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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/23248-8.txt b/23248-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..340f25c --- /dev/null +++ b/23248-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,751 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Black Feather, by Mary Hartwell Catherwood + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Black Feather + From "Mackinac And Lake Stories", 1899 + +Author: Mary Hartwell Catherwood + +Release Date: October 30, 2007 [EBook #23248] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLACK FEATHER *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +THE BLACK FEATHER + +From "Mackinac And Lake Stories", 1899 + +By Mary Hartwell Catherwood + + +Over a hundred voyageurs were sorting furs in the American Fur Company's +yard, under the supervision of the clerks. And though it was hard labor, +lasting from five in the morning until sunset, they thought lightly of +it as fatigue duty after their eleven months of toil and privation in +the wilderness. Fort Mackinac was glittering white on the heights above +them, and half-way up a paved ascent leading to the sally-port sauntered +'Tite Laboise. All the voyageurs saw her; and strict as was the +discipline of the yard, they directly expected trouble. + +The packing, however, went on with vigor. Every beaver, marten, mink, +musk-rat, raccoon, lynx, wild-cat, fox, wolverine, otter, badger, or +other skin had to be beaten, graded, counted, tallied in the company's +book, put into press, and marked for shipment to John Jacob Astor in New +York. As there were twelve grades of sable, and eight even of deer, the +grading, which fell to the clerks, was no light task. Heads of brigades +that had brought these furs from the wilderness stood by to challenge +any mistake in the count. It was the height of the fur season, and +Mackinac Island was the front of the world to the two or three thousand +men gathered in for its brief summer. + +Axe strokes reverberated from Bois Blanc, on the opposite side of the +strait, and passed echoes from island to island to the shutting down of +the horizon. Choppers detailed to cut wood were getting boatloads ready +for the leachers, who had hulled corn to prepare for winter rations. One +pint of lyed corn with from two to four ounces of tallow was the daily +allowance of a voyageur, and the endurance which this food gave him +passes belief. + +Étienne St. Martin grumbled at it when he came fresh from Canada and +pork eating. "Mange'-du-lard," his companions called him, especially +Charle' Charette, who was the giant and the wearer of the black feather +in his brigade of a dozen boats. Huge and innocent primitive man was +Charle' Charette. He could sleep under snow-drifts like a baby, carry +double packs of furs, pull oars all day without tiring, and dance all +night after hardships which caused some men to desire to lie down and +die. The summer before, at nineteen years of age, this light-haired, +light-hearted voyageur had been married to 'Tite Laboise. Their wedding +festivities lasted the whole month of the Mackinac season. His was the +Wabash and Illinois River outfit, almost the last to leave the island; +for the Lake Superior, Upper and Lower Mississippi, Lake of the Woods, +and other outfits were obliged to seek Indian hunting-grounds at the +earliest breath of autumn. + +When the Illinois brigade returned, his wife, who had stood weeping +in the cheering crowd while his companions made islands ring with the +boat-song at departure, refused to see him. He went to the house of +her aunt Laboise, where she lived. Mademoiselle Laboise, her half-breed +cousin, met him. This educated young lady, daughter of a French father +and Chippewa mother, was dignified as a nun in her dress of blue +broadcloth embroidered with porcupine quills. She was always called +Mademoiselle Laboise, while the French girl was called merely 'Tite. +Because 'Tite was married, no one considered her name changed to +Madame Charette. To her husband himself she was 'Tite Laboise, the most +aggravating, delicious, unaccountable creature in the Northwest. + +"She says she will not see you, Charle'," said Mademoiselle Laboise, +color like sunset vermilion showing in the delicate aboriginal face. + +"What have I done?" gasped the voyageur. + +Mademoiselle lifted French shoulders with her father's gesture. She did +not know. + +"Did I expect to be treated this way?" shouted the injured husband. + +"Who can ever tell what 'Tite will do next?" + +That was the truth. No one could tell. Yet her flightiest moods were +her most alluring moods. If she had not been so pretty and so adroit +at dodging whippings when a child, 'Tite Laboise might not have set +Mackinac by the ears as often as she did. But her husband could not +comfort himself with this thought as he turned to the shop of madame her +aunt, who was also a trader. + +It had surprised the Indian widow, who betrothed her own daughter to the +commandant of the fort, that her husband's niece would have nobody but +that big voyageur Charle' Charette. Though in those days of the young +century a man might become anything; for the West was before him, an +empire, and woodcraft was better than learning. Madame Laboise accepted +her niece's husband with kindness. Her house was among the most +hospitable in Mackinac, and she was chagrined at the reception the young +man had met. + +He sat down on her counter, whirling his cap and caressing the black +feather in it. The gentle Chippewa woman could see that his childish +pride in this trophy was almost as great as his trouble. What had +'Tite lacked? he wanted to know. Had he not good credit at the stores? +Tonnerre!--if madame would pardon him--was not his entire year's wage +at the girl's service? Had he spent money on himself, except for tobacco +and necessary buckskins? Madame knew a voyageur was allowed to carry +scarce twenty pounds of baggage in the boats. + +Did 'Tite want a better man? Let madame look at the black feather in his +cap. The crow did not fly that could furnish a quill he could not take +from any man in his brigade. Charle' threw out the arch of his beautiful +torso. And he loved her. Madame knew what tears he had shed, what +serenades he had played on his fiddle under 'Tite's window, and how he +had outdanced her other partners. He dropped his head on his breast and +picked at the crow's feather. + +The widow Laboise pitied him. But who could account for 'Tite's +whims? "When she heard the boats were in sight she was frantic with joy. +I myself," asserted madame, "saw her clapping her hands when we could +catch the song of the returning voyageurs. It was then 'Oh, my Charle'! +my Charle'!' But scarce have the men leaped on the dock when off she +goes and locks the door of her bedroom. It is 'Tite. I can say no more." + +"What offended her?" + +"I know of nothing. You have been as good a husband as a voyageur could +be. And Mackinac is so dull in winter she can amuse herself but little. +It was hard for her to wait your return. Now she will not look at you. +It is very silly." + +What would Madame Laboise advise him to do? + +Madame would advise him to wait as if nothing had occurred. The curé +would admonish 'Tite if she continued her sulking. In the mean time he +must content himself with tenting or lodging among his fellow-voyageurs. + +Of the two or three thousand voyageurs and clerks, one hundred lived in +the agency