BB
 
 OK CALIF. L^RARY. LOS ANGELES
 
 THF FIRST OF 
 HIS FAMILY" 
 
 $1 50 NET
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 OR 
 
 GENIUS IN OBLIVION 
 
 AND 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 Two Stories of the Minute 
 BY DELBERT ESSEX DAVENPORT. 
 
 Publiihed By 
 
 THE MANTUP PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 New York City, U. S. A.
 
 2129334
 
 Illustrations by ROY NAMSORG
 
 COPYRIGHT APPLIED FOR 1919
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 THE CHAPTERS 
 
 I. A MATE TO THE JINX. 
 
 II. DEEPENED MYSTERIES OF THE DEEP. 
 
 III. LOOKING FOR MARS. 
 
 IV. HIDE AND SEEK AND THEN- 
 
 V. A NIGHT OF REVELATIONS. 
 
 VI. A DAY OF CONFIDENCES. 
 
 VII. BEFORE SUNRISE. 
 
 VIII. SENSATIONS IN NEW YORK. 
 
 IX. WHEREIN VICTORY AND DEFEAT 
 
 MINGLE. 
 
 X. THE SUPREME SPECTACLE OF A LIFE- 
 
 XI. HARROWING HOURS. 
 
 XII. SO RISETH HOPES FROM THOSE 
 
 WHICH HAVE FALLEN.
 
 THE PUBLISHER'S PREFACE. 
 
 In presenting two of Delbert Essex Davenport's 
 stories in one volume, the publishers feel they are giving 
 the lovers of extraordinary fiction a rare treat, especially 
 in view of the fact that Mr. Davenport writes his every 
 novel upon an entirely original basis of so much charm, 
 and dozvnright usefulness that an "extra measure" could 
 not possibly be expected. 
 
 "High Girl" or "Genius in Oblivion" the featured 
 novel in this book, is the first big effort to present the 
 thrills, romance, mystery and uplifting education of trans- 
 Atlantic aerial navigation. The plot ground-work the 
 author has constructed so cleverly appeals remarkably to 
 the ^imagination, so much so that little or no descriptive, 
 details are needed to maintain an almost perfect suspense 
 to the very last sentence. And, after being royally enter- 
 tained by the numerous intensely interesting incidents 
 which accompany a daring American girl in her determi- 
 nation to fly across the mighty Atlantic, the reader can lay 
 aside the book and truthfully say something worth-while 
 remains to think about. Indeed, the great question is sure 
 to arise Is man's ambition given a fair trial? 
 
 "The First of His Family," a novelette from the same 
 pen, is a worthy companion to "High Girl." In this second 
 work the subject of personal ambition is treated from a 
 completely different angle, and it is admirably done with- 
 out resorting too much to so-called "fiction license" 
 
 Since both of these stories are founded upon mortal 
 aspiration, it is appropriate to explain it by stating that 
 Mr. Davenport is the editor of a national magazine called 
 AMERICAN AMBITION, vvhich is devoted fundamen- 
 tally to exploiting the talents of unknown aspirants in all 
 lines of endeavor and to giving real practical aid to all who 
 need and deserve it. The situations in both of these stories
 
 are based for the most part on the experiences of Editor 
 Davenport with various unusual cases wherein men and 
 women strive to attain high goals in life. In fact, the 
 people from whom the author lias drawn several of the 
 characters in these, narratives have visited him right in his 
 editorial offices in the Land Title Building at Philadel- 
 phia, Pa., and gave him the inspirations to contribute these 
 two important w'orks to American literature. 
 
 We are confident Mr. Davenport is entitled to a sin- 
 cere appreciation for the truly big, broad-minded enter- 
 prise he manifests in undertaking to call the attention of 
 the human race so engagingly to a subject of such tre- 
 mendous importance, for most certainly the very life of 
 our nation depends upon how lasting and Jww potential 
 individual aspiration can be made and sucli leadership in 
 thought as this author-editor offers is a positive requisite. 
 
 THE MANTUP PUBLISHING COMPANY, 
 NEW YORK, U. S. A.
 
 HIGH GIRL
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 A MATE; TO THE JINX. 
 
 HE HAD JUST one ambition and that was to see 
 what kind of creatures inhabited Mars. He was 
 anxious to ascertain whether or not they were any better 
 than the people he had encountered on earth. 
 
 His one determination was to 'get revenge, collect- 
 ing equally from all mortals ! 
 
 And, who was he? 
 
 Given C. Hope, and, from the very inception of his 
 conscious career, he had not liked his Christian name, 
 despite the fact that it was a perfectly good English crea- 
 tion and was entered in all the standard dictionaries as a 
 quick way to say Gift of God. His associates from the 
 earliest times he could remember had taken an unkind 
 advantage of that name to ridicule him and make him feel 
 uncomfortable. Now he had lived a full thirty-five years 
 upon this mundane sphere and the completeness of his 
 failure in his every undertaking was remarkable for its 
 persistency. He was indeed a veritable forlorn Hope, 
 both literally and figuratively. 
 
 This singular mate of the Jinx took his first peep 
 at daylight in the little town of Kilgore, Iowa, and, in 
 doing this, made the great mistake of his life. Even the 
 
 1
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 town where he was born never prospered, never fulfilled 
 the promise of its youth. Away back in his earliest boy- 
 hood he remembered the citizens of the community made 
 a grade for a railroad into the town. It was a splendid 
 bed for a railroad, reaching a region which apparently 
 was destined to enjoy enterprise and progress, but for 
 some inexplicable reason the cuts and fills constructed at 
 great cost of toil and money were all allowed to become 
 overgrown with wee.ds, vines and briars. The railroads 
 went to other towns, other cities sprang up and flourished 
 and Kilgore fell more and more into decay. One night 
 the Missouri river, on a rampage, cut in and around the 
 town, leaving the store and blacksmith shop about three 
 miles from the landing. The next night the river took a 
 new tantrum, running the main channel through the main 
 street of the village. 
 
 The ruthless stream shifted again later and Kilgore 
 is only a sand bar and a memory now. Where once the 
 land agent reared his guide-board pointing to "town lots 
 for sale" the wild goose finds rest and shelter in the wil- 
 lows of the bar and the cottontail peels the tender sap- 
 lings which have sprung up to hide from mortal ken the 
 glory and the hopes of Hope's native town. The citizens 
 left in the swamp lands have wrestled with fever and 
 ague time about until there is little left for disease to 
 fasten upon. It is said they are becoming web-footed
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 and they don't know anything excepting how to shoot 
 ducks and to come out on election day and vote the 
 Republican ticket. 
 
 When the lad Hope was about thirteen years of age 
 he remembered there was a season of unusual heat, 
 drought and short crops. Owing to the scarcity of feed 
 it became necessary for the farmers to cut and save all 
 their corn fodder. During the subsequent winter, young 
 Hope, with the gearing wheel of an old fanning mill, 
 constructed a hand machine for cutting fodder and straw 
 which worked successfully and was a great convenience. 
 A neighbor, who was a carpenter, visited his father's 
 farm and obtained permission to make a similar ma- 
 chine, using the boy's model. Afterwards this very car- 
 penter secured letters of patent on the identical device, 
 which has since, with some improvements, come into 
 use throughout all agricultural countries, bringing for- 
 tunes to those who grasped the main chance by the fore- 
 lock. 
 
 When sixteen years of age Hope, with cogs and 
 wheels, gathered from a junk pile, constructed a hand 
 cider mill, later patented and used all over the country, a 
 machine the model of which has been but little improved 
 to this day. At about this same period of his life the boy 
 was compelled to gather apples in his father's orchard. 
 He discovered the finest fruit grew on the longest slen-
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 der twigs and was the most difficult to pick. With a 
 boy's natural inclination to save labor, and with an in- 
 genuity which seemed natural to him, he invented an 
 apple-picker. His device was a long pole upon the end 
 of which was attached a basket. A. hook, worked by 
 means of a lever, gathered the fruit, dropping it without 
 bruises into the basket, which was padded and lined 
 with soft elastic material. A boy friend of those days 
 entered the patent office at Washington, D. C. some years 
 later, and he was granted a patent on this very apple- 
 picker, realizing a handsome income from a novel util- 
 ity which is still largely used in all fruit-growing sec- 
 tions. 
 
 In the early days of the reaper and mower the most 
 troublesome part of the machinery was the pitman rod, 
 which was the source of constant annoyance owing to 
 the breakage. The rod was a curved steel bar, neces- 
 sarily so on account of the manner of its attachment to 
 the sickle. At a fair held in St. Louis, Hope, then ap- 
 proaching his early manhood, while examining the ma- 
 chinery exhibit, suggested to a man in charge of the 
 harvester exhibit for a large manufacturing concern 
 that by the use of a ball and socket joint where the pit- 
 man attaches to the sickle the rod might be made straight. 
 A drawing of the proposed improvement was made and 
 the next year it was generally adopted by makers of harv-
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 est machinery and has yielded fortunes in royalties, not 
 a cent of which went to the originatpr. 
 
 Forsooth the experiences of this man up to the very 
 minute of his thirty-fifth birthday had been always of 
 one tendency, to give him the worst of it. If he touched 
 gold it became brass ; if he staked his money on the ponies 
 they became as slow as a New York surface street car; 
 if he tipped his tongue to genuine maple syrup it im- 
 mediately degenerated into glucose molasses ; if he carv- 
 ed a porter-house steak it turned to concession beef ; if he 
 bought a sure-thing Panama hat the chances were that it 
 would become a linoleum imitation before he could get 
 home with it. Even moonshine whiskey the sod corn 
 barefooted apparently lost its stimulating effect when 
 taken with intent to fortify himself against the discour- 
 agements of life. He once invented a cocktail of superior 
 quality, but he had not been able to afford to taste one 
 of the delightfully refreshing decoctions in ten years ! 
 
 And, oh the unhappy upshots and off-shoots of his 
 ventures in the line of dallying with his romantic inclina- 
 tions! He had ardently wooed many women, generally 
 of a low type of intelligence, and he had received some 
 heart-rending set-backs for his gallant efforts to find the 
 one who could supply that which he lacked luck, the 
 most elusive stranger conceivable in his tortured brain. 
 But, he never found the woman who cared to take the
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 matrimonial leap with him, much to his chagrin. Even as 
 practically all others could improve their hopes by win- 
 ning the right sort of a helpmate he could not make 
 anything like the progress of even a snail. No member 
 of the weaker sex wanted this member of the stronger 
 sex for the reason that he was so obviously a very, very 
 weak member of it. He could not arrive even if they 
 brought the place of arrival right up to him ! He could 
 not accomplish anything even resembling success. And, 
 yet he was an inventive genius of the most promising 
 sort! 
 
 Queer had been his life history and yet he was not 
 at all queer in character or personality. All he ever 
 aspired to be was a regular human being, with his share 
 of happiness, but it seemed that neither fate or the peo- 
 ple he met wanted him to be even this or to have even a 
 look-in at mere contentment, and so, as a natural trend 
 of events, he lost confidence in Fate and people, and, he 
 wanted to be away from both. He had come to regard 
 all women as low and all men as lower. He could find 
 no exalted pinnacle upon which to place an ideal. In 
 fact, as the middle mile-posts of his life were reached 
 he firmly decided it was to his best interests to give up 
 the battle so far as ingratiating himself with others ex- 
 tended, and to go it alone away from the usual haunts of 
 humanity. 
 
 6
 
 GIVEN C. HOPE HAD ACCUMULATED A CURIOUS OUTFIT OF 
 
 MECHANICAL PARAPHERNALIA, THE MOST OF WHICH 
 
 WAS PURCHASED AT JUNK YARDS
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 When finally he departed from New York City, 
 where he was almost totally unknown, despite his years 
 of law-abiding residence there, he was controlled by the 
 most peculiar determination, and, that was to invent as 
 many of the things the human race most needed as he 
 could and to give himself the supreme satisfaction of 
 fighting like a fiend to prevent this same human race 
 from ever gaining one iota therefrom. And, he had ad- 
 roitly planned a way to let the world know what he was 
 doing and what he had accomplished without ever let- 
 ting this same world know who he was or where he 
 secreted himself. He was positively uncanny in his de- 
 sire for revenge extraordinary. He was bent on making 
 mankind regret having treated him so miserably. He 
 had been taunted and tantalized without mercy, and why 
 should he be merciful in return after all he had endured 
 in the way of hardships? 
 
 And, how did he leave New York City? By rail 
 to a point near Portland, Maine, where he had been for 
 months shipping piece by piece a most curious outfit of 
 mechanical paraphernalia, the most of which was pur- 
 chased at junk yards with the pennies he found it so dif- 
 ficult to accumulate. And^how did he leave the vicinity 
 of Portland, Maine ? By boat a boat he had constructed 
 himself. Nor was it at all crude, being equipped with 
 two high-power motors and arranged to resort to sails in
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 case of emergency. Moreover, it had an excellent wire- 
 less device of his own contrivance. To him this was the 
 most important part of his whole layout, not for his own 
 safety, but to serve as the means by which he could tan- 
 talize the whole world until it became as desperate as he 
 had been practically his whole life. Although his boat 
 was less than a hundred feet in length, it was thoroughly 
 sea-worthy, and he was prepared for a protracted cruise, 
 having enough food and water to last him fully a year. 
 Undoubtedly he was unlike any other mariner of all 
 times, because he had no fixed destination ; he knew next 
 to nothing about navigation and he certainly never in- 
 tended to return to his home port! Nor was he seek- 
 ing death. 
 
 And, where did he land? On a tiny, uncharted is- 
 land somewhere near the Newfoundland banks, not more 
 than two hundred miles out at sea. His first year as the 
 lone inhabitant of this mere stepping-stone to the main- 
 land was comparatively uneventful, due to the fact that 
 he devoted his whole time to carefully and rather pain- 
 fully preparing to carry out his strange project of teas- 
 ing the world via wireless in sundry ingenious ways. 
 Then suddenly mysterious and exciting things began to 
 happen, causing consternation in the most unexpected 
 quarters by upsetting all rules and regulations as well 
 as all traditions of the sea. But what may we not expect
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 from such a man as Given C. Hope, a remarkable genius 
 with remarkably bad luck? Would not his resentment 
 over his protracted ill fate be sufficient to make him ac"- 
 complish almost super-human wonders once he got start- 
 ed? Is there anything more impelling than resolution 
 born of bitter failure?
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 DEEPENED MYSTERIES OF THE DEEP. 
 
 EVERYWHERE in the vicinity of Newfoundland, 
 ships and coast wireless stations were sorely per- 
 plexed. For two days the air had been full of extraordi- 
 nary messages of warning couched in taunting terms. 
 First it was believed that a near-maniac was recklessly 
 operating a wireless somewhere in the tropics. Then a 
 message, manifestly from regions in close proximity to 
 Iceland, would upset such a theory and lead to the con- 
 viction that a strange master of science had come into 
 being in some bleak and barren spot of the frigid north. 
 One of the most remarkably puzzling messages was 
 received late in the afternoon of the second day. As 
 picked up by numerous stations at sea and ashore it read : 
 
 Man needs the scientific principles and 
 devices I am creating, but man cannot have 
 same. Sea gulls are more appreciative. 
 Now worry. . . . 
 
 Newspapers throughout the civilized world pub- 
 lished sensational stories regarding these puzzling 
 "flashes," advancing many wild theories as to their origin 
 although admitting all efforts to locate the sender had 
 been frustrated. However, finally two theories pre- 
 10
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 dominated. One was that a practical joker had been 
 having fun in a rather precarious manner, while the 
 other was that a wireless operator had become demented. 
 There was a lapse of several days and then the sea- 
 faring world was startled by the receipt of the following 
 warning : 
 
 Nobody else but me could know it, but ter- 
 rific hurricane will sweep North Atlantic 
 one month from today and shipping will 
 suffer heavily because I am in oblivion with 
 inventions which would defy worst storms. 
 Man laughed at me; now I can laugh. 
 
 The authorities of several different governments 
 siezed upon this piece of audacity as a test. Weather ex- 
 perts everywhere were ordered to take particular pains 
 to discover in advance this predicted elemental upheaval, 
 but up to the day prior to the one designated every official 
 report failed to give the slightest inkling of any atmos- 
 pheric condition which might develop even an unusual 
 squall. Forsooth, the whole month was~one of the calm- 
 est in the history of sea navigation and no expert could 
 find any scientific reason for expecting any sudden turn- 
 over of weather conditions. Meanwhile, not a single 
 supplementary word had come from the unknown 
 prophet. 
 
 Then at noon on the day he had named a most ter- 
 
 11
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 rific hurricane broke loose all over the North Atlantic as 
 if it had suddenly arisen from the very depths of hell. 
 Ships by the scores were damaged and ships by the doz- 
 ens were driven into distress. Several smaller vessels 
 were wrecked and the shipping losses aggregated several 
 millions of dollars. Within an hour after the storm 
 abated the following retort came buzzing through the 
 air: 
 
 This is same man who issued warning 
 month ago. It's proof that man's social 
 system and wanton greed keep many of best 
 men down. Out of all humans who would 
 help in this emergency, the one who could 
 do most is down and out, a miserable 
 unknown. But, now who's loony ? 
 
 Despite the utmost vigilance and a sea-wide search 
 participated in by practically every ship afloat, no further 
 intimation of the existence of this mystical mortal of the 
 sea could be had and the world yes, the whole world 
 was in a quandary. What a spectacular demonstration 
 this had been of what people like to point out as the 
 super-man! What an uncanny revelation it all was to 
 contemplate ! Was this some great teacher bent on mak- 
 ing all mankind see and understand the foibles so com- 
 mon? 
 
 No, it was not intentionally that. It was a man 
 
 12
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 bearing a malice against people, and fate because what 
 he knew he possessed in the way of ability to be useful 
 had netted him only bitter disappointment and sorrow. 
 He was a living example of the principle that a human 
 being must have flowers before death if contentment 
 is to reign supreme over any portion of this life. And 
 it for we must now refer to him as it since he had 
 succeeded so wonderfully in throwing aside most of the 
 traits of a regular human being after living a whole year 
 in seclusion upon an island thoughtless man had not yet 
 even noticed yes, and it was Given C. Hope, now one 
 of the most stalwart specimens of masculine power imag- 
 jnable, truly a handsome man in all the term implies, but 
 a hermit by inclination. 
 
 We must see him immediately after he had sent 
 that I-told-you-so wireless in order to understand a man 
 driven to extremes by untoward circumstances. Hatless 
 he stood gazing out over the turbulent waves. The 
 strong breeze tossed his long, raven-black hair almost 
 furiously. His dark brown eyes of unusual large size 
 seemed capable of penetrating miles of distance. Those 
 eyes must have frightened his mother. Although his 
 clean-shaven face was considerably bronzed, there was 
 plenty of the pink of vigor in evidence on the cheeks. 
 He wore a light brown woolen shirt with a soft collar 
 which was accentuated by a firey red four-in-hand neck- 
 
 13
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 tie. His trousers of steel-gray were neatly pressed. And 
 he was the sole inhabitant of the whole island of prob- 
 ably four square miles ! He had not seen a human being 
 in a year, and he intended to never gaze upon one again. 
 Fully six feet in height and an athlete in appearance, this 
 man seemed formidable enough to go it alone anywhere. 
 
 "Now let them tear their hair in the ire born of 
 ruthless taunting," he muttered as he kept his gaze fixed 
 afar. 
 
 A sardonic smile flitted across his swarthy coun- 
 tenance only to be succeeded by an expression of angry 
 hatred, an inward feeling which was made more im- 
 pressive by the uncouth manner in which he gritted his 
 teeth. 
 
 "They stole from me, trampled upon me and even 
 denied me a fair chance to be happy, and now they are 
 suffering," he murmured. 
 
 Nearby was his wireless station, not nearly as crude 
 an affair as might be expected, and, it had many curious 
 attachments never found on such structures. Those were 
 inventions of his, inventions which made possible aerial 
 ventriloquism to the extent of making it impossible to 
 trace the source of his communications. His iron gaze 
 softened into one of tender devotion as he turned it to 
 his wireless. Then he smiled rather whimsically and the 
 next minute he thought of man again, flying straightway 
 
 14
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 into a rage which caused the summary death of a sap- 
 ling which stood at his feet, for he yanked it up viciously 
 and hurled it with tremendous force into the surf. 
 
 "God, how good You are to men to spare them 
 from crossing my path," he exclaimed with vehemence 
 as he looked up into the cloud-laden skies. 
 
 As if to make sure that the surging forces of hate 
 within him would have full outlet, he leaped up to the 
 lower branches of a quite large tree, and deliberately 
 tore it apart bough after bough, seemingly enjoying the 
 destructive energy required in such a herculean feat. 
 In the estimation of deluded humanity this man was act- 
 ing insanely. He was what the metropolitan police re- 
 gard as a dangerous character, a menace to the safety 
 of the public. And, he was, but he was not as crazy as 
 one might suppose ! He was a real man forced into the 
 position of being unreal by conditions which he was 
 entirely unable to control. He was only giving vent to 
 his equally uncontrollable feelings, just as most everyone 
 does in moments of aberration. But, just the same, God 
 help any man who dared to confront him ! 
 
 Meanwhile, the mysteries of the deep had been 
 very much deepened by the curious mental gyrrations 
 which led, him to electrify the world unaided and until 
 his status could be established it was inevitable that the 
 impression he had created would be indelible on every 
 
 15
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 memory as one of the unexpected, unbelievable perplexi- 
 ties of a complex life. And, even so, anyone who could 
 see him as he lived on that isolated spot, would sincerely 
 pity the man burdened with the duty of converting him 
 into a utility instead of a mystifying annoyance. 
 
 16
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 LOOKING FOR MARS. 
 
 THAT night found Given C. Hope tactiturn and un- 
 usually melancholy. It was a perfectly clear and 
 calm night with the stars shining brightly. All condi- 
 tions were ideal for astronomical observations, and a 
 man as eager as he was to get a glimpse of Mars and its 
 inhabitants could not resist taking chances in order to 
 appease his appetite for inventive adventure. He realiz- 
 ed he always risked being discovered when he dared to 
 experiment with his powerful radio searchlight, which 
 had required seven months of his time to invent and 
 perfect, but he must see who or what occupied the un- 
 explored astral body which had for so many years baf- 
 fled man. 
 
 He had built his own electrical plant, ingeniously 
 using the mighty ocean's power to generate the electrical 
 energy he needed, and he designed a light transmitting 
 device which was wildly though hopefully calculated to 
 penetrate the 36,000,000 miles of space between the earth 
 and Mars. 
 
 Away back in 1892 he had been impressed by the 
 announcement that Mars then approached the earth very 
 closely and that from observations made, the theory of 
 
 17
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 it being inhabited, while not absolutely determined, ap- 
 peared to have received some degree of confirmation. 
 He now felt that surely the Divine Creator had placed 
 into life-breathing being some specimen superior to 
 the mortals with whom he had been forced to contend, 
 and he was convinced it would be rare consolation to at 
 least be enabled to know positively that such a higher 
 form of creature did exist somewhere in the universe. 
 Explicitly, he still believed in the universe, although he 
 had lost all confidence in the earth as man had made 
 it. 
 
 For these reasons it happened he was in his observa- 
 tory from early night until long past three o'clock in the 
 morning and practically the whole time he kept the heav- 
 ens thereabout ablaze with the truly dazzling shafts of 
 light he was able to send out with his apparatus. But, it 
 was all a vain effort : he could not even find Mars, and, 
 finally, he became thoroughly fatigued. His hand moved 
 wearily towards the switch to once more turn it off in 
 defeat. 
 
 At that instant he thought he heard a faint buzz 
 new to his ears. 
 
 He was instinctively startled so much so his hand 
 was stayed. He listened very intently for a moment. 
 The buzzing noise became more distinct. The alarmed 
 listener promptly concluded he was not suffering from 
 
 18
 
 an hallucination. But he strained his hearing capacity 
 to its utmost in feeble hopes he was mistaken, and, the 
 buzz only became the plainer until he could not doubt 
 that something approached, even that lonely, out-of- 
 the-way spot. In his excitement he forgot his search- 
 light. He rushed out of his observatory and mounted 
 an adjacent ridge, taking a quick survey of all the sur- 
 rounding water in quest of a ship's light. But, no light 
 crossed his line of vision despite the fact that the buzz 
 had by now become recognizable as the hum of a power- 
 ful motor. 
 
 Then the startled man recalled that there were such 
 things as aeroplanes, and he diverted his stare to the 
 skies, being soon rewarded by discovering a tiny red light 
 away above the horizon of the ocean. In awe he watched 
 this light increase in size until it was nearly directly over- 
 head, at which time he could plainly hear the well-timed 
 explosions in the mighty engine of the aircraft. At this 
 belated moment he remembered his searchlight, simul- 
 taneously being reminded that he did not want any mor- 
 tal to know his location. 
 
 Hastily he ran to his observatory and as might be 
 expected of his luck, he experienced delaying difficulty 
 in opertaing his switch. In anger and trepidation he 
 yanked at that switch. At the same time his gaze was 
 riveted to the space illuminated by his light. Then he 
 
 19
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 saw something which profoundly amazed him. It was 
 the surprised and inquisitive face of a young woman, 
 looking down over the edge of the fuselage of a giant 
 hydro-aeroplane speeding through space at the rate of 
 at least a hundred miles an hour. It was only a very 
 brief flash, but Given C. Hope was sure a woman in a 
 seaplane had flown through his shaft of light, although 
 five minutes later there was not a single trace of the ma- 
 chine either by sound or sight, and, this hater of peo- 
 ple was once more left undisturbed to his endless view 
 of water and the groaning and lashing of the breakers 
 against his small land. 
 
 An hour later Hope was in his hut sleeping soundly. 
 He should have been tired enough to sleep most of the 
 morning, but just at daylight, he leaped straight out of 
 his bunk, wide-awake and stared all around the place 
 nervously, Then he frowned as he muttered, "Curse a 
 nightmare anyway." He yanked at his red necktie and 
 tried to figure out \vhy he had forgotten to undress him- 
 self prior to retiring, "I guess I am going crazy," he 
 told himself as he began to unfasten the tie. But, he 
 only began, because at that instant he realized what he 
 imagined he heard in his wild, fitful dream, he was now 
 actually hearing. It was that terrorizing buzz! 
 
 Almost madly he leaped out of his hut and mounted 
 the nearby ridge, fixing his gaze on the very horizon over 
 
 20
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 which the seaplane had winged its way a short time be- 
 fore. There he beheld it listing dangerously. . First it 
 would seem to fall and then it would be forced to rise 
 slightly again only to resume another rapid descension. 
 One of its wings looked to be nearly collapsed and the 
 wild course it followed certainly betrayed its distress. 
 It was evident the pilot was battling desperately to reach 
 his island, and for reasons inexplicable to him, this lone 
 witness to the spectacle wished she might make it ! After 
 all perhaps his hatred for humanity did not extend to 
 the limits which would make him relish seeing game 
 people perish. 
 
 The instant he realized his assistance might be 
 needed, he ran at top speed to a cove where his boat was 
 securely fastened. Frantically he started to make prep- 
 arations to put to sea, but ere he had made much prog- 
 ress, the giant plane swooped down on the water within 
 twenty feet of him, and a second later crashed into an 
 overhanging rock ledge free from the breakers, but 
 wrecked and deathly quiet. With agility unimpaired by 
 his trembling the man made his way to the crushed ma- 
 chine. The first thing to attract his eye was the pale face 
 of a young man. His body was underneath the heavy 
 engine, the weight of which had crushed the breath of 
 life out of him. With augmented horror, Hope tore 
 his way through the wreckage. Next he hastily crawled 
 
 21
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 underneath. An instant later he was searching the sand 
 all around the plane. Then he stopped short. 
 
 "My God, what became of the woman!" he ex- 
 claimed. 
 
 "Here I am, safe and sound," he heard a sweet, well 
 modulated voice reply. 
 
 He turned his face seaward just in time to catch a 
 glimpse of a golden-haired girl, in trim aviation trousers 
 and jacket, racing through the last breakers which could 
 reach her. Before he could recover from his surprise 
 sufficiently to answer or move, she had reached his side, 
 paused and saluted, and raced over to the wreckage. 
 
 "Oh, oh, poor Matty," he heard her moan as she 
 hastened to the dead man's side. 
 
 She tenderly laid her hand upon his face and with- 
 drew it with a shiver. A moment later the girl fell in a 
 heap on the sand and wept bitterly. 
 
 Given C. Hope, glued to the spot he had occupied 
 for fully two minutes, simply stared blankly at the tragic 
 scene. He seemed almost in a stupor. Even his body 
 scarcely swayed until suddenly the girl lifted her head 
 and shot a reproachful glance at him. 
 
 "Well, why don't you help him?" she demanded. 
 
 Hope hesitated long before answering. 
 
 "Even a live man can't get help in this world let 
 alone a dead one," he replied finally in surly tones, which 
 
 22
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 quite upset the girl. 
 
 \ "Sir !" she exclairhed rather involuntarily as she 
 arose abruptly as if to prepare to meet an adversary. 
 
 Hope started to reply and then clamped his teeth 
 together viciously. He concentrated his very big eyes on 
 her a moment longer and then turned his back upon her, 
 subsequently walking leisurely away. She was too dazed 
 to say more. She could only stare at him in bewilder- 
 ment. Exciting events were coming far too rapidly for 
 her frazzled nerves, and it was a God-send that she was 
 more stupefied than frightened. However, she did 
 wonder what might happen to her now since she was at 
 the mercy of this strange and apparently hardhearted 
 man. Almost instantaneously some of her fears on this 
 score were allayed, because Hope experienced a slight 
 change of heart as he reached the ridge which would hide 
 him from her sight. He stopped and looked down upon 
 the girl. 
 
 "There'll be plenty of food and water for you until 
 I can find some way to get you back to where you be- 
 long," he assured her rather gruffly. 
 
 Words utterly failed the girl, because she was not 
 sure whether she wanted to thank the rnan or hate him. 
 He did not wait long for a reply, jumping down behind 
 the ridge suddenly. 
 
 "Well, what do you think of that!" the girl remark- 
 
 23
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 ed after waiting in vain for the man to show himself 
 again. 
 
 She stared straight into empty space momentarily 
 and then upon making a cursory examination of her 
 plane, her gaze again fell on the pallid face of her erst- 
 while jovial companion. 
 
 "Oh God, this is awful," she moaned. "And, to 
 think I have no loyal pal left to help me in my battle 
 with that terrible creature !" 
 
 Not lacking anything in lachrymal ability which so 
 often stays woman in good stead, she resumed her weep- 
 ing. After devoting at least ten minutes to this sort of 
 true relief, she dried her tears and became indignant. 
 Wasn't this man going to be respectful enough to come 
 back and help her bury the dead? She was going to 
 insist upon giving poor Matty a decent burial ! It was 
 an outrage for a man to walk away from a helpless 
 woman and leave her to do all her worrying without aid ! 
 By all means he must repair her plane, so she could re- 
 turn to the United States ! Thereupon the girl half 
 laughed and half cried: "How foolish! What would 
 that uncouth man know about repairing an aeroplane!" 
 she reminded herself. 
 
 ********* 
 
 For two long hours this girl exerted all the strength 
 she could summon in an effort to clear the wreckage of 
 
 24
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 her plane enough to be able to extricate the body of the 
 victim. All the while she was wondering why that live 
 man did not return to assist her, and, also all the while 
 she was wondering why she could not arouse herself to 
 the point of going in search of him. When it became 
 evident to her that she could never remove the heavy 
 motor from Matty's body, she decided her one recourse 
 to be to explore the island from one end to the other until 
 she found her one human hope. However, her re- 
 luctance to abandon the dead kept her torn between 
 indecision and inactivity for another hour. 
 
 "Well, I haven't much left to lose and perhaps much 
 to gain, so here goes," she ultimately told herself and 
 then she set out to beard the den of the strangest man she 
 had ever met. 
 
 It was high noon before the girl realized her physi- 
 cal strength was deserting her. She had tramped over 
 most of the island, penetrating thickets and scaling rugged 
 ridges galore all with a sort of numb nonchalance so 
 far as her own welfare was concerned. She had even 
 crawled into a natural cave in her bold resolution to find 
 the man she sought. She had visited his hut and his 
 boat a half a dozen times, and when after all this thor- 
 ough-going search she did not find even a trace of him, 
 she was deeply mystified. It was inevitable that she 
 should relax and wearily she wended her way back to 
 
 25
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 her ill-fated machine with the idea of maintaining a 
 vigil over the departed one while she regained her com- 
 posure in general. 
 
 But there was to be no rest for the time being as 
 her first view of the landing-place of the plane enlighten- 
 ed her. Indeed, the machine seemed to be quite righted 
 and Matty's body was gone! The girl felt her nerves 
 tingle with excited fear. Something truly uncanny, even 
 ghoulish, had happened according to her first impression. 
 She made a hasty inspection of the machine. It had not 
 been repaired, but it was placed in a position which would 
 permit speedy work on its various damaged parts. NJ 
 one man could have handled so much weight. And, what 
 became of the remains of the man who had died under 
 that weight? 
 
 As if guided by intuition the girl finally turned a 
 fleeting glance to a dell situated on the highest land 
 some thirty feet away from the beach proper, and, there 
 she saw a new grave upon which rested a lone wild 
 flower. A moment later she was kneeling at that grave 
 and not many seconds afterwards she had decided to im- 
 mediately resume her search for the man who had such 
 eccentric ways of doing things. Quick action followed 
 the decision, and she just reached the summit of an ad- 
 joining ridge in time to see a red neck-tie laying taut on 
 the ground. She recognized it as the outstanding feature 
 
 26
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 of the attire of the man who had treated her so strangely 
 and quick as a flash she grabbed it, giving it an energetic 
 yank when she discovered it to be attached to some re- 
 sisting force. This act on her part brought a round 
 section of the earth up as a hinged door and there pro- 
 truding from the consequent orifice was the head of 
 Given C. Hope. 
 
 A quick wit came to the girl's assistance. 
 
 "You know, sir, I always hated loud, red ties until 
 I saw this one," she said to the man who now seemed 
 rather disconcerted because his means of disappearing 
 had been discovered. "Of course I know you won't ask 
 why, and so I'm going to tell you that this very red tie 
 was the landmark that helped me to steer the course to 
 this island. Why, I saw the crazy thing when I was 
 away up over that horizon. And, I don't know but 
 what I might have heard it, too." 
 
 Surely no man could be immune to this sort of 
 friendly vivacity, especially when the girl was, in the 
 vernacular of the classiest boulevards, some girl. But 
 it did not feaze Hope. On the contrary, he resented 
 every word she uttered, and he would have given his 
 good right arm to be rid of his unwelcome guest that 
 instant. 
 
