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Show j. A By CLIVE ARDEN Copyright by The Bobbs-Merrlll Co. "You don't regret going, Bab, dear?" she had ajked. Barbara shook her bead vigorously. "No! I feel a little depressed over leaving Hugh ; that's all. It seems as though, something I don't know vihat were ending. I suppose that's natural upon going away for the first time? Is It?" she added anxiously. Mrs. Field knew when to keep her thoughts to herself. "Quite natural," sie replied cheerfully. cheer-fully. "And Bab," she went on, hesitating hesi-tating a little, "if you need Alan's friendship for any reason, I think you would find it worth having." "Oh," the girl said hastily. "I don't think he we I shall never quite understand un-derstand him." Feeling that to be likely, Mrs. Field said no more. She had sown the seed, if ever it were needed. . . . Then the last night at home She had looked around her familiar little room with mixed feelings. When next she slept here, what would she have learned of the things beyond that lifelong life-long harrier of hills visible from her window? With a warm rush of tenderness, she remembered that, upon her return, her new life as Hugh's wife would begin. Taking the large photograph of him from the wall, she placed it carefully within her packed trunk. And now the moment of departure had come. Croft appeared, looking big and alert In his flying kit, with an air of confidence about him which communicated commu-nicated itself, in some subtle way, to Barbara. Having been detained over a matter of form In the office, he hurried hur-ried their start. Hugh followed Barbara into the cabin, where she turned and, clung to him. He drew her Into his arms and kissed her with more passion than usual. "We shall be married directly you return, re-turn, Bab, darling," he said huskily, course, she was no favorite with the bishop's descendant. . . . There is, proverbially, a lull before n storm. Darbury, during those peaceful peace-ful days of late summer, had no intuition intui-tion of the most terrible thrill of all, la these days of thrills. Hugh, especially, was of too bright and wholesome a nature to have misgivings, mis-givings, when the sun shone and all seemed well. Returning one day with a friend from a morning's cubbing, It was therefore with no sense of impending disaster that he reined up at Lake Cottage and proposed calling. A small group of people, talking together near the main road, turned and cast wondering won-dering looks in his direction. It was one of those glorious mornings morn-ings at the end of September In which late summer and early autumn intermingle. inter-mingle. Hugh glanced round with n pleased sense of appreciation. Then he rang the bell. The face of old Martha, who opened the door, was red and swollen with weeping. Her limbs trembled, as If from sudden shock. For a moment she gazed at him blankly, half in astonishment,' half in fear; then, without a word, she burst into hysterical sobs and turned back into the house. The color ebbed a little from Hugh's face. He looked at his friend in vague apprehension, and they silently followed fol-lowed the woman Into the "drawing room. Instead of being bright and fragrant fra-grant with the flowers Barbara loved about her, it seemed strangely cold, gloomy and deserted. A chill fell on Hugh. "Where is Mrs. Stockley?" he asked uneasily. "Upstairs," sobbed Martha. She walked fo the little bureau and picked up a telegram. Turning slowly, she half held it toward him, and the flimsy paper trembled violently in her hands. Hugh took the telegram slowly from the woman. For a moment he looked uncertainly at her frightened face, then round the familiar roorm as if dreading to read it, . . . At last, with an obvious effort, hf raised the sheet, and turned away. . . . The telegram fluttered, unheeded, to the floor; and Hugh raised shaking hands to his head, in a vague uncertain uncer-tain manner. He turned slowly, his face ashen, haggard and old all at once. His lips moved a little," but no sound came; he looked at his friend with the bewildered eye of a dumb animal awakening to some terrible pain of which, as yet, it is not wholly conscious. Tom Westwoods picked up the telegram. tele-gram. It was from the London agents of Croft's firm. He read the few bald sentences so fraught with tragic meaning. mean-ing. The airplane, it stated, in characteristically char-acteristically crude words, was missing. miss-ing. The lifeless body of the mechanic me-chanic had been found in the