DR. GOODRICH LEAVES WITH DADDY AS GUIDE--DADDY'S WAR-LIKE
PREPARATIONS--HIS TESTIMONY TO THE CURSE OF STRONG
DRINK--WHAT THEY DISCOVERED ON THEIR WAY TO THE VILLAGE.
Morning dawned fresh and beautiful. Dr. DeWolf's symptoms continued
favorable. Refreshed and re-invigorated, after an hour's repose, the
watchers gathered around the breakfast table with cheerful faces. Too
young and mirthful to be very seriously affected, for any great length
of time, by what had occured, Little Wolf joined with her guests in
sipping coffee, and talking over the events of the preceeding evening
with becoming composure.
During the meal, she slipped out to peep into the invalid's apartment.
As she flitted from the room, the Doctor turned to Edward, who was
gazing after her with an expression of intense admiration. "Ah, Ned,"
said he "your time has come."
"Fact, Doctor, I do feel queer. The little witch is too much for me."
"What can I do for you?" said the Doctor, with a professional nod.
"O, leave me here to-day, Doctor. Positively, I can't go back with
you."
"What, Ned, allow me to fight my way alone, through a band of
desperadoes?" said the Doctor, with feigned trepidation.
"Pshaw, Doctor! there's no danger; their chief is dead, or wounded,
and they've fled long before this time."
Their young hostess broke in upon the conference with a smiling face.
"Papa is resting very quietly," she said; "but I fear a return of his
complaint. I shall feel anxious 'till you return, Doctor, if indeed,
you still think you must go back this morning. Could not Mr. Sherman
go for you? Daddy might show him the way."
Edward cast an imploring look towards the Doctor, who magnanimously
sacrificed his own ease to the wishes of his friend. "It will be
necessary, for me to go myself," he replied; "but give yourself no
uneaseiness, Miss DeWolf. I do not think your father will have a
second attack. I will accept your offer of a guide, and, with your
permission will leave my friend, Mr. Sherman, as my proxy."
There was a slight dash of malice in the Doctor's last words, which
Edward was too grateful to notice.
When the hour for setting out arrived, daddy appeared, armed and
equipped, for what his fears had magnified into an exceedingly
perilous journey. At sight him, of Little Wolf burst into an
uncontrollable fit of laughter. His little, insignificant figure was
girded by an old leathern belt, which was literally stuck full, of
such weapons as he could hastily pick up, about the premises.
"Bless me! what do you expect to do with that outlandish outfit?" said
his young mistress, when she was able to speak.
"Why 'fend myself, to be sure," replied the old man indignantly.
"O, fie, daddy," said she coaxingly; take off that heavy old belt. Why
it makes you look so, and sweat so, too. Come, now, if you will, I'll
lend you one of my pistols."
The old man's rising temper was quite mollified, at the proposal of
Little Wolf; for to sport those pistols, had been an honor, to which
he had hitherto aspired in vain.
"Well, now, I'll explain the case, honey," said he, attempting to
approach her; "'tween you and me--"
"O, no, no," said Little Wolf, putting her fingers to her ears, and
slipping our of his way.
"Bless her heart," said daddy, turning to the Doctor; "that's just the
way she used to run away from me, when she was a little gal. 'Tween
you and me, though, I was only going to tell her, how it wasn't the
heft of this ere belt, that made me sweat so. It was sharpening these
ere, on the old grindstone," and he drew forth a couple of large
butcher knives, which glistened brightly in the sunbeams.
"O, those knives are just what mammy wants in the kitchen; I heard her
say so," said Little Wolf appearing on the piazza with the pistols.
It required a vast amount of coaxing to bring the old man to terms,
but finally a compromise was effected, and stowing a knife away in his
coat pocket, he set out with one of the pistols, the Doctor being
armed with the other.
Instead of the short cut of the night before, the Doctor chose the
more circuitous route through the village; if a cluster of dilapidated
houses might be dignified by that name. Dr. DeWolf's old brown
residence, situated on a high hill, with its piazza stretching across
the front, was the most imposing edifice to be seen. The remaining
comfortless dwellings, mostly log cabins, and board shanties, with
their broken windows and ragged inmates, who flocked out to gaze at
the strangers, presented an appearance desolate in the extreme. Even
the shadow cast by old Chimney Rock, after which the place was named,
added a darker aspect to the scene. Chinmey Rock was an irregular old
bluff, standing like a grim old castle by the riverside, its
chimney-like summit, rocky and bare, the most conspicuous object in
the landscape.
"What a God-forsaken place," exclaimed the doctor, involuntarily.
"'Tis so, this ere is a broke-down, one-horse concern, and that ain't
the wust on't, nuther," said his companion; who was almost bursting
with communicativeness.
"Well, what is the worst of it?" inquired the Doctor, as much to
gratify the old man's weakness, as to satisfy his own curiosity.
