marvelous outline of the statue of Liberty, black against the sky. "Take
a collection and drink hope to that, my friends. It is the most
magnificent experiment in the world's history, and you have taken it out
of our hands."

There was a sudden hush, followed by hand clapping, during which Jim
slipped down. Sara gave him a bear hug. "Oh, Still Jim, you're the light
of my weary eyes! Did he call our bluff, Pen, huh?"

There was something more than laughter in Pen's eyes as she replied:

"I'm never sure whether Still was cut out to be an auctioneer or a
politician."

"Gosh!" exclaimed Jim, "let's get some ginger ale."

The day rushed on as if in a wild endeavor to keep up with the June wind
which beat up and down the ocean and across Coney Island, urging the
trio on to its maddest. They shot the chutes until, maudlin with
laughter, they took to a merry-go-round. When they were ill from
whirling, Sara led the way to the bucking staircase. This was a style of
several steps arranged to buck at unexpected intervals. The movement so
befuddled the climber that he consistently took a step backward for
every step forward until at last, goaded by the huge laughter of the
watching crowd, he fairly fell to the opposite side of the staircase.

It was before this seductive phenomenon that the three paused. The crowd
was breathlessly watching the struggles of a very fat, very red-headed
woman who chewed gum in exact rhythm with the bucking of the staircase,
while she firmly marked time on the top of the stairs.

Sara gave a chuckle and, closely followed by Jim and Pen, he mounted the
stile. He was balked by the red-headed woman who towered high above him.
Sara reached up and touched her broad back.

"Walk right ahead, madam," he urged. "You're holding us back."

The fat woman obediently took a wild step forward, the stair bucked and
she stepped firmly backward and sat down violently on Sara's head. Pen
and Jim roared with the crowd. The red-headed woman scrambled to the
topmost stair again, then turned and shook her fist in Sara's face.

"Don't you touch me again, you brute!" she screamed. Then she summoned
all her energies and took another dignified step upward. Again the
stairs bucked. Again the fat woman sat down on Sara's hat. Again the
onlookers were overwhelmed with laughter. Pen and Jim feebly supported
each other as they rode up and down on the lower step. Sara pushed the
woman off his head and again she turned on hi