criminal. He certainly shot upthe Dopey person; but I doubt if he ever robbed a house."
While they waited, The Oskaloosa Kid trudged along the muddy road to thenearest farm house, which lay a full mile beyond the Squibbs' home.As he approached the door a lank, sallow man confronted him with asuspicious eye.
"Good morning," greeted The Oskaloosa Kid.
The man grunted.
"I want to get something to eat," explained the youth.
If the boy had hurled a dynamite bomb at him the result could havebeen no more surprising. The lank, sallow man went up into the air,figuratively. He went up a mile or more, and on the way down he reachedhis hand inside the kitchen door and brought it forth enveloping thebarrel of a shot gun.
"Durn ye!" he cried. "I'll lam ye! Get offen here. I knows ye. Yer oneo' that gang o' bums that come here last night, an' now you got the gallto come back beggin' for food, eh? I'll lam ye!" and he raised the gunto his shoulder.
The Oskaloosa Kid quailed but he held his ground. "I wasn't here lastnight," he cried, "and I'm not begging for food--I want to buy some.I've got plenty of money," in proof of which assertion he dug into aside pocket and brought forth a large roll of bills. The man lowered hisgun.
"Wy didn't ye say so in the first place then?" he growled. "How'd I knowyou wanted to buy it, eh? Where'd ye come from anyhow, this early inthe mornin'? What's yer name, eh? What's yer business, that's what JebCase'd like to know, eh?" He snapped his words out with the rapidity ofa machine gun, nor waited for a reply to one query before launchingthe next. "What do ye want to buy, eh? How much money ye got? Lookssuspicious. That's a sight o' money yew got there, eh? Where'dje getit?"
"It's mine," said The Oskaloosa Kid, "and I want to buy some eggs andmilk and ham and bacon and flour and onions and sugar and cream andstrawberries and tea and coffee and a frying pan and a little oil stove,if you have one to spare, and--"
Jeb Case's jaw dropped and his eyes widened. "You're in the wrongpasture, bub," he remarked feelingly. "What yer lookin' fer is Sears,Roebuck & Company."
The Oskaloosa Kid flushed up to the tips of his ears. "But can't yousell me something?" he begged.
"I might let ye have some milk an' eggs an' butter an' a leetle baconan' mebby my ol' woman's got a loaf left from her last bakin'; but weain't been figgerin' on supplyin' grub fer the United States army efthat's what yew be buyin' fer."
A frowsy, rat-faced woman and a gawky youth of fourteen stuck theirheads out the doorway at either side of the man. "I ain't got nothin'to sell," snapped the woman; but as she spoke her eyes fell upon the fatbank roll in the youth's hand. "Or, leastwise," she amended, "I ain'tgot much more'n we need an' the price o' stuff's gone up so lately thatI'll hev to ask ye more'n I would of last fall. 'Bout what did ye figgeron wantin'?"
"Anything you can spare," said the youth. "There are three of us andwe're awful hungry."
"Where yew stoppin'?" asked the woman.
"We're at the old Squibbs' place," replied The Kid. "We got caught bythe storm last night and had to put up there."
"The Squibbs' place!" ejaculated the woman. "Yew didn't stop there overnight?"
"Yes we did," replied the youth.
"See anything funny?" asked Mrs. Case.
"We didn't SEE anything," replied The Oskaloosa Kid; "but we heardthings. At least we didn't see what we heard; but we saw a dead man onthe floor when we went in and this morning he was gone."
The Cases shuddered. "A dead man!" ejaculated Jeb Case. "Yew seen him?"
The Kid nodded.
"I never tuk much stock in them stories," said Jeb, with a shake of hishead; "but ef you SEEN it! Gosh! Thet beats me. Come on M'randy, les seewhat we got to spare," and he turned into the kitchen with his wife.
The lanky boy stepped out, and planting himself in front of TheOskaloosa Kid proceeded to stare at him. "Yew seen it?" he asked inawestruck tone.
"Yes," said the Kid in a low voice, and bending close toward the other;"it had bloody froth on its lips!"
