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diff --git a/34266-h/34266-h.htm b/34266-h/34266-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a1c5f87 --- /dev/null +++ b/34266-h/34266-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,10574 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<!-- $Id: header.txt 236 2009-12-07 18:57:00Z vlsimpson $ --> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Graysons, by Edward Eggleston. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; +} /* page numbers */ + +.linenum { + position: absolute; + top: auto; + left: 4%; +} /* poetry number */ + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +.sidenote { + width: 20%; + padding-bottom: .5em; + padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; + padding-right: .5em; + margin-left: 1em; + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; + color: black; + background: #eeeeee; + border: dashed 1px; +} + +.bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + +.bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + +.bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + +.br {border-right: solid 2px;} + +.bbox {border: solid 2px;} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.u {text-decoration: underline;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold;} + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +.figleft { + float: left; + clear: left; + margin-left: 0; + margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 1em; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +.figright { + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-left: 1em; + margin-bottom: + 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 0; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +/* Poetry */ +.poem { + margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; + text-align: left; +} + +.poem br {display: none;} + +.poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + +.poem span.i0 { + display: block; + margin-left: 0em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i2 { + display: block; + margin-left: 2em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i4 { + display: block; + margin-left: 4em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + .poem span.i6 {display: block; margin-left: 6em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Graysons, by Edward Eggleston + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Graysons + A Story of Illinois + +Author: Edward Eggleston + +Illustrator: Allegra Eggleston + +Release Date: November 9, 2010 [EBook #34266] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GRAYSONS *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + +<h1>THE GRAYSONS</h1> + +<h3>A STORY OF ILLINOIS</h3> + +<h2>BY EDWARD EGGLESTON</h2> + +<h3><i>AUTHOR OF "THE HOOSIER SCHOOLMASTER," "ROXY," "THE CIRCUIT RIDER," +ETC., ETC.</i></h3> + + +<h3>WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY<br /> +ALLEGRA EGGLESTON</h3> + +<h3>THE CENTURY CO.<br /> +NEW-YORK.</h3> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1887,<br /> +by Edward Eggleston.</span></h3> + +<h3><span class="smcap">The DeVinne Press.</span></h3> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus1" id="illus1"></a> +<img src="images/illus1.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>TURNING THE BIBLE.</h3> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE.</h2> + + +<p><i>I had thought to close up the cycle of my stories of life in the +Mississippi Valley with "Roxy" which was published in 1878. But when I +undertook by request of the editor to write a short story for "The +Century Magazine," and to found it on a legendary account of one of +President Lincoln's trials, the theme grew on my hands until the present +novel was the result. It was written mostly at Nervi, near Genoa, where +I could not by any possibility have verified the story I had received +about 1867 from one of Lincoln's old neighbors. To have investigated the +accuracy of my version of the anecdote would have been, indeed, to fly +in the face and eyes of providence, for popular tradition is itself an +artist rough-hewing a story to the novelist's hands. During the +appearance of this novel in serial form I have received many letters +from persons acquainted in one way or another with the actors and +sufferers in the events, of which these here related are the ideal +counterparts. Some of these letters contain information or relate +incidents of so much interest that I have it in mind to insert them in +an appendix to some later edition of this book.</i></p> + +<p><i>EDWARD EGGLESTON.</i></p> + +<p><i>Joshua's Rock, Lake George, 1888.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">This Book is respectfully inscribed to the Hon. Jonathan Chace, United +States Senator from Rhode Island; the Hon. Joseph Hawley, United States +Senator from Connecticut; the Hon. W. C. P. Breckenridge, Representative +from Kentucky; and the Hon. Patrick A. Collins, Representative from +Massachusetts, who have recently introduced or had charge of +International Copyright Bills, and to those Members of both Houses of +Congress who have coöperated with them in the effort to put down +literary buccaneering.</span></p> + +<p>E. E.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To my friend, Mabel Cooke,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I Dedicate the Ideals of<br /></span> +<span class="i0">which these Illustrations<br /></span> +<span class="i0">are the Faint and Awkward<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Shadows.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">The Illustrator.</span><br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p> +<a href="#PREFACE">PREFACE.</a><br /> +<a href="#I">I. <span class="smcap">Turning the Bible</span></a><br /> +<a href="#II">II. <span class="smcap">Winning and Losing</span></a><br /> +<a href="#III">III. <span class="smcap">Paying the Fiddler</span></a><br /> +<a href="#IV">IV. <span class="smcap">Lockwood's Plan</span></a><br /> +<a href="#V">V. <span class="smcap">The Mitten</span></a><br /> +<a href="#VI">VI. <span class="smcap">Uncle and Nephew</span></a><br /> +<a href="#VII">VII. <span class="smcap">Lockwood's Revenge</span></a><br /> +<a href="#VIII">VIII. <span class="smcap">Barbara's Private Affairs</span></a><br /> +<a href="#IX">IX. <span class="smcap">By the Loom</span></a><br /> +<a href="#X">X. <span class="smcap">The Affair at Timber Creek Camp-Meeting</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XI">XI. <span class="smcap">Friends in the Night</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XII">XII. <span class="smcap">A Trip to Broad Run</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XIII">XIII. <span class="smcap">A Bear Hunt</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XIV">XIV. <span class="smcap">In Prison</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XV">XV. <span class="smcap">Abraham Lincoln</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XVI">XVI. <span class="smcap">The Coroner's Inquest</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XVII">XVII. <span class="smcap">A Council of War</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XVIII">XVIII. <span class="smcap">Zeke</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XIX">XIX. <span class="smcap">The Myth</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XX">XX. <span class="smcap">Lincoln and Bob</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XXI">XXI. <span class="smcap">Hiram and Barbara</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XXII">XXII. <span class="smcap">The First Day of Court</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XXIII">XXIII. <span class="smcap">Broad Run in Arms</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XXIV">XXIV. <span class="smcap">First Come, First Served</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XXV">XXV. <span class="smcap">Like a Wolf on the Fold</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XXVI">XXVI. <span class="smcap">Circumstantial Evidence</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XXVII">XXVII. <span class="smcap">Light in a Dark Place</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XXVIII">XXVIII. <span class="smcap">Free</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XXIX">XXIX. <span class="smcap">The Close of a Career</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XXX">XXX. <span class="smcap">Tom and Rachel</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XXXI">XXXI. <span class="smcap">Hiram and Barbara</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XXXII">XXXII. <span class="smcap">The Next Morning</span></a><br /> +<a href="#XXXIII">XXXIII. <span class="smcap">Postscriptum</span></a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>List of Illustrations</h2> + + +<p><a href="#illus1">TURNING THE BIBLE.</a></p> + +<p><a href="#illus2">BARBARA AND HIRAM BY THE LOOM.</a></p> + +<p><a href="#illus3">MR. BRITTON AND BIG BOB.</a></p> + +<p><a href="#illus4">"TELL ME TRULY, TOM, DID YOU DO IT?"</a></p> + +<p><a href="#illus5">JANET AT THE WINDOW.</a></p> + +<p><a href="#illus6">"WHERE'S THAT PIECE OF CANDLE GONE TO?"</a></p> + +<p><a href="#illus7">ZEKE AND S'MANTHY'S OLDEST SON.</a></p> + +<p><a href="#illus8">"'WHERE IS HE?' ASKED THE JUDGE."</a></p> + +<p><a href="#illus9">"SAY, TOM, WON'T YOU WAIT FOR ME?"</a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_GRAYSONS" id="THE_GRAYSONS"></a>THE GRAYSONS</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I</h2> + +<h3>TURNING THE BIBLE</h3> + + +<p>The place of the beginning of this story was a country neighborhood on a +shore, if one may call it so, that divided a forest and prairie in +Central Illinois. The date was nearly a lifetime ago. An orange-colored +sun going down behind the thrifty orchard of young apple-trees on John +Albaugh's farm, put into shadow the front of a dwelling which had stood +in wind and weather long enough to have lost the raw look of newness, +and to have its tints so softened that it had become a part of the +circumjacent landscape. The phebe-bird, locally known as the pewee, had +just finished calling from the top of the large barn, and a belated +harvest-fly, or singing locust, as the people call him, was yet filling +the warm air with the most summery of all summery notes—notes that seem +to be felt as well as heard, pushing one another faster and yet faster +through the quivering atmosphere, and then dying away by degrees into +languishing, long-drawn, and at last barely audible vibrations.</p> + +<p>Rachel, the daughter of the prosperous owner of the farm, was tying some +jasmine vines to the upright posts that supported the roof of a porch, +or veranda, which stretched along the entire front of the house. She +wore a fresh calico gown, and she had something the air of one expecting +the arrival of guests. She almost always expected company in the evening +of a fine day. For the young person whose fortune it is to be by long +odds the finest-looking woman in a new country where young men abound, +and where women are appreciated at a rate proportioned to their +scarcity, knows what it is to be a "reigning belle" indeed. In the +vigorous phrase of the country, Rachel was described as "real knock-down +handsome"; and, tried by severer standards than those of Illinois, her +beauty would have been beyond question. She had the three essentials: +eyes that were large and lustrous, a complexion rich and fresh, yet +delicately tinted, and features well-balanced and harmonious. Her blonde +hair was abundant, and, like everything about her, vital. Her hands and +feet were not over-large, and, fortunately, they were not +disproportionately small; but just the hands and feet of a +well-developed country girl used to activity and the open air. Without +being more than ordinarily clever, she had a certain passive +intelligence. Her voice was not a fine one, nor had her manners any +particular charm except that which comes from the repose of one who +understands that she is at her best when silent, and who feels herself +easily ahead of rivals without making any exertion. Hers was one of +those faces the sight of which quickens the pulses even of an old man, +and attracts young men with a fascination as irresistible as it is +beyond analysis or description. Many young men were visitors at John +Albaugh's hospitable house, and where the young men came the young women +were prone to come, and thus Albaugh's became a place of frequent and +spontaneous resort for the young people from all the country round.</p> + +<p>But it had happened with this much-courted girl, as it has happened to +many another like her, that with all the world to choose from, she had +tarried single longer than her companions. Rachel was now past +twenty-three, in a land where a woman was accounted something of an old +maid if unmarried at twenty. Beauties such as she find a certain +pleasure in playing with their destiny, as pussy loves the excitement of +trifling with the mouse that can hardly escape her in any way. Prey that +comes too easily in reach is not highly valued. Every bid for such a +woman's hand leads her to raise her estimation of her own value. +Rachel's lovers came and went, and married themselves to young women +without beauty. Lately, however, Rachel Albaugh's neighbors began to +think that she had at length fallen in love "for keeps," as the country +phrase expressed it.</p> + +<p>"I say, Rache," called her brother Ike, a youth of fifteen, who was just +then half-hidden in the boughs of the summer apple-tree by the garden +gate, "they's somebody coming."</p> + +<p>"Who is it, Ike?"</p> + +<p>"Henry Miller and the two Miller girls."</p> + +<p>"Oh! is that all?" said Rachel, in a teasing tone.</p> + +<p>"Is that <i>all</i>?" said Ike. "You don't care for anybody but Tom Grayson +these days. I'll bet you Tom'll be here to-night."</p> + +<p>"What makes you think so?" asked Rachel, trying not to evince any +interest in the information.</p> + +<p>"Don't you wish you knew?" he answered, glad to repay her teasing in +kind.</p> + +<p>"Did you see him to-day?"</p> + +<p>"Say, Sis," said Ike, affecting to dismiss the subject, "here's an awful +nice apple. Can you ketch?"</p> + +<p>Rachel held up her hands to catch the apple, baring her pretty arms by +the falling back of her loose sleeves. The mischievous Ike threw a swift +ball, and Rachel, holding her hands for it, could not help shrinking as +the apple came flying at her. She shut her eyes and ducked her head, and +of course the apple went past her, bowling away along the porch and off +the other end of it into the grass.</p> + +<p>"That's just like a girl," said Ike. "Here's a better apple. I won't +throw so hard this time." And Rachel caught the large striped apple in +her two hands.</p> + +<p>"I say, Ike," she said, coaxingly, "where did you see Tom?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! I met him over on the big road as I went to mill this morning; he +was going home to his mother's, an' he said he was coming over to see +you to-night. An' I told him to fetch Barbara, so 's I'd have somebody +to talk to, 'cause you wouldn't let me get a word in ageways with him. +An' Tom laughed an' looked tickled."</p> + +<p>"I guess you won't talk much to Barbara while Ginnie Miller's here," +Rachel said; and by this time Henry Miller and his two sisters were +nearing the white gate which stood forty feet away from the cool front +porch of the house.</p> + +<p>"Howdy, Rachel!" said Henry Miller, as he reached the gate, and "Howdy! +Howdy!" came from the two sisters, to which Rachel answered with a +cordial "Howdy! Come in!" meant for the three. When they reached the +porch, she led the way through the open front door to the "settin' room" +of the house, as the living-room was always called in that day. The +fire-place looked like an extinct crater; curtains of narrow green slats +hung at the windows, and the floor was covered by a new rag-carpet in +which was imbedded a whole history of family costume; a patient +geologist might have discovered in it traces of each separate garment +worn in the past five years by the several members of the Albaugh +family. The mantel-piece was commonplace enough, of "poplar" wood—that +is, tulip-tree—painted brown. The paint while fresh had been scratched +in rhythmical waves with a common coarse comb. This graining resembled +that of some wood yet undiscovered. The table at the side of the room +farthest from the door had a cover of thin oil-cloth decorated with +flowers; most of them done in yellow. A tall wooden clock stood against +the wall at the right of the door as you entered, and its slow ticking +seemed to make the room cooler. For the rest, there was a black +rocking-chair with a curved wooden seat and uncomfortable round slats in +the back; there were some rank-and-file chairs besides,—these were +black, with yellow stripes; and there was a green settee with three +rockers beneath and an arm at each end.</p> + +<p>Henry Miller was a square-set young fellow, without a spark of romance +in him. He had plowed corn all day, and he would have danced all night +had the chance offered, and then followed the plow the next day. His +sisters were like him, plain and of a square type that bespoke a certain +sort of "Pennsylvania Dutch" ancestry, though the Millers had migrated +to Illinois, not from Pennsylvania, but from one of the old German +settlements in the valley of Virginia. Ike jumped out of the apple-tree +to follow Virginia, the youngest of the Millers, into the house; there +was between him and "Ginnie," as she was called, that sort of adolescent +attachment, or effervescent reaction, which always appears to the +parties involved in it the most serious interest in the universe, and to +everybody else something deliciously ridiculous; a sort of burlesque of +the follies of people more mature.</p> + +<p>This was destined to be one of Rachel's "company evenings"; she had not +more than seated the Millers and taken the girls' bonnets to a place of +security, when there was a knock on the door-jamb. It was Mely McCord, +who had once been a hired help in the Albaugh family. There were even in +that day wide differences in wealth and education in Illinois, but +class demarcations there were not. Nothing was more natural than that +Mely, who had come over from Hubbard township to visit some cousin in +the neighborhood, should visit the Albaughs. Mely McCord was a girl—she +was always called a girl, though now a little in the past tense—with a +stoop in the shoulders, and hair that would have been better if it had +been positively and decoratively red. As it was, her head seemed always +striving to be red without ever attaining to any purity of color.</p> + +<p>Half an hour later, Magill, an Irish bachelor of thirty-five, who, being +county clerk, was prudently riding through the country in order to keep +up his acquaintance with the voters, hitched his horse at the fence +outside of the Albaugh gate, and came in just as Rachel was bringing a +candle. Though he had no notion of cumbering himself with a family or +with anything else likely to interfere with the freedom or pleasure of +"an Irish gentleman," Magill was very fond of playing at gallantry, and +he affected a great liking for what he called "faymale beauty," and +plumed himself on the impression his own sprucely dressed person and +plump face—a little overruddy, especially toward the end of the +nose—might make on the sex. He could never pass Albaugh's without +stopping to enjoy a platonic flirtation with Rachel. George Lockwood +arrived at the same time; he was a clerk in Wooden's store, at the +county-seat village of Moscow, and he could manage, on his busiest days +even, to spend half an hour in selling a spool of cotton thread to +Rachel Albaugh. He had now come five miles in the vain hope of finding +her alone. The country beauty appreciated the flattery of his long ride, +and received his attention with a pleasure undisguised.</p> + +<p>George Lockwood's was no platonic sentiment. He watched intently every +motion of Rachel's arms only half-hidden in her open-sleeved dress; even +the rustling of the calico of her gown made his pulses flutter. He made +a shame-faced effort to conceal his agitation; he even tried to devote +himself to Mely McCord and the "Miller girls" now and then; but his eyes +followed Rachel's tranquil movements, as she amused herself with +Magill's bald flatteries, and Lockwood could not help turning himself +from side to side in order to keep the ravishing vision in view when he +was talking to some one else.</p> + +<p>"You had better make the most of your chance, Mr. Lockwood," said pert +little Virginia Miller, piqued by his absent-minded pretense of talking +with her.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Oh, talk to Rachel while you can, for maybe after a while you can't!"</p> + +<p>"Why can't I?"</p> + +<p>"She's glad enough to talk to you now, but just you wait till Tom +Grayson comes. If he should happen in to-night, what do you think would +become of you?"</p> + +<p>"Maybe I'm not so dead in love as you think," he answered.</p> + +<p>"You? You're past hope. Your eyes go round the room after her like a +sunflower twistin' its neck off to see the sun."</p> + +<p>"Pshaw!" said George. "You know better than that."</p> + +<p>But Virginia noted with amusement that his smile of affected +indifference was rather a forced one, and that he was "swallowing his +feelings," as she put it. He took her advice as soon as he dared and +crossed to where Rachel was sitting with the back of her chair against +the jamb of the mantel-piece. Rachel was smiling a little foolishly at +the shameless palaver of Magill, who told her that there was a ravishing +perfiction about her faychers that he'd niver sane surpassed, though +he'd had the exquisite playsure of dancing with many of the most +beautiful faymales in Europe. Rachel, a little sick of unwatered +sweetness, was glad to have George Lockwood interrupt the frank +criticisms of an appreciative connoisseur of loveliness.</p> + +<p>"I hear Tom Grayson outside now," said Mely McCord, in a half-whisper to +Henry Miller. "George Lockwood won't be nowhere when he gits here"; and +Mely's freckled face broke into ripples of delight at the evident +annoyance which Lockwood began to show at hearing Grayson's voice on the +porch. Tom Grayson was preceded by his sister Barbara, a rather petite +figure, brunette in complexion, with a face that was interesting and +intelligent, and that had an odd look hard to analyze, but which came +perhaps, from a slight lack of symmetry. As a child, she had been called +"cunning," in the popular American use of the word when applied to +children; that is to say, piquantly interesting; and this characteristic +of quaint piquancy of appearance she retained, now that she was +a young woman of eighteen. Her brother Tom was a middle-sized, +well-proportioned man, about two years older than she, of a fresh, +vivacious countenance, and with a be-gone-dull-care look. He had a knack +of imparting into any company something of his own cheerful +heedlessness, and for this his society was prized. He spoke to everybody +right cordially, and shook hands with all the company as though they had +been his first cousins, looking in every face without reserve or +suspicion, and he was greeted on all hands with a corresponding +heartiness. But while Tom saluted everybody, his eye turned toward +Rachel, and he made his way as quickly as possible to the farther corner +of the room where she was standing in conversation with George Lockwood. +He extended his hand to her with a hearty,</p> + +<p>"Well, Rache, how are you? It would cure fever and ague to see you"; and +then turning to Lockwood he said: "Hello, George! you out here! I +wouldn't 'ave thought there was any other fellow fool enough to ride +five miles and back to get a look at Rachel but me." And at that he +laughed, not a laugh that had any derision in it, or any defiance, only +the outbreaking of animal spirits that were unchecked by foreboding or +care.</p> + +<p>"I say, George," he went on, "let's go out and fight a duel and have it +over. There's no chance for any of us here till Rachel's beaux are +thinned out a little. If I should get you killed off and out of the way, +I suppose I should have to take Mr. Magill next."</p> + +<p>"No, Tom, it's not with me you'd foight, me boy. I've sane too many +handsome girls to fight over them, though I have never sane such +transcindent——"</p> + +<p>"Ah, hush now, Mr. Magill," entreated Rachel.</p> + +<p>"Faymale beauty's always adorned by modesty, Miss Albaugh. I'll only +add, that whoever Miss Rachel stoops to marry"—and Magill laughed a +slow, complacent laugh as he put an emphasis on stoops—"I'll be a thorn +in his soide, d'yeh mark that; fer to the day of me death, I'll be her +most devoted admoirer"; and he made a half-bow at the close of his +speech, with a quick recovery, which expressed his sense of the +formidable character of his own personal charms.</p> + +<p>But if Magill was a connoisseur of beauty he was also a politician too +prudent to slight any one. He was soon after this paying the closest +heed to Mely McCord's very spontaneous talk. He had selected Mely in +order that he might not get a reputation for being "stuck up."</p> + +<p>"Tom Grayson a'n't the leas' bit afeerd uh George Lockwood nur nobody +else," said Mely rather confidentially to Magill, who stood with hands +crossed under the tail of his blue-gray coat. "He all-ays wuz that away; +a kind'v a high-headed, don't-keer sort uv a feller. He'd better luck +out, though. Rache's one uh them skittish kind uh critters that don't +stan' 'thout hitchin', an' weth a halter knot at that. Tom Grayson's not +the fust feller that's felt shore she wuz his'n an' then found out kind +uh suddently't 'e wuzn't so almighty shore <i>arter</i> all. But, lawsee +gracious! Tom Grayson a'n't afeerd uv nothin', nohow. When the master +wuz a-lickin' him wunst, at school, an' gin 'im three cuts, an' then +says, says he, 'You may go now,' Tom, he jes lucks at 'im an' says uz +peart 's ever you see, says he, 'Gimme another to make it even +numbers.'"</p> + +<p>"An' how did the master fale about that?" asked Magill, who had been a +schoolmaster himself.</p> + +<p>"W'y he jes let him have it good an' tight right around his legs. Tom +walked off an' never wunst said thank yeh, sir. He did n' wear uz good +close in them days 's 'e does now, by a long shot. His mother's farm 's +in the timber, an' slow to open; so many stumps and the like; an' 'f 'is +uncle down 't Moscow had n't a' tuck him up, he 'd 'a' been a-plowin' in +that air stickey yaller clay 'v Hubbard township yit. But you know <i>ole</i> +Tom Grayson, his father's brother, seein' 's Tom wuz named arter him, +an' wuz promisin' like, an' had the gift of the gab, he thought 's how +Tom mought make 'n all-fired smart lawyer ur doctor, ur the like; an' +seein' 's he had n' got no boy to do choores about, he takes Tom an' +sends him to school three winters, an' now I believe he's put him to +readin' law."</p> + +<p>"Yis, I know he went into Blackman's office last May," said Magill.</p> + +<p>"Ole Tom Grayson 's never done nothin' fer the old woman nur little +Barb'ry, there, an' little Barb'ry 's the very flower of the flock, +accordin' to <i>my</i> tell," Mely went on. "Mrs. Grayson sticks to the ole +farm, yeh know, an' rents one field to pap on the sheers, an' works the +rest uv it by hirin'. She sets a mighty sight uv store by Tom. Talks +about 'im by the hour. She 'lows he'll be a-gittin' to Congress nex' +thing. But I d' know"—and here Mely shook her head. "High nose stumped +his toes," says <i>I</i>. "Jes look how he's a-carryin' on with Rache, now."</p> + +<p>"She's older 'n he is," said the clerk, knowing that even this half +unfavorable comment would be a comfort to one so far removed from +rivalry with her as Mely.</p> + +<p>"Three years ef she's a day," responded Mely promptly. "Jest look at +that Lockwood. He's like a colt on the outside of a paster fence, +now,"—and Mely giggled heartily at Lockwood's evident discomfiture.</p> + +<p>In gossip and banter the time went by, until some one proposed to "turn +the Bible." I do not know where this form of sortilege originated; it is +probably as old as Luther's Bible. One can find it practiced in Germany +to-day as it is in various parts of the United States.</p> + +<p>"Come, Sophronia, you and me will hold the key," said Lockwood, who was +always quick to seize an advantage.</p> + +<p>These two, therefore, set themselves to tell the fortunes of the +company. The large iron key to the front door and a short, fat little +pocket-Bible were the magic implements. The ward end of the key was +inserted between the leaves of the Bible at the first chapter of Ruth; +the book was closed and a string bound so tightly about it as to hold it +firmly to the key. The ring end of the key protruded. This was carefully +balanced on the tips of the forefingers of Lockwood and Sophronia +Miller, so that the Bible hung between and below their hands. A very +slight motion, unconscious and invisible, of either of the supporting +fingers would be sufficient to precipitate the Bible and key to the +floor.</p> + +<p>"Who can say the verse?" asked Lockwood.</p> + +<p>"I know it like a book," said Virginia Miller.</p> + +<p>"You say it, Ginnie," said her sister; "but whose turn first?"</p> + +<p>The two amateur sorcerers, with fingers under the key-ring, sat face to +face in the dim light of the candle, their right elbows resting on their +knees as they bent forward to hold the Bible between them. The others +stood about with countenances expressing curiosity and amusement.</p> + +<p>"Rachel first," said Henry Miller; "everybody wants to know who in +thunderation Rache <i>will</i> marry, ef she ever marries anybody. I don't +believe even the Bible can tell that. Turn fer Rachel Albaugh, and let's +see how it comes out. Say the verse, Ginnie."</p> + +<p>"Letter A," said Virginia Miller, solemnly; and then she repeated the +words like a witch saying a charm:</p> + +<p>"'Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: +for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: +thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: where thou diest will +I die, and there will I be buried.'"</p> + +<p>The key did not turn. It was manifest, therefore, that Rachel would +never marry any man whose name began with the first letter of the +alphabet. The letter B was called, and again the solemn charm was +repeated; the company resting breathless to the end. The Bible and key +refused to respond for B, or C, or D, or E, or F. But when Ginnie Miller +announced "Letter G," it was with a voice that betrayed a consciousness +of having reached a critical point in her descent of the alphabet; there +was a rustle of expectation in the room, and even McGill, standing +meditatively with his hands behind his back, shifted his weight from his +left foot to his right so as to have a better view of any antics the +Bible might take a notion to perform. Just as Virginia Miller reached +the words "and where thou diest will I die," the key slipped off +Sophronia's fingers first, and the book fell to the floor.</p> + +<p>"G stands for Grayson," said Magill gravely, but he pronounced his "G" +so nearly like "J" that a titter went around the room.</p> + +<p>"Don't you know better than to spell Grayson with a J, Mr. Magill?" +asked Rachel.</p> + +<p>Magill did not see the drift of the question, and before he could reply, +Lockwood, without looking up, broke in with: "What are you talking +about, all of you? It's not the last name, it's the given name you go +by."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" cried Mely McCord, in mild derision, "George begins with G. I +didn't think of that."</p> + +<p>"Yis," said Magill, reflectively, "that's a fact; George does begin with +jay too."</p> + +<p>"I tell you it's the last name," said Tom, laughing.</p> + +<p>"I tell you it isn't," said Lockwood, doggedly; but Henry Miller, seeing +a chance for disagreeable words, made haste to say: "Come, boys, it's +the good-natured one that'll win. Hang up the Bible once more and let's +see if it 'll drop for Lockwood when it gets to L, or for Tom when we +come to T. I don't more than half believe in the thing. It never will +turn for me on anything but Q, and they a'n't no girl with Q to her name +this side of Jericho except Queen Brooks, an' she lives thirteen miles +away an' 's engaged to another feller, and I would n't look at her +twiste if she wuz n't, nur she 't me like 's not. Come, Ginnie, gee-up +your oxen. Let's have H."</p> + +<p>The Bible refused to turn at H.</p> + +<p>"Rachel won't marry you, Henry Miller," said the county clerk.</p> + +<p>"No," said Henry, "Rache an' me 's always been first-rate friends, but +she knows me too well to fall in love with me, an' I'm the only feller +in this end of the county that's never made a fool of myself over +Rachel."</p> + +<p>Neither would the Bible turn at I, J, or K. But at L it turned.</p> + +<p>"Of course it'll turn at L, when Lockwood 's got hold of the key," said +Tom with another laugh. "That 's what he took hold for."</p> + +<p>"That's the same as saying I don't play fair," said Lockwood, with +irritation.</p> + +<p>"Fair and square a'n't just your way, George. But there's no use being +cross about it."</p> + +<p>"Come, boys, if you 're going to quarrel over the Bible you can't have +it," said Rachel, who loved tranquillity. "As for me, I'm going to marry +whoever I please, and I won't get married <i>till</i> I please, Bible or no +Bible"; and she untied the string, put the rusty key in the door, and +laid the plump little book in its old place on the mantel-piece, until +it should be wanted again for religious disputation or fortune-telling.</p> + +<p>Grayson went rattling on with cheerful and good-natured nonsense, but +George Lockwood, pushed into the shade by Tom's ready talk and by +Rachel's apparent preference for him, was not in a very good humor, and +departed early in company with Magill. After all the rest had gone, +Barbara Grayson had to remind Tom more than once of the lateness of the +hour, for nine o'clock was late in that day.</p> + +<p>"Send him home, Rachel," she said, "at half-past nine; he'll never go +while you look good-natured." Then, taking her brother by the arm, +Barbara led him to the gate. Rachel followed, almost as reluctant to +close the evening as Tom himself.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II</h2> + +<h3>WINNING AND LOSING</h3> + + +<p>The next Friday evening Grayson and Lockwood were again brought +together; this time in the miscellaneous store of Wooden & Snyder, in +which George Lockwood was the only clerk. Here after closing-time the +young men of the village were accustomed to gratify their gregarious +propensities; this was a club-room, where, amid characteristic odors of +brown sugar, plug tobacco, new calico, vinegar, whisky, molasses, and +the dressed leather of boots and shoes, social intercourse was carried +on by a group seated on the top of nail-kegs, the protruding ends of +shoe-boxes, and the counters that stretched around three sides of the +room. Here were related again all those stock anecdotes which have come +down from an antiquity inconceivably remote, but which in every village +are yet told as having happened three or four miles away, and three or +four years ago, to the intimate friend of the narrator's uncle. The +frequency of such assemblies takes off something of their zest; where +everybody knows all his neighbor's history and has heard everybody +else's favorite story, a condition of mental equilibrium ensues, and +there is no exchange of electricities. The new-comer, or the man who has +been away, is a heaven-send in a village; he stirs its stagnant +intellect as a fresh breeze, and is for the time the hero of every +congregation of idlers.</p> + +<p>Such a man on this evening was Dave Sovine, the son of a settler from +one of the Channel Islands. Four years ago, when but sixteen years old, +Dave had unluckily waked up one summer morning at daybreak. Looking out +of the little window in the end of the loft of his father's house, he +had contemplated with disgust a large field of Indian corn to be "plowed +out" that day under a June sun. So repulsive to his nature was the +landscape of young maize and the prospect of toil, that he dressed +himself, tied up his spare clothes in a handkerchief, and, taking his +boots in his hand, descended noiselessly the stairway which was in the +outside porch of the house. Once on the ground, he drew on his boots and +got away toward the Wabash, where he shipped as cook on a flat-boat +bound for New Orleans. No pursuit or inquiry was made by his family, and +the neighbors suspected that his departure was not a source of regret. +At Shawneetown the flat-boat was suddenly left without a cook. Dave had +been sent up in the town with a little money to lay in supplies of +coffee and sugar; instead of coming back, he surreptitiously shipped as +cabin-boy on the steamboat <i>Queen of the West</i>, which was just leaving +the landing, bound also for the "lower country." Sovine had afterward +been in the Gulf, he had had adventures in Mexico, and he had contrived +to pick up whatever of evil was to be learned in every place he visited. +He had now come home ostensibly "to see the folks," but really to +gratify his vanity in astonishing his old acquaintances by an admirable +proficiency in deviltry. His tales of adventure were strange and +exciting, and not likely to shrink in the telling. The youth of Moscow +listened with open-mouthed admiration to one who, though born in their +village, had seen so much of the world and broken all of the +commandments. For his skill at cards they soon had not only admiration +but dread. He had emptied the pockets of his companions by a kind of +prestidigitation quite incomprehensible to them. He seemed to play +fairly, but there was not a loafer in Moscow who had not become timid +about playing with Dave; the long run of luck was ever on his side. It +was much more amusing to his companions to hear him, with ugly winks and +the complacent airs of a man who feels sure that he had cut his +eye-teeth, tell how he had plucked others in gambling than to furnish +him with new laurels at their own expense.</p> + +<p>On this particular evening Dave Sovine lounged on one of the counters, +with a stack of unbleached "domestic" cloth for a bolster, while his +bright patent-leather shoes were posed so as to be in plain view. Thus +comfortably fixed, he bantered the now wary and rather impecunious +"boys" for a game of poker, euchre, seven-up, or anything to pass away +the time. George Lockwood, as representing the proprietors of the +store, sat on a ledge below the shelves with his feet braced on a box +under the counter. He was still smarting from his discomfiture with +Rachel Albaugh, and he was also desirous of investigating Dave Sovine's +play without risking his own "fips" and "bits" in the game. So, after +revolving the matter in his mind as he did every matter, he said to +Dave, with a half-sinister smile:</p> + +<p>"Tom Grayson's upstairs in Blackman's office. Maybe you might get up a +game with him. He plays a stiff hand, and he a'n't afraid of the Ole Boy +at cards, or anything else, for that matter."</p> + +<p>"You call him down," said Dave, winking his eye significantly, and +involuntarily disclosing a vein of exultant deviltry which made the +cool-blooded Lockwood recoil a little; however, George felt that it +would be a satisfaction to see Tom's pride reduced.</p> + +<p>Lockwood got down off the ledge in a sluggish way, and walked around the +end of the counter to the stove-pipe which ran from the box-stove in the +store up through the office above.</p> + +<p>"I say, Tom!" he called.</p> + +<p>"What?" came out of the pipe.</p> + +<p>"Dave Sovine says he can beat you at any game you choose. Come down and +try him."</p> + +<p>Grayson was bending over a law-book with only a tallow candle for light. +Studying the law of common carriers was, in his opinion, dull business +for a fellow with good red blood in his veins. He heard the murmur of +conversation below, and for the last half-hour he had longed to put the +book up beside its sheepskin companions on the shelves and join the +company in the store. This banter decided him.</p> + +<p>"I'll come down a little minute and try just three games and no more," +he said. Then he closed the book with a thump and went down the outside +stairway, which was the only means of egress from the law-office, and +was let into the back door of the store by George Lockwood. He got an +empty soap-box and set it facing the nail-keg on which Dave Sovine had +placed himself for the encounter. A half-barrel with a board on top was +put between the players, and served for table on which to deal and throw +the cards; the candle rested on the rusty box-stove which stood, winter +and summer, midway between the counters. Lockwood snuffed the candle and +then, with an affectation of overlistlessness, placed himself behind +Sovine, so as to command a view of his cards and of all his motions.</p> + +<p>Tom had prudence enough to insist on playing for small stakes of a +twelve-and-a-half-cent bit at a game;—his purse was not heavy enough +for him to venture greater ones. At first the larger number of games +fell to Grayson, and his winnings were considerable to one who had never +had more than money enough for his bare necessities. He naturally forgot +all about the law of common carriers and the limit of three games he had +prescribed himself.</p> + +<p>Dave cursed his infernal luck, as he called it, and when the twelfth +round left Tom about a dollar ahead, he gave the cards a "Virginia +poke" whenever it came his turn to cut them; that is to say, he pushed +one card out of the middle of the pack, and put it at the back. By this +means Dave proposed to "change the luck," as he said; but George +Lockwood, who looked over Dave's shoulder, was not for a minute deceived +by this manœuvre. He knew that this affectation of a superstition +about luck and the efficiency of poking the cards was only a blind to +cover from inexpert eyes the real sleight by which Dave, when he chose, +could deal himself strong hands. Even the Virginia poke did not +immediately bring a change, and when Tom had won a dozen games more than +Dave, and so was a dollar and a half ahead, and had got his pulses well +warmed up, Dave manifested great vexation, and asked Grayson to increase +the stakes to half a dollar, so as to give him a chance to recover some +of his money before it was time to quit. Tom consented to this, and the +proportions of winnings passed to the other side of the board. Dave won +sometimes two games in three, sometimes three in five, and Tom soon +found a serious inroad made in the small fund of thirteen dollars which +he had earned by odd jobs writing and even by harder and homelier work. +This money had been hoarded toward a new suit of clothes. He began to +breathe hard; he put up his hard-earned half-dollars with a trembling +hand, and he saw them pass into Sovine's pocket with a bitter regret; he +took his few winnings with eagerness. Every lost half-dollar represented +a day's work, and after every loss he resolved to venture but one more, +if the luck did not change. But how could he endure to quit defeated? He +saw before him weeks of regret and self-reproach; he felt a desperate +necessity for recovering his ground. As the loss account mounted, his +lips grew dry, the veins in his forehead visibly swelled, and the +perspiration trickled from his face. He tried to hide his agitation +under an affectation of indifference and amusement, but when he essayed +to speak careless words for a disguise, his voice was husky and +unsteady, and he kept swallowing, with an effort as though something in +his throat threatened him with suffocation. Dave noted these signs of +distress in his adversary with a sort of luxurious pleasure; he had in +him the instincts of a panther, and the suffering inflicted on another +gave an additional relish to his victory.</p> + +<p>Lockwood watched the play with a sharp curiosity, hoping to penetrate +the secret of Sovine's skill. He felt, also, a certain regret, for he +had not expected to see Tom quite so severely punished. At length Tom's +last dollar was reached; with a flushed face, he held the coin in his +trembling hand for a moment, and then he said bravely: "It might as well +go with the rest, if I lose this time," and he laid it down as a single +stake, hoping that luck would favor him.</p> + +<p>When Dave had pocketed this he leaned back and smiled with that sort of +ruthless content that a beast of prey feels when he licks his chops +after having enjoyed a meal from his lawful prey.</p> + +<p>Tom's losses were relatively great; it was a kind of small ruin that had +suddenly overtaken him. A month of writing, if he had it to do, would +not have replaced the money, nor was his a nature that could easily +brook defeat. The very courage and self-reliance that would have stood +him in admirable stead in another kind of difficulty, and that in other +circumstances would have been accounted a virtue, were a snare to him +now.</p> + +<p>"Look here, Dave," he said, with a voice choked by mortification, "give +me a chance to win a little of that back," and he laid his pocket-knife +on the table.</p> + +<p>"Tom, you'd better quit," said three or four voices at once. But Dave +rather eagerly laid a half-dollar by Tom's knife and won the knife. He +liked this chance to give a certain completeness to the job. Then Tom +laid out his silk handkerchief, which he also lost—for the games all +went one way now.</p> + +<p>"Come, Tom, hold on now," said the chorus.</p> + +<p>But Tom was in the torment of perdition. He glared at those who advised +him to desist. Then, in a mixture of stupor and desperation, he placed +his hat on the board against a dollar and lost that; then he stripped +the coat from his back and lost it, and at last his boots went the same +way. When these were gone, having nothing further to wager without +consigning himself to aboriginal nakedness, he sat in a kind of daze, +his eyes looking swollen and bloodshot with excitement.</p> + +<p>"Come, Dave," said Lockwood, "give him back his clothes. You've won +enough without taking the clothes off his back."</p> + +<p>"That's all you know about it," said Dave, who noted every token of +Tom's suffering as an additional element in his triumph. "That may be +your Illinois way, but that isn't the way we play in New Orleans. +Winnings is winnings where I learnt the game." And he proceeded to lay +Tom's things in a neat pile convenient for transportation.</p> + +<p>"Aw! come now, Dave," said one and another, "'t a'n't the fair thing to +send a fellow home to his folks barefooted and in his shirt-sleeves."</p> + +<p>But Dave smiled in supercilious contempt at this provincial view of +things, and cited the usages of the superior circles to which he had +gained admission.</p> + +<p>Lockwood at length lent Tom the money to redeem his garments, and the +necessity which obliged him to borrow from the man who had got him into +the scrape was the bitterest of all the bitter elements in Tom's defeat. +He went out into the fresh air and walked home mechanically. His +dashing, headlong ways had already partly alienated his uncle, and the +only hope of Tom's retaining his assistance long enough to complete his +law studies lay in the chance that his relative might fail to hear of +this last escapade. It was clear to Tom without much canvassing of the +question that he could not borrow from him the money to replace what he +had gotten from Lockwood to redeem his clothes. He entered the garden by +the back gate, climbed up to the roof of the wood-shed by means of a +partition fence, and thence managed to pull himself into the window of +his own chamber as stealthily as possible, that his uncle's family might +not know that he had come home at half-past twelve. He stood a long +while in the breeze at the open window watching the shadows of clouds +drift over the moonlit prairie, which stretched away like a shoreless +sea from the back of his uncle's house. He could not endure to bring his +thoughts all at once to bear on his affairs; he stood there uneasily and +watched these flitting black shadows come and go, and he gnashed his +teeth with vexation whenever a full sense of his present misery and his +future perplexities drifted over him.</p> + +<p>He shut the window and went to bed at last, and by the time daylight +arrived he had turned over every conceivable expedient. There was +nothing for him but to accept the most disagreeable of all of them. He +would have to draw on the slender purse of his mother and Barbara, for +Lockwood's was a debt that might not be put off, and he could see no +present means of earning money. He purposed to make some excuse to go +home again on Saturday. It would be dreadful to meet Barbara's +reproaches, and to see his mother's troubled face. How often he had +planned to be the support of these two, but he seemed doomed to be only +a burden; he had dreamed of being a source of pride to them, but again +and again he had brought them mortification. Had he been less generous +or more callous he would not have minded it so much. But as it was, his +intolerable misery drove him to castle-building. He comforted himself +with the reflection that he could make it all right with the folks at +home when once he should get into practice. Barbara should have an +easier time then. How often had he drawn drafts on the imaginary future +for consolation!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III</h2> + +<h3>PAYING THE FIDDLER</h3> + + +<p>"You didn't mean no harm, Tommy," said Mrs. Grayson, "I know you +didn't." She was fumbling in the drawer of a clothes-press, built by the +side of the chimney in the sitting-room of the Grayson farm-house in +Hubbard township. She kept her money in this drawer concealed under a +collection of miscellaneous articles.</p> + +<p>Tom sat looking out of the window. Ever since his gambling scrape he had +imagined his mother's plaintive voice excusing him in this way. It was +not the first time that he had had to be pulled out of disasters +produced by his own rashness, and it seemed such an unmanly thing for +him to come home with his troubles; but he must pay Lockwood quickly, +lest any imprudent word of that not very friendly friend should reach +his uncle's ears. Nothing but the fear of bringing on them greater evil +could have scourged him into facing his mother and sister with the story +of his gambling. Once in their presence, his wretched face had made it +evident that he was in one of those tight places which were ever +recurring in his life. He made a clean breast of it; your dashing +dare-devil fellow has less temptation to lie than the rest of us. And +now he had told it all,—he made it a sort of atonement to keep back +nothing,—and he sat there looking out of the window at the steady +dropping of a summer rain which had pelted him ever since he had set out +from Moscow. He looked into the rain and listened to the quivering voice +of his disappointed mother as she rummaged her drawer to take enough to +meet his debt from the dollars accumulated by her own and Barbara's toil +and management—dollars put by as a sinking fund to clear the farm of +debt. But most of all he dreaded the time when Barbara should speak. She +sat at the other window of the room with her face bent down over her +sewing, which was pinned to her dress at the knee. She had listened to +his story, but she had not uttered a word, and her silence filled him +with foreboding. Tom watched the flock of bedraggled and down-hearted +chickens creeping about under the eaves of the porch to escape the rain, +and wondered whether it would not be better to kill himself to get rid +of himself. His mother fumbled long and irresolutely in the drawer, +looking up to talk every now and then, mostly in order to delay as long +as possible the painful parting with her savings.</p> + +<p>"I know you didn't mean no harm, Tommy; I know you didn't; but it's +awful hard on Barb'ry an' me, partin' with this money. Dave Sovine's a +wicked wretch to bring such trouble on two women like us, that's had +such a hard time to git on, an' nobody left to work the place. Out uv +six children, you an' Barb'ry's all that's left alive. It's hard on a +woman to be left without her husband, an' all but the two youngest +children dead."</p> + +<p>Here she stopped ransacking the drawer to wipe her eyes. She gave way to +her grief the more easily because she still lacked resolution to devote +her earnings to filling up the gap made by Tom's prodigality. And in +every trouble her mind reverted involuntarily to the greater +tribulations of her life; all rills of disappointment and all rivers of +grief led down to this great sea of sorrow.</p> + +<p>"You're the only two't's left, you two. Ef you'd just keep out uv bad +comp'ny, Tommy. But," she said, recovering herself, "I know you're +feelin' awful bad, an' you're a good boy only you're so keerless an' +ventersome. You didn't mean no harm, an' you won't do it no more, I know +you won't."</p> + +<p>By this time Mrs. Grayson's trembling hands, on whose hardened palms and +slightly distorted fingers one might have read the history of a lifetime +of work and hardship, had drawn out a cotton handkerchief in which were +tied up thirty great round cumbersome Spanish and Mexican dollars, with +some smaller silver. This she took to a table, where she proceeded +slowly to count out for Tom the exact amount he had borrowed to redeem +his clothes,—not a fi'-penny bit more did she spare him.</p> + +<p>At this point Barbara began to speak. She raised her face from her work +and drew her dark eyes to a sharp focus, as she always did when she was +much in earnest.</p> + +<p>"It don't matter much about us, Tom," she said, despondently. "Women are +made to give up for men, I suppose. I've made up my mind a'ready to quit +the school over at Timber Creek, though I do hate to."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said her mother, "an' it's too bad, fer you did like that +new-fangled study of algebray, though I can't see the good of it."</p> + +<p>"I don't want to hurt your feelings," Barbara went on, "but maybe it'll +do you good, Tom, to remember that I've got to give up the school, and +it's my very last chance, and I've got to spin and knit enough this +winter to make up the money you've thrown away in one night. You +wouldn't make us trouble a-purpose for anything,—I know that. And, any +way, we don't care much about ourselves; it don't matter about us. But +we do care about you. What'll happen if you go on in this +heels-over-head way? Uncle Tom'll never stand it, you know, and your +only chance'll be gone. That's what'll hurt us all 'round—to give up +all for you, and then you make a mess of it—in spite of all we've +done."</p> + +<p>"You're awful hard on me, Barb," said Tom, writhing a little in his +chair. "I wish I'd made an end of myself, as I thought of doing, when I +was done playing that night."</p> + +<p>"There you are again," said Barbara, "without ever stopping to think. I +suppose you think it would have made mother and me feel better about it, +for you to kill yourself!"</p> + +<p>"Don't be so cuttin' with your tongue, Barb'ry," said her mother, "we +can stand it, and poor Tom didn't mean to do it."</p> + +<p>"Pshaw!" said Barbara, giving herself a shake of impatience, "what a +baby excuse that is for a grown-up man like Tom! Tom's no fool if he +would only think; but he'll certainly spoil everything before he comes +to his senses, and then we'll all be here in the mud together;—the +family'll be disgraced, and there'll be no chance of Tom's getting on. +What makes me mad is that Tom'll sit there and let you excuse him by +saying that he didn't <i>mean</i> any harm, and then he'll be just as gay as +ever by day after to-morrow, and just as ready to run into some new +scrape."</p> + +<p>"Go on, Barb, that's hitting the sore spot," said Tom, leaning his head +on his hand. "Maybe if you knew all I've gone through, you'd let up a +little." Tom thought of telling her of the good resolutions he had made, +but he had done that on other occasions like this, and he knew that his +resolutions were by this time at a heavy discount in the home market. He +would liked to have told Barbara how he intended to make it all up to +them whenever he should get into a lucrative practice, but he dreaded to +expose his cherished dreams to the nipping frost of her deadly common +sense.</p> + +<p>He looked about for a change of subject.</p> + +<p>"Where's Bob McCord?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"It was a rainy day, and he's gone off to the grocery, I guess," said +Mrs. Grayson. "I'm afeerd he won't come home in time to cut us wood to +do over Sunday."</p> + +<p>Tom had intended to ride back to Moscow and pay his debt this very +evening. But here was a chance to show some little gratitude—a chance +to make a beginning of amendment. He did not want to stay at home, where +the faces of his mother and Barbara and the pinching economy of the +household arrangements would reproach him, but for this very reason he +would remain until the next day; it would be a sort of penance, and any +self-imposed suffering was a relief. The main use that men make of +penitence and the wearing of sackcloth is to restore the balance of +their complacency. Tom announced his intention to see to the Sunday wood +himself; putting his uncle's horse in the stable, he went manfully to +chopping wood in the rain and attending to everything else that would +serve to make his mother and sister more comfortable.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV</h2> + +<h3>LOCKWOOD'S PLAN</h3> + + +<p>George Lockwood, being only mildly malicious, felt something akin to +compensation at having procured for Tom so severe a loss. But he was +before all things a man secretive and calculating; the first thing he +did with any circumstance was to take it into his intellectual backroom, +where he spent most of his time, and demand what advantage it could give +to George Lockwood. When he had let all the boys out of the store at a +quarter past twelve, he locked and barred the door. Then he put away the +boxes and all other traces of the company, and carried his tallow candle +into his rag-carpeted bedroom, which opened from the rear of the store +and shared the complicated and characteristic odors of the shop with a +dank smell of its own; this last came from a habit Lockwood had when he +sprinkled the floor of the store, preparatory to sweeping it, of +extending the watering process to the rag-carpet of the bedroom. His +mind gave only a passing thought of mild exultation, mingled with an +equally mild regret, to poor Tom Grayson's misfortune. He was already +inquiring how he might, without his hand appearing in the matter, use +the occurrence for his own benefit. Tom had had presence of mind enough +left to beg the whole party in the store to say nothing about the +affair; but notwithstanding the obligation which the set felt to protect +one another from the old fogies of their families, George Lockwood +thought the matter would probably get out. He was not the kind of a man +to make any bones about letting it out, if he could thereby gain any +advantage. The one feeling in his tepid nature that had ever attained +sufficient intensity to keep him awake at night was his passion for +Rachel Albaugh; and his passion was quite outside of any interest he +might have in Rachel's reversionary certainty of the one-half of John +Albaugh's lands. This, too, he had calculated, but as a subordinate +consideration.</p> + +<p>He reflected that Rachel might come to town next Saturday, which was the +general trading-day of the country people. If she should come, she would +be sure to buy something of him. But how could he tell her of Tom's +unlucky gambling? To do so directly would be in opposition to all the +habits of his prudent nature. Nor could he bethink him of a ruse that +might excuse an indirect allusion to it; and he went to sleep at length +without finding a solution of his question.</p> + +<p>But chance favored him, for with the Saturday came rain, and Rachel +regretfully gave over a proposed visit to the village. But as some of +the things wanted were quite indispensable, Ike Albaugh was sent to +Moscow, and he came into Wooden & Snyder's store about 4 o'clock in the +afternoon. George Lockwood greeted him cordially, and weighed out at his +request three pounds of ten-penny nails to finish the new corn-crib, a +half-pound of cut tobacco to replenish the senior Albaugh's pipe from +time to time, a dollar's worth of sugar, and a quarter of a pound of +Epsom salts,—these last two for general use. He also measured off five +yards of blue cotton drilling, six feet of half-inch rope for a halter, +and two yards of inch-wide ribbon to match a sample sent by Rachel. Then +he filled one of the Albaugh jugs with molasses and another with whisky, +which last was indispensable in the hay harvest. These articles were +charged to John Albaugh's account; he was credited at the same time with +the ten pounds of fresh butter that Isaac had brought. George Lockwood +also wrapped up a paper of "candy kisses," as they were called, which he +charged Ike to give to Rachel from him, but which he forgot to enter to +his own account on the day-book.</p> + +<p>"By the way, Ike," he said, "did you know that Dave Sovine got back last +week?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Ike; "I hear the Sovine folks made a turrible hullabaloo +over the returned prodigal,—killed the fatted calf, and all that."</p> + +<p>"A tough prodigal <i>he</i> is!" said Lockwood, with a gentle smile of +indifference. "You'd better look out for him."</p> + +<p>"Me? Why?" asked Ike. "He never had any grudge ag'inst me, as I know +of."</p> + +<p>"No," said Lockwood, laughing, "not that. But he's cleaned all the money +out of all the boys about town, and he'll be going after you country +fellows next, I guess. He's the <i>darnedest</i> hand with cards!"</p> + +<p>"Well, he won't git a-holt of <i>me</i>," said Ike, with boyish exultation. +"I don't hardly more 'n know the ace f'um the jack. I never played but +on'y just once; two or three games weth one of the harvest hands, four +years ago. He was showin' me how, you know, one Sunday in the big +hay-mow, an' jus' as I got somethin' 't he called high low jack, the old +man took 't into his head to come up the ladder to see what was goin' +on. You know father's folks was Dunkers, an' he don't believe in cards. +I got high low jack that time, an' I won't fergit it the longest day I +live." Ike grinned a little ruefully at the recollection. "Could n' draw +on my roundabout fer a week without somebody helpin' me, I was so awful +sore betwixt the shoulders. Not any more fer me, thank you!"</p> + +<p>"It'u'd be good for some other young fellows I know, if they'd had some +of the same liniment," said Lockwood, beginning to see his way clear, +and speaking in a languid tone with his teeth half closed. "Blam'd 'f I +didn't see Sovine, a-settin' right there on that kag of sixp'ny nails +the other night, win all a fellow's money, and then his handkerchief and +his knife. The fellow—you know him well—got so excited that he put up +his hat and his coat and his boots, an' Dave took 'em all. He's got some +cheatin' trick ur 'nother, but I stood right over 'im an' I can't quite +make it out yet. I tried to coax 'im to give back the hat an' coat an' +boots; but no, sir, he's a regular black-leg. He wouldn't give up a +thing till I lent the other fellow as much money as he'd staked ag'inst +them."</p> + +<p>"Who wuz the other fellow?" asked Ike Albaugh, with lively curiosity.</p> + +<p>"Oh! I promised not to tell"; but as Lockwood said this he made an +upward motion with his pointed thumb, and turned his eyes towards the +office overhead.</p> + +<p>"W'y, not Tom?" asked Ike, in an excited whisper.</p> + +<p>"Don't you say anything about it," said George, looking serious. "He +don't want his uncle's folks to know anything about it. And besides, I +haven't mentioned any name, you know"; and he fell into a playful little +titter between his closed teeth, as he shook his head secretively, and +turned away to attend to a woman who, in spite of the rain, had brought +on horseback a large "feed-basket" full of eggs, and three pairs of blue +stockings of her own knitting, which she wished to exchange for a calico +dress-pattern and some other things.</p> + +<p>But Lockwood turned to call after the departing youth: "You won't +mention that to anybody, will you, Ike?"</p> + +<p>"To b' shore not," said Ike, as he went out of the door thinking how +much it would interest Rachel.</p> + +<p>Ike Albaugh was too young and too light-hearted to be troubled with +forebodings. Rachel might marry anybody she pleased "f'r all of him." It +was her business, and she was of age, he reflected, and he wasn't her +"gardeen." At most, if it belonged to anybody to interfere, "it was the +ole man's lookout." But the story of Tom Grayson's losing all his money, +and even part of his clothes, was something interesting to tell, and it +did not often happen to the young man to have the first of a bit of +news. A farm-house on the edge of an unsettled prairie is a dull place, +where all things have a monotonous, diurnal revolution and a larger +annual repetition; any event with a parabolic or hyperbolic orbit which +intrudes into this system is a godsend; even the most transient +shooting-star of gossip is a relief. But this would be no momentary +meteor, and Isaac saw in the newly acquired information something to +"tease Rache with," and teasing one's sister is always lawful sport. He +owed her some good-natured grudges; here was one chance to be even with +her.</p> + +<p>Ike got home at half-past six, and Rachel had to spread for him a cold +supper, chiefly of corn-bread and milk. He gave her the ribbon and the +little package of square candy kisses from Lockwood. Rachel sat down at +the table opposite her hungry brother, and, after giving him a part of +the sweets, she amused herself with unfolding the papers that inclosed +each little square of candy and reading the couplets of honeyed doggerel +wrapped within.</p> + +<p>"Did you hear anything of Tom?" Rachel asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"What was it?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! I promised not to say anything about it."</p> + +<p>"You needn't be afraid of making me jealous," said the sister, with a +good-natured, half-defiant setting of her head on one side.</p> + +<p>"Jealous? No, it's not anything like that. You ain't good at guessin', +Sis; girls never air."</p> + +<p>"Not even Ginnie Miller," said Rachel. She usually met Ike's hackneyed +allusions to the inferiority of girls by some word about Ginnie. It was +plain her brother was in a teasing mood, and that her baffled curiosity +would not find satisfaction by coaxing. She knew well enough that Ike +was not such a fool as to keep an interesting secret long enough for it +to grow stale and unmarketable on his hands.