The San Francisco call., 1910-08-14
The San Francisco Sunday Call

mushrooms. He was extravagantly
fond of them. but we seldom had them
because Abby was getting too old to
be up for early marketing. and father
always said that mushrooms should
, come in with the dew to be good.
/ had bought a little straw basker.
green and red and lined it with leaves.
and now l put on my white hounced
gown and my fiat green hat. so that
when I should come in with my basket
as they sat a breakfast in would seem
IKE little fete. Then 1 went a-tiptUe
down the stairs that would creak. for
could near Lee. the Chinese boy. stir
ring in the kitchen. and it would have
spoiled everything to be caught going
out with my empty basket When I
had let myself into the street / fer
very naughty and festive in my furbe-
lows at such an hour of the mornfnk
The city seemed SO dim and, stiI am
empty that the rustic of my petticoal
sounded loud as 1 walked along r.
The Washington street market wa8
fully SIX blocks away and they seemed
the longer for being so quiet When
got there the men were still taking the
crates Off the carts and the stalls were
not set out yet. It took me a long
time to find what I wanted. so that
when came out the wagons were
gathering on Montgomery street. and
in one or two shops the shutters were
already down. That made me hurry.
for was afraid of being late.
hew along with my basket in one
hand and my fiounces in the other.
The sunlight had caught the gilt ball
on the flagstaff Of the Alta California
building. and the sky that had been
misty was now broad blue above the
gray housetOps. In my furry I found
myself In Dupont street before I knew
it; but. after all il was the shortest
way. and everything was quiet not a
blind turned. The houses on either
hand We're locked and silent and moth
ing moved in the steep little street but
the top OF the green leafed tree half
way up the block
l was walking on the upper side of
the street. and drawing near the cor
ner. | was opposite Mr.. ROod's gam
bling house. which was shuttered tight
and looked blank as the rest. with
only the Slated half doors of the bar
and the dark spaces above and below
them to suggest that it had an inside.
l was just thinking / heard people
talking there, when suddenly a sharp
splitting noise seemed to ring inside
my head. the SLATED doors flew open
and a man fell out backward He fell
in heap on the sidewalk; and over
him. almost upon him, leaped another
man, with such rush, such face. and
such d wild look. that he filed the
street with terror.
| stood there. staring stupidity. too
stunned to realize what had happened.
He saw me, and for an instant he
stood. with the pistol smoking in his
hand--the handsomest man / ever saw
in my life. and the most terrible. Then
he flung the pistol into the street and
ran.
He ran down Dupont. and disap-
peared into Washington: and all the
while l stood there, listening to the
terrible loud clatter his feet made in
the silence. 1 looked across the street.
and blue smoke was drifting out OF
the Slated door over the man who Law
still. Then there seemed to come over
me at once the meaning of the horrible
thing that had happened, and l ran
l heard a shutter flung open in the
street behind me. I saw glitter near
the curb, flash OF steel shine of
mother OF pearl, and that was the pistol
he had flung away. L felt suffo-
eating, and my feet seemed weighted
with lead as if were running
in dream. And. strange enough.
what filed me with the widest terror
was not the sight of the thing that lay
still on the pavement under the drift
ing smoke. but the sound of those furi-
Ously running feet, dying away and
away into the sleepy city. I felt as il
| myself were a criminal pursued as
If the house was the one refuge that
would save me. and with a thousand
horrors at my heels l burst in upon
father Just sitting down with Mr. Ding
ley in the quiet, sunny dining room
AT sight of me both jumped up.
What's the matter. chi1d?'' father
said
/ looked around and realized / was
still clutchins my basket. though all
the mushrooms had fallen out and my
foot was through a torn hounce. and NV
nat hanging on my neck. Ny mouth
was dry. For moment I couldn't get
word off my tongue; and then. "He
fell, he fell,' I said, and, ..He is gone,''
where was it," The words seemed
to be in Mr. Dingley's voice yet came
as if from far off.
Mr. Rood's gambling house,
sasped. and felt the top of my head
getting cold and the floor beginning 10
move under me- I had a dim impress
sion of Mr.. Dingley rushing out of the
room with his napkin still in his hand:
then found myself sitting on the sofa.
with a singing taste of brandy on nv
tongue. and heard fathers voee say
ing: Cant you tell me, child?"
~-Oh.' 1 said. hes deadr And then
poured all the story out in a breath
L saw fathers face growing more and
more keen and grave and I could feel
his fingers gently around my arm as il
he feared my turning faint again In
deed. the room around ME seemed un-
real, but what had happened in the
street was still fearfully clear. III was
cut into my mind as If il were stiH
before my eyes, the topping lurch
Of the falling body. the silk hat
rolling into the gutter. and then that
fine terrible gentleman that had
sprung out after. The moment had
stamped him as clear in my memory as
years could have done i could tell
how very tall he was. how dark how
his brows made one black bar across
his forehead, how his eyes were set
deeply under them. how his chin was
wide and keen and his left Scheek
hicked by a white scar near the mouth
AT the time in my furious excitement
i only knew that I must tell some one
everything or the thing would kill me.
But whether it was fathers strange
stern face his seeming so calm and go
ing out so quietly. and yet in such
haste; or whether il was some memory
of the hunted look OF the man who had
hung away the pistol. 1 wished had not