The Montgomery tribune. (Montgomery City, Mo.) 1892-1910, 1909-04-16
CHAPTER X.
The Voyage Of the Ark.

c~allate, to the loss of Lord James. |
could hear 'em hailing each other,
asking: What's become of my golf
s~tocking?" and the like Of that.
Trouble seemed to be thst they had
too many clothes. If they'd been lin.
tied to one suit for Sunday and a pair
of overalls to cover up the ruins the
rest OF the week, like l was, they'd
have got along better.
But they was rugged at last and at
breakfast was clipper as a pair OF
mackerel gulls. They commenced to
talk garden. Consarn 'em, l hoped
they'd forgot that.
THE loan business is all right, Sol,-
says Van. "Scudder VII bring us loan
at three dollars a boat load. He says
it'll take about Is boat loads"
HE does, hey?" says l. "At three
dollars per? That's generous of him.
Anything else?"
yes. He is to continue TO bring us
milk. We have decided that perhaps
for the present we had better not keep
a cow"
Small favors thankfully received. I
"oc Sido tidJ uhiihlu6 wa III L BOlu6 "
be added to the general joyfulness.
Il think that's q nice, f~ar-sighted de-
c%is!on," says l. Unless you could
learn your COW to eat seaweed, l don't
see"
"Oh, Scudder could bring us hay
says Van. And we could give the
animal the spare vegetables from the
garden"
"'Twould be a long time between
meals for the poor %critter, I'm afraid"
says 1. How much is Nate charging
for the milk"
Nine cents a quart. That's only
one cent more than you have to pay
in New York, and, when you consider
how far he has to bring it, l call it
dirt cheap"
Well, twas about as cheap as the
garden dirt, but l didn't say nothing.
Were going to raise chickens, too"
says Hartley. %"Scudder, so Van says,
will sell us live Plymouth Rocks at 80
cents a pound. Skipper, you might fix
up the poultry yard in your spare
time" 3
In my spare" time. There was a joke
in that, but 1t want so intended.
Then Van Brunt began to preach
pig" Seems Nate had told him that
the one thing needful to turn Ozone
island into a genuine Natural Life was
a pig, and Of course he, Nate, had the
only pig in creation that was worth
buying.
He showed it to me the other morn
ing" says Van. The prettiest little
black and white fellow you ever saw,
Martin. Miss Talford saw him yes
terday before she came over, and
she said he was a dear. You might be
repairing a sty for him in your odd
moments, SOL"
My odd moments, and my even
ones, too, was pretty we'll filled up for
the next few days. The Heavenlies
loafed and superintendent and smoked
and fshed and ate. All l had to do
was to turn out with the gulls, and
cook breakfast, and clear away, and
wash dishes, and build hen yards, and
fix up a leaky pig pen, and get ready
them blessed gardens, and sweep and
dust, and dig clans, and make beds,
and get dinner, and sail a boat, and
chop wood, and bundle up washing for
Nate to take to Hubby Ann, and scour
knives, and-and-well, there was
plenty more. Seven or eight hundred
odd jobs have slipped my memory.
The gardens was ready for planting
on a Wednesday. Nate fetched over
the last dory load of loan the night
afore and l spread it afore / got sup
per. The chickens and the hog was to
come on Thursday. I was to take the
skiff and go after 'em, Nate being en-.
gagged to cart a carry-all load of board
ers to Ostable. Hubby Ann was -
have the live stock at the shore ready
for me. .
"How's the menagerie coming,
Mater I asked. in cages or On the
hoof?"
"Oh, III box 'em for you, Sol" he
says. THE hens in one box and the
pig in another. The pigs pretty thin
Il mean Young, SO he won't be no heft
to you"
Wednesday morning the Heavenly
gardening begun. One patch for Van
Brunt and the other for Hartley. They
had seeds by the peck. more or less,
brought over by Scudder's express and
charged for at underraker's prices.
The Twins started In with a ven
geance. l showed ON how. For once
was superintendent and the job
suited me i~ne-nothing would have
tickled me more, unless twas 90 turn
in and take a nap.
Van takes one hoe and Hartley the
other. Each of 'em vas actually
round-shouldered from the weight OF
the seeds in their pockets. They hao
cucumber seeds. and melvn seeds. and
land knows what, Wonder to me wal
they didn't try and pineapplea
Aad In the middle OF July!
Now, Martin says van. Here
goes! Bet you nifty ! get the hrss
cucumbarn