Four and Twenty Beds. Nancy Casteel Vogel

keeping books, and getting up in the night to rent cabins!"

      He laughed, and rubbed his brown-speckled nose. "You'll get used to it," he said.

      That night wasn't as bad as my first night alone had been. I rented five cabins before I went to bed, and I did it with so much nonchalance that I was proud of myself.

      Once I got into bed, though, reaction from two days of worry and hard work and a night of very little sleep set in. I slept deeply, dreamlessly, without moving, until the shriek of the office bell shattered my sleep.

      Dazedly I went into the office, snapped on the light, and unlocked the door. Two young men came in. "We want a cabin with two double beds," the taller man said.

      He filled out the registration card which I shoved sleepily toward him. "How much?" he asked.

      "Five-fifty," I replied. Our rate for a double cabin with two double beds was five and a half or six and a half dollars, depending on the number of people that were to occupy it. We had decided to charge that much or less, depending on the demand for cabins and the number of "vacancy" signs along the highway, following the custom of the former owners.

      Each of the young men laid a five dollar bill on the counter. I looked at the bills groggily. I was still half asleep.

      "Just one of those will do, with fifty cents beside," I said.

      "We want to pay separately," said the shorter man. "Give us each change, please."

      I missed Grant, with his quick mind and his easy competence, more intensely at that moment than I missed him yet. I smothered a yawn and tried to concentrate on the difficult task before me. My reasoning, if you could call it that, was hazy and confused.