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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Shawn of Skarrow, by James Tandy Ellis
+
+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: Shawn of Skarrow
+
+Author: James Tandy Ellis
+
+Release Date: October 16, 2008 [EBook #26934]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHAWN OF SKARROW ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Garcia, Verity White and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Kentuckiana Digital Library)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+  +----------------------------------------------------------------+
+  | Transcriber's note:                                            |
+  |                                                                |
+  | Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document |
+  | have been preserved unless listed at the end of the text.      |
+  |                                                                |
+  | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected; please see   |
+  | the end of the text for details.                               |
+  +----------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+
+
+
+SHAWN OF SKARROW
+
+
+
+
+SHAWN OF SKARROW
+
+  BY
+  JAMES TANDY ELLIS
+
+  Author of "Sprigs O' Mint," "Kentucky Stories,"
+  "Awhile in the Mountains," etc.
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+  THE C. M. CLARK PUBLISHING CO.
+  BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
+
+  COPYRIGHT, 1911,
+
+  THE C. M. CLARK PUBLISHING CO.,
+  BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+  Frontispiece                                         Shawn and Coaly
+                                                                  Page
+  "You'll be a great fisherman, some day, Shawn"                    24
+  Burney begin to take out the shells                               36
+  "De Prodegale Son"                                                52
+  "I'll give you ten dollars to set us over"                        62
+  "You and the doctor got your birds"                               82
+  They were nearing the last hundred yard flag                      90
+  "W'y, Jedge, you know my name"                                   106
+  The Cabin of the American fell with a crash                      126
+  Lallite ran up to Shawn, giving him both her hands               139
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Shawn and Coaly.]
+
+
+
+
+SHAWN OF SKARROW
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+"Oh Shawn!"
+
+It was a shrill voice calling from the bank above the river.
+
+"You can holler till dark, but I ain't goin' to answer you while a
+blue-channel cat is nibblin' at this line."
+
+Through the short and chubby fingers a stout sea-grass line was running
+out to the accumulated driftwood in the eddy below the wharf-boat.
+Suddenly there came a spasmodic jerk of the line.
+
+"He bluffed that time."
+
+The front finger tapped the line, as an expert telegraph operator taps
+his key.
+
+"He's coming back for that crawfish tail now." The line went taut. The
+freckled arms executed a series of lightning-like movements and the
+catfish lay on the shore, a five-pounder, beating the sands with his
+flashing tail.
+
+"Oh Shawn!"
+
+"I'm a-comin' now; come on, Coaly." The little brown dog wagged his tail
+and got up from his resting place in the sand. They went up the hill
+toward the little frame building on the bank.
+
+The boy's mother met him at the door. She was a frail-looking woman,
+upon whose face was a sorrowful and melancholy expression.
+
+"Shawn, Mrs. Alden has sent for you, and wants you to come up to the big
+house; get on your cottonade pants and wash your face and comb your
+hair, and when you go up there, don't scratch your shins together, and
+don't forget to say _yes mam_."
+
+It was a matter of but a few moments for Shawn to array himself in his
+best clothes. As he turned to go, his mother wearily took his face
+between her hands and kissed him on the lips. The black eyes beamed
+tenderly upon her, and over the sun-tanned features flashed a smile of
+cheerfulness and love.
+
+"Take that fish to Mrs. Alden, Shawn."
+
+"It's for you, mammy."
+
+"No, take it to her."
+
+Shawn climbed the hill and went up through the alley, going around to
+the side entrance of the Alden home. There was something about the great
+house which always filled him with a spirit of awe, and as he glanced
+over toward the long garden and orchard, there came into his heart a
+yearning such as he had never known before.
+
+A servant opened the door, and Shawn held up his fish: "This is for Mrs.
+Alden; she sent for me." The servant took the fish and said, "You will
+find Mrs. Alden in the next room. Leave your dog outside." Shawn walked
+into the room. A woman with a sweet spiritual face sat in an invalid's
+rolling-chair.
+
+Extending her thin white hand to Shawn, she bestowed upon him a smile of
+tenderness.
+
+"I am glad you came, Shawn; take that chair." Shawn was striving hard
+to remember his mother's parting injunction in regard to his shins.
+
+"How old are you, Shawn?"
+
+"Yes, mam, fourteen past in March."
+
+"How long have you attended school?" The black eyelashes fell and the
+smile vanished. "I went to old 'fesser Barker up to Christmas twice."
+
+"Why did you stop?"
+
+"I put red pepper on his plug tobacker!"
+
+"Did you go to any other school?"
+
+"Yes, mam, I went to Miss Julie Bean six months."
+
+"Did you quit that school?"
+
+"Yes, mam, I put cuckle burrs in her bonnet."
+
+"Weren't you sorry for it?"
+
+"Yes, mam, but too late."
+
+"You spend a good part of your time fishing, don't you?"
+
+"Yes, mam, but I catches them."
+
+"Isn't there anything you would rather do than fish?" A long silence
+followed, then the eyes suddenly brightened:
+
+"Yes, mam."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"I'd rather blow up hog bladders with a quill and bust 'em!"
+
+"Shawn, have you ever thought of what you would like to do in life; what
+you would like to make of yourself as you grow to manhood?"
+
+"Yes, mam, I'm goin' to be a doctor!"
+
+"Indeed!"
+
+"Yes, mam, indeed, I help doctor Hissong roll pills now, and he helps me
+in my books more than I learned at school."
+
+"Shawn, I am going to ask you to begin with the term of school which
+opens soon. I will furnish you with books and tuition and will help you
+in every way."
+
+"Will it help me to be a doctor?"
+
+"It will help you in everything."
+
+"Could I take Coaly with me?"
+
+"I hardly think so."
+
+Shawn gazed out of the window. The fleecy clouds were moving
+majestically above the river, along the old haunts he loved so well, but
+something in the kind blue eyes of the good woman sitting there with
+folded hands, touched his innermost being, and he arose and turning
+squarely to face his benefactress, said: "I'll do it, Mrs. Alden."
+
+"I thank you, Shawn."
+
+"Yes, mam, but I did not ketch that fish I brought you for niggers to
+eat; they never told you I brought it."
+
+Mrs. Alden rolled her chair near him, and placing her hand on his
+shoulder, said, "I appreciate your bringing it very much and will
+remember it."
+
+As Shawn left the porch he turned to his little dog and said, "Oh, Lord,
+Coaly, we're goin' to school!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+DOCTOR HISSONG'S OFFICE
+
+
+"So you are going to school, Shawn?"
+
+"Yes, sir, I promised Mrs. Alden."
+
+"That's the best promise you ever made, and to the best woman that God
+ever made."
+
+Old Doctor Hissong sat in his big armchair, his spectacles tilted high
+on his nose as he looked at Shawn, who was leaning against the
+mantel-board. Old Brad, a negro who had been the doctor's servant for
+many years, sat in a hickory chair near the back door. Brad, aside from
+taking care of the doctor's office, gave some of his time to preaching,
+although it was a matter of some speculation as to whether his general
+habits warranted his ministerial fulfillments.
+
+The old office was dingy with its medicine bottles ranging along the
+shelves, and cobwebs and dust were in evidence all about them. Over in
+the corner was a pair of saddlebags, and a pair of jean legging hung
+over a chair. In another corner was a tall book-case, the glass front
+broken out, and the books scattered about on the shelves. On the top of
+the book-case was an object which had long been a source of discomfort
+to Shawn and Brad--a grinning skull.
+
+A doctor's office, in the old days, without a skull peering out from
+some hidden recess, was not considered complete--it contributed a kind
+of mysterious power to the man of medicine, and lent the impression that
+he had dipped deeply into the science of healing.
+
+"Look at the slate, Shawn."
+
+Shawn went out and took down the slate which hung by the office door.
+"Old man Stivers has been writing on the slate," said Shawn.
+
+"Huh," said Brad, "I reckun he 'cided to cum an' git you to cum out an'
+see his wife, now dat he done rin up a bill wid ole doc' Poleen, an'
+carn't git him to cum no mo'."
+
+"Yes, Brad, it's strange--the man who loses sleep and health to save
+others has a hard time getting his pay. They look to the doctor mighty
+anxiously in the hour of trouble, and in the hour of suffering and death
+the doctor is a power of comfort."
+
+"I see dat Bill Hugers scratchin' on de slate las' night," said Brad,
+"yo' hain' gwine to see him no mo', is yo', wid him owin' yo' a big
+bill?"
+
+"Bill was one of my best friends when I made the race for the
+Legislature," said the doctor.
+
+Brad scratched his head. He recalled the time when the doctor went to
+Frankfort as the representative of his county, and he remembered the
+scuffling he had to do during the doctor's absence--the yearning for
+many comforts which did not come. He recalled how the doctors picked up
+old Hissong's practice while he was away, and he had not forgotten the
+mean things they had said about him when he returned to be nursed
+through a spell of "too much liquor."
+
+"Yo' hain' never gwine run no mo', is yo', doc?"
+
+"I can't say, Brad."
+
+"Brad, didn't you hear somebody holler outside? Go out and see who it
+is." Brad opened the door.
+
+"Is the doc in thar?"
+
+"Yes, sah, cum in."
+
+A tall, double-jointed farm-hand came blustering into the room, his face
+covered with a yarn comforter. He slowly unwound the rag and brought to
+view the side of his face, swollen to a frightful size.
+
+"Done busted me wide open; kin you pull her, doc?"
+
+The old doctor examined the tooth and said, "You've got a tooth like a
+hoss--fix the chair in the back room, Brad."
+
+Brad brought a washpan and placed it beside the chair. Doctor Hissong
+opened a drawer and brought forth an instrument that resembled a
+cant-hook, one of those tools used in overturning logs. This tooth
+extractor had a handle about six inches long, and a sort of steel hook
+on the end, and it would draw the tooth, if the jawbone did not break.
+
+The suffering patient looked on with an expression on his face anything
+but pleasant.
+
+"Looks like fixin' fer hog-killin', doc!"
+
+"Well, I've known 'em to die under it," complacently said the old doctor
+as he shuffled about. "Give him a drink, Brad, and put him in the
+chair."
+
+The patient stretched his long legs and rested his feet on a soap box.
+
+"Fifty cents," said the doctor, as he approached with his instrument in
+his hand.
+
+"Hafter have it beforehand, doc?"
+
+"Yes, sir, that's my rule, for nine cases out of ten are so mad when I
+get through that they won't pay."
+
+The money paid, the doctor carefully leaned over and fitted the hook
+over the tooth.
+
+"Clinch him, Shawn!"
+
+"O-r-r-r-r-r-wow! leggo! leggo!"
+
+"Choke him, Brad!"
+
+All four of them were on the floor, the farm-hand had smashed the
+wash-stand with his feet, and the water pitcher had gone with the ruins.
+
+"Hold his feet, Shawn!"
+
+Shawn jumped straddle-ways on the legs, and the old doctor made another
+pull.
+
+"H-l-l-u-p! H-e-l-l-l-u-p!"
+
+Rising with the strength of a desperate man, the farmer dragged all of
+them into the front room, but the old doctor did not lose his hold on
+the tooth. The last remaining glass in the bookcase was smashed and the
+lower sash of the front window caved in.
+
+"Throw him, Brad!"
+
+The tooth-key slipped off and the farmer let out a yell and tried to get
+out of the door.
+
+"Nail him, Brad!"
+
+"I don't want that tooth pulled, doc."
+
+"Yes, you do, and you had just as well make up your mind to get back in
+that chair."
+
+"By Gosh, you had better get a mule to kick it out!"
+
+Brad and Shawn got him in the chair again and the doctor tried for
+another hold on the tooth. The back of the chair gave way with a crash.
+
+"What's that?" said the doctor.
+
+"I think it wuz my backbone come uncoupled," said the farmer. Brad
+grabbed him by the left leg and the struggling group went down in a
+heap, but the doctor came up with a gleam of triumph on his face, and
+holding aloft the terrible molar. Brad was panting, over by the door.
+
+As the farmer turned to leave, he walked over to doctor Hissong and
+said, "Doc, if you air as good at doctorin' other diseases as you air at
+pullin' teeth, thar hain't much prospect of this community enlargin' her
+population."
+
+Doctor Hissong glanced over toward the bookcase where Shawn was
+standing:
+
+"Shawn, do you still want to be a doctor?"
+
+"Not a tooth doctor," said Shawn.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+IN SCHOOL
+
+
+The varying routine of school was a trying ordeal to Shawn. The spelling
+classes, the reading and the terrible arithmetic were as a nightmare to
+his mind which yearned for the freedom of the river and the woods. Afar
+off yonder was the stream, where the white gulls were soaring lazily
+above the channel. Through the windows he could see the tall sycamores
+and the white-graveled beach, where he and Coaly had spent so many happy
+hours. In his fancy he could see the cool crystal water oozing out from
+the spring which he had dug in the sand, and which he had lined with
+white boulders. Oh, to be down there, breathing the sweet air as he
+paddled his john-boat about the stream. He turned from the enrapturing
+view--turned to the hateful books. The children around him were bending
+over their studies, happiness reflected from their faces, but gloom sat
+on the countenance of Shawn. Oh, for Coaly and freedom. All might have
+gone well had it not been for Coaly. To leave Coaly chained up at home
+through the long hours; to be separated from this companion, who yelped
+and begged so hard to be taken along, was becoming more unbearable each
+day, and there came a day when the pleading eyes brought his release,
+and together they marched into the school.
+
+The story of "Mary's Little Lamb" was not associated with Coaly in
+Shawn's mind. Shawn put his books on his desk, and Coaly lay down, as
+peacefully accepting the new turn of affairs. Mrs. Wingate, the teacher,
+came over to Shawn's desk and quietly said: "Shawn, you must put your
+dog outside."
+
+"Can't he stay if he keeps quiet?"
+
+"No, we cannot have any dogs in the school-room."
+
+Shawn gazed out upon the river and then down at Coaly.
+
+"Come on, Coaly," he said as he started to the door. He passed out into
+the hallway, Coaly following. Just as Coaly started through the doorway,
+a boy gave him a vicious kick, which set him to howling. Shawn sprang
+into the room.
+
+"Who kicked my dog?"
+
+A little girl said, "Henry Freeman did it!"
+
+Good resolutions and books were forgotten. Farewell to every ambition.
+Freeman tried to free himself from the enraged boy by climbing over the
+desks and calling to the teacher. The little girls were screaming and
+books and slates were scattered all about the room. Mrs. Wingate finally
+succeeded in getting her hands on Shawn and drew him away as he planted
+a parting blow on Freeman's nose. Shawn turned and facing the school,
+tragically exclaimed, "Where I go, Coaly goes. Where Coaly goes, I go!"
+
+Henry Freeman followed Shawn to the door. Shawn turned for battle
+again, but Freeman used a more malicious weapon by saying, "Who's your
+daddy? Who's your daddy?"
+
+And then Shawn burst into tears.
+
+The next morning a servant found on Mrs. Alden's porch a bundle
+containing the books and clothes which she had given Shawn. Pinned to
+the bundle was a note. In a scrawling hand was written, "I am much
+abliged. I tride to keep my promise. I am going away. I have kept the
+little testament. Shawn."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+  "Oh sing your praise of the bounding craft;
+    And the merry sloops afloat,
+  But for easy space, both fore and aft,
+    I'll bunk on the shanty-boat."
