Jasper County Democrat, Volume 10, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 September 1907 — A Smuggling Episode. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A Smuggling Episode.

By Florence Newhouse Fox.

Copyrighted, 1807, by C. H. Sutcliffe.

As Dorotfiy stepped from the train she cast a furtive look behind her and made a dash for a carriage. She was almost certain the tall man with a Vandyke beard had followed her all the way from Easton and still had bls eye upon her. She crouched back In a corner of the vehicle with heart throbbing madly and nerves at a high tension. “Drive fast to the Glen hotel,” she ordered the cabman. The driver whipped up his horses and In ten minutes drew up before the picturesque hotel in the woods of Glen Echo. As Dorothy sprang to the ground a girl of twenty came around the corner of the veranda. “Dot Graham!” she cried to the newcomer. “Can I believe my eyes? lam

so glad to see you. We are as dull as rusty hoes up here since the season closed.” “Come in! Oh, come in quickly I” Dot exclaimed, pulling her friend into the bouse hurriedly. “Fan, I have been followed.” “Followed?” “All the way from Easton.” “Well,” laughed Fan, “you must blame your own charming face.” “No, no; it Is not a vulgar flirtation. He is a detective.” “Nonsense. Why should a detective follow you? Why, Dot, dear, you are trembling like a leaf. Come up to my room and tell me all about it.” “It all comes from buying this coat in Canada.” “Your new sealskin? Um, isn’t it a beauty?” “I hate it” Dot flung the offending article upon the sofa. “Goodness only knows what complications it has occasioned. I wore it on the train, knowing nothing of the duty imposed on such articles until brother George met me at the station in Easton. Even then when he told me the danger I incurred of being arrested for smuggling I thought it one of his pranks. You know George is never so happy as when be is teasing me. But when he insisted upon my coming up here to you until all danger was past I became really frightened and with cause, as you will admit,” continued Dot breathlessly, “for I noticed a man not five minutes later standing near where I was waiting for the train who seemed tq be watching me. Sure enough, be boarded the same train and alighted at Glen Echo station almost upon my heels. Fan, will you harbor a fugitive from justice?” Dorothy’s woeful face was too much for vivacious Fan Price. She bubbled over with laughter. “You are alarming yourself unnecessarily,” she assured her friend. “If the man had been a detective be would have arrested you then and there.” "Detectives are very shrewd people,** pronounced Dorothy distrustfully. “I am glad you came to me. We remain here until the first of the month. Father is keeping the hotel open to accommodate a party of congressmen who are up for a two weeks’ hunt, and mother refuses to leave him,** Fan explained. > “What are your congressmen hunting for?” Dot asked. “Bears,” said Fan. “I thought,” and there was a mischievous twinkle in Dorothy’s eyes, “that they might be hunting for dears?” “In which event,” twinkled Fan, “you would be obliged to flee from danger once more.” Both girls laughed with the gladneM of youth, and for the time Dot forgot her anxiety. They ran np to the cedar

room, where Mrs. Price with motherly forethought was laying away summer clothing in large paper bags scented with lavender. They strolled out under the leafless trees in the cold November twilight, exchanging confidences,, and came in shivering, late to dinner. The congressmen were all there, gathered around one large table which had been set apart for them. As Dorothy passed on to the family board she became conscious of an Intent gaze fixed upon her; an irresistible something drew her eyes toward the men—toward one, at least, and their eyes met. The color left her face, her eyes grew sick with fear—the fear of arrest. To be dragged like a common thief to prison to answer the charge of smuggling! The thought was unbearable. She blamed the law that made it a crime to wear one’s own garments into one’s own country. Slipping Into her seat she leaned toward Fan with a shuddering whisper: “He Is here! The one with short, pointed beard. Don’t look—and don't tell your father or mother.” Fan glared In the direction of the congressmen, singled out the Vandyke, which at that moment was oblivious of her critical scrutiny In an Interested discussion of venison, and whispered back: “He does not look ferocious enough to bite.” But Dorothy could not see the joke; it was an hour of agony for her. When at last the meal was over and they could get away, the two girls ran up to the safe seclusion of Fan's room, where they talked It over breathlessly and in whispers. They decided that Dorothy should steal away under cover of darkness, take the first train for Easton and so make good her escape. AS to the sealskin sack, the cause of so much agitation. It was secretly stowed away In one of Mrs. Price’s lavender bags; Dot enveloped herself in a borrowed cravenette, hiding her face behind an automobile veil. With timid step the two conspirators slipped down to the lower hall. They could hear the men’s voices as they exchanged stories around the office fire. Just as the girls reached the lower step, with freedom almost Within reach, the office door opened and Dot’s pursuer stepped forth. “Pardon me, is this Miss Price?” he asked courteously. “Your father said I would find you in the sitting room.” “Oh—er—yes,” stammered Fan, trying to push palpitating Dorothy past him. He seemed such a pleasant, polite detective that for one reckless moment Fan entertained the idea of appealing to him in behalf of the innocent offender, but before she could speak he pulled a letter from his pocket. “It is for Miss Price and is from my sister, Nellie Dayton,” explained he. “Nellie Dayton your sister?” both girls exclaimed in surprise. “Yes,” he said cordially. “When she learned that I was coming up here for a few days’ shooting with some friends she insisted that I become her courier. She also intrusted to my care a kodak picture—some of her own work, I believe. It is a group of picnickers, among them yourself and your friend here. I recognized Miss Graham when I saw her at the station at Easton, although it is three years since I have seen her. I Was strongly tempted to make myself known at once, but I saw that she did not remember me.” Dot threw back her veil, disclosing a bright smile and a face beaming with relief. “I wish you had, Mr. Dayton,” she said, impulsively extending both hands. “It would have saved me such a scare.” “What?" inquired Dayton, mystified. “Not afraid of me?” “N-no—of your beard,” laughed Dorothy. in which Fan joined. “You were a beardless senior when I met you three years ago, you know." “So I was. Why, I did not think of that. What a chump I am.” Several days later, when “Brother George” came to Glen Echo with a significant ring for Fan Price, she told him in confidence that his prank was likely to cost his sister her freedom. “Imprisonment?” he asked in a horrified whisper. “That is severe punishment for smuggling one article.” “That depends upon the article smuggled,” Fan hinted, with a wise side glance. “I am afraid our Dorothy has been guilty of smuggling other things than sealskin coats, and she began three years ago.” “Three years a smuggler! Then she deserves the limit for such an offense.” “Deserves it? She would not be happy without the full penalty of the law —imprisonment for life! There, I told you so,” Fan added mischievously as Dot and Mr. Dayton strolled into view. “Here she comes now with her jailer.”

“PARDON ME, IS THIS MISS PRICE?” HE ASKED COURTEOUSLY.