Show wit j 1 Iii The ruse of the Lakerimmers er es 61 Au orofThe Lnkerm Athletic Club The Dozen Tkom Lahorim Etc t = l JCIoUo L W r I Copyright McCluros Newspaper Syndicate Syndi-cate lK0 CHAPTER L Hall Xo answer l r Oh Hal v No answer Hal my boy breakfast Is ready Xo answer even to that I say Hal my son your breakfast Is I getting cold So was the silence Hal 33011 Henry Perkins B J youd better get up before I come and act you up lie couldnt even get UD an echo Muse I so up there and yank you out of bed by the car It teemed as If there were no other way to pet the boys ear Well here I come Tramp tramp tram t > J c i r i I a c C6 I 4 1 A d D 6 n r l L r 1 rti j t d k f 6 I k C k ° e r I j y two r A Meeting of the Twelve of Lakerlm But the imitation of climbing theIrs the-Irs was very bad and there wasp was-p still no answer B JV father was used to having I to stand every morning at tho foot of tl the stairs and call long and loud He Is hot the only father on earth that had this task for other boys In this same world have a little way of snoozing snooz-ing their hardest Just when they are most wanted by their parents But while B J Vs father expected to sing his serenade every morning it was not often that he had to climb the stairs The maple word breaklast would usually follow B J wherever his dreams mlcht have taken him and fetch him back to earth And if the word breakfast didnt bring him the imitation of tramping usually did Sometimes it la true when the Lakerlm Athletic club had taken a long Jnunt or played a hard game the boys father found that his song about breakfast brought no answer and that all his terrible threatening and pretending pre-tending to climb the stairs were vain and he must march ui the steps for true But once up it was only necessary neces-sary to wound hard on tho door to Hhake the boy out of his snug Slumbers Slum-bers Twice Indeed B Ts father had had to go into the room and shake him awake but those were the rare times when the boys club the Lakerlm Athletic I I Ath-letic team had been beaten In Home gamewhich meant that a particularly hard battle had been fought for The Doaen did not die easily And when they did suffer defeat there was sure 1 lo be a late conf b to decide where the fault lay and emphasize the fact 1 that It must not be repeated Which y usually meant that each one of these devoted athletes would sleep well once I he had not to bed I But on this particular morning Mr Perkins knew that none of these I things was to blame because there had V been no came the day before that Is t to say there had been no game so far as B J had been concerned His beloved be-loved club had Indeed been having one I Il of the games of Its life with Greenville Green-ville Its archenemy but B Js fay I fa-y t ther bad refused to let l him play because be-cause he had been so ill that the family fam-ily doctor had kent him Indoors B J though had Inslwted that small matters like health and doctors bills 1 l were not to be taken Ipto consideration considera-tion when the great Lakerlm Athletic club had n J game on i Ills father had disputed this point find B J had argued back as if the world would come to an end If he did 13 not play In that game The debate had waxed so hot finally that It ended In B Js being sent off to bed sup I perlcss a terrible humiliation for a boy of his age and prowess a boy who had won the name of Bridge Jumper or B J for being so brave and foolish as to Jump off a high b bridge with the result that he was pulled out unconscious by the nape of the neck just In time to save him from drowning But that was lOll ago p I And this la I < < another tlmea bright brandnew morning Now thy the long night Was over Itfr Perkins had exported to find that the boy had learned icason and that the all cr and resentment In u his hot Ii young heart had cooled when he found that the world was still all right oven If he bad not taken part In the game which as Mr Perkins was goIng go-Ing to tell him had boon handily won without B JM help + Certainly the fathers heart was warm toward tho meson and actor his long vnln calling he climbed the stairs patiently tapoud gently on thc door and murmured Get up my boy we have grlddlc t cakes this morning If that did not bring him what could But still there was no answer and finally Mr Perkins opened the door Then ho fell back amazed There was no boy In tho bed nor in the room The bed had not been slept in yet 1 < It had beensadly l treated The sheets were gone The window was open and out of it ran like a great white snake those same sheets which had been torn into strips nnd made Into a rope and this had been fastened to one end of the bedThe The draught caused by the opening of the window swept a piece of paper off the table and brought it scurrying tour Perkinss feet He saw that It was written on and picked It up It was In B Js writing and was spelled Just t a little worse than usual It read Dear Mister Perkins your crule Ireelmunt of me has rochcd the lim mut of my undoorancc i have gone away forever do not try to foller me for I have taken a scent trale I may go to see or I may go to the west and light Injuns If I take any scallups i will send you some to hang onto the walls for slouvencers but you will never hear from me In no other way unless I should deslde to ret vrlch then i may come back and by the old homes led on a morgldcre or something some-thing tell mother goodby she was always al-ways good to a feller and never treated me crule If 1 get wrlch i will by her a new bonut or something I goodby fader thow you treeted me crule 1 will forgive you If you will not try to foller me this Is my ultomato i will my canoe to the Lakerlm Athletic Club yours truly B J P B i have brokekn Into my savings sav-ings bank and taken the X12 that was there so tell mother that 1 wont stan When Mr Perkins bad read this about five times he laughed himself almost Into tears Then he showed it to Mrs Perkins She broke Into tears too but she did not laugh She looked scared Still Mr Perkins laughed louder than ever and roared Oh dont you worry Hunger will bring that scallop ag home before sunset sun-set But that night there was no B J And now Mr Perkins laughed not quite so loud and mid Oh hes all right Hell sleep at some farmhouse and come home tomorrow to-morrow r But tomororw became today nnd brought