+
+"Jump out there, Shawn, and take a hitch around that cottonwood with
+that line--we're at the mouth of Salt River, an' no better fishin' on
+the Ohio."
+
+John Burney was standing on the bow of his shanty-boat, with a long
+steering-oar in his hand.
+
+"Jump, Shawn!" Shawn leaped to the shore and made the line fast to the
+tree.
+
+"Haul out that aft gang-plank and stake her deep on the shore, there,
+steady, boy; she lays good and snug an' weather-shape--now git to your
+breakfast."
+
+Inside of the boat a wood fire was burning in the stove. The fragrant
+aroma of coffee and fried fish came over the morning air. Shawn took
+off one of the stove-lids, and over the burning coals toasted two or
+three slices of bread. The first primrose bloom of the glowing day came
+over the hills. The sunbeams rioting on the water lent an enchantment to
+the autumn scene.
+
+Further back from the river, on the hills, were the claret hues of young
+oaks, and the scarlet of young maples. The morning rays sifting through
+the little windows of the boat revealed the arrangement of this river
+habitation. The two sleeping bunks were near the rear end of the boat;
+two chairs, the stove and a rough table were in the forward end. Near
+the door hung great coils of fishing line and tackle, and in the corner
+was a dip-net and gig.
+
+As Shawn sat eating his breakfast, his thoughts wandered back to Skarrow
+and his mother in the little frame house on the river bank--to Mrs.
+Alden and doctor Hissong. He thought of the many kindnesses shown him by
+these friends, and, perhaps, wondered how his mother might have missed
+him since the night he stole away with old John Burney, who made these
+shanty-boat trips every autumn. It had been the dream of his life to go
+down the river with Burney, for how often had he sat on the wharf-boat
+at Skarrow listening to Burney's tales of shanty-boat life on the lower
+Ohio. And here he was at last; he and Coaly!
+
+"Shawn," said Burney, "I want to drop a fish-basket just below that
+willer. The channel is fine up here, and I might walk up town and see if
+I can get a ham-hock and some beef lights, while you look over the hooks
+on the jugs--there ain't no bait like a ham-hock for juggin', fer a
+channel-cat wants a meat that won't turn white in water."
+
+In the early days of "jugging" on the Ohio, the outfit was a matter of
+considerable expense, as half-gallon stone jugs were used, but as time
+went on, some ingenious fisherman substituted blocks of wood, painted in
+white or conspicuous colors. A stout line, some six or seven feet long,
+is stapled to the block of wood, and with a good, heavy hook at the end
+of the line, the outfit is complete. The jugs, some twenty or thirty,
+are put out at the head of the channel, and are followed by the
+fishermen in a skiff or john-boat. When a channel-cat takes the bait,
+the jug stands on end and begins to scud through the water. The
+fisherman pursues in his boat, and coming up, pushes his dip-net under
+the fish as he draws him to the surface. It is the most exciting and
+fascinating method known in river fishing.
+
+Burney came from town with the bait. Shawn had the jugs ready and
+together they rowed to the head of the channel. Shawn placed the jugs in
+the water, and they floated away in a line, ranging some four or five
+feet apart, Burney and Shawn lingering behind with silent oars. Suddenly
+a jug stood upon end.
+
+"Down atter him, Shawn!"
+
+Shawn skilfully sent the boat toward the bobbing jug.
+
+"He's heading for shoal water!" yelled Burney, "Slack your right
+oar--now come ahead--hold her--ease her up to him--look at that jug!"
+The jug was racing for deep water again, and disappeared from the
+surface for at least half a minute.
+
+"He's a whopper, Shawn! Yonder he goes, thirty yards away! Give me the
+oars and take the dip-net. Great Hirum, boy! yonder is another jug
+that's hung!"
+
+Burney sent the boat with a bound after the whirling jug. Shawn stood in
+the bow of the boat with the dip-net ready to swing. They went to the
+lower side of the jug, and just as Shawn reached out for the line,
+Burney, unintentionally, brought the boat to a sudden stop, and Shawn,
+losing his balance, went over board, dip-net and all. Burney sprang to
+the stern of the boat, and as Shawn came up he held out an oar to him,
+and Shawn grasped the side of the boat. Burney took the dip-net and
+paddled the boat toward the jug, and catching the line, raised the fish
+to the top of the water. Shawn swam around to the other side as Burney
+raised the fish. "For land sake! Look at him, boy! He's the biggest one
+I ever hooked--I can't get him in this boat--we'll have to tow him
+ashore!"
+
+They fastened a stout line through the gills of the big fish and towed
+him to the shore and pulled him out on the beach--a blue channel-cat of
+forty pounds. "Go and get some dry clothes, while I go after the jugs,"
+said Burney. Shawn went down to the boat and rummaged around for a
+change of clothes. He found a suit of Burney's heavy underclothing, and
+rolling them up to suit his size, got into them; then came Burney's old
+corduroy trousers, and Shawn buckled them up until they hung directly
+under his armpits. Building a fire in the stove and hanging his wet
+clothes before it, he left the boat and ran back to the spot where they
+had left the big fish. Burney returned with the jugs and threw out
+another smaller fish which he had taken off. "We'll eat this one, Shawn,
+and sell the other one and divide the money," and as Shawn stood before
+him in the loose-fitting clothes, old Burney laughed and said, "Well,
+if he ain't growed to a man since that ketch!"
+
+They hung the big fish to the side of the boat. "I'll show you how to
+skin a channel-cat," said Burney as he drew forth his steel pincers.
+"We'll peddle him out this evening." It was a joyous pair that climbed
+the hill leading to the little town, the big fish swinging on a pole
+between them. There were plenty of buyers, and as they returned to the
+boat, Burney said to Shawn, "You'll be a great fisherman some day,
+Shawn," and Shawn said, "I'm goin' to be a doctor."
+
+"What kind of a doctor, Shawn? steam or hoss doctor?"
+
+"Neither one. I'm goin' to be a reg'ler doctor, like Doctor Hissong."
+
+[Illustration: "You'll be a great fisherman, some day, Shawn"]
+
+"Shawn, this doctorin' business is a good deal like hoss tradin'; you've
+got to take your chance on a short hoss and blemishes, and some of the
+doctors look like they interfere powerfully with themselves--you know
+how a hoss _interferes_. I calkerlate that a good doctor is mighty
+rare, and after all, it's a good deal more in his encouraging talk
+than his medicine. You never knowed old Doc' Felix Simpson--he was away
+before your time and practiced in the country four miles above Skarrow.
+Doc' Simpson would have his joke, and to hear him laugh would cure 'most
+any case of ailment. Lawse! how I used to love to hear him tell about
+old P'silly Orton and the time she played dead. Doc' Simpson said that
+aunt P'silly took a notion that she wanted her old man to raise her some
+money to take a trip down to the city, and as the money wa'nt raisable,
+P'silly took on and 'lowed that she was goin' to die, and she kept on
+havin' sinkin' spells and such, and bye and bye she lays on the bed and
+wauls up her eyes and breathes her last, to all appearances. Uncle Buck
+gits skeered and digs out for Doc' Simpson, and when Doc' Simpson gits
+thar, thar was the old neighbor wimmen tryin' to comfort uncle Buck and
+sayin', 'Ba'r your burden, Buck; the Lord has give and the Lord has tuck
+away.' Doc' Simpson goes up to P'silly, who was layin' with folded
+hands, and feels her pulse, and says, 'Yes, she is dead, pore soul'; and
+they all bust out cryin' and the hounds begin to howl, and Doc' comes up
+to the bed and says, 'Bein' she is dead, I'll pour a little of this
+nitric acid in her yeer to make shore.' And as he took the stopper out
+of the bottle, P'silly opens one eye an' says, 'Doc' Simpson, if you
+pour that in my yeer, you'll never straddle that hoss of yourn again.'
+
+"There's another sort of doctor, Shawn, the magic-healers, the sort as
+cures by the layin' on of hands and rubbin'. Pelican Smith was one of
+this sort. He practiced up on the Kentucky river and made a sort of
+circuit down in our country. Sometimes thar would come a report of
+somebody gittin' well, but when anybody died, Pelican always said, 'The
+Lord loved him best.' You never knowed Pelican. He was all sorts of a
+character--got his nickname from his nose--they weren't no other one
+like it, and him and that nose made history in the river country. His
+first marriage was to Addie Stringer, up at Ball's Landing, and it was
+all right as fer as it went. They started on their honeymoon from Ball's
+Landing on the steamer Little Tiger. They was goin' down to Wide Awake,
+some thirty miles. The boat caught fire, Pelican swum out on a
+crackerbox, and when they found the body of his wife next day, Pelican
+thumped the side of his nose with his thumb and said, 'Hit's a dam pity
+she couldn't swim'.
+
+"It wasn't long before he got into business by starting a 'blind tiger',
+and he worked up several war dances in the community, but one night thar
+was started a mild argument as to whether the Methodists or the Baptists
+was the chosen of the Lord. The argument was in Pelican's place, and he
+had to close up the joint, for nearly all of his best customers passed
+out with the close of the argument. Pelican told me afterward that over
+three hundred shots was fired, and said to me, 'I reckon the only reason
+I was saved was that I didn't belong to either denomination, as I am a
+Campbellite.'
+
+"Pelican moved down on the Ohio after this, and it was there I met him.
+There is always considerable interest, Shawn, in a stranger when he
+moves into a community, especially if there is some mystery about him.
+Pelican didn't have much to say--he had no desire to mention his past.
+He was wise. It was rumored that he had left a good farm at Ball's
+Landing and had moved down on the Ohio for asthma trouble that bothered
+him. About the only disease he ever had was the whiskey habit, but he
+did not dispute any of the statements made by an interested community.
+His stock went up with the talk about the farm. He was invited to take
+supper with Bill Bristow. Bill owned twenty acres of hill land, with a
+small house and a mortgage on it. Old Bill's daughter, Lettie, set next
+to Pelican at the table, and old Bill looked on with satisfaction at the
+headway they was making. Old Bristow was thinking of the farm up at
+Ball's Landing; Pelican was thinking of the one he was on. After a
+time, Pelican and Lettie was married. Bristow give a dance and ice cream
+supper and charged fifty cents admission. There was dancing, singing and
+a cuttin' scrape and the couple felt that the occasion had been one of
+success. Pelican certainly married into old Bristow's family for he
+never made any move toward looking for another home, and it wasn't long
+before Bristow begin to screw up his face.
+
+"Time passed and then come the twins, a boy and a girl, and Pelican was
+proud of the boy, for he had the Pelican nose, but old Bristow rose up
+in his wrath and said that they would have to go, and so Pelican and his
+wife come down into my neighborhood to live in a shanty-boat on the
+river, but they didn't git along, and fit and cussed from mornin' till
+night. Bristow come down to patch up matters. Pelican knocked him off
+the boat with an oar, and as he floundered out to the shore and wrung
+the water out of his whiskers he said, 'Fix yer own troubles--far'well.'
+Two weeks after the fight Mrs. Pelican Smith went back to live with her
+father and Pelican went into the fishin' and 'blind tiger' business. I
+had two new nets and a set of trot lines, and we bunched into a sort of
+partnership. I couldn't git him to say anything about his family or
+whether he wanted to see them again. But one night we set together on
+the shore. We had run out of bait and was tryin' to make plans to git
+some, as the lines was dry upon the shore and the fish would be runnin'
+with the gentle rise comin' in the river. We set on an old sycamore log
+together. The moon had just swung over the hill and I could see the
+white rim of it above the edge of Pelican's nose.
+
+"'Pelican,' I said, 'why don't you go back to your wife and children and
+try to live happy with them?' He made no answer and I pressed on him,
+'Pelican, them two little twins air dependent on you, and if you had a
+little home to yourself, where the vines could run over your doorway and
+the birds sing in your own trees, with your wife and children beside
+you, your life would be happy--think of them, Pelican, your wife and
+children.'"
+
+"Pelican rose up, his face turned to the river. Ah, I had him at last
+thinking of his dear ones.
+
+"'What are you thinkin' of, Pelican?'
+
+"'I was thinkin' wher'n the hell we'd git that bait' said he."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+"Did you ever eat a mussel, Shawn?"
+
+"No, sir, I didn't think they were good to eat."
+
+"Well, lots of things are made good to eat by the way you cook 'em. I
+want you to bale out the boat and we'll go up to the head of the bar and
+drop the grab-hooks along in shoal water and after we get a good dozen,
+small broilin' size, I'm goin' to show you how to cook 'em. A mussel, my
+boy, is a sort of lefthanded cousin to an oyster, only he lacks the salt
+water and a good many of the finer points; a right smart like a good
+many men, and I want to tell you another thing--one of the finest pearls
+that sold in a jewelry store in Cincinnati for fifteen hundred dollars,
+was taken from a mussel that come out of the Ohio river."
+
+"Luke Walters found it at Craig's bar," said Shawn.
+
+"The same," said Burney.
+
+"We might boil a bushel or two down and run a chance of finding
+somethin'; there's no tellin'. Git one of them lemons out of the box and
+the wire broiler and a stew-pan."
+
+Shawn came around with the boat, Burney came out with the drag-hooks.
+Shawn sat at the oars and they started up the stream. The white pebbles
+on the shore gleamed in the rosy sunlight. A kingfisher perched on a
+rock by the stream, tilted his head to the side in a quizzical way and
+watched the boat approach. The leaves from the tall sycamores and
+cottonwoods came tumbling down to the edge of the water as if seeking to
+embark upon a journey southward. A little creek came pouring its crystal
+waters into the great river. Just above the mouth of the creek, some boy
+had built a miniature mill-race, and the water coursing over the little
+wheel murmured tenderly and soothingly upon the ear.
+
+"Shawn, there's many a boy in the city would like to have a plaything
+like that. Did you notice how nice and keerful-like he has made that dam
+and the shoot? I'll tell you, a country boy knows how to look out for
+his fun. You'll see the day when the old water-mill will be a thing of
+the past; steam will run 'em out, as it has run out the flat-boat. In
+the old days I used to make the flat-boat trip to New Orleans and walk
+all the way back and help _cordelle_ the boat, they brought back their
+flat-boats in them days--think of doing that now. But I hate to see the
+water-mills go. There's one out on Eagle that has been run by five
+generations, and they can't make flour by steam as good as Amos Kirby's
+flour. Amos' father had the process down, it seems, better than any of
+them. The old man was knowed all over that country, not only for his
+good flour, but for his good deeds and his kindness to the poor, and
+that's a mighty good name to leave behind. He always had a houseful of
+company, and always got drunk fust, so that the rest of his company
+would feel at home. I et dinner thar once, and they wound up with some
+cake they called egg-kisses. You didn't have to chaw 'em--you just
+throwed 'em up in the roof of your mouth and let 'em melt--pull over
+thar to the head of the bar."
+
+Shawn took off his shoes, and bare-footed, with trousers rolled to his
+knees, began the hunt for mussels around the bar, as Burney threw out
+the drag-hooks in deeper water. Burney was drifting slowly down the
+stream and Shawn could see him bringing up the hooks and putting the
+mussels inside the boat. Shawn found them plentiful around the edge of
+the bar, and when Burney came back they had the boat well filled.
