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Show I Whistling Dick's I Christmas Stocking H By O. HENRY B Copyright l'7 Doubleilny, PK Co. IT WU with much million tlmt Whistling Dick slid bMk the door ggjjjjj of llir bd ear, for article 5710, city H Ordinances, authorized (perhaps un- H const it ut lomtii.v) arrest on suspicion. H llr snu no Changs since Ills Inst visit H to this btf almsgiving, hngHnflOrtag H city of the South, (lie roll! went her H parsdlSC of Hie trumps. Whistling H i nek's red head popped suddenly back H into the ii r. A sight 100 Imposing and H magnificent for his gaaa hud bean add H eil In the scene. A Mist, incomparable H policeman rounded n pile of rice sacks EaB nnil Stood within 21) yiuils of the car. B Whistling nick, professional tramp, H possessed n half friendly iiciualntance M witli tills officer, They had met eev- l f X LaV h H - H f , The Whutier Collided With Big Fritz. B eral (lines befOCO on the levee at nlKht, H for the ollicer, himself a lover of iim- H ilr, had been attracted y the exipil- H Site whistling J)( the shiftless vnga- H bond. Still he did not eare under the H present circumstances to renew the nc- H .Qunlntniice. So Dick waited, and be- H lore long "Big i-'riiz" disappeared, H Whistling Ilek waited as long as Ills H judgment advised and then slid swiftly to the ground. As he picked his way H where night still lingered among tho H big, reeking, musty warehouses lie H gave way to the hahlt that had won H fur him his title. Siihdued, yet dear, H with each note us true and liquid us a H bobolink's, liu whistle tinkled about H tlie dim, cold mountains of hrlek like H drops of rain falling into a hidden pool. H Hounding a comer, the whistler col- H tided with "Big Frit.." H "So." observed the mountain cnlmly, H "yoll are alremly pack. Cud dere vlll H not pa frost before tWO Vceks yet. I'm! B you bat forgotten how to Ktle. Dere HBa was a valse note In dot test bar." HB) Big Fllta'S heavy mustache rounded ! into a circle, ami ir its depths came HBl o sound deep and mellow as tlmt from HBm a llute. lie repealed a lew bars of the ! air the tramp bad been whistling. IBM "lint p Is p natural, und not p Int. ! I'y der v.ay, yuti potter pe clad I meet HBw you. Von hour later, und I vould half HBg to put vou In a gage to vlstlfl mil d r HBg dull pirds. Der orders are to bull all HBg der punts after sunrise. Gool pye." HflR Alter the big policeman had depurt- H etl Whistling Dick stood lor an Irreso- HBl lute minute, tilling all the outraged H Indignation of a delinquent tenant who JHfl is ordered to vacate Itla premises, lie HBfi had pictured to himself a day of HBg dreamful ease. hut here was a Stern H order to exile ami one that he knew HB must in obeyed. So, with wary eye HBg open lor the yh am of brass buttons, he HBfi began his retreat toward a rural HBg refuge. A few days in the country HBg need not necessarily prove disastrous. HHJ However, it was with a depressed H Spirit that Whistling Dick passed the HBJ obi French market on tils elm, en route HBJ down the river. For safety's sake he HBg nidi presented to tin world his por- H traynl of the part of the Worth) urtls- HBg on on his way to labor. A stall keeper HBg in the market, undeceived, bailed him ! by the genetic name of bis ilk, and I "Jack" halted, taken by Surprise, Tin HBg vender, malted by this proof of bis HjHJ own BCUteneSS, bestowed a foot of Hftg frankfurter and a half a loaf, and thus HHg tile problem of breakfast was aolved, HBg I'.y iiooti he bad reached the country Hi of the plantations, the great, Bad, si- HAl lent levela bordering Ihe mighty river. HBl lie overlooked Holds of sugar cane so iisi that their farthest limits melted HBg ' Into the sky, 'i be sugar making season ! was well advanced, and the cutters At a certain point Whistling Hick's H0J unerring nose caught the scent of fry- BH ing flab, ilka u pointer to a quail, h HBb mads his way down tin levee HBJ straight to the camp of a credulous BBl und ancient fisherman, whom he BBg charmed with song and Story, so that he dined like mi admiral, and then. like ' philosopher, annihilated the worst three hours of the day i a nap under the trees. When he awoke and Continued Ids hegtrn a frosty sparkle In the air had succeeded ths drowsy warmth of tha day, and as this portent of a chilly night translated Itself to the brain of Sir Peregrins bs lengthened his stride and bethought him of shelter. A distant clatter In tho rear quickly developed Into tha swift heat of horses' hoofs. Turning his head, ho saw approaching ap-proaching n fine team of stylish grays drawing n double surrey. A stout man with a white mustache occupied the front seat, giving all his attention to the rigid lines in his hands. Behind him sat a placid, middle-aged lady and n brilliant looking girl, hardly arrived at young ladyhood. The lap robe had slipped partly from the knees of the