The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1917-09-18

Talk 0f the TOll,1I'

wagon on, the walk ana down tho street
ran two afnaA girls dressed IN white.
They were pulling a wogAn- Both
wore white caps with the red crosses,
made BY some mother IN enact imi-
tatien Of the head 1ress. o. -thc Red
Cross nurse. ;4--s I'D ~.
Suddenly they stopped ~ IL they had
discovered something andr the taller
Girl pointed to an object under a tree.
Then both Of them hurried "a. the tree.
The women stQl,p<d ii watch. I'm.
conscious Of the ohl0oiter1. the two
little girls continued their play acting.
OH heres a poor soldier With an
awful hurt. Wen have to take him
first. Nurse. you, take hold OF his
| feet. Careful!''- '.r:.7-.s.g~~..
| And carefully they lifted from tho
ground very iarge rag doll and placed
It In the wagon. ',&
The two women watched the eifla
land the wagon and the poor soldier
with the awful hurt" turn into a back.
yard, where. the hospital must haye
been located. .
| Let's go down to the Red Cross
rooms this afternoon ana work. We
can telephone Mrs.. - that We can't
come to her party. She won't nina.
All right" the other responded.
somehow don't feel as II \ wanted
to 10 to n party" -. !. -.
The children played at relief work,
and little did they know that that aft.
Icrnoon they had done 'thetr bit,
From behind box. a rough. firred.
lean. cat reered stealthily.; At first he
stood. waving his tail back and forth.
l Qivinop nvao ira Avxnvrn caeA~ xNnA
undecided whether to be aggressive or
wary. But a. the objects Of his game
and the only unknowns In his back.
yard domain merely monotonously
passed something. raised It in the air,
and again passed 1t. the cats attention
relaxed and he sat down. .sz,.s
The bottle was three fourths empty.
The half watchful cat did not notice
this. neither did any one OF the five
human beings braced against the shed,
They only knew that the whisisey still
burned their throats as the bottle was
Tipped. But five IL a good many when
one Ia waiting for the return OF
much desired hottie. Occasionally one
OF the five thought that his turn did
not come soon enough and he. fell
drunkenly across his comrades in an
effort to reach It sooner. Tho bottle
reached the fourth mouth and there it
remained tilted a. little longer. It was
empty. ..t
The cat jumped for his pile OF boxes.
where there was safety. The fifth man
was on his feet-rather uncertainty to
be sure-and had thrown or rather
dropped off his coat. Apparently he
was trying to convey the impression
that he wanted to fight, but instead Of
the clenched fist. the nervous energy
transmitted to his hands was only sui.
ftcient to cause them to wave uncer.
tainly toward the four relaxed figures
sitting against the she'd Their earnest
and perplexed faces looked up at him
and tried to comprehend.
~ From. his. pileloh bo2esI thsscab again
watched.
III An unlocked for protector saved tho
four against the shed from the wav-
ing hands and the necessity for &C.
tivity. The fifth man stepped on the
edge Of a barrel hoop and fell forward
onto his face. The other four dropped
further down and tried to take add
o. vantage of the quiet to sleep. The
Efailen man apparently considered him.
Ia self defeated. for with his ieft hand
at held to his bleeding face. he remained
or . a rock struck the box from behind
ne which the cat watched. Like a wild
animal no disappeared into his burrov
s. beneath the boxes. At the same time
ng there was the sound Of a person land
on ing after a jump There had been -four
y. watchers instead OF two. Two boys
,,s each about 10 years old, recovered
"a themselves. after the jump from tn,
board fence, came toward the cringtn;
man. and helped him to place bestd,
I'm his four former enemies. His heal
p dropped upon the shoulder OF the on
Dol who had drained the bottle. The boy
OF stood watching for a minute. The,
ELL one picked up a hat and placed It upo,
At the head of the combattve= one. Tn
other fired rock into the pile Q
asst boxes. =
the There was the sound OF their feet a
Ter they dropped onto the pavement on tn
Of other side Of the fence. The cat cam
from under the boxes and stood alert
Z, ly waving his tail and watching tn
IRA. five But the boxes, making up hi
ks. home. could not have been more quie
uas The city clock struck six. One. tn
one known as the fourth and who sti
90 held the empty bottle, raised his hea
No AS his eyes opened slowly and some
what reluctantly, they fell on the OF
ject m HIS hand. Mechanically
w." raised It. Again he felt the disappoin
~. ment of an empty bottle, and 1t 81
'"e from his hand. With many uselei
movements he got to his feet and aft,
10 minutes Of strenuous and diligel
work, he had aroused the other fou
BY constantly dangling a watch befo
'illcl their eyes and pointing to the saloo
and he coaxed them onto their feet. Wit
al" out speech. but with sconsiderah
So? noise, they reached the fence. He
now was a problem. But the ever resourc
lard full fourth one dropped on his knet
his pulled away a few weeds and on han
re- and knees crawled under the fent
the through the hole dogs tad made a,
non were wont to travel.
heI Bravely the lean cat shifted at Z
zoo empty bottle. "A. n.