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The Chicken by Ellis Parker. Butler
Filo Gubb, with three rolls of wallpaper

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under his arm and a pail of
mixed paste in one hand, walked along

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Cherry Street near the brickyard. On
this occasion, mister Gubb was in a

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reasonably contented frame of mind, for
he had just received his share of the

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reward for capturing the dynamiters, and
had this very morning paid the full amount

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to mister Meadowbrook, leaving but eleven
six hundred and fifty dollars still to be

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paid to that gentleman for the utterly
hopeless gold mine stock. And upon the

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further payment of seventy five cents half
its cost, mister Meadowbrook gave him a

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telegram he had received from Cyrilla.
The telegram was as follows, Rapidly shrinking,

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have given up all soups, including
tomato soup, chicken soup, mulligaton,

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he mocked, turtle, green pea
vegetable, gumbo, lent al,

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konsumme bullyon and clam broth. Now
weigh only nine hundred and fifty pounds.

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Why are at once whether clam chowder
is a soup or a food fond remembrances

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to Gubby. Mister Gubb was thinking
of this telegram as he walked toward his

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work. Just ahead of him,
a short lane led between Missus Smith's house

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and the Cherry Street Methodist Chapel to
the brickyard. Missus Smith's chicken coop stood

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on the fence line between her property
and the brick yard. Filo Gubb had

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passed Missus Smith's front gate when Missus
Smith waddled to her fence and hailed him.

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Oh, mister Gobb, She panded, you got to excuse me for

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speaking to you when I don't know
you. Missus Miffin says you're a detective.

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Deed ticketing is by aim and my
profession, said mister Gubb. Well,

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said Missus Smith, I want to
ask a word of you about I've

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had a chicken stole. Chicken stealing
is a crime, if ever there was

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one, said Filo Gub. Seriously, what was the chicken worth? Forty

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cents? Said Missus Smith Well,
said Filo Gub. It wouldn't hardly pay

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me. It ain't much, admitted
Missus Smith. No, you're you're right,

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it ain't, said Filo Gub.
Was this a rooster or a hen.

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It was a hen, said Missus
Smith. Well, said mister Gubb.

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If you was to offer a reward
of one hundred dollars for the capture

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of the thief, oh my land, exclaimed Missus Smith. It would be

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cheaper for me to pay somebody five
dollars to come and steal the rest of

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the chickens. It seems to me
that you ought to make the thief pay.

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I ain't the one that did the
crime, am I. It's only

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right that a thief should pay for
the time and trouble he puts you to,

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ain't it. I never looked at
it that way, said mister Gubb

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thoughtfully, But it stands to reason. Of course it does, said missus

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Smith. You catch that thief and
you can offer yourself a million dollars reward

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if you want to. That's none
of my business, well said Filo Gubb,

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picking up his paste pail. I
guess if there ain't any important murders

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or things turned up by seven tonight, I'll start in to work for that

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reward. I guess I can ask
more than five dollars reward. At seven,

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the evening was still light, and
Filo Gubb to cover his intentions and

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avert suspicion in case his interview with
Missus Smith had been observed by the thief,

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put a false beard in his pocket
and a revolver beside it, and

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left his office in the oppera house
block. Cautiously, he slipped into the

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alley and glided down it, leaping
close to the stables. The detective must

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be cautious. The abandoned brick kilns
offered admirable seclusion. A brick kiln is

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built entirely or almost so of the
brick that are to be burned, and

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the kilns are torn down and carted
away as the brick or sold. The

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overstructure of the kilns was a mere
roof of half inch planks laid on timbers

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that were upheld by poles. A
ladder leaning against one of the poles gave

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access to the roof. In the
darkness, it was impossible for Philo Gub

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to find a fingerprint of the culprit
on the kilns. Although he looked for

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one. He did not even find
the usual and highly helpful button. Torn

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from its place in the criminal's eagerness
to depart, He found only an old

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horseshoe and a broken tobacco pipe,
as there were evidences that the pipe had

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been abandoned on that spot several years
earlier. Neither of these was a very

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valuable clue. Mister Gubb next game
his attention to the chicken coop. It

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was pre eminently a hand made chicken
coop of the rough and ready variety.

