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was indignant; he “wanted to know whether Judge Lindsey was going to coddle that kid or protect the property of the citizens of Denver from thieves.” The Judge said he would take the case under advisement. He did. He took the case “for a walk and a talk.”

Once out of that stiff old, stuffy old court room, the tears dried up, and the two got acquainted.

“What did you want the lumber for, kid?” the Judge asked.

“We were building a shack in my back yard, and we needed more boards than we had.”

The Judge used to build shacks, and he and the kid discussed the different kinds you could build. The Judge bragged about some he’d put up. But he never used sand in a shack.

“What did you swipe the sand for ?” he asked.

“Well,” said the kid, “girls can’t build shacks. They can keep house in ’em after they’re built, but my sister and the other fellers’ sisters, they wanted something to do till the shack was done. So while we was gettin’ the boards, we seen the sand, and we swiped a little pile for the girls to play in.”

And coming into the back yard, the kid showed the Judge the shack and the sand-pile — aban- doned now. All work was suspended, pending a decision in their case. The kid wanted to