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l’ége Four BEAVER BOARD “warm making a noise about? Better Walls and Ceilings, supplanting lath, plaster, steel and Up in a jiffy and up to stay. Stands all weathers. Makes beautifully panelled rooms. Fits all “211 and ceiling requirements. Beaver Board is cheaper: and better than steel for ceilings in stores, moving picture theatres, auditoriums, etc. Ask us about The Beaver Board Companies’ free Design and Decoration Service for builders. czvcr Board is made in Canada. GEO. C. BYNG Christmas is past and most of us find we have been so occupied buying gifts for friends that we have quite forgot- ten our ou’n needs, and there are so many things we require, perhaps urgently. Perhaps you need a new sett of Knives and Forks, some Teaspoons, or probabiy a larger piece of SilverWare such as a Casserole or Sandwich plate. Maybe a handsome piece of Cut Glass is needed or a pretty Mantle or Bedroom Clock. Around New Years has therefore come to be a sort of “buy-for-yourself’ time. We have an endless variety of useful things to choose from. Give us a call and we feel sure we can please you. Lindsay’s Leading Jewelry Store \Vedding Rings Alarrias Advertise BEDSTEADS, MATTRESSES, SIDEBOARDS, COUCHES AND ALL KINDS OF HOUSE FURNISHINGS Undertaker Make 21 Noise About It Its Your Turn NOW McCARTY’S Manufacturer and Dealerin‘ LINDSAY BOBCAYGEON Marriage Licenses wood ONTARIO ARCHIVES Phil Manton of the Far Eastern bank in Shanghai went out into the streets feeling dull and out of sorts. Each morning for a week he had found a mysterious envelope on his desk. No one could explain whence it came. It was not in the morning's mailâ€"it was simply there! The envelope was one of those long, narrow oriental affairs, perhaps two inches in Width by twelve inches or more in length. Sometimes it was longer or shorter, to accommodate its contents. The contents were invariably the sameâ€"a black feather, narrow and shining. The inscription in Chinese was fa- miliar to him now. “A feather from the wing of the black pheasant” was the meaning of the ideographs. “A feather (from the wing of the black pheasant,” he was repeating to himself as he went down the Bund, un- mindful of the curious glances sent in his direction by friends and acquaint- ances. “What’s the matter with Manton?” they asked each other, for the presi- dent ot the Far Eastern bank was nor- mally a practice], well balanced, cool headed business man. “Hope nothing is wrong with the bank.” Manton confided his business to no one. He had lived in the east long enough to guess that some evil influ- ence was working against him, some secret power that was trying to weak- en his efliciency, to break down his nerve. Some one had whispered that Oscar Blare, the former president of the Far Eastern. had committed suicide be- cause “he had seen things." What had he seen? Money had vanished at the time of Blare‘s death, but no one could ever trace it or could account for the man- ner in which it had been spent. The money, gold in canvas bags, had van- ished. Phil Manton could have told anoth- er taleâ€"that for two months now there had been a steady pilfering at the bank. One gold piece after another had vanished from the strong room. Privately he had had the different employees watched, and each one was proved'impeccable. Of course there was Wong Suong. the watchman, but Wong Suong was poor and had a big family to support. and he was proved to be impeccable as well as the others. And the shadow of the black pheas- ant‘s wing darkened the days for the young president of the Far Eastern. The next morning he found another feather in its envelope and put it away. The accompanying card he studied carefully, Phil Manton had tried many devices to find if his employees were trust- worthy, and, nothing having developed in that line to help him, he was at his wits; end. Even his friends were be- ginning to take notice of his abstract- edness, and, worst yet, it was getting on his nerves to the extent of interfer- ing with his heretofore splendidly rest- ful nights. Certainly something must be done. and he was feeling that he must be the one to do it. Finally, after long deliberation, he made up his mind that in the after- noon when it was time to leave he would secrete himself in the strong room and, revolver in hand, grimly wait for the thief to appear. From his corner behind a heap of canvas sacks