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Philo Gub entered the chicken house and
looked around, lighting his dark lantern and

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throwing its rays here and there that
he might see better. The house was

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so low of roof that he had
to stoop to avoid the roosts, and

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the tails of the chickens brushed his
hat. It needed brushing, so this

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did no harm the hens, and
the two roosters complained gently of this interruption

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of their beauty sleep, and moved
along the roosts, and mister Gubb went

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outside again. It was quite evident
that the thief had had no great hardships

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to undergo in robbing that roost.
All he had to do was to enter

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the chicken house, choose a chicken, and walk away with it. Why

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had he not taken ten chickens?
Mister Gubb, as he put the keg

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hoop over the end board of the
gate studied this. The theory that mister

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Gus adopted was that the thief coming
for a rate on the coop, had

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been surprised to find it so poorly
guarded. It had been so easy to

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enter the coop and steal the chicken
that he had decided it would be folly

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to take eight or ten chickens and
thus arouse instant suspicion and reprisal. Instead

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of this, he had taken but
one, trusting that the loss of one

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would be unnoticed or blade to rats
or cats or weasels. Thus he would

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be able to return again and again
as foul meat was needed or desired,

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and the chickens would be like money
in the bank, a fund on which

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to draw. This theory was so
sound that mister Gubb believed it would require

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nothing more than patience to capture the
criminal. The thief would come back for

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more chickens. Filo Gubb looked around
for an advantageous position in which to await

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the coming of the thief and be
unseen himself, and the loose board roof

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of the brick kiln met his eye. No position could be better. He

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climbed the ladder inside the kiln.
Pushed one of the boards aside enough to

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permit him to squeeze through on to
the roof, and, creeping carefully over

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the loose boards, reached the edge
of the roof. Here he stretched himself

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out flat on the boards and waited. Nothing. Absolutely nothing happened. The

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mosquitoes, numerous, indeed, because
of the nearness of the pond, buzzed

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around his head and stung him on
the neck and hands, but he did

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not dare slap at them lest he
betray his hiding place. Hour followed hour,

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and no chicken thief appeared, And
when the first rays of the sun

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lighted the east, he climbed down
and stalked stiffly away to a short hour

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of sleep. The next night,
the correspondent school detective wasted no time in

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preliminary observations of the lay of the
land. He kept out of sight until

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the sun had set and dusk covered
the land with shade, and then he

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went at once to the roof of
the brick kiln. This time he was

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disguised in a red mustache, a
pair of flowing white side whiskers, and

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a woolen cap. He wore two
revolvers, large ones in a belt about

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his waist. It was still too
early for brisk business in chicken stealing when

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Philo Gubb climbed to the roof of
the kiln and spread himself out there,

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and he felt that he had time
for a few minutes sleep. He was

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tremendously sleepy. Sleep fairly pushed his
eyelids down over his eyes, and he

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put his crooked arm under his head, and, after thinking fondly of Syrilla

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for a few minutes, went to
sleep so suddenly that it was like falling

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off a cliff into dreamland. He
dreamed uneasily of having been captured by an

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array of forty chicken thieves, of
having been led in triumph before the Supreme

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Court of the United States, and
of having been condemned as a detective trust

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on the charge of acting in restraint
of trade, as injuring the Chicken Stealers

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Association's business. Had required to dissolve
himself. The dream was agonizing as he

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tried one dissolvent after another without success. Turpentine merely dissolved his skin. Alcohol

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had no effect whatever. He imagined
himself in a long room in which stood

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vast rows of vats bearing different labels, and in and out of these he

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climbed, trying to obey the order
of the court, but nothing seemed capable

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of dissolving him, and he suddenly
discovered that he was made of rubber.

