The Lucky Piece: A Tale of the North WoodsPaine, Albert Bigelow
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The Lucky Piece: A Tale of the North Woods
Paine, Albert Bigelow
Adirondack Mountains (N.Y.) -- Fiction; Love stories
Robin spoke in his usual manner. Edith, though rather quiet, appeared to
have forgotten the incident of the veranda. Frank and Constance followed
a little way, and then all at once they were in a spot where the air
seemed heavy and chill, as though a miasma rose from the yielding soil.
Thick boughs interlaced overhead, and the sunlight of summer never
penetrated there. Such light as came through seemed dim and sorrowful,
and there was about the spot a sinister aspect that may have been due to
the black pool in the center and the fungi which grew about it. Pale,
livid growths were there, shading to sickly yellow, and in every form
and size. So thick were they they fairly overhung and crowded in that
gruesome bed. Here a myriad of tiny stems, there great distorted shapes
pushed through decaying leaves--or toppled over, split and rotting--the
food of buzzing flies, thousands of which lay dead upon the ground. A
sickly odor hung about the ghastly place. No one spoke at first. Then
Constance said:
"I believe they are all deadly--every one." And Frank added:
"I have heard of the Devil's Garden. I think we have found it."
Edith Morrison shuddered. Perhaps the life among the hills had made her
a trifle superstitious.
"Let us be going," Constance said. "Even the air of such a place may be
dangerous." Then, curiosity and the collecting instinct getting the
better of her, she stooped and plucked one of the yellow fungi which
grew near her foot. "They seem to be all Amanitas," she added, "the most
deadly of toadstools. Those paler ones are _Amanita Phalloides_. There
is no cure for their poison. These are called the Fly Amanita because
they attract flies and slay them, as you see. This yellow one is an
Amanita, too--see its poison cup. I do not know its name, and we won't
stop here to find it, but I think we might call it the Yellow Danger."
She dropped it into the basket and all turned their steps homeward, the
two girls ahead, the men following. The unusual spot had seemed to
depress them all. They spoke but little, and in hushed voices. When they
emerged from the woods the sun had slipped behind the hills and a
semi-twilight had fallen. Day had become a red stain in the west.
Constance turned suddenly to Robin Farnham.
"I think I will ask you to row me across the lake," she said. "I am sure
Mr. Weatherby will be glad to surrender the privilege. I want to ask you
something more about those specimens you saw on McIntyre."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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