The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1918-01-03

these meditations the following day
| He spent about an hour in the rubber
| goods section of a large department
| store. 1t was to select raincoat and
cap of hue the exact color OF grass.
Even to the gloves, the green tinge
harmOniZed.
"That fits me out" he said compla-
Gently, early in the evening, as he
stood before the mirror in his room,
fully arrayed in 'camouflage" attire.
| He stole out from the house and
crossed back yards, vacant lots and
lonely lanes. He arrived at the rear
fence of the Elston home without
meeting a soul or having been OBJ
served.
Reuben recOnnoitered the house.
His heart thumped hard as he fixed
his eyes on a lighted window in the
second story of the house. He knew
this to be the room that Winnie occu-
pied and he could mentally picture her
loneliness and persecution. The win
dow was open, but the shade was
drawn, so he had no sight of the lovely
occupant of the apartment. He made
out Mr.. Elston seated at a table in
room in the lower part of the house.
1.-THE coast is clear to plant myself"
he decided. THE cruel father will
make his patrol later. There's a good
spot to select" and Reuben scaled the
fence and worked his way past patches
of shrubbery, until he had reached
spot about twenty feet away from the
house and directly in line with the
window of Winnies room.
"There's a convenient trellis," he
ruminated. when the coast is clear
l will signal Winnie and scale the
trcllis Oh the bliss of solacing her
tender, wounded heart with the appeal
of my love, my life, if need be, to re-
move her from this ogrelsh cynosure!"
There were several patches of
greenery, man high, some grass veil
veted mounds, rustic bench some
latticed vines. Reuben selected a spot
where his head was embrusured within
a nest of shrubbery and his feet OBJ
scured by some creeping vines. For
all the world he resembled in SINH
larity and bulk the mounds about him,
and made a very harmonious part and
parcel of the general environment.
In about an hour Mr.. Elston came
out of the house. He carried a Ian
tern in one hand and a heavy cane in
the other. First he lined the fence
all about the place, then he crossed
and criss-crossed the garden space.
Twice he passed within ten feet of the
spot where Reuben lay, but no sus-
picion of near human proximity
seemed to occur to him.
"Safe, so far" breathed Reuben in
a vast sigh of relief.
The crisis, however, was not past.
AS Reuben well knew from former
experiences, the old man was due to
make a second and later reconnoiter
of the premises. He ventured to
change his position and even sit up,
to relieve the strain of his queer
plight. About nine o'clock the newt
able lantern came into new evidence.
As before, Mr.. Elston made his care
full rounds. Then Reuben lay motion
less and held his breath, as he caught
q sharp ejaculation. There was a
crash of glass and the lantern went
out. Its owner had tripped on vine
and had smashed it. Grumbling
nightly, he came near to the lurker,
cropping his way, stumbled directly
across the "camoutlage" intruder and
went fiat on top of him.
1t was natural that Reuben should
squirm, and also that he should sense
certain discovery if he remained where
be was.
1--WE got you Who are your
shouted out Mr.. Elston, but Reuben
slipped through his clutching fingers
with the dexterity of an eel. He
darted from bush to bush, he circled
and tumbled, and, nearing the fence,
felt his footing give way and out of
sight he went, dropped several feet
and lay inert and senseless at the bot
tom Of an old, abandoned well only
partly filed in.
Reuben must have lain there for
more than two hours, for when he re-
covered consciousness the town clock
pealed forth upon the still night air
eleven strokes. 1t took him some mo-
ments to get his mind clear enough