We were not long in reaching the house of the deputy sheriff. A loud
call brought him out to the fence. And when we had quickly told him what
was wanted, he whistled to express his gratification or his surprise and
I fancied that I saw his hair bristling in the moonlight, for he had
come out bareheaded.
"Now let me think a minute, boys," said he. "I have been an officer long
enough to know that it ain't much credit to take a fellow after he's
dead--most anybody can do that. What we want is to capture them and to
do that we've got to have more men. Alf, I tell you what you do. You and
your friend slip over to old Josh's and keep watch to see that they
don't get away, and I'll ride as fast as I can and get General Lundsford
and your daddy. What do you say?"
"I say it's a first-rate plan," Alf answered. "I don't think the General
would like to be left out and I know that father wouldn't. Come on,
Bill."
The negro's house was not far away, and hastening silently through the
woods we soon came within sight of it, on the side of a hill, at the
edge of a worn-out field. We softened our foot-steps as we drew near
unto the cabin, and we could hear the ruffians within, singing,
swearing, dancing. We halted at the edge of the woods, within ten feet
of the door, and listened. "Let us slip up and take a peep at them,"
said Alf; and carefully we climbed over the old fence, taking care not
to break any of the rotting rails lest we might sound an alarm. We made
not the slightest noise, but just as we were within touching distance of
the cabin, a dog sprang from behind a box in the chimney corner. I don't
know how much noise it might have been his intention to make or whether
he belonged to the stealthy breed of curs whose delight it is to make a
silent lunge at the legs of a visitor, but I do know that he made not a
sound, for I grabbed him by the throat and the first thing he knew his
eyes were popping out between their fuzzy lids. I choked him until I
thought he must be dead, and then, with a swing, I threw him far over
the fence into the woods. We listened and heard him scrambling in the
dried leaves and then he was still. The cabin was built of poles and was
old. Many a rain had beaten against the "chinking" and we had no trouble
in finding openings through which we could plainly see all that went
forward within. Just as I looked in I heard the twang of a banjo, and I
saw the old negro sitting on the edge of a bed, picking the instrument,
while two white men were patting a break-down and two others were trying
to dance. At the fire-place a negro woman was frying meat and baking a
hoe-cake.
"Generman," said the negro, twanging his strings and measuring his
words to suit his tune, "don't want right now to be so pertinence--be so
pertinence; but, yes, I'd like to know, hi, hi, hi, yes, like to know
whut you gwine gimme fur dis yere, yes, whut you gwine gimme fur all dis
yere?"
The patting ceased instantly, and the two men danced not another
shuffle, and one of them, Scott, I afterward learned, cried out: "What,
you old scoundrel, air you dunnin' us already?"
"Oh, naw, sah, skuze me," said the old negro, "I ain't doin' dat, fur I
dun tole you dat I didn' want ter be pertinence, but dar's some things,
you know, dat er pusson would like ter un'erstan', an' whut I gwine git
fur all dis yere is one o' 'em. I has gib you licker an' I has gib you
music, an' wife, dar, is cookin' supper fur you, an' it ain' no mo' den
reason dat I'd wanter know whut we gwine git fur it."
"Well, we'll pay you all right enough," replied Scott Aimes. "You've
always treated us white, and you are about the only man in this
neighborhood that has."
"I thankee, sah," the negro rejoined; "yas, I thankee, sah, fur I jest
wanted ter be satisfied in my mine, an' I tell you dat when er pusson is
troubled in his mine he's outen fix sho nuff. Hurry up dar, Tildy, wid
you snack, fur deze genermen is a-haungry."
"I hope she won't get it ready any too soon," I whispered to Alf, and
he, with his face close to mine, replied: "You can trust an old negro
woman for that. It won't take Parker very long to ride over to the
General's house, and they can pick up father on the way back."
"Won't your mother and--and Guinea be frightened?"
"Not much. They've seen the old man go out on the war path more than
once. Let's see what they are doing now."
Scott had taken the banjo and was turning it over, looking at it. We saw
him take out a knife and then with a twang he cut the strings. "Good
Lawd!" exclaimed the negro, and his wife turned from the fire with a
look of sorrow and reproach, for the distressful sound had told her
accustomed ear that a calamity had befallen the instrument. "Now jest
look whut you done!" the negro cried, and his wife, wiping her hands on
her apron, looked at Scott Aimes and said: "Ef dat's de way you gwine
ack, I'll burn dis yere braid an' fling dis yere meat in de fire. Er
body workin' fur you ez hard ez I is, an' yere you come er doin' dat
way. It's er shame, sah, dat's whut it is. It's er plum shame, I doan
kere ef you is white an me black."
Scott roughly tossed the banjo into a corner and laughed. "Sounds a
blamed sight better in death than in life," said he.
