Arkansas State press., 1943-10-22
CHAPTER VI

yes, SAID Rogers.
! leaned farther forward to see
the picture. 1t was a reproduction
of a photograph of Elsa; the low
able personality shone up from the
damp surface. Enthusiastically it was
Elsa at her provocative, impiSh best.
That, of course, was as it should be.
but the staggering, incomprehensi-
BILE part Of it all was the child on her
lap, A child apparently about a
year old, seeming normally healthy
and lovely, and. like all babies, a
captivator Of the heart. Underneath
the picture were the lines: ELSA
Chatfield, whose caricatures have re-
Gently won wide acclaim, and her
small daughter Mary Frances"
The hot sun beat down upon Il
backs; the blue water of the bay
danced in sparkling splendor; the
cool breeze stirred along the deck.
and still we stood staring down at
that reproduction in sepia and read
ing over and over the lines under
the cut. I felt someone pressing
against my side, staring over my
shoulder, someone breathing hard.
Dwight said:
"Well-that's that, ! guess"
Yes" said Rogers. picking up
the torn sheet, and starting below
to his stateroom.
Reed Barton backed away from
my side, and passed a hand un-
certainly across his eyes. A strange
look was on his face. a beWildered,
cropping bleakness that overran his
handsome features. He seized me
by the arm and pulled me over
to the rail.
Barry" he began. Il don't
understand it."
Neither do I, Reed"
There were many things in that
strange story not understood until
the end. The cruise in the Orizaba
planned for that day was aban.
doned; the yacht lay idly at her an
Choir. There was no fishing. Reed
Barton, shortly and without a word
to anyone, hailed a passing rowboat
and was set ashore. He had not
seen Elsa, who did not leave the
yacht till later when, in company
of her father and Berta, she de-
scended the ladder to the launch.
Elsa's eyes were strangely dry and
hard; all animation had gone out Of
her face. At the last moment Cheese
bro hurriedly descended and sat IN
a seat apart from the other three
passengers. In what name George
Rumble quilted the Orizaba we new
Ell learned; probably, though, he had
done as did Reed Barton when the
rest OF us were below.
what do you make Of it,
Dwight" l inquired after lunch that
day. Dwight Nichols shook his head.
1.-The whole thing is impossible.
The child has been dead now several
years-three or four"
But how could such a mistake
be made?" asked Margaret, her
dark eyes very earnest.
mistakes can usually be ex-
planned" Rogers reminded her. Il
dare say George Rumble, to whom
we must look for the answer, has a
very natural explanation. That,
of course, is aside from other as
poets Of the thing. Here's a family
secret closely guarded for years,
about which neither Elsa nor her
father would talk, broadcast to the
public
did Sam Chatfeld see the pic
ture?" Margaret interrupted.
Rogers shook his head. Il have
it in my stateroom. EXHIBIT A, so
to speak, although there are liter
ally thousands of them in existence
elsewhere. In Southern California,
however; not here in Mazatlan."
Sam knows, Of course, that it
was a picture in the paper that up
set Elsa so?"
Eyes, I think So"
Rumble is an impossible crea-
ture," | remarked.
Rogers smiled. Il think, Barry,
that we ought to talk to him."
But it was not until the morning
of the following day that we ran
across George Rumble. We discov-
cred him in the last place we ex-
pected to find him-at Sam Chat
fields rancho, sitting idly in the
patio Indifferent to the little green
parrakeets screaming in the gnarled
old pepper tree overhead while he
waited for Elsa. The shirt Of pink
and white checks was absent, but in
its place was a companion of blue
and white.
Some Of us have been wonder
ing where you got that picture Of
Elsa and the baby" said Rogers,
II knew somebody would ask that.
Well'-his dark little eyes watched
the movements of a young Indian
girl as she came out Of a doorway,
walked straight and slim through
the patio and disappeared into the
kitchen-"there's lots Of ways to get
a picture"
ELSA didn't give it to you, Of
course"
mo"