Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1924-02-01
Episode Three.

|, are rev less attractive 10 Ine Inlnkln
man than sitting in a dark cupboar
t waiting for house party TO go to bed
!. and Sam, who had established himsel
e in the one behind the piano at a quar-
e ter to eight, soon began to feel as
5 he had been there for an eternity. HI
! could dimly remember previous ex
istence in which he had not been sit
, ting in his present position, but Il
seemed so long ago that 1t was
shadowy and unreal to him. The or
deal of spending the evening in this
retreat had not appeared formidable
when he had contemplated it that aft
ernoon in the lane: but, now that he
was actually undergoing 1t, 1t was ex-
traordinary how many disadvantages
it had
Cupboards, as class, are badly ven
| tilated, and this one seemed TO contain
| no air at all: and the warmth of the
night, combined with the cupboard's
natural STIFFNESS, had soon begun TO
reduce Sam to condition of pulp. He
seemed to himself to be sagging like
an ice-cream in front of q fire. The
darkness, too, weighed upon him. He
was abominably thirsty. Also he
wanted to smoke. In addition to this
the small of his back tickled, and he
more than suspected the cupboard Of
harboring mice. Not once nor twice
but many hundred times he wished
that the ingenious Webster had
thought of something simpler.
His was a position which would
have suited one of those Indian mvs-
tics who sit perfectly still for twenty
years, contemplating the Infinite: but
1t reduced Sam to an almost imbecile
state of boredom. He tried counting
sheep. He tried going over his past
life in his mind from the earliest mo-
ment he could recollect, and Thought
he had never encountered duller
series of episodes. He found a tenn
porary solace by playing a succession
Of mental golf games over all the
courses he could remember, and he
was just teeing up for the sixteenth
At Muirfeld, after playing Hoylake. ST
Andrews, Westward Ho, Hanger Hill,
Walton Heath. Garden
City, and the Engineers club at Ros-
yn, l.. l., when the light ceased 70
shine through the crack under tbe
1oor, and he awOke with a sense of
1ull incredulity to the realization tbat
he occupants of the drawing room had
allied 1t day and that his vigil was
,ver.
But was 1t? Once more alert. Sam
ecame cautious. True, the light
eemed to be off, but did that mean
nything in country house. whore
eople had the habit of going and t
trolling about the garden at all hours2
ropaoly they were still popping about 7
IL over the place. At any rate, it was :
OF worth r1sking coming out of his
1T. He remembered that Webster
al promised to come and knock an
l-ciear signal on the door. 1t would
safer to wait for that
But the moments went by. and there
as no Knock. Sam began to grow i'm
uent. The last few minutes of wait
IN cupboard are always the hard
l. lime seemed to stretch out again
-ermlnaDly. Once he thought he |
ara footsteps, but that led to moth
:. Eventually, having strained his
rs ana finding everything still. he
cided to take a chance. He fsbad
MS pocket for the key, cautiously z
locked the door, opened 1t by slow -
mes, and peered out.
Lhe room was In blackness Tho n
use was still. All was well. With rs
feeling of life-prisoner emerging X
III tLe Bastllle, he began to crawl =
ny forward: and it was lust then n
l the nrst OF the disturbing events f fee
urred which were to mako this Fis
ut memorable to him. Something Ia
rattlesnake suddenly went off Use
whirr, and his head. ierking nm ISL
iued with the piano. 1t was only -
CUCKOO clock, which now. having and
RED It's throat as was its custon, s29
IRE striking, proceeded TO cuck ING
en- times in rapid succession before =
Slding with another rattle. but ~ UL
IL sounded like the end ~ tha II
Id. u Vi uhe Boos
: SAT IN the darkness, massagino -
'ruised skull. His hours OF lmnris' ~
sn' IN the cupboard had had a had
= on his nervous system. and he Can
iaisd between tears Of weakness II }
q nuliant desire 10 get az the ~
." % cock with q Ratchet, He felt Of r
lt pad done IL on purpose and was m
'Npekilng 10 Itself 10 fsncied ST.. az
y rof quite q minute he raged glsh
~ ana any cuckoo clock which seds.
sva3eq "iibip his reach Womb posii
nHq q bad dime of n. Then M an'g
iiop was diverted. ' insi
4g ~ coArNuED) tet