Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1914-03-11
ahead ana then dive from sight with

to get better view of the lonely
swimmer before he let his own pres
ence become known He slipped into
the bushes and slowly wriggled his
way to the little glade. The lake was
bigger than at first appeared. 1t
turned and twisted through the woods
and was finally lost from view around
small promontory The trees grew
nearly to the waters edge, dense
protecting wall to one who wished
to sport in natures solitude, CARRIED
In natures simple clothing. The lake
was too far from the hotel to have
been annexed as one of the attrac-
tons of that hostelry. All this the
Watermelon noticed at glance. He
also noticed that the man swimming
in the cool, brown depths, with long,
easy strokes, was alone and strang-
er. The Watermelon looked for the
clothes and found them on log, prac-
tically at his feet.
In everything but color they full
filed his dream of what raiment should
be like. Instead of the pale gray he
rather favored, the suit was brown,
light brown, with a tiny green stripe,
barely visible, intertwined with a
faint suggestion of red, forming har-
monious whole that was vastly pleas
ing to the Watermelon's esthetic
sense. In the matter of socks, he
realized that the stranger had not
taken the best advantage of his oppor-
tunity. Instead of being red or green
to lend character to the delicate sug-
gestion Of those colors found in the
suit, they were soft dun brown,
There was a tie of the same shade
and a silk negligee shirt of white with
pale green stripes. The owner was
clearly young man of rare taste,
unhampered by q vexatious limitation
of his pocketbook.
He could be seen swimming slowly
and luxuriously in the little lake, per-
fectly contented, unconscious that
some one besides the woodpeckers and
the squirrels were watching him.
When he disappeared, the Watermelon
quickly. carefully gathered up the
clothes and likewise disappeared.
The swimmer was big man and
the clothes as good a fit as one could
look for under the circumstances.
They set off the Watermelon's long,
lean figure to perfection, and the hat,
soft and expensive panama, lent
added distinction. The Watermelon
removed the three dollars and ten
cents and the keys from his own
pockets, and making a bundle of his
cast-off clothes, stuffed them out of
sight in a hollow log, where later he
could return and find them. 1t was
just as we'll to leave the stranger a
practical captive in natures depths
until the beauty show was pulled off.
After that event, he would return,
and If the stranger was amenable to
reason, he could have his good clothes
back, but If he acted put out at all,
for punishment he would have to &C.
cept the WatermeIon's glorious attire
Clean-shaven, wellclothed, there was
no longer any need for him to go to
the hotel, unless he wished to dine
there. If the devotee Of nature, back
in the swimming pool, was a stranger
in these parts and not a guest at the
hotel, the Watermelon felt that he
could do this with pleasure and safety.
1t was after twelve, and his ever-pres-
ent desire to eat was becoming too
pronounced to be comfortable 1t
would be fitting climax to highly
delightful morning to have dinner,
surrounded by gentle folk again, for
the Watermelon came of a gentle
family. He had no fear, for some
time at least, of the owner of the
borrowed clothes making himself I'M
necessarily conspicuous. But, on the
other hand, If he were guest at the
hotel, the clothes would probably be
recognized and murder be the SIM
plest solution of their change of own
ers. Still, reasoned the Watermelon,
with a shrewd guess at the truth, If
he were a guest, 1t was hardly likely
that he would be swimming alone in
the isolated pond, in the bathing suit
designed by nature.
The wood ended abruptly at stone
wall. There was a road beyond the
wall. and beyond the road, another
stone wall and more woods. 1t was
a narrow woodland road, short cut
to the hotel 1t wound its way out Of
sight, up a hill, through the pines. II
was grass-grown and shady and the
trees met overhead. Sweetbrier and
wild roses grew along the stone walls.
while gay little flowers and delicate
ferns ventured out into the road itself,
and with every passing breeze nodded
merrily from the ruts Of last winters
wood hauling. BY the side of the
road, like a glazing anachronism. q
variety theater in Paradise, a vacuum
cleaner among the ferns and daisies,
stood a huge red touring car with
shining brass work and raised top. No
one was anywhere In sight and the
watermelon climbed into the tonneau
and leaned comfortably back In the
roomy depths.
Home. Henry" said he languidly
to an imaginary chauffeur.