Speaker 1: The Chicken by Ellis Parker. Butler Filo Gubb, with three
Speaker 1: rolls of wallpaper under his arm and a pail of
Speaker 1: mixed paste in one hand, walked along Cherry Street near
Speaker 1: the brickyard. On this occasion, mister Gubb was in a
Speaker 1: reasonably contented frame of mind, for he had just received
Speaker 1: his share of the reward for capturing the dynamiters, and
Speaker 1: had this very morning paid the full amount to mister Meadowbrook,
Speaker 1: leaving but eleven six hundred and fifty dollars still to
Speaker 1: be paid to that gentleman for the utterly hopeless gold
Speaker 1: mine stock. And upon the further payment of seventy five
Speaker 1: cents half its cost, mister Meadowbrook gave him a telegram
Speaker 1: he had received from Cyrilla. The telegram was as follows,
Speaker 1: Rapidly shrinking, have given up all soups, including tomato soup,
Speaker 1: chicken soup, mulligaton, he mocked, turtle, green pea vegetable, gumbo,
Speaker 1: lent al, konsumme bullyon and clam broth. Now weigh only
Speaker 1: nine hundred and fifty pounds. Why are at once whether
Speaker 1: clam chowder is a soup or a food fond remembrances
Speaker 1: to Gubby. Mister Gubb was thinking of this telegram as
Speaker 1: he walked toward his work. Just ahead of him, a
Speaker 1: short lane led between Missus Smith's house and the Cherry
Speaker 1: Street Methodist Chapel to the brickyard. Missus Smith's chicken coop
Speaker 1: stood on the fence line between her property and the
Speaker 1: brick yard. Filo Gubb had passed Missus Smith's front gate
Speaker 1: when Missus Smith waddled to her fence and hailed him. Oh,
Speaker 1: mister Gobb, She panded, you got to excuse me for
Speaker 1: speaking to you when I don't know you. Missus Miffin
Speaker 1: says you're a detective. Deed ticketing is by aim and
Speaker 1: my profession, said mister Gubb. Well, said Missus Smith, I
Speaker 1: want to ask a word of you about I've had
Speaker 1: a chicken stole. Chicken stealing is a crime, if ever
Speaker 1: there was one, said Filo Gub. Seriously, what was the
Speaker 1: chicken worth? Forty cents? Said Missus Smith Well, said Filo Gub.
Speaker 1: It wouldn't hardly pay me. It ain't much, admitted Missus Smith. No,
Speaker 1: you're you're right, it ain't, said Filo Gub. Was this
Speaker 1: a rooster or a hen. It was a hen, said
Speaker 1: Missus Smith. Well, said mister Gubb. If you was to
Speaker 1: offer a reward of one hundred dollars for the capture
Speaker 1: of the thief, oh my land, exclaimed Missus Smith. It
Speaker 1: would be cheaper for me to pay somebody five dollars
Speaker 1: to come and steal the rest of the chickens. It
Speaker 1: seems to me that you ought to make the thief pay.
Speaker 1: I ain't the one that did the crime, am I.
Speaker 1: It's only right that a thief should pay for the
Speaker 1: time and trouble he puts you to, ain't it. I
Speaker 1: never looked at it that way, said mister Gubb thoughtfully,
Speaker 1: But it stands to reason. Of course it does, said
Speaker 1: missus Smith. You catch that thief and you can offer
Speaker 1: yourself a million dollars reward if you want to. That's
Speaker 1: none of my business, well said Filo Gubb, picking up
Speaker 1: his paste pail. I guess if there ain't any important
Speaker 1: murders or things turned up by seven tonight, I'll start
Speaker 1: in to work for that reward. I guess I can
Speaker 1: ask more than five dollars reward. At seven, the evening
Speaker 1: was still light, and Filo Gubb to cover his intentions
Speaker 1: and avert suspicion in case his interview with Missus Smith
Speaker 1: had been observed by the thief, put a false beard
Speaker 1: in his pocket and a revolver beside it, and left
Speaker 1: his office in the oppera house block. Cautiously, he slipped
Speaker 1: into the alley and glided down it, leaping close to
Speaker 1: the stables. The detective must be cautious. The abandoned brick
Speaker 1: kilns offered admirable seclusion. A brick kiln is built entirely
Speaker 1: or almost so of the brick that are to be burned,
Speaker 1: and the kilns are torn down and carted away as
Speaker 1: the brick or sold. The overstructure of the kilns was
Speaker 1: a mere roof of half inch planks laid on timbers
Speaker 1: that were upheld by poles. A ladder leaning against one
Speaker 1: of the poles gave access to the roof. In the darkness,
Speaker 1: it was impossible for Philo Gub to find a fingerprint
Speaker 1: of the culprit on the kilns. Although he looked for one.
