"It 's said," said Captain Leezur, who sat on the log fondly applying
his deer-bone toothpick, which had been restored to him for a season,
"'t ye keep yer mouth shet, and ye won't eat no crow."
His smile embraced the heavens, as the source of such philosophy, with
transcendent admiration.
"That 's figgeral language, ye know. Have a narvine lozenge. I all'as
enj'ys 'em with a friend more'n what I dew meltin' on 'em deown alone."
We sucked deliciously.
"Afore I got my dispersition moderated deown inter the shape she is
neow, I was dreadful kind o' sly and ongodly abeout cuttin' up tricks,"
he continued, his countenance now conveying only the tranquillity of
one restored and forgiven.
"Mis' Garrison, Notely's mother, she was all'as puttin' on airs tew the
Basins, 's if they was beneath her; and when they'd first begun to live
over there to the Neck, she sent a man deown t' me, 't said Mis'
Garrison had 'ordered' a pair o' partridge on me.
"'What?' says I to the man.
"'Mis' Garrison said t' order a couple o' partridge on ye,' says he,
'an' she wants 'em at tew o'clock.'
"'All right,' says I; 'yew go home an' tell her 't she shall have that
'ere order filled eout complete,' says I.
"So I went eout and gunned one partridge and one old crow, 't had been
ha'ntin' my corn patch ever senct I could remember, so 't he was jest
as familiar tew me as the repair on the slack o' my britches, and I
dressed 'em both, dreadful tasty an' slick--they was jest 'beout the
same size dressed--an' rigged 'em eout esthetiky with some strips o'
pink caliker; and 'long at the 'p'inted time the man he come deown
arter 'em.
"'Yew tell Mis' Garrison,' says I, ''t birds is so thick 'reound my
premmuses this year I couldn't think o' chargin' nothin' for 'em,
'specially to an old Basin like her!'
"For in them days, 'fore I got moderated, I didn't mind p'intin' hints
at nobody, or weoundin' their feelin's, 'specially ef it jibed along in
with playin' some ongodly trick on 'em."
The joy of a ransomed soul played across Captain Leezur's features.
"Wal, Notely was areound a day or tew arter-wards--Notely an' me was
great mates--'nd says I, 'Heow'd yer mother like them birds I sent up
tew 'er?' says I. 'Why, one on 'em was r'al good, Uncle Leezur,' says
he, 'and one on 'em'"--Captain Leezur glanced cautiously toward the
house-door before he continued--"'one on 'em was tough as the devil's
kite-string; tough as a d--d old crow!' says he.
"Wal, I made it up to Note in more ways 'n one, for him and me was
great mates; but I never let on 'beout that pertickaler mess o' birds.
Keep yer mouth shet, ye know, and ye won't eat no crow--that is, 'less
somebody 's been playin' some ongodly trick on ye."
Captain Leezur never laughed aloud: his smile simply widened and
broadened until it became a scintillating sun, without the disgrace of
cachinnation.
"Neow there 's all'as a meanin' in figgeral language," he continued,
"an' when Mis' Garrison got set ag'inst Note and Vesty's marryin', jest
'cause Vesty was poor an' a Basin, an' set ter work ter break it off by
fair means or by feoul, she got her meouth open for a good-sized
ondigestible mess o' crow.
"In figgeral language; for I don't reck'lect jest the exac' date when
she did r'a'ly eat crow; 'twas a good many years ago, 'n' I wouldn't
have her hear of it neow for nothin'. I'm natch'ally ashamed o' them
ongodly tricks neow--'nd besides, it 'u'd lay harder on her stommick 'n
a high-school grammar."
"I won't tell her," I said. "I'm hardly acquainted with her, anyway."
"I'd give all I've got, every mite, ef it c'd help save Note," said
Captain Leezur, a tear trickling down his sun-face. "All things is
good ef we use 'em in moderation; but we've got ter use moderation, in
eatin' an' drinkin', an' lobster sallid--yes, an' even in passnips.
Nothin' 'll dew but the same old rewl, even in passnips.
"I heered voices deown to the shore last night," he continued, with a
sort of yearning confidence toward me, so that I bent my ear nearer,
with some of his own sorrow. "I reckoned one on 'em was Notely's
voice, talkin' and larfin' as hilar'ous as ef 'twas sun-up. So I went
deown there, and there was Note and one o' them fellers with him, each
on 'em with a stiff tod o' whiskey aboard, a-pullin' there for dear
life, an' the dory anchored fast as fast could be to the staple!
"They was lookin' for lan'marks and pullin' and sheoutin' and
larfin'--'twas kinder moonlight, ye know--and one on 'em says, 'Seems
ter me 't takes a cussed long time t' git to the Neck to-night,' says
he. I sot there an' watched 'em; knew 'twouldn't do 'em no harm t'
pull, knew 'twas doin' 'em good an' steadyin' of 'em. By an' by, I ups
an' says, 'Ship ahoy!'
"'Hello!' says Note.
"'Why don't ye weigh anchor?' says I.
"Wal, when that idee come deown atop of 'em, ye never see a couple
sobered so quick as they was. They giv' three cheers, an' nothin' 'd
dew but I must git into the dory an' go up to the Neck with 'em.
"Wal, I had my objec'; an' when they took me in t' treat me, the rest
o' Note's company was settin' 'reound there, an' I ups an' says, 'Jest
one glass, an' ef _yew_ takes _any_ more I won't tetch even that,' says
I. 'Yew've had enough--tew much,' says I. 'Moderation in all things,'
says I, 'even as low deown as passnips.'
"They all giv' me another three cheers; but they didn't drink no more.
An' nothin' 'd dew but I must set deown, an' then nothin' 'd dew but I
must give 'em my views on moderation!"
Captain Leezur did swallow a little hard with the effort not to appear
too highly flattered!
"So I sot there an' giv' 'em my views on moderation. I must say for
'em, they appeared dreadful interested; they sot kind o' leanin'
forrards, with their meouths not more 'n harf--'n' sartin not more 'n a
quarter ways--shet; an' when I'd got through, they giv' me another
reousin' three cheers ag'in.
"They told me all abeout Lot's wife, tew," said Captain Leezur, with
grateful seriousness; "they've been great travellers, ye know; all
abeout the appearance o' that location where she sot, an' heow it
looked arfter she'd got up an' went, an' the aspec's o' Jaffy, an' all
them interestin' partickalers, more'n what I ever heered from anybody
afore."
I looked at Captain Leezur to see if no suspicion of earthly treachery
was on his sun-blessed visage. None.
I lifted my hat with a nameless reverence too deep for words, and left
him, still smiling upward.