AND NEW.

RUDOLPH VALENTINO

COL PATTERSON'S. GOOD STORIES..

HELD UP A RAILWAY. ·

"SPEAKS."

SPIRIT MESSAGES IN BOOK

AT HOME

OR ABROAD

BY WIFE,

"EXPERIENCES" AFTER.

-DEATH.

London is threatened again with It is announced that the Game

Curious "spirit messages," pur- the danger of a general paralysis Department of Kenya Colony has of the clectrical lighting, tram, and appointed В white lion-hunter, porting to come from the abade of cinema tube_services. So serious is the who will have the privilege of Rudolph Valentine, the position that the Emergency Com-hunting lions and leopards for actor, who died last year, are

the Electrical

a book entitled four months in the southern re-published in held sacred as a sanctuary for Natacha Rambova (Hutchinson, serve, which has hitherto been "Rudy," by his second wife, Mile. It would appear that Valentine's big game; he will hunt by day- 10s. 6d. net.).

popularity immediately after his evident to passing was not so himself as it was to his numerous worshippers left on Earth:

He had the fame and the popu-mittee of larity of a sportsman. He rode tractors' Association has been sum Highcliff Petty Sessional Division, he was a generous supporter of the while a committee of the Electrical An Clerk to the Justices of the well to hounds. Out of his rich's moned to a meeting immediately, I prepared the depositions in the pack. He played respectable golf Trades Union has met, says a Home Merafeld trial. But I should cer- and was one of the mainstays of paper of mail week. tainly not have undertaken this the Longstone Club, whose course. narrative na well save for the in-en the coast away to the east, had

The trouble originated at Bective Electrical Works, Cavendish sistence of several persons who a certain colebrity among the not-

on Monday, when 66 members of think there ought to be some re-no-noble courses of South Devon, cords of the facts more human He was a good fisherman with wet the Union struck work over the em- and explanatory than the bare is or minnow, and did not make ployment of non-Unionists. The words of witnesses in court.

too much fuss about permits to strike was not an official one, but But above all there was a surprising develop I agree with them. reluctant as fish on his water. I am to write the record. There he was an enthusiastic sea-anglement this morning (says the are people to whose children it fie kept a very serviceable lugger. Central News), when the Union de may be important to know a little besides his motor-boat, on the cided to give the men all possible more about the surrounding cir- estuary of the Mera, was a know- support. cumstances than they could ever ledgeable sallor, and was always obtain from newspaper files or kind to the longshore fishermen. even from the depositions them- selves.

The task has been placed on me because, by sheer accident, I came to play rather more than a merely official part in the Merafield busi

nega.

The news was conveyed to the Employers Association, who re- gard the latest move as of such im portance that they summoned their Emergency Committee to deal with! the matter. Members have been called to attend the meeting from all parts of the country, and the Central News learns that unless a settlement can be arrived at very shortly they will declare a general lock-out in London,

On the side of sport Sir Charles was well in credit. He had a good account on another page as well. Although there were no military traditions in his family, he had become a soldier at the beginning of the war, and had raised at least half a battalion The curinus accident was this: of new Territorials in the district On the 16th August, 1925 in one of the recruiting crises. remember the date, of course, because of what Happened in the ing with public opinion there was four succeeding days) I was walk-nothing so definite to be said: A

about his the of uneasiness ing up through the woods to my kind

A certain house, which is called Rosebank. character. Rumours: The road, after you leave the hardness that men noticed. A bridge over the Mera, is steep, and rough tongue with women and a deep Devonshire lane. It cuts about them. And rumours again. through the Merafield. property--- a very cool and beautiful walk in summer weather.

On the debit side of his reckon-

Having come into the title and the estate as a very young man, he had lived largely in Lendon. About half-way up to my house Local society brought back stories that is, about three-quarters about him to whisper in the smoke- a mile from the bridge--a private room-stories not nice even, in the woodland path crosses the rond, smokeroom and offensive to sub with a gate on either side. This urban cars. They had died down little-used path leads from Mera- lately, for at the end of 1924 Sir Charles married a charming field Tower to Highcliff Creek.

woman, and was less in London and Paris.

The decision of the London Com- mittee of the E.T.U. to make the strike official is not accepted by employers. They informed from official sources that according to the rules of the Union of Low- don District Committee has no right to authorise a strike without permission from the Executive Committee. This permission, it is understood, has not been obtained. The section directly concerned the Electrient Contractors, but in the event of a lock-out being declar- ed only for men in that category, it is almost certain that all the other men in the Union would join them "out of sympathy," and this,

don would be plunged into darkness, and that the tram and tube trains would come to a standstill.

