bath too long she would jerk
out the stopper, and as from the hole there came a loud gurgle--"It's
the Were-shark," Belle would mutter. And I would leap out trembling.

This old "Were-shark" had his home in the very middle of the ocean. In
one gulp he could swallow a boy of my size, and this he did three times
each day. The boys were brought to him by the "Condor," a perfectly
hideous bird as large as a cow and as fierce as a tiger. If ever I dared
go down that street and disobey my mother, the Condor would "swoop" down
over the roofs, snatch me up in his long yellow beak with the blood of
the last boy on it, and with thunder and lightning would carry me off
far over the clouds and drop me into the Were-shark's mouth.

Then Belle would sit down to her Bible.

Sunday after Sunday passed, and still in fascinated dread I would steal
quietly out to the gate and watch this street forbidden. Pointing to it
one day, Belle had declared in awful tones, "Broad is the way that
leadeth to destruction." But it was not broad. In that at least she was
all wrong. It was in fact so narrow that a Condor as big as a cow might
easily bump himself when he "swooped." Besides, there were good strong
lamp-posts where a little boy could cling and scream, and almost always
somewhere in sight was a policeman so fat and heavy that even two
Condors could hardly lift him from the ground. This policeman would come
running. My mother had said I must never be scared by policemen, because
they were really good kind men. In fact, she said, it was foolish to be
scared by anything ever. She never knew of Belle's methods with me.

* * * * *

So at last I had decided to risk it, and now the fearful day had come. I
could barely eat my dinner. My courage was fast ebbing away. In the
dining-room the sunlight was for a time wiped out by clouds, and I grew
suddenly happy. It might rain and then I could not go. But it did not
rain nor did anything I hoped for happen to prevent my plan. Belle sat
down by the angels and was soon so deep in her Bible that it was plain I
could easily slip up the path. Sue never looked up from her sand-pile
to say, "Stop Billy! He's running away from home!" With a gulp I passed
my mother's window. She did not happen to look out. Now I had reached
the very gate. "I can't go! I can't open the gate!" But the old gate
opened with one push. "I can't go! There is no policeman!" But yes,
there he was on my s