gentleman driving, and Whistling Dick saw tWO stout canvas bags between Ills feet-bags such as, while loallng In cities, he had seen warily transferred between express wagons and bank doors. The remaining space In tin vehicle-was lllled with pan. Is of vari oils sizes and Shapes, As the surrey swept even with tin side tracked tramp, the bright-eye! girl, seized by some merry, madcap Im pulse, leaned out toward him with i sweet, daz.llng smile and cried, "Mer ry Christmas!" In a shrill, plalnllvi treble. Such n thing had not often happened to Whistling DlCk, and lie felt handicapped handi-capped in devising the correct re- ; spouse. Hut, lacking time for reflection,' he let his Instinct decide, and snatching snatch-ing off his battered hat he rapidly extended ex-tended It at arm's length and drew It hack with a continuous motion and shouted a loud, but ceremonious "Ah, there!" The sudden movement of the girl had caused one of the parcels to become be-come unwrapped, and something limp and black fell from it Into the road. The tramp picked It up and found it to be a new- black silk stocking, long und line and slender. "Ther blniiinln' little skcozlcks!" snld Whlslllng Hick, with a broad grin bisecting his freckled face. "Wot d' per think of dat. now? Mer ry Christ inus! Sounded like a cuckoo clock, dat's what she did. Detn guys is swells, too, bet yet life, an' der ol mi stacks ilem sacks of dough down under Ills trotters like dey was common as dried apples. Hoen shoppiu' for Christians, and tie kid's lost one of her new socks w'ot she was golu' to hold up Sauty wld." Whistling Dick folded the stocking carefully and stuffed it Into his pocket. It was nearly two hours later when he came Upon Signs of habitation. The buildings of an extensive plantation came Into view. The road was Inclosed on each side by a fence, und presently us Whistling IMck drew nearer the houses he suddenly sud-denly stopped and sniffed the ulr. "If dere ain't a hobo stow cookln' somewhere in dls Immediate precinct," ho said to himself, "me nose has quit 1 tellln' de trut." Without hesitation he climbed the fence to windward. He found himself in an apparently disused lot, where piles of old bricks were stacked and rejected, decaying lumber. In S corner he saw the faint glow of a tire that had hi come little more than a bed uf Ihlng coals, and lie thought lie could see some dim human forms sitting or lying about it. Hi drew nearer, and by the light of a little blaze that sud- denly flared np be saw plainly the fat i figure of a ragged man In an old brown sweater and cap. "Dat man," said Whistling Dick to himself softly, "l it dead ringer for Boston Harry. I'll try hlni wit' de high sign." lie wist led one or two bars of n rag-lime rag-lime melody, and the air was Immediately Imme-diately taken ap and then quickly end-d end-d with a peculiar run. The tlrst wins ir walked confidently up to the Bra, . lie fat man look 'd up ami spake in u Utlt, asthmatic wheeze: (nuts, the i xpected but welcome llldltlon to our circle Is Mr. Whistling I i k. an old friend of mine for whom i rully vouchee, The waiter will In) miller cover at once. Mr. W. D. will a UN at supper, during which func- ; n he will enlighten us in regard to circumstances that give us tbs ure of his company." nr ths net ten minutes tin' gang in all. paid their unili- entlon to the supper, In an lion kerosene can they hud ' 'I a Stew of potatoes, meat and ,i t !u j purtook oi From hi I had knoyj n Boston . old and Knew him to i one ' he shrew de-t and most aucct -In i hood, lie lobki '1 ill r a solid 1 1 .'. lie and '..de, with u rudd) I - cd face, 'i he four n 1 1 , fair s if ths .11 clad, ii oisome gi mis. r the bottom of the large can , i In i ii -i raped ami pipi M lit at tli mals two of the men called Boston a Ids and Spake with him lowly a mysteriously, He nodded decisively and then said aloud to Whistling Hick : "Listen, sonny, to some plain talky I talk. We five are on a lay. I've guar- I anteed you to be square and you're to come In on Ihe prolits eipnil with the boys, ami you've got to help. Two hundred hun-dred hands OB Ibis plantation are expecting ex-pecting to be paid a Week! wages tomorrow to-morrow morning. Tomorrow's Christmas Christ-mas and t'hey want to lay off. Says ths boss, 'Work from five to nine In Die morning lo get a tralnload of sugar off and I'll pay every man cash down j for tin week and a day extra.' They I Say I 'llooruy for the boss! It goes.' lie drives to Noo Orleans today and ! ' fetches back the cold dollars. Two ' ! thousand and seventy-four fifty Is the amount. I got tho figures from a man who talks too much, who got 'em from the bookkeeper. Now, half of this haul goes to me and the other half the rest of you may divide. Why the difference? dif-ference? I represent the brains. It's my scheme. Here's the way we're going ! to get It. There's some company at supper sup-per