The Washington times., 1917-10-31
DRACULA,
THE VAMPIRE
BY BRAN STOKER.

"weIl, It was a odd thing, but when
the amimiles see us a-talkin' they lay
down, and when 1 went over to Ber-
sIcker he LET me stroke his ears same
as ever. That there man kem over.
and blessed but II he didn't put In his
shand and stroke the old wolfs ears
too!
"'Tyke care says 1. 'Bersicker is
quick :.
Never mind he says. I'm used
to 'emr
"'Are you in the business yourselfT
I says, tykIng on my at, for man
what trades In wolves, anceterer' Is a
good friend to keepers.
me- says he, mot exactly In the
business, but ave made pets Of sew
eral.' And with that he lifts his at
as perlite as q lord, and walks away.
Old Bersicker KEEP a-lookin. arter i'm
till e was out Of sight, ana then
went and lay down in q corner, and
wouldn't come hout the ole hevening
Wen. larst night, SO soon as the moon
was hup, the wolves here all began
a-'owling. There warn't nothing Tor
them to owl at There warn't no one
near except bOluC Ohc bAaN " - ~
IDENTIFY a-calIin' a dog somewheres out
back os the gardIngs in the Park
road. Once or twice went out to see
that all was right, and II was, and
then the 'owling stopped. Just before II
o'clock jast took a look around afore
turnin' in, an, bust me, but when j
kem opposite to old BersIcker's cage
I see the rails broken and twisted
about and the cage empty. And that
all know for certing."
"Did any one else see anything"
"One of our gardeners was a-comin'
'ome about that time from 'armony.
when. he see a big grey dog comm
out through the garding edges. At,
least, so he says; but l don't gave
much for It myself. for II he did e
never said a word about IL to his mis-
after the escape Of the wolf was made
known. and we had been up all night
a-huntin' OF the Park for Bersicker,
that he remembered seein' anything.
Ny own belief was that the 'armony
'ad got into his cad"
NOV, Mr. Bilder, can you account
in any way for the escape Of the wolf.
well, sir" he said. with sus-
piclous sort OF modesty, 81 think ]
can; but don't know as 'ow you'd
be satisfied with the theory"
Certainly I shall II a man like
you, who knows the animals from ex-
perience. can't hazard a good guess at
any rate. who is even to try
well then, sir, accounts for 1t
this way; II seems to be that ere
wolf escaped-simply because he
wanted to get out"
From the hearty way that both
Thomas and his wife laughed at the
joke I could see that It had done serv-
ice before. and that the whole explana-
tion was simply an elaborate sell ]
couldn't cope in badinage With the
worthy Thomas, but thought knew
n surer way to his heart. 50 said:--
Nov, Mr.. Bilder, we'il consider
that first half sovereign worked of.
and this brother OF his II waiting to
be Claimed when you've told me what
you think will happen"
"RiGht y'are, sir" he said briskly.
yen excoose me. know. for a-chaf-
fin OF ye. but the old woman here
winked at me which vas as much as
telling me "a go on"
"Well, never!" said the old lady.
my opinion Is this: that ere wolf
Is a-'idin' OF. somewheres. The
gardner wot didn't remember said he
was a-gallopin' northward faster than
a horse could 90: but ! don't believe
him, for. yer see. sir. wolves don't gal
1op no more nor dogs does, they
not bein' build that way. Wolves
Is fine things in n story book. and /
dessay when they gets in packs and
does be chivyin' somethin' that's more
afeared than they Is they can make
devil OF q noise and chop It up, what
ever Il Is. But, Lor' bless you, In real
life a wolf is only low creature, not
half 80 clever or bold as a good dog:
and not half 4 quarter so much fight
in i'm.
CTo BE Continued Tomorrow)
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