Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-12-12
Piling Up the Punishment.

Lost. indeed, They'd wish they'd
never been found when 1 got my hands
on them. Every time l stumbled into
a mud hole added few lashes to the
thrashing l intended giving them.
I felt silly when / stopped at the
several houses along the road and in
quired if the boys had been there. for
at each place l stopped they had forty
questions to ask. and when l had an
swered them as best / could they
seemed to think ! was a. silly as 1 felt.
1t isn't the fashion for boys in the
country to get lost, and every one was
confident I would find them safe at
home when I got there. / thought SO.
too; but, just on the chance that
wouldn't, didn't want to face Jane and
tell her I had made no effort to find
them.
The boys were not at home, however.
and when ] had the details of their abb
sence 1 lost a little of my cocksureness
as to their being all right Bud"
Brown had come over early i'll the
afternoon to see if Jim and Ned could
not go with him to try to catch a
grounding whose den he had located
Jane saw no objection to the adventure,
and gave her consent. But Bud" with
a guile of which we had never sus-
pected him. had hidden his % rifle in a
fence corner before coming to the
house. Once before Jane had refused
to let the boys go with him because he
had his gun.
Nor was that the worst of it. A neigh
Dor who stopped a little later men
toned that she had met the boys q
piece up the road. and that Charley
Larkin was with them. and that he had
a double barreled shotgun. The Larkin
boy is fifteen or sixteen years old. but
about as irresponsible youth as ever
knew. I got as much worked up as
Jane was when / learned he and MS
gun were in the party
Bud hadn't mentioned the location
of the groundhog's den, and there was
no clue to the direction the boys had
gone, except that the neighbor had met
until it was dark. growing more un-
easy every minute, and then had hitched
up the horse and driven over TO
Browns. From there she had called
up the Larkin house and every one else
in the neighborhood who had tele-
phone but no one remembered having
seen the boys since they left our house.
Mrs. Brown Not Alarmed.
Mrs Brown tried to laugh away her
fears. She said bad" often stayed
away until after dark, and she never
thought of being uneasy. That didn't
pacify Jane in the least. 1 gathered
that she almost quarreled with Mrs.
Brown, to whom she is greatly at
tached because the latter refused to
believe the four boys had blown each
others heads off
The horse was already hitched up,
and Jane insisted that l start off to
hunt for them i agreed that L ought
70 go, hut hadn't the slightest notion
in the world iii which direction to
start We were debating this point
when we heard whoops and hurra his
coming across the back field.
There was no mistaking the source
Of the connection No band of Indian
braves returning from successful chase
ever proclaimed their approach more
joyously.
Believe me. those boys were a sight.
They were wet and muddy to the tops
Of their heads. and so tired they could
hardly drag one foot after another.
But | don't think ! ever saw any one
quite proud and happy. for they
had two sroundhogs and rabbit to
prove that they were valiant hunters.