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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/2858-0.txt b/2858-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0ece6de --- /dev/null +++ b/2858-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6268 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Cressy, by Bret Harte + +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: Cressy + +Author: Bret Harte + +Release Date: May 27, 2006 [EBook #2858] +Last Updated: March 4, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CRESSY *** + + + + +Produced by Donald Lainson + + + + + +CRESSY + + +By Bret Harte + + + + +CRESSY + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +As the master of the Indian Spring school emerged from the pine woods +into the little clearing before the schoolhouse, he stopped whistling, +put his hat less jauntily on his head, threw away some wild flowers he +had gathered on his way, and otherwise assumed the severe demeanor of +his profession and his mature age--which was at least twenty. Not that +he usually felt this an assumption; it was a firm conviction of his +serious nature that he impressed others, as he did himself, with the +blended austerity and ennui of deep and exhausted experience. + +The building which was assigned to him and his flock by the Board of +Education of Tuolumne County, California, had been originally a church. +It still bore a faded odor of sanctity, mingled, however, with a later +and slightly alcoholic breath of political discussion, the result of its +weekly occupation under the authority of the Board as a Tribune for the +enunciation of party principles and devotion to the Liberties of the +People. There were a few dog-eared hymn-books on the teacher's desk, and +the blackboard but imperfectly hid an impassioned appeal to the citizens +of Indian Spring to “Rally” for Stebbins as Supervisor. The master had +been struck with the size of the black type in which this placard +was printed, and with a shrewd perception of its value to the round +wandering eyes of his smaller pupils, allowed it to remain as a pleasing +example of orthography. Unfortunately, although subdivided and spelt by +them in its separate letters with painful and perfect accuracy, it was +collectively known as “Wally,” and its general import productive of +vague hilarity. + +Taking a large key from his pocket, the master unlocked the door and +threw it open, stepping back with a certain precaution begotten of his +experience in once finding a small but sociable rattlesnake coiled up +near the threshold. A slight disturbance which followed his intrusion +showed the value of that precaution, and the fact that the room had been +already used for various private and peaceful gatherings of animated +nature. An irregular attendance of yellow-birds and squirrels dismissed +themselves hurriedly through the broken floor and windows, but a golden +lizard, stiffened suddenly into stony fright on the edge of an +open arithmetic, touched the heart of the master so strongly by its +resemblance to some kept-in and forgotten scholar who had succumbed over +the task he could not accomplish, that he was seized with compunction. + +Recovering himself, and re-establishing, as it were, the decorous +discipline of the room by clapping his hands and saying “Sho!” he passed +up the narrow aisle of benches, replacing the forgotten arithmetic, and +picking up from the desks here and there certain fragmentary pieces of +plaster and crumbling wood that had fallen from the ceiling, as if +this grove of Academus had been shedding its leaves overnight. When he +reached his own desk he lifted the lid and remained for some moments +motionless, gazing into it. His apparent meditation however was simply +the combined reflection of his own features in a small pocket-mirror in +its recesses and a perplexing doubt in his mind whether the sacrifice of +his budding moustache was not essential to the professional austerity +of his countenance. But he was presently aware of the sound of small +voices, light cries, and brief laughter scattered at vague and remote +distances from the schoolhouse--not unlike the birds and squirrels he +had just dispossessed. He recognized by these signs that it was nine +o'clock, and his scholars were assembling. + +They came in their usual desultory fashion--the fashion of country +school-children the world over--irregularly, spasmodically, and always +as if accidentally; a few hand-in-hand, others driven ahead of or +dropped behind their elders; some in straggling groups more or less +coherent and at times only connected by far-off intermediate voices +scattered on a space of half a mile, but never quite alone; always +preoccupied by something else than the actual business on hand; +appearing suddenly from ditches, behind trunks, and between fence-rails; +cropping up in unexpected places along the road after vague and +purposeless detours--seemingly going anywhere and everywhere but to +school! So unlooked-for, in fact, was their final arrival that the +master, who had a few moments before failed to descry a single torn +straw hat or ruined sun-bonnet above his visible horizon, was always +startled to find them suddenly under his windows, as if, like the birds, +they had alighted from the trees. Nor was their moral attitude towards +their duty any the more varied; they always arrived as if tired and +reluctant, with a doubting sulkiness that perhaps afterwards beamed into +a charming hypocrisy, but invariably temporizing with their instincts +until the last moment, and only relinquishing possible truancy on the +very threshold. Even after they were marshalled on their usual +benches they gazed at each other every morning with a perfectly fresh +astonishment and a daily recurring enjoyment of some hidden joke in this +tremendous rencontre. + +It had been the habit of the master to utilize these preliminary +vagrancies of his little flock by inviting them on assembling to recount +any interesting incident of their journey hither; or failing this, from +their not infrequent shyness in expressing what had secretly interested +them, any event that had occurred within their knowledge since they last +met. He had done this, partly to give them time to recover themselves +in that more formal atmosphere, and partly, I fear, because, +notwithstanding his conscientious gravity, it greatly amused him. It +also diverted them from their usual round-eyed, breathless contemplation +of himself--a regular morning inspection which generally embraced every +detail of his dress and appearance, and made every change or deviation +the subject of whispered comment or stony astonishment. He knew that +they knew him more thoroughly than he did himself, and shrank from the +intuitive vision of these small clairvoyants. + +“Well?” said the master gravely. + +There was the usual interval of bashful hesitation, verging on nervous +hilarity or hypocritical attention. For the last six months this +question by the master had been invariably received each morning as a +veiled pleasantry which might lead to baleful information or conceal +some query out of the dreadful books before him. Yet this very element +of danger had its fascinations. Johnny Filgee, a small boy, blushed +violently, and, without getting up, began hurriedly in a high key, “Tige +ith got,” and then suddenly subsided into a whisper. + +“Speak up, Johnny,” said the master encouragingly. + +“Please, sir, it ain't anythin' he's seed--nor any real news,” said +Rupert Filgee, his elder brother, rising with family concern and +frowning openly upon Johnny; “it's jest his foolishness; he oughter be +licked.” Finding himself unexpectedly on his feet, and apparently at the +end of a long speech, he colored also, and then said hurriedly, “Jimmy +Snyder--HE seed suthin'. Ask HIM!” and sat down--a recognized hero. + +Every eye, including the master's, was turned on Jimmy Snyder. But that +youthful observer, instantly diving his head and shoulders into his +desk, remained there gurgling as if under water. Two or three nearest +him endeavored with some struggling to bring him to an intelligible +surface again. The master waited patiently. Johnny Filgee took advantage +of the diversion to begin again in a high key, “Tige ith got thix,” and +subsided. + +“Come, Jimmy,” said the master, with a touch of peremptoriness. Thus +adjured, Jimmy Snyder came up glowingly, and bristling with full stops +and exclamation points. “Seed a black b'ar comin' outer Daves' woods,” + he said excitedly. “Nigh to me ez you be. 'N big ez a hoss; 'n snarlin'! +'n snappin'!--like gosh! Kem along--ker--clump torords me. Reckoned he'd +skeer me! Didn't skeer me worth a cent. I heaved a rock at him--I did +now!” (in defiance of murmurs of derisive comment)--“'n he slid. Ef +he'd kem up furder I'd hev up with my slate and swotted him over the +snoot--bet your boots!” + +The master here thought fit to interfere, and gravely point out that +the habit of striking bears as large as a horse with a school-slate was +equally dangerous to the slate (which was also the property of Tuolumne +County) and to the striker; and that the verb “to swot” and the noun +substantive “snoot” were likewise indefensible, and not to be tolerated. +Thus admonished Jimmy Snyder, albeit unshaken in his faith in his own +courage, sat down. + +A slight pause ensued. The youthful Filgee, taking advantage of it, +opened in a higher key, “Tige ith”--but the master's attention was here +diverted by the searching eyes of Octavia Dean, a girl of eleven, who +after the fashion of her sex preferred a personal recognition of her +presence before she spoke. Succeeding in catching his eye, she threw +back her long hair from her shoulders with an easy habitual gesture, +rose, and with a faint accession of color said: + +“Cressy McKinstry came home from Sacramento. Mrs. McKinstry told mother +she's comin' back here to school.” + +The master looked up with an alacrity perhaps inconsistent with his +cynical austerity. Seeing the young girl curiously watching him with +an expectant smile, he regretted it. Cressy McKinstry, who was sixteen +years old, had been one of the pupils he had found at the school when +he first came. But as he had also found that she was there in the +extraordinary attitude of being “engaged” to one Seth Davis, a +fellow-pupil of nineteen, and as most of the courtship was carried on +freely and unceremoniously during school-hours with the full permission +of the master's predecessor, the master had been obliged to point out +to the parents of the devoted couple the embarrassing effects of this +association on the discipline of the school. The result had been the +withdrawal of the lovers, and possibly the good-will of the parents. The +return of the young lady was consequently a matter of some significance. +Had the master's protest been accepted, or had the engagement itself +been broken off? + +Either was not improbable. His momentary loss of attention was Johnny +Filgee's great gain. + +“Tige,” said Johnny, with sudden and alarming distinctness, “ith got +thix pupths--mothly yaller.” + +In the laugh which followed this long withheld announcement of an +increase in the family of Johnny's yellow and disreputable setter +“Tiger,” who usually accompanied him to school and howled outside, +the master joined with marked distinctness. Then he said, with equally +marked severity, “Books!” The little levee was ended, and school began. + +It continued for two hours with short sighs, corrugations of small +foreheads, the complaining cries and scratchings of slate pencils over +slates, and other signs of minor anguish among the more youthful of the +flock; and with more or less whisperings, movements of the lips, and +unconscious soliloquy among the older pupils. The master moved slowly up +and down the aisle with a word of encouragement or explanation here and +there, stopping with his hands behind him to gaze abstractedly out of +the windows to the wondering envy of the little ones. A faint hum, as +of invisible insects, gradually pervaded the school; the more persistent +droning of a large bee had become dangerously soporific. The hot breath +of the pines without had invaded the doors and windows; the warped +shingles and weather-boarding at times creaked and snapped under the +rays of the vertical and unclouded sun. A gentle perspiration broke +out like a mild epidemic in the infant class; little curls became damp, +brief lashes limp, round eyes moist, and small eyelids heavy. The master +himself started, and awoke out of a perilous dream of other eyes and +hair to collect himself severely. For the irresolute, half-embarrassed, +half-lazy figure of a man had halted doubtingly before the porch and +open door. Luckily the children, who were facing the master with their +backs to the entrance, did not see it. + +Yet the figure was neither alarming nor unfamiliar. The master at +once recognized it as Ben Dabney, otherwise known as “Uncle Ben,” a +good-humored but not over-bright miner, who occupied a small cabin on an +unambitious claim in the outskirts of Indian Spring. His avuncular title +was evidently only an ironical tribute to his amiable incompetency and +heavy good-nature, for he was still a young man with no family ties, and +by reason of his singular shyness not even a visitor in the few families +of the neighborhood. As the master looked up, he had an irritating +recollection that Ben had been already haunting him for the last two +days, alternately appearing and disappearing in his path to and from +school as a more than usually reserved and bashful ghost. This, to the +master's cynical mind, clearly indicated that, like most ghosts, he had +something of essentially selfish import to communicate. Catching the +apparition's half-appealing eye, he proceeded to exorcise it with a +portentous frown and shake of the head, that caused it to timidly wane +and fall away from the porch, only however to reappear and wax larger a +few minutes later at one of the side windows. The infant class hailing +his appearance as a heaven-sent boon, the master was obliged to walk to +the door and command him sternly away, when, retreating to the fence, he +mounted the uppermost rail, and drawing a knife from his pocket, cut +a long splinter from the rail, and began to whittle it in patient and +meditative silence. But when recess was declared, and the relieved +feelings of the little flock had vent in the clearing around the +schoolhouse, the few who rushed to the spot found that Uncle Ben had +already disappeared. Whether the appearance of the children was too +inconsistent with his ghostly mission, or whether his heart failed him +at the last moment, the master could not determine. Yet, distasteful +as the impending interview promised to be, the master was vaguely and +irritatingly disappointed. + +A few hours later, when school was being dismissed, the master +found Octavia Dean lingering near his desk. Looking into the girl's +mischievous eyes, he good-humoredly answered their expectation by +referring to her morning's news. “I thought Miss McKinstry had been +married by this time,” he said carelessly. + +Octavia, swinging her satchel like a censer, as if she were performing +some act of thurification over her completed tasks, replied demurely: +“Oh no! dear no--not THAT.” + +“So it would seem,” said the master. + +“I reckon she never kalkilated to, either,” continued Octavia, slyly +looking up from the corner of her lashes. + +“Indeed!” + +“No--she was just funning with Seth Davis--that's all.” + +“Funning with him?” + +“Yes, sir. Kinder foolin' him, you know.” + +“Kinder foolin' him!” + +For an instant the master felt it his professional duty to protest +against this most unmaidenly and frivolous treatment of the matrimonial +engagement, but a second glance at the significant face of his youthful +auditor made him conclude that her instinctive knowledge of her own sex +could be better trusted than his imperfect theories. He turned towards +his desk without speaking. Octavia gave an extra swing to her satchel, +tossing it over her shoulder with a certain small coquettishness and +moved towards the door. As she did so the infant Filgee from the safe +vantage of the porch where he had lingered was suddenly impelled to a +crowning audacity! As if struck with an original idea, but apparently +addressing himself to space, he cried out, “Crethy M'Kinthry likth +teacher,” and instantly vanished. + +Putting these incidents sternly aside, the master addressed himself to +the task of setting a few copies for the next day as the voices of his +departing flock faded from the porch. Presently a silence fell upon the +little school-house. Through the open door a cool, restful breath stole +gently as if nature were again stealthily taking possession of her own. +A squirrel boldly came across the porch, a few twittering birds charging +in stopped, beat the air hesitatingly for a moment with their wings, and +fell back with bashfully protesting breasts aslant against the open door +and the unlooked-for spectacle of the silent occupant. Then there was +another movement of intrusion, but this time human, and the master +looked up angrily to behold Uncle Ben. + +He entered with a slow exasperating step, lifting his large boots very +high and putting them down again softly as if he were afraid of some +insecurity in the floor, or figuratively recognized the fact that the +pathways of knowledge were thorny and difficult. Reaching the master's +desk and the ministering presence above it, he stopped awkwardly, and +with the rim of his soft felt hat endeavored to wipe from his face the +meek smile it had worn when he entered. It chanced also that he had +halted before the minute stool of the infant Filgee, and his large +figure instantly assumed such Brobdingnagian proportions in contrast +that he became more embarrassed than ever. The master made no attempt to +relieve him, but regarded him with cold interrogation. + +“I reckoned,” he began, leaning one hand on the master's desk with +affected ease, as he dusted his leg with his hat with the other, “I +reckoned--that is--I allowed--I orter say--that I'd find ye alone at +this time. Ye gin'rally are, ye know. It's a nice, soothin', restful, +stoodious time, when a man kin, so to speak, run back on his eddication +and think of all he ever knowed. Ye're jist like me, and ye see I sorter +spotted your ways to onct.” + +“Then why did you come here this morning and disturb the school?” + demanded the master sharply. + +“That's so, I sorter slipped up thar, didn't I?” said Uncle Ben with +a smile of rueful assent. “You see I didn't allow to COME IN then, but +on'y to hang round a leetle and kinder get used to it, and it to me.” + +“Used to what?” said the master impatiently, albeit with a slight +softening at his intruder's penitent expression. + +Uncle Ben did not reply immediately, but looked around as if for a seat, +tried one or two benches and a desk with his large hand as if testing +their security, and finally abandoning the idea as dangerous, seated +himself on the raised platform beside the master's chair, having +previously dusted it with the flap of his hat. Finding, however, that +the attitude was not conducive to explanation, he presently rose again, +and picking up one of the school-books from the master's desk eyed it +unskilfully upside down, and then said hesitatingly,-- + +“I reckon ye ain't usin' Dobell's 'Rithmetic here?” + +“No,” said the master. + +“That's bad. 'Pears to be played out--that Dobell feller. I was brought +up on Dobell. And Parsings' Grammar? Ye don't seem to be a using +Parsings' Grammar either?” + +“No,” said the master, relenting still more as he glanced at Uncle Ben's +perplexed face with a faint smile. + +“And I reckon you'd be saying the same of Jones' 'Stronomy and Algebry? +Things hev changed. You've got all the new style here,” he continued, +with affected carelessness, but studiously avoiding the master's eye. +“For a man ez wos brought up on Parsings, Dobell, and Jones, thar don't +appear to be much show nowadays.” + +The master did not reply. Observing several shades of color chase each +other on Uncle Ben's face, he bent his own gravely over his books. The +act appeared to relieve his companion, who with his eyes still turned +towards the window went on: + +“Ef you'd had them books--which you haven't--I had it in my mind to +ask you suthen'. I had an idea of--of--sort of reviewing my eddication. +Kinder going over the old books agin--jist to pass the time. Sorter +running in yer arter school hours and doin' a little practisin', eh? You +looking on me as an extry scholar--and I payin' ye as sich--but keepin' +it 'twixt ourselves, you know--just for a pastime, eh?” + +As the master smilingly raised his head, he became suddenly and +ostentatiously attracted to the window. + +“Them jay birds out there is mighty peart, coming right up to the +school-house! I reckon they think it sort o' restful too.” + +“But if you really mean it, couldn't you use these books, Uncle Ben?” + said the master cheerfully. “I dare say there's little difference--the +principle is the same, you know.” + +Uncle Ben's face, which had suddenly brightened, as suddenly fell. He +took the book from the master's hand without meeting his eyes, held it +at arm's length, turned it over and then laid it softly down upon the +desk as if it were some excessively fragile article. “Certingly,” he +murmured, with assumed reflective ease. “Certingly. The principle's +all there.” Nevertheless he was quite breathless and a few beads of +perspiration stood out upon his smooth, blank forehead. + +“And as to writing, for instance,” continued the master with increasing +heartiness as he took notice of these phenomena, “you know ANY copy-book +will do.” + +He handed his pen carelessly to Uncle Ben. The large hand that took it +timidly not only trembled but grasped it with such fatal and hopeless +unfamiliarity that the master was fain to walk to the window and observe +the birds also. + +“They're mighty bold--them jays,” said Uncle Ben, laying down the pen +with scrupulous exactitude beside the book and gazing at his fingers as +if he had achieved a miracle of delicate manipulation. “They don't seem +to be afeared of nothing, do they?” + +There was another pause. The master suddenly turned from the window. +“I tell you what, Uncle Ben,” he said with prompt decision and unshaken +gravity, “the only thing for you to do is to just throw over Dobell and +Parsons and Jones and the old quill pen that I see you're accustomed +to, and start in fresh as if you'd never known them. Forget 'em all, +you know. It will be mighty hard of course to do that,” he continued, +looking out of the window, “but you must do it.” + +He turned back, the brightness that transfigured Uncle Ben's face at +that moment brought a slight moisture into his own eyes. The humble +seeker of knowledge said hurriedly that he would try. + +“And begin again at the beginning,” continued the master cheerfully. +“Exactly like one of those--in fact, as if you REALLY were a child +again.” + +“That's so,” said Uncle Ben, rubbing his hands delightedly, “that's me! +Why, that's jest what I was sayin' to Roop”-- + +“Then you've already been talking about it?” intercepted the master in +some surprise. “I thought you wanted it kept secret?” + +“Well, yes,” responded Uncle Ben dubiously. “But you see I sorter agreed +with Roop Filgee that if you took to my ideas and didn't object, I'd +give him two bits* every time he'd kem here and help me of an arternoon +when you was away and kinder stand guard around the school-house, you +know, so as to keep the fellows off. And Roop's mighty sharp for a boy, +ye know.” + + * Two bits, i. e., twenty-five cents. + +The master reflected a moment and concluded that Uncle Ben was probably +right. Rupert Filgee, who was a handsome boy of fourteen, was also a +strongly original character whose youthful cynicism and blunt, +honest temper had always attracted him. He was a fair scholar, with a +possibility of being a better one, and the proposed arrangement with +Uncle Ben would not interfere with the discipline of school hours +and might help them both. Nevertheless he asked good-humoredly, “But +couldn't you do this more securely and easily in your own house? I might +lend you the books, you know, and come to you twice a week.” + +Uncle Ben's radiant face suddenly clouded. “It wouldn't be exactly the +same kind o' game to me an' Roop,” he said hesitatingly. “You see thar's +the idea o' the school-house, ye know, and the restfulness and the +quiet, and the gen'ral air o' study. And the boys around town ez +wouldn't think nothin' o' trapsen' into my cabin if they spotted what I +was up to thar, would never dream o' hunting me here.” + +“Very well,” said the master, “let it be here then.” Observing that his +companion seemed to be struggling with an inarticulate gratitude and an +apparently inextricable buckskin purse in his pocket, he added quietly, +“I'll set you a few copies to commence with,” and began to lay out a few +unfinished examples of Master Johnny Filgee's scholastic achievements. + +“After thanking YOU, Mr. Ford,” said Uncle Ben, faintly, “ef you'll jest +kinder signify, you know, what you consider a fair”-- + +Mr. Ford turned quickly and dexterously offered his hand to his +companion in such a manner that he was obliged to withdraw his own +from his pocket to grasp it in return. “You're very welcome,” said the +master, “and as I can only permit this sort of thing gratuitously, you'd +better NOT let me know that you propose giving anything even to Rupert.” + He shook Uncle Ben's perplexed hand again, briefly explained what he had +to do, and saying that he would now leave him alone a few minutes, he +took his hat and walked towards the door. + +“Then you reckon,” said Uncle Ben slowly, regarding the work before him, +“that I'd better jest chuck them Dobell fellers overboard?” + +“I certainly should,” responded the master with infinite gravity. + +“And sorter waltz in fresh, like one them children?” + +“Like a child,” nodded the master as he left the porch. + +A few moments later, as he was finishing his cigar in the clearing, he +paused to glance in at the school-room window. Uncle Ben, stripped of +his coat and waistcoat, with his shirt-sleeves rolled up on his powerful +arms, had evidently cast Dobell and all misleading extraneous aid aside, +and with the perspiration standing out on his foolish forehead, and his +perplexed face close to the master's desk, was painfully groping along +towards the light in the tottering and devious tracks of Master Johnny +Filgee, like a very child indeed! + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +As the children were slowly straggling to their places the next morning, +the master waited for an opportunity to speak to Rupert. That beautiful +but scarcely amiable youth was, as usual, surrounded and impeded by a +group of his small female admirers, for whom, it is but just to add, +he had a supreme contempt. Possibly it was this healthy quality that +inclined the master towards him, and it was consequently with some +satisfaction that he overheard fragments of his openly disparaging +comments upon his worshippers. + +“There!” to Clarinda Jones, “don't flop! And don't YOU,” to Octavia +Dean, “go on breathing over my head like that. If there's anything I +hate it's having a girl breathing round me. Yes, you were! I felt it in +my hair. And YOU too--you're always snoopin' and snoodgin'. Oh, yes, +you want to know WHY I've got an extry copy-book and another 'Rithmetic, +Miss Curiosity. Well, what would you give to know? Want to see if +they're PRETTY” (with infinite scorn at the adjective). “No, they ain't +PRETTY. That's all you girls think about--what's PRETTY and what's +curious! Quit now! Come! Don't ye see teacher lookin' at you? Ain't you +ashamed?” + +He caught the master's beckoning eye and came forward, slightly abashed, +with a flush of irritation still on his handsome face, and his chestnut +curls slightly rumpled. One, which Octavia had covertly accented by +twisting round her forefinger, stood up like a crest on his head. + +“I've told Uncle Ben that you might help him here after school hours,” + said the master, taking him aside. “You may therefore omit your writing +exercise in the morning and do it in the afternoon.” + +The boy's dark eyes sparkled. “And if it would be all the same to you, +sir,” he added earnestly, “you might sorter give out in school that I +was to be kept in.” + +“I'm afraid that would hardly do,” said the master, much amused. “But +why?” + +Rupert's color deepened. “So ez to keep them darned girls from foolin' +round me and followin' me back here.” + +“We will attend to that,” said the master smiling; a moment after he +added more seriously, “I suppose your father knows that you are to +receive money for this? And he doesn't object?” + +“He! Oh no!” returned Rupert with a slight look of astonishment, and +the same general suggestion of patronizing his progenitor that he had +previously shown to his younger brother. “You needn't mind HIM.” In +reality Filgee pere, a widower of two years' standing, had tacitly +allowed the discipline of his family to devolve upon Rupert. Remembering +this, the master could only say, “Very well,” and good-naturedly dismiss +the pupil to his seat and the subject from his mind. The last laggard +had just slipped in, the master had glanced over the occupied benches +with his hand upon his warning bell, when there was a quick step on the +gravel, a flutter of skirts like the sound of alighting birds, and a +young woman lightly entered. + +In the rounded, untouched, and untroubled freshness of her cheek and +chin, and the forward droop of her slender neck, she appeared a girl +of fifteen; in her developed figure and the maturer drapery of her full +skirts she seemed a woman; in her combination of naive recklessness +and perfect understanding of her person she was both. In spite of a few +school-books that jauntily swung from a strap in her gloved hand, she +bore no resemblance to a pupil; in her pretty gown of dotted muslin with +bows of blue ribbon on the skirt and corsage, and a cluster of roses +in her belt, she was as inconsistent and incongruous to the others as +a fashion-plate would have been in the dry and dog-eared pages before +them. Yet she carried it off with a demure mingling of the naivete of +youth and the aplomb of a woman, and as she swept down the narrow aisle, +burying a few small wondering heads in the overflow of her flounces, +there was no doubt of her reception in the arch smile that dimpled her +cheek. Dropping a half curtsey to the master, the only suggestion of her +equality with the others, she took her place at one of the larger desks, +and resting her elbow on the lid began to quietly remove her gloves. It +was Cressy McKinstry. + +Irritated and disturbed at the girl's unceremonious entrance, the master +for the moment recognized her salutation coldly, and affected to ignore +her elaborate appearance. The situation was embarrassing. He could not +decline to receive her as she was no longer accompanied by her lover, +nor could he plead entire ignorance of her broken engagement; while +to point out the glaring inappropriateness of costume would be a fresh +interference he knew Indian Spring would scarcely tolerate. He could +only accept such explanation as she might choose to give. He rang his +bell as much to avert the directed eyes of the children as to bring the +scene to a climax. + +She had removed her gloves and was standing up. + +“I reckon I can go on where I left off?” she said lazily, pointing to +the books she had brought with her. + +“For the present,” said the master dryly. + +The first class was called. Later, when his duty brought him to her +side, he was surprised to find that she was evidently already prepared +with consecutive lessons, as if she were serenely unconscious of any +doubt of her return, and as coolly as if she had only left school +the day before. Her studies were still quite elementary, for Cressy +McKinstry had never been a brilliant scholar, but he perceived, with a +cynical doubt of its permanency, that she had bestowed unusual care upon +her present performance. There was moreover a certain defiance in it, as +if she had resolved to stop any objection to her return on the score of +deficiencies. He was obliged in self-defence to take particular note of +some rings she wore, and a large bracelet that ostentatiously glittered +on her white arm--which had already attracted the attention of her +companions, and prompted the audible comment from Johnny Filgee that +it was “truly gold.” Without meeting her eyes he contented himself with +severely restraining the glances of the children that wandered in her +direction. She had never been quite popular with the school in her +previous role of fiancee, and only Octavia Dean and one or two older +girls appreciated its mysterious fascination; while the beautiful +Rupert, secure in his avowed predilection for the middle-aged wife +of the proprietor of the Indian Spring hotel, looked upon her as a +precocious chit with more than the usual propensity to objectionable +“breathing.” Nevertheless the master was irritatingly conscious of her +presence--a presence which now had all the absurdity of her ridiculous +love-experiences superadded to it. He tried to reason with himself that +it was only a phase of frontier life, which ought to have amused him. +But it did not. The intrusion of this preposterous girl seemed to +disarrange the discipline of his life as well as of his school. The +usual vague, far-off dreams in which he was in the habit of indulging +during school-hours, dreams that were perhaps superinduced by the +remoteness of his retreat and a certain restful sympathy in his little +auditors, which had made him--the grown-up dreamer--acceptable to them +in his gentle understanding of their needs and weaknesses, now seemed to +have vanished forever. + +At recess, Octavia Dean, who had drawn near Cressy and reached up +to place her arm round the older girl's waist, glanced at her with +a patronizing smile born of some rapid free-masonry, and laughingly +retired with the others. The master at his desk, and Cressy who had +halted in the aisle were left alone. + +“I have had no intimation yet from your father or mother that you were +coming back to school again,” he began. “But I suppose THEY have decided +upon your return?” + +An uneasy suspicion of some arrangement with her former lover had +prompted the emphasis. + +The young girl looked at him with languid astonishment. “I reckon paw +and maw ain't no objection,” she said with the same easy ignoring of +parental authority that had characterized Rupert Filgee, and which +seemed to be a local peculiarity. “Maw DID offer to come yer and see +you, but I told her she needn't bother.” + +She rested her two hands behind her on the edge of a desk, and leaned +against it, looking down upon the toe of her smart little shoe which was +describing a small semicircle beyond the hem of her gown. Her attitude, +which was half-defiant, half-indolent, brought out the pretty curves of +her waist and shoulders. The master noticed it and became a trifle more +austere. + +“Then I am to understand that this is a permanent thing?” he asked +coldly. + +“What's that?” said Cressy interrogatively. + +“Am I to understand that you intend coming regularly to school?” + repeated the master curtly, “or is this merely an arrangement for a few +days--until”-- + +“Oh,” said Cressy comprehendingly, lifting her unabashed blue eyes +to his, “you mean THAT. Oh, THAT'S broke off. Yes,” she added +contemptuously, making a larger semicircle with her foot, “that's +over--three weeks ago.” + +“And Seth Davis--does HE intend returning too?” + +“He!” She broke into a light girlish laugh. “I reckon not much! S'long's +I'm here, at least.” She had just lifted herself to a sitting posture +on the desk, so that her little feet swung clear of the floor in their +saucy dance. Suddenly she brought her heels together and alighted. “So +that's all?” she asked. + +“Yes.” + +“Kin I go now?” + +“Yes.” + +She laid her books one on the top of the other and lingered an instant. + +“Been quite well?” she asked with indolent politeness. + +“Yes--thank you.” + +“You're lookin' right peart.” + +She walked with a Southern girl's undulating languor to the door, opened +it, then charged suddenly upon Octavia Dean, twirled her round in a +wild waltz and bore her away; appearing a moment after on the playground +demurely walking with her arm around her companion's waist in an +ostentatious confidence at once lofty, exclusive, and exasperating to +the smaller children. + +When school was dismissed that afternoon and the master had remained to +show Rupert Filgee how to prepare Uncle Ben's tasks, and had given his +final instructions to his youthful vicegerent, that irascible Adonis +unburdened himself querulously: + +“Is Cressy McKinstry comin' reg'lar, Mr. Ford?” + +“She is,” said the master dryly. After a pause he asked, “Why?” + +Rupert's curls had descended on his eyebrows in heavy discontent. “It's +mighty rough, jest ez a feller reckons he's got quit of her and her +jackass bo', to hev her prancin' back inter school agin, and rigged out +like ez if she'd been to a fire in a milliner's shop.” + +“You shouldn't allow your personal dislikes, Rupert, to provoke you to +speak of a fellow-scholar in that way--and a young lady, too,” corrected +the master dryly. + +“The woods is full o' sich feller-scholars and sich young ladies, if +yer keer to go a gunning for 'em,” said Rupert with dark and slangy +significance. “Ef I'd known she was comin' back I'd”--he stopped and +brought his sunburnt fist against the seam of his trousers with a boyish +gesture, “I'd hev jist”-- + +“What?” said the master sharply. + +“I'd hev played hookey till she left school agin! It moutn't hev bin so +long, neither,” he added with a mysterious chuckle. + +“That will do,” said the master peremptorily. “For the present you'll +attend to your duty and try to make Uncle Ben see you're something more +than a foolish, prejudiced school-boy, or,” he added significantly, “he +and I may both repent our agreement. Let me have a good account of you +both when I return.” + +He took his hat from its peg on the wall, and in obedience to a suddenly +formed resolution left the school-room to call upon the parents of +Cressy McKinstry. He was not quite certain what he should say, but, +after his habit, would trust to the inspiration of the moment. At the +worst he could resign a situation that now appeared to require more +tact and delicacy than seemed consistent with his position, and he was +obliged to confess to himself that he had lately suspected that his +present occupation--the temporary expedient of a poor but clever young +man of twenty--was scarcely bringing him nearer a realization of his +daily dreams. For Mr. Jack Ford was a youthful pilgrim who had sought +his fortune in California so lightly equipped that even in the matter of +kin and advisers he was deficient. That prospective fortune had already +eluded him in San Francisco, had apparently not waited for him in +Sacramento, and now seemed never to have been at Indian Spring. +Nevertheless, when he was once out of sight of the school-house he lit a +cigar, put his hands in his pockets, and strode on with the cheerfulness +of that youth to which all things are possible. + +The children had already dispersed as mysteriously and completely as +they had arrived. Between him and the straggling hamlet of Indian Spring +the landscape seemed to be without sound or motion. The wooded upland or +ridge on which the schoolhouse stood, half a mile further on, began +to slope gradually towards the river, on whose banks, seen from that +distance, the town appeared to have been scattered irregularly or thrown +together hastily, as if cast ashore by some overflow--the Cosmopolitan +Hotel drifting into the Baptist church, and dragging in its tail +of wreckage two saloons and a blacksmith's shop; while the County +Court-house was stranded in solitary grandeur in a waste of gravel half +a mile away. The intervening flat was still gashed and furrowed by the +remorseless engines of earlier gold-seekers. + +Mr. Ford was in little sympathy with this unsuccessful record of +frontier endeavor--the fortune HE had sought did not seem to lie in that +direction--and his eye glanced quickly beyond it to the pine-crested +hills across the river, whose primeval security was so near and yet so +inviolable, or back again to the trail he was pursuing along the ridge. +The latter prospect still retained its semi-savage character in spite +of the occasional suburban cottages of residents, and the few outlying +farms or ranches of the locality. The grounds of the cottages were yet +uncleared of underbrush; bear and catamount still prowled around the +rude fences of the ranches; the late alleged experience of the infant +Snyder was by no means improbable or unprecedented. + +A light breeze was seeking the heated flat and river, and thrilling the +leaves around him with the strong vitality of the forest. The vibrating +cross-lights and tremulous chequers of shade cast by the stirred foliage +seemed to weave a fantastic net around him as he walked. The quaint +odors of certain woodland herbs known to his scholars, and religiously +kept in their desks, or left like votive offerings on the threshold of +the school-house, recalled all the primitive simplicity and delicious +wildness of the little temple he had left. Even in the mischievous +glances of evasive squirrels and the moist eyes of the contemplative +rabbits there were faint suggestions of some of his own truants. The +woods were trembling with gentle memories of the independence he had +always known here--of that sweet and grave retreat now so ridiculously +invaded. + +He began to hesitate, with one of those revulsions of sentiment +characteristic of his nature: Why should he bother himself about +this girl after all? Why not make up his mind to accept her as +his predecessor had done? Why was it necessary for him to find her +inconsistent with his ideas of duty to his little flock and his mission +to them? Was he not assuming a sense of decorum that was open +to misconception? The absurdity of her school costume, and any +responsibility it incurred, rested not with him but with her parents. +What right had he to point it out to them, and above all how was he to +do it? He halted irresolutely at what he believed was his sober second +thought, but which, like most reflections that take that flattering +title, was only a reaction as impulsive and illogical as the emotion +that preceded it. + +Mr. McKinstry's “snake rail” fence was already discernible in the +lighter opening of the woods, not far from where he had halted. As he +stood there in hesitation, the pretty figure and bright gown of Cressy +McKinstry suddenly emerged from a more secluded trail that intersected +his own at an acute angle a few rods ahead of him. She was not alone, +but was accompanied by a male figure whose arm she had evidently +just dislodged from her waist. He was still trying to resume his lost +vantage; she was as resolutely evading him with a certain nymph-like +agility, while the sound of her half-laughing, half-irate protest could +be faintly heard. Without being able to identify the face or figure of +her companion at that distance, he could see that it was NOT her former +betrothed, Seth Davis. + +A superior smile crossed his face; he no longer hesitated, but at once +resumed his former path. For some time Cressy and her companion moved on +quietly before him. Then on reaching the rail-fence they turned abruptly +to the right, were lost for an instant in the intervening thicket, and +the next moment Cressy appeared alone, crossing the meadow in a shorter +cut towards the house, having either scaled the fence or slipped through +some familiar gap. Her companion had disappeared. Whether they had +noticed that they were observed he could not determine. He kept steadily +along the trail that followed the line of fence to the lane that +led directly to the farm-building, and pushed open the front gate as +Cressy's light dress vanished round an angle at the rear of the house. + +The house of the McKinstrys rose, or rather stretched, itself before +him, in all the lazy ungainliness of Southwestern architecture. A +collection of temporary make-shifts of boards, of logs, of canvas, +prematurely decayed, and in some instances abandoned for a newer +erection, or degraded to mere outhouses--it presented with singular +frankness the nomadic and tentative disposition of its founder. It had +been repaired without being improved; its additions had seemed only +to extend its primitive ugliness over a larger space. Its roofs were +roughly shingled or rudely boarded and battened, and the rafters of +some of its “lean-to's” were simply covered with tarred canvas. As if +to settle any doubt of the impossibility of this heterogeneous mass +ever taking upon itself any picturesque combination, a small building of +corrugated iron, transported in sections from some remoter locality, had +been set up in its centre. The McKinstry ranch had long been an eyesore +to the master: even that morning he had been mutely wondering from what +convolution of that hideous chrysalis the bright butterfly Cressy had +emerged. It was with a renewal of this curiosity that he had just seen +her flutter back to it again. + +A yellow dog who had observed him hesitating in doubt where he should +enter, here yawned, rose from the sunlight where he had been blinking, +approached the master with languid politeness, and then turned towards +the iron building as if showing him the way. Mr. Ford followed him +cautiously, painfully conscious that his hypocritical canine introducer +was only availing himself of an opportunity to gain ingress into the +house, and was leading him as a responsible accomplice to probable +exposure and disgrace. His expectation was quickly realized: a lazily +querulous, feminine outcry, with the words, “Yer's that darned hound +agin!” came from an adjacent room, and his exposed and abashed companion +swiftly retreated past him into the road again. Mr. Ford found himself +alone in a plainly-furnished sitting-room confronting the open door +leading to another apartment at which the figure of a woman, preceded +hastily by a thrown dishcloth, had just appeared. It was Mrs. McKinstry; +her sleeves were rolled up over her red but still shapely arms, and as +she stood there wiping them on her apron, with her elbows advanced, +and her closed hands raised alternately in the air, there was an odd +pugilistic suggestion in her attitude. It was not lessened on her sudden +discovery of the master by her retreating backwards with her hands up +and her elbows still well forward as if warily retiring to an imaginary +“corner.” + +Mr. Ford at once tactfully stepped back from the doorway. “I beg your +pardon,” he said, delicately addressing the opposite wall, “but I found +the door open and I followed the dog.” + +“That's just one of his pizenous tricks,” responded Mrs. McKinstry +dolefully from within. “On'y last week he let in a Chinaman, and in the +nat'ral hustlin' that follered he managed to help himself outer the pork +bar'l. There ain't no shade o' cussedness that or'nary hound ain't up +to.” Yet notwithstanding this ominous comparison she presently made +her appearance with her sleeves turned down, her black woollen +dress “tidied,” and a smile of fatigued but not unkindly welcome and +protection on her face. Dusting a chair with her apron and placing it +before the master, she continued maternally, “Now that you're here, set +ye right down and make yourself to home. My men folks are all out o' +door, but some of 'em's sure to happen in soon for suthin'; that day +ain't yet created that they don't come huntin' up Mammy McKinstry every +five minutes for this thing or that.” + +The glow of a certain hard pride burned through the careworn languor of +her brown cheek. What she had said was strangely true. This raw-boned +woman before him, although scarcely middle-aged, had for years occupied +a self-imposed maternal and protecting relation, not only to her husband +and brothers, but to the three or four men, who as partners, or hired +hands, lived at the ranch. An inherited and trained sympathy with what +she called her “boys's” and her “men folk,” and their needs had +partly unsexed her. She was a fair type of a class not uncommon on the +Southwestern frontier; women who were ruder helpmeets of their rude +husbands and brothers, who had shared their privations and sufferings +with surly, masculine endurance, rather than feminine patience; women +who had sent their loved ones to hopeless adventure or terrible vendetta +as a matter of course, or with partisan fury; who had devotedly nursed +the wounded to keep alive the feud, or had received back their dead +dry-eyed and revengeful. Small wonder that Cressy McKinstry had +developed strangely under this sexless relationship. Looking at the +mother, albeit not without a certain respect, Mr. Ford found himself +contrasting her with the daughter's graceful femininity, and wondering +where in Cressy's youthful contour the possibility of the grim figure +before him was even now hidden. + +“Hiram allowed to go over to the schoolhouse and see you this mornin',” + said Mrs. McKinstry, after a pause; “but I reckon ez how he had to +look up stock on the river. The cattle are that wild this time o' +year, huntin' water, and hangin' round the tules, that my men are nigh +worrited out o' their butes with 'em. Hank and Jim ain't been off +their mustangs since sun up, and Hiram, what with partrollen' the West +Boundary all night, watchin' stakes whar them low down Harrisons hev +been trespassin'--hasn't put his feet to the ground in fourteen hours. +Mebbee you noticed Hiram ez you kem along? Ef so, ye didn't remember +what kind o' shootin' irons he had with him? I see his rifle over yon. +Like ez not he'z only got his six-shooter, and them Harrisons are mean +enough to lay for him at long range. But,” she added, returning to the +less important topic, “I s'pose Cressy came all right.” + +“Yes,” said the master hopelessly. + +“I reckon she looked so,” continued Mrs. McKinstry, with tolerant +abstraction. “She allowed to do herself credit in one of them new store +gownds that she got at Sacramento. At least that's what some of our +men said. Late years, I ain't kept tech with the fashions myself.” She +passed her fingers explanatorily down the folds of her own coarse gown, +but without regret or apology. + +“She seemed well prepared in her lessons,” said the master, abandoning +for the moment that criticism of his pupil's dress, which he saw was +utterly futile, “but am I to understand that she is coming regularly to +school--that she is now perfectly free to give her entire attention to +her studies--that--that--her--engagement is broken off?” + +“Why, didn't she tell ye?” echoed Mrs. McKinstry in languid surprise. + +“SHE certainly did,” said the master with slight embarrassment, “but”-- + +“Ef SHE said so,” interrupted Mrs. McKinstry abstractedly, “she oughter +know, and you kin tie to what she says.” + +“But as I'm responsible to PARENTS and not to scholars for the +discipline of my school,” returned the young man a little stiffly, “I +thought it my duty to hear it from YOU.” + +“That's so,” said Mrs. McKinstry meditatively; “then I reckon you'd +better see Hiram. That ar' Seth Davis engagement was a matter of hern +and her father's, and not in MY line. I 'spose that Hiram nat'rally +allows to set the thing square to you and inquirin' friends.” + +“I hope you understand,” said the master, slightly resenting the +classification, “that my reason for inquiring about the permanency of +your daughter's attendance was simply because it might be necessary to +arrange her studies in a way more suitable to her years; perhaps even +to suggest to you that a young ladies' seminary might be more +satisfactory”-- + +“Sartain, sartain,” interrupted Mrs. McKinstry hurriedly, but whether +from evasion of annoying suggestion or weariness of the topic, the +master could not determine. “You'd better speak to Hiram about it. +On'y,” she hesitated slightly, “ez he's got now sorter set and pinted +towards your school, and is a trifle worrited with stock and them +Harrisons, ye might tech it lightly. He oughter be along yer now. +I can't think what keeps him.” Her eye wandered again with troubled +preoccupation to the corner where her husband's Sharps' rifle stood. +Suddenly she raised her voice as if forgetful of Mr. Ford's presence. + +“O Cressy!” + +“O Maw!” + +The response came from the inner room. The next moment Cressy appeared +at the door with an odd half-lazy defiance in her manner, which the +master could not understand except upon the hypothesis that she had +been listening. She had already changed her elaborate toilet for a long +clinging, coarse blue gown, that accented the graceful curves of her +slight, petticoat-less figure. Nodding her head towards the master, she +said, “Howdy?” and turned to her mother, who practically ignored their +personal acquaintance. “Cressy,” she said, “Dad's gone and left his +Sharps' yer, d'ye mind takin' it along to meet him, afore he passes the +Boundary corner. Ye might tell him the teacher's yer, wantin' to see +him.” + +“One moment,” said the master, as the young girl carelessly stepped to +the corner and lifted the weapon. “Let ME take it. It's all on my way +back to school and I'll meet him.” + +Mrs. McKinstry looked perturbed. Cressy opened her clear eyes on the +master with evident surprise. “No, Mr. Ford,” said Mrs. McKinstry, with +her former maternal manner. “Ye'd better not mix yourself up with these +yer doin's. Ye've no call to do it, and Cressy has; it's all in the +family. But it's outer YOUR line, and them Harrison whelps go to your +school. Fancy the teacher takin' weppins betwixt and between!” + +“It's fitter work for the teacher than for one of his scholars, and a +young lady at that,” said Mr. Ford gravely, as he took the rifle from +the hands of the half-amused, half-reluctant girl. “It's quite safe with +me, and I promise I shall deliver it into Mr. McKinstry's hands and none +other.” + +“Perhaps it wouldn't be ez likely to be gin'rally noticed ez it would +if one of US carried it,” murmured Mrs. McKinstry in confidential +abstraction, gazing at her daughter sublimely unconscious of the +presence of a third party. + +“You're quite right,” said the master composedly, throwing the +rifle over his shoulder and turning towards the door. “So I'll say +good-afternoon, and try and find your husband.” + +Mrs. McKinstry constrainedly plucked at the folds of her coarse gown. +“Ye'll like a drink afore ye go,” she said, in an ill-concealed tone of +relief. “I clean forgot my manners. Cressy, fetch out that demijohn.” + +“Not for me, thank you,” returned Mr. Ford smiling. + +“Oh, I see--you're temperance, nat'rally,” said Mrs. McKinstry with a +tolerant sigh. + +“Hardly that,” returned the master, “I follow no rule, I drink +sometimes--but not to-day.” + +Mrs. McKinstry's dark face contracted. “Don't you see, Maw,” struck in +Cressy quickly. “Teacher drinks sometimes, but he don't USE whiskey. +That's all.” + +Her mother's face relaxed. Cressy slipped out of the door before the +master, and preceded him to the gate. When she had reached it she turned +and looked into his face. + +“What did Maw say to yer about seein' me just now?” + +“I don't understand you.” + +“To your seein' me and Joe Masters on the trail?” + +“She said nothing.” + +“Humph,” said Cressy meditatively. “What was it you told her about it?” + +“Nothing.” + +“Then you DIDN'T see us?” + +“I saw you with some one--I don't know whom.” + +“And you didn't tell Maw?” + +“I did not. It was none of my business.” + +He instantly saw the utter inconsistency of this speech in connection +with the reason he believed he had in coming. But it was too late +to recall it, and she was looking at him with a bright but singular +expression. + +“That Joe Masters is the conceitedest fellow goin'. I told him you could +see his foolishness.” + +“Ah, indeed.” + +Mr. Ford pushed open the gate. As the girl still lingered he was obliged +to hold it a moment before passing through. + +“Maw couldn't quite hitch on to your not drinkin'. She reckons you're +like everybody else about yer. That's where she slips up on you. And +everybody else, I kalkilate.” + +“I suppose she's somewhat anxious about your father, and I dare say is +expecting me to hurry,” returned the master pointedly. + +“Oh, dad's all right,” said Cressy mischievously. “You'll come across +him over yon, in the clearing. But you're looking right purty with that +gun. It kinder sets you off. You oughter wear one.” + +The master smiled slightly, said “Good-by,” and took leave of the girl, +but not of her eyes, which were still following him. Even when he had +reached the end of the lane and glanced back at the rambling dwelling, +she was still leaning on the gate with one foot on the lower rail and +her chin cupped in the hollow of her hand. She made a slight gesture, +not clearly intelligible at that distance; it might have been a +mischievous imitation of the way he had thrown the gun over his +shoulder, it might have been a wafted kiss. + +The master however continued his way in no very self-satisfied mood. +Although he did not regret having taken the place of Cressy as the +purveyor of lethal weapons between the belligerent parties, he knew he +was tacitly mingling in the feud between people for whom he cared little +or nothing. It was true that the Harrisons sent their children to his +school, and that in the fierce partisanship of the locality this simple +courtesy was open to misconstruction. But he was more uneasily conscious +that this mission, so far as Mrs. McKinstry was concerned, was a +miserable failure. The strange relations of the mother and daughter +perhaps explained much of the girl's conduct, but it offered no hope of +future amelioration. Would the father, “worrited by stock” and boundary +quarrels--a man in the habit of cutting Gordian knots with a bowie +knife--prove more reasonable? Was there any nearer sympathy between +father and daughter? But she had said he would meet McKinstry in the +clearing: she was right, for here he was coming forward at a gallop! + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +When within a dozen paces of the master, McKinstry, scarcely checking +his mustang, threw himself from the saddle, and with a sharp cut of +his riata on the animal's haunches sent him still galloping towards the +distant house. Then, with both hands deeply thrust in the side pockets +of his long, loose linen coat, he slowly lounged with clanking spurs +towards the young man. He was thick-set, of medium height, densely and +reddishly bearded, with heavy-lidded pale blue eyes that wore a look of +drowsy pain, and after their first wearied glance at the master, seemed +to rest anywhere but on him. + +“Your wife was sending you your rifle by Cressy,” said the master, “but +I offered to bring it myself, as I thought it scarcely a proper errand +for a young lady. Here it is. I hope you didn't miss it before and don't +require it now,” he added quietly. + +Mr. McKinstry took it in one hand with an air of slightly embarrassed +surprise, rested it against his shoulder, and then with the same hand +and without removing the other from his pocket, took off his soft felt +hat, showed a bullet-hole in its rim, and returned lazily, “It's about +half an hour late, but them Harrisons reckoned I was fixed for 'em and +war too narvous to draw a clear bead on me.” + +The moment was evidently not a felicitous one for the master's purpose, +but he was determined to go on. He hesitated an instant, when his +companion, who seemed to be equally but more sluggishly embarrassed, in +a moment of preoccupied perplexity withdrew from his pocket his right +hand swathed in a blood-stained bandage, and following some instinctive +habit, attempted, as if reflectively, to scratch his head with two +stiffened fingers. + +“You are hurt,” said the master, genuinely shocked, “and here I am +detaining you.” + +“I had my hand up--so,” explained McKinstry, with heavy deliberation, +“and the ball raked off my little finger after it went through my hat. +But that ain't what I wanted to say when I stopped ye. I ain't just kam +enough yet,” he apologized in the calmest manner, “and I clean forgit +myself,” he added with perfect self-possession. “But I was kalkilatin' +to ask you”--he laid his bandaged hand familiarly on the master's +shoulder--“if Cressy kem all right?” + +“Perfectly,” said the master. “But shan't I walk on home with you, and +we can talk together after your wound is attended to?” + +“And she looked purty?” continued McKinstry without moving. + +“Very.” + +“And you thought them new store gownds of hers right peart?” + +“Yes,” said the master. “Perhaps a little too fine for the school, you +know,” he added insinuatingly, “and”-- + +“Not for her--not for her,” interrupted McKinstry. “I reckon thar's more +whar that cam from! Ye needn't fear but that she kin keep up that gait +ez long ez Hiram McKinstry hez the runnin' of her.” + +Mr. Ford gazed hopelessly at the hideous ranch in the distance, at the +sky, and the trail before him; then his glance fell upon the hand still +upon his shoulder, and he struggled with a final effort. “At another +time I'd like to have a long talk with you about your daughter, Mr. +McKinstry.” + +“Talk on,” said McKinstry, putting his wounded hand through the master's +arm. “I admire to hear you. You're that kam, it does me good.” + +Nevertheless the master was conscious that his own arm was scarcely as +firm as his companion's. It was however useless to draw back now, +and with as much tact as he could command he relieved his mind of its +purpose. Addressing the obtruding bandage before him, he dwelt upon +Cressy's previous attitude in the school, the danger of any relapse, the +necessity of her having a more clearly defined position as a scholar, +and even the advisability of her being transferred to a more advanced +school with a more mature teacher of her own sex. “This is what I wished +to say to Mrs. McKinstry to-day,” he concluded, “but she referred me to +you.” + +“In course, in course,” said McKinstry, nodding complacently. “She's a +good woman in and around the ranch, and in any doin's o' this kind,” he +lightly waved his wounded arm in the air, “there ain't a better, tho' +I say it. She was Blair Rawlins' darter; she and her brother Clay bein' +the only ones that kem out safe arter their twenty years' fight with the +McEntees in West Kaintuck. But she don't understand gals ez you and me +do. Not that I'm much, ez I orter be more kam. And the old woman jest +sized the hull thing when she said SHE hadn't any hand in Cressy's +engagement. No more she had! And ez far ez that goes, no more did me, +nor Seth Davis, nor Cressy.” He paused, and lifting his heavy-lidded +eyes to the master for the second time, said reflectively, “Ye mustn't +mind my tellin' ye--ez betwixt man and man--that THE one ez is most +responsible for the makin' and breakin' o' that engagement is YOU!” + +“Me!” said the master in utter bewilderment. + +“You!” repeated McKinstry quietly, reinstalling the hand Ford had +attempted to withdraw. “I ain't sayin' ye either know'd it or kalkilated +on it. But it war so. Ef ye'd hark to me, and meander on a little, I'll +tell ye HOW it war. I don't mind walkin' a piece YOUR way, for if we go +towards the ranch, and the hounds see me, they'll set up a racket and +bring out the old woman, and then good-by to any confidential talk +betwixt you and me. And I'm, somehow, kammer out yer.” + +He moved slowly down the trail, still holding Ford's arm confidentially, +although, owing to his large protecting manner, he seemed to offer a +ridiculous suggestion of supporting HIM with his wounded member. + +“When you first kem to Injin Spring,” he began, “Seth and Cressy was +goin' to school, boy and girl like, and nothin' more. They'd known each +other from babies--the Davises bein' our neighbors in Kaintuck, and +emigraten' with us from St. Joe. Seth mout hev cottoned to Cress, and +Cress to him, in course o' time, and there wasn't anythin' betwixt the +families to hev kept 'em from marryin' when they wanted. But there never +war any words passed, and no engagement.” + +“But,” interrupted Ford hastily, “my predecessor, Mr. Martin, distinctly +told me that there was, and that it was with YOUR permission.” + +“That's only because you noticed suthin' the first day you looked over +the school with Martin. 'Dad,' sez Cress to me, 'that new teacher's very +peart; and he's that keen about noticin' me and Seth that I reckon you'd +better giv out that we're engaged.' 'But are you?' sez I. 'It'll come to +that in the end,' sez Cress, 'and if that yer teacher hez come here with +Northern ideas o' society, it's just ez well to let him see Injin Spring +ain't entirely in the woods about them things either.' So I agreed, and +Martin told you it was all right; Cress and Seth was an engaged couple, +and you was to take no notice. And then YOU ups and objects to the hull +thing, and allows that courtin' in school, even among engaged pupils, +ain't proper.” + +The master turned his eyes with some uneasiness to the face of Cressy's +father. It was heavy but impassive. + +“I don't mind tellin' you, now that it's over, what happened. The +trouble with me, Mr. Ford, is--I ain't kam! and YOU air, and that's +what got me. For when I heard what you'd said, I got on that mustang and +started for the school-house to clean you out and giv' you five minutes +to leave Injin Spring. I don't know ez you remember that day. I'd +kalkilated my time so ez to ketch ye comin' out o' school, but I was too +airly. I hung around out o' sight, and then hitched my hoss to a buckeye +and peeped inter the winder to hev a good look at ye. It was very quiet +and kam. There was squirrels over the roof, yellow-jackets and bees +dronin' away, and kinder sleeping-like all around in the air, and +jay-birds twitterin' in the shingles, and they never minded me. You were +movin' up and down among them little gals and boys, liftin' up their +heads and talkin' to 'em softly and quiet like, ez if you was one of +them yourself. And they looked contented and kam. And onct--I don't +know if YOU remember it--you kem close up to the winder with your +hands behind you, and looked out so kam and quiet and so far off, ez if +everybody else outside the school was miles away from you. It kem to me +then that I'd given a heap to hev had the old woman see you thar. It kem +to me, Mr. Ford, that there wasn't any place for ME thar; and it kem +to me, too--and a little rough like--that mebbee there wasn't any place +there for MY Cress either! So I rode away without disturbin' you nor the +birds nor the squirrels. Talkin' with Cress that night, she said ez how +it was a fair sample of what happened every day, and that you'd always +treated her fair like the others. So she allowed that she'd go down to +Sacramento, and get some things agin her and Seth bein' married next +month, and she reckoned she wouldn't trouble you nor the school agin. +Hark till I've done, Mr. Ford,” he continued, as the young man made a +slight movement of deprecation. “Well, I agreed. But arter she got to +Sacramento and bought some fancy fixin's, she wrote to me and sez ez how +she'd been thinkin' the hull thing over, and she reckoned that she and +Seth were too young to marry, and the engagement had better be broke. +And I broke it for her.” + +“But how?” asked the bewildered master. + +“Gin'rally with this gun,” returned McKinstry with slow gravity, +indicating the rifle he was carrying, “for I ain't kam. I let on to +Seth's father that if I ever found Seth and Cressy together again, I'd +shoot him. It made a sort o' coolness betwixt the families, and hez +given some comfort to them low-down Harrisons; but even the law, I +reckon, recognizes a father's rights. And ez Cress sez, now ez Seth's +out o' the way, thar ain't no reason why she can't go back to school and +finish her eddication. And I reckoned she was right. And we both agreed +that ez she'd left school to git them store clothes, it was only fair +that she'd give the school the benefit of 'em.” + +The case seemed more hopeless than ever. The master knew that the man +beside him might hardly prove as lenient to a second objection at his +hand. But that very reason, perhaps, impelled him, now that he knew his +danger, to consider it more strongly as a duty, and his pride revolted +from a possible threat underlying McKinstry's confidences. Nevertheless +he began gently: + +“But you are quite sure you won't regret that you didn't avail yourself +of this broken engagement, and your daughter's outfit--to send her to +some larger boarding-school in Sacramento or San Francisco? Don't +you think she may find it dull, and soon tire of the company of mere +children when she has already known the excitement of”--he was about to +say “a lover,” but checked himself, and added, “a young girl's freedom?” + +“Mr. Ford,” returned McKinstry, with the slow and fatuous misconception +of a one-ideaed man, “when I said just now that, lookin' inter that kam, +peaceful school of yours, I didn't find a place for Cress, it warn't +because I didn't think she OUGHTER hev a place thar. Thar was that thar +wot she never had ez a little girl with me and the old woman, and that +she couldn't find ez a grownd up girl in any boarding-school--the home +of a child; that kind o' innocent foolishness that I sometimes reckon +must hev slipped outer our emigrant wagon comin' across the plains, or +got left behind at St. Joe. She was a grownd girl fit to marry afore she +was a child. She had young fellers a-sparkin' her afore she ever played +with 'em ez boy and girl. I don't mind tellin' you that it wern't in the +natur of Blair Rawlins' darter to teach her own darter any better, for +all she's been a mighty help to me. So if it's all the same to you, +Mr. Ford, we won't talk about a grownd up school; I'd rather Cress be +a little girl again among them other children. I should be a powerful +sight more kam if I knowed that when I was away huntin' stock or +fightin' stakes with them Harrisons, that she was a settin' there with +them and the birds and the bees, and listenin' to them and to you. +Mebbee there's been a little too many scrimmages goin' on round the +ranch sence she's been a child; mebbee she orter know suthin' more of a +man than a feller who sparks her and fights for her.” + +The master was silent. Had this dull, narrow-minded partisan stumbled +upon a truth that had never dawned upon his own broader comprehension? +Had this selfish savage and literally red-handed frontier brawler been +moved by some dumb instinct of the power of gentleness to understand his +daughter's needs better than he? For a moment he was staggered. Then +he thought of Cressy's later flirtations with Joe Masters, and her +concealment of their meeting from her mother. Had she deceived her +father also? Or was not the father deceiving him with this alternate +suggestion of threat and of kindliness--of power and weakness. He had +heard of this cruel phase of Southwestern cunning before. With the +feeble sophistry of the cynic he mistrusted the good his scepticism +could not understand. Howbeit, glancing sideways at the slumbering +savagery of the man beside him, and his wounded hand, he did not care +to show his lack of confidence. He contented himself with that +equally feeble resource of weak humanity in such cases--good-natured +indifference. “All right,” he said carelessly; “I'll see what can be +done. But are you quite sure you are fit to go home alone? Shall I +accompany you?” As McKinstry waived the suggestion with a gesture, he +added lightly, as if to conclude the interview, “I'll report progress to +you from time to time, if you like.” + +“To ME,” emphasized McKinstry; “not over THAR,” indicating the ranch. +“But p'rhaps you wouldn't mind my ridin' by and lookin' in at the +school-room winder onct in a while? Ah--you WOULD,” he added, with the +first deepening of color he had shown. “Well, never mind.” + +“You see it might distract the children from their lessons,” explained +the master gently, who had however contemplated with some concern the +infinite delight which a glimpse of McKinstry's fiery and fatuous face +at the window would awaken in Johnny Filgee's infant breast. + +“Well, no matter!” returned McKinstry slowly. “Ye don't keer, I s'pose, +to come over to the hotel and take suthin'? A julep or a smash?” + +“I shouldn't think of keeping you a moment longer from Mrs. McKinstry,” + said the master, looking at his companion's wounded hand. “Thank you all +the same. Good-by.” + +They shook hands, McKinstry transferring his rifle to the hollow of his +elbow to offer his unwounded left. The master watched him slowly resume +his way towards the ranch. Then with a half uneasy and half pleasurable +sense that he had taken some step whose consequences were more important +than he would at present understand, he turned in the opposite direction +to the school-house. He was so preoccupied that it was not until he had +nearly reached it that he remembered Uncle Ben. With an odd recollection +of McKinstry's previous performance, he approached the school from the +thicket in the rear and slipped noiselessly to the open window with the +intention of looking in. But the school-house, far from exhibiting that +“kam” and studious abstraction which had so touched the savage breast +of McKinstry, was filled with the accents of youthful and unrestrained +vituperation. The voice of Rupert Filgee came sharply to the master's +astonished ears. + +“You needn't try to play off Dobell or Mitchell on ME--you hear! Much +YOU know of either, don't you? Look at that copy. If Johnny couldn't do +better than that, I'd lick him. Of course it's the pen--it ain't your +stodgy fingers--oh, no! P'r'aps you'd like to hev a few more boxes +o' quills and gold pens and Gillott's best thrown in, for two bits a +lesson? I tell you what! I'll throw up the contract in another minit! +There goes another quill busted! Look here, what YOU want ain't a pen, +but a clothes-pin and a split nail! That'll about jibe with your dilikit +gait.” + +The master at once stepped to the window and, unobserved, took a +quick survey of the interior. Following some ingenious idea of his own +regarding fitness, the beautiful Filgee had induced Uncle Ben to seat +himself on the floor before one of the smallest desks, presumably +his brother's, in an attitude which, while it certainly gave him +considerable elbow-room for those contortions common to immature +penmanship, offered his youthful instructor a superior eminence, from +which he hovered, occasionally swooping down upon his grown-up pupil +like a mischievous but graceful jay. But Mr. Ford's most distinct +impression was that, far from resenting the derogatory position and the +abuse that accompanied it, Uncle Ben not only beamed upon his persecutor +with unquenchable good humor, but with undisguised admiration, and +showed not the slightest inclination to accept his proposed resignation. + +“Go slow, Roop,” he said cheerfully. “You was onct a boy yourself. +Nat'rally I kalkilate to stand all the damages. You've got ter waste +some powder over a blast like this yer, way down to the bed rock. Next +time I'll bring my own pens.” + +“Do. Some from the Dobell school you uster go to,” suggested the darkly +ironical Rupert. “They was iron-clad injin-rubber, warn't they?” + +“Never you mind wot they were,” said Uncle Ben good-humoredly. “Look at +that string of 'C's' in that line. There's nothing mean about THEM.” + +He put his pen between his teeth, raised himself slowly on his legs, and +shading his eyes with his hand from the severe perspective of six feet, +gazed admiringly down upon his work. Rupert, with his hands in +his pockets and his back to the window, cynically assisted at the +inspection. + +“Wot's that sick worm at the bottom of the page?” he asked. + +“Wot might you think it wos?” said Uncle Ben beamingly. + +“Looks like one o' them snake roots you dig up with a little mud stuck +to it,” returned Rupert critically. + +“That's my name.” + +They both stood looking at it with their heads very much on one side. +“It ain't so bad as the rest you've done. It MIGHT be your name. That +ez, it don't look like anythin' else,” suggested Rupert, struck with a +new idea that it was perhaps more professional occasionally to encourage +his pupil. “You might get on in course o' time. But what are you doin' +all this for?” he asked suddenly. + +“Doin' what?” + +“This yer comin' to school when you ain't sent, and you ain't got no +call to go--you, a grown-up man!” + +The color deepened in Uncle Ben's face to the back of his ears. “Wot +would you giv' to know, Roop? S'pose I reckoned some day to make a +strike and sorter drop inter saciety easy--eh? S'pose I wanted to be +ready to keep up my end with the other fellers, when the time kem? To be +able to sling po'try and read novels and sich--eh?” + +An expression of infinite and unutterable scorn dawned in the eyes of +Rupert. “You do? Well,” he repeated with slow and cutting deliberation, +“I'll tell you what you're comin' here for, and the only thing that +makes you come.” + +“What?” + +“It's--some--girl!” + +Uncle Ben broke into a boisterous laugh that made the roof shake, +stamping about and slapping his legs till the crazy floor trembled. +But at that moment the master stepped to the perch and made a quiet but +discomposing entrance. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +The return of Miss Cressida McKinstry to Indian Spring and her +interrupted studies was an event whose effects were not entirely +confined to the school. The broken engagement itself seemed of little +moment in the general estimation compared to her resumption of her +old footing as a scholar. A few ill-natured elders of her own sex, +and naturally exempt from the discriminating retort of Mr. McKinstry's +“shot-gun,” alleged that the Seminary at Sacramento had declined to +receive her, but the majority accepted her return with local pride as a +practical compliment to the educational facilities of Indian Spring. +The Tuolumne “Star,” with a breadth and eloquence touchingly +disproportionate to its actual size and quality of type and paper, +referred to the possible “growth of a grove of Academus at Indian +Spring, under whose cloistered boughs future sages and statesmen +were now meditating,” in a way that made the master feel exceedingly +uncomfortable. For some days the trail between the McKinstrys' ranch and +the school-house was lightly patrolled by reliefs of susceptible young +men, to whom the enfranchised Cressida, relieved from the dangerous +supervision of the Davis-McKinstry clique, was an object of ambitious +admiration. The young girl herself, who, in spite of the master's +annoyance, seemed to be following some conscientious duty in +consecutively arraying herself in the different dresses she had bought, +however she may have tantalized her admirers by this revelation of +bridal finery, did not venture to bring them near the limits of the +play-ground. It struck the master with some surprise that Indian Spring +did not seem to trouble itself in regard to his own privileged relations +with its rustic enchantress; the young men clearly were not jealous of +him; no matron had suggested any indecorum in a young girl of Cressy's +years and antecedents being intrusted to the teachings of a young man +scarcely her senior. Notwithstanding the attitude which Mr. Ford had +been pleased to assume towards her, this implied compliment to his +supposed monastic vocations affected him almost as uncomfortably as the +“Star's” extravagant eulogium. He was obliged to recall certain +foolish experiences of his own to enable him to rise superior to this +presumption of his asceticism. + +In pursuance of his promise to McKinstry, he had procured a few +elementary books of study suitable to Cressy's new position, without, +however, taking her out of the smaller classes or the discipline of the +school. In a few weeks he was enabled to further improve her attitude by +making her a “monitor” over the smaller girls, thereby dividing certain +functions with Rupert Filgee, whose ministrations to the deceitful and +“silly” sex had been characterized by perhaps more vigilant scorn and +disparagement than was necessary. Cressy had accepted it as she had +accepted her new studies, with an indolent good-humor, and at times a +frankly supreme ignorance of their abstract or moral purpose that was +discouraging. “What's the good of that?” she would ask, lifting her +eyes abruptly to the master. Mr. Ford, somewhat embarrassed by her look, +which always, sooner or later, frankly confessed itself an excuse for a +perfectly irrelevant examination of his features in detail, would end in +giving her some severely practical answer. Yet, if the subject appealed +to any particular idiosyncrasy of her own, she would speedily master +the study. A passing predilection for botany was provoked by a single +incident. The master deeming this study a harmless young-lady-like +occupation, had one day introduced the topic at recess, and was met by +the usual answer. “But suppose,” he continued artfully, “somebody sent +you anonymously some flowers.” + +“Her ho!” suggested Johnny Filgee hoarsely, with bold bad recklessness. +Ignoring the remark and the kick with which Rupert had resented it on +the person of his brother, the master continued: + +“And if you couldn't find out who sent them, you would want at least to +know what they were and where they grew.” + +“Ef they grew anywhere 'bout yer we could tell her that,” said a chorus +of small voices. + +The master hesitated. He was conscious of being on delicate ground. He +was surrounded by a dozen pairs of little keen eyes from whom Nature had +never yet succeeded in hiding her secrets--eyes that had waited for +and knew the coming up of the earliest flowers; little fingers that had +never turned the pages of a text-book, but knew where to scrape away the +dead leaves above the first anemone, or had groped painfully among the +lifeless branches in forgotten hollows for the shy dog-rose; unguided +little feet that had instinctively made their way to remote southern +slopes for the first mariposas, or had unerringly threaded the +tule-hidden banks of the river for flower-de-luce. Convinced that he +could not hold his own on their level, he shamelessly struck at once +above it. + +“Suppose that one of those flowers,” he continued, “was not like the +rest; that its stalks and leaves, instead of being green and soft, were +white and stringy like flannel as if to protect it from cold, wouldn't +it be nice to be able to say at once that it had lived only in the snow, +and that some one must have gone all that way up there above the snow +line to pick it?” The children, taken aback by this unfair introduction +of a floral stranger, were silent. Cressy thoughtfully accepted botany +on those possibilities. A week later she laid on the master's desk a +limp-looking plant with a stalk like heavy frayed worsted yarn. “It +ain't much to look at after all, is it?” she said. “I reckon I could cut +a better one with scissors outer an old cloth jacket of mine.” + +“And you found it here?” asked the master in surprise. + +“I got Masters to look for it when he was on the Summit. I described it +to him. I didn't allow he had the gumption to get it. But he did.” + +Although botany languished slightly after this vicarious effort, it +kept Cressy in fresh bouquets, and extending its gentle influence to her +friends and acquaintances became slightly confounded with horticulture, +led to the planting of one or two gardens, and was accepted in school +as an implied concession to berries, apples, and nuts. In reading and +writing Cressy greatly improved, with a marked decrease in grammatical +solecisms, although she still retained certain characteristic words, and +always her own slow Southwestern, half musical intonation. This languid +deliberation was particularly noticeable in her reading aloud, and +gave the studied and measured rhetoric a charm of which her careless +colloquial speech was incapable. Even the “Fifth Reader,” with its +imposing passages from the English classics carefully selected with a +view of paralyzing small, hesitating, or hurried voices, in Cressy's +hands became no longer an unintelligible incantation. She had quietly +mastered the difficulties of pronunciation by some instinctive sense of +euphony if not of comprehension. The master with his eyes closed hardly +recognized his pupil. Whether or not she understood what she read he +hesitated to inquire; no doubt, as with her other studies, she knew +what attracted her. Rupert Filgee, a sympathetic if not always a correct +reader, who boldly took four and five syllabled fences flying only to +come to grief perhaps in the ditch of some rhetorical pause beyond, +alone expressed his scorn of her performance. Octavia Dean, torn between +her hopeless affection for this beautiful but inaccessible boy, and +her soul-friendship for this bigger but many-frocked girl, studied the +master's face with watchful anxiety. + +It is needless to say that Hiram McKinstry was, in the intervals of +stake-driving and stock-hunting, heavily contented with this latest +evidence of his daughter's progress. He even intimated to the master +that her reading being an accomplishment that could be exercised at home +was conducive to that “kam” in which he was so deficient. It was also +rumored that Cressy's oral rendering of Addison's “Reflections in +Westminster Abbey” and Burke's “Indictment of Warren Hastings,” had +beguiled him one evening from improving an opportunity to “plug” one of +Harrison's boundary “raiders.” + +The master shared in Cressy's glory in the public eye. But although Mrs. +McKinstry did not materially change her attitude of tolerant good-nature +towards him, he was painfully conscious that she looked upon her +daughter's studies and her husband's interests in them as a weakness +that might in course of time produce infirmity of homicidal purpose and +become enervating of eye and trigger-finger. And when Mr. McKinstry got +himself appointed as school-trustee, and was thereby obliged to mingle +with certain Eastern settlers,--colleagues on the Board,--this possible +weakening of the old sharply drawn sectional line between “Yanks” and +themselves gave her grave doubts of Hiram's physical stamina. + +“The old man's worrits hev sorter shook out a little of his sand,” she +had explained. On those evenings when he attended the Board, she sought +higher consolation in prayer meeting at the Southern Baptist Church, in +whose exercises her Northern and Eastern neighbors, thinly disguised as +“Baal” and “Astaroth,” were generally overthrown and their temples made +desolate. + +If Uncle Ben's progress was slower, it was no less satisfactory. +Without imagination and even without enthusiasm, he kept on with a dull +laborious persistency. When the irascible impatience of Rupert Filgee +at last succumbed to the obdurate slowness of his pupil, the master +himself, touched by Uncle Ben's perspiring forehead and perplexed +eyebrows, often devoted the rest of the afternoon to a gentle +elucidation of the mysteries before him, setting copies for his heavy +hand, or even guiding it with his own, like a child's, across the paper. +At times the appalling uselessness of Uncle Ben's endeavors reminded +him of Rupert's taunting charge. Was he really doing this from a genuine +thirst for knowledge? It was inconsistent with all that Indian Spring +knew of his antecedents and his present ambitions; he was a simple +miner without scientific or technical knowledge; his already slight +acquaintance with arithmetic and the scrawl that served for his +signature were more than sufficient for his needs. Yet it was with this +latter sign-manual that he seemed to take infinite pains. The master, +one afternoon, thought fit to correct the apparent vanity of this +performance. + +“If you took as much care in trying to form your letters according to +copy, you'd do better. Your signature is fair enough as it is.” + +“But it don't look right, Mr. Ford,” said Uncle Ben, eying it +distrustfully; “somehow it ain't all there.” + +“Why, certainly it is. Look, D A B N E Y--not very plain, it's true, but +there are all the letters.” + +“That's just it, Mr. Ford; them AIN'T all the letters that ORTER be +there. I've allowed to write it D A B N E Y to save time and ink, but it +orter read DAUBIGNY,” said Uncle Ben, with painful distinctness. + +“But that spells d'Aubigny!” + +“It are.” + +“Is that your name?” + +“I reckon.” + +The master looked at Uncle Ben doubtfully. Was this only another form of +the Dobell illusion? “Was your father a Frenchman?” he asked finally. + +Uncle Ben paused as if to recall the trifling circumstances of his +father's nationality. “No.” + +“Your grandfather?” + +“I reckon not. At least ye couldn't prove it by me.” + +“Was your father or grandfather a voyageur or trapper, or Canadian?” + +“They were from Pike County, Mizzoori.” + +The master regarded Uncle Ben still dubiously. “But you call yourself +Dabney. What makes you think your real name is d'Aubigny?” + +“That's the way it uster be writ in letters to me in the States. Hold +on. I'll show ye.” He deliberately began to feel in his pockets, finally +extracting his old purse from which he produced a crumpled envelope, and +carefully smoothing it out, compared it with his signature. + +“Thar, you see. It's the same--d'Aubigny.” + +The master hesitated. After all, it was not impossible. He recalled +other instances of the singular transformation of names in the +Californian emigration. Yet he could not help saying, “Then you +concluded d'Aubigny was a better name than Dabney?” + +“Do YOU think it's better?” + +“Women might. I dare say your wife would prefer to be called Mrs. +d'Aubigny rather than Dabney.” + +The chance shot told. Uncle Ben suddenly flushed to his ears. + +“I didn't think o' that,” he said hurriedly. “I had another idee. I +reckoned that on the matter o' holdin' property and passin' in money +it would be better to hev your name put on the square, and to sorter go +down to bed rock for it, eh? If I wanted to take a hand in them lots or +Ditch shares, for instance--it would be only law to hev it made out in +the name o' d'Aubigny.” + +Mr. Ford listened with certain impatient contempt. It was bad enough for +Uncle Ben to have exposed his weakness in inventing fictions about his +early education, but to invest himself now with a contingency of +capital for the sake of another childish vanity, was pitiable as it +was preposterous. There was no doubt that he had lied about his school +experiences; it was barely probable that his name was really d'Aubigny, +and it was quite consistent with all this--even setting apart the fact +that he was perfectly well known to be only a poor miner--that he should +lie again. Like most logical reasoners Mr. Ford forgot that humanity +might be illogical and inconsistent without being insincere. He turned +away without speaking as if indicating a wish to hear no more. + +“Some o' these days,” said Uncle Ben, with dull persistency, “I'll tell +ye suthen'.” + +“I'd advise you just now to drop it and stick to your lessons,” said the +master sharply. + +“That's so,” said Uncle Ben hurriedly, hiding himself as it were in +an all-encompassing blush. “In course lessons first, boys, that's the +motto.” He again took up his pen and assumed his old laborious attitude. +But after a few moments it became evident that either the master's curt +dismissal of his subject or his own preoccupation with it, had somewhat +unsettled him. He cleaned his pen obtrusively, going to the window for +a better light, and whistling from time to time with a demonstrative +carelessness and a depressing gayety. He once broke into a murmuring, +meditative chant evidently referring to the previous conversation, in +its--“That's so--Yer we go--Lessons the first, boys, Yo, heave O.” + The rollicking marine character of this refrain, despite its utter +incongruousness, apparently struck him favorably, for he repeated it +softly, occasionally glancing behind him at the master who was coldly +absorbed at his desk. Presently he arose, carefully put his books away, +symmetrically piling them in a pyramid beside Mr. Ford's motionless +elbow, and then lifting his feet with high but gentle steps went to the +peg where his coat and hat were hanging. As he was about to put them on +he appeared suddenly struck with a sense of indecorousness in dressing +himself in the school, and taking them on his arm to the porch resumed +them outside. Then saying, “I clean disremembered I'd got to see a man. +So long, till to-morrow,” he disappeared whistling softly. + +The old woodland hush fell back upon the school. It seemed very quiet +and empty. A faint sense of remorse stole over the master. Yet he +remembered that Uncle Ben had accepted without reproach and as a good +joke much more direct accusations from Rupert Filgee, and that he +himself had acted from a conscientious sense of duty towards the man. +But a conscientious sense of duty to inflict pain upon a fellow-mortal +for his own good does not always bring perfect serenity to the +inflicter--possibly because, in the defective machinery of human +compensation, pain is the only quality that is apt to appear in the +illustration. Mr. Ford felt uncomfortable, and being so, was naturally +vexed at the innocent cause. Why should Uncle Ben be offended because +he had simply declined to follow his weak fabrications any further? This +was his return for having tolerated it at first! It would be a lesson to +him henceforth. Nevertheless he got up and went to the door. The figure +of Uncle Ben was already indistinct among the leaves, but from the +motion of his shoulders he seemed to be still stepping high and softly +as if not yet clear of insecure and engulfing ground. + +The silence still continuing, the master began mechanically to look +over the desks for forgotten or mislaid articles, and to rearrange +the pupils' books and copies. A few heartsease gathered by the devoted +Octavia Dean, neatly tied with a black thread and regularly left in the +inkstand cavity of Rupert's desk, were still lying on the floor where +they had been always hurled with equal regularity by that disdainful +Adonis. Picking up a slate from under a bench, his attention was +attracted by a forgotten cartoon on the reverse side. Mr. Ford at once +recognized it as the work of that youthful but eminent caricaturist, +Johnny Filgee. Broad in treatment, comprehensive in subject, liberal +in detail and slate-pencil--it represented Uncle Ben lying on the floor +with a book in his hand, tyrannized over by Rupert Filgee and regarded +in a striking profile of two features by Cressy McKinstry. The +daring realism of introducing the names of each character on their +legs--perhaps ideally enlarged for that purpose--left no doubt of their +identity. Equally daring but no less effective was the rendering of +a limited but dramatic conversation between the parties by the aid of +emotional balloons attached to their mouths like a visible gulp bearing +the respective legends: “I luv you,” “O my,” and “You git!” + +The master was for a moment startled at this unlooked-for but graphic +testimony to the fact that Uncle Ben's visits to the school were +not only known but commented upon. The small eyes of those youthful +observers had been keener than his own. He had again been stupidly +deceived, in spite of his efforts. Love, albeit deficient in features +and wearing an improperly short bell-shaped frock, had boldly re-entered +the peaceful school, and disturbing complications on abnormal legs were +following at its heels. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +While this simple pastoral life was centred around the school-house in +the clearing, broken only by an occasional warning pistol-shot in the +direction of the Harrison-McKinstry boundaries, the more business part +of Indian Spring was overtaken by one of those spasms of enterprise +peculiar to all Californian mining settlements. The opening of the +Eureka Ditch and the extension of stagecoach communication from Big +Bluff were events of no small importance, and were celebrated on the +same day. The double occasion overtaxing even the fluent rhetoric of +the editor of the “Star” left him struggling in the metaphorical +difficulties of a Pactolian Spring, which he had rashly turned into +the Ditch, and obliged him to transfer the onerous duty of writing the +editorial on the Big Bluff Extension to the hands of the Honorable Abner +Dean, Assemblyman from Angel's. The loss of the Honorable Mr. Dean's +right eye in an early pioneer fracas did not prevent him from looking +into the dim vista of the future and discovering with that single +unaided optic enough to fill three columns of the “Star.” “It is not too +extravagant to say,” he remarked with charming deprecation, “that +Indian Spring, through its own perfectly organized system of inland +transportation, the confluence of its North Fork with the Sacramento +River, and their combined effluence into the illimitable Pacific, is +thus put not only into direct communication with far Cathay but even +remoter Antipodean markets. The citizen of Indian Spring taking the 9 A. +M. Pioneer Coach and arriving at Big Bluff at 2.40 is enabled to connect +with the through express to Sacramento the same evening, reaching San +Francisco per the Steam Navigation Company's palatial steamers in time +to take the Pacific Mail Steamer to Yokohama on the following day at +8.30 P. M.” Although no citizen of Indian Spring appeared to avail +himself of this admirable opportunity, nor did it appear at all likely +that any would, everybody vaguely felt that an inestimable boon lay +in the suggestion, and even the master professionally intrusting the +reading aloud of the editorial to Rupert Filgee with ulterior designs +of practice in the pronunciation of five-syllable words, was somewhat +affected by it. Johnny Filgee and Jimmy Snyder accepting it as a +mysterious something that made Desert Islands accessible at a moment's +notice and a trifling outlay, were round-eyed and attentive. And +the culminating information from the master that this event would +be commemorated by a half-holiday, combined to make the occasion as +exciting to the simple school-house in the clearing as it was to the +gilded saloon in the main street. + +And so the momentous day arrived, with its two new coaches from Big +Bluff containing the specially invited speakers--always specially +invited to those occasions, and yet strangely enough never before +feeling the extreme “importance and privilege” of it as they did then. +Then there were the firing of two anvils, the strains of a brass band, +the hoisting of a new flag on the liberty-pole, and later the +ceremony of the Ditch opening, when a distinguished speaker in a most +unworkman-like tall hat, black frock coat, and white cravat, which gave +him the general air of a festive grave-digger, took a spade from the +hands of an apparently hilarious chief mourner and threw out the first +sods. There were anvils, brass bands, and a “collation” at the hotel. +But everywhere--overriding the most extravagant expectation and even +the laughter it provoked--the spirit of indomitable youth and resistless +enterprise intoxicated the air. It was the spirit that had made +California possible; that had sown a thousand such ventures +broadcast through its wilderness; that had enabled the sower to stand +half-humorously among his scant or ruined harvests without fear and +without repining, and turn his undaunted and ever hopeful face to +further fields. What mattered it that Indian Spring had always before +its eyes the abandoned trenches and ruined outworks of its earlier +pioneers? What mattered it that the eloquent eulogist of the Eureka +Ditch had but a few years before as prodigally scattered his adjectives +and his fortune on the useless tunnel that confronted him on the +opposite side of the river? The sublime forgetfulness of youth ignored +its warning or recognized it as a joke. The master, fresh from his +little flock and prematurely aged by their contact, felt a stirring +of something like envy as he wandered among these scarcely older +enthusiasts. + +Especially memorable was the exciting day to Johnny Filgee, not only for +the delightfully bewildering clamor of the brass band, in which, between +the trombone and the bass drum, he had got inextricably mixed; not only +for the half-frightening explosions of the anvils and the maddening +smell of the gunpowder which had exalted his infant soul to sudden and +irrelevant whoopings, but for a singular occurrence that whetted his +always keen perceptions. Having been shamelessly abandoned on the +veranda of the Eureka Hotel while his brother Rupert paid bashful court +to the pretty proprietress by assisting her in her duties, Johnny gave +himself up to unlimited observation. The rosettes of the six horses, the +new harness, the length of the driver's whiplash, his enormous buckskin +gloves and the way he held his reins; the fascinating odor of shining +varnish on the coach, the gold-headed cane of the Honorable Abner Dean: +all these were stored away in the secret recesses of Johnny's memory, +even as the unconsidered trifles he had picked up en route were +distending his capacious pockets. But when a young man had alighted +from the second or “Truly” coach among the REAL passengers, and strolled +carelessly and easily in the veranda as if the novelty and the occasion +were nothing to him, Johnny, with a gulp of satisfaction, knew that +he had seen a prince! Beautifully dressed in a white duck suit, with a +diamond ring on his finger, a gold chain swinging from his fob, and a +Panama hat with a broad black ribbon jauntily resting on his curled +and scented hair, Johnny's eyes had never rested on a more resplendent +vision. He was more romantic than Yuba Bill, more imposing and less +impossible than the Honorable Abner Dean, more eloquent than the +master--far more beautiful than any colored print that he had ever seen. +Had he brushed him in passing Johnny would have felt a thrill; had he +spoken to him he knew he would have been speechless to reply. Judge +then of his utter stupefaction when he saw Uncle Ben--actually +Uncle Ben!--approach this paragon of perfection, albeit with some +embarrassment, and after a word or two of unintelligible conversation +walk away with him! Need it be wondered that Johnny, forgetful at once +of his brother, the horses, and even the collation with its possible +“goodies,” instantly followed. + +The two men turned into the side street, which, after a few hundred +yards, opened upon the deserted mining flat, crossed and broken by +the burrows and mounds made by the forgotten engines of the early +gold-seekers. Johnny, at times hidden by these irregularities, kept +closely in their rear, sauntering whenever he came within the range of +their eyes in that sidelong, spasmodic and generally diagonal fashion +peculiar to small boys, but ready at any moment to assume utter +unconsciousness and the appearance of going somewhere else or of +searching for something on the ground. In this way appearing, if noticed +at all, each time in some different position to the right or left of +them, Johnny followed them to the fringe of woodland which enabled him +to draw closer to their heels. + +Utterly oblivious of this artistic “shadowing” in the insignificant +person of the small boy who once or twice even crossed their path with +affected timidity, they continued an apparently confidential previous +interview. The words “stocks” and “shares” were alone intelligible. +Johnny had heard them during the day, but he was struck by the fact +that Uncle Ben seemed to be seeking information from the paragon and was +perfectly submissive and humble. But the boy was considerably mystified +when after a tramp of half an hour they arrived upon the debatable +ground of the Harrison-McKinstry boundary. Having been especially warned +never to go there, Johnny as a matter of course was perfectly familiar +with it. But what was the incomprehensible stranger doing there? Was he +brought by Uncle Ben with a view of paralyzing both of the combatants +with the spectacle of his perfections? Was he a youthful sheriff, a +young judge, or maybe the son of the Governor of California? Or was it +that Uncle Ben was “silly” and didn't know the locality? Here was an +opportunity for him, Johnny, to introduce himself, and explain and even +magnify the danger, with perhaps a slight allusion to his own fearless +familiarity with it. Unfortunately, as he was making up his small mind +behind a tree, the paragon turned and with the easy disdain that so well +became him, said: + +“Well, I wouldn't offer a dollar an acre for the whole ranch. But if YOU +choose to give a fancy price--that's your lookout.” + +To Johnny's already prejudiced mind, Uncle Ben received this just +contempt submissively, as he ought, but nevertheless he muttered +something “silly” in reply, which Johnny was really too disgusted to +listen to. Ought he not to step forward and inform the paragon that he +was wasting his time on a man who couldn't even spell “ba-ker,” and who +was taught his letters by his, Johnny's, brother? + +The paragon continued: + +“And of course you know that merely your buying the title to the land +don't give you possession. You'll have to fight these squatters and +jumpers just the same. It'll be three instead of two fighting--that's +all!” + +Uncle Ben's imbecile reply did not trouble Johnny. He had ears now only +for the superior intellect before him. IT continued coolly: + +“Now let's take a look at that yield of yours. I haven't much time to +give you, as I expect some men to be looking for me here--and I suppose +you want this thing still kept a secret. I don't see how you've managed +to do it so far. Is your claim near? You live on it--I think you said?” + +But that the little listener was so preoccupied with the stranger, this +suggestion of Uncle Ben's having a claim worth the attention of that +distinguished presence would have set him thinking; the little that he +understood he set down to Uncle Ben's “gassin'.” As the two men moved +forward again, he followed them until Uncle Ben's house was reached. + +It was a rude shanty of boards and rough boulders, half burrowing in one +of the largest mounds of earth and gravel, which had once represented +the tailings or refuse of the abandoned Indian Spring Placer. In fact +it was casually alleged by some that Uncle Ben eked out the scanty “grub +wages,” he made by actual mining, in reworking and sifting the tailings +at odd times--a degrading work hitherto practised only by Chinese, and +unworthy the Caucasian ambition. The mining code of honor held that a +man might accept the smallest results of his daily labor, as long as he +was sustained by the prospect of a larger “strike,” but condemned his +contentment with a modest certainty. Nevertheless a little of this +suspicion encompassed his dwelling and contributed to its loneliness, +even as a long ditch, the former tail-race of the claim, separated him +from his neighbors. Prudently halting at the edge of the wood, Johnny +saw his resplendent vision cross the strip of barren flat, and enter the +cabin with Uncle Ben like any other mortal. He sat down on a stump and +awaited its return, which he fondly hoped might be alone! At the end +of half an hour he made a short excursion to examine the condition of a +blackberry bramble, and returned to his post of observation. But there +was neither sound nor motion in the direction of the cabin. When +another ten minutes had elapsed, the door opened and to Johnny's intense +discomfiture, Uncle Ben appeared alone and walked leisurely towards the +woods. Burning with anxiety Johnny threw himself in Uncle Ben's way. +But here occurred one of those surprising inconsistencies known only +to children. As Uncle Ben turned his small gray eyes upon him in a +half astonished, half questioning manner, the potent spirit of childish +secretiveness suddenly took possession of the boy. Wild horses could not +now have torn from him that question which only a moment before was on +his lips. + +“Hullo, Johnny! What are ye doin' here?” said Uncle Ben kindly. + +“Nothin'.” After a pause, in which he walked all round Uncle Ben's large +figure, gazing up at him as if he were a monument, he added, “Huntin' +blackberrieth.” + +“Why ain't you over at the collation?” + +“Ruperth there,” he answered promptly. + +The idea of being thus vicariously present in the person of his brother +seemed a sufficient excuse. He leap-frogged over the stump on which he +had been sitting as an easy unembarrassing pause for the next question. +But Uncle Ben was apparently perfectly satisfied with Johnny's reply, +and nodding to him, walked away. + +When his figure had disappeared in the bushes, Johnny cautiously +approached the cabin. At a certain distance he picked up a stone and +threw it against the door, immediately taking to his heels and the +friendly copse again. No one appearing he repeated the experiment twice +and even thrice with a larger stone and at a nearer distance. Then he +boldly skirted the cabin and dropped into the race-way at its side. +Following it a few hundred yards he came upon a long disused shaft +opening into it, which had been covered with a rough trap of old planks, +as if to protect incautious wayfarers from falling in. Here a sudden and +inexplicable fear overtook Johnny, and he ran away. When he reached +the hotel, almost the first sight that met his astounded eyes was the +spectacle of the paragon, apparently still in undisturbed possession +of all his perfections--driving coolly off in a buggy with a fresh +companion. + +Meantime Mr. Ford, however touched by the sentimental significance of +the celebration, became slightly wearied of its details. As his own room +in the Eureka Hotel was actually thrilled by the brass band without and +the eloquence of speakers below, and had become redolent of gunpowder +and champagne exploded around it, he determined to return to the +school-house and avail himself of its woodland quiet to write a few +letters. + +The change was grateful, the distant murmur of the excited settlement +came only as the soothing sound of wind among the leaves. The pure air +of the pines that filled every cranny of the quiet school-room, +and seemed to disperse all taint of human tenancy, made the far-off +celebrations as unreal as a dream. The only reality of his life was +here. + +He took from his pocket a few letters one of which was worn and soiled +with frequent handling. He re-read it in a half methodical, half patient +way, as if he were waiting for some revelation it inspired, which +was slow that afternoon in coming. At other times it had called up +a youthful enthusiasm which was wont to transfigure his grave and +prematurely reserved face with a new expression. To-day the revelation +and expression were both wanting. He put the letter back with a slight +sigh, that sounded so preposterous in the silent room that he could +not forego an embarrassed smile. But the next moment he set himself +seriously to work on his correspondence. + +Presently he stopped; once or twice he had been overtaken by a vague +undefinable sense of pleasure, even to the dreamy halting of his pen. +It was a sensation in no way connected with the subject of his +correspondence, or even his previous reflections--it was partly +physical, and yet it was in some sense suggestive. It must be the +intoxicating effect of the woodland air. He even fancied he had noticed +it before, at the same hour when the sun was declining and the fresh +odors of the undergrowth were rising. It certainly was a perfume. He +raised his eyes. There lay the cause on the desk before him--a little +nosegay of wild Californian myrtle encircling a rose-bud which had +escaped his notice. + +There was nothing unusual in the circumstance. The children were in the +habit of making their offerings generally without particular reference +to time or occasion, and it might have been overlooked by him during +school-hours. He felt a pity for the forgotten posy already beginning +to grow limp in its neglected solitude. He remembered that in some +folk-lore of the children's, perhaps a tradition of the old association +of the myrtle with Venus, it was believed to be emblematic of the +affections. He remembered also that he had even told them of this +probable origin of their superstition. He was still holding it in his +hand when he was conscious of a silken sensation that sent a magnetic +thrill through his fingers. Looking at it more closely he saw that +the sprigs were bound together, not by thread or ribbon, but by long +filaments of soft brown hair tightly wound around them. He unwound a +single hair and held it to the light. Its length, color, texture, +and above all a certain inexplicable instinct, told him it was Cressy +McKinstry's. He laid it down quickly, as if he had, in that act, +familiarly touched her person. + +He finished his letter, but presently found himself again looking at +the myrtle and thinking about it. From the position in which it had been +placed it was evidently intended for him; the fancy of binding it with +hair was also intentional and not a necessity, as he knew his feminine +scholars were usually well provided with bits of thread, silk, or +ribbon. If it had been some new absurdity of childish fashion introduced +in the school, he would have noticed it ere this. For it was this +obtrusion of a personality that vaguely troubled him. He remembered +Cressy's hair; it was certainly very beautiful, in spite of her +occasional vagaries of coiffure. He recalled how, one afternoon, it had +come down when she was romping with Octavia in the play-ground, and was +surprised to find what a vivid picture he retained of her lingering in +the porch to put it up; her rounded arms held above her head, her pretty +shoulders, full throat, and glowing face thrown back, and a wisp of the +very hair between her white teeth! He began another letter. + +When it was finished the shadow of the pine-branch before the window, +thrown by the nearly level sun across his paper, had begun slowly to +reach the opposite wall. He put his work away, lingered for a moment in +hesitation over the myrtle sprays, and then locked them in his desk +with an odd feeling that he had secured in some vague way a hold upon +Cressy's future vagaries; then reflecting that Uncle Ben, whom he had +seen in town, would probably keep holiday with the others, he resolved +to wait no longer, but strolled back to the hotel. The act however had +not recalled Uncle Ben to him by any association of ideas, for since his +discovery of Johnny Filgee's caricature he had failed to detect anything +to corroborate the caricaturist's satire, and had dismissed the subject +from his mind. + +On entering his room at the hotel he found Rupert Filgee standing +moodily by the window, while his brother Johnny, overcome by a repletion +of excitement and collation, was asleep on the single arm-chair. Their +presence was not unusual, as Mr. Ford, touched by the loneliness of +these motherless boys, had often invited them to come to his rooms to +look over his books and illustrated papers. + +“Well?” he said cheerfully. + +Rupert did not reply or change his position. Mr. Ford, glancing at +him sharply, saw a familiar angry light in the boy's beautiful eyes, +slightly dimmed by a tear. Laying his hand gently on Rupert's shoulder +he said, “What's the matter, Rupert?” + +“Nothin',” said the boy doggedly, with his eyes still fixed on the pane. + +“Has--has--Mrs. Tripp” (the fair proprietress) “been unkind?” he went on +lightly. + +No reply. + +“You know, Rupe,” continued Mr. Ford demurely, “she must show SOME +reserve before company--like to-day. It won't do to make a scandal.” + +Rupert maintained an indignant silence. But the dimple (which he usually +despised as a feminine blot) on the cheek nearer the master became +slightly accented. Only for a moment; the dark eyes clouded again. + +“I wish I was dead, Mr. Ford.” + +“Hallo!” + +“Or--doin' suthin'.” + +“That's better. What do you want to do?” + +“To work--make a livin' myself. Quit toten' wood and water at home; quit +cookin' and makin' beds, like a yaller Chinaman; quit nussin' babies and +dressin' 'em and undressin' 'em, like a girl. Look at HIM now,” pointing +to the sweetly unconscious Johnny, “look at him there. Do you know what +that means? It means I've got to pack him home through the town jist ez +he is thar, and then make a fire and bile his food for him, and wash +him and undress him and put him to bed, and 'Now I lay me down to sleep' +him, and tuck him up; and Dad all the while 'scootin' round town with +other idjits, jawin' about 'progress' and the 'future of Injin Spring.' +Much future we've got over our own house, Mr. Ford. Much future he's got +laid up for me!” + +The master, to whom those occasional outbreaks from Rupert were not +unfamiliar, smiled, albeit with serious eyes that belied his lips, and +consoled the boy as he had often done before. But he was anxious to +know the cause of this recent attack and its probable relations to the +fascinating Mrs. Tripp. + +“I thought we talked all that over some time ago, Rupe. In a few months +you'll be able to leave school, and I'll advise your father about +putting you into something to give you a chance for yourself. Patience, +old fellow; you're doing very well. Consider--there's your pupil, Uncle +Ben.” + +“Oh, yes! That's another big baby to tot round in school when I ain't +niggerin' at home.” + +“And I don't see exactly what else you could do at Indian Spring,” + continued Mr. Ford. + +“No,” said Rupert gloomily, “but I could get away to Sacramento. Yuba +Bill says they take boys no bigger nor me in thar express offices or +banks--and in a year or two they're as good ez anybody and get paid +as big. Why, there was a fellow here, just now, no older than you, Mr. +Ford, and not half your learnin', and he dressed to death with jewelry, +and everybody bowin' and scrapin' to him, that it was perfectly +sickenin'.” + +Mr. Ford lifted his eyebrows. “Oh, you mean the young man of Benham and +Co., who was talking to Mrs. Tripp?” he said. + +A quick flush of angry consciousness crossed Rupert's face. “Maybe; he +has just cheek enough for anythin'.” + +“And you want to be like him?” said Mr. Ford. + +“You know what I mean, Mr. Ford. Not LIKE him. Why YOU'RE as good as +he is, any day,” continued Rupert with relentless naivete; “but if a +jay-bird like that can get on, why couldn't I?” + +There was no doubt that the master here pointed out the defectiveness +of Rupert's logic and the beneficence of patience and study, as became +their relations of master and pupil, but with the addition of a certain +fellow sympathy and some amusing recital of his own boyish experiences, +that had the effect of calling Rupert's dimples into action again. At +the end of half an hour the boy had become quite tractable, and, getting +ready to depart, approached his sleeping brother with something +like resignation. But Johnny's nap seemed to have had the effect of +transforming him into an inert jelly-like mass. It required the joint +exertions of both the master and Rupert to transfer him bodily into the +latter's arms, where, with a single limp elbow encircling his brother's +neck, he lay with his unfinished slumber still visibly distending his +cheeks, his eyelids, and even lifting his curls from his moist forehead. +The master bade Rupert “good-night,” and returned to his room as the boy +descended the stairs with his burden. + +But here Providence, with, I fear, its occasional disregard of mere +human morality, rewarded Rupert after his own foolish desires. Mrs. +Tripp was at the foot of the stairs as Rupert came slowly down. He saw +her, and was covered with shame; she saw him and his burden, and was +touched with kindliness. Whether or not she was also mischievously aware +of Rupert's admiration, and was not altogether displeased with it, I +cannot say. In a voice that thrilled him, she said:-- + +“What! Rupert, are you going so soon?” + +“Yes, ma'am---on account of Johnny.” + +“But let me take him--I can keep him here to-night.” + +It was a great temptation, but Rupert had strength to refuse, albeit +with his hat pulled over his downcast eyes. + +“Poor dear, how tired he looks.” + +She approached her still fresh and pretty face close to Rupert and laid +her lips on Johnny's cheek. Then she lifted her audacious eyes to his +brother, and pushing back his well-worn chip hat from his clustering +curls, she kissed him squarely on the forehead. + +“Good-night, dear.” + +The boy stumbled, and then staggered blindly forward into the outer +darkness. But with a gentleman's delicacy he turned almost instantly +into a side street, as if to keep this consecration of himself from +vulgar eyes. The path he had chosen was rough and weary, the night was +dark, and Johnny was ridiculously heavy, but he kept steadily on, the +woman's kiss in the fancy of the foolish boy shining on his forehead and +lighting him onward like a star. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +When the door closed on Rupert the master pulled down the blind, and, +trimming his lamp, tried to compose himself by reading. Outside, the +“Great Day for Indian Spring” was slowly evaporating in pale mists from +the river, and the celebration itself spasmodically taking flight here +and there in Roman candles and rockets. An occasional outbreak from +revellers in the bar-room below, a stumbling straggler along the +planked sidewalk before the hotel, only seemed to intensify the rustic +stillness. For the future of Indian Spring was still so remote that +Nature insensibly re-invested its boundaries on the slightest relaxation +of civic influence, and Mr. Ford lifted his head from the glowing +columns of the “Star” to listen to the far-off yelp of a coyote on the +opposite shore. + +He was also conscious of the recurrence of that vague, pleasurable +recollection, so indefinite that, when he sought to identify it with +anything--even the finding of the myrtle sprays on his desk--it evaded +him. He tried to work, with the same interruption. Then an uneasy +sensation that he had not been sufficiently kind to Rupert in his +foolish love-troubles remorsefully seized him. A half pathetic, half +humorous picture of the miserable Rupert staggering under the double +burden of his sleeping brother and a misplaced affection, or possibly +abandoning the one or both in the nearest ditch in a reckless access +of boyish frenzy and fleeing his home forever, rose before his eyes. He +seized his hat with the intention of seeking him--or forgetting him +in some other occupation by the way. For Mr. Ford had the sensitive +conscience of many imaginative people; an unfailing monitor, it was +always calling his whole moral being into play to evade it. + +As he crossed the passage he came upon Mrs. Tripp hooded and elaborately +attired in a white ball dress, which however did not, to his own fancy, +become her as well as her ordinary costume. He was passing her with a +bow, when she said, with complacent consciousness of her appearance, +“Aren't you going to the ball to-night?” + +He remembered then that “an opening ball” at the Court-house was a part +of the celebration. “No,” he said smiling; “but it is a pity that Rupert +couldn't have seen you in your charming array.” + +“Rupert,” said the lady, with a slightly coquettish laugh; “you have +made him as much a woman-hater as yourself. I offered to take him in +our party, and he ran away to you.” She paused, and giving him a furtive +critical glance said, with an easy mingling of confidence and audacity, +“Why don't YOU go? Nobody'll hurt you.” + +“I'm not so sure of that,” replied Mr. Ford gallantly. “There's the +melancholy example of Rupert always before me.” + +Mrs. Tripp tossed her chignon and descended a step of the stairs. “You'd +better go,” she continued, looking up over the balusters. “You can look +on if you can't dance.” + +Now Mr. Ford COULD dance, and it so chanced, rather well, too. With this +consciousness he remained standing in half indignant hesitation on the +landing as she disappeared. Why shouldn't he go? It was true, he had +half tacitly acquiesced in the reserve with which he had been treated, +and had never mingled socially in the gatherings of either sex at Indian +Spring--but that was no reason. He could at least dress himself, walk to +the Court-house and--look on. + +Any black coat and white shirt was sufficiently de rigueur for Indian +Spring. Mr. Ford added the superfluous elegance of a forgotten white +waistcoat. When he reached the sidewalk it was only nine o'clock, but +the windows of the Court-house were already flaring like a stranded +steamer on the barren bank where it had struck. On the way thither he +was once or twice tempted to change his mind, and hesitated even at the +very door. But the fear that his hesitation would be noticed by the +few loungers before it, and the fact that some of them were already +hesitating through bashfulness, determined him to enter. + +The clerks' office and judges' chambers on the lower floor had been +invaded by wraps, shawls, and refreshments, but the dancing was +reserved for the upper floor or courtroom, still unfinished. Flags, +laurel-wreaths, and appropriate floral inscriptions hid its bare walls; +but the coat of arms of the State, already placed over the judges' dais +with its illimitable golden sunset, its triumphant goddess, and its +implacable grizzly, seemed figuratively to typify the occasion better +than the inscriptions. The room was close and crowded. The flickering +candles in tin sconces against the walls, or depending in rude +chandeliers of barrel-hoops from the ceiling, lit up the most astounding +diversity of female costume the master had ever seen. Gowns of bygone +fashions, creased and stained with packing and disuse, toilets of +forgotten festivity revised with modern additions; garments in and out +of season--a fur-trimmed jacket and a tulle skirt, a velvet robe under +a pique sacque; fresh young faces beneath faded head-dresses, and mature +and buxom charms in virgin' white. The small space cleared for the +dancers was continually invaded by the lookers-on, who in files of three +deep lined the room. + +As the master pushed his way to the front, a young girl, who had been +standing in the sides of a quadrille, suddenly darted with a nymph-like +quickness among the crowd and was for an instant hidden. Without +distinguishing either face or figure, Mr. Ford recognized in the +quick, impetuous action a characteristic movement of Cressy's; with an +embarrassing instinct that he could not account for, he knew she had +seen him, and that, for some inexplicable reason, he was the cause of +her sudden disappearance. + +But it was only for a moment. Even while he was vaguely scanning +the crowd she reappeared and took her place beside her mystified +partner--the fascinating stranger of Johnny's devotion and Rupert's +dislike. She was pale; he had never seen her so beautiful. All that he +had thought distasteful and incongruous in her were but accessories of +her loveliness at that moment, in that light, in that atmosphere, in +that strange assembly. Even her full pink gauze dress, from which her +fair young shoulders slipped as from a sunset cloud, seemed only the +perfection of virginal simplicity; her girlish length of limb and the +long curves of her neck and back were now the outlines of thorough +breeding. The absence of color in her usually fresh face had been +replaced by a faint magnetic aurora that seemed to him half spiritual. +He could not take his eyes from her; he could not believe what he saw. +Yet that was Cressy McKinstry--his pupil! Had he ever really seen her? +Did he know her now? Small wonder that all eyes were bent upon her, that +a murmur of unspoken admiration, or still more intense hush of silence +moved the people around him. He glanced hurriedly at them, and was oddly +relieved by this evident participation in his emotions. + +She was dancing now, and with that same pale restraint and curious +quiet that had affected him so strongly. She had not even looked in +his direction, yet he was aware by the same instinct that had at first +possessed him that she knew he was present. His desire to catch her eye +was becoming mingled with a certain dread, as if in a single interchange +of glances the illusions of the moment would either vanish utterly or +become irrevocably fixed. He forced himself, when the set was finished, +to turn away, partly to avoid contact with some acquaintances who had +drifted before him, and whom politeness would have obliged him to ask to +dance, and partly to collect his thoughts. He determined to make a tour +of the rooms and then go quietly home. Those who recognized him made +way for him with passive curiosity; the middle-aged and older adding a +confidential sympathy and equality that positively irritated him. For an +instant he had an idea of seeking out Mrs. Tripp and claiming her as a +partner, merely to show her that he danced. + +He had nearly made the circuit of the room when he was surprised by the +first strains of a waltz. Waltzing was not a strong feature of Indian +Spring festivity, partly that the Church people had serious doubts if +David's saltatory performances before the Ark included “round dances,” + and partly that the young had not yet mastered its difficulties. When he +yielded to his impulse to look again at the dancers he found that only +three or four couples had been bold enough to take the floor. Cressy +McKinstry and her former partner were one of them. In his present +exaltation he was not astonished to find that she had evidently picked +up the art in her late visit, and was now waltzing with quiet grace +and precision, but he was surprised that her partner was far from being +equally perfect, and that after a few turns she stopped and smilingly +disengaged her waist from his arm. As she stepped back she turned with +unerring instinct to that part of the room where the master stood, and +raised her eyes through the multitude of admiring faces to his. Their +eyes met in an isolation as supreme as if they had been alone. It was an +attraction the more dangerous because unformulated--a possession without +previous pledge, promise, or even intention--a love that did not require +to be “made.” + +He approached her quietly and even more coolly than he thought possible. +“Will you allow me a trial?” he asked. + +She looked in his face, and as if she had not heard the question but was +following her own thought, said, “I knew you would come; I saw you when +you first came in.” Without another word she put her hand in his, and +as if it were part of an instinctive action of drawing closer to him, +caught with her advancing foot the accent of the waltz, and the next +moment the room seemed to slip away from them into whirling space. + +The whole thing had passed so rapidly from the moment he approached +her to the first graceful swing of her full skirt at his side, that it +seemed to him almost like the embrace of a lovers' meeting. He had +often been as near her before, had stood at her side at school, and even +leaned over her desk, but always with an irritated instinct of reserve +that had equally affected her, and which he now understood. With her +conscious but pale face so near his own, with the faint odor of her hair +clinging to her, and with the sweet confusion of the half lingering, +half withheld contact of her hand and arm, all had changed. He did not +dare to reflect that he could never again approach her except with this +feeling. He did not dare to think of anything; he abandoned himself to +the sense that had begun with the invasion of her hair-bound myrtle in +the silent school-room, and seemed to have at last led her to his arms. +They were moving now in such perfect rhythm and unison that they seemed +scarcely conscious of motion. Once when they neared the open window he +caught a glimpse of the round moon rising above the solemn heights of +the opposite shore, and felt the cool breath of mountain and river sweep +his cheek and mingle a few escaped threads of her fair hair with +his own. With that glimpse and that sensation the vulgarity and the +tawdriness of their surroundings, the guttering candles in their +sconces, the bizarre figures, the unmeaning faces seemed to be whirled +far into distant space. They were alone with night and nature; it was +they who were still; all else had receded in a vanishing perspective of +dull reality, in which they had no part. + +Play on, O waltz of Strauss! Whirl on, O love and youth! For you cannot +whirl so swiftly but that this receding world will return again with +narrowing circle to hem you in. Faster, O cracked clarionet! Louder, +O too brazen bassoon! Keep back, O dull and earthy environment, till +master and pupil have dreamed their foolish dream! + +They are in fancy alone on the river-bank, only the round moon above +them and their linked shadows faintly fluttering in the stream. They +have drawn so closely together now that her arm is encircling his neck, +her soft eyes uplifted like the moon's reflection and drowning into his; +closer and closer till their hearts stop beating and their lips have met +in a first kiss. Faster, O little feet! swing clear, O Cressy's skirt +and keep the narrowing circle back! . . . They are again alone; the +judges' dais and the emblazoning of the State caught in a single +whirling flash of consciousness are changed to an altar, seen dimly +through the bridal veil that covers her fair head. There is the murmur +of voices mingling two lives in one. They turn and pass proudly down +between the aisles of wondering festal faces. Ah! the circle is drawing +closer. One more quick whirl to keep them back, O flying skirt and +dainty-winged feet! Too late! The music stops. The tawdry walls shut in +again, the vulgar crowds return, they stand pale and quiet, the centre +of a ring of breathless admiring, frightened, or forbidding faces. Her +arms fold like wings at her side. The waltz is over. + +A shrill feminine chorus assail her with praises, struck here and +there with a metallic ring of envy; a dozen all-daring cavaliers, made +reckless by her grace and beauty, clamor for her hand in the next waltz. +She replies, not to them, but to him, “Not again,” and slips away in +the crowd with that strange new shyness that of all her transformations +seems the most delicious. Yet so conscious are they of their mutual +passion that they do not miss each other, and he turns away as if their +next meeting were already an appointed tryst. A few congratulate him on +his skill. Johnny's paragon looks after him curiously; certain +elders shake hands with him perplexedly, as if not quite sure of the +professional consistency of his performance. Those charming tide-waiters +on social success, the fair, artfully mingling expectation with +compliment, only extract from him the laughing statement that this +one waltz was the single exception allowed him from the rule of his +professional conduct, and he refers them to his elder critics. A single +face, loutish, looming, and vindictive, stands on among the crowd--the +face of Seth Davis. He had not seen him since he left the school; he had +forgotten his existence; even now he only remembered his successor, Joe +Masters, and he looked curiously around to see if that later suitor of +Cressy's was present. It was not until he reached the door that he began +to think seriously of Seth Davis's jealous face, and was roused to a +singular indignation. “Why hadn't this great fool vented his jealousy on +the openly compromising Masters,” he thought. He even turned and walked +back with some vaguely aggressive instinct, but the young man had +disappeared. With this incident still in his mind he came upon Uncle Ben +and Hiram McKinstry standing among the spectators in the doorway. Why +might not Uncle Ben be jealous too? and if his single waltz had really +appeared so compromising why should not Cressy's father object? But both +men--albeit, McKinstry usually exhibited a vague unreasoning contempt +for Uncle Ben--were unanimous in their congratulations and outspoken +admiration. + +“When I see'd you sail in, Mr. Ford,” said Uncle Ben, with abstract +reflectiveness, “I sez to the fellers, 'lie low, boys, and you'll see +style.' And when you put on them first steps, I sez, 'that's French--the +latest high-toned French style--outer the best masters, and--and outer +the best books. For why?' sez I. 'It's the same long, sliding stroke you +see in his copies. There's that long up sweep, and that easy curve +to the right with no hitch. That's the sorter swing he hez in readin' +po'try too. That's why it's called the po'try of motion,' sez I. 'And +you ken bet your boots, boys, it's all in the trainin' o' education.'” + +“Mr. Ford,” said Mr. McKinstry gravely, slightly waving a +lavender-colored kid glove, with which he had elected to conceal his +maimed hand, and at the same moment indicate a festal occasion: “I hev +to thank ye for the way you took out that child o' mine, like ez she woz +an ontried filly, and put her through her paces. I don't dance myself, +partikly in that gait--which I take to be suthin' betwixt a lope and a +canter and I don't get to see much dancin' nowadays on account o' bein' +worrited by stock, but seein' you two together just now, suthin' came +over me, and I don't think I ever felt so kam in my life.” + +The blood rushed to the master's cheek with an unexpected consciousness +of guilt and shame. “But,” he stammered awkwardly, “your daughter dances +beautifully herself; she has certainly had practice.” + +“That,” said McKinstry, laying his gloved hand impressively on the +master's shoulder, with the empty little finger still more emphasized by +being turned backward in the net; “that may be ez it ez, but I wanted +to say that it was the simple, easy, fammily touch that you gev it, that +took me. Toward the end, when you kinder gathered her up and she sorter +dropped her head into your breast-pocket, and seemed to go to sleep, +like ez ef she was still a little girl, it so reminded me of the times +when I used to tote her myself walkin' by the waggin at Platt River, +that it made me wish the old woman was here to see it.” + +Still coloring, the master cast a rapid, sidelong glance at McKinstry's +dark red face and beard, but in the slow satisfaction of his features +there was no trace of that irony which the master's self-consciousness +knew. + +“Then your wife is not here?” said Mr. Ford abstractedly. + +“She war at church. She reckoned that I'd do to look arter Cressy--she +bein', so to speak, under conviction. D'ye mind walkin' this way a bit; +I want to speak a word with ye?” He put his maimed hand through the +master's arm, after his former fashion, and led him to a corner. + +“Did ye happen to see Seth Davis about yer?” + +“I believe I saw him a moment ago,” returned Mr. Ford half +contemptuously. + +“Did he get off anythin' rough on ye?” + +“Certainly not,” said the master haughtily. “Why should he dare?” + +“That's so,” said McKinstry meditatively. “You had better keep right on +in that line. That's your gait, remember. Leave him--or his father--it's +the same thing--to ME. Don't YOU let yourself be roped in to this yer +row betwixt me and the Davises. You ain't got no call to do it. It's +already been on my mind your bringin' that gun to me in the Harrison +row. The old woman hadn't oughter let you--nor Cress either. Hark to me, +Mr. Ford! I reckon to stand between you and both the Davises till the +cows come home--only--mind YOU give him the go-by when he happens to +meander along towards you.” + +“I'm very much obliged to you,” said Ford with disproportionately +sudden choler; “but I don't propose to alter my habits for a ridiculous +school-boy whom I have dismissed.” The unjust and boyish petulance of +his speech instantly flashed upon him, and he felt his cheek burn again. + +McKinstry regarded him with dull, red, slumbrous eyes. “Don't you go to +lose your best holt, Mr. Ford--and that's kam. Keep your kam--and you've +allus got the dead wood on Injin Springs. I ain't got it,” he continued, +in his slowest, most passionless manner, “and a row more or less ain't +much account to me--but YOU, you keep your kam.” He paused, stepped +back, and regarding the master, with a slight wave of his crippled hand +over his whole person, as if indicating some personal adornment, said, +“It sets you off!” + +He nodded, turned, and re-entered the ball-room. Mr. Ford, without +trusting himself to further speech, elbowed his way through the crowded +staircase to the street. But even there his strange anger, as well +as the equally strange remorse, which had seized him in McKinstry's +presence, seemed to evaporate in the clear moonlight and soft summer +air. There was the river-bank, with the tremulous river glancing through +the dreamy mist, as they had seen it from the window together. He even +turned to look back on the lighted ball-room, as if SHE might have been +looking out, too. But he knew he should see her again to-morrow, and +he hurriedly put aside all reserve, all thought of the future, all +examination of his conduct, to walk home enwrapped in the vaguer +pleasure of the past. Rupert Filgee, to whom he had never given a second +thought, now peacefully slumbering beside his baby brother, had not gone +home in more foolish or more dangerous company. + +When he reached the hotel, he was surprised to find it only eleven +o'clock. No one had returned, the building was deserted by all but the +bar-keeper and a flirting chambermaid, who regarded him with aggrieved +astonishment. He began to feel very foolish, and half regretted that +he had not stayed to dance with Mrs. Tripp; or, at least, remained as +a quiet onlooker apart from the others. With a hasty excuse about +returning to write letters for the morning's post, he took a candle +and slowly remounted the stairs to his room. But on entering he found +himself unprepared for that singular lack of sympathy with which +familiar haunts always greet our new experiences; he could hardly +believe that he had left that room only two hours before; it seemed so +uncongenial and strange to the sensation that was still possessing him. +Yet there were his table, his books, his arm-chair, his bed as he had +left them; even a sticky fragment of gingerbread that had fallen from +Johnny's pocket. He had not yet reached that stage of absorbing passion +where he was able to put the loved one in his own surroundings; she +as yet had no place in this quiet room; he could scarcely think of +her here, and he MUST think of her, if he had to go elsewhere. An +extravagant idea of walking the street until his restless dream was over +seized him, but even in his folly the lackadaisical, moonstruck quality +of such a performance was too obvious. The school-house! He would go +there; it was only a pleasant walk, the night was lovely, and he could +bring the myrtle-spray from his desk. It was too significant now--if not +too precious--to be kept there. Perhaps he had not examined it closely, +nor the place where it had lain; there might be an additional sign, +word, or token he had overlooked. The thought thrilled him, even while +he was calmly arguing to himself that it was an instinct of caution. + +The air was quieter and warmer than usual, though still characteristic +of the locality in its dry, dewless clarity. The grass was yet warm +from the day-long sun, and when he entered the pines that surrounded +the schoolhouse, they had scarcely yet lost their spicy heat. The moon, +riding high, filled the dark aisles with a delicious twilight that lent +itself to his waking dreams. It was not long before to-morrow; he could +easily manage to bring her here in the grove at recess, and would speak +with her there. It did not occur to him what he should say, or why he +should say it; it did not occur to him that he had no other provocation +than her eyes, her conscious manner, her eloquent silence, and her +admission that she had expected him. It did not occur to him that +all this was inconsistent with what he knew of her antecedents, her +character, and her habits. It was this very inconsistency that charmed +and convinced him. We are always on the lookout for these miracles +of passion. We may doubt the genuineness of an affection that is +first-hand, but never of one that is transferred. + +He approached the school-house and unlocking the door closed it behind +him, not so much to keep out human intrusion as the invasion of bats +and squirrels. The nearly vertical moon, while it perfectly lit the +playground and openings in the pines around the house, left the interior +in darkness, except the reflection upon the ceiling from the shining +gravel without. Partly from a sense of precaution and partly because +he was familiar with the position of the benches, he did not strike a +light, and reached his own desk unerringly, drew his chair before it and +unlocked it, groped in its dark recess for the myrtle spray, felt its +soft silken binding with an electrical thrill, drew it out, and in the +security of the darkness, raised it to his lips. + +To make room for it in his breast pocket he was obliged to take out his +letters--among them the well-worn one he had tried to read that morning. +A mingling of pleasure and remorse came over him as he felt that it was +already of the past, and as he dropped it carelessly into the empty desk +it fell with a faint, hollow sound as if it were ashes to ashes. + +What was that? + +The noise of steps upon the gravel, light laughter, the moving of two or +three shadows on the ceiling, the sound of voices, a man's, a child's, +and HERS! + +Could it be possible? Was not he mistaken? No! the man's voice was +Masters'; the child's, Octavia's; the woman's, HERS. + +He remained silent in the shadow. The school-room was not far from the +trail where she would have had to pass going home from the ball. But +why had she come there? had they seen him arrive? and were mischievously +watching him? The sound of Cressy's voice and the lifting of the +unprotected window near the door convinced him to the contrary. + +“There, that'll do. Now you two can step aside. 'Tave, take him over to +yon fence, and keep him there till I get in. No--thank you, sir--I can +assist myself. I've done it before. It ain't the first time I've been +through this window, is it, 'Tave?” + +Ford's heart stopped beating. There was a moment of laughing +expostulation, the sound of retreating voices, the sudden darkening of +the window, the billowy sweep of a skirt, the faint quick flash of +a little ankle, and Cressy McKinstry swung herself into the room and +dropped lightly on the floor. + +She advanced eagerly up the moonlit passage between the two rows of +benches. Suddenly she stopped; the master rose at the same moment with +outstretched warning hand to check the cry of terror he felt sure would +rise to her lips. But he did not know the lazy nerves of the girl before +him. She uttered no outcry. And even in the faint dim light he could see +only the same expression of conscious understanding come over her face +that he had seen in the ball-room, mingled with a vague joy that parted +her breathless lips. As he moved quickly forward their hands met; she +caught his with a quick significant pressure and darted back to the +window. + +“Oh, 'Tave!” (very languidly.) + +“Yes.” + +“You two had better wait for me at the edge of the trail yonder, and +keep a lookout for folks going by. Don't let them see you hanging round +so near. Do you hear? I'm all right.” + +With her hand still meaningly lifted, she stood gazing at the two +figures until they slowly receded towards the distant trail. Then she +turned as he approached her, the reflection of the moonlit road striking +up into her shining eyes and eager waiting face. A dozen questions were +upon his lips, a dozen replies were ready upon hers. But they were never +uttered, for the next moment her eyes half closed, she leaned forward +and fell--into a kiss. + +She was the first to recover, holding his face in her hands, turned +towards the moonlight, her own in passionate shadow. “Listen,” she said +quickly. “They think I came here to look for something I left in my +desk. They thought it high fun to come with me--these two. I did come to +look for something--not in my desk, but yours.” + +“Was it this?” he whispered, taking the myrtle from his breast. She +seized it with a light cry, putting it first to her lips and then to +his. Then clasping his face again between her soft palms, she turned it +to the window and said: “Look at them and not at me.” + +He did so--seeing the two figures slowly walking in the trail. And +holding her there firmly against his breast, it seemed a blasphemy to +ask the question that had been upon his lips. + +“That's not all,” she murmured, moving his face backwards and forwards +to her lips as if it were something to which she was giving breath. +“When we came to the woods I felt that you would be here.” + +“And feeling that, you brought HIM?” said Ford, drawing back. + +“Why not?” she replied indolently. “Even if he had seen you, I could +have managed to have you walk home with me.” + +“But do you think it's quite fair? Would he like it?” + +“Would HE like it?” she echoed lazily. + +“Cressy,” said the young man earnestly, gazing into her shadowed face. +“Have you given him any right to object? Do you understand me?” + +She stopped as if thinking. “Do you want me to call him in?” she said +quietly, but without the least trace of archness or coquetry. “Would you +rather he were here--or shall we go out now and meet him? I'll say you +just came as I was going out.” + +What should he say? “Cressy,” he asked almost curtly, “do you love me?” + +It seemed such a ridiculous thing to ask, holding her thus in his arms, +if it were true; it seemed such a villainous question, if it were not. + +“I think I loved you when you first came,” she said slowly. “It must +have been that that made me engage myself to him,” she added simply. “I +knew I loved you, and thought only of you when I was away. I came back +because I loved you. I loved you the day you came to see Maw--even when +I thought you came to tell her of Masters, and to say that you couldn't +take me back.” + +“But you don't ask me if I love you?” + +“But you do--you couldn't help it now,” she said confidently. + +What could he do but reply as illogically with a closer embrace, albeit +a slight tremor as if a cold wind had blown across the open window, +passed over him. She may have felt it too, for she presently said, “Kiss +me and let me go.” + +“But we must have a longer talk, darling--when--when--others are not +waiting.” + +“Do you know the far barn near the boundary?” she asked. + +“Yes.” + +“I used to take your books there, afternoons to--to--be with you,” she +whispered, “and Paw gave orders that no one was to come nigh it while I +was there. Come to-morrow, just before sundown.” + +A long embrace followed, in which all that they had not said seemed, +to them at least, to become articulate on their tremulous and clinging +lips. Then they separated, he unlocking the door softly to give her +egress that way. She caught up a book from a desk in passing, and +then slipped like a rosy shaft of the coming dawn across the fading +moonlight, and a moment after her slow voice, without a tremor of +excitement, was heard calling to her companions. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +The conversation which Johnny Filgee had overheard between Uncle Ben and +the gorgeous stranger, although unintelligible to his infant mind, was +fraught with some significance to the adult settlers of Indian Spring. +The town itself, like most interior settlements, was originally a +mining encampment, and as such its founders and settlers derived their +possession of the soil under the mining laws that took precedence of all +other titles. But although that title was held to be good even after +the abandonment of their original occupation, and the establishment of +shops, offices, and dwellings on the site of the deserted places, the +suburbs of the town and outlying districts were more precariously held +by squatters, under the presumption of their being public land open to +preemption, or the settlement of school-land warrants upon them. Few of +the squatters had taken the trouble to perfect even these easy titles, +merely holding “possession” for agricultural or domiciliary purposes, +and subject only to the invasion of “jumpers,” a class of adventurers +who, in the abeyance of recognized legal title, “jumped” or forcibly +seized such portions of a squatter's domains as were not protected by +fencing or superior force. It was therefore with some excitement that +Indian Spring received the news that a Mexican grant of three square +leagues, which covered the whole district, had been lately confirmed by +the Government, and that action would be taken to recover possession. It +was understood that it would not affect the adverse possessions held +by the town under the mining laws, but it would compel the adjacent +squatters like McKinstry, Davis, Masters, and Filgee, and jumpers like +the Harrisons, to buy the legal title, or defend a slow but +losing lawsuit. The holders of the grant--rich capitalists of San +Francisco--were open to compromise to those in actual possession, and +in the benefits of this compromise the unscrupulous “jumper,” who had +neither sown nor reaped, but simply dispossessed the squatter who had +done both, shared equally with him. + +A diversity of opinion as to the effect of the new claim naturally +obtained; the older settlers still clung to their experiences of an +easy aboriginal holding of the soil, and were sceptical both as to +the validity and justice of these revived alien grants; but the newer +arrivals hailed this certain tenure of legal titles as a guarantee to +capital and an incentive to improvement. There was also a growing and +influential party of Eastern and Northern men, who were not sorry to see +a fruitful source of dissension and bloodshed removed. The feuds of the +McKinstrys and Harrisons, kept alive over a boundary to which neither +had any legal claim, would seem to bring them hereafter within +the statute law regarding ordinary assaults without any ethical +mystification. On the other hand McKinstry and Harrison would each be +able to arrange any compromise with the new title holders for the +lands they possessed, or make over that “actual possession” for a +consideration. It was feared that both men, being naturally lawless, +would unite to render any legal eviction a long and dangerous process, +and that they would either be left undisturbed till the last, or would +force a profitable concession. But a greater excitement followed when it +was known that a section of the land had already been sold by the owners +of the grant, that this section exactly covered the debatable land of +the McKinstry-Harrison boundaries, and that the new landlord would at +once attempt its legal possession. The inspiration of genius that had +thus effected a division of the Harrison-McKinstry combination at its +one weak spot excited even the admiration of the sceptics. No one in +Indian Spring knew its real author, for the suit was ostensibly laid in +the name of a San Francisco banker. But the intelligent reader of +Johnny Filgee's late experience during the celebration will have already +recognized Uncle Ben as the man, and it becomes a part of this +veracious chronicle at this moment to allow him to explain, not only +his intentions, but the means by which he carried them out, in his own +words. + +It was one afternoon at the end of his usual solitary lesson, and the +master and Uncle Ben were awaiting the arrival of Rupert. Uncle Ben's +educational progress lately, through dint of slow tenacity, had somewhat +improved, and he had just completed from certain forms and examples in +a book before him a “Letter to a Consignee” informing him that he, Uncle +Ben, had just shipped “2 cwt. Ivory Elephant Tusks, 80 peculs of rice +and 400bbls. prime mess pork from Indian Spring;” and another beginning +“Honored Madam,” and conveying in admirably artificial phraseology the +“lamented decease” of the lady's husband from yellow fever, contracted +on the Gold Coast, and Uncle Ben was surveying his work with critical +satisfaction when the master, somewhat impatiently, consulted his watch. +Uncle Ben looked up. + +“I oughter told ye that Rupe didn't kalkilate to come to day.” + +“Indeed--why not?” + +“I reckon because I told him he needn't. I allowed to--to hev a little +private talk with ye, Mr. Ford, if ye didn't mind.” + +Mr. Ford's face did not shine with invitation. “Very well,” he said, +“only remember I have an engagement this afternoon.” + +“But that ain't until about sundown,” said Uncle Ben quietly. “I won't +keep ye ez long ez that.” + +Mr. Ford glanced quickly at Uncle Ben with a rising color. “What do you +know of my engagements?” he said sharply. + +“Nothin', Mr. Ford,” returned Uncle Ben simply; “but hevin' bin layin' +round, lookin' for ye here and at the hotel for four or five days allus +about that time and not findin' you, I rather kalkilated you might hev +suthin' reg'lar on hand.” + +There was certainly nothing in his face or manner to indicate the least +evasion or deceit, or indeed anything but his usual naivete, perhaps a +little perturbed and preoccupied by what he was going to say. “I had an +idea of writin' you a letter,” he continued, “kinder combinin' practice +and confidential information, you know. To be square with you, Mr. Ford, +in pint o' fact, I've got it HERE. But ez it don't seem to entirely gibe +with the facts, and leaves a heap o' things onsaid and onseen, perhaps +it's jest ez wall ez I read it to you myself--putten' in a word here and +there, and explainin' it gin'rally. Do you sabe?” + +The master nodded, and Uncle Ben drew from his desk a rude portfolio +made from the two covers of a dilapidated atlas, and took from between +them a piece of blotting-paper, which through inordinate application +had acquired the color and consistency of a slate, and a few pages +of copy-book paper, that to the casual glance looked like sheets +of exceedingly difficult music. Surveying them with a blending of +chirographic pride, orthographic doubt, and the bashful consciousness of +a literary amateur, he traced each line with a forefinger inked to the +second joint, and slowly read aloud as follows:-- + +“'Mr. Ford, Teacher. + +“'DEAR SIR,--Yours of the 12th rec'd and contents noted.'” (“I did'nt,” + explained Uncle Ben parenthetically, “receive any letter of yours, but I +thought I might heave in that beginning from copy for practice. The +rest is ME.”) “'In refference to my having munney,”' continued Uncle Ben +reading and pointing each word as he read, “'and being able to buy Ditch +Stocks an' Land'”-- + +“One moment,” said Mr. Ford interrupting, “I thought you were going to +leave out copy. Come to what you have to say.” + +“But I HEV--this is all real now. Hold on and you'll see,” said Uncle +Ben. He resumed with triumphant emphasis:-- + +“'When it were gin'rally allowed that I haddent a red cent, I want to +explain to you Mister Ford for the first time a secret. This here is how +it was done. When I first came to Injian Spring, I settled down into +the old Palmetto claim, near a heap of old taillings. Knowin' it were +against rools, and reg'lar Chinyman's bizness to work them I diddn't +let on to enyboddy what I did--witch wos to turn over some of the quarts +what I thought was likely and Orrifferus. Doing this I kem uppon some +pay ore which them Palmetto fellers had overlookt, or more likely had +kaved in uppon them from the bank onknown. Workin' at it in od times by +and large, sometimes afore sun up and sometimes after sundown, and all +the time keeping up a day's work on the clame for a show to the boys, I +emassed a honist fortun in 2 years of 50,000 dolers and still am. But +it will be askd by the incredjulos Reeder How did you never let out +anything to Injian Spring, and How did you get rid of your yeald? Mister +Ford, the Anser is I took it twist a month on hoss back over to La +Port and sent it by express to a bank in Sacramento, givin' the name of +Daubigny, witch no one in La Port took for me. The Ditch Stok and the +Land was all took in the same name, hens the secret was onreviled to +the General Eye--stop a minit,'” he interrupted himself quickly as the +master in an accession of impatient scepticism was about to break in +upon him, “it ain't all.” Then dropping his voice to a tremulous and +almost funereal climax, he went on:-- + +“'Thus we see that pashent indurstry is Rewarded in Spite of Mining +Rools and Reggylashuns, and Predgudisses agin Furrin Labor is played out +and fleeth like a shad-or contenueyeth not long in One Spot, and that a +Man may apear to be off no Account and yet Emass that witch is far abov +rubles and Fadith not Away. + +“'Hoppin' for a continneyance + +“'of your fevors I remain, + +“'Yours to command, + +“'BENJ D'AUBIGNY.”' + + +The gloomy satisfaction with which Uncle Ben regarded this peroration--a +satisfaction that actually appeared to be equal to the revelation +itself--only corroborated the master's indignant doubts. + +“Come,” he said, impulsively taking the paper from Uncle Ben's reluctant +hand, “how much of this is a concoction of yours and Rupe's--and how +much is a true story? Do you really mean?”