</p> + +<p>"Let it go,—I don't care," she said, as she got up and moved about the +kitchen.</p> + +<p>"You would, if you knew," said Ike.</p> + +<p>"But I don't, and so there's an end of it"; and she began to hum a +sentimental song of the languishing sort so much in vogue in that day. +The melancholy refrain, which formed the greater part of this one, ran:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Long, long ago, long ago."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It is one of the paradoxes of human nature that young women with all the +world before them delight in singing retrospective melodies about an +auld-lang-syne concerning which, in the very nature of the case, they +cannot well know anything, but in regard to which they seem to entertain +sentiments so distressful.</p> + +<p>"It wasn't so very long ago, nuther," said Ike, whose dialect was always +intensified when there were harvest hands on the place.</p> + +<p>"What wasn't?" said Rachel, with her back to him.</p> + +<p>"Why, Tom's scrape, of course."</p> + +<p>"Was it a very bad one? Did he get took up?" Rachel's face was still +averted, but Ike noted with pleasure that her voice showed a keen +interest in his news.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, 't's not him that ought to be took up; it's Dave Sovine."</p> + +<p>Rachel cleared her throat and waited a few seconds before speaking +again.</p> + +<p>"Did Dave hurt Tom much?" she asked, groping after the facts among the +various conjectures that suggested themselves.</p> + +<p>"Well, yes," said Ike, with a broad grin of delight at his sister's wide +guessing; but by this time he was pretty well exhausted by the strain +put upon his feeble secretiveness. "Yes, hurt him? I sh'd say so!" he +went on. "Hurts like blazes to have a black-leg like Dave win all yer +money an' yer knife, 'an yer hankercher, an' yer hat an' coat an' boots +in the bargain. But you mus'n't say anything about it, Sis. It's a dead +secret."</p> + +<p>"Who told you?"</p> + +<p>"Nobody," said Ike, feeling some compunction that he had gone so far. "I +just heard it."</p> + +<p>"Who'd you hear it from?"</p> + +<p>"George Lockwood kind uh let 't out without 'xactly sayin' 't wuz Tom. +But he didn't deny it <i>wuz</i> Tom."</p> + +<p>Having thus relieved himself from the uncomfortable pressure of his +secret, Ike got up and went out whistling, leaving Rachel to think the +matter over. It was not the moral aspect of the question that presented +itself to her. If Tom had beaten Sovine she would not have cared. It was +Tom's cleverness as well as his buoyant spirit that had touched her, and +now her hero had played the fool. She had the wariness of one who had +known many lovers; her wit was not profound, and she saw rather than +contrived the course most natural to one of her prudent and ease-loving +temperament; she would hold Tom in check, and postpone the disagreeable +necessity for final decision.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V</h2> + +<h3>THE MITTEN</h3> + + +<p>Next to Tom's foreboding about his uncle was the dread of the effect of +his bad conduct on Rachel. On that rainy Saturday afternoon he thought +much about the possibility of making shipwreck with Rachel; and this led +him to remember with a suspicion, foreign to his temper, the part that +Lockwood had taken in his disgrace. By degrees he transferred much of +his indignation from Sovine to George Lockwood. He resolved to see +Rachel on his way back to town, and if possible by a frank confession to +her to forestall and break the force of any reports that might get +abroad. The bold course was always the easiest to one of so much +propulsiveness. He remembered that there was a "singin'," as it was +called in the country, held every Sunday afternoon in the Timber Creek +school-house, half-way between his mother's house and the Albaugh's. +This weekly singing-school was attended by most of the young people of +the neighborhood, and by Rachel Albaugh among the rest. Tom planned to +stop, as though by chance, at the gathering and ride home with the ever +adorable Rachel.</p> + +<p>When Tom reached the school-house, Bryant, the peripatetic teacher of +vocal music, was standing in front of his class and leading them by +beating time with his rawhide riding-whip. Esteeming himself a leader in +the musical world, he was not restricted to the methods used by +musicians of greater renown. It is easy for ignorance to make +innovation,—the America of a half century ago was seriously thinking of +revising everything except the moral law. While Noah Webster in +Connecticut was proposing single-handed to work over the English tongue +so as to render it suitable to the wants of a self-complacent young +nation, other reformers as far west as St. Louis were engaged in +improving the world's system of musical notation. Of the new method +Bryant was an ardent propagator; he made much of the fact that he was a +musical new light, and taught the "square notes," a system in which the +relative pitch was not only indicated by the position of the notes upon +the clef, but also by their characteristic shapes. Any simpleton could +here tell "do" from "me" at sight.</p> + +<p>In the "Missouri Harmonist" the lines and spaces were decorated with +quavers and semi-quavers whose heads were circles, squares, and +triangles; Old Hundred becoming a solemn procession of one-legged and +no-legged geometric figures. But Bryant understood his business too well +to confine his Sunday classes of young people to Sunday tunes. When Tom, +after tying his horse to the inner corner of a rail-fence, pushed back +the school-house door, creaking on its wooden hinges, the four divisions +of the class were chasing one another through a "round," the words of +which ran:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Now, Lawrence, take your bag,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And go right straight to mill,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And see, m—y b—o—y,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That not a bit you spill!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This kind of music was naturally popular. Such a service relieves the +tedium of a Sunday afternoon, and has something of the charm a dog finds +in pursuing his own tail.</p> + +<p>Some of the members of the class turned their heads and their vocal +mouths towards the door when Tom came in, but in the midst of this +jangle of voices singing different portions of the same air most of them +had all they could do to keep their time by waving their heads or +thumping their toes on the puncheon floor, while they alternately looked +at their books and at Bryant, who thrashed away with his whip, his lips +seeming to say, though the words were inaudible in the general din:</p> + +<p>"Up, down, right, left, up," as he perpetually made right angles in the +air. Rachel was in the act of drawing the word "boy" to the full length +of a long note with a hold after it, but she looked up long enough to +recognize the new arrival; then she dropped her eyes to the book again +and gave the most severe attention to Bryant and the square notes +thereafter, not once looking at Tom to the end. From this unwonted +absorption in her music, Tom inferred that Rachel had somehow heard of +his misconduct and was offended. But her charms enchanted him more than +ever now that they were receding from him, and with a characteristic +resolution he determined not to give her up without a sharp endeavor to +regain his lost ground.</p> + +<p>When the "singing" "let out," Tom availed himself of the first moment of +confusion, while Rachel stood apart, to ask permission to go home with +her, in the well-worn formula which was the only polite and proper word +to use for the purpose; for it is strange how rigidly certain exact +forms were adhered to among people where intercourse was for the most +part familiar and unconventional.</p> + +<p>"May I see you safe home?" he asked, as he had often asked before, but +never before with trepidation.</p> + +<p>"No," said Rachel, with an evident effort, and without looking at Tom's +face.</p> + +<p>Such an answer is technically known as "the sack" and "the mitten," +though it would take a more inventive antiquary than I to tell how it +got these epithets. But it was one of the points on which the rural +etiquette of that day was rigorous and inflexible, that such a refusal +closed the conversation and annihilated the beau without allowing him to +demand any explanations or to make any further advances at the time. Tom +was not of the sort easily snuffed out. He had to ride past Rachel's +house, and it would be an addition to his disappointment that everybody +would see his discomfiture. So he answered.</p> + +<p>"Well, I'll lead up your horse for you anyhow," and he went out before +she could make up her mind to refuse him, and brought the sorrel filly +alongside a tree-stump left standing in front of the school-house for a +horse-block. The rest had by this time either mounted and gone, or were +walking away afoot. Rachel felt a secret admiration for his audacity as +she sprang into her saddle, while Tom held her bridle and adjusted the +stirrup to her foot.</p> + +<p>"What have I done, Rachel?"</p> + +<p>"You know, well enough." Her voice was low and tremulous. She had +dismissed other favorites, but never before had she found in herself so +much reluctance.</p> + +<p>"Do you mean my gambling with Dave Sovine?" said Tom, driving, as usual, +point-blank at the very center of things.</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Who told you?" He still held on to her bridle-rein with his left +hand,—somewhat as a highwayman does in romances.</p> + +<p>"Oh! I guess everybody knows. Ike heard it yesterday, from George +Lockwood or somebody."</p> + +<p>"It was Lockwood got me into it," said Tom, shutting his teeth hard. "If +you'd let me go home with you, I could explain things a little."</p> + +<p>But those who are enervated by the balmy climate of flattery naturally +dread a stiff breeze of ridicule. Rachel Albaugh did not like to bear +any share of the odium that must come on Tom when his recklessness, and, +above all, his bad luck, should become known. She drew the rein that +Tom held, until he felt obliged to let it go, and said "No."</p> + +<p>"I have got what I needed," said Tom, making the best of his defeat.</p> + +<p>"What?" asked Rachel.</p> + +<p>"Oh! one mitten isn't of any use alone; you've given me a pair of them."</p> + +<p>Tom felt now the exhilaration of desperation. He gayly mounted his +horse, and bade Rachel a cheerful good-bye as he galloped past her; +then, when he had overtaken a group of those ahead of Rachel, he reined +up and turned in the saddle, leaning his left hand on the croup, while +he joked and bantered with one and another. Then he put his horse into a +gallop again.</p> + +<p>When he was well out of hearing, Henry Miller, who was one of the party, +remarked to his companions that he didn't know what was up, but it +seemed to him as though Tom Grayson had got something that looked like a +mitten without any thumb. "That's one more that Rache's shed," he +remarked. "But when she gets a chance to shed me she'll know it."</p> + +<p>As Tom rode onward toward the village his spirits sank again, and he let +his horse break down into an easy trot and then into a slow walk.</p> + +<p>It was no longer Sovine that he cursed inwardly. George Lockwood, he +reflected, had called him away from the Law of Common Carriers to play a +little game with Dave, and it was Lockwood who had reported his +discomfiture to the Albaughs. He put these things together by +multiplication rather than by addition, and concluded that Lockwood, +from the first, had planned his ruin in order to destroy his chances +with Rachel, which was giving that mediocre young man credit for a depth +of forethinking malice he was far from possessing.</p> + +<p>Monday morning Tom went into Wooden & Snyder's store on the way to his +office above. Lockwood had just finished sweeping out; the sprinkling +upon the floor was not dry; it yet showed the figure 8s which he had +made in swinging the sprinkler to and fro as he walked. The only persons +in the store were two or three villagers; the country people rarely came +in on Monday, and never at so early an hour. One frisky young man of a +chatty temperament had stopped to exchange the gossip of the morning +with George; but meaning to make his halt as slight as possible, he had +not gone farther than the threshold, on which he now balanced himself, +with his hands in his pockets, talking as he rocked nervously to and +fro, like a bird on a waving bough in a wind. Another villager had +slouched in to buy a pound of nails, with which to repair the damage +done to his garden fence by the pigs during Sunday; but as he was never +in a hurry, he stood back and gave the first place to a carpenter who +wanted a three-cornered file, and who was in haste to get to his day's +work. When Lockwood had attended to the carpenter, Tom beckoned him to +the back part of the store, and without saying a word counted out to him +the money he had borrowed.</p> + +<p>Something in Tom's manner gave Lockwood a sneaking feeling that his own +share in this affair was not creditable. His was one of those +consciences that take their cue from without. Of independent moral +judgment he had little; but he had a vague desire to stand well in the +judgment of others, and even to stand well in his own eyes when judged +by other people's code. It was this half-evolved conscience that made +him wish—what shall I say?—to atone for the harm he had but +half-intentionally done to Tom? or, to remove the unfavorable impression +that Tom evidently had of his conduct? At any rate, when he had taken +his money again, he ventured to offer some confidential advice in a low +tone. For your cool man who escapes the pitfalls into which better and +cleverer men often go headlong is prone to rank his worldly wisdom, and +even his sluggish temperament, among the higher virtues. Some trace of +this relative complacency made itself heard perhaps in Lockwood's voice, +when he said in an undertone:</p> + +<p>"You know, Tom, if I were you, I'd take a solemn oath never to touch a +card again. You're too rash."</p> + +<p>This good counsel grated on the excited feelings of the recipient of it.</p> + +<p>"I don't want any advice from you," said Tom in a bitter monotone.</p> + +<p>I have heard it mentioned by an expert that a super-heated steam-boiler +is likely to explode with the first escape of steam, the slight relief +of pressure precipitating the catastrophe. Tom had resolved not to speak +a word to Lockwood, but his wounded and indignant pride had brooded over +Rachel's rejection the livelong night, and now the air of patronage in +Lockwood drew from him this beginning; then his own words aggravated his +feelings, and speech became an involuntary explosion.</p> + +<p>"You called me down-stairs," he said, "and got me into this scrape. Do +you think I don't know what it was for? You took pains to have word +about it go where it would do me the most harm."</p> + +<p>"I didn't do any such thing," said Lockwood.</p> + +<p>"You did," said Tom. "You told Ike Albaugh Saturday. You're a +cold-blooded villain, and if you cross my path again I'll shoot you."</p> + +<p>By this time he was talking loud enough for all in the store to hear. +The villager who wanted nails had sidled a little closer to the center +of the explosion, the young man tilting to and fro on the threshold of +the front door had come inside the store and was deeply engaged in +studying the familiar collection of pearl buttons, colored sewing-silks, +ribbons, and other knick-knacks in the counter showcase, while the +carpenter had forgotten his haste, and turning about stood now with his +tool-box under his arm, looking at Tom Grayson and Lockwood with blunt +curiosity.</p> + +<p>"That's a nice way to treat me, I must say," said Lockwood, in a kind of +whine of outraged friendship. "You'd 'a' gone home bareheaded and in +your shirt-sleeves and your stocking-feet, if 't hadn't 'a' been fer +me."</p> + +<p>"I'd 'a' gone home with my money in my pocket, if you and Dave Sovine +hadn't fixed it up between you to fleece me. I 'xpect you made as much +out of it as Dave did. You've got me out 'v your way now. But you look +out! Don't you cross my track again, George Lockwood, or I'll kill you!"</p> + +<p>In a new country, where life is full of energy and effervescence, it is +much easier for an enraged man to talk about killing than it is in a +land of soberer thinking and less lawlessness. The animal which we call +a young man was not so tame in Illinois two generations ago as it is +now. But Tom's threat, having given vent to his wrath, lowered the +pressure: by the time he had made this second speech his violence had +partly spent itself, and he became conscious that he was heard by the +three persons in the store, as well as by Snyder, the junior proprietor, +who stood now in the back door. Tom Grayson turned and strode out of the +place, dimly aware that he had again run the risk of bringing down the +avalanche by his rashness. For if Tom was quickly brought to a +white-heat, radiation was equally rapid. Long before noon he saw clearly +that he had probably rendered it impossible to keep the secret of his +gambling from his uncle. All the town would hear of his quarrel with +Lockwood, and all the town would set itself to know to the utmost the +incident that was the starting-point of a wrath so violent.</p> + +<p>If Tom had not known by many frosty experiences his uncle's +unimpressionable temper, he would have followed his instinct and gone +directly to him with a frank confession. But there was nothing to be +gained by such a course with such a man.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI</h2> + +<h3>UNCLE AND NEPHEW</h3> + + +<p>Thomas Grayson the elder was one of those men who contrive to play an +important part in a community without having any specific vocation. He +had a warehouse in which space was sometimes let for the storage of +other people's goods, but which also served to hold country produce +whenever, in view of a probable rise in the market, he chose to enter +the field as a cash buyer in competition with the "storekeepers," who +bought only in exchange for goods. Sometimes, in the fall and the +winter, he would purchase hogs and cattle from the farmers and have them +driven to the most promising market. He also served the purpose of a +storage reservoir in the village trade; for he always had money or +credit, and whenever a house, or a horse, or a mortgage, or a saw-mill, +or a lot of timber, or a farm, or a stock of goods was put on the market +at forced sale, Grayson the elder could be counted on to buy it if no +better purchaser were to be found. He had no definite place of business; +he was generally to be found about the street, ready to buy or sell, or +to exchange one thing for another, whenever there was a chance to make a +profit.</p> + +<p>He had married late; and even in marrying he took care to make a prudent +investment. His wife brought a considerable addition to his estate and +no unduly expensive habits. Like her husband, she was of a thrifty +disposition and plain in her tastes. The temptations to a degree of +ostentation are stronger in a village than in a city, but Mrs. Grayson +was not moved by them; she lent herself to her husband's ambition to +accumulate. Not that the Graysons were without pride; they thought, +indeed, a good deal of their standing among their neighbors. But it was +gratifying to them to know that the village accounted Grayson a good +deal better off than some who indulged in a larger display. The taking +of Tom had been one of those economic combinations which men like +Grayson are fond of making. He knew that his neighbors thought he ought +to do something for his brother's family. To pay the debt on the farm +would be the simplest way of doing this, but it would be a dead +deduction from the ever-increasing total of his assets. When, however, +Barbara had come to him with a direct suggestion that he should help her +promising brother to a profession, the uncle saw a chance to discharge +the obligation which the vicarious sentiment of his neighbors and the +censure of his own conscience imposed on him, and to do it with +advantage to himself. He needed somebody "to do choores" at his house; +the wood had to be sawed, the cow had to be milked, the horse must be +fed, and the garden attended to. Like most other villagers, Grayson had +been wont to look after such things himself, but as his wealth and his +affairs increased, he had found the chores a burden on his time and some +detraction from his dignity. So he, therefore, took his namesake into +his house and sent him to the village school for three years, and then +put him into the office of Lawyer Blackman, to whom he was wont to +intrust his conveyancing and law business. This law business entailed a +considerable expense, and Thomas Grayson the elder may have seen more +than a present advantage in having his nephew take up the profession +under his protection. But the young man's unsteadiness, late hours, and +impulsive rashness had naturally been very grievous to a cool-headed +speculator who never in his life had suffered an impulse or a sentiment +to obstruct his enterprises.</p> + +<p>Of domestic life there was none in the house of Thomas Grayson, unless +one should give that name to sleeping and waking, cooking and eating, +cleaning the house and casting up accounts. With his wife Grayson talked +about the diverse speculations he had in hand or in prospect, and +canvassed his neighbors chiefly on the business side of their lives, +pleasing his pride of superior sagacity in pointing out the instances in +which they had failed to accomplish their ends from apathy or sheer +blundering. The husband and wife had no general interest in anything; no +playful banter, no interesting book, no social assemblage or cheerful +game ever ameliorated the austerity of their lives. The one thread of +sentiment woven into their stone-colored existence was a passionate +fondness for their only child Janet, a little thing five years old when +Tom came into the house to do chores and go to school,—a child of seven +now that Tom was drifting into trouble that threatened to end his +professional career before it had been begun. Janet was vivacious and +interesting rather than pretty, though her mass of dark hair, +contrasting with a fair skin and blue eyes, made her appearance +noticeable. Strict in their dealings with themselves and severe with +others, Janet's father and mother did not know how to refuse her +anything; she had grown up willful and a little overbearing; but she was +one of those children of abundant imagination and emotion that +sometimes, as by a freak of nature, are born to commonplace parents. +Those who knew her were prone to say that "the child must take back"; +for people had observed this phenomenon of inheritance from remote +ancestors and given it a name long before learned men discovered it and +labeled it atavism.</p> + +<p>A fellow like Tom, full of all sorts of impetuosities, could not help +being in pretty constant conflict with his uncle and aunt. On one +pretext or another he contrived to escape from the restraints of the +house, and to spend his evenings in such society as a village offers. A +young man may avoid the temptations of a great city, where there are +many circles of association to choose from; but in a village where there +is but one group, and where all the youth are nearly on a level, +demoralization is easier. Tom had a country boy's appetite for +companionship and excitement; he had no end of buoyant spirits and +cordial friendliness; and he was a good teller of amusing stories,—so +that he easily came to be a leader in all the frolics and freaks of the +town. His uncle administered some severe rebukes and threatened graver +consequences; but rebukes and threats served only to add the spice of +peril to Tom's adventures.</p> + +<p>The austerity of acquisitiveness is more tedious to others, perhaps, +than the austerity of religious conviction. To a child like Janet, +endowed with passion and imagination, the grave monotony of the Grayson +household was almost unbearable. From the moment of Tom's coming she had +clung to him, rejoicing in his boyish spirits, and listening eagerly to +his fund of stories, which were partly made up for her amusement, and +partly drawn from romances which he had somewhat surreptitiously read. +When he was away, Janet watched for his return; she romped with him in +defiance of the stiff proprieties of the house, and she followed him at +his chores. She cherished a high admiration for his daring and +rebellious spirit, often regretting that she was not a boy: it would be +fine to climb out of a bedroom window at night to get away to some +forbidden diversion! On the other hand, the unselfish devotion of Tom to +the child was in strange contrast with the headlong willfulness of his +character. He made toys and planned surprises for her, and he was always +ready to give up his time to her pleasure.</p> + +<p>It is hardly likely that Grayson would have borne with his nephew a +single year if it had not been for Janet's attachment to him. More than +once, when his patience was clean tired out, he said to his wife +something to this effect:</p> + +<p>"I think, Charlotte, I'll have to send Tom back to his mother. He gets +nothing but mischief here in town, and he worries me to death."</p> + +<p>To which Mrs. Grayson would reply: "Just think of Janet. I'm afraid +she'd pine away if Tom was sent off. The boy is kind to her, and I'm +sure that's one good thing about him."</p> + +<p>This consideration had always settled the question; for the two main +purposes of life with Grayson and his wife were to accumulate property +and to gratify every wish of their child. Having only one sentiment, it +had acquired a tremendous force.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII</h2> + +<h3>LOCKWOOD'S REVENGE</h3> + + +<p>When Tom, after his violent speech on that unlucky Monday morning, had +gone out of Wooden & Snyder's store, George Lockwood turned to Snyder, +the junior partner, and said, with his face a little flushed:</p> + +<p>"What a fool that boy is, anyhow! He came in here the other night after +the store was shut up and played cards with Dave Sovine till he lost all +the money he had. I tried my best to stop him, but I couldn't do it. He +went on and bet all the clo'es he could spare and lost 'em. I had to +lend him the money to get 'em back. It seems Tom's girl—John Albaugh's +daughter—heard of it, and now he will have it that I went in +partnership with Sovine to get his money, and that I wanted to get +Rachel Albaugh away from 'im."</p> + +<p>"You oughtn't to have any card-playing here," said Snyder.</p> + +<p>"I told the boys then that if they come in here again they mustn't bring +any cards."</p> + +<p>"Tom's a fool to threaten you that way. You could bind him over on that, +I suppose," said Snyder.</p> + +<p>"I s'pose I could," said George.</p> + +<p>But he did nothing that day. He prided himself on being a man that a +body couldn't run over, but he had his own way of resisting aggression; +he was not Esau, but Jacob. He could not storm and threaten like Tom; +there was no tempest in him. Cold venom will keep, and Lockwood's +resentments did not lose their strength by exposure to the air. The day +after Tom's outburst, Lockwood, having taken time to consider the +alternatives, suggested to Snyder, that while he wasn't afraid of Tom, +there was no knowing what such a hot-head might do. Lockwood professed +an unwillingness to bind Tom over to keep the peace, but thought some +influence might be brought to bear on him that would serve the purpose. +Snyder proposed that Lockwood should go to see Tom's uncle, but George +objected. That would only inflame Tom and make matters worse. Perhaps +Snyder would see Blackman, so that Lockwood need not appear in the +matter? Then Blackman could speak to Grayson the elder, if he thought +best.</p> + +<p>The calculating temper, and the touch of craftiness, pliancy, and tact +in Lockwood served the ends of his employers in many ways, and Snyder +was quite willing to put his clerk under obligations of friendship to +him. Therefore, when he saw Tom go out of the office, Snyder mounted the +stairs and had an interview with Blackman. As the lawyer was intrusted +with all the bad debts and pettifogging business of Wooden & Snyder, any +suggestion from a member of the firm was certain to receive attention. +Snyder told the lawyer that Lockwood didn't want to drag Tom before a +squire, and suggested that Blackman could settle it by getting the uncle +to give the fellow a good admonition. He offered the suggestion as +though it were quite on his own motion, he having overheard Tom's +threat. The hand of George Lockwood was concealed; but it was only +Lockwood who knew how exceedingly vulnerable Tom's fortunes were on the +side of his relations with his uncle. That evening Blackman sat in +Grayson's sitting-room. He was a man with grayish hair, of middle +height, and rather too lean to fill up his clothes, which hung on his +frame rather than fitted it; and if one regarded his face, there seemed +too little substance to quite fill out his skin, which was not precisely +wrinkled, but rather wilted. Grayson had turned around in his +writing-chair and sat with one leg over the arm, but Blackman had +probably never lolled in his life: he was possessed by a sort of +impotent uneasiness that simulated energy and diligence. He sat, as was +his wont, on the front rail of the chair-seat, as though afraid to be +comfortable, and he held in his hand a high hat half full of papers, +according to the custom of the lawyers of that day, who carried on their +heads that part of their business which they could not carry in them. +Blackman told the story of Tom's gambling as he had heard it, and of his +threatening Lockwood, while the brows of Tom's uncle visibly darkened. +Then the lawyer came to what he knew would seem to Grayson the vital +point in the matter.</p> + +<p>"You know," he said, "if George Lockwood was a-mind to, he could bind +Tom to keep the peace; though I don't s'pose Tom meant anything more +than brag by talking that way. But it wouldn't be pleasant for you to +have Tom hauled up, and to have to go his bail. I told Snyder I thought +you could fix it up without going before the squire." Blackman passed +his heavily laden hat from his right hand to his left, and then with the +right he nervously roached up his stiff, rusty hair, which he habitually +kept standing on end. After which he took a red silk handkerchief from +his hat and wiped his face, while Grayson got up and walked the floor.</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't like to have to go anybody's bail," said the latter after +awhile; "it's against my principles to go security. I suppose the best +thing would be to send him back to the country to cool off."</p> + +<p>Blackman nodded a kind of half assent, but did not venture any further +expression of opinion. He rose and deposited his silk handkerchief in a +kind of coil on the papers in his hat, and then bent his head forward +and downward so as to put on the hat without losing its contents; once +it was in place he brought his head to a perpendicular position, so that +all the mass of portable law business settled down on the handkerchief, +which acted as a cushion between Blackman's affairs and his head.</p> + +<p>Tom came in as Blackman went out, and something in the manner of the +latter gave him a feeling that he had been the subject of conversation +between the lawyer and his uncle. He went directly to his room, and +debated within himself whether or not he should go down and interrupt by +a frank and full confession the discussion which he thought was probably +taking place between Mr. and Mrs. Grayson. But knowing his uncle's power +of passive resistance, he debated long—so long that it came to be too +late, and he went to bed, resolved to have the first of it with his +uncle in the morning.</p> + +<p>There was a very serious conference between the two members of the +Grayson firm that evening. Mrs. Grayson again presented to her husband +the consideration that, if Tom should go away, she didn't see what she +was to do with Janet. The child would cry her eyes out, and there'd be +no managing her. Grayson sat for some time helpless before this +argument.</p> + +<p>"I don't see," he said at length, "but we've got to face Janet. We might +as well teach her to mind first as last." It was a favorite theory with +both of them that some day Janet was to be taught to mind. So long as no +attempt was made to fix the day on which the experiment was to begin, +the thought pleased them and did no harm. But this proposition to +undertake the dreadful task at once was a spurt of courage in Thomas +Grayson that surprised his wife.</p> + +<p>"Well, Mr. Grayson," she said, with some spirit, "the child's as much +yours as she's mine; and if she's to be taught to mind to-morrow, I +only hope you'll stay at home and begin."</p> + +<p>To this suggestion the husband made no reply. He got up and began to +look under the furniture for the boot-jack, according to his custom of +pulling off his boots in the sitting-room every night before going to +bed.</p> + +<p>"You see, Charlotte," he said deprecatingly, when he had fished his +boot-jack out from under the bureau, "I don't know what to do. If I keep +Tom, Lockwood'll have him before the squire, and I'll have to pay costs +and go bail for him."</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't do it," said Mrs. Grayson promptly. "We can't afford to have +the little we've got put in danger for him. I think you'll have to send +him home, and we'll have to get on with Janet. I'm sure we haven't any +money to waste. People think we're rich, but we don't feel rich. We're +always stinted when we want anything."</p> + +<p>The consideration of the risk of the bail settled the matter with both +of them. But, like other respectable people, they settled such questions +in duplicate. There are two sets of reasons for any course: the one is +the real and decisive motive at the bottom; the other is the pretended +reason you impose on yourself and fail to impose on your neighbors. The +minister accepts the call to a new church with a larger salary; he tells +himself that it is on account of opportunities for increased usefulness +that he changes. The politician accepts the office he didn't want out of +deference to the wishes of importunate friends. A widower marries for +the good of his children. These are not hypocrites imposing on their +neighbors; that is a hard thing to do, unless the neighbors really +wished to be humbugged in the interest of a theory. But we keep +complacency whole by little impostures devised for our private benefit. +It is pleasant to believe that we are acting from Sunday motives, but we +always keep good substantial week-day reasons for actual service. These +will bear hard usage without becoming shiny or threadbare, and they are +warranted not to lose their colors in the sunshine.</p> + +<p>"I'm sure," said Grayson, "Tom gets no good here. If anything will do +him any good, it will be sending him to the country to shift for +himself. It'll make a man of him, maybe." No better Sunday reason for +his action could have been found.</p> + +<p>"I think it's your duty to send him home," said his wife, who was more +frightened the more she thought of the possible jeopardy of a few +hundred dollars from the necessity her husband would be under of going +Tom's bail. "A boy like Tom is a great deal better off with his mother," +she went on; "and I'm sure we've tried to do what we could for him, and +nobody can blame us if he will throw away his chance."</p> + +<p>Thus the question was doubly settled; and as by this time Mr. Grayson's +boots were off, and he had set them in the corner and pushed the +boot-jack into its place under the bureau with his foot, there was no +reason why they should not take the candle and retire.</p> + +<p>But when morning came Grayson was still loth to face the matter of +getting rid of Tom, and especially of contending with Janet. Tom found +no chance to talk with him before breakfast, for the uncle did not come +out of his bedroom till the coffee was on the table, and he was so +silent and constrained that Tom felt his doom in advance. Janet tried to +draw her father and then her mother into conversation, but failing, she +settled back with the remark, "This is the <i>crossest</i> family!" Then she +made an attempt on Tom, who began by this time to feel that exhilaration +of desperation that was usually the first effect of a catastrophe on his +combative spirit, for no man could be more impudent to fate than he. +When Janet playfully stole a biscuit from his plate, he pretended to +search for it everywhere, and then set in a breakfast-table romp between +the two which exasperated the feelings of Grayson and his wife. When +they rose from the table the uncle turned severely on his nephew, and +said: "Tom——"</p> + +<p>But before he could speak a second word, the nephew, putting Janet +aside, interrupted him with:</p> + +<p>"Uncle, I should like to speak with you alone a minute."</p> + +<p>They went into the sitting-room together, and Tom closed the door. Tom +was resolved to have the first of it.</p> + +<p>"Uncle, I think I had better go home." Tom was looking out of the window +as he spoke. "I got into a row last week through George Lockwood, who +persuaded me to play cards for money with Dave Sovine. I don't want to +get you into any trouble, so I'm off for Hubbard Township, if you don't +object. There's no use of crying over spilt milk, and that's all there +is about it."</p> + +<p>"I'm very sorry, Tom, that you won't pay attention to what I've said to +you about card-playing." The elder Grayson had seated himself, while Tom +now stood nervously listening to his uncle's voice, which was utterly +dry and business-like; there was not the slightest quiver of feeling in +it. "I've got on in the world without anybody to help me, but I never +let myself play cards, and I've always kept my temper. You never make +any money by getting mad, and if you're going to make any money, it's +better to have people friendly. Now, I have to stand a good deal of +abuse. People try to cheat me, and if I take the law they call me a +skinflint; but I shouldn't make a cent more by quarreling, and I might +lose something. I can't keep you, and have you go on as you do. I've +told you that before. You'd better go home. Town will ruin you. A little +hard work in the country'll be better, and you won't be gambling away +the last cent you've got with a loafer like Dave Sovine, and then +threatening to shoot somebody, as you did young Lockwood day before +yesterday. Just think what you are coming to, Tom. I've done my best for +you, and you'll never be anything but a gambler and a loafer, I'm +afraid."</p> + +<p>These hard words sounded harder in the level and self-complacent voice +of the senior Grayson, who spoke slowly and with hardly more intensity +than there would have been in his depreciation of a horse he was trying +to buy. "Just think what you're coming to," he repeated, because he +felt that the proper thing to do under the circumstances was to give Tom +a good "talking to," and he couldn't think of anything more to say.</p> + +<p>"I don't need you to tell me what I'm coming to," replied Tom, tartly; +"I'm coming to the plow-handle and the grubbing-hoe. I'm sorry to give +you trouble, but what I feel meanest about is mother and poor Barbara. I +know what a fool I've been. But I'm no more a gambler and a loafer than +you are. It'll take me longer to work into the law by myself, but I'll +get there yet, and you'll see it."</p> + +<p>This was Tom's only adieu to his uncle, on whom confessions of wrong and +expressions of gratitude, had he felt like uttering them, would have +been wasted. Tom went to his room, thumping his feet defiantly on the +stairs. He made a bundle of his clothes, while his uncle sneaked out of +the house to avoid a collision with his little daughter, the only person +of whom he was afraid.</p> + +<p>Tom told his Aunt Charlotte good-bye with a high head; but when it came +to Janet, he put both arms about the child and drew her to him with a +fond embrace.</p> + +<p>"You shan't go away, Tom," she said, disengaging herself. "What are you +going for? Did they say you must?" By "they" Janet meant her parents, +whom she regarded as the allied foes of poor Tom. She looked indignantly +at her mother, who had turned her back on this scene of parting.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to help my mother," said Tom; "she's poor, and I oughtn't to +have left her."</p> + +<p>He again embraced the child, who began to cry bitterly. "What <i>shall</i> I +do when you're gone?" she sobbed on his shoulder. "This house won't be +fit to live in. <i>Such a lot of old pokes!</i>" And she stamped her feet and +looked poutingly at her mother.</p> + +<p>Tom disengaged himself from her intermittent embraces, and went out with +his bundle in his hand.</p> + +<p>He went first to the law-office, and sat his bundle on a chair, and +addressed himself to Blackman, who had already arrived, and who was +apparently much preoccupied with his writing.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Blackman, I've made a fool of myself by gambling, and Uncle Tom has +concluded I can't stay with him any longer. I don't much wonder at it +either. But I do hate to give up the study. Couldn't you give me +something to do, so that I could earn my board at your house?"</p> + +<p>"No," said the lawyer, looking off horizontally, but not at Tom. "I was +just going to tell you I couldn't keep you in the office. You've got +altogether too much gunpowder for a lawyer. Better get into the regular +army, Tom; that would suit your temper better." Then, after a moment's +pause, he added: "I've got young sons, and your example might ruin them +if you should come to my house to live." And he leaned forward as though +he would resume his writing. These were sound and logical reasons that +Blackman gave for not keeping Tom, and the lawyer was sincere as far as +he went. But had he discovered by this time that Tom's mind was clearer +and more acute than his own, and that if Tom should come to the bar +with his uncle's backing he would soon be a formidable rival?</p> + +<p>"Besides," resumed the lawyer, as Tom turned reluctantly away, "it's +better for you to go to the country. George Lockwood will have you bound +over to keep the peace if you stay, and now you're out with your uncle, +who's going your bail?"</p> + +<p>"Always George Lockwood," Tom thought, as he took up his bundle.</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, Mr. Blackman!" Tom's voice was husky now. But when he +descended the stairs he went down the village street with a bold front, +telling his old cronies good-bye, answering their questions frankly, and +braving it out to the last. Put the best face upon it he could, his +spirit was bitter, and to a group of old companions who followed him to +the "corporation line," at the edge of the village, he said, almost +involuntarily:</p> + +<p>"George Lockwood got me into this scrape to upset me, and he's purty +well done it. If he ever crosses my path, I'm going to get even with +him."</p> + +<p>Such vague threats do not bind one to any definite execution, and they +are a relief to the spirit of an angry man.</p> + +<p>Having broken with his uncle, Tom must walk the long ten miles to his +mother's farm in Hubbard Township. Before he got there his head was +down; the unwonted fatigue of his journey, the bitter sense of defeat, +the dark picture his imagination made of his mother's disappointment +and of the despair of the ambitious Barbara took all the heart out of +him.</p> + +<p>When he reached home he strode into the house and sat down without +saying a word.</p> + +<p>"Has Uncle Tom turned you off?" asked Barbara, faltering a little and +putting down her knitting. She had been dreading this end of all her +hopes.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Tom; "and I wish to the Lord I was dead and done for." And +he leaned his head on his left hand.</p> + +<p>"Oh, my poor boy!" began Mrs. Grayson, "and you didn't mean no harm +neither. And you're the only boy I've got, too. All the rest dead and +gone. They's no end of troubles in this world!"</p> + +<p>Tom's shoulders were heaving with feeling. After a moment or two of +silence, Barbara went over and put her hand on him.</p> + +<p>"Pshaw, Tom! what's the use of giving up? You're a splendid fellow in +spite of all, and you'll make your way yet. You only needed a settler, +and now you've got it. It won't look so bad by next week. You'll take a +school next winter, and after that go back to study law again."</p> + +<p>Then she quietly went to the clothes-press by the chimney and got out a +hank of yarn, and said to Tom:</p> + +<p>"Here, hold this while I wind it. I was just wishing you were here when +I saw my ball giving out. That's like you used to do for me. Don't you +remember? Mother, get Tom something to eat; he's tired and hungry, I +expect."</p> + +<p>And choking down the disappointment which involved more than Tom +suspected, the keen, black-eyed girl wound her yarn and made an effort +to chat with Tom as though he had come home on a visit.</p> + +<p>As the last strands were wound on the ball, Tom looked at his sister and +said:</p> + +<p>"Barbara, you're one of a thousand. But I know this thing's thundering +hard on you. I'm going to try to make it up to you from this time. I +wish to goodness I had half of your steady sense."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII</h2> + +<h3>BARBARA'S PRIVATE AFFAIRS</h3> + + +<p>From childhood Barbara's ambition had centered in Tom; it was her plan +that the clever brother should give standing to the family by his +success in life. If Tom could only be persuaded to be steady, he might +come to be a great man. A great man, in her thinking, was a member of +the State legislature, or a circuit judge, for example: to her +provincial imagination the heights above these were hazy and almost +inaccessible. The scheme of a professional career for Tom had been her +own, in conception and management; for though her brother was nearly two +years her senior, she, being prudent and forecasting, had always played +the part of an elder. Tom's undeniable "brightness" was a great source +of pride to her. In spite of his heedless collisions with the masters, +he was always at the head of his classes; and it seemed to Barbara the +most natural thing in the world that she, being a girl, should +subordinate herself to the success of a brother so promising. She had +left school to devote herself to the house and the cares of the farm, +in order that Tom might be educated—in the moderate sense of the word +then prevalent. The brother was far from being ungrateful; if he +accepted his sister's sacrifices without protest, he repaid her with a +demonstrative affection and admiration not often seen in brothers; and +there were times when he almost reverenced in her that prudence and +practical wisdom in which he found himself deficient.</p> + +<p>It was only during this summer that Barbara had been seized with +independent aspirations for herself; and perhaps even these were not +without some relation to Tom. If Tom should come to be somebody in the +county, she would sit in a reflected light as his sister. It became her, +therefore, not to neglect entirely her own education. To go to Moscow to +a winter school was out of the question. Every nerve was strained to +extricate the farm from debt and to give a little help, now and then, to +Tom. It chanced, however, that a student from an incipient Western +college, intent on getting money to pay his winter's board bills, had +that summer opened a "pay school" in the Timber Creek district +school-house, which was only two miles from the Grayson farm.</p> + +<p>Those who could attend school in the summer were, for the most part, +small fry too young to be of much service in the field, and such girls, +larger and smaller, as could be spared from home. But the appetite for +"schooling" in the new country was always greater than the supply; and +when it was reported that a school was "to be took up" in the Timber +Creek school-house, by a young man who had not only "ciphered plumb +through the Rule of Three," but had even begun to penetrate the far-away +mysteries of Latin and algebra, it came to pass that several young men +and young women, living beyond the district limits, subscribed to the +school, that they might attend it, even if only irregularly;—not that +any of the pupils dreamed of attacking the Latin, but a teacher who had +attained this Ultima Thule of human learning was supposed to know well +all that lay on the hither side of it. The terms of a "pay school," in +that day, were low enough,—a dollar and twenty-five cents was the +teacher's charge for each pupil for thirteen weeks; but the new +schoolmaster had walked from home to avoid traveling expenses, the log +school-house cost him no rent, and he had stipulated that he should +"board 'round" in the families of his patrons, so that the money he +received from twenty pupils was clear profit, and at the price of living +in those primitive times would pay his board at college for six months.</p> + +<p>Barbara, for one, had resolved to treat herself to a dollar and a +quarter's worth of additional learning. The Timber Creek school-house +was on the road leading to the village of Moscow; she could therefore +catch a ride, now and then, on the wagon of some farmer bound to the +village, by mounting on top of a load of wood, hay, or potatoes; and +often she got a lift in the evening in a neighbor's empty wagon rattling +homeward from town, or for a part of the way by sitting in the tail of +some ox-cart plying between forest and prairie; but more frequently she +had to walk both in going and coming, besides working early and late at +her household duties.</p> + +<p>Hiram Mason was the name of the new teacher whom the pupils found behind +the master's desk on the first day of school. He was the son of a +minister who had come out from New England with the laudable intention +of lending a hand in evangelizing this great strapping West, whose +vigorous and rather boisterous youth was ever a source of bewilderment, +and even a cause of grief, to the minds of well-regulated Down-easters. +The evangelists sent out aimed at the impossible, even at the +undesirable, in seeking to reproduce a New England in communities born +under a different star. Perhaps it was this peninsular trait of mind +that prevented the self-denying missionaries from making any +considerable impression on the country south of the belt peopled by the +current of migration from New England. The civilization of the broad, +wedge-shaped region on the north side of the Ohio River, which was +settled by Southern and Middle State people, and which is the great land +of the Indian corn, has been evolved out of the healthier elements of +its own native constitution. But it was indebted to New England, in the +time of its need, for many teachers of arithmetic and grammar, as well +as for the less-admirable but never-to-be-forgotten clock-peddlers and +tin-peddlers from Connecticut, who also taught the rustics of southern +Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois things they had never dreamed of before, and +took high pay for the instruction. Young Mason, though he had mostly +grown up in the new country, and would have scorned the name of Yankee, +had got from his father that almost superstitious faith in the efficacy +of knowledge which, in the North-eastern States, has been handed down +from generation to generation, and which has produced much learning and +some pedantry. Mason was of middle stature, good breadth of shoulder, +prominent, broad forehead, and brows that overhung his eyes, but were +rather high above them. He had a well-set chin and a solid jaw; his +mouth was too large to be handsome and was firmly closed; his gait was +strong, straightforward, resolute, and unhurried. There were little +touches of eccentricity in him: he had a way of looking at an +interlocutor askance, and his habitual expression was one of mingled +shyness and self-contained amusement. The religious enthusiasm of his +father had been transmuted in him to a general earnestness of character, +which was veiled under a keen perception of the droll side of life, +derived from a mother of Southern extraction. His early-and-late +diligence in study was the wonder of the country, but the tastes and +aspirations that impelled him to so much toil rarely found utterance in +any confessions, even to his nearest friends. Reserved as he was, the +people could never complain that he held himself above them. A +new-country youth, the son of a minister on slender pay, Hiram +understood how to extend a helping hand, when occasion required, in any +work that might be going on. At school, when the young master saw the +boys playing at the boisterous and promiscuous "soak about," he would +sometimes catch the contagion of the wild fun, and, thrusting his "Livy" +into the desk, rush out of the door to mix in the confusion, throwing +the yarn ball at one and another with a vigor and an accuracy of aim +that doubled the respect of his pupils for him. But when once he had +extricated himself from the <i>mélée</i>, and had rapped on the door-frame +with his ruler, crying, "Books, books!" the boy who a minute before had +enjoyed the luxury of giving the master what was known in school-boy +lingo as a "sockdolager," delivered full in the back, or even on the +side of the head, did not find any encouragement to presume on that +experience in school-hours.</p> + +<p>The new master's punishments usually had a touch of his drollery in +them; he contrived to make the culprit ridiculous, and so to keep the +humor of the school on his side. A girl who could not otherwise be cured +of munching in school had to stand in front of the master's desk with an +apple in her teeth; a boy who was wont to get his sport by pinching his +neighbors, and sticking them with pins, was forced to make no end of +amusement for the school in his turn, by standing on the hearth with a +cleft stick pinching his nose out of shape. It was soon concluded that +there was no fun in "fooling" with a master who was sure to turn the +joke on the offender.</p> + +<p>The older pupils who occupied the "writing bench," in front of a +continuous shelf-like desk fixed along the wall, spent much of their +time in smuggling from one to another fervid little love notes, which, +for disguise, were folded like the "thumb-papers" that served to protect +their books from the wear and tear of their over-vigorous thumbs, and +from soiling. By passing books from one to another, with such +innocent-looking square papers in them, a refreshing correspondence was +kept up. This exchange of smuggled billets-doux was particularly active +when Rachel Albaugh was present. As for the love-letters thus +dispatched, they were fearfully monotonous and not worth the pains of +capture by a schoolmaster. Some were straightforward and shameless +declarations of admiration and affection in prose scrawls, but a very +common sort was composed entirely of one or another of those well-worn +doggerel couplets that have perhaps done duty since the art of writing +became known to the Anglo-Saxons.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"If you love me as I love you,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No knife can cut our love in two,"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>was a favorite with the swains of the country school-house; but</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The rose is red, the violet's blue,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sugar's sweet, and so are you,"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>had a molasses-like consistency in its alliterative lines that gave it +the preference over all other love poems extant.</p> + +<p>Amongst these unblushing scribblers of love doggerel and patient cutters +and folders of many sorts of thumb-papers, whose fits of studying, like +chills and fever, came on only "by spells," Barbara sat without being +one of them. The last chance for education was not to be thrown away; +and Mason soon singled out this rather under-sized, sharp-eyed girl, not +only as the most industrious and clever of the pupils in the Timber +Creek school, but as a person of quite another sort from the rest of +them. When he was explaining anything to a group of half-listless +scholars, her dark eyes, drawn to beads, almost startled him with their +concentrated interest. She could not be taught in any kind of +classification with the rest; her rate of progress was too rapid. So +finding that Barbara studied all through the recess time, he undertook +to give her extra instruction while the others were on the playground. +The most agreeable minutes of his day were those in which he unfolded to +her the prosaic principles of Vulgar Fractions, of Tare and Tret, and of +the Rule of Three. This last was the great and final goal, and it was +attained by few of those who attended an intermittent country school in +that time. To reach it was to become competent to teach school. Barbara, +with the help of the master, who directed her to save time by omitting +some of the rubbish in Pike's Arithmetic, was soon in sight of this +promised land of the Rule of Three, and it became a question of +reviewing the book once more, when she should be through with it, so as +to take rank among those who would certainly "do every sum in the book."</p> + +<p>"Why not take up algebra?" said the teacher to her, during a long noon +recess as they sat side by side at his desk poring over a slate full of +figures.</p> + +<p>"Do you think I could learn it?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"You could learn anything," he said; and the assurance gave Barbara more +pleasure than any commendation she had ever received. But she did not +know what to reply. To go beyond the arithmetic would be, according to +the standard of the country, to have a liberal education, and she was +ambitious enough to like that. But where would she get the money to buy +a text-book? She didn't wish to confess her scruple of economy. It was +not that she was ashamed of her poverty, for poverty might be said to be +the prevailing fashion in the Timber Creek country; but it would be +bringing to Mason's attention her private affairs, and from that she +shrank with an instinct of delicacy for which she could not have given +any reason. Yet there sat Mason, leaning back and waiting for her to +reply to his question. After a few moments she mustered courage to ask +timidly:</p> + +<p>"Would the book cost much?"</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't buy any book just now," said the master, seeing the drift of +her thoughts. He went to one corner of the school-room, and, standing on +the bench, pushed aside one of the boards laid loosely over the joists +above. It was here, in the dark loft, that he kept the few articles not +necessary to his daily existence in boarding 'round. Reaching his hand +up above the boards, he found a copy of a school text-book on algebra, +and brought it down with him, rapping it against his hand and blowing +the dust off it.</p> + +<p>"Use that for a while," he said.</p> + +<p>"Oh, thank you!" said Barbara, taking hold of the book with a curious +sense of reverence, which was greatly increased as she turned the leaves +and regarded the symbols, whose nature and use were quite inconceivable +to her. Here was a knowledge beyond any that she had ever dreamed of +looking into; beyond that of any schoolmaster she had ever known, except +Mason. "It looks hard," she said, regarding him.</p> + +<p>"Take it home and try it," he replied, as he took up his ruler to call +the scholars to books.</p> + +<p>A closer companionship now grew up between the master and the pupil. +Both of them anticipated with pleasure the coming of recess time, when +the new study could be discussed together. Henceforth the boys looked in +vain for Mason to take a turn with them in playing soak-about.</p> + +<p>To a man of high aims nothing is more delightful than to have a devoted +disciple. Even the self-contained Mason could not be quite unmoved in +contemplating this young girl, all of whose tastes and ambitions flowed +in the same channel with his own, listening to him as to an oracle. If +he had not been so firmly fixed in his resolve that he would not allow +any woman to engage his affections before he had completed his college +course, he might have come to fall in love with her. But all such +thoughts he resolutely put aside. Of course, teaching her was a delight; +but who could help feeling delight in teaching such a learner? Moreover, +he was particularly fond of algebra. But he could hardly lay all of his +enjoyment to his liking for algebra, or his pleasure in teaching a +quick-witted pupil. He could not make himself believe that it was his +enjoyment of algebraic generalizations that made his hand tremble +whenever he returned a slate or book to Barbara Grayson.</p> + +<p>Barbara, for her part, was too intent on her work to think much about +anything else. She had more than once caught sight of the furtive, +inquiring glance of her teacher on her face before he could turn his +eyes away; she was pleased to note that his voice had a tone in +addressing her that it had not when he spoke to the others; and she took +pleasure in perceiving that she was beyond question the favorite pupil. +But Barbara was averse to building any castles in the air which she had +small chance of being able to materialize.</p> + +<p>One evening, as she was going briskly toward home, she was overtaken by +Mason, who walked with her up hill and down dale the whole long rough +new-country road through the woods, carrying her books, and chatting +about trivial things as he had never done before. He contrived, half in +pleasantry, but quite in earnest, to praise her diligence, and even her +mind. She had hardly ever thought of herself as having a mind. That Tom +had such a gift she knew, and she understood how important it was to +cultivate his abilities. But she was only Tom's sister. It seemed to her +a fine thing, however, this having a mind of her own, and she thought a +good deal about it afterward.</p> + +<p>When Hiram Mason reached the place where Barbara was accustomed to leave +the main road, in order to reach her home by a shorter path through a +meadow, he got over the fence first and gave her his hand, though he +wondered afterward that he had had the courage to do it. Barbara had +climbed fences and trees too, for that matter, from her infancy, and she +was in the habit of getting over this fence twice a day, without ever +dreaming that she needed help. But a change had come over her in this +two-miles' walk from school. For the first time, she felt a certain +loneliness in her life, and a pleasure in being protected. She let Mason +take her hand and help her to the top of the fence, though she could +have climbed up much more nimbly if she had had both hands free to hold +by. Hiram found it so pleasant helping her up, by holding her hand, that +he took both her hands when she was ready to jump down on the meadow +side of the fence, and then, by an involuntary impulse he retained her +right hand in his left a bare moment longer than was necessary. A little +ashamed, not so much of the feeling he had shown as of that he had +concealed, he finished his adieux abruptly, and, placing his hands on +the top rail, vaulted clean over the fence again into the road. Then he +thought of something else that he wanted to say about Barbara's new +study of algebra,—something of no consequence at all, except in so far +as it served to make Barbara turn and look at him once more. The odd +twinkling smile so habitual with him died out of his face, and he looked +into hers with an eagerness that made her blush, but did not make her +turn away. Blaming himself for what seemed to him imprudence, he left +her at last and started back, only stopping on the next high ground to +watch her figure as she hurried along through the meadow grass, and +across the brook, and then up the slope toward the house.</p> + +<p>There were several other evenings not very different from this one. The +master would wait until all the pupils had gone, and then overtake +Barbara. He solaced his conscience by carrying a book in his pocket, so +as to study on the way back; but he found a strange wandering of the +mind in his endeavors to read a dead language after a walk with Barbara. +He still held to his resolution, or to what was left of his resolution, +not to entangle himself with an early engagement. What visions he +indulged in, of projects to be carried out in a very short time after +his graduation, belong to the secrets of his own imagination; all his +follies shall not be laid bare here. But to keep from committing himself +too far, he drew the line at the boundary of Mrs. Grayson's farm,—the +meadow fence. He gave himself a little grace, and drew the line on the +inside of the fence. He was firmly resolved never to go quite home with +his pupil, and never to call at her house. So long as he stopped at the +fence, or within ten, or say twenty, or perhaps thirty, feet of it he +felt reasonably safe. But he could not, in common civility, turn back +until he had helped her to surmount this eight-rail fence; and indeed it +was the great treat to which he always looked forward. There was a sort +of permissible intimacy in such an attention. He guarded himself, +however, against going beyond the limits of civility—of kindly +politeness—of polite friendship; that was the precise phrase he hit on +at last. But good resolutions often come to naught because of its being +so very difficult to reckon beforehand with the involuntary and the +uncontrollable. The goodman of the house never knows at what moment the +thief will surprise him. One evening Mason had taken especial pains to +talk on only the most innocent and indifferent subjects, such as +algebra. On this theme he was the schoolmaster, and he felt particularly +secure against any expression of feeling, for <i>x</i>, <i>y</i>, and <i>z</i> are +unknown quantities that have no emotion in them. Though Barbara was yet +in the rudiments of the study, he was trying to make her understand the +general principles involved in the discussion of the famous problem of +the lights. To make this clear he sat down once or twice on logs lying +by the roadside, and wrote some characters on her slate showing the +relation of <i>a</i> to <i>b</i> in any given case, while Barbara sat by and +looked over his demonstrations. But in spite of these delays, they got +to the fence before he had finished, and the rest was postponed for +another time. It didn't matter so much about the lights after all, +whether they were near together or far apart; it does not matter to +lights, but there <i>are</i> flames much affected by proximity. As Mason +helped Barbara down from the fence, his passion, by some sudden assault, +got the better of his prudence, and looking intently into the eyes +shaded by the sun-bonnet, he came out with:</p> + +<p>"It's all the world to a fellow like me to have such a scholar as you +are, Barbara."