All Talk About Horses Ceased At Once, And The Men Said Very Little To
Each Other During The Remainder Of The Time We Were At The Table.
It
was almost pathetic, and an attention I very much appreciated, to see
how bread, pickles, cold meat, and in fact everything else on that
rough table, were quietly pushed to me, one after the other, without
one word being said.
That was their way of showing their approval of
me. It was unpolished, but truly sincere.
I was not at all afraid that night, for I suspected that the horsemen
at the supper-table were the "boys" referred to by Mrs. Gates. But it
was impossible to sleep. The partition between the two rooms must have
been very thin, for the noises that came through were awful. It seemed
as though dozens of men were snoring at the same time, and that some
of them were dangerously "croupy," for they choked and gulped, and
every now and then one would have nightmare and groan and yell until
some one would tell him to "shut up," or perhaps say something funny
about him to the others. No matter how many times those men were
wakened they were always cheerful and good-natured about it. A
statement that I cannot truthfully make about myself on the same
subject!
It was not necessary for me to leave my room through the window the
next morning, although my breakfast was early. The house seemed
deserted, and I had the long table all to myself.
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