"Why, Doctor, 'tween you an' me, there's awful doin's here. Ye see,
sence that saloon was sot up in one end of the old brewery, all the
men here have got to drinking, and 'tis astonishing how men will act,
when they git soaked in liquor. I've heered temperance lecturers tell
stories that would make your har stand on ind; that was when I was
young, and there was a great excitement on the subject. I signed the
pledge then, and I never broke my word on no account, or I expect I
should be as bad as the rest of them here. I've had to stand out agin
hard persuasions. They've tried to git me to take a glass of lager;
sez they, 'lager won't hurt nobody;' sez I, 'it's hurt you.' You see,
it don't require no argument, I can pint 'em to facts. Now, there's
Prime Hawley; when he come here to live, he was a fine, stiddy young
man; his wife was as pretty as a rose, and as happy as a lark.
Somehow, Prime got to going to that saloon. Well, I gin him fair
waning. Sez I, 'Prime, they'll get the halter on ye, if ye go there;'
sez he 'I guess not, a glass of lager won't hurt nobody;' but now,
sure as fate, he's the worst of 'em all. He's whipped and frightened
his putty wife most to death, and she's got sickly now. Some say he's
even jined Bloody Jim's gang. 'Tween--"
"Hark!" said the Doctor, suddenly interrupting the narrator.
Deep, agonizing groans were distinctly heard in the direction of the
Pass, which they were nearing.
"O, murder, what's that?" shouted daddy; and he wheeled his horse
about and gallopped homeward.
"Stop, come back here," shouted the Doctor, at the top of his voice.
The old man reluctantly obeyed. Approaching within a short distance of
the Doctor, he motioned that individual towards him. "O, Doctor,
'twont do fur to go furder," said he; "'tween you and me, I've heern
say, that's jist the way them robbers do, when they want to ketch
anybody. There goes that yell agin. O, that ere _is_ awful; we'll get
ketched; it won't do fur to stay here."
Exasperated beyond endurance at the cowardice of his guide, the Doctor
bade him remain where he was, while he went forward to reconnoitre. A
short ride round the point of the bluff brought him directly upon the
bleeding form of the desperado, who had attacked him the preceeding
evening. Hailing daddy, he alighted and approached the apparently
dying man.
"Prime Hawley, by gol!" exclaimed daddy, as he came up. "Why, Prime,"
said he, hopping briskly down from his saddle; "twixt you and me, how
did you get in this ere fix?"
"Oh! oh!" groaned Prime, "take me home; I'm dying."
"I'll take him home if you say so, Doctor," said daddy, "his heft is
nothing, and it's near by."
"Very well, I'll follow with the horses."
"I say, Prime," said the old man, when they had nearly reached the
home of the sufferer, "tween you and me, aint had nothin' to do with
Bloody Jim, have you!"
"Yes, I have; curse him!"
"He ain't nowhere 'bout here now, is he?"
"I expect not, oh! oh! I wish he was suffering as I am."
"O, Miss Hawley, 'tween you an' me, here's a sore trial fur you," said
daddy to a pale-faced, delicate looking woman, who met him at the
cabin door with looks of alarm.
Mrs. Hawley trembled violently, and her pale face grew a shade paler,
but she asked no questions, as she led the way to the bed. Her
silence, at first, impressed the Doctor with the idea that she was
accessory to her husband's guilt, and he watched her closely. No tear
dimmed her eye, no sigh escaped her, yet she seemed painfully alive to
the agony which her miserable husband endured, while the Doctor was
dressing his wound.
"Do you think he will live, Doctor?" she enquired in a sort of
hopeless, melancholy tone, as Dr. Goodrich was about to leave.
"It is an exceedingly critical case," replied the Doctor, "he may
possibly recover."
"'Tween you and me," said daddy, coming between them, "I'd like to
know how Prime got that shot?"
Poor Prime shook his head imploringly towards the Doctor, who went to
him, and quieted his apprehensions in a few whispered words. "I don't
care," said Prime, "only it would kill her to know it."
As they were passing the old brewery, when they were again on their
way, a man came out and accosted them. "Hello, old Roarer," said he,
addressing daddy, "how is Dr. DeWolf, this morning"
The old man straightened himself in his saddle, and preserved a
dignified silence.
With an oath, the man commanded him to speak, but daddy rode calmly
on; his indignation got the better of his cautiousness.
"I'll pound you to a jelly," shouted the man after him,
"I'll risk it," said daddy addressing the Doctor.