no BT And now Mr Perkins stopped laughing He didnt even smile but he began to telegraph to all the police of the towns around He printed notices In all the papers like this B JCome back and all will be forgiven Your mather is very lonely without you Dad Still no B J Then Mr Perkins began to offer rewards re-wards and to go about his business with a haggard look on his face As for the boys motherwell youll have to ask somebody else to tell you how a mother would feel with her young laddie away in unknown places and unknown dangers CHAPTER II I The news of B Js escapade was the talk of the whole town of Lakerlm as you may well believe Of course it excited ex-cited the boys most of all and most of all the most It excited that crowd of B Js particular cronies who were knot n as the Dozen because as youd never guess there were Just twelve of them The town of Lakerlm Is not to be found on every map and probably your school geography will not show you where It is And I have been requested not to mention what State it Is In for fear that It will glvo the town a bad reputation The grownups in that town already think they have trouble enough with what boys there arc now to think up mischief and grow sleepless sleep-less over their games and risk their skin and bones and their parents nerves by Inventing new kinds of trouble trou-ble to get themselves into So I shall not bo able to tell you where it is further than to say that It Is neither north of the North pole nor south of the South pole The latUtudc grows pretty warm In summer and the longitude gets quite cool In the winter Perhaps it would 1 be betraying the secret se-cret too far to admit that the town of Lakerlm Is I In the United States and yet not In the Philippines Porto Rico Alaska or Guam The town as you might guess from its name Is on the rim of a hike That lake Is not one of the Great Lakes and yet there are one or two smaller lakes In the world The people usually speak of It as The Lake but It originally had an Indian name which I cant spell and which you could not pronounce If I could So we will let It drop In this wonderful town on this mysterious mys-terious lake on a certain Important occasion oc-casion twelve boys had sprawled under A tree and decided that they would organize themselves into a club and build a clubhouse That tree Is not ao famous as the Charter Oak OP tho tree that George Washington rode under un-der when he took command of the Old Continentals or the sour apple tree they once intended to use for hanging a cer tamp person on There Is not even an Iron fence around the tree nor a slab of marble to show what a wonderful tree It was and its historical Importance Import-ance But that was not the fault of the tree or of the club which chose the name of Lakerim Athletic club and proceeded to win victories or score goose eggs in as many games of an many kinds as they could think of or as their school hours would allow them to play This club was like a certain peach of emerald hue it grew It grew But as It was founded by twelve charter members and as they did most of the work of keeping It going they came to think that they were pretty nearly the whole club And it is of them these twelve who got Into the scrapes and fought out the games of which I am going to tell For the benefit of those who hav not had tho honor of their acquaintance before be-fore this I will Introduce themnot by their real name which they themselves them-selves hardly ever heard but by the nick names which they found much more useful This strapping lad of muscle and pluck Is Tug And the next one Is a fine broth of a boy called Punk This immense youth who will be taller than the telegraph poles If he doesnt slop growing very curiously is named sawcdoff The next boy his sworn chum and cronle IH named Jumbo because he is so tiny Come along Sleepy and open your eyes long enough to let people see you are alive after nil Number six and number seven are the twlnnlest twins that were ever twinned Their own father and mother moth-er could hardly tell their red heads apart and as they always dress alike r r their friends have no end of trouble One of them Is called Redcly and the other IB called Head and if they were shuffled together for a minute you could never tell which from tother Being twins and having such fiery red hair it Is natural that they should be rather redtempered too but though number six and number seven are often at sixes and sevens they are much fonder of each other than they realize The next oue is Mr Kabort beg your pardon Robert I should say Bobbles Number nine with curiosity curi-osity written all over his face Is called Quiz because he Is forever asking questions Even If you ask him a question ques-tion he answers it with another Number ten bad the misfortune to I be born with such fine features which ho keeps so well groomed that they call him Pretty but certain bullies have made the mistake of thinking I that lie does not keep his muscles as well groomed as his hair and hands Number eleven the wiselooking mite with the spectacles on his nose And his nose In a book Is well named Hlstry but he Is a good fellow In spite of knowing so terribly much The twelfth and last of the dozen Is B J Come up B J and be introduced Intro-duced Why where Is h070hl I forgot he has run awayrun away from home and club and all Now that you have the Dozen and have heard how B J deserted them you will realize why they are all looking look-Ing so solemn and why they are all wishing that B J had never run away so that they could get him into a corner cor-ner and punch his head for running away aMost Most of these lonely nnd forlorn Eleven had themselves threatened to run away on various occasions Shan their parents wore stubborn and die obedient But not one of them bad now a good word for B J who was the first to make the break For you see the Dozen had for weeks and < weeks been worrying its twelve heads almost into ono trying to deckle Just how to amuse Its royal twelve selves during the summer vacation And it had just dccldcdat B Js own suggestion mind youto take a long orulso about the lake in the club war canoe And now B J had knocked that ca noe Idea into a cockpitI mean a cock ed hatby eloping not with the club canoe but with his valued self He hudnt even taken his own little canoe To be contlued |