Highland Park Public Library Local Newspapers Site

Highland Park Press, 15 Mar 1928, p. 16

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"furtively, jerked my m“‘““;‘fi; fastened this round my waist. Then ‘he gave me a friendly grin and vanâ€" ."When i came on deck this mornâ€" ing," he explained, "Olive incarnated hinself before me. Looked about With a pocket flashlight he made visible for her a small object of woâ€" Â¥en fibre: a bark cord wound round &A packet perhaps two inches square. i "Seemingly," he said, "I have anâ€" cther wellâ€"wisher aboard." He laughted with some bitterness. "Oh, I know what you mean. He fell into a sudden petulance. When Thurston spoke again it was apparently in an effort to get into a more cheerful vein. "On the contrary. You‘ve been splendid." She glanced up friendly. "But 1 still think it was the right thing to do. A week or two henceâ€" absolutely no hope. Oh, why didn‘t you speak in California? She origâ€" imally liked you best. I‘m sure of it Does still, if she only knew. Or," Constance added ruefully, "would if they‘d let her alone." ly.~ "Anyhow," he said, "Burke‘s over the side at Homolulu and gone forâ€" ever." She assented. John was silent for some time. Then: "I‘d like to go, too," he burst out, "I, I‘ve been trying to tell you I‘ve taken your advice: asked her to become my wife." "‘Yes," she answered without movâ€" ing, "I know." + i "She told you?" he exclaimed. "No. You did." He was chagrined. "suppose I do look like that." he said. ; *How should I know? ‘She was thoughtful. "At any rate," he said finally, "he seems to be wishâ€" When John Thurston â€" presently joined Constance, she looked up with a frown" "I was just thinking," she explained, "that Palm Tree doesn‘t at all realize what Burke may be getâ€" ting into his mind. I believe the little fraud‘s quite puffed up over the idea he‘s made something of a conquest." Thurston answered rather absentâ€" ly.. "Anyhow," he said, "Burke‘s over the side at Homolulu and gone forâ€" "Surely, with John at his worst, Van at his bestâ€"need we fear?" Meanwhile, Constance Crawford was forward at the Rainbow‘s bow, sailing through the tropic night upon enchanted waters. h;re, in these little compartments, on this narrow deck, his hands and feet seem in the way. She paused. to smile suringly. "Surely, with John Van at his bestâ€"need Your daughter was on the verge 0%/ _ As the Rainbow raised the panoâ€" falling in love with John Thurston,"| rama of dead craters that stands, The father uttered a protest. | rather barren, above the verdant "I don‘t see that we‘ve gained 3".\"[ town of Honolulu, none upon her thing," y ~ decks was so expectant as Palmyra "But where are your eyes?" deâ€"} Tree. For from the chaff of Ponape manded the hostess. "As I said in[ Burke‘s narration she had winnowed California, Van, with his refined PETâ€"| the clean grain of beauty and româ€" sonality, fits into the yacht‘s cabin ) ance that is the life of this island like ‘The Young King Charles‘ into| world of the palm tree. Her imaginaâ€" a gilded frame. Thurston, on the| tion was aâ€"glow. > contrary, is a great, robust bfl“&z Through the gateway of Honolulu He looks well enough ashore, but} she was to sail on into this world "Events," said the hostess impressâ€" | ively, "have only too well shown that I, that we intervened just in time.} Your daughter was on the verge of falling in love with John Thurston,"( The father uttered a protest. { "I don‘t see that we‘ve gained anyâ€"| thing," s ~ [ "But, my dear, my dear," Palmyâ€" ra‘s mother was protesting, "how can you say everything‘s going right, when Palm spends most of her time listening to that, that miserable stowaway; thatâ€"human toad. . Her father is beside himself with anxiâ€" ety." â€" The man made a deprecatory sound. "But," she puzzled, "what is it." "Inside there‘s a bit of fine mat wem hairs and a tooth,"â€"a good What‘s Happened Before small, private rainbow for which she Palmyra Tree, aboard the yacht| had been named. Rainbow, is startled by seeing a hand Burke and Palmyra were on deck thrust through the port of her cabin.