water, where, it was feared, the rest had perished. per-ished. Search was in progress, but with small hope of success. A typhoon had swept across the seas verging upon the Philippine islands. One wireless message of distress had come from the machine. Then silence fell. . - - WRECKED SYNOPSIS. Living in the small English village of Darbury, old- fashioned and sedate place, Barbara Bar-bara Stockley, daughter of a widowed mother, is soon to celebrate cele-brate her marriage to Hugh Rochdale, rich and well connected. con-nected. Barbara is adventurous, and has planned, with an aunt, an airplane trip to Australia. Major Alan Croft, famous as an aviator, is to be the pilot. At her first meeting with Croft Barbara Bar-bara is attracted by his manner and conversation, different from the cut-and-rlrled conventions of her small town. PART ONE Continued. 2 She knit puzzled brows, trying to follow his meaning. What keynote could there be to all the jumble of separate entities that make up life? "What keynote the world uses, I suppose, what you want to discover?' he asked. "Do I? Is that it?" Eagerly she leaned toward him. "Oh, I wonder What do you think it Is?" He blew out a cloud of smoke ; then smiled. "Goodness knows ! Perhaps there isn't one. What private ones do we all use? Don't you often wonder, when you meet a number of new people" peo-ple" "But I never do meet them ! It Is quite an event to meet a stranger," she assured him. "Well, you shall soon meet plenty of all nationalities. Even natives, in the Philippines." Barbara came back to practical realities with a start. "Natives! Are they black? I should loathe them." "Oh, no ; surely not. I like them immensely." She looked at him incredulously. "But why the Philippines?" "I have to go to Borneo and the Philippines for (he firm." He plunged Into details of the journey, and she listened enthralled. To flash like a meteor over France, Italy, Egypt, India, In-dia, with a few clays at each landing place, and the detour to the Pacific, exceeded all she had ever dreamed. The world at last ! Abruptly he broke off. "But I have not yet discovered, in strange lands and crowded cities, what Is wrong with the world ! I hope you succeed In your 'heart's desire.' It's a" tall order." A subtle change In his manner gave her the impression that, Inwardly, he laughed at her. "Anyway, it is a wonderful chance. I am grateful to you for giving it to me," she replied, with stilted politeness. polite-ness. "To me?" he asked; then gave a short laugh. "Oh, not at all. I am merely the pilot!" She flushed crimson, remembering her own words at the sweets-stall. With a sense of relief, she saw Hugh hailing hail-ing her from the terrace steps. . "Are you fixing up the trip?" he asked, joining them. Placing his hands on the girl's shoulders, he smiled across at Croft. "Look here! Will you please satiate Bab with travel, with sight-seeing, so that she returns fed up to the teeth? That will Insure a peaceful honeymoon, and I shall be eternally obliged!" Barbara explained: "Hugh wants to spend his honey- moon in his father's farm yard ; and I wnnt to rrn " dubbed at It with the clumsy movements move-ments of a man unnsed to troubling over personal Injuries. His look was still fixed upon the girl's face. As she gazed round the unfamiliar scene, an expression of bewilderment crept Into her eyes. Remembrance slowly returning, this merged Into concern, con-cern, then fear. . . . Quickly It grew to terror. . . . Sitting upright, up-right, she turned wildly to the man at her side. , "Where are we? Where are we?" "We crashed on that reef," he replied re-plied quietly. "The last engine gave out " "But how did we get here?" "I found you In the water, aud swam in." Fearfully she looked toward the dark mass, as if measuring mentally the distance from shore, scarcely understanding un-derstanding the full meaning of this feat. Then she looked about her as If seeking somebody . . . -finally turned to him, mutely asking the question ques-tion her troubling lips dared not frame. He laid a hand upon her shoulder, instinctively fortifying her for the complete realization of the dread that was dawning in her brain. She caught his arm in a feverish grip, her eyes wild. "Captain Croft tell me! The others? . . . Where is Aunt Dolly?" A look, so full of anguish that it seemed as though the soul behind were in the tortures of hell, was her only answer. She gazed, awestruck, for a breathless breath-less moment, at his haggard eyes and drawn blood-stained face, at the features fea-tures