As I slowly climbed the hill and neared this four- cross. way. I was surprised by the sound of voices

The charming woman who in loud dispute-voices of a man and a woman. The road is very became Lady Merafield was fiss lonely, and few people pass there, Mary Sheen. The name will con- for there is no other house than yey, something to people who my own near by, excent Merafield flutter the pages of the illustrat-there Tower-indeed, no other habiti ed weeklies, and more to those few rend the geographical tion within three miles than the who Merafield keepers' cottages and journals. She had been a daring farmhouse, Highcliff Farm, far traveller, and had written on her the east and some distance from travels. She was reputed a bit the road. I recall no other occa- of a blue-stocking, with views, sion when I have met anybude enormous independence and intel there except the farm people in ligence. These drawbacks were by her beauty. their trap on the way to or from compensated

Many men wanted her in spite of Merafield Station.

So I was surprised to hear cul-her intellect, and her marriage to Sir Charles Merafield. a mere tivated voices raised in this way squire in Devon and a mere club-

When I reached the gates,

of wonder. glancing along the glade to the man in London, created nine days right. I saw my neighbours, S'r Charles and Lady

Cynical people, who could not atanding some twenty yards down understand what she saw in Sir from the road. They were 11 Charles to make him tolerable, heated altercation:

found in Sir Charles's acccesories I did not stop, and, of course,his fortune and his lovely estate I had no intention of eavesdron of Merafield-the reason of her And, indeed, Meraficld ping. But they spoke with such thoice. emphasis that two sentences came was a place to entrance any to me quite clearly as I passed woman.

ол.

Merafell,

19

"'** Here also, for the due under- Lady Meraficid said. absolutely intolerable that you standing of the events of August, should do this. It is a beastly must take another short step thing to do. Telegraph to him it aside-not to describe the loveli- once and prevent him from start-ness of Merafield, with its lower set on a wooded hill cleared to the .ing."

a con-

A woman

"Once I jolted into who had headed straight into me and she shuddered and grasped her companion's arm, saying, cold wind struck My, what a

me!

"This made me furious. Si death had turned me into cold wind!, I would not have it so. I rushed up to a group of actors standing on the corner of Forty-

seventh-street and Broadway near

light and with dogs; and it is hoped that his hunting will inst! in the lions something of respect and fear man.

For it appears that the lions, having found the reserve venient breeding ground, have of late increased the field of their activities and have begun to at tack systematically the herds and herdsmen of the Masai tribe. It Theseus for one man and a pack would seem, Indeed, a task for a of terriers to go merrily to pacify whole lion-infested countryside. "All the same I wish I had his job," Lieut. Col. John Henry Pat- torson said in an interview with 'the Palace Theatre. I seized one The Observer. Lieut. Col. Patter of the men by the arm and-about- Rudolph Valentino l'-- son is a famous hunter of lens. ed. I am It will be remembered that heut he paid no attention and went wrote the history of some of his on laughing and talking." more lurid adventures in his book, "The Man-Eaters of Tsava."

"Lions are sensible beasts," he said. "They know when they are He thought, indeed, wel! that a great many animals geemed almost to know the exact posi tion of the boundaries of the It is bounded. southern reserve. oddly enough, by the railway line, and on one side of the line the right side-it is possible to watch them browsing contentedly a few yards away; on the other side they are on the qui vive and fly at the least alarm.

off

Old-Time Masai Hunt. Thus, in the peace of the sane tuary the lions have flourished mightily; and to make their lives even more pleasant the Masai are hunting them less vigorously than

Meeting with Caruso.

It seems that in life Valentino was "extremely mediumistic him- self, often astonishing as with re- the excellent fest-messages

his au- reived by him through tomatic writings." Now, through the medium of Dr. George Ben-

Wehner,

America jamin

the spirit navehic, have

At first Valentino was unhappy messages. and restless, but later he became surround- reconciled to his new ings.

સળ

come

being taken under the guidance of a spirit.

He describes a meeting with Caruso. "So much love I have One before. Every

Caruso, never seen seems to beam with it. whom, as you remember, I always admired so, comes to see me fre-

"He does not look just as he used to, either. He looks more like his music sounded, if you can imagine what I mean.".

are

of course, would mean that Lou-of old. "It was a grand sight-muently. I am not yet sure whe-. an old-time Masai hunt!" Colonel ther he comes to me or I go to Patterson said-and to hear him him. When I asked him about it, tell of it is exciting enough. It he laughed and said, 'Well, mio is a hunt conducted almost with figlio, what does it matter? Are Two Sides of the Dispute.

the pomp and circumstance of a we not together?"" According to the men on strike, Spanish bull-fight. There is a wes a number of non-band of warriors slowly, circling Unjanists employed by the firm, round the lion, waving their and nine,joined up after the strike. spears; and when at last they

of the Seeing his own Films.