+
+"Now, Shawn, we're goin' over to the shore and I am goin' to give you a
+feast." Burney made a wood fire, and after taking the mussels from the
+shell, put them in the stew-pan and let them boil for a short time, then
+putting them on the broiler, he held them over the live wood coals.
+"Squeeze a little of that lemon juice over them, Shawn, and season 'em
+up--now try one." Shawn took one of them and nibbled it gingerly around
+the edges.
+
+"What do you think of 'em?"
+
+"Did you ever drink out of a cow-track, Mr. Burney?"
+
+"No. Why?"
+
+"Well, you never missed much," said Shawn.
+
+They rowed down to the shanty-boat and Burney built a big fire on the
+shore. He got out his big kettle and said, "We're goin' to boil these
+out and look for a pearl."
+
+Under the roaring fire the kettle began to sing. Shawn watched Burney as
+he filled the big pot with mussels. "You've got to boil them until the
+meat comes away from the shell and is boiled all to smithereens, before
+you've a chance to git a pearl."
+
+It was late afternoon before the kettle was taken off. Burney began to
+drain off the water and take out the shells. All of the substance in the
+bottom of the kettle was subjected to a careful inspection as he drew
+it forth.
+
+[Illustration: Burney began to take out the shells.]
+
+Suddenly Burney held his hand up toward the sun and exclaimed, "Come
+here, quick, Shawn, I've found one--I don't know how good, but it's a
+pearl!" He rubbed it between his hands and wiped it off carefully on his
+sleeve. "That tiny pink spot on the side of it is a blemish that will
+never come out, but I think it is a pearl of some value. I'm goin' to
+give it to you; maybe you can sell it or give it to some girl some
+day--leastwise, Shawn, we'll put in the spare time boilin' down a few
+more of 'em."
+
+Shawn took the pearl, his cheeks were aglow under the stress of the
+find. "Oh, Mr. Burney, I'll keep it always for a luck stone."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+Shawn was clearing away the supper dishes. Burney tilted his hickory
+chair against the wall and puffed at his short pipe. Coaly was asleep in
+the corner. "Shawn, when you git through I want you to read me some more
+out of your Testament--I'm gittin' to like it."
+
+Shawn carefully wiped his hands before taking up the little book.
+Seating himself by the table, and drawing the lamp nearer, he opened the
+book at random. The chapter was Revelation, XIII.
+
+Shawn began reading in a halting and uncertain voice: "And I stood upon
+the sands of the sea and saw a beast rise out of the sea having seven
+heads and ten horns."
+
+"Hold on there, Shawn," said Burney, "Is that in the Bible?"
+
+"Yes, sir, you can see for yourself."
+
+"I can't read to no account," said Burney, "but air you certain that's
+in the Bible?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+Burney scratched his head and crossed his legs. "Well, all I've got to
+say is, that there must a been a leak some'ers around a distillery when
+that feller got to writin'. I don't read much, but I read in the Bible
+once about an old feller by the name of Job, who comes up to a feller by
+the name of Amasa, and Job pertendin' to be his friend, took him by the
+whiskers, like he was going to kiss him, and Job said, 'How's your
+health, brother Amasa?' and before Amasa could answer, Job cut him in
+the fifth rib with a corn-knife or sunthin'. Maybe times have changed
+since them days, but it still pays to watch a man who comes up to you
+with his hand behind him, and there ain't no man goin' to take me by the
+whiskers when he says _howdy_--I've larn't that much from the Bible--but
+you stick to that Book, Shawn, even if some of the stories do make you
+set up and take notice, it's a good Book to live by and a better one to
+die by. Stick to it, Shawn--I'm goin' to bed."
+
+Shawn went out and sat on the bow of the boat. The night was beautiful.
+Along the shore the willows were rustling as the south wind kissed their
+foliage. The moon was coming over the hill, a full, round, voluptuous
+moon. The tiny reflections of the stars quivered in the depths of the
+stream. From the head of the bend came the long and deepened breathing
+of a coal boat. A bell clangs in the engine-room, the great wheel stops
+as welcoming rest, the bell clangs again and the boat swings on,
+standing for the channel. Afar up the river, Shawn saw a lurid light
+against the sky. The heightened colors came and went in flashes and
+spurts. That light could not come from the headlight of a steamer. Shawn
+went quietly to the door and called Burney. Burney came to the door of
+the boat, rubbing his eyes. "Must be a house burning, from the looks of
+it." They stood on the shanty-boat until the light began to diminish
+and then went to bed. Burney was unable to sleep. Presently he got up
+and turned up the wick of the lamp. Coaly went over and nestled by his
+feet. Suddenly Burney heard the sound of approaching footsteps. Coaly
+began to growl and moved nearer the door. Shawn was peering out of his
+bunk. Burney opened the door as two men came up the gang-plank. They
+were breathing hard and looked as though they had been running. One of
+them was untying the chain of the john-boat, and said, "We want your
+boat to get across the river; we're in a hurry."
+
+"Let go of that chain," said Burney, as he raised a musket to his
+shoulder. "You can't have that boat, and I want you to get off of this
+boat at once."
+
+The men drew back, they were desperate looking characters, but they
+heard the determined tone of Burney's voice and they stepped ashore and
+made off down the beach. Burney turned to Shawn and said, "Somethin' is
+wrong; them fellers have done somethin'. What's that?" They could hear
+the deep baying of a hound. "My God, they's bloodhounds!"
+
+There is something strangely weird in the sound of a bloodhound's voice
+coming across the night--something that seems to tell of death. The
+trail was fresh and the dogs were coming under full yelp.
+
+"Put on your shoes and come out front, Shawn," said Burney. Eight or ten
+men came down through the willows, one man in front and holding the
+hounds by a leash. Each man was armed with a shotgun. The dogs came to
+the gang-plank, and stopped at the water, and lapped it with their long,
+yellow tongues.
+
+"Whose boat is this, and who's here?" asked one of the men. Old John
+answered in a clear and unshaken voice, "I am John Burney, and this is
+my boat." One of the men came forward and extending his hand, said, "I
+know John Burney; there's nothing wrong with him, but Burney, can you
+throw any light on these tracks leading here?" Burney told them of the
+two men, of their wanting his boat to cross the river. "They went down
+the shore," said Burney, "about twenty minutes ago; your dogs oughtn't
+to have much trouble in locating the track, but tell me what's wrong?"
+The man holding the dogs answered, "Casper Daniel's country store was
+robbed and burned just after he had gone to bed, and Daniels was either
+murdered or lost in the fire."
+
+Shawn shuddered and crept back into the boat. The men put the dogs on
+the trail. Shawn heard them baying as they went down through the deep
+cottonwood grove. "No sleep for me to-night," said Burney. The voices of
+the hounds came in faint baying. Burney restlessly paced the shore until
+the first streaks of dawn. About five o'clock he heard the men coming
+back. They came down to the boat. Handcuffed together were the two
+criminals, their haggard faces bore the look of despair. They were
+sullen and silent, and as Shawn stood gazing at them, he could not
+repress a feeling of pity, although their hands were stained with human
+blood. They were taken up the road to the little town and placed in the
+jail. Shawn and Burney followed the men. Around the jail was a crowd of
+excited men and loud voices were heard on every side. Men were coming
+out of the saloon on the corner just beyond the jail. They stood around
+in groups and angry mutterings were heard. Suddenly there seemed to be a
+concerted move in front of the jail. A young lawyer sprang upon a box
+and pleaded with the crowd to let the law take its course.
+
+"Law!" exclaimed a black-whiskered man, "we've never had any law that
+money couldn't buy!"
+
+"Hang 'em! Hang 'em!" yelled the crowd. A rush was made for the jail.
+The jailor was making a feeble pretense of protecting his prisoners. A
+heavy sledge crashed against the door, the jailor was knocked down and
+the keys taken from him.
+
+"There they are! Bring 'em out!"
+
+The poor wretches were dragged out, moaning piteously and begging for
+their lives. Shawn turned away, sick at heart, but something seemed to
+hold him to the spot.
+
+"Don't kill us, men, for God's sake don't kill us!" pleaded one of the
+criminals but his voice was drowned in the uproar of the maddened crowd.
+
+"That lower limb will do, boys, everybody pull!"
+
+A cloud afar off in the sky seemed to float across the sun. They cut the
+two rigid bodies down at noon. Shawn and Burney returned to the boat. A
+rain-crow was calling softly from a willow tree, and the ripples
+murmured sorrowfully on the shore. Shawn touched Burney on the arm as
+they stood by the boat: "Mr. Burney, there's a Memphis packet due up
+here to-night. I don't like to leave you, but I'm goin' home--I've just
+got to go."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+It was after midnight when the boat upon which Shawn took passage
+reached Skarrow. As they climbed the hill, Coaly instinctively turned
+toward Shawn's home, but Shawn had determined to first visit old Brad
+and make inquiry as to the kind of welcome he might expect from his
+mother. He knocked gently on the door of old Brad's cabin.
+
+"Who dar?" called Brad.
+
+"It's Shawn, uncle Brad; I've come home."
+
+"Great Lawd!" exclaimed the old darkey, "Wait er minnit tell I strack a
+light--come in hyar, boy." Shawn went in as Brad threw a chunk of wood
+on the fire. "Set down thar, boy, and lemme put dis coffee-pot on de
+coals an' brile yo' a piece uv bacon. Lawse, chile! some say yo' done
+drown, an' some say yo' rin away wid race-boss men, en yo' mammy jes'
+'stracted an' axin' me ef I heerd frum yo' ev'ry day. Is yo' seen yo'
+mammy yet?"
+
+"No," said Shawn, "I felt like--"
+
+"Out wid it," said old Brad, "Dat's right, an' say dat yo' felt like yo'
+wuz ershamed uv yo'self en had done wrong, but yo' go down thar jes' as
+soon ez yo' kin an' see yo' mammy. Yo' hain' no wicked boy, Shawn, but
+des kinder ramshackel an' loose-jinted in yo' constitushun, but yo'
+hain' wicked. I know what wickedness is, but even de wicked hez got de
+chance to tu'n frum de errer uv dey ways befo' hit is too late. De
+wickedes' man I ever knowed, honey, wuz Captain Monbridge, down in
+Louisiana. He wuz de wickedes' an' han'sumest man en de richest man in
+dat secshun, en when he got drunk an' got on his big black hoss, he
+would shoot de fust nigger whut crossed his path, en when he wuz drunk,
+de niggers wuz mi'ty skase eround. He fell off'n his hoss one night an'
+wuz kilt, en de folks all say dat he went straight ter hell, but de naix
+spring after he wuz daid, a strange flower cum peepin' outer his grave,
+en hit wuz de mos' curios flower dat wuz ever seen 'roun' dar--a kine uv
+red dat nobody ever see befo', en hit kep' a-comin' an' a-comin', en
+purty soon de people all cum to see dat flower on Captain Monbridge's
+grave. Byme bye de flower grow to a big stalk, en down in de center uv
+de stalk wuz a leaf, en when dey tuck out dat leaf, dar wuz writ on hit
+dese words:
+
+  'Betwix de stirrup an' de groun'
+  He mercy axed an' mercy foun.'
+
+"Yassir, he wuz saved." Uncle Brad took the coffee-pot from the glowing
+coals and poured a steaming cup of coffee for Shawn. "Shawn, I'm gwine
+tuh preach at de chutch Sunday mawnin' an' I want yo' to heah me. I'm
+gwine preach on de Prodegale Son, an' hit's gwine tuh be a sarmon."
+
+"I'll be there," said Shawn.
+
+Shawn and Coaly went down the hill. Coaly gave a yelp of delight and
+stood barking before the door. Shawn's mother sprang from bed, opened
+the door and clasped her son to her breast. "Oh, Shawn, bless God,
+you've come!" And Shawn's home had never looked so inviting before.
+
+"Mammy, I'll never leave you again."
+
+He went to sleep in his little room overlooking the river, and he heard
+again the night wind crooning through the trees and the night owl's
+tones echoing through the distant wood. His heart was warm again in the
+glow of sweet memories. He was in his old home.
+
+The next day found Shawn enjoying the surprising event of being
+cordially welcomed by the inhabitants of the town. The worst sort of
+straggler is often astonished at the kindly interest accorded him upon
+returning to his old home. Old Doctor Hissong greeted him by saying,
+"Hello, been seeing the world, have you?" When he went up to the Alden
+home, he found the same good friend there; the same sweet smile and the
+kind words, and Mrs. Alden still anxious to help him and guide him to
+better pathways, urging upon him the great need of an education, and
+Shawn promised to return to school.
+
+"Don't fergit about dat sarmon," said old Brad, "I'm gwine tuh look fer
+yo' at de chutch termorrer."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+DE PRODEGALE SON
+
+
+Shawn found a seat on one of the benches reserved for the white people.
+Uncle Brad was in the pulpit. He arose, in all of the dignity of the
+occasion. The little church was well filled with colored people. After a
+song and prayer, uncle Brad came forward and began reading, to all
+appearances, from the last half of the fifteenth chapter of Luke.
+Closing the Bible, he began, "I have read fo' yo' heahin' de story uv de
+Prodegale Son. Dis hyar boy, han'sum an' smart, bergin to git tired uv
+de fawm--he heer'd de boys frum de city tellin' erbout de great doin's
+down dar, en de mo' he look eroun' de mo' de ole place los' hit's chawm,
+en fine'ly he goes to hi' daddy en says, says he, 'Pap, I dun git to de
+age when I waun' see sum uv de wurl, en' ef yo' gwine do ennything fo'
+me, do hit now.' Yessir, he lit a seegar en blow de smoke thru hi' nose
+en say, 'Do hit now!'
+
+"De boy dun fergit how his daddy fotch him up an' feed him an' clothe
+him, but dat doan' count wid chillun. Dey kine er reason hit dis way:
+'Yo' 'sponsibul fo' my bein' heah, en yo' bleeged to teck keer uv me'.
+De ole man kiner swole up, but he drawed his check on de bank--de Bible
+doan' say how much, but hit mus' ter been a pile, fer de Bible doan'
+fool wid little things. De boy wen' 'roun' to tell 'em all good-bye, an'
+his mammy jes' fell on his neck an' wep'. He wuz de black sheep, an' hit
+seem dat de mammies allus love dese black sheep de best. When he cum to
+tell his brother good-bye, de brother kiner put hi' han' to hi' mouf en
+say, 'Doan' yo' write back to me when yo' git busted,' en de Prodegale
+Son he say, 'Pooh, pooh, yo' clod-hopper.'
+
+"Dar wuz de ole folks sottin' on de poach as he wen' down de road. Dey
+could see him ergin crowin' in de craddle; dey could see him larnin'
+how to teck his fust step, en back in de years, dey could heah de fust
+word he ever said--de fust one mos' uv us says, _mammy_.
+
+[Illustration: "De Prodegale Son."]
+
+"He rech de city, en dere wuz frens waitin' him by de score, en dey say,
+'Whut a fine genermun! Whut a spote! All wool en a yahd wide!' Yassir!