Speaker 1: He did not even find the usual and highly helpful button.
Speaker 1: Torn from its place in the criminal's eagerness to depart,
Speaker 1: He found only an old horseshoe and a broken tobacco pipe,
Speaker 1: as there were evidences that the pipe had been abandoned
Speaker 1: on that spot several years earlier. Neither of these was
Speaker 1: a very valuable clue. Mister Gubb next game his attention
Speaker 1: to the chicken coop. It was pre eminently a hand
Speaker 1: made chicken coop of the rough and ready variety. Philo
Speaker 1: Gub entered the chicken house and looked around, lighting his
Speaker 1: dark lantern and throwing its rays here and there that
Speaker 1: he might see better. The house was so low of
Speaker 1: roof that he had to stoop to avoid the roosts,
Speaker 1: and the tails of the chickens brushed his hat. It
Speaker 1: needed brushing, so this did no harm the hens, and
Speaker 1: the two roosters complained gently of this interruption of their
Speaker 1: beauty sleep, and moved along the roosts, and mister Gubb
Speaker 1: went outside again. It was quite evident that the thief
Speaker 1: had had no great hardships to undergo in robbing that roost.
Speaker 1: All he had to do was to enter the chicken house,
Speaker 1: choose a chicken, and walk away with it. Why had
Speaker 1: he not taken ten chickens? Mister Gubb, as he put
Speaker 1: the keg hoop over the end board of the gate
Speaker 1: studied this. The theory that mister Gus adopted was that
Speaker 1: the thief coming for a rate on the coop, had
Speaker 1: been surprised to find it so poorly guarded. It had
Speaker 1: been so easy to enter the coop and steal the
Speaker 1: chicken that he had decided it would be folly to
Speaker 1: take eight or ten chickens and thus arouse instant suspicion
Speaker 1: and reprisal. Instead of this, he had taken but one,
Speaker 1: trusting that the loss of one would be unnoticed or
Speaker 1: blade to rats or cats or weasels. Thus he would
Speaker 1: be able to return again and again as foul meat
Speaker 1: was needed or desired, and the chickens would be like
Speaker 1: money in the bank, a fund on which to draw.
Speaker 1: This theory was so sound that mister Gubb believed it
Speaker 1: would require nothing more than patience to capture the criminal.
Speaker 1: The thief would come back for more chickens. Filo Gubb
Speaker 1: looked around for an advantageous position in which to await
Speaker 1: the coming of the thief and be unseen himself, and
Speaker 1: the loose board roof of the brick kiln met his eye.
Speaker 1: No position could be better. He climbed the ladder inside
Speaker 1: the kiln. Pushed one of the boards aside enough to
Speaker 1: permit him to squeeze through on to the roof, and,
Speaker 1: creeping carefully over the loose boards, reached the edge of
Speaker 1: the roof. Here he stretched himself out flat on the
Speaker 1: boards and waited. Nothing. Absolutely nothing happened. The mosquitoes, numerous, indeed,
Speaker 1: because of the nearness of the pond, buzzed around his
Speaker 1: head and stung him on the neck and hands, but
Speaker 1: he did not dare slap at them lest he betray
Speaker 1: his hiding place. Hour followed hour, and no chicken thief appeared,
Speaker 1: And when the first rays of the sun lighted the east,
Speaker 1: he climbed down and stalked stiffly away to a short
Speaker 1: hour of sleep. The next night, the correspondent school detective
Speaker 1: wasted no time in preliminary observations of the lay of
Speaker 1: the land. He kept out of sight until the sun
Speaker 1: had set and dusk covered the land with shade, and
Speaker 1: then he went at once to the roof of the
Speaker 1: brick kiln. This time he was disguised in a red mustache,
Speaker 1: a pair of flowing white side whiskers, and a woolen cap.
