The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1921-08-01
CHAPTER /.
An Aunt Grant.

ike bolt from the blue. Inc IacI
Is, was taking vacation from Aunt
Jane. Being an orphan, | was sup
posed to be under Aunt James wing.
but this was the merest polite fiction,
and I am sure that no hen with one
chicken worries about 1t more than
I did about Aunt Jane. | had spent
the last three years, since Aunt Susan
died and left Aunt Jane with all the
money and no one TO look after but
me, I'm snatching her from the brink
Of disaster. Her most recent and mar
row escape was from velvet
tongued person of half her years who
turned out to be a convict on parole.
She had her handbag packed for the
elopement when confronted her with
this unpleasant fact When she came
to she was bitter instead of grateful,
and went about for weeks presenting
a spectacle of blighted affections
which was too much for the most self
approving conscience. So 1t ended
with my packing her off TO New York.
where wrote to her frequently and
kindly, urging her not to mind me but
to stay as long dis she liked.
Meanwhile / came up to the ranch
for long holiday with Bess and the
baby, holiday which had already
stretched itself out to Thanksgiving.
and threatened to last until Christ
mas.
AS to Aunt Jane, my state of mind
was fatuously calm. She was stay
ing with cousins, who live In suburb
and are frightfully respectable. /
was sure they numbered no convicts
among their acquaintance, or indeed
any one from whom Aunt Jane was
likely TO require rescuing And If 1t
came TO retired missionary I was
perfectly willing.
But the cousins and their respect
ability are of the passive order, where
as to manage Aunt Jane demands ag-
gressive and continuous action. Hence
the bolt from the blue above alluded
TO.
/ was swinging TRANQUILITY in the
hammock, I remember, when Bess
brought my letters and then hurried
away because the baby had fallen
downstairs. Unwarned by the slight.
est premonitory thrill, / kept Aunt
James letter till the last and SKINNED
through all the others.
At last / came to Aunt Jane.
ripped open the envelope and drew
out the letter-a fat one, but then
Aunt James letters are always fat
Nevertheless, as, / spread out the
: close-f1lled pages / felt mild wonder
Writing so large, SO black, so stag
sering, so madly underlined, must In
dicate something above even Aunt
James usual emotional level. Per
haps In sober truth there was a mis-
sionary-
Twenty minutes later I staggered
into Bess' room.
'Hushl /" she said. "Don't wake the
babyr'
''Baby or no baby" whispered saw
agely, "Tve got to have a timetable
I leave for the city tonight to catcf
the first steamer for Panama."
Later, while the baby slumberet
and packed. explained. This wa
difficult; not that Bess Is as a gen
eral thing obtuse, but because the pic
ture of Aunt Jane embarking 70
some wild, lone isle Of the Pacific a.
the head Of treasure-seeking expe
dition was enough to shake the strong
est intellect. And yet, amid the vel
ter of ink and eloquence which f1llet
those fateful pages, there was the COLI
lard fact confronting you. Aunt Jan,
was going to lock for buried treasure
In company with one Violet Higglesby
Browne, whom she sprung on you
without the slightest explanation, al
though abiding to the queen of SHEDS
or the Siamese twins. BY beginnin.
at the end and reading backward
Aunt James letters are usually mos
ineligible that way-you managed tt
piece together some explanation o.
this Miss Higglesby-Browne and he
place In the scheme of things 1t wa.
through Miss Browne, whom she hat
met at a lecture upon Soul-DeveIop
ment, that Aunt Jane had come {,
realize her claims as an individual
upon the Cosmos, also to discover tina
she was by nature a woman of af
fairs with d talent for directing largI
enterprises. although adverse inf1u
ences had hitherto kept her from rec
ognizing her powers. There was ,
dark significance in these adverse in
fiuences." though whether they mean
me or the family lawyer was not sure
Miss Higglesby Browne. however
had assisted Aunt Jane TO find herself
and as consequence Aunt Jane, 70
the comparatively trifiing outlay need
full to finance the Harding Browne en-
petition. would shortly be the richie
BY one-fourth of vast treasure o
Spanish doubloons. The knowledge Oh
this hoard was Miss Higglesby
Brownies alone. It had been revealed
TO her by dying sailor in LondoT
hospital. whittier she had gone on {
mission OF kfndness-you gathered
that Miss Browne was precisely tn,
sort to take adv Mage when peopl'
were helpless and able to fly from
her. why the dy ailor chose {
make Miss Browne me repository 0
his secret + don't know-this still r.
mains for me the unsoIved mystery
But when the sailor closed his eye
the secret and the mapof cours
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