Phil watched the clerks as one by one they came into the strong room to put away cash and books. Each one Went about his busi- ness in an open, honest way, and the last one looked the steel doors and threw the heavy bolts of the combinaâ€" tion lock. Phil Manton knew that the strong room of the Far Eastern was well sup- plied with fresh air from a ventilating pipe which ran up to the roof, so that even if his inmrlsonment had lasted for several days he Would not have suli‘ex'ed except for food. In the dimness of the strong room thoughts crowded heavily upon him. He found himself remembering many things that he had forgotten in the rush of daily life. One thing was that Oscar Blare had been discovered dead in the strong room, in this very spot, perhaps, with an empty pistol in his lifeless hand. Then the gold deficiency had been discovered. A cold horror took possession of him. Was history going to repeat itself? Was he, Phil Mauton, unwittingly guilty of the thefts? Would he, too, be found dead in the strong room? “That wretched black pheasant feather business is getting on my nerves,” he muttered. “I wonder if Blare knew the black pheasant?” Suddenly he laughed his fears to scorn. Still laughing at his own vague fears and regretting that he had immured himself in the strong room for the night, Phil made himself comfortable behind the pile of canvas sacks, feeling that the president of the Far Eastern bank was lowering his dignity. The brick wall back of him seemed to vanish. leaving him tottering on the edge of the floor. He fellâ€"fell down a. He had dozed off :0 sleep when he was suddenly awakened by a rush of cold air. TORONTO THE BOBCAYGEON INDEPENDEN'I few reetâ€"and dropped to a heap of soft mats in a perfectly strange place. Here all was silenceâ€"a vague, omi- nous silence that oppressed his heart. From a lantern in a far corner there were disclosed the outlina: of a long room, with a matted floor and many rich rugs. There were some articles of furniture, tealm'Ood chairs and tables and many more mats. Phil removed his shoes and crept to a Screened corner. From the privacy of the screen he watched down the length of the room. There was no visible door in the walls. He could not even see an aperture where he had fallen from the strong room of the bank‘ but he suspected that the entire back Wall of the strong room had pivoted in- to this strange place and pushed him down. Suddenly a sound smote the silence, the sharp intake of a Chinaman‘s breath when he is surprised. Phil looked from his hiding place. A strange figure was approaching down the length of the room, a hu- man form completely covered with a strange dress of black feathers. It was a small, bent form, and the veil of black feathers hanging before the invisible face fluttered in and out with the breath of its wearer. In its hand the strange being carried a wicked looking knife. “Ah, ha!" thought Phil, and his hold on the revolver tightened. “Here is the old Black. Pheasant himself! I'm to be unnerved by threats, stirred by thefts, and when I attempt to discover the thefts I am decoyed here and mur- dered. Well, two can play at that game. my somber bird!” When the Black Pheasant had reach- ed the spot where Phil had carelessly left his shoes be bent over them for a moment, and then, uttering'a shrill staccato yell, he turned and began to search the room. When he poked his evil head around the corner of the screen Phil was ready for him. The pistol spoke, but by a rapid turn of his arm the Black Pheasant sent the bullet flying to the ceiling. grasped the yvrist that held the ugly knife, forcing the hand to the floor. There Phil struck it such a blow with the knuckles of his other hand that the knife dropped from the nerveless fingers. Both men made desperate ef- forts to regain it, but neither could dis- tinguish in the dim light where it was. Phil in grasping the other’s wrist had been made aware that the skin was oiled. The feathered man thus had a great advantage over Phil. The latter had the advantage. however, in being a man of herculean strength. He threw himself upon his antagonist, grasping his throat. This, too, was oiled, but Phil managed to get a grip of both hands on the muscles of the neck. including the windpipe. That grip he held till one after another he felt the muscles of the body relax, and he knew the man was dead. Phil crouched there in a listening at- titude. Would the dim shadows of