Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-12-21

gee lounging before him on the trail
and little distance further on his
brother Johnny at the sight of these
two favorite pupils Mr.. Ford's heart
smote him with a consciousness that he
had of late neglected them, possibly be-
cause of Rupert IS lofty scorn of the sill
/ ly' sex was not as amusing TO
him as formerly, and possibly because
Johnny's curiosity had been at times OBJ
trusive. He, however, quickened his
pace and joined Rupert, laying his hand
familiarity as Of old upon his shoulder.
| To his surprise the boy received his ad-
vanees with some constraint and awk-
wardness, CHANGING uneasily in the direc-
ton of Johnny. = sudden idea crossed
Mr.. Ford S mind.
''Were you looking for me at the
schoelroom just now?'
ono, sir -
'"You didn Il look in at the window to
see if 1 was Thereof continued the mas
| ter.
..'No, sir.
The master glanced at Rupert. Truth
telling was part of Rupert truculent
temper, although, as the boy had often
bitterly remarked, it had always ''told
agin him -
''All right. - said the master, perfect
ly convinced. cit must have been my
fancy; but thought somebody looked in
or passed by the window
But here Johnny, who had overheard
the dialogue and approached them, sud-
denly threw himself upon his brother S
unoffending legs and commenced to beat
and pull them about with unintelligible
protests. Rupert, without looking down,
said quietly, "Quit that, now-I won It,
1 tell ye,' and went through certain
automatic movements of dislodging
Johnny, as if he were mere impeding
puppy.
what s the matter, Johnny?' said
the master, to whom these gyratiOns
were not unfamiliar.
Johnny only replied by a new grip of
his brother trousers.
Gwen, SIR said Rupert, slightly
recovering his dimples and his readiness,
Johnny yer, wants me to tell We some
thing. Eff he wasn't the most original
self-cocking, God forsaken liar in Injin
Spring-if he didn t lie awake in his crib
mornin s to invent lies fer the day, l
wouldn t mind tellin' We, and would hey
told you before. However, since you
ask, and since you think you saw some
body around the school house, Johnny
yer allows that Seth Davis is spyin'
round and followin We wherever you go,
and he dragged me down yer to see it.
He says he saw him doggin' ye.'
with knife and pithtolth, - added
Johnny's boundless imagination, to the
detriment of his limited facts.
Mr.. Ford looked keenly from the one
to the other, but rather with suspicion
that they were cognizant of his late
fracas than belief in the truth of
Johnny's statement.
''And what do you think of it, Ru-
peril? he asked carelessly.
81 think sir, said Rupert that al
lowin for onct-that Johnny ain It
lying, mebbee it's Cressy McKinstry
that Seth IS huntin round, and KNOWN
that she's always runnin after you
he stopped, and reddening with a
newborne sense that his fatal
truthfulness had led him into a glaring
indelicacy towards the master, hurriedly
added: 81 mean, sir, that mebbee it S
Uncle Ben he's jealous of now that he's
got rich enough for Greasy to hev him,
and KNOWN he comes to school in the
afternoon perhaps
- 'Tain't either.'' broke in Johnny
promptly. "Theth s over Their beyond
the thchool, and Crethy's eatin' 1.-THE
cream at the bakerth with Uncle Ben. -
'Well, suppose she is, Seth dom t
know it, silly!'' answered Rupert,
sharply. Then more politely to the
master: THAT'S it! Seth has seen
Uncle Ben gallivanting with Cressy and
thinks he's bringing her over yer. Don t
you see?'
The master, however, did not see but
one thing. The girl who had only two
days ago carelessly left it to himtto eS-
plain a compromising situation 70 her
mOtRer-this girl who had precipitated
him into frontier fight to the peril of
his position and her good name, was
calmly eating ices with an available
sutton without the least concern of the
past! The connection was perhaps
illogical, but it was unpleasant. 1t was
the more awkward from the fact that he
fancied that not only Rupert's beautiful
eyes, but even the infant Johnny S round |
ones were fixed upon him with an embar- |
raised expression of hesitating and fore |
boding sympathy.
81 think Johnny believes what he |
says-don't you, Johnny?'' he smiled |
with an assumption of cheerful ease,
"but see no necessity just yet for binding |
Seth Davis over to keep the peace. Tell |
me about yourself, Rupe. 1 hope Uncle |
Ben doesn It think of changing his young |
tutor with his good fortune?''
ono, sir, - returned Rupert, bright |
ening. "He promises to take me to |
Sacramento with him as his private sec
rotary or confidential clerk, you know,
ef-ef-'' he hesitated again with very |
un- Rupert-like caution, ''ef things go |
as he wants EN- He stopped awk-
wardly and his brown eyes became |
clouded. ''Like eZ not, MIR. Ford, he's |
only foelin' me-and-himself. - The |
boys eyes sought the MASTER S curiously
81 don t know about that, returned |
Mr.. Ford uneasily, with certain recol-
lection of Uncle Ben s triumph over his
own incredulity. He surely hasn'
shown himself fool or boaster
so far. L consider your prospect
a very fair one, and 1 wish you
joy of it, my boy He ran his fingers
through Rupert's curls in his old earess-
ing fashion, the more tenderly perhaps
that he fancied he still saw symptoms of
storm and wet weather in the boys
brown eyes. ''Run along home, both of
you, and don It worry yourselves about
me. -
He turned away but had scarcely pro-
ceeded half dozen yards before he felt
tug at his coat. Looking down he saw
the diminutive Johnny. They'll be
comm home thith way - he said reach
ng up in a hoarse confidential whisper.
"Who?''