TUG WHITTLE'S BOOTY.
After resting a while, and looking carefully around to make sure that
they were not watched, Tug and Silas crawled cautiously back to the bank
which overlooked the boat and its singular occupant, and after warning
his companion to remain where he was by shaking his hand at him like a
club, Tug began to climb down the bank, feeling every step as he went
with the cunning stealth of a tiger. Gradually he worked his way to the
water's edge; so careful was he, that even Silas, watching him with
breathless interest above, could not hear his step, and at last he stood
on the brink of the water. The boat was in an eddy, floating easily
about, and when it came within Tug's reach, he clapped the handkerchief
over the woman's mouth, tied it in a knot at the back of her head, and
came clambering up the bank with her on his shoulders. Without saying a
word, he started to retrace his steps, only stopping once or twice to
see that his booty was not smothering, when, finding the little woman
all right, he went on over the fences and sloughs, and through the
alleys and yards, until he entered his own door.
"Now then, sister," he said, putting the woman on her feet, and
breathing heavily from his exercise, "Tell us who you are. Davy, make a
light."
Silas came lagging in about this time, and did as he was told, though he
was a long time about it, for the matches were damp, and the flame slow
in coming up. Everything seemed to be damp in Davy's Bend, and it was no
wonder that the matches were slow and sleepy, like the other inhabitants
of the town; therefore they came to life with a sputtering protest
against being disturbed. While Silas was rubbing them into good humor,
Tug was closely watching the little woman with his great eye, and
getting his breath; and when the light was fairly burning, he went over
to her side, and removed the handkerchief from her mouth.
"Gentlemen!" she cried out, in a weak voice, as soon as she could.
"Gentlemen! In the name of God! I appeal to you as gentlemen!"
"Don't gentleman me," Tug said, bringing the light over to look at the
woman's face. "I'm not a gentleman; I'm a thief, and I've stolen a
woman. Nor is _he_ a gentleman," pointing to Davy, and holding his head
to one side to get a bead on him. "He's the greatest scoundrel that ever
lived. Look at the audacious villain now! Look at him! Did you ever see
a person who looked so much like the devil? And he _is_ the devil, when
he gets started. He's keen to get at you now, and I'll have trouble with
him if you are at all unreasonable."
Davy looked like anything but a villain as he meekly watched the pair
from the other side of the room; indeed, he was thinking that Tug was
carrying the matter entirely too far, and was becoming alarmed. But Tug
did not share this feeling of apprehension, for he seemed desperately in
earnest as he held the lamp close to the woman's face, who tried to
shield it from his sight with her thin, trembling hands, and cried out
in the same weak voice: "Gentlemen! In the name of God! I appeal to you
as gentlemen!"
A very small woman, with shrivelled face and sharp features, was Tug's
booty, and she trembled violently as she piteously held out her hands to
the two men. Tug thought of her as the key to the problem he had been
attempting to solve, so he stood between her and the door to prevent
escape. But Silas felt sure that the woman had but lately risen from a
sick bed; for she was weak and trembling, and from sitting long in the
damp river air, there was a distressed and painful flush in her face.
"Come now, sister," Tug said, seating himself in front of her, and
frowning like a pirate. "Tell us what you know, and be carried back to
your boat. If you refuse to do it, we will take you on a journey to the
Hedgepath graveyard, in the woods over the river, where we will erect a
stone Sacred to the Memory of an Obstinate Woman. Which will you have?
Use your tongue; which will you have?"
But the woman made no other reply than to appeal to them as gentlemen,
in the name of God, and cry, and wring her hands.
"In case you ever see that foxy companion of yourn again, which is
extremely doubtful, for I have a companion who murders for the love of
it--(Here, now, take your hand off that knife, will you," Tug said, by
way of parenthesis to Silas, looking at him sharply. Then going over to
him, he pretended to take a knife out of Davy's inside coat pocket, and
hide it in the cupboard). "If you ever see your friend Sneak again, say
to him that I intend to get his head. He is bothering a friend of mine,
and I intend to create a commotion inside of him for it."
Tug walked over to the table where the lamp stood, and, taking the
package of poison from his pocket, carefully divided it into two doses;
a large one for a man, and the other for a smaller person, probably a
woman. He also took occasion, being near to Davy, to whisper to him that
the woman reminded him of his wife's sister Sis.
"You are evidently a married woman, sister," the bold rascal said,
seating himself in front of his captive, and looking at her in the
dignified manner which distinguished him. "I suppose you were very
handsome as a girl, and the men fell desperately in love with you, and
were very miserable in consequence. But I will let you into a secret;
you are bravely over your beauty now. I suppose your mother braided your
hair, and did all the work, that your hands might be as pretty as your
face; and certainly she believed that while the boys might possibly fail
in life, _you_ would be all right, and marry a prince, and repay her for
her kindness. Your poor mother rented a pianow for you, too, I reckon,
and hired you a teacher; and when you could drum a little, she thought
you could play a great deal, and felt repaid for all her trouble,
believing that you would turn out well, and make your brothers feel
ashamed of themselves for being so worthless. And while I don't know it,
I believe that she paid five dollars to somebody to make you a artist,
and that you painted roses and holly-hocks on saucers and plates, which
your poor mother, in the kindness of her heart, recognized, and greatly
admired. I shall believe this as long as I live, for you _look_ like a
painter and a pianowist out of practice."
