At noon Cranky Joe could
stand the strain no longer and opened the door just a little to relive
the monotony. He succeeded, being blessed with a smashed shoulder, and
immediately became a general nuisance, adding greatly to the prevailing
atmosphere. Boggs called him a few kinds of fools and hastened to nail
the door shut; he hit his thumb and his heart became filled with venom.
"_Now_ look at what they went an' done!" he yelled, running around in a
circle. "Damned outrage!"
"Huh!" snorted Cranky Joe with maddening superiority. "That ain't
nothing--just look at me!"
Boggs looked, very fixedly, and showed signs of apoplexy, and Cranky Joe
returned to his end of the room to resume his soliloquy.
"Why don't you come out an' take them cows!" inquired an unkind voice
from without. "Ain't changed yore mind, have you?"
"We'll give you a drink for half a cent a head--that's the regular price
for watering cows," called another.
The faint ripple of mirth which ran around the plain was lost in
opinions loudly expressed within the room; and Boggs, tears of rage
in his eyes, flung himself down on a chair and invented new terms for
describing human beings.
John Terry was observing. He had been fluttering around the north
window, constantly getting bolder, and had not been disturbed. When he
withdrew his sombrero and found that it was intact he smiled to himself
and leaned his elbows on the sill, looking carefully around the plain.
Pages:
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254