usually so cloaked with reserve now betraying unbearable agony ; then, with a hoarse moaning cry, she collapsed in an abandonment of horror nt his feet. . . . Presently Croft raised his head, and stood up. He gave one long look seaward, sea-ward, to the grave of such unlimited pride and hope; to where, also, those who had risked their lives with him now lay hidden beneath the smiling blue. With a long sigh, he turned away, setting His teeth and squaring his shoulders . . . then looked at the figure lying face downward at his feet. Dropping on his knees, he gently raised her, so that she leaned against him. "Come !" he urged, with forced brightness. "We must buck up, you know, and see what can be done." "Tell me first what happened," she besought. "It seems like a a hideous nightmare " Shuddering violently, vio-lently, she hid her face again. "We had some engine trouble soon after leaving the Philippines, as you know, which obliged us to return there to land," he replied. "We got caught in the center of a typhoon near the coast, and were driven completely out of our course " "It was awful awful ! That terrible, deafening, roar!"- She began again to tremble violently. "We were hurled Into an air-pocket which caused us to drop nearly a thousand feet," he continued hurriedly. hurried-ly. "That put two more engines out of action and injured the fourth. Only a miracle prevented our being dashed straight into the sea. After a bit I saw land here, and hoped to reach St in time ; but she crashed too soon " He stopped, perceiving the state of her shattered nerves. Standing up, he raised her with him; and she clung convulsively to his arm, every limb shaking as if with ague. Unclasping her hands, he drew her arm through his, turning their steps inland; his own feelings being almost beyond his usual iron control, he spoke roughly : "For heaven's sake, don't talk or think about It all, just now! We shall go raving mad if we do !" The words and tone acted as a tonic. Something of her first feeling of inferiority in-feriority in his presence returned, causing her to struggle fiercely against the weakness that threatened to overcome over-come her. "There's generally an opening In a brier reef opposite a fresh-water river," Croft observed. "Why?" she inquired, without any interest. To talk of anything bow-ever, bow-ever, was better thai, the silence which encouraged thought. "It's supposed that the sediment it contains injures the reef-building polypes, preventing their working opposite. op-posite. The polypes can't live and work below a certain depth about twenty fathoms or so. Awfully interesting, inter-esting, coral ! Don't you think so?" She confessed entire ignorance on the subject. This little digression, however, had served its purpose for them both. Drawing her arm free, she proposed bathing their faces in the cool stream. Revived by this, she became aware of their bedraggVd state, of the discomfort of wet clinging cling-ing garments, and of Croft's Ineffectual Ineffec-tual efforts to staunch the wound or his head. Shyly she went to him where be knelt upon the bank. I. ! The man seems to be efficient and the girl fairly strong. What next? (TO BE CONTINUED.) PART TWO The Rising Orchestra I Dawn broke at last, the first dull lines of gray merging into a myriad pearly tints. Birds awoke In the forest for-est ; rustled amid the leaves ; shook their wings; then flew forth to hunt for breakfast; their brilliant plumage reflected the sun's rays in a thousand bright hues as they flashed from beneath be-neath the shadowy trees. Upon the sloping shore of a tiny cove, the waters of the lagoon lapped in a gentle, rippling murmur. Farther away, the surf of the open sea boomed like distant thunder against the harrier har-rier reef; waves swirled angrily through the gap which formed an Inlet. Partly telescoped upon a jagged promontory jutting inland from the entrance, rising and falling helplessly at the mercy of the tide foaming through, loomed a mass of something dark. It looked strange, shapeless, forlornly tragic, as If flung down by a ruthless hand and forgotten. Upon the ground of the opposite cove, near a heap of wet coats, little rivulets trickling from her drenched garments, lay the inert form of a girl. A man. likewise sodden from head to foot, knelt beside her, anxiously forcing forc-ing brandy between her pale lips from a small pocket-flask. Presently he paused, a sudden dread in his heart, and with his head close to her wet blouse, listened. . . . Then, with renewed energy, be