Dick Hamilton's Airship Part 17

"Hardly. He's smoking, and I wish you'd hurry and git him out of the parlor, for he's sure to drop some ashes on the carpet that we've had ever since we got married."

"Smoking in my parlor!" exclaimed Uncle Ezra. "I'll get him out of there. The idea! Why, if any sun is let in there it will spoil the colors. How'd you come to open that?" he asked of his wife, wrathfully.

"I didn't. But I was so surprised at havin' someone come to the front door, which they never do, that I didn't know what to say. He asked if you was to home, and I said you was. Then he said: 'Well, I'll wait for him in here,' and he pushed open the parlor door and went in. I had it open the least mite, for I thought I saw a speck of sun comin'

through a crack in the blinds and I was goin' in to close it when the bell rang."

"The idea! Sitting in my parlor!" muttered Uncle Ezra. "I'll get him out of that. You're sure he ain't a book peddler?"

"He don't seem to have a thing to sell except nerve," said Aunt Samantha, "and he sure has got plenty of that."

"I'll fix him!" cried Uncle Ezra.

But he proved to be no match for the smooth sharper in the shape of Larson.

"Did you want to see me?" demanded the crabbed old man.

"I did," answered Larson coolly, as he continued to puff away at his cigar. "I came to offer you a chance to make twenty thousand dollars."

"Twenty thousand dollars!" Uncle Ezra nearly lost his breath, he was so surprised.

"That's what I said! I'm in a position to give you a good chance to make that much money, and perhaps more. If you will give me half an hour of your time--"

"Look here!" interrupted Mr. Larabee, "this ain't no lottery scheme; is it? If it is I want to warn you that I'm a deacon in the church. I wouldn't go into any lottery unless I was sure I could win. I don't believe in gambling. As a deacon of the church I couldn't countenance nothing like that. No gambling!"

"This is not a gamble," Larson a.s.sured him. "It's a sure thing. I'll show you how to make twenty thousand dollars!"

"I--I guess I'd better open a window in here, so we can see," said Uncle Ezra, faintly. "That's quite a pile of money to talk about in the dark," and to the horror of Aunt Samantha she saw, a little later, the sun shamelessly streaming in on her carpet that had only been treated to such indignities on the occasions of a funeral, or something like that. The parlor of the Dankville house was like a tomb in this respect.

CHAPTER XIII

UNCLE EZRA ACTS QUEERLY

Exactly what pa.s.sed between Uncle Ezra Larabee and his caller, Aunt Samantha never learned. She was so overcome at seeing the parlor opened, that perhaps she did not listen sufficiently careful. She overheard the murmur of voices, and, now and then, such expressions as "above the clouds," "in the air," "twenty thousand dollars, and maybe more."

"Gracious goodness!" she murmured as she hurried out to the kitchen, where she smelled something burning on the stove. "I wonder what it's all about? Can Ezra have lost money on some of his investments? If he has, if it's gone up above the clouds, and in the air, the way he's talking about it things will be terrible; terrible! It will come nigh onto killin' him, I expect!"

She went back to listen again outside the parlor door, but could make out nothing.

She did catch, however, her husband's expression of:

"Twenty thousand dollars! It's a pile of money! A heap!"

"Oh my!" she murmured faintly. "If he's lost that we'll go to the poorhouse, sure!"

But nothing like that happened. As a matter of fact Uncle Ezra could have lost that sum several times over, and not have felt it except in the anguish of his mind.

When the caller had gone, Uncle Ezra seemed rather cheerful, much to the amazement of Aunt Samantha. She could not understand it. At the same time her husband appeared to be worried about something.

"But he doesn't act as though he had lost a lot of money," his wife reasoned. "He certainly acts queer, but not just that way. I wonder what it can be?"

And during the next week Uncle Ezra acted more queerly than ever. He received several other visits from the strange man who had given his name to Aunt Samantha, when first calling, as "Lieutenant Larson."

Also, Mr. Larabee went off on several short trips.

"I wonder whatever's got into him?" mused Aunt Samantha. "I never knew him to act this way before. I do hope he isn't doing anything ras.h.!.+"

If she had only known!

Uncle Ezra became more and more engrossed with his caller who came several days in succession. They were shut up together in the parlor, and one window shutter was opened each time, to the horror of Mrs.

Larabee.

"That carpet will be faded all out, and clean ruined," she complained to her husband.

"Well, if it is, maybe I'll get money enough to buy a new one," said Uncle Ezra. "Mind, I'm not saying for sure," he added, cautiously, "but maybe."

"Why, how you talk!" cried Aunt Samantha. "That carpet ought to last us until we die! A new carpet! I never heard tell of such a thing!

Never in all my born days! The idea!"

Uncle Ezra chuckled grimly. It was clear that he was acting in a new role, and he was a surprise, even to himself.

At last Aunt Samantha could stand the suspense no longer. One night, after a rather restless period, she awakened Uncle Ezra who had, most unusually, been talking in his sleep.

"Ezra! Ezra! Wake up!" she demanded in a loud whisper, at the same time vigorously shaking him.

"Eh! What is it? Burglars?" he asked, sitting up in bed.

"No, Ezra. Nothin' like that!"

"Oh, cats, eh? Well, if it's only cats go to sleep. I don't mind 'em."

"No, Ezra, I didn't say cats. But you're talkin' in your sleep. That is, you were."

"I was?"

"Yes."

"What'd I say?" and he seemed anxious.

"Why you were talkin' a lot about flyin' in the air, and goin' up to the clouds, and bein' in a race, and winnin' twenty thousand dollars!

Oh, Ezra, if you care for me at all, tell me what mystery this is!" she pleaded.

"Did I say all that?" he asked, scratching his head.

"Yes, and a lot more! You said something about an airs.h.i.+p."

"Humph! Well, that's it!"

"What is?"