THE HUSKING FROLIC.
Jake Fairthorn rushed into Dr. Deane's door with a howl of terror.
“Cousin Martha! Betsy!” he cried; “he's goin' to shoot Gilbert!”
“None o' your tricks, boy!” Betsy Lavender exclaimed, in her most savage
tone, as she saw the paleness of Martha's face. “I'm up to 'em. Who'd
shoot Gilbert Potter? Not Alf Barton, I'll be bound; he'd be afeard to
shoot even Sandy Flash!”
“It's Sandy Flash,--he's there! Gilbert shot his hat off!” cried Jake.
“The Lord have mercy!” And the next minute Miss Betsy found herself, she
scarcely knew how, in the road.
Both had heard the shot, but supposed that it was some volunteer
discharging an old load from his musket; they knew nothing of Sandy's
visit to the Unicorn, and Jake's announcement seemed simply incredible.
“O you wicked boy! What'll become o' you?” cried Miss Lavender, as she
beheld Gilbert Potter approaching, leading Roger by the bridle. But at
the same instant she saw, from the faces of the crowd, that something
unusual had happened. While the others instantly surrounded Gilbert, the
young volunteer who alone had made any show of fight, told the story
to the two ladies. Martha Deane's momentary shock of terror disappeared
under the rush of mingled pride and scorn which the narrative called up
in her heart.
“What a pack of cowards!” she exclaimed, her cheeks flushing,--“to stand
still and see the life of the only man that dares to face a robber at
the mercy of the robber's pistol!”
Gilbert approached. His face was grave and thoughtful, but his eye
brightened as it met hers. No two hands ever conveyed so many and such
swift messages as theirs, in the single moment when they touched
each other. The other women of the village crowded around, and he was
obliged, though with evident reluctance, to relate his share in the
event.
In the mean time the volunteers had issued from the tavern, and were
loudly discussing what course to pursue. The most of them were in favor
of instant pursuit. To their credit it must be said that very few of
them were actual cowards; they had been both surprised by the incredible
daring of the highwayman, and betrayed by the cowardly inefficiency
of their own leader. Barton, restored to his usual complexion by two
glasses of whiskey, was nearly ready to head a chase which he suspected
would come to nothing; but the pert young volunteer, who had been
whispering with some of the younger men, suddenly cried out,--
“I say, fellows, we've had about enough o' Barton's command; and I, for
one, am a-goin' to enlist under Captain Potter.”
“Good!” “Agreed!” responded a number of others, and some eight or ten
stepped to one side. The few remaining around Alfred Barton began to
look doubtful, and all eyes were turned curiously upon him.
Gilbert, however, stepped forward and said: “It's bad policy to divide
our forces just now, when we ought to be off on the hunt. Mr. Barton,
we all know, got up the company, and I am willing to serve under him,
if he'll order us to mount at once! If not, rather than lose more time,
I'll head as many as are ready to go.”
Barton saw how the tide was turning, and suddenly determined to cover up
his shame, if possible, with a mantle of magnanimity.
“The fellows are right, Gilbert!” he said. “You deserve to take the lead
to-day, so go ahead; I'll follow you!”
“Mount, then, all of you!” Gilbert cried, without further hesitation. In
a second he was on Roger's back. “You, Barton,” he ordered, “take three
with you and make for the New-Garden cross-road as fast as you can.
Pratt, you and three more towards the Hammer-and-Trowel; while I, with
the rest, follow the direct trail.”
No more time was wasted in talking. The men took their guns and mounted,
the two detached commands were told off, and in five minutes the village
was left to its own inhabitants.
Gilbert had a long and perplexing chase, but very little came of it. The
trail of Sandy Flash's horse was followed without much difficulty until
it struck the west branch of Redley Creek. There it suddenly ceased, and
more than an hour elapsed before some one discovered it, near the road,
a quarter of a mile further up the stream. Thence it turned towards the
Hammer-and-Trowel, but no one at the farm-houses on the road had seen
any one pass except a Quaker, wearing the usual broad-brimmed hat and
drab coat, and mounted on a large, sleepy-looking horse.
About the middle of the afternoon, Gilbert detected, in one of the lanes
leading across to the Street Road, the marks of a galloping steed, and
those who had a little lingering knowledge of wood-craft noticed that
the gallop often ceased suddenly, changed to a walk, and was then as
suddenly resumed. Along the Street Road no one had been seen except
a Quaker, apparently the same person. Gilbert and his hunters now
suspected the disguise, but the difficulty of following the trail had
increased with every hour of lost time; and after scouring along the
Brandywine and then crossing into the Pocopsin valley, they finally gave
up the chase, late in the day. It was the general opinion that Sandy had
struck northward, and was probably safe in one of his lairs among the
Welch Mountains.
