Roanoke Rapids herald. [volume] (Roanoke Rapids, N.C.) 1914-192?, 1920-08-27
Copyright. by Dou bleday. Page & Co

Miss Riley didn't care Tor the II"
tiona game.
If anything were needed TO enhance
Miss Riley's charm, 1t was the inys-
terry that developed about or envel"
oped her the third day out. win
Shute heard Of It from his room stew
ard, who had picked it up from the
waiter at the purser's table. Inc
purser was the agent of publicity, ana
It was surmised that he had CLEANED
his intelligence from the captain. Any
how. 1t was a matter that the captain
and the purser would naturally tax
over. ...
Via wireless had come an inquiry 10
the captain of the Coonia about
passenger. The inquiry was from the
United States government-so much
was known. 1t concerned young
woman who was travelling with her
mother She was described in the
general terms of strilingly handsome
and clever. From this the descriptions
varied according to the whlm or
Imagination Of the person repeating
the morsel of gossip. The nub or the
tale was that the young woman was q
fugitive from justice
Immediately a new ships game was
started-find the fugitive. The search
was carried on by process OF ellnl-
nation. First the sailing list was
combed for mother and daughter. IL
turned out. unfortunately, that In me
first cabin there were exactly twen-
ty.one pairs of mothers and daugh-
ters. As to whether these twenty-one
mothered maidens were handsome ana
clever, opinions differed markedly.
Some of the daughters were good-look'
Ing but undenably dull; others were
clever but plain. Not halc dozen
could come within range Of the speci'
fications.
When the consensus Of opinion was
about to pounce upon Miss Riley, VINO
headed the list Of suspects" another
bit of information leaked out The
woman wanted was stenographer,
Here the search for the guilty one be-
gan all over. Miss Riley was wealthy
her ship accommodations and her
dress denoted that-so 1t must be
some one else. But after considering
the qualifications Of other possible
ties for hours ON end, Mistress Con-
sensus again lowered about Miss Riley.
Thus the first cabin divided itself into
two camps-the partisans of Miss
Riley and those of "the field.' But
paradoxically, In this instance, par
tisan meant enemy.
The ship got hectic about It, and be-
cause of it Win Shute got into trouble.
He was watching the poker game In
the smoking room when the loose
jolnted conversation switched to the
unsolved mystery Of the shlp-the
identity OF the fugitive from justice
Eventually there was an argument
over the dement's of Miss Riley.
Win Shute was angry at mention Of
her name. TO him it was contempti
BILE that 1t should be dragged in and
banded about over booze and poker
chips.
Two men-one an ordinarily decent
chap who had taken little too much
and the other cynical. self-containeC
man, the best poker player ut thu
table-brought the unmanly discus
sion to precipitate conclusion. There
/ had been many references to Miss
Riley, most of them complimentary IL
nature, and the decent but tanked-ul
+ chap had proved her champion. AS
9 clincher he asked:
+ "That girl has the finest rooms OF
e the boat. Does that look like she II
g stenographer?
o The cynical man answered:
Il "If she is the stenog of one Of then
r Pittsburgh millionaires it's the kin,
of suite you'd expect to find her in
# Get me?"
e There was coarse laugh. whicl
= changed In the middle into an expires
!. sion of concern. What happened wa
r swift.
e Win Shute said something in tn
. gamblers ear and neatly slapped hi
face. The gambler, raging, jumped t
e his feet, scattering glasses and chips
n which went Gathering to the floor an
y made a vicious pass at the interlopel
d With the celebrity of lodging a will
+ pitch, Win Shute avoided the frs
r and. catching the gambler Off his ba
y, ance, foored him with a pretty upper
y cut. Then the gambler, blind wit
y rage, seized whisky bottle from tn
lie wreckage. But before he could us
N 1t his arms were pinioned from benin
h and Shute was pushed out of tn
n smoking room.
a As the loss in rum and glassware
generously estimated, was made goot
y and as the smoking-room steward wa
properly rewarded for his future ret
he cence, the episode did not come of
ID cially before the captain. But uno
ficlaly, through the human wireless
lie system, the story went all over tn
ship. In its travel It became embe
to llshed with the ships doctors accoun
based on personal observation,
" James arrival on the ship--dea
n drunk.
i'd (To BE CoNTINUED)
IN A Step Towards Peace.
g. Mrs. Knagg-How can keep M
n r,i1rh4n0