"Oh! what's that?" gasped Bess.
Both she and Nan looked up. Lumps of snow from the roof of the tunnel
began to fall. Then came a louder shout and a pair of booted legs burst
through the roof.
"Goodness--gracious--me!" cried Nan. "Here comes--"
"An angelic visitor!" squealed Bess.
With another shout of alarm, a snow-covered figure plunged to the
platform. The cowhide boots landed first, so the man remained upright. He
carried a can in each hand, and all around the covers was frozen milk,
betraying at once the nature of his load.
He was a slim, wiry man, in a ragged greatcoat, a cap pulled over his
ears, sparkling, little, light-blue eyes of phenomenal shrewdness, and a
sparse, strawcolor chin-whisker.
"Wall, I vow to Maria!" gasped the newcomer. "What's this I've
dropped into?"
Bess was now laughing so that she could not speak, and the puppy was
barking as hard as he could bark. Nan managed to ask:
"Who are you, sir, and where did you come from?"
"Si Snubbras is my name," declared the "heavenly visitor." "And I reckon
I'm nearer home than you be, Miss, for I live right east of the
railroad-cut, here. I was jest goin' across to Peleg Morton's haouse with
this yere milk, when I--I sorter dropped in," and Farmer Snubbins went
off into a fit of laughter at his own joke.
Pages:
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65