TESSIBEL'S VISION
Tessibel and Jake Brewer made their way through the bleak, dark, pear
orchard to the lane. The night held no terrors for the girl. All her
winters, she'd battled with the cold and winds of the Storm Country.
Now, through the lane to the lake, they struggled, heads bent against
the blinding blizzard. Under the weeping willow trees stood the empty
shanty which had housed her childhood days, and, mechanically, she
turned her eyes toward it. She recalled, dully, the strange sequence of
events that had transformed her from a squatter's brat and lifted her
out of the bleak barrenness of life in the shack. She'd escaped the
squalor, the horrid cold and the hardships, common to the women of the
Silent City. She lived more comfortably and decently than the
fishermen's wives. She'd learned many things, but all her efforts to
improve herself had been centered in her ambitions for Boy. Now it was
all wasted! She'd won for him nothing but Waldstricker's enmity. Her
aspirations for him and for herself were buried in the little grave on
the storm-swept hillside by Daddy Skinner. Like a borrowed mantle, the
culture she'd gained under Professor Young's loving tuition slipped from
her and the elemental passions of the primitive people that produced her
assumed their sway. Subconsciously, the squatter's standards
re-established themselves, and she hugged to her heart the hate she'd
been cherishing.
On the ice-covered rocks, where they were sheltered from the wind, Jake
began to talk.
"I wouldn't have asked ye to come, Tess," he apologized, "if we hadn't
needed ye bad."
"I wasn't doing anything at home," the girl answered tonelessly.
"Mr. Young weren't there, were he?" asked Brewer.
"No," replied Tess. "His sister's sick and sent for him."
"I guess she air sick, all right," commented Jake, ominously.
If Tess heard, she didn't heed the sinister suggestion in the squatter's
speech. She was busy, her whole attention devoted to plans for revenge
upon Waldstricker.
The light from Brewer's hut, which was set back a little from the lake
shore, in a frost-riven and water-worn niche in the precipitous cliff,
shone mistily through the storm. Cut by slanting lines of driving
snow-crystals, its milky radiance obscured rather than defined the
drifted path. Breathless, from the blizzard's buffeting, they gained, at
last, the hut door.
The fisherman lifted the latch and they stepped into the hut. Seated in
chairs around the bare little room were several men, squatter friends of
the neighborhood. Near the stove stood Ma Brewer, white-faced and
anxious. As soon as she recognized the girl, she began to weep and
gesticulate hysterically. Tess went to her and seized her hands.
"Why! Ma Brewer, what's the matter? What'd you want of me?"
Before she could answer, a rough voice broke the silence.
"We all wanted ye, Tess."
She wheeled about and looked from one to the other.
Jake was still standing near the door. The triumphant leer on his face
was reflected in the several expressions of the other men.
"Then, Ma Brewer wasn't sick?" Tess demanded slowly.
"Nope," said Jake, "but I'll bet someone else air."
Tessibel allowed her eyes to rove about the shack. A slight movement in
the corner attracted her attention. There, like a forlorn little lamb, a
tight rag about her mouth, her curls matted and damp, crouched Elsie
Waldstricker. Instantly, Tess recognized her and her heart pumped with
joy. Surely, her prayer had been answered! Here was her opportunity! The
child was suffering, she could see that, but the very extremity of
torture could hardly repay for the pain Boy'd endured. While Tess was
pondering the penalties she'd inflict, a smile touched her lips. The
frightened blue eyes searched the hard brown ones, but the child found
no comfort or encouragement in the frowning face of the squatter girl.
"It's Waldstricker's brat," declared Jake, exultantly. "I were a
snoopin' 'round Eb's place an' run on 'er down near the road by that
there bunch of tamaracks. I says, 'What air the matter, Kid,' an' she
says, 'I want my ma.' I says, 'Come along an' I'll git 'er fer ye,' an'
the kid come jest like a lamb goes to the slaughterhouse." And Jake
threw back his head and roared.
