The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1902-06-07

lhe Trap door ne found worms also
great. white naggots that made him
shudder., Some pigeons had flown ont
at his sudden entrance. but one
mother pigeon kept her place on the
nest and looked at him with bright
. little eyes. Jack found the ring of the
trapdoor and tried to lift it. but it
was as immovable as if there were no
door there at all He now remembered
with sinking heart that it was fas
tened with a hasp below.
wen, / am in for it," he exclaimed
aloud. Il can never go back down the
roof. 1T was bad enough coming up.
put should Certainly fall trying to go
Gown. / shall have to shout out the
window until l get some one to come
up to the hall and let me out. / am
in a fix"
he was more in a fix than he
'hought, Tor when he turned to climb
TO the windows he found A perfectly
smooth wall, without break or crack
IN the boards which he could use to
climb up. He looked about him in
/ dismay, but could see no way to get
out. He was fairly caught in a trap.
men he took off his coat and. running
the sleeve through the ring on the door.
pulled with all his strength 1t was all
OF no avail; the door seemed swollen.
Tor it did not hove. He stamped and
kicked at it until he was exhausted,
! and then shouted as loud and long as
ne could. Finally he sat down in a
corner to think
Il wonder how long it will be until
they miss me and hunt me IN? Who
would ever think of looking here? Sup
pose they never Gene? 1t will be like
the lady in the Mistletoe Bough.' and
when the carpenters come in about a
! week. they viii find me dead l think
sister Dorothea will be sorry then she
ever punished or. found fault with me.
Poor mammal
he began tosClH at the thought, and
Jumped up once more and shouted and
Kicked in vain; then he tried to leap
up and catch at the windows, but
only fell@back bruised and exhausted
He knew when the school was dis
missed by the distant shouts, and
thought bitterly that they little cared
whether he was dead or alive Then it
grew dark. The pigeons circles round,
and flew in and out, not daring to stay
m This gave him a little hope that
the janitor or some one would notice
their unusual actions and think he
might be up there. No; the pigeons
finally went elsewhere; and, as it be
gan to grow dark, poor Jack goe very
cold and hungry.
The trap door was formed of narrow
pine boards, dovetailed together. AS
Jack made another desperate attempt
to pull at the door he. remembered that
he had Sister Dorothea's knife for
sharpening pencils in his pocket He
had offered TO take it home and get it
sharpened for her. If he could get a
crack between the boards wide enough
TO put his finger through he might
push out the hook and so unfasten the
hasp. He went to work all too eager
"; for the slender blade soon snapped,
and Jack tossed it off into a corner
and again sat down in a passion of
tears. sF E
All night he crouched in the corner,
shivering, sleeping and waking. Sc
we're thirst soon began to make itself
felt, and a numbness took the place OF
the hunger. The sunlight and distant
sounds of the children in the school
yard gave him little more life, and
another device occurred to him by
which he might attract attention. He
filled his tam o'shanter full of dirt to
make it heavy, and, swinging it round
his head, sthrew it with lall-his strength
out through. the window above him.
Then quickly followed both shoes, and
finally his stockings, filed in the same
way. He listened with satisfaction to
their rafting down the states outside,
and waited while; but, to his great
disappointment, no enc came or seemed
to notice them at all.
At last he took better way Falling
on hfs knees, he prayed as he had new
er prayed before in all his life. con-
Tossing his sins of anger disobedience
and idleness; promising that if his life
was only spared he would do better
ever after. Jack then hunted UP the
knife once more and slowly and eau
tiously began to cut through the crack
with the little blade still left
a.
Down into. the school yard at recess
of the afternoon session Sister Doro-
thea was walking up and down amidst
the children They were rather silent
only the smallest ones playing as usual;
the others watching her sympathetical-
~, knowing how she felt about the
missing boy, and full of an underlined
fear and dread themselves as. to his
mysterious disappearance. Suddenly
there came q. shout. Stephen O'Brien
came running toward her holding out
a brilliantly colored, tam o'shanter
Its Jack Pickachip's.'' he cried.
Are you sure, Stephen?' asked the
sister. Where did you find it?''
1T fell out of the pear tree"
Tommy Twohig next ran up with
shoe. and soon another boy with the
stockings.
"oh, yes. sister, they are Jacks
said Marie, bursting into tears. II
would have known them anywhere.
But where can he be-"
Sister Dorothea's heart sank within
her; these things only seemed to con-
firm her fears that some terrible fate
had befallen the poor lad.
Marie suddenly gave piercing
shrek and pointed to the school door
Sister Dorothea looked, and there stood
poor Jack, barefooted, very much dis
heveled and white, holding !. out his
arms TO her. She ran and caught him
just in time to keep him from falling.
Motioning the children back, she car
ried him into the dressing room, giving
in one breath half a dozen orders-a
message to the parents the doctor and
hack On an improvised bed of cloaks
and hoods she persuaded him to swal-
low some tea from a lunch box, and
then he opened his eyes and chung
shudderingly to her.
Up in the pigeon loft" he whispered.
4 was all alone there with nobody but
God; and he was mad-at first-and
tlieh We we're IiieAu9 e'S"iii' ON 81
ing to be good"
Yes! Do not talk any more now,
dear; said the sister, her grateful
tears dropping on the lads head.
Some time you may tell me all about
it,"
A month later the janitor showed a
new trap door to a friend. 1t was
stained red and shining with varnish.
He regarded it with complacency.
"Pickachip was in for a new door, :
hes said. His boy cut hole in the
old one big /, enough to get a stick
through. and unfastened the hasp. I
wouldn't like to have found the little
feIIow dead ANY other bay would have