XIV 

 SKEGEMOG POINT 



HAT'S that?" 



The elect lady should have been 

 asleep instead of sitting up in bed, 

 an animated interrogation point, 

 for the hour was late and the ride 

 from Chicago that day had been 

 hot and dusty and fatiguing. 



" What's what? " grunted the sleepy partner of 

 her joys. 



" That noise. Don't you hear it ? It sounds like 

 a band playing in the distance." 



When this suggestion finally penetrated the semi- 

 conscious mind of the husband, the absurdity of 

 the idea called forth certain emphatic if not con- 

 vincing negative arguments, all of which were 

 met with the puzzling query, " If it's not a band, 

 what is it?" 



"That's what I'll soon find out," answered the 

 183 