+An he smile an' swole up an' say, 'Le's have sunthin!' Dey go inter de
+bar, en de barkeeper smile en say, 'Whut's yourn, gents?' Some say ole
+fashun toddy, some say gin, en' so on. De young man res' hi' foot on de
+railin' uv de bar, en look at hi'sel' in de glass, en he see de dimun
+rings on his fingers jes' glis'nin', an' when de licker gits to workin'
+inside him, he look in de glass ergin, en 'lows to hi'sel', 'I reckon
+I'se jes' about de wahmest thing in dis hyar town,'--an' he wuz! He
+foots all de bills. Lawse! how he meck frens. He tell er story, en dey
+all jes' laff fit ter bust, an' say, 'Hain' he great!' De ladies uv de
+town, some uv 'em, dey roll dey black eyes at him an' say, 'Hain' he
+sweet!' He done fergot de little girl wid de blue eyes an' de gold ha'r
+blowin' in de win'. De gamblers tuck a crack at him, too--dey kin tell a
+sucker three miles off. Dey showed him how to handle de kyards an' roll
+de bones, en he rar'd back in a sof' cheer wid a black seegar in hi'
+mouf an' see his money slip erway. Lawse! yo' oreter see his room whar
+he stay. He slep' in a feather-tick nine foot deep, an' show-nuff goose
+feathers, mine yo'; a red lam' wool blanket, en lookin'-glasses all over
+de wall, so ez he could see hi'sel' whichever way he tu'n. Nobody to
+scole him erbout gittin' up in de mawnin' en he had his breakfas' fotch
+up on a silver waiter by a shiny nigger, but somehow, de vittels got so
+dey didn't tase ez good ez dey did down on de ole fawm. City grub looks
+mi'ty temp'in at fust, but after while when yo' git down ter kinder
+pickin' ovah hit, yo'll find dat hit's lackin' in de juice er sunthin',
+en yo' long to lay yo' gums on de things jes' whar dey grow.
+
+"Byme-bye--hit allus comes, he see dat he's gittin' low in cash, en
+'fore long yo' see him slippin' 'roun' to de pawn shop. De ole pawn-shop
+man he scowl at him an' fix ter bleed him good en strong. His dimun
+shirt-stud wen' fust, en one by one de rings on hi' fingers, tell dey
+look ez bare ez a bean-pole in de wintah time.
+
+"He move his bo'din' house, en purty soon he move ergin, tell he fine'ly
+cum ter a house whar dey didn't have much mo' den liver hash. Oh, Lord!
+Liver hash! Whar wuz his frens? Ef enny uv yo' hez ever been dar, good
+an' busted, yo' know whar dey wuz. Dey tu'n erway frum him lack he wuz a
+polecat.
+
+"One mawnin' when ever'thing wuz gone, he started frum de city. Whut a
+change! One shurt wuz all he had, en dat hadn' seen de wash fer two
+weeks. He wuz seedy en his heart wuz sore; he wuz down an' out, en clean
+out, en didn't even have chawin' terbacker. He look lack a turkey
+buzzard ez had lost his wing-feathers. He wundered on; he stop by de
+bridge whar de water wuz tricklin' down below--he see de picture uv
+hi'sel' in de water, en' hit meck de cole chills run up hi' back.
+'Shamed er himsel'? He dun got so ershamed dat he look lack he cum out'n
+a hole in de groun'. Byme-bye he cum to a fawm house, en ast fer a job.
+Yo' know he mus' er been awful hongry to think erbout wuk, but he dun
+got so hongry dat he et yarbs en sapplin' bark er ennything. De fawmer
+look at him en say, 'I cudden' hev yo' erbout de house; de wimmen
+wouldn' stan' fer hit, but I got some hawgs up de holler yo' kin feed,
+but yo'll hev to stay erway frum hyar, ez I doan' wan' my chillun
+skeered.'
+
+"He wen' up de holler. De win' sigh en groan thru de poppaw bushes, en
+he wuz sad, en de dark drap down en hit wuz so lonesome; nobody but de
+katydids en de screech-owl en dem hawgs. Doan' yo' feel sorry fer him,
+frens? I do--I feel sorry fer ennybody in dat sort er fix, but feelin'
+sorry hain' gwine ter holp much when yo' git yo'se'f tied up in sech a
+box. He fed dem hawgs, he et what dem hawgs et, he slep' close to dem
+hawgs, he wuz suttenly _on de hawg_, but dey wuz better company en dem
+gamblers en some dem wimmen in de city--yes, dey wuz.
+
+"Byme-bye, one night, ez he see de moon comin' over de hill, en de stars
+winkin en blinkin' in de sky, he got ter thinkin' uv de ole home, uv de
+chitlins en de spare ribs, de fat biskits en de sweet milk, de persarves
+en de yaller butter--he jes' cudden' stand hit. He walk down to de
+hawg-pen en throw over some cawn en say, 'Far'well, my frens, I'se done
+de bes' I kin fer yo', but I'm gwine home!'
+
+"He struck out, fust in a kine er foxtrot, but de mo' he thought er
+home, de faster he got. Erlong time hit seem, over dat lonesome road. De
+little chillun cum out ter look at him, but fly back inter de house, he
+look so awdashus, en ef he meet a hawg in de road, he cudden' look him
+in de face. He could smell de ham and hominy fryin' in de skillet at de
+houses whar he pass, en' hit meck hi' mouf water lack a hoss wid de
+slobbers.
+
+"Fine'ly he see erway down yondah, de ole place frum de top uv de
+hill--de ole house sottin' back in de cool shade. He tuck a hitch on
+his rotten britches an' hit de grit.
+
+"Ez he cum up to de yahd gate, his dawg bark at him, an' his daddy cum
+down de yahd wid his big gold-headed cane, en he never knowed hi' son
+whatsomever, tell de boy kiner drag up en say, 'Pap, fo' Gawd sake,
+gimme sunthin' ter eat!'
+
+"Ole Miss, his mammy, sot by de big winder, lookin' kinder sad-like,
+doin' fancy wuk wid her needle, en singin' sorter sof 'In De Sweet Bye
+en' Bye,' en' presen'ly she hear her boy's voice--a mammy kin hear de
+voice uv her boy a long way--en' she jump up en' thode her sewin' erway
+en' cried out ez de tears stream down her cheek, 'Praise Gawd, my boy
+done cum back!'
+
+"De ole genermun knowed de black sheep dun cum home, en he holler out en
+say, 'Bring de bes' robe en put hit on him, but wash him in de pon'
+fust!' Den he say, 'Bring de fattes' calf, de one fed on de bran' mash!'
+Dey wuz merry, en his mammy wep' on his neck, arfter hit wuz washed, en
+when he sot down to de table, en she give him de veal cutlets en de
+light rolls, he des hook his laig 'roun' a cheer 'roun' an' lay to, en
+he des kin er roll frum side ter side, layin' in de grub, en licken' his
+fingers, en passin' up hi' plate--en dey think he's thru, en gwine set
+back, but he jes' teck a fresh holt en square hi'se'f erway en des roam
+eroun' in glory, en he smile, en de grease jes' a-shinin' on hi' chin.
+
+"But de brother wuz mad. He 'low dat he stay at home, en ack a puffeck
+genermun, en dis hyar skalawag jes' play de devil ginerally, en den cum
+back lack er skunk en dey tu'n de ole house upside down fer him. He chaw
+de rag monstrous fer a spell, but de ole man fine'ly tell him ef he
+doan' lack hit, he better go out en try de wurl hi'se'f, en de brother
+look at de Prodegale, en kiner shiver en simmer down.
+
+"Dat night when de Prodegale got inter de feather-bed, whar he done hid
+a ham-bone under de piller, en hi' mammy tucked him in en kiss him good
+night, he strotch hi'se'f en say, 'When I goes erway frum heah ergin, I
+goes erway daid!' En he drap to sleep--de sweetes' sleep fo' many er
+long time, en dream uv de little gal wid de blue eyes, who wuz still er
+waitin' fer him.
+
+"Young men, all I wan' ter say tuh yo' by de way uv windin' up is
+dis--Ef yo' got a good home, er enny sort uv home, stay dar!"
+
+And Shawn, sitting by the window, clasped his little Testament and
+fervently said, "Amen!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+Shawn had been at home for several days. One night when the waves were
+rolling high on the stream, he sat in the office of the hotel, which
+stood on the bank of the river. A cheerful log fire glowed in the old
+fireplace. Pence Oiler, the ferryman, sat in the corner puffing at a cob
+pipe. Suddenly, came the loud cry of "Hello!" When the door was opened,
+a young man and woman came into the office. They had hurriedly gotten
+out of a buggy and both seemed very much agitated, and the young man
+quickly informed them that they were eloping from a neighboring county
+and were being hotly pursued by an angry father and brother. Shawn's
+gaze was fixed on the young woman, for never before had he seen such a
+beautiful face, such lustrous, dark eyes, lit up by the flame of love,
+seemed to shed a glow upon the dingy walls of the old room.
+
+"Where can I find the ferryman?" asked the young man.
+
+"I am the ferryman," said old Pence, "but you can't cross the river
+to-night; the wind is too high."
+
+"But I must cross," said the young man, as a wild glance shot from his
+eye. "I'll give you ten dollars to set us over!"
+
+"I'm feer'd to resk it," said Pence, but the beautiful girl went up to
+him, and with a smile which seemed to melt into the very soul, softly
+said, "I am not afraid. Won't you take us?"
+
+Old Pence hesitated for a moment and then turned and asked, "Who will go
+with me?"
+
+"Let me go, Mr. Oiler," said Shawn, never thinking of danger connected
+with the river.
+
+"Can you hold the rudder?" asked old Pence as he turned to Shawn.
+
+"I'll hold it, Mr. Oiler," said Shawn. Down to the shore they went, the
+sweet woman calm and undisturbed, while the young man at her side was
+trembling and uneasy. The wind was blowing a gale, and the waves were
+beating angrily upon the shore.
+
+[Illustration: "I'll give you ten dollars to set us over."]
+
+After several attempts, Shawn and Oiler succeeded in launching the boat
+and getting up sail. The spray and water came drenching the young woman,
+but she quietly took her seat.
+
+"Hold her dead on Ogman's hill!" yelled Oiler to Shawn. The wind
+bellowed into the stout sail and they shot into the foam, Shawn leaning
+back with a firm grasp on the tiller, and his eye fixed on Oiler.
+
+"Keep her quartered, with stern to the wind, and don't give her a chance
+to sheer!" shouted Oiler.
+
+"Is there much danger?" asked the bridegroom, as his teeth chattered.
+Oiler did not answer him but yelled to Shawn, "Hold her steady and
+fast!"
+
+"I'm trying to," said the groom, clutching his fair companion.
+
+"I wasn't talking to you," said Oiler.
+
+They were nearing the Indiana shore. Oiler shouted to Shawn, "Turn her
+down a few points, then lift her out on the shore!" and beautifully did
+they mount high on the pebbled beach. Oiler turned to Shawn and said,
+"We'll not go back to-night." They went to the hotel. The proprietor
+found the county clerk and a minister, and there in the little hotel
+parlor, Shawn saw their passengers take the marriage vows.
+
+"Wasn't he scared comin' over?" said Shawn to Oiler as they went to bed.
+
+"Yes," said Oiler, "but wimmen always has the best grit when it comes to
+a showdown, and when a woman makes up her mind to do a thing, 'spesh'ly
+to git married, thar ain't no river or anything else can stop her. I've
+seed a good many couples cross this stream--some of 'em, I reckon, wish
+they had never made the trip. I fetched old Joe Davis over here with his
+third wife. He run away with old Dodger Spillman's girl. Old Dodger
+killed a plug hoss tryin' to beat them to the river. We was about forty
+yards from shore when old Dodger run down and hollered for me to come
+back, but his girl stood up in the skiff and hollered to him, 'Go back,
+pap and cool off--hit's my last chance!'
+
+"I started across with a young couple once, but the girl's daddy beat
+'em to the river, and drawed down on the young man with a hoss-pistol.
+The young man didn't flinch, but folded his arms and looked that old
+galoot in the eye as cool as ever I see. The father ordered his girl to
+come back with him, but she ketched holt of her lover's arm and said,
+'If you are goin' to shoot, I bid for the fust fire--I'm goin' to have
+this man!' Her old daddy swelled up and bust out cryin' and begged them
+to go back home and git married, but they wouldn't do it, and he went
+across with us, and after he got four or five drinks, he like to bought
+out the town for them. Don't never run off to git married, Shawn. As for
+myself, they ain't no sort of weddin' to my likin'. I never got sot on
+but one girl, but I got sot on her for all time to come, and dad-scat
+her, she run away with another feller just about a week before we was to
+be hitched. Wimmen is curious. Some say as how we couldn't git along
+without 'em, and it looks like it's mighty hard for some to git along
+with 'em, an' seems as after some people gits the ones they's after,
+that somethin' comes along to take away their happiness before it has
+begun. There was Ann Coffee. Her and Eli Travis must a courted nigh onto
+ten year. It was away back yonder in '52, but I can see 'em now settin'
+out thar on the bank, holdin' hands. They went down to Madison and was
+married at last. They took the Redstone for Cincinnati. The boat was
+full of people; it was in the spring, and a happy crowd was aboard, with
+music and dancin', and people come out all along the shore to see the
+boat pass. Just four miles below here, on the Kentucky side, the
+Redstone landed to take a young preacher aboard. His name was Perry
+Scott, and he come up the swingin'-stage wavin' his han'kerchief to his
+father and mother on the shore. Suddenly, there comes a mighty roar on
+the air. The steamer was hid from view as the explosion shook the earth
+and splashed water everywhere. The b'ilers of the Redstone had bust, and
+all around you could hear the groans of the dyin'. The young preacher
+was never heard of again, and nothin' but his white han'kerchief,
+hangin' in a tree, was ever found. There was over seventeen people
+killed outright. Eli Travis went down to death, and strange to say, Ann,
+his wife, who was standin' by his side, was saved. She was blowed high
+up in the air, but come down close to shore. Her hair turned white after
+that, Shawn, and she used to set out thar on the bank, where they had
+set so often, lookin' away down to the bend of the stream whar Eli had
+been took away from her."
+
+The next morning when Oiler and Shawn started to the river, Oiler
+slipped a five dollar gold piece in Shawn's hand. "He give me two of
+'em, and one of them belongs to you. What are you goin' to do with
+yours, Shawn?"
+
+"Give it to my mammy," said Shawn.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+Doctor Hissong sat by the fireplace in his office. Brad was blacking a
+pair of shoes. "Shawn," said the old doctor, "I'm going up to Old
+Meadows this afternoon to hunt quail, and I want you to go along. Go
+down and get ready while Brad hitches up the buggy."
+
+The first snow of the season was gently sifting from the November skies
+as Doctor Hissong and Shawn drove along the river road. Scattered flocks
+of wild-geese and ducks were flying above the cottonwoods and sycamores.