Now daddy was not really a natural coward. But it cannot be denied
that old age and extreme cautionsness had greatly moderated the
courage which he possessed in his youth. "'Tween you and me," he
continued, "that Hank Glutter is the meanest critter that ever trod
shoe-leather. I've heern poor Mrs. Hawley plead with him not to sell
Prime liquor, and I've heern him order her out of the saloon, and I've
follered her hum, to see how she took it. Well, it was dreadful to see
her goings on. She'd bounce on to the bed and groan there, then she'd
bounce up and throw herself on the floor and groan there, and moan and
holler right out; O, it seemed 'zif she never would get cool. She'd
walk the floor, and wring her hands and take on awful. Them was the
times when she was young and was full of grit--I've been watching her
lately, and she's acted rather different. Ye see she was down to the
brewery night afore last, I seen her coming hum and I knowed she was
dreadful riled about something, so I kept my eyes on her; Lord! if she
didn't drop, right down on her knees afore her bed, and let off all
her feelins in a wonderful strange way. Seems 'zif she just talked to
the Lord. When she riz up, she looked kinder quiet and resigned like,
just as she did to-day; sez I to myself, if there's a God in heaven,
he's heern that woman. I expected he would send fire down and burn
that old brewery that very night, but there it stands and that old
cuss, that hollered after me, is alive yet. 'Tween you and me, them
things is kinder strange, now aint they, Doctor?"
"Rather strange," replied the Doctor dryly.
After riding a few moments in silence, daddy ventured to make still
another attempt to open a conversation. "'Tween you and me, Doctor,
was you acquainted with Miss Sherman?"
"What Miss Sherman?" said the Doctor in surprise.
"Why, young Edward's mother, down in the old Bay State. I ain't heern
nothin' from the folks down thar since I left. I seed young Edward
didn't know me, but I've dandled him on my knee many a time, when he
was a leetle shaver. 'Tween you and me there was a gal working at
Judge Sherman's that I had a liking fur, so Sundays, I used to go down
thar sparking, I'd kinder like to know if that gal's spliced yet."
"What was her name?"
"Her name was Miss Orrecta Lippincott; they generally called her
Recta, in the Judge's family."
"Recta is single yet, I saw her just before we left; but why did'nt
you marry her?"
"'Tween you and me, Doctor, I was a fool, I've allers felt a kinder
hankering after her. I can't get over them fust feelings I had, to
this ere day. Is she handsome yit, Doctor?"
"Not very."
"Well, I used to tell her if she got old and grey, it wouldn't make no
difference in my feelins," said the old man, rubbing his great, coarse
hand across his eyes.
"'Tain't natur," he began after a moment's pause, "to keep our
feelings shet in allers. Now, mammy is chuck full of spunk since
she's married me, so I aint let on to nobody. Ye see, if she got hold
on't, she'd never give me a minute's peace."
"Well, why didn't you marry Miss Lippincott?"
"'Tween you and me, Doctor, I got it into my head that she liked Sam
Brown. Ye see, there was a man told me that he seed him and her kiss,
right afore Judge Sherman's gate. Wall, this feller was allers puttin'
me up to think that Orrecta was flirty like, and I was jest fool
enough to believe him, so I jest packed up my duds and cum out West,
with Dr. DeWolf. He'd been teasing me to cum 'long with him fur some
time. Ye see, I'd allers been his gardener, ever since he was married.
Miss DeWolf that's dead now, she sot heaps by me. 'Now, Philip,' says
she--ye see my real name is Philip Roarer--'we can't get 'long without
you, fur to milk the cow and make the garden'. I could see that her
eyes was a leetle watery like, and I knew that she hated to cum off
alone, with the Doctor, 'cause sometimes when he got a leetle tight,
he didn't treat her nun too well. But the Doctor got 'long fust rate,
when he fust got here; he didn't drink much and he made heaps of
money, he and a crony of hisn, named Squire Tinknor. He lives in St.
Paul now, and does the Doctor's business fur him yet. Ye see, Squire
Tinknor can drink a barrel of liquor and not feel it, but the Doctor
gets crazy enough, on nothing but lager. 'Tween you an' me, that old
brewery in the holler has played the devil with the Doctor. I told
Hank Glutter how it would be, when he fust sot up the saloon in't. Sez
I, 'Mr. Glutter, I'd rather you'd chop this ere right hand of mine
right off, than to place that are temptation afore Dr. DeWolf.' Sez
he, 'What's the harm of a leetle beer?' Sez I, 'Ain't you goin' to
sell nothin' else?' Sez he, 'O, I may keep a few liquors jest for
variety.' Seems zif I should sink when he said that are, but I jest
felt zif I couldn't gin up, so I let right into him. It didn't do no
kinder good though. Sez he, 'If I don't sell it somebody else will,
and I might as will make money on it as anybody.' Well, the long and
short of it is, Doctor, he has got rich on't and now, 'tween you and
me, he's kinder hanging 'round the honey, but I guess he'll git his
walkin' papers afore long; ye see, the honey she's alive, every inch
on her."