( â€"Burke was quizzically regarding She makes a secret investigation and | the pensive Palmyra. discovers a stowaway. She is disâ€"| As though defining her very ‘appointed in his mild appearance and } thoughts, he spoke. tells him so. Obeying his command| "Excuse me, Miss," he said. to glance at the doorâ€"she sees a huge | "Those othersâ€"" a slightly contempâ€"‘ fierce, copperâ€"huedâ€"manâ€"with a ten| tuous gesture. "They‘re tame. That‘s| inch knife held betweert grinning | what â€"tame. But you* Why, you’ref lips! Burke, the stowaway, explaind different. , Y‘sure wasn‘t intended that it is a joke. But Palmyra is|for their little ol‘ birdcage kind of | shaken. Next day, Burke and the) life. Nature meant y‘for something brown man go up on deck. The stOWâ€"{ livelyâ€"like, something up and doing." / away entertains them with wild tales The girl laughed. "Nature," she} of an adventuresome lifeâ€"which his| said, "meant me for a pirate. It‘s‘ listeners refuse to believe! Now read in my blood," she affirmed. "First, a | CHAPTER HIL Enemiesâ€"and Friends Some sixteen days later in Mrs. Crawford‘s cabin a conference was under way. EJGHT her lips: "John, at them reas tales | _ The girl laughed. "Nature," she i his) said, "meant me for a pirate. It‘s read | in my blood," she affirmed. "First, a } Norseman ravaging the coasts of | England. Then, a British admiral | ravaging everything else. And lastâ€" Iy, old Captain Tbhenczer, with John Mr>.J Paul Jones, descending once more was ; upon the coasts of England." * Burke grinned in admiration. Imyâ€" The girl turned to go; then paused, can | laughing back at him@over her shoulâ€" ight, | der. "You, Ponape Burke," she said; time | "you and Iâ€"I‘m afraid we were born rable | too late." ) _ At last the girl who was named | Palmree understood. For there in Ithe advertisement was a palmtree, \ The upraised hand had symbolized | the palmâ€"herself. Olive but sought Ik- give her a ring with her name upon it. * , When t‘c hour of â€" Jeaveâ€"taking camt*, however, he seemed to have reâ€" entered the silence, and the fareâ€" | wells devoived upon Ponape Burke. wells devoived upon Ponape Burke. { As this little stowaway . reached her in his round he achieved a simâ€" ple eloquence of feeling. "You‘ve been kind t‘me, miss," he said. I ain‘t aâ€" going t‘forget it. Nor you." â€" She shook hands with an unas sumed friendliness. "I‘m sure," she Said, "we shall see you again." Sharply he glanced at her, as if eager to know whether she really had such a m Then be $ Wnn oo‘ Nt 6 thrge ccenn lndy.. With you and me it‘s smm The savage, presently returning, thrust into the girl‘s hand a lithoâ€" graph, an advertisement of Egypâ€" tian cigarettes. The brown man stood baffied. Then grinning anew, he hurried away forâ€" ward. _Olive pointed to the letters; then to the girl and once more held aloft the hand with the moving fingers. But again she shook her head. «N.i * When she shook her head, regretâ€" fully, he abandoned the upraised hand as futile. He brought out a ring. Palmyra Tree had never seen such a ring: tortoise shell inlaid with silver. There were letters on it; seemingly one word, thrice repeated and separated by disesâ€"the word The brown man, thus countenanced laid the square finger upon her own breast. Having thus identified the girl as the being of the drama, he raised his hand, with extended arm, straight over his head. She thought he invoked the One above. But she gave this up when she saw that he waggled, fluttered the fingers. He gave tongue to a few syllables, paused perplexed, then fell back upon pantomime. The hour of departâ€" ure had come. Soon Burke and he would go over the side and, forever, into oblivion. â€" â€" Palmyra smiled. She tried to overâ€" come her aversion, to respond to his attempted farewell. As he had done, she moved to speak, found herself helpless, returned the smile. As the girl, thus deep in reverie, stood watching the distant peaks, she became aware of a presence at her side. Turning, she started upon encountering the brown man Olive. She was to sail across the trackless sea as those brown mariners of old. Through the gateway of Honolulu she was to sail on into this world where Happiness is queen. At the rate the Rainbow was sailâ€" ing, it was evident the yacht must soon make a landfall. Indeed, atâ€" ready eyes were peering throukh powerful glasses seeking for the first shadowy sithouette of the peeks of Oahu. aim." l The sailing master was a man vain, her, as if | selfâ€"important, jealous of his prerog« ‘_o ndlnlfl‘!q,h-lpabfifl. in so featuring Van as a yachtsâ€" manâ€"he was no more than a fairly competent amateur â€" the hostess had meant that Pedersen in the back= ground should unastentatiously check up on his work at every point. What better then for Mrs. Crawâ€" ford in her amiable intrigue than to set up Van Buren Rutger as a gentleâ€" man navigator? How more pleasantâ€" ly important than, handsome, graceâ€" ful, jaunty in his white uniform he poised with sextant to take the sun or bent over the charts with Conâ€" stance and the Wampolds and