United States or Cuba ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
This was the letter that I read aloud to Tarp Henry, who had come down early to hear the result of my venture. His only remark was, "There's some new stuff, cuticura or something, which is better than arnica." Some people have such extraordinary notions of humor. It was nearly half-past ten before I had received my message, but a taxicab took me round in good time for my appointment.
Stepping from the tent, she saw the dead ashes of the little fire and the contents of the packs apparently undisturbed, covered with the tarp. She glanced at her watch. It was half past nine. Suddenly she remembered that dawn had already began to grey the east when they retired. She was the first one up! She would let the others sleep. They needed it.
Tarp Henry, my companion, was plucking at my skirts and I heard him whispering, "Sit down, Malone! Don't make a public ass of yourself." At the same time I was aware that a tall, thin man, with dark gingery hair, a few seats in front of me, was also upon his feet. He glared back at me with hard angry eyes, but I refused to give way. "I will go, Mr. Chairman," I kept repeating over and over again.
What he hasn't got, we'll buy. So, Mother, you trot out his clothes, boots, some bedding, a gun, chaps, spurs, everything there is, and let me pick what's worth taking." It was indeed a scant and sad array of articles that Pan had to choose from. "No saddle, no tarp, no chaps, no spurs, no gun!" ejaculated Pan, scratching his head. "Poor Dad! I begin to have a hunch how he felt."
Then he would have made his fire, boiled coffee, spread his bed, and gone to sleep beneath the stars; but because of the ominous storm cloud he constructed a lean-to by driving two forked stakes and joining them with a crosspiece. From these he slanted two poles to the ground, and on the poles laid a tarp, lashing it in place. The mouth of the lean-to faced away from the cloud bank.
We unpacked our beds with chuckles of joy, and spread them carefully within the shelter of the cave. Except for the very edges, which did not much matter, our blankets and "so-guns," protected by the canvas "tarp," were reasonably dry. Every once in a while a spasm of conscience would seize one or the other of us. "It seems sort of mean on the other fellows," ruminated Jed Parker.
The tarp kep' 'em tolerable dry. Go over there an' get off those clothes. You must be wet through nothin' short of a divin' suit would have kep' that rain out!" "But " He forestalled the objection. "There won't be any one to bother you. I'm goin' down the creek." The girl noticed that his horse, saddled with Endicott's saddle stood close behind her. "I didn't mean that!" she exclaimed.
I have recently had occasion to refresh my memory by re-reading " "You infernal liar!" murmured Tarp Henry. "by re-reading your masterly address at Vienna. That lucid and admirable statement seems to be the last word in the matter.
He was sitting on a stone at the time, I remember, and Whiskers, his old Airedale, had his head on Dan's knee. All of his thirteen years, Whiskers had wandered through the mountains with Dan Devore, always within call. To see Dan was to see Whiskers; to see Whiskers was to see Dan. He slept on Dan's tarp bed at night, and in the daytime led our long and winding procession.
The stranger was kneeling beside a faintly crackling little pile of twigs, his face turned inquiringly toward Casey. Casey, glancing guiltily over his shoulder, felt the chill hand of discovery reaching for his very soul. It was as if a dead man were hidden away beneath that tarp.
Word Of The Day