"What does he eat?" Bridge asked of Giova.
"Mos' anything," replied the girl. "He like garbage
fine. Often I take him into towns late, ver' late at night
an' he eat swill. I do that to-night. Beppo, he got to be
fed or he eat Giova. I go feed Beppo, you go get food
for us; then we all meet at edge of wood just other side
town near old mill."
During the remainder of the afternoon and well after
dark the party remained hidden in the willows. Then
Giova started out with Beppo in search of garbage cans,
Bridge bent his steps toward a small store upon the
outskirts of town where food could be purchased, The
Oskaloosa Kid having donated a ten dollar bill for the
stocking of the commissariat, and the youth and the
girl made their way around the south end of the town
toward the meeting place beside the old mill.
As Bridge moved through the quiet road at the out-
skirts of the little town he let his mind revert to the
events of the past twenty four hours and as he pon-
dered each happening since he met the youth in the
dark of the storm the preceding night he asked him-
self why he had cast his lot with these strangers. In his
years of vagabondage Bridge had never crossed that in-
visible line which separates honest men from thieves and
murderers and which, once crossed, may never be re-
crossed.
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