in the honee, but they'll leave about nine. They have Just happened In for an hour or so. If they don't go pretty soon we'll work ths scheme anyhow. any-how. We want all night to get away good with the dollars. They're heavy. I About nine o'clock Heal' Pt te and Bltnky 'ii go down tbs mad a quarter jnllo beyond the house and set fire to n big canelield there that the cutters haven't touched yet. The wind's just right to have It roaring in two minutes. The alarm 'II lie given, and every man Jack about the place will be down there In ten minutes fighting lire. That lazily upon convenient lumber and regarded re-garded Whistling Hick with undisguised undis-guised disfavor. "His planter chap," Hick said, "w'ot makes yer link he's got de tin In de houss wi' 'm?" "I'm advWed of the facts In the cne," sidil Boston, "He drove to Noo Orleans and got it, I say, today. Want to change your mind now and come 1n?" "Nnw, I was Just askln'. Wot kind o' team did de boss drive?" "Pair of grays." "Iiouble surrey?" "Yep.". "Women folks along!" "Wife and kid. Say, what morning paper ure you trying to pump news for?" "I was just converatn' to puss da time away. I guess dat team passed me in de road dls evenin'. Dat's nil." Dinner, two hours late, was helpg served In the Hcllctncnde plantation dining room. The talk of the diners was too desultory, desul-tory, too evanescent to follow, hut nt last they came to the subject of the tramp nuisance, one thai had of late vexed the plantations for many miles around. The planter seized the occu-slon occu-slon to direct Ills good-natured fire of raillery at the mistress, accusing her of encouraging the plague. "I don't believe they are all bad," she said. "We passed one this evening as we were driving home who had a face as good as it was Incompetent, lie was whistling the Intermezzo from TJavallerla and blowing the spirit of i Mascagni himself into It." " S I r "Merry Christmas!" Cried the Briflht-Eyed Girl. '11 leave the money sacks and the women alone In the house for us to handle." "Boston," Interrupted whistling Dick, rising to Ids feet, "t'atiks for de grub yous fellers has given me, but l'l! be mm In' on now. I'.urglary is no good. I'll say good night and many t'atiks for " Whistling Dick had moved away a few Steps as he spike, but he stopped wry .suddenly. Huston had eoerid I. tin with a Short revolver Of roomy caliber. "Take your seat." said the tramp leader. "I'll feel might." pnnid of myself my-self If I let you go and spoil the game. You'll stick right In this camp until we tiulsli the Job. The end of 111. J brick pile Is your limit. Vou go two Inches beyond thai and I'll have to .shoot. Heller take it easy, now." "It's my way of doln'," said Whistling Whis-tling Dick. "Easy goes, Vou can depress de-press de muzzle of dat twelve Inclier and run 'er back on de trucks. I remains." re-mains." "All right," said Hoston, lowering his piece, as Hie other returned and took his teal again on a projecting plank In n pile Of timber. "I don't want to hurt anybody specially, but this thousand dollars I'm going to get will ti me for fair. I'm going 10 drop the road ami start a SUtOOO in .1 little tuwti I know about I'm tired of bring kicked around," Boston Marry look from bis pocket B cheap silver watch and held 11 mar the lire. "it's a quarter to nine," he said, "Pete, you and I'.lluky start, tin down the road past the house and tire the cane in a dozen plans. Then strike for the levee and come back mi it Instead Of the mail. M you won't meet any-body, any-body, Bj Ihe time you get back the men Will all be Striking OUl for the tire, and well break for the bouse and col lar the dollars, Everybody cough np what matches he's got," Of the three remaining vagriita, two, Ooggles and lndiumi Ton, reclined A bright-eyed young girl who sat nt the left of the mistress leaned over and said in a confidential undertime: "1 wonder, mamma, if that tramp we passed on tlie road found my stocking. And do you think he will hang It up tonight?" The words of the young girl were Interrupted by it startling thing. Hike the wraith of some buruedout shooting star, a black Streak came crashing through the window pane and upon the table, w here it shivered Into fragments a dozen pieces of crystal and china ware. The woman screamed in many keys, ami the men sprang to their feet. ThS planter was the first to act. fle sprang to the intruding missile and held I' up to view. "It's loaded," he aunounced, Ashe spoke he ravened a long, black stocking, holding it by the toe, and down from It dropped a roundish stone wrapped about by a plot f yellowish paper. "Now for tlie first interstellar message of the century I" he cried, and nodding to the company, who had crowded about him, be adjusted his glasses witli provoking deliberation ami examined it closely, when in- finished bs bad changed from the jolly host to the practical, decisive man of