+The _honk_, _honk_ of the geese as they circled above the stream, their
+white wings flashing in the veiled sunlight, lent a delicious touch to
+the winter scene. Shawn was watching the curling smoke from a tall
+chimney at the bend of the river. As they drew nearer, he saw the old
+house nestling behind the tall pine trees, the white columns of the
+broad porch standing out in stately grandeur. Doctor Hissong drove
+through the orchard, coming up to the lower entrance to the house. Major
+LeCroix came down the yard, his long, silvery hair waving beneath his
+broad-brimmed hat, his ruddy countenance beaming a cordial welcome. Just
+behind him, his hat in his hand, was Horton, a colored gentleman of the
+old school, brought up in the LeCroix service, and staunch in his
+devotion to the family. Major LeCroix led the way to the house. The
+guineas began calling a chorus of _pot-racs_ and ran fluttering through
+the drifting snow. "They are giving us a song of welcome," said Doctor
+Hissong. Horton showed his gleaming teeth and said, "No, sah, it's a
+song uv sorrow, for my ole woman, Mary, hez got two uv 'em in de yuven,
+bakin' fo' yo' suppah."
+
+As Shawn passed the old stone kitchen, he caught the fragrance of the
+good things in Aunt Mary's oven, and Aunt Mary, in her white cap and
+apron, was bending over the stove.
+
+Major LeCroix and Doctor Hissong were standing on the porch. Shawn
+paused for a moment to gaze fondly to where the stream wended its way
+among the tall hills. The Major opened the low colonial door, and stood
+aside as his guests entered the beautiful old family room. A back-log
+blazed cheerfully in the open fireplace.
+
+Over the fireplace was the mantel, with its rich hand-carving of the
+French coat of arms. On the walls of the room were family portraits,
+some of them brought from the provinces of old France. Doctor Hissong
+stood before one portrait, a face sweet in its Madonna-like innocence
+and purity. A tear-drop stole down the Major's cheek.
+
+Leading Doctor Hissong over to the window, he pointed to the family
+burying-ground, and said, "The dear wife sleeps under that tallest
+pine." The snow had covered the mound, but again the Major could see
+April days out there, and the heavy bloom of the orchard--the redbird
+and the catbird were pouring out symphonies of melody; the silver-winged
+pigeons were bending through the golden skies, and again he could hear a
+mother's voice calling in happiest tones to her children.
+
+"Horton, call Lallite," said Major LeCroix.
+
+Shawn turned suddenly to see a young girl come into the room. She came
+up coyly, greeting Doctor Hissong, and when she came over toward Shawn,
+he felt a hot flush coming to his cheek. He had seen this young girl
+before, with her father in town, but now as she came before him, with
+her merry, flashing eyes and radiant color, he stood with downcast eyes,
+and the old desire to run off to the woods came over him again. She gave
+him her soft hand as her musical voice said, "I am so glad you came with
+the doctor." He stood as one entranced before this girl of such sweet
+and simple beauty, and unconsciously, he was led into an easy attitude
+and relieved from his painful embarrassment.
+
+Horton came into the room, bearing a tray and glasses. He turned to the
+Major and asked, "De white er de red, Major?"
+
+"Both, Horton."
+
+Horton took the keys which hung at the end of the mantel. Returning, he
+placed two bottles of grape wine on the tray. He filled the glasses, but
+the Major observed that Shawn did not take his glass.
+
+"Do you want the wine, boy?"
+
+"No, sir, I thank you," said Shawn, hesitatingly.
+
+"It's all right, Major," said Doctor Hissong, "Mrs. Alden is looking
+after him, you know."
+
+Raising his glass, Major LeCroix said, "Welcome to Old Meadows, and a
+health to pleasant memories. You find things sadly changed--my dear
+companion gone; my boy a soldier in a distant land, Louise long married
+and never returning until she comes with the children to spend the
+summer--but I have Lallite with her dear, happy heart, and I have Mary
+and Horton."
+
+The winter day was fast drawing to its close. Horton again appearing,
+quietly said: "Supper is sarved."
+
+The old dining-room with its mahogany side-board and dining-table, the
+heavy brass candle-sticks, the tall clock in the corner, were all
+familiar objects, and the presence of Aunt Mary and Horton, standing
+behind the chairs, was a picture of a happier time, with the background
+of many glad faces to be filled only with memory.
+
+Shawn sat beside Lallite at the table, and deep down in his heart, he
+felt that it was good to be there, and that life was opening to
+something dearer than the general happenings of his narrow sphere had
+ever given hope for.
+
+With bowed head the Major asked the table blessing. Aunt Mary brought in
+the delicious baked apples and poured over them the rich cream. The
+Major was carving the guineas. "Lallite, help Shawn to one of those
+corn-pones; I'll venture that you'll never get them any better in town.
+The last time I was in the city, they brought me something they said was
+cornbread, but it was mixed up with molasses, baking-powder and other
+things. There are different kinds of cornbread, as you know. There is a
+bread called egg-bread, made with meal, buttermilk, lard, soda and eggs,
+and there is a mush-bread, made by scalding the meal--some call it
+spoon-bread; but the only corn-bread is the pone, and the only way to
+make them is to get white flint corn, have it ground at a watermill, if
+you can, where they do not bolt the life out of it, scald your meal with
+hot water, adding salt, then drain off the water thoroughly and mix your
+meal with good, rich, sweet milk, then shove 'em in a hot oven, and
+you'll have cornbread that is cornbread. Take one and butter it while it
+is hot--don't cut it, break it. There you are. Let me help you to this
+guinea breast. Did you ever know anyone who could get the crisp turn
+that Mary gets on them?"
+
+"Never, sir," said Doctor Hissong, "I never knew but one woman who could
+come anyways near Mary's cooking, and that was Joel Hobson's wife, Lucy.
+They used to say that her cooking was her only redeeming feature, for
+she had a temper like a wildcat, and vented it upon poor Joel and made
+life so miserable for him that he finally took to drink. One night, so
+the boys tell it, Joel got too much and was lying out under the big elm
+tree, afraid to go home. One of the boys rigged himself out in a white
+sheet and came up to Joel, tapping him on the shoulder. 'Who are you?'
+said Joel. 'I am the devil,' answered the deep voice. 'Come right over
+and give me your hand; we're kinfolks. I married your sister.'
+
+"I suppose you remember Lucy's mother, Major? Her name was Sahra Turner;
+she was a good woman but powerful curious. She had married off all of
+her girls but Mary Ellen, and Tip Jennings was paying court to her. It
+seems that Sahra had kept close track of the courtship and the headway
+of all her girls, and one night when Tip was in the parlor with Mary
+Ellen, Sahra had a small kitchen table set by the parlor door and was
+standing on it, looking over the transom to see how Tip was coming on.
+Tip had gotten down on his knees and was making his declaration to Mary
+Ellen. They were somewhat out of Sahra's range of vision. The crucial
+moment had come, and Sahra leaned over to see the climax, but she leaned
+too far, and one of the table-legs broke. Well, they got her up with two
+ribs broke and laid up in bed for a long spell. Tip never came back, and
+Mary Ellen married some fellow, who took her out to Kansas."
+
+They sat long at the table, the Major rising again into the spirit of
+old days, Shawn laughing at the quaint jokes and stories. Lallite's
+sweet laughter rang out, bringing the glow into the Major's eyes. She
+had heard the stories so often, but they never grew dull with the years,
+and they seemed to mellow as beautifully as did the sunset of the
+Major's life.
+
+Shawn listened again as he sat by the blazing fire to tales of the
+war--of charges, victories and defeats. Above the piano hung the Major's
+sword, presented to him by his soldiers after the battle of Stone River.
+
+"Major," said Doctor Hissong, "I want to hear some music before we
+retire."
+
+"What do you say, Lally?" said the Major.
+
+Lallite went to the piano and gently touched the yellow keys. Major
+LeCroix drew forth his beloved clarionet. As he took the instrument from
+its case, he said, "I'm getting rusty nowadays, but Lally keeps me from
+getting entirely out of tune. We'll try 'Sounds From Home'."
+
+Lallite played the introduction and the Major joined in, the clarionet
+breathing forth a deep rich melody. The Major seemed to throw his very
+soul into the music, and Lallite followed him with a tender
+accompaniment. The blaze from the fireplace flickered and threw changing
+shadows over the old room. The Major and his daughter played on. They
+were living again in the past, and the strains were bringing memories
+sacred and sweet. Shawn sat as one transported to a heavenly sphere, his
+eyes fixed on the delicately graceful figure swaying to and fro under
+the changing cadences of the melody. It was the sweetest music that had
+ever floated into the portals of Shawn's heart, awakening a thrill of
+tenderness and love.
+
+The tall clock in the dining-hall pealed forth the hour of ten. Horton
+came with a lighted candle, and Shawn followed him to the south room
+overlooking the river. A cozy fire burned in the grate, the moon
+swinging above the stream touched the hills and valley to silvery
+softness. He stood near the window and gazed long upon the water, the
+stream running through every association of his life. On the table was a
+daguerrotype; it was Lallite's face, and the eyes seemed smiling just
+for him.
+
+Doctor Hissong and Major LeCroix sat long into the night. "Major," said
+the old doctor, "I'm going to make the race for the Legislature again.
+John Freeman wants it, but I want to represent the county just once
+more. Can you hold this end of the county for me?"
+
+"I think I can," said the Major.
+
+"Then I'll announce. Freeman is a bitter man to go against, but I'm not
+afraid to try him out. I'm getting worn out in the practice of medicine,
+and will probably retire whether elected or not. I have my affairs in
+good shape; a bachelor doesn't require much. I want to put Shawn into
+the practice some day, God bless him." A tear-drop glistened on the old
+doctor's cheek, and Major LeCroix knew the secret of this emotion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+Who does not recall the joyous thrill that comes with the preparation
+for a hunt--the powder-horns and shot pouches scattered here and
+there--the cleaning of guns, the glances at the sky to determine whether
+wind and weather are propitious, the barking of the dogs as their eyes
+gleam in anticipation of the day's sport.
+
+Major LeCroix critically examined Dr. Hissong's gun: "Too much choke in
+the barrel for quail. Shawn, don't you load that rusty piece of yours
+too heavily." Reaching above the doorway, he brought down his
+muzzle-loading gun, with its silver mounted hammers and lock shields,
+and as he caressingly drew his coat-sleeve along the barrels, he said,
+"They don't know how to make them like this nowadays."
+
+They went forth into the frosty, bracing air. They walked leisurely
+along the bank of the little creek, where a crust of ice fringed the
+shore. "Major," said Horton, "de las' time I see dat big flock uv birds,
+wuz in de stubble de uther side de orchid." The Major worked the dogs
+toward the stubble-field. Sam, the old English setter, began to trail,
+halting occasionally to sniff the breeze.
+
+"I think we will locate them in the sorghum patch," said the Major. Sam
+was creeping cautiously through the sage grass just above the sorghum
+field. Presently he came up erect and rigid, Bess, the trim little Irish
+setter, behind him at back-stand. "Steady, there! Ho, steady! Can you
+beat that, doctor?" cried the Major. "Get to the lower side of them,
+Shawn, so we can drive them to the orchard--flush, Sam!" The old setter
+sprang forward and the birds arose from the ground with an exciting
+flutter. The guns roared and two birds fell. Doctor Hissong was
+reloading, ramming the charge home with a long hickory ramrod. With
+trembling hand, Major LeCroix drew the cork from his powder-horn, and
+endeavored to pour the powder into the barrel.
+
+"Let me load for you," said Shawn.
+
+"No, indeed, I'm not too old to load my gun." He stood for a moment
+looking at the shot-pouch. "Here, boy, maybe you had better load for
+me." A tinge of sadness crept over his features, but gave way to an
+expression of joy when Shawn said, "You and the doctor got your birds
+that time, I missed." Horton gave Shawn a grateful glance. They got into
+the scattered birds, the Major and Doctor Hissong thoroughly enjoying
+the sport. As each bird came from cover, Shawn held his fire, and
+followed closely after the shots of doctor Hissong and Major LeCroix,
+and as each bird fell, he would shout, "Good shot, Major!" or "Good
+shot, doctor!" They got into the lower bottoms, and by noon Horton
+showed a fine bag of game. Shawn modestly refused to claim but a few of
+the birds, but Horton knew of his unerring marksmanship, and wondered
+at his unselfishness. Major LeCroix and Doctor Hissong were in jubilant
+spirits as they turned homeward. Old Sam, the setter, limped painfully
+behind the doctor.
+
+[Illustration: "You and the doctor got your birds."]
+
+"What crippled Sam?" asked the Major.
+
+"I loaned him to a young fellow from Ohio last winter," said the doctor,
+"I reckon about the greenest young man that ever went into the field. He
+told Brad that he didn't know when nor how to shoot at the birds, and
+the old black rascal said, 'Jes' shoot whar de dawg sets,' and
+unfortunately Sam got tired and sat down, and got a load of bird-shot in
+his hind-legs."
+
+As they put their guns away that afternoon, Major LeCroix again examined
+Shawn's cheap gun. Then came the supper of broiled birds, cooked as only
+Mary could cook them, and at the table-board they went over the field
+again, the work of the dogs, the Major meanwhile waxing eloquent over
+the trueness of his gun.
+
+Shawn lay again in the old Empire bed, watching the dying embers in the
+fireplace. Softly the door opened--the Major entered, a lighted candle
+in one hand, and his beloved muzzle-loader in the other. "Shawn, I have
+been thinking it all over; I will hunt no more, but there are many days
+for you in the field, but you _must_ have a gun, and I am giving you
+mine." He paused at the door, held the candle aloft, the soft light
+falling on his silvery hair, "Good night and pleasant dreams."
+
+And the night was filled with pleasant dreams for Shawn, for that
+afternoon as he and Lallite stood upon the porch, gazing upon the wintry
+stream, she drew near him and said, "It will be so lonesome tomorrow
+when you are gone," and something in the tone of the voice echoed the
+same words in his heart.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+It was midwinter, and the river was frozen over. The boats had not been
+running for many days, and the happiest time of all the happy days for
+the young people of the river towns had come. The ponds and creeks were
+forgotten in the great event of skating on the river, and for miles the
+smooth surface was a speedway over which the skaters made merry
+excursions. In front of Skarrow the ice was firm, and with that buoyancy
+so dear to the lovers of this sport. In the afternoons the young people
+from the town of Skarrow and Vincent on the opposite side, all met on
+the river. All classes were there--the darkey with his big crook-runner
+skates, and the young beau, with his latest style polished runners. The
+two races voluntarily divided the skating grounds, the white people
+above, and the colored folks below.
+
+The merry jingle of sleigh-bells could be heard amid this happy throng,
+and glad voices rising in a splendid chorus, echoed throughout the
+valley, and many a love dream had its first awakening and sweet
+realization in this joyous time. How the crisp, frosty air brought the
+glow of health and beauty to the cheek; how sweet the music of maiden
+voices rising upon the wintry air, and the tumbling of glossy curls
+underneath the hoods and sealskin caps as they sped through the
+delightful hours. Tullie Wasson was out there with his string
+band--Tullie with his old black fiddle, and Jim Grey with his cornet,
+and his son with his wondrous bass violin, and Tullie knew all the good
+old tunes, and a few fancy waltzes and polkas, but he was at his best in
+the Virginia Reel, and it was a pretty sight to see the joyous couples
+ranging off to their positions for the ice dance, and what great bursts
+of laughter and cries of happiness swelled up when Tullie shouted, "Git
+yer pardners fer a Reel!" The movements of the dance were executed with
+a grace that would have done credit to the ball-room, Jimmy Dunla, the
+master of ceremonies, occasionally leaving the lines to give an
+exhibition of fancy skating and cutting his name on the ice.
