Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-03-05
THE SPHINX APPLE
By O. HENRY S.Ss si5S Il. $a!s s5s: f

mn WENTY miles ont from Paradise
and fifteen miles short of Sunrise
- City, Bildad Rose, the stage driver,
stopped his team. furious snow had
been falling all day. Eight inches it
measured now, on level. The remainder
of the road was not without peril in day
| light, creeping along the ribs and bl1ou
] range of ragged mountains. Now, when
! both snow and night masked its dangers,
further travel was not to be thought of,
said Btldad Rose. SO he pulled up his
! four stout horses, and delivered to his
five passengers oral deductions of his
wisdom.
Judge Menefee, to whom men granted
leadership and the 1nitiatory rs upon
| silver saIver, sprang from the coach at
once -Four of his fellow passengers fol
lowed, inspired by his example, ready
to explore, to objurgate, to resist, to sub
NIT, to proceed, according as their prime
| factor might be inclined to sway them.
/ The fifth passenger, young woman, re-
/ manned in the coach.
! Bildad had haltetd upon the shoulder
I of the first mountain spur. Two rail
/ fences, ragged black, hemmed the road.
/ Fifty yards above the upper fence, show
/ ing dark blot in the whitei drifts, stood
small house. Upon this house descend
ed-or rather ascended-Judge Menefee
/ and his cohorts with boyish whoops born
| Of the snow and stress. They called;
| Iuey pounded at WINDOW ana uOoT. Al
! the inhOspitable silence they waxed res
/ tive; they assaulted and forced the preg-
nable barriers, and invaded the premises.
The watchers from the coach heard
stumbhngs and shoutings from the IN
terror Of the ravaged house. Before long
q light within fickernd, glowed, famed
/ high and bright and cheerful. Then came
running back through the driving flakes
1 the exurberant explorers. More deeply
/ pitched than the clarion-eveu orchestral
] N no of MpQpfea
proclaimed the succOr that lay In Apo
stion with their state Of travail. The
one room Of the house was uninhabited,
I he said, and bare Of furniture; but 1t
| contained a great fireplace; and they had
! discovered an ample store Of chopped
wood in a lean-tO at the rear. Housing
i and warmth against the shivering night
were thus assured For the placation
/ bic, not ruined beyond service, with hay
in loft. near the house.
Gentlemen" cried Bidad Rose from
his seat. swathed In coats and robes,
tear me down two panels Of that fence.
I so l can drive in. That is old man Red
ruths shanty. l thought we must be
/ nigh 1t. They took him to tina foolish
| house in August
at the snow capped rails. The exhOrted
I team tugged the coach up the slant to
I the door Of the ediice from which
! midsummer madness had ravished its
I
( passengers began TO unhitch. Judge Men
. efee opened the door Of the coach, and
| removed his hat.
Il have to announce. Miss Garland"
| said he, the enforced suspension Of our
/ Journey The driver asserts that the risk
in travelling the mountain road by night
/ is too great even 10 consider 1t will be
necessary to remain IN the shelter OF this
/ house until morning. I beg that you
will feel that there IS nothing to fear be
/ yOnd a temporary inconvenience. I have
personally inspected the house, and find
/ that there are means 10 provide against
I the rigor of the weather at least. You
/ shall be made as comfortable as possible.
/ Permit me TO assist you TO alight.'
/ To the judges side came the passenger
/ whose pursuit in life was the placing Of
/ the Little Goliath windmill His name
was Dunwood; but that alters not
much. In travelling merely from Paradise
! to Sunrise City one needs little or no
name. Still one who would seek to d.
vide honOrs with Judge Madison L.
Menefee deserves a cognomenal peg upon
/ which fame may hang a wreath. Thus
/ spake. loudly and buoyantly, the aerial
miller:
Guess you'll have to climb out Of the
| ark. Mrs. Mcfarland. This wigwam amt
! exactly the Palmer House, but IL turns
snow, and they won't search your grip
/ for souvenir spoons when you leave.
/ We've got a fire going; and well tx you
| up with dry Trilbys and keep the mice
away, anyhow, all right. all right"
One Of the two passengers who were
! struggling in a melee OF horses harness
/ snow and the sarcastic inJunctions Of
/ Bildad Rose. called loudly from the
I whirl OF his volunteer duties: Say
some OF you fellows get Miss Solomon
into the house, will you? Whoa, there!
/ you COMPOUNDED brute :"
Again must 1t be gently urged that in
/ travelling from Paradise to Sunrise City
an accurate name is prodigality When
/ Judge Neutrality-suspicious. - the act by
/ his gray hair and widespread repute-
! had introduced himself to the lady pas
senger, she had herself sweetly breathed
name in response, that the hearing OF
/ the male passengers had ydrlously inter
preted. In the not unjealous spirit OF
rivalry that eventuated. each chung stub
/ bornly To his own theory. For the lady
/ passenger to have reasseverated or cor
rected would have seemed didactic II not
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