THE STRANGE PROCESSION
When Florence awoke next morning at dawn she stared wildly about her for
an instant, then settled back luxuriously among the covers.
“Home,” she breathed. “Back at the whipsawed cabin!”
She lay there gazing dreamily at the time browned ceiling. Suddenly her
gaze fell upon the misplaced board that covered the opening leading to
the attic.
At once her mind was filled with all manner of wild speculations. Had
Marion, in her absence, thought of some new hiding place in that attic?
Had she found the Confederate gold? Or had Uncle Billie talked too much
about the vanished gold? Had some one, with no legal right to the gold,
come to the house while everyone was away? Had he climbed to the attic
and plundered it?
She found herself all but overcome by a desire to climb up there and look
for herself.
“But this day,” she said, sitting up wide awake, “this day I have no time
for treasure hunting. My business to-day is that of being tried by a
jury. And after that,”—her thoughts were bitter,—“after that it is to be
my duty to show these mountain folks how gamely a girl from the outside
can lose an election.”
Strangely enough, at this moment there passed through her mind moving
pictures of her experience at the back of Pine Mountain.
“The deed for Caleb Powell’s land,” she whispered. “I wonder when they
will have it? Will they have it at all? Will we get our commission?”
“Oh well,” she exclaimed, leaping out of bed, “there’s no time for such
speculation now.”
The trial was on. The house was packed. Lacking a town hall, the Justice
had selected the schoolhouse for court room.
To Florence the thing was tragic. To be tried by a jury, a jury of men
who two months before were utterly unknown to her; to be tried by a
people whose children she had been helping to educate, this was tragic
indeed. There were faces in the audience which seemed to reflect the
tragedy; seamed faces, old before their time; faces of women who had
toiled beyond their just lot that their children might have just a little
more than they had enjoyed.
There was humor in the situation, too. To be sitting there in the very
chair which she had been accustomed to use in her school-work; to be
looking into the faces of scores of children, yet instead of directing
their work to be listening to the Justice stumbling over the words of the
warrant, all this struck her as decidedly odd, a thing to smile about.
Ransom, too, must have seen the humor of it, for as Florence looked his
way she surprised a smile lurking around the corners of his mouth.
The jury was called. Florence, studying their faces as they came
shambling forward, was surprised and relieved to find there not a single
man who was hostile to her; not one of Black Blevens’ men was on that
jury. She caught her breath as the true meaning of it came to her. George
Sergeant, the deputy, was her friend. He had seen to it that she had the
proper sort of a jury. A lump came into her throat. It is good, at such a
time as this, to know that one has friends. The very fact that she had
demanded a jury trial had perhaps saved the day for her.
The details of the case arranged, a lawyer arose to open the case. It was
Florence’s lawyer, provided not by herself, but by Ransom Turner and his
men.
It was a beautiful and wonderful speech that the young lawyer made. A
product of the mountain, born and raised far up in the hills, he had been
helped to his earlier education by just such a school as the girls had
been teaching.
“An outrage! A shame and a blight to Laurel Creek’s good name!” he
exclaimed eloquently. “You all know what these summer schools have meant
to us and to our children. Good hearted, generous people of education and
refinement come to our mountains to help our children, and how do we
repay them? Arrest them for carrying concealed weapons! Arrest a woman
for that! And what was it that this lady did? She put a twenty-two pistol
in her pocket after she failed to shoot a squirrel. A pistol, did I say?
Really a little rifle. A long barrel and a handle. Attach a stock to it
and it’s a rifle.
“Concealed weapons!” his voice was filled with scorn. “You couldn’t kill
a man with that! A twenty-two! Concealed weapons! If I were to search
this crowd to-day I could find a hundred deadlier weapons on the persons
who sit before me!” There was a sudden shuffling of the uneasy feet of
startled mountaineers.
