The Three Partners by Bret Harte
page 35 of 222 (15%)
page 35 of 222 (15%)
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Demorest and Barker stared. "You fired it?" said Barker, trembling with excitement. "Yes," said Stacy. "I couldn't bear to leave the old rookery for coyotes and wild-cats to gather in, so I touched her off before I left." "But"--said Barker. "But," repeated Stacy composedly. "Hallo! what's the matter with that new plan of 'The Rest' that you're going to build, eh? You don't want them BOTH." "And you did this rather than leave the dear old cabin to strangers?" said Barker, with kindling eyes. "Stacy, I didn't think you had that poetry in you!" "There's heaps in me, Barker boy, that you don't know, and I don't exactly sabe myself." "Only," continued the young fellow eagerly, "we ought to have ALL been there! We ought to have made a solemn rite of it, you know,--a kind of sacrifice. We ought to have poured a kind of libation on the ground!" "I did sprinkle a little kerosene over it, I think," returned Stacy, "just to help things along. But if you want to see her flaming, Barker, you just run back to that last corner on the road beyond the big red wood. That's the spot for a view." As Barker--always devoted to a spectacle--swiftly disappeared the two |
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