The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1918-07-05
CHAPTER XII.
ooh. My Poor Tootles."

1.-THE pup might hear you.
You didn't whistle very
loud the first time"
Lucille whistled again with consid-
erably more audible result. We all
listened.
| There was a faint whine and a short,
sharp. but distant bark. | presume
| that | was the most surprised person
in the party.
"There she is!'' Vida declared. IL
thought maybe she was up here"
"But that doesn't sound like Too
Ties" Lucille objected.
1T must be-" Bopp announced this
masterpiece of logic. ''There isn't any
other dog in the house, is there? Prob
ably her voice sounds different far Off !"
And probably she is penned in
somewhere and frightened. That
might make her sound different" Ali
Why did | have that idea, and why,
having it, did not conceal 1t in one of
the recesses of my brain instead of
voicing it to all?
"Oh, my poor Tootles." Lucille be-
gan picturing her pet suffocating.
Maybe she Is dying or dead already
"Whistle again." directed the cap
tain.
, Lucille made several Intellectual at
; tempts, but failed. Il can't" she de
p clared. 81 have to cry"
LET me call her." interposed
: "She knows me-"
AS boy l used to be able to max,
considerable racket by blowing on tw'
4 fingers held at the proper angle in IN,
f mouth. l tried 1t with gratifying re
suits. / must have been heard on the
, mainland
The reply was immediate-short
snappy banks, still long way off, bu
; very reassuring as to vigor and de-
light
"She's right under usl" Lucille cried
mo, over by the window, l should
, say" argued Vida.
, Poor darling, she has forgotten how
she got into the place, and she thinks
, some one is keeping her cooped up on
purpose. Please, Monty, keep on whis-
; Ting. She does recognize you, and
she'll know that help is coming We
must take up the floor"
In her excitement and time of need
she had turned to me and not to Bopp.
didn't know how Tootles, whom had
last seen dashing up the beach amid a
cloud of sand, could possibly have man
aged to get under the attic floor, but
Lucille had called me Monty, and rea-
son dismounted from her throne, and
carnival was king.
/ whistled blithely, piercingly, joy
fully, coaxingly, and whenever / paus-
ed the barking rewarded me.
"Tear up the floor Lucille ordered
1--WE can't let her stay there any long
| err"
Hadn't we better see If she won't
come out by herself?' the captain ask
ed tentatively st seems a shame tc
tear up that there planking."
mot for Tootles," Lucille replied
what do | care for an old attic floor
when my Tootles is in danger? She
shant stay there another minute if
can help it." She tried to pry up {
board with her finger nails.
wait" requested. Let me do thi
scientifically"
l wrenched a leg from an old arm
chair which had already suffered tn,
amputation of one of its extremitie
and with that as a lever pried up ont
of the flooring boards at the ends whicl
extended loose over the floor beams
AS the plank came up amid cloud o
dust Lucille gave me a look such a
must have rewarded Launcelot from
the grandstand after he ran curtain
pole through cast iron white hoop.
n We assembled around the hole hat
made. No Tootles in sight.
WHISTLE" Lucille commanded me.
r l obeyed.
Joyful barks, but nothing more.
N Take up some more boards" Lucil
a might have been saying. "Wait unit
you see the whites Of their eyes" o
k Don't give up the ship"
J. Hadn't we better wait? CAPITAL
Perkins was an earnest advocate @
lie the Fabian policy.
1t mo-
z took up another board and yet al
other, stopping to whistle each tim,