"But who gwine pay fur dat death music?" the negro asked.
"Pay for it!" Scott turned fiercely upon the negro and Alf caught up his
gun. "Wait!" I whispered.
"Pay for it!" Scott raved. "Why you infernal old scoundrel, do we have
to pay every time we turn round? But we'll make it all right with you,"
he added, turning away; and Alf lowered his gun.
"I hopes ter de Lawd you will," said the woman, "fur we needs it bad
enough."
"You do?" Scott replied. "Well, you'd better be thankful that we don't
blow on you for sellin' whisky without license."
"Dar ain' no proof o' de fack dat I has sol' none ter-night," said the
old negro, shaking his head.
"What's that?" Scott demanded, wheeling round.
"Skuze me, sah, nothin' er tall. Jest er passin' de time o' de day,
sah."
"Didn't I tell you that we would pay you for everything we got?"
"Yas, sah, an' you's er generman, sah; yas, I thanks you fur gwinter pay
me."
"Yo' supper is done an' ef you'll jest gib me room I'll fix de table,"
the woman remarked, taking the bread off the griddle.
"I hear them coming!" Alf whispered. I looked round and saw them at the
fence. They had tied their horses in the woods. We stepped out from the
shadow and held up our hands to enjoin care.
"I'll go first, and you boys follow me," said the General, cocking his
pistol and letting the hammer down to see if it worked well.
"Oh, I reckon not," Lim Jucklin replied. "I'm older than you are and you
know it. Come on, boys."
"Older!" the General exclaimed, with such force that we had to tell him
to make less noise. "I am eight months older than you are, and you know
it. Come on, boys."
Old Lim took hold of him. "This ain't altogether your picnic; the
invertations come from my house, and----"
"What the devil difference does it make?" the deputy spoke up. "I'm the
only officer present and I'll go first."
I thought that it was my time to act, and, telling them to follow me, I
reached the door almost at a stride and threw my full weight against it.
The door flew off its hinges and fell on the floor broad-side, and the
Aimes brothers, now seated at a table, were "covered" with guns and
pistols before they had time to stir in their chairs. They appeared to
be horror-stricken at seeing Alf and me, and in a moment their hands
were in the air.
"Josh," the deputy commanded, "bring us a plow line. Never mind, you
haven't time for that. Take off that bed cord."
The woman had squeezed herself into a corner, between a "cubbord" and
the wall, but she came out and protested against the use of her bed
cord. "Get that cord!" the deputy commanded. "Move that hand again,
Scott Aimes, and I'll kill you. Here we are," he added, when the negro
had tumbled off the bed-clothes and unfastened the cord. "Now cut it in
four pieces."
"Fur de Lawd's sake!" the woman shouted, "you ain' gwine treat er pusson
datter way, is you? Fust da cuts de banjo strings an' den yere come de
law an' cuts de bed cawd. Laws er massy whut got inter dis worl' no
how."
"Keep quiet," said the deputy. "Here, big man, tie their wrists and
don't be afraid of hurting them. I've had my eye on you gentlemen for
some time. That's it, give it to them hard. Tie their ankles, too. But
we have only four pieces of rope. Go now and get a plow-line, Josh."
We put back the table and the chairs and stood our prisoners in the
center of the room, sullen and coarse-featured brutes, and waited for
the negro to come with the plow-line, and presently he appeared with a
new grass rope. "That's just exactly what we want," said the deputy.
"Cut it in four pieces, and, big man," he continued, speaking to me, "I
must again call on you. Tight around the shank and no feelings
considered. That's it; you go at it in the right way--must have tied
chickens for the market. I must really beg pardon of these gentlemen for
not getting a warrant; we were pushed for time and, therefore, we are a
trifle irregular, but my dear sirs, I promise you that you shall have a
warrant just as soon as we get into Purdy. You should be satisfied with
my admitting that I am irregular."
The General roared with a great laugh. "Your apology is of the finest
feather, the most gracious down," said he, "but our friends must
remember that in an irregularity often lie some of the most precious
merits of this life."
"If we hadn't been huddled round this here table you wouldn't be havin'
sich fun," said Scott Aimes, quivering under my strong pull at the rope.
"We never did ask nothin' but a fair show, but we didn't git it this
time, by a long shot."
"Silence, brute," the General commanded. "As low as you are, you should
know better than to break in upon the high spirits of a gentleman. Oh, I
have understood you all along. You were working your courage toward me.
Hush, don't you speak a word."
"Got them all strung?" the deputy asked, examining the ropes. "Good.
Now, Josh, you run over to my house as fast as you can and tell my wife
that you want the two-horse wagon. And hitch it up and come back here as
fast as you can. Go on; I'll pay you for everything."
