The Carlisle independent., 1918-01-31

I would have believed her if l had not seen the biscuit in her mouth But what man would not forgive a small fib on the part of the woman he loves?
 Listen to me, Lucille, dear" I said authOritatively, taking her hand. "We are not going to fast any more. If your father were here he would call a 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 1t won't really be our fault, will it?" she asked hopefully If we haven't pure water we cant go on fasting. Lipton 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 a new stock of groceries come on the supply boat and telephone the cook to come back. I think the prospect cheered us wonderfully. I know I felt better immediately, and l persuaded Lucille to go back to bed and get some rest before daylight. She went in to see how her mother was before retiring. There was a cry from Mrs. Greens room, and I rush. ed in.
 MRS. GREEN HAD DISAPPEAREDi
 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 tapper, had made away with Mrs. Green or if Bopp, baked of his dog biscuit, had become villain of the deepest dye. | We did not come to any such cOnclu- 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 went to Rents room. He was 1 snoring peacefully. I mistrusted that he might be shamming and poured i pitcher of water on him to see how he would react to the shock. I should l say that his reactions were perfectly normal, albeit somewhat picturesque l ly abusive.
 Next we haled Bopp from his room. He was inclined to be suspicious at l first until we told him about Mrs. l Greens disappearance; then he was all 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 Lu- cile. "Shes been acting funny all the evening"
 Never mind about her." comforted Kent. "A man with a jag can fall of the roof and never hurt himself a bit. A bit of a bun makes anybody lucky"
 Suppose she is out in all this rain ?i
 "A little water, more or less, won't make any difference to her after the last two days" I observed gloomily.
 Let's not stand here any longer" said Bopp in businesslike fashion. Ut won't do much good to try to guess where she is. Let's begin a systematic hunt'
 Let's get on some regular clothes first" l suggested
 All right" in chorus.
 Lucille dressed faster than she ever had before or has since, and we men, with the usual celerity of the bifurcat- l ed sex, were ready as soon as she was.
 As soon as we had assembled in the | living room once more Bopp, by req son of his superior nerve, elected bim- self commander of the expedition.
 Monty" he directed, you take Jesse To. 0lDr.O rlO Il, half of the island. Lucille and I 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 large caliber six shooter on the table.
 I might have disputed his arrange ment and calm appropriation of Lu. cile's society, but I judged that if would be a poor time to argue about anything so purely social. Besides, figured out that the man who was with Lucille was going to have no cinch reassuring her that her mother had not met with some terrible taking off. Sc they went one way, and we departed the other, everybody sloshing internal ly and externally on account of the large amount of distilled water and rain.
 How are we going to hunt this skirt anyway" demanded Kent after we had trudged northward for a few mo ments.
 "Just hunt" I replied vaguely. toe busy with my thoughts to consider the question seriously.
 This ain't regular" objected Kent, stacking up his pace. "We ought to trail the old dame by her footprints. Did you notice any footprints around the house?"
 ''No. I didn't think to look"
 "Well, let's go back and have peek"
 As that coincided with the methods of reasoning adopted by the detectives in the best sellers, I agreed, and we