The Ransom of Mack Page: 123
1-32p, 111-224, i-iv, 33-176 p. : ill. ; 26 cm.View a full description of this prose (fiction).
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il ,Y- -
TillI RANSOM O1 MACK
h .iwas compatible with his own bulk and the
size of the aperture, withdrew through the
w indow; the ladder trembled against the
roof for a while, and Ja;cqluot was once more
alone in the cold and the dark. But in his
le heart there glowed something warm and in-
Ml extinguishable, and all night, in his humble
bed, he thrilled with little shudders of in-
"l affable delight.
It was a few days after this that Jacquot,
picking uip lMonsieur Villiame's parapher-
nalia, found it heavier and more complicatedthan usual. When they had arrived at
their post a nook by a flowing brook-the
explanation burst upon the lad, for there
were two easels, one Monsieur Villiame's and
another much smaller, and there were two
stools, one also much smaller than the other,
and, in fact, of everything there was a double
in miniature.
Silently they arranged the things. Then,
I'm going to teach vou how to paint," said
Monsieur Villiame.
"Yes ?" said Jacquot. And he seemed not
at all astonished.THE RANSOM OF MACK
BY
O. HENRYI and old .Mack I onsbury, we
c ' got out of that Little Ilide-
ain. nd-Seek gold mine affair
m, with about 8.1 ,000io apiece.
I s "old"' M\lack: but he
ar, w wasn't old. Io ty-N'one. I
- should a\; but he always seelmetl old.
"\And\" he sas to me, " I'm tired of
'or hustling. You and me have been working
i hrd together for three years. Say we
il' knock fil for a while, and spend some of
oe thiis idle mone'v we've coaxed our \\ay."
" The proposition hits me just right," says
I 1. " Let's be nabtobs awhile and see how it
thit feels. What'll we do -take in the Niagara
Falls, or buck at faro "
au " I-or a good manv years.'" s:t'ys Mack,
SI've thought that if I ever had ext ravagant
wa; n.oney I'd rent a two-room cabin somewhere.
in 1 hire a Chinaman to cool, and sit in myi
stJ sticlking feet and read Buckle's Ilistorv
01 (Civilization."
ire "That sounds self-indulgent and grati-
f ing without vulgar oistentation," says I:
"aiin nd I don't see how nimoney could be better
invested. Give me a cuckoo clock and a
k Sep Vinner's Self-Insltructor for the II.anjo,
and I'll join you."A week afterward me and Mack hits this
small town of Piina, about thirty miles out
from Denver, and finds an elegant two-
room house that just suits us. We depos-
ited half-a-peck of money in the Pifia bank
and >hook hands with every one of the 340
citizens in the town. We brought along the
Chinaman and the cuckoo clock and Buckle
and the Instructor with us from Denver;
and they made the cabin seem like home at
once.
Never believe it when they tell you riches
don't bring happiness. If you could have
seen old Mack sitting in his rocking-chair
5with his blue-yarn sock feet up in the win-
dowi soaking in that Buckle stuff through
his specs vou'd have seen a picture of con-
tent that would have made Rockefeller jeal-
ous. And I was learning to pick out "Old
Zip Coon " on the banjo, and the cuckoo
was on time with his remarks, and Ah Sing
was messing up the atmosphere with the
handsomest smell of ham and eggs that ever
laid the honesSuclle in the shade. WVhen
it got too dark to make out Buckle' non-
sense and the notes in the Instructor, me
and Miack would light our pipes and talk
about science and pearl diving and sciaticamml a I I I I I I _
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Henry, O., 1862-1910. The Ransom of Mack, prose (fiction), December 1904; New York. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth139341/m1/3/?q=%22%22%7e1: accessed June 10, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Austin History Center, Austin Public Library.