The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1926-02-05
The Basket of Snakes g By Charlie. s~.sy

a disposition to sleep. Sit down and smoke.
LIN ~, long is it since you left the west p
1nree weeks" Hugh answered, as he lit
q oIsafeI and wandered uneasily about the
Os0SmT1. feel like a fish out Of water here. ="
GUS" ways u OecOmlns ampnlDi-
But I don't know that I want to-" Hugh
0DJected, in the conservatism Of his youth.
NJ LOOK another turn, lingering at objects
WlInOut seeing them. Mahan smoked quiet
~; certain that sooner or later the young
feIoW would talk.
1 Qont want that money" Hugh burst
out at last. 81 never wanted to come here
az All. All this means nothing to me. /
haO my life out there and this is
changing it all about"
what had you planned for yourself p
1 was starting out in civil engineering.
l mad Just got my first job on a big
power project up in the Cascades. I loved
There was pride in that announcement
one could imagine him, standing on the
euse OF some great cash in the earth, done
~ IN gray cords, much leather, and all
me cub engineers consciousness Of being
VlFle and picturesque.
/ never wanted to come to this damn
Rhace-I merely came because of .
Because Of his mother. he meant. That
was the reason for Father Sebastian's
presence, too. This belated paternal recOg-
nltlon Of Hugh was the final vindicatiOn
OF Mrs. McAuSland. She, and not Peter
- 1-Cf 141 Nv ~ =
wealth, was the force which had drawn
them both to L8kehOlme.
Mahan let Hugh talk. Most G. it was
mere irritation and inconsistencies for the
west, but the relief of speech was like
prlcking a blister. He was probably un-
conscious Of how much poison he let out
AT last he gathered himself for departure
sorry 10 make a nuisance OF myself bui
It is good to see one Of my own kind Of
people: Thanks so much gOOC
night"
an engaging young man, and all thu
more so for being a trife lost just then
From an open window Mahan looked on
on the stretches Of LakehOlm, grayinj
under a rising moon. That pink and gOlC
study remained with him as a somehow
sinister memory. 1t must have been in
tended for Mrs. Ausland. A glowing hiddel
heart Of the house it should have been, bu
for twenty-five years it ha dbeen empty o
all save the brOOding bitterness. A curiOu
man, McAusland; and a queer squirmini
world, all heads and tails.
u III.
E It was late before Mahan strOlled alOn
- the terrace next morning. He had break
tasted in his room. Preparations were afOO
for the days event; decorations hangin
rags along the avenue, a truck load @
I roses being brought in. Through a ba
Z Of loaded glass he saw McAuSland an
i Hugh together in the study, and in a fev
moments they came out.
Anything you need from the drug stor,
Mr.. Mahan?" his host inquired. Il al
y hNAAAnA LUIGI On a AALlNC GLAaMus nG AdA
is'-he paused, glancing about in humOl
GUS cautiOn-'but don't let HObyn know /
p Aspirin; I have a rotten headache an
there's the luncheon to face. Hobyn hate
aspirin and would make me lie down an
perhaps countermand the whole affair. 81
e you won't give me away"
Hugh smiled mechanically. He new,
addressed his father except as ''yOu
n sometimes actually distOrting his sentence
to avoid a more intimate form. McAuslar
a went gaily on.
6 "Where is Father Sebastian? I sent f
him-O, there he is. Come, padre. I heal
YOU wished to run into town, and here
a Hugh just going. A nice tete-a-tete dri
for you both. A chance to confess yO
sins, Hugh. Dom be too hard on hi
IS father. Remember we were ell young
X once. Just the aspirin, my boy, and dOI
it let HObyn get wind of it."
n. He hustled them off with incurable go
pit humOr, seeming to see nothing strange
ithis enforced intimacy between his son a
the man whom he himself had accused
being that sons father. His jokes kept o
almost afraid Of what he might say ne,
There seemed actual intent under tn
-. genial eXurberanCe. And through it all pC
M sisted the sense of the unseen presence
the woman who had never entered til
house. 1t was a relief when the car roll
away with that i'll assorted pair.
And you, Mr.. Mahan, what will you
A. with yourself until the luncheon? ?" \
Ausland asked. "Ride-mOtOr? Or Hob
is looking for some one to go round I
INKS with him. MOnteTiOre, L SuSpecC
in his room practising a speech for I
days occasion. Ny own little imprOmI
of ~stammering thanks is already typed a
81 learned"
Is, Mahan's usually pleasant grayness b
a steely quality that morning. He knew
mood which was upon him, cody alO
" ! intensely watchful, even though tn
seemed nothing to watch. He never invit
of that mood, but he never fought it WI
it came.
It was that. rather than his own chOi
es which answered: Il was planning to ex0
les Inc the exhibits in your gallery"
"A-ha," McAusland exclaimed, diggi
him in the ribs with a Rabelaisian und