DADDY'S SOLILOQUY--A BEER-SOAKER--A KNOCK DOWN ARGUMENT--A
PRESENT FOR LITTLE WOLF.
"I guess that ere Sherman won't be a hanging round the Honey no great
deal after this; if he does I'll put another flea in his ear fur I
ain't a going fur tu see her throwd away on no beer-soaker."
Thus soliloquized Daddy, as he watched with evident satisfaction, the
hurried departure of the young gentleman, whom, when we last left him
he had just released from his inevitable trap.
A horrible oath sounded in Daddy's ear, and he lay sprawling on the
pavement. "Call me a beer-soaker again will you," and out rolled
another oath, but Daddy did not hear it. The fall had stunned him, and
he was taken up insensible.
Absorbed in the subject which was agitating his mind at the time he
received the blow Daddy had raised his voice to a high pitch, and,
"beer-soaker," rang out loud and clear, reaching the ear of a
passer-by, who, being pretty well soaked in the beverage mentioned, or
in something stronger, resented the imagined insult after the manner
described.
Proud of his achievement, which he had just sense enough to see was
not generally approved by the crowd that had gathered round, Daddy's
assailant proceeded defiantly to defend his cruel deed. "He'd better
never say beer-soaker to me again, the cursed scoundrel, nor look it
either, curse him. Let any man in this crowd say that he didn't
deserve what he got, and I'll----
"You'll come right along with me, my friend," and the foolish boaster
was marched off by the city authorities, whom from past experience, he
well knew it was useless to resist.
This same man, now led away amid the exertions of Daddy's friends, had
gone out from his humble home that beautiful sunny morning with the
solemn promise on his lips to keep sober for that one day at least.
His hopeful long-suffering wife had watched lovingly his receding
footsteps, as in days, when a fond husband and father, he always
returned sober. All day long she went trustingly about her work with
kind glad words to her little children, whose pleased surprise to
receive, as of old, their father's fond caress, she delighted to
imagine.
But alas! it was the old story. The man's will was too weak to
withstand the pursuasions of drinking companions, and the tempttations
of the liquor seller. He yielded, and, when once he had got the taste,
wife and children and all were forgotten. At a late hour that night
the little ones were put sadly away to bed; the supper table, spread
in joy, was cleared away in sorrow, and the wife and mother was again
doomed to wait, and watch, and weep.
But let us return to Daddy. Stretched on a couch of suffering he lies;
impatient, vociferous and generally unmanageable.
"Hurry up that ere doctor afore I die," he exclaims; "hurry him up I
say. Lord, that ere pain in my shoulder; now its in my long ribs; now
its in my short ribs; I ken feel it clare down to my heel cord and toe
cord. Take away that ere infernal brandy," he cried, raising his voice
to its highest pitch, "ye don't spose I want fur to drink pison, do
ye, when I'm most dead already?"
"But it will strengthen you, Daddy," said the attendant soothingly.
"It won't nuther. It will set me all on fire and I'll mortify afore
the doctor gits here."
When Dr. Goodrich at length made his appearance, there was then
enacted a scene, if possible, still more uproarious. Poor Daddy
winced and groaned at every touch, and oftimes, commanded his
physician to desist in his examinations of the injured parts. "Don't!
Hold on there doctor, you'll yank me all to bits. There; stop that
yanking; for the lord's sake, doctor, hold on there."
"I am holding on, Daddy," said the doctor very firmly, as he mended
the dislocated shoulder.
The necessary surgical operation performed, and an opiate
administrated, with the assurance that no serious results were to be
apprehended, and Daddy's mind and body were soon at rest.
Meantime, in happy ignorance of Daddy's accident, Little Wolf and
Fanny plodded homeward; the former deeply absorbed in thought, the
latter blithe and airy, singing with the birds, and tripping and
slipping in the dissolving snow.
The exuberance of Fanny's delight, however, began perceptibly to wane
as they were about repassing the spot, where, a few hours before, they
had paused to mourn and lament. Again she loitered by her companion's
side, again she sighed, "Poor Fleet Foot;" but not again did Little
Wolf yield to her feelings. Her tearless eyes looked straight forward,
and she hurried by the frightful gorge, where lay the remains of her
high-mettled and much loved pet.
