Swatty: A Story of Real Boys

by Ellis Parker Butler

Between the boards of our door we could see out through the crack and we could see that the Graveyard Gang didn't know what to do next to get us. Once in a while they threw a stone or two but that didn't hurt us. And then they did the thing that chased us out.

I guess it was about five o'clock by then. We thought it was later because it was getting dark, but we couldn't see that there was a big storm coming up. It was coming up back of us and was hiding the sun. All at once there was thunder, and then the stove began to smoke out into the cave. Then the whole cave began to fill with smoke.

I coughed, and me and Bony thought the wind was blowing the smoke down the chimney, but Swatty went to the stove and kicked the top off and began scattering the wood and coals over the floor to put out the fire. Some of the Graveyard Gang had put something over the top of our chimney so that the smoke would come into the cave and smoke us out.

Well, that was all right. We kicked the fire out and that ought to have stopped the smoke but it didn't. The smoke came in worse than ever, and then Swatty knew what was the matter. The Graveyard Gang was filling our chimney with burning grass or straw or something and then stopping the top of the chimney so the smoke would come down into the cave.

The smoke got so thick we couldn't see and we couldn't breathe. Swatty looked out of the door cracks and there were eight or nine of the Graveyard Gang down there in the creek laying for us, but what could we do? We couldn't stay in the cave and be suffocated to death, could we? So what we had to do we had to do mighty quick.

Swatty threw open the cave door. He had picked up a stick and he sort of waved it over his head. Bony was blubbering again and I couldn't see very well for the smoke in my eyes, and neither could Swatty, I guess, but Swatty waved the stick and shouted:

“Come on, now!” he shouted. “We've got 'em surrounded! Charge 'em! We've got 'em now!”

Well, the Graveyard kids looked up at the top of the other bank and Swatty started to slide down the bank right at them, and me and Bony we started to slide down, and the Graveyard kids turned and ran up the creek. I guess they were scared that Swatty had seen a lot more of our kids coming. Anyway, they ran about half a block and then they saw there was just Swatty and Bony and me and that we were climbing up the other bank to get away, and they came for us.

We didn't have much of a start. We didn't know exactly where we were. We ran where the running was easiest, and pretty soon we came to a fence and climbed over and we were in a road. We turned and ran up the road, and the first of the Graveyard kids was piling over the fence already so we just let out our legs and ran! Even Bony stopped crying. He just turned white and scared-looking and ran. He ran so fast he ran in front of us and we could hardly keep up with him.

The whole Graveyard Gang was after us now, shouting and running and pretty soon we knew where we were—we were on the Four Mile Road because off in the distance we could see the big red building of the Poor Farm. We knew that building pretty well because it is one of the places we kept away from because they keep the crazy folks there. You never know when a crazy man will cut you open with a knife or something.