“Concealed weapons!” he went on. “I’ve a more deadly one in my own
pocket!” He drew a large clasp knife from his pocket and opened it. “I
could kill you quicker with that than with a twenty-two.” He put the
knife back in his pocket.
“And yet we arrest a woman, a girl really, who has come among us to help
us. As a reward we arrest her! Will you honorable jurymen place a blight
on the name of such a one by saying she is guilty of a crime? Something
tells me you will not.”
As the young lawyer sat down there was a stir in the room, a whispering
that came near to applause, but the bronze faces of the jurymen never
changed. Nor had they changed when, after hearing the Justice give his
reasons why the girl should be found guilty, they left the room to retire
to the shade of a distant beach tree.
It was a tense situation that followed. There was no conversation. To
many in the room a sentence of “guilty” would mean the end of their hopes
of a winter school worthy of the name.
“If only we can beat old Black Blevens in this trial,” Ransom Turner was
whispering to his henchmen. “Hit’s likely there’s men who’ll vote right
in the school election this afternoon. It’s a chance, though. It’s a
plumb uncertain one. Can’t tell next to nothin’ what men’ll do.”
So, while the distant mumble of the jurymen floated indistinct through
the windows, they waited and whispered among themselves.
A moment passed, two, three, four. Then the jurors came marching back.
In the midst of a silence that could be felt, the jurymen took their
seats and the Justice said:
“Gentlemen, what is your verdict?”
“Jedge,” said a tall, lanky woodsman, rising to his feet, “we came to the
conclusion that there weren’t no deadly weapons packed, not narry one.”
There followed ten seconds more of silence, then came a rush forward to
shake the young teacher’s hand.
In spite of her efforts at self control, Florence felt tears splash upon
her hands, nor were hers the only tears shed that morning.
“But I must be strong,” she told herself, setting her lips tight. “The
day is but begun. This is the day of the election.”
The time for the election came.
Marion, having finished her short sleep and eaten a hearty dinner, was on
hand as fresh and young as if she had not passed through the terrors of
the previous night.
To the two girls, born and bred on the plains, the election, which had
reached a high pitch of excitement by early afternoon, was indeed a
revelation. There were judges of that election who served without pay,
twenty or more of them, not legal judges but men who were there to see
that their side had fair play. Ten or more of Black Bleven’s men were
constantly present; an equal number of the Ransom Turner clan were there.
Not a word was said by any of them, but everyone knew that guns, not
lips, would speak if things went wrong.
These men meant to see that the men of their side were permitted to vote
and if trouble arose they were ready to fight.
All that quiet afternoon, as if before a storm, the air seemed
electrified. In every heart deep feelings surged; hatred in some, loyalty
in others. To every thinking man the situation held dire possibilities.
Here might start a bloody feud that would not end until scores were in
their graves.
Men and women stood in little knots. Questions were asked in whispers.
Would they vote? Would some of Black Blevens’ men dare to cross his will?
Would they dare? Black Blevens had large logging contracts. He would hire
many men during the coming winter. Dared the men, whose very bread and
butter depended upon him, desert him?
At three o’clock the question was beginning to be answered. The election
appeared clearly lost for Ransom Turner. At three-thirty he was eleven
votes behind, and no apparent chance of a rally.
Florence stuck grimly to her post, close to the schoolhouse door. Her
heart was breaking. She loved the mountain children, had dreamed of a
bigger and better school than Laurel Branch had ever known. That was all
passing now. In two or three weeks she would be bidding the valley
farewell forever. Yet, with the grim determination of a Spartan, she
stuck to her post.
As for Marion, she had learned what seemed to her to be one of the
secrets of happiness. When one’s greatest hope seems about to fail, it is
well to quickly swing one’s interests to others, less important perhaps,
but not less entrancing. As the election appeared lost, she thought once
more of the Georgia gold and the attic of the whipsawed house. She it had
been who had removed the board from the ceiling. At that time, however,
she had been suddenly called to other tasks and, having replaced the
board wrong end to, had left without climbing to the attic at all.
