Newspaper Page Text
The House
of the
Three
Ganders
By
IRVING
BACIIELLER
Copyright by trying Bacheller
(WNU Service)
CHAPTER XI—Continued
— 20 —
“I couldn’t have done half so much
If It hadn’t been for the doctor,” Shad
answered.
“It’s a pood thins for a boy to know
how to pick out his friends,” Bumpy
declared.
Saturday morning Shad went up to
the Dam for the mail and needed pro¬
visions. He received a letter from
Colonel Blake which said:
“My dear hoy: I have some good
news. You look for me Sunday about
one o’clock at Brown’s Cove for an¬
other dinner with you and Bumpy.
Tell him that I have not forgotten the
Elysium of peace and joy I found un¬
der his roof. Go and buy a good fat
turkey and whatever else you may
need and charge the cost to me. Don’t
worry about the ‘Commentaries.’ You
are young yet for that kind of food.”
Fowls were every day coming down
from the hills to market. Shad found
one to his liking at Smithers’ store.
That done, he went to the doctor’s
house. The learned man in his great
ooonskin coat stood by his cutter at
the door. He was about to begin his
rounds in the country. lie called the
boy aside and said:
“The young woman is getting bet¬
ter. She lias promised to commit to
me important revelations. I may get
them on my next visit. Say nothing
of this to any one. I don't want her
to be harried by lawyers. She is not
yet out of danger. A moment of un¬
due excitement might be fatal to her
and to the hope I have of serving jus¬
tice. We must be patient.”
With that the doctor shook the boy’s
hand, got into his waiting cutter and
drove away.
Shad returned to the store and, with
a well-filled basket in one hand and a
kerosene can in the other, set out for
Brown’s cove. He had intended to in¬
vite Bony down to dinner but with
Cononel Blake coming for a talk his
young friend would be in the way.
However, the prospect of seeing his
beloved chief allayed his disappoint¬
ment.
Bumpy was elated by the colonel’s
compliment and the prospect of having
the distinguished lawyer at his table
again. “Talk about ’lysiums ! That’s a
long jump ahead o’ me, but I’m a-goin’
to cook him a turkey that’ll make the
hair grow on his bald head.”
Bumpy had a peculiar way of stor¬
ing his meat in winter. There was a
pulley in the roof-beam under the over¬
hang outside the front door. The tur¬
key, well wrapped in cheese cloth and
fast to the end of a cord, was hauled
up to the peak, where it hung through
the night beyond the reach of coons
or foxes.
After supper that night they sat un¬
der the evening lamp and went on
with the adventures of Pip in the hum¬
ble home of Joe Gargery until bed¬
time.
Next morning Bumpy prepared the
turkey for the oven, stuffing it with
sage dressing and basting its breast
and sides with strips of well-cured
bacon. When the oven was judged to
be hot enough the panned turkey was
shoved into it and the doors closed.
At that moment he began to look sol¬
emn and refused to talk or to allow
any interference in the matter of keep¬
ing the fire right.
“Now don't talk to me none,” he
would say. “This job has got to be
done right. You run down to War¬
ner’s an' git a pint o’ cream. Hurry
up.”
Shad returned with the pitcher of
cream.
"Now set the table an’ keep an eye
out for Colonel Blake.” Bumpy com¬
manded. “I don’t want to be took bv
surprise. If he don’t come on time
we’ll hang him without a trial.”
The table set, Shad stood by the
window watching the trail. The tur¬
key was hauled out of the oven.
Bumpy peeled his potatoes. He put
them in the spider and mashed and
stirred them, adding cream and butter
and salt and pepper with a cunning
hand.
“Here he comes!” the boy called.
“Throw open them doors—quick,”
Bumpy commanded. “There’s a leetle
too much dinner in the air o’ this
room.”
He shoved his turkey into the cooled
oven and closed its doors to protect it
from the draft.
“Hello!" the colonel, shouted as he
came in. “I hope that the dinner is
as ready as I am.”
“We was scared for fear it would
be too ready,” Bumpy answered. “A
good dinner loses its temper if it has
to wait. It gits kind o’ disagreeable.”
The old man stirred the fire a little
and put his coffee on the stove.
“Watch it now an’ don’t let it bile,”
he said to Shad. “I’m goin’ to git
some cider fer the colonel that has a
razor edge on it.”
He was especially careful in the
making of coffee with a fixed rule as
to quantities and temperature. The
second it began to bubble the pot was
aet in a pan of hot water, there to re¬
main until it wns served, but never
long. It was a beverage to be remem¬
bered.
Shad and Colonel Blake sat down at
the table. Proudly Bumpy stood at its
head between them and carved the
turkey. What a fragrance and flavor
were in the tender flesh of the bird
and the mashed potatoes! The coffee
was a joy.
