Casper Daily Tribune Newspaper, January 27, 1917, Page 2

She Dropped Into the Skiff. byes MRS. RUPERT HUGHES’ Novelized From the of the Same Name Copyright, 1916, by Motion Picture Play by George Kleine Adelaide M. Hughes SYNOPSIS. Plerpont Stafford, with his daughter Gloria, is wi ing at Palm Beach. tla is a vivacious but willful young lady chafes under the restraining hand of from whom she repeatedly | childish capers cause young to fall in love with her. glades she falls | inole Indians. who @ governess exc Gloria rescuer, Fre- neau e years later # leaves school and meets Freneau at the th ; he has forgotten Gloria. Later F suades her to forgive him ter-In-law, Lois, becomes ous and Doctor Royce an ally. Freneau tak Gloria, She sees from her win k made upon him. Doctor Royc her it ix delirium, A telegram followed by a letter, comes from Freneau. She replies but her telegrams are urned, She ac- cidently sees the supp uicide of Fre- neau reported in the pap Gloria swears to find the murderer of her lover. Royce tells what he knows of F Stafford, The to p ainst run n Freneau’s mur warns Mulry to tell Gloria Gloria calls on Mulry and there Gloria's Royce enc nothing fees Lois who ts also worried. i] diMicuity she fi 8 country home. She | at once. ; ach ves fo her one-time captor, an chief. He tells | her that Re 1eau Was her rescuer at th: rla attends night | court; she Mulry ‘there, also the tramp who ¢ ked Frencau. But Judg Freeman re She ws the tramp wh and down w a riot o at to murder SIXTEENTH EPISODE seb a's on a Frenes A Modern Pirate People who raise children are sure of a life of They would have more than they get if they could | see everything that goes on. surprises. Pierpont Stafford had been kept Pretty well surprised of late by his daughter's actions, In his haste he | had said that she was probat “on that canal barge in the river.” He did not expect to be taken seriously by the fates. But there his daughter was, at least on another barge, miles farther up the stream but drifting downward. She was in command of | the ship, at the tiller, trying to steer the bulky hulk, When Glorin saw that the captain of the tug had noticed the slight de- tail of the parted hawser and the lost convoy she was vexed. When she saw the tugboat turning around to recap- ture the barge she felt that It would be hard to explain about the prisoners she had tened down in the cabin. She supposed it was mutiny or some- thing for a passenger to tle up cap- tain, crew and cook, and change the course of the ship. She believed that people who did that were usually hung from the yardstick or something. She hoped that the old barge did not have such a thing on board. The nearer the tug came the louder the pilot and the crew yelled at her and the less Gloria wanted to meet shem, She had never met any tugmen and she felt no ambition to get Into their social set. It was growing so dark by now that they could not see who was at the tiller, and they kept calling her: “Trask” or “Oh, Jed!" At length Gloria decided that she was not needed any"longer. She had goted a little boat bobbing along after the barge and she felt that she| The tugboat crew went back to their hind it. He welcomed her to *és arms | fiend of a Trask. |run over the skiff, It was more nearly her size. She would be safer alone on a skiff than on the barge when the tugmen released that He had planned to kill her before she tied him up. He would certainly do no less now that he had escaped. Jed had evidently picked himself up from the rocking-chair trap, untied Trask and unmufiied Nell. The three had been pounding and howling for some time. The hatch held for a while, but they were going at it now with something as heavy as a batter- ing ram. It would yield soon surely and then where would she be? She ran to the edge of the barge and hauled in on the painter attached to the little boat. The barge was swish- ing in the tide and it was trying to Sut Gloria had no other avenue of escape. She hung across the edge of the barge and dropped into the skiff. Her aim was not very accurate and the river nearly might as well capture that. got he: But she sat down quickly | and steadied herself and the boat. She began to ply the ours with great eager- ness, but little progress. At length she noticed that she had en to cast off. She ran to the und had to untie the painter. The wet knots were torture to her delicate hands, but at last she was free and the boat fell away from the barge. The She Did Not Exchange Information for Hospitality. river was dark and menacing, and its current was like some invisible geni dragging the skiff away to its lair. Sul, when Gloria saw the tug come alongside the barge and make fast, and saw Trask, Jed and Nell dash up the companionway and meet the tug- hands on the deck, she felt that the current would be kinder towher then the men would have been. What explanation Trask and Jed made she could not imagine. Evidently it was not a good one, for the crew from the tugboat