house, five hundred were accommodated in barracks, but the +majority found shelter in tents and in the houses of the villagers. +Every night of the fur-trading month there was a ball in Mackinac, given +either by the householders or their guests; and it often happened that +a man spent in one month all he had earned by his year of tremendous and +far-reaching toil. But he had society, and what was to him the cream of +existence, while it lasted. He fitted himself out with new shirts and +buckskins, sashes, caps, neips, and moccasins, and when he was not on +duty showed himself like a hero, knife in sheath, a weather-browned and +sinewy figure. To dance, sing, drink, and play the violin, and have the +scant dozen white women, the half-breeds, and squaws of Mackinac admire +him, was a voyageur's heaven--its brief duration being its charm. For he +was a born woodsman and loved his life. + +Charle' Charette did not care where he lodged. Neither had he any +heart to dance, until he looked through the door of the house where +festivities began that season and saw 'Tite Laboise footing it with +Étienne St. Martin. Parbleu! With Étienne St. Martin, the squab little +lard-eater whose brother, Alexis St. Martin, had been put into doctors' +books on account of having his stomach partly shot away, and a valve +forming over the rent so that his digestion could be watched. It was +disgusting. 'Tite would not speak to her own husband, but she would come +out before all Mackinac and dance with any other voyageurs who crowded +about her. Charle' sprang into the house himself, and without looking +at his wife, hilariously led other women to the best places, and danced +with every sinuous and graceful curve of his body. 'Tite did not look at +him. From the corner of his eye he noted how perfect she was, the fiend! +and how well she had dressed herself on his money. All the brigades +knew his trouble by that time, and an easy breath was drawn by his +entertainers when he left the house with knife still sheathed. In +the wilderness the will of a brigade commander was law; but when the +voyageur was out of the Fur Company's yard in Mackinac his own will was +law. + +One of the cautious clerks suggested that Charle' and Étienne be +separated in their work, since it was likely the husband might quarrel +with 'Tite Laboise's dancing partner. + +"Turn 'em in together, man," chuckled the Scotch agent, Robert Stuart, +who had charge of the outside work. "Let 'em fight. Man Gurdon, I havena +had any sport with these wild lads since the boats came in." + +But the combatants he hoped to see worked steadily until afternoon +without coming to the grip. They had no brute Anglo-Saxon antagonism, +and being occupied with different bales, did not face each other. + +The triple row of Indian lodges basked on the incurved beach, where a +thousand Indians had gathered to celebrate that vivid month. Night and +day the thump of their drums and the monotonous chant of their dances +could be heard above the rush and whisper of blue water breaking on +pebbles. + +Lake Michigan was a deep sapphire color, and from where she stood below +the sally-port 'Tite Laboise could see the mainland's rim of beach and +slopes of forest near and distinct in transparent light. And she could +hear the farthest shaking of echoes from island to island like a throb +of some sublime wind instrument. The whitewashed blockhouse at the west +angle of the fort shone a marble turret. There was a low meadow between +the Fur Company's yard and pine heights. Though no salt tang came in the +wind, it blew sweet, refreshing the men at their dog-day labor. And +all the spell of that island, which since it rose from the water it has +held, lay around them. + +Étienne St. Martin picked up a beaver-skin, and in the sight of 'Tite +Laboise her husband laid hold of it. + +"Release that, Mange'-du-lard," he said. + +"Eh bien!" responded Étienne, knowing that he was challenged and the +eyes of the whole yard were on him. "This fine crow he claims all +Mackinac because he carries a black feather in his cap. There are black +feathers in other brigades." + +"But you never wore one in any brigade." + +They dropped the skin and faced each other, feeling the fastenings of +their belts. Old Robert Stuart slipped up a window in the office and +grinned slyly out at the men surging towards that side of the yard. He +would not usually permit a breach of discipline. But the winter had been +so long! + +"Myself I have no need of black feathers." + +Étienne gave an insolent cast of the eye to the height where 'Tite +Laboise stood. + +Charle', magnificent of inches, scorned his less-developed antagonist. + +"Eh, man Gurdon," softly called old Robert Stuart from his window, "set +them to it, will ye? The lads will be jawing till the morn's morn." + +This equivocal order had little effect on the ordained course of a +voyageur's quarrel. + +"These St. Martins without stomachs, how is a man to hit them?--pouf!" +said Charle', and Etienne felt on his tender spot the cruel allusion +to his brother Alexis, whose stomach had been made public property. He +began to shed tears of wrath. + +"I will take your scalp for that! As for the black feather, I trample it +under my foot!" + +"Let me see you trample it. And my head is not so easily scalped as your +brother's stomach." + +All the time they were dancing around each other in graceful and +menacing feints. But now they clinched, and Charle' Charette, when the +struggle had lasted two or three minutes, took his antagonist like a +puppy and flung him revolving to the ground. He hitched his belt and +glanced up towards the sally-port as he stood back laughing. + +Étienne was on foot with a tiger's bound. He had no chance with the +wearer of the black feather, as everybody in the yard knew, and usually +a beaten antagonist was ready to shake hands after a few trials of +strength. But he seized one of the knives used in opening packs and +struck at the victor's side. As soon as he had struck and the bloody +knife came back in his hand he crouched and rolled his eyes around in +apology. No man was afraid of shedding blood in those days, but he felt +he had gone too far--that his quarrel was not sufficiently grounded. +He heard a woman's scream, and the sharp checking exclamation of his +master, and felt himself seized on each side. There was much confusion +in his mind and in the yard, but he knew 'Tite Laboise flew through the +gate and past him, and he tried to propitiate her by a look. + +"Pig!" she projected at him like a missile, and he sat down on the +ground between the guards who were trying to hold him up and wept +copiously. + +"I didn't want to have trouble with that Charle' Charette and that 'Tite +Laboise," explained Étienne. "And I don't want any black feather. It +was my brother's stomach. On account of my brother's stomach I have to +fight. If they do not let my brother's stomach alone, I will have to +kill the whole brigade." + +But Charle' Charette walked into the Fur Company's building feeling +nothing but disdain for the puny stock of St. Martin, as he held out his +arm and let the blood drip from a little wound that stained his calico +shirt-sleeve. The very neips around his ankles seemed to tingle with +desire to kick poor Étienne. + +It was not necessary to send for the surgeon of the fort. Robert Stuart +dressed the wound, salving it with the rebukes which he knew discipline +demanded, and making them as strong as his own enjoyment