The Bismarck tribune., 1925-11-28
CHAPTER XXI. (cont:nued)

SHAFAEN AAl. \Cont!nued)
Meanwhile. as 'Poleon continued
his celebration. Rouletta grew more
and more miserable at last he Sob
cred up sufficiently to realize he was
hurting her. He was frankly Dug
z!ed at this; he met her reproaches
with careless good-nature, brushing
aside the remonstrances OF Lucky
Broad and his fellows by declaring
that he was having the time OF his
hte. and arguing that he injured no.
tody. In the end the girl prevailed
upon him to stop drinking, and then
hound him TO further sobriety by
means of sacred pledge. When,
perhaps a week later, he disappeared
INTO the hills Rouletta and her corps
OF self-appointed guardians breathed
easier.
But the boys did not relax their
watchiulness: Rouletta was their
charge and they took good care of
her. None of the Rialto's patrons,
Tor instance. was permitted to fol-
10" up his first acquaintance with
the lady dealer Some member OF
the Clan was always on hand to
1rown down such an attempt. Broad
or Bridges usually brought her to
work and took her home, the Snow
llrd and the Mocha Kid made it a
practice TO take her to supper and
when She received invitations from
other sources one or the other of
them firmly declined. in her name,
and treated the would-Le host with
such malcvolent suspicion that the in
Itation was never repeated. Ear
from taking otfense at .!ns cspion-
age. Roule'ta rather enjoyed it: She
gre" to like these rufians. and that
hiking became mutual. Soon most
OF them took her into their conf
deHce with completeness that
threatened to embarass her, as, for
instance, wheri they discussed in her
hearing incidents in their colorful
lives that the Mounted Police would
- Rave given much to know. The
Mocha hid, in particular. was addict
cd 10 Renaissance of an incriminat-
ing sort. and he totally ignored Rou-
!etta.s protests at sharing the secrets
CT his guilty past. AS for the Snow
bird. he was fond of telling her fairy
stories. They were queer fairy.
stories, all beginning in the same
way:
Once upon a time there was 4
!eautitul Princess and her name was
kouletta." -, :"
All the familiar characters figured
in these narratives, the Wicked
Witch. the Cruel King. the Hand
sor1e Prince; there were other char
acters, too, such as the Wise Guy,
the Farmers Son, the Boob Detec-
tive. the Tough Mary Ann and the
Stony-hearted Jailer.
inc onowplrd possessed a fertile
fancy but it ran in crooked channels;
although he launched his stories ac-
cording to Grimm, he sailed them
through seas of crime of violence.
and of bloodshed too realistic to be
the product of pure imagination.
The adventures of the beautiful
Princess Rouletta were blood-curd-
ling III the extreme, and the doings
OF her criminal associates were un-
rlistakably autobiographic. Natur-
ally Rouletta never felt free to re-
peat these stories, but it was not
long before she began to look for
ward with avid interest to her night
ly entertainment.
lnasmuch as Pierce Phillips went
off shift at the same time as did
Rouletta, they met frequently, and
more than once he acted as her es-
cort. He offered such marked
contrast to the other employees of
the Rialto, his treatment of her was
at such total variance with theirs that
he interested her in an altogether
different way. His was an engaging
personality, but just why she grew
so fond of him she could not tell; he
was neither especially witty and ac-
cornplished nor did he lay himself
out to be unur ually agreeable. He
was quiet and reserved; nevertheless,
he had the knack of making friends
quickly Roulctta had known men
like Broad and Bridges and the
Mocha Kid all her life, but Pierce
was of type quite new and divert
ing. She speculatcd considerably re-
garding him.
Their acquaintance, while interest
ing. had not progressed much beyond
that point when Rouletta experienced
a disagreeable shock. She had
strolled into the theater one evening
and was watching the performance
when Laure accosted her, As Rot