Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1901-05-30

tied TO it, all right" he chuckled
81 know my rights as a citizen OF
these United States and as a first
lieutenant of cavalry. The Collinses,
the whole sweet seven of 'em, may
have the lower floor. It's all they
can claim under the law. That's four
rooms, including the kitchen. l dare
say they won't mind living like that
any way. They're pigs"
"Pigs, too?" asked Bartlett
Drayton went on unfolding his plan.
"Once l have that top floor, you
watch the interest in life I'll provide
for them I'll make their days pleas
ant and their nights-particular
their nights beautiful. I'll have sup
pers up there every evening, and do
songs and dances until reveille, if I
have to hypothecate to pay my COM
missary bill, and if my health breaks
down. You watch!" He Food up
and began to button his blouse. $50
YOU are warned. If the Collinses
move in, such is my devotion to them
that I'll move in, too. And I'll put
in my formal application for those
two rooms. No other two in the post
will suit, either, you understand"
And it all came about exactly as he
had said. There was hegira of Law
rences and an ingress of Collinses,
and great was the latters' wrath when
they found Drayton taking posses
sion of the upper floor They pro-
tested to everybody in general, and
to the commandment and the quarter
master in particular. And the COM
mandant and the quartermaster said
they were sorry. but that Drayton
was certainly within his rights. He
had applied for the quarters in virtue
of the general turning-out that d
troop was causing in the post, and he
was entitled to occupy them. There
was nothing more to be said.
81 can't pretend I'm sorry for them,
exactly" Mrs. Lawrence confided to
Drayton, when he advised her not to
try to settle in her new quarters very
deliberately; 'T'm only human, after
all, and my house did look so sweet,
and my garden But I'm sorry for
YOU. think those children are the
very imps of evil"
Drayton nodded. "There are 9th
ers," he said.
1t was enigmatical, but Mrs. Law
renee looked doubtful, and ready to
be hurt "You don't mean mine?" she
said
mo, my dear lady" Bartlett reas-
sured her, che doesn't mean yours.
He thinks yours are all that tender
infancy should be. l don't know what
he does mean. however. And prob
ably he doesn't know himself"
Don't 70" queried Drayton, eng
NAUTICAL still. "Don't just?'
Perhaps" said Bartlett, "yOu mean
Jimmy O'Brien. I saw you hobnob-
bling with him to-day. Would it be
Jimmy nOw?"
Dravton would not commit himself.
But it was Jimmy and none other,
nevertheless. Drayton had come upon
him when he was playing duck-on-
a-rock all by himself, near the suffers
store. The duck was a beer bottle,
and Jimmy was pitching stones at it,
with Indifferent aim. The father of
Jimmy was first sergeant of Draytons
troop. and so the lieutenant felt they
had enough in common to warrant a
conversation.
1t began by a suggestion as to bet
ter way to throw a stone, and it end
ed with a bargain struck. "Then,
said Drayton, eff I promise to pay
YOU two bits for every centipede, -four
bits for every tarantula, ten cents for
every lizard. nickel for every toad
and a cent for every big spider, you
will catch all you can and bottle them
for me?"
Jimmy nodded, solemnly.
"And you won't say anything about
it to anyone?" A quarter was pressed
into chapped and grimy hand.
''Nit," said Jimmy, the instinct OF
a political race to the fore. There
was another race instinct strong IL
Jimmy, too. 1t was that of the con
tractor.
The very next morning, before
guard-mounting he clambered up TIT
stairway to Drayton's rooms. Dray
ton was only just dressing. He haC
kept late hours. Bartlett had helped
= him. and until two o'clock they haC
alternated pacing heavily to and FRI
with dropping weighty bodies on TIT
floor. The Collinses were kept awake
cts a question of endurance, be
cause we are two" said Drayton
"but expect we can hold out"
He inspected Jimmy's first catch
: There was a centipede, two lizard
and three toads. Jimmy's pocket
; bulged with bottles. There were ais
five large and unpleasant spiders.
Good boy" said Drayton, and pai
d as per schedule.
Mrs. Collins and the mother-in-law'
|, nerves were not Gained, any way, b.
the wakeful night. 1t was the harde
n for them when they came upon thr'
7 large toads in their rooms that da
To have a toad hop out at you fro
o q dark corner is not nice. 1t is ST
i less to step on one and crush it.
g gives a peculiar sensation. Mrs. ca
4 Inns found it so. There was a izal
n in the milk bottle, and another {
II the back of a chair, from where
l. climbed into a mother-in-law's hal
" Big spiders infested the place.
d Toward noon Drayton came dow
If stairs carrying on the end of a pi
it and examining it critically cent