“There’s time enough now,” she thought, “and who knows what I might
discover? There’s no need to stay here any longer. The election is lost.”
Reaching her room, she at once shoved the bed beneath the loose board,
and a moment later, candle in hand, found herself swinging along from
beam to beam toward the ancient pounding mill in the corner.
“Don’t see why it’s here,” she murmured to herself. “Cumbersome old
thing. No good up here.”
She put out her hand to touch it. Then she took it away in disgust. It
was black with three decades of accumulated dust.
“Ugh!” she grunted. “Wonder if I could tip it over?”
She tried, and failed to move it,—tried once more and failed. Then she
looked about her for some sort of a pry. Having secured a loose board,
she attacked the task once more.
This time she was more successful. With a thump that shook the solid old
frame from sill to rafter, the cumberstone block rolled over on its side.
As it fell the girl’s heart skipped a beat. What was that she heard?
Could it have been a metallic clinking? Had her ears deceived her? She
hoped not. But if she had heard aright, from whence had it come? From
some dark corner among the rafters, or from within the very heart of the
old pounding mill?
At that moment there came to her ears the sound of hoarse shouting. What
did it mean? Was there to be trouble? Would there be shots? Would women
be fleeing, men dying?
None of these. A strange and stirring scene was being enacted at the
schoolhouse at the mouth of Laurel Branch.
A short time after Marion left the school building, as Florence stood
looking away at the lovely blue of the hills and trying in vain to tell
it all an affectionate goodbye, she heard someone exclaim:
“Look a’yonder!”
“Hit’s them quare folks from up yonder beyond the stone gateway,” said
another.
At once the girl found herself staring in wonder at a strange procession
moving slowly down the road. A score of mountain men and women, some on
horseback, most on foot, led by a one-armed giant and a boy with an arm
in a sling, were advancing on the schoolhouse.
“Bud Wax!” the girl breathed. “Bud, and the folks from beyond the gates.
What can it mean?”
The distance was short. She soon knew. As the giant’s huge form darkened
the schoolhouse door his deep voice rumbled a question:
“’Lection goin’ on here?”
There came no answer from the surprised onlookers.
“Reckon I’ll vote,” said the giant.
At this move, every man of the watchers grew rigid. Whose man was this?
Many a hand shifted to a pistol grip. The election hung in the balance.
As this man voted, so would all that motley throng. There was no
questioning their right. They lived within the district. Their votes
could be sworn in. How would they vote? They had come with Bud Wax. That
looked bad for Ransom Turner’s clan. But there had been strange
whisperings about Bud. He had been heard to say things about the teachers
from the outside that were far from unkind. Could it be that, having been
fairly conquered by one of these, he had learned a respect for them that
he had felt for no other one?
As for Florence, her heart was in her mouth. Would they do it? Could they
crush her hopes after she had done so much for little Hallie? They might.
There was no accounting for the ways of these strange people.
There was a hush of silence as the giant, having given his name and sworn
in his vote, seized the ballot and made his mark.
Out of the silence there came a whisper:
“Hit’s for Ransom.”
The next moment the silence was shattered by a round of hoarse shouts.
The election was won by Ransom Turner. The people from “up yonder” had
turned the balance.
As for Florence, it was too much for her overwrought nerves. Dashing away
into a thicket, she threw herself flat upon the ground to give vent to
violent sobs.
A half hour later the two young teachers, each hurrying toward the other,
met half way between the whipsawed house and the school.
“Oh, Florence! I’ve found it!” Marion exclaimed.
And Florence at the same instant cried, “Marion, we won! We won!”
Throwing themselves into each others arms, they laughed and cried
together. After that they sat side by side on a log and calmly told their
stories.
To Florence, the thrilling climax of the election had been a revelation.