 The girl waited eagerly for a reply, and when the 
 man's silence became embarrassing she ventured another 
 
 27
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 sally and then another, but all to no avail. 
 
 "Gee, you're a funny fellow," she finally bantered. 
 "What is the big idea? And and" as she began to 
 lose her nerve upon noting how unchanging was his 
 piercing, unfathomable stare, "and what were you do- 
 ing with that powerful searchlight last night?" 
 
 Hope took one deep breath, snatched his necktie 
 free from the girl's grasp and in deep, surly tones said : 
 
 "Looking for Mars." 
 
 While the girl was still gasping her surprise over 
 receiving even that much of an answer, the man's head 
 dropped out of sight and the heavy lid which he had been 
 holding up with his hand, slammed shut. 
 
 The girl was once more alone and dismayed. Her 
 every attempt to force an entrance into the secret pas- 
 sageway was futile. Fortunately her sunny disposition 
 came to her rescue again, just in time to save her from 
 nervous prostration, for she actually smiled when she 
 said unto herself aloud: 
 
 "Well, there does seem to be at least one pastime on 
 this God-forsaken place I can while away some hours 
 looking for Mars." 
 
 28
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HIDE AND SEEK AND THEN 
 
 IT was another day. It had been a terrible night. 
 The girl had found no trace of the man as yet, 
 and, she had, as a last resort, appropriated his abandoned 
 hut, but her sleep was seriously disturbed. Several times 
 she was rudely awakened by queer noises. Twice she 
 was positive she had heard human sobs. Another time 
 she was sure she bestirred herself just in the nick of time 
 to save her life, because she- knew she saw the form of a 
 man run out of the hut. Nevertheless she maintained a 
 certain amount of stoical resignation throughout all her 
 thrilling experiences, and another day found her well 
 fortified with determination to get back to her dear old 
 home in New York City, even though she might have to 
 commit rash acts to succeed in her purpose. 
 
 The sun came up early in a plear sky, and so far 
 as she could ascertain it was an ideal day for flying, but 
 she was aware of the necessity of having strong assist- 
 ance before she could even start to fly under the best of 
 conditions. Where was this man? Perhaps curiosity 
 had taken him back to her seaplane, and so, she fairly 
 raced to the conveyance she had suddenly come to covet 
 
 29
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 as a means to the end which would conclude her days 
 of wild adventure in the happy security of home, sweet 
 home. And she found the machine apparently as good 
 and as staunch as ever. The wing which had been 
 crumpled was perfectly rigid again, and the whole outfit 
 had been turned completely around, its nose pointing sea- 
 ward. Tacked on the propeller was a white sheet of 
 paper. The girl climbed down off the ledge to see what 
 information this would give. And, there was a note, 
 which read: 
 
 WOMAN First be sure you know your 
 compass well, then push button under 
 steering-wheel, and you're off. Don't bother 
 looking me up, because it won't do you any 
 good; in fact, it might bring serious harm 
 to you. MAN. 
 
 There was a recipient with blinking eyes even after 
 re-reading this note. "What a document and what a 
 man!" was her comment. "And, what does he mean; 
 button under steering-wheel a self-starter on an aero- 
 plane? I had no such contrivance when I started." 
 
 Investigation revealed the fact that her plane had 
 been very much improved in more ways than one, and 
 in a surprisingly short space of time. Most noticeable 
 of all was a curiously frail iron rod which seemed solidly 
 
 30
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 attached to the mere sand. 
 
 "What's this ?" the girl asked herself as she scrutin- 
 ized the new addition to her property. When she found 
 she could not budge the rod she answered herself: "I 
 don't know." As if guided by some kind spirit she 
 climbed up into the fuselage and there pinned to the 
 seat was another note. This one read : 
 
 Oh yes, I forgot to tell you that you must 
 pull the lever to your right before you can 
 start at all. However, of course, your 
 engine can be going its merriest before- 
 hand. 
 
 A pair of feminine eyes blinked some more. "Gee, 
 am I dreaming?" queried a feminine tongue. And, in 
 a jiffy that tongue fairly wagged. "For the love of 
 Pete, who is this guy ! If he's not plumb crazy, he's 
 somewhat of a genius. Why, if these things will work, 
 they'll make flying a pleasure instead of a danger. There's 
 no use talking (to myself), before I leave this dump in 
 the ocean I've got to get better acquainted with this 
 queer man. We may need him very much back in the 
 States." 
 
 Impulsiveness was a second nature with this girl, 
 and, without going a single step further with her inspec- 
 tion of the machine, she leaped up the ridge and trotted 
 
 31
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 from shore to shore on that island, calling ""Man" at the 
 top of her voice! Two hours of this earnest endeavor 
 netted her a grand total of "nothing doing," as she ex- 
 pressed it, but she would persevere. 
 
 It was another noonday, before she had seen any- 
 thing which resembled reward, and this was only a piece 
 of red cheese-cloth wafted aimlessly by the breezes. 
 But, as bitter as was this disappointment, she would not 
 give up she continued to look for the man she must 
 interview to her heart's content before she would even 
 think of flying away from his sphere. 
 
 Right in the middle of the afternoon in the midst 
 of her chase, this same girl became obsessed with the 
 idea that she should hide, and she did right in the very 
 cave she had previously explored. A full half an hour 
 she laid on her stomach and was thereby notified of its 
 emptiness. She recalled her rough host's promise of 
 food and she resolved to force him to make good. Just 
 as she was in the act of crawling out of the cave, she 
 heard the crunching sound of footsteps in adjacent 
 gravel. She paused cautiously, raising her head in an 
 attempt to survey the outer surroundings of the cave's 
 entrance. The feet seemed to approach and she waited. 
 How long she waited, hearing the unmistakable foot- 
 tread all the while, she did not realize, but it was con- 
 siderably more than another half an hour. 
 
 32
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 "How strange," the perplexed girl finally muttered. 
 "He must be walking around in a circle. It's up to me to 
 find out what's wrong with this gink." 
 
 So she abandoned caution, climbing right up to the 
 highest point in the vicinity, and she did not see a single 
 sign of a human being nor did the footsteps discontinue 
 as she suspected they would ! Now she was nonplussed. 
 Perplexity soon succumbed to intensified dread. Her 
 desire to meet this man again was suddenly submerged 
 in the apprehension that she might encounter him once 
 too often. But she was hungry and besides she could 
 not endure the almost maddening regularity with which 
 those invisible feet continued to advance over the gravel 
 right under her very nose. Hence she fled from the spot 
 as if her life depended upon super-human celerity. Just 
 why the hut was her objective is difficult to comprehend, 
 but she was inside that crude structure within three min- 
 utes and there was a piping-hot dinner all ready for her ! 
 
 "Say, this fellow is a mind-reader," she soliloquized 
 as a feeling of gratitude and reassurance swept over her. 
 
 She lost little time in getting down to the home- 
 made table, and the way she devoured food was anything 
 but conventional. As she ate she marveled at the excel- 
 lence of the cuisine. There was an abundance of hot 
 corned beef mixed with a most palatable vegetable, which 
 at least resembled cabbage. There were hot boiled beans 
 
 33
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 well seasoned with a sauce new to her, and there was 
 a dish she took to be fruit salad, together with good 
 black coffee and fresh corn bread. There was all of 
 this when the near-starved girl sat down, but there was 
 not a semblance of any of it left when she had finished. 
 
 Wholesome food is the most efficacious of all 
 stimulants, and this meal put new vigor and nerve into 
 this girl. With her ravenous appetite appeased and 
 feeling much refreshed, she became exceedingly deter- 
 mined to find her benefactor instanter. But .she changed 
 her tactics, resolving to try a clever subterfuge to at- 
 tract him from his hiding-place. So she walked hastily 
 to her seaplane, pausing to study for a moment. Presently 
 she crawled underneath and did her best to make herself 
 appear to be pinioned under the edge of one of the heavy 
 pontoons. As soon as she was satisfied with the pre- 
 tended precariousness of her predicament she began 
 screaming lustily. Forsooth, she yelled for help until 
 she became decidedly hoarse and eventually she had to 
 desist her vocal efforts out of sheer exhaustion. Much 
 disappointed over the lack of results she rolled away 
 from the pontoon, buried her head in her arms and wept 
 convulsively. And, she cried herself to sleep unmindful 
 of a rising tide. 
 
 Fifteen minutes later she awakened to find herself 
 pretty much surrounded by a menacing sea. In arising 
 
 84
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 to her feet she became confused and lost her footing, 
 rolling seaward. A powerful undertow caught her and 
 dragged her far out despite her frantic struggling. She 
 managed to take a quick survey of the shore as she was 
 dragged away from it, and her heart sank in despair 
 when she failed to find the man there ready to rescue 
 her. 
 
 For many minutes this comparatively frail girl 
 battled with the tempestuous currents always in a desper- 
 ate effort to keep as close to land as possible. By exert- 
 ing her supreme strength she managed to swim her way 
 around to the extreme northern end of the island. There 
 she espied the man she had searched for so many hours. 
 He was sitting on a promontory with his face buried in 
 his hands. The girl summoned all her remaining strength 
 to scream for help. It was a shrill, terrifying scream. 
 He heard it and sighted the distressed one. Promptly 
 he went into the surf, reaching her just as she felt her 
 consciousness ebbing away from her. 
 
 When she regained her senses the girl found her- 
 self wrapped in a blanket and lying on a bunk in the 
 hut. The man was sitting calmly beside her, gazing in- 
 tently into her eyes. 
 
 "Well," she exclaimed jovially. "I see the sea is 
 better at finding you than I am." 
 
 "You should have known better than to go in bath- 
 
 35
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 ing alone in such a rough sea," he remarked rather 
 caustically without heeding her buoyancy of spirit. 
 
 "I didn't go in I was taken in over my protests." 
 
 "Who is there here to take you in except me?" he 
 snapped. 
 
 "Why, didn't you know he was here?" she asked 
 with feigned surprise. 
 
 "Who?" 
 
 "Mr. Undertow of Ocean," she replied with a merry 
 twinkle in her eyes. 
 
 "Listen, I don't like people or their jokes," he warn- 
 ed most solemnly. "And I've just figured out how I 
 can use you to make my dislikes better known among all 
 peoples." 
 
 "That sounds interesting even if it is ridiculous," 
 was the girl's bold rejoinder. "How can you use me?" 
 
 "I'm going to show you what I can do and then 
 you're going to fly back to America and rave about me," 
 he announced. 
 
 "Me rave about you or any other man? Never! 
 I'd choke first." 
 
 He eyed the girl a trifle sternly. He was not im- 
 pressed by her precocious words. 
 
 "I'll wager you're a suffragette," he suggested after 
 noting her smile had vanished. 
 
 "You bet I am and I'm militant too," she admitted 
 
 36
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 enthusiastically. "But what has that to do with this 
 proposition you have in mind?" 
 
 "Nothing," he replied and after a pause continued, 
 "excepting it is one more reason why I want to hurry 
 and get rid of you." 
 
 "I'd like to say something back, but I won't," she 
 snapped saucily. "Anyway, as I seem to be destined to 
 early deportation I'll have to hurry to finish all the ques- 
 tions I've got to ask about funny noises such as foot- 
 steps and things." 
 
 "You needn't trouble yourself tio askj -even one 
 question." 
 
 "Not even your name?" she interrupted. 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Well, I wouldn't be that stingy," she reproached. 
 "I'll tell you my name without your asking even. It's 
 Gwen Dale that's me and " 
 
 A vicious wave of the man's hand was enough to 
 silence her. 
 
 "Trivialities are unnecessary and there's no time to 
 be lost," he declared. "I want you back in the United 
 States by day after tomorrow." 
 
 "But, do you know, that's not where I was origi- 
 nally bound for?" she almost demanded. 
 
 "I don't care," he answered back in surly tone. 
 
 "Just the same I'm goin^ to tell you that poor Matty 
 
 37
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 and i were headed for Europe when something went 
 wrong with the engine and I beat it back for your search- 
 light. ,1 want to be the first woman to pilot an aeroplane 
 across the Atlantic that's my supreme ambition." 
 
 "Ambition!" the man exclaimed as he arose to his 
 feet with an abruptness which denoted anger. 
 
 "Yes, ambition," the girl repeated. "What's the 
 matter with that?" 
 
 Given C. Hope paced the floor fiercely for a full 
 minute. Unhappy, even maddening memories crowded 
 his brain. After he had knocked a chair over, he stop- 
 ped short, faced the girl who had raised herself to a sit- 
 ting position, due to fear, and spoke deliberately in gut- 
 teral tones as he shook his fist ominously : 
 
 "Ambition ! The most damnable curse of anyone's 
 life unless there is some fool luck to help out." 
 
 "Quite true, but why get mad about it?" she put in, 
 quickly regaining her composure. 
 
 "Because that's the thing that has driven me mad 
 it is that thing because humanity is thoughtless and cruel 
 by nature because, but why am I making a speech to 
 you? All I need to do is show what a mistake men and 
 women and the whole social system, has made in ignor- 
 ing me and scorning me, in stealing from me and denying 
 me a chance to overcome my difficulties. I am going to 
 show you a dozen devices creations of my muddled 
 
 38
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 brain devices mankind absolutely must have to prevent 
 the oncoming degeneration. I am going to show you why 
 humanity will never get an opportunity to profit by or to 
 even see a single achievement of mine. Then you're go- 
 ing back to civilization and rave about me, but it will all 
 be in vain, for you or no one else will ever see me again." 
 
 Hope's face was firey-red when he finished his de- 
 nunciatory declaration of purpose. The muscles in his 
 swarthy face twitched as he contemplated the girl. He 
 was obviously boiling over with resentment and grim if 
 not even malicious resolution. His whole attitude was 
 that of one bent on attaining revenge. 
 
 Gwen Dale was too dumfounded to utter a sound. 
 She had been totally unprepared for such a forensic de- 
 tonation. She never dreamed this man could talk so 
 much and so well. She realized she admired his spunk 
 if not his ideas. She could easily discern the great power 
 he had developed within his very soul, for he spoke from 
 a deeper source than the heart. And, as she watched 
 him standing there in that barren room, clenching his fists 
 convulsively she made a mental note of his strong manly 
 features. He was really handsome until those big 
 frightening eyes of his flashed and then he was rather 
 repulsive. She wondered how a man could have such 
 artistically curved and decidedly ruby lips as his and then 
 as he started to speak again she observed the perfect 
 
 39
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 white teeth he had. 
 
 "Now, you may have all the privacy you desire in 
 this home of mine," he continued in low, mild tones. "I 
 would suggest that you use my overalls there while your 
 clothes are drying. I'll return for you an hour from now 
 and then you shall see all the damnation of ambition you 
 could relish." 
 
 With these words Hope stalked out of the hut. 
 
 Gwen Dale blinked her eyes again and again. She 
 wondered if she had been dreaming, and if she was really 
 in her Riverside Drive apartment after all. One glance 
 at the ceiling of rough bark convinced her she was right 
 where she was, on the verge of seeing the inner portals 
 of a man's soul, such as few girls are ever privileged to 
 view, and, in a state of keen anticipation, she proceeded 
 to prepare to don his overalls. 
 
 40
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 A NIGHT OF REVELATIONS. 
 
 The shades of night had fallen when Given C. Hope 
 called at his hut for Gwen Dale. She was attired in his 
 overalls, which were several times too large for her. 
 He still wore the one outfit in which she had seen him, 
 including the red necktie, but his hair was more neatly 
 combed. 
 
 "It's just as well that you're wearing overalls to- 
 night," he said. "You may be around a lot of grease." 
 
 "Well, I'm glad I pass muster, because I feel like a 
 fright," she replied as she scanned her costume. 
 
 "Come on," was his succinct response as he led the 
 way out the door. 
 
 Either on account of her curiosity or for fear of 
 arousing her escort's ire, Gwen deemed it advisable to 
 make reticence her stock in trade from the inception on 
 this occasion. She seemed to divine that the man wanted 
 to do most of the talking. However, his utterances dur- 
 ing a twenty-minute stroll were few and far apart. He 
 was apparently more morose than ever. He was inclined 
 to keep very deeply engrossed in studious thoughts. 
 Withal he had the air of one entirely confident and sure 
 of himself. 
 
 41
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 The first place he took the girl was to his observa- 
 tory. Immediately he moved a switch and a dazzling 
 light shot into the heavens. He directed his guest to look 
 into a brass-lined telescope of not more than twelve 
 inches in length. Then he pushed a button, simultaneous- 
 ly adjusting what looked like a lens. 
 
 "Great guns!" she exclaimed. 
 
 "What's the matter?" he asked naively. 
 
 "I'm seeing Mary Pickford in movies," she asserted. 
 
 "Correct! And, a planet some millions of miles 
 away is the screen upon which you're seeing the picture." 
 
 "Impossible!" the girl gasped in her irrepressible 
 amazement. 
 
 "All right," he retaliated. "See this glass slide?" 
 He held it aloft. "I'll flash it New Yorkwards. It'll be 
 visible there high in the air." 
 
 The next instant the girl saw emblazoned on the 
 sky-line afar the following sign, 
 
 HAVE HOPE! 
 THE BEST YET! 
 
 "What you read now, you will read one week from 
 tonight from your own home window, for I will flash it 
 again on that night from here," he announced. 
 
 "Well, I'll be darned," was her comment. 
 
 "It's something new, making possible long-distance 
 
 42
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 advertising or long-distance bulletin service," he explain- 
 ed. "Wouldn't mankind like to have such a marvelous 
 utility ?" 
 
 "I should say so," she agreed. 
 
 "Well, mankind will never get a chance to make use 
 of my device. Come on." 
 
 Thereupon he turned off his switch and all was 
 darkness. 
 
 Ten minutes later the couple stood at the entrance 
 to the cave in which the girl had hidden during the day. 
 The man pursed his lips. The girl responded by remain- 
 ing motionless. A moment later she heard those myster- 
 ious footsteps in the gravel again. At first she felt her- 
 self getting nervous, for it was an unpleasant gritting 
 sound. 
 
 "What is that?" she asked with emphasis. 
 
 "That's the forces of the earth harnessed to my will 
 through scientific principles _with which I am alone fa- 
 miliar," he informed her. "You see it stops when I raise 
 my foot from this steel plate." He raised his foot and 
 there was dead silence instantly. "Now I step on the 
 plate again and the action is resumed." He replaced his 
 foot on the plate and the grinding noise started all over. 
 
 "Remarkable !" she exclaimed. "And do you know 
 when I heard that today I thought it was you coming 
 my way at last?" 
 
 43
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 "It's far more important." 
 
 "What is it?" 
 
 "Intensive gravity, I term it." 
 
 "What use can be made of it?" 
 
 "Unlimited power tons and tons of it all the dead 
 weight of this island is now generated, inverted and con- 
 centrated into fifteen square feet here." 
 
 "How do you do it ?" she blurted right out still unim- 
 pressed by the fact that this man was exceedingly sensi- 
 tive. 
 
 "That's my secret," he snapped rather savagely. 
 
 "Pardon the inquisitive woman," she begged 
 promptly. 
 
 He paid no attention to her apology. Instead he 
 continued : 
 
 "Through this medium a highly explosive condition 
 could be created. I could blow up this entire island with 
 this natural force." 
 
 Gwen Dale shivered. This was .information such as 
 would make anyone uncomfortable. 
 
 "But, there are peaceful and useful ways this power 
 can be engaged to help man with his more arduous tasks 
 wherein great weights are involved, such as moving heavy 
 machinery and even buildings," he finished and thereupon 
 the grinding noise ceased. 
 
 After a long, rough journey to the ocean's edge, 
 
 44
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 where Hope filled a tin bucket with salt water, he took the 
 girl to a dugout well-lighted by electricity. He called her 
 attention to a white stone vat in which there was a large 
 quantity of bone-dry substance resembling fine gravel. 
 While she still peered into this receptacle he dashed the 
 water into it. Immediately he placed the bucket under 
 a spigot at the bottom of the tank and allowed the fluid 
 to flow in until the original sediment was thoroughly 
 drained. Taking the bucket he beckoned the girl to fol- 
 low him. Upon reaching a knoll some fifty feet away, 
 he deposited it on the ground and walked twenty feet 
 away, pulling the girl along with him. Then he took 
 from his pocket a small piece of flare which he lighted 
 and flung at the bucket. It fell on the ground at least a 
 foot short of its mark, but a spark was seen to fly 
 therein. Instantly there was a surprisingly terrific ex- 
 plosion. A hot wave hit the girl's face and she blinked 
 her eyes very rapidly as she staggered back. 
 
 "Gee!" she exclaimed, as she realized she was un- 
 hurt. 
 
 "It's better than the best gasoline and it costs vir- 
 tually nothing in time and money to manufacture," he 
 remarked quietly. 
 
 "Oh yes, I remember reading about something like 
 it," she declared. "It was reported the Standard Oil 
 Company paid a million dollars to keep the stuff off the 
 
 45
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 market." 
 
 "I doubt the story," he replied, "but no one will ever 
 have a chance to offer me a penny for my formula." 
 
 So saying he walked leisurely away without even 
 bidding his guest to follow, but she followed just the 
 same. 
 
 It was not many minutes later that the pair stood at 
 Hope's wireless station. 
 
 "Now, I'rri going to worry humanity a little," he an- 
 nounced as he began scribbling on a sheet of paper. "An- 
 other mysterious message shall go forth to set the world 
 by its ears." 
 
 Right then and there it dawned on Gwen Dale that 
 the several queer communications which had stirred the 
 populace everywhere, due to the sensational manner in 
 which the newspapers had "played up" the story, eman- 
 ated from the very spot she that minute occupied. 
 
 "Now it is getting interesting," she mentally told 
 herself. Then she realized he had thrust the sheet of 
 paper into her hands. Even as she perused, he was op- 
 erating a curious sending key and there was a crackling 
 in the air all around her. And, here is what she read : 
 
 Gwen Dale, American aviatrix, maroon- 
 ed in air near Azores, her plane hanging 
 stationary 3,000 feet above ocean. Some 
 
 46
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 fool inventor put new attachment on ma- 
 chine; she doesn't know how to operate it. 
 She is determined to get back to New York 
 day after tomorrow. Don't queer people 
 live in oblivion though ! 
 
 "Say, what's the joke?" she demanded aloud. 
 
 "Won't it be a joke!" he replied guilelessly, as he 
 increased his efforts at his key. "And, the best part of 
 the joke is, all the erudite experts will swear the mes- 
 sage came direct from the Azores." 
 
 Gwen Dale was actually stunned. She simply could 
 not find her tongue. She knew she was witnessing 
 genius in action. She could only stare at the man whose 
 intentions she still doubted. He now looked decidedly 
 repulsive to her, despite his proven ability for doing 
 things one would expect from a veritable miracle man. 
 How could he even think of trifling with the whole world 
 in such a fashion? Was he deranged after all? Had 
 she been the innocent victim of a wild man's hallucina- 
 tions ? While she pondered thus all confused, he gave his 
 key a final tap and confronted her. 
 
 "Now the New York newspapers will have some- 
 thing for their front pages tomorrow morning," he said. 
 "You'll hear about it when you get back." 
 
 "I should say so, if that's the message 'they got," she 
 
 47
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 replied as she clutched the sheet of paper she held in her 
 hands. 
 
 "That's the very message they got and not a human 
 soul could trace its true source," he declared emphati- 
 cally. "It's another one of my inventions which would 
 be useful, but I won't give anyone a chance to steal it. 
 You know I can send a wireless clear around the world 
 and receive it myself right in the sending station." 
 
 "But, sir, I cannot resist making known my resent- 
 ment of the misrepresentation in this message you say 
 you have just sent broadcast," the girl persisted as her 
 conscience began to bother her. 
 
 "Nor can I resist my relentless resentment of 
 man's treatment of me before I decided to give up the 
 battle I could have won so easily and beneficially to all," 
 he replied. "Anyway, if you don't watch yourself, you'll 
 find yourself hanging stationary in the air when you fly 
 that plane of yours again." 
 
 "You mean " 
 
 "I mean I was foolish enough to give you the benefit 
 of one of my proudest achievements an automatic com- 
 bination of aerial stabilizer, elevator, and anchor. There's 
 one on your machine now, and I shall know that when 
 you fly away from me you cannot fall, barring extraordi- 
 nary acts of God. The only question in my mind is, will 
 you have food enough on board to keep you alive in case 
 
 48
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 you get stalled mid-air and can't navigate again soon." 
 
 Now Gwen Dale was all muddled. What was this 
 man talking about? She heard every word he uttered, 
 but she simply could not grasp the full import of his 
 statements, just as a vast majority of all the human be- 
 ings fail to sense the presence of our greatest talent out- 
 side of the realm of the famous and the acclaimed. 
 Skepticism swayed this girl far away from this man. 
 She felt prone to laugh at him. Yet, she pitied him a 
 little. He was most likely hopelessly insane, according to 
 her main version of it. She forgot that Jules Verne was 
 ridiculed erroneously and that submarines did more later 
 than even he dared to predict in his wild, fanciful fic- 
 tion. She forgot how people had roared with mirth when 
 someone ventured to be serious in prophesies regarding 
 the conquering of the air. Oh yes, she forgot how easily 
 possible a great many "impossibilities" had become under 
 the duress of the persistent genius of certain men. 
 
 So her next words were : 
 
 "I guess we're a couple of rummies." 
 
 This was like the spark in the bucket. It precipitated 
 a terrific explosion like a flash. 
 
 "You little fool you !" Given C. Hope yelled, "You're 
 precisely like your kind the human race, I mean. Your 
 one asset is doubt alloyed with ridicule. You are as 
 heartless as you are pretty. You but what's the use, 
 
 49
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 what is the use?" 
 
 The thoughtless, little Gwen was perceptibly sobered 
 dp by this excoriation. At last she realized it would be 
 a grave error to continue her inherent flippancy, a non- 
 chalance she had relied upon to maintain her courage. 
 It was high time that she display a serious interest in 
 this fellow if she was to fly away satisfied. Anyway, 
 she simply had to admire him in spite of all his gloom 
 and prejudice. And now she must know all about him, 
 his past and definitely his plans for the future. So now 
 she spoke in a completely new spirit. 
 
 "Please forgive me for my repeated offenses in ad- 
 dressing you," she began. "I was pretending careless- 
 ness because I was afraid of you." 
 
 "I knew that," he averred. "And you did have 
 cause to fear me. I went into the hut while you slept 
 last night with the intention of making it your last sleep, 
 but I changed my mind. I argued there was no sense 
 in me committing murder even though^ mankind's attitude 
 towards me had always been murderous to my hopes." 
 
 The girl suppressed a shiver and retained a set de- 
 termination to draw the man out. 
 
 "Tell me all about your disappointments," she urged. 
 "Perhaps I can help you." 
 
 "No, you can't help me a bit," he denied. "How- 
 ever, you can repay me for what I've done to your sea- 
 
 50
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 plane by seeing to it that the press gets a full report of 
 the revelations I have offered tonight. I want such pub- 
 licity as my revenge, a revenge which will be sweetened 
 by the knowledge that no mortal can profit by my inven- 
 tions and discoveries. Mind you, this is a determination 
 on my part it is not an aspiration. In fact, the only am- 
 bition I have is to see what there is on Mars. Now, will 
 you tell them about the genius you found in the sea- 
 bound depths of oblivion?" 
 
 "Yes," she promised. 
 
 "Then we need to proceed no farther," he replied 
 coldly. 
 
 "But, I must know your name first of all," she in 
 sisted. 
 
 Thereupon he lapsed into deep study. 
 
 "You see they would never believe my story if such 
 essential details as the name and a former address were 
 lacking," she added. 
 
 "I guess you're right," he finally replied. "But be- 
 fore I give this information, you must pledge on your 
 word of honor that you will never attempt to see me or 
 my island again, nor you must not direct others here. 
 Do you swear you will meet these conditions?" 
 
 "I er " 
 
 "Yes or no?" 
 
 "But you see I might get awfully lonesome and want 
 
 51
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 to come back," she ventured coyly. 
 
 "Come back ! What for ?" he demanded. 
 
 "To see more of the wonders of a wonderful man," 
 she confessed, casting furtive glances at the man. 
 
 He was obviously astonished. He was also flattered, 
 for he had his share of egotism. He even fell to wonder- 
 ing whether or not this girl was falling in love with him. 
 Forthwith he resolved to ascertain this. 
 
 "What do you mean for me to infer?" he asked in 
 kinder tones than had been his wont. 
 
 "I I but now you embarrass me," she stammered. 
 
 "I don't want to embarrass you; I desire to set you 
 straight," he reassured. 
 
 "Set me straight? How?" she asked. 
 
 "By convincing you of the futility of romancing 
 with me." 
 
 This bold stroke did embarrass Gwen Dale very 
 much, especially when she found herself without words 
 to retort promptly and appropriately. The longer she 
 remained silent the worse it looked for her chances of en- 
 tering a sound denial. 
 
 "What's the matter with me all of a sudden?" she 
 asked of him appealingly after making three attempts to 
 say something else. 
 
 "You've got me puzzled, woman," was his answer. 
 
 She straightened right up with a trace of indigna- 
 
 52
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 tion as she retaliated with these tell-tale words : 
 
 "Well, I won't permit the man I love to call me 
 'woman' in such a sense." 
 
 He shrugged his shoulders. "That let's me out. 
 Hence I'll continue to call you what you are, woman, 
 whenever it pleases me." 
 
 Right away Gwen got to thinking about cavemen 
 and their unsavory proclivities, and this with a realiza- 
 tion that she was gradually weakening in her life-long 
 antagonism towards men as a result of getting better 
 acquainted with this eccentric recluse, led her to decide 
 it was time for her to retire for the night. 
 
 "May I not be excused now?" she asked timidly 
 and as she smothered a forced yawn added: "I'm 
 dreadfully tired and sleepy and I know you will protect 
 me from harm while I rest." 
 
 "Yes, I will protect you," he promised quite gently. 
 
 "Thank you," and she smiled radiantly at him. 
 
 "You'll be more than welcome if you boost me to 
 the high skies when you get back to America." 
 
 "I'll sure do that -with a zest," she agreed. "Now 
 for your name." 
 
 "I've decided you don't need to know it. Come on." 
 
 So saying he led the way across the island and the 
 
 53
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 quick return of his gruff manner of speech led the girl 
 to decide to defer pressing him for the information. 
 Anyway she figured she had had her share of revelations 
 for one night. 
 
 64
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A DAY OF CONFIDENCES. 
 
 AN ideal spring day followed. The air was balmy 
 and the sun seemed to be more gloriously golden 
 than it ever had been before. 
 
 Gwen Dale awakened early much refreshed by a 
 sound, undisturbed sleep. She started humming a love 
 song as soon as she arose, and she took particular pains 
 in dressing herself in her aviation suit. She found a 
 perfectly good comb, brush and mirror and she arranged 
 her fluffy golden hair its prettiest. As she looked into 
 the mirror she noted that her large blue eyes were un- 
 usually clear. She wondered why they were not blood- 
 shot after all she had gone through. She also noted with 
 pride that her complexion was decidedly pink. 
 
 "It seems nature has fixed me all up for a conquest," 
 she told herself and then she laughed aloud. 
 
 When presently she walked out of the hut door, she 
 was pleased to find Given C. Hope, whom she knew only 
 as the man, sitting alert on a knoll some twenty feet away. 
 
 "Well, good morning," she greeted cordially. 
 
 "Good morning," he acknowledged without the 
 slightest trace of a smile. 
 
 "Did you sleep well?" she inquired with concern. 
 
 55
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 "Not much guards are not supposed to sleep at all 
 while on duty," he replied. 
 
 "Do you mean you have been actually guarding over 
 me all night?" 
 
 "Yes, right here I kept my word in this case just 
 as I expect you to keep your word when you go back," 
 he said. 
 
 Gwen sat down beside him. She was delighted to 
 note that he was -observing her hair without his usual 
 frown. 
 
 "Do you like the way I have my hair arranged this 
 morning ?" she asked, giving him a smile. 
 
 "Oh, it's all right, but why do you evade the sub- 
 ject I have brought up?" 
 
 The girl felt a slight pique and she wanted to pout, 
 but a better judgment prevailed and she decided to pur- 
 sue a seriously frank course. 
 
 "I don't mean to evade," she declared. "On the con- 
 trary, I hope you and I will be quite frank with each 
 other today." 
 
 "You should be frank, but it doesn't matter about 
 me," was his reply. 
 
 "Oh yes it does," she insisted, "because I am much 
 interested in you, and I really want to do you a good 
 turn in the hopes we may meeet again under more fortu- 
 nate circumstances." 
 
 60
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 This was candor of the eye-opening variety, and 
 Hope's eyes widened noticeably as he gazed intently into 
 the deep blue of her now serious eyes. 
 
 "You have pleased me by words for the first time," 
 he admitted and after a pause added: "But it will be 
 impossible for us to ever meet again after you fly away 
 tomorrow." 
 
 "Why?" she asked with some show of alarm. 
 
 "Because I'm not going to take any chances on giv- 
 ing mankind the benefit of my genius, and, I'd have to 
 earn a living if I took a wife," was his answer. 
 
 "You misconstrued my words," she a,sserted as a 
 blush mounted her cheeks. "I I didn't mean we 
 should wed when we meet again." 
 
 "Well, that's what the natural sequence of events 
 means and the only way I could support anyone would be 
 through my inventions, which I swear I shall never sell 
 to anyone," he persisted. 
 
 "But don't you think you will eventually get over 
 this malice you feel towards your fellow-men?" she 
 asked. 
 
 "Never!" he thundered. 
 
 "Why not ? Haven't other deserving aspirants over- 
 come their bitterness after repeated defeats ? Can't you ? 
 And don't you know you will triumph gloriously with 
 these wonderful ideas of yours? Don't you " 
 
 57
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 "I will not be reasoned with or argued out of my 
 justifiable purpose," he interrupted with a forbidding 
 wave of both hands. 
 
 There was always something most decisive in this 
 man's negations and he possessed an uncanny ability 
 for stifling enthusiasm. He had no doubt acquired this 
 through protracted choking of his own aspirations. Gwen 
 Dale knew any further efforts to drive home arguments 
 at this juncture would be fruitless and luckily she con- 
 ceived another notion. 
 
 "Very well," she finally said submissively. "Now 
 if you'll show me where your larder and cooking outfit 
 are, I'll prepare breakfast." 
 
 "I can do that better than you can," he snapped as 
 he arose to his feet dusting the seat of his trousers. 
 
