As already chronicled, Dick Tarleton has started along the forest path,
leaving Jerry Rook under the cottonwood tree.
For some time he remains there, motionless as the trunk beside him.
The exclamation of chagrin that escaped him, as the other passed beyond
earshot, is followed by words of a more definite shape and meaning. It
was Dick Tarleton who drew from him the former. It is to him the latter
are addressed, though without the intention of their being heard.
"Ye durned fool! ye'd speil my plan, wud ye? An' I 'spose all the same
if I war to tell ye o't? But I ain't gwine to do that, nor to hev it
speiled neyther by sich a obs'nate eedyut as you. Six hundred dollars
pre annul air too much o' a good pull to be let go agin slack as that.
An' doggoned if I do let it go, cost what it may to keep holt o't. Yes,
_cost what it may_!"
The phrase repeated with increased emphasis, along with a sudden change
in the attitude of the speaker, shows some sinister determination.
"Dick," he continued, forsaking the apostrophic form, "air a fool in
this bizness; a dod-rotted, pursumptuous saphead. _He_ git satisfakshun
out o' that lot, eyther by the law or otherways! They'd swing him up as
soon as seed; an' he'd be seed afore he ked harm 'ere a one o' them.
Then tha don't go 'beout 'ithout toatin' thar knives and pistols 'long
wi' them, any more'n he. An' they'll be jest as riddy to use 'em. Ef't
kim to thet, what then? In coorse the hole thing 'ud leak out, an'
whar'd this chile be 'beout his six hundred dollars?" Durn Dick
Tarleton! Jest for the sake o' a silly revenge he'd be a speiln' all,
leavin' me as I've been all my life, poor as he's turkey gobbler.
"It must be preevented, it must!
"How air the thing to be done? Le's see.
"Thar's one way I knows o', that appear to be eezy enuf.
"Dick has goed to the town, an's boun' to kum back agin _from_ the town.
That's no reeson why he shed kum back hyar. Thar's nobody to miss him!
The gurl won't know he ain't gone for good. He's boun' to kum back
afore mornin', an' afore thar's sunlight showin' among the trees. He'll
be sartin' to kum along the trace, knowing thar's not much danger o'
meetin' anybody, or bein' reco'nised in the dark. Why shedn't I meet
him?"
With this interrogatory, a fiendish expression, though unseen by human
eye, passes over the face of the old hunter. A fiendish thought has
sprung up in his heart.
"Why shedn't I?" he pursues, reiterating the reflection. "What air Dick
Tarleton to me? I haint no particklar spite agin him, thet is ef he'll
do what I've devised him to do. But ef he won't, ef he won't--
"An' he won't. He's sed so, he's swore it.
"What, then! Am I to lose six hundred dollars pre-annum, jess for the
satisfakshun o' his spite? Durned ef I do, cost what it may.
"The thing'd be as eezy es tumbling off o' a log. A half-an-hour's
squatting among the bushes beside that ere gleed, the pull in' o' a
trigger, an' it air done. That mout be a leetle bit o' haulin' an'
hidin', but I kin eezy do the fust, and the Crik 'll do the last. I
know a pool close by, thet's just the very place for sech a kinceelmint.
"Who'd iver sispect? Thar's nobody to know; neery soul but myself, an'
I reck'n that ere secret 'ud be safe enuf in this coon's keepin'."
For some time the old hunter stands silent, as if further reflecting on
the dark scheme, and calculating the chances of success or discovery.
All at once an exclamation escapes him that betokens a change of mind.
Not that he has repented of his hellish design, only that some other
plan promises better for its execution.
"Jerry Rook, Jerry Rook!" he mutters in apostrophe to himself, "what the
stewpid hae ye been thinking o'. Ye've never yit spilt hewmin blood,
an' mustn't begin thet game now. It mout lie like a log upon yur soul,
and besides, it's jest possible that somebody mout get to hear o't. The
crack o' a rifle air a sespishous soun' at any time, but more
espeeshully i' the dead o' night, if thar should chance to be the howl
of a wounded man comin' arter it. Sposin he, that air Dick, warn't shot
dead at fust go. Durned ef I'd like to foller it up; neery bit o't. As
things stan' thar need be no sech chances, eyther o' fearin' or failin'.
A word to Planter Brandon 'll be as good as six shots out o' the surest
rifle. It's only to let him know Dick Tarleton's hyar, an' a direckshun
beouts whar he kin be foun'. He'll soon summons the other to 'sist him
in thet same bizness they left unfinished, now, God knows how miny yeer
ago. They'll make short work wi' him. No danger ov thar givin' him
time to palaver beout _thet_ or anythin' else, I reckin; an' no danger
to _me_. A hint'll be enuf, 'ithout my appearin' among 'em. The very
plan, by the Etarnal!"
"How's best for the hint ter be konvayed to 'em? Ha! I kin rite.
Fort'nit I got skoolin' enuf for thet. I'll write to Planter Brandon.
The gurl kin take it over to the plantation. She needn't be know'd
eyther. She kin rop up in hur cloke, and gi'e it ter sum o' the
niggers, as'll sure ter be 'beout the place outside. Thar's no need for
a answer. I know what Brandon'll do arter gittin' it.
"Thar's no time to be squandered away. By this, Dick hes got ter the
town. Thar's no tellin' how long he may stay thar, an' they must intrap
him on his way back. They kin be a waitin' an' riddy, in that bit o'
clearin'. The very place for the purpis, considerin' it's been tried
arready.
"No, thar arn't a minnit to be lost. I must inter the shanty, an'
scrape off the letter."
Bent upon his devilish design, he hastens inside the house; as he
enters, calling upon his daughter to come into the kitchen.
"Hyar gurl. Ye've got some paper ye rite yur lessons upon. Fetch me a
sheet o't, along wi' a pen an' ink. Be quick 'bout it."
The young girl wonders what he can want with things so rarely used by
him, but she is not accustomed to question him, and without saying a
word, complies with the requisition.
The pen, inkstand, and paper, are placed on the rude slab table, and
Jerry Rook sits down before it, taking the pen between his fingers.
After a few moments spent in silent cogitation, reflecting on the form
of his epistle, it is produced.