</p> + +<p>The words were mild enough; but his eager manner and his air of +confidence, as he stood in front of her sun-bonnet and spoke, with his +face flushed, and in a low and unsteady voice, made his speech a half +confession. Startled at this sudden downfall of his resolution, he got +back over the fence and went straight away, without giving her a chance +to say anything; without so much as uttering a civil good-bye. The +precipitation of his retreat only served to lend the greater +significance to his unpremeditated speech.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Grayson complained that there was "no sense in a girl's studyin' +algebra, an' tryin' to know more 'n many a good schoolmaster ever knowed +when I was a girl. Ever since Barbary's been at that new-fangled study, +it's seemed like as if she'd somehow'r nuther gone deranged. She'll say +supper's ready when they ain't knife nur fork on the table; an' she's +everlastin'ly losin' her knittin'-needles an' puttin' her thimble where +she can't find it, or mislayin' her sun-bonnet. Ef her head was loose, +she'd be shore to leave that around somewheres, liker'n not."</p> + +<p>If Hiram Mason's half-involuntary love-making had not brought Barbara +unmeasured pleasure she would not have been the normal young woman that +she was. He filled all her ideals, and went beyond the highest standard +she had set up before she knew him. She was not the kind of a girl that +one meets nowadays; at least, that one meets nowadays in novels. She did +not have a lot of perfectly needless and inconceivably fine-spun +conscientious scruples to prevent the course of her fortune from running +smoothly. She did find in herself a drawing back from the future which +Mason's partiality had brought within the range of her vision. But her +scruple was only one of pride; she exaggerated the superiority of an +educated family, such as she conceived his to be, and she reflected that +the Graysons were simple country people. She felt in herself that she +could never endure the mortification she would feel, as Hiram's wife, if +the Masons should look down on her good but unlettered mother, and say +or feel that Hiram had "married below him." If, now, Tom should come to +something, the equation would be made good.</p> + +<p>But the very day after Mason had spoken so warmly of the comfort he +found in such a pupil was that disagreeable Saturday on which Tom had +come home plucked in gambling, to ask for money enough to pay the debt +he had incurred in redeeming his clothes. Was it any wonder that Barbara +spoke to him with severity when she found her cherished vision becoming +an intangible illusion? Tom would make no career at all at this rate; +and to yield to Hiram Mason's wooing would now be to bring to him, not +only the drawback of a family of humble breeding and slender education, +but the disgrace of a rash, unsteady, and unsuccessful brother, whose +adventures with gamblers would seem particularly disreputable to a +minister's family. There was no good in thinking about it any more. Her +pride could never bear to be "looked down on" by the family of her +husband. It would be better to give it up at once—unless—she clung to +this possibility—unless Tom should turn out right after all. The +necessity for surrendering so much imminent happiness did not surprise +her. She had always had to forego, and no prospect of happiness could +seem quite possible of realization to an imagination accustomed to +contemplate a future of self-denial. None the less, the disappointment +was most acute, for she must even give up the school, and try, by +spinning yarn, by knitting stockings, and by weaving jeans and linsey, +to make up the money taken out of their little fund by Tom's +recklessness.</p> + +<p>On the next Monday, and the days following, she staid at home without +sending any word to the schoolmaster. She held to a lurking hope that +Tom's affairs might mend, and she be able, by some good luck, to resume +her attendance on the school for a part of the remainder of the quarter. +But when on Wednesday Tom's haggard face appeared at the door, and she +read in it that all her schemes for him had miscarried, she knew that +she must give up dreaming dreams which seemed too good to be innocent. +There was nothing for her but to give herself to doing what could be +done for Tom. It was lucky that the poor fellow did not suspect what it +cost her to put a smooth face on his disasters.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX</h2> + +<h3>BY THE LOOM</h3> + + +<p>On Monday, Mason saw with regret that Barbara was not at school. On +Tuesday he felt solicitous, and would have made inquiry if it had not +been for an impulse of secretiveness. By Wednesday he began to fear that +his words spoken to her at the meadow fence had something to do with her +absence. He questioned the past. He could not remember that she had ever +repelled his attentions, or that she had seemed displeased when he had +spoken his fervent and unpremeditated words. Aware that his bearing +toward Barbara had attracted the observation of the school, he did not +summon courage to ask about her until Thursday. Then when the voluble +Mely McCord came to him before the beginning of the afternoon session, +to ask how she should proceed to divide 130 by 9, he inquired if Barbara +was ill.</p> + +<p>"No, I don't 'low she's sick," responded Mely. "I sh'd 'a' thought she'd +tole you, 'f anybody, what't wuz kep' 'er"; and Mely laughed a malicious +little snicker, which revealed her belief that the master was in +confidential relations with his algebra scholar. "She thinks the +worl'n'all of the school an' the master." Mely gasped a little as she +ventured this thrust, and quickly added, "An' of algebray—she's <i>that</i> +fond of algebray; but I sh'd thought she'd 'a' tole <i>you</i> what kep' 'er, +ur'a' sen' choo word. But I 'low it's got sumpin' to do weth the trouble +in the family."</p> + +<p>Mely made what the old schoolmasters called a "full stop" at this point, +as though she considered it certain that Mason would know all about +Barbara's affairs.</p> + +<p>"Trouble? What trouble?" asked the master.</p> + +<p>"W'y, I 'low'd you'd 'a' knowed," said the teasing creature, shaking her +rusty ringlets, with a fluttering, half-suppressed amusement at the +anxiety she had awakened in Mason's mind. "Hain' choo h-yeard about her +brother?"</p> + +<p>"No; which brother? The one that's in Moscow?"</p> + +<p>"W'y, lawsy, don'choo know't she hain't got nary nuther one? The res' 's +all dead an' buried long ago. Her brother Tom lost 'is sitooation along +of gamblin' an' the like. They say he lost the boots offviz feet an' the +coat offviz back." Here Mely had to give vent to her feelings in a +hearty giggle; Tom's losses seemed to her a joke of the best, and all +the better that the master took it so seriously. "I 'low it's cut +Barb'ry up more'n a little. She sot sech store by Tom. An' he <i>is</i> +smart, the <i>smartest</i> feller you'd find fer books an' the like. But +what's the use a-bein' so smart an' then bein' sech a simple into the +bargain? <i>I</i> say."</p> + +<p>Mason did not like to ask further questions about Barbara's family +affairs. He could hardly bear to hear Mely canvass them in this +unsympathetic way. But there was one more inquiry that he made about +Tom.</p> + +<p>"Does he drink?"</p> + +<p>"Mighty leetle. I 'xpect he takes a drop ur two now an' then, jest fer +company's sake when he's a-cavortin' 'roun' weth the boys. But I 'low he +hain't got no rale hankerin' fer the critter, an' he's that fond of +Barb'ry 'n' 'is mother, an' they're so sot on 'im, that he would n' +noways like to git reg'lar drunk like. But he's always a-gittin' into a +bad crowd, an' tryin' some deviltry'r nuther; out uv one scrape an' into +t'other, kind-uh keerless like; head up an' never ketchin' sight 'v a +stump tell he's fell over it, kerthump, head over heels. His uncle's +been a-schoolin' 'im, an' lately he's gone 'n' put 'im weth Squire +Blackman to learn to be a lawyer; but now he's up 'n' sent him home fer +a bad bargain. Ut's no go't the law, an' he won't never stan' a farm, +yeh know. Too high-sperrited."</p> + +<p>Possessed of a share of Mely McCord's stock of information about +Barbara's troubles, Hiram Mason saw that his resolution against calling +on his pupil at her own house would have to go the way of most of his +other resolutions on this subject. He set himself to find arguments +against keeping this one, but he was perfectly aware, all the time, that +his going to the Graysons' would not depend on reasons at all. He +reflected, however, that Barbara's trouble was a new and unforeseen +condition. Besides, his regulative resolutions had been so far strained +already that they were not worth the keeping. It is often thus in our +dealings with ourselves; we argue from defection to indulgence.</p> + +<p>Mely McCord felt sure of having the master's company after school as far +as she had to go on the road leading to the Graysons'. But he went +another way to Pearson's, where he was boarding out the proportion due +for three pupils. Mrs. Pearson had intermitted the usual diet of +corn-dodgers, and had baked a skilletful of hot biscuits, in honor of +the master; she was a little piqued that he should absorb them, as he +did, in a perfectly heartless way, and she even apologized for them, +asserting that they were not so good as usual, in the vain hope that the +master would wake up and contradict her. As soon as the early supper was +over Hiram left the house, without saying anything of his destination. +He took a "short cut" across a small prairie, then through the woods, +and across Butt's corn-field, until he came out on the road near the +place at which he had several times helped Barbara over the fence. By +her path through the meadow he reached the house just as the summer +twilight was making the vault of the sky seem deeper and mellowing all +the tones in the landscape. In that walk Mason's mind had completely +changed front. Why should he try to maintain a fast-and-loose relation +with Barbara? She was in need of his present sympathy and help. Impulses +in his nature, the strength of which he had never suspected, were +beating against the feeble barriers he had raised. Of what use was this +battle, which might keep him miserable awhile longer, but which could +end in but one way? As he walked through the narrow meadow path, in the +middle of which the heavy overhanging heads of timothy grass, now ready +for the scythe, touched one another, so that his legs brushed them aside +at every step, he cast away the last tatters of his old resolves. The +dams were down; the current might flow whither it listed. He would have +it out with Barbara this very evening, and end the conflict.</p> + +<p>It is by some such only half-rational process that the most important +questions of conduct are usually decided—sometimes luckily; in other +cases, to the blighting of the whole life. Is it not rather a poor fist +of a world after all, this in which we live, where the most critical and +irrevocable decisions must be made while the inexperienced youth is +tossed with gusts of passion and blinded by traditional prejudices or +captivated by specious theories? The selection of wives and vocations, +the two capital elements in human happiness and success, is generally +guided by nothing higher than the caprice of those whose judgments are +in the gristle. Often the whole course of life of the strong, +clear-seeing man yet to come is changed forever by a boy's whim. The old +allegorists painted the young man as playing chess with the devil; but +chess is a game of skill. What the young man plays is often a child's +game of pitch and toss, cross or pile, heads or tails, for stakes of +fearful magnitude. Luckily for Hiram, as you and I know from our present +acquaintance with Barbara, nothing more disastrous than disappointment +was likely to happen to him from his inability to keep his mortifying +resolves. The abandonment of them had simplified his feelings and +brought him present relief. When he knocked on the jamb of the open +front door of the Grayson farm-house, and was invited to come in by the +mother, there was a wholeness in his feelings and purposes to which he +had been a stranger for weeks.</p> + +<p>"Barb'ry," said Mrs. Grayson as she entered the kitchen, after giving +Hiram a chair, "here's the master come to see you. I 'low he thought you +mought be sick ur sumpin'."</p> + +<p>Barbara sat perched on the loom-bench, with her back to the web she had +been weaving. Just now she was peeling, quartering, and coring summer +apples to dry for winter stores. She untied her apron and went from the +kitchen into the sitting-room, where Mason was looking about, as was his +habit, in a quizzical, half-amused way. He had noted the wide stone +fire-place, the blackness of whose interior was hidden by the bushy +asparagus tops which filled it, and the wooden clock on the unpainted +mantel-piece, which had a print of the death-bed of George Washington +impaneled in its door. A stairway winding up in one corner gave +picturesqueness to the room; diagonally across from this was a high post +bed; there were some shuck-bottom chairs, a splint-bottom rocking-chair, +and a bureau with a looking-glass on top. The floor was covered with a +new rag-carpet, and the comfortable, home-like sentiment excited in +Hiram's mind by the general aspect of the room was enhanced by a hearth +cricket, which, in one of the crevices of the uneven flag-stones, was +already emitting little vibrant snatches like the black fiddler that he +was, tuning up for an evening performance.</p> + +<p>The sight of Mason dissipated for the moment the clouds that darkened +Barbara's thoughts; she saw blue sky for the first time since Tom's +first return. It was a pleased and untroubled face that met his gaze +when she extended her hand to him.</p> + +<p>"Howdy, Mr. Mason!"</p> + +<p>Mason fixed his eyes on her in his odd fashion, half turning his head +aside, and regarding her diagonally.</p> + +<p>"Well, Barbara, you're the lost sheep," was his greeting. "I was afraid +you wouldn't come back to the flock if I didn't come into the wilderness +and look you up."</p> + +<p>"There's been such a lot of things to do this week," she answered +hurriedly, "I didn't know how to get time to go to school."</p> + +<p>This was truthful, but it was far from being frank, and it was not on +these terms that Mason wished to meet her. His first thought was to put +her more at ease.</p> + +<p>"Can't we sit out on the porch?" he said; "I'm warm with walking." And +he lifted two of the chairs and carried them to the covered porch. There +would soon be no light outside but what came from the night sky, and +what a dim candle in the sitting-room, when it should be lighted, might +manage to spare through the open door. Hiram had a notion that in this +obscurity he could coax Barbara out of the diplomatic mood into the +plain indicative. But before they had sat down he had changed his plan.</p> + +<p>"Hold on," he said, more to himself than to her; and added, "What were +you doing when I came?"</p> + +<p>"Only peeling some apples to dry."</p> + +<p>"Let me help you; we'll have an apple-peeling all to ourselves."</p> + +<p>"No," said Barbara, hesitatingly; but Mason went through the +sitting-room and, opening the kitchen door, thrust his head through and +said:</p> + +<p>"Mayn't I sit out there and help Barbara peel apples, Mrs. Grayson?"</p> + +<p>"You may do what you like, Mr. Mason," said the old lady, pleased with +his familiarity; "but peelin' apples ain't jest the kind of work to set +a schoolmaster at."</p> + +<p>"Schoolmasters a'n't all of them so good for nothing as you think. Come +on, Barbara, a little apple-peeling will make it seem like home to me; +and this living 'round in other people's houses has made me homesick."</p> + +<p>Barbara came out and took her old place on the loom-bench, beside the +great three-peck basket of yellow apples. Her seat raised her +considerably higher than Mason, who occupied a low chair. In front of +Barbara was another chair, on which sat a pan to hold the quarters of +apples when prepared for drying; on one of the rungs of this Barbara +supported her feet. The candle which Mrs. Grayson lighted shed a dim +yellow light from one end of the high smoke-blackened mantel-shelf, +which extended across the chimney above the cavernous kitchen +fire-place. The joists of the loft were of heavy logs, and these, and +the boards which overlaid them, and all the woodwork about this +kitchen, were softened and sombered by the smoke that had escaped from +the great, rude chimney; for the kitchen was the original log-cabin +built when Tom's father, fresh from Maryland, had first settled on the +new farm; the rest of the house had grown from this kernel.</p> + +<p>The mother, who had not dreamed of any relation between Barbara and +Hiram Mason more friendly than that of master and pupil, was a little +surprised at the apparently advanced stage of their acquaintance; but +she liked it, because it showed that the schoolmaster was not "stuck +up," and that he understood that "our Barb'ry" was no common girl. Tom +looked in at the open outside door of the kitchen after a while, and was +pleased. "Barb deserved a nice beau if ever anybody did," he reflected, +and it might keep her from feeling so bad over his own failures. Not +wishing to intrude, and wearied to exhaustion with his first day of +farm-work since his return, he went around to the front door and through +the sitting-room upstairs to bed. When the mother had finished "putting +things to rights" she went into the sitting-room, and the apple-peelers +were left with only the loom, the reel, and the winding-blades for +witnesses.</p> + +<p>They talked of school, of their studies, and of many other things until +the great basket of apples began to grow empty while the basket of +parings and corings was full. The pan of apple-quarters having +overflowed had been replaced by a pail, which was also nearly full, +when, after a playful scuffle of hands in the basket, Hiram secured the +last apple and peeled it. Then laying down his knife, he asked:</p> + +<p>"You'll be back at school next week?"</p> + +<p>Barbara had been dreading this inquiry. She wished Mason had not asked +it. She had heartily enjoyed his society while they talked of things +indifferent, but the question brought her suddenly and painfully back +into the region of her disappointment and perplexities.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid I can't come any more. Things haven't gone right with us." +The wide spaces between her words indicated to her companion the effort +it cost to allude to her affairs.</p> + +<p>Mason was more than ever puzzled. By what means could he establish such +a ground of confidence between them as would enable him to enter into +her difficulties and give her, at the least, the help of his sympathy +and counsel? There seemed no way so good as that by direct approach.</p> + +<p>"Barbara," he said, drawing his chair nearer to the loom-bench and +leaning forward toward her, "won't you please tell me about your +affairs, if—if you can do it? I don't want to intrude, but why can't +you let me be your best friend and—help you if I can?"</p> + +<p>This speech had a different effect from what Mason had intended. +Barbara's pride resented an offer of help from him. Of all things, she +did not wish to be pitied by the man she was beginning to love. He would +always think of her as lower than himself, and she had too much pride +to relish anything like the rôle of Cophetua's beggar maid.</p> + +<p>"I can't do it, Mr. Mason; there's nothing anybody can do." She spoke +with her eyes downcast. Having ventured so much and gained nothing, +Mason leaned back in his chair and turned his head about to what a +photographer would call a "three-quarters position," and looked at +Barbara from under his brows without saying anything more. He was like a +pilot waiting for the fog to lift. This silent regard made Barbara +uneasy. She could not help feeling a certain appreciation of his desire +to help her, however disagreeable it might be to her feelings. Perhaps +she was wrong to repel his confidence so abruptly.</p> + +<p>"I suppose you know about poor Tom?" she said, making so much concession +to his kindness, but half swallowing the rapidly spoken words.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Hiram; "I heard he had got into a scrape such as many a +bright boy gets into. A village like Moscow is a hard place for a boy +raised in the country. But he'll pull out of that."</p> + +<p>It lifted a weight from Barbara's mind that Mason did not take a too +serious view of Tom. She wished, however, that he would not look at her +so long in that askance fashion.</p> + +<p>"Did the trouble cost you much money?" he ventured to inquire after a +while.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus2" id="illus2"></a> +<img src="images/illus2.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>BARBARA AND HIRAM BY THE LOOM.</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<p>"Well, no, not much for some folks, but a good deal for us; we're rather +poor, you know." There is a pride that conceals poverty; there is a +greater pride that makes haste to declare it, feeling that only hidden +poverty is shameful. "You know father was a smart man in some ways," +Barbara continued, "but he hadn't any knack. He lost most of his money +before he came to Illinois; and then when he got here he made the +mistake, that so many made, of settling in the timber, though very +little of the prairie had been taken up yet. If he hadn't been afraid of +the winters on the prairie, we might have been pretty well off; but it's +been a hard struggle opening a farm in the woods. Then we have had +nothing but misfortune. My father died of a congestive chill, and then +my three brothers and my sister died, and Tom and I are all that's left +to mother. And there are doctor's bills to pay yet, and a little debt on +the farm."</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes," said Hiram, wounded in thinking of the pain he was giving +Barbara in forcing her to speak thus frankly of the family troubles. "I +know what it is. Poverty and I are old acquaintances; regular old +cronies. She's going to stand by my side till I graduate, anyhow; but as +I have known her ever since I was born, I can afford to laugh in her +face. There's nothing like being used to a thing."</p> + +<p>Barbara made no reply to this. Mason sat and looked at her awhile in +silence. There was no good in trying to help her on his present footing. +He leaned forward, resting his elbow on the loom-bench by her side.</p> + +<p>"Look here, Barbara," he said, with abrupt decision, "let's, you and me, +go in partnership with our poverty some day, and see what'll come of +it. I suppose, so far as money is concerned, the equations would be +about equal without the trouble of figuring it out."</p> + +<p>Barbara looked at her hands in her lap with her eyes out of focus, and +made no reply. After a while Hiram spoke again.</p> + +<p>"Did I—make you mad, Barbara?" He used the word "mad" in the sense +attached to it in that interior country, meaning angry.</p> + +<p>"No, not mad," said Barbara. "Not that—but—I don't know what to say. I +don't believe what you propose can ever be."</p> + +<p>Mason waited for her to explain herself, but she did not seem to be able +to get her own consent. At length he got up and went to the mantel-piece +and took down Barbara's slate.</p> + +<p>"Let's talk about algebra awhile," he said.</p> + +<p>Barbara was fond enough of algebra, but it seemed droll that Mason, with +an unsettled proposition of marriage on hand, should revert to his +favorite study. She could not see what he was writing, but when he +passed the slate to her, she read:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>a</i> = another lover.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>b</i> = objections to H. Mason.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>c</i> = interfering circumstances.<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>x</i> = <i>a</i> + <i>b</i> + <i>c</i>.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Now," said Mason, when she looked up, "I'd like you to help me to get +the exact value of <i>x</i> in this little equation. It's a kind of +fortune-telling by algebra. We must proceed by elimination; you may +strike out such of the letters on the right side of the last equation as +do not count for anything."</p> + +<p>But instead of proceeding as the master suggested, Barbara, whose +reserve was partly dissipated by her amusement, took the pencil that he +offered her, and after a moment's reflection wrote below:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>a</i> = 0<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>b</i> = 0<br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>x</i> = <i>c</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"I never saw an equation more to my taste," said Hiram. "If it's only +circumstances, then circumstances and I are going to fight it out. You +think there are things that will keep us from making an equation between +Barbara and Hiram?"</p> + +<p>"There wouldn't be any equation," she said, looking out of half-closed +eye-lids, as she always did when speaking with feeling. "Your family is +an educated one, and your father and mother wouldn't approve of us. +Mother never had any chance to learn, and her talk is very +old-fashioned, but she's just as good as good can be, all the same. +Tom's unsteady; I hope he'll get over that yet; but your father and +mother and your sisters wouldn't like it."</p> + +<p>"Yes, they would, if they knew you," said Mason, with enthusiasm; "and, +besides, I don't see that I'm bound to get their consent."</p> + +<p>"But that wouldn't change matters," persisted Barbara, despondingly. "If +they didn't like it, it wouldn't be nice."</p> + +<p>"Don't you bother about my happiness, Barbara. If I have you, do you +think anything else will trouble me?" He got up and snuffed the candle +with his fingers like the brave man that he was.</p> + +<p>"I'm not bothering about you at all," said Barbara. "I'm not so good as +you think I am. I let you take care of yourself in this matter; you're +strong, and such things won't worry you." She was picking at her dress +as she spoke. "Ever since you said what you did when you helped me over +the fence last,"—Barbara took a long breath as she thought of that +scene; she had often retraced all its details in her memory,—"I've +known that you felt so toward me that you would face any thing. But +<i>I</i>—I couldn't bear it if your folks should look down on me and I +be—your wife." It was hard to say the last words; they sounded +strangely, and when they were uttered, the sound of them put her into a +trepidation not altogether disagreeable.</p> + +<p>"Look down on <i>you</i>?" said Hiram, with a vehemence Barbara had never +known him to manifest before. "Do you think my folks are such idiots? +They don't meet a person like you often enough to get the habit of +looking down on such."</p> + +<p>"But you don't know women folks," said Barbara.</p> + +<p>"I know my family better than you do, and you've got mighty curious +notions about them and about yourself. You've always lived here in the +woods, and you don't know what you're worth."</p> + +<p>He lifted the empty apple-basket out of the way and sat down by her.</p> + +<p>"Now, Barbara, you say you know how I feel toward you. You are the girl +of all girls in the world for me. And now you won't spurn me, will you?" +he said entreatingly.</p> + +<p>Barbara's lips quivered and she seemed about to lose control of herself. +However, after a little period of silence and struggle, she suppressed +her feelings sufficiently to speak:</p> + +<p>"I couldn't <i>spurn</i> you," she said. Then, after another pause: "Maybe +you don't care any more for me than I do for you. But I'm in such +trouble—that I can't tell what to say. Won't you wait and give me a +little time? Things may be better after a while."</p> + +<p>"How long shall I stay away? A week?" Mason's voice had a note of +protest in it.</p> + +<p>"Don't be hurt," she said, lifting her eyes timidly to his. "But I'm in +such a hard place. Let me have two weeks or so to think about it, and +see how things are going to turn." It was not that Barbara saw any +chance for a change of circumstances, but that she could not resolve to +decide the question either way, and wished to escape from her present +perplexity by postponement.</p> + +<p>"Just as you say," said Mason, regretfully; "but I tell you, Barbara, +it's two weeks of dead lost time."</p> + +<p>Then he got up and held out his hand to her.</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, Barbara."</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, Mr. Mason."</p> + +<p>"Oh, call me Hiram! It's more friendly, and you call all the other young +men by their first names."</p> + +<p>"But you're the master."</p> + +<p>"I'm not the master of you, that's clear. Besides, you've left school." +He was holding her hand in gentle protest all this time.</p> + +<p>"Well, good-bye—Hiram!" said Barbara, with a visible effort which ended +in a little laugh.</p> + +<p>Mason let go of her hand and turned abruptly and walked out of the door, +and then swiftly down the meadow path. Barbara stood and looked after +him as long as she could see his form; then she slowly shut and latched +the kitchen door and came and covered with ashes the remaining embers of +the fire, and took the candle from the mantel-piece and went through the +now vacant sitting-room to her chamber above.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="X" id="X"></a>X</h2> + +<h3>THE AFFAIR AT TIMBER CREEK CAMP MEETING</h3> + + +<p>When Tom Grayson found himself suddenly stranded on the farmstead in +Hubbard Township he went to work to learn again the arts half forgotten +during his three-years' absence in Moscow. It was necessary to put his +soft hands to the plow, and to burn his fair face in the hot sun of the +hay-field. With characteristic heedlessness of results he set out, on +the very first day after his return, to mow alongside the stalwart hired +man, Bob McCord, the father of Mely. Bob lived in a little cabin not far +from the Grayson place, and since Tom left the farm he had done most of +the work for Mrs. Grayson. He was commonly known as "Big Bob," because +he had a half-brother of sinister birth who was older than himself, but +a small man, and who for distinction was "Little Bob." Big Bob fulfilled +his name in every dimension. His chest was deep, his arms were gigantic +in their muscularity, and no man had ever seen his legs show signs of +exhaustion. His immense muscles were softened in outline by a certain +moderate rotundity; his well-distributed adipose was only one of many +indications of his extraordinary physical thriftiness. In more than one +stand-up fight he had demonstrated his right to the title of champion of +the county. Yet he was a boyishly good-natured man, with no desire to +hurt anybody, and he never fought from choice. But every rising +fisticuffer within half a hundred miles round had heard of Bob's +strength, and the more ambitious of these had felt bound to "dare" him. +It was not consonant with the honor of such a man as Bob to "take a +dare"; so against first one and then another aspiring hero he had +fought, until at length there was none that ventured any more to "give a +dare" to the victor of so many battles. His physical perfections were +not limited to mere bull strength: no man had a keener eye or a steadier +hand; none could send a rifle-ball to its mark with a more unerring aim. +Had he lived in the days of the Saxon invasion of England, McCord would +have stood high on the list of those renowned for exploits of strength +and daring, the very darling hero of the minstrel. Our own Indian wars +of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries brought renown to just such +men as he, semi-barbarian path-makers for the advance of civilization. +He had lagged a generation late. In the peaceful time, when strength of +muscle was secondary to mental power, and when a sure aim was no longer +important for the defense of one's life, nor the chief means for winning +one's meat, the powerful Bob McCord saw degenerate men, whom he could +have held at arms-length, prevail over him in the struggle for +subsistence. For though he was capable of hard work he could never +endure steady application; his nature was under mortgage to adventurous +ancestors, the ancient Indian-fighters and scouts of the Appalachian +country, and those more remote forefathers, the untamed emigrants who +had been almost expelled from the Scottish border in the time of the +Stuarts, to help resettle the devastated north of Ireland, to say +nothing of the yet wilder Irish women with whom they had mated. Nothing +less than the sound of the cup scraping on the bottom of the family +meal-box would impel Bob to work. Every wind that came from the great +sea of grass to the westward brought him the whir of the wings of +prairie-hens; dreams of bear-hunting filled his mind whenever he looked +into the recesses of the woods. At sight of the rising moon his hunter's +soul imagined the innumerable deer which at that hour come from their +coverts to graze on the prairies. Every stream tantalized him with the +thought of darting perch, and great prowling cat-fish hidden beneath its +surface, and challenging him to catch them if he could. If, as we are +taught to believe, the manliness of the English aristocracy and that of +the American apery is only kept alive by outdoor sports, how much their +superior in surplus manhood must such a man as Bob McCord be! In his +estimation no days were counted a part of human life except those passed +in circumventing and taking the wild creatures of the woods or the +prairie, and those others spent in the rude fun of musters, barbecues, +elections, corn-shuckings, wood-choppings, and like assemblages, where +draughts from a generous big-bellied bottle, with a twisted neck, +alternated with athletic feats, practical jokes, and tales as rude as +the most unblushing of those told by pious pilgrims to Canterbury in the +old religious time.</p> + +<p>It was alongside this son of Anak that Tom set himself to do a full +day's work at the start. The severity of labor accorded well with his +pungent feeling of penitence. Big Bob regarded him as he might any other +infant, not unkindly; he even had a notion that the Widow Grayson and +her children were in some sense under his care, and he did not wish any +harm to come to the boy, but a practical joke was too good a thing to be +missed. For two hours and a half, on that morning of Tom's appearance in +the field with a scythe, Bob did not once stop to take the usual rests. +Tom felt inevitable exhaustion coming on, though he cut a much narrower +swath than his companion. McCord's herculean right knee was bare, having +that morning forced itself through his much-bepatched trousers of +butternut-dyed cotton cloth. While swinging his wider-sweeping scythe at +a desperate rate, he kept telling Tom stories of adventure and the +well-worn joe-millers of the log-cabin firesides, never seeming to +notice the poor fellow's breathless endeavors to keep up or his +ever-narrowing swath. Only when at length he turned and looked at Tom's +face and perceived that the persistency of his will might carry him too +far, he said, as with his scythe he picked some bunches of good grass +from the edge of an elder patch and cast a wistful glance at the jug +standing in a cool fence corner:</p> + +<p>"Looky h-yer, Tom, you're a-gittin' kind-uh white-like about the gills, +un 'f you try to keep up weth me, yer hide 'll be on the fence afore +night."</p> + +<p>"I know that," said Tom, who found himself so thoroughly beaten that +there was no use in denying it.</p> + +<p>"Well, hang yer scythe on that air red-haw over there un take a leetle +rest, un then try a pitch-fork awhile. I 'lowed I'd see what sort uv +stuff you've got, seein's you wuz so almighty gritty. A bigger man'n you +couldn't hold agin me"; and Bob let the amusement he felt at Tom's +discomfiture escape in a long hearty chuckle, rising at length into a +loud laugh, as he reversed his scythe and fell to whetting it, making +the neighboring woods ring with the tune he beat on the resonant +metal,—a kind of accompaniment to the briskness of his spirit.</p> + +<p>And now Barbara appeared bringing the snack that was commonly served to +the mowers in the forenoon. Bob hung up his scythe, and, having taken +some whisky, joined the exhausted Tom under the shady boughs of a black +walnut. Barbara uncovered her basket, which contained an apple-pie to be +divided between the two and a bottle of sweet milk. Tom had stretched +himself in sheer exhaustion on a swath of hay.</p> + +<p>"You foolish boy," said Barbara. "You've gone at your work too brash. +You ought to be ashamed of yourself. Here, take some of this pie; and +don't you work so hard the rest of the day."</p> + +<p>"Tom," said Bob, speaking with his mouth full of pie, "'f I had the +eddication you've got, you wouldn't ketch me in this yere hot sun. I'd +take a school. What's eddication good fer, anyhow, ef 't ain't to git a +feller out uh the hot sun?"</p> + +<p>But for the present Tom resolved to stick faithfully to his toil. As the +days wore on, and he became accustomed to the strain, he found the work +a sedative; he was usually too tired to think much of his +disappointment. Only the face of Rachel Albaugh haunted his visions in +lonely hours, and at times a rush of indignant feeling towards George +Lockwood disturbed his quiet.</p> + +<p>In the early days of August there came a time of comparative leisure. +The summer harvests were over, and the fields of tall corn had been +"laid by" after the last plowing. Then Illinois had a breathing spell; +and shutting up its house, and hitching up its horse, and taking all the +children, it went to visit its "relations," staying a week at a place. +Farmers frequented the town to meet old friends and get the better of +them in swapping horses; and in this time of relaxation came the season +of Baptist Associations and Methodist Camp-meetings and two-days' Basket +Meetings—jolly religious picnics, where you could attend to your soul's +salvation and eat "roas'in' ears" with old friends in the thronged +recesses of the forests, among a people who were perhaps as gregarious +as any the world has ever produced. Children looked forward to this +gypsying with eagerness, and adults gave themselves over to it with the +abandon of children. What night-scenes there were! Within the oval of +tents at a camp-meeting two great platforms were raised on posts six or +eight feet high and covered with earth; on these were built blazing +bonfires, illuminating all the space inclosed by the tents and occupied +by the enthusiastic assembly, which, as one great chorus, made the wide +forest vocal with a tide of joyous or pathetic song. But there were two +poles to the magnetism of a camp-meeting. In the region of outer +blackness, quite beyond the reach of any illumination from platform +bonfires or pulpit eloquence, there were also assemblies of those who +were attracted by the excitement, but to whom the religious influences +were a centrifugal force. Here jollity and all conceivable deviltry +rejoiced also in a meet companionship.</p> + +<p>The Great Union Camp-Meeting was held in the first half of August on the +Timber Creek camp-ground, only a mile and a half from the Grayson place. +The mother and Barbara went every evening and came back with accounts of +the attendance, of the old friends encountered, and of the sermons of +favorite preachers. They told how "powerfully" the elder had preached, +and how the eloquent young preacher, who was junior on the next circuit, +had carried all before him in a pathetic exhortation. But Tom showed no +desire to attend. He was slowly sinking into a depression quite unusual +with him. He had been accustomed to the excitement of the town, and the +prospect of a life of dull routine on a farm ate into his spirit like a +biting rust. Barbara amused him with stories of the camp-meeting; she +told him of the eccentric German exhorter whose broken English she +mimicked, and of the woman she had heard relate in a morning +"speaking-meeting" that, when convinced of the sin of wearing jewelry, +she had immediately taken off her ear-rings and given them to her +sister. These things lightened his spirit but for a moment; he would +relapse soon into the same state of mental lassitude, or more acute +melancholy. Barbara endeavored to cheer him with projects; he could take +a school the next winter, and with the money earned pay his board +somewhere in town and take up the study of law again. But all of +Barbara's projects were moderate and took full account of difficulties. +Tom had little heart for a process that demanded plodding and patient +waiting; nor did any of Barbara's suggestions hold out any prospect of +his recovering his ground with Rachel, which was the thing he most +desired.</p> + +<p>One evening, as he finished a supper which he had eaten with little +relish and in silence, he pushed back his chair and sat moodily looking +into the black cave of the kitchen fire-place, where the embers were +smoldering under the ashes. Then when his mother had left the kitchen, +and Barbara was clearing away the plates, he said:</p> + +<p>"The more I think of it, the worse I feel about George Lockwood. The +tricky villain got me into that scrape and then told all about it where +he knew it would do me the most harm. I'd just like to shoot him."</p> + +<p>"You'd better shoot him and get yourself hanged!" said Barbara with +impatience. "<i>That</i> would mend matters, wouldn't it?"</p> + +<p>"'T wouldn't matter much to me," said Tom. "This country life doesn't +suit me; I'd just as well be out of it, and they do say hanging is an +easy way of dying." This last was spoken with a grim smile.</p> + +<p>"I suppose you don't think of <i>us</i>," said Barbara.</p> + +<p>"I'm more trouble than good to you and mother."</p> + +<p>"And now if you would only commit a crime"—Barbara was looking at him +with a concentrated gaze—"that would put an end to all mother's +sorrows; she would soon die in torture, and I would be left alone in the +world to be pointed at by people who would say in a whisper: 'That's the +sister of the fellow that was hanged.'" And Barbara caught her breath +with a little gasp as she turned away.</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't talk that way, Barb! Of course I don't mean to do anything of +the sort. It's a kind of relief to talk sometimes, and I do feel bitter +enough."</p> + +<p>Barbara turned sharply on him again and said: "That's just the way to +get to be a murderer—keep stirring up your spite. After a while the +time'll come when you can't control yourself, may be, and then you'll do +something that you only meant to think about."</p> + +<p>Tom shuddered a little and, feeling uncomfortable under Barbara's gaze, +got up and started away. But Barbara followed him and caught hold of his +arm, and pulled him around till she could look in his face, and said, +with more feeling than she liked to show:</p> + +<p>"Look here, Tom! Give me your word and honor that you'll put all such +thoughts out of your mind."</p> + +<p>"Of course I will, Sis, if you think there's any danger."</p> + +<p>"And come and go over to the camp-meeting to-night with mother and me. +It'll do you good to see somebody besides the cows."</p> + +<p>"All right," said Tom, shaking himself to get rid of his evil spirit, +and remembering, as he went out to harness old Blaze-face to the wagon, +that he would stand a chance of catching a glimpse of Rachel in the +light of the torches.</p> + +<p>The preaching was vigorous and stirring, and the exhorter, who came +after the preacher, told many pathetic stories, which deeply moved a +people always eager to be excited. The weird scene no doubt contributed +by its spectacular effect to increase the emotion. The bonfires on the +platforms illuminated the circle of white tents, which stood out against +the wall of deep blackness in the forest behind; the light mounted a +hundred feet and more through the thick branches of lofty beech and +maple trees, and was reflected from the under side of leaves quivering +in the breeze. The boughs and foliage, illuminated from below, had an +unreal and unworldly aspect. No imagery of the preacher could make the +threatened outer darkness of the lost so weird to the imagination as +this scene, in which the company of simple-minded people found +themselves in the presence of a savage Nature, and in a sphere of light +bounded on every hand by a blackness as of darkness primeval.</p> + +<p>Tom paid little attention to the eloquence of the preacher or to the +tearful words of him who came after. At first he was interested and even +excited by the scene; he watched the flickering of the great shadows of +the tree trunks as the platform fires rose and fell; but presently he +set himself to searching under the large straw bonnets for a face. He +knew well that the sight of that face could not make him happy, but he +seemed driven by some evil impulse to seek for it. If Rachel was there +he did not find her. When the exhorter had closed his artless string of +disconnected anecdotes with an equally artless appeal, and a hymn was +announced, Tom whispered to Barbara that he would go and see if the +horse was all right, and would meet her at the door of the Mount Zion +tent when meeting should "let out." Then as the congregation rose, he +went out by a passage between two of the tents into the woods. The +"exercises" lasted a full hour longer, and it was half-past ten before +the presiding elder gave the benediction. Barbara and her mother went to +the door of the Mount Zion tent, where they stood watching the moving +people and waiting for Tom. Mely McCord, who was to ride home with them, +was talking in her fluent way to Barbara when an excited man rushed into +the space within the tents, and, finding himself obstructed by the +groups of people in the aisles, ran hurriedly across the boards that +served for backless benches until he reached the great rude pulpit. He +addressed a word to the white-haired presiding elder, who was at that +moment standing on the steps of the stand, engaged in shaking hands with +old friends from all parts of his district. Then the new-comer seized +the tin horn that hung against a tree, and which was used to call the +people to meeting. With this in his hand he mounted the rude board +rostrum and blew a long, harsh blast. Part of the people out of +curiosity had stopped talking when he made his appearance, and when the +strident tin horn ceased, there was a momentary murmur and then the +stillness of death, except for confused cries of excitement in the +remote outer regions, which now became audible. Then the man on the +platform said, in a breathless voice:</p> + +<p>"A man has been killed in the woods outside of the camp-ground. The +murderer has fled. The sheriff is wanted!"</p> + +<p>"Here he is!" cried some voices, and the sheriff stood up on a bench and +waved his hand to the messenger, who came down and communicated in a few +words what he knew of the murder. The sheriff then hurriedly departed.</p> + +<p>"Sit down there, mother," gasped Barbara. "Mely, you stay by mother."</p> + +<p>Then Barbara's slight form pushed through the crowd, until her progress +was arrested by a dense knot of eager inquirers that encompassed the man +who had brought the news. It was quite impossible to get within twenty +feet of him, or to hear anything he was saying; but bits of intelligence +percolated through the layers of humanity that enveloped him. Barbara +could only wait and listen. At last a man a little nearer the radiating +center said in reply to the query of one who stood next to her:</p> + +<p>"It's George Lockwood, that clerks for Wooden & Snyder down 't Moscow, +that is killed, but I can't find out who 't wuz done it."</p> + +<p>Barbara's heart stood still within her for a moment. Then dreading to +hear more, she pushed out of the ever-increasing crowd and reached her +mother.</p> + +<p>"Come, mother; we must get home quick."</p> + +<p>"What's the matter, Barb'ry? Who's killed?" asked Mely McCord.</p> + +<p>"I don't know anything, only we <i>must</i> get home. Quick, mother!" she was +impelled by instinct to save her mother as long as possible from the +shock she felt impending. But it was of no use.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter, Sam; can you make out?" cried a man near her to one +just emerging from the crowd about the messenger.</p> + +<p>"W'y, they say as Tom Grayson's shot an' killed a feller from Moscow, +an' Tom's made off, an' can't be found. They's talk of lynchin' him."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Grayson's lips moved; she tried to speak, but in vain; the sudden +blow had blanched her face and paralyzed her speech. It was pitiable to +see her ineffectual effort to regain control of herself. At length she +sank down on a shuck-bottom chair by the door of the tent.</p> + +<p>"Yer's some smellin'-salts," said a woman standing by, and she thrust +forward her leathery hand holding an uncorked bottle of ammonia.</p> + +<p>"He didn't do it," murmured Mrs. Grayson, when she had revived a little. +"Our Tommy wouldn't do sech a thing. Go up there,"—and she pointed to +the pulpit,—"you go up there, Barb'ry, an' tell the folks 't our Tommy +never done it."</p> + +<p>"Come, mother; let's go home," said Barbara faintly, for all her energy +had gone now.</p> + +<p>"I'll go with you," said Mely.</p> + +<p>But Mrs. Grayson did not wish to go; she was intent on staying in order +to tell the folks that Tommy "never, never done sech a thing."</p> + +<p>She yielded at length to the gentle compulsion of Barbara and Mely and +the neighbors who gathered about, and got into the wagon. Mely, who knew +every inch of the road, took the reins, and drove slowly toward the +Grayson house, picking a way among the stumps, roots, and holes of the +new road.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XI" id="XI"></a>XI</h2> + +<h3>FRIENDS IN THE NIGHT</h3> + + +<p>The ride seemed to Barbara almost interminable. If she could have left +her half-distracted mother she would have got out of the wagon and run +through the fields, in hope of finding Tom and knowing from him the +whole truth, and making up her mind what was to be done. When at length +the wagon reached the gate in front of the Grayson house, Bob McCord was +in waiting. He had heard that a bear had been seen on Broad Run, and had +left the camp-meeting early, intent on a departure before daylight in +pursuit of that "varmint." He had known nothing of the shooting, but he +told Barbara that, when he came near the Grayson house, he had seen Tom +run across the road and into the house,—and that Tom came out again +almost at once, and reached the gate in time to meet the sheriff and +give himself up. The sheriff had dismounted one of the men with him, and +putting Tom in the saddle they had gone toward Moscow on a gallop. Bob +wasn't near enough to hear what Tom had said when the sheriff took him; +but knowing that something must be wrong, he had waited for the return +of the wagon.</p> + +<p>It was some relief to the tension of Barbara's feelings to know that Tom +was now in the hands of the lawful authorities and well on his way to +Moscow, where he would be out of the reach of the angry crowd that was +surging to and fro around the camp-meeting.</p> + +<p>But there followed the long night of uncertainty. The mother sat moaning +in her chair, only rousing herself enough now and then to assure some +newly arrived neighbor that "poor Tom never done it." Barbara confided +only to Mely McCord the very faint hope she entertained that Tom was not +guilty. She couldn't believe that he would break his solemn promise, +made that very evening. But in her secret heart she could not get over +the fact that George Lockwood was lying in the woods stark and dead, and +no one was so likely to have killed him as her impetuous brother.</p> + +<p>About 1 o'clock, the dreadful monotony of the night was dreadfully +broken by the arrival of the deputy-sheriff. He spoke in an +unsympathetic, official voice, but in a manner externally respectful. He +must search Tom's room; and so, taking a candle, he went to the room +alone, and soon came back bringing an old-fashioned single-barrel, +flint-lock pistol, of the kind in use in the early part of the century. +It had belonged to Tom's father, and the officer had found it in one of +the drawers in the room. Barbara sat down and shut her eyes as the +deputy passed through the sitting-room with the weapon, but Mrs. Grayson +called the officer to her.</p> + +<p>"I say, Mister—I don't know your name. Let me speak to you."</p> + +<p>"Yes, ma'am," said the man, "My name's Markham"; and he came and stood +near her.</p> + +<p>"Air you the son of Lijy Markham?" Mrs. Grayson always identified people +by recalling their filiation, and she could not resist this genealogical +tendency in her mind even in the hour of sorest trial.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the officer.</p> + +<p>"Well, now, what I want to say is that Tommy didn't kill that man. I'm +his mother, an' I had ought to know, an' I tell yeh so. You hadn't ought +to 'a' took 'im up fer what he didn't do."</p> + +<p>Markham was puzzled to know what to reply, but he answered presently:</p> + +<p>"Well, the court'll find out about it, you know, Mrs. Grayson." The +man's official stiffness was a little softened by the tones of her +heart-broken voice.</p> + +<p>Barbara never could tell how she got through the hours from half-past 10 +to 3 o'clock. Neighbors were coming and going—some from a desire to be +helpful, others from curiosity, but Mely remained with them. Bob McCord +was too faithful to leave the Graysons when he might be needed but it +was impossible for him to remain awake from mere sympathy. When Markham +was gone, he lay down on the end of the porch farthest from the door, +and slept the sleep of the man of the Bronze Age. His fidelity was like +that of a great dog—he gave himself no anxiety, but he was ready when +wanted.</p> + +<p>At 3 o'clock Barbara said to Mely: "I can't stand it a minute longer; I +can't wait for daybreak. Wake up your father and ask him to hitch up +Blaze. I'm going to see Tom as quick as I can get there. I ought to have +started before."</p> + +<p>"I'm a-goin' too," said Mrs. Grayson.</p> + +<p>"No, mother; you stay. It's too much for you."</p> + +<p>"Me, Barb'ry?" The mother's lip quivered, and she spoke in a tremulous +voice, like that of a pleading child. "Me stay 't home an' my Tommy—my +boy—in jail! No, Barb'ry; you won't make me stay 't home. I'm goin' t' +Moscow, ef it kills me. I must. I'm his mother, Barb'ry. He's the on'y +boy 't 's left. All the rest is dead an' gone. An' him in jail!"</p> + +<p>"Pap! pap! you wake up!" Mely was calling to her father lying there +asleep, and Barbara came and stood in the door, fain to hasten Bob +McCord's slow resurrection from the deeps of unconsciousness and at the +same time to escape from the sight of her mother's despair.</p> + +<p>As Bob got up and comprehended the urgent request that the horse be +harnessed immediately, Barbara's attention was drawn to a man coming +swiftly down the road in the moonlight. The figure was familiar. Barbara +felt sure she recognized the new-comer; and when, instead of stopping to +fumble for the gate-bolt, he rested his hands on the fence alongside and +sprang over, she knew that it was Hiram Mason, whom she had not seen +since the evening, nearly two weeks before, when they had peeled apples +together. It would be hard to say whether pleasure or pain predominated +in her mind when she recognized him.</p> + +<p>By the time Mason got over the fence Bob McCord had gone to the stable, +and Mely had reëntered the house. Barbara went forward and met Hiram on +the steps to the porch.</p> + +<p>"Poor, dear Barbara!" were his words as he took her hand. At other times +her pride had been nettled by his pity, but her desolate soul had not +fortitude enough left to refuse the solace of his tender words.</p> + +<p>"I came the very moment I heard," he said. "I was staying away down at +Albaugh's, and Ike was the only one of them on the camp-ground. He was +so excited, and so anxious to see and hear, that he didn't get home till +2 o'clock. And only think I was sleeping quietly and you in such +trouble!"</p> + +<p>"You mustn't come in," said Barbara. "We're a disgraced family, and you +mustn't come in here any more."</p> + +<p>"What notions!" answered Hiram. "I'm here to stay. Let me ask your +mother." He took hold of her arms and put her aside very gently and +pushed on into the house, where Mely was pinning on Mrs. Grayson's wide +cape preparatory to her ride to Moscow.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Grayson—" said he.</p> + +<p>"W'y, ef 't ain't the master!" she interrupted in a trembling voice. +"Mr. Mason, Tommy never killed that man, an' he hadn't ought to 'a' been +took up."</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Grayson, won't you let me stay with you a few days, now you're in +trouble, and help you through?"</p> + +<p>The old lady looked at him for a moment before she was able to reply.</p> + +<p>"It ain't fer a schoolmaster an' a preacher's son to come here, now +folks'll be a-sayin' 't we're—'t we're—murderers." This last word, +uttered with tremulous hesitation, broke down her self-control, and Mrs. +Grayson fell to weeping again.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to stay by you awhile, and we'll see what can be done," said +Mason. "They've taken your boy, and you'll let me fill his place a +little while, won't you, now?"</p> + +<p>"God bless you, my son!" was all the weeping woman could say; and +Barbara, who had followed Hiram into the room and stood behind him while +he talked to her mother, turned her face to the dark window and wept +heartily for the first time in this sorrowful night.</p> + +<p>"You'd jest orter 'a' heerd the master a-talkin' to Mrs. Grayson," said +Mely McCord afterward. "He stood there lookin' at her with his head +turned kind-uh cornerin'-like, un his words was so soft-like un +pitiful;—lawsey! ef he did n' make me feel jes like 's ef my heart wuz +a-comin right up into my mouth."</p> + +<p>Bob McCord led old Blaze up in front of the gate, and all in the house +went down to the road.</p> + +<p>"Mr. McCord," said Mason, "I want to drive that wagon."</p> + +<p>"I don't b'lieve you kin do this fust piece uv road with nothin' but a +weakly moonshine," said Bob.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes! I've been over it a good many times." Only Barbara knew how +often Hiram had traversed it.</p> + +<p>When the schoolmaster had helped Mrs. Grayson and Barbara into the +wagon, and while Mely was assisting them to adjust themselves, he went +to the horse's head, where McCord was standing, and said in a low voice:</p> + +<p>"They told me there was a rush to lynch him last night; and Ike Albaugh +says that Jake Hogan, who worked for them this last harvest-time, told +him at the camp-ground that the Broad Run boys were going to make +another of their visits to Moscow to-night if the coroner's inquest was +against Tom. Now, Tom <i>may</i> be innocent; and he ought to have a fair +show anyhow."</p> + +<p>"I'd better see to <i>that</i>!" said Bob. "I 'low I'll jest drop in amongst +'em over onto the run, kind-uh accidental-like, afore dinner-time +to-day, an' throw 'em off, one way er 'nother, ez the case may be."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Grayson was seated in a chair placed in the springless wagon for +her comfort, while Hiram and Barbara sat on a board laid across from one +side to the other of the wagon. They departed out of sight slowly, Mason +guiding the horse carefully over the rough ground in the obscurity of a +moonlight not yet beginning to give way to the break of day.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XII" id="XII"></a>XII</h2> + +<h3>A TRIP TO BROAD RUN</h3> + + +<p>As the wagon disappeared, Bob called to his daughter, who had been left +in charge.</p> + +<p>"Mely! Mely! You jes stir up the kitchen fire there, honey, un bile me a +cup of coffee, agin I go home un fetch my gun wi' the dogs, un come +back." (Bob knew there was no coffee at home.) "I'm a-goin' over onto +Broad Run arter bears."</p> + +<p>"Aw, now, pap, you're all-ays off fer a hunt at the wrong time. Don' +choo go away now, un the folks in sech a world uh trouble. Un besides, +mammy hain't got anough to eat in the house to do tell you come back." +All this Mely said in a minor key of protest, which she had learned from +her mother, who was ever objecting in a good-natured, pathetic, impotent +way to her husband's thriftless propensities.</p> + +<p>"I know what I'm up to, Mely. They's reasons, un the schoolmaster +knows'em. You keep your tongue still in yer head, honey. On'y be shore +to remember, 'f anybody axes about me, 't I'm arter bears. Jes say't +bears uz been seed over onto Broad Run, un't pap couldn't noways keep +still, he wuz so sot on goin' over 'n' sayin' howdy to 'em. That'll +soun' like me, un folks 'll never mistrust."</p> + +<p>"But mammy hain't akchelly got anough fer the children to eat," +responded Mely.</p> + +<p>"Well, I 'low to fetch some bear meat home, un you kin borry some meal +from Mrs. Grayson's bar'el tell I git back. 'F they knowed what kind uh +varmints I wuz arter over there, they wouldn't begrudge me nuthin', Sis. +Come, now, hump yer stumps; fer I'll be back in a leetle less'n no +time."</p> + +<p>And Bob went off in the darkness. In about a dozen minutes he returned +with his powder-horn slung about his shoulders over his hunting-shirt +and carrying his rifle. He was closely followed by Pup, Joe, and Seizer, +his three dogs, whose nervous agitation, as they nosed the ground in +every direction, contrasted well with the massive stride of their +master. Having swallowed such a breakfast as Mely could get him out of +Mrs. Grayson's stores, and put a pone of cold corn-bread into the bosom +of his hunting-shirt, McCord was off for the Broad Run region at the +very first horizon-streak of daybreak. Though game was but a secondary +object in this expedition, he could not but feel an exhilaration which +was never wanting when he set out in the early morning with his gun on +his shoulder and in the congenial companionship of his dogs. Hercules or +Samson could hardly have rejoiced in a greater assurance of physical +superiority to all antagonists. The most marked trait in Bob's mental +outfit was the hunter's cunning, a craft that took delight in tricks on +man and beast. The fact that he was akin to some of the families on +Broad Run enhanced the pleasure he felt in his present scheme to get the +better of them. He would "l'arn the Broad Run boys a thing or two that'd +open their eyes." His great plump form shook with merriment at the +thought. Plovers rose beating the air and whistling in the morning light +as he passed, and the dogs flushed more than one flock of young +prairie-chickens, which went whirring away just skimming the heads of +the grass in low level flight, but Bob's ammunition was not to be spent +on small game this morning. By 7 o'clock the increasing heat of the sun +made the wide, half-parched plain quiver unsteadily to the vision. The +sear August prairie had hardened itself against the heat—the grass and +the ox-eyes held their heads up without sign of withering or misgiving: +these stiff prairie plants never wilt—they die in their boots. But the +foliage of the forest which Bob skirted by this time appeared to droop +in very expectation of the long oppressive hours of breathless heat yet +to come. In this still air even the uneasy rocking poplar-leaves were +almost stationary on their edge-wise stems.</p> + +<p>Steady walking for more than three hours had brought Bob to the +outskirts of the Broad Run region, and had sobered the dogs; these now +sought fondly every little bit of shade, and lolled their tongues +continuously. The first person that Bob McCord encountered after +entering the grateful region of shadow was one Britton—"ole man +Britton," his neighbors called him. This old settler led a rather +secluded life. Neither he nor his wife ever left home to attend +meetings or to share in any social assembly. They had no relatives among +the people of the country, and there was a suspicion of mystery about +them that piqued curiosity. Some years before, a traveler, in passing +through the country, gave out that he recognized Britton, by his name +and features, as one whom he had known in Virginia, where he said +Britton had been an overseer and had run away with his employer's wife. +The neighbors had never accepted the traveler's story in this way; +though they were ready to believe that the woman might have run away +with Britton. When Bob came in sight of him the saturnine old man was +standing looking over the brink of a cliff into a narrow valley through +which coursed the waters of Broad Run, steadying himself meanwhile by a +sapling. Bob, following his first impulse, deposited his gun, beckoned +his close-following little dog back, and crept stealthily towards +Britton, keeping a tree between him and the old man when he could. +Arrived in reach he made a spring, and laying firm hold of his victim by +grasping him under the arms, he held him for a moment over the edge of +the precipice. Then he brought him back and set him safely down as one +might a child, and said innocently:</p> + +<p>"W'y, Mr. Britton, I do declare, 'f I hadn't'a' cotcht you, you'd'a' +fell off!"</p> + +<p>The shriveled old man drew back to a safe distance from the brink, and +tried to force his insipid face into a smile, but he was pale from the +deadly fright. Big Bob rubbed his legs and gave way to a spasm of +boisterous boyish laughter.</p> + +<p>"Seed any bear signs 'round about, Mr. Britton?" he said, when his laugh +had died into a broad grin.</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"What wuz you lookin' over the cliff fer?"</p> + +<p>"Zeke Tucker. He's workin' fer me, an' he's been gone all the mornin' +arter my clay-bank hoss. I'm afeard sumpin's happened."</p> + +<p>"'F I find him I'll set the dogs onto him an' hurry him up a leetle," +said Bob, laughing again and going on, intent now on encountering Zeke, +alone, for purposes of his own.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus3" id="illus3"></a> +<img src="images/illus3.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>MR. BRITTON AND BIG BOB.</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>Then, when he had gone a little way, he stopped and looked back at the +retreating old man, and grinned as he noted the doleful way in which his +over-large trousers bagged behind.