"Thankee, sah, I'm gone. It loosens er ole pusson's feet, sah, ter know
dat he gwine be paid. Hard times allus comin' down de big road, er
kickin' up er dust."
"Are you going?" the deputy stormed. "Confound you; I'll put you in jail
for selling whisky if you are not back here in fifteen minutes."
"Gone now!" exclaimed the negro, bounding from the door and striking a
trot. "Gone!" we heard him repeat, as he leaped over the fence.
"Mr. Parker," said Scott Aimes, stretching his neck toward the officer,
"I've jest got one favor to ask of you. Git that bottle over thar an'
give us fellers a drink. It was licker that got us into this here muss,
an' you ought to let licker help us a little now."
"Old fellow used to keep a grocery over at Blue Lick," the deputy
remarked, looking at me rather than at the prisoner, "and when a man's
money was all gone he used to say: 'Lord love you, honey, I couldn't
think of letting you take another drop; I'm so much interested in your
welfare that I don't want to see you hurt yourself.' No,
Scottfield"--and now he looked at the prisoner--"I am too much
interested in you to see you throw yourself away. Don't be impatient.
'Just wait for the wagon,' says the old song."
The old General had sat down, but old Lim continued to stand there, his
arms bare and his teeth hard-set. On his countenance lay the shadow of a
regret, and I have thought that he was grieved at the spoiling of the
fight that he thought should have taken place to reward him for the
trouble of leaving home. The prisoners winced under his gaze, as his
eyes leaped about from one to another. But he said not a word; just
stood there, with his teeth hard-set.
Soon we heard the wagon, rumbling along the road that skirted the old
field, and we began to set our prisoners near the door, picking them up
and putting them down like upright sticks. The wagon drew up near the
door, the woman held a light for us and we began our work of loading.
And I was glad when the deputy said that he no longer needed our
assistance; I was afraid that he would ask me to drive to town with him.
"Well," he said, gathering up the lines and glancing back at his load,
"a pretty good haul for these hard times. Whoa, wait a minute. Say,
General, I suppose you have heard some talk of my candidacy for the
office of sheriff, and I reckon you have seen to-night whether or not I
am worthy of the trust. It's always well to put in a word in time, you
know. I reckon I've got you all right, Alf, and, big man, wish you could
vote with us this time. Well, I'll let you gentlemen know when you are
wanted at court."
Old Lim and the General led their horses and walked with Alf and me; and
we heard many a grunt and snort as we told of the burning of the
school-house. Old Lim swore that I ought to have let Alf kill Scott
Aimes, but the General sided with me. "That would have done no good,
Lim," said he. "It's far better as we now have it. I am glad to see, Mr.
Hawes, that you have so much discretion, a most noble quality, sir. Now
as to the loss of the house, that amounts to nothing. It ought to have
been set afire long ago. And I'll tell you what shall be done: A new
building shall be put up at once, not of logs, but of frame, and it
shall be neatly painted to show people that we are keeping up with the
times. Every neighborhood about us has a fine school-house; the old log
huts have disappeared, and we are going to march right in the van, sir.
But I want to tell you right now that it was in those log school-houses
that the greatest men in the nation have been taught; and when I see a
pile of logs out in the woods I fancy that I can hear the classics lowly
hummed."
"Gentlemen," said old Lim, "if it was day time instead of night I would
invite you to see some of the finest sport you ever run across, for I'm
in the humor for it right now. But chickens have a prejudice agin
fightin' at night. Many a time when I had trouble on my mind and
couldn't sleep I've got up and tried to stir their blood, but they want
to nod; that's what they want to do at night--nothin' but nod, unless
you've got light enough, and then if you stir 'em up they'll git so mad
that they'll go it smack to a finish."
"Talking about those chickens?" the General asked. "Confound them,
they'd have no attraction for me if it were mid-day. But pardon me. I
mean simply that I take no interest in such things."
Old Lim grunted. "Right here is where I git on my horse," said he. And
he mounted and rode on ahead in moody silence.
I was now walking beside the General and Alf was just behind me. Several
times the young man sighed distressfully and I knew that something heavy
had fallen upon his mind. Presently he pulled at my coat and as I
dropped back he took my place. "General, you said just now that Bill was
right in not letting me shoot that fellow, Scott Aimes." He hesitated
and was silent for a few moments, striding beside the General, and the
General said nothing--was waiting for him to continue. "Said that I was
wrong," Alf repeated, "and I reckon I was, but I hope you won't say
anything about it--at home."
"Why not at home, sir? Hah, why not at home? 'Od zounds, can't a
gentleman talk in his own house?"
Alf began to drop back. "What he means, General," said I, taking his
place, "is that he has so much respect for you that he does not want you
to think ill of him when you are alone, meditating in your own house."