They spent a delightful hour at the
table. The turkey eaten, Bumpy
brought on a pumpkin pie.
“It's a surprise,” he said. “I made
it yesterday while Shad was away. A
wedge o’ that will finish the job.”
“That will require another cup of
coffee,” said the colonel. He ate his
pie and added : “You could do a good
business in our town as a caterer. I’ll
give you twenty dollars to come and
cook our Christmas dinner for us.”
“My clothes ain’t fit fer goin’ out in
comp'ny.”
“I’ve got that all fixed,” the colonel
went on. “You and Bony are to go
down to Ashfield and get a complete
outfit at my expense. You shall have
a credit of fifty dollars at the store.
See that you spend all of it. Don't
scrimp.”
“It’s liberal,” said Bumpy.
With a smiling face be began to pick
up the dishes. The colonel lighted his
cigar. When the dishes were washed
and put away the old man excused
himself as usual and went out to cut
wood.
The lawyer began his story.
“Shad, we have been sitting at table
with tiie most remarkable character I
have known. I have been over to
Burlington to see old Colonel Grimes
of whom one day Bumpy spoke, per¬
haps inadvertently. The colonel re¬
ports that William Brown was the
best and bravest soldier in his regi¬
ment ; that he had told Lincoln of
Brown’s heroic fighting at Gettysburg
and that the President had said that
lie would be glad to see the young sol¬
dier at the White House. Grimes told
me that Bumpy refused to go for fear
that he would miss a battle.
“The first thing of importance that
I have to communicate to you is this:
Bumpy is not the liar that he is sup¬
posed to be in these parts. He has
probably been telling the truth. It is
a fact that a man who has the habit of
drinking too much ruins his credit
among the people who know him. lie
was getting no pension. Therefore
many assumed that his tales of heroic
adventure were made out of whole
cloth. The world we live in is rather
harsh and uncharitable.”
“I guess that Bony and I have been
a little like that ourselves,” Shad an¬
swered with a twinge of remorse.
“It was natural that you should fall
in with the popular opinion. The
tiling I sought most in my trip to
Burlington was the private history of
this singular man. Grimes told me
where he was born and where he mar¬
ried the woman whose portrait is on
the wall yonder. She came of a good
family. I went to the little town in
the mountains. I got the information
I wanted,. They lived there for years
after they were married. Brown had
a sawmill. One child was born to
them after their marriage-—a girl with
dark eyes and hair. She would be
about twenty-one years old now. The
mother died when the child was eleven.
It seemed to break the man’s heart.
He took to drinking and became a
nuisance to his family. He left the
girl with relatives and came west to
Ashfield with this remarkable bird
which had been his wife’s pet. He
went to work in a big sawmill. The
girl was a bit headstrong. Three years
ago she ran away. Word came to
them in a week or so that she was
with her father. Now there you are.
It is altogether likely that the unfor¬
tunate girl who worked in the store at
South Bolton is his daughter.”
“Why doesn’t Bumpy claim her?”
Shad asked.
“She is handsome and rather proud,
I take it,” the colonel went on. “He
was a drunkard and more or less de¬
spised. She was ashamed of him. My
theory is that they had a quarrel and
agreed to live‘apart. 1 think that she
was engaged to some one of means and
apparent respectability, in whose iden¬
tity we, as the state's officers, are
deeply interested. Was it Royce, and
if so why has he not married her? We
shall know soon. The inevitaole con¬
sequences are closing in on the crim¬
inal. I hope to see the young woman
tomorrow.”
“Don’t try to do it—not yet,” Shad
urged. “I have good reason for asking
you to wait.”
The colonel sat smoking in a mo¬
ment of silence.
“I think that I understand you,” he
said. “I know of no reason why we
should be in a hurry.”
“Did you get any help from Algyre?”
Shad asked.
“None as yet. The detectives have
taken him to Chicago. With my help
they captured John O’Brien, Jr., his
confederate, at Brockville. They have
Mastery of India Won at Battle of Plassey
Great Britain’s control over India
may be said to date from the time
of Robert Clive, who in 1744, at the
age of eighteen, was sent from Eng¬
land to be a clerk for the East India
eompafiy. He soon gave up the pen
for the sword and became a great
military genius. The old Indian em¬
pire of the Great Moguls had fallen
into the hands of provincial viceroys
and in the fight for supremacy Clive
aided certain of these against others
backed by the French. His great vic¬
tory of Plassey, in June, 1757, with
3,200 men opposed to 50,000, deter¬
mined the struggle. In 1773, the three
provinces of Madras, Bombay and
Bengal were placed under the admin¬
istration of a governor-general, and
CLEVELAND COURIER
evidence for a prompt conviction and
the charge will be murder in the first
degree. I think that he will loosen up
soon. By the way, the reward
come. .Save for a few expenses I am
going to give it to you.”
