"His rev'rence an' Mees Bereel ees not here!" she said, simply and
calmly.
"Not here! _Not here!..._ Where are they?"
"Gone. Mees Bereel goes home yest'day. His rev'rence go to Lou-ees-ville
wiz her, an' have not return'; _oui_."
I made no reply, but left the house and mechanically turned back toward
the little hamlet. Gone! Was that the monotonous and deadly refrain to
which the world had been set running? All gone. Everybody gone. Wherever
I turned--gone. With sagging shoulders I plodded on, trying to think of
something else. Where was Snack Hollow? Where was Snack Hollow? Where
was Snack Hollow? This sentence raced through my brain with the
regularity of a pendulum's swing. Why, the station agent would know! I
had reached the foot of the steep hill, where the track ran, when this
illuminating idea was conceived. To my right was the small depot,
fronted by a platform of a height to unload freight upon from a car
door. Looking up suddenly under the force of my discovery, I saw Jeff
Angel seated upon this platform, his thin legs hanging from it, an
oilcloth-covered bundle at his side. He was leisurely eating cheese and
crackers from a yellow paper sack. What a glad sight he was to me in the
midst of an empty world!
"O you blessed old Satyr!" I yelled, and ran toward him forthwith.
"Whut's th' furse 'bout?" he asked, quietly, trying to smile a welcome,
but only succeeding in showing some imperfect teeth caked with cheese
and dough.
"Why, damn your dirty, good old hide, I'm glad to see you!" I continued,
jumping to a seat at his left and squeezing his disengaged hand. "I'm
about two-thirds crazy, you know, and I need somebody to hold me when
the other third slips over. Think you can?"
I nudged his skinny ribs jocularly. My mental condition truly was not up
to standard that moment.
"Huh!" grunted Jeff, casting me a quick, amused glance.
"Why didn't you wait and have breakfast?" I asked, drawing a breath
which flooded the deepest cell in my lungs.
I tell you it was good to sit by the side of that ragged piece of
flotsam. I felt hope coming back, for I knew he was my friend.
"Woke up--thirsty 's 'ell. Your'n gone; mine gone. Had to hev some
liquor, so I lit out, easy, so 's not to wake you up. Had some muster,
didn't we?--Huh?"