This train of thought amused Mr. Whittle so much that he paused as if to
laugh; but he apparently thought better of it, though his scalp crawled
over on his forehead,--an oddity which distinguished him when he was
amused.
"Did your poor mother get to sleep peacefully at night, after working
all day for you?" inquired Mr. Whittle fiercely. "You don't answer; but
you know she didn't. You know she spent the night in wrangling with your
father to induce him to give her money that she might buy you more
ribbons and millinery and dry goods; and kid gloves, probably, although
your brother Bill was out at his toes, and hadn't so much as a cotton
handkercher; and how your mother went on when your husband came courting
you! He wasn't good enough for you _then_, whoever he was; though I'll
bet he thinks he's too good for you _now_, whoever he is; and what a
time you must have had borrowing silverware and chairs for the wedding!
I've been married, and I know. Your tired mother hoped that when her
children grew up they would relieve her, and love her, and be good to
her; but I'll bet you find fault because she didn't 'do' more for you;
and that your brother Bill, who ran away because you had all the pie in
the house, is taking care of her, providin' she aint dead from bother
and too much work, which is likely. And after all this trouble in your
behalf, look at you now!"
The little woman seemed to be paying some attention to what he was
saying, for she looked at him timidly out of the corners of her black
eyes a few times, and occasionally forgot to wring her hands and cry.
"Look at you now, I say! Your health has gone off after your beauty, for
you seem to have neither with you, and I find you wandering around at
night with a Thief. A great fall you've had, sister, providin' you ever
were young and pretty, for I was never acquainted with a worse-looking
woman than you are; and if you knew my wife you would be very indignant,
for she has the reputation of being a Terror for looks. When I was
younger I fell in love with every girl I met, and had no relief until
they married; _then_ I soon got over it, for you ought to know how they
fade under such circumstances; but you are worse than the rest of them;
you are so ugly that I feel sorry for you. Honestly, I wonder that you
do not blush in my presence; and I am not handsome, God knows. I really
feel sorry for you, but in connection with your friend Prowler you are
annoying an amiable and a worthy gentleman, who happens to be a friend
of Mr. Blood's, the party sitting opposite you; and I fear he does _not_
feel sorry for you. A little less of that word 'gentlemen,' sister, if
you please."
The woman was appealing to them again as before: "Gentlemen! In the name
of God! I appeal to you."
"Promise to take your friend Prowler, and leave this country," Mr.
Whittle continued, "and never return, and you shall go free; but if you
refuse--Blood!"
Tug sprang up and glared savagely at his meek little partner, at the
same time advancing toward him.
"You sha'n't satisfy that devilish disposition of yourn by shooting a
woman in the back when _I'm_ around, you cut-throat," he said. "Haven't
I always been ready to join you in putting men out of the way, and
haven't I enjoyed the pleasure of it with you? Then why do you want to
take the credit of this job to yourself, and enjoy it alone? You must
wait, Blood, until she speaks. We _may_ forgive her, providin' she
speaks up cheerful and don't attempt to deceive us."
Again Tug pretended to take a dangerous weapon from his companion,
standing between Davy and the prisoner while about it; after which he
regarded him for a few moments in contemptuous silence.
"It's your tongue, sister, and not your tears, as will do you good in
this difficulty," Tug said, in answer to a fresh burst of grief from the
woman. "I'll give you five minutes to decide between tongue and tears.
At the end of that time, if it's tears, the cravings of that bad man in
the corner shall be satisfied. Blood, where is the watch you took from
the store? Hain't got it? My guess is that you've lost it gambling, as
usual. Well, I'll count three hundred seconds, sister, since we have no
watch. One, two, three; here we go."
Tug looked reverently up at the ceiling; and appeared to be engaged in
counting for two or three minutes, occasionally looking at the woman and
then at Silas, who thought Tug had been counting at least half an hour
already.
"Two hundred and twenty-one, two hundred and twenty-two, two hundred and
twenty-three," he counted aloud. "Fifth call, sister, the time is going;
two hundred and twenty-four, two hundred and--"
At this moment there was a strange interruption to the proceedings. A
tall man wearing a rubber coat, which reached below his knees, opened
the door, and, leaving it open, stood just upon the inside, carrying a
pistol in his right hand, which hung by his side.
"The shadow!" both men thought at once; and very determined and ugly
looked the shadow, with his long, sallow face, and dark moustache.
"Alice," he said to the woman, "come out."
The woman quickly jumped up, and hurried outside. The shadow followed,
backing out like a lion-tamer leaving a cage, and closing the door after
him. But while he stood inside the door, although he was there only a
moment, both men noticed a strange peculiarity. The upper part of his
left ear was gone,--cut off clean, as if with a knife; and this
peculiarity was so unusual that they remarked it more than his face. The
circumstance gave them both an impression that the shadow was a
desperate man, and that he was accustomed to fierce brawls.
Tug and Silas looked at each other in blank dismay a long time after the
mysterious pair had disappeared, not venturing to look out, fearing it
might be dangerous; but finally Tug said,--
"Silas, I must have a gun. Do you happen to have one?"
Silas shook his head.
"Then I must steal one, for I need a gun. The shadow looks so much like
an uncle of my wife's that I am more determined than ever to kill him."
Whereupon he went over to the table, emptied the two packages of poison
on to the floor, and went to bed.