A CABIN IN THE CLEARING
AS the scout-master found himself drawing near the spot where he had had
his former interesting meeting with little Conrad, he listened with
eagerness to catch the first faint notes from the quavering strings of
the wonderful violin that had once been in the possession of Ovid
Anderson.
"I'm no judge of such instruments myself," Elmer had told his chums when
speaking of the matter, "but I expect that violin must be a valuable
piece of polished wood. It certainly had an extra sweet singing tone to
me, and seemed to just _talk_ as the boy drew his bow over the strings.
I wouldn't be surprised now if it turned out to be a Stradivarius or a
Cremona, which I understand represent the finest makes of violins known
to the profession."
When George seemed inclined to scoff at the idea, since such an
instrument was likely to be worth thousands of dollars, and would have
been sold long ago to get common necessities, Elmer had also told him
that perhaps the daughter of the famous player would have parted with
her soul before allowing that remembrance of her father leave her house.
Then Elmer caught the first faint sound of music. It thrilled him as he
continued to hurry forward, and the sounds became stronger. Yes, and
sure enough, there was lacking now some of that sadness he had detected
in the playing of Conrad on the preceding day. Doubtless hope filled the
aspiring heart of the lad. His talk with his mother may have given him
new zeal, and the rainbow of promise was arching his heaven even then as
he played, and waited for his new friend to appear.
"That sounds more like it," Elmer told himself, "and shows what a
creature of circumstances a genius must always be. Even this child makes
the music he finds in his own soul. But it's sweeter by far than what he
played yesterday, for there is the breath of hope and promise in every
note."
He soon came in sight of the familiar stump, and found the lad curled up
there as before, with his violin tucked under his chin; just as though
he might be to the manner born, while his deft right hand wielded the
bow so tenderly that the daintiest sort of sound came forth at his
command.
But he was watching at the same time, and no sooner did Elmer appear
than the playing abruptly ceased, while the boy came running to meet
him. Elmer then felt sorry that he had not remained in concealment a
while longer, so that he might have enjoyed more of that crude but
appealing music.
"Oh! I'm glad to see you again, Elmer!" exclaimed the boy, as he held
out his hand, which the other did not attempt to squeeze too roughly,
for he remembered that those little digits had to retain their
sensitiveness to a remarkable degree in order to coax persuasive notes
to come forth.
"But before we do any talking," said Elmer, "you must let me hear you
play again. I notice that you are in a more joyous mood today, for it
shows in your music. Please sit on your stump again, Conrad, and humor
me for a while. Afterwards we can have a nice long chat; and I'm meaning
to ask a great favor of you later."
The boy's eyes flashed with genuine pleasure. It was evidently a treat
for him to have an audience besides the squirrels and rabbits, with
perhaps a curious old red fox that, prowling around in search of a
dinner, may have stopped to investigate the origin of those queer
squeaks and twirls, and those sobbing notes, so like a hen partridge
clucking to her brood.
For possibly ten minutes or so he played with scarcely any intermission.
Elmer thought he could never tire of drinking in the sweet combinations
of sounds which that deft little hand tempted from the five strings of
the violin. It seemed as though the spirit of the old virtuoso must
haunt the sacred instrument, and give forth some of his choicest chords
through the medium of his descendant, heir to his undoubted genius.
And it also seemed as though the lad's power to delineate the sounds
that appealed to him from the woods and waters was unlimited, for he
seldom repeated as he went on, making up astonishing strain after
strain.
Elmer was more than satisfied now his first impression had not been
wrong. He felt doubly convinced that all this lad needed to develop into
one of the greatest players the world had ever known was the directing
hand of a master, who could guide him past the rocks on which his young
talent might be wrecked if not taken in time.
"Now, that is enough for today," said Conrad, suddenly allowing his hand
holding the bow to drop; "I never try to play when something inside
tells me to stop. And I'm eager to tell you something good. My mother
wants to meet you, Elmer."
This intelligence caused the scout-master to smile with pleasure.