+
+Then came the races. The towns of Vincent and Skarrow gave a cup each
+skating year for the winner of the Ice Race. The race was for one
+thousand yards, the starting point was at the big hay barn, and a red
+flag marked the post at the end of the course. Four young men from each
+side of the river were entered in this race, the event of the season.
+Indiana held the cup. It had been three years since the last race. Among
+those entered by the Kentucky boys was Shawn. He had been practicing for
+many days, and somehow, the hopes of Kentucky were centered in him. The
+winner of the last race was also entered again. He was one of the most
+popular boys of the Indiana town, and the betting was strongly in his
+favor. He was of magnificent build, with a long, graceful stroke, and
+came skating out before the crowd with the easy confidence of one who
+felt that the race was won. He closely watched the Kentucky boys as they
+circled about the crowd preparatory to starting for the head of the
+course. His eyes were fixed on Shawn. Turning to a friend, he said, "If
+I am beaten to-day, there's the young fellow who will get the cup." He
+skated over toward Shawn, and extending his hand, with the utmost good
+will, he said, "I'm afraid that I will have to beat my old record to win
+out to-day." Shawn smilingly took his hand and answered, "We are going
+to do our best, but if Indiana keeps the cup, I know of no one who would
+deserve it more than you, Danner."
+
+The starter announced the race, and ordered the contestants to the head
+of the course. As they gracefully swung away, Lallite waved her hand
+toward Shawn, and the tender glance from her blue eyes sent a thrill
+into his bosom.
+
+They were forming for the start, sixty yards beyond the flag which
+marked the line of starting. All was excitement in the crowd gathered on
+each side near the finishing line. It seemed that every voice was hushed
+as they saw the red flag at the head of the course suddenly fall, and
+heard the cry, "Go!" They could see the flash of steel against the ice
+as the skaters bent every effort toward the goal. After the first
+hundred yards, Danner and Shawn were seen to be in the lead, Danner
+almost erect and coming like a whirlwind. Shawn was bending over, but
+close on Danner's heels, and with a shorter but much faster stroke.
+_Swish_, _swish_, _swish_--they could hear the sound of the skates on
+the ice.
+
+The Indiana crowd set up a mighty shout. "Come on, Danner! Look at
+Danner!"
+
+"Come, Shawn," yelled the Kentucky boys. Old Brad ran out and threw up
+his hat and shouted, "Down to it, my Shawn--bust yo'se'f wide open,
+honey!"
+
+Shawn was just behind Danner. They were nearing the last hundred yard
+flag. Danner threw all his energy and power into the last effort; every
+nerve and muscle was strained to its utmost.
+
+"Danner wins!" went up the cry, but suddenly like a rush of wind, Shawn
+shot past him and the flag went down with Shawn a good five yards in the
+lead.
+
+And such a mighty shout that went up on that frozen stream was never
+heard before. Old Brad was rubbing Shawn's face and chest. Shawn heard
+the loud huzzas and heard Danner's voice praising his wonderful race,
+but best of all, Lallite came up, and with her own hand, presented him
+the cup. On the shoulders the boys of Skarrow he was carried in triumph.
+It was a proud day for Shawn. He had brought the cup back to Kentucky.
+
+[Illustration: They were nearing the last hundred yard flag.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+The winter had passed away. Shawn had been working hard in school, and
+under the encouragement of Mrs. Alden, was making fair progress, but
+Sunday afternoons found him in his row-boat, wandering about the stream
+and generally pulling his boat out on the beach at Old Meadows, for
+Lallite was there to greet him, and already they had told each other of
+their love. What a dream of happiness, to wander together along the
+pebbled beach, or through the upland woods, to tell each other the
+little incidents of their daily life, and to pledge eternal fidelity. Oh
+dearest days, when the rose of love first blooms in youthful hearts,
+when lips breathe the tenderest promises, fraught with such transports
+of delight; when each lingering word grows sweeter under the spell of
+love-lit eyes. Oh, blissful elysium of love's young dream!
+
+They stood together in the deepening twilight, when the sun's last bars
+of gold were reflected in the stream.
+
+"Oh, Shawn, it was a glad day when you first came with Doctor Hissong to
+hunt."
+
+"Yes," said Shawn, as he took her hand, "it was a hunt where I came upon
+unexpected game, but how could you ever feel any love for a poor
+river-rat?"
+
+"I don't know," said Lallite, "but maybe, it is that kind that some
+girls want to fall in love with, especially if they have beautiful
+teeth, and black eyes and hair, and can be unselfish enough to kill a
+bag of game for two old men, and let them think that they did the
+shooting."
+
+"Lally, when they have love plays on the show-boats, they have all sorts
+of quarrels and they lie and cuss and tear up things generally."
+
+"Well, Shawn, there's all sorts of love, I suppose, but mine is not the
+show-boat kind."
+
+"Thank the Lord," said Shawn.
+
+He drew out a little paste-board box. Nestling in a wad of cotton, was
+the pearl given to him by Burney.
+
+"Lally, this is the only thing I have ever owned in the way of jewelry,
+and it's not much, but will you take it and wear it for my sake?"
+
+"It will always be a perfect pearl to me," said the blushing girl.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+Doctor Hissong was announced as a candidate for the Legislature. John
+Freeman, his opponent, was making a vigorous canvass for the nomination
+before the democratic primary. Freeman, unfortunately, saw fit to inject
+personalities into the campaign, and sought to throw the old doctor into
+a violent passion, possibly leading him to his old weakness of resorting
+to liquor, but Doctor Hissong made his canvass upon a high plane,
+appealing to the voters from a standpoint of the duties and
+responsibilities involving this honor, and ignoring the petty thrusts of
+his opponent.
+
+Major LeCroix gave a burgoo at his locust grove on the river, to which
+all the candidates were invited. It was an occasion which brought out
+an immense crowd of farmers and town-people. "Turkle" Thompkins had been
+engaged to make the burgoo, and the river country could not boast of
+another such burgoo maker as "Turkle", for the making of burgoo soup
+requires an experience born of long practice and care. Thompkins always
+selected the best meats, of beef, mutton, chickens and squirrels, and
+vegetables of corn, tomatoes, onions, cabbage and potatoes. The boiling
+of this delicious soup was begun the night before. Darkies were stirring
+the great kettles as "Turkle" went quietly around, adding some new
+ingredient here and there. Others could make burgoo--a certain kind, but
+not the Thompkins kind, for there was a lusciousness about his burgoo
+that filled you with a satisfaction never known before--a something that
+soothed your aching pangs--something that seemed to put your heart at
+rest with all the world, and recall the words, "Fate cannot harm me; I
+have dined to-day."
+
+Above the smoke of the kettles, the sky was blue and dreamy; the river
+was winding like a thread of silver through the quiet valley. The long
+table of rough boards, with the row of tin cups and great stacks of
+bread, was an inviting spectacle. The farmers stood around in groups,
+discussing political questions and cropping prospects until "Turkle"
+Thompkins announced dinner. Then came a merry clattering of tin cups as
+"Turkle" came by with buckets of burgoo, dipping it out with a long
+ladle. What an appetite each individual seemed to develop for this
+open-air repast. After the dinner, preparations were made for the
+speaking. The spot selected for the speaking was below the grove, where
+an elm stump answered for a platform.
+
+The candidates for the county offices were called for, and each one made
+a short talk, asking the support of the voters. Doctor Hissong's name
+was shouted. Unbuttoning his long blue coat, he drew forth a large red
+silk handkerchief and wiped the gathering beads of perspiration from
+his forehead. Pulling down his black velvet vest, he made a courtly bow,
+took a drink of water from a gourd and began:
+
+"Gentlemen and fellow citizens--It gives me transcendent happiness and
+unalloyed pleasure to lend my humble presence to this sublime and
+significant occasion, and I cannot permit this occasion to pass without
+availing myself of the opportunity that this magnificent and intelligent
+audience affords of presenting myself to you as the candidate for the
+democratic nomination for the office of representative in the Kentucky
+Legislature. It has been the pride of my life to proclaim myself as a
+patriot; that I am a descendent of one who helped to make this country
+free--'decori decus addit avoto,' and I have felt that the realization
+of this patriotism and its dream that has clung to me through life,
+would be in getting a system of locks and dams on the Kentucky
+river--that river that winds through an enchantment of rocky cliffs and
+hanging foliage; by mountains, cedar-tipped and mossy-green; by rolling
+meadows, where the velvet softness of the blue-grass enriches this
+idyllic picture--this stream that is famed in song and story, a perfect
+Switzerland of enrapturing and delicious beauty. Here a thundering
+waterfall and fragile foliage bending over the foam. Here cool and shady
+ravines leading up to tranquil Edens, the voluptuous bends through an
+enchantment of bloom and wildwood, losing themselves among the
+rock-ribbed hills. This stream, bathed in the effulgence of the dropping
+sun--the mingling afterglow of sunset and the primrose bloom of the
+first stars, unfolds then with its majestic splendors to the enraptured
+gaze. We are held spell-bound, my friends, as we see the bright moon
+riding the hilltops and shining overhead,
+
+  "'The bright moon shining overhead,
+    The stream beneath the breeze's touch,
+  Are pure and perfect joys indeed,
+    But few are they who think them such.'"
+
+
+The rough and rocky points are softened under the magic and seem to lean
+lovingly toward the stream. Ah, to keep all of this loveliness stored
+from human eye--I mean to lock and dam this stream for all humanity who
+wish to journey thence and revel amid these splendors. 'Sic passem;
+semper idem.' Not one measly lock and dam, but a system of locks by
+which navigation could be advanced from the mountains to the Ohio,
+developing the great resources of that wonderous possibility, wherein
+the bema procliamus of nature we might find another Arch of Hadrian, or
+the Tower of the Winds; where mountain peaks may rise like unto the
+temple of Olympian Zeus, or the far away monument of Philopappos. Yes,
+gentlemen, I stand for locking and damming the Kentucky river! 'Civis
+Romanus Sum' was the proud utterance of the noble Roman, and the
+proudest of that proud and conquering race never proclaimed himself such
+with greater delight than I, that I am an American and a Democrat. With
+my feeling of patriotism runs my devotion to the democratic party. But,
+gentlemen, in saying that I am a Democrat, brings forward the great
+existing issues between the two leading parties of the country. I might
+go into a long discussion of the principles of those two parties, but in
+a nutshell I can define the differences of such vital import to the
+voters of this land. The principles of the Democratic party
+represent--er, well, they represent the principles which that great
+party stands for, and the principles of the Republican party, ahem! Yes,
+sir, gentlemen, the principles of the Republican party represent the
+principles for which the Democratic party won't stand! So there you have
+it, and I defy any man to dispute this argument. I will not go into
+discussion of its principles here. I have sought public preferment at
+the hands of my party, but 'Ego, spembat pretio nionemonio,' sometimes
+that preferment was accorded, at least, upon one occasion. No man has a
+right to complain when, under any form of government, the people
+withhold their indorsement, but every citizen has a right to complain if
+the downfall of an aspirant is accomplished by foul and unfair means,"
+(this last statement was made while looking toward Freeman). "I have
+passed practically all of my life in your midst. A man should be honest,
+with a courage to face the great truths opening to him."
+
+Freeman interrupted him at this point, "A man should be courageous
+enough to own his own children!"
+
+"You sneaking hypocrite!" shouted Doctor Hissong, "You let one of your
+own sisters die in poverty and distress!"
+
+"You are a damned liar!" said Freeman.
+
+Doctor Hissong leaped from the stand, a derringer in his hand. The crowd
+fell back. Freeman fired point-blank at Hissong, but missed, then turned
+to run. Doctor Hissong brought up his derringer and pulled the trigger.
+Old Brad shouted, "You got him in de laig, doctah, but he runnin' yit!"
+Freeman's son, Henry, the one who kicked Coaly that day in school,
+caught up his father's pistol which had fallen to the ground, but as he
+turned toward Doctor Hissong, Shawn sprang forward, knocking the
+revolver from his hand.
+
+The older men separated the younger combatants, and the crowd broke up
+and turned homeward.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+The town marshall of Skarrow was a very busy man the next morning after
+the burgoo, serving warrants on Doctor Hissong and Freeman, summoning
+witnesses and a jury, and getting men to serve on a jury in a small
+town, where two of its foremost citizens are to stand trial, is a matter
+of considerable difficulty. Freeman had only received a slight flesh
+wound, and was not confined to his home.
+
+Court was held in the office of Judge Budlong, who acted as prosecuting
+attorney, magistrate, writer of wills and general collector of accounts
+and rents. An occasional runaway couple, seeking the marriage bond,
+added a few dollars to his bank account, for the Judge had a
+happy-go-lucky ceremony which did not impress nor detain a restless
+lover too seriously with the sanctity of the occasion. There were a few
+law books on the table, a heavy tool-chest, where the Judge kept a jug
+of white corn whiskey under lock and key. The police Judge, a sort of
+hanger-on about town, put a coal of fire in his pipe and said,
+"Gentlemen, air you ready to try this case?"
+
+Budlong arose and balanced his ponderous form against the table, holding
+a law-book in his hand. The tuft of whiskers on his chin seemed to
+quiver into an accompaniment to his words. He began reading in a deep
+voice: "Gentlemen of the jury, to enlighten you as to the nature of this
+case, I shall read to you under Subdivision V, Section 1165, Kentucky
+Statutes: 'If any person shall by fighting, or otherwise unlawfully pull
+or put out an eye, cut or bite off the tongue, nose, ear or lip, or cut
+or bite off any other limb or member of another person, he shall be
+confined in the penetentiary for not less than one, or more than five
+years'."
+
+"That law don't seem to apply to this case," said the police-Judge.
+
+"Shut up," said Budlong, "I ain't through. What do you know about law,
+anyhow?"
+
+"I ain't very strong on tecknickelties," said the police-Judge, "duly
+elected by the voters of this town, I am the Court, and as such I
+perpose to perside, and I demand, sah, your respectful recognition of
+that fact."
+
+"Duly elected," said Budlong, "because nobody else would have it. But,
+gentlemen of the jury, I shall read you Section 1166, which is as
+follows, 'If any person shall draw and present a pistol, loaded with
+lead or other substance, or shoot at and wound another with the
+intention to kill him, so that he does not die thereby, he shall be
+confined in the penetentiary not less than one, or more than five years.
+There's your law, gentlemen. Call the first witness!"
+
+"Bill Shonts!" called the marshall. Bill came to the chair.
+
+"What's your name?"
+
+"W'y, Jedge, you know my name."
+
+"Answer my question. What's your name?"
+
+"Bill Shonts."
+
+"Where do you live?"
+
+"Sho, Jedge, you've knowed me all my life!"
+
+"That ain't the question. You answer accordin' to the custom of the
+court."
+
+"I want you to state what you know about this case."
+
+"Directly, or indirectly, Jedge?"
+
+"Where was you when this difficulty started?"