Speaker 1: He wore two revolvers, large ones in a belt about
Speaker 1: his waist. It was still too early for brisk business
Speaker 1: in chicken stealing when Philo Gubb climbed to the roof
Speaker 1: of the kiln and spread himself out there, and he
Speaker 1: felt that he had time for a few minutes sleep.
Speaker 1: He was tremendously sleepy. Sleep fairly pushed his eyelids down
Speaker 1: over his eyes, and he put his crooked arm under
Speaker 1: his head, and, after thinking fondly of Syrilla for a
Speaker 1: few minutes, went to sleep so suddenly that it was
Speaker 1: like falling off a cliff into dreamland. He dreamed uneasily
Speaker 1: of having been captured by an array of forty chicken thieves,
Speaker 1: of having been led in triumph before the Supreme Court
Speaker 1: of the United States, and of having been condemned as
Speaker 1: a detective trust on the charge of acting in restraint
Speaker 1: of trade, as injuring the Chicken Stealers Association's business. Had
Speaker 1: required to dissolve himself. The dream was agonizing as he
Speaker 1: tried one dissolvent after another without success. Turpentine merely dissolved
Speaker 1: his skin. Alcohol had no effect whatever. He imagined himself
Speaker 1: in a long room in which stood vast rows of
Speaker 1: vats bearing different labels, and in and out of these
Speaker 1: he climbed, trying to obey the order of the court,
Speaker 1: but nothing seemed capable of dissolving him, and he suddenly
Speaker 1: discovered that he was made of rubber. He seemed to
Speaker 1: remember that rubber was soluble in benzine, and he started
Speaker 1: on a tour of the vats, trying to find a
Speaker 1: benzene that he walked many miles. Sometimes he arose in
Speaker 1: the air with ease and grace, and flew a few miles.
Speaker 1: Finally he found the vat of benzine, immersed himself in it,
Speaker 1: and began to dissolve, calmly and with a blessed sense
Speaker 1: of having done his duty. It was then that Filo
Speaker 1: Gubb entered the dreamless sleep of the utterly weary. And
Speaker 1: about the same time, two men slunk under the roof
Speaker 1: of the brick kiln, and, after looking carefully around, took
Speaker 1: seats on the fallen bricks, Resting their backs against the
Speaker 1: partly demolished kiln. They arranged the bricks as comfortably as
Speaker 1: possible before seating themselves, and when they were seated, one
Speaker 1: of them drew a whisky bottle from his pocket, and
Speaker 1: after taking a good Swig offered it to his partner. Nope,
Speaker 1: said he. I'm going to steer clear of that stuff
Speaker 1: until I know where I'm at. And you're a fool
Speaker 1: for not doing the same, WIXI. First thing, you know,
Speaker 1: you'll be salst And if you are and anything turns up,
Speaker 1: what'll I do? I got all I can do to
Speaker 1: take care of you, sober ah turn up? Well, what's
Speaker 1: going to turn up way out here? Asked Wixy. They
Speaker 1: ain't nobody following us anyway. That's just a notion you've
Speaker 1: got your nerves has gone back when you Sandlot. My
Speaker 1: nerve is all right, And don't you worry about that,
Speaker 1: said Sandlot. I've got plenty of nerves, so I don't
Speaker 1: have to brace it up with booze. And you ain't.
Speaker 1: That's what's the matter with you. You saw that feller
Speaker 1: as well as I did. Didn't you see him at
Speaker 1: the Bureau, that fella with the white whiskers? Yes? Him?
Speaker 1: And didn't you see him again in Durlingport? Well, what
Speaker 1: was he following us that way? For? When he told
Speaker 1: us that Joliet he was going east? A tramp has
Speaker 1: as good a right to change his mind as what
Speaker 1: we have, said, Wixy. Didn't we tell him we was
Speaker 1: going east ourselves? Maybe he ain't looking for steady company
Speaker 1: any more than we be. Maybe he come this way
Speaker 1: to get away from us, like we did to get
Speaker 1: away from, say sand Lot, he said, almost pleadingly. You
Speaker 1: don't really think Old White Whiskers was a trail in us,
Speaker 1: do you? You ain't got a notion he's a detective.