"Why," he exclaimed eagerly, "do you know, that was the favor I meant
when I said I wanted to ask you something. I have been wishing I could
meet the mother of my new little friend; for I am sure she must be a
remarkable woman."
"So she is," stoutly asserted Conrad, faithful little soul; "and the
best mother there ever could be. All I know she has taught me, for, you
see, she used to be a school teacher once, after grandfather died, and
the money was lost."
"You told her about me, then?" asked Elmer.
"Why, of course; I tell her everything that happens to me!" Conrad
declared, simply. "I couldn't have a secret from my mother, could I? And
you ought to have seen how her eyes sparkled when she heard what you
said about seeing I had a chance to learn the many things I ought to
know about using a violin properly. Why, Elmer, I guess it must have
been the wish of her heart, that some one would come along and say that;
because she took me in her arms and hugged me, yes, and she cried some,
too, I know she did, for I felt hot tears on my cheek; but then it must
have been because she was so happy, for she laughed ever so hard right
afterwards."
Elmer himself was deeply affected. He could picture that loving mother,
possessed of the knowledge that the fires of genius burned in the soul
of her child, and each night praying that in due time the opportunity
might come for that to be developed into a glorious flame; and how
overcome she might be on realizing that the one great wish of her whole
life seemed about to be realized.
They talked on for quite a long while. Conrad with a child's natural
curiosity asked many questions about the outside world, of which he had
seen so little of recent years, since his father seemed to want to get
away from all mankind. Elmer told him many things that excited his
interest. Then finally he mentioned the fact that time was passing, and
before a great while he would have to think of returning to his chums at
the camp.
"I'd like very much to meet your good mother before I go back, Conrad,"
he suggested, at which the lad seized his hand and began to lead him
off.
"So you shall," he remarked, briskly, "and I know she's waiting for me
to fetch you over, because she told me to be sure and do so. You'll like
my mother, Elmer, I know you will."
Elmer could understand why a mother should be anxious to meet one who
had made such a vast promise to her boy, and which might mean so much in
shaping his destiny.
"She wants to size me up," he told himself, with a satisfied smile, as
he walked along at the side of the chattering boy; "she wants to see if
I look like a vain boaster, or one she could trust. Well, I hope I don't
disappoint her, that's all."
Any one who knew Elmer Chenowith well could have assured that anxious
mother she could place the most implicit trust in a boy built after his
type; his word was as good as his bond any day in his home town; and
that is where they know a boy best of all.
Pretty soon they sighted a cabin through the trees. Smoke was coming
from the chimney, made of slabs, and hard mud that had gained the
consistency of cement by the drying process. Elmer smiled when he saw
that it was of the same blue consistency as the thin column that had
caught his attention on the preceding morning, and caused him to stroll
that way later on. Yes, and he could catch the incense of burning
hickory, than which there cannot be anything more delicious in the
nostrils of a real fire-worshipper such as Elmer.
Their coming must have been noticed, for quickly a form appeared in the
open doorway. It was that of a small woman, evidently Conrad's mother,
for the boy quickly waved his violin toward her, and called out
joyously:
"Here he is, mother; I've brought Elmer home with me to meet you, just
as I promised I would!"
She greeted the scout warmly, and asked him inside where it was cool,
out of the sun. Elmer felt rather than saw her eyes fixed eagerly on his
face. Apparently Conrad's mother must have been more than satisfied with
what she saw there, for she looked very contented, and even happy.
They were soon chatting as though the best of friends. Elmer told her
about his home, and how he felt positive there were several well-to-do
people in the town, lovers of good music, who would, if only they could
hear Conrad play, be delighted to make up a generous purse and see that
the grandson of so famous a man as Ovid Anderson was placed under the
proper teacher in New York.
He also told about the father of one of his comrades having sent a girl
abroad to have her voice cultivated, and how after she came to sing in
opera, and turned out to be a great star, she had insisted on returning
every cent he had expended on her, so that he might pass it along to
some other poor girl or boy who had the gift of music, without the
opportunity to accomplish results through lack of means.
