Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1916-10-26
his way back to the bungalow.
CHAPTER K.
The Spy.


| Already the sun was warm. the faint
| breeze bland. Standing at the window
/ and shading his eyes against the glare.
| Whitaker surveyed world new
| washed and radiant; the Iandlocked
/ bay dimpled with vagrant catspaws
| and smitten with sunlight as with a
! scimitar Of fire; the earth fresh and
fragrant, steaming family in the ar
| dent glow of the dawn.
| In another moment he was at the
| kitchen door, interrupting Sum Fats
| first matutinal attentions to his teeth
/ with a demand for a bathing suit.
| Three minutes later, from the end of
| the small dock, he diyed neatly, COM
! ing to the surface with his flesh tin
Cling with delight of the cool water;
| then, with the deliberate and powerful
movements of an experienced swim
mer, struck away from the land. Two
hundred yards out he paused, rolled
! over on his back, and, hands clasped
| beneath his head, fioated sereneIy. sun
light warming his upturned face, his
body rejoicing in the suave, clean, fluid
embrace.
ruen sOmetnlng disturbed hin-a
dull futtering, vibrant upon his sub
merged eardrums. Extending his arms
| and moving his hands gently to pre-
serve his pOise, he lifted his head from
the water. From the landing stage on
the Ffske place a motor boat was
standing out. The churning of it's pro-
peller had aroused him. He could see
but single person for an it's crew.
Seated astern, dividing her attention
between the side steering wheel and
the engine, she was altogether ignorant
Of the onlooker. Only her head and
shoulders showed above the coaming-
her head with it's shining crown, her
shoulders clOaked with a light wrap
gathered at the throat
Whitaker, admiring, wondered
Sweeping in wide arc as it gath
cred speed, the boat presently shot OUT
smartly on a straight course for the
barrier beach.
Why? What business had she there?
And at an hour so early?
No affair of his-Whitaker admitted
as much freely. And yet he was be-
ginning his fourth day on the Great
West Gay without having set foot upon
its Great South beach! Ridiculous
oversight! And one to be remedied
without another hours delay.
Grfnning with amused liberation of
his own perVerse sophistry, he turned
over on his side and struck out in the
wake of the motor boat When at
length he Waded ashore he found the
motor boat mOOred in shallow water
at the end of a long and substantial
dock. He patted the TANKS of the YES
sci as he waded on.
Good little bOatt" said he.
Walking rapidly, very soon he stood
at the head of a rude flight Of wooden
steps which ran down from the top of
Waye-eaten sand bluff, some ten or
twelve feet in height, to the broad and
gently shelving ocean beach. Midway
between the sand bluff and the break
ing waters stood the woman Whitaker
had followed. (There wasn't any use
mincing terms-he had followed her
In his COMPOUNDED, fatuous curiosity y
Her face was to the sea, her hands
clasped behind her. Now the wind
modelled her cloak sWeetIy to her body,
now whipped its skirts away disclos-
ing legs straight and slender and gra-
ciOusly modelled. She was dressed, it
seemed, for bathing.
Whitaker turn to go, and turning let
his gaze sweep up from the beach and
along the brow of the bluff. He paused.
fr0Wning. Some twenty feet or so dis
tant the legs Of a man, trOusered and
booted, prOtruded from a hollow be-
tween two hummOcks of sand. And
the toes of the boots were digging into
the sand, Indicating that the man was
lying prone; and that meant Gf he
were neither dead nor sleeping) that
he was watching the woman on the
beach.
Indignation, righteous Indignation.
warmed Whitaker'S bosom. It was all
very well for him to catch sight of
the woman through her cottage win
dow, by night, and to swim over to the
beach in her wake the next morning,
but what right had anybody else to
constitute himself her shadow? Be
sides, it was possible that the man
was Drummond.
He strobe forward and stood over
the man, looking down at his back. Tt
was true, as he had assUmed-the fell
low was watching the woman. And
his back was very like Drummond's.
A little culver Of excitement mingled
with anticipative satisfaction ran
through him. Now, at last, the mys-
terry was to be cleared up, his future
relations with the pseudo-suicide de-
fined and established.
Deliberately he extended his bare
foot and nudged the mans ribs.
'DrummOnd - he said in
clear voice, decided but unaggressive.
With an oath and what seemed a
single, quick motion, the man jumped
to his feet and turned to Whitaker a
startled and inf1amed countenance.
''What the devil!' he cried angrily.
''Who are you? What do you want?
What d'you mean by coming round
here and calling me Drummond?"
He was no more Drummond than he
was Whitaker himself.
"FOr that natter = something
| clicked in Whitaker's brain and SUBJ
| consciously he knew that his temper
q 70 FOL h., I,,s.J