 "Oh I don't know," she replied confidently as she 
 arose dusting herself in a spirit of mischievous imita- 
 tion. "All the folks at home say I'm some cook. I'd 
 love to hear your opinion." 
 
 Hope reflected for a moment and, then, without ut- 
 tering another sound, led the way into the hut. Crossing 
 to a lever attached to the wall opposite to the bunk, he 
 hesitated as if in doubt. 
 
 "Go ahead, be game," the girl urged. "One meal, 
 even badly cooked, wouldn't kill you." 
 
 After rubbing his hands together briskly for thirty 
 
 58
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 seconds, which seemed like ten minutes to the curious 
 and interested girl, he pulled the lever down and a slid- 
 ing door opened revealing a unique kitchenette of im- 
 maculate white. In her unrestrained surprise Gwen 
 rushed right into the room ahead of the man. 
 
 "Isn't this gorgeously cute !" she exclaimed. "And to 
 think it is one man's work accomplished independent of 
 anyone else's aid, and so far away from civilization ! Oh, 
 I love this !" 
 
 The typically feminine ecstasy of the girl proved 
 to be contagious to the extent of making Hope smile 
 half in pride and half in pleasure over the impromptu 
 compliment which had been paid him for his good taste. 
 The smile was still on his face as he crossed to press two 
 buttons in rapid succession. A panel in the wall slid 
 open and revealed a large pantry rilled with all kinds of 
 canned edibles and several baskets of fresh vegetables 
 and fruits. 
 
 "There," he said. "Get up the menu to suit your- 
 self. Here's the stove already hot." 
 
 He indicated a large steel plate on one end of which 
 was attached an oven. 
 
 "How perfectly dandy," the girl enthused as she 
 crossed to the stove and held her hand over it. An ex- 
 pression of perplexity spread over her face as she failed 
 to locate the source of the heat. When she looked ask- 
 
 59
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 ance at her host he said simply : 
 
 "Electric." 
 
 "What complete ingenuity," was her admiring com- 
 ment. 
 
 "It's quite simple," he replied modestly. "But go 
 ahead with' your breakfast. I will be back in ten 
 minutes." 
 
 Gwen was positively happy in that kitchenette. She 
 enjoyed every second of the work of preparing the break- 
 fast, which consisted of most everything on a complete 
 menu excepting dairy products. 
 
 When Hope returned he was visibly pleased with 
 the attractive way in which the girl had decorated and 
 set the table, and when he ate the food he mentally con- 
 fessed it tasted better than any meal he had ever cooked. 
 The grace and efficiency with which she waited on him 
 made a favorable impression, too. It was so home-like 
 and her companionship was, after all, most congenial. 
 
 "Is everything all right?" she inquired as she noted 
 how heartily he ate. 
 
 "First-class, but you're still doomed to disappoint- 
 ment if my deductions concerning your thoughts are cor- 
 rect," he replied without looking up from his plate. 
 
 "Oh cheer up, Mister Man, you might be doomed to 
 some pleasant surprises yet," she retorted good-natured- 
 
 60
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 "No," he fairly expostulated. "And please don't 
 persist in being optimistic in my presence." 
 
 Thus was the girl once more forestalled in her 
 valiant attempt to force some sunshine into this gloomy 
 pessimist's life. 
 
 Immediately upon finishing he shoved his chair 
 back and arose, announcing in the most matter-of-fact 
 way imaginable, that he expected to be occupied all morn- 
 ing in working on her seaplane preparatory to her flight 
 homeward, and, without even waiting for her answer he 
 walked out of the hut as if he were in a hurry. 
 
 "Well, I'll be hanged, if he isn't the queerest man I 
 ever met," she ejaculated. "What a fussing good time 
 his wife is going to have with him for abrupt stunts like 
 that !" 
 
 However, despite these sentiments the girl derived 
 real pleasure from the tasks of cleaning up the break- 
 fast dishes and tidying up the place in general. It was 
 not until she had completed all the jobs she could find to 
 do that she thought much of the curious case her host 
 presented, due to his extraordinary views and obstinacy. 
 She was sure of a most unhappy existence back in New 
 York City if she went away from him with no better 
 understanding than she had thus far achieved. In fact, 
 she felt she could not bear to leave him permanently to 
 his sad ruminations and excessive sufferings of defeat. 
 
 61
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 She must go and do his bidding faithfully by singing his 
 praises without stint and then she must see him again 
 to report the results ! All this seemed unalterably patent 
 to her. Why? Well, she scarcely knew for certain. 
 Anyway acting solely upon impulse she suddenly ran out 
 of the hut and to her seaplane on the beach. 
 
 There he was working away with truly prodigious 
 energy on the engine. Upon discovering her presence he 
 gave her one fleeting glance and remarked casually : 
 
 "It's not near as good an engine as you'd think 
 they'd be able to make after all their experiences." 
 
 "Why, that's a Rolls-Royce and it's supposed to be 
 the acme of perfection," she replied. 
 
 "Just the same it is full of defects with all due re- 
 spect to the Rolls-Royce idea, which within itself is 
 pretty good," he contended. "However, when I get 
 through you'll have a plane that'll take you across the 
 Atlantic and back again without any trouble." Then he 
 paused to gaze steadily into her eyes for a moment, after 
 which he continued: "This much I'm doing for you in 
 spite of my determination to exclude man from my 
 realm of usefulness. "With my aid you will be able to 
 realize your ambition to be the first woman to navigate 
 all the kinds of air this great ocean can have. I've no 
 doubt but what the so-called experts will examine this 
 machine and copy its improvements, but I'm satisfied in 
 
 62
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 the knowledge that these aeronautical devices are my 
 least important inventions, and anyway, I want to make 
 you feel indebted to me." 
 
 "And why do you want me indebted to you if we're 
 never going to meet again?" she asked. 
 
 "So you'll do your bit to help me gain revenge by 
 telling the world what it has missed by side-tracking me 
 so heartlessly," he announced with pronounced empha- 
 sis on every word. 
 
 "I'll do all I can" 
 
 "Good !" 
 
 "But on one condition 
 
 "Absolutely not no conditions." 
 
 "Yes!" And Gwen Dale was never so firmly de- 
 termined in all her young life. 
 
 "Yes? You still want to argue with me after I 
 have told you it's no use?" he demanded considerably 
 surprised. 
 
 "Yes, I want to argue with you all the rest of the 
 minutes I'm here if necessary to make you see the mis- 
 take you are making in exiling your wonderful self," she 
 announced without flinching. 
 
 Given C. Hope looked at Gwen Dale as he had 
 never looked at a girl before. The very expression in 
 his eyes betrayed his realization of facing a really un- 
 usual member of the gentler sex, one in whom most any 
 
 63
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 man could repose unlimited confidence. He was com- 
 pelled to admire her courage in standing ground she 
 could not possibly tread upon the minute he willed to the 
 contrary. He knew he was master of the situation if he 
 chose to be. He could even prevent her from ever re- 
 turning to civilization again if he wished to go to ex- 
 tremes, and, there was no one to check him I He knew the 
 girl knew this, and therefore he admired her all the 
 more for her unshakeable bravery. How could he resist 
 her? Easily, could Given C. Hope, so obsessed was he 
 by the spirit of making man remorseful for all the vicis- 
 situdes he had endured. 
 
 "You're going to fail, girlie, just as I have failed 
 in the years gone by," he finally replied, at once resuming 
 his work. 
 
 "No, no, no," fairly screamed the girl. "This is an 
 injustice I will not see done. I" 
 
 "Brave words and I admire your determination, but 
 all Hell can't change me now, it's too late," he inter- 
 rupted. 
 
 "All Hell may not be able to change you, but I will !" 
 she hurled- back at him defiantly. 
 
 "I'm sorry, Miss, but you won't," he denied firmly. 
 
 "Then I won't fly back to America at all." 
 
 "You will leave here before sunrise tomorrow." 
 
 "I won't." 
 
 64
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 "I refuse to argue further with you." 
 
 "Oh, pshaw, that's the goal we always reach; let's 
 sprint for somewhere else." And now the girl's attitude 
 was one of challenge. 
 
 "Now I'm going to tell you something confidential," 
 he interposed, discontinuing his work again. 
 
 "I shall be glad to hear all of that you've got to hand 
 out," she proclaimed with an air of entreaty combined 
 with a I-think-it's-about-time spirit. 
 
 "Fine !" he replied. "I was married once and I 
 never got a divorce." 
 
 Gwen's eyes blinked once more, and, she pondered 
 for just a few seconds. Then she retorted significantly : 
 
 "Well, the divorce courts are still open to all com- 
 ers if there's any excuse for coming to them. " 
 
 Hope straightened up and eyed the girl narrowly. 
 
 "Say, you are bent on romancing, aren't you?" he 
 murmured in low, ridiculing tones. 
 
 "No, emphatically no, but I think you're much too 
 nice a fellow to rot away in oblivion," she replied. 
 
 "You're the first one to ever make known such a 
 viewpoint to me, and, unfortunately, you do not run the 
 world or its inhabitants to suit yourself," was his answer. 
 
 "Well, I can go a long ways towards changing a 
 large portion of the world and you'd better give in a few 
 points to me if you really want to get revenge," she quick- 
 
 65
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 ly retaliated with the air of one determined to threaten 
 at any cost. 
 
 "I'll get all the revenge I want with or without 
 your aid, but I'm sincere in my appeals for your help." 
 
 "I've given 'you my word of honor that I'll exploit 
 you all I can, but I want to do more I want to extricate 
 you from this entanglement of stubborn despair and reck- 
 less resignation to a tragic fate." 
 
 This was indeed a laudable friendship for a girl, who 
 was really a stranger, to offer, and, Hope was suddenly 
 controlled by an irresistible sense of appreciation. 
 
 "I would be a miserable ingrate if I did not thank 
 you for your fine spirit," he said. "I will be frank enough 
 to say that if I had not experienced such positive proof 
 of the impossibility of my fitting into man's social and 
 economic systems successfully, and if I had not been 
 dealt such terrific blows in my matrimonial venture, I 
 would listen to you and I would probably follow you as a 
 worshipper. As it stands, it's all too late my heart is 
 too seared and my soul is too deadened to ever accom- 
 plish a regeneration. I'm sorry, but my mind is made up." 
 
 It is pretty difficult to persuade a man who is in 
 such a groove. Gwen Dale was not equal to the occa- 
 sion. She had never before encountered such an invul- 
 nerable wall of resistance. She could not understand 
 why any mortal could be so determined to abandon the 
 
 66
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 good things of life only because they did not come soon 
 enough. She failed to understand this man's mental at- 
 titude just as society cannot fathom the workings of a 
 mind bent on self-destruction disregarding all exhorta- 
 tions to reconsider. She was perceptibly discouraged 
 and was suddenly enveloped in an apparent sadness. She 
 was, of course, unaware of the fact that Hope had never 
 been married, and was only resorting to prevarication to 
 discourage, and, as he calculated, to save her. 
 
 Wisely he continued his work on the machine with- 
 out looking to see the effect of his words upon the 
 girl. She gazed long and wistfully into blank space be- 
 fore she could summon enough power to speak again 
 and when she did propound a rather off-hand question 
 as to what became of his wife, her voice was husky. 
 
 "Or do you care to talk about her?" she supple- 
 mented. 
 
 He diverted his attention from his work long 
 enough to say : 
 
 "I married the wrong woman. Men generally do. 
 After she had ruined me, she went away with another 
 man under disgraceful circumstances. Women can al- 
 ways get sympathy and consolation you know. She so 
 completely destroyed my confidence in people who make 
 solemn vows that I would never reconcile myself to 
 trusting anyone again. Meanwhile, I was always able 
 
 67
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 to accomplish such useful feats as you have seen here, 
 but I never had any source of incentive. In fact, when 
 I saw I could never gain even a start through my best 
 ideas and when I got thoroughly acquainted with men's 
 strong tendencies to steal and profit by it, while I suf- 
 fered the agonies mind you, the agonies of working 
 hard to no good end, I gave up once for all." 
 
 "Then you don't love this woman any more?" 
 
 "Certainly not I abhor the memory of her." 
 
 "And you could never love another?" 
 
 "Yes, I could really love for the first time," and he 
 smiled at his own capacity for deceiving. 
 
 "You could?" Wherewith Gwen turned her gaze to 
 the confessor. 
 
 "Yes, I could love you," he admitted. 
 
 "Then why don't you?" she almost demanded. 
 
 "Because it would ruin you and it would ruin me," 
 he declared impressively. Then he climbed down off the 
 seaplane and walked over to the girl. "You see if I weak- 
 ened now for selfish reasons, I would go back to civiliza- 
 tion and perhaps become successful. I don't want to do 
 that." 
 
 "Why not?" she asked, still puzzled. 
 
 "Because I can serve a better purpose my unhap- 
 pier way." 
 
 "I fail to see how." 
 
 68
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 "Could not I teach this and future generations to not 
 ignore the unknown would-do-well so generally by mak- 
 ing myself a martyr to the cause ?" 
 
 "A martyr to the cause!" she ga ; n renewed 
 alarm. "You mean " 
 
 "I mean I would gladly die to spare contemporary 
 strugglers and those unborn," he affirmed smilingly. 
 
 And that smile was the manliest smile Gwen Dale 
 ever saw, she thought. This man was the most remark- 
 able hero she had heard about, she was sure. He would 
 die that laudable and lofty aspirations might survive. 
 The world had long since become too greedy and unfair. 
 Monopolists in every walk of life did keep the door of 
 opportunity as slightly ajar as they could. It was difficult 
 to get a start in doing big things without influence. 
 Never before did this girl realize these incontrovertible 
 facts as she did now. She was familiar with a shining 
 example wherein the system of developing new talent 
 was wrong. She also recalled how even her own father 
 and mother laughed scornfully when she announced an 
 ambition to become an aviatrix in order that she might 
 do her share towards conquering the air for the benefit 
 of man and science. She could at last see clearly the un- 
 pardonable sin which had been committed against this 
 genius simply because he was in oblivion and meek 
 about it. 
 
 69
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 Given C. Hope studied her intently all the time she 
 was silently contemplating these facts. 
 
 "May I ask what is .the matter ?" he finally asked 
 gently. 
 
 "Oh! Oh! You are winning me over to your view- 
 point," she moaned ruefully. 
 
 "I'm sincerely glad." 
 
 "I'm sorry," she replied. 
 
 "Of course, now, but later you will be glad," he 
 assured her. 
 
 "I doubt it, but I cannot stoop to begging a man to 
 abandon a wonderful heroism for my sake," she replied. 
 "I did not know I was trying to persuade the strongest 
 man I ever knew to become a weakling just for worldly 
 reasons. I will fly away tomorrow hoping against hope 
 that I will do exactly as you wish." 
 
 "Hoping against hope," he repeated after her 
 thoughtfully. 
 
 "Yes," she whispered. 
 
 He drew closer to her and took her hand. 
 
 "Don't hope against Hope," he beseeched. 
 
 "I'm afraid I can't help it," she demurred. 
 
 "Yes you can when I tell you one more secret. That 
 is my name, Hope Given C. Hope." 
 
 "It is!" she exclaimed. 
 
 "Yes and the first necessity for my telling you 
 
 70
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 seemed to come into being when you said you would 
 hope against hope. I want you to hope for me." 
 
 "I I will," she promised. "I'll pray for you. Oh 
 God!" 
 
 And poor, distracted, little Gwen Dale fell in a limp 
 heap into Hope's strong arms.
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 BEFORE SUNRISE. 
 
 JUST at the break of the next morning Gwen Dale 
 was awakened by the sound of the motor on her 
 seaplane. She lost little time in donning her clothes and 
 getting out of the hut. Upon reaching the beach she was 
 surprised to find Given C. Hope on top of the upper 
 wing energetically wielding a hammer while the propeller 
 was going full speed without scarcely making the machine 
 tremble. 
 
 "Well," she exclaimed jovially. "Where there's 
 work, there's Hope." 
 
 The din of the engine precluded the possibility of 
 hearing so soft and sweet a voice, but Hope espied the 
 girl the moment she arrived, and he smiled his greeting. 
 A moment later he discontinued his hammering, climbed 
 down to the fuselage and, after stopping the motor, 
 leaped out, landing firmly on the sand. 
 
 "She's tuned up great and I know you'll fly back 
 to New York with ease," he assured. 
 
 "And, you're still determined that I shall go today ?" 
 she asked eagerly. 
 
 "Yes, before the sun comes up," he declared em- 
 phatically. 
 
 72
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 "What if I refuse to fly?" she ventured much in- 
 clined to temporize. 
 
 "Then I will find a way to force you to obey me," 
 he replied grimly. 
 
 "All right, but suppose I do go, can't I come back 
 if I want to?" she persisted. 
 
 "You or no one else shall ever set foot on this island 
 again if I have the power to prevent." 
 
 "But maybe you might get sick and need someone 
 to care for you," she suggested with obvious concern. 
 
 "The God in the Heaven will take care of me and 
 I place my whole trust in Him alone." Hope uttered 
 these words in a tone of voice which was convincing of 
 his deep faith in his religion, 
 
 "I'm glad to hear you say that, for it proves you 
 have not lost all your faith in everything," she said, as- 
 suming a more serious attitude. 
 
 "I still believe in the Supreme Being and I know 
 He has proven His love for me," the earnest man af- 
 firmed. "I'm striving with all my might to be worthy 
 of an exalted eternity. It is for this reason [ tried to 
 avoid you entirely when you first landed." 
 
 "But why pick on me?" she asked feigning pique. 
 
 "I'm not picking on you, but when you came 1 fear- 
 ed I might do what I always swore I would do if any 
 human being ever intruded upon my seclusion," he re- 
 
 73
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 plied. 
 
 "Kill?" she asked becoming suddenly excited. 
 
 "Yes, and I went into the hut while you slept the 
 first night feeling I would not be satisfied if I let you sur- 
 vive," he announced half in shame. 
 
 "Oh don't tell me that you would have murdered 
 me," she begged. 
 
 "Yes, I would have " 
 
 "Then what stopped you?" 
 
 "Your innocent beauty," he confessed. 
 
 "Thank goodness you thought that," she replied. "I 
 was almost sure I half realized you came into the hut 
 that night." 
 
 "Please let me forget it all now, because I'm sorry I 
 ever even started to do such a wicked act, and I thank 
 God I didn't carry it out," and the man started to walk 
 away. 
 
 Gwen followed him and placed her hand lightly 
 upon his arm. 
 
 "Don't go away from me for a single second," she 
 begged. "It seems I'm destined to do enough goin^ 
 away for both of us." 
 
 "You shouldn't mind that." 
 
 "But I do very much and I'm determined to tell you 
 why," she replied. 
 
 "You must not tell me anything excepting you're 
 
 74
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 going away to stay away, and that after you've done all 
 you can to tell the world what it has missed by .shoving 
 me aside, you will forget all about me," he decreed. 
 
 "But it will be impossible to forget you," she in- 
 sisted. 
 
 "Perhaps, but it will not be impossible for you to 
 remain in your own sphere and stay out of mine," he re- 
 torted. 
 
 "What harm would a little social visit either way 
 do once in a while?" she demanded. 
 
 "So much harm that I tell you for the last time, 
 you shall never land on this island again. I'm positively 
 through with human beings and that includes you as nice 
 as you are. Remember, I don't want you to come back 
 and I don't want you to tell anyone where this haven of 
 mine is located. If you do well, no mortal will ever 
 succeed in making a landing here. I am going to live 
 and die alone with my secrets. I am bound to teach 
 humanity a lesson which I trust will obliterate the com- 
 mon tendency of making ambition a veritable farce." 
 
 There was such a tremendous note of sincerity in 
 the man's manner of delivering this ultimatum, and there 
 was such a pronounced expression of dogged determina- 
 tion upon his face with its immutable lines of forceful- 
 ness that the girl forthwith decided she was only wasting 
 time in undertaking to dissuade him in the least. She 
 
 75
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 realized more keenly than ever he was quite unlike any 
 other man she had ever met in that he was unalterably 
 immune to all the wiles of woman nor could he be rea- 
 soned with for a moment. She winced when she thought 
 of what a terribly lonely existence he was bent on con- 
 signing himself to for the sake of gaining world-wide 
 attention as a sad product of the whole system of hu- 
 man ways. He seemed to read her mind at this junc- 
 ture, for he added: 
 
 "You see, in order to be regarded as really human 
 one has to be decidedly inhuman. I'm only taking the one 
 recourse left open to me, by conditions over which I 
 never had any control, for, naturally, if I had controlled, 
 I would have been today one of the world's most ac- 
 claimed inventors. So, I'm being inhuman because it is 
 the only way to appear human to a human." 
 
 "Its too complex for me to understand it," she re- 
 plied, "but I cannot see why you should be permanently 
 beyond the influence of reconciliation." 
 
 "The best way for me to answer that is by sug- 
 gesting a test. Shall I ?" 
 
 "Sure, I want to be shown," she agreed. 
 
 "Fine ! Already there is a great deal of speculation 
 over that wild message of mine, telling about your being 
 stalled mid-air " 
 
 "Oh mercy, I had most forgotten that," she inter- 
 
 76
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 rupted, taking on a worried expression. "How will I 
 ever explain that ?" 
 
 "You don't need to explain it; you can demon- 
 strate it," he remarked as coolly as if he were merely dis- 
 cussing the weather. 
 
 "I can demonstrate it!" she repeated, after him 
 with much dubiousness. 
 
 "Yes, before landing at Mineola you can circle the 
 whole city of New York and make them all gasp by stop- 
 ping dead still at any height you choose for a full five 
 minutes," he announced with a confident smile in which 
 could be discerned the triumphant. 
 
 "You don't mean " she fairly gasped. 
 
 "I mean," he interrupted, "that you have a combina- 
 tion of automatic stabilizer and mechanical aerial anchor- 
 age on your machine now. It is not only a solution, but 
 a ( perfection of a solution to the problem which has beset 
 inventors from the day that the dangers of falling became 
 apparent." 
 
 "You are really serious?" she inquired as doubt 
 persisted to infest her mind. 
 
 "Yes, and you will be within an hour's time," he 
 reassured her. "However, here's the test stop mid- 
 air for five minutes over the heart of New York City. 
 Then when you finally alight, do a lot of bragging about 
 the wonderful attachments on your plane, and if you 
 
 77
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 don't get absolute evidence of not one but several men 
 trying to unfairly deprive you of your rights to the me- 
 chanism, and within forty-eight hours, I am the biggest 
 fool that ever lived. When you see for yourself how 
 eager a lot of thieves of high social and business stand- 
 ing are to appropriate or steal what seeems to be a 
 good thing, you will very plainly understand why I can- 
 not be reconciled. Why, if I could get back to America 
 or to any other country with all of my inventions, I 
 know I would not get more than one-thousandth of the 
 credit due me, and I might continue my old-time luck 
 which did not net me one iota." 
 
 "But, of course, you have not taken into considera- 
 tion that possibly you were simply unluckkr than others 
 and" 
 
 "Unluckier than others!" he exclaimed. "Why, 
 there are millions of men and women, every one of them 
 a true aspirant, who are much more luckless than I am." 
 He paused a moment to let a smile play across his 
 countenance and then he added with bitter irony: "I 
 was very fortunate ! Just see what wonderful things it 
 brought me!" 
 
 Gwen blinked her eyes in renewed wonderment as 
 she glanced around the barren island for one solitary 
 thing to be thankful for. She shuddered. He noted 
 the shudder and laughed loudly more in derision than 
 
 78
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 in merriment. 
 
 ********** 
 
 The eastern skies were rapidly becoming brighter. 
 Hope had just finished instructing Gwen how to operate 
 the new attachments he had installed on her seaplane. 
 All was in readiness for the flight which the plucky avia- 
 trix was sure would be fateful. Inwardly she was some- 
 what of a fatalist and Hope's peculiar pessimism and 
 undying chagrin had at last become sufficiently contagious 
 to engulf all the inherent gay spirits she ever had. She 
 was ostensibly worried, but in reality she was deep in 
 mental anguish. Her very heart ached. It was to be the 
 saddest leavetaking of her young, vivacious life. 
 
 She would have gladly remained on that dreary 
 island indefinitely with this man who confessed having 
 planned on murdering her. There was something mag- 
 netic, even hypnotic about him. In her estimation he 
 was a great genius, worthy of unbounded admiration, 
 and she did admire him almost excessively. She was 
 telling herself especially this as she sat beside her new- 
 found hero in the fuselage of her machine while he was 
 making a final adjustment of a switch. Her steadfast 
 gaze was upon his solemn face. She waited to say some- 
 thing to him, but she was at last too resigned to the in- 
 evitable to summon much courage and she knew it was 
 certain he would promptly counter with a disheartening 
 
 79
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 rebuff. Not once did this little Gwen think of the perils 
 of the aerial voyage she was about to undertake alone. 
 Her whole mind was concentrated upon irrepressible 
 regret over the conditions under which she was soon to 
 bid farewell to a man she would like to associate with 
 more. 
 
 Hope sensed her sad ruminations and when he was 
 finally satisfied that he had done all in his power to make 
 her plane safe and secure, he met her gaze without 
 flinching. 
 
 "Now you're ready to go a God-speed," he said. 
 
 Her lips trembled and she could not utter a sound. 
 
 "Come, come, girlie, don't be a fool," he urged as 
 he divined what this meant. 
 
 Her reply was only a steadier stare. 
 
 "Why don't you say something just for the sake of 
 relieving the tension from which you are suffering?" he 
 asked with a slight show of impatience. 
 
 Thereupon tears welled up in the girl's big blue soul- 
 ful eyes. 
 
 "Please don't do that," he beseeched as he grappled 
 with a rising sympathy. 
 
 All the words the poor girl wanted to say were 
 choked off by her oncoming emotion, and in despair she 
 covered her fair face with her hands and sobbed con- 
 vulsively. Hope withstood this as long as he possibly 
 
 80
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 could and then he weakened. Tenderly he slipped his 
 arm around Gwen's slender waist and after hesitating 
 momentarily he drew her closer to him. 
 
 "It is for your sake, little girl I am saving you 
 from a futile, unhappy life by sending you away for- 
 ever," he whispered. "I could never love you or any 
 other human being again, but I regard you as my only 
 friend and now good-bye." 
 
 She pressed her face more firmly into her hands. 
 He studied her for a moment. Then he gently pulled 
 those white, shapely hands away and placing his own 
 rough hand under her chin, raised her head until he forc- 
 ed her to look at him squarely in the eyes. A wan smile 
 crept over her face and a love unmistakable gleamed out 
 penetrating the man's big heart. Almost violently he- 
 pressed her to his bosom, kissing her fervently and she 
 was supremely happy, but not so happy that she did not 
 realize Given C. Hope's act of strong devotion belied his 
 denials of fostering affection. 
 
 However, the joy was of a winged moment. Hope 
 released the girl from his embrace abruptly and leaped 
 out of the machine. 
 
 "Now go!" he shouted as soon as he got his foot- 
 ing on the sand. 
 
 "And come back ?" she asked imploringly. 
 
 "No, never !" he yelled. 
 
 81
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 "I will come back," she asserted emphatically. 
 
 "And if you do there will be naught but tragedy 
 we will both perish," he warned. 
 
 "Just the same I will not say good-bye," she replied 
 boldly as she started her engine. 
 
 An instant later she released her anchor and the 
 plane shot out to sea with a mighty roar. Never did 
 an air-going craft rise more gracefully. Never did a 
 pilot execute a more perfect circle prior to embarking on 
 a flight. 
 
 Given C. Hope watched this wonderful transport of 
 the girl he knew loved him until it passed beyond the 
 range of his vision. Then most frantically he rushed to 
 the cove where his boat was moored and began working 
 upon it with desperate haste as if he were bent on put- 
 ting to sea at the earliest moment !
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 SENSATIONS IN NEW YORK. 
 
 EXACTLY at four o'clock that afternoon a giant sea- 
 plane descended straight down, right side up as 
 an elevator, out of space twelve thousand feet above the 
 earth's surface. When it ceased to descend it was only 
 about two hundred feet above the roof-tops of the vicin- 
 ity of Times Square, the busiest spot in New York City. 
 At that low altitude the strange machine stopped dead 
 still, hanging, as gracefully mid-air as if it were a cap- 
 tive balloon. Thousands of people witnessed this unusual 
 spectacle and never was gasping so general in this blase 
 section of America's most cosmopolitan metropolis. Ex- 
 clamations of surprise were shouted so loudly and there 
 was such a scurrying for the most advantageous positions 
 from which to get a good view of the plane that the 
 crowded streets became a veritable bedlam of tense ex- 
 citement. 
 
 "What is it ?" was asked a hundred times a second. 
 
 "Who is it?" was asked even more frequently. 
 
 While most everyone was demanding in unrestrain- 
 ed awe : 
 
 "What does it mean?" 
 
 No one thought of automatic stability ; no one dream- 
 
 83
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 ed of such a thing as an aerial anchorage. It was either 
 a miracle or a strange accident. 
 
 Then dozens of newspaper reporters got on the 
 scene and they were naturally the first ones to remember 
 the queer wireless announcing Gwen Dale's unbelievable 
 predicament over the Azores. True, the whole press 
 had ridiculed the idea of an aeroplane being stalled mid- 
 air and had attributed the sending of the message to that 
 effect to someone with a penchant for practical joking. 
 Now quite unexpectedly a demonstration of the easy 
 possibility of bringing about such a condition at will was 
 being given and the rumor that it was Gwen Dale, the 
 greatest American aviatrix, calmly resting high in the 
 air over Manhattan, spread like wild-fire when once the 
 newspaper men started it. 
 
 Two full minutes after the machine had become 
 stationary, the head of a laughing girl was discovered 
 looking down over the edge of the fuselage of the mon- 
 ster of the air. She waved her hand energetically 
 whereupon a mighty cheer went up from thousands of 
 throats. After the tumult died down the girl placed her 
 hands to her mouth as a megaphone and shouted : 
 
 "Tell the world it's Gwen Dale in the greatest flying 
 'machine the world has ever seen the invention of 
 the greatest genius alive. He's in oblivion and his name 
 is Given C. Hope." 
 
 84
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 Many people in the upper stories of the higher build- 
 ings heard every word of this impromptu speech. Sev- 
 eral reporters were among those who were able to get 
 the statement down verbatim. 
 
 Exactly two minutes later the daring pilot waved a 
 good-bye and the seaplane darted off towards Long 
 Island, climbing steadily to a higher altitude. Not many 
 minutes afterward she made a successful landing near 
 Mineola and stood safely on terra firma surrounded by 
 scores of amazed though congratulating people, who had 
 suddenly appeared on the scene as if by magic. 
 
 "Bring the newspaper men to me as quickly as pos- 
 sible," the girl requested of military and naval officers 
 of the aviation corps who had hastened to her side. 
 "Arrange for giving me a private hangar for my plane 
 
 too," she ordered in the next breath. 
 
 #*#*#*###* 
 
 The clock was just striking seven when Gwen Dale 
 walked into her Riverside Drive apartment. She was 
 warmly greeted by her sturdy father and hysterically 
 embraced by her overjoyed mother. It was like the 
 resurrection of the dead for this aged couple, because 
 they had hours before given up all hope of ever seeing 
 their daughter again. The girl laughed at their words 
 of apprehension. 
 
 "Why, you two dears, you shouldn't have worried 
 
 85
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 a minute, because there never was a girl in safer hands 
 and then in a safer machine than I was," she said re- 
 assuringly. 
 
 "'But how did it ever all happen?" both parents 
 asked simultaneously. 
 
 "Here, let's all read these and find out," she sug- 
 gested as she yanked a bundle of newspapers from un- 
 der her arm. 
 
 With almost breathless eagerness the parents read 
 "the big story of the day," in which their daughter was 
 the heroine. Every newspaper had featured the account 
 extraordinary of her experiences far out over the At- 
 lantic. Much space was devoted to the girl's statement 
 relative to "the genius in oblivion" to whom she gave full 
 credit for converting her seaplane into the marvel of the 
 whole aeronautic age. When the father discovered the 
 announcement of his daughter's intention to fly to Europe 
 and back immediately, he almost swooned. 
 
 "No, no, Gwen dear, you mustn't ever attempt that 
 hazardous trip again, you must not," he protested vigor- 
 ously. 
 
 "Oh, but I must for the sake of science and " She 
 could not finish the sentence. Instead she suddenly burst 
 into most violent weeping. 
 
 Completely overwhelmed by this sudden change of 
 demeanor, both the father and mother placed their arms 
 
 P6
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 around the girl. The father was first to find his voice. 
 
 "Why, what's the matter?" he asked in utter be- 
 wilderment. 
 
 "Everything, everything," she" cried. "Let me go 
 to my room and be alone a while." 
 
 "It's her nerves gone to pieces," the mother divined. 
 "She must have rest." 
 
 "Yes, yes, and weeks of it," the father agreed as he 
 lifted his beloved offspring into his arms and carried her 
 to her own room. 
 
 It required many minutes of earnest pleading on 
 Gwen's part to persuade her parents to leave her alone 
 in her room. They were extremely anxious over her 
 condition, but finally decided it. would be best to yield 
 to her for the nonce. 
 
 "I shall change my clothes and join you very soon," 
 she told them as they reluctantly departed. 
 
 "And I'll summon our physician; he'll quiet your 
 nerves," the father replied. 
 
 "No, please don't call the doctor," the girl begged. 
 "No doctor can do me any good. Anyway my trouble is 
 not physical or mental and I can cure myself in my own 
 way if you two good darlings will only not worry." 
 
 The father instinctively knew it would net him little 
 to argue with his daughter, and, shaking his head du- 
 biously, he escorted his good wife out of the room. 
 
 87
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 Once alone Gwen sat down wearily in a large cush- 
 ioned chair as she smothered an appeal to God for aid. 
 Then for minutes she stared straight into the wall with- 
 out realizing it was there. All she saw was the man of 
 her heart on the lonely island away out at sea. All she 
 could hear was his voice. His words kept reverberating 
 in her whirling brain. His magnificent achievements re- 
 curred to her and her admiration for his genius grew 
 manifold. Then when she recalled his declarations of 
 determination to go through with his plans of making 
 himself a martyr to the cause of humble aspiration, she 
 shuddered. "Oh, if he could only reconcile himself to 
 another attempt to realize his ambitions," she muttered 
 "He'd surely go down in history as the greatest inventor 
 of all times." Then she recalled his story of how he 
 had been ruthlessly crushed down during many years of 
 assiduous effort to establish himself, and at first she 
 could not understand how it had ever happened thus. 
 However, quick as a flash it dawned upon her once 
 more that after all she knew man's system of doing 
 things almost totally lacked any semblance of altruism. 
 "Ah, we do need more of the help-the-other-fellow spir- 
 it," she told herself. "There is too much grasping and 
 grabbing, something a sensitive soul cannot endure and 
 oh, how sensitive he is!" 
 
