Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1914-04-17

fore him, he threaded his way through
the press with keen exhilaration. Now
and then his gloved hand touched his
cap at a salutation. He was con-
scious of swift bird-like glances from
pretty girls. Here was none of the
rigid straight-ahead gaze OF vacant
stare of the city boulevard; the eyes
that looked at him. frankly curious
and inquiring, were full of easy open
comradeship. Some of the girls
gowns and hats that might that morn
ing have issued from the Rue de la
Paix; others were habited in cheap
materials. But about the latter hung
no benumbing self-consciousness. All
bore themselves alike. He was begin
ming to realize that there might really
exist straitened circumstances, even
actual poverty, which yet created no
sort of social difference.
Opposite the canvas-covered grand
stand sat twelve small mushroom
tents, each with a staff and tiny flag.
Midway lines of f1axen ropes stretched
between rows of slender peeled sap
lings from whose tops ioated fanged
streamers Of vivid bunting. A pavilion
of purple cloth, open at the sides.
awaited for the committee, and near
the center, a negro band vas disposed
on camp-stools, the brass of the wait
ing instruments winking in the sun
light. The stand was a confused glow
of color, of light gauzy dresses, OF
young girls in pastel muslins with
flowers in their belts, picturesque hats
and slender articulate hands darting
in vivacious gestures like white swal.
lows - the gentry from the "big
houses"
The light athletic figure, towed by
the white bulldog, drew many glances.
Valiant's eyes, however, as they swept
the seats, were looking for but one.
and at first vainly. He felt a quick
pang of disappointment. Perhaps she
would not comet Perhaps her mother
was still i'll. Perhaps-but then sud-
denly his heart beat high, for he saw
her in the lower tier, with a group of
young people. He could not have told
what she wore, save that it was of soft
IluIl1lO DluO Will q AoL WAOo0 QOWn-
curved brim was wound with a shaded
plume of the same tint. Her mother
was not with her. She was not look
ing his way as he passed-her arms
at the moment being held out in an
adorable gesture toward a little child
in a smiling matron's lap-and but a
single glance was v~ouchsafed to him
before the major seized upon him and
bore him to the purple pavilion, for he
was one of the committee.
But for this distraction, he might
have seen, entering the stand with the
Chalmers just as the band struck up
a delicious whirI of Dixie" the two
strangers whom the doctor had OBJ
served an hour before as they whirled
by the Merryweather Mason house be-
hind the judges grays. Silas Fargo
might have passed in any gathering
for the unobtrusiye city man. Katha-
rine was noticeable anywhere, and
today her tall willowy figure In its
champasne-color lingerie gown and hat
garnished with bronze and gold this
ties, setting in relief her ivory
statuesque face, drew a wav of whis-
pered comment which left a sibilant
wake behind him. The party made
a picturesque group as they now dis
posed themselves, Katharine's color
less loneliness contrasting with the
eager sparkle of pretty Nancy Chal-
mers and the gipsy-like beauty of
Betty Page.
"You call it a tournament, don't
your" asked Katharine of the judge.
Eyes," he replied. tits a kind of
contest in which twelve riders COM
pete for the privilege of naming a
Queen of Beauty. There's a ball to-
night, at which the lucky lady is
crowned. Those little tents are where
the noble knights don their shining
armor. See, there go their capari-
soned chargers"
A file of negroes was approaching
the tents, each leading a horse whose
saddle and bride were decorated with
fringes of various hues. In the center
of the roped lists, directly in front of
the stand, others were planting up
right in the ground a tall pole from
whose top projected a horizontal arm
like a slender gallows. From this was
suspended a cord at whose end swung
a tiny object that whirled and gilt
tered in the sun.
The judge explained. ION the end
Of the cord is a silver ring, at which
the knights tilt with lances. Twelve
rings are used. The pike-points +
made to fit them, and the knight who
carries off the greatest number of the
twelve is the victor. The whole thing
is a custom as ancient as Virginia
a relic, of course, of the old jousting
of the feudal ages. The ring is sup
posed to represent the device on the
boss of the shield, at which the lance
thrust was aimed"
How Interestingly" exclaimed Kath-
arine,I and turning, swept the stand
with her lorgnette. Il suppose all the