At the Foot of the Rainbow

shion that if Dannie had any sleep that night, he had taken it on chairs before the fireplace. At first Jimmy decided that he had a head on him, and would

the door, in a relieved voice. "I had a notion th

laug

fun?" inqu

d serve better than any invention, so he virtuously told Dannie all abo

t's too lonely fra Mary, and there's always a chance I might

y for him that he was running at the mouth with the finest flow of language I iver heard. I learned a lot of it, and Cap knows the stuff, and I'm goin' to have him get you the book. But, Dannie, he wouldn't drink with us, but he stayed to

lf, and rocked on

st see it now! I was pretty drunk, but I wasn't too

ined the details, and then he too began to laugh

timable privilege of carryin' me gun, Dannie, and have the first shot at the coons, fifty, I'm thinkin' I said. And if I d

wiped h

id, "I've something ready fra y

my. "A fellow could fall in love with you, and marry

ked many feminine touches that distinguished Jimmy's as the abode of a woman; bu

"I'll take your gun, because I ain't

gun. Go and get your own, and tell her where ye are goi

rted Jimmy. "I am not going. If you won't give me yo

Jimmy instantly relented. He smiled an old boyish s

ou are a man worth tying to. By gum, there's NOTHING I wouldn't do for

abin for errands like this, and as Jimmy's wood box was as heavily weighted on his mind as his own, there was nothing unnatural in

oad of wood. He was very careful to clean his feet on the stoop, place the wood without tearing the neat covering of wall paper, and brush from his coat the snow and moss so that it fell in the box. He had heard Mary tell the careless Jimmy to do all these things, and Dannie knew that they saved her work. There was a

e told you when you went after him last night that he would go back

at the start, and answered: "Noo, dinna ye misjudge him, Mary.

red Dannie that he face

s edifying the boys a little, and Jimmy dinna like it. He's g

, and a sore heart, Mary Malone had to smile-perhaps as much over

o yoursilf?" she asked. "You haven't

ie, "and I couldna leave-" He broke off a

ill furnish me protiction to-night. There'll be no one to fear. Why should yo

s forte. His lips opened, but nothing came; for as Jimmy had boasted, Dannie never lied, except for him, and at those times he had careful p

you to town, and stay all night with Mrs. Dolan. You can put the horse in my sister's stable, and whin you and Jimmy get back, you'll be tired enough that you'll be gla

hted Dannie. Anything to save Mary another night alone

Casey's, Dannie Macnoun stepped into the group and said to the astonished Jimmy: "Mary wanted to come to

o tell what his name really was, "in case of accident"; but he couldn't be heard for Jimmy yelling that a good old Irish name like O'Khayam couldn't be beat

my cut his crowd as low as he possibly could, but it numbered fifteen men, and no one counted the dogs. Jimmy led the way, the Thread Man beside him, and the crowd

to save themselves. Where the track lay clear and straight ahead the torch seemed to light it like day; but in dark places it was suddenly lowered or wavering somewhere else. It was through this carelessness of Jimmy's that at the first cattle-guard north of the village the torch flickered b

ke to seem unmanly by mentioning a skinned shin, when Jimmy Malone seemed to have bursted most of his inside; so he shouldered his gun and limped along, now slightly in the rear of Jimmy. The river bridge was a serious matter with its icy coat, and danger of specials, and the torches suddenly flashed out from all sides; and the Thread Man gave thanks for Dannie Macnoun, who reached him a steady hand across th

han a pull, and the three rolled to the bottom, and half way across the flooded ditch. The ditch was frozen over, but they were shaken, and smothered in snow. The whole howling party came streaming down the embankment. Dannie held aloft his t

allowed himself

tered. "I don't allow no man to butt into me when I'm on

s is an awful place. I will be glad when we reach the woods. I'll feel safer with ground that's holding up trees und

hollo so much. Every blamed coon

he spur of the moment. I must remember that to tell th

have time to grow their spurs before they are gone. Here's where we turn. Now, boys, they've been trying to get this biler across the tracks here, and they've broke the ice. The w

at!" he yelled. "It's a glare of ice and roundin'. Let's crawl through it! The rist of you can get through if I can. We'd bett

right with a shout. The Thread Man did not step half so far, and landed knee deep in the icy oil-covered slush of the ditch. That threw him off his balance, and Jimmy let him sink one arm in the pool, and then grabbed him, and scooped oil on

instant they struck the woods broke away baying over fresh tracks. The men yelled like mad. Jimmy struggle

r led the chase. With a man on either side to guide him into the deepest holes and to shove him into bushy thickets, the skinned, soot-covered, oil-coated Boston man toiled and sweated. He had no time to think, the excitement was so intense. He scrambled out of each pitfall set

ugh, in the top of a medium hickory tree, the light was reflected in streams from the big shining eyes of a coon. "Treed!" yelled Jimmy frantically. "Treed! and big as an elephant.

ed the wavering gun

rist, and ate our lunch. Then we'll cut down the tree and let the dogs get cooney. Th

where he could see the gleaming eyes of the frightened coon, and where all of them could f

o his with great relish. His jaws moved once or twice exper

aid Jimmy, taking a great bite, and

and mined the feast; but the boys who knew him laughed until it seemed the Thread Man must suspect. He indignantly declared it was a dirty trick. By the light of the fire he knelt and tried to free

ation streamed. Jimmy pulled off his coat and threw it aside. He assisted the Thread Man out of his and tossed it behind him. The coat alighted in the fire, and was badly scorched before it was rescued. But the Thread Man was game. Fifty times that night it had

the coffee sack ready. Baste cooney over the head and shove him in b

e was that from a tumbled pile of branches, dogs, and men, some one at last st

y-nine!" shouted Jimmy,

e persuasion the party agreed to go back to Casey's to warm up. The Thread Man got into his scorched, besooted, oil-smeared coat, and the overcoat which had been loaned him, and shouldered the gun. Jimmy hesitated. But D

he knew the way going back than Jimmy had known it coming out, that the Thread Man did remark about it. But Jimmy explained that after one had been out a fe

and well cooked. The Thread Man recited more of the wonderful poem for Dannie's benefit, and told jokes and stories. They laughed until they were so weak they could only pound the table to indicate how funny it was. And at the close, just as they were making a movement to rise, Casey proposed that he bring in the coon, and let all of them get a good look at their night's work. The Thread Man appl

g matter. He gripped his chair back, and leaned toward Jimmy

le

t boiler, and fixed

ans

ourself, and sored me for a week trying to chop down a tree with

dn't like the domned, dinky, little p

xt, "And damned if I like yours!" he cried, and catching up a bo

ck. For the only time on record he was ahead of Jimmy, and he caught the uplifted fist

daubed wi' soot, and bedraggled in oil, and he's made ye the laughin' stock fra strangers by the hour, ye will be juist even, and ready to talk to him. Every minute

the two friends

ed. Dannie stepped back, trying to breathe light

et me, I'll clean you up. If you'll take it, I'll raise you the price of a new coat, but

him by turning to Dannie and taking his hand. "Thank you, Dannie," he said. "You sure hilp