had been. He +promised to break the head of every voyageur in the yard with a board +if another quarrel occurred. And he pretended not to see the culprit's +trembling wife, that little besom whose caprices had set the men by the +ears ever since she was old enough to know the figures of a dance, yet +for whom he and Mrs. Stuart had a warm corner in their hearts. She had +caused the first fracas of the season, moreover. He went out and slammed +the office door, ordering the men away from it. + +"Bring me yon Étienne St. Martin," commanded Mr. Stuart, preparing his +arsenal of strong language. "I'll have a word with yon carl for this." + +The noise of the one-sided conflict could be heard in the office, but +'Tite remained as if she heard nothing, with her head and arms on the +desk. Her husband took up the cap with the black feather, which he had +thrown off in the presence of his superior. He rested it against his +side, his elbow pointing a triangle, and waited aggressively for her +to speak. The back of her pretty neck and fine tendrils of curly hair +ruffled above it were very moving; but his heart swelled indignantly. + +"'Tite Laboise, why did you shut the door in my face when I came back to +you after a year's absence?" + +She answered faintly, "Me, I don't know." + +"And dance with Étienne St. Martin until I am obliged to whip him?" + +"Me, I don't know." + +"Yes, you do know. You have concealments," he accused, and she made no +defence. "This is the case: you run to the dock to see the boats come +in; you are joyful until you watch me step ashore; I look for 'Tite; her +back is disappearing at the corner of the street. Eh bien! I say, she +would rather meet me in the house. I fly to the house. My wife refuses +to see me." + +'Tite made no answer. + +"What have I done?" Charle' spread his hands. "My commandant has no +complaint to make of me. It is Charle' Charette who leads on the trail +or breaks a road where there is none, and carries the heaviest pack +of furs, and pulls men out of the water when they are drowning; it is +Charle' Charette who can best endure fasting when the rations run low, +and can hunt and bring in meat when other voyageurs lie exhausted about +the camp-fire. I am no little lard-eater from Canada, brother to a man +with a stomach having no lid. Look at that." Charle' shook the decorated +cap at her. "I wear the black feather of my brigade. That means that I +am the best man in it." + +His wife reared her head. She was like the wild sweet-brier roses which +crowded alluvial strips of the island, fragrant and pink and bristling. +"Yes, monsieur, that black feather--regard it. Me, I am sick of that +black feather. You say I have concealments. I have. All winter I go +lonely. The ice is massed on the lake; the snow is so deep, the wind +is keener than a knife; I weep for my husband away in the wilderness, +believing he thinks of me. Eh bien! he comes back to Mackinac. It is as +you say: I fly to meet him, my breath chokes me. But my husband, what +does he do?" She looked him up and down with wrathful eyes. "He does +not see 'Tite. He sees nothing but that black feather in his cap that +he must take off and show to Monsieur Ramsay Crooks and Monsieur +Stuart--while his wife suffocates." + +Charle' shrunk from his height, and his mouth opened like a fish's. "But +I thought you would be proud of it." + +"Me, what do I care how many men you have thrown down? You do not like +me any better because you have thrown down all the men in your brigade." + +"She is jealous--jealous of a feather!" + +Humbled as he was by her tongue, the young voyageur felt delighted at +giving his wife so trivial a rival. + +He settled his belt and approached her and bowed. "Madame, permit me to +offer you this black quill, which I have won for your sake, and which +I boasted of to my masters that they might know you have not thrown +yourself away on the poorest creature in Mackinac. Destroy it, madame. +It was only the poor token of my love for you." + +Graceful and polite as all the voyageurs were, Charle' Charette was the +prince of them with his big sweet presence as he bent. 'Tite flew at him +and flung her arms around his neck. After the manner of Latin peoples, +they instantly shed tears upon each other, and the black feather was +crushed between their breasts. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Black Feather, by Mary Hartwell Catherwood + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLACK FEATHER *** + +***** This file should be named 23248-8.txt or 23248-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/2/4/23248/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/23248-8.zip b/23248-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b06eb25 --- /dev/null +++ b/23248-8.zip diff --git a/23248-h.zip b/23248-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0372f51 --- /dev/null +++ b/23248-h.zip diff --git a/23248-h/23248-h.htm b/23248-h/23248-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..674d8b9 --- /dev/null +++ b/23248-h/23248-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,859 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + The Black Feather, by Mary Hartwell Catherwood + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Black Feather, by Mary Hartwell Catherwood + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Black Feather + From "Mackinac And Lake Stories", 1899 + +Author: Mary Hartwell Catherwood + +Release Date: October 30, 2007 [EBook #23248] +Last Updated: January 5, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLACK FEATHER *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <div style="height: 8em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + THE BLACK FEATHER + </h1> + <h2> + From "Mackinac And Lake Stories", 1899 + <br /> <br /> + By Mary Hartwell Catherwood <br /> <br /> + </h2> + <p> + Over a hundred voyageurs were sorting furs in the American Fur Company's + yard, under the supervision of the clerks. And though it was hard labor, + lasting from five in the morning until sunset, they thought lightly of it + as fatigue duty after their eleven months of toil and privation in the + wilderness. Fort Mackinac was glittering white on the heights above them, + and half-way up a paved ascent leading to the sally-port sauntered 'Tite + Laboise. All the voyageurs saw her; and strict as was the discipline of + the yard, they directly expected trouble. + </p> + <p> + The packing, however, went on with vigor. Every beaver, marten, mink, + musk-rat, raccoon, lynx, wild-cat, fox, wolverine, otter, badger, or other + skin had to be beaten, graded, counted, tallied in the company's book, put + into press, and marked for shipment to John Jacob Astor in New York. As + there were twelve grades of sable, and eight even of deer, the grading, + which fell to the clerks, was no light task. Heads of brigades that had + brought these furs from the wilderness stood by to challenge any mistake + in the count. It was the height of the fur season, and Mackinac Island was + the front of the world to the two or three thousand men gathered in for + its brief summer. + </p> + <p> + Axe strokes reverberated from Bois Blanc, on the opposite side of the + strait, and passed echoes from island to island to the shutting down of + the horizon. Choppers detailed to cut wood were getting boatloads ready + for the leachers, who had hulled corn to prepare for winter rations. One + pint of lyed corn with from two to four ounces of tallow was