United States or Georgia ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
You see, Miss," he added, turning to address the girl, "I was sheriff of Abilene once, in the ole red-eye, rumpus days. I have planted some citizens in my time. You see, I kind of owe the ones I did plant a silent apology for lettin' this here chicken-rancher get me so easy." "You talk big," said Tenlow, laughing. "Who was you when you was sheriff of Abilene, eh?"
She did not have the accustomed spring to her muscles, and was indeed in poor shape for flight when Red-Eye cornered her near the lair of the wild dogs, several miles south from the caves. Usually, she would have circled around him, beaten him in the straight-away, and gained the protection of our small-mouthed cave. But she could not circle him. She was too dull and slow.
If you was the drinking kind I'd say you'd been hitting up the red-eye." "The next evening," continued Mary steadily, "I came about dark on a camp-fire with a bed of twigs near it. I stayed by the fire, but no one appeared. Once I thought I heard a horse whinny far away, and once I thought that I saw a streak of white disappear over the top of a hill." The boy sprang up, shuddering with panic.
Such an individual was an atavism, and Red-Eye was an even greater atavism. That is what he was an atavism. We were in the process of changing our tree-life to life on the ground. For many generations we had been going through this change, and our bodies and carriage had likewise changed. But Red-Eye had reverted to the more primitive tree-dwelling type.
"'Have a drink, Jim, says the Colonel, an' his face has a cloud of regrets onto it; 'take four fingers of this red-eye an' cheer up. You-all assoomes too sombre a view of this contention. "'I'm obleeged to you, Colonel, replies the head-printer; 'but I don't much care to drink none before the boys.
So when he reached the road and looked back at last, the doorway yawned black, empty, and he set his teeth with a groan and spurred down the road for Alder. He drew rein at Captain Lorrimer's and entered with curt nods in exchange for the greetings. "Red-eye," he ordered, and seized bottle and glass as Lorrimer spun them deftly towards him.
I slipped back through the passage, and he charged out and around and in upon me again. I merely repeated my performance of slipping through the passage. He kept me there half a day before he gave up. After that, when Lop-Ear and I were reasonably sure of gaining the double-cave, we did not retreat up the cliff to our own cave when Red-Eye came upon the scene.
'By jingo, here's parson Sinclair! Give us a sermon, parson, and you shall have a pint of red-eye! 'A sermon a sermon! exclaimed the others. Sinclair is placed upon a stool, and begins a wild, incoherent harangue, made up of eloquence, blasphemy and obscenity.
The Indian grinned and grunted acquiescence, and Creed inserted his arm between two logs and withdrew a squat, black bottle. "Here's some reg'lar ol' 'rig'nal red-eye. An' here's lookin' at ye," he said, as he removed the cork and sucked greedily at the contents. "Jest tuk a taste fust, 'cause I don't like to give vis'tors whisky I wudn't drink m'self, har, har, har!
Well for her that she was the Swift One, that she had that amazing aptitude for swift flight through the trees. She needed all her wisdom and daring in order to keep out of the clutches of Red-Eye. I could not help her. He was so powerful a monster that he could have torn me limb from limb.
Word Of The Day