The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-12-09
THE EVENING STORY
A Thread in the woof.
(By wallace SNOWY

scouraged. 1t had been 4 bad day. In
fact, it had been bad month Gen
orally when he and Gambietta took to
the road and travelled through this
section the nickels and dimes and
quarters fell into Pietro's old felt hat
in a most alluring stream.
But this year the weather had been
for the most part rainy, and some
how Gambietta seemingly had lost his
knack. of coaxing coins from stubborn
pockets.
What few pleasant days there had
been had proved far from profitable
for the dimes and nickels and quar-
ters were conspicuous by their abb
sence. and Pietro and Gambietta
must both eat. fair weather or dull.
highways; in vain, whenever they
could find a possible audience, did
Gambietta do his cumbersome tricks =
Waltz, turn somersaults. die. go
lame, wrestle with Pietro as he would
but few scattered pennies had
lodged in the old felt hat. Bank
ruptcy, grim and CHASTITY, stared them
in the face.
Moreover. Gambietta was growing
painfully thin, even as If he had but
recently come from one of his long
maps of Information. and Pietro was
beginning to learn all too frequently
that handful of berries, gathered
from the roadside made a most I'M
satisfactory repast.
They plodded up the long hill slope,
the man shuffing along with his
shoulders stopped and his head bent,
and the bear following along at the
from side to side and his scuffiing
feet sending up choking clouds of
dust that set him to wheeling and
coughing in miserable fashion
They were nearing the top of the
NIL when a wagon with a portly, well
fed man on the seat drew up beside
them The well-fed man glared at
them in undisguised contempt.
Hey. you dago," he called. what
highway? Don't you know there's a
regulation against it in this town :?
Scares horses, it does! Take him
through the woods or the fields, but
keep off the roads-you hear?"
Pietro pulled off the old felt hat and
bowed respectfully; then, as best he
could, in broken English. plentifulIy
1nterspersed with Etruscan dialect. he
tried to make it plain that neither he
nor Gambietta would willingly or
knowingly transgress the law; but the
man in the wagon understood no
word OF the serVile harangue
None of your lip. now" he inter
rupted 1rritably, at the same time
puI.ing cope open ms coat to display a tin
ana that bear keep off the roads or
II run you both in-see p"
He waved his arm meaningIy to-
ware ware a little wooded path that led
from the highway to the left, and sat
IN his wagon watching the sorry pair
until they had turned into it and were
lost to view in its shady depths.
Beneath a giant oak tree that stood
miserably, his head in his hands and
great despair in his tired eyes.
Gambietta collapsed beside him,
rolled about luxuriously for a moment,
then turned on his side and went
calmly to sleep.
Pietro sat there for a time. a prey
to his bitter musing; then he. too.
stretched himself beside Gambietta's
rusty brown bulk and fell into trou-
bled slumber.
Now it happened that the path-a
winding wood road-which the two
had chosen, or rather which the we'll
fed man had chosen for them, as a
retreat, led to a cascade, where a little
stream fell over a series OF granite
lodges
It was one of the beauty spots of the
vicinity-a place much frequented by
the summer people who came to the
little town.
Even as Pietro and Gambietta slept
in the shadows of the oak smart trap
came slowly down the winding road
from the cascade.
man and an unsmiling young woman.
And it took no very great intellect to
see that everything was not entirely
pleasant between them.
Indeed, they had fallen into silence
that bitter silence which is harder
to endure than threats or recrimina-
lions or open censure. For some time
they drove along. the beauties of the
shaded wood road lost to their eyes
The man finally broke the silence
Perhaps it would be better if got
out and walked" he suggested grimly.
Perhaps it would said the girl,
mr. in "a CHI 49,, \
him climb down from the trap. After
which she f1icked the cob with the
whip and the trap spend down the
road.
The man stuffed his hands into his
pockets, grunted something inarticu-
late and strobe on in her wake. He
was pleasant looking young man. The
frown that furrowed his forehead SEEM
ed sadly out of place.
But there was something about the
mouth which said he had a will of his
own and somewhat more than his share
of stubborn pride.
Presently, by way of soothing his
nerves, he pulled from his
pocket well-worn briar pipe and be-
gan to fill it from his tobacco pouch.
But scarcely was the task compile
ted, when from ahead there arose a
sudden commotion. A cracking of I'M
derbrush, a jabbering of Etruscan dia-
lect, a haif-smothered feminine scream
sounded through the stiffness.
The young man pricked up his ears, |
and, as the scream sounded once more, |
he dropped the pipe, and tore down the |
path at a pace that had won him rec |
ords on the cinder path.
Around a bend in the path he sped, |
and there before him he saw a frantic |
ally plunging horse, an Etruscan wiring |
ing his hands and jabbering helplessly. |
while badly frightened bear crawled |
through the underbrush with many |
whoofs of genuine alarm
The young man jumped for the bit. /
caught, it and chung on desperately. The |
horse, thoroughly frightened, snorted |
and plunged and acted generally like |
a beast bereft of his senses.
With all his strength he strove to free