Evening journal., 1912-04-23
THE BOYS
1t Is Not Safe to Ignore
Them
By EDITH TUCKER

try. there lived a man named Fisk.
\ His home was near the schoolhouse.
and since he was always kind and
good natured with the boys he be
{ came favorite with them
Now, boy, though his brain is not
4 matured. knows a great deal about
certain things upon which men know
4 nothing, The boy Is very observent
h within his little field. He can tell yon
{ the exact number of chickens Farmer
4 Cole has and the number of cows in
Farmer Morgan's pasture. These
schoolboys knew that the horse was a
3 great favorite with Mr.. Fisk. He
n was constantly coming home with q
n new animal, and the stock on hand
was always disappearing. His alb
q sences from home were frequent. but
not long; and on every return be
Il brought n horse with him. Older per
81 sons were more interested In his
means of livelihood But as to that
N matter he was unapproachable and al
together uncommunicatlve.
One morning there was great ex-
q element among the boys. News had
n come that a band of horse thieves
N which had Travelled those parts for
n years had been captured and that
81 their friend Mr.. Fisk was leader OF
the gang The mystery of Mr.. Fisk
was solved He had turned out to be
a horse thief.
III Every one was interested and excit
N ed and absorbed In the denouement
80 H.. e.fr he 1f4Ir had
been their friend. were not quite GER
tain that they were pleased at It
They preferred to wait to see what
was to be done with him. Some OF
them argued that horse stealing was
very sinful and Fisk should be pun
ished Others coDtended that he
should be punished. but they hoped he
would get off Altogether. there was
no settled opinion about the matter
There was no Jail In the village. and
81 the thieves were lodged in a room in
the tavern. the doors being locked and
VI bolted The same day at noon the court
convened in the parlor Of the tavern to
# try the offenders. The judge, the law
yers and other officials assembled, and
s# the sheriff went for the prisoners, leav-
3H ing the crowd. in which the boys were
# conspicuous, to await their coming
# But the sheriff did not return. and q
shout arose without that the prisoners
.# had escaped.
And why should they not have es
3 capped? Not through the bolted door
e There was no necessity for escapina
& that way when they had a better All
they had to do was to step out Of a
window on to the roof of a shed and
thence down TO the ground. Having
been in a hurry, they had dropped Ger
s. tain articles, which indicated theil
WI route. They had fed to a wood behind
the tavern and were doubtless now hia
ing there. The wood was oak and
hickory, with an underground in which
the boys had chased squirrels and had
started partridges. Among the crowd
that went on the hunt for the horse
thieves were no such eager persons as
the boys. Had they been suffered 10
lead there is no doubt that the fugitives
would have soon been captured, bui
She sheriff. whose stupidity had led d.
their escape, oficious, pompous. appre
ciative of his authority ordered the
boys back while he organized and sent
forth bodies Of men.
Boys are especially unsafe creatures
to ignore No one likes to be relegated
TO the rear when he aspires to 90 70 the
front. and. after, all, boys are but min
81 iature men. The little fellows got to
gether, and It was at once evident tha.
the treatment they had received had
turned their sympathies from pursuers
to pursued. Among them was a young
= ster tall, 1.-the, with wiry muscles. He
was famous in the school athletics and
was champion runner. He conceived
the idea Of hiding in the bush and as
soon as started up by those beating Il
TO personate their old friend Fisk and
attempt to outrun those who wouid
chase him.
From the articles dropped some o.
the thieves were known to be hal
dressed. So the boy threw of his cou
and pulled his shirt out over his trous
ers. Then. circling around. he foun,
q convenient place in which TO bid
Suddenly a shout arose and the chas,
commenced.
There he goesw
stop thiefw
go for himr
you. there; head him off,!
These and a babel Of other word
were shouted while the runner like
deer. lodged between trees. darte,
N around thickets. following a route owe
which he had often chased or bee.
chased by his companions The whit
tail Of his shirt preceded the pursuer
Ike guiding white cloud. Now the
saw it. Now it was hidden. But the
came no nearer to it. The boy lel
them beyond the wood. and ther
acroas an opening. his white shirt wa
Il seen vanishing into another forest
What mattered II TO the young atll
iete that the next day when his tIic
was discovered he must take n thrash
ing. A th-ashing was nothing con
pared with the delightful excitemen
et that chase. to say nothing Of the re
venge for the Insult the pompous shei
iff had inficted upon him and his CON
panions
But the boys old friend Fisk nevc
5. returned to thank them for their hay
Il ing saved him from the punishment y
deserved.