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He seemed to remember that rubber was
soluble in benzine, and he started on

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a tour of the vats, trying
to find a benzene that he walked many

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miles. Sometimes he arose in the
air with ease and grace, and flew

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a few miles. Finally he found
the vat of benzine, immersed himself in

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it, and began to dissolve,
calmly and with a blessed sense of having

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done his duty. It was then
that Filo Gubb entered the dreamless sleep of

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the utterly weary. And about the
same time, two men slunk under the

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roof of the brick kiln, and, after looking carefully around, took seats

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on the fallen bricks, Resting their
backs against the partly demolished kiln. They

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arranged the bricks as comfortably as possible
before seating themselves, and when they were

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seated, one of them drew a
whisky bottle from his pocket, and after

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taking a good Swig offered it to
his partner. Nope, said he.

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I'm going to steer clear of that
stuff until I know where I'm at.

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And you're a fool for not doing
the same, WIXI. First thing,

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you know, you'll be salst And
if you are and anything turns up,

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what'll I do? I got all
I can do to take care of you,

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sober ah turn up? Well,
what's going to turn up way out

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here? Asked Wixy. They ain't
nobody following us anyway. That's just a

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notion you've got your nerves has gone
back when you Sandlot. My nerve is

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all right, And don't you worry
about that, said Sandlot. I've got

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plenty of nerves, so I don't
have to brace it up with booze.

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And you ain't. That's what's the
matter with you. You saw that feller

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as well as I did. Didn't
you see him at the Bureau, that

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fella with the white whiskers? Yes? Him? And didn't you see him

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again in Durlingport? Well, what
was he following us that way? For?

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When he told us that Joliet he
was going east? A tramp has

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as good a right to change his
mind as what we have, said,

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Wixy. Didn't we tell him we
was going east ourselves? Maybe he ain't

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looking for steady company any more than
we be. Maybe he come this way

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to get away from us, like
we did to get away from, say

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sand Lot, he said, almost
pleadingly. You don't really think Old White

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Whiskers was a trail in us,
do you? You ain't got a notion

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he's a detective. How do I
know what he is? Sandlot? All

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I know is that when I see
a feller like that once and then again,

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and he looks like he was trying
to keep hid from us, I

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want to shake him off. I
know that, and I know I'm going

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to shake him off. And I
know that if you get all boozed up

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and full of liquor and can't walk
and that fella shows up, I'm going

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to quit you and look out for
myself. When a feller steals something or

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does any little harmless thing like that, it's different. He can't afford to

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stick to a pal, even if
he gets nabbed. But when it's a

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case of now, don't use that
word, said Wixy angrily. It wasn't

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no more murder than nothing was We
going to let Chicago Chicken bash our heads

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in just because we stood up for
our rights, him wanting a full half,

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just because he put us onto the
job. He ought to be killed

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for asking such a thing. Will
he was, wasn't, he asked Sandlot.

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You killed him, all right?
It was you swung on him with

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the rock, Wixy, remember that, trying to put it off on me,

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Ain't you? Said Wixy angrily.
Well, you can't do it if

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I hang you hang. Maybe I
did take a rock to him, but

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you had him strangled to death before
I ever hit him. What's the use

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gabbin about it? Said Sandlot.
He's dead, and we made our getaway,

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and all we got to do is
keep god away. There ain't nobody

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ever going to find him, not
where we sunk him in that deep water.

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Ain't I been saying that right along? Asked WIXI. Ain't I been

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telling you was a fool to be
scared of an old feller like white Whiskers,

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cutting across country this way, when
we might as well be forty miles

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more down the rock Island, traveling
along as nice as you please in a

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box car. Now, look here, said Sandlot, menacingly. I ain't

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going to take no abuse from you, drunk or sober. If you don't

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like my way, you go back
to the railroad and leave me go my

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own way. I'm going on across
country until I come to another railroad I

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am. And if I come to
a river and I run across a boat,

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I'm going to take that boat and
float aways. When I says nobody

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is going to know anything about what
we did to the chicken over there in

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Chicago, I mean it, nobody
is. But didn't sal know all three

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of us was going out on that
job that night. And when the chicken

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don't come back, ain't she going
to guess something happened to the chicken.

