Argosy All-Story Weekly, Vol. 123, No. 4 — page 61: what you’re looking at

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

DEADWOOD. chicken which had been intended for him. Spurred by the scolding of Nancy, both managed to swallow cups of hot tea, but rebelled at anything more substantial. Early hours prevailed here. For a little while they sat about the big kerosene lamp, and after Nancy had clumped up-stairs to bed—it had been her weekly ironing day— the sisters lingered a few minutes longer. Letty dampened another cambric handker- chief—her third that day—and sniffed gen- teelly. ‘“J—I’m afraid its impious! wicked old women, Hetty!” ‘* Nonsenset”’ “ To think of him up there alone in his own father’s house, in the very room he was born in, and on an empty stomach!” ‘‘ Didn’t you hear Dr. Knapp say it was the very best thing he could do, to fast?” ‘““'Y-yes—but I know I shall never be able to live through another day like this!” ‘‘ Sufficient unto the day, sister! Let us We're go to bed, and not cross any bridges till we. come to them.” Hetty rose, and Letty obediently fol- lowed. They let out the black cat, care- fuliy examined al} the doors and windows, lighted their bedroom candles, put out the lamp and slowly mounted the stairs, glan- cing askance at their brother’s closed door as they passed it. In the hall before Hetty’s room they kissed each other’s withered cheeks as usual, thurmured “ good night,” and popped through their doors like frightened rabbits. | It was only nine o’clock, and within fil- teen minutes their simple toilets were un- made, and their candles blown out. ' El- mer, brooding somberly, having failed to pacify his outraged stomach by many pipefuls of rank tobacco, waited impatient- ly for fifteen minutes longer before carry- ing out the plan he had had ample time to perfect. He could not be sure they were asleep, and he knew they had sharp ears; but his necessities demanded an attack upon the enemy base. He threw back the warm coverings, shuddered ‘a little, thrust his feet into the warm bed shoes knitted by Letty, and slipped his great coat over his flannel night- sy aol 567 shirt. Crossing the room inch by inch in the dark, he noiselessly uncaught the wrought iron latch, opened the door and stepped out into the hali. Feeling his way along the wall, he came presently tg the back stairs, and descended without mishap. ‘The woodwork throughout was so substan- tial that no board creaked, no stair gave warning. Below, the kitchen felt pleasantly warm. The stove was not yet cold, and the back log in the fireplace gave out not only heat, but enough light to point the way to the pantry-door. Not until he was inside did he venture to light the bit of candle he had borne with him. Its frail beam revealed a ravishing vision to his hungry eyes. There was a shelf of flaky pies—mince, pumpkin, dried apple, and half a custard. There was part of a boiled ham, with mounds of cabbage and potatoes nestling about its base. The re- mainder of the fricasseed chicken stood in a blue bowl, a nice rice pudding in a yel- low one. A huge pan of milk, thick with unskimmed cream, a cottage cheese, loaves of bread in a tin box, a glazed crock full of doughnuts, and a great pot of baked beans with a noble island of succulent pork, to say nothing of squadrons of jams, jellies, pickles, and preserves—the splendor stunned him momentarily, leaving him un- able to decide upon which point to direct his attack. Only for the moment, however. more the wreck of the larder was pitiful. Gone was the chicken, the cottage cheese, the rice pudding. No longer was the milk- pan richly coated with cream. The gaunt ruin of the hambone thrust upward from the scattered potatoes, the fragments of cabbage. Baked beans littered the shelf, and even the floor. Elmer’s plan looked not alone to the sat- isfaction of the moment, but to the grim siege of the future. In a clean huckabuck towel he proceeded to store all he could carry up-stairs and hide beneath his bed. ‘When he had finished, he unfastened the pantry window and threw it wide. He scattered® some crumbs upon the sill, dropped half a doughnut and a boiled po- tato outside. It might be that they would ——) — a lie 2 f In ten NOOK CO