The Tupelo journal. (Tupelo, Miss.) 1876-1924, 1912-03-08
Teddy's
Tramp
GRACE CLINTOCK

how she had ever come to insist that
camp stove was useless luxury.
It was her first season in camp, and
her brothers had readily enough
given in to her demand for an abso-
lutely correct atmosphere. They had
camped in tents on the little lake
instead of IN the comfortable wood
en- shack ON Lower lake, and they
had cooked in primitive fashion over
an open fire.
The boys had done the cooking
since they had gone into camp three
weeks before, but it had all seemed
so easy that when they wanted to 60
down the lake to the village she had
insisted that it would be no trouble
at all to get her meals.
They had padded away just as the
sun began to tinge the clouds in the
east and would not be back before
night. Twice Teddy had spilled the
bacon into the fire, and as a crown
ing accident she had set the coffee
pot wrong, and that, too, was sliding
into the flames, putting out what lit
tie fire there was LETT. She had not
tried to rebuild the fire, but con-
tented herself with soda crackers and
spring water while she glanced out
over the lake and wondered why the
time passed SO slowly.
After her disastrous experience
she certainly would not try to get a
hot dinner, and already the soda
cracker diet was beginning tc pail.
Life had seemed so easy when the
bows had done the cooking.
A crashing in the underbrush
reused her and she sprang to her
feet, nervously handling the revolver
the boys had left with her for protec-
ten. She raised the glistening
weapon as a man burst through the
tangle of brush and with a voice that
she tried to make stern commanded
him to hold up his hands.
They went above his head in an
instant and stayed there while he
parleyed. Teddy knew that the next
thing was to bind her victim, but
how to do that and retain the TO
volper was something that was not
told in books.
He smiled at her hook of helpless
ness and came few steps forward
@I am not tramp or robber,"
he said, with flash of white teeth
beneath his mustache ''1 saw a fire
while back and tboaght that per-
haps l might beg some breakfast. l
wandered further f-om our camp
than | intended. | ana 0n the other
side of the ridge on Blue lake"
"There isn't any breakfast" she
said, forlorply. '1 spilled the bacon
into the fire, and then the coffee pot
fell in / was eating these" She
waved her revolver toward the box
of crackers, and the tramp smiled.
eff you viii take my panole,' he
suggested, '1'n earn my breakfast.
i believe that is the proper thing for
tramp to do"
Teddy lowered her gun. He prob
ably was a tramp, but he had nice
eyes and a pleasant smile, and she
felt that she could trust him.
She marveled at the dexterity with
which he built up the fire. 1t had
taken her an hour. There were fish
in the basket he carried, and as SOON
as he had the coffee started and the
biscuit baking, he put these in the
pan.
"If you will set the table," he
called, "I'll have things ready in
jiffy."
For a moment Teddy paused. She
did net quite like the idea of eating
at the same table with a tramp, and
she felt that he must be tramp.
None of the campers she knew wore
such outrageous garments. But the
smell of coffee and the frying fish
decided her, SO she set two plates.
Skillfully he dished up the fish
and took the coffee from the fire. He
was even more expert than the boys.
Probably that was because he had
to camp out the year around.
The breakfast put her in an excel
lent humcr and when the tramp sug-
gested that if she would lend him
gun he would try and get something
for dinner, she loaned him shot