gesticulated violently und it looked as if there would be a big fight. Gloria hoped that they all would throw one another overboard. PEAY THE CASPER |quarters. Trask ran back to stare at Gloria. He shook his fist at her and she rowed fnsivr. But the barge moved northward, following the puf- fing tug. ; Gloria breathed a sigh of relief at her escape. Then she realized that after all Trask had also escaped. She was so angry at this cancellation of her success that she started to row | back after the barge. What she have done had she overtaken it she did not stop to think. The current pre- vented the possibility of knowing. The Hudson streaming into the sea carried Gloria with it in spite of all her ef- forts at the oars. She gave up at le h and devoted all her energies to rowing ashore. The nearer shore was the farther from her, because a landing on the west bank would com pel a lengthy roundabout to fetch her yume on the east bank. he rowed for the New York shore and crept toward it slowly, though the boat turned southerly so fast that she |feared to be swe; on down to the crowded er pavements. It | was lonely out there on the dark river. Her arms ached with fatigue, her silken } hands were pouching with blisters. ; Finally she felt the keel grate and she landed on a rocky point. She for i got the little dinghy and it slipped k and danced on down the river to me unknown fate. Gloria felt better the firm earth and she grew angry She stared at the barge, now a mere smudge on the vague horizon. She whispered to herself: “I'll get him yet, and he won't get away!” Gloria thought of her father’s yacht. She believed that it had been recently | put into commission. If only she had jit now! But it was loafing at anchor in the river at her father’s country home, the last she had heard of It. To get a yacht! That was her small requirement now. She must get home to get it. She plunged along till she came to a lonely road. After a time a tarmer appeared driving a wagonload of empty milk cans. Gloria envied him his throne on the high seat. He was the rich one now and she the pauper. He called out: “Have a lift, miss? How fur ye goin’?” “I'm golng as far as you'll take me, plea. “Get in, then, miss, and we'll jog along.” The farmer was naturally anxious to know what errand his guest was on, but she did not exchange informa- tion for hospitality. She grew so im- patient for faster progress that when the farmer came to his own lane and turned into it she was glad to get down and walk. Gloria trudged till she was worn out. All the motors she saw seemed to be going the wrong way. When finally she heard one coming behind her she was so delighted that she turned and held out her hands. She wanted to embrace the driver for being so kind as to be going her way. Anybody looks well coming to a res- cue, but the young man driving the southbound automobile was too good looking for his own comfort or anyone else’ He accepted Gloria as a pas- Senger with more enthusiasm than she relished. He jumped to the ground, lifted his hat, assisted Gloria into the | front seat, and took his place beside her. He shot the car forward with a Swagger and his compliments began to puff out of him. Gloria endured a num- ber of his flatteries because she need- ed his motor, but she grew angrier, {and when he began to call her “Cutie” she decided that his usefulness had ceased to exist. One of the twain sim- had to get out and walk. Gloria was sure that it was not to be her- self. She plotted carefully how to throw this new skipper overboard. The victim helped her to an idea by lean- ing close to her and murrouring: Cutie, huh?” * said Gloria, foaming at his | impudence. “We make a great team, huh?” “Great,” said Gloria. “Atta girl,” said the youth and slid his left arm around her, Glora laughed harshly and somehow managed to knock the hat off her | wooer's head. The wind whipped it back and the driver shut off the engine and threw on his emergency brake. “So sorry,” said Gloria, smiling in | the dark, “At's all right, Cutie,” said the young man. “Back in a minute.” He jlid from his place and ran back along the road for his hat. Gloria had been studving his methods of running the car and comparing it with his own. As soon as the driver started back | Gloria pressed the self-starter button | and put the car into motion. The man heard the engine sputter and he yelled, “Hey!” thinking the gasoline to blame. He was sure that he had forgotten to stop his engine and he was afraid thai the car was running away with its pretty passen- ger. He ran after it, forgetting his hat in his alarm, lest Gloria be dashed to pieces on the side of the road. The clean way the car leaped across the hill and the hand Gloria waved in farewell reassured him as to her safe- ty, but filled him with disgust and with fear that she were some new type of automobile thief. Gloria's conscience was clear. The young impertinent had earned his | punishment. The walk would do him good. She would restore his