Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1917-05-18

poets on the Rock. They will ask
questions-perhaps arrest
Me? No, l think not. Just because
l was! away from Gibraltar for six
weeks and have returned so recently
Is not enough to rouse suspicion.
Haven't l been Josepha, the cigar girl,
to every Tommy in the garrison for
nearly a year? Mono, senior: you
are wrong. These are the purest ci-
CARS made south of Madrid. Indeed,
senor."
The girl had suddenly changed her
tone to one of professional %wheedling,
for she saw three entering the door.
Almer lifted his voice angrily:
"Josepha, your mother Is substitut-
ing with these cigars. Take them back
and tell her If l catch her doing this
again 1t means the cells for her."
The cigar girl bowed her head in
simulated fright, sped past the incom-
ing tourists and lost herself in the
shifting crowd on the street. Almer
permitted himself to mutter angrily
as he turned back to his books.
you see, mother? See that hotel
keeper lose his temper and tongue
lash that poor girl? Just what / tell
~you-these foreigners don't know how
to be polite to ladies'"
Henry J. Sherman-"yes, sir, Of Ke-
vance, Illynoy'-mopped his bald pink
dome and glared truculently at the
insulting Jack of Joseph Almer. Mrs.
Sherman, the lady of direct impulses
who had contrived to stare Captain
WoodhOuse out of countenance in the
Winter Garden not long back, cast
herself despondently on the decrepit
lounge and appeared to need little In
vitation to be precipitated into a cry
ing spell. Her daughter, Kitty, a win
some little slip, stood behind her. arms
about the mothers neck and her hands
stroking the maternal cheeks.
"Cheer up, mother. Even if this first
trip of ours-this grand tower as
the guideboOks call it-has been sorta
tough we had compensation any
way" said the magnate of Kewanee-
1--WE saw the Palace of Peace at The
Hague before the war broke out.
Guess they're leasing it for a skating
rink now, though"
How can you joke when we're in
such a fix? He-Henry, you ne-neTer
do take things s%eriouslyr'
"Why not joke, mother? Only one
thing you can do over here you don't
have to pay for. Cheer up! There's
the Saxonia due here from Naples
some time soon. Maybe we can horn
a way up her gangplank. Consul
says
Mrs. Sherman looked up from her
handkerchief with whitening scorn.
TEL me a way we can get aboard
any ship without having the money to
pay our passage. Tell me that, Henry
Sherman!'
"Well. we've been broke before,
MOTHER her spouse answered cheerily,
rocking himself on heels and toes.
Remember when We were first mar
ried and had that little house on Lib
erty street.-the newest house in Ke-
vance it was, and we didn't have a
hired girl then, mother. But WI come
out all right, didn't weT' He patted
his daughters shoulder and Winked
ponderously. "Come on, girls and
boys. we'll go look over those Rock
chambers the English followed out.
We can't sit In our room and NOPE
all day"
The gentleman who knew Kewanee
was making for the door when Almer,
the suave, came out from behind his
desk and stopped him with a warning
hand.
Il am afraid the gentleman cannot
see the famous Rock Chambers" he
purred. This is wartime-since yes
terday, you know. Tourists are not
allowed in the fortiications.'
Like to see who'd stop mel" Henry
j.. Sherman drew himself up to his
full five feet seven and frowned at the
Swiss. Almer rubbed his hands.
"a soldier-with a gun, most prob
ably, sir"
Mrs. Sherman rose and hurried to
her husbands side in alarm.
"Henry-Henryl Don't go and get
arrested again! Remember that last
time-the Frenchman at that Bordeaux
town" Sherman allowed discretion
to soften his valor
"Well, anyway''-he turned again to
the proprietor-'they'll let us see that
famous signal tower up Oh top of the
Rock. Mother, they say from that
tower up there they a keep tabs on
a ship sixty miles away. Fellow down
at the consulate was telling me just
this morning that's the king pin of the
mhoIo works HarhOr'c ful1 of mines
and things; electric switch in the sig
nal tower. Press a switch up there
and everything in the harbor-blamG'
He shot his hands above his head to
denote the cataclysm. Almer smiled
sardonically and drew the Illinois citi-
zen to one side.