the daily + allowance of a voyageur, and the endurance which this food gave him passes + belief. + </p> + <p> + Étienne St. Martin grumbled at it when he came fresh from Canada and pork + eating. "Mange'-du-lard," his companions called him, especially Charle' + Charette, who was the giant and the wearer of the black feather in his + brigade of a dozen boats. Huge and innocent primitive man was Charle' + Charette. He could sleep under snow-drifts like a baby, carry double packs + of furs, pull oars all day without tiring, and dance all night after + hardships which caused some men to desire to lie down and die. The summer + before, at nineteen years of age, this light-haired, light-hearted + voyageur had been married to 'Tite Laboise. Their wedding festivities + lasted the whole month of the Mackinac season. His was the Wabash and + Illinois River outfit, almost the last to leave the island; for the Lake + Superior, Upper and Lower Mississippi, Lake of the Woods, and other + outfits were obliged to seek Indian hunting-grounds at the earliest breath + of autumn. + </p> + <p> + When the Illinois brigade returned, his wife, who had stood weeping in the + cheering crowd while his companions made islands ring with the boat-song + at departure, refused to see him. He went to the house of her aunt + Laboise, where she lived. Mademoiselle Laboise, her half-breed cousin, met + him. This educated young lady, daughter of a French father and Chippewa + mother, was dignified as a nun in her dress of blue broadcloth embroidered + with porcupine quills. She was always called Mademoiselle Laboise, while + the French girl was called merely 'Tite. Because 'Tite was married, no one + considered her name changed to Madame Charette. To her husband himself she + was 'Tite Laboise, the most aggravating, delicious, unaccountable creature + in the Northwest. + </p> + <p> + "She says she will not see you, Charle'," said Mademoiselle Laboise, color + like sunset vermilion showing in the delicate aboriginal face. + </p> + <p> + "What have I done?" gasped the voyageur. + </p> + <p> + Mademoiselle lifted French shoulders with her father's gesture. She did + not know. + </p> + <p> + "Did I expect to be treated this way?" shouted the injured husband. + </p> + <p> + "Who can ever tell what 'Tite will do next?" + </p> + <p> + That was the truth. No one could tell. Yet her flightiest moods were her + most alluring moods. If she had not been so pretty and so adroit at + dodging whippings when a child, 'Tite Laboise might not have set Mackinac + by the ears as often as she did. But her husband could not comfort himself + with this thought as he turned to the shop of madame her aunt, who was + also a trader. + </p> + <p> + It had surprised the Indian widow, who betrothed her own daughter to the + commandant of the fort, that her husband's niece would have nobody but + that big voyageur Charle' Charette. Though in those days of the young + century a man might become anything; for the West was before him, an + empire, and woodcraft was better than learning. Madame Laboise accepted + her niece's husband with kindness. Her house was among the most hospitable + in Mackinac, and she was chagrined at the reception the young man had met. + </p> + <p> + He sat down on her counter, whirling his cap and caressing the black + feather in it. The gentle Chippewa woman could see that his childish pride + in this trophy was almost as great as his trouble. What had 'Tite lacked? + he wanted to know. Had he not good credit at the stores? Tonnerre!—if + madame would pardon him—was not his entire year's wage at the girl's + service? Had he spent money on himself, except for tobacco and necessary + buckskins? Madame knew a voyageur was allowed to carry scarce twenty + pounds of baggage in the boats. + </p> + <p> + Did 'Tite want a better man? Let madame look at the black feather in his + cap. The crow did not fly that could furnish a quill he could not take + from any man in his brigade. Charle' threw out the arch of his beautiful + torso. And he loved her. Madame knew what tears he had shed, what + serenades he had played on his fiddle under 'Tite's window, and how he had + outdanced her other partners. He dropped his head on his breast and picked + at the crow's feather. + </p> + <p> + The widow Laboise pitied him. But who could account for 'Tite's whims? + "When she heard the boats were in sight she was frantic with joy. I + myself," asserted madame, "saw her clapping her hands when we could catch + the song of the returning voyageurs. It was then 'Oh, my Charle'! my + Charle'!' But scarce have the men leaped on the dock when off she goes and + locks the door of her bedroom. It is 'Tite. I can say no more." + </p> + <p> + "What offended her?" + </p> + <p> + "I know of nothing. You have been as good a husband as a voyageur could + be. And Mackinac is so dull in winter she can amuse herself but little. It + was hard for her to wait your return. Now she will not look at you. It is + very silly." + </p> + <p> + What would Madame Laboise advise him to do? + </p> + <p> + Madame would advise him to wait as if nothing had occurred. The curé would + admonish 'Tite if she continued her sulking. In the mean time he must + content himself with tenting or lodging among his fellow-voyageurs. + </p> + <p> + Of the two or three thousand voyageurs and clerks, one hundred lived in + the agency house, five hundred were accommodated in barracks, but the + majority found shelter in tents and in the houses of the villagers. Every + night of the fur-trading month there was a ball in Mackinac, given either + by the householders or their guests; and it often happened that a man + spent in one month all he had earned by his year of tremendous and + far-reaching toil. But he had society, and what was to him the cream of + existence, while it lasted. He fitted himself out with new shirts and + buckskins, sashes, caps, neips, and moccasins, and when he was not on duty + showed himself like a hero, knife in sheath, a weather-browned and sinewy + figure. To dance, sing, drink, and play the violin, and have the scant + dozen white women, the half-breeds, and squaws of Mackinac admire him, was + a voyageur's heaven—its brief duration being its charm. For he was a + born woodsman and loved his life. + </p> + <p> + Charle' Charette did not care where he lodged. Neither had he any heart to + dance, until he looked through the door of the house where festivities + began that season and saw 'Tite Laboise footing it with Étienne St. + Martin. Parbleu! With Étienne St. Martin, the squab little lard-eater + whose brother, Alexis St. Martin, had been put into doctors' books on + account of having his stomach partly shot away, and a valve forming over + the rent so that his digestion could be watched. It was disgusting. 'Tite + would not speak to her own husband, but she would come out before all + Mackinac and dance with any other voyageurs who crowded about her. Charle' + sprang into the house himself, and without looking at his wife, + hilariously led other women to the best places, and danced with every + sinuous and graceful curve of his body. 