Evening star., 1918-06-23

pipe and toast himself over sheet
iron stove about as big as a picnic
coffee-pot.
And that sentry-box effect was the
pride of Danny's heart. Most of his
spare time and all the money he could
in imp-ovin and decoratin' it. He'd
cut a couple of round windows, like
portfolios, and fitted 'em with swing
in sashes. Then he'd tackled on some
fiower-boxes underneath and filled
'em with geraniums.
When he wasn't waterin' his flowers
or coaxin' along his little grass-plot
or addin' another shelf inside, he was
paintin' the outside. Danny's idea of
a swell color scheme seemed to be to
get on as many different shades as
possible. The roof was red. the sides
a bright blue. But where he spread
himself was on the trim. All you had
to do to get on the right side of
Danny was to lug him out a half
pound can of paint different from any
he'd applied SO far. He'd use it some
how.
So the window sashes was picked
out in yellow, the side battens loom
ed up prominent as black lines. and
the door panels was a pale pink.
Nearly all the commuters had been
touched by Danny for something or
other that could be added to the
shack. Only week or SO before, "a
gotin strong with him by contributin
a new paddock for the door-a vivid
red one, like they have on the village
Jail in vaudeville plays.
And it struck me now that II had
the key to that little box of Danny's
it would make a perfectly good nst,
enin'-post for any midnight sleuthin'
I had to do. Most likely he was up
dosin' himself or bathin' his joints.
Well, he was. He didn't seem any
too enthusiastic about lettin' me have
the key, though.
'I dunno" says he. "'Tis railroad
property, understand, and I'd afther
riskin' me job if anythln' should
II know. Danny" says /. But you
tell 'em it was commandeered by the
u. s. Army, which is me; and II that
don't square you I'll have Mr.. Baker
come on and tell the section boss
where he gets Off"
less than five minutes more I'm down
there at the crossin', all snug and
cozy, peekin' out of them round win
dows into no mans land.
For a while it was kind Of excitin';
but after that it got sort OF monoto-
nous. There was about half Of an old
moon in the sky, and only Few
clouds, SO you could see fairly we'll
il thered been anything to see. But
nothing seemed to be stirrin', up or
down the road.
What a nut that Norton Plummer
was, anyway, feedin' me up with his
wild tales in the middle of the night!
And why didn't he show up? Finally
1 got restless and walked out where 1
could rubber up the trolley track. No
sign or sound of a car. Then 1 looks
at my watch again, and figures out 1t
amt due for twenty minutes or so.
Next / strolls across the railroad to
look for Plummer. And, just as I'm
passin' a big maple tree, out steps
this huge party with the whiskers.
nearly jumped out of my puttees.
"Eh?" says / gaspy.
Gotta match says he.
II guess So" says I.
reached as far as I could when I
hands him the box, too. He's whale
of a man. tall and bulky. And his
whiskers are the bristly kind-straw-
colored, 1 should say. He's wearin a
double blue coat and a sort
of yachtin' cap. Uh-huh! Plummer
must have been right. II this gink
wasn't Hun naval officer, then what
was he? The ayes had 1t.
He produces a pipe and starts to
light up. One match broke, the sec
ond had no strikin' head on it. the
third just fiZzed.
"G-r-r-r!" says he.
Then he starts for the crossin', me
trailin' along. / saw he had his eye on
Danny's sentry box, meanin' to get in