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Show '!'liE ADVh'~ ... TURES OJ? IIUCJ{LEJJERRT'. Filt?·l. "I Toney, I thought you ·aid it wa.· ~ arah ·wh n you fir t COllH' in? • "Oh, yes\n, I (lid. Sarah ~Iary \\'illian1 "'· Sarah'. my first 11atn . Son1c calls 111 Sarah, . omc call"' 111e )lary:' "' ( )h, that'::; the way of it?" " l'" es 'm :· r was f('Pliug het i cr, then, but I wi heel l ·wa. out of there, anyway. I couldn't look up yet. \\\lll, tlll' \YOlnan fell to talking about how hard times wa,· mHl how poor they had to live, and how th rats was a. fr l' as if tlH'Y O\Vlllld the plac , and so forth, and .·o on, and then I got ('a,y again. Shc wa: right about the rat.·. You'd s e one ·tick l1 is nos<' out of a hole in th corner very little while. • he ·ajd ~h<' had to have thing:-; handy to thro\v at them when she was :tlonc, or they wonhln 't. give her no peac0. She show d 1ne a bar of lead, hYi:ted np into a kn t, and said . he \vas a goocl.·hot with it g< ncrly, but ·he'd ·wr nchcd hcr ann a day or two ago, nncl didn't know \Yheth r .·he could throw true, now. But .·h ~ wat heel for a chance, ancl directly sh banged a-·wny at a rat, bu1 he mis eel hi1n wide, and aid "On h! ., it hurt her ann . o. Th(•n Hhe told nH~ to try for the next one. I wanted to be g<'tting away b(\fore the ld man got back, but of cour:-;e I didn't lrt on. I got the thing, and the first rat that ~ howecl his no. c· I let drive, and if he'd a . tayed where he "~a he'd n. bern a tolerable Hick rat. he aid that that wa. first-rate, and ··he reckoned I would hive the next on . Hhe w nt and got 1 hr lump of lead and fetched it back and brought along a hank of yarn, which she wanted me to help her wit h. I held up Jny i wo hand.· and . he put the hank ov r thcn1 and went on i alking about her and her husband'· 1nattcr . But she broke off to say: "KPep your c~ye on the rats. You b tt 'r have the lead in your lap, handy:~ PREVARIGATIOl'-t. So she dropp<'d the lump into my lap, just. al that motnent, and I clapped 1ny legs i oo·eth r on it and .·lH' went on talki11g. ]3ut only about a rninute. Then Hhe took off the hanlr n nd look d me straight in th ~ face, but very pleasant, and .·ay. : . l ? ., "Corne, now- what your rea narnr. ,, vVh-what, Ulllll1?' "What's your n'al nan1e ? Is it Bill, or Tmn, or Bob '!-or wh a t 1. 1• t ·.~ ' I reckon I ·hook like a leaf, and I ditln'l know hardly what to do. But I say.· : "Pl :la, e to don't poke fun at a poor o·irl lik(' nw, 1nutn. Il' I'tn in the \vay, here, I'll--'' .. "No, you \von •t. Set down ancl :tay whrre JtHl clrt'. ] anl I going to hurt you, and I ain't going to t ell ou yon, ?nt her. You just tell m your secret, and tru t lHC. I.'ll keep 1t ; a~cl what's more, I'll hl lp you. So'll my old Jnan, 1.f you want l~11~1 to. You s , you'r' a runa,vay 'pn'ntie -thats all. Jt anl L anything. Th •re ain't any hann in it. lrou·v<' been t n~ate<l bad; and yon 1nade up your 1nincl to cut. Hle.·s yon: clnld I wonldn't tell on yon. Tell n1r all about it, now that : a gootl boy." . So I Raid it \Vonl(ln't be no us to try to play 1t any l 11 ?·cr, and I would jn t 1nak a c1 c an b r as· t an d t ,11 h 'l' e\" rv.., tlllU.0..', , but sh mu~tn't o·o back on her promi e. Th n I t ld h 'r Hl_Y father and moth~· \Vas dead, and th law had bound me out to a mean old fanner in the country thirty 1nil back frotn i 1w n.v er, and he tr ated 111 o b a d I coul d11,t st'a nd it no lonna r · he went away to be rrone a coup1 e o f d·(1. ys ' ancl .·o I i ook lllY~ 0 chance and stole son1e of 1u ·s d angh te r· ' ol d clothe· ' and c.l <'an•cl out and I had been three night coming the thirty nnles; 1 tra~elled ni O'ht · and hid day-time and lcpt, and the bag f bread and ~eat'I carri d from hom la ted me all the way an<l I h a cl a ple nt y. I sa1. d I believed my uncle Abn r )loorc would |
