Beta Book

"
Mr. Wrenn appreciated England's need of roast beef, but he
timidly desired not to be gored by steers, which seemed
imminent, before breakfast coffee. The streets were coldly
empty, and he was sleepy, and Morton was silent. At the
restaurant, sitting on a high stool before a pine counter, he
choked over an egg sandwich made with thick crumby slices of a
bread that had no personality to it. He roved forlornly about
Portland, beside the gloomy pipe-valiant Morton, fighting two
fears: the company might not need all of them this trip, and he
might have to wait; secondly, if he incredibly did get shipped
and started for England the steers might prove dreadfully
dangerous. After intense thinking he ejaculated, "Gee! it's be
bored or get gored." Which was much too good not to tell Morton,
so they laughed very much, and at ten o'clock were signed on for
the trip and led, whooping, to the deck of the S.S. _Merian_.
Cattle were still struggling down the chutes from the dock. The
dirty decks were confusingly littered with cordage and the
cattlemen's luggage.


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