Show FIVE J FRIDAYS F R YS af s S indeed cheerful f a Y v i a by FRANK R ADAMS frank A co CHAPTER XVI continued 15 why lemme lemine see I 1 must have dumped em cm in tho the wastebasket but the fire was nil all ou out t any further farther discussion was cut short by the tha violent ringing of the telephone bell inside the burning building who can be calling up at this time of night wondered vida voicing the general curiosity wo we probably will never know bopp gazed dreamily into the fire may maybe be some one saw the blaze from the mainland and is calling up about it no said lucile with conviction its my mother she has seen tho the fire from Hunting dons and wants to know if I 1 am safe we must answer it and tell her that everything Is all right no one could go in there I 1 protested the fire is raging in the living room and the walls may fall any moment but mother will worry what it she does A man under stress of excitement Is sometimes unintentionally brutal if you men are not brave enough lucile declared with eyes flashing flash g bif it youre so afraid of getting singed im 1 in going in to answer that telephone myself and tell my mother that I 1 am safe cafe you be sate safe it if you were talk talking ug over that telephone I 1 was exasperated but it was impossible to allow a girl in a flimsy negligee to go into that furnace since you put IV it that way ill go I 1 groped my way to the instrument jammed the receiver to my car and shouted hello 1 sorry to waken you old chap said male voice apologetically but I 1 simply must speak to miss dunmore Dun you go to halifax I 1 requested loudly and dropping the receiver made a wild dash for the door from which I 1 emerged with my clothing on fire in only one or two spots thank mank you lucile was very sweet in bestowing her gratitude i was s she be very much worried 11 it your mother I 1 said shortly it was mr blaney i ned asked vida then without w waiting alting for an answer 1 I must speak to him I 1 gently restrained her blaney queried lucilo lucile blankly f then turning to me your brother no relation I 1 returned hes my flance vida explained t just the old blaney that ever lived hes waiting tor for me at fair view we were to have been married today or yesterday rather oh lucile retired to her inner consciousness to think I 1 told vida that blaney knew kne w she was safe as he had called up several times during the day I 1 1 where was I 1 ITI ayou you were always out somewhere with mr clair I 1 explained i you dian didn tell ned that did youl you why rby yes I 1 guess I 1 did why i hes HeI ELso eo jealous jalous sighed vida it makes him furious when I 1 talk to oth er men of course after were mart ried ill train him differently but now I 1 have to be careful our attention was distracted from i the burning building by the arrival of x bill johnson who walked unannounced into the circle of light the noise of L the merry widow arriving had alpar 1 antly been lost in the crackling of the flames well I 1 inquired were mrs green and mr clair all right 1 I shall not know it bill replied phlegmatically 1 I cant by find em cm cant find them nonsense cusel did 7 you ou go up to tho the house bouse yes sare bare and I 1 look in all the i t rooms no one shall be in each they cant have left mrs green sald bald she up now bopp inquired mrs green has disappeared once more i eloped with lipton S clair impossible you seen him since he be left here what else could have happened 7 1 I cant imagine its a small island end and there would be no sense in sup posing that hat she was hiding anywhere r outside of the house besides they n both knew that the boat was coming i back soon to get them aih mrs A 1 rs green Is so elusive bopp i 4 criticized cal t 1 elded that I 1 should think that j when once you located her you would I 1 have kept your eye on her it I 1 had I 1 reminded him you i would probably all be burnt to aln 1 tes t sers es now there must be some i ble reason for mrs greens disappear once ance suppose we dont tell her daugh i ter right away until we try to find ij il t what has happened it would only 1 I cause cause her additional worry i y 1 that was agreed upon j i at at any rate bopp said we I 1 all go over to the mainland in the mer ij y ry widow and get breakfast 1 no declared bill shaking head bead merry widow she shant run she broke her waive spring maybe take all day to ux fix she up then for heavens sake get at it J bopp growled crossly it 1 I fix hm up wit some wire may ij 11 be bill cheerfully promised as ho dei parted M IL lucilo lucile and vida rejoined us presently 1 I have some breakfast tor for you I 1 announced 1 soup bopp uttered the theford word sarcastically casti cally oh tootles I 1 murmured luclle lucile 1 I forgot I 1 said tootles Is found I 1 found tootles last night where is my little sweetheart now in the summer house I 1 replied oh my tootles girl she exclaimed locked up in that cold barn of a place all night 1 I was there I 1 reminded her 1 I stood it all right luclle lucile started out as fast as she could for the summer house walt wait a minute I 1 protested wishing to explain about the reporter wait she flashed at me when tootles wants me never lucile broke into a run when she saw that I 1 was following her and reached the door of the summer house first when I 1 arrived I 1 heard beard a scream CHAPTER explanations picture was a trifle startling THE on the floor lay the reporter his face twisted up into an agonized expression while tootles stood over him feebly licking his face her little red tongue hardly able to wag oh luclle lucile screamed jumping up and down in her excitement hes killing To tootles oties im afraid I 1 laughed anyway she cast a look of reproach at me and made a dive for the tired little pup tootles went through the door and dashed barking up the beach luclle lucile f followed after they were too fast for me the last I 1 saw of them was a tiny bobbing fb A cry from tho tug startled Us speck that was tootles and a larger graceful figure with hair blowing free and kimono flying back which was lucile luchie all the excitement the reporter demanded chos the pippin we had a fire I 1 returned wearily mr greens house