"Yes, it's low-down. Folks ought to fight in the open if they got any fighting to do."
"Is Richard staying with you?"
"Day and night. I allow he's setting with the babe this minute. All I'm afeared of is that they will shoot him in place of me. But we keep all the windows blanketed and chinks stopped of a night."
XXII
THE EECH, AND TRAGEDY
Thursday.
Ever since Philip's return he has been scratching himself in the most annoying manner. Before I started for the hospital to-night, he came into my room, clawing viciously at his ankles. "Gimme something for the eech," he said.
"For what?" I asked.
"For the eech,—I knowed I'd ketch it when I seed Dewey Lovel pawing round so them nights I spent with him."
"Do you mean the itch?" I inquired, sharply.