PIPER'S GLEN
There were queer people in Piper's Glen on Racket River--queer by the
confused and materialistic standards of more populous communities, at
least. The first settlers in the glen had been Ducats--a Frenchman
and his Maliseet wife and three half-breed children. At that time
there wasn't another clearing within forty miles of the place in any
direction. Later, McKims and McElroys came to the glen, and other
settlers to other sections of the river; a mill was built twenty
miles lower down, and roads were made. Generations passed. Children
grew up and married in the glen, or went away with the river into the
great world, and died eventually in either case. Ducats married
McKims and McElroys and folk from neighboring settlements. Once upon
a time there were seven dwellings in Piper's Glen--but that was at
the height of its prosperity. It was situated too far from the river
to attract people from outside or hold all of its own folk, and too
much of its acreage stood too nearly on end for easy or profitable
farming. Agriculture was neither arduously nor scientifically
followed there. Potatoes and buckwheat were grown sufficient for
home consumption, and in winter the men went into the woods, some to
chop timber in the camps of big and little "operators," and others to
trap fur and kill wild meat.
Young Melchior Hammond from Millbrook visited the Ducats whenever he
came to the glen, and that was as often as he could slip away from
his father and his father's business. The senior Hammond was not
only a storekeeper but a money-lender, and his methods were devious.
Melchior became popular with the Ducats, despite his parentage. He
was a simple youth, taking his character from the spindle side; and
yet he was not without spirit, although not a "white-water boy." He
disapproved of his father's dealings with the needy and easy; and
when far enough away from home, particularly when in Piper's Glen, he
was wont to state his disapproval frankly. He never came to the glen
without a pocketful of cigars for old Hercules Ducat and old Archie
McKim, and a box of candy for Flora Ducat; and he never refused to
sit into a game of cards with Peter and Uncle Sam and Mark Ducat,
though it was known to all that Amos Hammond looked upon a pack of
cards as fifty-two admission tickets to hell. To be caught by his
father in the act of ruffling a deck would cost Melchior his home and
his inheritance, and yet the young man never refused to sit in at
forty-fives or black-jack or poker under the Ducat roof, though he
was seldom a winner. But he did not give all his time in Piper's
Glen to the playing of cards. He devoted part of it to conversation
with Flora.
It was easy to see that Melchior Hammond, like several others of the
young men of the district, thought Flora Ducat much to be admired.
Also, her brother Mark was man to be cultivated. Title of Cock of
the River was a revered one in that part of the country.