-- + +“Hold on, Mr. Ford!” interrupted Uncle Ben, suddenly fumbling in the +breast-pocket of his red shirt, “I reckoned on your being a little hard +with me, remembering our first talk 'bout these things--so I allowed I'd +bring you some proof.” Slowly extracting a long legal envelope from his +pocket, he opened it, and drew out two or three crisp certificates of +stock, and handed them to the master. + +“Ther's one hundred shares made out to Benj Daubigny. I'd hev brought +you over the deed of the land too, but ez it's rather hard to read +off-hand, on account of the law palaver, I've left it up at the shanty +to tackle at odd times by way of practising. But ef you like we'll go up +thar, and I'll show it to you.” + +Still haunted by his belief in Uncle Ben's small duplicities, Mr. Ford +hesitated. These were certainly bona fide certificates of stock made out +to “Daubigny.” But he had never actually accepted Uncle Ben's +statement of his identity with that person, and now it was offered as a +corroboration of a still more improbable story. He looked at Uncle Ben's +simple face slightly deepening in color under his scrutiny--perhaps with +conscious guilt. + +“Have you made anybody your confidant? Rupe, for instance?” he asked +significantly. + +“In course not,” replied Uncle Ben with a slight stiffening of wounded +pride. “On'y yourself, Mr. Ford, and the young feller Stacey from the +bank--ez was obligated to know it. In fact, I wos kalkilatin' to ask you +to help me talk to him about that yer boundary land.” + +Mr. Ford's scepticism was at last staggered. Any practical joke or +foolish complicity between the agent of the bank and a man like +Uncle Ben was out of the question, and if the story were his own sole +invention, he would have scarcely dared to risk so accessible and +uncompromising a denial as the agent had it in his power to give. + +He held out his hand to Uncle Ben. “Let me congratulate you,” he said +heartily, “and forgive me if your story really sounded so wonderful I +couldn't quite grasp it. Now let me ask you something more. Have you had +any reason for keeping this a secret, other than your fear of confessing +that you violated a few bigoted and idiotic mining rules--which, after +all, are binding only upon sentiment--and which your success has proved +to be utterly impractical?” + +“There WAS another reason, Mr. Ford,” said Uncle Ben, wiping away an +embarrassed smile with the back of his hand, “that is, to be square with +you, WHY I thought of consultin' you. I didn't keer to have McKinstry, +and”--he added hurriedly, “in course Harrison, too, know that I bought +up the title to thur boundary.” + +“I understand,” nodded the master. “I shouldn't think you would.” + +“Why shouldn't ye?” asked Uncle Ben quickly. + +“Well--I don't suppose you care to quarrel with two passionate men.” + +Uncle Ben's face changed. Presently, however, with his hand to his face, +he managed to manipulate another smile, only it appeared for the purpose +of being as awkwardly wiped away. + +“Say ONE passionate man, Mr. Ford.” + +“Well, one if you like,” returned the master cheerfully. “But for the +matter of that, why any? Come--do you mind telling me why you bought +the land at all? You know it's of little value to any but McKinstry and +Harrison.” + +“Soppose,” said Uncle Ben slowly, with a great affectation of wiping his +ink-spotted desk with his sleeve, “soppose that I had got kinder tired +of seein' McKinstry and Harrison allus fightin' and scrimmagin' over +their boundary line. Soppose I kalkilated that it warn't the sort o' +thing to induce folks to settle here. Soppose I reckoned that by gettin' +the real title in my hands I'd have the deadwood on both o' them, and +settle the thing my own way, eh?” + +“That certainly was a very laudable intention,” returned Mr. Ford, +observing Uncle Ben curiously, “and from what you said just now about +one passionate man, I suppose you have determined already WHO to favor. +I hope your public spirit will be appreciated by Indian Spring at +least--if it isn't by those two men.” + +“You lay low and keep dark and you'll see,” returned his companion with +a hopefulness of speech which his somewhat anxious eagerness however did +not quite bear out. “But you're not goin' yet, surely,” he added, as the +master again absently consulted his watch. “It's on'y half past four. +It's true thar ain't any more to tell,” he added simply, “but I had an +idea that you might hev took to this yer little story of mine more than +you 'pear to be, and might be askin' questions and kinder bedevlin' me +with jokes ez to what I was goin' to do--and all that. But p'raps it +don't seem so wonderful to you arter all. Come to think of it--squarely +now,” he said, with a singular despondency, “I'm rather sick of it +myself--eh?” + +“My dear old boy,” said Ford, grasping both his hands, with a swift +revulsion of shame at his own utterly selfish abstraction, “I am +overjoyed at your good luck. More than that, I can say honestly, old +fellow, that it couldn't have fallen in more worthy hands, or to any one +whose good fortune would have pleased me more. There! And if I've been +slow and stupid in taking it in, it is because it's so wonderful, so +like a fairy tale of virtue rewarded--as if you were a kind of male +Cinderella, old man!” He had no intention of lying--he had no belief +that he was: he had only forgotten that his previous impressions +and hesitations had arisen from the very fact that he DID doubt the +consistency of the story with his belief in Uncle Ben's weakness. But he +thought himself now so sincere that the generous reader, who no doubt +is ready to hail the perfect equity of his neighbor's good luck, will +readily forgive him. + +In the plenitude of this sincerity, Ford threw himself at full length +on one of the long benches, and with a gesture invited Uncle Ben to make +himself equally at his ease. “Come,” he said with boyish gayety, “let's +hear your plans, old man. To begin with, who's to share them with +you? Of course there are 'the old folks at home' first; then you have +brothers--and perhaps sisters?” He stopped and glanced with a smile +at Uncle Ben; the idea of there being a possible female of his species +struck his fancy. + +Uncle Ben, who had hitherto always exercised a severe restraint--partly +from respect and partly from caution--over his long limbs in the +school-house, here slowly lifted one leg over another bench, and sat +himself astride of it, leaning forward on his elbow, his chin resting +between his hands. + +“As far as the old folks goes, Mr. Ford, I'm a kind of an orphan.” + +“A KIND of orphan?” echoed Ford. + +“Yes,” said Uncle Ben, leaning heavily on his chin, so that the action +of his jaws with the enunciation of each word slightly jerked his head +forward as if he were imparting confidential information to the bench +before him. “Yes, that is, you see, I'm all right ez far as the old man +goes--HE'S dead; died way back in Mizzouri. But ez to my mother, it's +sorter betwixt and between--kinder unsartain. You see, Mr. Ford, she +went off with a city feller--an entire stranger to me--afore the old +man died, and that's wot broke up my schoolin'. Now whether she's here, +there, or yon, can't be found out, though Squire Tompkins allowed--and +he were a lawyer--that the old man could get a divorce if he wanted, and +that you see would make me a whole orphan, ef I keerd to prove title, +ez the lawyers say. Well--thut sorter lets the old folks out. Then +my brother was onc't drowned in the North Platt, and I never had any +sisters. That don't leave much family for plannin' about--does it?” + +“No,” said the master reflectively, gazing at Uncle Ben, “unless you +avail yourself of your advantages now and have one of your own. I +suppose now that you are rich, you'll marry.” + +Uncle Ben slightly changed his position, and then with his finger and +thumb began to apparently feed himself with certain crumbs which had +escaped from the children's luncheon-baskets and were still lying on +the bench. Intent on this occupation and without raising his eyes to the +master, he returned slowly, “Well, you see, I'm sorter married already.” + +The master sat up quickly. + +“What, YOU married--now?” + +“Well, perhaps that's a question. It's a good deal like my beein' an +orphan--oncertain and onsettled.” He paused to pursue an evasive crumb +to the end of the bench and having captured it, went on: “It was when I +was younger than you be, and she warn't very old neither. But she knew +a heap more than I did; and ez to readin' and writin', she was thar, +I tell you, every time. You'd hev admired to see her, Mr. Ford.” As +he paused here as if he had exhausted the subject, the master said +impatiently, “Well, where is she now?” + +Uncle Ben shook his head slowly. “I ain't seen her sens I left Mizzouri, +goin' on five years ago.” + +“But why haven't you? What was the matter?” persisted the master. + +“Well--you see--I runned away. Not SHE, you know, but I--I scooted, +skedaddled out here.” + +“But what for?” asked the master, regarding Uncle Ben with hopeless +wonder. “Something must have happened. What was it? Was she”-- + +“She WAS a good schollard,” said Uncle Ben gravely, “and allowed to be +sech, by all. She stood about so high,” he continued, indicating with +his hand a medium height. “War little and dark complected.” + +“But you must have had some reason for leaving her?” + +“I've sometimes had an idea,” said Uncle Ben cautiously, “that mebbee +runnin' away ran in some fam'lies. Now, there war my mother run off with +an entire stranger, and yer's me ez run off by myself. And what makes +it the more one-like is that jest as dad allus allowed he could get a +devorce agin mother, so my wife could hev got one agin me for leavin' +her. And it's almost an evenhanded game that she hez. It's there where +the oncertainty comes in.” + +“But are you satisfied to remain in this doubt? or do you propose, now +that you are able, to institute a thorough search for her?” + +“I was kalkilatin' to look around a little,” said Uncle Ben simply. + +“And return to her if you find her?” continued the master. + +“I didn't say that, Mr. Ford.” + +“But if she hasn't got a divorce from you that's what you'll have to do, +and what you ought to do--if I understand your story. For by your own +showing, a more causeless, heartless, and utterly inexcusable desertion +than yours, I never heard of.” + +“Do you think so?” said Uncle Ben with exasperating simplicity. + +“Do I think so?” repeated Mr. Ford, indignantly. “Everybody'll think so. +They can't think otherwise. You say you deserted her, and you admit she +did nothing to provoke it.” + +“No,” returned Uncle Ben quickly, “nothin'. Did I tell you, Mr. Ford, +that she could play the pianner and sing?” + +“No,” said Mr. Ford, curtly, rising impatiently and crossing the room. +He was more than half convinced that Uncle Ben was deceiving him. Either +under the veil of his hide-bound simplicity he was an utterly selfish, +heartless, secretive man, or else he was telling an idiotic falsehood. + +“I'm sorry I can neither congratulate you nor condole with you on what +you have just told me. I cannot see that you have the least excuse for +delaying a single moment to search for your wife and make amends for +your conduct. And if you want my opinion it strikes me as being a much +more honorable way of employing your new riches than mediating in your +neighbors' squabbles. But it's getting late and I'm afraid we must +bring our talk to an end. I hope you'll think this over before we meet +again--and think differently.” + +Nevertheless, as they both left the schoolhouse, Mr. Ford lingered over +the locking of the door to give Uncle Ben a final chance for further +explanation. But none came. The new capitalist of Indian Spring regarded +him with an intensification of his usual half sad, half embarrassed +smile, and only said: “You understand this yer's a secret, Mr. Ford?” + +“Certainly,” said Ford with ill-concealed irritation. + +“'Bout my bein' sorter married?” + +“Don't be alarmed,” he responded dryly; “it's not a taking story.” + +They separated; Uncle Ben, more than ever involved in his usual +unsatisfactory purposes, wending his way towards his riches; the master +lingering to observe his departure before he plunged, in virtuous +superiority, into the woods that fringed the Harrison and McKinstry +boundaries. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +The religious attitude which Mrs. McKinstry had assumed towards her +husband's weak civilized tendencies was not entirely free from human +rancor. That strong loyal nature which had unsexed itself in the one +idea of duty, now that duty seemed to be no longer appreciated took +refuge in her forgotten womanhood and in the infinitesimally small +arguments, resources, and manoeuvres at its command. She had conceived a +singular jealousy of this daughter who had changed her husband's nature, +and who had supplanted the traditions of the household life; she had +acquired an exaggerated depreciation of those feminine charms which +had never been a factor in her own domestic happiness. She saw in her +husband's desire to mitigate the savage austerities of their habits +only a weak concession to the powers of beauty and adornment--degrading +vanities she had never known in their life-long struggle for frontier +supremacy--that had never brought them victorious out of that struggle. +“Frizzles,” “furblows,” and “fancy fixin's” had never helped them in +their exodus across the plains; had never taken the place of swift eyes, +quick ears, strong hands, and endurance; had never nursed the sick or +bandaged the wounded. When envy or jealousy invades the female heart +after forty it is apt to bring a bitterness which knows no attenuating +compensation in that coquetry, emulation, passionate appeal, or innocent +tenderness, which makes tolerable the jealous caprices of the younger +woman. The struggle for rivalry is felt to be hopeless, the power of +imitation is gone. Of her forgotten womanhood Mrs. McKinstry revived +only a capacity to suffer meanly and inflict mean suffering upon others. +In the ruined castle of her youth, and the falling in of banqueting hall +and bower, the dungeon and torture-chamber appeared to have been left, +or, to use her own metaphor, she had querulously complained to the +parson that, “Accordin' to some folks, she mout hev bin the barren +fig-tree e-lected to bear persimmums.” + +Her methods were not entirely different from those employed by her +suffering sisterhood in like emergencies. The unlucky Hiram, “worrited +by stock,” was hardly placated or consoled by learning from her that it +was only the result of his own weakness, acting upon the 'cussedness of +the stock-dispersing Harrisons; the perplexity into which he was thrown +by the news of the new legal claim to his land was not soothed by the +suggestion that it was a trick of that Yankee civilization to which he +was meanly succumbing. She who had always been a rough but devoted nurse +in sickness was now herself overtaken by vague irregular disorders which +involved the greatest care and the absence of all exciting causes. +The attendance of McKinstry and Cressy at a “crazy quilting party” had +brought on “blind chills;” the importation of a melodeon for Cressy to +play on had superinduced an “innerd rash,” and a threatened attack of +“palsy creeps” had only been warded off by the timely postponement of +an evening party suggested by her daughter. The old nomadic instinct, +morbidly excited by her discontent, caused her to lay artful plans for +a further emigration. She knew she had the germs of “mash fever” caught +from the adjacent river; she related mysterious information, gathered +in “class meeting,” of the superior facilities for stock raising on the +higher foot-hills; she resuscitated her dead and gone Missouri relations +in her daily speech, to a manifest invidious comparison with the living; +she revived even the incidents of her early married life with the same +baleful intent. The acquisition of a few “biled shirts” by Hiram for +festive appearances with Cressy painfully reminded her that he had +married her in “hickory;” she further accented the change by herself +appearing in her oldest clothes, on the hypothesis that it was necessary +for some one to keep up the traditions of the past. + +Her attitude towards Cressy would have been more decided had she ever +possessed the slightest influence over her, or had even understood her +with the intuitive sympathies of the maternal relations. Yet she went +so far as to even openly regret the breaking off of the match with Seth +Davis, whose family, at least, still retained the habits and traditions +she revered; but she was promptly silenced by her husband informing her +that words “that had to be tuk back” had already passed between him and +Seth's father, and that, according to those same traditions, blood was +more likely to be spilled than mingled. Whether she was only withheld +from attempting a reconciliation herself through lack of tact and +opportunity remains to be seen. For the present she encouraged Masters's +attentions under a new and vague idea that a flirtation which distracted +Cressy from her studies was displeasing to McKinstry and inimical to +his plans. Blindly ignorant of Mr. Ford's possible relations to her +daughter, and suspecting nothing, she felt towards him only a dull +aversion as being the senseless pivot of her troubles. Seeing no one, +and habitually closing her ears to any family allusion to Cressy's +social triumphs, she was unaware of even the popular admiration their +memorable waltz had excited. + +On the morning of the day that Uncle Ben had confided to the master +his ingenious plan for settling the boundary disputes, the barking +of McKinstry's yellow dog announced the approach of a stranger to the +ranch. It proved to be Mr. Stacey--not only as dazzlingly arrayed +as when he first rose above Johnny Filgee's horizon, but wearing, in +addition to his jaunty business air, a look of complacent expectation of +the pretty girl whom he had met at the ball. He had not seen her for a +month. It was a happy inspiration of his own that enabled him to present +himself that morning in the twin functions of a victorious Mercury and +Apollo. + +McKinstry had to be summoned from an adjacent meadow, while Cressy, in +the mean time, undertook to entertain the gallant stranger. This was +easily done. It was part of her fascinations that, disdaining the +ordinary real or assumed ignorance of the ingenue of her class, she +generally exhibited to her admirers (with perhaps the single exception +of the master) a laughing consciousness of the state of mind into which +her charms had thrown them. She understood their passion if she could +not accept it. This to a bashful rustic community was helpful, but in +the main unsatisfactory; with advances so promptly unmasked, the most +strategic retreat was apt to become an utter rout. Leaning against the +lintel of the door, her curved hand shading the sparkling depths of +her eyes, and the sunlight striking down upon the pretty curves of her +languid figure, she awaited the attack. + +“I haven't seen you, Miss Cressy, since we danced together--a month +ago.” + +“That was mighty rough papers,” said Cressy, who was purposely +dialectical to strangers, “considering that you trapsed up and down the +lane, past the house, twice yesterday.” + +“Then you saw me?” said the young man, with a slightly discomfited +laugh. + +“I did. And so did the hound, and so, I reckon, did Joe Masters and the +hired man. And when you pranced back on the home stretch, there was +the hound, Masters, the hired man, and Maw all on your trail, and Paw +bringin' up the rear with a shot-gun. There was about a half a mile of +you altogether.” She removed her hand from her eyes to indicate with a +lazily graceful sweep this somewhat imaginative procession, and laughed. + +“You are certainly well guarded,” said Stacey hesitatingly; “and looking +at you, Miss Cressy,” he added boldly, “I don't wonder at it.” + +“Well, it IS reckoned that next to Paw's boundaries I'm pretty well +protected from squatters and jumpers.” + +Forceful and quaint as her language was, the lazy sweetness of her +intonation, and the delicate refinement of her face, more than atoned +for it. It was unconventional and picturesque as her gestures. So at +least thought Mr. Stacey, and it emboldened him to further gallantry. + +“Well, Miss Cressy, as my business with your father to-day was to try to +effect a compromise of his boundary claims, perhaps you might accept my +services in your own behalf.” + +“Which means,” responded the young lady pertly, “the same thing to ME +as to Paw. No trespassers but yourself. Thank you, sir.” She twirled +lightly on her heel and dropped him that exaggerated curtsey known to +the school-children as a “cheese.” It permitted in its progress the +glimpse of a pretty little slipper which completed his subjugation. + +“Well, if it's only a fair compromise,” he began laughingly. + +“Compromise means somebody giving up. Who is it?” she asked. + +The infatuated Stacey had reached the point of thinking this repartee if +possible more killing than his own. + +“Ha! That's for Miss Cressy to say.” + +But the young lady leaning back against the lintel with the comfortable +ease of being irresponsibly diverted, sagely pointed out that that was +the function of the arbitrator. + +“Ah well, suppose we begin by giving up Seth Davis, eh? You see that I'm +pretty well posted, Miss Cressy.” + +“You alarm me,” said Cressy sweetly. “But I reckon he HAD given up.” + +“He was in the running that night at the ball. Looked half savage while +I was dancing with you. Wanted to eat me.” + +“Poor Seth! And he used to be SO particular in his food,” said the witty +Cressy. + +Mr. Stacey was convulsed. “And there's Mr. Dabney--Uncle Ben,” he +continued, “eh? Very quiet but very sly. A dark horse, eh? Pretends to +take lessons for the sake of being near some one, eh? Would he were a +boy again because somebody else is a girl?” + +“I should be frightened of you if you lived here always,” returned +Cressy with invincible naivete; “but perhaps then you wouldn't know so +much.” + +Stacey simply accepted this as a compliment. “And there's Masters,” he +said insinuatingly. + +“Not Joe?” said Cressy with a low laugh, turning her eyes to the door. + +“Yes,” said Stacey with a quick, uneasy smile. “Ah! I see we mustn't +drop HIM. Is he out THERE?” he added, trying to follow the direction of +her eyes. + +But the young girl kept her face studiously averted. “Is that all?” she +asked after a pause. + +“Well--there's that solemn school-master, who cut me out of the waltz +with you--that Mr. Ford.” + +Had he been a perfectly cool and impartial observer he would have seen +the slight tremor cross Cressy's soft eyelids even in profile, followed +by that momentary arrest of her whole face, mouth, dimples, and eyes, +which had overtaken it the night the master entered the ball-room. But +he was neither, and it passed quickly and unnoticed. Her usual lithe but +languid play of expression and color came back, and she turned her head +lazily towards the speaker. “There's Paw coming. I suppose you wouldn't +mind giving me a sample of your style of arbitrating with him, before +you try it on me?” + +“Certainly not,” said Stacey, by no means displeased at the prospect of +having so pretty and intelligent a witness in the daughter of what he +believed would form an attractive display of his diplomatic skill and +graciousness to the father. “Don't go away. I've got nothing to say Miss +Cressy could not understand and answer.” + +The jingling of spurs, and the shadow of McKinstry and his shot-gun +falling at this moment between the speaker and Cressy, spared her +the necessity of a reply. McKinstry cast an uneasy glance around the +apartment, and not seeing Mrs. McKinstry looked relieved, and even the +deep traces of the loss of a valuable steer that morning partly faded +from his Indian-red complexion. He placed his shot-gun carefully in the +corner, took his soft felt hat from his head, folded it and put it in +one of the capacious pockets of his jacket, turned to his daughter, and +laying his maimed hand familiarly on her shoulder, said gravely, without +looking at Stacey, “What might the stranger be wantin', Cress?” + +“Perhaps I'd better answer that myself,” said Stacey briskly. “I'm +acting for Benham and Co., of San Francisco, who have bought the Spanish +title to part of this property. I”-- + +“Stop there!” said McKinstry, in a voice dull but distinct. He took his +hat from his pocket, put it on, walked to the corner and took up his +gun, looked at Stacey for the first time with narcotic eyes that +seemed to drowsily absorb his slight figure, then put the gun back half +contemptuously, and with a wave of his hand towards the door, said: +“We'll settle this yer outside. Cress, you stop in here. There's man's +talk goin' on.” + +“But, Paw,” said Cressy, laying her hand languidly on her father's +sleeve without the least change of color or amused expression. “This +gentleman has come over here on a compromise.” + +“On a--WHICH?” said McKinstry, glancing scornfully out of the door for +some rare species of mustang vaguely suggested to him in that unfamiliar +word. + +“To see if we couldn't come to some fair settlement,” said Stacey. “I've +no objection to going outside with you, but I think we can discuss this +matter here just as well.” His fine feathers had not made him a +coward, although his heart had beaten a little faster at this sudden +recollection of the dangerous reputation of his host. + +“Go on,” said McKinstry. + +“The plain facts of the case are these,” continued Stacey, with more +confidence. “We have sold a strip of this property covering the land in +dispute between you and Harrison. We are bound to put our purchaser +in peaceable possession. Now to save time we are willing to buy that +possession of any man who can give it. We are told that you can.” + +“Well, considerin' that for the last four years I've been fightin' night +and day agin them low-down Harrisons for it, I reckon you've been lied +to,” said McKinstry deliberately. “Why--except the clearing on the north +side, whar I put up a barn, thar ain't an acre of it as hasn't been +shifted first this side and then that as fast ez I druv boundary stakes +and fences, and the Harrisons pulled 'em up agin. Thar ain't more than +fifty acres ez I've hed a clear hold on, and I wouldn't hev had that ef +it hadn't bin for the barn, the raisin' alone o' which cost me a man, +two horses, and this yer little finger.” + +“Put us in possession of even that fifty acres, and WE'LL undertake +to hold the rest and eject those Harrisons from it,” returned Stacey +complacently. “You understand that the moment we've made a peaceable +entrance to even a foothold on your side, the Harrisons are only +trespassers, and with the title to back us we can call on the whole +sheriff's posse to put them off. That's the law.” + +“That ar the law?” repeated McKinstry meditatively. + +“Yes,” said Stacey. “So,” he continued, with a self-satisfied smile +to Cressy, “far from being hard on you, Mr. McKinstry, we're rather +inclined to put you on velvet. We offer you a fair price for the only +thing you can give us--actual possession; and we help you with your old +grudge against the Harrisons. We not only clear them out, but we pay YOU +for even the part they held adversely to you.” + +Mr. McKinstry passed his three whole fingers over his forehead and +eyes as if troubled by a drowsy aching. “Then you don't reckon to hev +anythin' to say to them Harrisons?” + +“We don't propose to recognize them in the matter at all,” returned +Stacey. + +“Nor allow 'em anythin'?” + +“Not a cent! So you see, Mr. McKinstry,” he continued magnanimously, yet +with a mischievous smile to Cressy, “there is nothing in this amicable +discussion that requires to be settled outside.” + +“Ain't there?” said McKinstry, in a dull, deliberate voice, raising his +eyes for the second time to Stacey. They were bloodshot, with a heavy, +hanging furtiveness, not unlike one of his own hunted steers. “But I +ain't kam enuff in yer.” He moved to the door with a beckoning of his +fateful hand. “Outside a minit--EF you please.” + +Stacey started, shrugged his shoulders, and half defiantly stepped +beyond the threshold. Cressy, unchanged in color or expression, lazily +followed to the door. + +“Wot,” said McKinstry, slowly facing Stacey; “wot ef I refoose? Wot ef I +say I don't allow any man, or any bank, or any compromise, to take up +my quo'r'lls? Wot ef I say that low-down and mean as them Harrisons is, +they don't begin to be ez mean, ez low-down, ez underhanded, ez sneakin' +ez that yer compromise? Wot ef I say that ef that's the kind o' hogwash +that law and snivelization offers me for peace and quietness, I'll take +the fightin', and the law-breakin', and the sheriff, and all h-ll for +his posse instead? Wot ef I say that?” + +“It will only be my duty to repeat it,” said Stacey, with an affected +carelessness which, however, did not conceal his surprise and his +discomfiture. “It's no affair of mine.” + +“Unless,” said Cressy, assuming her old position against the lintel of +the door, and smoothing the worn bear-skin that served as a mat with +the toe of her slipper, “unless you've mixed it up with your other +arbitration, you know.” + +“Wot other arbitration?” asked McKinstry suddenly, with murky eyes. + +Stacey cast a rapid, half indignant glance at the young girl, who +received it with her hands tucked behind her back, her lovely head bent +submissively forward, and a prolonged little laugh. + +“Oh nothing, Paw,” she said, “only a little private foolishness betwixt +me and the gentleman. You'd admire to hear him talk, Paw--about other +things than business. He's just that chipper and gay.” + +Nevertheless, as with a muttered “Good-morning” the young fellow turned +away, she quietly brushed past her father, and followed him--with her +hands still penitently behind her, and the rosy palms turned upward--as +far as the gate. Her single long Marguerite braid of hair trailing down +her back nearly to the hem of her skirt, appeared to accent her demure +reserve. At the gate she shaded her eyes with her hand, and glanced +upward. + +“It don't seem to be a good day for arbitrating. A trifle early in the +season, ain't it?” + +“Good-morning, Miss McKinstry.” + +She held out her hand. He took it with an affected ease but cautiously, +as if it had been the velvet paw of a young panther who had scratched +him. After all, what was she but the cub of the untamed beast, +McKinstry? He was well out of it! He was not revengeful--but business +was business, and he had given them the first chance. + +As his figure disappeared behind the buckeyes of the lane, Cressy cast a +glance at the declining sun. She re-entered the house, and went directly +to her room. As she passed the window, she could see her father already +remounted galloping towards the tules, as if in search of that riparian +“kam” his late interview had disturbed. A few straggling bits of color +in the sloping meadows were the children coming home from school. She +hastily tied a girlish sun-bonnet under her chin, and slipping out of +the back door, swept like a lissom shadow along the line of fence +until she seemed to melt into the umbrage of the woods that fringed the +distant north boundary. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +Meanwhile, unaware of her husband's sudden relapse to her old border +principles and of the visit that had induced it, Mrs. McKinstry was +slowly returning from a lugubrious recital of her moods and feelings +at the parson's. As she crossed the barren flat and reached the wooded +upland midway between the school-house and the ranch, she saw before +her the old familiar figure of Seth Davis lounging on the trail. In her +habitual loyalty to her husband's feuds she would probably have stalked +defiantly past him, notwithstanding her late regrets of the broken +engagement, but Seth began to advance awkwardly towards her. In fact, he +had noticed the tall, gaunt, plaid-shawled and holland-bonneted figure +approaching, and had waited for it. + +As he seemed intent upon getting in her way she stopped and raised +her right hand warningly before her. In spite of the shawl and the +sun-bonnet, suffering had implanted a rude Runic dignity to her +attitude. “Words that hev to be took back, Seth Davis,” she said +hastily, “hev passed between you and my man. Out of my way, then, that I +may pass, too.” + +“Not much betwixt you and me, Aunt Rachel,” he said with slouching +deprecation, using the old household title by which he had familiarly +known her. “I've nothin agin you--and I kin prove it by wot I'm yer +to say. And I ain't trucklin' to yer for myself, for ez far ez me and +your'n ez concerned,” he continued, with a malevolent glance, “thar +ain't gold enough in Caleforny to mak the weddin' ring that could hitch +me and Cress together. I want to tell you that you're bein' played; that +you're bein' befooled and bamboozled and honey-fogled. Thet while +you're groanin' at class-meetin' and Hiram's quo'llin' with Dad, and +Joe Masters waitin' round to pick up any bone that's throwed him, that +sneakin', hypocritical Yankee school-master is draggin' your daughter to +h-ll with him on the sly.” + +“Quit that, Seth Davis,” said Mrs. McKinstry sternly, “or be man enough +to tell it to a man. That's Hiram's business to know.” + +“And what if he knows it well enough and winks at it? What if he's +willin' enough to truckle to it, to curry favor with them sneakin' +Yanks?” said Seth malignantly. + +A spasm of savage conviction seized Mrs. McKinstry. But it was more +from her jealous fears of her husband's disloyalty than concern for her +daughter's transgression. Nevertheless, she said desperately, “It's a +lie. Where are your proofs?” + +“Proofs?” returned Seth. “Who is it sneaks around the school-house to +have private talks with the school-master, and edges him on with Cressy +afore folks? Your husband. Who goes sneakin' off every arternoon with +that same cantin' hound of a school-master? Your daughter. Who's been +carryin' on together, and hidin' thick enough to be ridden out on a rail +together? Your daughter and the school-master. Proofs?--ask anybody. Ask +the children. Look yar--you, Johnny--come here.” + +He had suddenly directed his voice to a blackberry bush near the trail, +from which the curly head of Johnny Filgee had just appeared. That +home-returning infant painfully disengaged himself, his slate, his +books, and his small dinner-pail half filled with fruit as immature as +himself, and came towards them sideways. + +“Yer's a dime, Johnny, to git some candy,” said Seth, endeavoring to +distort his passion-set face into a smile. + +Johnny Filgee's small, berry-stained palm promptly closed over the coin. + +“Now, don't lie. Where's Cressy?” + +“Kithin' her bo.” + +“Good boy. What bo?” + +Johnny hesitated. He had once seen the school-master and Cressy +together; he had heard it whispered by the other children that they +loved each other. But looking at Seth and Mrs. McKinstry he felt that +something more tremendous than this stupid fact was required of him for +grown-up people, and being honest and imaginative, he determined that it +should be worth the money. + +“Speak up, Johnny, don't be afeard to tell.” + +Johnny was not “afeard”--he was only thinking. He had it! He remembered +that he had just seen his paragon, the brilliant Stacey, coming from +the boundary woods. What more poetical and startlingly effective than to +connect him with Cressy? He replied promptly:-- + +“Mithter Thtathy. He gived her a watch and ring of truly gold. Goin' to +be married at Thacramento.” + +“You lyin' limb,” said Seth, seizing him roughly. But Mrs. McKinstry +interposed. + +“Let that brat go,” she said with gleaming eyes. “I want to talk to +you.” Seth released Johnny. “It's a trick,” he said, “he's bin put up to +it by that Ford.” + +But Johnny, after securing a safe vantage behind the blackberry bush, +determined to give them another trial--with facts. + +“I know mor'n that,” he called out. + +“Git--you measly pup,” said Seth savagely. + +“I know Theriff Briggth, he rid over the boundary with a lot o' men and +horthes,” said Johnny, with that hurried delivery with which he was able +to estop interruption. “Theed 'em go by. Maur Harrithon theth his dad's +goin' to chuck out ole McKinthtry. Hooray!” + +Mrs. McKinstry turned her dark face sharply on Seth. “What's that he +sez?” + +“Nothin' but children's gassin',” he answered, meeting her eyes with an +evil consciousness half loutish, half defiant, “and ef it war true, it +would only sarve Hiram McKinstry right.” + +She laid her hand upon his shoulder with swift suspicion. “Out o' my +way, Seth Davis,” she said suddenly, pushing him aside. “Ef this ez any +underhanded work of yours, you'll pay for it.” + +She strode past him in the direction of Johnny, but at the approach +of the tall woman with the angry eyes, the boy flew. She hesitated a +moment, turned again with a threatening wave of the hand to Seth, and +started off rapidly in the direction of the boundary. + +She had not placed so much faith in the boy's story as in the vague +revelation of evil in Davis's manner. If there was any “cussedness” + afoot, Seth, convinced of Cressy's unfaithfulness, and with no further +hope of any mediation from the parents, would know it. Unless Hiram had +been warned, he was still lulled in his fatuous dream of civilization. +At that time he and his men were in the tules with the stock; to be +satisfied, she herself must go to the boundary. + +She reached the ridge of the cottonwoods and sycamores, and a few +hundred yards further brought her to the edge of that gentle southern +slope which at last sank into the broad meadow of the debatable ground. +In spite of Stacey's invidious criticism of its intrinsic value, this +theatre of savage dissension, violence, and bloodshed was by some irony +of nature a pastoral landscape of singular and peaceful repose. The soft +glacis stretching before her was in spring cerulean with lupins, and +later starred with mariposas. The meadow was transversely crossed by a +curving line of alders that indicated a rare water-course, of which in +the dry season only a single pool remained to flash back the unvarying +sky. There had been no attempt at cultivation of this broad expanse; +wild oats, mustard, and rank grasses left it a tossing sea of turbulent +and variegated color whose waves rode high enough to engulf horse and +rider in their choking depths. Even the traces of human struggle, +the uprooted stakes, scattered fence-rails, and empty post-holes were +forever hidden under these billows of verdure. Midway of the field +and near the water-course arose McKinstry's barn--the solitary human +structure whose rude, misshapen, bulging sides and swallow-haunted eaves +bursting with hay from the neighboring pasture, seemed however only +an extravagant growth of the prolific soil. Mrs. McKinstry gazed at it +anxiously. There was no sign of life or movement near or around it; it +stood as it had always stood, deserted and solitary. But turning her +eyes to the right, beyond the water-course, she could see a slight +regular undulation of the grassy sea and what appeared to be the +drifting on its surface of half a dozen slouched hats in the direction +of the alders. There was no longer any doubt; a party from the other +side was approaching the border. + +A shout and the quick galloping of hoofs behind her sent a thrill of +relief to her heart. She had barely time to draw aside as her husband +and his followers swept past her down the slope. But it needed not +his furious cry, “The Harrisons hev sold us out,” to tell her that the +crisis had come. + +She held her breath as the cavalcade diverged, and in open order +furiously approached the water-course, and she could see a sudden check +and hesitation in the movement in the meadow at that unlooked-for onset. +Then she thought of the barn. It would be a rallying-point for them if +driven back--a tower of defence if besieged. There were arms secreted +beneath the hay for such an emergency. She would run there, swing-to its +open doors, and get ready to barricade them. + +She ran crouchingly, seeking the higher grasses and brambles of the +ridge to escape observation from the meadow until she could descend upon +the barn from the rear. She threw aside her impeding shawl; her brown +holland sun-bonnet, torn off her head and hanging by its strings from +her shoulders, let her coarse silver-threaded hair stream like a mane +over her back; her face and hands were bleeding from thorns and whitened +by dust. But she struggled on fiercely like some hunted animal until +she reached the descending trail, when, letting herself go blindly, only +withheld by the long grasses she clutched at wildly on either side, she +half fell, half stumbled down the slope and emerged beside the barn, +breathless and exhausted. + +But what a contrast was there! For an instant she could scarcely believe +that she had left the ridge with her husband's savage outcry in her +ears, and in her eyes the swift vision of his furious cavalcade. The +boundary meadow was hidden by the soft lines of graceful willows in +whose dim recesses the figures of the passionate horsemen seemed to have +melted forever. There was nothing now to interrupt the long vista of +peaceful beauty that stretched before her through this lonely hollow to +the distant sleeping hills. The bursting barn in the foreground, heaped +with grain that fringed its eaves and bristled from its windows and +doors until its unlovely bulk was hidden in trailing feathery outlines; +the gentle flutter of wings and soothing twitter of swallows and jays +around its open rafters, and the drifting shadows of a few circling +crows above it; the drowsy song of bees on the wild mustard that half +hid its walls with yellow bloom; the sound of faintly-trickling water in +one of those old Indian-haunted springs that had given its name to the +locality; all these for an instant touched the senses of this hard, +fierce woman as she had not been touched since she was a girl. For one +brief moment the joys of peace and that matured repose that never had +been hers flashed upon her; but with it came the savage consciousness +that even now it was being wrested away, and the thought fired her blood +again. She listened eagerly for a second in the direction of the meadow; +there was no report of fire-arms--there was yet time to prepare the barn +for defence. She ran to the front of the building and seized the latch +of the half-closed door. A little feminine cry that was half a laugh +came from within, with the rapid rustle of a skirt and as the door +swung open a light figure vanished through the rear window. The slanting +sunlight falling in the shadowed interior disclosed only the single +erect figure of the school-master John Ford. + +The first confusion and embarrassment of an interrupted rendezvous that +had colored Ford's cheeks, gave way to a look of alarm as he caught +sight of the bleeding face and dishevelled figure of Mrs. McKinstry. She +saw it. To her distorted fancy it seemed only a proof of deeper guilt. +Without a word she closed the heavy door behind her and swung the huge +cross-bar unaided to its place. She then turned and confronted him, +wiping the dust from her face and arms with her torn and dangling +sun-bonnet in a way that recalled her attitude on the first day he had +met her. + +“That was Cress with ye?” she said. + +He hesitated, still gazing at her in wonder. + +“Don't lie.” + +He started. “I don't propose to,” he retorted indignantly. “It was”-- + +“I don't ask ye how long this yer's bin goin' on,” she said, pointing +to Cressy's sun-bonnet, a few books, and a scattered nosegay of wild +flowers lying on the hay; “and I don't want to know. In five minutes +either her father will be here, or them hell-hounds of Harrison's who've +sold him out will swarm round this barn to git possesshun. Ef +this yer”--she again pointed contemptuously to the objects just +indicated--“means that you've cast your lot with US and kalkilate to +take our bitter with our sweet, ye'll lift up that stack of hay and +bring out a gun to help defend it. Ef you're meanin' anythin' else, +Ford, you'll hide yourself in that hay till Hiram comes and has time +enough to attend to ye.” + +“And if I choose to do neither?” he said haughtily. + +She looked at him in unutterable scorn. “There's the winder--take it +while there's time, afore I bar it. Ef you see Hiram, tell him ye left +an old woman behind ye to defend the place whar you uster hide with her +darter.” + +Before he could reply there was a distant report, followed almost +directly by another. With a movement of irritation he walked to the +window, turned and looked at her--bolted it, and came back. + +“Where's that gun?” he said almost rudely. + +“I reckon's that would fetch ye,” she said, dragging away the hay and +disclosing a long trough-like box covered with tarpaulin. It proved to +contain powder, shot, and two guns. He took one. + +“I suppose I may know what I am fighting for?” he said dryly. + +“Ye might say 'Cress' ef they”--indicating the direction of the +reports--“happen to ask ye,” she returned with equal sobriety. “Jess now +ye kin take your stand up thar in the loft and see what's comin'.” + +He did not linger, but climbed to the place assigned him, glad to escape +the company of the woman who at that moment he almost hated. In his +unreflecting passion for Cressy he had always evaded the thought of this +relationship or propinquity; the mother had recalled it to him in a way +that imperilled even his passion for the daughter; his mind was wholly +preoccupied with the idiotic, exasperating, and utterly hopeless +position that had been forced upon him. In the bitterness of his spirit +his sense of personal danger was so far absorbed that he speculated on +the chance bullet in the melee that might end his folly and relieve him +of responsibility. Shut up in a barn with a furious woman, in a lawless +defence of questionable rights--with the added consciousness that an +equally questionable passion had drawn him into it, and that SHE knew +it--death seemed to offer the only escape from the explanation he could +never give. If another sting could have been added it was the absurd +conviction that Cressy would not appreciate his sacrifice, but was +perhaps even at that moment calmly congratulating herself on the +felicitousness of the complication in which she had left him. + +Suddenly he heard a shout and the tramping of horse. The sides of the +loft were scantily boarded to allow the extension of the pent-up grain, +and between the interstices Ford, without being himself seen, had an +uninterrupted view of the plain between him and the line of willows. +As he gazed, five men hurriedly issued from the extreme left and ran +towards the barn. McKinstry and his followers simultaneously broke from +the same covert further to the right and galloped forward to intercept +them. But although mounted, the greater distance they had to traverse +brought them to the rear of the building only as the Harrison party came +to a sudden halt before the closed and barricaded doors of the usually +defenceless barn. The discomfiture of the latter was greeted by a +derisive shout from the McKinstry party--albeit, equally astonished. But +in that brief moment Ford recognized in the leader of the Harrisons the +well-known figure of the Sheriff of Tuolumne. It needed only this to cap +the climax of the fatality that seemed to pursue him. He was no longer a +lawless opposer of equally lawless forces, but he was actually resisting +the law itself. He understood the situation now. It was some idiotic +blunder of Uncle Ben's that had precipitated this attack. + +The belligerents had already cocked their weapons, although the barn +was still a rampart between the parties. But an adroit flanker of +McKinstry's, creeping through the tall mustard, managed to take up an +enfilading position as the Harrisons advanced to break in the door. A +threatening shout from the ambuscaded partisans caused them to hurriedly +fall back towards the rear of the barn. There was a pause, and then +began the usual Homeric chaff,--with this Western difference that it was +cunningly intended to draw the other's fire. + +“Why don't you blaze away at the door, you ---- ----! It won't hurt ye!” + +“He's afraid the bolt will shoot back!” Laughter from the McKinstrys. + +“Come outer the tall grass and show yourself, you black, mud-eating +gopher.” + +“He can't. He's dropped his grit and is sarchin' for it.” Goading +laughter from the Harrisons. + +Each man waited for that single shot which would precipitate the fight. +Even in their lawlessness the rude instinct of the duello swayed them. +The officer of the law recognized the principle as well as its practical +advantage in a collision, but he hesitated to sacrifice one of his men +in an attack on the barn, which would draw the fire of McKinstry at that +necessarily fatal range. As a brave man he would have taken the risk +himself, but as a prudent one, he reflected that his hurriedly collected +posse were all partisans, and if he fell the conflict would resolve +itself into a purely partisan struggle without a single unprejudiced +witness to justify his conduct in the popular eye. The master also knew +this; it had checked his first impulse to come forward as a mediator; +his only reliance now was on Mrs. McKinstry's restraint and the +sheriff's forbearance. The next instant both seemed to be imperilled. + +“Well, why don't you wade in?” sneered Dick McKinstry; “who do you +reckon's hidden in the barn?” + +“I'll tell ye,” said a harsh, passionate voice from the hill-side. “It's +Cressy McKinstry and the school-master hidin' in the hay.” + +Both parties turned quickly towards the intruder who had approached them +unperceived. But the speech was followed by a more startling revulsion +of sentiment as Mrs. McKinstry's voice rang out from the barn, “You lie, +Seth Davis!” + +The brief advantage offered to the sheriff in Davis's advent as a +neutral witness, was utterly lost by this unlooked-for revelation of +Mrs. McKinstry's presence in the barn! The fates were clearly against +him! A woman in the fight, and an old one at that! A white woman to be +forcibly ejected! In the whole unwritten code of Southwestern chivalry +there was no such precedent. + +“Stand back,” he said disgustedly to his followers, “stand back and +let the d----d barn slide. But you, Hiram McKinstry, I'll give YOU five +minutes to shake yourself clear of your wife's petticoats and git!” His +blood was up now--the quicker from his momentary weakness and the trick +of which he thought himself a dupe. + +Again the fatal signal seemed imminent, again it was delayed. For Hiram +McKinstry, with clanking spurs and rifle in hand stepped from behind the +barn, full in the presence of his antagonists. + +“Ez to my gitten in five minits,” he began in his laziest, drowsiest +manner, “we'll see when the time's up. But jest now words hev passed +betwixt my wife and Seth Davis. Afore anythin' else goes on yer, he's +got to take HIS back. My wife allows he lies; I allow he lies too, and I +stan' here to say it.” + +The right of personal insult to precedence of redress was too old a +frontier principle to be gainsaid now. Both parties held back and +every eye was turned to where Seth Davis had been standing. But he had +disappeared. + +Where? + +When Mrs. McKinstry hurled her denial from the barn, he had taken +advantage of the greater surprise to leap to one of the trusses of +hay that projected beyond the loft, and secure a footing from which he +quickly scrambled through the open scantling to the interior. The master +who, startled by his voice, had made his way through the loose grain to +the rear, reached it as Seth half crawled, half tumbled through. Their +eyes met in a single flash of rage, but before Seth could utter an +outcry, the master had dropped his gun, seized him around the neck and +crammed a thick handful of the soft hay he had hurriedly snatched up +into his face and gasping mouth. A furious but silent struggle ensued; +the yielding hay on which they both fell deadened all sound of a scuffle +and concealed them from view; masses of it, already loosened by the +intruder's entrance, and dislodged in their contortions began to slip +through the opening to the ground. The master, still uppermost and +holding Seth firmly down, allowed himself to slip with them, shoving +his adversary before him; the maddened Missourian detecting his purpose, +made a desperate attempt to change his position, and succeeded in +raising his knee against the master's chest. Ford, guarding against what +seemed to be only a wrestler's strategy, contented himself by locking +the bent knee firmly in that position, and thus unwittingly gave Seth +the looked-for opportunity of drawing the bowie-knife concealed in his +boot leg. He knew his mistake only as Seth violently freed his arm, and +threw it upward for the blow. He heard the steel slither like a scythe +through the hay, and unlocking his hold desperately threw himself on +the uplifted arm. The movement saved him. For the released body of Seth +slipped rapidly through the opening, upheld for a single instant on the +verge by the grasp of the master's two hands on the arm that still held +the knife, and then dropped heavily downward. Even then, the hay that +had slipped before him would have broken his fall, but his head came in +violent contact with some farming implements standing against the wall, +and without a cry he was stretched senseless on the ground. The whole +occurrence passed so rapidly and so noiselessly that not only did +McKinstry's challenge fall upon his already unconscious ears, but the +loosened hay which in the master's struggles to recover himself still +continued to slide gently from the loft, actually hid him from the eyes +of the spectators who sought him a moment afterwards. A mass of hay +and wild oats, dislodged apparently by Mrs. McKinstry in securing +her defences, was all that met their eyes; even the woman herself was +unconscious of the deadly struggle that had taken place above her. + +The master staggered to an upright position half choked and half blinded +with dust, turgid and bursting with the rush of blood to his head, but +clear and collected in mind, and unremorsefully triumphant. Unconscious +of the real extent of Seth's catastrophe he groped for and seized his +gun, examined the cap and eagerly waited for a renewed attack. “He tried +to kill me; he would have killed me; if he comes again I must kill him,” + he kept repeating to himself. It never occurred to him that this was +inconsistent with his previous thought--indeed with the whole tenor of +his belief. Perhaps the most peaceful man who has been once put in peril +of life by an adversary, who has recognized death threatening him in the +eye of his antagonist, is by some strange paradox not likely to hold his +own life or the life of his adversary as dearly as before. Everything +was silent now. The suspense irritated him, he no longer dreaded but +even longed for the shot that would precipitate hostilities. What were +they doing? Guided by Seth, were they concerting a fresh attack? + +Listening more intently he became aware of a distant shouting, and even +more distinctly, of the dull, heavy trampling of hoofs. A sudden angry +fear that the McKinstrys had been beaten off and were flying--a fear and +anger that now for the first time identified him with their cause--came +over him, and he scrambled quickly towards the opening below. But the +sound was approaching and with it came a voice. + +“Hold on there, sheriff!” + +It was the voice of the agent Stacey. + +There was a pause of reluctant murmuring. But the warning was enforced +by a command from another voice--weak, unheroic, but familiar, “I order +this yer to stop--right yer!” + +A burst of ironical laughter followed. The voice was Uncle Ben's. + +“Stand back! This is no time for foolin',” said the sheriff roughly. + +“He's right, Sheriff Briggs,” said Stacey's voice hurriedly; “you're +acting for HIM; he's the owner of the land.” + +“What? That Ben Dabney?” + +“Yes; he's Daubigny, who bought the title from us.” + +There was a momentary hush, and then a hurried murmur. + +“Which means, gents,” rose Uncle Ben's voice persuasively, “that this +yer young man, though fair-minded and well-intended, hez bin a leetle +too chipper and previous in orderin' out the law. This yer ain't no +law matter with ME, boys. It ain't to be settled by law-papers, nor +shot-guns and deringers. It's suthin' to be chawed over sociable-like, +between drinks. Ef any harm hez bin done, ef anythin's happened, I'm yer +to 'demnify the sheriff, and make it comf'ble all round. Yer know me, +boys. I'm talkin'. It's me--Dabney, or Daubigny, which ever way you like +it.” + +But in the silence that followed, the passions had not yet evidently +cooled. It was broken by the sarcastic drawl of Dick McKinstry: “If +them Harrisons don't mind heven had their medders trampled over by a few +white men, why”-- + +“The sheriff ez 'demnified for that,” interrupted Uncle Ben hastily. + +“'N ef Dick McKinstry don't mind the damage to his pants in crawlin' out +o' gunshot in the tall grass”--retorted Joe Harrison. + +“I'm yer to settle that, boys,” said Uncle Ben cheerfully. + +“But who'll settle THIS?” clamored the voice of the older Harrison from +behind the barn where he had stumbled in crossing the fallen hay. “Yer's +Seth Davis lyin' in the hay with the top of his head busted. Who's to +pay for that?” + +There was a rush to the spot, and a quick cry of reaction. + +“Whose work is this?” demanded the sheriff's voice, with official +severity. + +The master uttered an instinctive exclamation of defiance, and dropping +quickly to the barn floor, would the next moment have opened the door +and declared himself, but Mrs. McKinstry, after a single glance at his +determined face, suddenly threw herself before him with an imperious +gesture of silence. Then her voice rang clearly from the barn:-- + +“Well, if it's the hound that tried to force his way in yer, I reckon ye +kin put that down to ME!” + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +It was known to Indian Spring, the next day, amid great excitement, that +a serious fracas had been prevented on the ill-fated boundary by the +dramatic appearance of Uncle Ben Dabney, not only as a peacemaker, but +as Mr. Daubigny the bona fide purchaser and owner of the land. It was +known and accepted with great hilarity that “old marm McKinstry” had +defended the barn alone and unaided, with--as variously stated--a +pitchfork, an old stable-broom, and a pail of dirty water, against +Harrison, his party, and the entire able posse of the Sheriff of +Tuolumne County, with no further damage than a scalp wound which the +head of Seth Davis received while falling from the loft of the barn from +which he had been dislodged by Mrs. McKinstry and the broom aforesaid. +It was known with unanimous approbation that the acquisition of the +land-title by a hitherto humble citizen of Indian Spring was a triumph +of the settlement over foreign interference. But it was not known that +the school-master was a participant in the fight, or even present on the +spot. At Mrs. McKinstry's suggestion he had remained concealed in +the loft until after the withdrawal of both parties and the still +unconscious Seth. When Ford had remonstrated, with the remark that Seth +would be sure to declare the truth when he recovered his senses, Mrs. +McKinstry smiled grimly: “I reckon when he comes to know I was with ye +all the time, he'd rather hev it allowed that I licked him than YOU. I +don't say he'll let it pass ez far ez you're concerned or won't try to +get even with ye, but he won't go round tellin' WHY. However,” she +added still more grimly, “if you think you're ekul to tellin' the hull +story--how ye kem to be yer and that Seth wasn't lyin' arter all when he +blurted it out afore 'em--why I sha'n't hinder ye.” The master said no +more. And indeed for a day or two nothing transpired to show that Seth +was not equally reticent. + +Nevertheless Mr. Ford was far from being satisfied with the issue of +his adventure. His relations with Cressy were known to the mother, and +although she had not again alluded to them, she would probably inform +her husband. Yet he could not help noticing, with a mingling of +unreasoning relief and equally unreasoning distrust, that she exhibited +a scornful unconcern in the matter, apart from the singular use to which +she had put it. He could hardly count upon McKinstry, with his heavy, +blind devotion to Cressy, being as indifferent. On the contrary, he had +acquired the impression, without caring to examine it closely, that +her father would not be displeased at his marrying Cressy, for it would +really amount to that. But here again he was forced to contemplate +what he had always avoided, the possible meaning and result of their +intimacy. In the reckless, thoughtless, extravagant--yet thus far +innocent--indulgence of their mutual passion, he had never spoken of +marriage, nor--and it struck him now with the same incongruous mingling +of relief and uneasiness--had SHE! Perhaps this might have arisen from +some superstitious or sensitive recollection on her part of her previous +engagement to Seth, but he remembered now that they had not even +exchanged the usual vows of eternal constancy. It may seem strange that, +in the half-dozen stolen and rapturous interviews which had taken place +between these young lovers, there had been no suggestion of the future, +nor any of those glowing projects for a united destiny peculiar to their +years and inexperience. They had lived entirely in a blissful present, +with no plans beyond their next rendezvous. In that mysterious and +sudden absorption of each other, not only the past, but the future +seemed to have been forgotten. + +These thoughts were passing through his mind the next afternoon to +the prejudice of that calm and studious repose which the deserted +school-house usually superinduced, and which had been so fondly noted +by McKinstry and Uncle Ben. The latter had not arrived for his usual +lesson; it was possible that undue attention had been attracted to his +movements now that his good fortune was known; and the master was alone +save for the occasional swooping incursion of a depredatory jay in +search of crumbs from the children's luncheons, who added apparently +querulous insult to the larcenous act. He regretted Uncle Ben's absence, +as he wanted to know more about his connection with the Harrison attack +and his eventual intentions. Ever since the master emerged from the barn +and regained his hotel under cover of the darkness, he had heard only +the vaguest rumors, and he purposely avoided direct inquiry. + +He had been quite prepared for Cressy's absence from school that +morning--indeed in his present vacillating mood he had felt that her +presence would have been irksome and embarrassing; but it struck +him suddenly and unpleasantly that her easy desertion of him at that +critical moment in the barn had not since been followed by the least +sign of anxiety to know the result of her mother's interference. What +did she imagine had transpired between Mrs. McKinstry and himself? Had +she confidently expected her mother's prompt acceptance of the situation +and a reconciliation? Was that the reason why she had treated that +interruption as lightly as if she were already his recognized betrothed? +Had she even calculated upon it? had she--? He stopped, his cheek +glowing from irritation under the suspicion, and shame at the disloyalty +of entertaining it. + +Opening his desk, he began to arrange his papers mechanically, when +he discovered, with a slight feeling of annoyance, that he had placed +Cressy's bouquet--now dried and withered--in the same pigeon-hole with +the mysterious letters with which he had so often communed in former +days. He at once separated them with a half bitter smile, yet after a +moment's hesitation, and with his old sense of attempting to revive a +forgotten association, he tried to re-peruse them. But they did not +even restrain his straying thoughts, nor prevent him from detecting a +singular occurrence. The nearly level sun was, after its old fashion, +already hanging the shadowed tassels of the pine boughs like a garland +on the wall. But the shadow seemed to have suddenly grown larger +and more compact, and he turned, with a quick consciousness of some +interposing figure at the pane. Nothing however was to be seen. Yet so +impressed had he been that he walked to the door and stepped from the +porch to discover the intruder. The clearing was deserted, there was a +slight rustling in the adjacent laurels, but no human being was visible. +Nevertheless the old feeling of security and isolation which had never +been quite the same since Mr. McKinstry's confession, seemed now to have +fled the sylvan school-house altogether, and he somewhat angrily closed +his desk, locked it, and determined to go home. + +His way lay through the first belt of pines towards the mining-flat, but +to-day from some vague impulse he turned and followed the ridge. He had +not proceeded far when he perceived Rupert Filgee lounging before him +on the trail, and at a little distance further on his brother Johnny. At +the sight of these two favorite pupils Mr. Ford's heart smote him with +a consciousness that he had of late neglected them, possibly because +Rupert's lofty scorn of the “silly” sex was not as amusing to him as +formerly, and possibly because Johnny's curiosity had been at times +obtrusive. He however quickened his pace and joined Rupert, laying +his hand familiarly as of old on his shoulder. To his surprise the boy +received his advances with some constraint and awkwardness, glancing +uneasily in the direction of Johnny. A sudden idea crossed Mr. Ford's +mind. + +“Were you looking for me at the schoolroom just now?” + +“No, sir.” + +“You didn't look in at the window to see if I was there?” continued the +master. + +“No, sir.” + +The master glanced at Rupert. Truth-telling was a part of Rupert's +truculent temper, although, as the boy had often bitterly remarked, it +had always “told agin' him.” + +“All right,” said the master, perfectly convinced. “It must have been my +fancy; but I thought somebody looked in--or passed by the window.” + +But here Johnny, who had overheard the dialogue and approached them, +suddenly threw himself upon his brother's unoffending legs and commenced +to beat and pull them about with unintelligible protests. Rupert, +without looking down, said quietly, “Quit that now--I won't, I tell ye,” + and went through certain automatic movements of dislodging Johnny as if +he were a mere impeding puppy. + +“What's the matter, Johnny?” said the master, to whom these gyrations +were not unfamiliar. + +Johnny only replied by a new grip of his brother's trousers. + +“Well, sir,” said Rupert, slightly recovering his dimples and his +readiness, “Johnny, yer, wants me to tell ye something. Ef he wasn't +the most original self-cocking, God-forsaken liar in Injin Spring--ef +he didn't lie awake in his crib mornin's to invent lies fer the day, I +wouldn't mind tellin' ye, and would hev told you before. However, since +you ask, and since you think you saw somebody around the school-house, +Johnny yer allows that Seth Davis is spyin' round and followin' ye +wherever you go, and he dragged me down yer to see it. He says he saw +him doggin' ye.” + +“With a knife and pithtolth,” added Johnny's boundless imagination, to +the detriment of his limited facts. + +Mr. Ford looked keenly from the one to the other, but rather with a +suspicion that they were cognizant of his late fracas than belief in the +truth of Johnny's statement. + +“And what do YOU think of it, Rupert?” he asked carelessly. + +“I think, sir,” said Rupert, “that allowin'--for onct--that Johnny ain't +lying, mebbee it's Cressy McKinstry that Seth's huntin' round, and +knowin' that she's always runnin' after you”--he stopped, and reddening +with a newborn sense that his fatal truthfulness had led him into a +glaring indelicacy towards the master, hurriedly added: “I mean, sir, +that mebbee it's Uncle Ben he's jealous of, now that he's got rich +enough for Cressy to hev him, and knowin' he comes to school in the +afternoon perhaps”-- + +“'Tain't either!” broke in Johnny promptly. “Theth's over ther beyond +the thchool, and Crethy's eatin' ithecream at the bakerth with Uncle +Ben.” + +“Well, suppose she is, Seth don't know it, silly!” answered Rupert, +sharply. Then more politely to the master: “That's it! Seth has seen +Uncle Ben gallivanting with Cressy and thinks he's bringing her over +yer. Don't you see?” + +The master however did not see but one thing. The girl who had only two +days ago carelessly left it to him to explain a compromising situation +to her mother--this girl who had precipitated him into a frontier fight +to the peril of his position and her good name, was calmly eating ices +with an available suitor without the least concern of the past! The +connection was perhaps illogical, but it was unpleasant. It was the more +awkward from the fact that he fancied that not only Rupert's beautiful +eyes, but even the infant Johnny's round ones, were fixed upon him with +an embarrassed expression of hesitating and foreboding sympathy. + +“I think Johnny believes what he says--don't you, Johnny?” he smiled +with an assumption of cheerful ease, “but I see no necessity just yet +for binding Seth Davis over to keep the peace. Tell me about yourself, +Rupe. I hope Uncle Ben doesn't think of changing his young tutor with +his good fortune?” + +“No, sir,” returned Rupert brightening; “he promises to take me to +Sacramento with him as his private secretary or confidential clerk, you +know, ef--ef”--he hesitated again with very un-Rupert-like caution, +“ef things go as he wants 'em.” He stopped awkwardly and his brown +eyes became clouded. “Like ez not, Mr. Ford, he's only foolin' +me--and--HIMSELF.” The boy's eyes sought the master's curiously. + +“I don't know about that,” returned Mr. Ford uneasily, with a certain +recollection of Uncle Ben's triumph over his own incredulity; “he +surely hasn't shown himself a fool or a boaster so far. I consider your +prospect a very fair one, and I wish you joy of it, my boy.” He ran his +fingers through Rupert's curls in his old caressing fashion, the more +tenderly perhaps that he fancied he still saw symptoms of stormy and wet +weather in the boy's brown eyes. “Run along home, both of you, and don't +worry yourselves about me.” + +He turned away, but had scarcely proceeded half a dozen yards before +he felt a tug at his coat. Looking down he saw the diminutive Johnny. +“They'll be comin' home thith way,” he said, reaching up in a hoarse +confidential whisper. + +“Who?” + +“Crethy and 'im.” + +But before the master could make any response to this presumably +gratifying information, Johnny had rejoined his brother. The two boys +waved their hands towards him with the same diffident and mysterious +sympathy that left him hesitating between a smile and a frown. Then he +proceeded on his way. Nevertheless, for no other reason than that he +felt a sudden distaste to meeting any one, when he reached the point +where the trail descended directly to the settlement, he turned into a +longer and more solitary detour by the woods. + +The sun was already so low that its long rays pierced the forest from +beneath, and suffused the dim colonnade of straight pine shafts with a +golden haze, while it left the dense intercrossed branches fifty feet +above in deeper shadow. Walking in this yellow twilight, with his feet +noiselessly treading down the yielding carpet of pine needles, it seemed +to the master that he was passing through the woods in a dream. There +was no sound but the dull intermittent double knock of the wood-pecker, +or the drowsy croak of some early roosting bird; all suggestion of the +settlement, with all traces of human contiguity, were left far behind. +It was therefore with a strange and nervous sense of being softly hailed +by some woodland sprite that he seemed to hear his own name faintly +wafted upon the air. He turned quickly; it was Cressy, panting behind +him! Even then, in her white closely gathered skirts, her bared head +and graceful arching neck bent forward, her flying braids freed from +the straw hat which she had swung from her arm so as not to impede her +flight, there was so much of the following Maenad about her that he was +for an instant startled. + +He stopped; she bounded to him, and throwing her arms around his neck +with a light laugh, let herself hang for a moment breathless on his +breast. Then recovering her speech she said slowly:-- + +“I started on an Injin trot after you, just as you turned off the trail, +but you'd got so far ahead while I was shaking myself clear of Uncle Ben +that I had to jist lope the whole way through the woods to catch up.” + She stopped, and looking up into his troubled face caught his cheeks +between her hands, and bringing his knit brows down to the level of her +humid blue eyes said, “You haven't kissed me yet. What's the matter?” + +“Doesn't it strike you that I might ask that question, considering that +it's three days since I've seen you, and that you left me, in a rather +awkward position, to explain matters to your mother?” he said coldly. +He had formulated the sentence in his mind some moments before, but now +that it was uttered, it appeared singularly weak and impotent. + +“That's so,” she said with a frank laugh, burying her face in his +waistcoat. “You see, dandy boy”--his pet name--“I reckoned for that +reason we'd better lie low for a day or two. Well,” she continued, +untying his cravat and retying it again, “how DID you crawl out of it?” + +“Do you mean to say your mother did not tell you?” he asked indignantly. + +“Why should she?” returned Cressy lazily. “She never talks to me of +these things, honey.” + +“And you knew nothing about it?” + +Cressy shook her head, and then winding one of her long braids around +the young man's neck, offered the end of it to his mouth, and on his +sternly declining it, took it in her own. + +Yet even her ignorance of what had really happened did not account +to the master for the indifference of her long silence, and albeit +conscious of some inefficiency in his present unheroic attitude, he +continued sarcastically, “May I ask WHAT you imagined would happen when +you left me?” + +“Well,” said Cressy confidently, “I reckoned, chile, you could lie as +well as the next man, and that, being gifted, you'd sling Maw something +new and purty. Why, I ain't got no fancy, but I fixed up something +against Paw's questioning ME. I made that conceited Masters promise to +swear that HE was in the barn with me. Then I calculated to tell Paw +that you came meandering along just before Maw popped in, and that I +skedaddled to join Masters. Of course,” she added quickly, tightening +her hold of the master as he made a sudden attempt at withdrawal, “I +didn't let on to Masters WHY I wanted him to promise, or that you were +there.” + +“Cressy,” said Ford, irritated beyond measure, “are you mad, or do you +think I am?” + +The girl's face changed. She cast a half frightened, half questioning +glance at his eyes and then around the darkening aisle. “If we're going +to quarrel, Jack,” she said hurriedly, “don't let's do it BEFORE FOLKS.” + +“In the name of Heaven,” he said, following her eyes indignantly, “what +do you mean?” + +“I mean,” she said, with a slight shiver of resignation and scorn, +“if you--oh dear! if IT'S ALL going to be like THEM, let's keep it to +ourselves.” + +He gazed at her in hopeless bewilderment. Did she really mean that she +was more frightened at the possible revelation of their disagreement +than of their intimacy? + +“Come,” she continued tenderly, still glancing, however, uneasily around +her, “come! We'll be more comfortable in the hollow. It's only a step.” + Still holding him by her braid she half led, half dragged him away. To +the right was one of those sudden depressions in the ground caused by +the subsidence of the earth from hidden springs and the uprooting of one +or two of the larger trees. When she had forced him down this declivity +below the level of the needle-strewn forest floor, she seated him upon +a mossy root, and shaking out her skirts in a half childlike, half +coquettish way, comfortably seated herself in his lap, with her arm +supplementing the clinging braid around his neck. + +“Now hark to me, and don't holler so loud,” she said turning his face to +her questioning eyes. “What's gone of you anyway, nigger boy?” It +should be premised that Cressy's terms of endearment were mainly +negro-dialectical, reminiscences of her brief babyhood, her slave-nurse, +and the only playmates she had ever known. + +Still implacable, the master coldly repeated the counts of his +indictment against the girl's strange indifference and still stranger +entanglements, winding up by setting forth the whole story of his +interview with her mother, his forced defence of the barn, Seth's +outspoken accusation, and their silent and furious struggle in the loft. +But if he had expected that this daughter of a Southwestern fighter +would betray any enthusiasm over her lover's participation in one of +their characteristic feuds--if he looked for any fond praise for his own +prowess, he was bitterly mistaken. She loosened her arm from his neck +of her own accord, unwound the braid, and putting her two little hands +clasped between her knees, crossed her small feet before her, and, +albeit still in his lap, looked the picture of languid dejection. + +“Maw ought to have more sense, and you ought to have lit out of the +window after me,” she said with a lazy sigh. “Fightin' ain't in your +line--it's too much like THEM. That Seth's sure to get even with you.” + +“I can protect myself,” he said haughtily. Nevertheless he had a +depressing consciousness that his lithe and graceful burden was somewhat +in the way of any heroic expression. + +“Seth can lick you out of your boots, chile,” she said with naive +abstraction. Then, as he struggled to secure an upright position, “Don't +git riled, honey. Of course you'd let them kill you before YOU'D give +in. But that's their best holt--that's their trade! That's all they can +do--don't you see? That's where YOU'RE not like THEM--that's why you're +not their low down kind! That's why you're my boy--that's why I love +you!” + +She had thrown her whole weight again upon his shoulders until she had +forced him back to his seat. Then, with her locked hands again around +his neck, she looked intently into his face. The varying color dropped +from her cheeks, her eyes seemed to grow larger, the same look of rapt +absorption and possession that had so transfigured her young face at +the ball was fixed upon it now. Her lips parted slightly, she seemed to +murmur rather than speak:-- + +“What are these people to us? What are Seth's jealousies, Uncle Ben's +and Masters's foolishness, Paw and Maw's quarr'ls and tantrums to you +and me, dear? What is it what THEY think, what they reckon, what they +plan out, and what they set themselves against--to us? We love each +other, we belong to each other, without their help or their hindrance. +From the time we first saw each other it was so, and from that time Paw +and Maw, and Seth and Masters, and even YOU and ME, dear, had nothing +else to do. That was love as I know it; not Seth's sneaking rages, and +Uncle Ben's sneaking fooleries, and Masters's sneaking conceit, but +only love. And knowing that, I let Seth rage, and Uncle Ben dawdle, and +Masters trifle--and for what? To keep them from me and my boy. They were +satisfied, and we were happy.” + +Vague and unreasoning as he knew her speech to be, the rapt and perfect +conviction with which it was uttered staggered him. + +“But how is this to end, Cressy?” he said passionately. + +The abstracted look passed, and the slight color and delicate mobility +of her face returned. “To end, dandy boy?” she repeated lazily. “You +didn't think of marrying me--did you?” + +He blushed, stammered, and said “Yes,” albeit with all his past +vacillation and his present distrust of her, transparent on his cheek +and audible in his voice. + +“No, dear,” she said quietly, reaching down, untying her little shoe and +shaking the dust and pine needles from its recesses, “no! I don't know +enough to be a wife to you, just now, and you know it. And I couldn't +keep a house fit for you, and you couldn't afford to keep ME without it. +And then it would be all known, and it wouldn't be us two, dear, and our +lonely meetings any more. And we couldn't be engaged--that would be too +much like me and Seth over again. That's what you mean, dandy boy--for +you're only a dandy boy, you know, and they don't get married to +backwood Southern girls who haven't a nigger to bless themselves with +since the war! No,” she continued, lifting her proud little head so +promptly after Ford had recovered from his surprise as to make the ruse +of emptying her shoe perfectly palpable, “no, that's what we've both +allowed, dear, all along. And now, honey, it's near time for me to go. +Tell me something good--before I go. Tell me that you love me as you +used to--tell me how you felt that night at the ball when you first +knew we loved each other. But stop--kiss me first--there, once more--for +keeps.” + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +When Uncle Ben, or “Benjamin Daubigny, Esq.,” as he was already known in +the columns of the “Star,” accompanied Miss Cressy McKinstry on her +way home after the first display of attention and hospitality since +his accession to wealth and position, he remained for some moments in a +state of bewildered and smiling idiocy. It was true that their meeting +was chance and accidental; it was true that Cressy had accepted his +attention with lazy amusement; it was true that she had suddenly and +audaciously left him on the borders of the McKinstry woods in a way +that might have seemed rude and abrupt to any escort less invincibly +good-humored than Uncle Ben, but none of these things marred his fatuous +felicity. It is even probable that in his gratuitous belief that his +timid attentions had been too marked and impulsive, he attributed +Cressy's flight to a maidenly coyness that pleasurably increased his +admiration for her and his confidence in himself. In his abstraction of +enjoyment and in the gathering darkness he ran against a fir-tree very +much as he had done while walking with her, and he confusedly apologized +to it as he had to her, and by her own appellation. In this way +he eventually overran his trail and found himself unexpectedly and +apologetically in the clearing before the school-house. + +“Ef this ain't the singlerest thing, miss,” he said, and then stopped +suddenly. A faint noise in the school-house like the sound of splintered +wood attracted his attention. The master was evidently there. If he was +alone he would speak to him. + +He went to the window, looked in, and in an instant his amiable +abstraction left him. He crept softly to the door, tried it, and then +putting his powerful shoulder against the panel, forced the lock from +its fastenings. He entered the room as Seth Davis, frightened but +furious, lifted himself from before the master's desk which he had just +broken open. He had barely time to conceal something in his pocket and +close the lid again before Uncle Ben approached him. + +“What mouut ye be doin' here, Seth Davis?” he asked with the slow +deliberation which in that locality meant mischief. + +“And what mouut YOU be doin' here, Mister Ben Dabney?” said Seth, +resuming his effrontery. + +“Well,” returned Uncle Ben, planting himself in the aisle before his +opponent, “I ain't doin' no sheriff's posse business jest now, but I +reckon to keep my hand in far enuff to purtect other folks' property,” + he added, with a significant glance at the broken lock of the desk. + +“Ben Dabney,” said Seth in snarling expostulation, “I hain't got no +quar'll with ye!” + +“Then hand me over whatever you took just now from teacher's desk and +we'll talk about that afterwards,” said Uncle Ben advancing. + +“I tell ye I hain't got no quar'll with ye, Uncle Ben,” continued Seth, +retreating with a malignant sneer; “and when you talk of protectin' +other folks' property, mebbe ye'd better protect YOUR OWN--or what ye'd +like to call so--instead of quar'llin' with the man that's helpin' +ye. I've got yer the proofs that that sneakin' hound of a Yankee +school-master that Cress McKinstry's hell bent on, and that the old +man and old woman are just chuckin' into her arms, is a lyin', +black-hearted, hypocritical seducer”-- + +“Stop!” said Uncle Ben in a voice that made the crazy casement rattle. + +He strode towards Seth Davis, no longer with his habitual careful, +hesitating step, but with a tread that seemed to shake the whole +school-room. A single dominant clutch of his powerful right hand on the +young man's breast forced him backwards into the vacant chair of the +master. His usually florid face had grown as gray as the twilight; +his menacing form in a moment filled the little room and darkened the +windows. Then in some inexplicable reaction his figure slightly drooped, +he laid one heavy hand tremblingly on the desk, and with the other +affected to wipe his mouth after his old embarrassed fashion. + +“What's that you were sayin' o' Cressy?” he said huskily. + +“Wot everybody says,” said the frightened Seth, gaining a cowardly +confidence under his adversary's emotion. “Wot every cub that sets yer +under his cantin' teachin', and sees 'em together, knows. It's wot you'd +hev knowed ef he and Roop Filgee hadn't played ye fer a softy all the +time. And while you've bin hangin' round yer fer a flicker of Cressy's +gownd as she prances out o' school, he's bin lyin' low and laffin' at +ye, and while he's turned Roop over to keep you here, pretendin' to give +ye lessons, he's bin gallivantin' round with her and huggin' and kissin' +her in barns and in the brush--and now YOU want to quar'll with me.” + +He stopped, panting for breath, and stared malignantly in the gray face +of his hearer. But Uncle Ben only lifted his heavy hand mildly with +an awkward gesture of warning, stepped softly in his old cautious +hesitating manner to the open door, closed it, and returned gently:-- + +“I reckon ye got in through the winder, didn't ye, Seth?” he said, with +a labored affectation of unemotional ease, “a kind o' one leg over, and +one, two, and then you're in, eh?” + +“Never you mind HOW I got in, Ben Dabney,” returned Seth, his hostility +and insolence increasing with his opponent's evident weakness, “ez long +ez I got yer and got, by G-d! what I kem here fer! For whiles all +this was goin' on, and whiles the old fool man and old fool woman was +swallowin' what they did see and blinkin' at what they didn't, and +huggin' themselves that they'd got high-toned kempany fer their darter, +that high-toned kempany was playin' THEM too, by G-d! Yes, Sir! that +high-toned, cantin' school-teacher was keepin' a married woman in +'Frisco, all the while he was here honey-foglin' with Cressy, and I've +got the papers yer to prove it.” He tapped his breast-pocket with a +coarse laugh and thrust his face forward into the gray shadow of his +adversary's. + +“An' you sorter spotted their bein' in this yer desk and bursted it?” + said Uncle Ben, gravely examining the broken lock in the darkness as if +it were the most important feature of the incident. + +Seth nodded. “You bet your life. I saw him through the winder only this +afternoon lookin over 'em alone, and I reckoned to lay my hands on 'em +if I had to bust him or his desk. And I did!” he added with a triumphant +chuckle. + +“And you did--sure pop!” said Uncle Ben with slow deliberate admiration, +passing his heavy hand along the splintered lid. “And you reckon, Seth, +that this yer showin' of him up will break off enythin' betwixt him +and this yer--this yer Miss--Miss McKinstry?” he continued with labored +formality. + +“I reckon ef the old fool McKinstry don't shoot him in his tracks +thar'll be white men enough in Injin Springs to ride this high-toned, +pizenous hypocrit on a rail outer the settlement!” + +“That's so!” said Uncle Ben musingly, after a thoughtful pause, in +which he still seemed to be more occupied with the broken desk than his +companion's remark. Then he went on cautiously: “And ez this thing orter +be worked mighty fine, Seth, p'r'aps, on the hull, you'd better let me +have them papers.” + +“What! YOU?” snarled Seth, drawing back with a glance of angry +suspicion; “not if I know it!” + +“Seth,” said Uncle Ben, resting his elbows on the desk confidentially, +and speaking with painful and heavy deliberation, “when you first +interdoosed this yer subject you elluded to my hevin', so to speak, +rights o' preemption and interference with this young lady, and that +in your opinion, I wasn't purtectin' them rights. It 'pears to me +that, allowin' that to be gospel truth, them ther papers orter be in MY +possession--you hevin' so to speak no rights to purtect, bein' off the +board with this yer young lady, and bein' moved gin'rally by free and +independent cussedness. And ez I sed afore, this sort o' thing havin' +to be worked mighty fine, and them papers manniperlated with judgment, I +reckon, Seth, if you don't objeck, I'll hev--hev--to trouble you.” + +Seth started to his feet with a rapid glance at the door, but Uncle Ben +had risen again with the same alarming expression of completely filling +the darkened school-room, and of shaking the floor beneath him at the +slightest movement. Already he fancied he saw Uncle Ben's powerful arm +hovering above him ready to descend. It suddenly occurred to him that if +he left the execution of his scheme of exposure and vengeance to Uncle +Ben, the onus of stealing the letters would fall equally upon their +possessor. This advantage seemed more probable than the danger of Uncle +Ben's weakly yielding them up to the master. In the latter case he, +Seth, could still circulate the report of having seen the letters which +Uncle Ben had himself stolen in a fit of jealousy--a hypothesis the more +readily accepted from the latter's familiar knowledge of the schoolhouse +and his presumed ambitious jealousy of Cressy in his present attitude +as a man of position. With affected reluctance and hesitation he put his +hand to his breast-pocket. + +“Of course,” he said, “if you're kalkilatin' to take up the quar'll on +YOUR rights, and ez Cressy ain't anythin' more to me, YOU orter hev the +proofs. Only don't trust them into that hound's hands. Once he gets 'em +again he'll secure a warrant agin you for stealin'. That'll be his game. +I'd show 'em to HER first--don't ye see?--and I reckon ef she's old +Ma'am McKinstry's darter, she'll make it lively for him.” + +He handed the letters to the looming figure before him. It seemed to +become again a yielding mortal, and said in a hesitating voice, “P'r'aps +you'd better make tracks outer this, Seth, and leave me yer to put +things to rights and fix up that door and the desk agin to-morrow +mornin'. He'd better not know it to onct, and so start a row about bein' +broken into.” + +The proposition seemed to please Seth; he even extended his hand in the +darkness. But he met only an irresponsive void. With a slight shrug of +his shoulders and a grunting farewell, he felt his way to the door +and disappeared. For a few moments it seemed as if Uncle Ben had also +deserted the schoolhouse, so profound and quiet was the hush that fell +upon it. But as the eye became accustomed to the shadow a grayish bulk +appeared to grow out of it over the master's desk and shaped itself into +the broad figure of Uncle Ben. Later, when the moon rose and looked in +at the window, it saw him as the master had seen him on the first day +he had begun his lessons in the school-house, with his face bent forward +over the desk and the same look of child-like perplexity and struggle +that he had worn at his allotted task. Unheroic, ridiculous, and no +doubt blundering and idiotic as then, but still vaguely persistent in +his thought, he remained for some moments in this attitude. Then rising +and taking advantage of the moonlight that flooded the desk, he set +himself to mend the broken lock with a large mechanical clasp-knife +he produced from his pocket, and the aid of his workmanlike thumb +and finger. Presently he began to whistle softly, at first a little +artificially and with relapses of reflective silence. The lock of the +desk restored, he secured into position again that part of the door-lock +which he had burst off in his entrance. This done, he closed the door +gently and once more stepped out into the moonlit clearing. In replacing +his knife in his pocket he took out the letters which he had not touched +since they were handed to him in the darkness. His first glance at the +handwriting caused him to stop. Then still staring at it, he began to +move slowly and automatically backwards to the porch. When he reached +it he sat down, unfolded the letter, and without attempting to read it, +turned its pages over and over with the unfamiliarity of an illiterate +man in search of the signature. This when found apparently plunged him +again into motionless abstraction. Only once he changed his position +to pull up the legs of his trousers, open his knees, and extend the +distance between his feet, and then with the unfolded pages carefully +laid in the moonlit space thus opened before him, regarded them with +dubious speculation. At the end of ten minutes he rose with a sigh +of physical and mental relaxation, refolded the letter, put it in his +pocket, and made his way to the town. + +When he reached the hotel he turned into the bar-room, and observing +that it happened to be comparatively deserted, asked for a glass of +whiskey. In response to the barkeeper's glance of curiosity--as Uncle +Ben seldom drank, and then only as a social function with others--he +explained:-- + +“I reckon straight whiskey is about ez good ez the next thing for blind +chills.” + +The bar-keeper here interposed that in his larger medical experience he +had found the exhibition of ginger in combination with gin attended +with effect, although it was evident that in his business capacity he +regarded Uncle Ben, as a drinker, with distrust. + +“Ye ain't seen Mr. Ford hanging round yer lately?” continued Uncle Ben +with laborious ease. + +The bar-keeper, with his eye still scornfully fixed on his customer, but +his hands which were engaged in washing his glasses under the +counter giving him the air of humorously communicating with a hidden +confederate, had not seen the school-master that afternoon. + +Uncle Ben turned away and slowly mounted the staircase to the master's +room. After a moment's pause on the landing, which must have been +painfully obvious to any one who heard his heavy ascent, he gave two +timid raps on the door which were equally ridiculous in contrast with +his powerful tread. The door was opened promptly by the master. + +“Oh, it's you, is it?” he said shortly. “Come in.” + +Uncle Ben entered without noticing the somewhat ungracious form +of invitation. “It war me,” he said, “dropped in, not finding ye +downstairs. Let's have a drink.” + +The master gazed at Uncle Ben, who, owing to his abstraction, had not +yet wiped his mouth of the liquor he had imperfectly swallowed, and was +in consequence more redolent of whiskey than a confirmed toper. He rang +the bell for the desired refreshment with a slightly cynical smile. He +was satisfied that his visitor, like many others of humble position, was +succumbing to his good fortune. + +“I wanted to see ye, Mr. Ford,” he began, taking an unproffered chair +and depositing his hat after some hesitation outside the door, “in +regard to what I onct told ye about my wife in Mizzouri. P'r'aps you +disremember?” + +“I remember,” returned the master resignedly. + +“You know it was that arternoon that fool Stacey sent the sheriff and +the Harrisons over to McKinstry's barn.” + +“Go on!” petulantly said the master, who had his own reasons for not +caring to recall it. + +“It was that arternoon, you know, that you hadn't time to hark to +me--hevin' to go off on an engagement,” continued Uncle Ben with +protracted deliberation, “and”-- + +“Yes, yes, I remember,” interrupted the master exasperatedly, “and +really unless you get on faster, I'll have to leave you again.” + +“It was that arternoon,” said Uncle Ben without heeding him, “when +I told you I hadn't any idea what had become o' my wife ez I left in +Mizzouri.” + +“Yes,” said the master sharply, “and I told you it was your bounden duty +to look for her.” + +“That's so,” said Uncle Ben nodding comfortably, “them's your very +words; on'y a leetle more strong than that, ef I don't disremember. +Well, I reckon I've got an idee!” The master assumed a sudden expression +of interest, but Uncle Ben did not vary his monotonous tone. + +“I kem across that idee, so to speak, on the trail. I kem across it in +some letters ez was lying wide open in the brush. I picked em up and +I've got 'em here.” + +He slowly took the letters from his pocket with one hand, while he +dragged the chair on which he was sitting beside the master. But with a +quick flush of indignation Mr. Ford rose and extended his hand. + +“These are MY letters, Dabney,” he said sternly, “stolen from my desk. +Who has dared to do this?” + +But Uncle Ben had, as if accidentally, interposed his elbow between the +master and Seth's spoils. + +“Then it's all right?” he returned deliberately. “I brought 'em here +because I thought they might give an idee where my wife was. For them +letters is in her own handwrite. You remember ez I told ez how she was a +scollard.” + +The master sat back in his chair white and dumb. Incredible, +extraordinary, and utterly unlooked for as was this revelation, he felt +instinctively that it was true. + +“I couldn't read it myself--ez you know. I didn't keer to ax any one +else to read it for me--you kin reckon why, too. And that's why I'm +troublin' you to-night, Mr. Ford--ez a friend.” + +The master with a desperate effort recovered his voice. “It is +impossible. The lady who wrote those letters does not bear your name. +More than that,” he added with hasty irrelevance, “she is so free that +she is about to be married, as you might have read. You have made a +mistake, the handwriting may be like, but it cannot be really your +wife's.” + +Uncle Ben shook his head slowly. “It's her'n--there's no mistake. When +a man, Mr. Ford, hez studied that handwrite--havin', so to speak, +knowed it on'y from the OUTSIDE--from seein' it passin' like between +friends--that man's chances o' bein' mistook ain't ez great ez the man's +who on'y takes in the sense of the words that might b'long to everybody. +And her name not bein' the same ez mine, don't foller. Ef she got a +divorce she'd take her old gal's name--the name of her fammerly. And +that would seem to allow she DID get a divorce. What mowt she hev called +herself when she writ this?” + +The master saw his opportunity and rose to it with a chivalrous +indignation, that for the moment imposed even upon himself. “I decline +to answer that question,” he said angrily. “I refuse to allow the name +of any woman who honors me with her confidence to be dragged into the +infamous outrage that has been committed upon me and common decency. And +I shall hold the thief and scoundrel--whoever he may be--answerable to +myself in the absence of her natural protector.” + +Uncle Ben surveyed the hero of these glittering generalities with +undisguised admiration. He extended his hand to him gravely. + +“Shake! Ef another proof was wantin', Mr. Ford, of that bein' my wife's +letter,” he said, “that high-toned style of yours would settle it. For, +ef thar was one thing she DID like, it was that sort of po'try. And one +reason why her and me didn't get on, and why I skedaddled, was because +it wasn't in my line. Et's all in trainin'! On'y a man ez had the Fourth +Reader at his fingers' ends could talk like that. Bein' brought up on +Dobell--ez is nowhere--it sorter lets me outer you, ez it did outer HER. +But allowin' it ain't the square thing for YOU to mention her name, that +wouldn't be nothin' agin' MY doin' it, and callin' her, well--Lou Price +in a keerless sort o' way, eh?” + +“I decline to answer further,” replied the master quickly, although his +color had changed at the name. “I decline to say another word on the +matter until this mystery is cleared up--until I know who dared to break +into my desk and steal my property, and the purpose of this unheard-of +outrage. And I demand possession of those letters at once.” + +Uncle Ben without a word put them in the master's hand, to his slight +surprise, and it must be added to his faint discomfiture, nor was it +decreased when Uncle Ben added, with grave naivete and a patronizing +pressure of his hand on his shoulder,--“In course ez you're taken' it +on to yourself, and ez Lou Price ain't got no further call on ME, they +orter be yours. Ez to who got 'em outer the desk, I reckon you ain't got +no suspicion of any one spyin' round ye--hev ye?” + +In an instant the recollection of Seth Davis's face at the window and +the corroboration of Rupert's warning flashed across Ford's mind. The +hypothesis that Seth had imagined that they were Cressy's letters, and +had thrown them down without reading them when he had found out his +mistake, seemed natural. For if he had read them he would undoubtedly +have kept them to show to Cressy. The complex emotions that had +disturbed the master on the discovery of Uncle Ben's relationship to the +writer of the letters were resolving themselves into a furious rage at +Seth. But before he dared revenge himself he must be first assured that +Seth was ignorant of their contents. He turned to Uncle Ben. + +“I have a suspicion, but to make it certain I must ask you for the +present to say nothing of this to any one.” + +Uncle Ben nodded. “And when you hev found out and you're settled in your +mind that you kin make my mind easy about this yer Lou Price, ez we'll +call her, bein' divorced squarely, and bein', so to speak, in the way o' +gettin' married agin, ye might let me know ez a friend. I reckon I won't +trouble you any more to-night--onless you and me takes another sociable +drink together in the bar. No? Well, then, good-night.” He moved slowly +towards the door. With his hand on the lock he added: “Ef yer writin' to +her agin, you might say ez how you found ME lookin' well and comf'able, +and hopin' she's enjyin' the same blessin'. 'So long.” + +He disappeared, leaving the master in a hopeless collapse of +conflicting, and, it is to be feared, not very heroic emotions. +The situation, which had begun so dramatically, had become suddenly +unromantically ludicrous, without, however, losing any of its +embarrassing quality. He was conscious that he occupied the singular +position of being more ridiculous than the husband--whose invincible and +complacent simplicity stung him like the most exquisite irony. For an +instant he was almost goaded into the fury of declaring that he had +broken off from the writer of the letters forever, but its inconsistency +with the chivalrous attitude he had just taken occurred to him in time +to prevent him from becoming doubly absurd. His rage with Seth Davis +seemed to him the only feeling left that was genuine and rational, and +yet, now that Uncle Ben had gone, even that had a spurious ring. It was +necessary for him to lash himself into a fury over the hypothesis that +the letters MIGHT have been Cressy's, and desecrated by that scoundrel's +touch. Perhaps he had read them and left them to be picked up by others. +He looked over them carefully to see if their meaning would, to the +ordinary reader, appear obvious and compromising. His eye fell on the +first paragraph. + +“I should not be quite fair with you, Jack, if I affected to disbelieve +in your faith in your love for me and its endurance, but I should be +still more unfair if I didn't tell you what I honestly believe, that at +your age you are apt to deceive yourself, and, without knowing it, to +deceive others. You confess you have not yet decided upon your career, +and you are always looking forward so hopefully, dear Jack, for a change +in the future, but you are willing to believe that far more serious +things than that will suffer no change in the mean time. If we continued +as we were, I, who am older than you and have more experience, might +learn the misery of seeing you change towards ME as I have changed +towards another, and for the same reason. If I were sure I could keep +pace with you in your dreams and your ambition, if I were sure that I +always knew WHAT they were, we might still be happy--but I am not sure, +and I dare not again risk my happiness on an uncertainty. In coming to +my present resolution I do not look for happiness, but at least I know +I shall not suffer disappointment, nor involve others in it. I confess I +am growing too old not to feel the value to a woman--a necessity to her +in this country--of security in her present and future position. Another +can give me that. And although you may call this a selfish view of our +relations, I believe that you will soon--if you do not, even as you read +this now--feel the justice of it, and thank me for taking it.” + +With a smile of scorn he tore up the letter, in what he fondly believed +was the bitterness of an outraged trustful nature, forgetting that for +many weeks he had scarcely thought of its writer, and that he himself in +his conduct had already anticipated its truths. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +The master awoke the next morning, albeit after a restless night, with +that clarity of conscience and perception which it is to be feared is +more often the consequence of youth and a perfect circulation than of +any moral conviction or integrity. He argued with himself that as the +only party really aggrieved in the incident of the previous night, the +right of remedy remained with him solely, and under the benign influence +of an early breakfast and the fresh morning air he was inclined to +feel less sternly even towards Seth Davis. In any event, he must first +carefully weigh the evidence against him, and examine the scene of the +outrage closely. For this purpose, he had started for the school-house +fully an hour before his usual time. He was even light-hearted enough to +recognize the humorous aspect of Uncle Ben's appeal to him, and his +own ludicrously paradoxical attitude, and as he at last passed from the +dreary flat into the fringe of upland pines, he was smiling. Well for +him, perhaps, that he was no more affected by any premonition of the +day before him than the lately awakened birds that lightly cut the still +sleeping woods around him in their long flashing sabre-curves of flight. +A yellow-throat, destined to become the breakfast of a lazy hawk still +swinging above the river, was especially moved to such a causeless and +idiotic roulade of mirth that the master listening to the foolish bird +was fain to whistle too. He presently stopped, however, with a slight +embarrassment. For a few paces before him Cressy had unexpectedly +appeared. + +She had evidently been watching for him. But not with her usual indolent +confidence. There was a strained look of the muscles of her mouth, as of +some past repression, and a shaded hollow under her temples beneath the +blonde rings of her shorter hair. Her habitually slow, steady eye was +troubled, and she cast a furtive glance around her before she searched +him with her glance. Without knowing why, yet vaguely fearing that +he did, he became still more embarrassed, and in the very egotism of +awkwardness, stammered without a further salutation: “A disgraceful +thing has happened last night, and I'm up early to find the perpetrator. +My desk was broken into, and”-- + +“I know it,” she interrupted, with a half-impatient, half uneasy putting +away of the subject with her little hand--“there--don't go all over it +again. Paw and Maw have been at me about it all night--ever since those +Harrisons in their anxiousness to make up their quarrel, rushed over +with the news. I'm tired of it!” + +For an instant he was staggered. How much had she learned! With the +same awkward indirectness, he said vaguely, “But it might have been YOUR +letters, you know?” + +“But it wasn't,” she said, simply. “It OUGHT to have been. I wish it +had”--She stopped, and again regarded him with a strange expression. +“Well,” she said slowly, “what are you going to do?” + +“To find out the scoundrel who has done this,” he said firmly, “and +punish him as he deserves.” + +The almost imperceptible shrug that had raised her shoulders gave way as +she regarded him with a look of wearied compassion. + +“No,” she said, gravely, “you cannot. They're too many for you. You must +go away, at once.” + +“Never,” he said indignantly. “Even if it were not a cowardice. It would +be more--a confession!” + +“Not more than they already know,” she said wearily. “But, I tell you, +you MUST go. I have sneaked out of the house and run here all the way to +warn you. If you--you care for me, Jack--you will go.” + +“I should be a traitor to you if I did,” he said quickly. “I shall +stay.” + +“But if--if--Jack--if”--she drew nearer him with a new-found +timidity, and then suddenly placed her two hands upon his shoulders: +“If--if--Jack--I were to go with you?” + +The old rapt, eager look of possession had come back to her face now; +her lips were softly parted. Yet even then she seemed to be waiting some +reply more potent than that syllabled on the lips of the man before her. + +Howbeit that was the only response. “Darling,” he said kissing her, “but +wouldn't that justify them”-- + +“Stop,” she said suddenly. Then putting her hand over his mouth, she +continued with the same half-weary expression: “Don't let us go over all +that again either. It is SO tiresome. Listen, dear. You'll do one or +two little things for me--won't you, dandy boy? Don't linger long at the +school-house after lessons. Go right home! Don't look after these men +TO-DAY--to-morrow, Saturday, is your holiday--you know--and you'll have +more time. Keep to yourself to-day as much as you can, dear, for twelve +hours--until--until--you hear from me, you know. It will be all right +then,” she added, lifting her eyelids with a sudden odd resemblance to +her father's look of drowsy pain, which Ford had never noticed before. +“Promise me that, dear, won't you?” + +With a mental reservation he promised hurriedly--preoccupied in his +wonder why she seemed to avoid his explanation, in his desire to know +what had happened, in the pride that had kept him from asking more or +volunteering a defence, and in his still haunting sense of having been +wronged. Yet he could not help saying as he caught and held her hand:-- + +“YOU have not doubted me, Cressy? YOU have not allowed this infamous +raking up of things that are past and gone to alter your feelings?” + +She looked at him abstractedly. “You think it might alter ANYBODY'S +feelings, then?” + +“Nobody's who really loved another”--he stammered. + +“Don't let us talk of it any more,” she said suddenly stretching out +her arms, lifting them above her head with a wearied gesture, and then +letting them fall clasped before her in her old habitual fashion. “It +makes my head ache; what with Paw and Maw and the rest of them--I'm sick +of it all.” + +She turned away as Ford drew back coldly and let her hand fall from +his arm. She took a few steps forward, stopped, ran back to him again, +crushed his face and head in a close embrace, and then seemed to dip +like a bird into the tall bracken, and was gone. + +The master stood for some moments chagrined and bewildered; it was +characteristic of his temperament that he had paid less heed to what +she told him than what he IMAGINED had passed between her mother and +herself. She was naturally jealous of the letters--he could forgive her +for that; she had doubtless been twitted about them, but he could easily +explain them to her parents--as he would have done to her. But he was +not such a fool as to elope with her at such a moment, without first +clearing his character--and knowing more of hers. And it was equally +characteristic of him that in his sense of injury he confounded her with +the writer of the letters--as sympathizing with his correspondent in her +estimate of his character, and was quite carried away with the belief +that he was equally wronged by both. + +It was not until he reached the schoolhouse that the evidences of +last night's outrage for a time distracted his mind from his singular +interview. He was struck with the workmanlike manner in which the locks +had been restored, and the care that had evidently been taken to remove +the more obvious and brutal traces of burglary. This somewhat staggered +his theory that Seth Davis was the perpetrator; mechanical skill and +thoughtfulness were not among the lout's characteristics. But he was +still more disconcerted on pushing back his chair to find a small +india-rubber tobacco pouch lying beneath it. The master instantly +recognized it: he had seen it a hundred times before--it was Uncle +Ben's. It was not there when he had closed the room yesterday afternoon. +Either Uncle Ben had been there last night, or had anticipated him this +morning. But in the latter case he would scarcely have overlooked his +fallen property--that, in the darkness of the night, might have readily +escaped detection. His brow darkened with a sudden conviction that +it was Uncle Ben who was the real and only offender, and that his +simplicity of the previous night was part of his deception. A sickening +sense that he had been again duped--but why or to what purpose he hardly +dared to think--overcame him. Who among these strange people could he +ever again trust? After the fashion of more elevated individuals, he had +accepted the respect and kindness of those he believed his inferiors as +a natural tribute to his own superiority; any change in THEIR feelings +must therefore be hypocrisy or disloyalty; it never occurred to him that +HE might have fallen below their standard. + +The arrival of the children and the resumption of his duties for a time +diverted him. But although the morning's exercise restored the master's +self-confidence, it cannot be said to have improved his judgment. +Disdaining to question Rupert Filgee, as the possible confidant of Uncle +Ben, he answered the curious inquiries of the children as to the broken +doorlock with the remark that it was a matter that he should have to +bring before the Trustees of the Board, and by the time that school was +over and the pupils dismissed he had quite resolved upon this formal +disposition of it. In spite of Cressy's warning--rather because of +it--in the new attitude he had taken towards her and her friends, he +lingered in the school-house until late. He had occupied himself +in drawing up a statement of the facts, with an intimation that his +continuance in the school would depend upon a rigid investigation of the +circumstances, when he was aroused by the clatter of horses' hoofs. The +next moment the school-house was surrounded by a dozen men. + +He looked up; half of them dismounted and entered the room. The other +half remained outside darkening the windows with their motionless +figures. Each man carried a gun before him on the saddle; each man wore +a rude mask of black cloth partly covering his face. + +Although the master was instinctively aware that he was threatened by +serious danger, he was far from being impressed by the arms and disguise +of his mysterious intruders. On the contrary, the obvious and glaring +inconsistency of this cheaply theatrical invasion of the peaceful +school-house; of this opposition of menacing figures to the scattered +childish primers and text-books that still lay on the desks around him, +only extracted from him a half scornful smile as he coolly regarded +them. The fearlessness of ignorance is often as unassailable as the +most experienced valor, and the awe-inspiring invaders were at first +embarrassed and then humanly angry. A lank figure to the right made a +forward movement of impotent rage, but was checked by the evident leader +of the party. + +“Ef he likes to take it that way, there ain't no Regulators law agin it, +I reckon,” he said, in a voice which the master instantly recognized as +Jim Harrison's, “though ez a gin'ral thing they don't usually find it +FUN.” Then turning to the master he added, “Mister Ford, ef that's the +name you go by everywhere, we're wantin' a man about your size.” + +Ford knew that he was in hopeless peril. He knew that he was physically +defenceless and at the mercy of twelve armed and lawless men. But he +retained a preternatural clearness of perception, and audacity born +of unqualified scorn for his antagonists, with a feminine sharpness of +tongue. In a voice which astonished even himself by its contemptuous +distinctness, he said: “My name IS Ford, but as I only SUPPOSE your name +is Harrison perhaps you'll be fair enough to take that rag from your +face and show it to me like a man.” + +The man removed the mask from his face with a slight laugh. + +“Thank you,” said Ford. “Now, perhaps you will tell me which one of you +gentlemen broke into the school-house, forced the lock of my desk, +and stole my papers. If he is here I wish to tell him he is not only a +thief, but a cur and a coward, for the letters are a woman's--whom he +neither knows nor has the right to know.” + +If he had hoped to force a personal quarrel and trust his life to the +chance of a single antagonist, he was disappointed, for although his +unexpected attitude had produced some effect among the group, and even +attracted the attention of the men at the windows, Harrison strode +deliberately towards him. + +“That kin wait,” he said; “jest now we propose to take you and your +letters and drop 'em and you outer this yer township of Injin Springs. +You kin take 'em back to the woman or critter you got 'em of. But we +kalkilate you're a little too handy and free in them sorter things to +teach school round yer, and we kinder allow we don't keer to hev our +gals and boys eddicated up to your high-toned standard. So ef you choose +to kem along easy we'll mak' you comf'ble on a hoss we've got waitin' +outside, an' escort you across the line. Ef you don't--we'll take you +anyway.” + +The master cast a rapid glance around him. In his quickness of +perception he had already noted that the led horse among the cavalcade +was fastened by a lariat to one of the riders so that escape by flight +was impossible, and that he had not a single weapon to defend himself +with or even provoke, in his desperation, the struggle that could +forestall ignominy by death. Nothing was left him but his voice, clear +and trenchant as he faced them. + +“You are twelve to one,” he said calmly, “but if there is a single man +among you who dare step forward and accuse me of what you only TOGETHER +dare do, I will tell him he is a liar and a coward, and stand here ready +to make it good against him. You come here as judge and jury condemning +me without trial, and confronting me with no accusers; you come here as +lawless avengers of your honor, and you dare not give ME the privilege +of as lawlessly defending my own.” + +There was another slight murmur among the men, but the leader moved +impatiently forward. “We've had enough o' your preachin': we want YOU,” + he said roughly. “Come.” + +“Stop,” said a dull voice. + +It came from a mute figure which had remained motionless among the +others. Every eye was turned upon it as it rose and lazily pushed the +cloth from its face. + +“Hiram McKinstry!” said the others in mingled tones of astonishment and +suspicion. + +“That's me!” said McKinstry, coming forward with heavy deliberation. “I +joined this yer delegation at the crossroads instead o' my brother, who +had the call. I reckon et's all the same--or mebbe better. For I perpose +to take this yer gentleman off your hands.” + +He lifted his slumbrous eyes for the first time to the master, and at +the same time put himself between him and Harrison. “I perpose,” he +continued, “to take him at his word; I perpose ter give him a chance to +answer with a gun. And ez I reckon, by all accounts, there's no man +yer ez hez a better right than ME, I perpose to be the man to put +that question to him in the same way. Et may not suit some gents,” + he continued slowly, facing an angry exclamation from the lank figure +behind him, “ez would prefer to hev eleven men to take up THEIR private +quo'lls, but even then I reckon that the man who is the most injured hez +the right to the first say and that man's ME.” + +With a careful deliberation that had a double significance to the +malcontents, he handed his own rifle to the master and without looking +at him continued: “I reckon, sir, you've seen that afore, but ef it +ain't quite to your hand, any of those gents, I kalkilate, will be +high-toned enuff to giv you the chyce o' theirs. And there's no need o' +trapsin' beyon' the township lines, to fix this yer affair; I perpose to +do it in ten minutes in the brush yonder.” + +Whatever might have been the feelings and intentions of the men around +him, the precedence of McKinstry's right to the duello was a principle +too deeply rooted in their traditions to deny; if any resistance to it +had been contemplated by some of them, the fact that the master was now +armed, and that Mr. McKinstry would quickly do battle at his side with a +revolver in defence of his rights, checked any expression. They +silently drew back as the master and McKinstry slowly passed out of the +school-house together, and then followed in their rear. In that interval +the master turned to McKinstry and said in a low voice: “I accept +your challenge and thank you for it. You have never done me a greater +kindness--whatever I have done to YOU--yet I want you to believe that +neither now nor THEN--I meant you any harm.” + +“Ef you mean by that, sir, that ye reckon ye won't return my fire, ye're +blind and wrong. For it will do you no good with them,” he said with a +significant wave of his crippled hand towards the following crowd, “nor +me neither.” + +Firmly resolved, however, that he would not fire at McKinstry, and +clinging blindly to this which he believed was the last idea of his +foolish life, he continued on without another word until they reached +the open strip of chemisal that flanked the clearing. + +The rude preliminaries were soon settled. The parties armed with rifles +were to fire at the word from a distance of eighty yards, and then +approach each other, continuing the fight with revolvers until one +or the other fell. The selection of seconds was effected by the elder +Harrison acting for McKinstry, and after a moment's delay by the +volunteering of the long, lank figure previously noted to act for the +master. Preoccupied by other thoughts, Mr. Ford paid little heed to his +self-elected supporter, who to the others seemed to be only taking that +method of showing his contempt for McKinstry's recent insult. The master +received the rifle mechanically from his hand and walked to position. +He noticed, however, and remembered afterwards that his second was half +hidden by the trunk of a large pine to his right that marked the limit +of the ground. + +In that supreme moment it must be recorded, albeit against all +preconceived theory, that he did NOT review his past life, was NOT +illuminated by a flash of remorseful or sentimental memory, and did NOT +commend his soul to his Maker, but that he was simply and keenly alive +to the very actual present in which he still existed and to his one idea +of not firing at his adversary. And if anything could render his conduct +more theoretically incorrect it was a certain exalted sense that he was +doing quite right and was not only NOT a bad sort of fellow, but one +whom his survivors might possibly regret! + +“Are you ready, gentlemen? One--two--three--fi . . . !” + +The explosions were singularly simultaneous--so remarkable in fact that +it seemed to the master that his rifle, fired in the air, had given a +DOUBLE report. A light wreath of smoke lay between him and his opponent. +He was unhurt--so evidently was his adversary, for the voice rose again. + +“Advance! . . . Hallo there! Stop!” + +He looked up quickly to see McKinstry stagger and then fall heavily to +the ground. + +With an exclamation of horror, the first and only terrible emotion he +had felt, he ran to the fallen man, as Harrison reached his side at the +same moment. + +“For God's sake,” he said wildly, throwing himself on his knees beside +McKinstry, “what has happened? For I swear to you, I never aimed at you! +I fired in the air. Speak! Tell him, you,” he turned with a despairing +appeal to Harrison, “you must have seen it all--tell him it was not me!” + +A half wondering, half incredulous smile passed quickly over Harrison's +face. “In course you didn't MEAN it,” he said dryly, “but let +that slide. Get up and get away from yer, while you kin,” he added +impatiently, with a significant glance at one or two men who lingered +after the sudden and general dispersion of the crowd at McKinstry's +fall. “Get--will ye!” + +“Never!” said the young man passionately, “until he knows that it was +not my hand that fired that shot.” + +McKinstry painfully struggled to his elbow. “It took me yere,” he said +with a slow deliberation, as if answering some previous question, and +pointing to his hip, “and it kinder let me down when I started forward +at the second call.” + +“But it was not I who did it, McKinstry, I swear it. Hear me! For God's +sake, say you believe me.” + +McKinstry turned his drowsy troubled eyes upon the master as if he were +vaguely recalling something. “Stand back thar a minit, will ye,” he said +to Harrison, with a languid wave of his crippled hand; “I want ter speak +to this yer man.” + +Harrison drew back a few paces and the master sought to take the wounded +man's hand, but he was stopped by a gesture. “Where hev you put Cressy?” + McKinstry said slowly. + +“I don't understand you,” stammered Ford. + +“Where are you hidin' her from me?” repeated McKinstry with painful +distinctness. “Whar hev you run her to, that you're reckonin' to jine +her arter--arter--THIS?” + +“I am not hiding her! I am not going to her! I do not know where she is. +I have not seen her since we parted early this morning without a word +of meeting again,” said the master rapidly, yet with a bewildered +astonishment that was obvious even to the dulled faculties of his +hearer. + +“That war true?” asked McKinstry, laying his hand upon the master's +shoulder and bringing his dull eyes to the level of the young man's. + +“It is the whole truth,” said Ford fervently, “and true also that I +never raised my hand against you.” + +McKinstry beckoned to Harrison and the two others who had joined him, +and then sank partly back with his hand upon his side, where the slow +empurpling of his red shirt showed the slight ooze of a deeply-seated +wound. + +“You fellers kin take me over to the ranch,” he said calmly, “and let +him,” pointing to Ford, “ride your best hoss fer the doctor. I don't,” + he continued in grave explanation, “gin'rally use a doctor, but this yer +is suthin' outside the old woman's regular gait.” He paused, and then +drawing the master's head down towards him, he added in his ear, “When +I get to hev a look at the size and shape o' this yer ball that's in +my hip, I'll--I'll--I'll--be--a--little more kam!” A gleam of dull +significance struggled into his eye. The master evidently understood +him, for he rose quickly, ran to the horse, mounted him and dashed +off for medical assistance, while McKinstry, closing his heavy lids, +anticipated this looked-for calm by fainting gently away. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +Of the various sentimental fallacies entertained by adult humanity +in regard to childhood, none are more ingeniously inaccurate and +gratuitously idiotic than a comfortable belief in its profound ignorance +of the events in which it daily moves, and the motives and characters +of the people who surround it. Yet even the occasional revelations of an +enfant terrible are as nothing compared to the perilous secrets which +a discreet infant daily buttons up, or secures with a hook-and-eye, +or even fastens with a safety-pin across its gentle bosom. Society can +never cease to be grateful for that tact and consideration--qualities +more often joined with childish intuition and perception than with +matured observation--that they owe to it; and the most accomplished +man or woman of the great world might take a lesson from this little +audience who receive from their lips the lie they feel too palpable, +with round-eyed complacency, or outwardly accept as moral and genuine +the hollow sentiment they have overheard rehearsed in private for their +benefit. + +It was not strange therefore that the little people of the Indian Spring +school knew perhaps more of the real relations of Cressy McKinstry to +her admirers than the admirers themselves. Not that this knowledge was +outspoken--for children rarely gossip in the grown-up sense--or even +communicable by words intelligent to the matured intellect. A whisper, +a laugh that often seemed vague and unmeaning, conveyed to each other +a world of secret significance, and an apparently senseless burst of +merriment in which the whole class joined and that the adult critic set +down to “animal spirits”--a quality much more rare with children than +generally supposed--was only a sympathetic expression of some discovery +happily oblivious to older preoccupation. The childish simplicity +of Uncle Ben perhaps appealed more strongly to their sympathy, and +although, for that very reason, they regarded him with no more respect +than they did each other, he was at times carelessly admitted to their +confidence. It was especially Rupert Filgee who extended a kind of +patronizing protectorate over him--not unmixed with doubts of his +sanity, in spite of the promised confidential clerkship he was to +receive from his hands. + +On the day of the events chronicled in the preceding chapter, Rupert on +returning from school was somewhat surprised to find Uncle Ben perched +upon the rail-fence before the humble door of the Filgee mansion +and evidently awaiting him. Slowly dismounting as Rupert and Johnny +approached, he beamed upon the former for some moments with arch and yet +affable mystery. + +“Roopy, old man, I s'pose ye've got yer duds all ready in yer pack, eh?” + +A flush of pleasure passed over the boy's handsome face. He cast, +however, a hurried look down on the all-pervading Johnny. + +“'Cause ye see we kalkilate to take the down stage to Sacramento at +four o'clock,” continued Uncle Ben, enjoying Rupert's half sceptical +surprise. “Ye enter into office, so to speak, with me at that hour, +when the sellery, seventy-five dollars a month and board, ez private and +confidential clerk, begins--eh?” + +Rupert's dimples deepened in charming, almost feminine, embarrassment. +“But dad--?” he stammered. + +“Et's all right with HIM. He's agreeable.” + +“But--?” + +Uncle Ben followed Rupert's glance at Johnny, who however appeared to be +absorbed in the pattern of Uncle Ben's new trousers. + +“That's fixed,” he said with a meaning smile. “There's a sort o' bonus +we pays down, you know--for a Chinyman to do the odd jobs.” + +“And teacher--Mr. Ford--did ye tell him?” said Rupert brightening. + +Uncle Ben coughed slightly. “He's agreeable, too, I reckon. That is,” + he wiped his mouth meditatively, “he ez good ez allowed it in gin'ral +conversation a week ago, Roop.” + +A swift shadow of suspicion darkened the boy's brown eyes. “Is anybody +else goin' with us?” he said quickly. + +“Not this yer trip,” replied Uncle Ben complacently. “Ye see, Roop,” he +continued, drawing him aside with an air of comfortable mystery, “this +yer biz'ness b'longs to the private and confidential branch of the +office. From informashun we've received”-- + +“WE?” interrupted Rupert. + +“'We,' that's the OFFICE, you know,” continued Uncle Ben with a heavy +assumption of business formality, “wot we've received per several hands +and consignee--we--that's YOU and ME, Roop--we goes down to Sacramento +to inquire into the standin' of a certing party, as per invoice, and ter +see--ter see--ter negotiate you know, ter find out if she's married or +di-vorced,” he concluded quickly, as if abandoning for the moment his +business manner in consideration of Rupert's inexperience. “We're to +find out her standin', Roop,” he began again with a more judicious +blending of ease and technicality, “and her contracts, if any, and where +she lives and her way o' life, and examine her books and papers ez +to marriages and sich, and arbitrate with her gin'rally in +conversation--you inside the house and me out on the pavement, ready to +be called in if an interview with business principals is desired.” + +Observing Rupert somewhat perplexed and confused with these +technicalities, he tactfully abandoned them for the present, and +consulting a pocket-book said, “I've made a memorandum of some pints +that we'll talk over on the journey,” again charged Rupert to be +punctually at the stage office with his carpetbag, and cheerfully +departed. + +When he had disappeared Johnny Filgee, without a single word of +explanation, fell upon his brother, and at once began a violent attack +of kicks and blows upon his legs and other easily accessible parts +of his person, accompanying his assault with unintelligible gasps and +actions, finally culminating in a flood of tears and the casting of +himself on his back in the dust with the copper-fastened toes of his +small boots turning imaginary wheels in the air. Rupert received these +characteristic marks of despairing and outraged affection with +great forbearance, only saying, “There, now, Johnny, quit that,” and +eventually bearing him still struggling into the house. Here Johnny, +declaring that he would kill any “Chinyman” that offered to dress him, +and burn down the house after his brother's infamous desertion of it, +Rupert was constrained to mingle a few nervous, excited tears with his +brother's outbreak. Whereat Johnny, admitting the alleviation of an +orange, a four-bladed knife, and the reversionary interest in much of +Rupert's personal property, became more subdued. Sitting there with +their arms entwined about each other, the sunlight searching the +shiftless desolation of their motherless home, the few cheap playthings +they had known lying around them, they beguiled themselves with +those charming illusions of their future intentions common to their +years--illusions they only half believed themselves and half accepted of +each other. Rupert was quite certain that he would return in a few days +with a gold watch and a present for Johnny, and Johnny, with a baleful +vision of never seeing him again, and a catching breath, magnificently +undertook to bring in the wood and build the fire and wash the dishes +“all of himself.” And then there were a few childish confidences +regarding their absent father--then ingenuously playing poker in the +Magnolia Saloon--that might have made that public-spirited, genial +companion somewhat uncomfortable, and more tears that were half smiling +and some brave silences that were wholly pathetic, and then the hour +for Rupert's departure all too suddenly arrived. They separated with +ostentatious whooping, and then Johnny, suddenly overcome with +the dreadfulness of all earthly things, and the hollowness of life +generally, instantly resolved to run away! + +To do this he prepared himself with a purposeless hatchet, an +inconsistent but long-treasured lump of putty and all the sugar that was +left in the cracked sugar-bowl. Thus accoutred he sallied forth, first +to remove all traces of his hated existence that might be left in his +desk at school. If the master were there he would say Rupert had sent +him; if he wasn't, he would climb in at the window. The sun was already +sinking when he reached the clearing and found a cavalcade of armed men +around the building. + +Johnny's first conviction was that the master had killed Uncle Ben +or Masters, and that the men, taking advantage of the absence of +his--Johnny's--big brother, were about to summarily execute him. +Observing no struggle from within, his second belief was that the master +had been suddenly elected Governor of California and was about to start +with a state escort from the school-house, and that he, Johnny, was in +time to see the procession. But when the master appeared with McKinstry, +followed by part of the crowd afoot, this quick-witted child of the +frontier, from his secure outlook in the “brush,” gathered enough from +their fragmentary speech to guess the serious purport of their errand, +and thrill with anticipation and slightly creepy excitement. + +A duel! A thing hitherto witnessed only by grown-up men, afterwards +swaggering with importance and strange technical bloodthirsty words, and +now for the first time reserved for a BOY--and that boy him, Johnny!--to +behold in all its fearful completeness! A duel! of which, he, Johnny, +meanly abandoned by his brother, was now exalted perhaps to be the only +survivor! He could scarcely credit his senses. It was too much! + +To creep through the brush while the preliminaries were being settled, +reach a certain silver fir on the appointed ground, and with the aid of +his now lucky hatchet, climb unseen to its upper boughs, was an exciting +and difficult task, but one eventually overcome by his short but +energetic legs. Here he could not only see all that occurred, but by +a fortunate chance the large pine next to him had been selected as the +limit of the ground. The sharp eyes of the boy had long since penetrated +the disguises of the remaining masked men, and when the long, lank +figure of the master's self-appointed second took up its position +beneath the pines in full view of him, although hidden from the +spectators, Johnny instantly recognized it to be none other than Seth +Davis. The manifest inconsistency of his appearance as Mr. Ford's second +with what Johnny knew of his relations to the master was the one thing +that firmly fixed the incident in the boy's memory. + +The men were already in position. Harrison stepped forward to give the +word. Johnny's down-hanging legs tingled with cramp and excitement. +Why didn't they begin? What were they waiting for? What if it were +interrupted, or--terrible thought--made up at the last moment? Would +they “holler” out when they were hit, or stagger round convulsively as +they did at the “cirkiss”? Would they all run away afterwards and leave +Johnny alone to tell the tale? And--horrible thought!--would any +body believe him? Would Rupert? Rupert, had he “on'y knowed this,” he +wouldn't have gone away. + +“One”-- + +With a child's perfect faith in the invulnerable superiority of his +friends, he had not even looked at the master, but only at his destined +victim. Yet as the word “two” rang out Johnny's attention was suddenly +attracted to the surprising fact that the master's second, Seth Davis, +had also drawn a pistol, and from behind his tree was deliberately +and stealthily aiming at McKinstry! He understood it all now--he was a +friend of the master's. Bully for Seth! + +“Three!” + +Crack! Z-i-i-p! Crackle! What a funny noise! And yet he was obliged to +throw himself flat upon the bough to keep from falling. It seemed to +have snapped beneath him and benumbed his right leg. He did not know +that the master's bullet, fired in the air, had ranged along the bough, +stripping the bark throughout its length, and glancing with half-spent +force to inflict a slight flesh wound on his leg! + +He was giddy and a little frightened. And he had seen nobody hit, nor +nothin'. It was all a humbug! Seth had disappeared. So had the others. +There was a faint sound of voices and something like a group in the +distance--that was all. It was getting dark, too, and his leg was still +asleep, but warm and wet. He would get down. This was very difficult, +for his leg would not wake up, and but for the occasional support he got +by striking his hatchet in the tree he would have fallen in descending. +When he reached the ground his leg began to pain, and looking down he +saw that his stocking and shoe were soaked with blood. + +His small and dirty handkerchief, a hard wad in his pocket, was +insufficient to staunch the flow. With a vague recollection of a certain +poultice applied to a boil on his father's neck, he collected a quantity +of soft moss and dried yerba buena leaves, and with the aid of his check +apron and of one of his torn suspenders tightly wound round the whole +mass, achieved a bandage of such elephantine proportions that he could +scarcely move with it. In fact, like most imaginative children, he +became slightly terrified at his own alarming precautions. Nevertheless, +although a word or an outcry from him would have at that moment brought +the distant group to his assistance, a certain respect to himself and +his brother kept him from uttering even a whimper of weakness. + +Yet he found refuge, oddly enough, in a suppressed but bitter +denunciation of the other boys of his acquaintance. What was Cal. +Harrison doing, while he, Johnny, was alone in the woods, wounded in a +grown-up duel--for nothing would convince this doughty infant that +he had not been an active participant? Where was Jimmy Snyder that he +didn't come to his assistance with the other fellers? Cowards all; they +were afraid. Ho, ho! And he, Johnny, wasn't afraid! ho--he didn't mind +it! Nevertheless he had to repeat the phrase two or three times until, +after repeated struggles to move forward through the brush, he at last +sank down exhausted. By this time the distant group had slowly moved +away, carrying something between them, and leaving Johnny alone in the +fast coming darkness. Yet even this desertion did not affect him as +strongly as his implicit belief in the cowardly treachery of his old +associates. + +It grew darker and darker, until the open theatre of the late conflict +appeared enclosed in funereal walls; a cool searching breath of air that +seemed to have crept through the bracken and undergrowth like a stealthy +animal, lifted the curls on his hot forehead. He grasped his hatchet +firmly as against possible wild beasts, and as a medicinal and remedial +precaution, took another turn with his suspender around his bandage. +It occurred to him then that he would probably die. They would all feel +exceedingly sorry and alarmed, and regret having made him wash himself +on Saturday night. They would attend his funeral in large numbers in +the little graveyard, where a white tombstone inscribed to “John Filgee, +fell in a duel at the age of seven,” would be awaiting him. He would +forgive his brother, his father, and Mr. Ford. Yet even then he vaguely +resented a few leaves and twigs dropped by a woodpecker in the tree +above him, with a shake of his weak fist and an incoherent declaration +that they couldn't “play no babes in the wood on HIM.” And then having +composed himself he once more turned on his side to die, as became the +scion of a heroic race! The free woods, touched by an upspringing wind, +waved their dark arms above him, and higher yet a few patient stars +silently ranged themselves around his pillow. + +But with the rising wind and stars came the swift trampling of horses' +hoofs and the flashing of lanterns, and Doctor Duchesne and the master +swept down into the opening. + +“It was here,” said the master quickly, “but they must have taken him on +to his own home. Let us follow.” + +“Hold on a moment,” said the doctor, who had halted before the tree. +“What's all this? Why, it's baby Filgee--by thunder!” + +In another moment they had both dismounted and were leaning over the +half conscious child. Johnny turned his feverishly bright eyes from the +lantern to the master and back again. + +“What is it, Johnny boy?” asked the master tenderly. “Were you lost?” + +With a gleam of feverish exaltation, Johnny rose, albeit wanderingly, to +the occasion! + +“Hit!” he lisped feebly, “Hit in a doell! at the age of theven.” + +“What!” asked the bewildered master. + +But Doctor Duchesne, after a single swift scrutiny of the boy's face, +had unearthed him from his nest of leaves, laid him in his lap, and +deftly ripped away the preposterous bandage. “Hold the light here. By +Jove! he tells the truth. Who did it, Johnny?” + +But Johnny was silent. In an interval of feverish consciousness and +pain, his perception and memory had been quickened; a suspicion of the +real cause of his disaster had dawned upon him--but his childish lips +were heroically sealed. The master glanced appealingly at the Doctor. + +“Take him before you in the saddle to McKinstry's,” said the latter +promptly. “I can attend to both.” + +The master lifted the boy tenderly in his arms. Johnny, stimulated by +the prospect of a free ride, became feebly interested in his fellow +sufferer. + +“Did Theth hit him bad?” he asked. + +“Seth?” echoed the master, wildly. + +“Yeth. I theed him when he took aim.” + +The master did not reply, but the next moment Johnny felt himself +clasped in his arms in the saddle before him, borne like a whirlwind in +the direction of the McKinstry ranch. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +They found the wounded man lying in the front room upon a rudely +extemporized couch of bear-skins, he having sternly declined the +effeminacy of his wife's bedroom. In the possibility of a fatal +termination to his wound, and in obedience to a grim frontier tradition, +he had also refused to have his boots removed in order that he might +“die with them on,” as became his ancestral custom. Johnny was therefore +speedily made comfortable in the McKinstry bed, while Dr. Duchesne gave +his whole attention to his more serious patient. The master glanced +hurriedly around for Mrs. McKinstry. She was not only absent from the +room, but there seemed to be no suggestion of her presence in the house. +To his greater surprise the hurried inquiry that rose to his lips was +checked by a significant warning from the attendant. He sat down beside +the now sleeping boy, and awaited the doctor's return with his mind +wandering between the condition of the little sufferer and the singular +revelation that had momentarily escaped his childish lips. If Johnny had +actually seen Seth fire at McKinstry, the latter's mysterious wound +was accounted for--but not Seth's motive. The act was so utterly +incomprehensible and inconsistent with Seth's avowed hatred of the +master that the boy must have been delirious. + +He was roused by the entrance of the surgeon. “It's not so bad as I +thought,” he said, with a reassuring nod. “It was a mighty close shave +between a shattered bone and a severed artery, but we've got the ball, +and he'll pull through in a week. By Jove! though--the old fire-eater +was more concerned about finding the ball than living or dying! Go in +there--he wants to see you. Don't let him talk too much. He's called +in a lot of his friends for some reason or other--and there's a regular +mass-meeting in there. Go in, and get rid of 'em. I'll look after baby +Filgee--though the little chap will be all right again after another +dressing.” + +The master cast a hurried look of relief at the surgeon, and re-entered +the front room. It was filled with men whom the master instinctively +recognized as his former adversaries. But they gave way before him with +a certain rude respect and half abashed sympathy as McKinstry called him +to his side. The wounded man grasped his hand. “Lift me up a bit,” he +whispered. The master assisted him with difficulty to his elbow. + +“Gentlemen!” said McKinstry, with a characteristic wave of his crippled +hand towards the crowd as he laid the other on the master's shoulder. +“Ye heerd me talkin' a minit ago; ye heer me now. This yer young man as +we've slipped up on and meskalkilated has told the truth--every time! +Ye ken tie to him whenever and wherever ye want to. Ye ain't expected to +feel ez I feel, in course, but the man ez goes back on HIM--quo'lls with +me. That's all--and thanks for inquiring friends. Ye'll git now, boys, +and leave him a minit with me.” + +The men filed slowly out, a few lingering long enough to shake the +master's hand with grave earnestness, or half smiling, half abashed +embarrassment. The master received the proffered reconciliation of +these men, who but a few hours before would have lynched him with equal +sincerity, with cold bewilderment. As the door closed on the last of the +party he turned to McKinstry. The wounded man had sunk down again, but +was regarding with drowsy satisfaction a leaden bullet he was holding +between his finger and thumb. + +“This yer shot, Mr. Ford,” he said in a slow voice, whose weakness was +only indicated by its extreme deliberation, “never kem from the gun I +gave ye--and was never fired by you.” He paused and then added with his +old dull abstraction, “It's a long time since I've run agin anythin' +that makes me feel more--kam.” + +In Mr. McKinstry's weak condition the master did not dare to make +Johnny's revelation known to him, and contented himself by simply +pressing his hand, but the next moment the wounded man resumed,-- + +“That ball jest fits Seth's navy revolver--and the hound hes made tracks +outer the country.” + +“But what motive could he have in attacking YOU at such a time?” asked +the master. + +“He reckoned that either I'd kill you and so he'd got shut of us both in +that way, without it being noticed; or if I missed you, the others would +hang YOU--ez they kalkilated to--for killing ME! The idea kem to him +when he overheard you hintin' you wouldn't return my fire.” + +A shuddering conviction that McKinstry had divined the real truth +passed over the master. In the impulse of the moment he again would have +corroborated it by revealing Johnny's story, but a glance at the growing +feverishness of the wounded man checked his utterance. “Don't talk of it +now,” he said hurriedly. “Enough for me to know that you acquit ME. I +am here now only to beg you to compose yourself until the doctor comes +back--as you seemed to be alone, and Mrs. McKinstry”--he stopped in +awkward embarrassment. + +A singular confusion overspread the invalid's face. “She hed steppt out +afore this happened, owin' to contrairy opinions betwixt me and her. Ye +mout hev noticed, Mr. Ford, that gin'rally she didn't 'pear to cotton to +ye! Thar ain't a woman a goin' ez is the ekal of Blair Rawlins' darter +in nussin' a man and keeping him in fightin' order, but in matters like +things that consarn herself and Cress, I begin to think, Mr. Ford, +that somehow, she ain't exakly--kam! Bein' kam yourself, ye'll put any +unpleasantness down to that. Wotever you hear from HER, and, for +the matter o' that, from her own darter too--for I'm takin' back +the foolishness I said to ye over yon about your runnin' off with +Cress--you'll remember, Mr. Ford, it warn't from no ill feeling to YOU, +in her or Cress--but on'y a want of kam! I mout hev had MY idees about +Cress, you mout hev had YOURS, and that fool Dabney mout hev had HIS; +but it warn't the old woman's--nor Cressy's--it warn't Blair Rawlins' +darter's idea--nor yet HER darter's! And why? For want o' kam! Times +I reckon it was left out o' woman's nater. And bein' kam yourself, you +understand it, and take it all in.” + +The old look of drowsy pain had settled so strongly in his red eyes +again that the master was fain to put his hand gently over them, and +with a faint smile beg him to compose himself to sleep. This he finally +did after a whispered suggestion that he himself was feeling “more kam.” + The master sat for some moments with his hand upon the sleeping man's +eyes, and a vague and undefinable sense of loneliness seemed to fall +upon him from the empty rafters of the silent and deserted house. The +rising wind moaned fitfully around its bleak shell with the despairing +sound of far and forever receding voices. So strong was the impression +that when the doctor and McKinstry's attending brother re-entered the +room, the master still lingered beside the bed with a dazed sensation +of abandonment that the doctor's practical reassuring smile could hardly +dispel. + +“He's doing splendidly now,” he said, listening to the sleeper's more +regular respiration: “and I'd advise you to go now, Mr. Ford, before +he wakes, lest he might be tempted to excite himself by talking to you +again. He's really quite out of danger now. Good-night! I'll drop in on +you at the hotel when I return.” + +The master, albeit still confused and bewildered, felt his way to +the door and out into the open night. The wind was still despairingly +wrestling with the tree-tops, but the far receding voices seemed to be +growing fainter in the distance, until, as he passed on, they too seemed +to pass away forever. + +***** + +Monday morning had come again, and the master was at his desk in the +school house early, with a still damp and inky copy of the Star fresh +from the press before him. The free breath of the pines was blowing in +the window, and bringing to his ears the distant voices of his slowly +gathering flock, as he read as follows:-- + +“The perpetrator of the dastardly outrage at the Indian Spring Academy +on Thursday last--which, through unfortunate misrepresentation of +the facts, led to a premature calling out of several of our most +public-spirited citizens, and culminated in a most regrettable encounter +between Mr. McKinstry and the accomplished and estimable principal of +the school--has, we regret to say, escaped condign punishment by leaving +the country with his relations. If, as is seriously whispered, he was +also guilty of an unparalleled offence against a chivalrous code which +will exclude him in the future from ever seeking redress at the Court +of Honor, our citizens will be only too glad to get rid of the +contamination of being obliged to arrest him. Those of our readers who +know the high character of the two gentlemen who were thus forced into +a hostile meeting, will not be surprised to know that the most ample +apologies were tendered on both sides, and that the entente cordiale has +been thoroughly restored. The bullet--which it is said played a highly +important part in the subsequent explanation, proving to have come +from a REVOLVER fired by some outsider--has been extracted from Mr. +McKinstry's thigh, and he is doing well, with every prospect of a speedy +recovery.” + +Smiling, albeit not uncomplacently, at this valuable contribution to +history from an unfettered press, his eye fell upon the next paragraph, +perhaps not so complacently:-- + +“Benjamin Daubigny, Esq., who left town for Sacramento on important +business, not entirely unconnected with his new interests in Indian +Springs, will, it is rumored, be shortly joined by his wife, who has +been enabled by his recent good fortune to leave her old home in +the States, and take her proper proud position at his side. Although +personally unknown to Indian Springs, Mrs. Daubigny is spoken of as a +beautiful and singularly accomplished woman, and it is to be regretted +that her husband's interests will compel them to abandon Indian Springs +for Sacramento as a future residence. Mr. Daubigny was accompanied by +his private secretary Rupert, the eldest son of H. G. Filgee, Esq., who +has been a promising graduate of the Indian Spring Academy, and offers a +bright example to the youth of this district. We are happy to learn +that his younger brother is recovering rapidly from a slight accident +received last week through the incautious handling of firearms.” + +The master, with his eyes upon the paper, remained so long plunged in a +reverie that the school-room was quite filled and his little flock was +wonderingly regarding him before he recalled himself. He was hurriedly +reaching his hand towards the bell when he was attracted by the rising +figure of Octavia Dean. + +“Please, sir, you didn't ask if we had any news!” + +“True--I forgot,” said the master smiling. “Well, have you anything to +tell us?” + +“Yes, sir. Cressy McKinstry has left school.” + +“Indeed!” + +“Yes, sir; she's married.” + +“Married,” repeated the master with an effort, yet conscious of the eyes +concentrated upon his colorless face. “Married--and to whom?” + +“To Joe Masters, sir, at the Baptist Chapel at Big Bluff, Sunday, an' +Marm McKinstry was thar with her.” + +There was a momentary and breathless pause. Then the voices of his +little pupils--those sage and sweet truants from tradition, those gentle +but relentless historians of the future--rose around him in shrill +chorus--“WHY, WE KNOWED IT ALL ALONG, SIR!” + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Cressy, by Bret Harte + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CRESSY *** + +***** This file should be named 2858-0.txt or 2858-o.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/5/2858/ + +Produced by Donald Lainson + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/2858-0.zip b/2858-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6e987ce --- /dev/null +++ b/2858-0.zip diff --git a/2858-h.zip b/2858-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9d08698 --- /dev/null +++ b/2858-h.zip diff --git a/2858-h/2858-h.htm b/2858-h/2858-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d8fd173 --- /dev/null +++ b/2858-h/2858-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7225 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + Cressy, by Bret Harte + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Cressy, by Bret Harte + +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: Cressy + +Author: Bret Harte + +Release Date: May 27, 2006 [EBook #2858] +Last Updated: March 4, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CRESSY *** + + + + +Produced by Donald Lainson; David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h1> + CRESSY + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Bret Harte + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> <big><b>CRESSY</b></big> </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER XIII. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER XIV. </a> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h1> + CRESSY + </h1> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER I. + </h2> + <p> + As the master of the Indian Spring school emerged from the pine woods into + the little clearing before the schoolhouse, he stopped whistling, put his + hat less jauntily on his head, threw away some wild flowers he had + gathered on his way, and otherwise assumed the severe demeanor of his + profession and his mature age—which was at least twenty. Not that he + usually felt this an assumption; it was a firm conviction of his serious + nature that he impressed others, as he did himself, with the blended + austerity and ennui of deep and exhausted experience. + </p> + <p> + The building which was assigned to him and his flock by the Board of + Education of Tuolumne County, California, had been originally a church. It + still bore a faded odor of sanctity, mingled, however, with a later and + slightly alcoholic breath of political discussion, the result of its + weekly occupation under the authority of the Board as a Tribune for the + enunciation of party principles and devotion to the Liberties of the + People. There were a few dog-eared hymn-books on the teacher's desk, and + the blackboard but imperfectly hid an impassioned appeal to the citizens + of Indian Spring to “Rally” for Stebbins as Supervisor. The master had + been struck with the size of the black type in which this placard was + printed, and with a shrewd perception of its value to the round wandering + eyes of his smaller pupils, allowed it to remain as a pleasing example of + orthography. Unfortunately, although subdivided and spelt by them in its + separate letters with painful and perfect accuracy, it was collectively + known as “Wally,” and its general import productive of vague hilarity. + </p> + <p> + Taking a large key from his pocket, the master unlocked the door and threw + it open, stepping back with a certain precaution begotten of his + experience in once finding a small but sociable rattlesnake coiled up near + the threshold. A slight disturbance which followed his intrusion showed + the value of that precaution, and the fact that the room had been already + used for various private and peaceful gatherings of animated nature. An + irregular attendance of yellow-birds and squirrels dismissed themselves + hurriedly through the broken floor and windows, but a golden lizard, + stiffened suddenly into stony fright on the edge of an open arithmetic, + touched the heart of the master so strongly by its resemblance to some + kept-in and forgotten scholar who had succumbed over the task he could not + accomplish, that he was seized with compunction. + </p> + <p> + Recovering himself, and re-establishing, as it were, the decorous + discipline of the room by clapping his hands and saying “Sho!” he passed + up the narrow aisle of benches, replacing the forgotten arithmetic, and + picking up from the desks here and there certain fragmentary pieces of + plaster and crumbling wood that had fallen from the ceiling, as if this + grove of Academus had been shedding its leaves overnight. When he reached + his own desk he lifted the lid and remained for some moments motionless, + gazing into it. His apparent meditation however was simply the combined + reflection of his own features in a small pocket-mirror in its recesses + and a perplexing doubt in his mind whether the sacrifice of his budding + moustache was not essential to the professional austerity of his + countenance. But he was presently aware of the sound of small voices, + light cries, and brief laughter scattered at vague and remote distances + from the schoolhouse—not unlike the birds and squirrels he had just + dispossessed. He recognized by these signs that it was nine o'clock, and + his scholars were assembling. + </p> + <p> + They came in their usual desultory fashion—the fashion of country + school-children the world over—irregularly, spasmodically, and + always as if accidentally; a few hand-in-hand, others driven ahead of or + dropped behind their elders; some in straggling groups more or less + coherent and at times only connected by far-off intermediate voices + scattered on a space of half a mile, but never quite alone; always + preoccupied by something else than the actual business on hand; appearing + suddenly from ditches, behind trunks, and between fence-rails; cropping up + in unexpected places along the road after vague and purposeless detours—seemingly + going anywhere and everywhere but to school! So unlooked-for, in fact, was + their final arrival that the master, who had a few moments before failed + to descry a single torn straw hat or ruined sun-bonnet above his visible + horizon, was always startled to find them suddenly under his windows, as + if, like the birds, they had alighted from the trees. Nor was their moral + attitude towards their duty any the more varied; they always arrived as if + tired and reluctant, with a doubting sulkiness that perhaps afterwards + beamed into a charming hypocrisy, but invariably temporizing with their + instincts until the last moment, and only relinquishing possible truancy + on the very threshold. Even after they were marshalled on their usual + benches they gazed at each other every morning with a perfectly fresh + astonishment and a daily recurring enjoyment of some hidden joke in this + tremendous rencontre. + </p> + <p> + It had been the habit of the master to utilize these preliminary + vagrancies of his little flock by inviting them on assembling to recount + any interesting incident of their journey hither; or failing this, from + their not infrequent shyness in expressing what had secretly interested + them, any event that had occurred within their knowledge since they last + met. He had done this, partly to give them time to recover themselves in + that more formal atmosphere, and partly, I fear, because, notwithstanding + his conscientious gravity, it greatly amused him. It also diverted them + from their usual round-eyed, breathless contemplation of himself—a + regular morning inspection which generally embraced every detail of his + dress and appearance, and made every change or deviation the subject of + whispered comment or stony astonishment. He knew that they knew him more + thoroughly than he did himself, and shrank from the intuitive vision of + these small clairvoyants. + </p> + <p> + “Well?” said the master gravely. + </p> + <p> + There was the usual interval of bashful hesitation, verging on nervous + hilarity or hypocritical attention. For the last six months this question + by the master had been invariably received each morning as a veiled + pleasantry which might lead to baleful information or conceal some query + out of the dreadful books before him. Yet this very element of danger had + its fascinations. Johnny Filgee, a small boy, blushed violently, and, + without getting up, began hurriedly in a high key, “Tige ith got,” and + then suddenly subsided into a whisper. + </p> + <p> + “Speak up, Johnny,” said the master encouragingly. + </p> + <p> + “Please, sir, it ain't anythin' he's seed—nor any real news,” said + Rupert Filgee, his elder brother, rising with family concern and frowning + openly upon Johnny; “it's jest his foolishness; he oughter be licked.” + Finding himself unexpectedly on his feet, and apparently at the end of a + long speech, he colored also, and then said hurriedly, “Jimmy Snyder—HE + seed suthin'. Ask HIM!” and sat down—a recognized hero. + </p> + <p> + Every eye, including the master's, was turned on Jimmy Snyder. But that + youthful observer, instantly diving his head and shoulders into his desk, + remained there gurgling as if under water. Two or three nearest him + endeavored with some struggling to bring him to an intelligible surface + again. The master waited patiently. Johnny Filgee took advantage of the + diversion to begin again in a high key, “Tige ith got thix,” and subsided. + </p> + <p> + “Come, Jimmy,” said the master, with a touch of peremptoriness. Thus + adjured, Jimmy Snyder came up glowingly, and bristling with full stops and + exclamation points. “Seed a black b'ar comin' outer Daves' woods,” he said + excitedly. “Nigh to me ez you be. 'N big ez a hoss; 'n snarlin'! 'n + snappin'!—like gosh! Kem along—ker—clump torords me. + Reckoned he'd skeer me! Didn't skeer me worth a cent. I heaved a rock at + him—I did now!” (in defiance of murmurs of derisive comment)—“'n + he slid. Ef he'd kem up furder I'd hev up with my slate and swotted him + over the snoot—bet your boots!” + </p> + <p> + The master here thought fit to interfere, and gravely point out that the + habit of striking bears as large as a horse with a school-slate was + equally dangerous to the slate (which was also the property of Tuolumne + County) and to the striker; and that the verb “to swot” and the noun + substantive “snoot” were likewise indefensible, and not to be tolerated. + Thus admonished Jimmy Snyder, albeit unshaken in his faith in his own + courage, sat down. + </p> + <p> + A slight pause ensued. The youthful Filgee, taking advantage of it, opened + in a higher key, “Tige ith”—but the master's attention was here + diverted by the searching eyes of Octavia Dean, a girl of eleven, who + after the fashion of her sex preferred a personal recognition of her + presence before she spoke. Succeeding in catching his eye, she threw back + her long hair from her shoulders with an easy habitual gesture, rose, and + with a faint accession of color said: + </p> + <p> + “Cressy McKinstry came home from Sacramento. Mrs. McKinstry told mother + she's comin' back here to school.” + </p> + <p> + The master looked up with an alacrity perhaps inconsistent with his + cynical austerity. Seeing the young girl curiously watching him with an + expectant smile, he regretted it. Cressy McKinstry, who was sixteen years + old, had been one of the pupils he had found at the school when he first + came. But as he had also found that she was there in the extraordinary + attitude of being “engaged” to one Seth Davis, a fellow-pupil of nineteen, + and as most of the courtship was carried on freely and unceremoniously + during school-hours with the full permission of the master's predecessor, + the master had been obliged to point out to the parents of the devoted + couple the embarrassing effects of this association on the discipline of + the school. The result had been the withdrawal of the lovers, and possibly + the good-will of the parents. The return of the young lady was + consequently a matter of some significance. Had the master's protest been + accepted, or had the engagement itself been broken off? + </p> + <p> + Either was not improbable. His momentary loss of attention was Johnny + Filgee's great gain. + </p> + <p> + “Tige,” said Johnny, with sudden and alarming distinctness, “ith got thix + pupths—mothly yaller.” + </p> + <p> + In the laugh which followed this long withheld announcement of an increase + in the family of Johnny's yellow and disreputable setter “Tiger,” who + usually accompanied him to school and howled outside, the master joined + with marked distinctness. Then he said, with equally marked severity, + “Books!” The little levee was ended, and school began. + </p> + <p> + It continued for two hours with short sighs, corrugations of small + foreheads, the complaining cries and scratchings of slate pencils over + slates, and other signs of minor anguish among the more youthful of the + flock; and with more or less whisperings, movements of the lips, and + unconscious soliloquy among the older pupils. The master moved slowly up + and down the aisle with a word of encouragement or explanation here and + there, stopping with his hands behind him to gaze abstractedly out of the + windows to the wondering envy of the little ones. A faint hum, as of + invisible insects, gradually pervaded the school; the more persistent + droning of a large bee had become dangerously soporific. The hot breath of + the pines without had invaded the doors and windows; the warped shingles + and weather-boarding at times creaked and snapped under the rays of the + vertical and unclouded sun. A gentle perspiration broke out like a mild + epidemic in the infant class; little curls became damp, brief lashes limp, + round eyes moist, and small eyelids heavy. The master himself started, and + awoke out of a perilous dream of other eyes and hair to collect himself + severely. For the irresolute, half-embarrassed, half-lazy figure of a man + had halted doubtingly before the porch and open door. Luckily the + children, who were facing the master with their backs to the entrance, did + not see it. + </p> + <p> + Yet the figure was neither alarming nor unfamiliar. The master at once + recognized it as Ben Dabney, otherwise known as “Uncle Ben,” a + good-humored but not over-bright miner, who occupied a small cabin on an + unambitious claim in the outskirts of Indian Spring. His avuncular title + was evidently only an ironical tribute to his amiable incompetency and + heavy good-nature, for he was still a young man with no family ties, and + by reason of his singular shyness not even a visitor in the few families + of the neighborhood. As the master looked up, he had an irritating + recollection that Ben had been already haunting him for the last two days, + alternately appearing and disappearing in his path to and from school as a + more than usually reserved and bashful ghost. This, to the master's + cynical mind, clearly indicated that, like most ghosts, he had something + of essentially selfish import to communicate. Catching the apparition's + half-appealing eye, he proceeded to exorcise it with a portentous frown + and shake of the head, that caused it to timidly wane and fall away from + the porch, only however to reappear and wax larger a few minutes later at + one of the side windows. The infant class hailing his appearance as a + heaven-sent boon, the master was obliged to walk to the door and command + him sternly away, when, retreating to the fence, he mounted the uppermost + rail, and drawing a knife from his pocket, cut a long splinter from the + rail, and began to whittle it in patient and meditative silence. But when + recess was declared, and the relieved feelings of the little flock had + vent in the clearing around the schoolhouse, the few who rushed to the + spot found that Uncle Ben had already disappeared. Whether the appearance + of the children was too inconsistent with his ghostly mission, or whether + his heart failed him at the last moment, the master could not determine. + Yet, distasteful as the impending interview promised to be, the master was + vaguely and irritatingly disappointed. + </p> + <p> + A few hours later, when school was being dismissed, the master found + Octavia Dean lingering near his desk. Looking into the girl's mischievous + eyes, he good-humoredly answered their expectation by referring to her + morning's news. “I thought Miss McKinstry had been married by this time,” + he said carelessly. + </p> + <p> + Octavia, swinging her satchel like a censer, as if she were performing + some act of thurification over her completed tasks, replied demurely: “Oh + no! dear no—not THAT.” + </p> + <p> + “So it would seem,” said the master. + </p> + <p> + “I reckon she never kalkilated to, either,” continued Octavia, slyly + looking up from the corner of her lashes. + </p> + <p> + “Indeed!” + </p> + <p> + “No—she was just funning with Seth Davis—that's all.” + </p> + <p> + “Funning with him?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, sir. Kinder foolin' him, you know.” + </p> + <p> + “Kinder foolin' him!” + </p> + <p> + For an instant the master felt it his professional duty to protest against + this most unmaidenly and frivolous treatment of the matrimonial + engagement, but a second glance at the significant face of his youthful + auditor made him conclude that her instinctive knowledge of her own sex + could be better trusted than his imperfect theories. He turned towards his + desk without speaking. Octavia gave an extra swing to her satchel, tossing + it over her shoulder with a certain small coquettishness and moved towards + the door. As she did so the infant Filgee from the safe vantage of the + porch where he had lingered was suddenly impelled to a crowning audacity! + As if struck with an original idea, but apparently addressing himself to + space, he cried out, “Crethy M'Kinthry likth teacher,” and instantly + vanished. + </p> + <p> + Putting these incidents sternly aside, the master addressed himself to the + task of setting a few copies for the next day as the voices of his + departing flock faded from the porch. Presently a silence fell upon the + little school-house. Through the open door a cool, restful breath stole + gently as if nature were again stealthily taking possession of her own. A + squirrel boldly came across the porch, a few twittering birds charging in + stopped, beat the air hesitatingly for a moment with their wings, and fell + back with bashfully protesting breasts aslant against the open door and + the unlooked-for spectacle of the silent occupant. Then there was another + movement of intrusion, but this time human, and the master looked up + angrily to behold Uncle Ben. + </p> + <p> + He entered with a slow exasperating step, lifting his large boots very + high and putting them down again softly as if he were afraid of some + insecurity in the floor, or figuratively recognized the fact that the + pathways of knowledge were thorny and difficult. Reaching the master's + desk and the ministering presence above it, he stopped awkwardly, and with + the rim of his soft felt hat endeavored to wipe from his face the meek + smile it had worn when he entered. It chanced also that he had halted + before the minute stool of the infant Filgee, and his large figure + instantly assumed such Brobdingnagian proportions in contrast that he + became more embarrassed than ever. The master made no attempt to relieve + him, but regarded him with cold interrogation. + </p> + <p> + “I reckoned,” he began, leaning one hand on the master's desk with + affected ease, as he dusted his leg with his hat with the other, “I + reckoned—that is—I allowed—I orter say—that I'd + find ye alone at this time. Ye gin'rally are, ye know. It's a nice, + soothin', restful, stoodious time, when a man kin, so to speak, run back + on his eddication and think of all he ever knowed. Ye're jist like me, and + ye see I sorter spotted your ways to onct.” + </p> + <p> + “Then why did you come here this morning and disturb the school?” demanded + the master sharply. + </p> + <p> + “That's so, I sorter slipped up thar, didn't I?” said Uncle Ben with a + smile of rueful assent. “You see I didn't allow to COME IN then, but on'y + to hang round a leetle and kinder get used to it, and it to me.” + </p> + <p> + “Used to what?” said the master impatiently, albeit with a slight + softening at his intruder's penitent expression. + </p> + <p> + Uncle Ben did not reply immediately, but looked around as if for a seat, + tried one or two benches and a desk with his large hand as if testing + their security, and finally abandoning the idea as dangerous, seated + himself on the raised platform beside the master's chair, having + previously dusted it with the flap of his hat. Finding, however, that the + attitude was not conducive to explanation, he presently rose again, and + picking up one of the school-books from the master's desk eyed it + unskilfully upside down, and then said hesitatingly,— + </p> + <p> + “I reckon ye ain't usin' Dobell's 'Rithmetic here?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said the master. + </p> + <p> + “That's bad. 'Pears to be played out—that Dobell feller. I was + brought up on Dobell. And Parsings' Grammar? Ye don't seem to be a using + Parsings' Grammar either?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said the master, relenting still more as he glanced at Uncle Ben's + perplexed face with a faint smile. + </p> + <p> + “And I reckon you'd be saying the same of Jones' 'Stronomy and Algebry? + Things hev changed. You've got all the new style here,” he continued, with + affected carelessness, but studiously avoiding the master's eye. “For a + man ez wos brought up on Parsings, Dobell, and Jones, thar don't appear to + be much show nowadays.” + </p> + <p> + The master did not reply. Observing several shades of color chase each + other on Uncle Ben's face, he bent his own gravely over his books. The act + appeared to relieve his companion, who with his eyes still turned towards + the window went on: + </p> + <p> + “Ef you'd had them books—which you haven't—I had it in my mind + to ask you suthen'. I had an idea of—of—sort of reviewing my + eddication. Kinder going over the old books agin—jist to pass the + time. Sorter running in yer arter school hours and doin' a little + practisin', eh? You looking on me as an extry scholar—and I payin' + ye as sich—but keepin' it 'twixt ourselves, you know—just for + a pastime, eh?” + </p> + <p> + As the master smilingly raised his head, he became suddenly and + ostentatiously attracted to the window. + </p> + <p> + “Them jay birds out there is mighty peart, coming right up to the + school-house! I reckon they think it sort o' restful too.” + </p> + <p> + “But if you really mean it, couldn't you use these books, Uncle Ben?” said + the master cheerfully. “I dare say there's little difference—the + principle is the same, you know.” + </p> + <p> + Uncle Ben's face, which had suddenly brightened, as suddenly fell. He took + the book from the master's hand without meeting his eyes, held it at arm's + length, turned it over and then laid it softly down upon the desk as if it + were some excessively fragile article. “Certingly,” he murmured, with + assumed reflective ease. “Certingly. The principle's all there.” + Nevertheless he was quite breathless and a few beads of perspiration stood + out upon his smooth, blank forehead. + </p> + <p> + “And as to writing, for instance,” continued the master with increasing + heartiness as he took notice of these phenomena, “you know ANY copy-book + will do.” + </p> + <p> + He handed his pen carelessly to Uncle Ben. The large hand that took it + timidly not only trembled but grasped it with such fatal and hopeless + unfamiliarity that the master was fain to walk to the window and observe + the birds also. + </p> + <p> + “They're mighty bold—them jays,” said Uncle Ben, laying down the pen + with scrupulous exactitude beside the book and gazing at his fingers as if + he had achieved a miracle of delicate manipulation. “They don't seem to be + afeared of nothing, do they?” + </p> + <p> + There was another pause. The master suddenly turned from the window. “I + tell you what, Uncle Ben,” he said with prompt decision and unshaken + gravity, “the only thing for you to do is to just throw over Dobell and + Parsons and Jones and the old quill pen that I see you're accustomed to, + and start in fresh as if you'd never known them. Forget 'em all, you know. + It will be mighty hard of course to do that,” he continued, looking out of + the window, “but you must do it.” + </p> + <p> + He turned back, the brightness that transfigured Uncle Ben's face at that + moment brought a slight moisture into his own eyes. The humble seeker of + knowledge said hurriedly that he would try. + </p> + <p> + “And begin again at the beginning,” continued the master cheerfully. + “Exactly like one of those—in fact, as if you REALLY were a child + again.” + </p> + <p> + “That's so,” said Uncle Ben, rubbing his hands delightedly, “that's me! + Why, that's jest what I was sayin' to Roop”— + </p> + <p> + “Then you've already been talking about it?” intercepted the master in + some surprise. “I thought you wanted it kept secret?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, yes,” responded Uncle Ben dubiously. “But you see I sorter agreed + with Roop Filgee that if you took to my ideas and didn't object, I'd give + him two bits* every time he'd kem here and help me of an arternoon when + you was away and kinder stand guard around the school-house, you know, so + as to keep the fellows off. And Roop's mighty sharp for a boy, ye know.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + * Two bits, i. e., twenty-five cents. +</pre> + <p> + The master reflected a moment and concluded that Uncle Ben was probably + right. Rupert Filgee, who was a handsome boy of fourteen, was also a + strongly original character whose youthful cynicism and blunt, honest + temper had always attracted him. He was a fair scholar, with a possibility + of being a better one, and the proposed arrangement with Uncle Ben would + not interfere with the discipline of school hours and might help them + both. Nevertheless he asked good-humoredly, “But couldn't you do this more + securely and easily in your own house? I might lend you the books, you + know, and come to you twice a week.” + </p> + <p> + Uncle Ben's radiant face suddenly clouded. “It wouldn't be exactly the + same kind o' game to me an' Roop,” he said hesitatingly. “You see thar's + the idea o' the school-house, ye know, and the restfulness and the quiet, + and the gen'ral air o' study. And the boys around town ez wouldn't think + nothin' o' trapsen' into my cabin if they spotted what I was up to thar, + would never dream o' hunting me here.” + </p> + <p> + “Very well,” said the master, “let it be here then.” Observing that his + companion seemed to be struggling with an inarticulate gratitude and an + apparently inextricable buckskin purse in his pocket, he added quietly, + “I'll set you a few copies to commence with,” and began to lay out a few + unfinished examples of Master Johnny Filgee's scholastic achievements. + </p> + <p> + “After thanking YOU, Mr. Ford,” said Uncle Ben, faintly, “ef you'll jest + kinder signify, you know, what you consider a fair”— + </p> + <p> + Mr. Ford turned quickly and dexterously offered his hand to his companion + in such a manner that he was obliged to withdraw his own from his pocket + to grasp it in return. “You're very welcome,” said the master, “and as I + can only permit this sort of thing gratuitously, you'd better NOT let me + know that you propose giving anything even to Rupert.” He shook Uncle + Ben's perplexed hand again, briefly explained what he had to do, and + saying that he would now leave him alone a few minutes, he took his hat + and walked towards the door. + </p> + <p> + “Then you reckon,” said Uncle Ben slowly, regarding the work before him, + “that I'd better jest chuck them Dobell fellers overboard?” + </p> + <p> + “I certainly should,” responded the master with infinite gravity. + </p> + <p> + “And sorter waltz in fresh, like one them children?” + </p> + <p> + “Like a child,” nodded the master as he left the porch. + </p> + <p> + A few moments later, as he was finishing his cigar in the clearing, he + paused to glance in at the school-room window. Uncle Ben, stripped of his + coat and waistcoat, with his shirt-sleeves rolled up on his powerful arms, + had evidently cast Dobell and all misleading extraneous aid aside, and + with the perspiration standing out on his foolish forehead, and his + perplexed face close to the master's desk, was painfully groping along + towards the light in the tottering and devious tracks of Master Johnny + Filgee, like a very child indeed! + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II. + </h2> + <p> + As the children were slowly straggling to their places the next morning, + the master waited for an opportunity to speak to Rupert. That beautiful + but scarcely amiable youth was, as usual, surrounded and impeded by a + group of his small female admirers, for whom, it is but just to add, he + had a supreme contempt. Possibly it was this healthy quality that inclined + the master towards him, and it was consequently with some satisfaction + that he overheard fragments of his openly disparaging comments upon his + worshippers. + </p> + <p> + “There!” to Clarinda Jones, “don't flop! And don't YOU,” to Octavia Dean, + “go on breathing over my head like that. If there's anything I hate it's + having a girl breathing round me. Yes, you were! I felt it in my hair. And + YOU too—you're always snoopin' and snoodgin'. Oh, yes, you want to + know WHY I've got an extry copy-book and another 'Rithmetic, Miss + Curiosity. Well, what would you give to know? Want to see if they're + PRETTY” (with infinite scorn at the adjective). “No, they ain't PRETTY. + That's all you girls think about—what's PRETTY and what's curious! + Quit now! Come! Don't ye see teacher lookin' at you? Ain't you ashamed?” + </p> + <p> + He caught the master's beckoning eye and came forward, slightly abashed, + with a flush of irritation still on his handsome face, and his chestnut + curls slightly rumpled. One, which Octavia had covertly accented by + twisting round her forefinger, stood up like a crest on his head. + </p> + <p> + “I've told Uncle Ben that you might help him here after school hours,” + said the master, taking him aside. “You may therefore omit your writing + exercise in the morning and do it in the afternoon.” + </p> + <p> + The boy's dark eyes sparkled. “And if it would be all the same to you, + sir,” he added earnestly, “you might sorter give out in school that I was + to be kept in.” + </p> + <p> + “I'm afraid that would hardly do,” said the master, much amused. “But + why?” + </p> + <p> + Rupert's color deepened. “So ez to keep them darned girls from foolin' + round me and followin' me back here.” + </p> + <p> + “We will attend to that,” said the master smiling; a moment after he added + more seriously, “I suppose your father knows that you are to receive money + for this? And he doesn't object?” + </p> + <p> + “He! Oh no!” returned Rupert with a slight look of astonishment, and the + same general suggestion of patronizing his progenitor that he had + previously shown to his younger brother. “You needn't mind HIM.” In + reality Filgee pere, a widower of two years' standing, had tacitly allowed + the discipline of his family to devolve upon Rupert. Remembering this, the + master could only say, “Very well,” and good-naturedly dismiss the pupil + to his seat and the subject from his mind. The last laggard had just + slipped in, the master had glanced over the occupied benches with his hand + upon his warning bell, when there was a quick step on the gravel, a + flutter of skirts like the sound of alighting birds, and a young woman + lightly entered. + </p> + <p> + In the rounded, untouched, and untroubled freshness of her cheek and chin, + and the forward droop of her slender neck, she appeared a girl of fifteen; + in her developed figure and the maturer drapery of her full skirts she + seemed a woman; in her combination of naive recklessness and perfect + understanding of her person she was both. In spite of a few school-books + that jauntily swung from a strap in her gloved hand, she bore no + resemblance to a pupil; in her pretty gown of dotted muslin with bows of + blue ribbon on the skirt and corsage, and a cluster of roses in her belt, + she was as inconsistent and incongruous to the others as a fashion-plate + would have been in the dry and dog-eared pages before them. Yet she + carried it off with a demure mingling of the naivete of youth and the + aplomb of a woman, and as she swept down the narrow aisle, burying a few + small wondering heads in the overflow of her flounces, there was no doubt + of her reception in the arch smile that dimpled her cheek. Dropping a half + curtsey to the master, the only suggestion of her equality with the + others, she took her place at one of the larger desks, and resting her + elbow on the lid began to quietly remove her gloves. It was Cressy + McKinstry. + </p> + <p> + Irritated and disturbed at the girl's unceremonious entrance, the master + for the moment recognized her salutation coldly, and affected to ignore + her elaborate appearance. The situation was embarrassing. He could not + decline to receive her as she was no longer accompanied by her lover, nor + could he plead entire ignorance of her broken engagement; while to point + out the glaring inappropriateness of costume would be a fresh interference + he knew Indian Spring would scarcely tolerate. He could only accept such + explanation as she might choose to give. He rang his bell as much to avert + the directed eyes of the children as to bring the scene to a climax. + </p> + <p> + She had removed her gloves and was standing up. + </p> + <p> + “I reckon I can go on where I left off?” she said lazily, pointing to the + books she had brought with her. + </p> + <p> + “For the present,” said the master dryly. + </p> + <p> + The first class was called. Later, when his duty brought him to her side, + he was surprised to find that she was evidently already prepared with + consecutive lessons, as if she were serenely unconscious of any doubt of + her return, and as coolly as if she had only left school the day before. + Her studies were still quite elementary, for Cressy McKinstry had never + been a brilliant scholar, but he perceived, with a cynical doubt of its + permanency, that she had bestowed unusual care upon her present + performance. There was moreover a certain defiance in it, as if she had + resolved to stop any objection to her return on the score of deficiencies. + He was obliged in self-defence to take particular note of some rings she + wore, and a large bracelet that ostentatiously glittered on her white arm—which + had already attracted the attention of her companions, and prompted the + audible comment from Johnny Filgee that it was “truly gold.” Without + meeting her eyes he contented himself with severely restraining the + glances of the children that wandered in her direction. She had never been + quite popular with the school in her previous role of fiancee, and only + Octavia Dean and one or two older girls appreciated its mysterious + fascination; while the beautiful Rupert, secure in his avowed predilection + for the middle-aged wife of the proprietor of the Indian Spring hotel, + looked upon her as a precocious chit with more than the usual propensity + to objectionable “breathing.” Nevertheless the master was irritatingly + conscious of her presence—a presence which now had all the absurdity + of her ridiculous love-experiences superadded to it. He tried to reason + with himself that it was only a phase of frontier life, which ought to + have amused him. But it did not. The intrusion of this preposterous girl + seemed to disarrange the discipline of his life as well as of his school. + The usual vague, far-off dreams in which he was in the habit of indulging + during school-hours, dreams that were perhaps superinduced by the + remoteness of his retreat and a certain restful sympathy in his little + auditors, which had made him—the grown-up dreamer—acceptable + to them in his gentle understanding of their needs and weaknesses, now + seemed to have vanished forever. + </p> + <p> + At recess, Octavia Dean, who had drawn near Cressy and reached up to place + her arm round the older girl's waist, glanced at her with a patronizing + smile born of some rapid free-masonry, and laughingly retired with the + others. The master at his desk, and Cressy who had halted in the aisle + were left alone. + </p> + <p> + “I have had no intimation yet from your father or mother that you were + coming back to school again,” he began. “But I suppose THEY have decided + upon your return?” + </p> + <p> + An uneasy suspicion of some arrangement with her former lover had prompted + the emphasis. + </p> + <p> + The young girl looked at him with languid astonishment. “I reckon paw and + maw ain't no objection,” she said with the same easy ignoring of parental + authority that had characterized Rupert Filgee, and which seemed to be a + local peculiarity. “Maw DID offer to come yer and see you, but I told her + she needn't bother.” + </p> + <p> + She rested her two hands behind her on the edge of a desk, and leaned + against it, looking down upon the toe of her smart little shoe which was + describing a small semicircle beyond the hem of her gown. Her attitude, + which was half-defiant, half-indolent, brought out the pretty curves of + her waist and shoulders. The master noticed it and became a trifle more + austere. + </p> + <p> + “Then I am to understand that this is a permanent thing?” he asked coldly. + </p> + <p> + “What's that?” said Cressy interrogatively. + </p> + <p> + “Am I to understand that you intend coming regularly to school?” repeated + the master curtly, “or is this merely an arrangement for a few days—until”— + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” said Cressy comprehendingly, lifting her unabashed blue eyes to his, + “you mean THAT. Oh, THAT'S broke off. Yes,” she added contemptuously, + making a larger semicircle with her foot, “that's over—three weeks + ago.” + </p> + <p> + “And Seth Davis—does HE intend returning too?” + </p> + <p> + “He!” She broke into a light girlish laugh. “I reckon not much! S'long's + I'm here, at least.” She had just lifted herself to a sitting posture on + the desk, so that her little feet swung clear of the floor in their saucy + dance. Suddenly she brought her heels together and alighted. “So that's + all?” she asked. + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “Kin I go now?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + She laid her books one on the top of the other and lingered an instant. + </p> + <p> + “Been quite well?” she asked with indolent politeness. + </p> + <p> + “Yes—thank you.” + </p> + <p> + “You're lookin' right peart.” + </p> + <p> + She walked with a Southern girl's undulating languor to the door, opened + it, then charged suddenly upon Octavia Dean, twirled her round in a wild + waltz and bore her away; appearing a moment after on the playground + demurely walking with her arm around her companion's waist in an + ostentatious confidence at once lofty, exclusive, and exasperating to the + smaller children. + </p> + <p> + When school was dismissed that afternoon and the master had remained to + show Rupert Filgee how to prepare Uncle Ben's tasks, and had given his + final instructions to his youthful vicegerent, that irascible Adonis + unburdened himself querulously: + </p> + <p> + “Is Cressy McKinstry comin' reg'lar, Mr. Ford?” + </p> + <p> + “She is,” said the master dryly. After a pause he asked, “Why?” + </p> + <p> + Rupert's curls had descended on his eyebrows in heavy discontent. “It's + mighty rough, jest ez a feller reckons he's got quit of her and her + jackass bo', to hev her prancin' back inter school agin, and rigged out + like ez if she'd been to a fire in a milliner's shop.” + </p> + <p> + “You shouldn't allow your personal dislikes, Rupert, to provoke you to + speak of a fellow-scholar in that way—and a young lady, too,” + corrected the master dryly. + </p> + <p> + “The woods is full o' sich feller-scholars and sich young ladies, if yer + keer to go a gunning for 'em,” said Rupert with dark and slangy + significance. “Ef I'd known she was comin' back I'd”—he stopped and + brought his sunburnt fist against the seam of his trousers with a boyish + gesture, “I'd hev jist”— + </p> + <p> + “What?” said the master sharply. + </p> + <p> + “I'd hev played hookey till she left school agin! It moutn't hev bin so + long, neither,” he added with a mysterious chuckle. + </p> + <p> + “That will do,” said the master peremptorily. “For the present you'll + attend to your duty and try to make Uncle Ben see you're something more + than a foolish, prejudiced school-boy, or,” he added significantly, “he + and I may both repent our agreement. Let me have a good account of you + both when I return.” + </p> + <p> + He took his hat from its peg on the wall, and in obedience to a suddenly + formed resolution left the school-room to call upon the parents of Cressy + McKinstry. He was not quite certain what he should say, but, after his + habit, would trust to the inspiration of the moment. At the worst he could + resign a situation that now appeared to require more tact and delicacy + than seemed consistent with his position, and he was obliged to confess to + himself that he had lately suspected that his present occupation—the + temporary expedient of a poor but clever young man of twenty—was + scarcely bringing him nearer a realization of his daily dreams. For Mr. + Jack Ford was a youthful pilgrim who had sought his fortune in California + so lightly equipped that even in the matter of kin and advisers he was + deficient. That prospective fortune had already eluded him in San + Francisco, had apparently not waited for him in Sacramento, and now seemed + never to have been at Indian Spring. Nevertheless, when he was once out of + sight of the school-house he lit a cigar, put his hands in his pockets, + and strode on with the cheerfulness of that youth to which all things are + possible. + </p> + <p> + The children had already dispersed as mysteriously and completely as they + had arrived. Between him and the straggling hamlet of Indian Spring the + landscape seemed to be without sound or motion. The wooded upland or ridge + on which the schoolhouse stood, half a mile further on, began to slope + gradually towards the river, on whose banks, seen from that distance, the + town appeared to have been scattered irregularly or thrown together + hastily, as if cast ashore by some overflow—the Cosmopolitan Hotel + drifting into the Baptist church, and dragging in its tail of wreckage two + saloons and a blacksmith's shop; while the County Court-house was stranded + in solitary grandeur in a waste of gravel half a mile away. The + intervening flat was still gashed and furrowed by the remorseless engines + of earlier gold-seekers. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Ford was in little sympathy with this unsuccessful record of frontier + endeavor—the fortune HE had sought did not seem to lie in that + direction—and his eye glanced quickly beyond it to the pine-crested + hills across the river, whose primeval security was so near and yet so + inviolable, or back again to the trail he was pursuing along the ridge. + The latter prospect still retained its semi-savage character in spite of + the occasional suburban cottages of residents, and the few outlying farms + or ranches of the locality. The grounds of the cottages were yet uncleared + of underbrush; bear and catamount still prowled around the rude fences of + the ranches; the late alleged experience of the infant Snyder was by no + means improbable or unprecedented. + </p> + <p> + A light breeze was seeking the heated flat and river, and thrilling the + leaves around him with the strong vitality of the forest. The vibrating + cross-lights and tremulous chequers of shade cast by the stirred foliage + seemed to weave a fantastic net around him as he walked. The quaint odors + of certain woodland herbs known to his scholars, and religiously kept in + their desks, or left like votive offerings on the threshold of the + school-house, recalled all the primitive simplicity and delicious wildness + of the little temple he had left. Even in the mischievous glances of + evasive squirrels and the moist eyes of the contemplative rabbits there + were faint suggestions of some of his own truants. The woods were + trembling with gentle memories of the independence he had always known + here—of that sweet and grave retreat now so ridiculously invaded. + </p> + <p> + He began to hesitate, with one of those revulsions of sentiment + characteristic of his nature: Why should he bother himself about this girl + after all? Why not make up his mind to accept her as his predecessor had + done? Why was it necessary for him to find her inconsistent with his ideas + of duty to his little flock and his mission to them? Was he not assuming a + sense of decorum that was open to misconception? The absurdity of her + school costume, and any responsibility it incurred, rested not with him + but with her parents. What right had he to point it out to them, and above + all how was he to do it? He halted irresolutely at what he believed was + his sober second thought, but which, like most reflections that take that + flattering title, was only a reaction as impulsive and illogical as the + emotion that preceded it. + </p> + <p> + Mr. McKinstry's “snake rail” fence was already discernible in the lighter + opening of the woods, not far from where he had halted. As he stood there + in hesitation, the pretty figure and bright gown of Cressy McKinstry + suddenly emerged from a more secluded trail that intersected his own at an + acute angle a few rods ahead of him. She was not alone, but was + accompanied by a male figure whose arm she had evidently just dislodged + from her waist. He was still trying to resume his lost vantage; she was as + resolutely evading him with a certain nymph-like agility, while the sound + of her half-laughing, half-irate protest could be faintly heard. Without + being able to identify the face or figure of her companion at that + distance, he could see that it was NOT her former betrothed, Seth Davis. + </p> + <p> + A superior smile crossed his face; he no longer hesitated, but at once + resumed his former path. For some time Cressy and her companion moved on + quietly before him. Then on reaching the rail-fence they turned abruptly + to the right, were lost for an instant in the intervening thicket, and the + next moment Cressy appeared alone, crossing the meadow in a shorter cut + towards the house, having either scaled the fence or slipped through some + familiar gap. Her companion had disappeared. Whether they had noticed that + they were observed he could not determine. He kept steadily along the + trail that followed the line of fence to the lane that led directly to the + farm-building, and pushed open the front gate as Cressy's light dress + vanished round an angle at the rear of the house. + </p> + <p> + The house of the McKinstrys rose, or rather stretched, itself before him, + in all the lazy ungainliness of Southwestern architecture. A collection of + temporary make-shifts of boards, of logs, of canvas, prematurely decayed, + and in some instances abandoned for a newer erection, or degraded to mere + outhouses—it presented with singular frankness the nomadic and + tentative disposition of its founder. It had been repaired without being + improved; its additions had seemed only to extend its primitive ugliness + over a larger space. Its roofs were roughly shingled or rudely boarded and + battened, and the rafters of some of its “lean-to's” were simply covered + with tarred canvas. As if to settle any doubt of the impossibility of this + heterogeneous mass ever taking upon itself any picturesque combination, a + small building of corrugated iron, transported in sections from some + remoter locality, had been set up in its centre. The McKinstry ranch had + long been an eyesore to the master: even that morning he had been mutely + wondering from what convolution of that hideous chrysalis the bright + butterfly Cressy had emerged. It was with a renewal of this curiosity that + he had just seen her flutter back to it again. + </p> + <p> + A yellow dog who had observed him hesitating in doubt where he should + enter, here yawned, rose from the sunlight where he had been blinking, + approached the master with languid politeness, and then turned towards the + iron building as if showing him the way. Mr. Ford followed him cautiously, + painfully conscious that his hypocritical canine introducer was only + availing himself of an opportunity to gain ingress into the house, and was + leading him as a responsible accomplice to probable exposure and disgrace. + His expectation was quickly realized: a lazily querulous, feminine outcry, + with the words, “Yer's that darned hound agin!” came from an adjacent + room, and his exposed and abashed companion swiftly retreated past him + into the road again. Mr. Ford found himself alone in a plainly-furnished + sitting-room confronting the open door leading to another apartment at + which the figure of a woman, preceded hastily by a thrown dishcloth, had + just appeared. It was Mrs. McKinstry; her sleeves were rolled up over her + red but still shapely arms, and as she stood there wiping them on her + apron, with her elbows advanced, and her closed hands raised alternately + in the air, there was an odd pugilistic suggestion in her attitude. It was + not lessened on her sudden discovery of the master by her retreating + backwards with her hands up and her elbows still well forward as if warily + retiring to an imaginary “corner.” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Ford at once tactfully stepped back from the doorway. “I beg your + pardon,” he said, delicately addressing the opposite wall, “but I found + the door open and I followed the dog.” + </p> + <p> + “That's just one of his pizenous tricks,” responded Mrs. McKinstry + dolefully from within. “On'y last week he let in a Chinaman, and in the + nat'ral hustlin' that follered he managed to help himself outer the pork + bar'l. There ain't no shade o' cussedness that or'nary hound ain't up to.” + Yet notwithstanding this ominous comparison she presently made her + appearance with her sleeves turned down, her black woollen dress “tidied,” + and a smile of fatigued but not unkindly welcome and protection on her + face. Dusting a chair with her apron and placing it before the master, she + continued maternally, “Now that you're here, set ye right down and make + yourself to home. My men folks are all out o' door, but some of 'em's sure + to happen in soon for suthin'; that day ain't yet created that they don't + come huntin' up Mammy McKinstry every five minutes for this thing or + that.” + </p> + <p> + The glow of a certain hard pride burned through the careworn languor of + her brown cheek. What she had said was strangely true. This raw-boned + woman before him, although scarcely middle-aged, had for years occupied a + self-imposed maternal and protecting relation, not only to her husband and + brothers, but to the three or four men, who as partners, or hired hands, + lived at the ranch. An inherited and trained sympathy with what she called + her “boys's” and her “men folk,” and their needs had partly unsexed her. + She was a fair type of a class not uncommon on the Southwestern frontier; + women who were ruder helpmeets of their rude husbands and brothers, who + had shared their privations and sufferings with surly, masculine + endurance, rather than feminine patience; women who had sent their loved + ones to hopeless adventure or terrible vendetta as a matter of course, or + with partisan fury; who had devotedly nursed the wounded to keep alive the + feud, or had received back their dead dry-eyed and revengeful. Small + wonder that Cressy McKinstry had developed strangely under this sexless + relationship. Looking at the mother, albeit not without a certain respect, + Mr. Ford found himself contrasting her with the daughter's graceful + femininity, and wondering where in Cressy's youthful contour the + possibility of the grim figure before him was even now hidden. + </p> + <p> + “Hiram allowed to go over to the schoolhouse and see you this mornin',” + said Mrs. McKinstry, after a pause; “but I reckon ez how he had to look up + stock on the river. The cattle are that wild this time o' year, huntin' + water, and hangin' round the tules, that my men are nigh worrited out o' + their butes with 'em. Hank and Jim ain't been off their mustangs since sun + up, and Hiram, what with partrollen' the West Boundary all night, watchin' + stakes whar them low down Harrisons hev been trespassin'—hasn't put + his feet to the ground in fourteen hours. Mebbee you noticed Hiram ez you + kem along? Ef so, ye didn't remember what kind o' shootin' irons he had + with him? I see his rifle over yon. Like ez not he'z only got his + six-shooter, and them Harrisons are mean enough to lay for him at long + range. But,” she added, returning to the less important topic, “I s'pose + Cressy came all right.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said the master hopelessly. + </p> + <p> + “I reckon she looked so,” continued Mrs. McKinstry, with tolerant + abstraction. “She allowed to do herself credit in one of them new store + gownds that she got at Sacramento. At least that's what some of our men + said. Late years, I ain't kept tech with the fashions myself.” She passed + her fingers explanatorily down the folds of her own coarse gown, but + without regret or apology. + </p> + <p> + “She seemed well prepared in her lessons,” said the master, abandoning for + the moment that criticism of his pupil's dress, which he saw was utterly + futile, “but am I to understand that she is coming regularly to school—that + she is now perfectly free to give her entire attention to her studies—that—that—her—engagement + is broken off?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, didn't she tell ye?” echoed Mrs. McKinstry in languid surprise. + </p> + <p> + “SHE certainly did,” said the master with slight embarrassment, “but”— + </p> + <p> + “Ef SHE said so,” interrupted Mrs. McKinstry abstractedly, “she oughter + know, and you kin tie to what she says.” + </p> + <p> + “But as I'm responsible to PARENTS and not to scholars for the discipline + of my school,” returned the young man a little stiffly, “I thought it my + duty to hear it from YOU.” + </p> + <p> + “That's so,” said Mrs. McKinstry meditatively; “then I reckon you'd better + see Hiram. That ar' Seth Davis engagement was a matter of hern and her + father's, and not in MY line. I 'spose that Hiram nat'rally allows to set + the thing square to you and inquirin' friends.” + </p> + <p> + “I hope you understand,” said the master, slightly resenting the + classification, “that my reason for inquiring about the permanency of your + daughter's attendance was simply because it might be necessary to arrange + her studies in a way more suitable to her years; perhaps even to suggest + to you that a young ladies' seminary might be more satisfactory”— + </p> + <p> + “Sartain, sartain,” interrupted Mrs. McKinstry hurriedly, but whether from + evasion of annoying suggestion or weariness of the topic, the master could + not determine. “You'd better speak to Hiram about it. On'y,” she hesitated + slightly, “ez he's got now sorter set and pinted towards your school, and + is a trifle worrited with stock and them Harrisons, ye might tech it + lightly. He oughter be along yer now. I can't think what keeps him.” Her + eye wandered again with troubled preoccupation to the corner where her + husband's Sharps' rifle stood. Suddenly she raised her voice as if + forgetful of Mr. Ford's presence. + </p> + <p> + “O Cressy!” + </p> + <p> + “O Maw!” + </p> + <p> + The response came from the inner room. The next moment Cressy appeared at + the door with an odd half-lazy defiance in her manner, which the master + could not understand except upon the hypothesis that she had been + listening. She had already changed her elaborate toilet for a long + clinging, coarse blue gown, that accented the graceful curves of her + slight, petticoat-less figure. Nodding her head towards the master, she + said, “Howdy?” and turned to her mother, who practically ignored their + personal acquaintance. “Cressy,” she said, “Dad's gone and left his + Sharps' yer, d'ye mind takin' it along to meet him, afore he passes the + Boundary corner. Ye might tell him the teacher's yer, wantin' to see him.” + </p> + <p> + “One moment,” said the master, as the young girl carelessly stepped to the + corner and lifted the weapon. “Let ME take it. It's all on my way back to + school and I'll meet him.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. McKinstry looked perturbed. Cressy opened her clear eyes on the + master with evident surprise. “No, Mr. Ford,” said Mrs. McKinstry, with + her former maternal manner. “Ye'd better not mix yourself up with these + yer doin's. Ye've no call to do it, and Cressy has; it's all in the + family. But it's outer YOUR line, and them Harrison whelps go to your + school. Fancy the teacher takin' weppins betwixt and between!” + </p> + <p> + “It's fitter work for the teacher than for one of his scholars, and a + young lady at that,” said Mr. Ford gravely, as he took the rifle from the + hands of the half-amused, half-reluctant girl. “It's quite safe with me, + and I promise I shall deliver it into Mr. McKinstry's hands and none + other.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps it wouldn't be ez likely to be gin'rally noticed ez it would if + one of US carried it,” murmured Mrs. McKinstry in confidential + abstraction, gazing at her daughter sublimely unconscious of the presence + of a third party. + </p> + <p> + “You're quite right,” said the master composedly, throwing the rifle over + his shoulder and turning towards the door. “So I'll say good-afternoon, + and try and find your husband.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. McKinstry constrainedly plucked at the folds of her coarse gown. + “Ye'll like a drink afore ye go,” she said, in an ill-concealed tone of + relief. “I clean forgot my manners. Cressy, fetch out that demijohn.” + </p> + <p> + “Not for me, thank you,” returned Mr. Ford smiling. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I see—you're temperance, nat'rally,” said Mrs. McKinstry with a + tolerant sigh. + </p> + <p> + “Hardly that,” returned the master, “I follow no rule, I drink sometimes—but + not to-day.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. McKinstry's dark face contracted. “Don't you see, Maw,” struck in + Cressy quickly. “Teacher drinks sometimes, but he don't USE whiskey. + That's all.” + </p> + <p> + Her mother's face relaxed. Cressy slipped out of the door before the + master, and preceded him to the gate. When she had reached it she turned + and looked into his face. + </p> + <p> + “What did Maw say to yer about seein' me just now?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't understand you.” + </p> + <p> + “To your seein' me and Joe Masters on the trail?” + </p> + <p> + “She said nothing.” + </p> + <p> + “Humph,” said Cressy meditatively. “What was it you told her about it?” + </p> + <p> + “Nothing.” + </p> + <p> + “Then you DIDN'T see us?” + </p> + <p> + “I saw you with some one—I don't know whom.” + </p> + <p> + “And you didn't tell Maw?” + </p> + <p> + “I did not. It was none of my business.” + </p> + <p> + He instantly saw the utter inconsistency of this speech in connection with + the reason he believed he had in coming. But it was too late to recall it, + and she was looking at him with a bright but singular expression. + </p> + <p> + “That Joe Masters is the conceitedest fellow goin'. I told him you could + see his foolishness.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, indeed.” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Ford pushed open the gate. As the girl still lingered he was obliged + to hold it a moment before passing through. + </p> + <p> + “Maw couldn't quite hitch on to your not drinkin'. She reckons you're like + everybody else about yer. That's where she slips up on you. And everybody + else, I kalkilate.” + </p> + <p> + “I suppose she's somewhat anxious about your father, and I dare say is + expecting me to hurry,” returned the master pointedly. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, dad's all right,” said Cressy mischievously. “You'll come across him + over yon, in the clearing. But you're looking right purty with that gun. + It kinder sets you off. You oughter wear one.” + </p> + <p> + The master smiled slightly, said “Good-by,” and took leave of the girl, + but not of her eyes, which were still following him. Even when he had + reached the end of the lane and glanced back at the rambling dwelling, she + was still leaning on the gate with one foot on the lower rail and her chin + cupped in the hollow of her hand. She made a slight gesture, not clearly + intelligible at that distance; it might have been a mischievous imitation + of the way he had thrown the gun over his shoulder, it might have been a + wafted kiss. + </p> + <p> + The master however continued his way in no very self-satisfied mood. + Although he did not regret having taken the place of Cressy as the + purveyor of lethal weapons between the belligerent parties, he knew he was + tacitly mingling in the feud between people for whom he cared little or + nothing. It was true that the Harrisons sent their children to his school, + and that in the fierce partisanship of the locality this simple courtesy + was open to misconstruction. But he was more uneasily conscious that this + mission, so far as Mrs. McKinstry was concerned, was a miserable failure. + The strange relations of the mother and daughter perhaps explained much of + the girl's conduct, but it offered no hope of future amelioration. Would + the father, “worrited by stock” and boundary quarrels—a man in the + habit of cutting Gordian knots with a bowie knife—prove more + reasonable? Was there any nearer sympathy between father and daughter? But + she had said he would meet McKinstry in the clearing: she was right, for + here he was coming forward at a gallop! + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III. + </h2> + <p> + When within a dozen paces of the master, McKinstry, scarcely checking his + mustang, threw himself from the saddle, and with a sharp cut of his riata + on the animal's haunches sent him still galloping towards the distant + house. Then, with both hands deeply thrust in the side pockets of his + long, loose linen coat, he slowly lounged with clanking spurs towards the + young man. He was thick-set, of medium height, densely and reddishly + bearded, with heavy-lidded pale blue eyes that wore a look of drowsy pain, + and after their first wearied glance at the master, seemed to rest + anywhere but on him. + </p> + <p> + “Your wife was sending you your rifle by Cressy,” said the master, “but I + offered to bring it myself, as I thought it scarcely a proper errand for a + young lady. Here it is. I hope you didn't miss it before and don't require + it now,” he added quietly. + </p> + <p> + Mr. McKinstry took it in one hand with an air of slightly embarrassed + surprise, rested it against his shoulder, and then with the same hand and + without removing the other from his pocket, took off his soft felt hat, + showed a bullet-hole in its rim, and returned lazily, “It's about half an + hour late, but them Harrisons reckoned I was fixed for 'em and war too + narvous to draw a clear bead on me.” + </p> + <p> + The moment was evidently not a felicitous one for the master's purpose, + but he was determined to go on. He hesitated an instant, when his + companion, who seemed to be equally but more sluggishly embarrassed, in a + moment of preoccupied perplexity withdrew from his pocket his right hand + swathed in a blood-stained bandage, and following some instinctive habit, + attempted, as if reflectively, to scratch his head with two stiffened + fingers. + </p> + <p> + “You are hurt,” said the master, genuinely shocked, “and here I am + detaining you.” + </p> + <p> + “I had my hand up—so,” explained McKinstry, with heavy deliberation, + “and the ball raked off my little finger after it went through my hat. But + that ain't what I wanted to say when I stopped ye. I ain't just kam enough + yet,” he apologized in the calmest manner, “and I clean forgit myself,” he + added with perfect self-possession. “But I was kalkilatin' to ask you”—he + laid his bandaged hand familiarly on the master's shoulder—“if + Cressy kem all right?” + </p> + <p> + “Perfectly,” said the master. “But shan't I walk on home with you, and we + can talk together after your wound is attended to?” + </p> + <p> + “And she looked purty?” continued McKinstry without moving. + </p> + <p> + “Very.” + </p> + <p> + “And you thought them new store gownds of hers right peart?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said the master. “Perhaps a little too fine for the school, you + know,” he added insinuatingly, “and”— + </p> + <p> + “Not for her—not for her,” interrupted McKinstry. “I reckon thar's + more whar that cam from! Ye needn't fear but that she kin keep up that + gait ez long ez Hiram McKinstry hez the runnin' of her.” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Ford gazed hopelessly at the hideous ranch in the distance, at the + sky, and the trail before him; then his glance fell upon the hand still + upon his shoulder, and he struggled with a final effort. “At another time + I'd like to have a long talk with you about your daughter, Mr. McKinstry.” + </p> + <p> + “Talk on,” said McKinstry, putting his wounded hand through the master's + arm. “I admire to hear you. You're that kam, it does me good.” + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless the master was conscious that his own arm was scarcely as + firm as his companion's. It was however useless to draw back now, and with + as much tact as he could command he relieved his mind of its purpose. + Addressing the obtruding bandage before him, he dwelt upon Cressy's + previous attitude in the school, the danger of any relapse, the necessity + of her having a more clearly defined position as a scholar, and even the + advisability of her being transferred to a more advanced school with a + more mature teacher of her own sex. “This is what I wished to say to Mrs. + McKinstry to-day,” he concluded, “but she referred me to you.” + </p> + <p> + “In course, in course,” said McKinstry, nodding complacently. “She's a + good woman in and around the ranch, and in any doin's o' this kind,” he + lightly waved his wounded arm in the air, “there ain't a better, tho' I + say it. She was Blair Rawlins' darter; she and her brother Clay bein' the + only ones that kem out safe arter their twenty years' fight with the + McEntees in West Kaintuck. But she don't understand gals ez you and me do. + Not that I'm much, ez I orter be more kam. And the old woman jest sized + the hull thing when she said SHE hadn't any hand in Cressy's engagement. + No more she had! And ez far ez that goes, no more did me, nor Seth Davis, + nor Cressy.” He paused, and lifting his heavy-lidded eyes to the master + for the second time, said reflectively, “Ye mustn't mind my tellin' ye—ez + betwixt man and man—that THE one ez is most responsible for the + makin' and breakin' o' that engagement is YOU!” + </p> + <p> + “Me!” said the master in utter bewilderment. + </p> + <p> + “You!” repeated McKinstry quietly, reinstalling the hand Ford had + attempted to withdraw. “I ain't sayin' ye either know'd it or kalkilated + on it. But it war so. Ef ye'd hark to me, and meander on a little, I'll + tell ye HOW it war. I don't mind walkin' a piece YOUR way, for if we go + towards the ranch, and the hounds see me, they'll set up a racket and + bring out the old woman, and then good-by to any confidential talk betwixt + you and me. And I'm, somehow, kammer out yer.” + </p> + <p> + He moved slowly down the trail, still holding Ford's arm confidentially, + although, owing to his large protecting manner, he seemed to offer a + ridiculous suggestion of supporting HIM with his wounded member. + </p> + <p> + “When you first kem to Injin Spring,” he began, “Seth and Cressy was goin' + to school, boy and girl like, and nothin' more. They'd known each other + from babies—the Davises bein' our neighbors in Kaintuck, and + emigraten' with us from St. Joe. Seth mout hev cottoned to Cress, and + Cress to him, in course o' time, and there wasn't anythin' betwixt the + families to hev kept 'em from marryin' when they wanted. But there never + war any words passed, and no engagement.” + </p> + <p> + “But,” interrupted Ford hastily, “my predecessor, Mr. Martin, distinctly + told me that there was, and that it was with YOUR permission.” + </p> + <p> + “That's only because you noticed suthin' the first day you looked over the + school with Martin. 'Dad,' sez Cress to me, 'that new teacher's very + peart; and he's that keen about noticin' me and Seth that I reckon you'd + better giv out that we're engaged.' 'But are you?' sez I. 'It'll come to + that in the end,' sez Cress, 'and if that yer teacher hez come here with + Northern ideas o' society, it's just ez well to let him see Injin Spring + ain't entirely in the woods about them things either.' So I agreed, and + Martin told you it was all right; Cress and Seth was an engaged couple, + and you was to take no notice. And then YOU ups and objects to the hull + thing, and allows that courtin' in school, even among engaged pupils, + ain't proper.” + </p> + <p> + The master turned his eyes with some uneasiness to the face of Cressy's + father. It was heavy but impassive. + </p> + <p> + “I don't mind tellin' you, now that it's over, what happened. The trouble + with me, Mr. Ford, is—I ain't kam! and YOU air, and that's what got + me. For when I heard what you'd said, I got on that mustang and started + for the school-house to clean you out and giv' you five minutes to leave + Injin Spring. I don't know ez you remember that day. I'd kalkilated my + time so ez to ketch ye comin' out o' school, but I was too airly. I hung + around out o' sight, and then hitched my hoss to a buckeye and peeped + inter the winder to hev a good look at ye. It was very quiet and kam. + There was squirrels over the roof, yellow-jackets and bees dronin' away, + and kinder sleeping-like all around in the air, and jay-birds twitterin' + in the shingles, and they never minded me. You were movin' up and down + among them little gals and boys, liftin' up their heads and talkin' to 'em + softly and quiet like, ez if you was one of them yourself. And they looked + contented and kam. And onct—I don't know if YOU remember it—you + kem close up to the winder with your hands behind you, and looked out so + kam and quiet and so far off, ez if everybody else outside the school was + miles away from you. It kem to me then that I'd given a heap to hev had + the old woman see you thar. It kem to me, Mr. Ford, that there wasn't any + place for ME thar; and it kem to me, too—and a little rough like—that + mebbee there wasn't any place there for MY Cress either! So I rode away + without disturbin' you nor the birds nor the squirrels. Talkin' with Cress + that night, she said ez how it was a fair sample of what happened every + day, and that you'd always treated her fair like the others. So she + allowed that she'd go down to Sacramento, and get some things agin her and + Seth bein' married next month, and she reckoned she wouldn't trouble you + nor the school agin. Hark till I've done, Mr. Ford,” he continued, as the + young man made a slight movement of deprecation. “Well, I agreed. But + arter she got to Sacramento and bought some fancy fixin's, she wrote to me + and sez ez how she'd been thinkin' the hull thing over, and she reckoned + that she and Seth were too young to marry, and the engagement had better + be broke. And I broke it for her.” + </p> + <p> + “But how?” asked the bewildered master. + </p> + <p> + “Gin'rally with this gun,” returned McKinstry with slow gravity, + indicating the rifle he was carrying, “for I ain't kam. I let on to Seth's + father that if I ever found Seth and Cressy together again, I'd shoot him. + It made a sort o' coolness betwixt the families, and hez given some + comfort to them low-down Harrisons; but even the law, I reckon, recognizes + a father's rights. And ez Cress sez, now ez Seth's out o' the way, thar + ain't no reason why she can't go back to school and finish her eddication. + And I reckoned she was right. And we both agreed that ez she'd left school + to git them store clothes, it was only fair that she'd give the school the + benefit of 'em.” + </p> + <p> + The case seemed more hopeless than ever. The master knew that the man + beside him might hardly prove as lenient to a second objection at his + hand. But that very reason, perhaps, impelled him, now that he knew his + danger, to consider it more strongly as a duty, and his pride revolted + from a possible threat underlying McKinstry's confidences. Nevertheless he + began gently: + </p> + <p> + “But you are quite sure you won't regret that you didn't avail yourself of + this broken engagement, and your daughter's outfit—to send her to + some larger boarding-school in Sacramento or San Francisco? Don't you + think she may find it dull, and soon tire of the company of mere children + when she has already known the excitement of”—he was about to say “a + lover,” but checked himself, and added, “a young girl's freedom?” + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Ford,” returned McKinstry, with the slow and fatuous misconception of + a one-ideaed man, “when I said just now that, lookin' inter that kam, + peaceful school of yours, I didn't find a place for Cress, it warn't + because I didn't think she OUGHTER hev a place thar. Thar was that thar + wot she never had ez a little girl with me and the old woman, and that she + couldn't find ez a grownd up girl in any boarding-school—the home of + a child; that kind o' innocent foolishness that I sometimes reckon must + hev slipped outer our emigrant wagon comin' across the plains, or got left + behind at St. Joe. She was a grownd girl fit to marry afore she was a + child. She had young fellers a-sparkin' her afore she ever played with 'em + ez boy and girl. I don't mind tellin' you that it wern't in the natur of + Blair Rawlins' darter to teach her own darter any better, for all she's + been a mighty help to me. So if it's all the same to you, Mr. Ford, we + won't talk about a grownd up school; I'd rather Cress be a little girl + again among them other children. I should be a powerful sight more kam if + I knowed that when I was away huntin' stock or fightin' stakes with them + Harrisons, that she was a settin' there with them and the birds and the + bees, and listenin' to them and to you. Mebbee there's been a little too + many scrimmages goin' on round the ranch sence she's been a child; mebbee + she orter know suthin' more of a man than a feller who sparks her and + fights for her.” + </p> + <p> + The master was silent. Had this dull, narrow-minded partisan stumbled upon + a truth that had never dawned upon his own broader comprehension? Had this + selfish savage and literally red-handed frontier brawler been moved by + some dumb instinct of the power of gentleness to understand his daughter's + needs better than he? For a moment he was staggered. Then he thought of + Cressy's later flirtations with Joe Masters, and her concealment of their + meeting from her mother. Had she deceived her father also? Or was not the + father deceiving him with this alternate suggestion of threat and of + kindliness—of power and weakness. He had heard of this cruel phase + of Southwestern cunning before. With the feeble sophistry of the cynic he + mistrusted the good his scepticism could not understand. Howbeit, glancing + sideways at the slumbering savagery of the man beside him, and his wounded + hand, he did not care to show his lack of confidence. He contented himself + with that equally feeble resource of weak humanity in such cases—good-natured + indifference. “All right,” he said carelessly; “I'll see what can be done. + But are you quite sure you are fit to go home alone? Shall I accompany + you?” As McKinstry waived the suggestion with a gesture, he added lightly, + as if to conclude the interview, “I'll report progress to you from time to + time, if you like.” + </p> + <p> + “To ME,” emphasized McKinstry; “not over THAR,” indicating the ranch. “But + p'rhaps you wouldn't mind my ridin' by and lookin' in at the school-room + winder onct in a while? Ah—you WOULD,” he added, with the first + deepening of color he had shown. “Well, never mind.” + </p> + <p> + “You see it might distract the children from their lessons,” explained the + master gently, who had however contemplated with some concern the infinite + delight which a glimpse of McKinstry's fiery and fatuous face at the + window would awaken in Johnny Filgee's infant breast. + </p> + <p> + “Well, no matter!” returned McKinstry slowly. “Ye don't keer, I s'pose, to + come over to the hotel and take suthin'? A julep or a smash?” + </p> + <p> + “I shouldn't think of keeping you a moment longer from Mrs. McKinstry,” + said the master, looking at his companion's wounded hand. “Thank you all + the same. Good-by.” + </p> + <p> + They shook hands, McKinstry transferring his rifle to the hollow of his + elbow to offer his unwounded left. The master watched him slowly resume + his way towards the ranch. Then with a half uneasy and half pleasurable + sense that he had taken some step whose consequences were more important + than he would at present understand, he turned in the opposite direction + to the school-house. He was so preoccupied that it was not until he had + nearly reached it that he remembered Uncle Ben. With an odd recollection + of McKinstry's previous performance, he approached the school from the + thicket in the rear and slipped noiselessly to the open window with the + intention of looking in. But the school-house, far from exhibiting that + “kam” and studious abstraction which had so touched the savage breast of + McKinstry, was filled with the accents of youthful and unrestrained + vituperation. The voice of Rupert Filgee came sharply to the master's + astonished ears. + </p> + <p> + “You needn't try to play off Dobell or Mitchell on ME—you hear! Much + YOU know of either, don't you? Look at that copy. If Johnny couldn't do + better than that, I'd lick him. Of course it's the pen—it ain't your + stodgy fingers—oh, no! P'r'aps you'd like to hev a few more boxes o' + quills and gold pens and Gillott's best thrown in, for two bits a lesson? + I tell you what! I'll throw up the contract in another minit! There goes + another quill busted! Look here, what YOU want ain't a pen, but a + clothes-pin and a split nail! That'll about jibe with your dilikit gait.” + </p> + <p> + The master at once stepped to the window and, unobserved, took a quick + survey of the interior. Following some ingenious idea of his own regarding + fitness, the beautiful Filgee had induced Uncle Ben to seat himself on the + floor before one of the smallest desks, presumably his brother's, in an + attitude which, while it certainly gave him considerable elbow-room for + those contortions common to immature penmanship, offered his youthful + instructor a superior eminence, from which he hovered, occasionally + swooping down upon his grown-up pupil like a mischievous but graceful jay. + But Mr. Ford's most distinct impression was that, far from resenting the + derogatory position and the abuse that accompanied it, Uncle Ben not only + beamed upon his persecutor with unquenchable good humor, but with + undisguised admiration, and showed not the slightest inclination to accept + his proposed resignation. + </p> + <p> + “Go slow, Roop,” he said cheerfully. “You was onct a boy yourself. + Nat'rally I kalkilate to stand all the damages. You've got ter waste some + powder over a blast like this yer, way down to the bed rock. Next time + I'll bring my own pens.” + </p> + <p> + “Do. Some from the Dobell school you uster go to,” suggested the darkly + ironical Rupert. “They was iron-clad injin-rubber, warn't they?” + </p> + <p> + “Never you mind wot they were,” said Uncle Ben good-humoredly. “Look at + that string of 'C's' in that line. There's nothing mean about THEM.” + </p> + <p> + He put his pen between his teeth, raised himself slowly on his legs, and + shading his eyes with his hand from the severe perspective of six feet, + gazed admiringly down upon his work. Rupert, with his hands in his pockets + and his back to the window, cynically assisted at the inspection. + </p> + <p> + “Wot's that sick worm at the bottom of the page?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + “Wot might you think it wos?” said Uncle Ben beamingly. + </p> + <p> + “Looks like one o' them snake roots you dig up with a little mud stuck to + it,” returned Rupert critically. + </p> + <p> + “That's my name.” + </p> + <p> + They both stood looking at it with their heads very much on one side. “It + ain't so bad as the rest you've done. It MIGHT be your name. That ez, it + don't look like anythin' else,” suggested Rupert, struck with a new idea + that it was perhaps more professional occasionally to encourage his pupil. + “You might get on in course o' time. But what are you doin' all this for?” + he asked suddenly. + </p> + <p> + “Doin' what?” + </p> + <p> + “This yer comin' to school when you ain't sent, and you ain't got no call + to go—you, a grown-up man!” + </p> + <p> + The color deepened in Uncle Ben's face to the back of his ears. “Wot would + you giv' to know, Roop? S'pose I reckoned some day to make a strike and + sorter drop inter saciety easy—eh? S'pose I wanted to be ready to + keep up my end with the other fellers, when the time kem? To be able to + sling po'try and read novels and sich—eh?” + </p> + <p> + An expression of infinite and unutterable scorn dawned in the eyes of + Rupert. “You do? Well,” he repeated with slow and cutting deliberation, + “I'll tell you what you're comin' here for, and the only thing that makes + you come.” + </p> + <p> + “What?” + </p> + <p> + “It's—some—girl!” + </p> + <p> + Uncle Ben broke into a boisterous laugh that made the roof shake, stamping + about and slapping his legs till the crazy floor trembled. But at that + moment the master stepped to the perch and made a quiet but discomposing + entrance. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV. + </h2> + <p> + The return of Miss Cressida McKinstry to Indian Spring and her interrupted + studies was an event whose effects were not entirely confined to the + school. The broken engagement itself seemed of little moment in the + general estimation compared to her resumption of her old footing as a + scholar. A few ill-natured elders of her own sex, and naturally exempt + from the discriminating retort of Mr. McKinstry's “shot-gun,” alleged that + the Seminary at Sacramento had declined to receive her, but the majority + accepted her return with local pride as a practical compliment to the + educational facilities of Indian Spring. The Tuolumne “Star,” with a + breadth and eloquence touchingly disproportionate to its actual size and + quality of type and paper, referred to the possible “growth of a grove of + Academus at Indian Spring, under whose cloistered boughs future sages and + statesmen were now meditating,” in a way that made the master feel + exceedingly uncomfortable. For some days the trail between the McKinstrys' + ranch and the school-house was lightly patrolled by reliefs of susceptible + young men, to whom the enfranchised Cressida, relieved from the dangerous + supervision of the Davis-McKinstry clique, was an object of ambitious + admiration. The young girl herself, who, in spite of the master's + annoyance, seemed to be following some conscientious duty in consecutively + arraying herself in the different dresses she had bought, however she may + have tantalized her admirers by this revelation of bridal finery, did not + venture to bring them near the limits of the play-ground. It struck the + master with some surprise that Indian Spring did not seem to trouble + itself in regard to his own privileged relations with its rustic + enchantress; the young men clearly were not jealous of him; no matron had + suggested any indecorum in a young girl of Cressy's years and antecedents + being intrusted to the teachings of a young man scarcely her senior. + Notwithstanding the attitude which Mr. Ford had been pleased to assume + towards her, this implied compliment to his supposed monastic vocations + affected him almost as uncomfortably as the “Star's” extravagant eulogium. + He was obliged to recall certain foolish experiences of his own to enable + him to rise superior to this presumption of his asceticism. + </p> + <p> + In pursuance of his promise to McKinstry, he had procured a few elementary + books of study suitable to Cressy's new position, without, however, taking + her out of the smaller classes or the discipline of the school. In a few + weeks he was enabled to further improve her attitude by making her a + “monitor” over the smaller girls, thereby dividing certain functions with + Rupert Filgee, whose ministrations to the deceitful and “silly” sex had + been characterized by perhaps more vigilant scorn and disparagement than + was necessary. Cressy had accepted it as she had accepted her new studies, + with an indolent good-humor, and at times a frankly supreme ignorance of + their abstract or moral purpose that was discouraging. “What's the good of + that?” she would ask, lifting her eyes abruptly to the master. Mr. Ford, + somewhat embarrassed by her look, which always, sooner or later, frankly + confessed itself an excuse for a perfectly irrelevant examination of his + features in detail, would end in giving her some severely practical + answer. Yet, if the subject appealed to any particular idiosyncrasy of her + own, she would speedily master the study. A passing predilection for + botany was provoked by a single incident. The master deeming this study a + harmless young-lady-like occupation, had one day introduced the topic at + recess, and was met by the usual answer. “But suppose,” he continued + artfully, “somebody sent you anonymously some flowers.” + </p> + <p> + “Her ho!” suggested Johnny Filgee hoarsely, with bold bad recklessness. + Ignoring the remark and the kick with which Rupert had resented it on the + person of his brother, the master continued: + </p> + <p> + “And if you couldn't find out who sent them, you would want at least to + know what they were and where they grew.” + </p> + <p> + “Ef they grew anywhere 'bout yer we could tell her that,” said a chorus of + small voices. + </p> + <p> + The master hesitated. He was conscious of being on delicate ground. He was + surrounded by a dozen pairs of little keen eyes from whom Nature had never + yet succeeded in hiding her secrets—eyes that had waited for and + knew the coming up of the earliest flowers; little fingers that had never + turned the pages of a text-book, but knew where to scrape away the dead + leaves above the first anemone, or had groped painfully among the lifeless + branches in forgotten hollows for the shy dog-rose; unguided little feet + that had instinctively made their way to remote southern slopes for the + first mariposas, or had unerringly threaded the tule-hidden banks of the + river for flower-de-luce. Convinced that he could not hold his own on + their level, he shamelessly struck at once above it. + </p> + <p> + “Suppose that one of those flowers,” he continued, “was not like the rest; + that its stalks and leaves, instead of being green and soft, were white + and stringy like flannel as if to protect it from cold, wouldn't it be + nice to be able to say at once that it had lived only in the snow, and + that some one must have gone all that way up there above the snow line to + pick it?” The children, taken aback by this unfair introduction of a + floral stranger, were silent. Cressy thoughtfully accepted botany on those + possibilities. A week later she laid on the master's desk a limp-looking + plant with a stalk like heavy frayed worsted yarn. “It ain't much to look + at after all, is it?” she said. “I reckon I could cut a better one with + scissors outer an old cloth jacket of mine.” + </p> + <p> + “And you found it here?” asked the master in surprise. + </p> + <p> + “I got Masters to look for it when he was on the Summit. I described it to + him. I didn't allow he had the gumption to get it. But he did.” + </p> + <p> + Although botany languished slightly after this vicarious effort, it kept + Cressy in fresh bouquets, and extending its gentle influence to her + friends and acquaintances became slightly confounded with horticulture, + led to the planting of one or two gardens, and was accepted in school as + an implied concession to berries, apples, and nuts. In reading and writing + Cressy greatly improved, with a marked decrease in grammatical solecisms, + although she still retained certain characteristic words, and always her + own slow Southwestern, half musical intonation. This languid deliberation + was particularly noticeable in her reading aloud, and gave the studied and + measured rhetoric a charm of which her careless colloquial speech was + incapable. Even the “Fifth Reader,” with its imposing passages from the + English classics carefully selected with a view of paralyzing small, + hesitating, or hurried voices, in Cressy's hands became no longer an + unintelligible incantation. She had quietly mastered the difficulties of + pronunciation by some instinctive sense of euphony if not of + comprehension. The master with his eyes closed hardly recognized his + pupil. Whether or not she understood what she read he hesitated to + inquire; no doubt, as with her other studies, she knew what attracted her. + Rupert Filgee, a sympathetic if not always a correct reader, who boldly + took four and five syllabled fences flying only to come to grief perhaps + in the ditch of some rhetorical pause beyond, alone expressed his scorn of + her performance. Octavia Dean, torn between her hopeless affection for + this beautiful but inaccessible boy, and her soul-friendship for this + bigger but many-frocked girl, studied the master's face with watchful + anxiety. + </p> + <p> + It is needless to say that Hiram McKinstry was, in the intervals of + stake-driving and stock-hunting, heavily contented with this latest + evidence of his daughter's progress. He even intimated to the master that + her reading being an accomplishment that could be exercised at home was + conducive to that “kam” in which he was so deficient. It was also rumored + that Cressy's oral rendering of Addison's “Reflections in Westminster + Abbey” and Burke's “Indictment of Warren Hastings,” had beguiled him one + evening from improving an opportunity to “plug” one of Harrison's boundary + “raiders.” + </p> + <p> + The master shared in Cressy's glory in the public eye. But although Mrs. + McKinstry did not materially change her attitude of tolerant good-nature + towards him, he was painfully conscious that she looked upon her + daughter's studies and her husband's interests in them as a weakness that + might in course of time produce infirmity of homicidal purpose and become + enervating of eye and trigger-finger. And when Mr. McKinstry got himself + appointed as school-trustee, and was thereby obliged to mingle with + certain Eastern settlers,—colleagues on the Board,—this + possible weakening of the old sharply drawn sectional line between “Yanks” + and themselves gave her grave doubts of Hiram's physical stamina. + </p> + <p> + “The old man's worrits hev sorter shook out a little of his sand,” she had + explained. On those evenings when he attended the Board, she sought higher + consolation in prayer meeting at the Southern Baptist Church, in whose + exercises her Northern and Eastern neighbors, thinly disguised as “Baal” + and “Astaroth,” were generally overthrown and their temples made desolate. + </p> + <p> + If Uncle Ben's progress was slower, it was no less satisfactory. Without + imagination and even without enthusiasm, he kept on with a dull laborious + persistency. When the irascible impatience of Rupert Filgee at last + succumbed to the obdurate slowness of his pupil, the master himself, + touched by Uncle Ben's perspiring forehead and perplexed eyebrows, often + devoted the rest of the afternoon to a gentle elucidation of the mysteries + before him, setting copies for his heavy hand, or even guiding it with his + own, like a child's, across the paper. At times the appalling uselessness + of Uncle Ben's endeavors reminded him of Rupert's taunting charge. Was he + really doing this from a genuine thirst for knowledge? It was inconsistent + with all that Indian Spring knew of his antecedents and his present + ambitions; he was a simple miner without scientific or technical + knowledge; his already slight acquaintance with arithmetic and the scrawl + that served for his signature were more than sufficient for his needs. Yet + it was with this latter sign-manual that he seemed to take infinite pains. + The master, one afternoon, thought fit to correct the apparent vanity of + this performance. + </p> + <p> + “If you took as much care in trying to form your letters according to + copy, you'd do better. Your signature is fair enough as it is.” + </p> + <p> + “But it don't look right, Mr. Ford,” said Uncle Ben, eying it + distrustfully; “somehow it ain't all there.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, certainly it is. Look, D A B N E Y—not very plain, it's true, + but there are all the letters.” + </p> + <p> + “That's just it, Mr. Ford; them AIN'T all the letters that ORTER be there. + I've allowed to write it D A B N E Y to save time and ink, but it orter + read DAUBIGNY,” said Uncle Ben, with painful distinctness. + </p> + <p> + “But that spells d'Aubigny!” + </p> + <p> + “It are.” + </p> + <p> + “Is that your name?” + </p> + <p> + “I reckon.” + </p> + <p> + The master looked at Uncle Ben doubtfully. Was this only another form of + the Dobell illusion? “Was your father a Frenchman?” he asked finally. + </p> + <p> + Uncle Ben paused as if to recall the trifling circumstances of his + father's nationality. “No.” + </p> + <p> + “Your grandfather?” + </p> + <p> + “I reckon not. At least ye couldn't prove it by me.” + </p> + <p> + “Was your father or grandfather a voyageur or trapper, or Canadian?” + </p> + <p> + “They were from Pike County, Mizzoori.” + </p> + <p> + The master regarded Uncle Ben still dubiously. “But you call yourself + Dabney. What makes you think your real name is d'Aubigny?” + </p> + <p> + “That's the way it uster be writ in letters to me in the States. Hold on. + I'll show ye.” He deliberately began to feel in his pockets, finally + extracting his old purse from which he produced a crumpled envelope, and + carefully smoothing it out, compared it with his signature. + </p> + <p> + “Thar, you see. It's the same—d'Aubigny.” + </p> + <p> + The master hesitated. After all, it was not impossible. He recalled other + instances of the singular transformation of names in the Californian + emigration. Yet he could not help saying, “Then you concluded d'Aubigny + was a better name than Dabney?” + </p> + <p> + “Do YOU think it's better?” + </p> + <p> + “Women might. I dare say your wife would prefer to be called Mrs. + d'Aubigny rather than Dabney.” + </p> + <p> + The chance shot told. Uncle Ben suddenly flushed to his ears. + </p> + <p> + “I didn't think o' that,” he said hurriedly. “I had another idee. I + reckoned that on the matter o' holdin' property and passin' in money it + would be better to hev your name put on the square, and to sorter go down + to bed rock for it, eh? If I wanted to take a hand in them lots or Ditch + shares, for instance—it would be only law to hev it made out in the + name o' d'Aubigny.” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Ford listened with certain impatient contempt. It was bad enough for + Uncle Ben to have exposed his weakness in inventing fictions about his + early education, but to invest himself now with a contingency of capital + for the sake of another childish vanity, was pitiable as it was + preposterous. There was no doubt that he had lied about his school + experiences; it was barely probable that his name was really d'Aubigny, + and it was quite consistent with all this—even setting apart the + fact that he was perfectly well known to be only a poor miner—that + he should lie again. Like most logical reasoners Mr. Ford forgot that + humanity might be illogical and inconsistent without being insincere. He + turned away without speaking as if indicating a wish to hear no more. + </p> + <p> + “Some o' these days,” said Uncle Ben, with dull persistency, “I'll tell ye + suthen'.” + </p> + <p> + “I'd advise you just now to drop it and stick to your lessons,” said the + master sharply. + </p> + <p> + “That's so,” said Uncle Ben hurriedly, hiding himself as it were in an + all-encompassing blush. “In course lessons first, boys, that's the motto.” + He again took up his pen and assumed his old laborious attitude. But after + a few moments it became evident that either the master's curt dismissal of + his subject or his own preoccupation with it, had somewhat unsettled him. + He cleaned his pen obtrusively, going to the window for a better light, + and whistling from time to time with a demonstrative carelessness and a + depressing gayety. He once broke into a murmuring, meditative chant + evidently referring to the previous conversation, in its—“That's so—Yer + we go—Lessons the first, boys, Yo, heave O.” The rollicking marine + character of this refrain, despite its utter incongruousness, apparently + struck him favorably, for he repeated it softly, occasionally glancing + behind him at the master who was coldly absorbed at his desk. Presently he + arose, carefully put his books away, symmetrically piling them in a + pyramid beside Mr. Ford's motionless elbow, and then lifting his feet with + high but gentle steps went to the peg where his coat and hat were hanging. + As he was about to put them on he appeared suddenly struck with a sense of + indecorousness in dressing himself in the school, and taking them on his + arm to the porch resumed them outside. Then saying, “I clean disremembered + I'd got to see a man. So long, till to-morrow,” he disappeared whistling + softly. + </p> + <p> + The old woodland hush fell back upon the school. It seemed very quiet and + empty. A faint sense of remorse stole over the master. Yet he remembered + that Uncle Ben had accepted without reproach and as a good joke much more + direct accusations from Rupert Filgee, and that he himself had acted from + a conscientious sense of duty towards the man. But a conscientious sense + of duty to inflict pain upon a fellow-mortal for his own good does not + always bring perfect serenity to the inflicter—possibly because, in + the defective machinery of human compensation, pain is the only quality + that is apt to appear in the illustration. Mr. Ford felt uncomfortable, + and being so, was naturally vexed at the innocent cause. Why should Uncle + Ben be offended because he had simply declined to follow his weak + fabrications any further? This was his return for having tolerated it at + first! It would be a lesson to him henceforth. Nevertheless he got up and + went to the door. The figure of Uncle Ben was already indistinct among the + leaves, but from the motion of his shoulders he seemed to be still + stepping high and softly as if not yet clear of insecure and engulfing + ground. + </p> + <p> + The silence still continuing, the master began mechanically to look over + the desks for forgotten or mislaid articles, and to rearrange the pupils' + books and copies. A few heartsease gathered by the devoted Octavia Dean, + neatly tied with a black thread and regularly left in the inkstand cavity + of Rupert's desk, were still lying on the floor where they had been always + hurled with equal regularity by that disdainful Adonis. Picking up a slate + from under a bench, his attention was attracted by a forgotten cartoon on + the reverse side. Mr. Ford at once recognized it as the work of that + youthful but eminent caricaturist, Johnny Filgee. Broad in treatment, + comprehensive in subject, liberal in detail and slate-pencil—it + represented Uncle Ben lying on the floor with a book in his hand, + tyrannized over by Rupert Filgee and regarded in a striking profile of two + features by Cressy McKinstry. The daring realism of introducing the names + of each character on their legs—perhaps ideally enlarged for that + purpose—left no doubt of their identity. Equally daring but no less + effective was the rendering of a limited but dramatic conversation between + the parties by the aid of emotional balloons attached to their mouths like + a visible gulp bearing the respective legends: “I luv you,” “O my,” and + “You git!” + </p> + <p> + The master was for a moment startled at this unlooked-for but graphic + testimony to the fact that Uncle Ben's visits to the school were not only + known but commented upon. The small eyes of those youthful observers had + been keener than his own. He had again been stupidly deceived, in spite of + his efforts. Love, albeit deficient in features and wearing an improperly + short bell-shaped frock, had boldly re-entered the peaceful school, and + disturbing complications on abnormal legs were following at its heels. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V. + </h2> + <p> + While this simple pastoral life was centred around the school-house in the + clearing, broken only by an occasional warning pistol-shot in the + direction of the Harrison-McKinstry boundaries, the more business part of + Indian Spring was overtaken by one of those spasms of enterprise peculiar + to all Californian mining settlements. The opening of the Eureka Ditch and + the extension of stagecoach communication from Big Bluff were events of no + small importance, and were celebrated on the same day. The double occasion + overtaxing even the fluent rhetoric of the editor of the “Star” left him + struggling in the metaphorical difficulties of a Pactolian Spring, which + he had rashly turned into the Ditch, and obliged him to transfer the + onerous duty of writing the editorial on the Big Bluff Extension to the + hands of the Honorable Abner Dean, Assemblyman from Angel's. The loss of + the Honorable Mr. Dean's right eye in an early pioneer fracas did not + prevent him from looking into the dim vista of the future and discovering + with that single unaided optic enough to fill three columns of the “Star.” + “It is not too extravagant to say,” he remarked with charming deprecation, + “that Indian Spring, through its own perfectly organized system of inland + transportation, the confluence of its North Fork with the Sacramento + River, and their combined effluence into the illimitable Pacific, is thus + put not only into direct communication with far Cathay but even remoter + Antipodean markets. The citizen of Indian Spring taking the 9 A. M. + Pioneer Coach and arriving at Big Bluff at 2.40 is enabled to connect with + the through express to Sacramento the same evening, reaching San Francisco + per the Steam Navigation Company's palatial steamers in time to take the + Pacific Mail Steamer to Yokohama on the following day at 8.30 P. M.” + Although no citizen of Indian Spring appeared to avail himself of this + admirable opportunity, nor did it appear at all likely that any would, + everybody vaguely felt that an inestimable boon lay in the suggestion, and + even the master professionally intrusting the reading aloud of the + editorial to Rupert Filgee with ulterior designs of practice in the + pronunciation of five-syllable words, was somewhat affected by it. Johnny + Filgee and Jimmy Snyder accepting it as a mysterious something that made + Desert Islands accessible at a moment's notice and a trifling outlay, were + round-eyed and attentive. And the culminating information from the master + that this event would be commemorated by a half-holiday, combined to make + the occasion as exciting to the simple school-house in the clearing as it + was to the gilded saloon in the main street. + </p> + <p> + And so the momentous day arrived, with its two new coaches from Big Bluff + containing the specially invited speakers—always specially invited + to those occasions, and yet strangely enough never before feeling the + extreme “importance and privilege” of it as they did then. Then there were + the firing of two anvils, the strains of a brass band, the hoisting of a + new flag on the liberty-pole, and later the ceremony of the Ditch opening, + when a distinguished speaker in a most unworkman-like tall hat, black + frock coat, and white cravat, which gave him the general air of a festive + grave-digger, took a spade from the hands of an apparently hilarious chief + mourner and threw out the first sods. There were anvils, brass bands, and + a “collation” at the hotel. But everywhere—overriding the most + extravagant expectation and even the laughter it provoked—the spirit + of indomitable youth and resistless enterprise intoxicated the air. It was + the spirit that had made California possible; that had sown a thousand + such ventures broadcast through its wilderness; that had enabled the sower + to stand half-humorously among his scant or ruined harvests without fear + and without repining, and turn his undaunted and ever hopeful face to + further fields. What mattered it that Indian Spring had always before its + eyes the abandoned trenches and ruined outworks of its earlier pioneers? + What mattered it that the eloquent eulogist of the Eureka Ditch had but a + few years before as prodigally scattered his adjectives and his fortune on + the useless tunnel that confronted him on the opposite side of the river? + The sublime forgetfulness of youth ignored its warning or recognized it as + a joke. The master, fresh from his little flock and prematurely aged by + their contact, felt a stirring of something like envy as he wandered among + these scarcely older enthusiasts. + </p> + <p> + Especially memorable was the exciting day to Johnny Filgee, not only for + the delightfully bewildering clamor of the brass band, in which, between + the trombone and the bass drum, he had got inextricably mixed; not only + for the half-frightening explosions of the anvils and the maddening smell + of the gunpowder which had exalted his infant soul to sudden and + irrelevant whoopings, but for a singular occurrence that whetted his + always keen perceptions. Having been shamelessly abandoned on the veranda + of the Eureka Hotel while his brother Rupert paid bashful court to the + pretty proprietress by assisting her in her duties, Johnny gave himself up + to unlimited observation. The rosettes of the six horses, the new harness, + the length of the driver's whiplash, his enormous buckskin gloves and the + way he held his reins; the fascinating odor of shining varnish on the + coach, the gold-headed cane of the Honorable Abner Dean: all these were + stored away in the secret recesses of Johnny's memory, even as the + unconsidered trifles he had picked up en route were distending his + capacious pockets. But when a young man had alighted from the second or + “Truly” coach among the REAL passengers, and strolled carelessly and + easily in the veranda as if the novelty and the occasion were nothing to + him, Johnny, with a gulp of satisfaction, knew that he had seen a prince! + Beautifully dressed in a white duck suit, with a diamond ring on his + finger, a gold chain swinging from his fob, and a Panama hat with a broad + black ribbon jauntily resting on his curled and scented hair, Johnny's + eyes had never rested on a more resplendent vision. He was more romantic + than Yuba Bill, more imposing and less impossible than the Honorable Abner + Dean, more eloquent than the master—far more beautiful than any + colored print that he had ever seen. Had he brushed him in passing Johnny + would have felt a thrill; had he spoken to him he knew he would have been + speechless to reply. Judge then of his utter stupefaction when he saw + Uncle Ben—actually Uncle Ben!—approach this paragon of + perfection, albeit with some embarrassment, and after a word or two of + unintelligible conversation walk away with him! Need it be wondered that + Johnny, forgetful at once of his brother, the horses, and even the + collation with its possible “goodies,” instantly followed. + </p> + <p> + The two men turned into the side street, which, after a few hundred yards, + opened upon the deserted mining flat, crossed and broken by the burrows + and mounds made by the forgotten engines of the early gold-seekers. + Johnny, at times hidden by these irregularities, kept closely in their + rear, sauntering whenever he came within the range of their eyes in that + sidelong, spasmodic and generally diagonal fashion peculiar to small boys, + but ready at any moment to assume utter unconsciousness and the appearance + of going somewhere else or of searching for something on the ground. In + this way appearing, if noticed at all, each time in some different + position to the right or left of them, Johnny followed them to the fringe + of woodland which enabled him to draw closer to their heels. + </p> + <p> + Utterly oblivious of this artistic “shadowing” in the insignificant person + of the small boy who once or twice even crossed their path with affected + timidity, they continued an apparently confidential previous interview. + The words “stocks” and “shares” were alone intelligible. Johnny had heard + them during the day, but he was struck by the fact that Uncle Ben seemed + to be seeking information from the paragon and was perfectly submissive + and humble. But the boy was considerably mystified when after a tramp of + half an hour they arrived upon the debatable ground of the + Harrison-McKinstry boundary. Having been especially warned never to go + there, Johnny as a matter of course was perfectly familiar with it. But + what was the incomprehensible stranger doing there? Was he brought by + Uncle Ben with a view of paralyzing both of the combatants with the + spectacle of his perfections? Was he a youthful sheriff, a young judge, or + maybe the son of the Governor of California? Or was it that Uncle Ben was + “silly” and didn't know the locality? Here was an opportunity for him, + Johnny, to introduce himself, and explain and even magnify the danger, + with perhaps a slight allusion to his own fearless familiarity with it. + Unfortunately, as he was making up his small mind behind a tree, the + paragon turned and with the easy disdain that so well became him, said: + </p> + <p> + “Well, I wouldn't offer a dollar an acre for the whole ranch. But if YOU + choose to give a fancy price—that's your lookout.” + </p> + <p> + To Johnny's already prejudiced mind, Uncle Ben received this just contempt + submissively, as he ought, but nevertheless he muttered something “silly” + in reply, which Johnny was really too disgusted to listen to. Ought he not + to step forward and inform the paragon that he was wasting his time on a + man who couldn't even spell “ba-ker,” and who was taught his letters by + his, Johnny's, brother? + </p> + <p> + The paragon continued: + </p> + <p> + “And of course you know that merely your buying the title to the land + don't give you possession. You'll have to fight these squatters and + jumpers just the same. It'll be three instead of two fighting—that's + all!” + </p> + <p> + Uncle Ben's imbecile reply did not trouble Johnny. He had ears now only + for the superior intellect before him. IT continued coolly: + </p> + <p> + “Now let's take a look at that yield of yours. I haven't much time to give + you, as I expect some men to be looking for me here—and I suppose + you want this thing still kept a secret. I don't see how you've managed to + do it so far. Is your claim near? You live on it—I think you said?” + </p> + <p> + But that the little listener was so preoccupied with the stranger, this + suggestion of Uncle Ben's having a claim worth the attention of that + distinguished presence would have set him thinking; the little that he + understood he set down to Uncle Ben's “gassin'.” As the two men moved + forward again, he followed them until Uncle Ben's house was reached. + </p> + <p> + It was a rude shanty of boards and rough boulders, half burrowing in one + of the largest mounds of earth and gravel, which had once represented the + tailings or refuse of the abandoned Indian Spring Placer. In fact it was + casually alleged by some that Uncle Ben eked out the scanty “grub wages,” + he made by actual mining, in reworking and sifting the tailings at odd + times—a degrading work hitherto practised only by Chinese, and + unworthy the Caucasian ambition. The mining code of honor held that a man + might accept the smallest results of his daily labor, as long as he was + sustained by the prospect of a larger “strike,” but condemned his + contentment with a modest certainty. Nevertheless a little of this + suspicion encompassed his dwelling and contributed to its loneliness, even + as a long ditch, the former tail-race of the claim, separated him from his + neighbors. Prudently halting at the edge of the wood, Johnny saw his + resplendent vision cross the strip of barren flat, and enter the cabin + with Uncle Ben like any other mortal. He sat down on a stump and awaited + its return, which he fondly hoped might be alone! At the end of half an + hour he made a short excursion to examine the condition of a blackberry + bramble, and returned to his post of observation. But there was neither + sound nor motion in the direction of the cabin. When another ten minutes + had elapsed, the door opened and to Johnny's intense discomfiture, Uncle + Ben appeared alone and walked leisurely towards the woods. Burning with + anxiety Johnny threw himself in Uncle Ben's way. But here occurred one of + those surprising inconsistencies known only to children. As Uncle Ben + turned his small gray eyes upon him in a half astonished, half questioning + manner, the potent spirit of childish secretiveness suddenly took + possession of the boy. Wild horses could not now have torn from him that + question which only a moment before was on his lips. + </p> + <p> + “Hullo, Johnny! What are ye doin' here?” said Uncle Ben kindly. + </p> + <p> + “Nothin'.” After a pause, in which he walked all round Uncle Ben's large + figure, gazing up at him as if he were a monument, he added, “Huntin' + blackberrieth.” + </p> + <p> + “Why ain't you over at the collation?” + </p> + <p> + “Ruperth there,” he answered promptly. + </p> + <p> + The idea of being thus vicariously present in the person of his brother + seemed a sufficient excuse. He leap-frogged over the stump on which he had + been sitting as an easy unembarrassing pause for the next question. But + Uncle Ben was apparently perfectly satisfied with Johnny's reply, and + nodding to him, walked away. + </p> + <p> + When his figure had disappeared in the bushes, Johnny cautiously + approached the cabin. At a certain distance he picked up a stone and threw + it against the door, immediately taking to his heels and the friendly + copse again. No one appearing he repeated the experiment twice and even + thrice with a larger stone and at a nearer distance. Then he boldly + skirted the cabin and dropped into the race-way at its side. Following it + a few hundred yards he came upon a long disused shaft opening into it, + which had been covered with a rough trap of old planks, as if to protect + incautious wayfarers from falling in. Here a sudden and inexplicable fear + overtook Johnny, and he ran away. When he reached the hotel, almost the + first sight that met his astounded eyes was the spectacle of the paragon, + apparently still in undisturbed possession of all his perfections—driving + coolly off in a buggy with a fresh companion. + </p> + <p> + Meantime Mr. Ford, however touched by the sentimental significance of the + celebration, became slightly wearied of its details. As his own room in + the Eureka Hotel was actually thrilled by the brass band without and the + eloquence of speakers below, and had become redolent of gunpowder and + champagne exploded around it, he determined to return to the school-house + and avail himself of its woodland quiet to write a few letters. + </p> + <p> + The change was grateful, the distant murmur of the excited settlement came + only as the soothing sound of wind among the leaves. The pure air of the + pines that filled every cranny of the quiet school-room, and seemed to + disperse all taint of human tenancy, made the far-off celebrations as + unreal as a dream. The only reality of his life was here. + </p> + <p> + He took from his pocket a few letters one of which was worn and soiled + with frequent handling. He re-read it in a half methodical, half patient + way, as if he were waiting for some revelation it inspired, which was slow + that afternoon in coming. At other times it had called up a youthful + enthusiasm which was wont to transfigure his grave and prematurely + reserved face with a new expression. To-day the revelation and expression + were both wanting. He put the letter back with a slight sigh, that sounded + so preposterous in the silent room that he could not forego an embarrassed + smile. But the next moment he set himself seriously to work on his + correspondence. + </p> + <p> + Presently he stopped; once or twice he had been overtaken by a vague + undefinable sense of pleasure, even to the dreamy halting of his pen. It + was a sensation in no way connected with the subject of his + correspondence, or even his previous reflections—it was partly + physical, and yet it was in some sense suggestive. It must be the + intoxicating effect of the woodland air. He even fancied he had noticed it + before, at the same hour when the sun was declining and the fresh odors of + the undergrowth were rising. It certainly was a perfume. He raised his + eyes. There lay the cause on the desk before him—a little nosegay of + wild Californian myrtle encircling a rose-bud which had escaped his + notice. + </p> + <p> + There was nothing unusual in the circumstance. The children were in the + habit of making their offerings generally without particular reference to + time or occasion, and it might have been overlooked by him during + school-hours. He felt a pity for the forgotten posy already beginning to + grow limp in its neglected solitude. He remembered that in some folk-lore + of the children's, perhaps a tradition of the old association of the + myrtle with Venus, it was believed to be emblematic of the affections. He + remembered also that he had even told them of this probable origin of + their superstition. He was still holding it in his hand when he was + conscious of a silken sensation that sent a magnetic thrill through his + fingers. Looking at it more closely he saw that the sprigs were bound + together, not by thread or ribbon, but by long filaments of soft brown + hair tightly wound around them. He unwound a single hair and held it to + the light. Its length, color, texture, and above all a certain + inexplicable instinct, told him it was Cressy McKinstry's. He laid it down + quickly, as if he had, in that act, familiarly touched her person. + </p> + <p> + He finished his letter, but presently found himself again looking at the + myrtle and thinking about it. From the position in which it had been + placed it was evidently intended for him; the fancy of binding it with + hair was also intentional and not a necessity, as he knew his feminine + scholars were usually well provided with bits of thread, silk, or ribbon. + If it had been some new absurdity of childish fashion introduced in the + school, he would have noticed it ere this. For it was this obtrusion of a + personality that vaguely troubled him. He remembered Cressy's hair; it was + certainly very beautiful, in spite of her occasional vagaries of coiffure. + He recalled how, one afternoon, it had come down when she was romping with + Octavia in the play-ground, and was surprised to find what a vivid picture + he retained of her lingering in the porch to put it up; her rounded arms + held above her head, her pretty shoulders, full throat, and glowing face + thrown back, and a wisp of the very hair between her white teeth! He began + another letter. + </p> + <p> + When it was finished the shadow of the pine-branch before the window, + thrown by the nearly level sun across his paper, had begun slowly to reach + the opposite wall. He put his work away, lingered for a moment in + hesitation over the myrtle sprays, and then locked them in his desk with + an odd feeling that he had secured in some vague way a hold upon Cressy's + future vagaries; then reflecting that Uncle Ben, whom he had seen in town, + would probably keep holiday with the others, he resolved to wait no + longer, but strolled back to the hotel. The act however had not recalled + Uncle Ben to him by any association of ideas, for since his discovery of + Johnny Filgee's caricature he had failed to detect anything to corroborate + the caricaturist's satire, and had dismissed the subject from his mind. + </p> + <p> + On entering his room at the hotel he found Rupert Filgee standing moodily + by the window, while his brother Johnny, overcome by a repletion of + excitement and collation, was asleep on the single arm-chair. Their + presence was not unusual, as Mr. Ford, touched by the loneliness of these + motherless boys, had often invited them to come to his rooms to look over + his books and illustrated papers. + </p> + <p> + “Well?” he said cheerfully. + </p> + <p> + Rupert did not reply or change his position. Mr. Ford, glancing at him + sharply, saw a familiar angry light in the boy's beautiful eyes, slightly + dimmed by a tear. Laying his hand gently on Rupert's shoulder he said, + “What's the matter, Rupert?” + </p> + <p> + “Nothin',” said the boy doggedly, with his eyes still fixed on the pane. + </p> + <p> + “Has—has—Mrs. Tripp” (the fair proprietress) “been unkind?” he + went on lightly. + </p> + <p> + No reply. + </p> + <p> + “You know, Rupe,” continued Mr. Ford demurely, “she must show SOME reserve + before company—like to-day. It won't do to make a scandal.” + </p> + <p> + Rupert maintained an indignant silence. But the dimple (which he usually + despised as a feminine blot) on the cheek nearer the master became + slightly accented. Only for a moment; the dark eyes clouded again. + </p> + <p> + “I wish I was dead, Mr. Ford.” + </p> + <p> + “Hallo!” + </p> + <p> + “Or—doin' suthin'.” + </p> + <p> + “That's better. What do you want to do?” + </p> + <p> + “To work—make a livin' myself. Quit toten' wood and water at home; + quit cookin' and makin' beds, like a yaller Chinaman; quit nussin' babies + and dressin' 'em and undressin' 'em, like a girl. Look at HIM now,” + pointing to the sweetly unconscious Johnny, “look at him there. Do you + know what that means? It means I've got to pack him home through the town + jist ez he is thar, and then make a fire and bile his food for him, and + wash him and undress him and put him to bed, and 'Now I lay me down to + sleep' him, and tuck him up; and Dad all the while 'scootin' round town + with other idjits, jawin' about 'progress' and the 'future of Injin + Spring.' Much future we've got over our own house, Mr. Ford. Much future + he's got laid up for me!” + </p> + <p> + The master, to whom those occasional outbreaks from Rupert were not + unfamiliar, smiled, albeit with serious eyes that belied his lips, and + consoled the boy as he had often done before. But he was anxious to know + the cause of this recent attack and its probable relations to the + fascinating Mrs. Tripp. + </p> + <p> + “I thought we talked all that over some time ago, Rupe. In a few months + you'll be able to leave school, and I'll advise your father about putting + you into something to give you a chance for yourself. Patience, old + fellow; you're doing very well. Consider—there's your pupil, Uncle + Ben.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes! That's another big baby to tot round in school when I ain't + niggerin' at home.” + </p> + <p> + “And I don't see exactly what else you could do at Indian Spring,” + continued Mr. Ford. + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Rupert gloomily, “but I could get away to Sacramento. Yuba Bill + says they take boys no bigger nor me in thar express offices or banks—and + in a year or two they're as good ez anybody and get paid as big. Why, + there was a fellow here, just now, no older than you, Mr. Ford, and not + half your learnin', and he dressed to death with jewelry, and everybody + bowin' and scrapin' to him, that it was perfectly sickenin'.” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Ford lifted his eyebrows. “Oh, you mean the young man of Benham and + Co., who was talking to Mrs. Tripp?” he said. + </p> + <p> + A quick flush of angry consciousness crossed Rupert's face. “Maybe; he has + just cheek enough for anythin'.” + </p> + <p> + “And you want to be like him?” said Mr. Ford. + </p> + <p> + “You know what I mean, Mr. Ford. Not LIKE him. Why YOU'RE as good as he + is, any day,” continued Rupert with relentless naivete; “but if a jay-bird + like that can get on, why couldn't I?” + </p> + <p> + There was no doubt that the master here pointed out the defectiveness of + Rupert's logic and the beneficence of patience and study, as became their + relations of master and pupil, but with the addition of a certain fellow + sympathy and some amusing recital of his own boyish experiences, that had + the effect of calling Rupert's dimples into action again. At the end of + half an hour the boy had become quite tractable, and, getting ready to + depart, approached his sleeping brother with something like resignation. + But Johnny's nap seemed to have had the effect of transforming him into an + inert jelly-like mass. It required the joint exertions of both the master + and Rupert to transfer him bodily into the latter's arms, where, with a + single limp elbow encircling his brother's neck, he lay with his + unfinished slumber still visibly distending his cheeks, his eyelids, and + even lifting his curls from his moist forehead. The master bade Rupert + “good-night,” and returned to his room as the boy descended the stairs + with his burden. + </p> + <p> + But here Providence, with, I fear, its occasional disregard of mere human + morality, rewarded Rupert after his own foolish desires. Mrs. Tripp was at + the foot of the stairs as Rupert came slowly down. He saw her, and was + covered with shame; she saw him and his burden, and was touched with + kindliness. Whether or not she was also mischievously aware of Rupert's + admiration, and was not altogether displeased with it, I cannot say. In a + voice that thrilled him, she said:— + </p> + <p> + “What! Rupert, are you going so soon?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, ma'am—-on account of Johnny.” + </p> + <p> + “But let me take him—I can keep him here to-night.” + </p> + <p> + It was a great temptation, but Rupert had strength to refuse, albeit with + his hat pulled over his downcast eyes. + </p> + <p> + “Poor dear, how tired he looks.” + </p> + <p> + She approached her still fresh and pretty face close to Rupert and laid + her lips on Johnny's cheek. Then she lifted her audacious eyes to his + brother, and pushing back his well-worn chip hat from his clustering + curls, she kissed him squarely on the forehead. + </p> + <p> + “Good-night, dear.” + </p> + <p> + The boy stumbled, and then staggered blindly forward into the outer + darkness. But with a gentleman's delicacy he turned almost instantly into + a side street, as if to keep this consecration of himself from vulgar + eyes. The path he had chosen was rough and weary, the night was dark, and + Johnny was ridiculously heavy, but he kept steadily on, the woman's kiss + in the fancy of the foolish boy shining on his forehead and lighting him + onward like a star. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VI. + </h2> + <p> + When the door closed on Rupert the master pulled down the blind, and, + trimming his lamp, tried to compose himself by reading. Outside, the + “Great Day for Indian Spring” was slowly evaporating in pale mists from + the river, and the celebration itself spasmodically taking flight here and + there in Roman candles and rockets. An occasional outbreak from revellers + in the bar-room below, a stumbling straggler along the planked sidewalk + before the hotel, only seemed to intensify the rustic stillness. For the + future of Indian Spring was still so remote that Nature insensibly + re-invested its boundaries on the slightest relaxation of civic influence, + and Mr. Ford lifted his head from the glowing columns of the “Star” to + listen to the far-off yelp of a coyote on the opposite shore. + </p> + <p> + He was also conscious of the recurrence of that vague, pleasurable + recollection, so indefinite that, when he sought to identify it with + anything—even the finding of the myrtle sprays on his desk—it + evaded him. He tried to work, with the same interruption. Then an uneasy + sensation that he had not been sufficiently kind to Rupert in his foolish + love-troubles remorsefully seized him. A half pathetic, half humorous + picture of the miserable Rupert staggering under the double burden of his + sleeping brother and a misplaced affection, or possibly abandoning the one + or both in the nearest ditch in a reckless access of boyish frenzy and + fleeing his home forever, rose before his eyes. He seized his hat with the + intention of seeking him—or forgetting him in some other occupation + by the way. For Mr. Ford had the sensitive conscience of many imaginative + people; an unfailing monitor, it was always calling his whole moral being + into play to evade it. + </p> + <p> + As he crossed the passage he came upon Mrs. Tripp hooded and elaborately + attired in a white ball dress, which however did not, to his own fancy, + become her as well as her ordinary costume. He was passing her with a bow, + when she said, with complacent consciousness of her appearance, “Aren't + you going to the ball to-night?” + </p> + <p> + He remembered then that “an opening ball” at the Court-house was a part of + the celebration. “No,” he said smiling; “but it is a pity that Rupert + couldn't have seen you in your charming array.” + </p> + <p> + “Rupert,” said the lady, with a slightly coquettish laugh; “you have made + him as much a woman-hater as yourself. I offered to take him in our party, + and he ran away to you.” She paused, and giving him a furtive critical + glance said, with an easy mingling of confidence and audacity, “Why don't + YOU go? Nobody'll hurt you.” + </p> + <p> + “I'm not so sure of that,” replied Mr. Ford gallantly. “There's the + melancholy example of Rupert always before me.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Tripp tossed her chignon and descended a step of the stairs. “You'd + better go,” she continued, looking up over the balusters. “You can look on + if you can't dance.” + </p> + <p> + Now Mr. Ford COULD dance, and it so chanced, rather well, too. With this + consciousness he remained standing in half indignant hesitation on the + landing as she disappeared. Why shouldn't he go? It was true, he had half + tacitly acquiesced in the reserve with which he had been treated, and had + never mingled socially in the gatherings of either sex at Indian Spring—but + that was no reason. He could at least dress himself, walk to the + Court-house and—look on. + </p> + <p> + Any black coat and white shirt was sufficiently de rigueur for Indian + Spring. Mr. Ford added the superfluous elegance of a forgotten white + waistcoat. When he reached the sidewalk it was only nine o'clock, but the + windows of the Court-house were already flaring like a stranded steamer on + the barren bank where it had struck. On the way thither he was once or + twice tempted to change his mind, and hesitated even at the very door. But + the fear that his hesitation would be noticed by the few loungers before + it, and the fact that some of them were already hesitating through + bashfulness, determined him to enter. + </p> + <p> + The clerks' office and judges' chambers on the lower floor had been + invaded by wraps, shawls, and refreshments, but the dancing was reserved + for the upper floor or courtroom, still unfinished. Flags, laurel-wreaths, + and appropriate floral inscriptions hid its bare walls; but the coat of + arms of the State, already placed over the judges' dais with its + illimitable golden sunset, its triumphant goddess, and its implacable + grizzly, seemed figuratively to typify the occasion better than the + inscriptions. The room was close and crowded. The flickering candles in + tin sconces against the walls, or depending in rude chandeliers of + barrel-hoops from the ceiling, lit up the most astounding diversity of + female costume the master had ever seen. Gowns of bygone fashions, creased + and stained with packing and disuse, toilets of forgotten festivity + revised with modern additions; garments in and out of season—a + fur-trimmed jacket and a tulle skirt, a velvet robe under a pique sacque; + fresh young faces beneath faded head-dresses, and mature and buxom charms + in virgin' white. The small space cleared for the dancers was continually + invaded by the lookers-on, who in files of three deep lined the room. + </p> + <p> + As the master pushed his way to the front, a young girl, who had been + standing in the sides of a quadrille, suddenly darted with a nymph-like + quickness among the crowd and was for an instant hidden. Without + distinguishing either face or figure, Mr. Ford recognized in the quick, + impetuous action a characteristic movement of Cressy's; with an + embarrassing instinct that he could not account for, he knew she had seen + him, and that, for some inexplicable reason, he was the cause of her + sudden disappearance. + </p> + <p> + But it was only for a moment. Even while he was vaguely scanning the crowd + she reappeared and took her place beside her mystified partner—the + fascinating stranger of Johnny's devotion and Rupert's dislike. She was + pale; he had never seen her so beautiful. All that he had thought + distasteful and incongruous in her were but accessories of her loveliness + at that moment, in that light, in that atmosphere, in that strange + assembly. Even her full pink gauze dress, from which her fair young + shoulders slipped as from a sunset cloud, seemed only the perfection of + virginal simplicity; her girlish length of limb and the long curves of her + neck and back were now the outlines of thorough breeding. The absence of + color in her usually fresh face had been replaced by a faint magnetic + aurora that seemed to him half spiritual. He could not take his eyes from + her; he could not believe what he saw. Yet that was Cressy McKinstry—his + pupil! Had he ever really seen her? Did he know her now? Small wonder that + all eyes were bent upon her, that a murmur of unspoken admiration, or + still more intense hush of silence moved the people around him. He glanced + hurriedly at them, and was oddly relieved by this evident participation in + his emotions. + </p> + <p> + She was dancing now, and with that same pale restraint and curious quiet + that had affected him so strongly. She had not even looked in his + direction, yet he was aware by the same instinct that had at first + possessed him that she knew he was present. His desire to catch her eye + was becoming mingled with a certain dread, as if in a single interchange + of glances the illusions of the moment would either vanish utterly or + become irrevocably fixed. He forced himself, when the set was finished, to + turn away, partly to avoid contact with some acquaintances who had drifted + before him, and whom politeness would have obliged him to ask to dance, + and partly to collect his thoughts. He determined to make a tour of the + rooms and then go quietly home. Those who recognized him made way for him + with passive curiosity; the middle-aged and older adding a confidential + sympathy and equality that positively irritated him. For an instant he had + an idea of seeking out Mrs. Tripp and claiming her as a partner, merely to + show her that he danced. + </p> + <p> + He had nearly made the circuit of the room when he was surprised by the + first strains of a waltz. Waltzing was not a strong feature of Indian + Spring festivity, partly that the Church people had serious doubts if + David's saltatory performances before the Ark included “round dances,” and + partly that the young had not yet mastered its difficulties. When he + yielded to his impulse to look again at the dancers he found that only + three or four couples had been bold enough to take the floor. Cressy + McKinstry and her former partner were one of them. In his present + exaltation he was not astonished to find that she had evidently picked up + the art in her late visit, and was now waltzing with quiet grace and + precision, but he was surprised that her partner was far from being + equally perfect, and that after a few turns she stopped and smilingly + disengaged her waist from his arm. As she stepped back she turned with + unerring instinct to that part of the room where the master stood, and + raised her eyes through the multitude of admiring faces to his. Their eyes + met in an isolation as supreme as if they had been alone. It was an + attraction the more dangerous because unformulated—a possession + without previous pledge, promise, or even intention—a love that did + not require to be “made.” + </p> + <p> + He approached her quietly and even more coolly than he thought possible. + “Will you allow me a trial?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + She looked in his face, and as if she had not heard the question but was + following her own thought, said, “I knew you would come; I saw you when + you first came in.” Without another word she put her hand in his, and as + if it were part of an instinctive action of drawing closer to him, caught + with her advancing foot the accent of the waltz, and the next moment the + room seemed to slip away from them into whirling space. + </p> + <p> + The whole thing had passed so rapidly from the moment he approached her to + the first graceful swing of her full skirt at his side, that it seemed to + him almost like the embrace of a lovers' meeting. He had often been as + near her before, had stood at her side at school, and even leaned over her + desk, but always with an irritated instinct of reserve that had equally + affected her, and which he now understood. With her conscious but pale + face so near his own, with the faint odor of her hair clinging to her, and + with the sweet confusion of the half lingering, half withheld contact of + her hand and arm, all had changed. He did not dare to reflect that he + could never again approach her except with this feeling. He did not dare + to think of anything; he abandoned himself to the sense that had begun + with the invasion of her hair-bound myrtle in the silent school-room, and + seemed to have at last led her to his arms. They were moving now in such + perfect rhythm and unison that they seemed scarcely conscious of motion. + Once when they neared the open window he caught a glimpse of the round + moon rising above the solemn heights of the opposite shore, and felt the + cool breath of mountain and river sweep his cheek and mingle a few escaped + threads of her fair hair with his own. With that glimpse and that + sensation the vulgarity and the tawdriness of their surroundings, the + guttering candles in their sconces, the bizarre figures, the unmeaning + faces seemed to be whirled far into distant space. They were alone with + night and nature; it was they who were still; all else had receded in a + vanishing perspective of dull reality, in which they had no part. + </p> + <p> + Play on, O waltz of Strauss! Whirl on, O love and youth! For you cannot + whirl so swiftly but that this receding world will return again with + narrowing circle to hem you in. Faster, O cracked clarionet! Louder, O too + brazen bassoon! Keep back, O dull and earthy environment, till master and + pupil have dreamed their foolish dream! + </p> + <p> + They are in fancy alone on the river-bank, only the round moon above them + and their linked shadows faintly fluttering in the stream. They have drawn + so closely together now that her arm is encircling his neck, her soft eyes + uplifted like the moon's reflection and drowning into his; closer and + closer till their hearts stop beating and their lips have met in a first + kiss. Faster, O little feet! swing clear, O Cressy's skirt and keep the + narrowing circle back! . . . They are again alone; the judges' dais and + the emblazoning of the State caught in a single whirling flash of + consciousness are changed to an altar, seen dimly through the bridal veil + that covers her fair head. There is the murmur of voices mingling two + lives in one. They turn and pass proudly down between the aisles of + wondering festal faces. Ah! the circle is drawing closer. One more quick + whirl to keep them back, O flying skirt and dainty-winged feet! Too late! + The music stops. The tawdry walls shut in again, the vulgar crowds return, + they stand pale and quiet, the centre of a ring of breathless admiring, + frightened, or forbidding faces. Her arms fold like wings at her side. The + waltz is over. + </p> + <p> + A shrill feminine chorus assail her with praises, struck here and there + with a metallic ring of envy; a dozen all-daring cavaliers, made reckless + by her grace and beauty, clamor for her hand in the next waltz. She + replies, not to them, but to him, “Not again,” and slips away in the crowd + with that strange new shyness that of all her transformations seems the + most delicious. Yet so conscious are they of their mutual passion that + they do not miss each other, and he turns away as if their next meeting + were already an appointed tryst. A few congratulate him on his skill. + Johnny's paragon looks after him curiously; certain elders shake hands + with him perplexedly, as if not quite sure of the professional consistency + of his performance. Those charming tide-waiters on social success, the + fair, artfully mingling expectation with compliment, only extract from him + the laughing statement that this one waltz was the single exception + allowed him from the rule of his professional conduct, and he refers them + to his elder critics. A single face, loutish, looming, and vindictive, + stands on among the crowd—the face of Seth Davis. He had not seen + him since he left the school; he had forgotten his existence; even now he + only remembered his successor, Joe Masters, and he looked curiously around + to see if that later suitor of Cressy's was present. It was not until he + reached the door that he began to think seriously of Seth Davis's jealous + face, and was roused to a singular indignation. “Why hadn't this great + fool vented his jealousy on the openly compromising Masters,” he thought. + He even turned and walked back with some vaguely aggressive instinct, but + the young man had disappeared. With this incident still in his mind he + came upon Uncle Ben and Hiram McKinstry standing among the spectators in + the doorway. Why might not Uncle Ben be jealous too? and if his single + waltz had really appeared so compromising why should not Cressy's father + object? But both men—albeit, McKinstry usually exhibited a vague + unreasoning contempt for Uncle Ben—were unanimous in their + congratulations and outspoken admiration. + </p> + <p> + “When I see'd you sail in, Mr. Ford,” said Uncle Ben, with abstract + reflectiveness, “I sez to the fellers, 'lie low, boys, and you'll see + style.' And when you put on them first steps, I sez, 'that's French—the + latest high-toned French style—outer the best masters, and—and + outer the best books. For why?' sez I. 'It's the same long, sliding stroke + you see in his copies. There's that long up sweep, and that easy curve to + the right with no hitch. That's the sorter swing he hez in readin' po'try + too. That's why it's called the po'try of motion,' sez I. 'And you ken bet + your boots, boys, it's all in the trainin' o' education.'” + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Ford,” said Mr. McKinstry gravely, slightly waving a lavender-colored + kid glove, with which he had elected to conceal his maimed hand, and at + the same moment indicate a festal occasion: “I hev to thank ye for the way + you took out that child o' mine, like ez she woz an ontried filly, and put + her through her paces. I don't dance myself, partikly in that gait—which + I take to be suthin' betwixt a lope and a canter and I don't get to see + much dancin' nowadays on account o' bein' worrited by stock, but seein' + you two together just now, suthin' came over me, and I don't think I ever + felt so kam in my life.” + </p> + <p> + The blood rushed to the master's cheek with an unexpected consciousness of + guilt and shame. “But,” he stammered awkwardly, “your daughter dances + beautifully herself; she has certainly had practice.” + </p> + <p> + “That,” said McKinstry, laying his gloved hand impressively on the + master's shoulder, with the empty little finger still more emphasized by + being turned backward in the net; “that may be ez it ez, but I wanted to + say that it was the simple, easy, fammily touch that you gev it, that took + me. Toward the end, when you kinder gathered her up and she sorter dropped + her head into your breast-pocket, and seemed to go to sleep, like ez ef + she was still a little girl, it so reminded me of the times when I used to + tote her myself walkin' by the waggin at Platt River, that it made me wish + the old woman was here to see it.” + </p> + <p> + Still coloring, the master cast a rapid, sidelong glance at McKinstry's + dark red face and beard, but in the slow satisfaction of his features + there was no trace of that irony which the master's self-consciousness + knew. + </p> + <p> + “Then your wife is not here?” said Mr. Ford abstractedly. + </p> + <p> + “She war at church. She reckoned that I'd do to look arter Cressy—she + bein', so to speak, under conviction. D'ye mind walkin' this way a bit; I + want to speak a word with ye?” He put his maimed hand through the master's + arm, after his former fashion, and led him to a corner. + </p> + <p> + “Did ye happen to see Seth Davis about yer?” + </p> + <p> + “I believe I saw him a moment ago,” returned Mr. Ford half contemptuously. + </p> + <p> + “Did he get off anythin' rough on ye?” + </p> + <p> + “Certainly not,” said the master haughtily. “Why should he dare?” + </p> + <p> + “That's so,” said McKinstry meditatively. “You had better keep right on in + that line. That's your gait, remember. Leave him—or his father—it's + the same thing—to ME. Don't YOU let yourself be roped in to this yer + row betwixt me and the Davises. You ain't got no call to do it. It's + already been on my mind your bringin' that gun to me in the Harrison row. + The old woman hadn't oughter let you—nor Cress either. Hark to me, + Mr. Ford! I reckon to stand between you and both the Davises till the cows + come home—only—mind YOU give him the go-by when he happens to + meander along towards you.” + </p> + <p> + “I'm very much obliged to you,” said Ford with disproportionately sudden + choler; “but I don't propose to alter my habits for a ridiculous + school-boy whom I have dismissed.” The unjust and boyish petulance of his + speech instantly flashed upon him, and he felt his cheek burn again. + </p> + <p> + McKinstry regarded him with dull, red, slumbrous eyes. “Don't you go to + lose your best holt, Mr. Ford—and that's kam. Keep your kam—and + you've allus got the dead wood on Injin Springs. I ain't got it,” he + continued, in his slowest, most passionless manner, “and a row more or + less ain't much account to me—but YOU, you keep your kam.” He + paused, stepped back, and regarding the master, with a slight wave of his + crippled hand over his whole person, as if indicating some personal + adornment, said, “It sets you off!” + </p> + <p> + He nodded, turned, and re-entered the ball-room. Mr. Ford, without + trusting himself to further speech, elbowed his way through the crowded + staircase to the street. But even there his strange anger, as well as the + equally strange remorse, which had seized him in McKinstry's presence, + seemed to evaporate in the clear moonlight and soft summer air. There was + the river-bank, with the tremulous river glancing through the dreamy mist, + as they had seen it from the window together. He even turned to look back + on the lighted ball-room, as if SHE might have been looking out, too. But + he knew he should see her again to-morrow, and he hurriedly put aside all + reserve, all thought of the future, all examination of his conduct, to + walk home enwrapped in the vaguer pleasure of the past. Rupert Filgee, to + whom he had never given a second thought, now peacefully slumbering beside + his baby brother, had not gone home in more foolish or more dangerous + company. + </p> + <p> + When he reached the hotel, he was surprised to find it only eleven + o'clock. No one had returned, the building was deserted by all but the + bar-keeper and a flirting chambermaid, who regarded him with aggrieved + astonishment. He began to feel very foolish, and half regretted that he + had not stayed to dance with Mrs. Tripp; or, at least, remained as a quiet + onlooker apart from the others. With a hasty excuse about returning to + write letters for the morning's post, he took a candle and slowly + remounted the stairs to his room. But on entering he found himself + unprepared for that singular lack of sympathy with which familiar haunts + always greet our new experiences; he could hardly believe that he had left + that room only two hours before; it seemed so uncongenial and strange to + the sensation that was still possessing him. Yet there were his table, his + books, his arm-chair, his bed as he had left them; even a sticky fragment + of gingerbread that had fallen from Johnny's pocket. He had not yet + reached that stage of absorbing passion where he was able to put the loved + one in his own surroundings; she as yet had no place in this quiet room; + he could scarcely think of her here, and he MUST think of her, if he had + to go elsewhere. An extravagant idea of walking the street until his + restless dream was over seized him, but even in his folly the + lackadaisical, moonstruck quality of such a performance was too obvious. + The school-house! He would go there; it was only a pleasant walk, the + night was lovely, and he could bring the myrtle-spray from his desk. It + was too significant now—if not too precious—to be kept there. + Perhaps he had not examined it closely, nor the place where it had lain; + there might be an additional sign, word, or token he had overlooked. The + thought thrilled him, even while he was calmly arguing to himself that it + was an instinct of caution. + </p> + <p> + The air was quieter and warmer than usual, though still characteristic of + the locality in its dry, dewless clarity. The grass was yet warm from the + day-long sun, and when he entered the pines that surrounded the + schoolhouse, they had scarcely yet lost their spicy heat. The moon, riding + high, filled the dark aisles with a delicious twilight that lent itself to + his waking dreams. It was not long before to-morrow; he could easily + manage to bring her here in the grove at recess, and would speak with her + there. It did not occur to him what he should say, or why he should say + it; it did not occur to him that he had no other provocation than her + eyes, her conscious manner, her eloquent silence, and her admission that + she had expected him. It did not occur to him that all this was + inconsistent with what he knew of her antecedents, her character, and her + habits. It was this very inconsistency that charmed and convinced him. We + are always on the lookout for these miracles of passion. We may doubt the + genuineness of an affection that is first-hand, but never of one that is + transferred. + </p> + <p> + He approached the school-house and unlocking the door closed it behind + him, not so much to keep out human intrusion as the invasion of bats and + squirrels. The nearly vertical moon, while it perfectly lit the playground + and openings in the pines around the house, left the interior in darkness, + except the reflection upon the ceiling from the shining gravel without. + Partly from a sense of precaution and partly because he was familiar with + the position of the benches, he did not strike a light, and reached his + own desk unerringly, drew his chair before it and unlocked it, groped in + its dark recess for the myrtle spray, felt its soft silken binding with an + electrical thrill, drew it out, and in the security of the darkness, + raised it to his lips. + </p> + <p> + To make room for it in his breast pocket he was obliged to take out his + letters—among them the well-worn one he had tried to read that + morning. A mingling of pleasure and remorse came over him as he felt that + it was already of the past, and as he dropped it carelessly into the empty + desk it fell with a faint, hollow sound as if it were ashes to ashes. + </p> + <p> + What was that? + </p> + <p> + The noise of steps upon the gravel, light laughter, the moving of two or + three shadows on the ceiling, the sound of voices, a man's, a child's, and + HERS! + </p> + <p> + Could it be possible? Was not he mistaken? No! the man's voice was + Masters'; the child's, Octavia's; the woman's, HERS. + </p> + <p> + He remained silent in the shadow. The school-room was not far from the + trail where she would have had to pass going home from the ball. But why + had she come there? had they seen him arrive? and were mischievously + watching him? The sound of Cressy's voice and the lifting of the + unprotected window near the door convinced him to the contrary. + </p> + <p> + “There, that'll do. Now you two can step aside. 'Tave, take him over to + yon fence, and keep him there till I get in. No—thank you, sir—I + can assist myself. I've done it before. It ain't the first time I've been + through this window, is it, 'Tave?” + </p> + <p> + Ford's heart stopped beating. There was a moment of laughing + expostulation, the sound of retreating voices, the sudden darkening of the + window, the billowy sweep of a skirt, the faint quick flash of a little + ankle, and Cressy McKinstry swung herself into the room and dropped + lightly on the floor. + </p> + <p> + She advanced eagerly up the moonlit passage between the two rows of + benches. Suddenly she stopped; the master rose at the same moment with + outstretched warning hand to check the cry of terror he felt sure would + rise to her lips. But he did not know the lazy nerves of the girl before + him. She uttered no outcry. And even in the faint dim light he could see + only the same expression of conscious understanding come over her face + that he had seen in the ball-room, mingled with a vague joy that parted + her breathless lips. As he moved quickly forward their hands met; she + caught his with a quick significant pressure and darted back to the + window. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, 'Tave!” (very languidly.) + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “You two had better wait for me at the edge of the trail yonder, and keep + a lookout for folks going by. Don't let them see you hanging round so + near. Do you hear? I'm all right.” + </p> + <p> + With her hand still meaningly lifted, she stood gazing at the two figures + until they slowly receded towards the distant trail. Then she turned as he + approached her, the reflection of the moonlit road striking up into her + shining eyes and eager waiting face. A dozen questions were upon his lips, + a dozen replies were ready upon hers. But they were never uttered, for the + next moment her eyes half closed, she leaned forward and fell—into a + kiss. + </p> + <p> + She was the first to recover, holding his face in her hands, turned + towards the moonlight, her own in passionate shadow. “Listen,” she said + quickly. “They think I came here to look for something I left in my desk. + They thought it high fun to come with me—these two. I did come to + look for something—not in my desk, but yours.” + </p> + <p> + “Was it this?” he whispered, taking the myrtle from his breast. She seized + it with a light cry, putting it first to her lips and then to his. Then + clasping his face again between her soft palms, she turned it to the + window and said: “Look at them and not at me.” + </p> + <p> + He did so—seeing the two figures slowly walking in the trail. And + holding her there firmly against his breast, it seemed a blasphemy to ask + the question that had been upon his lips. + </p> + <p> + “That's not all,” she murmured, moving his face backwards and forwards to + her lips as if it were something to which she was giving breath. “When we + came to the woods I felt that you would be here.” + </p> + <p> + “And feeling that, you brought HIM?” said Ford, drawing back. + </p> + <p> + “Why not?” she replied indolently. “Even if he had seen you, I could have + managed to have you walk home with me.” + </p> + <p> + “But do you think it's quite fair? Would he like it?” + </p> + <p> + “Would HE like it?” she echoed lazily. + </p> + <p> + “Cressy,” said the young man earnestly, gazing into her shadowed face. + “Have you given him any right to object? Do you understand me?” + </p> + <p> + She stopped as if thinking. “Do you want me to call him in?” she said + quietly, but without the least trace of archness or coquetry. “Would you + rather he were here—or shall we go out now and meet him? I'll say + you just came as I was going out.” + </p> + <p> + What should he say? “Cressy,” he asked almost curtly, “do you love me?” + </p> + <p> + It seemed such a ridiculous thing to ask, holding her thus in his arms, if + it were true; it seemed such a villainous question, if it were not. + </p> + <p> + “I think I loved you when you first came,” she said slowly. “It must have + been that that made me engage myself to him,” she added simply. “I knew I + loved you, and thought only of you when I was away. I came back because I + loved you. I loved you the day you came to see Maw—even when I + thought you came to tell her of Masters, and to say that you couldn't take + me back.” + </p> + <p> + “But you don't ask me if I love you?” + </p> + <p> + “But you do—you couldn't help it now,” she said confidently. + </p> + <p> + What could he do but reply as illogically with a closer embrace, albeit a + slight tremor as if a cold wind had blown across the open window, passed + over him. She may have felt it too, for she presently said, “Kiss me and + let me go.” + </p> + <p> + “But we must have a longer talk, darling—when—when—others + are not waiting.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you know the far barn near the boundary?” she asked. + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “I used to take your books there, afternoons to—to—be with + you,” she whispered, “and Paw gave orders that no one was to come nigh it + while I was there. Come to-morrow, just before sundown.” + </p> + <p> + A long embrace followed, in which all that they had not said seemed, to + them at least, to become articulate on their tremulous and clinging lips. + Then they separated, he unlocking the door softly to give her egress that + way. She caught up a book from a desk in passing, and then slipped like a + rosy shaft of the coming dawn across the fading moonlight, and a moment + after her slow voice, without a tremor of excitement, was heard calling to + her companions. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VII. + </h2> + <p> + The conversation which Johnny Filgee had overheard between Uncle Ben and + the gorgeous stranger, although unintelligible to his infant mind, was + fraught with some significance to the adult settlers of Indian Spring. The + town itself, like most interior settlements, was originally a mining + encampment, and as such its founders and settlers derived their possession + of the soil under the mining laws that took precedence of all other + titles. But although that title was held to be good even after the + abandonment of their original occupation, and the establishment of shops, + offices, and dwellings on the site of the deserted places, the suburbs of + the town and outlying districts were more precariously held by squatters, + under the presumption of their being public land open to preemption, or + the settlement of school-land warrants upon them. Few of the squatters had + taken the trouble to perfect even these easy titles, merely holding + “possession” for agricultural or domiciliary purposes, and subject only to + the invasion of “jumpers,” a class of adventurers who, in the abeyance of + recognized legal title, “jumped” or forcibly seized such portions of a + squatter's domains as were not protected by fencing or superior force. It + was therefore with some excitement that Indian Spring received the news + that a Mexican grant of three square leagues, which covered the whole + district, had been lately confirmed by the Government, and that action + would be taken to recover possession. It was understood that it would not + affect the adverse possessions held by the town under the mining laws, but + it would compel the adjacent squatters like McKinstry, Davis, Masters, and + Filgee, and jumpers like the Harrisons, to buy the legal title, or defend + a slow but losing lawsuit. The holders of the grant—rich capitalists + of San Francisco—were open to compromise to those in actual + possession, and in the benefits of this compromise the unscrupulous + “jumper,” who had neither sown nor reaped, but simply dispossessed the + squatter who had done both, shared equally with him. + </p> + <p> + A diversity of opinion as to the effect of the new claim naturally + obtained; the older settlers still clung to their experiences of an easy + aboriginal holding of the soil, and were sceptical both as to the validity + and justice of these revived alien grants; but the newer arrivals hailed + this certain tenure of legal titles as a guarantee to capital and an + incentive to improvement. There was also a growing and influential party + of Eastern and Northern men, who were not sorry to see a fruitful source + of dissension and bloodshed removed. The feuds of the McKinstrys and + Harrisons, kept alive over a boundary to which neither had any legal + claim, would seem to bring them hereafter within the statute law regarding + ordinary assaults without any ethical mystification. On the other hand + McKinstry and Harrison would each be able to arrange any compromise with + the new title holders for the lands they possessed, or make over that + “actual possession” for a consideration. It was feared that both men, + being naturally lawless, would unite to render any legal eviction a long + and dangerous process, and that they would either be left undisturbed till + the last, or would force a profitable concession. But a greater excitement + followed when it was known that a section of the land had already been + sold by the owners of the grant, that this section exactly covered the + debatable land of the McKinstry-Harrison boundaries, and that the new + landlord would at once attempt its legal possession. The inspiration of + genius that had thus effected a division of the Harrison-McKinstry + combination at its one weak spot excited even the admiration of the + sceptics. No one in Indian Spring knew its real author, for the suit was + ostensibly laid in the name of a San Francisco banker. But the intelligent + reader of Johnny Filgee's late experience during the celebration will have + already recognized Uncle Ben as the man, and it becomes a part of this + veracious chronicle at this moment to allow him to explain, not only his + intentions, but the means by which he carried them out, in his own words. + </p> + <p> + It was one afternoon at the end of his usual solitary lesson, and the + master and Uncle Ben were awaiting the arrival of Rupert. Uncle Ben's + educational progress lately, through dint of slow tenacity, had somewhat + improved, and he had just completed from certain forms and examples in a + book before him a “Letter to a Consignee” informing him that he, Uncle + Ben, had just shipped “2 cwt. Ivory Elephant Tusks, 80 peculs of rice and + 400bbls. prime mess pork from Indian Spring;” and another beginning + “Honored Madam,” and conveying in admirably artificial phraseology the + “lamented decease” of the lady's husband from yellow fever, contracted on + the Gold Coast, and Uncle Ben was surveying his work with critical + satisfaction when the master, somewhat impatiently, consulted his watch. + Uncle Ben looked up. + </p> + <p> + “I oughter told ye that Rupe didn't kalkilate to come to day.” + </p> + <p> + “Indeed—why not?” + </p> + <p> + “I reckon because I told him he needn't. I allowed to—to hev a + little private talk with ye, Mr. Ford, if ye didn't mind.” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Ford's face did not shine with invitation. “Very well,” he said, “only + remember I have an engagement this afternoon.” + </p> + <p> + “But that ain't until about sundown,” said Uncle Ben quietly. “I won't + keep ye ez long ez that.” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Ford glanced quickly at Uncle Ben with a rising color. “What do you + know of my engagements?” he said sharply. + </p> + <p> + “Nothin', Mr. Ford,” returned Uncle Ben simply; “but hevin' bin layin' + round, lookin' for ye here and at the hotel for four or five days allus + about that time and not findin' you, I rather kalkilated you might hev + suthin' reg'lar on hand.” + </p> + <p> + There was certainly nothing in his face or manner to indicate the least + evasion or deceit, or indeed anything but his usual naivete, perhaps a + little perturbed and preoccupied by what he was going to say. “I had an + idea of writin' you a letter,” he continued, “kinder combinin' practice + and confidential information, you know. To be square with you, Mr. Ford, + in pint o' fact, I've got it HERE. But ez it don't seem to entirely gibe + with the facts, and leaves a heap o' things onsaid and onseen, perhaps + it's jest ez wall ez I read it to you myself—putten' in a word here + and there, and explainin' it gin'rally. Do you sabe?” + </p> + <p> + The master nodded, and Uncle Ben drew from his desk a rude portfolio made + from the two covers of a dilapidated atlas, and took from between them a + piece of blotting-paper, which through inordinate application had acquired + the color and consistency of a slate, and a few pages of copy-book paper, + that to the casual glance looked like sheets of exceedingly difficult + music. Surveying them with a blending of chirographic pride, orthographic + doubt, and the bashful consciousness of a literary amateur, he traced each + line with a forefinger inked to the second joint, and slowly read aloud as + follows:— + </p> + <p> + “'Mr. Ford, Teacher. + </p> + <p> + “'DEAR SIR,—Yours of the 12th rec'd and contents noted.'” (“I + did'nt,” explained Uncle Ben parenthetically, “receive any letter of + yours, but I thought I might heave in that beginning from copy for + practice. The rest is ME.”) “'In refference to my having munney,”' + continued Uncle Ben reading and pointing each word as he read, “'and being + able to buy Ditch Stocks an' Land'”— + </p> + <p> + “One moment,” said Mr. Ford interrupting, “I thought you were going to + leave out copy. Come to what you have to say.” + </p> + <p> + “But I HEV—this is all real now. Hold on and you'll see,” said Uncle + Ben. He resumed with triumphant emphasis:— + </p> + <p> + “'When it were gin'rally allowed that I haddent a red cent, I want to + explain to you Mister Ford for the first time a secret. This here is how + it was done. When I first came to Injian Spring, I settled down into the + old Palmetto claim, near a heap of old taillings. Knowin' it were against + rools, and reg'lar Chinyman's bizness to work them I diddn't let on to + enyboddy what I did—witch wos to turn over some of the quarts what I + thought was likely and Orrifferus. Doing this I kem uppon some pay ore + which them Palmetto fellers had overlookt, or more likely had kaved in + uppon them from the bank onknown. Workin' at it in od times by and large, + sometimes afore sun up and sometimes after sundown, and all the time + keeping up a day's work on the clame for a show to the boys, I emassed a + honist fortun in 2 years of 50,000 dolers and still am. But it will be + askd by the incredjulos Reeder How did you never let out anything to + Injian Spring, and How did you get rid of your yeald? Mister Ford, the + Anser is I took it twist a month on hoss back over to La Port and sent it + by express to a bank in Sacramento, givin' the name of Daubigny, witch no + one in La Port took for me. The Ditch Stok and the Land was all took in + the same name, hens the secret was onreviled to the General Eye—stop + a minit,'” he interrupted himself quickly as the master in an accession of + impatient scepticism was about to break in upon him, “it ain't all.” Then + dropping his voice to a tremulous and almost funereal climax, he went on:— + </p> + <p> + “'Thus we see that pashent indurstry is Rewarded in Spite of Mining Rools + and Reggylashuns, and Predgudisses agin Furrin Labor is played out and + fleeth like a shad-or contenueyeth not long in One Spot, and that a Man + may apear to be off no Account and yet Emass that witch is far abov rubles + and Fadith not Away. + </p> + <p> + “'Hoppin' for a continneyance + </p> + <p> + “'of your fevors I remain, + </p> + <p> + “'Yours to command, + </p> + <p> + “'BENJ D'AUBIGNY.”' + </p> + <p> + The gloomy satisfaction with which Uncle Ben regarded this peroration—a + satisfaction that actually appeared to be equal to the revelation itself—only + corroborated the master's indignant doubts. + </p> + <p> + “Come,” he said, impulsively taking the paper from Uncle Ben's reluctant + hand, “how much of this is a concoction of yours and Rupe's—and how + much is a true story? Do you really mean?”— + </p> + <p> + “Hold on, Mr. Ford!” interrupted Uncle Ben, suddenly fumbling in the + breast-pocket of his red shirt, “I reckoned on your being a little hard + with me, remembering our first talk 'bout these things—so I allowed + I'd bring you some proof.” Slowly extracting a long legal envelope from + his pocket, he opened it, and drew out two or three crisp certificates of + stock, and handed them to the master. + </p> + <p> + “Ther's one hundred shares made out to Benj Daubigny. I'd hev brought you + over the deed of the land too, but ez it's rather hard to read off-hand, + on account of the law palaver, I've left it up at the shanty to tackle at + odd times by way of practising. But ef you like we'll go up thar, and I'll + show it to you.” + </p> + <p> + Still haunted by his belief in Uncle Ben's small duplicities, Mr. Ford + hesitated. These were certainly bona fide certificates of stock made out + to “Daubigny.” But he had never actually accepted Uncle Ben's statement of + his identity with that person, and now it was offered as a corroboration + of a still more improbable story. He looked at Uncle Ben's simple face + slightly deepening in color under his scrutiny—perhaps with + conscious guilt. + </p> + <p> + “Have you made anybody your confidant? Rupe, for instance?” he asked + significantly. + </p> + <p> + “In course not,” replied Uncle Ben with a slight stiffening of wounded + pride. “On'y yourself, Mr. Ford, and the young feller Stacey from the bank—ez + was obligated to know it. In fact, I wos kalkilatin' to ask you to help me + talk to him about that yer boundary land.” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Ford's scepticism was at last staggered. Any practical joke or foolish + complicity between the agent of the bank and a man like Uncle Ben was out + of the question, and if the story were his own sole invention, he would + have scarcely dared to risk so accessible and uncompromising a denial as + the agent had it in his power to give. + </p> + <p> + He held out his hand to Uncle Ben. “Let me congratulate you,” he said + heartily, “and forgive me if your story really sounded so wonderful I + couldn't quite grasp it. Now let me ask you something more. Have you had + any reason for keeping this a secret, other than your fear of confessing + that you violated a few bigoted and idiotic mining rules—which, + after all, are binding only upon sentiment—and which your success + has proved to be utterly impractical?” + </p> + <p> + “There WAS another reason, Mr. Ford,” said Uncle Ben, wiping away an + embarrassed smile with the back of his hand, “that is, to be square with + you, WHY I thought of consultin' you. I didn't keer to have McKinstry, + and”—he added hurriedly, “in course Harrison, too, know that I + bought up the title to thur boundary.” + </p> + <p> + “I understand,” nodded the master. “I shouldn't think you would.” + </p> + <p> + “Why shouldn't ye?” asked Uncle Ben quickly. + </p> + <p> + “Well—I don't suppose you care to quarrel with two passionate men.” + </p> + <p> + Uncle Ben's face changed. Presently, however, with his hand to his face, + he managed to manipulate another smile, only it appeared for the purpose + of being as awkwardly wiped away. + </p> + <p> + “Say ONE passionate man, Mr. Ford.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, one if you like,” returned the master cheerfully. “But for the + matter of that, why any? Come—do you mind telling me why you bought + the land at all? You know it's of little value to any but McKinstry and + Harrison.” + </p> + <p> + “Soppose,” said Uncle Ben slowly, with a great affectation of wiping his + ink-spotted desk with his sleeve, “soppose that I had got kinder tired of + seein' McKinstry and Harrison allus fightin' and scrimmagin' over their + boundary line. Soppose I kalkilated that it warn't the sort o' thing to + induce folks to settle here. Soppose I reckoned that by gettin' the real + title in my hands I'd have the deadwood on both o' them, and settle the + thing my own way, eh?” + </p> + <p> + “That certainly was a very laudable intention,” returned Mr. Ford, + observing Uncle Ben curiously, “and from what you said just now about one + passionate man, I suppose you have determined already WHO to favor. I hope + your public spirit will be appreciated by Indian Spring at least—if + it isn't by those two men.” + </p> + <p> + “You lay low and keep dark and you'll see,” returned his companion with a + hopefulness of speech which his somewhat anxious eagerness however did not + quite bear out. “But you're not goin' yet, surely,” he added, as the + master again absently consulted his watch. “It's on'y half past four. It's + true thar ain't any more to tell,” he added simply, “but I had an idea + that you might hev took to this yer little story of mine more than you + 'pear to be, and might be askin' questions and kinder bedevlin' me with + jokes ez to what I was goin' to do—and all that. But p'raps it don't + seem so wonderful to you arter all. Come to think of it—squarely + now,” he said, with a singular despondency, “I'm rather sick of it myself—eh?” + </p> + <p> + “My dear old boy,” said Ford, grasping both his hands, with a swift + revulsion of shame at his own utterly selfish abstraction, “I am overjoyed + at your good luck. More than that, I can say honestly, old fellow, that it + couldn't have fallen in more worthy hands, or to any one whose good + fortune would have pleased me more. There! And if I've been slow and + stupid in taking it in, it is because it's so wonderful, so like a fairy + tale of virtue rewarded—as if you were a kind of male Cinderella, + old man!” He had no intention of lying—he had no belief that he was: + he had only forgotten that his previous impressions and hesitations had + arisen from the very fact that he DID doubt the consistency of the story + with his belief in Uncle Ben's weakness. But he thought himself now so + sincere that the generous reader, who no doubt is ready to hail the + perfect equity of his neighbor's good luck, will readily forgive him. + </p> + <p> + In the plenitude of this sincerity, Ford threw himself at full length on + one of the long benches, and with a gesture invited Uncle Ben to make + himself equally at his ease. “Come,” he said with boyish gayety, “let's + hear your plans, old man. To begin with, who's to share them with you? Of + course there are 'the old folks at home' first; then you have brothers—and + perhaps sisters?” He stopped and glanced with a smile at Uncle Ben; the + idea of there being a possible female of his species struck his fancy. + </p> + <p> + Uncle Ben, who had hitherto always exercised a severe restraint—partly + from respect and partly from caution—over his long limbs in the + school-house, here slowly lifted one leg over another bench, and sat + himself astride of it, leaning forward on his elbow, his chin resting + between his hands. + </p> + <p> + “As far as the old folks goes, Mr. Ford, I'm a kind of an orphan.” + </p> + <p> + “A KIND of orphan?” echoed Ford. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Uncle Ben, leaning heavily on his chin, so that the action of + his jaws with the enunciation of each word slightly jerked his head + forward as if he were imparting confidential information to the bench + before him. “Yes, that is, you see, I'm all right ez far as the old man + goes—HE'S dead; died way back in Mizzouri. But ez to my mother, it's + sorter betwixt and between—kinder unsartain. You see, Mr. Ford, she + went off with a city feller—an entire stranger to me—afore the + old man died, and that's wot broke up my schoolin'. Now whether she's + here, there, or yon, can't be found out, though Squire Tompkins allowed—and + he were a lawyer—that the old man could get a divorce if he wanted, + and that you see would make me a whole orphan, ef I keerd to prove title, + ez the lawyers say. Well—thut sorter lets the old folks out. Then my + brother was onc't drowned in the North Platt, and I never had any sisters. + That don't leave much family for plannin' about—does it?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said the master reflectively, gazing at Uncle Ben, “unless you avail + yourself of your advantages now and have one of your own. I suppose now + that you are rich, you'll marry.” + </p> + <p> + Uncle Ben slightly changed his position, and then with his finger and + thumb began to apparently feed himself with certain crumbs which had + escaped from the children's luncheon-baskets and were still lying on the + bench. Intent on this occupation and without raising his eyes to the + master, he returned slowly, “Well, you see, I'm sorter married already.” + </p> + <p> + The master sat up quickly. + </p> + <p> + “What, YOU married—now?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, perhaps that's a question. It's a good deal like my beein' an + orphan—oncertain and onsettled.” He paused to pursue an evasive + crumb to the end of the bench and having captured it, went on: “It was + when I was younger than you be, and she warn't very old neither. But she + knew a heap more than I did; and ez to readin' and writin', she was thar, + I tell you, every time. You'd hev admired to see her, Mr. Ford.” As he + paused here as if he had exhausted the subject, the master said + impatiently, “Well, where is she now?” + </p> + <p> + Uncle Ben shook his head slowly. “I ain't seen her sens I left Mizzouri, + goin' on five years ago.” + </p> + <p> + “But why haven't you? What was the matter?” persisted the master. + </p> + <p> + “Well—you see—I runned away. Not SHE, you know, but I—I + scooted, skedaddled out here.” + </p> + <p> + “But what for?” asked the master, regarding Uncle Ben with hopeless + wonder. “Something must have happened. What was it? Was she”— + </p> + <p> + “She WAS a good schollard,” said Uncle Ben gravely, “and allowed to be + sech, by all. She stood about so high,” he continued, indicating with his + hand a medium height. “War little and dark complected.” + </p> + <p> + “But you must have had some reason for leaving her?” + </p> + <p> + “I've sometimes had an idea,” said Uncle Ben cautiously, “that mebbee + runnin' away ran in some fam'lies. Now, there war my mother run off with + an entire stranger, and yer's me ez run off by myself. And what makes it + the more one-like is that jest as dad allus allowed he could get a devorce + agin mother, so my wife could hev got one agin me for leavin' her. And + it's almost an evenhanded game that she hez. It's there where the + oncertainty comes in.” + </p> + <p> + “But are you satisfied to remain in this doubt? or do you propose, now + that you are able, to institute a thorough search for her?” + </p> + <p> + “I was kalkilatin' to look around a little,” said Uncle Ben simply. + </p> + <p> + “And return to her if you find her?” continued the master. + </p> + <p> + “I didn't say that, Mr. Ford.” + </p> + <p> + “But if she hasn't got a divorce from you that's what you'll have to do, + and what you ought to do—if I understand your story. For by your own + showing, a more causeless, heartless, and utterly inexcusable desertion + than yours, I never heard of.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you think so?” said Uncle Ben with exasperating simplicity. + </p> + <p> + “Do I think so?” repeated Mr. Ford, indignantly. “Everybody'll think so. + They can't think otherwise. You say you deserted her, and you admit she + did nothing to provoke it.” + </p> + <p> + “No,” returned Uncle Ben quickly, “nothin'. Did I tell you, Mr. Ford, that + she could play the pianner and sing?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Mr. Ford, curtly, rising impatiently and crossing the room. He + was more than half convinced that Uncle Ben was deceiving him. Either + under the veil of his hide-bound simplicity he was an utterly selfish, + heartless, secretive man, or else he was telling an idiotic falsehood. + </p> + <p> + “I'm sorry I can neither congratulate you nor condole with you on what you + have just told me. I cannot see that you have the least excuse for + delaying a single moment to search for your wife and make amends for your + conduct. And if you want my opinion it strikes me as being a much more + honorable way of employing your new riches than mediating in your + neighbors' squabbles. But it's getting late and I'm afraid we must bring + our talk to an end. I hope you'll think this over before we meet again—and + think differently.” + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, as they both left the schoolhouse, Mr. Ford lingered over + the locking of the door to give Uncle Ben a final chance for further + explanation. But none came. The new capitalist of Indian Spring regarded + him with an intensification of his usual half sad, half embarrassed smile, + and only said: “You understand this yer's a secret, Mr. Ford?” + </p> + <p> + “Certainly,” said Ford with ill-concealed irritation. + </p> + <p> + “'Bout my bein' sorter married?” + </p> + <p> + “Don't be alarmed,” he responded dryly; “it's not a taking story.” + </p> + <p> + They separated; Uncle Ben, more than ever involved in his usual + unsatisfactory purposes, wending his way towards his riches; the master + lingering to observe his departure before he plunged, in virtuous + superiority, into the woods that fringed the Harrison and McKinstry + boundaries. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VIII. + </h2> + <p> + The religious attitude which Mrs. McKinstry had assumed towards her + husband's weak civilized tendencies was not entirely free from human + rancor. That strong loyal nature which had unsexed itself in the one idea + of duty, now that duty seemed to be no longer appreciated took refuge in + her forgotten womanhood and in the infinitesimally small arguments, + resources, and manoeuvres at its command. She had conceived a singular + jealousy of this daughter who had changed her husband's nature, and who + had supplanted the traditions of the household life; she had acquired an + exaggerated depreciation of those feminine charms which had never been a + factor in her own domestic happiness. She saw in her husband's desire to + mitigate the savage austerities of their habits only a weak concession to + the powers of beauty and adornment—degrading vanities she had never + known in their life-long struggle for frontier supremacy—that had + never brought them victorious out of that struggle. “Frizzles,” + “furblows,” and “fancy fixin's” had never helped them in their exodus + across the plains; had never taken the place of swift eyes, quick ears, + strong hands, and endurance; had never nursed the sick or bandaged the + wounded. When envy or jealousy invades the female heart after forty it is + apt to bring a bitterness which knows no attenuating compensation in that + coquetry, emulation, passionate appeal, or innocent tenderness, which + makes tolerable the jealous caprices of the younger woman. The struggle + for rivalry is felt to be hopeless, the power of imitation is gone. Of her + forgotten womanhood Mrs. McKinstry revived only a capacity to suffer + meanly and inflict mean suffering upon others. In the ruined castle of her + youth, and the falling in of banqueting hall and bower, the dungeon and + torture-chamber appeared to have been left, or, to use her own metaphor, + she had querulously complained to the parson that, “Accordin' to some + folks, she mout hev bin the barren fig-tree e-lected to bear persimmums.” + </p> + <p> + Her methods were not entirely different from those employed by her + suffering sisterhood in like emergencies. The unlucky Hiram, “worrited by + stock,” was hardly placated or consoled by learning from her that it was + only the result of his own weakness, acting upon the 'cussedness of the + stock-dispersing Harrisons; the perplexity into which he was thrown by the + news of the new legal claim to his land was not soothed by the suggestion + that it was a trick of that Yankee civilization to which he was meanly + succumbing. She who had always been a rough but devoted nurse in sickness + was now herself overtaken by vague irregular disorders which involved the + greatest care and the absence of all exciting causes. The attendance of + McKinstry and Cressy at a “crazy quilting party” had brought on “blind + chills;” the importation of a melodeon for Cressy to play on had + superinduced an “innerd rash,” and a threatened attack of “palsy creeps” + had only been warded off by the timely postponement of an evening party + suggested by her daughter. The old nomadic instinct, morbidly excited by + her discontent, caused her to lay artful plans for a further emigration. + She knew she had the germs of “mash fever” caught from the adjacent river; + she related mysterious information, gathered in “class meeting,” of the + superior facilities for stock raising on the higher foot-hills; she + resuscitated her dead and gone Missouri relations in her daily speech, to + a manifest invidious comparison with the living; she revived even the + incidents of her early married life with the same baleful intent. The + acquisition of a few “biled shirts” by Hiram for festive appearances with + Cressy painfully reminded her that he had married her in “hickory;” she + further accented the change by herself appearing in her oldest clothes, on + the hypothesis that it was necessary for some one to keep up the + traditions of the past. + </p> + <p> + Her attitude towards Cressy would have been more decided had she ever + possessed the slightest influence over her, or had even understood her + with the intuitive sympathies of the maternal relations. Yet she went so + far as to even openly regret the breaking off of the match with Seth + Davis, whose family, at least, still retained the habits and traditions + she revered; but she was promptly silenced by her husband informing her + that words “that had to be tuk back” had already passed between him and + Seth's father, and that, according to those same traditions, blood was + more likely to be spilled than mingled. Whether she was only withheld from + attempting a reconciliation herself through lack of tact and opportunity + remains to be seen. For the present she encouraged Masters's attentions + under a new and vague idea that a flirtation which distracted Cressy from + her studies was displeasing to McKinstry and inimical to his plans. + Blindly ignorant of Mr. Ford's possible relations to her daughter, and + suspecting nothing, she felt towards him only a dull aversion as being the + senseless pivot of her troubles. Seeing no one, and habitually closing her + ears to any family allusion to Cressy's social triumphs, she was unaware + of even the popular admiration their memorable waltz had excited. + </p> + <p> + On the morning of the day that Uncle Ben had confided to the master his + ingenious plan for settling the boundary disputes, the barking of + McKinstry's yellow dog announced the approach of a stranger to the ranch. + It proved to be Mr. Stacey—not only as dazzlingly arrayed as when he + first rose above Johnny Filgee's horizon, but wearing, in addition to his + jaunty business air, a look of complacent expectation of the pretty girl + whom he had met at the ball. He had not seen her for a month. It was a + happy inspiration of his own that enabled him to present himself that + morning in the twin functions of a victorious Mercury and Apollo. + </p> + <p> + McKinstry had to be summoned from an adjacent meadow, while Cressy, in the + mean time, undertook to entertain the gallant stranger. This was easily + done. It was part of her fascinations that, disdaining the ordinary real + or assumed ignorance of the ingenue of her class, she generally exhibited + to her admirers (with perhaps the single exception of the master) a + laughing consciousness of the state of mind into which her charms had + thrown them. She understood their passion if she could not accept it. This + to a bashful rustic community was helpful, but in the main unsatisfactory; + with advances so promptly unmasked, the most strategic retreat was apt to + become an utter rout. Leaning against the lintel of the door, her curved + hand shading the sparkling depths of her eyes, and the sunlight striking + down upon the pretty curves of her languid figure, she awaited the attack. + </p> + <p> + “I haven't seen you, Miss Cressy, since we danced together—a month + ago.” + </p> + <p> + “That was mighty rough papers,” said Cressy, who was purposely dialectical + to strangers, “considering that you trapsed up and down the lane, past the + house, twice yesterday.” + </p> + <p> + “Then you saw me?” said the young man, with a slightly discomfited laugh. + </p> + <p> + “I did. And so did the hound, and so, I reckon, did Joe Masters and the + hired man. And when you pranced back on the home stretch, there was the + hound, Masters, the hired man, and Maw all on your trail, and Paw bringin' + up the rear with a shot-gun. There was about a half a mile of you + altogether.” She removed her hand from her eyes to indicate with a lazily + graceful sweep this somewhat imaginative procession, and laughed. + </p> + <p> + “You are certainly well guarded,” said Stacey hesitatingly; “and looking + at you, Miss Cressy,” he added boldly, “I don't wonder at it.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, it IS reckoned that next to Paw's boundaries I'm pretty well + protected from squatters and jumpers.” + </p> + <p> + Forceful and quaint as her language was, the lazy sweetness of her + intonation, and the delicate refinement of her face, more than atoned for + it. It was unconventional and picturesque as her gestures. So at least + thought Mr. Stacey, and it emboldened him to further gallantry. + </p> + <p> + “Well, Miss Cressy, as my business with your father to-day was to try to + effect a compromise of his boundary claims, perhaps you might accept my + services in your own behalf.” + </p> + <p> + “Which means,” responded the young lady pertly, “the same thing to ME as + to Paw. No trespassers but yourself. Thank you, sir.” She twirled lightly + on her heel and dropped him that exaggerated curtsey known to the + school-children as a “cheese.” It permitted in its progress the glimpse of + a pretty little slipper which completed his subjugation. + </p> + <p> + “Well, if it's only a fair compromise,” he began laughingly. + </p> + <p> + “Compromise means somebody giving up. Who is it?” she asked. + </p> + <p> + The infatuated Stacey had reached the point of thinking this repartee if + possible more killing than his own. + </p> + <p> + “Ha! That's for Miss Cressy to say.” + </p> + <p> + But the young lady leaning back against the lintel with the comfortable + ease of being irresponsibly diverted, sagely pointed out that that was the + function of the arbitrator. + </p> + <p> + “Ah well, suppose we begin by giving up Seth Davis, eh? You see that I'm + pretty well posted, Miss Cressy.” + </p> + <p> + “You alarm me,” said Cressy sweetly. “But I reckon he HAD given up.” + </p> + <p> + “He was in the running that night at the ball. Looked half savage while I + was dancing with you. Wanted to eat me.” + </p> + <p> + “Poor Seth! And he used to be SO particular in his food,” said the witty + Cressy. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Stacey was convulsed. “And there's Mr. Dabney—Uncle Ben,” he + continued, “eh? Very quiet but very sly. A dark horse, eh? Pretends to + take lessons for the sake of being near some one, eh? Would he were a boy + again because somebody else is a girl?” + </p> + <p> + “I should be frightened of you if you lived here always,” returned Cressy + with invincible naivete; “but perhaps then you wouldn't know so much.” + </p> + <p> + Stacey simply accepted this as a compliment. “And there's Masters,” he + said insinuatingly. + </p> + <p> + “Not Joe?” said Cressy with a low laugh, turning her eyes to the door. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Stacey with a quick, uneasy smile. “Ah! I see we mustn't drop + HIM. Is he out THERE?” he added, trying to follow the direction of her + eyes. + </p> + <p> + But the young girl kept her face studiously averted. “Is that all?” she + asked after a pause. + </p> + <p> + “Well—there's that solemn school-master, who cut me out of the waltz + with you—that Mr. Ford.” + </p> + <p> + Had he been a perfectly cool and impartial observer he would have seen the + slight tremor cross Cressy's soft eyelids even in profile, followed by + that momentary arrest of her whole face, mouth, dimples, and eyes, which + had overtaken it the night the master entered the ball-room. But he was + neither, and it passed quickly and unnoticed. Her usual lithe but languid + play of expression and color came back, and she turned her head lazily + towards the speaker. “There's Paw coming. I suppose you wouldn't mind + giving me a sample of your style of arbitrating with him, before you try + it on me?” + </p> + <p> + “Certainly not,” said Stacey, by no means displeased at the prospect of + having so pretty and intelligent a witness in the daughter of what he + believed would form an attractive display of his diplomatic skill and + graciousness to the father. “Don't go away. I've got nothing to say Miss + Cressy could not understand and answer.” + </p> + <p> + The jingling of spurs, and the shadow of McKinstry and his shot-gun + falling at this moment between the speaker and Cressy, spared her the + necessity of a reply. McKinstry cast an uneasy glance around the + apartment, and not seeing Mrs. McKinstry looked relieved, and even the + deep traces of the loss of a valuable steer that morning partly faded from + his Indian-red complexion. He placed his shot-gun carefully in the corner, + took his soft felt hat from his head, folded it and put it in one of the + capacious pockets of his jacket, turned to his daughter, and laying his + maimed hand familiarly on her shoulder, said gravely, without looking at + Stacey, “What might the stranger be wantin', Cress?” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps I'd better answer that myself,” said Stacey briskly. “I'm acting + for Benham and Co., of San Francisco, who have bought the Spanish title to + part of this property. I”— + </p> + <p> + “Stop there!” said McKinstry, in a voice dull but distinct. He took his + hat from his pocket, put it on, walked to the corner and took up his gun, + looked at Stacey for the first time with narcotic eyes that seemed to + drowsily absorb his slight figure, then put the gun back half + contemptuously, and with a wave of his hand towards the door, said: “We'll + settle this yer outside. Cress, you stop in here. There's man's talk goin' + on.” + </p> + <p> + “But, Paw,” said Cressy, laying her hand languidly on her father's sleeve + without the least change of color or amused expression. “This gentleman + has come over here on a compromise.” + </p> + <p> + “On a—WHICH?” said McKinstry, glancing scornfully out of the door + for some rare species of mustang vaguely suggested to him in that + unfamiliar word. + </p> + <p> + “To see if we couldn't come to some fair settlement,” said Stacey. “I've + no objection to going outside with you, but I think we can discuss this + matter here just as well.” His fine feathers had not made him a coward, + although his heart had beaten a little faster at this sudden recollection + of the dangerous reputation of his host. + </p> + <p> + “Go on,” said McKinstry. + </p> + <p> + “The plain facts of the case are these,” continued Stacey, with more + confidence. “We have sold a strip of this property covering the land in + dispute between you and Harrison. We are bound to put our purchaser in + peaceable possession. Now to save time we are willing to buy that + possession of any man who can give it. We are told that you can.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, considerin' that for the last four years I've been fightin' night + and day agin them low-down Harrisons for it, I reckon you've been lied + to,” said McKinstry deliberately. “Why—except the clearing on the + north side, whar I put up a barn, thar ain't an acre of it as hasn't been + shifted first this side and then that as fast ez I druv boundary stakes + and fences, and the Harrisons pulled 'em up agin. Thar ain't more than + fifty acres ez I've hed a clear hold on, and I wouldn't hev had that ef it + hadn't bin for the barn, the raisin' alone o' which cost me a man, two + horses, and this yer little finger.” + </p> + <p> + “Put us in possession of even that fifty acres, and WE'LL undertake to + hold the rest and eject those Harrisons from it,” returned Stacey + complacently. “You understand that the moment we've made a peaceable + entrance to even a foothold on your side, the Harrisons are only + trespassers, and with the title to back us we can call on the whole + sheriff's posse to put them off. That's the law.” + </p> + <p> + “That ar the law?” repeated McKinstry meditatively. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Stacey. “So,” he continued, with a self-satisfied smile to + Cressy, “far from being hard on you, Mr. McKinstry, we're rather inclined + to put you on velvet. We offer you a fair price for the only thing you can + give us—actual possession; and we help you with your old grudge + against the Harrisons. We not only clear them out, but we pay YOU for even + the part they held adversely to you.” + </p> + <p> + Mr. McKinstry passed his three whole fingers over his forehead and eyes as + if troubled by a drowsy aching. “Then you don't reckon to hev anythin' to + say to them Harrisons?” + </p> + <p> + “We don't propose to recognize them in the matter at all,” returned + Stacey. + </p> + <p> + “Nor allow 'em anythin'?” + </p> + <p> + “Not a cent! So you see, Mr. McKinstry,” he continued magnanimously, yet + with a mischievous smile to Cressy, “there is nothing in this amicable + discussion that requires to be settled outside.” + </p> + <p> + “Ain't there?” said McKinstry, in a dull, deliberate voice, raising his + eyes for the second time to Stacey. They were bloodshot, with a heavy, + hanging furtiveness, not unlike one of his own hunted steers. “But I ain't + kam enuff in yer.” He moved to the door with a beckoning of his fateful + hand. “Outside a minit—EF you please.” + </p> + <p> + Stacey started, shrugged his shoulders, and half defiantly stepped beyond + the threshold. Cressy, unchanged in color or expression, lazily followed + to the door. + </p> + <p> + “Wot,” said McKinstry, slowly facing Stacey; “wot ef I refoose? Wot ef I + say I don't allow any man, or any bank, or any compromise, to take up my + quo'r'lls? Wot ef I say that low-down and mean as them Harrisons is, they + don't begin to be ez mean, ez low-down, ez underhanded, ez sneakin' ez + that yer compromise? Wot ef I say that ef that's the kind o' hogwash that + law and snivelization offers me for peace and quietness, I'll take the + fightin', and the law-breakin', and the sheriff, and all h-ll for his + posse instead? Wot ef I say that?” + </p> + <p> + “It will only be my duty to repeat it,” said Stacey, with an affected + carelessness which, however, did not conceal his surprise and his + discomfiture. “It's no affair of mine.” + </p> + <p> + “Unless,” said Cressy, assuming her old position against the lintel of the + door, and smoothing the worn bear-skin that served as a mat with the toe + of her slipper, “unless you've mixed it up with your other arbitration, + you know.” + </p> + <p> + “Wot other arbitration?” asked McKinstry suddenly, with murky eyes. + </p> + <p> + Stacey cast a rapid, half indignant glance at the young girl, who received + it with her hands tucked behind her back, her lovely head bent + submissively forward, and a prolonged little laugh. + </p> + <p> + “Oh nothing, Paw,” she said, “only a little private foolishness betwixt me + and the gentleman. You'd admire to hear him talk, Paw—about other + things than business. He's just that chipper and gay.” + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, as with a muttered “Good-morning” the young fellow turned + away, she quietly brushed past her father, and followed him—with her + hands still penitently behind her, and the rosy palms turned upward—as + far as the gate. Her single long Marguerite braid of hair trailing down + her back nearly to the hem of her skirt, appeared to accent her demure + reserve. At the gate she shaded her eyes with her hand, and glanced + upward. + </p> + <p> + “It don't seem to be a good day for arbitrating. A trifle early in the + season, ain't it?” + </p> + <p> + “Good-morning, Miss McKinstry.” + </p> + <p> + She held out her hand. He took it with an affected ease but cautiously, as + if it had been the velvet paw of a young panther who had scratched him. + After all, what was she but the cub of the untamed beast, McKinstry? He + was well out of it! He was not revengeful—but business was business, + and he had given them the first chance. + </p> + <p> + As his figure disappeared behind the buckeyes of the lane, Cressy cast a + glance at the declining sun. She re-entered the house, and went directly + to her room. As she passed the window, she could see her father already + remounted galloping towards the tules, as if in search of that riparian + “kam” his late interview had disturbed. A few straggling bits of color in + the sloping meadows were the children coming home from school. She hastily + tied a girlish sun-bonnet under her chin, and slipping out of the back + door, swept like a lissom shadow along the line of fence until she seemed + to melt into the umbrage of the woods that fringed the distant north + boundary. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IX. + </h2> + <p> + Meanwhile, unaware of her husband's sudden relapse to her old border + principles and of the visit that had induced it, Mrs. McKinstry was slowly + returning from a lugubrious recital of her moods and feelings at the + parson's. As she crossed the barren flat and reached the wooded upland + midway between the school-house and the ranch, she saw before her the old + familiar figure of Seth Davis lounging on the trail. In her habitual + loyalty to her husband's feuds she would probably have stalked defiantly + past him, notwithstanding her late regrets of the broken engagement, but + Seth began to advance awkwardly towards her. In fact, he had noticed the + tall, gaunt, plaid-shawled and holland-bonneted figure approaching, and + had waited for it. + </p> + <p> + As he seemed intent upon getting in her way she stopped and raised her + right hand warningly before her. In spite of the shawl and the sun-bonnet, + suffering had implanted a rude Runic dignity to her attitude. “Words that + hev to be took back, Seth Davis,” she said hastily, “hev passed between + you and my man. Out of my way, then, that I may pass, too.” + </p> + <p> + “Not much betwixt you and me, Aunt Rachel,” he said with slouching + deprecation, using the old household title by which he had familiarly + known her. “I've nothin agin you—and I kin prove it by wot I'm yer + to say. And I ain't trucklin' to yer for myself, for ez far ez me and + your'n ez concerned,” he continued, with a malevolent glance, “thar ain't + gold enough in Caleforny to mak the weddin' ring that could hitch me and + Cress together. I want to tell you that you're bein' played; that you're + bein' befooled and bamboozled and honey-fogled. Thet while you're groanin' + at class-meetin' and Hiram's quo'llin' with Dad, and Joe Masters waitin' + round to pick up any bone that's throwed him, that sneakin', hypocritical + Yankee school-master is draggin' your daughter to h-ll with him on the + sly.” + </p> + <p> + “Quit that, Seth Davis,” said Mrs. McKinstry sternly, “or be man enough to + tell it to a man. That's Hiram's business to know.” + </p> + <p> + “And what if he knows it well enough and winks at it? What if he's willin' + enough to truckle to it, to curry favor with them sneakin' Yanks?” said + Seth malignantly. + </p> + <p> + A spasm of savage conviction seized Mrs. McKinstry. But it was more from + her jealous fears of her husband's disloyalty than concern for her + daughter's transgression. Nevertheless, she said desperately, “It's a lie. + Where are your proofs?” + </p> + <p> + “Proofs?” returned Seth. “Who is it sneaks around the school-house to have + private talks with the school-master, and edges him on with Cressy afore + folks? Your husband. Who goes sneakin' off every arternoon with that same + cantin' hound of a school-master? Your daughter. Who's been carryin' on + together, and hidin' thick enough to be ridden out on a rail together? + Your daughter and the school-master. Proofs?—ask anybody. Ask the + children. Look yar—you, Johnny—come here.” + </p> + <p> + He had suddenly directed his voice to a blackberry bush near the trail, + from which the curly head of Johnny Filgee had just appeared. That + home-returning infant painfully disengaged himself, his slate, his books, + and his small dinner-pail half filled with fruit as immature as himself, + and came towards them sideways. + </p> + <p> + “Yer's a dime, Johnny, to git some candy,” said Seth, endeavoring to + distort his passion-set face into a smile. + </p> + <p> + Johnny Filgee's small, berry-stained palm promptly closed over the coin. + </p> + <p> + “Now, don't lie. Where's Cressy?” + </p> + <p> + “Kithin' her bo.” + </p> + <p> + “Good boy. What bo?” + </p> + <p> + Johnny hesitated. He had once seen the school-master and Cressy together; + he had heard it whispered by the other children that they loved each + other. But looking at Seth and Mrs. McKinstry he felt that something more + tremendous than this stupid fact was required of him for grown-up people, + and being honest and imaginative, he determined that it should be worth + the money. + </p> + <p> + “Speak up, Johnny, don't be afeard to tell.” + </p> + <p> + Johnny was not “afeard”—he was only thinking. He had it! He + remembered that he had just seen his paragon, the brilliant Stacey, coming + from the boundary woods. What more poetical and startlingly effective than + to connect him with Cressy? He replied promptly:— + </p> + <p> + “Mithter Thtathy. He gived her a watch and ring of truly gold. Goin' to be + married at Thacramento.” + </p> + <p> + “You lyin' limb,” said Seth, seizing him roughly. But Mrs. McKinstry + interposed. + </p> + <p> + “Let that brat go,” she said with gleaming eyes. “I want to talk to you.” + Seth released Johnny. “It's a trick,” he said, “he's bin put up to it by + that Ford.” + </p> + <p> + But Johnny, after securing a safe vantage behind the blackberry bush, + determined to give them another trial—with facts. + </p> + <p> + “I know mor'n that,” he called out. + </p> + <p> + “Git—you measly pup,” said Seth savagely. + </p> + <p> + “I know Theriff Briggth, he rid over the boundary with a lot o' men and + horthes,” said Johnny, with that hurried delivery with which he was able + to estop interruption. “Theed 'em go by. Maur Harrithon theth his dad's + goin' to chuck out ole McKinthtry. Hooray!” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. McKinstry turned her dark face sharply on Seth. “What's that he sez?” + </p> + <p> + “Nothin' but children's gassin',” he answered, meeting her eyes with an + evil consciousness half loutish, half defiant, “and ef it war true, it + would only sarve Hiram McKinstry right.” + </p> + <p> + She laid her hand upon his shoulder with swift suspicion. “Out o' my way, + Seth Davis,” she said suddenly, pushing him aside. “Ef this ez any + underhanded work of yours, you'll pay for it.” + </p> + <p> + She strode past him in the direction of Johnny, but at the approach of the + tall woman with the angry eyes, the boy flew. She hesitated a moment, + turned again with a threatening wave of the hand to Seth, and started off + rapidly in the direction of the boundary. + </p> + <p> + She had not placed so much faith in the boy's story as in the vague + revelation of evil in Davis's manner. If there was any “cussedness” afoot, + Seth, convinced of Cressy's unfaithfulness, and with no further hope of + any mediation from the parents, would know it. Unless Hiram had been + warned, he was still lulled in his fatuous dream of civilization. At that + time he and his men were in the tules with the stock; to be satisfied, she + herself must go to the boundary. + </p> + <p> + She reached the ridge of the cottonwoods and sycamores, and a few hundred + yards further brought her to the edge of that gentle southern slope which + at last sank into the broad meadow of the debatable ground. In spite of + Stacey's invidious criticism of its intrinsic value, this theatre of + savage dissension, violence, and bloodshed was by some irony of nature a + pastoral landscape of singular and peaceful repose. The soft glacis + stretching before her was in spring cerulean with lupins, and later + starred with mariposas. The meadow was transversely crossed by a curving + line of alders that indicated a rare water-course, of which in the dry + season only a single pool remained to flash back the unvarying sky. There + had been no attempt at cultivation of this broad expanse; wild oats, + mustard, and rank grasses left it a tossing sea of turbulent and + variegated color whose waves rode high enough to engulf horse and rider in + their choking depths. Even the traces of human struggle, the uprooted + stakes, scattered fence-rails, and empty post-holes were forever hidden + under these billows of verdure. Midway of the field and near the + water-course arose McKinstry's barn—the solitary human structure + whose rude, misshapen, bulging sides and swallow-haunted eaves bursting + with hay from the neighboring pasture, seemed however only an extravagant + growth of the prolific soil. Mrs. McKinstry gazed at it anxiously. There + was no sign of life or movement near or around it; it stood as it had + always stood, deserted and solitary. But turning her eyes to the right, + beyond the water-course, she could see a slight regular undulation of the + grassy sea and what appeared to be the drifting on its surface of half a + dozen slouched hats in the direction of the alders. There was no longer + any doubt; a party from the other side was approaching the border. + </p> + <p> + A shout and the quick galloping of hoofs behind her sent a thrill of + relief to her heart. She had barely time to draw aside as her husband and + his followers swept past her down the slope. But it needed not his furious + cry, “The Harrisons hev sold us out,” to tell her that the crisis had + come. + </p> + <p> + She held her breath as the cavalcade diverged, and in open order furiously + approached the water-course, and she could see a sudden check and + hesitation in the movement in the meadow at that unlooked-for onset. Then + she thought of the barn. It would be a rallying-point for them if driven + back—a tower of defence if besieged. There were arms secreted + beneath the hay for such an emergency. She would run there, swing-to its + open doors, and get ready to barricade them. + </p> + <p> + She ran crouchingly, seeking the higher grasses and brambles of the ridge + to escape observation from the meadow until she could descend upon the + barn from the rear. She threw aside her impeding shawl; her brown holland + sun-bonnet, torn off her head and hanging by its strings from her + shoulders, let her coarse silver-threaded hair stream like a mane over her + back; her face and hands were bleeding from thorns and whitened by dust. + But she struggled on fiercely like some hunted animal until she reached + the descending trail, when, letting herself go blindly, only withheld by + the long grasses she clutched at wildly on either side, she half fell, + half stumbled down the slope and emerged beside the barn, breathless and + exhausted. + </p> + <p> + But what a contrast was there! For an instant she could scarcely believe + that she had left the ridge with her husband's savage outcry in her ears, + and in her eyes the swift vision of his furious cavalcade. The boundary + meadow was hidden by the soft lines of graceful willows in whose dim + recesses the figures of the passionate horsemen seemed to have melted + forever. There was nothing now to interrupt the long vista of peaceful + beauty that stretched before her through this lonely hollow to the distant + sleeping hills. The bursting barn in the foreground, heaped with grain + that fringed its eaves and bristled from its windows and doors until its + unlovely bulk was hidden in trailing feathery outlines; the gentle flutter + of wings and soothing twitter of swallows and jays around its open + rafters, and the drifting shadows of a few circling crows above it; the + drowsy song of bees on the wild mustard that half hid its walls with + yellow bloom; the sound of faintly-trickling water in one of those old + Indian-haunted springs that had given its name to the locality; all these + for an instant touched the senses of this hard, fierce woman as she had + not been touched since she was a girl. For one brief moment the joys of + peace and that matured repose that never had been hers flashed upon her; + but with it came the savage consciousness that even now it was being + wrested away, and the thought fired her blood again. She listened eagerly + for a second in the direction of the meadow; there was no report of + fire-arms—there was yet time to prepare the barn for defence. She + ran to the front of the building and seized the latch of the half-closed + door. A little feminine cry that was half a laugh came from within, with + the rapid rustle of a skirt and as the door swung open a light figure + vanished through the rear window. The slanting sunlight falling in the + shadowed interior disclosed only the single erect figure of the + school-master John Ford. + </p> + <p> + The first confusion and embarrassment of an interrupted rendezvous that + had colored Ford's cheeks, gave way to a look of alarm as he caught sight + of the bleeding face and dishevelled figure of Mrs. McKinstry. She saw it. + To her distorted fancy it seemed only a proof of deeper guilt. Without a + word she closed the heavy door behind her and swung the huge cross-bar + unaided to its place. She then turned and confronted him, wiping the dust + from her face and arms with her torn and dangling sun-bonnet in a way that + recalled her attitude on the first day he had met her. + </p> + <p> + “That was Cress with ye?” she said. + </p> + <p> + He hesitated, still gazing at her in wonder. + </p> + <p> + “Don't lie.” + </p> + <p> + He started. “I don't propose to,” he retorted indignantly. “It was”— + </p> + <p> + “I don't ask ye how long this yer's bin goin' on,” she said, pointing to + Cressy's sun-bonnet, a few books, and a scattered nosegay of wild flowers + lying on the hay; “and I don't want to know. In five minutes either her + father will be here, or them hell-hounds of Harrison's who've sold him out + will swarm round this barn to git possesshun. Ef this yer”—she again + pointed contemptuously to the objects just indicated—“means that + you've cast your lot with US and kalkilate to take our bitter with our + sweet, ye'll lift up that stack of hay and bring out a gun to help defend + it. Ef you're meanin' anythin' else, Ford, you'll hide yourself in that + hay till Hiram comes and has time enough to attend to ye.” + </p> + <p> + “And if I choose to do neither?” he said haughtily. + </p> + <p> + She looked at him in unutterable scorn. “There's the winder—take it + while there's time, afore I bar it. Ef you see Hiram, tell him ye left an + old woman behind ye to defend the place whar you uster hide with her + darter.” + </p> + <p> + Before he could reply there was a distant report, followed almost directly + by another. With a movement of irritation he walked to the window, turned + and looked at her—bolted it, and came back. + </p> + <p> + “Where's that gun?” he said almost rudely. + </p> + <p> + “I reckon's that would fetch ye,” she said, dragging away the hay and + disclosing a long trough-like box covered with tarpaulin. It proved to + contain powder, shot, and two guns. He took one. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose I may know what I am fighting for?” he said dryly. + </p> + <p> + “Ye might say 'Cress' ef they”—indicating the direction of the + reports—“happen to ask ye,” she returned with equal sobriety. “Jess + now ye kin take your stand up thar in the loft and see what's comin'.” + </p> + <p> + He did not linger, but climbed to the place assigned him, glad to escape + the company of the woman who at that moment he almost hated. In his + unreflecting passion for Cressy he had always evaded the thought of this + relationship or propinquity; the mother had recalled it to him in a way + that imperilled even his passion for the daughter; his mind was wholly + preoccupied with the idiotic, exasperating, and utterly hopeless position + that had been forced upon him. In the bitterness of his spirit his sense + of personal danger was so far absorbed that he speculated on the chance + bullet in the melee that might end his folly and relieve him of + responsibility. Shut up in a barn with a furious woman, in a lawless + defence of questionable rights—with the added consciousness that an + equally questionable passion had drawn him into it, and that SHE knew it—death + seemed to offer the only escape from the explanation he could never give. + If another sting could have been added it was the absurd conviction that + Cressy would not appreciate his sacrifice, but was perhaps even at that + moment calmly congratulating herself on the felicitousness of the + complication in which she had left him. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly he heard a shout and the tramping of horse. The sides of the loft + were scantily boarded to allow the extension of the pent-up grain, and + between the interstices Ford, without being himself seen, had an + uninterrupted view of the plain between him and the line of willows. As he + gazed, five men hurriedly issued from the extreme left and ran towards the + barn. McKinstry and his followers simultaneously broke from the same + covert further to the right and galloped forward to intercept them. But + although mounted, the greater distance they had to traverse brought them + to the rear of the building only as the Harrison party came to a sudden + halt before the closed and barricaded doors of the usually defenceless + barn. The discomfiture of the latter was greeted by a derisive shout from + the McKinstry party—albeit, equally astonished. But in that brief + moment Ford recognized in the leader of the Harrisons the well-known + figure of the Sheriff of Tuolumne. It needed only this to cap the climax + of the fatality that seemed to pursue him. He was no longer a lawless + opposer of equally lawless forces, but he was actually resisting the law + itself. He understood the situation now. It was some idiotic blunder of + Uncle Ben's that had precipitated this attack. + </p> + <p> + The belligerents had already cocked their weapons, although the barn was + still a rampart between the parties. But an adroit flanker of McKinstry's, + creeping through the tall mustard, managed to take up an enfilading + position as the Harrisons advanced to break in the door. A threatening + shout from the ambuscaded partisans caused them to hurriedly fall back + towards the rear of the barn. There was a pause, and then began the usual + Homeric chaff,—with this Western difference that it was cunningly + intended to draw the other's fire. + </p> + <p> + “Why don't you blaze away at the door, you —— ——! + It won't hurt ye!” + </p> + <p> + “He's afraid the bolt will shoot back!” Laughter from the McKinstrys. + </p> + <p> + “Come outer the tall grass and show yourself, you black, mud-eating + gopher.” + </p> + <p> + “He can't. He's dropped his grit and is sarchin' for it.” Goading laughter + from the Harrisons. + </p> + <p> + Each man waited for that single shot which would precipitate the fight. + Even in their lawlessness the rude instinct of the duello swayed them. The + officer of the law recognized the principle as well as its practical + advantage in a collision, but he hesitated to sacrifice one of his men in + an attack on the barn, which would draw the fire of McKinstry at that + necessarily fatal range. As a brave man he would have taken the risk + himself, but as a prudent one, he reflected that his hurriedly collected + posse were all partisans, and if he fell the conflict would resolve itself + into a purely partisan struggle without a single unprejudiced witness to + justify his conduct in the popular eye. The master also knew this; it had + checked his first impulse to come forward as a mediator; his only reliance + now was on Mrs. McKinstry's restraint and the sheriff's forbearance. The + next instant both seemed to be imperilled. + </p> + <p> + “Well, why don't you wade in?” sneered Dick McKinstry; “who do you + reckon's hidden in the barn?” + </p> + <p> + “I'll tell ye,” said a harsh, passionate voice from the hill-side. “It's + Cressy McKinstry and the school-master hidin' in the hay.” + </p> + <p> + Both parties turned quickly towards the intruder who had approached them + unperceived. But the speech was followed by a more startling revulsion of + sentiment as Mrs. McKinstry's voice rang out from the barn, “You lie, Seth + Davis!” + </p> + <p> + The brief advantage offered to the sheriff in Davis's advent as a neutral + witness, was utterly lost by this unlooked-for revelation of Mrs. + McKinstry's presence in the barn! The fates were clearly against him! A + woman in the fight, and an old one at that! A white woman to be forcibly + ejected! In the whole unwritten code of Southwestern chivalry there was no + such precedent. + </p> + <p> + “Stand back,” he said disgustedly to his followers, “stand back and let + the d——d barn slide. But you, Hiram McKinstry, I'll give YOU + five minutes to shake yourself clear of your wife's petticoats and git!” + His blood was up now—the quicker from his momentary weakness and the + trick of which he thought himself a dupe. + </p> + <p> + Again the fatal signal seemed imminent, again it was delayed. For Hiram + McKinstry, with clanking spurs and rifle in hand stepped from behind the + barn, full in the presence of his antagonists. + </p> + <p> + “Ez to my gitten in five minits,” he began in his laziest, drowsiest + manner, “we'll see when the time's up. But jest now words hev passed + betwixt my wife and Seth Davis. Afore anythin' else goes on yer, he's got + to take HIS back. My wife allows he lies; I allow he lies too, and I stan' + here to say it.” + </p> + <p> + The right of personal insult to precedence of redress was too old a + frontier principle to be gainsaid now. Both parties held back and every + eye was turned to where Seth Davis had been standing. But he had + disappeared. + </p> + <p> + Where? + </p> + <p> + When Mrs. McKinstry hurled her denial from the barn, he had taken + advantage of the greater surprise to leap to one of the trusses of hay + that projected beyond the loft, and secure a footing from which he quickly + scrambled through the open scantling to the interior. The master who, + startled by his voice, had made his way through the loose grain to the + rear, reached it as Seth half crawled, half tumbled through. Their eyes + met in a single flash of rage, but before Seth could utter an outcry, the + master had dropped his gun, seized him around the neck and crammed a thick + handful of the soft hay he had hurriedly snatched up into his face and + gasping mouth. A furious but silent struggle ensued; the yielding hay on + which they both fell deadened all sound of a scuffle and concealed them + from view; masses of it, already loosened by the intruder's entrance, and + dislodged in their contortions began to slip through the opening to the + ground. The master, still uppermost and holding Seth firmly down, allowed + himself to slip with them, shoving his adversary before him; the maddened + Missourian detecting his purpose, made a desperate attempt to change his + position, and succeeded in raising his knee against the master's chest. + Ford, guarding against what seemed to be only a wrestler's strategy, + contented himself by locking the bent knee firmly in that position, and + thus unwittingly gave Seth the looked-for opportunity of drawing the + bowie-knife concealed in his boot leg. He knew his mistake only as Seth + violently freed his arm, and threw it upward for the blow. He heard the + steel slither like a scythe through the hay, and unlocking his hold + desperately threw himself on the uplifted arm. The movement saved him. For + the released body of Seth slipped rapidly through the opening, upheld for + a single instant on the verge by the grasp of the master's two hands on + the arm that still held the knife, and then dropped heavily downward. Even + then, the hay that had slipped before him would have broken his fall, but + his head came in violent contact with some farming implements standing + against the wall, and without a cry he was stretched senseless on the + ground. The whole occurrence passed so rapidly and so noiselessly that not + only did McKinstry's challenge fall upon his already unconscious ears, but + the loosened hay which in the master's struggles to recover himself still + continued to slide gently from the loft, actually hid him from the eyes of + the spectators who sought him a moment afterwards. A mass of hay and wild + oats, dislodged apparently by Mrs. McKinstry in securing her defences, was + all that met their eyes; even the woman herself was unconscious of the + deadly struggle that had taken place above her. + </p> + <p> + The master staggered to an upright position half choked and half blinded + with dust, turgid and bursting with the rush of blood to his head, but + clear and collected in mind, and unremorsefully triumphant. Unconscious of + the real extent of Seth's catastrophe he groped for and seized his gun, + examined the cap and eagerly waited for a renewed attack. “He tried to + kill me; he would have killed me; if he comes again I must kill him,” he + kept repeating to himself. It never occurred to him that this was + inconsistent with his previous thought—indeed with the whole tenor + of his belief. Perhaps the most peaceful man who has been once put in + peril of life by an adversary, who has recognized death threatening him in + the eye of his antagonist, is by some strange paradox not likely to hold + his own life or the life of his adversary as dearly as before. Everything + was silent now. The suspense irritated him, he no longer dreaded but even + longed for the shot that would precipitate hostilities. What were they + doing? Guided by Seth, were they concerting a fresh attack? + </p> + <p> + Listening more intently he became aware of a distant shouting, and even + more distinctly, of the dull, heavy trampling of hoofs. A sudden angry + fear that the McKinstrys had been beaten off and were flying—a fear + and anger that now for the first time identified him with their cause—came + over him, and he scrambled quickly towards the opening below. But the + sound was approaching and with it came a voice. + </p> + <p> + “Hold on there, sheriff!” + </p> + <p> + It was the voice of the agent Stacey. + </p> + <p> + There was a pause of reluctant murmuring. But the warning was enforced by + a command from another voice—weak, unheroic, but familiar, “I order + this yer to stop—right yer!” + </p> + <p> + A burst of ironical laughter followed. The voice was Uncle Ben's. + </p> + <p> + “Stand back! This is no time for foolin',” said the sheriff roughly. + </p> + <p> + “He's right, Sheriff Briggs,” said Stacey's voice hurriedly; “you're + acting for HIM; he's the owner of the land.” + </p> + <p> + “What? That Ben Dabney?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes; he's Daubigny, who bought the title from us.” + </p> + <p> + There was a momentary hush, and then a hurried murmur. + </p> + <p> + “Which means, gents,” rose Uncle Ben's voice persuasively, “that this yer + young man, though fair-minded and well-intended, hez bin a leetle too + chipper and previous in orderin' out the law. This yer ain't no law matter + with ME, boys. It ain't to be settled by law-papers, nor shot-guns and + deringers. It's suthin' to be chawed over sociable-like, between drinks. + Ef any harm hez bin done, ef anythin's happened, I'm yer to 'demnify the + sheriff, and make it comf'ble all round. Yer know me, boys. I'm talkin'. + It's me—Dabney, or Daubigny, which ever way you like it.” + </p> + <p> + But in the silence that followed, the passions had not yet evidently + cooled. It was broken by the sarcastic drawl of Dick McKinstry: “If them + Harrisons don't mind heven had their medders trampled over by a few white + men, why”— + </p> + <p> + “The sheriff ez 'demnified for that,” interrupted Uncle Ben hastily. + </p> + <p> + “'N ef Dick McKinstry don't mind the damage to his pants in crawlin' out + o' gunshot in the tall grass”—retorted Joe Harrison. + </p> + <p> + “I'm yer to settle that, boys,” said Uncle Ben cheerfully. + </p> + <p> + “But who'll settle THIS?” clamored the voice of the older Harrison from + behind the barn where he had stumbled in crossing the fallen hay. “Yer's + Seth Davis lyin' in the hay with the top of his head busted. Who's to pay + for that?” + </p> + <p> + There was a rush to the spot, and a quick cry of reaction. + </p> + <p> + “Whose work is this?” demanded the sheriff's voice, with official + severity. + </p> + <p> + The master uttered an instinctive exclamation of defiance, and dropping + quickly to the barn floor, would the next moment have opened the door and + declared himself, but Mrs. McKinstry, after a single glance at his + determined face, suddenly threw herself before him with an imperious + gesture of silence. Then her voice rang clearly from the barn:— + </p> + <p> + “Well, if it's the hound that tried to force his way in yer, I reckon ye + kin put that down to ME!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER X. + </h2> + <p> + It was known to Indian Spring, the next day, amid great excitement, that a + serious fracas had been prevented on the ill-fated boundary by the + dramatic appearance of Uncle Ben Dabney, not only as a peacemaker, but as + Mr. Daubigny the bona fide purchaser and owner of the land. It was known + and accepted with great hilarity that “old marm McKinstry” had defended + the barn alone and unaided, with—as variously stated—a + pitchfork, an old stable-broom, and a pail of dirty water, against + Harrison, his party, and the entire able posse of the Sheriff of Tuolumne + County, with no further damage than a scalp wound which the head of Seth + Davis received while falling from the loft of the barn from which he had + been dislodged by Mrs. McKinstry and the broom aforesaid. It was known + with unanimous approbation that the acquisition of the land-title by a + hitherto humble citizen of Indian Spring was a triumph of the settlement + over foreign interference. But it was not known that the school-master was + a participant in the fight, or even present on the spot. At Mrs. + McKinstry's suggestion he had remained concealed in the loft until after + the withdrawal of both parties and the still unconscious Seth. When Ford + had remonstrated, with the remark that Seth would be sure to declare the + truth when he recovered his senses, Mrs. McKinstry smiled grimly: “I + reckon when he comes to know I was with ye all the time, he'd rather hev + it allowed that I licked him than YOU. I don't say he'll let it pass ez + far ez you're concerned or won't try to get even with ye, but he won't go + round tellin' WHY. However,” she added still more grimly, “if you think + you're ekul to tellin' the hull story—how ye kem to be yer and that + Seth wasn't lyin' arter all when he blurted it out afore 'em—why I + sha'n't hinder ye.” The master said no more. And indeed for a day or two + nothing transpired to show that Seth was not equally reticent. + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless Mr. Ford was far from being satisfied with the issue of his + adventure. His relations with Cressy were known to the mother, and + although she had not again alluded to them, she would probably inform her + husband. Yet he could not help noticing, with a mingling of unreasoning + relief and equally unreasoning distrust, that she exhibited a scornful + unconcern in the matter, apart from the singular use to which she had put + it. He could hardly count upon McKinstry, with his heavy, blind devotion + to Cressy, being as indifferent. On the contrary, he had acquired the + impression, without caring to examine it closely, that her father would + not be displeased at his marrying Cressy, for it would really amount to + that. But here again he was forced to contemplate what he had always + avoided, the possible meaning and result of their intimacy. In the + reckless, thoughtless, extravagant—yet thus far innocent—indulgence + of their mutual passion, he had never spoken of marriage, nor—and it + struck him now with the same incongruous mingling of relief and uneasiness—had + SHE! Perhaps this might have arisen from some superstitious or sensitive + recollection on her part of her previous engagement to Seth, but he + remembered now that they had not even exchanged the usual vows of eternal + constancy. It may seem strange that, in the half-dozen stolen and + rapturous interviews which had taken place between these young lovers, + there had been no suggestion of the future, nor any of those glowing + projects for a united destiny peculiar to their years and inexperience. + They had lived entirely in a blissful present, with no plans beyond their + next rendezvous. In that mysterious and sudden absorption of each other, + not only the past, but the future seemed to have been forgotten. + </p> + <p> + These thoughts were passing through his mind the next afternoon to the + prejudice of that calm and studious repose which the deserted school-house + usually superinduced, and which had been so fondly noted by McKinstry and + Uncle Ben. The latter had not arrived for his usual lesson; it was + possible that undue attention had been attracted to his movements now that + his good fortune was known; and the master was alone save for the + occasional swooping incursion of a depredatory jay in search of crumbs + from the children's luncheons, who added apparently querulous insult to + the larcenous act. He regretted Uncle Ben's absence, as he wanted to know + more about his connection with the Harrison attack and his eventual + intentions. Ever since the master emerged from the barn and regained his + hotel under cover of the darkness, he had heard only the vaguest rumors, + and he purposely avoided direct inquiry. + </p> + <p> + He had been quite prepared for Cressy's absence from school that morning—indeed + in his present vacillating mood he had felt that her presence would have + been irksome and embarrassing; but it struck him suddenly and unpleasantly + that her easy desertion of him at that critical moment in the barn had not + since been followed by the least sign of anxiety to know the result of her + mother's interference. What did she imagine had transpired between Mrs. + McKinstry and himself? Had she confidently expected her mother's prompt + acceptance of the situation and a reconciliation? Was that the reason why + she had treated that interruption as lightly as if she were already his + recognized betrothed? Had she even calculated upon it? had she—? He + stopped, his cheek glowing from irritation under the suspicion, and shame + at the disloyalty of entertaining it. + </p> + <p> + Opening his desk, he began to arrange his papers mechanically, when he + discovered, with a slight feeling of annoyance, that he had placed + Cressy's bouquet—now dried and withered—in the same + pigeon-hole with the mysterious letters with which he had so often + communed in former days. He at once separated them with a half bitter + smile, yet after a moment's hesitation, and with his old sense of + attempting to revive a forgotten association, he tried to re-peruse them. + But they did not even restrain his straying thoughts, nor prevent him from + detecting a singular occurrence. The nearly level sun was, after its old + fashion, already hanging the shadowed tassels of the pine boughs like a + garland on the wall. But the shadow seemed to have suddenly grown larger + and more compact, and he turned, with a quick consciousness of some + interposing figure at the pane. Nothing however was to be seen. Yet so + impressed had he been that he walked to the door and stepped from the + porch to discover the intruder. The clearing was deserted, there was a + slight rustling in the adjacent laurels, but no human being was visible. + Nevertheless the old feeling of security and isolation which had never + been quite the same since Mr. McKinstry's confession, seemed now to have + fled the sylvan school-house altogether, and he somewhat angrily closed + his desk, locked it, and determined to go home. + </p> + <p> + His way lay through the first belt of pines towards the mining-flat, but + to-day from some vague impulse he turned and followed the ridge. He had + not proceeded far when he perceived Rupert Filgee lounging before him on + the trail, and at a little distance further on his brother Johnny. At the + sight of these two favorite pupils Mr. Ford's heart smote him with a + consciousness that he had of late neglected them, possibly because + Rupert's lofty scorn of the “silly” sex was not as amusing to him as + formerly, and possibly because Johnny's curiosity had been at times + obtrusive. He however quickened his pace and joined Rupert, laying his + hand familiarly as of old on his shoulder. To his surprise the boy + received his advances with some constraint and awkwardness, glancing + uneasily in the direction of Johnny. A sudden idea crossed Mr. Ford's + mind. + </p> + <p> + “Were you looking for me at the schoolroom just now?” + </p> + <p> + “No, sir.” + </p> + <p> + “You didn't look in at the window to see if I was there?” continued the + master. + </p> + <p> + “No, sir.” + </p> + <p> + The master glanced at Rupert. Truth-telling was a part of Rupert's + truculent temper, although, as the boy had often bitterly remarked, it had + always “told agin' him.” + </p> + <p> + “All right,” said the master, perfectly convinced. “It must have been my + fancy; but I thought somebody looked in—or passed by the window.” + </p> + <p> + But here Johnny, who had overheard the dialogue and approached them, + suddenly threw himself upon his brother's unoffending legs and commenced + to beat and pull them about with unintelligible protests. Rupert, without + looking down, said quietly, “Quit that now—I won't, I tell ye,” and + went through certain automatic movements of dislodging Johnny as if he + were a mere impeding puppy. + </p> + <p> + “What's the matter, Johnny?” said the master, to whom these gyrations were + not unfamiliar. + </p> + <p> + Johnny only replied by a new grip of his brother's trousers. + </p> + <p> + “Well, sir,” said Rupert, slightly recovering his dimples and his + readiness, “Johnny, yer, wants me to tell ye something. Ef he wasn't the + most original self-cocking, God-forsaken liar in Injin Spring—ef he + didn't lie awake in his crib mornin's to invent lies fer the day, I + wouldn't mind tellin' ye, and would hev told you before. However, since + you ask, and since you think you saw somebody around the school-house, + Johnny yer allows that Seth Davis is spyin' round and followin' ye + wherever you go, and he dragged me down yer to see it. He says he saw him + doggin' ye.” + </p> + <p> + “With a knife and pithtolth,” added Johnny's boundless imagination, to the + detriment of his limited facts. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Ford looked keenly from the one to the other, but rather with a + suspicion that they were cognizant of his late fracas than belief in the + truth of Johnny's statement. + </p> + <p> + “And what do YOU think of it, Rupert?” he asked carelessly. + </p> + <p> + “I think, sir,” said Rupert, “that allowin'—for onct—that + Johnny ain't lying, mebbee it's Cressy McKinstry that Seth's huntin' + round, and knowin' that she's always runnin' after you”—he stopped, + and reddening with a newborn sense that his fatal truthfulness had led him + into a glaring indelicacy towards the master, hurriedly added: “I mean, + sir, that mebbee it's Uncle Ben he's jealous of, now that he's got rich + enough for Cressy to hev him, and knowin' he comes to school in the + afternoon perhaps”— + </p> + <p> + “'Tain't either!” broke in Johnny promptly. “Theth's over ther beyond the + thchool, and Crethy's eatin' ithecream at the bakerth with Uncle Ben.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, suppose she is, Seth don't know it, silly!” answered Rupert, + sharply. Then more politely to the master: “That's it! Seth has seen Uncle + Ben gallivanting with Cressy and thinks he's bringing her over yer. Don't + you see?” + </p> + <p> + The master however did not see but one thing. The girl who had only two + days ago carelessly left it to him to explain a compromising situation to + her mother—this girl who had precipitated him into a frontier fight + to the peril of his position and her good name, was calmly eating ices + with an available suitor without the least concern of the past! The + connection was perhaps illogical, but it was unpleasant. It was the more + awkward from the fact that he fancied that not only Rupert's beautiful + eyes, but even the infant Johnny's round ones, were fixed upon him with an + embarrassed expression of hesitating and foreboding sympathy. + </p> + <p> + “I think Johnny believes what he says—don't you, Johnny?” he smiled + with an assumption of cheerful ease, “but I see no necessity just yet for + binding Seth Davis over to keep the peace. Tell me about yourself, Rupe. I + hope Uncle Ben doesn't think of changing his young tutor with his good + fortune?” + </p> + <p> + “No, sir,” returned Rupert brightening; “he promises to take me to + Sacramento with him as his private secretary or confidential clerk, you + know, ef—ef”—he hesitated again with very un-Rupert-like + caution, “ef things go as he wants 'em.” He stopped awkwardly and his + brown eyes became clouded. “Like ez not, Mr. Ford, he's only foolin' me—and—HIMSELF.” + The boy's eyes sought the master's curiously. + </p> + <p> + “I don't know about that,” returned Mr. Ford uneasily, with a certain + recollection of Uncle Ben's triumph over his own incredulity; “he surely + hasn't shown himself a fool or a boaster so far. I consider your prospect + a very fair one, and I wish you joy of it, my boy.” He ran his fingers + through Rupert's curls in his old caressing fashion, the more tenderly + perhaps that he fancied he still saw symptoms of stormy and wet weather in + the boy's brown eyes. “Run along home, both of you, and don't worry + yourselves about me.” + </p> + <p> + He turned away, but had scarcely proceeded half a dozen yards before he + felt a tug at his coat. Looking down he saw the diminutive Johnny. + “They'll be comin' home thith way,” he said, reaching up in a hoarse + confidential whisper. + </p> + <p> + “Who?” + </p> + <p> + “Crethy and 'im.” + </p> + <p> + But before the master could make any response to this presumably + gratifying information, Johnny had rejoined his brother. The two boys + waved their hands towards him with the same diffident and mysterious + sympathy that left him hesitating between a smile and a frown. Then he + proceeded on his way. Nevertheless, for no other reason than that he felt + a sudden distaste to meeting any one, when he reached the point where the + trail descended directly to the settlement, he turned into a longer and + more solitary detour by the woods. + </p> + <p> + The sun was already so low that its long rays pierced the forest from + beneath, and suffused the dim colonnade of straight pine shafts with a + golden haze, while it left the dense intercrossed branches fifty feet + above in deeper shadow. Walking in this yellow twilight, with his feet + noiselessly treading down the yielding carpet of pine needles, it seemed + to the master that he was passing through the woods in a dream. There was + no sound but the dull intermittent double knock of the wood-pecker, or the + drowsy croak of some early roosting bird; all suggestion of the + settlement, with all traces of human contiguity, were left far behind. It + was therefore with a strange and nervous sense of being softly hailed by + some woodland sprite that he seemed to hear his own name faintly wafted + upon the air. He turned quickly; it was Cressy, panting behind him! Even + then, in her white closely gathered skirts, her bared head and graceful + arching neck bent forward, her flying braids freed from the straw hat + which she had swung from her arm so as not to impede her flight, there was + so much of the following Maenad about her that he was for an instant + startled. + </p> + <p> + He stopped; she bounded to him, and throwing her arms around his neck with + a light laugh, let herself hang for a moment breathless on his breast. + Then recovering her speech she said slowly:— + </p> + <p> + “I started on an Injin trot after you, just as you turned off the trail, + but you'd got so far ahead while I was shaking myself clear of Uncle Ben + that I had to jist lope the whole way through the woods to catch up.” She + stopped, and looking up into his troubled face caught his cheeks between + her hands, and bringing his knit brows down to the level of her humid blue + eyes said, “You haven't kissed me yet. What's the matter?” + </p> + <p> + “Doesn't it strike you that I might ask that question, considering that + it's three days since I've seen you, and that you left me, in a rather + awkward position, to explain matters to your mother?” he said coldly. He + had formulated the sentence in his mind some moments before, but now that + it was uttered, it appeared singularly weak and impotent. + </p> + <p> + “That's so,” she said with a frank laugh, burying her face in his + waistcoat. “You see, dandy boy”—his pet name—“I reckoned for + that reason we'd better lie low for a day or two. Well,” she continued, + untying his cravat and retying it again, “how DID you crawl out of it?” + </p> + <p> + “Do you mean to say your mother did not tell you?” he asked indignantly. + </p> + <p> + “Why should she?” returned Cressy lazily. “She never talks to me of these + things, honey.” + </p> + <p> + “And you knew nothing about it?” + </p> + <p> + Cressy shook her head, and then winding one of her long braids around the + young man's neck, offered the end of it to his mouth, and on his sternly + declining it, took it in her own. + </p> + <p> + Yet even her ignorance of what had really happened did not account to the + master for the indifference of her long silence, and albeit conscious of + some inefficiency in his present unheroic attitude, he continued + sarcastically, “May I ask WHAT you imagined would happen when you left + me?” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said Cressy confidently, “I reckoned, chile, you could lie as well + as the next man, and that, being gifted, you'd sling Maw something new and + purty. Why, I ain't got no fancy, but I fixed up something against Paw's + questioning ME. I made that conceited Masters promise to swear that HE was + in the barn with me. Then I calculated to tell Paw that you came + meandering along just before Maw popped in, and that I skedaddled to join + Masters. Of course,” she added quickly, tightening her hold of the master + as he made a sudden attempt at withdrawal, “I didn't let on to Masters WHY + I wanted him to promise, or that you were there.” + </p> + <p> + “Cressy,” said Ford, irritated beyond measure, “are you mad, or do you + think I am?” + </p> + <p> + The girl's face changed. She cast a half frightened, half questioning + glance at his eyes and then around the darkening aisle. “If we're going to + quarrel, Jack,” she said hurriedly, “don't let's do it BEFORE FOLKS.” + </p> + <p> + “In the name of Heaven,” he said, following her eyes indignantly, “what do + you mean?” + </p> + <p> + “I mean,” she said, with a slight shiver of resignation and scorn, “if you—oh + dear! if IT'S ALL going to be like THEM, let's keep it to ourselves.” + </p> + <p> + He gazed at her in hopeless bewilderment. Did she really mean that she was + more frightened at the possible revelation of their disagreement than of + their intimacy? + </p> + <p> + “Come,” she continued tenderly, still glancing, however, uneasily around + her, “come! We'll be more comfortable in the hollow. It's only a step.” + Still holding him by her braid she half led, half dragged him away. To the + right was one of those sudden depressions in the ground caused by the + subsidence of the earth from hidden springs and the uprooting of one or + two of the larger trees. When she had forced him down this declivity below + the level of the needle-strewn forest floor, she seated him upon a mossy + root, and shaking out her skirts in a half childlike, half coquettish way, + comfortably seated herself in his lap, with her arm supplementing the + clinging braid around his neck. + </p> + <p> + “Now hark to me, and don't holler so loud,” she said turning his face to + her questioning eyes. “What's gone of you anyway, nigger boy?” It should + be premised that Cressy's terms of endearment were mainly + negro-dialectical, reminiscences of her brief babyhood, her slave-nurse, + and the only playmates she had ever known. + </p> + <p> + Still implacable, the master coldly repeated the counts of his indictment + against the girl's strange indifference and still stranger entanglements, + winding up by setting forth the whole story of his interview with her + mother, his forced defence of the barn, Seth's outspoken accusation, and + their silent and furious struggle in the loft. But if he had expected that + this daughter of a Southwestern fighter would betray any enthusiasm over + her lover's participation in one of their characteristic feuds—if he + looked for any fond praise for his own prowess, he was bitterly mistaken. + She loosened her arm from his neck of her own accord, unwound the braid, + and putting her two little hands clasped between her knees, crossed her + small feet before her, and, albeit still in his lap, looked the picture of + languid dejection. + </p> + <p> + “Maw ought to have more sense, and you ought to have lit out of the window + after me,” she said with a lazy sigh. “Fightin' ain't in your line—it's + too much like THEM. That Seth's sure to get even with you.” + </p> + <p> + “I can protect myself,” he said haughtily. Nevertheless he had a + depressing consciousness that his lithe and graceful burden was somewhat + in the way of any heroic expression. + </p> + <p> + “Seth can lick you out of your boots, chile,” she said with naive + abstraction. Then, as he struggled to secure an upright position, “Don't + git riled, honey. Of course you'd let them kill you before YOU'D give in. + But that's their best holt—that's their trade! That's all they can + do—don't you see? That's where YOU'RE not like THEM—that's why + you're not their low down kind! That's why you're my boy—that's why + I love you!” + </p> + <p> + She had thrown her whole weight again upon his shoulders until she had + forced him back to his seat. Then, with her locked hands again around his + neck, she looked intently into his face. The varying color dropped from + her cheeks, her eyes seemed to grow larger, the same look of rapt + absorption and possession that had so transfigured her young face at the + ball was fixed upon it now. Her lips parted slightly, she seemed to murmur + rather than speak:— + </p> + <p> + “What are these people to us? What are Seth's jealousies, Uncle Ben's and + Masters's foolishness, Paw and Maw's quarr'ls and tantrums to you and me, + dear? What is it what THEY think, what they reckon, what they plan out, + and what they set themselves against—to us? We love each other, we + belong to each other, without their help or their hindrance. From the time + we first saw each other it was so, and from that time Paw and Maw, and + Seth and Masters, and even YOU and ME, dear, had nothing else to do. That + was love as I know it; not Seth's sneaking rages, and Uncle Ben's sneaking + fooleries, and Masters's sneaking conceit, but only love. And knowing + that, I let Seth rage, and Uncle Ben dawdle, and Masters trifle—and + for what? To keep them from me and my boy. They were satisfied, and we + were happy.” + </p> + <p> + Vague and unreasoning as he knew her speech to be, the rapt and perfect + conviction with which it was uttered staggered him. + </p> + <p> + “But how is this to end, Cressy?” he said passionately. + </p> + <p> + The abstracted look passed, and the slight color and delicate mobility of + her face returned. “To end, dandy boy?” she repeated lazily. “You didn't + think of marrying me—did you?” + </p> + <p> + He blushed, stammered, and said “Yes,” albeit with all his past + vacillation and his present distrust of her, transparent on his cheek and + audible in his voice. + </p> + <p> + “No, dear,” she said quietly, reaching down, untying her little shoe and + shaking the dust and pine needles from its recesses, “no! I don't know + enough to be a wife to you, just now, and you know it. And I couldn't keep + a house fit for you, and you couldn't afford to keep ME without it. And + then it would be all known, and it wouldn't be us two, dear, and our + lonely meetings any more. And we couldn't be engaged—that would be + too much like me and Seth over again. That's what you mean, dandy boy—for + you're only a dandy boy, you know, and they don't get married to backwood + Southern girls who haven't a nigger to bless themselves with since the + war! No,” she continued, lifting her proud little head so promptly after + Ford had recovered from his surprise as to make the ruse of emptying her + shoe perfectly palpable, “no, that's what we've both allowed, dear, all + along. And now, honey, it's near time for me to go. Tell me something good—before + I go. Tell me that you love me as you used to—tell me how you felt + that night at the ball when you first knew we loved each other. But stop—kiss + me first—there, once more—for keeps.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XI. + </h2> + <p> + When Uncle Ben, or “Benjamin Daubigny, Esq.,” as he was already known in + the columns of the “Star,” accompanied Miss Cressy McKinstry on her way + home after the first display of attention and hospitality since his + accession to wealth and position, he remained for some moments in a state + of bewildered and smiling idiocy. It was true that their meeting was + chance and accidental; it was true that Cressy had accepted his attention + with lazy amusement; it was true that she had suddenly and audaciously + left him on the borders of the McKinstry woods in a way that might have + seemed rude and abrupt to any escort less invincibly good-humored than + Uncle Ben, but none of these things marred his fatuous felicity. It is + even probable that in his gratuitous belief that his timid attentions had + been too marked and impulsive, he attributed Cressy's flight to a maidenly + coyness that pleasurably increased his admiration for her and his + confidence in himself. In his abstraction of enjoyment and in the + gathering darkness he ran against a fir-tree very much as he had done + while walking with her, and he confusedly apologized to it as he had to + her, and by her own appellation. In this way he eventually overran his + trail and found himself unexpectedly and apologetically in the clearing + before the school-house. + </p> + <p> + “Ef this ain't the singlerest thing, miss,” he said, and then stopped + suddenly. A faint noise in the school-house like the sound of splintered + wood attracted his attention. The master was evidently there. If he was + alone he would speak to him. + </p> + <p> + He went to the window, looked in, and in an instant his amiable + abstraction left him. He crept softly to the door, tried it, and then + putting his powerful shoulder against the panel, forced the lock from its + fastenings. He entered the room as Seth Davis, frightened but furious, + lifted himself from before the master's desk which he had just broken + open. He had barely time to conceal something in his pocket and close the + lid again before Uncle Ben approached him. + </p> + <p> + “What mouut ye be doin' here, Seth Davis?” he asked with the slow + deliberation which in that locality meant mischief. + </p> + <p> + “And what mouut YOU be doin' here, Mister Ben Dabney?” said Seth, resuming + his effrontery. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” returned Uncle Ben, planting himself in the aisle before his + opponent, “I ain't doin' no sheriff's posse business jest now, but I + reckon to keep my hand in far enuff to purtect other folks' property,” he + added, with a significant glance at the broken lock of the desk. + </p> + <p> + “Ben Dabney,” said Seth in snarling expostulation, “I hain't got no + quar'll with ye!” + </p> + <p> + “Then hand me over whatever you took just now from teacher's desk and + we'll talk about that afterwards,” said Uncle Ben advancing. + </p> + <p> + “I tell ye I hain't got no quar'll with ye, Uncle Ben,” continued Seth, + retreating with a malignant sneer; “and when you talk of protectin' other + folks' property, mebbe ye'd better protect YOUR OWN—or what ye'd + like to call so—instead of quar'llin' with the man that's helpin' + ye. I've got yer the proofs that that sneakin' hound of a Yankee + school-master that Cress McKinstry's hell bent on, and that the old man + and old woman are just chuckin' into her arms, is a lyin', black-hearted, + hypocritical seducer”— + </p> + <p> + “Stop!” said Uncle Ben in a voice that made the crazy casement rattle. + </p> + <p> + He strode towards Seth Davis, no longer with his habitual careful, + hesitating step, but with a tread that seemed to shake the whole + school-room. A single dominant clutch of his powerful right hand on the + young man's breast forced him backwards into the vacant chair of the + master. His usually florid face had grown as gray as the twilight; his + menacing form in a moment filled the little room and darkened the windows. + Then in some inexplicable reaction his figure slightly drooped, he laid + one heavy hand tremblingly on the desk, and with the other affected to + wipe his mouth after his old embarrassed fashion. + </p> + <p> + “What's that you were sayin' o' Cressy?” he said huskily. + </p> + <p> + “Wot everybody says,” said the frightened Seth, gaining a cowardly + confidence under his adversary's emotion. “Wot every cub that sets yer + under his cantin' teachin', and sees 'em together, knows. It's wot you'd + hev knowed ef he and Roop Filgee hadn't played ye fer a softy all the + time. And while you've bin hangin' round yer fer a flicker of Cressy's + gownd as she prances out o' school, he's bin lyin' low and laffin' at ye, + and while he's turned Roop over to keep you here, pretendin' to give ye + lessons, he's bin gallivantin' round with her and huggin' and kissin' her + in barns and in the brush—and now YOU want to quar'll with me.” + </p> + <p> + He stopped, panting for breath, and stared malignantly in the gray face of + his hearer. But Uncle Ben only lifted his heavy hand mildly with an + awkward gesture of warning, stepped softly in his old cautious hesitating + manner to the open door, closed it, and returned gently:— + </p> + <p> + “I reckon ye got in through the winder, didn't ye, Seth?” he said, with a + labored affectation of unemotional ease, “a kind o' one leg over, and one, + two, and then you're in, eh?” + </p> + <p> + “Never you mind HOW I got in, Ben Dabney,” returned Seth, his hostility + and insolence increasing with his opponent's evident weakness, “ez long ez + I got yer and got, by G-d! what I kem here fer! For whiles all this was + goin' on, and whiles the old fool man and old fool woman was swallowin' + what they did see and blinkin' at what they didn't, and huggin' themselves + that they'd got high-toned kempany fer their darter, that high-toned + kempany was playin' THEM too, by G-d! Yes, Sir! that high-toned, cantin' + school-teacher was keepin' a married woman in 'Frisco, all the while he + was here honey-foglin' with Cressy, and I've got the papers yer to prove + it.” He tapped his breast-pocket with a coarse laugh and thrust his face + forward into the gray shadow of his adversary's. + </p> + <p> + “An' you sorter spotted their bein' in this yer desk and bursted it?” said + Uncle Ben, gravely examining the broken lock in the darkness as if it were + the most important feature of the incident. + </p> + <p> + Seth nodded. “You bet your life. I saw him through the winder only this + afternoon lookin over 'em alone, and I reckoned to lay my hands on 'em if + I had to bust him or his desk. And I did!” he added with a triumphant + chuckle. + </p> + <p> + “And you did—sure pop!” said Uncle Ben with slow deliberate + admiration, passing his heavy hand along the splintered lid. “And you + reckon, Seth, that this yer showin' of him up will break off enythin' + betwixt him and this yer—this yer Miss—Miss McKinstry?” he + continued with labored formality. + </p> + <p> + “I reckon ef the old fool McKinstry don't shoot him in his tracks thar'll + be white men enough in Injin Springs to ride this high-toned, pizenous + hypocrit on a rail outer the settlement!” + </p> + <p> + “That's so!” said Uncle Ben musingly, after a thoughtful pause, in which + he still seemed to be more occupied with the broken desk than his + companion's remark. Then he went on cautiously: “And ez this thing orter + be worked mighty fine, Seth, p'r'aps, on the hull, you'd better let me + have them papers.” + </p> + <p> + “What! YOU?” snarled Seth, drawing back with a glance of angry suspicion; + “not if I know it!” + </p> + <p> + “Seth,” said Uncle Ben, resting his elbows on the desk confidentially, and + speaking with painful and heavy deliberation, “when you first interdoosed + this yer subject you elluded to my hevin', so to speak, rights o' + preemption and interference with this young lady, and that in your + opinion, I wasn't purtectin' them rights. It 'pears to me that, allowin' + that to be gospel truth, them ther papers orter be in MY possession—you + hevin' so to speak no rights to purtect, bein' off the board with this yer + young lady, and bein' moved gin'rally by free and independent cussedness. + And ez I sed afore, this sort o' thing havin' to be worked mighty fine, + and them papers manniperlated with judgment, I reckon, Seth, if you don't + objeck, I'll hev—hev—to trouble you.” + </p> + <p> + Seth started to his feet with a rapid glance at the door, but Uncle Ben + had risen again with the same alarming expression of completely filling + the darkened school-room, and of shaking the floor beneath him at the + slightest movement. Already he fancied he saw Uncle Ben's powerful arm + hovering above him ready to descend. It suddenly occurred to him that if + he left the execution of his scheme of exposure and vengeance to Uncle + Ben, the onus of stealing the letters would fall equally upon their + possessor. This advantage seemed more probable than the danger of Uncle + Ben's weakly yielding them up to the master. In the latter case he, Seth, + could still circulate the report of having seen the letters which Uncle + Ben had himself stolen in a fit of jealousy—a hypothesis the more + readily accepted from the latter's familiar knowledge of the schoolhouse + and his presumed ambitious jealousy of Cressy in his present attitude as a + man of position. With affected reluctance and hesitation he put his hand + to his breast-pocket. + </p> + <p> + “Of course,” he said, “if you're kalkilatin' to take up the quar'll on + YOUR rights, and ez Cressy ain't anythin' more to me, YOU orter hev the + proofs. Only don't trust them into that hound's hands. Once he gets 'em + again he'll secure a warrant agin you for stealin'. That'll be his game. + I'd show 'em to HER first—don't ye see?—and I reckon ef she's + old Ma'am McKinstry's darter, she'll make it lively for him.” + </p> + <p> + He handed the letters to the looming figure before him. It seemed to + become again a yielding mortal, and said in a hesitating voice, “P'r'aps + you'd better make tracks outer this, Seth, and leave me yer to put things + to rights and fix up that door and the desk agin to-morrow mornin'. He'd + better not know it to onct, and so start a row about bein' broken into.” + </p> + <p> + The proposition seemed to please Seth; he even extended his hand in the + darkness. But he met only an irresponsive void. With a slight shrug of his + shoulders and a grunting farewell, he felt his way to the door and + disappeared. For a few moments it seemed as if Uncle Ben had also deserted + the schoolhouse, so profound and quiet was the hush that fell upon it. But + as the eye became accustomed to the shadow a grayish bulk appeared to grow + out of it over the master's desk and shaped itself into the broad figure + of Uncle Ben. Later, when the moon rose and looked in at the window, it + saw him as the master had seen him on the first day he had begun his + lessons in the school-house, with his face bent forward over the desk and + the same look of child-like perplexity and struggle that he had worn at + his allotted task. Unheroic, ridiculous, and no doubt blundering and + idiotic as then, but still vaguely persistent in his thought, he remained + for some moments in this attitude. Then rising and taking advantage of the + moonlight that flooded the desk, he set himself to mend the broken lock + with a large mechanical clasp-knife he produced from his pocket, and the + aid of his workmanlike thumb and finger. Presently he began to whistle + softly, at first a little artificially and with relapses of reflective + silence. The lock of the desk restored, he secured into position again + that part of the door-lock which he had burst off in his entrance. This + done, he closed the door gently and once more stepped out into the moonlit + clearing. In replacing his knife in his pocket he took out the letters + which he had not touched since they were handed to him in the darkness. + His first glance at the handwriting caused him to stop. Then still staring + at it, he began to move slowly and automatically backwards to the porch. + When he reached it he sat down, unfolded the letter, and without + attempting to read it, turned its pages over and over with the + unfamiliarity of an illiterate man in search of the signature. This when + found apparently plunged him again into motionless abstraction. Only once + he changed his position to pull up the legs of his trousers, open his + knees, and extend the distance between his feet, and then with the + unfolded pages carefully laid in the moonlit space thus opened before him, + regarded them with dubious speculation. At the end of ten minutes he rose + with a sigh of physical and mental relaxation, refolded the letter, put it + in his pocket, and made his way to the town. + </p> + <p> + When he reached the hotel he turned into the bar-room, and observing that + it happened to be comparatively deserted, asked for a glass of whiskey. In + response to the barkeeper's glance of curiosity—as Uncle Ben seldom + drank, and then only as a social function with others—he explained:— + </p> + <p> + “I reckon straight whiskey is about ez good ez the next thing for blind + chills.” + </p> + <p> + The bar-keeper here interposed that in his larger medical experience he + had found the exhibition of ginger in combination with gin attended with + effect, although it was evident that in his business capacity he regarded + Uncle Ben, as a drinker, with distrust. + </p> + <p> + “Ye ain't seen Mr. Ford hanging round yer lately?” continued Uncle Ben + with laborious ease. + </p> + <p> + The bar-keeper, with his eye still scornfully fixed on his customer, but + his hands which were engaged in washing his glasses under the counter + giving him the air of humorously communicating with a hidden confederate, + had not seen the school-master that afternoon. + </p> + <p> + Uncle Ben turned away and slowly mounted the staircase to the master's + room. After a moment's pause on the landing, which must have been + painfully obvious to any one who heard his heavy ascent, he gave two timid + raps on the door which were equally ridiculous in contrast with his + powerful tread. The door was opened promptly by the master. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, it's you, is it?” he said shortly. “Come in.” + </p> + <p> + Uncle Ben entered without noticing the somewhat ungracious form of + invitation. “It war me,” he said, “dropped in, not finding ye downstairs. + Let's have a drink.” + </p> + <p> + The master gazed at Uncle Ben, who, owing to his abstraction, had not yet + wiped his mouth of the liquor he had imperfectly swallowed, and was in + consequence more redolent of whiskey than a confirmed toper. He rang the + bell for the desired refreshment with a slightly cynical smile. He was + satisfied that his visitor, like many others of humble position, was + succumbing to his good fortune. + </p> + <p> + “I wanted to see ye, Mr. Ford,” he began, taking an unproffered chair and + depositing his hat after some hesitation outside the door, “in regard to + what I onct told ye about my wife in Mizzouri. P'r'aps you disremember?” + </p> + <p> + “I remember,” returned the master resignedly. + </p> + <p> + “You know it was that arternoon that fool Stacey sent the sheriff and the + Harrisons over to McKinstry's barn.” + </p> + <p> + “Go on!” petulantly said the master, who had his own reasons for not + caring to recall it. + </p> + <p> + “It was that arternoon, you know, that you hadn't time to hark to me—hevin' + to go off on an engagement,” continued Uncle Ben with protracted + deliberation, “and”— + </p> + <p> + “Yes, yes, I remember,” interrupted the master exasperatedly, “and really + unless you get on faster, I'll have to leave you again.” + </p> + <p> + “It was that arternoon,” said Uncle Ben without heeding him, “when I told + you I hadn't any idea what had become o' my wife ez I left in Mizzouri.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said the master sharply, “and I told you it was your bounden duty + to look for her.” + </p> + <p> + “That's so,” said Uncle Ben nodding comfortably, “them's your very words; + on'y a leetle more strong than that, ef I don't disremember. Well, I + reckon I've got an idee!” The master assumed a sudden expression of + interest, but Uncle Ben did not vary his monotonous tone. + </p> + <p> + “I kem across that idee, so to speak, on the trail. I kem across it in + some letters ez was lying wide open in the brush. I picked em up and I've + got 'em here.” + </p> + <p> + He slowly took the letters from his pocket with one hand, while he dragged + the chair on which he was sitting beside the master. But with a quick + flush of indignation Mr. Ford rose and extended his hand. + </p> + <p> + “These are MY letters, Dabney,” he said sternly, “stolen from my desk. Who + has dared to do this?” + </p> + <p> + But Uncle Ben had, as if accidentally, interposed his elbow between the + master and Seth's spoils. + </p> + <p> + “Then it's all right?” he returned deliberately. “I brought 'em here + because I thought they might give an idee where my wife was. For them + letters is in her own handwrite. You remember ez I told ez how she was a + scollard.” + </p> + <p> + The master sat back in his chair white and dumb. Incredible, + extraordinary, and utterly unlooked for as was this revelation, he felt + instinctively that it was true. + </p> + <p> + “I couldn't read it myself—ez you know. I didn't keer to ax any one + else to read it for me—you kin reckon why, too. And that's why I'm + troublin' you to-night, Mr. Ford—ez a friend.” + </p> + <p> + The master with a desperate effort recovered his voice. “It is impossible. + The lady who wrote those letters does not bear your name. More than that,” + he added with hasty irrelevance, “she is so free that she is about to be + married, as you might have read. You have made a mistake, the handwriting + may be like, but it cannot be really your wife's.” + </p> + <p> + Uncle Ben shook his head slowly. “It's her'n—there's no mistake. + When a man, Mr. Ford, hez studied that handwrite—havin', so to + speak, knowed it on'y from the OUTSIDE—from seein' it passin' like + between friends—that man's chances o' bein' mistook ain't ez great + ez the man's who on'y takes in the sense of the words that might b'long to + everybody. And her name not bein' the same ez mine, don't foller. Ef she + got a divorce she'd take her old gal's name—the name of her + fammerly. And that would seem to allow she DID get a divorce. What mowt + she hev called herself when she writ this?” + </p> + <p> + The master saw his opportunity and rose to it with a chivalrous + indignation, that for the moment imposed even upon himself. “I decline to + answer that question,” he said angrily. “I refuse to allow the name of any + woman who honors me with her confidence to be dragged into the infamous + outrage that has been committed upon me and common decency. And I shall + hold the thief and scoundrel—whoever he may be—answerable to + myself in the absence of her natural protector.” + </p> + <p> + Uncle Ben surveyed the hero of these glittering generalities with + undisguised admiration. He extended his hand to him gravely. + </p> + <p> + “Shake! Ef another proof was wantin', Mr. Ford, of that bein' my wife's + letter,” he said, “that high-toned style of yours would settle it. For, ef + thar was one thing she DID like, it was that sort of po'try. And one + reason why her and me didn't get on, and why I skedaddled, was because it + wasn't in my line. Et's all in trainin'! On'y a man ez had the Fourth + Reader at his fingers' ends could talk like that. Bein' brought up on + Dobell—ez is nowhere—it sorter lets me outer you, ez it did + outer HER. But allowin' it ain't the square thing for YOU to mention her + name, that wouldn't be nothin' agin' MY doin' it, and callin' her, well—Lou + Price in a keerless sort o' way, eh?” + </p> + <p> + “I decline to answer further,” replied the master quickly, although his + color had changed at the name. “I decline to say another word on the + matter until this mystery is cleared up—until I know who dared to + break into my desk and steal my property, and the purpose of this + unheard-of outrage. And I demand possession of those letters at once.” + </p> + <p> + Uncle Ben without a word put them in the master's hand, to his slight + surprise, and it must be added to his faint discomfiture, nor was it + decreased when Uncle Ben added, with grave naivete and a patronizing + pressure of his hand on his shoulder,—“In course ez you're taken' it + on to yourself, and ez Lou Price ain't got no further call on ME, they + orter be yours. Ez to who got 'em outer the desk, I reckon you ain't got + no suspicion of any one spyin' round ye—hev ye?” + </p> + <p> + In an instant the recollection of Seth Davis's face at the window and the + corroboration of Rupert's warning flashed across Ford's mind. The + hypothesis that Seth had imagined that they were Cressy's letters, and had + thrown them down without reading them when he had found out his mistake, + seemed natural. For if he had read them he would undoubtedly have kept + them to show to Cressy. The complex emotions that had disturbed the master + on the discovery of Uncle Ben's relationship to the writer of the letters + were resolving themselves into a furious rage at Seth. But before he dared + revenge himself he must be first assured that Seth was ignorant of their + contents. He turned to Uncle Ben. + </p> + <p> + “I have a suspicion, but to make it certain I must ask you for the present + to say nothing of this to any one.” + </p> + <p> + Uncle Ben nodded. “And when you hev found out and you're settled in your + mind that you kin make my mind easy about this yer Lou Price, ez we'll + call her, bein' divorced squarely, and bein', so to speak, in the way o' + gettin' married agin, ye might let me know ez a friend. I reckon I won't + trouble you any more to-night—onless you and me takes another + sociable drink together in the bar. No? Well, then, good-night.” He moved + slowly towards the door. With his hand on the lock he added: “Ef yer + writin' to her agin, you might say ez how you found ME lookin' well and + comf'able, and hopin' she's enjyin' the same blessin'. 'So long.” + </p> + <p> + He disappeared, leaving the master in a hopeless collapse of conflicting, + and, it is to be feared, not very heroic emotions. The situation, which + had begun so dramatically, had become suddenly unromantically ludicrous, + without, however, losing any of its embarrassing quality. He was conscious + that he occupied the singular position of being more ridiculous than the + husband—whose invincible and complacent simplicity stung him like + the most exquisite irony. For an instant he was almost goaded into the + fury of declaring that he had broken off from the writer of the letters + forever, but its inconsistency with the chivalrous attitude he had just + taken occurred to him in time to prevent him from becoming doubly absurd. + His rage with Seth Davis seemed to him the only feeling left that was + genuine and rational, and yet, now that Uncle Ben had gone, even that had + a spurious ring. It was necessary for him to lash himself into a fury over + the hypothesis that the letters MIGHT have been Cressy's, and desecrated + by that scoundrel's touch. Perhaps he had read them and left them to be + picked up by others. He looked over them carefully to see if their meaning + would, to the ordinary reader, appear obvious and compromising. His eye + fell on the first paragraph. + </p> + <p> + “I should not be quite fair with you, Jack, if I affected to disbelieve in + your faith in your love for me and its endurance, but I should be still + more unfair if I didn't tell you what I honestly believe, that at your age + you are apt to deceive yourself, and, without knowing it, to deceive + others. You confess you have not yet decided upon your career, and you are + always looking forward so hopefully, dear Jack, for a change in the + future, but you are willing to believe that far more serious things than + that will suffer no change in the mean time. If we continued as we were, + I, who am older than you and have more experience, might learn the misery + of seeing you change towards ME as I have changed towards another, and for + the same reason. If I were sure I could keep pace with you in your dreams + and your ambition, if I were sure that I always knew WHAT they were, we + might still be happy—but I am not sure, and I dare not again risk my + happiness on an uncertainty. In coming to my present resolution I do not + look for happiness, but at least I know I shall not suffer disappointment, + nor involve others in it. I confess I am growing too old not to feel the + value to a woman—a necessity to her in this country—of + security in her present and future position. Another can give me that. And + although you may call this a selfish view of our relations, I believe that + you will soon—if you do not, even as you read this now—feel + the justice of it, and thank me for taking it.” + </p> + <p> + With a smile of scorn he tore up the letter, in what he fondly believed + was the bitterness of an outraged trustful nature, forgetting that for + many weeks he had scarcely thought of its writer, and that he himself in + his conduct had already anticipated its truths. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XII. + </h2> + <p> + The master awoke the next morning, albeit after a restless night, with + that clarity of conscience and perception which it is to be feared is more + often the consequence of youth and a perfect circulation than of any moral + conviction or integrity. He argued with himself that as the only party + really aggrieved in the incident of the previous night, the right of + remedy remained with him solely, and under the benign influence of an + early breakfast and the fresh morning air he was inclined to feel less + sternly even towards Seth Davis. In any event, he must first carefully + weigh the evidence against him, and examine the scene of the outrage + closely. For this purpose, he had started for the school-house fully an + hour before his usual time. He was even light-hearted enough to recognize + the humorous aspect of Uncle Ben's appeal to him, and his own ludicrously + paradoxical attitude, and as he at last passed from the dreary flat into + the fringe of upland pines, he was smiling. Well for him, perhaps, that he + was no more affected by any premonition of the day before him than the + lately awakened birds that lightly cut the still sleeping woods around him + in their long flashing sabre-curves of flight. A yellow-throat, destined + to become the breakfast of a lazy hawk still swinging above the river, was + especially moved to such a causeless and idiotic roulade of mirth that the + master listening to the foolish bird was fain to whistle too. He presently + stopped, however, with a slight embarrassment. For a few paces before him + Cressy had unexpectedly appeared. + </p> + <p> + She had evidently been watching for him. But not with her usual indolent + confidence. There was a strained look of the muscles of her mouth, as of + some past repression, and a shaded hollow under her temples beneath the + blonde rings of her shorter hair. Her habitually slow, steady eye was + troubled, and she cast a furtive glance around her before she searched him + with her glance. Without knowing why, yet vaguely fearing that he did, he + became still more embarrassed, and in the very egotism of awkwardness, + stammered without a further salutation: “A disgraceful thing has happened + last night, and I'm up early to find the perpetrator. My desk was broken + into, and”— + </p> + <p> + “I know it,” she interrupted, with a half-impatient, half uneasy putting + away of the subject with her little hand—“there—don't go all + over it again. Paw and Maw have been at me about it all night—ever + since those Harrisons in their anxiousness to make up their quarrel, + rushed over with the news. I'm tired of it!” + </p> + <p> + For an instant he was staggered. How much had she learned! With the same + awkward indirectness, he said vaguely, “But it might have been YOUR + letters, you know?” + </p> + <p> + “But it wasn't,” she said, simply. “It OUGHT to have been. I wish it had”—She + stopped, and again regarded him with a strange expression. “Well,” she + said slowly, “what are you going to do?” + </p> + <p> + “To find out the scoundrel who has done this,” he said firmly, “and punish + him as he deserves.” + </p> + <p> + The almost imperceptible shrug that had raised her shoulders gave way as + she regarded him with a look of wearied compassion. + </p> + <p> + “No,” she said, gravely, “you cannot. They're too many for you. You must + go away, at once.” + </p> + <p> + “Never,” he said indignantly. “Even if it were not a cowardice. It would + be more—a confession!” + </p> + <p> + “Not more than they already know,” she said wearily. “But, I tell you, you + MUST go. I have sneaked out of the house and run here all the way to warn + you. If you—you care for me, Jack—you will go.” + </p> + <p> + “I should be a traitor to you if I did,” he said quickly. “I shall stay.” + </p> + <p> + “But if—if—Jack—if”—she drew nearer him with a + new-found timidity, and then suddenly placed her two hands upon his + shoulders: “If—if—Jack—I were to go with you?” + </p> + <p> + The old rapt, eager look of possession had come back to her face now; her + lips were softly parted. Yet even then she seemed to be waiting some reply + more potent than that syllabled on the lips of the man before her. + </p> + <p> + Howbeit that was the only response. “Darling,” he said kissing her, “but + wouldn't that justify them”— + </p> + <p> + “Stop,” she said suddenly. Then putting her hand over his mouth, she + continued with the same half-weary expression: “Don't let us go over all + that again either. It is SO tiresome. Listen, dear. You'll do one or two + little things for me—won't you, dandy boy? Don't linger long at the + school-house after lessons. Go right home! Don't look after these men + TO-DAY—to-morrow, Saturday, is your holiday—you know—and + you'll have more time. Keep to yourself to-day as much as you can, dear, + for twelve hours—until—until—you hear from me, you know. + It will be all right then,” she added, lifting her eyelids with a sudden + odd resemblance to her father's look of drowsy pain, which Ford had never + noticed before. “Promise me that, dear, won't you?” + </p> + <p> + With a mental reservation he promised hurriedly—preoccupied in his + wonder why she seemed to avoid his explanation, in his desire to know what + had happened, in the pride that had kept him from asking more or + volunteering a defence, and in his still haunting sense of having been + wronged. Yet he could not help saying as he caught and held her hand:— + </p> + <p> + “YOU have not doubted me, Cressy? YOU have not allowed this infamous + raking up of things that are past and gone to alter your feelings?” + </p> + <p> + She looked at him abstractedly. “You think it might alter ANYBODY'S + feelings, then?” + </p> + <p> + “Nobody's who really loved another”—he stammered. + </p> + <p> + “Don't let us talk of it any more,” she said suddenly stretching out her + arms, lifting them above her head with a wearied gesture, and then letting + them fall clasped before her in her old habitual fashion. “It makes my + head ache; what with Paw and Maw and the rest of them—I'm sick of it + all.” + </p> + <p> + She turned away as Ford drew back coldly and let her hand fall from his + arm. She took a few steps forward, stopped, ran back to him again, crushed + his face and head in a close embrace, and then seemed to dip like a bird + into the tall bracken, and was gone. + </p> + <p> + The master stood for some moments chagrined and bewildered; it was + characteristic of his temperament that he had paid less heed to what she + told him than what he IMAGINED had passed between her mother and herself. + She was naturally jealous of the letters—he could forgive her for + that; she had doubtless been twitted about them, but he could easily + explain them to her parents—as he would have done to her. But he was + not such a fool as to elope with her at such a moment, without first + clearing his character—and knowing more of hers. And it was equally + characteristic of him that in his sense of injury he confounded her with + the writer of the letters—as sympathizing with his correspondent in + her estimate of his character, and was quite carried away with the belief + that he was equally wronged by both. + </p> + <p> + It was not until he reached the schoolhouse that the evidences of last + night's outrage for a time distracted his mind from his singular + interview. He was struck with the workmanlike manner in which the locks + had been restored, and the care that had evidently been taken to remove + the more obvious and brutal traces of burglary. This somewhat staggered + his theory that Seth Davis was the perpetrator; mechanical skill and + thoughtfulness were not among the lout's characteristics. But he was still + more disconcerted on pushing back his chair to find a small india-rubber + tobacco pouch lying beneath it. The master instantly recognized it: he had + seen it a hundred times before—it was Uncle Ben's. It was not there + when he had closed the room yesterday afternoon. Either Uncle Ben had been + there last night, or had anticipated him this morning. But in the latter + case he would scarcely have overlooked his fallen property—that, in + the darkness of the night, might have readily escaped detection. His brow + darkened with a sudden conviction that it was Uncle Ben who was the real + and only offender, and that his simplicity of the previous night was part + of his deception. A sickening sense that he had been again duped—but + why or to what purpose he hardly dared to think—overcame him. Who + among these strange people could he ever again trust? After the fashion of + more elevated individuals, he had accepted the respect and kindness of + those he believed his inferiors as a natural tribute to his own + superiority; any change in THEIR feelings must therefore be hypocrisy or + disloyalty; it never occurred to him that HE might have fallen below their + standard. + </p> + <p> + The arrival of the children and the resumption of his duties for a time + diverted him. But although the morning's exercise restored the master's + self-confidence, it cannot be said to have improved his judgment. + Disdaining to question Rupert Filgee, as the possible confidant of Uncle + Ben, he answered the curious inquiries of the children as to the broken + doorlock with the remark that it was a matter that he should have to bring + before the Trustees of the Board, and by the time that school was over and + the pupils dismissed he had quite resolved upon this formal disposition of + it. In spite of Cressy's warning—rather because of it—in the + new attitude he had taken towards her and her friends, he lingered in the + school-house until late. He had occupied himself in drawing up a statement + of the facts, with an intimation that his continuance in the school would + depend upon a rigid investigation of the circumstances, when he was + aroused by the clatter of horses' hoofs. The next moment the school-house + was surrounded by a dozen men. + </p> + <p> + He looked up; half of them dismounted and entered the room. The other half + remained outside darkening the windows with their motionless figures. Each + man carried a gun before him on the saddle; each man wore a rude mask of + black cloth partly covering his face. + </p> + <p> + Although the master was instinctively aware that he was threatened by + serious danger, he was far from being impressed by the arms and disguise + of his mysterious intruders. On the contrary, the obvious and glaring + inconsistency of this cheaply theatrical invasion of the peaceful + school-house; of this opposition of menacing figures to the scattered + childish primers and text-books that still lay on the desks around him, + only extracted from him a half scornful smile as he coolly regarded them. + The fearlessness of ignorance is often as unassailable as the most + experienced valor, and the awe-inspiring invaders were at first + embarrassed and then humanly angry. A lank figure to the right made a + forward movement of impotent rage, but was checked by the evident leader + of the party. + </p> + <p> + “Ef he likes to take it that way, there ain't no Regulators law agin it, I + reckon,” he said, in a voice which the master instantly recognized as Jim + Harrison's, “though ez a gin'ral thing they don't usually find it FUN.” + Then turning to the master he added, “Mister Ford, ef that's the name you + go by everywhere, we're wantin' a man about your size.” + </p> + <p> + Ford knew that he was in hopeless peril. He knew that he was physically + defenceless and at the mercy of twelve armed and lawless men. But he + retained a preternatural clearness of perception, and audacity born of + unqualified scorn for his antagonists, with a feminine sharpness of + tongue. In a voice which astonished even himself by its contemptuous + distinctness, he said: “My name IS Ford, but as I only SUPPOSE your name + is Harrison perhaps you'll be fair enough to take that rag from your face + and show it to me like a man.” + </p> + <p> + The man removed the mask from his face with a slight laugh. + </p> + <p> + “Thank you,” said Ford. “Now, perhaps you will tell me which one of you + gentlemen broke into the school-house, forced the lock of my desk, and + stole my papers. If he is here I wish to tell him he is not only a thief, + but a cur and a coward, for the letters are a woman's—whom he + neither knows nor has the right to know.” + </p> + <p> + If he had hoped to force a personal quarrel and trust his life to the + chance of a single antagonist, he was disappointed, for although his + unexpected attitude had produced some effect among the group, and even + attracted the attention of the men at the windows, Harrison strode + deliberately towards him. + </p> + <p> + “That kin wait,” he said; “jest now we propose to take you and your + letters and drop 'em and you outer this yer township of Injin Springs. You + kin take 'em back to the woman or critter you got 'em of. But we kalkilate + you're a little too handy and free in them sorter things to teach school + round yer, and we kinder allow we don't keer to hev our gals and boys + eddicated up to your high-toned standard. So ef you choose to kem along + easy we'll mak' you comf'ble on a hoss we've got waitin' outside, an' + escort you across the line. Ef you don't—we'll take you anyway.” + </p> + <p> + The master cast a rapid glance around him. In his quickness of perception + he had already noted that the led horse among the cavalcade was fastened + by a lariat to one of the riders so that escape by flight was impossible, + and that he had not a single weapon to defend himself with or even + provoke, in his desperation, the struggle that could forestall ignominy by + death. Nothing was left him but his voice, clear and trenchant as he faced + them. + </p> + <p> + “You are twelve to one,” he said calmly, “but if there is a single man + among you who dare step forward and accuse me of what you only TOGETHER + dare do, I will tell him he is a liar and a coward, and stand here ready + to make it good against him. You come here as judge and jury condemning me + without trial, and confronting me with no accusers; you come here as + lawless avengers of your honor, and you dare not give ME the privilege of + as lawlessly defending my own.” + </p> + <p> + There was another slight murmur among the men, but the leader moved + impatiently forward. “We've had enough o' your preachin': we want YOU,” he + said roughly. “Come.” + </p> + <p> + “Stop,” said a dull voice. + </p> + <p> + It came from a mute figure which had remained motionless among the others. + Every eye was turned upon it as it rose and lazily pushed the cloth from + its face. + </p> + <p> + “Hiram McKinstry!” said the others in mingled tones of astonishment and + suspicion. + </p> + <p> + “That's me!” said McKinstry, coming forward with heavy deliberation. “I + joined this yer delegation at the crossroads instead o' my brother, who + had the call. I reckon et's all the same—or mebbe better. For I + perpose to take this yer gentleman off your hands.” + </p> + <p> + He lifted his slumbrous eyes for the first time to the master, and at the + same time put himself between him and Harrison. “I perpose,” he continued, + “to take him at his word; I perpose ter give him a chance to answer with a + gun. And ez I reckon, by all accounts, there's no man yer ez hez a better + right than ME, I perpose to be the man to put that question to him in the + same way. Et may not suit some gents,” he continued slowly, facing an + angry exclamation from the lank figure behind him, “ez would prefer to hev + eleven men to take up THEIR private quo'lls, but even then I reckon that + the man who is the most injured hez the right to the first say and that + man's ME.” + </p> + <p> + With a careful deliberation that had a double significance to the + malcontents, he handed his own rifle to the master and without looking at + him continued: “I reckon, sir, you've seen that afore, but ef it ain't + quite to your hand, any of those gents, I kalkilate, will be high-toned + enuff to giv you the chyce o' theirs. And there's no need o' trapsin' + beyon' the township lines, to fix this yer affair; I perpose to do it in + ten minutes in the brush yonder.” + </p> + <p> + Whatever might have been the feelings and intentions of the men around + him, the precedence of McKinstry's right to the duello was a principle too + deeply rooted in their traditions to deny; if any resistance to it had + been contemplated by some of them, the fact that the master was now armed, + and that Mr. McKinstry would quickly do battle at his side with a revolver + in defence of his rights, checked any expression. They silently drew back + as the master and McKinstry slowly passed out of the school-house + together, and then followed in their rear. In that interval the master + turned to McKinstry and said in a low voice: “I accept your challenge and + thank you for it. You have never done me a greater kindness—whatever + I have done to YOU—yet I want you to believe that neither now nor + THEN—I meant you any harm.” + </p> + <p> + “Ef you mean by that, sir, that ye reckon ye won't return my fire, ye're + blind and wrong. For it will do you no good with them,” he said with a + significant wave of his crippled hand towards the following crowd, “nor me + neither.” + </p> + <p> + Firmly resolved, however, that he would not fire at McKinstry, and + clinging blindly to this which he believed was the last idea of his + foolish life, he continued on without another word until they reached the + open strip of chemisal that flanked the clearing. + </p> + <p> + The rude preliminaries were soon settled. The parties armed with rifles + were to fire at the word from a distance of eighty yards, and then + approach each other, continuing the fight with revolvers until one or the + other fell. The selection of seconds was effected by the elder Harrison + acting for McKinstry, and after a moment's delay by the volunteering of + the long, lank figure previously noted to act for the master. Preoccupied + by other thoughts, Mr. Ford paid little heed to his self-elected + supporter, who to the others seemed to be only taking that method of + showing his contempt for McKinstry's recent insult. The master received + the rifle mechanically from his hand and walked to position. He noticed, + however, and remembered afterwards that his second was half hidden by the + trunk of a large pine to his right that marked the limit of the ground. + </p> + <p> + In that supreme moment it must be recorded, albeit against all + preconceived theory, that he did NOT review his past life, was NOT + illuminated by a flash of remorseful or sentimental memory, and did NOT + commend his soul to his Maker, but that he was simply and keenly alive to + the very actual present in which he still existed and to his one idea of + not firing at his adversary. And if anything could render his conduct more + theoretically incorrect it was a certain exalted sense that he was doing + quite right and was not only NOT a bad sort of fellow, but one whom his + survivors might possibly regret! + </p> + <p> + “Are you ready, gentlemen? One—two—three—fi . . . !” + </p> + <p> + The explosions were singularly simultaneous—so remarkable in fact + that it seemed to the master that his rifle, fired in the air, had given a + DOUBLE report. A light wreath of smoke lay between him and his opponent. + He was unhurt—so evidently was his adversary, for the voice rose + again. + </p> + <p> + “Advance! . . . Hallo there! Stop!” + </p> + <p> + He looked up quickly to see McKinstry stagger and then fall heavily to the + ground. + </p> + <p> + With an exclamation of horror, the first and only terrible emotion he had + felt, he ran to the fallen man, as Harrison reached his side at the same + moment. + </p> + <p> + “For God's sake,” he said wildly, throwing himself on his knees beside + McKinstry, “what has happened? For I swear to you, I never aimed at you! I + fired in the air. Speak! Tell him, you,” he turned with a despairing + appeal to Harrison, “you must have seen it all—tell him it was not + me!” + </p> + <p> + A half wondering, half incredulous smile passed quickly over Harrison's + face. “In course you didn't MEAN it,” he said dryly, “but let that slide. + Get up and get away from yer, while you kin,” he added impatiently, with a + significant glance at one or two men who lingered after the sudden and + general dispersion of the crowd at McKinstry's fall. “Get—will ye!” + </p> + <p> + “Never!” said the young man passionately, “until he knows that it was not + my hand that fired that shot.” + </p> + <p> + McKinstry painfully struggled to his elbow. “It took me yere,” he said + with a slow deliberation, as if answering some previous question, and + pointing to his hip, “and it kinder let me down when I started forward at + the second call.” + </p> + <p> + “But it was not I who did it, McKinstry, I swear it. Hear me! For God's + sake, say you believe me.” + </p> + <p> + McKinstry turned his drowsy troubled eyes upon the master as if he were + vaguely recalling something. “Stand back thar a minit, will ye,” he said + to Harrison, with a languid wave of his crippled hand; “I want ter speak + to this yer man.” + </p> + <p> + Harrison drew back a few paces and the master sought to take the wounded + man's hand, but he was stopped by a gesture. “Where hev you put Cressy?” + McKinstry said slowly. + </p> + <p> + “I don't understand you,” stammered Ford. + </p> + <p> + “Where are you hidin' her from me?” repeated McKinstry with painful + distinctness. “Whar hev you run her to, that you're reckonin' to jine her + arter—arter—THIS?” + </p> + <p> + “I am not hiding her! I am not going to her! I do not know where she is. I + have not seen her since we parted early this morning without a word of + meeting again,” said the master rapidly, yet with a bewildered + astonishment that was obvious even to the dulled faculties of his hearer. + </p> + <p> + “That war true?” asked McKinstry, laying his hand upon the master's + shoulder and bringing his dull eyes to the level of the young man's. + </p> + <p> + “It is the whole truth,” said Ford fervently, “and true also that I never + raised my hand against you.” + </p> + <p> + McKinstry beckoned to Harrison and the two others who had joined him, and + then sank partly back with his hand upon his side, where the slow + empurpling of his red shirt showed the slight ooze of a deeply-seated + wound. + </p> + <p> + “You fellers kin take me over to the ranch,” he said calmly, “and let + him,” pointing to Ford, “ride your best hoss fer the doctor. I don't,” he + continued in grave explanation, “gin'rally use a doctor, but this yer is + suthin' outside the old woman's regular gait.” He paused, and then drawing + the master's head down towards him, he added in his ear, “When I get to + hev a look at the size and shape o' this yer ball that's in my hip, I'll—I'll—I'll—be—a—little + more kam!” A gleam of dull significance struggled into his eye. The master + evidently understood him, for he rose quickly, ran to the horse, mounted + him and dashed off for medical assistance, while McKinstry, closing his + heavy lids, anticipated this looked-for calm by fainting gently away. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIII. + </h2> + <p> + Of the various sentimental fallacies entertained by adult humanity in + regard to childhood, none are more ingeniously inaccurate and gratuitously + idiotic than a comfortable belief in its profound ignorance of the events + in which it daily moves, and the motives and characters of the people who + surround it. Yet even the occasional revelations of an enfant terrible are + as nothing compared to the perilous secrets which a discreet infant daily + buttons up, or secures with a hook-and-eye, or even fastens with a + safety-pin across its gentle bosom. Society can never cease to be grateful + for that tact and consideration—qualities more often joined with + childish intuition and perception than with matured observation—that + they owe to it; and the most accomplished man or woman of the great world + might take a lesson from this little audience who receive from their lips + the lie they feel too palpable, with round-eyed complacency, or outwardly + accept as moral and genuine the hollow sentiment they have overheard + rehearsed in private for their benefit. + </p> + <p> + It was not strange therefore that the little people of the Indian Spring + school knew perhaps more of the real relations of Cressy McKinstry to her + admirers than the admirers themselves. Not that this knowledge was + outspoken—for children rarely gossip in the grown-up sense—or + even communicable by words intelligent to the matured intellect. A + whisper, a laugh that often seemed vague and unmeaning, conveyed to each + other a world of secret significance, and an apparently senseless burst of + merriment in which the whole class joined and that the adult critic set + down to “animal spirits”—a quality much more rare with children than + generally supposed—was only a sympathetic expression of some + discovery happily oblivious to older preoccupation. The childish + simplicity of Uncle Ben perhaps appealed more strongly to their sympathy, + and although, for that very reason, they regarded him with no more respect + than they did each other, he was at times carelessly admitted to their + confidence. It was especially Rupert Filgee who extended a kind of + patronizing protectorate over him—not unmixed with doubts of his + sanity, in spite of the promised confidential clerkship he was to receive + from his hands. + </p> + <p> + On the day of the events chronicled in the preceding chapter, Rupert on + returning from school was somewhat surprised to find Uncle Ben perched + upon the rail-fence before the humble door of the Filgee mansion and + evidently awaiting him. Slowly dismounting as Rupert and Johnny + approached, he beamed upon the former for some moments with arch and yet + affable mystery. + </p> + <p> + “Roopy, old man, I s'pose ye've got yer duds all ready in yer pack, eh?” + </p> + <p> + A flush of pleasure passed over the boy's handsome face. He cast, however, + a hurried look down on the all-pervading Johnny. + </p> + <p> + “'Cause ye see we kalkilate to take the down stage to Sacramento at four + o'clock,” continued Uncle Ben, enjoying Rupert's half sceptical surprise. + “Ye enter into office, so to speak, with me at that hour, when the + sellery, seventy-five dollars a month and board, ez private and + confidential clerk, begins—eh?” + </p> + <p> + Rupert's dimples deepened in charming, almost feminine, embarrassment. + “But dad—?” he stammered. + </p> + <p> + “Et's all right with HIM. He's agreeable.” + </p> + <p> + “But—?” + </p> + <p> + Uncle Ben followed Rupert's glance at Johnny, who however appeared to be + absorbed in the pattern of Uncle Ben's new trousers. + </p> + <p> + “That's fixed,” he said with a meaning smile. “There's a sort o' bonus we + pays down, you know—for a Chinyman to do the odd jobs.” + </p> + <p> + “And teacher—Mr. Ford—did ye tell him?” said Rupert + brightening. + </p> + <p> + Uncle Ben coughed slightly. “He's agreeable, too, I reckon. That is,” he + wiped his mouth meditatively, “he ez good ez allowed it in gin'ral + conversation a week ago, Roop.” + </p> + <p> + A swift shadow of suspicion darkened the boy's brown eyes. “Is anybody + else goin' with us?” he said quickly. + </p> + <p> + “Not this yer trip,” replied Uncle Ben complacently. “Ye see, Roop,” he + continued, drawing him aside with an air of comfortable mystery, “this yer + biz'ness b'longs to the private and confidential branch of the office. + From informashun we've received”— + </p> + <p> + “WE?” interrupted Rupert. + </p> + <p> + “'We,' that's the OFFICE, you know,” continued Uncle Ben with a heavy + assumption of business formality, “wot we've received per several hands + and consignee—we—that's YOU and ME, Roop—we goes down to + Sacramento to inquire into the standin' of a certing party, as per + invoice, and ter see—ter see—ter negotiate you know, ter find + out if she's married or di-vorced,” he concluded quickly, as if abandoning + for the moment his business manner in consideration of Rupert's + inexperience. “We're to find out her standin', Roop,” he began again with + a more judicious blending of ease and technicality, “and her contracts, if + any, and where she lives and her way o' life, and examine her books and + papers ez to marriages and sich, and arbitrate with her gin'rally in + conversation—you inside the house and me out on the pavement, ready + to be called in if an interview with business principals is desired.” + </p> + <p> + Observing Rupert somewhat perplexed and confused with these + technicalities, he tactfully abandoned them for the present, and + consulting a pocket-book said, “I've made a memorandum of some pints that + we'll talk over on the journey,” again charged Rupert to be punctually at + the stage office with his carpetbag, and cheerfully departed. + </p> + <p> + When he had disappeared Johnny Filgee, without a single word of + explanation, fell upon his brother, and at once began a violent attack of + kicks and blows upon his legs and other easily accessible parts of his + person, accompanying his assault with unintelligible gasps and actions, + finally culminating in a flood of tears and the casting of himself on his + back in the dust with the copper-fastened toes of his small boots turning + imaginary wheels in the air. Rupert received these characteristic marks of + despairing and outraged affection with great forbearance, only saying, + “There, now, Johnny, quit that,” and eventually bearing him still + struggling into the house. Here Johnny, declaring that he would kill any + “Chinyman” that offered to dress him, and burn down the house after his + brother's infamous desertion of it, Rupert was constrained to mingle a few + nervous, excited tears with his brother's outbreak. Whereat Johnny, + admitting the alleviation of an orange, a four-bladed knife, and the + reversionary interest in much of Rupert's personal property, became more + subdued. Sitting there with their arms entwined about each other, the + sunlight searching the shiftless desolation of their motherless home, the + few cheap playthings they had known lying around them, they beguiled + themselves with those charming illusions of their future intentions common + to their years—illusions they only half believed themselves and half + accepted of each other. Rupert was quite certain that he would return in a + few days with a gold watch and a present for Johnny, and Johnny, with a + baleful vision of never seeing him again, and a catching breath, + magnificently undertook to bring in the wood and build the fire and wash + the dishes “all of himself.” And then there were a few childish + confidences regarding their absent father—then ingenuously playing + poker in the Magnolia Saloon—that might have made that + public-spirited, genial companion somewhat uncomfortable, and more tears + that were half smiling and some brave silences that were wholly pathetic, + and then the hour for Rupert's departure all too suddenly arrived. They + separated with ostentatious whooping, and then Johnny, suddenly overcome + with the dreadfulness of all earthly things, and the hollowness of life + generally, instantly resolved to run away! + </p> + <p> + To do this he prepared himself with a purposeless hatchet, an inconsistent + but long-treasured lump of putty and all the sugar that was left in the + cracked sugar-bowl. Thus accoutred he sallied forth, first to remove all + traces of his hated existence that might be left in his desk at school. If + the master were there he would say Rupert had sent him; if he wasn't, he + would climb in at the window. The sun was already sinking when he reached + the clearing and found a cavalcade of armed men around the building. + </p> + <p> + Johnny's first conviction was that the master had killed Uncle Ben or + Masters, and that the men, taking advantage of the absence of his—Johnny's—big + brother, were about to summarily execute him. Observing no struggle from + within, his second belief was that the master had been suddenly elected + Governor of California and was about to start with a state escort from the + school-house, and that he, Johnny, was in time to see the procession. But + when the master appeared with McKinstry, followed by part of the crowd + afoot, this quick-witted child of the frontier, from his secure outlook in + the “brush,” gathered enough from their fragmentary speech to guess the + serious purport of their errand, and thrill with anticipation and slightly + creepy excitement. + </p> + <p> + A duel! A thing hitherto witnessed only by grown-up men, afterwards + swaggering with importance and strange technical bloodthirsty words, and + now for the first time reserved for a BOY—and that boy him, Johnny!—to + behold in all its fearful completeness! A duel! of which, he, Johnny, + meanly abandoned by his brother, was now exalted perhaps to be the only + survivor! He could scarcely credit his senses. It was too much! + </p> + <p> + To creep through the brush while the preliminaries were being settled, + reach a certain silver fir on the appointed ground, and with the aid of + his now lucky hatchet, climb unseen to its upper boughs, was an exciting + and difficult task, but one eventually overcome by his short but energetic + legs. Here he could not only see all that occurred, but by a fortunate + chance the large pine next to him had been selected as the limit of the + ground. The sharp eyes of the boy had long since penetrated the disguises + of the remaining masked men, and when the long, lank figure of the + master's self-appointed second took up its position beneath the pines in + full view of him, although hidden from the spectators, Johnny instantly + recognized it to be none other than Seth Davis. The manifest inconsistency + of his appearance as Mr. Ford's second with what Johnny knew of his + relations to the master was the one thing that firmly fixed the incident + in the boy's memory. + </p> + <p> + The men were already in position. Harrison stepped forward to give the + word. Johnny's down-hanging legs tingled with cramp and excitement. Why + didn't they begin? What were they waiting for? What if it were + interrupted, or—terrible thought—made up at the last moment? + Would they “holler” out when they were hit, or stagger round convulsively + as they did at the “cirkiss”? Would they all run away afterwards and leave + Johnny alone to tell the tale? And—horrible thought!—would any + body believe him? Would Rupert? Rupert, had he “on'y knowed this,” he + wouldn't have gone away. + </p> + <p> + “One”— + </p> + <p> + With a child's perfect faith in the invulnerable superiority of his + friends, he had not even looked at the master, but only at his destined + victim. Yet as the word “two” rang out Johnny's attention was suddenly + attracted to the surprising fact that the master's second, Seth Davis, had + also drawn a pistol, and from behind his tree was deliberately and + stealthily aiming at McKinstry! He understood it all now—he was a + friend of the master's. Bully for Seth! + </p> + <p> + “Three!” + </p> + <p> + Crack! Z-i-i-p! Crackle! What a funny noise! And yet he was obliged to + throw himself flat upon the bough to keep from falling. It seemed to have + snapped beneath him and benumbed his right leg. He did not know that the + master's bullet, fired in the air, had ranged along the bough, stripping + the bark throughout its length, and glancing with half-spent force to + inflict a slight flesh wound on his leg! + </p> + <p> + He was giddy and a little frightened. And he had seen nobody hit, nor + nothin'. It was all a humbug! Seth had disappeared. So had the others. + There was a faint sound of voices and something like a group in the + distance—that was all. It was getting dark, too, and his leg was + still asleep, but warm and wet. He would get down. This was very + difficult, for his leg would not wake up, and but for the occasional + support he got by striking his hatchet in the tree he would have fallen in + descending. When he reached the ground his leg began to pain, and looking + down he saw that his stocking and shoe were soaked with blood. + </p> + <p> + His small and dirty handkerchief, a hard wad in his pocket, was + insufficient to staunch the flow. With a vague recollection of a certain + poultice applied to a boil on his father's neck, he collected a quantity + of soft moss and dried yerba buena leaves, and with the aid of his check + apron and of one of his torn suspenders tightly wound round the whole + mass, achieved a bandage of such elephantine proportions that he could + scarcely move with it. In fact, like most imaginative children, he became + slightly terrified at his own alarming precautions. Nevertheless, although + a word or an outcry from him would have at that moment brought the distant + group to his assistance, a certain respect to himself and his brother kept + him from uttering even a whimper of weakness. + </p> + <p> + Yet he found refuge, oddly enough, in a suppressed but bitter denunciation + of the other boys of his acquaintance. What was Cal. Harrison doing, while + he, Johnny, was alone in the woods, wounded in a grown-up duel—for + nothing would convince this doughty infant that he had not been an active + participant? Where was Jimmy Snyder that he didn't come to his assistance + with the other fellers? Cowards all; they were afraid. Ho, ho! And he, + Johnny, wasn't afraid! ho—he didn't mind it! Nevertheless he had to + repeat the phrase two or three times until, after repeated struggles to + move forward through the brush, he at last sank down exhausted. By this + time the distant group had slowly moved away, carrying something between + them, and leaving Johnny alone in the fast coming darkness. Yet even this + desertion did not affect him as strongly as his implicit belief in the + cowardly treachery of his old associates. + </p> + <p> + It grew darker and darker, until the open theatre of the late conflict + appeared enclosed in funereal walls; a cool searching breath of air that + seemed to have crept through the bracken and undergrowth like a stealthy + animal, lifted the curls on his hot forehead. He grasped his hatchet + firmly as against possible wild beasts, and as a medicinal and remedial + precaution, took another turn with his suspender around his bandage. It + occurred to him then that he would probably die. They would all feel + exceedingly sorry and alarmed, and regret having made him wash himself on + Saturday night. They would attend his funeral in large numbers in the + little graveyard, where a white tombstone inscribed to “John Filgee, fell + in a duel at the age of seven,” would be awaiting him. He would forgive + his brother, his father, and Mr. Ford. Yet even then he vaguely resented a + few leaves and twigs dropped by a woodpecker in the tree above him, with a + shake of his weak fist and an incoherent declaration that they couldn't + “play no babes in the wood on HIM.” And then having composed himself he + once more turned on his side to die, as became the scion of a heroic race! + The free woods, touched by an upspringing wind, waved their dark arms + above him, and higher yet a few patient stars silently ranged themselves + around his pillow. + </p> + <p> + But with the rising wind and stars came the swift trampling of horses' + hoofs and the flashing of lanterns, and Doctor Duchesne and the master + swept down into the opening. + </p> + <p> + “It was here,” said the master quickly, “but they must have taken him on + to his own home. Let us follow.” + </p> + <p> + “Hold on a moment,” said the doctor, who had halted before the tree. + “What's all this? Why, it's baby Filgee—by thunder!” + </p> + <p> + In another moment they had both dismounted and were leaning over the half + conscious child. Johnny turned his feverishly bright eyes from the lantern + to the master and back again. + </p> + <p> + “What is it, Johnny boy?” asked the master tenderly. “Were you lost?” + </p> + <p> + With a gleam of feverish exaltation, Johnny rose, albeit wanderingly, to + the occasion! + </p> + <p> + “Hit!” he lisped feebly, “Hit in a doell! at the age of theven.” + </p> + <p> + “What!” asked the bewildered master. + </p> + <p> + But Doctor Duchesne, after a single swift scrutiny of the boy's face, had + unearthed him from his nest of leaves, laid him in his lap, and deftly + ripped away the preposterous bandage. “Hold the light here. By Jove! he + tells the truth. Who did it, Johnny?” + </p> + <p> + But Johnny was silent. In an interval of feverish consciousness and pain, + his perception and memory had been quickened; a suspicion of the real + cause of his disaster had dawned upon him—but his childish lips were + heroically sealed. The master glanced appealingly at the Doctor. + </p> + <p> + “Take him before you in the saddle to McKinstry's,” said the latter + promptly. “I can attend to both.” + </p> + <p> + The master lifted the boy tenderly in his arms. Johnny, stimulated by the + prospect of a free ride, became feebly interested in his fellow sufferer. + </p> + <p> + “Did Theth hit him bad?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + “Seth?” echoed the master, wildly. + </p> + <p> + “Yeth. I theed him when he took aim.” + </p> + <p> + The master did not reply, but the next moment Johnny felt himself clasped + in his arms in the saddle before him, borne like a whirlwind in the + direction of the McKinstry ranch. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIV. + </h2> + <p> + They found the wounded man lying in the front room upon a rudely + extemporized couch of bear-skins, he having sternly declined the + effeminacy of his wife's bedroom. In the possibility of a fatal + termination to his wound, and in obedience to a grim frontier tradition, + he had also refused to have his boots removed in order that he might “die + with them on,” as became his ancestral custom. Johnny was therefore + speedily made comfortable in the McKinstry bed, while Dr. Duchesne gave + his whole attention to his more serious patient. The master glanced + hurriedly around for Mrs. McKinstry. She was not only absent from the + room, but there seemed to be no suggestion of her presence in the house. + To his greater surprise the hurried inquiry that rose to his lips was + checked by a significant warning from the attendant. He sat down beside + the now sleeping boy, and awaited the doctor's return with his mind + wandering between the condition of the little sufferer and the singular + revelation that had momentarily escaped his childish lips. If Johnny had + actually seen Seth fire at McKinstry, the latter's mysterious wound was + accounted for—but not Seth's motive. The act was so utterly + incomprehensible and inconsistent with Seth's avowed hatred of the master + that the boy must have been delirious. + </p> + <p> + He was roused by the entrance of the surgeon. “It's not so bad as I + thought,” he said, with a reassuring nod. “It was a mighty close shave + between a shattered bone and a severed artery, but we've got the ball, and + he'll pull through in a week. By Jove! though—the old fire-eater was + more concerned about finding the ball than living or dying! Go in there—he + wants to see you. Don't let him talk too much. He's called in a lot of his + friends for some reason or other—and there's a regular mass-meeting + in there. Go in, and get rid of 'em. I'll look after baby Filgee—though + the little chap will be all right again after another dressing.” + </p> + <p> + The master cast a hurried look of relief at the surgeon, and re-entered + the front room. It was filled with men whom the master instinctively + recognized as his former adversaries. But they gave way before him with a + certain rude respect and half abashed sympathy as McKinstry called him to + his side. The wounded man grasped his hand. “Lift me up a bit,” he + whispered. The master assisted him with difficulty to his elbow. + </p> + <p> + “Gentlemen!” said McKinstry, with a characteristic wave of his crippled + hand towards the crowd as he laid the other on the master's shoulder. “Ye + heerd me talkin' a minit ago; ye heer me now. This yer young man as we've + slipped up on and meskalkilated has told the truth—every time! Ye + ken tie to him whenever and wherever ye want to. Ye ain't expected to feel + ez I feel, in course, but the man ez goes back on HIM—quo'lls with + me. That's all—and thanks for inquiring friends. Ye'll git now, + boys, and leave him a minit with me.” + </p> + <p> + The men filed slowly out, a few lingering long enough to shake the + master's hand with grave earnestness, or half smiling, half abashed + embarrassment. The master received the proffered reconciliation of these + men, who but a few hours before would have lynched him with equal + sincerity, with cold bewilderment. As the door closed on the last of the + party he turned to McKinstry. The wounded man had sunk down again, but was + regarding with drowsy satisfaction a leaden bullet he was holding between + his finger and thumb. + </p> + <p> + “This yer shot, Mr. Ford,” he said in a slow voice, whose weakness was + only indicated by its extreme deliberation, “never kem from the gun I gave + ye—and was never fired by you.” He paused and then added with his + old dull abstraction, “It's a long time since I've run agin anythin' that + makes me feel more—kam.” + </p> + <p> + In Mr. McKinstry's weak condition the master did not dare to make Johnny's + revelation known to him, and contented himself by simply pressing his + hand, but the next moment the wounded man resumed,— + </p> + <p> + “That ball jest fits Seth's navy revolver—and the hound hes made + tracks outer the country.” + </p> + <p> + “But what motive could he have in attacking YOU at such a time?” asked the + master. + </p> + <p> + “He reckoned that either I'd kill you and so he'd got shut of us both in + that way, without it being noticed; or if I missed you, the others would + hang YOU—ez they kalkilated to—for killing ME! The idea kem to + him when he overheard you hintin' you wouldn't return my fire.” + </p> + <p> + A shuddering conviction that McKinstry had divined the real truth passed + over the master. In the impulse of the moment he again would have + corroborated it by revealing Johnny's story, but a glance at the growing + feverishness of the wounded man checked his utterance. “Don't talk of it + now,” he said hurriedly. “Enough for me to know that you acquit ME. I am + here now only to beg you to compose yourself until the doctor comes back—as + you seemed to be alone, and Mrs. McKinstry”—he stopped in awkward + embarrassment. + </p> + <p> + A singular confusion overspread the invalid's face. “She hed steppt out + afore this happened, owin' to contrairy opinions betwixt me and her. Ye + mout hev noticed, Mr. Ford, that gin'rally she didn't 'pear to cotton to + ye! Thar ain't a woman a goin' ez is the ekal of Blair Rawlins' darter in + nussin' a man and keeping him in fightin' order, but in matters like + things that consarn herself and Cress, I begin to think, Mr. Ford, that + somehow, she ain't exakly—kam! Bein' kam yourself, ye'll put any + unpleasantness down to that. Wotever you hear from HER, and, for the + matter o' that, from her own darter too—for I'm takin' back the + foolishness I said to ye over yon about your runnin' off with Cress—you'll + remember, Mr. Ford, it warn't from no ill feeling to YOU, in her or Cress—but + on'y a want of kam! I mout hev had MY idees about Cress, you mout hev had + YOURS, and that fool Dabney mout hev had HIS; but it warn't the old + woman's—nor Cressy's—it warn't Blair Rawlins' darter's idea—nor + yet HER darter's! And why? For want o' kam! Times I reckon it was left out + o' woman's nater. And bein' kam yourself, you understand it, and take it + all in.” + </p> + <p> + The old look of drowsy pain had settled so strongly in his red eyes again + that the master was fain to put his hand gently over them, and with a + faint smile beg him to compose himself to sleep. This he finally did after + a whispered suggestion that he himself was feeling “more kam.” The master + sat for some moments with his hand upon the sleeping man's eyes, and a + vague and undefinable sense of loneliness seemed to fall upon him from the + empty rafters of the silent and deserted house. The rising wind moaned + fitfully around its bleak shell with the despairing sound of far and + forever receding voices. So strong was the impression that when the doctor + and McKinstry's attending brother re-entered the room, the master still + lingered beside the bed with a dazed sensation of abandonment that the + doctor's practical reassuring smile could hardly dispel. + </p> + <p> + “He's doing splendidly now,” he said, listening to the sleeper's more + regular respiration: “and I'd advise you to go now, Mr. Ford, before he + wakes, lest he might be tempted to excite himself by talking to you again. + He's really quite out of danger now. Good-night! I'll drop in on you at + the hotel when I return.” + </p> + <p> + The master, albeit still confused and bewildered, felt his way to the door + and out into the open night. The wind was still despairingly wrestling + with the tree-tops, but the far receding voices seemed to be growing + fainter in the distance, until, as he passed on, they too seemed to pass + away forever. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + Monday morning had come again, and the master was at his desk in the + school house early, with a still damp and inky copy of the Star fresh from + the press before him. The free breath of the pines was blowing in the + window, and bringing to his ears the distant voices of his slowly + gathering flock, as he read as follows:— + </p> + <p> + “The perpetrator of the dastardly outrage at the Indian Spring Academy on + Thursday last—which, through unfortunate misrepresentation of the + facts, led to a premature calling out of several of our most + public-spirited citizens, and culminated in a most regrettable encounter + between Mr. McKinstry and the accomplished and estimable principal of the + school—has, we regret to say, escaped condign punishment by leaving + the country with his relations. If, as is seriously whispered, he was also + guilty of an unparalleled offence against a chivalrous code which will + exclude him in the future from ever seeking redress at the Court of Honor, + our citizens will be only too glad to get rid of the contamination of + being obliged to arrest him. Those of our readers who know the high + character of the two gentlemen who were thus forced into a hostile + meeting, will not be surprised to know that the most ample apologies were + tendered on both sides, and that the entente cordiale has been thoroughly + restored. The bullet—which it is said played a highly important part + in the subsequent explanation, proving to have come from a REVOLVER fired + by some outsider—has been extracted from Mr. McKinstry's thigh, and + he is doing well, with every prospect of a speedy recovery.” + </p> + <p> + Smiling, albeit not uncomplacently, at this valuable contribution to + history from an unfettered press, his eye fell upon the next paragraph, + perhaps not so complacently:— + </p> + <p> + “Benjamin Daubigny, Esq., who left town for Sacramento on important + business, not entirely unconnected with his new interests in Indian + Springs, will, it is rumored, be shortly joined by his wife, who has been + enabled by his recent good fortune to leave her old home in the States, + and take her proper proud position at his side. Although personally + unknown to Indian Springs, Mrs. Daubigny is spoken of as a beautiful and + singularly accomplished woman, and it is to be regretted that her + husband's interests will compel them to abandon Indian Springs for + Sacramento as a future residence. Mr. Daubigny was accompanied by his + private secretary Rupert, the eldest son of H. G. Filgee, Esq., who has + been a promising graduate of the Indian Spring Academy, and offers a + bright example to the youth of this district. We are happy to learn that + his younger brother is recovering rapidly from a slight accident received + last week through the incautious handling of firearms.” + </p> + <p> + The master, with his eyes upon the paper, remained so long plunged in a + reverie that the school-room was quite filled and his little flock was + wonderingly regarding him before he recalled himself. He was hurriedly + reaching his hand towards the bell when he was attracted by the rising + figure of Octavia Dean. + </p> + <p> + “Please, sir, you didn't ask if we had any news!” + </p> + <p> + “True—I forgot,” said the master smiling. “Well, have you anything + to tell us?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, sir. Cressy McKinstry has left school.” + </p> + <p> + “Indeed!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, sir; she's married.” + </p> + <p> + “Married,” repeated the master with an effort, yet conscious of the eyes + concentrated upon his colorless face. “Married—and to whom?” + </p> + <p> + “To Joe Masters, sir, at the Baptist Chapel at Big Bluff, Sunday, an' Marm + McKinstry was thar with her.” + </p> + <p> + There was a momentary and breathless pause. Then the voices of his little + pupils—those sage and sweet truants from tradition, those gentle but + relentless historians of the future—rose around him in shrill chorus—“WHY, + WE KNOWED IT ALL ALONG, SIR!” + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Cressy, by Bret Harte + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CRESSY *** + +***** This file should be named 2858-h.htm or 2858-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/5/2858/ + +Produced by Donald Lainson; David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Cressy + +Author: Bret Harte + +Release Date: May 27, 2006 [EBook #2858] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CRESSY *** + + + + +Produced by Donald Lainson + + + + + +CRESSY + + +By Bret Harte + + + + +CRESSY + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +As the master of the Indian Spring school emerged from the pine woods +into the little clearing before the schoolhouse, he stopped whistling, +put his hat less jauntily on his head, threw away some wild flowers he +had gathered on his way, and otherwise assumed the severe demeanor of +his profession and his mature age--which was at least twenty. Not that +he usually felt this an assumption; it was a firm conviction of his +serious nature that he impressed others, as he did himself, with the +blended austerity and ennui of deep and exhausted experience. + +The building which was assigned to him and his flock by the Board of +Education of Tuolumne County, California, had been originally a church. +It still bore a faded odor of sanctity, mingled, however, with a later +and slightly alcoholic breath of political discussion, the result of its +weekly occupation under the authority of the Board as a Tribune for the +enunciation of party principles and devotion to the Liberties of the +People. There were a few dog-eared hymn-books on the teacher's desk, and +the blackboard but imperfectly hid an impassioned appeal to the citizens +of Indian Spring to "Rally" for Stebbins as Supervisor. The master had +been struck with the size of the black type in which this placard +was printed, and with a shrewd perception of its value to the round +wandering eyes of his smaller pupils, allowed it to remain as a pleasing +example of orthography. Unfortunately, although subdivided and spelt by +them in its separate letters with painful and perfect accuracy, it was +collectively known as "Wally," and its general import productive of +vague hilarity. + +Taking a large key from his pocket, the master unlocked the door and +threw it open, stepping back with a certain precaution begotten of his +experience in once finding a small but sociable rattlesnake coiled up +near the threshold. A slight disturbance which followed his intrusion +showed the value of that precaution, and the fact that the room had been +already used for various private and peaceful gatherings of animated +nature. An irregular attendance of yellow-birds and squirrels dismissed +themselves hurriedly through the broken floor and windows, but a golden +lizard, stiffened suddenly into stony fright on the edge of an +open arithmetic, touched the heart of the master so strongly by its +resemblance to some kept-in and forgotten scholar who had succumbed over +the task he could not accomplish, that he was seized with compunction. + +Recovering himself, and re-establishing, as it were, the decorous +discipline of the room by clapping his hands and saying "Sho!" he passed +up the narrow aisle of benches, replacing the forgotten arithmetic, and +picking up from the desks here and there certain fragmentary pieces of +plaster and crumbling wood that had fallen from the ceiling, as if +this grove of Academus had been shedding its leaves overnight. When he +reached his own desk he lifted the lid and remained for some moments +motionless, gazing into it. His apparent meditation however was simply +the combined reflection of his own features in a small pocket-mirror in +its recesses and a perplexing doubt in his mind whether the sacrifice of +his budding moustache was not essential to the professional austerity +of his countenance. But he was presently aware of the sound of small +voices, light cries, and brief laughter scattered at vague and remote +distances from the schoolhouse--not unlike the birds and squirrels he +had just dispossessed. He recognized by these signs that it was nine +o'clock, and his scholars were assembling. + +They came in their usual desultory fashion--the fashion of country +school-children the world over--irregularly, spasmodically, and always +as if accidentally; a few hand-in-hand, others driven ahead of or +dropped behind their elders; some in straggling groups more or less +coherent and at times only connected by far-off intermediate voices +scattered on a space of half a mile, but never quite alone; always +preoccupied by something else than the actual business on hand; +appearing suddenly from ditches, behind trunks, and between fence-rails; +cropping up in unexpected places along the road after vague and +purposeless detours--seemingly going anywhere and everywhere but to +school! So unlooked-for, in fact, was their final arrival that the +master, who had a few moments before failed to descry a single torn +straw hat or ruined sun-bonnet above his visible horizon, was always +startled to find them suddenly under his windows, as if, like the birds, +they had alighted from the trees. Nor was their moral attitude towards +their duty any the more varied; they always arrived as if tired and +reluctant, with a doubting sulkiness that perhaps afterwards beamed into +a charming hypocrisy, but invariably temporizing with their instincts +until the last moment, and only relinquishing possible truancy on the +very threshold. Even after they were marshalled on their usual +benches they gazed at each other every morning with a perfectly fresh +astonishment and a daily recurring enjoyment of some hidden joke in this +tremendous rencontre. + +It had been the habit of the master to utilize these preliminary +vagrancies of his little flock by inviting them on assembling to recount +any interesting incident of their journey hither; or failing this, from +their not infrequent shyness in expressing what had secretly interested +them, any event that had occurred within their knowledge since they last +met. He had done this, partly to give them time to recover themselves +in that more formal atmosphere, and partly, I fear, because, +notwithstanding his conscientious gravity, it greatly amused him. It +also diverted them from their usual round-eyed, breathless contemplation +of himself--a regular morning inspection which generally embraced every +detail of his dress and appearance, and made every change or deviation +the subject of whispered comment or stony astonishment. He knew that +they knew him more thoroughly than he did himself, and shrank from the +intuitive vision of these small clairvoyants. + +"Well?" said the master gravely. + +There was the usual interval of bashful hesitation, verging on nervous +hilarity or hypocritical attention. For the last six months this +question by the master had been invariably received each morning as a +veiled pleasantry which might lead to baleful information or conceal +some query out of the dreadful books before him. Yet this very element +of danger had its fascinations. Johnny Filgee, a small boy, blushed +violently, and, without getting up, began hurriedly in a high key, "Tige +ith got," and then suddenly subsided into a whisper. + +"Speak up, Johnny," said the master encouragingly. + +"Please, sir, it ain't anythin' he's seed--nor any real news," said +Rupert Filgee, his elder brother, rising with family concern and +frowning openly upon Johnny; "it's jest his foolishness; he oughter be +licked." Finding himself unexpectedly on his feet, and apparently at the +end of a long speech, he colored also, and then said hurriedly, "Jimmy +Snyder--HE seed suthin'. Ask HIM!" and sat down--a recognized hero. + +Every eye, including the master's, was turned on Jimmy Snyder. But that +youthful observer, instantly diving his head and shoulders into his +desk, remained there gurgling as if under water. Two or three nearest +him endeavored with some struggling to bring him to an intelligible +surface again. The master waited patiently. Johnny Filgee took advantage +of the diversion to begin again in a high key, "Tige ith got thix," and +subsided. + +"Come, Jimmy," said the master, with a touch of peremptoriness. Thus +adjured, Jimmy Snyder came up glowingly, and bristling with full stops +and exclamation points. "Seed a black b'ar comin' outer Daves' woods," +he said excitedly. "Nigh to me ez you be. 'N big ez a hoss; 'n snarlin'! +'n snappin'!--like gosh! Kem along--ker--clump torords me. Reckoned he'd +skeer me! Didn't skeer me worth a cent. I heaved a rock at him--I did +now!" (in defiance of murmurs of derisive comment)--"'n he slid. Ef +he'd kem up furder I'd hev up with my slate and swotted him over the +snoot--bet your boots!" + +The master here thought fit to interfere, and gravely point out that +the habit of striking bears as large as a horse with a school-slate was +equally dangerous to the slate (which was also the property of Tuolumne +County) and to the striker; and that the verb "to swot" and the noun +substantive "snoot" were likewise indefensible, and not to be tolerated. +Thus admonished Jimmy Snyder, albeit unshaken in his faith in his own +courage, sat down. + +A slight pause ensued. The youthful Filgee, taking advantage of it, +opened in a higher key, "Tige ith"--but the master's attention was here +diverted by the searching eyes of Octavia Dean, a girl of eleven, who +after the fashion of her sex preferred a personal recognition of her +presence before she spoke. Succeeding in catching his eye, she threw +back her long hair from her shoulders with an easy habitual gesture, +rose, and with a faint accession of color said: + +"Cressy McKinstry came home from Sacramento. Mrs. McKinstry told mother +she's comin' back here to school." + +The master looked up with an alacrity perhaps inconsistent with his +cynical austerity. Seeing the young girl curiously watching him with +an expectant smile, he regretted it. Cressy McKinstry, who was sixteen +years old, had been one of the pupils he had found at the school when +he first came. But as he had also found that she was there in the +extraordinary attitude of being "engaged" to one Seth Davis, a +fellow-pupil of nineteen, and as most of the courtship was carried on +freely and unceremoniously during school-hours with the full permission +of the master's predecessor, the master had been obliged to point out +to the parents of the devoted couple the embarrassing effects of this +association on the discipline of the school. The result had been the +withdrawal of the lovers, and possibly the good-will of the parents. The +return of the young lady was consequently a matter of some significance. +Had the master's protest been accepted, or had the engagement itself +been broken off? + +Either was not improbable. His momentary loss of attention was Johnny +Filgee's great gain. + +"Tige," said Johnny, with sudden and alarming distinctness, "ith got +thix pupths--mothly yaller." + +In the laugh which followed this long withheld announcement of an +increase in the family of Johnny's yellow and disreputable setter +"Tiger," who usually accompanied him to school and howled outside, +the master joined with marked distinctness. Then he said, with equally +marked severity, "Books!" The little levee was ended, and school began. + +It continued for two hours with short sighs, corrugations of small +foreheads, the complaining cries and scratchings of slate pencils over +slates, and other signs of minor anguish among the more youthful of the +flock; and with more or less whisperings, movements of the lips, and +unconscious soliloquy among the older pupils. The master moved slowly up +and down the aisle with a word of encouragement or explanation here and +there, stopping with his hands behind him to gaze abstractedly out of +the windows to the wondering envy of the little ones. A faint hum, as +of invisible insects, gradually pervaded the school; the more persistent +droning of a large bee had become dangerously soporific. The hot breath +of the pines without had invaded the doors and windows; the warped +shingles and weather-boarding at times creaked and snapped under the +rays of the vertical and unclouded sun. A gentle perspiration broke +out like a mild epidemic in the infant class; little curls became damp, +brief lashes limp, round eyes moist, and small eyelids heavy. The master +himself started, and awoke out of a perilous dream of other eyes and +hair to collect himself severely. For the irresolute, half-embarrassed, +half-lazy figure of a man had halted doubtingly before the porch and +open door. Luckily the children, who were facing the master with their +backs to the entrance, did not see it. + +Yet the figure was neither alarming nor unfamiliar. The master at +once recognized it as Ben Dabney, otherwise known as "Uncle Ben," a +good-humored but not over-bright miner, who occupied a small cabin on an +unambitious claim in the outskirts of Indian Spring. His avuncular title +was evidently only an ironical tribute to his amiable incompetency and +heavy good-nature, for he was still a young man with no family ties, and +by reason of his singular shyness not even a visitor in the few families +of the neighborhood. As the master looked up, he had an irritating +recollection that Ben had been already haunting him for the last two +days, alternately appearing and disappearing in his path to and from +school as a more than usually reserved and bashful ghost. This, to the +master's cynical mind, clearly indicated that, like most ghosts, he had +something of essentially selfish import to communicate. Catching the +apparition's half-appealing eye, he proceeded to exorcise it with a +portentous frown and shake of the head, that caused it to timidly wane +and fall away from the porch, only however to reappear and wax larger a +few minutes later at one of the side windows. The infant class hailing +his appearance as a heaven-sent boon, the master was obliged to walk to +the door and command him sternly away, when, retreating to the fence, he +mounted the uppermost rail, and drawing a knife from his pocket, cut +a long splinter from the rail, and began to whittle it in patient and +meditative silence. But when recess was declared, and the relieved +feelings of the little flock had vent in the clearing around the +schoolhouse, the few who rushed to the spot found that Uncle Ben had +already disappeared. Whether the appearance of the children was too +inconsistent with his ghostly mission, or whether his heart failed him +at the last moment, the master could not determine. Yet, distasteful +as the impending interview promised to be, the master was vaguely and +irritatingly disappointed. + +A few hours later, when school was being dismissed, the master +found Octavia Dean lingering near his desk. Looking into the girl's +mischievous eyes, he good-humoredly answered their expectation by +referring to her morning's news. "I thought Miss McKinstry had been +married by this time," he said carelessly. + +Octavia, swinging her satchel like a censer, as if she were performing +some act of thurification over her completed tasks, replied demurely: +"Oh no! dear no--not THAT." + +"So it would seem," said the master. + +"I reckon she never kalkilated to, either," continued Octavia, slyly +looking up from the corner of her lashes. + +"Indeed!" + +"No--she was just funning with Seth Davis--that's all." + +"Funning with him?" + +"Yes, sir. Kinder foolin' him, you know." + +"Kinder foolin' him!" + +For an instant the master felt it his professional duty to protest +against this most unmaidenly and frivolous treatment of the matrimonial +engagement, but a second glance at the significant face of his youthful +auditor made him conclude that her instinctive knowledge of her own sex +could be better trusted than his imperfect theories. He turned towards +his desk without speaking. Octavia gave an extra swing to her satchel, +tossing it over her shoulder with a certain small coquettishness and +moved towards the door. As she did so the infant Filgee from the safe +vantage of the porch where he had lingered was suddenly impelled to a +crowning audacity! As if struck with an original idea, but apparently +addressing himself to space, he cried out, "Crethy M'Kinthry likth +teacher," and instantly vanished. + +Putting these incidents sternly aside, the master addressed himself to +the task of setting a few copies for the next day as the voices of his +departing flock faded from the porch. Presently a silence fell upon the +little school-house. Through the open door a cool, restful breath stole +gently as if nature were again stealthily taking possession of her own. +A squirrel boldly came across the porch, a few twittering birds charging +in stopped, beat the air hesitatingly for a moment with their wings, and +fell back with bashfully protesting breasts aslant against the open door +and the unlooked-for spectacle of the silent occupant. Then there was +another movement of intrusion, but this time human, and the master +looked up angrily to behold Uncle Ben. + +He entered with a slow exasperating step, lifting his large boots very +high and putting them down again softly as if he were afraid of some +insecurity in the floor, or figuratively recognized the fact that the +pathways of knowledge were thorny and difficult. Reaching the master's +desk and the ministering presence above it, he stopped awkwardly, and +with the rim of his soft felt hat endeavored to wipe from his face the +meek smile it had worn when he entered. It chanced also that he had +halted before the minute stool of the infant Filgee, and his large +figure instantly assumed such Brobdingnagian proportions in contrast +that he became more embarrassed than ever. The master made no attempt to +relieve him, but regarded him with cold interrogation. + +"I reckoned," he began, leaning one hand on the master's desk with +affected ease, as he dusted his leg with his hat with the other, "I +reckoned--that is--I allowed--I orter say--that I'd find ye alone at +this time. Ye gin'rally are, ye know. It's a nice, soothin', restful, +stoodious time, when a man kin, so to speak, run back on his eddication +and think of all he ever knowed. Ye're jist like me, and ye see I sorter +spotted your ways to onct." + +"Then why did you come here this morning and disturb the school?" +demanded the master sharply. + +"That's so, I sorter slipped up thar, didn't I?" said Uncle Ben with +a smile of rueful assent. "You see I didn't allow to COME IN then, but +on'y to hang round a leetle and kinder get used to it, and it to me." + +"Used to what?" said the master impatiently, albeit with a slight +softening at his intruder's penitent expression. + +Uncle Ben did not reply immediately, but looked around as if for a seat, +tried one or two benches and a desk with his large hand as if testing +their security, and finally abandoning the idea as dangerous, seated +himself on the raised platform beside the master's chair, having +previously dusted it with the flap of his hat. Finding, however, that +the attitude was not conducive to explanation, he presently rose again, +and picking up one of the school-books from the master's desk eyed it +unskilfully upside down, and then said hesitatingly,-- + +"I reckon ye ain't usin' Dobell's 'Rithmetic here?" + +"No," said the master. + +"That's bad. 'Pears to be played out--that Dobell feller. I was brought +up on Dobell. And Parsings' Grammar? Ye don't seem to be a using +Parsings' Grammar either?" + +"No," said the master, relenting still more as he glanced at Uncle Ben's +perplexed face with a faint smile. + +"And I reckon you'd be saying the same of Jones' 'Stronomy and Algebry? +Things hev changed. You've got all the new style here," he continued, +with affected carelessness, but studiously avoiding the master's eye. +"For a man ez wos brought up on Parsings, Dobell, and Jones, thar don't +appear to be much show nowadays." + +The master did not reply. Observing several shades of color chase each +other on Uncle Ben's face, he bent his own gravely over his books. The +act appeared to relieve his companion, who with his eyes still turned +towards the window went on: + +"Ef you'd had them books--which you haven't--I had it in my mind to +ask you suthen'. I had an idea of--of--sort of reviewing my eddication. +Kinder going over the old books agin--jist to pass the time. Sorter +running in yer arter school hours and doin' a little practisin', eh? You +looking on me as an extry scholar--and I payin' ye as sich--but keepin' +it 'twixt ourselves, you know--just for a pastime, eh?" + +As the master smilingly raised his head, he became suddenly and +ostentatiously attracted to the window. + +"Them jay birds out there is mighty peart, coming right up to the +school-house! I reckon they think it sort o' restful too." + +"But if you really mean it, couldn't you use these books, Uncle Ben?" +said the master cheerfully. "I dare say there's little difference--the +principle is the same, you know." + +Uncle Ben's face, which had suddenly brightened, as suddenly fell. He +took the book from the master's hand without meeting his eyes, held it +at arm's length, turned it over and then laid it softly down upon the +desk as if it were some excessively fragile article. "Certingly," he +murmured, with assumed reflective ease. "Certingly. The principle's +all there." Nevertheless he was quite breathless and a few beads of +perspiration stood out upon his smooth, blank forehead. + +"And as to writing, for instance," continued the master with increasing +heartiness as he took notice of these phenomena, "you know ANY copy-book +will do." + +He handed his pen carelessly to Uncle Ben. The large hand that took it +timidly not only trembled but grasped it with such fatal and hopeless +unfamiliarity that the master was fain to walk to the window and observe +the birds also. + +"They're mighty bold--them jays," said Uncle Ben, laying down the pen +with scrupulous exactitude beside the book and gazing at his fingers as +if he had achieved a miracle of delicate manipulation. "They don't seem +to be afeared of nothing, do they?" + +There was another pause. The master suddenly turned from the window. +"I tell you what, Uncle Ben," he said with prompt decision and unshaken +gravity, "the only thing for you to do is to just throw over Dobell and +Parsons and Jones and the old quill pen that I see you're accustomed +to, and start in fresh as if you'd never known them. Forget 'em all, +you know. It will be mighty hard of course to do that," he continued, +looking out of the window, "but you must do it." + +He turned back, the brightness that transfigured Uncle Ben's face at +that moment brought a slight moisture into his own eyes. The humble +seeker of knowledge said hurriedly that he would try. + +"And begin again at the beginning," continued the master cheerfully. +"Exactly like one of those--in fact, as if you REALLY were a child +again." + +"That's so," said Uncle Ben, rubbing his hands delightedly, "that's me! +Why, that's jest what I was sayin' to Roop"-- + +"Then you've already been talking about it?" intercepted the master in +some surprise. "I thought you wanted it kept secret?" + +"Well, yes," responded Uncle Ben dubiously. "But you see I sorter agreed +with Roop Filgee that if you took to my ideas and didn't object, I'd +give him two bits* every time he'd kem here and help me of an arternoon +when you was away and kinder stand guard around the school-house, you +know, so as to keep the fellows off. And Roop's mighty sharp for a boy, +ye know." + + * Two bits, i. e., twenty-five cents. + +The master reflected a moment and concluded that Uncle Ben was probably +right. Rupert Filgee, who was a handsome boy of fourteen, was also a +strongly original character whose youthful cynicism and blunt, +honest temper had always attracted him. He was a fair scholar, with a +possibility of being a better one, and the proposed arrangement with +Uncle Ben would not interfere with the discipline of school hours +and might help them both. Nevertheless he asked good-humoredly, "But +couldn't you do this more securely and easily in your own house? I might +lend you the books, you know, and come to you twice a week." + +Uncle Ben's radiant face suddenly clouded. "It wouldn't be exactly the +same kind o' game to me an' Roop," he said hesitatingly. "You see thar's +the idea o' the school-house, ye know, and the restfulness and the +quiet, and the gen'ral air o' study. And the boys around town ez +wouldn't think nothin' o' trapsen' into my cabin if they spotted what I +was up to thar, would never dream o' hunting me here." + +"Very well," said the master, "let it be here then." Observing that his +companion seemed to be struggling with an inarticulate gratitude and an +apparently inextricable buckskin purse in his pocket, he added quietly, +"I'll set you a few copies to commence with," and began to lay out a few +unfinished examples of Master Johnny Filgee's scholastic achievements. + +"After thanking YOU, Mr. Ford," said Uncle Ben, faintly, "ef you'll jest +kinder signify, you know, what you consider a fair"-- + +Mr. Ford turned quickly and dexterously offered his hand to his +companion in such a manner that he was obliged to withdraw his own +from his pocket to grasp it in return. "You're very welcome," said the +master, "and as I can only permit this sort of thing gratuitously, you'd +better NOT let me know that you propose giving anything even to Rupert." +He shook Uncle Ben's perplexed hand again, briefly explained what he had +to do, and saying that he would now leave him alone a few minutes, he +took his hat and walked towards the door. + +"Then you reckon," said Uncle Ben slowly, regarding the work before him, +"that I'd better jest chuck them Dobell fellers overboard?" + +"I certainly should," responded the master with infinite gravity. + +"And sorter waltz in fresh, like one them children?" + +"Like a child," nodded the master as he left the porch. + +A few moments later, as he was finishing his cigar in the clearing, he +paused to glance in at the school-room window. Uncle Ben, stripped of +his coat and waistcoat, with his shirt-sleeves rolled up on his powerful +arms, had evidently cast Dobell and all misleading extraneous aid aside, +and with the perspiration standing out on his foolish forehead, and his +perplexed face close to the master's desk, was painfully groping along +towards the light in the tottering and devious tracks of Master Johnny +Filgee, like a very child indeed! + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +As the children were slowly straggling to their places the next morning, +the master waited for an opportunity to speak to Rupert. That beautiful +but scarcely amiable youth was, as usual, surrounded and impeded by a +group of his small female admirers, for whom, it is but just to add, +he had a supreme contempt. Possibly it was this healthy quality that +inclined the master towards him, and it was consequently with some +satisfaction that he overheard fragments of his openly disparaging +comments upon his worshippers. + +"There!" to Clarinda Jones, "don't flop! And don't YOU," to Octavia +Dean, "go on breathing over my head like that. If there's anything I +hate it's having a girl breathing round me. Yes, you were! I felt it in +my hair. And YOU too--you're always snoopin' and snoodgin'. Oh, yes, +you want to know WHY I've got an extry copy-book and another 'Rithmetic, +Miss Curiosity. Well, what would you give to know? Want to see if +they're PRETTY" (with infinite scorn at the adjective). "No, they ain't +PRETTY. That's all you girls think about--what's PRETTY and what's +curious! Quit now! Come! Don't ye see teacher lookin' at you? Ain't you +ashamed?" + +He caught the master's beckoning eye and came forward, slightly abashed, +with a flush of irritation still on his handsome face, and his chestnut +curls slightly rumpled. One, which Octavia had covertly accented by +twisting round her forefinger, stood up like a crest on his head. + +"I've told Uncle Ben that you might help him here after school hours," +said the master, taking him aside. "You may therefore omit your writing +exercise in the morning and do it in the afternoon." + +The boy's dark eyes sparkled. "And if it would be all the same to you, +sir," he added earnestly, "you might sorter give out in school that I +was to be kept in." + +"I'm afraid that would hardly do," said the master, much amused. "But +why?" + +Rupert's color deepened. "So ez to keep them darned girls from foolin' +round me and followin' me back here." + +"We will attend to that," said the master smiling; a moment after he +added more seriously, "I suppose your father knows that you are to +receive money for this? And he doesn't object?" + +"He! Oh no!" returned Rupert with a slight look of astonishment, and +the same general suggestion of patronizing his progenitor that he had +previously shown to his younger brother. "You needn't mind HIM." In +reality Filgee pere, a widower of two years' standing, had tacitly +allowed the discipline of his family to devolve upon Rupert. Remembering +this, the master could only say, "Very well," and good-naturedly dismiss +the pupil to his seat and the subject from his mind. The last laggard +had just slipped in, the master had glanced over the occupied benches +with his hand upon his warning bell, when there was a quick step on the +gravel, a flutter of skirts like the sound of alighting birds, and a +young woman lightly entered. + +In the rounded, untouched, and untroubled freshness of her cheek and +chin, and the forward droop of her slender neck, she appeared a girl +of fifteen; in her developed figure and the maturer drapery of her full +skirts she seemed a woman; in her combination of naive recklessness +and perfect understanding of her person she was both. In spite of a few +school-books that jauntily swung from a strap in her gloved hand, she +bore no resemblance to a pupil; in her pretty gown of dotted muslin with +bows of blue ribbon on the skirt and corsage, and a cluster of roses +in her belt, she was as inconsistent and incongruous to the others as +a fashion-plate would have been in the dry and dog-eared pages before +them. Yet she carried it off with a demure mingling of the naivete of +youth and the aplomb of a woman, and as she swept down the narrow aisle, +burying a few small wondering heads in the overflow of her flounces, +there was no doubt of her reception in the arch smile that dimpled her +cheek. Dropping a half curtsey to the master, the only suggestion of her +equality with the others, she took her place at one of the larger desks, +and resting her elbow on the lid began to quietly remove her gloves. It +was Cressy McKinstry. + +Irritated and disturbed at the girl's unceremonious entrance, the master +for the moment recognized her salutation coldly, and affected to ignore +her elaborate appearance. The situation was embarrassing. He could not +decline to receive her as she was no longer accompanied by her lover, +nor could he plead entire ignorance of her broken engagement; while +to point out the glaring inappropriateness of costume would be a fresh +interference he knew Indian Spring would scarcely tolerate. He could +only accept such explanation as she might choose to give. He rang his +bell as much to avert the directed eyes of the children as to bring the +scene to a climax. + +She had removed her gloves and was standing up. + +"I reckon I can go on where I left off?" she said lazily, pointing to +the books she had brought with her. + +"For the present," said the master dryly. + +The first class was called. Later, when his duty brought him to her +side, he was surprised to find that she was evidently already prepared +with consecutive lessons, as if she were serenely unconscious of any +doubt of her return, and as coolly as if she had only left school +the day before. Her studies were still quite elementary, for Cressy +McKinstry had never been a brilliant scholar, but he perceived, with a +cynical doubt of its permanency, that she had bestowed unusual care upon +her present performance. There was moreover a certain defiance in it, as +if she had resolved to stop any objection to her return on the score of +deficiencies. He was obliged in self-defence to take particular note of +some rings she wore, and a large bracelet that ostentatiously glittered +on her white arm--which had already attracted the attention of her +companions, and prompted the audible comment from Johnny Filgee that +it was "truly gold." Without meeting her eyes he contented himself with +severely restraining the glances of the children that wandered in her +direction. She had never been quite popular with the school in her +previous role of fiancee, and only Octavia Dean and one or two older +girls appreciated its mysterious fascination; while the beautiful +Rupert, secure in his avowed predilection for the middle-aged wife +of the proprietor of the Indian Spring hotel, looked upon her as a +precocious chit with more than the usual propensity to objectionable +"breathing." Nevertheless the master was irritatingly conscious of her +presence--a presence which now had all the absurdity of her ridiculous +love-experiences superadded to it. He tried to reason with himself that +it was only a phase of frontier life, which ought to have amused him. +But it did not. The intrusion of this preposterous girl seemed to +disarrange the discipline of his life as well as of his school. The +usual vague, far-off dreams in which he was in the habit of indulging +during school-hours, dreams that were perhaps superinduced by the +remoteness of his retreat and a certain restful sympathy in his little +auditors, which had made him--the grown-up dreamer--acceptable to them +in his gentle understanding of their needs and weaknesses, now seemed to +have vanished forever. + +At recess, Octavia Dean, who had drawn near Cressy and reached up +to place her arm round the older girl's waist, glanced at her with +a patronizing smile born of some rapid free-masonry, and laughingly +retired with the others. The master at his desk, and Cressy who had +halted in the aisle were left alone. + +"I have had no intimation yet from your father or mother that you were +coming back to school again," he began. "But I suppose THEY have decided +upon your return?" + +An uneasy suspicion of some arrangement with her former lover had +prompted the emphasis. + +The young girl looked at him with languid astonishment. "I reckon paw +and maw ain't no objection," she said with the same easy ignoring of +parental authority that had characterized Rupert Filgee, and which +seemed to be a local peculiarity. "Maw DID offer to come yer and see +you, but I told her she needn't bother." + +She rested her two hands behind her on the edge of a desk, and leaned +against it, looking down upon the toe of her smart little shoe which was +describing a small semicircle beyond the hem of her gown. Her attitude, +which was half-defiant, half-indolent, brought out the pretty curves of +her waist and shoulders. The master noticed it and became a trifle more +austere. + +"Then I am to understand that this is a permanent thing?" he asked +coldly. + +"What's that?" said Cressy interrogatively. + +"Am I to understand that you intend coming regularly to school?" +repeated the master curtly, "or is this merely an arrangement for a few +days--until"-- + +"Oh," said Cressy comprehendingly, lifting her unabashed blue eyes +to his, "you mean THAT. Oh, THAT'S broke off. Yes," she added +contemptuously, making a larger semicircle with her foot, "that's +over--three weeks ago." + +"And Seth Davis--does HE intend returning too?" + +"He!" She broke into a light girlish laugh. "I reckon not much! S'long's +I'm here, at least." She had just lifted herself to a sitting posture +on the desk, so that her little feet swung clear of the floor in their +saucy dance. Suddenly she brought her heels together and alighted. "So +that's all?" she asked. + +"Yes." + +"Kin I go now?" + +"Yes." + +She laid her books one on the top of the other and lingered an instant. + +"Been quite well?" she asked with indolent politeness. + +"Yes--thank you." + +"You're lookin' right peart." + +She walked with a Southern girl's undulating languor to the door, opened +it, then charged suddenly upon Octavia Dean, twirled her round in a +wild waltz and bore her away; appearing a moment after on the playground +demurely walking with her arm around her companion's waist in an +ostentatious confidence at once lofty, exclusive, and exasperating to +the smaller children. + +When school was dismissed that afternoon and the master had remained to +show Rupert Filgee how to prepare Uncle Ben's tasks, and had given his +final instructions to his youthful vicegerent, that irascible Adonis +unburdened himself querulously: + +"Is Cressy McKinstry comin' reg'lar, Mr. Ford?" + +"She is," said the master dryly. After a pause he asked, "Why?" + +Rupert's curls had descended on his eyebrows in heavy discontent. "It's +mighty rough, jest ez a feller reckons he's got quit of her and her +jackass bo', to hev her prancin' back inter school agin, and rigged out +like ez if she'd been to a fire in a milliner's shop." + +"You shouldn't allow your personal dislikes, Rupert, to provoke you to +speak of a fellow-scholar in that way--and a young lady, too," corrected +the master dryly. + +"The woods is full o' sich feller-scholars and sich young ladies, if +yer keer to go a gunning for 'em," said Rupert with dark and slangy +significance. "Ef I'd known she was comin' back I'd"--he stopped and +brought his sunburnt fist against the seam of his trousers with a boyish +gesture, "I'd hev jist"-- + +"What?" said the master sharply. + +"I'd hev played hookey till she left school agin! It moutn't hev bin so +long, neither," he added with a mysterious chuckle. + +"That will do," said the master peremptorily. "For the present you'll +attend to your duty and try to make Uncle Ben see you're something more +than a foolish, prejudiced school-boy, or," he added significantly, "he +and I may both repent our agreement. Let me have a good account of you +both when I return." + +He took his hat from its peg on the wall, and in obedience to a suddenly +formed resolution left the school-room to call upon the parents of +Cressy McKinstry. He was not quite certain what he should say, but, +after his habit, would trust to the inspiration of the moment. At the +worst he could resign a situation that now appeared to require more +tact and delicacy than seemed consistent with his position, and he was +obliged to confess to himself that he had lately suspected that his +present occupation--the temporary expedient of a poor but clever young +man of twenty--was scarcely bringing him nearer a realization of his +daily dreams. For Mr. Jack Ford was a youthful pilgrim who had sought +his fortune in California so lightly equipped that even in the matter of +kin and advisers he was deficient. That prospective fortune had already +eluded him in San Francisco, had apparently not waited for him in +Sacramento, and now seemed never to have been at Indian Spring. +Nevertheless, when he was once out of sight of the school-house he lit a +cigar, put his hands in his pockets, and strode on with the cheerfulness +of that youth to which all things are possible. + +The children had already dispersed as mysteriously and completely as +they had arrived. Between him and the straggling hamlet of Indian Spring +the landscape seemed to be without sound or motion. The wooded upland or +ridge on which the schoolhouse stood, half a mile further on, began +to slope gradually towards the river, on whose banks, seen from that +distance, the town appeared to have been scattered irregularly or thrown +together hastily, as if cast ashore by some overflow--the Cosmopolitan +Hotel drifting into the Baptist church, and dragging in its tail +of wreckage two saloons and a blacksmith's shop; while the County +Court-house was stranded in solitary grandeur in a waste of gravel half +a mile away. The intervening flat was still gashed and furrowed by the +remorseless engines of earlier gold-seekers. + +Mr. Ford was in little sympathy with this unsuccessful record of +frontier endeavor--the fortune HE had sought did not seem to lie in that +direction--and his eye glanced quickly beyond it to the pine-crested +hills across the river, whose primeval security was so near and yet so +inviolable, or back again to the trail he was pursuing along the ridge. +The latter prospect still retained its semi-savage character in spite +of the occasional suburban cottages of residents, and the few outlying +farms or ranches of the locality. The grounds of the cottages were yet +uncleared of underbrush; bear and catamount still prowled around the +rude fences of the ranches; the late alleged experience of the infant +Snyder was by no means improbable or unprecedented. + +A light breeze was seeking the heated flat and river, and thrilling the +leaves around him with the strong vitality of the forest. The vibrating +cross-lights and tremulous chequers of shade cast by the stirred foliage +seemed to weave a fantastic net around him as he walked. The quaint +odors of certain woodland herbs known to his scholars, and religiously +kept in their desks, or left like votive offerings on the threshold of +the school-house, recalled all the primitive simplicity and delicious +wildness of the little temple he had left. Even in the mischievous +glances of evasive squirrels and the moist eyes of the contemplative +rabbits there were faint suggestions of some of his own truants. The +woods were trembling with gentle memories of the independence he had +always known here--of that sweet and grave retreat now so ridiculously +invaded. + +He began to hesitate, with one of those revulsions of sentiment +characteristic of his nature: Why should he bother himself about +this girl after all? Why not make up his mind to accept her as +his predecessor had done? Why was it necessary for him to find her +inconsistent with his ideas of duty to his little flock and his mission +to them? Was he not assuming a sense of decorum that was open +to misconception? The absurdity of her school costume, and any +responsibility it incurred, rested not with him but with her parents. +What right had he to point it out to them, and above all how was he to +do it? He halted irresolutely at what he believed was his sober second +thought, but which, like most reflections that take that flattering +title, was only a reaction as impulsive and illogical as the emotion +that preceded it. + +Mr. McKinstry's "snake rail" fence was already discernible in the +lighter opening of the woods, not far from where he had halted. As he +stood there in hesitation, the pretty figure and bright gown of Cressy +McKinstry suddenly emerged from a more secluded trail that intersected +his own at an acute angle a few rods ahead of him. She was not alone, +but was accompanied by a male figure whose arm she had evidently +just dislodged from her waist. He was still trying to resume his lost +vantage; she was as resolutely evading him with a certain nymph-like +agility, while the sound of her half-laughing, half-irate protest could +be faintly heard. Without being able to identify the face or figure of +her companion at that distance, he could see that it was NOT her former +betrothed, Seth Davis. + +A superior smile crossed his face; he no longer hesitated, but at once +resumed his former path. For some time Cressy and her companion moved on +quietly before him. Then on reaching the rail-fence they turned abruptly +to the right, were lost for an instant in the intervening thicket, and +the next moment Cressy appeared alone, crossing the meadow in a shorter +cut towards the house, having either scaled the fence or slipped through +some familiar gap. Her companion had disappeared. Whether they had +noticed that they were observed he could not determine. He kept steadily +along the trail that followed the line of fence to the lane that +led directly to the farm-building, and pushed open the front gate as +Cressy's light dress vanished round an angle at the rear of the house. + +The house of the McKinstrys rose, or rather stretched, itself before +him, in all the lazy ungainliness of Southwestern architecture. A +collection of temporary make-shifts of boards, of logs, of canvas, +prematurely decayed, and in some instances abandoned for a newer +erection, or degraded to mere outhouses--it presented with singular +frankness the nomadic and tentative disposition of its founder. It had +been repaired without being improved; its additions had seemed only +to extend its primitive ugliness over a larger space. Its roofs were +roughly shingled or rudely boarded and battened, and the rafters of +some of its "lean-to's" were simply covered with tarred canvas. As if +to settle any doubt of the impossibility of this heterogeneous mass +ever taking upon itself any picturesque combination, a small building of +corrugated iron, transported in sections from some remoter locality, had +been set up in its centre. The McKinstry ranch had long been an eyesore +to the master: even that morning he had been mutely wondering from what +convolution of that hideous chrysalis the bright butterfly Cressy had +emerged. It was with a renewal of this curiosity that he had just seen +her flutter back to it again. + +A yellow dog who had observed him hesitating in doubt where he should +enter, here yawned, rose from the sunlight where he had been blinking, +approached the master with languid politeness, and then turned towards +the iron building as if showing him the way. Mr. Ford followed him +cautiously, painfully conscious that his hypocritical canine introducer +was only availing himself of an opportunity to gain ingress into the +house, and was leading him as a responsible accomplice to probable +exposure and disgrace. His expectation was quickly realized: a lazily +querulous, feminine outcry, with the words, "Yer's that darned hound +agin!" came from an adjacent room, and his exposed and abashed companion +swiftly retreated past him into the road again. Mr. Ford found himself +alone in a plainly-furnished sitting-room confronting the open door +leading to another apartment at which the figure of a woman, preceded +hastily by a thrown dishcloth, had just appeared. It was Mrs. McKinstry; +her sleeves were rolled up over her red but still shapely arms, and as +she stood there wiping them on her apron, with her elbows advanced, +and her closed hands raised alternately in the air, there was an odd +pugilistic suggestion in her attitude. It was not lessened on her sudden +discovery of the master by her retreating backwards with her hands up +and her elbows still well forward as if warily retiring to an imaginary +"corner." + +Mr. Ford at once tactfully stepped back from the doorway. "I beg your +pardon," he said, delicately addressing the opposite wall, "but I found +the door open and I followed the dog." + +"That's just one of his pizenous tricks," responded Mrs. McKinstry +dolefully from within. "On'y last week he let in a Chinaman, and in the +nat'ral hustlin' that follered he managed to help himself outer the pork +bar'l. There ain't no shade o' cussedness that or'nary hound ain't up +to." Yet notwithstanding this ominous comparison she presently made +her appearance with her sleeves turned down, her black woollen +dress "tidied," and a smile of fatigued but not unkindly welcome and +protection on her face. Dusting a chair with her apron and placing it +before the master, she continued maternally, "Now that you're here, set +ye right down and make yourself to home. My men folks are all out o' +door, but some of 'em's sure to happen in soon for suthin'; that day +ain't yet created that they don't come huntin' up Mammy McKinstry every +five minutes for this thing or that." + +The glow of a certain hard pride burned through the careworn languor of +her brown cheek. What she had said was strangely true. This raw-boned +woman before him, although scarcely middle-aged, had for years occupied +a self-imposed maternal and protecting relation, not only to her husband +and brothers, but to the three or four men, who as partners, or hired +hands, lived at the ranch. An inherited and trained sympathy with what +she called her "boys's" and her "men folk," and their needs had +partly unsexed her. She was a fair type of a class not uncommon on the +Southwestern frontier; women who were ruder helpmeets of their rude +husbands and brothers, who had shared their privations and sufferings +with surly, masculine endurance, rather than feminine patience; women +who had sent their loved ones to hopeless adventure or terrible vendetta +as a matter of course, or with partisan fury; who had devotedly nursed +the wounded to keep alive the feud, or had received back their dead +dry-eyed and revengeful. Small wonder that Cressy McKinstry had +developed strangely under this sexless relationship. Looking at the +mother, albeit not without a certain respect, Mr. Ford found himself +contrasting her with the daughter's graceful femininity, and wondering +where in Cressy's youthful contour the possibility of the grim figure +before him was even now hidden. + +"Hiram allowed to go over to the schoolhouse and see you this mornin'," +said Mrs. McKinstry, after a pause; "but I reckon ez how he had to +look up stock on the river. The cattle are that wild this time o' +year, huntin' water, and hangin' round the tules, that my men are nigh +worrited out o' their butes with 'em. Hank and Jim ain't been off +their mustangs since sun up, and Hiram, what with partrollen' the West +Boundary all night, watchin' stakes whar them low down Harrisons hev +been trespassin'--hasn't put his feet to the ground in fourteen hours. +Mebbee you noticed Hiram ez you kem along? Ef so, ye didn't remember +what kind o' shootin' irons he had with him? I see his rifle over yon. +Like ez not he'z only got his six-shooter, and them Harrisons are mean +enough to lay for him at long range. But," she added, returning to the +less important topic, "I s'pose Cressy came all right." + +"Yes," said the master hopelessly. + +"I reckon she looked so," continued Mrs. McKinstry, with tolerant +abstraction. "She allowed to do herself credit in one of them new store +gownds that she got at Sacramento. At least that's what some of our +men said. Late years, I ain't kept tech with the fashions myself." She +passed her fingers explanatorily down the folds of her own coarse gown, +but without regret or apology. + +"She seemed well prepared in her lessons," said the master, abandoning +for the moment that criticism of his pupil's dress, which he saw was +utterly futile, "but am I to understand that she is coming regularly to +school--that she is now perfectly free to give her entire attention to +her studies--that--that--her--engagement is broken off?" + +"Why, didn't she tell ye?" echoed Mrs. McKinstry in languid surprise. + +"SHE certainly did," said the master with slight embarrassment, "but"-- + +"Ef SHE said so," interrupted Mrs. McKinstry abstractedly, "she oughter +know, and you kin tie to what she says." + +"But as I'm responsible to PARENTS and not to scholars for the +discipline of my school," returned the young man a little stiffly, "I +thought it my duty to hear it from YOU." + +"That's so," said Mrs. McKinstry meditatively; "then I reckon you'd +better see Hiram. That ar' Seth Davis engagement was a matter of hern +and her father's, and not in MY line. I 'spose that Hiram nat'rally +allows to set the thing square to you and inquirin' friends." + +"I hope you understand," said the master, slightly resenting the +classification, "that my reason for inquiring about the permanency of +your daughter's attendance was simply because it might be necessary to +arrange her studies in a way more suitable to her years; perhaps even +to suggest to you that a young ladies' seminary might be more +satisfactory"-- + +"Sartain, sartain," interrupted Mrs. McKinstry hurriedly, but whether +from evasion of annoying suggestion or weariness of the topic, the +master could not determine. "You'd better speak to Hiram about it. +On'y," she hesitated slightly, "ez he's got now sorter set and pinted +towards your school, and is a trifle worrited with stock and them +Harrisons, ye might tech it lightly. He oughter be along yer now. +I can't think what keeps him." Her eye wandered again with troubled +preoccupation to the corner where her husband's Sharps' rifle stood. +Suddenly she raised her voice as if forgetful of Mr. Ford's presence. + +"O Cressy!" + +"O Maw!" + +The response came from the inner room. The next moment Cressy appeared +at the door with an odd half-lazy defiance in her manner, which the +master could not understand except upon the hypothesis that she had +been listening. She had already changed her elaborate toilet for a long +clinging, coarse blue gown, that accented the graceful curves of her +slight, petticoat-less figure. Nodding her head towards the master, she +said, "Howdy?" and turned to her mother, who practically ignored their +personal acquaintance. "Cressy," she said, "Dad's gone and left his +Sharps' yer, d'ye mind takin' it along to meet him, afore he passes the +Boundary corner. Ye might tell him the teacher's yer, wantin' to see +him." + +"One moment," said the master, as the young girl carelessly stepped to +the corner and lifted the weapon. "Let ME take it. It's all on my way +back to school and I'll meet him." + +Mrs. McKinstry looked perturbed. Cressy opened her clear eyes on the +master with evident surprise. "No, Mr. Ford," said Mrs. McKinstry, with +her former maternal manner. "Ye'd better not mix yourself up with these +yer doin's. Ye've no call to do it, and Cressy has; it's all in the +family. But it's outer YOUR line, and them Harrison whelps go to your +school. Fancy the teacher takin' weppins betwixt and between!" + +"It's fitter work for the teacher than for one of his scholars, and a +young lady at that," said Mr. Ford gravely, as he took the rifle from +the hands of the half-amused, half-reluctant girl. "It's quite safe with +me, and I promise I shall deliver it into Mr. McKinstry's hands and none +other." + +"Perhaps it wouldn't be ez likely to be gin'rally noticed ez it would +if one of US carried it," murmured Mrs. McKinstry in confidential +abstraction, gazing at her daughter sublimely unconscious of the +presence of a third party. + +"You're quite right," said the master composedly, throwing the +rifle over his shoulder and turning towards the door. "So I'll say +good-afternoon, and try and find your husband." + +Mrs. McKinstry constrainedly plucked at the folds of her coarse gown. +"Ye'll like a drink afore ye go," she said, in an ill-concealed tone of +relief. "I clean forgot my manners. Cressy, fetch out that demijohn." + +"Not for me, thank you," returned Mr. Ford smiling. + +"Oh, I see--you're temperance, nat'rally," said Mrs. McKinstry with a +tolerant sigh. + +"Hardly that," returned the master, "I follow no rule, I drink +sometimes--but not to-day." + +Mrs. McKinstry's dark face contracted. "Don't you see, Maw," struck in +Cressy quickly. "Teacher drinks sometimes, but he don't USE whiskey. +That's all." + +Her mother's face relaxed. Cressy slipped out of the door before the +master, and preceded him to the gate. When she had reached it she turned +and looked into his face. + +"What did Maw say to yer about seein' me just now?" + +"I don't understand you." + +"To your seein' me and Joe Masters on the trail?" + +"She said nothing." + +"Humph," said Cressy meditatively. "What was it you told her about it?" + +"Nothing." + +"Then you DIDN'T see us?" + +"I saw you with some one--I don't know whom." + +"And you didn't tell Maw?" + +"I did not. It was none of my business." + +He instantly saw the utter inconsistency of this speech in connection +with the reason he believed he had in coming. But it was too late +to recall it, and she was looking at him with a bright but singular +expression. + +"That Joe Masters is the conceitedest fellow goin'. I told him you could +see his foolishness." + +"Ah, indeed." + +Mr. Ford pushed open the gate. As the girl still lingered he was obliged +to hold it a moment before passing through. + +"Maw couldn't quite hitch on to your not drinkin'. She reckons you're +like everybody else about yer. That's where she slips up on you. And +everybody else, I kalkilate." + +"I suppose she's somewhat anxious about your father, and I dare say is +expecting me to hurry," returned the master pointedly. + +"Oh, dad's all right," said Cressy mischievously. "You'll come across +him over yon, in the clearing. But you're looking right purty with that +gun. It kinder sets you off. You oughter wear one." + +The master smiled slightly, said "Good-by," and took leave of the girl, +but not of her eyes, which were still following him. Even when he had +reached the end of the lane and glanced back at the rambling dwelling, +she was still leaning on the gate with one foot on the lower rail and +her chin cupped in the hollow of her hand. She made a slight gesture, +not clearly intelligible at that distance; it might have been a +mischievous imitation of the way he had thrown the gun over his +shoulder, it might have been a wafted kiss. + +The master however continued his way in no very self-satisfied mood. +Although he did not regret having taken the place of Cressy as the +purveyor of lethal weapons between the belligerent parties, he knew he +was tacitly mingling in the feud between people for whom he cared little +or nothing. It was true that the Harrisons sent their children to his +school, and that in the fierce partisanship of the locality this simple +courtesy was open to misconstruction. But he was more uneasily conscious +that this mission, so far as Mrs. McKinstry was concerned, was a +miserable failure. The strange relations of the mother and daughter +perhaps explained much of the girl's conduct, but it offered no hope of +future amelioration. Would the father, "worrited by stock" and boundary +quarrels--a man in the habit of cutting Gordian knots with a bowie +knife--prove more reasonable? Was there any nearer sympathy between +father and daughter? But she had said he would meet McKinstry in the +clearing: she was right, for here he was coming forward at a gallop! + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +When within a dozen paces of the master, McKinstry, scarcely checking +his mustang, threw himself from the saddle, and with a sharp cut of +his riata on the animal's haunches sent him still galloping towards the +distant house. Then, with both hands deeply thrust in the side pockets +of his long, loose linen coat, he slowly lounged with clanking spurs +towards the young man. He was thick-set, of medium height, densely and +reddishly bearded, with heavy-lidded pale blue eyes that wore a look of +drowsy pain, and after their first wearied glance at the master, seemed +to rest anywhere but on him. + +"Your wife was sending you your rifle by Cressy," said the master, "but +I offered to bring it myself, as I thought it scarcely a proper errand +for a young lady. Here it is. I hope you didn't miss it before and don't +require it now," he added quietly. + +Mr. McKinstry took it in one hand with an air of slightly embarrassed +surprise, rested it against his shoulder, and then with the same hand +and without removing the other from his pocket, took off his soft felt +hat, showed a bullet-hole in its rim, and returned lazily, "It's about +half an hour late, but them Harrisons reckoned I was fixed for 'em and +war too narvous to draw a clear bead on me." + +The moment was evidently not a felicitous one for the master's purpose, +but he was determined to go on. He hesitated an instant, when his +companion, who seemed to be equally but more sluggishly embarrassed, in +a moment of preoccupied perplexity withdrew from his pocket his right +hand swathed in a blood-stained bandage, and following some instinctive +habit, attempted, as if reflectively, to scratch his head with two +stiffened fingers. + +"You are hurt," said the master, genuinely shocked, "and here I am +detaining you." + +"I had my hand up--so," explained McKinstry, with heavy deliberation, +"and the ball raked off my little finger after it went through my hat. +But that ain't what I wanted to say when I stopped ye. I ain't just kam +enough yet," he apologized in the calmest manner, "and I clean forgit +myself," he added with perfect self-possession. "But I was kalkilatin' +to ask you"--he laid his bandaged hand familiarly on the master's +shoulder--"if Cressy kem all right?" + +"Perfectly," said the master. "But shan't I walk on home with you, and +we can talk together after your wound is attended to?" + +"And she looked purty?" continued McKinstry without moving. + +"Very." + +"And you thought them new store gownds of hers right peart?" + +"Yes," said the master. "Perhaps a little too fine for the school, you +know," he added insinuatingly, "and"-- + +"Not for her--not for her," interrupted McKinstry. "I reckon thar's more +whar that cam from! Ye needn't fear but that she kin keep up that gait +ez long ez Hiram McKinstry hez the runnin' of her." + +Mr. Ford gazed hopelessly at the hideous ranch in the distance, at the +sky, and the trail before him; then his glance fell upon the hand still +upon his shoulder, and he struggled with a final effort. "At another +time I'd like to have a long talk with you about your daughter, Mr. +McKinstry." + +"Talk on," said McKinstry, putting his wounded hand through the master's +arm. "I admire to hear you. You're that kam, it does me good." + +Nevertheless the master was conscious that his own arm was scarcely as +firm as his companion's. It was however useless to draw back now, +and with as much tact as he could command he relieved his mind of its +purpose. Addressing the obtruding bandage before him, he dwelt upon +Cressy's previous attitude in the school, the danger of any relapse, the +necessity of her having a more clearly defined position as a scholar, +and even the advisability of her being transferred to a more advanced +school with a more mature teacher of her own sex. "This is what I wished +to say to Mrs. McKinstry to-day," he concluded, "but she referred me to +you." + +"In course, in course," said McKinstry, nodding complacently. "She's a +good woman in and around the ranch, and in any doin's o' this kind," he +lightly waved his wounded arm in the air, "there ain't a better, tho' +I say it. She was Blair Rawlins' darter; she and her brother Clay bein' +the only ones that kem out safe arter their twenty years' fight with the +McEntees in West Kaintuck. But she don't understand gals ez you and me +do. Not that I'm much, ez I orter be more kam. And the old woman jest +sized the hull thing when she said SHE hadn't any hand in Cressy's +engagement. No more she had! And ez far ez that goes, no more did me, +nor Seth Davis, nor Cressy." He paused, and lifting his heavy-lidded +eyes to the master for the second time, said reflectively, "Ye mustn't +mind my tellin' ye--ez betwixt man and man--that THE one ez is most +responsible for the makin' and breakin' o' that engagement is YOU!" + +"Me!" said the master in utter bewilderment. + +"You!" repeated McKinstry quietly, reinstalling the hand Ford had +attempted to withdraw. "I ain't sayin' ye either know'd it or kalkilated +on it. But it war so. Ef ye'd hark to me, and meander on a little, I'll +tell ye HOW it war. I don't mind walkin' a piece YOUR way, for if we go +towards the ranch, and the hounds see me, they'll set up a racket and +bring out the old woman, and then good-by to any confidential talk +betwixt you and me. And I'm, somehow, kammer out yer." + +He moved slowly down the trail, still holding Ford's arm confidentially, +although, owing to his large protecting manner, he seemed to offer a +ridiculous suggestion of supporting HIM with his wounded member. + +"When you first kem to Injin Spring," he began, "Seth and Cressy was +goin' to school, boy and girl like, and nothin' more. They'd known each +other from babies--the Davises bein' our neighbors in Kaintuck, and +emigraten' with us from St. Joe. Seth mout hev cottoned to Cress, and +Cress to him, in course o' time, and there wasn't anythin' betwixt the +families to hev kept 'em from marryin' when they wanted. But there never +war any words passed, and no engagement." + +"But," interrupted Ford hastily, "my predecessor, Mr. Martin, distinctly +told me that there was, and that it was with YOUR permission." + +"That's only because you noticed suthin' the first day you looked over +the school with Martin. 'Dad,' sez Cress to me, 'that new teacher's very +peart; and he's that keen about noticin' me and Seth that I reckon you'd +better giv out that we're engaged.' 'But are you?' sez I. 'It'll come to +that in the end,' sez Cress, 'and if that yer teacher hez come here with +Northern ideas o' society, it's just ez well to let him see Injin Spring +ain't entirely in the woods about them things either.' So I agreed, and +Martin told you it was all right; Cress and Seth was an engaged couple, +and you was to take no notice. And then YOU ups and objects to the hull +thing, and allows that courtin' in school, even among engaged pupils, +ain't proper." + +The master turned his eyes with some uneasiness to the face of Cressy's +father. It was heavy but impassive. + +"I don't mind tellin' you, now that it's over, what happened. The +trouble with me, Mr. Ford, is--I ain't kam! and YOU air, and that's +what got me. For when I heard what you'd said, I got on that mustang and +started for the school-house to clean you out and giv' you five minutes +to leave Injin Spring. I don't know ez you remember that day. I'd +kalkilated my time so ez to ketch ye comin' out o' school, but I was too +airly. I hung around out o' sight, and then hitched my hoss to a buckeye +and peeped inter the winder to hev a good look at ye. It was very quiet +and kam. There was squirrels over the roof, yellow-jackets and bees +dronin' away, and kinder sleeping-like all around in the air, and +jay-birds twitterin' in the shingles, and they never minded me. You were +movin' up and down among them little gals and boys, liftin' up their +heads and talkin' to 'em softly and quiet like, ez if you was one of +them yourself. And they looked contented and kam. And onct--I don't +know if YOU remember it--you kem close up to the winder with your +hands behind you, and looked out so kam and quiet and so far off, ez if +everybody else outside the school was miles away from you. It kem to me +then that I'd given a heap to hev had the old woman see you thar. It kem +to me, Mr. Ford, that there wasn't any place for ME thar; and it kem +to me, too--and a little rough like--that mebbee there wasn't any place +there for MY Cress either! So I rode away without disturbin' you nor the +birds nor the squirrels. Talkin' with Cress that night, she said ez how +it was a fair sample of what happened every day, and that you'd always +treated her fair like the others. So she allowed that she'd go down to +Sacramento, and get some things agin her and Seth bein' married next +month, and she reckoned she wouldn't trouble you nor the school agin. +Hark till I've done, Mr. Ford," he continued, as the young man made a +slight movement of deprecation. "Well, I agreed. But arter she got to +Sacramento and bought some fancy fixin's, she wrote to me and sez ez how +she'd been thinkin' the hull thing over, and she reckoned that she and +Seth were too young to marry, and the engagement had better be broke. +And I broke it for her." + +"But how?" asked the bewildered master. + +"Gin'rally with this gun," returned McKinstry with slow gravity, +indicating the rifle he was carrying, "for I ain't kam. I let on to +Seth's father that if I ever found Seth and Cressy together again, I'd +shoot him. It made a sort o' coolness betwixt the families, and hez +given some comfort to them low-down Harrisons; but even the law, I +reckon, recognizes a father's rights. And ez Cress sez, now ez Seth's +out o' the way, thar ain't no reason why she can't go back to school and +finish her eddication. And I reckoned she was right. And we both agreed +that ez she'd left school to git them store clothes, it was only fair +that she'd give the school the benefit of 'em." + +The case seemed more hopeless than ever. The master knew that the man +beside him might hardly prove as lenient to a second objection at his +hand. But that very reason, perhaps, impelled him, now that he knew his +danger, to consider it more strongly as a duty, and his pride revolted +from a possible threat underlying McKinstry's confidences. Nevertheless +he began gently: + +"But you are quite sure you won't regret that you didn't avail yourself +of this broken engagement, and your daughter's outfit--to send her to +some larger boarding-school in Sacramento or San Francisco? Don't +you think she may find it dull, and soon tire of the company of mere +children when she has already known the excitement of"--he was about to +say "a lover," but checked himself, and added, "a young girl's freedom?" + +"Mr. Ford," returned McKinstry, with the slow and fatuous misconception +of a one-ideaed man, "when I said just now that, lookin' inter that kam, +peaceful school of yours, I didn't find a place for Cress, it warn't +because I didn't think she OUGHTER hev a place thar. Thar was that thar +wot she never had ez a little girl with me and the old woman, and that +she couldn't find ez a grownd up girl in any boarding-school--the home +of a child; that kind o' innocent foolishness that I sometimes reckon +must hev slipped outer our emigrant wagon comin' across the plains, or +got left behind at St. Joe. She was a grownd girl fit to marry afore she +was a child. She had young fellers a-sparkin' her afore she ever played +with 'em ez boy and girl. I don't mind tellin' you that it wern't in the +natur of Blair Rawlins' darter to teach her own darter any better, for +all she's been a mighty help to me. So if it's all the same to you, +Mr. Ford, we won't talk about a grownd up school; I'd rather Cress be +a little girl again among them other children. I should be a powerful +sight more kam if I knowed that when I was away huntin' stock or +fightin' stakes with them Harrisons, that she was a settin' there with +them and the birds and the bees, and listenin' to them and to you. +Mebbee there's been a little too many scrimmages goin' on round the +ranch sence she's been a child; mebbee she orter know suthin' more of a +man than a feller who sparks her and fights for her." + +The master was silent. Had this dull, narrow-minded partisan stumbled +upon a truth that had never dawned upon his own broader comprehension? +Had this selfish savage and literally red-handed frontier brawler been +moved by some dumb instinct of the power of gentleness to understand his +daughter's needs better than he? For a moment he was staggered. Then +he thought of Cressy's later flirtations with Joe Masters, and her +concealment of their meeting from her mother. Had she deceived her +father also? Or was not the father deceiving him with this alternate +suggestion of threat and of kindliness--of power and weakness. He had +heard of this cruel phase of Southwestern cunning before. With the +feeble sophistry of the cynic he mistrusted the good his scepticism +could not understand. Howbeit, glancing sideways at the slumbering +savagery of the man beside him, and his wounded hand, he did not care +to show his lack of confidence. He contented himself with that +equally feeble resource of weak humanity in such cases--good-natured +indifference. "All right," he said carelessly; "I'll see what can be +done. But are you quite sure you are fit to go home alone? Shall I +accompany you?" As McKinstry waived the suggestion with a gesture, he +added lightly, as if to conclude the interview, "I'll report progress to +you from time to time, if you like." + +"To ME," emphasized McKinstry; "not over THAR," indicating the ranch. +"But p'rhaps you wouldn't mind my ridin' by and lookin' in at the +school-room winder onct in a while? Ah--you WOULD," he added, with the +first deepening of color he had shown. "Well, never mind." + +"You see it might distract the children from their lessons," explained +the master gently, who had however contemplated with some concern the +infinite delight which a glimpse of McKinstry's fiery and fatuous face +at the window would awaken in Johnny Filgee's infant breast. + +"Well, no matter!" returned McKinstry slowly. "Ye don't keer, I s'pose, +to come over to the hotel and take suthin'? A julep or a smash?" + +"I shouldn't think of keeping you a moment longer from Mrs. McKinstry," +said the master, looking at his companion's wounded hand. "Thank you all +the same. Good-by." + +They shook hands, McKinstry transferring his rifle to the hollow of his +elbow to offer his unwounded left. The master watched him slowly resume +his way towards the ranch. Then with a half uneasy and half pleasurable +sense that he had taken some step whose consequences were more important +than he would at present understand, he turned in the opposite direction +to the school-house. He was so preoccupied that it was not until he had +nearly reached it that he remembered Uncle Ben. With an odd recollection +of McKinstry's previous performance, he approached the school from the +thicket in the rear and slipped noiselessly to the open window with the +intention of looking in. But the school-house, far from exhibiting that +"kam" and studious abstraction which had so touched the savage breast +of McKinstry, was filled with the accents of youthful and unrestrained +vituperation. The voice of Rupert Filgee came sharply to the master's +astonished ears. + +"You needn't try to play off Dobell or Mitchell on ME--you hear! Much +YOU know of either, don't you? Look at that copy. If Johnny couldn't do +better than that, I'd lick him. Of course it's the pen--it ain't your +stodgy fingers--oh, no! P'r'aps you'd like to hev a few more boxes +o' quills and gold pens and Gillott's best thrown in, for two bits a +lesson? I tell you what! I'll throw up the contract in another minit! +There goes another quill busted! Look here, what YOU want ain't a pen, +but a clothes-pin and a split nail! That'll about jibe with your dilikit +gait." + +The master at once stepped to the window and, unobserved, took a +quick survey of the interior. Following some ingenious idea of his own +regarding fitness, the beautiful Filgee had induced Uncle Ben to seat +himself on the floor before one of the smallest desks, presumably +his brother's, in an attitude which, while it certainly gave him +considerable elbow-room for those contortions common to immature +penmanship, offered his youthful instructor a superior eminence, from +which he hovered, occasionally swooping down upon his grown-up pupil +like a mischievous but graceful jay. But Mr. Ford's most distinct +impression was that, far from resenting the derogatory position and the +abuse that accompanied it, Uncle Ben not only beamed upon his persecutor +with unquenchable good humor, but with undisguised admiration, and +showed not the slightest inclination to accept his proposed resignation. + +"Go slow, Roop," he said cheerfully. "You was onct a boy yourself. +Nat'rally I kalkilate to stand all the damages. You've got ter waste +some powder over a blast like this yer, way down to the bed rock. Next +time I'll bring my own pens." + +"Do. Some from the Dobell school you uster go to," suggested the darkly +ironical Rupert. "They was iron-clad injin-rubber, warn't they?" + +"Never you mind wot they were," said Uncle Ben good-humoredly. "Look at +that string of 'C's' in that line. There's nothing mean about THEM." + +He put his pen between his teeth, raised himself slowly on his legs, and +shading his eyes with his hand from the severe perspective of six feet, +gazed admiringly down upon his work. Rupert, with his hands in +his pockets and his back to the window, cynically assisted at the +inspection. + +"Wot's that sick worm at the bottom of the page?" he asked. + +"Wot might you think it wos?" said Uncle Ben beamingly. + +"Looks like one o' them snake roots you dig up with a little mud stuck +to it," returned Rupert critically. + +"That's my name." + +They both stood looking at it with their heads very much on one side. +"It ain't so bad as the rest you've done. It MIGHT be your name. That +ez, it don't look like anythin' else," suggested Rupert, struck with a +new idea that it was perhaps more professional occasionally to encourage +his pupil. "You might get on in course o' time. But what are you doin' +all this for?" he asked suddenly. + +"Doin' what?" + +"This yer comin' to school when you ain't sent, and you ain't got no +call to go--you, a grown-up man!" + +The color deepened in Uncle Ben's face to the back of his ears. "Wot +would you giv' to know, Roop? S'pose I reckoned some day to make a +strike and sorter drop inter saciety easy--eh? S'pose I wanted to be +ready to keep up my end with the other fellers, when the time kem? To be +able to sling po'try and read novels and sich--eh?" + +An expression of infinite and unutterable scorn dawned in the eyes of +Rupert. "You do? Well," he repeated with slow and cutting deliberation, +"I'll tell you what you're comin' here for, and the only thing that +makes you come." + +"What?" + +"It's--some--girl!" + +Uncle Ben broke into a boisterous laugh that made the roof shake, +stamping about and slapping his legs till the crazy floor trembled. +But at that moment the master stepped to the perch and made a quiet but +discomposing entrance. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +The return of Miss Cressida McKinstry to Indian Spring and her +interrupted studies was an event whose effects were not entirely +confined to the school. The broken engagement itself seemed of little +moment in the general estimation compared to her resumption of her +old footing as a scholar. A few ill-natured elders of her own sex, +and naturally exempt from the discriminating retort of Mr. McKinstry's +"shot-gun," alleged that the Seminary at Sacramento had declined to +receive her, but the majority accepted her return with local pride as a +practical compliment to the educational facilities of Indian Spring. +The Tuolumne "Star," with a breadth and eloquence touchingly +disproportionate to its actual size and quality of type and paper, +referred to the possible "growth of a grove of Academus at Indian +Spring, under whose cloistered boughs future sages and statesmen +were now meditating," in a way that made the master feel exceedingly +uncomfortable. For some days the trail between the McKinstrys' ranch and +the school-house was lightly patrolled by reliefs of susceptible young +men, to whom the enfranchised Cressida, relieved from the dangerous +supervision of the Davis-McKinstry clique, was an object of ambitious +admiration. The young girl herself, who, in spite of the master's +annoyance, seemed to be following some conscientious duty in +consecutively arraying herself in the different dresses she had bought, +however she may have tantalized her admirers by this revelation of +bridal finery, did not venture to bring them near the limits of the +play-ground. It struck the master with some surprise that Indian Spring +did not seem to trouble itself in regard to his own privileged relations +with its rustic enchantress; the young men clearly were not jealous of +him; no matron had suggested any indecorum in a young girl of Cressy's +years and antecedents being intrusted to the teachings of a young man +scarcely her senior. Notwithstanding the attitude which Mr. Ford had +been pleased to assume towards her, this implied compliment to his +supposed monastic vocations affected him almost as uncomfortably as the +"Star's" extravagant eulogium. He was obliged to recall certain +foolish experiences of his own to enable him to rise superior to this +presumption of his asceticism. + +In pursuance of his promise to McKinstry, he had procured a few +elementary books of study suitable to Cressy's new position, without, +however, taking her out of the smaller classes or the discipline of the +school. In a few weeks he was enabled to further improve her attitude by +making her a "monitor" over the smaller girls, thereby dividing certain +functions with Rupert Filgee, whose ministrations to the deceitful and +"silly" sex had been characterized by perhaps more vigilant scorn and +disparagement than was necessary. Cressy had accepted it as she had +accepted her new studies, with an indolent good-humor, and at times a +frankly supreme ignorance of their abstract or moral purpose that was +discouraging. "What's the good of that?" she would ask, lifting her +eyes abruptly to the master. Mr. Ford, somewhat embarrassed by her look, +which always, sooner or later, frankly confessed itself an excuse for a +perfectly irrelevant examination of his features in detail, would end in +giving her some severely practical answer. Yet, if the subject appealed +to any particular idiosyncrasy of her own, she would speedily master +the study. A passing predilection for botany was provoked by a single +incident. The master deeming this study a harmless young-lady-like +occupation, had one day introduced the topic at recess, and was met by +the usual answer. "But suppose," he continued artfully, "somebody sent +you anonymously some flowers." + +"Her ho!" suggested Johnny Filgee hoarsely, with bold bad recklessness. +Ignoring the remark and the kick with which Rupert had resented it on +the person of his brother, the master continued: + +"And if you couldn't find out who sent them, you would want at least to +know what they were and where they grew." + +"Ef they grew anywhere 'bout yer we could tell her that," said a chorus +of small voices. + +The master hesitated. He was conscious of being on delicate ground. He +was surrounded by a dozen pairs of little keen eyes from whom Nature had +never yet succeeded in hiding her secrets--eyes that had waited for +and knew the coming up of the earliest flowers; little fingers that had +never turned the pages of a text-book, but knew where to scrape away the +dead leaves above the first anemone, or had groped painfully among the +lifeless branches in forgotten hollows for the shy dog-rose; unguided +little feet that had instinctively made their way to remote southern +slopes for the first mariposas, or had unerringly threaded the +tule-hidden banks of the river for flower-de-luce. Convinced that he +could not hold his own on their level, he shamelessly struck at once +above it. + +"Suppose that one of those flowers," he continued, "was not like the +rest; that its stalks and leaves, instead of being green and soft, were +white and stringy like flannel as if to protect it from cold, wouldn't +it be nice to be able to say at once that it had lived only in the snow, +and that some one must have gone all that way up there above the snow +line to pick it?" The children, taken aback by this unfair introduction +of a floral stranger, were silent. Cressy thoughtfully accepted botany +on those possibilities. A week later she laid on the master's desk a +limp-looking plant with a stalk like heavy frayed worsted yarn. "It +ain't much to look at after all, is it?" she said. "I reckon I could cut +a better one with scissors outer an old cloth jacket of mine." + +"And you found it here?" asked the master in surprise. + +"I got Masters to look for it when he was on the Summit. I described it +to him. I didn't allow he had the gumption to get it. But he did." + +Although botany languished slightly after this vicarious effort, it +kept Cressy in fresh bouquets, and extending its gentle influence to her +friends and acquaintances became slightly confounded with horticulture, +led to the planting of one or two gardens, and was accepted in school +as an implied concession to berries, apples, and nuts. In reading and +writing Cressy greatly improved, with a marked decrease in grammatical +solecisms, although she still retained certain characteristic words, and +always her own slow Southwestern, half musical intonation. This languid +deliberation was particularly noticeable in her reading aloud, and +gave the studied and measured rhetoric a charm of which her careless +colloquial speech was incapable. Even the "Fifth Reader," with its +imposing passages from the English classics carefully selected with a +view of paralyzing small, hesitating, or hurried voices, in Cressy's +hands became no longer an unintelligible incantation. She had quietly +mastered the difficulties of pronunciation by some instinctive sense of +euphony if not of comprehension. The master with his eyes closed hardly +recognized his pupil. Whether or not she understood what she read he +hesitated to inquire; no doubt, as with her other studies, she knew +what attracted her. Rupert Filgee, a sympathetic if not always a correct +reader, who boldly took four and five syllabled fences flying only to +come to grief perhaps in the ditch of some rhetorical pause beyond, +alone expressed his scorn of her performance. Octavia Dean, torn between +her hopeless affection for this beautiful but inaccessible boy, and +her soul-friendship for this bigger but many-frocked girl, studied the +master's face with watchful anxiety. + +It is needless to say that Hiram McKinstry was, in the intervals of +stake-driving and stock-hunting, heavily contented with this latest +evidence of his daughter's progress. He even intimated to the master +that her reading being an accomplishment that could be exercised at home +was conducive to that "kam" in which he was so deficient. It was also +rumored that Cressy's oral rendering of Addison's "Reflections in +Westminster Abbey" and Burke's "Indictment of Warren Hastings," had +beguiled him one evening from improving an opportunity to "plug" one of +Harrison's boundary "raiders." + +The master shared in Cressy's glory in the public eye. But although Mrs. +McKinstry did not materially change her attitude of tolerant good-nature +towards him, he was painfully conscious that she looked upon her +daughter's studies and her husband's interests in them as a weakness +that might in course of time produce infirmity of homicidal purpose and +become enervating of eye and trigger-finger. And when Mr. McKinstry got +himself appointed as school-trustee, and was thereby obliged to mingle +with certain Eastern settlers,--colleagues on the Board,--this possible +weakening of the old sharply drawn sectional line between "Yanks" and +themselves gave her grave doubts of Hiram's physical stamina. + +"The old man's worrits hev sorter shook out a little of his sand," she +had explained. On those evenings when he attended the Board, she sought +higher consolation in prayer meeting at the Southern Baptist Church, in +whose exercises her Northern and Eastern neighbors, thinly disguised as +"Baal" and "Astaroth," were generally overthrown and their temples made +desolate. + +If Uncle Ben's progress was slower, it was no less satisfactory. +Without imagination and even without enthusiasm, he kept on with a dull +laborious persistency. When the irascible impatience of Rupert Filgee +at last succumbed to the obdurate slowness of his pupil, the master +himself, touched by Uncle Ben's perspiring forehead and perplexed +eyebrows, often devoted the rest of the afternoon to a gentle +elucidation of the mysteries before him, setting copies for his heavy +hand, or even guiding it with his own, like a child's, across the paper. +At times the appalling uselessness of Uncle Ben's endeavors reminded +him of Rupert's taunting charge. Was he really doing this from a genuine +thirst for knowledge? It was inconsistent with all that Indian Spring +knew of his antecedents and his present ambitions; he was a simple +miner without scientific or technical knowledge; his already slight +acquaintance with arithmetic and the scrawl that served for his +signature were more than sufficient for his needs. Yet it was with this +latter sign-manual that he seemed to take infinite pains. The master, +one afternoon, thought fit to correct the apparent vanity of this +performance. + +"If you took as much care in trying to form your letters according to +copy, you'd do better. Your signature is fair enough as it is." + +"But it don't look right, Mr. Ford," said Uncle Ben, eying it +distrustfully; "somehow it ain't all there." + +"Why, certainly it is. Look, D A B N E Y--not very plain, it's true, but +there are all the letters." + +"That's just it, Mr. Ford; them AIN'T all the letters that ORTER be +there. I've allowed to write it D A B N E Y to save time and ink, but it +orter read DAUBIGNY," said Uncle Ben, with painful distinctness. + +"But that spells d'Aubigny!" + +"It are." + +"Is that your name?" + +"I reckon." + +The master looked at Uncle Ben doubtfully. Was this only another form of +the Dobell illusion? "Was your father a Frenchman?" he asked finally. + +Uncle Ben paused as if to recall the trifling circumstances of his +father's nationality. "No." + +"Your grandfather?" + +"I reckon not. At least ye couldn't prove it by me." + +"Was your father or grandfather a voyageur or trapper, or Canadian?" + +"They were from Pike County, Mizzoori." + +The master regarded Uncle Ben still dubiously. "But you call yourself +Dabney. What makes you think your real name is d'Aubigny?" + +"That's the way it uster be writ in letters to me in the States. Hold +on. I'll show ye." He deliberately began to feel in his pockets, finally +extracting his old purse from which he produced a crumpled envelope, and +carefully smoothing it out, compared it with his signature. + +"Thar, you see. It's the same--d'Aubigny." + +The master hesitated. After all, it was not impossible. He recalled +other instances of the singular transformation of names in the +Californian emigration. Yet he could not help saying, "Then you +concluded d'Aubigny was a better name than Dabney?" + +"Do YOU think it's better?" + +"Women might. I dare say your wife would prefer to be called Mrs. +d'Aubigny rather than Dabney." + +The chance shot told. Uncle Ben suddenly flushed to his ears. + +"I didn't think o' that," he said hurriedly. "I had another idee. I +reckoned that on the matter o' holdin' property and passin' in money +it would be better to hev your name put on the square, and to sorter go +down to bed rock for it, eh? If I wanted to take a hand in them lots or +Ditch shares, for instance--it would be only law to hev it made out in +the name o' d'Aubigny." + +Mr. Ford listened with certain impatient contempt. It was bad enough for +Uncle Ben to have exposed his weakness in inventing fictions about his +early education, but to invest himself now with a contingency of +capital for the sake of another childish vanity, was pitiable as it +was preposterous. There was no doubt that he had lied about his school +experiences; it was barely probable that his name was really d'Aubigny, +and it was quite consistent with all this--even setting apart the fact +that he was perfectly well known to be only a poor miner--that he should +lie again. Like most logical reasoners Mr. Ford forgot that humanity +might be illogical and inconsistent without being insincere. He turned +away without speaking as if indicating a wish to hear no more. + +"Some o' these days," said Uncle Ben, with dull persistency, "I'll tell +ye suthen'." + +"I'd advise you just now to drop it and stick to your lessons," said the +master sharply. + +"That's so," said Uncle Ben hurriedly, hiding himself as it were in +an all-encompassing blush. "In course lessons first, boys, that's the +motto." He again took up his pen and assumed his old laborious attitude. +But after a few moments it became evident that either the master's curt +dismissal of his subject or his own preoccupation with it, had somewhat +unsettled him. He cleaned his pen obtrusively, going to the window for +a better light, and whistling from time to time with a demonstrative +carelessness and a depressing gayety. He once broke into a murmuring, +meditative chant evidently referring to the previous conversation, in +its--"That's so--Yer we go--Lessons the first, boys, Yo, heave O." +The rollicking marine character of this refrain, despite its utter +incongruousness, apparently struck him favorably, for he repeated it +softly, occasionally glancing behind him at the master who was coldly +absorbed at his desk. Presently he arose, carefully put his books away, +symmetrically piling them in a pyramid beside Mr. Ford's motionless +elbow, and then lifting his feet with high but gentle steps went to the +peg where his coat and hat were hanging. As he was about to put them on +he appeared suddenly struck with a sense of indecorousness in dressing +himself in the school, and taking them on his arm to the porch resumed +them outside. Then saying, "I clean disremembered I'd got to see a man. +So long, till to-morrow," he disappeared whistling softly. + +The old woodland hush fell back upon the school. It seemed very quiet +and empty. A faint sense of remorse stole over the master. Yet he +remembered that Uncle Ben had accepted without reproach and as a good +joke much more direct accusations from Rupert Filgee, and that he +himself had acted from a conscientious sense of duty towards the man. +But a conscientious sense of duty to inflict pain upon a fellow-mortal +for his own good does not always bring perfect serenity to the +inflicter--possibly because, in the defective machinery of human +compensation, pain is the only quality that is apt to appear in the +illustration. Mr. Ford felt uncomfortable, and being so, was naturally +vexed at the innocent cause. Why should Uncle Ben be offended because +he had simply declined to follow his weak fabrications any further? This +was his return for having tolerated it at first! It would be a lesson to +him henceforth. Nevertheless he got up and went to the door. The figure +of Uncle Ben was already indistinct among the leaves, but from the +motion of his shoulders he seemed to be still stepping high and softly +as if not yet clear of insecure and engulfing ground. + +The silence still continuing, the master began mechanically to look +over the desks for forgotten or mislaid articles, and to rearrange +the pupils' books and copies. A few heartsease gathered by the devoted +Octavia Dean, neatly tied with a black thread and regularly left in the +inkstand cavity of Rupert's desk, were still lying on the floor where +they had been always hurled with equal regularity by that disdainful +Adonis. Picking up a slate from under a bench, his attention was +attracted by a forgotten cartoon on the reverse side. Mr. Ford at once +recognized it as the work of that youthful but eminent caricaturist, +Johnny Filgee. Broad in treatment, comprehensive in subject, liberal +in detail and slate-pencil--it represented Uncle Ben lying on the floor +with a book in his hand, tyrannized over by Rupert Filgee and regarded +in a striking profile of two features by Cressy McKinstry. The +daring realism of introducing the names of each character on their +legs--perhaps ideally enlarged for that purpose--left no doubt of their +identity. Equally daring but no less effective was the rendering of +a limited but dramatic conversation between the parties by the aid of +emotional balloons attached to their mouths like a visible gulp bearing +the respective legends: "I luv you," "O my," and "You git!" + +The master was for a moment startled at this unlooked-for but graphic +testimony to the fact that Uncle Ben's visits to the school were +not only known but commented upon. The small eyes of those youthful +observers had been keener than his own. He had again been stupidly +deceived, in spite of his efforts. Love, albeit deficient in features +and wearing an improperly short bell-shaped frock, had boldly re-entered +the peaceful school, and disturbing complications on abnormal legs were +following at its heels. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +While this simple pastoral life was centred around the school-house in +the clearing, broken only by an occasional warning pistol-shot in the +direction of the Harrison-McKinstry boundaries, the more business part +of Indian Spring was overtaken by one of those spasms of enterprise +peculiar to all Californian mining settlements. The opening of the +Eureka Ditch and the extension of stagecoach communication from Big +Bluff were events of no small importance, and were celebrated on the +same day. The double occasion overtaxing even the fluent rhetoric of +the editor of the "Star" left him struggling in the metaphorical +difficulties of a Pactolian Spring, which he had rashly turned into +the Ditch, and obliged him to transfer the onerous duty of writing the +editorial on the Big Bluff Extension to the hands of the Honorable Abner +Dean, Assemblyman from Angel's. The loss of the Honorable Mr. Dean's +right eye in an early pioneer fracas did not prevent him from looking +into the dim vista of the future and discovering with that single +unaided optic enough to fill three columns of the "Star." "It is not too +extravagant to say," he remarked with charming deprecation, "that +Indian Spring, through its own perfectly organized system of inland +transportation, the confluence of its North Fork with the Sacramento +River, and their combined effluence into the illimitable Pacific, is +thus put not only into direct communication with far Cathay but even +remoter Antipodean markets. The citizen of Indian Spring taking the 9 A. +M. Pioneer Coach and arriving at Big Bluff at 2.40 is enabled to connect +with the through express to Sacramento the same evening, reaching San +Francisco per the Steam Navigation Company's palatial steamers in time +to take the Pacific Mail Steamer to Yokohama on the following day at +8.30 P. M." Although no citizen of Indian Spring appeared to avail +himself of this admirable opportunity, nor did it appear at all likely +that any would, everybody vaguely felt that an inestimable boon lay +in the suggestion, and even the master professionally intrusting the +reading aloud of the editorial to Rupert Filgee with ulterior designs +of practice in the pronunciation of five-syllable words, was somewhat +affected by it. Johnny Filgee and Jimmy Snyder accepting it as a +mysterious something that made Desert Islands accessible at a moment's +notice and a trifling outlay, were round-eyed and attentive. And +the culminating information from the master that this event would +be commemorated by a half-holiday, combined to make the occasion as +exciting to the simple school-house in the clearing as it was to the +gilded saloon in the main street. + +And so the momentous day arrived, with its two new coaches from Big +Bluff containing the specially invited speakers--always specially +invited to those occasions, and yet strangely enough never before +feeling the extreme "importance and privilege" of it as they did then. +Then there were the firing of two anvils, the strains of a brass band, +the hoisting of a new flag on the liberty-pole, and later the +ceremony of the Ditch opening, when a distinguished speaker in a most +unworkman-like tall hat, black frock coat, and white cravat, which gave +him the general air of a festive grave-digger, took a spade from the +hands of an apparently hilarious chief mourner and threw out the first +sods. There were anvils, brass bands, and a "collation" at the hotel. +But everywhere--overriding the most extravagant expectation and even +the laughter it provoked--the spirit of indomitable youth and resistless +enterprise intoxicated the air. It was the spirit that had made +California possible; that had sown a thousand such ventures +broadcast through its wilderness; that had enabled the sower to stand +half-humorously among his scant or ruined harvests without fear and +without repining, and turn his undaunted and ever hopeful face to +further fields. What mattered it that Indian Spring had always before +its eyes the abandoned trenches and ruined outworks of its earlier +pioneers? What mattered it that the eloquent eulogist of the Eureka +Ditch had but a few years before as prodigally scattered his adjectives +and his fortune on the useless tunnel that confronted him on the +opposite side of the river? The sublime forgetfulness of youth ignored +its warning or recognized it as a joke. The master, fresh from his +little flock and prematurely aged by their contact, felt a stirring +of something like envy as he wandered among these scarcely older +enthusiasts. + +Especially memorable was the exciting day to Johnny Filgee, not only for +the delightfully bewildering clamor of the brass band, in which, between +the trombone and the bass drum, he had got inextricably mixed; not only +for the half-frightening explosions of the anvils and the maddening +smell of the gunpowder which had exalted his infant soul to sudden and +irrelevant whoopings, but for a singular occurrence that whetted his +always keen perceptions. Having been shamelessly abandoned on the +veranda of the Eureka Hotel while his brother Rupert paid bashful court +to the pretty proprietress by assisting her in her duties, Johnny gave +himself up to unlimited observation. The rosettes of the six horses, the +new harness, the length of the driver's whiplash, his enormous buckskin +gloves and the way he held his reins; the fascinating odor of shining +varnish on the coach, the gold-headed cane of the Honorable Abner Dean: +all these were stored away in the secret recesses of Johnny's memory, +even as the unconsidered trifles he had picked up en route were +distending his capacious pockets. But when a young man had alighted +from the second or "Truly" coach among the REAL passengers, and strolled +carelessly and easily in the veranda as if the novelty and the occasion +were nothing to him, Johnny, with a gulp of satisfaction, knew that +he had seen a prince! Beautifully dressed in a white duck suit, with a +diamond ring on his finger, a gold chain swinging from his fob, and a +Panama hat with a broad black ribbon jauntily resting on his curled +and scented hair, Johnny's eyes had never rested on a more resplendent +vision. He was more romantic than Yuba Bill, more imposing and less +impossible than the Honorable Abner Dean, more eloquent than the +master--far more beautiful than any colored print that he had ever seen. +Had he brushed him in passing Johnny would have felt a thrill; had he +spoken to him he knew he would have been speechless to reply. Judge +then of his utter stupefaction when he saw Uncle Ben--actually +Uncle Ben!--approach this paragon of perfection, albeit with some +embarrassment, and after a word or two of unintelligible conversation +walk away with him! Need it be wondered that Johnny, forgetful at once +of his brother, the horses, and even the collation with its possible +"goodies," instantly followed. + +The two men turned into the side street, which, after a few hundred +yards, opened upon the deserted mining flat, crossed and broken by +the burrows and mounds made by the forgotten engines of the early +gold-seekers. Johnny, at times hidden by these irregularities, kept +closely in their rear, sauntering whenever he came within the range of +their eyes in that sidelong, spasmodic and generally diagonal fashion +peculiar to small boys, but ready at any moment to assume utter +unconsciousness and the appearance of going somewhere else or of +searching for something on the ground. In this way appearing, if noticed +at all, each time in some different position to the right or left of +them, Johnny followed them to the fringe of woodland which enabled him +to draw closer to their heels. + +Utterly oblivious of this artistic "shadowing" in the insignificant +person of the small boy who once or twice even crossed their path with +affected timidity, they continued an apparently confidential previous +interview. The words "stocks" and "shares" were alone intelligible. +Johnny had heard them during the day, but he was struck by the fact +that Uncle Ben seemed to be seeking information from the paragon and was +perfectly submissive and humble. But the boy was considerably mystified +when after a tramp of half an hour they arrived upon the debatable +ground of the Harrison-McKinstry boundary. Having been especially warned +never to go there, Johnny as a matter of course was perfectly familiar +with it. But what was the incomprehensible stranger doing there? Was he +brought by Uncle Ben with a view of paralyzing both of the combatants +with the spectacle of his perfections? Was he a youthful sheriff, a +young judge, or maybe the son of the Governor of California? Or was it +that Uncle Ben was "silly" and didn't know the locality? Here was an +opportunity for him, Johnny, to introduce himself, and explain and even +magnify the danger, with perhaps a slight allusion to his own fearless +familiarity with it. Unfortunately, as he was making up his small mind +behind a tree, the paragon turned and with the easy disdain that so well +became him, said: + +"Well, I wouldn't offer a dollar an acre for the whole ranch. But if YOU +choose to give a fancy price--that's your lookout." + +To Johnny's already prejudiced mind, Uncle Ben received this just +contempt submissively, as he ought, but nevertheless he muttered +something "silly" in reply, which Johnny was really too disgusted to +listen to. Ought he not to step forward and inform the paragon that he +was wasting his time on a man who couldn't even spell "ba-ker," and who +was taught his letters by his, Johnny's, brother? + +The paragon continued: + +"And of course you know that merely your buying the title to the land +don't give you possession. You'll have to fight these squatters and +jumpers just the same. It'll be three instead of two fighting--that's +all!" + +Uncle Ben's imbecile reply did not trouble Johnny. He had ears now only +for the superior intellect before him. IT continued coolly: + +"Now let's take a look at that yield of yours. I haven't much time to +give you, as I expect some men to be looking for me here--and I suppose +you want this thing still kept a secret. I don't see how you've managed +to do it so far. Is your claim near? You live on it--I think you said?" + +But that the little listener was so preoccupied with the stranger, this +suggestion of Uncle Ben's having a claim worth the attention of that +distinguished presence would have set him thinking; the little that he +understood he set down to Uncle Ben's "gassin'." As the two men moved +forward again, he followed them until Uncle Ben's house was reached. + +It was a rude shanty of boards and rough boulders, half burrowing in one +of the largest mounds of earth and gravel, which had once represented +the tailings or refuse of the abandoned Indian Spring Placer. In fact +it was casually alleged by some that Uncle Ben eked out the scanty "grub +wages," he made by actual mining, in reworking and sifting the tailings +at odd times--a degrading work hitherto practised only by Chinese, and +unworthy the Caucasian ambition. The mining code of honor held that a +man might accept the smallest results of his daily labor, as long as he +was sustained by the prospect of a larger "strike," but condemned his +contentment with a modest certainty. Nevertheless a little of this +suspicion encompassed his dwelling and contributed to its loneliness, +even as a long ditch, the former tail-race of the claim, separated him +from his neighbors. Prudently halting at the edge of the wood, Johnny +saw his resplendent vision cross the strip of barren flat, and enter the +cabin with Uncle Ben like any other mortal. He sat down on a stump and +awaited its return, which he fondly hoped might be alone! At the end +of half an hour he made a short excursion to examine the condition of a +blackberry bramble, and returned to his post of observation. But there +was neither sound nor motion in the direction of the cabin. When +another ten minutes had elapsed, the door opened and to Johnny's intense +discomfiture, Uncle Ben appeared alone and walked leisurely towards the +woods. Burning with anxiety Johnny threw himself in Uncle Ben's way. +But here occurred one of those surprising inconsistencies known only +to children. As Uncle Ben turned his small gray eyes upon him in a +half astonished, half questioning manner, the potent spirit of childish +secretiveness suddenly took possession of the boy. Wild horses could not +now have torn from him that question which only a moment before was on +his lips. + +"Hullo, Johnny! What are ye doin' here?" said Uncle Ben kindly. + +"Nothin'." After a pause, in which he walked all round Uncle Ben's large +figure, gazing up at him as if he were a monument, he added, "Huntin' +blackberrieth." + +"Why ain't you over at the collation?" + +"Ruperth there," he answered promptly. + +The idea of being thus vicariously present in the person of his brother +seemed a sufficient excuse. He leap-frogged over the stump on which he +had been sitting as an easy unembarrassing pause for the next question. +But Uncle Ben was apparently perfectly satisfied with Johnny's reply, +and nodding to him, walked away. + +When his figure had disappeared in the bushes, Johnny cautiously +approached the cabin. At a certain distance he picked up a stone and +threw it against the door, immediately taking to his heels and the +friendly copse again. No one appearing he repeated the experiment twice +and even thrice with a larger stone and at a nearer distance. Then he +boldly skirted the cabin and dropped into the race-way at its side. +Following it a few hundred yards he came upon a long disused shaft +opening into it, which had been covered with a rough trap of old planks, +as if to protect incautious wayfarers from falling in. Here a sudden and +inexplicable fear overtook Johnny, and he ran away. When he reached +the hotel, almost the first sight that met his astounded eyes was the +spectacle of the paragon, apparently still in undisturbed possession +of all his perfections--driving coolly off in a buggy with a fresh +companion. + +Meantime Mr. Ford, however touched by the sentimental significance of +the celebration, became slightly wearied of its details. As his own room +in the Eureka Hotel was actually thrilled by the brass band without and +the eloquence of speakers below, and had become redolent of gunpowder +and champagne exploded around it, he determined to return to the +school-house and avail himself of its woodland quiet to write a few +letters. + +The change was grateful, the distant murmur of the excited settlement +came only as the soothing sound of wind among the leaves. The pure air +of the pines that filled every cranny of the quiet school-room, +and seemed to disperse all taint of human tenancy, made the far-off +celebrations as unreal as a dream. The only reality of his life was +here. + +He took from his pocket a few letters one of which was worn and soiled +with frequent handling. He re-read it in a half methodical, half patient +way, as if he were waiting for some revelation it inspired, which +was slow that afternoon in coming. At other times it had called up +a youthful enthusiasm which was wont to transfigure his grave and +prematurely reserved face with a new expression. To-day the revelation +and expression were both wanting. He put the letter back with a slight +sigh, that sounded so preposterous in the silent room that he could +not forego an embarrassed smile. But the next moment he set himself +seriously to work on his correspondence. + +Presently he stopped; once or twice he had been overtaken by a vague +undefinable sense of pleasure, even to the dreamy halting of his pen. +It was a sensation in no way connected with the subject of his +correspondence, or even his previous reflections--it was partly +physical, and yet it was in some sense suggestive. It must be the +intoxicating effect of the woodland air. He even fancied he had noticed +it before, at the same hour when the sun was declining and the fresh +odors of the undergrowth were rising. It certainly was a perfume. He +raised his eyes. There lay the cause on the desk before him--a little +nosegay of wild Californian myrtle encircling a rose-bud which had +escaped his notice. + +There was nothing unusual in the circumstance. The children were in the +habit of making their offerings generally without particular reference +to time or occasion, and it might have been overlooked by him during +school-hours. He felt a pity for the forgotten posy already beginning +to grow limp in its neglected solitude. He remembered that in some +folk-lore of the children's, perhaps a tradition of the old association +of the myrtle with Venus, it was believed to be emblematic of the +affections. He remembered also that he had even told them of this +probable origin of their superstition. He was still holding it in his +hand when he was conscious of a silken sensation that sent a magnetic +thrill through his fingers. Looking at it more closely he saw that +the sprigs were bound together, not by thread or ribbon, but by long +filaments of soft brown hair tightly wound around them. He unwound a +single hair and held it to the light. Its length, color, texture, +and above all a certain inexplicable instinct, told him it was Cressy +McKinstry's. He laid it down quickly, as if he had, in that act, +familiarly touched her person. + +He finished his letter, but presently found himself again looking at +the myrtle and thinking about it. From the position in which it had been +placed it was evidently intended for him; the fancy of binding it with +hair was also intentional and not a necessity, as he knew his feminine +scholars were usually well provided with bits of thread, silk, or +ribbon. If it had been some new absurdity of childish fashion introduced +in the school, he would have noticed it ere this. For it was this +obtrusion of a personality that vaguely troubled him. He remembered +Cressy's hair; it was certainly very beautiful, in spite of her +occasional vagaries of coiffure. He recalled how, one afternoon, it had +come down when she was romping with Octavia in the play-ground, and was +surprised to find what a vivid picture he retained of her lingering in +the porch to put it up; her rounded arms held above her head, her pretty +shoulders, full throat, and glowing face thrown back, and a wisp of the +very hair between her white teeth! He began another letter. + +When it was finished the shadow of the pine-branch before the window, +thrown by the nearly level sun across his paper, had begun slowly to +reach the opposite wall. He put his work away, lingered for a moment in +hesitation over the myrtle sprays, and then locked them in his desk +with an odd feeling that he had secured in some vague way a hold upon +Cressy's future vagaries; then reflecting that Uncle Ben, whom he had +seen in town, would probably keep holiday with the others, he resolved +to wait no longer, but strolled back to the hotel. The act however had +not recalled Uncle Ben to him by any association of ideas, for since his +discovery of Johnny Filgee's caricature he had failed to detect anything +to corroborate the caricaturist's satire, and had dismissed the subject +from his mind. + +On entering his room at the hotel he found Rupert Filgee standing +moodily by the window, while his brother Johnny, overcome by a repletion +of excitement and collation, was asleep on the single arm-chair. Their +presence was not unusual, as Mr. Ford, touched by the loneliness of +these motherless boys, had often invited them to come to his rooms to +look over his books and illustrated papers. + +"Well?" he said cheerfully. + +Rupert did not reply or change his position. Mr. Ford, glancing at +him sharply, saw a familiar angry light in the boy's beautiful eyes, +slightly dimmed by a tear. Laying his hand gently on Rupert's shoulder +he said, "What's the matter, Rupert?" + +"Nothin'," said the boy doggedly, with his eyes still fixed on the pane. + +"Has--has--Mrs. Tripp" (the fair proprietress) "been unkind?" he went on +lightly. + +No reply. + +"You know, Rupe," continued Mr. Ford demurely, "she must show SOME +reserve before company--like to-day. It won't do to make a scandal." + +Rupert maintained an indignant silence. But the dimple (which he usually +despised as a feminine blot) on the cheek nearer the master became +slightly accented. Only for a moment; the dark eyes clouded again. + +"I wish I was dead, Mr. Ford." + +"Hallo!" + +"Or--doin' suthin'." + +"That's better. What do you want to do?" + +"To work--make a livin' myself. Quit toten' wood and water at home; quit +cookin' and makin' beds, like a yaller Chinaman; quit nussin' babies and +dressin' 'em and undressin' 'em, like a girl. Look at HIM now," pointing +to the sweetly unconscious Johnny, "look at him there. Do you know what +that means? It means I've got to pack him home through the town jist ez +he is thar, and then make a fire and bile his food for him, and wash +him and undress him and put him to bed, and 'Now I lay me down to sleep' +him, and tuck him up; and Dad all the while 'scootin' round town with +other idjits, jawin' about 'progress' and the 'future of Injin Spring.' +Much future we've got over our own house, Mr. Ford. Much future he's got +laid up for me!" + +The master, to whom those occasional outbreaks from Rupert were not +unfamiliar, smiled, albeit with serious eyes that belied his lips, and +consoled the boy as he had often done before. But he was anxious to +know the cause of this recent attack and its probable relations to the +fascinating Mrs. Tripp. + +"I thought we talked all that over some time ago, Rupe. In a few months +you'll be able to leave school, and I'll advise your father about +putting you into something to give you a chance for yourself. Patience, +old fellow; you're doing very well. Consider--there's your pupil, Uncle +Ben." + +"Oh, yes! That's another big baby to tot round in school when I ain't +niggerin' at home." + +"And I don't see exactly what else you could do at Indian Spring," +continued Mr. Ford. + +"No," said Rupert gloomily, "but I could get away to Sacramento. Yuba +Bill says they take boys no bigger nor me in thar express offices or +banks--and in a year or two they're as good ez anybody and get paid +as big. Why, there was a fellow here, just now, no older than you, Mr. +Ford, and not half your learnin', and he dressed to death with jewelry, +and everybody bowin' and scrapin' to him, that it was perfectly +sickenin'." + +Mr. Ford lifted his eyebrows. "Oh, you mean the young man of Benham and +Co., who was talking to Mrs. Tripp?" he said. + +A quick flush of angry consciousness crossed Rupert's face. "Maybe; he +has just cheek enough for anythin'." + +"And you want to be like him?" said Mr. Ford. + +"You know what I mean, Mr. Ford. Not LIKE him. Why YOU'RE as good as +he is, any day," continued Rupert with relentless naivete; "but if a +jay-bird like that can get on, why couldn't I?" + +There was no doubt that the master here pointed out the defectiveness +of Rupert's logic and the beneficence of patience and study, as became +their relations of master and pupil, but with the addition of a certain +fellow sympathy and some amusing recital of his own boyish experiences, +that had the effect of calling Rupert's dimples into action again. At +the end of half an hour the boy had become quite tractable, and, getting +ready to depart, approached his sleeping brother with something +like resignation. But Johnny's nap seemed to have had the effect of +transforming him into an inert jelly-like mass. It required the joint +exertions of both the master and Rupert to transfer him bodily into the +latter's arms, where, with a single limp elbow encircling his brother's +neck, he lay with his unfinished slumber still visibly distending his +cheeks, his eyelids, and even lifting his curls from his moist forehead. +The master bade Rupert "good-night," and returned to his room as the boy +descended the stairs with his burden. + +But here Providence, with, I fear, its occasional disregard of mere +human morality, rewarded Rupert after his own foolish desires. Mrs. +Tripp was at the foot of the stairs as Rupert came slowly down. He saw +her, and was covered with shame; she saw him and his burden, and was +touched with kindliness. Whether or not she was also mischievously aware +of Rupert's admiration, and was not altogether displeased with it, I +cannot say. In a voice that thrilled him, she said:-- + +"What! Rupert, are you going so soon?" + +"Yes, ma'am---on account of Johnny." + +"But let me take him--I can keep him here to-night." + +It was a great temptation, but Rupert had strength to refuse, albeit +with his hat pulled over his downcast eyes. + +"Poor dear, how tired he looks." + +She approached her still fresh and pretty face close to Rupert and laid +her lips on Johnny's cheek. Then she lifted her audacious eyes to his +brother, and pushing back his well-worn chip hat from his clustering +curls, she kissed him squarely on the forehead. + +"Good-night, dear." + +The boy stumbled, and then staggered blindly forward into the outer +darkness. But with a gentleman's delicacy he turned almost instantly +into a side street, as if to keep this consecration of himself from +vulgar eyes. The path he had chosen was rough and weary, the night was +dark, and Johnny was ridiculously heavy, but he kept steadily on, the +woman's kiss in the fancy of the foolish boy shining on his forehead and +lighting him onward like a star. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +When the door closed on Rupert the master pulled down the blind, and, +trimming his lamp, tried to compose himself by reading. Outside, the +"Great Day for Indian Spring" was slowly evaporating in pale mists from +the river, and the celebration itself spasmodically taking flight here +and there in Roman candles and rockets. An occasional outbreak from +revellers in the bar-room below, a stumbling straggler along the +planked sidewalk before the hotel, only seemed to intensify the rustic +stillness. For the future of Indian Spring was still so remote that +Nature insensibly re-invested its boundaries on the slightest relaxation +of civic influence, and Mr. Ford lifted his head from the glowing +columns of the "Star" to listen to the far-off yelp of a coyote on the +opposite shore. + +He was also conscious of the recurrence of that vague, pleasurable +recollection, so indefinite that, when he sought to identify it with +anything--even the finding of the myrtle sprays on his desk--it evaded +him. He tried to work, with the same interruption. Then an uneasy +sensation that he had not been sufficiently kind to Rupert in his +foolish love-troubles remorsefully seized him. A half pathetic, half +humorous picture of the miserable Rupert staggering under the double +burden of his sleeping brother and a misplaced affection, or possibly +abandoning the one or both in the nearest ditch in a reckless access +of boyish frenzy and fleeing his home forever, rose before his eyes. He +seized his hat with the intention of seeking him--or forgetting him +in some other occupation by the way. For Mr. Ford had the sensitive +conscience of many imaginative people; an unfailing monitor, it was +always calling his whole moral being into play to evade it. + +As he crossed the passage he came upon Mrs. Tripp hooded and elaborately +attired in a white ball dress, which however did not, to his own fancy, +become her as well as her ordinary costume. He was passing her with a +bow, when she said, with complacent consciousness of her appearance, +"Aren't you going to the ball to-night?" + +He remembered then that "an opening ball" at the Court-house was a part +of the celebration. "No," he said smiling; "but it is a pity that Rupert +couldn't have seen you in your charming array." + +"Rupert," said the lady, with a slightly coquettish laugh; "you have +made him as much a woman-hater as yourself. I offered to take him in +our party, and he ran away to you." She paused, and giving him a furtive +critical glance said, with an easy mingling of confidence and audacity, +"Why don't YOU go? Nobody'll hurt you." + +"I'm not so sure of that," replied Mr. Ford gallantly. "There's the +melancholy example of Rupert always before me." + +Mrs. Tripp tossed her chignon and descended a step of the stairs. "You'd +better go," she continued, looking up over the balusters. "You can look +on if you can't dance." + +Now Mr. Ford COULD dance, and it so chanced, rather well, too. With this +consciousness he remained standing in half indignant hesitation on the +landing as she disappeared. Why shouldn't he go? It was true, he had +half tacitly acquiesced in the reserve with which he had been treated, +and had never mingled socially in the gatherings of either sex at Indian +Spring--but that was no reason. He could at least dress himself, walk to +the Court-house and--look on. + +Any black coat and white shirt was sufficiently de rigueur for Indian +Spring. Mr. Ford added the superfluous elegance of a forgotten white +waistcoat. When he reached the sidewalk it was only nine o'clock, but +the windows of the Court-house were already flaring like a stranded +steamer on the barren bank where it had struck. On the way thither he +was once or twice tempted to change his mind, and hesitated even at the +very door. But the fear that his hesitation would be noticed by the +few loungers before it, and the fact that some of them were already +hesitating through bashfulness, determined him to enter. + +The clerks' office and judges' chambers on the lower floor had been +invaded by wraps, shawls, and refreshments, but the dancing was +reserved for the upper floor or courtroom, still unfinished. Flags, +laurel-wreaths, and appropriate floral inscriptions hid its bare walls; +but the coat of arms of the State, already placed over the judges' dais +with its illimitable golden sunset, its triumphant goddess, and its +implacable grizzly, seemed figuratively to typify the occasion better +than the inscriptions. The room was close and crowded. The flickering +candles in tin sconces against the walls, or depending in rude +chandeliers of barrel-hoops from the ceiling, lit up the most astounding +diversity of female costume the master had ever seen. Gowns of bygone +fashions, creased and stained with packing and disuse, toilets of +forgotten festivity revised with modern additions; garments in and out +of season--a fur-trimmed jacket and a tulle skirt, a velvet robe under +a pique sacque; fresh young faces beneath faded head-dresses, and mature +and buxom charms in virgin' white. The small space cleared for the +dancers was continually invaded by the lookers-on, who in files of three +deep lined the room. + +As the master pushed his way to the front, a young girl, who had been +standing in the sides of a quadrille, suddenly darted with a nymph-like +quickness among the crowd and was for an instant hidden. Without +distinguishing either face or figure, Mr. Ford recognized in the +quick, impetuous action a characteristic movement of Cressy's; with an +embarrassing instinct that he could not account for, he knew she had +seen him, and that, for some inexplicable reason, he was the cause of +her sudden disappearance. + +But it was only for a moment. Even while he was vaguely scanning +the crowd she reappeared and took her place beside her mystified +partner--the fascinating stranger of Johnny's devotion and Rupert's +dislike. She was pale; he had never seen her so beautiful. All that he +had thought distasteful and incongruous in her were but accessories of +her loveliness at that moment, in that light, in that atmosphere, in +that strange assembly. Even her full pink gauze dress, from which her +fair young shoulders slipped as from a sunset cloud, seemed only the +perfection of virginal simplicity; her girlish length of limb and the +long curves of her neck and back were now the outlines of thorough +breeding. The absence of color in her usually fresh face had been +replaced by a faint magnetic aurora that seemed to him half spiritual. +He could not take his eyes from her; he could not believe what he saw. +Yet that was Cressy McKinstry--his pupil! Had he ever really seen her? +Did he know her now? Small wonder that all eyes were bent upon her, that +a murmur of unspoken admiration, or still more intense hush of silence +moved the people around him. He glanced hurriedly at them, and was oddly +relieved by this evident participation in his emotions. + +She was dancing now, and with that same pale restraint and curious +quiet that had affected him so strongly. She had not even looked in +his direction, yet he was aware by the same instinct that had at first +possessed him that she knew he was present. His desire to catch her eye +was becoming mingled with a certain dread, as if in a single interchange +of glances the illusions of the moment would either vanish utterly or +become irrevocably fixed. He forced himself, when the set was finished, +to turn away, partly to avoid contact with some acquaintances who had +drifted before him, and whom politeness would have obliged him to ask to +dance, and partly to collect his thoughts. He determined to make a tour +of the rooms and then go quietly home. Those who recognized him made +way for him with passive curiosity; the middle-aged and older adding a +confidential sympathy and equality that positively irritated him. For an +instant he had an idea of seeking out Mrs. Tripp and claiming her as a +partner, merely to show her that he danced. + +He had nearly made the circuit of the room when he was surprised by the +first strains of a waltz. Waltzing was not a strong feature of Indian +Spring festivity, partly that the Church people had serious doubts if +David's saltatory performances before the Ark included "round dances," +and partly that the young had not yet mastered its difficulties. When he +yielded to his impulse to look again at the dancers he found that only +three or four couples had been bold enough to take the floor. Cressy +McKinstry and her former partner were one of them. In his present +exaltation he was not astonished to find that she had evidently picked +up the art in her late visit, and was now waltzing with quiet grace +and precision, but he was surprised that her partner was far from being +equally perfect, and that after a few turns she stopped and smilingly +disengaged her waist from his arm. As she stepped back she turned with +unerring instinct to that part of the room where the master stood, and +raised her eyes through the multitude of admiring faces to his. Their +eyes met in an isolation as supreme as if they had been alone. It was an +attraction the more dangerous because unformulated--a possession without +previous pledge, promise, or even intention--a love that did not require +to be "made." + +He approached her quietly and even more coolly than he thought possible. +"Will you allow me a trial?" he asked. + +She looked in his face, and as if she had not heard the question but was +following her own thought, said, "I knew you would come; I saw you when +you first came in." Without another word she put her hand in his, and +as if it were part of an instinctive action of drawing closer to him, +caught with her advancing foot the accent of the waltz, and the next +moment the room seemed to slip away from them into whirling space. + +The whole thing had passed so rapidly from the moment he approached +her to the first graceful swing of her full skirt at his side, that it +seemed to him almost like the embrace of a lovers' meeting. He had +often been as near her before, had stood at her side at school, and even +leaned over her desk, but always with an irritated instinct of reserve +that had equally affected her, and which he now understood. With her +conscious but pale face so near his own, with the faint odor of her hair +clinging to her, and with the sweet confusion of the half lingering, +half withheld contact of her hand and arm, all had changed. He did not +dare to reflect that he could never again approach her except with this +feeling. He did not dare to think of anything; he abandoned himself to +the sense that had begun with the invasion of her hair-bound myrtle in +the silent school-room, and seemed to have at last led her to his arms. +They were moving now in such perfect rhythm and unison that they seemed +scarcely conscious of motion. Once when they neared the open window he +caught a glimpse of the round moon rising above the solemn heights of +the opposite shore, and felt the cool breath of mountain and river sweep +his cheek and mingle a few escaped threads of her fair hair with +his own. With that glimpse and that sensation the vulgarity and the +tawdriness of their surroundings, the guttering candles in their +sconces, the bizarre figures, the unmeaning faces seemed to be whirled +far into distant space. They were alone with night and nature; it was +they who were still; all else had receded in a vanishing perspective of +dull reality, in which they had no part. + +Play on, O waltz of Strauss! Whirl on, O love and youth! For you cannot +whirl so swiftly but that this receding world will return again with +narrowing circle to hem you in. Faster, O cracked clarionet! Louder, +O too brazen bassoon! Keep back, O dull and earthy environment, till +master and pupil have dreamed their foolish dream! + +They are in fancy alone on the river-bank, only the round moon above +them and their linked shadows faintly fluttering in the stream. They +have drawn so closely together now that her arm is encircling his neck, +her soft eyes uplifted like the moon's reflection and drowning into his; +closer and closer till their hearts stop beating and their lips have met +in a first kiss. Faster, O little feet! swing clear, O Cressy's skirt +and keep the narrowing circle back! . . . They are again alone; the +judges' dais and the emblazoning of the State caught in a single +whirling flash of consciousness are changed to an altar, seen dimly +through the bridal veil that covers her fair head. There is the murmur +of voices mingling two lives in one. They turn and pass proudly down +between the aisles of wondering festal faces. Ah! the circle is drawing +closer. One more quick whirl to keep them back, O flying skirt and +dainty-winged feet! Too late! The music stops. The tawdry walls shut in +again, the vulgar crowds return, they stand pale and quiet, the centre +of a ring of breathless admiring, frightened, or forbidding faces. Her +arms fold like wings at her side. The waltz is over. + +A shrill feminine chorus assail her with praises, struck here and +there with a metallic ring of envy; a dozen all-daring cavaliers, made +reckless by her grace and beauty, clamor for her hand in the next waltz. +She replies, not to them, but to him, "Not again," and slips away in +the crowd with that strange new shyness that of all her transformations +seems the most delicious. Yet so conscious are they of their mutual +passion that they do not miss each other, and he turns away as if their +next meeting were already an appointed tryst. A few congratulate him on +his skill. Johnny's paragon looks after him curiously; certain +elders shake hands with him perplexedly, as if not quite sure of the +professional consistency of his performance. Those charming tide-waiters +on social success, the fair, artfully mingling expectation with +compliment, only extract from him the laughing statement that this +one waltz was the single exception allowed him from the rule of his +professional conduct, and he refers them to his elder critics. A single +face, loutish, looming, and vindictive, stands on among the crowd--the +face of Seth Davis. He had not seen him since he left the school; he had +forgotten his existence; even now he only remembered his successor, Joe +Masters, and he looked curiously around to see if that later suitor of +Cressy's was present. It was not until he reached the door that he began +to think seriously of Seth Davis's jealous face, and was roused to a +singular indignation. "Why hadn't this great fool vented his jealousy on +the openly compromising Masters," he thought. He even turned and walked +back with some vaguely aggressive instinct, but the young man had +disappeared. With this incident still in his mind he came upon Uncle Ben +and Hiram McKinstry standing among the spectators in the doorway. Why +might not Uncle Ben be jealous too? and if his single waltz had really +appeared so compromising why should not Cressy's father object? But both +men--albeit, McKinstry usually exhibited a vague unreasoning contempt +for Uncle Ben--were unanimous in their congratulations and outspoken +admiration. + +"When I see'd you sail in, Mr. Ford," said Uncle Ben, with abstract +reflectiveness, "I sez to the fellers, 'lie low, boys, and you'll see +style.' And when you put on them first steps, I sez, 'that's French--the +latest high-toned French style--outer the best masters, and--and outer +the best books. For why?' sez I. 'It's the same long, sliding stroke you +see in his copies. There's that long up sweep, and that easy curve +to the right with no hitch. That's the sorter swing he hez in readin' +po'try too. That's why it's called the po'try of motion,' sez I. 'And +you ken bet your boots, boys, it's all in the trainin' o' education.'" + +"Mr. Ford," said Mr. McKinstry gravely, slightly waving a +lavender-colored kid glove, with which he had elected to conceal his +maimed hand, and at the same moment indicate a festal occasion: "I hev +to thank ye for the way you took out that child o' mine, like ez she woz +an ontried filly, and put her through her paces. I don't dance myself, +partikly in that gait--which I take to be suthin' betwixt a lope and a +canter and I don't get to see much dancin' nowadays on account o' bein' +worrited by stock, but seein' you two together just now, suthin' came +over me, and I don't think I ever felt so kam in my life." + +The blood rushed to the master's cheek with an unexpected consciousness +of guilt and shame. "But," he stammered awkwardly, "your daughter dances +beautifully herself; she has certainly had practice." + +"That," said McKinstry, laying his gloved hand impressively on the +master's shoulder, with the empty little finger still more emphasized by +being turned backward in the net; "that may be ez it ez, but I wanted +to say that it was the simple, easy, fammily touch that you gev it, that +took me. Toward the end, when you kinder gathered her up and she sorter +dropped her head into your breast-pocket, and seemed to go to sleep, +like ez ef she was still a little girl, it so reminded me of the times +when I used to tote her myself walkin' by the waggin at Platt River, +that it made me wish the old woman was here to see it." + +Still coloring, the master cast a rapid, sidelong glance at McKinstry's +dark red face and beard, but in the slow satisfaction of his features +there was no trace of that irony which the master's self-consciousness +knew. + +"Then your wife is not here?" said Mr. Ford abstractedly. + +"She war at church. She reckoned that I'd do to look arter Cressy--she +bein', so to speak, under conviction. D'ye mind walkin' this way a bit; +I want to speak a word with ye?" He put his maimed hand through the +master's arm, after his former fashion, and led him to a corner. + +"Did ye happen to see Seth Davis about yer?" + +"I believe I saw him a moment ago," returned Mr. Ford half +contemptuously. + +"Did he get off anythin' rough on ye?" + +"Certainly not," said the master haughtily. "Why should he dare?" + +"That's so," said McKinstry meditatively. "You had better keep right on +in that line. That's your gait, remember. Leave him--or his father--it's +the same thing--to ME. Don't YOU let yourself be roped in to this yer +row betwixt me and the Davises. You ain't got no call to do it. It's +already been on my mind your bringin' that gun to me in the Harrison +row. The old woman hadn't oughter let you--nor Cress either. Hark to me, +Mr. Ford! I reckon to stand between you and both the Davises till the +cows come home--only--mind YOU give him the go-by when he happens to +meander along towards you." + +"I'm very much obliged to you," said Ford with disproportionately +sudden choler; "but I don't propose to alter my habits for a ridiculous +school-boy whom I have dismissed." The unjust and boyish petulance of +his speech instantly flashed upon him, and he felt his cheek burn again. + +McKinstry regarded him with dull, red, slumbrous eyes. "Don't you go to +lose your best holt, Mr. Ford--and that's kam. Keep your kam--and you've +allus got the dead wood on Injin Springs. I ain't got it," he continued, +in his slowest, most passionless manner, "and a row more or less ain't +much account to me--but YOU, you keep your kam." He paused, stepped +back, and regarding the master, with a slight wave of his crippled hand +over his whole person, as if indicating some personal adornment, said, +"It sets you off!" + +He nodded, turned, and re-entered the ball-room. Mr. Ford, without +trusting himself to further speech, elbowed his way through the crowded +staircase to the street. But even there his strange anger, as well +as the equally strange remorse, which had seized him in McKinstry's +presence, seemed to evaporate in the clear moonlight and soft summer +air. There was the river-bank, with the tremulous river glancing through +the dreamy mist, as they had seen it from the window together. He even +turned to look back on the lighted ball-room, as if SHE might have been +looking out, too. But he knew he should see her again to-morrow, and +he hurriedly put aside all reserve, all thought of the future, all +examination of his conduct, to walk home enwrapped in the vaguer +pleasure of the past. Rupert Filgee, to whom he had never given a second +thought, now peacefully slumbering beside his baby brother, had not gone +home in more foolish or more dangerous company. + +When he reached the hotel, he was surprised to find it only eleven +o'clock. No one had returned, the building was deserted by all but the +bar-keeper and a flirting chambermaid, who regarded him with aggrieved +astonishment. He began to feel very foolish, and half regretted that +he had not stayed to dance with Mrs. Tripp; or, at least, remained as +a quiet onlooker apart from the others. With a hasty excuse about +returning to write letters for the morning's post, he took a candle +and slowly remounted the stairs to his room. But on entering he found +himself unprepared for that singular lack of sympathy with which +familiar haunts always greet our new experiences; he could hardly +believe that he had left that room only two hours before; it seemed so +uncongenial and strange to the sensation that was still possessing him. +Yet there were his table, his books, his arm-chair, his bed as he had +left them; even a sticky fragment of gingerbread that had fallen from +Johnny's pocket. He had not yet reached that stage of absorbing passion +where he was able to put the loved one in his own surroundings; she +as yet had no place in this quiet room; he could scarcely think of +her here, and he MUST think of her, if he had to go elsewhere. An +extravagant idea of walking the street until his restless dream was over +seized him, but even in his folly the lackadaisical, moonstruck quality +of such a performance was too obvious. The school-house! He would go +there; it was only a pleasant walk, the night was lovely, and he could +bring the myrtle-spray from his desk. It was too significant now--if not +too precious--to be kept there. Perhaps he had not examined it closely, +nor the place where it had lain; there might be an additional sign, +word, or token he had overlooked. The thought thrilled him, even while +he was calmly arguing to himself that it was an instinct of caution. + +The air was quieter and warmer than usual, though still characteristic +of the locality in its dry, dewless clarity. The grass was yet warm +from the day-long sun, and when he entered the pines that surrounded +the schoolhouse, they had scarcely yet lost their spicy heat. The moon, +riding high, filled the dark aisles with a delicious twilight that lent +itself to his waking dreams. It was not long before to-morrow; he could +easily manage to bring her here in the grove at recess, and would speak +with her there. It did not occur to him what he should say, or why he +should say it; it did not occur to him that he had no other provocation +than her eyes, her conscious manner, her eloquent silence, and her +admission that she had expected him. It did not occur to him that +all this was inconsistent with what he knew of her antecedents, her +character, and her habits. It was this very inconsistency that charmed +and convinced him. We are always on the lookout for these miracles +of passion. We may doubt the genuineness of an affection that is +first-hand, but never of one that is transferred. + +He approached the school-house and unlocking the door closed it behind +him, not so much to keep out human intrusion as the invasion of bats +and squirrels. The nearly vertical moon, while it perfectly lit the +playground and openings in the pines around the house, left the interior +in darkness, except the reflection upon the ceiling from the shining +gravel without. Partly from a sense of precaution and partly because +he was familiar with the position of the benches, he did not strike a +light, and reached his own desk unerringly, drew his chair before it and +unlocked it, groped in its dark recess for the myrtle spray, felt its +soft silken binding with an electrical thrill, drew it out, and in the +security of the darkness, raised it to his lips. + +To make room for it in his breast pocket he was obliged to take out his +letters--among them the well-worn one he had tried to read that morning. +A mingling of pleasure and remorse came over him as he felt that it was +already of the past, and as he dropped it carelessly into the empty desk +it fell with a faint, hollow sound as if it were ashes to ashes. + +What was that? + +The noise of steps upon the gravel, light laughter, the moving of two or +three shadows on the ceiling, the sound of voices, a man's, a child's, +and HERS! + +Could it be possible? Was not he mistaken? No! the man's voice was +Masters'; the child's, Octavia's; the woman's, HERS. + +He remained silent in the shadow. The school-room was not far from the +trail where she would have had to pass going home from the ball. But +why had she come there? had they seen him arrive? and were mischievously +watching him? The sound of Cressy's voice and the lifting of the +unprotected window near the door convinced him to the contrary. + +"There, that'll do. Now you two can step aside. 'Tave, take him over to +yon fence, and keep him there till I get in. No--thank you, sir--I can +assist myself. I've done it before. It ain't the first time I've been +through this window, is it, 'Tave?" + +Ford's heart stopped beating. There was a moment of laughing +expostulation, the sound of retreating voices, the sudden darkening of +the window, the billowy sweep of a skirt, the faint quick flash of +a little ankle, and Cressy McKinstry swung herself into the room and +dropped lightly on the floor. + +She advanced eagerly up the moonlit passage between the two rows of +benches. Suddenly she stopped; the master rose at the same moment with +outstretched warning hand to check the cry of terror he felt sure would +rise to her lips. But he did not know the lazy nerves of the girl before +him. She uttered no outcry. And even in the faint dim light he could see +only the same expression of conscious understanding come over her face +that he had seen in the ball-room, mingled with a vague joy that parted +her breathless lips. As he moved quickly forward their hands met; she +caught his with a quick significant pressure and darted back to the +window. + +"Oh, 'Tave!" (very languidly.) + +"Yes." + +"You two had better wait for me at the edge of the trail yonder, and +keep a lookout for folks going by. Don't let them see you hanging round +so near. Do you hear? I'm all right." + +With her hand still meaningly lifted, she stood gazing at the two +figures until they slowly receded towards the distant trail. Then she +turned as he approached her, the reflection of the moonlit road striking +up into her shining eyes and eager waiting face. A dozen questions were +upon his lips, a dozen replies were ready upon hers. But they were never +uttered, for the next moment her eyes half closed, she leaned forward +and fell--into a kiss. + +She was the first to recover, holding his face in her hands, turned +towards the moonlight, her own in passionate shadow. "Listen," she said +quickly. "They think I came here to look for something I left in my +desk. They thought it high fun to come with me--these two. I did come to +look for something--not in my desk, but yours." + +"Was it this?" he whispered, taking the myrtle from his breast. She +seized it with a light cry, putting it first to her lips and then to +his. Then clasping his face again between her soft palms, she turned it +to the window and said: "Look at them and not at me." + +He did so--seeing the two figures slowly walking in the trail. And +holding her there firmly against his breast, it seemed a blasphemy to +ask the question that had been upon his lips. + +"That's not all," she murmured, moving his face backwards and forwards +to her lips as if it were something to which she was giving breath. +"When we came to the woods I felt that you would be here." + +"And feeling that, you brought HIM?" said Ford, drawing back. + +"Why not?" she replied indolently. "Even if he had seen you, I could +have managed to have you walk home with me." + +"But do you think it's quite fair? Would he like it?" + +"Would HE like it?" she echoed lazily. + +"Cressy," said the young man earnestly, gazing into her shadowed face. +"Have you given him any right to object? Do you understand me?" + +She stopped as if thinking. "Do you want me to call him in?" she said +quietly, but without the least trace of archness or coquetry. "Would you +rather he were here--or shall we go out now and meet him? I'll say you +just came as I was going out." + +What should he say? "Cressy," he asked almost curtly, "do you love me?" + +It seemed such a ridiculous thing to ask, holding her thus in his arms, +if it were true; it seemed such a villainous question, if it were not. + +"I think I loved you when you first came," she said slowly. "It must +have been that that made me engage myself to him," she added simply. "I +knew I loved you, and thought only of you when I was away. I came back +because I loved you. I loved you the day you came to see Maw--even when +I thought you came to tell her of Masters, and to say that you couldn't +take me back." + +"But you don't ask me if I love you?" + +"But you do--you couldn't help it now," she said confidently. + +What could he do but reply as illogically with a closer embrace, albeit +a slight tremor as if a cold wind had blown across the open window, +passed over him. She may have felt it too, for she presently said, "Kiss +me and let me go." + +"But we must have a longer talk, darling--when--when--others are not +waiting." + +"Do you know the far barn near the boundary?" she asked. + +"Yes." + +"I used to take your books there, afternoons to--to--be with you," she +whispered, "and Paw gave orders that no one was to come nigh it while I +was there. Come to-morrow, just before sundown." + +A long embrace followed, in which all that they had not said seemed, +to them at least, to become articulate on their tremulous and clinging +lips. Then they separated, he unlocking the door softly to give her +egress that way. She caught up a book from a desk in passing, and +then slipped like a rosy shaft of the coming dawn across the fading +moonlight, and a moment after her slow voice, without a tremor of +excitement, was heard calling to her companions. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +The conversation which Johnny Filgee had overheard between Uncle Ben and +the gorgeous stranger, although unintelligible to his infant mind, was +fraught with some significance to the adult settlers of Indian Spring. +The town itself, like most interior settlements, was originally a +mining encampment, and as such its founders and settlers derived their +possession of the soil under the mining laws that took precedence of all +other titles. But although that title was held to be good even after +the abandonment of their original occupation, and the establishment of +shops, offices, and dwellings on the site of the deserted places, the +suburbs of the town and outlying districts were more precariously held +by squatters, under the presumption of their being public land open to +preemption, or the settlement of school-land warrants upon them. Few of +the squatters had taken the trouble to perfect even these easy titles, +merely holding "possession" for agricultural or domiciliary purposes, +and subject only to the invasion of "jumpers," a class of adventurers +who, in the abeyance of recognized legal title, "jumped" or forcibly +seized such portions of a squatter's domains as were not protected by +fencing or superior force. It was therefore with some excitement that +Indian Spring received the news that a Mexican grant of three square +leagues, which covered the whole district, had been lately confirmed by +the Government, and that action would be taken to recover possession. It +was understood that it would not affect the adverse possessions held +by the town under the mining laws, but it would compel the adjacent +squatters like McKinstry, Davis, Masters, and Filgee, and jumpers like +the Harrisons, to buy the legal title, or defend a slow but +losing lawsuit. The holders of the grant--rich capitalists of San +Francisco--were open to compromise to those in actual possession, and +in the benefits of this compromise the unscrupulous "jumper," who had +neither sown nor reaped, but simply dispossessed the squatter who had +done both, shared equally with him. + +A diversity of opinion as to the effect of the new claim naturally +obtained; the older settlers still clung to their experiences of an +easy aboriginal holding of the soil, and were sceptical both as to +the validity and justice of these revived alien grants; but the newer +arrivals hailed this certain tenure of legal titles as a guarantee to +capital and an incentive to improvement. There was also a growing and +influential party of Eastern and Northern men, who were not sorry to see +a fruitful source of dissension and bloodshed removed. The feuds of the +McKinstrys and Harrisons, kept alive over a boundary to which neither +had any legal claim, would seem to bring them hereafter within +the statute law regarding ordinary assaults without any ethical +mystification. On the other hand McKinstry and Harrison would each be +able to arrange any compromise with the new title holders for the +lands they possessed, or make over that "actual possession" for a +consideration. It was feared that both men, being naturally lawless, +would unite to render any legal eviction a long and dangerous process, +and that they would either be left undisturbed till the last, or would +force a profitable concession. But a greater excitement followed when it +was known that a section of the land had already been sold by the owners +of the grant, that this section exactly covered the debatable land of +the McKinstry-Harrison boundaries, and that the new landlord would at +once attempt its legal possession. The inspiration of genius that had +thus effected a division of the Harrison-McKinstry combination at its +one weak spot excited even the admiration of the sceptics. No one in +Indian Spring knew its real author, for the suit was ostensibly laid in +the name of a San Francisco banker. But the intelligent reader of +Johnny Filgee's late experience during the celebration will have already +recognized Uncle Ben as the man, and it becomes a part of this +veracious chronicle at this moment to allow him to explain, not only +his intentions, but the means by which he carried them out, in his own +words. + +It was one afternoon at the end of his usual solitary lesson, and the +master and Uncle Ben were awaiting the arrival of Rupert. Uncle Ben's +educational progress lately, through dint of slow tenacity, had somewhat +improved, and he had just completed from certain forms and examples in +a book before him a "Letter to a Consignee" informing him that he, Uncle +Ben, had just shipped "2 cwt. Ivory Elephant Tusks, 80 peculs of rice +and 400bbls. prime mess pork from Indian Spring;" and another beginning +"Honored Madam," and conveying in admirably artificial phraseology the +"lamented decease" of the lady's husband from yellow fever, contracted +on the Gold Coast, and Uncle Ben was surveying his work with critical +satisfaction when the master, somewhat impatiently, consulted his watch. +Uncle Ben looked up. + +"I oughter told ye that Rupe didn't kalkilate to come to day." + +"Indeed--why not?" + +"I reckon because I told him he needn't. I allowed to--to hev a little +private talk with ye, Mr. Ford, if ye didn't mind." + +Mr. Ford's face did not shine with invitation. "Very well," he said, +"only remember I have an engagement this afternoon." + +"But that ain't until about sundown," said Uncle Ben quietly. "I won't +keep ye ez long ez that." + +Mr. Ford glanced quickly at Uncle Ben with a rising color. "What do you +know of my engagements?" he said sharply. + +"Nothin', Mr. Ford," returned Uncle Ben simply; "but hevin' bin layin' +round, lookin' for ye here and at the hotel for four or five days allus +about that time and not findin' you, I rather kalkilated you might hev +suthin' reg'lar on hand." + +There was certainly nothing in his face or manner to indicate the least +evasion or deceit, or indeed anything but his usual naivete, perhaps a +little perturbed and preoccupied by what he was going to say. "I had an +idea of writin' you a letter," he continued, "kinder combinin' practice +and confidential information, you know. To be square with you, Mr. Ford, +in pint o' fact, I've got it HERE. But ez it don't seem to entirely gibe +with the facts, and leaves a heap o' things onsaid and onseen, perhaps +it's jest ez wall ez I read it to you myself--putten' in a word here and +there, and explainin' it gin'rally. Do you sabe?" + +The master nodded, and Uncle Ben drew from his desk a rude portfolio +made from the two covers of a dilapidated atlas, and took from between +them a piece of blotting-paper, which through inordinate application +had acquired the color and consistency of a slate, and a few pages +of copy-book paper, that to the casual glance looked like sheets +of exceedingly difficult music. Surveying them with a blending of +chirographic pride, orthographic doubt, and the bashful consciousness of +a literary amateur, he traced each line with a forefinger inked to the +second joint, and slowly read aloud as follows:-- + +"'Mr. Ford, Teacher. + +"'DEAR SIR,--Yours of the 12th rec'd and contents noted.'" ("I did'nt," +explained Uncle Ben parenthetically, "receive any letter of yours, but I +thought I might heave in that beginning from copy for practice. The +rest is ME.") "'In refference to my having munney,"' continued Uncle Ben +reading and pointing each word as he read, "'and being able to buy Ditch +Stocks an' Land'"-- + +"One moment," said Mr. Ford interrupting, "I thought you were going to +leave out copy. Come to what you have to say." + +"But I HEV--this is all real now. Hold on and you'll see," said Uncle +Ben. He resumed with triumphant emphasis:-- + +"'When it were gin'rally allowed that I haddent a red cent, I want to +explain to you Mister Ford for the first time a secret. This here is how +it was done. When I first came to Injian Spring, I settled down into +the old Palmetto claim, near a heap of old taillings. Knowin' it were +against rools, and reg'lar Chinyman's bizness to work them I diddn't +let on to enyboddy what I did--witch wos to turn over some of the quarts +what I thought was likely and Orrifferus. Doing this I kem uppon some +pay ore which them Palmetto fellers had overlookt, or more likely had +kaved in uppon them from the bank onknown. Workin' at it in od times by +and large, sometimes afore sun up and sometimes after sundown, and all +the time keeping up a day's work on the clame for a show to the boys, I +emassed a honist fortun in 2 years of 50,000 dolers and still am. But +it will be askd by the incredjulos Reeder How did you never let out +anything to Injian Spring, and How did you get rid of your yeald? Mister +Ford, the Anser is I took it twist a month on hoss back over to La +Port and sent it by express to a bank in Sacramento, givin' the name of +Daubigny, witch no one in La Port took for me. The Ditch Stok and the +Land was all took in the same name, hens the secret was onreviled to +the General Eye--stop a minit,'" he interrupted himself quickly as the +master in an accession of impatient scepticism was about to break in +upon him, "it ain't all." Then dropping his voice to a tremulous and +almost funereal climax, he went on:-- + +"'Thus we see that pashent indurstry is Rewarded in Spite of Mining +Rools and Reggylashuns, and Predgudisses agin Furrin Labor is played out +and fleeth like a shad-or contenueyeth not long in One Spot, and that a +Man may apear to be off no Account and yet Emass that witch is far abov +rubles and Fadith not Away. + +"'Hoppin' for a continneyance + +"'of your fevors I remain, + +"'Yours to command, + +"'BENJ D'AUBIGNY."' + + +The gloomy satisfaction with which Uncle Ben regarded this peroration--a +satisfaction that actually appeared to be equal to the revelation +itself--only corroborated the master's indignant doubts. + +"Come," he said, impulsively taking the paper from Uncle Ben's reluctant +hand, "how much of this is a concoction of yours and Rupe's--and how +much is a true story? Do you really mean?"-- + +"Hold on, Mr. Ford!" interrupted Uncle Ben, suddenly fumbling in the +breast-pocket of his red shirt, "I reckoned on your being a little hard +with me, remembering our first talk 'bout these things--so I allowed I'd +bring you some proof." Slowly extracting a long legal envelope from his +pocket, he opened it, and drew out two or three crisp certificates of +stock, and handed them to the master. + +"Ther's one hundred shares made out to Benj Daubigny. I'd hev brought +you over the deed of the land too, but ez it's rather hard to read +off-hand, on account of the law palaver, I've left it up at the shanty +to tackle at odd times by way of practising. But ef you like we'll go up +thar, and I'll show it to you." + +Still haunted by his belief in Uncle Ben's small duplicities, Mr. Ford +hesitated. These were certainly bona fide certificates of stock made out +to "Daubigny." But he had never actually accepted Uncle Ben's +statement of his identity with that person, and now it was offered as a +corroboration of a still more improbable story. He looked at Uncle Ben's +simple face slightly deepening in color under his scrutiny--perhaps with +conscious guilt. + +"Have you made anybody your confidant? Rupe, for instance?" he asked +significantly. + +"In course not," replied Uncle Ben with a slight stiffening of wounded +pride. "On'y yourself, Mr. Ford, and the young feller Stacey from the +bank--ez was obligated to know it. In fact, I wos kalkilatin' to ask you +to help me talk to him about that yer boundary land." + +Mr. Ford's scepticism was at last staggered. Any practical joke or +foolish complicity between the agent of the bank and a man like +Uncle Ben was out of the question, and if the story were his own sole +invention, he would have scarcely dared to risk so accessible and +uncompromising a denial as the agent had it in his power to give. + +He held out his hand to Uncle Ben. "Let me congratulate you," he said +heartily, "and forgive me if your story really sounded so wonderful I +couldn't quite grasp it. Now let me ask you something more. Have you had +any reason for keeping this a secret, other than your fear of confessing +that you violated a few bigoted and idiotic mining rules--which, after +all, are binding only upon sentiment--and which your success has proved +to be utterly impractical?" + +"There WAS another reason, Mr. Ford," said Uncle Ben, wiping away an +embarrassed smile with the back of his hand, "that is, to be square with +you, WHY I thought of consultin' you. I didn't keer to have McKinstry, +and"--he added hurriedly, "in course Harrison, too, know that I bought +up the title to thur boundary." + +"I understand," nodded the master. "I shouldn't think you would." + +"Why shouldn't ye?" asked Uncle Ben quickly. + +"Well--I don't suppose you care to quarrel with two passionate men." + +Uncle Ben's face changed. Presently, however, with his hand to his face, +he managed to manipulate another smile, only it appeared for the purpose +of being as awkwardly wiped away. + +"Say ONE passionate man, Mr. Ford." + +"Well, one if you like," returned the master cheerfully. "But for the +matter of that, why any? Come--do you mind telling me why you bought +the land at all? You know it's of little value to any but McKinstry and +Harrison." + +"Soppose," said Uncle Ben slowly, with a great affectation of wiping his +ink-spotted desk with his sleeve, "soppose that I had got kinder tired +of seein' McKinstry and Harrison allus fightin' and scrimmagin' over +their boundary line. Soppose I kalkilated that it warn't the sort o' +thing to induce folks to settle here. Soppose I reckoned that by gettin' +the real title in my hands I'd have the deadwood on both o' them, and +settle the thing my own way, eh?" + +"That certainly was a very laudable intention," returned Mr. Ford, +observing Uncle Ben curiously, "and from what you said just now about +one passionate man, I suppose you have determined already WHO to favor. +I hope your public spirit will be appreciated by Indian Spring at +least--if it isn't by those two men." + +"You lay low and keep dark and you'll see," returned his companion with +a hopefulness of speech which his somewhat anxious eagerness however did +not quite bear out. "But you're not goin' yet, surely," he added, as the +master again absently consulted his watch. "It's on'y half past four. +It's true thar ain't any more to tell," he added simply, "but I had an +idea that you might hev took to this yer little story of mine more than +you 'pear to be, and might be askin' questions and kinder bedevlin' me +with jokes ez to what I was goin' to do--and all that. But p'raps it +don't seem so wonderful to you arter all. Come to think of it--squarely +now," he said, with a singular despondency, "I'm rather sick of it +myself--eh?" + +"My dear old boy," said Ford, grasping both his hands, with a swift +revulsion of shame at his own utterly selfish abstraction, "I am +overjoyed at your good luck. More than that, I can say honestly, old +fellow, that it couldn't have fallen in more worthy hands, or to any one +whose good fortune would have pleased me more. There! And if I've been +slow and stupid in taking it in, it is because it's so wonderful, so +like a fairy tale of virtue rewarded--as if you were a kind of male +Cinderella, old man!" He had no intention of lying--he had no belief +that he was: he had only forgotten that his previous impressions +and hesitations had arisen from the very fact that he DID doubt the +consistency of the story with his belief in Uncle Ben's weakness. But he +thought himself now so sincere that the generous reader, who no doubt +is ready to hail the perfect equity of his neighbor's good luck, will +readily forgive him. + +In the plenitude of this sincerity, Ford threw himself at full length +on one of the long benches, and with a gesture invited Uncle Ben to make +himself equally at his ease. "Come," he said with boyish gayety, "let's +hear your plans, old man. To begin with, who's to share them with +you? Of course there are 'the old folks at home' first; then you have +brothers--and perhaps sisters?" He stopped and glanced with a smile +at Uncle Ben; the idea of there being a possible female of his species +struck his fancy. + +Uncle Ben, who had hitherto always exercised a severe restraint--partly +from respect and partly from caution--over his long limbs in the +school-house, here slowly lifted one leg over another bench, and sat +himself astride of it, leaning forward on his elbow, his chin resting +between his hands. + +"As far as the old folks goes, Mr. Ford, I'm a kind of an orphan." + +"A KIND of orphan?" echoed Ford. + +"Yes," said Uncle Ben, leaning heavily on his chin, so that the action +of his jaws with the enunciation of each word slightly jerked his head +forward as if he were imparting confidential information to the bench +before him. "Yes, that is, you see, I'm all right ez far as the old man +goes--HE'S dead; died way back in Mizzouri. But ez to my mother, it's +sorter betwixt and between--kinder unsartain. You see, Mr. Ford, she +went off with a city feller--an entire stranger to me--afore the old +man died, and that's wot broke up my schoolin'. Now whether she's here, +there, or yon, can't be found out, though Squire Tompkins allowed--and +he were a lawyer--that the old man could get a divorce if he wanted, and +that you see would make me a whole orphan, ef I keerd to prove title, +ez the lawyers say. Well--thut sorter lets the old folks out. Then +my brother was onc't drowned in the North Platt, and I never had any +sisters. That don't leave much family for plannin' about--does it?" + +"No," said the master reflectively, gazing at Uncle Ben, "unless you +avail yourself of your advantages now and have one of your own. I +suppose now that you are rich, you'll marry." + +Uncle Ben slightly changed his position, and then with his finger and +thumb began to apparently feed himself with certain crumbs which had +escaped from the children's luncheon-baskets and were still lying on +the bench. Intent on this occupation and without raising his eyes to the +master, he returned slowly, "Well, you see, I'm sorter married already." + +The master sat up quickly. + +"What, YOU married--now?" + +"Well, perhaps that's a question. It's a good deal like my beein' an +orphan--oncertain and onsettled." He paused to pursue an evasive crumb +to the end of the bench and having captured it, went on: "It was when I +was younger than you be, and she warn't very old neither. But she knew +a heap more than I did; and ez to readin' and writin', she was thar, +I tell you, every time. You'd hev admired to see her, Mr. Ford." As +he paused here as if he had exhausted the subject, the master said +impatiently, "Well, where is she now?" + +Uncle Ben shook his head slowly. "I ain't seen her sens I left Mizzouri, +goin' on five years ago." + +"But why haven't you? What was the matter?" persisted the master. + +"Well--you see--I runned away. Not SHE, you know, but I--I scooted, +skedaddled out here." + +"But what for?" asked the master, regarding Uncle Ben with hopeless +wonder. "Something must have happened. What was it? Was she"-- + +"She WAS a good schollard," said Uncle Ben gravely, "and allowed to be +sech, by all. She stood about so high," he continued, indicating with +his hand a medium height. "War little and dark complected." + +"But you must have had some reason for leaving her?" + +"I've sometimes had an idea," said Uncle Ben cautiously, "that mebbee +runnin' away ran in some fam'lies. Now, there war my mother run off with +an entire stranger, and yer's me ez run off by myself. And what makes +it the more one-like is that jest as dad allus allowed he could get a +devorce agin mother, so my wife could hev got one agin me for leavin' +her. And it's almost an evenhanded game that she hez. It's there where +the oncertainty comes in." + +"But are you satisfied to remain in this doubt? or do you propose, now +that you are able, to institute a thorough search for her?" + +"I was kalkilatin' to look around a little," said Uncle Ben simply. + +"And return to her if you find her?" continued the master. + +"I didn't say that, Mr. Ford." + +"But if she hasn't got a divorce from you that's what you'll have to do, +and what you ought to do--if I understand your story. For by your own +showing, a more causeless, heartless, and utterly inexcusable desertion +than yours, I never heard of." + +"Do you think so?" said Uncle Ben with exasperating simplicity. + +"Do I think so?" repeated Mr. Ford, indignantly. "Everybody'll think so. +They can't think otherwise. You say you deserted her, and you admit she +did nothing to provoke it." + +"No," returned Uncle Ben quickly, "nothin'. Did I tell you, Mr. Ford, +that she could play the pianner and sing?" + +"No," said Mr. Ford, curtly, rising impatiently and crossing the room. +He was more than half convinced that Uncle Ben was deceiving him. Either +under the veil of his hide-bound simplicity he was an utterly selfish, +heartless, secretive man, or else he was telling an idiotic falsehood. + +"I'm sorry I can neither congratulate you nor condole with you on what +you have just told me. I cannot see that you have the least excuse for +delaying a single moment to search for your wife and make amends for +your conduct. And if you want my opinion it strikes me as being a much +more honorable way of employing your new riches than mediating in your +neighbors' squabbles. But it's getting late and I'm afraid we must +bring our talk to an end. I hope you'll think this over before we meet +again--and think differently." + +Nevertheless, as they both left the schoolhouse, Mr. Ford lingered over +the locking of the door to give Uncle Ben a final chance for further +explanation. But none came. The new capitalist of Indian Spring regarded +him with an intensification of his usual half sad, half embarrassed +smile, and only said: "You understand this yer's a secret, Mr. Ford?" + +"Certainly," said Ford with ill-concealed irritation. + +"'Bout my bein' sorter married?" + +"Don't be alarmed," he responded dryly; "it's not a taking story." + +They separated; Uncle Ben, more than ever involved in his usual +unsatisfactory purposes, wending his way towards his riches; the master +lingering to observe his departure before he plunged, in virtuous +superiority, into the woods that fringed the Harrison and McKinstry +boundaries. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +The religious attitude which Mrs. McKinstry had assumed towards her +husband's weak civilized tendencies was not entirely free from human +rancor. That strong loyal nature which had unsexed itself in the one +idea of duty, now that duty seemed to be no longer appreciated took +refuge in her forgotten womanhood and in the infinitesimally small +arguments, resources, and manoeuvres at its command. She had conceived a +singular jealousy of this daughter who had changed her husband's nature, +and who had supplanted the traditions of the household life; she had +acquired an exaggerated depreciation of those feminine charms which +had never been a factor in her own domestic happiness. She saw in her +husband's desire to mitigate the savage austerities of their habits +only a weak concession to the powers of beauty and adornment--degrading +vanities she had never known in their life-long struggle for frontier +supremacy--that had never brought them victorious out of that struggle. +"Frizzles," "furblows," and "fancy fixin's" had never helped them in +their exodus across the plains; had never taken the place of swift eyes, +quick ears, strong hands, and endurance; had never nursed the sick or +bandaged the wounded. When envy or jealousy invades the female heart +after forty it is apt to bring a bitterness which knows no attenuating +compensation in that coquetry, emulation, passionate appeal, or innocent +tenderness, which makes tolerable the jealous caprices of the younger +woman. The struggle for rivalry is felt to be hopeless, the power of +imitation is gone. Of her forgotten womanhood Mrs. McKinstry revived +only a capacity to suffer meanly and inflict mean suffering upon others. +In the ruined castle of her youth, and the falling in of banqueting hall +and bower, the dungeon and torture-chamber appeared to have been left, +or, to use her own metaphor, she had querulously complained to the +parson that, "Accordin' to some folks, she mout hev bin the barren +fig-tree e-lected to bear persimmums." + +Her methods were not entirely different from those employed by her +suffering sisterhood in like emergencies. The unlucky Hiram, "worrited +by stock," was hardly placated or consoled by learning from her that it +was only the result of his own weakness, acting upon the 'cussedness of +the stock-dispersing Harrisons; the perplexity into which he was thrown +by the news of the new legal claim to his land was not soothed by the +suggestion that it was a trick of that Yankee civilization to which he +was meanly succumbing. She who had always been a rough but devoted nurse +in sickness was now herself overtaken by vague irregular disorders which +involved the greatest care and the absence of all exciting causes. +The attendance of McKinstry and Cressy at a "crazy quilting party" had +brought on "blind chills;" the importation of a melodeon for Cressy to +play on had superinduced an "innerd rash," and a threatened attack of +"palsy creeps" had only been warded off by the timely postponement of +an evening party suggested by her daughter. The old nomadic instinct, +morbidly excited by her discontent, caused her to lay artful plans for +a further emigration. She knew she had the germs of "mash fever" caught +from the adjacent river; she related mysterious information, gathered +in "class meeting," of the superior facilities for stock raising on the +higher foot-hills; she resuscitated her dead and gone Missouri relations +in her daily speech, to a manifest invidious comparison with the living; +she revived even the incidents of her early married life with the same +baleful intent. The acquisition of a few "biled shirts" by Hiram for +festive appearances with Cressy painfully reminded her that he had +married her in "hickory;" she further accented the change by herself +appearing in her oldest clothes, on the hypothesis that it was necessary +for some one to keep up the traditions of the past. + +Her attitude towards Cressy would have been more decided had she ever +possessed the slightest influence over her, or had even understood her +with the intuitive sympathies of the maternal relations. Yet she went +so far as to even openly regret the breaking off of the match with Seth +Davis, whose family, at least, still retained the habits and traditions +she revered; but she was promptly silenced by her husband informing her +that words "that had to be tuk back" had already passed between him and +Seth's father, and that, according to those same traditions, blood was +more likely to be spilled than mingled. Whether she was only withheld +from attempting a reconciliation herself through lack of tact and +opportunity remains to be seen. For the present she encouraged Masters's +attentions under a new and vague idea that a flirtation which distracted +Cressy from her studies was displeasing to McKinstry and inimical to +his plans. Blindly ignorant of Mr. Ford's possible relations to her +daughter, and suspecting nothing, she felt towards him only a dull +aversion as being the senseless pivot of her troubles. Seeing no one, +and habitually closing her ears to any family allusion to Cressy's +social triumphs, she was unaware of even the popular admiration their +memorable waltz had excited. + +On the morning of the day that Uncle Ben had confided to the master +his ingenious plan for settling the boundary disputes, the barking +of McKinstry's yellow dog announced the approach of a stranger to the +ranch. It proved to be Mr. Stacey--not only as dazzlingly arrayed +as when he first rose above Johnny Filgee's horizon, but wearing, in +addition to his jaunty business air, a look of complacent expectation of +the pretty girl whom he had met at the ball. He had not seen her for a +month. It was a happy inspiration of his own that enabled him to present +himself that morning in the twin functions of a victorious Mercury and +Apollo. + +McKinstry had to be summoned from an adjacent meadow, while Cressy, in +the mean time, undertook to entertain the gallant stranger. This was +easily done. It was part of her fascinations that, disdaining the +ordinary real or assumed ignorance of the ingenue of her class, she +generally exhibited to her admirers (with perhaps the single exception +of the master) a laughing consciousness of the state of mind into which +her charms had thrown them. She understood their passion if she could +not accept it. This to a bashful rustic community was helpful, but in +the main unsatisfactory; with advances so promptly unmasked, the most +strategic retreat was apt to become an utter rout. Leaning against the +lintel of the door, her curved hand shading the sparkling depths of +her eyes, and the sunlight striking down upon the pretty curves of her +languid figure, she awaited the attack. + +"I haven't seen you, Miss Cressy, since we danced together--a month +ago." + +"That was mighty rough papers," said Cressy, who was purposely +dialectical to strangers, "considering that you trapsed up and down the +lane, past the house, twice yesterday." + +"Then you saw me?" said the young man, with a slightly discomfited +laugh. + +"I did. And so did the hound, and so, I reckon, did Joe Masters and the +hired man. And when you pranced back on the home stretch, there was +the hound, Masters, the hired man, and Maw all on your trail, and Paw +bringin' up the rear with a shot-gun. There was about a half a mile of +you altogether." She removed her hand from her eyes to indicate with a +lazily graceful sweep this somewhat imaginative procession, and laughed. + +"You are certainly well guarded," said Stacey hesitatingly; "and looking +at you, Miss Cressy," he added boldly, "I don't wonder at it." + +"Well, it IS reckoned that next to Paw's boundaries I'm pretty well +protected from squatters and jumpers." + +Forceful and quaint as her language was, the lazy sweetness of her +intonation, and the delicate refinement of her face, more than atoned +for it. It was unconventional and picturesque as her gestures. So at +least thought Mr. Stacey, and it emboldened him to further gallantry. + +"Well, Miss Cressy, as my business with your father to-day was to try to +effect a compromise of his boundary claims, perhaps you might accept my +services in your own behalf." + +"Which means," responded the young lady pertly, "the same thing to ME +as to Paw. No trespassers but yourself. Thank you, sir." She twirled +lightly on her heel and dropped him that exaggerated curtsey known to +the school-children as a "cheese." It permitted in its progress the +glimpse of a pretty little slipper which completed his subjugation. + +"Well, if it's only a fair compromise," he began laughingly. + +"Compromise means somebody giving up. Who is it?" she asked. + +The infatuated Stacey had reached the point of thinking this repartee if +possible more killing than his own. + +"Ha! That's for Miss Cressy to say." + +But the young lady leaning back against the lintel with the comfortable +ease of being irresponsibly diverted, sagely pointed out that that was +the function of the arbitrator. + +"Ah well, suppose we begin by giving up Seth Davis, eh? You see that I'm +pretty well posted, Miss Cressy." + +"You alarm me," said Cressy sweetly. "But I reckon he HAD given up." + +"He was in the running that night at the ball. Looked half savage while +I was dancing with you. Wanted to eat me." + +"Poor Seth! And he used to be SO particular in his food," said the witty +Cressy. + +Mr. Stacey was convulsed. "And there's Mr. Dabney--Uncle Ben," he +continued, "eh? Very quiet but very sly. A dark horse, eh? Pretends to +take lessons for the sake of being near some one, eh? Would he were a +boy again because somebody else is a girl?" + +"I should be frightened of you if you lived here always," returned +Cressy with invincible naivete; "but perhaps then you wouldn't know so +much." + +Stacey simply accepted this as a compliment. "And there's Masters," he +said insinuatingly. + +"Not Joe?" said Cressy with a low laugh, turning her eyes to the door. + +"Yes," said Stacey with a quick, uneasy smile. "Ah! I see we mustn't +drop HIM. Is he out THERE?" he added, trying to follow the direction of +her eyes. + +But the young girl kept her face studiously averted. "Is that all?" she +asked after a pause. + +"Well--there's that solemn school-master, who cut me out of the waltz +with you--that Mr. Ford." + +Had he been a perfectly cool and impartial observer he would have seen +the slight tremor cross Cressy's soft eyelids even in profile, followed +by that momentary arrest of her whole face, mouth, dimples, and eyes, +which had overtaken it the night the master entered the ball-room. But +he was neither, and it passed quickly and unnoticed. Her usual lithe but +languid play of expression and color came back, and she turned her head +lazily towards the speaker. "There's Paw coming. I suppose you wouldn't +mind giving me a sample of your style of arbitrating with him, before +you try it on me?" + +"Certainly not," said Stacey, by no means displeased at the prospect of +having so pretty and intelligent a witness in the daughter of what he +believed would form an attractive display of his diplomatic skill and +graciousness to the father. "Don't go away. I've got nothing to say Miss +Cressy could not understand and answer." + +The jingling of spurs, and the shadow of McKinstry and his shot-gun +falling at this moment between the speaker and Cressy, spared her +the necessity of a reply. McKinstry cast an uneasy glance around the +apartment, and not seeing Mrs. McKinstry looked relieved, and even the +deep traces of the loss of a valuable steer that morning partly faded +from his Indian-red complexion. He placed his shot-gun carefully in the +corner, took his soft felt hat from his head, folded it and put it in +one of the capacious pockets of his jacket, turned to his daughter, and +laying his maimed hand familiarly on her shoulder, said gravely, without +looking at Stacey, "What might the stranger be wantin', Cress?" + +"Perhaps I'd better answer that myself," said Stacey briskly. "I'm +acting for Benham and Co., of San Francisco, who have bought the Spanish +title to part of this property. I"-- + +"Stop there!" said McKinstry, in a voice dull but distinct. He took his +hat from his pocket, put it on, walked to the corner and took up his +gun, looked at Stacey for the first time with narcotic eyes that +seemed to drowsily absorb his slight figure, then put the gun back half +contemptuously, and with a wave of his hand towards the door, said: +"We'll settle this yer outside. Cress, you stop in here. There's man's +talk goin' on." + +"But, Paw," said Cressy, laying her hand languidly on her father's +sleeve without the least change of color or amused expression. "This +gentleman has come over here on a compromise." + +"On a--WHICH?" said McKinstry, glancing scornfully out of the door for +some rare species of mustang vaguely suggested to him in that unfamiliar +word. + +"To see if we couldn't come to some fair settlement," said Stacey. "I've +no objection to going outside with you, but I think we can discuss this +matter here just as well." His fine feathers had not made him a +coward, although his heart had beaten a little faster at this sudden +recollection of the dangerous reputation of his host. + +"Go on," said McKinstry. + +"The plain facts of the case are these," continued Stacey, with more +confidence. "We have sold a strip of this property covering the land in +dispute between you and Harrison. We are bound to put our purchaser +in peaceable possession. Now to save time we are willing to buy that +possession of any man who can give it. We are told that you can." + +"Well, considerin' that for the last four years I've been fightin' night +and day agin them low-down Harrisons for it, I reckon you've been lied +to," said McKinstry deliberately. "Why--except the clearing on the north +side, whar I put up a barn, thar ain't an acre of it as hasn't been +shifted first this side and then that as fast ez I druv boundary stakes +and fences, and the Harrisons pulled 'em up agin. Thar ain't more than +fifty acres ez I've hed a clear hold on, and I wouldn't hev had that ef +it hadn't bin for the barn, the raisin' alone o' which cost me a man, +two horses, and this yer little finger." + +"Put us in possession of even that fifty acres, and WE'LL undertake +to hold the rest and eject those Harrisons from it," returned Stacey +complacently. "You understand that the moment we've made a peaceable +entrance to even a foothold on your side, the Harrisons are only +trespassers, and with the title to back us we can call on the whole +sheriff's posse to put them off. That's the law." + +"That ar the law?" repeated McKinstry meditatively. + +"Yes," said Stacey. "So," he continued, with a self-satisfied smile +to Cressy, "far from being hard on you, Mr. McKinstry, we're rather +inclined to put you on velvet. We offer you a fair price for the only +thing you can give us--actual possession; and we help you with your old +grudge against the Harrisons. We not only clear them out, but we pay YOU +for even the part they held adversely to you." + +Mr. McKinstry passed his three whole fingers over his forehead and +eyes as if troubled by a drowsy aching. "Then you don't reckon to hev +anythin' to say to them Harrisons?" + +"We don't propose to recognize them in the matter at all," returned +Stacey. + +"Nor allow 'em anythin'?" + +"Not a cent! So you see, Mr. McKinstry," he continued magnanimously, yet +with a mischievous smile to Cressy, "there is nothing in this amicable +discussion that requires to be settled outside." + +"Ain't there?" said McKinstry, in a dull, deliberate voice, raising his +eyes for the second time to Stacey. They were bloodshot, with a heavy, +hanging furtiveness, not unlike one of his own hunted steers. "But I +ain't kam enuff in yer." He moved to the door with a beckoning of his +fateful hand. "Outside a minit--EF you please." + +Stacey started, shrugged his shoulders, and half defiantly stepped +beyond the threshold. Cressy, unchanged in color or expression, lazily +followed to the door. + +"Wot," said McKinstry, slowly facing Stacey; "wot ef I refoose? Wot ef I +say I don't allow any man, or any bank, or any compromise, to take up +my quo'r'lls? Wot ef I say that low-down and mean as them Harrisons is, +they don't begin to be ez mean, ez low-down, ez underhanded, ez sneakin' +ez that yer compromise? Wot ef I say that ef that's the kind o' hogwash +that law and snivelization offers me for peace and quietness, I'll take +the fightin', and the law-breakin', and the sheriff, and all h-ll for +his posse instead? Wot ef I say that?" + +"It will only be my duty to repeat it," said Stacey, with an affected +carelessness which, however, did not conceal his surprise and his +discomfiture. "It's no affair of mine." + +"Unless," said Cressy, assuming her old position against the lintel of +the door, and smoothing the worn bear-skin that served as a mat with +the toe of her slipper, "unless you've mixed it up with your other +arbitration, you know." + +"Wot other arbitration?" asked McKinstry suddenly, with murky eyes. + +Stacey cast a rapid, half indignant glance at the young girl, who +received it with her hands tucked behind her back, her lovely head bent +submissively forward, and a prolonged little laugh. + +"Oh nothing, Paw," she said, "only a little private foolishness betwixt +me and the gentleman. You'd admire to hear him talk, Paw--about other +things than business. He's just that chipper and gay." + +Nevertheless, as with a muttered "Good-morning" the young fellow turned +away, she quietly brushed past her father, and followed him--with her +hands still penitently behind her, and the rosy palms turned upward--as +far as the gate. Her single long Marguerite braid of hair trailing down +her back nearly to the hem of her skirt, appeared to accent her demure +reserve. At the gate she shaded her eyes with her hand, and glanced +upward. + +"It don't seem to be a good day for arbitrating. A trifle early in the +season, ain't it?" + +"Good-morning, Miss McKinstry." + +She held out her hand. He took it with an affected ease but cautiously, +as if it had been the velvet paw of a young panther who had scratched +him. After all, what was she but the cub of the untamed beast, +McKinstry? He was well out of it! He was not revengeful--but business +was business, and he had given them the first chance. + +As his figure disappeared behind the buckeyes of the lane, Cressy cast a +glance at the declining sun. She re-entered the house, and went directly +to her room. As she passed the window, she could see her father already +remounted galloping towards the tules, as if in search of that riparian +"kam" his late interview had disturbed. A few straggling bits of color +in the sloping meadows were the children coming home from school. She +hastily tied a girlish sun-bonnet under her chin, and slipping out of +the back door, swept like a lissom shadow along the line of fence +until she seemed to melt into the umbrage of the woods that fringed the +distant north boundary. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +Meanwhile, unaware of her husband's sudden relapse to her old border +principles and of the visit that had induced it, Mrs. McKinstry was +slowly returning from a lugubrious recital of her moods and feelings +at the parson's. As she crossed the barren flat and reached the wooded +upland midway between the school-house and the ranch, she saw before +her the old familiar figure of Seth Davis lounging on the trail. In her +habitual loyalty to her husband's feuds she would probably have stalked +defiantly past him, notwithstanding her late regrets of the broken +engagement, but Seth began to advance awkwardly towards her. In fact, he +had noticed the tall, gaunt, plaid-shawled and holland-bonneted figure +approaching, and had waited for it. + +As he seemed intent upon getting in her way she stopped and raised +her right hand warningly before her. In spite of the shawl and the +sun-bonnet, suffering had implanted a rude Runic dignity to her +attitude. "Words that hev to be took back, Seth Davis," she said +hastily, "hev passed between you and my man. Out of my way, then, that I +may pass, too." + +"Not much betwixt you and me, Aunt Rachel," he said with slouching +deprecation, using the old household title by which he had familiarly +known her. "I've nothin agin you--and I kin prove it by wot I'm yer +to say. And I ain't trucklin' to yer for myself, for ez far ez me and +your'n ez concerned," he continued, with a malevolent glance, "thar +ain't gold enough in Caleforny to mak the weddin' ring that could hitch +me and Cress together. I want to tell you that you're bein' played; that +you're bein' befooled and bamboozled and honey-fogled. Thet while +you're groanin' at class-meetin' and Hiram's quo'llin' with Dad, and +Joe Masters waitin' round to pick up any bone that's throwed him, that +sneakin', hypocritical Yankee school-master is draggin' your daughter to +h-ll with him on the sly." + +"Quit that, Seth Davis," said Mrs. McKinstry sternly, "or be man enough +to tell it to a man. That's Hiram's business to know." + +"And what if he knows it well enough and winks at it? What if he's +willin' enough to truckle to it, to curry favor with them sneakin' +Yanks?" said Seth malignantly. + +A spasm of savage conviction seized Mrs. McKinstry. But it was more +from her jealous fears of her husband's disloyalty than concern for her +daughter's transgression. Nevertheless, she said desperately, "It's a +lie. Where are your proofs?" + +"Proofs?" returned Seth. "Who is it sneaks around the school-house to +have private talks with the school-master, and edges him on with Cressy +afore folks? Your husband. Who goes sneakin' off every arternoon with +that same cantin' hound of a school-master? Your daughter. Who's been +carryin' on together, and hidin' thick enough to be ridden out on a rail +together? Your daughter and the school-master. Proofs?--ask anybody. Ask +the children. Look yar--you, Johnny--come here." + +He had suddenly directed his voice to a blackberry bush near the trail, +from which the curly head of Johnny Filgee had just appeared. That +home-returning infant painfully disengaged himself, his slate, his +books, and his small dinner-pail half filled with fruit as immature as +himself, and came towards them sideways. + +"Yer's a dime, Johnny, to git some candy," said Seth, endeavoring to +distort his passion-set face into a smile. + +Johnny Filgee's small, berry-stained palm promptly closed over the coin. + +"Now, don't lie. Where's Cressy?" + +"Kithin' her bo." + +"Good boy. What bo?" + +Johnny hesitated. He had once seen the school-master and Cressy +together; he had heard it whispered by the other children that they +loved each other. But looking at Seth and Mrs. McKinstry he felt that +something more tremendous than this stupid fact was required of him for +grown-up people, and being honest and imaginative, he determined that it +should be worth the money. + +"Speak up, Johnny, don't be afeard to tell." + +Johnny was not "afeard"--he was only thinking. He had it! He remembered +that he had just seen his paragon, the brilliant Stacey, coming from +the boundary woods. What more poetical and startlingly effective than to +connect him with Cressy? He replied promptly:-- + +"Mithter Thtathy. He gived her a watch and ring of truly gold. Goin' to +be married at Thacramento." + +"You lyin' limb," said Seth, seizing him roughly. But Mrs. McKinstry +interposed. + +"Let that brat go," she said with gleaming eyes. "I want to talk to +you." Seth released Johnny. "It's a trick," he said, "he's bin put up to +it by that Ford." + +But Johnny, after securing a safe vantage behind the blackberry bush, +determined to give them another trial--with facts. + +"I know mor'n that," he called out. + +"Git--you measly pup," said Seth savagely. + +"I know Theriff Briggth, he rid over the boundary with a lot o' men and +horthes," said Johnny, with that hurried delivery with which he was able +to estop interruption. "Theed 'em go by. Maur Harrithon theth his dad's +goin' to chuck out ole McKinthtry. Hooray!" + +Mrs. McKinstry turned her dark face sharply on Seth. "What's that he +sez?" + +"Nothin' but children's gassin'," he answered, meeting her eyes with an +evil consciousness half loutish, half defiant, "and ef it war true, it +would only sarve Hiram McKinstry right." + +She laid her hand upon his shoulder with swift suspicion. "Out o' my +way, Seth Davis," she said suddenly, pushing him aside. "Ef this ez any +underhanded work of yours, you'll pay for it." + +She strode past him in the direction of Johnny, but at the approach +of the tall woman with the angry eyes, the boy flew. She hesitated a +moment, turned again with a threatening wave of the hand to Seth, and +started off rapidly in the direction of the boundary. + +She had not placed so much faith in the boy's story as in the vague +revelation of evil in Davis's manner. If there was any "cussedness" +afoot, Seth, convinced of Cressy's unfaithfulness, and with no further +hope of any mediation from the parents, would know it. Unless Hiram had +been warned, he was still lulled in his fatuous dream of civilization. +At that time he and his men were in the tules with the stock; to be +satisfied, she herself must go to the boundary. + +She reached the ridge of the cottonwoods and sycamores, and a few +hundred yards further brought her to the edge of that gentle southern +slope which at last sank into the broad meadow of the debatable ground. +In spite of Stacey's invidious criticism of its intrinsic value, this +theatre of savage dissension, violence, and bloodshed was by some irony +of nature a pastoral landscape of singular and peaceful repose. The soft +glacis stretching before her was in spring cerulean with lupins, and +later starred with mariposas. The meadow was transversely crossed by a +curving line of alders that indicated a rare water-course, of which in +the dry season only a single pool remained to flash back the unvarying +sky. There had been no attempt at cultivation of this broad expanse; +wild oats, mustard, and rank grasses left it a tossing sea of turbulent +and variegated color whose waves rode high enough to engulf horse and +rider in their choking depths. Even the traces of human struggle, +the uprooted stakes, scattered fence-rails, and empty post-holes were +forever hidden under these billows of verdure. Midway of the field +and near the water-course arose McKinstry's barn--the solitary human +structure whose rude, misshapen, bulging sides and swallow-haunted eaves +bursting with hay from the neighboring pasture, seemed however only +an extravagant growth of the prolific soil. Mrs. McKinstry gazed at it +anxiously. There was no sign of life or movement near or around it; it +stood as it had always stood, deserted and solitary. But turning her +eyes to the right, beyond the water-course, she could see a slight +regular undulation of the grassy sea and what appeared to be the +drifting on its surface of half a dozen slouched hats in the direction +of the alders. There was no longer any doubt; a party from the other +side was approaching the border. + +A shout and the quick galloping of hoofs behind her sent a thrill of +relief to her heart. She had barely time to draw aside as her husband +and his followers swept past her down the slope. But it needed not +his furious cry, "The Harrisons hev sold us out," to tell her that the +crisis had come. + +She held her breath as the cavalcade diverged, and in open order +furiously approached the water-course, and she could see a sudden check +and hesitation in the movement in the meadow at that unlooked-for onset. +Then she thought of the barn. It would be a rallying-point for them if +driven back--a tower of defence if besieged. There were arms secreted +beneath the hay for such an emergency. She would run there, swing-to its +open doors, and get ready to barricade them. + +She ran crouchingly, seeking the higher grasses and brambles of the +ridge to escape observation from the meadow until she could descend upon +the barn from the rear. She threw aside her impeding shawl; her brown +holland sun-bonnet, torn off her head and hanging by its strings from +her shoulders, let her coarse silver-threaded hair stream like a mane +over her back; her face and hands were bleeding from thorns and whitened +by dust. But she struggled on fiercely like some hunted animal until +she reached the descending trail, when, letting herself go blindly, only +withheld by the long grasses she clutched at wildly on either side, she +half fell, half stumbled down the slope and emerged beside the barn, +breathless and exhausted. + +But what a contrast was there! For an instant she could scarcely believe +that she had left the ridge with her husband's savage outcry in her +ears, and in her eyes the swift vision of his furious cavalcade. The +boundary meadow was hidden by the soft lines of graceful willows in +whose dim recesses the figures of the passionate horsemen seemed to have +melted forever. There was nothing now to interrupt the long vista of +peaceful beauty that stretched before her through this lonely hollow to +the distant sleeping hills. The bursting barn in the foreground, heaped +with grain that fringed its eaves and bristled from its windows and +doors until its unlovely bulk was hidden in trailing feathery outlines; +the gentle flutter of wings and soothing twitter of swallows and jays +around its open rafters, and the drifting shadows of a few circling +crows above it; the drowsy song of bees on the wild mustard that half +hid its walls with yellow bloom; the sound of faintly-trickling water in +one of those old Indian-haunted springs that had given its name to the +locality; all these for an instant touched the senses of this hard, +fierce woman as she had not been touched since she was a girl. For one +brief moment the joys of peace and that matured repose that never had +been hers flashed upon her; but with it came the savage consciousness +that even now it was being wrested away, and the thought fired her blood +again. She listened eagerly for a second in the direction of the meadow; +there was no report of fire-arms--there was yet time to prepare the barn +for defence. She ran to the front of the building and seized the latch +of the half-closed door. A little feminine cry that was half a laugh +came from within, with the rapid rustle of a skirt and as the door +swung open a light figure vanished through the rear window. The slanting +sunlight falling in the shadowed interior disclosed only the single +erect figure of the school-master John Ford. + +The first confusion and embarrassment of an interrupted rendezvous that +had colored Ford's cheeks, gave way to a look of alarm as he caught +sight of the bleeding face and dishevelled figure of Mrs. McKinstry. She +saw it. To her distorted fancy it seemed only a proof of deeper guilt. +Without a word she closed the heavy door behind her and swung the huge +cross-bar unaided to its place. She then turned and confronted him, +wiping the dust from her face and arms with her torn and dangling +sun-bonnet in a way that recalled her attitude on the first day he had +met her. + +"That was Cress with ye?" she said. + +He hesitated, still gazing at her in wonder. + +"Don't lie." + +He started. "I don't propose to," he retorted indignantly. "It was"-- + +"I don't ask ye how long this yer's bin goin' on," she said, pointing +to Cressy's sun-bonnet, a few books, and a scattered nosegay of wild +flowers lying on the hay; "and I don't want to know. In five minutes +either her father will be here, or them hell-hounds of Harrison's who've +sold him out will swarm round this barn to git possesshun. Ef +this yer"--she again pointed contemptuously to the objects just +indicated--"means that you've cast your lot with US and kalkilate to +take our bitter with our sweet, ye'll lift up that stack of hay and +bring out a gun to help defend it. Ef you're meanin' anythin' else, +Ford, you'll hide yourself in that hay till Hiram comes and has time +enough to attend to ye." + +"And if I choose to do neither?" he said haughtily. + +She looked at him in unutterable scorn. "There's the winder--take it +while there's time, afore I bar it. Ef you see Hiram, tell him ye left +an old woman behind ye to defend the place whar you uster hide with her +darter." + +Before he could reply there was a distant report, followed almost +directly by another. With a movement of irritation he walked to the +window, turned and looked at her--bolted it, and came back. + +"Where's that gun?" he said almost rudely. + +"I reckon's that would fetch ye," she said, dragging away the hay and +disclosing a long trough-like box covered with tarpaulin. It proved to +contain powder, shot, and two guns. He took one. + +"I suppose I may know what I am fighting for?" he said dryly. + +"Ye might say 'Cress' ef they"--indicating the direction of the +reports--"happen to ask ye," she returned with equal sobriety. "Jess now +ye kin take your stand up thar in the loft and see what's comin'." + +He did not linger, but climbed to the place assigned him, glad to escape +the company of the woman who at that moment he almost hated. In his +unreflecting passion for Cressy he had always evaded the thought of this +relationship or propinquity; the mother had recalled it to him in a way +that imperilled even his passion for the daughter; his mind was wholly +preoccupied with the idiotic, exasperating, and utterly hopeless +position that had been forced upon him. In the bitterness of his spirit +his sense of personal danger was so far absorbed that he speculated on +the chance bullet in the melee that might end his folly and relieve him +of responsibility. Shut up in a barn with a furious woman, in a lawless +defence of questionable rights--with the added consciousness that an +equally questionable passion had drawn him into it, and that SHE knew +it--death seemed to offer the only escape from the explanation he could +never give. If another sting could have been added it was the absurd +conviction that Cressy would not appreciate his sacrifice, but was +perhaps even at that moment calmly congratulating herself on the +felicitousness of the complication in which she had left him. + +Suddenly he heard a shout and the tramping of horse. The sides of the +loft were scantily boarded to allow the extension of the pent-up grain, +and between the interstices Ford, without being himself seen, had an +uninterrupted view of the plain between him and the line of willows. +As he gazed, five men hurriedly issued from the extreme left and ran +towards the barn. McKinstry and his followers simultaneously broke from +the same covert further to the right and galloped forward to intercept +them. But although mounted, the greater distance they had to traverse +brought them to the rear of the building only as the Harrison party came +to a sudden halt before the closed and barricaded doors of the usually +defenceless barn. The discomfiture of the latter was greeted by a +derisive shout from the McKinstry party--albeit, equally astonished. But +in that brief moment Ford recognized in the leader of the Harrisons the +well-known figure of the Sheriff of Tuolumne. It needed only this to cap +the climax of the fatality that seemed to pursue him. He was no longer a +lawless opposer of equally lawless forces, but he was actually resisting +the law itself. He understood the situation now. It was some idiotic +blunder of Uncle Ben's that had precipitated this attack. + +The belligerents had already cocked their weapons, although the barn +was still a rampart between the parties. But an adroit flanker of +McKinstry's, creeping through the tall mustard, managed to take up an +enfilading position as the Harrisons advanced to break in the door. A +threatening shout from the ambuscaded partisans caused them to hurriedly +fall back towards the rear of the barn. There was a pause, and then +began the usual Homeric chaff,--with this Western difference that it was +cunningly intended to draw the other's fire. + +"Why don't you blaze away at the door, you ---- ----! It won't hurt ye!" + +"He's afraid the bolt will shoot back!" Laughter from the McKinstrys. + +"Come outer the tall grass and show yourself, you black, mud-eating +gopher." + +"He can't. He's dropped his grit and is sarchin' for it." Goading +laughter from the Harrisons. + +Each man waited for that single shot which would precipitate the fight. +Even in their lawlessness the rude instinct of the duello swayed them. +The officer of the law recognized the principle as well as its practical +advantage in a collision, but he hesitated to sacrifice one of his men +in an attack on the barn, which would draw the fire of McKinstry at that +necessarily fatal range. As a brave man he would have taken the risk +himself, but as a prudent one, he reflected that his hurriedly collected +posse were all partisans, and if he fell the conflict would resolve +itself into a purely partisan struggle without a single unprejudiced +witness to justify his conduct in the popular eye. The master also knew +this; it had checked his first impulse to come forward as a mediator; +his only reliance now was on Mrs. McKinstry's restraint and the +sheriff's forbearance. The next instant both seemed to be imperilled. + +"Well, why don't you wade in?" sneered Dick McKinstry; "who do you +reckon's hidden in the barn?" + +"I'll tell ye," said a harsh, passionate voice from the hill-side. "It's +Cressy McKinstry and the school-master hidin' in the hay." + +Both parties turned quickly towards the intruder who had approached them +unperceived. But the speech was followed by a more startling revulsion +of sentiment as Mrs. McKinstry's voice rang out from the barn, "You lie, +Seth Davis!" + +The brief advantage offered to the sheriff in Davis's advent as a +neutral witness, was utterly lost by this unlooked-for revelation of +Mrs. McKinstry's presence in the barn! The fates were clearly against +him! A woman in the fight, and an old one at that! A white woman to be +forcibly ejected! In the whole unwritten code of Southwestern chivalry +there was no such precedent. + +"Stand back," he said disgustedly to his followers, "stand back and +let the d----d barn slide. But you, Hiram McKinstry, I'll give YOU five +minutes to shake yourself clear of your wife's petticoats and git!" His +blood was up now--the quicker from his momentary weakness and the trick +of which he thought himself a dupe. + +Again the fatal signal seemed imminent, again it was delayed. For Hiram +McKinstry, with clanking spurs and rifle in hand stepped from behind the +barn, full in the presence of his antagonists. + +"Ez to my gitten in five minits," he began in his laziest, drowsiest +manner, "we'll see when the time's up. But jest now words hev passed +betwixt my wife and Seth Davis. Afore anythin' else goes on yer, he's +got to take HIS back. My wife allows he lies; I allow he lies too, and I +stan' here to say it." + +The right of personal insult to precedence of redress was too old a +frontier principle to be gainsaid now. Both parties held back and +every eye was turned to where Seth Davis had been standing. But he had +disappeared. + +Where? + +When Mrs. McKinstry hurled her denial from the barn, he had taken +advantage of the greater surprise to leap to one of the trusses of +hay that projected beyond the loft, and secure a footing from which he +quickly scrambled through the open scantling to the interior. The master +who, startled by his voice, had made his way through the loose grain to +the rear, reached it as Seth half crawled, half tumbled through. Their +eyes met in a single flash of rage, but before Seth could utter an +outcry, the master had dropped his gun, seized him around the neck and +crammed a thick handful of the soft hay he had hurriedly snatched up +into his face and gasping mouth. A furious but silent struggle ensued; +the yielding hay on which they both fell deadened all sound of a scuffle +and concealed them from view; masses of it, already loosened by the +intruder's entrance, and dislodged in their contortions began to slip +through the opening to the ground. The master, still uppermost and +holding Seth firmly down, allowed himself to slip with them, shoving +his adversary before him; the maddened Missourian detecting his purpose, +made a desperate attempt to change his position, and succeeded in +raising his knee against the master's chest. Ford, guarding against what +seemed to be only a wrestler's strategy, contented himself by locking +the bent knee firmly in that position, and thus unwittingly gave Seth +the looked-for opportunity of drawing the bowie-knife concealed in his +boot leg. He knew his mistake only as Seth violently freed his arm, and +threw it upward for the blow. He heard the steel slither like a scythe +through the hay, and unlocking his hold desperately threw himself on +the uplifted arm. The movement saved him. For the released body of Seth +slipped rapidly through the opening, upheld for a single instant on the +verge by the grasp of the master's two hands on the arm that still held +the knife, and then dropped heavily downward. Even then, the hay that +had slipped before him would have broken his fall, but his head came in +violent contact with some farming implements standing against the wall, +and without a cry he was stretched senseless on the ground. The whole +occurrence passed so rapidly and so noiselessly that not only did +McKinstry's challenge fall upon his already unconscious ears, but the +loosened hay which in the master's struggles to recover himself still +continued to slide gently from the loft, actually hid him from the eyes +of the spectators who sought him a moment afterwards. A mass of hay +and wild oats, dislodged apparently by Mrs. McKinstry in securing +her defences, was all that met their eyes; even the woman herself was +unconscious of the deadly struggle that had taken place above her. + +The master staggered to an upright position half choked and half blinded +with dust, turgid and bursting with the rush of blood to his head, but +clear and collected in mind, and unremorsefully triumphant. Unconscious +of the real extent of Seth's catastrophe he groped for and seized his +gun, examined the cap and eagerly waited for a renewed attack. "He tried +to kill me; he would have killed me; if he comes again I must kill him," +he kept repeating to himself. It never occurred to him that this was +inconsistent with his previous thought--indeed with the whole tenor of +his belief. Perhaps the most peaceful man who has been once put in peril +of life by an adversary, who has recognized death threatening him in the +eye of his antagonist, is by some strange paradox not likely to hold his +own life or the life of his adversary as dearly as before. Everything +was silent now. The suspense irritated him, he no longer dreaded but +even longed for the shot that would precipitate hostilities. What were +they doing? Guided by Seth, were they concerting a fresh attack? + +Listening more intently he became aware of a distant shouting, and even +more distinctly, of the dull, heavy trampling of hoofs. A sudden angry +fear that the McKinstrys had been beaten off and were flying--a fear and +anger that now for the first time identified him with their cause--came +over him, and he scrambled quickly towards the opening below. But the +sound was approaching and with it came a voice. + +"Hold on there, sheriff!" + +It was the voice of the agent Stacey. + +There was a pause of reluctant murmuring. But the warning was enforced +by a command from another voice--weak, unheroic, but familiar, "I order +this yer to stop--right yer!" + +A burst of ironical laughter followed. The voice was Uncle Ben's. + +"Stand back! This is no time for foolin'," said the sheriff roughly. + +"He's right, Sheriff Briggs," said Stacey's voice hurriedly; "you're +acting for HIM; he's the owner of the land." + +"What? That Ben Dabney?" + +"Yes; he's Daubigny, who bought the title from us." + +There was a momentary hush, and then a hurried murmur. + +"Which means, gents," rose Uncle Ben's voice persuasively, "that this +yer young man, though fair-minded and well-intended, hez bin a leetle +too chipper and previous in orderin' out the law. This yer ain't no +law matter with ME, boys. It ain't to be settled by law-papers, nor +shot-guns and deringers. It's suthin' to be chawed over sociable-like, +between drinks. Ef any harm hez bin done, ef anythin's happened, I'm yer +to 'demnify the sheriff, and make it comf'ble all round. Yer know me, +boys. I'm talkin'. It's me--Dabney, or Daubigny, which ever way you like +it." + +But in the silence that followed, the passions had not yet evidently +cooled. It was broken by the sarcastic drawl of Dick McKinstry: "If +them Harrisons don't mind heven had their medders trampled over by a few +white men, why"-- + +"The sheriff ez 'demnified for that," interrupted Uncle Ben hastily. + +"'N ef Dick McKinstry don't mind the damage to his pants in crawlin' out +o' gunshot in the tall grass"--retorted Joe Harrison. + +"I'm yer to settle that, boys," said Uncle Ben cheerfully. + +"But who'll settle THIS?" clamored the voice of the older Harrison from +behind the barn where he had stumbled in crossing the fallen hay. "Yer's +Seth Davis lyin' in the hay with the top of his head busted. Who's to +pay for that?" + +There was a rush to the spot, and a quick cry of reaction. + +"Whose work is this?" demanded the sheriff's voice, with official +severity. + +The master uttered an instinctive exclamation of defiance, and dropping +quickly to the barn floor, would the next moment have opened the door +and declared himself, but Mrs. McKinstry, after a single glance at his +determined face, suddenly threw herself before him with an imperious +gesture of silence. Then her voice rang clearly from the barn:-- + +"Well, if it's the hound that tried to force his way in yer, I reckon ye +kin put that down to ME!" + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +It was known to Indian Spring, the next day, amid great excitement, that +a serious fracas had been prevented on the ill-fated boundary by the +dramatic appearance of Uncle Ben Dabney, not only as a peacemaker, but +as Mr. Daubigny the bona fide purchaser and owner of the land. It was +known and accepted with great hilarity that "old marm McKinstry" had +defended the barn alone and unaided, with--as variously stated--a +pitchfork, an old stable-broom, and a pail of dirty water, against +Harrison, his party, and the entire able posse of the Sheriff of +Tuolumne County, with no further damage than a scalp wound which the +head of Seth Davis received while falling from the loft of the barn from +which he had been dislodged by Mrs. McKinstry and the broom aforesaid. +It was known with unanimous approbation that the acquisition of the +land-title by a hitherto humble citizen of Indian Spring was a triumph +of the settlement over foreign interference. But it was not known that +the school-master was a participant in the fight, or even present on the +spot. At Mrs. McKinstry's suggestion he had remained concealed in +the loft until after the withdrawal of both parties and the still +unconscious Seth. When Ford had remonstrated, with the remark that Seth +would be sure to declare the truth when he recovered his senses, Mrs. +McKinstry smiled grimly: "I reckon when he comes to know I was with ye +all the time, he'd rather hev it allowed that I licked him than YOU. I +don't say he'll let it pass ez far ez you're concerned or won't try to +get even with ye, but he won't go round tellin' WHY. However," she +added still more grimly, "if you think you're ekul to tellin' the hull +story--how ye kem to be yer and that Seth wasn't lyin' arter all when he +blurted it out afore 'em--why I sha'n't hinder ye." The master said no +more. And indeed for a day or two nothing transpired to show that Seth +was not equally reticent. + +Nevertheless Mr. Ford was far from being satisfied with the issue of +his adventure. His relations with Cressy were known to the mother, and +although she had not again alluded to them, she would probably inform +her husband. Yet he could not help noticing, with a mingling of +unreasoning relief and equally unreasoning distrust, that she exhibited +a scornful unconcern in the matter, apart from the singular use to which +she had put it. He could hardly count upon McKinstry, with his heavy, +blind devotion to Cressy, being as indifferent. On the contrary, he had +acquired the impression, without caring to examine it closely, that +her father would not be displeased at his marrying Cressy, for it would +really amount to that. But here again he was forced to contemplate +what he had always avoided, the possible meaning and result of their +intimacy. In the reckless, thoughtless, extravagant--yet thus far +innocent--indulgence of their mutual passion, he had never spoken of +marriage, nor--and it struck him now with the same incongruous mingling +of relief and uneasiness--had SHE! Perhaps this might have arisen from +some superstitious or sensitive recollection on her part of her previous +engagement to Seth, but he remembered now that they had not even +exchanged the usual vows of eternal constancy. It may seem strange that, +in the half-dozen stolen and rapturous interviews which had taken place +between these young lovers, there had been no suggestion of the future, +nor any of those glowing projects for a united destiny peculiar to their +years and inexperience. They had lived entirely in a blissful present, +with no plans beyond their next rendezvous. In that mysterious and +sudden absorption of each other, not only the past, but the future +seemed to have been forgotten. + +These thoughts were passing through his mind the next afternoon to +the prejudice of that calm and studious repose which the deserted +school-house usually superinduced, and which had been so fondly noted +by McKinstry and Uncle Ben. The latter had not arrived for his usual +lesson; it was possible that undue attention had been attracted to his +movements now that his good fortune was known; and the master was alone +save for the occasional swooping incursion of a depredatory jay in +search of crumbs from the children's luncheons, who added apparently +querulous insult to the larcenous act. He regretted Uncle Ben's absence, +as he wanted to know more about his connection with the Harrison attack +and his eventual intentions. Ever since the master emerged from the barn +and regained his hotel under cover of the darkness, he had heard only +the vaguest rumors, and he purposely avoided direct inquiry. + +He had been quite prepared for Cressy's absence from school that +morning--indeed in his present vacillating mood he had felt that her +presence would have been irksome and embarrassing; but it struck +him suddenly and unpleasantly that her easy desertion of him at that +critical moment in the barn had not since been followed by the least +sign of anxiety to know the result of her mother's interference. What +did she imagine had transpired between Mrs. McKinstry and himself? Had +she confidently expected her mother's prompt acceptance of the situation +and a reconciliation? Was that the reason why she had treated that +interruption as lightly as if she were already his recognized betrothed? +Had she even calculated upon it? had she--? He stopped, his cheek +glowing from irritation under the suspicion, and shame at the disloyalty +of entertaining it. + +Opening his desk, he began to arrange his papers mechanically, when +he discovered, with a slight feeling of annoyance, that he had placed +Cressy's bouquet--now dried and withered--in the same pigeon-hole with +the mysterious letters with which he had so often communed in former +days. He at once separated them with a half bitter smile, yet after a +moment's hesitation, and with his old sense of attempting to revive a +forgotten association, he tried to re-peruse them. But they did not +even restrain his straying thoughts, nor prevent him from detecting a +singular occurrence. The nearly level sun was, after its old fashion, +already hanging the shadowed tassels of the pine boughs like a garland +on the wall. But the shadow seemed to have suddenly grown larger +and more compact, and he turned, with a quick consciousness of some +interposing figure at the pane. Nothing however was to be seen. Yet so +impressed had he been that he walked to the door and stepped from the +porch to discover the intruder. The clearing was deserted, there was a +slight rustling in the adjacent laurels, but no human being was visible. +Nevertheless the old feeling of security and isolation which had never +been quite the same since Mr. McKinstry's confession, seemed now to have +fled the sylvan school-house altogether, and he somewhat angrily closed +his desk, locked it, and determined to go home. + +His way lay through the first belt of pines towards the mining-flat, but +to-day from some vague impulse he turned and followed the ridge. He had +not proceeded far when he perceived Rupert Filgee lounging before him +on the trail, and at a little distance further on his brother Johnny. At +the sight of these two favorite pupils Mr. Ford's heart smote him with +a consciousness that he had of late neglected them, possibly because +Rupert's lofty scorn of the "silly" sex was not as amusing to him as +formerly, and possibly because Johnny's curiosity had been at times +obtrusive. He however quickened his pace and joined Rupert, laying +his hand familiarly as of old on his shoulder. To his surprise the boy +received his advances with some constraint and awkwardness, glancing +uneasily in the direction of Johnny. A sudden idea crossed Mr. Ford's +mind. + +"Were you looking for me at the schoolroom just now?" + +"No, sir." + +"You didn't look in at the window to see if I was there?" continued the +master. + +"No, sir." + +The master glanced at Rupert. Truth-telling was a part of Rupert's +truculent temper, although, as the boy had often bitterly remarked, it +had always "told agin' him." + +"All right," said the master, perfectly convinced. "It must have been my +fancy; but I thought somebody looked in--or passed by the window." + +But here Johnny, who had overheard the dialogue and approached them, +suddenly threw himself upon his brother's unoffending legs and commenced +to beat and pull them about with unintelligible protests. Rupert, +without looking down, said quietly, "Quit that now--I won't, I tell ye," +and went through certain automatic movements of dislodging Johnny as if +he were a mere impeding puppy. + +"What's the matter, Johnny?" said the master, to whom these gyrations +were not unfamiliar. + +Johnny only replied by a new grip of his brother's trousers. + +"Well, sir," said Rupert, slightly recovering his dimples and his +readiness, "Johnny, yer, wants me to tell ye something. Ef he wasn't +the most original self-cocking, God-forsaken liar in Injin Spring--ef +he didn't lie awake in his crib mornin's to invent lies fer the day, I +wouldn't mind tellin' ye, and would hev told you before. However, since +you ask, and since you think you saw somebody around the school-house, +Johnny yer allows that Seth Davis is spyin' round and followin' ye +wherever you go, and he dragged me down yer to see it. He says he saw +him doggin' ye." + +"With a knife and pithtolth," added Johnny's boundless imagination, to +the detriment of his limited facts. + +Mr. Ford looked keenly from the one to the other, but rather with a +suspicion that they were cognizant of his late fracas than belief in the +truth of Johnny's statement. + +"And what do YOU think of it, Rupert?" he asked carelessly. + +"I think, sir," said Rupert, "that allowin'--for onct--that Johnny ain't +lying, mebbee it's Cressy McKinstry that Seth's huntin' round, and +knowin' that she's always runnin' after you"--he stopped, and reddening +with a newborn sense that his fatal truthfulness had led him into a +glaring indelicacy towards the master, hurriedly added: "I mean, sir, +that mebbee it's Uncle Ben he's jealous of, now that he's got rich +enough for Cressy to hev him, and knowin' he comes to school in the +afternoon perhaps"-- + +"'Tain't either!" broke in Johnny promptly. "Theth's over ther beyond +the thchool, and Crethy's eatin' ithecream at the bakerth with Uncle +Ben." + +"Well, suppose she is, Seth don't know it, silly!" answered Rupert, +sharply. Then more politely to the master: "That's it! Seth has seen +Uncle Ben gallivanting with Cressy and thinks he's bringing her over +yer. Don't you see?" + +The master however did not see but one thing. The girl who had only two +days ago carelessly left it to him to explain a compromising situation +to her mother--this girl who had precipitated him into a frontier fight +to the peril of his position and her good name, was calmly eating ices +with an available suitor without the least concern of the past! The +connection was perhaps illogical, but it was unpleasant. It was the more +awkward from the fact that he fancied that not only Rupert's beautiful +eyes, but even the infant Johnny's round ones, were fixed upon him with +an embarrassed expression of hesitating and foreboding sympathy. + +"I think Johnny believes what he says--don't you, Johnny?" he smiled +with an assumption of cheerful ease, "but I see no necessity just yet +for binding Seth Davis over to keep the peace. Tell me about yourself, +Rupe. I hope Uncle Ben doesn't think of changing his young tutor with +his good fortune?" + +"No, sir," returned Rupert brightening; "he promises to take me to +Sacramento with him as his private secretary or confidential clerk, you +know, ef--ef"--he hesitated again with very un-Rupert-like caution, +"ef things go as he wants 'em." He stopped awkwardly and his brown +eyes became clouded. "Like ez not, Mr. Ford, he's only foolin' +me--and--HIMSELF." The boy's eyes sought the master's curiously. + +"I don't know about that," returned Mr. Ford uneasily, with a certain +recollection of Uncle Ben's triumph over his own incredulity; "he +surely hasn't shown himself a fool or a boaster so far. I consider your +prospect a very fair one, and I wish you joy of it, my boy." He ran his +fingers through Rupert's curls in his old caressing fashion, the more +tenderly perhaps that he fancied he still saw symptoms of stormy and wet +weather in the boy's brown eyes. "Run along home, both of you, and don't +worry yourselves about me." + +He turned away, but had scarcely proceeded half a dozen yards before +he felt a tug at his coat. Looking down he saw the diminutive Johnny. +"They'll be comin' home thith way," he said, reaching up in a hoarse +confidential whisper. + +"Who?" + +"Crethy and 'im." + +But before the master could make any response to this presumably +gratifying information, Johnny had rejoined his brother. The two boys +waved their hands towards him with the same diffident and mysterious +sympathy that left him hesitating between a smile and a frown. Then he +proceeded on his way. Nevertheless, for no other reason than that he +felt a sudden distaste to meeting any one, when he reached the point +where the trail descended directly to the settlement, he turned into a +longer and more solitary detour by the woods. + +The sun was already so low that its long rays pierced the forest from +beneath, and suffused the dim colonnade of straight pine shafts with a +golden haze, while it left the dense intercrossed branches fifty feet +above in deeper shadow. Walking in this yellow twilight, with his feet +noiselessly treading down the yielding carpet of pine needles, it seemed +to the master that he was passing through the woods in a dream. There +was no sound but the dull intermittent double knock of the wood-pecker, +or the drowsy croak of some early roosting bird; all suggestion of the +settlement, with all traces of human contiguity, were left far behind. +It was therefore with a strange and nervous sense of being softly hailed +by some woodland sprite that he seemed to hear his own name faintly +wafted upon the air. He turned quickly; it was Cressy, panting behind +him! Even then, in her white closely gathered skirts, her bared head +and graceful arching neck bent forward, her flying braids freed from +the straw hat which she had swung from her arm so as not to impede her +flight, there was so much of the following Maenad about her that he was +for an instant startled. + +He stopped; she bounded to him, and throwing her arms around his neck +with a light laugh, let herself hang for a moment breathless on his +breast. Then recovering her speech she said slowly:-- + +"I started on an Injin trot after you, just as you turned off the trail, +but you'd got so far ahead while I was shaking myself clear of Uncle Ben +that I had to jist lope the whole way through the woods to catch up." +She stopped, and looking up into his troubled face caught his cheeks +between her hands, and bringing his knit brows down to the level of her +humid blue eyes said, "You haven't kissed me yet. What's the matter?" + +"Doesn't it strike you that I might ask that question, considering that +it's three days since I've seen you, and that you left me, in a rather +awkward position, to explain matters to your mother?" he said coldly. +He had formulated the sentence in his mind some moments before, but now +that it was uttered, it appeared singularly weak and impotent. + +"That's so," she said with a frank laugh, burying her face in his +waistcoat. "You see, dandy boy"--his pet name--"I reckoned for that +reason we'd better lie low for a day or two. Well," she continued, +untying his cravat and retying it again, "how DID you crawl out of it?" + +"Do you mean to say your mother did not tell you?" he asked indignantly. + +"Why should she?" returned Cressy lazily. "She never talks to me of +these things, honey." + +"And you knew nothing about it?" + +Cressy shook her head, and then winding one of her long braids around +the young man's neck, offered the end of it to his mouth, and on his +sternly declining it, took it in her own. + +Yet even her ignorance of what had really happened did not account +to the master for the indifference of her long silence, and albeit +conscious of some inefficiency in his present unheroic attitude, he +continued sarcastically, "May I ask WHAT you imagined would happen when +you left me?" + +"Well," said Cressy confidently, "I reckoned, chile, you could lie as +well as the next man, and that, being gifted, you'd sling Maw something +new and purty. Why, I ain't got no fancy, but I fixed up something +against Paw's questioning ME. I made that conceited Masters promise to +swear that HE was in the barn with me. Then I calculated to tell Paw +that you came meandering along just before Maw popped in, and that I +skedaddled to join Masters. Of course," she added quickly, tightening +her hold of the master as he made a sudden attempt at withdrawal, "I +didn't let on to Masters WHY I wanted him to promise, or that you were +there." + +"Cressy," said Ford, irritated beyond measure, "are you mad, or do you +think I am?" + +The girl's face changed. She cast a half frightened, half questioning +glance at his eyes and then around the darkening aisle. "If we're going +to quarrel, Jack," she said hurriedly, "don't let's do it BEFORE FOLKS." + +"In the name of Heaven," he said, following her eyes indignantly, "what +do you mean?" + +"I mean," she said, with a slight shiver of resignation and scorn, +"if you--oh dear! if IT'S ALL going to be like THEM, let's keep it to +ourselves." + +He gazed at her in hopeless bewilderment. Did she really mean that she +was more frightened at the possible revelation of their disagreement +than of their intimacy? + +"Come," she continued tenderly, still glancing, however, uneasily around +her, "come! We'll be more comfortable in the hollow. It's only a step." +Still holding him by her braid she half led, half dragged him away. To +the right was one of those sudden depressions in the ground caused by +the subsidence of the earth from hidden springs and the uprooting of one +or two of the larger trees. When she had forced him down this declivity +below the level of the needle-strewn forest floor, she seated him upon +a mossy root, and shaking out her skirts in a half childlike, half +coquettish way, comfortably seated herself in his lap, with her arm +supplementing the clinging braid around his neck. + +"Now hark to me, and don't holler so loud," she said turning his face to +her questioning eyes. "What's gone of you anyway, nigger boy?" It +should be premised that Cressy's terms of endearment were mainly +negro-dialectical, reminiscences of her brief babyhood, her slave-nurse, +and the only playmates she had ever known. + +Still implacable, the master coldly repeated the counts of his +indictment against the girl's strange indifference and still stranger +entanglements, winding up by setting forth the whole story of his +interview with her mother, his forced defence of the barn, Seth's +outspoken accusation, and their silent and furious struggle in the loft. +But if he had expected that this daughter of a Southwestern fighter +would betray any enthusiasm over her lover's participation in one of +their characteristic feuds--if he looked for any fond praise for his own +prowess, he was bitterly mistaken. She loosened her arm from his neck +of her own accord, unwound the braid, and putting her two little hands +clasped between her knees, crossed her small feet before her, and, +albeit still in his lap, looked the picture of languid dejection. + +"Maw ought to have more sense, and you ought to have lit out of the +window after me," she said with a lazy sigh. "Fightin' ain't in your +line--it's too much like THEM. That Seth's sure to get even with you." + +"I can protect myself," he said haughtily. Nevertheless he had a +depressing consciousness that his lithe and graceful burden was somewhat +in the way of any heroic expression. + +"Seth can lick you out of your boots, chile," she said with naive +abstraction. Then, as he struggled to secure an upright position, "Don't +git riled, honey. Of course you'd let them kill you before YOU'D give +in. But that's their best holt--that's their trade! That's all they can +do--don't you see? That's where YOU'RE not like THEM--that's why you're +not their low down kind! That's why you're my boy--that's why I love +you!" + +She had thrown her whole weight again upon his shoulders until she had +forced him back to his seat. Then, with her locked hands again around +his neck, she looked intently into his face. The varying color dropped +from her cheeks, her eyes seemed to grow larger, the same look of rapt +absorption and possession that had so transfigured her young face at +the ball was fixed upon it now. Her lips parted slightly, she seemed to +murmur rather than speak:-- + +"What are these people to us? What are Seth's jealousies, Uncle Ben's +and Masters's foolishness, Paw and Maw's quarr'ls and tantrums to you +and me, dear? What is it what THEY think, what they reckon, what they +plan out, and what they set themselves against--to us? We love each +other, we belong to each other, without their help or their hindrance. +From the time we first saw each other it was so, and from that time Paw +and Maw, and Seth and Masters, and even YOU and ME, dear, had nothing +else to do. That was love as I know it; not Seth's sneaking rages, and +Uncle Ben's sneaking fooleries, and Masters's sneaking conceit, but +only love. And knowing that, I let Seth rage, and Uncle Ben dawdle, and +Masters trifle--and for what? To keep them from me and my boy. They were +satisfied, and we were happy." + +Vague and unreasoning as he knew her speech to be, the rapt and perfect +conviction with which it was uttered staggered him. + +"But how is this to end, Cressy?" he said passionately. + +The abstracted look passed, and the slight color and delicate mobility +of her face returned. "To end, dandy boy?" she repeated lazily. "You +didn't think of marrying me--did you?" + +He blushed, stammered, and said "Yes," albeit with all his past +vacillation and his present distrust of her, transparent on his cheek +and audible in his voice. + +"No, dear," she said quietly, reaching down, untying her little shoe and +shaking the dust and pine needles from its recesses, "no! I don't know +enough to be a wife to you, just now, and you know it. And I couldn't +keep a house fit for you, and you couldn't afford to keep ME without it. +And then it would be all known, and it wouldn't be us two, dear, and our +lonely meetings any more. And we couldn't be engaged--that would be too +much like me and Seth over again. That's what you mean, dandy boy--for +you're only a dandy boy, you know, and they don't get married to +backwood Southern girls who haven't a nigger to bless themselves with +since the war! No," she continued, lifting her proud little head so +promptly after Ford had recovered from his surprise as to make the ruse +of emptying her shoe perfectly palpable, "no, that's what we've both +allowed, dear, all along. And now, honey, it's near time for me to go. +Tell me something good--before I go. Tell me that you love me as you +used to--tell me how you felt that night at the ball when you first +knew we loved each other. But stop--kiss me first--there, once more--for +keeps." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +When Uncle Ben, or "Benjamin Daubigny, Esq.," as he was already known in +the columns of the "Star," accompanied Miss Cressy McKinstry on her +way home after the first display of attention and hospitality since +his accession to wealth and position, he remained for some moments in a +state of bewildered and smiling idiocy. It was true that their meeting +was chance and accidental; it was true that Cressy had accepted his +attention with lazy amusement; it was true that she had suddenly and +audaciously left him on the borders of the McKinstry woods in a way +that might have seemed rude and abrupt to any escort less invincibly +good-humored than Uncle Ben, but none of these things marred his fatuous +felicity. It is even probable that in his gratuitous belief that his +timid attentions had been too marked and impulsive, he attributed +Cressy's flight to a maidenly coyness that pleasurably increased his +admiration for her and his confidence in himself. In his abstraction of +enjoyment and in the gathering darkness he ran against a fir-tree very +much as he had done while walking with her, and he confusedly apologized +to it as he had to her, and by her own appellation. In this way +he eventually overran his trail and found himself unexpectedly and +apologetically in the clearing before the school-house. + +"Ef this ain't the singlerest thing, miss," he said, and then stopped +suddenly. A faint noise in the school-house like the sound of splintered +wood attracted his attention. The master was evidently there. If he was +alone he would speak to him. + +He went to the window, looked in, and in an instant his amiable +abstraction left him. He crept softly to the door, tried it, and then +putting his powerful shoulder against the panel, forced the lock from +its fastenings. He entered the room as Seth Davis, frightened but +furious, lifted himself from before the master's desk which he had just +broken open. He had barely time to conceal something in his pocket and +close the lid again before Uncle Ben approached him. + +"What mouut ye be doin' here, Seth Davis?" he asked with the slow +deliberation which in that locality meant mischief. + +"And what mouut YOU be doin' here, Mister Ben Dabney?" said Seth, +resuming his effrontery. + +"Well," returned Uncle Ben, planting himself in the aisle before his +opponent, "I ain't doin' no sheriff's posse business jest now, but I +reckon to keep my hand in far enuff to purtect other folks' property," +he added, with a significant glance at the broken lock of the desk. + +"Ben Dabney," said Seth in snarling expostulation, "I hain't got no +quar'll with ye!" + +"Then hand me over whatever you took just now from teacher's desk and +we'll talk about that afterwards," said Uncle Ben advancing. + +"I tell ye I hain't got no quar'll with ye, Uncle Ben," continued Seth, +retreating with a malignant sneer; "and when you talk of protectin' +other folks' property, mebbe ye'd better protect YOUR OWN--or what ye'd +like to call so--instead of quar'llin' with the man that's helpin' +ye. I've got yer the proofs that that sneakin' hound of a Yankee +school-master that Cress McKinstry's hell bent on, and that the old +man and old woman are just chuckin' into her arms, is a lyin', +black-hearted, hypocritical seducer"-- + +"Stop!" said Uncle Ben in a voice that made the crazy casement rattle. + +He strode towards Seth Davis, no longer with his habitual careful, +hesitating step, but with a tread that seemed to shake the whole +school-room. A single dominant clutch of his powerful right hand on the +young man's breast forced him backwards into the vacant chair of the +master. His usually florid face had grown as gray as the twilight; +his menacing form in a moment filled the little room and darkened the +windows. Then in some inexplicable reaction his figure slightly drooped, +he laid one heavy hand tremblingly on the desk, and with the other +affected to wipe his mouth after his old embarrassed fashion. + +"What's that you were sayin' o' Cressy?" he said huskily. + +"Wot everybody says," said the frightened Seth, gaining a cowardly +confidence under his adversary's emotion. "Wot every cub that sets yer +under his cantin' teachin', and sees 'em together, knows. It's wot you'd +hev knowed ef he and Roop Filgee hadn't played ye fer a softy all the +time. And while you've bin hangin' round yer fer a flicker of Cressy's +gownd as she prances out o' school, he's bin lyin' low and laffin' at +ye, and while he's turned Roop over to keep you here, pretendin' to give +ye lessons, he's bin gallivantin' round with her and huggin' and kissin' +her in barns and in the brush--and now YOU want to quar'll with me." + +He stopped, panting for breath, and stared malignantly in the gray face +of his hearer. But Uncle Ben only lifted his heavy hand mildly with +an awkward gesture of warning, stepped softly in his old cautious +hesitating manner to the open door, closed it, and returned gently:-- + +"I reckon ye got in through the winder, didn't ye, Seth?" he said, with +a labored affectation of unemotional ease, "a kind o' one leg over, and +one, two, and then you're in, eh?" + +"Never you mind HOW I got in, Ben Dabney," returned Seth, his hostility +and insolence increasing with his opponent's evident weakness, "ez long +ez I got yer and got, by G-d! what I kem here fer! For whiles all +this was goin' on, and whiles the old fool man and old fool woman was +swallowin' what they did see and blinkin' at what they didn't, and +huggin' themselves that they'd got high-toned kempany fer their darter, +that high-toned kempany was playin' THEM too, by G-d! Yes, Sir! that +high-toned, cantin' school-teacher was keepin' a married woman in +'Frisco, all the while he was here honey-foglin' with Cressy, and I've +got the papers yer to prove it." He tapped his breast-pocket with a +coarse laugh and thrust his face forward into the gray shadow of his +adversary's. + +"An' you sorter spotted their bein' in this yer desk and bursted it?" +said Uncle Ben, gravely examining the broken lock in the darkness as if +it were the most important feature of the incident. + +Seth nodded. "You bet your life. I saw him through the winder only this +afternoon lookin over 'em alone, and I reckoned to lay my hands on 'em +if I had to bust him or his desk. And I did!" he added with a triumphant +chuckle. + +"And you did--sure pop!" said Uncle Ben with slow deliberate admiration, +passing his heavy hand along the splintered lid. "And you reckon, Seth, +that this yer showin' of him up will break off enythin' betwixt him +and this yer--this yer Miss--Miss McKinstry?" he continued with labored +formality. + +"I reckon ef the old fool McKinstry don't shoot him in his tracks +thar'll be white men enough in Injin Springs to ride this high-toned, +pizenous hypocrit on a rail outer the settlement!" + +"That's so!" said Uncle Ben musingly, after a thoughtful pause, in +which he still seemed to be more occupied with the broken desk than his +companion's remark. Then he went on cautiously: "And ez this thing orter +be worked mighty fine, Seth, p'r'aps, on the hull, you'd better let me +have them papers." + +"What! YOU?" snarled Seth, drawing back with a glance of angry +suspicion; "not if I know it!" + +"Seth," said Uncle Ben, resting his elbows on the desk confidentially, +and speaking with painful and heavy deliberation, "when you first +interdoosed this yer subject you elluded to my hevin', so to speak, +rights o' preemption and interference with this young lady, and that +in your opinion, I wasn't purtectin' them rights. It 'pears to me +that, allowin' that to be gospel truth, them ther papers orter be in MY +possession--you hevin' so to speak no rights to purtect, bein' off the +board with this yer young lady, and bein' moved gin'rally by free and +independent cussedness. And ez I sed afore, this sort o' thing havin' +to be worked mighty fine, and them papers manniperlated with judgment, I +reckon, Seth, if you don't objeck, I'll hev--hev--to trouble you." + +Seth started to his feet with a rapid glance at the door, but Uncle Ben +had risen again with the same alarming expression of completely filling +the darkened school-room, and of shaking the floor beneath him at the +slightest movement. Already he fancied he saw Uncle Ben's powerful arm +hovering above him ready to descend. It suddenly occurred to him that if +he left the execution of his scheme of exposure and vengeance to Uncle +Ben, the onus of stealing the letters would fall equally upon their +possessor. This advantage seemed more probable than the danger of Uncle +Ben's weakly yielding them up to the master. In the latter case he, +Seth, could still circulate the report of having seen the letters which +Uncle Ben had himself stolen in a fit of jealousy--a hypothesis the more +readily accepted from the latter's familiar knowledge of the schoolhouse +and his presumed ambitious jealousy of Cressy in his present attitude +as a man of position. With affected reluctance and hesitation he put his +hand to his breast-pocket. + +"Of course," he said, "if you're kalkilatin' to take up the quar'll on +YOUR rights, and ez Cressy ain't anythin' more to me, YOU orter hev the +proofs. Only don't trust them into that hound's hands. Once he gets 'em +again he'll secure a warrant agin you for stealin'. That'll be his game. +I'd show 'em to HER first--don't ye see?--and I reckon ef she's old +Ma'am McKinstry's darter, she'll make it lively for him." + +He handed the letters to the looming figure before him. It seemed to +become again a yielding mortal, and said in a hesitating voice, "P'r'aps +you'd better make tracks outer this, Seth, and leave me yer to put +things to rights and fix up that door and the desk agin to-morrow +mornin'. He'd better not know it to onct, and so start a row about bein' +broken into." + +The proposition seemed to please Seth; he even extended his hand in the +darkness. But he met only an irresponsive void. With a slight shrug of +his shoulders and a grunting farewell, he felt his way to the door +and disappeared. For a few moments it seemed as if Uncle Ben had also +deserted the schoolhouse, so profound and quiet was the hush that fell +upon it. But as the eye became accustomed to the shadow a grayish bulk +appeared to grow out of it over the master's desk and shaped itself into +the broad figure of Uncle Ben. Later, when the moon rose and looked in +at the window, it saw him as the master had seen him on the first day +he had begun his lessons in the school-house, with his face bent forward +over the desk and the same look of child-like perplexity and struggle +that he had worn at his allotted task. Unheroic, ridiculous, and no +doubt blundering and idiotic as then, but still vaguely persistent in +his thought, he remained for some moments in this attitude. Then rising +and taking advantage of the moonlight that flooded the desk, he set +himself to mend the broken lock with a large mechanical clasp-knife +he produced from his pocket, and the aid of his workmanlike thumb +and finger. Presently he began to whistle softly, at first a little +artificially and with relapses of reflective silence. The lock of the +desk restored, he secured into position again that part of the door-lock +which he had burst off in his entrance. This done, he closed the door +gently and once more stepped out into the moonlit clearing. In replacing +his knife in his pocket he took out the letters which he had not touched +since they were handed to him in the darkness. His first glance at the +handwriting caused him to stop. Then still staring at it, he began to +move slowly and automatically backwards to the porch. When he reached +it he sat down, unfolded the letter, and without attempting to read it, +turned its pages over and over with the unfamiliarity of an illiterate +man in search of the signature. This when found apparently plunged him +again into motionless abstraction. Only once he changed his position +to pull up the legs of his trousers, open his knees, and extend the +distance between his feet, and then with the unfolded pages carefully +laid in the moonlit space thus opened before him, regarded them with +dubious speculation. At the end of ten minutes he rose with a sigh +of physical and mental relaxation, refolded the letter, put it in his +pocket, and made his way to the town. + +When he reached the hotel he turned into the bar-room, and observing +that it happened to be comparatively deserted, asked for a glass of +whiskey. In response to the barkeeper's glance of curiosity--as Uncle +Ben seldom drank, and then only as a social function with others--he +explained:-- + +"I reckon straight whiskey is about ez good ez the next thing for blind +chills." + +The bar-keeper here interposed that in his larger medical experience he +had found the exhibition of ginger in combination with gin attended +with effect, although it was evident that in his business capacity he +regarded Uncle Ben, as a drinker, with distrust. + +"Ye ain't seen Mr. Ford hanging round yer lately?" continued Uncle Ben +with laborious ease. + +The bar-keeper, with his eye still scornfully fixed on his customer, but +his hands which were engaged in washing his glasses under the +counter giving him the air of humorously communicating with a hidden +confederate, had not seen the school-master that afternoon. + +Uncle Ben turned away and slowly mounted the staircase to the master's +room. After a moment's pause on the landing, which must have been +painfully obvious to any one who heard his heavy ascent, he gave two +timid raps on the door which were equally ridiculous in contrast with +his powerful tread. The door was opened promptly by the master. + +"Oh, it's you, is it?" he said shortly. "Come in." + +Uncle Ben entered without noticing the somewhat ungracious form +of invitation. "It war me," he said, "dropped in, not finding ye +downstairs. Let's have a drink." + +The master gazed at Uncle Ben, who, owing to his abstraction, had not +yet wiped his mouth of the liquor he had imperfectly swallowed, and was +in consequence more redolent of whiskey than a confirmed toper. He rang +the bell for the desired refreshment with a slightly cynical smile. He +was satisfied that his visitor, like many others of humble position, was +succumbing to his good fortune. + +"I wanted to see ye, Mr. Ford," he began, taking an unproffered chair +and depositing his hat after some hesitation outside the door, "in +regard to what I onct told ye about my wife in Mizzouri. P'r'aps you +disremember?" + +"I remember," returned the master resignedly. + +"You know it was that arternoon that fool Stacey sent the sheriff and +the Harrisons over to McKinstry's barn." + +"Go on!" petulantly said the master, who had his own reasons for not +caring to recall it. + +"It was that arternoon, you know, that you hadn't time to hark to +me--hevin' to go off on an engagement," continued Uncle Ben with +protracted deliberation, "and"-- + +"Yes, yes, I remember," interrupted the master exasperatedly, "and +really unless you get on faster, I'll have to leave you again." + +"It was that arternoon," said Uncle Ben without heeding him, "when +I told you I hadn't any idea what had become o' my wife ez I left in +Mizzouri." + +"Yes," said the master sharply, "and I told you it was your bounden duty +to look for her." + +"That's so," said Uncle Ben nodding comfortably, "them's your very +words; on'y a leetle more strong than that, ef I don't disremember. +Well, I reckon I've got an idee!" The master assumed a sudden expression +of interest, but Uncle Ben did not vary his monotonous tone. + +"I kem across that idee, so to speak, on the trail. I kem across it in +some letters ez was lying wide open in the brush. I picked em up and +I've got 'em here." + +He slowly took the letters from his pocket with one hand, while he +dragged the chair on which he was sitting beside the master. But with a +quick flush of indignation Mr. Ford rose and extended his hand. + +"These are MY letters, Dabney," he said sternly, "stolen from my desk. +Who has dared to do this?" + +But Uncle Ben had, as if accidentally, interposed his elbow between the +master and Seth's spoils. + +"Then it's all right?" he returned deliberately. "I brought 'em here +because I thought they might give an idee where my wife was. For them +letters is in her own handwrite. You remember ez I told ez how she was a +scollard." + +The master sat back in his chair white and dumb. Incredible, +extraordinary, and utterly unlooked for as was this revelation, he felt +instinctively that it was true. + +"I couldn't read it myself--ez you know. I didn't keer to ax any one +else to read it for me--you kin reckon why, too. And that's why I'm +troublin' you to-night, Mr. Ford--ez a friend." + +The master with a desperate effort recovered his voice. "It is +impossible. The lady who wrote those letters does not bear your name. +More than that," he added with hasty irrelevance, "she is so free that +she is about to be married, as you might have read. You have made a +mistake, the handwriting may be like, but it cannot be really your +wife's." + +Uncle Ben shook his head slowly. "It's her'n--there's no mistake. When +a man, Mr. Ford, hez studied that handwrite--havin', so to speak, +knowed it on'y from the OUTSIDE--from seein' it passin' like between +friends--that man's chances o' bein' mistook ain't ez great ez the man's +who on'y takes in the sense of the words that might b'long to everybody. +And her name not bein' the same ez mine, don't foller. Ef she got a +divorce she'd take her old gal's name--the name of her fammerly. And +that would seem to allow she DID get a divorce. What mowt she hev called +herself when she writ this?" + +The master saw his opportunity and rose to it with a chivalrous +indignation, that for the moment imposed even upon himself. "I decline +to answer that question," he said angrily. "I refuse to allow the name +of any woman who honors me with her confidence to be dragged into the +infamous outrage that has been committed upon me and common decency. And +I shall hold the thief and scoundrel--whoever he may be--answerable to +myself in the absence of her natural protector." + +Uncle Ben surveyed the hero of these glittering generalities with +undisguised admiration. He extended his hand to him gravely. + +"Shake! Ef another proof was wantin', Mr. Ford, of that bein' my wife's +letter," he said, "that high-toned style of yours would settle it. For, +ef thar was one thing she DID like, it was that sort of po'try. And one +reason why her and me didn't get on, and why I skedaddled, was because +it wasn't in my line. Et's all in trainin'! On'y a man ez had the Fourth +Reader at his fingers' ends could talk like that. Bein' brought up on +Dobell--ez is nowhere--it sorter lets me outer you, ez it did outer HER. +But allowin' it ain't the square thing for YOU to mention her name, that +wouldn't be nothin' agin' MY doin' it, and callin' her, well--Lou Price +in a keerless sort o' way, eh?" + +"I decline to answer further," replied the master quickly, although his +color had changed at the name. "I decline to say another word on the +matter until this mystery is cleared up--until I know who dared to break +into my desk and steal my property, and the purpose of this unheard-of +outrage. And I demand possession of those letters at once." + +Uncle Ben without a word put them in the master's hand, to his slight +surprise, and it must be added to his faint discomfiture, nor was it +decreased when Uncle Ben added, with grave naivete and a patronizing +pressure of his hand on his shoulder,--"In course ez you're taken' it +on to yourself, and ez Lou Price ain't got no further call on ME, they +orter be yours. Ez to who got 'em outer the desk, I reckon you ain't got +no suspicion of any one spyin' round ye--hev ye?" + +In an instant the recollection of Seth Davis's face at the window and +the corroboration of Rupert's warning flashed across Ford's mind. The +hypothesis that Seth had imagined that they were Cressy's letters, and +had thrown them down without reading them when he had found out his +mistake, seemed natural. For if he had read them he would undoubtedly +have kept them to show to Cressy. The complex emotions that had +disturbed the master on the discovery of Uncle Ben's relationship to the +writer of the letters were resolving themselves into a furious rage at +Seth. But before he dared revenge himself he must be first assured that +Seth was ignorant of their contents. He turned to Uncle Ben. + +"I have a suspicion, but to make it certain I must ask you for the +present to say nothing of this to any one." + +Uncle Ben nodded. "And when you hev found out and you're settled in your +mind that you kin make my mind easy about this yer Lou Price, ez we'll +call her, bein' divorced squarely, and bein', so to speak, in the way o' +gettin' married agin, ye might let me know ez a friend. I reckon I won't +trouble you any more to-night--onless you and me takes another sociable +drink together in the bar. No? Well, then, good-night." He moved slowly +towards the door. With his hand on the lock he added: "Ef yer writin' to +her agin, you might say ez how you found ME lookin' well and comf'able, +and hopin' she's enjyin' the same blessin'. 'So long." + +He disappeared, leaving the master in a hopeless collapse of +conflicting, and, it is to be feared, not very heroic emotions. +The situation, which had begun so dramatically, had become suddenly +unromantically ludicrous, without, however, losing any of its +embarrassing quality. He was conscious that he occupied the singular +position of being more ridiculous than the husband--whose invincible and +complacent simplicity stung him like the most exquisite irony. For an +instant he was almost goaded into the fury of declaring that he had +broken off from the writer of the letters forever, but its inconsistency +with the chivalrous attitude he had just taken occurred to him in time +to prevent him from becoming doubly absurd. His rage with Seth Davis +seemed to him the only feeling left that was genuine and rational, and +yet, now that Uncle Ben had gone, even that had a spurious ring. It was +necessary for him to lash himself into a fury over the hypothesis that +the letters MIGHT have been Cressy's, and desecrated by that scoundrel's +touch. Perhaps he had read them and left them to be picked up by others. +He looked over them carefully to see if their meaning would, to the +ordinary reader, appear obvious and compromising. His eye fell on the +first paragraph. + +"I should not be quite fair with you, Jack, if I affected to disbelieve +in your faith in your love for me and its endurance, but I should be +still more unfair if I didn't tell you what I honestly believe, that at +your age you are apt to deceive yourself, and, without knowing it, to +deceive others. You confess you have not yet decided upon your career, +and you are always looking forward so hopefully, dear Jack, for a change +in the future, but you are willing to believe that far more serious +things than that will suffer no change in the mean time. If we continued +as we were, I, who am older than you and have more experience, might +learn the misery of seeing you change towards ME as I have changed +towards another, and for the same reason. If I were sure I could keep +pace with you in your dreams and your ambition, if I were sure that I +always knew WHAT they were, we might still be happy--but I am not sure, +and I dare not again risk my happiness on an uncertainty. In coming to +my present resolution I do not look for happiness, but at least I know +I shall not suffer disappointment, nor involve others in it. I confess I +am growing too old not to feel the value to a woman--a necessity to her +in this country--of security in her present and future position. Another +can give me that. And although you may call this a selfish view of our +relations, I believe that you will soon--if you do not, even as you read +this now--feel the justice of it, and thank me for taking it." + +With a smile of scorn he tore up the letter, in what he fondly believed +was the bitterness of an outraged trustful nature, forgetting that for +many weeks he had scarcely thought of its writer, and that he himself in +his conduct had already anticipated its truths. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +The master awoke the next morning, albeit after a restless night, with +that clarity of conscience and perception which it is to be feared is +more often the consequence of youth and a perfect circulation than of +any moral conviction or integrity. He argued with himself that as the +only party really aggrieved in the incident of the previous night, the +right of remedy remained with him solely, and under the benign influence +of an early breakfast and the fresh morning air he was inclined to +feel less sternly even towards Seth Davis. In any event, he must first +carefully weigh the evidence against him, and examine the scene of the +outrage closely. For this purpose, he had started for the school-house +fully an hour before his usual time. He was even light-hearted enough to +recognize the humorous aspect of Uncle Ben's appeal to him, and his +own ludicrously paradoxical attitude, and as he at last passed from the +dreary flat into the fringe of upland pines, he was smiling. Well for +him, perhaps, that he was no more affected by any premonition of the +day before him than the lately awakened birds that lightly cut the still +sleeping woods around him in their long flashing sabre-curves of flight. +A yellow-throat, destined to become the breakfast of a lazy hawk still +swinging above the river, was especially moved to such a causeless and +idiotic roulade of mirth that the master listening to the foolish bird +was fain to whistle too. He presently stopped, however, with a slight +embarrassment. For a few paces before him Cressy had unexpectedly +appeared. + +She had evidently been watching for him. But not with her usual indolent +confidence. There was a strained look of the muscles of her mouth, as of +some past repression, and a shaded hollow under her temples beneath the +blonde rings of her shorter hair. Her habitually slow, steady eye was +troubled, and she cast a furtive glance around her before she searched +him with her glance. Without knowing why, yet vaguely fearing that +he did, he became still more embarrassed, and in the very egotism of +awkwardness, stammered without a further salutation: "A disgraceful +thing has happened last night, and I'm up early to find the perpetrator. +My desk was broken into, and"-- + +"I know it," she interrupted, with a half-impatient, half uneasy putting +away of the subject with her little hand--"there--don't go all over it +again. Paw and Maw have been at me about it all night--ever since those +Harrisons in their anxiousness to make up their quarrel, rushed over +with the news. I'm tired of it!" + +For an instant he was staggered. How much had she learned! With the +same awkward indirectness, he said vaguely, "But it might have been YOUR +letters, you know?" + +"But it wasn't," she said, simply. "It OUGHT to have been. I wish it +had"--She stopped, and again regarded him with a strange expression. +"Well," she said slowly, "what are you going to do?" + +"To find out the scoundrel who has done this," he said firmly, "and +punish him as he deserves." + +The almost imperceptible shrug that had raised her shoulders gave way as +she regarded him with a look of wearied compassion. + +"No," she said, gravely, "you cannot. They're too many for you. You must +go away, at once." + +"Never," he said indignantly. "Even if it were not a cowardice. It would +be more--a confession!" + +"Not more than they already know," she said wearily. "But, I tell you, +you MUST go. I have sneaked out of the house and run here all the way to +warn you. If you--you care for me, Jack--you will go." + +"I should be a traitor to you if I did," he said quickly. "I shall +stay." + +"But if--if--Jack--if"--she drew nearer him with a new-found +timidity, and then suddenly placed her two hands upon his shoulders: +"If--if--Jack--I were to go with you?" + +The old rapt, eager look of possession had come back to her face now; +her lips were softly parted. Yet even then she seemed to be waiting some +reply more potent than that syllabled on the lips of the man before her. + +Howbeit that was the only response. "Darling," he said kissing her, "but +wouldn't that justify them"-- + +"Stop," she said suddenly. Then putting her hand over his mouth, she +continued with the same half-weary expression: "Don't let us go over all +that again either. It is SO tiresome. Listen, dear. You'll do one or +two little things for me--won't you, dandy boy? Don't linger long at the +school-house after lessons. Go right home! Don't look after these men +TO-DAY--to-morrow, Saturday, is your holiday--you know--and you'll have +more time. Keep to yourself to-day as much as you can, dear, for twelve +hours--until--until--you hear from me, you know. It will be all right +then," she added, lifting her eyelids with a sudden odd resemblance to +her father's look of drowsy pain, which Ford had never noticed before. +"Promise me that, dear, won't you?" + +With a mental reservation he promised hurriedly--preoccupied in his +wonder why she seemed to avoid his explanation, in his desire to know +what had happened, in the pride that had kept him from asking more or +volunteering a defence, and in his still haunting sense of having been +wronged. Yet he could not help saying as he caught and held her hand:-- + +"YOU have not doubted me, Cressy? YOU have not allowed this infamous +raking up of things that are past and gone to alter your feelings?" + +She looked at him abstractedly. "You think it might alter ANYBODY'S +feelings, then?" + +"Nobody's who really loved another"--he stammered. + +"Don't let us talk of it any more," she said suddenly stretching out +her arms, lifting them above her head with a wearied gesture, and then +letting them fall clasped before her in her old habitual fashion. "It +makes my head ache; what with Paw and Maw and the rest of them--I'm sick +of it all." + +She turned away as Ford drew back coldly and let her hand fall from +his arm. She took a few steps forward, stopped, ran back to him again, +crushed his face and head in a close embrace, and then seemed to dip +like a bird into the tall bracken, and was gone. + +The master stood for some moments chagrined and bewildered; it was +characteristic of his temperament that he had paid less heed to what +she told him than what he IMAGINED had passed between her mother and +herself. She was naturally jealous of the letters--he could forgive her +for that; she had doubtless been twitted about them, but he could easily +explain them to her parents--as he would have done to her. But he was +not such a fool as to elope with her at such a moment, without first +clearing his character--and knowing more of hers. And it was equally +characteristic of him that in his sense of injury he confounded her with +the writer of the letters--as sympathizing with his correspondent in her +estimate of his character, and was quite carried away with the belief +that he was equally wronged by both. + +It was not until he reached the schoolhouse that the evidences of +last night's outrage for a time distracted his mind from his singular +interview. He was struck with the workmanlike manner in which the locks +had been restored, and the care that had evidently been taken to remove +the more obvious and brutal traces of burglary. This somewhat staggered +his theory that Seth Davis was the perpetrator; mechanical skill and +thoughtfulness were not among the lout's characteristics. But he was +still more disconcerted on pushing back his chair to find a small +india-rubber tobacco pouch lying beneath it. The master instantly +recognized it: he had seen it a hundred times before--it was Uncle +Ben's. It was not there when he had closed the room yesterday afternoon. +Either Uncle Ben had been there last night, or had anticipated him this +morning. But in the latter case he would scarcely have overlooked his +fallen property--that, in the darkness of the night, might have readily +escaped detection. His brow darkened with a sudden conviction that +it was Uncle Ben who was the real and only offender, and that his +simplicity of the previous night was part of his deception. A sickening +sense that he had been again duped--but why or to what purpose he hardly +dared to think--overcame him. Who among these strange people could he +ever again trust? After the fashion of more elevated individuals, he had +accepted the respect and kindness of those he believed his inferiors as +a natural tribute to his own superiority; any change in THEIR feelings +must therefore be hypocrisy or disloyalty; it never occurred to him that +HE might have fallen below their standard. + +The arrival of the children and the resumption of his duties for a time +diverted him. But although the morning's exercise restored the master's +self-confidence, it cannot be said to have improved his judgment. +Disdaining to question Rupert Filgee, as the possible confidant of Uncle +Ben, he answered the curious inquiries of the children as to the broken +doorlock with the remark that it was a matter that he should have to +bring before the Trustees of the Board, and by the time that school was +over and the pupils dismissed he had quite resolved upon this formal +disposition of it. In spite of Cressy's warning--rather because of +it--in the new attitude he had taken towards her and her friends, he +lingered in the school-house until late. He had occupied himself +in drawing up a statement of the facts, with an intimation that his +continuance in the school would depend upon a rigid investigation of the +circumstances, when he was aroused by the clatter of horses' hoofs. The +next moment the school-house was surrounded by a dozen men. + +He looked up; half of them dismounted and entered the room. The other +half remained outside darkening the windows with their motionless +figures. Each man carried a gun before him on the saddle; each man wore +a rude mask of black cloth partly covering his face. + +Although the master was instinctively aware that he was threatened by +serious danger, he was far from being impressed by the arms and disguise +of his mysterious intruders. On the contrary, the obvious and glaring +inconsistency of this cheaply theatrical invasion of the peaceful +school-house; of this opposition of menacing figures to the scattered +childish primers and text-books that still lay on the desks around him, +only extracted from him a half scornful smile as he coolly regarded +them. The fearlessness of ignorance is often as unassailable as the +most experienced valor, and the awe-inspiring invaders were at first +embarrassed and then humanly angry. A lank figure to the right made a +forward movement of impotent rage, but was checked by the evident leader +of the party. + +"Ef he likes to take it that way, there ain't no Regulators law agin it, +I reckon," he said, in a voice which the master instantly recognized as +Jim Harrison's, "though ez a gin'ral thing they don't usually find it +FUN." Then turning to the master he added, "Mister Ford, ef that's the +name you go by everywhere, we're wantin' a man about your size." + +Ford knew that he was in hopeless peril. He knew that he was physically +defenceless and at the mercy of twelve armed and lawless men. But he +retained a preternatural clearness of perception, and audacity born +of unqualified scorn for his antagonists, with a feminine sharpness of +tongue. In a voice which astonished even himself by its contemptuous +distinctness, he said: "My name IS Ford, but as I only SUPPOSE your name +is Harrison perhaps you'll be fair enough to take that rag from your +face and show it to me like a man." + +The man removed the mask from his face with a slight laugh. + +"Thank you," said Ford. "Now, perhaps you will tell me which one of you +gentlemen broke into the school-house, forced the lock of my desk, +and stole my papers. If he is here I wish to tell him he is not only a +thief, but a cur and a coward, for the letters are a woman's--whom he +neither knows nor has the right to know." + +If he had hoped to force a personal quarrel and trust his life to the +chance of a single antagonist, he was disappointed, for although his +unexpected attitude had produced some effect among the group, and even +attracted the attention of the men at the windows, Harrison strode +deliberately towards him. + +"That kin wait," he said; "jest now we propose to take you and your +letters and drop 'em and you outer this yer township of Injin Springs. +You kin take 'em back to the woman or critter you got 'em of. But we +kalkilate you're a little too handy and free in them sorter things to +teach school round yer, and we kinder allow we don't keer to hev our +gals and boys eddicated up to your high-toned standard. So ef you choose +to kem along easy we'll mak' you comf'ble on a hoss we've got waitin' +outside, an' escort you across the line. Ef you don't--we'll take you +anyway." + +The master cast a rapid glance around him. In his quickness of +perception he had already noted that the led horse among the cavalcade +was fastened by a lariat to one of the riders so that escape by flight +was impossible, and that he had not a single weapon to defend himself +with or even provoke, in his desperation, the struggle that could +forestall ignominy by death. Nothing was left him but his voice, clear +and trenchant as he faced them. + +"You are twelve to one," he said calmly, "but if there is a single man +among you who dare step forward and accuse me of what you only TOGETHER +dare do, I will tell him he is a liar and a coward, and stand here ready +to make it good against him. You come here as judge and jury condemning +me without trial, and confronting me with no accusers; you come here as +lawless avengers of your honor, and you dare not give ME the privilege +of as lawlessly defending my own." + +There was another slight murmur among the men, but the leader moved +impatiently forward. "We've had enough o' your preachin': we want YOU," +he said roughly. "Come." + +"Stop," said a dull voice. + +It came from a mute figure which had remained motionless among the +others. Every eye was turned upon it as it rose and lazily pushed the +cloth from its face. + +"Hiram McKinstry!" said the others in mingled tones of astonishment and +suspicion. + +"That's me!" said McKinstry, coming forward with heavy deliberation. "I +joined this yer delegation at the crossroads instead o' my brother, who +had the call. I reckon et's all the same--or mebbe better. For I perpose +to take this yer gentleman off your hands." + +He lifted his slumbrous eyes for the first time to the master, and at +the same time put himself between him and Harrison. "I perpose," he +continued, "to take him at his word; I perpose ter give him a chance to +answer with a gun. And ez I reckon, by all accounts, there's no man +yer ez hez a better right than ME, I perpose to be the man to put +that question to him in the same way. Et may not suit some gents," +he continued slowly, facing an angry exclamation from the lank figure +behind him, "ez would prefer to hev eleven men to take up THEIR private +quo'lls, but even then I reckon that the man who is the most injured hez +the right to the first say and that man's ME." + +With a careful deliberation that had a double significance to the +malcontents, he handed his own rifle to the master and without looking +at him continued: "I reckon, sir, you've seen that afore, but ef it +ain't quite to your hand, any of those gents, I kalkilate, will be +high-toned enuff to giv you the chyce o' theirs. And there's no need o' +trapsin' beyon' the township lines, to fix this yer affair; I perpose to +do it in ten minutes in the brush yonder." + +Whatever might have been the feelings and intentions of the men around +him, the precedence of McKinstry's right to the duello was a principle +too deeply rooted in their traditions to deny; if any resistance to it +had been contemplated by some of them, the fact that the master was now +armed, and that Mr. McKinstry would quickly do battle at his side with a +revolver in defence of his rights, checked any expression. They +silently drew back as the master and McKinstry slowly passed out of the +school-house together, and then followed in their rear. In that interval +the master turned to McKinstry and said in a low voice: "I accept +your challenge and thank you for it. You have never done me a greater +kindness--whatever I have done to YOU--yet I want you to believe that +neither now nor THEN--I meant you any harm." + +"Ef you mean by that, sir, that ye reckon ye won't return my fire, ye're +blind and wrong. For it will do you no good with them," he said with a +significant wave of his crippled hand towards the following crowd, "nor +me neither." + +Firmly resolved, however, that he would not fire at McKinstry, and +clinging blindly to this which he believed was the last idea of his +foolish life, he continued on without another word until they reached +the open strip of chemisal that flanked the clearing. + +The rude preliminaries were soon settled. The parties armed with rifles +were to fire at the word from a distance of eighty yards, and then +approach each other, continuing the fight with revolvers until one +or the other fell. The selection of seconds was effected by the elder +Harrison acting for McKinstry, and after a moment's delay by the +volunteering of the long, lank figure previously noted to act for the +master. Preoccupied by other thoughts, Mr. Ford paid little heed to his +self-elected supporter, who to the others seemed to be only taking that +method of showing his contempt for McKinstry's recent insult. The master +received the rifle mechanically from his hand and walked to position. +He noticed, however, and remembered afterwards that his second was half +hidden by the trunk of a large pine to his right that marked the limit +of the ground. + +In that supreme moment it must be recorded, albeit against all +preconceived theory, that he did NOT review his past life, was NOT +illuminated by a flash of remorseful or sentimental memory, and did NOT +commend his soul to his Maker, but that he was simply and keenly alive +to the very actual present in which he still existed and to his one idea +of not firing at his adversary. And if anything could render his conduct +more theoretically incorrect it was a certain exalted sense that he was +doing quite right and was not only NOT a bad sort of fellow, but one +whom his survivors might possibly regret! + +"Are you ready, gentlemen? One--two--three--fi . . . !" + +The explosions were singularly simultaneous--so remarkable in fact that +it seemed to the master that his rifle, fired in the air, had given a +DOUBLE report. A light wreath of smoke lay between him and his opponent. +He was unhurt--so evidently was his adversary, for the voice rose again. + +"Advance! . . . Hallo there! Stop!" + +He looked up quickly to see McKinstry stagger and then fall heavily to +the ground. + +With an exclamation of horror, the first and only terrible emotion he +had felt, he ran to the fallen man, as Harrison reached his side at the +same moment. + +"For God's sake," he said wildly, throwing himself on his knees beside +McKinstry, "what has happened? For I swear to you, I never aimed at you! +I fired in the air. Speak! Tell him, you," he turned with a despairing +appeal to Harrison, "you must have seen it all--tell him it was not me!" + +A half wondering, half incredulous smile passed quickly over Harrison's +face. "In course you didn't MEAN it," he said dryly, "but let +that slide. Get up and get away from yer, while you kin," he added +impatiently, with a significant glance at one or two men who lingered +after the sudden and general dispersion of the crowd at McKinstry's +fall. "Get--will ye!" + +"Never!" said the young man passionately, "until he knows that it was +not my hand that fired that shot." + +McKinstry painfully struggled to his elbow. "It took me yere," he said +with a slow deliberation, as if answering some previous question, and +pointing to his hip, "and it kinder let me down when I started forward +at the second call." + +"But it was not I who did it, McKinstry, I swear it. Hear me! For God's +sake, say you believe me." + +McKinstry turned his drowsy troubled eyes upon the master as if he were +vaguely recalling something. "Stand back thar a minit, will ye," he said +to Harrison, with a languid wave of his crippled hand; "I want ter speak +to this yer man." + +Harrison drew back a few paces and the master sought to take the wounded +man's hand, but he was stopped by a gesture. "Where hev you put Cressy?" +McKinstry said slowly. + +"I don't understand you," stammered Ford. + +"Where are you hidin' her from me?" repeated McKinstry with painful +distinctness. "Whar hev you run her to, that you're reckonin' to jine +her arter--arter--THIS?" + +"I am not hiding her! I am not going to her! I do not know where she is. +I have not seen her since we parted early this morning without a word +of meeting again," said the master rapidly, yet with a bewildered +astonishment that was obvious even to the dulled faculties of his +hearer. + +"That war true?" asked McKinstry, laying his hand upon the master's +shoulder and bringing his dull eyes to the level of the young man's. + +"It is the whole truth," said Ford fervently, "and true also that I +never raised my hand against you." + +McKinstry beckoned to Harrison and the two others who had joined him, +and then sank partly back with his hand upon his side, where the slow +empurpling of his red shirt showed the slight ooze of a deeply-seated +wound. + +"You fellers kin take me over to the ranch," he said calmly, "and let +him," pointing to Ford, "ride your best hoss fer the doctor. I don't," +he continued in grave explanation, "gin'rally use a doctor, but this yer +is suthin' outside the old woman's regular gait." He paused, and then +drawing the master's head down towards him, he added in his ear, "When +I get to hev a look at the size and shape o' this yer ball that's in +my hip, I'll--I'll--I'll--be--a--little more kam!" A gleam of dull +significance struggled into his eye. The master evidently understood +him, for he rose quickly, ran to the horse, mounted him and dashed +off for medical assistance, while McKinstry, closing his heavy lids, +anticipated this looked-for calm by fainting gently away. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +Of the various sentimental fallacies entertained by adult humanity +in regard to childhood, none are more ingeniously inaccurate and +gratuitously idiotic than a comfortable belief in its profound ignorance +of the events in which it daily moves, and the motives and characters +of the people who surround it. Yet even the occasional revelations of an +enfant terrible are as nothing compared to the perilous secrets which +a discreet infant daily buttons up, or secures with a hook-and-eye, +or even fastens with a safety-pin across its gentle bosom. Society can +never cease to be grateful for that tact and consideration--qualities +more often joined with childish intuition and perception than with +matured observation--that they owe to it; and the most accomplished +man or woman of the great world might take a lesson from this little +audience who receive from their lips the lie they feel too palpable, +with round-eyed complacency, or outwardly accept as moral and genuine +the hollow sentiment they have overheard rehearsed in private for their +benefit. + +It was not strange therefore that the little people of the Indian Spring +school knew perhaps more of the real relations of Cressy McKinstry to +her admirers than the admirers themselves. Not that this knowledge was +outspoken--for children rarely gossip in the grown-up sense--or even +communicable by words intelligent to the matured intellect. A whisper, +a laugh that often seemed vague and unmeaning, conveyed to each other +a world of secret significance, and an apparently senseless burst of +merriment in which the whole class joined and that the adult critic set +down to "animal spirits"--a quality much more rare with children than +generally supposed--was only a sympathetic expression of some discovery +happily oblivious to older preoccupation. The childish simplicity +of Uncle Ben perhaps appealed more strongly to their sympathy, and +although, for that very reason, they regarded him with no more respect +than they did each other, he was at times carelessly admitted to their +confidence. It was especially Rupert Filgee who extended a kind of +patronizing protectorate over him--not unmixed with doubts of his +sanity, in spite of the promised confidential clerkship he was to +receive from his hands. + +On the day of the events chronicled in the preceding chapter, Rupert on +returning from school was somewhat surprised to find Uncle Ben perched +upon the rail-fence before the humble door of the Filgee mansion +and evidently awaiting him. Slowly dismounting as Rupert and Johnny +approached, he beamed upon the former for some moments with arch and yet +affable mystery. + +"Roopy, old man, I s'pose ye've got yer duds all ready in yer pack, eh?" + +A flush of pleasure passed over the boy's handsome face. He cast, +however, a hurried look down on the all-pervading Johnny. + +"'Cause ye see we kalkilate to take the down stage to Sacramento at +four o'clock," continued Uncle Ben, enjoying Rupert's half sceptical +surprise. "Ye enter into office, so to speak, with me at that hour, +when the sellery, seventy-five dollars a month and board, ez private and +confidential clerk, begins--eh?" + +Rupert's dimples deepened in charming, almost feminine, embarrassment. +"But dad--?" he stammered. + +"Et's all right with HIM. He's agreeable." + +"But--?" + +Uncle Ben followed Rupert's glance at Johnny, who however appeared to be +absorbed in the pattern of Uncle Ben's new trousers. + +"That's fixed," he said with a meaning smile. "There's a sort o' bonus +we pays down, you know--for a Chinyman to do the odd jobs." + +"And teacher--Mr. Ford--did ye tell him?" said Rupert brightening. + +Uncle Ben coughed slightly. "He's agreeable, too, I reckon. That is," +he wiped his mouth meditatively, "he ez good ez allowed it in gin'ral +conversation a week ago, Roop." + +A swift shadow of suspicion darkened the boy's brown eyes. "Is anybody +else goin' with us?" he said quickly. + +"Not this yer trip," replied Uncle Ben complacently. "Ye see, Roop," he +continued, drawing him aside with an air of comfortable mystery, "this +yer biz'ness b'longs to the private and confidential branch of the +office. From informashun we've received"-- + +"WE?" interrupted Rupert. + +"'We,' that's the OFFICE, you know," continued Uncle Ben with a heavy +assumption of business formality, "wot we've received per several hands +and consignee--we--that's YOU and ME, Roop--we goes down to Sacramento +to inquire into the standin' of a certing party, as per invoice, and ter +see--ter see--ter negotiate you know, ter find out if she's married or +di-vorced," he concluded quickly, as if abandoning for the moment his +business manner in consideration of Rupert's inexperience. "We're to +find out her standin', Roop," he began again with a more judicious +blending of ease and technicality, "and her contracts, if any, and where +she lives and her way o' life, and examine her books and papers ez +to marriages and sich, and arbitrate with her gin'rally in +conversation--you inside the house and me out on the pavement, ready to +be called in if an interview with business principals is desired." + +Observing Rupert somewhat perplexed and confused with these +technicalities, he tactfully abandoned them for the present, and +consulting a pocket-book said, "I've made a memorandum of some pints +that we'll talk over on the journey," again charged Rupert to be +punctually at the stage office with his carpetbag, and cheerfully +departed. + +When he had disappeared Johnny Filgee, without a single word of +explanation, fell upon his brother, and at once began a violent attack +of kicks and blows upon his legs and other easily accessible parts +of his person, accompanying his assault with unintelligible gasps and +actions, finally culminating in a flood of tears and the casting of +himself on his back in the dust with the copper-fastened toes of his +small boots turning imaginary wheels in the air. Rupert received these +characteristic marks of despairing and outraged affection with +great forbearance, only saying, "There, now, Johnny, quit that," and +eventually bearing him still struggling into the house. Here Johnny, +declaring that he would kill any "Chinyman" that offered to dress him, +and burn down the house after his brother's infamous desertion of it, +Rupert was constrained to mingle a few nervous, excited tears with his +brother's outbreak. Whereat Johnny, admitting the alleviation of an +orange, a four-bladed knife, and the reversionary interest in much of +Rupert's personal property, became more subdued. Sitting there with +their arms entwined about each other, the sunlight searching the +shiftless desolation of their motherless home, the few cheap playthings +they had known lying around them, they beguiled themselves with +those charming illusions of their future intentions common to their +years--illusions they only half believed themselves and half accepted of +each other. Rupert was quite certain that he would return in a few days +with a gold watch and a present for Johnny, and Johnny, with a baleful +vision of never seeing him again, and a catching breath, magnificently +undertook to bring in the wood and build the fire and wash the dishes +"all of himself." And then there were a few childish confidences +regarding their absent father--then ingenuously playing poker in the +Magnolia Saloon--that might have made that public-spirited, genial +companion somewhat uncomfortable, and more tears that were half smiling +and some brave silences that were wholly pathetic, and then the hour +for Rupert's departure all too suddenly arrived. They separated with +ostentatious whooping, and then Johnny, suddenly overcome with +the dreadfulness of all earthly things, and the hollowness of life +generally, instantly resolved to run away! + +To do this he prepared himself with a purposeless hatchet, an +inconsistent but long-treasured lump of putty and all the sugar that was +left in the cracked sugar-bowl. Thus accoutred he sallied forth, first +to remove all traces of his hated existence that might be left in his +desk at school. If the master were there he would say Rupert had sent +him; if he wasn't, he would climb in at the window. The sun was already +sinking when he reached the clearing and found a cavalcade of armed men +around the building. + +Johnny's first conviction was that the master had killed Uncle Ben +or Masters, and that the men, taking advantage of the absence of +his--Johnny's--big brother, were about to summarily execute him. +Observing no struggle from within, his second belief was that the master +had been suddenly elected Governor of California and was about to start +with a state escort from the school-house, and that he, Johnny, was in +time to see the procession. But when the master appeared with McKinstry, +followed by part of the crowd afoot, this quick-witted child of the +frontier, from his secure outlook in the "brush," gathered enough from +their fragmentary speech to guess the serious purport of their errand, +and thrill with anticipation and slightly creepy excitement. + +A duel! A thing hitherto witnessed only by grown-up men, afterwards +swaggering with importance and strange technical bloodthirsty words, and +now for the first time reserved for a BOY--and that boy him, Johnny!--to +behold in all its fearful completeness! A duel! of which, he, Johnny, +meanly abandoned by his brother, was now exalted perhaps to be the only +survivor! He could scarcely credit his senses. It was too much! + +To creep through the brush while the preliminaries were being settled, +reach a certain silver fir on the appointed ground, and with the aid of +his now lucky hatchet, climb unseen to its upper boughs, was an exciting +and difficult task, but one eventually overcome by his short but +energetic legs. Here he could not only see all that occurred, but by +a fortunate chance the large pine next to him had been selected as the +limit of the ground. The sharp eyes of the boy had long since penetrated +the disguises of the remaining masked men, and when the long, lank +figure of the master's self-appointed second took up its position +beneath the pines in full view of him, although hidden from the +spectators, Johnny instantly recognized it to be none other than Seth +Davis. The manifest inconsistency of his appearance as Mr. Ford's second +with what Johnny knew of his relations to the master was the one thing +that firmly fixed the incident in the boy's memory. + +The men were already in position. Harrison stepped forward to give the +word. Johnny's down-hanging legs tingled with cramp and excitement. +Why didn't they begin? What were they waiting for? What if it were +interrupted, or--terrible thought--made up at the last moment? Would +they "holler" out when they were hit, or stagger round convulsively as +they did at the "cirkiss"? Would they all run away afterwards and leave +Johnny alone to tell the tale? And--horrible thought!--would any +body believe him? Would Rupert? Rupert, had he "on'y knowed this," he +wouldn't have gone away. + +"One"-- + +With a child's perfect faith in the invulnerable superiority of his +friends, he had not even looked at the master, but only at his destined +victim. Yet as the word "two" rang out Johnny's attention was suddenly +attracted to the surprising fact that the master's second, Seth Davis, +had also drawn a pistol, and from behind his tree was deliberately +and stealthily aiming at McKinstry! He understood it all now--he was a +friend of the master's. Bully for Seth! + +"Three!" + +Crack! Z-i-i-p! Crackle! What a funny noise! And yet he was obliged to +throw himself flat upon the bough to keep from falling. It seemed to +have snapped beneath him and benumbed his right leg. He did not know +that the master's bullet, fired in the air, had ranged along the bough, +stripping the bark throughout its length, and glancing with half-spent +force to inflict a slight flesh wound on his leg! + +He was giddy and a little frightened. And he had seen nobody hit, nor +nothin'. It was all a humbug! Seth had disappeared. So had the others. +There was a faint sound of voices and something like a group in the +distance--that was all. It was getting dark, too, and his leg was still +asleep, but warm and wet. He would get down. This was very difficult, +for his leg would not wake up, and but for the occasional support he got +by striking his hatchet in the tree he would have fallen in descending. +When he reached the ground his leg began to pain, and looking down he +saw that his stocking and shoe were soaked with blood. + +His small and dirty handkerchief, a hard wad in his pocket, was +insufficient to staunch the flow. With a vague recollection of a certain +poultice applied to a boil on his father's neck, he collected a quantity +of soft moss and dried yerba buena leaves, and with the aid of his check +apron and of one of his torn suspenders tightly wound round the whole +mass, achieved a bandage of such elephantine proportions that he could +scarcely move with it. In fact, like most imaginative children, he +became slightly terrified at his own alarming precautions. Nevertheless, +although a word or an outcry from him would have at that moment brought +the distant group to his assistance, a certain respect to himself and +his brother kept him from uttering even a whimper of weakness. + +Yet he found refuge, oddly enough, in a suppressed but bitter +denunciation of the other boys of his acquaintance. What was Cal. +Harrison doing, while he, Johnny, was alone in the woods, wounded in a +grown-up duel--for nothing would convince this doughty infant that +he had not been an active participant? Where was Jimmy Snyder that he +didn't come to his assistance with the other fellers? Cowards all; they +were afraid. Ho, ho! And he, Johnny, wasn't afraid! ho--he didn't mind +it! Nevertheless he had to repeat the phrase two or three times until, +after repeated struggles to move forward through the brush, he at last +sank down exhausted. By this time the distant group had slowly moved +away, carrying something between them, and leaving Johnny alone in the +fast coming darkness. Yet even this desertion did not affect him as +strongly as his implicit belief in the cowardly treachery of his old +associates. + +It grew darker and darker, until the open theatre of the late conflict +appeared enclosed in funereal walls; a cool searching breath of air that +seemed to have crept through the bracken and undergrowth like a stealthy +animal, lifted the curls on his hot forehead. He grasped his hatchet +firmly as against possible wild beasts, and as a medicinal and remedial +precaution, took another turn with his suspender around his bandage. +It occurred to him then that he would probably die. They would all feel +exceedingly sorry and alarmed, and regret having made him wash himself +on Saturday night. They would attend his funeral in large numbers in +the little graveyard, where a white tombstone inscribed to "John Filgee, +fell in a duel at the age of seven," would be awaiting him. He would +forgive his brother, his father, and Mr. Ford. Yet even then he vaguely +resented a few leaves and twigs dropped by a woodpecker in the tree +above him, with a shake of his weak fist and an incoherent declaration +that they couldn't "play no babes in the wood on HIM." And then having +composed himself he once more turned on his side to die, as became the +scion of a heroic race! The free woods, touched by an upspringing wind, +waved their dark arms above him, and higher yet a few patient stars +silently ranged themselves around his pillow. + +But with the rising wind and stars came the swift trampling of horses' +hoofs and the flashing of lanterns, and Doctor Duchesne and the master +swept down into the opening. + +"It was here," said the master quickly, "but they must have taken him on +to his own home. Let us follow." + +"Hold on a moment," said the doctor, who had halted before the tree. +"What's all this? Why, it's baby Filgee--by thunder!" + +In another moment they had both dismounted and were leaning over the +half conscious child. Johnny turned his feverishly bright eyes from the +lantern to the master and back again. + +"What is it, Johnny boy?" asked the master tenderly. "Were you lost?" + +With a gleam of feverish exaltation, Johnny rose, albeit wanderingly, to +the occasion! + +"Hit!" he lisped feebly, "Hit in a doell! at the age of theven." + +"What!" asked the bewildered master. + +But Doctor Duchesne, after a single swift scrutiny of the boy's face, +had unearthed him from his nest of leaves, laid him in his lap, and +deftly ripped away the preposterous bandage. "Hold the light here. By +Jove! he tells the truth. Who did it, Johnny?" + +But Johnny was silent. In an interval of feverish consciousness and +pain, his perception and memory had been quickened; a suspicion of the +real cause of his disaster had dawned upon him--but his childish lips +were heroically sealed. The master glanced appealingly at the Doctor. + +"Take him before you in the saddle to McKinstry's," said the latter +promptly. "I can attend to both." + +The master lifted the boy tenderly in his arms. Johnny, stimulated by +the prospect of a free ride, became feebly interested in his fellow +sufferer. + +"Did Theth hit him bad?" he asked. + +"Seth?" echoed the master, wildly. + +"Yeth. I theed him when he took aim." + +The master did not reply, but the next moment Johnny felt himself +clasped in his arms in the saddle before him, borne like a whirlwind in +the direction of the McKinstry ranch. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +They found the wounded man lying in the front room upon a rudely +extemporized couch of bear-skins, he having sternly declined the +effeminacy of his wife's bedroom. In the possibility of a fatal +termination to his wound, and in obedience to a grim frontier tradition, +he had also refused to have his boots removed in order that he might +"die with them on," as became his ancestral custom. Johnny was therefore +speedily made comfortable in the McKinstry bed, while Dr. Duchesne gave +his whole attention to his more serious patient. The master glanced +hurriedly around for Mrs. McKinstry. She was not only absent from the +room, but there seemed to be no suggestion of her presence in the house. +To his greater surprise the hurried inquiry that rose to his lips was +checked by a significant warning from the attendant. He sat down beside +the now sleeping boy, and awaited the doctor's return with his mind +wandering between the condition of the little sufferer and the singular +revelation that had momentarily escaped his childish lips. If Johnny had +actually seen Seth fire at McKinstry, the latter's mysterious wound +was accounted for--but not Seth's motive. The act was so utterly +incomprehensible and inconsistent with Seth's avowed hatred of the +master that the boy must have been delirious. + +He was roused by the entrance of the surgeon. "It's not so bad as I +thought," he said, with a reassuring nod. "It was a mighty close shave +between a shattered bone and a severed artery, but we've got the ball, +and he'll pull through in a week. By Jove! though--the old fire-eater +was more concerned about finding the ball than living or dying! Go in +there--he wants to see you. Don't let him talk too much. He's called +in a lot of his friends for some reason or other--and there's a regular +mass-meeting in there. Go in, and get rid of 'em. I'll look after baby +Filgee--though the little chap will be all right again after another +dressing." + +The master cast a hurried look of relief at the surgeon, and re-entered +the front room. It was filled with men whom the master instinctively +recognized as his former adversaries. But they gave way before him with +a certain rude respect and half abashed sympathy as McKinstry called him +to his side. The wounded man grasped his hand. "Lift me up a bit," he +whispered. The master assisted him with difficulty to his elbow. + +"Gentlemen!" said McKinstry, with a characteristic wave of his crippled +hand towards the crowd as he laid the other on the master's shoulder. +"Ye heerd me talkin' a minit ago; ye heer me now. This yer young man as +we've slipped up on and meskalkilated has told the truth--every time! +Ye ken tie to him whenever and wherever ye want to. Ye ain't expected to +feel ez I feel, in course, but the man ez goes back on HIM--quo'lls with +me. That's all--and thanks for inquiring friends. Ye'll git now, boys, +and leave him a minit with me." + +The men filed slowly out, a few lingering long enough to shake the +master's hand with grave earnestness, or half smiling, half abashed +embarrassment. The master received the proffered reconciliation of +these men, who but a few hours before would have lynched him with equal +sincerity, with cold bewilderment. As the door closed on the last of the +party he turned to McKinstry. The wounded man had sunk down again, but +was regarding with drowsy satisfaction a leaden bullet he was holding +between his finger and thumb. + +"This yer shot, Mr. Ford," he said in a slow voice, whose weakness was +only indicated by its extreme deliberation, "never kem from the gun I +gave ye--and was never fired by you." He paused and then added with his +old dull abstraction, "It's a long time since I've run agin anythin' +that makes me feel more--kam." + +In Mr. McKinstry's weak condition the master did not dare to make +Johnny's revelation known to him, and contented himself by simply +pressing his hand, but the next moment the wounded man resumed,-- + +"That ball jest fits Seth's navy revolver--and the hound hes made tracks +outer the country." + +"But what motive could he have in attacking YOU at such a time?" asked +the master. + +"He reckoned that either I'd kill you and so he'd got shut of us both in +that way, without it being noticed; or if I missed you, the others would +hang YOU--ez they kalkilated to--for killing ME! The idea kem to him +when he overheard you hintin' you wouldn't return my fire." + +A shuddering conviction that McKinstry had divined the real truth +passed over the master. In the impulse of the moment he again would have +corroborated it by revealing Johnny's story, but a glance at the growing +feverishness of the wounded man checked his utterance. "Don't talk of it +now," he said hurriedly. "Enough for me to know that you acquit ME. I +am here now only to beg you to compose yourself until the doctor comes +back--as you seemed to be alone, and Mrs. McKinstry"--he stopped in +awkward embarrassment. + +A singular confusion overspread the invalid's face. "She hed steppt out +afore this happened, owin' to contrairy opinions betwixt me and her. Ye +mout hev noticed, Mr. Ford, that gin'rally she didn't 'pear to cotton to +ye! Thar ain't a woman a goin' ez is the ekal of Blair Rawlins' darter +in nussin' a man and keeping him in fightin' order, but in matters like +things that consarn herself and Cress, I begin to think, Mr. Ford, +that somehow, she ain't exakly--kam! Bein' kam yourself, ye'll put any +unpleasantness down to that. Wotever you hear from HER, and, for +the matter o' that, from her own darter too--for I'm takin' back +the foolishness I said to ye over yon about your runnin' off with +Cress--you'll remember, Mr. Ford, it warn't from no ill feeling to YOU, +in her or Cress--but on'y a want of kam! I mout hev had MY idees about +Cress, you mout hev had YOURS, and that fool Dabney mout hev had HIS; +but it warn't the old woman's--nor Cressy's--it warn't Blair Rawlins' +darter's idea--nor yet HER darter's! And why? For want o' kam! Times +I reckon it was left out o' woman's nater. And bein' kam yourself, you +understand it, and take it all in." + +The old look of drowsy pain had settled so strongly in his red eyes +again that the master was fain to put his hand gently over them, and +with a faint smile beg him to compose himself to sleep. This he finally +did after a whispered suggestion that he himself was feeling "more kam." +The master sat for some moments with his hand upon the sleeping man's +eyes, and a vague and undefinable sense of loneliness seemed to fall +upon him from the empty rafters of the silent and deserted house. The +rising wind moaned fitfully around its bleak shell with the despairing +sound of far and forever receding voices. So strong was the impression +that when the doctor and McKinstry's attending brother re-entered the +room, the master still lingered beside the bed with a dazed sensation +of abandonment that the doctor's practical reassuring smile could hardly +dispel. + +"He's doing splendidly now," he said, listening to the sleeper's more +regular respiration: "and I'd advise you to go now, Mr. Ford, before +he wakes, lest he might be tempted to excite himself by talking to you +again. He's really quite out of danger now. Good-night! I'll drop in on +you at the hotel when I return." + +The master, albeit still confused and bewildered, felt his way to +the door and out into the open night. The wind was still despairingly +wrestling with the tree-tops, but the far receding voices seemed to be +growing fainter in the distance, until, as he passed on, they too seemed +to pass away forever. + +***** + +Monday morning had come again, and the master was at his desk in the +school house early, with a still damp and inky copy of the Star fresh +from the press before him. The free breath of the pines was blowing in +the window, and bringing to his ears the distant voices of his slowly +gathering flock, as he read as follows:-- + +"The perpetrator of the dastardly outrage at the Indian Spring Academy +on Thursday last--which, through unfortunate misrepresentation of +the facts, led to a premature calling out of several of our most +public-spirited citizens, and culminated in a most regrettable encounter +between Mr. McKinstry and the accomplished and estimable principal of +the school--has, we regret to say, escaped condign punishment by leaving +the country with his relations. If, as is seriously whispered, he was +also guilty of an unparalleled offence against a chivalrous code which +will exclude him in the future from ever seeking redress at the Court +of Honor, our citizens will be only too glad to get rid of the +contamination of being obliged to arrest him. Those of our readers who +know the high character of the two gentlemen who were thus forced into +a hostile meeting, will not be surprised to know that the most ample +apologies were tendered on both sides, and that the entente cordiale has +been thoroughly restored. The bullet--which it is said played a highly +important part in the subsequent explanation, proving to have come +from a REVOLVER fired by some outsider--has been extracted from Mr. +McKinstry's thigh, and he is doing well, with every prospect of a speedy +recovery." + +Smiling, albeit not uncomplacently, at this valuable contribution to +history from an unfettered press, his eye fell upon the next paragraph, +perhaps not so complacently:-- + +"Benjamin Daubigny, Esq., who left town for Sacramento on important +business, not entirely unconnected with his new interests in Indian +Springs, will, it is rumored, be shortly joined by his wife, who has +been enabled by his recent good fortune to leave her old home in +the States, and take her proper proud position at his side. Although +personally unknown to Indian Springs, Mrs. Daubigny is spoken of as a +beautiful and singularly accomplished woman, and it is to be regretted +that her husband's interests will compel them to abandon Indian Springs +for Sacramento as a future residence. Mr. Daubigny was accompanied by +his private secretary Rupert, the eldest son of H. G. Filgee, Esq., who +has been a promising graduate of the Indian Spring Academy, and offers a +bright example to the youth of this district. We are happy to learn +that his younger brother is recovering rapidly from a slight accident +received last week through the incautious handling of firearms." + +The master, with his eyes upon the paper, remained so long plunged in a +reverie that the school-room was quite filled and his little flock was +wonderingly regarding him before he recalled himself. He was hurriedly +reaching his hand towards the bell when he was attracted by the rising +figure of Octavia Dean. + +"Please, sir, you didn't ask if we had any news!" + +"True--I forgot," said the master smiling. "Well, have you anything to +tell us?" + +"Yes, sir. Cressy McKinstry has left school." + +"Indeed!" + +"Yes, sir; she's married." + +"Married," repeated the master with an effort, yet conscious of the eyes +concentrated upon his colorless face. "Married--and to whom?" + +"To Joe Masters, sir, at the Baptist Chapel at Big Bluff, Sunday, an' +Marm McKinstry was thar with her." + +There was a momentary and breathless pause. Then the voices of his +little pupils--those sage and sweet truants from tradition, those gentle +but relentless historians of the future--rose around him in shrill +chorus--"WHY, WE KNOWED IT ALL ALONG, SIR!" + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Cressy, by Bret Harte + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CRESSY *** + +***** This file should be named 2858.txt or 2858.