Evening star., 1926-12-09

seemed that every passenger she car
ried was out in the midday sun of ar
August day. The steamship chairs
were already in commission and the
pedestrians were at it with vigor and
determination.
To Trask it seemed that an aston
ishing number of persons went to sea
chiefly for the purpose of walking
An old gentleman with cane brushed
past him at a gait so brisk that it was
almost a trot Trask WINGED. The
old gentleman's ostentatious display
OF agility irritated him.
A trio of palpable school teachers
reclining in deck chairs. Inspected
him narrowly as he rolled past. ex'
changed glances, whispered and shook
their heads. A stout lady, chasing a
will-o the wisp that represented itself
to her in the figure Of sylph.
painfully made way for. him and
sighed her sympathy as the imper'
turbable Keeler marched him onward.
Two youths, smoking cigarettes and
lounging against the rail. glanced at
him casually and resumed their scru'
tiny of a tam.o'- -sha ntered girl whose
mother and father were conveying
her on either side and daring the
whole world to snatch their prize.
The prisoner of the wheel chair was
scowIing. His feet were restless un'
der the robe that covered them. he
wanted to walk, to leap, to run. The
lame and the halt were as the athlete
Of Marathon compared to him. ne
envied them. He hated himself. his
perambulator, his nurse, his employer
and DR.. Van Norden.
Trumbull had warned him not to
overplay his part. Well, he had done
it-emphatically. Me had deliberately
sentenced himself to wheel chair.
He hated the people who stared at
him, and their unspoken, though OBJ
vious, commiseration at his plight.
Even Keller was pitying him-a hired
mourner at the mock funeral of his
departed health. His blunder had
been colossal: the lark upon which
he had launched himself bore the
label: I'm memoriam."
AS they paused near the rail. at
his signal. Trask could see the return
ing pilot boat, now nearly a mile dis
tant His thoughts of Trumbull were
bitter. What availed the thousand
dollars-with $500 added-now? Trum-
bull had the best of the bargain.
Trumbull was standing on two legs;
he could walk. he could smoke, he
did not have to drink two quarts of
milk a day.
Trumbull could sit up all night, and
Individually would. Trumbull could
speed with the wings of Mercury to
the side of his lady. While he-Bill
Trask. the foolish-could not hasten
a step after a pretty girl, If he saw
one.
Keller resumed his patient round of
the deck. They were far forward
now, and the ship was perceptibly
dipping and rising, in acknowledg-
ment Of ground swell that was grow
ing under freshening breeze. The
ma manipulator of the chair seemed in
nowise inconvenienced by the lazy
motion Of the deck beneath his feet.
He swayed easily with it, guiding
his gentle vehicle as surely and
steadily as though it's rubber shod
wheels were on solid earth.
They turned a corner of the deck
house, and then Trask saw her once
more. She was standing at the rail
again. but guarded now by a dragon.
a coil Of her dark hair had been un.
pinned by the wind and swept loosely
across her forehead. When she pushed
it back with a slender hand Trask
noted mecha nically that her fingers
were bare of rings. 1t was her left
hand. too. He was always quick at
details.
The air had whipped deeper shade
of color into her cheeks Against a
background Of Summer sky her profile
was cut as sharply as a scissored sill
houette.
The dragon was talking to her. but
she did not appear to listen. If her
glance rested upon anything, it was a
bare horizon off to the eastward. he.
tween which and the ship itself rolled
miles of green and froth.crested
waves. She seemed unconscious of
the ship. its people or even of her
self
The dragon was different. She was
alert, conscious of all about her, with
pair of suspicious blue eyes that
looked challengingly through horn.
trimmed lenses.
Probably the dragon was so. To a
certainty she was sturdy, fearless
and probably truculent. Beyond the
least shadow of doubt she was an old
maid. Her ample figure was sternly
arrayed In suit Of dark cloth, show
ing scorn Of August weather Her
shoes were sQuare-toed and fat .heeled
There was a book under her arm and
a. tightly rolled umbrella in her hand
She was speaking in choppy, incisive
sentences. although Trask could not
hear the words.
stop here a WHILE" commanded
Trask
He continued his scrutiny of the
goddess from the vantage of his roll
ing prison. and noted with annoyance
that another young man was engaged
in the same occupation. This person
had braced his back against the deck
houss foIdad hfa arms nd WA G wholly
absorbed in a consideration of the pro
file which. through some quirk in his
brain, Trask had already come to look
upon as something intended only for
his own eyes.
The young man gave every evidence
Of being in annoytnglv robust health
He was presentable, too, in person and