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She's going to think he made a
rich haul like he did, and that

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he up and quit her, said
Wixy. That's what she'll think. And

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what if she does, says sand
Lunt, She and him has been bordin

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with mother Smith, ain't they.
Ain't mother Smith been handin the chicken money

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when he needed it because he said
he was workin up this job with us.

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I bet the chicken owed mother Smith
a hundred dollars. And when he

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don't come back, then what Sal
will say she ain't got no money because

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the chicken quit her, and mother
Smith will, well, what, asked

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Wixy. She'll send word to every
crook in the country to spot the chicken,

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and you know it, and when
word comes back that there ain't no

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trace of him, you've lost your
nerve. That's what ails you, said

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Wixy, scornfully. No I ain't, Sandlot insisted, I've heard plenty of

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fellers tell how Mother Smith keeps tabs
on anybody that tries to do her out

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of ten cents. Even why maybe
the chicken promised to come back that night

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and pay up. I bet he
did, and I bet he was sour

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on Sal, and I bet mother
Smith knew it all the time, and

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that when he didn't come back that
night, she sent out word to spot

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him or us. I'll bet you
you've lost your nerve, said Wixy,

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drunkenly. You never did have no
nerve. You're so scared you're seeing ghosts,

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all right, said Sandlot, rising. I'll see ghosts then, but

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i'll see them by my You can
go good bye, said Wixy carelessly,

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and finished the last drop in his
bottle. Goodbye, old Sandlot. Goodbye.

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00:16:11,639 --> 00:16:15,600
Sandlot hesitated a moment and then arose, and, after a parting glance

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at Wixi, struck out across the
drying floor of the brickyard and was lost

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in the darkness. Wixy blinked and
balanced the empty bottle in his hand.

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He's afraid, he boasted to himself. He's a coward, afraid of dark,

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afraid of ghosts. Lost his nerve, I ain't afraid. He rose

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to his feet unsteadily. Sandlot's coward, he said, and threw down the

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empty bottle with a motion of disgust
at the cowardice of Sandlot. The bottle

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burst with a jangling of glass on
the loose board roof. Philo gub raised

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00:16:51,639 --> 00:16:56,039
his head suddenly. For an instant
he imagined he was a disembodied spirit,

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his body having been dissolved in Benzene. But as he became wider awake,

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he was conscious of a noise beneath
him. Wixi was shifting twenty or thirty

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bricks that had fallen from the kiln
upon a truss of straw used the last

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00:17:10,160 --> 00:17:14,039
winter to cover new molded bricks to
protect them from the frost against their drying.

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He was preparing a bed. He
muttered to himself as he worked,

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and Philo Gubb, placing his eye
to a crack between the boards of the

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00:17:22,279 --> 00:17:26,200
roof, tried to observe him.
The darkness was so absolute he could see

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nothing whatever. He heard Wixy stretch
out on the straw, and in a

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minute more he heard the heavy breathing
of a sleeper. Wixy was not letting

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any cowardice disturb his repose at all
events, and Philo Gubb considered how he

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could best get himself off the roof. The sleeping man was immediately beneath him,

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the latter was a full ten yards
away. Every motion made the loose

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boards complain. Looking down, mister
Gubb saw that the top of the kiln

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reached within a few feet of where
he lay, and that the partially removed

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00:18:00,960 --> 00:18:06,960
sides had left a series of giant
steps. Mister Gubb loosened his pistols in

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his belt. Now that he had
the chicken thief so near, he meant

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to capture him with the utmost care. He slid one of the boards of

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the roof aside and put his long
legs into the opening. Thus made feeling

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for the kiln until he touched it, and when he had a firm footing

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on it, he lowered the upper
part of his body through the roof.