On the brow of the hill she paused in surprise, for again she saw
Wycoff with his face turned towards the brewery. On the present
occasion he was mounted upon his favorite horse Black Hawk, and,
having overtaken Hank Glutter, the two men were engaged in a
conversation which we will here transcribe.
"How are you, Wycoff? Bound for the brewery this fine day?"
"Why no, Mr. Glutter, I have about made up my mind that you have got
your share of my hard earnings this year, I guess I'll pay up my debts
and keep clear of the brewery, and see how I'll come out about this
time next spring."
"Why, I thought you were doing well enough, Wycoff," said Hank,
uneasily.
"I'm sure your bill at the brewery is not large, considering."
"O, I don't complain of the charges, Mr. Glutter. As Miss DeWolf says,
money is not the only thing you part with at a drinking saloon."
"O, you're being nosed about by Miss DeWolf, are you," said Hank
contemptuously.
"I had as leif be nosed by a fine lady, as by a saloon keeper," said
Wycoff, drawing himself up in his saddle.
"D----m the fine lady," said Hank between his closed teeth, "I'll
attend to her case."
"Shame on the man that will threaten a lady," said Wycoff hotly.
"When women stoop to interfere with men's business, they must take the
consequences, Wycoff. Shall I tell you what was done to a woman who
went whining around trying to raise a prejudice against a respectable
liquor dealer in the place where I once lived? One dark night her
house was pretty well pelted with stones and brickbats. The windows
and doors were broken in, and I do not know what the enraged crowd
would have done had she not made good her escape."
"A low cowardly set, to attack a defenceless woman," said Wycoff, "but
I've drank enough myself to know that under the influence of liquor,
men will do almighty mean things. Every time I've passed the place
where Fleet Foot lays, I have tried to make up my mind to give up
drinking, and pay Miss De Wolf for the horse, like a man; and to-day
I've come to the sticking point; I have promised to give up liquor,
and in a few minutes I shall present Black Hawk to Miss DeWolf."
"Well, she had better mind her own business after this," said Hank
with a sneer. "She has cheated me out of getting a first-rate clerk
this morning. I will not brook her interference in my affairs. Let her
beware, or I'll make this place too hot for her."
Wycoff's eyes flashed, and he extended his clenched fist towards Hank.
"You will, will you?" said he defiantly; "now listen, you Glutter. If
ever you attempt to harm that lady, I swear to you that this fist of
mine shall batter your brains, and on Black Hawk she shall ride over
your lifeless body."
Black Hawk pawed and snorted and turned his firey black eyes very
wickedly upon Hank, as if to enforce his master's threat. He was a
most magnificent animal; coal black, his silken coat, now curried with
special care, shone resplendent in the noon-day sun.
As Wycoff rode off, Hank muttered to himself, "She shall never ride
that horse."
Half an hour later, Hank had the mortification of beholding Little
Wolf flying past his door seated, like a little queen, upon Black
Hawk's back.
"She shall never ride that horse again," said the enraged saloon
keeper, with an oath.
Wycoff had great difficulty in pursuading Little Wolf to except his
present. Indeed she only consented when she became convinced that he
would be seriously displeased by her refusal. Further to gratify the
giver, she took her first ride under his immediate supervision; and,
at his request, she had followed the road by the brewery, making a
circle of about a quarter of a mile.
"Now that's what I call neatly done," said Wycoff, as Little Wolf drew
up, and leaped from the saddle. "You are the first lady that ever
backed Black Hawk," he said, patting the animal's neck. "The fact is,
I had my doubts about your being able to ride him at all. I was afraid
I would have to sell him and get a gentler beast, and I hated to do
that, for I have raised him from a colt. As a general thing, he won't
allow a stranger to come nigh him. I had to ride him myself at the
races last September, for everybody was afraid of him. I won five
hundred dollars on him though. I guess I had better stable him now;
hadn't I? I'll be up here early to-morrow morning to see how Daddy
gets along with him. I reckon the old man won't dare to go nigh him
till he gets used to him."