Gloucester County Democrat., 1909-07-01

~ to blow wakeful-
TEARING THROUGH ness over the en-
THE WOODS tire neighbor
hood Caryton hurried the explosives
through the front hall and hid them
behind the library window draperies
| 1t was then II o'clock, and he tiptoed
up to his room for such sleep as be
could get before the early mornin.
noises should commence.
/ Ten minutes later he was doing off,
when the first experimental blastings
of the horn commenced. BY the time
| he had found way to pack the bed
clothes about his ears there arose va
rious accompanying and disquietins
Kisses. snappings and roars.
Then directly under his window
came an explosion that shook the
house and brought him to sitting
| Posture. They had found his contribu-
ton! And it was only midnight
CarytoD sank back and listened with
erosity. submission to a just retribu-
tion and finally pleasurable sensa-
| tion of retrogfading to his own boy
hood BY I O'Clock he was the ring
| leader of all their more daring demon
strations
But when he went in. long after
! daylight. blackened and burned and
bruised, and tried to make himself
| presentable for breakfast he felt that
! he had hid enough of the Fourth
After breakfast Caryton made a di-
vision of the remaining fireworks and
then slipped from the house with his
trout rod while the nephews were
| gloating over their treasures
He knew of a trout stream that wan
dered aimlessly back among the trees.
with apparently no object or destina
tion save to clothe it's banks with
moss. He would follow its eccentric
windings until perhaps he could get
cool enough to induce some of the
moss to grow upon him.
But as he passed the last house III
| the village ard uoted figure in light
dress upon the piazza half hidden by
climbing rose he was tempted to turn
| in and spend the day there He had
met Miss Leslie only few times. but
she was friendly little body and the
most charming OF all the girls be
| knew.
His feet even turned at the gate, but
as they did so he heard a wild yell
from the back yard. and he suddenly
swerved away. merely lifting his hat
to the figure Miss Leslie had seven
brothers.
| A half hour in the woods. and he
was beyond the songs of robins and
orioles and sparrows and only heard
the occasional voices of hermit thrush
and tanager and woodpecker.
Presently he put his rod together
and cast fly into the stream. After
half hour of desultory fishing he
found an enticing rock and seated him.
self upon 1t. leaning his back against
tree trunk.
How long he ,slept-or if he slept at
all-he did not know, but the first
| thing he was acutely conscious of was
an effort to disentangle his hook from
something behind and of vicious
humming in the air.
| Turning hastily, he saw that in
throwing his fly back for a new cast
he had caught the hook in an immense
/ hornets nest and that in his effort to
disentangle it he was bringing the hor
nets toward him in an angry cloud.
Even as he looked one dropped upon
his ear and another upon his forehead
and third upon the back of his neck
The unexpected pain brought him to
| his feet with a yell.
In the presence of others the cry
/ would have been suppressed. but back
here in the woods. with no one i'll
hearing. it was simply a straight yell
Of surprised evaporation and pain. A
moment later he was tearing through
the woods with the speed Of his col
| lege racing days and with what he be
lieved to be 10000 hornets singing
death song about his head.
He had not gone more than dozen
| yards when be broke into an open
glade and almost into Miss Leslie's
=rms. The sight Of her brought him to
himself. and he whirled swiftly with
the Intention Of dashing in another di-
rection, for he realized the conse-
| Quences to the girl. But her quiet, au-
thoritative voice stayed him.
Throw yourself down upon youf
face. Mr.. Caryton." she admonished