When they reached the Unicorn tavern at dusk, Gilbert found Joe
Fairthorn impatiently waiting for him. Sally had been “tearin' around
like mad,” (so Joe described his sister's excitement,) having twice
visited the village during the afternoon in the hope of seeing the hero
of the day--after Sandy Flash, of course, who had, and deserved, the
first place.
“And, Gilbert,” said Joe, “I wasn't to forgit to tell you that we're
a-goin' to have a huskin' frolic o' Wednesday night,--day after
to-morrow, you know. Dad's behindhand with huskin', and the moon's goin'
to be full, and Mark he said Let's have a frolic, and I'm comin' home to
meet Gilbert anyhow, and so I'll be there. And Sally she said I'll have
Martha and lots o' girls, only we shan't come out into the field till
you're nigh about done. Then Mark he said That won't take long, and if
you don't help me with my shocks I won't come, and Sally she hit him,
and so it's all agreed. And you'll come, Gilbert, won't you?”
“Yes, yes, Joe,” Gilbert answered, a little impatiently; “tell Sally
I'll come.” Then he turned Roger's head towards home.
He was glad of the solitary ride which allowed him to collect his
thoughts. Fearless as was his nature, the danger he had escaped might
well have been cause for grave self-congratulation; but the thought of
it scarcely lingered beyond the moment of the encounter. The astonishing
discovery that the stranger, Fortune, and the redoubtable Sandy Flash
were one and the same person; the mysterious words which this person had
addressed to him; the repetition of the same words by Deb. Smith,--all
these facts, suggesting, as their common solution, some secret which
concerned himself, perplexed his mind, already more than sufficiently
occupied with mystery.
It suddenly flashed across his memory, as he rode homeward, that on the
evening when he returned from the fox-chase, his mother had manifested
an unusual interest in the strange huntsman, questioning him minutely
as to the latter's appearance. Was she--or, rather, had she been, at one
time of her life--acquainted with Sandy Flash? And if so--
“No!” he cried aloud, “it is impossible! It could not--cannot be!”
The new possibility which assailed him was even more terrible than his
previous belief in the dishonor of his birth. Better, a thousand times,
he thought, be basely born than the son of an outlaw! It seemed that
every attempt he made to probe his mother's secret threatened to
overwhelm him with a knowledge far worse than the fret of his ignorance.
Why not be patient, therefore, leaving the solution to her and to time?
Nevertheless, a burning curiosity led him to relate to his mother, that
evening, the events of the day. He watched her closely as he described
his encounter with the highwayman, and repeated the latter's words. It
was quite natural that Mary Potter should shudder and turn pale during
the recital--quite natural that a quick expression of relief should
shine from her face at the close; but Gilbert could not be sure that
her interest extended to any one except himself. She suggested no
explanation of Sandy Flash's words, and he asked none.
“I shall know no peace, child,” she said, “until the money has been
paid, and the mortgage is in your hands.”
“You won't have long to wait, now, mother,” he answered cheerily. “I
shall see Mark on Wednesday evening, and therefore can start for Chester
on Friday, come rain or shine. As for Sandy Flash, he's no doubt up on
the Welch Mountain by this time. It isn't his way to turn up twice in
succession, in the same place.”
“You don't know him, Gilbert. He won't soon forget that you shot at
him.”
“I seem to be safe enough, if he tells the truth.” Gilbert could not
help remarking.
Mary Potter shook her head, and said nothing.
Two more lovely Indian-summer days went by, and as the wine-red sun
slowly quenched his lower limb in the denser smoke along the horizon,
the great bronzed moon struggled out of it, on the opposite rim of
the sky. It was a weird light and a weird atmosphere, such as we might
imagine overspreading Babylonian ruins, on the lone plains of the
Euphrates; but no such fancies either charmed or tormented the lusty,
wide-awake, practical lads and lasses, whom the brightening moon beheld
on their way to the Fairthorn farm. “The best night for huskin' that
ever was,” comprised the sum of their appreciation.