'Tite did not look at him. From + the corner of his eye he noted how perfect she was, the fiend! and how + well she had dressed herself on his money. All the brigades knew his + trouble by that time, and an easy breath was drawn by his entertainers + when he left the house with knife still sheathed. In the wilderness the + will of a brigade commander was law; but when the voyageur was out of the + Fur Company's yard in Mackinac his own will was law. + </p> + <p> + One of the cautious clerks suggested that Charle' and Étienne be separated + in their work, since it was likely the husband might quarrel with 'Tite + Laboise's dancing partner. + </p> + <p> + "Turn 'em in together, man," chuckled the Scotch agent, Robert Stuart, who + had charge of the outside work. "Let 'em fight. Man Gurdon, I havena had + any sport with these wild lads since the boats came in." + </p> + <p> + But the combatants he hoped to see worked steadily until afternoon without + coming to the grip. They had no brute Anglo-Saxon antagonism, and being + occupied with different bales, did not face each other. + </p> + <p> + The triple row of Indian lodges basked on the incurved beach, where a + thousand Indians had gathered to celebrate that vivid month. Night and day + the thump of their drums and the monotonous chant of their dances could be + heard above the rush and whisper of blue water breaking on pebbles. + </p> + <p> + Lake Michigan was a deep sapphire color, and from where she stood below + the sally-port 'Tite Laboise could see the mainland's rim of beach and + slopes of forest near and distinct in transparent light. And she could + hear the farthest shaking of echoes from island to island like a throb of + some sublime wind instrument. The whitewashed blockhouse at the west angle + of the fort shone a marble turret. There was a low meadow between the Fur + Company's yard and pine heights. Though no salt tang came in the wind, it + blew sweet, refreshing the men at their dog-day labor. And all the spell + of that island, which since it rose from the water it has held, lay around + them. + </p> + <p> + Étienne St. Martin picked up a beaver-skin, and in the sight of 'Tite + Laboise her husband laid hold of it. + </p> + <p> + "Release that, Mange'-du-lard," he said. + </p> + <p> + "Eh bien!" responded Étienne, knowing that he was challenged and the eyes + of the whole yard were on him. "This fine crow he claims all Mackinac + because he carries a black feather in his cap. There are black feathers in + other brigades." + </p> + <p> + "But you never wore one in any brigade." + </p> + <p> + They dropped the skin and faced each other, feeling the fastenings of + their belts. Old Robert Stuart slipped up a window in the office and + grinned slyly out at the men surging towards that side of the yard. He + would not usually permit a breach of discipline. But the winter had been + so long! + </p> + <p> + "Myself I have no need of black feathers." + </p> + <p> + Étienne gave an insolent cast of the eye to the height where 'Tite Laboise + stood. + </p> + <p> + Charle', magnificent of inches, scorned his less-developed antagonist. + </p> + <p> + "Eh, man Gurdon," softly called old Robert Stuart from his window, "set + them to it, will ye? The lads will be jawing till the morn's morn." + </p> + <p> + This equivocal order had little effect on the ordained course of a + voyageur's quarrel. + </p> + <p> + "These St. Martins without stomachs, how is a man to hit them?—pouf!" + said Charle', and Etienne felt on his tender spot the cruel allusion to + his brother Alexis, whose stomach had been made public property. He began + to shed tears of wrath. + </p> + <p> + "I will take your scalp for that! As for the black feather, I trample it + under my foot!" + </p> + <p> + "Let me see you trample it. And my head is not so easily scalped as your + brother's stomach." + </p> + <p> + All the time they were dancing around each other in graceful and menacing + feints. But now they clinched, and Charle' Charette, when the struggle had + lasted two or three minutes, took his antagonist like a puppy and flung + him revolving to the ground. He hitched his belt and glanced up towards + the sally-port as he stood back laughing. + </p> + <p> + Étienne was on foot with a tiger's bound. He had no chance with the wearer + of the black feather, as everybody in the yard knew, and usually a beaten + antagonist was ready to shake hands after a few trials of strength. But he + seized one of the knives used in opening packs and struck at the victor's + side. As soon as he had struck and the bloody knife came back in his hand + he crouched and rolled his eyes around in apology. No man was afraid of + shedding blood in those days, but he felt he had gone too far—that + his quarrel was not sufficiently grounded. He heard a woman's scream, and + the sharp checking exclamation of his master, and felt himself seized on + each side. There was much confusion in his mind and in the yard, but he + knew 'Tite Laboise flew through the gate and past him, and he tried to + propitiate her by a look. + </p> + <p> + "Pig!" she projected at him like a missile, and he sat down on the ground + between the guards who were trying to hold him up and wept copiously. + </p> + <p> + "I didn't want to have trouble with that Charle' Charette and that 'Tite + Laboise," explained Étienne. "And I don't want any black feather. It was + my brother's stomach. On account of my brother's stomach I have to fight. + If they do not let my brother's stomach alone, I will have to kill the + whole brigade." + </p> + <p> + But Charle' Charette walked into the Fur Company's building feeling + nothing but disdain for the puny stock of St. Martin, as he held out his + arm and let the blood drip from a little wound that stained his calico + shirt-sleeve. The very neips around his ankles seemed to tingle with + desire to kick poor Étienne. + </p> + <p> + It was not necessary to send for the surgeon of the fort. Robert Stuart + dressed the wound, salving it with the rebukes which he knew discipline + demanded, and making them as strong as his own enjoyment had been. He + promised to break the head of every voyageur in the yard with a board if + another quarrel occurred. And he pretended not to see the culprit's + trembling wife, that little besom whose caprices had set the men by the + ears ever since she was old enough to know the figures of a dance, yet for + whom he and Mrs. Stuart had a warm corner in their hearts. She had caused + the first fracas of the season, moreover. He went out and slammed the + office door, ordering the men away from it. + </p> + <p> + "Bring me yon Étienne St. Martin," commanded Mr. Stuart, preparing his + arsenal of strong language. "I'll have a word with yon carl for this." + </p> + <p> + The noise of the one-sided conflict could be heard in the office, but + 'Tite remained as if she heard nothing, with her head and arms on the + desk. Her husband took up the cap with the black feather, which he had + thrown off in the presence of his superior. He rested it against his side, + his elbow pointing a triangle, and waited aggressively for her to speak. + The back of her pretty neck and fine tendrils of curly hair ruffled above + it were very moving; but his heart swelled indignantly. + </p> + <p> + "'Tite Laboise, why did you shut the door in my face when I came back to + you after a year's absence?" + </p> + <p> + She answered faintly, "Me, I don't know." + </p> + <p> + "And dance with Étienne St. Martin until I am obliged to whip him?" + </p> + <p> + "Me, I don't know." + </p> + <p> + "Yes, you do know. You have concealments," he accused, and she made no + defence. "This is the case: you run to the dock to see the boats come in; + you are joyful until you watch me step ashore; I look for 'Tite; her back + is disappearing at