burn!" Her voice carried a terrible condemnation far beyond the
meaning of the words themselves. It was as if she were pronouncing the
doom of the whole world. "Every cat, every rat, every mouse, every
louse--"

Casey Ryan's jaw dropped an inch. He backed until he was against the
door. He had to swallow twice before he could find his voice, and
those of you who know Casey Ryan will appreciate that. He waited until
she had finished her declaration.

"No, ma'am, you're wrong. I come up here to see if I could help yuh."

"Hounds of hell--black as the bottomless pit that spewed you forth to
prey upon mankind! The world will have to burn. Tell those hounds of
hell that bay at the gibbous moon the world will have to burn. Every
cat, every rat, every mouse, every louse has a thousand years to burn!"

Casey Ryan, with his mouth half open and his eyes rather wild,
furtively opened the door behind him. Still meeting fixedly the dull
glare of the old woman's eyes, Casey slid out through the door and
fastened it hastily behind him. With an uneasy glance now and then
over his shoulder as if he feared the old woman might be in pursuit of
him, he hurried back down the ladder to the closed door in the drift,
pulled the door shut behind him and put the padlock in place before he
breathed naturally.

He stopped then to put on his shoes, made his way to the drift opening
and listened again for voices or footsteps. When he found the way
clear he hurried out and back to the dugout. The first thing he did
was to fill his pipe and light it. Even then the sonorous voice of the
old woman intoning her dreadful proclamation against the world rang in
his ears and sent occasional ripples of horror down his spine. Seen
through the window, she had looked a sad, lonely old lady who needed
sympathy and help. At closer range she was terrible. Casey was trying
to forget her by busying himself about the stove when Joe walked in
unexpectedly.

Joe stood just inside the door, staring at Casey with a glassy look in
his eyes. Something in Joe's face warned Casey of impending events;
but with that terrible old woman still fresh in his mind, Casey was in
the mood to welcome distraction of any sort. He shifted his hand in
the sling so that his concealed weapons lay more comfortably therein,
secure from detection, and waited.

Joe leaned forward, lifted an arm slowly and aimed a finger at Casey
accusingly.

"Pap says that you're a Fed