Page:Salem - a tale of the seventeenth century (IA taleseventeenth00derbrich).pdf/145

 yer will be when yer work is done, and den I 'clare I guess yer'll get sum'pen to eat—I do."

"Shoo!" she said, sotto-voce, turning to Alice, "yer don' know dat are ole man as well as I do—he's a mighty powerful han' to eat. Yer sot 'im at it now, an' I guess yer cocks an' hens will hev to stan' roun' all night for want ob a roost to sot down on. Keep 'im at it till de work's done, I tell yer, an' den stan' clear—an' you'll see!" and Drosky resumed his work submissively but regretfully. But at length the work was completed—the partition was all up; the broken hinge of the door was replaced; slats were put over the window, to allow air, but not egress; the waste ashes were spread over the floor, "to keep off wermin," as Winny explained to Alice; a clothes-pole was put up for a roost; and two old boxes, filled with hay, were introduced to offer suggestive ideas to any well-disposed hen who might be thriftily inclined to pay for her board in eggs and chickens; and all was declared in readiness for the expected tenants.

Alice was delighted—but still more charm