The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1895-02-07
THROUGH THE WINDOW.
Ey IL. G. WELLS.

Bailey into the study and put him On
a couch before the open window.
There he lay, a live-even q feverish
man down to the loins, and below
that double-barrelled mummy
| swathed in white wrappings He
tried to read, even tried to write a
little, but most OF the time he looked
out of the window.
He had thought the window cheer.
full to begin with, but now he thanked
! God for it many times day. Within,
the room WAS dim and gray, and in the
reflected light the wear Of the furni-
ture showed plainly. His medicine
| and drink stood on the little table,
with such litter as the bare branches
J of u bunch of grapes or the ashes
! of cigar upon !, green plate, or day
! old evening paper. The view outside
WAS flooded with light, and across the
corner of it came the head of the
acacia, ard at the foot the top OF
the balcony railing of hammered iron.
In the foreground was the weltering
silver Of the river, never quiet and yet
never tircsone. Beyond was the
reedy bank, Il broad stretch of meadow
| land, and then a dark line of trees
ending in q group Of poplars at the
bend of the river, and, outstanding be-
hind them, Il square church tower.
| Up and down the river all day long,
things were passing. Now a string
| of barges drifted down to London,
piled with lime or barrels of beer; then
a steam-launch. disengaging heavy
masses of black smoke, and disturbing
| the whole width of the river with long
! rolling waves; then an impetuous
| electric launch. and then a boatload
of pleasure seekers, a solitary sculler,
or 4 four from some rowing club. Per-
haps the river was quietest Of morn
! ing or late at night. One moonlight
night some people drifted down. sing
! ing very pleasantly across the water,
and with I; l:itner playing.
! In few days Bailey began to
| recognize some Of the craft: in d week
he knew the Intimate history OF half d
dozen The launch Luzon, from Fitz-
gibbons. two miles up. would go
! fretting by. sometimes three or four
times Il day. conspicuous with it's
coloring of Indian red and yellow.
and its two oriental attendants; and
one day, to i'ailey's vast amusement,
the house boat Purple Emperor came
to stop outside, and breakfasted in
the most shameless domesticity. Then,
one afternoon, the captain of a slow
moving barge began quarrel with
his wife as they came into sight from
the left, and had carried it to personal
violence before he vanished behind
tho window-frame to the right. Bailey
regarded all this as an entertainment
got up to while away his illness, and
applauded all the more moving incl
dents. Mrs. Green, coming In at In
tervAls with his meals, would catch
him clapping his hands or softly cry
ing 'sencore!" But the river players
had other engagements, and his encore
went unheeded. ,.-.-- EsE1
| II should never have thought could
take such an interest In things that
did not concern me-" said Bailey to
Wilderspin, who used to como in in his
nervous friendly way and try to COM
fort tho sufferer by being talked to. II
thought this idle capacity was dis
tinctive of little children and old
MAZDA But it's just circumstances. I
simply can't work, and things have
to drift; it's no good to fret and
struggle. And SO lie here and am ~
amused as baby with arattle, 1T this
river and its affairs"
"Sometimes, Of course, it gets bit
dull, but not often"
II would give anything, Wilderspin,
for . swamp-just ono swamp-onoe.
Heads swimming and = steam launch
to the rescue, and a chap or SO hauled
out with . boat hook. .. There goes
Fitzgibbon's launch! They have . new
boat-hook, I sec, and the little blackie
is still in the dump& don't think he's
very well. Wilderspin. Hes been like
that for two or three days, squatting
sulky-fashion and meditating over tho
churning of tho water. Unwholesome
for him to be always staring at tho
frothy waters running away from the
stern"
They watched the little steamer fuss
across the parallelogram of sunlit
river, suffer momentary occu]tation
from the acacia, and glide out of sight
behind the dark window-frame.
"rm getting wonderful eye for
Details" said Bailey. II spotted that
new boat-hook at once. The other
niger is u funny little chap. He never
used to swagger with the old boat
hook like that"
"Malays, aren't they?" said Wilder
spin.
Don't know" said Bailey. II
thought one called all that sort Of
mariner Lascar."
Then he began to tell Wilderspin
what he knew of the private affairs Of
the houseboat Purple Emperor. Fun
n.y." he said, show these people come
from all points of the compass-from'
Oxford and Windsor, from Asia and
Africa--and gather and pass opposite;
the window just to entertain me. Ono,
man foated out of the infinite the day
before yesterday, caught one perfect
crab opposite, lost and recovered 81
scun and passed on again. Probably
he will never come into my life again.
SO far as am concerned, he has lived