Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1921-01-09

she bows her head kind o meek ike,
an says:
IAN right, Sam. Bring 'em in
when he was ridin' away I tackles
What was it she done in the
East" can't help askin' real curious.
How sh'd 1 know" he says i'm
patient like.
time tn boys gets here with the girl
an Bud swung on a sort O. litter be-
tween two horses. you wouldn't "a
known that town! What with the
bars all closed as to the front en-
frances an the grocery store havin'
the bottles out O. the front window
an canned goods substituted. an tn
whisky for not ~ Rnrartnm. an all
the visible Inhabitants slicked up t.
beat tn cars. an Mis- verbina Win
terbottom. dressed up in her best red
calico that she'd sent aIi the way TO
San Francisco for. actin as a com
mittee of welcome along with Mis-
Stillson as was a. Ruiz. an therefore
some brunette-wel1 I thought tn
boys would fall in a faint. But they
bore up bravely until they seen that
Sam was headin' for Mis- Bascomb's
They then looked like they was goin'
to stampede for sure.
ssRUT when they got there tn door
was opened by Mis- Bascomb
herself. an she was in white dress
with black spots. quite different from
the red dressing gown she usually
wore at that time O. day. An be-
hind her was two o. the girls dressed
real neat and proper. Mis- Bascomb
didn't say much. but she led them into
q room on tn ground floor that was
out all the tables and chairs. Bud
looks at her with little sickly smile
an thanks her with his eyes. an the
Alice Girl puts her hand in hers and
KIND OF chokes up when she tries to
talk. But Mis- Bascomb takes away
her hand and spends her time in
ordertn them to be quiet on TIL
street.
The next mornin' tn doctor come,
the boys havir. picked him uD on the
road nearer than they had expected.
He takes look at Bud and shakes
his head.
1.-TWO weeks he says. Maybe a
month. Just make him as comfort
able as yon cam But he DOM SOW 1t
to Alice. you bet. Alice thanks him
SO sweetly that he won't take a cent
rom he- ard rides over oncc q" twice
I'm the meantime Alice an Mis- Bas-
comb takes turns nursin' him. and tn
girls hangs round tn door. trying to
be helpful. There wasn't one O. those
girls that wasn't pleased es punch
when Alice asked 'eyn to make a bit
for bein' so kind thev'd get all pink
and blush like they hadn't done for
ten years. An outside tn house the
town went on like 1t was attendin' a
Bible convention.
But most O. 'em STAYED and hung
around tn eatin' house waitin' for the
cool O. tn evenin' when that Alice
Girl would come out for a little stroll
ut was the only time that she could
he got out o. Buds room. and she used
to spend it in walkin' round tn town
an explorin'. Quaint she called 1t,
an acted as though she loved it.
which struck 'em all funny. KNOWN
that shed seen real grand cities in tn
east. She was a little worried about
tn stores all bein' closed up, but Sam
explained to her that it was tn slack
time o. year and that the owners was
all in San Francisco, or some such lie.
and she took 1t all in just like what
they said about Buds lookin' 80 much
better. or what a fine woman Mis-
Bascomb was.
yep. I reckon II it had depended
on nursin' Bud'd "a got WELL"
Inefe was long pause and the
machine bounded from side to side Of
the road as Red stared straight ahead.
'Did he der asked.
"Yep," he nodded. ''Died real sud
den in tn night. with Alice holdin'
his hand an Mis- Bascomb sittin' be-
side him while Sam stood by the door
like he did all night, IN case he was
needed sudden.
alice gives a little cry and ne
comes In and sees that everything is
over and stands there like a statue
not KNOWN how to break 1t to her,
but suddenly he sees that she knows
But instead O. screamin' or Eoin' into