Girl Alone

eat the feast that your hunger makes so real. And not even in a dream could she have imagined anything so g

sly real. So was the long, rough-pine counter at which they ate, and behind which the big negro cook sang songs as he worked before a huge smoky oil stove. Tables scattered throughout the tent and covered with worn oilcloth reminded her of the ref

ing car. Got a special cook for the big bugs, waiters and everything. 'Course sometimes we can't get show grounds clost enough to the railroad to use the cars much, but in this

carnival, Eddie?" Sal

-Winfield Bybee-owns the show and travels with it-not like most owners. He owns the concessions and lets concessionaires operate 'em on percentage. He owns the freaks and the girl

id and I hadn't an idea what we should do, and we were s

ly. Couldn't stand the racket any longer, eh? Is David here a buddy y

f your friendship for Sally, Cobb,

ie. We're all bu

fugitive from justice. I wanted to take Sally ba

e admiration glittered in his little black eyes. "Pu

and going out to close on David's reassuringly. "It was-an

to a murmur as he told Eddie Cobb, briefly but accurately

't dead-and I'll bet he ain't-I'd like to take a crack at him myself. You two kids stick with us. I'll tip

d her bright face. "But Eddie, we'd be so conspicuous with the carniv

" Eddie reassured her. "In the carnival the B

ts and soiled, nondescript trousers-eyed the trio curiously as they passed

f you kids again," Eddie interrupted his mo

d, wistfully desiring reassurance, for it was still imposs

, but I've thought many a time I'd like to see some of the kids." He blushed crimson under his big freckles. "How-how's Ruby, Sally? You know-Ruby Presser? She stil

ie. Didn't you read ab

u ain't kiddin' me

eyes fluttered to Davi

window, Eddie-last September," S

on the Carson farm, Eddie," Davi

to see the conflict of rage and

David!" Eddie burst out at last.

tled attention. "Old home week? Get to your work! Lucky's howling

attraction, came striding across the stubby, dusty lot. His enormous head, topped with a wide-brimmed black felt hat in defiance of

to you a minute,

nce at David and Sally, but particularly at Sally,

n't be sorry, will you, David?" Sall

ach other, Sally not caring if the interview between Bybee and Eddie prolonged itself int

Bybee and Eddie came across the stub

is about the best place in God's world to hide. Anybody that wants to bother you will have to deal with Winfield Bybee, and I ain't yet turned any of my famil

t. And you, Sally-" His keen eyes narrowed speculatively, took in the little flushed face, the big eyes sparkling. Then one of

-

what have you! He chews 'em up and swallows 'em like a kid eats candy! Boffo digests anything and everything from horseshoes to ja

he Palace of Wonders," a tent which housed a score of freaks and fakers, was 25 cents. It still seemed wonderful to Sally that she was there without having paid adm

ance just started! Step right up! All right, boys, this way! Don't let your girls call you a piker! Two bits pays for it all! See the half-man half-woman! See the girl nobody can lift! Try and lift her, boys! Little a

n family. Today she was a member of a carnival troupe, under the protection of Winfield Bybee, own

s to take her hand; the tiny male midget, a Hawaiian billed merely as Noko, had gravely asked her, in a tiny, piping voice, if she would sew a button on his miniature coat for him; the bearded "lady" was a man, after all, a man with a naturally falsetto voice and tiny hands and feet. Boffo, the human ostrich, had disappointed her by be

tticoats of having designs on her husband, and who in turn, seemed to feel equally sure that every man must envy hi

as concerned. She had demurred a little, then had abruptly agreed to Bybee's plans for Sally. Hours of sharp-to

Jan was rising slowly from his enormous chair, unfolding his incredible length, standing ere

e gazed upward into Jan's face and caught something of an answer to her question. For Jan's great, hollow eyes, set in a skeleton of a face, were the saddest she had

en, still sad-faced, patient, he folded up his amazing legs and relaxed in his great chair with a sigh. He was silently and indiff

u! They may come bigger but they don't come prettier! I've saved the Princess Lalla for the last because she's the best. I know all you sheiks will agree with me-" Embarras

hese boys see what a Turkish princes

ace or two toward the edge of the platform, h

ss Lalla, an escaped member of the harem of the Sultan of Turkey. She made herself see herself as they saw her-a slim, rounded, young-girl figure in fantastic purple satin trousers, wrapped close about her legs from knee to ankle with ropes of imitation pear

out of a can of burnt-sienna powder, applied thickly and evenly over a film of cold cream. The mock-jewel-wrapped ropes of

: "My Gawd! Who knows or cares whether Turkish dames dress like this? It's pretty, ain't it? Them women may wear turbans

ly pretty crown studded with imitation rubies and emeralds and diamonds as big as bird's eggs. Her feet felt very t

ee had commented after out-fitting Sally. "She took down with appendicitis in Siou

is magic crystal of hers. She sees past, present and future, and will reveal all to anyone who cares to step up on this platform and be convinced. Just 25 cents, folks, one lonely little

iac. On the table stood a crystal ball, mounted on a tarnished gilt pedestal, and covered over with a black square. Gus whisked off the square and revealed the "magic crystal" to the gaping crowd.