"Ha, now, a fine whim, but it's a respectful whim and shall be honored,
sir. I don't understand the young men of this day and generation, but I
know what respect means. I don't know that I condemned you, Alf; I spoke
for the most part of the discretion of your friend. Well, gentlemen,
here is where I leave you."
He threw the bridle reins over the horse's neck and was preparing to
mount, when Alf started forward as if to help him, but I clutched him so
vigorously that he turned upon me and asked what I meant. "Keep still,"
I whispered. "I'll tell you after a while."
By this time the old gentleman was astride his horse. He took off his
hat, bowed with the air of a cavalier, and, bidding us good-night,
galloped off down the road. Then I told Alf why I had held him back,
that I had almost insulted the old man by offering to assist him in
mounting his horse; and Alf stood there actually trembling at the
narrowness of his escape. I know that we should have been burned up had
he been half so badly frightened while we were in the school-house.
The nights were shortened by the season's approach to the first of May.
It seemed a long time since the twilight had glimmered on the leaves,
and it was past midnight when we reached home. Old Lim had put up his
horse and was standing at the draw-bars, waiting for us.
"For a smart man," said he, "I reckon the General's got about as little
sense as any human now alive. By jings, he's a crank; that's what's the
matter with him; and the first thing he knows people will be keepin' out
of his way."
A light flashed from the passage and we saw Guinea and her mother
standing on the log step, gazing toward us.
"It's all right!" the old man cried. "Go on to bed, and don't be
standing around this time of night."
Alf and I, leaving the old man at the bars, went to the house. "Oh, I'm
so glad you've all got back," said Mrs. Jucklin, striving to be calm,
but whimpering. "Are you sure that you are all safe and sound?"
Guinea began to laugh. "Of course, they are, mother, don't you see?"
"But what's your father still standin' out yonder for? I jest know he's
crippled. Limuel, are you hurt?" she cried.
"Yes, I am hurt, and by a man that prefers to be a crank. Said that he
wouldn't care anything about 'em even if it was daylight."
"Oh, but you are not shot, are you?" his wife exclaimed, starting toward
him.
"Go in now, Susan, and don't come foolin' with me. Who said I was shot?
Go on to bed, everybody, and I'll come when I git ready."
"But you must be hungry, Limuel?"
"Hungry, the devil--excuse me, ma'm. I'll eat a snack mebby between now
and mornin'."
"It's no use to talk to him," she said, with a sigh, and, turning to me,
she added: "You and Alf must be nearly starved. We've kept the coffee
warm. Guinea, go and pour it out for 'em."
"Will you tell me all about the fight?" the girl asked when we entered
the dining-room. "I like to hear about such things."
I strove to make light of it, but, seeing that this would not satisfy
her, I told of the burning of the house and of the capture of the Aimes
brothers, colored our danger in the house, to see her lips whiten and
her eyes stare; pictured myself as I must have looked when I seized the
dog, to choke him, and to throw him far into the woods--told her all,
except that I had caught the hammers of Alf's gun.
"I don't see how you kept from killing them when you got the chance,"
she said, leaning with her elbows on the table and her chin in her
hands, musing: "I don't understand how you could keep from it."
Alf threw down his knife and fork and struck the table with his fist. "I
wanted to kill Scott--had a bead on him, but Bill grabbed my gun.
Guinea, I'm glad you stand by me, you and father; but the General thinks
I was wrong, and I was just about to think that everybody's heart was
right but mine. I am glad you are with me, Guinea."
I looked at her as she sat there, musing; her hair was tangled as if a
storm of thought had swept through her head, and sorely I wondered
whether a care for me had been borne through the storm. I forgot the
presence of Alf; I forgot everything except that I would have given my
blood and my soul to please her, and with bitterness I said: "Oh, if I
had known that you wanted him killed I would not only have let Alf kill
him--I would have killed him myself."
She looked up from her attitude of musing and met my outbreak with a
quiet laugh. "The bigger a man is the sillier he is," she said, still
laughing. "Why, I don't want him dead. I wouldn't like to have anyone
killed. I merely wondered how, having come so close to being burned up,
you could keep from killing him. I thought that I understood most men,
but I don't understand you, Mr. Hawes."
"Yes, you do!" I cried; "you understand me too well, and that is why you
torture me."
"What!" exclaimed Alf, springing to his feet, "are you on the gridiron?
Has she got you where somebody has got me? By--there comes mother."
I looked back as I passed out of the room, and Guinea sat there, musing.
Alf put his arm about me as we went up the stairs. We did not light the
lamp, but sat down in the dark, sat there and for a long time were
silent.
"Bill, oh, Bill."
"Yes," I answered.
"Bill, don't ask me anything. Father may tell you something to-morrow.
God bless you, Bill. You have stood by me. Good-night."