FLAXEN ADOPTS ANSON AS "PAP."
For nearly two weeks they waited, while the wind alternately raved and
whispered over them as it scurried the snow south or east, or shifted to
the south in the night, bringing "the north end of a south wind," the
most intolerable and cutting of winds. Day after day the restless snow
sifted or leaped across the waste of glittering crust; day after day the
sun shone in dazzling splendor, but so white and cold that the
thermometer still kept down among the thirties. They were absolutely
alone on the plain, except that now and then a desperate wolf or
inquisitive owl came by.
These were long days for the settlers. They would have been longer had
it not been for little Elga, or "Flaxen," as they took to calling her.
They racked their brains to amuse her, and in the intervals of tending
the cattle and of cooking, or of washing dishes, rummaged through all
their books and pictures, taught her "cat's cradle," played
"jack-straws" with her, and with all their resources of song and
pantomime strove to fill up the little one's lonely days, happy when
they succeeded in making her laugh.
"That settles it!" said Bert one day, whanging the basin back into the
empty flour-barrel.
"What's the matter?"
"Matter is, we've reached the bottom o' the flour-barrel, an' it's got
to be filled; no two ways about that. We can get along on biscuit an'
pancakes in place o' meat, but we can't put anythin' in the place o'
bread. If it looks favorable to-morrow, we've got to make a break for
Summit an' see if we can't stock up."
Early the next morning they brought out the shivering team and piled
into the box all the quilts and robes they had, and bundling little
Flaxen in, started across the trackless plain toward the low line of
hills to the east, twenty-five or thirty miles. From four o'clock in the
morning till nearly noon they toiled across the sod, now ploughing
through the deep snow where the unburned grass had held it, now scraping
across the bare, burned earth, now wandering up or down the swales,
seeking the shallowest places, now shovelling a pathway through.
The sun rose unobscured as usual, and shone down with unusual warmth,
which afforded the men the satisfaction of seeing little Flaxen warm and
merry. She chattered away in her own tongue, and clapped her little
hands in glee at sight of the snowbirds running and fluttering about. As
they approached the low hills the swales got deeper and more difficult
to cross, but about eleven o'clock they came to Burdon's Ranch, a sort
of half-way haven between their own claim and Summit, the end of the
railway.
Captain Burdon was away, but Mrs. Burdon, a big, slatternly Missourian,
with all the kindliness of a universal mother in her swarthy face and
flaccid bosom, ushered them into the cave-like dwelling set in the sunny
side of Water Moccasin.
"Set down, set right down. Young uns, git out some o' them cheers an'
let the strangers set. Purty tol'able tough weather? A feller don't git
out much such weather as this 'ere 'thout he's jes' naturally 'bleeged
to. Suse, heave in another twist, an' help the little un to take off her
shawl."
After Mrs. Burdon's little flurry of hospitality was over, Anson found
time to tell briefly the history of the child.
"Heavens to Betsey! I wan' to know!" she cried, her fat hands on her
knees and her eyes bulging. "Wal! wal! I declare, it beats the Dutch! So
that woman jest frizzed right burside the babe! Wal, I never! An' the
ol' man he ain't showed up? Wal, now, he ain't likely to. I reckon I saw
that Norsk go by here that very day, an' I says to Cap'n, says I, 'If
that feller don't reach home inside an hour, he'll go through heaven
a-gittin' home,' says I to the Cap'n."
"Well, now," said Anson, stopping the old woman's garrulous flow, "I've
got to be off f'r Summit, but I wish you'd jest look after this little
one here till we git back. It's purty hard weather f'r her to be out,
an' I don't think she ought to."
"Yaas; leave her, o' course. She'll enjoy playin' with the young uns. I
reckon y' did all y' could for that woman. Y' can't burry her now; the
ground's like linkum-vity."
But as Anson turned to leave, the little creature sprang up with a
torrent of wild words, catching him by the coat, and pleading
strenuously to go with him. Her accent was unmistakable.
"You wan' to go with Ans?" he inquired, looking down into the little
tearful face with a strange stirring in his bachelor heart. "I believe
on my soul she does."
"Sure's y're born!" replied Mrs. Burdon. "She'd rather go with you than
to stay an' fool with the young uns; that's what she's tryin' to say."
"Do y' wan' to go?" asked Ans again, opening his arms. She sprang toward
him, raising her eager little hands as high as she could, and when he
lifted her she twined her arms around his neck.
"Poor little critter! she ain't got no pap ner mam now," the old woman
explained to the ring of children, who still stared silently at the
stranger almost without moving.
"Ain't he her pa-a-p?" drawled one of the older girls, sticking a finger
at Anson.
"He is now," laughed Ans, and that settled the question over which he
had been pondering for days. It meant that as long as she wanted to stay
she should be his Flaxen and he would be her "pap." "And you can be
Uncle Bert, hey?" he said to Bert.
"Good enough," said Bert.