The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-12-24

said was for them, was barely discernible
alongside the black wheel. At the front, in
stead of one guard, three ''doughboys"
were smoking their pipes and boiling cof-
fee over a fire.
IAN phwat do yez think av thin fur a
shtall?" says Teddy, surveying the enemy
from under the stile.
"Wud yous tie up der tree on 'em," said
Snoopy, "an gag der tree mout's? Git out
wild yousl Well do der job heater; seer
Listen ter mel Pm comm up der road de-
centlike. akin for de Mint Jersey wot's
in der Second division. Eff der blokes shud
belong ter de Mint, why Pm lookin fur
me cousin; see? An then l engages the
| gang in conversation. An / tells 'em a
string O. stories wot dey amt heard, an
then it ul be time fur yous to work der
mill; seer"
There's nothin mean about you," said
| Ikey, and then the three began to wrangle
about details in way that would certain
| ly have exposed their position if the rus
Ting wind had not been blowing fresh
from the direction of the guard.
'tHould yer whist says Teddy, clap
ping one dirty hand on each of the others
mouths 'Phwat's the matther wild yez,
eh, Ike? Ohm ashamed av yez. Lave
Snoopy to do his Dist indivor wild the
| doughbyes. Cud ye intertain thin yer
silf? Ye cudn't"
''Then," continued Teddy, 'sye'd betther
be shakin yersilf, Mister Schley. Ut's a
gud shtep roun the pond an Et's getthin
cowld under the fnce. Whin we see yez
take off yer cap an scratch yer bloomin
head by the fire we'll git out o. this an to
woruk."
Surely it was growing colder as the night
advanced. The unsuspecting guards heaped
fresh wood on their fire, and Teddy and
key chafed their numb fingers and tin
Cling ears under the bleak stile The wind
came in shivering gusts that walled among
the graves and shook the dry BRAN les, as
if the ghosts of the buried millers were
playing hockey among the stones and rus
Ting together in their dryness.
In due time traveller, buttoned up in a
blue overcoat having a short cape and
nearly persisted with cold, approached the
guard fire and craved a little warmth.
Presently the traveller took off his military
cap and scratched his head and seated him
self by the fire.
Then two others, twice as cold as the
traveller by the fire, scurry back through
the brambly graves and make their way
down the bank to the race and cross it by
a foot bridge. Out of the cover of the
shadow they take nearer view of the sol
diers and the very entertaining traveller
who has lost his regiment.
"Begorra," whispered Teddy, poking
Ikey in the ribs, Snoopy is layin it down
to thin foine. Did yez hear that? He's
tellin thin he was privut ortherly wild Gin
eral Burnside an jest afther bein relieved.
He'll be KNOWN ther brothers mkt, an thin
he'll be putthin his fut in it,"
A plank lay up to the open window over
the cavern, beneath the great still wheel,
and Teddy crept up it till he lay on his
belly, with his head well in the opening,
and then he reached down an arms length
and lighted match, and then smothered
it the next instant against the boards. He
had seen the steps landing in a bank of
meal, and with a motion to key to follow
he disappeared inside. key looked twice
as big as ever he had looked to Teddy be-
fore as he crouched on his knees in the
small window and glared into the dark
ness. Teddy flashed another match, and
key made dash at the steps and landed
on his back in the meal.
In q few minutes it was not so dark in
the mill as it had been at first, but it was
a grewsome place at the best. The moon
light struggled with the dust and the
cobwebs in a few PARKWAY windows, and
great black timbers lurched and straddled
against what little light there was, and
got themselves tied up with crazy STAIR
cases and ran down into bottomless pits,
nobody knew where. Most pleasant of all
sensations was the gurgling and splashing
of the water down among the greasy,
grimy wheels underneath the creaking
floor, and the damp, moldy smell of rot
ting wood and sodden earth borne up on
the cold drafts that came in gusts through
invisible openings.
''Oi'm spalpane," whispered Teddy,
"but Oh loike ter see the shape av the
inimy Ohm grapplin wild" and with that
they fell to lighting matches in the hollow
of their hands and cropping about from bin
to sack. All the -four was male" as
Teddy put it, "barrin the shilled corn, an
the buckwhate, an the Imply chists."
Flour has riz,'' said key, and the two
began to creep on hands and feet up the
crazy stairs
'sThere's divil bolt here" said Teddy,
poking his nose through the trap; sit ul
be on the next f1ure. The haythen in this
schrap av country cudn't make male
widout hot biscuits, an they'll not be maxim
biscuits widout -four. 1t I'll be bran in the
hape at the fut av this holly posht, an
where there's shmoke there's got ter be
fire."
"Pon't talk about fire." said key twist
ing his overcoat about him and shivering
in the gusts that sucked through the
broken windows and shook the loose sash
and soughed among the timbers in the
otherwise empty LOTT
On the third floor, built against the
gable end of the mill, was the long, high
bolt shutting off the light and stretching
its dusty length from caves to caves under
the shadowy timbers of the roof Teddy
lifted the sloping lid, sneezed at the out
burst of impalpable dust, and in the light
of a match spied heap of encouraging
whiteness at the farther end of the bin,
and up above him the diaphanous cylinder
of the cloth covered bolt.
SAY ORR be maxim to sneeze ony more"
said Teddy after he had let himself down
on the inside of the bin and unslung his
haversack, yell clap down the led, Oike,
for oncet Oh begin ut Ohm worse than a
line mule sawin wood in the nighttime"
While key struck the matches one after
Jr Sc o,,I