Elmer was too wise to mention that name of Snodgrass when telling this;
he feared that it might be too much like flaunting a red flag before a
bull; for if Mrs. Shock shared Jem's antipathy for the Snodgrass clan,
she would likely decline to let Conrad profit by such generosity.
It was plain to be seen that what he said interested her greatly. She
told him more or less of her hopes and fears concerning the prodigy over
whose future such clouds of uncertainty hung. Elmer sympathized with
her, too, and quite won her heart by his manner; but then that was not
an unusual thing with the scout leader, who by Nature had been gifted
with a winning way that gained him hosts of loyal friends.
A little to the boy's surprise, too, she even ventured to speak of
herself. Naturally she must have guessed that his curiosity would be
aroused on finding the daughter of a famous man mated with one whom
people deigned to look down on, and even shun, though, for that matter,
Jem Shock wanted none of their society.
"They do not know him as Conrad and I do," she went on, hastily, after
introducing the subject of her own accord. "I first met him away up in
the mountains. After my father died, and the property was taken from me
through an error in his will, I taught school for some years to gain a
living. Then, one fall when I was in the Adirondacks, it chanced that a
dreadful forest fire swept down from every side. I was caught in the
midst of it, and I had given up all hope of surviving; when _he_ came
and took me up in his arms. Somehow I seemed to feel that all would be
well. Oh! how strong he was, and how he braved every sort of peril in
order to carry me safely through. It was then and there that my heart
went out to him. And afterwards we were married. He has always been the
same to me, tender and kind; though latterly his life has been soured
through the treachery of one whom he trusted."
She stopped there, sighed, and looked sad. Elmer would have liked very
much to know how they came to be there near Raccoon Bluff, which, by a
strange twist of Fate, had recently come into the possession of the very
man against whom Jem Shock believed he had such a grievance. It was too
delicate a subject, however, for him to attempt to handle; she must tell
him, if at all, through her own volition, Elmer concluded.
But somehow it did him good to hear such fine things said of the rough
Jem; for it coincided with his belief that one cannot always tell from
the exterior what may be within the shell. If only now Rufus could
discover that it had all been a grievous mistake, and that his father
would give anything to make amends for the unfortunate past, how
delightful things would be.
So Elmer, as he continued to talk with the little lady--for she was that
in every sense, although her dress may have been of the cheapest
material, and there was a painful lack of many comforts in her modest
cabin home--came to know her as well as if he had met her long before.
Glimpses of her life, her hopes and fears were constantly passing before
his mental observation; and he was more than glad now that he had taken
that notion to walk in the direction of the blue smoke wreaths eddying
upward in the lazy morning air several miles distant.
Conrad had put his beloved violin carefully away. It could be seen that
his whole heart was tied up in that precious instrument. Elmer,
remembering the dispute he had had with unbelieving George, asked about
the violin, and whether it was really the former possession of the lad's
famous grandfather.
"Yes, that is true," she told him, sighing again. "He used it all of his
last years of playing. It shared some of his most wonderful triumphs,
and he loved it as the apple of his eye. It is a genuine Stradivarius
instrument. I could have sold it for thousands of dollars, since it had
once been his means of fascinating untold myriads of music lovers; but
that would have killed me. It is all I have left to remember him by; and
besides, something told me when Conrad came that he was destined to
inherit the talent."
Just then Elmer saw the boy spring down from his seat close beside his
mother. At the same time he heard the sound of a heavy footfall, and
guessed what that meant. Jem Shock was coming home. How would he greet
one of the boys from the camp where that son of the man he had such
cause for hating held forth? Elmer stood up. If he felt the least tremor
in the region of his heart, he certainly gave no sign of this, for his
face was wreathed in one of his most genial smiles as he waited for the
poacher to appear.
Then a form darkened the open doorway, and with a shout Conrad rushed
forward, to be gathered up in the arms of Jem Shock, and held tight to
his breast. And seeing this Elmer somehow could not doubt but that it
was all bound to come out right in the end, no matter what clouds might
drift across the sky meanwhile.