THE ENGINEER AND THE SQUIRE
Marius amid the ruins of Carthage is not an inspiring figure to us while
we are young; it is Marius riding up the Via Sacra at the head of his
resounding legions that then dazzles us. But as we grow older we see how
much greater he was when, seated amid the ruins, he sent his scornful
message to Rome. So, Gordon Keith, when a boy, thought being a gentleman
a very easy and commonplace thing. He had known gentlemen all his
life--had been bred among them. It was only later on, after he got out
into the world, that he saw how fine and noble that old man was, sitting
unmoved amid the wreck not only of his life and fortunes, but of
his world.
General Keith was unable to raise even the small sum necessary to send
the boy to college, but among the débris of the old home still remained
the relics of a once choice library, and General Keith became himself
his son's instructor. It was a very irregular system of study, but the
boy, without knowing it, was browsing in those pastures that remain ever
fresh and green. There was nothing that related to science in any form.
"I know no more of science, sir, than an Indian," the General used to
say. "The only sciences I ever thought I knew were politics and war, and
I have failed in both."
He knew very little of the world--at least, of the modern world. Once,
at table, Gordon was wishing that they had money.
"My son," said his father, quietly, "there are some things that
gentlemen never discuss at table. Money is one of them." Such were his
old-fashioned views.
It was fortunate for his son, then, that there came to the neighborhood
about this time a small engineering party, sent down by Mr. Wickersham
to make a preliminary survey for a railroad line up into the Ridge
country above General Keith's home. The young engineer, Mr. Grinnell
Rhodes, brought a letter to General Keith from Mr. Wickersham. He had
sent his son down with the young man, and he asked that the General
would look after him a little and would render Mr. Rhodes any assistance
in his power. The tall young engineer, with his clear eyes, pleasant
voice, and quick ways, immediately ingratiated himself with both General
Keith and Gordon. The sight of the instruments and, much more, the
appearance of the young "chief," his knowledge of the world, and his
dazzling authority as, clad in corduroy and buttoned in high yellow
gaiters, he day after day strode forth with his little party and ran his
lines, sending with a wave of his hand his rodmen to right or left
across deep ravines and over eminences, awakened new ambitions in Gordon
Keith's soul. The talk of building great bridges, of spanning mighty
chasms, and of tunnelling mountains inspired the boy. What was Newton
making his calculations from which to deduce his fundamental laws, or
Galileo watching the stars from his Florentine tower? This young captain
was Archimedes and Euclid, Newton and Galileo, all in one. He made
them live.
It was a new world for Gordon. He suddenly awoke.
Both the engineer and Gordon could well have spared one of the
engineer's assistants. Ferdy Wickersham had fulfilled the promise of his
boyhood, and would have been very handsome but for an expression about
the dark eyes which raised a question. He was popular with girls, but
made few friends among men, and he and Mr. Rhodes had already clashed.
Rhodes gave some order which Ferdy refused to obey. Rhodes turned on
him a cold blue eye. "What did you say?"
"I guess this is my father's party; he's paying the freight, and I guess
I am his son."
"I guess it's my party, and you'll do what I say or go home," said Mr.
Rhodes, coldly. "Your father has no 'son' in this party. I have a
rodman. Unless you are sick, you do your part of the work."
Ferdy submitted for reasons of his own; but his eyes lowered, and he did
not forget Mr. Rhodes.
The two youngsters soon fell out. Ferdy began to give orders about the
place, quite as if he were the master. The General cautioned Gordon not
to mind what he said. "He has been spoiled a little; but don't mind him.
An only child is at a great disadvantage." He spoke as if Gordon were
one of a dozen children.
But Ferdy Wickersham misunderstood the other's concession. He resented
the growing intimacy between Rhodes and Gordon. He had discovered that
Gordon was most sensitive about the old plantation, and he used his
knowledge. And when Mr. Rhodes interposed it only gave the sport of
teasing Gordon a new point.
One morning, when the three were together, Ferdy began, what he probably
meant for banter, to laugh at Gordon for bragging about his plantation.
"You ought to have heard him, Mr. Rhodes, how he used to blow about it."
"I did not blow about it," said Gordon, flushing.
Rhodes, without looking up, moved in his seat uneasily.
