Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1911-06-10
Ripe Red

BY CARL JENKINS ~

| DuJ 1Ou arc SuCu ~ bOODy AoA
girl of twenty"
"Well, show me again"
"You draw the gun up to your
face-so. You shut your left eye
so. You keep the other open and
squint along the barrel. Then you
put your forefnger around the trig-
ger and pull. It's just as easy as an
old shoe"
: "But it will be loaded"
with powder and dried peas.
You don't want to kill the robins,
but Just to scare them off. They'll
strip the cherry trees if we don't do
something"
1t was Burt Traynor and his Sis
ter Madge. To the right of the house
and nearer the highway were four
big cherry trees, and their burdens
OF ripe, red fruit we're ready for
picking. 1t seemed that every robin
for ten miles around knew it, and
was there to claim his share in adj
vance. Fred was to be absent that
afternoon, while the mother was al
ready away. The cook had tried
waving her apron and calling out,
"Shoop' but the birds had not been
dismayed. The gun was loaded and
left at the back door, and Fred left
a last caution as he departed:
"You remember what l told you.
Fire to the top of tree. 1t will be
the report that will brighten them
away. Don't drop the gun and fall
over it when you fire."
Half an hour later the cook was
sent out to see if the robins had
gathered after their last scare. She
came back to report:
"They are back by the hundreds,
miss, and there's something besides.
On my soul, believe 1 saw tramp
pulling himself up into one of the
trees !"
81 don't believe a tramp would
stop for cherries" was the doubling
reply of the girl.
"Aye, but they would. They just
dotes on 'em. After they have filled
their stomachs they fills their pock-
cts, and there's half bushel of the
reddest, ripest cherries in the coun-
try gone. You'll have to fire that
gun, Miss Traynor, even if it blows
up and kills us BOTH"
| Miss Madge walked out with pale
face and trembling limbs, but she
was somewhat relieved when a close
scrutiny of the trees failed to dis
close a tramp. The cook must have
seen the family cat prowling about
The gun must be fired, however. A
lusty robin wants a score of cherries
for a meal.
"You first lift it up" said the
cook. "Now, then, take aim, as they
calls it."
"At what?"
"At the sky or anything else ex-
cept me. That's right. Let it wob-
bic all over The more it wobbles
the more the birds will be fright
ened. Now your finger on the trig-
ger"
"And now what?
"Shut your eyes, and pull"
The directions were obeyed, and
half hundred robins took to sud
den flight, calling out as they went.
Thirty seconds later, there came
human yell, and a man dropped
from one of the trees to the grass.
"Oh, heavens, but I've shot a
manV cried Miss Madge as she
tossed the gun away and began to
wiring her hands.
"Only a tramp, darlint-only a
tramp, and they don't count. They
are here to be shot whenever one
feels like it. He's a-kicking around
so lively that he can't be dead. Sit
down on the steps and I'll take the
ak and advance upon the enemy. If
he surrenders, all right; if he don't
then"
A minute later her voice was
heard calling and her hand was seen
Ibeckoning, and as the perturbed girl
slowly advanced a young man strug-