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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:36:47 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:36:47 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/11379-0.txt b/11379-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6d3331d --- /dev/null +++ b/11379-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8334 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11379 *** + +ROUND ANVIL ROCK + + +_A ROMANCE_ + + +BY + +NANCY HUSTON BANKS + +AUTHOR OF "OLDFIELD" + + +1903 + +[Illustration: "The Angelus was pealing from the bell of the little +log chapel."] + + +TO MY FATHER + + +A PREFACE + +In weaving a romance round a real rock and through actual events, this +tale has taken no great liberty with fact. It has, indeed, claimed the +freedom of fiction only in drawing certain localities and incidents +somewhat closer together than they were in reality. And it has done this +notably in but three instances: by allowing the Wilderness Road to seem +nearer the Ohio River than it really was; by anticipating the +establishment of the Sisters of Charity; and by disregarding the +tradition that Philip Alston had gone from the region of Cedar House +before the time of the story, and that he died elsewhere. These +deviations are all rather slight, yet they are, nevertheless, essential +to any faithful description of the country, the time, and the people, +which this tale tries to describe. The Wilderness Road--everywhere--came +so close to the life of the whole country that no true story of the time +can ever be told apart from it. The Sisters of Charity were established +so early and did so much in the making of Kentucky, that a few months +earlier in coming to one locality or a few years later in reaching +another, cannot make their noble work any less vitally a part of every +tale of the wilderness. The influence of Philip Alston over the country +in which he lived, lasted so much longer than his life, and the precise +date and manner of his death are go uncertain, that his romantic career +must always remain inseparably interwoven with all the romance of +southern Kentucky. And it is for these reasons that this story of nearly +a hundred years ago, has thus claimed a few of the many privileges of +fiction. + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I. THE GIRL AND THE BOY + + II. THE HOUSE OF CEDAR + + III. "PHILIP ALSTON, GENTLEMAN" + + IV. THE NIGHT RIDE + + V. ON THE WILDERNESS ROAD + + VI. THE CAMP-MEETING + + VII. A MORNING IN CEDAR HOUSE + + VIII. THE LOG TEMPLE OF JUSTICE + + IX. PAUL'S FIRST VISIT TO RUTH + + X. FATHER ORIN AND TOBY MEET TOMMY DYE + + XI. THE DANCE IN THE FOREST + + XII. THE EVE OF ALL SOULS' + + XIII. SEEING WITH DIFFERENT EYES + + XIV. A SPIRITUAL CENTAUR + + XV. THE WEB THAT SEEMED TO BE WOVEN + + XVI. LOVE'S TOUCHSTONE + + XVII. THE ONCOMING OF THE STORM + +XVIII. THE GENTLEST ARE THE BRAVEST + + XIX. UNDER THE HUNTER'S MOON + + XX. BALANCING LIFE AND DEATH + + XXI. THE EAGLE IN THE DOVE'S NEST + + XXII. "A COMET'S GLARE FORETOLD THIS SAD EVENT" + +XXIII. LOVE CLAIMS HIS OWN + + XXIV. OLD LOVE'S STRIVING WITH YOUNG LOVE + + XXV. THE PASSING OF PHILIP ALSTON + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +"The Angelus was pealing from the bell of the little log chapel" + +"A dark, confused ... writhing mass of humanity" + +"'I wanted to shake the hand of a man like you'" + +Father Orin and Toby + +"For she also was riding a great race" + +"She was making an aeolian harp" + + + +ROUND ANVIL ROCK + + + +I + +THE GIRL AND THE BOY + + +The Beautiful River grows very wide in making its great bend around +western Kentucky. On the other side, its shores are low for many miles, +but well guarded by giant cottonwoods. These spectral trees stand close +to its brink and stretch their phantom arms far over its broad waters, +as if perpetually warding off the vast floods that rush down from the +North. + +But the floods are to be feared only in the winter or spring, never in +the summer or autumn. And nearly a hundred years ago, when the river's +shores were bound throughout their great length by primeval forests, +there was less reason to fear at any season. So that on a day of October +in the year eighteen hundred and eleven, the mighty stream lay safely +within its deep bounds flowing quietly on its way to join the Father of +Waters. + +So gently it went that there was scarcely a ripple to break its silvery +surface. It seemed indeed hardly to move, reflecting the shadowy +cottonwoods like a long, clear, curving mirror which was dimmed only by +the breath of the approaching dusk. Out in the current beyond the +shadows of the trees, there still lingered a faint glimmer of the +afterglow's pale gold. But the red glory of the west was dying behind +the whitening cottonwoods and beyond the dense dark forest--reaching on +and on to the seeming end of the earth--a billowing sea of ever +deepening green. The last bright gleam of golden light was passing away +on the white sail of a little ship which was just turning the distant +bend, where the darkening sky bent low to meet the darkened wilderness. + +The night was creeping from the woods to the waters as softly as the +wild creatures crept to the river's brim to drink before sleeping. The +still air was lightly stirred now and then by rushing wings, as the +myriad paroquets settled among the shadowy branches. The soft murmuring +of the reeds that fringed the shores told where