The other men joined in the grim laughter. After a minute, another voice
sounded above the last ugly chuckles.
"Now, we got 'er, Tess, ye air to do anythin' ye want to with 'er."
Still, the blue eyes looked into the brown, and, still, Tessibel's heart
raged its satisfaction. What were the squatters going to do with
Waldstricker's daughter? The girl turned her head slowly and glanced at
the row of dark men in their chairs against the wall. She cared nothing
for the child on the floor, except that she was the one thing that
Waldstricker loved best. Surely, to injure her would injure him! The
little feet were tied and so were the small hands. This pleased Tess,
too, for she remembered how they'd held Boy when he was imploring them
to keep the big man away.
Waldstricker! Ungodly, wicked Waldstricker! His time had come! She'd go
and leave the little girl with the squatters. Well she knew that a word
from her and the baby would be seen no more.
"I guess when old Eb found out his kid were gone," grated Jake Brewer,
"he got a wrench or two hisself."
The heavy voice brought Tess about.
"What'll we do with her?" She flung her hand toward the child in the
corner.
"Yer say'll go, brat," put in Longman. "That rich duffer air had his way
too long. Us squatters're a goin' to show 'im 'tain't so safe to ride
rough shod over everybody."
"You're going to kill her?" asked Tessibel, dully.
"Yep," flung in Brewer, "if ye say so."
Mrs. Brewer was crying softly. Her husband turned fiercely upon her.
"Ma, here," said he, "air makin' some awful fuss over nothin'. She wants
the kid took out of the state an' put some'ers. Us men says it air got
to die."
"It air too awful, Tessie," sobbed Mrs. Brewer. "The baby ain't done
nothin'."
Tessibel refrained from looking at the speaker. Her heart bled afresh at
the woman's words. Boy hadn't done anything, either, but Waldstricker'd
killed him. It was just, he should give his daughter for her son. It
wouldn't bring Boy back, but surely he'd rest easier if Elsie joined
him. The thought that her enemy would know the ache that tore her heart,
was balm to her own heart. Yet something within her tugged her eyes to
the baby on the floor. How Boy'd cried when the convulsive pain had tied
his little limbs into cruel knots! She wanted to hear Elsie cry, too.
The wails of her enemy's child might drive the shrieks of her own little
one from memory.
"Take the rag off her mouth," said she, quickly.
"She'll cry like a sick cat, if ye do," warned a man.
Tess crossed the room to the corner where Elsie lay and kneeling by her,
unfastened the cloth about her mouth. The baby held up her bound hands,
blue and swollen from the tight ligature, and whimpered,
"Elsie's hands hurt."
The squatter girl had never voluntarily hurt a living thing. All her
life quick sympathy had responded instinctively to helplessness and
misery. Even the toads and bats knew her tender care. Waldstricker's
child was to her, then, the most loathsome of breathing creatures. She
might let the squatters kill her; she might even do it herself. But this
was another thing! Face to face with the concrete case of pinching a
baby's wrists, her instinct sent her fingers to the tight cords about
the uplifted hands. Without conscious purpose, she, also, loosened the
plump ankles. Elsie rolled in a whimpering, little heap on the floor.
"I want my Daddy," she whined.
"You can't have your Daddy," answered Tess. Lifting the child to her
feet, she noted how like to Deforrest Young's were the little one's
eyes.
"Your daddy air a dirty duffer," said Jake. "Give 'er a whack in the
face, Tess."
He came forward from his place by the door and stopped near the two
girls. The fisherman raised his own fist, and Tessibel moved a little
aside. She regretted, now, that she'd loosened the little one's bonds or
had done anything to relieve her suffering. She didn't care what they
did to Waldstricker's girl. If they wanted to strike her, what affair
was it of hers?
She turned her eyes upward, and, there, from among the rafters, she
seemed to see Boy's face smiling down upon her. Love, shining from the
dear eyes, radiated bliss and joy. How very sweet and peaceful he
appeared! Then, Brewer's voice penetrated her consciousness. He was
leaning over the rigid little girl.
