Browning chief., 1943-10-15
CHAPTER vi

tne picture. IL was a reprOQuCtlOn
of photograph of Elsa; the low
able personality shone up from the
damp surface. Unmistakably 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
year old, seeming normally healthy
and lovely, and, like all babies,
captivator of the heart. Underneath
the picture were the lines: ELSA
Chatfeld, whose caricatures have re-
Gently won wide acclaim, and her
small daughter Mary Frances"
"Well-thats that, l guess"
"Yes," said Rogers, picking up
the torn sheet, and starting below
to his stateroom.
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.
"What do you make of it,
Dwight?" I 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-
plained," Rogers reminded her. II
dare say George Rumble, to whom
we must look for the answer, has
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."
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.
Il knew somebody would ask that.
Wcll"-his dark little eyes watched
the movements of young Indian
girl as she came out of a doorway,
walked straight and slim through
the patio and disappeared into the
there's lots of ways to get
a picture
ELSA didn't give it TO you"
mo"
"You understand, Rumble" I be-
gan. there's only one conclusion to
be drawn, after seeing how Elsa re-
acted yesterday when she saw the
picture in the paper
"Well-draw it. Barry, if you want
to. If l say anything to Elsa about
what I'm going to do, she won't let
me. She'll be going against her
own best interests by telling me
can't do it. When you start with
press agent, you ought to leave it
all in his hands. Elsa'd be just like
her aunt-thc one that died. She'd
said to me: No, you can't do that.
You can't do this. I know what
want in the paper So l says to her
one day: 'Why'n heck did you hire
me, if you're going to run it?' That
made her mad and she kicked me
out of her house, and l never did
get my money, either"
Neither Rogers nor l said any
thing for moment as we reflected
upon this revelation.
You knew Elsa's aunt-Kather-
inc Chatfeld?'
''1'll say knew her She was a
hell-cat and no mistake. She was
the first job l have in California
when l come out from New York. l
heard they were putting on some
sort of campaign in Pasadena; she
is the chairman. l go to see her
and she says okeh, and we start to
work. But we start fighting, too,
right from the start. l don't get
my money and go to see her about
it. I tell her I'm going to sue her
and that night she dies. That's the
first time I ever saw the picture of