THE DANCE OF THE FOREST PEOPLE
[Illustration: Music]
"Oh! the night was warm and the moon was bright,
And we pitched our camp in the pale moonlight;
[Illustration: Music]
In the pale moonlight and the green, green shade,
And we counted up together all the money we had made."
THE little boy jingled the coins in his hands, and sang reflectively to
the Bear's soft music. Their camp fire had died down to a few red
embers, and the big moon hanging in the tree-tops made all the world
white and black, with one bright splash in the brook below. They had
finished their supper, and Bosephus, with the needle and thread given to
him by old Mis' Todd, had patiently mended by the firelight a small rent
in his trouser leg. Horatio, watching him with a grin, had finally
remarked:--
"You see, Bo, if you wore clothes like mine you wouldn't have to do
that."
"And if the dog that did that had got his teeth into your clothes, you'd
have wished they were like mine. Maybe that's why you didn't give him a
chance."
"Let's count the money, Bo."
So then they counted up their day's receipts. There was something more
than a dollar in all, and Horatio was much pleased.
[Illustration: THEIR CAMP-FIRE HAD DIED DOWN.]
"I tell you, Bo," he said excitedly, "we've made a fine start. By and by
we will earn two or three times that much every day, and be able to
start our bear colony before you know it."
The little boy fondled the coins over and over. They were the first he
had ever earned.
"Ratio," he said at last, "don't you suppose when we get a lot of
money--a big lot, I mean--we might give some to those people I used to
live with?"
Horatio scowled.
"I thought you said they didn't treat you well and you had to run away."
"Yes, of course, Ratio; but then they were so poor and maybe they'd have
been better to me if I had been able to earn money for them. They did
take me out of the poor house, you know, and--"
"And you tried to get back again and got lost and fell in with me. Now
you are sorry and want to go to them, do you?" and the Bear snorted so
fiercely that the little boy trembled.
"Oh, no! Not for the world! I never was so happy in all my life, only I
just thought--"
"Then don't think, Bo," interrupted Horatio, gently. "You are only a
little boy. I will do the thinking for this firm. Now for a song, Bo, to
soothe us."
So then they played and sang softly together while the moon rose and the
fire died out, and the boy poured the money from hand to hand, lovingly.
"Bosephus," said his companion, as they paused, "were those people you
lived with nice people? Nice fat people, I mean?"
"Not very. Old Mr. Sugget might have been pretty fat if he'd had more to
eat, but Mis' Sugget wasn't made to get fat, I know. It wasn't her
build."
"It was the old man that abused you, wasn't it?"
"Well, mostly."
"Knocked you about and half starved you?"
"Sometimes, but then----"
"Wait, please. I have an idea. When we get our bear colony started we'll
invite this Sugget party to visit us. We'll feed him--all he can eat. By
and by, when he gets fat--how long do you suppose it will take him to
get fat, Bo? Fat enough, I mean?"
"Fat enough for what?" shivered Bo.
Horatio drew the horsehair briskly across the strings and looked up at
the moon.
"Fat enough to be entertaining," he grinned, and began singing:--
"Oh, there was an old man and his ways were mighty mean,
And he wasn't very fat and he wasn't very lean,
Till he went to pay a visit to a colony of bears,
Then you couldn't find a nicer man than he was, anywheres."
While the Bear played the little boy had been watching a slim, moving
shadow that seemed to have drifted out from among the heavier shadows
into the half-lit open space in front of them. As the music ceased it
drifted back again.
"Play some more, Ratio," he whispered.
Again the Bear played and again the slim shadow appeared in the
moonlight and presently another and another. Some of them were slender
and graceful; some of them heavier and slower of movement. As the music
continued they swung into a half circle and drew closer. Now and then
the boy caught a glimpse of two shining sparks that kept time and
movement with each. He could hardly breathe in his excitement.
"Look there, Ratio," he whispered.
Horatio did not stir.
"Sh-h!" he said softly. "My friends--the forest people."
The Bear slackened the music a little as he spoke and the shadows
wavered and drew away. Then he livened the strain and they trooped
forward again eagerly.
Just then the moon swung clear of the thick trees and the dancers were
in its full flood. The boy watched them with trembling eagerness.
A tall, catlike creature, erect and graceful, swayed like a phantom in
and out among the others, and seemed to lead. As it came directly in
front of the musicians it turned full front toward them. It was an
immense gray panther.
At any other time Bo would have screamed. Now he was only fascinated.
Its step was perfect and its long tail waved behind it, like a silver
plume, which the others followed. Two red foxes kept pace with it. Two
gray ones, a little to one side, imitated their movements. In the
background a family of three bears danced so awkwardly that Bo was
inclined to laugh.
"We will teach them to do better than that when we get our colony," he
said.
Horatio nodded without pausing. The dancers separated, each group to
itself, the gray panther in the foreground. Spellbound, the boy watched
the beautiful swaying creature. He had been taught to fear the
"painter," as it was called in Arkansaw, but he had no fear now. He
almost felt that he must himself step out into that enchanted circle and
join in the weird dance.
New arrivals stole constantly out of the darkness to mingle in the
merrymaking. A little way apart a group of rabbits skipped wildly
together, while near them a party of capering wolves had forgotten their
taste for blood. Two plump 'coons and a heavy bodied 'possum, after
trying in vain to keep up with the others, were content to sit side by
side and look on. Other friends, some of whom the boy did not know,
slipped out into the magic circle, and, after watching the others for a
moment, leaped madly into the revel. The instinct of the old days had
claimed them when the wild beasts of the forest and the wood nymphs trod
measures to the pipes of Pan. The boy leaned close to the player.
"The rest of it!" he whispered. "Play the rest of it!"
"I am afraid. They have never heard it before."
"Play it! Play it!" commanded Bo, excitedly.
There was a short, sharp pause at the end of the next bar, then a sudden
wild dash into the second half of the tune. The prancing animals stopped
as if by magic. For an instant they stood motionless, staring with eyes
like coals. Then came a great rush forward, the gray panther at the
head. The boy saw them coming, but could not move.
"Sing!" shouted Horatio; "sing!"
For a second the words refused to come. Then they flooded forth in the
moonlight. Bo could sing, and he had never sung as he did now.
[Illustration: Music]
"Oh, our singing, yes our singing, all our friends to us 'tis bringing,
For it sets the woods to ringing, and the forest people know
[Illustration: Music]
That we do not mean to harm them in their dancing, nor alarm them--
We are seeking but to charm them with the sounds of long ago."
[Illustration: THE INSTINCT OF THE OLD DAYS HAD CLAIMED THEM.]
At the first notes of the boy's clear voice the animals hesitated; then
they crept up slowly and gathered about to listen. They did not resume
dancing to this new strain. Perhaps they wanted to learn it first. Bo
sang on and on. The listening audience never moved. Then Horatio
played very softly, and the singer lowered his voice until it became
like a far off echo. When Bo sang like this he often closed his eyes. He
did so now.
The music sank lower and lower, until it died away in a whisper. The boy
ceased singing and opening his eyes gazed about him. Here and there he
imagined he heard a slight rustle in the leaves, but the gray panther
was gone. The frisking rabbits and the capering wolves had vanished. The
red and gray foxes, the awkward bears and the rest of that frolicking
throng had melted back into the shadows. So far as he could peer into
the dim forest he was alone with his faithful friend.