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Britton," he called, "which way'd Zeke go?"</p> + +<p>"Up the crick; the hoss is up thar sumers."</p> + +<p>Having secured this information, Bob went on, descending the cliff to +the valley through which Broad Run rattled its shallow waters—a valley +so broken and rugged as to render it almost unfit for cultivation. This +glen was settled, as such regions are wont to be, by a race of "poor +whiteys," or rather by a mixture of people belonging to two stocks +originally different. The one race was descended from the lowest of the +nomads, vagrants, and other poverty-stricken outcasts that had been +spirited away from England by means legal and illegal, to be sold for a +long term into bondage in the American colonies; the other, from the +roughest wing of the great Scotch-Irish immigration of the last +century—the hereditary borderers who early fought their way into the +valleys and passes of the Alleghanies. Equally thriftless in their +habits, and equally without any traditions of their origin, members of +these two tribes mingled easily. The people in whom the Scotch-Irish +blood preponderates are more given to violence, but their humor, their +courage, and their occasional bursts of energy indicate that they have a +chance of emerging from barbarism; while the poor whiteys of English +descent are most of them beyond the reach of evolution, foreordained to +extinction by natural selection, whenever the pressure of overpopulation +shall force them into the competition for existence.</p> + +<p>With that instinctive unthriftiness which is the perpetual +characteristic of the poor whitey in all his generations, the Broad Run +people had chosen the least inviting lands within a hundred miles for +their settlement, as though afraid that by acquiring valuable homes they +might lose their aptitude for migration; or afraid, perhaps, that +fertile prairies might tempt them to toil. The convenience of a brook by +their doors, and a wood that was uncommonly "handy," had probably +determined their choice. Then, too, the circumjacent cliffs gave them a +sense of being shut in from prairie winds, and put some limit to the +wanderings of their half-starved "critters." For the rest, their demands +upon the land were always very modest—a few bushels of "taters," for +roasting in the ashes; a small field of maize, for roasting-ears, +hominy, and corn-dodgers; and such pumpkins and beans as could be grown +intermingled with the hills of corn, were about all that one of these +primitive families required, beyond what could be got with a gun or a +fishing-line. The only real luxuries affected were onions and +melons—"ing-uns un watermillions," in Broad Run phrase. Their few pigs +and cows ran at large, and lived as they could. Oxen they rarely owned, +but whenever a man was in the least prosperous he was sure to possess a +single inferior saddle-horse, though he sometimes had no saddle but a +blanket girt with a surcingle. A horse was kept at the service of +neighbors; for, like other savages, the Broad Run people were hospitable +and generous to members of their own tribe, and the only economy they +understood was that of borrowing and lending, by which a number of +families were able to make use of the same necessary articles. This +happy device, for example, enabled one circulating flat-iron to serve an +entire neighborhood.</p> + +<p>The Broad Run people entertained a contempt for the law that may have +been derived from ancestors transported for petty felonies. It seemed to +them something made in the interest of attorneys and men of property. A +person mean enough to "take the law onto" his neighbor was accounted too +"triflin'" to be respectable; good whole-souled men settled their +troubles with nature's weapons,—fists, teeth, and finger-nails,—and +very rarely, when the offense was heinous and capital, with bullets or +buckshot. Men who were habitually disgraceful in any way—as, for +example, those who could not get drunk without beating their wives—were +punished, without the delay of trial, by the infliction of penalties +more ancient than statutes, such as ducking, riding on a rail, whipping, +or sudden banishment. Hanging by lynch-law was reserved for the two +great crimes of horse-stealing and murder.</p> + +<p>They put the killing of George Lockwood into the category of +grudge-murder, since he was shot at night "without giving him a show for +his life." But the shooting did not immediately concern Broad Run, and +Broad Run folks would not have felt themselves responsible for seeing +justice done, if it had not been for concurring circumstances. Lynch law +is an outbreak of the reformatory spirit among people of low or recent +civilization. Like other movements for reform, it is often carried by +its own momentum into unforeseen excesses. It had happened recently that +two brothers, thieves of the worst class, who had infested the country +and had long managed to escape from the law, had been sent to prison for +four years. They were believed to be guilty of an offense much blacker +than the robbery for which they were sentenced; but the murder of a +strange peddler had escaped notice until the body had been discovered +two years after the crime, and the crime could not then be brought home +by legal evidence. Their attorney, a lawyer notorious for chicanery, +had, by appeal, got a new trial on account of some technical error in +the proceedings of the lower court. The county had already been heavily +taxed to defray the expense of convicting them, and the people were +exasperated by the prospect of a new expense with the possible escape of +the criminals. Public expenses, it is true, sat lightly on Broad Run; +the taxes levied on its barren patches and squalid cabins were not +considerable, but Broad Run made much of the taxes it did pay, and it +caught the popular indignation, and was indignant in its own prompt and +executive fashion. The very night before the new trial was to begin, the +doors of the jail were forced, and the two prisoners were shot to death +by a mob. On the jail door was left a notice, warning the attorney of +the criminals to depart from the county within thirty hours, on pain of +suffering a like fate. Though Broad Run got most of the credit for this +prompt vindication of justice, the leaving of this legible notice upon +the door was taken as evidence of the complicity of some whose education +was better than that of the settlers at the Run. This execution had +taken place but three months before the shooting of George Lockwood, and +the mob was like a were-wolf. Perhaps I ought rather to liken it to +those professional reformers who, having abolished slavery, or waved +their hats while others abolished it, proceed to inquire for the next +case on the docket, and undertake forthwith to do away with capital +punishment or the marriage relation. Having found its local +self-complacency much increased by success in discovering a method +cheaper and more expeditious than those of the courts, Broad Run was +readily inclined to apply its system of criminal jurisprudence to a new +case.</p> + +<p>But this local reformatory tendency, like many large movements of the +sort, was very capable of lending itself to the promotion of personal +aims and the satisfaction of private grudges. One of Tom Grayson's rash +boyish exploits, soon after he took up his abode with his uncle in town, +had been to avenge himself for an affront put upon him the year before +by Jake Hogan of Broad Run. Jake, while working as a hired man for +Butts, the next neighbor to the Graysons, had taken the side of his +employer in the long-standing quarrel between the Buttses and the +Graysons about pigs in the corn-field and geese in the meadow, "breachy" +horses and line fences. Jake had gone so far one day as to throw Tom, +then a half-grown boy, into the "branch." A boy's memory of such events +is good, and when Jake rode into Moscow, a year later, in company with +his sweetheart to see the circus, Tom repaid the old grudge by taking +the stirrups from Jake's saddle and dropping them into the public well; +so that the consequential Jake had the mortification of escorting a +giggling Broad Run girl to her home with his lank legs and his big boots +dangling, unsupported, against the flanks of his horse. Hogan would have +beaten Tom, if he had not received an intimation that this would perhaps +involve the necessity of his settling the matter a second time with big +Bob McCord. But he laid up his grudge, and from that time he had taken +pleasure in testifying to his settled conviction that Tom "wouldn' +never come t' no good eend." He always lent emphasis to this sinister +prediction by jerking his head back, with the self-confident air of a +man who knows what he knows. From the moment of the shooting of +Lockwood, when Jake found that Tom was on the direct road to the +gallows, he began to twit all his cronies.</p> + +<p>"Hain't I all-ays said so? Go to thunder! D'yeh think Jake Hogan don't +know a feller as the rope's already got a slip-knot onto?" And he would +jerk his chin back, and stiffen his neck, as he defiantly waited for a +reply.</p> + +<p>Not content with exulting in successful prophecy, Jake got a notion from +the first that it devolved on him now to see that this young scapegrace +should not fail of merited punishment. His neighbors at the Run, having +boasted much of the value of what they called "Broad Run law," were +willing to add a leaf to their laurels as reformers of the county; and +he counted also on finding recruits among the loafers on the outskirts +of the camp-meeting, if the coroner's jury should return a verdict +adverse to Tom.</p> + +<p>Bob McCord was able to conjecture something of this state of affairs +from the slender information the schoolmaster had given him. During all +his morning's walk to Broad Run, Bob's thoughts had chiefly revolved +about plans for circumventing Hogan. His first crude scheme was to join +the reformers in their little excursion, and then mislead or betray +them; but his friendly relations with the Graysons were too well known +to Jake for this to be possible. It was not until the old man Britton +had mentioned Zeke Tucker that there occurred to Bob's inventive mind a +proper agent for his purpose. Wishing to have his coming known, he +steered his course near to the rickety cabin of Eleazar Brown, or, as he +was commonly called, "Ole Lazar Brown."</p> + +<p>"G'-mornin', S'manthy," Bob called to Lazar Brown's daughter, at the +same time giving his head a little forward jerk,—the very vanishing +point of a bow,—but without stopping his march. S'manthy had buried two +husbands, and had borne eight white-headed children, but she had never +been called by any other name than S'manthy. Just now she was "batting" +clothes on a block in front of the house, turning a wet garment over +with her left hand from time to time, and giving it the most vindictive +blows with a bat held in her right.</p> + +<p>"Y' ain't heern nothin' 'v no bears a-cap'rin' 'round h-yer lately, eh?' +Bob asked, relaxing his gait a little.</p> + +<p>"They say as they's a b'ar been seed furder upt the run, un I 'low you +mout fine some thar ur tharabouts," replied the woman, intermitting her +batting a moment and pushing back her faded pink sun-bonnet. "But wha' +choo doin' away f'om home, I'd thes like to know, when they's so much +a-goin' on in your diggin's? They say you've had a murder 'n' all that."</p> + +<p>"I don't talk, S'manthy. I'm a-lookin' fer bears. They 's times when +yo'd orter hole onto yer tongue with both uh yore han's."</p> + +<p>Bob quickened his stride again and was soon out of sight among the +scrubby trees of the rugged valley.</p> + +<p>"I say, daddy!" called S'manthy, when Bob had had time to get out of +hearing; "looky h-yer, daddy!"</p> + +<p>Old Lazar Brown, in answer to this call, came and stood in the door, +taking his cob-pipe from his mouth with his shaky hand and regarding his +daughter.</p> + +<p>"Big Bob McCord's thes gone along upt the run a-hunt-in' fer b'ars," +said S'manthy. "Un they say as the feller that killed t' other feller +las' night's the son uh the woman 't 'e works fer. Bob's the beatinest +hunter! Ef Gaberl wuz to toot his horn, Bob'd ax him to hole on long +anough fer him to git thes one more b'ar, I'll bet."</p> + +<p>Lazar Brown had shaking-palsy in his arms, and, being good for nothing +else, could devote his entire time to his congenial pursuits as gossip +and wonder-monger of the neighborhood. Having listened attentively to +S'manthy, he shook his head incredulously.</p> + +<p>"Yeh don't think ez he's arter b'ars, do yeh, S'manthy? Bob's got some +trick er 'nother 'n 'is head. W'y, thes you look, he mus' uh le't home +afore daybreak. Now, Bob'd natterly go to the carner's eenques' to-day, +whar they'll be a-haulin' that young feller up that shot t' other feller +las' night. Big Bob's got some ornery trick 'n 'is head." Here Lazar +Brown stopped to replace his pipe in his mouth. He was obliged to use +both hands, but after two or three attempts he succeeded. "Looky h-yer, +S'manthy, you thes keep one eye out fer Bob; I 'low he'll go down the +run towurds ev'nin'. He'll be orful dry by that time, fer he's one of +the <i>driest</i> fellers. Thes you tell him 't I've got a full jug, un ax +him in, un we'll kind-uh twis' it out uh'im. I 'low I'll go 'n find +Jake."</p> + +<p>Lazar returned to the house, knocked the ashes out of his pipe and +refilled it. Then with some difficulty he succeeded in taking a live +coal from the ashes; holding it in the leathery palm of his shaking left +hand, he got it deposited at last on the corn-cob bowl of his pipe. As +soon as this operation of firing-up was completed, he set out in a +trotty little walk, glad to have news that would make the neighbors +hearken to him.</p> + +<p>Meantime Bob McCord, having passed out of sight of S'manthy in his +progress up the creek, had faced about and come back through the bushes +to a point overlooking Lazar Brown's cabin, where, in a dense patch of +pawpaws, he stood in concealment. This movement greatly perplexed the +old dog Pup, who stood twitching his nose nervously, unable to discover +what was the game that had attracted his master's eye. When at length +Bob saw Lazar start off down the run, he smote his knee with his hand +and gave vent to half-smothered laughter.</p> + +<p>"Tuck like the measles!" he soliloquized. "Un it'll spread too. See 'f +it don't! Come, Pup—bears! bears! ole boy!"<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<p>The dogs took the hint and ceased their nosing about the roots of trees +for squirrels, and in beds of leaves and bunches of grass for hares. +They began to make large circles through the trees about Bob, who moved +forward as the center of a sort of planetary system, the short-legged +dog keeping near the center, while Pup ranged as far away as he could +without losing sight of his master,—the remote Uranus of the hunt. Joe, +having "tairrier" blood in him, ran with his nozzle down; but +long-legged Pup, with a touch of greyhound in his build, carried his +head high and depended on his eyes. The fact that Tom Grayson's life was +at stake afforded no reason, in Bob's view, for giving over the pursuit +of bears. Nor did he hunt in serious earnest merely because there was +neither bread nor meat at home. A cat will catch mice for the mere fun +of it, and with Bob the chase was ever the chief interest of life. But +Bob did not forget his other errand; while the dogs were seeking for +bears, he was eagerly scanning the bushes in every direction for Zeke +Tucker. Half a mile above Lazar Brown's he encountered Zeke, carrying a +blind-bridle on his arm, and still looking in vain for Britton's stray +horse.</p> + +<p>"Hello, Zeke! the very feller I wuz a-lookin' fer. Don't ax me no +questions about what I'm a-doin' over h-yer, an' I won't tell you no +lies. Let's set down a minute on that air hackberry log."</p> + +<p>The writer of a local guide-book to the city of Genoa recounts, among +the evidences of piety exhibited by his fellow-citizens, the hospital +built by them for those "<i>la quale non è conceduto di bearsi nel sorriso +di un padre</i>." Zeke was one of those to whom, in the circumlocution of +the Genoese writer, had not been granted the benediction of a father's +smile. Such unfortunates were never wanting in a community like Broad +Run, but no one had ever thought of building an asylum for them, though +there were many ready to make them suffer the odium of sins not their +own. From that unexpected streak of delicacy which is sometimes found in +a rough man of large mold, Bob McCord had always refrained from allusion +to the irregularity of Zeke's paternity, and had frequently awed into +silence those who found pleasure in jibing him. This had awakened in +Zeke a grateful adhesion to Bob, and in the young man's isolation among +his neighbors and his attachment to himself Bob saw a chance to secure +an ally.</p> + +<p>"Zeke," said McCord, when once they were seated on the hackberry log, +"you 'n' me's all-ays been frien's, hain't we?"</p> + +<p>"Toobshore, Bob! they hain't no man a-livin' I'd do a turn fer quicker."</p> + +<p>"Well, now, you tell me this: Is Jake Hogan a-goin' to town weth the +boys to-night?"</p> + +<p>"I hadn't no ways orter tell, but I 'low 't 'e is."</p> + +<p>"You a-goin' along?"</p> + +<p>"I dunno. 'F you don't want me to, I don't reckon ez I shall."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but I'd ruther you 'd go. I don't want that air fool boy hung +'thout a fair stan'-up trial, 'n' I may as well tell you 't I don't mean +he shall be nuther, not 'f I have to lick Jake Hogan tell his ornery +good-fer-nothin' hide won't hold shucks. But don't choo tell him a word +'t I say."</p> + +<p>"Trust <i>me</i>." Zeke was pleased to find himself in important confidential +relations with a man so much "looked up to" as Bob McCord. "Jake 's been +the <i>hardest</i> on me 'v all the folks, un they 's been times when I +'lowed to pull up un cl'ar out for the Injun country, to git shed uv +'im. I wish to thunder you <i>would</i> lick him 'thin 'n inch 'viz life. +He's a darn-sight wuss 'n git out."</p> + +<p>"Looky h-yer, Zeke; I'll tell you how you kin git even with Jake. You +jest go 'long weth the boys to-night, wherever they go. I'm goin' to fix +it so's they won't do nuthin' to-night. You're livin' 't ole man +Britton's now, ainch yeh?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Well, you git off fer half a day f'om Britton's, un go to the eenques' +this arternoon, un fine out all you kin. Arter supper, you go over to +the groc'ry; un jest as soon's you fine out whech way the wind sets, +you've got to let me know. 'T won't do fer me to be seed a-talkin' to +you, ur fer me to loaf aroun' Britton's. But ef Jake makes up his mine +to go to Moscow, you light a candle to-night un put it in the lof' +where you sleep, so 't 'll shine out uv a crack on the south side uv the +chimbley, in the furder eend uv the house."</p> + +<p>"But his mine 's already made up," said Zeke.</p> + +<p>"They's time to change afore night. Ef he's goin' to Perrysburg——"</p> + +<p>"Perrysburg? They ain't no talk uv Perrysburg," said Zeke.</p> + +<p>"They may be," answered Bob. "Un ef Perrysburg's the place, you put the +candle at the leetle winder on the north side uv the chimbley. Un when I +shoot you put out the candle, un then I'll know it's you, un you'll know +'t I understan'. You see, 't won't do fer me to stop any nearder 'n the +hill, un I'll wait there till I see your candle. Then you go weth Jake." +Here Bob got up and strained his longsighted eyes at some object in the +bushes on the other side of the brook. "Is yon hoss yourn, on t' other +side of the branch?"</p> + +<p>"I don't see no hoss," said Zeke.</p> + +<p>"Well, you watch out a minute un you'll ketch sight uv 'im. He's gone in +there to git shed of the flies."</p> + +<p>"That's our clay-bank, I believe," said Zeke, getting up and carefully +scanning the now half-visible horse.</p> + +<p>"Mine! you hain't seen nor heern tell of me, un you b'long to Jake's +crowd weth all your might."</p> + +<p>With these words Bob set out again for his bear-hunt, while the barefoot +Zeke waded through the stream, which was knee-deep, and set himself to +beguile Britton's clay-bank horse into standing still and forfeiting his +liberty.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XIII" id="XIII"></a>XIII</h2> + +<h3>A BEAR HUNT</h3> + + +<p>Bob McCord had that quick, sympathetic appreciation of brute impulses +which is the mark of a great hunter. Given a bear or a deer in a certain +place, at a certain hour of the day, and Bob would conjecture, without +much chance of missing, in which direction he would go and what he would +be about. In a two-hours' beating-up the ravine he found no traces of +bears. He then faced almost about and bent his course to where the +illimitable western prairie set into the woods in a kind of bay. Why he +thought that on a hot day like this a bear might be taking a sunning in +the open grass I cannot tell; he probably suspected Bruin of an +excursion to the corn-fields for "roas'in' ears." At any rate his +conjecture was correct. Pup, beating forward in great leaps, with his +head above the grass, caught sight of a female bear making her way to a +point of timber farther down the run known as Horseshoe Neck. When the +bear saw the dogs she quickened her leisurely pace into a lumbering +gallop. Pup's long legs were stretched to their utmost in eager leaps +which presently brought him in front of her; Joe, when he came up, +annoyed her at the side; and stout little Seizer, watching the chance +whenever she was making an angry lunge at Pup, would bravely nip her +heels and so make her turn about. Before she could get her head fairly +around the fiste would turn tail and run for his life. Bob tried to get +within range before the bear should disappear in the forest, but as soon +as she saw herself near the timber she charged straight for it, refusing +to strike at Pup, and wholly disregarding the barking of bob-tail Joe, +or the proximity to her heels of Seizer. She quickly disappeared from +sight in the underbrush, and the embarrassed dogs came near losing her. +A few moments too late to get a shot, McCord came running to the woods +at the point of her entrance. He examined the brush and listened a +moment.</p> + +<p>"She's gone up stream," he said, "bound to make her hole at Coon's Den, +'f I don't git there fust."</p> + +<p>He returned to the prairie and ran breathlessly along the edge of the +woods for the better part of a mile; then he dashed into the timber, and +pushing through the brush until he reached a cliff, he clambered down +and stood with his back to the head of a ravine tributary to the valley +in which Broad Run flowed. He was breathless, and his flimsy lower +garments had been almost torn off him by the violence of his exertion +and the resistance of underbrush and rocks; in fact, raiment never +seemed just in place on him; the vigorous form burst through it now on +this side, and now on that. Hearing the dogs still below him, he knew +that he had come in time to intercept the progress of the bear toward +the heap of rocky débris at the head of the ravine. Once in these +fastnesses, no skill of hunter or perseverance of dogs would have been +sufficient to get her out.</p> + +<p>The bear was soon in sight, and Bob saw that the nearly exhausted dogs +were taking greater risks than ever. Little Seizer was particularly +venturesome, and was so much overcome with heat and fatigue, and so +breathless with barking, that it was hard for him to get out of the way +of the bear's retorts. "She'll smash that leetle ijiot the very nex' +time, shore," muttered Bob with alarm; and though he knew the range to +be a long one, he took aim and fired. Unluckily the infuriated Seizer +gave the bear's heel a particularly savage bite, and at the very instant +of Bob's pulling the trigger she turned on the little dog, and thus +caused the ball to lodge in her right shoulder just as she was striking +out with her left paw. She barely reached the dog, and failed to crush +him with the full weight of her arm, but she lacerated his side and sent +him howling out of the fray. Now, wounded and enraged, she recognized in +the hunter her chief enemy; and, neglecting the dogs, she rushed up the +ravine toward McCord. Bob poured a large charge of powder into his gun, +and, taking a bullet from his pouch, he felt in his pocket for the +patching. A moment he looked blankly at the oncoming bear and muttered +"Gosh!" between his set teeth. There was not a patch in his pocket. He +had put some pieces of patching there in the darkness of the morning +before leaving home, without remembering that his pocket was bottomless. +He stood between a wounded bear and her cubs, and there was no time for +deliberation. He might evade the attack if he could succeed in getting +up the cliff where he had come down, but in that case she would reach +her hole and he would lose the battle. He promptly tore a piece from the +ragged leg of his trousers, and, wrapping his ball in it, rammed it +home. Then he took a cap from a hole in the stock of his gun and got it +fixed just in time to shoot when the bear was within a dozen feet of +him. Uncultivated man that he was, he had the same refined pleasure in +the death-throes of his victim that gentlemen and ladies of the highest +breeding find in seeing a frightened and exhausted fox torn to pieces by +hounds with bloody lips.</p> + +<p>Bob's first care was to look after Seizer, who was badly wounded, but +whose bones were whole. The afternoon had passed its middle when he shot +the bear, and by the time he had cared for the dog and dressed his game +the sun was low and McCord was troubled lest he should have delayed too +long the execution of his stratagem for the confusion of Jake Hogan.</p> + +<p>Another man might have been considerably embarrassed to dispose of the +bear. But Bob proceeded first to divest it of every part that was of +little value. Then he hoisted the carcass to his shoulder and tossed the +bear-skin on top. Taking up his rifle and balancing his burden carefully +before starting, he went swaying to and fro down the ravine, choosing +with care the securest places among the rocks to set his feet in. It was +thus that Samson went off with the great gates of Gaza. McCord was a +primitive, Pelasgic sort of man, accustomed to overmatch the ferocities +of Nature with a superior strength and cunning. Lacking the refinement +and complexity of the typical modern, this antique human is more simple +and statuesque; even the craft of such a man has little involution. +There was joy in his bloody victory over the most formidable beast in +his reach that was virile and unalloyed by ruth or scruple—a joy like +that which vibrates in the verses of Homer.</p> + +<p>It was a good mile to Lazar Brown's, where Bob hoped to find a horse to +take his bear home. When at length he stopped to unshoulder his burden +on a salient corner of old Lazar's rail fence, sunset had begun to bless +the overheated earth.</p> + +<p>"Got a b'ar, did n' choo?" said Old Lazar, who was in wait for Bob.</p> + +<p>"To be shore, Uncle Lazar. Whadje expeck?"</p> + +<p>"Come in, Bob, wonch yeh? I got a fresh jug full uv the critter +yisterday, un I 'low you're purty consid'able dry agin this time. You +purty much all-ays air dry, Bob."</p> + +<p>"Well, Uncle Lazar, I <i>am</i> tol'able dry un <i>no</i> mistake. I hain't had +nuthin' to drink to-day 'ceppin' jes branch water, un clear water's a +mighty weak kind uv a drink fer a pore stomick like mine. 'N, I'm hungry +too. Don' choo 'low S'manthy could rake up a cole dodger summers about?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, stay tell she gits you some supper."</p> + +<p>"No, Uncle Lazar; I could n' stop a minute noways. They hain't got nary +thing t' eat 't our house. Len' me your mare to git this 'ere varmint +home?"</p> + +<p>"I could n', Bob. I'm thes uz willin' to 'commodate ez anybody kin be, +but I've promised the mar' to one uv the boys to-night—to—to go +a-sparkin' weth."</p> + +<p>"Oh, sparkin' kin wait. What's a feller want to go sparkin' a Friday +night fer? Tell him to wait tell Sunday, so 's the gal 'll have a clean +dress on."</p> + +<p>"But I've gi'n my word, Bob."</p> + +<p>"Your word hain't no 'count, un you don't fool me, Uncle Lazar," said +Bob, with a broad grin. "Your mare's a-goin' to town to-night, un ef she +sh'd git a bullet-hole put into her who'd pay the funeral ixpenses?"</p> + +<p>This consideration went for a good deal with Lazar.</p> + +<p>"I say, Bob," he said, coming closer and speaking low, "<i>is</i> they goin' +to be shootin' to-night?"</p> + +<p>"<i>Uv</i> course they is, un plenty uv it. Don' choo know't the sheriff's +gi'n bonds, un 'f 'e lets a prisoner go he's got to pay the damages? Un +them town fellers is sot agin lynchin'." Seeing S'manthy in the cabin +door straining her attention to the utmost, Bob spoke loud enough to +reach her ears. "Lookey h-yer, Uncle Lazar," he went on; "d'you reckon +'t that feller that's a-goin' to git your mare shot to-night 'll gin you +a whole quarter uv bear-meat fer the use <i>an'</i> the damages ef she's +shot?"</p> + +<p>This last hint had the desired effect.</p> + +<p>"'T ain't no use a-talkin', Daddy," S'manthy called out; "I hain't +a-go'n' to let a'ole frien' like Bob Mcord pack that-ar great big b'ar +all the way over to Timber Crick on his shoulders ez long 's my name's +S'manthy. Un I hain't a-go'n' to have the mar' shot. So thar 's 'n eend +auv it." S'manthy's common "uv" or "uh" for "of" became "auv" when she +wished to be particularly emphatic and full-mouthed in a declaration.</p> + +<p>"Good fer <i>you</i>, S'manthy," said Bob. "You sh'll have the best leg this +critter's got. Take yer ch'ice."</p> + +<p>A rusty ax was brought out, and Bob stopped a moment to examine its +serrated edge. "I say, Uncle Lazar, ez this a' ax <i>ur</i> a saw? From the +aidge uv it <i>I</i> sh'd call it a saw, but the back uv it <i>is</i> sumpin like +a' ax." Then with a laugh he proceeded to cut off a liberal quarter of +the bear, while S'manthy's ten-year-old tow-headed boy was sent to +"ketch up the mar'," which was nibbling grass on the farther side of a +patch of broad-leaved cotton-weeds. When the quarter of bear-meat had +been hung up at the north end of the cabin, Lazar got out his jug and +Bob began to satisfy the longings of his colossal thirst, while S'manthy +set out on the poplar table which stood in the middle of the floor some +"Kaintucky corn-dodger," as she called it; and despite Bob's protest +against staying till she could cook some supper, she put a bit of fat +salt pork in the skillet to fry. Meantime the old man plied Bob with +more whisky, both before and after eating. When he thought it time for +this to have taken effect, he began to try to satisfy his own +curiosity.</p> + +<p>"D'joo h-yer about the carner's eenquest, Bob?" he said cautiously, +feeling his way toward his point.</p> + +<p>"No, I didn't. You see, I hain't seed nobody but the bear, un she wuz +the ign'rantest critter. Could n't tell me nuthin'." And Bob laughed at +his own wit, as was his custom. "How 'd it go?" Bob had wanted to ask +this question, but he wished to let Uncle Lazar begin.</p> + +<p>"Well, I hyern f'om Raphe Jackson, thes now, that the jury said 's +Lockwood come to 'is final eend ut the han's uv Tom Grayson, ur sumpin +like that; un they said 't wuz reg'lar bloody murder in the fust degree. +My! ef that wuz n't a mad crowd! They made a rush fer Grayson, but the +depitty shurriff 'd got 'im away. Ef they 'd 'a' cotcht him they would +n't 'a' made two bites uv him."</p> + +<p>"You don't say!" Bob was a little stunned. He had not thought of Tom's +being at the inquest. He felt that perhaps in coming away he had made a +mistake that had come near to being a fatal one.</p> + +<p>"They wuz thes a-howlin', Raphe said, un they had n't lef' the place +when he come away. They wuz made madder by the way the young scoundrel +stood up un <i>de</i>clared 't he did n' know nuthin' about the murder, arter +'t wuz proved on him, plain 's the nose on a man's face, an' the dead +man a-layin' right thar afore 'is own eyes."</p> + +<p>Bob was in a brown study, and nothing was said on either side for half a +minute. It made Bob uncomfortable to reflect that he had come near +losing the game at the outset.</p> + +<p>"I 'low 't 'll go hard weth the young feller to-night."</p> + +<p>This roused McCord from the reverie produced from his surprise.</p> + +<p>"I reckoned the boys'u'd be a-goin' to Moscow to-night," he said; and +added, "Let 'em go!" And then he laughed as though he knew something.</p> + +<p>"Say, Bob," said Uncle Lazar, whose curiosity was piqued beyond +endurance, "what's in the wind? What wuz it fotcht you all the way over +h-yer un the eenquest a-goin' on so closte to your house?"</p> + +<p>"Had n' got no meat," said Bob, with a wink.</p> + +<p>"They's sumpin more'n <i>that ar</i>. You've got sumpin ur nuther on Jake, +I'll bet."</p> + +<p>"I 'ke speck you know a whole lot, Uncle Lazar," said Bob. "I sh'd think +you'd jest right up un guess now."</p> + +<p>"Well, I can't seem to."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm not a-goin' to let 't out, Uncle Lazar, 'thout this 'ere +whisky uh yourn's a leetle <i>too</i> powerful fer me."</p> + +<p>Bob did not fear the whisky: it was rare that whisky could get the +better of such a frame as his; and, moreover, he was inured to it. He +only threw out this hint to persuade his host to be more liberal in +dispensing it.</p> + +<p>But it appeared that Lazar's liberality with his whisky was probably +exhausted; and Bob rose to go, affecting to be unsteady on his legs.</p> + +<p>"Seddown, Bob; seddown, while I see about the mar'."</p> + +<p>"Well, I 'low I will, Uncle Lazar. That air whisky uh yourn has sort-uh +settled into my feet a leetle."</p> + +<p>Lazar went out to see if the boy had brought the horse, making a signal +to his daughter to try her skill at coaxing Bob to tell. Meantime Bob +ogled S'manthy, who, like Delilah, was debating how she could win this +Samson's secret. Presently he said, in a half-tipsy tone:</p> + +<p>"S'manthy, you 'n' me wuz all-ays good frien's, wuz n't we?"</p> + +<p>"Toobshore, Bob."</p> + +<p>"I used to think you wuz <i>some</i> at a hoe-down; you wuz the best-lookin' +un the liveliest dancer uv all. How you <i>did</i> slam-bang the floor!"</p> + +<p>S'manthy smiled in her faded way. "Bob, that's all saf'-sodder, un you +know it. Say, Bob, ef you're sech a frien' why on yerth don' choo tell +a-body what fotcht you over h-yer to-day?"</p> + +<p>"Aw, well, I'd tell, on'y I'm afeared you'd go un let out."</p> + +<p>"Not me. 'T a'n't like me to blab."</p> + +<p>"Well, I don' mine tellin' <i>you</i>, S'manthy, 'f yeh won't tell the ole +man tell mornin'."</p> + +<p>"Oh! I'd never tell <i>him</i>. He'd go potterin' all over Broad Run Holler +weth it, fust thing."</p> + +<p>"'S the bes' joke," said Bob, rubbing his knees exultingly; "but I'm +afeared you'll tell," he added, rousing himself.</p> + +<p>"'Pon my word 'n' honor, I won't. Nobody'll ever git 't out uh me." And +S'manthy emphasized this assurance by a boastful nodding of the head +forward and to one side.</p> + +<p>"Well, 'f you think you kin keep the sekert overnight—Don' choo tell no +livin' critter tell mornin'."</p> + +<p>"I hain't no hand to tell sekerts, an' you 'd orter know that, Bob."</p> + +<p>"Well, you jes let Jake 'n' his crowd go to Moscow to-night," said Bob, +chuckling in a semi-tipsy, soliloquizing tone. "I come over to make +shore they <i>wuz</i> a-goin', un I wuz to let the sher'f know ef they had +got wind uv anything. I saw Markham, the deppitty, about one o'clock +this mornin', un he tole me he 'd look arter the eenques' un I mus' keep +a lookout over h-yer. Jake 'll have a rousin' time, un no mistake."</p> + +<p>"Shootin'?" queried S'manthy, with eagerness.</p> + +<p>"Naw! I wuz on'y a-lettin' on about shootin' to fool Uncle Lazar. Hain't +got no needcessity to shoot. Better 'n that! Gosh!"</p> + +<p>"Goin' to take the young feller away?"</p> + +<p>"I 'low they did n't never take him back to Moscow arter the eenques'."</p> + +<p>"Tuh law! You don't say? Whar 've they tuck 'm to?"</p> + +<p>"I sha'n't tell," said Bob. "I sha'n't tell even <i>you</i>, S'manthy."</p> + +<p>"Perrysburg?"</p> + +<p>"You all-ays wuz some at guessin'. But I sha'n't say nary nuther word, +on'y he 's whar Jake won't find him ef he goes to Moscow. They went +summers, un that's anough. Perrysburg jail 's ruther stronger 'n ourn, +I'll say <i>that</i>. 'T wuz all fixed, 'fore I lef' home, to run him off +afore the verdick wuz in, un not to keep to the big road nuther, so 's +Jake would n' git wind uv 'em. Don't you whisper Perrysburg to a livin' +soul. You jes' let Jake go down to Moscow! I'm comin' over 'n the +mornin' to fetch your mare home un git my little Seizer that 's got to +stay h-yer to-night, un then I'll fine out how they come out." And Bob +chuckled as he left the house, only turning back to say:</p> + +<p>"You keep closte, S'manthy, ur you'll spile it all. 'F you do tell, I +won't <i>never</i> forgive yeh."</p> + +<p>Bob now went out and down to the brookside, where he cut up and stripped +three or four leatherwood bushes, and tied the tough, fibrous bark into +one strong rope. With this he girded the bear to the horse's back, +meantime resisting all of old Lazar's inquiries about the reason for his +coming. At length he walked off in the dusk, unsteadily leaning against +the horse on which the bear-meat was tied, and was soon out of sight.</p> + +<p>"Bob won't tell me," said the old man plaintively, as he came into the +house.</p> + +<p>"He won't, won't he?" demanded S'manthy, with exultation in her voice. +"You don' know how. Takes me to git at a sekert."</p> + +<p>"Did he tell <i>you</i>, S'manthy?" Uncle Lazar looked a little crest-fallen.</p> + +<p>"In <i>course</i> he did. Think I couldn' make him tell? W'y, I kin thes +twis' Big Bob 'roun' my little finger."</p> + +<p>"Well, what on yerth did he come over yer fer, S'manthy?"</p> + +<p>"I promised not to tell you."</p> + +<p>"To be shore you did. But you're a-goin' to."</p> + +<p>"Yes; but you'll let it out, un then what'll Bob say to me?"</p> + +<p>"What'll Jake say to you fer lettin' yer mar' go off, when one uv his +boys had the promise? Un what 'll the folks say when they find out you +knowed, un let 'em be fooled by Big Bob? You 've got to tell, S'manthy, +ur else have all the Holler down on yeh. Besides, you could n' keep that +sekert tell bed-time, noways, un you know you couldn'. 'T ain't in you +to keep it, un you might thes ez well out weth it now ez arter awhile."</p> + +<p>"Aw, well, Daddy, Bob didn' say much, on'y ut Jake wouldn' fine the +feller that done the shootin' when he got to Moscow."</p> + +<p>"Tuh law!" exclaimed the old man, waiting with open eyes for more.</p> + +<p>"He wuz tuck off, afore the eenques' wuz over, to Perrysburg, un Bob +come over to see 't Jake didn' git no wind uv it. That 's all they is +<i>to</i> it. Un you need n' go un tell it, h-yer <i>an'</i> yan, nuther."</p> + +<p>S'manthy knew well that this caution was of no avail. But by tacking the +proviso to the information, she washed her hands of responsibility, and +convinced herself that she had not betrayed a secret. It was an offering +that she felt bound to make to her own complacency.</p> + +<p>Uncle Lazar, for his part, made no bones. He only tarried long enough to +set his pipe to smoking.</p> + +<p>Bob McCord had stopped in the growing darkness under the shade of a box +elder, a little beyond the forks of the road. He presently had the +satisfaction of seeing the head of the old man as he trotted away +through the patch of stunted corn toward a little grocery, which was +located where the big road crossed Broad Run Hollow, and which was the +common center of resort and intelligence for the neighborhood.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XIV" id="XIV"></a>XIV</h2> + +<h3>IN PRISON</h3> + + +<p>Hiram Mason managed with difficulty to drive the first two miles of +forest road—over roots and stumps, through ruts and mud-holes, and with +no light but that of a waning moon. When he reached Timber Creek bridge +he got down and led the horse on its unsteady floor. Then came, like a +dark spot in the pale moonlight, the log school-house, which reminded +him that he was running away from his day's work. He stopped at the new +log-house of John Buchanan, a Scotch farmer who had been one of his +predecessors, and called him up to beg him to take his place. Buchanan, +whose knowledge was of the rudimentary kind, had ceased to teach because +he had not been able to meet the increased demands of the patrons of the +school; it was a sort of consolation to his thwarted ambition to resume +the beech-scepter if only for a day.</p> + +<p>When Buchanan's house had been left behind, the road passed into an +outskirt of small poplars, and then finally shook off this outer fringe +of forest and lay straight away over the dead level of the great +prairie. By the time the wagon reached this point the dawn was beginning +to reveal the landscape, though as yet the world consisted only of +masses of shadow interspersed with patches of a somber gray. But the +smooth road was sufficiently discernible for Hiram to put the horse into +a trot, which afforded no little relief to the impatient Barbara. Up to +this time they had traveled in silence, except for the groans and sighs +of Mrs. Grayson. But at length Barbara took the lead.</p> + +<p>"I can't believe that Tom did that shooting," she said to Mason. "He +promised me after supper last night that he would put all hard feelings +against George Lockwood out of his mind. Tom is n't the kind of a fellow +to play the hypocrite. Oh, I do hope he is innocent!"</p> + +<p>"So do I," said Mason.</p> + +<p>"To be sure he is," said Mrs. Grayson, with a touch of protest in her +voice.</p> + +<p>Barbara had detected a note of effort in Hiram's reply, that indicated a +prevailing doubt of Tom's innocence, and she did not speak again during +the whole ride. When they entered the village, Mason drove first to the +sheriff's house, and went in, leaving Barbara and her mother in the +wagon. Sheriff Plunkett had not yet had his breakfast. He was a +well-built man, of obliging manners, but with a look of superfluous +discreetness in his face. Mason explained in few words that the mother +and sister of Tom Grayson, who had not seen him since the shooting of +Lockwood, were at the door in a wagon and wished to be admitted to the +jail. The sheriff regarded Mason awhile in silence; it was his habit to +examine the possible results of the simplest action before embarking in +it. He presently went upstairs and came down bringing with him the jail +keys. Mason drove the wagon to the jail, tied the horse to a tree, and +suggested to Mrs. Grayson and Barbara that it would be better for him to +go in first. He had a vague fear that there might be something in Tom's +situation to shock the feelings of his mother and sister. The sheriff +had walked briskly along the wagon track in the middle of the street to +avoid the dew-laden grass on either side of the road. When he came to +the door of the jail he said in an undertone as he shoved the great iron +key into the door:</p> + +<p>"Tom's in the dungeon."</p> + +<p>"Why did you put him in the dungeon?" asked Mason.</p> + +<p>"We always put prisoners accused of murder in there."</p> + +<p>"You might put an innocent man in that place," said Mason.</p> + +<p>"Well, there ain't much doubt about Tom's being guilty; and anyways the +jail's so weak that we have to put anybody accused of murder in the +dungeon, where there ain't any outside windows."</p> + +<p>By the time he had finished this speech, Plunkett had admitted Mason and +himself to the jail and locked the outside door behind them. The prison +was divided into two apartments by a hall-way through the middle. The +room to the left, as one entered, was called the dungeon; it was without +any light except the little that came through at second-hand from the +dusky hall by means of a small grating in the door; the hall itself was +lighted by a simple grated window at the end farthest from the outside +door.</p> + +<p>When the sheriff had with difficulty opened the door of the dungeon, he +could not see anything inside.</p> + +<p>"Tom, come out," he called.</p> + +<p>Mason was barely acquainted with Tom, but he was shocked to see the +fine-looking fellow in handcuffs as he came to the door, blinking his +eyes at the light, and showing a face which wounded pride and anxiety +had already begun to make haggard.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Mason, I didn't expect to see you," said Tom. "Did you hear +anything from mother and Barbara?"</p> + +<p>"They're outside," said Mason. "I thought I'd just take your place at +home for a few days."</p> + +<p>The sheriff had gone along the hall to open the door leading into the +room on the side opposite the dungeon. Tom regarded Mason a moment in +silence, and presently said with emotion:</p> + +<p>"How can I make anybody believe the truth? They'll say that a man who'd +kill another would lie about it. I believe I should n't care so much +about the danger of being hung, if I could only make a few people know +that I did n't kill George Lockwood. I can't make you believe it, but +I'm not guilty." As he said this, Tom dropped his eyes from Mason's +face, and an expression of discouragement overspread his own.</p> + +<p>"You certainly don't seem like a guilty man," said Hiram.</p> + +<p>"The worst of it is," said Tom, as they followed the sheriff into the +eastern room of the jail, "I can't think, to save my life, who 'twas +that could have done the shooting. I don't know of any enemy that +Lockwood had, unless you might have called me one. I hated him and +talked like a fool about shooting, but I never seriously thought of such +a thing."</p> + +<p>The eastern room of the wretched little jail was about fifteen feet wide +and twenty feet long. In it were confined from time to time ordinary +prisoners and occasionally lunatics, without separation on account of +character or sex. Fortunately Tom had the jail now to himself.</p> + +<p>The sheriff, who in those days was also the jailer, locked Mason and Tom +in the eastern room while he opened the outside door and admitted Mrs. +Grayson and Barbara to the hall. Then he locked the front door behind +them and proceeded to unlock the door of the eastern room. Barbara ran +in eagerly and threw her arms about Tom.</p> + +<p>"Tell me truly, Tom," she whispered in his ear, "did you do it? Tell me +the solemn truth, between you and me."</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus4" id="illus4"></a> +<img src="images/illus4.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"TELL ME TRULY, TOM, DID YOU DO IT?"</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>"Before God Almighty, Barb," he answered, "I didn't shoot George +Lockwood, and I didn't even see him on the camp-ground. I wasn't in that +part of the woods, and I hadn't any pistol."</p> + +<p>"Tom, I believe you," said Barbara, sobbing on his shoulder. Wondering +that her brother did not return her embrace, she looked down and saw his +handcuffs, and felt, as she had not before, the horror of his situation.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Grayson now gently pushed Barbara aside and approached Tom.</p> + +<p>"I didn't do it, mother," said Tom; "I didn't do it."</p> + +<p>"Of course you did n't, Tommy; I never thought you did—I just knew you +<i>couldn't</i> do it." And she put her trembling arms about him.</p> + +<p>Hiram had gone into the corridor from motives of delicacy.</p> + +<p>"Couldn't you move him into the east room?" he said to the sheriff. +"It's too bad to have to lie in that dungeon, without air, and in August +too. And is it necessary to keep his handcuffs on?"</p> + +<p>"Well, you see, it's the regular thing to put a man into the dungeon +that's up for murder, and to put handcuffs on. The jail's rather weak, +you know; and if he should escape—I'd be blamed."</p> + +<p>Mason went into the dark room and examined the dirty, uncomfortable cot, +and felt of the damp walls. Then he returned to the east room just as +Tom was explaining his flight from the camp-ground.</p> + +<p>"I saw a rush," he said, "and I went with the rest. A man was telling in +the dark that George Lockwood had been shot, and that they were looking +for a fellow named Grayson and were going to hang him to the first tree. +I ran across the fields to our house, and by the time I got there I saw +that I'd made a mistake. I ought to have come straight to Moscow. I went +into the house and came out to go to Moscow and give myself up, but I +met the sheriff at the gate."</p> + +<p>"The first thing is the inquest," said Mason. "Have you thought about a +lawyer?"</p> + +<p>"There's no use of a lawyer for that," said Tom. "My fool talk about +killing Lockwood is circumstantial evidence against me, and I'll +certainly be held for trial—unless the real murderer should turn up. +And I don't know who that can be. I've puzzled over it all night."</p> + +<p>"You studied with Mr. Blackman, I believe," said Mason. "Couldn't you +get him to defend you?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know that I want <i>him</i>. He's already prejudiced against me. He +wouldn't believe that I was innocent, and so he couldn't do any good."</p> + +<p>"But you've got to have somebody," said Barbara.</p> + +<p>"I've been over the whole list," said Tom, "and I'd rather have Abra'm +than anybody else."</p> + +<p>"Abra'm 'll do it," said Mrs. Grayson; "I kin git him to do it. He's a +little beholden to me fer what I done fer him when he was little. But +he's purty new to the law-business, Tommy."</p> + +<p>"Abra'm Lincoln's rather new, but he's got a long head for managing a +case, and he's honest and friendly to us. The circuit court begins over +at Perrysburg to-morrow, and he'll like as not stop at the tavern here +for dinner to-day. You might see him, mother."</p> + +<p>"Tom! Tom!" The voice was a child's, and it came from the outside of the +window-grating. A child's fingers were clutched upon the stones beyond +the grating; and before Tom could answer, the brown head of Janet +Grayson was lifted to the level of the high, square little window, and +her blue eyes were peering into the obscurity of the prison.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus5" id="illus5"></a> +<img src="images/illus5.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>JANET AT THE WINDOW.</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>"Tom, are you there? Did they give you any breakfast?" she faltered, +startled and ready to cry at finding herself calling into a place so +obscure and apparently so void.</p> + +<p>"O Janet! is that you?" said Tom, putting his face to the grating. "You +blessed little soul, you! But you must n't come to this dreadful place." +And Tom tried to wipe his eyes with his sleeve.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but I am sorry for you, Cousin Tom," she said, dropping to the +ground again and turning her head on one side deprecatingly; "and I was +afraid they wouldn't give you enough to eat. Here's three biscuits." She +pulled them out of her pocket with difficulty and pushed them through +the grating.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, thank you," said Tom. "You are a dear loving little darling. +But see here, Janet, you'd better not come here any more; and don't call +me cousin. It's too bad you should have to be ashamed of your cousin."</p> + +<p>"But I <i>will</i> call you cousin, an' I don' care what they say. Are <i>you</i> +in there, too, Barbara? You didn't kill anybody, did you?"</p> + +<p>"No; neither did Tom," said Barbara, leaning down to the window.</p> + +<p>"Janet," said Tom, "d' you tell Uncle Tom and Aunt Charlotte that I +didn't shoot anybody. They won't believe you, but it's a fact."</p> + +<p>Janet had heard the news at the breakfast-table. Sheriff Plunkett, +wishing to conciliate so influential a person as Thomas Grayson the +elder, had sent him word very early of the unfortunate predicament in +which Tom found himself, and had offered to comply with any wishes Mr. +Grayson might express concerning his nephew, so far as the rigor of the +law allowed. To steady-going people like the Graysons the arrest of Tom +on such a charge was a severe blow; and his execution would compromise +for all time their hitherto unsullied respectability in their little +world. They drank their breakfast coffee and ate their warm biscuit and +butter and fried ham and eggs with rueful faces. The comments they made +on Tom's career were embittered by their own share of the penalty. Janet +had listened till she had made out that Tom was in jail for killing +somebody. Then, after hearing some rather severe remarks from her +parents about Tom, she burst into tears, rose up and stamped her feet in +passion, and stormed in her impotent, infantile way at her father and +mother and the people who had locked up Tom in jail. When the first gust +of her indignation had found vent, she fled into the garden to cool off, +as was her wont. After awhile she came back and foraged in the kitchen, +where she pounced upon three biscuits which had been left on a plate by +the fire to keep them warm. With these she had made off through the back +gate of the garden, thence down the alley and across the public square +to the jail.</p> + +<p>Meantime a lively discussion was carried on in the house.</p> + +<p>"We've got to do something for Tom, I suppose," said Mrs. Grayson, after +the question of his blameworthiness was exhausted. "He's your nephew, +and we can't get around that. Goodness knows he's given us trouble +enough, and expense enough, already." It was a favorite illusion with +the Graysons that they had spent money on Tom, though he had earned all +he had received.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Grayson reluctantly; "it'll be expected of us, Charlotte, to +stand by him. He's got no father, you know. And I suppose George +Lockwood was aggravating enough."</p> + +<p>"The Lord knows I'm sorry for Tom; he was always good to Janet." This +reminded Mrs. Grayson of her daughter, and she went to the open door of +the dining-room and called, "Janet! O Janet! It's curious how she stands +by Tom. She's off in the sulks, and won't answer a word I say. I suppose +you'll have to go his bail," she said with apprehension.</p> + +<p>"No, it's not bailable. They don't bail prisoners charged with capital +offenses."</p> + +<p>"That's a good thing, anyhow. I hate to have you go security."</p> + +<p>"I suppose Martha'll be able to pay the lawyers," said Thomas Grayson. +"She won't expect us to do any more for Tom. It's bad enough to have to +stand the disgrace of it."</p> + +<p>"Janet! Janet! O Janet!" called Mrs. Grayson anxiously. "I declare, I'm +uneasy about that child; it's nearly half an hour since she went out. I +wish you'd go and have a look for her."</p> + +<p>But at that moment Janet rushed in breathless through the kitchen.</p> + +<p>"O Pa! I've been over to the jail to see Tom."</p> + +<p>"You've been to the jail!" said Grayson, recoiling in his heart from +such an experience for Janet.</p> + +<p>"Yes, an' they've put Barbara and Aunt Martha in there too, along with +Tom." She was bursting with indignation.</p> + +<p>"Thomas," said Mrs. Grayson, as she gathered up the hitherto neglected +breakfast plates, "Martha and Barbara have come from home this morning."</p> + +<p>"I suppose so," said Grayson, looking out of the window.</p> + +<p>"Now it's not going to do for us to let them go without coming here to +breakfast," said the wife. "People will say we're hardhearted; and when +they once get to talking there's no knowing what they <i>won't</i> say. They +might blame us about Tom, though the Lord knows we did <i>our</i> best for +him."</p> + +<p>"Will you go and ask Martha and Barbara to come over?" said Grayson, +with a sneaking desire to escape the disagreeable duty.</p> + +<p>"I can't bear to," said his wife. "I hate to go to the jail and see Tom +there. Besides, if they're coming I must make some coffee."</p> + +<p>Grayson stood still and looked out of the window.</p> + +<p>"Will they let them come if you ask 'em?" inquired Janet.</p> + +<p>"Let who come?" said her father abstractedly.</p> + +<p>"Aunt Martha and Barbara and Tom."</p> + +<p>"Of course they'll not keep your Aunt Martha nor Barbara. They haven't +killed anybody."</p> + +<p>"Neither has Tom. He told me to tell you he hadn't."</p> + +<p>"I suppose they all talk that way. 'T ain't like Tom to lie about +anything though. He generally faces it out, rain, hail, or shine. I wish +to goodness he could prove that he didn't kill George. Where are you +going, Janet?"</p> + +<p>"To fetch Aunt Martha and Barbara. I wish they'd let Tom come too."</p> + +<p>Grayson spent as much time as possible in getting his hat and looking it +over before putting it on. Then, when he could think of no other pretext +for delay, he started as slowly as possible, in order to give Janet time +to fetch his relatives away from the jail before he should encounter +them. Janet found her aunt coming out of the prison in order to allow +the sheriff to go to breakfast.</p> + +<p>"Aunt Martha," cried Janet, "Ma wants you an' Barbara to come to +breakfast. She sent me to tell you."</p> + +<p>"I don't like to go there," said Barbara to her mother in an undertone.</p> + +<p>But Mason, who was behind, perceiving Barbara's hesitation, came up and +whispered: "You'd better go, Barbara. Tom will need all the help he can +get from your uncle's position. And I'll take the horse and put him into +your uncle's stable."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XV" id="XV"></a>XV</h2> + +<h3>ABRAHAM LINCOLN</h3> + + +<p>The village of Moscow was founded by adventurous pioneers while yet +Napoleon's Russian expedition was fresh in all men's minds, and took +from that memory its Russian name, which, like most other transplanted +names of the sort, was universally mispronounced. The village had been +planted in what is called an "island," that is, a grove surrounded by +prairie on every side. The early settlers in Illinois were afraid to +seat themselves far from wood. As it stands to-day the pretty town is +arranged about a large public square, neatly fenced, and with long +hitching-rails on all four sides of it. The inside of the square is +trimly kept, and is amply shaded by old forest-trees—the last survivors +of the grove that formed the "island." Moscow contains a court-house, +which is pretentious and costly, if not quite elegant, besides other +public buildings. On the streets facing this park-like square nearly all +the trade of the thriving country-town is carried on. But in the time of +Tom Grayson's imprisonment the public square was yet a rough piece of +woods, with roots and stumps still obtruding where underbrush and trees +had been cut out. There was no fence, and there were no hitching-rails. +The court-house of that day was a newish frame building, which had the +public-grounds all to itself except for the jail, on one corner of the +square. Facing the square, on the side farthest from the jail, stood the +village tavern. One half of it was of hewn logs, which marked it as +dating back to the broad-ax period of the town's growth; the other half +had been added after the saw-mill age began, and was yet innocent of +paint, as were the court-house and several other of the principal +buildings in the town. In front of the tavern was a native beech-tree, +left behind in the general destruction. Under it were some rude benches +which afforded a cool and favorite resort to the leisurely villagers. +One of the boughs of this tree served its day and generation doubly, for +besides contributing to the shadiness of the street-corner, it supported +a pendant square sign, which creaked most dolefully whenever there was +wind enough to set it swinging in its rusty iron sockets. The name of +the hotel was one common to villages of small attainments and great +hopes; the sign bore for legend in red letters: "City Hotel, R. Biggs."</p> + +<p>To the City Hotel there came, on this first day after Tom's arrest, one +of those solitary horsemen who gave life to nearly every landscape and +mystery to nearly every novel of that generation. This horseman, after +the fashion of the age, carried his luggage in a pair of saddle-bags, +which kept time to his horse's trot by rapping against the flaps of his +saddle.</p> + +<p>"Howdy, Cap'n Biggs," said the traveler to the landlord, who was leaning +solidly against the door-jamb and showing no sign of animation, except +by slowly and intermittently working his jaws in the manner of a +ruminating cow.</p> + +<p>"Howdy, Abe," was the answer. "Where yeh boun' fer?"</p> + +<p>"Perrysburg," said the new arrival, alighting and stretching the kinks +out of his long, lank limbs, the horse meanwhile putting his head +half-way to the ground and moving farther into the cool shade. Then the +horseman proceeded to disengage his saddle-bags from the stirrup-straps, +now on one side of the horse and then on the other.</p> + +<p>"Have yer hoss fed some corn?" In asking this question Captain Biggs +with some difficulty succeeded in detaching himself from the door-post, +bringing his weight perpendicularly upon his legs; this accomplished he +sluggishly descended the three door-steps to the ground and took hold of +the bridle.</p> + +<p>"What's this I hear about Tom Grayson, Cap'n?" said the new-comer, as he +tried to pull and wriggle his trousers-legs down to their normal place.</p> + +<p>"Oh, he's gone 'n' shot Lockwood, like the blasted fool he is. He wuz +blowin' about it afore he lef' town las' month, but nobody reckoned it +wuz anything <i>but</i> blow. Some trouble about k-yards an' a purty +gal—John Albaugh's gal. I s'pose Tom's got to swing fer it, 'nless you +kin kinder bewilder the jury like, an' git him off. Ole Mis' Grayson's +in the settin'-room now, a-waitin' to see you about it."</p> + +<p>Captain Biggs lifted his face, on which was a week's growth of stubby +beard, to see how his guest would take this information. The tall, +awkward young lawyer only drew his brow to a frown and said nothing; but +turned and went into the tavern with his saddle-bags on his arm, and +walking stiffly from being so long cramped in riding. Passing through +the cool bar-room with its moist odors of mixed drinks, he crossed the +hall into the rag-carpeted sitting-room beyond.</p> + +<p>"Oh Abra'm, I'm that glad to see you!" But here the old lady's feelings +overcame her and she could not go on.</p> + +<p>"Howdy, Mrs. Grayson. It's too bad about Tom. How did he come to do it?"</p> + +<p>"Lawsy, honey, he <i>didn't</i> do it."</p> + +<p>"You think he didn't?"</p> + +<p>"I know he didn't. He says so himself. I've been a-waitin' here all the +mornin' to see you, an' git you to defend him."</p> + +<p>The lawyer sat down on the wooden settee by Mrs. Grayson, and after a +little time of silence said:</p> + +<p>"You'd better get some older man, like Blackman."</p> + +<p>"Tom won't have Blackman; he won't have nobody but Abe Lincoln, he +says."</p> + +<p>"But—they say the evidence is all against him; and if that's the case, +an inexperienced man like me couldn't do any good."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Grayson looked at him piteously as she detected his reluctance.</p> + +<p>"Abra'm, he's all the boy I've got left. Ef you'll defend him I'll give +you my farm an' make out the deed before you begin. An' that's all I've +got."</p> + +<p>"Farm be hanged!" said Lincoln. "Do you think I don't remember your +goodness to me when I was a little wretch with my toes sticking out of +my ragged shoes! I wouldn't take a copper from you. But you're Tom's +mother, and of course you think he didn't do it. Now what if the +evidence proves that he did?"</p> + +<p>Barbara had been sitting in one corner of the room, and Lincoln had not +observed her in the obscurity produced by the shade of the green slat +curtains. She got up and came forward. "Abra'm, do you remember me?"</p> + +<p>"Is this little Barby?" he said, scanning her face. "You're a young +woman now, I declare."</p> + +<p>There was a simple tenderness in his voice that showed how deeply he +felt the trouble that had befallen the Graysons.</p> + +<p>"Well, I want to say, Abra'm," Barbara went on, "that after talking to +Tom we believe that he doesn't know anything about the shooting. Now +you'd better go and see him for yourself."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'll tell you what, Aunt Marthy," said he, relapsing into the +familiar form of address he had been accustomed to use toward Mrs. +Grayson in his boyhood; "I'll go over and see Tom, and if he is +innocent, as you and Barby think, we'll manage to save him or know the +reason why. But I must see him alone, and he mustn't know about my talk +with you."</p> + +<p>Lincoln got up, and laying his saddle-bags down in one corner of the +room went out immediately. First he went to inquire of Sheriff Plunkett +what was the nature of the evidence likely to be brought against Tom. +Then he got the sheriff to let him into the jail and leave him alone +with his client. Tom had been allowed to remain in the lighter apartment +since there was no fear of his escape on this day, when all the town was +agog about the murder, and people were continually coming to peer into +the jail to get a glimpse of the monster who in the darkness had shot +down one that had helped him out of a gambling scrape.</p> + +<p>Lincoln sat down on the only stool there was in the room, while Tom sat +on a bench.</p> + +<p>"Now, Tom," said the lawyer, fixing his penetrating gaze on the young +man's face, "you want to remember that I'm your friend and your counsel. +However proper it may be to keep your own secret in such a situation as +you are, you must tell me the whole truth, or else I cannot do you any +good. How did you come to shoot Lockwood?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't shoot Lockwood," said Tom brusquely; "and if you don't believe +that it's no use to go on."</p> + +<p>"Well, say I believe it then, and let's proceed. Tell me all that +happened between you and that young man."</p> + +<p>Tom began where this story begins and told all about turning the Bible +at Albaugh's; about the gambling in Wooden & Snyder's store and how he +was led into it; about his visit to Hubbard Township to get money to pay +Lockwood, and Rachel's revelation of Lockwood's treachery in telling +Ike. Then he told of his anger and his threatening, his uncle's break +with him, and his talk with Barbara the evening before the murder; and +finally he gave a circumstantial account of all that happened to him on +the camp-ground, and of his flight and arrest.</p> + +<p>"But," said Lincoln, who had looked closely and sometimes incredulously +at Tom's face while he spoke, "why did you take a pistol with you to the +camp-meeting?"