The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1918-05-23
CHAPTER XII.
a A. ~ -Au. %

n A AYBE II you tried again"
J M said the captain to Lucille.
IVA the pup might hear you.
You didn't whistle very
loud the first time"
Lucille whistled again with a consld-
erably more audible result We all
listened.
There was a faint whine and short,
sharp, but distant bark. ! presume
that was the most surprised person
In the party.
There she ISL 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 of. I"
And probably she is penned in
somewhere and frightened. That
might make her sound different" All!
Why did l have that idea. and why
having it, did not conceal 1t In one Of
the recesses of my brain instead Of
YOicing 1t 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. 81 can't" she de-
clared. 81 have to cry"
Let me call her." 1 interposed.
"She knows me-"
! AS a boy used to be able to make
considerable racket by blowing on two
fingers held at the proper angle in my
mouth. l tried it with gratifying re-
suits. l must have been heard on the
mainland.
The reply was immediate-short.
Snappy barks, still a long way off, but
very reassuring as to vigor and de-
light.
"She's right under us!'' Lucille cried
"NO, over by the window, 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-
tling. 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.
I 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
er."
Hadn't we better see II she won't
come out by herself?" the captain ask
ed tentatively. "It seems shame to
tear up that there planking"
Not for Tootles," Lucille replied.
What do care for an old attic floor
when my TOOtles is in danger? She
Shan't stay there another minute II
can help it." She tried to pry up a
board with her finger nails.
Wait" 1 requested. Let me do this
scientifically"
l wrenched leg from an old arm
chair which had already suffered the
amputatiOn of one of its extremities
and with that as lever pried up one
Of the flooring boards at the ends which
extended loose over the floor beams.
AS the plank came up amid a cloud of
dust Lucille gave me a look such as
must have rewarded Launcelot from
the grandstand after he ran a curtain
pole through a cast iron white hoop.
We assembled around the hole had
made. No ToOtles In sight
whistle" Lucille commanded me.
I Obeyed.
Joyful barks, but nothing more.
Take up some more boards" Lucille
might have been saying. wait until
you see the whites Of their eyes" OF
Don't give up the ship"
Hadn't we better waitr Captain
Perkins was an earnest advocate Of
the Fabian policy.
mo"
took up another board and yet an
other. stopping to whistle each time
without apparently getting any nearer
"She's there somewhere" declared
Tootles' foster mother, puzzled, but
still determined. Keep on until yoU
find her"
l had taken up all but half a dozeI
of the boards when my foot slippet
from the cross floor beam on which
was working and struck the latl
which was nailed on the other side.
The lath offered but slight resistance
The plaster was even more fragile, ant
went through rather hastily, clutch
ing wildly at nothing in particular
My last recollection was Of Lucille
horror stricken face as she saw m
sinking from sight, like the villain Il
Lorna Doone."
My next conscious remembrance wa
of sitting fat in the middle Of q bed
the springs Of which were gentl
Z bouncing me up and down after tn
fashion Of a net into which a trapez
q performer had dropped from the to
Of the tent Above was q hole in tn
ceiling, around me were chunks o
' plaster and splinters Of lath, and slI
r ting in a chair by the window was jim
: his mouth open. emitting q series O
4 short, sharp yelps.
Lucille. Vida, BOpp, Kent and th
a captain made q ring Of faces aroun
A the hole in the ceiling.
~StOp barking, you darn fool I" shout