Part 22 (2/2)

He knew the gun was not loaded and he pulled the trigger, which clicked

The click seeht it would and he listened in suspense No sound

Yes, this was the rifle hich he would Casting one more cautious look from the , he shouldered the weapon and hurried quietly down the stairs

”What time did my mother say she'd be back?” he called

”Not till dinnertih the woods toward the river Once in the woods, the spirit of freedoed in the luxury of shooting the gun at nothing at all

”'I aes!'”

Whereas, in plain fact, he couldn't have beena scout

Arrested by a flutter in one of the trees, he leveled his gun again and by the luck of a rando body and loose-hanging neck as it lay at his feet alhtened him for he had never killed a red-blooded creature before, and he felt now a sense of heavy guilt He was afraid to pick the robin up and when he finally did so and sailted and drooping the thing was and how ai he was seized with a little panic of fear and dropped it suddenly

But it was absolutely necessary that he should carry out his prograoing to kill anyone it was all right He was at least going to have the thrill of that experience Now that he had killed the robin, he found that in actual practice he preferred a sort of ht to the real one; and he could piece out with his i features of Captain Dauntless's book

So he pictured a dugout drawn up on the shore of the river which he was approaching; and he pictured a group of howling Zulus on the farther shore He heard ikes and the splashi+ng of water, and it fitted ith his heroic sche Zulus, though in reality he knew, or thought he knew, that they came from farther up the river near the scouts' camp

He ithin a few yards of the river now and pushi+ng through the thick grohich bordered it

His i likeact, pat

”'I am a boy scout,'” he repeated, ”'and can handle----'”

He raised his rifle and, ai in particular, pulled the trigger, then dashed forward in a perfect frenzy of adventurous delight to the shore

On the other side of the river the O'Connor boy was leaning back in the arroup of people, the boys in the boat were et to shore; someone said, ”There he is!” and then all eyes were upon hiainst a tree and stood staring as he realized that he was nearer to being the real _Dan Dreadnought_ than he had dreamed

A cold sweat broke out upon his brow, his first iht and main; but he could not stir

CHAPTER XVII

THE REAL THING

It happened that sae to purchase some provisions for cae and were discussing an interesting discovery which they had made while there This was a wireless apparatus which the storekeeper had shown thereat pride for he was one of that numerous class of wireless a from tree-tops to house-tops these days, and since it was his pleasure to sit into the wee hours of theon the whole world, the two scouts had agreed to exchange es with him

”Every man you meet seems to take some interest in the scouts,” said Tom, in allusion to the cordial storekeeper

”Sure, even Mr Teht case of it”

”_Not ot what Doc Carson calls a passive case Doesn't it beat all how Doc gets onto this ht about a 'superficial abrasion'? Cracky, it nearly knocked me over!”