 Gwen would have probably continued her musing 
 
 88
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 until midnight, but a gentle rap at the door aroused her. 
 
 "What is it?" she demanded as if vexed. 
 
 "There are several newspaper men here to see you, 
 dear," her indulgent mother announced. "Shall I tell 
 them you are too ill to talk to them?" 
 
 "No, tell them to be sure and wait," she replied. "I 
 \vill be dressed and out there in less than ten minutes." 
 
 Only a definite incentive could make anyone accom- 
 plish a task as rapidly as Gwen Dale discarded her flying 
 attire and donned a pretty, little pale blue silk dress, 
 which accentuated her beauty. She rearranged her hair 
 in less time than most men take to "find the part," and 
 she powdered her whole face and neck in about two 
 seconds. Thus it came about that she was presenting her- 
 self to ten gentlemen of the press in less than ten min- 
 utes. 
 
 "You are welcome, my dear sirs, and I have much 
 to tell you in addition to what the evening papers had," 
 she announced smilingly. 
 
 A rather tall and handsome young man stepped 
 forward and warmly grasped her extended hand. Intel- 
 ligence was written all over his smooth-shaven face and 
 his amiable disposition shone forth like a bright star in 
 the night. He smiled as he spoke in low, pleasing tones. 
 
 "Miss Dale, I am happy to congratulate you upon 
 your remarkable achievements," he said, holding on to her 
 
 89
 
 HIGH GIRL . 
 
 hand. "I am also happy to inform you that I have the 
 honor of being appointed spokesman for this group of 
 rather distinguished gentlemen, for they are all special 
 writers or editors of New York papers, while I happen to 
 represent the Associated Press." , 
 
 "Oh, the newspapers honor me by sending their 
 best to cover this story," she replied with sincere gratifi- 
 cation. "Shall I proceed to tell my story?" 
 
 "Surely and I trust you will not mind if I ask many 
 questions as we go along," the spokesman answered. 
 
 "First, may I not know your name, sir?" she asked 
 rather coquettishly. 
 
 "Most assuredly, I am Floyd Cooper Davis." 
 
 "A good American name and I am sure you will be 
 in hearty sympathy with all the extremely unusual points 
 I am about to bring up," she acknowledged. 
 
 "I shall be glad if I can serve you in any way," he 
 assured graciously. 
 
 "Thank you. Now pray all be seated and pardon 
 me for standing, because, frankly, I am bent on actually 
 making a speech." She smiled gloriously as the gentle- 
 men took seats. "My subject shall be," she continued 
 thoughtfully, "Why Leave Genius in Oblivion?" 
 
 Expressions of surprise swept over the faces of those 
 assembled around her. 
 
 "Yes, I know you expected the usual hair-raising
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 account of a thrilling battle with the elements and all of 
 that, but I had little of it. Instead I met upon an un- 
 charted island the most remarkable man of his time, a 
 man more remarkable than ever, due to the fact that h< 
 is a rank unknown." 
 
 Then the girl pictured in detail the night of revela- 
 tions, explaining the wonderful inventions of the man 
 she was so prone to laud without thought of what sort 
 of a position it placed her in under the circumstances. 
 Next she told of how the creator of these useful devices 
 had been pushed aside during his struggles in the heart 
 of civilization and she excoriated the conditions which 
 made it so difficult for a lowly person to get a start in 
 most any line of worth-while endeavor. 
 
 "Now I call this a shining demonstration of the 
 criminal folly of not systematically allowing every as- 
 pirant to submit to a test which will scientifically deter- 
 mine his or her talent," she continued. "Given C. Hope 
 was not only neglected to the extent of not being given 
 even a mere chance, but he was scorned and rudely side- 
 tracked every time he dared to enlist friends who would 
 help to push him forward. Yet, some of the most use- 
 ful devices now in vogue were based upon ideas he con- 
 ceived, and he never received even a vote of thanks, let 
 alone a decent living. And the most wonderful part of it 
 all is, his unpleasant experiences did not make a Social- 
 
 91
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 ist out of him. He was too practical to believe the prin- 
 ciples of Socialism would help him any. He wanted no 
 one to divide up their lot with him ; he simply wanted to 
 give the world all he had or could create for the honor 
 there was in it and a fair pecuniary reward. But, try as 
 he might, he could not get even this and in utter disgust, 
 he set out on the high seas alone in a flimsy craft and 
 landed on an uninhabited, little island, which surely can- 
 not withstand the pounding of the mighty breakers any 
 too long. 
 
 "In conclusion, I wish to announce publicly that I 
 intend to fly back to that island with proper escort to 
 attempt to induce Mr. Hope to return to us and prove 
 the grounds for my enthusiastic faith in his ability. I 
 also wish to publicly scold all mortals who overlook the 
 duty of doing a bit towards exploring the untraversed 
 regions for new talent. Every man and woman owe it 
 to humanity in general to help the other fellow for the 
 sake of making helpfulness a universally accessible in- 
 fluence for good, for the uplift. Let there be more of 
 the altruistic ideal and the best men in every line of 
 work will not live and die in obscurity." 
 
 There was not the least doubt as to the deep im- 
 pression Gwen Dale's impassioned words made upon her 
 auditors. Even the affable, never-ill-at-ease spokesman 
 was speechless for a full minute after she finished. Her 
 
 92
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 sweet smile encouraged him to rally and he arose ab- 
 ruptly, crossing to her all enthusiasm. 
 
 "I see it all, Miss Dale," he declared. "I see in this 
 a most useful object lesson for all peoples. I can readily 
 understand man-made fate can consign untold thousands 
 of deserving aspirants to the scrap-heap of human dere- 
 licts. I I am anxious to do my utmost to drive home 
 this tremendous point in question. I would even be 
 wildly elated if it could be possible for me to be among 
 those who will accompany you on your return flight to 
 the little land of this rare genius." 
 
 "It can be arranged and I shall have it arranged, 
 for I want the press represented," she promptly accepted. 
 
 "Great!" he exclaimed. "It is the very adventure I 
 have always longed for. Meanwhile, we shall see to it 
 that the engrossing story of Given C. Hope gains the 
 widest possible circulation." 
 
 "I am very grateful to you, and, oh yes, he sug- 
 gested a test of man's fairness, a test oh goodness I 
 had most forgotten it I must hurry to Mineola without 
 a moment's delay." 
 
 "Oh my dear!" interjected Gwen's mother, coming 
 forward from an obscure corner where she had unos- 
 tentatiously sat throughout the interview. "You must 
 not go down there tonight." 
 
 "Mother, I hate to disregard your wishes, but some- 
 
 93
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 thing very important calls me to my hangar at once," the 
 girl explained, trying to show tolerance. 
 
 "Possibly I could go for you," Davis suggested. 
 
 "No, it is something requiring my personal atten- 
 tion," she replied. 
 
 "It has to do with a test ?" he queried. 
 
 "Yes, and some way I just feel it in my bones that 
 I'll discover something sensational if I can only get to 
 my machine in time." 
 
 "More news?" 
 
 "Yes, perhaps." 
 
 "Then wouldn't it be entirely proper for me to ac- 
 company you?" 
 
 Davis' manner was so genteel and he made sug- 
 gestions with such admirable restraint that he won the 
 confidence of not only Gwen but her mother as well. 
 
 "I guess mother would have no objections to my 
 accepting the offer of such a distinguished gentleman," 
 the girl said looking at her mother. 
 
 "No, dear, if you feel you must go, I would be less 
 worried if Mr. Davis escorted you," was the maternal 
 response. 
 
 "I really must go and with all possible speed," Gwen 
 reiterated as she turned to hasten out of the room for 
 her hat. 
 
 "If you'll direct me to the 'phone, I'll call a taxi- 
 
 94
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 cab," Davis told the mother. 
 
 *********** 
 
 It was nearly midnight when Gwen. and Davis step- 
 ped out of the taxicab a short distance from the hangar 
 in which her seaplane was stored. After instructing the 
 driver to await them there, they cautiously made their 
 way through an adjoining open field. Gwen had told 
 Davis of her suspicions based on Hope's prediction of 
 unfairness within forty-eight hours after her landing. 
 She also explained how an uncontrollable notion fairly 
 dragged her to her precious machine. 
 
 ' They had not advanced more than two hundred 
 yards when Gwen sighted her hangar. 
 
 "Oh see, there's a light in the building," she whis- 
 pered excitedly. 
 
 "Isn't that to be expected?" Davis asked. 
 
 "Not at all," she declared. "We must some way 
 get up to the building and see what's going on without 
 being discovered." 
 
 This was not to be easily accomplished, as there 
 were guards everywhere about the place. 
 
 "The safest plan is to crawl along, staying close 
 to the ground," the girl suggested. 
 
 "I fear even that plan is not sufficiently safe for 
 you," Davis replied. "Suppose you wait in the taxi 
 while I do the detective work alone " 
 
 95
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 "No, I'm not such a molly-coddle," she refused re- 
 sentfully as she crawled forward nimbly. 
 
 "You are admirably courageous and determined," 
 he observed as he struggled to keep apace with the fair 
 and fearless leader. 
 
 A moment later a stern male voice in the rear yell- 
 ed: "Halt!" The crawling girl and man dropped in- 
 stinctively on their stomachs and laid perfectly mo- 
 tionless. Davis heard a crackling of broken sticks im- 
 mediately behind him and he turned his head in time 
 to see the crouching form of a uniformed man picking 
 his way toward him with a drawn revolver. It was no 
 time for inactivity nor was it advisable to issue a chal- 
 lenge, so Davis wisely resorted to frankness, couched in 
 suave diplomatic terms. 
 
 "We surrender, sir," he'called in subdued tones. 
 
 "Up on your feet and up with your hands or get a 
 shot," ordered the voice in the dark. 
 
 Davis promptly obeyed, and, upon noting that his 
 companion failed to comply, he whispered distinctly: 
 
 "Obey, Miss Dale." 
 
 "Miss Dale!" the voice of the officer exclaimed. 
 "Gwen Dale, the aviatrix?" 
 
 "Yes," admitted the girl as she arose quickly to her 
 feet, "and I'm here on a very important mission requir- 
 ing absolute secrecy. Can we count on you, sir, as a 
 
 96
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 friend in the name of justice?" 
 
 The officer advanced close to Gwen and peered into 
 her face, at once recognizing her. 
 
 "Well, I'll be damned," he ejaculated. "What's up?" 
 
 "Help us to get a peep into my hangar without any- 
 one getting onto our presence and I may tell you what's 
 up," she proposed. 
 
 "Don't you trust those mechanicians?" the officer 
 asked. 
 
 "What mechanicians?" she demanded. 
 
 "The fellows who are working on your machine," 
 he explained. 
 
 "There you are!" the girl exclaimed. "I knew 
 something was wrong. I ordered that my plane be left 
 alone until I returned tomorrow. No human being has 
 the least right to go near it without my consent and I 
 have given no one such consent." 
 
 "Then I would suggest that we lose no time in get- 
 ting a squint into that hangar," Davis urged as he took 
 the leadership in advancing. 
 
 "Go ahead and I'll keep in the background to stall 
 off other guards," the officer assented. 
 
 Thus did the couple have good fortune in promptly 
 reaching a small window through which they could see 
 everything and everyone inside the hangar. What did 
 they see? A complete vindication of Given C. Hope's 
 
 97
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 pessimistic estimation of man's scruples was being fev- 
 erishly enacted by no less than a dozen men assembled 
 around and on Gwen Dale's seaplane. 
 
 There was a very indignant and angry expression 
 on her face as she took a calm survey of the men and 
 their obviously unfair activities. One man whom she 
 recognized as a well-known aeronautical engineer was 
 sitting in her seat engrossed in jotting down notes. She 
 actually gasped when she espied an inventor who had 
 once proposed marriage to her. He was studiously ex- 
 amining a set of curious flappers on one of the wings. 
 He was plainly puzzled. He could not figure out their 
 usefulness. Another man whom Gwen knew well a 
 pioneer among dare-devil flyers was carefully measur- 
 ing the "ground anchor," which Hope had attached to 
 the main structure of the airship. Three other men, none 
 of whom she knew, had their heads together in earnest 
 conference. The most loquacious of this trio kept point- 
 ing to a chain of weights extending from behind the pro- 
 peller to the top of one of the pontoons. Still another 
 notable in aeroplane construction was examining some 
 blue-print plans he held in his left hand while his nervous 
 right hand kept ploughing through his long, sandy hair. 
 
 "What do you think of this?" the girl finally asked 
 Davis who saw and understood all. 
 
 "I think it's a damnable outrage being perpetrated 
 
 98
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 by a bunch of crooks every one of whom I'll go in there 
 and lick soundly if such procedure will not spoil any of 
 your plans," was his inspiring response. 
 
 "Bravo!" she whispered enthusiastically. "But I 
 think the tongue-lashing I plan will suffice for such cow- 
 ardly cheats." She paused to take another glance inside 
 and then continued : "And do you know that I recognize 
 most of those men as prominent and honored members 
 of the highest aeronautic circles?" 
 
 "I know two of them myself," Davis replied. 
 
 "And they are all deliberately trying to steal the 
 valuable ideas of another man," she observed. "Is it any 
 wonder Mr. Hope became disgusted and gave up if this 
 is what he could not successfully combat ?" 
 
 "Giving up would not have been my way," Davis 
 declared rather bitterly. "I would have fought like an 
 infuriated lion. No gentle-as-a-lamb tactics will do in 
 this world of strife. Let me go ahead in there and I'll 
 show you what I mean." 
 
 Gwen could not suppress a chuckle. She liked the 
 kind of virile spirit Davis was manifesting. She was 
 not without fighting proclivities herself, and there was 
 glory in waging most open warfare now. 
 
 "Gee, I'm glad you're with me on this occasion," 
 she murmured as she squeezed her escort's arm. "I'll go 
 in first and do my little act and you follow whenever you 
 
 99
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 think it will be opportune." 
 
 "Good! Go ahead!" he urged as if anxious to get 
 into action. 
 
 Without faltering the girl marched quite majesti- 
 cally into the hangar. 
 
 "Gentlemen?" she yelled very questioningly by way 
 of announcing herself. 
 
 A panic was precipitated. Every man thus con- 
 fronted had a guilty conscience and betrayed it. Not one 
 of them had the least excuse to offer for being on the 
 spot. Every cheater of them was amazed over the un- 
 expected visit of the most talked-of girl in America, and 
 every cheater feared her wrath. Nor did she keep them 
 waiting long. 
 
 "You crooks of pretended respectability," she be- 
 gan. "You personification of the chief bane of this 
 existence of ours! Thieves of the night and none of 
 you stop your thieving in daylight hours either." She 
 paused long enough to shake her finger accusingly at 
 the startled group. "Now," she fairly yelled, "now I'm 
 going to expose every one of you." 
 
 "Aw hell, choke her and throw her out," shouted 
 one of the trio Gwen did not know. 
 
 Instantly Floyd Cooper Davis sprang to the girl's 
 side and he, too, was recognized by most of* the men 
 present. 
 
 100
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 "Let any one of you curs make a hostile move and 
 I'll wallop the whole crowd of you," he warned. 
 
 Davis waited a moment for someone to make a 
 move, but no one stirred. 
 
 "Now as a representative of the Associated Press, 
 I want the name, occupation and address of every man 
 here," he continued. "Out of a spirit of fairness I will 
 permit each of you to make a statement as to what your 
 motives are and who gave you authority to take liberties 
 with this seaplane." 
 
 Oh, the squirming this caused! The only man who 
 did not seem to be much ruffled was the one who sug- 
 gested rough treatment for the girl. He turned a sweep- 
 ing gaze on his fellow-culprits and demanded: 
 
 "Say, are we going to let this guy get away with 
 this?" 
 
 No one answered promptly, but Davis was punctual 
 in removing his coat. Then the inventor who had once 
 professed an ardent love for the girl he was now taking 
 advantage of intercepted : 
 
 "I would advise most humble apologies and an im- 
 mediate withdrawal," he said. 
 
 "I should think you would," Gwen 'Dale retorted 
 derisively. 
 
 The one thus addressed simply hung his head low 
 and started to make his exit. 
 
 101
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 "Your name, sir," commanded Davis leaping in his 
 pathway. 
 
 "Oh, I know him and all the others excepting the 
 would-be fighter and his two pals," Gwen reassured. 
 
 "Then they're the ones I'll go after," the dauntless 
 journalist announced as he walked straight over to the 
 outspoken malcontent. 
 
 "Come on here and talk fast," he ordered as he grab- 
 bed this stranger by the shoulder. 
 
 "I'll bust you in the fact if " but the ruffian had no 
 chance to finish the threat, because Davis quickly landed 
 a punch which sent the fellow sprawling into a pool of oil. 
 
 With rare agility Davis turned on the other two, but 
 they fled. Indeed every man there took advantage of the 
 skirmish to the extent of fleeing all excepting the van- 
 quished one, and he was too dazed. 
 
 Gwen laughed scornfully as she stood by watching 
 the mad exodus. Davis was unmistakably chagrined 
 when he realized all except one had escaped. He was 
 boiling over with desire to fight. As a foiled beast often 
 does, he returned -to the small part of the prey he had 
 been able to capture. He found his victim struggling to 
 get out of the slimy oil and onto his feet. 
 
 "Get up, you dog, and go to jail," Davis growled. 
 
 "I won't," the other snapped back. 
 
 "Oh yes you will, that's what I'm here for," put in 
 
 102
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 the officer who promptly laid strong hands on the unruly 
 one. 
 
 ********** 
 
 Despite many powerful influences from high sources 
 the Associated Press accepted the sensational exposure 
 supplied by Davis, and the next morning newspapers 
 everywhere were filled with the news of unscrupulous at- 
 tempts to purloin the secrets belonging ostensibly to 
 Gwen Dale. Several arrests and criminal suits fanned 
 the flame of public indignation, and all the sympathy went 
 to the woman in the case. Editorially various newspapers 
 denounced the most prominent of the guilty men. Fur- 
 thermore an authorized statement from Miss Dale was 
 printed throughout the country. This statement set forth 
 the true facts of how Given C. Hope had proposed a test 
 and of how it developed he knew from experience what 
 would happen. 
 
 The most vital upshot of it all was that the series 
 of unprecedented sensations, as cleverly managed by the 
 faithful Gwen, made a veritable hero out of a genius in 
 oblivion ! This interest was heightened by the definite 
 announcement that the daring aviatrix was going to fly 
 back to that island for the purpose of persuading this 
 genius to return to civilization. And no one doubted her 
 ability to succeed. Forsooth, one high city official of New 
 York immediately started the ball to rolling towards mak-- 
 
 103
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 ing plans for a great public reception for the conqueror 
 from Unknown Land. 
 
 ********** 
 
 Then came the night the one week later the night 
 Hope had promised to again project his long-distance 
 illuminated sign. Gwen had looked forward to this as the 
 occasion on which she could give even a more thrilling 
 proof of the matchless ability of the man she. was rep- 
 resenting to the world as the premier inventor of all 
 time. She prepared elaborately to make the utmost out 
 of the impression she was sure would be created by others 
 seeing the very words she had predicted in the heavens 
 -above Gotham. At least twenty newspaper men, includ- 
 ing Floyd Cooper Davis, were among her guests on the 
 roof of the apartment house in which she resided, and 
 from the inception all eyes were kept busy scanning the 
 sky. 
 
 "What'll you do if this thing fails to materialize, 
 Miss Dale," ventured one of the more skeptical reporters. 
 
 "I'll say something went wrong through no fault of 
 Mr. Hope," she promptly replied. 
 
 "But, don't you think it will be difficult to convince 
 the very wise public," he persisted. 
 
 "I'm not going to worry seriously over convincing 
 any part of the so-called very wise public," she retaliated. 
 
 "I'd think you would feel your responsibility in this 
 
 104
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 affair more than that," he shot back at her, smiling du- 
 biously. 
 
 Gwen was unmistakably angered over this mani- 
 festation of skepticism,' but instead of giving vent to her 
 feelings, she simply bit her lips. She knew full well it 
 would only be a futile argument after all. Then Davis 
 came to the rescue. 
 
 "I fail to see any cause for doubt even though there 
 may be failure tonight," he intercepted. "Has not even 
 our own honored Thomas A. Edison had many failures? 
 Was he any the less great for the set-backs since he was 
 so capable of eclipsing them with remarkable triumphs?" 
 
 "Yes, but according to all the evidence in the case 
 this fellow. Hope is not a Thomas A. Edison," the skeptic 
 pointed out. 
 
 "Comparisons are always odious, to me and likewise 
 skepticism," Davis retorted. 
 
 This sort of pro-and-con conversation was kept go- 
 ing throughout the whole evening up to midnight. As 
 sleepiness and fatigue became more general, the skeptic 
 gained converts. He seemed more admirably practical 
 while Gwen Dale seemed more wildly illusory. She had 
 erred to the extent of permitting her enthusiasm to fairly 
 run away with her. She realized this, and it caused her 
 to become most obviously anxious in her watchful wait- 
 ing. Previously she had not taken into account the 
 
 105
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 possibility of even a wizard falling short of his mark 
 occasionally ; now she began feeling that perchance Hope 
 had not lost any of his vulnerability to ill-luck. 
 
 At any rate when two o'clock in the morning came 
 most of her guests had given up the vigil and departed 
 With more or less politeness intermingled with pity. By 
 3.30 o'clock all had gone excepting Davis and her own 
 father and mother. They resolved to stay as long as 
 Gwen decreed and she decreed patience until the sun was 
 rising. 
 
 "Well, my dear Miss Dale, it is little to worry over, 
 because he certainly did do wonders with your seaplane," 
 Davis offered by way of magnanimous consolation as he 
 prepared to go. 
 
 "You are very kind, indeed; out of twenty or more 
 you are the only one to even consider me," she returned 
 gratefully. 
 
 "It isn't so much that as it is my agreeing with you 
 that just such skepticism as we have seen demonstrated 
 tonight is the very hoodoo which so many perfectly tal- 
 ented people cannot overcome," he reminded. "Person- 
 ally, I am convinced Mr. Hope, like many another rare 
 genius, is ruthlessly crushed under the heel of an 
 oppressive doubting Thomas as exemplified by hu- 
 manity's attitude and his few failures are bound to be 
 used to relegate his accomplishments to the background 
 
 106
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 by the majority who seem determined to minimize great 
 work when it comes from someone they do not know." 
 
 Gwen was sincerely glad to hear these words from a 
 real man of achievement. She was all the more ap- 
 preciative since she realized most of those reporters who 
 had lost their time on her roof would be likely to take 
 advantage of the opportunity to poke fun at her, and to 
 make her appear as a deluded sentimentalist. 
 
 The most of them did exactly this. One newspaper 
 even used the headline, "Wild Dream of Aviatrix Fails to 
 Materialize as Was Inevitable." Another well-known 
 paper started its account of what it termed "a monumen- 
 tal watch party," with the following sentence: "Gwen 
 Dale, the plucky aviatrix, may be able to stick dead still 
 high in the air, but she failed to make stick her story of 
 the ability of a queer man to throw an illuminated sign 
 some several hundred miles, and of course it was a 
 ridiculous expectation after all." 
 
 Needless to add the girl was made all the more de- 
 termined to vindicate herself, and she was all the more 
 resolved to fly back to that island to persuade the man 
 she had eulogized with so much abandon to return and 
 make the whole world see his worth. 
 
 107
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 WHEREIN VICTORY AND DEFEAT MINGLE. 
 
 A WHOLE week had passed by all too slowly for 
 JL\ Gwen Dale, who was uncontrollably eager to hop 
 off on another aerial voyage seaward. True, she had 
 been extremely busy making arrangements for her next 
 flight, and the filing of charges against those whom she 
 resolutely prosecuted for daring to impose upon Given C. 
 Hope's helpfulness required many hours of her time. 
 Besides she had rushed through the preliminaries of ap- 
 plying for letters of patents, in the inventor's name, on 
 the attachments which made her seaplane the marvel of 
 the age. She overlooked no detail which would be in his 
 interest, and she was determined to be the agency 
 through which he could be induced to return to the haunts 
 of men to look after his interests. Yes, she remembered 
 Hope's dire threats, but she would over-ride his objec- 
 tions. She would swoop down upon his lonely retreat 
 while he slept and she would simply force him to come 
 back and fight victoriously. 
 
 Was there ever such a girl before? Yes, thousands 
 of them when there was a deep love involved. Was there 
 ever a more difficult task contemplated ? Yes, thousands 
 of them, but too generally people have lacked the un- 
 
 108
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 swerving stamina requisite to achieving the accomplish- 
 ment. Almost invariably success awaits any laudable and 
 reasonable undertaking, but man's inherent skepticism 
 leads him to falter and hide inert behind a screen of con- 
 servatism such as inspires following the line of least re- 
 sistance, a policy oh so often a sheer, unvarnished fallacy. 
 Perhaps Gwen Dale would not be classified among the 
 "regular human beings" by the average mind, because a 
 ^erson who will risk all for the thing he or she believes 
 in is usually regarded as either a crank upon the subject 
 involved or else there is a universal conviction of the 
 presence of sorry insanity. Curiously enough, however, 
 if it is a woman who stands out as the apostle extraordi- 
 nary in any good cause, there is more sympathy than 
 actual co-operation extended to her. A man well, a man 
 should be able to take care of himself and accomplish 
 whatever he is capable of without the slightest assistance, 
 either spiritual or material, according to the average 
 thoughtless version. Still, no man was ever known to 
 make noteworthy progress without the aid of a helping 
 hand ! A well-organized and consistently permanent sys- 
 tem of exploring the untra versed regions of obscurity for 
 new talent would enrich the glories of nations so pro- 
 digiously that a really idealistic age with propensities of 
 a millennium could be counted as a possibility of the 
 near future. 
 
 109
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 A firm belief in the urgent advisability of not being 
 supinely a tacit party to the colossal blunder of allowing 
 the old adage : "To err is human," stand as an unassail- 
 able landmark of the mortal weaknesses, actuated Gwen 
 Dale in her supreme efforts to make a most impressive 
 example of the case of Given C. Hope. After all her love 
 for the man was secondary, although none the less strong 
 for its subjugation by a growing altruism. 
 
 And now at last came the hour for another ad- 
 venture through peril-laden space. This time the daring 
 aviatrix had two companions, Floyd Cooper Davis and a 
 new mechanician, John West. Both were exceedingly 
 formidable men for such a hazardous enterprise. Davis 
 was a powerful athlete and a professional swimmer. 
 West was one of the most efficient all-around mechanics 
 in the aerial game. He was all the more valuable for his 
 long experience as a navigator. 
 
 A great crowd had assembled to witness the thrilling 
 departure. No event in the eventful battle to conquer the 
 air could appeal more to the imagination. Sportsmen 
 were even laying large bets on the outcome. Excitement 
 ran at high tide and when Gwen finally appeared on the 
 scene and walked briskly to her plane, a deafening ova- 
 tion was accorded her. She acknowledged the honor 
 gracefully. Davis and West followed close behind her, 
 and they were received with enthusiasm, too. 
 
 110
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 The trio climbed into their respective posts of duty 
 quickly, and just five tense minutes were left for the 
 crowd. Gwen had so calculated that she regarded it as 
 indispensable to leave at precisely 4.30 P. M. She had 
 astutely planned to reach the island at not later than three 
 o'clock in the morning, when she figured Hope would be 
 sleeping soundly and entirely off-guard. Hence she would 
 tolerate no delays and she flew away right on schedule 
 time. The start was made beautifully amid the roaring 
 cheers of the thousands and until darkness had settled 
 over the broad expanse of the Atlantic waters, it seemed 
 to all on board more of a joy ride than a serious business. 
 
 At about nine o'clock the weather, that ever-fickle 
 foe to man in all his ambitions, began playing pranks 
 which were disconcerting. A rather high wind came up 
 and 'as fate would have it, of course, it settled in no direc- 
 tion, being more of a twister than anything else. Soon 
 this wind drove great dense clouds all around, pbscuring 
 the stars and at the same time the sea became danger- 
 ously choppy. 
 
 Up to this time Gwen and Davis had chatted gaily 
 while West kept busy climbing daringly all over the ma- 
 chine watching every part. 
 
 "Now, Mr. Davis, I fear you will get plenty of the 
 fighting you seem to love," the girl announced cheerfully 
 as she settled down to efforts to battle against the rising 
 
 111
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 fury of the elements. 
 
 "I'd enjoy it all immensely if it wasn't for the con- 
 cern I feel for you," he replied. "However, pay no 
 further attention to me until we get out of this storm. 
 You have enough else to think about now." 
 
 For a full hour not another word was uttered on that 
 soaring seabird. Then suddenly a flood of dazzling light 
 enveloped the outfit. 
 
 "What's that ?" Davis yelled in excitement. 
 
 "A searchlight," she answered. "But surely not his 
 so soon." 
 
 West promptly got busy with his instruments. He 
 tried to sight the sea in vain. The light vanished as ab- 
 ruptly as it came and there was pitch darkness. 
 
 "I'd advise you to drop a couple thousand feet so 
 we can get our bearings," West shouted to Gwen. 
 
 She immediately turned the nose of her machine 
 downward and descended the two thousand feet. 
 
 "That's enough hold this altitude for a while," 
 West yelled. 
 
 However, a ten-minute search failed to reveal the 
 source of the brief shaft of light. 
 
 Gwen was perplexed. She figured she was at least 
 five hundred miles away from Hope's island. It would 
 not be possible for even him to throw such a light so far. 
 
 "It must be a ship," she shouted to West after a 
 
 112
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 while. 
 
 "Nope, I don't think we're within one hundred miles 
 of any ship right now," he answered. 
 
 "Then what was it?" she demanded. 
 
 "You've got me, Miss it didn't seem to come from 
 below anyway," was all the satisfaction the mechanician 
 could give the pilot. 
 
 "I'd say it's strange," Davis commented a bit anx- 
 iously. 
 
 "Exceedingly so," she agreed. "I even imagine now 
 that I could see ahead farther for the second we were in 
 that light." 
 
 Davis shuffled his feet nervously and there was the 
 shaft of light again ! 
 
 In amazement he drew his feet in and leaned for- 
 ward in the hopes of determining whence the truly terrific 
 glare. Within the twinkling of that act the light disap- 
 peared again. 
 
 "Well, I'll be hanged," he ejaculated in amazement. 
 
 "Isn't it the limit!" she put in. 
 
 Both resigned to a period of watchful waiting and 
 kept silent. Despite the grim necessity for concentration 
 of all her thoughts on piloting the plane, Gwen fell to 
 thinking about Hope's declaration that both would likely 
 perish if she attempted to fly back to him. Then it struck 
 her as more than passing strange she should think of that 
 
 113
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 just at that moment. She pondered deeply. The thought 
 of Hope's inventive skill flashed through her mind and 
 she suddenly came to regard it as uncanny wizardry. Did 
 he have anything to do with those two floods of light? 
 
 She meditated several minutes longer and then 
 spoke : 
 
 "Mr. Davis." 
 
 "Yes," he responded with avidity. 
 
 "Look around and see if you can find any buttons 
 or switches you hadn't noticed before," she requested. 
 
 Without making any response and seemingly under- 
 standing the girl's idea, Davis proceeded to make a care- 
 ful examination of the whole interior of the fuselage. 
 However, he could not discover any evidence of an at- 
 tachment he was not familiar with, and he was just about 
 to say so when for the third time a shaft of dazzling illu- 
 mination flashed all around them for only an instant. 
 
 "It's coming from our own machine," West exclaim 
 ed while Gwen still blinked her eyes in consternation. 
 
 "I wouldn't be surprised," she declared as she be- 
 came convinced that Hope had failed to apprise her of all 
 the improvements he had installed. "See if you can find 
 out what controls it." 
 
 West spent many minutes in going over all the plane 
 at great risk, but he had to ultimately give up in despair 
 
 "I guess I'm wrong," he announced. 
 
 114
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 No sooner had he closed his lips than the fourth flash 
 of light shot through the groaning winds. This time the 
 rays did not linger for hardly more than a second, and it 
 left Gwen Dale's nerves considerably unsteady. The 
 stormy atmospheric conditions were enough to worry her. 
 but this mysterious light was positively alarming. Indeed 
 it impressed all three occupants of this speeding traveler 
 of the night as ominous. Gwen felt a peculiar sense of 
 distrust. She got to fretting about the way her engine 
 was working, although West was entirely satisfied with 
 it. Then she feared being far off her course, although 
 West was positive they were going straight for the north- 
 ern Irish coast. 
 
 Up until one o'clock in the morning the girl suffered 
 -painfully from her nerves. At that hour they suddenly 
 flew into the most wonderful weather. The sky ^ is 
 ablaze with stars and the visibility was remarkable. They 
 could see that the oce'an below was so calm that it re- 
 sembled a smooth sheet of glass. 
 
 "Oh what a relief," Gwen remarked as she sighed. 
 
 "You managed things great all through that storm 
 belt," Davis complimented. 
 
 "Thank you. Even at that the storm wasn't so an- 
 noying as those flashes of light. I wonder why they dis- 
 continued." 
 
 "It may have been some kind of a phenomena," he 
 
 115
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 suggested. 
 
 "Perhaps." 
 
 An hour later Gwen called West. 
 
 "We ought to be in sight of that island any minute 
 now," she yelled. 
 
 West promptly turned all of his attention to trying 
 to sight land. Three hours later he had still failed to find 
 any indication of the close proximity of land. Gwen Dale 
 was by now very much distressed. Things had been per- 
 sistent in going wrong. But nevertheless she retained a 
 certain amount of her determination. 
 
 "Well, I'll keep flying around in a circle because 
 the island must lay within a hundred square miles here- 
 abouts," she announced. 
 
 "If we waste more than another hour's supply of 
 gas, we're liable to run out before we reach any Euro- 
 pean port," West informed. 
 
 Gwen took a chance and circled several times, but it 
 was a futile perseverance. No land was sighted. 
 
 "We'll have to make for port now, Miss," West 
 urged. 
 
 "Oh, but I can't give up," she remonstrated. 
 
 "I think it would be better to achieve the trans- 
 Atlantic flight first and come back to search for the island 
 in the daylight," Davis suggested. 
 
 "He's right, ma'm, he's right," West put in earnestly. 
 
 116
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 "Very well then," Gwen replied wearily. "Here goes 
 for a victory to off-set this defeat." 
 
