FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135  
136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   >>   >|  
than became vaguely aware, after a time, that the rain had ceased, and the moon was beginning to shine through rifts in the clouds. The wind continued unabated, but, curiously enough, he could not hear it now. He could hear nothing; he could think of nothing. His consciousness was beginning to fail. George Birt had indeed forgotten him,--forgotten even the promised "whings." Not that he had discovered anything so extraordinary in his trap, for it was empty, but when he reached the mill, he found that the miller had killed a bear and captured a cub, and the orphan, chained to a post, had deeply absorbed George Birt's attention. To [v]sophisticated people, the boy might have seemed as [v]grotesque as the cub. George wore an unbleached cotton shirt. The waistband of his baggy jeans trousers encircled his body just beneath his armpits, reaching to his shoulder-blades behind, and nearly to his collar-bone in front. His red head was only partly covered by a fragment of an old white wool hat; and he looked at the cub with a curiosity as intense as that with which the cub looked at him. Each was taking first lessons in natural history. As long as there was daylight enough left to see that cub, did George Birt stand and stare at the little beast. Then he clattered home on old Sorrel in the closing darkness, looking like a very small pin on the top of a large pincushion. At home, he found the elders unreasonable,--as elders usually are considered. Supper had been waiting an hour or so for the lack of meal for dodgers. He "caught it" considerably, but not sufficiently to impair his appetite for the dodgers. After all this, he was ready enough for bed when a small boy's bedtime came. But as he was nodding before the fire, he heard a word that roused him to a new excitement and stimulated his memory. "These hyar chips air so wet they won't burn," said his mother. "I'll take my tur-r-key whing an' fan the fire." "Law!" he exclaimed. "Thar, now! Ethan Tynes never gimme that thar wild tur-r-key's whings like he promised." "Whar did ye happen ter see Ethan?" asked Pete, interested in his friend. "Seen him in the woods, an' he promised me the tur-r-key whings." "What fur?" inquired Pete, a little surprised by this uncalled-for generosity. "Waal,"--there was an expression of embarrassment on the important freckled face, and the small red head nodded forward in an explanatory manner,--"he fell off'n the bluffs arter
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135  
136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
George
 

promised

 

whings

 

dodgers

 

looked

 
forgotten
 
elders
 

beginning

 
stimulated
 

memory


excitement

 

roused

 
nodding
 

Supper

 
waiting
 

considered

 
pincushion
 
unreasonable
 

appetite

 

impair


caught

 

considerably

 

sufficiently

 

bedtime

 

surprised

 

inquired

 

uncalled

 

generosity

 

friend

 

interested


expression

 
embarrassment
 

bluffs

 

manner

 

explanatory

 
freckled
 

important

 
nodded
 

forward

 
mother

happen
 

exclaimed

 
taking
 
killed
 

captured

 

orphan

 
chained
 

miller

 
extraordinary
 

reached