car to him by hunting up the owner of its number when she had time. If neces- sary, her father could buy the car. It was a.nice car. She loved its appetite for miles and fed it well. And finally it brought her back to her home. As she ran in through the gates she almost collided with her father’s car. The piercing searchlight blinded her until she heard his voice from be- Kind woud | DAILY TRIBUNE and was so glad to have her safely! | there again that it was several minutes | before he began to scold her. j She asked him to hush, please, as |she had no time to waste and she | wanted to borrow his yacht and its; entire crew for a while. Pierpont re-; | fused the Joan with all the severity of | a bank president, but Gloria calmly | sent for the sailing master and in the | presence of her father gave him orders | to be ready as soon as she had her/ long-delayed dinner. | Doctor Royce and Judge Freeman | e at the house. They sat with oria while she told them of her ad- as she ate a hastily reas- sembled dinner. She said to Doctor Royce: “I am surprised, Stephen, at your leaving me alone by myself to solve my new problems. Of course, you didn’t know where I was going, but you usually manage to arrive in the knick of time. You ought to have | been there.” “I wish I had been there,” Royce re- plied. His heart ached at the sight of her beauty and at the adventurous spirit which sent her tender body Into so much danger with so few resources. | “I won't let you quit my sight again, Gloria,” he said and stared with such idolatry that she felt afraid that he was loving her too well. | “Then you will come along and help me to capture the man who killed my beloved Dick?” | “All right, captain,” said Royce with a plucky smile, though her allusion to} Freneau cut him to the quick, Judge Freeman seemed to be agi- tated by the plan Gloria outlined for | the pursuit and capture of Trask. “You must not permit this, Pierpont,” he protested, anxiously. “Your diugh- ter has no legal right to arrest the man Trask. If she should capture him she would have to turn him over to the authorities and she would have to face a public explanation.” Gloria retorted with vigor: “You had him, judge, and you said that he slipped out of your fingers. Now you advise me not to go after him again. You let him escape once and want me to let him escape a second time. Why, I do not know. Why don't you tell me why?" Judge Freeman looked away gulltily. His eyes turned to Plerpont and his answer was to him and not to Gloria. “You must realize, Plierpont, that such a cruise is no place for a girl of ventures Gloria's position and breeding.” “That's true,” sald. Pierpont. all off, Gloria.” “No, it isn't!" Gloria cried. “If you don't help me to catch that flend r'll get the police after him.” “What police?” Pierpont laughed. “The local chief? He couldn't capture fn snail.” “The man {is out of his jurisdiction, anyway,” said the Judge. “It would be quite a complicated process getting the fellow arrested and he would probably be hard to find.” “My way is a very, simple way,” said “It's Gloria. “Instead of sending, go! That's a good motto. But the judge will neither send nor go, and once more I want to ask him why?” The judge was net used to being cross-examined and he bore it illy. He faltered: “Some day you'll know and you'll reallze that I acted for your peace of mind.” “My plece of mind depends on cap- turing that man!” Gloria answered curtly, “and anybody that wants to can come along now. Royce saluted and waited for orders, Pierpont decided to go. Judge Free- |} She Could Throw the Wheel Over to the Queen’s Taste. man refused and repeated his warn- ings, but Gloria would not even tell him good-by. She, her father and Royce went down to the yacht landing and were carried aboard in a little boat, the oars flashing in the moon- light and the sailors coming hand- somely alongside, It was splendid to feel the deck under- foot. Gloria chuckled at the contrast between the yacht and the canal boat, She rejoiced in the famous speed of the engines and she could imagine the prow slicing the waves in pursuit of the lumbering barge. She was on a racehorse and she was chasing an ox. But racehorses are delicate giants and so are race cars and racing yachts. This sea rover declined to rove. There | Iner: | wheel. | to steer the yacht. | durance by the whole transaction. i i: #3. ‘3 Pierpont Decided to Go. was engine trouble in the works and the captain brought the hateful news that the yacht could not budge for several hours. Gloria was bitterly dis- appointed and completely baffled. “It’s the old story of the tortoise and the hare,” she grumbled. “While we mre sleeping here the barge {s moving along cvery moment. We'll never find it. It'll get away for keeps this time.” “Never despair,” said Royce stupid- ly. “Don’t speak to me,” sald Gloria. She flounced away to the stern deck to be by herself. Then the soft breeze blew away her anger and her furies, In spite of herself she fell asleep. Her