Red Fleece

u, Peter

e, seemingly afar of

ng man, what do you thi

on the sloping showboards to the street; scales glistened among the cobwebs of the low ceilings; also the floor was of turf, and doubtless very full of phosphor, an excellent base for rose-culture. The place dwindled and darkened to the rear, from which the head and shoulders of Samarc presently

what?" P

f, always a severe strain. He looked up presently, reached across and touched

e got a secret,"

ase as his tooth-brush, and the case had not b

age, or your face is

is fish shop isn

forty-eight hours straight. N

for fresh meat at su

because the train wasn't up. Yo

bit too muc

man living can shave in the saddle-so you won't be able to sp

sk what to

ew town every night. The only thing to name a town is a ba

r w

at him. "What

ut for blood, but I thought

h," said Boylan, "whether it gets break

elation to news....

you'll have rigged up a turkish bath and be

alled from a distance: "Put on the griddle, Peter-a regular steak.... I stopped in th

oylan drew in close, having washed noisily, and deposited the remaining provisions in

win this war must win through fam

nything about M

twisting his face away from the heat

onderous, hard, scarred with la viruela, a saber sweep, a green-blue arc in his throat where some dart or arrow had torn its way in between vital columns. His head was ba

-we were four," he added. "We drew lots to find out which one of us we must eat. That was a winter.... All you fellows may begin famine as soon as you

rench, and in the shadows behind they saw t

ylan asked quickly. "Samarc'

toast with Spenski-until we began to steam up

ffian, there's eno

hat, but you

s voice now dra

ht for him to fill the bags this morni

id Boylan. "Bull cheek for four

an excellent feast. For five days these two pair had cautiously, timidly even, stood for each other in that reserved way that much-weathered men integrate a memorable friendship.... Samarc returned. They helped him cache his provisions and drew him into the quadrangle around the fire.

ng chap. I heard him talking to you about the stars last

e for the Blooms, for which they gave me a position, and a small interest that has kept me from wandering far from Warsaw. In the first days they told me about Spenski-his remarkable workmanship-and pointed out the wiry, red-headed little chap with the quick imperati

is work?"

many cases doubles the price of the instrument. No one knows better what kind of a workman he is, nor can follow his par

work as a boy. That started him fabricating glasses to see them better. He has a supreme eye for light, circles and foci, and a brain that just plays with heavy mathematics-the most abstruse calculations. Yet, you see, he carries it all with the ease of a boy. I think men wh

er, as charmed with his companion

side of things from a boy, a matter of training and heredity. Of course, I would go. Spenski looked around the shop when I told him this. It was stricken, the machinery cranking down, the faces of the men white and troubled. 'I'll go, too,' said he.... I reminded him of her

ing out Spenski's real values. Think of using such a man to feed the hopper of a ra

were together again, but a little

i is a card. A good little chap

orth cultivating,