the corner of the street. Eh bien! I say, she would + rather meet me in the house. I fly to the house. My wife refuses to see + me." + </p> + <p> + 'Tite made no answer. + </p> + <p> + "What have I done?" Charle' spread his hands. "My commandant has no + complaint to make of me. It is Charle' Charette who leads on the trail or + breaks a road where there is none, and carries the heaviest pack of furs, + and pulls men out of the water when they are drowning; it is Charle' + Charette who can best endure fasting when the rations run low, and can + hunt and bring in meat when other voyageurs lie exhausted about the + camp-fire. I am no little lard-eater from Canada, brother to a man with a + stomach having no lid. Look at that." Charle' shook the decorated cap at + her. "I wear the black feather of my brigade. That means that I am the + best man in it." + </p> + <p> + His wife reared her head. She was like the wild sweet-brier roses which + crowded alluvial strips of the island, fragrant and pink and bristling. + "Yes, monsieur, that black feather—regard it. Me, I am sick of that + black feather. You say I have concealments. I have. All winter I go + lonely. The ice is massed on the lake; the snow is so deep, the wind is + keener than a knife; I weep for my husband away in the wilderness, + believing he thinks of me. Eh bien! he comes back to Mackinac. It is as + you say: I fly to meet him, my breath chokes me. But my husband, what does + he do?" She looked him up and down with wrathful eyes. "He does not see + 'Tite. He sees nothing but that black feather in his cap that he must take + off and show to Monsieur Ramsay Crooks and Monsieur Stuart—while his + wife suffocates." + </p> + <p> + Charle' shrunk from his height, and his mouth opened like a fish's. "But I + thought you would be proud of it." + </p> + <p> + "Me, what do I care how many men you have thrown down? You do not like me + any better because you have thrown down all the men in your brigade." + </p> + <p> + "She is jealous—jealous of a feather!" + </p> + <p> + Humbled as he was by her tongue, the young voyageur felt delighted at + giving his wife so trivial a rival. + </p> + <p> + He settled his belt and approached her and bowed. "Madame, permit me to + offer you this black quill, which I have won for your sake, and which I + boasted of to my masters that they might know you have not thrown yourself + away on the poorest creature in Mackinac. Destroy it, madame. It was only + the poor token of my love for you." + </p> + <p> + Graceful and polite as all the voyageurs were, Charle' Charette was the + prince of them with his big sweet presence as he bent. 'Tite flew at him + and flung her arms around his neck. After the manner of Latin peoples, + they instantly shed tears upon each other, and the black feather was + crushed between their breasts. + </p> + <div style="height: 6em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Black Feather, by Mary Hartwell Catherwood + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLACK FEATHER *** + +***** This file should be named 23248-h.htm or 23248-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/2/4/23248/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Black Feather + From "Mackinac And Lake Stories", 1899 + +Author: Mary Hartwell Catherwood + +Release Date: October 30, 2007 [EBook #23248] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLACK FEATHER *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +THE BLACK FEATHER + +From "Mackinac And Lake Stories", 1899 + +By Mary Hartwell Catherwood + + +Over a hundred voyageurs were sorting furs in the American Fur Company's +yard, under the supervision of the clerks. And though it was hard labor, +lasting from five in the morning until sunset, they thought lightly of +it as fatigue duty after their eleven months of toil and privation in +the wilderness. Fort Mackinac was glittering white on the heights above +them, and half-way up a paved ascent leading to the sally-port sauntered +'Tite Laboise. All the voyageurs saw her; and strict as was the +discipline of the yard, they directly expected trouble. + +The packing, however, went on with vigor. Every beaver, marten, mink, +musk-rat, raccoon, lynx, wild-cat, fox, wolverine, otter, badger, or +other skin had to be beaten, graded, counted, tallied in the company's +book, put into press, and marked for shipment to John Jacob Astor in New +York. As there were twelve grades of sable, and eight even of deer, the +grading, which fell to the clerks, was no light task. Heads of brigades +that had brought these furs from the wilderness stood by to challenge +any mistake in the count. It was the height of the fur season, and +Mackinac Island was the front of the world to the two or three thousand +men gathered in for its brief summer. + +Axe strokes reverberated from Bois Blanc, on the opposite side of the +strait, and passed echoes from island to island to the shutting down of +the horizon. Choppers detailed to cut wood were getting boatloads ready +for the leachers, who had hulled corn to prepare for winter rations. One +pint of lyed corn with from two to four ounces of tallow was the daily +allowance of a voyageur, and the endurance which this food gave him +passes belief. + +Etienne St. Martin grumbled at it when he came fresh from Canada and +pork eating. "Mange'-du-lard," his companions called him, especially +Charle' Charette, who was the giant and the wearer of the black feather +in his brigade of a dozen boats. Huge and innocent primitive man was +Charle' Charette. He could sleep under snow-drifts like a baby, carry +double packs of furs, pull oars all day without tiring, and dance all +night after hardships which caused some men to desire to lie down and +die. The summer before, at nineteen years of age, this light-haired, +light-hearted voyageur had been married to 'Tite Laboise. Their wedding +festivities lasted the whole month of the Mackinac season. His was the +Wabash and Illinois River outfit, almost the last to leave the island; +for the Lake Superior, Upper and Lower Mississippi, Lake of the Woods, +and other outfits were obliged to seek Indian hunting-grounds at the +earliest breath of autumn. + +When the Illinois brigade returned, his wife, who had stood weeping +in the cheering crowd while his companions made islands ring with the +boat-song at departure, refused to see him. He went to the house of +her aunt Laboise, where she lived. Mademoiselle Laboise, her half-breed +cousin, met him. This educated young lady, daughter of a French father +and Chippewa mother, was dignified as a nun in her dress of blue +broadcloth embroidered with porcupine quills. She was always called +Mademoiselle Laboise, while the French girl was called merely 'Tite. +Because 'Tite was married, no one considered her name changed to +Madame Charette. To her husband himself she was 'Tite Laboise, the most +aggravating, delicious, unaccountable creature in the Northwest. + +"She says she will not see you, Charle'," said Mademoiselle Laboise, +color like sunset vermilion showing in the delicate aboriginal face. + +"What have I done?" gasped the voyageur. + +Mademoiselle lifted French shoulders with her father's gesture. She did +not know. + +"Did I expect to be treated this way?" shouted the injured husband. + +"Who can ever tell what 'Tite will do next?" + +That was the truth. No one could tell. Yet her flightiest moods were +her most alluring moods. If she had not been so pretty and so adroit +at dodging whippings when a child, 'Tite Laboise might not have set +Mackinac by the ears as often as she did. But her husband could not +comfort himself with this thought as he turned to the shop of madame her +aunt, who was also a trader. + +It had surprised the Indian widow, who betrothed her own daughter to the +commandant of the fort, that her husband's niece would have nobody but +that big voyageur Charle' Charette. Though in those days of the young +century a man might become anything; for the West was before him, an +empire, and woodcraft was better than learning. Madame Laboise accepted +her niece's husband with kindness. Her house was among the most +hospitable in Mackinac, and she was chagrined at the reception the young +man had met. + +He sat down on her counter, whirling his cap and caressing the black +feather in it. The gentle Chippewa woman could see that his childish +pride in this trophy was almost as great as his trouble. What had +'Tite lacked? he wanted to know. Had he not good credit at the stores? +Tonnerre!