Looms of Conflict

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXII, Issue 13427, 14 April 1944, Page 7

Looms of Conflict

J. A THRILLING NEW NOVEL OF y AN EPIC FEUD

gy BURTON L. SPILLER

h( , as easy as dropping a " It !°',he Post-box." he remarkr,,“ ‘ 11 figure on that as our i 1 , wouldn't want anybody '-■"T-hoi •» »• i£ 1 was caugi r OT „d up there with a coup e * ‘ dynamite in my pan.s i! £tlck The re’d be nothing left 01 !***'■, fragrant memory.” going to Stick my neck ! o that” Harmon said. “Round ' :lliK ;!- of those men who were up river. Jim. Send a # Mbeni up to the dam. Just a ! f *° ca n understand? If the fortified, they’ll find out. ;iCC ,L report back to us, we can :„,«f , a, ev grinned approvingly. glides. And it our spies get .. ““sunrise, well Mr. an air;;L and try bombing the place. ”Inon got up and walked over to He looked down over C yard Workmen were trudging “.‘cftbe silent Plant.

we had been able to keep up ji, said ' “" -e ' d haTe iail i .Jill margin. As it is, «e've got the storeroom and no money "Vin Daggett has us coining ad going, Jf»- ™«' e ' s only ° ne itswer. We’ve got to have water, ••You Can’t Land Here” one had ever been able to say C 1 Carles Daggett that he lacked

He had full need of it, however, jten he drove into Rainbow next corning. It was one thing to sit in tie quiet luxury of his office and di--sijl the reports that told him he had Rainbow tied up—reports from lawjus reports from the contractor, dispel reports from a politician’s contlential agent, reports from his pts in the trade. It was quite mother thing to drive brazenly into i silent town, to drive up the street put the little homes of people he lad thrown out of work. The big, fiir-haired man had to keep a tight pip on himself when he saw the ailed, bitter glances that told him people recognised his car, recognised tin sitting in the back seat, alioogh he had pulled the brim of fe Panama low over his forehead. Xancy’s note, however, could not Is ignored.

Daggett was an egotist. He wanted iwr, And with power, he wanted A hard, ruthless man, •a feeling toward Nancy Holcomb ?Ss the nearest he had ever come to honest, uncalcplated emotion. He * leen as earnestly in love with ■■res it was possible for a man of type to be. His courtship had typical of everything he had un«rtaken— swift and masterful. His looks, his wealth, his position, f Satiating personality—these all been in his favour. When it f B * aiV >ng for companionship and eC^n ’ a §Sett took his success as; ®»Uer of course.

toi never occurred to him that 3 c *# § ht rbsent being neglected a J OUr of his business affairs. i ; . em otion when he read little note was not one of l.y* t . the danger of losing her. s si m p]y p Ui£z j e( j an^ aS hUlt ‘ Tbe ownei ’shiP iijkp Hn§ lle had won for himself & 11 threatened. _ e cam e to Rainbow. Not enpurpose °£ restoring hadh anCy ' S good §Taces - That 6611 a ied flag ot dan S'erth t° St gl ° Und wit h Nancy, It David it ß m * s ht lose control * H ° lcomb > and he could W OSe Holco »b just now. as stake. m ,° med him impersonally. Vh : d ? mencls tor her lack sho a . } bustlin § about with a % on thl . heartiness > slapping PQJiriu ®. ack ’ offerin S him a a ! a drink, and talk.Ksir won’t be long .. T , aVe m > r mill back,” he • sore diain! at fellow Harmon bit en ,!. C,OUIcI chew when he hraseif’i laa that show all Ce> asbed hTancy a penetratiellowtr 35 tbss the reason? SC, Perhaps it kf alter 5, h&d Come hack here both inNancy's ex0a' S name was h lng ’ Bllt Hagget> fe hwLt° ut such things ’ iSib J as tfa e clue. ab out e hi s 0n ’ talking aboui e He re g . p ans for RainC %n ation T ed COntrol - abour er >ei be/ the tOWn when beean falling. Nancy

offered not a word of comment. But. her silence was eloquent.

“Can we get a canoe?” Daggett said to her.

I suppose so. Why? Do you want to go fishing?”

Canoe?” exclaimed Holcomb. “Why of course. Plenty of them. Take mine. It’s light, easy to carry if you want to go above the rapids.” “I’m not going fishing. I want to go up and take a look at that dam that s causing all the uproar. Seemed to me, from -what I could see in passing, remarked Daggett, “that theyre letting the water get pretty low. Don’t want to work any hardship on the townspeople, you know.” “In the long run,” declared Holcomb, “it’s for their own good.” ‘“Quite,” agreed Daggett. “But I want to look the situation over. Plow about coming with me, Nancy?”

“I’d be glad to.” Her ready smile almost persuaded Daggett that there was nothing wrong after all. ‘‘Dad will get you a change of clothes. Did you want to go up right away?” “The sooner the better.”

Harmon, from an office window, saw them setting out an hour later. He saw Nancy, provocative, and slim in breeks and high boots, getting into the canoe. The muscles of his jaw tightened as he recongnised the man with her. Although the water was low, it was not low enough to make the river impassable. Harmon did not need two guesses to know where the pair were bound.

‘‘So that,” he thought to himself, “is what she calls neutrality.”

Harmon’s men, under the leadership of Bradley, had gone up the river early that morning. Under the blazing sun they had paddled and portaged, cursing the low water.

Theie were six of them, including Bradley, in two canoes. They did not expect to run into any opposition until they were close to the dam. But when he two canoes swung ino the lazy water below the second portage, Bradley saw a lean hard-eyed man with, straight black hair step out from the shelter of the bushes on to the rocks at the foot of the portage rail. He carried a rifle.

His scrutiny was swift, as they drew closer. Then he called out: “Better turn back boys. Trail’s closed.”

“How do you mean—the trail’s closed?” demanded Bradley. The lean man brought the rifle barrel up a little. 'You heard me,” he returned coldly. “You can’t land here.” The man in the bow of the first canoe wanted to know, with a good deal of profane emphasis, just why they couldn’t land there. It was, he stated, a free country. “You. can’t land because I say you can’t,” the lean man told him. Pic looked grim and hostile and entirely able to take care of himself. Bradley in the stern of the second canoe backed water and wondered if this was a bluff.

“And who are you to say we can't go up river?” he demanded. The lean man spat into the water. “I’m the guy that was told to stand here with a gun and blow a hole through the first tool that tries to go up river,” he said calmly. “And if you think I ain’t obeyin’ orders this morning, just push them canoes a little closer to shore and find out.”

The woodsmen, with high respect for that ominious rifle, looked to Bradley, their leader. “Well,” said Bradley, “there’s two sides to every question, and there's two sides to this river. We can alway try the other side.” “Sure,” grunted the guardian of the trail. “You cau try.” And then Bradley saw that another rifleman was emerging from among the trees on the other bank. The man stepped out on to the rocks his rifle in the crook of his arm. and stood looking at them in silence. “That’s that,” said one of the men in Bradley’s canoe. “No use tryin’ to go up against these gents. If they can turn pff the river they won’t stop at gunplay. Figure they can’t get away with murder.” , The lean man moved back a little and lounged against a tree. (To be continued.)

Excavating machines used in the construction of the Alaska Highway are being sent to the Welsh coalfields under Lease-Lend arrangements.