ss that day. 'I
was sure of it,' he said. 'Watched you over there with these binoculars.'
He put the glasses down on a table and opened a drawer and took out his
fountain-pen and checkbook. 'That write-up was so good,' he said, handing
me the blank he had filled, 'I want to make you a little present. But you
are the first _Press_ reporter I ever gave anything to, and I want this
kept quiet.'

"I thanked him, but when I looked at that check I woke up. It was for a
cool hundred dollars. I tried to make him take it back; I told him my
paper was paying me; besides, I couldn't accept all the credit; that you
had fixed up the story and put the names right, and the first cut was
yours. 'Never mind,' he said, 'I have something else for your society miss
to do. I am going to have her describe my new country place, when it's all
in shape. Takes a woman to get hold of the scenery and color schemes.'
Then he insisted I had earned the extra money. Not one man in a hundred
would have been quick enough to make that exposure, and the picture was
certainly fine of the whole group. In fact, he wanted that film of the car
swinging into the embankment. He wanted to have an enlargement made."

"I see," said Miss Atkins slowly, "I see." She paused, scooping the crest
from her pineapple ice, then added: "Now we are getting to the core."

"I told him it belonged to the paper, but I thought I would be able to get
it for him," Jimmie resumed. "And he asked me to bring it down to Pier
Number Three just before four this afternoon. The _Aquila_ was starting
for a little cruise around Bainbridge Island to his country place, and if
I wanted to work in something about her equipment and speed, I might sail
as far as the Navy Yard, where they would make a short stop. Then he
mentioned that Hollis Tisdale might be aboard, and possibly I would be
able to pick up a little information on the coal question. These
Government people were 'non-committal,' he said, but there was a snug
corner behind the awnings aft, where in any case I could work up my Yacht
Club copy."

"So," remarked the Society Editor slowly, "it's a double core."

CHAPTER XIV

ON BOARD THE AQUILA

Tisdale's rooms were very warm that afternoon. It was another of those
rare, breezeless days, an aftermath of August rather than the advent of
Indian summer, and the sun streamed in at the western windows. His injured
hand, his whole feverish body, protested against the heat. The per