The mystery of the missing eyebrows
route,” he said. “They call it Old Grief.”
“The turkey route,” North laughed. “We’re going to use that story
tomorrow in our Thanksgiving number.”
He nodded at some of the dilapidated buildings on a cross street. “Want
to change it?” he asked.
“No sir!” Renfro’s answer was emphatic.
Mary Dugan was standing out close to the curbing, a clean white apron
tied around her expansive waist. Her hand reached out and grasped
Renfro’s with all the force a man gives an obstinate pump handle. And
she shook it manfully.
Now, Mary Dugan was of the kissing type, but she respected manhood.
And in fifteen minutes Renfro had grown from a boy to a man in her
estimation. Nor did she weep though she had shed copious tears when
she had heard the story. “I missed them eyebrows last night,” she
said, “and I’ve dressed both of them turkeys which was left. The three
charity ones I carried out to the preacher’s parsonage myself. I told
them to eat one themselves, as he did the free advertisin’ for you.”
Proudly she led the way to the house after she had delivered her
speech. Renfro’s mother caught him in her arms in the most genuine,
motherly embrace he had known for a long time. She sobbed and sobbed
and could not talk. But he knew without her saying a word how happy she
was.
Mr. Horn laughed nervously to North. “I’ve been through Hell a thousand
times during the last twenty-four hours,” he said. “But thank Heaven I
had the courage to go through alone. I never told my wife a word about
Renfro’s being gone until you told me that he was safe. She thought he
was visiting.”
He managed a few fatherly hugs in spite of his wife’s constant clinging
to Renfro. His eyes were charged with love and beyond that a look
of pride. He started to say something directly to Renfro about his
feelings but with a great effort Renfro managed to wriggle out of his
mother’s arm and start toward the dining room.
“Where are you going, Hooch?” Mary Dugan sprang to her feet with the
suspicion in her mind that Renfro was hungry.
But Renfro waved her aside. “I’m going to call up the office,” he
returned. “I want to find out of Morrison if there have been any
complaints on my route.”
THE END.
The next RENFRO HORN book will be
_THE LUCK OF A RAINY NIGHT_
THE LUCK OF A RAINY NIGHT
or
Renfro Horn Wins the $10,000 Reward
In this second book of the Renfro Horn series of Newspaper Boys’
stories, Renfro Horn wins the enmity of the carrier on Route No.
19, because Renfro is held up as a model carrier by the Circulation
management of the Globe.
And on the darkest, rainiest night of the year, the carrier of Route
No. 19 plans to lure Renfro to a desolate place where he hopes to
give him a beating. But Renfro, who has been keen on the trail of the
Insurance Mystery, stumbles on the body of the man who is supposed to
be dead, and he wins the reward which the Insurance company has offered
for the location of Clyde Truesdale.
THE RISE OF ROUTE 19
or
Renfro Gets a Regular Detective Badge
“Old Grief” has now been made a respectable route under Renfro Horn’s
careful carrier service, and the Globe has the largest number of
subscribers in that section of the city, so to test Renfro Horn’s
fighting spirit, Bruce, the circulation manager, offers Renfro Route
19, one of the bad routes along the river front, where the house boats
are moored, and a better route in a better part of the city.
But Renfro Horn, being in quest of success and excitement takes Route
19 and thus begins an interesting series of adventures for this boy
carrier, who is the peer of the city’s best detectives. It ends with
the Mayor of the city pinning on his coat lapel a regular detective
badge, because Renfro has found the stolen finger prints.
THE WHITE BAG’S SECRET
or
Renfro Horn Trails Down the Thieving Dog.
By Stephen Rudd.
The jewels of Mrs. Laidlaw Garth have mysteriously disappeared. Mary
Dugan’s cousin, Bridget O’Hara, is the maid in the house and is under
suspicion.
Renfro and Mary believe she is innocent. Through the location of one of
his old paper bags, Renfro gets a clue which leads him to believe that
Mrs. Garth’s dog, “Bluff,” stole the jewels. He and Mary set out to
find them, and they are successful, of course.
But there is thrill in this story for any red blooded boy.
Published by the R. H. Gore Publishing Co.
THE CLUE OF THE TWISTED PAPER
or
The Mystery of the Lost Girl.
By Stephen Rudd.
Can a paper, which a newspaper carrier boy twists into a roll and
throws on a porch, contain a clue to the identity of the girl who has
forgotten who she is or where she comes from? Renfro Horn, the carrier
boy detective, proves this can be done.
He and Mary Dugan do it.
And the lost girl--well she is a wonder child. But read all about this
absorbing mystery in “The Clue of the Twisted Paper.” It’s coming soon.
Published by the R. H. Gore Publishing Co.
* * * * *
Transcriber’s note
Typos fixed; non-standard spelling and dialect retained.