Evening star., 1918-08-11

thought we'd 70 on the shanty boat
Tor fun. We climbed up pn the little
front deck. and Bony was nrst and
Swatty was next. and then came.
30 Bony pushed the door open and
Looked 70 scs n; S1n ana he stood there locking
once he made q sound-well. I don't
know what kind Of sound IL was. 1t
was q frightened sound. guess 1t
WAS ike the sound . rabbit makes
when you step on 1t by mistake. And
front deck onto the railroad bank.
But Bony. Jumped sideways on the
deck and landed ON the cracked crust
that was over the mud tho shanty
boat was stuck In. He went right
through the crust and over his knees
90 scared we started to run down the
railroad track as fast as we could.
Pretty soon We stopped, because
the sand between the ties was full Of
sandburs. and then we didn't know
what We were running for. SO we
ming on top OF the mud crust, and he
was crying as hard as he could cry.
but not loud. He was trying to get
away from the shanty boat az fast as
he could. and every time he got foot
broke through the crust again, SO he
sort Of laid on the crust and bellied
along. He looked like an alligator
swimming in the mud, and he was
crying like an alligator, too. Only
guess 1t is crocodiles that cry. Bony
home and leave us. So we picked the
sandburs out of our feet and tried to
hurry. but Bony got to the skin and
got in and pushed of.
We ran and hollered. but he didn't
stop. He was SO frightened that the
4,nv HANvu hA
pins almost every time he pulled on
them, and he was crying hard, but he
rowed the boat pretty fast because he
was working his arms SO hard.
6watty and me hollered at him and
told him what we would do to him II
any good-he was too scared. All he
wanted to do was to get away.
Well, We tried to throw stones at
him to make him come back, but we
could not throw that far. and-we just
stood and watched him row down
river as hard as he could.
"Say. what do you think he saw N
there?' Swatty. said after while.
II don't know what he saw" ] sGA4h
what do you think he sawT'
II don't know what he saw. but IN
goin' to see what he saw" Swa$fH
Swatty was always like ths&, n
anybody saw anything he wanted ID
see 1t too.
So we climbed up on the deck of the
shanty boat again. We climbed up
carefully and went to the door and
peeked in
AS soon as I had the first peek I
turned and jumped off the deck and
started to run, but Swatty just stood
and looked. I hollered at him.
guess i was crying, too.
"Swatty! Swatty, come on Oh.
Swatty, come on-Swatty" ! hollered.
He turned his head and looked at
me and then he looked back into the
shanty boat. All he said to me was
"Shut up"
guess you know what we saw
when we looked into the shanty boat;
there was almost a whole page about
1t in the paper later ON. He-the man
was lying there on the floor Of the
shanty boat, in the broken bottles
and straw and the dry mud that had
sifted in when the river was high. He
was lying on his face. with his feet
to the door. and he was sort Of crum-
pied up with one hand stretched out.
He was dead. One side of his face
was up. and there was blood from
the place in his forehead where he
had been shot. It was on the floor.
thought Swatty was going to stand
there forever looking into the shanty
boat. but pretty soon he went inside.
anu IndI SHOWS ne brave, as ne al
ways brags he Is. wouldn't have
gone in for million billion quadril-
lion dollars. In a minute he comes
out and he dropped off the end Of the
deck and sort of crouched low. He
kept crouched low as he came up the
railroad bank. and he crouched low
when he lodged down the other side:
so crouched low. too, and went down
the other side Of the railroad bank.
And when Swatty come up to me I
saw ne was scared too; but he
wasn't scared the way l was I was
Just scared because I'd seen a dead
man. but Swatty was frightened,
WELL" he said, I'VE killed HIM"
That was the first I'd thought that
we'd killed the dead man; but the
minute Swatty said 1t knew we had
killed him by shooting through the
window Of the shanty boat
couldn't shake any more than I had
like I had been; but / got sicker af
my stomach. When was throu0h
being. sick Swatty he got mad.
stop shaking like thatv' he said.
We've gone and done II, and we've
got to think what we're going to do
about It, Stop shaking and help me
think" ''e
c-c-cant stop sh-sh -sh- shaking"
1 said. II w-w-w-ould IL I c-c-c-cec-
could, w-w-w-ouldnt Iw
well, you've got to stop shaking"
Swatty said. IF you 20 Shaking all
around town like that everybody will
Know we did 1t. If you don't stop
shaking Ill lick you"
/ began to cry, didn't crv haoou,o