Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1908-02-13
CHAPTER XIX.

I
| p s the judge continued his walk
| IN down Main street he wished
| Y profoundly that the butterfly,
| A \ which exhibited no annoyance,
had been of greater bulk and more APP
proachable. and it was the evil fortune
Of Joes mongrel to encounter him in
| the sinister humor of such a wish un-
/ 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
ali concerned in his keeping, made of
unobtrusiyely. 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 1t with result which costa
sized him, for it took the mongrel fair
ly aside the head, which it matched in
/ size.
The luckless Responsibilities 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 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 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
| vigor of what he 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. 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 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 merry chase the little dog
| led around the block. For thus some
destructive instinct drove him. He
could not stop with the unappeasabie
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 or
anywhere, unable to do anything ex-
cept to continue his hapless flight. poor
meteor
Round the block he went once more.
and still no chance Mt that empty stair
way, where perhaps. he thought, there
might be succor and safety. Blood was
/ upon his side where Martin Pixies boot
had crashed, foam and blood hung
upon his jaws and lolling tongue. He
ran desperately. keeping to the mid
die OF the street. and. not bowling. set
himself despairingiy to outstrip the
terror, The mob. disdaining the sun
superbly, pursued as closely as It could,
| throwing bricks and rocks at him,
striking at him with clubs and sticks.
Happy Fear. playing 1tic-tac-toe. right
hand against left. in his cell, heard the
uproar, made out something Of what
! was happening and. though unaware