 ********** 
 
 After thirty-six hours and forty minutes of con- 
 tinuous flying, Gwen Dale piloted her seaplane safely into 
 Plymouth, England, at the break of day. Despite ihe 
 early hour a large crowd had assembled to greet her. Six 
 hours prior to this a liner had sighted the big ship of the 
 air making good time with ease, and had sent a wireless 
 to Plymouth announcing the fact. The news spread like 
 wild-fire, the keenest of interest being aroused, because 
 this was the first woman to attempt a transatlantic non- 
 stop flight. Now in her moment of triumph, a resounding 
 din filled the air. Whistles and bells combined to let the 
 whole vicinity know something extraordinary had hap- 
 pened. 
 
 From the moment she set foot on British soil, Gwen 
 was feted and idolized as the pluckiest girl of the age. 
 The reception was enough to gratify the most blase per- 
 son, and, outwardly she was very pleased, but inwardly 
 she was sad and gloomy. 
 
 "This isn't what I want," she said in an undertone 
 to Davis during a slight lull in the celebration. "I want 
 to start back tomorrow if West can get the machine in 
 shape." 
 
 "Pray forget that now," Davis urged. "First of all, 
 
 117
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 you must have complete rest. Let us get away from this 
 tumult as soon as possible." 
 
 By the time they did get to a hotel two hours had 
 elapsed and Gwen's fatigue was so noticeable as to cause 
 Davis much concern. While she was being escorted to 
 her rooms, he, without consulting her, summoned a 
 physician. Then he retired to the rooms assigned to West 
 and him. Both men were sound asleep within a very 
 short space of time. 
 
 Once in her rooms and alone, Gwen felt as if she 
 wanted to bolt right out of them again. She had never 
 been so lonesome before in her life. She could not bear 
 the thought of going to bed. It seemed to her that she 
 should be losing no minutes Given C. Hope must be 
 rescued now or never. In her estimation her great vic- 
 tory in crossing the Atlantic by air was overshadowed 
 by her failure to find that island. Inevitably her thoughts 
 reverted to those queer fleeting shafts of light which had 
 nearly deprived her of her nerve. Could she have pos- 
 sibly been flying in circles right around Hope's observa- 
 tory ? Did her machine travel faster than the meter indi- 
 cated? "There was something wrong in the calculations " 
 she muttered. 
 
 While she was still trying to force her tired brain to 
 solve these and other baffling problems, she was surprised 
 to hear a firm rap on her door. 
 
 118
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 "Who's there ?" she yelled. 
 
 "Doctor Hope," promptly replied a masculine voice. 
 
 "Doctor Hope," she repeated as she dashed hurriedly 
 to the door, which she opened with almost enough force 
 to tear it off of its hinges. Then when she saw an elderly, 
 white-haired gentleman, she calmed down and apologeti- 
 cally said : "Oh ! I thought it was Given C. Hope." 
 
 "No, I am Doctor Lucian J. Hope," the man replied 
 politely bowing. "1 was asked to prescribe for you." 
 
 "Prescribe for me! For what?" 
 
 "For one thing your nerves as I can see already," 
 the doctor answered. 
 
 "Do my nerves seem bad ?" the girl asked. 
 
 "How could you expect them to be otherwise, my 
 dear, after using them so continuously under such nerve- 
 racking conditions?" he asked affably as he walked to a 
 center table and deposited his medicine case there. 
 
 The doctor had no trouble in persuading Gwen to 
 take some medicine. He ordered immediate rest and pre- 
 pared some powders for her to swallow when she 
 awakened. He felt her pulse and took her tempera t-. lie. 
 He listened to her heart and examined the pupils of her 
 eyes. 
 
 "You're in mighty fine physical condition all thia.;s 
 considered," he then told her as he prepared to go. "No\y 
 I beg of you to take a hot bath and jump right into bed. 
 
 119
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 My congratulations and good-day." 
 
 So saying he crossed to the door. There he paused 
 and took a quick glance at the girl. 
 
 "When did you last see Given C. ?" he asked very 
 gravely. 
 
 "What!" Gwen almost screamed. 
 
 "Never mind answering the question and pardon 
 me," he hastened to say. "Good morning." 
 
 And before Gwen could recover from her surpris' 
 over the familiarity with which the doctor inquired after 
 her genius in oblivion, he was gone. 
 
 "But I'll follow him right to his -office and demand an 
 explanation," she excitedly told herself as she began pre- 
 paring herself to go out. 
 
 She had just put on her hat when there was a gentle 
 rapping at her door. She lost no time in opening it and 
 was confronted by a sweet- faced, buxom nurse. 
 
 "I'll stay with you and watch over you while you 
 sleep," the nurse said smilingly. 
 
 "But I'm not going to sleep; I'm going out," pro- 
 tested the girl. 
 
 "Oh no, my dear," the nurse objected, but it re- 
 quired a great deal more persuasion to overcome Gwen's 
 whim. Fortunately the nurse knew her business and she 
 won out. But she had no doubts as to the likelihood of 
 this American beauty starting on her return flight on the 
 
 120
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 morrow. 
 
 "Cable my father I'll be back home day after to- 
 morrow," were the last words the girl said before she re- 
 laxed into a quiet, restful sleep. 
 
 121
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE SUPREME SPECTACLE OF A LIFETIME. 
 
 It was midnight when Gwen awakened to find the 
 nurse sitting nearby smiling calmly. 
 
 "Oh, you rested wonderfully," the faithful guardian 
 observed when she saw her patient's eyes wide open. 
 
 "And I feel great," the girl declared as she jumped 
 out of bed with agility. "What time is it?" 
 
 "Just midnight." 
 
 "Good ! Don't lose a minute. See if Mr. Davis and 
 Mr. West have awakened yet." 
 
 "They left the hotel at nine o'clock," the nurse 
 informed. 
 
 "They did ! Where did they go ?" 
 
 The nurse arose and walked to a dressing-table 
 nearby, picking up a letter. "Mr. Davis left this," she 
 said. "I presume it will explain." 
 
 Gwen tore the envelope open almost frantically, and 
 then she read the following note penned in neat hand- 
 writing : 
 
 My Dear Heroic Miss Dale : 
 
 We knew you would demand quick 
 action, so we are leaving at 9 P. M., after 
 a good rest, to do all in our power to make
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 possible an immediate departure by air for 
 America. You can reach us at your hangar 
 whenever it suits your convenience. And, 
 dear girl, pray don't worry West and I 
 are agreed that we must find that fright- 
 fully elusive island on the return trip. I 
 have given the world the whole story of 
 your magnificent triumph through the As- 
 sociated Press, and, I am, with great 
 admiration, 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 FLOYD COOPER DAVIS. 
 
 "Gee, he's a good sport," Gwen told herself as she 
 recalled the many admirable qualities this dashing gentle- 
 man of the press had shown. "He's so unlike the average 
 fellow who wants to marry a girl the day after he 
 meets her." 
 
 There was no doubting Gwen's intentions during the 
 next twenty minutes she was losing no time in making 
 preparations to join her companions at the hangar, and, 
 the nurse joined whole-heartedly in her efforts acting as 
 a most respectful maid. When finally the girl was ready 
 for the street and displayed a concern as to what the 
 nurse would do in the meantime, the latter promptly 
 explained the situation : 
 
 123
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 "I was instructed to stay here until further orders 
 from Doctor Hope." 
 
 "Doctor Hope!" Gwen exclaimed. "You know I 
 can't get over that doctor part of it, but er when will 
 I get to see the doctor again ?" 
 
 "The first thing tomorrow morning." 
 
 "Good ! I've some questions I want to ask him. 
 Good-night. I'm off to the trusty, old seabird." 
 
 With these thoroughly light-hearted words, the girl 
 walked briskly out of the room, and an hour later she 
 was joining her companions of her great transatlantic 
 flight at the hangar, thanks to a regular Ford taxicab 
 which happened to be available at the right moment. 
 
 "Why didn't you wait until daylight?" West asked 
 before Davis had a chance to say a word. 
 
 "Say, man, we're in a hurry," she ejaculated jovially. 
 
 "Certainly, and I knew you'd be here before we 
 were half finished," Davis chimed in with a pride which 
 was unmistakably directed towards the girl. 
 
 "Well, what's the condition of the old boat?" she 
 asked. 
 
 "Unbelievably perfect," Davis announced. 
 
 "Everything is ship-shape excepting that light busi- 
 ness I can't figure that out in spite of being convinced 
 it all came from our machine," West put in. The very 
 next instant he crawled underneath the plane and began a 
 
 124
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 careful investigation with the aid of his pocket search- 
 light. 
 
 "That's what I'd call some mystery, but don't let it 
 bother you too seriously, because a few rays of light 
 aren't going to hold us back," she replied as her spirit* 
 mounted ever higher. 
 
 Davis was not slow in being infected with the Sam"" 
 spirit. His memory of the thrills of the hours just pass- 
 ed so miraculously served to buoy him up noticeably. 
 
 "If I may be pardoned for resorting to a little of the 
 good American slang, I'll say this is the life," he re- 
 marked as he continued to oil the mechanism adjoining 
 the propeller. 
 
 "You like this sort of thing, don't you?" she asked 
 as she fixed a studious gaze upon Davis. 
 
 "I should say I do for your sake but, as for my- 
 self, well, I'm satisfied with most anything decent," he 
 replied without looking up from his work. 
 
 "And just what would you like to see happen on 
 this return trip?" she propounded' as if bent on drawing 
 the man out. 
 
 "I'd like first of all to locate that island you've been 
 telling us so much about, then I'd like to load the genius 
 on board and hit 'er back to New York without too much 
 delay," he confessed with the utmost candor. 
 
 "You are generous," she complimented. "Most of 
 
 125
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 the men I've met wouldn't give a rap whether or not we 
 ever found the other man. In fact, the most of the 
 rivals would do everything half-way legitimate to put the 
 absent one to a disadvantage." 
 
 "That brings up a very important subject, Miss 
 Dale," Davis said as he held his oil-can aloft. 
 
 "What is the subject?" 
 
 "The subject has to do with giving every man a 
 fair chance and leaving the ultimate decision to be based 
 on his own merits," he replied. "Anyone with far below 
 the average intelligence could see that your interest in 
 Mr. Hope is more than a mere whim in favor of the 
 square deal minus any affections. You would love him 
 if you had the chance " 
 
 "Oh, Mr. Davis," she appealed. 
 
 "Forgive me if I've been too frank, but I'm going 
 to do all in my power to help you get that chance," he 
 hastened to add. 
 
 "I I really don't know what to say to you, ex- 
 cepting I do think you are a noble man with a remark- 
 able understanding of feminine fancies," she stammered, 
 much embarrassed. 
 
 "We need to dwell no longer on the subject then, and 
 meanwhile I'll just give this wonderful fly-boy more oil 
 than could possibly be needed." Whereupon he eloquent- 
 ly illustrated his determination by resuming his activities 
 
 126
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 with the oil-can a la very fast. 
 
 Gwen watched her good new-found friend with the 
 keenest interest. It would be foolish to even intimate 
 that she did not realize what was behind the veneer of 
 restraint which he managed to keep around him con- 
 stantly. She just knew this man would turn lover on a 
 moment's notice of encouragement, but she also knew he 
 was primarily gallant to the extreme, which safeguarded 
 her against any premature advances from him. 
 
 "Well, anyway, I like you a lot," she admitted after 
 a while. 
 
 "Which is a lot more than I expected." 
 
 "Why?" And Gwen's curiosity was aroused. 
 
 "Because I'm sort of a freak." 
 
 "In what way?" 
 
 "I fight better than I love." (Most certainly Davis 
 kept right on squirting the oil in every part of the me- 
 chanism he could see.) 
 
 "You know I have already been wondering why it is 
 you're not the champion pugilist of the world today," 
 she remarked dryly. 
 
 "I can tell you." 
 
 "Do." 
 
 "Because I do not fight so much better than I love 
 after all." 
 
 Gwen never respected the admonition: "Mum's the 
 
 127
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 word" so much in her life before. She was surely going 
 in a direction at a speed she could not maintain. The 
 island must be found ! Fidelity to a deep feeling of 
 exhilarating memory would prevail. There was no man 
 who could equal Given C. Hope. 
 
 "Guess I'm interfering with your work," she apolo- 
 gized after a moment. 
 
 "Guess you can give orders to work faster if you 
 choose," he quickly retaliated. 
 
 "All right speed 'em up, boy !" she urged by way 
 of not succumbing to his amicably clever defi. 
 
 Forthwith Davis moved about with lightning speed 
 ostensibly in fun, but he was really accomplishing the 
 things West had mapped out as essential before the queen 
 had arrived on the scene. Wisely Gwen diverted her 
 attention to West, and she seemed to have an unlimited 
 supply of suggestions for him. 
 
 The sun had come up before the men finished their 
 work on the machine. They were obviously hungry and 
 tired. The girl seemed more refreshed than ever, but 
 she had a heart. 
 
 "If it's all you can do until the tuning-up process, 
 let's go eat a big breakfast," she invited smilingly. 
 
 "Hurrah! A real English breakfast on me!" Davis 
 fairly shouted in the best of humor. 
 
 "No, I'll buy," she insisted. 
 
 128
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 "With two regular sea-going, air-going fellows like 
 us on the job? Never!" And the girl knew Davis was 
 going to pay the bill. His determined smile revealed the 
 fact. 
 
 West said little and -acted more. He was all washed 
 and ready for the fattest meal in the land before Davis 
 even completed exchanging conversation with Gwen. 
 Just the same the trio got out of the hangar and into a 
 nifty rustic dining-room in less than an hour and never 
 was the British style of breakfasting emulated so adeptly 
 before. All three had ravenous appeites and it was a 
 regular war-time bill with all the tax "trimmings the wait- 
 ress had ready when they took their final sips of tea. 
 
 "Now -since we feel so much better for our mast'cat- 
 ing activities, I would urge that you gentlemen return to 
 the hangar and get the machine ready for flight by n 
 o'clock tonight," Gwen instructed. "I'll go back and fill 
 the ears of the British journalists with interviews so 
 much galore that it will make the best American movie 
 actress blush with shame in comparison. You can sleep 
 from eleven until six the next morning and then we're 
 off." 
 
 "But, may I ask, Miss, how do you figure to reach 
 the latitude you say the island lays in at night by starting 
 at that hour?" West queried. 
 
 "I've got a hunch " she began. 
 
 129
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 "Enough!" exclaimed Davis. "There's nothing so 
 reliable as a hunch as nonsensical as it usually seems. 
 "We'll bank on your hunch, Miss." And he took a sly 
 glance at West, who fidgeted just a trifle. 
 
 "Orders are orders," West- acquiesced as he started 
 to go. 
 
 When six o'clock of that next morning dawned, two 
 brave men #nd a braver girl stood ready to climb into an 
 fefficiently tuned-up hydro-aeroplane ready and anxious 
 to complete a record-smashing expedition. The girl had 
 more than kept her word in the matter of filling the ears 
 of the newspaper men and fully ten thousand people were 
 assembled to witness the hop-off. 
 
 "You can see for yourself that there are as many 
 rubber-necks in Great Britain as there are in Great 
 United States," Gwen observed as she nodded at the great 
 crowd. 
 
 "Yes, curiosity discriminates between no climes or 
 no peoples," Davis replied. "Still, I admit I'd be out to 
 see you start anywhere myself." He spared himself from 
 suffering to see the full effect of his words by laughing 
 heartily in a way which could not be classified! Davis 
 was clever, despite his eagerness along certain lines. 
 
 "Avast!- Who comes there?" she thereupon ex- 
 claimed as she espied a dignified procession advancing to- 
 
 130
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 wards them. 
 
 "It looks like something royal," he commented as 
 he fixed his gaze upon the marching straight line. 
 
 A moment later the aviatrix was being elegantly 
 addressed by an Englishman of distinguished bearing. 
 She heard him say something about the British govern- 
 ment being proud of her and ere she got the full import 
 of the proceeding a gold medal aflame with dazzling dia- 
 monds was pinned on her leather coat. She was just in 
 the midst of thanking the donors profusely when she 
 discovered Doctor Hope standing .in the rear. 
 
 "Oh, doctor, come here," she called impulsively. 
 
 "Yes, ma'm." And the next instant Doctor Hope 
 stood before the aviatrix giving respectful attention. 
 
 "Say, do you know Given C. Hope ?" she asked look- 
 ing the kind-faced physician squarely in the eye. 
 
 "No," he denied without hesitation. 
 
 "Then why did you ask me about him as if you 
 knew him?" 
 
 "I just wanted to see if he was one of the causes of 
 your nervous ailment." 
 
 "And did you so decide?" 
 
 "I sent the nurse right up." 
 
 "Gee," Gwen gasped. "And why the nurse on that 
 account ?" 
 
 "Love gone wrong makes people reckless, my dear 
 
 131
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 girl that's all," the doctor replied. 
 
 The girl thought deeply for a moment and then ex- 
 tended her hand, saying: "You're an exceptional doc- 
 tor I actually believe you could cure love sickness." 
 
 "If I may be pardoned for being bold, I would urge 
 that you be totally immune from all such maladies unt. ; l 
 you are safely on American soil again," he advised. "It 
 is not conducive to good health to be too much in love and 
 high in the air at the same time." 
 
 Davis simply could not refrain from chuckling aloud. 
 Gwen shot a reproachful glance at him for it, but she too 
 was amused. "Who said the Britisher doesn't see the 
 humorous side of a serious question once in a while?" 
 she asked of no one in particular. 
 
 "Love is too slushy a proposition for an occasion like 
 this anyway," joined in West, who did not claim to be 
 anyone in particular. 
 
 The words of these last few minutes on British ter- 
 ritory seemed extremely trivial, but, just the same, they 
 served a good purpose, for they removed the burden of 
 worrying over the forthcoming nervous strains and af- 
 forded all three of the courageous crew plenty of cause 
 for feeling exuberant. 
 
 When came time for the rounds of farewells and 
 God-speeds, Gwen was positively jolly. Davis shared in 
 this attitude, for as he assisted the fair pilot to her post, 
 
 132
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 he blandly remarked: 
 
 "You didn't seem much excited over the high hon- 
 ors they paid you." 
 
 "Well, I'll tell you," she promptly responded, "I'm 
 not looking for laurels ; I'm looking for a certain island." 
 
 Both laughed heartily and they were still giving vent 
 to their mirth when West set the propeller into pow- 
 erful motion and the mighty seaplane moved rapidly 
 away from the spot amid the cheers of the multitudes. 
 
 All day long luck stayed with the venturesome crew. 
 A night of ideal weather conditions followed. For the 
 two hours prior to midnight West piloted the machine 
 while Gwen took a nap. Davis never closed his eyes once. 
 He couldn't. He was completely charmed between his 
 natural love of excitement and his thoughts of the re- 
 markable girl whom he knew could never forget him for 
 those hours of unceasing thrill. 
 
 "I wonder who's soused on Broadway tonight!" 
 West ventured by way of opening conversation with 
 Davis while the chief little commander slept. 
 
 "Not me anyway," replied Davis. "However, I'm 
 intoxicated enough with anticipation of what's going to 
 happen before this journey is ended." 
 
 "Nothing unusual will happen," West predicted. 
 "This machine is bang-up and'll make it easy." 
 
 "But, I'm thinking about that island our com- 
 
 133
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 mandress was thinking about before she went to sleep." 
 the other reminded. 
 
 "It won't worry me if we never find it," West de- 
 clared. "I think that fellow Hope must be a nut any- 
 way." 
 
 Gwen woke up just in time to hear this last sentence. 
 
 She might have become irate if she had not opi/.r- 
 tunely realized that West was at the controller which he 
 could make spell disaster so quickly in case he were either 
 excited or peeved. As it was, she scolded mildly : 
 
 "You mustn't call anyone you do not know at ail 
 a nut, Mr. West." 
 
 " 'Scuse me, Miss, but I think it's the need of a little 
 sleep anyway," he hedged. 
 
 "Then sleep and-wake up with a better vision on the 
 values of men," she ordered rather curtly. 
 
 Thereupon she took over the responsibility of pilot- 
 ing the machine, and for nearly four hours West snored 
 so loudly he could be heard above the din of the engine. 
 All the while Davis was unusually quiet. Several times 
 Gwen asked him if he felt all right and each time he 
 assured her that he did. 
 
 "Then why all the lack of sociability?" she de- 
 manded. 
 
 "Well, I'll tell you, I'm wondering what became of 
 the mysterious lights," he confessed with a great deal of 
 
 134
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 reluctance. 
 
 "Hasn't there been anything doing in that line yet ?" 
 she asked. 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Why worry then?" 
 
 At that instant there was a curious buzzing noise 
 directly underneath the couple. It continued for only a 
 few seconds and then died away completely. 
 
 "There it is, that's what I'm really worrying about," 
 Davis shouted in some excitement. "The other trip it was 
 light and this time it's a buzz. What kind of nerves 
 could stand such queer, weird things?" 
 
 "Steel nerves," she answered confidently. "We're 
 still flying all right, aren't we?" 
 
 Davis saw the point. What was the use of borrow- 
 ing trouble? He would forget the annoying sounds of 
 the buzzing and attribute it to nothing. He got himself 
 right into the proper mental attitude to regard the whole 
 situation thus, but right at the wrong time the buzz 
 buzzed again, and he trembled from hand to foot. 
 
 "Lord ! What is that ?" he exploded. 
 
 "Have a heart, Davis, have a heart," the girl betj 
 ged. 
 
 Davis again saw the point and he was heartily 
 ashamed for being weakling enough to even pay any 
 attention to such a slight disturbance. Nevertheless he 
 
 135
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 could not help knowing that Gwen Dale was seriously 
 worried over the unwelcome noise the same as he was, 
 and he determined to find out what caused it. But, he 
 did not get far with his investigation. 
 
 "Wake West up quickly," Gwen ordered. "I think 
 I see land." 
 
 Davis got West aroused just in time for all hands 
 to realize that straight ahead of them a strong search 
 light had suddenly started to play all over the heavens 
 Gwen blinked her eyes. Davis strained his eye-sight 
 West got busy with his telescope and was the first to utter 
 a sound. 
 
 "It's an island about as big as a freckle," he yelled 
 excitedly. 
 
 "The island," Gwen emphasized in exultation. 
 
 "And, what about the search-light?" Davis asked 
 thoughtlessly. 
 
 "It's his and we must dodge it at all costs," she re- 
 plied as she strenuously turned her attention to her wheel 
 and wings. 
 
 Instantaneously the plane was flying at a sharply 
 curved angle. It was an unfortunate error in judgment 
 on the fair pilot's part, because it brought her directly 
 over the island and right into the shaft of light which 
 emanated therefrom. Involuntarily the girl leaned over 
 the side of the fuselage and peered down the line of this 
 
 136
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 shaft of light. Then and only then she knew she was 
 less than five hundred feet away from Given C. Hope, 
 the man she sought. She knew that with all his wiz- 
 ardry he saw her, although she could not see him. But 
 she was determined to complete the circle she had started 
 all too prematurely. And, by the time she had covered 
 two-thirds of the distance, she regained her senses enough 
 to know that a bright moonlight was staying her in good 
 stead. She peered down over the side of the fuselage 
 again. She saw the form of a man running at top 
 speed away from a small circular observatory. She did 
 not wonder but Davis wondered why the shaft of 
 light suddenly became stationary. 
 
 "For God's sake, don't!" she screamed with all her 
 might, as she leaned so far over the side of the machine 
 that Davis grabbed her around the waist in alarm. "Don't ! 
 Don't !" she repeated frantically. 
 
 "Hey, Miss, you're steering dangerously unsteady," 
 West yelled as he narrowly missed losing his balance. 
 
 Gwen immediately turned on her aerial anchorage 
 switch and the curious flappers on the ends of all planes 
 started to operate furiously much to the consternation of 
 both Davis and West. But, when in another few seco". 's 
 they realized the seaplane had come to a dead stop and 
 was resting quietly mid-air, their fears were allayed. As 
 soon as the propeller ceased to rotate, the girl leaned over 
 
 137
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 the edge of the fuselage again and looked down upon the 
 little island. She was just in time to see Hope take a 
 flying leap and come to an abrupt stop. She felt sure 
 she could see the mouth of that cave and she instantly 
 thought of those terrorizing noises she had mistaken for 
 approaching footsteps. Simultaneously she recalled the 
 inventor's assertion that he could blow up the entire 
 island by simply stepping upon a certain trap plate. The 
 keen sense of realization that a terrible peril was im- 
 pending, made her uncontrollably wild in her shoutings 
 of appeal. 
 
 "I love you ! I want you ! Please let me come down 
 and talk to you again !" she begged in tones so shrill that 
 there was no doubt but what he who was below heard. 
 
 Davis and West had both sighted the form of the 
 man. West was gazing through his telescope and was 
 the first to see the man wave his hands in warning. 
 
 "He's signalling us to move on," the mechanician an 
 nounced as an apprehension seized him. "We'd better 
 do it too," he added in the next breath. 
 
 "No ! No ! I will not leave him," the girl cried. 
 
 "Now he's got his arms* stretched up to the skies and 
 he's leaning his head far back, looking up away from 
 us," West shouted. 
 
 "By jove, he must be praying," Davis exclaimed. 
 
 "He is ! He is !" Gwen affirmed. "He means to end 
 
 138
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 it all now ! Oh God !" 
 
 "How does he mean to end it all now?" West de 
 manded as he scented the true situation. 
 
 "By blowing up the whole island," she replied as she 
 closed her eyes and wrung her hands. 
 
 West was not slow to act. He leaped into the fusel- 
 age and turned on the elevating -switch like a flash. 
 Promptly the seaplane dashed straight upward as an ele- 
 vator with breath-taking speed. One thousand feet, two 
 thousand feet, three thousand feet, four thousand feet it 
 climbed magnificently. As they were reaching five thou- 
 sand feet all eyes of the crew were fixed on the island 
 below. 
 
 Then there was a low rumbling. The very next 
 instant there was a terrific explosion, accompanied by 
 flaring flames and a flying molten mass remindful of a 
 volcanic eruption. All witnesses saw the whole island 
 rise high in the air. It seemed as if it came within a 
 thousand feet of them. The limp form of a man could 
 be seen to mount the aif with the debris. Then all fell 
 with a roaring crash back into the sea and was submerg- 
 ed. The island had been completely demolished and in its 
 pla(';ti was an angry, disturbed ocean. 
 
 The detonation had its effect by way of impact upon 
 the air currents, and the seaplane trembled as if it was 
 about to be crumbled up like so much flimsy paper. West 
 
 139
 
 was the first to realize that they were falling. He leaped 
 squarely into Gwen's lap, starting the engine in the same 
 moment, and with the desperation of a man who knows 
 a terrrible end is near, he manipulated the controller 
 and the wings. The machine responded only slightly to 
 his efforts. Their descent was only a little more gradual 
 and none the less precarious. Suddenly there was a 
 groaning in the motor and with two violent exhaustions 
 it stopped abruptly. Ere another breath could be taken 
 by anyone they were drenched with great sprays of water. 
 They had crashed into the turbulent sea. But they had 
 landed on sound, seaworthy pontoons. This was their 
 only advantage as they started a hair-raising battle to 
 survive the onslaughts of an aimless drift in the vast 
 reaches of a mighty and murderous deep. 
 
 140
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 HARROWING HOURS. 
 
 WHEN the plane settled on the breaker-infested 
 surface of the ocean, it at once became appar- 
 ent to West that the only way to prevent her from cap- 
 sizing was to press Davis into service as a mobile counter- 
 balance. 
 
 "Climb onto the top wing and fight with all your 
 might to throw yourself on the elevated ends as fast as 
 the sea pounds her up and down," he ordered. "I'll do 
 my best to get the engine to going again. You be ready 
 to drive her back up in the air if the propeller budges, 
 Miss." 
 
 Davis scrambled up on the top wing and immediately 
 plunged into the most desperate struggle of his life. As 
 fast as he would succeed in getting to one extreme tip 
 of the wing, that side would sway downward until the 
 lower wing dipped into the water. He fought courage- 
 ously to force his weight to produce a balance, but it was 
 a feat next to impossible. Meanwhile West was exerting 
 superhuman strength in his attempts to determine the 
 cause of the engine trouble, but he too was confronted 
 by a proposition in which the predominating elements 
 consisted of futility. Gwen Dale remained at her post 
 
 141
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 of duty, feeling every minute that she was rapidly be- 
 coming numb. Occasionally she essayed to arouse her- 
 self by taking a furtive glance at the spot where it seemed 
 the island had been, and she sighed so many times that 
 she felt an acute soreness in her throat. Once when the 
 plane was dashed to an angle of forty-five degrees, she 
 actually wished it would go on over, bringing the relief 
 of the inevitable. The next moment she thought of the 
 lives of her two companions and she was ashamed of her- 
 self for yielding to such melancholy. 
 
 It was just at the break of day that Gwen was thor- 
 oughly aroused from all of her stupor. Straight ahead in 
 a trough of the sea she discovered the form of a man. 
 He was battling gamely to reach the pontoons. And, 
 oh what a wonderful swimmer was this man ! 
 
 "West! West!" the frightened girl called. "Here'i 
 Hope in the water and alive !" 
 
 "Where?" West demanded looking around quickly. 
 
 "Right there!" she shouted. "See him?" 
 
 "Yes." And West was already climbing down to 
 wards the pontoons. 
 
 "Rescue him, for God's sake, rescue him!" she 
 screamed as she too started* to climb down to the pon- 
 toons. 
 
 Luckily West found a stout rope fastened to the 
 pontoon upon which he landed. He quickly threw it as 
 
 142
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 far out into the sea as it would go. The man in distress 
 saw it, but could not reach it. West realized his unhappy 
 predicament. There was only one thing to do and that 
 was to plunge into the sea and offer his strength still free 
 from exhaustion to supplement the fast-diminishing 
 physical power of the unfortunate. The sturdy mechani- 
 cian turned to look after Gwen. She was just sliding 
 onto the pontoon. 
 
 "Look !" he yelled. "Hang onto this rope and pull 
 with all your might when you see me grab the fellow." 
 
 "All right ! Hurry !" she yelled back as she grasped 
 the rope. 
 
 West hastily though carefully placed the rope under 
 his left arm and dived into the sea. Thea started a battle 
 royal which Neptune himself must have admired. West 
 fought every conceivable alternating current to reach the 
 man who was rapidly losing his stamina. Gwen Dale was 
 sure the fight was being waged in vain. The sea in- 
 creased its roughness and frequently titanic waves would 
 hide both men from her view. Notwithstanding this, she 
 clung onto the rope well knowing her very life depended 
 upon it. After what seemed, to be a whole hour to her, 
 but what was in reality only a minute, she felt a tugging 
 at that rope, although she could see no human being any- 
 where. Instinctively she pulled with all her might. 
 Slowly she reclaimed foot after foot of the rope. Pres- 
 
 143
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 ently as her strength started to leave her entirely, she dis- 
 covered for the first time in many seconds the heads of 
 two men. One was West and the other well, she 
 blinked her eyes, and, she continued to blink her eyes 
 until she saw four hands grasp the side of the pontoon. 
 Then she recognized West's companion in distress to be 
 none other than Floyd Cooper Davis ! 
 
 Was she disappointed or did she rejoice? In the first 
 place, it had never occurred to her that Davis could have 
 fallen off the upper wing. In the second place, she was 
 extremely anxious to have Given C. Hope as her own ! 
 
 But there was the man himself Davis struggling 
 with all of his might to pull himself up out of the water 
 with West doing all he could to help him. Indeed, even 
 the expert swimmer needs the mediocre one occasionally 
 when comes moments of distress ! 
 
 "Oh !" Gwen cried. "He fell in trying to save me !" 
 
 Thereupon she summoned all the strength she had 
 left to assist first Davis and then West back onto the 
 pontoon. And, they did get up out of the water safely. 
 But, the girl swooned and neither of her consorts had suf- 
 ficient strength left to help her much. However, Davis 
 managed to reach down into the water and to bring up a 
 handful of it, which he dashed into the girl's face. The 
 results were gratifying and five minutes later all three 
 of the crew were once more at their respective posts of 
 
 144
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 duty. 
 
 The sun came up a while afterwards and the sea 
 calmed down a little. But, this was not so very encour- 
 aging, because the only thing to be seen was a nerve-rack- 
 ing monotony : the endless expanse of death-dealing 
 water. 
 
 "Does anyone know how near we are to the main 
 ship lane?" Gwen asked as she brought to bear every 
 ounce of energy she possessed to merely turn her head 
 tq West, who was working away with surprising energy 
 on the engine. 
 
 "God alone knows, Miss," he replied. "We've been 
 drifting at a mighty high speed." 
 
 "Well, will the engine ever run again?" she almost 
 demanded. 
 
 "I'm afraid not," he answered. 
 
 "Where's Davis? In the water again?" 
 
 "No, he went right back on top as brave a lad as 
 ever lived, and he's saved our lives a dozen times," the 
 mechanician declared with unrestrained admiration. 
 
 "Why doesn't he come down to see if I'm all right ?" 
 she persisted. 
 
 "If he did, by the time he got down, you wouldn't be 
 here," West replied. 
 
 "Where would I be?" she asked aimlessly. 
 
 "You'd be in your watery grave, that's all." 
 
 145
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 Gwen shuddered. 
 
 "Guess he'd better stay on the roof then," she mum- 
 bled dryly. 
 
 All day long the seaplane had drifted hither and 
 thither, its occupants knew not where. No one had got- 
 ten a wink of sleep and fatigue became potential as a foe, 
 a foe that must be combatted. Every eye in the crew 
 suffered from extreme strain as a result of the constant 
 lookout for a ship. Seemingly they were far off the 
 course of regular transatlantic traffic and they would 
 have to trust to mere luck indefinitely since they had no 
 means of finding or reaching the lane from which they 
 might be picked up. 
 
 "Oh, how I hate to think of going through a whole 
 night of this," Gwen complained wearily, as she watched 
 the shades of darkness approach. 
 
 "It's no use fretting about that, Miss nights will 
 come and nights will go, and all we've got to do is our 
 level best," was West's cheerful reminder. 
 
 This night, however, did not make anything like a 
 reassuring advent into the sea-bound trio's lives. There 
 was a disturbing howl in the wind, which seemed likely 
 to develop into a gale at any moment, and there were 
 some black, dense clouds hovering low. The sea was 
 
 146
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 choppy and fickle. No navigator could rest under such 
 conditions as existed. 
 
 "What'lL we do if it storms?" the girl asked as she 
 sensed the dangers which lurked all around. 
 
