"You look like a good, husky man to pitch in the barn-yard; you've too
much muscle f'r preachun'."
"Come and hear me next Sunday, and if you say so then, I'll quit,"
replied Mr. Pill, quietly. "I give ye my word for it. I believe in
preachers havin' a little of the flesh and the devil; they can
sympathize better with the rest of ye." The sarcasm was lost on Bacon,
who continued to look at him. Suddenly he said, as if with an
involuntary determination:--
"Where ye go'n' to stay t'night?"
"I don't know; do you?" was the quick reply.
"I reckon ye can hang out with me, 'f ye feel like ut. We ain't very
purty, at our house, but we eat. You go along down the road and tell 'em
I sent yeh. Ye'll find an' ol' dusty Bible round some'rs--I s'pose ye
spend y'r spare time read'n' about Joshua an' Dan'l--"
"I spend more time reading men. Well, I'm off! I'm hungrier 'n a gray
wolf in a bear-trap." And off he went as he came. But he did not
whistle; he chewed.
Bacon felt as if he had made too much of a concession, and had a strong
inclination to shout after him, and retract his invitation; but he did
not, only worked on, with an occasional bear-like grin. There was
something captivating in this fellow's free and easy way.
When he came up to the house an hour or two later, in singular good
humor for him, he found the Elder in the creamery, with his niece
Eldora, who was not more won by him than was his sister Jane Buttles, he
was so genial and put on so few religious frills.
Mrs. Buttles never put on frills of any kind. She was a most frightful
toiler, only excelled (if excelled at all) by her brother. Unlovely at
her best, when about her work in her faded calico gown and flat shoes,
hair wisped into a slovenly knot, she was depressing. But she was a good
woman, of sterling integrity, and ambitious for her girl. She was very
glad of the chance to take charge of her brother's household after
Marietta married.
Eldora was as attractive as her mother was depressing. She was very
young at this time and had the physical perfection--at least as regards
body--that her parents must have had in youth. She was above the average
height of woman, with strong swell of bosom and glorious, erect carriage
of head. Her features were coarse, but regular and pleasing, and her
manner boyish.
Elder Pill was on the best terms with them as he watched the milk being
skimmed out of the "submerged cans" ready for the "caaves and hawgs," as
Mrs. Buttles called them.
"Uncle told you t' come here 'nd stay t' supper, did he? What's come
over him?" said the girl, with a sort of audacious humor.
"Bill has an awful grutch agin preachers," said Mrs. Buttles, as she
wiped her hands on her apron. "I declare, I don't see how--"
"_Some_ preachers, not _all_ preachers," laughed Pill, in his mellow
nasal. "There are preachers, and then again preachers. I'm one o' the
t'other kind."
"I sh'd think y' was," laughed the girl.
"Now, Eldory, you run right t' the pig-pen with that milk, whilst I go
in an' set the tea on."
Mr. Pill seized the can of milk, saying, with a twang: "Show me the way
that I may walk therein," and, accompanied by the laughing girl, made
rapid way to the pig-pen just as the old man set up a ferocious shout to
call the hired hand out of the corn-field.
"How'd y' come to send _him_ here?" asked Mrs. Buttles, nodding toward
Pill.
"Damfino! I kind o' liked him--no nonsense about him," answered Bacon,
going into temporary eclipse behind his hands as he washed his face at
the cistern.
At the supper table Pill was "easy as an old shoe"; ate with his knife,
talked about fatting hogs, suggested a few points on raising clover,
told of pioneer experiences in Michigan, and soon won them--hired man
and all--to a most favorable opinion of himself. But he did not trench
on religious matters at all.
The hired man in his shirt-sleeves, and smelling frightfully of tobacco
and sweat (as did Bacon), sat with open mouth, at times forgetting to
eat, in his absorbing interest in the minister's yarns.
"Yes, I've got a family, too much of a family, in fact--that is, I think
so sometimes when I'm pinched. Our Western people are so indigent--in
plain terms, poor--they _can't_ do any better than they do. But we pull
through--we pull through! John, you look like a stout fellow, but I'll
bet a hat I can _down_ you three out of five."
"I bet you can't," grinned the hired man. It was the climax of all, that
bet.
"I'll take y' in hand an' flop y' both," roared Bacon from his
lion-like throat, his eyes glistening with rare good-nature from the
shadow of his gray brows. But he admired the minister's broad shoulders
at the same time. If this fellow panned out as he promised, he was a
rare specimen.
After supper the Elder played a masterly game of croquet with Eldora,
beating her with ease; then he wandered out to the barn and talked
horses with the hired man, and finished by stripping off his coat and
putting on one of Mrs. Buttles's aprons to help milk the cows.
But at breakfast the next morning, when the family were about pitching
into their food as usual without ceremony, the visitor spoke in an
imperious tone and with lifted hand. "_Wait!_ Let us look to the Lord
for His blessing."
They waited till the grace was said, but it threw a depressing
atmosphere over the group; evidently they considered the trouble begun.
At the end of the meal the minister asked:--
"Have you a Bible in the house?"
"I reckon there's one around somewhere. Elly, go 'n see 'f y' can't
raise one," said Mrs. Buttles, indifferently.
"Have you any objection to family devotion?" asked Pill, as the book was
placed in his hands by the girl.
"No; have all you want," said Bacon, as he rose from the table and
passed out the door.
"I guess I'll see the thing through," said the hand.
"It ain't just square to leave the women folks to bear the brunt of it."
It was shortly after breakfast that the Elder concluded he'd walk up to
Brother Jennings's and see about church matters.
"I shall expect you, Brother Bacon, to be at the service at 2.30."
"All right, go ahead expectun'," responded Bacon, with an inscrutable
sidewise glance.
"You promised, you remember?"
"The--devil--I did!" the old man snarled.
The Elder looked back with a smile, and went off whistling in the warm,
bright morning.