any," answered the old man. "That is a story cooked up by
some one who never saw me. As a matter of fact, I move rather
slowly."

"I see, you take your time," remarked the boy. "What do you use that
scythe for?"

"To mow down the people," said the ancient one. "Every time I swing
my scythe some one dies."

"Then I ought to win a life-saving medal by keeping you tied up,"
said Jim. "Some folks will live this much longer."

"But they won't know it," said Father Time, with a sad smile; "so it
will do them no good. You may as well untie me at once."

"No," said Jim, with a determined air. "I may never capture you
again; so I'll hold you for awhile and see how the world wags
without you."

Then he swung the old man, bound as he was, upon the back of the
butcher's horse, and, getting into the saddle himself, started back
toward town, one hand holding his prisoner and the other guiding the
reins.

When he reached the road his eye fell on a strange tableau. A horse
and buggy stood in the middle of the road, the horse in the act of
trotting, with his head held high and two legs in the air, but
perfectly motionless. In the buggy a man and a woman were seated;
but had they been turned into stone they could not have been more
still and stiff.

"There's no Time for them!" sighed the old man. "Won't you let me go
now?"

"Not yet," replied the boy.

He rode on until he reached the city, where all the people stood in
exactly the same positions they were in when Jim lassoed Father
Time. Stopping in front of a big dry goods store, the boy hitched
his horse and went in. The clerks were measuring out goods and
showing patterns to the rows of customers in front of them, but
everyone seemed suddenly to have become a statue.

There was something very unpleasant in this scene, and a cold shiver
began to run up and down Jim's back; so he hurried out again.

On the edge of the sidewalk sat a poor, crippled beggar, holding out
his hat, and beside him stood a prosperous-looking gentleman who was
about to drop a penny into the beggar's hat. Jim knew this gentleman
to be very rich but rather stingy, so he ventured to run his hand
into the man's pocket and take out his purse, in which was a $20
gold piece. This glittering coin he put in the gentleman's fingers
instead of the penny and then restored the purse to the rich man's
pocket.

"That donation will surprise him when he comes to life," thought the
boy.

He mounted the hors