--if madame would pardon him--was not his entire year's wage +at the girl's service? Had he spent money on himself, except for tobacco +and necessary buckskins? Madame knew a voyageur was allowed to carry +scarce twenty pounds of baggage in the boats. + +Did 'Tite want a better man? Let madame look at the black feather in his +cap. The crow did not fly that could furnish a quill he could not take +from any man in his brigade. Charle' threw out the arch of his beautiful +torso. And he loved her. Madame knew what tears he had shed, what +serenades he had played on his fiddle under 'Tite's window, and how he +had outdanced her other partners. He dropped his head on his breast and +picked at the crow's feather. + +The widow Laboise pitied him. But who could account for 'Tite's +whims? "When she heard the boats were in sight she was frantic with joy. +I myself," asserted madame, "saw her clapping her hands when we could +catch the song of the returning voyageurs. It was then 'Oh, my Charle'! +my Charle'!' But scarce have the men leaped on the dock when off she +goes and locks the door of her bedroom. It is 'Tite. I can say no more." + +"What offended her?" + +"I know of nothing. You have been as good a husband as a voyageur could +be. And Mackinac is so dull in winter she can amuse herself but little. +It was hard for her to wait your return. Now she will not look at you. +It is very silly." + +What would Madame Laboise advise him to do? + +Madame would advise him to wait as if nothing had occurred. The cure +would admonish 'Tite if she continued her sulking. In the mean time he +must content himself with tenting or lodging among his fellow-voyageurs. + +Of the two or three thousand voyageurs and clerks, one hundred lived in +the agency house, five hundred were accommodated in barracks, but the +majority found shelter in tents and in the houses of the villagers. +Every night of the fur-trading month there was a ball in Mackinac, given +either by the householders or their guests; and it often happened that +a man spent in one month all he had earned by his year of tremendous and +far-reaching toil. But he had society, and what was to him the cream of +existence, while it lasted. He fitted himself out with new shirts and +buckskins, sashes, caps, neips, and moccasins, and when he was not on +duty showed himself like a hero, knife in sheath, a weather-browned and +sinewy figure. To dance, sing, drink, and play the violin, and have the +scant dozen white women, the half-breeds, and squaws of Mackinac admire +him, was a voyageur's heaven--its brief duration being its charm. For he +was a born woodsman and loved his life. + +Charle' Charette did not care where he lodged. Neither had he any +heart to dance, until he looked through the door of the house where +festivities began that season and saw 'Tite Laboise footing it with +Etienne St. Martin. Parbleu! With Etienne St. Martin, the squab little +lard-eater whose brother, Alexis St. Martin, had been put into doctors' +books on account of having his stomach partly shot away, and a valve +forming over the rent so that his digestion could be watched. It was +disgusting. 'Tite would not speak to her own husband, but she would come +out before all Mackinac and dance with any other voyageurs who crowded +about her. Charle' sprang into the house himself, and without looking +at his wife, hilariously led other women to the best places, and danced +with every sinuous and graceful curve of his body. 'Tite did not look at +him. From the corner of his eye he noted how perfect she was, the fiend! +and how well she had dressed herself on his money. All the brigades +knew his trouble by that time, and an easy breath was drawn by his +entertainers when he left the house with knife still sheathed. In +the wilderness the will of a brigade commander was law; but when the +voyageur was out of the Fur Company's yard in Mackinac his own will was +law. + +One of the cautious clerks suggested that Charle' and Etienne be +separated in their work, since it was likely the husband might quarrel +with 'Tite Laboise's dancing partner. + +"Turn 'em in together, man," chuckled the Scotch agent, Robert Stuart, +who had charge of the outside work. "Let 'em fight. Man Gurdon, I havena +had any sport with these wild lads since the boats came in." + +But the combatants he hoped to see worked steadily until afternoon +without coming to the grip. They had no brute Anglo-Saxon antagonism, +and being occupied with different bales, did not face each other. + +The triple row of Indian lodges basked on the incurved beach, where a +thousand Indians had gathered to celebrate that vivid month. Night and +day the thump of their drums and the monotonous chant of their dances +could be heard above the rush and whisper of blue water breaking on +pebbles. + +Lake Michigan was a deep sapphire color, and from where she stood below +the sally-port 'Tite Laboise could see the mainland's rim of beach and +slopes of forest near and distinct in transparent light. And she could +hear the farthest shaking of echoes from island to island like a throb +of some sublime wind instrument. The whitewashed blockhouse at the west +angle of the fort shone a marble turret. There was a low meadow between +the Fur Company's yard and pine heights. Though no salt tang came in the +wind, it blew sweet, refreshing the men at their dog-day labor. And +all the spell of that island, which since it rose from the water it has +held, lay around them. + +Etienne St. Martin picked up a beaver-skin, and in the sight of 'Tite +Laboise her husband laid hold of it. + +"Release that, Mange'-du-lard," he said. + +"Eh bien!" responded Etienne, knowing that he was challenged and the +eyes of the whole yard were on him. "This fine crow he claims all +Mackinac because he carries a black feather in his cap. There are black +feathers in other brigades." + +"But you never wore one in any brigade." + +They dropped the skin and faced each other, feeling the fastenings of +their belts. Old Robert Stuart slipped up a window in the office and +grinned slyly out at the men surging towards that side of the yard. He +would not usually permit a breach of discipline. But the winter had been +so long! + +"Myself I have no need of black feathers." + +Etienne gave an insolent cast of the eye to the height where 'Tite +Laboise stood. + +Charle', magnificent of inches, scorned his less-developed antagonist. + +"Eh, man Gurdon," softly called old Robert Stuart from his window, "set +them to it, will ye? The lads will be jawing till the morn's morn." + +This equivocal order had little effect on the ordained course of a +voyageur's quarrel. + +"These St. Martins without stomachs, how is a man to hit them?