Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1914-11-06
An Atlantic
Episode
By CHARLES LEWIS PHIPPs
confess that in going about my chief

AOuuluk QHEI luG AtAdud( O[EaA "
America on a liner l picked out a moth
er and daughter as worthy of my at
tention. A young man had been intro
duced to the daughter. who seemed to
be very well pleased with him The
mother was also well pleased that the
daughter was well pleased. The young
man was well pleased too. What
struck my delicate ~perceptiye faculties
was that the mothers pleasure In the
matter seemed to arise from a ems of
relief. How or why | inferred this l
can't explain. A woman would under
stand 1t without an explanation. As
for a man. you couldn't stick it into
him with a hatpin.
These two young things were get
ting on like two mating turtledoyes
when n day. the girl being on deck.
I saw her go to the stern Of the
ship. The weather was bad, and 1
was the only other woman on deck. /
scudded along after the girl on the 9TH
er side Of the smokestack and deck
houses till she reached. the limit to the
first class part of the ship and she
stood looking out on to the second class
part A young man appeared He saw
the girl, but be didn't see me, for / was
crouching under a lifeboat He threw
a kiss to the girl. who, after looking
around to see that she was not OBJ
served. returned it in kind.
Now, wasn't that interesting?
OF course 1t wouldn't have been half
SO interesting If 1t hadn't been for the
other young man the girl had met on
the voyage She was fooling her moth
er with him. The real lover, whom the
mother condemned. was travelling sec
ond class so that it wouldn't be known
to the girls mamma that be was on the
ship.
Now, what was the upshot OF all
this? In order to keep track Of 1t
must be up and doing. I mustn't let
the slightest incident escape me-
And l didn't
A couple of days after this. when it
was stormy. l. remembering that lovers
chose just such weather to send kiss
es. went on deck early and stayed all
day, having a steward bring up my
lunch. About dusk the girl came up.
and I knew by her looks that some
thing was up. She didn't know 1t, but
out of the corner of my eye | saw her
scowl at me. l was the only woman
on deck. She didn't care for the men.
She could fool them. but she couldn't
fool me.
That girl scudded along to the after
part of he ship without any one seeing
her except me. and just as the dark
ness was settling down she was lost
= In about an hour from that time
there was the biggest racket aboard
that ship you ever saw. The girl had
disappeared, and her mother was wild
about her. One or two Of the men
who were on deck when she came up
reported having seen her. but none of
them saw the last OF her. But her
mother abused them SO frightfully for
not keeping an eye on her, especially
as the ship was rolling badly. that aft
er awhile one of the sailors said:
"Missus, we didn't want to hurt yer
feelin's. The truth is ! saw the
young lady skiddin' along till she
struck the port rail about midship.
and afore ! could get my hands on her
she toppled over"
This, If 1t had not been for the dis
tress 1t gave the poor mother. would
have been amusing. ! was bound I
wouldn't give the girl away. and yet
/ couldn't bear to see the mother suf-
fer. We were to reach port the next
morning. and somehow l doubted If
the mother believed her daughter had
gone overheard. The latter knew mighty
well that she was trying to keep her
from a young man, and / don't doubt
that It was probable she was some
where on the ship. She had a thorough
search made of the first class portion
and a perfunctory search made OF the
second class. but lone of the steerage.
I didn't know and ! don't know now
how the lovers managed it. but know
what / would have done had ! been
n of them | would have gone, at
least temporarily, from the second
class cabin to the steerage and remain
ed there till the fuss blew vel. They
could easily have got SOM enigrant
clothes and. besides, could have dodg.
ed any one looking for them.
The next day nothing was said about
the girl who WIS g q to plunge into
the ocean. The passengers were busy
getting ready TO 60 ashore. and perhaps
they hadn't time 10 concern them
selves about a person they didn't even
know personally Seeing a group OF
three persons standing together wait
ing to go down the gangplank ] ap-
preached them They were the mother
and daughter and a young man who
bore a strong resemblance to the sec
ond class passenger who had been
throwing kisses during the voyage,
THE mother looked sour enough to bite