Jewel Weed

himself at Ellery's office on the next

ere to-day," Norris s

nswered promptly. "

and before I begin on those of Wednesday, I have a few precio

this is Decoration

ing a sub-edito

been to the F

N

t. Etienne? Come with me and see the popul

re going to agit

Ellery, it's a superb day. I feel l

you always want to do something else. I begin to think that there are compensations to a

ur galley-proof. I am willing to bet that my flas

of my grubbing," Ellery rejoined, slam

enly transformed itself into an imposing waterfall, plunging with roars over a rocky cliff, and sending its spray whirling

mbed down the steep bank, stopping now and again to yield to the fascination of

ed a habit of unruliness, tumbled onward under trees and through o

le, hordes of them, t

m is it that draws these crowds to the most beautiful spot nea

clothes or in their conversation," Norris grumbled. "

oo easy to reach. Your aristocrat prefers less beauty at greater effo

is time, and were leaning against the parapet of a

el the spray in our nostrils, and delight in hanging maidenhair ferns, and watch the girls go by-the girls in pin

rflies poised for a moment; down stream a few yards, where the valley widened, lay a tiny meadow where the sun fell full on a carpet of

r holiday like baked ice-cream?" asked Dick. "Tha

same sense of incongruity

inds of people than you do, Norris. You are narrow-minded. Y

of the race, but there are some

voice made his frien

rd. Don't make the western mistake of

and Uncle Joe's. I didn't particularly deserve it, and I didn't know anything about the work; so, for your sake as well as

remendously experienced-for the West-when he's

or, to tell the truth, Norris was not wholly satisf

ll natural modesty, that I have shown great natural aptitude for it. My profession is making friends. I have made friends useful and ornamental, friends great

ho

esy dubbed Honorable, William Ba

lery, turning on Dick in surpr

ore appropriate than 'Honorab

e you like?" questioned Ell

l statesmen, doesn't it? I took the great man to the theater, or at least to something that called itsel

greeable. Do you expect he will

indiscreet. He reminded me last night of Louis XIV. He might have said, 'St. Etienne, it is I,' but in

t the appropriate adjective be

that that man, whose head is all face and neck, does the intricate planning and wire-pulling that runs this city. I've an ide

red who is the re

o get hold of the threads to pull them out and examine them, the ends are too short or my fingers are too big. But get hold of them I sha

Percival," said Ellery with a

part, there was a brief spasm of reform. It was a short episode of fisticuffs and fighting, which is for a day-a very different thi

ce fitted out with an exce

cupied bad citizens to adapt the charter to the needs of life; and that was an easy job, so easy that it has apparently been possible for one man to manage

t will be," queried

of 'friends' of Piggy, who shows a fine disregard of party lines in his affiliati

ink that he isn't

behind him do not seem to be wholly his.

day to tell me abou

city; and then he winked and asked if I knew that though the city paid the coroner his salary, the state guaranteed an extra fee of 'saxty dollar' to that official for every stranger who met with sudden death within our limits? I didn't know, but I do now. I took pains to look up last year's records and, curiou

ott!" sai

mere curiosity, but I mean to hunt up the personal history of those

k, and get your fa

don't you suppose your chief, Lewis, w

ope

ully. "One must submit to the inevitable. But let's keep the papers dribbling out informati

ll

s isn't round, it's elliptical. Big Olaf is a friend useful. He's a shrewd fellow, who's been looking stupid for some time. The 'bunch'

a start and stare

ossession of him?"

at if I b

what Barry's dirty hands have failed to giv

is any harm in my hiri

dy a public official, and on how you

s and guns always in battle-array against us and our kind. The onl

dishonesty with dishonor. Dick, don't lower

s eyes were caught by one of the pass

e said, moving as he spoke. "The gorge grows

nstant before Dick's face had worn the profound air of a man on whose shoulders rested mighty problems. Now every movement was boyish and exu

at anchor and tooted a discordant horn to signify to the world that she intended to be up and doing. A crowd of phlegmatic-faced revelers stood upon the bank and watche

he shoved Ellery on to the swaying d

r striated rocks. The boat twisted its way through a current that boiled up from below in whirlpools. Here and there huge logs plunged downward like water-monsters, as they threaded between wooded islands, where meek-looking cottontails squatted and twiddled their n

age, who choked and snorted and chuckled and whinnied in their laughter. Norris' eyes were caught by one girl, conspicuously because plainly dressed. As she turned her

s breath, "that was why we tore

onded innocently. "It is a delicious bit of scene

nery with yellow cu

reply and E

can't go and take her away from hi

as a loose mouth that wabbles whe

be with you instead of with him, and that the wish will lie fallow in her heart. D

gentleman at heart

rtable and conscious of his clothes and his sprawl. She flushed

op it,

ugged his

said. "You're a queer combination, Dick, of th

malaise, pink, and pecking like a little wren at her oaf. Ellery, it's a brute of a shame that such

are you in

ns if he looks twice at the girl he dances with. I don't have to be in earnest, thank Heaven! But when I get a chance to look at anything so lovely as that

swered Ell

has to plug her way through life. Her real name is Andromeda, poor c

ke a trifle to you, with a life full of inte

ar interested in this, and no more, that I'm sorry for that little girl, and if I saw a chance, I'd do her a good turn, as I pass along; a

h May, and sometimes at Dick, who leaned forward with his chin in his hand, apparently absorbed in thought, but

pped from their holes in the cliffs and skimmed across the bows, and the breeze blew fresher as they headed up stream. Still

u are funny

hy

ee consequenc

causes and effects," El

it," s

y pushed forward so that he almost touched

said. "I hope you have enjoyed t

ver since they started, she looke

as lovely,

ing her arm. "I guess we ought to hurry. Th

"I have an automobile up near the

nterrupted roughly. "We're blocking the way here. Come, Lena." He glowered at Dick's li

, he'd have gone up several pegs in her estimation. As it is, when her pretty little feet get trodden o

. Nature reasserted her sway as though there had never been laughter and babble along the musical stream and under the over-arching trees. The frien

closely, for though the level sunlight flooded the tops of

tight to the paper beneath. "Some one has dropped it here. By Jove, Ellery, it's

gain and stare

s a mail-box near where we left the auto

William Barry as though it fascinated him. Th

n to champ its bi

o mail that l

atter. I'll post it in town.