Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1895-04-24

family, IN particular, who maintained
as stoutly that he was of fine breed
and of remarkable sagacity.
Billy Peck and Polly Peck told many
an odd tale in proof of this belief.
Billy said that whenever he went
swimming King Cole sat upon the
bank OF the creek (he was none toe
fond of the water himself) and at the
end of half an hour. which was the
length of time Billy was allowed to
stay in the water, King Cole notified
tim in sharp peremptory barks that
his time was up. If he paid no atten.
tion to this notice the dog would con.
qrar his dislike of getting wet, and,
plunging into the creek, bring the de.
linquent boy to land. Polly always
capped this story with marvelou.
tale of how once when she had been
trundling the baby carriage on the
slope by the creek and stopped to
watch the geese there, King Cole had
pushed stones behind the wheels OF
the perambulator to prevent its rolling
down the hill But the general pub.
lie said that it had never with its OWL
eyes SSCh any VI tuGSt
things, and that Billy and Polly Peck
were given to romancing, and reas-
serted their belief that King Cole was
mongrel pup of no intelligence. Pri.
vate Peck said that no argument short
of bullet would drive out an idea
after it had once got lodged in some
peoples minds, and that is perfectly
true.
Peck was an honest soldier, but he
was guilty of telling long yarns, in
which he Dragged too much ofhimseli
and King Cole that they had come to
be called, appropriating one on his
much-used phrases, "Me an Me Dog. >
According to him thing that could
not be done by this firm was moi
worthy of accomplishment; and il
there was difficult job on hand some.
body was sure TO say, jestingly: "We
hal better send for Me an My Dog"
When. therefore, the robbery oc.
Cured at the commissary department
upon the very night that Peck was on
guard there, jokes were passed freely
at his expense, everybody sarcastically "
inau;ring where "Me an Ny Dog
could have been.
Peck felt very sore about it, for he
knew that the malicious intimated that
the deed could not have been done
without his knowledge, and that he no
doubt shared the booty with the thief.
The thief was presumably one of the
men called Big Brownie distinguish
him from another man in the same
company by the name of Brown, who
was very small-for he had deserted
that same night. So far he had eluded
all pursuers, of whom poor Peck had
been the hottest. Peck could not give
up the hope of finally capturing him,
and said: 81 amt done with that
vilyun yet; only give me an my dog
IA chance at him an you'll see." What
part the dog was to play was MOI
specified
It was the second morning after the
robbery, and Billy and Polly Peck
wandered for some distance outside
the fort, which was on our Mexican
frontier. 1t was a low-lying bushy
country, uninhabited except for a few
Mexicans, whose poor huts were
scattered at wide intervals over the
chaparral as this bushy land is called.
The children were now nearing one Of
the iacals or huts, dilapidated affair,
probably deserted.
'tDon't lets go any further, In
tired" said Polly. ''The soldiers have
hunted all around here"
'I amt going home till I've looked
around that old jacal. You don't
know but what that's the very place
Big Brown is hiding in"
Billy pushed on. He was armed to
the teeth, as the saying is, with
broken sword, a jackknife and piece
of rope. Of course you see that his
purpose was the capture of the thief.
The children went on very stealthily.
Billy's eagerness gave a zest to the
play, SO that Notwithstanding her
fatigue Polly followed him, holding
5ack King Cole by the collar.
''See, see, here are his tracks," sud
denly whispered Billy, pointing to the
trampled grass.
Polly remained calm, for she had
seen SO many of Big Browns tracks
that day, but King Cole pricked up his
,ars and Billy's eyes glistened.
"You stay here and King Cole with
you, cause you run if anything is
there, he'll bark, and Ill go and take
, look" said Billy.
They were approaching the house
from tine rear. The building had no
windows, but one could easily look
into it through the spaces between the
logs Of which it had been constructed.
Then. after seconds inspection,
Billy turned his face around; it was
sayeral depreea na1ap than s1sna1 and