CHAPTER TWO
Half an hour later, drowsing in the twilight with his back against the lofty oak which reared its top above the yard, Angus Burke heard his mother singing. So rapid are the changes from despair to contentment when one is aided by black pills! The song Angus heard was not only his mother’s favorite, it was her sole musical possession, and its subject was characteristic of the woman. It had to do with the exploits and demise of a certain famous outlaw whose crimes have been embellished with legendary glamor, and the song told of them in many verses which limped forward on maimed and mangled feet. When sung at night it filled Angus with vague terror.
“One dark and stormy night
When the moon was shining bright
The Denver stage was ro-o-obbed”
the woman sang; then she hummed a few bars gloatingly before she brought her full voice to bear on the overworked refrain:
“And they laid Jesse James in his grave.”
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