d clapped
their hands in applause of the long shot by the man with the ginger
beard.

UNDER THE DECK AWNINGS

"CAN any man--a gentleman, I mean--call a woman a pig?"

The little man flung this challenge forth to the whole group, then
leaned back in his deck chair, sipping lemonade with an air commingled
of certitude and watchful belligerence. Nobody made answer. They were
used to the little man and his sudden passions and high elevations.

"I repeat, it was in my presence that he said a certain lady, whom none
of you knows, was a pig. He did not say swine. He grossly said that she
was a pig. And I hold that no man who is a man could possibly make such
a remark about any woman."

Dr. Dawson puffed stolidly at his black pipe. Matthews, with knees
hunched up and clasped by his arms, was absorbed in the flight of a
gunie. Sweet, finishing his Scotch and soda, was questing about with his
eyes for a deck steward.

"I ask you, Mr. Treloar, can any man call any woman a pig?"

Treloar, who happened to be sitting next to him, was startled by the
abruptness of the attack, and wondered what grounds he had ever given
the little man to believe that he could call a woman a pig.

"I should say," he began his hesitant answer, "that it--er--depends on
the--er--the lady."

The little man was aghast.

"You mean...?" he quavered.

"That I have seen female humans who were as bad as pigs--and worse."

There was a long pained silence. The little man seemed withered by the
coarse brutality of the reply. In his face was unutterable hurt and woe.

"You have told of a man who made a not nice remark and you have
classified him," Treloar said in cold, even tones. "I shall now tell
you about a woman--I beg your pardon--a lady, and when I have finished
I shall ask you to classify her. Miss Caruthers I shall call her,
principally for the reason that it is not her name. It was on a P. & O.
boat, and it occurred neither more nor less than several years ago.

"Miss Caruthers was charming. No; that is not the word. She was amazing.
She was a young woman, and a lady. Her father was a certain high
official whose name, if I mentioned it, would be immediately recognized
by all of you. She was with her mother and two maids at the time, going
out to join the old gentleman wherever you like to wish in the East.

"She, and pardon me for repeating, was amazing. It is the one adequate
word. Even the most minor adjectives applicable to her are