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/5/2858/ + +Produced by Donald Lainson + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.07.00*END* + + + + + +This etext was prepared by Donald Lainson, charlie@idirect.com + + + + + +CRESSY + +by Bret Harte + + + + +CRESSY + + +CHAPTER I. + + +As the master of the Indian Spring school emerged from the pine +woods into the little clearing before the schoolhouse, he stopped +whistling, put his hat less jauntily on his head, threw away some +wild flowers he had gathered on his way, and otherwise assumed the +severe demeanor of his profession and his mature age--which was at +least twenty. Not that he usually felt this an assumption; it was +a firm conviction of his serious nature that he impressed others, +as he did himself, with the blended austerity and ennui of deep and +exhausted experience. + +The building which was assigned to him and his flock by the Board +of Education of Tuolumne County, California, had been originally a +church. It still bore a faded odor of sanctity, mingled, however, +with a later and slightly alcoholic breath of political discussion, +the result of its weekly occupation under the authority of the +Board as a Tribune for the enunciation of party principles and +devotion to the Liberties of the People. There were a few dog- +eared hymn-books on the teacher's desk, and the blackboard but +imperfectly hid an impassioned appeal to the citizens of Indian +Spring to "Rally" for Stebbins as Supervisor. The master had been +struck with the size of the black type in which this placard was +printed, and with a shrewd perception of its value to the round +wandering eyes of his smaller pupils, allowed it to remain as a +pleasing example of orthography. Unfortunately, although +subdivided and spelt by them in its separate letters with painful +and perfect accuracy, it was collectively known as "Wally," and its +general import productive of vague hilarity. + +Taking a large key from his pocket, the master unlocked the door +and threw it open, stepping back with a certain precaution begotten +of his experience in once finding a small but sociable rattlesnake +coiled up near the threshold. A slight disturbance which followed +his intrusion showed the value of that precaution, and the fact +that the room had been already used for various private and +peaceful gatherings of animated nature. An irregular attendance of +yellow-birds and squirrels dismissed themselves hurriedly through +the broken floor and windows, but a golden lizard, stiffened +suddenly into stony fright on the edge of an open arithmetic, +touched the heart of the master so strongly by its resemblance to +some kept-in and forgotten scholar who had succumbed over the task +he could not accomplish, that he was seized with compunction. + +Recovering himself, and re-establishing, as it were, the decorous +discipline of the room by clapping his hands and saying "Sho!" he +passed up the narrow aisle of benches, replacing the forgotten +arithmetic, and picking up from the desks here and there certain +fragmentary pieces of plaster and crumbling wood that had fallen +from the ceiling, as if this grove of Academus had been shedding +its leaves overnight. When he reached his own desk he lifted the +lid and remained for some moments motionless, gazing into it. His +apparent meditation however was simply the combined reflection of +his own features in a small pocket-mirror in its recesses and a +perplexing doubt in his mind whether the sacrifice of his budding +moustache was not essential to the professional austerity of his +countenance. But he was presently aware of the sound of small +voices, light cries, and brief laughter scattered at vague and +remote distances from the schoolhouse--not unlike the birds and +squirrels he had just dispossessed. He recognized by these signs +that it was nine o'clock, and his scholars were assembling. + +They came in their usual desultory fashion--the fashion of country +school-children the world over--irregularly, spasmodically, and +always as if accidentally; a few hand-in-hand, others driven ahead +of or dropped behind their elders; some in straggling groups more +or less coherent and at times only connected by far-off intermediate +voices scattered on a space of half a mile, but never quite alone; +always preoccupied by something else than the actual business on +hand; appearing suddenly from ditches, behind trunks, and between +fence-rails; cropping up in unexpected places along the road after +vague and purposeless detours--seemingly going anywhere and +everywhere but to school! So unlooked-for, in fact, was their final +arrival that the master, who had a few moments before failed to +descry a single torn straw hat or ruined sun-bonnet above his +visible horizon, was always startled to find them suddenly under his +windows, as if, like the birds, they had alighted from the trees. +Nor was their moral attitude towards their duty any the more varied; +they always arrived as if tired and reluctant, with a doubting +sulkiness that perhaps afterwards beamed into a charming hypocrisy, +but invariably temporizing with their instincts until the last +moment, and only relinquishing possible truancy on the very +threshold. Even after they were marshalled on their usual benches +they gazed at each other every morning with a perfectly fresh +astonishment and a daily recurring enjoyment of some hidden joke in +this tremendous rencontre. + +It had been the habit of the master to utilize these preliminary +vagrancies of his little flock by inviting them on assembling to +recount any interesting incident of their journey hither; or +failing this, from their not infrequent shyness in expressing what +had secretly interested them, any event that had occurred within +their knowledge since they last met. He had done this, partly to +give them time to recover themselves in that more formal atmosphere, +and partly, I fear, because, notwithstanding his conscientious +gravity, it greatly amused him. It also diverted them from their +usual round-eyed, breathless contemplation of himself--a regular +morning inspection which generally embraced every detail of his +dress and appearance, and made every change or deviation the subject +of whispered comment or stony astonishment. He knew that they knew +him more thoroughly than he did himself, and shrank from the +intuitive vision of these small clairvoyants. + +"Well?" said the master gravely. + +There was the usual interval of bashful hesitation, verging on +nervous hilarity or hypocritical attention. For the last six +months this question by the master had been invariably received +each morning as a veiled pleasantry which might lead to baleful +information or conceal some query out of the dreadful books before +him. Yet this very element of danger had its fascinations. Johnny +Filgee, a small boy, blushed violently, and, without getting up, +began hurriedly in a high key, "Tige ith got," and then suddenly +subsided into a whisper. + +"Speak up, Johnny," said the master encouragingly. + +"Please, sir, it ain't anythin' he's seed--nor any real news," said +Rupert Filgee, his elder brother, rising with family concern and +frowning openly upon Johnny; "it's jest his foolishness; he oughter +be licked." Finding himself unexpectedly on his feet, and +apparently at the end of a long speech, he colored also, and then +said hurriedly, "Jimmy Snyder--HE seed suthin'. Ask HIM!" and sat +down--a recognized hero. + +Every eye, including the master's, was turned on Jimmy Snyder. But +that youthful observer, instantly diving his head and shoulders +into his desk, remained there gurgling as if under water. Two or +three nearest him endeavored with some struggling to bring him to +an intelligible surface again. The master waited patiently. +Johnny Filgee took advantage of the diversion to begin again in a +high key, "Tige ith got thix," and subsided. + +"Come, Jimmy," said the master, with a touch of peremptoriness. +Thus adjured, Jimmy Snyder came up glowingly, and bristling with +full stops and exclamation points. "Seed a black b'ar comin' outer +Daves' woods," he said excitedly. "Nigh to me ez you be. 'N big +ez a hoss; 'n snarlin'! 'n snappin'!--like gosh! Kem along--ker-- +clump torords me. Reckoned he'd skeer me! Didn't skeer me worth a +cent. I heaved a rock at him--I did now!" (in defiance of murmurs +of derisive comment)--"'n he slid. Ef he'd kem up furder I'd hev +up with my slate and swotted him over the snoot--bet your boots!" + +The master here thought fit to interfere, and gravely point out +that the habit of striking bears as large as a horse with a school- +slate was equally dangerous to the slate (which was also the +property of Tuolumne County) and to the striker; and that the verb +"to swot" and the noun substantive "snoot" were likewise +indefensible, and not to be tolerated. Thus admonished Jimmy +Snyder, albeit unshaken in his faith in his own courage, sat down. + +A slight pause ensued. The youthful Filgee, taking advantage of +it, opened in a higher key, "Tige ith"--but the master's attention +was here diverted by the searching eyes of Octavia Dean, a girl of +eleven, who after the fashion of her sex preferred a personal +recognition of her presence before she spoke. Succeeding in +catching his eye, she threw back her long hair from her shoulders +with an easy habitual gesture, rose, and with a faint accession of +color said: + +"Cressy McKinstry came home from Sacramento. Mrs. McKinstry told +mother she's comin' back here to school." + +The master looked up with an alacrity perhaps inconsistent with his +cynical austerity. Seeing the young girl curiously watching him +with an expectant smile, he regretted it. Cressy McKinstry, who +was sixteen years old, had been one of the pupils he had found at +the school when he first came. But as he had also found that she +was there in the extraordinary attitude of being "engaged" to one +Seth Davis, a fellow-pupil of nineteen, and as most of the +courtship was carried on freely and unceremoniously during school- +hours with the full permission of the master's predecessor, the +master had been obliged to point out to the parents of the devoted +couple the embarrassing effects of this association on the +discipline of the school. The result had been the withdrawal of +the lovers, and possibly the good-will of the parents. The return +of the young lady was consequently a matter of some significance. +Had the master's protest been accepted, or had the engagement +itself been broken off? + +Either was not improbable. His momentary loss of attention was +Johnny Filgee's great gain. + +"Tige," said Johnny, with sudden and alarming distinctness, "ith +got thix pupths--mothly yaller." + +In the laugh which followed this long withheld announcement of an +increase in the family of Johnny's yellow and disreputable setter +"Tiger," who usually accompanied him to school and howled outside, +the master joined with marked distinctness. Then he said, with +equally marked severity, "Books!" The little levee was ended, and +school began. + +It continued for two hours with short sighs, corrugations of small +foreheads, the complaining cries and scratchings of slate pencils +over slates, and other signs of minor anguish among the more +youthful of the flock; and with more or less whisperings, movements +of the lips, and unconscious soliloquy among the older pupils. The +master moved slowly up and down the aisle with a word of +encouragement or explanation here and there, stopping with his +hands behind him to gaze abstractedly out of the windows to the +wondering envy of the little ones. A faint hum, as of invisible +insects, gradually pervaded the school; the more persistent droning +of a large bee had become dangerously soporific. The hot breath of +the pines without had invaded the doors and windows; the warped +shingles and weather-boarding at times creaked and snapped under +the rays of the vertical and unclouded sun. A gentle perspiration +broke out like a mild epidemic in the infant class; little curls +became damp, brief lashes limp, round eyes moist, and small eyelids +heavy. The master himself started, and awoke out of a perilous +dream of other eyes and hair to collect himself severely. For the +irresolute, half-embarrassed, half-lazy figure of a man had halted +doubtingly before the porch and open door. Luckily the children, +who were facing the master with their backs to the entrance, did +not see it. + +Yet the figure was neither alarming nor unfamiliar. The master at +once recognized it as Ben Dabney, otherwise known as "Uncle Ben," a +good-humored but not over-bright miner, who occupied a small cabin +on an unambitious claim in the outskirts of Indian Spring. His +avuncular title was evidently only an ironical tribute to his +amiable incompetency and heavy good-nature, for he was still a +young man with no family ties, and by reason of his singular +shyness not even a visitor in the few families of the neighborhood. +As the master looked up, he had an irritating recollection that Ben +had been already haunting him for the last two days, alternately +appearing and disappearing in his path to and from school as a more +than usually reserved and bashful ghost. This, to the master's +cynical mind, clearly indicated that, like most ghosts, he had +something of essentially selfish import to communicate. Catching +the apparition's half-appealing eye, he proceeded to exorcise it +with a portentous frown and shake of the head, that caused it to +timidly wane and fall away from the porch, only however to reappear +and wax larger a few minutes later at one of the side windows. The +infant class hailing his appearance as a heaven-sent boon, the +master was obliged to walk to the door and command him sternly +away, when, retreating to the fence, he mounted the uppermost rail, +and drawing a knife from his pocket, cut a long splinter from the +rail, and began to whittle it in patient and meditative silence. +But when recess was declared, and the relieved feelings of the +little flock had vent in the clearing around the schoolhouse, the +few who rushed to the spot found that Uncle Ben had already +disappeared. Whether the appearance of the children was too +inconsistent with his ghostly mission, or whether his heart failed +him at the last moment, the master could not determine. Yet, +distasteful as the impending interview promised to be, the master +was vaguely and irritatingly disappointed. + +A few hours later, when school was being dismissed, the master +found Octavia Dean lingering near his desk. Looking into the +girl's mischievous eyes, he good-humoredly answered their +expectation by referring to her morning's news. "I thought Miss +McKinstry had been married by this time," he said carelessly. + +Octavia, swinging her satchel like a censer, as if she were +performing some act of thurification over her completed tasks, +replied demurely: "Oh no! dear no--not THAT." + +"So it would seem," said the master. + +"I reckon she never kalkilated to, either," continued Octavia, +slyly looking up from the corner of her lashes. + +"Indeed!" + +"No--she was just funning with Seth Davis--that's all." + +"Funning with him?" + +"Yes, sir. Kinder foolin' him, you know." + +"Kinder foolin' him!" + +For an instant the master felt it his professional duty to protest +against this most unmaidenly and frivolous treatment of the +matrimonial engagement, but a second glance at the significant face +of his youthful auditor made him conclude that her instinctive +knowledge of her own sex could be better trusted than his imperfect +theories. He turned towards his desk without speaking. Octavia +gave an extra swing to her satchel, tossing it over her shoulder +with a certain small coquettishness and moved towards the door. As +she did so the infant Filgee from the safe vantage of the porch +where he had lingered was suddenly impelled to a crowning audacity! +As if struck with an original idea, but apparently addressing +himself to space, he cried out, "Crethy M'Kinthry likth teacher," +and instantly vanished. + +Putting these incidents sternly aside, the master addressed himself +to the task of setting a few copies for the next day as the voices +of his departing flock faded from the porch. Presently a silence +fell upon the little school-house. Through the open door a cool, +restful breath stole gently as if nature were again stealthily +taking possession of her own. A squirrel boldly came across the +porch, a few twittering birds charging in stopped, beat the air +hesitatingly for a moment with their wings, and fell back with +bashfully protesting breasts aslant against the open door and the +unlooked-for spectacle of the silent occupant. Then there was +another movement of intrusion, but this time human, and the master +looked up angrily to behold Uncle Ben. + +He entered with a slow exasperating step, lifting his large boots +very high and putting them down again softly as if he were afraid +of some insecurity in the floor, or figuratively recognized the +fact that the pathways of knowledge were thorny and difficult. +Reaching the master's desk and the ministering presence above it, +he stopped awkwardly, and with the rim of his soft felt hat +endeavored to wipe from his face the meek smile it had worn when he +entered. It chanced also that he had halted before the minute +stool of the infant Filgee, and his large figure instantly assumed +such Brobdingnagian proportions in contrast that he became more +embarrassed than ever. The master made no attempt to relieve him, +but regarded him with cold interrogation. + +"I reckoned," he began, leaning one hand on the master's desk with +affected ease, as he dusted his leg with his hat with the other, "I +reckoned--that is--I allowed--I orter say--that I'd find ye alone +at this time. Ye gin'rally are, ye know. It's a nice, soothin', +restful, stoodious time, when a man kin, so to speak, run back on +his eddication and think of all he ever knowed. Ye're jist like +me, and ye see I sorter spotted your ways to onct." + +"Then why did you come here this morning and disturb the school?" +demanded the master sharply. + +"That's so, I sorter slipped up thar, didn't I?" said Uncle Ben +with a smile of rueful assent. "You see I didn't allow to COME IN +then, but on'y to hang round a leetle and kinder get used to it, +and it to me." + +"Used to what?" said the master impatiently, albeit with a slight +softening at his intruder's penitent expression. + +Uncle Ben did not reply immediately, but looked around as if for a +seat, tried one or two benches and a desk with his large hand as if +testing their security, and finally abandoning the idea as +dangerous, seated himself on the raised platform beside the +master's chair, having previously dusted it with the flap of his +hat. Finding, however, that the attitude was not conducive to +explanation, he presently rose again, and picking up one of the +school-books from the master's desk eyed it unskilfully upside +down, and then said hesitatingly,-- + +"I reckon ye ain't usin' Dobell's 'Rithmetic here?" + +"No," said the master. + +"That's bad. 'Pears to be played out--that Dobell feller. I was +brought up on Dobell. And Parsings' Grammar? Ye don't seem to be +a using Parsings' Grammar either?" + +"No," said the master, relenting still more as he glanced at Uncle +Ben's perplexed face with a faint smile. + +"And I reckon you'd be saying the same of Jones' 'Stronomy and +Algebry? Things hev changed. You've got all the new style here," +he continued, with affected carelessness, but studiously avoiding +the master's eye. "For a man ez wos brought up on Parsings, +Dobell, and Jones, thar don't appear to be much show nowadays." + +The master did not reply. Observing several shades of color chase +each other on Uncle Ben's face, he bent his own gravely over his +books. The act appeared to relieve his companion, who with his +eyes still turned towards the window went on: + +"Ef you'd had them books--which you haven't--I had it in my mind to +ask you suthen'. I had an idea of--of--sort of reviewing my +eddication. Kinder going over the old books agin--jist to pass the +time. Sorter running in yer arter school hours and doin' a little +practisin', eh? You looking on me as an extry scholar--and I +payin' ye as sich--but keepin' it 'twixt ourselves, you know--just +for a pastime, eh?" + +As the master smilingly raised his head, he became suddenly and +ostentatiously attracted to the window. + +"Them jay birds out there is mighty peart, coming right up to the +school-house! I reckon they think it sort o' restful too." + +"But if you really mean it, couldn't you use these books, Uncle +Ben?" said the master cheerfully. "I dare say there's little +difference--the principle is the same, you know." + +Uncle Ben's face, which had suddenly brightened, as suddenly fell. +He took the book from the master's hand without meeting his eyes, +held it at arm's length, turned it over and then laid it softly +down upon the desk as if it were some excessively fragile article. +"Certingly," he murmured, with assumed reflective ease. "Certingly. +The principle's all there." Nevertheless he was quite breathless +and a few beads of perspiration stood out upon his smooth, blank +forehead. + +"And as to writing, for instance," continued the master with +increasing heartiness as he took notice of these phenomena, "you +know ANY copy-book will do." + +He handed his pen carelessly to Uncle Ben. The large hand that +took it timidly not only trembled but grasped it with such fatal +and hopeless unfamiliarity that the master was fain to walk to the +window and observe the birds also. + +"They're mighty bold--them jays," said Uncle Ben, laying down the +pen with scrupulous exactitude beside the book and gazing at his +fingers as if he had achieved a miracle of delicate manipulation. +"They don't seem to be afeared of nothing, do they?" + +There was another pause. The master suddenly turned from the +window. "I tell you what, Uncle Ben," he said with prompt decision +and unshaken gravity, "the only thing for you to do is to just +throw over Dobell and Parsons and Jones and the old quill pen that +I see you're accustomed to, and start in fresh as if you'd never +known them. Forget 'em all, you know. It will be mighty hard of +course to do that," he continued, looking out of the window, "but +you must do it." + +He turned back, the brightness that transfigured Uncle Ben's face +at that moment brought a slight moisture into his own eyes. The +humble seeker of knowledge said hurriedly that he would try. + +"And begin again at the beginning," continued the master cheerfully. +"Exactly like one of those--in fact, as if you REALLY were a child +again." + +"That's so," said Uncle Ben, rubbing his hands delightedly, "that's +me! Why, that's jest what I was sayin' to Roop"-- + +"Then you've already been talking about it?" intercepted the master +in some surprise. "I thought you wanted it kept secret?" + +"Well, yes," responded Uncle Ben dubiously. "But you see I sorter +agreed with Roop Filgee that if you took to my ideas and didn't +object, I'd give him two bits* every time he'd kem here and help me +of an arternoon when you was away and kinder stand guard around the +school-house, you know, so as to keep the fellows off. And Roop's +mighty sharp for a boy, ye know." + + +* Two bits, i. e., twenty-five cents. + + +The master reflected a moment and concluded that Uncle Ben was +probably right. Rupert Filgee, who was a handsome boy of fourteen, +was also a strongly original character whose youthful cynicism and +blunt, honest temper had always attracted him. He was a fair +scholar, with a possibility of being a better one, and the proposed +arrangement with Uncle Ben would not interfere with the discipline +of school hours and might help them both. Nevertheless he asked +good-humoredly, "But couldn't you do this more securely and easily +in your own house? I might lend you the books, you know, and come +to you twice a week." + +Uncle Ben's radiant face suddenly clouded. "It wouldn't be exactly +the same kind o' game to me an' Roop," he said hesitatingly. "You +see thar's the idea o' the school-house, ye know, and the +restfulness and the quiet, and the gen'ral air o' study. And the +boys around town ez wouldn't think nothin' o' trapsen' into my +cabin if they spotted what I was up to thar, would never dream o' +hunting me here." + +"Very well," said the master, "let it be here then." Observing +that his companion seemed to be struggling with an inarticulate +gratitude and an apparently inextricable buckskin purse in his +pocket, he added quietly, "I'll set you a few copies to commence +with," and began to lay out a few unfinished examples of Master +Johnny Filgee's scholastic achievements. + +"After thanking YOU, Mr. Ford," said Uncle Ben, faintly, "ef you'll +jest kinder signify, you know, what you consider a fair"-- + +Mr. Ford turned quickly and dexterously offered his hand to his +companion in such a manner that he was obliged to withdraw his own +from his pocket to grasp it in return. "You're very welcome," said +the master, "and as I can only permit this sort of thing +gratuitously, you'd better NOT let me know that you propose giving +anything even to Rupert." He shook Uncle Ben's perplexed hand +again, briefly explained what he had to do, and saying that he +would now leave him alone a few minutes, he took his hat and walked +towards the door. + +"Then you reckon," said Uncle Ben slowly, regarding the work before +him, "that I'd better jest chuck them Dobell fellers overboard?" + +"I certainly should," responded the master with infinite gravity. + +"And sorter waltz in fresh, like one them children?" + +"Like a child," nodded the master as he left the porch. + +A few moments later, as he was finishing his cigar in the clearing, +he paused to glance in at the school-room window. Uncle Ben, +stripped of his coat and waistcoat, with his shirt-sleeves rolled +up on his powerful arms, had evidently cast Dobell and all +misleading extraneous aid aside, and with the perspiration standing +out on his foolish forehead, and his perplexed face close to the +master's desk, was painfully groping along towards the light in the +tottering and devious tracks of Master Johnny Filgee, like a very +child indeed! + + +CHAPTER II. + + +As the children were slowly straggling to their places the next +morning, the master waited for an opportunity to speak to Rupert. +That beautiful but scarcely amiable youth was, as usual, surrounded +and impeded by a group of his small female admirers, for whom, it +is but just to add, he had a supreme contempt. Possibly it was +this healthy quality that inclined the master towards him, and it +was consequently with some satisfaction that he overheard fragments +of his openly disparaging comments upon his worshippers. + +"There!" to Clarinda Jones, "don't flop! And don't YOU," to +Octavia Dean, "go on breathing over my head like that. If there's +anything I hate it's having a girl breathing round me. Yes, you +were! I felt it in my hair. And YOU too--you're always snoopin' +and snoodgin'. Oh, yes, you want to know WHY I've got an extry +copy-book and another 'Rithmetic, Miss Curiosity. Well, what would +you give to know? Want to see if they're PRETTY" (with infinite +scorn at the adjective). "No, they ain't PRETTY. That's all you +girls think about--what's PRETTY and what's curious! Quit now! +Come! Don't ye see teacher lookin' at you? Ain't you ashamed?" + +He caught the master's beckoning eye and came forward, slightly +abashed, with a flush of irritation still on his handsome face, and +his chestnut curls slightly rumpled. One, which Octavia had +covertly accented by twisting round her forefinger, stood up like a +crest on his head. + +"I've told Uncle Ben that you might help him here after school +hours," said the master, taking him aside. "You may therefore omit +your writing exercise in the morning and do it in the afternoon." + +The boy's dark eyes sparkled. "And if it would be all the same to +you, sir," he added earnestly, "you might sorter give out in school +that I was to be kept in." + +"I'm afraid that would hardly do," said the master, much amused. +"But why?" + +Rupert's color deepened. "So ez to keep them darned girls from +foolin' round me and followin' me back here." + +"We will attend to that," said the master smiling; a moment after +he added more seriously, "I suppose your father knows that you are +to receive money for this? And he doesn't object?" + +"He! Oh no!" returned Rupert with a slight look of astonishment, +and the same general suggestion of patronizing his progenitor that +he had previously shown to his younger brother. "You needn't mind +HIM." In reality Filgee pere, a widower of two years' standing, +had tacitly allowed the discipline of his family to devolve upon +Rupert. Remembering this, the master could only say, "Very well," +and good-naturedly dismiss the pupil to his seat and the subject +from his mind. The last laggard had just slipped in, the master +had glanced over the occupied benches with his hand upon his +warning bell, when there was a quick step on the gravel, a flutter +of skirts like the sound of alighting birds, and a young woman +lightly entered. + +In the rounded, untouched, and untroubled freshness of her cheek +and chin, and the forward droop of her slender neck, she appeared a +girl of fifteen; in her developed figure and the maturer drapery of +her full skirts she seemed a woman; in her combination of naive +recklessness and perfect understanding of her person she was both. +In spite of a few school-books that jauntily swung from a strap in +her gloved hand, she bore no resemblance to a pupil; in her pretty +gown of dotted muslin with bows of blue ribbon on the skirt and +corsage, and a cluster of roses in her belt, she was as inconsistent +and incongruous to the others as a fashion-plate would have been in +the dry and dog-eared pages before them. Yet she carried it off +with a demure mingling of the naivete of youth and the aplomb of a +woman, and as she swept down the narrow aisle, burying a few small +wondering heads in the overflow of her flounces, there was no doubt +of her reception in the arch smile that dimpled her cheek. Dropping +a half curtsey to the master, the only suggestion of her equality +with the others, she took her place at one of the larger desks, and +resting her elbow on the lid began to quietly remove her gloves. It +was Cressy McKinstry. + +Irritated and disturbed at the girl's unceremonious entrance, the +master for the moment recognized her salutation coldly, and +affected to ignore her elaborate appearance. The situation was +embarrassing. He could not decline to receive her as she was no +longer accompanied by her lover, nor could he plead entire +ignorance of her broken engagement; while to point out the glaring +inappropriateness of costume would be a fresh interference he knew +Indian Spring would scarcely tolerate. He could only accept such +explanation as she might choose to give. He rang his bell as much +to avert the directed eyes of the children as to bring the scene to +a climax. + +She had removed her gloves and was standing up. + +"I reckon I can go on where I left off?" she said lazily, pointing +to the books she had brought with her. + +"For the present," said the master dryly. + +The first class was called. Later, when his duty brought him to +her side, he was surprised to find that she was evidently already +prepared with consecutive lessons, as if she were serenely +unconscious of any doubt of her return, and as coolly as if she had +only left school the day before. Her studies were still quite +elementary, for Cressy McKinstry had never been a brilliant +scholar, but he perceived, with a cynical doubt of its permanency, +that she had bestowed unusual care upon her present performance. +There was moreover a certain defiance in it, as if she had resolved +to stop any objection to her return on the score of deficiencies. +He was obliged in self-defence to take particular note of some +rings she wore, and a large bracelet that ostentatiously glittered +on her white arm--which had already attracted the attention of her +companions, and prompted the audible comment from Johnny Filgee +that it was "truly gold." Without meeting her eyes he contented +himself with severely restraining the glances of the children that +wandered in her direction. She had never been quite popular with +the school in her previous role of fiancee, and only Octavia Dean +and one or two older girls appreciated its mysterious fascination; +while the beautiful Rupert, secure in his avowed predilection for +the middle-aged wife of the proprietor of the Indian Spring hotel, +looked upon her as a precocious chit with more than the usual +propensity to objectionable "breathing." Nevertheless the master +was irritatingly conscious of her presence--a presence which now +had all the absurdity of her ridiculous love-experiences superadded +to it. He tried to reason with himself that it was only a phase of +frontier life, which ought to have amused him. But it did not. +The intrusion of this preposterous girl seemed to disarrange the +discipline of his life as well as of his school. The usual vague, +far-off dreams in which he was in the habit of indulging during +school-hours, dreams that were perhaps superinduced by the +remoteness of his retreat and a certain restful sympathy in his +little auditors, which had made him--the grown-up dreamer-- +acceptable to them in his gentle understanding of their needs and +weaknesses, now seemed to have vanished forever. + +At recess, Octavia Dean, who had drawn near Cressy and reached up +to place her arm round the older girl's waist, glanced at her with +a patronizing smile born of some rapid free-masonry, and laughingly +retired with the others. The master at his desk, and Cressy who +had halted in the aisle were left alone. + +"I have had no intimation yet from your father or mother that you +were coming back to school again," he began. "But I suppose THEY +have decided upon your return?" + +An uneasy suspicion of some arrangement with her former lover had +prompted the emphasis. + +The young girl looked at him with languid astonishment. "I reckon +paw and maw ain't no objection," she said with the same easy +ignoring of parental authority that had characterized Rupert +Filgee, and which seemed to be a local peculiarity. "Maw DID offer +to come yer and see you, but I told her she needn't bother." + +She rested her two hands behind her on the edge of a desk, and +leaned against it, looking down upon the toe of her smart little +shoe which was describing a small semicircle beyond the hem of her +gown. Her attitude, which was half-defiant, half-indolent, brought +out the pretty curves of her waist and shoulders. The master +noticed it and became a trifle more austere. + +"Then I am to understand that this is a permanent thing?" he asked +coldly. + +"What's that?" said Cressy interrogatively. + +"Am I to understand that you intend coming regularly to school?" +repeated the master curtly, "or is this merely an arrangement for a +few days--until"-- + +"Oh," said Cressy comprehendingly, lifting her unabashed blue eyes +to his, "you mean THAT. Oh, THAT'S broke off. Yes," she added +contemptuously, making a larger semicircle with her foot, "that's +over--three weeks ago." + +"And Seth Davis--does HE intend returning too?" + +"He!" She broke into a light girlish laugh. "I reckon not much! +S'long's I'm here, at least." She had just lifted herself to a +sitting posture on the desk, so that her little feet swung clear of +the floor in their saucy dance. Suddenly she brought her heels +together and alighted. "So that's all?" she asked. + +"Yes." + +"Kin I go now?" + +"Yes." + +She laid her books one on the top of the other and lingered an +instant. + +"Been quite well?" she asked with indolent politeness. + +"Yes--thank you." + +"You're lookin' right peart." + +She walked with a Southern girl's undulating languor to the door, +opened it, then charged suddenly upon Octavia Dean, twirled her +round in a wild waltz and bore her away; appearing a moment after +on the playground demurely walking with her arm around her +companion's waist in an ostentatious confidence at once lofty, +exclusive, and exasperating to the smaller children. + +When school was dismissed that afternoon and the master had +remained to show Rupert Filgee how to prepare Uncle Ben's tasks, +and had given his final instructions to his youthful vicegerent, +that irascible Adonis unburdened himself querulously: + +"Is Cressy McKinstry comin' reg'lar, Mr. Ford?" + +"She is," said the master dryly. After a pause he asked, "Why?" + +Rupert's curls had descended on his eyebrows in heavy discontent. +"It's mighty rough, jest ez a feller reckons he's got quit of her +and her jackass bo', to hev her prancin' back inter school agin, +and rigged out like ez if she'd been to a fire in a milliner's +shop." + +"You shouldn't allow your personal dislikes, Rupert, to provoke you +to speak of a fellow-scholar in that way--and a young lady, too," +corrected the master dryly. + +"The woods is full o' sich feller-scholars and sich young ladies, +if yer keer to go a gunning for 'em," said Rupert with dark and +slangy significance. "Ef I'd known she was comin' back I'd"--he +stopped and brought his sunburnt fist against the seam of his +trousers with a boyish gesture, "I'd hev jist"-- + +"What?" said the master sharply. + +"I'd hev played hookey till she left school agin! It moutn't hev +bin so long, neither," he added with a mysterious chuckle. + +"That will do," said the master peremptorily. "For the present +you'll attend to your duty and try to make Uncle Ben see you're +something more than a foolish, prejudiced school-boy, or," he added +significantly, "he and I may both repent our agreement. Let me +have a good account of you both when I return." + +He took his hat from its peg on the wall, and in obedience to a +suddenly formed resolution left the school-room to call upon the +parents of Cressy McKinstry. He was not quite certain what he +should say, but, after his habit, would trust to the inspiration of +the moment. At the worst he could resign a situation that now +appeared to require more tact and delicacy than seemed consistent +with his position, and he was obliged to confess to himself that he +had lately suspected that his present occupation--the temporary +expedient of a poor but clever young man of twenty--was scarcely +bringing him nearer a realization of his daily dreams. For Mr. +Jack Ford was a youthful pilgrim who had sought his fortune in +California so lightly equipped that even in the matter of kin and +advisers he was deficient. That prospective fortune had already +eluded him in San Francisco, had apparently not waited for him in +Sacramento, and now seemed never to have been at Indian Spring. +Nevertheless, when he was once out of sight of the school-house he +lit a cigar, put his hands in his pockets, and strode on with the +cheerfulness of that youth to which all things are possible. + +The children had already dispersed as mysteriously and completely +as they had arrived. Between him and the straggling hamlet of +Indian Spring the landscape seemed to be without sound or motion. +The wooded upland or ridge on which the schoolhouse stood, half a +mile further on, began to slope gradually towards the river, on +whose banks, seen from that distance, the town appeared to have +been scattered irregularly or thrown together hastily, as if cast +ashore by some overflow--the Cosmopolitan Hotel drifting into the +Baptist church, and dragging in its tail of wreckage two saloons +and a blacksmith's shop; while the County Court-house was stranded +in solitary grandeur in a waste of gravel half a mile away. The +intervening flat was still gashed and furrowed by the remorseless +engines of earlier gold-seekers. + +Mr. Ford was in little sympathy with this unsuccessful record of +frontier endeavor--the fortune HE had sought did not seem to lie in +that direction--and his eye glanced quickly beyond it to the pine- +crested hills across the river, whose primeval security was so near +and yet so inviolable, or back again to the trail he was pursuing +along the ridge. The latter prospect still retained its semi- +savage character in spite of the occasional suburban cottages of +residents, and the few outlying farms or ranches of the locality. +The grounds of the cottages were yet uncleared of underbrush; bear +and catamount still prowled around the rude fences of the ranches; +the late alleged experience of the infant Snyder was by no means +improbable or unprecedented. + +A light breeze was seeking the heated flat and river, and thrilling +the leaves around him with the strong vitality of the forest. The +vibrating cross-lights and tremulous chequers of shade cast by the +stirred foliage seemed to weave a fantastic net around him as he +walked. The quaint odors of certain woodland herbs known to his +scholars, and religiously kept in their desks, or left like votive +offerings on the threshold of the school-house, recalled all the +primitive simplicity and delicious wildness of the little temple he +had left. Even in the mischievous glances of evasive squirrels and +the moist eyes of the contemplative rabbits there were faint +suggestions of some of his own truants. The woods were trembling +with gentle memories of the independence he had always known here-- +of that sweet and grave retreat now so ridiculously invaded. + +He began to hesitate, with one of those revulsions of sentiment +characteristic of his nature: Why should he bother himself about +this girl after all? Why not make up his mind to accept her as his +predecessor had done? Why was it necessary for him to find her +inconsistent with his ideas of duty to his little flock and his +mission to them? Was he not assuming a sense of decorum that was +open to misconception? The absurdity of her school costume, and +any responsibility it incurred, rested not with him but with her +parents. What right had he to point it out to them, and above all +how was he to do it? He halted irresolutely at what he believed +was his sober second thought, but which, like most reflections that +take that flattering title, was only a reaction as impulsive and +illogical as the emotion that preceded it. + +Mr. McKinstry's "snake rail" fence was already discernible in the +lighter opening of the woods, not far from where he had halted. As +he stood there in hesitation, the pretty figure and bright gown of +Cressy McKinstry suddenly emerged from a more secluded trail that +intersected his own at an acute angle a few rods ahead of him. She +was not alone, but was accompanied by a male figure whose arm she +had evidently just dislodged from her waist. He was still trying +to resume his lost vantage; she was as resolutely evading him with +a certain nymph-like agility, while the sound of her half-laughing, +half-irate protest could be faintly heard. Without being able to +identify the face or figure of her companion at that distance, he +could see that it was NOT her former betrothed, Seth Davis. + +A superior smile crossed his face; he no longer hesitated, but at +once resumed his former path. For some time Cressy and her +companion moved on quietly before him. Then on reaching the rail- +fence they turned abruptly to the right, were lost for an instant +in the intervening thicket, and the next moment Cressy appeared +alone, crossing the meadow in a shorter cut towards the house, +having either scaled the fence or slipped through some familiar +gap. Her companion had disappeared. Whether they had noticed that +they were observed he could not determine. He kept steadily along +the trail that followed the line of fence to the lane that led +directly to the farm-building, and pushed open the front gate as +Cressy's light dress vanished round an angle at the rear of the +house. + +The house of the McKinstrys rose, or rather stretched, itself +before him, in all the lazy ungainliness of Southwestern +architecture. A collection of temporary make-shifts of boards, of +logs, of canvas, prematurely decayed, and in some instances +abandoned for a newer erection, or degraded to mere outhouses--it +presented with singular frankness the nomadic and tentative +disposition of its founder. It had been repaired without being +improved; its additions had seemed only to extend its primitive +ugliness over a larger space. Its roofs were roughly shingled or +rudely boarded and battened, and the rafters of some of its "lean- +to's" were simply covered with tarred canvas. As if to settle any +doubt of the impossibility of this heterogeneous mass ever taking +upon itself any picturesque combination, a small building of +corrugated iron, transported in sections from some remoter +locality, had been set up in its centre. The McKinstry ranch had +long been an eyesore to the master: even that morning he had been +mutely wondering from what convolution of that hideous chrysalis +the bright butterfly Cressy had emerged. It was with a renewal of +this curiosity that he had just seen her flutter back to it again. + +A yellow dog who had observed him hesitating in doubt where he +should enter, here yawned, rose from the sunlight where he had been +blinking, approached the master with languid politeness, and then +turned towards the iron building as if showing him the way. Mr. +Ford followed him cautiously, painfully conscious that his +hypocritical canine introducer was only availing himself of an +opportunity to gain ingress into the house, and was leading him as +a responsible accomplice to probable exposure and disgrace. His +expectation was quickly realized: a lazily querulous, feminine +outcry, with the words, "Yer's that darned hound agin!" came from +an adjacent room, and his exposed and abashed companion swiftly +retreated past him into the road again. Mr. Ford found himself +alone in a plainly-furnished sitting-room confronting the open door +leading to another apartment at which the figure of a woman, +preceded hastily by a thrown dishcloth, had just appeared. It was +Mrs. McKinstry; her sleeves were rolled up over her red but still +shapely arms, and as she stood there wiping them on her apron, with +her elbows advanced, and her closed hands raised alternately in the +air, there was an odd pugilistic suggestion in her attitude. It +was not lessened on her sudden discovery of the master by her +retreating backwards with her hands up and her elbows still well +forward as if warily retiring to an imaginary "corner." + +Mr. Ford at once tactfully stepped back from the doorway. "I beg +your pardon," he said, delicately addressing the opposite wall, +"but I found the door open and I followed the dog." + +"That's just one of his pizenous tricks," responded Mrs. McKinstry +dolefully from within. "On'y last week he let in a Chinaman, and +in the nat'ral hustlin' that follered he managed to help himself +outer the pork bar'l. There ain't no shade o' cussedness that +or'nary hound ain't up to." Yet notwithstanding this ominous +comparison she presently made her appearance with her sleeves +turned down, her black woollen dress "tidied," and a smile of +fatigued but not unkindly welcome and protection on her face. +Dusting a chair with her apron and placing it before the master, +she continued maternally, "Now that you're here, set ye right down +and make yourself to home. My men folks are all out o' door, but +some of 'em's sure to happen in soon for suthin'; that day ain't +yet created that they don't come huntin' up Mammy McKinstry every +five minutes for this thing or that." + +The glow of a certain hard pride burned through the careworn +languor of her brown cheek. What she had said was strangely true. +This raw-boned woman before him, although scarcely middle-aged, had +for years occupied a self-imposed maternal and protecting relation, +not only to her husband and brothers, but to the three or four men, +who as partners, or hired hands, lived at the ranch. An inherited +and trained sympathy with what she called her "boys's" and her "men +folk," and their needs had partly unsexed her. She was a fair type +of a class not uncommon on the Southwestern frontier; women who +were ruder helpmeets of their rude husbands and brothers, who had +shared their privations and sufferings with surly, masculine +endurance, rather than feminine patience; women who had sent their +loved ones to hopeless adventure or terrible vendetta as a matter +of course, or with partisan fury; who had devotedly nursed the +wounded to keep alive the feud, or had received back their dead +dry-eyed and revengeful. Small wonder that Cressy McKinstry had +developed strangely under this sexless relationship. Looking at +the mother, albeit not without a certain respect, Mr. Ford found +himself contrasting her with the daughter's graceful femininity, +and wondering where in Cressy's youthful contour the possibility of +the grim figure before him was even now hidden. + +"Hiram allowed to go over to the schoolhouse and see you this +mornin'," said Mrs. McKinstry, after a pause; "but I reckon ez how +he had to look up stock on the river. The cattle are that wild +this time o' year, huntin' water, and hangin' round the tules, that +my men are nigh worrited out o' their butes with 'em. Hank and Jim +ain't been off their mustangs since sun up, and Hiram, what with +partrollen' the West Boundary all night, watchin' stakes whar them +low down Harrisons hev been trespassin'--hasn't put his feet to the +ground in fourteen hours. Mebbee you noticed Hiram ez you kem +along? Ef so, ye didn't remember what kind o' shootin' irons he +had with him? I see his rifle over yon. Like ez not he'z only got +his six-shooter, and them Harrisons are mean enough to lay for him +at long range. But," she added, returning to the less important +topic, "I s'pose Cressy came all right." + +"Yes," said the master hopelessly. + +"I reckon she looked so," continued Mrs. McKinstry, with tolerant +abstraction. "She allowed to do herself credit in one of them new +store gownds that she got at Sacramento. At least that's what some +of our men said. Late years, I ain't kept tech with the fashions +myself." She passed her fingers explanatorily down the folds of +her own coarse gown, but without regret or apology. + +"She seemed well prepared in her lessons," said the master, +abandoning for the moment that criticism of his pupil's dress, +which he saw was utterly futile, "but am I to understand that she +is coming regularly to school--that she is now perfectly free to +give her entire attention to her studies--that--that--her-- +engagement is broken off?" + +"Why, didn't she tell ye?" echoed Mrs. McKinstry in languid +surprise. + +"SHE certainly did," said the master with slight embarrassment, +"but"-- + +"Ef SHE said so," interrupted Mrs. McKinstry abstractedly, "she +oughter know, and you kin tie to what she says." + +"But as I'm responsible to PARENTS and not to scholars for the +discipline of my school," returned the young man a little stiffly, +"I thought it my duty to hear it from YOU." + +"That's so," said Mrs. McKinstry meditatively; "then I reckon you'd +better see Hiram. That ar' Seth Davis engagement was a matter of +hern and her father's, and not in MY line. I 'spose that Hiram +nat'rally allows to set the thing square to you and inquirin' +friends." + +"I hope you understand," said the master, slightly resenting the +classification, "that my reason for inquiring about the permanency +of your daughter's attendance was simply because it might be +necessary to arrange her studies in a way more suitable to her +years; perhaps even to suggest to you that a young ladies' seminary +might be more satisfactory"-- + +"Sartain, sartain," interrupted Mrs. McKinstry hurriedly, but +whether from evasion of annoying suggestion or weariness of the +topic, the master could not determine. "You'd better speak to +Hiram about it. On'y," she hesitated slightly, "ez he's got now +sorter set and pinted towards your school, and is a trifle worrited +with stock and them Harrisons, ye might tech it lightly. He +oughter be along yer now. I can't think what keeps him." Her eye +wandered again with troubled preoccupation to the corner where her +husband's Sharps' rifle stood. Suddenly she raised her voice as if +forgetful of Mr. Ford's presence. + +"O Cressy!" + +"O Maw!" + +The response came from the inner room. The next moment Cressy +appeared at the door with an odd half-lazy defiance in her manner, +which the master could not understand except upon the hypothesis +that she had been listening. She had already changed her elaborate +toilet for a long clinging, coarse blue gown, that accented the +graceful curves of her slight, petticoat-less figure. Nodding her +head towards the master, she said, "Howdy?" and turned to her +mother, who practically ignored their personal acquaintance. +"Cressy," she said, "Dad's gone and left his Sharps' yer, d'ye mind +takin' it along to meet him, afore he passes the Boundary corner. +Ye might tell him the teacher's yer, wantin' to see him." + +"One moment," said the master, as the young girl carelessly stepped +to the corner and lifted the weapon. "Let ME take it. It's all on +my way back to school and I'll meet him." + +Mrs. McKinstry looked perturbed. Cressy opened her clear eyes on +the master with evident surprise. "No, Mr. Ford," said Mrs. +McKinstry, with her former maternal manner. "Ye'd better not mix +yourself up with these yer doin's. Ye've no call to do it, and +Cressy has; it's all in the family. But it's outer YOUR line, and +them Harrison whelps go to your school. Fancy the teacher takin' +weppins betwixt and between!" + +"It's fitter work for the teacher than for one of his scholars, and +a young lady at that," said Mr. Ford gravely, as he took the rifle +from the hands of the half-amused, half-reluctant girl. "It's +quite safe with me, and I promise I shall deliver it into Mr. +McKinstry's hands and none other." + +"Perhaps it wouldn't be ez likely to be gin'rally noticed ez it +would if one of US carried it," murmured Mrs. McKinstry in +confidential abstraction, gazing at her daughter sublimely +unconscious of the presence of a third party. + +"You're quite right," said the master composedly, throwing the +rifle over his shoulder and turning towards the door. "So I'll say +good-afternoon, and try and find your husband." + +Mrs. McKinstry constrainedly plucked at the folds of her coarse +gown. "Ye'll like a drink afore ye go," she said, in an ill- +concealed tone of relief. "I clean forgot my manners. Cressy, +fetch out that demijohn." + +"Not for me, thank you," returned Mr. Ford smiling. + +"Oh, I see--you're temperance, nat'rally," said Mrs. McKinstry with +a tolerant sigh. + +"Hardly that," returned the master, "I follow no rule, I drink +sometimes--but not to-day." + +Mrs. McKinstry's dark face contracted. "Don't you see, Maw," +struck in Cressy quickly. "Teacher drinks sometimes, but he don't +USE whiskey. That's all." + +Her mother's face relaxed. Cressy slipped out of the door before +the master, and preceded him to the gate. When she had reached it +she turned and looked into his face. + +"What did Maw say to yer about seein' me just now?" + +"I don't understand you." + +"To your seein' me and Joe Masters on the trail?" + +"She said nothing." + +"Humph," said Cressy meditatively. "What was it you told her about +it?" + +"Nothing." + +"Then you DIDN'T see us?" + +"I saw you with some one--I don't know whom." + +"And you didn't tell Maw?" + +"I did not. It was none of my business." + +He instantly saw the utter inconsistency of this speech in +connection with the reason he believed he had in coming. But it +was too late to recall it, and she was looking at him with a bright +but singular expression. + +"That Joe Masters is the conceitedest fellow goin'. I told him you +could see his foolishness." + +"Ah, indeed." + +Mr. Ford pushed open the gate. As the girl still lingered he was +obliged to hold it a moment before passing through. + +"Maw couldn't quite hitch on to your not drinkin'. She reckons +you're like everybody else about yer. That's where she slips up on +you. And everybody else, I kalkilate." + +"I suppose she's somewhat anxious about your father, and I dare say +is expecting me to hurry," returned the master pointedly. + +"Oh, dad's all right," said Cressy mischievously. "You'll come +across him over yon, in the clearing. But you're looking right +purty with that gun. It kinder sets you off. You oughter wear +one." + +The master smiled slightly, said "Good-by," and took leave of the +girl, but not of her eyes, which were still following him. Even +when he had reached the end of the lane and glanced back at the +rambling dwelling, she was still leaning on the gate with one foot +on the lower rail and her chin cupped in the hollow of her hand. +She made a slight gesture, not clearly intelligible at that +distance; it might have been a mischievous imitation of the way he +had thrown the gun over his shoulder, it might have been a wafted +kiss. + +The master however continued his way in no very self-satisfied +mood. Although he did not regret having taken the place of Cressy +as the purveyor of lethal weapons between the belligerent parties, +he knew he was tacitly mingling in the feud between people for whom +he cared little or nothing. It was true that the Harrisons sent +their children to his school, and that in the fierce partisanship +of the locality this simple courtesy was open to misconstruction. +But he was more uneasily conscious that this mission, so far as +Mrs. McKinstry was concerned, was a miserable failure. The strange +relations of the mother and daughter perhaps explained much of the +girl's conduct, but it offered no hope of future amelioration. +Would the father, "worrited by stock" and boundary quarrels--a man +in the habit of cutting Gordian knots with a bowie knife--prove +more reasonable? Was there any nearer sympathy between father and +daughter? But she had said he would meet McKinstry in the +clearing: she was right, for here he was coming forward at a +gallop! + + +CHAPTER III. + + +When within a dozen paces of the master, McKinstry, scarcely +checking his mustang, threw himself from the saddle, and with a +sharp cut of his riata on the animal's haunches sent him still +galloping towards the distant house. Then, with both hands deeply +thrust in the side pockets of his long, loose linen coat, he slowly +lounged with clanking spurs towards the young man. He was thick- +set, of medium height, densely and reddishly bearded, with heavy- +lidded pale blue eyes that wore a look of drowsy pain, and after +their first wearied glance at the master, seemed to rest anywhere +but on him. + +"Your wife was sending you your rifle by Cressy," said the master, +"but I offered to bring it myself, as I thought it scarcely a +proper errand for a young lady. Here it is. I hope you didn't +miss it before and don't require it now," he added quietly. + +Mr. McKinstry took it in one hand with an air of slightly +embarrassed surprise, rested it against his shoulder, and then with +the same hand and without removing the other from his pocket, took +off his soft felt hat, showed a bullet-hole in its rim, and +returned lazily, "It's about half an hour late, but them Harrisons +reckoned I was fixed for 'em and war too narvous to draw a clear +bead on me." + +The moment was evidently not a felicitous one for the master's +purpose, but he was determined to go on. He hesitated an instant, +when his companion, who seemed to be equally but more sluggishly +embarrassed, in a moment of preoccupied perplexity withdrew from +his pocket his right hand swathed in a blood-stained bandage, and +following some instinctive habit, attempted, as if reflectively, to +scratch his head with two stiffened fingers. + +"You are hurt," said the master, genuinely shocked, "and here I am +detaining you." + +"I had my hand up--so," explained McKinstry, with heavy deliberation, +"and the ball raked off my little finger after it went through my +hat. But that ain't what I wanted to say when I stopped ye. I +ain't just kam enough yet," he apologized in the calmest manner, +"and I clean forgit myself," he added with perfect self-possession. +"But I was kalkilatin' to ask you"--he laid his bandaged hand +familiarly on the master's shoulder--"if Cressy kem all right?" + +"Perfectly," said the master. "But shan't I walk on home with you, +and we can talk together after your wound is attended to?" + +"And she looked purty?" continued McKinstry without moving. + +"Very." + +"And you thought them new store gownds of hers right peart?" + +"Yes," said the master. "Perhaps a little too fine for the school, +you know," he added insinuatingly, "and"-- + +"Not for her--not for her," interrupted McKinstry. "I reckon +thar's more whar that cam from! Ye needn't fear but that she kin +keep up that gait ez long ez Hiram McKinstry hez the runnin' of +her." + +Mr. Ford gazed hopelessly at the hideous ranch in the distance, at +the sky, and the trail before him; then his glance fell upon the +hand still upon his shoulder, and he struggled with a final effort. +"At another time I'd like to have a long talk with you about your +daughter, Mr. McKinstry." + +"Talk on," said McKinstry, putting his wounded hand through the +master's arm. "I admire to hear you. You're that kam, it does me +good." + +Nevertheless the master was conscious that his own arm was scarcely +as firm as his companion's. It was however useless to draw back +now, and with as much tact as he could command he relieved his mind +of its purpose. Addressing the obtruding bandage before him, he +dwelt upon Cressy's previous attitude in the school, the danger of +any relapse, the necessity of her having a more clearly defined +position as a scholar, and even the advisability of her being +transferred to a more advanced school with a more mature teacher of +her own sex. "This is what I wished to say to Mrs. McKinstry to- +day," he concluded, "but she referred me to you." + +"In course, in course," said McKinstry, nodding complacently. +"She's a good woman in and around the ranch, and in any doin's o' +this kind," he lightly waved his wounded arm in the air, "there +ain't a better, tho' I say it. She was Blair Rawlins' darter; she +and her brother Clay bein' the only ones that kem out safe arter +their twenty years' fight with the McEntees in West Kaintuck. But +she don't understand gals ez you and me do. Not that I'm much, ez +I orter be more kam. And the old woman jest sized the hull thing +when she said SHE hadn't any hand in Cressy's engagement. No more +she had! And ez far ez that goes, no more did me, nor Seth Davis, +nor Cressy." He paused, and lifting his heavy-lidded eyes to the +master for the second time, said reflectively, "Ye mustn't mind my +tellin' ye--ez betwixt man and man--that THE one ez is most +responsible for the makin' and breakin' o' that engagement is YOU!" + +"Me!" said the master in utter bewilderment. + +"You!" repeated McKinstry quietly, reinstalling the hand Ford had +attempted to withdraw. "I ain't sayin' ye either know'd it or +kalkilated on it. But it war so. Ef ye'd hark to me, and meander +on a little, I'll tell ye HOW it war. I don't mind walkin' a piece +YOUR way, for if we go towards the ranch, and the hounds see me, +they'll set up a racket and bring out the old woman, and then good- +by to any confidential talk betwixt you and me. And I'm, somehow, +kammer out yer." + +He moved slowly down the trail, still holding Ford's arm +confidentially, although, owing to his large protecting manner, he +seemed to offer a ridiculous suggestion of supporting HIM with his +wounded member. + +"When you first kem to Injin Spring," he began, "Seth and Cressy +was goin' to school, boy and girl like, and nothin' more. They'd +known each other from babies--the Davises bein' our neighbors in +Kaintuck, and emigraten' with us from St. Joe. Seth mout hev +cottoned to Cress, and Cress to him, in course o' time, and there +wasn't anythin' betwixt the families to hev kept 'em from marryin' +when they wanted. But there never war any words passed, and no +engagement." + +"But," interrupted Ford hastily, "my predecessor, Mr. Martin, +distinctly told me that there was, and that it was with YOUR +permission." + +"That's only because you noticed suthin' the first day you looked +over the school with Martin. 'Dad,' sez Cress to me, 'that new +teacher's very peart; and he's that keen about noticin' me and Seth +that I reckon you'd better giv out that we're engaged.' 'But are +you?' sez I. 'It'll come to that in the end,' sez Cress, 'and if +that yer teacher hez come here with Northern ideas o' society, it's +just ez well to let him see Injin Spring ain't entirely in the +woods about them things either.' So I agreed, and Martin told you +it was all right; Cress and Seth was an engaged couple, and you was +to take no notice. And then YOU ups and objects to the hull thing, +and allows that courtin' in school, even among engaged pupils, +ain't proper." + +The master turned his eyes with some uneasiness to the face of +Cressy's father. It was heavy but impassive. + +"I don't mind tellin' you, now that it's over, what happened. The +trouble with me, Mr. Ford, is--I ain't kam! and YOU air, and that's +what got me. For when I heard what you'd said, I got on that +mustang and started for the school-house to clean you out and giv' +you five minutes to leave Injin Spring. I don't know ez you +remember that day. I'd kalkilated my time so ez to ketch ye comin' +out o' school, but I was too airly. I hung around out o' sight, +and then hitched my hoss to a buckeye and peeped inter the winder +to hev a good look at ye. It was very quiet and kam. There was +squirrels over the roof, yellow-jackets and bees dronin' away, and +kinder sleeping-like all around in the air, and jay-birds +twitterin' in the shingles, and they never minded me. You were +movin' up and down among them little gals and boys, liftin' up +their heads and talkin' to 'em softly and quiet like, ez if you was +one of them yourself. And they looked contented and kam. And +onct--I don't know if YOU remember it--you kem close up to the +winder with your hands behind you, and looked out so kam and quiet +and so far off, ez if everybody else outside the school was miles +away from you. It kem to me then that I'd given a heap to hev had +the old woman see you thar. It kem to me, Mr. Ford, that there +wasn't any place for ME thar; and it kem to me, too--and a little +rough like--that mebbee there wasn't any place there for MY Cress +either! So I rode away without disturbin' you nor the birds nor +the squirrels. Talkin' with Cress that night, she said ez how it +was a fair sample of what happened every day, and that you'd always +treated her fair like the others. So she allowed that she'd go +down to Sacramento, and get some things agin her and Seth bein' +married next month, and she reckoned she wouldn't trouble you nor +the school agin. Hark till I've done, Mr. Ford," he continued, as +the young man made a slight movement of deprecation. "Well, I +agreed. But arter she got to Sacramento and bought some fancy +fixin's, she wrote to me and sez ez how she'd been thinkin' the +hull thing over, and she reckoned that she and Seth were too young +to marry, and the engagement had better be broke. And I broke it +for her." + +"But how?" asked the bewildered master. + +"Gin'rally with this gun," returned McKinstry with slow gravity, +indicating the rifle he was carrying, "for I ain't kam. I let on +to Seth's father that if I ever found Seth and Cressy together +again, I'd shoot him. It made a sort o' coolness betwixt the +families, and hez given some comfort to them low-down Harrisons; +but even the law, I reckon, recognizes a father's rights. And ez +Cress sez, now ez Seth's out o' the way, thar ain't no reason why +she can't go back to school and finish her eddication. And I +reckoned she was right. And we both agreed that ez she'd left +school to git them store clothes, it was only fair that she'd give +the school the benefit of 'em." + +The case seemed more hopeless than ever. The master knew that the +man beside him might hardly prove as lenient to a second objection +at his hand. But that very reason, perhaps, impelled him, now that +he knew his danger, to consider it more strongly as a duty, and his +pride revolted from a possible threat underlying McKinstry's +confidences. Nevertheless he began gently: + +"But you are quite sure you won't regret that you didn't avail +yourself of this broken engagement, and your daughter's outfit--to +send her to some larger boarding-school in Sacramento or San +Francisco? Don't you think she may find it dull, and soon tire of +the company of mere children when she has already known the +excitement of"--he was about to say "a lover," but checked himself, +and added, "a young girl's freedom?" + +"Mr. Ford," returned McKinstry, with the slow and fatuous +misconception of a one-ideaed man, "when I said just now that, +lookin' inter that kam, peaceful school of yours, I didn't find a +place for Cress, it warn't because I didn't think she OUGHTER hev a +place thar. Thar was that thar wot she never had ez a little girl +with me and the old woman, and that she couldn't find ez a grownd +up girl in any boarding-school--the home of a child; that kind o' +innocent foolishness that I sometimes reckon must hev slipped outer +our emigrant wagon comin' across the plains, or got left behind at +St. Joe. She was a grownd girl fit to marry afore she was a child. +She had young fellers a-sparkin' her afore she ever played with 'em +ez boy and girl. I don't mind tellin' you that it wern't in the +natur of Blair Rawlins' darter to teach her own darter any better, +for all she's been a mighty help to me. So if it's all the same to +you, Mr. Ford, we won't talk about a grownd up school; I'd rather +Cress be a little girl again among them other children. I should +be a powerful sight more kam if I knowed that when I was away +huntin' stock or fightin' stakes with them Harrisons, that she was +a settin' there with them and the birds and the bees, and listenin' +to them and to you. Mebbee there's been a little too many +scrimmages goin' on round the ranch sence she's been a child; +mebbee she orter know suthin' more of a man than a feller who +sparks her and fights for her." + +The master was silent. Had this dull, narrow-minded partisan +stumbled upon a truth that had never dawned upon his own broader +comprehension? Had this selfish savage and literally red-handed +frontier brawler been moved by some dumb instinct of the power of +gentleness to understand his daughter's needs better than he? For +a moment he was staggered. Then he thought of Cressy's later +flirtations with Joe Masters, and her concealment of their meeting +from her mother. Had she deceived her father also? Or was not the +father deceiving him with this alternate suggestion of threat and +of kindliness--of power and weakness. He had heard of this cruel +phase of Southwestern cunning before. With the feeble sophistry of +the cynic he mistrusted the good his scepticism could not +understand. Howbeit, glancing sideways at the slumbering savagery +of the man beside him, and his wounded hand, he did not care to +show his lack of confidence. He contented himself with that +equally feeble resource of weak humanity in such cases--good- +natured indifference. "All right," he said carelessly; "I'll see +what can be done. But are you quite sure you are fit to go home +alone? Shall I accompany you?" As McKinstry waived the suggestion +with a gesture, he added lightly, as if to conclude the interview, +"I'll report progress to you from time to time, if you like." + +"To ME," emphasized McKinstry; "not over THAR," indicating the +ranch. "But p'rhaps you wouldn't mind my ridin' by and lookin' in +at the school-room winder onct in a while? Ah--you WOULD," he +added, with the first deepening of color he had shown. "Well, +never mind." + +"You see it might distract the children from their lessons," +explained the master gently, who had however contemplated with some +concern the infinite delight which a glimpse of McKinstry's fiery +and fatuous face at the window would awaken in Johnny Filgee's +infant breast. + +"Well, no matter!" returned McKinstry slowly. "Ye don't keer, I +s'pose, to come over to the hotel and take suthin'? A julep or a +smash?" + +"I shouldn't think of keeping you a moment longer from Mrs. +McKinstry," said the master, looking at his companion's wounded +hand. "Thank you all the same. Good-by." + +They shook hands, McKinstry transferring his rifle to the hollow of +his elbow to offer his unwounded left. The master watched him +slowly resume his way towards the ranch. Then with a half uneasy +and half pleasurable sense that he had taken some step whose +consequences were more important than he would at present +understand, he turned in the opposite direction to the school- +house. He was so preoccupied that it was not until he had nearly +reached it that he remembered Uncle Ben. With an odd recollection +of McKinstry's previous performance, he approached the school from +the thicket in the rear and slipped noiselessly to the open window +with the intention of looking in. But the school-house, far from +exhibiting that "kam" and studious abstraction which had so touched +the savage breast of McKinstry, was filled with the accents of +youthful and unrestrained vituperation. The voice of Rupert Filgee +came sharply to the master's astonished ears. + +"You needn't try to play off Dobell or Mitchell on ME--you hear! +Much YOU know of either, don't you? Look at that copy. If Johnny +couldn't do better than that, I'd lick him. Of course it's the +pen--it ain't your stodgy fingers--oh, no! P'r'aps you'd like to +hev a few more boxes o' quills and gold pens and Gillott's best +thrown in, for two bits a lesson? I tell you what! I'll throw up +the contract in another minit! There goes another quill busted! +Look here, what YOU want ain't a pen, but a clothes-pin and a split +nail! That'll about jibe with your dilikit gait." + +The master at once stepped to the window and, unobserved, took a +quick survey of the interior. Following some ingenious idea of his +own regarding fitness, the beautiful Filgee had induced Uncle Ben +to seat himself on the floor before one of the smallest desks, +presumably his brother's, in an attitude which, while it certainly +gave him considerable elbow-room for those contortions common to +immature penmanship, offered his youthful instructor a superior +eminence, from which he hovered, occasionally swooping down upon +his grown-up pupil like a mischievous but graceful jay. But Mr. +Ford's most distinct impression was that, far from resenting the +derogatory position and the abuse that accompanied it, Uncle Ben +not only beamed upon his persecutor with unquenchable good humor, +but with undisguised admiration, and showed not the slightest +inclination to accept his proposed resignation. + +"Go slow, Roop," he said cheerfully. "You was onct a boy yourself. +Nat'rally I kalkilate to stand all the damages. You've got ter +waste some powder over a blast like this yer, way down to the bed +rock. Next time I'll bring my own pens." + +"Do. Some from the Dobell school you uster go to," suggested the +darkly ironical Rupert. "They was iron-clad injin-rubber, warn't +they?" + +"Never you mind wot they were," said Uncle Ben good-humoredly. +"Look at that string of 'C's' in that line. There's nothing mean +about THEM." + +He put his pen between his teeth, raised himself slowly on his +legs, and shading his eyes with his hand from the severe +perspective of six feet, gazed admiringly down upon his work. +Rupert, with his hands in his pockets and his back to the window, +cynically assisted at the inspection. + +"Wot's that sick worm at the bottom of the page?" he asked. + +"Wot might you think it wos?" said Uncle Ben beamingly. + +"Looks like one o' them snake roots you dig up with a little mud +stuck to it," returned Rupert critically. + +"That's my name." + +They both stood looking at it with their heads very much on one +side. "It ain't so bad as the rest you've done. It MIGHT be your +name. That ez, it don't look like anythin' else," suggested +Rupert, struck with a new idea that it was perhaps more professional +occasionally to encourage his pupil. "You might get on in course o' +time. But what are you doin' all this for?" he asked suddenly. + +"Doin' what?" + +"This yer comin' to school when you ain't sent, and you ain't got +no call to go--you, a grown-up man!" + +The color deepened in Uncle Ben's face to the back of his ears. "Wot +would you giv' to know, Roop? S'pose I reckoned some day to make a +strike and sorter drop inter saciety easy--eh? S'pose I wanted to +be ready to keep up my end with the other fellers, when the time +kem? To be able to sling po'try and read novels and sich--eh?" + +An expression of infinite and unutterable scorn dawned in the eyes +of Rupert. "You do? Well," he repeated with slow and cutting +deliberation, "I'll tell you what you're comin' here for, and the +only thing that makes you come." + +"What?" + +"It's--some--girl!" + +Uncle Ben broke into a boisterous laugh that made the roof shake, +stamping about and slapping his legs till the crazy floor trembled. +But at that moment the master stepped to the perch and made a quiet +but discomposing entrance. + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +The return of Miss Cressida McKinstry to Indian Spring and her +interrupted studies was an event whose effects were not entirely +confined to the school. The broken engagement itself seemed of +little moment in the general estimation compared to her resumption +of her old footing as a scholar. A few ill-natured elders of her +own sex, and naturally exempt from the discriminating retort of Mr. +McKinstry's "shot-gun," alleged that the Seminary at Sacramento had +declined to receive her, but the majority accepted her return with +local pride as a practical compliment to the educational facilities +of Indian Spring. The Tuolumne "Star," with a breadth and eloquence +touchingly disproportionate to its actual size and quality of type +and paper, referred to the possible "growth of a grove of Academus +at Indian Spring, under whose cloistered boughs future sages and +statesmen were now meditating," in a way that made the master feel +exceedingly uncomfortable. For some days the trail between the +McKinstrys' ranch and the school-house was lightly patrolled by +reliefs of susceptible young men, to whom the enfranchised Cressida, +relieved from the dangerous supervision of the Davis-McKinstry +clique, was an object of ambitious admiration. The young girl +herself, who, in spite of the master's annoyance, seemed to be +following some conscientious duty in consecutively arraying herself +in the different dresses she had bought, however she may have +tantalized her admirers by this revelation of bridal finery, did not +venture to bring them near the limits of the play-ground. It +struck the master with some surprise that Indian Spring did not seem +to trouble itself in regard to his own privileged relations with its +rustic enchantress; the young men clearly were not jealous of him; +no matron had suggested any indecorum in a young girl of Cressy's +years and antecedents being intrusted to the teachings of a young +man scarcely her senior. Notwithstanding the attitude which Mr. +Ford had been pleased to assume towards her, this implied compliment +to his supposed monastic vocations affected him almost as +uncomfortably as the "Star's" extravagant eulogium. He was obliged +to recall certain foolish experiences of his own to enable him to +rise superior to this presumption of his asceticism. + +In pursuance of his promise to McKinstry, he had procured a few +elementary books of study suitable to Cressy's new position, +without, however, taking her out of the smaller classes or the +discipline of the school. In a few weeks he was enabled to further +improve her attitude by making her a "monitor" over the smaller +girls, thereby dividing certain functions with Rupert Filgee, whose +ministrations to the deceitful and "silly" sex had been characterized +by perhaps more vigilant scorn and disparagement than was necessary. +Cressy had accepted it as she had accepted her new studies, with an +indolent good-humor, and at times a frankly supreme ignorance of +their abstract or moral purpose that was discouraging. "What's the +good of that?" she would ask, lifting her eyes abruptly to the +master. Mr. Ford, somewhat embarrassed by her look, which always, +sooner or later, frankly confessed itself an excuse for a perfectly +irrelevant examination of his features in detail, would end in +giving her some severely practical answer. Yet, if the subject +appealed to any particular idiosyncrasy of her own, she would +speedily master the study. A passing predilection for botany was +provoked by a single incident. The master deeming this study a +harmless young-lady-like occupation, had one day introduced the +topic at recess, and was met by the usual answer. "But suppose," he +continued artfully, "somebody sent you anonymously some flowers." + +"Her ho!" suggested Johnny Filgee hoarsely, with bold bad +recklessness. Ignoring the remark and the kick with which Rupert +had resented it on the person of his brother, the master continued: + +"And if you couldn't find out who sent them, you would want at +least to know what they were and where they grew." + +"Ef they grew anywhere 'bout yer we could tell her that," said a +chorus of small voices. + +The master hesitated. He was conscious of being on delicate +ground. He was surrounded by a dozen pairs of little keen eyes +from whom Nature had never yet succeeded in hiding her secrets-- +eyes that had waited for and knew the coming up of the earliest +flowers; little fingers that had never turned the pages of a text- +book, but knew where to scrape away the dead leaves above the first +anemone, or had groped painfully among the lifeless branches in +forgotten hollows for the shy dog-rose; unguided little feet that +had instinctively made their way to remote southern slopes for the +first mariposas, or had unerringly threaded the tule-hidden banks +of the river for flower-de-luce. Convinced that he could not hold +his own on their level, he shamelessly struck at once above it. + +"Suppose that one of those flowers," he continued, "was not like +the rest; that its stalks and leaves, instead of being green and +soft, were white and stringy like flannel as if to protect it from +cold, wouldn't it be nice to be able to say at once that it had +lived only in the snow, and that some one must have gone all that +way up there above the snow line to pick it?" The children, taken +aback by this unfair introduction of a floral stranger, were +silent. Cressy thoughtfully accepted botany on those possibilities. +A week later she laid on the master's desk a limp-looking plant +with a stalk like heavy frayed worsted yarn. "It ain't much to look +at after all, is it?" she said. "I reckon I could cut a better one +with scissors outer an old cloth jacket of mine." + +"And you found it here?" asked the master in surprise. + +"I got Masters to look for it when he was on the Summit. I described +it to him. I didn't allow he had the gumption to get it. But +he did." + +Although botany languished slightly after this vicarious effort, it +kept Cressy in fresh bouquets, and extending its gentle influence +to her friends and acquaintances became slightly confounded with +horticulture, led to the planting of one or two gardens, and was +accepted in school as an implied concession to berries, apples, and +nuts. In reading and writing Cressy greatly improved, with a +marked decrease in grammatical solecisms, although she still +retained certain characteristic words, and always her own slow +Southwestern, half musical intonation. This languid deliberation +was particularly noticeable in her reading aloud, and gave the +studied and measured rhetoric a charm of which her careless +colloquial speech was incapable. Even the "Fifth Reader," with its +imposing passages from the English classics carefully selected with +a view of paralyzing small, hesitating, or hurried voices, in +Cressy's hands became no longer an unintelligible incantation. She +had quietly mastered the difficulties of pronunciation by some +instinctive sense of euphony if not of comprehension. The master +with his eyes closed hardly recognized his pupil. Whether or not +she understood what she read he hesitated to inquire; no doubt, as +with her other studies, she knew what attracted her. Rupert +Filgee, a sympathetic if not always a correct reader, who boldly +took four and five syllabled fences flying only to come to grief +perhaps in the ditch of some rhetorical pause beyond, alone +expressed his scorn of her performance. Octavia Dean, torn between +her hopeless affection for this beautiful but inaccessible boy, and +her soul-friendship for this bigger but many-frocked girl, studied +the master's face with watchful anxiety. + +It is needless to say that Hiram McKinstry was, in the intervals of +stake-driving and stock-hunting, heavily contented with this latest +evidence of his daughter's progress. He even intimated to the +master that her reading being an accomplishment that could be +exercised at home was conducive to that "kam" in which he was so +deficient. It was also rumored that Cressy's oral rendering of +Addison's "Reflections in Westminster Abbey" and Burke's +"Indictment of Warren Hastings," had beguiled him one evening from +improving an opportunity to "plug" one of Harrison's boundary +"raiders." + +The master shared in Cressy's glory in the public eye. But +although Mrs. McKinstry did not materially change her attitude of +tolerant good-nature towards him, he was painfully conscious that +she looked upon her daughter's studies and her husband's interests +in them as a weakness that might in course of time produce +infirmity of homicidal purpose and become enervating of eye and +trigger-finger. And when Mr. McKinstry got himself appointed as +school-trustee, and was thereby obliged to mingle with certain +Eastern settlers,--colleagues on the Board,--this possible +weakening of the old sharply drawn sectional line between "Yanks" +and themselves gave her grave doubts of Hiram's physical stamina. + +"The old man's worrits hev sorter shook out a little of his sand," +she had explained. On those evenings when he attended the Board, +she sought higher consolation in prayer meeting at the Southern +Baptist Church, in whose exercises her Northern and Eastern +neighbors, thinly disguised as "Baal" and "Astaroth," were +generally overthrown and their temples made desolate. + +If Uncle Ben's progress was slower, it was no less satisfactory. +Without imagination and even without enthusiasm, he kept on with a +dull laborious persistency. When the irascible impatience of +Rupert Filgee at last succumbed to the obdurate slowness of his +pupil, the master himself, touched by Uncle Ben's perspiring +forehead and perplexed eyebrows, often devoted the rest of the +afternoon to a gentle elucidation of the mysteries before him, +setting copies for his heavy hand, or even guiding it with his own, +like a child's, across the paper. At times the appalling +uselessness of Uncle Ben's endeavors reminded him of Rupert's +taunting charge. Was he really doing this from a genuine thirst +for knowledge? It was inconsistent with all that Indian Spring +knew of his antecedents and his present ambitions; he was a simple +miner without scientific or technical knowledge; his already slight +acquaintance with arithmetic and the scrawl that served for his +signature were more than sufficient for his needs. Yet it was with +this latter sign-manual that he seemed to take infinite pains. The +master, one afternoon, thought fit to correct the apparent vanity +of this performance. + +"If you took as much care in trying to form your letters according +to copy, you'd do better. Your signature is fair enough as it is." + +"But it don't look right, Mr. Ford," said Uncle Ben, eying it +distrustfully; "somehow it ain't all there." + +"Why, certainly it is. Look, D A B N E Y--not very plain, it's +true, but there are all the letters." + +"That's just it, Mr. Ford; them AIN'T all the letters that ORTER be +there. I've allowed to write it D A B N E Y to save time and ink, +but it orter read DAUBIGNY," said Uncle Ben, with painful +distinctness. + +"But that spells d'Aubigny!" + +"It are." + +"Is that your name?" + +"I reckon." + +The master looked at Uncle Ben doubtfully. Was this only another +form of the Dobell illusion? "Was your father a Frenchman?" he +asked finally. + +Uncle Ben paused as if to recall the trifling circumstances of his +father's nationality. "No." + +"Your grandfather?" + +"I reckon not. At least ye couldn't prove it by me." + +"Was your father or grandfather a voyageur or trapper, or +Canadian?" + +"They were from Pike County, Mizzoori." + +The master regarded Uncle Ben still dubiously. "But you call +yourself Dabney. What makes you think your real name is d'Aubigny?" + +"That's the way it uster be writ in letters to me in the States. +Hold on. I'll show ye." He deliberately began to feel in his +pockets, finally extracting his old purse from which he produced a +crumpled envelope, and carefully smoothing it out, compared it with +his signature. + +"Thar, you see. It's the same--d'Aubigny." + +The master hesitated. After all, it was not impossible. He +recalled other instances of the singular transformation of names in +the Californian emigration. Yet he could not help saying, "Then +you concluded d'Aubigny was a better name than Dabney?" + +"Do YOU think it's better?" + +"Women might. I dare say your wife would prefer to be called Mrs. +d'Aubigny rather than Dabney." + +The chance shot told. Uncle Ben suddenly flushed to his ears. + +"I didn't think o' that," he said hurriedly. "I had another idee. +I reckoned that on the matter o' holdin' property and passin' in +money it would be better to hev your name put on the square, and to +sorter go down to bed rock for it, eh? If I wanted to take a hand +in them lots or Ditch shares, for instance--it would be only law to +hev it made out in the name o' d'Aubigny." + +Mr. Ford listened with certain impatient contempt. It was bad +enough for Uncle Ben to have exposed his weakness in inventing +fictions about his early education, but to invest himself now with +a contingency of capital for the sake of another childish vanity, +was pitiable as it was preposterous. There was no doubt that he +had lied about his school experiences; it was barely probable that +his name was really d'Aubigny, and it was quite consistent with all +this--even setting apart the fact that he was perfectly well known +to be only a poor miner--that he should lie again. Like most +logical reasoners Mr. Ford forgot that humanity might be illogical +and inconsistent without being insincere. He turned away without +speaking as if indicating a wish to hear no more. + +"Some o' these days," said Uncle Ben, with dull persistency, "I'll +tell ye suthen'." + +"I'd advise you just now to drop it and stick to your lessons," +said the master sharply. + +"That's so," said Uncle Ben hurriedly, hiding himself as it were in +an all-encompassing blush. "In course lessons first, boys, that's +the motto." He again took up his pen and assumed his old laborious +attitude. But after a few moments it became evident that either +the master's curt dismissal of his subject or his own preoccupation +with it, had somewhat unsettled him. He cleaned his pen +obtrusively, going to the window for a better light, and whistling +from time to time with a demonstrative carelessness and a +depressing gayety. He once broke into a murmuring, meditative +chant evidently referring to the previous conversation, in its-- +"That's so--Yer we go--Lessons the first, boys, Yo, heave O." The +rollicking marine character of this refrain, despite its utter +incongruousness, apparently struck him favorably, for he repeated +it softly, occasionally glancing behind him at the master who was +coldly absorbed at his desk. Presently he arose, carefully put his +books away, symmetrically piling them in a pyramid beside Mr. +Ford's motionless elbow, and then lifting his feet with high but +gentle steps went to the peg where his coat and hat were hanging. +As he was about to put them on he appeared suddenly struck with a +sense of indecorousness in dressing himself in the school, and +taking them on his arm to the porch resumed them outside. Then +saying, "I clean disremembered I'd got to see a man. So long, till +to-morrow," he disappeared whistling softly. + +The old woodland hush fell back upon the school. It seemed very +quiet and empty. A faint sense of remorse stole over the master. +Yet he remembered that Uncle Ben had accepted without reproach and +as a good joke much more direct accusations from Rupert Filgee, and +that he himself had acted from a conscientious sense of duty +towards the man. But a conscientious sense of duty to inflict pain +upon a fellow-mortal for his own good does not always bring perfect +serenity to the inflicter--possibly because, in the defective +machinery of human compensation, pain is the only quality that is +apt to appear in the illustration. Mr. Ford felt uncomfortable, +and being so, was naturally vexed at the innocent cause. Why +should Uncle Ben be offended because he had simply declined to +follow his weak fabrications any further? This was his return for +having tolerated it at first! It would be a lesson to him +henceforth. Nevertheless he got up and went to the door. The +figure of Uncle Ben was already indistinct among the leaves, but +from the motion of his shoulders he seemed to be still stepping +high and softly as if not yet clear of insecure and engulfing +ground. + +The silence still continuing, the master began mechanically to look +over the desks for forgotten or mislaid articles, and to rearrange +the pupils' books and copies. A few heartsease gathered by the +devoted Octavia Dean, neatly tied with a black thread and regularly +left in the inkstand cavity of Rupert's desk, were still lying on +the floor where they had been always hurled with equal regularity +by that disdainful Adonis. Picking up a slate from under a bench, +his attention was attracted by a forgotten cartoon on the reverse +side. Mr. Ford at once recognized it as the work of that youthful +but eminent caricaturist, Johnny Filgee. Broad in treatment, +comprehensive in subject, liberal in detail and slate-pencil--it +represented Uncle Ben lying on the floor with a book in his hand, +tyrannized over by Rupert Filgee and regarded in a striking profile +of two features by Cressy McKinstry. The daring realism of +introducing the names of each character on their legs--perhaps +ideally enlarged for that purpose--left no doubt of their identity. +Equally daring but no less effective was the rendering of a limited +but dramatic conversation between the parties by the aid of +emotional balloons attached to their mouths like a visible gulp +bearing the respective legends: "I luv you," "O my," and "You git!" + +The master was for a moment startled at this unlooked-for but +graphic testimony to the fact that Uncle Ben's visits to the school +were not only known but commented upon. The small eyes of those +youthful observers had been keener than his own. He had again been +stupidly deceived, in spite of his efforts. Love, albeit deficient +in features and wearing an improperly short bell-shaped frock, had +boldly re-entered the peaceful school, and disturbing complications +on abnormal legs were following at its heels. + + +CHAPTER V. + + +While this simple pastoral life was centred around the school-house +in the clearing, broken only by an occasional warning pistol-shot +in the direction of the Harrison-McKinstry boundaries, the more +business part of Indian Spring was overtaken by one of those spasms +of enterprise peculiar to all Californian mining settlements. The +opening of the Eureka Ditch and the extension of stagecoach +communication from Big Bluff were events of no small importance, +and were celebrated on the same day. The double occasion +overtaxing even the fluent rhetoric of the editor of the "Star" +left him struggling in the metaphorical difficulties of a Pactolian +Spring, which he had rashly turned into the Ditch, and obliged him +to transfer the onerous duty of writing the editorial on the Big +Bluff Extension to the hands of the Honorable Abner Dean, +Assemblyman from Angel's. The loss of the Honorable Mr. Dean's +right eye in an early pioneer fracas did not prevent him from +looking into the dim vista of the future and discovering with that +single unaided optic enough to fill three columns of the "Star." +"It is not too extravagant to say," he remarked with charming +deprecation, "that Indian Spring, through its own perfectly +organized system of inland transportation, the confluence of its +North Fork with the Sacramento River, and their combined effluence +into the illimitable Pacific, is thus put not only into direct +communication with far Cathay but even remoter Antipodean markets. +The citizen of Indian Spring taking the 9 A. M. Pioneer Coach and +arriving at Big Bluff at 2.40 is enabled to connect with the +through express to Sacramento the same evening, reaching San +Francisco per the Steam Navigation Company's palatial steamers in +time to take the Pacific Mail Steamer to Yokohama on the following +day at 8.30 P. M." Although no citizen of Indian Spring appeared +to avail himself of this admirable opportunity, nor did it appear +at all likely that any would, everybody vaguely felt that an +inestimable boon lay in the suggestion, and even the master +professionally intrusting the reading aloud of the editorial to +Rupert Filgee with ulterior designs of practice in the pronunciation +of five-syllable words, was somewhat affected by it. Johnny Filgee +and Jimmy Snyder accepting it as a mysterious something that made +Desert Islands accessible at a moment's notice and a trifling +outlay, were round-eyed and attentive. And the culminating +information from the master that this event would be commemorated by +a half-holiday, combined to make the occasion as exciting to the +simple school-house in the clearing as it was to the gilded saloon +in the main street. + +And so the momentous day arrived, with its two new coaches from Big +Bluff containing the specially invited speakers--always specially +invited to those occasions, and yet strangely enough never before +feeling the extreme "importance and privilege" of it as they did +then. Then there were the firing of two anvils, the strains of a +brass band, the hoisting of a new flag on the liberty-pole, and +later the ceremony of the Ditch opening, when a distinguished +speaker in a most unworkman-like tall hat, black frock coat, and +white cravat, which gave him the general air of a festive grave- +digger, took a spade from the hands of an apparently hilarious +chief mourner and threw out the first sods. There were anvils, +brass bands, and a "collation" at the hotel. But everywhere-- +overriding the most extravagant expectation and even the laughter +it provoked--the spirit of indomitable youth and resistless +enterprise intoxicated the air. It was the spirit that had made +California possible; that had sown a thousand such ventures +broadcast through its wilderness; that had enabled the sower to +stand half-humorously among his scant or ruined harvests without +fear and without repining, and turn his undaunted and ever hopeful +face to further fields. What mattered it that Indian Spring had +always before its eyes the abandoned trenches and ruined outworks +of its earlier pioneers? What mattered it that the eloquent +eulogist of the Eureka Ditch had but a few years before as +prodigally scattered his adjectives and his fortune on the useless +tunnel that confronted him on the opposite side of the river? The +sublime forgetfulness of youth ignored its warning or recognized it +as a joke. The master, fresh from his little flock and prematurely +aged by their contact, felt a stirring of something like envy as he +wandered among these scarcely older enthusiasts. + +Especially memorable was the exciting day to Johnny Filgee, not +only for the delightfully bewildering clamor of the brass band, in +which, between the trombone and the bass drum, he had got +inextricably mixed; not only for the half-frightening explosions of +the anvils and the maddening smell of the gunpowder which had +exalted his infant soul to sudden and irrelevant whoopings, but for +a singular occurrence that whetted his always keen perceptions. +Having been shamelessly abandoned on the veranda of the Eureka +Hotel while his brother Rupert paid bashful court to the pretty +proprietress by assisting her in her duties, Johnny gave himself up +to unlimited observation. The rosettes of the six horses, the new +harness, the length of the driver's whiplash, his enormous buckskin +gloves and the way he held his reins; the fascinating odor of +shining varnish on the coach, the gold-headed cane of the Honorable +Abner Dean: all these were stored away in the secret recesses of +Johnny's memory, even as the unconsidered trifles he had picked up +en route were distending his capacious pockets. But when a young +man had alighted from the second or "Truly" coach among the REAL +passengers, and strolled carelessly and easily in the veranda as if +the novelty and the occasion were nothing to him, Johnny, with a +gulp of satisfaction, knew that he had seen a prince! Beautifully +dressed in a white duck suit, with a diamond ring on his finger, a +gold chain swinging from his fob, and a Panama hat with a broad +black ribbon jauntily resting on his curled and scented hair, +Johnny's eyes had never rested on a more resplendent vision. He +was more romantic than Yuba Bill, more imposing and less impossible +than the Honorable Abner Dean, more eloquent than the master--far +more beautiful than any colored print that he had ever seen. Had +he brushed him in passing Johnny would have felt a thrill; had he +spoken to him he knew he would have been speechless to reply. +Judge then of his utter stupefaction when he saw Uncle Ben-- +actually Uncle Ben!--approach this paragon of perfection, albeit +with some embarrassment, and after a word or two of unintelligible +conversation walk away with him! Need it be wondered that Johnny, +forgetful at once of his brother, the horses, and even the +collation with its possible "goodies," instantly followed. + +The two men turned into the side street, which, after a few hundred +yards, opened upon the deserted mining flat, crossed and broken by +the burrows and mounds made by the forgotten engines of the early +gold-seekers. Johnny, at times hidden by these irregularities, +kept closely in their rear, sauntering whenever he came within the +range of their eyes in that sidelong, spasmodic and generally +diagonal fashion peculiar to small boys, but ready at any moment to +assume utter unconsciousness and the appearance of going somewhere +else or of searching for something on the ground. In this way +appearing, if noticed at all, each time in some different position +to the right or left of them, Johnny followed them to the fringe of +woodland which enabled him to draw closer to their heels. + +Utterly oblivious of this artistic "shadowing" in the insignificant +person of the small boy who once or twice even crossed their path +with affected timidity, they continued an apparently confidential +previous interview. The words "stocks" and "shares" were alone +intelligible. Johnny had heard them during the day, but he was +struck by the fact that Uncle Ben seemed to be seeking information +from the paragon and was perfectly submissive and humble. But the +boy was considerably mystified when after a tramp of half an hour +they arrived upon the debatable ground of the Harrison-McKinstry +boundary. Having been especially warned never to go there, Johnny +as a matter of course was perfectly familiar with it. But what was +the incomprehensible stranger doing there? Was he brought by Uncle +Ben with a view of paralyzing both of the combatants with the +spectacle of his perfections? Was he a youthful sheriff, a young +judge, or maybe the son of the Governor of California? Or was it +that Uncle Ben was "silly" and didn't know the locality? Here was +an opportunity for him, Johnny, to introduce himself, and explain +and even magnify the danger, with perhaps a slight allusion to his +own fearless familiarity with it. Unfortunately, as he was making +up his small mind behind a tree, the paragon turned and with the +easy disdain that so well became him, said: + +"Well, I wouldn't offer a dollar an acre for the whole ranch. But +if YOU choose to give a fancy price--that's your lookout." + +To Johnny's already prejudiced mind, Uncle Ben received this just +contempt submissively, as he ought, but nevertheless he muttered +something "silly" in reply, which Johnny was really too disgusted +to listen to. Ought he not to step forward and inform the paragon +that he was wasting his time on a man who couldn't even spell +"ba-ker," and who was taught his letters by his, Johnny's, brother? + +The paragon continued: + +"And of course you know that merely your buying the title to the +land don't give you possession. You'll have to fight these +squatters and jumpers just the same. It'll be three instead of two +fighting--that's all!" + +Uncle Ben's imbecile reply did not trouble Johnny. He had ears now +only for the superior intellect before him. IT continued coolly: + +"Now let's take a look at that yield of yours. I haven't much time +to give you, as I expect some men to be looking for me here--and I +suppose you want this thing still kept a secret. I don't see how +you've managed to do it so far. Is your claim near? You live on +it--I think you said?" + +But that the little listener was so preoccupied with the stranger, +this suggestion of Uncle Ben's having a claim worth the attention +of that distinguished presence would have set him thinking; the +little that he understood he set down to Uncle Ben's "gassin'." As +the two men moved forward again, he followed them until Uncle Ben's +house was reached. + +It was a rude shanty of boards and rough boulders, half burrowing +in one of the largest mounds of earth and gravel, which had once +represented the tailings or refuse of the abandoned Indian Spring +Placer. In fact it was casually alleged by some that Uncle Ben +eked out the scanty "grub wages," he made by actual mining, in +reworking and sifting the tailings at odd times--a degrading work +hitherto practised only by Chinese, and unworthy the Caucasian +ambition. The mining code of honor held that a man might accept +the smallest results of his daily labor, as long as he was +sustained by the prospect of a larger "strike," but condemned his +contentment with a modest certainty. Nevertheless a little of +this suspicion encompassed his dwelling and contributed to its +loneliness, even as a long ditch, the former tail-race of the +claim, separated him from his neighbors. Prudently halting at the +edge of the wood, Johnny saw his resplendent vision cross the strip +of barren flat, and enter the cabin with Uncle Ben like any other +mortal. He sat down on a stump and awaited its return, which he +fondly hoped might be alone! At the end of half an hour he made a +short excursion to examine the condition of a blackberry bramble, +and returned to his post of observation. But there was neither +sound nor motion in the direction of the cabin. When another ten +minutes had elapsed, the door opened and to Johnny's intense +discomfiture, Uncle Ben appeared alone and walked leisurely towards +the woods. Burning with anxiety Johnny threw himself in Uncle +Ben's way. But here occurred one of those surprising inconsistencies +known only to children. As Uncle Ben turned his small gray eyes +upon him in a half astonished, half questioning manner, the potent +spirit of childish secretiveness suddenly took possession of the +boy. Wild horses could not now have torn from him that question +which only a moment before was on his lips. + +"Hullo, Johnny! What are ye doin' here?" said Uncle Ben kindly. + +"Nothin'." After a pause, in which he walked all round Uncle Ben's +large figure, gazing up at him as if he were a monument, he added, +"Huntin' blackberrieth." + +"Why ain't you over at the collation?" + +"Ruperth there," he answered promptly. + +The idea of being thus vicariously present in the person of his +brother seemed a sufficient excuse. He leap-frogged over the stump +on which he had been sitting as an easy unembarrassing pause for +the next question. But Uncle Ben was apparently perfectly +satisfied with Johnny's reply, and nodding to him, walked away. + +When his figure had disappeared in the bushes, Johnny cautiously +approached the cabin. At a certain distance he picked up a stone +and threw it against the door, immediately taking to his heels and +the friendly copse again. No one appearing he repeated the +experiment twice and even thrice with a larger stone and at a +nearer distance. Then he boldly skirted the cabin and dropped into +the race-way at its side. Following it a few hundred yards he came +upon a long disused shaft opening into it, which had been covered +with a rough trap of old planks, as if to protect incautious +wayfarers from falling in. Here a sudden and inexplicable fear +overtook Johnny, and he ran away. When he reached the hotel, almost +the first sight that met his astounded eyes was the spectacle of the +paragon, apparently still in undisturbed possession of all his +perfections--driving coolly off in a buggy with a fresh companion. + +Meantime Mr. Ford, however touched by the sentimental significance +of the celebration, became slightly wearied of its details. As his +own room in the Eureka Hotel was actually thrilled by the brass +band without and the eloquence of speakers below, and had become +redolent of gunpowder and champagne exploded around it, he +determined to return to the school-house and avail himself of its +woodland quiet to write a few letters. + +The change was grateful, the distant murmur of the excited +settlement came only as the soothing sound of wind among the +leaves. The pure air of the pines that filled every cranny of the +quiet school-room, and seemed to disperse all taint of human +tenancy, made the far-off celebrations as unreal as a dream. The +only reality of his life was here. + +He took from his pocket a few letters one of which was worn and +soiled with frequent handling. He re-read it in a half methodical, +half patient way, as if he were waiting for some revelation it +inspired, which was slow that afternoon in coming. At other times +it had called up a youthful enthusiasm which was wont to transfigure +his grave and prematurely reserved face with a new expression. +To-day the revelation and expression were both wanting. He put the +letter back with a slight sigh, that sounded so preposterous in the +silent room that he could not forego an embarrassed smile. But the +next moment he set himself seriously to work on his correspondence. + +Presently he stopped; once or twice he had been overtaken by a +vague undefinable sense of pleasure, even to the dreamy halting of +his pen. It was a sensation in no way connected with the subject +of his correspondence, or even his previous reflections--it was +partly physical, and yet it was in some sense suggestive. It must +be the intoxicating effect of the woodland air. He even fancied he +had noticed it before, at the same hour when the sun was declining +and the fresh odors of the undergrowth were rising. It certainly +was a perfume. He raised his eyes. There lay the cause on the +desk before him--a little nosegay of wild Californian myrtle +encircling a rose-bud which had escaped his notice. + +There was nothing unusual in the circumstance. The children were +in the habit of making their offerings generally without particular +reference to time or occasion, and it might have been overlooked by +him during school-hours. He felt a pity for the forgotten posy +already beginning to grow limp in its neglected solitude. He +remembered that in some folk-lore of the children's, perhaps a +tradition of the old association of the myrtle with Venus, it was +believed to be emblematic of the affections. He remembered also +that he had even told them of this probable origin of their +superstition. He was still holding it in his hand when he was +conscious of a silken sensation that sent a magnetic thrill through +his fingers. Looking at it more closely he saw that the sprigs +were bound together, not by thread or ribbon, but by long filaments +of soft brown hair tightly wound around them. He unwound a single +hair and held it to the light. Its length, color, texture, and +above all a certain inexplicable instinct, told him it was Cressy +McKinstry's. He laid it down quickly, as if he had, in that act, +familiarly touched her person. + +He finished his letter, but presently found himself again looking +at the myrtle and thinking about it. From the position in which it +had been placed it was evidently intended for him; the fancy of +binding it with hair was also intentional and not a necessity, as +he knew his feminine scholars were usually well provided with bits +of thread, silk, or ribbon. If it had been some new absurdity of +childish fashion introduced in the school, he would have noticed it +ere this. For it was this obtrusion of a personality that vaguely +troubled him. He remembered Cressy's hair; it was certainly very +beautiful, in spite of her occasional vagaries of coiffure. He +recalled how, one afternoon, it had come down when she was romping +with Octavia in the play-ground, and was surprised to find what a +vivid picture he retained of her lingering in the porch to put it +up; her rounded arms held above her head, her pretty shoulders, +full throat, and glowing face thrown back, and a wisp of the very +hair between her white teeth! He began another letter. + +When it was finished the shadow of the pine-branch before the +window, thrown by the nearly level sun across his paper, had begun +slowly to reach the opposite wall. He put his work away, lingered +for a moment in hesitation over the myrtle sprays, and then locked +them in his desk with an odd feeling that he had secured in some +vague way a hold upon Cressy's future vagaries; then reflecting +that Uncle Ben, whom he had seen in town, would probably keep +holiday with the others, he resolved to wait no longer, but +strolled back to the hotel. The act however had not recalled Uncle +Ben to him by any association of ideas, for since his discovery of +Johnny Filgee's caricature he had failed to detect anything to +corroborate the caricaturist's satire, and had dismissed the +subject from his mind. + +On entering his room at the hotel he found Rupert Filgee standing +moodily by the window, while his brother Johnny, overcome by a +repletion of excitement and collation, was asleep on the single +arm-chair. Their presence was not unusual, as Mr. Ford, touched by +the loneliness of these motherless boys, had often invited them to +come to his rooms to look over his books and illustrated papers. + +"Well?" he said cheerfully. + +Rupert did not reply or change his position. Mr. Ford, glancing at +him sharply, saw a familiar angry light in the boy's beautiful +eyes, slightly dimmed by a tear. Laying his hand gently on +Rupert's shoulder he said, "What's the matter, Rupert?" + +"Nothin'," said the boy doggedly, with his eyes still fixed on the +pane. + +"Has--has--Mrs. Tripp" (the fair proprietress) "been unkind?" he +went on lightly. + +No reply. + +"You know, Rupe," continued Mr. Ford demurely, "she must show SOME +reserve before company--like to-day. It won't do to make a +scandal." + +Rupert maintained an indignant silence. But the dimple (which he +usually despised as a feminine blot) on the cheek nearer the master +became slightly accented. Only for a moment; the dark eyes clouded +again. + +"I wish I was dead, Mr. Ford." + +"Hallo!" + +"Or--doin' suthin'." + +"That's better. What do you want to do?" + +"To work--make a livin' myself. Quit toten' wood and water at +home; quit cookin' and makin' beds, like a yaller Chinaman; quit +nussin' babies and dressin' 'em and undressin' 'em, like a girl. +Look at HIM now," pointing to the sweetly unconscious Johnny, "look +at him there. Do you know what that means? It means I've got to +pack him home through the town jist ez he is thar, and then make a +fire and bile his food for him, and wash him and undress him and +put him to bed, and 'Now I lay me down to sleep' him, and tuck him +up; and Dad all the while 'scootin' round town with other idjits, +jawin' about 'progress' and the 'future of Injin Spring.' Much +future we've got over our own house, Mr. Ford. Much future he's +got laid up for me!" + +The master, to whom those occasional outbreaks from Rupert were not +unfamiliar, smiled, albeit with serious eyes that belied his lips, +and consoled the boy as he had often done before. But he was +anxious to know the cause of this recent attack and its probable +relations to the fascinating Mrs. Tripp. + +"I thought we talked all that over some time ago, Rupe. In a few +months you'll be able to leave school, and I'll advise your father +about putting you into something to give you a chance for yourself. +Patience, old fellow; you're doing very well. Consider--there's +your pupil, Uncle Ben." + +"Oh, yes! That's another big baby to tot round in school when I +ain't niggerin' at home." + +"And I don't see exactly what else you could do at Indian Spring," +continued Mr. Ford. + +"No," said Rupert gloomily, "but I could get away to Sacramento. +Yuba Bill says they take boys no bigger nor me in thar express +offices or banks--and in a year or two they're as good ez anybody +and get paid as big. Why, there was a fellow here, just now, no +older than you, Mr. Ford, and not half your learnin', and he +dressed to death with jewelry, and everybody bowin' and scrapin' to +him, that it was perfectly sickenin'." + +Mr. Ford lifted his eyebrows. "Oh, you mean the young man of +Benham and Co., who was talking to Mrs. Tripp?" he said. + +A quick flush of angry consciousness crossed Rupert's face. +"Maybe; he has just cheek enough for anythin'." + +"And you want to be like him?" said Mr. Ford. + +"You know what I mean, Mr. Ford. Not LIKE him. Why YOU'RE as good +as he is, any day," continued Rupert with relentless naivete; "but +if a jay-bird like that can get on, why couldn't I?" + +There was no doubt that the master here pointed out the defectiveness +of Rupert's logic and the beneficence of patience and study, as +became their relations of master and pupil, but with the addition of +a certain fellow sympathy and some amusing recital of his own boyish +experiences, that had the effect of calling Rupert's dimples into +action again. At the end of half an hour the boy had become quite +tractable, and, getting ready to depart, approached his sleeping +brother with something like resignation. But Johnny's nap seemed to +have had the effect of transforming him into an inert jelly-like +mass. It required the joint exertions of both the master and Rupert +to transfer him bodily into the latter's arms, where, with a single +limp elbow encircling his brother's neck, he lay with his unfinished +slumber still visibly distending his cheeks, his eyelids, and even +lifting his curls from his moist forehead. The master bade Rupert +"good-night," and returned to his room as the boy descended the +stairs with his burden. + +But here Providence, with, I fear, its occasional disregard of mere +human morality, rewarded Rupert after his own foolish desires. +Mrs. Tripp was at the foot of the stairs as Rupert came slowly +down. He saw her, and was covered with shame; she saw him and his +burden, and was touched with kindliness. Whether or not she was +also mischievously aware of Rupert's admiration, and was not +altogether displeased with it, I cannot say. In a voice that +thrilled him, she said:-- + +"What! Rupert, are you going so soon?" + +"Yes, ma'am---on account of Johnny." + +"But let me take him--I can keep him here to-night." + +It was a great temptation, but Rupert had strength to refuse, +albeit with his hat pulled over his downcast eyes. + +"Poor dear, how tired he looks." + +She approached her still fresh and pretty face close to Rupert and +laid her lips on Johnny's cheek. Then she lifted her audacious +eyes to his brother, and pushing back his well-worn chip hat from +his clustering curls, she kissed him squarely on the forehead. + +"Good-night, dear." + +The boy stumbled, and then staggered blindly forward into the outer +darkness. But with a gentleman's delicacy he turned almost +instantly into a side street, as if to keep this consecration of +himself from vulgar eyes. The path he had chosen was rough and +weary, the night was dark, and Johnny was ridiculously heavy, but +he kept steadily on, the woman's kiss in the fancy of the foolish +boy shining on his forehead and lighting him onward like a star. + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +When the door closed on Rupert the master pulled down the blind, +and, trimming his lamp, tried to compose himself by reading. +Outside, the "Great Day for Indian Spring" was slowly evaporating +in pale mists from the river, and the celebration itself +spasmodically taking flight here and there in Roman candles and +rockets. An occasional outbreak from revellers in the bar-room +below, a stumbling straggler along the planked sidewalk before the +hotel, only seemed to intensify the rustic stillness. For the +future of Indian Spring was still so remote that Nature insensibly +re-invested its boundaries on the slightest relaxation of civic +influence, and Mr. Ford lifted his head from the glowing columns +of the "Star" to listen to the far-off yelp of a coyote on the +opposite shore. + +He was also conscious of the recurrence of that vague, pleasurable +recollection, so indefinite that, when he sought to identify it +with anything--even the finding of the myrtle sprays on his desk-- +it evaded him. He tried to work, with the same interruption. Then +an uneasy sensation that he had not been sufficiently kind to +Rupert in his foolish love-troubles remorsefully seized him. A +half pathetic, half humorous picture of the miserable Rupert +staggering under the double burden of his sleeping brother and a +misplaced affection, or possibly abandoning the one or both in the +nearest ditch in a reckless access of boyish frenzy and fleeing his +home forever, rose before his eyes. He seized his hat with the +intention of seeking him--or forgetting him in some other occupation +by the way. For Mr. Ford had the sensitive conscience of many +imaginative people; an unfailing monitor, it was always calling his +whole moral being into play to evade it. + +As he crossed the passage he came upon Mrs. Tripp hooded and +elaborately attired in a white ball dress, which however did not, +to his own fancy, become her as well as her ordinary costume. He +was passing her with a bow, when she said, with complacent +consciousness of her appearance, "Aren't you going to the ball to- +night?" + +He remembered then that "an opening ball" at the Court-house was a +part of the celebration. "No," he said smiling; "but it is a pity +that Rupert couldn't have seen you in your charming array." + +"Rupert," said the lady, with a slightly coquettish laugh; "you +have made him as much a woman-hater as yourself. I offered to take +him in our party, and he ran away to you." She paused, and giving +him a furtive critical glance said, with an easy mingling of +confidence and audacity, "Why don't YOU go? Nobody'll hurt you." + +"I'm not so sure of that," replied Mr. Ford gallantly. "There's +the melancholy example of Rupert always before me." + +Mrs. Tripp tossed her chignon and descended a step of the stairs. +"You'd better go," she continued, looking up over the balusters. +"You can look on if you can't dance." + +Now Mr. Ford COULD dance, and it so chanced, rather well, too. +With this consciousness he remained standing in half indignant +hesitation on the landing as she disappeared. Why shouldn't he go? +It was true, he had half tacitly acquiesced in the reserve with +which he had been treated, and had never mingled socially in the +gatherings of either sex at Indian Spring--but that was no reason. +He could at least dress himself, walk to the Court-house and--look +on. + +Any black coat and white shirt was sufficiently de rigueur for +Indian Spring. Mr. Ford added the superfluous elegance of a +forgotten white waistcoat. When he reached the sidewalk it was +only nine o'clock, but the windows of the Court-house were already +flaring like a stranded steamer on the barren bank where it had +struck. On the way thither he was once or twice tempted to change +his mind, and hesitated even at the very door. But the fear that +his hesitation would be noticed by the few loungers before it, and +the fact that some of them were already hesitating through +bashfulness, determined him to enter. + +The clerks' office and judges' chambers on the lower floor had been +invaded by wraps, shawls, and refreshments, but the dancing was +reserved for the upper floor or courtroom, still unfinished. +Flags, laurel-wreaths, and appropriate floral inscriptions hid its +bare walls; but the coat of arms of the State, already placed over +the judges' dais with its illimitable golden sunset, its triumphant +goddess, and its implacable grizzly, seemed figuratively to typify +the occasion better than the inscriptions. The room was close and +crowded. The flickering candles in tin sconces against the walls, +or depending in rude chandeliers of barrel-hoops from the ceiling, +lit up the most astounding diversity of female costume the master +had ever seen. Gowns of bygone fashions, creased and stained with +packing and disuse, toilets of forgotten festivity revised with +modern additions; garments in and out of season--a fur-trimmed +jacket and a tulle skirt, a velvet robe under a pique sacque; fresh +young faces beneath faded head-dresses, and mature and buxom charms +in virgin' white. The small space cleared for the dancers was +continually invaded by the lookers-on, who in files of three deep +lined the room. + +As the master pushed his way to the front, a young girl, who had +been standing in the sides of a quadrille, suddenly darted with a +nymph-like quickness among the crowd and was for an instant hidden. +Without distinguishing either face or figure, Mr. Ford recognized +in the quick, impetuous action a characteristic movement of +Cressy's; with an embarrassing instinct that he could not account +for, he knew she had seen him, and that, for some inexplicable +reason, he was the cause of her sudden disappearance. + +But it was only for a moment. Even while he was vaguely scanning +the crowd she reappeared and took her place beside her mystified +partner--the fascinating stranger of Johnny's devotion and Rupert's +dislike. She was pale; he had never seen her so beautiful. All +that he had thought distasteful and incongruous in her were but +accessories of her loveliness at that moment, in that light, in +that atmosphere, in that strange assembly. Even her full pink +gauze dress, from which her fair young shoulders slipped as from a +sunset cloud, seemed only the perfection of virginal simplicity; +her girlish length of limb and the long curves of her neck and back +were now the outlines of thorough breeding. The absence of color +in her usually fresh face had been replaced by a faint magnetic +aurora that seemed to him half spiritual. He could not take his +eyes from her; he could not believe what he saw. Yet that was +Cressy McKinstry--his pupil! Had he ever really seen her? Did he +know her now? Small wonder that all eyes were bent upon her, that +a murmur of unspoken admiration, or still more intense hush of +silence moved the people around him. He glanced hurriedly at them, +and was oddly relieved by this evident participation in his +emotions. + +She was dancing now, and with that same pale restraint and curious +quiet that had affected him so strongly. She had not even looked +in his direction, yet he was aware by the same instinct that had at +first possessed him that she knew he was present. His desire to +catch her eye was becoming mingled with a certain dread, as if in a +single interchange of glances the illusions of the moment would +either vanish utterly or become irrevocably fixed. He forced +himself, when the set was finished, to turn away, partly to avoid +contact with some acquaintances who had drifted before him, and +whom politeness would have obliged him to ask to dance, and partly +to collect his thoughts. He determined to make a tour of the rooms +and then go quietly home. Those who recognized him made way for +him with passive curiosity; the middle-aged and older adding a +confidential sympathy and equality that positively irritated him. +For an instant he had an idea of seeking out Mrs. Tripp and +claiming her as a partner, merely to show her that he danced. + +He had nearly made the circuit of the room when he was surprised by +the first strains of a waltz. Waltzing was not a strong feature of +Indian Spring festivity, partly that the Church people had serious +doubts if David's saltatory performances before the Ark included +"round dances," and partly that the young had not yet mastered its +difficulties. When he yielded to his impulse to look again at the +dancers he found that only three or four couples had been bold +enough to take the floor. Cressy McKinstry and her former partner +were one of them. In his present exaltation he was not astonished +to find that she had evidently picked up the art in her late visit, +and was now waltzing with quiet grace and precision, but he was +surprised that her partner was far from being equally perfect, and +that after a few turns she stopped and smilingly disengaged her +waist from his arm. As she stepped back she turned with unerring +instinct to that part of the room where the master stood, and raised +her eyes through the multitude of admiring faces to his. Their eyes +met in an isolation as supreme as if they had been alone. It was an +attraction the more dangerous because unformulated--a possession +without previous pledge, promise, or even intention--a love that did +not require to be "made." + +He approached her quietly and even more coolly than he thought +possible. "Will you allow me a trial?" he asked. + +She looked in his face, and as if she had not heard the question +but was following her own thought, said, "I knew you would come; I +saw you when you first came in." Without another word she put her +hand in his, and as if it were part of an instinctive action of +drawing closer to him, caught with her advancing foot the accent of +the waltz, and the next moment the room seemed to slip away from +them into whirling space. + +The whole thing had passed so rapidly from the moment he approached +her to the first graceful swing of her full skirt at his side, that +it seemed to him almost like the embrace of a lovers' meeting. He +had often been as near her before, had stood at her side at school, +and even leaned over her desk, but always with an irritated +instinct of reserve that had equally affected her, and which he now +understood. With her conscious but pale face so near his own, with +the faint odor of her hair clinging to her, and with the sweet +confusion of the half lingering, half withheld contact of her hand +and arm, all had changed. He did not dare to reflect that he could +never again approach her except with this feeling. He did not dare +to think of anything; he abandoned himself to the sense that had +begun with the invasion of her hair-bound myrtle in the silent +school-room, and seemed to have at last led her to his arms. They +were moving now in such perfect rhythm and unison that they seemed +scarcely conscious of motion. Once when they neared the open +window he caught a glimpse of the round moon rising above the +solemn heights of the opposite shore, and felt the cool breath of +mountain and river sweep his cheek and mingle a few escaped threads +of her fair hair with his own. With that glimpse and that +sensation the vulgarity and the tawdriness of their surroundings, +the guttering candles in their sconces, the bizarre figures, the +unmeaning faces seemed to be whirled far into distant space. They +were alone with night and nature; it was they who were still; all +else had receded in a vanishing perspective of dull reality, in +which they had no part. + +Play on, O waltz of Strauss! Whirl on, O love and youth! For you +cannot whirl so swiftly but that this receding world will return +again with narrowing circle to hem you in. Faster, O cracked +clarionet! Louder, O too brazen bassoon! Keep back, O dull and +earthy environment, till master and pupil have dreamed their +foolish dream! + +They are in fancy alone on the river-bank, only the round moon +above them and their linked shadows faintly fluttering in the +stream. They have drawn so closely together now that her arm is +encircling his neck, her soft eyes uplifted like the moon's +reflection and drowning into his; closer and closer till their +hearts stop beating and their lips have met in a first kiss. +Faster, O little feet! swing clear, O Cressy's skirt and keep the +narrowing circle back! . . . They are again alone; the judges' +dais and the emblazoning of the State caught in a single whirling +flash of consciousness are changed to an altar, seen dimly through +the bridal veil that covers her fair head. There is the murmur of +voices mingling two lives in one. They turn and pass proudly down +between the aisles of wondering festal faces. Ah! the circle is +drawing closer. One more quick whirl to keep them back, O flying +skirt and dainty-winged feet! Too late! The music stops. The +tawdry walls shut in again, the vulgar crowds return, they stand +pale and quiet, the centre of a ring of breathless admiring, +frightened, or forbidding faces. Her arms fold like wings at her +side. The waltz is over. + +A shrill feminine chorus assail her with praises, struck here and +there with a metallic ring of envy; a dozen all-daring cavaliers, +made reckless by her grace and beauty, clamor for her hand in the +next waltz. She replies, not to them, but to him, "Not again," and +slips away in the crowd with that strange new shyness that of all +her transformations seems the most delicious. Yet so conscious are +they of their mutual passion that they do not miss each other, and +he turns away as if their next meeting were already an appointed +tryst. A few congratulate him on his skill. Johnny's paragon +looks after him curiously; certain elders shake hands with him +perplexedly, as if not quite sure of the professional consistency +of his performance. Those charming tide-waiters on social success, +the fair, artfully mingling expectation with compliment, only +extract from him the laughing statement that this one waltz was the +single exception allowed him from the rule of his professional +conduct, and he refers them to his elder critics. A single face, +loutish, looming, and vindictive, stands on among the crowd--the +face of Seth Davis. He had not seen him since he left the school; +he had forgotten his existence; even now he only remembered his +successor, Joe Masters, and he looked curiously around to see if +that later suitor of Cressy's was present. It was not until he +reached the door that he began to think seriously of Seth Davis's +jealous face, and was roused to a singular indignation. "Why +hadn't this great fool vented his jealousy on the openly +compromising Masters," he thought. He even turned and walked back +with some vaguely aggressive instinct, but the young man had +disappeared. With this incident still in his mind he came upon +Uncle Ben and Hiram McKinstry standing among the spectators in the +doorway. Why might not Uncle Ben be jealous too? and if his single +waltz had really appeared so compromising why should not Cressy's +father object? But both men--albeit, McKinstry usually exhibited a +vague unreasoning contempt for Uncle Ben--were unanimous in their +congratulations and outspoken admiration. + +"When I see'd you sail in, Mr. Ford," said Uncle Ben, with abstract +reflectiveness, "I sez to the fellers, 'lie low, boys, and you'll +see style.' And when you put on them first steps, I sez, 'that's +French--the latest high-toned French style--outer the best masters, +and--and outer the best books. For why?' sez I. 'It's the same +long, sliding stroke you see in his copies. There's that long up +sweep, and that easy curve to the right with no hitch. That's the +sorter swing he hez in readin' po'try too. That's why it's called +the po'try of motion,' sez I. 'And you ken bet your boots, boys, +it's all in the trainin' o' education.'" + +"Mr. Ford," said Mr. McKinstry gravely, slightly waving a lavender- +colored kid glove, with which he had elected to conceal his maimed +hand, and at the same moment indicate a festal occasion: "I hev to +thank ye for the way you took out that child o' mine, like ez she +woz an ontried filly, and put her through her paces. I don't dance +myself, partikly in that gait--which I take to be suthin' betwixt a +lope and a canter and I don't get to see much dancin' nowadays on +account o' bein' worrited by stock, but seein' you two together +just now, suthin' came over me, and I don't think I ever felt so +kam in my life." + +The blood rushed to the master's cheek with an unexpected +consciousness of guilt and shame. "But," he stammered awkwardly, +"your daughter dances beautifully herself; she has certainly had +practice." + +"That," said McKinstry, laying his gloved hand impressively on the +master's shoulder, with the empty little finger still more +emphasized by being turned backward in the net; "that may be ez it +ez, but I wanted to say that it was the simple, easy, fammily touch +that you gev it, that took me. Toward the end, when you kinder +gathered her up and she sorter dropped her head into your breast- +pocket, and seemed to go to sleep, like ez ef she was still a +little girl, it so reminded me of the times when I used to tote her +myself walkin' by the waggin at Platt River, that it made me wish +the old woman was here to see it." + +Still coloring, the master cast a rapid, sidelong glance at +McKinstry's dark red face and beard, but in the slow satisfaction +of his features there was no trace of that irony which the master's +self-consciousness knew. + +"Then your wife is not here?" said Mr. Ford abstractedly. + +"She war at church. She reckoned that I'd do to look arter Cressy-- +she bein', so to speak, under conviction. D'ye mind walkin' this +way a bit; I want to speak a word with ye?" He put his maimed hand +through the master's arm, after his former fashion, and led him to +a corner. + +"Did ye happen to see Seth Davis about yer?" + +"I believe I saw him a moment ago," returned Mr. Ford half +contemptuously. + +"Did he get off anythin' rough on ye?" + +"Certainly not," said the master haughtily. "Why should he dare?" + +"That's so," said McKinstry meditatively. "You had better keep +right on in that line. That's your gait, remember. Leave him--or +his father--it's the same thing--to ME. Don't YOU let yourself be +roped in to this yer row betwixt me and the Davises. You ain't got +no call to do it. It's already been on my mind your bringin' that +gun to me in the Harrison row. The old woman hadn't oughter let +you--nor Cress either. Hark to me, Mr. Ford! I reckon to stand +between you and both the Davises till the cows come home--only-- +mind YOU give him the go-by when he happens to meander along +towards you." + +"I'm very much obliged to you," said Ford with disproportionately +sudden choler; "but I don't propose to alter my habits for a +ridiculous school-boy whom I have dismissed." The unjust and +boyish petulance of his speech instantly flashed upon him, and he +felt his cheek burn again. + +McKinstry regarded him with dull, red, slumbrous eyes. "Don't you +go to lose your best holt, Mr. Ford--and that's kam. Keep your +kam--and you've allus got the dead wood on Injin Springs. I ain't +got it," he continued, in his slowest, most passionless manner, +"and a row more or less ain't much account to me--but YOU, you keep +your kam." He paused, stepped back, and regarding the master, with +a slight wave of his crippled hand over his whole person, as if +indicating some personal adornment, said, "It sets you off!" + +He nodded, turned, and re-entered the ball-room. Mr. Ford, without +trusting himself to further speech, elbowed his way through the +crowded staircase to the street. But even there his strange anger, +as well as the equally strange remorse, which had seized him in +McKinstry's presence, seemed to evaporate in the clear moonlight +and soft summer air. There was the river-bank, with the tremulous +river glancing through the dreamy mist, as they had seen it from +the window together. He even turned to look back on the lighted +ball-room, as if SHE might have been looking out, too. But he knew +he should see her again to-morrow, and he hurriedly put aside all +reserve, all thought of the future, all examination of his conduct, +to walk home enwrapped in the vaguer pleasure of the past. Rupert +Filgee, to whom he had never given a second thought, now peacefully +slumbering beside his baby brother, had not gone home in more +foolish or more dangerous company. + +When he reached the hotel, he was surprised to find it only eleven +o'clock. No one had returned, the building was deserted by all but +the bar-keeper and a flirting chambermaid, who regarded him with +aggrieved astonishment. He began to feel very foolish, and half +regretted that he had not stayed to dance with Mrs. Tripp; or, at +least, remained as a quiet onlooker apart from the others. With a +hasty excuse about returning to write letters for the morning's +post, he took a candle and slowly remounted the stairs to his room. +But on entering he found himself unprepared for that singular lack +of sympathy with which familiar haunts always greet our new +experiences; he could hardly believe that he had left that room +only two hours before; it seemed so uncongenial and strange to the +sensation that was still possessing him. Yet there were his table, +his books, his arm-chair, his bed as he had left them; even a +sticky fragment of gingerbread that had fallen from Johnny's +pocket. He had not yet reached that stage of absorbing passion +where he was able to put the loved one in his own surroundings; she +as yet had no place in this quiet room; he could scarcely think of +her here, and he MUST think of her, if he had to go elsewhere. An +extravagant idea of walking the street until his restless dream was +over seized him, but even in his folly the lackadaisical, moonstruck +quality of such a performance was too obvious. The school-house! +He would go there; it was only a pleasant walk, the night was +lovely, and he could bring the myrtle-spray from his desk. It was +too significant now--if not too precious--to be kept there. Perhaps +he had not examined it closely, nor the place where it had lain; +there might be an additional sign, word, or token he had overlooked. +The thought thrilled him, even while he was calmly arguing to +himself that it was an instinct of caution. + +The air was quieter and warmer than usual, though still +characteristic of the locality in its dry, dewless clarity. The +grass was yet warm from the day-long sun, and when he entered the +pines that surrounded the schoolhouse, they had scarcely yet lost +their spicy heat. The moon, riding high, filled the dark aisles +with a delicious twilight that lent itself to his waking dreams. +It was not long before to-morrow; he could easily manage to bring +her here in the grove at recess, and would speak with her there. +It did not occur to him what he should say, or why he should say +it; it did not occur to him that he had no other provocation than +her eyes, her conscious manner, her eloquent silence, and her +admission that she had expected him. It did not occur to him that +all this was inconsistent with what he knew of her antecedents, her +character, and her habits. It was this very inconsistency that +charmed and convinced him. We are always on the lookout for these +miracles of passion. We may doubt the genuineness of an affection +that is first-hand, but never of one that is transferred. + +He approached the school-house and unlocking the door closed it +behind him, not so much to keep out human intrusion as the invasion +of bats and squirrels. The nearly vertical moon, while it +perfectly lit the playground and openings in the pines around the +house, left the interior in darkness, except the reflection upon +the ceiling from the shining gravel without. Partly from a sense +of precaution and partly because he was familiar with the position +of the benches, he did not strike a light, and reached his own desk +unerringly, drew his chair before it and unlocked it, groped in its +dark recess for the myrtle spray, felt its soft silken binding with +an electrical thrill, drew it out, and in the security of the +darkness, raised it to his lips. + +To make room for it in his breast pocket he was obliged to take out +his letters--among them the well-worn one he had tried to read that +morning. A mingling of pleasure and remorse came over him as he +felt that it was already of the past, and as he dropped it +carelessly into the empty desk it fell with a faint, hollow sound +as if it were ashes to ashes. + +What was that? + +The noise of steps upon the gravel, light laughter, the moving of +two or three shadows on the ceiling, the sound of voices, a man's, +a child's, and HERS! + +Could it be possible? Was not he mistaken? No! the man's voice +was Masters'; the child's, Octavia's; the woman's, HERS. + +He remained silent in the shadow. The school-room was not far from +the trail where she would have had to pass going home from the +ball. But why had she come there? had they seen him arrive? and +were mischievously watching him? The sound of Cressy's voice and +the lifting of the unprotected window near the door convinced him +to the contrary. + +"There, that'll do. Now you two can step aside. 'Tave, take him +over to yon fence, and keep him there till I get in. No--thank +you, sir--I can assist myself. I've done it before. It ain't the +first time I've been through this window, is it, 'Tave?" + +Ford's heart stopped beating. There was a moment of laughing +expostulation, the sound of retreating voices, the sudden darkening +of the window, the billowy sweep of a skirt, the faint quick flash +of a little ankle, and Cressy McKinstry swung herself into the room +and dropped lightly on the floor. + +She advanced eagerly up the moonlit passage between the two rows of +benches. Suddenly she stopped; the master rose at the same moment +with outstretched warning hand to check the cry of terror he felt +sure would rise to her lips. But he did not know the lazy nerves +of the girl before him. She uttered no outcry. And even in the +faint dim light he could see only the same expression of conscious +understanding come over her face that he had seen in the ball-room, +mingled with a vague joy that parted her breathless lips. As he +moved quickly forward their hands met; she caught his with a quick +significant pressure and darted back to the window. + +"Oh, 'Tave!" (very languidly.) + +"Yes." + +"You two had better wait for me at the edge of the trail yonder, +and keep a lookout for folks going by. Don't let them see you +hanging round so near. Do you hear? I'm all right." + +With her hand still meaningly lifted, she stood gazing at the two +figures until they slowly receded towards the distant trail. Then +she turned as he approached her, the reflection of the moonlit road +striking up into her shining eyes and eager waiting face. A dozen +questions were upon his lips, a dozen replies were ready upon hers. +But they were never uttered, for the next moment her eyes half +closed, she leaned forward and fell--into a kiss. + +She was the first to recover, holding his face in her hands, turned +towards the moonlight, her own in passionate shadow. "Listen," she +said quickly. "They think I came here to look for something I left +in my desk. They thought it high fun to come with me--these two. +I did come to look for something--not in my desk, but yours." + +"Was it this?" he whispered, taking the myrtle from his breast. +She seized it with a light cry, putting it first to her lips and +then to his. Then clasping his face again between her soft palms, +she turned it to the window and said: "Look at them and not at me." + +He did so--seeing the two figures slowly walking in the trail. And +holding her there firmly against his breast, it seemed a blasphemy +to ask the question that had been upon his lips. + +"That's not all," she murmured, moving his face backwards and +forwards to her lips as if it were something to which she was +giving breath. "When we came to the woods I felt that you would be +here." + +"And feeling that, you brought HIM?" said Ford, drawing back. + +"Why not?" she replied indolently. "Even if he had seen you, I +could have managed to have you walk home with me." + +"But do you think it's quite fair? Would he like it?" + +"Would HE like it?" she echoed lazily. + +"Cressy," said the young man earnestly, gazing into her shadowed +face. "Have you given him any right to object? Do you understand +me?" + +She stopped as if thinking. "Do you want me to call him in?" she +said quietly, but without the least trace of archness or coquetry. +"Would you rather he were here--or shall we go out now and meet +him? I'll say you just came as I was going out." + +What should he say? "Cressy," he asked almost curtly, "do you love +me?" + +It seemed such a ridiculous thing to ask, holding her thus in his +arms, if it were true; it seemed such a villainous question, if it +were not. + +"I think I loved you when you first came," she said slowly. "It +must have been that that made me engage myself to him," she added +simply. "I knew I loved you, and thought only of you when I was +away. I came back because I loved you. I loved you the day you +came to see Maw--even when I thought you came to tell her of +Masters, and to say that you couldn't take me back." + +"But you don't ask me if I love you?" + +"But you do--you couldn't help it now," she said confidently. + +What could he do but reply as illogically with a closer embrace, +albeit a slight tremor as if a cold wind had blown across the open +window, passed over him. She may have felt it too, for she +presently said, "Kiss me and let me go." + +"But we must have a longer talk, darling--when--when--others are +not waiting." + +"Do you know the far barn near the boundary?" she asked. + +"Yes." + +"I used to take your books there, afternoons to--to--be with you," +she whispered, "and Paw gave orders that no one was to come nigh it +while I was there. Come to-morrow, just before sundown." + +A long embrace followed, in which all that they had not said +seemed, to them at least, to become articulate on their tremulous +and clinging lips. Then they separated, he unlocking the door +softly to give her egress that way. She caught up a book from a +desk in passing, and then slipped like a rosy shaft of the coming +dawn across the fading moonlight, and a moment after her slow +voice, without a tremor of excitement, was heard calling to her +companions. + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +The conversation which Johnny Filgee had overheard between Uncle +Ben and the gorgeous stranger, although unintelligible to his +infant mind, was fraught with some significance to the adult +settlers of Indian Spring. The town itself, like most interior +settlements, was originally a mining encampment, and as such its +founders and settlers derived their possession of the soil under +the mining laws that took precedence of all other titles. But +although that title was held to be good even after the abandonment +of their original occupation, and the establishment of shops, +offices, and dwellings on the site of the deserted places, the +suburbs of the town and outlying districts were more precariously +held by squatters, under the presumption of their being public land +open to preemption, or the settlement of school-land warrants upon +them. Few of the squatters had taken the trouble to perfect even +these easy titles, merely holding "possession" for agricultural or +domiciliary purposes, and subject only to the invasion of +"jumpers," a class of adventurers who, in the abeyance of +recognized legal title, "jumped" or forcibly seized such portions +of a squatter's domains as were not protected by fencing or +superior force. It was therefore with some excitement that Indian +Spring received the news that a Mexican grant of three square +leagues, which covered the whole district, had been lately +confirmed by the Government, and that action would be taken to +recover possession. It was understood that it would not affect the +adverse possessions held by the town under the mining laws, but it +would compel the adjacent squatters like McKinstry, Davis, Masters, +and Filgee, and jumpers like the Harrisons, to buy the legal title, +or defend a slow but losing lawsuit. The holders of the grant-- +rich capitalists of San Francisco--were open to compromise to those +in actual possession, and in the benefits of this compromise the +unscrupulous "jumper," who had neither sown nor reaped, but simply +dispossessed the squatter who had done both, shared equally with +him. + +A diversity of opinion as to the effect of the new claim naturally +obtained; the older settlers still clung to their experiences of an +easy aboriginal holding of the soil, and were sceptical both as to +the validity and justice of these revived alien grants; but the +newer arrivals hailed this certain tenure of legal titles as a +guarantee to capital and an incentive to improvement. There was +also a growing and influential party of Eastern and Northern men, +who were not sorry to see a fruitful source of dissension and +bloodshed removed. The feuds of the McKinstrys and Harrisons, kept +alive over a boundary to which neither had any legal claim, would +seem to bring them hereafter within the statute law regarding +ordinary assaults without any ethical mystification. On the other +hand McKinstry and Harrison would each be able to arrange any +compromise with the new title holders for the lands they possessed, +or make over that "actual possession" for a consideration. It was +feared that both men, being naturally lawless, would unite to +render any legal eviction a long and dangerous process, and that +they would either be left undisturbed till the last, or would force +a profitable concession. But a greater excitement followed when it +was known that a section of the land had already been sold by the +owners of the grant, that this section exactly covered the +debatable land of the McKinstry-Harrison boundaries, and that the +new landlord would at once attempt its legal possession. The +inspiration of genius that had thus effected a division of the +Harrison-McKinstry combination at its one weak spot excited even +the admiration of the sceptics. No one in Indian Spring knew its +real author, for the suit was ostensibly laid in the name of a San +Francisco banker. But the intelligent reader of Johnny Filgee's +late experience during the celebration will have already recognized +Uncle Ben as the man, and it becomes a part of this veracious +chronicle at this moment to allow him to explain, not only his +intentions, but the means by which he carried them out, in his own +words. + +It was one afternoon at the end of his usual solitary lesson, and +the master and Uncle Ben were awaiting the arrival of Rupert. +Uncle Ben's educational progress lately, through dint of slow +tenacity, had somewhat improved, and he had just completed from +certain forms and examples in a book before him a "Letter to a +Consignee" informing him that he, Uncle Ben, had just shipped "2 +cwt. Ivory Elephant Tusks, 80 peculs of rice and 400bbls. prime +mess pork from Indian Spring;" and another beginning "Honored +Madam," and conveying in admirably artificial phraseology the +"lamented decease" of the lady's husband from yellow fever, +contracted on the Gold Coast, and Uncle Ben was surveying his work +with critical satisfaction when the master, somewhat impatiently, +consulted his watch. Uncle Ben looked up. + +"I oughter told ye that Rupe didn't kalkilate to come to day." + +"Indeed--why not?" + +"I reckon because I told him he needn't. I allowed to--to hev a +little private talk with ye, Mr. Ford, if ye didn't mind." + +Mr. Ford's face did not shine with invitation. "Very well," he +said, "only remember I have an engagement this afternoon." + +"But that ain't until about sundown, said Uncle Ben quietly. "I +won't keep ye ez long ez that." + +Mr. Ford glanced quickly at Uncle Ben with a rising color. "What +do you know of my engagements?" he said sharply. + +"Nothin', Mr. Ford," returned Uncle Ben simply; "but hevin' bin +layin' round, lookin' for ye here and at the hotel for four or five +days allus about that time and not findin' you, I rather kalkilated +you might hev suthin' reg'lar on hand." + +There was certainly nothing in his face or manner to indicate the +least evasion or deceit, or indeed anything but his usual naivete, +perhaps a little perturbed and preoccupied by what he was going to +say. "I had an idea of writin' you a letter," he continued, +"kinder combinin' practice and confidential information, you know. +To be square with you, Mr. Ford, in pint o' fact, I've got it HERE. +But ez it don't seem to entirely gibe with the facts, and leaves a +heap o' things onsaid and onseen, perhaps it's jest ez wall ez I +read it to you myself--putten' in a word here and there, and +explainin' it gin'rally. Do you sabe?" + +The master nodded, and Uncle Ben drew from his desk a rude +portfolio made from the two covers of a dilapidated atlas, and took +from between them a piece of blotting-paper, which through +inordinate application had acquired the color and consistency of a +slate, and a few pages of copy-book paper, that to the casual +glance looked like sheets of exceedingly difficult music. +Surveying them with a blending of chirographic pride, orthographic +doubt, and the bashful consciousness of a literary amateur, he +traced each line with a forefinger inked to the second joint, and +slowly read aloud as follows:-- + +"'Mr. Ford, Teacher. + +"'DEAR SIR,--Yours of the 12th rec'd and contents noted.'" ("I +did'nt," explained Uncle Ben parenthetically, "receive any letter +of yours, but I thought I might heave in that beginning from copy +for practice. The rest is ME.") "'In refference to my having +munney,"' continued Uncle Ben reading and pointing each word as he +read, "'and being able to buy Ditch Stocks an' Land'"-- + +"One moment," said Mr. Ford interrupting, "I thought you were going +to leave out copy. Come to what you have to say." + +"But I HEV--this is all real now. Hold on and you'll see," said +Uncle Ben. He resumed with triumphant emphasis:-- + +"'When it were gin'rally allowed that I haddent a red cent, I want +to explain to you Mister Ford for the first time a secret. This +here is how it was done. When I first came to Injian Spring, I +settled down into the old Palmetto claim, near a heap of old +taillings. Knowin' it were against rools, and reg'lar Chinyman's +bizness to work them I diddn't let on to enyboddy what I did--witch +wos to turn over some of the quarts what I thought was likely and +Orrifferus. Doing this I kem uppon some pay ore which them +Palmetto fellers had overlookt, or more likely had kaved in uppon +them from the bank onknown. Workin' at it in od times by and +large, sometimes afore sun up and sometimes after sundown, and all +the time keeping up a day's work on the clame for a show to the +boys, I emassed a honist fortun in 2 years of 50,000 dolers and +still am. But it will be askd by the incredjulos Reeder How did +you never let out anything to Injian Spring, and How did you get +rid of your yeald? Mister Ford, the Anser is I took it twist a +month on hoss back over to La Port and sent it by express to a bank +in Sacramento, givin' the name of Daubigny, witch no one in La Port +took for me. The Ditch Stok and the Land was all took in the same +name, hens the secret was onreviled to the General Eye--stop a +minit,'" he interrupted himself quickly as the master in an +accession of impatient scepticism was about to break in upon him, +"it ain't all." Then dropping his voice to a tremulous and almost +funereal climax, he went on:-- + +"'Thus we see that pashent indurstry is Rewarded in Spite of Mining +Rools and Reggylashuns, and Predgudisses agin Furrin Labor is +played out and fleeth like a shad-or contenueyeth not long in One +Spot, and that a Man may apear to be off no Account and yet Emass +that witch is far abov rubles and Fadith not Away. + + "'Hoppin' for a continneyance + + "'of your fevors I remain, + + "'Yours to command, + + "'BENJ D'AUBIGNY."' + + +The gloomy satisfaction with which Uncle Ben regarded this +peroration--a satisfaction that actually appeared to be equal to +the revelation itself--only corroborated the master's indignant +doubts. + +"Come," he said, impulsively taking the paper from Uncle Ben's +reluctant hand, "how much of this is a concoction of yours and +Rupe's--and how much is a true story? Do you really mean?"