Circumstances Make Heroes

Jack, tall and broad shouldered, Thomas, an intellectual young man, and Willie, who is neither brawny nor intellectual, love Mary Wilkins. Sheriff Wilkins prefers Jack, Tom is Mrs. Wilkins' favorite, while Mary has a sneaking preference for Willie. Willie makes no pretensions to being of heroic mold, and when Mary goes rowing he sits on the bank and mourns. One evening as Jack and Thomas are sitting beside Mary in the parlor talking with her, while Willie is lurking in the darkness outside, afraid to come into the house, the father enters and notifies the boys that he will give his daughter's band in marriage to the one who manages to apprehend the burglar now terrorizing the neighborhood. After the boys and the sheriff have started on their man-hunting expedition, Willie enters and Mary tells him the offer her father has made. She gives him a pistol and orders that he also go in search of the burglar. Hearing the return of the men, Willie, still holding the pistol, hides under the table. The sheriff goes upstairs, while Thomas and Jack resume their conversation with Mary. Suddenly upon them springs the burglar, who takes their revolvers and valuables. Willie, rising to the emergency, pulls the rug upon which the burglar is standing, thereby throwing him upon the boys. He then jumps out from beneath the table and covers the thief. The sheriff, hearing the noise, descends and takes charge of the burglar. Mary reminds her father of his promise, and, true to it, he tells her that she may have Willie as her future husband.