"Ferdy, shut up--you bother me. I am working."
But Ferdy did not heed either this warning or the look on Gordon's face.
His game had now a double zest: he could sting Gordon and worry Rhodes.
"I don't see why my old man was such a fool as to want such a dinged
lonesome old place for, anyhow," he said, with a little laugh. "I am
going to give it away when I get it."
Gordon's face whitened and flamed again, and his eyes began to snap.
"Then it's the only thing you ever would give away," said Mr. Rhodes,
pointedly, without raising his eyes from his work.
Gordon took heart. "Why did you come down here if you feel that way
about it?"
"Because my old man offered me five thousand if I'd come. You didn't
think I'd come to this blanked old place for nothin', did you? Not
much, sonny."
"Not if he knew you," Said Mr. Rhodes, looking across at him. "If he
knew you, he'd know you never did anything for nothing, Ferdy."
Ferdy flushed. "I guess I do it about as often as you do. I guess you
struck my governor for a pretty big pile."
Mr. Rhodes's face hardened, and he fixed his eyes on him. "If I do, I
work for it honestly. I don't make an agreement to work, and then play
'old soldier' on him."
"I guess you would if you didn't have to work."
"Well, I wouldn't," said Mr. Rhodes, firmly, "and I don't want to hear
any more about it. If you won't work, then I want you to let me work."
Ferdy growled something under his breath about guessing that Mr. Rhodes
was "working to get Miss Harriet Creamer and her pile"; but if Mr.
Rhodes heard him he took no notice of it, and Ferdy turned back to
the boy.
Meantime, Gordon had been calculating. Five thousand dollars! Why, it
was a fortune! It would have relieved his father, and maybe have saved
the place. In his amazement he almost forgot his anger with the boy who
could speak of such a sum so lightly.
Ferdy gave him a keen glance. "What are you so huffy about, Keith?" he
demanded. "I don't see that it's anything to you what I say about the
place. You don't own it. I guess a man has a right to say what he
chooses of his own."
Gordon wheeled on him with blazing eyes, then turned around and walked
abruptly away. He could scarcely keep back his tears. The other boy
watched him nonchalantly, and then turned to Mr. Rhodes, who was
glowering over his papers. "I'll take him down a point or two. He's
always blowing about his blamed old place as if he still owned it. He's
worse than the old man, who is always blowing about 'before the war' and
his grandfather and his old pictures. I can buy better ancestors on
Broadway for twenty dollars."
Mr. Rhodes gathered up his papers and rose to his feet.
"You could not make yourself as good a descendant for a million," he
said, fastening his eye grimly on Ferdy.
"Oh, couldn't I? Well, I guess I could. I guess I am about as good as he
is, or you either."
"Well, you can leave me out of the case," said Mr. Rhodes, sharply. "I
will tell you that you are not as good as he, for he would never have
said to you what you have said to him if your positions had been
reversed."
"I don't understand you."
"I don't expect you do," said Mr. Rhodes. He stalked away. "I can't
stand that boy. He makes me sick," he said to himself. "If I hadn't
promised his governor to make him stick, I would shake him."
Ferdy was still smarting under Mr. Rhodes's biting sarcasm when the
three came together again. He meant to be even with Rhodes, and he
watched his opportunity.
Rhodes was a connection of the Wentworths, and had been helped at
college by Norman's father, which Ferdy knew. One of the handsomest
girls in their set, Miss Louise Caldwell, was a cousin of Rhodes, and
Norman was in love with her. Ferdy, who could never see any one
succeeding without wishing to supplant him, had of late begun to fancy
himself in love with her also, but Mr. Rhodes, he knew, was Norman's
friend. He also knew that Norman was Mr. Rhodes's friend in a little
affair which Mr. Rhodes was having with one of the leading belles of the
town, Miss Harriet Creamer, the daughter of Nicholas Creamer of Creamer,
Crustback & Company.
Ferdy had received that day a letter from his mother which stated that
Louise Caldwell's mother was making a set at Norman for her daughter.
Ferdy's jealousy was set on edge, and he now began to talk about Norman.
Rhodes sniffed at the sneering mention of his name, and Gordon, whose
face still wore a surly look, pricked up his ears.
"You need not always be cracking Norman up," said Wickersham to Rhodes.