</p> + +<p>"I did <i>not</i>. I hadn't had a pistol in my hands for a week before the +shooting."</p> + +<p>"But Plunkett says there's a man ready to swear that he saw you do the +shooting. They've got a pistol out of one of your drawers, and this +witness will swear that you used just such an old-fashioned weapon as +that."</p> + +<p>"Good Lord, Abe! who would tell such an infernal lie on a fellow in my +fix? That makes my situation bad." And Tom got up and walked the +stone-paved floor in excitement. "But the bullet will show that I didn't +do it. Get hold of the bullet, and if it fits the bore of that +old-fashioned pistol I won't ask you to defend me."</p> + +<p>"But there wasn't any bullet." Lincoln was now watching Tom's +countenance with the closest scrutiny.</p> + +<p>"No bullet! How in creation did they kill him, then?"</p> + +<p>"Can't you think?" He was still studying Tom's face.</p> + +<p>"I don't know any way of killing a fellow with a pistol that's got no +bullet unless you beat his brains out with the butt of it, and I thought +they said George was shot."</p> + +<p>"So he was. But, Tom, I've made up my mind that you're innocent. It's +going to be dreadful hard to prove it."</p> + +<p>"But how was he killed?" demanded Tom.</p> + +<p>"With buckshot."</p> + +<p>Tom stood and mused a minute.</p> + +<p>"Now tell me who says I did the shooting."</p> + +<p>"I never heard of him before. Sovine, I believe his name is."</p> + +<p>"Dave Sovine? W'y, he's the son of old Bill Sovine; he's the boy that +ran off four years ago, don't you remember? He's the black-leg that won +all my money. What does he want to get me hanged for? I paid him all I +owed him."</p> + +<p>Lincoln hardly appeared to hear what Tom was saying; he sat now with his +eyes fixed on the grating, lost in thought.</p> + +<p>"Tom," he said at length, "who was that strapping big knock-down fellow +that used to be about your place—hunter, fisherman, fist-fighter, and +all that?"</p> + +<p>"Do you mean Bob McCord?"</p> + +<p>"That must be the man. Big Bob, they called him. He's friendly to you, +isn't he?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes!"</p> + +<p>"Well, you have Big Bob come to see me next Tuesday at the tavern, as I +go back. I'll be there to dinner. And if you are called to the inquest, +you have only to tell the truth. We won't make any fight before the +coroner; you'll be bound over anyhow, and it's not best to show our hand +too soon."</p> + +<p>With that he took his leave. When he got out of the prison he found +Mrs. Grayson and Barbara waiting to see him.</p> + +<p>"Well, Aunt Marthy," he said, "it don't seem to me that your boy killed +that fellow. It's going to be hard to clear him, but he didn't do it. +I'll do my best. You must get all Tom's relations to come to the trial. +And have Big Bob McCord come to see me next Tuesday."</p> + +<p>The influence of Tom's uncle, judiciously directed by Hiram Mason, +secured for the accused permission to remain in the light room of the +prison in the day-time with manacles on, and to sleep in the dungeon at +night without manacles. And the influence of Janet secured from Tom's +aunt the loan of the clean though ancient and well-worn bedding and +bed-linen that had been afforded him during his stay in his uncle's +house. This was set up in the dark room of the jail in place of the bed +that had been a resting-place for villains almost ever since the town +was founded.</p> + +<p>Understanding that Tom was to be taken to the coroner's inquest that +afternoon, Hiram tried to persuade the sheriff to take him to Perrysburg +jail at night for safety; for he had no knowledge of Bob McCord's plan +for sending the mob there. But Plunkett refused this. He knew that such +a change might offend Broad Run in case it should take a notion to +enforce law in its own way, and Broad Run was an important factor in an +election for county officers. Plunkett felt himself to be a +representative sheriff. The voters of Broad Run and others of their kind +had given him his majority, and he was in his place to do their will. +Elevation to office had not spoiled him; he recognized in himself a +humble servant of the people, whose duty it was to enforce the law +whenever it did not conflict with the wishes of any considerable number +of his "constituents." To his mind it did not appear to be of much +consequence that a man who deserved hanging should receive his merited +punishment at the hands of a mob, instead of suffering death according +to the forms of law, after a few weeks or months of delay. But he was +too cautious to reveal to Mason the true state of his mind; he only +urged that the removal of Tom to Perrysburg would be an act of timidity +that might promote the formation of a mob while it would not put Tom out +of their reach; and this Mason could not deny.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XVI" id="XVI"></a>XVI</h2> + +<h3>THE CORONER'S INQUEST</h3> + + +<p>The murder of George Lockwood furnished a powerful counter-excitement, +which quite broke the continuity of religious feeling, and lacked little +of completely breaking up the camp-meeting. Hundreds of men and women +thronged about the place of the shooting and discussed all the probable +and possible details of the affair, of which several versions were +already current. The coroner ordered the body removed to a large barn in +the neighborhood; whereupon the people rushed thither to get a sight of +the dead man, for there is no source of excitement so highly prized by +the vulgar as the ghastly. At 3 in the afternoon the barn was crowded. +The people jostled one another closely upon the wide threshing-floor, +and the wheat-mow alongside contained, among others, at least twenty +women whose appetite for the horrible had led them to elbow their way +early to this commanding situation. The hay-mow at the other end of the +floor was full of men and boys, and the high girders were occupied by +curious spectators, perched like rows of chimney-swifts at the time of +autumnal flitting. More adventurous youth had managed to climb even into +the dizzy collar-beams under the comb of the barn, to the dismay of the +mason-swallows whose young were sheltered in adobe houses attached to +the rafters. There were heads, and pendant legs, and foreshortened arms +enough in the upper part of the barn to suggest a ceiling-fresco of the +Last Judgment by an old Italian master. Other curious people had crowded +into the horse stables below the wheat-mow, and were peering over the +manger into the threshing-floor and intermingling their heads with those +of the beasts of the stall, much as the aforementioned old Italian +painters mix up brute and human faces in their Nativity pieces. The +crowd upon the floor itself stretched out of the wide-open double doors +on each hand, beyond which there was a surging mass of people blindly +gravitating toward the center of excitement, though all the proceedings +were invisible and inaudible to them.</p> + +<p>On two boards supported by kegs and boxes lay the lifeless body of +Lockwood. The pitiful sight of the pallid face and the eyes sunken in +their sockets exasperated the spectators. Between the body and the +hay-mow the coroner took his place on the only chair in the barn; at the +opposite side of the corpse the jury was seated on improvised benches. +Markham, the sheriff's deputy, assisted by a constable, kept back the +press, whose centripetal force threatened at every movement to overwhelm +the innocent jurymen.</p> + +<p>As a matter of course, the first witness sworn was a doctor. Coroners +begin at the beginning by first proving that the deceased is duly dead, +and so within their jurisdiction; and by finding out by just what means +the knife, rope, poison, or pistol ball severed the thread of existence. +The human passion for completeness is as much prone to show itself in +law proceedings as in art performances; coroners' inquests like to go +down to the physiological principles that underlie the great fact of +practical importance, and to inquire what was the name and function of +the particular artery the severance of which put an end to consciousness +in a set of ganglia which, with their complicated adjuncts, constitute +what we call a man. It was in this case settled very promptly that the +unfortunate deceased came to his death by a charge of buckshot. I shall +not entertain the reader with the anatomical particulars, although these +proved to be of the most pungent interest to the auditory at the +inquest, and were scientifically expounded in every cross-roads grocery +in the county for months afterward. There are old men in Illinois who +haven't got done explaining the manner of it yet. But the important +thing was accomplished when the coroner and his jury were convinced that +the man was not only apparently, but scientifically, and therefore +legally, dead; thus a basis was laid for the subsequent proceedings.</p> + +<p>It is one of the strong points of a coroner that he knows nothing about +what is held to be competent testimony,—nothing of the strict laws of +relevancy and irrelevancy. He therefore goes to work to find out the +truth in any way that seems good to him, without being balked by that +vast network of regulations which are sure to embarrass the best +endeavors of a more learned court. Markham was sworn immediately after +the doctor had finished. It was his business to identify Tom's pistol. I +fancy a lawyer might have insisted that no foundation had been laid for +this testimony; but to the coroner it seemed the most orderly way, +immediately after proving that Lockwood had been killed, to show the +weapon with which he might have been killed. Markham swore to finding +this pistol in Tom's room; and the ocular proof of the existence of such +a weapon, in juxtaposition with the ghastly evidence before them of +Lockwood's violent death, went far to establish Tom's guilt in the minds +of the people. Then other witnesses swore to Tom's presence on the +camp-ground; and two young men from Moscow had heard him threaten, some +weeks before, that he would shoot George Lockwood.</p> + +<p>It was just when the evidence of these two was finished that the people +on the threshold of the south door of the barn began to sway to and fro +in a sort of premonitory wave-motion, for outside of the door Sheriff +Plunkett, having just arrived from Moscow with Tom Grayson, was battling +with the condensed crowd in an endeavor to reach the presence of the +coroner.</p> + +<p>"You can't git through, Sher'f," said one man. "This crowd's so thick +you could bore a nauger into it."</p> + +<p>But the sheriff's progress was aided by the interest of the people in +Tom. They could not resist turning about to look at him, and every +movement displaced some human molecules; so that Plunkett, aided by the +respect shown to him as an officer, was able to push a little farther in +at every budge. But the people were not content with looking at Tom.</p> + +<p>"You've got to swing fer it, you young rascal," said one man as Tom +passed.</p> + +<p>"Coward to shoot a man in the dark!" muttered another.</p> + +<p>And ever as in this slow progress Tom came nearer to the center he felt +the breath of the mob to be hotter. When he got within the door there +was a confused rustle among the people on the threshing-floor, a murmur +from those who jostled one another in the hay-mows, and a sound of +indignation from the people seated on cross-beams and clinging to +girders; mutterings even came down from those lodged like overhanging +angels in the dizzy collar-beams, fast by the barn-swallows' nests. Such +excited crowds are choruses who wait for some one to give them the key; +the pitch of the first resolute voice determines the drift of feeling. +If somebody had called out at this moment for fair play, the solvent +feeling of the crowd might have crystallized about this one. But +indignation got tongue first.</p> + +<p>"Hang him!" The words came from the corner of the threshing-floor +farthest from the coroner, and in an instant the tide of feeling ran +swiftly to that side. Tom recognized the harsh voice, and realized his +danger in perceiving that the resentful Jake Hogan was leading those who +sought to lynch him.</p> + +<p>When the sheriff, with Grayson, had penetrated to the neighborhood of +the coroner, the inquest was continued by calling David Sovine. This +young man, with stylish trousers strapped down to patent-leather shoes, +came forward chewing tobacco and affecting a self-confident swagger. He +took the oath nonchalantly.</p> + +<p>"Tell us what you know of the murder of George Lockwood," said the +coroner.</p> + +<p>"Well, me an' George had been together, an' we parted. He was goin' +to-<i>wards</i> his horse an' me to-<i>wards</i> the camp-meetin'. I was about +twenty foot, or maybe twenty-five foot, away from 'im when along come +Tom Grayson an' says, says he, 'I'm boun' to git even with you wunst fer +all.' I looked aroun', an' Tom was aimin' his pistol. George Lockwood +says, says he, 'Don't shoot me, Tom'; but Tom he up an' fired, an' +George jist keeled over like, an' never said another word. Tom run off +as fast as his legs could carry him. I run up to George, an' he was +layin' there dead 's a door-nail. Then the crowd come a-runnin', an' +that's about all I know about it."</p> + +<p>"D' you remember the pistol?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Was it like this?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; an ole-fashioned big bore single-barrel like that, I should say."</p> + +<p>"That'll do. You can stand aside," said the coroner.</p> + +<p>"Hang him!" cried Jake Hogan; and there were other cries that showed how +swiftly and terribly the current was setting in the direction indicated +by Jake.</p> + +<p>Tom Grayson was sworn.</p> + +<p>"Now," said the coroner, "you don't have to criminate yourself. If you +cannot answer any question asked of you without criminating you, you can +decline to give an answer."</p> + +<p>For how many ages have Anglo-Saxons made their criminal law ridiculous +by this rule!</p> + +<p>"Now," the coroner went on, "tell us just what you know about the +shooting at the camp-meeting."</p> + +<p>"I don't know anything at all about it," said Tom with agitation. "I +haven't seen George Lockwood since I quarreled with him in Moscow till I +saw him here." And he pointed with a trembling finger to the stark form +of the man he had hated.</p> + +<p>"Lie!" cried Hogan. The coroner called, "Order!"</p> + +<p>"Aw!" said one of the women in the wheat-mow. "To think he could have +the impedence to hole up his head an' talk that away un the corpse right +there afore his eyes!"</p> + +<p>"Do you know that pistol?" asked the coroner.</p> + +<p>Tom took it up and looked at some marks on the butt of it.</p> + +<p>"It's mine," he said.</p> + +<p>"Did you have it at the camp-meeting?"</p> + +<p>"No, nor any other."</p> + +<p>"You are not obliged to criminate yourself," said the coroner again; +"but didn't you see Lockwood killed?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Tom. "It's all a lie that Dave Sovine swore to, and he knows +it. I wasn't on that part of the ground."</p> + +<p>"Hang him!" interjected Hogan.</p> + +<p>"The bah-y is awful plucky, upon me sowl," said Magill, who was standing +on a plow-beam in order to see over the heads of the crowd. "It would be +a pity to hang a man of such good stuff."</p> + +<p>"The bare-faced villain!" growled the man next to him, and the +unfavorable impression evidently had sway with the crowd. When people +have once made up their mind as to how a thing has happened, they do not +like to have their fixed notions disturbed. Tom's heart sank; he could +see that the chance for his getting back to the jail alive was growing +smaller. Hiram Mason had attached himself to Tom and the sheriff, and +had elbowed his way to the front in their wake; the people, supposing +that he had some official function, made way for him. He now got the ear +of the sheriff.</p> + +<p>"If you don't get Tom away at once he'll be lynched," he said.</p> + +<p>"I know it; but I don't know what to do," said Plunkett. "If I make any +move, I'll fetch the crowd down on Tom."</p> + +<p>"Get him down into the cow-stable under the barn, and let Markham take +him off. You stay here and they won't suspect that he's gone."</p> + +<p>There was something pitiable about the sheriff's inability to make a +decision at a critical moment. He looked at the angry crowd, who were +paying little attention to the testimony of unimportant witnesses, and +he looked at the coroner. He didn't like to bear the responsibility of +having a prisoner taken from his hands; still more he disliked to offend +so many voters.</p> + +<p>"Settle it with Markham and the coroner," he said, sneaking out of the +decision he could not bring himself to make.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Markham," whispered Hiram, "the sheriff wants you and me to get Tom +off. I'll get the horses ready, and you and Tom are to come out through +the cow-stable. Speak to the coroner about it, and don't let the crowd +see it. If we don't get him away before this thing breaks up he'll never +get to town alive."</p> + +<p>"All right," said Markham. "I'll be in the cow-stable with Tom when +you're ready."</p> + +<p>Jake Hogan had already gone out to muster his men, and Hiram was very +impatient at the long time it took him to work his way outward. He was a +little annoyed when Magill, getting down from the plow-beam, stopped him +to whisper:</p> + +<p>"I say, you're Tom's friend. Now what can I do for the bah-y? I s'pose +he's guilty, but I don't want to see such a bowld gintleman as he is +lynched by such a set of howlin' blackguards as these."</p> + +<p>"Go over there and stand in front of Tom, so that the people won't see +him and Markham when they get down into the cow-stable."</p> + +<p>Having whispered this between his teeth, Mason painfully worked his way +out of the door, while Magill pushed forward toward the coroner. For +Magill the people made way as best they could, supposing that the clerk +was one of the functionaries without whom the performance could not +proceed. The coroner had acceded to Markham's proposition and was +contriving to protract the session. Magill called Sheriff Plunkett to +him and made that worthy stand in unimportant conversation with him, so +that they two covered from all observers first Markham's descent and +then Tom's. The deputy sheriff and then his prisoner had to climb over a +hay-rack and thence down to the ground. The cow-stable was beneath that +end of the barn which jutted over a hill-side descending to a brook. As +nothing was to be seen from this stable, there was nobody in it but a +few boys.</p> + +<p>When Mason came to say that he was ready, Markham passed out with his +prisoner and down the hill-side to the bed of the brook, where Mason had +brought the deputy's horse and old Blaze. Tom had been brought to the +inquest in a wagon; but as it was necessary to avoid the main road, +Mason had unharnessed Blaze for Tom to ride. As the hoofs of the horses +clattered down over the stones in the bed of the stream, Tom felt as a +man might who had but just eluded the coils of a boa-constrictor. In a +little while the two were galloping over the open prairie toward Moscow +by by-roads.</p> + +<p>The prisoner's absence was observed; but, as the sheriff remained, it +was not at first suspected that he had got entirely away. People looked +for him and inquired of one another where "they had put him." At length +the testimony was all in, and the case was given to the jury. These +"good men and true," as the old English law supposes them to be, retired +for consultation; that is, they changed places with the coroner and +stood with their faces toward the wall in the corner and their backs +toward the crowd, which now buzzed like a nest of indignant +bumble-bees. After a few minutes, the jury turned and their foreman read +the verdict:</p> + +<p>"We find that George Lockwood came to his death by being shot with +buckshot, fired from a pistol by Thomas Grayson, Junior, and we +recommend that the said Thomas Grayson be committed to answer to the +charge of murder."</p> + +<p>When this formal condemnation had been read, the passions of the crowd +broke over all bounds, and the words of the coroner, formally ordering +the commitment of the prisoner, were not heard. Cries of "Hang him! Hang +him to the first tree!" mingled with curses, broke forth. Men swung +themselves down from the high beams and there was a rush from the mows, +while the women among the wheat-sheaves drew back in terror as they +might have done in a rising hurricane. The crowd surged hither and +thither about the outside of the barn, and surrounded the sheriff and +the coroner, demanding the prisoner. It was more than five minutes after +the verdict was in before it was believed that Tom had been taken away, +and then the mob were bewildered by the certainty that nobody had seen +him taken down the Moscow road. Foiled in their purpose, they fell away, +and the tide of passion began to ebb. But the more determined rallied +about Hogan, and agreed to meet him at the Broad Run grocery after dark, +to make arrangements for a trip to the county-seat during the night.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XVII" id="XVII"></a>XVII</h2> + +<h3>A COUNCIL OF WAR</h3> + + +<p>As soon as Zeke had eaten the frugal supper of mush and milk that Mrs. +Britton set out for him, he sought the dilapidated little Broad Run +grocery. The building was of logs, and had a pair of deer's antlers over +the door for a sign that it was in one sense a public house. The low +door, with its threshold on the level of the ground, the one square, +dingy little window, and the shabby stick chimney, in the chinks of +which the clay plaster was cleaving, gave the place a run-down +expression. In looking at the building, one got a notion that it would +like to slink away if it could. Zeke found nobody in but the proprietor, +a boozy-headed looking man, with his hands usually in his trousers' +pockets, and his swollen eye-lids never wide open. The stock of +groceries was small; two barrels of corn-whisky and one of molasses were +the dominant elements; a quart cup and some glasses stood on a dirty +unpainted poplar counter, beside a pair of scales. The whole interior +had a harmonious air of sloth, stupidity, and malpropriety; and its +compound odors were as characteristic as indescribable. Zeke waited +about awhile, wondering that no one should have come to the rendezvous.</p> + +<p>"Where's Jake Hogan?" he enquired of the "grocery-keeper."</p> + +<p>"I dunno."</p> + +<p>Zeke had anticipated this answer. The man never did know anything but +the price of his liquors. It was the safest way for one who kept such a +resort and heard so many confidences, and it was a way of answering +questions that required the least exertion.</p> + +<p>"But I wuz to meet him here."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you wuz!" Then, after awhile, he asked, "Been over to his house?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>The grocery-keeper did not say any more, but Zeke conjectured that the +meeting had adjourned to Jake Hogan's cabin for greater privacy. Zeke +made his way over there with much stumbling, for the night was rather a +dark one in the woods. The cabin which was now owned and occupied by +Hogan was, like most of the Broad Run dwellings, built of round logs +with the bark on; that is to say, the bark had been left on when the +house was built, but years of rain and sun had peeled off about half of +it, and left the house spotted and ragged. There was but one room, and +one might enter this without ceremony, for the door stood wide open, +though not on account of hospitality. This door was made of heavy +puncheons and had originally hung on wooden hinges, but the uppermost +hinge had come off six months before, and though Jake had "'lowed to +fix it" nearly every day since, it had not been repaired, for Hogan was +a public-spirited citizen, deeply interested in politics, and in +reformatory movements like the present one for hanging Tom Grayson; and +it was not to be expected that such a man could, in the nature of +things, spare time to put a paltry hinge on a door, when grave questions +were always likely to be mooted at the grocery. So every morning the +clumsy door was lifted aside; at bed-time it was with difficulty partly +hoisted and partly shoved back into its place. If the night was very +warm, the ceremony of closing the door was omitted. Locks were not +necessary in a neighborhood like Broad Run, where honesty was hardly a +virtue, there being so little temptation to theft. Jake's house +contained a rude home-made bedstead of poles, and two or three stools of +the householder's own manufacture. Hogan "'lowed" some day to make one +or two more stools and a table. At present, he and his wife patiently +ate from skillet and pot, until the table should be made. It was +something to have conceived the notion of a table, and with that Jake +rested. There was a large fire-place built of sticks and clay; it had +stones for andirons and was further furnished with a pot, not to mention +a skillet, which stood on two legs and a stone and had lost its handle. +Jake always 'lowed he'd get a new skillet; but he postponed it until he +should have more money than was absolutely needful to buy indispensable +clothes and whisky with. There was also a hoe, on which Mrs. Jake baked +cold water hoe-cakes when she had company to supper. For shovel, a rived +clapboard had been whittled into a handle at one end. Some previous +owner had been rich enough and extravagant enough to have the four-light +window glazed, but all the panes were now broken. An old hat, too shabby +even for Jake to wear, filled the place of one of the squares of glass; +the rest of the sash was left open for light and ventilation.</p> + +<p>Secure as Jake and his party felt from legal interference, they had +chosen to retire to this cabin instead of remaining at the grocery. This +secrecy was rather an involuntary tribute of respect for the law than an +act of caution. Mrs. Hogan, whose household duties were of the lightest, +had been sent away, and into Jake's cabin a party of twenty had crowded, +so far as was possible for them to get in. Some stood outside of the +door, and Zeke had to find a place at the broken window in order to hear +what was going on. This was a muster of the leaders and the center of +the party; one of the "boys" had been sent to the camp-ground to seek +recruits who were not to be trusted in this council of war. The recruits +were notified to assemble at the cross-roads "'twix midnight un +moon-up."</p> + +<p>The first that Zeke made out was that Jake was relieving his mind in a +little speech:</p> + +<p>"D' yeh know they've gone un set up the k-yards onto us, boys? Soon's +Uncle Lazar h-yer tole me't Bob McCord ud come over h-yer a-huntin', I +know'd he wuz arter sumpin' ur nother besides b'ars. Bob's purty +tol'able cute, but he a'n't the on'y cute feller in the worl'. Me'n' +Uncle Lazar jes laid fer 'im. Ketch Jake Hogan asleep, won' cheh! Uncle +Lazar, thar, when he seen Bob a-comin' down the run weth a b'ar on 'is +shoulder, he jes' soaks 'im weth whisky, un then 'im un S'manthy worms +it out 'v 'm what he wuz a-loafin' over yer fer un not at the eenques'. +He would n' noways tell Uncle Lazar, but he's kind-uh fond uv S'manthy, +un she's smart, S'manthy is. She jes' kind-uh saf-sawdered 'im un coaxed +'im up, tell he could n' keep it in no longer, bein' a leetle meller, un +he tole 'er 't 'e wuz a-spying aroun' so's to let the shurruff know 'f +we'd got wind uv 'is plans, un 't 'e expected to have the larf on Jake +to-morry. But Uncle Lazar 'n' me 've got that fixed up, un Bob wuzn't +more'n out-uh sight afore Uncle Lazar wuz a trit-trottin' 'n 'is way, +yeh know, fer Jake Hogan's. Bob's a-comin' over to-morry to fetch back +Uncle Lazar's mar' un have the larf onto us. But he took jes' one too +many pulls at Lazar's jug." Here Jake paused to vent a laugh of +self-complacency and exultation.</p> + +<p>"Thunder 'n' light'in', Jake," called out one of the party who stood +outside of the door, beyond the light of the flickering blaze on the +hearth, "what did Bob tell S'manthy? Why don' choo tell us, anyways? +You're a long time a-gittin' to the p'int. The business afore this yer +meetin' is to hang Tom Grayson to a short meter toon. Now you tell me, +what's Uncle Lazar's whisky-jug got to do weth that? What's the +needcessity uv so much jaw?"</p> + +<p>"Don' choo fret the cattle now," said Jake. "You want to know what Bob +tole S'manthy? W'y ut the shurruff was a-sendin' Tom Grayson f'om the +eenques' over to Perrysburg jail to git him out-uh your way. I 'low +that's got sumpin' to do weth the business afore the meetin' hain't it?"</p> + +<p>"Maybe he wuz a-foolin' S'manthy," said the interlocutor, in a voice a +little subdued.</p> + +<p>"Maybe he <i>wuzn't</i>," retorted Jake.</p> + +<p>"He wuz drunk ez a fool," piped up Uncle Lazar in a quivering treble. +"He mus' 'a' tuck 'most a quart out-uh my jug, un he could n' stan' +straight w'en 'e went away. He tuck keer never to say Perrysburg to me, +but he talked about shootin' you-all down at Moscow, jes zif +shootin'-irons wuz a-goin' to skeer sech a devilish passel uv fellers ez +you-all. I could n' git nuthin' more out 'v 'm. But I seed all the time +'t they wuz sumpin' kinday kep' in, like. He on'y let on to S'manthy +arter I'd gone outay doors, un when he wuz thes chock full un one over. +Un he tied S'manthy up so orful tight about it, she kinday hated to tell +me, un I had to thes tell 'er 't she mus'."</p> + +<p>"Jes y'all look at the case," said Jake, with a clumsy oratorical +gesture. "Tom's uncle's one uv them ar rich men what always gets the'r +own way, somehow ur nuther. That's what we're up fer. Ef we don't settle +this yer business by a short cut acrost the woods, they'll be a pack uv +lawyers a-provin' that black's white, un that killin' hain't no murder +noways, un Tom'll git off 'cause he's got kin what kin pay fer the law, +un buy up the jury liker'n not. A pore man don' stan' no kind uv a +chance in this yer dodrotted country. Down in North Kerliny, whar I come +from, 't wuz different. Now I say sass fer the goose is—"</p> + +<p>"Aw, well, what's sass got to do weth the question, Jake? We're all in +favor uv the pore man, cause that's us," said his opponent, from outside +the door.</p> + +<p>"Well," retorted Jake, "what would ole Tom do for young Tom 't this +time? Ainh? Jes you screw up yer thinkin' machine, ef you've got ary +one, un tell me that. Wouldn' he jes nat'rally get the shurruff to put +out to Perrysburg weth 'im, un then git a change uv venoo, un then buy +up a jury un a passel uv dodrotted lawyers un git 'im off; ur else hire +some feller to break open the jail un sen' the young scamp to t' other +side of the Mississip'? It stan's to nater 't Tom Grayson's in +Perrysburg jail to-night."</p> + +<p>"Un it stan's to nater," said one of the company, "that Broad Run's +a-goin' to make a frien'ly visit to the nex' county to-night. Un it +stan's to nater we're goin' to settle Hank Plunkett's hash at the next +'lection fer shurruff."</p> + +<p>"Now yer a-talkin' sense," cried another of the crowd.</p> + +<p>As soon as it was clear that the meeting was in favor of going to +Perrysburg, the gathering began to break up, some of the men feeling by +this time a strong gravitation towards the grocery. Zeke went to Jake +Hogan and explained that he "mus' be a-goin'."</p> + +<p>"You know," he added, "I've ruther got to steal my hoss. The ole man +Britton mout lemme have one ef the ole woman'd let <i>him</i>. But I know she +jest nat'rally won't. So I'd better go back un git to bed, then when the +folks is asleep I'll crawl out."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XVIII" id="XVIII"></a>XVIII</h2> + +<h3>ZEKE</h3> + + +<p>Two things lay heavy on Zeke Tucker's mind as he hastened toward +Britton's. For the life of him he could not tell whether Perrysburg was +the destination to which Bob wished to send Jake, or whether Jake might +not be right in supposing that Bob had incautiously betrayed his own +secret. But this was Bob's affair; what troubled him most was to devise +a way by which he could get possession of a piece of candle. Mrs. +Britton would not allow a hired man to have a light. "Any man that could +n' feel 'is way into bed mus' be simple," she said.</p> + +<p>Zeke found the old people out of bed later than usual. Mrs. Britton had +been churning, and the butter "took a con<i>tra</i>ry streak," as she +expressed it, and refused to come until she and the old man had churned +alternately for two hours. She was working the butter when Zeke came in +and sat down. Watching his chance, he managed to snatch a tiny bit of +candle-end that had been carefully laid up on the mantel-piece. But when +Mrs. Britton's lighted candle flickered in its socket, she went to get +the piece that was already in Zeke's pocket.</p> + +<p>"I declare to goodness," she said, as she fumbled among the bits of +string and other trumpery on the shelf, "where's that piece of candle +gone to? Do you know, Cyrus?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus6" id="illus6"></a> +<img src="images/illus6.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"WHERE'S THAT PIECE OF CANDLE GONE TO?"</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>This question was addressed to her husband, who never did know where +anything she wanted "had gone to." But she always gave vent to her +feelings by asking him, and he always answered, as he did now, with an +impassive "No."</p> + +<p>"Zeke, d' you see that short piece of candle that was here on the +shelf?"</p> + +<p>Zeke rose and affected to look for it.</p> + +<p>"I don't see nothin' uv it," he said at length.</p> + +<p>"Well, if the rats ain't a-gittin' no better fast. Who'd a' believed +they'd 'a' got up on the shelf?" So saying, she reluctantly lighted a +fresh candle to take her butter to the spring.</p> + +<p>By the time she was well out of the back door, Zeke, with one eye on the +lethargic Britton, who was now a-doze in his chair, raked a hot coal +from the ashes, and blowing it to a flame lighted his bit of candle with +it. Then he quickly climbed to the loft, and opening the window-shutter +put the candle in the glassless window on the side of the chimney toward +Perrysburg. He was shivering for fear the old woman would see the light, +though she was at the other end of the house, and he was yet more afraid +that Bob would not see it before it should burn out. Hearing, at length, +the crack of Bob's rifle, he extinguished the expiring wick and slipped +down the ladder without arousing the slumbering old man.</p> + +<p>"I expect they's another man shot," said Mrs. Britton, when she came +back. If she had ever been a planter's wife her pronunciation had +probably degenerated, though her archaic speech was perhaps a shade +better than the "low down" language of Broad Run.</p> + +<p>"Why?" asked Zeke.</p> + +<p>"Oh! I heerd a gun go off, un guns ain't common at 9 o'clock at night. +An' I thought I saw a flicker uv light in our loft jus' now, but it went +out as soon as the gun went off. It made me feel creepy, like the house +was ha'nted." And she again began to look on the mantel-piece for the +lost bit of candle which she was loath to give up.</p> + +<p>"I'm a-goin' to bed," said Zeke, "ghos's ur no ghos's"; and he again +mounted the ladder. After he had lain on the bed with his clothes on for +an hour, keeping himself awake with difficulty, he felt sure that the +old couple below stairs must be sound asleep. He softly opened the +square window, the wooden shutter of which made no sound, as it swung on +hinges of leather cut from an ancient boot-top. Then he climbed out on +the projecting ends of the sticks which composed the chimney, and +cautiously descended to the ground.</p> + +<p>"Cyrus!" said Mrs. Britton to her husband; "didn't you hear that noise?"</p> + +<p>"What noise?"</p> + +<p>"That scratchin' kind-uh noise inside of the chimbley."</p> + +<p>"No, I don't hear nothin'"; and the old man made haste to resume his +sleep where he had left off.</p> + +<p>"I do believe this house is ha'nted," sighed Mrs. Britton to herself.</p> + +<p>The next morning when she woke up she called out, according to her wont, +to the hired man in the loft: "Zeke! Zeke! O Zeke!"</p> + +<p>She got no reply. Vexed of all things that a hired man should lose a +minute of time, she called again in vain. A minute later she was about +to get up and go to the ladder so as to be better heard, when there came +to her the sound of Zeke chopping wood at the back door.</p> + +<p>"Well, ef the world ain't a-comin' to 'n end, when Zeke Tucker gits up +an' goes to choppin' of 'is own accord!"</p> + +<p>When Zeke came in to breakfast, she said: "You're out bright and airly +this mornin."</p> + +<p>"Yes; I could n' sleep."</p> + +<p>"D' you hear that scratchin' in the chimbley?"</p> + +<p>"Ya-as," said Zeke, with hesitation. He was relieved that the +conversation should be broken at this point by the entrance of the old +man from the stable.</p> + +<p>"Zeke," said Britton, as he drew his chair to the table, "what's the +matter with ole Gray?"</p> + +<p>"I never noticed nothin' when I gin him 'is oats. But 't wuzn't fa'rly +light then."</p> + +<p>"He's been rode. They's sweat marks onto him, un the saddle's wet yet."</p> + +<p>The old woman put down her knife and fork. "That's witch-work," she +said. "First, the butter wouldn't come, then I lost that piece of +candle; un it's tee-totally gone too. Now rats don't never git up onto +that shelf. Then I see a flicker of light in the loft while I was +puttin' away the butter, an' you 'n' Zeke a-settin' h-yer by the fire. +Then I wuz waked up by that scritch-scratchin' soun' in the chimbley, +fer all the world like somebody a-climbin' down into the room, though +they wa'n't nobody clum down, fer I listened. It kep' Zeke awake all +night an roused 'im out airly this mornin'. Th' ain't nothin' short of +witch-work gits Zeke up an' sets him to choppin' wood 'thout callin'. +An' it's been a-ridin' ole Gray. Maybe the ghost of that feller that wuz +shot over 't the camp-meetin' 's a-ha'ntin' roun' the country, like. I +don' b'lieve it'll ever be quiet tell the feller that shot 'im's hung."</p> + +<p>The old man was very taciturn, and Zeke could not divine whether he was +impressed by his wife's mysterious "it," or whether, suspecting the +truth about old Gray, he thought best to say nothing. For if anything +should set Mrs. Britton going she would not stop scolding for days, and +Britton knew well that Zeke would not be the chief sufferer in such a +tempest.</p> + +<p>As soon as he had eaten his breakfast Zeke went out to dig early +potatoes in Britton's farther field. About 9 o'clock a clod of earth +came flying past his legs and broke upon his hoe. He turned to look, and +saw another one thrown from the corn-field near by ascending in a +hyperbolic curve and then coming down so near to his head that he moved +out of the way. He laid down his hoe and climbed the fence into the +corn-field, which at this time of the year was a dense forest of green +stalks higher than a man's head. Bob McCord was here awaiting Zeke. He +had left Lazar Brown's horse tied in a neighboring papaw patch.</p> + +<p>"Did you go to Perrysburg?" began Bob.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Zeke. "You played it onto 'em good. I wuz ruther more 'n +half fooled myself. I 'lowed sometimes ut maybe S'manthy <i>had</i> come it +over you."</p> + +<p>Bob laughed all through his large frame.</p> + +<p>"When we got to Perrysburg un come to wake up the shurruff he wuz +skeered, un ast what 't wuz we wuz arter.</p> + +<p>"'That murderer,' says Jake Hogan, like a ghos' fum behin' his +false-face.</p> + +<p>"'What murderer?' says the shurruff. 'They hain't no murderer in the +jail.'</p> + +<p>"'They hain't, sonny?' says Jake, weth <i>sech</i> a swing. 'You ketch us +with yer dodrotted foolin',' says he; 'we hain't the kind to be fooled. +We know what we're about afore we begin, we do. We hain't the sort to be +tuck in by lawyers nur nobody else,' says he.</p> + +<p>"'I tell you they hain't no murderer h-yer,' says the shurruff, says he.</p> + +<p>"'Tie 's han's, boys,' says Jake, in Jake's way, yeh know, like as if he +wuz king uv all creation."</p> + +<p>"Weth Eelenoys throwed in like a spool uv thread, to make the bargain +good," suggested Bob, losing all prudence and giving way to a long, +unrestrained peal of laughter.</p> + +<p>"Jes' so," said Zeke. "When we come to the jail un got the door open +they wuzn't nobody thar but Sam Byfiel', the half-crazy feller that wuz +through h-yer last ye'r a-playin' his fool tricks, un a man name' +Simmons, as had stole half a cord uh wood. Simmons was <i>that</i> skeered +when we come in, 't 'e got down on 'is knees un begged, un whined, un +sniffled, un says, 'Boys,' says he, 'I hain't noways purpared to die. +Don't hang me, un I won't never steal nothin' ag'in,' says he."</p> + +<p>"I'll bet Byfiel' wuzn't skeered," said Bob.</p> + +<p>"Not <i>him</i>. He'd been a-playin' the angel Gaberl about Perrysburg weth a +long tin horn, blowin' it into people's winders at midnight, just to +skeer 'em un hear 'em howl, un the watchman had jugged him. Jake says, +says he, 'Sam Byfiel', tell us whar that air murderer is.' Jake put 'is +voice away down in 'is boots,—it sounded like a mad bull a-bellerin'. +But Sam jest lif's Jake's false-face, this away, un peeps under, un +says, 'Jake Hogan,' says 'e, 'I knowed it mus' be you by yer big-feelin' +ways. It's mighty hard fer a man that's a nateral born to make a fool uv +hisself; but, Jake, I'll be derned ef you hain't gone un done it this +time.'</p> + +<p>"'Hain't Tom Grayson h-yer?' says Jake.</p> + +<p>"'No,' says Byfiel'. 'Somebody's been a-greenin' on you, Jake; Tom +hain't never been h-yer,' says he.</p> + +<p>"'Aw, you're a lunatic, Sam,' says Jake.</p> + +<p>"'Ditto, brother,' says Byfiel'.</p> + +<p>"The shurruff's folks had run out, un 'bout this time they'd began to +raise the neighbors, un somebody run to the Prisbaterian church un +commenced to pull away on the new church bell, 't a man Down East sent +'em. We thought we'd better be a-lightin' out mighty soon. But time we +wuz in our saddles crack went a gun fum behin' the court-house. I s'pose +'t wuz shot into the air to skeer us; but Jake, like a fool, out weth +his pistol un shot back. The Perrysburg people wuz like a bee-gum that's +been upsot. The people was now a-runnin', some one way un some t'other, +un more guns wuz fired off fum summers,—we never stopped to eenquire +fum whar, tell we'd got safe acrost the county line. One uv them guns +must 'a' been a rifle, un it must 'a' been shot in bloody yarnest, fer I +heerd the bullet whiz."</p> + +<p>"You never stopped to say good-bye!" said Bob.</p> + +<p>"Not me! Ole Gray wuz the very fust hoss that pulled hisself acrost the +corporation line. I didn' seem to feel no interest in stayin', noways."</p> + +<p>"What's Jake goin' to do nex' thing?" asked Bob, not yet recovered from +his merriment.</p> + +<p>"Wal, about half the fellers rode straight on home un wouldn't talk to +Jake at all, 'cept maybe to cuss 'im now un then fer a fool, on'y fit to +hole a snipe-bag fer Bob McCord. They swore they wuz done go'n' under +sech as <i>him</i>. But Jake ain't the kind to gin it up; he says 'f 'e kin +get a dozen he's boun' to go a Sunday night when they'll be lots of +fellers about the camp-meetin', un some uh them'll go too, maybe."</p> + +<p>"We'll have to see about that," said Bob, getting up. "But you stick to +Jake, closte ez a cuckle-burr."</p> + +<p>"All right," said Zeke, remembering his potato patch and looking +ruefully at the ascending sun as he hurried back to his work.</p> + +<p>Bob went on his way and returned the horse to Lazar Brown's house; but +Uncle Lazar was nowhere to be seen, and S'manthy was evidently out of +humor.</p> + +<p>"S'manthy, yer 's yer hoss," said Bob.</p> + +<p>"Wal, you thes let 'im loose thar; I hain't got no time to bauther."</p> + +<p>"How'd the boys come out las' night down 't Moscow?"</p> + +<p>"Aw, I don' know, un I don' keer, neither. You're a low-lived passel uh +loafers, all uh yeh, big <i>an'</i> leetle."</p> + +<p>"W'y, S'manthy! You wuz that sweet las' night."</p> + +<p>S'manthy was in a hurry about something, but she showed her irregular +teeth as she disappeared around a corner of the cabin, looking back over +her shoulder to say:</p> + +<p>"You'e a purty one, hainch yeh, now?"</p> + +<p>Bob's face shone with delight as he went on up the run to look for the +bear's cubs. He succeeded in killing one of them and capturing the other +alive, but he had to take them and his wounded dog home afoot. It seemed +too great a venture to ask S'manthy to lend the horse a second time.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XIX" id="XIX"></a>XIX</h2> + +<h3>THE MYTH</h3> + + +<p>Jake's leadership had received a severe blow, and Bob could hardly +believe that he would be able to muster a company again. But Hogan's +vindictiveness and persistence rendered it probable that he would not +rest in his present ridiculous position without making an effort to +redeem himself, even if he had to act with a small party.</p> + +<p>"You see," Bob explained to Mason that Saturday night, "Jake's got the +most p'ison kind uv hold-on you ever seed. He's shore to try't over, +fust <i>or</i> last."</p> + +<p>"He won't let you fool him again," said Mason.</p> + +<p>Bob smiled and picked up a chip, which he began to whittle as an aid to +reflection.</p> + +<p>"It would be a juberous thing to try again. But I'm goin' to see Pete +Markham in the mornin'. He'll go apast h-yer to the camp-meetin', fer +he's a Methodis' by marriage,—that is, his wife's a member, un that +makes Pete feel 'z if he wuz a kind-uv a member-in-law. Un Pete knows +mighty well 't when the time comes roun' fer him to run fer office, +it'll be worth while to know pussidin' elders, un circus-riders, un +locus' preachers, un exhausters, un all sorts uv camp-meetin' people. +Pete's jes' as shore to go to camp-meetin' a Sunday mornin' 'z a bear is +to eat honey when he comes acrost a tumble-down bee-tree."</p> + +<p>The next morning Bob stood in his shirt-sleeves leaning over Mrs. +Grayson's gate and watching the people that rode to the great Sunday +assembly at the Union camp-ground. Many a staid plow-horse, with +collar-marks on his shoulders, had been diligently curried and brushed +to transform him into a stylish saddle-nag; and many a young man, with +hands calloused by ax-helve and plow-handle, rode to-day in his Sunday +best with a blooming girl by his side, or behind him, and with the gay +heart of a troubadour in his breast. Fresh calico dresses, in which the +dominant tint was either a bright pink or a positive blue, were flaunted +with more pride than a princess feels in her lace and pearls. The woman +who has worked and schemed and skimped to achieve her attire knows the +real pleasure and victory of self-adornment.</p> + +<p>The early comers of this Sunday-morning procession are, in the main, +Methodists going to eat bread and water with the brethren in the 9 +o'clock love-feast assembly, to sing together the touching songs of +fellowship, and to tell, and to hear told, the stories of personal +trials and sorrows,—to taste the pleasure of being one of a great +company wrought to ecstasy by a common religious passion. But as the +summer sun mounts higher, the road is more and more thronged with a +miscellaneous company. For at 11 o'clock the presiding elder, a great +man of all the country round, will preach one of his favorite sermons, +and all the world—believers and scoffers, doctors and lawyers, and +judges and politicians—will be there to hear him marshal in new forms +the oft-repeated arguments in favor of the divine origin of +Christianity, or the truth of the Arminian system of Wesley, and to +admire the dramatic effect of his well-told anecdotes and the masterly +pathos of his peroration. The people no longer go in couples; there are +six and even ten in a group. And how well they sit their saddles! There +is no "rising to the trot," in the ungraceful fashion of New York and +Boston gentlemen and ladies who have put away the tradition of ancestors +of unrivaled horsemanship, to adopt from England an ugly custom +excusable only in a land of fox-hunting. You might find girls in their +teens in this company who ride with grace and dash over difficult roads, +and who could learn nothing worth their while from a riding-master,—for +to ride perfectly consists chiefly in riding as naturally and +unconsciously as one walks, and that is rarely given to any but those +that are to the saddle born. But besides saddle-horses there are wagons, +for wherever there is a prairie, wheels come early. One or two families +not yet out of a pioneer state of existence go creaking painfully along +in ox-carts; and there are barefoot boys skurrying afoot across fields +to save distance. Everybody feels bound to go. The attraction of a crowd +is proportioned to its greatness, like all other gravitation, and this +one will drain the country dry of people. Scarcely any one stays at +home, as you see. There are little children in the wagons and on the +croups of the saddle-horses, while some supernumerary ones are held in +place on the withers; it is in this way that the babies get their first +lessons in horsemanship. At half-past 10 o'clock the roads are beclouded +with dust that drifts to leeward, turning the green blades of the +corn-field to gray and grizzling the foliage of the trees. All along the +road there is the sound of voices in many keys—but all with a touch of +holiday buoyancy in them. There is that universal interchange of good +feeling which is only found in communities that have no lines of social +cleavage. Everybody is talking to everybody,—about the weather, the +crops, the latest weddings, the most recent deaths, and, above all, the +murder at the camp-meeting. To this topic every party drifts when the +Grayson farm-house comes in sight, if not before. Wild stories are +repeated of Tom's profligacy, and of the causes that led to the feud +between him and Lockwood. As the people come nearer to the house their +voices fall into a lower tone, and they ride by the front gate in almost +entire silence, scanning the house with eager curiosity, as though +trying to penetrate the chagrin of those within. They all nod to Bob; it +is the common and indispensable civility of the country. Bob nods to all +in turn and grunts in a friendly way at those with whom he is +acquainted; but to his best friends he gives a cheerful "Howdy!"</p> + +<p>At length the deputy sheriff, Markham, appears, riding alongside of his +wife. She is also escorted on the other side by Magill, the county +clerk, who is saying the pleasantest things he can think of to her. When +Markham arrives at a point nearly opposite the gate, Bob does not nod, +but gives his head a significant jerk backward and to the left,—a +laconic invitation to stop a moment, rendered the more explicit by the +utterance in a low tone of a single word, "Pete!" Markham draws rein and +stops to hear what Bob has to say; and Mason, who has come out on the +porch at that moment, descends to the gate to talk with Magill and Mrs. +Markham, who have also pulled up. The whole five are presently engaged +in conversation in one group, while the horses amuse themselves by +thrusting their dusty noses through the cracks of the fence to nibble at +such blades of grass as are within their reach. The sight of the deputy +sheriff and the county clerk in front of the Grayson house piques yet +more the curiosity of the passers-by, who wonder what those privileged +folks can be talking about.</p> + +<p>"You cannot do that," Markham said presently, in reply to a suggestion +that came from Mason. "It's no use talking to the sheriff about moving +Tom to Perrysburg. He's made up his mind not to move him; and if he did +move him, Perrysburg wouldn't be a safe place."</p> + +<p>"The shairiff seems to have one eye on Broad Run, ainh Pate?" said +Magill chaffingly.</p> + +<p>But Pete Markham neither smiled nor said anything in reply.</p> + +<p>"It's a shame something can't be done for Tom," said Mason. "He's got a +right to a fair trial; and we think he's innocent."</p> + +<p>"I'll do anything I can," said Markham, whose memory had been haunted by +the appealing face of Mrs. Grayson ever since his domiciliary visit in +search of Tom's pistol.</p> + +<p>"I'm not caring much whether he's innocent or not, meself," said Magill. +"May be Lockwood aggravated 'im an' naded puttin' out of the way. All I +say is, Tom faced that crowd the other day like a man, an' he's a born +gintleman in me own istimation; an' I'd niver let a gintleman be hung by +a gang of blackguards, if I could help it."</p> + +<p>"Broad Run don't vote for you, Magill," said Markham.</p> + +<p>"You wouldn't ixpict it to vote for a man with a clane shirt on, now +would ye?"</p> + +<p>"Well," said Bob, "I've been a-thinkin' that ef Pete could make people +b'lieve that they wuz another man wanted fer the shootin', it would sort +uh muddle Jake's plans fer a while, un by that time liker'n not Abe +Lincoln'll find out who the rale murderer is."</p> + +<p>"Tell me what's the color of his hair, Pate?" said Magill. "Then I'll +help you foind him."</p> + +<p>"Well," drawled Markham, turning a little sidewise in the saddle to rest +himself, and looking perfectly serious and secretive, "I haven't found +out about his hair,—he wore a straw hat, you know. But he was a +youngish fellow, with foxy whiskers under his chin."</p> + +<p>"Middlin' small?" suggested Magill, with a faint pucker of drollery +about the corner of his mouth.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Markham, biting the butt of his beech switch meditatively. +"Ruther under the average, I should say, without being small."</p> + +<p>"One eye a leetle crossed?" Bob McCord inquired, laughing.</p> + +<p>"Right eye a little <i>out</i>," said Markham, waving his hand outwardly. "He +had quarreled with Lockwood a good while ago and owed him a grudge. +That's the man."</p> + +<p>"Know his name?" put in Magill.</p> + +<p>"N-o. That's one thing we're trying to find out. He come from off East +where Lockwood used to live. We've got to try to find if anybody knows +which way he went when he left the camp-meetin' that night, and if +anybody can tell just where he come from."</p> + +<p>"Oh! I understand now what you're after," said Magill. "There'll be a +plinty will remimber the man when you come to spake about him. Don't you +say what you want him fer. L'ave all explinations to me. I'm not +responsible, an' I'll let out the saycrits of the shairiff's office."</p> + +<p>The passers-by had grown visibly fewer in the last few minutes, and now +the belated ones rode for the most part in a rapid trot or a gallop. +Mrs. Markham began to warn her husband that there would not be a seat +left; so the horses' heads were drawn up, and the trio set forward with +a nod of good-bye to Bob and the schoolmaster.</p> + +<p>Markham went to work in all seriousness to get information about the +imaginary young man with red whiskers under his chin and an outward cast +in one eye who had been seen on the ground the night of the murder. +Magill took occasion to remark that if the praycher 'd only 'a' known +what Markham was looking for, and all about the rale facts of the +murder, he mightn't have held Tom up for an awful warnin' to the young +that mornin'. But he supposed it did not matter whether you had the +roight fellow or the wrong one, if you were only praychin'. Some of +those who heard the clerk describe the smallish man with the red goatee +and one eye <i>out</i> a little, thought they could remember having seen a +man answering to this description; but as they could not give any +information tending to secure his arrest, Magill did not think it worth +while communicating their knowledge to Markham. But he quoted their +sayings and surmises to the next persons he spoke to; so that, without +ever straining his conscience to the point of positively asserting the +substantive existence of such a red-whiskered young man with a squint, +he had almost come to believe in him by the time the day was over.</p> + +<p>The story reached Broad Run in two or three forms before night, and +served to throw Jake's forlorn hope into confusion. But Magill did not +think best to leave the Broad Run people to the mercy of rumor in so +important a matter. He rode up to the grocery about half-past 5 in the +afternoon, and having hitched his horse to a neighboring dogwood, he +walked in with a good-evening to the group at the door. Going up to the +counter he called up the whole party to drink with him, as became an +Irish gentleman of generous spirit, who was, moreover, a prudent +politician. But Broad Run had never taken a fancy to Magill; there was +a ceremoniousness about his attempts to flatter them which did not +harmonize with their rough-and-ready ways. If he had said, "Come, boys, +liquor up!" they would have thought his manner perfect; but he bowed +blandly to Jake Hogan, and said, "Have something to drink, won't you?" +and so to the rest. They mentally condemned him as "too all-fired fine +in his ways and too much dressed up for a free country." But they did +not neglect the opportunity to drink at somebody else's expense. Jake +Hogan was the more ready to accept such hospitality because he had been +feeling a little depressed since his unlucky trip to Perrysburg. And now +this story which he had heard of another man who might be the murderer +had destroyed what chance he had of mustering a party for Moscow; for +Jake's most devoted partisans did not like to run any risk of hanging +the wrong man.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Magill," said Jake, after he had turned his whisky-glass nearly to +the perpendicular in the endeavor to extract the last drop, "what's this +yer story about Tom's not being the ginooine murderer? I don't take no +stock in the yarn, fer my part."</p> + +<p>"Well, it ain't best to say anything about it till they get the other +man," said Magill, assuming a close look. "I hear they're purty hot on +his track."</p> + +<p>"What kind of a lookin' creetur wuzzy?" asked Bijy Grimes, an oldish man +with an effeminate chin and soft, fair cheeks which contrasted strangely +with his slovenly and unkempt appearance. Bijy had drunk his liquor, and +now sat resting on a keg with his mouth dropped wide open; it was a way +he had of listening.</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't know anything only what I hear," said Magill. "I'm not +the shairiff, you know. The story goes that he was a man with a red +goatee—"</p> + +<p>"Un what fer sized man?" asked Bijy.</p> + +<p>"Rather under-sized, and with one eye a little walled," said Magill.</p> + +<p>"I'm darned ef 't ain't the wery man I seed," said Bijy, who never +failed to know something about everything. "He wuz comin' towurds the +camp-meetin' that wery arternoon. Dern!" and he shut his mouth, and got +to his feet in excitement. "I kind-uh suspicioned 'im too," he added.</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't know anything," said the clerk; "but if they catch that +stranger and prove it on him,—mind, I say, if they <i>prove</i> it,—count +me for one that will help get the world rid of him by Broad Run law, as +they call it. But I've got to get on home, gintlemen. Good-bye, +gintlemen, and good luck to you all!" So saying, Magill bowed +respectfully.</p> + +<p>The rest nodded their heads and said good-bye.</p> + +<p>"He's too orful slick," said Jake, when Magill had gone. "Makes me kind +uv sick. Now I like a man ut talks out like a man, you know; without so +much dodrotted saf-sawder, un so on. He ain't none uh my kind, Magill +hain't."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XX" id="XX"></a>XX</h2> + +<h3>LINCOLN AND BOB</h3> + + +<p>Fast by the "City Hotel" in Moscow stood a beech-tree, as we have said, +and under this tree were two or three benches. This umbrageous spot was +the cool and favorite loafing-place of the villagers, the trysting-place +for making bargains or meeting friends. The ground was beaten by many +feet to the hardness of a floor, and the village boys delighted to play +marbles in this convenient spot. Their cries of "rounses," "taw," +"dubs," "back licks," and "vent" might often be heard there before and +after school hours. On one of these benches under the beech-tree Bob +McCord had an interview with Tom Grayson's lawyer, according to +appointment, on the day of Lincoln's return from court at Perrysburg.</p> + +<p>"What's this about lynching Tom?" Lincoln inquired. "A lot of fellows +rode into Perrysburg looking for him last Thursday night."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Bob, with a hearty chuckle: "I put 'em onto that air track +myself. They wuz comin' down h-yer, but I made 'em think 't Tom wuz +moved to Perrysburg."</p> + +<p>"Are they going to try it again?" asked Lincoln.</p> + +<p>"Not right off; they're sort-uh discairaged like. A few uv 'em wuz +cocked un primed to come a Sunday night,—sech uv 'em as hadn't gin it +up arter ridin' over to Perrysburg,—but we fooled 'em ag'in. Pete +Markham, the depitty sher'f, jes' sidled over to camp-meetin' un let on +'t he wuz a-lookin' fer somebody what knowed sumpin' about a young +feller weth red whiskers un one eye a leetle crossed, like. Magill, the +clerk, went over to camp-meetin' un down onto the Run, un gin it out on +the sly like zif he could n' keep in, that they'd diskivered the tracks +uv a young feller from another k-younty weth red whiskers, un so on, +that had done the shootin'. The story run like a perrary fire in a high +wind un sort-uh mixed 'em up in the'r minds, like. I've got it fixed so +as they can't come down unbeknownst to me; un ef wust <i>comes</i> to wust, +w'y, I've got my eye sot onto a crowbar."</p> + +<p>"A crowbar? What would you do with a crowbar, Bob?" asked Lincoln, with +a puzzled contraction of the brows. "You wouldn't try to whale the whole +crowd with it, would you?"</p> + +<p>"W'y, Abe, I 'low ef a rale tight pinch comes, to try a tussle weth that +air jail. I don't know's I could prize out one uv them air iron grates, +but ef 't wuz to <i>come</i> to that, I'd try to git Tom out uv harm's way. +You say the word un I'll find some way to let 'im out anyhow."</p> + +<p>"No, no; don't do that. If he runs away he'll be caught, and then he'll +be sure to be lynched, or hanged. Let me try the law first, and then +it'll be time enough to use crow-bars afterward if I fail. Do you know +Dave Sovine?"</p> + +<p>"When I see 'im. He's an ornery kind uv a cuss. I don't know 's he +rickollecks me."</p> + +<p>"So much the better if he doesn't. You must get him to tell you all +about the shooting—his story of it. Get him to tell more than was +brought out at the inquest. Make him explain it, and find out if he's +going to clear out before the trial."</p> + +<p>"I heern tell 't he won't talk," said Bob. "The prosecutin' attorney's +shut 'im up tight 'z bees-wax, they say."</p> + +<p>Lincoln mused awhile. "If the prosecuting attorney has shut him up, you +must open him. Contrive some way to get his story and find out what he +means to do."</p> + +<p>But it was not easy to encounter Dave in these days. Since he had +acquired notoriety, as the only witness of the murder, he had been +seized with an unprecedented diffidence, and kept himself out of public +gaze. The boys about the village conjectured that he was "laying low for +big game." Bob, however, had no objection to waiting for Sovine's +coming. He liked this lurking for prey as a cat likes the watching at a +mouse-hole. Besides, loafing of any sort suited Big Bob's genius. He +could sit astride a barrel on the shady side of a grocery for hours with +no sense of exhaustion. More than one day McCord had passed in this way, +when at last Dave Sovine came in sight, walking rather hurriedly and +circumspectly toward the center of the village. Bob was in the middle of +a hunting yarn which he was lazily telling to another loafer on the +next barrel as he whittled a bit of hickory stripped from one of the +hoops in front of him. Without betraying any excitement, he astonished +his companions by bringing the long-drawn story to an abrupt conclusion. +Then dismounting from his barrel he sauntered across the street in such +a way as to encounter Dave and to fall in with the direction in which +the latter was going.</p> + +<p>"Hot day!" Bob said, as he intersected Dave's course at an acute angle.</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered the other.</p> + +<p>"How's the corn crap out your way?"</p> + +<p>"Dunno," said Dave.</p> + +<p>"Goin' to be in town long?" Bob persisted.</p> + +<p>To this Dave made no response. He only turned off abruptly at the +street-corner and left Bob behind.</p> + +<p>"A feller might as well try to git sugar-water by tappin' a dead +sycamore as to git anything out uv him," Bob said to himself, as he +turned and took the road toward Hubbard Township.</p> + +<p>As he walks homeward over the level prairie, which west-wardly has no +visible limit, Bob can only think of one way to persuade Sovine to talk, +and that way is out of the reach of a man so impecunious as he. It is in +vain that you thrust your great fists down into the pockets of your +butternut trousers, Bob. You know before you grope in them that there is +no money there. You have felt of them frequently to-day and found them +empty; that is why you are going home thirsty. Money will not be +persuaded to remain in those pockets. Nevertheless, all the way home Bob +mechanically repeats the search and wonders how he will get money to +carry out his plan. He might go to Lincoln, but he has an instinctive +feeling that Lincoln is what he calls "high-toned," and that the lawyer +might see an impropriety in his new plan. By the time he passes into his +own cabin he knows that there is no other way but to get the money from +Mrs. Grayson. No easy task, Bob reflects. Mrs. Grayson has never shown +any readiness to trust Bob McCord's business skill.</p> + +<p>But the next morning he takes the path to the Grayson house, walking +more and more slowly as he approaches it, with head dropped forward and +fists rammed hard into his pockets, while he whistles doubtfully and +intermittently. Now and then he pauses and looks off scrutinizingly. +These are the ordinary physical signs of mental effort in this man. In +seeking a solution of any difficulty he follows his habits. He searches +his pockets, he looks for tracks on the ground, he scans the woods.</p> + +<p>He approaches the back of the Grayson house and is relieved to see +Barbara alone in the kitchen, spinning.</p> + +<p>"You see, Barb'ry," he said, as he half ducked his head in entering the +door,—"you see, I'm in a fix."</p> + +<p>"Won't you take a chair, Mr. McCord?" said Barbara, as she wound the +yarn she had been spinning on the spindle and then stopped the wheel.</p> + +<p>"No, I'm 'bleeged to yeh, I won't sed down," he replied, holding +himself awkwardly as with a sense that indoors was not a proper or +congenial place for him.