+
+"Well, sir, I was not in any one certain spot, directly, but indirectly,
+I was jest beginnin' to--"
+
+"State where you was at!" thundered Budlong.
+
+"Well, sir, jest at the time of this difficulty, I was jest beginning to
+take a nap--"
+
+"Do you mean to say that you was asleep?"
+
+"Not directly, Jedge, but--"
+
+[Illustration: "W'y, Jedge, you know my name."]
+
+"Where was you when the damn lie passed?"
+
+"Jest beginning to move."
+
+"Did you see Doctor Hissong draw a pistol?"
+
+"No, sir, not directly."
+
+"Did you hear a shot?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Where was you then?"
+
+"Ramblin' away, sir."
+
+"What do you mean by _ramblin' away_?"
+
+"Runnin', flyin', hittin' the dust."
+
+"Then you don't know who fired first?"
+
+"No, sir, not directly."
+
+"Call Jerry McManus," said Budlong. A red-faced, jovial-looking Irishman
+took the chair.
+
+"Where were you when this trouble started, Jerry?"
+
+"Under a sycamore tree, asleep."
+
+"Had you been drinkin'?"
+
+"Yis, sor, thot is to say, accordin' to the liberties av a mon injoyin'
+the soshabilities av good company."
+
+"Did you hear the _dam lie_ pass?"
+
+"No, sor, I heard no footsteps av iny sort."
+
+"Did you hear a shot from where you lay?"
+
+"There wor no shot from where I lay. If there wor iny shot from where I
+lay, thin I wor already half-shot."
+
+"Wasn't you in a state of intoxication?"
+
+"I wor in the state of Kintucky."
+
+"Stand aside," said Budlong, "Call the next witness." One by one the
+witnesses gave their testimony, varying according to the friendly
+feeling for the men on trial. At last, Budlong said, "Call Brad
+Jackson." Old Brad got in the witness chair and gazed listlessly at the
+ceiling.
+
+"Brad, was you present when this difficulty started?"
+
+"No, sah."
+
+"Where was you?"
+
+"In de grove, eatin' soup."
+
+"Where was you when the lie passed?"
+
+"On my way to Doctor Hissong."
+
+"State to the jury what you know about this case."
+
+"Yassir, genelmun, hit remine me uv de time when Kernel Poindexter an'
+Mistah Fontaine had a quarrel ovah a fox-chase down in Baton-Rouge--"
+
+"Confine yourself to the case," said Budlong.
+
+"Yassir, thankee, Jedge, en Kernel Poindexter he 'low dat his dawg,
+Watercress wuz in de lead, full yelp at de crossin' 'buv de bayou--"
+
+"I don't care nothin' about that fox-chase," shouted Budlong, "You tell
+the court what you know about this case."
+
+"Yassir, I'm tryin' to, Marse Jim--en Mistah Brandon Fontaine, you know,
+he want one er de ole quality in dat naberhood, he sorter drap in dar,
+en pick up a lot er money by sorter tradin' en watchin' 'roun' de edges,
+en a kine uv cotton swapper, en wo' fine duds en' de bigges' watch-chain
+yo' ever see--"
+
+"Judge, will you pull that old nigger back to this case?" said Budlong.
+
+"In due time, sah, in due time," said the police-Judge, who wanted to
+hear the outcome of Brad's story.
+
+"Yassir, en Mistah Brandon Fontaine en Kernel Poindexter, dey met in
+front uv de post-office, en Mistah Brandon Fontaine he smokin' a long,
+black seegar, en one foot crossed on tuther, en when Kernel Poindexter
+come up, Mistah Fontaine say, 'Yo' dawg cut thru en got in de lead,' en
+Kernel Poindexter, he look jes ez cool ez a cabbage-leaf, en he say,
+'Hit's a scan'lous lie, frum low trash!' Kernel Poindexter done turned
+white en his eye wuz all glitter--"
+
+"I told you, for the last time, to tell what you know about this case!"
+
+"Yassir, easy, Marse Jim. Gimme a chanst. En Mr. Brandon Fontaine kinder
+thode hi han' behine him, en' Kernel Poindexter crac' erway at him en
+bust a bottle uv whiskey inside his pocket en dis hyar Mistah Fontaine,
+he showed de _yaller_ jes' lak Mr. Freeman did yestiddy, en he rin so
+fas' dat yo' could play checkers on his coat-tail!"
+
+"Stand aside," roared Budlong.
+
+The case went to the jury. That august body retired to deliberate. The
+stragglers near the window heard hot words and wrangling in the
+jury-room. In the course of an hour, the door opened and the jury filed
+in.
+
+"Have you reached a verdict, gentlemen?"
+
+"We have," said the foreman.
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"We don't find no evidence to convict nobody."
+
+"So help me, Caesar!" said Budlong.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+John Burney was clearing away the wreck of a coal-barge that had drifted
+under the lower edge of the wharfboat. The water had fallen, leaving
+part of the barge on shore. Burney had used every known method in trying
+to remove the wreckage. Old Pence Oiler came by and walked up to the
+heavy mass of timbers and called to Burney, "John, she's too wet to
+burn, and there ain't but one way to git her off, an' that's to lay a
+stick of dynamite under the front end, give her a slow fuse and blow her
+out."
+
+Burney called to Shawn, who was on the bank, and asked him to go down to
+Bennett's mill and get a stick of dynamite, and Shawn, desirous of
+seeing the blast, hastened on the errand.
+
+"Be careful how you handle that goods," said Bennett, "I knowed a
+feller once who left some of it layin' around, and a hog et it, and the
+man kicked the hog and lost a leg!"
+
+Shawn helped Burney to place the stick, unmindful of one of Coaly's
+never-failing traits. Shawn had taught him, as a young dog, to carry
+things from the boat in his mouth, and faithful Coaly could be sent back
+for his glove or any small article left behind. The little dog stood
+watching Shawn and Burney as they placed the stick and touched the fire
+to the fuse.
+
+"Run, Shawn!" yelled Burney.
+
+Old man Oiler backed his boat out into the stream, and Shawn and Burney
+ran up the shore.
+
+Horror of horrors! When Burney turned to look back toward the wreckage,
+he saw Coaly coming after them with the dynamite stick in his mouth, the
+fire slowly creeping up the fuse.
+
+"Go back, Coaly! Go back!" yelled Burney. He threw a boulder at the
+little dog, but he came on. Burney ran for the willows under the bank
+as Coaly quickened his pace. Shawn had taken refuge in an old saw-mill
+and peered out, wringing his hands in an agony of suspense. Burney was
+breaking down the dry willows and yelling, "Go back, Coaly!"
+
+Suddenly, there was a loud report that shook the earth. The ground was
+torn up and bark and driftwood were scattered everywhere. Shawn and
+Burney ran up, but there were no signs of Coaly, not even a trace of
+bone, hide nor hair. Coaly had returned to the original atoms of
+atmosphere and nothingness.
+
+Shawn sat upon a log and wept. Pence Oiler came up, cut a piece of
+tobacco from his plug and said, "There's nothin' to bury--not even a
+tooth."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE STATES AND THE AMERICA
+
+
+The winter days had come again, and the year was fast drawing to its
+close. Doctor Hissong had been elected to the Legislature, and was
+making arrangements to leave for Frankfort the first of January. Shawn
+was in school, growing into a handsome and athletic young man of
+eighteen years, with the light of health glowing in his eyes, and with
+an honest purpose in his heart.
+
+One morning Mrs. Alden sent word to him to call at her home after the
+school hour. Shawn went up there in the afternoon. The good woman
+greeted him with a smile and bade him be seated by the library fire.
+
+"Shawn, I have sent for you, purposely, to ask a great favor."
+
+The black eyes beamed the sincere impulse of his heart, as he turned to
+her and said, "Mrs. Alden, it would make me happy to do something for
+you."
+
+"I am going to Cincinnati on the boat to-night, Shawn. I am going there
+to see a great specialist, and I would like very much for you to go with
+me."
+
+"It will give me pleasure to go," said Shawn.
+
+Shawn met Mrs. Alden's carriage at the wharfboat, and exerted himself to
+make her as comfortable as possible until the arrival of the up-stream
+boat. At 8.30 o'clock the wharfmaster came into the little waiting-room
+and said, "The America will soon be here."
+
+In a short time the great steamer drew up to the wharf, and Shawn,
+supporting Mrs. Alden's frail form with his strong arms, went up the
+steps and into the cabin. The chambermaid placed Mrs. Alden's chair in
+the ladies' cabin, and Shawn went off to select a convenient and
+comfortable stateroom.
+
+The cabin presented a scene of merriment. Under the gleaming lights
+were a hundred happy couples, dancing away the gladsome hours. The
+strains of music swelled and floated far out into the night, and the
+joyous voices mingled with the changing melodies.
+
+Shawn sat near Mrs. Alden, and together they gazed upon the gay throng
+and enjoyed the inspiriting music. Far below, in the engine-room, the
+lights glimmered over the polished machinery. The engineer glanced
+occasionally at his steam-gauge and water-cocks. The negro firemen were
+singing a plantation melody as they heaved shovels of coal into the
+glaring furnace under the boilers. Roustabouts and deck-hands were
+catching short rounds of sleep in their bunks back of the engine-room.
+Sitting on either side of the boiler, were "deck passengers," those too
+poor to engage passage in the cabin, and here and there, tired children
+lay asleep across their mothers' knees.
+
+In the pilot-house, Napolean Jenkins, the head pilot, stood with his
+hand on the spokes of the wheel, gazing with the eyes of a night-bird
+on the outlines of shore and hill. Mann Turpin, his steersman, stood at
+the right of the wheel. Jenkins knocked the ashes from his cigar, and
+the glow from the deep red circle of tobacco fire momentarily radiated
+the gloom of the pilot-house. The night was serene and clear, the full
+moon shining and shedding her dreamy light over the sleeping, snow-clad
+valley, and the silvery rays filtered through the clustering branches of
+the towering trees. As the great boat swung along past a farm-house,
+Jenkins heard the shrill, alarming cry of a peacock. Strains of music
+came floating upward from the cabin. The grim, black smoke-stacks were
+breathing heavily, and the timbers of the Texas trembled as the boat
+came up under the high pressure of steam.
+
+The lights of Wansaw were just around the bend. Jenkins blew a long
+blast for the little town. The sound echoed and re-echoed among the
+wooded hills. The farmer in his bed on the silent shore turned on his
+pillow as the deep, sonorous sound fell upon his ear--the sweet, weird
+music of the stream.
+
+Jenkins made the landing, and heading his boat for the middle of the
+river, made a long crossing for the Indiana shore.
+
+"It's a fine night," said Turpin.
+
+"Beautiful," said Jenkins.
+
+He turned and gazed toward the stern of his boat as she swung into the
+clear and squared herself for the point of the bend. The moonbeams
+glittered and danced on the waves in the wake of the steamer, and the
+rays touched the snow on the hills with diamond sparks. The tall
+sycamores on either side stood clearly outlined against the wintry sky,
+and the white corn-shocks on the distant ridge were silhouetted like
+Indian wigwams. Here and there a light glimmered from some cabin window,
+and a dog barked defiance at the boat as it sped up stream.
+
+"The States ought to be about due," said Turpin.
+
+"I think I hear her now," said Jenkins.
+
+When they got up to the point of the bend where they could see up the
+river, they saw the States coming down. From her forward smoke-stacks
+were the signal lights of emerald green and ruby red, trembling in
+delicate brilliancy against the background of silvery sky. The splash of
+her ponderous wheels as they churned the water, seemed to vibrate into a
+song of gathering power. When the two boats were about eight hundred
+yards apart, Jenkins turned to Turpin and said, "Blow two blasts; I'll
+take the left side." Turpin sounded the blasts, and Jenkins headed for
+the Indiana shore. Jacob Remlin, the pilot on the States, blew one blast
+of his whistle just as Turpin sounded the first signal on the America.
+Jenkins on the America, did not hear Remlin's one signal, because it
+sounded at the same time of the first signal from the America. Remlin on
+the States, heard the last one of the signals from the America, taking
+it for an answer to his own signal, and he also headed his boat for the
+Indiana shore. Both men violated the rules of signals. Remlin should
+not have blown any signal until he heard from the up-stream boat, and
+Jenkins, not hearing any signal from the States, should have stopped his
+boat. Jenkins was standing on the starboard side, that placing him
+behind the chimney, and he did not see the States until she came out
+across his bow.
+
+"My God!" shouted Turpin, as he saw the States bearing down upon them
+like some ferocious monster, "We're lost!"
+
+The boats came together with a fearful crash. The smoke-stacks groaned
+and hissed, and great clouds of smoke rolled over the scene. The first
+shock of the collision brought a sudden check to the dancing on the
+America, throwing many to the floor and mixing up the whole assembly
+into a confused mass. Heads were peering through the transoms of the
+staterooms and voices excitedly calling, "What's the matter?" John
+Briscoe, the watchman, came hurriedly through the cabin and said, "The
+States and the America have run into each other!"
+
+The strains of music had ceased giving way to anxious inquiries on
+every side. The officers of the boat were running to and fro, giving
+orders, the negro cabin-boys adding to the chaos of the scene by loud
+and far-reaching cries.
+
+On the roof, the Captain was giving orders to Jenkins: "Come ahead,
+outside!" Jenkins pulled the bell-rope and the brave engineer responded
+to the order. The boats had swung a short distance apart, the States
+rapidly sinking. Jenkins put the America up between the States and the
+shore. The States was carrying, as freight, a lot of barrels of coal-oil
+and gasoline, and in the collision these were smashed and the gasoline
+caught fire and in a few moments the sinking boat was all ablaze
+forward.
+
+Jenkins groaned as he saw the fire, for the flames had already swept
+over upon the America, and he saw that his boat was also doomed. The bow
+of the America was almost touching the gravel, and believing that he had
+his boat safely on shore, Jenkins hurriedly left the pilot-house.
+Charles Ditman, the other head pilot of the America, off watch, ran up
+into the pilot-house and catching the wheel, rang for reversed engines,
+and backed the boat out into the river, away from the States, but his
+action was miscalculated, for fire had broken out on the America, and
+great sheets of flame were leaping from her forward decks and guards.
+Had the boat held the position in which Jenkins had placed her, all the
+passengers might have escaped. Officers and crew were cutting away
+timbers with axes and dashing water upon the fire, but the great
+crackling tongue of flame licked up everything in its pathway. The
+heavens shone like a great, golden mirror under the spreading blaze. The
+burning oil flowed out over the water and flamed up across every avenue
+of escape. From out the black clouds of smoke, great sheets of flame
+burst through, rolled heavenward, and leaped down again like some
+devouring demon.
+
+In such a transformation from pleasure to horror, who can discern the
+turning impulses within the human breast--of fear, of hope or of heroic
+self-control? To some, such a moment brings hopeless despair, or frantic
+terror, which will crush women and children and crowd them from places
+of safety, and oftimes in such an hour there comes to those of otherwise
+timid dispositions, a grandeur of heroism never evidencing itself
+before; some latent, slumbering power of soul that can only be awakened
+by some fearful test of human tragedy.