Palâ€" myra? And the tender smile was still linâ€" gering, in an alluring warmth and sweetness and beauty, when the Rainâ€" bow, caught all unaware by a sudâ€" den squall, came down with a crash upon the teeth of a reefâ€"that should not have been there. On a craft such as the Rainbow interest naturally centers about the navigation. â€" ‘ ; Slowly, unconsciously, Palmyra had | been responding to the conditions | created by the wily Mrs. Crawford. | As the breeze, with each knot of ] westing, had been sinking more danâ€" | gerously into the doldrums, the . breath of her on feeling had stirred, | risen fresh, fair, constant, until it ] reached the deep sweep of a maiden‘s : first acknowledged love. So it was, that night, as Palmyra lay asleep in het stateroom, her body gently moving with the lift and fail of the yacht in the midâ€"Pacific calm, there was a tender smile upon her lips. True, at the moment when Mrs. Crawford spoke, it was upon the face of John Thurston that Palmyâ€" ra‘s eyes rested, and she could but wince at the flash of pain there reâ€" vealed. â€" But no girl in love can, on her betrothal night, long be unhappy uver the dace of a rejected suitor. But when, on the twentyâ€"second evening <out from Honoluluâ€"tomorâ€" row they were to sight their ‘first atollâ€"the hour came for the forimal announcement of her betrothal, the girl was radiantly happy. And ‘she must have treated John Thurston abominably. _ With each moment that she gave herself more convincedly up to love, her pity for Thurston grew. Gladly she was confessing it now, this belated recognition of love for the man of her parents‘ choice, Van Buren Rutger. The third week came and neared its end. Intermittent now the breeze, for they touched the equatorial zone of light and variable airs. A whole day through, perhaps, the Rainbow would scarcely move. The peaks of Oahu sank back into the moana, the deep, deep ocean, whence they had riser. One day, two days, four, six upon a temperaâ€" mental sea; a whole week of heavy skies and rain and storm seemed to have carried the girl no further. A second week came and went; a week of summer sea and lusty trades and fiying yacht. But still no answer. By rejecting both her loversâ€"NVan shortly after John â€" Palmyra had gained a repriexe from that question as to whether she were in love with one man or just dandy good pals with two. One short week ashore and the good ship Rainbow was at sea again. Bound she was now for the heart of Oceanica, the Equatorial isles of Micâ€" ronesiz. As the yacht was to put John Thurston aboard a Philippine transport at Guam, only a little southing, said the hostess, would take them in among the Gilberts, the Marâ€" shalls, the Carolines, that Milky Way of atolls along the Line, of which Ponape Burke had talked so allurâ€" ingly. Palmyra faced abruptly away and snatched the ring from her fingsr. "Yes," she whispered, "I, I‘m cerâ€" tainly glad to have seen the last of him." Burke raised his hat jauntily. But it was rather at the savage the girl looked. Over the white man‘s shoulâ€" der he seemed to be watching her to the end with that strangely expresâ€" sionless but intent stare. What Mrs. Crawford did not explain was that the real duty, as she saw it, lay in depriving Thurston‘s long legs of a chance, in this less cramped setting of Honolulu, to snap back to perspective. 0 A minute later Palmyra‘s pirates were swinging over the side into their boat. THE HIGHLAND PARK PRESS, HIGHLAND PARK, Following the crash upon the reef. Thurston picked himself up â€" and scrambled to the deck just as a sea came roaring aboard. Saved by a spring into the rigging he waited a chance to reach Pedersen, whose conâ€" dition he had sensed. Seizing the sailâ€" ing master he whirled him round. But even as the doomed Rainbow thus lay between hammer and anvil. she could have been extricated had not Captain Pedersen himself gone to pieces. In the precious remaining mements a bewildered crew tried to execute incoherent orders, while the yacht was beaten down upon the waiting coral. tie yacht before Van was galvanized into action by discovering, broad on the port bow, a dim lowâ€"lying someâ€" thing against the skyâ€"the silhouette of palms. Like most unadventurous persons, Van rebelled at being thought timid. Before rousing the watch he paused to make sure the clouds meant wind. As ‘he studied the sky he gradually became aware of a low sound as of an express train far away. Startled, be swept the sea; then laughed in selfâ€"contempt. More than once lateâ€" ly in dreams or waking he had sprung up at that fancied sound of surf. The