The Savannah morning news., 1900-06-21


Home on Finding Papa Was in Hot
Pursuit.
From the New York sun.
The shades OF night were falling about
the commuters home. Il was time
OF anxiety and dread to the commuters
wife for two reasons, which all subur-
banites will understand. In the first
place, the commuter was tate. The 6:5S
train had come and some without him
and the 7:21 was long overdue. All the
dire possibilities of the case came into
her mind Either the ferry boat had
gone down with all on board or there had
been a collision on the road OF the engi-
neer had misunderstood the signals and
the train had plunged through the open
draw and been swallowed up by the
Hackensack river. 1t mattered not that
by actual count, as the records of the
Village Improvement Society would dem
onstrate, the 7:21 had been from eleven
to twenty-nine minutes late every night
for the last seven months That could
not be admitted as a qualification OF
the proba biity that before bedtime the
commuters wife would be receiving con-
dolences as the commuters widow.
So much for anxiety No l. The other
was not less ominous nor was it less
Characteristic of life in the suburbs. Not
only was the commuter late but the
commuters son could not be found. This
also had happened before. But" said
the commuters wife to herself Harold
promised me the last time he stayed out
after dark that if I wouldn't punish him
he would never do 1t again so ] just
know that something has happened"
Fired by Indian stories.
The commuters son had recently ar
rived with great satisfaction to himself
at the age of 9, and, having been per-
mitted TO exercise a certain latitude of
choice in the selection of his birthday
gifts, had induced the commuter to buy
for him the alluring Actions contained in
the Rocky Mountain series. Harold had
of late evinced a desire to discard the
conventional dress of effete Eastern civ
ilization. to cook his food over bonfires
and TO prepare himself by the possession
of firearms and hunting knives to ward
off the assaults of the savage men and
beasts which as is well known, infest
all of the region within a radius of TWEEN
ty-f1ve miles of New York and especial
" that part which lies within the state
ters had not met with the consdera ton
to which he thought they were entitled.
His frequent earnest requests that jerked
buffalo meat be substituted for the ordn-
airy diet of the family, that he should
be allowed to array himself in a SOM
brero and fringed trousers and thet he
should have rife, bowie and mus
tang had awakened no response.
IT almost wish we hadn't bought him
those books" unused the commuters wife,
as she took Frank Among the Ranch
eros and ran over the leaves. A paper
iuttered out from between the pages and
fell to the floor. The commuters wife
picked it up, carried il nearer to the gas
light and read:
THE WESTERN CLUB.
Captain Harold Nelson age six of may
PLANS
each boy to get somethin to eat to last
him four or five days AMI get q cowboys
suit or any kind of uniform and If not all
right. and get a ticket TO the West and
dollars in his pocket. every boy be in
Perkins woods at o'clock at night May 4,
1900 get a time table on the P. L. & X.
R r. and a bout the II. of May we will be
roaming ON the Western PlainsDo not
tell your mother About il. each boy bring
a real revolver aud knife about 10 or II
inches LONG and a blancket. every boy
take a new name. mine is Jack Bowers.
The commuters wife gasped and wrung
her hands. and she herself probably hasn't
the faintest conception of what she would
have done If at that moment the COM
muter's latchkey hadn't ratified in the door
and heralded the appearance of her hus-
band.
Trailing the Fugitive.
Late again, Mary" growled the exas-
perated man. We've decided to appoint
a committee in the morning to call on the
superintendent of the railroad and raise
why what's the matter, Mary? Anything /.
wrong?"
"Oh. Henry. read this" and she pressed /
into his outstretched hand the prospectus I
of the Western Club.
''Whewr calculated the commuter. /
THE little devil! Now, Mary, isn't that
the-?"
"Oh, Henry how can you laugh and be
so profane?'
why, you don't think it's serious. do
you?"
Serious Henry. do you realize what
night this is?"
"why-why, yes. It's the fourth Of.
Where's HaFold?"
Il don't know He's gone"
Gone Gee whiz! Well. then. there's |
no time to spare Where were they 90 /
meet? AT O'Clock. | guess can make [
it,"
About an hour earlier solitary figure
TO borrow a phrase from romantic Action
might have been seen vending It's way /
toward Perkins woods. If il had been |
seen the person who saw il might well /
have wondered why II had strapped to ito I
shoulders a flannel blanket And cou,d |
he have looked into the pockets o. the /
wayfarer's coat il might have given him |
some pause TO determine why one so /
young and apparently well nourished car {
RED about in his immediate possession five /
corned beef sandwiches. half a dozen hard |
boiled eggs, sundry cold potatoes and a
package OF salt and pepper. A glance I'M
der the buttoned-up jacket would have
a belt in which was thrust
blade that might have seemed formidable |
enough had It not have been so recently a
factor in the kitchen economy Of the com
muters household That none Of these
facts was noticed or suspected was due 10
the policy pursued by the young captain
who conceived tha$ thus early In the al
venture a proper regard for his own safe
~ demanded the exercise of extreme eau
ton.
Give me but few hours the start Of
them and I'll defy them" he solioquized,
and suiting the action TO the word he con-
cealed himself behind a fence A tree or
a bush whenever any one approached on
the road. Thus stealhily directing his
steps and adopting various devices to con-
fuse the trail in case an attempt should
be made TO track him by the marks of his
feet the captain arrived something more
than an hour before the appointed time al
the meeting place IN Perkins woods
HaroIds oOEinE Courage.