`` Oh , Mrs. Sloane , wo n't you come over to our house at once ? '' he gasped . `` The baby , he 's got colic , and ma 's just wild , and he 's all black in the face . '' Ma went , feeling that the stars in their courses fought against a woman who was trying to do her duty by her husband . But first she admonished Pa. . `` I shall have to let you go alone . But I charge you , Pa , not to bid on anything -- on ANYTHING , do you hear ? '' Pa heard and promised to heed , with every intention of keeping his promise . Then he drove away joyfully . On any other occasion Ma would have been a welcome companion . But she certainly spoiled the flavour of an auction . When Pa arrived at the Carmody store , he saw that the little yard of the Garland place below the hill was already full of people . The auction had evidently begun ; so , not to miss any more of it , Pa hurried down . The sorrel mare could wait for her shoes until afterwards . Ma had been within bounds when she called the Garland auction a `` one-horse affair . '' It certainly was very paltry , especially when compared to the big Donaldson auction of a month ago , which Pa still lived over in happy dreams . Horace Garland and his wife had been poor . When they died within six weeks of each other , one of consumption and one of pneumonia , they left nothing but debts and a little furniture . The house had been a rented one . The bidding on the various poor articles of household gear put up for sale was not brisk , but had an element of resigned determination .
Carmody people knew that these things had to be sold XXXXX pay the debts , and they could not be sold unless they were bought .
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