THE HOMEWARD TRACK.
The new stake having been stuck in the hole left by the point of the old
one, and plenty of fresh turf piled up about it, the old man wiped his
fingers on the dry prairie-grass, thrust a hand into his pocket, and
brought forth an ancient leather wallet.
"My friend," said he, "shall I settle with you or with your boss?"
"You may as well settle with me."
"Nuff said. What's yer tax?"
"Two dollars and a half."
"Tew dollars and a--dog-gone-ation! You've been only tew hours and a
half about the job. I can hire a man all day for half a dollar."
"It is an afternoon's work for me," argued the young surveyor. "I've had
a long way to drive. Then, you must understand, we surveyors" (this was
said with an air of importance) "don't get pay merely for the time we
are employed, but also for our knowledge of the business, which it has
taken us time to learn. If I had been obliged to hire the horse I drive,
you see, I shouldn't have much left out of two dollars and a half."
"Friend, you're right. Tew 'n' a half is reasonable. And if I have
another job of land-surveyin', you are the man for my money."
"A man, am I, now?" And with a laugh the young surveyor pocketed his
fee.
"Good as a man, I allow, any time o' day. You've worked at this yer
thing right smart, and I'll give ye the credit on't. How long have ye
been larnin the trade?"
"O, two years, more or less, studying at odd spells! But I never made a
business of it until I came to this new country."
"What State be ye from?"
"New York."
"York State! That's whur I hail from."
"One wouldn't think so; you have a good many Southern and Western words
in your talk."
"I come by 'em honest," said the old man. "I run away from home when I
was a boy, like a derned fool; I've lived a'most everywhur; and I've
married four wives, and raised four craps of children. My fust wife I
picked up in ol' Kaintuck. My next was an Arkansaw woman. My third was a
Michigander. My present was born and raised in the South, but I married
her in Southern Illinois. She's nigh on to forty year younger 'n I be,
and smart as a steel trap, tell you! So you see we're kind of a mixed-up
family. My fust and second broods of children's married off, or
buried,--scattered to the four winds o' heaven! Tew boys o' the third
brood, and that ar Sal, is with me yit. Some of the present brood you've
seen. Thar's been twenty-one in all."
"Of the fourth brood?"
"No, of the lot. Whose hoss mout that be?"
"Mine; I brought him from the East with me."
"What do you have to pay for a beast like that, now, in York State?"
"I didn't pay anything for him."
"Somebody gi'n him tew ye?"
"Not exactly."
"Ye gambled for him?"
"No."
"Raised him from a colt, then?"
"No."
"Stole him?"
"Not much."
"Picked him up astray?"
The young surveyor, laughing, shook his head.
"Then how in the name o' seven kingdoms did ye come by him, if ye didn't
find him, nor steal him, nor raise him from a colt, nor buy him, nor
have him gi'n tew ye?"
"I borrowed him of a neighbor, and drove him to a show, where the old
elephant broke loose and had the handling of him for about a second and
a half. The owners of the elephant paid the damages; and I kept the
horse. Nobody thought he would get well; but he is now scarcely lame at
all. I can show you the scars where he was hurt."
The two had approached the wagon during this talk; and now the old man
examined the horse with a good deal of curiosity.
"That your dog tew?"
"Yes, sir. Here, Lion!"
"Cost ye suth'n, didn't it, to bring yer animals West with ye?"
"Not a great deal. When my friends wrote for me to come, they said good
horses were scarce and high-priced out here, and advised me to bring
mine. I couldn't leave my dog behind,--could I, old Lion?"
"Who mout your friends be?"
"Mr. and Mrs. Lanman, at North Mills; and Mrs. Lanman's brother,--my
boss, as you call him,--Mr. Felton, the surveyor. They came out last
year; and last winter they wrote to me, offering me a good chance if I
should come. It was in winter; I drove Snowfoot in a cutter, and crossed
the Detroit River on the ice just before it broke up. There the
sleighing left me; so I sold my cutter, bought a saddle, and made the
rest of the journey on horseback. That was rather hard on the dog, but I
got the stage-drivers to give him a lift once in a while."
"What did you say your name was?" the old man inquired.
"I don't think I said. But I will say now. My name is Ragdon,--Henry
Ragdon. My friends call me Jack."
"And it ain't yer name?"
"O, yes, it is, and yet it isn't! I was brought up to it. My friends
like it, and so I keep it."[1]
[Footnote 1: See "FAST FRIENDS"; also the previous volumes of this
series,--"JACK HAZARD AND HIS FORTUNES," "A CHANCE FOR HIMSELF," and
"DOING HIS BEST," in which is given a full account of the young
surveyor's early life and adventures.]
"Wal, Jack,--if you'll rank me with your friends, and le' me call ye
so," said the old man, with a cordial grip of his great, flat hand,--"I
s'pose we part yer, and say good by. I'll shoulder my tools, and take a
cow-path through the woods; you'll find a better road than the one we
come by, furder north. Jest keep along the edge of the perairie. I
sha'n't forgit this job."
"Nor I," said the young surveyor, with a curious smile.
It was the first work of the kind he had undertaken on his own account,
and without assistance; for which reason he felt not a little proud of
it. But he did not tell the old man so.
After parting company with him, he drove in the shade of the woods,
along a track so little travelled that the marks of wheels looked like
dark ruled lines in the half-trodden grass.
The pleasant summer afternoon was drawing to a close. The peculiar wild
scent of the prairie, which seems to increase as the cool evening comes
on, filled all the air. The shadows of the forest were stretching in a
vast, uneven belt over summit and hollow; while far away beyond, in
seemingly limitless expanse, swept the golden-green undulations of the
sunlit hills.
Jack--for I trust we shall also be entitled to call him so--kept his eye
out for game, as he drove leisurely along; stopped once or twice for a
rabbit on the edge of the woods; and, finally, pulled up sharply, as a
prairie-hen shot whirring out, almost from under his wheels.
He sprang to his feet and faced about, raising his gun; but before he
could take aim, the bird, at the end of a short, straight flight,
dropped into the prairie-grass a few rods away.
Jack followed on foot, holding his piece ready to fire. Knowing the shy
habits of the bird, he trampled the grass about the spot where she had
alighted, hoping to scare her up. He also sent his dog coursing about;
but Lion, though an intelligent animal, had no scent for birds.
Suddenly, from the very ground between the hunter's feet, with a
startling rush and thunder of wings, the hen rose. Up went gun to
shoulder. But instantly the dog gave chase, and kept so exactly in the
line of flight, that Jack durst not fire.
"You silly boy's dog!" he said; "don't you know better than that? You'll
get a stray shot some day, if you run before my gun-barrels in that
fashion. Now go to the horse, and stay."
The dog, who had fancied that he was doing good service, dropped ears
and tail at this rebuke, and retired from the field.
Jack was continuing the hunt, when all at once a strange spell seemed to
come over him. It found him on one foot, and he remained on one foot,
poising the other behind him, for several seconds. Then, softly putting
down the lifted leg, and lowering his gun, he stole swiftly back, in a
crouching attitude, to his wagon by the woodside.
Taking his horse by the bridle, he led him down into a little hollow.
Then, piercing the undergrowth, he hastened to a commanding position,
where, himself hidden by the bushes, he could look off on the prairie.
His heart beat fast, and his hand shook, as he drew the bird-shot out of
the two barrels of his fowling-piece, reloading one with buck-shot, the
other with an ounce ball.
All the while his eye kept glancing from his gun to the shadowy slope of
a distant hill, where were two objects which looked like a deer and a
fawn feeding.