"You would not be if I were to tell you what I know about him. He is no
better than anybody else."
"Oh, he is better than some, Ferdy," said Mr. Rhodes. Gordon gave an
appreciative grunt which drew Ferdy's eyes on him.
"You think so too, Keith, I suppose?" he said. "Well, you needn't. You
need not be claiming to be such a friend of his. He is not so much of a
friend of yours, I can tell you. I have heard him say as many mean
things about you as any one."
It was Gordon's opportunity. He had been waiting for one.
"I don't believe it. I believe it's a lie," he declared, his face
whitening as he gathered himself together. His eyes, which had been
burning, had suddenly begun to blaze.
Mr. Rhodes looked up. He said nothing, but his eyes began to sparkle.
"You're a liar yourself," retorted Wickersham, turning red.
Gordon reached for him. "Take it back!" At the same moment Rhodes sprang
and caught him, but not quite in time. The tip of Gordon's fingers as he
slapped at Ferdy just reached the latter's cheek and left a red
mark there.
"Take it back," he said again between his teeth as Rhodes flung his arm
around him.
For answer Ferdy landed a straight blow in his face, making his nose
bleed and his head ring.
"Take that!"
Gordon struggled to get free, but in vain. Rhodes with one arm swept
Wickersham back. With the other he held Gordon in an iron grip. "Keep
off, or I will let him go," he said.
The boy ceased writhing, and looked up into the young man's face. "You
had just as well let me go. I am going to whip him. He has told a lie on
my friend, who saved my life. And he's hit me. Let me go." He began
to whimper.
"Now, look here, boys," said Rhodes; "you have got to stop right here
and make up. I won't have this fighting."
"Let him go. I can whip him," said Ferdy, squaring himself, and adding
an epithet.
Gordon was standing quite still. "I am going to fight him," he said,
"and whip him. If he whips me, I am going to fight him again until I do
whip him."
Mr. Rhodes's face wore a puzzled expression. He looked down at the
sturdy face with its steady eyes, tightly gripped mouth, and chin which
had suddenly grown squarer.
"If I let you go will you promise not to fight?"
"I will promise not to fight him here if he will come out behind the
barn," said Gordon. "But if he don't, I'm going to fight him here. I am
going to fight him and I am going to whip him."
Mr. Rhodes considered. "If I go out there with you and let you have two
rounds, will you make up and agree never to refer to the subject again?"
"Yes," said Wickersham.
"If I whip him," said Gordon.
"Come along with me. I will let you two boys try each other's mettle for
two rounds, but, remember, you have got to stop when I call time."
So they came to a secluded spot, where the two boys took off their
coats.
"Come, you fellows had better make up now," said Mr. Rhodes, standing
above them good-humored and kindly.
"I don't see what we are fighting about," said Ferdy.
"Take back what you said about Norman," demanded Gordon.
"There is nothing to take back," declared Ferdy.
"Then take that!" said Gordon, stepping forward and tapping him in the
mouth with the back of his hand.
He had not expected the other boy to be so quick. Before he could put
himself on guard, Ferdy had fired away, and catching him right in the
eye, he sent him staggering back. He was up again in a second, however,
and the next moment was at his opponent like a tiger. The rush was as
unlooked for on Wickersham's part as Wickersham's blow had been by
Gordon, and after a moment the lessons of Mike Doherty began to tell,
and Gordon was ducking his head and dodging Wickersham's blows; and he
began to drive him backward.
"By Jove! he knows his business," said Rhodes to himself.
Just then he showed that he knew his business, for, swinging out first
with his right, he brought in the cut which was Mr. Doherty's _chef
d'oeuvre_, and catching Wickersham under the chin, he sent him flat on
his back on the ground.
Mr. Rhodes called time and picked him up.
"Come, now, that's enough," he said.
Gordon wiped the blood from his face.
"He has got to take back what he said about Norman, or I have another
round."
"You had better take it back, Ferdy. You began it," said the umpire.
"I didn't begin it. It's a lie!"
"You did," said Mr. Rhodes, coldly. He turned to Gordon. "You have one
more round."
"I take it back," growled Ferdy.
