Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1905-10-30
By JOSEPH G. LINCOLN

clear ahd hearty. Captain Jerry $ was
hcsiI#iing and formal The talk that
followed WAS rather one sided. Final
~ the eaptHin laid down his hoe and
came spia>hiilg over to whore his
fl',rnd WAS standing.
Mr.. HHzeltinp." he said confused
ly, II Kind of feel as if~l ought TO l,e,,
your pardon. I'm awful sorry T done
What did: but. as ! said to Elsie. I
meant we'll and m sorry"
sorry: Sorry for what?''
W ny. for lehNn' you and her alone
SO when YOU com" to the house Yon
SOC | never Thought but what yOu'd
both Ike it. and IVAN till she raked
NE over tn" Goals so for doin' it that
/ realized low things VAS :"
'Rakpd yon over the coaIs? Pm
afraid | don't understand
1t is unnecessary To repeat the whole
of the long and tangled conversation
that ensned The captain tried to px.
pam. tuinbled down. metaphoricaliy
speaking. got up again and started off
OH another tack In his anxiety to
make his position perfectly clear he
quoted from Elsie's remarks of tho
previous evening and then. thinking
! perhaps be had gone too tar. tried tn
smooth these over by more eXplaua-
! tons Repeating this process several
times got lii:n into such Snarl that
he scarcely knew what he was saving
When tn" AGony wa> over Ralph had
received the impression that Miss Pros
ton bad said his visits were u perfect
torture TO her, that she objected to he.
ing left alone with him that she helt
Captain Jerry responsible for theS,
'hiig> and fhat The latter WAS sorr,
for something or other. though what il
was be ntaiph, didn't know or car,
par; .cuarly TO the captains con
tinued apologies he Euttereh ahsentl,
that it was All right and walked
slowly away With bis hands in his
pockets Captain Jerry was relieved
by this expression Of forgiveness. He
felt that flle situation wasn't what h."
wo,li, like to have it: but, at any rate.
he had done his duty This was
great consolation.
Ralph didn't call that evening or the
next When he did drop in it WAS
merely TO inquire concerning John Rax
,er's progress and to chat for mo-
mcnt with the captains His next visit
was a week later and was just as brief
ana forfnal
If Elsie noticed this sudden chang.
she .nin nn,ll.mg There might have
been some comment by the others had
not Il neW sensation So occupied their
minds as TO shut ont everything else
This sensation was caused by IosiaI,
Bartlett. who ran away one night with
bis hr,ongings tied up in Il brown I,a
per parcel. leaving "a note saying that
he had gone to enlist in the navy and
wasn't coming back amy more
There We're lively times the next
morning when the note was found
Captain Perez was for harnessing IN
immediately and starting off to fin,i
the lost one. hit OF miss Captain Fri
soon showed him the folly of this pro
creding and instead hurried to the rail
way station and sent u telegram dc
scribing the fugitive to the conductor
of the Roston train 1t caught tar
conductor ut Sandwich. and the local
constable al BuZzartis Bay caught the
boy. Josiah was luXuriously putting Il
fiV" rVHt cigar in the smoking car and t
it was II creStfallen and humiliated I
prodigal that. accompanied by the /
aforementioned constable. returned t.
Orham lllat night.
But the stubbornness remained and I
the next day Perez sought Captain Err
in Il troubled frame of mind.
Fri" he said dejectedly. Il don't /
know what I'm goin' to. do with that /
boy He's too many for ne. that boy
is. Seems he's been plannin' this run
min away business for more'n a month:
been doin' errands and odd jobs round
town and Savin' up his money on pur-
pose. Says he won't go back to Schoo!
again no matter what we do to him
and that he's goin' to git into the navy
if it takes ten. years
"IIumph.' exclaimed his friend.
"Stutrv as all that. is he: You don't
say. He aint Il bad boy-that is. a
reel bad boy. either"
NO. that's Jest it, He amt reel bad
-yit But he will be if he amt fetch
ed up pretty sudden. Course | know
what he needs is to he made to mind
fust aud then preached to afterwards
And ! know that naturally I'm the one
that ought to do it. but jest can't
there. If ] should start out to give
him the dresSin' down he needs I'd
be thinkin of his mother every min
lte and how | promised to treat him
gentle and not be cross to him. But
somelhn's got to be DONE and if you
can help me out any way III never
forgit it, Fri
Captain Fri scratched his chin.
"Humph." he grunted re1ectivey.
He couldn't git into the navy; he's