Exactly ten seconds of silence followed. Then came a yell
calculated to raise the dead.
"Whow! What's this? Oh! What's got me by the legs? Oh, oh! oh!
I'm being eaten up alive! Let go there! Oh, dear!"
And with additional yells, Josiah Crabtree leaped straight out of
bed, one crab hanging to his left knee, several on his feet, and
one, which he had caught hold of clinging to the back of his hand.
At once he began to do an Indian war-dance around the apartment,
knocking the furniture right and left.
"Let go there! What on earth can they be? Oh, my toe is half off
-- I know it is! Let go!" And then he struggled toward the gas
jet, but before he could light it Tom had slipped out of the
apartment, closing the door behind him. The banging of furniture
continued, and then came a crash, as the washstand went over,
carrying with it a bowl, a soap tray, and a large, pitcher filled
with water. The icy water gushed over Crabtree's feet, making him
shiver with the cold, but the crabs were undaunted and only clung
the closer.
The noise soon aroused the entire hotel, and the clerk, several
bell-boys, and finally the proprietor, rushed to the scene.
Pages:
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186