Just then there was a step on the grass, and General Keith stood beside
them. His face was very grave as he chided the boys for fighting; but
there was a gleam in his eyes that showed Mr. Rhodes and possibly the
two combatants that he was not wholly displeased. At his instance and
Mr. Rhodes's, the two boys shook hands and promised not to open the
matter again.
As Wickersham continued to shirk the work of rodman, Rhodes took Gordon
in his party, instructed him in the use of the instruments, and inspired
him with enthusiasm for the work, none the less eager because he
contrasted him with Ferdy. Rhodes knew what General Keith's name was
worth, and he thought his son being of his party would be no
hindrance to him.
The trouble came when he proposed to the General to pay Gordon for his
work.
"He is worth no salary at present, sir," said the General. "I shall be
delighted to have him go with you, and your instruction will more than
compensate us."
The matter was finally settled by Rhodes declining positively to take
Gordon except on his own terms. He needed an axeman and would pay him as
such. He could not take him at all unless he were under his authority.
Mr. Rhodes was not mistaken. General Keith's name was one to conjure
with. Squire Rawson was the principal man in all the Ridge region, and
he had, as Rhodes knew, put himself on record as unalterably opposed to
a railroad. He was a large, heavy man, deep-chested and big-limbed, with
grizzled hair and beard, a mouth closer drawn than might have been
expected in one with his surroundings, and eyes that were small and
deep-set, but very keen. His two-storied white house, with wings and
portico, though not large, was more pretentious than most of those in
the section, and his whitewashed buildings, nestled amid the fruit-trees
on a green hill looking up the valley to the Gap, made quite a
settlement. He was a man of considerable property and also of great
influence, and in the Ridge region, as elsewhere, wealth is a basis of
position and influence. The difference is one of degree. The evidences
of wealth in the Ridge country were land and cattle, and these Squire
Rawson had in abundance. He was esteemed the best judge of cattle in all
that region.
Consistency is a jewel; but there are regions where Hospitality is
reckoned before Consistency, and as soon as the old squire learned that
General Keith's son was with the surveying party, even though it was, to
use a common phrase, "comin' interferin'" with that country, he rode
over to their camp and invited Gordon and his "friends" to be his guests
as long as they should remain in that neighborhood.
"I don't want you to think, young man," he said to Rhodes, "that I'm
goin' to agree to your dod-rotted road comin' through any land of mine,
killin' my cattle; but I'll give you a bed and somethin' to eat."
Rhodes felt that he had gained a victory; Gordon was doubtful.
Though the squire never failed to remind the young engineer that the
latter was a Yankee, and as such the natural and necessary enemy of the
South, he and Rhodes became great friends, and the squire's hospitable
roof remained the headquarters of the engineering party much longer than
there was any necessity for its being so.
The squire's family consisted of his wife, a kindly, bustling little old
dame, who managed everything and everybody, including the squire, with a
single exception. This was her granddaughter, Euphronia Tripper, a plump
and fresh young girl with light hair, a fair skin, and bright
eyes. The squire laid down the law to those about him, but Mrs.
Rawson--"Elizy"-laid down the law for him. This the old fellow was ready
enough to admit. Sometimes he had a comical gleam in his deep eyes when
he turned them on his guests as he rose at her call of "Adam, I
want you."
"Boys, learn to obey promptly," he said; "saves a sight o' trouble. It's
better in the family 'n a melojeon. It's got to come sooner or later,
and the sooner the better for you. The difference between me and most
married men around here is that they lies about it, and I don't. I know
I belongs to Eliza. She owns me, but then she treats me well. I'm sort
o' meek when she's around, but then I make up for it by bein' so durned
independent when I'm away from home. Besides, it's a good deal better to
be ordered about by somebody as keers for you than not to have anybody
in the world as keers whether you come or stay."
Besides Mrs. Rawson, there were in the family a widowed daughter, Mrs.
Tripper, a long, pale, thin woman, with sad eyes, who had once been
pretty, and her daughter Euphronia, already referred to, who, in right
of being very pretty, was the old squire's idol and was never thwarted
in anything. She was, in consequence, a spoiled little damsel,
self-willed, very vain, and as susceptible as a chameleon. The ease with
which she could turn her family around her finger gave her a certain
contempt for them. At first she was quite enamoured of the young
engineer; but Mr. Rhodes was too busy to give any thought to a girl whom
he regarded as a child, and she turned her glances on Gordon. Gordon
also was impervious to her charms. He was by no means indifferent to
girls; several little damsels who attended St. Martin's Church had at
one time or another been his load-stars for a while; but he was an
aristocrat at heart, and held himself infinitely above a girl like Miss
Euphronia.