 "We'll fight it," West declared grimly. "We'll have 
 to there's no starting this engine again and so I'll go up 
 and relieve Davis for a while. He must be nearly dead." 
 
 "Oh yes, dear Mr. Davis, he has been as quiet as the 
 dead for a mighty long time," Gwen responded. "Tell 
 him to come down for a nap, poor boy." 
 
 West was soon on the top wing and he was amazed 
 at the dogged courage Davis was showing in forcing the 
 machine to maintain an equilibrium. 
 
 "How's it going?" West asked. 
 
 "Fine, excepting I'm a little groggy," Davis gasped. 
 
 "Hop down in the pit and take a snooze I'll juggle 
 the beastly thing for a while." 
 
 Davis did not wait for a second invitation. He 
 climbed right down, landing in th'e outstretched arms of 
 Gwen. 
 
 "Oh," was all he could say as he stretched out and 
 let the girl hold his head in those arms. The very next 
 instant he was sound asleep. 
 
 The sight of the man recuperating so peacefully was 
 too much for the equally exhausted girl, and the last thing 
 she remembered was a mental note as to what a strong 
 
 147
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 profile he had. It was upon this profile her cheek rested 
 as she lapsed into a restful unconsciousness. 
 
 It was something like two hours before either sleep- 
 er even stirred. Then both awakened with a start. 
 
 "What is it?" she asked half-dazed. 
 
 "We must have hit something," he guessed. 
 
 "What makes you think so?" she pressed as she 
 peered anxiously into the dark. 
 
 "I felt a jolt and look!" he exclaimed pointing to 
 the starboard. 
 
 "What's that?" 
 
 "It looks like a Bronx billboard." 
 
 "It's a ship-camouflaged," she discovered. 
 
 At this juncture West jumped down into the fusel- 
 age. 
 
 "A derelict, mates our salvation if we can only tie 
 to it," he announced as he started to climb on down to 
 one of the pontoons. "Come quick and help me, Davis." 
 
 Within a twinkling both men were valiantly endeav- 
 oring to fasten the plane's one rope to the derelict's bow, 
 which was plainly visible. The wind was increasing in 
 velocity so rapidly and there was such an ominous rumb- 
 ling' among the black clouds which were concentrating 
 overhead that all the incentive necessary was at hand to 
 spur the stalwarts to achieve their purpose at all haz- 
 ards. But they could not strike anything to tie to and 
 
 148
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 when they saw the derelict was drifting away from them 
 Davis decided on a bold stroke. 
 
 "Tie the end of the rope in a slip knot to my wrist 
 and I'll swim over to the thing and tie to something," he 
 instructed. 
 
 "It'll be a tough job to keep the sea from smashing 
 you to death against that steel," West warned. 
 
 "I'll manage some way," the other replied confident- 
 ly. 
 
 "All right. Wait until the Miss gets down to stand 
 by in case I have to go out after you." 
 
 "I'm right here on the job," Gwen announced as she 
 slid down to ftie pontoon. "What are you going to do?" 
 
 "Davis is going to swim over to that derelict and 
 tie us to it," West explained. 
 
 "Oh no, I'm afraid," she objected. 
 
 "Don't be afraid, little girl, I'll turn the trick," Davis 
 reassured with a smile such as graces only the face of 
 a truly brave man. 
 
 At this moment West had arranged the rope's end 
 around Davis' wrist, and the latter dived into the water 
 without the slightest hesitation. In the darkness of the 
 night and the roughness of the sea, it was difficult for 
 the two watchers to keep track of his movements. Finally 
 all trace of him was gone for fully five minutes. Just 
 ( as consternation was rising high in two anxious brains, 
 
 149
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 they heard his voice: 
 
 "Come over to my house and see me," the voice 
 yelled. 
 
 By supreme straining of the eye-sight Gwen and 
 West sighted Davis standing on what looked to be the 
 upturned side of the ship. He was waving his hands 
 wildly. 
 
 "Can you pull us closer to you?" West shouted as 
 he felt a tugging which assured him Davis had tied them 
 to the derelict. 
 
 "Sure thing we've got anything you want over 
 here," Davis yelled back jovially. 
 
 It was at least fifteen minutes before'Davis accom- 
 plished the task of pulling the seaplane alongside the 
 floating shipwreck. Even then Gwen had great difficulty 
 in getting on board even with the assistance of both 
 men. Once she almost slipped into the water, but the 
 
 strong hand of Davis saved her. 
 
 ********** 
 
 The tired trio had actually enjoyed fully a half 
 hour's stay on the capacious portion of the ship which 
 maintained a remarkably even keel well above the break- 
 ers. As unsafe as it was, it seemed to all to be a haven 
 of security, and they ceased to worry so much about the 
 storm which threatened to descend upon them at any 
 moment. 
 
 150
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 Then something happened. It was the last thing any 
 mortal could expect under those extraordinary circum- 
 stances. A strange, heavily bearded man, attired in a 
 tattered uniform of an American seaman, suddenly leap- 
 ed into sight at the other end of the ship. He howled like 
 a madman as he ran straight toward the stunned group. 
 Before Davis could bring himself to believe he was not 
 having a terrible nightmare the stranger attacked hin. 
 with a viciousness equal to that of the wildest beast. 
 There followed a hair-raising, blood-curdling combat 
 The aggressor was unmistakably bent on committing 
 murder; the defendant was gamely struggling to over- 
 come his adversary. 
 
 West was too surprised to arouse himself to action 
 at the beginning, but when he heard Gwen Dale scream in 
 great terror, he began a participation which soon ended 
 the affray with the stranger pinioned down to the boat 
 on his back and groaning from the pain of the finishing 
 blow he had received. 
 
 Davis tore his shirt to shreds in order to bind the 
 gladiator and keep him captive. When with the aid of 
 both West and Gwen he then completed the job of in- 
 suring the man's helplessness indefinitely, he peered 
 down into his face. 
 
 "Where in the devil did you come from?" he de- 
 manded. 
 
 151
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 The prisoner rolled his eyes as he mumbled: "For 
 days. Where from, where to, nowhere. Just nights." 
 
 "Guess he's a little daffy from the wallops," West 
 surmised. 
 
 "Oh no, blows like that are sweet to me after all 
 these headaches I've had for days," the man declared. 
 
 "The only survivor of this wreck, I suppose," Davis 
 observed, looking up at Gwen who strll trembled from 
 head to foot. 
 
 "Yes starving to death and oh God, how thirsty," 
 the sailor muttered in husky tones. 
 
 "Which explains the assault the man's crazed by 
 his hunger and thirst," Davis commented, again glanc- 
 ing up at Gwen. Thereupon he produced a tin box out 
 of an inside pocket and opened it. "Only four beef cubes 
 left, but he shall have them all," he said as he started to 
 feed the poor man. 
 
 "Here's a couple of swallows of water," West said 
 as he handed Davis his canteen. 
 
 Even while the last cube was being vigorously mas- 
 ticated by the victim of harrowing experiences, the storm 
 which had been brewing so long, came down upon the 
 group. The sea started to pound the seaplane against 
 the side of the derelict, and it was a foregone conclusion 
 the weaker craft would be broken in two. 
 
 152
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 "We've got to have what food and water there's 
 left," West declared. 
 
 "Yes, by all means I'll get it," Davis promptly 
 agreed as undaunted as ever. 
 
 "Oh, don't tell me he has to go back into that ter- 
 rible water again." Gwen chimed in appealingly as she 
 stared at West. 
 
 "Either him or me's got to do it," the latter replied. 
 
 "I will," Davis persisted firmly. "But, for God's 
 sake, West, hold onto Miss Dale and don't let her slide 
 into the sea." 
 
 It was a sudden lurching of the derelict which in- 
 spired him to issue this warning, and as he noted the 
 storm was increasing in fury at an alarming rate he ran 
 down to the place where he had tied the plane up and 
 with remarkable agility leaped into the water clinging to 
 the rope with both hands. 
 
 Thus he managed to reach the much-battered aerial 
 vessel which resembled a huge ghost in the darkness of 
 the night. Hand over hand he tugged and pulled until 
 he had reached his insecure destination. Giant waves 
 swept over him constantly, but he always came through 
 hanging tenaciously to. the rope. Once on a pontoon he 
 lost no time in climbing into the fuselage, where he 
 hastily gathered all the food and water he could find. 
 Without even pausing to rest for a moment he started 
 
 153
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 back on the perilous return journey, still with the succor 
 of the trusty rope. And he made it almost easily, for 
 Floyd Cooper Davis had become as near a superman as 
 it was possible to be. He had assimilated suffering and 
 privation far better than West, who looked as if he were 
 about to drop in his tracks at any instant. 
 
 "Thank God that you're back safe," Gwen mur- 
 mured as her trembling increased. As she uttered the 
 words she pushed herself into his arms and nestled close 
 to his bosom. "You are such a wonderful man," she 
 whispered a moment later. 
 
 Davis felt a thrill go through his very heart as he 
 heard these words, but he made no comment. He pos- 
 sessed too much manhood to take advantage of a situa- 
 tion he felt convinced was produced by the fact that the 
 girl was verging on delirium brought on by the long, un- 
 broken series of hardships she had been forced to endure. 
 ~" Wonder if there's any shelter to be had on this boat 
 at all?" he asked as he took advantage of the streaks of 
 lightning to peer down the full length of it. The bound 
 men at his feet squirmed. All looked down at him. 
 
 "That way," he gasped as he tried to indicate the di- 
 rection from which he had come. 
 
 "I'll see," West announced and he promptly made 
 his way to the end. He returned a moment later and 
 announcing the discovery of a lookout's nest fore, he 
 
 154
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 picked up the sailor and started for it, bidding the others 
 to follow. Davis took Gwen bodily into his arms just as 
 a drenching downpour of rain started. And oh what a 
 haven they found ! True, it was only a cold, barren, 
 water-soaked semi-circular nest so small that the four hu- 
 man beings could just barely squeeze into it, but it's up- 
 turned side served as a roof and kept some of the rain 
 and wind away. As inadequate as it was and as terror- 
 izing as life was in it, Davis earnestly breathed a prayer 
 of thanks to the Supreme Being for it. 
 
 "It's where I've lived for days and nights," the sailor 
 gasped. 
 
 "No wonder you went plumb crazy then," West 
 commented as he shuddered. "I can feel something giv- 
 ing away in my brain already." 
 
 "Tut tut," Davis warned. "This is no time for pes- 
 simism. It is an ideal time to prove one's optimism. It 
 might be much worse." 
 
 $j|c4 I 4' 1 t c 4 [I t t 4 <] l c $ 
 
 All night long, with the tempest never abating, this 
 stranded group huddled in this nest. Just after daylight 
 the skies cleared up and the sea became as calm as a sheet 
 of glass. Gwen had slept a good part of the terrible 
 night in Davis' arms. None of the men would sleep. 
 Each had expressed the desire to serve the whole and con- 
 sequently all three did. The sailor had so far recovered 
 
 155
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 his sanity that he made intelligent inquiries as to how it 
 happened his new friends came on board and finally West 
 released him from the improvised restraint feeling sure 
 there would be no more trouble from him. 
 
 "Where are we?" Gwen asked as soon as she got 
 her eyes open. 
 
 "God alone knows, my dear girl," Davis replied. 
 "But we're going to take advantage of the fair weather 
 of this day to do all in our power to attract some passing 
 ship if there is such a thing in this latitude." 
 
 Painfully he crawled out of the nest and assisted 
 Gwen after him. West and the sailor followed. Once 
 upon her feet the girl took a quick survey of the sur- 
 rounding sea. 
 
 "Where's my seaplane?" she demanded in consterna- 
 tion. 
 
 "Gone forever," Davis informed. "We saw her go 
 down just as a flash of lightning lingered over her soon 
 after you went to sleep." 
 
 "Oh! what if we had been on it?" she asked as she 
 
 quailed. 
 
 "We would have been where we have to go sooner 
 or later anyway," Davis replied philosophically. "But 
 now for breakfast." Whereupon he smilingly began pro- 
 ducing the tin boxes he had recovered from the ill-fated 
 aerial pathfinder. 
 
 156
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 As they devoured the all too insufficient supply of 
 food which Davis doled gut as equally as he could, they 
 all became better acquainted. 
 
 "My name is Frank Slavin and this was my first voy- 
 age," the sailor said. "We ran into an iceberg and all 
 hands except me went overboard to death. As near as 
 I can figure it all happened six days ago, and I've been 
 floating around desperately ever since." 
 
 "What boat is this?" West asked. 
 
 "A tramp steamer called John Henry." 
 
 "Where was it bound for?" 
 
 "England. We started from Boston." 
 
 "What did you do before you shipped out?" Davis 
 inquired. 
 
 "I aspired high, but not wisely," the man confessed. 
 
 "In what line?" 
 
 "Musical. I thought I. could write the great Ameri- 
 can opera, and I almost starved to death in the attempt. 
 In fact, it was hunger and an inability to get a job at any- 
 thing else that led me to this cursed boat." 
 
 "So here, Miss Dale, is another aspirant come to grief 
 and no good end," Davis remarked as he glanced at the 
 much interested girl. 
 
 "Oh, but I will win out yet if I^can ever get my two 
 feet on dry land again," the sailor persisted. 
 
 "Then you hold no grudge against the system be- 
 
 157
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 cause of your failure?" Gwen asked eagerly. 
 
 "What's the use to hold a grudge ?" he asked sagely. 
 "There's no inspiration in grudges and you have to have 
 inspiration in order to 'come back' as the slang experts 
 say it." 
 
 "Don't you know that humble genius has little or no 
 chance to get a hearing anywhere today ?" she pointed out 
 significantly. 
 
 "No, I didn't know it," he admitted innocently. 
 "How did any of the big ones start then?" 
 
 "Luck helped them in most cases," she declared. 
 
 "I've got to differ, lady, I 
 
 "Hooray !" West shouted at that moment, arising to 
 his feet and jumping up and down as if he had suddenly 
 gone mad. 
 
 "What is it?" the other three demanded, likewise 
 
 getting up. 
 
 "A ship ! A ship !" he proclaimed as he pointed at a 
 trail of black smoke coming up over the horizon. 
 
 "You're right, mate," the sailor yelled. 
 
 "Wonderful!" Gwen exclaimed as she waxed wild 
 
 with joy. 
 
 "Now all hands, sparing the lady's, to signal the ves- 
 sel," Davis ordered. 
 
 Every bit of wearing apparel all three men could 
 spare without exposing their bodies too much to the ele- 
 
 158
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 ments was pressed into service in making a quite 
 large though crude flag. The various garments were 
 spliced together with splinters the men were able to dig 
 out of the frame parts of the derelict with their fingers. 
 Not a one of them escaped shedding blood and enduring 
 much acute pain in this desperate work, but they were 
 all happy just the same. When the flag was completed 
 they abided their time until the ship's nose appeared 
 over the horizon and then the stalwart shoulders of Davis 
 served as a standing place for West, while he energeti- 
 cally waved the distress signals which must be discovered. 
 West waved until he felt as if his arms would be twisted 
 off and Davis held steady long after he began feeling a 
 dizziness in his head. 
 
 Could Fate hold out longer against such courageous 
 souls? No. Their signals were sighted when the good 
 ship was more than two miles away, and it was the work 
 of only two hours for the captain to get a life-boat to 
 them and back again safely on board. It was the mighty 
 liner George Washington, bearing President Woodrow 
 Wilson on his final voyage from Europe to America, and 
 the signals of the stranded quartette had possibly spared 
 the vessel from colliding with the derelict, as it was 
 directly in its pathway. 
 
 When President Wilson heard that among the 
 rescued party was Gwen Dale, the American aviatrix who 
 
 159
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 was the first girl to make a non-stop flight across the At- 
 lantic, he promptly went to her, warmly congratulating 
 her upon her fine achievements and her good fortune in 
 being spared from a tragic death far at sea. He shook 
 her hand heartily and in turn extended his democratic 
 greetings to her three companions. 
 
 "May I not add the felicitation that some way v every 
 mortal seems to find chances of survival better than ever 
 since a world war has obliterated so much of the resigna- 
 tion to mere fate?" the distinguished statesman smiled 
 broadly and kindly. 
 
 ********** 
 
 The whole story of all the thrilling experiences of 
 Gwen Dale and her companions had been wirelessed and 
 published forty hours before the George Washington 
 reached port. The net result was surely an augmenting 
 of the interest of the record-breaking crowd at and for 
 miles around the Hoboken pier. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Dale were the first to greet Gwen 
 when she descended the gang-plank. Weeping for joy 
 was by no means confined to these worry-worn parents. 
 Davis, West and Frank Slavin stood by unobtrusively 
 watching the touching scene. Finally Gwen recovered 
 sufficiently to think of them. 
 
 "Father and mother, you owe everything to Mr. 
 Davis and Mr. West, the two great heroes of my life," 
 
 160
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 she said impressively. 
 
 "Leave me out of it, please," West begged. "If I 
 was half as good a man as Davis, I'd be proud, but I'm 
 not, so I'm not proud." 
 
 "Come, come, pal," Davis beseeched. "Why spoil 
 my quiet celebration over landing safely by embarrassing 
 me like that ? Anyway, here's Slavin too he did some- 
 thing." 
 
 "I owe everything to you folks," Slavin promptly 
 replied. 
 
 "Well, anyway, we won't argue the subject," Davis 
 protested. "And Miss Dale " whereupon he im- 
 pulsively plunged his hand into a coat pocket. 
 
 "Yes," she responded eager over his pause. 
 
 "Er when you've gotten all rested, I'll call, if you 
 don't mind," he ventured. 
 
 "Certainly you're going to call, not once but often," 
 she laughed. 
 
 "But this is on very special business," he specified 
 as he withdrew his empty hand from his pocket appar- 
 ently satisfied. 
 
 "Now you have me curious," she confessed. "What 
 is the nature of the special business?" 
 
 "Some time during those awful hours after we 
 abandoned the plane, something very strange came into 
 my possession," he stated. "I admit I am mystified over 
 
 161
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 it and and even at that I think you will be interested 
 in it." 
 
 "Gosh!" Gwen ejaculated. "This is a swell way to 
 leave a fellow, all up in the air and wondering silly." 
 
 "I'm sorry, but, as you will agree later, it is best to 
 undertake to solve this mystery under more auspicious 
 circumstances than these," he apologized. 
 
 Before Gwen had any chance to glean more advance 
 information, Davis had warmly and graciously said good- 
 bye to her and her parents and departed with Slavin as 
 his charge. 
 
 162
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 So RISETH HOPES FROM THOSE WHICH HAVE FALLEN. 
 
 Two whole days and two whole nights passed and 
 Gwen Dale had received no word from Floyd Cooper 
 Davis. She was both worried and exasperated, worried 
 lest he might be ill and she surely would be exasperated 
 if he was not ! By the time noon of the third day rolled 
 around the girl could not endure the strain any longer 
 and she telephoned to him. 
 
 "Say, are you working for some insane asylum?" she 
 demanded jestingly through the telephone. 
 
 "No, I've been in the employ of one Morpheus prac- 
 tically ever since I left you," he replied. "Never slept 
 so much at a stretch in my life, but gee, I feel great now." 
 
 "So do I, now, but I had to do the 'phoning to get 
 that way," she reprimanded. 
 
 "Oh, I was going to call you up today for sure," he 
 declared. "I want to come up this evening and deliver 
 this mystery thing to you." 
 
 "But, I don't want you to wait until this evening ; I 
 want you to come up right now," she ordered rather au- 
 tocratically. 
 
 "Then there's nothing for me to do except to obey, 
 
 163
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 so here I come," he accepted and the next minute he was 
 on his way. 
 
 The hour she had to wait for the man seemed like 
 an age to Gwen, but when she got her first glimpse of 
 him in a rich brown suit of the latest style, and all that 
 goes to make a handsome man look irresistible to a girl 
 who knows he deserves admiration, she forgot all her 
 fretting, threw her arms around his neck and squeezed 
 him until he winced. 
 
 "Some unexpected reception, I'll say," he laughed. 
 
 "Oh boy, I'm glad to see you." And she would not 
 let loose of him. 
 
 "Say, you are a suffragette, aren't you?" he ven- 
 tured, as he patted her pretty cheek. 
 
 "Why do you mention that now?" she inquired. 
 
 "Why, you're not depending upon me for a single 
 bit of the initiative, and you don't seem prone to grant 
 any of the referendum," he joked. 
 
 "That's all right, Mister Davis, you'll have your 
 chances yet," she reminded as a mischievous smile played 
 over her face. 
 
 "I have my doubts," he answered. 
 
 "What do you mean, you have your doubts ?" 
 
 "Well, let's look into this mystery and perhaps we'll 
 both understand better," he suggested as he placed his 
 hand in his pocket. 
 
 164
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 "Oh yes, I had most forgotten about that," she said, 
 taking Davis by the hand and leading him into an ad- 
 joining reception room, where they made themselves 
 comfortable closely side-by-side on a luxuriously up- 
 holstered davenport. 
 
 'You knew this man Hope pretty well, didn't you?" 
 he began. 
 
 "Yes, and oh what a terrible shame it is that he 
 should go as he did !" she replied as an expression of sad- 
 ness swept suddenly over her face. 
 
 "If you could have induced him to come back to 
 civilization, what then?" 
 
 "Oh, please don't cross-examine me like that," she 
 begged. 
 
 "For the sake of humanity I must." 
 
 "Why ?" 
 
 "Given C. Hope was a wonder and there must be 
 some way to impress upon the world at large that cir- 
 cumstances which drove him into oblivion must n6t be 
 allowed to prevail in the future. Here is the most elo- 
 quent evidence of all the man's rare genius." Davis 
 pulled an odd-shaped ten-ounce bottle out of* his pocket 
 and handed it to Gwen. "An autobiography in a bottle 
 a thousand words of it engraved on the metal cone you 
 see fastened in the middle, and, there are some remark- 
 
 165
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 able evidences of the deepest lore in several sage state- 
 ments." 
 
 Gwen examined the bottle with the keenest interest, 
 but she could not see any of the words on the metal cone. 
 
 "Where are the thousand words?" she asked. 
 
 "Watch closely," he instructed as he placed a finger 
 on the bottom of the bottle. 
 
 Instantly there was a phosphorescent glow. It 
 emanated from inside the cone, and, curiously enough, it 
 not only illuminated, but it magnified and Hope's last 
 message to the world could be read with comparative 
 ease, and, this message had been given every protection 
 against the onslaughts of the deep, inasmuch as it was 
 encased in 'water-tight and air-tight re-enforced glass, 
 which had been blown around it most adeptly. 
 
 My life was everyone's life, but np one 
 wanted it. 
 
 Modernism murders more audaciously 
 though not so bloodily. 
 
 Men ignore, women deplore unknown 
 genius, the bore. 
 
 I'd rather be a bricklayer than a talented 
 brick. 
 
 These and many other recorded musings caught 
 166
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 Gwen's eyes. Then Davis called her attention to a series 
 of lines at the very top of the cone. 
 
 She's a modern girl of the clouds really 
 a high girl. God spare me from lowering 
 her any. I would if I returned to claim her, 
 because I think aspiring would be a folly in 
 my case, since I am so unforgiving, and 
 anyway, I can do a better turn by making 
 mankind sorry than I can by making one 
 girl glad. Others should be saved by my 
 radicalism. 
 
 "Oh he is a real martyr to the cause of giving others 
 better chances than he had," she exclaimed in admira- 
 tion 
 
 "Yes, undoubtedly," Davis agreed. "But, read his 
 message further," he then urged, as he pointed out an- 
 other series of small lines whereupon Gwen read the 
 following : 
 
 My long-distance electric sign failed to 
 work on the promised night, no doubt just 
 to remind me that I wasn't invincible, and 
 the thought of not being invincible is most 
 discouraging to me. I've always had things 
 happen to me like this just at the wrong 
 
 167
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 time, and I wasn't built to stand it, so 
 there's nothing to do but to fall as grace- 
 fully as I can. 
 
 "Poor man," the girl murmured sympathetically. 
 "This explains the failure of that never-to-be-forgotten 
 night when the skeptical reporter had his inning in 
 triumph." 
 
 "Yes, and it gives a perfect insight to Hope's nature 
 which is thus proven to be all out of tune with the na- 
 tural vicissitudes every mortal must meet successfully 
 in order to win out," Davis observed. "Hope possessed 
 everything necessary to attaining high purposes, but he 
 lacked one indispensable essential." 
 
 "What was that ?" 
 
 "Plain, every-day sticktuitiveness." 
 
 "You're right." 
 
 "And he had too much of another trait," Davis press- 
 ed on. 
 
 "What?" 
 
 "Sensitiveness." 
 
 "I'm sure of it." 
 
 "Now look here and see a deep mystery cleared up," 
 the deeply interested man continued. Thereupon Owen 
 read the following in the bottle : 
 
 When I attached a secret searchlight to 
 168
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 Gwen Dale's seaplane, my purpose was one 
 of fiendish desire to confuse her should she 
 attempt to fly back to me. I hooked the 
 storage battery up with the engine, and 
 timed it so it would occasionally send out a 
 flash of light for a few seconds after 
 enough revolutions to cover only a couple 
 hundred miles. All the while I've feared it 
 might not work perfectly, and there would 
 be a nerve-racking buzz which would surely 
 drive her mad. 
 
 "Oh!" the girl gasped as she shuddered convulsive- 
 ly in unpleasant memories. "Isn't that uncanny !" 
 
 "Very, and it shows another side to so much genius," 
 he commented. 
 
 "Yes, I see it, the dangerous, harmful side " 
 
 "Exactly the side which must be curbed while the 
 better side is being given a fair chance to develop." 
 
 "How did you ever happen to get this bottle?" she 
 demanded suddenly. 
 
 "Do you remember the last time I went into the 
 water when I went back to the plane for our remain- 
 ing supplies?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "When I went under one of the breakers, I felt 
 
 169
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 something strike me on the head," he explained. "Sheer 
 instinct made me grab at my head with one hand while 
 I clung to the rope with the other, and much to my sur- 
 prise I discovered I held a bottle. I jammed it in my 
 pocket and forgot it until I got on the George Washing- 
 ton." 
 
 "Remarkable, isn't it?" 
 
 "Exceedingly so, but here see one more important 
 passage in this farewell note," he suggested as he turned 
 the bottle around. Then Gwen read the following: 
 
 Knowing my shortcomings, I can do 
 some overcoming by refusing the oppor- 
 tunity this high girl could bring to me by 
 refusing and letting myself be an example 
 rather out of the ordinary. You see I al- 
 ways did lie more or less, I lied to her. 
 I told her I was married. God knows all * 
 women were too fortunate to ever join me 
 in wedlock. So I make up for some rascal- 
 ity by trying to help others now without ad- 
 mitting that the rascality of others does 
 not exceed my own. 
 
 "Well, it is to his credit that he did deny himself 
 easy sailing in order to spare his brother and sister un- 
 known aspirants from the rough sailing which is so 
 
 170
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 ccmmonly allotted to them," she commented. 
 
 "Precisely, and, even- though he had his faults and 
 his brave sacrifice may be futile, the example he set is 
 worthy of the widest extolling for what effect it will have 
 on society in general," he observed. "I intend to devote 
 a life-time to this very work of exploring for the talented 
 in need. Henceforth my sole purpose is to help others in 
 their purpose." 
 
 "And I join you in that," she announced enthu- 
 siastically. 
 
 "Good ! Our first hope, thanks to the honored and 
 lamented Hope, shall be Frank Slavin," he proclaimed. 
 "You must hear him sing and play his own compositions. 
 He's really a combination of Victor Herbert and Verdi, 
 and, as totally unheralded as such as he could possibly 
 be. However, by the time our exploitation reaches its 
 climax, the whole world will know him well as one of 
 its best musical geniuses." 
 
 "Won't that be grand !" she exclaimed in unalloyed 
 ecstacy. "And we found him in more oblivion than any- 
 one else ever had to combat," she added as she recalled 
 that awful night on the drifting derelict. 
 
 "In conclusion along this line of thought, I want to 
 confide in you to the extent of announcing my intention 
 of launching some sort of a publication devoted to finding 
 and helping such luckless aspirants as Given C. Hope 
 
 171
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 < : : Frank Slavin. For once I am truly glad I do know 
 something about journalism, for it is a potential medium 
 for conducting such a campaign as I plan." 
 
 Gwen Dale was profoundly impressed. She realized 
 that the happy upshot of all the extraordinary experiences 
 she had survived was a most exalted inspiration to a most 
 admirable man of very high character. This was reward 
 enough since it certainly presaged unbounded usefulness 
 to humanity. And ah yes, she did want to have a place 
 in the work. Moreover, she was still a suffragette in 
 ideas and ideals though a most charming one, delightfully 
 devoid of any of the mannish proclivities one is so apt 
 to associate \vith thoughts of the very word. 
 
 "I I don't know how to say something I want 
 very much to say to you," she stammered in some con- 
 fusion as she felt a blush spread all over her winsome 
 face. 
 
 "Well, then, I'll say something I do know how to 
 say," he ventured. 
 
 "What?" 
 
 "I love you and I want you to honor me by becom- 
 ing my wife," he proposed. 
 
 Gwen looked the man squarely in the eyes and most 
 soberly she heaved a mighty big sigh. 
 
 "At last," she murmured as she crept right into 
 his arms. 
 
 172
 
 HIGH GIRL 
 
 "Is that your unique way of saying yes?" he asked 
 quite helpless to repress a smile of amusement. 
 
 "Yes, land I just feel so happy that I could hop into 
 a seaplane and fly a million feet high for joy," she con- 
 fessed coyly. 
 
 "What's the use of you flying any more, you're high 
 girl now," he demurred. 
 
 And, as they divided their time between planning 
 their future and reading more of the contents of Hope's 
 odd bottle of autobiography, they exchanged kisses so 
 frequently and with so little regard to the rest of the 
 world that Mr. and Mrs. Dale were attracted from an- 
 other room and were able to witness fully five minutes 
 of a pure love's manifestation quite undiscovered. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 173
 
 The First of His 
 Family 
 
 A Story Wherein the Game is Ambition Versus 
 Environment 
 
 Y <DELBERT SSEX <DAVENPORT.
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 AFTER being a hopeless, reckless victim of criminal 
 environments all his life, "Kid" Black, a fellow of 
 twenty-five years of incessant sullenness, suddenly discov- 
 ered he possessed a conscience. This awakening from the 
 stupor induced by evil, aimless drifting came as a result 
 of being brought to the full and awful realization that he 
 was a dangerous gunman at last. Some unseen force 
 within him whispered the astounding information that he 
 was worse than a nonentity and he shuddered at the 
 thought of being a menace to humanity. 
 
 These ruminations, revolutionary to him, swept over 
 his whole being .when for the first time in his life he was 
 in the act of pulling the trigger of his revolver to murder 
 a police official whose life he sought for no other reason 
 than that he had been offered a price of two hundred dol- 
 lars by a gang leader with motives unknown to him. 
 "Kid" Black did not he could not fire that fatal shot. 
 Instead he fell in a heap in his hiding place and wept 
 bitterly for the first time in his life. Indeed, in tears he 
 was a spectacle, because he was every inch a thug, in both 
 appearance and manner. 
 
 Abandoned in infancy, and never having been able 
 to determine his parentage, this human derelict had been 
 from easiest boyhood among the legions of ruffians of 
 
 177
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 the most unwholesome section of New York's East Side. 
 Until he reached the age of fourteen years he lived with 
 a more or less kind-hearted crook by the name of Black, 
 who never gave him any other name than "Kid." How- 
 ever, the heartless Mrs. Black finally drove the lad out 
 in the streets, and he was kicked and cuffed from one end 
 of the East Side to the other. No wonder, then, his 
 viciousness gained the upper hand and directed him into 
 a precarious course ! 
 
 But on the night of his initial conscientious impulse 
 "Kid" Black held no malice towards any one. He saw 
 himself as his own handiwork. He recalled having flouted 
 the idea of going to work to earn an honorable living. 
 His past activities as a burglar and footpad came back 
 to him as a frightful memory, and he instinctively asked 
 himself why he preferred breaking the law to being law- 
 abiding. His mind having been dormant in wanton indo- 
 lence, it was not capable of much reasoning, and no noble 
 thoughts could find place in it. Therefore the young man's 
 next few minutes were devoted to wondering in amaze- 
 ment why he could not commit murder when he had run 
 the gauntlet of criminal practices without even so much 
 as pausing to reflect that he was doing wrong. He had 
 run wild with impunity. Now he was about ,to set him- 
 self right with the world without any duress other than 
 
 that imposed by his own newborn conscience. But, oh, 
 
 
 
 178
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 what a fight he confronted! What a handicap he was 
 obliged to overcome ! Uneducated, uncouth, and absolute- 
 ly friendless, he faced a cold world. 
 
 So it happened on that memorable night that a sober- 
 fe.ced, half-dazed young hoodlum, this same "Kid" Black, 
 found himself slinking away from the scene of his contem- 
 plated murder truly overwhelmed by his own mental re- 
 joicing over escaping with unstained hands. He sought 
 temporary solitude in the recesses of Central Park, be- 
 cause he knew he could not have one moment's peace of 
 mind if he returned to his squalid apartment, where his 
 landlady, known in all foul resorts as Midgie, awaited, 
 his return with the expectation that he would have enough 
 money to defray the expenses of the night's usual orgy. 
 She knew he was on a mission which would net two 
 hundred dollars, although she was not aware that it 
 entailed murder. Not that she probably would care 
 much, but uppermost in her mind was the anticipation 
 of two hundred dollars' worth of hilarity. She was a 
 young woman, not altogether bad-looking, except for the 
 signs of dissipation which were noticeable. She was the 
 widow of "Lefty Mike," who had been killed in a gam- 
 bling brawl, and ever since she had essayed coquetting 
 with "Kid" Black without success, because there was no 
 romance in his soul, and he absolutely abhorred women 
 the kind he had known since earliest realization. 
 
 179
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 Once seated on a secluded bench in Central Park 
 near one of the several ponds, the worried Black lapsed 
 into meditation. He was so engrossed in his own mud- 
 dled thoughts that he did not display the slightest precau- 
 tion when he took his revolver from his pocket and stud- 
 ied it leisurely. It did not require a very prolonged gaze 
 at that weapon to provoke a shivering which rocked his 
 whole body perceptibly. Then suddenly he tossed the 
 firearm into the pond, as if extremely anxious to get it 
 away from him quickly. 
 
 He was still staring vacantly into the pond when 
 he was aroused by a gentle tapping on his shoulder. He 
 arose abruptly to find himself confronted by a fashion- 
 ably dressed young woman, and the first thing about her 
 to command his attention was her benign smile. 
 
