The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1924-03-14
Episode Three.

Or all the pursuits, tnere
are few less attractive to the thinking
man than sitting in a dark cupboard
waiting for a house party to go to bed:
and Sam, who had established himself
in the one behind the piano at a quar-
ter to eight, Don began TO feel as IL
he had been there for an eternity. He
could dimly remember q previous ex-
istence in which he had not been sit
ting in his present position, but 1t
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 1t that aft
moor In the lane: but, now that he
was actually undergoing 1t, II was ex-
traordinary how many disadvantages
1t had.
Cupboards, as a 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 a 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 n Of those Indian mys-
tics who sit perfectly still for twenty
years, contemplating the Infinite; but
IT 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 a 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 Muirfield, after playing Hoylake, st.
Andrews, Westward Ho, Hanger Hill,
Mud-Surrey, Walton Heath, Garden
tity, and the Engineers club at Ros-
lyn, l.. L., when the light ceased to
shine through the crack under the
door, and he awOke with a sense Of
dull ~incredulity to the realization that
the occupants Of the drawing room had
called it a day and that his vigil was
over.
But was it? Once more alert, Sam
became cautious. True, the light
seemed to be off, but did that mean
anything in a country house, where
people had the habit Of going and
strolling about the garden at all hours?
Probably they were still popping about
all owe the place. At any rate, it was
not worth risking coming out Of his
lair. He remembered that Webster
had promised to come and knock an
all-clear signal on the door. 1t would
be safer to wait for that.
But the moments went by, and there
was no knock. Sam began to grow i'm
patient. The last few minutes Of wait
Ing In a cupboard are always the hard
est. Time seemed to stretch out again
unfortunately. Once he thought he
heard footsteps, but hat led to moth
ing. Eventually, having strained his
ears and finding everything still, he
decided to take a.chance. He fished
in his pocket for the key, cautiously
unlocked the door, opened it by slow
inches, and peered out.
The oom was In b~lackness. The
house was still. All was well. With
the feeling Of a life-prisoner emerging
from the Bastille, he began to crawl
stiffiy forward: and 1t was Just then
that the first Of the disturbing events
occurred which were to make this
night memorable to him. Something
like a r~attlesnake suddenly went of
with a whirr, and his head, jerking up,
cOllided with the piano. 1t was only
the cuckoo clock, which now, having
cleared Its throat as was Its custom
before striking, proceeded to cuck
eleven times in rapid succession before
s%ubsiding with another rattle: but to
Sam 1t sounded like the end Of the
world.
He sat in the darkness, massaging
his bruised skull. His hours Of impris-
onment in the cupboard had had a bad
effect or his nervous system, and he
vacillated between tears Of weakness
and a militant desire to get at the
cuckoo clock with b Ratchet. He felt
that 1t had done II on purpose and was
now chuckling to itself in fancied Sc
curity. For quite q minute he ragged
silently, and any cuckoo clock which
had strayed within his reach would
have had a bad time Of 1t. Then his
attention was diverted.
ITO Pc CNNTINIIEDN