father came to urge her to go to her berth, but she refused to stir. “You'd better sell this old tub and buy a motor boat,” she said. Later Gloria was half-awakened by a little chill. She was too cold to say where she was and too drowsy to move. She saw a shadowy figure tip- toeing up. She knew that a steamer rug was gently laid over her. Half a-dream, she murmured, “Thank you, Stephen.” She did not know whether he heard her or not. When she awoke the yacht was re- deeming its lost reputation. It was hastening up the river at a splendid gait. The sun was just crossing the eastern wall of hills. Gloria went to her stateroom to bathe and dress for a new and busy day. Breakfast was served on deck, and the Palisades slid back with en- couraging rapidity. Before Gloria had finished her break- fast a tug, towing a barge, was sighted on the northern edge of the water. Gloria went to the pilot house to stim- ulate the pursuit. She had great fun calling down the tube to the engineer; to go as fast as possible and then still faster. She tried to hurry the pildt, too, but he explained that he could not use the speed by turning his Gloria asked him numberless questions and made him teach her how At first he helped, but soon she could throw the wheel over to the queen's taste. Gradually the barge grew larger and larger and its ugliness more distinct. The men on the tug paid no heed to the yacht following closely. But Gloria saw a gaunt figure on the barge watch- Ing anxiously. Seon he was distin- guishable as Trask. Gloria left the pilot house and went forward to make sure. She recognized him as he rec- ognized her. She called to him to sur- render. He laughed. Then she saw | that he had a rifle in his hand. Trask had been mystified beyond en- He had left Freneau's body in the moon- lit snows in front of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ monument on Riverside drive. He had watched the papers for days, | expecting to read in each one an ac- count of the finding of the body. He had been driven frantic with anxiety by the silence of the journals, He had begun almost to wonder if he had really killed his man or only dreamed it, when suddenly the head- lines had flared out with the state- ment that Freneau's body had been found in the lower bay, miles below the spot on Riverside drive where he had left it empty of soul. He had cudgeled his brain trying to conceive who could have disposed of the evidence ‘of his crime and with what motive. The papers said that Freneau had committed suicide, and nobody disputed it. Trask had begun to grow used to the hope that his crime was to go un- discovered, to remain another of the many instances that disprove the old fallacy, “Murder will out.” It seemed ‘safe for him to return to his business as bargeman, yet he had no sooner en- tered his own cabin than a strange girl appeared, unexplained, and charged him with the murder. She avowed, in fact, that ‘she had seen him do the deed. Then she escaped, but after that nothing occurred to hamper Trask's northward voyage in his canal boat. His night was sleepless, however. He started up dozens of times, seeing Gloria's little white finger pointing at him, hearing her cry out again: “You killed him! I saw you!” The daybreak found him stretched out at the stern of the canal boat, look- ing south for some possible avenger. He saw the yacht swooping up the stream long before Gloria made him out. He seemed to feel that the un- canny speed of the boat meant busi- ness. So he hunted out his old rifle and kept his eyes on the yacht, as it joined with relentless persistence. Finally he made out Gloria on the prow, pointing at him. Now Trask felt assured that Gloria was a witch. She had appeared in his cabin, then vanished, only to reappear with a posse of yachtsmen. He felt that he had been a fool to let her dupe She Murmured, “Thank You, Stephen.” Now she had a little army and navy of her own. But if he got rid of her he would be rid of him when le was alone. the only witness against him. So he reasoned with a madman's logic. He leyeled his rifle at Gloria. He took careful alm. He fired! (TO BE CONTINUED.) Jim Was Ahead of Him.” “It's su strange,” sighed the omni- bus conductor, “how, when two boys start out with equal chances, one of them is bound to forge ahead. There was Jim. He and I were the best of friends in youth. But look at me now. Equal as our chances were, Jim is ahead.” “What is he doing?” asked the gen- tleman sitting near the door, “He's the driver of this ‘ere ’bus,” came the answer. “Did I give ye yer ticket, please.” Had It Marked. A New Orleans cotton broker em- ployed a young woman who was an acutely incorrect speller. She was so competent in every other way, he bought her a dictionary and advised her to use it regularly. The next morning, when he came down to his office he noticed that to protect the new book from the con- stant she was expected to give it covered the backs with cloth, the cover she had written: “Dictionery.”