St. Landry democrat., 1893-09-23

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ties l would like you to 60 out on the
} seven o'clock train Call here at about
three this afternoon ard get your rail
V road ticket for six months"
Lake Window, twenty miles from the
city, was a clear, deep BODY of water
about hrce-fourths of mile long and
r half mile wide. The grass grew to the
very edge of the water all around, and
at one side was large and pretty grove
fitted up for picnic parties that paid for
the Use of the grounds.
There were thirty five or forty small
boats for hiring out at fifty cents an hour
to picnickers. 1t was Perry's duty to
take full charge of these boats and to
collect the money for their use.
There were some swings with box seats
for four persons near the boats. Ten
cents half-hour was charged for the
swings. Then there was a bowling alley
in charge of young man named Hale,
who lived in Crofton. lie went to his
home every evening, after turning over
the receipts Of the bowling alley to
Perry.
The total sum thus placed in Perry's
charge sometimes amounted to seventy
five dollars
Perry's situation was pleasant one in
the day time, when the grounds were
often filled with merry picnic parties, but
the silence and loneliness that followed
their departure were depressing. The
lake was secluded, and as night came few
sounds we've heard except the dismal
hooting of owls in the dim woods or the
mournfu! song of the whippoorwill.
As the shadows of the trees length
ened on the lake and the water darkencd
in the twilight, Perry would sometimes
take boat and row for an hour or two,
after walking around through the de-
serted woods to pick up things lost by
the picknickers.
The keeper of the cafe always set out
Perry's supper and then left for Crofton
After eating his lonely meal, time would
drag slowly with the boy until o'clock,
when he turned in' for the night. He
slept in bare little room at one end of
the cafe building an uupainted and I'm
pastered structure.
rs the season advanced, the loneliness
of PerrY's nights came to an end, but he
would have preferred solitude to the
company that then resorted to the
grounds. Nearly every night the place
was visited by tramps, whose shouts and
brawls increased the disagreeableness Of
Perry's situation.
The tramps would wander around the
grove, picking up and eating the food
thrown away by the p:cnic parties, before
going to sleep in the dancing pavilion or
on the long covered piazza in front of the |
cafe. Here little that could be stolen or
eaten was kept over night by the pro-
Crofton every evening and returned in
the morning before the arrival Of picnic |
trains.
The tramps never came around in the
daytime, and Perry tried to believe that
they were ignorant of the fact that he
had money in his possession. Usually
they paid little attention to him.
Perry's instructions We're that he
should send to the city every Thursday
morning his receipts for the three pre-
vious days, and bring in with him on
Saturday night the money taken during
the three closing days of each week. On
Wednesday night of the fifth week of his
stay his takings from three large picnics
on successive days amounted to nearly a
hundred dollars.
The money made package Of con-
siderable size Almost half was in
silver, aud the rest in bills Perry had
it all tied up in handkerchief.
The third picnic party left the grove
at five in the afternoon and Perry was
alone on the grounds, sitting in one of
the boats counting the money. He had
made the silver into piles of five dollars
each, and the bills he was running over
in his hands. Suddenly he was startled
by shout.
''HelIo!'
Perry looked up, Two tramps whom :
he had never seen about the place before, !
had come from behind a small buildi q ..
on the shore, and were looking at him
with interest. )
Good morning. replied Perry, gath 3
cring up the money and putting it back :;
into the handkerchief. !
Kind O struck it rich, amt you, =
young teler?' said one of the men, d
"No,' replied Perry, II haven't. 1t !;
snt my money"
"oh, it hain't? Whose might it be, :
heu?" =.
alt belongs to the company that owns y n
he grounds" =
While he was speaking he picked up :,
he cars and sent the boat out from the -
shore \
"Where are you going2' called one of =
he men, -
''Nowhere in particular" said Perry,
till rowing.
"Well, wait minute, we want to talk
@ you"
II haven't got time" called out Perry,
owing faster than ever
The two men exchanged few words, IL
which the boy could not hear Then tt
hey jumped into another boat and |,
owed after Perry, who now threw off il
lis coat, and rowed rs hard and as fast v
IS he could.
He had learned to row very well at p
he lake, and was well out ON the water u
'efcre the tramps started. But they l..
we're two to one, and he soon realized LII
hat they were gaining on him. 6
They shouted to him to stop, decar- H.
ng they meant him no harm, but he ~
aid no heed, and rowed on steadily. y,
hey were gaining, and Perry feared h,
hat Che TWO ooats Wouiu reach the OPP fl
osite shore at the same time. But one b;
f the tramps broke an oar The men
ecame angry, and called out. a.
''We're after that money, and we'll n
ave it, boy! It'll be the worse for YOU 10
you don't stop!' fl
Perry's boat grated on the pebbly bank g
bout twenty feet in advance of his pur-
lers'. The boy jumped out and ran sn
Witty through narrow strip of timber &c