Robin Hood's Barn 



history of his misdeeds. But at first there was no 

 trace of them. I had to run through the whole list. 

 Aphis^ — I knew them. A whiff of tobacco and 

 they dropped off a stalk like small boys who had 

 been hooking a ride. Borers, the thugs of the 

 garden. Murderers, every one of them. Still a 

 douse of Paris green at their entry caught them 

 hke rats in a trap and without so much as the 

 trouble of hahng them into court. Cut-worms, 

 I knew too ; I had sat for some time on the bench 

 and took a magisterial pleasure in laying snares 

 for their stupidity. But at last by running 

 through a long line of offenders, I came upon 

 Snail and Slug; aliases as suggestive of the char- 

 acter of these slippery assassins as those of any 

 notorious gangsters. Having once seen them 

 could one miss the application of Lefty Louie 

 and Gyp the Blood? 



How did one fight them, fair means or foul? 

 With slug-shot; and then as though suggested 

 by the mild afterthought of compassionate war- 

 fare, with wood-ashes and hme. I liked the soimd 

 of the first. It had about it the thunder of battle. 

 Indeed, the threat of its violence made me feel 

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