+
+From the burning boats came wild cries, shrieks and screams. Some were
+kneeling in prayer, others cursing and bemoaning their plight. Dr.
+Fannastock, a millionaire manufacturer from Philadelphia, clasped his
+beautiful daughter in his arms and cried, "I will give one hundred
+thousand dollars to the one who saves my child!" Both were lost. Ole
+Bull, the famous violinist, who had taken passage at Louisville, stood
+quietly holding his violin case, calmly endeavoring to reassure the
+frightened women and children. The fire was fast approaching the rear
+cabin.
+
+Shawn stood by Mrs. Alden's side, buckling a life-preserver around her
+body. "I'm trusting in God, Shawn," said the good woman, as a ghastly
+pallor overspread her face.
+
+"Put a little of that trust in me," said Shawn as he bore her in his
+arms to the aft guards. Hurriedly passing down the back stairs, he went
+through the engine-room to the rear end of the boat. They were lowering
+the trailing-yawl, which swung on a level with the floor of the lower
+cabin. As the yawl touched the water, a score of roustabouts started to
+leap into it.
+
+"Stand back there!" shouted Shawn. "These women and children must go
+first."
+
+Shawn lowered himself into the yawl, and catching Mrs. Alden with both
+hands, placed her on a seat in the stern of the boat. The fire was
+gaining headway and black volumes of smoke were rolling from the
+engine-room. Ole Bull, with a countenance pale, but noble in its
+expression of high courage, tenderly lowered the women and children
+into the boat. Shawn took each one and placed them as closely as
+possible on the seats.
+
+"Get aboard," he said to the musician. Shawn pushed the yawl away from
+the burning boat, and seating himself with the oars, began the fight for
+the shore. Great sparks from the burning timbers fell about them. The
+cabin of the America toppled and fell with a crash, and as the burning
+portions struck the water the waves seemed to hiss as if seeking some
+struggling soul. The clamor had become deafening; men were leaping into
+the water and hoarse cries rang out above the flames.
+
+Shawn was bending to the oars, his long boating practice now standing
+him in good stead. The fumes from the burning oil were almost
+unbearable, threatening to suffocate the occupants of the yawl. Thirty
+yards away was the shore. The muscles in Shawn's arms were straining to
+their utmost. The heavily laden boat was almost dipping water.
+
+[Illustration: The Cabin of the America fell with a crash.]
+
+"Sit steady, everybody!" cried Shawn. He turned and gazed toward the
+shore, and then put all his strength into the oars and ran the boat upon
+the shore. The occupants leaped out, giving joyful expressions for their
+safety. Shawn wrapped Mrs. Alden in his coat and carried her from the
+boat. On the bank was a log-cabin, from which a light shone. Hastening
+thither, he found the door open and a wood-fire burning in the
+fireplace, the family having gone to the scene of the disaster. Shawn
+placed Mrs. Alden in a chair and said, "Try to make the best of it until
+I return; I'm going back to save all I can."
+
+"May God watch over you," sobbed Mrs. Alden.
+
+Shawn sprang into the yawl and pushed out into the stream, and the work
+he did that night in saving struggling beings, is still talked about
+along that river. The boats were burning to the water's edge, and along
+the shore were sobs and groans from those who had reached land; cries of
+anguish from those who had lost their loved ones. Oh, the suffering of
+that winter night! Children with blistered limbs, crying for mothers
+whose voices were hushed beneath the stream; old men writhing in cruel
+pain, moaning in piteous tones; young men with folded arms hearing again
+the last sad cries of sweethearts as they were torn from them.
+
+Shawn went back to the log-house and found Mrs. Alden in tears.
+
+"Oh, my dear boy, if I were only strong enough to go among those
+suffering ones. God has been kind to give me strength to pass through
+this ordeal, but I am helpless to aid others."
+
+Shawn stood by her chair; the frost had coated his dark hair, his cheeks
+seemed aflame from the exertion through which he had passed.
+
+The news of the disaster traveled fast.
+
+The Alice Lee, coming up from Madison, stopped at all of the villages
+and took aboard doctors and those volunteering to help. At midnight they
+arrived at the scene of the terrible catastrophe. One of the first
+passengers to step ashore was Doctor Hissong, Brad Jackson just behind
+him. The old doctor had his saddle-bags and instrument case, and Brad
+carried a roll of bandages.
+
+"I wonder if they're still alive, Brad?" said Doctor Hissong. Old Brad's
+heart was heavy with forebodings, but suddenly he gave vent to a yell
+that nearly upset the nerves of Doctor Hissong: "Fo' Gawd, doctah,
+yondah's Shawn!"
+
+Shawn came up, and the old doctor threw his arms around him and cried
+for joy. "Is Mrs. Alden alive, Shawn?"
+
+"All right," said Shawn, as he pointed toward the cabin. Doctor Hissong
+hastened to the cabin, and when he came up to Mrs. Alden he bent over
+her hand and kissed it with a beautiful reverence.
+
+"Thank God for saving you," he said.
+
+"And Shawn," gently added Mrs. Alden.
+
+The survivors went aboard the Alice Lee and the injured and the dead
+were also taken on board. Doctor Hissong and the other doctors gave all
+their time toward alleviating the sufferings of the unfortunate ones.
+
+When the boat reached Skarrow, it found Mrs. Alden's carriage at the
+wharf. Shawn and Brad carried her to it. She turned to Doctor Hissong
+and said, "Bring as many of the injured as you can to my home, and those
+in need of clothes or assistance in any way."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+
+The passing of five years over a country village generally brings but
+little change in the existing conditions, but even in this prosaic
+atmosphere of easy going methods and action, the calendar marks some
+days and events of more than passing notice.
+
+Doctor Hissong had served his term in the Legislature, and proudly
+pointed to his record in passing the bill for the construction of extra
+locks and dams on the Kentucky river.
+
+Shawn was attending lectures at the Medical College in Louisville,
+Doctor Hissong acting as his preceptor and paying all the expenses
+necessary to his medical education, and now that he had been two years
+in school and was nearing the end of the course, Shawn felt that life
+held out a hope for him far beyond the dreams of his earlier years, and
+his breast swelled with gratitude to those who had shown him such
+friendship and confidence; to the kind old doctor, who trusted him to
+his every word and deed, and to Mrs. Alden, who wrote him such beautiful
+and touching letters, reminding him of his duty to God and his
+fellow-men, and as he laid each one of her letters aside, it seemed that
+a newer strength and some higher motive filled his heart.
+
+And there were other letters whose coming he anxiously awaited. The
+small, round handwriting on the envelope sent the glow of happiness into
+his eyes; the dear, sweet letters from Lallite, with marginal notes in
+every conceivable nook and corner of the page; the dainty tid-bits of
+love. When these letters came, Shawn took them and wandered down to the
+stream he loved so well. Lallite seemed associated with the murmuring
+ripples, the tiny pebbles of the beach, and the shimmering bosom of the
+river. As he sat near the drowsy rumbling falls with her letter in his
+hand, it seemed that the river flowing past breathed some tender message
+from the village above and linked his heart into a closer and fonder
+memory of sweeter hours. And these letters laden with love's tender
+offerings, with here and there some whisperings of loneliness, some
+unlooked-for digression embracing the gossip of the neighborhood, or
+some delicious speculation as to his fidelity and love.
+
+One day, just about three weeks before his graduation, as he sat at the
+dinner table, a servant came in and placed a telegram beside his plate.
+Shawn opened the envelope and read, "Come home at once. Dave Budlong."
+
+Something seemed to almost paralyze his heart-strings; some terrible
+apprehension took possession of him. His mother? Mrs. Alden? Lallite?
+
+Through the long, dragging hours which followed until the evening
+mail-boat started up the river, he wandered in an agony of suspense.
+
+The river had lost its charm, and the strains of music from the
+orchestra on the boat, fell on his ears in saddened tones. He walked the
+hurricane deck, and bent his gaze upon the distant river bends, as
+counting the dragging miles. At midnight the boat reached Skarrow. Dave
+Budlong, the old lawyer, was there to meet Shawn. Shawn grasped his hand
+and eagerly asked, "Tell me what is the matter!"
+
+"Doc' Hissong is very low and has been calling for you ever since last
+night," said Budlong.
+
+They went up the hill to the office. Old Brad met them at the door,
+"Praise Gawd, you've come, Shawn--he gwine mi'ty fas'--he nearin' de
+Valley uv de Shadder." Shawn went in, and as he saw the old doctor's
+white head on the pillow, the tears gushed from his eyes. He went to the
+bedside and took the old physician's hand.
+
+"Doctor, it's Shawn; I've come."
+
+A glad beam came into the fast-closing eyes, and the feeble voice
+struggled into a fitful tone, "Shawn, my boy, God has forgiven me--I
+don't know how it may be--I've tried to think it out, but somehow I feel
+that in the long journey I must now take alone, that God will let the
+light burn for me--I've remembered you, Shawn."
+
+The head sank back upon the pillow. Old Brad was sobbing in the corner.
+From the hill came the weird tones of a whip-poor-will, and from the
+far-away bend of the river, the echoes of a steamer's wheel. The moon
+shot a beam of light through the window and the rays seemed to rest
+tenderly upon the calm and gentle face. Doctor Hissong's spirit had
+flown.
+
+"Clear the room," said Budlong, "I want to speak in private with Shawn."
+
+Taking a paper from his pocket he said, "Shawn, Doctor Hissong told me
+to read you this, his will. I am here to do it. I drew it up."
+
+The old lawyer stood by the mantlepiece, and by the flickering lamplight
+read:
+
+    "In the name of God, Amen. Realizing the uncertainty of life and
+    the certainty of death, I, Radford J. Hissong, being of sound
+    and disposing mind and memory, do hereby publish this to be my
+    last will and testament, hereby revoking all former wills and
+    codicils.
+
+    1st--I give to the old negro Brad Jackson the sum of $500.00 and
+    intrust him to the care of the young man known as Shawn Collins.
+
+    2d--I desire that $1,000.00 of my estate be distributed among
+    the poor of Skarrow.
+
+    3rd.--I give, devise and bequeath to the young man, known as
+    Shawn Collins, but whom I hereby acknowledge to be my son, my
+    river-bottom farm, consisting of 387 acres. I bequeath to him my
+    hill farm, consisting of 187 acres. I bequeath to him my town
+    property, consisting of two dwellings and one store-room, my
+    office, bank stock and all other properties found, outside of
+    the first two clauses of this will. This property to belong to
+    the said Shawn, to be used or disposed of according to his
+    pleasure. I desire a modest stone above my grave, and ask that I
+    be buried in the cemetery on the hill, overlooking the river.
+
+    In witness whereof I have hereby set my hand, this 18th day of
+    Sept.  186-
+
+         Radford J. Hissong.
+
+    Witness: Dave Budlong,
+                  John Burney,
+                  Victor LeCroix.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+
+After the funeral, Shawn appeared as one upon whom had fallen a great
+and strange sorrow. He felt as though some dark curtain had suddenly
+been lowered between him and all prospects of future happiness. There
+now seemed a lingering consciousness which separated him from his old
+individuality; something that awakened a flame of anguish within his
+heart and sent a tingling rush of blood to his cheek, but Mrs. Alden
+came, with her gracious and charitable heart and sought to soothe the
+troubled spirit, and her words fell as a blessed benediction into his
+soul.
+
+"I'm going to Old Meadows, Mrs. Alden, and there bid farewell to every
+hope and joy that I have in this world."
+
+He rode his horse slowly through the old orchard again, where he and
+Doctor Hissong had driven that winter morning, but what a change had now
+come into his heart. He heard the guineas call again, but every sound
+was teeming with sadness.
+
+[Illustration: Lallite ran up to Shawn, giving him both her hands.]
+
+Horton took his horse at the gate, and Major LeCroix met him at the
+porch, and his voice had the old-time ring of welcome. "Horton, call
+Lally; Shawn has come."
+
+Shawn went into the old family room, Doctor Hissong's will in his hand.
+Lallite came down the stairs and ran up to Shawn, giving him both her
+hands. Her eyes were beaming the joy of his return, but Shawn stood with
+downcast gaze and trembling limbs.
+
+"Lally, here is Doctor Hissong's will. It is fair and just that you read
+it, and afterward, I am willing to release you from any obligation."
+
+With a frightened glance, the beautiful girl began to read the will.
+Shawn leaned against the old piano and buried his face in his hands.
+Presently he felt two soft arms steal about his neck and a gentle voice
+saying, "Shawn, would it be the nobler course of a love that should
+change or turn against one, who was in no way responsible for the
+conditions of birth; to turn against one who has raised himself above
+every stigma by his high principle and courage, by tenderness and
+unselfishness? No, Shawn, some better spirit guides me, and no matter
+what the world may say, I can face it as the woman who loves you, and
+that love shall shed its light in such radiance that all the shadows
+will flee away."
+
+"Oh, Lally," said Shawn, as he caught her in his arms, "Through all of
+this darkness you have been my guiding star. I will start in at the old
+office next month." And above the softened glow of the mussel-pearl in
+the pin on her breast, two pairs of eyes beamed with the love which
+never grows dim with advancing years.
+
+END.
+
+
+
+
+Shawn of Skarrow
+
+By JAMES TANDY ELLIS
+
+Author of
+
+"Sprigs O' Mint," "Kentucky Stories," "Awhile in the Mountains," Etc.
+
+The author of this story of northern Kentucky was born in Carroll
+County, Kentucky, on the beautiful Ohio river, where the scene of the
+book is laid. He is well known all over his native state, as a writer, a
+prince of story tellers, a public speaker and an accomplished musician.
+
+His genial nature is shown not only in his writings, but in all of his
+general life, and the characters which he gives us in "Shawn of
+Skarrow," put us in closer touch with the simple beauty of men and women
+as seen and known through a wholesome and cheerful mind.
+
+Mr. Ellis is the author of a number of books dealing with Kentucky
+character and life. His writings are true in their coloring, and carry
+with them a delicious "flavor of the soil."
+
+Illustrated Price, $1.00 net
+
+AT ALL BOOKSELLERS OR SENT ON RECEIPT OF PRICE BY
+
+The C. M. CLARK PUBLISHING CO.
+
+Boston Massachusetts
+
+
+
+
+  +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
+  |                                                                 |
+  | Transcriber's Note:                                             |
+  |                                                                 |
+  | Page  18 'Oh sing your praise changed to "Oh sing your praise   |
+  | Page  25 sayin', Ba'r changed to sayin', 'Ba'r                  |
+  | Page  32 A mussell, my changed to A mussel, my                  |
+  | Page  47 jes'' stracted changed to jes' 'stracted               |
+  | Page  71 he was lead into changed to he was led into            |
+  | Page  75 said Joel 'I am changed to said Joel. 'I am            |
+  | Page  96 of burgoo dipping changed to of burgoo, dipping        |
+  | Page  98 '"The bright moon changed to "'The bright moon         |
+  | Page 114 atmoshpere and nothingness changed to atmosphere and   |
+  |          nothingness                                            |
+  | Page 126 in illustration caption, Cabin of the American changed |
+  | to Cabin of the America                                         |
+  | Page 131 now that the had changed to now that he had            |
+  |                                                                 |
+  +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Shawn of Skarrow, by James Tandy Ellis
+
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