Speaker 1: How do I know what he is? Sandlot? All I
Speaker 1: know is that when I see a feller like that
Speaker 1: once and then again, and he looks like he was
Speaker 1: trying to keep hid from us, I want to shake
Speaker 1: him off. I know that, and I know I'm going
Speaker 1: to shake him off. And I know that if you
Speaker 1: get all boozed up and full of liquor and can't
Speaker 1: walk and that fella shows up, I'm going to quit
Speaker 1: you and look out for myself. When a feller steals
Speaker 1: something or does any little harmless thing like that, it's different.
Speaker 1: He can't afford to stick to a pal, even if
Speaker 1: he gets nabbed. But when it's a case of now,
Speaker 1: don't use that word, said Wixy angrily. It wasn't no
Speaker 1: more murder than nothing was We going to let Chicago
Speaker 1: Chicken bash our heads in just because we stood up
Speaker 1: for our rights, him wanting a full half, just because
Speaker 1: he put us onto the job. He ought to be
Speaker 1: killed for asking such a thing. Will he was, wasn't,
Speaker 1: he asked Sandlot. You killed him, all right? It was
Speaker 1: you swung on him with the rock, Wixy, remember that,
Speaker 1: trying to put it off on me, Ain't you? Said
Speaker 1: Wixy angrily. Well, you can't do it if I hang
Speaker 1: you hang. Maybe I did take a rock to him,
Speaker 1: but you had him strangled to death before I ever
Speaker 1: hit him. What's the use gabbin about it? Said Sandlot.
Speaker 1: He's dead, and we made our getaway, and all we
Speaker 1: got to do is keep god away. There ain't nobody
Speaker 1: ever going to find him, not where we sunk him
Speaker 1: in that deep water. Ain't I been saying that right along?
Speaker 1: Asked WIXI. Ain't I been telling you was a fool
Speaker 1: to be scared of an old feller like white Whiskers,
Speaker 1: cutting across country this way, when we might as well
Speaker 1: be forty miles more down the rock Island, traveling along
Speaker 1: as nice as you please in a box car. Now,
Speaker 1: look here, said Sandlot, menacingly. I ain't going to take
Speaker 1: no abuse from you, drunk or sober. If you don't
Speaker 1: like my way, you go back to the railroad and
Speaker 1: leave me go my own way. I'm going on across
Speaker 1: country until I come to another railroad I am. And
Speaker 1: if I come to a river and I run across
Speaker 1: a boat, I'm going to take that boat and float aways.
Speaker 1: When I says nobody is going to know anything about
Speaker 1: what we did to the chicken over there in Chicago,
Speaker 1: I mean it, nobody is. But didn't sal know all
Speaker 1: three of us was going out on that job that night.
Speaker 1: And when the chicken don't come back, ain't she going
Speaker 1: to guess something happened to the chicken. She's going to
Speaker 1: think he made a rich haul like he did, and
Speaker 1: that he up and quit her, said Wixy. That's what
Speaker 1: she'll think. And what if she does, says sand Lunt,
Speaker 1: She and him has been bordin with mother Smith, ain't they.
Speaker 1: Ain't mother Smith been handin the chicken money when he
Speaker 1: needed it because he said he was workin up this
Speaker 1: job with us. I bet the chicken owed mother Smith
Speaker 1: a hundred dollars. And when he don't come back, then
Speaker 1: what Sal will say she ain't got no money because
Speaker 1: the chicken quit her, and mother Smith will, well, what,
Speaker 1: asked Wixy. She'll send word to every crook in the
Speaker 1: country to spot the chicken, and you know it, and
Speaker 1: when word comes back that there ain't no trace of him,
Speaker 1: you've lost your nerve. That's what ails you, said Wixy, scornfully.
Speaker 1: No I ain't, Sandlot insisted, I've heard plenty of fellers
Speaker 1: tell how Mother Smith keeps tabs on anybody that tries
Speaker 1: to do her out of ten cents. Even why maybe
Speaker 1: the chicken promised to come back that night and pay up.
