CHAPTER VI.--SHIRLEY LENDS AID.

"Look, Mabel, did you see that woman steal that bolt of silk?"

It was Shirley who spoke. They stood among the crowd that thronged the largest department store in Savannah, Ga. The _Yucatan_ had put into Savannah early that morning, and learning that the vessel would not get under way again until late in the afternoon, Shirley and Mabel had gone uptown to purchase a few souvenirs of the Georgia city.

It was just after entering the store that Shirley's attention was attracted by the peculiar actions of a young woman who darted somewhat furtively from one counter to another. While the attention of the clerks was given to customers, Shirley had seen the woman slip a bolt of expensive silk from the counter and hide it under a long flowing cape, which she wore in spite of the heat.

Mabel shook her head negatively in response to Shirley's question.

"Which one?" she asked.

Shirley pointed to the figure of the woman who was now gazing at a pretty array of expensive laces. Both girls watched her carefully; and directly, as the crowd about her became more dense, they saw her hand go stealthily forth and take several small bolts of the high-priced material.

"Well what do you think of that?" demanded Mabel. "I have heard of such things, but I never expected to see it. What shall we do?"

"Nothing," replied Shirley decidedly. "It's none of our business."

"But won't the poor clerks have to make good the loss?"

"I don't know about that. But if we get mixed up in it we are likely to gain too much notoriety. Let's move away from here."

They pushed their way through the crowd when Shirley came suddenly into violent contact with a figure hurrying from the opposite direction. The latter drew back and lifted his cap.

"Miss Willing," he said. "I beg your pardon. I didn't look where I was going."

Shirley glanced up in surprise at hearing her name spoken. Then she recognized the figure with whom she had collided.

"Why, Mr. Bristow," she said. "I thought I left you aboard the _Yucatan_?"

"I came ashore to do a little shopping, as you young ladies call it," replied Bristow with a laugh. "I shall have to hurry on."

He lifted his cap and was gone.

The two girls continued to stroll about through the store, eyeing the bargains appreciatively.

"Well, I guess we have seen enough," said Mabel finally. "We may as well return to the ship."

As they started toward the door they became aware of the sounds of confusion behind them. For a moment they hesitated, then their curiosity overcame them and they turned back.

Far down the aisle a large crowd had gathered. The girls could hear the loud tones of one of the floor walkers calling for the store detective. Shirley and Mabel elbowed their way through the crowd, and presently were able to see what was going on.

Shirley uttered an exclamation of amazement and clutched Mabel by the arm.

"Look at that!" she cried in a low voice.

And well might she have been amazed. For there, in the center of the crowd, his arm grasped tightly by the big floor walker, was Henry Bristow.

His face was red and he was plainly very angry. However, he was making no effort to release himself. He controlled himself with an effort and spoke.

"I tell you you are making a mistake," he said quietly, and his voice carried to the two girls.

"Is that so?" sneered the floor walker. "So you deny you are a shop-lifter, eh? Well, I didn't suppose you would admit it. How do you account for the possession of this valuable piece of lace the clerk saw you getting away with?"

"It must have caught on my coat," was the reply. "I didn't try to steal it."

"You didn't, eh? We'll see as soon as the house detective arrives. I reckon you have plenty of stuff stowed away in your pockets."

"Well, I haven't," declared Bristow angrily. "You're going to be sorry for this before you get through."

"Well what do you think of that?" demanded Mabel, who had stood with open mouth during this conversation.

"I think that he is innocent," declared Shirley.

She glanced quickly around the store, and as she did so her eyes fell upon the woman she had so recently seen appropriating articles from the counter.

"There goes the woman who did it," she declared, pointing.

Mabel looked and nodded her head.

The woman was coming directly toward them, pushing her way through the crowd vigorously. Shirley stepped forward and barred her progress.

At the same moment Shirley raised her voice and called out:

"That man is innocent, Mr. Floorwalker. Here is the shop-lifter."

The woman again tried to push by Shirley, but the latter maneuvered so as to be directly in front of her at every step.

Shirley's words caused a commotion. Willing hands darted out and seized the woman, and she was taken before the man who still grasped young Bristow by the arm.

Shirley and Mabel pushed their way forward.

"I saw this woman steal a bolt of silk and some laces," declared Shirley. "I would have said nothing about it had not Mr. Bristow, whom I know, been accused."

"It isn't true!" cried the woman. "The girl is in the plot with the man."

Shirley's face grew red.

"I am not!" she declared. "This woman is guilty. She put the things under that long cape."

The floor walker was plainly mystified. He glanced from one to the other.

"Well, it will do no harm to have a look," he declared. He turned to the woman. "Will you remove your cape, madam?"

The woman drew back, and pulled the garment closer about her.

"No, I won't!" she declared, "I--"

"Very well," said the floor walker. "I shall have the floor matron search you."

He turned and called to one of the clerks. But the woman waited for no more. With a single move she took off her cape, and threw it to the floor.

"There," she said, throwing out her arms, "you may see that I have nothing."

"I saw her take them," declared Shirley, looking at the woman in surprise, for she could not see a sign of a stolen article.

A frown gathered on the floor walker's face as he glanced at Shirley.

"This looks rather bad for you." he said to her pointedly.

Shirley took a step back.

"What do you mean?" she asked in no little alarm.

"It seems that the lady is telling the truth. What was your object in accusing her?"

"I tell you I saw her take them," declared Shirley again.

The floor walker shrugged his shoulders.

It was Mabel who finally cleared up the situation. The woman's cape still lay on the floor where she had thrown it. Mabel stooped down to pick it up, and as she did so the woman also snatched at it.

But Mabel was the quicker of the two and captured the garment. Quickly she turned it wrong side out, and as she did so there was a gasp from the crowd.

For the inside of the coat was literally filled with secret pockets. Mabel thrust her hand in and pulled out the bolt of silk. She held it above her head.

"Here it is!" she cried.

"I bought and paid for that," sputtered the angry woman.

One after another Mabel now produced other articles of value, which she exposed to the view of the crowd. And in each case the woman's explanation was the same:

"I paid for that!"

But the floor walker was not to be fooled, nor was the manager of the store, who came up at that moment. The former released his hold on young Bristow and made him an abject apology.

One of the women detectives was called, and the shop-lifter turned over to her. Then the manager addressed Shirley and Mabel.

"I owe you two young ladies a debt of gratitude," he said. "This shop-lifting has been going on for a month or more and we have lost heavily. Thanks to you I believe we have the culprit at last. Without your assistance she would have escaped."

Shirley and Mabel acknowledged this praise with slight inclinations of the heads, and then Shirley spoke to Young Bristow, who stood near.

"Are you going back to the boat, Mr. Bristow? We shall be glad of your company."

The young man accepted this invitation, and the three made their way from the store.

"I can't thank you enough, either of you," he declared as they walked along. "I was in a ticklish position, and but for your assistance might have been put to no end of trouble."

"How did you happen to be accused?" asked Shirley.

"Why, I was walking through the aisle, and because of the crowd I was shoved against the counter. A piece of lace caught on a button of my coat, and I dragged it with me as I went by. Then the girl behind the counter cried out that some one had stolen something. The floor walker saw the lace caught in my coat and collared me. That's all."

"I see," said Shirley, and added with a smile: "You certainly did look funny there!"

"Did I? Well, I didn't feel very funny. I was afraid I would be held long enough to make me miss the ship, and I can't afford to do that."

"Then your business in Colon is very important?" asked Mabel.

Young Bristow looked at her in silence for some moments, and Mabel grew red as she thought she was to be rebuffed again. But she wasn't. Bristow finally answered her question.

"Very important," he said quietly.