The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1886-02-09


whisked round the turn by Daddy
Long-legs-which was tall, bare, old
pine tree, or rather two trees curiously
twisted into one and looking like a
giant with immensely long legs
| plunged into another long road full of
drifts and finally drew up before the
! door of the little red school house Just
as the clock was striking nine. Of
the sled they were all tumbling, when
Thankful raised sudden CRY. "Where
is little JakeP" "And the dinner-bas-
rketP" added Clemency.
Where, indeed, were little Jake and
the dinner-basket?" 1--WE all of us
had our backs to him; he might have
been shaken off at one of those thank
you-ma amsm said Luke. "Pn go
around that way, and guess shall
pick him up all right. But / won't
take the trouble TO come back here
with him; the schoolin' of such little
fellow don't amount to much"
"But the dinner-basketi We can't
60 without our dinner" cried eight
voices, in chorus.
But Luke was already driving away,
and the sleigh-bells jingled so that be
could not hear them. Luke was in a
great hurry, for he was very fond of
little Jake, and did not like to think of
him floundering i'm the snow-drifts
deep enough to swallow him up entire
ly, and chilled with the bitter cold
When the children had time to think
more about it they felt anxious about
Jake-he was such little fellow-and
thought very little about the dinner-bas-
ket. Little Jake was the baby, and had
very big corner of his own in every one
of their hearts. But of course Luke
would find him. BY the time the first
class in geography was called. and To-
bias was made to stand in the floor for
making faces at Nehemiah Simpkins
they had almost forgotten about it.
Little Jake had been jolted off at one
of those thank-you-ma'a ans as he sat
unconcernedly hugging the dinner
basket, and whistling to keep his toes
warm. And they were laughing and
shouting so on the sled, and the snow
made such crunching, and bells such
jingling that they could not hear him
call. The sled whisked out of sight
around Daddy Long-legs, and he was
left all alone in the logging-road, with
deep, dark evergreen woods on each
side, and mountains of snow-drifts
everywhere. Jake did not once think
of being afraid, but he knew it would
be impossible for him to get to school
or to get home through the deep snow.
I'D better go do down to the log
ging-camp. 1t can't be more than
half a mile, and the road IL broken out.
and they'll have fire, he said to him.
self
His hands and feet ached so with the
cold that he could scarcely keep the
tears out of his eyes, but he wasn't GO
ing to cry. like a baby, for the cold
not little Jake.
He started brayely towards the camp,
but suddenly he caught sighto of huge,
dark, moving mass on the edge of the
woods, a few PAGES ahead of him. A
bear! Jake knew at once that it was,
although he had never seen one before.
Bears were not numerous in that re-
gion, but Jake had heard that one had
been seen by some hunters, and all
Squire Dayton's sheep had been killed
by one.
oohO w dS Ecu WIN IchI
for one moment; the next he ran;
through the deep snow beside the road
he plunged and struggled. and into the
woods. He heard the snow crunching
under the heavy feet of the monster
behind him. A sudden thought struck
him.
Perhaps the bear likes apple pie
and cheese. He might stop for il on
his way 10 eat me, and give me time to
get away"
The dinner-basket still hung on his
arm, and he opened it and threw out
behind him some apple pie and cheese
The ground was comparatively free
from snow in the woods, for the trees
had sheltered it, but the growth was
very thick and it was hard to make !
ones way through. ButJake scrambled |
and pushed along courageously. He |
dared not look behind him, but at every
few PAGES he threw back some pie and |
cheese to tempt the bears appetite and |
delay him. III Tobias had only been
there he would have known what bears
like 10 eat, for he was always reading
books on natural history. Jake knew
they liked small boys to eat; he could |
only hope that this bear might have an
appetite for pastry.
He stopped at last, because he was
exhausted. He was in the very heart
Of the woods. The basket was empty.
He ventured to look back. There was
10 be seen of the monster he
feared; there was no sound except the
wind in the trees.
Before him was an opening between
two great rocks that seemed to lead
straight into the side of hill. Jake
peeped i'm. IL seemed warm and cozy
in there. and it was good hiding
place from the bear, and he crawled in.
His fatigue and the warmth of the place
caused drOwsiness. He did not see the
glittering eyes in distant corner, and
4 be heard low growing he thought
t was the wind And so. in the bear's