believe my eyes. The reporter sat at the head of the long table, looking rather battered; his handsome, boyish face rather drawn and pale, his coal black hair dishevelled. His clothes looked like they badly needed pressing. The only illumination came from two burning candles in tall silver candlesticks on the table. Pat sat at the far end; a most discreet distance, which relieved my anxiety considerably.

My greatest surprise, though, came in discovering Niki. I gathered that Pat had roused him and pressed him into service. With the marvelous calm of the Oriental, he was placing the doilies and small silver before the reporter, to whom he had so recently delivered a knockout blow. He seemed most willing to assist Pat, to whom he always conceded absolute loyalty.

"Slippery little devil, isn't he?" McGinity remarked, after Niki had glided from the room. "But he's got an awful punch packed in that right arm," he added, as he rubbed his jaw, now slightly swollen and discolored.

"A glass of sherry will do your jaw good," said Pat.

"Supper for two," McGinity remarked, musingly. "It's too bad we haven't some music. You must dance divinely."

"You look utterly worn out," said Pat, steering with tact into another channel. "A shipwreck, and being cast ashore, a knockout blow, and a prison cell, is a whole lot for one evening."

"Another half hour of this--your delightful companionship--I'm sure, would quite finish me," said McGinity. "You've been a godsend."

"If you keep on like this, you'll make me angry, furiously angry," said Pat. "I'd much rather hear--well, how you chose to be a reporter."

"Temporary insanity, I guess," McGinity replied.

"Uncle Henry regards you as utterly insane, so far as news getting is concerned," said Pat.

"Well, then--a nebulous bank balance."

Pat seemed a little vexed. "If you can explain it in any other way, I shall be much obliged," she said, succinctly.

The reporter reflected for a moment, then spoke in a serious tone. "For one thing," he began, "you don't have to possess an intellect above the average to be a reporter. All you need is a nose for news, and lots of nerve. Most fellows use it as a stepping-stone into politics, the law, and the public relationship angle of 

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