</p> + +<p>"Abe Lincoln sot me a sum un I can't noways git the answer. He wanted me +to git out uh that air Dave Sovine a full account uh the lie he's +a-goin' to tell agin Tommy. But I can't git at it noways. The feller +won't talk to me. I've thought uv ketchin' 'im by himself un lickin' 'im +till 'e'd let it out, but I'm afeerd Abe 'u'd think ut that 'u'd flush +his game afore he wuz ready to shoot. They ain't on'y jest one other +way, un that's to gamble weth Dave un coax his secret that away. But you +see I'm so oncommonly pore this year 't I couldn't gamble at a cent a +game 'thout he'd trust me, un he wouldn't do that, I 'low."</p> + +<p>After cross-questioning Bob a little, Barbara went into the sitting-room +to her mother and Bob went to the outer door to breathe the open air +while he waited. Barbara's mother positively refused to let go of a +dollar of her precious little hoard of silver.</p> + +<p>"D' you think, Barb'ry, 't I'd let a shif'less kind uv a man like Big +Bob have my money to gamble it away to that Sovine? No, I won't, and +that's all there is about it. Dave got a lot uv my money a-gamblin' with +Tommy, an' he don't git no more uv it, that's as shore as my name's +Marthy Grayson. They don't no good come uv gamblin' noways, an' I can't +bear that Dave Sovine should git some more uv our money, an' him +a-tryin' to swear away Tommy's life."</p> + +<p>Barbara stood still a minute to give her mother's indignation time to +spend itself. Then she said:</p> + +<p>"Well, poor Tom'll have to die, I suppose, if you can't bring yourself +to give Bob something to help Abraham save him."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Grayson stood for several seconds in self-conflict. Then she +replied, "Well, Barb'ry, you always <i>will</i> have your way." Saying this +she turned irresolutely toward her money-drawer. "I s'pose I'd jest as +well give up first as last. How much does Bob want?"</p> + +<p>"Ten dollars 'll be enough, he thinks."</p> + +<p>"Ten dollars! Does he think I'm made out of money? Now, looky here, +Barb'ry; I'm not a-goin' to give him no sech amount. Here's five, an' +you tell him I won't spare another red cent."</p> + +<p>Barbara took the silver pieces and went out to Bob.</p> + +<p>Possessed of funds, Bob again set out to meet Dave. This time he could +not wait for Dave to come to town, but boldly sallied out along the road +past the house of Sovine's father. How could he wait? His pockets and +his fingers were burned by the possession of so much hard cash. He felt +obliged to take it out and count it once or twice, and to make an +inspection of his pockets, which had a treacherous way of coming into +holes under the strain of the big, muscular hands, so often rammed into +their depths for purposes of meditation.</p> + +<p>After walking past the Sovine house once or twice without encountering +Dave, he sat down by a prairie brook, the gentle current of which +slipped noiselessly along, dragging its margins softly against the +grass, whose seed-laden heads at this season of the year hung over into +the water, the matted blades lying prone upon the unbroken +surface:—their tips all curved in one way mark the direction of the +gentle stream. Bob reclined on the low bank, where he was concealed from +the road by a little yellow-twigged water-willow, the only thing within +a mile or two that could be called a tree.</p> + +<p>After awhile Dave Sovine, sauntering, ruminating tobacco, and looking +warily about, as was his way, came slowly along the road. When he caught +sight of Bob he started, and paused irresolutely as though about to +retreat. But seeing that Bob was looking at him, he recovered himself +and came toward the reclining figure. Truth to tell, Dave was lonesome +in retirement, and the sight of Bob had awakened a desire to talk.</p> + +<p>"Have you seed a man go a-past h-yer weth a bag of wheat on his hoss?" +queried Bob. "I'm a-waitin' h-yer to buy a half-bushel uv seed wheat fer +fall sowin' f'om a feller what's a-comin' in f'om t' other eend uv the +k-younty."</p> + +<p>The story was impromptu, and Bob had no time to fill in details. Dave +looked at him suspiciously, and only replied by shaking his head. By way +of confirming his theory of the reason for his waiting, Bob idly jingled +the silver coins in his pocket as he talked about the crops and the +relative advantage of living in the timber, where you can raise winter +wheat, or out on the perrary. The sound of tinkling silver caught Dave's +ear, as it was meant to.</p> + +<p>"Play a game of seven-up?" said Dave languidly.</p> + +<p>"You're too good a hand fer me," answered Bob with affected wariness.</p> + +<p>"Oh! we'll only try small stakes. Luck's ag'inst me here lately"; and +he pulled out a well-worn pack of cards without waiting for Bob to +reply.</p> + +<p>"No; ef I play, I want to play weth my k-yards," said Bob, who had a +lurking hope of winning, notwithstanding Dave's reputation.</p> + +<p>"I don't mind where the cards come from," said Dave, as he took Bob's +pack, which was in a worse state than his own. Then, with habitual +secretiveness, he said, "Let's go into the corn-field."</p> + +<p>They crossed the road and climbed into the corn-field, seating +themselves on the edge of the unplowed grassy balk between the corn and +the fence. Here they were hidden and shaded by the broad-leaved horse +and trumpet weeds in the fence-row. As was to be expected, Bob won +rather oftener than he lost at first. After a while the luck turned, and +Bob stopped playing.</p> + +<p>"You'd better go on," said Dave.</p> + +<p>"I d' know," answered Bob; "I'm about as well off now as I wuz in the +beginnin'. I 'low I'd better hold up."</p> + +<p>"Aw, no; let's go on. You might make sumpin."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Bob, running the ends of the cards through his fingers, "ef +you'll tell me jest how that air shootin' tuck place, I will."</p> + +<p>"I don't keer to talk about that," said Dave, with a nonchalant air, +that hardly concealed his annoyance. "The prosecuting attorney thought +I'd better not."</p> + +<p>"I wuzn't at the eenques'," Bob pleaded, "un they's so many stories +a-goin' that I want to h-yer it f'om you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I know <i>you</i>," said Dave. "You think I haven't got my eye-teeth +cut yet. You have been a-layin' for me and I know what you are here fer. +Do you think I don't see through your winter wheat? I know you're on +Tom's side."</p> + +<p>"Well, in course I am," said Bob, roused to audacity by his failure to +deceive. "But it mout be jest as well fer you to tell me. Un maybe a +leetle better. It mout be the very k-yard fer you to throw at this p'int +in the game." And Bob's face assumed a mysterious and suggestive look as +he laid his cards on the grass and leaned forward regarding Dave.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Dave, in a husky half-whisper, letting his eyes fall from +Bob's, "I'll tell you what: I don't really keer to have Tom hung, un +I've been feelin' bad un wishin' I could git out ov it. Ef I had anuff +money to go to New Orleans like a gentleman, I'd just light out some +night, and give Tom a chance for his life."</p> + +<p>"Maybe you mout git the money," said McCord, picking up his cards. "But +your story wouldn' hang him nohow, I 'low." Here Bob laid down a +half-dollar for a new game, and Dave covered it.</p> + +<p>"Of course, if I stay he's <i>got</i> to swing," said Dave; and by way of +proving this to Bob, he told his story of the shooting with some +particularity, while he proceeded to win one half-dollar after another +almost without interruption. "Now," he said, when he had told the story +and answered Bob's questions, "you can see that's purty tolerable bad. I +sh'd think they'd ruther I'd clear out. An' if somebody'd give you a +hundred dollars an' you'd let me play three or four games of poker with +you some fine day I'd make tracks, an' the prosecuting attorney'd have +to get along without me."</p> + +<p>By this time all of the five dollars that Barbara had furnished, except +the last twenty-five-cent piece, had passed from Bob's reluctant hands +to Dave Sovine's greedy pockets. This one quarter of a dollar Bob had +prudently placed in the great pocket of his hunting-shirt, that he might +have something to fill his stone jug with. For though he was devoted to +the Graysons' side of the controversy, Bob McCord could hardly be called +a disinterested philanthropist; and he held that even in serving one's +friends one must not forget to provide the necessaries of life.</p> + +<p>"You're awful good on a game," said Bob, with a rueful face. "You've +cleaned me out, by hokey; I'll see ef I can't git you that hundred +dollars, so's you kin win it. But it'll take time fer the Widder Grayson +to raise it, I 'low."</p> + +<p>"Oh! they ain't no <i>partik'lar</i> hurry," said Dave, cheerfully counting +over his winnings and stowing the silver about in his pockets as a +ship-master might distribute his ballast. "Only if I don't get the money +I'll have to stay h-yer an' go to court, I guess." And Dave hitched up +his trousers and walked off with the air of a man who has a +master-stroke of business in view.</p> + +<p>Lincoln came to town the next week and Bob told him the story, while +Lincoln made careful notes of Dave's account of the shooting.</p> + +<p>"He says ef Widder Grayson'll let me have a hunderd dollars, un I'll let +him play draw poker fer it, he'll light out fer parts onknown."</p> + +<p>"Oh! he wants pay, does he?" And the young lawyer sat and thought +awhile. Then he turned full on Bob and said:</p> + +<p>"Could I depend on you to be in court at the trial without fail, and +without my sending a subpœna?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'll be there un nowheres else," said Bob. "You needn't soopeeny +me. I'll come 'thout callin', foller 'thout tollin', un stan' 'thout +hitchin'."</p> + +<p>"Now if Dave Sovine comes after you for that hundred dollars, you'd +better put him off, as easy as you can. If we should buy him off we +wouldn't want to give the prosecution time to fetch him back."</p> + +<p>Bob thought he saw a twinkle in Lincoln's eye as he said this; a +something in his expression that indicated more than he said. But though +he looked at the lawyer curiously, he got no further light. That +evening, as Bob passed the Grayson farm-house, he told the anxious +Barbara something about it, and added: "Abe Lincoln's powerful deep. +He's got sumpin ur nuther in 'is head 't I can't noways see into. I +don't half believe 't 'e means to buy up that low-lived scoundrel arter +all. He acts like a man that's got a deadfall all sot, un is a-tryin' to +honey-fugle the varmint to git 'im to come underneath."</p> + +<p>And Barbara took what comfort she could out of this assurance.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXI" id="XXI"></a>XXI</h2> + +<h3>HIRAM AND BARBARA</h3> + + +<p>To Barbara, indeed, the unrelieved apprehension and suspense of those +long, hot August days were almost intolerable. The frequent excursions +to the Moscow jail, to carry some tidbits of home cookery, or some +article for Tom's personal comfort, afforded a practical outlet to +feeling and a relief from the monotony of passive suffering, but these +journeys also brought sharp trials of their own to Barbara's courage and +self-control. She might not betray to Tom or to her mother how much she +suffered; it was for her to support both the one and the other.</p> + +<p>Doubtless it would have been a relief could she have told Hiram Mason +all the dreadful apprehensions that haunted her during the long, +sleepless nights. But from the hour of Mason's entering the house he had +avoided confidential relations with Barbara. Before and after school +Hiram attended to all those small cares that about a farm-house usually +fall to the lot of a man. Gentle and considerate to Mrs. Grayson and +Barbara, he preserved toward the latter a careful reserve. He could not +resume the subject discussed the evening they had peeled apples by the +loom; it seemed out of the question that he should talk to Barbara of +such things while her mind was engrossed with the curse of Cain +impending upon her brother. He might have sought to renew the matter +under cover of giving her a closer sympathy and a more cordial support +in her sorrows, but he saw in her demureness only the same sensitive +pride that had shrunk from his advances; and he knew that this pride had +been wounded to the quick by the family disgrace. Moreover, to urge his +claims as a lover at such a time would cover all his services to the +family with a verdigris of self-interest; and he thought that such +advances would add to Barbara's distress. In making them he would be +taking an unfair advantage of the obligations she might feel herself +under to him, and the more he thought of it the more he abhorred to put +himself in such an attitude. So he daily strengthened his resolution to +be nothing but Mrs. Grayson's next friend while he remained under her +roof, and to postpone all the rest until this ordeal should be past.</p> + +<p>In many ways he was able to be helpful to the two troubled women. He +stood between them and the prying curiosity of strangers, answering all +questions about the family, about Tom, and about the case. He was their +messenger on many occasions, and he went with them every Saturday or +Sunday to Moscow. But at other times Barbara saw little of him except at +the table, and he avoided all conspicuous attentions to her. Even Mely +McCord, though often at the house, could find no subject for chaff in +the relations of the two. When the matter was under discussion among the +young gossips at the Timber Creek school-house, Mely declared she "did +n' 'low they wuz anything in the talk about the master un Barbary,—he +did n' pay Barbary no 'tention 't all, now 't 'e 'd got every chance." +If Mason had been a person of less habitual self-repression he would not +have been able to house his feelings so securely; but this man came of +an austere stock; self-control was with him not merely habitual, it was +hereditary.</p> + +<p>Hiram had besides a battle of his own to fight. The Monday morning after +the killing of Lockwood, as he went to the school-house, he was met in +the road by Lysander Butts, next neighbor to the Graysons—a +square-built man with a cannon-ball head. Butts was from the hill +country of New Jersey, a man of narrow prejudices and great obstinacy.</p> + +<p>"Looky here, Mr. Mason," he said, "d' you think now that a schoolmaster +ought to take up for a rascal like Tom Grayson, that's a gambler, and I +don't know what, and that's killed another fellow, like a sneak, in the +dark?"</p> + +<p>"I have n't taken up for Tom any more than to want him to have fair +play," said Mason. "But I thought that the poor old lady needed somebody +to be her friend, and so I went there, and am going to do what I can for +her."</p> + +<p>"Well, I know the Graysons mighty well, first and last, this many a +ye'r, and they're all cut off of the same piece; and none of them is to +be overly trusted, now you mind that."</p> + +<p>"You have a right to your opinion," said Hiram; "but I am Mrs. Grayson's +friend, and that is my lookout."</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Grayson's friend?" said Butts, with a sneer. "Mrs. Grayson, ainh? +As if you could make me believe it was the mother you're defending. It's +Barbary <i>you</i>'re after."</p> + +<p>Mason colored as though accused of a crime. Then, recovering himself, he +said: "It's very impudent of you to be meddling, Mr. Butts. So long as I +behave myself, it's none of your business." And he went on toward the +school.</p> + +<p>"None of my business, ainh? You'll find out whose business it is mighty +shortly," Butts called after Hiram.</p> + +<p>The quarrel between the Buttses and the Graysons dated back to their +first settlement in Illinois. Butts had regularly cut wild hay on the +low-lying meadow between the two farms. Fond of getting something for +nothing, he gave out among his neighbors that this forty acres was his +own, but he put off entering it at the Land Office. When Tom Grayson's +father entered his farm he found this piece blank and paid for it. From +that time Butts had been his enemy, for there was no adjunct to a farm +in the timber so highly prized as a bit of meadow. When once near +neighbors in the country have quarreled their proximity is usually a +guarantee that they will never be reconciled;—there are so many +occasions of offense between people who must always be eating off the +same plate. It was universally known that "the Buttses and the Graysons +couldn't hitch." Where two of their fields joined without an +intervening road they had not been able even to build a line fence +together; but each man laid up a rail fence on the very edge of his own +land, and the salient angles of the two hostile fences stood so near +together that a half-grown pig could not have passed between. This is +what is called, in the phrase of the country, a "devil's lane," because +it is a monument of bad neighborhood.</p> + +<p>When Mason reached the school-house that morning Angeline Butts had her +books and those of her younger brother and two younger sisters gathered +in a heap, and the rest of the scholars were standing about her, while +she did her best to propagate the family antagonism to the master. The +jealousy of Lysander Butts's family had been much inflamed by Barbara's +swift success in study. Angeline had never been able to get beyond the +simple rules of arithmetic; her feeble bark had quite gone ashore on the +sandy reaches of long division. The Buttses were therefore not pleased +to have Barbara arrive at the great goal of the Rule of Three, and even +become the marvel of the neighborhood by passing into the mysterious +realm of algebraic symbols. For Angeline's part she "couldn't see no +kind-uv good, noways you could fix it, in cipherin' with such +saw-bucks." Figgers was good enough for common folks, she said, and all +this gimcrack work with x's and y's was only just a trick to ketch the +master. For her part she wouldn' fool away time settin' her cap for sech +as him, not if he was the only man in the world.</p> + +<p>When Tom was arrested for murder, the Buttses felt that their day had +come. Folks would find out what sort of people the Graysons were now; +and what would become of all Barbary's fine match with the master? Hey? +But when, on the very day after the shooting, Angeline came home +bursting with indignation, that the master'd gone and took up his board +and lodging at the Graysons', and had put John Buchanan into his place +for a day and gone off down to the jail with the Graysons, their +exasperation knew no bounds. Butts rose to the occasion, and resolved to +take his children out of the school. No man that countenanced murder +could teach Butts's children. It is the inalienable right of the +free-born American citizen to relieve his indignation by taking his +children from school, and by stopping his newspaper.</p> + +<p>When Mason entered the school-room after his encounter with the father +he was not surprised to find the whole battalion of Butts infantry drawn +up in martial array, while Angeline held forth to the assembled pupils +on the subject of the master's guilt in countenancing Tom Grayson, and +the general meanness of the whole Grayson "click," living and dead. When +the auditors saw Hiram come in they fell away to their seats; but +Angeline, pleased to show her defiance of the master, who could no +longer punish her, stood bolt upright with her bonnet on until the +school had been called to order. The younger Buttses sat down from +habitual respect for authority, and the brother pulled off his hat; but +Angeline jammed it on his head again, and pulled him to his feet. She +might have left before the school began; but she preferred to have a +row, if possible. So when the school had grown quiet, she boldly +advanced to the space in front of the master's desk, with the younger +and more timid Buttses slinking behind her.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Mason, father's goin' to take me out of school," she said.</p> + +<p>"So he told me."</p> + +<p>"He wants us to come right straight home this morning."</p> + +<p>"Well, you know the road, don't you?" said Hiram, smiling. "If he's in a +hurry for you, I should have thought you might have been there by this +time."</p> + +<p>This reply set the school into an audible smile. Angeline grew red in +the face, but the master was standing in silence waiting for her to get +out, and the scholars were laughing at her. There was nothing more to be +said, and nothing for it but to be gone or burst. In her irritation she +seized her youngest sister, who was shamefacedly sneaking into +Angeline's skirts, and gave her a sharp jerk, which only added a fresh +impulse to the titter of the scholars, and Angeline and her followers +were forced to scuffle out of the door in confusion.</p> + +<p>Lysander Butts was not a man to give over a struggle. Conflict was his +recreation, and he thought he could "spite the master" not only by +refusing payment for the tuition his children had already received, but +by getting the Timber Creek district to shut Mason out of their +school-house. There were those in the district who resented Mason's +friendship for the Graysons, but they were not ready to go so far as +Butts proposed. And in asking Buchanan to teach school for him a single +day Mason had unwittingly made friends against the time of trouble; for +the old schoolmaster now took the young man's part, and brought over to +his side the three Scotch families in the district, who always acted in +unison, as a sort of clan. Butts was at a serious disadvantage in that +he lived beyond the limits of the Timber Creek district. "What does he +want to come a-maiddlin' wi'us fer?" Buchanan demanded of the Timber +Creekers. "Let 'im attaind to the beesness of his own deestrict, and not +go to runnin' his wee crookit daivils' lanes doun here." Such arguments, +with the help of Mason's good-nature, his popularity with the pupils, +and his inflexible determination to keep his own gait, caused the +opposition to weaken and die out gradually without doing serious damage +to the school.</p> + +<p>To this favorable issue the friendly influence of the Albaugh family, +who were outside of the district on the other side from Butts, +contributed something. With Rachel Albaugh Mason became better +acquainted through her interest in Tom's fate. She sought a conversation +with the master almost every day to gain information about the case. The +placidity of her face was not ruffled by solicitude, the glory of her +eyes was not dimmed by tears. But interest in Tom's fate there surely +was. It did not greatly matter to her whether Tom had committed the deed +or not: in any case he was a bold and daring fellow who had lifted +himself out of the commonplace, and who was proportionately interesting +to Rachel's imagination.</p> + +<p>But the people generally did not see things through the eyes of a +romantic young woman. They were for the most part dead against Tom, and +the adverse tide set more and more strongly against him when the long +August days had worn themselves away and September with its bursts of +storm had come in. If Tom had shot Lockwood in a street affray there +would have been a disposition to condone the offense, seeing there was +"a girl in the case," a circumstance that goes for much in the minds of +pioneer people; for girls and horses are two things accounted well worth +fighting for in a new country. Some philosophers explain this by saying +that both the one and the other are means of ascent in the scale of +civilization. But the fact is, that new-country people set much more +store by their horses and their sweethearts than they do by +civilization, for which, in the abstract, they care but little. They +also esteem courage very highly. But to shoot a man in the dark as +Lockwood had been shot was cowardly, and cowardice was in itself almost +ground enough for hanging a man.</p> + +<p>This increased momentum in the popular feeling against Tom could not +escape the knowledge of Mason, to whom people talked with some freedom, +but he managed to conceal it from Barbara and Mrs. Grayson. His +situation indeed was becoming more and more difficult. He foresaw that +the maintenance of his present attitude toward Barbara might soon +become impossible. To be always near to her, and yet to keep himself so +aloof, was more than even his nature would bear. Above all, to see her +consumed by sorrow and to be afraid to speak the tenderest word of +sympathy was torment. The very aspect of her suffering face set his +nerves in a tremor; it became difficult for him to say good-morning to +her with composure. There is the uncontrollable in all of us; and +self-contained as Hiram was, he came upon the uncontrollable in himself +at last.</p> + +<p>He had reached the closing days of his school term, though it yet lacked +a fortnight of the September "court week" at Moscow. It was his purpose +to remain and see the Graysons through their trouble: what would become +of his own trouble, when Tom's fate should have been settled one way or +the other, he could not foretell. And he was, moreover, filled with the +worst forebodings in regard to the issue of the trial. He came home from +school a little earlier than usual on the last day but one of his school +session, and fearing to trust himself too much in Barbara's presence, he +had gone past the house directly to the barn, to do those night and +morning things which are classed as chores or "choores," according to +the accent of the region in which you chance to hear the word. On +entering the barn he was surprised to find Barbara sitting on the +"draw-horse" or shaving-bench. She had fled to the threshing-floor, with +the belief that she was seeking for eggs, but really to find relief in +tears that she could not shed in the house without opening the great +deep of her mother's sorrows. She had remained longer than she intended, +weeping heartily, with no witness but the chattering swallows in the +rafters above, and old Blaze-face, who looked placidly at her from +behind the bars of his hay-rack.</p> + +<p>The sight of Barbara alone in the dusky light of the threshing-floor +awakened in Hiram an inexpressible longing to tell her of all there was +in his heart; the vision of Barbara in tears was too much for his +resolution. He went forward and sat down by her; he involuntarily put +his right arm about her shoulders, and drew her to him in a gentle +embrace; he took her handkerchief in his left hand and wiped the tears +from her cheeks and said softly:</p> + +<p>"Dear Barbara, now don't cry any more; I'm so sorry for you."</p> + +<p>Barbara sat still; whether displeased or not Hiram could not tell, for +she did not say a word. She neither accepted nor refused his embrace. +Hiram felt a powerful impulse to say more, but he suddenly remembered +that Barbara's grief had no relation to him, and it seemed hateful that +he should intrude his own feelings and hopes upon her in her +all-engrossing sorrow, and he feared to offend again a pride so +sensitive as he knew hers to be. But he allowed himself once more to +draw the silent Barbara toward him with a gentle pressure; then, with a +resolute effort at self-control, he climbed into the mow to pitch down +some hay for old Blaze. This duty he performed as quickly as possible, +blindly intent on returning to Barbara once more. But when he came down +again Barbara had gone, and he sat down on the draw-horse where she had +been, and remained there long, all alone but for the swallows flitting +in and out through the openings between the lower ends of the rafters, +and gossiping from one mud-built nest to another. In this time he asked +himself questions about his conduct in the difficult days yet to come, +and tried to reproach himself for the partial surrender he had made to +his feelings; though now he had given so much expression to his +affection, he could not for the life of him repent of it.</p> + +<p>If he had known how much strength this little outbreak of sympathy on +his part had given to Barbara, his conscience would have been quite at +ease. Even Mrs. Grayson was sustained by the girl's accession of +courage. In the darkest days that followed, Barbara liked to recall +Hiram's voice soothing her, and begging her not to weep; and with +blushes she remembered the pressure of his gentle embrace about her +shoulders. This memory was a check to the bitterness of her grief. But +Hiram had lost confidence in himself. There were yet two more weeks to +be passed, and unless he should desert Barbara in her trouble, he would +have to spend these weeks in unceasing conflict.</p> + +<p>The next day was the last of the school-term, and according to +immemorial usage, the last Friday afternoon of a school-term was spent +in a grand spelling-match, in which others than the regular pupils of +the school were free to engage. It was while this orthographical +scrimmage was going on that the county clerk, Magill, sprucely dressed, +and ruddy-faced as ever, rode up to the school-house. He spent many of +his days in riding about the county, palavering the farmers and +flattering their wives and daughters, and, by his genial Irish manners, +making friends against the time of need. Who could tell whether it might +not also be worth while to make friends with the grown-up and growing-up +pupils of the Timber Creek school; there would be elections after these +boys came to vote. Besides, he remembered that Rachel Albaugh was one of +Mason's postgraduate scholars, and it was not in such a connoisseur of +fine women to miss an opportunity of seeing the finest in the county. So +he went in and sat for an hour on the hard bench with his back against +the stone jamb of the great empty fire-place, and smilingly listened to +the scholars wrestling with the supreme difficulties of Webster's +Elementary; such, for example, as "incomprehensibility," and other +"words of eight syllables accented on the sixth." By the time the +spelling-match was over and the school was ready to be dismissed he had +evolved a new plan relating to his own affairs. In making friends and +electioneering no one could excel Magill; but for attending to the +proper work of his office he had neither liking nor aptitude, and the +youth he kept there, though good enough at building fires and collecting +fees, was not competent to transcribe a document. The records were +behind, and he needed some one to write them up. He was too prudent to +take into the office any man who in after years could use the experience +that might be gained and the knowledge of his own dilatory habits that +might be acquired there to supplant him. It occurred to him now that it +would be a good stroke to engage Mason, who was not likely ever to be a +resident of the county, and who could therefore never become a rival.</p> + +<p>While these thoughts were in Magill's mind, Hiram was indulging in a few +words of that sort of sentiment to which schoolmasters are prone when +the parting time comes. When the children were dismissed they formed +themselves into two rows on the outside of the school-house door, +according to an antique and, no doubt, Old-World custom still lingering +in some rural places at that time. When the master made his exit the +boys were on his right and the girls were on his left,—probably because +of Eve's indiscretion in the garden of Eden. Between the two rows Hiram +marched slowly, with a quizzical look on his face, as the boys, to the +best of their knowledge and ability, bowed to him, and the girls, with +an attempt at simultaneousness, dropped "curcheys" of respect. Magill +stood in the door and smiled to see some of the boys bend themselves to +stiff right angles on their middle hinges, while others grinned +foolishly and bobbed their heads forward or sidewise, according to the +string they chanced to pull. The performances of the other row were +equally various; some of the girls bent their knees and recovered +themselves all in one little jerk, while others dropped so low as to +"make tubs" of their dress-skirts. When these last honors had been paid, +the scholars broke ranks and started for their homes.</p> + +<p>As Magill put one foot into the stirrup he said: "Mason, how would yeh +like to come down to Moscow an' help me write up me books? I'm a good +dale behoind; an' ef you like to come for a wake or two an' help me to +ketch up, I'll give yeh four bits a day an' yer board at the tavern."</p> + +<p>Hiram's finances were so straitened that this offer of fifty cents a day +was very welcome to him. How could he serve the Graysons better than to +be where he could see Tom every day, and look after his interest in any +contingency that might arise? This and the recollection of his +embarrassing situation in the Grayson household quickly decided him; and +as the condition of Magill's office was distressing, he promised to come +to town in time to begin by 9 o'clock the next morning.</p> + +<p>That evening he explained the matter to Barbara and her mother at the +supper table; and before bed-time he had arranged with Bob McCord to +look after the "critters," as Bob called them. The next morning Hiram +was off by daybreak. Bob McCord took him half-way with old Blaze,—for +the rest, he "rode shank's mare," as the people say,—and by 9 o'clock +he was trying to thread the labyrinth of confusion in Magill's office.</p> + +<p>To Barbara it seemed the greatest good fortune to have Mason near to +Tom, but the table was intolerably lonely when only two sorrow-smitten +women sat down together.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXII" id="XXII"></a>XXII</h2> + +<h3>THE FIRST DAY OF COURT</h3> + + +<p>The eventful morning at the opening of the "fall term" of the court of +Moscow came at length. Mrs. Grayson again put her house into the care of +her neighbor Mely McCord, and she arranged that Bob McCord should stay +at home so as to feed the cattle that night and the next morning. It was +thought that Tom's trial would take place on the second day. Mrs. +Grayson and Barbara drove into Moscow early on the first day of court, +that they might give Tom all the sympathy and assistance possible.</p> + +<p>On that very first forenoon the grand jury heard such fragments of +evidence as the public prosecutor thought necessary to bring before +them, and found an indictment against Thomas Grayson, Junior, for murder +in the first degree. In the prevailing state of public opinion a true +bill would almost have been found if no evidence had been before them. +Delay in such cases was not to be thought of in that time of summary +justice; dilatory postponements were certainly not to be expected in a +court presided over, as this one was, by Judge Watkins. He was a man +approaching sixty years of age, with a sallow, withered face; a victim +to hot biscuit and dyspepsia; arbitrary and petulant, but with deep-set, +intelligent black eyes. Though his temper was infirm, his voice crabbed, +and his administration of justice austere and unrelenting, he was +eminently just, and full of the honorable if somewhat irascible pride of +a Virginian with a superstitious reverence for his "family." Judge +Watkins came of an ancestry who were famous only for courageously +holding up their heads and doing nothing that they considered unworthy +of gentlemen. Their greatest pride was that they had always been proud. +The judge's coat hung loosely on his frame, and his trousers were +generally drawn up in wrinkles so as to show the half of his boot-legs. +His garments were, moreover, well worn and rather coarse; like his +planter ancestors, he never fancied that dress could add anything to the +dignity of a gentleman. The substantial distinction of a gentleman, in +his estimation, consisted in being of a "good family," and in preferring +to lose one's life rather than to lie, and to take another man's life +rather than to suffer the reproach of falsehood or cowardice. It was +characteristic of a Virginian of this type to have something like a +detestation for clothes, except in so far as they served for decency and +warmth; all the great difference which separated a respected gentleman +from a despised fop lay in this fierce contempt for appearances. Judge +Watkins left fine coats and gold watches for those who needed such +decorations; he clothed himself in homespun and family pride.</p> + +<p>When the indictment was read, the judge, looking from under his +overhanging, grizzled eyebrows, said, "When can we try this case?" The +counsel on both sides knew that he intended to dispatch this +disagreeable business promptly. As he put the question, Judge Watkins +looked first at Allen, the prosecuting attorney, and then at Lincoln.</p> + +<p>"We are ready, your Honor," said the prosecuting attorney, a little man +with a freckled face and a fidgety desire to score a point on every +occasion. "I hope there'll be no delay, your Honor. The defense knew six +weeks ago that a true bill would be found. They've had time enough to +prepare, and I hope we shall be able to go on."</p> + +<p>The judge listened impatiently to this, with the air of a man who has +heard so much clap-trap that it has become nauseous to him. Indeed, +before Allen had completed his little speech Judge Watkins had turned +quite away from him and fastened his deep-set eyes on young Lincoln, who +rose to his feet without succeeding in getting himself quite +straight,—this was always a matter of time with him,—and said in a +grave, half-despondent way:</p> + +<p>"Your Honor, we are ready."</p> + +<p>"I'll set the case for to-morrow, then," said the judge, and added in a +sharper key, "Sheriff, command silence!" This last injunction was +prompted by an incontinent rustle of interest in the court-room when the +time for the murder trial was fixed for the next day. The judge's +high-strung, irascible nerves, and his sense of the sacred dignity of +his court, made him take offense at the slightest symptom of popular +feeling.</p> + +<p>The sheriff, who sat at the judge's left a little lower than the judge, +now stood up and rapped with a mallet on the plank desk in front of him, +and cried lustily, "Si—lence in court!"</p> + +<p>And all was still again.</p> + +<p>The judge's dignity would not admit of his addressing the commonalty, +who, since they were neither members of the bar, court officers, +witnesses, nor criminals, were beyond official recognition, but he said +to the sheriff in a severe tone:</p> + +<p>"Sheriff, you will arrest any person who makes any kind of disturbance +in the court."</p> + +<p>Then the business of the court went on. One after another of the +spectators, whose interest was centered in the next day's session, rose +and tip-toed softly out of the room. They did not all go at once, nor +did any one of them go noisily. The judge had been known to fine a man +for treading heavily, and those who wore squeaking boots were in misery +until they were quite clear of the door.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXIII" id="XXIII"></a>XXIII</h2> + +<h3>BROAD RUN IN ARMS</h3> + + +<p>The popular imagination had made Tom into something monstrous. Visitors +to the village went to the jail window to look at him, as one might go +to look at a wild beast. Confinement, solicitude, and uncertainty had +worn upon him. He shrank nervously into the darker corners of the jail +to avoid observation. His mind was a very shuttlecock between the +battledores of hope and fear. He knew no more than the public of the +purposes or expectations of his lawyer. All that Lincoln would say to +Tom or his friends was that the case was a difficult one, and that it +was better to leave the line of defense wholly to himself. But in +proportion as Tom's counsel was uncommunicative about his plans rumor +was outspoken and confident, though not always consistent in its account +of them. It was reported that Tom was to plead guilty to manslaughter; +that Lincoln would try to clear him on the ground of justifiable +homicide in self-defense; and that the lawyer had found a man willing to +swear that he was in company with Tom on another part of the ground at +the very time of the shooting. In any case, it was decided that Lincoln +would move for a change of venue, for it was well understood that in +Moscow the accused did not stand "a ghost of a chance."</p> + +<p>As the time of the court session drew on, a new and more exciting report +had got abroad. It was everywhere said that Dave Sovine had been bought +off, and that he was to get his money and leave the country in time to +avoid testifying. How the story was set a-going, or who was responsible +for it, no one could tell. Dave Sovine's conferences with Bob McCord may +have raised surmises, for as the time of the trial approached, Dave grew +more and more solicitous to get the hundred dollars and be off. He even +hinted to Bob that he might refuse to accept it, if it did not come +soon. Bob McCord had his own notions about the report. He thought that +either Sovine had incontinently let the matter out, which was hardly +probable, or that Abe Lincoln for some reason wanted such a belief to be +spread abroad. Secretive and tricky as Bob was, there was a finesse +about Lincoln's plans which he could not penetrate, and which led him +more than once to remark that Abe was "powerful deep for a young +feller." Whether the rumor was launched for a purpose or not, it had had +the effect of waking up Allen, the public prosecutor, who put a watch on +Sovine's movements, and gave his chief witness to understand that any +attempt of his to leave the country, by night or day, would bring about +his immediate arrest.</p> + +<p>The story that Sovine had been bought off produced another result which +could not have been desired by either of the lawyers: it fanned to a +blaze the slumbering embers of Broad Run. Jake Hogan's abortive +expedition to Perrysburg had left resentment rankling in his manly +bosom. He had reluctantly given over the attempt to redeem himself by +making a raid on Moscow the Sunday night following, when Deputy Sheriff +Markham had pretended to look up a hypothetical wall-eyed, red-whiskered +man, who was believed to have had some reason for killing George +Lockwood. It was, indeed, only by degrees that Broad Run came to +understand that its dignity had been again trifled with. The first +result of its indignation was that the Broad Run clan, attributing to +Sheriff Plunkett all the humiliation put upon it, had unanimously +resolved to compass his defeat at the next election. Plunkett, having +heard of this, promptly took measures to avert the defection of his good +friends on the Run. Markham, as the principal author of the difficulty, +was dismissed from his place of deputy on some trifling pretext. It did +not cost Sheriff Plunkett serious pain to let him go; Markham was +becoming too conspicuous a figure. It is the way of shrewd small men to +cut down in time an apprentice who is likely to overtop the master. Then +Plunkett told his brother-in-law to go out to Broad Run and explain +things. Greater diplomatists than he have prepared to make use of +irresponsible ambassadors when they had that to say which it might be +necessary to repudiate. The brother-in-law was one of those men who like +to take a hand in local politics, not for the sake of holding office +themselves, but for the pleasure of intrigue for its own sake. He first +sought Jake Hogan at his cabin, and sat and whittled with him on the +wood-pile in the most friendly way, laughing at Jake's lank jokes, +flattering his enormous self-love, and by every means in his power +seeking to appease Hogan's wrath against the sheriff. The sheriff hadn't +anything to do with running Tom off after the inquest, said the +envoy,—Markham had done that. It was Markham who had peddled around the +story of the man with red whiskers. Markham had got too big-feeling for +his place. The sheriff saw that Markham was against the Broad Run boys, +and so he put him out—dropped him like a hot potato, you know.</p> + +<p>"Just consider," the brother-in-law urged, "how much Plunkett's done for +the boys. He's refused tee-totally to let Tom go to Perrysburg. Plunkett +ain't going to be dictated to by rich men like ole Tom Grayson. He knows +who elected him. And he don't feel obliged to protect a murderer after +the coroner's jury say's he's guilty."</p> + +<p>"They's been talk of his shootin' if any reg'laters come around," said +Jake.</p> + +<p>"<i>Him</i> shoot?" answered the brother-in-law. "He's done everything he +could not to put out the boys, and what 'u'd 'e shoot for? He ain't +anxious to have the job of hangin' Tom Grayson. He's heard tell of +sheriffs, 'fore now, that's felt themselves ha'nted as long's they +lived, because they'd hanged a man. He ain't goin' to fight for the +privilege of hangin' Tom, and he ain't the kind to do anythin' brash, +and he ain't ag'inst good citizens like the boys on the Run—depend on +that. Of course,"—here the brother-in-law picked up a new splinter and +whittled it cautiously as he spoke,—"of course you know't the sheriff's +give bonds. He's got to make a show of defending his prisoner. He's took +'n oath, you see, 'n' people expect him to resist. But if a lot of men +comes, what can one man do? S'posin' they was to tie his hands, and then +s'pose they was to say if he moved they'd shoot. What <i>could</i> he do?"</p> + +<p>The envoy stopped whittling and looked at Jake, giving the slightest +possible wink with one eye. Jake nodded his head with the air of a man +who is confident that he is not such a fool as to be unable to take a +hint enforced by half a wink.</p> + +<p>"What does 'n oath amount to with a pistol at your head?" the +brother-in-law inquired; "an' what's the use of bonds if your hands are +tied? You can <i>talk</i> strong; that don't hurt anybody."</p> + +<p>Jake nodded again, and said, "In course."</p> + +<p>"If you was to hear about the sheriff's sayin' he'd ruther die than give +up his prisoner, you can just remember that he's <i>got</i> to talk that way; +he's under bonds, and he's swore in, and the people expect him to talk +about doin' his dooty. But you're too old a hand to set much store by +talk?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I 'low I am," said Hogan, greatly pleased that his experience and +astuteness were at length coming in for due recognition.</p> + +<p>Then when Jake was pretty well mollified, the brother-in-law adjourned +himself and Jake to the grocery, where he treated the crowd, and in much +more vague and non-committal terms let all the citizens that resorted +thither understand that Sheriff Plunkett was their friend, and that Pete +Markham was the friend of the rich men and the lawyers. But he took +pains to leave the impression that Tom would certainly meet his deserts +at the hands of the court, for the sheriff desired to avoid the +embarrassment of a mob if he could.</p> + +<p>The sweetness of Jake Hogan's spirit had been curdled by his +disappointment and reverses, but these overtures from the sheriff to him +as a high-contracting power were very flattering and assuring. When, a +little later, the startling intelligence reached that center of social +and intellectual activity, the Broad Run grocery, that Dave Sovine had +been bought off, Broad Run was aroused, and Jake Hogan left off sulking +in his tent and resumed his activity in public affairs.</p> + +<p>"Didn't I tell you," he asked, leaning his back against the counter and +supporting himself on his two elbows thrust behind him, while one of his +legs, ending in a stogy boot, was braced out in front of him, "you can't +hang the nephew 'v a rich man in such a dodrotted country as this yer +Eelenoys? Dave Sovine's bought off, they say, by an ornery young lawyer +un that air Bob McCord." Jake was too prudent to apply any degrading +adjectives to a man of Bob's size and renown. "Dave'll light out the day +afore the trial with rocks in his pockets, un that air young coward'll +git clean off. Where's yer spunk, I'd like to know? 'F you're go'n' to +be hornswoggled by lawyers like that air long-legged Abe Lincoln, un +skin-flints like ole Seven-percent Tom Grayson, w'y, you <i>kin</i>, that's +all."</p> + +<p>Jake, with his head thrown forward, looked sternly around on the group +about him, and they seemed to feel the reproach of his superior +aggressiveness. Bijy Grimes was rendered so uneasy by Jake's regard that +he shut his mouth; and then, not knowing what better to do, he ventured +to ask humbly, "What kin we do about it, Jake?" letting his mouth drop +open again in token that he waited for a reply.</p> + +<p>"Do?" said Jake contemptuously. "W'y, chain-lightnin', Bijy, what a +thing, now, to ax! Show me two dozen, ur even <i>one</i> dozen, men that'll +stan' at my back tell the blood runs, un I'll show 'em 't folks can't +take a change of venoo out-uh the k-younty that knows all about the +rascality into one that don't. I'll show 'em how to buy off witnesses, +un I'll l'arn these yer dodrotted lawyers un rich men how to fool wreth +the very bone un sinoo uv the land."</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the natural love of these men for a little excitement, +they had been rendered somewhat unresponsive by Jake's failures. The +most of them thought it best to go to town on the day of the trial and +see how it would come out. But at 6 o'clock in the evening of the first +day of court, Lew Baker, a farmer from the river valley beyond the Run, +rode past the door of the grocery on his way home, and said a +collective "Howdy" to the three or four who stood outside. Bijy Grimes, +who was one of them, came out toward the middle of the road heading off +the traveler.</p> + +<p>"Hello, Lew! Any nooze about the trial?" he said, dropping his lower jaw +from between his fat infantile cheeks and waiting for a reply, while the +rest of the group moved up to hearing distance.</p> + +<p>"Well, yes," said Baker, pulling up his horse and swinging himself round +in the saddle so as to bring the most of his weight on the right +stirrup, while he rested his left elbow on his left knee and his right +hand on the horse's mane. "I heern tell, jest as I come away, that Dave +what-ye-may-call-'im, the witness, had sloped, liker'n not. He hain't +been seed aroun' for a right smart while, un they say he's gone off to +New Ur<i>leans</i> ur the Injun country. Moscow's stirred up about it."</p> + +<p>"Tu-lah!" said Bijy. "They 'low he'll be got off, don't they!"</p> + +<p>"They're shore sumpin's fixed, fer the young feller's lawyer hain't +soopeenied a derned witness."</p> + +<p>"Tu-lah!" said Bijy. "Is that a fack?"</p> + +<p>"Shore 's shootin', they say. He's to be got off somehow, I s'pose."</p> + +<p>"Tu-laws-a-massy!" broke out Bijy; and turning to his fellow-loafers he +said, "That'll rile Jake purty consid'able, now won't it?"</p> + +<p>It did stir up Jake when he heard of it. He promptly set to work to form +a company to descend at once on Moscow and take the case out of the +hands of the dodrotted lawyers. He could not at so late an hour get +together more than twenty or twenty-five men from Broad Run and the +regions within warning distance. Some of these joined him only because +they could not endure to have anything very exciting take place in their +absence: it would entail the necessity of their hearing for the rest of +their lives the account given of the affair by the participators, who +would always value themselves on it. Some of the larger boys, whose aid +had been rejected in the previous excursion because they were not +accounted mature enough for such public responsibilities, were now +admitted: the company would be small, and a boy is better than nobody in +a pinch. S'manthy's oldest son, a tow-headed fellow of fifteen, was one +of these, and he was sent over the hill to warn Zeke Tucker, who was +still at Britton's, a mile away from the borders of what was +distinctively called "the Run Neighborhood."</p> + +<p>The September twilight was already fading when the lad presented himself +in front of Zeke Tucker, who sat perched on top of a rail fence for rest +and observation after his day's work. Mrs. Britton was making the house +over-warm, and Zeke preferred the fresh air.</p> + +<p>"I say, Zeke," said the breathless boy, "it's to come off to-night, un +I'm a-goin', by hokey!"</p> + +<p>"What's to come off to-night?"</p> + +<p>"W'y, the hangin'—the hangin' of that young chap Tom down't Moscow; un +I'm goin' to take grandad's ole flint-lock."</p> + +<p>"Your grandad's ole flint-lock! You might as well take a stick," said +Zeke.</p> + +<p>"Oh! it'll go off ef you tech it off weth a coal of fire, but I don't +'low I kin find any coal to tech it off weth down thar," and S'manthy's +son scratched his head thoughtfully. "But, anyways, it'll look like a +gun in the night."</p> + +<p>"Yes, un you'll look like a man, I s'pose. But what time's Jake goin'?"</p> + +<p>"Twix' ten un 'leven. Donchoo be late."</p> + +<p>"You tell Jake not to go, noways, wethout me," said Zeke, hoping by this +to delay Jake's start.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXIV" id="XXIV"></a>XXIV</h2> + +<h3>FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED</h3> + + +<p>Zeke sat restless on the fence until S'manthy's boy, exultant that his +manhood was to be recognized by his admission to the band, had gone out +of sight in the direction of the grocery. Then Zeke sprang from the +fence and started, as fast as legs could carry, along an old Indian +trail, hoping by this disused and in some places obstructed short cut +across the prairie to save a mile of the eight-miles' journey to Bob +McCord's cabin. Bob was already abed when Zeke, badly blown by his rapid +walking, knocked at the door.</p> + +<p>"Who's there?" called Bob, emerging from his first heavy sleep.</p> + +<p>"It's me—Zeke Tucker! Git up, quick, Bob! Jake Hogan's off at ten 'r +'leven, un it's nigh onto that a'ready." And Zeke impatiently rattled +the door of the cabin, the latch-string of which had been drawn in to +lock it.</p> + +<p>Bob came down on the floor with a thump, and his few clothes were soon +pulled on; then he came out and stood in the fresh air, on the +"butt-cut" of a tulip-tree, or "flowering poplar," which, to compensate +for the descent of the hill-side, had been laid against the bottom log +of his cabin for a front-door step. Zeke explained to him how urgent the +case was.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus7" id="illus7"></a> +<img src="images/illus7.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>ZEKE AND S'MANTHY'S OLDEST SON.</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<p>"Baub! don't you go 'n' go off down to Moscow to-night," called Mrs. +McCord. "They hain't no airthly use in your botherin' yourself so much +about other folkses business. You'd orter stay'n' look arter your own +wife un childern." It was Mrs. McCord's invariable habit to object, in +her plaintive and impotent fashion, to everything her husband proposed +to do. She had not the slightest expectation that he would remain at +home in consequence of anything she might say, nor did she care that he +should; but she had a vocation to hold in check his thriftless +propensities. This she tried to do by protests uttered indiscriminately +against all his outgoings and his incomings, his downsittings and his +uprisings.</p> + +<p>"We ain't got no hoss," said Bob, replying to Zeke, and paying no heed +to his wife. "Mrs. Grayson un Barb'ry 've gone un gone to town weth ole +Blaze, so's to be weth Tom airly in the mornin'. What on yerth to do I +don't noways see." Bob was standing with his fists in his pockets, +looking off anxiously toward the horizon.</p> + +<p>"Can't you git Butts's?" said Zeke.</p> + +<p>"Thunder! No! Buttses un Graysons don't hitch. Butts don't speak to none +uv'em, un he hates Tom the wust, fer throwin' rocks at his geese when +they got into the medder, un dauggin' his haugs out-uh the corn. They'd +a leetle rather Tom'd be lynched un not. By blazes! I've <i>got</i> to git +one of Butts's hosses right straight off. Buchanan's hoss is lame, un +they hain't nary nuther one to be got this side uv Albaugh's, and that's +too fur away. You go down to the branch un wait fer me, un I'll git +Butts's little wagon. I 'low they'll be hoppin' mad 'f they fine out +what I got it fer, but I've got to git it, 'f I have to steal it. They +hain't no two ways about it."</p> + +<p>"I don't think you'd ortuh go off that a-way, Baub," began Mrs. McCord +again. "Un me more 'n half sick. I've been feelin' kind-uh slarruppy +like fer two 'r three days. Un them air taters is to be dug, un Mely's +gone away. You 'n' Zeke Tucker 'll make a purty fist uv it a-lickin' all +Broad Run, now, wonch yeh? Wha' choo got to do weth Jake—"</p> + +<p>But Bob did not hear the rest of it, nor was it ever uttered indeed. For +Mrs. McCord, when she found that her husband had gone, did not think it +worth while to finish her lamentations; she only drew a sigh of +complacent long-suffering and submission to fate, and went to sleep.</p> + +<p>Hardened sinner that he was, Big Bob felt a little twinge of shame as he +made his way rapidly to Butts's house. His wife's set speech about being +more than half sick, often as he had heard it, and little as he had ever +heeded it, had now made a sufficient lodgment in his consciousness to +suggest a way out of his difficulty; but it was a way which a loafer of +the superior sort, such as Bob, might feel ashamed to take, knowing that +such a scheme as he was concocting would be an outrage on all the +sacred principles of good neighborhood—an outrage only to be justified +by military necessity. All the way to Butts's, hurried as he was, his +hands were ramming his trousers-pockets, after his fashion of groping +there for a solution of his difficulties. It was the carrying over into +other affairs the habitual research which the hunter makes for bullets, +caps, patching, or jack-knife to meet the exigencies of the forest.</p> + +<p>Arrived at the unpainted, new frame-house, which, being two feet longer +and one foot broader than any other in the neighborhood, was the +particular pride of the Butts family, he noted that all the lights were +out, and after hesitating whether to capture the horse by stealth or by +strategy, he went to the front door and rapped. The head of the +proprietor came out of one of the lower windows with an abrupt "Who's +there?" spoken with that irritation a weary man is prone to express when +awakened from his first nap to attend to some one else's wants.</p> + +<p>"I say, Mr. Butts," said Bob, pushing his hands harder against the +bottoms of his pockets, "kin I git the loan uv one uv your hosses un +your leetle wagon to fetch the doctor? My ole woman's purty bad; been +sick ever sence the sun was 'n 'our high, un we can't git nothin' to do +no good."</p> + +<p>"What seems to be the matter?" said Butts, wishing to postpone an +unpleasant decision.</p> + +<p>Bob hesitated a moment: lying is a dangerous business unless it is +carried on with circumspection. "Blamed 'f I know jest <i>what</i> it is. I +suspicion it's the <i>dys</i>pepsy."</p> + +<p>The name of dyspepsia was new to the country at that day, though the +complaint was ancient enough, no doubt. Just what <i>dys</i>pepsy might be +Bob did not know, but he hit on it as the vaguest term he could recall +and one that had a threatening sound. It would not have served his +purpose to have repeated Mrs. McCord's diagnosis of her own case, that +she was "feelin' kind-uh slarruppy like." "Whatever 'tis, she don't +think she kin git through till mornin' 'thout I git a doctor."</p> + +<p>"Well, I doan know. The sorrel's lame; un I don't like to let the bay +colt go noways, he's sech a sperrited critter."</p> + +<p>Butts drew his head in at this point to consult with Mrs. Butts as to +how he could evade lending the cherished bay colt.</p> + +<p>"Looky h-yer, Mr. McCord," presently called Mrs. Butts, keeping her +nightcapped head well out of sight as she spoke, "you don't want no +doctor nohow." Mrs. Butts had come by virtue of superior credulity to +hold the position of neighborhood doctress, and she was not friendly to +regular physicians. "You jest take along with you a bottle of my new +medicine, 't I call the 'Scatter Misery,' It's made out-uh roots an' +yarbs, an' it's the best thing I know fer mos' every kind of complaint. +It's good insides an' outsides. You rub the Scatter Misery onto the +outsides un give her a swaller now un then insides. It'll fetch 'er +'roun' in an hour or two."</p> + +<p>Bob felt himself fairly entangled in his own intrigue, but he gave his +great fists another push into his trousers-pockets and said:</p> + +<p>"I'm much obleeged, Mrs. Butts, but my ole woman tole me ez I wuzn't to +come back 'thout a doctor; un ef you hain't got no critter you kin len' +me, I mus' be a-gittin' 'long down to Albaugh's mighty quick. That's a +powerful ways off, though. I wish I'd gone there straight un not come +over h-yer."</p> + +<p>This last was uttered in a tone of plaintive disappointment as Bob +turned away, walking slowly and giving the family council time to change +its mind.</p> + +<p>"Aw, well, Bob," called Butts, after a conference with his wife, "I +don't like to disobleege a neighbor. You kin have the bay colt; but you +must drive slow, Bob. He's a young thing un the fidgetiest critter."</p> + +<p>Bob would drive slow. He professed that he never drove faster 'n a slow +trot, "nohows you can fix it." And he helped Butts to hitch up with no +sense of exultation, but rather with a sneaking feeling of shame.</p> + +<p>However, nothing troubled Bob long or deeply, and when he had passed the +branch and taken in Zeke Tucker, and got out of the woods to the smooth +prairie road beyond, he forgot his scruples and tried to find out just +how much speed Butts's bay colt might have in him. Nor did he slacken +pace even when he got into the village streets; but remembering how near +it was to Jake's time, he held the horse swiftly on till he reached an +alley-way behind some village stores. Telling Tucker to tie the horse, +he got over the fence and laid hold of a rusty crowbar that he had long +kept his mind fixed on. Putting this on his shoulder, he was soon at the +jail.</p> + +<p>"Tom!" he called, in a smothered voice, at the grated window on the east +side. But all within was as silent as it was dark. For a moment Bob +stood perplexed. Then he went to the grating at the back of the +jail—the window that opened into the passage-way at the end opposite to +the front door.</p> + +<p>"Tom, where air you?" he called, putting his hands up on each side of +his mouth, that his words might not be heard in the street.</p> + +<p>"In the dungeon." Tom's voice sounded remote.</p> + +<p>Bob spent no time in deliberating, but thrust the crowbar between the +cross-bars of the iron grating. His first difficulty was similar to that +of Archimedes, he could not get a fulcrum; or, as he expressed it less +elegantly to Zeke, "he couldn't git no purchase onto the daudblasted ole +thing." But by persistently ramming the point of the crowbar against the +stone-work at the side of the window he succeeded at length in picking +out a little mortar and bracing the tip of the crowbar against a +projecting stone. He had great confidence in his own physical strength, +but the grating at first was too much for him; the wrought-iron +cross-bar of the window bent under the strain he put upon it, but it +would not loosen its hold on the masonry. At this rate it would take +more time than he could hope to have to push the bars apart enough to +admit even Zeke's thin frame, and he could not hope to bend them far +enough to let his own great body through. He therefore changed his mode +of attack. Withdrawing his crowbar from the grating, he felt for a seam +in the stones at the base of the window and then drove the point of the +bar into this over and over again, aiming as well as he could in the +dark and taking the risk of attracting the attention of some wakeful +villager by the sound of his ringing blows. At length, by drilling and +prying, he had loosened the large stone which was in some sort the key +to the difficulty. This accomplished, he made haste to insert the bar +again into the grating, bracing its point as before in the seam he had +already opened in the stone-work at the side of the window. Then, with +his feet against the wall of the jail, he crouched his great frame and +put forth the whole of his forces, thrusting his mighty strength against +the crowbar, as blind Samson in his agony tugged at the pillars of the +Philistine temple. In some colossal work of Michael Angelo's I have seen +a tremendous figure so contorted, writhing in supreme effort. The mortar +broke, some of the stones gave way at length, and one bar of the grating +was wrenched reluctant from its anchorage in the wall below. Then, +letting the crowbar fall, Bob seized the rod now loosened at one end and +tore it quite out, and then threw it from him in a kind of fury. The +process had to be repeated with each separate bar in the grating, though +the breaking up of the wall about the window made each rod come more +easily than the preceding one. When all had been removed he squeezed +through the window-opening, feet first, and felt his way down the +passage to the door of the dungeon, where Tom was anxiously waiting for +his deliverer. Bob made what a surgeon would call a "digital +examination" of the dungeon door, and found its strength to be such that +to break it down would require the rest of the night, if, indeed, there +was any hope of achieving it at all in a dark hall-way, too narrow to +admit of a free use of the crowbar.</p> + +<p>"Dern the luck!" said Bob, pausing a moment.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter, Bob?" asked Tom anxiously.</p> + +<p>But Bob did not seem to hear the question. "We must git a cole-chisel," +was all he said; and he hastened to creep back out of the broken-up +window.</p> + +<p>"Whach yeh go'n' to do?" asked the waiting Zeke, as Bob emerged.</p> + +<p>But Bob only said, "Come on, quick!" and started off in a swinging trot +toward the village blacksmith shop, a low, longish, wooden building, +barely visible in the darkness. He pulled at the door, but it was firmly +closed with a padlock. Then he felt his way along the side of the +building to a window-sash, which was easily taken out of its place.</p> + +<p>"Heap uh use uh lockin' the door," he muttered, as he climbed in. "Blow +up the belluses there un see ef you kin make a light."</p> + +<p>Zeke, who had followed his leader, pumped away on the bellows in vain, +for the fire in the forge had quite gone out, though the ashes were hot +to Zeke's touch. Both of the men set to work to find a blacksmith's +cold-chisel, feeling and fumbling all over the disorderly shop. As it +often took the smith half an hour to find this particular tool, it would +have been a marvel for two strangers to find it at all in the darkness.</p> + +<p>"We'll have to gin up the c'nundrum," said Bob, with his hands again in +his pockets. "Didn' you say as you 'lowed the sher'f was expectin' +Jake?