Argosy, Vol. 1 (1882) — page 301: what you’re looking at

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

292 He thrust the basket upon the re- treating priest, and as he did so a par- ticularly lively crab pushed up the lid and wriggled out. Giles thrust him back with a hand that twitched. He was so fat and juicy, and the odor of sea water about him was so strong and delicious! * Take them away,” he repeated, stammeringly, “I cannot break my fast. I am under penance. .I would pive my best cow to have them in the pot, but I cannot.” | The tears fairly stood in the simple fellow’s eyes. Brother Dunstan reluctantly took the basket once more upon his arm. ‘“ God be with you,” he said. “ You must not break your penance; though I regret ’ and his mvsterious fig- ure melted into the moonlhght. and the yonder of his visit with his basket of. crabs was still unexplained. Miracles did not take place every day at the monastery, but on this day there had been a surprising miracle. At vespers the Father Superior, praying fervently, had been endowed with supernatural power; and lo, all the unholy things that existed among the onlv partially sanctified gathered there had been transformed. There were, I regret to say, even 1n those hal- lowed walls, spite, and envy, and ma- lice, and evil speaking, and jealousy, and suspicion, and back biting, and irreverence, and a thousand and one highly objectionable things that the brotherhood would be well rid of. These elements had been trans- formed. They were changed, through the wondrous efficacy of the supe- rior’s prayer, into an army of fighting, scuttling, diabolical crabs! Once real- izing what had happened, there was an unseemly scramble among the broth- ers to collect these hateful creatures and put them safely under cover, and then the world must be rid of them for cood. The monastery soup pot was no THE ARGOSY. place for them, obviously. But boiled they must be, and eaten; and there were poor folk in the village to whose Sunday dinner they would be a wel- come addition. This very night the community must be clear of them, and they would cast lots as to which brother should carry them into the vil- lage and bestow them upon the de- serving. s we know, the lot fell upon Brother Dunstan. Giles Aubrey went back to bed, to forget his disappointment in slumber, and Brother Dunstan trudged away with his heavy load. He would rouse no more of these honest folk from their sleep, but would sit down under the hedge and wait for morning; and accordingly he sat down. But morning was long in coming, and his eyes became very heavy. Moreover, the crabs were continually popping out of the basket, and he must exercise vigilance to keep them under cover. A nightly vigil in his cell was a very different thing from this vigil in the open fields; and, finally, leaning both arms heavily upon the covers of the basket, to keep them closed, he yield- ed to slumber. % * * At the earliest possible moment he proceeded on his way, and stopped at the cottage of Dame Jessamy, which was just at the other side of the village from Giles Aubrev’s. Dame Jessamy was a joy to the eyes as she stood at sunrise at her cottage door, the cheeriest, neatest, rosiest old woman in all the kingdom. She bobbed a most reverential cour- tesv to her guest. ‘God bless you,” she cried to him; “and are you about doing good so early in the day?” | “T have come,” explained Brother Dunstan, gently, “to bring you a little cift. One sometimes is glad of a new favor on the board, and I have here a basketful of fine fresh crabs; ” he was GON GoOOO SS CO