"Brat," he was saying, "you air goin' to get the lickin' of yer life,
an' don't ye ferget it."
"Pretty lady, help baby," mourned Elsie.
Tessibel shoved the squatter aside.
"Don't touch 'er yet," she said in low, distinct tones.
Jake took something from his pockets and thrust it into the girl's
hands. It was a small, wiry, riding whip.
"It air the one her pa used on Boy," he muttered. "I stole it from 'is
stable."
Tessibel uttered a cry and dropped the whip. The terrible scene in the
lane, invoked by the speaker's words and the sight of the whip, poured
into her mind a new flood of hate.
Yes! Elsie should be treated as her father had treated Boy! She stooped
and picked up the whip. The men leaned forward, watching intently. Their
heavy breathing and Ma Brewer's sobs mingled with the ticking of the
clock and the storm's racket against the hut sides.
She studied the whip and tested its hissing pliability. That tip had
stung Boy beyond endurance. The length of it had put him in his grave.
Waldstricker's hands had tortured her son. She would make his daughter
pay the reckoning. She drew a deep breath and raised her arm.
Elsie had crept unnoticed to her side, and as Tess glanced down, the
child touched her hand with little fingers, marble-cold. The girl drew
away from the suppliant touch, then, lowered the whip and stood
considering the baby face.
"I hate you worse'n anyone in the whole world," she spat out.
"Then, lick 'er," growled Longman, and the other squatters muttered
their approval.
Elsie dropped her head against Tessibel, and clung to her skirt.
"I want my--mover," she burst out, crying.
"Get even with Waldstricker, brat," said another voice.
Tess raised her arm and glancing along the uplifted whip, again, she
looked into Boy's eyes, and, as she gazed, the little face in the
rafters receded, grew dimmer.
She dropped the whip, and unmindful of the squatters, lifted her hands.
"Mummy's baby boy!" she called. The happy eyes faded last from her sight
and it seemed to her they summoned her thence. A moment more, she stood
shivering, staring into the shadows, and, then, she turned upon the
dark-browed men.
"You said I could do anything I wanted to with 'er, eh?"
"Yep," Brewer assented. "Beat 'er, kill 'er, the more the better for
us-uns."
"Then give me a blanket to wrap her in. I'll take her home
where--where--Boy--died."
Brewer's lips fell apart and he laughed evilly.
"Good idee, brat," he said. "Ye can make it a thousand times worser for
the kid if ye do.... Get a blanket, Ma."
Carefully, the girl wrapped the blanket around and around the little
one. Elsie whimpered disconsolately but made no objection. Anything was
better than being left with the men who tied her up. Lifting the bulky
bundle, Tess started for the door, Jake picked up the whip from the
floor, handed it to her.
"Ye're forgettin' somethin' ain't ye, brat? Ye'll be wantin' this, I'm
thinkin'," he chuckled.
"I can't ever thank you all enough," she flung back hoarsely, tucking
the whip into her coat pocket, "for giving me this chance at
Waldstricker."
Longman got up and opened the door and Tess stepped out into the storm,
carrying Waldstricker's daughter.
* * * * *
Deforrest Young was trying to calm his sister. Her frantic cries for her
baby contrasted strangely with the icy despair of the other mother he'd
tried to comfort. His heart, still sore from Boy's loss, bled in ready
sympathy to his sister's mourning. He grasped Helen's hands which were
tearing her hair.
"Don't!" he said. "We'll find her soon. By morning she'll be back home
again. Ebenezer has nearly every man around looking for her, ...
searching every barn and asking at every house.... Darling, do you think
you could stay here with Madelene and let me go out, too?"
"Yes, yes, go, but Oh, God, I shall die if you don't find her!"
Hour after hour men on horseback and men on foot hunted through the
hills and gullies for little Elsie Waldstricker.
It was almost twelve, when one by one Ebenezer's friends rode
sorrowfully home after a useless search.