Vernon Parish Democrat. (Leesville, La.) 1917-193?, 1920-12-02


the boy. and he made rush 20
Brother and hit him hard Il the fac,
Then before Brother could hit bacl
the bigger boy elenched with him, an
threw him down and they rolled ol
the deck. together.
Il was all so very sudden tina
Brother hardly knew what had hap
pe1ed. But as they were roIIin,
around the deck in that promiscuoui
way he thought Of Sister, and how thi,
fellow would certainly tease her and
make her cry, and perhaps make heI
get off the ship. This made him very
hot inside, and he give big effort and
came up on top and hit the fellow .
tremendous crack on the nose. on
course he knew he should not hit q
boy when he's d0w.l, but it was all
done so quickly that he didn't quite
realize that the boy was really down.
The blow on the nose quite brought
the bully to his senses. Brother had
no trouble now in holding him down.
So there he sat and the under fellow
lay, both breathing very hard, till the
under fellow said, II beg" So Brother
let him up.
"Ye can stay here If you want to-"
said the bully.
THANK you," said Brother, who was
trying to button his rumpled White
sailor collar. 81 guess I'll stay and /
guess you won't"
CAN right" said the other. 81 won't. !"
So he started for the edge.
AS he was about to get over the
edge he stopped in shame-faced way
and said, SCOT all the tackle We want?"
Now it had not occurred to Brother
that he wanted any fishing tackle, but
here was a chance. If there were
really good fishing here, that would
mean good breakfast.
mo, want some tackle" said
Brother.
"Ye can have some of miue," said
the boy, and he pulled out some line
and heavy sinl1er and two hooks.
"I'll pay you for Them" said Brother,
taking out a quarter.
mo, ye won't. Ye can have EN-"
So Brother took the things. Then he
said:
II guess you can stay here, too, II
you want to. You can sleep up for
ward on the deck. You can't stay
dow1 in the cooks quarters, for my
sisters there. She's hurt her ankle"
"Ye don't say sol" exclaimed the
boy.
Suddenly an idea occurred to Broth
er. "Tn give you half dollar If you'n
go to my aunt's house and tell my.
father where we are and that we can't
get home tonight. and ask him will he
please drive up for us in the morning"
Then he told where his aunt lived.
"IIl go for nuthin'," said the boy.
''Ye're the first kid wot ever licked
me-"
So the bigger boy weat for nothing.
But afteTward Brother made him a
present. The bigger boy and his friend
did not come back that night. Thew
were fshermcn's bGys, and they went
home. The present that Brother made
him was an air gun.
Brother went below and found Sister
and Aristotle both asleep. But they
woke up whe.t he spread out the bread
and butter and cookies and the bottle
of water, Aristotle was allowed some
water, but 1t was thought that he had
too much cOOt in him to need any other
supper.
The fire burned bright In the stove,
and Brother and Aristotle lay down
beside it and went to sleep. Once In
the night Aristotle barked, but Brother
only reused up a little. Whea four
o'clock came they woke and went on
deck. I forgot to say that the last
thing he did the night before was to
hunt in a shallow pool and find a few
He caught six with his
hands. He wanted them for bait. And
now he proposed to catch a big fish
with them.
1t was very foggy, but he could see
that itwas high tide yet, and there
was much water between the ship and
the shore. He baited his hook and
cast it over the seward side. The
first thing he caught was a sea
robin, fish that Is not good to
eat. The second bait was gdbbled up
by some fish that did not get caught.
The third bait went down wriggling
and lively, and in few. minutes Broth
er felt sharp pull and away went the
line, He pulled Justify at it, aad soon
saw that he had a big fish. 1t was a
of those funny big fat
fish that like TO lie in the sand and
wait for little fish to come within
reach. He pulled It on deck, and it
was as big as big platter.
Aristotle began to bark at the
iounder. Then Brother heard voice
cry, "Ship ahOyr He looked out to
sea, but saw nothing. He looked on
the other side and saw his own
father!
There was his very own father, and
Aunt Matilda's man with him. And
here was a little shelter tent In which
iather and auute's hired man had
spent the night.
You see, when the bigger boy told
he childrea's farther where they were,