"

CHAPTER XIII

DOUBLE CROSS RANCH

"I tell you, Harry, I can't endure it. I couldn't face anyone I know.
I want to run away--far, far away, where nobody ever heard of
balloons or automobiles, or me."

"Polly, you aren't afraid of a little talk, are you? Everyone is
saying how brave you were, and, here, when the danger's over, I find
you a flimsy little coward!"

She picked up one of a pile of newspapers that lay on the stand beside
her, and thrust it before Harry's eyes with a manner at once
questioning and rebuking. He read the head lines:

SOCIETY GIRL CARRIED
OFF IN BALLOON

Miss Pauline Marvin Has Remarkable Experience
After Accident on Palisades.

Harry laughed and patted her hand reassuringly. "Oh, but that's only
one of them," wailed Pauline. "Look at this one:

PAULINE MARVIN
LOST IN THE SKY

"Can any woman live after that," she cried.

"Why, it's no crime to be lost in a balloon," said Harry. "See, they
tell it just as it was--they make you a real heroine."

"A man might live it down, dear, but a woman, never! To be 'lost in
the sky' is altogether too giddy. Margaret!" she called.

The maid stepped quickly forward.

"You may pack my things, Margaret, and be sure to put in some warm
winter ones. Is the snow on mountains cold like real snow, or is it
like the frosting on cake?" she inquired, turning again to Harry.

"What are you up to this time?" he demanded.

"Montana first," she proclaimed with a melodramatic flourish. "And if
I am followed by my fame or by my relatives--I shall go on--to the
end of the world."

Harry had long ago abandoned the idea of laughing at her whims. Even
the most fantastic of her projects was serious to her.

He merely looked at her in mute suspense awaiting the fall of the
blow.

"You needn't begin to see trouble-yet," she laughed. "But I am going,
Harry. I'm going to accept Mary Haines's invitation and visit her and
her nice, queer husband on their ranch. You remember Mrs. Haines, that
dear Western girl that we met on the steamer when she was on her
honeymoon?"

"Well, it's pretty tough just at this time," objected Harry. "Business
is bothersome, and I ought to be here; but if you insist . . . "

"Oh, you're not coming with me," stated Pauline, cheerily. "In the
first place you are not invited, and in the second place you are not
needed in the least. Now get me a telegraph blank."