Guns and Snowshoes | Page 6

Then a
neighbor, who had dropped in, said she would look after the patient
during that time.
"Carl Dudder ought to be made to pay for this," said Doctor Reed.
"The Dudders won't pay anything--Mr. Dudder is as miserly as they
make him, even if he is well off," said Whopper.
"Perhaps he can be forced to pay," replied Snap.
When Carl Dudder heard that a doctor had been called in to attend
Mammy Shrader he was much frightened. He went to consult Ham
Spink about it. The two were hand-in-glove in everything.
"Are they sure you threw the snowball?" asked Ham Spink, pointedly.

"They say they saw me."
"Who says so?"
"Oh, Snap Dodge and that crowd."
"Always that crowd!" muttered Ham Spink.
"They say they know you knocked Andrew Felps down," went on
Dudder, finding some consolation in the fact that Ham was in
difficulties too.
"They didn't see a thing!" roared the dudish youth.
"Well, that is what they say."
"Humph! Carl, they are bound to get us into trouble."
"Of course. They haven't got over last summer's trouble yet. I suppose
they will make it as hot for us as they can."
"Well, let us stick together and maybe we can face them down," was
Ham Spink's comment, and then he lit a cigarette and offered one to his
crony, and both fell to smoking.
That very evening both youths had to "face the music," and in a manner
which did not please them in the least.
Coming home just before supper Mr. Spink, found a note awaiting him.
It was from Andrew Felps and ran, in part, as follows:
"I have a complaint to make against your son Hamilton. To-day while I
was on my way through the streets of our town I was assailed in the
fashion of a ruffian by your son, who threw snowballs at me, knocking
me down and ruining my silk hat and a rare volume of history I was
carrying. I demand that your son apologize to me for his actions or I
shall make a complaint to the authorities."
"Hamilton, what does this mean?" demanded Mr. Spink, after perusing

the communication several times.
"I don't know," answered the undutiful offspring brazenly.
"Did you snowball Mr. Felps?"
"No. I didn't snowball anybody."
"He says you did."
"He must be mistaken."
"It is mighty queer," muttered Mr. Spink. "I will look into this
to-morrow."
"The old Harry take Felps anyway," muttered Ham to himself. "How
did he learn I threw that snowball? That Dodge crowd must have told
him."
It was Mammy Shrader's neighbor, Samuel O'Brien, who called upon
Mr. Dudder.
"Sure, Mr. Dodder, yer son ought to be locked up, so he ought," said
the Irishman. "It's him as is wantin' to kill old Mammy Shrader."
"Why, what do you mean, sir?" demanded Mr. Dudder, in amazement.
"Sure an' wasn't it Carl as knocked the old lady down to-day and laid
her on a sick bed, wid a doctor, an' me wife to nurse her till she gits
betther? Sure it's a bastly shame, so it is, an' Carl will go to the lock-up
onless ye pay all the bills."
"I do not understand you."
"Thin I'll be after explainin'," answered Samuel O'Brien, and gave his
story in full, to which Mr. Dudder listened in a nervous fashion. Then
Carl was called into the room.
"What do you mean by making trouble in this fashion?" demanded Mr.

Dudder wrathfully.
"I didn't make trouble," said Carl, sullenly.
"Sure an' he did that," said the Irishman.
"Mr. O'Brien says you knocked Mrs. Shrader down."
"I didn't."
"He was seen--several b'ys saw him," put in Samuel O'Brien.
"I--er--it was an accident," stammered Carl, quailing before the stern
gaze of his parent. "The--er--the snowball slipped. It didn't hit Mammy
Shrader hard, and she fell down of her own account, not because of the
snowball."
"She says th' snowball knocked her down," said Samuel O'Brien. "If ye
was my b'y I'd be afther givin' ye a good walloppin', so I would!" he
added pointedly.
"I will go and see Mrs. Shrader," said Mr. Dudder. "Carl, you remain at
home until I get back."
"Can't I go over and see Ham?"
"No."
"I promised him that I would be over."
"Well, you can't go. You study your lessons, unless you prefer to go
with me to Mrs. Shrader's."
"I don't want to go to her house," said Carl.
Mr. Dudder lost no time in paying Mammy Shrader a visit, and then he
called on Doctor Reed. When he came home again he was very angry.
"Carl, I have a good mind to punish you severely," he said. "I did not

think you would treat a woman as Mrs. Shrader has been treated. I shall
have to pay her doctor's