 "Did you finally decide not to kill yourself, too?" 
 she asked. 
 
 "Yes," he replied promptly, though sullenly, for he 
 knew he was lying, and that he had not thought of 
 suicide, but he was too adept at evasiveness to suddenly 
 acquire candor. 
 
 "Then that makes two of us who are going to try- 
 again," the young woman continued. "I'm so glad to have 
 company in my most melancholy moment." 
 
 So saying, she extended her hand to "Kid" Black, 
 
 180
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 who was so confused by this act that he hesitated long 
 before he accepted it. 
 
 "It's merely to acknowledge introduction, for my 
 name is Bertha Grant," she added reassuringly, where- 
 upon he shook her soft, slender hand awkwardly and still 
 with a scowl on his face. 
 
 "Now, may I ask your name ?" she asked. 
 
 "Naw, I ain't tellin' me name, 'cause I'm a-gonna 
 change it," was his gruff answer. 
 
 After making a fruitless effort to persuade the young 
 man to exchange confidences with her, and, apparently 
 being moved by close sympathy in all her interest in him, 
 Bertha Grant finally gave up and, after presenting her 
 card, she left him to his sad ruminations. The man 
 merely grunted as she walked away, but it was because 
 his soul was still devoid of sentiment. After the girl had 
 disappeared from his view, he gazed at the card she had 
 handed him and then tossed it to the ground, but before 
 he left the spot he, for some inexplicable reason, picked it 
 up again and deposited it in his pocket. 
 
 It was long after midnight when "Kid" Black wan- 
 dered aimlessly down a select section of Fifth avenue. 
 As Fate would have it, he walked right onto the scene 
 of a street robbery, and from a distance of only a few 
 yards, he witnessed the exciting struggle which followed 
 the intended victim's resistance against being relieved of 
 
 181
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 his valuables. "Kid" Black's blood was chilled upon 
 recognizing the masked footpad as his pal, "Mex" Tello, 
 who simultaneously recognized him and called for his 
 assistance in conquering his rebellious prey. 
 
 "Kid" Black fought a terrific mental battle as he 
 stood glued to the position he had taken and, finally, 
 without concluding on a definite plan of action, he im- 
 pulsively leaped to the clinched gladiators. Guided en- 
 tirely blindly, he forced himself between the men, sepa- 
 rating them, much to the surprise of both. Then with 
 lightning speed he struck the footpad with his fist on the 
 point of the chin, bowling him over and rendering him 
 unconscious. With equal celerity he faced the intended 
 victim and got his first good glimpse of the man's face, 
 which he found to be youthful, manly and handsome 
 He gazed into that face for a moment and then scrutinized 
 the man's nobby evening clothes from head to foot. He 
 obviously admired the stranger's neat appearance. 
 
 Meanwhile the rescued one betrayed his perplexity 
 He was surprised over being assisted by one he felt certain 
 was an ally of his assailant. He propounded questions 
 out of curiosity, and as he was being shoved forcibly up 
 the avenue he heard this reply from the rough "Kid* 
 Black: 
 
 "Never youse mind who I am. Beat it! I'll 'tend 
 to dat guy." 
 
 182
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 But instead of satisfying the man, this remark mys- 
 tified him the more, and he insisted that his rescuer call 
 on him at his office the following day, when he desired 
 to give him a suitable reward for his services. As Black 
 shoved him on his way he slipped him his card. 
 
 After the man had gone, Black glanced at this card 
 and discovered he had helped Philip J. Harrison, a well- 
 known lawyer. 
 
 Meanwhile "Mex" Tello was not slow in regaining 
 consciousness, and his first impulse was to reap terrible 
 revenge on Black, but when the latter returned to the 
 scene of the encounter he .was ready with a ruse. 
 
 "Can it ! Can it !" he warned in husky tones. "I've 
 saved youse from ten years in Sing Sing wid dat one 
 punch. Dat gink's a stool pigeon, and there'll be a dozen 
 fly cops here in a minute. Chase yerself fast and watch 
 yers truly make me getaway." 
 
 With these words said, Black dashed down the ave- 
 nue at top speed. "Mex" Tello watched him in bewilder- 
 ment for about ten^seconds, and then he took warning 
 and wildly raced away. 
 
 But even then "Kid" Black did not return to his 
 place of abode, for as soon as he had outdistanced his 
 pal, he boarded a passing street car, riding down to Forty- 
 second street and Broadway, where he did something 
 very unusual for him purchased a newspaper. He sta- 
 
 183
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 tioned himself near the entrance of a large office building 
 and proceeded to peruse it quite collectedly, but he was 
 'unable to interest himself, turning from the sports and 
 racing pages finally to the editorial page, where for the 
 first time he evinced a keen interest in what he read. In 
 fact, he seemed actually startled. Yet his manner was 
 that of excited avidity. Evidently what he read was the 
 biggest surprise of his life, and inevitably it was to have a 
 great deal to do with his future career. 
 
 Black became so engrossed in what he read that he 
 moved over under a brighter street light, that he might 
 see better. Here was the ''lead" of the special article 
 which attracted the young ruffian's attention: 
 
 AMERICA'S FUTURE DEPENDS ON MEX 
 
 AND WOMEN WHO \VILL GIVE 
 
 GOOD NAMES TO LARGE 
 
 AND HARDY FAMILIES 
 This is the day more than ever of the sanc- 
 tity of family names, which shall be perpetuated 
 and hallowed by large numbers of descendants. 
 The inroads made on human life by the appalling 
 European war are such as to make inattention 
 to scientific multiplying positively a menace. 
 
 Investigation has revealed an astounding num- 
 ber of men in New York who have no interest 
 whatever in marriage or children. 
 
 184
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 All this impressed Black so strongly that he cut the 
 article out of the paper with his penknife and, after care- 
 fully folding it, deposited it in his pocket. Almost imme- 
 diately thereafter he decided on a plan of action, and he 
 hastened to the loathsome apartment he called home. Here 
 he was greeted with an avalanche of vile words from the 
 lips of Midgie, whose patience had been exhausted by 
 his delay in returning. Midgie was one of those little 
 women of the nether world whose dissipated face was 
 counterbalanced by her cuteness of stature and good fig- 
 ure. Even the tawdry, sporty clothes she wore did not 
 hide the certain amount of feminine beauty she possessed. 
 Her hair was golden and fluffy her eyes were blue and 
 dancing, but beneath them the flesh was puffed, spoiling 
 their attractiveness. But Midgie was a veritable little 
 wildcat in manner, speech and action when her temper 
 was aroused, and it was thoroughly aroused on this 
 occasion. 
 
 "What do yer think I am, sittin' here like a rummy 
 the whole night waitin' for you?" she demanded angrily 
 as Black entered the narrow hallway. 
 
 "You didn't have to wait for me," he replied gruffly. 
 "I've paid me rent, haven't I?" 
 
 "Yes, but didn't you promise to come back with some 
 dough and take me out for a little sportin' at Jake's dive ?" 
 
 "Didn't get de expected coin though." 
 
 185
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 "Well, then why didn't you let me know? I could-a 
 gone out with a dozen other guys if I'd a-known this." 
 
 "Anyhow I'm through with de carousin' stuff for de 
 present," Black announced as he attempted to get by the 
 pugnacious-appearing landlady. 
 
 "\Yhat! You through?" and then she laughed with 
 derisive coarseness. "\Yhat'er you gonna do join church 
 or somethun?" 
 
 "Xope. Get outer me way." 
 
 "Don't go orderin' me 'round, and don't shove me 
 neither," the irate little woman came back, as her ire 
 grew furiously. 
 
 "Aw, shut up," he yelled as he pushed his way past 
 her roughly. 
 
 Midgie was not to be so easily cast aside. She fol- 
 lowed the man right in his tracks, berating him unmerci- 
 fully every step of the way. "Without paying any heed 
 to her, he went straightway to his room. She followed 
 him in. 
 
 "Say, this is my room I pay de rent to youse for 
 it, and I never invited youse in," he said, as his displeasure 
 over the woman's pestering tactics grew. 
 
 "\es'n it's my house, and I can put undesirable ten- 
 ants out in a jiffy any time I gets ready. See?" 
 
 "Go-ahead and put me out, but you've gotta work 
 fast or I'll get out before you can do it," was his reply. 
 
 186
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 "What'er you mean?" 
 
 "I mean I'm beatin' it." And by this time Black was 
 packing his few belongings in an old, battered suitcase. 
 
 "What for just 'cause I've been givin' you the 
 devil?" she asked, now suddenly puzzled. 
 
 "Aw, hell, no ; I ain't a-carin' nothin' 'bout what you 
 do or say," he replied in marked disgust. 
 
 "Then it's some dirty trick yer after pullin' on me, 
 eh?" she yelled fiercely. 
 
 "Nope, I've got to follow me man up de State to get 
 dat coin," he lied, coming to the realization of the need 
 for a little diplomacy. 
 
 So saying, Black yanked off his coat and threw it 
 on the bed. He was just in the act of donning another 
 one when Midgie impulsively grabbed the discarded gar- 
 ment and, with brazen officiousness, started to search the 
 pockets. The first article she extracted was Bertha Grant's 
 calling card, and instantly mad jealousy swept the last 
 vestige of reason from her depraved mind. 
 
 "So yer ditchin' my love," she screamed, as she 
 pounced on the man like an infuriated tigress. 
 
 "Your love! Who ever knowed youse loved me?" 
 he demanded as he roughly shook the woman loose. 
 
 "Well, I ain't never bragged about it right out, but 
 I do love you and and no upstart of another woman is 
 
 187
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 a-goin' to get you without a damn unpleasant fight," she 
 yelled. 
 
 "A\v, you make me sick there ain't gonna be no 
 love or no marryin' for mine wid youse or anybody else," 
 he yelled back at her with emphasis. 
 
 Then followed a scuffle in which Black merely at- 
 tempted to defend himself and to eject Midgie. He suc- 
 ceeded finally, but she retained Bertha Grant's card. This 
 was to be the directing key to the campaign of revenge 
 she resolved upon peremptorily. 
 
 After finishing his packing, Black searched through 
 his old coat. He found the clipping and Harrison's busi- 
 ness card. He studied these for a moment and then he 
 suddenly decided he must have Bertha Grant's card, too. 
 Grabbing his suitcase, he bolted out of his room to find 
 Midgie. But before he had time to find her he bumped 
 into Max Marx, the formidable leader of the Marx gang, 
 of which Black was a member. 
 
 "Well, did youse croak de gink ?" Marx demanded. 
 "Not yet he didn't show up on his- beat yet, but I'm 
 goin' after him now," Black' replied as he felt his nerve 
 fail him for the first time in the presence of this danger- 
 ous man. 
 
 'Get damn busy, an' soon as I read 'bout it in de 
 papers I'll come through wid de two hundred bucks," 
 Marx assured Black. Then, shaking his finger warningly, 
 
 188
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 
 
 he added : "But don't forget I've sent another bloke after 
 him, too, and de one dat gets to de marked man first is 
 a-gonna get de cush." 
 
 After succeeding in getting away from Marx, the 
 now thoroughly excited Black prosecuted a house-wide 
 search for Midgie, but he could not locate her, and finally 
 he left, much chagrined over the loss of the card and his 
 inability to remember the address it bore. 
 
 189
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 AT ten o'clock the following morning "Kid" Black 
 called on Phillip J. Harrison at his handsomely 
 appointed omce. 
 
 "If youse wants ter thank me for de little favor 1 
 done youse last night you can slip me fifty bucks as a 
 loan," Black proposed the moment he faced the lawyer. 
 
 "Gladly, my good fellow," Harrison agreed, much 
 impressed by the directness with which his rough-appear- 
 ing visitor got down to business. 
 
 "But tell me something about yourself," he added, 
 as he handed over a crisp $50 bill. 
 
 "Dere ain't nothin' to tell 'bout meself, 'cause I ain't 
 nobody yet, but I'm a-gonna try to be," Black told his 
 new-found friend, with his characteristic sullenness. 
 
 "I'm mighty glad to hear you say that, and please 
 remember I stand ready to help you in your battle at any 
 time so long as you stay on the level." 
 
 "Much obliged, but I ain't expectin' to call on youse 
 or anybody else for much help I'm a-gonna pull meself 
 outer this rut meself somehow." 
 
 Thus it happened that "Kid" Black got a really en- 
 couraging send-off from Harrison, who was genuinely 
 sincere in his desire to be of assistance to the man. 
 
 The thug went straightway from Harrison's office to 
 
 - 190
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 the Pennsylvania Railroad station. He was bent on get- 
 ting out of town as quickly as possible. After purchasing 
 a ticket to Kansas City, Missouri, he bought a newspaper. 
 The first headline to cross his line of vision made his 
 blood run cold. It read : 
 
 POLICE OFFICIAL MURDERED IN 
 COLD BLOOD. 
 
 Perusal of the news story revealed that the victim 
 was the very man he had spared the night before. "The 
 other guy" Marx mentioned had "got" his man. 
 
 "Gee, I wish my train'd hurry an' start," Black mut- 
 tered as he looked up from his paper and wiped the cold 
 perspiration from his brow. 
 
 His eagerness to get away from the scene of all his 
 sins and transgressions became so pronounced that he 
 paced the floor most nervously. As his excitement 
 'grew he became unmindful of the fact that his conduct 
 was such as to arouse suspicion. He glanced at his watch 
 every two minutes, and he clutched at his paper convul- 
 sively. An alert detective in plain clothes discovered him 
 and observed him closely. He was sufficiently impressed 
 to make a mental note of every physical peculiarity of the 
 man, but he did not deem his conduct such as to warrant 
 arrest on suspicion. 
 
 "It's just another mug for yours truly, Detective 
 
 191
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 Rand, to remember," the officer told himself. 
 
 When finally "Kid" Black was comfortably settled 
 in a seat in the smoking car of the train which was speed- 
 ily carrying him away from all the memories he longed to 
 forget, and which he prayed would never hark back to 
 him, he was really happy for the first time in his whole 
 life. He felt a sense of security in the going-away mo- 
 tion of the train, despite his occasional worrying over 
 the murder he had planned, but which another had com- 
 mitted. 
 
 Even as he rode westward the irate and revengeful 
 Midgie was invading the elaborate apartment of Bertha 
 Grant, in a seclusive part of Central Park West. There 
 in that abiding place of opulent refinement was being 
 enacted at that very moment an extraordinary battle of 
 wits between two extremely different women. High- 
 minded, though clever, Bertha Grant found an interesting 
 adversary in vile little Mi'dgie. She feared her no more 
 than she would a mere child. 
 
 After a brief word-battle in which Midgie excelled, 
 the two women found a common ground in their coincid- 
 ing penchants for being melancholy. Bertha eventually 
 persuaded her wild visitor to lay aside her hostility. 
 
 "I assure you I have no desire of estranging you 
 from your husband," Bertha told her in soothing, confi- 
 dence-inspiring tones. 
 
 192
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 "Husband ! He ain't my husband, but I've been 
 a-hopin' he would be," Midgie confided boisterously. 
 
 "Indeed!" the other ejaculated. "No wonder he 
 contemplated suicide last night, then." 
 
 "What'er yer mean, an insult?" Midgie expostulated 
 with renewed wrath. 
 
 However, Bertha promptly tamed her down again by 
 relating her experiences of the night before in Central 
 Park. 
 
 "I had fully made up my mind to end my own life," 
 she said in conclusion of her narrative. 
 
 "What! You thinkin' 'bout croakin' yerself with all 
 this wealth at yer command?" the dubious Midgie ex- 
 claimed. 
 
 "What is all this without the man I love the man 
 who has just jilted me for another woman?" Bertha 
 asked blandly. 
 
 "Then, like us blokes in the underworld, you of the 
 four hundred gets the blues once in a while, too," the 
 other observed. 
 
 "Yes, and if you will help me in my little scheme to 
 win back the man I love, I'll help you hold the man you 
 love," Bertha promptly proposed. 
 
 "Sure, Mike; but how'n the devil can I help you 
 any?" 
 
 "Leave that to me, but to start with, you must come 
 
 193
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 and live with me immediately," Bertha announced. 
 
 "Say, that's great with me livin' here with you like 
 a swell, I'll make 'Kid' Black sit up and take notice like 
 a breeze," Midgie boasted. "Why, he'll be beggin' me to 
 marry him." 
 
 Thus it came about that these two women, so dia- 
 metrically opposite to each other in everything except 
 melancholia, joined hands for mutual benefits, but with 
 the gullible Midgie totally unaware of just what was 
 expected of her in payment for the luxury she was to 
 enjoy. She became Bertha Grant's maid ostensibly, but 
 in reality she was the young society girl's pupil, for from 
 the inception many hours of each day were devoted to 
 assiduous study of etiquette and grammar, in which les- 
 sons Bertha acted as teacher. 
 
 It did not require much time for Midgie to become 
 deeply mystified over the dogged persistence with which 
 Bertha kept her "in school." Very early in the game she 
 ventured to ask why there was so much hurry about get- 
 ting smart. 
 
 "Because you must at least appear to be a lady within 
 two weeks or I am lost forever," was the only reply she 
 got. 
 
 "Gee, it's some job when you figure that it took me 
 all me life to get like I am now," Midgie commented as 
 she became the more puzzled. 
 
 194
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ONE week later "Kid" Black arrived at Excelsior 
 Springs, Missouri, a health and pleasure resort 
 thirty miles north of Kansas City. His first notable act 
 was to register at a small but respectable hotel under the 
 name of Will B. White. 
 
 "And I mean to be what me new name says," he told 
 himself as he contemplated the signature. 
 
 Under his new name the young East Sider invested 
 his few remaining dollars in a small peanut stand located 
 near one of the springs, and he started in earnest to make 
 an honest living for the first time. He had not adjusted 
 himself to his new environments when he met Walter 
 Frank, owner of a dramatic stock company, playing in an 
 adjacent airdome. In fact, Frank was his first customer, 
 and as he munched his peanuts the rotund showman chat- 
 ted genially. 
 
 "You won't get very lonesome here, 'cause it's a 
 lively burg," Frank assured the novice peanut vender. 
 "If you care to come to the show tonight I'll gladly give 
 you a pass. It's a new bill, and I've got to pad the house 
 anyhow." 
 
 "Sure I'll come and give yer troupe the once-over," 
 White agreed rather gratefully. 
 
 "Fine," the showman replied, and then proceeded 
 
 195
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 to scribble on a pass. "And don't forget to give the show 
 the hand," he added, as he handed over the ticket. 
 
 "\Yell, all I got to say is, if yer show suits me I'll 
 clap me hands and do a little whistling besides," the young 
 man promised. 
 
 That night one of the first to arrive in the airdome 
 was "Kid" Black, alias Will B. White. He was in a 
 sullen mood, and he was inclined to ruminate sadly. A 
 feeling of bitterness grappled in his heart with a morbid- 
 ness inspired by his growing realization of being an out- 
 cast with uncouth proclivities. He had become disgusted 
 with the sweater he wore. Yet he had seldom worn a 
 shirt and collar. He crushed his checkered cap rather 
 viciously as he awaited the rise of the curtain. Suddenly 
 he found that he hated his cap. 
 
 "Nobody else wears 'em at all, and still it's the only 
 kind of skypiece I ever owned," he mumbled as he gritted 
 his teeth vehemently. 
 
 Thus it happened that when the show finally began 
 this one witness was far too glum to be susceptible to 
 enjoyment, and he did not clap his hands once, nor did 
 he whistle any approval. On the contrary, he lapsed into 
 a veritable lethargy and remained rigidly inert until a 
 petite and attractive, golden-haired ingenue made her en- 
 trance onto the scene, disseminating vivacity in generous 
 quantities. 
 
 196
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 "Hully gee! a chicken now the show'll begin," 
 Black mumbled audibly, attracting the attention of several 
 persons sitting near him. 
 
 He watched this little actress perform with growing 
 interest, and when between the acts she offered a fairly 
 diverting singing specialty, he got the impulse to get 
 acquainted with her. He consulted his program, and 
 learned that her name was Peggy Jules. 
 
 "Me for Peggy at de stage door," was her new ad- 
 mirer's threat the moment he determined her name, and 
 he lost little time in finding Walter Frank. 
 
 "De show's all right, and yer kiddo Peggy is great," 
 the "Kid" declared enthusiastically. 
 
 "Thanks, friend. Go out and boost it to all your 
 friends," the showman replied. 
 
 "Ain't got no friends, pal, and dat's why I want to 
 meet yer Peggy, if she's not married." 
 
 "She's not married, and I don't want her to launch 
 into any matrimonial escapades either," Frank announced, 
 less affably than was his habit. 
 
 "Aw, have a heart. Anyhow I don't want to marry 
 her. I just want to meet her to find out what a nice girl 
 acts like." 
 
 "Well, let me tell you something, young fellow. She's 
 only eighteen years old, but don't think she's not wise 
 enough to know how not to act nice when it's necessary," 
 
 197
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 Frank corrected. 
 
 "I ain't a-gonna make any row necessary I'll treat 
 her on de level," the "Kid" promised anxiously. 
 
 "You bet you will, and she won't need no one to help 
 her sit you down, believe me. You've got Peggy sized 
 up wrong." 
 
 "Oh, I don't know," the young tough ventured. 
 "Just to show you I'll take you back and introduce 
 you to her." 
 
 Forthwith the manager made good his word. 
 
 "Here, Peggy, you little devil, meet a friend of mine/ 5 
 he yelled, staying the girl in a hasty retreat across the 
 stage towards her dressing room. 
 
 "All right, old dear, who is he and what is he ?" she 
 asked as she danced up to her employer. 
 
 "He's the peanut guy, and " 
 
 "The peanut guy ! And he wants to met a regular 
 actress ?" 
 
 "Sure, why not?" Frank asked, thoroughly amused. 
 
 "You know me, Al I've got a champagne appetite 
 and all." 
 
 "Dat don't scare yours truly I'll buy," the "Kid" 
 interposed. 
 
 "Ah, a regular fellow," Peggy observed laughingly. 
 "I'm glad to meet you," she added, as she extended her 
 hand. 
 
 198
 
 "I'm with you, kid," he acknowledged as he accepted 
 her hand. 
 
 "What's the name, please ?" she asked demurely. 
 
 "Will B. White." 
 
 "Will Be White ! What's the color now ?" 
 
 "Black." 
 
 "Nigger?" 
 
 "Nigger!" ejaculated Frank, squirming comically as 
 he began to believe that he had instituted scandalous pro- 
 ceedings in his troupe. 
 
 "Aw, quit yer kiddin', I'm as white as me name, 
 and I'm a-gonna be a lot whiter before I get through 
 straightenin' up," the "Kid" put in bravely. 
 
 The impulsive earnestness with which he spoke in- 
 terested Peggy and robbed her of most of her jauntiness. 
 She suddenly discovered that with all his crudeness this 
 stranger was likeable. He was sturdy after a fashion, and 
 his serious mien betrayed a great determination which was 
 guiding him to heights above mere passing follies. A 
 ramollescent tingling swept through Peggy's heart as she 
 momentarily studied the "Kid." True, he was obviously 
 a. ruffian, but she was not many notches above that class, 
 because her life had been spent among rough people, and 
 she had acquired most of their ways. 
 
 "Say, you're not a bad scout at that, and so far I like 
 you. Let's go have a drink," she said. 
 
 199
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 "Of spring water," Frank ordered. 
 
 "Water ! on the side only we're going to have some 
 booze," she announced firmly. 
 
 "Better cut that stuff, Peggy," the old man urged. 
 "It will bring you more sorrow than joy." 
 
 "Oh, but I like it, and I must have what I like," she 
 insisted. 
 
 "Maybe / won't want you to booze," Black ventured. 
 
 "If you won't it'll be a sure sign that you want it 
 all for yourself," she laughed tauntingly. 
 
 "Well, we'll fight dat out later," he replied, as he 
 winked at Frank. 
 
 "You'll do a lot of fighting out later if you stick 
 around Peggy," the showman warned as a mischievous 
 twinkle illuminated his eyes. 
 
 "Well," Black replied, as he thought of high-tempered 
 Midgie, "I can't say that I ain't used to it." 
 
 But although Peggy and Black were together for an 
 hour that night they did not quarrel once. However, they 
 did both drink several cocktails, and each betrayed the 
 effects of a slight intoxication. 
 
 "Gee, this is what I call a good time a little booze 
 and a nifty little tipsy feeling," remarked the girl rap- 
 turously as the time flitted by swiftly. 
 
 "It's a little high-class for me, but yer a better girl 
 
 200
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 than's ever been out with me before," the young man 
 confessed. 
 
 "And they call me wild and woolly," she laughed. 
 
 "But you're not to me you're what I call a damn 
 fine lady." 
 
 "Gracious, how you flatter me er I can't remem- 
 ber your name." 
 
 "Will B. White, and I will be by you if you'll treat 
 me nice like this all the time," he replied seriously. 
 
 Thus it came about that "Kid" Black, who was now 
 so determined to be White in name and conduct, fell in 
 love with the little actress of the barn-storming company, 
 and by the same process she became intensely interested 
 in him. It was because they occupied about the same 
 social strata, and both had vast improvements to make 
 before they could hope to mingle with the elite. Simulta- 
 neously Walter Frank and the "Kid" quickly became 
 close friends, and within two weeks after their first meet- 
 ing they jointly rented a small bachelor apartment. Pros- 
 perity blessed both from the inception of their strong, 
 mutual friendship, and naturally this combination of cir- 
 cumstances created plenty of opportunities for Black to 
 get better acquainted with Peggy, who had his whole- 
 souled respect. 
 
 But she did not discourage him in his penchant for 
 imbibing too freely of liquor. She joined him in it with 
 
 201
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 avidity. Inevitably there had to come an evening when 
 fie drank too much, and his nature automatically reverted 
 back to its old wont. This manifested itself in his sub- 
 sequent attempt to roughly embrace the girl and to angrily 
 resist her justified struggling. Then came a verbal deto- 
 nation. 
 
 "Say, where do you get that stuff?" she demanded, 
 "Surely you don't want to be regarded as a ruffian all 
 your life by everybody, including near-ruffians like my- 
 self, do you? Answer me, do you?" 
 
 These words straightened Black up surprisingly, and 
 he promptly resumed the restrained, more dignified man- 
 ner of White. Peggy's rebuff accomplished more than 
 this : it struck a vital spot in the man's heart by bringing 
 to him the realization that it was for that reason he had 
 fled from New York to cease being what he had always 
 been and to start all over again. And here it seemed to 
 him as he gazed intently upon Peggy's pretty though 
 resolutely grim face, was a golden opportunity. 
 
 "You've got de correct dope, kiddo," he replied finally 
 "Help me get de crooks out of me crooked self and it'll be 
 me point to see dat you don't regret it." 
 
 "Atta boy," she congratulated cheerfully. "I'm with 
 you as long as you're halfway decent, and I'm going tc 
 remember these words you speak tonight." 
 
 Thus started a closer friendship rather auspiciously 
 202
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 There was at least understanding, although neither the 
 man nor the woman contemplated any definite plans. One 
 important upshot of the companionship was that "Kid' 
 Black promptly eliminated intemperance from his list of 
 faults, and his success in accomplishing this tended to 
 encourage him greatly. The new feeling of respect for 
 woman which Peggy had inspired in him also augmented 
 his pleasure in life. For three weeks he escorted the little 
 actress to her hotel every night, and not once did he betray 
 the slightest sign of undue familiarity. Finally, however 
 he weakened just a little. There was too much temptation 
 in her pretty, red lips. 
 
 "Listen, Peggy," he said on that night, "you know 
 since I've quit drinking liquor and gone in for the mineral 
 water stuff I've got to have some sort of a substitute 
 stimulant. What about one kiss a night?" 
 
 "All right," she agreed quickly, "but it must be 
 strictly platonic." 
 
 "I'll gamble with you on that platonic, whatever it 
 means," was his reply, as he grabbed her gently and gave 
 her anything but a platonic kiss. 
 
 When she reprimanded him for the tight embrace 
 which accompanied his kiss, he appealed to her meekly. 
 
 "I love you, kid; dat's why I did it, but don't let it 
 worry you until you see how I come out." 
 
 Peggy was not displeased by this confession, but she 
 
 203
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 assumed the mysterious attitude of one desirous of testing 
 the mettle of one with whom she was seriously consider- 
 ing before casting her lot finally. 'Twas on this basis that 
 the rather curious romance of this couple began, and in 
 the very nature of things it was obviously inevitable that 
 many strange things would happen in the course of events 
 "Kid" Black, alias \Yill B. White, was so much a crude 
 product of adverse circumstances, and Peggy Jules pos- 
 sessed a character composed of such widely different 
 qualities partly good, partly bad, and partly indifferent 
 that just how far she would be able to go in restoring the 
 latent probity of such a lifelong miscreant was a matter 
 for grave doubting. The fact that the man really loved 
 the girl as far as his capabilities would permit, and that 
 she was not seeking to avoid reciprocity seemed to presage 
 either a woeful blunder or a happy fruition. However, 
 neither worried over what the future might bring. 
 
 204
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ABOUT this time sensation broke loose in New York 
 City as a result of investigations of the murder of 
 the police official. "Baldy" Ruff, the real murderer, had 
 summoned gall enough to turn State's evidence and to 
 inform the authorities that "Kid" Black had committed 
 the murder for the price of $200 at the behest of Max 
 Marx, the gang leader. Ruff claimed to have been an 
 eye-witness to the tragedy, and he insisted that he person 
 ally had attempted to prevent the foul deed, adroitly ad- 
 vancing as his reason a fear of such business, breaking 
 up a gang out of which he was making much money with- 
 out killing people. 
 
 This testimony led to the arrest of Marx, who 
 promptly shielded himself by protesting that Black had 
 been actuated by a personal grudge in slaying the official 
 
 "I had nothin' to do wid de dirty work, 'cept to tell 
 Black he was a fool for threatenin' de poor guy," Marx 
 declared, feigning great aversion for bloodshed. 
 
 "Kid" Black's disappearance was regarded as strong 
 evidence against him, especially in view of his all-around 
 criminal record, which was so well known to the police 
 The district attorney was inclined to believe the "corrobo 
 rated" story of "Baldy" Ruff in its entirety, and conse- 
 quently he set in motion all of his machinery to accom 
 plish the apprehension of the missing thug. 
 
 205
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 Among all the countless thousands of people who 
 read these legal proceedings there was one far more in- 
 terested than all others. This one was Midgie, now a 
 maid in Bertha Grant's apartment. The ominous develop 
 ments brought consternation into this curious little 
 woman's heart. Her all-controlling impulse was to do 
 everything in her power to protect "Kid" Black, for whom 
 she entertained a love after the fashion of her kind. 
 
 Under Bertha's quite efficient tutelage she was rapidl} 
 acquiring practical education, and a knowledge of etti- 
 quette. She had displayed reassuring aptitude from the 
 inception, bidding fair to come out of the rough into a 
 state of passable refinement in record time. She was 
 inherently shrewd and possessed the feminine instinct of 
 intuition to a marked degree, but, after all these days, she 
 was still at a loss to understand Bertha's motive in retain- 
 ing her in so much luxurious comfort. She realized that 
 she was more of a pupil than she was a servant. She 
 often wondered why Bertha seemed to be in such a hurry 
 to improve her manners. Her benefactress devoted two- 
 thirds of her wakeful hours to instructing her protege in 
 the rudiments of ladylike deportment. Nor did she neglect 
 to teach her grammar, specializing in how to talk properly. 
 She was always made to understand that she was to 
 be cared for handsomely, and that she was to be assisted 
 m her troubles by way of reciprocity for helping Bertha 
 
 206
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 in her affairs affairs concerning which Midgie had no 
 inkling of an idea. Invariably Bertha was secretive, and 
 when dwelling on subjects pertaining to herself she was 
 most cautious, making sure to not even intimate the nature 
 of her plans. Midgie long since decided Bertha had lost 
 all interest in love, and she noted with repressed curiosity 
 the woman's devotion to the perusal of law books. She 
 was amazed at the seemingly unlimited supply of money 
 her hostess had at her command, and she was perplexed 
 over how infrequently she went out to enjoy the gaiety 
 money will buy. 
 
 After reading with alarm the announcement of the 
 district attorney's determination to cause the capture of 
 Black, the distracted Midgie ventured into Bertha's bou- 
 doir, where she found her lying down, weeping softly. 
 
 '' 'Scuse me, but it seems to me we're both in serious 
 trouble, and neither one ain't 
 
 ''Not ain't, Midgie isn't is better," Bertha inter- 
 rupted. 
 
 "Well, neither one of us isn't helping the other one 
 bit as we agreed." 
 
 Forthwith Bertha leaped to her feet, and after gazing 
 steadfastly at Midgie for a moment, a wan smile spread 
 over her face. 
 
 "You're making fine headway, Midgie, and in another 
 month I'll have you so well trained that you could pass 
 
 207
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 as a lady anywhere," she said. "Then you can help me, 
 because that will be still a month prior to my sweetheart's 
 wedding day." 
 
 Thereupon she loaded Midgie down with books, and 
 ordered her to get busy with her studies. 
 
 "But, ma'am, I wanted to say that I can be helped in 
 my troubles now" Midgie persisted. 
 
 "However, my dear, if your lover turns out to be 
 guilty of murder, you won't want to help him, and, any- 
 way, you can only wait until he is found," was the rather 
 discouraging reply she got. 
 
 Although far from being satisfied, Midgie went to 
 her own room, and settled down to assiduous study of 
 her books. She manifested an insatiable hunger for 
 knowledge. 
 
 "There's no use talkin', I've got to get smart mighty 
 quick if I am goin' to be any good at fightin' them lawyers 
 for the Kid," she told herself as she plunged into the work 
 of digesting the rules of proper speech. 
 
 208
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 MEANWHILE "Kid" Black, alias Will B. White, 
 was enjoying himself in Excelsior Springs. He 
 had not yet made it one of his habits to read the news- 
 papers regularly, and therefore he was blissfully ignorant 
 of the ado his absence was causing in New York. Any- 
 way he had become engrossed in a course of study Peggy 
 Jules was giving him. This course consisted mainly of 
 reading and writing and the technique of play manu- 
 scripts, Peggy having decided to make an actor out of the 
 man. He was not exceedingly anxious to act, but he was 
 genuinely grateful for the opportunity of improving his 
 education. 
 
 "Bone-headedness has been at de bottom of all me 
 troubles, kid, and now it's de knowin' of this dat makes 
 me tickled to death to learn from youse de tings a gentle- 
 man should know," he told her. 
 
