Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1907-12-15

Stuffing my shoes into the raincOat | pockets. I grappled with the agents enormous cotton umbrella, calculated as he observed with pride, to keep !. l ten acre lot dry under cloudburst NOW he directed succinctly iron, ! the door, just follow your nose IT, 1 the road Il spell till you come to q lot | of lights. That's the Pines. Go in anL hang them boots over the kitchen fire to dry out while you tell Betty that l 1 send merry Christmas and would be darned glad to send her something more if l dared
 I promised and started out oll |; roat. beSet by as many difficulties as evcY encountered Bunyan'S Christian IT.
 that wind my great umbrella acted lii;, the sail to d rudderless ship It top pied me into d mudhole one monc!it
 and tulnblcd me over projecting stone the next. the ballasting boots bt. ing at no time able to keep ill lint with my head. Moreover. I discovered I presently that the statement concert ing the ten acre lot was pure fiction.
 the umbrella containing as many hoirs as the agents conscience. Also discovered after q half hour. tramp that the Pines did not contain
 "lot Of lights" There. was only ont.
 visible, and that but faint glow in
 the rear of the gabled porticoed pil,-
 which loomed up before me, shuttereA
 and dark, just as had proved beyond
 doubt that the curious sucking sound
 which arose at every step came from ! water inside rather than outside those
 boots
 "A pretty reception this to give an
 invited guest" l muttered wrathfully
 thinking of Harold, we'll groomed, dry
 and comfortab ble, by this time in May ! vile and-perish the thought-.takin-
 dinner, 1t might be, with the Days. Jerking the gate open with unneceS- | sary vigor, I sought the kitchen by
 way of the back walk and an invisible
 wire clothesline. This instrument of mutilation took me on the point of the
 chin, knocking my teeth shut before ! could remove my to::.e-s,:c to d pi.,s'p oe
 safety and scraping back ward yiolen: ly, came to rest against my Adams ap- pie. When 1 had righteu myself ;;n 1 made sundry remarks appropriatetoti! ti!c clothesline and soothing to my Wou3!,!- ed feelings 1 stumbled up the la ]; steps and applied my knuckles to t,i' | door with d force which evitlelt'= startled the inmates of fife kitchen. | For an instant silence greeted III, | demand for hearing: then d heart.
 voice with a IIibernian accent arose | from within: And sure, me darlin'. ".' needn't be afraid to open tn door. i.<.-
 dad. with tn hammer I'll attinl to lii case.
 Some one approached the door. and :,
 faint and trelnulous voice asked,
 ''W-who is it:''
 A blast of snow laden wind whrlc0 l ID under the cotton umbrella, boxing
 nsy numbed ears and clustering a soft
 application on the nape of my neck
 Il am Mrs. Smiths cousin"
 shouted
 "Arrah he is, is he:' cried the Hi
 bernian voice. Lave him give tn colp; of his hair, thin.'
 The other voice was uplifteu ill the strange inquiry, preferred in weak
 tones, What is the color of your hai' i please:''
 Under ordinary circumstances i''
 stead e replying to such impertineur,' | I would not nave stood upon the ordci
 of my going. but with that storm as 1 sailing my back and the brm of tl"
 derby directing a gentle stream inside
 my collar l swallowed my ire and ;;i swered meekly, "Brownish, yergin" i' to golden red
 ".trrah.' came Rridgets triumplar tones. He ain't tn wan she's look.l