The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1907-06-13
CHAPTER XIX.

CHAPTER XIX.
rs the Judge continued bis walk
| N down Main street he wished
| n profoundly that the butterfly,
4 4 which exhibited no annoyance,
had been Of greater bulk and more ap-
proachable, and 1t was the evil fortune
Of Joe's mongrel to encounter him In
the sinister humor Of such wish un-
fulfilled.
Respectfully 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 OF
unobtrusively. partly by swimming.
and, reaching the road, cantered into
town, his ears erect with Anxiety. Bent
upon reaching the familiar Office. he
passed tie grocery, from the doorway
Of which The pimply checked clerk had
thrown a bad potato at him month
before. The same clerk had just laid
down the Tocsin as Respectabinty
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 1t with a result which costa
sized him, foRit took the mongrel fam
" aside the had, which 1t matched In
size.
The luckless Respectability's purpose
to reach Joe's stairway had been en-
tirely definite. but upon this violence
he forgot 1t homentarily. 1t Is not
easy to keep things in mind when one
is violently smitten on mouth, nose,
cheek, eye and ear by 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.
ted to the judges need. Here was no
butterfly, but a solid body. light with
al, a wet. muddy and dusty yellow dog
eminently kickable. The man was
heavily built about the legs, and the
yigor OF what Ee did may nave 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. dived for blind safety into
the store commanded by the ecstatic
and inimical clerk. There were shouts;
the sleepy square beginning to wake
! up; the bench loafers strolled to
the street; the aged men stirred and
rose from their chairs; faces appeared
In the open windows of Offices; sales
ladies and gentlemen came to the door
ways Of the trading places, so that
when Respectfully emerged from the
grocery he had a notable audience for
the scene he enacted with brass din
ner bell tied to his TAIL
Another potato, flung by the pimpled,
uproarious. prodigal clerk. added to
the impetus Of his flight. A shower of
pebbles from the hands Of exhilarated
boys dented the soft asphalt about
him. The hideous clamor Of the pur-
suing bell Increased as he turned the
next corner, running distractedly. The
dead town had come to life. and Its
inhabitants gladly risked the danger
GUS heat in the interest Of sport, where
by 1t was a merry chase the little dog
led around the block. For thus some
destructive instinct drove him. He
could not stop with the unappeasable
terror changing at his heels and the
increasing crowd yelling in pursuit, but
he turned to the left at each corner
and thus came back to pass Joe's stair
way again, unable to pause there OF
anywhere, unable to do anything ex
cept to continue bis hapless flight, poor
meteor.
Round the block he went once more
and still no chance at that empty stair
way, where perhaps. he thought, there
might be succor and safety. Blood was
upon his side where Martin Pixies boo'
had crashed. foam and blood hung
upon his jaws and lolling tongue. He
ran desperately, keeping to the mid
| A. on1 not hnUlin0 col