Speaker 1: I bet he did, and I bet he was sour
Speaker 1: on Sal, and I bet mother Smith knew it all
Speaker 1: the time, and that when he didn't come back that night,
Speaker 1: she sent out word to spot him or us. I'll
Speaker 1: bet you you've lost your nerve, said Wixy, drunkenly. You
Speaker 1: never did have no nerve. You're so scared you're seeing ghosts,
Speaker 1: all right, said Sandlot, rising. I'll see ghosts then, but
Speaker 1: i'll see them by my You can go good bye,
Speaker 1: said Wixy carelessly, and finished the last drop in his bottle. Goodbye,
Speaker 1: old Sandlot. Goodbye. Sandlot hesitated a moment and then arose, and,
Speaker 1: after a parting glance at Wixi, struck out across the
Speaker 1: drying floor of the brickyard and was lost in the darkness.
Speaker 1: Wixy blinked and balanced the empty bottle in his hand.
Speaker 1: He's afraid, he boasted to himself. He's a coward, afraid
Speaker 1: of dark, afraid of ghosts. Lost his nerve, I ain't afraid.
Speaker 1: He rose to his feet unsteadily. Sandlot's coward, he said,
Speaker 1: and threw down the empty bottle with a motion of
Speaker 1: disgust at the cowardice of Sandlot. The bottle burst with
Speaker 1: a jangling of glass on the loose board roof. Philo
Speaker 1: gub raised his head suddenly. For an instant he imagined
Speaker 1: he was a disembodied spirit, his body having been dissolved
Speaker 1: in Benzene. But as he became wider awake, he was
Speaker 1: conscious of a noise beneath him. Wixi was shifting twenty
Speaker 1: or thirty bricks that had fallen from the kiln upon
Speaker 1: a truss of straw used the last winter to cover
Speaker 1: new molded bricks to protect them from the frost against
Speaker 1: their drying. He was preparing a bed. He muttered to
Speaker 1: himself as he worked, and Philo Gubb, placing his eye
Speaker 1: to a crack between the boards of the roof, tried
Speaker 1: to observe him. The darkness was so absolute he could
Speaker 1: see nothing whatever. He heard Wixy stretch out on the straw,
Speaker 1: and in a minute more he heard the heavy breathing
Speaker 1: of a sleeper. Wixy was not letting any cowardice disturb
Speaker 1: his repose at all events, and Philo Gubb considered how
Speaker 1: he could best get himself off the roof. The sleeping
Speaker 1: man was immediately beneath him, the latter was a full
Speaker 1: ten yards away. Every motion made the loose boards complain.
Speaker 1: Looking down, mister Gubb saw that the top of the
Speaker 1: kiln reached within a few feet of where he lay,
Speaker 1: and that the partially removed sides had left a series
Speaker 1: of giant steps. Mister Gubb loosened his pistols in his belt.
Speaker 1: Now that he had the chicken thief so near, he
Speaker 1: meant to capture him with the utmost care. He slid
Speaker 1: one of the boards of the roof aside and put
Speaker 1: his long legs into the opening. Thus made feeling for
Speaker 1: the kiln until he touched it, and when he had
Speaker 1: a firm footing on it, he lowered the upper part
Speaker 1: of his body through the roof. Five feet away, a
Speaker 1: cross timber reached from one pillar of the roof to another,
Speaker 1: and just below that was one of the steps of
Speaker 1: the kiln. Philo Gub lighted his dark lantern, and casting
Speaker 1: its ray, saw this cross piece. If he could jump
Speaker 1: and reach it, he could drop to the lower step
Speaker 1: and avoid the danger of bringing the side of the
Speaker 1: kiln down with him. He slipped the lantern into his pocket,
Speaker 1: reached out his hands and jumped into the dark. For
Speaker 1: an instant, his fingers grappled with the cross piece. He
Speaker 1: struggled to gain a firmer, and then he dropped straight
Speaker 1: upon the sleeping Wixi. He alighted fair and square on
Speaker 1: the murderer's stomach, and the air went out of Wixi
Speaker 1: in a sudden whoof Philo Gub, in the unreasoning excitement
Speaker 1: of the moment, grappled with Wixy, but the unresistance of
Speaker 1: the man told that he was unconscious, and the correspondent
Speaker 1: school detective released him and stood up. He uncovered the
Speaker 1: lens of his dark lantern and turned the ray on Wixi.
Speaker 1: The murderer lay flat on his back, his eyes closed
Speaker 1: and his mouth open. Mister Gubb put his hand on
Speaker 1: Wixi's heart. It still beat. The man was not dead.
