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Show BILDAD THE SHUHITE. Ho began by being Just a very small eyeless, nameless kitten, with a sho-t wiry black tall at nnu end nf his fat white body and two stlrt black ears at the other He appeared In tho liuj loft of the barn that belonged to Itldy Hilton s home early one morning and Teddj, whose mamma hod u vvuy of reading Illble stories to her small ho after he whs tueked Into his rockubjo at night, decided, afttr much deliberation delibera-tion to call him ' lllldad the Hliuhlte.' About a month nftet the advent of the kittens, Teddy und his funlly moved ntioss the river tn the village to live When everything else had been tarried ovei to the new home, Teddy und the stable hoj went hick In tho row hoit for thn precious cat family, fam-ily, Now all this happened in tho land where oranges, tigs and bininas glow, where little grctn llnrds piny tag about the porches and alllgutors, which, ufler nil, were inthtr smut! affairsthe af-fairsthe biggest of them only threo or four feet long nnd not nt nil fieri e indeed, tiiey hud nevci been known to molest unjnne llut, howevei, well mannered thej maj he towunl men, there Is ono thing no alligator ean resist, re-sist, that Is the sle,ht or sound nf a kitten When the limit put off fiom shore theio vvns no alligator lu sight, but when half way acrove lllldad gicw frightened unel set up u terilble miw-Ing. miw-Ing. tliete v is a spl isli from the fur ther hank, and old father alligator him-self him-self vvns seen heading stiulght for thu little skiff Teddy squeezed lllldnd's head under his short Jaeket. The man rowid with all his might, but the alligator gained nn them sleudlly. 'Thiovv It overt' lulled the man from his end of the bout. 'I won't not" yelled Teddj, white with fright nud rendj to tiy, but clinging fast to llllit.nl 'Ihe rough blunt nose ot the ulllgntor pierced Ihe vvuler nnlj a short disunite In hind tho stern nf the bout, vvhtio Tidily sat, with the mother tat scaled but silent on the seat beside him The shore was onl a few jardi off, but the nf in was afiald to risk it Dropping the oars, with one huge stride he renched for nor Ullelnd and fluiiK him Into the water. Like nn nrrow his mother sprang after him, und so true un 1 swift vvashernlm that she lenthid the water at almost the same spot and moment ns her hapless kitten Pellng him by the bnck of the neck she put out with nil her long lank might for Ihe neur-cst neur-cst point of Bhore, nnd reiclud It led. dj's henrt was In his mouth onlj nbotit three seconds before the stiff-skinned, stiff-skinned, awkward nlllgitnr, who had Instuntlj changed his touiso In pursuit of the mewing kitten 1'p tho nearest tiee scrambled the dripping mother rat, with tho skin of lllld id s neek still tight between hei teeth, until bejond the reueji of man and beusl, she dropped him In the crnti h of n limb und begun to lick her own muddj fur ns If nothing unusual had happened Landing a little below Teddj and the man waited till tho old alligator grew tired of blinking up nt Ihe tats lu tho ttee above him, und went home nt last without his dinner 1 hen they coaxed them down nnd carried them home lu trlumr h Whether It wan becnuse nf this nd venture or that she did not like tho society she found In the vlllige teddj could not eleelde, hut for some reason the mother cat soon dlsappearcl and was never seen In Tedlj'- lu me uguin ltlldid held tho fort alone, growing In whdom and cunning ns he grew In jears Tor Instance, being especially fnnd nf n dinner of v - rabbit he discovered hj nee' or foue of genius, that dead t s left on the straw In the Itehouse taste-1 muih better bet-ter for the second meal than when left on the grass In the sun Thereafter he would take Infinite pains to chase his small game under the caves and over the preetplco of the Itehouse or falling In this would drng his dead victim vic-tim there sit contented! in the tool aid cat what he wanted then cover tho rest with stinvv for another meal |
