A wheat-field of billowy gold stretched before us when I joined her. A
narrow path ran through it, curving sinuously, as a path made by chance
will. This we followed, Salome going in front. The wheat was ready for
the reaper, and the full heads were swelled to bursting. Salome gathered
some, threshed them between her hands, blew out the chaff, and offered
me part of the grain, eating the other herself. It was pasty, but not
unpleasant, and I ate it because it was her gift. We were walking
peacefully along, through the waist-high grain, when Salome gave a
little scream and jumped back, plump into my arms. Even in my excitement
I saw the tail of a black snake vanishing across the path. I released
her quickly, of course, but the touch of her figure was like wine in my
veins.
"I beg your pardon!" she said humbly; "but the ugly thing frightened
me. It darted out so quickly, and I almost stepped upon it. You couldn't
get one of the negroes to follow this path any farther. They are very
superstitious, you know, and are firm believers in signs."
"I'm sorry you were startled so; perhaps I had better go in front," I
ventured.
"No; you sha'n't. I'm not really afraid of snakes, except when I run
upon one unexpectedly. I kill them when I get a chance."
And so she started out again in advance of me, and began telling the
various beliefs of the negroes. I learned from her that their lives were
almost governed by "signs," and that some very trivial thing would deter
them from a certain course of action. There were ways to escape the
spell of witches, to avoid snakes, and to keep from being led into a
morass by jack-o'-lanterns. This folk-lore of the darkies was
exceedingly interesting to me, told in the charming manner which
characterized the speech of my companion.
The wheat-field ended at the pike, and here another fence was passed in
the same manner as the first one. Then we swung down the dusty road
together, side by side. To the right and left of us dog-fennel was
blooming, and the "Jimpson" weed flared its white trumpets in a brave
show. Occasionally a daisy lifted its yellow, modest head, and Salome
took great delight in getting me to tell her which was daisy and which
was fennel. My ignorance caused many a blunder, to her high amusement;
but at last I discovered that the daisy's head was larger than that of
its humble brother. A half-mile's walk along the pike brought us to an
old sagging gate, which I pushed open, and we went through. A grassy
hill was before us, sloping down to a cool hollow where a spring
bubbled out from beneath a moss-grown old rock.
There were trees and bushes, and a soft green bank, and we joined hands
and ran like two school-children till we reached the spring. Of course
she must have a drink, so down she knelt, and plunged her pouting lips
into the cool water. Her hair, tangled and loosened by our run, fell in
wavy strands about her face. When she had drunk her fill, it was my
turn, and so I stretched out full length, and carefully put my lips just
where hers had been. Never had water tasted so sweet! I was taking it
in, in long, cool swallows, when a sudden pressure on the back of my
head bobbed my face deep into the spring. I turned my head with a smile,
to find her standing back and laughing like a child at the trick she had
played.
"You rascal!" I fumed good-naturedly, "I'll pay you back!"
Another peal of laughter was her only answer, caused, no doubt, by my
wet face and the water dripping from my chin.
"Yonder come the sheep," she said. "Get up, and let's salt them."
I arose and picked up the bucket. Coming slowly up the hollow were five
or six shabby-looking sheep. Their wool stood on them in patches, and
they seemed scarcely able to walk.
"What's the matter with them?" I queried.
"See how rusty the poor things look!" Her voice told of deep concern.
"Father says they have the scab, and it must be a dreadful disease, like
leprosy. Let's go meet them, and save them the trouble of walking so
far."
I could not help smiling at the tender heart this speech betrayed, but
I went with her. As we neared the sorry-looking group, Salome took a
handful of salt and placed it upon a large flat stone. They rushed at it
eagerly, despite their weakened state, and lapped it with their tongues.
We put out more salt, at a dozen different places, so that all might
have enough, then went back to the bank by the spring, and while she sat
down in the shade and held her bonnet in her lap, I reclined by her
side, and looked up at her, content.