Speaker 1: With the dark lantern in one hand and a rusty
Speaker 1: tin can in the other, mister Gubb hurried to the
Speaker 1: pond and returned with the can full of water. But
Speaker 1: even in this crisis he did not act thoughtlessly. He
Speaker 1: set the dark lantern on a shelf of the kiln
Speaker 1: so that its rays might illuminate Wixi and himself alike.
Speaker 1: Drew one of his pistols and pointed it full at
Speaker 1: Wixi's head, and holding it so, he dashed the can
Speaker 1: of water in the face of the unconscious man. Wixy
Speaker 1: moved uneasily. He emitted a long sigh and opened his eyes.
Speaker 1: I got you, said Philo Gubb sternly. There ain't no
Speaker 1: use to make a move, because I'm a detecative, and
Speaker 1: if you do, I'll shoot this pistol at you. If
Speaker 1: you're able so to do, just put up your hands.
Speaker 1: Wixy blinked in the strong light of the lantern. He
Speaker 1: groaned and placed one of his hands on his stomach.
Speaker 1: Put him up, said Philo Gub, and with another groan,
Speaker 1: Wixy raised his hands. He was still flat on his back.
Speaker 1: He looked as if he were doing some sort of
Speaker 1: health exercise. In a minute, the hands fell to the ground.
Speaker 1: I guess you better set up, said Filo Gub. You
Speaker 1: ain't going to be able to hold up your hands
Speaker 1: if you lay down that way. As he helped Wixy
Speaker 1: to a sitting position, he kept his pistol against the
Speaker 1: fellow's head. Now, then, said Filo Gub, when he had
Speaker 1: arranged his captive to suit his taste. What you got
Speaker 1: to say, I got to say. I never done what
Speaker 1: you think I done. Whatever it is, said Wixy. I
Speaker 1: don't know what it is, but I never done it.
Speaker 1: Some other feller done it. That don't bother me none,
Speaker 1: said Filo Gub. If you didn't do it, I don't
Speaker 1: know who did. Just about the best thing you can
Speaker 1: do is to account for the chicken and pay my
Speaker 1: expenses of getting you. And the quicker you do it,
Speaker 1: the better off you'll be. Pale as Wixy was, he
Speaker 1: turned still paler when Filo Gubb mentioned the chicken. I
Speaker 1: never killed the chicken. He almost shouted. I never did it.
Speaker 1: I don't care whether you killed the chicken or not,
Speaker 1: said Filo Gub calmly. The chicken is gone, and I
Speaker 1: reckon that's the end of the chicken. But missus Smith
Speaker 1: has got to be paid. Did she send you, asked Wixy, trembling.
Speaker 1: Did Mother Smith put you on to me? She did so,
Speaker 1: said the correspondent school detective, And you can pay up
Speaker 1: or go to jail. How do you like that, Wixy
Speaker 1: studied the tall detective. Look here, he said, Suppose I
Speaker 1: give you fifty and we'll call it square. He meant
Speaker 1: fifty dollars. Maybe that would satisfy missus Smith, said Filo Gubb,
Speaker 1: thinking of fifty cents. But it don't satisfy me. My
Speaker 1: time's valuable and it's got to be paid for. Ten
Speaker 1: times fifty ain't a bit too much. And if it
Speaker 1: had took longer to catch you, I'd have asked more.
Speaker 1: If you want to give that much, all right, and
Speaker 1: if you don't, all right too. Wixy studied the face
Speaker 1: of Filo Gubb carefully. There was no sign of mercy
Speaker 1: in the bird like face of the paper hanger detective. Indeed,
Speaker 1: his face was severe. It was relentless in its sternness.
Speaker 1: Five dollars was little enough to ask for two nights
Speaker 1: of first class correspondent school detective work. Rather than take less,
Speaker 1: he would lead the chicken thief to jail, and Wixi
Speaker 1: with his third and half of the chicken's third of
Speaker 1: the proceeds of the criminal job that had led to
Speaker 1: the death of the chicken. Knowing the relentlessness of Mother Smith,
Speaker 1: that female Fagin of Chicago, considered that he would be
Speaker 1: doing well to purchase his freedom for five hundred dollars.
