Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-03-23

the level stretch and took the third
pitch, faster and faster.
1t was amazing that Rufus steered
so well, but he seemed to know how
at once. My own sensations swung
between terror and wild elation.
Down the long fourth pitch we shot,
gaming tremendous headway. The
pung was now going so fast that the
jar and jolting motion had entirely
ceased. 1t seemed as if the road had
been oiled. The keen rush of cold air
cut our faces, and brought to my eyes,
L remember, was haze of tears,
through which saw dimly wild pro-
cesslon of hurrying trees and roadside
fences.
The Number Seven boys had seen us
coming. As we headed down the fifth
and last pitch we heard them shouting,
and seven or eight of them ran across
the road.
'They're stretching their rope"
Dol exclaimed. Jumping to his feet,
he pulled off his red wooden muller
and waved it defiantly, while we all
yelled like wild Indians. The bog
trotters yelled back defiance and raised
their rope. In their ignorance they
probably thought that, with five or six
boys at each end of the rope, they
would be able to upset us.
But the next moment they received
an impressive object-lesson. The mo-
mentum of the heavy pung was some
thing prodigiousl We scarcely felt
the rope when we struck it, and the
next instant dozen Number Seven
boys were taking most extravagant
leaps as they were jerked into the road
behind us All of them had been
gripping the rope hard, and some of
them were carried so feet before they
could let gol They wero about the
most astonished-looking boys that 1
ever sawl
AS for the pung, it did not stop till
it reached the foot of the hill beyond
the bridge over Longmeadow brook,
where we found the man and horses
waiting to haul it back up to Number
Six.
The bog-trotter boys had not wholly
recovered from their discontinue
when we went by; their school bell
was ringing, and when Rufus politely
asked them what they thought of our
blockade-runner they had little to say.
"Hor' Lem said, feebly. "What do
we care for your old rantum- -scooterw
And the name stuck to Rufus armor-
clad. We soon came to call it the
Rantum Scooter ourselves.
The Number Seven boys knew bet
ter than to attempt to hold a rope in
front of the blockade-runner again;
but they still imagined that the rope
would stop us, if'only the ends could
be made fast. Next day at noon, when
we coasted down, we found that they
had drawn it tight across the road and
tied one end to tree near the school.
house and the other to horse post in
front of the grocery opposite. The
rope snapped like twine when we
struck it.
A day or two later, as we coasted
down, we found that they had collected
eight or ten OK chains, but they did
not dare to use them; perhaps because
they feared to kill some of us, or pos
sibly because the selectmen had threat
ened to have them punished if they
seriously molested us more.
After this tAeJ no longer tried to
stop us, but they pelted us hard with
frozen snowballs. For ordinary snow
balls we cared little, since we could
draw our heads down into the box as
we passed; but soon 'Thias, Lem and
some of the others began hurting heavy
Jumps of ice into the pung.
To set such missiles at defiance,
Rufus and Dol rebuilt the box of the
pung, making the sides higher, putting
top on it and covering it with sheet
iron.
During the following week we made
the coast not less than 20 times with
this curious contrivance. Lumps of
ice and even stones were launched at
/ it; but no violence which the dis
gruntled bog -trotters could inflict pre-
vented our running their blockade as
long as the good coasting weather
lasted.-Youth's Companion.