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Zeke. "Jake's got a kind-uv a secret urrangement weth +Plunkett's brother-in-law. They hain't to be shootin'-work on nary side, +but on'y jist a-plenty uv thunderin' loud talk fer the looks uv the +thing. Jake's to make the derndest kind uv a row, un the sher'f's to +talk about dyin' 'n 'is tracks un all that, you know. That 's some weeks +ago't the sher'f s brother-in-law fixed all that up, un Jake, he tole us +they wouldn' be no danger."</p> + +<p>"Turn your coat wrong sides out," said Bob, turning his own. "Now tie +your han'kercher acrost yer face, so 's to kiver all below yer eyes."</p> + +<p>When these directions had been carried out Bob climbed out of the +window, and stopped to put his hands into his pockets again and +consider.</p> + +<p>"Whach yeh go'n' to do?" asked Zeke.</p> + +<p>But Bob only asked, "What'll we do fer pistols'?" and with that set +himself to feeling all about the ground in front of the smith's shop, +picking up and rejecting now a bit of a dead bough from the great +sycamore under the friendly shade of which the smith did all his +horse-shoeing, now a bit of a board, and again a segment of a broken +wagon-tire, and then a section of a felloe. At last Bob came upon the +broken wheel of a farmer's wagon, leaning against the side of the shop +in waiting for repairs to its woodwork and a new tire. From this he +wrenched two spokes and gave one of them to Zeke.</p> + +<p>"There's your pistol, Zeke. Put it jam up agin Plunkett's head un tell +him to hole still ur die. We've got to play Jake Hogan onto 'im un git +the keys. Th' ain't nary nuther way."</p> + +<p>As Bob passed the jail in going toward the sheriff's house he took along +the crowbar. Plunkett lived in a two-story frame dwelling on the eastern +margin of the village. Bob sent Zeke to run around it and pound on the +back door and bang on every window with his wagon-spoke and his fists, +while Bob himself dealt rousing blows on the front door with his +crowbar. When Zeke had made the circuit of the house, Bob put the +crowbar under the door.</p> + +<p>"We mustn't wait fer him to open, he'll see how few we air," he +whispered. "Prize away on this yer." Then, while Zeke lifted up on the +bar, Bob hurled his whole bull weight against the door. The staple of +the lock held fast, but the interior facing of the door-jamb was torn +from its fastenings and fell with a crash on the floor, letting the door +swing open. Not to lose the advantage of surprise, Bob and Zeke pushed +up the stairway, guided by the noise made by some one moving about. By +the time they reached Plunkett's sleeping-room the latter had struck a +light with steel and flint, and had just lighted a tallow-candle, which +was beginning to shed a feeble glimmer on the bed, the rag-carpeted +floor, the shuck-bottom chairs, and the half-dressed man, when Bob, +coming up quickly behind him, blew the light out, and seizing Plunkett +with the grip of a bear crowded him down to the floor with a smothered +oath.</p> + +<p>"Don't kill me, boys," said the sheriff in a hoarse whisper; for this +rough usage frightened him a little, notwithstanding his good +understanding with the mob.</p> + +<p>"Say one word un you're a dead man," said Zeke Tucker, pressing the cold +muzzle of his wagon-spoke close to the sheriff's head. These +melodramatic words were, I am glad to say, a mere plagiarism. In the +absence of anything better, Zeke repeated the speech of a highwayman in +an old-fashioned novel he had heard Mrs. Britton read on Sunday +afternoons. Then he added on his own account: "We won't have no tricks; +d' yeh h'yer?"</p> + +<p>"They's mor' 'n forty uv us," said Bob, "un we want them air keys right +straight."</p> + +<p>"If I had half a chance I'd ruther die than give 'em up,"—this was all +that Plunkett could remember of the defiant speech he was to have made +on this occasion,—"but there they air, at the head of my bed"; and a +cold shudder went over him as Zeke again touched him ominously with the +end of the wagon-spoke.</p> + +<p>The sheriff's wife, though she had every assurance of the secret +friendliness of the mob, now began to weep.</p> + +<p>"Not a word!" said Bob, who was continually scuffling his feet, in +order, like Hannibal and other great commanders, to make his forces seem +more numerous than they were. "We won't hurt you, Mrs. Plunkett, ef you +keep still; but ef you make a noise while we're gone, the boys outside +might shoot."</p> + +<p>The woman became silent.</p> + +<p>"Some of our men'll be left to guard your house till our business is +finished," said Bob to the sheriff, who lay limp on the floor, growing +internally angry that the Broad Run boys should not show more respect +for his dignity. "Don't you move or make any soun', fer yer life," added +Bob when he reached the top of the stairs, down which he descended with +racket enough for three or four.</p> + +<p>As they left the house with the keys, Bob and Zeke gave orders in a low +voice to an imaginary guard at the door.</p> + +<p>All that Tom had made out was that the irruption of Bob McCord into the +jail signified imminent danger to himself, and when Bob had gone out +again, Tom's heart failed him. He stood still, with his fingers on the +iron grating in the dungeon door. For this last night the sheriff had +taken the additional precaution of leaving Tom's manacles on when he had +locked him in the dungeon, and the lack of the free use of his hands +added much to his sense of utter helplessness in the face of deadly +peril. He could not see any light where he stood, gripping the bars and +staring into the passage-way; but he could not endure to leave this +position and go back into the darker darkness behind him. Confinement +and anxiety had sapped the physical groundwork of courage. When he heard +Bob and Zeke come past the jail on their return from the blacksmith +shop he had made out nothing but the sound of feet, whether of friends +or foes he did not know; and when the sounds died away, a horror of +deadly suspense fell upon him. All black and repulsive possibilities +became imminent probabilities in the time that he waited. Over and over +again he heard men and horses coming, and then discovered that he was +hearkening to the throbbing of his own pulse. At last he heard the key +turning in the lock of the front door, and was sure that the enemy had +arrived. It was not till Bob said, when he had got into the hall and was +trying the keys in the dungeon door, "Quick, Tom, fer God Almighty's +sake!" that his spirit, numb with terror, realized the presence of +friends.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" asked Tom, his teeth chattering with reaction from +the long suspense.</p> + +<p>"Jake Hogan'll be h-yer in less'n no time"; and with that Bob, having +got the door open, almost dragged the poor fellow out, taking time, +however, to shut the front door and lock it, and taking the keys with +him, "fer fear somebody might git in while we're away," as he said +laughing.</p> + +<p>Once the jail was cleared, a new perplexity arose. Until this moment it +had not occurred to Bob to consider what disposal he should make of the +prisoner.</p> + +<p>"What am I goin' to do weth you, Tom?" he demanded, when they stood +concealed in the thick obscurity under an elm-tree on the side of the +court-house opposite to the jail. "I wonder 'f you hadn' better light +out?"</p> + +<p>"Not without Abra'm says so," answered Tom, still shivering and feeling +a strong impulse to run away in the face of all prudence.</p> + +<p>"Looky h-yer, Tom; when I got the keys from the sher'f, I brought them +all along. They 's the big key to the jail, un the key to the dungeon. +Now, h-yer, I've got two more. It seems like as ef one uv 'em had orter +onlock the east room of the jail, un liker 'n not t' other's the +court-house key. S'pose'n I put you in there; they'll never look there +in the worl'."</p> + +<p>"I s'pose so," said Tom, "if you think it's safe." But in his present +state he shuddered at the idea of being left alone in the dark. "If +Abra'm thinks I'd better not clear out, I'll be where I'm wanted in the +morning, and they can't say I have run off," he added.</p> + +<p>So Tom was locked in the court-house and left to feel his way about in +the dark. He found, at length, the judge's bench, the only one with a +cushion on it, and lay down there to wait for daylight, listening with +painful attention to every sound in the streets. When at length he heard +the tramp of horses and conjectured that Jake's party were actually +looking for him, he could not overcome the unreasonable terror that +weakness and suspense had brought upon him. He groped his way up the +stairs and slunk into one of the jury rooms above for greater security.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXV" id="XXV"></a>XXV</h2> + +<h3>LIKE A WOLF ON THE FOLD</h3> + + +<p>Barbara, at her uncle's house, had not been able to go to bed. Tom's +fate, she knew, would be decided the next day, and whatever of hope +there might be for him was hidden in the mind of his lawyer. Mrs. +Grayson had involuntarily fallen into a slumber, and the anxious Barbara +sat by her in the darkness, wishing for the coming of the day, whose +coming was nevertheless dreadful to her. The sound of a wagon rattling +in another street startled her; she went to the window and strained her +eyes against the darkness outside of the glass. Though she could not +suspect that in the wagon was Bob McCord hurrying to the rescue of Tom, +she was yet full of vague and indistinct forebodings. She wished she +might have passed the night in the jail. A little after midnight she +thought she heard a sound as of horses' feet: again she went to the +window, but she could not see or hear anything. Then again she heard it: +there could be no mistake now; she could make out plainly the confused +thudding of many hoofs on the unpaved road. Presently, from sound +rather than from sight, she knew that a considerable troop of horsemen +were passing in front of her uncle's house. She left the room quietly, +and spoke to her uncle as she passed his door; but without waiting for +him she went out into the street and ran a little way after the +horsemen, stopping, hearkening, turning this way and that in her +indecision, and at length, after groping among the trees and stumps in +the public square, reached the jail.</p> + +<p>Jake Hogan had sent forward two men to watch the prison, while he with +his main force surrounded Plunkett's house. The sheriff had obediently +kept his place where Bob had laid him, in the middle of the floor, until +he got into a chill. Then, as he heard no sound outside of the house, +his courage revived, and he crept back into bed.</p> + +<p>Jake had come prepared to play the bully, according to agreement, in +order to save Plunkett's reputation for courage and fidelity, but he was +disconcerted at finding the door of the house wide open; he had not +expected that things would be made so easy. After stumbling over the +fallen door-facing, he boldly mounted the stairs with as much noise as +possible. Entering Plunkett's bedroom, he cried out in what he conceived +to be his most impressive tones:</p> + +<p>"Gin up the keys of that ar jail, ur your time has come."</p> + +<p>"What air you up to now?" cried the sheriff, angry at this second visit. +"You knocked me down and got the keys nigh on to an hour ago. Now what +in thunderation does this hullabaloo mean, I want to know."</p> + +<p>"Wha' choo talkin'?" said Jake. "We hain't on'y jest got yer."</p> + +<p>"Only just got here?" said the sheriff, rising up in bed. "Only just +come? Then there's another crowd that must 'a' done the business ahead +of you. There was more 'n forty men surrounded this house awhile ago, +and beat down my door, and come upstairs here in this room, and knocked +me down and choked me black and blue and went off with the keys. I guess +they've hung Tom and gone before this."</p> + +<p>"Looky h-yer now, we don't want no more uv your tricks. We're the on'y +party out to-night, sartin shore, un we're boun' to have them air keys +ur die," said Jake, tragically. "You might's well gin 'em up fust <i>as</i> +last, Hank Plunkett, un save yourself trouble."</p> + +<p>"Well, if you want 'em, you'll have to look 'em up," said the sheriff. +"I haven't got 'em, and I'll be hanged if I know who has. I was knocked +down and nearly killed by a whole lot of men. Kill me, if you've got a +mind to, but you won't find the keys in this house. So there now." And +he lay back on his pillow.</p> + +<p>"Come on, boys; we'll s'arch the jail. Un ef we've been fooled weth, +Hank Plunkett'll have to pay fer it."</p> + +<p>With that the Broad Run boys departed and the sheriff got up and dressed +himself. There was a mystery about two lynching parties in one night; +and there might be something in it that would affect his bond or his +political prospects if it were not looked into at once. He resolved to +alarm the town.</p> + +<p>At the jail door Hogan encountered Barbara piteously begging the men to +spare her brother's life.</p> + +<p>"Looky h-yer," he said, in a graveyard voice, "this ain't no kind uv a +place fer women folks. You go 'way."</p> + +<p>"No, I won't go away. I'm Tom's sister and I won't leave him. You +mustn't shoot him. He didn't kill George Lockwood."</p> + +<p>"You mus' go 'way, ur you'll git shot yer own self," said Jake.</p> + +<p>"Well, shoot me—d' you think I care? I'd rather die with Tom. I know +your voice, Jake Hogan; and if you kill Tom you'll be a murderer, for he +isn't."</p> + +<p>"Take her away, boys," said Jake, a little shaken by this unexpected +appeal. But nobody offered to remove Barbara. All of these rude fellows +were touched at sight of her tears. It had not occurred to them to take +into account the sister or the mother when they thoughtlessly resolved +to hang Tom. But the path of the reformer is always beset by such +thorns.</p> + +<p>"Down weth that ar door!" cried Jake, not to be baffled in his +resolution, and convinced by Barbara's solicitude that Tom was certainly +within. There was reason for haste too, for the villagers were already +stirring, and there might be opposition to his summary proceedings. But +pompous commands have not much effect on heavy doors, and Jake found +that this one would not down so easily as he hoped. Jake began pounding +on it with the poll of an ax borrowed from a neighboring wood-pile, and +meanwhile dispatched two men to break open the blacksmith shop and +fetch a sledge-hammer. But S'manthy's boy, on his own motion, went +around to the back of the jail with the purpose of trying the window. +Finding it as Bob had left it, with the grating torn out, he entered the +jail and penetrated to the dungeon, coming back presently to tell Jake +that he had found the window out, the dungeon door open, and Tom "clean +gone."</p> + +<p>"Thunder!" said Jake, dropping his ax. "Who could they be? The shuruff +says they wuz more 'n forty on 'em; so they couldn't be rescuers. They +hain't ten men in the wide worl' 'at thinks Tom's innercent. Like 's not +it's a lot uv fellers f'um the south-east of the k-younty, down +to<i>wards</i> Hardscrabble, whar Lockwood had some kin. They've hung him +summers. Let's ride 'roun' un see ef we kin fin' any traces. Un ef Hank +Plunkett has played a trick, we'll git squar' some day, ur my name +hain't Hogan."</p> + +<p>The men mounted and rode off. Barbara, who stood by in agony while Jake +beat upon the door, and who had heard the report that Tom was gone, +could not resist the despairing conclusion that he must have suffered +death. In her broken-hearted perplexity she could think of nothing +better than to hurry to the tavern where Hiram Mason was a boarder. Half +the people of the village were by this time in the streets, running here +and there and saying the most contradictory things. Mason had been +awakened with the rest, and by the time Barbara reached the tavern door, +she encountered him coming out.</p> + +<p>"W'y, Barbara! for goodness' sake, what brought you out? What <i>has</i> +happened?" he said.</p> + +<p>"O Mr. Mason! I'm afraid Tom's dead. I ran after Jake Hogan and his men +when I heard them pass, and begged Jake to let Tom off. They tried to +drive me away, but I staid; and when they got into jail, Tom wasn't +there. Jake said that the sheriff said he had been taken away and +lynched by more than forty men. Oh, if they have killed the poor boy!"</p> + +<p>"Maybe it isn't so bad," said Hiram, as he took her left hand in his +right and led her, as he might have led a weeping child, along the dark +street toward her uncle's house. "Don't cry any more, Barbara!"</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't wonder," he said, after a while, "if Bob McCord knows +something of this."</p> + +<p>"But we left him at home to-night," said Barbara; and then she began to +weep again, and to say over and over in an undertone, "O my poor Tom!"</p> + +<p>Mason could not say any more. He only grasped her hand the more firmly +in his and walked on. Presently a wagon came across the walk just in +front of them, issuing from an alley.</p> + +<p>"That's Butts's wagon, and that's his bay colt, I do believe," said +Barbara, looking sharply at the dark silhouette of the horse. "I know +the way that horse carries his head. I wonder if Butts has been mean +enough to have anything to do with this wicked business."</p> + +<p>What Barbara saw was Zeke Tucker hastening to replace the horse in the +stable, while Bob remained in town to keep a furtive watch over the +court-house till morning. Mason thought he saw some one moving in the +alley, and a detective impulse seized him.</p> + +<p>"Stay here a moment, Barbara," he said, and letting go of her hand he +ran into the alley and came plump upon the burly form of Bob McCord.</p> + +<p>"It's all right, Mr. Mason," chuckled Bob. "Tom's safe 'n' soun' where +they'll never find him. By thunder!" And Bob looked ready to explode +with laughter; the whole thing was to him one of the best of jokes.</p> + +<p>"Come and tell Barbara," said Mason.</p> + +<p>Bob came out of the alley to where Barbara was standing near the +white-spotted trunk of a young sycamore, and recounted briefly how he +had fooled Butts, and how he had got the keys from Plunkett. His +resonant laughter grated on Barbara's feelings, but she was too grateful +to him to resent the rudeness of his nature.</p> + +<p>"Where is Tom?" Barbara asked.</p> + +<p>"Oh! I'm a-playin' Abe Lincoln," said Bob in a whisper. "The fewer that +knows, the better it'll be. Tom says he won't light out, unless Abra'm +says to. Speak'n' of Abe Lincoln," he said, "I don't want to be seed +weth him to-night. You go back, Mr. Mason, un tell Abe 't Tom's safe. Ef +he thinks Tom's chances is better to stan' trial, w'y, he'll find 'im in +the court-house to-morry when the court wants 'im, shore as shootin'. +He's on'y out on bail to-night," said Bob, unwilling to lose his joke. +"But ef Abe thinks Tom hain't got no chance afore a jury, let 'im jest +wink one eye, kind-uh, un 'fore daybreak I'll have the boy tucked into a +bear's hole 't I know of, un he kin lay there safe fer a week un then +put out for Wisconsin, ur Missouri, ur the Ioway country. You go 'n' let +Abe know, un I'll see Barb'ry safe home—she won't gimme the mitten +to-night, I 'low." And Bob chuckled heartily; life was all so droll to +this man, blessed with a perfect digestion and not worried by any +considerable sense of responsibility.</p> + +<p>Mason went up to Lincoln's room and awakened him to tell him the story +of the night. The lawyer's face relaxed, and at length he broke into a +merry but restrained laughter. He saw almost as much fun in it as Bob +McCord had, and Mason felt a little out of patience that he should be so +much amused over such a life-and-death affair.</p> + +<p>"Tom doesn't want to be an outlaw," said Lincoln very gravely, when the +question of Tom's going or staying was put to him. "I don't believe he +could escape; and if he did, life would hardly be worth the having. +There is only just one chance of proving his innocence, but I think he'd +better stay and take that. Maybe we'll fail; if we do, it may yet be +time enough to fall back on Bob and his bear's hole. By the way, where +has Bob stowed Tom for the night?"</p> + +<p>"Bob won't tell," said Mason. "He says he's playing Abe Lincoln; and the +fewer that know, the better."</p> + +<p>Lincoln laughed again, and nodded his head approvingly. "So he brings +Tom to court in good time," he said.</p> + +<p>Mason went out and encountered Bob in the street, and gave him Lincoln's +decision. Then Hiram went and told Barbara about it, and sat with her +and her mother until morning. A while before daybreak, finding the town +free from any person disposed to molest Tom, Bob came to Barbara and had +her make a cup of coffee and give him a sandwich or two. These he took +out of the back gate of the Grayson garden and left them with Tom in the +court-house.</p> + +<p>The next morning at half-past 6 o'clock the lawyers of the circuit took +their seats at the breakfast-table in the meagerly furnished, +fly-specked dining-room of the tavern, the windows of which were +decorated with limp chintz curtains, and the space of which was entirely +filled with the odors of coffee and fried ham, mingled with smells +emitted by the rough-coat plastering and the poplar of the woodwork: +this compound odor of the building was a genius of the place. The old +judge, who sat at the end of the table opposite to that occupied by the +landlady, spread his red silk handkerchief across his lap preparatory to +beginning his meal, and looked up from under his overhanging brows at +Lincoln, who was just taking his seat.</p> + +<p>"What's this, Lincoln? I hear your client was carried off last night by +a mob of forty or fifty men and probably hanged. And you don't even get +up early to see about it."</p> + +<p>"My client will be in court this morning, Judge," said the lawyer, +looking up from his plate.</p> + +<p>"What!"</p> + +<p>"I am informed that he is in a safe place, and he will be ready for +trial this morning."</p> + +<p>"Where is he?" asked the judge, looking penetratingly at Lincoln.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus8" id="illus8"></a> +<img src="images/illus8.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"'WHERE IS HE?' ASKED THE JUDGE."</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>"I should be glad to tell your Honor; but the fact is, I can't manage to +find out myself."</p> + +<p>Then one of the other lawyers spoke up. "Lincoln, from what you say, I +suppose the first mob took Grayson to save him from the second. But I +don't see how the Old Boy you raised forty men on your side. I wouldn't +have believed that the poor devil had so many friends."</p> + +<p>"I? I didn't raise any men. I was sound asleep, and didn't know a word +about it until the row was all over."</p> + +<p>After breakfast there was much discussion of the case among the lawyers +standing in a group in the bar-room. What would Lincoln do? Why had he +not moved for a change of venue? Why had he subpœnaed no witnesses? +Would he plead necessary self-defense, or would Tom plead guilty and +throw himself on the mercy of the governor?</p> + +<p>The sheriff was very active in the latter part of the night in telling +his story and in making a display of zeal. It was he who had taken time +by the forelock in telling the judge all about the events of the night; +how his door had been beaten in by a great mob; how he had been rudely +knocked down and choked until he was almost insensible; and how pistols +had been cocked and placed against his head. Then he told of the coming +of the second mob. He did not know which way Tom had been taken, or +whether he had been hanged or not, but he had sent the deputy to make +inquiries.</p> + +<p>In making an examination of the prison after daylight, Sheriff Plunkett +found the keys of the jail inside of the hall-way, as though they had +been thrown in at the broken-down window. When he went to force the +court-house door, the key belonging to it was found lying on the +doorstep; and when on opening the door he saw Tom with his manacles on, +awaiting him, his surprise was complete.</p> + +<p>"I thought you'd been hung," he said.</p> + +<p>"Not yet," said Tom, grimly.</p> + +<p>"Say, where did that mob come from that got you out?"</p> + +<p>"You can't question me," said Tom. "I'm not a witness to-day; I'm a +prisoner."</p> + +<p>Many of the excited people, moved by the restive longings of a vague +curiosity, had followed the sheriff into the court-room, and the news of +Tom's presence there soon spread throughout the village. There were +already all sorts of contradictory and exciting rumors in the streets +about the events of the preceding night; women let their breakfast +coffee boil over while they discussed the affair across back fences; men +almost forgot to eat anything in their eagerness for news; country +people were flocking in by all the roads and listening to all sorts of +contradictory tales told by the villagers. When it became known that Tom +was alive and awaiting his trial there was a general rush to secure +seats, and the court-room was filled long before the bell in its belfry +had announced the hour for the trial to begin.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXVI" id="XXVI"></a>XXVI</h2> + +<h3>CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE</h3> + + +<p>At last the sheriff's new deputy went up the court-house stairs, and +pulled away on the rope that rattled the bell in the belfry—a bell that +uttered its notes in irregular groups, now pausing for breath, and now +sending one hurried stroke clattering hard on the heels of another. Its +clanking had no more dignity than the words of a gossip eagerly tattling +small news. While the bell was yet banging, Judge Watkins's iron-gray +head and stooped shoulders appeared; he pushed his way slowly through +the press, his brows contracted in impatience at finding even the +physical progress of the court obstructed by the vulgar. The people +squeezed themselves as nearly flat as possible in the endeavor to make +way for his Honor, of whom they were as much in awe as school-boys of a +stern master. Bob McCord, erect in the aisle, was an island in the very +channel, and the most serious obstacle to the judge's passage; nor did +it help things for Bob to turn sidewise, for he was equally obtrusive in +all his dimensions. The judge was a good deal ruffled in his endeavors +to pull by him.</p> + +<p>"I wish I <i>wuz</i> littler, Jedge," said Bob, with a fearless laugh that +startled the bystanders, "but I can't seem to take myself in another +eench."</p> + +<p>The dyspeptic judge was not without a sense of humor. It would be a +derogation from his dignity to say that he smiled at Bob's apology; but +certainly there was a little relaxation of his brows, and a less severe +set to his lips, when he finally edged past and left the crowd to close +around Big Bob again.</p> + +<p>The judge began the session by ordering the sheriff to bring in the +grand jury. This in turn was no easy task; but at length that body +succeeded in descending the stairs, defiling through the aisle, and +getting into the jury box. In a few words, precise and tart, the judge +charged the grand jurymen to inquire into two lawless attacks which had +been made on the sheriff during the night; into the conduct of the +sheriff; and into the evidently insecure condition of the county jail. +Then, when the members of the grand inquest had reluctantly made their +painful way up the stairs to their room overhead, the judge called the +case of <i>The People of the State of Illinois versus Thomas Grayson, +Junior</i>, and there was a hush in the crowded court-room.</p> + +<p>Tom sat regarding the crowd with such feelings as a gladiator doomed to +mortal combat might have had in looking on the curious spectators in the +Coliseum. Mrs. Grayson and Barbara had been provided with chairs within +the bar; but on his mother and sister Tom did not dare to let his eyes +rest. He saw, however, without looking directly at them, that little +Janet was standing by Barbara, and that his uncle sat with crest-fallen +face by his mother's side, and that his Aunt Charlotte had not come at +all. Just outside of the bar, but immediately behind Mrs. Grayson, so as +to form one of the group, stood Hiram Mason, erect and unblushing. One +of the landmarks on which Tom's gaze rested oftenest was the burly form +and round, ruddy face of Big Bob McCord, half way between the judge and +the door. And at one of the open windows there presently appeared the +lank countenance of Jake Hogan, who had climbed up from the outside, +with the notion that he was somehow bound to supervise the +administration of public justice. He managed with difficulty to get +perching-room on the window-sill. Into two of the raised back seats a +group of women had squeezed themselves to their last density, and among +them, singular and conspicuous as she always was, sat Rachel Albaugh. +Tom's was not the only eye that observed her; the lawyers from other +counties were asking one another who she was, and she had even attracted +the attention of the judge himself; for a gallant interest in +good-looking women lingers late in a Virginia gentleman, no matter how +austere his mold. At a pause in the preliminary proceedings the judge +spoke to the clerk, sitting just below and in front of him, at a raised +desk.</p> + +<p>"Magill, who is that girl?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Which one, Judge?" queried Magill, pretending to be in doubt.</p> + +<p>"You needn't look so innocent. Of course I mean the one a modest man +can't look at without being a little ashamed of himself. You know her +well enough, I'm sure."</p> + +<p>"I s'pose yer Honor manes John Albaugh's daughter," said Magill. "She's +the one that's at the bottom of all this row, they say."</p> + +<p>As soon as the judge heard that Rachel's beauty had something to do with +the case in hand he fell back into his official reserve, as though he +felt a scruple that to talk about her, or even to take note of her +beauty, might be, in some sort, a receiving of evidence not properly +before the court.</p> + +<p>The jury was very soon impaneled, for in that day entire ignorance of +the matter in hand was not thought indispensable to a wise decision. +Lincoln made no objection to any of the names drawn for jurymen except +that of Abijah Grimes, of Broad Run Township. The exclusion of Bijy's +open countenance from the jury box was another blow to Jake Hogan's +faith in the institutions of the land. His brow visibly darkened; here +was one more sign that a rich man's nephew could not be punished, and +that a poor man hadn't no kind uv a chance in sech a dodrotted country. +No time was spent in an opening speech; the preliminary oratory, by +which our metropolitan barristers consume the time of an indulgent court +and make a show of earning their preposterous fees, was rarely indulged +in that simpler land and time. The fees paid, indeed, would not have +justified the making of two speeches.</p> + +<p>No portion of the crowd tucked into the four walls of the Moscow +court-house showed more interest in the trial than the members of the +bar. The unsolved mystery that hung about Lincoln's line of defense, the +absence of any witnesses in Tom's behalf, the neglect of all the +ordinary precautions, such as the seeking of a change of venue, produced +a kind of flurry of expectation inside of the bar; and the lawyers in +their blue sparrow-tail coats with brass buttons, which constituted then +a kind of professional uniform, moved about with as much animation as +uneasy jay-birds, to which the general effect of their costume gave them +a sort of family likeness. Their attention was divided, it is true; for +when a member of the bar did succeed in settling himself into a chair, +which he always canted back on its hind legs, he was pretty sure to get +into a position that would enable him to get a glance now and then at +the face of Rachel Albaugh, who was interesting, not only for her +beauty, but on account of her supposed relation to the case actually +before the court. Never had Rachel's lustrous eyes seemed finer, never +had her marvelous complexion shown a tint more delicious; her interest +in the case lent animation to her expression, and her attitude of +listening set off the graceful turn of her features.</p> + +<p>The prosecuting attorney called Henry Miller to prove that Tom had been +irritated with Lockwood at Albaugh's, but Henry did what he could for +Tom, by insisting that it didn't "amount to anything" as a quarrel; it +was "only a huff," he said. The next witness called was the nervous +young man who had stood balancing himself on the threshold of Wooden & +Snyder's store when Tom had threatened Lockwood, in paying back the +money borrowed to discharge his gambling debt. He was a habitual gossip, +and the story lost nothing from his telling. He did not forget to +mention with evident pleasure that Rachel Albaugh's name had been used +in that quarrel. At this point Rachel, finding too many eyes turned from +the witness to the high seat at the back of the room, lowered her green +veil.</p> + +<p>Then the carpenter who had bought a three-cornered file on the morning +of Tom's outburst against Lockwood also swore to the details of that +affair as he remembered them, and the villager who had come in to buy +nails to repair his garden fence gave a third version of the quarrel; +but Snyder, the junior proprietor of the store, told the incident as it +was colored by his partisanship for Lockwood and in a way the most +damaging to Tom. He swore that Lockwood was really afraid of Tom, and +that at Lockwood's suggestion he had himself got Blackman to speak to +Tom's uncle about it. The young men followed who had heard Tom say, as +he left town after his break with his uncle, that George Lockwood was +the cause of all his troubles, and that Lockwood "had better not get in +his way again, if he knew what was good for him."</p> + +<p>Lincoln sat out that forenoon without making a note, without raising an +objection, without asking the witnesses a question, and without a book +or a scrap of paper before him. He did not break silence at all, except +to waive the cross-examination of each witness. The impression made in +Tom's favor by his voluntary appearance at the trial, when he might +perhaps have got away, was by this time dissipated, and the tide set now +overwhelmingly against him; and to this tide his self-contained lawyer +had offered not the slightest opposition. It was a serious question even +among the lawyers whether or not Lincoln had given up the case. But if +he had given up the case, why did he not fight on every small point, as +any other lawyer would have done, for the sake of making a show of zeal? +To Allen, the public prosecutor, there was something annoying and +ominous in Lincoln's silence; something that made him apprehensive of he +knew not what.</p> + +<p>When the court took its noon recess Barbara and her mother were in utter +despondency. It seemed to them that Lincoln was letting the case go by +default, while the prosecuting attorney was full of energetic activity.</p> + +<p>"Abra'm," said Mrs. Grayson, intercepting Lincoln as he passed out of +the bar with his hat drawn down over his anxious brows, "ain't ther' +nothin' you kin do for Tom? Can't you show 'em that he never done it?"</p> + +<p>"I'll do whatever I can, Aunt Marthy, but you must leave it to me." So +saying, he quickly left her and pushed on out of the door, while his +learned brethren gathered into a group within the bar, and unanimously +agreed in condemning his neglect of every opportunity to break the force +of the evidence against Tom. Why had he not objected to much of it, why +had he not cross-questioned, why did he not ask for a change of venue +yesterday?</p> + +<p>When the sheriff and his deputy, at the close of this forenoon session, +passed out of the court-house with Tom, there was a rush of people +around and in front of them. Men and boys climbed up on wagons, tree +stumps, and whatever afforded them a good view of the criminal. For the +most part the people were only moved by that heartless curiosity which +finds a pleasurable excitement in the sight of other people's woes, but +there was also very manifest an increasing resentment toward Tom, and +not a little of that human ferocity which is easily awakened in time of +excitement and which reminds us of a sort of second cousinship that +subsists between a crowd of men and a pack of wolves—or between a pack +of men and a crowd of wolves.</p> + +<p>When Tom found himself at length landed within the friendly prison +walls, out of sight and hearing of the unfeeling crowd, he was in the +deepest dejection. For what, indeed, that could happen now would be +sufficient to turn back such a tide of popular condemnation? Barbara +came to him presently with a dinner more relishable than that which the +sheriff was accustomed to serve to prisoners, and all the way to the +jail idle people had strolled after her; and though no one treated her +with disrespect, she could hear them saying, "That's his sister," and +their voices were neither sympathetic nor friendly. When she set down +the tray on one of the stools in front of Tom, she kept her eyes averted +from his, lest he should detect the despondency that she knew herself to +be incapable of hiding. On his part, Tom made a feint to eat the food, +for Barbara's sake. But after examining first one tid-bit and then +another, essaying to nibble a little first at this and then at that, he +got up abruptly and left the whole.</p> + +<p>"'T isn't any use, Barb," he said, huskily. "I can't eat."</p> + +<p>And Barbara, knowing how much need her brother had for all his +self-control, did not trust herself to speak, but took up the tray and +went out again, leaving Tom, when the deputy had locked the door, +sitting alone on the bench with his head between his hands.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXVII" id="XXVII"></a>XXVII</h2> + +<h3>LIGHT IN A DARK PLACE</h3> + + +<p>The people who had seats in the court-room were, for the most part, too +wise in their generation to vacate them during the noon recess. Jake +Hogan clambered down from his uncomfortable window-roost for a little +while, and Bob McCord took a plunge into the grateful fresh air, but +both got back in time to secure their old points of observation. The +lawyers came back early, and long before the judge returned the +ruddy-faced Magill was seated behind his little desk, facing the crowd +and pretending to write. He was ill at ease; the heart of the man had +gone out to Tom. He never for a moment doubted that Tom killed Lockwood, +but then a sneak like Lockwood "richly desarved it," in Magill's +estimation. Judge Watkins's austere face assumed a yet more severe +expression; for though pity never interfered with justice in his nature, +it often rendered the old man unhappy, and therefore more than usually +irascible.</p> + +<p>There was a painful pause after the judge had taken his seat and ordered +the prisoner brought in. It was like a wait before a funeral service, +but rendered ten times more distressing by the element of suspense. The +judge's quill pen could be heard scratching on the paper as he noted +points for his charge to the jury. To Hiram Mason the whole trial was +unendurable. The law had the aspect of a relentless boa-constrictor, +slowly winding itself about Tom, while all these spectators, with merely +a curious interest in the horrible, watched the process. The deadly +creature had now to make but one more coil, and then, in its cruel and +deliberate fashion, it would proceed to tighten its twists until the +poor boy should be done to death. Barbara and the mother were entwined +by this fate as well, while Hiram had not a little finger of help for +them. He watched Lincoln as he took seat in moody silence. Why had the +lawyer not done anything to help Tom? Any other lawyer with a desperate +case would have had a stack of law-books in front of him, as a sort of +dam against the flood. But Lincoln had neither law-books nor so much as +a scrap of paper.</p> + +<p>The prosecuting attorney, with a taste for climaxes, reserved his chief +witness to the last. Even now he was not ready to call Sovine. He would +add one more stone to the pyramid of presumptive proof before he capped +it all with certainty. Markham was therefore put up to identify the old +pistol which he had found in Tom's room. Lincoln again waived +cross-examination. Blackman felt certain that he himself could have done +better. He mentally constructed the questions that should have been put +to the deputy sheriff. Was the pistol hot when you found it? Did it +smell of powder? Did the family make any objection to your search?—Even +if the judge had ruled out such questions the jury would have heard the +questions, and a question often has weight in spite of rulings from the +bench. The prosecuting attorney began to feel sure of his own case; he +had come to his last witness and his great stroke.</p> + +<p>"Call David Sovine," he said, wiping his brow and looking relieved.</p> + +<p>"David Sovine! David Sovine! David Sovine!" cried the sheriff in due and +ancient form, though David sat almost within whispering distance of him.</p> + +<p>The witness stood up.</p> + +<p>"Howld up your roight hand," said the clerk.</p> + +<p>Then when Dave's right hand was up Magill rattled off the form of the +oath in the most approved and clerkly style, only adding to its effect +by the mild brogue of his pronunciation.</p> + +<p>"Do sol'm swear 't yull tell th' truth, th' 'ole truth, en nuthin' b' +th' truth, s' yilpye God," said the clerk, without once pausing for +breath.</p> + +<p>Sovine ducked his head and dropped his hand, and the solemnity was over.</p> + +<p>Dave, who was evidently not accustomed to stand before such a crowd, +appeared embarrassed. He had deteriorated in appearance lately. His +patent-leather shoes were bright as ever, his trousers were trimly held +down by straps, his hair was well kept in place by bear's oil or what +was sold for bear's oil, but there was a nervousness in his expression +and carriage that gave him the air of a man who has been drinking to +excess. Tom looked at him with defiance, but Dave was standing at the +right of the judge, while the prisoner's dock was on the left, and the +witness did not regard Tom at all, but told his story with clearness. +Something of the bold assurance which he displayed at the inquest was +lacking. His coarse face twitched and quivered, and this appeared to +annoy him; he sought to hide it by an affectation of nonchalance, as he +rested his weight now on one foot and now on the other.</p> + +<p>"Do you know the prisoner?" asked the prosecutor, with a motion of his +head toward the dock.</p> + +<p>"Yes, well enough"; but in saying this Dave did not look toward Tom, but +out of the window.</p> + +<p>"You've played cards with him, haven't you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Tell his Honor and the jury when and where you played with him."</p> + +<p>"We played one night last July, in Wooden & Snyder's store."</p> + +<p>"Who proposed to Tom to play with you?"</p> + +<p>"George Lockwood. He hollered up the stove-pipe for Tom to come down an' +take a game or two with me."</p> + +<p>"What did you win that night from Tom?"</p> + +<p>"Thirteen dollars, an' his hat an' coat an' boots, an' his han'ke'chi'f +an' knife."</p> + +<p>"Who, if anybody, lent him the money to get back his things which you +had won?"</p> + +<p>"George Lockwood."</p> + +<p>Here the counsel paused a moment, laid down a memorandum he had been +using, and looked about his table until he found another; then he +resumed his questions.</p> + +<p>"Tell the jury whether you were at the Timber Creek camp-meeting on the +9th of August."</p> + +<p>"Yes; I was."</p> + +<p>"What did you see there? Tell about the shooting."</p> + +<p>Dave told the story, with a little prompting in the way of questions +from the lawyer, substantially as he had told it at the coroner's +inquest. He related his parting from Lockwood, Tom's appearance on the +scene, Tom's threatening speech, Lockwood's entreaty that Tom would not +shoot him, and then Tom's shooting. In making these statements Dave +looked at the stairway in the corner of the court-room with an air of +entire indifference, and he even made one or two efforts to yawn, as +though the case was a rather dull affair to him.</p> + +<p>"How far away from Mason and Lockwood were you when the shooting took +place?" asked the prosecutor.</p> + +<p>"Twenty foot or more."</p> + +<p>"What did Tom shoot with?"</p> + +<p>"A pistol."</p> + +<p>"What kind of a pistol?"</p> + +<p>"One of the ole-fashion' sort—flint-lock, weth a ruther long barrel."</p> + +<p>The prosecuting lawyer now beckoned to the sheriff, who handed down to +him, from off his high desk, Tom's pistol.</p> + +<p>"Tell the jury whether this looks like the pistol."</p> + +<p>"'T was just such a one as that. I can't say it was that, but it was +hung to the stock like that, an' about as long in the barrel."</p> + +<p>"What did Grayson do when he had shot George, and what did you do?"</p> + +<p>"Tom run off as fast as his feet could carry him, an' I went up +to<i>wards</i> George, who'd fell over. He was dead ag'inst I could get +there. Then purty soon the crowd come a-runnin' up to see what the +fracas was."</p> + +<p>After bringing out some further details Allen turned to his opponent +with an air of confidence and said:</p> + +<p>"You can have the witness, Mr. Lincoln."</p> + +<p>There was a brief pause, during which the jurymen changed their +positions on the hard seats, making a little rustle as they took their +right legs from off their left and hung their left legs over their right +knees, or vice versa. In making these changes they looked inquiringly at +one another, and it was clear that their minds were so well made up that +even a judge's charge in favor of the prisoner, if such a thing had been +conceivable, would have gone for nothing. Lincoln at length rose slowly +from his chair, and stood awhile in silence, regarding Sovine, who +seemed excited and nervous, and who visibly paled a little as his eyes +sought to escape from the lawyer's gaze.</p> + +<p>"You said you were with Lockwood just before the shooting?" the counsel +asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes." Dave was all alert and answered promptly.</p> + +<p>"Were you not pretty close to him when he was shot?"</p> + +<p>"No, I wasn't," said Dave, his suspicions excited by this mode of +attack. It appeared that the lawyer, for some reason, wanted to make him +confess to having been nearer to the scene and perhaps implicated, and +he therefore resolved to fight off.</p> + +<p>"Are you sure you were as much as ten feet away?"</p> + +<p>"I was more than twenty," said Dave, huskily.</p> + +<p>"What had you and George Lockwood been doing together?"</p> + +<p>"We'd been—talking." Manifestly Dave took fresh alarm at this line of +questioning.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you had?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"In a friendly way?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, tubby shore; we never had any fuss."</p> + +<p>"You parted from him as a friend?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, of course."</p> + +<p>"By the time Tom came up you'd got—how far away? Be careful now."</p> + +<p>"I've told you twiste. More than twenty feet."</p> + +<p>"You might have been mistaken about its being Tom then?"</p> + +<p>"No, I wasn't."</p> + +<p>"Did you know it was Tom before he fired?"</p> + +<p>"Tubby shore, I did."</p> + +<p>"What time of night was it?"</p> + +<p>"Long to<i>wards</i> 10, I sh'd think."</p> + +<p>"It might have been 11?"</p> + +<p>"No, 't wusn't later'n about 10." This was said doggedly.</p> + +<p>"Nor before 9?"</p> + +<p>"No, 't wus nigh onto 10, I said." And the witness showed some +irritation, and spoke louder than before.</p> + +<p>"How far away were you from the pulpit and meeting-place?"</p> + +<p>"'Twixt a half a mile an' a mile."</p> + +<p>"Not over a mile?"</p> + +<p>"No, skiercely a mile."</p> + +<p>"But don't you think it might have been a little less than half a mile?"</p> + +<p>"No, it's nigh onto a mile, I didn't measure it, but it's a mighty big +three-quarters."</p> + +<p>The witness answered combatively, and in this mood he made a better +impression than he did on his direct examination. The prosecuting +attorney looked relieved. Tom listened with an attention painful to see, +his eyes moving anxiously from Lincoln to Dave as he wondered what point +in Dave's armor the lawyer could be driving at. He saw plainly that his +salvation was staked on some last throw.</p> + +<p>"You didn't have any candle in your hand, did you, at any time during +the evening?"</p> + +<p>"No!" said Dave, positively. For some reason this question disconcerted +him and awakened his suspicion. "What should we have a candle for?" he +added.</p> + +<p>"Did either George Lockwood or Tom have a candle?"</p> + +<p>"No, of course not! What 'd they have candles for?"</p> + +<p>"Where were the lights on the camp-ground?"</p> + +<p>"Closte by the preachers' tent."</p> + +<p>"More than three-quarters of a mile away from the place where the murder +took place?"</p> + +<p>"Anyway as much as three-quarters," said Dave, who began to wish that he +could modify his previous statement of the distance.</p> + +<p>"How far away were you from Lockwood when the murder took place?"</p> + +<p>"Twenty feet."</p> + +<p>"You said 'or more' awhile ago."</p> + +<p>"Well, 't wusn't no less, p'r'aps," said Dave, showing signs of worry. +"You don't think I measured it, do yeh?"</p> + +<p>"There were no lights nearer than three-quarters of a mile?"</p> + +<p>"No," said the witness, the cold perspiration beading on his face as he +saw Lincoln's trap opening to receive him.</p> + +<p>"You don't mean to say that the platform torches up by the preachers' +tent gave any light three-quarters of a mile away and in the woods?"</p> + +<p>"No, of course not."</p> + +<p>"How could you see Tom and know that it was he that fired, when the only +light was nearly a mile away, and inside a circle of tents?"</p> + +<p>"Saw by moonlight," said Sovine, snappishly, disposed to dash at any gap +that offered a possible way of escape.</p> + +<p>"What sort of trees were there on the ground?"</p> + +<p>"Beech."</p> + +<p>"Beech-leaves are pretty thick in August?" asked Lincoln.</p> + +<p>"Ye-es, ruther," gasped the witness, seeing a new pitfall yawning just +ahead of him.</p> + +<p>"And yet light enough from the moon came through these thick beech-trees +to let you know Tom Grayson?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"And you could see him shoot?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"And you full twenty feet away?"</p> + +<p>"Well, about that; nearly twenty, anyhow." Dave shifted his weight to +his right foot.</p> + +<p>"And you pretend to say to this court that by the moonlight that you got +through the beech-trees in August you could even see that it was a +pistol that Tom had?"</p> + +<p>"Ye-es." Dave now stood on his left foot.</p> + +<p>"And you could see what kind of a pistol it was?" This was said with a +little laugh very exasperating to the witness.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I could," answered Dave, with dogged resolution not to be faced +down.</p> + +<p>"And just how the barrel was hung to the stock?" There was a positive +sneer in Lincoln's voice now.</p> + +<p>"Yes." This was spoken feebly.</p> + +<p>"And you twenty feet or more away?"</p> + +<p>"I've got awful good eyes, an' I know what I see," whined the witness, +apologetically.</p> + +<p>Here Lincoln paused and looked at Sovine, whose extreme distress was +only made the more apparent by his feeble endeavor to conceal his +agitation. The counsel, after regarding his uneasy victim for a quarter +of a minute, thrust his hand into the tail-pocket of his blue coat, and +after a little needless fumbling drew forth a small pamphlet in green +covers. He turned the leaves of this with extreme deliberation, while +the court-room was utterly silent. The members of the bar had as by +general consent put their chairs down on all-fours, and were intently +watching the struggle between the counsel and the witness. The +sallow-faced judge had stopped the scratching of his quill, and had +lowered his spectacles on his nose, that he might study the distressed +face of the tormented Sovine. Mrs. Grayson's hands were on her lap, +palms downward; her eyes were fixed on Abra'm, and her mouth was half +open, as though she were going to speak.</p> + +<p>Barbara found it hard to keep her seat, she was so eager for Lincoln to +go on, and Tom was leaning forward breathlessly in the dock; his throat +felt dry, and he choked when he tried to swallow; it seemed to him that +he would smother with the beating of his heart. But it was worth while +to turn away from these more interested parties to look for a moment at +the ruddy face of Bob McCord, which was puckered to a kind of focus with +an expression that was customary with him in a moment of supreme +interest, as when he was drawing a sure bead on a bear or deer. It was +worth while to regard Rachel Albaugh, who had lifted the veil from her +face radiant with interest. Lincoln appeared to be the only perfectly +deliberate person in the room. He seemed disposed to protract the +situation as long as possible. He held his victim on the rack and he let +him suffer. He would turn a leaf or two in his pamphlet and then look up +at the demoralized witness, as though to fathom the depth of his torture +and to measure the result. At last he fixed his thumb firmly at a +certain place on a page and turned his eyes to the judge.</p> + +<p>"Now, your Honor," he said to the court, "this witness," with a +half-contemptuous gesture of his awkward left hand toward Sovine, "has +sworn over and over that he recognized the accused as the person who +shot George Lockwood, near the Union camp-meeting on the night of the +9th of last August, and that he, the witness, was standing at the time +twenty feet or more away, while the scene of the shooting was nearly a +mile distant from the torches inside the circle of tents. So remarkably +sharp are this witness's eyes that he even saw what kind of pistol the +prisoner held in his hands, and how the barrel was hung to the stock, +and he is able to identify this pistol of Grayson's as precisely like +and probably the identical weapon." Here Lincoln paused and scrutinized +Sovine. "All these details he saw and observed in the brief space of +time preceding the fatal shot,—saw and observed them at 10 o'clock at +night, by means of moonlight shining through the trees—beech-trees in +full leaf. That is a pretty hard story. How much light does even a full +moon shed in a beech woods like that on the Union camp-ground? Not +enough to see your way by, as everybody knows who has had to stumble +through such woods." Lincoln paused here, that the words he had spoken +might have time to produce their due effect on the judge, and especially +on the slower wits of some of the jury. Meanwhile he turned the leaves +of his pamphlet. Then he began once more: "But, may it please the court, +before proceeding with the witness I would like to have the jury look at +the almanac which I hold in my hand. They will here see that on the +night of the 9th of last August, when this extraordinary witness"—with +a sneer at Dave, who had sunk down on a chair in exhaustion—"saw the +shape of a pistol at twenty feet away, at 10 o'clock, by moonlight, the +moon did not rise until half-past 1 in the morning."</p> + +<p>Sovine had been gasping like a fish newly taken from the water while +Lincoln uttered these words, and he now began to mutter something.</p> + +<p>"You may have a chance to explain when the jury get done looking at the +almanac," said the lawyer to him. "For the present you'd better keep +silence."</p> + +<p>There was a rustle of excitement in the court-room, but at a word from +the judge the sheriff's gavel fell and all was still. Lincoln walked +slowly toward the jury-box and gave the almanac to the foreman, an +intelligent farmer. Countrymen in that day were used to consulting +almanacs, and one group after another of the jurymen satisfied +themselves that on the night of the 9th, that is, on the morning of the +10th, the moon came up at half-past 1 o'clock. When all had examined +the page, the counsel recovered his little book.</p> + +<p>"Will you let me look at it?" asked the judge.</p> + +<p>"Certainly, your Honor"; and the little witness was handed up to the +judge, who with habitual caution looked it all over, outside and in, +even examining the title-page to make sure that the book was genuine and +belonged to the current year. Then he took note on a slip of paper of +the moon's rising on the night of August 9 and 10, and handed back the +almanac to Lincoln, who slowly laid it face downward on the table in +front of him, open at the place of its testimony. The audience in the +court-room was utterly silent and expectant. The prosecuting attorney +got half-way to his feet to object to Lincoln's course, but he thought +better of it and sat down again.</p> + +<p>"Now, may it please the court," Lincoln went on, "I wish at this point +to make a motion. I think the court will not regard it as out of order, +as the case is very exceptional—a matter of life and death. This +witness has solemnly sworn to a story that has manifestly not one word +of truth in it. It is one unbroken falsehood. In order to take away the +life of an innocent man he has invented this atrocious web of lies, to +the falsity of which the very heavens above bear witness, as this +almanac shows you. Now why does David Sovine go to all this trouble to +perjure himself? Why does he wish to swear away the life of that young +man who never did him any harm?" Lincoln stood still a moment, and +looked at the witness, who had grown ghastly pale about the lips. Then +he went on, very slowly. "Because that witness shot and killed George +Lockwood himself. I move your Honor, that David Sovine be arrested at +once for murder."</p> + +<p>These words, spoken with extreme deliberation and careful emphasis, +shook the audience like an explosion.</p> + +<p>The prosecutor got to his feet, probably to suggest that the motion was +not in order, since he had yet a right to a re-direct examination of +Sovine, but, as the attorney for the State, his duty was now a divided +one as regarded two men charged with the same crime. So he waved his +hand irresolutely, stammered inarticulately, and sat down.</p> + +<p>"This is at least a case of extraordinary perjury," said the judge. +"Sheriff, arrest David Sovine! This matter will have to be looked into."</p> + +<p>The sheriff came down from his seat, and went up to the now stunned and +bewildered Sovine.</p> + +<p>"I arrest you," he said, taking him by the arm.</p> + +<p>The day-and-night fear of detection in which Dave had lived for all +these weeks had wrecked his self-control at last.</p> + +<p>"God!" he muttered, dropping his head with a sort of shudder. "'T ain't +any use keepin' it back any longer. I—didn't mean to shoot him, an' I +would n't 'a' come here ag'inst Tom if I could 'a' got away."</p> + +<p>The words appeared to be wrung from him by some internal agony too +strong for him to master; they were the involuntary result of the +breaking down of his forces under prolonged suffering and terror, +culminating in the slow torture inflicted by his cross-examination. A +minute later, when his spasm of irresolution had passed off, he would +have retracted his confession if he could. But the sheriff's deputy, +with the assistance of a constable, was already leading him through the +swaying crowd in the aisle, while many people got up and stood on the +benches to watch the exit of the new prisoner. When at length Sovine had +disappeared out of the door the spectators turned and looked at Tom, +sitting yet in the dock, but with the certainty of speedy release before +him. The whole result of Lincoln's masterful stroke was now for the +first time realized, and the excitement bade fair to break over bounds. +McCord doubled himself up once or twice in the effort to repress his +feelings out of respect for the court, but his emotions were too much +for him; his big fist, grasping his ragged hat, appeared above his head.</p> + +<p>"Goshamity! Hooray!" he burst out with a stentorian voice, stamping his +foot as he waved his hat.</p> + +<p>At this the whole court-roomful of people burst into cheers, laughter, +cries, and waving of hats and handkerchiefs, in spite of the sheriff's +sharp rapping and shouts of "Order in court!" And when at length the +people were quieted a little, Mrs. Grayson spoke up, with a choking +voice:</p> + +<p>"Jedge, ain't you a-goin' to let him go now?"</p> + +<p>There was a new movement of feeling, and the judge called out, "Sheriff, +order in court!" But his voice was husky and tremulous. He took off his +spectacles to wipe them, and he looked out of the window behind him, +and put his handkerchief first to one eye, then to the other, before he +put his glasses back.</p> + +<p>"May it please the court," said the tall lawyer, who had remained +standing, waiting for the tempest to subside, and who now spoke in a +subdued voice, "I move your Honor, that the jury be instructed to render +a verdict of 'Not guilty.'" The judge turned to the prosecuting +attorney.</p> + +<p>"I don't think, your Honor," stammered Allen, "that I ought to object to +the motion of my learned brother, under the peculiar circumstances of +this case."</p> + +<p>"I don't think you ought," said the judge, promptly, and he proceeded to +give the jury instructions to render the desired verdict. As soon as the +jury, nothing loath, had gone through the formality of a verdict, the +sheriff came and opened the door of the box to allow Tom to come out.</p> + +<p>"O Tom! they are letting you out," cried Janet, running forward to meet +him as he came from the dock. She had not quite understood the drift of +these last proceedings until this moment.</p> + +<p>This greeting by little Janet induced another burst of excitement. It +was no longer of any use for the judge to keep on saying "Sheriff, +command order in court!" All the sheriff's rapping was in vain; it was +impossible to arrest and fine everybody. The judge was compelled to +avail himself of the only means of saving the court's dignity by +adjourning for the day, while Mrs. Grayson was already embracing her +Tommy under his very eyes.</p> + +<p>As for Barbara, overcome by the reaction of feeling, she sat still in +passive happiness which she did not care to show to this crowd, whose +late unfriendly manifestations toward Tom she could not yet quite +forgive. Hardly conscious of what was passing around her, she did not +observe that her mother had presently let go her hold on Tom, and that +Tom had come near and was standing in front of her. Her natural reserve +made her wish to avoid a scene in public, but there are times when +natural reserve is not a sufficient barrier. Tom gently put his hand on +her shoulder and said "Barb," then all sense of the presence of others +was obliterated in an instant. The only fact that she took note of was +that her brother was there before her with unmanacled hands, free to go +where he listed and forever delivered from the danger that had hung over +him so imminently. Of what she did you must not expect a description; +embraces and kisses of joy would seem hysterical if set down here in +black and white for readers of our time, who like the color washed out +of a human passion before it is offered to them. No! no! let us turn +away—we do not like such things. But those hearty Illinois folk who +looked on that scene between Barbara and Tom, and whose quick sympathies +made them part of it, did not feel the slightest disapproval when they +saw the faithful sister put her arms about Tom's neck; and every one of +her kisses they seconded with clapping of hands and cheers, and some of +the people were even foolish enough to weep for sympathy.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXVIII" id="XXVIII"></a>XXVIII</h2> + +<h3>FREE</h3> + + +<p>The lawyers presently congratulated Lincoln, Barbara tried to thank him, +and Judge Watkins felt that Impartial Justice herself, as represented in +his own person, could afford to praise the young man for his conduct of +the case.</p> + +<p>"Abr'am," said Mrs. Grayson, "d' yeh know I kind uv lost confidence in +you when you sot there so long without doin' <i>any</i>thing." Then, after a +moment of pause: "Abr'am, I'm thinkin' I'd ort to deed you my farm. +You've 'arned it, my son; the good Lord A'mighty knows you have."</p> + +<p>"I'll never take one cent, Aunt Marthy—not a single red cent"; and the +lawyer turned away to grasp Tom's hand. But the poor fellow who had so +recently felt the halter about his neck could not yet speak his +gratitude. "Tom here," said Lincoln, "will be a help in your old days, +Aunt Marthy, and then I'll be paid a hundred times. You see it'll tickle +me to think that when you talk about this you'll say: 'That's the same +Abe Lincoln that I used to knit stockings for when he was a poor little +fellow, with his bare toes sticking out of ragged shoes in the snow.'"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Grayson tried to say something more, but she could not.</p> + +<p>Tom got his speech at length, when he saw the gigantesque form and big +laughing red face of Bob McCord approaching him.</p> + +<p>"Bob!" he said, "you dear old Bob! God A'mighty bless you, old fellow."</p> + +<p>"I'm that tickled," said Bob, rocking to and fro with amusement. "Tom, +you'd orto 'a' seed Jake Hogan's face. I watched it closte. Go to +thunder! How it did git mixed about the time you wuz let out! I'm +a-goin' to find 'im un see how he feels agin this time"; and Bob let go +of Tom's hand and moved off through the crowd to look for Jake.</p> + +<p>Tom took mechanically all the congratulations offered to him. Rachel +came with the rest; there were some traces of tears about her long +lashes as she beamed on Tom the full effulgence of her beauty and +friendliness. Tom gave a little start when he saw her; then he took her +hand, as he did that of the others, in a half-unconscious way. He was +everybody's hero in the reaction of feeling, but he had been so near to +the gallows within an hour that he had difficulty yet in appreciating +the change.</p> + +<p>"You'll come back into the office again, won't you, Tom?" said Blackman, +in a spurt of good feeling.</p> + +<p>"I don't know, Mr. Blackman. I must go home and rest, and be sure I'm +alive, before I know what I shall do."</p> + +<p>Tom's uncle had been utterly surprised by the turn affairs had taken, +for he had never really doubted Tom's guilt. Now he was, for the first +time, almost effusive; he gave himself credit that he had stood by his +nephew.</p> + +<p>"We'd like to have you back, Tom," he said; "and you'd be a general +favorite now."