News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1913-01-22

the country. The hotel seemed the
best place to look for what he want.
ed, SO he turned in that direction.
The hotel was several miles from
the village. It's gables and chimneys
could be seen rising in majestic aloof-
ness from the woods on distant hill
side. The Watermelon paused where
the road dipped down again into the
valley and ran his eye over the inter
vening landscape. By the road, it
would be at least five miles; through
the woods, the distance dwindled to
about three. The Watermelon took
to the woods. A brook laughed be-
tween it's messy banks, tumbling into
foamy little waterfalls over every
boulder that got in it's path. The Wa
termelon determined to follow the
brook, sure that in the end it would
lead him to the hotel City people
had a failing for brooks and no hotel
management would miss the chance
Of having one gurgling by, close at
hand. The brook grew wider and
wider, and through a break in the
trees the Watermelon saw a lake, dis.
appearing in the leafy distance. He
heard a splash and saw the shiny
white body of man rise for one joy
full moment from the green depths
ahead and then dive from sight with
another cool splash.
The Watermelon decided from habit
to get better view of the lonely
swimmer before he let his own pres.
ence become known. He slipped into
the bushes and slowly wriggled his
way to the little glade. The lake was
bigger than at first appeared. 1t
turned and twisted through the woods
and was finally lost from view around
a small promontory. The trees grew
nearly to the waters edge, dense
protecting wall to one who wished
to sport in natures solitude, garbed
in natures simple clothing. The lake
was too far from the hotel to have
been annexed as one of the attrac.
tons of that hostelry. All this the
Watermelon noticed at a glance. He
also noticed that the man swimming
in the cool, brown depths, with long,
easy strokes, was alone and a strang.
err. The Watermelon looked for the
clothes and found them on log, prac.
tically at his feet.
In everything but color they full
filled his dream of what raiment should
be like. Instead of the pale gray he
rather favored, the suit was brown,
a light brown, with tiny green stripe,
barely visible, intertwined with a
faint suggestion of red, forming har-
monious whole that was vastly pleas
ing to the Watermelon's esthetic
sense. In the matter of socks, he
realized that the stranger had not
taken the best advantage of his oppor
tunity. Instead of being red or green
to lend character to the delicate sug-
gestion of those colors found in the
suit, they were a soft dun brown.
There was a tie of the same shade
and silk negligee shirt of white with
pale green stripes. The owner was
clearly a young man of rare taste,
unhampered by a vexatious Limitation
of his pocketbook.
He could be seen swimming slowly
and luxuriously in the little lake, per-
fectly contented, unconscious that
some one besides the woodpeckers and
the squirrels were watching him.
When he disappeared, the Watermelon
quickly, carefully gather d up the
clothes and likewise disappeared.
The swimmer was a big man and
the clothes as good fit as one could
look for under the circumstances.
They set off the Watermelon's long,
lean figure to perfection, and the hat,
a soft and expensive panama, lent
added distinction. The Watermelon ,
removed the three dollars and ten
cents and the keys from his own
pockets, and making a bundle of his
cast-off clothes, stuffed them out of
sight in hollow log, where later he
could return and find them. 1t was
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