The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1894-12-27

n n W "1 o u h a v
! /jIr made of me the
fright, the scare
crow" he said to Heygendorf. {"
demand that you take me to the
hair-dresser, the barber"
There isn't any barber" sale
CARING; "you look great deal bet
ter than you used to. Now come OF
with US, or go back to the camp"
81 will return myself to the camp
| do not wish to make the laughs
for every one" said Alphonse turn
ing about and marching away, with
the grapes still balanced over hi
shoulder.
"One of us ought to go back ant
stay with him." said Carling as WI
walked along. But we kept on fol
half an hour disputing about whose
place 1T was to return and look afteI
Alphonse. We all wheeled abour
together at last, and Jagged back t.
the camp. We looked IN the tents
back of the tents, down by the spring
and then we all said aloud, "Wher,
is AIphonse?"
There were one or two red Toka'
grapes near the first tent, 80 we knew
that he must have reached camp; We
went down to the road and saw thai
all along for every two u three feet
d red grape had been dropped.
ale has started to walk down tn
road" said Carling. "We'll go fas'
and Overtake him, and I'd like f
trOunce him, too, when | catch him.
We walked along the twisting,
turning Santa Cruz road expecting
every minute to catch up to AL
phonse. Every now and then VT
would see big red grape, and that
would encourage us to keep on. The
clay road had dried hard siuce a
recent rain, and Alphonse was not
heavy enough to- make any foot.
prints. At two o'clock we were tired
and hungry-still following the
narrow and lonely road, and looking
down hundreds and hundreds of
feet on redwoods that were only lit
tie shrubs in the misty depths. When
we were nearly in despair we came
across Jones and Dupont. Dupont
was frantic-too frantic to upbraid
us, which on the whole was lucky.
He thought it well to follow the
grapes, and Jones said we were geese
not to have borrowed horses. We
were too far now from any house to
go back, so we pushed on, and at
four o'clock we came in full sight of
the Pacific, far away ahead of us,
rough and gray and white, and we
knew then that we were not a great
distance from Santa Cruz.
"There's a lumberman's wagon
ahead" cried Carling, at last. 81
can see little white bundle sitting
on the wood; maybe it's Alphonse."
Tired as we were, we ran like
foxes. Down grade we went, shout
ing and calling, full of JOY when we
heard a well-known pipe exclaiming:
"Vi0l0, mon Victor! | am now on
my way to see the adorable Claire"
The woodcutter was good natuled;
he took US all aboard, and told us
how he had picked up Alphonse a
long way back.
"He was capering along by him.
self, singing little French song,
and balancing those same grapes over
his shoulder that he's carrying now.
He cooked his head to one side and
told me he was going to Santa Cruz
to get his ma to take him to the
hairdresser's, and thought I'd give
him lift"
We got into Santa Cruz safely at
five O'Clock, and went to the barber
shop where the head of Alphonse
was neatly clipped before he made
his appearance at the boarding-house
where his mother and his adorable
Claire were staying.
Then we hurried to the station
and caught the train to our camp.
ing ground.
When We were squeezed into our
section in the narrow gauge, Victor
Dupont said to CARING, who had
observed, rather grumpily, that he
hoped it would never be his luck to
have a kid in his camplng-party
again:
"No, | shall never more bring Al
phonse. But we are quits now. You
ask me to come to do the cooking.
1t is not for the pleasure of my COM
pany, though you would have me
think so-and l would have been
deceived had it not been for Heygen-
dorf here. | accept to your kind in.
vitation, but l bring Alphonse as a
little responsibility for you-eh?"
Carling laughed in spite of him.
self, and Jones roared with delight.
at was hard l-l-lines for AL
phonse," said Heygendorf thought
fully.
Dupont smiled. when we get
back to our camp" he said, 81 shall
procure some eggs and make an
Omelet souff1e that is dream: but
shall we not take the turns with the
Frying-pan, and the stew-pan, and
he toasting-fork?"
81 am sure | am wiling" said |
Jarling; and the rest of us agreed.
THE END.