burned down everybody asleep I 1 suppose the reporter sketched in the story from imagination agi nation you the faithful watchman an see the flames dash into the burning building and rescue the owners beautiful daughter its a peach of a story its too bad you cant marry her he added eyeing me ruefully youve got a wife and seven kids I 1 suppose 1 I have not I 1 retorted then you can marry her thanks 1 I mean youre not so terribly old and you might look nil all right if you washed your face and had bad some decent clothes r for or the first time I 1 realized that I 1 must be a pretty sad looking object my clothes were wet worn singed and thoroughly mus mussed sed from having been slept siept in and rained on I 1 looked at him sharply what size collar do you wear fourteen and a half he be replied glibly I 1 grunted til have a look anyway I 1 rolled him over and removed collar and necktie as carefully as possible it was a fifteen and a half because you lied I 1 shall confiscate the necktie also no he shouted interpreting my glance you wear another thing of mine I 1 im afraid wo we coincide only in the neck I 1 sighed regretfully look here he be began belligerently dont you think this farce has haa gone far enough I 1 demand to be released if you let me go now ill promise not to have you put in jall jail and if get me a picture of miss green ill give you 5 no I 1 decided absently what will you do with me 1 I dont know it has ocen puzzling me you know more about crime than I 1 do what do you bugg cst I 1 measured the height of his collar with my eye 1 I cant say that I 1 care much for your selection of collar style it if you arent going to let me go continued the young man whose mind seemed to dwell constantly on himself when is breakfast there you have auve ruined an other wise perfect day no one knows when where or what breakfast is no breakfast he questioned nopo nope nary breakfast lie ile sighed theres 1 a I cigar in my he started to tell me which pocket when he recollected my propensity for confiscating ills his property Ws its nil all right I 1 assured him im not smoking at present in my left hand band upper vest pocket he finished I 1 found a flat leather case in the pocket he be had indicated I 1 opened the case and a handful og of crumpled tobacco fell out im afraid I 1 sat on it IV I 1 said apologetically getic ally he turned his face to the wall with out ont a word I 1 left him alone with the dust of his bis last cigar when I 1 had bad gone a short distance I 1 heard him sneeze when I 1 was satisfied that I 1 had done the best I 1 could to rearrange my disordered clothes and linen I 1 rejoined tho the disconsolate group at the site of the one time house there were only four of them captain perkins ns jim vida and kent lucile had bad not returned wheres lucile vida alda inquired tootles got away I 1 explained and she chased her but tootles is here vida indicated the the dog playing around the shed she came back quite awhile ago with tills in her mouth vida help up the torn and dirty remnants of what bad been lucilea Lu ciles kimono lucilea Lu ciles kimono 1 I 1 cried an idea struck me what was she wearing under that 1 I helped her put on my costume 1 vida vouchsafed the ono one that was we Ls drying in the shed it fits her beautifully then I 1 presume that you will find lucile over there behind that clump of bushes I 1 hazarded in a loud tone there was a sound of branches breaking and leaves rustling as if some one were beating a hasty retreat oh I 1 seel light dawned on vida just let her alone shell get used to them in an hour or so you do feel kind of funny at first now about that breakfast yes bopp chimed in prodico pro duco that feast you were speaking of with the dog in sight well take a chance on anything youve prepared sail ho he cried jim where be she demanded deman ded his superior coming around the point jim replied sure enough a fat little tugboat was nosing her way comfortably through the waves into the cove its the revenue tug exclaimed captain perkins whose knowledge of lake craft was naturally superior to that of the rest of us A revenue tug bopp repeated what is she doing here lets go and find out the tug came in as far as she dared and then an officer came ashore in hi a dinghy pardon me ladies and gentlemen 11 he be began suavely taking no notice of our disheveled appearance 1 I am the revenue officer in charge of this district A cry from the tug startled st us that we exclaimed the yell was repeated this time with a smothered finish its just a couple of prisoners we captured this morning explained the officer we are very glad to see you and your boat bopp stated doing the honors we have had bad a terrible fire here and if you will set us fafel safely y ashore at fair view we shall be forever in your debt im sorry he replied but I 1 cannot carry your party as passengers being on government service my duties are very exacting however I 1 shall be glad to notify the first vessel I 1 meet and request them to call tor for you but man bopp exclaimed we have been without anything to eat cat for three days surely you cant refuse to take us to some place where food may be lind had you forget that I 1 have provided food I 1 interposed im trying to forget it bopp replied fled with ungracious impatience 1 I want regular food tile the lake Is calming down the pointed out land and you can surely get aid soon As it happens we are liot hot on the trail of a gang of smugglers and if we delay now the chief operator may escape us lie he Is posing as a telephone repair man employed by the local company in fair view but merely uses that position to cloak his criminal operations he was sent to greens island before the storm and has not reported back to the so we presume that he is hero here now by a common impulse we looked for kent he was not among us apparently he had waited to hear no moro more after captain perkins had bad identified the boat as hs in the government service 1 I cant believe that he la is a smuggler vida argued she like the rest of us had conceived conceive a liking for the young man whose career had bad been so varied and interesting ire he look like a smuggler 9 TO BE CONTINUED |