The Case boy shrank back. "An' what did yew hear?" he asked, a gluttonfor thrills.
"Something that dragged a chain behind it and came up out of the cellarand tried to get in our room on the second floor," explained the youth."It almost got us, too," he added, "and it did it all night."
"Whew," whistled the Case boy. "Gosh!" Then he scratched his head andlooked admiringly at the youth. "What mought yer name be?" he asked.
"I'm The Oskaloosa Kid," replied the youth, unable to resist theadmiration of the other's fond gaze. "Look here!" and he fished ahandful of jewelry from one of his side pockets; "this is some of theswag I stole last night when I robbed a house."
Case Jr. opened his mouth and eyes so wide that there was little leftof his face. "But that's nothing," bragged The Kid. "I shot a man, too."
"Last night?" whispered the boy.
"Yep," replied the bad man, tersely.
"Gosh!" said the young Mr. Case, but there was that in his facialexpression which brought to The Oskaloosa Kid a sudden regret that hehad thus rashly confided in a stranger.
"Say," said The Kid, after a moment's strained silence. "Don't tellanyone, will you? If you'll promise I'll give you a dollar," and hehunted through his roll of bills for one of that lowly denomination.
"All right," agreed the Case boy. "I won't say a word--where's thedollar?"
The youth drew a bill from his roll and handed it to the other. "If youtell," he whispered, and he bent close toward the other's ear and spokein a menacing tone; "If you tell, I'll kill you!"
"Gosh!" said Willie Case.
At this moment Case pere and mere emerged from the kitchen loaded withprovender. "Here's enough an' more'n enough, I reckon," said Jeb Case."We got eggs, butter, bread, bacon, milk, an' a mite o' garden sass."
"But we ain't goin' to charge you nothin' fer the garden sass,"interjected Mrs. Case.
"That's awfully nice of you," replied The Kid. "How much do I owe youfor the rest of it?"
"Oh," said Jeb Case, rubbing his chin, eyeing the big roll of bills andwondering just the limit he might raise to, "I reckon 'bout four dollarsan' six bits."
The Oskaloosa Kid peeled a five dollar bill from his roll and profferedit to the farmer. "I'm ever so much obliged," he said, "and you needn'tmind about any change. I thank you so much." With which he took theseveral packages and pails and turned toward the road.
"Yew gotta return them pails!" shouted Mrs. Case after him.
"Oh, of course," replied The Kid.
"Gosh!" exclaimed Mr. Case, feelingly. "I wisht I'd asked six bitsmore--I mought jest as well o' got it as not. Gosh, eh?"
"Gosh!" murmured Willie Case, fervently.
Back down the sticky road plodded The Oskaloosa Kid, his arms heavy andhis heart light, for, was he not 'bringing home the bacon,' literally aswell as figuratively. As he entered the Squibbs' gateway he saw thegirl and Bridge standing upon the verandah waiting his coming, and ashe approached them and they caught a nearer view of his great burden ofprovisions they hailed him with loud acclaim.
"Some artist!" cried the man. "And to think that I doubted your abilityto make a successful touch! Forgive me! You are the ne plus ultra, nonest cumquidibus, in hoc signo vinces, only and original kind of hand-outcompellers."
"How in the world did you do it?" asked the girl, rapturously.
"Oh, it's easy when you know how," replied The Oskaloosa Kid carelessly,as, with the help of the others, he carried the fruits of his expeditioninto the kitchen. Here Bridge busied himself about the stove, addingmore wood to the fire and scrubbing a portion of the top plate as cleanas he could get it with such crude means as he could discover about theplace.
The youth he sent to the nearby brook for water after selecting theleast dirty of the several empty tin cans lying about the floor of thesummer kitchen. He warned against the use of the water from the oldwell and while the boy was away cut a generous portion of the bacon intolong, thin strips.
Shortly after, the water comin
g to the boil, Bridge lowered three eggsinto it, glanced at his watch, greased one of the new
The Oakdale Affair Page 13
