The Wyandotte herald. (Wyandotte, Mich.) 1879-1943, 1940-12-13
THE
EXCAVATOR
g
By NANCY RHODES
Mcclure syndieate-wNU service)


edict had gone forth that Homer was
to be shot late one evening, or early
one morning, in the near future. He
had proved himself a blight and a
calamity, a disgrace to the mother
that bore him. And so the die had
been cast. A week was the most
that Homer could expect. The great
detective had brought all his infiu-
ence to bear, but to no avail.
Reggie McWhortle, called a
feminine voice from the front piaz-
"a, come in and change your pants.
The minister and his wife are COM
ing to supper. And don't let that
dirty dog in the house again. I don't
know what he has been rolling in.
but ] suspect the worst"
Homer watched Reggie reproach-
fully as the great detective got the
rope. Poor Homer! He had been a
great disappointment to the family.
When Reggie first took him in trade
for Is cents and four small green
snakes, he gave every promise of
turning out to be a small beagle
hound. AS he grew apace it looked
as though he might be a cross be-
tween St. Bernard and a coach.
But when he kept on growing, mama
said she knew there had been a
cow on his family tree and that
Homer was a direct throw-back.
whatever that was.
Homer was too large to live with
conveniently. But the family could
have swallowed his size if his habits
had been more conservative. The
holes that he dug in neighbors' gar
dens we're not the holes that an ordi-
nary dog would have made. They
were deep excavations into which
you could have thrown horse and
had room enough for a few sheep.
Papa and Reggie spent most of their
spare time filling up these pits.
Then, too, Homer had strong
weakness for vegetable and flower
beds. He liked to roll in them, and
where Homer once rolled nothing
ever lifted its head again.
Put on your white pants" said
Mrs. McWhortle, as the great de-
tective dragged himself languidly
upstairs. Reggie drew on the &C
cursed white pants and fiddled
around trying on and off his differ
ent sets of whiskers until the supper
gong sounded.
The Rev. Mr.. Towards wife talked
and laughed a lot She seldom said
anything, thought the great detec-
tive, but she made a lot of noise.
Perhaps it was to cover up her hus-
bands crunching He was loud
chewer. In quiet space you could
hear him grit his teeth. He even
Chewed his water little, but no one
asked him to leave the table.
The Towards had been at the
Howes' the night before. Reggie
wondered if he had smacked his lips
up there. The Howes had a lot of
money and lived on the top of the
hill In big white house They were
awful fussy and full of prunes. See
ing Eddie Howe in white pants had
got mama started on the idea. Ma
ma kind of purred when Mrs. Howe
came to call and agreed to every
thing, which wasn't like mama. And
papa ran downstairs and brought a
bottle with a straw coat when Mr.
Howe dropped in, and that wasn't
like papa, either. Reggie and Ho-
meE were the only ones who were
quite themselves when the Howes
were around. The last time they
came Reggie BACKED Eddie's eye
and Homer tore the seat out of his
white pants.
They found a secret panel when
the men were papering the attic, p"
said Mrs. Howard, speaking of her
visit to the .Howes'. And a little
redwood box with an old, old manu-
script In it. The old paper said that
Captain Howe had buried the family
silver, and don't know just how
much money, in the orchard, six
PAGES from the oldest winesap tree. "
The great detective pricked up his
ears. Mrs. Howard had said some
thing at last.
Are they going 10 look for it,"
asked mama politely, pretending she
didn't hear a thing even though Mr..
Howard had started to eat the tough
part OF his pie crust right in her
ear.
They've dug everywhere" an
sWered Mrs Howard, land they
haven't found thing. Mr.. Howe
says it's all poppycock, and won't al
low her to do any more excavating
IN the orchard. But she's crazy to
find the stuff
The great detective and Homer
started out on their evening stroll
with an air of deep melancholy. I'm
der one arm Reggie had his old
pants and his red whiskers. Sub.
consciously his steps strayed ur
the hill towards the Howe place.
Ihe house sat like a shiny white
wedding cake on a green lawn dot.
ted with beds of flaming red fall
flowers. Gosh! What Homer wouldn',
do to those flower beds if he ever
got in therel
homer loped ahead past some
mick green woods that gave off
strong pinev and firrx, e,,,aIl. NJ,