</p> + +<p>"I want to go home first, Uncle Tom, and get the place out of debt, so +mother and Barb'll be easy in their minds. Then I don't know what I +<i>shall</i> do. I don't feel as if I could ever come to town again without +fetching mother with me. But I can't tell; I want to get out of this +town; I hate the very sight of it. Come, Barb; do let's get off. Where's +the horse? I want to get home, where I won't see any more of this crowd, +and where I can be alone with you and mother."</p> + +<p>Before they had made their way to the front door of the court-house the +multitude outside had got firm hold of the fact of Tom's acquittal and +the manner of it, and when he appeared they set up a shout; then there +were cheers and more cheers. But Tom only looked worried, and sought to +extricate himself from the people who followed him. At length he managed +to get away from the last of them.</p> + +<p>"You haven't ate anything to-day," said Janet, who clung to his hand and +danced along by his side. "Come to our house to supper. I expect we'll +have warm biscuits and honey."</p> + +<p>"You dear little body!" said Tom. "I can't stop for supper to-night, +Janet; I must go home with mother. I want to get out of the ugly town. +I'll come and see you sometimes, and I'll have you out at the farm lots +of times." He stopped to put his pale, trembling hand under her pretty +chin; he turned her face up to his, he stooped and kissed her. But no +entreaty could prevail on him to delay his departure. Not even the +biscuits and honey on which Janet insisted. Hiram Mason helped him to +hitch up old Blaze-face to the wagon. Then Tom turned to Hiram and +grasped both his arms.</p> + +<p>"You're going with us," he said abruptly.</p> + +<p>"Not to-night, Tom. I'll come in a few days, when I've finished my +writing in the clerk's office. I'll stop on my way home."</p> + +<p>"I want to thank you, but I can't; confound it," said Tom.</p> + +<p>"Never mind, Tom; I'm almost happier than you are."</p> + +<p>"I'm not exactly happy, Mason," said Tom; "I've got that plaguey feeling +of a rope around my neck yet. I can't get rid of it here in Moscow. +Maybe out at the farm I shall be able to shake it off. Janet, won't you +run into the house and tell mother and Barbara to come out quick—I want +to get away."</p> + +<p>Tom had expected that Bob McCord would take a place in the wagon, but +Bob was not so modest as to forego a public triumph. He first went and +recovered the wagon-spoke from beneath the court-house steps, where he +had hidden it the night before. This he put into the baggy part of his +"wamus," or hunting-jacket—the part above the belt into which he had +often thrust prairie-chickens when he had no game-bag. Then he contrived +to encounter Jake Hogan in the very thick of the crowd.</p> + +<p>"O Jake!" he called, "what's the price uh rope? How's the hangin' +business a-gittin' along these days? Doin' well at it, ain't yeh?"</p> + +<p>"Wha' joo mean?" asked Jake, as he half turned about and regarded Bob +with big eyes.</p> + +<p>"Seems like's ef you'd ort to be'n ole han' by this time, Jake. You sot +the time fer Tom's funeral three deffer'nt nights: wunst you wuz a-goin' +to have it over't Perrysburg, un wunst the Sunday night that Pete +Markham throwed you off the track weth that air yarn about a wall-eyed +man weth red whiskers, un wunst ag'in las' night. Ev'ry time you sot it +they wuz some sort uv a hitch; it didn't seem to come off rightly. +S'pose un you try yer hand on Dave Sovine awhile. They's luck in a +change."</p> + +<p>"I hain't had no han' in no hangin's nor nuthin' uh that sort," snarled +Jake.</p> + +<p>"<i>You</i> hain't? Jest you go un tell that out on Broad Run, sonny. Looky +h-yer, Jake. I've got the evidence agin you, un ef you <i>dare</i> me I'll go +afore the gran' jury weth it. I jest dare you to dare me, <i>ef</i> you +dare."</p> + +<p>But Jake did not dare to dare him. He only moved slowly away toward his +horse, the excited crowd surging after him, to his disgust.</p> + +<p>"Looky h-yer, Jake," Bob went on, following his retreat. "I want to gin +you some <i>ad</i>vice as a well-wishin' friend un feller-citizen. Barb'ry +knowed your v'ice las' night, un Barb'ry Grayson hain't the sort uv a +gal to stan' the sort uv foolin' 't you've been a-doin' about Tom."</p> + +<p>"Aw, you shet up yer jaw, now wonchoo?" said Jake.</p> + +<p>"I say, Jake," said McCord, still pursuing the crest-fallen leader of +Broad Run, while the crowd moved about Big Bob as a storm center. "I say +there, Jake; liker 'n not Barb'ry'll stay in town to-night un go afore +the gran' jury to-morry. Now ef I wuz you I'd cl'ar the county this very +<i>i</i>dentical night. Your ornery lantern-jawed face wouldn' look half's +han'some as Tom's in that air box in front uv the sher'f."</p> + +<p>"You shet up!" said Jake.</p> + +<p>"Come un shet me up, wonch you?" said Bob, rubbing his hands and +laughing.</p> + +<p>Jake had reached his horse now, and without another word he mounted and +rode away. But Bob kept walking about with his fists in his pockets, his +big elbows protruding, and his face radiant with mischief until Sheriff +Plunkett came out of the court-house.</p> + +<p>"I say, Sher'f," he called, "how many men'd you say they wuz in that air +fust mob?"</p> + +<p>"Nigh onto forty, I should think," said Plunkett; "but of course I can't +just exactly say." And he walked away, not liking to be catechised. +There was something mysterious about that mob, and he was afraid there +might be something that would count in the next election.</p> + +<p>"They had pistols, didn't they?" Bob continued, following him.</p> + +<p>"Yes, to be sure," said Plunkett, pausing irresolutely.</p> + +<p>"Now looky h-yer, Sher'f; I know sumpin about that air mob. They wuzn't +but jest on'y two men in the whole thing. I don't say who they <i>wuz</i>"; +and here Bob looked about on the crowd, which showed unmistakable signs +of its relish for this revelation.</p> + +<p>"Un as fer pistols, they did have 'em. I've got one of 'em h-yer." Bob +here pulled the wagon-spoke from the depths of his hunting-shirt. +"That's one of the identical hoss-pistols that wuz p'inted at your head +las' night. Felt kind-uh cold un creepy like, didn't it now, Hank +Plunkett, when its muzzle was agin yer head, un it cocked, besides? +Ha-a! ha!"</p> + +<p>The crowd jeered and joined in Bob's wild merriment.</p> + +<p>"I'll have you arrested," said the sheriff severely. "You've confessed +enough now to make the grand jury indict you."</p> + +<p>"Fer what? Fer savin' the life uv a innercent man? That'd be a purty +howdy-do, now wouldn't it? Un it would be a lovely story to tell at my +trial, that the sher'f uv this yere county gin up his keys to two men, +<i>two lonesome men weth on'y wagon-spokes</i>! He-e! An' the wagon-spokes +cocked! A wagon-spoke's a mighty bad thing when it does go off, +especially ef it's loadened with buckshot."</p> + +<p>Plunkett came close to McCord, and said in an undertone loud enough to +be heard by others: "Ah, Bob, I knowed it wuz your voice, un I knowed +your grip. They ain't any other man in this county that can put me down +the way you did las' night. But don't you tell Jake ur any of his crowd +about it"; and he winked knowingly at Bob.</p> + +<p>"Aw, go to thunder, now!" said Bob, speaking loudly and not to be +cajoled into giving up his fun. "Sher'f, you can't come no gum games on +<i>me</i>. By jeementley crickets, you wuz skeered, un that's all they is +about it. You wilted so 't I wuz afeerd you'd clean faint away afore I +could git out uv yeh where the keys wuz. Why didn't you hide Tom +summers? You wuz afeerd Broad Run'd vote agin you, un you as good as +tole Jake Hogan ut you wouldn' make no trouble when he come to lynch +Tom."</p> + +<p>"No, I didn't; I didn't have anything to say to Jake."</p> + +<p>"Ef you take my case afore the gran' jury un I'm tried, I'll prove it on +yeh. Now, Hank Plunkett, they's two things that'll never happen." Here +Bob smote his right fist into his left palm. "One is 't you'll ever +fetch my case afore the gran' jury. That's as shore's you're born. T' +other is that you'll ever be elected ag'in! Wha'd joo turn off Pete +Markham fer? Fer tryin' to save Tom, un to please Broad Run. Now you're +come up weth, ole hoss. Markham'll be the nex' sher'f. You jest cut a +notch in a stick to remember't Big Bob McCord tole you so. Ef 't hadn' +been fer me 'n' Abe Lincoln you 'n' Jake, 'twext and 'tween yeh, 'd 'a' +hung the wrong feller. Now I jest want to see you fetch me afore the +court wunst. Ef you pester me too much, I'm derned 'f I don't go thar on +m' own hook."</p> + +<p>"You've been drinking, Bob," said Plunkett, as he hurried away; but the +people evidently sided with McCord, whose exploit of mobbing the sheriff +almost single-handed had made him more than ever the champion of the +county.</p> + +<p>That night Jake Hogan, afraid of arrest, succeeded in trading his cabin, +with the front door still unhinged, and his little patch of rugged +ground for a one-horse wagon and some provisions. Over the wagon he +stretched his only two bed-sheets of unbleached domestic for covering. +Before noon the next day, he had passed safely out of the county. The +raw-boned horse, the rickety wagon, the impoverished and unwilling cow +tied behind, the two yellow mongrel pups between the wagon-wheels, and +the frowsy-headed wife alongside of him were token enough to every +experienced eye that here was a poor whitey on his travels. To all +inquiries regarding his destination, Jake returned:</p> + +<p>"I'm boun' fer <i>Mes</i>souri. Yeh see they hain't no kind of a chance fer a +poor man in this yer daudrautted Eelinoys country."</p> + +<p>Once an example of migration had been set, his neighbors grew restless +also, and in a year or two nearly all of them had obeyed their +hereditary instinct and followed him to Pike County in Missouri. The +most of the Broad Run neighborhood is now included in a great grazing +farm; here a few logs, there some tumble-down ruins of a stick-chimney, +and in another place a rough stone hearth, only remain to indicate the +resting-place for a few years of a half-nomadic clan, whose members or +their descendants are by this time engaged, probably, in helping to rid +the Pacific coast of its unchristian Chinese.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXIX" id="XXIX"></a>XXIX</h2> + +<h3>THE CLOSE OF A CAREER</h3> + + +<p>Dave Sovine's partial confession, which had served to acquit Tom, was +sufficient at the next term of the court to condemn him, for no plea of +accidental shooting could save him after he had tried to escape at the +expense of another man's life. During his trial the motive for shooting +Lockwood remained an inexplicable mystery. But when once Dave was +convinced that his execution was inevitable and there was an end to all +the delights of deviltry, he proceeded to play the only card remaining +in his hand, and to euchre Justice on her own deal. Like other murderers +of his kind he became religious, and nothing could be more encouraging +to criminals than the clearness and fervor of his religious experience, +and his absolute certainty of the rewards of paradise. His superiority +in wickedness had made him the hero of all the green goslings of the +village; his tardy conversion and shining professions made him an object +of philanthropic interest to sentimental people and gave him the +consolations of conspicuity to the last.</p> + +<p>It was during this lurid sunset period of his unnecessary existence that +Dave made confessions. These were not always consistent one with +another; the capacity for simple and direct truth-telling is a talent +denied to men of Sovine's stamp, nor can it be developed in a brief +season of penitence. It is quite probable that Sovine failed to state +the exact truth even when narrating his religious experiences. But by a +comparison of his stories, with some elimination of contradictory +elements, the main facts regarding the death of George Lockwood were +made out with passable clearness. Being of a thrifty turn of mind, +Lockwood had, by a series of careful observations, detected one of the +principal tricks employed by Dave to win the money of the unwary. It had +been Lockwood's purpose to play the trick back on Dave at some favorable +opportunity, but this he found quite impossible. To bring himself to +Dave's proficiency in manipulation no end of assiduous practice would be +needful. There remained one other way in which he might utilize his +discovery. It was an established rule in that part of the country that +he who detected his opponent in the very act of cheating at cards might +carry off the stakes.</p> + +<p>When Lockwood went to the camp-meeting he put into his pocket a bit of +candle, in order to have a game with Dave; and when on encountering him +Dave proposed the game, the two went out into the woods, remote from the +meeting, Lockwood lighted his candle and they sat down on a log to play. +Lockwood won at first and doubled the stakes at every game, until Dave, +seeing that his pocket-money was running short, and the candle fast +wasting in the breezes, concluded to sweep in the stakes with his +favorite trick. George Lockwood exposed the cheat at the very instant, +and put the stakes in his pocket. But Dave had received his education in +its higher branches in the South-west of half a century ago, and he had +no notion of suffering himself to be bankrupted so easily. He drew his +pistol and demanded the stakes, following Lockwood with reiterated +threats, until, in a moment of exasperation, he shot him. A crowd came +quickly at the sound of the pistol, and Dave had the shrewdness not to +run away and not to attempt to take any money from George Lockwood's +person. Remembering Tom Grayson's threats, he declared, with his usual +alertness in mendacity, that he had seen Grayson do the shooting, and +thus diverted attention from himself.</p> + +<p>He had no further thought at the time than to get out of a present +difficulty; it was his purpose to leave the country before the trial +should come on. But he found himself watched, and he imagined that he +was suspected. He saw no chance to move without making sure of his own +arrest; he became alarmed and unfitted for decision by the sense of his +peril; as the trial approached, his nerves, shaken by dissipations, were +unstrung by the debate within him. He saw ghosts at night and his sleep +almost entirely forsook him. This horror of a doom that seemed +perpetually to hang over him was greatly enhanced by the +cross-examination to which he was subjected; from the first he +misdoubted that Lincoln had penetrated his whole secret and possessed +the means of making it known. And when he heard himself charged publicly +with the murder and as publicly arrested, he believed that some evidence +against him had been found; he did not draw the line between the charge +and the proof, and the half confession escaped him in the first +breakdown produced by sudden despair.</p> + +<p>But at the last he spoke edifyingly from the scaffold, and died with as +much composure and more self-complacency than Tom would have shown had +he fallen a victim to Dave's rascality. What becomes of such men in +another world is none of my business. But I am rather pleased to have +them depart, be it to paradise, or purgatory, or limbo, or any other +compartment of the world of spirits. In some moods I could even wish +them a prosperous voyage to the Gehenna of our forefathers, now somewhat +obsolescent, if only they would begone and cease to vex this +rogue-ridden little world of ours.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXX" id="XXX"></a>XXX</h2> + +<h3>TOM AND RACHEL</h3> + + +<p>When Tom rode home from the trial with his mother and Barbara, his +emotions were not just what one might expect; the events of the day and +the tremendous strain on his nerves had benumbed him. He was only +conscious that it gave him a great pleasure to leave the village behind, +and to get once more upon the open prairie, which was glorified by the +tints and shadows of the setting sun. The fields of maize, with their +tassels growing brown and already too ripe and stiff to wave freely, and +with their long blades becoming harsh and dry, so that the summer rustle +had changed to a characteristic autumnal rattling, seemed to greet him +like old friends who had visibly aged in his absence. Tom found his +mind, from sheer strain and weariness, fixing itself on unimportant +things; he noted that the corn-silk which protruded from the shucks was +black, and that the shucks themselves were taking on that sear look +which is the sure token of the ripeness of the ear within the envelope. +Now and then he marked an ear that had grown so long as to push its +nose of cob quite beyond the envelope. The stretches of prairie grass +showed a mixture of green and brown; the September rains had freshened a +part of the herbage, giving it a new verdure, but the riper stalks and +blades had maintained their neutral colors. These things interested Tom +in a general way, as marking the peaceful changes that had taken place +in the familiar face of nature during his period of incarceration. What +he felt in regarding these trifles was simply that he was alive and once +more free to go where he pleased. He said little, and replied to the +remarks of his mother and Barbara briefly, and he drove old Blaze-face +at a speed quite unbecoming a horse at his time of life. The people whom +he passed cheered him, or called out their well-meant congratulation, or +their bitter remarks about Dave Sovine, but Tom on his part was not +demonstrative; he even drove past Rachel Albaugh and her brother Ike +with only a nod of recognition. To any remark of his mother and Barbara +about Dave's villainy, and to any allusion to the case, he returned the +briefest answers, giving the impression that he wished to get mentally +as well as physically away from the subject. When he got home he asked +for an old-fashioned country hoe-cake for supper, and he would have the +table set out on the kitchen porch; he said it seemed so delightful to +be permitted to go out-of-doors again. After supper he turned old Blaze +into the pasture, with a notion that he too might prefer his liberty.</p> + +<p>In reflecting on the events of the day, Barbara remembered with pleasure +that Rachel had congratulated Tom. It made his vindication complete that +the young woman who had refused his attentions when he was accused of +nothing worse than foolish gambling had now taken pains to show her +good-will in public. But when the question of a possible renewal of the +relations between Tom and his old sweetheart came up in Barbara's mind, +there was always a doubt. Not that there was anything objectionable +about Rachel Albaugh. Barbara said to her mother over and over again, in +the days that followed Tom's acquittal, that there was nothing against +Rachel. If Rachel was not very industrious she was certainly +"easy-tempered." In her favor it could be said that she had a beautiful +face, and that she would be joint heiress with her brother to a large +and well-improved prairie farm, to say nothing of her father's tract of +timber-land.</p> + +<p>After a while Barbara came to wish that Tom's old affection for Rachel +might be kindled again. She did not like to see him so changed. He +plodded incessantly at farm work, and he seemed to have lost his relish +for society. If any one came to the house, he managed to have business +abroad. He was not precisely gloomy, but the change in him was so marked +that it made his sister unhappy.</p> + +<p>"Why don't you go to see Rachel?" she asked, a week after the trial. +Barbara was straining her eyes down the road, as she often did in those +days. "Rachel would be glad to see you again, Tom, like as not."</p> + +<p>"Maybe she would," answered Tom, as he picked up the pail and started +to the spring for water by way of cutting off all further talk on the +question.</p> + +<p>The days went by without Tom's showing by any sign that he cared to see +Rachel, and to Barbara's grief the days went by without Hiram Mason's +promised arrival at the Graysons'. But there came presently a note from +Hiram to Barbara, saying that he had been detained by the necessity he +was under of finishing Magill's writing, and by the difficulty he found +in getting his pay from the easy-going clerk for what he had done. But +he hoped to stop on his way home in three or four days. This note was +brought from Moscow by Bob McCord, who also brought Janet. The child had +teased her father into letting her come out in Aunt Martha's wagon with +Bob, whom she had seen driving past the house on his way in.</p> + +<p>Janet spent her time in the country wholly with Tom. She followed him +afield, she climbed with him into the barn lofts, she sat on the back of +old Blaze when Tom led him to water, she went into the forest when Tom +went to fell trees for fire-wood, she helped him to pick apples, and she +was as happy in all this as she would have been in the Elysian Fields.</p> + +<p>"Cousin Tom," she said, the day after her arrival, as she leaned out of +the high, open window of the hay-loft, "yonder's a lady getting down on +the horse-block at the house."</p> + +<p>Tom climbed up from the threshing-floor to the mow, and, standing well +back out of sight in the gloom of the loft, he recognized Rachel +Albaugh's horse. Then he went back again to his wheat-fanning on the +threshing-floor.</p> + +<p>"Aren't you going to go and help her?" said Janet, when Tom stopped the +noisy fanning-mill to shovel back the wheat and to rake away the cheat.</p> + +<p>"Pshaw!" said Tom. "A country girl doesn't need any help to get off a +horse."</p> + +<p>Rachel had come to call on Barbara, nor did she admit to herself that +her visit had anything to do with Tom. But she found herself in an +attitude to which she was unaccustomed. From the moment that Tom had +been charged with murder her liking for him increased. The question of +his guilt or innocence did not disturb her—except in so far as it +jeoparded his life; he was at least a dashing fellow, out of the common +run. And now that he had been acquitted, and was a hero of everybody, +Rachel found in herself a passion that was greater than her vanity, and +that overmastered even her prudence. She was tormented by her thoughts +of Tom in the day, she dreamed of him at night. Tom would not come to +her, and she felt herself at length drawn by a force she could not +resist to go to him.</p> + +<p>Barbara asked Rachel to stay to dinner, and promised that Tom would put +away her horse as soon as he knew that she had come. This was but the +common hospitality of the country, but Barbara hoped that Rachel's +presence might evoke Tom's old buoyant self again. And so, while Barbara +sat on the loom-bench weaving a web of striped linsey, Rachel sat near +her, knitting. It appeared to Barbara that Rachel had undergone almost +as great a change as Tom. She had lost her taciturnity. Her tongue kept +pace with the click of her needles. She only broke the thread of her +talk when she paused to take the end of one needle out of the quill of +her knitting-case and put another in. Under color of sympathy for the +Graysons in their troubles she talked of what was in her mind. How +dreadful it must have been for Tom to be in jail! How anxious he must +have been at the trial! How well he bore up under it all! How proud he +must have been when he was acquitted! These and such remarks were web +and woof of her talk, while Barbara was throwing her nimble shuttle to +and fro and driving the threads home with the double-beat of her +loom-comb.</p> + +<p>By half-past 11 the early farm dinner was almost ready, and Mrs. Grayson +blew a blast on the tin horn which hung outside of the door, to let Tom +and Janet know that they were to come in.</p> + +<p>When Tom heard the horn he went and led Rachel's horse to the stable, +after perching Janet in the saddle; and then he delayed long enough to +shuck out and give him eight or ten ears of corn. After this he came to +the house and washed his hands and face in the country way, with much +splash and spatter, in a basin that sat on a bench outside of the door, +and Janet washed hers, imitating to the best of her ability Tom's +splattering way of dashing the water about. Then the two used the towel +that hung on a roller in the kitchen porch, and Tom entered the kitchen +with his clothes soiled by labor and with that look of healthful fatigue +which comes of plentiful exercise in the open air.</p> + +<p>"Howdy, Rachel? All well 't your house?" This was the almost invariable +formula of country politeness, and it was accompanied by a faint smile +of welcome and a grasp of her hand.</p> + +<p>"Howdy, Tom?" said Rachel, cordially. "I hope you are well." Rachel +regarded him a moment, and then let her eyes droop. Had Rachel +discovered that her face was at its best when her long eyelashes were +lowered in this fashion, or was the action merely instinctive?</p> + +<p>"Oh, so-so!" answered Tom, uneasily, as he seated himself with the rest +at the table. Rachel sat next to him, and he treated her with hospitable +politeness, but she looked in vain for any sign of his old affection. +She hardly once fairly encountered his eye during the meal. He seemed +more indifferent to her attractions than she had ever known any man, old +or young, to be. And yet she knew that her charms had lost nothing of +their completeness. That very morning she had gone into the rarely +opened Albaugh parlor and examined herself in the largest looking-glass +in the house—the one that hung between the parlor windows, and that had +a print of Mount Vernon in the upper panel of the space inclosed between +the turned frames. Her fresh and yet delicate complexion was without a +speck or flaw, her large eyes were as lustrous as ever, and there was +the same exquisite symmetry and harmony of features that had made her a +vision of loveliness to so many men. But Tom seemed more interested in +his cousin, whom he kept laughing with a little childish byplay while +talking to his sister's guest. Rachel felt herself baffled, and by +degrees, though treated cordially, she began to feel humiliated. When +dinner was finished by a course of pumpkin pie and quince preserves +served with cream, Tom pushed back his chair and explained that he was +just going to begin building some rail pens to hold the corn when it +should be gathered and shucked, and that he could not allow himself the +usual noon-time rest. The days were getting so short, you know. Would +Rachel excuse him? Barbara would blow the horn so that he could put the +saddle on Rachel's horse when she wanted it. But wouldn't she stay to +supper?</p> + +<p>Rachel declined to stay to supper, and she was visibly less animated +after dinner than she had been before. The conversation flagged on both +sides; Barbara became preoccupied with her winding-blades, her bobbins, +and her shuttle, while Rachel was absorbed in turning the heel of her +stocking. By half-past 1 o'clock the guest felt bound to go home; the +days were getting shorter and there was much to be done at home, she +remembered. The horn was blown, and Tom led her horse out to the block +and helped her to mount. As he held her stirrup for her to place her +foot, it brought to his memory, with a rush, her refusal to let him ride +home with her from the Timber Creek school-house after the "singing." +When he looked up he saw that Rachel's mind had followed the same line +of association; both of them colored at this manifest encounter of their +thoughts.</p> + +<p>"I suppose I oughtn't to have said 'no' that day at the school-house." +Rachel spoke with feeling, moved more by the desperate desire she felt +to draw Tom out than by any calculation in making the remark.</p> + +<p>"Yes, you ought," said Tom. "I never blamed you."</p> + +<p>Then there was an awkward pause.</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, Tom," said Rachel, extending her hand. "Won't you come over +and see us sometime?"</p> + +<p>"I'm generally too tired when night comes. Good-bye, Rachel"; and he +took her hand in a friendly way. But this was one of those farewells +that are aggravated by mental contrast, and Rachel felt, as she looked +at Tom's serious and preoccupied face, that it was to her the end of a +chapter.</p> + +<p>Tom started up the pathway toward the house, but stopped half-way and +plucked a ripe seed-pod from the top of a poppy-stalk, and rubbed it out +between his two hands as he looked a little regretfully after Rachel +until she disappeared over the hill. Then he turned and saw Barbara +standing on the porch regarding him inquiringly.</p> + +<p>"You aren't like yourself any more, Tom," she said.</p> + +<p>"I know that," he answered, meditatively, at the same time filliping the +minute poppy-seeds away, half a dozen at a time, with his thumb. "I +don't seem to be the same fellow that I was three months ago. Then I'd +'a' followed Rachel like a dog every step of the way home."</p> + +<p>"She's awfully in love with you, poor girl."</p> + +<p>"Oh! she'll get over that, I suppose. She's been in love before."</p> + +<p>"And you don't care for her any more?"</p> + +<p>"I don't seem to care for anything that I used to care for. I wouldn't +like to be what I used to be."</p> + +<p>This sentence was rather obscure, and Barbara still looked at Tom +inquiringly and waited for him to explain. But he only went on in the +same inconsequential way, as he plucked and rubbed out another +poppy-head. "I don't care for anything nowadays, but just to stay with +you and mother. When a fellow's been through what I have, I suppose he +isn't ever the same that he was; it takes the <i>ambition</i> out of you. +Hanging makes an awful change in your feelings, you know"; and he smiled +grimly.</p> + +<p>"Don't say that; you make me shiver," said Barbara.</p> + +<p>"But I say, Barb," and with this Tom sowed broadcast all the poppy-seed +in his hand, "yonder comes somebody over the hill that'll get a warmer +welcome than Rachel did, I'll guarantee."</p> + +<p>How often in the last week had Barbara looked to see if somebody were +not coming over the hill! Now she found her vision obstructed by a +"laylock" bush, and she came down the path to where her brother stood. +As soon as she had made out that the pedestrian was certainly Hiram +Mason, she turned and went into the house, to change her apron for a +fresher one, and with an instinctive wish to hide from Mason a part of +the eagerness she had felt for his coming. But when he had reached the +gate and was having his hand cordially shaken by Tom, Barbara came back +to the door to greet him; and just because she couldn't help it, she +went out on the porch, then down the steps and half-way to the gate to +tell him how glad she was to see him.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXXI" id="XXXI"></a>XXXI</h2> + +<h3>HIRAM AND BARBARA</h3> + + +<p>The cordiality of his welcome was a surprise to Mason; he could hardly +tell why. The days had dragged heavily since his separation from +Barbara, and his mind had been filled with doubts. The delay imposed +upon him by Barbara's circumstances and then by his own was unwholesome; +love long restrained from utterance is apt to make the soul sick. During +his last week in Moscow he had copied court minutes and other documents +into the folio records in an abstracted fashion, while the conscious +part of his intellect was debating his chance of securing Barbara's +consent. He fancied that she might hold herself more than ever aloof +from him now; that her pride had been too deeply wounded to recover, and +that she would never bring herself to accept him.</p> + +<p>When he had at length finished all there was for him to do in the +clerk's office at Moscow, and Magill had contrived to borrow enough +money to pay him his fifty cents a day, Mason was too impatient to wait +for some wagon bound for the Timber Creek neighborhood. He started on +foot, intending to pass the night under the friendly roof of the +Graysons, and to push on homeward in the morning; for he would already +be a month late in beginning his college year. His mind was revolving +the plan of his campaign against Barbara's pride all the way over the +great lonely level prairie, the vista of which stretched away to the +west until it was interrupted by a column of ominous black smoke, which +told of the beginning of the autumnal prairie fires that annually sweep +the great grassy plains and keep them free of trees. At length the +tantalizing forest, so long in sight, was reached, and he entered the +pale fringe of slender poplar-trees—that forlorn hope thrown out by the +forest in its perpetual attempt to encroach on a prairie annually +fire-swept. But when at last he entered the greater forest itself, now +half denuded of its shade, the problem was still before him. He +contrived with much travail of mind what seemed to him an ingenious +device for overcoming Barbara's fear of his family. He would propose +that his mother should write her a letter giving a hearty assent to his +proposal of marriage. If that failed, he could not think of any other +plan likely to be effective.</p> + +<p>Like many conversations planned in absence, this one did not seem so +good when he had the chance to test it. The way in which Tom welcomed +him at the gate, shaking his hand and taking hold of his arm in an +affectionate, informal way, gave him an unexpected pleasure, though +nothing could be more natural under the circumstances than Tom's +gratitude. And when Tom said, "Barbara'll be awful glad to see you, an' +so'll Mother," Mason was again surprised. Not that he knew any good +reason why Barbara and her mother should not be glad to see him, but he +who broods long over his feelings will hatch forebodings. When Hiram +looked up from Tom at the gate, he saw Barbara's half-petite figure and +piquant face, full as ever of force and aspiration, waiting half-way +down the walk. Barbara paused there, half-way to the gate, but she could +not wait even there; she came on down farther and met him, and looked in +his eyes frankly and told him—with some reserve in her tone, it is +true, but with real cordiality—that she was glad to see him. And by the +time he reached the porch, Mother Grayson herself—kindly, old-fashioned +soul that she was—stood in the door and greeted Mason with tears in her +eyes.</p> + +<p>After a little rest and friendly talk in the cool, well-kept, home-like +sitting-room, Hiram went out with Tom to look about the familiar place. +The fruit trees were pretty well stripped of their foliage by a recent +wind and the ground was carpeted with brown and red and yellow leaves, +while the rich autumn sunlight, which but half warmed the atmosphere, +gave one an impression of transientness and of swift-impending change. +It was one of those days on which the seasons are for the instant +arrested—a little moment of repose and respite before the inevitable +catastrophe. The busiest man can hardly resist the influence of such a +day; farmers are prone to bask in the slant sunlight at such times and +to talk to one another over line-fences or seated on top-rails. The +crows fly hither and thither in the still air, and the swallows, +gathered in noisy concourse, seem reluctant to set out upon their +southward journey. But Mason soon left Tom and entered the kitchen, +where he sat himself down upon a bench over against the loom and watched +the swift going to and fro of Barbara's nimble shuttle, and listened to +the muffled pounding of the loom-comb, presently finding a way to make +himself useful by winding bobbins.</p> + +<p>The two were left alone at intervals during the afternoon, but Mason +could not summon courage to reopen the question so long closed between +them. His awkward reserve reacted on Barbara, and conversation between +them became difficult, neither being able to account for the mood of the +other.</p> + +<p>After a while Janet, tired with following Tom the livelong day, came +into the kitchen and besought Barbara to sing "that song about Dick, you +know"; and though Mason did not know who Dick might be, he thought he +would rather hear Barbara sing than to go on trying to keep up a +flagging conversation; so he seconded Janet's request. When Barbara had +tied a broken string in the "harness" of the loom, she resumed her seat +on the bench and sang while she wove.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">BARBARA'S WEAVING SONG.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Fly, shuttle, right merrily, merrily,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Carry the swift-running thread;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Keep time to the fancy that eagerly<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Weaveth a web in my head.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">For Dick he will come again, come again,<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Dick he will come again home from afar<br /></span> +<span class="i4">With musket and powder-horn,<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Musket and powder-horn, home from the war.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Beat up the threads lustily, lustily,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Weave me a web good and strong;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Heart brimful and flowing with joyousness<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Ever is bursting with song.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">For Dick he will come again, etc.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Warp, hold the woof lovingly, lovingly,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Taking and holding it fast;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hearts bound together in unity<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Love with a love that will last.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">For Dick he will come again, come again,<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Dick he will come again home from afar<br /></span> +<span class="i4">With musket and powder-horn,<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Musket and powder-horn, home from the war.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>By the time the ditty was ended, Mrs. Grayson was setting the +supper-table by the fire-place, doing her best to honor her guest. She +took down the long-handled waffle-irons and made a plate of those +delicious cakes unknown since kitchen fire-places went out, and the like +of which will perhaps never be known again henceforth. She got out some +of the apple-butter, of which half a barrel had been made so toilsomely +but the week before, and this she flanked with a dish of her peach +preserves, kept sacredly for days of state. The "chaney" cups and +saucers were also set out in honor of Hiram, and the almost transparent +preserved peaches were eaten with country cream, from saucers thin +enough to show an opalescent translucency, and decorated with a gilt +band and delicate little flowers. This china, which had survived the +long wagon-journey from Maryland, was not often trusted upon the table.</p> + +<p>"My! What a nice supper we've got, Aunt Marthy!" said Janet, clapping +her hands, as they took their seats at the table.</p> + +<p>"It seems to me you're making company out of me," said Mason, in a tone +of protest.</p> + +<p>"We sha'n't have you again soon, Mason," said Tom, "and we don't often +see the like of you."</p> + +<p>The words were spontaneous, but Tom ducked his head with a half-ashamed +air when he had spoken them. Barbara liked Tom's little speech: it +expressed feelings that she could not venture to utter; and it had, +besides, a touch of Tom's old gayety of feeling in it.</p> + +<p>When supper was well out of the way Hiram proposed a walk with Barbara, +but it did no good. They talked mechanically about what they were not +thinking about, and by the time they got back to the house Mason was +becoming desperate. He must leave in the morning very early, and he had +made no progress; he could not bring himself to approach the subject +about which Barbara seemed so loath to speak, and concerning which he +dreaded a rebuff as he dreaded death.</p> + +<p>They entered the old kitchen and found no one there; the embers were +flickering in the spacious fire-place and peopling the room with +grotesque shadows and dancing lights.</p> + +<p>"Let us sit here awhile, Barbara," he said, with a strange note of +entreaty in his tone, as he swung the heavy door shut and put down the +wooden latch—relic of the pioneer period.</p> + +<p>"Just as you please, Mr. Mason," answered Barbara,</p> + +<p>"Oh! say <i>Hiram</i>, won't you?" He said this with a touch of impatience.</p> + +<p>"Hiram!" said Barbara, laughing.</p> + +<p>He led her to the loom-bench.</p> + +<p>"Sit there on high, as you did the night you put me into a state of +misery from which I haven't escaped yet. There, put your feet on the +chair-rung, as you did that night."</p> + +<p>He spoke with peremptoriness, as he placed a chair for her feet, so that +she might sit with her back to the loom. Then he drew up another +shuck-bottomed chair in such a way as to sit beside and yet half facing +her, but lower.</p> + +<p>"Now," he said, doggedly, "we can finish the talk we had then."</p> + +<p>"That seems ages ago," said Barbara, dreamily; "so much has happened +since."</p> + +<p>"So long ago that you don't care to renew the subject?"</p> + +<p>"I—" But Barbara stopped short. The feeble blaze in the fire-place +suddenly went out.</p> + +<p>Hiram did not know where to begin. He got up and took some dry chips +from a basket and threw them on the slumbering coals, so as to set the +flame a-going again. Then he sat down in his chair and looked up at the +now silent Barbara, and tried in vain to guess her mood. But she +remained silent and waited for him to take the lead.</p> + +<p>"Do you remember what you said then?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"No! how can I? It seems so long ago."</p> + +<p>"You said a pack of nonsense." As he blurted out this charge Mason +turned his head round obliquely, still regarding Barbara.</p> + +<p>"Did I? That's just like me," Barbara answered, with a little laugh.</p> + +<p>"No, it isn't like you," he replied, almost rudely. "You're the most +sensible woman I ever knew, except on one subject."</p> + +<p>"What's that?" Barbara was startled by the vehemence and abruptness of +his speech, and she asked this in a half-frightened voice.</p> + +<p>"Your pride. I looked up to you then, as I do now. You're something +above me—I just worship you." To a man of maturity this sort of talk +seems extravagant enough. But one must let youth paint itself as it +will, with all its follies on its head. You've said sillier things than +that in your time, sober reader—you know you have!</p> + +<p>"I do just worship you, Barbara Grayson," Hiram went on; "but you talked +a parcel of fool stuff that night about the superiority of my family, +and about your not being able to bear it that my people should look down +on you, and—well, a pack of tomfoolery; that's what it was, Barbara, +and there's no use of calling it anything else."</p> + +<p>Barbara was silent.</p> + +<p>"Now, I'm not going to give you a chance to make any more such speeches. +But I want to ask you whether, if I should send you a letter from my +mother when I get home, and maybe from my sisters too, after I have told +them the whole truth, urging you to accept me and become one of our +family—I want to know whether, then, you would be willing; whether +you'd take pity on a poor fellow who can't get along without you. Would +that suit you?"</p> + +<p>"No, it wouldn't," said Barbara, looking at the now blazing chips in the +fire-place with her head bent forward.</p> + +<p>"Well, what on earth <i>would</i>, then?" And Mason tilted back his chair in +the nervousness of desperation and brought his eyes to a focus on her +face, which was strangely illuminated in the flickering foot-lights from +the hearth.</p> + +<p>"Did I talk that way last summer?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, you did."</p> + +<p>"It must have hurt you. I can see it hurt you, from the way you speak +about it."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mason; "I've been in a sort of purgatory ever since."</p> + +<p>"And I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I'd rather do anything than to +hurt your feelings." Here she paused, unable to proceed at once, but he +waited for her to show the way. Presently she went on:</p> + +<p>"Now, Mr. Mason,—Hiram, I mean,—I'm going to punish myself for my +foolish pride. I must have felt very differently then to what I do now. +The more I have seen of you the more I have—admired you." Barbara +stopped and took up the hem of her apron and picked at the stitches as +though she would ravel them. Then she proceeded, dropping her head +lower, "Somehow I hate to say it,—but I'm going to punish myself,—the +more I have seen of you the more I have—<i>liked</i> you. It don't matter +much to me now whether your mother likes me or not, and I really don't +seem to care what your sisters think about your loving a poor girl from +the country."</p> + +<p>"Hush! Don't talk that way about yourself," said Hiram. But Barbara was +so intent on finishing what she had resolved to say that she did not +give any heed to him, but only went on pulling and picking at the hem of +her apron.</p> + +<p>"I only want to know one thing, Mr. Mason, and that is whether +you—whether you really and truly want me?" Her face blushed deeply, she +caught her breath, her head bowed lower than before, as though trying in +vain to escape from Hiram's steadfast gaze.</p> + +<p>"God only knows how I do love you, Barbara," said Hiram, speaking softly +now and letting his eyes rest on the floor.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Barbara, "as good a man as you deserves to have what he +wants, you know"; and here she smiled faintly. "I'll put in the dust all +the wicked pride that hurts you so." And Barbara made a little gesture. +Then after a moment she began again, stammeringly, "If—if you really +want me, Hiram Mason,—why—then—I'll face anything rather than miss of +being yours. Now will that do? And will you forgive me for keeping you +in purgatory, as you call it, all this time?" There were tears in her +eyes as she spoke; partly of penitence, perhaps, but more than half of +happiness.</p> + +<p>When she had finished, Mason got up and pushed his chair away and came +and sat down on the loom-bench beside her, Barbara making room for him, +as for the first time she lifted her eyes timidly to his.</p> + +<p>"I've been a goose, Barbara, not to understand you before. What a woman +you are!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXXII" id="XXXII"></a>XXXII</h2> + +<h3>THE NEXT MORNING</h3> + + +<p>When Tom waked up the next morning in the gray daybreak, he found that +Mason, who should have shared his room, had not come to bed at all. And +when Tom came down to uncover the live coals and build up the kitchen +fire, he found that the embers had not been covered under the ashes as +usual; there were instead smoking sticks of wood that had newly burned +in two, the ends having canted over backward outside of the andirons. +The table stood in the floor set with plates and cups and saucers for +two, and there were the remains of an early breakfast. There was still +heat in the coffee-pot when Tom touched it, and from these signs he read +the story of Barbara's betrothal to Mason; he conjectured that this +interview, which was to precede a separation of many months, had been +unintentionally protracted until it was near the time for Mason's +departure. The débris of the farewell love-feast, eaten in the silent +hour before daybreak, seemed to have associations of sentiment. Tom +regarded these things and was touched and pleased, but he was also +amused. This sitting the night out seemed an odd freak for a couple so +tremendously serious and proper as the little sister and the +schoolmaster.</p> + +<p>An hour later, when Tom, having finished his chores, came in for his +breakfast, Barbara had reappeared below stairs with an expression of +countenance so demure—so entirely innocent and unconscious—that Tom +could not long keep his gravity; before he had fairly begun to eat he +broke into a merry, boyish laugh.</p> + +<p>"What <i>are</i> you laughing about?" demanded Barbara, looking a little +foolish and manifesting a rising irritation, that showed how well she +knew the cause of his amusement.</p> + +<p>"Oh! nothing; but why don't you eat your breakfast, Barb? You seem to +have lost your appetite."</p> + +<p>"Don't tease Barb'ry now," said Mrs. Grayson.</p> + +<p>"I'm not teasing," said Tom; "but I declare, Barb, it must have seemed +just like going to housekeeping when you two sat down to eat breakfast +by yourselves this morning."</p> + +<p>"O Tom!" broke in Janet, who couldn't quite catch the drift of the +conversation, "Barbara went to bed with her clothes on last night. When +I waked up this morning she was lying on the bed by me with her dress +on."</p> + +<p>Tom now laughed in his old unrestrained fashion.</p> + +<p>"Say, Barbara," Janet went on, "are you going to marry that Mr. Mason +that was here yesterday?"</p> + +<p>Knowing that she could not get rid of Janet's inquiries except by +answering, Barbara said: "Oh, I suppose so," as she got up to set the +pot of coffee back on the trivet and hide a vexation that she knew to be +foolish.</p> + +<p>"Don't you <i>know</i> whether you're going to marry him or not?" put in +Janet. "I sh'd think you'd know. And I sh'd think he'd be a real nice +husband." Then after a few moments of silence, Janet turned on Tom. +"Tom, who's <i>your</i> sweetheart?"</p> + +<p>"Haven't got any," said Tom.</p> + +<p>"Isn't that purty girl that was here yesterday your sweetheart?"</p> + +<p>"No!"</p> + +<p>"Aren't you <i>ever</i> going to get married?"</p> + +<p>"Maybe, some day. Not right off, though."</p> + +<p>"I wish you would find a good wife, Tom," said Barbara without looking +from her plate. "It would cheer you up." Barbara felt a little guilty at +the thought of leaving the brother who had always seemed her chief +responsibility.</p> + +<p>"Say, Tom, won't you wait for me?" said Janet, solemnly.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="illus9" id="illus9"></a> +<img src="images/illus9.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"SAY, TOM, WON'T YOU WAIT FOR ME?"</h3> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>"Yes, that's just what I'll do," said Tom, looking at her. "I hadn't +thought of it before; but that's just exactly what I'll do, Janet. I'll +wait for you, now you mention it."</p> + +<p>"Will you, indeed, and double deed?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed, and deed and double deed, I'll wait for you, Janet."</p> + +<p>"That'll be nice," said Janet, continuing her breakfast with meditative +seriousness. "Now I'm your sweetheart, ain't I?"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXXIII" id="XXXIII"></a>XXXIII</h2> + +<h3>POSTSCRIPTUM</h3> + + +<p>It was in the last days of October, a few weeks after the proper close +of the story which I have just related, when Henry Miller—the most +matter-of-fact and unsensational of young men—threw his family into a +state of excitement and supplied the gossip of the neighborhood with a +fresh topic by announcing at home and abroad that he was going to leave +the country, either for the Iowa country to the west of the Mississippi +or for the fertile bottom-lands up north on the "Wisconse" River, as it +was called. He was the only son of his father, and had inherited the +steady, plodding industry and frugality so characteristic of a +"Pennsylvania Dutch" race. Until he was of age he was bound, not only by +law, but by the custom of the country, to serve his father much as a +bondsman or an apprentice might have served, for an able-bodied son was +distinctly recognized as an available and productive possession in that +day. When he became of age his close-fisted father made no new +arrangement with him, offered him no start, paid him no wages, and gave +him no share in the produce of the fields. It was enough, in the +father's estimation, that Henry would succeed to a large part of the +property at his death. But Henry, on mature reflection, had made up his +mind that emigration would be better than a reversionary interest that +must be postponed to the death of so robust a man as his father, who was +yet in middle-life and who came of a stock remarkable for longevity. Was +not his grandfather yet alive in Pennsylvania, while his +great-grandfather had not been dead many years? It was after calculating +the "expectation of life" in the Miller family that Henry notified his +father of his intention to go where land was cheap and open a large farm +for himself. In vain the father urged that he could not get on without +him, and that there would be no one to look after things if the father +should die. Henry persisted that he must do something for himself and +that his father would have to hire a man, for he should surely leave as +soon as the crops were gathered, so as to get land enough open in some +frontier country to afford him a small crop of corn the first year.</p> + +<p>Henry's mother and sisters were even more opposed to his going than his +father was, and they did not hesitate to blame the senior Miller with +great severity for not having "done something" for Henry. Henry's father +had never before known how unpleasant a man's home may come to be. He +was reminded that Henry had not an acre, nor even a colt, that he could +call his own, and that other farmers had done better than that. This +state of siege became presently quite intolerable, and the elder Miller +resolved not only "to do something" for Henry, but to do it in such a +way that his son would begin life very well provided for. He wanted to +silence the clamor of the house and the neighborhood once for all, and +prove to his critics how much they were mistaken.</p> + +<p>It was about a week after Henry's first resolution was taken that he and +his father were finishing the corn-gathering. They were throwing the +unshucked ears into a great wagon of the Pennsylvania pattern—a wagon +painted blue, the "bed" of which rose in a great sweep at each end as +though some reminiscence of the antique forms of marine architecture had +affected its construction. When all the corn within easy throwing +distance had been gathered, Henry, who was on the near side, would slip +the reins from the standard over the fore wheel and drive forward the +horses, which even in moving bit off the ends of corn ears or nibbled at +the greenest-looking blades within their reach.</p> + +<p>"Let's put on the sideboards," said the elder, "and we can finish the +field this load." Though Miller's ancestors had come to this country +with the Palatine immigration, away back in 1710, there was a little bit +of German in his accent; he said something like "gorn" for corn. The +sideboards were put up, and these were so adjusted that when they were +on the wagon the inclosing sides were rendered level at the top and +capable of holding nearly double the load contained without the boards.</p> + +<p>"Henry," said the father, when the two were picking near together and +throwing corn over the tail-gate of the wagon, "if you give up goin' +away an' git married right off, an' settle toun here, I'm a-mine to teed +you that east eighty an' a forty of timber. Eh?"</p> + +<p>"That's purty good," said Henry; "but if your deed waits till I find a +wife, it may be a good while coming."</p> + +<p>"That eighty lays 'longside of Albaugh's medder an' lower gorn-field," +said the father, significantly.</p> + +<p>"You mean if I was to marry Rache, Albaugh might give us another slice."</p> + +<p>"Of gourse he would; an' I'd help you put up a house, an' maybe I'd let +you hav' the roan golt. You'd hav' the red heifer anyhow."</p> + +<p>"But I never took a shine to Rache; and if I did, I couldn't noways come +in. They's too many knocking at that door."</p> + +<p>"But Rachel ain't no vool," said the elder. "She knows a good piece of +lant w'en she sees it, an' maybe she's got enough of voolin' rount."</p> + +<p>All that afternoon Henry revolved this proposition in his mind, and he +even did what he had never done before in his life—he lay awake at +night. The next day, after the midday dinner, he said to himself: "I +might as well resk it. Albaugh's got an all-fired good place, and all +out of debt. And that's a tre-mendous nice eighty father's offered to +give me."</p> + +<p>So he went up stairs and put on a new suit of blue jeans fresh from his +mother's loom. Then he walked over to Albaugh's, to find Rachel sewing +on the front porch.</p> + +<p>Rachel had been "kindah dauncey like," as her mother expressed it, ever +since her visit to Barbara. She had received as many attentions as +usual, but they seemed flat and unrelishable to her now. She began +seriously to reflect that a girl past twenty-three was growing old in +the estimation of the country, and yet she was further than ever from +being able to make a choice between the lovers that paid her court, more +or less seriously.</p> + +<p>When she looked up and saw Henry Miller coming in at the gate she felt a +strange surprise. She had never before seen him in Sunday clothes or +visiting on a week-day.</p> + +<p>"Hello, Henry! Looking for Ike?" she asked, with neighborly +friendliness.</p> + +<p>"No, not as I know of. I've come to talk to you, Rache."</p> + +<p>"To me? Well, you're the last one I'd look for to come to talk to me; +and in day-time, and corn-shucking not begun yet." There was an air of +excited curiosity in her manner. It was plain to be seen that she was +inwardly asking, "What <i>can</i> Henry Miller be up to, anyhow?" but to him +she said, "Come in, Henry, an' take a cheer."</p> + +<p>"No, I'll sed down here," he answered, taking a seat on the edge of the +porch, like the outdoor man that he was, approaching a house with half +reluctance.</p> + +<p>The relations between Henry and Rachel were unconstrained. They had +played "hide and whoop" together in childhood, and times innumerable +they had gone on black-berrying and other excursions together; he had +swung her on long grape-vine swings on the hill-side; they had trudged +to and from school in each other's company, exchanging sweet-cakes from +their lunch-baskets, and yet they had never been lovers.</p> + +<p>"Rache," he said, locking his broad, brown hands over his knee, "father +says he'll give me that east-eighty whenever I get married, if I won't +go off West."</p> + +<p>"You'll be a good while getting married, Henry. You never was a hand to +go after the girls."</p> + +<p>"No, but I might chance to get married shortly, for all that. The boys +that do a good deal of sparking and the girls that have a lot of beaux +don't always get married first. You'd ought to know that, Rache, by your +own experience."</p> + +<p>Rachel laughed good-naturedly, and waited with curiosity to discover +what all this was leading up to.</p> + +<p>"What I 'm thinking," said Henry, with the air of a man approaching a +horse-trade cautiously, lest he should make a false step, "is this: that +eighty of our'n jines onto your medder and west corn-field."</p> + +<p>"Do you want to sell it?" said Rachel. "You might see father; he'd like +to have it, I expect."</p> + +<p>"Can't you guess what it is that I'm coming at?"</p> + +<p>"No, I <i>can't</i>," said Rachel; "not to save my life."</p> + +<p>"Looky here, Rache," and Henry gave his shoulders a twitch, "the two +farms jine; now, what if you and me was to jine?"</p> + +<p>"Well, Henry Miller, if you don't beat the Dutch! I never heard the like +of that in all my born days!" Rachel had heard many propositions of +marriage, but this sort of love-making, with eighty acres of prairie +land for a buffer, was a novelty to her.</p> + +<p>"Looky here, Rache," he said, in a tone of protest, "I've knew you ever +since you was knee-high to a grasshopper. Now, what's the use of fooling +and nonsense betwixt you and me? You know what <i>I</i> am—a good, +stiddy-going, hard-working farmer, shore to get my sheer of what's to be +had in the world without scrouging anybody else. And I know just +<i>ex</i>actly what you air. We've always got along mighty well together, and +if I haven't ever made a fool of myself about your face, w'y, so much +the better for me. Now, whaddy yeh say? Let's make it a bargain."</p> + +<p>"W'y, Henry Miller, what a way of talking!"</p> + +<p>"Rache, come, go along with me and see where'bouts I'm going to put up a +house. Father's promised to help me. It's down by the spring, just +beyand your medder fence. Will you go along down?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't care if I do go down with you, Henry. But it's awful +funny to come to such a subject in that way."</p> + +<p>Rachel put on her sun-bonnet, and they went through the orchard +together.</p> + +<p>"We could put up a nice house there. Father's willing to throw in a +forty of timber too—the forty that jines onto this eighty over yander. +We'd be well fixed up to begin, no matter what your father done or +didn't do for us. Whaddy you think of the plan?"</p> + +<p>"You—you haven't said you loved me, or anything," said Rachel, piqued +at having her charms quite left out of the account. But she could not +hide from herself that Henry's proposition had substantial advantages. +She only added, "What a curious man you are!"</p> + +<p>"Don't you believe I'd make a good husband?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, of course you would."</p> + +<p>"And a good provider?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I'm shore of that."</p> + +<p>"Well, now, I'm not going to pretend I'm soft on you. If you say 'No,' +well and good; there's an end. I sha'n't worry myself into consumption. +You've got a right to do as you please. I'm not going to have folks say +that I'm another of the fools that's broke their hearts over Rache +Albaugh. Once you're mine, I'll set my heart on you fast enough. But I +never set my heart on anything I mightn't be able to get."</p> + +<p>Rachel did not say anything to this bit of philosophy. She had in the +last two weeks recognized the advisability of her getting married as +soon as she could settle herself. But on taking an inventory of her +present stock of beaux, she had mentally rejected them all. They were +prospectively an unprosperous lot, and Rachel was too mature to marry +adversity for the sake of sentiment. She found herself able to listen to +Henry Miller's cool-blooded proposition with rather more tolerance than +she felt when hearing the kind of love-talk she had been used to. Why +not get her father to do as well by her as the Millers would by Henry, +or to do better, seeing he was the richer and had but two children? Then +they might begin life with plenty of acres and a good stock of butter +cows.</p> + +<p>Henry showed her where they could put their house, where the barn would +be placed, and where they would have a garden. Rachel felt a certain +pleasure in fancying herself the mistress of such a place. But it was +contrary to all the precedents laid down in the few romances she had +read for a woman to marry a man who was not her "slave"; that was the +word the old romancers took delight in. She tried to coquet with Henry, +in order to draw from him some sort of professions of love. A flirtation +with a lay figure would have been quite as successful. He was plain +prose, and she presently saw that if she accepted him it must be done in +prose. She couldn't help liking his very prose; she was a little tired +of slaves; it seemed, on the whole, better to have a man at least +capable of being master of himself.</p> + +<p>In much the same tone—the tone of a man buying, or selling, or +proposing a co-partnership for business purposes—Henry Miller carried +on the conversation all the way back until they reached the corn-crib, +where he came to a stand-still.</p> + +<p>"Whaddy yeh say, Rachel? Is it a bargain?"</p> + +<p>"Well, Henry, it's sudden like. I want to take time to think it over."</p> + +<p>"Then I'll take back the offer and put out for the Ioway country. I'm +not a-going to have my skelp a-hanging to your belt for days and days, +like the rest of them. What's the use of thinking? You don't want to +take Magill, do you?"</p> + +<p>"He's too old, and his nose is rather red," laughed Rachel.</p> + +<p>"Nor Tom Grayson, I suppose?" Henry mentioned Tom as the second because +he was the one about whom he had misgivings.</p> + +<p>"I give him the sack before the shooting, and I'm not going to go back +to him now."</p> + +<p>Rachel faltered a little in this reply, but she spoke with that resolute +insincerity for which women hold an indulgence in advance when their +hearts are being searched.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Henry, "if you think you can do better by waiting, I m off. +If you think I'm about as good a man as you're likely to pick up, here's +your chance. It's going, going, gone with me. Either I marry you and +take father's offer, or I put out for the Ioway country. I don't ask you +to think I'm perfection, but just to take a sober, common-sense look at +things."</p> + +<p>Rachel saw that it was of no use to expect Henry to court her, and she +could not help liking him the better for his honest straightforwardness. +She looked down a minute, in the hope that he would say something that +might make it easier for her to answer, but he kept his silence.</p> + +<p>"Henry," she said at length, rolling a corn-cob over and over under the +toe of her shoe, "I've got a good mind to say 'Yes.' You don't make me +sick, like the rest of them. Father'll be struck when he hears of it. +He's always said I'd marry some good-for-nothing town-fellow."</p> + +<p>"Is it a bargain, good and fast?" said Henry, holding out his hand, as +he would have done to clinch the buying of a piece of timber land or a +sorrel horse.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Rachel, laughing at the oddness of it and the suddenness of +it, "I'm tired of fooling. It's a bargain, Henry."</p> + +<p>"Good fer you, Rache! Now I begin to like you better than ever."</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Why it was that Bob said "bears," and did not say "b'ars," +as some of his class did, I do not know. Broad as his dialect was, it +was perceptibly less aberrant than that of Lazar Brown's family, for +example. It is impossible to trace the causes for local and family +variations of speech; nor is a word always pronounced in the same way in +a dialect,—it varies in sound sometimes, when more or less stress is +put upon it. The varieties are here set down as they existed, except +that print can never give those shades of pronunciation and inflection +that constitute so large a part of the peculiarities of speech, local, +personal and temporary.</p></div> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Graysons, by Edward Eggleston + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GRAYSONS *** + +***** This file should be named 34266-h.htm or 34266-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/2/6/34266/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +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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