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At the Foot of the Rainbow

Chapter 2 RUBEN O'KHAYAM AND THE MILK PAIL

Word Count: 3560    |    Released on: 28/11/2017

n milk pail, stepped into Casey's sa

me of my robe of Honor-well, I wonder what the Vinte

f red wine, as he recited in mellow, swinging tones. Gripping the milk pail, Jimmy advanced

at can with l

venty jarring

Alchemist th

metal into G

lowly nodded indorsement of the s

most of what w

o into the D

s Day's Madne

ilence, Trium

now not whence y

know not why yo

k pail on the bar

ide of the quistion in all me life. And to think that it shoul

n' that would cork her. You won't?" questioned Jimmy resentfully. "Kape it to yoursilf, thin, like you did your wine." He shoved the bucket toward the barkeeper, and emptied his pocket on the bar. "There, Casey, you be the Sovereign

the till, picked up the bucket,

hen be transmutin' it into whiskey straight, the purest gold you got. You don't drown

Jimmy started would go on with men who cou

pped a small glass in the liquo

what the V

cious as the st

ss at a draft. Then he walked to the group at

orehead and an intellectual face, he whispered: "Ta

fingers. Jimmy held on. "Do you know that stuff he's giving off?" The Captain nodded,

iyat, Omar Khayyam," panted the Captain, and was lost. Jimmy f

our discourse. Bein' a Boston man meself, it appeals to me, that I detict the refinemint of the East in yer voice. Now these, me frinds, that I've just been tratin', are men of these parts; but we of the middle

is book would not have been written. But he did not. He looked at the milk pail, and the glass, which had passed through the hands of a dozen men in a little country

after wisdom, led him to one of the chairs around the big coal base burner. But the boys who knew Jimmy were watching the whites of his eyes, as they drank the second roun

ole than you are in Boston, naturally we come by that distance closer to the great wool industry. Most of our wool here grows on our tongues, and we shear it by this transmutin' process, concerning which you have discoursed so beautiful. But barrin' the shearin' of our wool, we are the mildest, most sheepish fellows you could imag

seek enlightenment?" i

legs, and spat against

so that I can get to the river and the resurvoir to fish without walkin'. Haines is bossin' a crew of forty Canadians and he's takin' the timber from the woods hereabouts, and sending it to be made into boats to carry stuff across sea. Meself, and me partner, Dannie Micnoun, are the lady-likest lambs in the bunch. We grow grub to feed folks in summer and trap for skins to cover 'em in winter. Corn is our great commodity. Plowin' and hoein' it in summer, and huskin' it in the fall is sich lamb-like work. But don't mintion it in the same brith with tendin' our four dozen fur traps on a twenty-below-zero day. Freezing hands and fate, and fallin' into air bubbles, and building fires to thaw out our froze

fact that it had gone empty. He beat time on the bottom of it, and frequently interrupted the Thread Man to repeat a couplet which particularly suited him. By and by he got to his feet and began stepping off a slow dance to a sing-song repetition of

ne! Wine!

gale cried

barkeeper, and his coat on a chair, ruffled his fingers through his thick auburn hair, and holding the pail under one arm, he paused, panting for

Cup and in th

arment of Rep

has but a littl

ird is on

w. "Come fill the cup, and in the firesh of spring-Firesh of Spring, Bird ish on the Wing!" Between the music of the milk pail, the brogue of the panted v

"Me some more!" The Th

up with sweet

fe keeps oozin

life keep fall

went

or bitt

kape falling

to a new step Jimmy flashed back and forth the length of the saloon. A

rses undernea

, a Loaf of B

nging in the

ss were Para

shuffled in improvising a new step, and then he

ish poles unde

Rye and Dann

g in the

ash Paradise

back and folded his arms. He regained breath to

ed the confi

. He retained the impression that at the wildest of

f friends," he said, se

got one frind, hosht all by himself. Be here pr

hread Man. "Am I to meet ano

common man, Dannie is. Honest man. Never told a lie in his life. Yesh, he did, too. I forgot. He liesh for me. Jish liesh and liesh. Liesh to Mary. Tells

ie and get me out of a scrap

Dannie. Jish like dog. Take care me all me life. See? Old folks come on same boat. Women get thick. Shettle beside. Build cabinsh together. Work together, and domn if they didn't get

Jimmy?" asked a man

n. "Dannie besht man. Milesh besht man! Never lie-'cept for me. Never drink-'cept for m

d Dannie a mean little trick?

ercise of the dance somewhat sobered him. He glared

d straight with Dannie about the girl, you never have h

my grandly. "Domsh any woman tha

ll that? Want to taste real thing? Lesh go coon huntin'. Theysh tree down Canoper, jish short pleashant walk, got fify coons in it! Nobody knowsh the tree but me, shee? Been good to ush boys. Sat on same kind of chairs we do. Educate ush up lot. Know mosht that poetry

coon hunt with you?" demanded

oot all dead! Take your pick! Tan skin for you myself! Roaring big firesh warm by. Bag finesh sandwiches ever tasted. Milk pail pure gold drink. No stop, slop out going over bridge. Take ju

rs," said the Thread Man. "But what will

immy. "Never too late to getter

usted for an expedition of that sort; and all of them agreed to be at the saloon ready for the hunt at nine o'clock the next night

First shot to Missher O'Khayam, boysh, 'member that. Shay, can you hit anything? Take a try now." Jimmy re

ght on an iron rod. Jimmy gave it a jerk, and ripped the rim from the bottom. "Th

e pail fell. Jimmy kicked it across the room, and then gathered it up, and drove a dent in it with his heel t

nded Jimmy. He caught the revolver and fired three shots so rapidly that the sounds came al

pocket, reached for his hat, and started in the direction of his coat. "Glad to see you, Micnoun," he said. "If you

y forty stepped inside. He had a manly form, and a manly face, was

know what it was Jimmy had wi

pail. As he handed it to Dannie, he said: "Mr. Malone said he was i

d taking the battered thing

e grimly looked at the light in the next cabin. "Why doesna she go to bed?" he said. He summoned courage, and crossing the space between the two buildings, he tapped on the window. "It's me, Mary," he called. "The skins are only half done, and Jimmy is going to help me finish. He will come ove

eet the least part o' matrimony," he said. "Why in God'

door, the cold

sh forget the milk pail

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