Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1886-05-13

covered nothing aud would discover moth
ing unlcss they went inside.
Nobody ever walked that path but Pin
ncy,' he said. "Do you suppose that any
grassn
Tho two men certainly found nothing
for they were seen 20 be standing In from
OF Pinney's door, looking with Inquiry nj
It as though Il had a voice and would
answer their unspoken questions, But th,
house was sphynx-like, and reachum ant
Guernsey returned 70 Barker's, not ever
daring to rap on Pinney's door No on,
mad raped there for twenty years, anC
habit asserts itself evon in critical omcr
gencics.
Nothing thero.r said Teachum "a h,
came up the porch steps.
Not . sound, " said Guernsey.
Nobody wanted to say t. Nobody
wanted 20 hear IL said; vet every one be
lieved that Pinney was dead. This sus
picion gave tone % their utterances. They
discussed Pinney's virtues and curiousl,
enough, through all these years Pinneyf
name and his presence had caused tho smile
OF pity or contempt TO come, yet now there
was confession that tho man had good
traits Jabez Peckham found the throng
nodding assent when no said that though
PinnoY was "monstrous solitary man he
had always lived uprightr To feachum's
suggestion that though "Pinney had not
been to meeting for twenty years he paid
aud generally sent n barrel Of pork to the
DONATION the Major added another to the
ehect that though Pinney had not voted
Tor twenty .yeaA yet he was good
Dimicrat and hisd a flag when Polk beat
Clay Jud Guernsey, who prided him
self upon his own gallantry, suggested
that though "pinney never spoke TO vim
min folks, he always took of his has whom
they traded with him, and bowed 'em out
the door like young beau" while Barker,
though the rival storekeeper Of the
Coruers, admitted that he should feel bad
70 hear that anything had happened TO
Pinncy, though we've been in the same
trade here for twenty years.
SO they spoke well OF him whose mys-
terious absence had alarmed them, aud
continued furtively TO watch the silent
red house and the little brown store.
A generation Of years have passed since
Humphrey Pinney began his career OF ST.
lcncc and automatic regularity. Fortwenty
years precisely at sunrise he opened the side
door OF his little house aud threw back the
faded green shutter that sheltered the rear
window. Then he went down the path,
stopping at the well 20 let the bucket down
into IL and get pail OF water, which he
carried into the store. The path thus made
across the lot had becn worn hard and
smooth by his always slippered feet. The
only exercise men ever saw him busy him
self about was with the bucket at the well,
or IL there was snow he cleared IL from the
narrow path. lie had trod that path, like
a sentry beat at sunrise, at high noon, at
sunset, and when the distant church bell
rang nine o'clock at night; back and forth
back and forth, eight times n day. He was
timepiece for the neighbors, just.as the
noon train N the railway that ran along
the tow path came 20 be afterward. But
he never was behind time. In the dim rec
objection OF older mon there appeared the
picture Of n stalwart. handsome-eyed young
fpll0vtf -hT eranful ha, r,f,I
and gentle. Then came the self-impOsed
light No one had seen him in any place
under the open sky for twenty years ex-
cepting in that path; no one in all these
years had met him elsewhere than in his
store. There he had good custom His
store was sooty place, with great rafters
cobwebbed and grimy by the years neg
lcct, and n log was always burning in the
great fireplace in heat OF summer or dead
of winter There was a musty flavor OF
whale oil, salt fish, and crackers, and
glistening berricade Of hoes ana rakes and
shovels was erected near the fireplace On
n battered row of shelves were calicoes and
ginghams, aud tough cowhide boots, ar
rayed like chess men in disorder, stood
upon one ond OF the long counter, while at
the other, in labyrinthinn confusion in n
glass case, were pins and noe lies, tapes
and thread scissors and rencils, aud in
greasy boxes 9sirnt sugar bulrs-eyes.
from which the sweetness seemed to
have oozcd away and left only the ribbed
anatomy OF confections. Behind this
by n pair OF pendant scales stood
Pinpey. His thin hair hung as nature had
10 in misty locks far down upon his should
ers. and tenuous beard combining with
his hair made fringe about, 50 that IL
seemed as though his clothes were sur
mounted by tippet all about the neck OF
thin gray hair. His eyes were gentle. and
bis mar'ier too. His feet were always
clad In slippers. his coat had been FURNISHED
by the years 50 that il shone as polished
wood, and the palm leaf hat had been
dyed To brOnzc-like color by the hickory
smoke Of wears. His method OF trade was
simple. When one asked the price OF any
article Pinney would produce placar1 on
which the fighres had been drawn and show
IL. No one ever dickered with him. His
communication was simply Yea, yea or
NAY, nay.m No one had heard him speak
another word for twenty years. Yet they
knew he was we'll informed No man at
the Corners received larger mail. Thus
all his business was done AID his strange
habit OF life was less cause Of astonisl-
ment than the fact that he took two news
papers, one Whig one Dsmocratic. Il was
this more than his silence that induced tho
belief that Pinney was "a leetlo queer in
his head
When noon had come and gone, and
there was still the mystery OF silence a.
Pimney's, IL became unbearably porten-
tious 30 that the neighbOrs quilted their
avocatiOns and gathered on Barker's porch,
while on the tow path there stood groups
% women. grooming among themselves and
casting shy, uneasy glances at the silent
house The awful mystery OF silence and
OF absence permitted the livelest AMI
gloomiest fancies, until somahOw IL passel
from lip 20 lip that Piuney lay upon tue
floor: then, with more vivid detail, IL was
said that his head rested upon the threshold
just inside, and with this fancy 20 seize
upon, the fGmished senses OF the throng
took up the hallucination ofOne, until they
all believed they saw n dark stain slowly
creeping from underneath tbs door, out
upon the sill and stone steps below.
When night had come Teachum and Jud
GuernseT were deputed by justice 10 90
and fathom the mystery. With a stout
stick grasped with firm grip Teachum
started, and with him Jud, with an an ,ient
pistol, two-barrelle1, charged with ball.
II was in the dim light Of the cleaning.
Behind them was dark mass Of men aud
women. like shadows creeping stsalthily
on. The two men stood by tho door in
iently listening for some moments. Thea
lhey started back. They had heard some
hing moving about inside, but with a soft.
itealthy motion, as they thought, like the
-usiling OF leaves on a still SINNERS night
Vita pistol cooked and stout stick upliftsd,
hey tried the latch and found IL yielded.
lt opened iiush upon Pinney's living room
fuernsey's lantern revealed that there was
no person in IL, but there came from a
partly opened door beyond n faint flicker
ng light as Of a dying candles rays. Softly
enough TeachHm and Jud went on, and
brave enough, for now they were face -
lace with danger aud stood upon the
threshold of the inner room; but they
passed not over the threshold The up
lifted pistol fell with a slow listless motion
BY iiuernsey's side and the stout grip on
Ieachum's stick was relaxed. The crowd
outside, seeing this strange hesitation,
pressed silently into the living room, and
thus saw all that happened. There was
bed IN the further corner Of the room. Tho
expiring flicker Of whale oil lamp upon
he table sent queer dancing shadow uDOl
.he walls. There by the bedside was the
form OF Piuney, his head
resting against the bed-post, while bending
over him was person whose presence had
,aused this strange mssm9ric Impotence OF