The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1930-06-20

60 -
Late in the day Franz and his
mother went out to provide for
supper, but the child returned di-
rectly, exclaiming that we must
hasten to the dovecot to e some
thing beautiful.
Accordingly a general rush was
made out Of the cave, and we
saw with delight that the third
stranger also had returned with
a lovely bride, and encouraged by
the presence of the first arrivals,
they soon made themselves at
home.
In a short time nest-building
commenced, and among the ma
terials collected by the birds, l
observed a long gray moss or
lichen, and thought it might very
possibly be the same which, in
the West Indies, is gathered from
the bark of the old trees, where
it grows, and hangs in great tuft-
like boards, to be used instead of
horse-hair for stuffing mattresses.
My wife no sooner heard of it
than her active brain devised fif-
ty plans for making it Of use.
Would we but collect enough,
she would clean and sort it, and
there would be no end to the boil
sters, pillows, saddles, and
cushions she would stuff with it.
For the discovery of nutmegs
we had also to thank the pigeons,
and they were carefully planted
in our orchard.
. For some time no event of par
ticular note occurred, until at
length Jack, as usual, got into
a scrape, causing thereby no lit
tie excitement at home.
He went off early on one of
his own particular private expe-
ditions.
He was in the habit of doing
this that he might surprise us
with some new acquisition on his
return.
This time, however, he came
back in most wretched plight,
covered with mud and green
slime; a great bundle of Spanish
canes was on his back, and al
together presented a ludicrous
picture of misery, at which we
could have laughed had he not
seemed ready to cry!
my dear boy! what has hap
pened to you? Where have you
been?"
"Only in the swamp behind the
powder magazine, father" replied
he. 81 went to get reeds for my
wicker-work. because | wanted to
weave some baskets and hen
coops, and l saw such beauties a
little way off in the marsh, much
finer than those close by the edge,
that l tried to get at them.
81 jumped from one firm spot
to another, till at last | slipped
and sank over my ankles; / tried
to get on toward the reeds, which
were close by. but in I went deep
er and deeper, till I was above
the knees in thick soft mud, and
there l stuck!
81 screamed and shouted, but
nobody came, and I can tell you
| was in a regular fright.
"At last who should appear but
my faithful Fangs; He knew my
voice and came close up to me,
right over the swamp, but all the
poor beast could do was to help
me to make a row; / wonder you
did not hear us! The very rocks
rang, but nothing came OF it, so
despair drove me to think Of an
expedient. l cut down all the
reeds I could reach round and
round me, and bound them to-
gether into this bundle, which
made q firm place on which to
lean, while 1 worked and kicked
about to free my feet and legs,
and after much struggling, I man
aged to get astride on the reeds.
There 1 sat, supported above
the mud and slime, while Fangs
ran yelping backward and forward
between me and the bank, seem
ing surprised / did not follow.
Suddenly l thought of catching
hold Of his tail He dragged and
pulled and / sWawled. and
crawled, and waded, sometimes on
my reeds like a raft, sometimes
Juggling them along with me, till
we luckily got back to terra
firma~ But | had a near squeak
for it, l can tell you.
"a fortunate escape indeed, my
boy," cried /, and / thank God
for 1t. Fangs has really acted a
heroic part as your deliverer, and
you have shown great presence
of mind. Now go with your moth
er, and get rid of the Shiny traces
of your disaster! You have
brought me splendid canes, exact
ly what l want for a new scheme
of mine"
The fact was, / meant to try
to construct a loom for my wife,
for j knew she understood Weay-
ing, so l chose two fine strong
reeds, and splitting them are
fully, bound them together again,
that when dry they might be