Thankfuls Inheritance | Page 7

to come and
help. You can come along if you want to, but it'll be a tougher v'yage
than the one we've come through."
"How far off is this--this village of yours?"
"Oh, about a mile and a half!"
"A mile and a half! And it's beginnin' to rain again! Emily, I don't know
how you feel, but if the horse can wait under the shed until somebody
comes I guess we can. I say let's do it."
Emily nodded. "Of course, Auntie," she said, emphatically. "We
couldn't walk a mile and a half in a storm like this. Of course we must
wait. Where is the shed?"
Winnie S. led the way to the shed. It was a ramshackle affair, open on
one side. General Jackson, tethered to a rusty ring at the back, whinnied
a welcome.
The driver, holding the lantern aloft, looked about him. His two
passengers looked also.
"Well," observed Thankful, "this may have been a shed once, but it's
more like a sieve now. There's more leaks to the roof than there is
boards, enough sight. However, any port in a storm, and we've got the
storm, sartin. All right, Mister What's-your-name, we'll wait."
Winnie S. turned away. Then he turned back again.
"Maybe I'd better leave you the lantern," he said, doubtfully. "I guess

likely I could get along without it and--and 'twould make it more
sociable for you."
He put the lantern down on the earth floor beside them and strode off
into the dark. Mrs. Barnes called after him.
"Ain't there any way of gettin' into that house?" she asked. "It acts as if
'twas goin' to storm hard as ever and this shed ain't the most--what did
you call it?--sociable place in creation, in spite of the lantern. If we
could only get inside that house--"
Winnie S. interrupted. They could not see him, but there was a queer
note in his voice.
"Get inside!" he repeated. "Get into THAT house this time of night!
Well--well, maybe you could, but I wouldn't do it, not for nothin'. You
better wait in the shed. I'll be back soon as ever I can."
They heard him splashing along the road. Then a gust of wind and a
torrent of rain beating upon the leaky roof drowned all other sounds.
Emily turned to her companion.
"Auntie," she said, "if you and I were superstitious we might think all
this, all that we've been through, was what people call a sign, a warning.
That is what ever so many South Middleboro people would say."
"Humph! if I believed in signs I'd have noticed the weather signs afore
we started. Those are all the 'signs' I believe in and I ought to have
known better than to risk comin' when it looked so threatenin'. I can't
forgive myself for that. However, we did come, and here we
are--wherever 'here' is. Now what in the world did that man mean by
sayin' we better not try to get into that house? I don't care what he
meant. Give me that lantern."
"Auntie, where are you going?"
"I'm goin' to take an observation of those windows. Nine chances to
one they ain't all locked, and if there's one open you and I can crawl

into it. I wish we could boost the horse in, too, poor thing, but
self-preservation is the first law of nature and if he's liable to perish it's
no reason we should. I'm goin' to get into that house if such a thing's
possible."
"But, Auntie--"
"Don't say another word. I'm responsible for your bein' here this night,
Emily Howes. You wouldn't have come if I hadn't coaxed you into it.
And you shan't die of pneumonia or--or drownin' if I can help it. I'm
goin' to have a look at those doors and windows. Don't be scared. I'll be
back in a jiffy. Goodness me, what a puddle! Well, if you hear me
holler you'll know I'm goin' under for the third time, so come quick.
Here goes!"
Lantern in hand, she splashed out into the wet, windy darkness.

CHAPTER II
Miss Howes, left to share with General Jackson the "sociability" of the
shed, watched that lantern with faint hope and strong anxiety. She saw
it bobbing like a gigantic firefly about the walls of the house, stopping
here and there and then hurrying on. Soon it passed around the further
corner and disappeared altogether. The wind howled, the rain poured,
General Jackson stamped and splashed, and Emily shivered.
At last, just as the watcher had begun to think some serious accident
had happened to her courageous relative and was considering starting
on a relief expedition, the lantern reappeared.
"Emily!" screamed Mrs. Barnes. "Emily! Come here!"
Emily came, fighting her way against the wind.