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Five feet away, a cross timber
reached from one pillar of the roof to

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00:18:30,160 --> 00:18:33,880
another, and just below that was
one of the steps of the kiln.

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Philo Gub lighted his dark lantern,
and casting its ray, saw this cross

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00:18:40,279 --> 00:18:44,119
piece. If he could jump and
reach it, he could drop to the

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lower step and avoid the danger of
bringing the side of the kiln down with

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him. He slipped the lantern into
his pocket, reached out his hands and

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jumped into the dark. For an
instant, his fingers grappled with the cross

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piece. He struggled to gain a
firmer, and then he dropped straight upon

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the sleeping Wixi. He alighted fair
and square on the murderer's stomach, and

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the air went out of Wixi in
a sudden whoof Philo Gub, in the

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00:19:11,559 --> 00:19:15,200
unreasoning excitement of the moment, grappled
with Wixy, but the unresistance of the

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00:19:15,240 --> 00:19:21,319
man told that he was unconscious,
and the correspondent school detective released him and

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00:19:21,480 --> 00:19:26,200
stood up. He uncovered the lens
of his dark lantern and turned the ray

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00:19:26,319 --> 00:19:30,079
on Wixi. The murderer lay flat
on his back, his eyes closed and

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00:19:30,160 --> 00:19:36,359
his mouth open. Mister Gubb put
his hand on Wixi's heart. It still

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00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:41,519
beat. The man was not dead. With the dark lantern in one hand

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00:19:41,519 --> 00:19:44,799
and a rusty tin can in the
other, mister Gubb hurried to the pond

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00:19:44,839 --> 00:19:48,279
and returned with the can full of
water. But even in this crisis he

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did not act thoughtlessly. He set
the dark lantern on a shelf of the

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00:19:52,839 --> 00:19:57,640
kiln so that its rays might illuminate
Wixi and himself alike. Drew one of

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00:19:57,680 --> 00:20:02,960
his pistols and pointed it full at
Wixi's head, and holding it so,

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00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:07,599
he dashed the can of water in
the face of the unconscious man. Wixy

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00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:12,880
moved uneasily. He emitted a long
sigh and opened his eyes. I got

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00:20:12,920 --> 00:20:18,400
you, said Philo Gubb sternly.
There ain't no use to make a move,

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00:20:18,480 --> 00:20:21,720
because I'm a detecative, and if
you do, I'll shoot this pistol

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00:20:21,799 --> 00:20:25,799
at you. If you're able so
to do, just put up your hands.

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00:20:26,920 --> 00:20:30,039
Wixy blinked in the strong light of
the lantern. He groaned and placed

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one of his hands on his stomach. Put him up, said Philo Gub,

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and with another groan, Wixy raised
his hands. He was still flat

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on his back. He looked as
if he were doing some sort of health

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00:20:42,160 --> 00:20:48,640
exercise. In a minute, the
hands fell to the ground. I guess

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00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:52,160
you better set up, said Filo
Gub. You ain't going to be able

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00:20:52,200 --> 00:20:56,519
to hold up your hands if you
lay down that way. As he helped

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00:20:56,559 --> 00:21:00,240
Wixy to a sitting position, he
kept his pistol against the fellow's head.

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Now, then, said Filo Gub, when he had arranged his captive to

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00:21:04,440 --> 00:21:10,640
suit his taste. What you got
to say, I got to say.

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00:21:10,680 --> 00:21:14,200
I never done what you think I
done. Whatever it is, said Wixy.

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00:21:14,880 --> 00:21:15,799
I don't know what it is,
but I never done it. Some

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00:21:15,920 --> 00:21:21,640
other feller done it. That don't
bother me none, said Filo Gub.