business, ii,. immediately struck a bell and said to the silent footed mulatto mu-latto man w im responded i "'" und tell Mr, Wesley to gel Reeves and Maurice and about ten stout bands they can rely upon and come to the hall door at once. Tell him to have the men arm themselves and bring plenty of ropes :ind plow lines. Tell him to hurry." And then he read aloud from the paper these a ords i nt ef dt Hous: Dors i Ave tufl boboss scept massif In lie vokoa lot assi ds rood wsjt A old brli k tx-.v tint ms stuck up wi'i a gun .:..! t i.ii in ins aisans ol omtnunl" katsa, I f iUt laits is gone down to et tire to ile rani lieM bslOW de bOUS Sad Whn you ti 111 to turn ile hoes on ft de bole Kims' Is goto tO rob dl hous ut da im m v roe gotto pay off wit say alt s move on ye say de kid dropt dls &' k in der rude let her mery crismus de name as told me Ketch de lmm down do rods n I lelefe cue to k'et me nut nf xoke y0urS truly. WHISTI.KN DICK. There was some quiet but rapid maneuvering at Bellemeade during the ensuing half hour, which ended in five disgusted and sullen tramps being cap lured and locked securely In an outhouse out-house pending the coining of tlie morning morn-ing and retribution. For another result re-sult the visiting young gentlemen had so. nred the unqualified worship of the visiting young ladies by their distinguished distin-guished and heroic conduct, h'or still another, behold Whistling Hick, the hero, sated ut the planter's table feasting. The planter vowed thnt the wanderer wander-er should wander no more, that his was a goodness and an honesty that should be rewarded and that a debt of gratitude had been made that must be paid, for had tie not saved them from a doubtless Imminent loss und maybe a great calamity? He assured Whistling Dick that he might consider con-sider himself a charge upon the honor of Bellemeade, that a position suited to his powers would be found for him ut once. But now, they said, he must he weary, and the immediate thing to consider was rest and sleep. So the mistress spoke to n servant, and Whistling Whis-tling Dick whs conducted to n room In the wing of the bouse occupied by the servants. To this room In u few minutes min-utes was brought n portable tin bathtub bath-tub filled with water, which was placed on n piece of (died cloth upon the floor. There the vagrant was left to pass the night. I'.y the light of a candle he examined the mom, A bed. with the covers neut-ly neut-ly turned back, revealed snowy fill-lows fill-lows and sheets. There were towels on a rack and soap In a white dish. Whistling Dick set his caudle on a chair and placed his hat carefully under un-der the talde. After satisfying what we must suppose to have been his curiosity curi-osity by a sober scrutiny, he removed his coat, folded it and laid It Upon the floor near the wall, as far as possible 1 from the unused bathtub. Talcing his 1 coat for a pillow, be stretched himself luxuriously upon the carpet. When on Christmas' morning the Brat streaks of dawn broke above the marshes Whistling Dick awoke and readied instinctively for his hat. Then bt remembered thai the skirts of For tune had swe.it him Into their folds mi the niu'lit previous, and lie went to the window and raised it to let the fresh breath of the morning cool his brow. As he stood (here certain dread and ominous sounds pierced bis ear. The force of plantation workers, eager to complete the shortened task allotted to them, were all astir. The mighty din of the ogre Labor shook the earth, and the poor tattered and forever dlagolaed prince in search of his fortune trembled. Ths December air was frosty, but the sweat broke out upon Whistling Dick's face. He thrust his bead out of the window and looked down. Fifteen Fif-teen feet below him, against tlie wall of the house, be could make out that a border of flowers grew, and by that token he overhung a bed of soft earth. , Softly as a burglar goes, be elnui-, elnui-, I beted OUt Upon the sill, lowered hill)- ! self until lie hung by his hands alone and then dropped safely, N" one ' seemed to be about upon this side of the house. He dodged low and skim- . Hied swiftly across the yard of the low-fence. low-fence. It was nu easy matter to vault VaA- !k- Feasting at the Planter's Table. for a terror urged III ill such ns lifts the ga.eiie over the thorn bush when ihe lion pursues. A. crash through Ihe dew drenched weeds on the roadside, road-side, a clutching, slippery rush up the grassy shh' nf the levee to the footpath foot-path nt the summit, ami he was free! A small, ruffled, brow ii breast, d bird sitting upon a dogwood sapling began a soft, throaty, tender little piping In praise of the dew which entices foolish worms from their holes, bul suddenlj it stopped and sal with Its head turned sldewlse, listening, And ths little brown bird sat with its head on one lids until the sound of Whistling died away. |