At the old farm-house there was great stir of preparation. Sally, with
her gown pinned up, dodged in and out of kitchen and sitting-room,
catching herself on every door-handle, while Mother Fairthorn, beaming
with quiet content, stood by the fire, and inspected the great kettles
which were to contain the materials for the midnight supper. Both were
relieved when Betsy Lavender made her appearance, saying,--
“Let down your gownd, Sally, and give _me_ that ladle. What'd be
a mighty heap o' work for you, in that flustered condition, is
child's-play to the likes o' me, that's as steady as a cart-horse,--not
that self-praise, as the sayin' is, is any recommendation,--but my
kickin' and prancin' days is over, and high time, too.”
“No, Betsy, I'll not allow it!” cried Sally. “You must enjoy yourself,
too.” But she had parted with the ladle, while speaking, and Miss
Lavender, repeating the words “Enjoy yourself, too!” quietly took her
place in the kitchen.
The young men, as they arrived, took their way to the corn-field,
piloted by Joe and Jake Fairthorn. These boys each carried a wallet over
his shoulders, the jug in the front end balancing that behind, and the
only casualty that occurred was when Jake, jumping down from a fence,
allowed his jugs to smite together, breaking one of them to shivers.
“There, that'll come out o' your pig-money,” said Joe.
“I don't care,” Jake retorted, “if daddy only pays me the rest.”
The boys, it must be known, received every year the two smallest pigs of
the old sow's litter, with the understanding that these were to be their
separate property, on condition of their properly feeding and fostering
the whole herd. This duty they performed with great zeal and enthusiasm,
and numberless and splendid were the castles which they built with the
coming money; yet, alas! when the pigs were sold, it always happened
that Farmer Fairthorn found some inconvenient debt pressing him, and
the boys' pig-money was therefore taken as a loan,--only as a loan,--and
permanently invested.
There were between three and four hundred shocks to husk, and the young
men, armed with husking-pegs of hickory, fastened by a leathern strap
over the two middle fingers, went bravely to work. Mark Deane, who had
reached home that afternoon, wore the seventy-five dollars in a buckskin
belt around his waist, and anxiously awaited the arrival of Gilbert
Potter, of whose adventure he had already heard. Mark's presumed
obligations to Alfred Barton prevented him from expressing his
overpowering contempt for that gentleman's conduct, but he was not
obliged to hold his tongue about Gilbert's pluck and decision, and he
did not.
The latter, detained at the house by Mother Fairthorn and Sally,--both
of whom looked upon him as one arisen from the dead,--did not reach the
field until the others had selected their rows, overturned the shocks,
and were seated in a rustling line, in the moonlight.
“Gilbert!” shouted Mark, “come here! I've kep' the row next to mine, for
you! And I want to get a grip o' your hand, my bold boy!”
He sprang up, flinging an armful of stalks behind him, and with
difficulty restrained an impulse to clasp Gilbert to his broad breast.
It was not the custom of the neighborhood; the noblest masculine
friendship would have been described by the people in no other terms
than “They are very thick,” and men who loved each other were accustomed
to be satisfied with the knowledge. The strong moonlight revealed to
Gilbert Potter the honest heart which looked out of Mark's blue eyes, as
the latter held his hand like a vice, and said,--
“I've heard all about it.”
“More than there was occasion for, very likely,” Gilbert replied. “I'll
tell you my story some day, Mark; but tonight we must work and not
talk.”
“All right, Gilbert. I say, though, I've got the money you wanted; we'll
fix the matter after supper.”
The rustling of the corn-stalks recommenced, and the tented lines of
shocks slowly fell as the huskers worked their way over the brow of the
hill, whence the ground sloped down into a broad belt of shade, cast by
the woods in the bottom. Two or three dogs which had accompanied their
masters coursed about the field, or darted into the woods in search
of an opossum-trail. Joe and Jake Fairthorn would gladly have followed
them, but were afraid of venturing into the mysterious gloom; so they
amused themselves with putting on the coats which the men had thrown
aside, and gravely marched up and down the line, commending the rapid
and threatening the tardy workers.
Erelong, the silence was broken by many a shout of exultation or banter,
many a merry sound of jest or fun, as the back of the night's task was
fairly broken. One husker mimicked the hoot of an owl in the thickets
below; another sang a melody popular at the time, the refrain of which
was,--
“Be it late or early, be it late or soon,
It's I will enjoy the sweet rose in June!”
“Sing out, boys!” shouted Mark, “so the girls can hear you! It's time
they were comin' to look after us.”
“Sing, yourself!” some one replied. “You can out-bellow the whole raft.”
Without more ado, Mark opened his mouth and began chanting, in a
ponderous voice,--
“On yonder mountain summit
My castle you will find,
Renown'd in ann-cient historee,--
My name it's Rinardine!”