Ferdy Wickersham had no such motives for abstaining from a flirtation
with the young girl as those which restrained Rhodes and Keith.
Euphronia had not at first taken much notice of him. She had been
inclined to regard Ferdy Wickersham with some disfavor as a Yankee; but
when the other two failed her, Wickersham fell heir to her
blandishments. Her indifference to him had piqued him and awakened an
interest which possibly he might not otherwise have felt. He had seen
much of the world for a youngster, and could make a good show with what
he knew. He could play on the piano, and though the aged instrument
which the old countryman had got at second-hand for his granddaughter
gave forth sounds which might have come from a tinkling cymbal, yet
Ferdy played with a certain dash and could bring from it tunes which the
girl thought very fine. The two soon began to be so much together that
both Rhodes and Keith fell to rallying Ferdy as to his conquest. Ferdy
accepted it with complacency.
"I think I shall stay here while you are working up in the mountains,"
he said to his chief as the time drew near for them to leave.
"You will do nothing of the kind. I promised to take you with me, and I
will take you dead or alive."
A frown began on the youngster's face, but passed away quickly, and in
its place came a look of covert complacency.
"I thought your father had offered you five thousand dollars if you
would stick it out through, the whole trip?" Keith said.
Ferdy shut one eye slowly and gazed at Gordon with the other.
"Sickness was barred. I'll tell the old man I've studied. He'd never
drop on to the game. He is a soft old bird, anyway."
"Do you mean you are going to lie to him?" asked Gordon.
"Oh, you are sappy! All fellows lie to their governors," declared Ferdy,
easily. "Why, I wouldn't have any fun at all if I did not lie. You stay
with me a bit, my son, and I'll teach you a few useful things."
"Thank you. I have no doubt you are a capable teacher," sniffed Gordon;
"but I think I won't trouble you."
That evening, as Keith was coming from his work, he took a cross-cut
through the fields and orchard, and under an overshadowing tree he came
on Ferdy and Euphronia. They were so deeply engaged that Keith hastily
withdrew and, making a detour, passed around the orchard to the house.
At supper Mrs. Tripper casually inquired of her daughter where she had
been, a remark which might have escaped Keith's observation had not
Ferdy Wickersham answered it in some haste.
"She went after the cows," he said, with a quick look at her, "and I
went fishing, but I did not catch anything."
"I thought, Phrony, I saw you in the orchard," said her mother.
Wickersham looked at her quickly again.
"No, she wasn't in the orchard," he said, "for I was there."
"No, I wasn't in the orchard this evening," said Euphronia. "I went
after the cows." She looked down in her plate.
Keith ate the rest of his supper in silence. He could not tell on Ferdy;
that would not be "square." He consulted his mentor, his chief, who
simply laughed at him.
"Leave 'em alone," he counselled. "I guess she knew how to lie before he
came. Ferdy has some sense. And we are going to leave for the mountains
in a little while. I am only waiting to bring the old squire around."
Gordon shook his head.
"My father says you mistake his hospitality for yielding," he said. "You
will never get him to consent to your plan."
Rhodes laughed.
"Oh, won't I! I have had these old countrymen to deal with before. Just
give them time and show them the greenbacks. He will come around. Wait
until I dangle the shekels before him."
But Mr. Rhodes found that in that provincial field there were some
things stronger than shekels. And among these were prejudices. The more
the young engineer talked, the more obstinate appeared the old
countryman.
"I raise cattle," he said in final answer to all his eloquence.
"Raise cattle! You can make more by raising coal in one year than you
can by raising cattle all your life. Why, you have the richest mineral
country back here almost in the world," said the young diplomat,
persuasively.
"And that's the reason I want to keep the railroads out," said the
squire, puffing quietly. "I don't want the Yankees to come down and take
it away from us."
Rhodes laughed. "I'd like to see any one take anything from you. They
will develop it for you."