hielded by the black lace veil, widened with terror. Her hands trembled so as they hovered over the crystal that she had an almo

ss Willis, Pearl Carson's "boy friend," Ross Willis who had not asked h

pieler, whisked forward, Sally reflected that there was no need for her to remember any o

ed face low. In a seductive, sing-song voice she began to chant, bringing some of the words

e odors of their perspiration coming up on hot waves of summer air to the gayly dressed little figure on the platform. "Yes'm, I mean, sure, Princess," Ross Willis stuttered

eeg farm. You have mother, father, li'l seester." Thank heaven, her ears had been keen that night of Pearl's party, even if she had been inarticulate with shyness! "You ar-re

Willis admitted, blushin

girl's voice shri

. After all, why shouldn't Pearl marry Ross Willis, since she could not have David? "Zo

d from the platform to the grass-stubbled ground, entirel

as she had always more than half-believed that she was the queen or the actress whom she had impe

ing on her engagement finger and who had been clinging to the arm of an obviously adoring young man. For the pretty girl Sally obligingly foretold a happy marriage with a "dark, tall young man, va-

er she gave a bumper wheat crop, a new eight-cylinder car, a prospective son-in-law for the girl whom Sally had unerringly picked out as his unmarried daughter, and the promise of many splendid grandchildren. To

very wide of the mark, as the applicants did not hesitate to tell her-the old maid, for instance, who looked so motherly that Sally lavishly endowed her with a husba

s" and daringly mingled with the crowds outside. It was all beautiful and wonderful to

h they ate bananas and drank soda-pop under water, she encountered Winfield Bybee, enormous, ma

the rubes you can make follow you into the Palace of Wonders. We don't want to give 'em too much of a free show. And remember, girlie, for ev

a rush of gratitude. "But-do you think it's very wrong of me to pretend t

old P. T. Barnum used to say, 'There's a sucker born every minute,' and old Winfield Bybee knows that they like to be fooled. You just kid 'em along and send 'em away h

ger. Becoming bolder because she felt that she was really "Princess Lalla" and not timid little Sally Ford, she delib

h, behind which was set a small platform, and beckoned her to mount

orite crystal-gazer to the Sultan of Turkey before she escaped from his harem, will tell your fortunes, la-dees and gen-tle-men! Princess Lall

hen she skipped down the steps, the great ropes of black hair, wound with

in lent wings to her sandaled feet. She was about to hurry out of the Palace of Wonders, releas

s Lalla! Would you mind

rs before it dawned on her that the tiny voice had come from "Pitty Sing," "the small

stretched hands, to the midget. "Pitty Sing" was indeed a pretty thing, a very doll of a woman, the flaxen hair on her small head marcelled meticulously, her little plump cheeks and

lad you'll let me," Sally glowed an

e. "I'm old enough to be your mother, even if I'm not big enough." And th

face to the paper. Odd that so tiny a thing could read-but o

ry pale under the brown powder. "May

e which had been burned into her memor

, she hurried to the box of a kitchen which took up the other end of the car, the newspaper trembling in her hand. She found David alone in the kitchen,

her voice low. "It's in the paper-look! But he says the most

. "Now, let's see the paper. Thank God I didn't commit murder-what the devil!" he interrupted himself, as his e

age. Below, two streamer lines of heavy italic type informed the reader: "CLEM CARSON SUFFER

bedroom of Miss Sally Ford, sixteen-year-old girl from the state orphanage, who was working on the Carson farm for her board during the summer vacation. According to Carson's story, told to reporters Sunday night after a warrant for the arrest of Sally Ford and David Nash h

. The two other hired men had also gone to the city, leaving Carson and young Nash at work on the farm. Carson alleges that he saw Nash enter the house late Saturday afternoon and th

, determined to save the girl from the man, he climbed to the roof of the porch and made his way to the small window of the great room, from which he saw Miss Ford and the Nash boy in a compromising position. When he tried to enter the room through the window

e Carson farm on the road to the capital, arrived at the deserted farm, summoned by a mysterious male voice by telephone. The sheriff's theory, a

to the delinquency of a minor. The warrant for Miss Ford's arrest charges moral delinquency. Since she is a ward of the state until her eighteenth birthda

meful, hideously untrue account of what had really been a piece of superb gallantry on his part, he crumpled the paper slowly between the fingers of his big hand as if th

'll send me to the reformatory if they catch me, and you-you-oh, David! They'll send you to prison for y

shelf which served as a kitc

l! These onions are burning up! Skip along now and don't worry. I'm cook tonight. Buck's on a spree. Keep a stiff upper lip, honey. In

tested, trying to choke off he

bee's on our side. He took us in when he thought I'd killed a man. I don't suppose he'll turn on us now, particularl

Do you like me dressed up like this?

that? You're adorable! But I like your own wild-rose complexion b

blown him an audacious kiss from th

e opposite him. When he saw his new "Princess Lalla" almost skipping down the aisle, her eyes sparkling with joy at David's unexp

. Bybee with her presence at dinner this e

and spoke in a confidential undertone: "Me and the wife have seen that piece in the pa

her big eyes showed like two round, polished sapphires set in bronze. Bybee, searchi

said steadily, but her lips trembled childishly.

her truthfulness. "Now what was that you was

me there. But Miss Pond, who works in the office at the Home, said they had investigated and found she had moved away right after she put me in the orphanage. B

other you?" Bybee chided her, beetling his bro

our mother used to live and see if I can pick up any information for you. Land knows a girl alone like you needs some folks of her own to look after her. Wouldn't do

wenty-eight then-twelve years ago. Oh, Mrs. Bybee, you're both

nsense about you. That is," she added severely, her sharp grey eyes flicking from Sally's eage

is Dave chap of her's? She wouldn't even know I was a man if I didn't wear pants. Don't mind her, Sall