Vernon Parish Democrat. (Leesville, La.) 1917-193?, 1921-01-06

Then they packed up and got ready
to start. Carpet, carpet" said Broth
er, please take us across the country
to where the war is going on. Go as
fast as you have to, but we should
like to see the scenery as we go along
whenever you can spare the time"
Up they went, and gently started
southwark. The pace was not so fast
but that they could look down and see
things. I suppose they were going
about seventy miles an hour. They
were not very high up.
They saw a whole drove of ele-
plants trampling about in the jungle.
There were several baby elephants in
the drove.
They saw many rivers, and once
they saw hippopotamus. They saw
only one, but he was a monster. He
was just coming out of the water, and
he looked as big as house; that is,
a very small house. His head was
big as a barrel.
By and by there was no more green
jungle, but there were stony hills, with
here and there a little village with a
sort of fence around it. The carpet
rose higher now, and presently it
passed over a town where the houses
belonged to white people. Then 1t
passed over a tremendous hole in the
ground, big enough to put a whole
| town in.
"Oh, please wait a minute, carpet,
till we look at this place"
There were many long ropes or
wires reaching down into the great
pit, and by looking carefully they could
see both black and white men working
at the bottom.
II know what it is" cried Brother.
ut is diamond mine. This is where
they dig the diamonds"
Then the carpet started again. 1t
seemed to know when they wanted it
to start.
Diamonds are pretty" said Sister.
Il wish~I had one"
"Well, we aren't going to stop and
steal one" said Brother. Il don't
think they are any prettier than those
glass things you had in your neck
lace when you were the queen in the
lost freight-car"
Sister said no more, for they were
too high up in the air to enjoy quar-
reling. If they had ever got to quar-
reling on that carpet, and Aristotle
had taken hand, they would all GER
tainly have tumbled off and come
streaming down out of the sky And
if they had lighted on a Dutchman's
dinner table it would have surprised
the Dutchman exceedingly.
Toward evening they heard the
sound of guns. 1t was not a steady
firing, but every now and then pop,
pop, like corn just beginning to go off
in pepper.
''When you get right overhead,
please STOP" said Brother to the car
pet.
Almost Immediately the carpet
stopped. The children looked for the
armies, but they saw none. They were
over little valley. On either side.
were low hills covered with rocks.
The English were on one hill and the
Beers were on the other. But each
man was fighting by himself And he
was not standing up, either, but lying
behind a rock. They could see the
little pUffs of smoke here and there,
and they could see the men.
"Just a little lower, if you please,
Mr.. Carpet" said Brother, and the
carpet settled down till they were able
to see the Dutchmen closer. Suddenly
one Of the BOer boys looked up and
saw them. To him they looked about
as big as kite, and he thought they
were an English war balloon.
The children saw him plainly. He
wore a red shirt, and that was the
only red shirt they could see any
where.
The boy lifted himself up a little,
raised his rifle toward them and fired
A howl from Aristotle was the an
swer. The bullet had gone through
the carpet and cut the poor dogs tail
off. Sister caught him and held him,
or he would have jumped off.
up, up" said Brother as quick as
a wink, and the carpet rose with them
so fast that it was exactly like an ele-
vatOr which makes you feel queer in
the stomach.
my scissors !" exclaimed Sister.
"That was a close shave for poor dog
gle"
She patted him and soothed him, and
took out a bandage and wrapped ND
the stump of his poor little tail. She
did not put any arnca on it; that
would have made it smart.
They sailed away about five miles
from the battlefield and came down.
for they were very tired and nervous.
They wanted a good nights sleep
right on the solid ground.
They came down in the dusk beside
a little cottage. It had a roof matched
with straw, and it stood in a ravine
1t was a couple of miles from any
other house.
They walked up to the little cottage
and knocked en- the door. Nobody an
swered. Then they went in. The place