Bud Wax had provided the great surprise. Won over by who knows what
course of reasoning, he had taken the side of his teachers. Having seen
Florence entering the forbidden gateway, he had followed as her
protector. While playing this role, he had broken his arm. He had spent
the past few days convincing those strange people “up yonder” that it was
their duty to come down to the mouth of the creek and vote in the school
election. Convinced by his argument, and Florence’s watchful care over
Hallie, they had consented to come.
“And just when we thought all was lost,” Florence exclaimed, “here they
came, everyone of them, to vote for Ransom Turner.
“And now,” she hurried on, “they’ve decided that the folks at the mouth
of the creek are not such bad neighbors after all. They’re going to send
their children down to our school.”
“Oh, Florence!” Marion clasped her hands in an ecstasy of joy. “It’s
going to be such a school! A real new school building with two rooms, new
seats and stoves and everything!”
“Why! How—”
“I found the gold!”
“Where?”
“It was in the heart of the pounding mill. I tipped it over, and it sort
of clinked. I thumped it here and there until I found that the hole where
they pounded the corn had a false bottom. I pried it up and there was the
gold!”
“Confederate gold?”
“No, not Confederate gold, but Georgia and Carolina gold. There never was
any Confederate gold. None ever was coined. I received a letter about
that from the museum this morning. The Confederate States coined a few
silver half-dollars. All the rest of their money was paper.”
For a moment the two girls sat in silent contemplation of their great
good fortune and the joyous future that lay before them.
“There isn’t such a lot of gold,” Marion said at last. “Forty or fifty
pieces, that’s all, but each piece is worth several times its value in
gold, so there will be enough.”
“Quite enough,” murmured Florence contentedly. “And we shall have a
school! Such a school!”
The schoolhouse was yet to be built. That this might be accomplished,
grateful mountaineers sent their teams over the mountains for windows,
doors, seats and hardware, while others, manning a small sawmill, got out
the lumber. When the time came for beginning the construction, there was
a “workin’.” Mountain folks came for miles around; men with hammers, axes
and saws, women with pots and pans and all manner of good things to eat.
Men worked, women cooked. They made a holiday of it, and before the sun
went down that day the two room school building was two-thirds done.
“Hit’s the way us mounting folks be,” said old Uncle Billie, rubbing his
hands together. “If’n we all likes you we likes you a right smart, an’
if’n we all don’t take to you, we can be meaner’n pisen.”
The school was a success in every way. Long before the term came to an
end Laurel Branch was looking forward to better things.
One day two months after the school began, Florence received a letter
from Mr. Dobson, the coal man. With trembling fingers she tore it open. A
small bit of paper fell out. Snatching it up, she read:
“Pay to the order.... Nineteen hundred and sixty dollars!”
“Oh Marion! Marion!” she fairly screamed. “Here’s our commission!”
“That money,” said Mrs. McAlpin, as they sat in fireside council that
night, “is your own. You earned it fairly. It is no longer needed for the
school. If you feel you must give some, give a tenth of it to the school.
It is your duty to use the remainder in completing your own education.”
It was some time before the two girls could be brought to see the matter
in this light. Perhaps they feared life would lose its thrill if they
were no longer dependent upon their muscles and their wits for their
living. In the end they yielded. When, after finishing the winter school,
they left the mountains for the University, it was with a full purse.
Florence found that the possession of money did not necessarily rob one
of the thrills that life should have. Had she not been free to wander
about the city she would not have wandered into a curious place back of
the Ghetto at 777 Monroe Street. Had she not been possessed of an unusual
amount of cash, she would not have made an extraordinary purchase there,
and having missed the purchase, would have lost an unusually romantic and
mysterious adventure as well. But she did make the purchase and the
adventure came—but the story is a long one and will be found in our next
book entitled “The Thirteenth Ring.”
THE END
Transcriber’s Notes
--Copyright notice provided as in the original printed text—this e-text
is public domain in the country of publication.
--Silently corrected palpable typos; left non-standard spellings and
dialect unchanged.