Fifteen Western Tales, January 1953 — page 31: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE DEADLY. SECOND 31 on his tanned face. She gathered her skirts and stole quickly up the stairs. When she reached the upper floor, she ignored the closed doors of the courtroom, she hurried instead to the ladder leading to the attic which opened into the clock tower. She scrambled breathlessly up the ladder and crouched in the hot darkness of the attic, feeling for the narrow plank walk laid across the rafters that led to the base of the sqaare tower containing the huge clock. It was the second time she’d been there. Once, only a year before, when the court- house had just been completed and the clock was being installed and tested Andrew had brought her, his bride, up to see its great gears and mechanism at close range. They’d even watched, by lamplight, while the clock- smith who’d come all the way from Philadel- phia, had installed the clock and adjusted the hands of the four faces so they’d keep the same time. Fumbling in the semi-darkness of the tower’s base, she found the heavy key, a steel shaft two feet long with a square end that fitted into the winding gear. She hefted it in her hand, wondering if it would serve her oh-oh, Diy Scalp! purpose. She started the swing that would smash the gears of the clock. Then, slowly, sick with dismay, she low- ered the heavy key. To smash the clock and stop it would not accomplish her purpose. Out here in the West, a man who didn’t own a watch or clock could take a quick squint at the sun and cal- culate instantly, within a few minutes, the exact time of day. The brief exultation she had felt a moment before died away and she sank down on the plank runway, head buried in her hands. Four feet from her ears, she could hear the heavy, steady whirring and clicking of the clock’s gears. Somewhere in that intricate mass of brass and steel something squeaked faintly, pleading for a drop of oil. As she huddled there in her misery, con- scious of that relentless recording of the pas- sage of Time so near her she began to grapple with yet another scheme. It seemed almost too fantastic ... but there might be a way Time could be made to serve her in this crisis. Hardly breathing she fumbled for the tiny door in the North face of the clock. Something clicked and it swung open, leaving * coe IMAGINE ME dancing with a scarecrow! How can he be so careless about his hair? It’s straggly, unkempt, and... Oh-oh—loose dandruff! He’s got Dry Scalp, allright. He needs ‘Vaseline’ Hair Tonic,” ar looks beter... scalp reeks betver... when you check Diy Scalp HE TOOK. HER TIP, and look at his hair now! ‘Vaseline’ Hair Tonic can do as much for yoy. Justa few drops a day check loose dandruff... keep hair naturally good-looking. It contains no alcohol _or other drying ingredients. Gives double care to both scalp and hair... and it’s economical, too! j Vaseline HAIR TONIC TRAD « MARK @® Listen to DR. CHRISTIAN, ‘starring JEAN HERSHOLT, 'VASBLINE is the registered trade mark of the Chesebrough Mfg. Co., Cons'd on CBS Wednesday nights. COMICELOO S CO