The Washington herald., 1915-09-26
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ing and breathing audibly a few yards
from the foot Of the tree. and. look
ing down. felt his hair rise and he
dimly caught sight Of moving form.
| The thought. Tigers can't climb
was dashed by the further chilling
consideration. But it could jump as
high as this and he shivereo,
though the night was warm. Diddy
had no hesitation in admitting to
himself that he was horribly scared
how much SO YVES evidenced by the
fact that he never thought Of blam-
ing his chums for their desertion Of
him. Indeed. he thought of nothing but
his own terrible position. He shut
his eyes tight, but soon opened them
again. fascinated by that awful crea-
ture below. No movement was now
apparent, but that something was
there-a few yards from the tree-was
| terribly evident. The moon, rising
and there. crouching in the long grass.
was the tiger. sure enough, The
| striped skin was plainly distinguish
able-the crouching pose that Of a gi-
gantic member of the cat tribe alone.
Still there was no movement on the
part Of the tiger. Gone to sleep"
| thought the captive Diddy. and for .
moment wild thoughts of trying to
silently escape swan across the poor
boys mind. But too we'll did he know
that any attempt to descend the tree
would probably rouse the sleeping
brute and call his attention to the
toothsome Diddy not far above his
head
He realized that his only chance Of
safety lay in the maintenance Of per-
feet immovability and silence. Higher
ana higher rose the moon. and moro
and more plainly visible grew the
black stripes on their tawny grouna
How slowly the time was going-he
could never spend the whole night
there! Oh. If only the menagerie peo-
pie would come that way in their
hunt, Gladly would he have welcomed
capture in the orchard as the price
Of deliverance: but he did not dare
to shout.
After what seemed an interminable
time welcome sounds were heard down
the road Brown and his two fright
ened comranions on reaching the
school had not dared to keep quiet.
but had at once taken the other in ,
mates Of their dormitory into their
confidence. Mussy Dunk was Wild
with concern on Diddys account. and
insisted on arousing the house-mas-
ter at once. that a rescue party might !
be organized forthwith
To make a long story short. tho (
master was aroused. the whole school |
alarmed and in a quarter Of an hour
a rescue party. variously armed. was |
on its way to the scene Of Diddy'sj
perilous detainment-a messengerj
having been sent of to the market
place over a mile away to tell the
menagerie people the whereabouts Of |
their iger, and to request them to |
send keepers for his recapture as
quickly as possible.
The road to the orchard was COW :,
cred at double-Guick. Farmer. BowlesI
was soon called out: in fact. he had !
not retired. sick horse needing at !
tention. "A tiger in my orchard?" he /
cried incredulously. Hold hard till 7
get my gun And calling Rover. Ro-
ver." followed by his big dog, whoi
knew every boy in the school. he led
the way to the orchard. Rover
straightway ran to the tree which |
contained the frightened Diddy-who
had not ventured to utter a sound, for
fear the tiger should make a meal OF
him before his rescuers could reach
him. But Rover only looked up into
the tree. and wagged his tail
fastening near to the dog. and not
too eagerly followed by the rest,
Farmer Bowles suddenly stopped. and.
burst into a roar of laughter. and. as
soon as he could speak. cried, "oh.
this is a good one. this is. Ho, no,
ho' Why. it's my buggy rug that the
youngsters have been playing with
today"
The striped rug was picked up from
the log over which it had been durg
by Farmer Bowles' children. and for
gotten, and served as a hammock am
bulance for Diddy, who was too
cramped and exhausted to walk What
moving animal had been seen by the
boys Is still unknown,
though a gap, discovered next day, in
the hedge between the orchard and q
pasture field in which sheep were
leeoinS, may De regarded as sugges-
tive Of solution of the question.
The farmer. backed by his kindly
wife. insisted on keeping Diddy f~r
the night The poor boy isn't At to
go back to school," he declared. Just
as the rest departed the messenger
who had been dispatched to the town
came hurryins up with the informa-
tion that the tiger had been recap
under a cart in =
back yard-within an hour Of his es-
cape. and not two hundred yards from
the menagerie
Some hours sleep and a good farm
house breakfast set Diddy on his feet
again, and the farmer dismissed him
with his pockets full Of apples. and
with a hint that the next time he
any. 1t might be better for
him to call At the house and ask for
them. Diddy said he would. and faith
fully fulfilled his promise afterwardsl
He sought the school with consider.
lble perturbation. and was accorded
In interview-not At all by his own
DR.. Womburn without
delay. What the doctor said to nim
need not be related here. After the
Interview he was not in . condition
either bodily or mentally. to desire to
climb trees Of any kind for q few
1ays-a disability which was shared
,y the other three raiders.