I told him yes, I was Daniels, representing the Press, and had the good fortune to be in Snoqualmie Pass 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 peroxide which he had applied to the hurt at Wenatchee had brought little relief, and that morning the increased pain and swelling had forced him to consult a surgeon, who had probed the wound, cut a little, bandaged it, and announced curtly that it looked like infection.