The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1907-03-16
CHAPTER XIX.

N down Main street he wished
profoundly that the butterfly,
4 u which exhibited no annoyance,
had been of greater bulk and more ap-
proachable, and it was the evil fortune
of Joe's mongrel to encounter him in
the sinister humor of such a wishfu n-
fulfilled.
Responsibility dwelt at Beaver Beach
under the care of Mr.. Sheehan until
his master should return, and Sheehan
was kind, but the small dog found the
world lonely and time long without
Joe. He had grown more and more
restless. and at last, this hot morning.
having managed to evade the eye of
all concerned in his keeping, made off
unobtrusively, partly by swimming.
and. reaching the road, cantered into
town, his ears erect with anxiety. Bent
upon reaching the familiar office, he
passed the grocery, from the doorway
Of which the pimply checked clerk had
thrown bad potato at him month
before. The same clerk had just laid
down the Tocsin as Responsibility
went by, and, inspired to great deeds
in behalf of justice and his native city,
he rushed to the door. lavishly seized
this time a perfectly good potato and
hurled it with q result which costa
sized him, for it took the mongrel fair
~ aside the head, which it matched In
size.
The luckless Responsibility purpose
to reach Joe's stairway had been en-
tirely definite. but upon this violence
he forgot it momentarily. 1t is not
easy to keep things in mind when one
is violently smitten on mouth, nose,
cheek. eye and ear by a missile large
enough to strike them simultaneously.
Yelping and half blinded, he DETECTED
to cross Main street. Judge Pike had
elected to cross in the opposite direc-
ton. and the two met in the middle
of the street
The encounter was miraculously fit
ted to the judges need. Here was no
butterfly, but solid body. light with
al. wet, muddy and dusty yellow dog
| eminently kickable. The man was
heavily built about the legs, and the
yigor of what be did may have been
| additionally inspired by his recogni-
ton Of the mongrel as Joe Louden's.
The impact of his toe upon the little
runners side was momentous. and the
latter rose into the air. The judge
hoped, as one hops who, unshod in
the night. discovers an unexpected
chair. Let US be reconciled to his pain
and not reproach the gods with it, for
two of his unintending adversary's ribs
were cracked.
The dog, thus again detected, retrac
ed his tracks, shrieking distractedly
| and, by one of those ironical twists
which Karma reserves for the tails OF
the fated. Owed for blind safety into
the store commanded by the ecstatiC
and inimieal clerk. There were shouts
the sleepy square beginning to wake
up; the bench loafers strolled Il
the street; the aged men stirred anC
rose from their chairs; faces appeared
in the open windows of offices; sale:
ladies and gentlemen came to the door
ways of the trading places. SO tina
when Responsibility emerged from The
grocery he had a notable audience foi
the scene he enacted with a brass din
ner bell tied to his tall
Another potato. flung by the pimpled
uproarious, prodigal clerk. added t.
the impetus of his fight. A shower o
pebbles from the hands OF exhilaratet
boys dented the soft asphalt abou
him. The hideous clamor of the pur
suing bell increased as he turned tn
next corner. running distractedly. tn