Presently, from the upper edge of the wood, several feminine voices were
heard, singing another part of the same song:--
“Beware of meeting Rinar,
All on the mountains high!”
Such a shout of fun ran over the field, that the frighted owl ceased his
hooting in the thicket. The moon stood high, and turned the night-haze
into diffused silver. Though the hollows were chill with gathering
frost, the air was still mild and dry on the hills, and the young
ladies, in their warm gowns of home-made flannel, enjoyed both the
splendor of the night and the lively emulation of the scattered
laborers.
“Turn to, and give us a lift, girls,” said Mark.
“Beware of meeting Rinar!” Sally laughed.
“Because you know what you promised him, Sally,” he retorted. “Come, a
bargain's a bargain; there's the outside row standin'--not enough of us
to stretch all the way acrost the field--so let's you and me take that
and bring it down square with th' others. The rest may keep my row
a-goin', if they can.”
Two or three of the other maidens had cut the supporting stalks of the
next shock, and overturned it with much laughing. “I can't husk, Mark,”
said Martha Deane, “but I'll promise to superintend these, if you will
keep Sally to her word.”
There was a little running hither and thither, a show of fight, a mock
scramble, and it ended by Sally tumbling over a pumpkin, and then
being carried off by Mark to the end of the outside row of shocks,
some distance in the rear of the line of work. Here he laid the stalks
straight for her, doubled his coat and placed it on the ground for a
seat, and then took his place on the other side of the shock.
Sally husked a few ears in silence, but presently found it more
agreeable to watch her partner, as he bent to the labor, ripping the
covering from each ear with one or two rapid motions, snapping the cob,
and flinging the ear over his shoulder into the very centre of the heap,
without turning his head. When the shock was finished, there were five
stalks on her side, and fifty on Mark's.
He laughed at the extent of her help, but, seeing how bright and
beautiful her face looked in the moonlight, how round and supple her
form, contrasted with his own rough proportions, he added, in a lower
tone,--
“Never mind the work, Sally--I only wanted to have you with me.”
Sally was silent, but happy, and Mark proceeded to overthrow the next
shock.
When they were again seated face to face, he no longer bent so steadily
over the stalks, but lifted his head now and then to watch the gloss of
the moon on her black hair, and the mellow gleam that seemed to slide
along her cheek and chin, playing with the shadows, as she moved.
“Sally!” he said at last, “you must ha' seen, over and over ag'in, that
I like to be with you. Do you care for me, at all?”
She flushed and trembled a little as she answered,--“Yes, Mark, I do.”
He husked half a dozen ears rapidly, then looked up again and asked,--
“Do you care enough for me, Sally, to take me for good and all? I can't
put it into fine speech, but I love you dearly and honestly; will you
marry me?”
Sally bent down her head, so choked with the long-delayed joy that she
found it impossible to speak. Mark finished the few remaining stalks and
put them behind him; he sat upon the ground at her feet.
“There's my hand, Sally; will you take it, and me with it?”
Her hand slowly made its way into his broad, hard palm. Once the
surrender expressed, her confusion vanished; she lifted her head for his
kiss, then leaned it on his shoulder and whispered,--
“Oh, Mark, I've loved you for ever and ever so long a time!”
“Why, Sally, deary,” said he, “that's my case, too; and I seemed to feel
it in my bones that we was to be a pair; only, you know, I had to get a
foothold first. I couldn't come to you with empty hands--though, faith!
there's not much to speak of in 'em!”
“Never mind that, Mark,--I'm _so_ glad you want me!”
And indeed she was; why should she not, therefore, say so?
“There's no need o' broken sixpences, or true-lovers' knots, I guess,”
said Mark, giving her another kiss. “I'm a plain-spoken fellow, and
when I say I want you for my wife, Sally, I mean it. But we mustn't be
settin' here, with the row unhusked; that'll never do. See if I don't
make the ears spin! And I guess you can help me a little now, can't
you?”
With a jolly laugh, Mark picked up the corn-cutter and swung it above
the next shock. In another instant it would have fallen, but a loud
shriek burst out from the bundled stalks, and Joe Fairthorn crept forth
on his hands and knees.
The lovers stood petrified. “Why, you young devil!” exclaimed Mark,
while the single word “JOE!” which came from Sally's lips, contained the
concentrated essence of a thousand slaps.
“Don't--don't!” whimpered Joe. “I'll not tell anybody, indeed I wont!”
“If you do,” threatened Mark, brandishing the corn-cutter, “it isn't
your legs I shall cut off, but your head, even with the shoulders. What
were you doin' in that shock?”
