The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1917-04-11

I y
Il never saw game in m!
life." she confessed.
you've got something coming
to you," said Win.
1t was a decided shock to hin
that Miss Riley didn't care for til,
national game.
If anything were needed to en-
nance Miss Riley's charm. 1t wal
| the mystery that developed abou
or enveloped her the third day out
Win Shute heard of it from hi!
room steward, who had picked i
up from the waiter at the purser'!
table.
The purser was the agent o
publicity, and it was surmised tina
ee had cleaned his intelligence,
from the captain. Anyhow, 4
was matter that the captain ant
the purser would naturally tall
over.
Via wireless had come an in
quiry to the captain of the Colonis
about a passenger. The inquiry
was from the United States Gov
ernment-sO much was known. II
concerned a young woman who
was travelling with her mother. She
was described in the genera
terms of strikingly handsome and
clever. The nub of the tale was
thet the young woman was a fugi
tite from justice!
Nothing could have been invent.
ed by the wit of man so to whet
the curiosity Of a seagoing bunch
of lively minded people as this
that among their number was q
person passing as a lady who was
in reality, fleeing from the
clutches of the law.
Immediately new ships game
was started - find the fugitive
The search was carried ON by a
process Of elimination. First the
sailing list was combed for q
mother and daughter. 1t turned
out, unfortunately, that in the first
cabin there were exactly twenty
one pairs of mothers and daugh-
tiers. AS to whether these twenty
one mothered maidens were hand
some and clever, opinions differed
markedly. Some of the daughters
were good looking but deniably
dull; others were clever but plain
Not half dozen could come with
In range of the specifications.
When the consensus of opinion
was about to pounce upon Miss
Riley, who headed the list of "sus-
pects," another bit of information
leaked out. The woman wanted
was stenographer.
Here the search for the guilty
one began all over. Miss Riley was
wealthy, so it must be some one
else. But after considering the
qualifications of other possibilities
for hours on end, Mistress Consen-
sus again lowered about Miss
Riley. Thus the first cabin di-
vided itself into two camps-the
partisans of Miss Riley and those
of "the field"
The ship got hectic about 1t, and
because of it Win Shute got into
trouble.
He was watching the poker
game in the smoking-room, when
the loose-jointed conversation
switched to the unsolved mystery
of the ship. Eventually there was
an argument over the dement's OF
Miss Riley.
Win Shute was angry at mention
OF her name in such a place. Two
men-one an ordinarily decent
chap who had taken a little toe
much. and the other cynical
self-contained man, the best poker
player at the table-brought the
unmanly discussion to a precipi.
tate conclusion.
There had been many refer.
ences to Miss Riley, most of them
complimentary in nature, and the
decent but tanked up chap had
proved her champion. AS 9
clincher he asked:
THAT girl has the finest rooms
on the boat. Does that look like
she is stenographer?"
The cynical man answered:
'If she is the stenog of one Of
them Pittsburg millionaires it's
the kind of suite you'd expect tt
find her in. Get me?"
There was a coarse laugh, which
changed in the middle into an ex
preston of concern. What hap.
pened was swift.
Win Shute said something in the
gamblers ear and neatly slapped
his face. The gambler, raging
jumped to his feet, scattering
glasses and chips, which went clat
tering to the floor, and made &
vicious pass at the interloper
With the celebrity of lodging ;
wild pitch, Win Shute avoided tn,
| h. -.