The Oakdale Affair [44]
to- ward the little store; evidently if he had heard anything he was assured that it constituted no menace.
As he entered the store to make his purchases a fox- eyed man saw him and stepped quickly behind the huge stove which had not as yet been taken down for the summer. Bridge made his purchases, the volume of which required a large gunny-sack for transportation, and while he was thus occupied the fox-eyed man clung to his coign of vantage, himself unnoticed by the pur- chaser. When Bridge departed the other followed him, keeping in the shadow of the trees which bordered the street. Around the edge of town and down a road which led southward the two went until Bridge passed through a broken fence and halted beside an abandoned mill. The watcher saw his quarry set down his burden, seat himself beside it and proceed to roll a cigaret; then he faded away in the darkness and Bridge was alone.
Five or ten minutes later two slender figures ap- peared dimly out of the north. They approached timidly, stopping often and looking first this way and then that and always listening. When they arrived opposite the mill Bridge saw them and gave a low whistle. Immedi- ately the two passed through the fence and approached him.
"My!" exclaimed one, "I thought we never would get here; but we didn't see a soul on the road. Where is Giova?"
"She hadn't come yet," replied Bridge, "and she may not. I don't see how a girl can browse around a town like this with a big bear at night and not be seen, and if she is seen she'll be followed--it would be too much of a treat for the rubes ever to be passed up--and if she's followed she won't come here. At least I hope she won't."
"What's that?" exclaimed The Oskaloosa Kid. Each stood in silence, listening.
The girl shuddered. "Even now that I know what it is it makes me creep," she whispered, as the faint clank- ing of a distant chain came to their ears.
"We ought to be used to it by this time, Miss Prim," said Bridge. "We heard it all last night and a good part of to-day."
The girl made no comment upon the use of the name which he had applied to her, and in the darkness he could not see her features, nor did he see the odd ex- pression upon the boy's face as he heard the name addressed to her. Was he thinking of the nocturnal raid he so recently had made upon the boudoir of Miss Abigail Prim? Was he pondering the fact that his pock- ets bulged to the stolen belongings of that young lady? But whatever was passing in his mind he permitted none of it to pass his lips.
As the three stood waiting in silence Giova came pres- ently among them, the beast Beppo lumbering awk- wardly at her side.
"Did he find anything to eat?" asked the man.
"Oh, yes," exclaimed Giova. "He fill up now. That mak him better nature. Beppo not so ugly now."
"Well, I'm glad of that," said Bridge. "I haven't been looking forward much to his company through the woods to-night--especially while he was hungry!"
Giova laughed a low, musical little laugh. "I don' think he no hurt you anyway," she said. "Now he know you my frien'."
"I hope you are quite correct in your surmise," re- plied Bridge. "But even so I'm not taking any chances."
o o o
Willie Case had been taken to Payson to testify be- fore the coroner's jury investigating the death of Giova's father, and with the dollar which The Oskaloosa Kid had given him in the morning burning in his pocket had proceeded to indulge in an orgy of dissipation the mo- ment that he had been freed from the inquest. Ice cream, red pop, peanuts, candy, and soda water may have diminished his appetite but not his pride and self- satisfaction as he sat alone and by night for the first time in a public eating place. Willie was now a man of the world, a bon vivant, as he ordered ham and eggs from the pretty waitress of The Elite Restaurant on Broadway; but at heart he was not happy for never be- fore had he realized what a great proportion of his anat- omy was made up of hands and feet. As he glanced fearfully
As he entered the store to make his purchases a fox- eyed man saw him and stepped quickly behind the huge stove which had not as yet been taken down for the summer. Bridge made his purchases, the volume of which required a large gunny-sack for transportation, and while he was thus occupied the fox-eyed man clung to his coign of vantage, himself unnoticed by the pur- chaser. When Bridge departed the other followed him, keeping in the shadow of the trees which bordered the street. Around the edge of town and down a road which led southward the two went until Bridge passed through a broken fence and halted beside an abandoned mill. The watcher saw his quarry set down his burden, seat himself beside it and proceed to roll a cigaret; then he faded away in the darkness and Bridge was alone.
Five or ten minutes later two slender figures ap- peared dimly out of the north. They approached timidly, stopping often and looking first this way and then that and always listening. When they arrived opposite the mill Bridge saw them and gave a low whistle. Immedi- ately the two passed through the fence and approached him.
"My!" exclaimed one, "I thought we never would get here; but we didn't see a soul on the road. Where is Giova?"
"She hadn't come yet," replied Bridge, "and she may not. I don't see how a girl can browse around a town like this with a big bear at night and not be seen, and if she is seen she'll be followed--it would be too much of a treat for the rubes ever to be passed up--and if she's followed she won't come here. At least I hope she won't."
"What's that?" exclaimed The Oskaloosa Kid. Each stood in silence, listening.
The girl shuddered. "Even now that I know what it is it makes me creep," she whispered, as the faint clank- ing of a distant chain came to their ears.
"We ought to be used to it by this time, Miss Prim," said Bridge. "We heard it all last night and a good part of to-day."
The girl made no comment upon the use of the name which he had applied to her, and in the darkness he could not see her features, nor did he see the odd ex- pression upon the boy's face as he heard the name addressed to her. Was he thinking of the nocturnal raid he so recently had made upon the boudoir of Miss Abigail Prim? Was he pondering the fact that his pock- ets bulged to the stolen belongings of that young lady? But whatever was passing in his mind he permitted none of it to pass his lips.
As the three stood waiting in silence Giova came pres- ently among them, the beast Beppo lumbering awk- wardly at her side.
"Did he find anything to eat?" asked the man.
"Oh, yes," exclaimed Giova. "He fill up now. That mak him better nature. Beppo not so ugly now."
"Well, I'm glad of that," said Bridge. "I haven't been looking forward much to his company through the woods to-night--especially while he was hungry!"
Giova laughed a low, musical little laugh. "I don' think he no hurt you anyway," she said. "Now he know you my frien'."
"I hope you are quite correct in your surmise," re- plied Bridge. "But even so I'm not taking any chances."
o o o
Willie Case had been taken to Payson to testify be- fore the coroner's jury investigating the death of Giova's father, and with the dollar which The Oskaloosa Kid had given him in the morning burning in his pocket had proceeded to indulge in an orgy of dissipation the mo- ment that he had been freed from the inquest. Ice cream, red pop, peanuts, candy, and soda water may have diminished his appetite but not his pride and self- satisfaction as he sat alone and by night for the first time in a public eating place. Willie was now a man of the world, a bon vivant, as he ordered ham and eggs from the pretty waitress of The Elite Restaurant on Broadway; but at heart he was not happy for never be- fore had he realized what a great proportion of his anat- omy was made up of hands and feet. As he glanced fearfully