The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-06-21


wa. up there that year. His name Isn't
1Pehaps it's got changed I admitted
weakly; Mems names do. you know
when they climb down the scale as he's
Hum, she said, and pulled down chart
the he o s4d1ne roof ' show me exactly
where this hermit lives
That charts all wrong
Precisely: But YOU We been there, ana
you know the lay Of It,, Here's pencil
a n ,be @ s a1a tel me 'Ne 'An0
If you go up there and see this felloW,
and sleep one night In those swamps. you'll
catch fever and die, What more do you
want to know about that man? Stay here
and will tell you"
dry; For the rest, !. must see him myself;
And shall not die OF fever, because l shall
get this yacht to take me around TO the out
side. and 60 from there. and 30 not have to
spend night ashore at all"
sa shalt t you r ss fRf fss
a small creek on beyond. up which we VIII
invite the Van Sciaks to take the yacht,
III bring our ,ssloop. We will 80 in with the
pretence Of alligator hunting
In an hours time the, two yachts were
shallow bar which guards the entrance to
the Bayou Bon secours. Then we slipped
out through the channel between Dauphin
Island and Fort Morgan, and lifted to the
swing Of the outer sea, running east along
Night had fallen before we made the
creek, and we tackled in over the bar by
blazing moonlight, with centreboards up,
and the breeze eddying light and ftful
through the trees. That night we took
the rifles and the bullseye lanterns and shot
a dozen alilgators by way Of giving our
OF course, Miss wilcoxn did 20 to see
Atcheson. l took her to the island myself
through an intolerable maze Of lakes and
We hoped to slay allgators by daylight.
which Is probably the baldest excuse a
grown man with q pretty invention ever
made. But shall give the girl credit for
one thing-she didn't stay talking to the
fellow for more than ten minutes. When
cause to comment that Atcheson was a
curious handful.
II told you that BEFORE" said. Now
You've learned it for yourself trust you're
y am entirely, Mac. 1hope you are too. I"
I'm extremely hot"
We'll, then, hurry and get back and
III fix you up mint julep. We've ice on
board, and all the other necessaries, and
Mr. Van Sciak has shown me how to use
a swizzle-stick. He said it might come in
useful, as had thoughts Of sett ling down"
80 I've been given to understand. AS
you have not had my congratulations be-
fore, please accept them now in all fulness
I suppose I'm scratched from the running
Completely, my dear boy. We've
eept for perhaps once, l loathe alligator
hunting"
And 80 We went back, and was re-
warded, not with one julep only, but several
The Van Sciaks wanted to go to Missis-
sippi Sound next day, and as the other man
and were bound for Pensacola in Florida,
the yachts separated and did not see Miss
Wlllcoxn again for some time.
But heard OF some OF her doings which.
to say the least Of them, seemed eccentric.
Also, which was worse, they were unwordly.
Young men with culture and $4,000 900
should they be thrown lightly aside.
But when got back to New York and.
to my establishment, saw Atcheson there,
then light began to dawn upon me. He
had on frock coat down to his heels, and
the last gift Of the gods in the way of a hat
and tie.
He shook me by the hand and said was
great man. He explained to me how a
hermit cannot hermitize unless he has
disease vulgarly known as the hump"
sIt's ENJOYABLE enough while you have
that said Atcheson, but when the hump
goes, the bottoms knocked out Of the her
NIT business altogether. What a filthy.
squalid brute must have been all that
time"
But you liked it we'll enough"
Il believe did. in my morbid way But
It's over and done with now. thank heaven!
and I'm going to marry Yum-Yum, YUM
Yum, your anger pray tarry--' Oh.
bother, I've forgotten the words. it's so
long since they were sung Jove! I shall
have lot to pick up again"
That's a fact" said Ordinary sanity
among other things. And so you're going
to marry Mary Wilcoxn after alp"
SITS a sure thing. or course. her people
were mad, because I'm not very we'll or
don't you know; and the other Johnnie's
people are mad. too, at his being cut out
But you're the person they can't get over.
They will persist In 1t that you are at the
bottom Of the whole thing. Isn't it de-
Gghtfully funny"
But don't think 1t funny at all make
quite sufficient enemies off my own bat
for personal consumption And, besides,
as have said, II the other fool hadn't got
his calves sunburned shouldn't have gone
of sous in the yawboat, nor meddled
with Atcheson at all.
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