St. Landry democrat., 1881-10-22


a giraffe as crier, and on a swinging
SIGN overhead perched an old crow,
who, as the shade over his eyes plainly
told, was the court reporter.
1t was a terrible moment for poor
Jack, as he stood there before the say
age-looking Judge, and he resolved
from that instant that there was not
| half SO much fun i'll thefso-called sport
of hunting Us some people seemed to
think.
"What's your name?" asked the
tiger, with growl, and Jacks teeth
chartered so that he could hardly an
sWer.
| "Jack Jones'"
"What is the charge against the pris-
oner, Captain Goril!a3' asked the
Judge. as he strohed his whiskers and
! adjusted his eyeglasses.
"Carrying dangerous weapons" an
swered the old fellow, as he pointed to
the pea-shooter, and then he motioned
one of the chimpanzees to tell the story,
he standing ready to corrobrate what
his .Lieutenant should say in case Jack
attempted to denv his guilt.
| The chimpanzee told the Judge that
he had been out with Captain Gorilla
and his four comrades since six o'clock
that morning, looking for some suspi
cious acting animals who had been re-
ported as being in that ward; they had
discovered the prisoner. who was armed
as his honor could see; he was. at the
time OF his arrest, looking around
him in a slnoularly cautious manner,
and was, to the best of his {the Off
cer's) belief, a dangerous person to be
at liberty.
The old crow looked down at Jack as
if he was about to write description
OF him for the next number Of the fOrest
Heraid, and the judge wiped his eye
glasses with his tail, as he asked, lis
his gun loaded?''
| Captain Gorilla stepped forward, and
was about to examine the weapon, when
the giraffe put his hcofs in his ears,
and insisted that if it was absolutely
necessary to 90 into such slight details,
the Captain Should go at least mile
/ from the court. since he was very uerv-
Gus, and afraid of noise
The Judge thought that perhaps it
made no difference whether the charge
was actually in the gun or not, since
/ the prisoner had the ammunition in his
possession, and then paused as ii to
| consider what the sentence should be.
! Jack, who was more frightened than
ever before, had had no chance to
speak since his trial began, but now he
commenced to cry and plead his cause
at the same time.
"Dear, kind, good Mr.. Lion, if you'll
only let me 90 home, Pll bend the knife
all up, an | won't ever shoot a single
pea. except at the side of our barn,
where they can't hurt ANYBODY. Do
| let me go, cause I'm afraid | didn't
/ get the milk for mother before | came
j here
eff you neglected to do the errands
for your mother, your punishment must
! be all the more severe" said the Judge,
and his wife nodded her head as if to
say she thought that decision exactly
, correct.
"Tu never come out here again. an
I'll always do everything mother wants
me to-" pleaded Jack, but all in vain:
The Judge considered the case in 81
| lence for some moments; the Clerk
licked his chops hungrily, as if he ex-
! pected to be called upon to eat the
prisoner; the Captain of Police bran
dshed his club savagely; the crow
made preparations for writing down the
prisoners last words; and Jacks hair
would have stood straight up, because
of his fright, if he had combed the snar.s
| out so it could.
"Tie him up to the tallest tree by
! the hair, so he may act as scarecrow to
| other bogs who come out pea-shooting
I in the morning before they have done
the chores" said the Judge, with a
roar, and no sooner had he spoken than
the gorilla and the chimpanzees caught
Jack up, climbing the tree with him in
their arms without the slightest diff
Guilty.
1t hurt terribly to hang there by the
hair, but the pain was still greater
when the branch broke, and he fell to
the-foor, now thoroughly awakened,
because he had tumbled out of bed.
1t was some moments before he could
understand that it was all a dream; but
it had frightened him so that he bent
the tin knife double and threw it out
of the window before he crawled back
to bed.
The next morning his mother was
! pleasantly surprised by seeing him do
his work without being reminded OF it,
and that forenoon, when some of the
boys asked him why he was not in the
woods shooting lions, he simply told
them that it was because he was obliged
to take care of the baby.-HarTer' s
Young People.