Shad’s face began to redden.
“To me?" he asked.
“To you. It will give you a liberal
education and a start in the world
when that is done.”
Shad had grown very serious. His
eyes were a trifle moist when he said:
“I can’t see what I've done to get all
that money.”
“For a boy you’ve done pretty well.
Three times your life has been in dan¬
ger. You're a good boy and I want to
help you along.”
"I won’t take it unless I can no what
I want to with it. I’ve thought it all
over.”
“What do you wish to do with it?”
“Give it to Bumpy Brown.”
“My boy, the plan is a credit to you,”
the lawyer answered. “I expected that
some like idea would come to your
mind, knowing you as I do. Let me
make a suggestion. At present Bumpy
would not need so much. If it should
be necessary later we could help him.
Let’s put half of the sum out at inter¬
est and give him the income from it.
Use tiie remainder for your education.
If you wished to help Bony to get a
year or two of schooling you could do
it.”
Shad was quick to say: “I’d like to
do that.”
“I suggest that you put five hundred
dollars in the St. Lawrence County
bank to Bony’s credit to be used for
clothes and board and also tuition in
the Canton union school. Later, if ad¬
visable, you could do more for him.”
Shod rose from his chair. “It’s
grand,” he said as he went and looked
out of the window at the old man who
was splitting wood.
“Converse has written me a letter.
He told me how when he woke you up
one day on the shore of the Oswegat
chie you rubbed your eyes and asked:
‘Is God here?’ You were born into a
new world that day. I’m not much
of a preacher but I’d say that God is
here. A man who has been pursuing
criminals as long as I have is sure to
get that opinion.” -
“I guess you’re right,” the boy an¬
swered.
“ ‘He lifteth up the poor from the
dust,’ ” the colonel quoted as he came
and stood by the boy. "It is a great
sentence from the greatest of all the
law- books.”
Bumpy had finished his work and
was getting ready to come in.
“Poor old man!” tiie boy exclaimed.
“I’ve got just one more thing to say
about him,” the colonel remarked, as
he stood looking out of the window’.
“Grimes told me that Sergeant Brown
would never apply for a pension al
thought clearly entitled to it. He’s
growing into quite a considerable fig¬
ure of a man. I must be off.”
The day was near its end. He put
on his arctics and his overcoat and
added :
“We’ll have a great Christmas day.”
At that moment there was a rap at
the front door. The doctor’s stable¬
man entered. He said to Shad: “If
you please, sir, Doctor Gorse wishes
to talk with you this evening. I can
take you up with me and bring you
back. The horse is hitched out on the
road.”
“I’ll join you there in a few min¬
utes.”
The doctor’s man left them.
The boy turned to Colonel Blake and
said: “Something has happened.
Maybe we’ll get light on our mystery.”
Colonel Blake made his acknowledg¬
ments to Bumpy, who had just come
in, and Shad announced that he was
going up to the Dam for an hour or
two. In a moment the lawyer and
the boy set out on the trail.
The boy parted with his friend on
the road where the latter’s team was
waiting. Shad got in with the doc¬
tor’s driver. He had begun to feel
growm up. Was he not now a person
of some importance? The colonel had
seemed to have that opinion. Shad
had written an essay on the com¬
mon law. It was full of resound¬
ing words. Still it was a creditable
effort brightened with characteristic
humor.
“If he dares to read it he’ll find out
that I’m no child,” the boy said to
himself. “Maybe I’ll get him pawing
over the dictionary.”
At the Dam he found a letter from
Ruth Blake. It was a pretty letter, in
which she said:
“Sometimes I think that you do not
care whether I write to you or not.
Sometimes I think that you hate girls.
There are many pretty girls here who
would like to know you. I think that
you should learn how to dance and
you ought to go to the parties.”
The letter filled him with a shining
happiness.
“I guess that I’ve been pretty mean
to her,” he said to himself.
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
Warren Hastings, the first governor
general, laid the foundations of the
present administration of India. Aft¬
er the Indian mutiny of 1857, the
direct sovereignty of India was trans¬
ferred from the East India company
to the crown and on January 1, 1877,
Queen Victoria was proclaimed em¬
press of India.
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There’s a man outside who wants to
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Doctor—Why does he ask?
Nurse—He says somebody lias run
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With a Proviso
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Although Woodrow Horns, nine
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Hairless Heirs
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Recognized os one of the
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N. U., ATLANTA, NO. 34-1932,