Old Caravan Days

ows of elder bushes. The carriage waited its approach. A figure like Zene'

t in his eyes, became a certainty instead of a wavering indistinctness, and he sm

been?" inquired

the direction with his whip, "huntin' you folks.

to them. He said he thought they would see the wagon-track and foller, not bein' fur behind. When he discovered they were not in his train, he was in a narrow road and could

," said Grandma Padge

responded

ther," said the he

responded Z

the carriage in sight till it's dinner-

gs down on a level with Zene's, and enjoyed the jolting in every piece of his backbone. He had had a surfeit of woman-society. Even the horsey smell of Zene's clot

t talked poetry all the time, and Grandma said he was daft.

y, that there were some q

; the landlord was as

k stump that Robert knew his eyes were fixedly cast on the horizon. The boy speculated on the possibili

?" inquired Robert, bracing hi

st I'd put up in the

you d

ot int

u do?" press

account of givin' me a chance to see if you folks

u stop

ENE EXCITES BOBA

ut by a house. It

kind of folks they were

'em to a spring o' runnin' water. Then I doesn't know but the woman o' the house will give me

rew in his b

man look?"

bekaze I was so struck with the looks of

lt in doubt whether he looked at the man and saw

she p

that flea-bit-gray, grazin'

his feet, "that's about as good-

ndulgently. "Ourn's an iron gray. The

e woman

otted sn

rt decidedly; "or i

and looked wild out of her eyes. The man says, says he

t, perhaps dimly reasoning that he had a right to the dignity of third person when repeating what he had said. If he said of

ou are,' I s'ze. 'I've got a team and a wagon out here,' I s'ze, 'and pervisions too, but I've got the means t

had money and things!" excla

ere ain't any neighbor nigher than five miles.' Thinks I, this settlement looked thicker than that. But I doesn't say yea or no to

id they

goin' and who was with me. They was the uneasiest people you ever see. And nothing would do but I must sleep in the house. There wa

a weird and unwholesome region, full of shivering delights. While the landscape lay w

ed Zene, "and I kind of kept my e

t an enemy watching at the window would be sure

and woman the

they whisp

the middle of the night they hushed up whisperin'. And then I heard somebody open the outside door and go out. I s'ze to myself, 'Nows the time to be up and ready.' So I was puttin' on the clothes I'd

obert Day, hoping since Zen

risive puff. He would not stoop to pa

socks and took the boot in my hand. It was all the gun or

Bobaday eagerly. "They always have a hole dug, yo

is account. "I guess I cleared forty rod, and I come down

thing fol

t man and that woman leadin' our horses away fr

" inquired

sionate glance at

ad critters away in th

to water an

ans to keep the wagon too, and make way with me so no one will ever know it. But,' I s'ze, 'if they tries to lead the horses

do?" urged Robert af

straight for

place. Robert Day braced himse

hat did

cautious whisper, "draws back the

woman?" ur

ogized Zene. "She was worse than th

lad Zene aim

nd breaks loose. He run right past the straw pile, and before you could say Jack Robinson, I

tried half-audibly. "Then wha

un toward the house, and maybe they run the other way. I got a-holt of old White's hitch-strap and my boot; then I cantered out and hitched up, and went alo

l these harrowin

e hazarded. "Don't folks ever unhitch other

orners of his mouth

been there," Rober

t mollified way, "if you'd seen the pile of bones

on

heap at the ed

d of bone

t I see one skull about the size of yours

e sat and meditated with pleasure on the pile of bones. It cast a lime-whi

cluded Zene. "I could drop of

e," propos

ead looked smooth enough. "I guess there's no dange

Grandma Padgett can,"

He never intended to let Robert Day be a

s to crawl back and take a nap, and you's to run the t

ponsibility to his satisfaction, he crept back and

white also felt last night's vigils. They drowsed along with

st clothes and perfumed them. His nose knew the breath of a russet, and in a dark cellar he could smell out the bell-flower bin. The real poor people of the earth must be those who had no orchards; who could not clap a particular comrade of a tree on the bark and look up to see it smiling back red and yellow smiles; who could not walk down the slope and see apples lying in ridges, or pairs, or dotting the grass everywhere. Robert was half-asleep, dreaming of apples. He felt thirsty, and heard a humming lik

e old white and the old gray just creeping across a railroad track,