I'd like to read you some of my
notes for it."
I'm afraid I poorly concealed a yawn. As a matter of fact I
was sleepy, and it was growing chilly.
"Tell me first," I said, "where in the world are we, and what
time is it?"
He pulled out a turnip watch. "It's nine o'clock," he said,
"and we're about two miles from Shelby, I should reckon.
Perhaps we'd better get along. They told me in Greenbriar
that the Grand Central Hotel in Shelby is a good place to stop
at. That's why I wasn't anxious to get there. It sounds so
darned like New York."
He bundled the cooking utensils back into Parnassus, hitched
Peg up again, and tied Bock to the stern of the van. Then he
insisted on giving me the two dollars and eighty cents he had
collected in Greenbriar. I was really too sleepy to protest,
and of course it was mine anyway. We creaked off along the
dark and silent road between the pine woods. I think he
talked fluently about his pilgrim's progress among the farmers
of a dozen states, but (to be honest) I fell asleep in my
corner of the seat. I woke up when we halted before the one
hotel in Shelby--a plain, unimposing country inn, despite its
absurd name. I left him to put Parnassus and the animals away
for the night, while I engaged a room.
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