Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1904-01-12
Second Cousin $uruh
z@@@@@@G@@G@@@@G@@
BY THE AUTHOR or
ANNE JUDGE. SPINSTER," "LITTLE l
ETC.. ETC.

companion with superfluous mud ant
water; and the man walked by his eide
studying the roadway and unobservant O.
the failing efforts of the weak boy whom
he had intrusted with heavy task.
1 "Who are you, boy?" he said, withou
looking up. What have you come tt
this sleepy city for?'
I-don't know" was the reply, and {
more sullen reply it was than usual, de
spite its jerkiness.
Have you run away from home? II
that it?" -
The man looked at the lad at this query
Looked with a grave earnestness that
betokened keener interest in him than
he had hitherto shown. sss-
T. IF that's it, we are in the same boat
boy" said he. II ran away from home
ever SO long ago." EE
Because" sad the lad, curious in
his turn, and even stopping short for an
instant for the answer.
| Because there was no place like home!
no place SO confoundedly uncomforta-
bic, and unsympathetic and hard-corner-
ed-and SO l put on my hat and walked
out And yet, after all" he paused and
made clutch at his portmanteau, that
he suddenly thought was in peril of slip
| ping from the lads shoulder-"Here. hold
hard, youngster; what's the matter?' 4
"It's all right, let me be; can carry
it. 1 said could" cried the boy, with
excitement, and marching himself and
luggage away from the touch of the elder
man. This sudden effort seemed too
much for the overtaxed strength of the
porter; he reeled away toward the foot
path, and went on with weak and totter-
iror 1arc f1,~ f@xr L
suddenly collapsed.
man. -
s'No; let me be, shall get up in min
ute. I'm a little bit giddy-the street
turned round all of sudden-but I will
go on with the luggage presently
ooh, no, you WON'T" said the man,
dryly; 'you should have never attempt-
ed it. was brute not to see-the boys
going to faint
He put his arms round him and lifted
him into the doorway as he might have
lifted an infant, and looked again at the
white, wan face under the old Scotch cap.
Poor little beggar" he muttered;
"why did I load him like this, and loaf
along by his side. Here, what's your
name? Can't you open your eyes, just
for a moment, till II"
Here his anxiety took the form of ac-
tion, for, still holding the boys head on
his shoulder, he kicked with energy at
the door against which he was leaning,
and awoke the whole house.
A snuffy old woman, in an old black
cap weighed down by grimy artificial
flowers, was the first to wrench open
the door; she had been sleeping by the
fire, sitting up for late husband, and
she appeared with a bound on the door
step, and nearly fell over the strange
couple in her haste.
"Water-a glass of water, please"
cried the traveller. "This child has faint
ed" ..e
"What-who-water child is
it?" she called forth. Then she realized
the urgency of the case and ran back
into the room, returning very quickly
with light in one hand and glass of
water in the other, at the same time as
heads peered down the narrow staircase,
and some one opened a window above
and asked twenty questions in stentorian
tones, without getting an answer to one
of them. ~
"You can come into the house. if he
amt going to die, mind you," said the
woman. HAS he been run over?'
"No-crushed, that's all. Give me the
water. Take off his cap and then let him
be. He will get the air that way" 81
The Scotch cap was twitched off, and
the woman and the man who was support
ing the lad leaned forward and stared
with amazement at two small side-combs
which were in the head, and which had
been used for fixing and drawing up be-
meath the Scitch cap profusion of raven
hair.
'Mussy on us, it's a gall" cried the
cay, what's her game?" said the man
very thoughtfully, as he echoed back tie
slang question of his interlocutor.
The girl heaved a deep sigh, and put
thin hands to her head, as if she missed
her cap already.
"She's been shamming," said the old
woman, who had grown strangely un-
charitable within the last few moments. /
'She will do if we can get her home,
said the traveller. "Are you better?-
how do you feel now?" he asked kindly.
I'm all right" was the slow answer;
so. What has been-the
Then she stood up slowly, with her
hands pressed to her temples, glared |
from the traveller to the woman with the |
light, gave a faint little scream of sur
prise, snatched suddenly at the cap dang |
ling from the fingers of the woman, and |
with one wild spring forward, passed |
from them into the rain and wind, and |
vanished away in the darkness.
The traveller made one or two strides |
after her, and then stopped.
why should 1 follow her, and annoy |
her further?" he said, as he paused.
He remembered that he had given his |
strange porter no remuneration for ser
vices thus abruptly terminated, and start
I'd off again; but it was too late, and an
other memory coming to him that he
was leaving his luggage in the street, he
went back for it, and discovered that it
was being taken into the house by the
with certain amount of un-
lue haste.
THANK you," he said, politely. He
'houldered his portmanteau, picked up
lis damaged hat case and, marched off to
Hotel, where the waiter re
'eived him urbanely, but was puzzled at
he quantity of mud which he brought in
llong with his luggage.
CHAPTER III.
Sitting in the coffee room of Muddle-