yacht should not have land aboard until late the next day. To call out there was an island aâ€"lee, if there were none, would be to make himself absurd. his handsâ€"and c The sound of surf being at its minimum after two days‘ calm, the first breath of the squall was upon Staring now up at the blackening sky, again off into the gloom of sea, he stood, balanced in suspense beâ€" tween his dread of ridicule. For this first time Van held life and death in His first glance told him the clouds were gathering fqt a squall. island groups. And then, when at last he told the girl, she could not but admire his performance. On the night of the wreck, Vanâ€" really heroic in persisting against a quacking unconfidence that kept him often awakeâ€"had stolen on deck in the midâ€"watch to reassure hintself. A certain inability to take a stand in anything unpicasant, difficult, to make up his mind and act in an emerâ€" gency, kept Van at first from telling the hostess. Later he continued with an object. He knew she did not truly rely on him in this showy fraud of fear of seeing that knowledge reâ€" flected in the faces of others. Thereâ€" fore, heâ€" would, without aid, sail the making an outward show; in reality ?vhpt&.m‘bb'fl was not deceived. Knowing his own Van soon discovered then that this MURRAY & TERRY The Biggest Bargains ould not decide what $5,000. Easy Terms. Every lot has a frontage of 75 j feet or better and many 350 feet deep. All improvements in and paid. Exclusive west side district, Ridgewood Drive and Green Bay Road. . in wooded lots ever offered. Exclusive Agents °.. _ Phone Highland Park 69 Come and select yours. It had been decided to leave the women in the cabin where they had been penned, "rather than risk the ugly surf that broke about the after ¢companion. But Van, in his selfâ€"accusing frenzy, was conscious only that he had placed his betrothed in the hands every hour. ranged for the sole purpose of bringâ€" ing out the difference between John Thurston and Van Buren Rutger. Where Van was sunk in selfâ€"accusâ€" ing misery, Thurston‘s spirits were buoyant. The man was serene, methâ€" odical, busy. And he had action at last; intense, vital .In fighting to save the woman be loved he could forget, for the moment, that he had lost her forever. * The other quailed under the steely light in Thurston‘s eye. The pumps showed that the wreck was taking water badly. Such boats as could be launched were got ready. They liked, respected Thurston: He knew little of ships but they recogâ€" nhqhhhheihm'd; it mi myra "TH Where Van was soon sodden "You‘re drunk," he cried. "Or, or During the hours which followed Hot Water, Vapor, High or Low Pressure Steam Entimates on N/# and Remodeling Work â€" Repair Work a Speciaity T33 GLENCOER AVENTE 82 CLIPTON AVENUE Telephone Highland Park 2637 Telepbone Highland Park 1242 Residence Sfig 820 Ridge Terrace, Evanston. Tel. Greenleaf 802 Teacher of Piano Accompanist LOUISE M. M. D. MURPRY MURPHY & SCHWALL HEATING CONTRACTORS with with as any other to do that needed tinâ€" work and sheet metal work around the house. You‘ve been putting off ull winter the matter of a new roof, or raim gutter, or leader, or drain â€" now is the time to do it. Take adâ€" vantage of the spring periodâ€"get our figure on the work. of denth, that he must szave her. He rushed toward the cabin companionâ€" waÂ¥y. Before anyone noticed, he had thrown it open in the face of another down ite steps by the Recding wamep: Catching up Palmyrs he struggled back and out again on the deck, Only h-.u.'-nhcay.':l‘hm-n to ferce m ea ping short, be looked back. A crest the night of her betrothal she would scarcely have been like, under any cireumstances, to draw comparisons. And here darkness and groping conâ€" fusion and the voice of waters conâ€" spired with Thurston himself to hide the truth. Palmyra‘s love weathered . the storm, unquestioning, serene. (Continued next week) In an instant the sea would have been upon him,. â€" From that slippery listing deck both man and girl would, started one way, another; st frowen in his tracks. in the blinding roar, all she knew was that Van‘s arms were round her, that he held her safe. Never did she suspect it was to unother pair of arms she owed ber life. in all chance, have been carried overâ€" Of all these revelations, these manâ€" ifestations of the weakness of Van Buren Rutger, the strength of John Thurston, the girl noted none. Ou Henry G. Winter NOW iS AS GOOD A TIME 48 North First Street some animated beast for CLARENCE B. J. A. SCHWALL Violin

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