 "Well, I'm being strictly on the square with you 
 you're not going to set the world on fire, even though I 
 teach you everything I know, because I know just about 
 enough to come in out of the rain, and that's all," she 
 replied good-naturedly. 
 
 "You can talk dat way all you want to, but just de 
 same you're de smartest gal I ever knew 
 
 "Gee," she interrupted, "they sure must be awfully 
 dumb in New York." 
 
 209
 
 "Dumb! Damn dumb!" he affirmed, with some 
 vehemence, and then he added in disgust: "Say, I know 
 a gal there who has been unconscious all her life." 
 
 "Unconscious? Was she hit on the head by some- 
 thing?" Peggy inquired in surprise. 
 
 "No; but her head was missed when they passed 
 around de brains, just like mine was," he declared. 
 
 "Did you know this poor girl very well?" 
 
 "Did I know her well! She was in love wid me." 
 
 "What's her name?" Peggy demanded with a re- 
 newed interest which strongly resembled jealousy. 
 
 "Midgie." 
 
 "Midgie what?" 
 
 "Lord only knows she don't." 
 
 "Some society dame who could get by with half name 
 and half-dressed, I presume." 
 
 "Say, Peggy, how can any one off in de head know 
 any society stuff?" 
 
 "Well, what I want to know, Will White, is, did you 
 ever love her?" 
 
 "Never in me life. Why should I? What did she 
 ever do for me 'cept spend me dough for booze and fuss 
 at me when I talked about straightenin' up ?" 
 
 "And do you consider me a better girl?" 
 
 "Do I ? Say, you're a queen and she's a rowdy. Why, 
 you're a lady. I I love you, kid." 
 
 210
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 "We won't discuss the politics of the case now," she 
 ordered. "The thing I've got to do now is to cut out my 
 wild ways and really live up to the reputation you're 
 forcing on me." 
 
 And thus it came about that Peggy did some studying 
 on her own account, while she served as teacher to "Kid" 
 Black. 
 
 A whole month passed by as if by rnagie, and by this 
 time Peggy had become a great favorite among the fre- 
 quenters of the spa who whiled their leisure evening 
 moments away at the airdome watching Walter Frank's 
 stock company present melodramas of the old school. 
 Black noted Peggy's popularity among young men with 
 growing apprehension. He frequently overheard dandies 
 plan to meet and win her, and he was annoyed by the 
 penchant of several of these admirers for sending her 
 flowers and boxes of candy. He feared the mental supe- 
 riority of all his fellows. Yet he was making encouraging 
 progress in polishing up, and his personal appearance was 
 no longer that of an East Side thug, for he wore natty 
 clothes of the latest style. 
 
 One evening after the show he, as usual, escorted 
 Peggy to her hotel after she had rejected at least a half 
 dozen invitations from other admirers. Despite Peggy's 
 elusive cuteness and her proclivity for laughing gaily at 
 his attempts at love-making, he persevered, because he 
 
 211
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 felt a deep, irresistible necessity for hastening his suit. 
 He wanted this girl for his own, to honor and respect, 
 and he did not want to run any chances of losing her. 
 Innately he reasoned that the only way he could safeguard 
 his future happiness was to remove the girl he loved from 
 Cupid's open market. 
 
 "Listen, Peggy, I've got no known relatives, and so 
 far as any one knows I'm the first of my family, and I 
 want to do what this article says every man like me should 
 do," he told the girl, as he handed her the clipping he had 
 cut out of his paper on that unforgotten night in New 
 York. 
 
 Peggy read the article with wide-eyed interest, and 
 all the while she blushed. To hide her embarrassment she 
 essayed laughing tantalizingly. 
 
 "Well, I'll see what I can do towards finding you a 
 good wife," she finally promised him teasingly. 
 
 They had just reached an inviting rustic bench in a 
 vine-covered bower beside the hotel. The earnest young 
 man promptly fell to his knees, and begged the girl to be 
 his. Tears streamed down his clean-shaven face as he 
 implored. This touched her heart, and she impulsively 
 leaned over to plant a kiss of compassion on his forehead. 
 Thereafter her manner was more encouraging. Her 
 frivolous merriment succumbed to serious thoughtfulness. 
 Here was a frank young man who earnestly aspired to 
 
 212
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 amount to something worth while, and the girl knew that 
 deep in her heart was a similar ambition for herself. 
 
 "Do you know I'm beginning to think you're the 
 finest fellow in all the wide, wide world," Peggy whis- 
 pered in Black's ear. 
 
 "No ; I'm nothing like that, but I am to be if " 
 
 "If I'll say yes" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "And you've gone and said it for me ?" 
 
 "Oh, kid, you've made me happy," gleefully ex- 
 claimed the man as he arose to his feet and embraced the 
 girl of all girls to him. 
 
 "And somehow I feel immensely happy myself," she 
 admitted. "Do you know, I think it's going to be great 
 fun getting to be somebody and and I do want to see 
 you become a successful actor 
 
 "No, Peggy, not yours truly," he interrupted. "I've 
 got my head set on being a lawyer." 
 
 "Good [ Then you'll be at a better kind of a bar 
 for the rest of your life," Peggy replied enthusiastically. 
 "Anyway, I can be the 'actor' member of the family." 
 
 "No, all you're going to be is my little wife and pal," 
 he announced with gentle decisiveness. 
 
 "Well, I guess, come to think of it, that'll be enough," 
 she agreed. 
 
 213
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 Then followed a truly fond embrace and a veritable 
 shower of kisses. 'Twas indeed the happiest night of 
 "Kid" Black's turbulent life. 
 
 214
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE very next night Bertha Grant in New York 
 "played" the rejuvenated Midgie as her trump card 
 in her game to upset the wedding plans of the man she 
 loved Philip J. Harrison, who "Kid" Black had saved 
 from being robbed. Through her influence with certain 
 prominent newspaper men, Bertha had caused to be 
 printed an announcement concerning the arrival in New 
 York of Princess Heloise, who had come to arrange 
 finances which would enable her to gain the throne of a 
 certain small island kingdom. Princess Heloise was de- 
 scribed as being "ravishingly beautiful," and it was inci- 
 dentally mentioned that she had remained free from 
 matrimonial entanglements thus far. There was such an 
 air of mystery surrounding Princess Heloise and her mag- 
 netic charms were dwelt upon at such great length that 
 she created a sensation before she was presented to any 
 one. She was so haughty and so exclusive that none of 
 the many eligibles could even get an introduction. 
 
 Princess Heloise was, of course, none other than 
 Midgie, transformed into a "lady" of dainty eccentrici- 
 ties. Adorned with rare jewels and fineries, she was domi- 
 ciled in an elaborate suite of rooms in one of Gotham's 
 most fashionable hotels. She really seemed quite regal 
 with her retinue of elegantly arrayed servants. 
 
 On this night Princess Heloise had relegated all social 
 
 15
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 ambitions for business and had arranged for Philip J. 
 Harrison to call at her suite, ostensibly to formally appoint 
 him as her counsel. Harrison was as entirely unwary as 
 he was completely deceived, and he accepted her gracious 
 invitation with marked avidity. In fact, he could not 
 resist a longing to see this princess about whom he had 
 read so much. 
 
 He attired himself with great care in his best evening 
 clothes and soon afterwards presented himself at the 
 royal suite in a. state of expectant excitement. It was 
 his first opportunity to meet a girl of royal blood, and he 
 hoped for a romantic adventure, being for the nonce quite 
 oblivious to the obligation of his betrothal. He was 
 unaware of the fact that Bertha Grant, the girl he had 
 jilted, was responsible for all this unusual event, and 
 that she was hidden in the suite awaiting his arrival with 
 more breathless anxiety than Midgie could possibly mus- 
 ter, in spite of her realization that she was pursuing a 
 very exciting course for the sake of her benefactress. 
 
 Princess Heloise received Harrison with charming 
 grace. She was highly trained for every move she made. 
 Bertha had rehearsed her countless times. 
 
 Harrison was impressed at once by the cultured man- 
 ner of his hostess, and his very first thought was that she 
 was the most beautiful, most bewitching girl he had ever 
 seen. He felt sure his fiancee would never know if he 
 
 216
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 enjoyed a little celestial romance with a proud beauty 
 who was soon to leave the country anyway. 
 
 How well did Bertha Grant know Philip Harrison! 
 She was convinced from the beginning that she had lost 
 the man of her heart because of his fickle disposition and 
 his penchant for frivolity. Now she was bent on win- 
 ning him back by preying on that same giddiness. 
 
 Princess Heloise was keyed to a high pitch for the 
 experience, and after solemnly conferring with the young 
 lawyer along business lines, she waxed delightfully viva- 
 cious, but not for one instant did she fail to be studiously 
 lady-like. She led the vulnerable romancer through the 
 various stages of mad infatuation with all the skill of the 
 most proficient siren. Ere came the moment for his de- 
 parture Harrison was so enamored of the girl that he 
 actually experienced difficulty in restraining himself from 
 declaring his love. She was elated with the success she 
 was achieving as a charmer. It was the first time Midgic 
 had ever undertaken the conquest of a high-class man's 
 heart, and she immediately reasoned that her truly cyclo- 
 nic success indicated this to be her forte. 
 
 When Harrison had left, after kissing the royal hand 
 fervently and lingeringly, Bertha Grant leaped from her 
 hidmg-place and fairly swept Midgie off of her feet in 
 her enthusiasm over her admirable conduct. 
 
 "Now you can see how easy it was for another 
 
 217
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 woman to win him away from me, and how easy it is going 
 to be for me to win him back through you," she told 
 Midgie. 
 
 ******** 
 
 The very next evening Harrison, after much beseech- 
 ing, persuaded Princess Heloise to permit him to call 
 again, and within ten minutes after dashing into her 
 smiling presence as if overjoyed, he proclaimed his love 
 with all the eloquence he could summon, and within the 
 earshot of the hiding Bertha he told this erstwhile woman 
 of the street that he knew she was the purest flower that 
 could be gained by any man! 
 
 "You are my very ideal, and I propose marriage," 
 he said as a climax to his outpouring. 
 
 "But I am told you are engaged to another," the 
 princess replied. 
 
 "Yes, it is true ; but I shall break off that engagement 
 at once," he declared, forcing Midgie into his embrace. 
 
 "That must be your first step before I can permit you 
 to woo me," the princess ordered as she firmly removed 
 her admirer's arm from around her waist. 
 
 "It shall be done tomorrow for the sake of true 
 love," he assured her. 
 
 And when Harrison left that evening the thought 
 uppermost in his mind was to lose no time in jilting a 
 second woman, and thus remove the one barrier to his 
 
 218
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 courtship of Princess Heloise. 
 
 The very next day Harrison formally broke off his 
 engagement, receiving from his fiancee a broad-minded 
 letter in which she declared she had no desire of tying 
 him down to a matrimonial match which he was sure 
 would not be happy. She accepted her fate as a matter 
 of course, and she was not heart-broken. Harrison 
 rushed to Midgie with this letter, and urged that she 
 accept him at once. 
 
 "Oh, but you must at least grant me the pleasure of 
 a few weeks of wooing," she laughed. 
 
 "Surely, I will grant your every request," he replied 
 gallantly. 
 
 From this moment on, Harrison's manner was ex- 
 ceedingly ingratiating. He was handsome and he was 
 cultured. Besides, he, possessed a striking personality. 
 He was quite too adept at the art of heroic love-making 
 for the thoroughly inexperienced Midgie, and within a 
 very brief period of time she lost the mere spirit of fun 
 which had characterized her whole escapade up to then, 
 and she suddenly became imbued with the idea that it 
 would be a great triumph for her actually to capture 
 Harrison and not shift him over to Bertha Grant, .in 
 accordance with the latter's well-laid plans. Herein 
 trouble began to brew divergent motives clashed, with 
 Bertha unsuspecting and Midgie designing. 
 
 219
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 While these complications were accumulating in New 
 York, the erstwhile East Side thug, now much sought by 
 the police, was winning the esteem of the townspeople of 
 Excelsior Springs by his generosity, his clean living and 
 the zealous support he extended to all civic and charita- 
 ble projects. Indeed, "Kid" Black was really beginning 
 to live up to his assumed name of Will B. White. He was 
 "white" in all of his dealings with his fellows, and it was 
 evident to all who met him that he was earnestly striving 
 to better himself and make a record worthy of admiration. 
 He was constantly busy, and he invariably whistled gaily 
 as he kept at his tasks. 
 
 One of this young man's most commendable acts was 
 to give a huge picnic for the poor children of the com- 
 munity at his own expense. He had long since betrayed 
 a marked fondness for children^ and the manifestation 
 of this inclination proved eloquently that he aspired to 
 found a family of his own. His whole conduct being 
 above reproach, he was popular now, and Peggy Jules had 
 duly discovered him to be her ideal. In fact, she was 
 soon taking most of the initiative in advancing the cause 
 of their romance, Black having temporarily let up in his 
 suit, due to the further development of his conscience 
 having brought him to the realization that he had com- 
 mitted a grave blunder in quitting New York in the man- 
 ner in which he had selected so thoughtlessly. He was 
 
 220
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 just a little apprehensive as to what might happen to him 
 as a result of the bad muddle he had left back East, and 
 he had mustered sufficient nobility to prefer remaining 
 single rather than to get Peggy implicated if he was to 
 be harrassed at any time by the law because of his past 
 life. Intuition was at its work,, because Black had no 
 inkling of the true situation confronting him. Of course, 
 he did not confide in the girl to the extent of telling her 
 of all his worries. His one strong desire was to spare 
 her any regret or sorrow. Naturally she could not under- 
 stand his seeming loss of enthusiasm over her. Forsooth, 
 she was quite worried about it. He was mysterious in 
 his exhortations against bothering about anything. At 
 times he seemed silently to beseech sympathy, and even 
 pity. 
 
 "You act strange at times, dear," she told him. "What 
 ails you?" 
 
 "Nothing worth worrying about, Peggy, and anyway, 
 we're having a wonderful time, and are fast getting to be 
 somebody, so let's stay as happy as we can, until fate takes 
 its hand in the game," he told her, with an air of intensi- 
 fied mystery. 
 
 Black's attitude was certainly the result of true premo- 
 nition, because a few days later City Marshal John Ford, 
 in glancing over a recent copy of The Detective, a publica- 
 tion devoted to the apprehension of criminals, was amazed 
 
 21
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 to find a picture of a man who closely resembled the pop- 
 corn and peanut vendor he knew as Will B. White. 
 Printed with this picture was the following notice : 
 
 WANTED FOR MURDER 
 "Kid" Black, age 25 years, height 5 feet 10 
 inches, weight 165 pounds. Jet black hair, brown 
 eyes and dark complexion. Has general appear- 
 ance of a ruffian. Five hundred dollars reward 
 for his capture. 
 
 Marshal Ford was so astonished over his discovery 
 that he went straightway to Black's popcorn stand and, 
 taking up a position nearby, compared the face of the 
 vendor with that of the picture. Being unobserved in 
 this, the officer kept his own counsel and wired the New 
 York police secretly. 
 
 Four days later Robert Cross, a New York detective, 
 arrived at Excelsior Springs, and promptly arrested 
 Black, announcing with plenty of officious show that his 
 prisoner was wanted for murder in the first degree. This 
 startling event created a terrific sensation in the summer 
 resort, where opinion was at once divided. Many of 
 those who had come to know Black best felt sure there 
 was some mistake he had made such a favorable impres- 
 sion by his exemplary deportment that it was difficult to 
 believe he. had ever committed murder. There was the 
 
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 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 ever-present clique of skeptics, who "always knew" the 
 fellow was a dangerous criminal. Thus was the whole 
 town agog with gossip. 
 
 But there were two persons who promptly came out 
 in the open, and staunchly declared their undying belief 
 in "Kid" Black's innocence. These were Peggy Jules and 
 her employer, Walter Frank. In a most heart-rending 
 impromptu conference held at the town calaboose, Black 
 swore to both that he was not guilty, and frankly told 
 them the entire story of his participation in the foul plot 
 in the presence of Detective Cross, who jotted down 
 notes as the prisoner talked. 
 
 "I did enough dirty tricks in my mean life, but, thank 
 God, I escaped the unpardonable crime of taking another's 
 life," the overwhelmed Black asserted with forcefulness. 
 
 "I believe you, dear every word you say, and I am 
 going to stick by you at any cost," Peggy announced, as 
 she smiled bravely in an effort to cheer up the man she 
 loved more in adversity than she had ever dared to dur- 
 ing the days of tranquillity. 
 
 Black waived all extradition rights, and went back 
 to New York with Detective Cross, it being agreed that 
 Frank would bring Peggy on in time for the trial. Black 
 assumed the attitude of resignation to fate, and he was 
 anxious to go through with his ordeal as quickly as pos- 
 sible, hoping against hope that some unseen force would
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 arise in its might to save him. He was brave, though sad ; 
 he was really heroic and stoical with it. He had the ad- 
 vantage of a clear conscience, and he acted as if he was 
 confident all the world would some day know that he had 
 conquered himself in time to avert the irrevocable tragedy 
 of taking the life of another. 
 
 224
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 NOT more than an hour before extra editions of the 
 newspapers announced the capture of "Kid" Black 
 to New Yorkers, Midgie, intoxicated by her wild, falla- 
 cious ambition to bask in the sunshine of luxury all the 
 rest of her life, succeeded in eluding Bertha Grant long 
 enough to "give in" to Phillip Harrison's pleadings for 
 a quick, secret marriage. Yes, without a single consci- 
 entious scruple, this little vampire double-crossed the 
 trusting Bertha, becoming Mrs. Philip J. Harrison in fact. 
 and legally, even while her benefactress awaited her re- 
 turn in the hotel suite. The moment had arrived for 
 Bertha to walk majestically onto the scene and win Har- 
 rison for her own. It had come to the final act in the 
 clever little drama she was enacting, and up to the very 
 last all indications pointed to complete success for her. 
 She had sent Midgie out with the man she loved for the 
 purpose of enticing him into imbibing sufficiently of wine 
 to make him reckless and good-natured in order that his 
 own frivolity might be exposed to him with more safety. 
 But Midgie disobeyed orders. 
 
 Bertha was still impatiently awaiting the return of 
 the couple when she heard the newsboys yelling "extra," 
 and she summoned a servant to secure a copy of one of 
 the papers for her. Naturally she was intensely inter- 
 ested in reading of the news pertaining to "Kid" Black's 
 
 225
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 arrest. Midgie first heard of the news as she was return- 
 ing with Harrison from the minister's home at which they 
 had been quietly married. Consternation at once seized 
 her. She feared she would be dragged into the case, and 
 she did not want to be exposed to her husband, who was 
 entirely unaware of her past bad life. 
 
 "My darling husband, I'm so anxious to get started 
 on our honeymoon. Let's go at once," she urged im- 
 pulsively. 
 
 "I shall be happy to accede to your wishes, my dear," 
 he replied. "If it suits you, I will take you back to your 
 hotel, and then go to my offices to wind up certain pend- 
 ing business affairs, and we will be free to go." 
 
 "No; you go on to your office and transact your busi- 
 ness, and I will go to the hotel alone, and make my prepa- 
 rations it will save time," she suggested eagerly. 
 
 This request rather surprised Harrison, but he bowed 
 to his w r ife's will. He assisted her into a taxicab and then 
 hurried to his offices. A half hour later Midgie arrived 
 in her suite, and found Bertha in anything but an amiable 
 mood. 
 
 "Goodness, you must have taken your time without 
 considering me in the least," Bertha reproved. 
 
 "I couldn't help it," Midgie gasped. "I'm ill." 
 
 "Well, here is something which will add to your dis- 
 comfort, I am sorry to say," Bertha said, handing her
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 newspaper to the now faint girl. 
 
 Midgie scanned the headlines and, fortunately, her 
 mind worked fast. Here was an opportunity to get away 
 from Bertha, and she sought to take advantage of it before 
 the latter could possibly demand a further explanation 
 as to her failure to bring Harrison back to the hotel with 
 her, but she failed in her calculation. 
 
 "Where is Mr. Harrison?" 
 
 "Well, you see," Midgie gulped, "this news reached 
 me just as we were entering the cafe for a few drinks, 
 and it upset me so completely that I had to beg him to 
 excuse me." 
 
 "Oh, you little simpleton,'" Bertha expostulated. 
 
 "I I can't help it, Miss Grant, I've got to get out 
 of the reach of the police quick," Midgie protested. 
 
 Bertha was gullible enough to concede in her own 
 mind that Midgie was actuated by motives of self-pro- 
 tection in this, and she suddenly became slightly alarmed 
 lest she might be dragged into the case, too, as a possible 
 result of being caught in the company of the woman who 
 was known as Black's companion. Consequently she 
 hastened to her own apartment, after making an appoint- 
 ment to meet Mijdgie later. Then the latter hurriedly 
 packed a few of her belongings preparatory to a flight 
 with Phillip J. Harrison. 
 
 Meanwhile the first thing to command Harrison's 
 
 227
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 attention when he arrived at his offices was the following 
 telegram : 
 
 Philip J. Harrison, New York, N. Y. 
 
 Want you to defend me in my trial for mur- 
 der. I'm an innocent man and my case should 
 be easily won. Will pay you any price you set. 
 I'm young man who saved you from hold-up 
 that night on Fifth avenue, and to whom you 
 loaned fifty next day. See me at the Tombs 
 when I arrive. 
 
 "Kid" Black. 
 
 Harrison was visibly impressed by this telegram. A 
 sense of duty told him that he must stay and hear the 
 man's story. He was pondering over this when he was 
 called on the telephone by Bertha Grant, who had decided 
 to complete her work without the further aid of Midgie. 
 
 "I have just learned of your engagement being 
 broken, and I want to ask you to do me the honor of 
 visiting me and hearing what I have to say about the 
 misunderstanding which has caused me so much anguish," 
 Bertha said. 
 
 "I am sorry, but that is impossible, because I have 
 just married the famous Princess Heloise," announced 
 Harrison, suddenly inspired with the idea of convincing 
 Bertha once for all that he did not love her. 
 
 228
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 "What !" she fairly screamed into the phone, causing 
 the man to jump in astonishment. "Why, she's a bogus 
 princess, my maid, a former woman of the tenderloin, and 
 the mistress of 'Kid' Black, the gunman who is about to 
 be tried for murder." 
 
 This broadside was hurled at Harrison in such con- 
 vincing tones that he did not even wait for more. Instead 
 he banged the receiver on the hook and rushed post-haste 
 to Midgie's apartment, confronting her excitedly and de- 
 manding a denial of the whole accusation. Midgie was 
 just floundering around in her great confusion for an 
 answer when Bertha Grant ran into the room, a raging 
 maniac in her uncontrollable anger. The abruptness with 
 'which she had been made to realize Midgie's duplicity 
 completely upset her reason for the time being, since that 
 duplicity meant her being deprived of the one thing for 
 which she lived wedlock to the man she loved. 
 
 The moment Midgie espied Bertha she knew the time 
 had come to fight, and she did, like a cornered tigress. At 
 this she was adept and dangerous. Her sense of justice 
 was entirely undeveloped. She knew not the meaning of 
 fair play. Thus it came to pass that she armed herself 
 with a chair and attacked Bertha before an altercation 
 could possibly be started by any one. Phillip Harrison was 
 in the vortex of a storm which he knew not how to com- 
 bat. He realized he could not stand by and see murdei 
 
 229
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 committed, and yet he dreaded to become involved in a 
 rough-and-tumble fight with a woman his legal wife. 
 
 "Save me from this terrible woman," Bertha 
 screamed hysterically at the top of her voice. 
 
 The commotion started by Bertha alarmed Harrison 
 more than the belligerency of Midgie. He did not wanl 
 the outside world attracted, but he was sadly confused 
 Events had crowded themselves upon him with such 
 rapidity that he was anything but cool. 
 
 "Ladies!" he finally managed to exclaim, in time to 
 stay the advancing Midgie momentarily. "Don't force 
 me to regard you as mere women." Then he confronted 
 Midgie with his open hands held out as if to surrender 
 "If you must hurt any one, let me be the victim," he told 
 her. 
 
 "I don't want to hurt nobody, but I'm not going to 
 let her or any other dame hurt me either," Midgie de- 
 clared. 
 
 "Any other dame!" Harrison repeated after her in 
 surprise. "Are these the proper words for a princess !' : 
 
 "Princess me eye," expostulated Midgie. "I'm no 
 princess, and I'd a-never pretended to be if it hadn't been 
 for that woman's determination to marry you." 
 
 "And you you took unfair advantage of an oppor- 
 tunity to cheat us both ?" demanded Harrison. 
 
 "Yes, who wouldn't ?" the defiant little woman hurled 
 
 230
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 back at the man. 
 
 Thereupon Harrison denounced her bitterly. 
 
 "For perpetrating such a monumental deception you 
 should spend the rest of your days in prison," he yelled. 
 
 "Oh, I should worry," was her reply, as she placed 
 the chair on the floor, but retained her grasp on it. 
 
 At this juncture of the unusual proceedings Bertha 
 Grant broke down and wept. She was obviously heart- 
 broken. Her sobs interrupted Harrison in his excoriation 
 of Midgie. He contemplated his former fiancee with 
 deliberation, and then, with his gaze fixed on the trem- 
 bling form he had often embraced, he walked leisurely 
 to her. After hesitating a moment he placed his hand 
 gently on her shoulder. This act on his part brought 
 Midgie out of a near-stupor like a flash. A terrible jeal- 
 ousy swept over her whole being like wildfire, and she 
 ran across the room like a wildcat. Harrison met her 
 assault promptly and hurled her aside disdainfully. She 
 'retaliated just as promptly by summoning several male 
 servants. 
 
 "Throw them both out of the place," she ordered 
 
 \Yhen the servants obeyed a lively scuffle ensued as 
 a result of Harrison's inclination to resist such ignomi- 
 nious ejection, but it soon dawned upon him that his 
 chances of overcoming all the odds were slight, and he 
 voluntarily walked out of the room, leading Bertha by the 
 
 231
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 hand. Miclgie laughed jeeringly at the couple all the 
 while. Her disconcerting laugh followed them all the way 
 down the long hallway. 
 
 Once alone Midgie settled down to laying plans for 
 turning her defeat into a financial victory, for she was 
 wise enough to realize that Harrison could be compelled 
 to pay her a pretty penny to get rid of her, since she had 
 legal grounds on which to stand. 
 
 Meanwhile Harrison, now crestfallen, took Bertha 
 to her apartment, begged forgiveness, and was forgiven. 
 
 "I have been a miserable, contemptible fool ever 
 since I rejected the wonderful love you were always ready 
 to give me, and now I am ready to make amends," he 
 told her. 
 
 "And I am just as ready as ever to make any sacri- 
 fice for you, dear," she \vhispered back anxiously. 
 
 "Then the first sacrifice I shall ask you to make is to 
 become my wife, and I pray I can avoid making you 
 sacrifice further after the day I hope to make the happiest 
 in your life." he replied earnestly. 
 
 232
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 WHEN "Kid" Black was assigned to his cell in the 
 Tombs the first thing he did was to send for Har- 
 rison, who was now reluctant to respond. The tangle 
 he had gotten into obviously nullified -the wisdom of 
 participating in the defense of the reputed 'lover" of 
 "the woman of the world," who had inveigled him into 
 marriage with her. Forsooth, it is doubtful whether or 
 hot Harrison would have gone to see Black at all had he 
 not received the following second appeal : 
 
 Dear Mr. Harrison : 
 
 I'v heard about your trouble. Don't worry, 
 old pal. I've got enough influence over Miclgie 
 to get a square deal for you. I'm going to help 
 you whether you help me or not, because I owe 
 you fifty dollars, and I won't forget past favors. 
 
 "Kid" Black. 
 
 From the hour of his first visit to Black's cell, Har- 
 rison was finally convinced that his client was innocent 
 and deserved his best efforts. Moreover, he had ample 
 cause to feel sure that Black was sincere in his intentions 
 of using his influence over Midgie to curtail her sensa- 
 tional grafting activities as a result of holding the blud- 
 geon of a marriage certificate over the lawyer's head. 
 So it followed that Harrison became Black's attorney with 
 
 233
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 a feeling strongly akin to brotherhood. 
 
 The day before the trial Peggy Jules and Walter 
 Frank arrived in New York and were escorted to Black's 
 cell just in time to see Midgie leave it. Black had sum- 
 moned Midgie to further use his influence over her in 
 Harrison's behalf by telling her the lawyer would drop 
 his case cold and let him be sent to the electric chair if 
 he failed to induce her to make a satisfactory financial 
 settlement and permitted him to get a divorce quietly. 
 Midgie's old love for Black had returned, and she at last 
 promised to make a sacrifice for his sake, as she believed, 
 when, as a matter of fact, it was more to his harm. He 
 realized the chance he was taking, and he knew full well 
 in his own mind that the one girl for him was Peggy Jules, 
 who now betrayed a marked jealousy and a feeling closely 
 resembling chagrin as a consequence of what she had seen 
 with her own eyes. 
 
 "Who was tliat girl?" she demanded, almost irritably. 
 
 "I'll be perfectly honest with you, Peggy," he replied, 
 looking her squarely in the eyes. "That is an old friend 
 of mine, who recently married my lawyer by deceiving 
 him, and I'm trying to use my influence over her for his 
 sake. I guess she will expect me to ask her to marry 
 me if I ever get out of this trouble, but I shall have to 
 disappoint her, because I am going to ask you to be my 
 wife." 
 
 234
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 Black was so straightforward in this that Peggy's 
 confidence in him was decidedly increased, and the 
 mutual love between the two never had run more riot. 
 Even the sombre setting of the lonely cell failed to check 
 the romance. Walter Frank was highly pleased by the 
 trend affairs took after the threatened storm,, and he 
 assumed the responsibility of buoying up the hopes of 
 both. 
 
 "Now, kids, don't go to frettin', 'cause this whole 
 thing is going to come out all right, and we're all going 
 back to Excelsior Springs," he said. 
 
 "And settle down," Peggy ventured, catching the 
 spirit of optimism quickly. 
 
 "Yes," he added, "and live happy ever after, just like 
 you've done in so many of my plays." 
 
 ********* 
 
 The first day of the trial Black found himself con- 
 fronted in court by Max Marx and "Baldy" Ruff and 
 numerous other gangmen with whom he was affiliated 
 in his old days on the East Side. The testimony of this 
 first day and the second day was all against him, and the 
 State seemed to have a comparatively cle'ar case, from 
 which there was no escape for him. All the circumstan- 
 tial evidence and his well-known criminal record of the 
 past counted strongly in favor of his prosecution. 
 
 On the third day Lawyer Harrison sprang a sensa- 
 
 235
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 tion by offering an alibi, based upon the sworn testimony 
 of Bertha Grant, an ideal witness of unimpeachable 
 veracity. She told the Court of her meeting with Black 
 in Central Park on that unforgotten night, and all the 
 effort of the State to shake her from her unequivocal 
 declaration that she knevv she was conversing with the 
 man at the very time the murder was committed some 
 distance away proved unsuccessful. She told of seeing 
 the defendant toss his revolver into the pond, after de- 
 ciding against suicide, and later in an impassioned address 
 Harrison contended the truth, namely, that Black had 
 yielded to the command of a newly-awakened conscience 
 at the crucial moment in his life. This most plausible 
 theory made a profound impression upon the jury, and 
 when Harrison abruptly rested his case on the alibi evi- 
 dence, the State's attorneys were taken entirely unawares. 
 Two hours later "Kid" Black was acquitted, and in 
 the scenes of rejoicing, of which he was the centre, there 
 were two serious clashes between women. The first 
 occurred when Midgie sought to interfere with Peggy 
 Jules, who, out of sheer joy, kissed Black. Before there 
 was time to clear this up Bertha Grant clashed with 
 Midgie in making her way to Black for the purpose of 
 congratulating him. She had seen Midgie's belligerent 
 move towards Peggy, and she determined to prevent the 
 upsetting of another dream of romance. 
 
 236
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 "You disreputable little ingrate, don't you dare pre- 
 sume the right to estrange this couple, too," Bertha yelled 
 at Midgie as she confronted her. "You humiliated me 
 without mercy, and now I expose you without mercy. 
 It's an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." 
 
 "Go on and start something and see where I knock 
 you to," Midgie yelled back, assuming a dangerously 
 antagonistic attitude, but at this point court officers took 
 a hand and hustled Midgie out of the room. 
 
 Previously Black had delivered to Harrison an agree- 
 ment of annulment of marriage, duly signed by Midgie, 
 who, in turn, had received $1000 in cash. 
 
 "The agreement is part payment of the fee I owe 
 you," Black said. 
 
 "It's payment in full, my friend ; you do not owe me 
 a cent," was the grateful Harrison's reply. 
 
 Later the lawyer went his way with Bertha Grant, 
 while Midgie returned to her old haunts and celebrated 
 by going on a big spree. She was the result of taking 
 the wrong advantage of ambition. 
 
 "Kid" Black celebrated his legal victory by wedding 
 Peggy Jules the day following the acquittal. Walter 
 Frank was the witness at the ceremony, and he gave a big 
 dinner in honor of the happy couple. At this dinner the 
 question of a name came up for serious discussion. 
 
 "Now that you've proved that you are what your 
 
 237
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 name says you would be, Will B. \Vhite, why don't you 
 change it again and start all over?" Frank suggested. 
 
 "Yes, since you are the first and only one of your 
 family, so far as any one knows, you are at liberty to 
 adopt any name you choose, dear," Peggy put in. 
 
 "You know," continued Frank, "I like your right 
 name, Peggy." 
 
 "Have you got another name ?" Black asked in some 
 surprise. 
 
 "Yes; Jules is only my stage name I am really 
 Peggy Fanning." 
 
 "Fanning! By Jove, I like that name. Let me see, 
 now that we are married we will start a new clan. Why 
 shouldn't I become Fanning Newclan?" 
 
 "Fine!" the girl exclaimed. "Mr. and Mrs. Fanning 
 Newclan that sounds promising." 
 
 "Great! It's absolutely great! Congratulations to 
 the Newclans," Frank exclaimed jovially. 
 
 At the end of the first year thereafter there was a 
 new baby in the Newclan home at Excelsior Springs, and 
 the new clan was formally started with a lusty zest. By 
 going into co-partnership with Walter Frank, Newclan 
 had been able to launch himself into the printing and 
 
 238
 
 THE FIRST OF HIS FAMILY 
 
 newspaper business, and he was prospering. He was also 
 fast becoming an influential citizen. 
 
 Thus triumphed the erstwhile thug, all and only be- 
 cause Conscience had joined hands with Ambition at the 
 psychological moment. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 239
 
 HBBBMB