The Forrest City times., 1899-06-30

But somebody had been up in that cor
 ner lately. How otherwise could the
 dust have been brushed away and the spiders web broken? True wondered
 idly what anybody could have been
 there for, and then a sudden thought struck him that sent the blood rushing | to his head, and made him for moment feel faint and dizzy. In another mo-
 ment he was climbing up those beams | nimbly as only squirrel or boy could
 climb. He put his hand under the heap
 of shavings and chips, and it touched
 something very hard and cold. He dashed off the chips and shavings with
 which 1t was covered, and disclosed
 the bell tongue.
 True wanted to shout for joy, but he knew that he needed all his strength | just now, and restrained himself. H~ | could not have lifted the bell tongue. | even If he had not been obliged to cling
 to beam with one hand, but he could draw 1t along to the edge of the scaf- folding, and then with one mighty ef- | fort, he pushed it off. It came to the | floor with crash that seemed as if it
 might arouse all Cherryfield, and cer- | tainly did effectually arouse the two
 sleeping boys, who sprang to their feet,
 Rob with vague impression that it
 was the report of a cannon. and that his
 time had now come to fight something.
 It was happy moment when they | realized that the bell tongue was found, | though Penney did grumble that they
 ought to have been smart enough to
 find it yesterday" True thought that | if he hadn't been awake when that sum- | beam struck the corner, they never
 would have found it, for who would
 have thought that anybody would car i ry it away up there to hide it?
 It was no small undertaking to re- place the tongue in the bell, but, after
 much lifting and struggling, it was
 done, however. Then they all pulled
 with will, and clang that almost deafened them came from the bell. Sleeping Cherryfield was aroused in a
 very few minutes, and asked, in amaze
 ment, what was the matter. The new
 fire engine was taken out with rush
 and clamor. But where was the fire?
 People ran wildly about and nobody
 semed to know. The most mystified
 man was old Sandy McVie, who ran out
 of the house in a maze of bewilderment. | and declared that the bell was be- witched. How else could it ring with
 out a tongue? And how could any hu-
 man being get into the church when tho
 door was securely locked, and no win-
 dow broken, as anybody could see? And still the bell rang wildly and | clamorously, as such sober-minded
 old church bell was never known to ring | before. The spirit of half dozen
 Fourths of July seem to possess it. | People on the outskirts of the town
 began to think that the selectmen had
 repented of not celebrating the Fourth,
 and were making amends by celebrat- | ing the 5th, and they came hurriedly | driving into the village to see what
 was the matter.
 At length somebody more courageous
 than Sandy McVie insisted upon going | into the church to investigate, and
 Sandy went to get the key. The dis
 covery that it was gone put a new | face upon the matter, and Sandy's sus. picions reverted to the boys whose plans he had overheard, and he volun.
 teered to break open window and
 lead the search.
 Rosy McVie at that time was pulling
 the bedclothes over her head, and won- dering what would become of her, and resolving never again to touch a key
 or anything else that she had no right to, for all the candy in the world. | Candy was good, but, oh, how bad was the terror she was suffering now! And
 Rosy is not likely to forget her resolve, | although she was never found out. The | boys agreed that they would never be
 so mean as to tell on girl, anyway" | and they were always supposed to have
 stolen the key from Sandy McVie's | closet themselves.
 When they heard the footsteps of their rescuers the boys ceased to ring
 the bell. It was easy enough to open the trapdoor from beneath. While the
 boys were wondering anxiously wheth- | CT it ever could be opened, Sandy Me- Vie's head popped up out of it like Jack-in-the-box. Rob's father came | next, and Rob who meant to fight In- HIS dTOutu HIS Htck | and-cried. Rob's father had suffered some anxiety about him, but thought
 he had stayed at Borrowsville with True.
 Everybody agreed that the boys had been sufficiently punished by their im- prisonment and the loss of their Fourth of July fun. Even Sandy McVie said
 ''he guessed they wouldn't be apt to do it again." But he may have been somewhat softened by the compliments
 which True paid him on his skill in hiding the bell tongue.
 The boys didn't care to say much about their adventure. They felt as if
 the trick they had tried to play had
 been turned upon themselves. When True's Brownsville cousins asked him
 what kind of Fourth he had had, he replied, carelessly:
 'Oh, sky-high one!"
 Which was certainly truer than the