-- + +"Hold on, Mr. Ford!" interrupted Uncle Ben, suddenly fumbling in +the breast-pocket of his red shirt, "I reckoned on your being a +little hard with me, remembering our first talk 'bout these things-- +so I allowed I'd bring you some proof." Slowly extracting a long +legal envelope from his pocket, he opened it, and drew out two or +three crisp certificates of stock, and handed them to the master. + +"Ther's one hundred shares made out to Benj Daubigny. I'd hev +brought you over the deed of the land too, but ez it's rather hard +to read off-hand, on account of the law palaver, I've left it up at +the shanty to tackle at odd times by way of practising. But ef you +like we'll go up thar, and I'll show it to you." + +Still haunted by his belief in Uncle Ben's small duplicities, Mr. +Ford hesitated. These were certainly bona fide certificates of +stock made out to "Daubigny." But he had never actually accepted +Uncle Ben's statement of his identity with that person, and now it +was offered as a corroboration of a still more improbable story. +He looked at Uncle Ben's simple face slightly deepening in color +under his scrutiny--perhaps with conscious guilt. + +"Have you made anybody your confidant? Rupe, for instance?" he +asked significantly. + +"In course not," replied Uncle Ben with a slight stiffening of +wounded pride. "On'y yourself, Mr. Ford, and the young feller +Stacey from the bank--ez was obligated to know it. In fact, I wos +kalkilatin' to ask you to help me talk to him about that yer +boundary land." + +Mr. Ford's scepticism was at last staggered. Any practical joke or +foolish complicity between the agent of the bank and a man like +Uncle Ben was out of the question, and if the story were his own +sole invention, he would have scarcely dared to risk so accessible +and uncompromising a denial as the agent had it in his power to +give. + +He held out his hand to Uncle Ben. "Let me congratulate you," he +said heartily, "and forgive me if your story really sounded so +wonderful I couldn't quite grasp it. Now let me ask you something +more. Have you had any reason for keeping this a secret, other +than your fear of confessing that you violated a few bigoted and +idiotic mining rules--which, after all, are binding only upon +sentiment--and which your success has proved to be utterly +impractical?" + +"There WAS another reason, Mr. Ford," said Uncle Ben, wiping away +an embarrassed smile with the back of his hand, "that is, to be +square with you, WHY I thought of consultin' you. I didn't keer to +have McKinstry, and"--he added hurriedly, "in course Harrison, too, +know that I bought up the title to thur boundary." + +"I understand," nodded the master. "I shouldn't think you would." + +"Why shouldn't ye?" asked Uncle Ben quickly. + +"Well--I don't suppose you care to quarrel with two passionate +men." + +Uncle Ben's face changed. Presently, however, with his hand to his +face, he managed to manipulate another smile, only it appeared for +the purpose of being as awkwardly wiped away. + +"Say ONE passionate man, Mr. Ford." + +"Well, one if you like," returned the master cheerfully. "But for +the matter of that, why any? Come--do you mind telling me why you +bought the land at all? You know it's of little value to any but +McKinstry and Harrison." + +"Soppose," said Uncle Ben slowly, with a great affectation of +wiping his ink-spotted desk with his sleeve, "soppose that I had +got kinder tired of seein' McKinstry and Harrison allus fightin' +and scrimmagin' over their boundary line. Soppose I kalkilated +that it warn't the sort o' thing to induce folks to settle here. +Soppose I reckoned that by gettin' the real title in my hands I'd +have the deadwood on both o' them, and settle the thing my own way, +eh?" + +"That certainly was a very laudable intention," returned Mr. Ford, +observing Uncle Ben curiously, "and from what you said just now +about one passionate man, I suppose you have determined already WHO +to favor. I hope your public spirit will be appreciated by Indian +Spring at least--if it isn't by those two men." + +"You lay low and keep dark and you'll see," returned his companion +with a hopefulness of speech which his somewhat anxious eagerness +however did not quite bear out. "But you're not goin' yet, +surely," he added, as the master again absently consulted his +watch. "It's on'y half past four. It's true thar ain't any more +to tell," he added simply, "but I had an idea that you might hev +took to this yer little story of mine more than you 'pear to be, +and might be askin' questions and kinder bedevlin' me with jokes ez +to what I was goin' to do--and all that. But p'raps it don't seem +so wonderful to you arter all. Come to think of it--squarely now," +he said, with a singular despondency, "I'm rather sick of it +myself--eh?" + +"My dear old boy," said Ford, grasping both his hands, with a swift +revulsion of shame at his own utterly selfish abstraction, "I am +overjoyed at your good luck. More than that, I can say honestly, +old fellow, that it couldn't have fallen in more worthy hands, or +to any one whose good fortune would have pleased me more. There! +And if I've been slow and stupid in taking it in, it is because +it's so wonderful, so like a fairy tale of virtue rewarded--as if +you were a kind of male Cinderella, old man!" He had no intention +of lying--he had no belief that he was: he had only forgotten that +his previous impressions and hesitations had arisen from the very +fact that he DID doubt the consistency of the story with his belief +in Uncle Ben's weakness. But he thought himself now so sincere +that the generous reader, who no doubt is ready to hail the perfect +equity of his neighbor's good luck, will readily forgive him. + +In the plenitude of this sincerity, Ford threw himself at full +length on one of the long benches, and with a gesture invited Uncle +Ben to make himself equally at his ease. "Come," he said with +boyish gayety, "let's hear your plans, old man. To begin with, +who's to share them with you? Of course there are 'the old folks +at home' first; then you have brothers--and perhaps sisters?" He +stopped and glanced with a smile at Uncle Ben; the idea of there +being a possible female of his species struck his fancy. + +Uncle Ben, who had hitherto always exercised a severe restraint-- +partly from respect and partly from caution--over his long limbs in +the school-house, here slowly lifted one leg over another bench, +and sat himself astride of it, leaning forward on his elbow, his +chin resting between his hands. + +"As far as the old folks goes, Mr. Ford, I'm a kind of an orphan." + +"A KIND of orphan?" echoed Ford. + +"Yes," said Uncle Ben, leaning heavily on his chin, so that the +action of his jaws with the enunciation of each word slightly +jerked his head forward as if he were imparting confidential +information to the bench before him. "Yes, that is, you see, I'm +all right ez far as the old man goes--HE'S dead; died way back in +Mizzouri. But ez to my mother, it's sorter betwixt and between-- +kinder unsartain. You see, Mr. Ford, she went off with a city +feller--an entire stranger to me--afore the old man died, and +that's wot broke up my schoolin'. Now whether she's here, there, +or yon, can't be found out, though Squire Tompkins allowed--and he +were a lawyer--that the old man could get a divorce if he wanted, +and that you see would make me a whole orphan, ef I keerd to prove +title, ez the lawyers say. Well--thut sorter lets the old folks +out. Then my brother was onc't drowned in the North Platt, and I +never had any sisters. That don't leave much family for plannin' +about--does it?" + +"No," said the master reflectively, gazing at Uncle Ben, "unless +you avail yourself of your advantages now and have one of your own. +I suppose now that you are rich, you'll marry." + +Uncle Ben slightly changed his position, and then with his finger +and thumb began to apparently feed himself with certain crumbs +which had escaped from the children's luncheon-baskets and were +still lying on the bench. Intent on this occupation and without +raising his eyes to the master, he returned slowly, "Well, you see, +I'm sorter married already." + +The master sat up quickly. + +"What, YOU married--now?" + +"Well, perhaps that's a question. It's a good deal like my beein' +an orphan--oncertain and onsettled." He paused to pursue an +evasive crumb to the end of the bench and having captured it, went +on: "It was when I was younger than you be, and she warn't very old +neither. But she knew a heap more than I did; and ez to readin' +and writin', she was thar, I tell you, every time. You'd hev +admired to see her, Mr. Ford." As he paused here as if he had +exhausted the subject, the master said impatiently, "Well, where is +she now?" + +Uncle Ben shook his head slowly. "I ain't seen her sens I left +Mizzouri, goin' on five years ago." + +"But why haven't you? What was the matter?" persisted the master. + +"Well--you see--I runned away. Not SHE, you know, but I--I +scooted, skedaddled out here." + +"But what for?" asked the master, regarding Uncle Ben with hopeless +wonder. "Something must have happened. What was it? Was she"-- + +"She WAS a good schollard," said Uncle Ben gravely, "and allowed to +be sech, by all. She stood about so high," he continued, indicating +with his hand a medium height. "War little and dark complected." + +"But you must have had some reason for leaving her?" + +"I've sometimes had an idea," said Uncle Ben cautiously, "that +mebbee runnin' away ran in some fam'lies. Now, there war my mother +run off with an entire stranger, and yer's me ez run off by myself. +And what makes it the more one-like is that jest as dad allus +allowed he could get a devorce agin mother, so my wife could hev +got one agin me for leavin' her. And it's almost an evenhanded +game that she hez. It's there where the oncertainty comes in." + +"But are you satisfied to remain in this doubt? or do you propose, +now that you are able, to institute a thorough search for her?" + +"I was kalkilatin' to look around a little," said Uncle Ben simply. + +"And return to her if you find her?" continued the master. + +"I didn't say that, Mr. Ford." + +"But if she hasn't got a divorce from you that's what you'll have +to do, and what you ought to do--if I understand your story. For +by your own showing, a more causeless, heartless, and utterly +inexcusable desertion than yours, I never heard of." + +"Do you think so?" said Uncle Ben with exasperating simplicity. + +"Do I think so?" repeated Mr. Ford, indignantly. "Everybody'll +think so. They can't think otherwise. You say you deserted her, +and you admit she did nothing to provoke it." + +"No," returned Uncle Ben quickly, "nothin'. Did I tell you, Mr. +Ford, that she could play the pianner and sing?" + +"No," said Mr. Ford, curtly, rising impatiently and crossing the +room. He was more than half convinced that Uncle Ben was deceiving +him. Either under the veil of his hide-bound simplicity he was an +utterly selfish, heartless, secretive man, or else he was telling +an idiotic falsehood. + +"I'm sorry I can neither congratulate you nor condole with you on +what you have just told me. I cannot see that you have the least +excuse for delaying a single moment to search for your wife and +make amends for your conduct. And if you want my opinion it +strikes me as being a much more honorable way of employing your new +riches than mediating in your neighbors' squabbles. But it's +getting late and I'm afraid we must bring our talk to an end. I +hope you'll think this over before we meet again--and think +differently." + +Nevertheless, as they both left the schoolhouse, Mr. Ford lingered +over the locking of the door to give Uncle Ben a final chance for +further explanation. But none came. The new capitalist of Indian +Spring regarded him with an intensification of his usual half sad, +half embarrassed smile, and only said: "You understand this yer's a +secret, Mr. Ford?" + +"Certainly," said Ford with ill-concealed irritation. + +"'Bout my bein' sorter married?" + +"Don't be alarmed," he responded dryly; "it's not a taking story." + +They separated; Uncle Ben, more than ever involved in his usual +unsatisfactory purposes, wending his way towards his riches; the +master lingering to observe his departure before he plunged, in +virtuous superiority, into the woods that fringed the Harrison and +McKinstry boundaries. + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +The religious attitude which Mrs. McKinstry had assumed towards her +husband's weak civilized tendencies was not entirely free from +human rancor. That strong loyal nature which had unsexed itself +in the one idea of duty, now that duty seemed to be no longer +appreciated took refuge in her forgotten womanhood and in the +infinitesimally small arguments, resources, and manoeuvres at its +command. She had conceived a singular jealousy of this daughter +who had changed her husband's nature, and who had supplanted the +traditions of the household life; she had acquired an exaggerated +depreciation of those feminine charms which had never been a factor +in her own domestic happiness. She saw in her husband's desire to +mitigate the savage austerities of their habits only a weak +concession to the powers of beauty and adornment--degrading +vanities she had never known in their life-long struggle for +frontier supremacy--that had never brought them victorious out of +that struggle. "Frizzles," "furblows," and "fancy fixin's" had +never helped them in their exodus across the plains; had never +taken the place of swift eyes, quick ears, strong hands, and +endurance; had never nursed the sick or bandaged the wounded. When +envy or jealousy invades the female heart after forty it is apt to +bring a bitterness which knows no attenuating compensation in that +coquetry, emulation, passionate appeal, or innocent tenderness, +which makes tolerable the jealous caprices of the younger woman. +The struggle for rivalry is felt to be hopeless, the power of +imitation is gone. Of her forgotten womanhood Mrs. McKinstry +revived only a capacity to suffer meanly and inflict mean suffering +upon others. In the ruined castle of her youth, and the falling in +of banqueting hall and bower, the dungeon and torture-chamber +appeared to have been left, or, to use her own metaphor, she had +querulously complained to the parson that, "Accordin' to some +folks, she mout hev bin the barren fig-tree e-lected to bear +persimmums." + +Her methods were not entirely different from those employed by her +suffering sisterhood in like emergencies. The unlucky Hiram, +"worrited by stock," was hardly placated or consoled by learning +from her that it was only the result of his own weakness, acting +upon the 'cussedness of the stock-dispersing Harrisons; the +perplexity into which he was thrown by the news of the new legal +claim to his land was not soothed by the suggestion that it was a +trick of that Yankee civilization to which he was meanly succumbing. +She who had always been a rough but devoted nurse in sickness was +now herself overtaken by vague irregular disorders which involved +the greatest care and the absence of all exciting causes. The +attendance of McKinstry and Cressy at a "crazy quilting party" had +brought on "blind chills;" the importation of a melodeon for Cressy +to play on had superinduced an "innerd rash," and a threatened +attack of "palsy creeps" had only been warded off by the timely +postponement of an evening party suggested by her daughter. The old +nomadic instinct, morbidly excited by her discontent, caused her to +lay artful plans for a further emigration. She knew she had the +germs of "mash fever" caught from the adjacent river; she related +mysterious information, gathered in "class meeting," of the superior +facilities for stock raising on the higher foot-hills; she +resuscitated her dead and gone Missouri relations in her daily +speech, to a manifest invidious comparison with the living; she +revived even the incidents of her early married life with the same +baleful intent. The acquisition of a few "biled shirts" by Hiram +for festive appearances with Cressy painfully reminded her that he +had married her in "hickory;" she further accented the change by +herself appearing in her oldest clothes, on the hypothesis that it +was necessary for some one to keep up the traditions of the past. + +Her attitude towards Cressy would have been more decided had she +ever possessed the slightest influence over her, or had even +understood her with the intuitive sympathies of the maternal +relations. Yet she went so far as to even openly regret the +breaking off of the match with Seth Davis, whose family, at least, +still retained the habits and traditions she revered; but she was +promptly silenced by her husband informing her that words "that had +to be tuk back" had already passed between him and Seth's father, +and that, according to those same traditions, blood was more likely +to be spilled than mingled. Whether she was only withheld from +attempting a reconciliation herself through lack of tact and +opportunity remains to be seen. For the present she encouraged +Masters's attentions under a new and vague idea that a flirtation +which distracted Cressy from her studies was displeasing to +McKinstry and inimical to his plans. Blindly ignorant of Mr. +Ford's possible relations to her daughter, and suspecting nothing, +she felt towards him only a dull aversion as being the senseless +pivot of her troubles. Seeing no one, and habitually closing her +ears to any family allusion to Cressy's social triumphs, she was +unaware of even the popular admiration their memorable waltz had +excited. + +On the morning of the day that Uncle Ben had confided to the master +his ingenious plan for settling the boundary disputes, the barking +of McKinstry's yellow dog announced the approach of a stranger to +the ranch. It proved to be Mr. Stacey--not only as dazzlingly +arrayed as when he first rose above Johnny Filgee's horizon, but +wearing, in addition to his jaunty business air, a look of +complacent expectation of the pretty girl whom he had met at the +ball. He had not seen her for a month. It was a happy inspiration +of his own that enabled him to present himself that morning in the +twin functions of a victorious Mercury and Apollo. + +McKinstry had to be summoned from an adjacent meadow, while Cressy, +in the mean time, undertook to entertain the gallant stranger. +This was easily done. It was part of her fascinations that, +disdaining the ordinary real or assumed ignorance of the ingenue of +her class, she generally exhibited to her admirers (with perhaps +the single exception of the master) a laughing consciousness of the +state of mind into which her charms had thrown them. She understood +their passion if she could not accept it. This to a bashful rustic +community was helpful, but in the main unsatisfactory; with advances +so promptly unmasked, the most strategic retreat was apt to become +an utter rout. Leaning against the lintel of the door, her curved +hand shading the sparkling depths of her eyes, and the sunlight +striking down upon the pretty curves of her languid figure, she +awaited the attack. + +"I haven't seen you, Miss Cressy, since we danced together--a month +ago." + +"That was mighty rough papers," said Cressy, who was purposely +dialectical to strangers, "considering that you trapsed up and down +the lane, past the house, twice yesterday." + +"Then you saw me?" said the young man, with a slightly discomfited +laugh. + +"I did. And so did the hound, and so, I reckon, did Joe Masters +and the hired man. And when you pranced back on the home stretch, +there was the hound, Masters, the hired man, and Maw all on your +trail, and Paw bringin' up the rear with a shot-gun. There was +about a half a mile of you altogether." She removed her hand from +her eyes to indicate with a lazily graceful sweep this somewhat +imaginative procession, and laughed. + +"You are certainly well guarded," said Stacey hesitatingly; "and +looking at you, Miss Cressy," he added boldly, "I don't wonder at +it." + +"Well, it IS reckoned that next to Paw's boundaries I'm pretty well +protected from squatters and jumpers." + +Forceful and quaint as her language was, the lazy sweetness of her +intonation, and the delicate refinement of her face, more than +atoned for it. It was unconventional and picturesque as her +gestures. So at least thought Mr. Stacey, and it emboldened him to +further gallantry. + +"Well, Miss Cressy, as my business with your father to-day was to +try to effect a compromise of his boundary claims, perhaps you +might accept my services in your own behalf." + +"Which means," responded the young lady pertly, "the same thing to +ME as to Paw. No trespassers but yourself. Thank you, sir." She +twirled lightly on her heel and dropped him that exaggerated +curtsey known to the school-children as a "cheese." It permitted +in its progress the glimpse of a pretty little slipper which +completed his subjugation. + +"Well, if it's only a fair compromise," he began laughingly. + +"Compromise means somebody giving up. Who is it?" she asked. + +The infatuated Stacey had reached the point of thinking this +repartee if possible more killing than his own. + +"Ha! That's for Miss Cressy to say." + +But the young lady leaning back against the lintel with the +comfortable ease of being irresponsibly diverted, sagely pointed +out that that was the function of the arbitrator. + +"Ah well, suppose we begin by giving up Seth Davis, eh? You see +that I'm pretty well posted, Miss Cressy." + +"You alarm me," said Cressy sweetly. "But I reckon he HAD given +up." + +"He was in the running that night at the ball. Looked half savage +while I was dancing with you. Wanted to eat me." + +"Poor Seth! And he used to be SO particular in his food," said the +witty Cressy. + +Mr. Stacey was convulsed. "And there's Mr. Dabney--Uncle Ben," he +continued, "eh? Very quiet but very sly. A dark horse, eh? +Pretends to take lessons for the sake of being near some one, eh? +Would he were a boy again because somebody else is a girl?" + +"I should be frightened of you if you lived here always," returned +Cressy with invincible naivete; "but perhaps then you wouldn't know +so much." + +Stacey simply accepted this as a compliment. "And there's +Masters," he said insinuatingly. + +"Not Joe?" said Cressy with a low laugh, turning her eyes to the +door. + +"Yes," said Stacey with a quick, uneasy smile. "Ah! I see we +mustn't drop HIM. Is he out THERE?" he added, trying to follow the +direction of her eyes. + +But the young girl kept her face studiously averted. "Is that +all?" she asked after a pause. + +"Well--there's that solemn school-master, who cut me out of the +waltz with you--that Mr. Ford." + +Had he been a perfectly cool and impartial observer he would have +seen the slight tremor cross Cressy's soft eyelids even in profile, +followed by that momentary arrest of her whole face, mouth, +dimples, and eyes, which had overtaken it the night the master +entered the ball-room. But he was neither, and it passed quickly +and unnoticed. Her usual lithe but languid play of expression and +color came back, and she turned her head lazily towards the +speaker. "There's Paw coming. I suppose you wouldn't mind giving +me a sample of your style of arbitrating with him, before you try +it on me?" + +"Certainly not," said Stacey, by no means displeased at the +prospect of having so pretty and intelligent a witness in the +daughter of what he believed would form an attractive display of +his diplomatic skill and graciousness to the father. "Don't go +away. I've got nothing to say Miss Cressy could not understand and +answer." + +The jingling of spurs, and the shadow of McKinstry and his shot-gun +falling at this moment between the speaker and Cressy, spared her +the necessity of a reply. McKinstry cast an uneasy glance around +the apartment, and not seeing Mrs. McKinstry looked relieved, and +even the deep traces of the loss of a valuable steer that morning +partly faded from his Indian-red complexion. He placed his shot- +gun carefully in the corner, took his soft felt hat from his head, +folded it and put it in one of the capacious pockets of his jacket, +turned to his daughter, and laying his maimed hand familiarly on +her shoulder, said gravely, without looking at Stacey, "What might +the stranger be wantin', Cress?" + +"Perhaps I'd better answer that myself," said Stacey briskly. "I'm +acting for Benham and Co., of San Francisco, who have bought the +Spanish title to part of this property. I"-- + +"Stop there!" said McKinstry, in a voice dull but distinct. He +took his hat from his pocket, put it on, walked to the corner and +took up his gun, looked at Stacey for the first time with narcotic +eyes that seemed to drowsily absorb his slight figure, then put the +gun back half contemptuously, and with a wave of his hand towards +the door, said: "We'll settle this yer outside. Cress, you stop in +here. There's man's talk goin' on." + +"But, Paw," said Cressy, laying her hand languidly on her father's +sleeve without the least change of color or amused expression. +"This gentleman has come over here on a compromise." + +"On a--WHICH?" said McKinstry, glancing scornfully out of the door +for some rare species of mustang vaguely suggested to him in that +unfamiliar word. + +"To see if we couldn't come to some fair settlement," said Stacey. +"I've no objection to going outside with you, but I think we can +discuss this matter here just as well." His fine feathers had not +made him a coward, although his heart had beaten a little faster at +this sudden recollection of the dangerous reputation of his host. + +"Go on," said McKinstry. + +"The plain facts of the case are these," continued Stacey, with +more confidence. "We have sold a strip of this property covering +the land in dispute between you and Harrison. We are bound to put +our purchaser in peaceable possession. Now to save time we are +willing to buy that possession of any man who can give it. We are +told that you can." + +"Well, considerin' that for the last four years I've been fightin' +night and day agin them low-down Harrisons for it, I reckon you've +been lied to," said McKinstry deliberately. "Why--except the +clearing on the north side, whar I put up a barn, thar ain't an +acre of it as hasn't been shifted first this side and then that as +fast ez I druv boundary stakes and fences, and the Harrisons pulled +'em up agin. Thar ain't more than fifty acres ez I've hed a clear +hold on, and I wouldn't hev had that ef it hadn't bin for the barn, +the raisin' alone o' which cost me a man, two horses, and this yer +little finger." + +"Put us in possession of even that fifty acres, and WE'LL undertake +to hold the rest and eject those Harrisons from it," returned +Stacey complacently. "You understand that the moment we've made a +peaceable entrance to even a foothold on your side, the Harrisons +are only trespassers, and with the title to back us we can call on +the whole sheriff's posse to put them off. That's the law." + +"That ar the law?" repeated McKinstry meditatively. + +"Yes," said Stacey. "So," he continued, with a self-satisfied +smile to Cressy, "far from being hard on you, Mr. McKinstry, we're +rather inclined to put you on velvet. We offer you a fair price +for the only thing you can give us--actual possession; and we help +you with your old grudge against the Harrisons. We not only clear +them out, but we pay YOU for even the part they held adversely to +you." + +Mr. McKinstry passed his three whole fingers over his forehead and +eyes as if troubled by a drowsy aching. "Then you don't reckon to +hev anythin' to say to them Harrisons?" + +"We don't propose to recognize them in the matter at all," returned +Stacey. + +"Nor allow 'em anythin'?" + +"Not a cent! So you see, Mr. McKinstry," he continued magnanimously, +yet with a mischievous smile to Cressy, "there is nothing in this +amicable discussion that requires to be settled outside." + +"Ain't there?" said McKinstry, in a dull, deliberate voice, raising +his eyes for the second time to Stacey. They were bloodshot, with +a heavy, hanging furtiveness, not unlike one of his own hunted +steers. "But I ain't kam enuff in yer." He moved to the door with +a beckoning of his fateful hand. "Outside a minit--EF you please." + +Stacey started, shrugged his shoulders, and half defiantly stepped +beyond the threshold. Cressy, unchanged in color or expression, +lazily followed to the door. + +"Wot," said McKinstry, slowly facing Stacey; "wot ef I refoose? +Wot ef I say I don't allow any man, or any bank, or any compromise, +to take up my quo'r'lls? Wot ef I say that low-down and mean as +them Harrisons is, they don't begin to be ez mean, ez low-down, ez +underhanded, ez sneakin' ez that yer compromise? Wot ef I say that +ef that's the kind o' hogwash that law and snivelization offers me +for peace and quietness, I'll take the fightin', and the law- +breakin', and the sheriff, and all h-ll for his posse instead? Wot +ef I say that?" + +"It will only be my duty to repeat it," said Stacey, with an +affected carelessness which, however, did not conceal his surprise +and his discomfiture. "It's no affair of mine." + +"Unless," said Cressy, assuming her old position against the lintel +of the door, and smoothing the worn bear-skin that served as a mat +with the toe of her slipper, "unless you've mixed it up with your +other arbitration, you know." + +"Wot other arbitration?" asked McKinstry suddenly, with murky eyes. + +Stacey cast a rapid, half indignant glance at the young girl, who +received it with her hands tucked behind her back, her lovely head +bent submissively forward, and a prolonged little laugh. + +"Oh nothing, Paw," she said, "only a little private foolishness +betwixt me and the gentleman. You'd admire to hear him talk, Paw-- +about other things than business. He's just that chipper and gay." + +Nevertheless, as with a muttered "Good-morning" the young fellow +turned away, she quietly brushed past her father, and followed him-- +with her hands still penitently behind her, and the rosy palms +turned upward--as far as the gate. Her single long Marguerite +braid of hair trailing down her back nearly to the hem of her +skirt, appeared to accent her demure reserve. At the gate she +shaded her eyes with her hand, and glanced upward. + +"It don't seem to be a good day for arbitrating. A trifle early in +the season, ain't it?" + +"Good-morning, Miss McKinstry." + +She held out her hand. He took it with an affected ease but +cautiously, as if it had been the velvet paw of a young panther who +had scratched him. After all, what was she but the cub of the +untamed beast, McKinstry? He was well out of it! He was not +revengeful--but business was business, and he had given them the +first chance. + +As his figure disappeared behind the buckeyes of the lane, Cressy +cast a glance at the declining sun. She re-entered the house, and +went directly to her room. As she passed the window, she could see +her father already remounted galloping towards the tules, as if in +search of that riparian "kam" his late interview had disturbed. A +few straggling bits of color in the sloping meadows were the +children coming home from school. She hastily tied a girlish sun- +bonnet under her chin, and slipping out of the back door, swept +like a lissom shadow along the line of fence until she seemed to +melt into the umbrage of the woods that fringed the distant north +boundary. + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +Meanwhile, unaware of her husband's sudden relapse to her old +border principles and of the visit that had induced it, Mrs. +McKinstry was slowly returning from a lugubrious recital of her +moods and feelings at the parson's. As she crossed the barren flat +and reached the wooded upland midway between the school-house and +the ranch, she saw before her the old familiar figure of Seth Davis +lounging on the trail. In her habitual loyalty to her husband's +feuds she would probably have stalked defiantly past him, +notwithstanding her late regrets of the broken engagement, but Seth +began to advance awkwardly towards her. In fact, he had noticed +the tall, gaunt, plaid-shawled and holland-bonneted figure +approaching, and had waited for it. + +As he seemed intent upon getting in her way she stopped and raised +her right hand warningly before her. In spite of the shawl and the +sun-bonnet, suffering had implanted a rude Runic dignity to her +attitude. "Words that hev to be took back, Seth Davis," she said +hastily, "hev passed between you and my man. Out of my way, then, +that I may pass, too." + +"Not much betwixt you and me, Aunt Rachel," he said with slouching +deprecation, using the old household title by which he had +familiarly known her. "I've nothin agin you--and I kin prove it by +wot I'm yer to say. And I ain't trucklin' to yer for myself, for +ez far ez me and your'n ez concerned," he continued, with a +malevolent glance, "thar ain't gold enough in Caleforny to mak the +weddin' ring that could hitch me and Cress together. I want to +tell you that you're bein' played; that you're bein' befooled and +bamboozled and honey-fogled. Thet while you're groanin' at class- +meetin' and Hiram's quo'llin' with Dad, and Joe Masters waitin' +round to pick up any bone that's throwed him, that sneakin', +hypocritical Yankee school-master is draggin' your daughter to h-ll +with him on the sly." + +"Quit that, Seth Davis," said Mrs. McKinstry sternly, "or be man +enough to tell it to a man. That's Hiram's business to know." + +"And what if he knows it well enough and winks at it? What if he's +willin' enough to truckle to it, to curry favor with them sneakin' +Yanks?" said Seth malignantly. + +A spasm of savage conviction seized Mrs. McKinstry. But it was +more from her jealous fears of her husband's disloyalty than +concern for her daughter's transgression. Nevertheless, she said +desperately, "It's a lie. Where are your proofs?" + +"Proofs?" returned Seth. "Who is it sneaks around the school-house +to have private talks with the school-master, and edges him on with +Cressy afore folks? Your husband. Who goes sneakin' off every +arternoon with that same cantin' hound of a school-master? Your +daughter. Who's been carryin' on together, and hidin' thick enough +to be ridden out on a rail together? Your daughter and the school- +master. Proofs?--ask anybody. Ask the children. Look yar--you, +Johnny--come here." + +He had suddenly directed his voice to a blackberry bush near the +trail, from which the curly head of Johnny Filgee had just +appeared. That home-returning infant painfully disengaged himself, +his slate, his books, and his small dinner-pail half filled with +fruit as immature as himself, and came towards them sideways. + +"Yer's a dime, Johnny, to git some candy," said Seth, endeavoring +to distort his passion-set face into a smile. + +Johnny Filgee's small, berry-stained palm promptly closed over the +coin. + +"Now, don't lie. Where's Cressy?" + +"Kithin' her bo." + +"Good boy. What bo?" + +Johnny hesitated. He had once seen the school-master and Cressy +together; he had heard it whispered by the other children that they +loved each other. But looking at Seth and Mrs. McKinstry he felt +that something more tremendous than this stupid fact was required +of him for grown-up people, and being honest and imaginative, he +determined that it should be worth the money. + +"Speak up, Johnny, don't be afeard to tell." + +Johnny was not "afeard"--he was only thinking. He had it! He +remembered that he had just seen his paragon, the brilliant Stacey, +coming from the boundary woods. What more poetical and startlingly +effective than to connect him with Cressy? He replied promptly:-- + +"Mithter Thtathy. He gived her a watch and ring of truly gold. +Goin' to be married at Thacramento." + +"You lyin' limb," said Seth, seizing him roughly. But Mrs. +McKinstry interposed. + +"Let that brat go," she said with gleaming eyes. "I want to talk +to you." Seth released Johnny. "It's a trick,' he said, "he's bin +put up to it by that Ford." + +But Johnny, after securing a safe vantage behind the blackberry +bush, determined to give them another trial--with facts. + +"I know mor'n that," he called out. + +"Git--you measly pup," said Seth savagely. + +"I know Theriff Briggth, he rid over the boundary with a lot o' men +and horthes," said Johnny, with that hurried delivery with which he +was able to estop interruption. "Theed 'em go by. Maur Harrithon +theth his dad's goin' to chuck out ole McKinthtry. Hooray!" + +Mrs. McKinstry turned her dark face sharply on Seth. "What's that +he sez?" + +"Nothin' but children's gassin'," he answered, meeting her eyes +with an evil consciousness half loutish, half defiant, "and ef it +war true, it would only sarve Hiram McKinstry right." + +She laid her hand upon his shoulder with swift suspicion. "Out o' +my way, Seth Davis," she said suddenly, pushing him aside. "Ef +this ez any underhanded work of yours, you'll pay for it." + +She strode past him in the direction of Johnny, but at the approach +of the tall woman with the angry eyes, the boy flew. She hesitated +a moment, turned again with a threatening wave of the hand to Seth, +and started off rapidly in the direction of the boundary. + +She had not placed so much faith in the boy's story as in the vague +revelation of evil in Davis's manner. If there was any "cussedness" +afoot, Seth, convinced of Cressy's unfaithfulness, and with no +further hope of any mediation from the parents, would know it. +Unless Hiram had been warned, he was still lulled in his fatuous +dream of civilization. At that time he and his men were in the +tules with the stock; to be satisfied, she herself must go to the +boundary. + +She reached the ridge of the cottonwoods and sycamores, and a few +hundred yards further brought her to the edge of that gentle +southern slope which at last sank into the broad meadow of the +debatable ground. In spite of Stacey's invidious criticism of its +intrinsic value, this theatre of savage dissension, violence, and +bloodshed was by some irony of nature a pastoral landscape of +singular and peaceful repose. The soft glacis stretching before +her was in spring cerulean with lupins, and later starred with +mariposas. The meadow was transversely crossed by a curving line +of alders that indicated a rare water-course, of which in the dry +season only a single pool remained to flash back the unvarying sky. +There had been no attempt at cultivation of this broad expanse; +wild oats, mustard, and rank grasses left it a tossing sea of +turbulent and variegated color whose waves rode high enough to +engulf horse and rider in their choking depths. Even the traces of +human struggle, the uprooted stakes, scattered fence-rails, and +empty post-holes were forever hidden under these billows of +verdure. Midway of the field and near the water-course arose +McKinstry's barn--the solitary human structure whose rude, +misshapen, bulging sides and swallow-haunted eaves bursting with +hay from the neighboring pasture, seemed however only an +extravagant growth of the prolific soil. Mrs. McKinstry gazed at +it anxiously. There was no sign of life or movement near or around +it; it stood as it had always stood, deserted and solitary. But +turning her eyes to the right, beyond the water-course, she could +see a slight regular undulation of the grassy sea and what appeared +to be the drifting on its surface of half a dozen slouched hats in +the direction of the alders. There was no longer any doubt; a +party from the other side was approaching the border. + +A shout and the quick galloping of hoofs behind her sent a thrill +of relief to her heart. She had barely time to draw aside as her +husband and his followers swept past her down the slope. But it +needed not his furious cry, "The Harrisons hev sold us out," to +tell her that the crisis had come. + +She held her breath as the cavalcade diverged, and in open order +furiously approached the water-course, and she could see a sudden +check and hesitation in the movement in the meadow at that +unlooked-for onset. Then she thought of the barn. It would be a +rallying-point for them if driven back--a tower of defence if +besieged. There were arms secreted beneath the hay for such an +emergency. She would run there, swing-to its open doors, and get +ready to barricade them. + +She ran crouchingly, seeking the higher grasses and brambles of the +ridge to escape observation from the meadow until she could descend +upon the barn from the rear. She threw aside her impeding shawl; +her brown holland sun-bonnet, torn off her head and hanging by its +strings from her shoulders, let her coarse silver-threaded hair +stream like a mane over her back; her face and hands were bleeding +from thorns and whitened by dust. But she struggled on fiercely +like some hunted animal until she reached the descending trail, +when, letting herself go blindly, only withheld by the long grasses +she clutched at wildly on either side, she half fell, half stumbled +down the slope and emerged beside the barn, breathless and exhausted. + +But what a contrast was there! For an instant she could scarcely +believe that she had left the ridge with her husband's savage +outcry in her ears, and in her eyes the swift vision of his furious +cavalcade. The boundary meadow was hidden by the soft lines of +graceful willows in whose dim recesses the figures of the +passionate horsemen seemed to have melted forever. There was +nothing now to interrupt the long vista of peaceful beauty that +stretched before her through this lonely hollow to the distant +sleeping hills. The bursting barn in the foreground, heaped with +grain that fringed its eaves and bristled from its windows and +doors until its unlovely bulk was hidden in trailing feathery +outlines; the gentle flutter of wings and soothing twitter of +swallows and jays around its open rafters, and the drifting shadows +of a few circling crows above it; the drowsy song of bees on the +wild mustard that half hid its walls with yellow bloom; the sound +of faintly-trickling water in one of those old Indian-haunted +springs that had given its name to the locality; all these for an +instant touched the senses of this hard, fierce woman as she had +not been touched since she was a girl. For one brief moment the +joys of peace and that matured repose that never had been hers +flashed upon her; but with it came the savage consciousness that +even now it was being wrested away, and the thought fired her blood +again. She listened eagerly for a second in the direction of the +meadow; there was no report of fire-arms--there was yet time to +prepare the barn for defence. She ran to the front of the building +and seized the latch of the half-closed door. A little feminine +cry that was half a laugh came from within, with the rapid rustle +of a skirt and as the door swung open a light figure vanished +through the rear window. The slanting sunlight falling in the +shadowed interior disclosed only the single erect figure of the +school-master John Ford. + +The first confusion and embarrassment of an interrupted rendezvous +that had colored Ford's cheeks, gave way to a look of alarm as he +caught sight of the bleeding face and dishevelled figure of Mrs. +McKinstry. She saw it. To her distorted fancy it seemed only a +proof of deeper guilt. Without a word she closed the heavy door +behind her and swung the huge cross-bar unaided to its place. She +then turned and confronted him, wiping the dust from her face and +arms with her torn and dangling sun-bonnet in a way that recalled +her attitude on the first day he had met her. + +"That was Cress with ye?" she said. + +He hesitated, still gazing at her in wonder. + +"Don't lie." + +He started. "I don't propose to," he retorted indignantly. "It +was"-- + +"I don't ask ye how long this yer's bin goin' on," she said, +pointing to Cressy's sun-bonnet, a few books, and a scattered +nosegay of wild flowers lying on the hay; "and I don't want to +know. In five minutes either her father will be here, or them +hell-hounds of Harrison's who've sold him out will swarm round +this barn to git possesshun. Ef this yer"--she again pointed +contemptuously to the objects just indicated--"means that you've +cast your lot with US and kalkilate to take our bitter with our +sweet, ye'll lift up that stack of hay and bring out a gun to help +defend it. Ef you're meanin' anythin' else, Ford, you'll hide +yourself in that hay till Hiram comes and has time enough to attend +to ye." + +"And if I choose to do neither?" he said haughtily. + +She looked at him in unutterable scorn. "There's the winder--take +it while there's time, afore I bar it. Ef you see Hiram, tell him +ye left an old woman behind ye to defend the place whar you uster +hide with her darter." + +Before he could reply there was a distant report, followed almost +directly by another. With a movement of irritation he walked to +the window, turned and looked at her--bolted it, and came back. + +"Where's that gun?" he said almost rudely. + +"I reckon's that would fetch ye," she said, dragging away the hay +and disclosing a long trough-like box covered with tarpaulin. It +proved to contain powder, shot, and two guns. He took one. + +"I suppose I may know what I am fighting for?" he said dryly. + +"Ye might say 'Cress' ef they"--indicating the direction of the +reports--"happen to ask ye," she returned with equal sobriety. +"Jess now ye kin take your stand up thar in the loft and see what's +comin'." + +He did not linger, but climbed to the place assigned him, glad to +escape the company of the woman who at that moment he almost hated. +In his unreflecting passion for Cressy he had always evaded the +thought of this relationship or propinquity; the mother had +recalled it to him in a way that imperilled even his passion for +the daughter; his mind was wholly preoccupied with the idiotic, +exasperating, and utterly hopeless position that had been forced +upon him. In the bitterness of his spirit his sense of personal +danger was so far absorbed that he speculated on the chance +bullet in the melee that might end his folly and relieve him of +responsibility. Shut up in a barn with a furious woman, in a +lawless defence of questionable rights--with the added consciousness +that an equally questionable passion had drawn him into it, and +that SHE knew it--death seemed to offer the only escape from the +explanation he could never give. If another sting could have been +added it was the absurd conviction that Cressy would not appreciate +his sacrifice, but was perhaps even at that moment calmly +congratulating herself on the felicitousness of the complication +in which she had left him. + +Suddenly he heard a shout and the tramping of horse. The sides of +the loft were scantily boarded to allow the extension of the pent- +up grain, and between the interstices Ford, without being himself +seen, had an uninterrupted view of the plain between him and the +line of willows. As he gazed, five men hurriedly issued from the +extreme left and ran towards the barn. McKinstry and his followers +simultaneously broke from the same covert further to the right and +galloped forward to intercept them. But although mounted, the +greater distance they had to traverse brought them to the rear of +the building only as the Harrison party came to a sudden halt +before the closed and barricaded doors of the usually defenceless +barn. The discomfiture of the latter was greeted by a derisive +shout from the McKinstry party--albeit, equally astonished. But in +that brief moment Ford recognized in the leader of the Harrisons +the well-known figure of the Sheriff of Tuolumne. It needed only +this to cap the climax of the fatality that seemed to pursue him. +He was no longer a lawless opposer of equally lawless forces, but +he was actually resisting the law itself. He understood the +situation now. It was some idiotic blunder of Uncle Ben's that +had precipitated this attack. + +The belligerents had already cocked their weapons, although the +barn was still a rampart between the parties. But an adroit +flanker of McKinstry's, creeping through the tall mustard, managed +to take up an enfilading position as the Harrisons advanced to +break in the door. A threatening shout from the ambuscaded +partisans caused them to hurriedly fall back towards the rear of +the barn. There was a pause, and then began the usual Homeric +chaff,--with this Western difference that it was cunningly intended +to draw the other's fire. + +"Why don't you blaze away at the door, you ---- ----! It won't +hurt ye!" + +"He's afraid the bolt will shoot back!" Laughter from the +McKinstrys. + +"Come outer the tall grass and show yourself, you black, mud-eating +gopher." + +"He can't. He's dropped his grit and is sarchin' for it." Goading +laughter from the Harrisons. + +Each man waited for that single shot which would precipitate the +fight. Even in their lawlessness the rude instinct of the duello +swayed them. The officer of the law recognized the principle as +well as its practical advantage in a collision, but he hesitated to +sacrifice one of his men in an attack on the barn, which would draw +the fire of McKinstry at that necessarily fatal range. As a brave +man he would have taken the risk himself, but as a prudent one, he +reflected that his hurriedly collected posse were all partisans, +and if he fell the conflict would resolve itself into a purely +partisan struggle without a single unprejudiced witness to justify +his conduct in the popular eye. The master also knew this; it had +checked his first impulse to come forward as a mediator; his only +reliance now was on Mrs. McKinstry's restraint and the sheriff's +forbearance. The next instant both seemed to be imperilled. + +"Well, why don't you wade in?" sneered Dick McKinstry; "who do you +reckon's hidden in the barn?" + +"I'll tell ye," said a harsh, passionate voice from the hill-side. +"It's Cressy McKinstry and the school-master hidin' in the hay." + +Both parties turned quickly towards the intruder who had approached +them unperceived. But the speech was followed by a more startling +revulsion of sentiment as Mrs. McKinstry's voice rang out from the +barn, "You lie, Seth Davis!" + +The brief advantage offered to the sheriff in Davis's advent as a +neutral witness, was utterly lost by this unlooked-for revelation +of Mrs. McKinstry's presence in the barn! The fates were clearly +against him! A woman in the fight, and an old one at that! A +white woman to be forcibly ejected! In the whole unwritten code of +Southwestern chivalry there was no such precedent. + +"Stand back," he said disgustedly to his followers, "stand back and +let the d----d barn slide. But you, Hiram McKinstry, I'll give YOU +five minutes to shake yourself clear of your wife's petticoats and +git!" His blood was up now--the quicker from his momentary +weakness and the trick of which he thought himself a dupe. + +Again the fatal signal seemed imminent, again it was delayed. For +Hiram McKinstry, with clanking spurs and rifle in hand stepped from +behind the barn, full in the presence of his antagonists. + +"Ez to my gitten in five minits," he began in his laziest, +drowsiest manner, "we'll see when the time's up. But jest now +words hev passed betwixt my wife and Seth Davis. Afore anythin' +else goes on yer, he's got to take HIS back. My wife allows he +lies; I allow he lies too, and I stan' here to say it." + +The right of personal insult to precedence of redress was too old a +frontier principle to be gainsaid now. Both parties held back and +every eye was turned to where Seth Davis had been standing. But he +had disappeared. + +Where? + +When Mrs. McKinstry hurled her denial from the barn, he had taken +advantage of the greater surprise to leap to one of the trusses of +hay that projected beyond the loft, and secure a footing from which +he quickly scrambled through the open scantling to the interior. +The master who, startled by his voice, had made his way through the +loose grain to the rear, reached it as Seth half crawled, half +tumbled through. Their eyes met in a single flash of rage, but +before Seth could utter an outcry, the master had dropped his gun, +seized him around the neck and crammed a thick handful of the soft +hay he had hurriedly snatched up into his face and gasping mouth. +A furious but silent struggle ensued; the yielding hay on which +they both fell deadened all sound of a scuffle and concealed them +from view; masses of it, already loosened by the intruder's +entrance, and dislodged in their contortions began to slip through +the opening to the ground. The master, still uppermost and holding +Seth firmly down, allowed himself to slip with them, shoving his +adversary before him; the maddened Missourian detecting his +purpose, made a desperate attempt to change his position, and +succeeded in raising his knee against the master's chest. Ford, +guarding against what seemed to be only a wrestler's strategy, +contented himself by locking the bent knee firmly in that position, +and thus unwittingly gave Seth the looked-for opportunity of +drawing the bowie-knife concealed in his boot leg. He knew his +mistake only as Seth violently freed his arm, and threw it upward +for the blow. He heard the steel slither like a scythe through the +hay, and unlocking his hold desperately threw himself on the +uplifted arm. The movement saved him. For the released body of +Seth slipped rapidly through the opening, upheld for a single +instant on the verge by the grasp of the master's two hands on the +arm that still held the knife, and then dropped heavily downward. +Even then, the hay that had slipped before him would have broken +his fall, but his head came in violent contact with some farming +implements standing against the wall, and without a cry he was +stretched senseless on the ground. The whole occurrence passed so +rapidly and so noiselessly that not only did McKinstry's challenge +fall upon his already unconscious ears, but the loosened hay which +in the master's struggles to recover himself still continued to +slide gently from the loft, actually hid him from the eyes of the +spectators who sought him a moment afterwards. A mass of hay and +wild oats, dislodged apparently by Mrs. McKinstry in securing her +defences, was all that met their eyes; even the woman herself was +unconscious of the deadly struggle that had taken place above her. + +The master staggered to an upright position half choked and half +blinded with dust, turgid and bursting with the rush of blood to +his head, but clear and collected in mind, and unremorsefully +triumphant. Unconscious of the real extent of Seth's catastrophe +he groped for and seized his gun, examined the cap and eagerly +waited for a renewed attack. "He tried to kill me; he would have +killed me; if he comes again I must kill him," he kept repeating to +himself. It never occurred to him that this was inconsistent with +his previous thought--indeed with the whole tenor of his belief. +Perhaps the most peaceful man who has been once put in peril of +life by an adversary, who has recognized death threatening him in +the eye of his antagonist, is by some strange paradox not likely to +hold his own life or the life of his adversary as dearly as before. +Everything was silent now. The suspense irritated him, he no +longer dreaded but even longed for the shot that would precipitate +hostilities. What were they doing? Guided by Seth, were they +concerting a fresh attack? + +Listening more intently he became aware of a distant shouting, and +even more distinctly, of the dull, heavy trampling of hoofs. A +sudden angry fear that the McKinstrys had been beaten off and were +flying--a fear and anger that now for the first time identified him +with their cause--came over him, and he scrambled quickly towards +the opening below. But the sound was approaching and with it came +a voice. + +"Hold on there, sheriff!" + +It was the voice of the agent Stacey. + +There was a pause of reluctant murmuring. But the warning was +enforced by a command from another voice--weak, unheroic, but +familiar, "I order this yer to stop--right yer!" + +A burst of ironical laughter followed. The voice was Uncle Ben's. + +"Stand back! This is no time for foolin'," said the sheriff +roughly. + +"He's right, Sheriff Briggs," said Stacey's voice hurriedly; +"you're acting for HIM; he's the owner of the land." + +"What? That Ben Dabney?" + +"Yes; he's Daubigny, who bought the title from us." + +There was a momentary hush, and then a hurried murmur. + +"Which means, gents," rose Uncle Ben's voice persuasively, "that +this yer young man, though fair-minded and well-intended, hez bin a +leetle too chipper and previous in orderin' out the law. This yer +ain't no law matter with ME, boys. It ain't to be settled by law- +papers, nor shot-guns and deringers. It's suthin' to be chawed +over sociable-like, between drinks. Ef any harm hez bin done, ef +anythin's happened, I'm yer to 'demnify the sheriff, and make it +comf'ble all round. Yer know me, boys. I'm talkin'. It's me-- +Dabney, or Daubigny, which ever way you like it." + +But in the silence that followed, the passions had not yet +evidently cooled. It was broken by the sarcastic drawl of Dick +McKinstry: "If them Harrisons don't mind heven had their medders +trampled over by a few white men, why"-- + +"The sheriff ez 'demnified for that," interrupted Uncle Ben +hastily. + +"'N ef Dick McKinstry don't mind the damage to his pants in +crawlin' out o' gunshot in the tall grass"--retorted Joe Harrison. + +"I'm yer to settle that, boys," said Uncle Ben cheerfully. + +"But who'll settle THIS?" clamored the voice of the older Harrison +from behind the barn where he had stumbled in crossing the fallen +hay. "Yer's Seth Davis lyin' in the hay with the top of his head +busted. Who's to pay for that?" + +There was a rush to the spot, and a quick cry of reaction. + +"Whose work is this?" demanded the sheriff's voice, with official +severity. + +The master uttered an instinctive exclamation of defiance, and +dropping quickly to the barn floor, would the next moment have +opened the door and declared himself, but Mrs. McKinstry, after a +single glance at his determined face, suddenly threw herself before +him with an imperious gesture of silence. Then her voice rang +clearly from the barn:-- + +"Well, if it's the hound that tried to force his way in yer, I +reckon ye kin put that down to ME!" + + +CHAPTER X. + + +It was known to Indian Spring, the next day, amid great excitement, +that a serious fracas had been prevented on the ill-fated boundary +by the dramatic appearance of Uncle Ben Dabney, not only as a +peacemaker, but as Mr. Daubigny the bona fide purchaser and owner +of the land. It was known and accepted with great hilarity that +"old marm McKinstry" had defended the barn alone and unaided, with-- +as variously stated--a pitchfork, an old stable-broom, and a pail +of dirty water, against Harrison, his party, and the entire able +posse of the Sheriff of Tuolumne County, with no further damage +than a scalp wound which the head of Seth Davis received while +falling from the loft of the barn from which he had been dislodged +by Mrs. McKinstry and the broom aforesaid. It was known with +unanimous approbation that the acquisition of the land-title by a +hitherto humble citizen of Indian Spring was a triumph of the +settlement over foreign interference. But it was not known that +the school-master was a participant in the fight, or even present +on the spot. At Mrs. McKinstry's suggestion he had remained +concealed in the loft until after the withdrawal of both parties +and the still unconscious Seth. When Ford had remonstrated, with +the remark that Seth would be sure to declare the truth when he +recovered his senses, Mrs. McKinstry smiled grimly: "I reckon when +he comes to know I was with ye all the time, he'd rather hev it +allowed that I licked him than YOU. I don't say he'll let it pass +ez far ez you're concerned or won't try to get even with ye, but he +won't go round tellin' WHY. However," she added still more grimly, +"if you think you're ekul to tellin' the hull story--how ye kem to +be yer and that Seth wasn't lyin' arter all when he blurted it out +afore 'em--why I sha'n't hinder ye." The master said no more. And +indeed for a day or two nothing transpired to show that Seth was +not equally reticent. + +Nevertheless Mr. Ford was far from being satisfied with the issue +of his adventure. His relations with Cressy were known to the +mother, and although she had not again alluded to them, she would +probably inform her husband. Yet he could not help noticing, with +a mingling of unreasoning relief and equally unreasoning distrust, +that she exhibited a scornful unconcern in the matter, apart from +the singular use to which she had put it. He could hardly count +upon McKinstry, with his heavy, blind devotion to Cressy, being as +indifferent. On the contrary, he had acquired the impression, +without caring to examine it closely, that her father would not be +displeased at his marrying Cressy, for it would really amount to +that. But here again he was forced to contemplate what he had +always avoided, the possible meaning and result of their intimacy. +In the reckless, thoughtless, extravagant--yet thus far innocent-- +indulgence of their mutual passion, he had never spoken of +marriage, nor--and it struck him now with the same incongruous +mingling of relief and uneasiness--had SHE! Perhaps this might +have arisen from some superstitious or sensitive recollection on +her part of her previous engagement to Seth, but he remembered now +that they had not even exchanged the usual vows of eternal +constancy. It may seem strange that, in the half-dozen stolen and +rapturous interviews which had taken place between these young +lovers, there had been no suggestion of the future, nor any of +those glowing projects for a united destiny peculiar to their years +and inexperience. They had lived entirely in a blissful present, +with no plans beyond their next rendezvous. In that mysterious and +sudden absorption of each other, not only the past, but the future +seemed to have been forgotten. + +These thoughts were passing through his mind the next afternoon to +the prejudice of that calm and studious repose which the deserted +school-house usually superinduced, and which had been so fondly +noted by McKinstry and Uncle Ben. The latter had not arrived for +his usual lesson; it was possible that undue attention had been +attracted to his movements now that his good fortune was known; and +the master was alone save for the occasional swooping incursion of +a depredatory jay in search of crumbs from the children's +luncheons, who added apparently querulous insult to the larcenous +act. He regretted Uncle Ben's absence, as he wanted to know more +about his connection with the Harrison attack and his eventual +intentions. Ever since the master emerged from the barn and +regained his hotel under cover of the darkness, he had heard only +the vaguest rumors, and he purposely avoided direct inquiry. + +He had been quite prepared for Cressy's absence from school that +morning--indeed in his present vacillating mood he had felt that +her presence would have been irksome and embarrassing; but it +struck him suddenly and unpleasantly that her easy desertion of him +at that critical moment in the barn had not since been followed by +the least sign of anxiety to know the result of her mother's +interference. What did she imagine had transpired between Mrs. +McKinstry and himself? Had she confidently expected her mother's +prompt acceptance of the situation and a reconciliation? Was that +the reason why she had treated that interruption as lightly as if +she were already his recognized betrothed? Had she even calculated +upon it? had she--? He stopped, his cheek glowing from irritation +under the suspicion, and shame at the disloyalty of entertaining it. + +Opening his desk, he began to arrange his papers mechanically, when +he discovered, with a slight feeling of annoyance, that he had +placed Cressy's bouquet--now dried and withered--in the same +pigeon-hole with the mysterious letters with which he had so often +communed in former days. He at once separated them with a half +bitter smile, yet after a moment's hesitation, and with his old +sense of attempting to revive a forgotten association, he tried to +re-peruse them. But they did not even restrain his straying +thoughts, nor prevent him from detecting a singular occurrence. +The nearly level sun was, after its old fashion, already hanging +the shadowed tassels of the pine boughs like a garland on the wall. +But the shadow seemed to have suddenly grown larger and more +compact, and he turned, with a quick consciousness of some +interposing figure at the pane. Nothing however was to be seen. +Yet so impressed had he been that he walked to the door and stepped +from the porch to discover the intruder. The clearing was +deserted, there was a slight rustling in the adjacent laurels, but +no human being was visible. Nevertheless the old feeling of +security and isolation which had never been quite the same since +Mr. McKinstry's confession, seemed now to have fled the sylvan +school-house altogether, and he somewhat angrily closed his desk, +locked it, and determined to go home. + +His way lay through the first belt of pines towards the mining- +flat, but to-day from some vague impulse he turned and followed the +ridge. He had not proceeded far when he perceived Rupert Filgee +lounging before him on the trail, and at a little distance further +on his brother Johnny. At the sight of these two favorite pupils +Mr. Ford's heart smote him with a consciousness that he had of late +neglected them, possibly because Rupert's lofty scorn of the +"silly" sex was not as amusing to him as formerly, and possibly +because Johnny's curiosity had been at times obtrusive. He however +quickened his pace and joined Rupert, laying his hand familiarly as +of old on his shoulder. To his surprise the boy received his +advances with some constraint and awkwardness, glancing uneasily in +the direction of Johnny. A sudden idea crossed Mr. Ford's mind. + +"Were you looking for me at the schoolroom just now?" + +"No, sir." + +"You didn't look in at the window to see if I was there?" continued +the master. + +"No, sir." + +The master glanced at Rupert. Truth-telling was a part of Rupert's +truculent temper, although, as the boy had often bitterly remarked, +it had always "told agin' him." + +"All right," said the master, perfectly convinced. "It must have +been my fancy; but I thought somebody looked in--or passed by the +window." + +But here Johnny, who had overheard the dialogue and approached +them, suddenly threw himself upon his brother's unoffending legs +and commenced to beat and pull them about with unintelligible +protests. Rupert, without looking down, said quietly, "Quit that +now--I won't, I tell ye," and went through certain automatic +movements of dislodging Johnny as if he were a mere impeding puppy. + +"What's the matter, Johnny?" said the master, to whom these +gyrations were not unfamiliar. + +Johnny only replied by a new grip of his brother's trousers. + +"Well, sir," said Rupert, slightly recovering his dimples and his +readiness, "Johnny, yer, wants me to tell ye something. Ef he +wasn't the most original self-cocking, God-forsaken liar in Injin +Spring--ef he didn't lie awake in his crib mornin's to invent lies +fer the day, I wouldn't mind tellin' ye, and would hev told you +before. However, since you ask, and since you think you saw +somebody around the school-house, Johnny yer allows that Seth Davis +is spyin' round and followin' ye wherever you go, and he dragged me +down yer to see it. He says he saw him doggin' ye." + +"With a knife and pithtolth," added Johnny's boundless imagination, +to the detriment of his limited facts. + +Mr. Ford looked keenly from the one to the other, but rather with a +suspicion that they were cognizant of his late fracas than belief +in the truth of Johnny's statement. + +"And what do YOU think of it, Rupert?" he asked carelessly. + +I think, sir," said Rupert, "that allowin'--for onct--that Johnny +ain't lying, mebbee it's Cressy McKinstry that Seth's huntin' +round, and knowin' that she's always runnin' after you"--he +stopped, and reddening with a newborn sense that his fatal +truthfulness had led him into a glaring indelicacy towards the +master, hurriedly added: "I mean, sir, that mebbee it's Uncle Ben +he's jealous of, now that he's got rich enough for Cressy to hev +him, and knowin' he comes to school in the afternoon perhaps"-- + +"'Tain't either!" broke in Johnny promptly. "Theth's over ther +beyond the thchool, and Crethy's eatin' ithecream at the bakerth +with Uncle Ben." + +"Well, suppose she is, Seth don't know it, silly!" answered Rupert, +sharply. Then more politely to the master: "That's it! Seth has +seen Uncle Ben gallivanting with Cressy and thinks he's bringing +her over yer. Don't you see?" + +The master however did not see but one thing. The girl who had +only two days ago carelessly left it to him to explain a compromising +situation to her mother--this girl who had precipitated him into a +frontier fight to the peril of his position and her good name, was +calmly eating ices with an available suitor without the least +concern of the past! The connection was perhaps illogical, but it +was unpleasant. It was the more awkward from the fact that he +fancied that not only Rupert's beautiful eyes, but even the infant +Johnny's round ones, were fixed upon him with an embarrassed +expression of hesitating and foreboding sympathy. + +"I think Johnny believes what he says--don't you, Johnny?" he +smiled with an assumption of cheerful ease, "but I see no necessity +just yet for binding Seth Davis over to keep the peace. Tell me +about yourself, Rupe. I hope Uncle Ben doesn't think of changing +his young tutor with his good fortune?" + +"No, sir," returned Rupert brightening; "he promises to take me to +Sacramento with him as his private secretary or confidential clerk, +you know, ef--ef"--he hesitated again with very un-Rupert-like +caution, "ef things go as he wants 'em." He stopped awkwardly and +his brown eyes became clouded. "Like ez not, Mr. Ford, he's only +foolin' me--and--HIMSELF." The boy's eyes sought the master's +curiously. + +"I don't know about that," returned Mr. Ford uneasily, with a +certain recollection of Uncle Ben's triumph over his own +incredulity; "he surely hasn't shown himself a fool or a boaster so +far. I consider your prospect a very fair one, and I wish you joy +of it, my boy." He ran his fingers through Rupert's curls in his +old caressing fashion, the more tenderly perhaps that he fancied he +still saw symptoms of stormy and wet weather in the boy's brown +eyes. "Run along home, both of you, and don't worry yourselves +about me." + +He turned away, but had scarcely proceeded half a dozen yards +before he felt a tug at his coat. Looking down he saw the +diminutive Johnny. "They'll be comin' home thith way," he said, +reaching up in a hoarse confidential whisper. + +"Who?" + +"Crethy and 'im." + +But before the master could make any response to this presumably +gratifying information, Johnny had rejoined his brother. The two +boys waved their hands towards him with the same diffident and +mysterious sympathy that left him hesitating between a smile and a +frown. Then he proceeded on his way. Nevertheless, for no other +reason than that he felt a sudden distaste to meeting any one, when +he reached the point where the trail descended directly to the +settlement, he turned into a longer and more solitary detour by the +woods. + +The sun was already so low that its long rays pierced the forest +from beneath, and suffused the dim colonnade of straight pine +shafts with a golden haze, while it left the dense intercrossed +branches fifty feet above in deeper shadow. Walking in this yellow +twilight, with his feet noiselessly treading down the yielding +carpet of pine needles, it seemed to the master that he was passing +through the woods in a dream. There was no sound but the dull +intermittent double knock of the wood-pecker, or the drowsy croak +of some early roosting bird; all suggestion of the settlement, with +all traces of human contiguity, were left far behind. It was +therefore with a strange and nervous sense of being softly hailed +by some woodland sprite that he seemed to hear his own name faintly +wafted upon the air. He turned quickly; it was Cressy, panting +behind him! Even then, in her white closely gathered skirts, her +bared head and graceful arching neck bent forward, her flying +braids freed from the straw hat which she had swung from her arm so +as not to impede her flight, there was so much of the following +Maenad about her that he was for an instant startled. + +He stopped; she bounded to him, and throwing her arms around his +neck with a light laugh, let herself hang for a moment breathless +on his breast. Then recovering her speech she said slowly:-- + +"I started on an Injin trot after you, just as you turned off the +trail, but you'd got so far ahead while I was shaking myself clear +of Uncle Ben that I had to jist lope the whole way through the +woods to catch up." She stopped, and looking up into his troubled +face caught his cheeks between her hands, and bringing his knit +brows down to the level of her humid blue eyes said, "You haven't +kissed me yet. What's the matter?" + +"Doesn't it strike you that I might ask that question, considering +that it's three days since I've seen you, and that you left me, in +a rather awkward position, to explain matters to your mother?" he +said coldly. He had formulated the sentence in his mind some +moments before, but now that it was uttered, it appeared singularly +weak and impotent. + +"That's so," she said with a frank laugh, burying her face in his +waistcoat. "You see, dandy boy"--his pet name--"I reckoned for +that reason we'd better lie low for a day or two. Well," she +continued, untying his cravat and retying it again, "how DID you +crawl out of it?" + +"Do you mean to say your mother did not tell you?" he asked +indignantly. + +"Why should she?" returned Cressy lazily. "She never talks to me +of these things, honey." + +"And you knew nothing about it?" + +Cressy shook her head, and then winding one of her long braids +around the young man's neck, offered the end of it to his mouth, +and on his sternly declining it, took it in her own. + +Yet even her ignorance of what had really happened did not account +to the master for the indifference of her long silence, and albeit +conscious of some inefficiency in his present unheroic attitude, he +continued sarcastically, "May I ask WHAT you imagined would happen +when you left me?" + +"Well," said Cressy confidently, "I reckoned, chile, you could lie +as well as the next man, and that, being gifted, you'd sling Maw +something new and purty. Why, I ain't got no fancy, but I fixed up +something against Paw's questioning ME. I made that conceited +Masters promise to swear that HE was in the barn with me. Then I +calculated to tell Paw that you came meandering along just before +Maw popped in, and that I skedaddled to join Masters. Of course," +she added quickly, tightening her hold of the master as he made a +sudden attempt at withdrawal, "I didn't let on to Masters WHY I +wanted him to promise, or that you were there." + +"Cressy," said Ford, irritated beyond measure, "are you mad, or do +you think I am?" + +The girl's face changed. She cast a half frightened, half +questioning glance at his eyes and then around the darkening aisle. +"If we're going to quarrel, Jack," she said hurriedly, "don't let's +do it BEFORE FOLKS." + +"In the name of Heaven," he said, following her eyes indignantly, +"what do you mean?" + +"I mean," she said, with a slight shiver of resignation and scorn, +"if you--oh dear! if IT'S ALL going to be like THEM, let's keep it +to ourselves." + +He gazed at her in hopeless bewilderment. Did she really mean that +she was more frightened at the possible revelation of their +disagreement than of their intimacy? + +"Come," she continued tenderly, still glancing, however, uneasily +around her, "come! We'll be more comfortable in the hollow. It's +only a step." Still holding him by her braid she half led, half +dragged him away. To the right was one of those sudden depressions +in the ground caused by the subsidence of the earth from hidden +springs and the uprooting of one or two of the larger trees. When +she had forced him down this declivity below the level of the +needle-strewn forest floor, she seated him upon a mossy root, and +shaking out her skirts in a half childlike, half coquettish way, +comfortably seated herself in his lap, with her arm supplementing +the clinging braid around his neck. + +"Now hark to me, and don't holler so loud," she said turning his +face to her questioning eyes. "What's gone of you anyway, nigger +boy?" It should be premised that Cressy's terms of endearment were +mainly negro-dialectical, reminiscences of her brief babyhood, her +slave-nurse, and the only playmates she had ever known. + +Still implacable, the master coldly repeated the counts of his +indictment against the girl's strange indifference and still +stranger entanglements, winding up by setting forth the whole story +of his interview with her mother, his forced defence of the barn, +Seth's outspoken accusation, and their silent and furious struggle +in the loft. But if he had expected that this daughter of a +Southwestern fighter would betray any enthusiasm over her lover's +participation in one of their characteristic feuds--if he looked +for any fond praise for his own prowess, he was bitterly mistaken. +She loosened her arm from his neck of her own accord, unwound the +braid, and putting her two little hands clasped between her knees, +crossed her small feet before her, and, albeit still in his lap, +looked the picture of languid dejection. + +"Maw ought to have more sense, and you ought to have lit out of the +window after me," she said with a lazy sigh. "Fightin' ain't in +your line--it's too much like THEM. That Seth's sure to get even +with you." + +"I can protect myself," he said haughtily. Nevertheless he had a +depressing consciousness that his lithe and graceful burden was +somewhat in the way of any heroic expression. + +"Seth can lick you out of your boots, chile," she said with naive +abstraction. Then, as he struggled to secure an upright position, +"Don't git riled, honey. Of course you'd let them kill you before +YOU'D give in. But that's their best holt--that's their trade! +That's all they can do--don't you see? That's where YOU'RE not +like THEM--that's why you're not their low down kind! That's why +you're my boy--that's why I love you!" + +She had thrown her whole weight again upon his shoulders until she +had forced him back to his seat. Then, with her locked hands again +around his neck, she looked intently into his face. The varying +color dropped from her cheeks, her eyes seemed to grow larger, the +same look of rapt absorption and possession that had so transfigured +her young face at the ball was fixed upon it now. Her lips parted +slightly, she seemed to murmur rather than speak:-- + +"What are these people to us? What are Seth's jealousies, Uncle +Ben's and Masters's foolishness, Paw and Maw's quarr'ls and +tantrums to you and me, dear? What is it what THEY think, what +they reckon, what they plan out, and what they set themselves +against--to us? We love each other, we belong to each other, +without their help or their hindrance. From the time we first saw +each other it was so, and from that time Paw and Maw, and Seth and +Masters, and even YOU and ME, dear, had nothing else to do. That +was love as I know it; not Seth's sneaking rages, and Uncle Ben's +sneaking fooleries, and Masters's sneaking conceit, but only love. +And knowing that, I let Seth rage, and Uncle Ben dawdle, and +Masters trifle--and for what? To keep them from me and my boy. +They were satisfied, and we were happy." + +Vague and unreasoning as he knew her speech to be, the rapt and +perfect conviction with which it was uttered staggered him. + +"But how is this to end, Cressy?" he said passionately. + +The abstracted look passed, and the slight color and delicate +mobility of her face returned. "To end, dandy boy?" she repeated +lazily. "You didn't think of marrying me--did you?" + +He blushed, stammered, and said "Yes," albeit with all his past +vacillation and his present distrust of her, transparent on his +cheek and audible in his voice. + +"No, dear," she said quietly, reaching down, untying her little +shoe and shaking the dust and pine needles from its recesses, "no! +I don't know enough to be a wife to you, just now, and you know it. +And I couldn't keep a house fit for you, and you couldn't afford to +keep ME without it. And then it would be all known, and it +wouldn't be us two, dear, and our lonely meetings any more. And we +couldn't be engaged--that would be too much like me and Seth over +again. That's what you mean, dandy boy--for you're only a dandy +boy, you know, and they don't get married to backwood Southern +girls who haven't a nigger to bless themselves with since the war! +No," she continued, lifting her proud little head so promptly after +Ford had recovered from his surprise as to make the ruse of +emptying her shoe perfectly palpable, "no, that's what we've both +allowed, dear, all along. And now, honey, it's near time for me to +go. Tell me something good--before I go. Tell me that you love me +as you used to--tell me how you felt that night at the ball when +you first knew we loved each other. But stop--kiss me first-- +there, once more--for keeps." + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +When Uncle Ben, or "Benjamin Daubigny, Esq.," as he was already +known in the columns of the "Star," accompanied Miss Cressy +McKinstry on her way home after the first display of attention and +hospitality since his accession to wealth and position, he remained +for some moments in a state of bewildered and smiling idiocy. It +was true that their meeting was chance and accidental; it was true +that Cressy had accepted his attention with lazy amusement; it was +true that she had suddenly and audaciously left him on the borders +of the McKinstry woods in a way that might have seemed rude and +abrupt to any escort less invincibly good-humored than Uncle Ben, +but none of these things marred his fatuous felicity. It is even +probable that in his gratuitous belief that his timid attentions +had been too marked and impulsive, he attributed Cressy's flight to +a maidenly coyness that pleasurably increased his admiration for +her and his confidence in himself. In his abstraction of enjoyment +and in the gathering darkness he ran against a fir-tree very much +as he had done while walking with her, and he confusedly apologized +to it as he had to her, and by her own appellation. In this way he +eventually overran his trail and found himself unexpectedly and +apologetically in the clearing before the school-house. + +"Ef this ain't the singlerest thing, miss," he said, and then +stopped suddenly. A faint noise in the school-house like the sound +of splintered wood attracted his attention. The master was +evidently there. If he was alone he would speak to him. + +He went to the window, looked in, and in an instant his amiable +abstraction left him. He crept softly to the door, tried it, and +then putting his powerful shoulder against the panel, forced the +lock from its fastenings. He entered the room as Seth Davis, +frightened but furious, lifted himself from before the master's +desk which he had just broken open. He had barely time to conceal +something in his pocket and close the lid again before Uncle Ben +approached him. + +"What mouut ye be doin' here, Seth Davis?" he asked with the slow +deliberation which in that locality meant mischief. + +"And what mouut YOU be doin' here, Mister Ben Dabney?" said Seth, +resuming his effrontery. + +"Well," returned Uncle Ben, planting himself in the aisle before +his opponent, "I ain't doin' no sheriff's posse business jest now, +but I reckon to keep my hand in far enuff to purtect other folks' +property," he added, with a significant glance at the broken lock +of the desk. + +"Ben Dabney," said Seth in snarling expostulation, "I hain't got no +quar'll with ye!" + +"Then hand me over whatever you took just now from teacher's desk +and we'll talk about that afterwards," said Uncle Ben advancing. + +"I tell ye I hain't got no quar'll with ye, Uncle Ben," continued +Seth, retreating with a malignant sneer; "and when you talk of +protectin' other folks' property, mebbe ye'd better protect YOUR +OWN--or what ye'd like to call so--instead of quar'llin' with the +man that's helpin' ye. I've got yer the proofs that that sneakin' +hound of a Yankee school-master that Cress McKinstry's hell bent +on, and that the old man and old woman are just chuckin' into her +arms, is a lyin', black-hearted, hypocritical seducer"-- + +"Stop!" said Uncle Ben in a voice that made the crazy casement +rattle. + +He strode towards Seth Davis, no longer with his habitual careful, +hesitating step, but with a tread that seemed to shake the whole +school-room. A single dominant clutch of his powerful right hand +on the young man's breast forced him backwards into the vacant +chair of the master. His usually florid face had grown as gray as +the twilight; his menacing form in a moment filled the little room +and darkened the windows. Then in some inexplicable reaction his +figure slightly drooped, he laid one heavy hand tremblingly on the +desk, and with the other affected to wipe his mouth after his old +embarrassed fashion. + +"What's that you were sayin' o' Cressy?" he said huskily. + +"Wot everybody says," said the frightened Seth, gaining a cowardly +confidence under his adversary's emotion. "Wot every cub that sets +yer under his cantin' teachin', and sees 'em together, knows. It's +wot you'd hev knowed ef he and Roop Filgee hadn't played ye fer a +softy all the time. And while you've bin hangin' round yer fer a +flicker of Cressy's gownd as she prances out o' school, he's bin +lyin' low and laffin' at ye, and while he's turned Roop over to +keep you here, pretendin' to give ye lessons, he's bin gallivantin' +round with her and huggin' and kissin' her in barns and in the +brush--and now YOU want to quar'll with me." + +He stopped, panting for breath, and stared malignantly in the gray +face of his hearer. But Uncle Ben only lifted his heavy hand +mildly with an awkward gesture of warning, stepped softly in his +old cautious hesitating manner to the open door, closed it, and +returned gently:-- + +"I reckon ye got in through the winder, didn't ye, Seth?" he said, +with a labored affectation of unemotional ease, "a kind o' one leg +over, and one, two, and then you're in, eh?" + +"Never you mind HOW I got in, Ben Dabney," returned Seth, his +hostility and insolence increasing with his opponent's evident +weakness, "ez long ez I got yer and got, by G-d! what I kem here +fer! For whiles all this was goin' on, and whiles the old fool man +and old fool woman was swallowin' what they did see and blinkin' at +what they didn't, and huggin' themselves that they'd got high-toned +kempany fer their darter, that high-toned kempany was playin' THEM +too, by G-d! Yes, Sir! that high-toned, cantin' school-teacher was +keepin' a married woman in 'Frisco, all the while he was here +honey-foglin' with Cressy, and I've got the papers yer to prove +it." He tapped his breast-pocket with a coarse laugh and thrust +his face forward into the gray shadow of his adversary's. + +"An' you sorter spotted their bein' in this yer desk and bursted +it?" said Uncle Ben, gravely examining the broken lock in the +darkness as if it were the most important feature of the incident. + +Seth nodded. "You bet your life. I saw him through the winder +only this afternoon lookin over 'em alone, and I reckoned to lay +my hands on 'em if I had to bust him or his desk. And I did!" he +added with a triumphant chuckle. + +"And you did--sure pop!" said Uncle Ben with slow deliberate +admiration, passing his heavy hand along the splintered lid. "And +you reckon, Seth, that this yer showin' of him up will break off +enythin' betwixt him and this yer--this yer Miss--Miss McKinstry?" +he continued with labored formality. + +"I reckon ef the old fool McKinstry don't shoot him in his tracks +thar'll be white men enough in Injin Springs to ride this high- +toned, pizenous hypocrit on a rail outer the settlement!" + +"That's so!" said Uncle Ben musingly, after a thoughtful pause, in +which he still seemed to be more occupied with the broken desk than +his companion's remark. Then he went on cautiously: "And ez this +thing orter be worked mighty fine, Seth, p'r'aps, on the hull, +you'd better let me have them papers." + +"What! YOU?" snarled Seth, drawing back with a glance of angry +suspicion; "not if I know it!" + +"Seth," said Uncle Ben, resting his elbows on the desk +confidentially, and speaking with painful and heavy deliberation, +"when you first interdoosed this yer subject you elluded to my +hevin', so to speak, rights o' preemption and interference with +this young lady, and that in your opinion, I wasn't purtectin' them +rights. It 'pears to me that, allowin' that to be gospel truth, +them ther papers orter be in MY possession--you hevin' so to speak +no rights to purtect, bein' off the board with this yer young lady, +and bein' moved gin'rally by free and independent cussedness. And +ez I sed afore, this sort o' thing havin' to be worked mighty fine, +and them papers manniperlated with judgment, I reckon, Seth, if you +don't objeck, I'll hev--hev--to trouble you." + +Seth started to his feet with a rapid glance at the door, but Uncle +Ben had risen again with the same alarming expression of completely +filling the darkened school-room, and of shaking the floor beneath +him at the slightest movement. Already he fancied he saw Uncle +Ben's powerful arm hovering above him ready to descend. It +suddenly occurred to him that if he left the execution of his +scheme of exposure and vengeance to Uncle Ben, the onus of stealing +the letters would fall equally upon their possessor. This +advantage seemed more probable than the danger of Uncle Ben's +weakly yielding them up to the master. In the latter case he, +Seth, could still circulate the report of having seen the letters +which Uncle Ben had himself stolen in a fit of jealousy--a +hypothesis the more readily accepted from the latter's familiar +knowledge of the schoolhouse and his presumed ambitious jealousy of +Cressy in his present attitude as a man of position. With affected +reluctance and hesitation he put his hand to his breast-pocket. + +"Of course," he said, "if you're kalkilatin' to take up the quar'll +on YOUR rights, and ez Cressy ain't anythin' more to me, YOU orter +hev the proofs. Only don't trust them into that hound's hands. +Once he gets 'em again he'll secure a warrant agin you for stealin'. +That'll be his game. I'd show 'em to HER first--don't ye see?--and +I reckon ef she's old Ma'am McKinstry's darter, she'll make it +lively for him." + +He handed the letters to the looming figure before him. It seemed +to become again a yielding mortal, and said in a hesitating voice, +"P'r'aps you'd better make tracks outer this, Seth, and leave me +yer to put things to rights and fix up that door and the desk agin +to-morrow mornin'. He'd better not know it to onct, and so start a +row about bein' broken into." + +The proposition seemed to please Seth; he even extended his hand in +the darkness. But he met only an irresponsive void. With a slight +shrug of his shoulders and a grunting farewell, he felt his way to +the door and disappeared. For a few moments it seemed as if Uncle +Ben had also deserted the schoolhouse, so profound and quiet was +the hush that fell upon it. But as the eye became accustomed to +the shadow a grayish bulk appeared to grow out of it over the +master's desk and shaped itself into the broad figure of Uncle Ben. +Later, when the moon rose and looked in at the window, it saw him +as the master had seen him on the first day he had begun his +lessons in the school-house, with his face bent forward over the +desk and the same look of child-like perplexity and struggle that +he had worn at his allotted task. Unheroic, ridiculous, and no +doubt blundering and idiotic as then, but still vaguely persistent +in his thought, he remained for some moments in this attitude. +Then rising and taking advantage of the moonlight that flooded the +desk, he set himself to mend the broken lock with a large +mechanical clasp-knife he produced from his pocket, and the aid of +his workmanlike thumb and finger. Presently he began to whistle +softly, at first a little artificially and with relapses of +reflective silence. The lock of the desk restored, he secured into +position again that part of the door-lock which he had burst off in +his entrance. This done, he closed the door gently and once more +stepped out into the moonlit clearing. In replacing his knife in +his pocket he took out the letters which he had not touched since +they were handed to him in the darkness. His first glance at the +handwriting caused him to stop. Then still staring at it, he began +to move slowly and automatically backwards to the porch. When he +reached it he sat down, unfolded the letter, and without attempting +to read it, turned its pages over and over with the unfamiliarity +of an illiterate man in search of the signature. This when found +apparently plunged him again into motionless abstraction. Only +once he changed his position to pull up the legs of his trousers, +open his knees, and extend the distance between his feet, and then +with the unfolded pages carefully laid in the moonlit space thus +opened before him, regarded them with dubious speculation. At the +end of ten minutes he rose with a sigh of physical and mental +relaxation, refolded the letter, put it in his pocket, and made his +way to the town. + +When he reached the hotel he turned into the bar-room, and +observing that it happened to be comparatively deserted, asked for +a glass of whiskey. In response to the barkeeper's glance of +curiosity--as Uncle Ben seldom drank, and then only as a social +function with others--he explained:-- + +"I reckon straight whiskey is about ez good ez the next thing for +blind chills." + +The bar-keeper here interposed that in his larger medical +experience he had found the exhibition of ginger in combination +with gin attended with effect, although it was evident that in his +business capacity he regarded Uncle Ben, as a drinker, with +distrust. + +"Ye ain't seen Mr. Ford hanging round yer lately?" continued Uncle +Ben with laborious ease. + +The bar-keeper, with his eye still scornfully fixed on his +customer, but his hands which were engaged in washing his glasses +under the counter giving him the air of humorously communicating +with a hidden confederate, had not seen the school-master that +afternoon. + +Uncle Ben turned away and slowly mounted the staircase to the +master's room. After a moment's pause on the landing, which must +have been painfully obvious to any one who heard his heavy ascent, +he gave two timid raps on the door which were equally ridiculous in +contrast with his powerful tread. The door was opened promptly by +the master. + +"Oh, it's you, is it?" he said shortly. "Come in." + +Uncle Ben entered without noticing the somewhat ungracious form of +invitation. "It war me," he said, "dropped in, not finding ye +downstairs. Let's have a drink." + +The master gazed at Uncle Ben, who, owing to his abstraction, had +not yet wiped his mouth of the liquor he had imperfectly swallowed, +and was in consequence more redolent of whiskey than a confirmed +toper. He rang the bell for the desired refreshment with a +slightly cynical smile. He was satisfied that his visitor, like +many others of humble position, was succumbing to his good fortune. + +"I wanted to see ye, Mr. Ford," he began, taking an unproffered +chair and depositing his hat after some hesitation outside the +door, "in regard to what I onct told ye about my wife in Mizzouri. +P'r'aps you disremember?" + +"I remember," returned the master resignedly. + +"You know it was that arternoon that fool Stacey sent the sheriff +and the Harrisons over to McKinstry's barn." + +"Go on!" petulantly said the master, who had his own reasons for +not caring to recall it. + +"It was that arternoon, you know, that you hadn't time to hark to +me--hevin' to go off on an engagement," continued Uncle Ben with +protracted deliberation, "and"-- + +"Yes, yes, I remember," interrupted the master exasperatedly, "and +really unless you get on faster, I'll have to leave you again." + +"It was that arternoon," said Uncle Ben without heeding him, "when +I told you I hadn't any idea what had become o' my wife ez I left +in Mizzouri." + +"Yes," said the master sharply, "and I told you it was your bounden +duty to look for her." + +"That's so," said Uncle Ben nodding comfortably, "them's your very +words; on'y a leetle more strong than that, ef I don't disremember. +Well, I reckon I've got an idee!" The master assumed a sudden +expression of interest, but Uncle Ben did not vary his monotonous +tone. + +"I kem across that idee, so to speak, on the trail. I kem across +it in some letters ez was lying wide open in the brush. I picked +em up and I've got 'em here." + +He slowly took the letters from his pocket with one hand, while he +dragged the chair on which he was sitting beside the master. But +with a quick flush of indignation Mr. Ford rose and extended his +hand. + +"These are MY letters, Dabney," he said sternly, "stolen from my +desk. Who has dared to do this?" + +But Uncle Ben had, as if accidentally, interposed his elbow between +the master and Seth's spoils. + +"Then it's all right?" he returned deliberately. "I brought 'em +here because I thought they might give an idee where my wife was. +For them letters is in her own handwrite. You remember ez I told +ez how she was a scollard." + +The master sat back in his chair white and dumb. Incredible, +extraordinary, and utterly unlooked for as was this revelation, he +felt instinctively that it was true. + +"I couldn't read it myself--ez you know. I didn't keer to ax any +one else to read it for me--you kin reckon why, too. And that's +why I'm troublin' you to-night, Mr. Ford--ez a friend." + +The master with a desperate effort recovered his voice. "It is +impossible. The lady who wrote those letters does not bear your +name. More than that," he added with hasty irrelevance, "she is so +free that she is about to be married, as you might have read. You +have made a mistake, the handwriting may be like, but it cannot be +really your wife's." + +Uncle Ben shook his head slowly. "It's her'n--there's no mistake. +When a man, Mr. Ford, hez studied that handwrite--havin', so to +speak, knowed it on'y from the OUTSIDE--from seein' it passin' like +between friends--that man's chances o' bein' mistook ain't ez great +ez the man's who on'y takes in the sense of the words that might +b'long to everybody. And her name not bein' the same ez mine, +don't foller. Ef she got a divorce she'd take her old gal's name-- +the name of her fammerly. And that would seem to allow she DID get +a divorce. What mowt she hev called herself when she writ this?" + +The master saw his opportunity and rose to it with a chivalrous +indignation, that for the moment imposed even upon himself. "I +decline to answer that question," he said angrily. "I refuse to +allow the name of any woman who honors me with her confidence to be +dragged into the infamous outrage that has been committed upon me +and common decency. And I shall hold the thief and scoundrel-- +whoever he may be--answerable to myself in the absence of her +natural protector." + +Uncle Ben surveyed the hero of these glittering generalities with +undisguised admiration. He extended his hand to him gravely. + +"Shake! Ef another proof was wantin', Mr. Ford, of that bein' my +wife's letter," he said, "that high-toned style of yours would +settle it. For, ef thar was one thing she DID like, it was that +sort of po'try. And one reason why her and me didn't get on, and +why I skedaddled, was because it wasn't in my line. Et's all in +trainin'! On'y a man ez had the Fourth Reader at his fingers' ends +could talk like that. Bein' brought up on Dobell--ez is nowhere-- +it sorter lets me outer you, ez it did outer HER. But allowin' it +ain't the square thing for YOU to mention her name, that wouldn't +be nothin' agin' MY doin' it, and callin' her, well--Lou Price in a +keerless sort o' way, eh?" + +"I decline to answer further," replied the master quickly, although +his color had changed at the name. "I decline to say another word +on the matter until this mystery is cleared up--until I know who +dared to break into my desk and steal my property, and the purpose +of this unheard-of outrage. And I demand possession of those +letters at once." + +Uncle Ben without a word put them in the master's hand, to his +slight surprise, and it must be added to his faint discomfiture, +nor was it decreased when Uncle Ben added, with grave naivete and a +patronizing pressure of his hand on his shoulder,--"In course ez +you're taken' it on to yourself, and ez Lou Price ain't got no +further call on ME, they orter be yours. Ez to who got 'em outer +the desk, I reckon you ain't got no suspicion of any one spyin' +round ye--hev ye?" + +In an instant the recollection of Seth Davis's face at the window +and the corroboration of Rupert's warning flashed across Ford's +mind. The hypothesis that Seth had imagined that they were +Cressy's letters, and had thrown them down without reading them +when he had found out his mistake, seemed natural. For if he had +read them he would undoubtedly have kept them to show to Cressy. +The complex emotions that had disturbed the master on the discovery +of Uncle Ben's relationship to the writer of the letters were +resolving themselves into a furious rage at Seth. But before he +dared revenge himself he must be first assured that Seth was +ignorant of their contents. He turned to Uncle Ben. + +"I have a suspicion, but to make it certain I must ask you for the +present to say nothing of this to any one." + +Uncle Ben nodded. "And when you hev found out and you're settled +in your mind that you kin make my mind easy about this yer Lou +Price, ez we'll call her, bein' divorced squarely, and bein', so to +speak, in the way o' gettin' married agin, ye might let me know ez +a friend. I reckon I won't trouble you any more to-night--onless +you and me takes another sociable drink together in the bar. No? +Well, then, good-night." He moved slowly towards the door. With +his hand on the lock he added: "Ef yer writin' to her agin, you +might say ez how you found ME lookin' well and comf'able, and +hopin' she's enjyin' the same blessin'. 'So long." + +He disappeared, leaving the master in a hopeless collapse of +conflicting, and, it is to be feared, not very heroic emotions. +The situation, which had begun so dramatically, had become suddenly +unromantically ludicrous, without, however, losing any of its +embarrassing quality. He was conscious that he occupied the +singular position of being more ridiculous than the husband--whose +invincible and complacent simplicity stung him like the most +exquisite irony. For an instant he was almost goaded into the fury +of declaring that he had broken off from the writer of the letters +forever, but its inconsistency with the chivalrous attitude he had +just taken occurred to him in time to prevent him from becoming +doubly absurd. His rage with Seth Davis seemed to him the only +feeling left that was genuine and rational, and yet, now that Uncle +Ben had gone, even that had a spurious ring. It was necessary for +him to lash himself into a fury over the hypothesis that the +letters MIGHT have been Cressy's, and desecrated by that scoundrel's +touch. Perhaps he had read them and left them to be picked up by +others. He looked over them carefully to see if their meaning +would, to the ordinary reader, appear obvious and compromising. +His eye fell on the first paragraph. + +"I should not be quite fair with you, Jack, if I affected to +disbelieve in your faith in your love for me and its endurance, but +I should be still more unfair if I didn't tell you what I honestly +believe, that at your age you are apt to deceive yourself, and, +without knowing it, to deceive others. You confess you have not +yet decided upon your career, and you are always looking forward so +hopefully, dear Jack, for a change in the future, but you are +willing to believe that far more serious things than that will +suffer no change in the mean time. If we continued as we were, I, +who am older than you and have more experience, might learn the +misery of seeing you change towards ME as I have changed towards +another, and for the same reason. If I were sure I could keep pace +with you in your dreams and your ambition, if I were sure that I +always knew WHAT they were, we might still be happy--but I am not +sure, and I dare not again risk my happiness on an uncertainty. In +coming to my present resolution I do not look for happiness, but at +least I know I shall not suffer disappointment, nor involve others +in it. I confess I am growing too old not to feel the value to a +woman--a necessity to her in this country--of security in her +present and future position. Another can give me that. And +although you may call this a selfish view of our relations, I +believe that you will soon--if you do not, even as you read this +now--feel the justice of it, and thank me for taking it." + +With a smile of scorn he tore up the letter, in what he fondly +believed was the bitterness of an outraged trustful nature, +forgetting that for many weeks he had scarcely thought of its +writer, and that he himself in his conduct had already anticipated +its truths. + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +The master awoke the next morning, albeit after a restless night, +with that clarity of conscience and perception which it is to be +feared is more often the consequence of youth and a perfect +circulation than of any moral conviction or integrity. He argued +with himself that as the only party really aggrieved in the +incident of the previous night, the right of remedy remained with +him solely, and under the benign influence of an early breakfast +and the fresh morning air he was inclined to feel less sternly even +towards Seth Davis. In any event, he must first carefully weigh +the evidence against him, and examine the scene of the outrage +closely. For this purpose, he had started for the school-house +fully an hour before his usual time. He was even light-hearted +enough to recognize the humorous aspect of Uncle Ben's appeal to +him, and his own ludicrously paradoxical attitude, and as he at +last passed from the dreary flat into the fringe of upland pines, +he was smiling. Well for him, perhaps, that he was no more +affected by any premonition of the day before him than the lately +awakened birds that lightly cut the still sleeping woods around him +in their long flashing sabre-curves of flight. A yellow-throat, +destined to become the breakfast of a lazy hawk still swinging +above the river, was especially moved to such a causeless and +idiotic roulade of mirth that the master listening to the foolish +bird was fain to whistle too. He presently stopped, however, with +a slight embarrassment. For a few paces before him Cressy had +unexpectedly appeared. + +She had evidently been watching for him. But not with her usual +indolent confidence. There was a strained look of the muscles of +her mouth, as of some past repression, and a shaded hollow under +her temples beneath the blonde rings of her shorter hair. Her +habitually slow, steady eye was troubled, and she cast a furtive +glance around her before she searched him with her glance. Without +knowing why, yet vaguely fearing that he did, he became still more +embarrassed, and in the very egotism of awkwardness, stammered +without a further salutation: "A disgraceful thing has happened +last night, and I'm up early to find the perpetrator. My desk was +broken into, and"-- + +"I know it," she interrupted, with a half-impatient, half uneasy +putting away of the subject with her little hand--"there--don't go +all over it again. Paw and Maw have been at me about it all night-- +ever since those Harrisons in their anxiousness to make up their +quarrel, rushed over with the news. I'm tired of it!" + +For an instant he was staggered. How much had she learned! With +the same awkward indirectness, he said vaguely, "But it might have +been YOUR letters, you know?" + +"But it wasn't," she said, simply. "It OUGHT to have been. I wish +it had"-- She stopped, and again regarded him with a strange +expression. "Well," she said slowly, "what are you going to do?" + +"To find out the scoundrel who has done this," he said firmly, "and +punish him as he deserves." + +The almost imperceptible shrug that had raised her shoulders gave +way as she regarded him with a look of wearied compassion. + +"No," she said, gravely, "you cannot. They're too many for you. +You must go away, at once." + +"Never," he said indignantly. "Even if it were not a cowardice. +It would be more--a confession!" + +"Not more than they already know," she said wearily. "But, I tell +you, you MUST go. I have sneaked out of the house and run here all +the way to warn you. If you--you care for me, Jack--you will go." + +"I should be a traitor to you if I did," he said quickly. "I shall +stay." + +"But if--if--Jack--if"--she drew nearer him with a new-found +timidity, and then suddenly placed her two hands upon his +shoulders: "If--if--Jack--I were to go with you?" + +The old rapt, eager look of possession had come back to her face +now; her lips were softly parted. Yet even then she seemed to be +waiting some reply more potent than that syllabled on the lips of +the man before her. + +Howbeit that was the only response. "Darling," he said kissing +her, "but wouldn't that justify them"-- + +"Stop," she said suddenly. Then putting her hand over his mouth, +she continued with the same half-weary expression: "Don't let us go +over all that again either. It is SO tiresome. Listen, dear. +You'll do one or two little things for me--won't you, dandy boy? +Don't linger long at the school-house after lessons. Go right +home! Don't look after these men TO-DAY--to-morrow, Saturday, is +your holiday--you know--and you'll have more time. Keep to +yourself to-day as much as you can, dear, for twelve hours--until-- +until--you hear from me, you know. It will be all right then," she +added, lifting her eyelids with a sudden odd resemblance to her +father's look of drowsy pain, which Ford had never noticed before. +"Promise me that, dear, won't you?" + +With a mental reservation he promised hurriedly--preoccupied in his +wonder why she seemed to avoid his explanation, in his desire to +know what had happened, in the pride that had kept him from asking +more or volunteering a defence, and in his still haunting sense of +having been wronged. Yet he could not help saying as he caught and +held her hand:-- + +"YOU have not doubted me, Cressy? YOU have not allowed this +infamous raking up of things that are past and gone to alter your +feelings?" + +She looked at him abstractedly. "You think it might alter ANYBODY'S +feelings, then?" + +"Nobody's who really loved another"--he stammered. + +"Don't let us talk of it any more," she said suddenly stretching +out her arms, lifting them above her head with a wearied gesture, +and then letting them fall clasped before her in her old habitual +fashion. "It makes my head ache; what with Paw and Maw and the +rest of them--I'm sick of it all." + +She turned away as Ford drew back coldly and let her hand fall from +his arm. She took a few steps forward, stopped, ran back to him +again, crushed his face and head in a close embrace, and then +seemed to dip like a bird into the tall bracken, and was gone. + +The master stood for some moments chagrined and bewildered; it was +characteristic of his temperament that he had paid less heed to +what she told him than what he IMAGINED had passed between her +mother and herself. She was naturally jealous of the letters--he +could forgive her for that; she had doubtless been twitted about +them, but he could easily explain them to her parents--as he would +have done to her. But he was not such a fool as to elope with her +at such a moment, without first clearing his character--and knowing +more of hers. And it was equally characteristic of him that in his +sense of injury he confounded her with the writer of the letters-- +as sympathizing with his correspondent in her estimate of his +character, and was quite carried away with the belief that he was +equally wronged by both. + +It was not until he reached the schoolhouse that the evidences of +last night's outrage for a time distracted his mind from his +singular interview. He was struck with the workmanlike manner in +which the locks had been restored, and the care that had evidently +been taken to remove the more obvious and brutal traces of +burglary. This somewhat staggered his theory that Seth Davis was +the perpetrator; mechanical skill and thoughtfulness were not among +the lout's characteristics. But he was still more disconcerted on +pushing back his chair to find a small india-rubber tobacco pouch +lying beneath it. The master instantly recognized it: he had seen +it a hundred times before--it was Uncle Ben's. It was not there +when he had closed the room yesterday afternoon. Either Uncle Ben +had been there last night, or had anticipated him this morning. +But in the latter case he would scarcely have overlooked his fallen +property--that, in the darkness of the night, might have readily +escaped detection. His brow darkened with a sudden conviction that +it was Uncle Ben who was the real and only offender, and that his +simplicity of the previous night was part of his deception. A +sickening sense that he had been again duped--but why or to what +purpose he hardly dared to think--overcame him. Who among these +strange people could he ever again trust? After the fashion of +more elevated individuals, he had accepted the respect and kindness +of those he believed his inferiors as a natural tribute to his own +superiority; any change in THEIR feelings must therefore be +hypocrisy or disloyalty; it never occurred to him that HE might +have fallen below their standard. + +The arrival of the children and the resumption of his duties for a +time diverted him. But although the morning's exercise restored +the master's self-confidence, it cannot be said to have improved +his judgment. Disdaining to question Rupert Filgee, as the +possible confidant of Uncle Ben, he answered the curious inquiries +of the children as to the broken doorlock with the remark that it +was a matter that he should have to bring before the Trustees of +the Board, and by the time that school was over and the pupils +dismissed he had quite resolved upon this formal disposition of it. +In spite of Cressy's warning--rather because of it--in the new +attitude he had taken towards her and her friends, he lingered in +the school-house until late. He had occupied himself in drawing up +a statement of the facts, with an intimation that his continuance +in the school would depend upon a rigid investigation of the +circumstances, when he was aroused by the clatter of horses' hoofs. +The next moment the school-house was surrounded by a dozen men. + +He looked up; half of them dismounted and entered the room. The +other half remained outside darkening the windows with their +motionless figures. Each man carried a gun before him on the +saddle; each man wore a rude mask of black cloth partly covering +his face. + +Although the master was instinctively aware that he was threatened +by serious danger, he was far from being impressed by the arms and +disguise of his mysterious intruders. On the contrary, the obvious +and glaring inconsistency of this cheaply theatrical invasion of +the peaceful school-house; of this opposition of menacing figures +to the scattered childish primers and text-books that still lay on +the desks around him, only extracted from him a half scornful smile +as he coolly regarded them. The fearlessness of ignorance is often +as unassailable as the most experienced valor, and the awe- +inspiring invaders were at first embarrassed and then humanly +angry. A lank figure to the right made a forward movement of +impotent rage, but was checked by the evident leader of the party. + +"Ef he likes to take it that way, there ain't no Regulators law +agin it, I reckon," he said, in a voice which the master instantly +recognized as Jim Harrison's, "though ez a gin'ral thing they don't +usually find it FUN." Then turning to the master he added, "Mister +Ford, ef that's the name you go by everywhere, we're wantin' a man +about your size." + +Ford knew that he was in hopeless peril. He knew that he was +physically defenceless and at the mercy of twelve armed and lawless +men. But he retained a preternatural clearness of perception, and +audacity born of unqualified scorn for his antagonists, with a +feminine sharpness of tongue. In a voice which astonished even +himself by its contemptuous distinctness, he said: "My name IS +Ford, but as I only SUPPOSE your name is Harrison perhaps you'll be +fair enough to take that rag from your face and show it to me like +a man." + +The man removed the mask from his face with a slight laugh. + +"Thank you," said Ford. "Now, perhaps you will tell me which one +of you gentlemen broke into the school-house, forced the lock of my +desk, and stole my papers. If he is here I wish to tell him he is +not only a thief, but a cur and a coward, for the letters are a +woman's--whom he neither knows nor has the right to know." + +If he had hoped to force a personal quarrel and trust his life to +the chance of a single antagonist, he was disappointed, for +although his unexpected attitude had produced some effect among the +group, and even attracted the attention of the men at the windows, +Harrison strode deliberately towards him. + +"That kin wait," he said; "jest now we propose to take you and your +letters and drop 'em and you outer this yer township of Injin +Springs. You kin take 'em back to the woman or critter you got 'em +of. But we kalkilate you're a little too handy and free in them +sorter things to teach school round yer, and we kinder allow we +don't keer to hev our gals and boys eddicated up to your high-toned +standard. So ef you choose to kem along easy we'll mak' you +comf'ble on a hoss we've got waitin' outside, an' escort you across +the line. Ef you don't--we'll take you anyway." + +The master cast a rapid glance around him. In his quickness of +perception he had already noted that the led horse among the +cavalcade was fastened by a lariat to one of the riders so that +escape by flight was impossible, and that he had not a single +weapon to defend himself with or even provoke, in his desperation, +the struggle that could forestall ignominy by death. Nothing was +left him but his voice, clear and trenchant as he faced them. + +"You are twelve to one," he said calmly, "but if there is a single +man among you who dare step forward and accuse me of what you only +TOGETHER dare do, I will tell him he is a liar and a coward, and +stand here ready to make it good against him. You come here as +judge and jury condemning me without trial, and confronting me with +no accusers; you come here as lawless avengers of your honor, and +you dare not give ME the privilege of as lawlessly defending my +own." + +There was another slight murmur among the men, but the leader moved +impatiently forward. "We've had enough o' your preachin': we want +YOU," he said roughly. "Come." + +"Stop," said a dull voice. + +It came from a mute figure which had remained motionless among the +others. Every eye was turned upon it as it rose and lazily pushed +the cloth from its face. + +"Hiram McKinstry!" said the others in mingled tones of astonishment +and suspicion. + +"That's me!" said McKinstry, coming forward with heavy deliberation. +"I joined this yer delegation at the crossroads instead o' my +brother, who had the call. I reckon et's all the same--or mebbe +better. For I perpose to take this yer gentleman off your hands." + +He lifted his slumbrous eyes for the first time to the master, and +at the same time put himself between him and Harrison. "I +perpose," he continued, "to take him at his word; I perpose ter +give him a chance to answer with a gun. And ez I reckon, by all +accounts, there's no man yer ez hez a better right than ME, I +perpose to be the man to put that question to him in the same way. +Et may not suit some gents," he continued slowly, facing an angry +exclamation from the lank figure behind him, "ez would prefer to +hev eleven men to take up THEIR private quo'lls, but even then I +reckon that the man who is the most injured hez the right to the +first say and that man's ME." + +With a careful deliberation that had a double significance to the +malcontents, he handed his own rifle to the master and without +looking at him continued: "I reckon, sir, you've seen that afore, +but ef it ain't quite to your hand, any of those gents, I +kalkilate, will be high-toned enuff to giv you the chyce o' theirs. +And there's no need o' trapsin' beyon' the township lines, to fix +this yer affair; I perpose to do it in ten minutes in the brush +yonder." + +Whatever might have been the feelings and intentions of the men +around him, the precedence of McKinstry's right to the duello was a +principle too deeply rooted in their traditions to deny; if any +resistance to it had been contemplated by some of them, the fact +that the master was now armed, and that Mr. McKinstry would quickly +do battle at his side with a revolver in defence of his rights, +checked any expression. They silently drew back as the master and +McKinstry slowly passed out of the school-house together, and then +followed in their rear. In that interval the master turned to +McKinstry and said in a low voice: "I accept your challenge and +thank you for it. You have never done me a greater kindness-- +whatever I have done to YOU--yet I want you to believe that neither +now nor THEN--I meant you any harm." + +"Ef you mean by that, sir, that ye reckon ye won't return my fire, +ye're blind and wrong. For it will do you no good with them," he +said with a significant wave of his crippled hand towards the +following crowd, "nor me neither." + +Firmly resolved, however, that he would not fire at McKinstry, and +clinging blindly to this which he believed was the last idea of his +foolish life, he continued on without another word until they +reached the open strip of chemisal that flanked the clearing. + +The rude preliminaries were soon settled. The parties armed with +rifles were to fire at the word from a distance of eighty yards, +and then approach each other, continuing the fight with revolvers +until one or the other fell. The selection of seconds was effected +by the elder Harrison acting for McKinstry, and after a moment's +delay by the volunteering of the long, lank figure previously noted +to act for the master. Preoccupied by other thoughts, Mr. Ford +paid little heed to his self-elected supporter, who to the others +seemed to be only taking that method of showing his contempt for +McKinstry's recent insult. The master received the rifle +mechanically from his hand and walked to position. He noticed, +however, and remembered afterwards that his second was half hidden +by the trunk of a large pine to his right that marked the limit of +the ground. + +In that supreme moment it must be recorded, albeit against all +preconceived theory, that he did NOT review his past life, was NOT +illuminated by a flash of remorseful or sentimental memory, and did +NOT commend his soul to his Maker, but that he was simply and +keenly alive to the very actual present in which he still existed +and to his one idea of not firing at his adversary. And if +anything could render his conduct more theoretically incorrect it +was a certain exalted sense that he was doing quite right and was +not only NOT a bad sort of fellow, but one whom his survivors might +possibly regret! + +"Are you ready, gentlemen? One--two--three--fi . . . !" + +The explosions were singularly simultaneous--so remarkable in fact +that it seemed to the master that his rifle, fired in the air, had +given a DOUBLE report. A light wreath of smoke lay between him and +his opponent. He was unhurt--so evidently was his adversary, for +the voice rose again. + +"Advance! . . . Hallo there! Stop!" + +He looked up quickly to see McKinstry stagger and then fall heavily +to the ground. + +With an exclamation of horror, the first and only terrible emotion +he had felt, he ran to the fallen man, as Harrison reached his side +at the same moment. + +"For God's sake," he said wildly, throwing himself on his knees +beside McKinstry, "what has happened? For I swear to you, I never +aimed at you! I fired in the air. Speak! Tell him, you," he +turned with a despairing appeal to Harrison, "you must have seen it +all--tell him it was not me!" + +A half wondering, half incredulous smile passed quickly over +Harrison's face. "In course you didn't MEAN it," he said dryly, +"but let that slide. Get up and get away from yer, while you kin," +he added impatiently, with a significant glance at one or two men +who lingered after the sudden and general dispersion of the crowd +at McKinstry's fall. "Get--will ye!" + +"Never!" said the young man passionately, "until he knows that it +was not my hand that fired that shot." + +McKinstry painfully struggled to his elbow. "It took me yere," he +said with a slow deliberation, as if answering some previous +question, and pointing to his hip, "and it kinder let me down when +I started forward at the second call." + +"But it was not I who did it, McKinstry, I swear it. Hear me! For +God's sake, say you believe me." + +McKinstry turned his drowsy troubled eyes upon the master as if he +were vaguely recalling something. "Stand back thar a minit, will +ye," he said to Harrison, with a languid wave of his crippled hand; +"I want ter speak to this yer man." + +Harrison drew back a few paces and the master sought to take the +wounded man's hand, but he was stopped by a gesture. "Where hev +you put Cressy?" McKinstry said slowly. + +"I don't understand you," stammered Ford. + +"Where are you hidin' her from me?" repeated McKinstry with painful +distinctness. "Whar hev you run her to, that you're reckonin' to +jine her arter--arter--THIS?" + +"I am not hiding her! I am not going to her! I do not know where +she is. I have not seen her since we parted early this morning +without a word of meeting again," said the master rapidly, yet with +a bewildered astonishment that was obvious even to the dulled +faculties of his hearer. + +"That war true?" asked McKinstry, laying his hand upon the master's +shoulder and bringing his dull eyes to the level of the young +man's. + +"It is the whole truth," said Ford fervently, "and true also that I +never raised my hand against you." + +McKinstry beckoned to Harrison and the two others who had joined +him, and then sank partly back with his hand upon his side, where +the slow empurpling of his red shirt showed the slight ooze of a +deeply-seated wound. + +"You fellers kin take me over to the ranch," he said calmly, "and +let him," pointing to Ford, "ride your best hoss fer the doctor. I +don't," he continued in grave explanation, "gin'rally use a doctor, +but this yer is suthin' outside the old woman's regular gait." He +paused, and then drawing the master's head down towards him, he +added in his ear, "When I get to hev a look at the size and shape +o' this yer ball that's in my hip, I'll--I'll--I'll--be--a--little +more kam!" A gleam of dull significance struggled into his eye. +The master evidently understood him, for he rose quickly, ran to +the horse, mounted him and dashed off for medical assistance, while +McKinstry, closing his heavy lids, anticipated this looked-for calm +by fainting gently away. + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +Of the various sentimental fallacies entertained by adult humanity +in regard to childhood, none are more ingeniously inaccurate and +gratuitously idiotic than a comfortable belief in its profound +ignorance of the events in which it daily moves, and the motives +and characters of the people who surround it. Yet even the +occasional revelations of an enfant terrible are as nothing +compared to the perilous secrets which a discreet infant daily +buttons up, or secures with a hook-and-eye, or even fastens with a +safety-pin across its gentle bosom. Society can never cease to be +grateful for that tact and consideration--qualities more often +joined with childish intuition and perception than with matured +observation--that they owe to it; and the most accomplished man or +woman of the great world might take a lesson from this little +audience who receive from their lips the lie they feel too +palpable, with round-eyed complacency, or outwardly accept as moral +and genuine the hollow sentiment they have overheard rehearsed in +private for their benefit. + +It was not strange therefore that the little people of the Indian +Spring school knew perhaps more of the real relations of Cressy +McKinstry to her admirers than the admirers themselves. Not that +this knowledge was outspoken--for children rarely gossip in the +grown-up sense--or even communicable by words intelligent to the +matured intellect. A whisper, a laugh that often seemed vague and +unmeaning, conveyed to each other a world of secret significance, +and an apparently senseless burst of merriment in which the whole +class joined and that the adult critic set down to "animal +spirits"--a quality much more rare with children than generally +supposed--was only a sympathetic expression of some discovery +happily oblivious to older preoccupation. The childish simplicity +of Uncle Ben perhaps appealed more strongly to their sympathy, and +although, for that very reason, they regarded him with no more +respect than they did each other, he was at times carelessly +admitted to their confidence. It was especially Rupert Filgee who +extended a kind of patronizing protectorate over him--not unmixed +with doubts of his sanity, in spite of the promised confidential +clerkship he was to receive from his hands. + +On the day of the events chronicled in the preceding chapter, +Rupert on returning from school was somewhat surprised to find +Uncle Ben perched upon the rail-fence before the humble door of the +Filgee mansion and evidently awaiting him. Slowly dismounting as +Rupert and Johnny approached, he beamed upon the former for some +moments with arch and yet affable mystery. + +"Roopy, old man, I s'pose ye've got yer duds all ready in yer pack, +eh?" + +A flush of pleasure passed over the boy's handsome face. He cast, +however, a hurried look down on the all-pervading Johnny. + +"'Cause ye see we kalkilate to take the down stage to Sacramento +at four o'clock," continued Uncle Ben, enjoying Rupert's half +sceptical surprise. "Ye enter into office, so to speak, with me +at that hour, when the sellery, seventy-five dollars a month and +board, ez private and confidential clerk, begins--eh?" + +Rupert's dimples deepened in charming, almost feminine, +embarrassment. "But dad--?" he stammered. + +"Et's all right with HIM. He's agreeable." + +"But--?" + +Uncle Ben followed Rupert's glance at Johnny, who however appeared +to be absorbed in the pattern of Uncle Ben's new trousers. + +"That's fixed," he said with a meaning smile. "There's a sort o' +bonus we pays down, you know--for a Chinyman to do the odd jobs." + +"And teacher--Mr. Ford--did ye tell him?" said Rupert brightening. + +Uncle Ben coughed slightly. "He's agreeable, too, I reckon. That +is," he wiped his mouth meditatively, "he ez good ez allowed it in +gin'ral conversation a week ago, Roop." + +A swift shadow of suspicion darkened the boy's brown eyes. "Is +anybody else goin' with us?" he said quickly. + +"Not this yer trip," replied Uncle Ben complacently. "Ye see, +Roop," he continued, drawing him aside with an air of comfortable +mystery, "this yer biz'ness b'longs to the private and confidential +branch of the office. From informashun we've received"-- + +"WE?" interrupted Rupert. + +"'We,' that's the OFFICE, you know," continued Uncle Ben with a +heavy assumption of business formality, "wot we've received per +several hands and consignee--we--that's YOU and ME, Roop--we goes +down to Sacramento to inquire into the standin' of a certing party, +as per invoice, and ter see--ter see--ter negotiate you know, ter +find out if she's married or di-vorced," he concluded quickly, as +if abandoning for the moment his business manner in consideration +of Rupert's inexperience. "We're to find out her standin', Roop," +he began again with a more judicious blending of ease and +technicality, "and her contracts, if any, and where she lives and +her way o' life, and examine her books and papers ez to marriages +and sich, and arbitrate with her gin'rally in conversation--you +inside the house and me out on the pavement, ready to be called in +if an interview with business principals is desired." + +Observing Rupert somewhat perplexed and confused with these +technicalities, he tactfully abandoned them for the present, and +consulting a pocket-book said, "I've made a memorandum of some +pints that we'll talk over on the journey," again charged Rupert +to be punctually at the stage office with his carpetbag, and +cheerfully departed. + +When he had disappeared Johnny Filgee, without a single word of +explanation, fell upon his brother, and at once began a violent +attack of kicks and blows upon his legs and other easily accessible +parts of his person, accompanying his assault with unintelligible +gasps and actions, finally culminating in a flood of tears and the +casting of himself on his back in the dust with the copper-fastened +toes of his small boots turning imaginary wheels in the air. +Rupert received these characteristic marks of despairing and +outraged affection with great forbearance, only saying, "There, +now, Johnny, quit that," and eventually bearing him still +struggling into the house. Here Johnny, declaring that he would +kill any "Chinyman" that offered to dress him, and burn down the +house after his brother's infamous desertion of it, Rupert was +constrained to mingle a few nervous, excited tears with his +brother's outbreak. Whereat Johnny, admitting the alleviation of +an orange, a four-bladed knife, and the reversionary interest in +much of Rupert's personal property, became more subdued. Sitting +there with their arms entwined about each other, the sunlight +searching the shiftless desolation of their motherless home, the +few cheap playthings they had known lying around them, they +beguiled themselves with those charming illusions of their future +intentions common to their years--illusions they only half believed +themselves and half accepted of each other. Rupert was quite +certain that he would return in a few days with a gold watch and a +present for Johnny, and Johnny, with a baleful vision of never +seeing him again, and a catching breath, magnificently undertook to +bring in the wood and build the fire and wash the dishes "all of +himself." And then there were a few childish confidences regarding +their absent father--then ingenuously playing poker in the Magnolia +Saloon--that might have made that public-spirited, genial companion +somewhat uncomfortable, and more tears that were half smiling and +some brave silences that were wholly pathetic, and then the hour +for Rupert's departure all too suddenly arrived. They separated +with ostentatious whooping, and then Johnny, suddenly overcome with +the dreadfulness of all earthly things, and the hollowness of life +generally, instantly resolved to run away! + +To do this he prepared himself with a purposeless hatchet, an +inconsistent but long-treasured lump of putty and all the sugar +that was left in the cracked sugar-bowl. Thus accoutred he sallied +forth, first to remove all traces of his hated existence that might +be left in his desk at school. If the master were there he would +say Rupert had sent him; if he wasn't, he would climb in at the +window. The sun was already sinking when he reached the clearing +and found a cavalcade of armed men around the building. + +Johnny's first conviction was that the master had killed Uncle Ben +or Masters, and that the men, taking advantage of the absence of +his--Johnny's--big brother, were about to summarily execute him. +Observing no struggle from within, his second belief was that the +master had been suddenly elected Governor of California and was +about to start with a state escort from the school-house, and that +he, Johnny, was in time to see the procession. But when the master +appeared with McKinstry, followed by part of the crowd afoot, this +quick-witted child of the frontier, from his secure outlook in the +"brush," gathered enough from their fragmentary speech to guess the +serious purport of their errand, and thrill with anticipation and +slightly creepy excitement. + +A duel! A thing hitherto witnessed only by grown-up men, +afterwards swaggering with importance and strange technical +bloodthirsty words, and now for the first time reserved for a BOY-- +and that boy him, Johnny!--to behold in all its fearful +completeness! A duel! of which, he, Johnny, meanly abandoned by +his brother, was now exalted perhaps to be the only survivor! He +could scarcely credit his senses. It was too much! + +To creep through the brush while the preliminaries were being +settled, reach a certain silver fir on the appointed ground, and +with the aid of his now lucky hatchet, climb unseen to its upper +boughs, was an exciting and difficult task, but one eventually +overcome by his short but energetic legs. Here he could not only +see all that occurred, but by a fortunate chance the large pine +next to him had been selected as the limit of the ground. The +sharp eyes of the boy had long since penetrated the disguises of +the remaining masked men, and when the long, lank figure of the +master's self-appointed second took up its position beneath the +pines in full view of him, although hidden from the spectators, +Johnny instantly recognized it to be none other than Seth Davis. +The manifest inconsistency of his appearance as Mr. Ford's second +with what Johnny knew of his relations to the master was the one +thing that firmly fixed the incident in the boy's memory. + +The men were already in position. Harrison stepped forward to give +the word. Johnny's down-hanging legs tingled with cramp and +excitement. Why didn't they begin? What were they waiting for? +What if it were interrupted, or--terrible thought--made up at the +last moment? Would they "holler" out when they were hit, or +stagger round convulsively as they did at the "cirkiss"? Would +they all run away afterwards and leave Johnny alone to tell the +tale? And--horrible thought!--would any body believe him? Would +Rupert? Rupert, had he "on'y knowed this," he wouldn't have gone +away. + +"One"-- + +With a child's perfect faith in the invulnerable superiority of his +friends, he had not even looked at the master, but only at his +destined victim. Yet as the word "two" rang out Johnny's attention +was suddenly attracted to the surprising fact that the master's +second, Seth Davis, had also drawn a pistol, and from behind his +tree was deliberately and stealthily aiming at McKinstry! He +understood it all now--he was a friend of the master's. Bully for +Seth! + +"Three!" + +Crack! Z-i-i-p! Crackle! What a funny noise! And yet he was +obliged to throw himself flat upon the bough to keep from falling. +It seemed to have snapped beneath him and benumbed his right leg. +He did not know that the master's bullet, fired in the air, had +ranged along the bough, stripping the bark throughout its length, +and glancing with half-spent force to inflict a slight flesh wound +on his leg! + +He was giddy and a little frightened. And he had seen nobody hit, +nor nothin'. It was all a humbug! Seth had disappeared. So had +the others. There was a faint sound of voices and something like a +group in the distance--that was all. It was getting dark, too, and +his leg was still asleep, but warm and wet. He would get down. +This was very difficult, for his leg would not wake up, and but for +the occasional support he got by striking his hatchet in the tree +he would have fallen in descending. When he reached the ground his +leg began to pain, and looking down he saw that his stocking and +shoe were soaked with blood. + +His small and dirty handkerchief, a hard wad in his pocket, was +insufficient to staunch the flow. With a vague recollection of a +certain poultice applied to a boil on his father's neck, he +collected a quantity of soft moss and dried yerba buena leaves, and +with the aid of his check apron and of one of his torn suspenders +tightly wound round the whole mass, achieved a bandage of such +elephantine proportions that he could scarcely move with it. In +fact, like most imaginative children, he became slightly terrified +at his own alarming precautions. Nevertheless, although a word or +an outcry from him would have at that moment brought the distant +group to his assistance, a certain respect to himself and his +brother kept him from uttering even a whimper of weakness. + +Yet he found refuge, oddly enough, in a suppressed but bitter +denunciation of the other boys of his acquaintance. What was Cal. +Harrison doing, while he, Johnny, was alone in the woods, wounded +in a grown-up duel--for nothing would convince this doughty infant +that he had not been an active participant? Where was Jimmy Snyder +that he didn't come to his assistance with the other fellers? +Cowards all; they were afraid. Ho, ho! And he, Johnny, wasn't +afraid! ho--he didn't mind it! Nevertheless he had to repeat the +phrase two or three times until, after repeated struggles to move +forward through the brush, he at last sank down exhausted. By this +time the distant group had slowly moved away, carrying something +between them, and leaving Johnny alone in the fast coming darkness. +Yet even this desertion did not affect him as strongly as his +implicit belief in the cowardly treachery of his old associates. + +It grew darker and darker, until the open theatre of the late +conflict appeared enclosed in funereal walls; a cool searching +breath of air that seemed to have crept through the bracken and +undergrowth like a stealthy animal, lifted the curls on his hot +forehead. He grasped his hatchet firmly as against possible wild +beasts, and as a medicinal and remedial precaution, took another +turn with his suspender around his bandage. It occurred to him +then that he would probably die. They would all feel exceedingly +sorry and alarmed, and regret having made him wash himself on +Saturday night. They would attend his funeral in large numbers in +the little graveyard, where a white tombstone inscribed to "John +Filgee, fell in a duel at the age of seven," would be awaiting him. +He would forgive his brother, his father, and Mr. Ford. Yet even +then he vaguely resented a few leaves and twigs dropped by a +woodpecker in the tree above him, with a shake of his weak fist and +an incoherent declaration that they couldn't "play no babes in the +wood on HIM." And then having composed himself he once more turned +on his side to die, as became the scion of a heroic race! The free +woods, touched by an upspringing wind, waved their dark arms above +him, and higher yet a few patient stars silently ranged themselves +around his pillow. + +But with the rising wind and stars came the swift trampling of +horses' hoofs and the flashing of lanterns, and Doctor Duchesne and +the master swept down into the opening. + +"It was here," said the master quickly, "but they must have taken +him on to his own home. Let us follow." + +"Hold on a moment," said the doctor, who had halted before the +tree. "What's all this? Why, it's baby Filgee--by thunder!" + +In another moment they had both dismounted and were leaning over +the half conscious child. Johnny turned his feverishly bright eyes +from the lantern to the master and back again. + +"What is it, Johnny boy?" asked the master tenderly. "Were you +lost?" + +With a gleam of feverish exaltation, Johnny rose, albeit +wanderingly, to the occasion! + +"Hit!" he lisped feebly, "Hit in a doell! at the age of theven." + +"What!" asked the bewildered master. + +But Doctor Duchesne, after a single swift scrutiny of the boy's +face, had unearthed him from his nest of leaves, laid him in his +lap, and deftly ripped away the preposterous bandage. "Hold the +light here. By Jove! he tells the truth. Who did it, Johnny?" + +But Johnny was silent. In an interval of feverish consciousness +and pain, his perception and memory had been quickened; a suspicion +of the real cause of his disaster had dawned upon him--but his +childish lips were heroically sealed. The master glanced +appealingly at the Doctor. + +"Take him before you in the saddle to McKinstry's," said the latter +promptly. "I can attend to both." + +The master lifted the boy tenderly in his arms. Johnny, stimulated +by the prospect of a free ride, became feebly interested in his +fellow sufferer. + +"Did Theth hit him bad?" he asked. + +"Seth?" echoed the master, wildly. + +"Yeth. I theed him when he took aim." + +The master did not reply, but the next moment Johnny felt himself +clasped in his arms in the saddle before him, borne like a +whirlwind in the direction of the McKinstry ranch. + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +They found the wounded man lying in the front room upon a rudely +extemporized couch of bear-skins, he having sternly declined the +effeminacy of his wife's bedroom. In the possibility of a fatal +termination to his wound, and in obedience to a grim frontier +tradition, he had also refused to have his boots removed in order +that he might "die with them on," as became his ancestral custom. +Johnny was therefore speedily made comfortable in the McKinstry +bed, while Dr. Duchesne gave his whole attention to his more +serious patient. The master glanced hurriedly around for Mrs. +McKinstry. She was not only absent from the room, but there seemed +to be no suggestion of her presence in the house. To his greater +surprise the hurried inquiry that rose to his lips was checked by a +significant warning from the attendant. He sat down beside the now +sleeping boy, and awaited the doctor's return with his mind +wandering between the condition of the little sufferer and the +singular revelation that had momentarily escaped his childish lips. +If Johnny had actually seen Seth fire at McKinstry, the latter's +mysterious wound was accounted for--but not Seth's motive. The act +was so utterly incomprehensible and inconsistent with Seth's avowed +hatred of the master that the boy must have been delirious. + +He was roused by the entrance of the surgeon. "It's not so bad as +I thought," he said, with a reassuring nod. "It was a mighty close +shave between a shattered bone and a severed artery, but we've got +the ball, and he'll pull through in a week. By Jove! though--the +old fire-eater was more concerned about finding the ball than +living or dying! Go in there--he wants to see you. Don't let him +talk too much. He's called in a lot of his friends for some reason +or other--and there's a regular mass-meeting in there. Go in, and +get rid of 'em. I'll look after baby Filgee--though the little +chap will be all right again after another dressing." + +The master cast a hurried look of relief at the surgeon, and re- +entered the front room. It was filled with men whom the master +instinctively recognized as his former adversaries. But they gave +way before him with a certain rude respect and half abashed +sympathy as McKinstry called him to his side. The wounded man +grasped his hand. "Lift me up a bit," he whispered. The master +assisted him with difficulty to his elbow. + +"Gentlemen!" said McKinstry, with a characteristic wave of his +crippled hand towards the crowd as he laid the other on the +master's shoulder. "Ye heerd me talkin' a minit ago; ye heer me +now. This yer young man as we've slipped up on and meskalkilated +has told the truth--every time! Ye ken tie to him whenever and +wherever ye want to. Ye ain't expected to feel ez I feel, in +course, but the man ez goes back on HIM--quo'lls with me. That's +all--and thanks for inquiring friends. Ye'll git now, boys, and +leave him a minit with me." + +The men filed slowly out, a few lingering long enough to shake the +master's hand with grave earnestness, or half smiling, half abashed +embarrassment. The master received the proffered reconciliation of +these men, who but a few hours before would have lynched him with +equal sincerity, with cold bewilderment. As the door closed on the +last of the party he turned to McKinstry. The wounded man had sunk +down again, but was regarding with drowsy satisfaction a leaden +bullet he was holding between his finger and thumb. + +"This yer shot, Mr. Ford," he said in a slow voice, whose weakness +was only indicated by its extreme deliberation, "never kem from the +gun I gave ye--and was never fired by you." He paused and then +added with his old dull abstraction, "It's a long time since I've +run agin anythin' that makes me feel more--kam." + +In Mr. McKinstry's weak condition the master did not dare to make +Johnny's revelation known to him, and contented himself by simply +pressing his hand, but the next moment the wounded man resumed,-- + +"That ball jest fits Seth's navy revolver--and the hound hes made +tracks outer the country." + +"But what motive could he have in attacking YOU at such a time?" +asked the master. + +"He reckoned that either I'd kill you and so he'd got shut of us +both in that way, without it being noticed; or if I missed you, the +others would hang YOU--ez they kalkilated to--for killing ME! The +idea kem to him when he overheard you hintin' you wouldn't return +my fire." + +A shuddering conviction that McKinstry had divined the real truth +passed over the master. In the impulse of the moment he again +would have corroborated it by revealing Johnny's story, but a +glance at the growing feverishness of the wounded man checked his +utterance. "Don't talk of it now," he said hurriedly. "Enough for +me to know that you acquit ME. I am here now only to beg you to +compose yourself until the doctor comes back--as you seemed to be +alone, and Mrs. McKinstry"--he stopped in awkward embarrassment. + +A singular confusion overspread the invalid's face. "She hed +steppt out afore this happened, owin' to contrairy opinions betwixt +me and her. Ye mout hev noticed, Mr. Ford, that gin'rally she +didn't 'pear to cotton to ye! Thar ain't a woman a goin' ez is the +ekal of Blair Rawlins' darter in nussin' a man and keeping him in +fightin' order, but in matters like things that consarn herself and +Cress, I begin to think, Mr. Ford, that somehow, she ain't exakly-- +kam! Bein' kam yourself, ye'll put any unpleasantness down to +that. Wotever you hear from HER, and, for the matter o' that, from +her own darter too--for I'm takin' back the foolishness I said to +ye over yon about your runnin' off with Cress--you'll remember, Mr. +Ford, it warn't from no ill feeling to YOU, in her or Cress--but +on'y a want of kam! I mout hev had MY idees about Cress, you mout +hev had YOURS, and that fool Dabney mout hev had HIS; but it warn't +the old woman's--nor Cressy's--it warn't Blair Rawlins' darter's +idea--nor yet HER darter's! And why? For want o' kam! Times I +reckon it was left out o' woman's nater. And bein' kam yourself, +you understand it, and take it all in." + +The old look of drowsy pain had settled so strongly in his red eyes +again that the master was fain to put his hand gently over them, +and with a faint smile beg him to compose himself to sleep. This +he finally did after a whispered suggestion that he himself was +feeling "more kam." The master sat for some moments with his hand +upon the sleeping man's eyes, and a vague and undefinable sense of +loneliness seemed to fall upon him from the empty rafters of the +silent and deserted house. The rising wind moaned fitfully around +its bleak shell with the despairing sound of far and forever +receding voices. So strong was the impression that when the doctor +and McKinstry's attending brother re-entered the room, the master +still lingered beside the bed with a dazed sensation of abandonment +that the doctor's practical reassuring smile could hardly dispel. + +"He's doing splendidly now," he said, listening to the sleeper's +more regular respiration: "and I'd advise you to go now, Mr. Ford, +before he wakes, lest he might be tempted to excite himself by +talking to you again. He's really quite out of danger now. Good- +night! I'll drop in on you at the hotel when I return." + +The master, albeit still confused and bewildered, felt his way to +the door and out into the open night. The wind was still +despairingly wrestling with the tree-tops, but the far receding +voices seemed to be growing fainter in the distance, until, as he +passed on, they too seemed to pass away forever. + + . . . . . . + +Monday morning had come again, and the master was at his desk in +the school house early, with a still damp and inky copy of the Star +fresh from the press before him. The free breath of the pines was +blowing in the window, and bringing to his ears the distant voices +of his slowly gathering flock, as he read as follows:-- + +"The perpetrator of the dastardly outrage at the Indian Spring +Academy on Thursday last--which, through unfortunate +misrepresentation of the facts, led to a premature calling out of +several of our most public-spirited citizens, and culminated in a +most regrettable encounter between Mr. McKinstry and the +accomplished and estimable principal of the school--has, we regret +to say, escaped condign punishment by leaving the country with his +relations. If, as is seriously whispered, he was also guilty of an +unparalleled offence against a chivalrous code which will exclude +him in the future from ever seeking redress at the Court of Honor, +our citizens will be only too glad to get rid of the contamination +of being obliged to arrest him. Those of our readers who know the +high character of the two gentlemen who were thus forced into a +hostile meeting, will not be surprised to know that the most ample +apologies were tendered on both sides, and that the entente +cordiale has been thoroughly restored. The bullet--which it is +said played a highly important part in the subsequent explanation, +proving to have come from a REVOLVER fired by some outsider--has +been extracted from Mr. McKinstry's thigh, and he is doing well, +with every prospect of a speedy recovery." + +Smiling, albeit not uncomplacently, at this valuable contribution +to history from an unfettered press, his eye fell upon the next +paragraph, perhaps not so complacently:-- + +"Benjamin Daubigny, Esq., who left town for Sacramento on important +business, not entirely unconnected with his new interests in Indian +Springs, will, it is rumored, be shortly joined by his wife, who +has been enabled by his recent good fortune to leave her old home +in the States, and take her proper proud position at his side. +Although personally unknown to Indian Springs, Mrs. Daubigny is +spoken of as a beautiful and singularly accomplished woman, and it +is to be regretted that her husband's interests will compel them to +abandon Indian Springs for Sacramento as a future residence. Mr. +Daubigny was accompanied by his private secretary Rupert, the +eldest son of H. G. Filgee, Esq., who has been a promising graduate +of the Indian Spring Academy, and offers a bright example to the +youth of this district. We are happy to learn that his younger +brother is recovering rapidly from a slight accident received last +week through the incautious handling of firearms." + +The master, with his eyes upon the paper, remained so long plunged +in a reverie that the school-room was quite filled and his little +flock was wonderingly regarding him before he recalled himself. He +was hurriedly reaching his hand towards the bell when he was +attracted by the rising figure of Octavia Dean. + +"Please, sir, you didn't ask if we had any news!" + +"True--I forgot," said the master smiling. "Well, have you +anything to tell us?" + +"Yes, sir. Cressy McKinstry has left school." + +"Indeed!" + +"Yes, sir; she's married." + +"Married," repeated the master with an effort, yet conscious of the +eyes concentrated upon his colorless face. "Married--and to whom?" + +"To Joe Masters, sir, at the Baptist Chapel at Big Bluff, Sunday, +an' Marm McKinstry was thar with her." + +There was a momentary and breathless pause. Then the voices of his +little pupils--those sage and sweet truants from tradition, those +gentle but relentless historians of the future--rose around him in +shrill chorus--"WHY, WE KNOWED IT ALL ALONG, SIR!" + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Cressy, by Bret Harte + diff --git a/old/crssy10.zip b/old/crssy10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..60e1381 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/crssy10.zip |