Speaker 1: All right, pal, he said, suddenly you're on It's a
Speaker 1: bet here you are. He slipped his hand into his
Speaker 1: pocket and drew out a great roll of money. With
Speaker 1: the muzzle of Philogub's pistol hovering just out of reach
Speaker 1: before him, he counted out five crisp one hundred dollar bills.
Speaker 1: He held them out with a sickly grin. Filo Gubb
Speaker 1: took them and looked at them, puzzled. What's this for,
Speaker 1: he asked, and Wixy suddenly blazed forth in anger. Now
Speaker 1: don't come any of that, he cried. A bargain's a bargain.
Speaker 1: Don't you come a pretending he didn't say, you'd take
Speaker 1: five hundred and try to get more out of me.
Speaker 1: I won't give you no more. I won't. You can
Speaker 1: jug me if you want to. You can't prove nothing
Speaker 1: on me. And you know it. Have you found the
Speaker 1: body of the chicken, Well, you got to have the
Speaker 1: corpus what you call it? Ain't you huh? Ain't five
Speaker 1: hundred enough? I bet the chicken never cost mother Smith
Speaker 1: more than one hundred and fifty. I was only thinking,
Speaker 1: began Filo Gub. Don't think, then, said Wixi. Five hundred
Speaker 1: dollars seemed to Filo began again. It's all you'll get
Speaker 1: if I hang for it, said Wixy firmly. You can
Speaker 1: give mother Smith what you want and keep what you want.
Speaker 1: That's all you'll get. Filo Gubb could not understand it.
Speaker 1: He tried to, but he could not understand it at all.
Speaker 1: And then suddenly a great light dawned in his brain.
Speaker 1: There was some this chicken thief knew that he and
Speaker 1: Missus Smith did not know. The stolen chicken must have
Speaker 1: been of some rare and much sought strain. So it
Speaker 1: was all right. The thief was paying what the chicken
Speaker 1: was worth, and not what Missus Smith thought it was worth.
Speaker 1: In her ignorance, he slipped the money into his pocket.
Speaker 1: All right, he said, I'm satisfied if you are. The
Speaker 1: chicken was a fancy bird, ain't it so? The chicken
Speaker 1: was a tough old rooster. That's what he was, said Wixy,
Speaker 1: staggering to his feet. I thought he was a hen,
Speaker 1: said Filo Cub. Missus Smith said he was a hen.
Speaker 1: Wixy laughed as sickly laugh. It ain't much of a joke.
Speaker 1: That's why everybody called him chicken, because his first name
Speaker 1: was hen. Filo Gubb's mouth fell open. He was convinced
Speaker 1: now that he had to do with an insane man.
Speaker 1: Wixy moved toward the oak drying floor. Well, so long part,
Speaker 1: he said to Filo Gub, give my regards to mother
Speaker 1: Smith and say, he added, if you see Sal, don't
Speaker 1: let her know what happened to the chicken. Don't say
Speaker 1: anybody made away with the chicken. Sea Tell Sal that
Speaker 1: chicken flew the coop himself. See who is sal, asked
Speaker 1: Filo Gub. You ask mother Smith, said Wixy, she'll tell you,
Speaker 1: and he went out into the dark. Filo Gubb heard
Speaker 1: him shuffle across the drying floor, and when the sound
Speaker 1: had died away in the distance, he put up his revolver.
Speaker 1: Five hundred dollars, he said, and he routed Missus Smith
Speaker 1: out of bed. He did not tell her the amount
Speaker 1: of reward he had made the chicken thief pay. He
Speaker 1: asked her what the most expensive chicken in the world
Speaker 1: might be worth, and she reluctantly accepted ten dollars as
Speaker 1: being far too much. Then he asked her who sal
Speaker 1: was sal queried. Missus Smith, the chicken thief declared the
Speaker 1: statement that you would know, said mister Gubb. He said,
Speaker 1: to tell her, well, mister Gubb said, Missus Smith tartly,
Speaker 1: I don't know any sal and if I did, I
Speaker 1: wouldn't carry messages to her for a chicken thief. And
Speaker 1: it's past midnight, and the draft on my bare feet
Speaker 1: is giving me my death of cold. And if you
Speaker 1: think this is a pink tea for me to stand
Speaker 1: around and hold full conversation at I don't. And she
Speaker 1: slammed the door and of the chicken