The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1918-04-04

down toto feed Tootles."
/ would have believed her IL I had
not seen the biscuit In her mouth.
But what man would not forgive a
small hb on the part Of the woman
he lovesY
Listen to me. Lucille, DEAR I said
authoritatiyely. taking her hand. "We
are not. going to fat any more. II
your father were here he would cali q
halt Here your mother Is sick, you
are ~hysterical, and hardly any of Us is
on speaking terms with the others.
Besides, we have got to stop. Our
water supply Is gone"
Lucille looked up. Then It won't
really be our fault. will it7" she asked
hopefully. IF we haven't pure water
we can't go on fasting. Upton S.
Clair says So"
And that's the best thing he ever
said, too" I agreed heartily.
So it was decided that the next day
we'd have n new stock Of groceries
come on the supply boat and telephone
the cook to come back. l think the
prospect cheered US wonderfully. I
know / felt better Immediately, and l
persuaded Lucille to 90 back to bed
aud get some rest before daylight.
She went In to see how her mother
was before retiring. There was a cry
from Mrs. Green's room, and / rush
ed In.
MRS. GREEN HAD DISAPPEARED.
You have guessed correctly that this
is where the element of mystery en-
ters the story. You doubtless wonder,
as we did, If Kent, the wire Taper,
had made away with Mrs. Green or IL
Bopp, baked Of his dog biscuit, had
become a villain of the deepest dye.
We did not come TO any such eonclu.
sions at first, Of course. That was
after we had looked all over the house,
up In the attic and down In the cellar.
Then l went to Kent's room. He was
snoring peacefully. I mistrusted that
he might be shamming and poured a
pitcher Of water on him to see how he
would react TO the shock. / should
say that his reactions were perfectly
normal, albeit somewhat picturesque
,.a
IL abusive.
Next we hailed Bopp from his room.
He was inclined to be suspicious at
FIRST until we told him about Mrs.
Green's Disappearance; then be was
oil sympathy and joined our lightly
clad searching party in the hallway.
Naturally, Lucille feared the worst,
while the rest Of us with masculine
optimism discounted any danger which
might befall the old lady.
But she wasn't herself" walled Luz
Gle. "She's been acting funny all the
evening"
"Never mind about her." comforted
Kent "a man with a jag can fall or
the roof and never hurt himself a bit.
A bit of a bun makes anybody lucky"
Suppose she Is out In all this rain y
"A little water, more or less, won't
make any difference to her after the
last two days." l observed gloomily.
Lets not stand here my longer"
said Bopp in businessIike fashion. "It
won't do much good to try to guess
where she Ia. Let's begin a systematic
hunko
Lets get on some regular clothes
frst,s ! suggested.
"AIl right" In chorus.
Lucille dressed faster than she ever
had before or has since, and we men,
with the usual celebrity Of tho bifurcat-
ed sex, were ready as DOT az she was.
Az soon as we had assembled In the
living room once more Bopp, by rea-
son OF his superior nerve, elected him.
self commander OF the expedition.
Monty" he directed, you take Jesse
James with you and explore the north
half of the island. Lucille and / will
search the southern portion. As soon
as either party discovers Mrs. Green
come back to the house and fire OF
this revolver" He laid a large caliber
six shooter on the table.
might have disputed his arrange
ment and calm appropriation Of Luz
Giles society, but I judged that 1t
would DO avpoor time to argue about
anything SO purely social. Besides, /
figured out that the man who was
with Lucille was going to have no cinch
rcassursng her that her mother had not
met with some terrible taking of. SO
they went enc way, and we departed
the other, everybody sloshing internal
ly and externally on account OF the
largo asers os distilled water and
rain.
How are we going to hunt this skirt
anyway demanded Kent after we
had trudged northwnrd for a few me-
"Just hunt" / replied vaguely. too
busy with my thoughts to consider the
question seriously.
This amt regular" objected Kent,
Stacking up his pace. aWe ought to
trail the old dame by her footprints.
Did you notice any footprints around
the houseT'
mo. didn't think to Look
"Well, let's go back and have q
peek"
As that conceded with the methods
OF reasoning adopted by the detectives
in the best sellers, / agreed, and we
retraced our footsteps to the house.
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