Sandy

hilly night in late September, as he and Sandy huddled

ab? Here's a quarter fer you and thirty cents

led his coat collar about his ears and shivered. "The man as sold 'em to me

's like the man what gulled us on the penkn

ght's lodgin' and some

y: "A feller could do me ninety-nine good turns, and if he done me one bad one it would wipe

you forget

I ain't t

lter himself from the wind. A continued diet of bread and

trying to bite through a piece of stale bread. A baker had let

remedy so many ills, heat or cold, thirst or hunger. But the str

ten," he said, feeling the nee

dawg," announced Ricks. "I

istened by the hour to thrilling accounts of life on t

cents per week,

n the hay and tried to sleep, but there was a queer pain that s

they tramped disconsolately

their baskets, but their own

crook of a river's elbow. The rain had stopped, and the belated sun, struggling through the clouds, made up for lost time by refl

ks, pointing down the hill. "Wh

in the road, between the horse and the fence. A

d Ricks, starting to pa

fall?"

ust have ridden too hard. I'll be all right in a minute

the details of his riding-costume down t

mpanion, who was inspecting the hor

tly produced t

s followed the bottle, and before Ricks had returned it to his pocket he held out his hand. "I beli

continued the stranger. "T

is this, anywa

oy, trying to keep hi

ethin' was doin

s, I b

tin' to go back!" cried Sandy. "Come

turned. "Haven't we seen t

r pale and shaky, but you bet yer l

ick," urg

Ricks, with a smile

to town to arrange matters, while Sandy stopped in a grocery to buy their supper. His interest in the show had been of short duration. He felt listless and tired,

the fat woman behind the counter

oin' a jig inside of me," said

said the fat woman. "You wait here,

urned with a small coffee-pot and a cup and saucer. Sa

antly. "I reckon you don't know whi

e corner of Main street and the bridge he found Ricks, who had rented a stand and w

roscopes!" he exclaimed ruefully. "Let's be l

givin' 'em the talk," said Ricks. "Chuck

tie. Sandy saw that public taste must be guided in the proper direction. He stepp

fell on his broad, straight shoulders and on his shining tumbled hair; but it was not the light of the torch that gave the brightness to his eyes and the flush to his cheek. His head was throbbing, but he felt a curious sense of elation. He felt that

hen you get hard up it will make a dime look like a dollar, and a dollar like a five-dollar gold p

ature and unlike in expression. The young horseman of the afternoon was impatiently pushing his way through the crowd, while close b

wering his voice unstea

ossed the l

aid Sandy. "You'll have t

at in the shadow of the big box and fought his fight. The coffee and the excitement no longer kept him up; he was faint, and his breath came short. Above him he heard Ricks's rasping voice still talking to the few customers who were left. He knew,

a sob in his throat, "that I can'

ing, decided to follow the circus, which was

n push on to-night and be ready

s head was getting queerer all the time, and he could not remember whethe

d abruptly; "I'm aft

ou goin

in' to

on baby clothes and being wheeled in a perambu

asked in ge

urst out Sandy, passionately. "This ain

ously. "Look-a here, are you

said Sand

backward look he left his business partner of three month

e road and talked. He knew there was nobody to listen, but still he kept on, softly talking about mi

it was a great black witch who bent over him, and he instinctively felt about in the grass for the tender, soft hand

y voice. Sandy opened his eyes. A tall old negro woman bent over h

er?" she asked, peerin

nd microscopes and never being able to speak to her. He knew he

you come

, Limerick," m

u. Put yer arm on my shoulder; dat's right. Don't you mind where you gwine at. I got yer bundle. It ain't fur. Hit's dat little house a-hangin' on de side of de hill.

e dark, up a hillside that seemed never to end, across a br

left off and the real began. He was vaguely conscious of his left foot being tied to the right bedpost, of a lock of his hair being cut off and burned on the hearth, and of a low monotonous ch

jers out. She gwine stay by you. You hol' on to her h