and went out of the room. Just as I got
to the door I heard Mitch say, "Has pa come?" They said, "He's comin',
Mitchie, be patient, he's comin'." Then I stood by the door.

And pretty soon Mrs. Miller came and the girls and my mother and Myrtle
and most every one. It seemed Mr. Miller was away selling atlases, but
would be home soon, maybe, or maybe not till late, and maybe not till
to-morrow. All the girls cried like their hearts would break; and Mrs.
Miller knelt down by the bed, and Mitch says to her, "Where's pa?" And
she says, "He's comin', Mitchie." And then she choked and had to walk
away. They cleared the room now pretty much, and of course Mrs. Miller
allowed me to be in the room if I wanted to, and could stand it. But I
stood by the door, or just inside a little, for Mitch was talkin'.
Finally they let me go to the bedside, and Mitch saw me and says,
"Skeet," and then turned his head kind of over as if he wanted to say
something he couldn't bear to say.

Then Mitch began to talk more. "Don't row so fast," he'd say--"The
river's gettin' swifter. Take the horses from that engine. I'm goin' to
see Tom Sawyer--I can fly to him--fly--fly--fly--Zueline--it's you, is
it?"

Then he kind of woke up and says: "Is Zueline here?" And they said, "No,
but she was comin';" but she wasn't; she was out of town, and probably
wouldn't have come anyway. And then he said--"Get my pa--he must
forgive me before I die."

[Illustration: Mitch Saw Me and Says, "Skeet"]

By this time I knew how Mitch was hurt. He'd been with Charley King and
George Heigold, and they had been flippin' on the train. And Mitch was
ridin' on the side of a car with his foot hangin' down that he had cut
in two, draggin' against the wheel, which he didn't notice because his
foot was numb from being cut in two when he was four or five years old.
So the train gave a lurch and dragged him under; and the wheels cut him
at the hip. It couldn't be amputated by the doctor, and they couldn't
stop the bleedin'.

Then Mitch began to repeat all kinds of poetry from "Hamlet" and things
I didn't know; and he repeated what he had recited to me that day:

"I saw pale kings and warriors too,
Pale princes, death pale were they all.
They said 'La Belle Dame sans Merci
Hath thee in thrall.'"

And he talked about flyin', about treasure, about St. Louis, about Doc
Lyon, and Joe Rainey and the pistol; and once he talked as if he thought
he was testif