Show I JUST LIKE A WOMAN By H F CETHEN opyriKUt by Joseph H UowIoK The rail from lloyonnu was not then laid but the drive by diligence WIIK Hufllclnutly enjoyable My aunt Lady Jano nnil I reached St Jean Pled de Port late one evening and that little town seemed wrapped In slumber On the following morning I am going to take you over tho Py lonees Into Spain asserted my aunt Koitlly and truly I remember ox limning Yes I Know all about It wove only to gut to Ilourgctto and then Its tithe ousy dim said confidently A carriage was secured the morning morn-ing was lovely I and the French frontier fron-tier was soon imaged for we had very little luggage und nothing on which to pay duty A tow miles further at a lonely kind of an Inn tho coachman Insisted on our descending from the carriage and paying his fee Having no choice we consented and then entered en-tered Into the lonely little Inn In search of breakfast After eating with good appetites some w011 conked foods wo discovered that the carriage hud been replaced by u couple of rough ponloH with oven rougher attendants of tho boy tribe The road beyond was considered too steep for vehicles so wo mounted In silence Please our bags pleaded I feel lug disturbed by our landlords smiling detention of our light luggage Ho says they must be sent on by the inuUi train exclaimed Lady Jane Tile straps of her ponys saddle broke befora wo had gone a tulle and had to bo mended with a fragment of Hiring and a good deal of language which wo fortunately could not comprehend com-prehend was leveled at tho four logged members of tho party Then our little cavalcado proceeded onward and upward passing by many wayside crosses and encountering tvild looking harmless peasants with trains ot mules and then again we noticed more or tno tough crosses What In the world makes the pee plo put up HO many wooden crosses 1 asked Lady Jane at last looking rather rath-er nervous You must know that although al-though slut was our own aunt wo Ron erally called her Lady Jane She was very kind but rather odd The boy managed to bake us understand under-stand that the crosses were erected to mark spots whore murders had been committed but of cours wo didnt know If this was true Dont you think wo had better no hack remarked Lady Jane on hearing hear-ing this explanation Perhaps It Isnt true nt nay rate dont lot us look frightened was my valiant reply for turning bflck was easier said than clone on such n difficult diffi-cult path Higher and higher we wound zigzagging zig-zagging through the glorious forest and steeper and steeper Rrow the road Tho boys walked on silent and sullen and tho sun began to quite scorch our skins Sudden the ponies stopped at tho summit of the mountain moun-tain and tho boys pointed to some far distant buildings Without a word they lifted us from our saddles demanded de-manded tho promised fees which Lady Jano at once gave and set forth 011 their return journey before wo had gathered courage to protest At lust wo arrived at fie village which appeared to possess but one street We were courteously welcomed wel-comed by tho Innkeeper A Spanish dinner was shortly served and wo were glad to retire to rest soon afterwards after-wards I wish we were safe at home ejaculated Lady Jane There Is no bolt to tho door she cried when we found ourselves In a bedroom containing con-taining two beds So she Insisted on piling tho somewhat scanty furniture against tho door In case anyone should try to rob us she said fearfully Ive put tho water Jug ready to throw at any Intruder said Lady Jane who appeared bravo now she was under tlo bedclothes and Ive hidden my purse In tho toe of my shoe At last we both slept and the last sound wo heard was the wind walling round the thick static walls A knock at tho door disturbed but failed to arouse us Then to tho accompaniment ac-companiment of a muttered exclamation exclama-tion the latch was lifted softly and the door pushed gently With an awful clatter tho barricade gave way and out of tho darkness ejaculations loud and deep reached our ears Ive got tho jug said my aunt and feeling no doubt that her courage equaled that of Nelson at least she sprang up and In tho dark cast her pitcher In tho direction of the voice Oh what a crash there was Then hurried footsteps came along the pus sago and n lantern showed tho Innkeeper Inn-keeper fully dressed and his wife In a wondrous deshabille The worthy couple scolding and questioning In turn soon rescued from amidst scattered scat-tered chair legs and fragments of pottery pot-tery a poor halfdrowned wholly frightened young man It was the honest Hoots of the es tabllshment the general factotum who according to orders hail come to warn us that tho omnibus which was known ns the Mall would arrive In half an hour and tho driver would wait for nobody Oh guess how foolish wo felt Lady Juno gave tho loots a handsome present and he said bo hadnt been hurt only his clothes wore drenched through and he had a great fright I expect he thought wo were crazy and really at the time ho watnt farM far-M |