set vigorously to work again. At last she gave a little quivering sigh. Her hands moved gropingly. Soon, with another, longer sigh, she opened her eyes and gazed blankly, ns one newly awakened from a troubled dream, into his face. Raising a hand to her head, the varan! gaze changed to one of feeble wonder. "Why, are you hurt?" she half whispered. Until then he bad net recognized that the si roam tricking down his face was blood. With iii fingers he traced what was apparently a long Jagged cut stretching from his temple to the left ear: It smarted when touched. Taking the wet imi',i-;!;prch:of from his pocket, he s:i! buck an:! "Somewhere in the moon," Hugh broke In. "So our only hope of a Tiappy Issue' as the prayer-book calls it, lies in you." "Good lord !" laughed the other. "It's a rather curious position ! When Is the wedding?' "On December twentieth. Be sure you send her back In time !" Croft's face grew sober. In his quick, decided fashion, he swung his legs over the parapet and stood up, facing Hugh. "You are quite willing for her to go, I suppose?" Both glanced at him, surprised at the earnestness of his tone.- "I know you will take the utmost rare of her," Hugh replied. "Of course." Suddenly and unexpectedly the younger man held out his hand. Croft took It In n close grip; but Barbara C gave an amused laugh. She struck down lightly with her fingers; and the two hands fell apart. Ill Glittering like dragon-flies, several machines hummed and buzzed near the airdrome, some rising on trial trips, others soaring far overhead, a few "looping" or diving down in spirals, as though Intoxicated with the exhilaration exhilara-tion of the summer morning. A small crowj of people, including reporters and photographers, stood near the monster which loomed up stationary sta-tionary after a final trial flight. The sunlight Hashed upon the four propellers propel-lers and the engines, now so placid and silent. Barbara, ciad in the beaver-lined flying fly-ing cap and leather coat which Hugh bad given her, stood close beside him, watching the giant plane and its attendants at-tendants somewhat nervously. It was. after all, a big adventure to embark upon. . . Hugh was very dear. . . . Mrs. Field had bidden Barbara farewell fare-well some days ago, and bad gone to the famine area of Central Europe on an organization campaign. Noticing the wistfulness of the girl's face, something had compelled her to turn back asd kiss her again, when they narted Barbara . . . Stood Close Beside Him, Watching . . . Nervously. feeling a suspicious lump in his throat. "I I'll meet you, when you come back. It won't be long." Hugh knew that his Barbara's warmhearted warm-hearted impulses occasionally resulted in moments of embarrassment. Gently loosening the clinging arms, he bade Aunt Dolly farewell. Then he turned to the cabin door, hesitated, came back, kissed Barbara's wet cheeks passionately passion-ately again, and ran down the steps. Croft leaned down and waved fare-.well fare-.well ; then he gave the signal. Slowly, the machine glided away. But with quick transition, the movement move-ment merged Into the swift run of a bird seeking cover. Faster and yet faster, It became a wild roaring race across the grass, which soon the little wheels failed to touch, as. at an Incredibly In-credibly short distance, the airplane rose lightly from the ground. Tliric? she circled, high above the beads of those who watched. Then, sure of her capabilities, she turned, with a final upward curve, and settled down to her work. The days wore on to weeks, full of the Important trifles that constitute dally country life. For a time Darbury Dar-bury felt n little flat, lacking In sensation. sensa-tion. There seemed to ho a dearth of subjects for conversation; and when n community has nothing to talk about, it Is In n bad way. Letters from Barbara were frequent and full of enthusiasm. Croft was evidently evi-dently fulfilling the part allotted to him to the letter, during the calls at each sight-seeing place; and Hugh felt grateful. When letters became more Infrequent, Infre-quent, owing to distance, wireless messages mes-sages stated that all was well. . . . With delightful suddenness a fresh thrill was provided for Darbury by Jenny Grant, a village girl. She had. It was rumored, "got into trouble" with a saiior who had recently been on leave In the neighborhood. Mrs. Stockley, with commendable charity, placed n large part of the blame on the giWs mother. The mother had seceded se-ceded from the church; therefore, of |