They slips out together, and in about a minute I hears Chuck come up to the door, and he seems peevish over something.
“Hen!” he whispers. “Aw, Hen! Henry Peck!”
I don’t say nothing, and pretty soon he remarks, sad-like:
“Drunk. Saw two Henry Pecks go away from here. Must be drunk as a boiled owl.”
He goes out of hearing, complaining to himself about the effects of alcohol on the optic nerves.
I takes the dynamite out of them cans and puts it in one pile on the floor. Bill must a been afraid of that stuff, ’cause he’s got about ten minutes’ worth of extra fuse.
I runs the fuse out the door, puts the padlock back in place, and touches her off. I goes back up to Mike’s place but don’t go in. Mike and Calamity are playing cards, while they waits for Chuck’s body to arrive, so I goes over and climbs up on the hitch-rack. I gets up there, and gets right down. Comes a rumble and a shake, the town is lit up for a second, and then it begins to rain pieces of jail all over town. Thirty sticks of dynamite is some little dwelling-mover.
Mike and Calamity staggers out on the porch, and gazes at the world.
“What do yuh reckon it was?” gasps Calamity.
“Dynamite!” yells Mike. “There’s —— to pay and no pitch hot!”