“I wanted to hear what you and Sally were savin' to each other. Folks
said you two was a-courtin',” Joe answered.
The comical aspect of the matter suddenly struck Mark, and he burst into
a roar of laughter.
“Mark, how can you?” said Sally, bridling a little.
“Well,--it's all in the fam'ly, after all. Joe, tarnation scamp as
he is, is long-headed enough to keep his mouth shut, rather than have
people laugh at his relations--eh, Joe?”
“I said I'd never say a word,” Joe affirmed, “and I won't. You see if
I even tell Jake. But I say, Mark, when you and Sally get married, will
you be my uncle?”
“It depends on your behavior,” Mark gravely answered, seating himself
to husk. Joe magnanimously left the lovers, and pitched over the third
shock ahead, upon which he began to husk with might and main, in order
to help them out with their task.
By the time the outside row was squared, the line had reached the bottom
of the slope, where the air was chill, although the shadows of the
forest had shifted from the field. Then there was a race among the
huskers for the fence, the girls promising that he whose row was first
husked out, should sit at the head of the table, and be called King of
the Corn-field. The stalks rustled, the cobs snapped, the ears fell like
a shower of golden cones, and amid much noise and merriment, not
only the victor's row but all the others were finished, and Farmer
Fairthorn's field stood husked from end to end.
Gilbert Potter had done his share of the work steadily, and as silently
as the curiosity of the girls, still excited by his recent adventure,
would allow. It was enough for him that he caught a chance word, now
and then, from Martha. The emulation of the race with which the husking
closed favored them, and he gladly lost a very fair chance of becoming
King of the Corn-field for the opportunity of asking her to assist him
in contriving a brief interview, on the way to the house.
Where two work together to the same end, there is no doubt about the
result, especially as, in this case, the company preferred returning
through the wood instead of crossing the open, high-fenced fields. When
they found themselves together, out of ear-shot of the others, Gilbert
lost no time in relating the particulars of his encounter with Sandy
Flash, the discovery he had made, and the mysterious assurance of Deb.
Smith.
Martha listened with the keenest interest. “It is very, very strange,”
she said, “and the strangest of all is that he should be that man,
Fortune. As for his words, I do not find them so singular. He has
certainly the grandest courage, robber as he is, and he admires the same
quality in you; no doubt you made a favorable impression upon him on the
day of the fox-chase; and so, although you are hunting him down, he will
not injure you, if he can help it. I find all that very natural, in a
man of his nature.”
“But Deb. Smith?” Gilbert asked.
“That,” said Martha, “is rather a curious coincidence, but nothing more,
I think. She is said to be a superstitious creature, and if you have
ever befriended her,--and you may have done so, Gilbert, without your
good heart being aware of it,--she thinks that her spells, or charms,
or what not, will save you from harm. No, I was wrong; it is not so very
strange, except Fortune's intimacy with Alfred Barton, which everybody
was talking about at the time.”
Gilbert drew a deep breath of relief. How the darkness of his new
fear vanished, in the light of Martha's calm, sensible words! “How
wonderfully you have guessed the truth!”. he cried. “So it is; Deb.
Smith thinks she is beholden to me for kind treatment; she blew upon
my palm, in a mysterious way, and said she would stand by me in time of
need! But that about Fortune puzzles me. I can see that Barton is very
shy of me since he thinks I've made the discovery.”
“We must ask Betsy Lavender's counsel, there,” said Martha. “It is
beyond my depth.”
The supper smoked upon the table when they reached the farm-house.
It had been well earned, and it was enjoyed, both in a physical and a
social sense, to the very extent of the guests' capacities. The King sat
at the head of the table, and Gilbert Potter--forced into that position
by Mark--at the foot. Sally Fairthorn insisted on performing her duty
as handmaiden, although, as Betsy Lavender again and again declared,
her room was better than her help. Sally's dark eyes fairly danced and
sparkled; her full, soft lips shone with a scarlet bloom; she laughed
with a wild, nervous joyousness, and yet rushed about haunted with a
fearful dread of suddenly bursting into tears. Her ways were so well
known, however, that a little extra impulsiveness excited no surprise.
Martha Deane was the only person who discovered what had taken place.
As the girls were putting on their hats and cloaks in the bedroom, Sally
drew her into the passage, kissed her a number of times with passionate
vehemence, and then darted off without saying a word.
Gilbert rode home through the splendid moonlight, in the small hours of
the morning, with a light heart, and Mark's money-belt buckled around
his waist.