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If you didn't do it, I
don't know who did. Just about the

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best thing you can do is to
account for the chicken and pay my expenses

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00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:32,240
of getting you. And the quicker
you do it, the better off you'll

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00:21:32,279 --> 00:21:37,559
be. Pale as Wixy was,
he turned still paler when Filo Gubb mentioned

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00:21:37,599 --> 00:21:42,599
the chicken. I never killed the
chicken. He almost shouted. I never

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00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:48,519
did it. I don't care whether
you killed the chicken or not, said

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00:21:48,519 --> 00:21:52,000
Filo Gub calmly. The chicken is
gone, and I reckon that's the end

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00:21:52,039 --> 00:21:57,039
of the chicken. But missus Smith
has got to be paid. Did she

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00:21:57,200 --> 00:22:02,480
send you, asked Wixy, trembling. Did Mother Smith put you on to

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00:22:02,599 --> 00:22:07,920
me? She did so, said
the correspondent school detective, And you can

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00:22:07,039 --> 00:22:12,200
pay up or go to jail.
How do you like that, Wixy studied

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00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:18,960
the tall detective. Look here,
he said, Suppose I give you fifty

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00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:23,839
and we'll call it square. He
meant fifty dollars. Maybe that would satisfy

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00:22:23,839 --> 00:22:29,119
missus Smith, said Filo Gubb,
thinking of fifty cents. But it don't

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00:22:29,160 --> 00:22:33,839
satisfy me. My time's valuable and
it's got to be paid for. Ten

288
00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:37,920
times fifty ain't a bit too much. And if it had took longer to

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00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:41,920
catch you, I'd have asked more. If you want to give that much,

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00:22:41,119 --> 00:22:45,880
all right, and if you don't, all right too. Wixy studied

291
00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:51,240
the face of Filo Gubb carefully.
There was no sign of mercy in the

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00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:55,839
bird like face of the paper hanger
detective. Indeed, his face was severe.

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00:22:56,240 --> 00:23:00,559
It was relentless in its sternness.
Five dollars was little enough to ask

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00:23:00,599 --> 00:23:06,839
for two nights of first class correspondent
school detective work. Rather than take less,

295
00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:11,319
he would lead the chicken thief to
jail, and Wixi with his third

296
00:23:11,359 --> 00:23:15,200
and half of the chicken's third of
the proceeds of the criminal job that had

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00:23:15,279 --> 00:23:18,480
led to the death of the chicken. Knowing the relentlessness of Mother Smith,

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that female Fagin of Chicago, considered
that he would be doing well to purchase

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00:23:23,920 --> 00:23:29,920
his freedom for five hundred dollars.
All right, pal, he said,

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00:23:29,960 --> 00:23:34,319
suddenly you're on It's a bet here
you are. He slipped his hand into

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00:23:34,359 --> 00:23:38,599
his pocket and drew out a great
roll of money. With the muzzle of

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00:23:38,599 --> 00:23:44,119
Philogub's pistol hovering just out of reach
before him, he counted out five crisp

303
00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:48,720
one hundred dollar bills. He held
them out with a sickly grin. Filo

304
00:23:48,759 --> 00:23:53,559
Gubb took them and looked at them, puzzled. What's this for, he

305
00:23:53,599 --> 00:24:00,440
asked, and Wixy suddenly blazed forth
in anger. Now don't come any of

306
00:24:00,519 --> 00:24:03,720
that, he cried. A bargain's
a bargain. Don't you come a pretending

307
00:24:03,920 --> 00:24:07,119
he didn't say, you'd take five
hundred and try to get more out of

308
00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:11,200
me. I won't give you no
more. I won't. You can jug

309
00:24:11,279 --> 00:24:12,839
me if you want to. You
can't prove nothing on me. And you

310
00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:17,519
know it. Have you found the
body of the chicken, Well, you

311
00:24:17,640 --> 00:24:21,440
got to have the corpus what you
call it? Ain't you huh? Ain't

312
00:24:21,480 --> 00:24:23,599
five hundred enough? I bet the
chicken never cost mother Smith more than one

313
00:24:23,680 --> 00:24:30,720
hundred and fifty. I was only
thinking, began Filo Gub. Don't think,

314
00:24:30,799 --> 00:24:37,359
then, said Wixi. Five hundred
dollars seemed to Filo began again.

