Page:Stringer - Lonely O'Malley.djvu/252

 and a lot of stuff like that. I was just pikin' along home, when some men ran past me, wavin' their arms and tellin' me to look out. They did n't stop to say what for, but just scratched gravel for all they was worth. Golley, how that old fat man did run!" broke in Lonely, with a reminiscent light in his eye.

"Well, first thing I knew there wasn't a soul to be seen on the streets, and I says to myself, that there pickle factory's on fire again. And I was just walkin' along between the two rows of empty houses, wonderin' what on earth was up, when I turned round the corner, careless-like—and I saw something standin' there in front of me!" "It—it was n't the lion?" gasped Pinkie.

Lonely paid no attention to the interruption, tending even as it did to anticipate his coming climax.

"I stopped stockstill, and felt my hair stand on end, and looked. Then I rubbed my eyes, and looked again. But still That Thing stood there, right in front of me, with its teeth showin', and its tail lashin' from side to side, and its mane all bristlin' up."