Evening star., 1933-10-09
INSTALLMENT XXXIII.

A s he rose the movement Of the
n tree in the wind became more
~ apgFssifSls: pre-; H;sh.r - ,.c.n. . v,o.
lent tossing and the noise Of the
gale through the branches rose to q
shrill screech. No wonder Pete Pan
cake in his lookout had not been able
to hear anything.
The tree containing the lookout was
a little taller than the others. Quite
naturally the largest one had been Sc
lected. But the lookout itself was not
at the extreme top of the trunk. 1t had
been built far enough down so that it
had quite a sturdy support from the
tree itself. Therefore Vern was able
to climb high enough on the now slen-
der trunk of his own tree so that he
was actually above the platform Of the
lookout.
Then became apparent the reason for
his seemingly foolish behavior in carry
ing the cable with him to the top OF
the tree. Because now. working In the
wind and being careful not to take up
enough Of the slack so that the cable
would jerk the platform Of the lookout
when the tree swayed, Vern twisted q
blight Of the cable around the tree be-
ly supported from slipping downward.
Then he disengaged his belt and
made a loop Of 1t over the slantinf
strand extending from the trunk OF the
tree where he was downward to the
point just above the lookout where 1t
was fastened.
He was approximately IS to 80 feet
from the ground If Vern had known
any good prayers there would have been
good place to have gone over them.
But all he could do was murmur fer
vently good luck" as he grasped the
loop Of the belt in his hands and swung
off, He hoped that it was good leather
in the belt and that there were NO
frayed strands Of the cable between
him and the lookout.
He started to slide very slowly at first
but pretty soon the slant Of the cable
and the fact that it was fortunately
smooth accelerated the pace. BY the
time he was midway between the two
trees he was racing toward his goal like
one of those little boxes the department
store clerk shoots on wire to the cash
ier's office.
Zing! Bang!
He was there.
Dazed somewhat by the shock OF
landing Vern was not quite ready to
meet the attack which his arrival pre-
cipitated.
Whether or not Pancake had been
asleep or drunk when Vern had at
tempted to send him code message
via the tree trunk made no difference
The one pertinent and incontrovertible
fact is that he was thoroughly awake
and on his feet when Vern stopped by
for his informal chat.
Vern dropped to the deck OF the look
out into the arms of the enemy. AS
has been mentioned before Vern was
not a very large man except in spirit
Pete Pancake was a giant in every way,
especially physically.
He laughed little when he found
how small a Greek horse had made its
way inside the walls Of his defenses.
The Trojans also laughed under SINH
lar circumstances it is reported. First
on one side of the face and then on
the other History has strange habit
of rehearsing the same stuff over and
over again.
First Vern kicked him in the stomach
which is considered foul In roped
ring. but is not barred In hand-to-hand
fighting where there are no witnesses.
With an involuntary exclamation OF
surprise Pancake dropped his smaller
opponent and put his hands on the
painful place This gave Vern an ex-
cellent opportunity to put his right fist
and then his left ditto just under Pan
cakes chin which he could easily reach
since the big man was bent over.
That ought to have done the trick
but. fortunately. Pancake was not SO
delicate around the head and he had
Jaw like the corner stone Of skyscraper.
Two swats on 1t acted as sort OF
steadier and reminded him not to paw
too much attention to his stomach. He
came toward Vern with arms out
stretched for a gorilla embrace.