the long room give up any more of these gro~ tesque black feathered pheasants? IIe waited until an eternity appeared to have passed; them he crept out cau- tiously, peering behind screens and searching all the dark corners. The result of his search was a bun chest filled with canvas bags of goldâ€"â€" the gold which had been stolen during Blare‘s time and the last thefts. It was all there intact. The thief had stolen but was afraid to spend. “Wino was the thief that; he or they Inctedthe courage to spend what they “kw ’1. AI} you need to do to enjoy them is to have us send a \Hctroia. to yqur home. Sta-:3 in and ask us about easy terms on Victors and \Iictroias, $27.50 to$365 , ,.;3. ma the rest I J\) 'Jrofts’ 1.x) you realize that the world 5 great: a 61.. tain- ‘ “knocking at your door" to brixg ‘ «1“ t" , \ ealth of musicâ€"grand opera, music: 1 rom- -~f 1 . . ya o5. ‘eville, popular songs, dance music, an:‘; all had stolen? Phil went back to the prone figure of the Black Pheasant. He drew aside the veiling black feathers and saw the wizened face of old Wong: Suong. the night watchman who had been proved of impeccable honesty because he was openly so poor! Wong Suong was the Black Phan- tom. He was the writer of the mys- terious messages, he was the thief 01' gold. the murderer of Oscar Blare, the would he murderer of Phil Manton. Phil never discovered when the back wall or the Far Eastern had been tam- pered with, but be suspected that it had been known to Wong Suong for a. long time. ‘Vn _ No one save the officials of the bank ever knew the history of that night. Phil managed to escape and secure help. The gold was returned to the strong room and the rear wall ren- dered firm. The mysterious room in the rear was taken for a director’s room, and the memory of Oscar Blare was cleared of the stigma of suicide. H fiaooie say that the Far Eastern bank must have passed through a financial wish. for Manton lost his worried look and has ever since then been his genial self. But Phil smiles and tells himself that the shadow of the Black Pheas- ant has passed away forever and that the Far Eastern is as firm as the rock of Gibraltar. But he cherishes a profound respect for old Wong Suong‘s powers of in- genuity. 9.11"IlllllllIIIIII|lIllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll|||IlllllllII|IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIlllllll five a [ave ever said this, or thou. ~ 1:1 the evenmg w1th nothi: v IIIIIIIHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIllilIiIIIIIIllllllillil!IIHIIIII|IEl"HillIll!lillllllllllllllllllllll When you are in need of good warm footwear Is the place you will find it. 3V8 have a large stock of If you are thinking" of getting a pair of good shoes made to order for the spring work, now is the time to come in and leave your measure; l All: Heavy Rubbers of All Kinds Felt Boots, Moccasins, Overshoes All at verv lowest Prices for Cash. Repairs Neatly and Promptly Executed. WINTER FOOTWEAR THE PRACTICAL SHOEMAN Chas. Bigley BIGLEY’S Family Aimast Wiped W; By Consumption. From a hovel in the rear of more pretentious buildings comes a ghastly tale, one that in this fair Province of ours seems almost incredible; yet, to those who know the ravages of con» sumption, it is but a typical case. Grief stricken, the mother tells us of her five small children buried from. this lowly home during the past three years, of her only remaining child, sufâ€" fering from. a tuberculous hip, and then as though in mockery of their misery, the father, too, was stricken. He is now a patient at the Muskoka Free Hospital, where every endeavour lis being made to save his life. The {Muskoka Free Hospital for Consump- Etives is aipealing for help to carry on this fig t against the Great White Plague. The money you give will help 1 them see]: out these unfortunate famiâ€" subscribe tiés and ve 1 for thexr Ives. Contributions may be sent to W. J. Gage, Chairman, 84 Spadina Avenue. Toronto, or Geo. A. Reid, Secretary Treasurer. 223 College St. Toronto. jfor. , you Thursday, January 3rd {:72- {1.13517 a fighting chance Thursday, January 3rd 1918 “ 'If German God’s Earth ' Men, Order your 5' Hohhcz'lii Lowest Prices and 15 Boys" Ox‘c: with velvet coiizirs gain at 2.934 Thev are Zo‘ only M fancy cheques a bought io-d;n-. Bufierickv Pafierns VlAi ":7 The Groc Largest Exclusiv Agents for Lipton’s Success Eastern Onta Cor. Kent 94l2 WEDN Tea )6! IO