"I never seen anybody develop anything for another man, leastways a
Yankee," said Squire Rawson, reflectively.
Just then Ferdy chipped in. He was tired of being left out.
"My father'll come down here and show you old mossbacks a thing or two,"
he laughed.
The old man turned his eyes on him slowly. Ferdy was not a favorite with
him. For one thing, he played on the piano. But there were
other reasons.
"Who is your father, son?" The squire drew a long whiff from his pipe.
"Aaron Wickersham of Wickersham & Company, who is setting up the chips
for this railroad. We are going to run through here and make it one of
the greatest lines of the country."
"Oh, you're _goin'_ to run it! From the way you talked I thought maybe
you _had_ run it. Was a man named Aaron once thought he knew more 'bout
runnin' a' expedition than his brother did. Ever heard what became
of him?"
"No," said Ferdy.
"Well, he run some of 'em in the ground. He didn't have sense to know
the difference between a calf and God."
Ferdy flushed.
"Well, my old man knows enough to run this railroad. He has run bigger
things than this."
"If he knows as much as his son, he knows a lot. He ought to be able to
run the world." And the squire turned back to Rhodes:
"What are you goin' to do, my son, when you've done all you say you're
goin' to do for us? You will be too good to live among them Yankees; you
will have to come back here, I reckon."
"No; I'm going to marry and settle down," said Rhodes, jestingly. "Maybe
I'll come back here sometime just to receive your thanks for showing you
how benighted you were before I came, and for the advice I gave you."
"He is trying to marry a rich woman," said Ferdy, at which Rhodes
flushed a little.
The old man took no notice of the interruption.
"Well, you must," he said to Rhodes, his eyes resting on him
benevolently. "You must come back sometime and see me. I love to hear a
young man talk who knows it all. But you take my advice, my son; don't
marry no rich man's daughter. They will always think they have done you
a favor, and they will try to make you think so too, even if your wife
don't do it. You take warnin' by me. When I married, I had just sixteen
dollars and my wife she had seventeen, and I give you my word I have
never heard the last of that one dollar from that day to this."
Rhodes laughed and said he would remember his advice.
"Sometimes I think," said the old man, "I have mistaken my callin'. I
was built to give advice to other folks, and instid of that they have
been givin' me advice all my life. It's in and about the only thing I
ever had given me, except physic."
The night before the party left, Ferdy packed his kit with the rest; but
the next morning he was sick in his bed. His pulse was not quick, but he
complained of pains in every limb. Dr. Balsam came over to see him, but
could find nothing serious the matter. He, however, advised Rhodes to
leave him behind. So, Ferdy stayed at Squire Rawson's all the time that
the party was in the mountains. But he wrote his father that he
was studying.
During the time that Rhodes's party was in the mountains Squire Rawson
rode about with them examining lands, inspecting coal-beds, and adding
much to the success of the undertaking.
He appeared to be interested mainly in hunting up cattle, and after he
had introduced the engineers and secured the tardy consent of the
landowners for them to make a survey, he would spend hours haggling over
a few head of mountain cattle, or riding around through the mountains
looking for others.
Many a farmer who met the first advances of the stranger with stony
opposition yielded amicably enough after old Rawson had spent an hour or
two looking at his "cattle," or had conversed with him and his
weather-beaten wife about the "craps" and the "child'en."
"You are a miracle!" declared young Rhodes, with sincere admiration.
"How do you manage it?"
The old countryman accepted the compliment with becoming modesty.
"Oh, no; ain't no miracle about it. All I know I learned at the Ridge
College, and from an old uncle of mine, and in the war. He used to say,
'Adam, don't be a fool; learn the difference between cattle.' Now,
before you come, I didn't know nothin' about all them fureign
countries--they was sort of vague, like the New Jerusalem--or about
coal. You've told me all about that. I had an idea that it was all made
jest so,--jest as we find it,--as the Bible says 'twas; but you know a
lot--more than Moses knowed, and he was 'skilled in all the learnin' of
the Egyptians.' You haven't taken to cattle quite as kindly as I'd 'a'
liked, but you know a lot about coal. Learn the difference between
cattle, my son. There's a sight o' difference between 'em."
Rhodes declared that he would remember his advice, and the two parted
with mutual esteem.