Admirers of Valentine's actin: They also allege that the firm re-have surrounded it one fused to receive a deputation to lis-bravest des into the midst of the

representa ring and takes the lion's charge will be glad to know that he is thrusts occasionally among them, when cuss the matter. A

a film in which Often the lion they go. to see tive of Bectives, however, stated on his shield while he that the men's story was entirely with his spear, wrong. The bone of contention, charges repeatedly and receives, he is "starred," although he does he said, was the employment of many spear-thrusts, so that many not altogether seem to share their one man who had been dismissed warriors attain glory. "In the emotions.

"I sometimes find myself in from the Union. The reason was old days. if a lion attacked the that he had worked overtime at Masni cattle." the colonel said. theatres where my pictures

"I think the herdsmen would have still being shown. But somehow the flat rate.

A committee discussed his ac- shown that they knew how to use, they do not seem as real to me as they used to. I do not feel so tion, and he was ordered to pay their spears."

as he stirred when an audience is moved It seemed, however.

the acting of about the a fine of £10. This he refused to do, with the result that he had to thought, that the trouble was not by my acting or

His surroundings seem. to be leave the Union. The official add-much that the Masai have become others. Something ed that it was a sort of unwritten less brave and less skilful as carth is growing fainter." law that when men were employed that the lions have found such on jobs in small villages where they confidence and prosperity in the congenial. Indeed, he might b

It may thus be found said to be existing in an actors' a lion-hunter paradise, as the following quota- had nothing to do in the evenings, reserve. work

overtime. When possible, into the reserve as a corrective tions show:

"And I hope "My friends have taken me to frequently asked to be allowed to necessary to send

but every few years. their wishes were granted,

beautiful. when the men asked for overtime that this time, at any rate, the see the theatres. They are enor- of thought a cinema-man They are also built they were paid only the flat rate. authorities have had the fore-rous and very, very If they were asked by the firm to thought to send

such a film as would make a substance which comes from true work on, they were paid overtime with the hunter. He would get substance, but of that thought

poets' ideals.. fortune. rates.'

"All the great actors act in

the

We think that the strike is due "For the point about hunting Sir Charles Merafield replied river for the noble view it made, to the agitation of extremists or with dogs is that the lions' at them. But there is a strange dif in a tone of hard anger, "I shall for picturesque description is not Communists, he added. Not go tention is so distracted that the ference in the acting of here and

If you in my line of country, but to make do nothing of the sort. are a woman it will make quite clear the scene of the events long ago a shop steward was preach-cinema-man could get close up for the acting of earth. On the earth no difference to you. If you're in this narrative.

It is necessary for it to be clear- Merafield not-well, I'd better know."

understood that Ily They had not, noticed me, thought, though I passed at such Tower is subject to three confine- The river Mera. which The ments. a short distance from them: words used by Sir Charles were taken its rise in the heights of

south-westerly strange, but I should probably Dartmoor to the north-east, has a have forgotten all about them (freneral

For the due understanding of those events I must not down here

a word about Sir Charles and Lady Merafield.

course,

*The road

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THE RETURN OF THE NATIVE.

most of examined it; it seemed dead as

of

AUSTRALIAN'S UNCASHED

ing the doctrine of Communism to his shots without any danger. plane a clever artist can portray LOCAL

men. Some of the men The lion is not going to bother any part given him by the mana- threatened to runch his head unless about him. Hunting with dogs ger. Not so here. There is nr. unsportsmanlike.mere cleverness here. All is sin- he changed his teachings.

is considered

cannot pla Bectives also repudiate the men's statement that the firm re- Compared with real lion-hunting-rity.....A man

in character and soul. On earth fused to meet a deputation to dis- it is a quite and a tame pastime king unless he is majestic cuss the matter. The employers While the lion is mauling the ter

riers the hunter can shoot at the Passion Play comes nearest to In a short sentence he explains the agreement between their As- they were no concern of mine) and before it broadens out into regard the strike as a violation of nisure. It is a very different this sincere expression,"

for a lion's charge You have his own success! "It turns out before the audible memory had the estuary at Westport ents asociation and the men's Union, and thing when you have time to wait

only time for one shot; the lion that the unusual magnetism 1 faded, they had not been riveted deep channel through the valley it is for that reason that they con-

has covered sixty seventy possessed when, appearing on the in my mind by the events of the on its southern edge.

and the railway to London are on template a lock-out.

