Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1917-10-04
CHAPTER XVI.
A CHARGE TO KEEP.

ne lounu a pflnlcu copy vi tHe pas
senger list beside his plate, and his
neighbors were a flutter with the
excitement of seeing their names
in type. Dan, turning to the letter
V, found that the names Of lgnace
Ward and his daughter were not
there. Doubtless the change from
second class to first was response
bic for the omission, and yet, at
the back of his mind was a vague
feeling of uneasiness which he was
wholly unable to explain. Chew
rial had impressed him, and yet
one objection to that gentleman's
misgivings seemed to him unan-
swerab1e: if the Wards had been
changed from second class to first
with any Interior object, the au-
thorities in charge of the ship
must be in the plot, and that was
manifestly absurd.
Yet his determination to seek
Miss Ward at the first moment and
advise her to be cautious did not
waver. He knew, from the printed
announcements of the company,
that the first cabin dinner was not
a table d'hote served at a fixed
hour, al in the second cabin, but
an a la carte meal, served from 6
to 8, as at a fashionable restaur-
ant so he loitered r~estlessly about
for half an hour after he left the
table; then, deciding that he had
waited long enough, he APP
preached the ladder which led to
the first class promenade. But a
uniformed figure which stood at
the foot of the ladder stopped him.
"Beg pardon, SIR" it said, "are
you first class?"
"No; I am second"
"Did you wish to see the purser
or some officer of the shipY"
emo; l wished to see one of the
passengers"
lin that case, l fear 1 cannot let
you pass, sir. 1t is against the
rules"
ooh, is iti" said Dan, all his
suspicious revived with double
force, and he bit his lip in perplex-
ity.
II am sorry, sir; but 1 am here
to enforce the rules"
"Oh, / understand" said Dan.
"You might get your stateroom
steward to take a message" the
man suggested.
"But | want to see the person."
"The person can come to you.
There is no rule against first class
visiting second. First class has the
run Of the ship"
81 see," said Dan. "Thank
you," and he went away to think
it over.
Mechanically he threaded his
way through the crowd on the
promenade, climbed up to the
boat deck and sat down on the
well remembered bench. Some of
the others were occupied, but this
one was empty; perhaps the 9th
ers were becoming as dear to other
people as this one was to him He
got out his pipe, lighted it, pulled
his cap over his eyes, thrust his
hands deep into his pockets, and
began to think.
He could, of course, write Miss
Ward a brief warning; but what
assurance had he that it would be
delivered to her, at least without
being openedi If Chevrial was
right, if she was really under es-
pionage, any communication ad-
dressed to her would certainly be
inspected. Even to write merely
asking her to meet him would
arouse suspicion. There was only
one wayne must watch for a
chance to steal forward into first
class when no one was looking.
He considered the possible ways
of doing this. In the morning, he
knew, the folding gate which di-
vided the lower promenade into
first and second class was always
swung back while the deck was
being washed down. It would be
easy to pass then; but, he re-
Elected, in the daytime he had new
er noticed that a guard was sta
toned at the ladder leading to the
upper promenade. Perhaps it was
only at night that the prohibition
was in force--at night, when the
women of the first cabin had their
diamonds on! There must, of
course, be some police supervision
of the ship; each class must be
kept to its own quarters, or, at
tleast, prevented from wandering
into quarters higher up. But, just
the same, he must get past!
He rose, and, walking to the for
ward rail, looked across at the 9TH
- l r~~no AZ ~n~hn~c on