Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 162: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

788 tumbledown bed in the corner. Harms- worth went toward the bed, holding the lamp over his head so as to see better. Its light showed him the face of a woman, a very old woman, wrinkled and worn by time. She lay like one dead, with eyes closed and mouth just open. He leaned over, and his hand touched the covers, pitifully few and thin. Instantly he threw off his topcoat and spread it over the bed. Silas brought his own coat from the other room, and the two of them together made a better covering. Harmsworth remembered the brandy, and took the flask from his pocket. “‘ Get me a spoon,” he directed. Silas found one. ‘‘ There ain’t no use,” he insisted; ‘‘I tried to give her the rheu- matism remedy, but she couldn’t swallow it. I think she’s dead, and I guess her relatives will be glad of it; then they can get what little she has left.” Harmsworth poured a spoonful of the brandy from the flask and put it into Aunt Maggie’s mouth. . He tilted it upward, and the contents slipped down her throat. Anx- iously the two men waited. The worn face remained impassive. Again Harmsworth filled the spoon, and once more they waited to see if Aunt Maggie moved. But she was still and inert. Only another spoonful of the brandy was left to them. Harmsworth made a last attempt. And this time the throat moved convulsively, the lips tight- ened and closed. ‘“‘ Quick, man; she’s alive!” cried Harms- worth. “We must get her circulation started.” He began chafing her wrists, Silas help- ing him. But Harmsworth sent the hotel keeper to start the fire, and in a few min- utes heard the blaze crackling. Then Silas unbarred the door again and went out on the porch, returning with a kettleful of snow. Soon he had the water boiling, and Harmsworth stopped his ministrations long enough to look about for such home reme- dies as might be in the house. They found a bit of mustard on a shelf and prepared a bath for her feet. Then the two tenderly drew back the covers from Aunt Maggie’s wasted frame, and attended her with reverent hands. She sighed a lit- ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. ‘tle. Perhaps no one had done such a thing for her before. And in a few moments she was breathing more easily. Harmsworth listened, and said to Hanks: “ Her heart’s doing a lot better. I think we have saved her.” Then he listened again and whispered “‘ Asleep,” and the two tipped back into the other room. There they stood before the hearth, si- lent. The blaze had become a glowing fire, and its pleasant warmth began to reduce the chill in the air. Harmsworth fumbled in his pockets a moment and brought out pipe and tobacco. Silas produced a corn- cob of ancient lineage, and the two ex- changed a light, still silent. Outside the storm swirled on, sighing about the house as though it were an animate spirit. The wood sputtered and purred on the hearth, sending dancing shadows into remote cor- ners, its light etching the men’s faces out of the dark background. Silas glanced up and saw that Harmsworth was watching him. “T was just thinking,” he said, “ that mebbe I’d been mistaken about you. I wouldn’t ’a’ thought that you’d do any- thing for anybuddy, with your city ways and big talk about the things you’d done. I guess I was wrong. You must be a pretty good sort of a man, after all. But I see that big friend of yours didn’t come. No —he wouldn’t, for sure. Them big fellows is generally all bluff. It was a tough job. There ain’t many even in these Berkshire hills that could have found the way to- night, or who could ’a’ got through if they had. How’d you do it?” “The same way you did, Silas. I set my teeth and kept coming; but you beat me. And you are wrong about Buchanan. He is not the sort who stays behind. He’d have come in a minute if I had asked him; but I didn’t think there was any need of two taking the chance.” “You shouldn’t have done it,” agreed Silas. ‘‘ It wasn’t so hard for me. I knew the road and all that. But it was mighty fine of you to try it. And I don’t think your big friend could have done, Montana or no Montana. He’s not the sort. You didn’t need any asking. That’s the thing - that counted. I-—— What’s that?” COnmmiclboool< (C@