315
00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:42,839
It's all you'll get if I hang
for it, said Wixy firmly. You

316
00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:47,160
can give mother Smith what you want
and keep what you want. That's all

317
00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:52,799
you'll get. Filo Gubb could not
understand it. He tried to, but

318
00:24:52,920 --> 00:24:57,079
he could not understand it at all. And then suddenly a great light dawned

319
00:24:57,079 --> 00:25:02,720
in his brain. There was some
this chicken thief knew that he and Missus

320
00:25:02,759 --> 00:25:07,519
Smith did not know. The stolen
chicken must have been of some rare and

321
00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:11,519
much sought strain. So it was
all right. The thief was paying what

322
00:25:11,559 --> 00:25:15,799
the chicken was worth, and not
what Missus Smith thought it was worth.

323
00:25:15,799 --> 00:25:19,839
In her ignorance, he slipped the
money into his pocket. All right,

324
00:25:21,400 --> 00:25:26,000
he said, I'm satisfied if you
are. The chicken was a fancy bird,

325
00:25:26,160 --> 00:25:30,400
ain't it so? The chicken was
a tough old rooster. That's what

326
00:25:30,440 --> 00:25:34,400
he was, said Wixy, staggering
to his feet. I thought he was

327
00:25:34,440 --> 00:25:38,839
a hen, said Filo Cub.
Missus Smith said he was a hen.

328
00:25:41,160 --> 00:25:45,119
Wixy laughed as sickly laugh. It
ain't much of a joke. That's why

329
00:25:45,119 --> 00:25:51,799
everybody called him chicken, because his
first name was hen. Filo Gubb's mouth

330
00:25:51,880 --> 00:25:56,359
fell open. He was convinced now
that he had to do with an insane

331
00:25:56,480 --> 00:26:02,400
man. Wixy moved toward the oak
drying floor. Well, so long part,

332
00:26:02,839 --> 00:26:06,839
he said to Filo Gub, give
my regards to mother Smith and say,

333
00:26:07,240 --> 00:26:10,279
he added, if you see Sal, don't let her know what happened

334
00:26:10,319 --> 00:26:14,400
to the chicken. Don't say anybody
made away with the chicken. Sea Tell

335
00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:19,880
Sal that chicken flew the coop himself. See who is sal, asked Filo

336
00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:26,119
Gub. You ask mother Smith,
said Wixy, she'll tell you, and

337
00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:30,920
he went out into the dark.
Filo Gubb heard him shuffle across the drying

338
00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:33,480
floor, and when the sound had
died away in the distance, he put

339
00:26:33,559 --> 00:26:40,839
up his revolver. Five hundred dollars, he said, and he routed Missus

340
00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:44,720
Smith out of bed. He did
not tell her the amount of reward he

341
00:26:44,799 --> 00:26:48,160
had made the chicken thief pay.
He asked her what the most expensive chicken

342
00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:52,759
in the world might be worth,
and she reluctantly accepted ten dollars as being

343
00:26:52,920 --> 00:27:00,720
far too much. Then he asked
her who sal was sal queried. Missus

344
00:27:00,759 --> 00:27:06,400
Smith, the chicken thief declared the
statement that you would know, said mister

345
00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:11,759
Gubb. He said, to tell
her, well, mister Gubb said,

346
00:27:11,799 --> 00:27:15,200
Missus Smith tartly, I don't know
any sal and if I did, I

347
00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:18,960
wouldn't carry messages to her for a
chicken thief. And it's past midnight,

348
00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:22,599
and the draft on my bare feet
is giving me my death of cold.

349
00:27:22,759 --> 00:27:25,839
And if you think this is a
pink tea for me to stand around and

350
00:27:25,880 --> 00:27:37,680
hold full conversation at I don't.
And she slammed the door and of the chicken