Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1889-03-29
THREE TIMES SAVED.
BY WILLIAM II. BUSHNELL.

nat man again! ana the Ups ol
Kate Erskine curled, though rather with
annoyance than scoru.
~ don't see any occasion for so much
feeling replied May Allison, her chosen
companion. "IIe is remarkably hand
some, magnificent in phys cal proper
tions, and minds his own business
recommendation that cannot be given
the majority Of his sex.
Perhaps tride too much So" with
ih-concealed pique.
''You have met him before, Kate7"
eyes; everywhere we have been this
summer. He haunts Inc as a shadow,
and, by some pcrversc fate, is always
appearing at the exact time to save me
from inconyeniences, if not deadly
peril
GA remarkably useful gallant, laughed
May. "What is the name?"
''Lisle Liston At least, that is what
was told in Florida, and in the Gar
dens of the Gods. Didn't write you
Of my adven tures2p
''Not a word! Was this gentleman
the hero9"
Upon both occasions. He saved me
with as much nonchaIance as if / were
simply waxen doll, and"
"Not passably good looking young
lady Of about twenty. and weighing
some hundred and thirty.
"Then betook himself off without
giving me an opportunity to thauk
him."
''Gloriousl think / will cultivate
this rara avis, and, ,unhccding the frown
she saw gathering, and the fires kind
ling, in the black eyes, she continued,
provokingly: "a beau, so different from
the ordinary, is well .worth knowing.
But, tell me how and when you met
him, Katie, dear; what he said and what
he did. know it must have been the
most charming of lattery, and am just
dying with curiosity"
"What he said didn't occupy more
than an instant.
"Ahl What he did, then? Please
tell me, so that can bow down in wor-
ship, even if at respectful distance"
eyes"
And, though plainly showing how
much she was annoyed by the badinage
of her friend, Kate continued:
"our party was camping on the st.
Johns river, and while the gent nt'emen-
my father and uncles-were hunting and
fishing
you, of the feminine persuasion,
were gathering flowers and culiosities?"
Certainlyn
"And were introduced to the young
gentleman now stretched in picturesque
attitude upon the sand by the shoreg'
"a queer introduction replied Kate,
with an attempt at laugh, but which
ended in a shiver, ''the medium being
an alligator"
''Preposterous, even if true"
tAnd so true that the recollection
causes fearful dreams even now. You
know my biids'-egg hobbyl 1t came
near being INDUCED in once too often.
| saw queer nest in tree, hanging
over dark lagoon; saw queer looking
bird fly away; climbed, crawled out
upon the branch
"a remarkably lady like proceeding"
"ohw - with a quick blush = 81
hadn't an idea that there was man
within a mile, and, as l was reaching
for the large, speckled eggs"
"You made precious spectacle Of
yourself by falling"
81 wouldn't, if the limb hadn't
broken"
''And down came cradle and baby
and all, y sang May, and so loudly as TO
attract the attention of the gentleman
they were discussing.
A single glance, however, appeared to
satisfy him, and as he became absorbed
in watching the ripples kissing the sands
of the beach, and the wings Of the gulls
that cut, as with white sickles, the
CLASSY surface of the ocean, Kate re-
sumed:
Fortunately, the water wasn't deep,
and as was scrambling out, drenched
and covered with mud, great monster
of an alligator shot out Of the reeds and
rushed toward me with open mouth and
swapping red eyesl'
Intent, no doubt, upon dainty
breakfast or dinner. Ughl the canni-
bal; though | must own he showed good
taste in ;he selection. But, seriously,
Kate, | should have screamed
.,That's lust what did do. and with