Mr. W. J. Webb, London district yards in a second or two. It is screen was due to the fact that next four days.

he other side of the valley. The

difficult target. You miss--I have, been an actor in previous river forms on boundary of the secretary of the Electrical Trades Merafield estate, and the land Union, said to a Press representa and very like that will be the lives." rises abruptly from the water's tive at the Trades Union Congress end of somebody. It may be the Charles was the fourteenth ge to perhaps three hundred at Edinburgh to-day: I have re-hunter hiniself; it may be one of native servants surrounded baronet, The Merafields had berr feet at the eminence where Micra-ceived a letter stating that the men his servants--though

CHEQUE settled in this part of Devon since field Tower stands. The second are out, but the case has not yet them, to be sure, are half way up any lion could be, but it got up. the natives a hundred yards, and arrives."

he had barely time to scramble the early part of the seventeenth confinement is by the English been discussed by the executive, the nearest tree before the lion and charged. It chased one

The Dignity of Lions

Returning to his native town of The first baronet vras Chunnel on the south. The third and the stoppage has therefore not century.

Colonel Patterson has many up a tree. It was only a quick. one of those who paid King James is Highcliff Creek on the cast yet received official endorsement. by the employers. If The lock-out for their titles, and he took It at Highcliff Creek is hardly more. We have had many threats of a

they carry out this threat we shall stories to tell about lions; he shot from Colonel Patterson that Middlesbrough for the first time As again, the hunter with dogs has years ago, Mr. Bennett H. Altaon, the time when he purchased the than an inlet of the sea.

personalities to be studied

an advantage-be can investigate of Melbourne, brought the still un- cashed cheque for twenty pounds estate and built Merafleld Tower stream which runs into it past my

dividually,

much as beasts to be hunted, and he has had chance enough to a sharaming lion by proxy.

Lion seem almost to have a self-given him by his father when he Three centuries later Sir Charles By some freak of geology the sea

study them. It was he who killed

Looking for his old school, be was the only landed magnate has found a soft place between

My route from Rosebank to the the famous pair of man-eating conscious dignity. Sometimes," left home as a youth of nineteen. this side of the great town the cliffs and bored out a deep

Lawn is a second-class road which lions who held up for nine months Colonel Patterson said, "I have Westport, and a person of large and narrow gorge running inland

He for about two miles.

passes between the grounds of consideration in the county,

Thus the Merafield eatato is a was the chairman of my bench.

Melbourne The owner of a M.F.II., Alderman of the County narrow neck of land jutting into Morafield and the wild country on the building of the Uganda rail- been following a lion which has found Middlesbrough's principal

character back as though to say, 'Come any brough Exchange, lion's about tho Council, Deputy Lieutenant in the English Channel between two the sea coast. I can garage my way and killed and ate 195 of his marched away with awful dignity cafe on the site, and the playing fact he held all the offices tradi-water courses, with a bottle-neck car at Westport Passage and cross workmen. "He learned something-sometimes stopping and looking field occupied by the Middles-

Houtrance at Merafield Bridge, by the ferry. It is a simpler way. tional to the squiredom. would have stood as candidate for the station used by Merafield and than motoring down the preci its odd dignity, ita histrionic farther and there'll be trouble. the Division at the Parliamentary by a few hamlets to the north lies pitous, narrow lane to the bridge powera: "For he's generally sham- And it will go on with this cere building known as "Altson's Cor- That will serve to introduce the wrote. He told of one lion, for thinks it is out of sight. Then it Taking the cheque to the local instance, which, having fallen, casta its dignity away; it is off branch of the National Provincial election of the previous year, but near the bridge, and on the main and going round by the main road. ming when he's dead!" as Kipling mony till it gets over a rise and ner," he is now a wealthy man.

embodying In the large outline, of the aren for the fact that the urban voters road between them is an inn-the

was tracked and killed; its body in Homeric smile have wicked frame three years older. He de on the border of Westport dis-Merafleld Arma.

was found again'a long time after boys braved a policeman's steady clares there is no country in the liked certain aspects of his charac-room over the bar we hold the what was to become the Merafield was left lying, while another lion like the wind!" Not otherwise Bank, he was shown one there in a

(To be Continued.)

wards with some dificulty. The eye, till they were round the world with better chances for am-

bitious, youths than Australia. Corner. ter and record and had no special monthly sittings of the local Mystery.

petty sessional court. respect for his squiredom.

PROF. L. K. SETO MADAME F. SETO MASSAGE ESTABLISH-

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Specialty Cures," Rheumatian," nervousness, poor

blood-circulation, weak stomach

on the site of an old manor househouse at Rosebank is a mere brook fight them and smash them in- seems to regard them, almost as put an end to the play. Here, since he went to Australia fifty and reduction of fat people.

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