Santa Rosa High School - Echo Yearbook (Santa Rosa, CA)

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THE ECHO. f ES come, you can go back to the hotel and wait for me!” Silently, her dearest friend, her brother, and his chum followed her towards the place from which the light had come. The rest of the party left the mansion and hastened to the foot of the hill to await developments. Meanwhile, Gertrude and her friends were crossing the house when the light was again thrown in their faces, and as quickly remov- ed. Quickly, they stepped to a window, which looked out on an ell formed by two portions of the house, and saw a great, burly African, who, with his back turned, was busily examining something in his hand. He was wholly unaware of any pres- ence. On one side of him was a powerful light, which, if he moved was thrown a great distance behind him. Soon two evil-looking men came around the corner of the house talking inaudibly but excitedly. Their faces shown plainly in the moonlight. The men came over to the negro and, after giving him a few hard knocks, handed him a box and told him to go at once. The negro stopped to examine it and with breathless interest, the four, now very excited young people, watch- ed him handle the contents which looked very much like gold and silver. The negro started off around the house and the evil- looking men started back. “Counterfeiters,” exclaimed Gertrude’s brother, Jack Reid. The two young men, now thoroughly aroused, left the two girls, crouching near the window and quickly and softly followed the big men, keeping ever out of their sight until they came to an opening through which the men had disap- peared. “What shall we do? There may be half a dozen men like them and they could easily overcome us. We had better go back and get the sheriff and some of the fellows and investigate. It will be a great discovery if that is what they really are.” They went back with the girls to the foot of the hill, where they told all they had seen. The girls were anxious to go back, but of course, that was out of the question. The sheriff, who thought it was some prank, refused to go until aroused by the earnest- ness of Jack Reid. He got out of bed, dress- ed and accompanied the men, well armed. The girls, very excited, eagerly awaited the return. They discussed the episode over and over and made the girls tell all about the big African and the evil-looking men. “Will they never come back?” asked Ger- trude. “They may all be killed. Those men looked like hardened criminals.” “Tt will all be due to you, Gertrude, if the counterfeiters are caught. We would never have gone up there, would we, girls, if she hadn’t insisted?” said her friend. Suddenly they heard the men returning and eagerly ran to meet the crowd. Ger- trude’s brother came up to them and told them they had found them to be a band of bold counterfeiters, for whom the State had sought in vain for three years. They had known the Colonel lived alone and securing aid from one of his servants, by offers of money, had been making money in an un- used portion of the old mansion, partially underground. Gertrude received many congratulations for her part in the discovery and announced it the most exciting experience in which she had ever taken part.

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| | GERTRUDE’S DISCOVERY By Carrie St. Clair. T was a summer evening W in one of the swampiest Vy) marshes of the South. Y) V There was very little to be SJ a sd YZ found in the region, but LSE very often tourists came through the country and remained a few days. Why a man of wealth should build a mansion in such a desolate place was the marvel in the eyes of the surrounding neighborhood. But this was just what old Colonel Wharton had done. Now the old man was dead and the estate was left to his only son, a prominent lawyer in Atlanta. W Y On this particular evening, a party of young people were seated on the veranda of the only hotel which the country could boast. The Wharton mansion could be clearly seen in spite of the fact that it was about half a mile away. They had been singing to the accompaniment of the hum of mosquitoes, but were now idly talking of the stories in which the village abounded. In nearly all these stories, Colonel Wharton was the central figure. He had led a most interesting life. Much against the will of his English father, he had married a poor but very beautiful Italian girl and had mi- grated to America, where he had chosen this place for a home. Their one son had all the beauty of his mother, but sustained the dignified character of his father. The Col- onel had fought in the civil war and had come back to find his homeplace almost de- serted and his wife dead. He was never the same after that, His beautiful place was neglected and his son was sent to col- lege to study law. He had never come back until his father’s death and then only re- mained long enough to see his old father laid to rest by the side of his beautiful mother. Gertrude Reid, one of the company, was rauch impressed by the stories, and proposed a walk up to the mansion in the moonlight An old darkey, who had been listening to the animated talk of the young people inter- posed at this point, advising them to wait until morning, because the old house was said to be haunted by the Italian girl every night. “Pooh,” exclaimed Gertrude, “If we be- lieved all the superstitious signs told us by these ignorant people, we could never do anything. I, for one, intend to go up to that house. Now, who’ll come with me?” One by one, the company assented and went gaily up to the house. It was not an un- common house, for there were many of them before the war, but in the moonlight its de- serted hallways and rooms looked very ghostly and wierd. As they were silently moving from room to room, examining the various cupboards and shelves, a strange light suddenly fell across the bare floor. The girls screamed and the young men were very much surpris- ed. The light disappeared as quickly as it had come. The party started to leave, but Gertrude Reid, ever curious and adventur- ous, exclaimed, “I intend to find out the meaning of that light. If you don’t want to

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THE ECHO. THE BARGAIN By Edith Sanford and Lily. Lewis EATRIX and Lester were talking on the Emeryville High School campus, after school. It was Tuesday © afternoon, one week be- eiore the geometry examina- Woy vas tion. “Look here, Lester, what are you going to do about this examination?” asked Bea- trix, suddenly. “Well, it’s hard telling. You know I’m , not much on mathematics,” answered Les- ter, his mind traveling back to the last ex- amination. “Of course, you'll pass, though; you always do. But by the way,” he added more hopefully, “Suppose you'll go with me to the basketball game a week from Friday night? It is to be a championship game between Lone Pine High and ours.” “On one condition.” “Well, let’s hear it.” “Tf you'll pass the coming geometry ex- amination, then I’ll go with you to the game. If you do not, I wont. That’s fair, isn’t it?” “T don’t know whether it is or not,” re- plied Lester doubtfully. “Y ou know you're such a shark at geometry, Trix, that such a proposition seems easy to you, but it dont to me.” “If you really want me to go, you'll work hard enough to pass the examination.” A week later, Lester and Beatrix filed into the geometry room with the others, to take the examination. Lester felt blue and dis- couraged. The professor entered the room and announced that he would give them but two examples, both of which would be re- quired. Trix felt doubly confident at that announcement and hoped Lester would be able to get them. She was rather sorry that she had made the bargain so severe, but was too proud to retract what she had said. The professor put the two examples on the board. Lester was able to work the sec- ond one immediately. He worked a long time on the first one and was unable to get it. He was about ready to give up, when he thought of an original method of his own. He was afraid it would not do, but he tried it as a last resource. He was still rather doubtful when he handed in his pa- per, but he had done better than he had ex- pected. Beatrix worked the first and most of the second, and was confident that she would pass all right. On the Thursday before the game, the professor addressed his geometry class. He told the pupils that among the examination papers, there were many poor ones. “Some of the pupils whom I expected to hand in very good papers, handed in poor ones, and a few who usually have poor papers, hand- ed in good ones. Lester Wallace worked the first example by an original method, which was exceptionally good and better than any of the others.” With this last statement, which surprised Lester so that he nearly jumped out of his seat, the professor passed out the papers. Lester then glanced triumphantly over at Trix, who, instead of answering his glance, was looking dismally at her own paper. “What in the world can be wrong with Trix? She’s surely glad that I passed,” was the thought that ran through Lester’s brain. As soon as class was dismissed he tried to see her in the hall, but failed. Lester was happy, except for one thing. He wondered what was wrong with Beatrix that she didn’t congratulate him. He wait- ed until evening without seeing her and then could stand the suspense no longer. He telephoned to her and asked if she were not going to congratulate him. “Are congratulations in order?” she ask- ed. “Certainly.”