Show I WHICH WAS THE COWARD A Story of Southern Florida BY HELEN HARCOURT Bob was sitting on the porch looking look-ing out over the bayou whose waters were sparkling in the moonlight He was not feeling happy That was why he had stayed at home alone rather than accompany his aunt and uncle to spend the evening in the village One of his schoolfellows had tried to I pick a quarrel with him The rest had urged him on to fight He had reused re-used giving as his reason a promise made to his dying mother whose brother and husband had both fallen victims to a quick temper that he would never fight with another except in selfdefense At this the other boys S I WHICH WAS THE COWARD A Story of Southern Florida BY HELEN HARCOURT Bob was sitting on the porch looking look-ing out over the bayou whose waters were sparkling in the moonlight He was not feeling happy That was why he had stayed at home alone rather than accompany his aunt and uncle to spend the evening in the village One of his schoolfellows had tried to I pick a quarrel with him The rest had urged him on to fight He had reused re-used giving as his reason a promise made to his dying mother whose brother and husband had both fallen victims to a quick temper that he would never fight with another except in selfdefense At this the other boys S had laughed ard called him a coward This was the source of Bobs trouble in a nutshell and he thought it was a pretty hard nutshell too But the worst of it was that he had come very near breaking his promise It had taken all his selfcontrol not to spring into the midst of those thoughtless thought-less jeering boys and fight the whole lot of them He was a newcomer had only lately come to live with his aunt and uncle in their Florida home The boys did not know him very well but some day when he had a chance he would show them that because a boy refuses to go into a senseless fight he need not be a coward Hello Bob pap sent me over to see I if your uncle will lend him the big I shears to prune the orange trees in the morning It was John Dunn who spoke the very boy who had tried to make him fight and had called him coward Hes in the village said Bob you will have to wait and ask him when he comes back or else come over in the Mj ¼ 11 1 F C I K > I 1 He Lay Insensible Across the I Monster II I I Crash bang bump the clatter of falling boards the loud snort of a horse and the hiss and roar of something some-thing that was not a horse whatever it might be The boys stared an instant in-stant then started for the stable whence came the noise It cant be my pony kicking like that gasped Bob for he is sick and cant even stand Up A threatening hiss greeted them as I they reached the stable door or what I was left of it and then whack within a few inches of Bobs legs came a fierce blow from the tail of an alligator Another vicious blow brought down the door post and a shower of boards that fell rattling around and over the monster In the light of the full moon and that in Florida is wondrously bright the boys could see the alligator lying close to the pony which was struggling struggl-ing vainly to get on its feet The huge reptile was roaring and lashing its tail in a rage at being disturbed and was plainly hesitating which to attack at-tack first the boys or the pony I c 7 7 Ic S w i 11 7 The SharpPointed Pole Went Well Down Into His Open Jaws Jerusalem gasped John thats the big man eater theyve been trying to catch thesa three years Come lets run Hed just as leif eat us as look at us Run run hell get us instead of the pony Without a backward glance John fled as fast as his legs would carry himWhich Which of us is the coward now shouted Bob A big pole stood against the wall He seized it and leaping over the ruins of the doorway got inside in-side the stable just as the alligator made a plunge toward the pony tearing tear-ing the flesh on its flank The pony kicked in its terror and agony and by good luck one of its hoofs struck the monster full in one of its eyes Roaring with pain It whirled around and tried to strike the pony with its tail Instead it struck and crushed an intervening post bringing down a lot of boards and shingles For a few moments mo-ments Bob could not see either pony or reptile both being covered by the debris The alligator was wild with pain and rage the pony was wild with pain and fear and such a squirming and tussle as they kept up under all that mass of timber was never seen I before The flaillike tail of the alligator sent the small boards and shingles flying into a shower around brave Bob as he stood watching a chance to strike The moment the monsters head emerged from the debris the sharp pointed pole went well down into its open jaws Its sudden side leap gave a jerk to the pole that sent Bob flying upwards turning a somersault that landed him perilously near that lashing tail A swift roll over and over and the brave Bob sprang to his feet nothing daunted daunt-ed The snapping jaws were fast making kindling wood of the pole so Bob ran to the woodshed near by and snatched up an ax The powerful tail was playing play-ing a fierce tattoo among the splintered boards the cruel jaws were almost free from the pole but Bob cool and calm waited his chance and brought the ax down on the alligators head It was a lucky blQw for it struck the uvunjure eye and completely blinded its owner I Hissing roaring its tail lashn its fierce jaws snapping the reptile plung I I ed forward and freed itself from the mass of wreckage This was Just what Rob wanted Down came the axe with aright a-right good will on that terrible tail That first blow disabled it A second and a third completely severed it Down came the ax again and again now on the armorcased body now on the head now on the legs A few moments more and the Huge reptile lay dead When Bobs uncle and aunt got home they found him lying Insensible across the monster he had slain not hurt but overcome by exhaustion and excitement excite-ment Neither was his pony seriously injured The alligator measured 15 feet in length In its stomach were found two tin cans three lightwood knots a mans leather shoe with the foot bones still In it some pieces of a clay pipe and a portion of a clothvest with the buttons but-tons on It John Dunn had spoken the truth It was really the same man eater for whose capture hunt aftvr hunt had been made without success But the best of it all was that no one ever again called Bob a coward It was John who had reason now to hang his head s |