La Junta tribune., 1907-03-09

chargers neck. His mamma had put
them round her meek. and they had
looked very fine there. and they would
look nne round the s''rckied chargers
neck. even IL his neck wasn't Ms round
and white and pretty as nlammA's. 10
for q moment Robbie WAS Just = bit
envious. Then he had looked back Mt
Sambo. manfuliy scraIing at the hsidle
aud dancing tO Its siIs.,t time. and his
envy Slipped away. ~ mbO WAS worth
. hundred strings Of leads. and papa
had given samlo to him instead VI to
mamma. 30 mamma ought To have the
beads, and he was glad she'd got them.
but little sorry for her that she hadn't
got y Sainl,o Instead. Hsmbo~ must
cost . sr~at deal of money. though. and
pspa. rich rs he Was. couldn't tse ex-
pectesi to buy two Hsmlos for the ssrns.
Christmas. No II had b~~n only y pass
Ing shadow for Robbie. 50 light and
ne~tiug that II had ss.arcs.ly dimmssi
the brillizncy of the Christmas tree ~
all.
But now Robbie was more certain
than ever that The lssds 1ust te ssOe-
thisg very clsslce. slse his wsoos
woasid sSt " ~ particular sboat ~
lag them away from r0blsrrs.
Il know where IN put them" hr
heard her say as the box lid snapped
down aud shut in the beautiful beads
lin the fireplace right down In this cor.
ner There. Aud this spray of holly
thrown over IL quite hideA the box. M
burglar would think VI looking there
for II. Aud tomorrow. Robert. you
must put them In IN. safe deposit
vault. It's too valuable a necklace Ia
keef, here In the hpnse.
Just Look at Robbie. He's taken his
sword and gun to bed with him. she
added, coming nearer the cot. why.
you're awake. deari.. aren't your she
smiled. Then she bent over ana kissed
him ~ second good nlght-such a beau-
tIful, beautiful mamma she was when
she got down close to Kiss hlm.-and
after they had smiled into each others
eyes aud she had laid her soft cbee.
against his for one delicious moment
she and papa went out. aud IL was
dark again. But the dark was very
nice and nothing Whatever to be afraid
81. Afraid. Why. there was his faith
full gun right where he could lay his
hand ou IL. II WAS on II this very
minute. Aud just beyond was his
tr,lsty sword. And right there by the
be,itpo<t. waited the sIs-skled charger
ready to nee with him II necessary.
And over there by the chimney. stand
ing guard. was ssn,so. ms true a sen
iinei as ever scrapesl noisele~s nddls.
SO there was soothing At all to he afraid
of. evea u Il was dark. And there
Al H.. l.t .t~.<a
nov that there would have been NO
rOosa for fear even II there had beeu
anything 10 b~ afraid of-tsoughts
wherein the si.~ckIed charger. the
faithful gun and trusty sword and
even the genial ssmt~ himself re-
treatesi into the background. while In
th~ foreground. very near. was the
vision of . lovely face with the ten
dere<t aud most bez utiful eyes looking
into his. ~ had he dropped to drea,ns
again. forgetting the dear toys In the
siearer love for his mamma.
He awakened a second time TO be
hold a very different vision AT first
he almost believed IL was one OF those
horrib;e nightmares Of which he had
had not more than one or two during
his short life. Hut even while almost
b~Iieving II was one he knew quite
well that 10 wasn't He knew IL was
Q mana real. live. dreadful man
ssxnding there within q foot ef the
bed and flashing a queer little beam
Of light srvund the room The light
behsud the lantern was 80 din that
Robbie could scsrceiy make out the
face of q msn af all. bet thst only
adsBed 90 his conviction that the face
Was truly horrible. an-i - knew very
wen What th- man wss asd what ~
was there for.
Robbie hn-Dnt lived aII his Htfbe ufe
In . city bsUse witAsse kDswi.g w2ne
bWxanr wss. True. - - oev9 so<o
k-R~ - g1srwp 0wur4 - -