The Red Cloud chief., 1880-12-09

" ~ s1Ast
churning and settling a dozen difficult
questions in her domestic world. she
neither thought again Of Tommy's woes
o saw the clouds coming up that sud.
denly darkened the whole sky and end
ed in a tempest Of wind and rain.
They were all gathering at the supper
table as the rain began TO pour in tor
rents; and Father Writ. looking up and
down the long table, asked, in his CHEEKY
way:
'Are all Of us here. motherP'
Whether or not they were all there,
the table was pretty well filed. for
there were two German farm-hands,
the large Writ boys, Charles and Will.
the girls Of eleven and thirteen. Jane
and Mercy. and Agnes, just the age Of
Jane "a cousins orphaned daughter. for
Mrs. Writ, having so many, didn't
mind taking in n more), then there
were Rob. Milly and the twins, one
tied in its high chair beside the father.
the other at its mothers left side. while
at Mrs. Wirt's right hand sat lame
Betsey. the sewing woman from the
large city fifty miles away, who had
her vacation and country air at the
farm every summer, and yet there were
two vacant seats-Tom and Dick were
not there.
Supper was nearly finished when
Dick, drcnched to the skin, burst in,
exclaiming:
Has anyone seen Tom? / have
looked all about the barns and sheds;
and he's so afraid Of thunder-storms,
too"
II gueth beth ruined away; thaid
he would up spoke matter-of-fact
Rob.
A laugh greeted this speech from all
save Dick, who began 10 cry. a few
questions put the father and mother in
possession of all the particulars Of Tom
my's ''tantrum." "a Dick called il.
40 he's in the house somewhere, you
may he sure" suggested lame Bctsey,
and set off herself to search for him.
The rest followed her example, and for
once in their six. months lives the
twins were forgotten and left alone
cooling at each other across the table,
while the family left no part of the
rambling old house unsearched. Lame
Betsey, remembering Ginevra. looked
lllbD jill tIt DbAtS anu cltslS tllltE
locked or unlocked.
Missing some of Tommy's little be-
longings from their usual places, Mrs.
Writ returned to the twins and, calling
Mr.. Writ, said, with a mixture of anX-
iety aud amusement: The queer
child he has surely run away, and all
of US must start right off to find him, for
the shower is about over, and it will
soon he dark"
But as she prepared herself to 90. and
sent the men and boys of, she thought
with diSmay of the many roads on that
wild lakesidc-rOads that branched off
in every direction and ended in deep
woods OF snake-haunted mora>seS.
Dick, whose uneasy conscience sorely
troubled him, remembered the little
caves on the lake shore which he and
Tommy had dug out in the sand-knob
and rooted with boards the last time
they had a holiday at the lake, and per-
haps little Crusoe had gone there 10
live by himself, so, while the others
were inquiring nj the scattered fruit
farms along the various roads, Mrs.
Writ and Dick rode to the lake three
miles away. As long IS Dick lived he
never forgot that sad ride under the
showery trees, for Mrs. Wirt's few
words, sCrrowfully spoken. in regard to
the care that Sho.lld be taken not to
wound the sensitive feelings of dear
ones or of any one however lowly.
made a deep impression on thoughtless
Dick.
They reached the lakeside and found
empty caves. No answer came to their
repeated cries of Tommy" Tommy"
save the sullen dash of the waves on
the yellow sand.
lit was quite dark when Mrs. Writ
and Dick reached home, only TO find
the others returned with no news of the
missing child. The kind-hearted. out
landish neighbors -Danes. Swedes,
French and Germans had gathered al
the house with dogs and lanterns TO aid
in the search.
We will leave them while they are
preparing for anight hunt i'm the woods,
and follow the fortunes of the little
wanderer.
Children, insane people, and a few
other folks, only look at one side of a
question, and Tom, when he slipped
into the house and ran to his little
o on the first floor, thought of moth
ing but getting away where he should
''bother nobody" Having a vagu
idea that people always carried a bun
die or something when they ran away. !
he tied up his little best suit and a few
toys in a handkerchief, not forgetting a
few slices of bread and some matches
from the pantry near by. No one was
looking as he ran through the orchard.
across the road and out into the open
meadow. He felt safe when he reached
the wooded sand-knobs, for he had
thought of those little caves by the
lake, not so far from home but that he
could 60 there once in a while TO see
the twins and all the rest. Orchids.
asters and bright orange or pink as
clepias tempted him from the path.
and. gathering flowers and watching
birds, squirrels and rabbits, he forgot
for the time that he had any other OBJ
ject than to amuse himself with the
friSky FRANKS of his beloved wild ami
mails. He was getting weary. so he
climbed a high hill TO see if he were not
very near the lake. Reaching the top.
he could see nothing but still higher
knobs around him. He sat down to
rest, and felt a cool breeze on his hot
face. and that was the last he knew
until he felt some one touching his
shoulder and heard the words: ..Wake
up little fellow-you'n be as wet as a
drowned rat in a twinkling." A big
drop of rain fell in his face as he opened
his eyes and saw a tall. bent man with
eyes and bearded face standing
over him.
"Oh. Ben, is't you-Tm going to the
lake. II isn't far now, 1 guessP"
The man laughed. "Too far for YOU
tonight, l reckon. Come along, nv
shantv is down here in the hollow
Tom followed him. for he had no fear
the rough-looking man. having seen
him occasionally at the farm after milk
and eggs. Tom opened his heart and
told him about his trials at home and
his plan to live all by himself where he
could bother nobody"
did you have big brothers, Ben,
who used to come down on you and tell