--pouf!" +said Charle', and Etienne felt on his tender spot the cruel allusion +to his brother Alexis, whose stomach had been made public property. He +began to shed tears of wrath. + +"I will take your scalp for that! As for the black feather, I trample it +under my foot!" + +"Let me see you trample it. And my head is not so easily scalped as your +brother's stomach." + +All the time they were dancing around each other in graceful and +menacing feints. But now they clinched, and Charle' Charette, when the +struggle had lasted two or three minutes, took his antagonist like a +puppy and flung him revolving to the ground. He hitched his belt and +glanced up towards the sally-port as he stood back laughing. + +Etienne was on foot with a tiger's bound. He had no chance with the +wearer of the black feather, as everybody in the yard knew, and usually +a beaten antagonist was ready to shake hands after a few trials of +strength. But he seized one of the knives used in opening packs and +struck at the victor's side. As soon as he had struck and the bloody +knife came back in his hand he crouched and rolled his eyes around in +apology. No man was afraid of shedding blood in those days, but he felt +he had gone too far--that his quarrel was not sufficiently grounded. +He heard a woman's scream, and the sharp checking exclamation of his +master, and felt himself seized on each side. There was much confusion +in his mind and in the yard, but he knew 'Tite Laboise flew through the +gate and past him, and he tried to propitiate her by a look. + +"Pig!" she projected at him like a missile, and he sat down on the +ground between the guards who were trying to hold him up and wept +copiously. + +"I didn't want to have trouble with that Charle' Charette and that 'Tite +Laboise," explained Etienne. "And I don't want any black feather. It +was my brother's stomach. On account of my brother's stomach I have to +fight. If they do not let my brother's stomach alone, I will have to +kill the whole brigade." + +But Charle' Charette walked into the Fur Company's building feeling +nothing but disdain for the puny stock of St. Martin, as he held out his +arm and let the blood drip from a little wound that stained his calico +shirt-sleeve. The very neips around his ankles seemed to tingle with +desire to kick poor Etienne. + +It was not necessary to send for the surgeon of the fort. Robert Stuart +dressed the wound, salving it with the rebukes which he knew discipline +demanded, and making them as strong as his own enjoyment had been. He +promised to break the head of every voyageur in the yard with a board +if another quarrel occurred. And he pretended not to see the culprit's +trembling wife, that little besom whose caprices had set the men by the +ears ever since she was old enough to know the figures of a dance, yet +for whom he and Mrs. Stuart had a warm corner in their hearts. She had +caused the first fracas of the season, moreover. He went out and slammed +the office door, ordering the men away from it. + +"Bring me yon Etienne St. Martin," commanded Mr. Stuart, preparing his +arsenal of strong language. "I'll have a word with yon carl for this." + +The noise of the one-sided conflict could be heard in the office, but +'Tite remained as if she heard nothing, with her head and arms on the +desk. Her husband took up the cap with the black feather, which he had +thrown off in the presence of his superior. He rested it against his +side, his elbow pointing a triangle, and waited aggressively for her +to speak. The back of her pretty neck and fine tendrils of curly hair +ruffled above it were very moving; but his heart swelled indignantly. + +"'Tite Laboise, why did you shut the door in my face when I came back to +you after a year's absence?" + +She answered faintly, "Me, I don't know." + +"And dance with Etienne St. Martin until I am obliged to whip him?" + +"Me, I don't know." + +"Yes, you do know. You have concealments," he accused, and she made no +defence. "This is the case: you run to the dock to see the boats come +in; you are joyful until you watch me step ashore; I look for 'Tite; her +back is disappearing at the corner of the street. Eh bien! I say, she +would rather meet me in the house. I fly to the house. My wife refuses +to see me." + +'Tite made no answer. + +"What have I done?" Charle' spread his hands. "My commandant has no +complaint to make of me. It is Charle' Charette who leads on the trail +or breaks a road where there is none, and carries the heaviest pack +of furs, and pulls men out of the water when they are drowning; it is +Charle' Charette who can best endure fasting when the rations run low, +and can hunt and bring in meat when other voyageurs lie exhausted about +the camp-fire. I am no little lard-eater from Canada, brother to a man +with a stomach having no lid. Look at that." Charle' shook the decorated +cap at her. "I wear the black feather of my brigade. That means that I +am the best man in it." + +His wife reared her head. She was like the wild sweet-brier roses which +crowded alluvial strips of the island, fragrant and pink and bristling. +"Yes, monsieur, that black feather--regard it. Me, I am sick of that +black feather. You say I have concealments. I have. All winter I go +lonely. The ice is massed on the lake; the snow is so deep, the wind +is keener than a knife; I weep for my husband away in the wilderness, +believing he thinks of me. Eh bien! he comes back to Mackinac. It is as +you say: I fly to meet him, my breath chokes me. But my husband, what +does he do?" She looked him up and down with wrathful eyes. "He does +not see 'Tite. He sees nothing but that black feather in his cap that +he must take off and show to Monsieur Ramsay Crooks and Monsieur +Stuart--while his wife suffocates." + +Charle' shrunk from his height, and his mouth opened like a fish's. "But +I thought you would be proud of it." + +"Me, what do I care how many men you have thrown down? You do not like +me any better because you have thrown down all the men in your brigade." + +"She is jealous--jealous of a feather!" + +Humbled as he was by her tongue, the young voyageur felt delighted at +giving his wife so trivial a rival. + +He settled his belt and approached her and bowed. "Madame, permit me to +offer you this black quill, which I have won for your sake, and which +I boasted of to my masters that they might know you have not thrown +yourself away on the poorest creature in Mackinac. Destroy it, madame. +It was only the poor token of my love for you." + +Graceful and polite as all the voyageurs were, Charle' Charette was the +prince of them with his big sweet presence as he bent. 'Tite flew at him +and flung her arms around his neck. After the manner of Latin peoples, +they instantly shed tears upon each other, and the black feather was +crushed between their breasts. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Black Feather, by Mary Hartwell Catherwood + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLACK FEATHER *** + +***** This file should be named 23248.txt or 23248.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/2/4/23248/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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