the waterfowl had +already found resting-places. The swaying of the cane-brakes--near and +far--signalled the secret movements of the wingless wild things which +had only stealth to guard them against the cruelty of nature and against +one another. The heaviest waves of cane near the great Shawnee Crossing +might have followed a timid red deer. For the Shawnees had vanished from +their town on the other side of the Ohio. Warriors and women and +children--all were suddenly and strangely gone; there was not even a +canoe left to rock among the rushes. The swifter, rougher waving of the +cane farther off may have been in the wake of a bold gray wolf. The +howling of wolves came from the distance with the occasional gusts of +wind, and as often as the wolves howled, a mysterious, melancholy +booming sounded from the deeper shadows along the shores. It was an +uneasy response from the trumpeter swans, resting like some wonderful +silver-white lilies on the quiet bosom of the dark river. + +A great river has all the sea's charm and much of its mystery and +sadness. The boy standing on the Kentucky shore was under this spell as +he listened to these sounds of nature at nightfall on the Ohio, and +watched the majestic sweep of its waters--unfettered and +unsullied--through the boundless and unbroken forests. Yet he turned +eagerly to listen to another sound that came from human-kind. It was the +wild music of the boatman's horn winding its way back from the little +ship, now far away and rounding the dusky bend. Partly flying and partly +floating, it stole softly up the shadowed river. The melody echoed from +the misty Kentucky hills, lingered under the overhanging trees, rambled +through the sighing cane-brakes, loitered among the murmuring +rushes--thus growing ever fainter, sweeter, wilder, sadder, as it came. +He did not know why this sound of the boatman's horn always touched him +so keenly and moved him so deeply. He could not have told why his eyes +grew strangely dim as he heard it now, or why a strange tightening came +around his heart. He was but an ignorant lad of the woods. It was not +for him to know that these few notes--so few, so simple, so artlessly +blown by a rude boatman--touched the deep fountain of the soul, loosing +the mighty torrent pent up in every human breast. Pity, tenderness, +yearning, the struggle and the triumph of life,--the boy felt everything +and all unknowingly, but with quivering sensibility. For he was not +merely an ignorant lad; he was also one of those who are set apart +throughout their lives to feel many things which they are never +permitted to comprehend. + +When the last echo of the boatman's horn had melted among the darkling +hills, he turned as instinctively as a sun-worshipper faces the east and +drank in another musical refrain. The Angelus was pealing faintly from +the bell of the little log chapel far up the river, hidden among the +trees. The faith which it betokened was not his own faith, nor the faith +of those with whom he lived, but the beauty and sweetness of the token +appealed to him none the less. How beautiful, how sweet it was! As it +thus came drifting down with the river's deepening shadows, he thought +of the little band of Sisters--angels of charity--kneeling under that +rough roof; those brave gentlewomen of high birth and delicate breeding +who were come with the very first to take an heroic part in the making +of Kentucky and, so doing, in the winning of the whole West. As the boy +thought of them with a swelling heart,--for they had been kind to +him,--it seemed that they were braver than the hunters, more courageous +than the soldiers. Listening to the appeal of the Angelus stealing so +tenderly through the twilight, with the strain of poetry that was in him +thrilling in response, he felt that the prayers then going up must fill +the cruel wilderness with holy incense; that the coming of these gentle +Sisters must subdue the very wild beasts, as the presence of the lovely +martyrs subdued the lions of old. + +"Ah, David! David!" cried a gay young voice behind him. "Dreaming +again--with your eyes wide open. And seeing visions, too, no doubt." + +He turned with a guilty start and looked up at Ruth. She was standing +near by but higher on the river bank, and her slender white form was +half concealed by the drooping foliage of a young willow tree. There was +something about Ruth herself that always made him think of a young +willow with every graceful wand in bloom. And now--as nearly +always--there was a flutter of soft whiteness about her, for the day was +as warm as mid-summer. He could not have told what it was that she wore, +but her fluttering white garments might have been woven of the mists +training over the hills, so ethereal they looked, seen through the +golden green of the delicate willow leaves that were still gilded by +the afterglow which had vanished from the shadowed river. Her smiling +face could not have been more radiant had the sunlight shone full upon +it. The dusk of evening seemed always lingering under the long curling +lashes that made her blue eyes so dark, and her hair was as black at +midday as at midnight. So that now--when she shook her head at the +boy--a wonderful long, thick, silky lock escaped its fastenings, and the +wind caught it and spun it like silk into the finest blue-black floss. + +"Yes, sir, you've been dreaming again! You needn't pretend you were +thinking--you don't know how to think. Thinking is not romantic enough. +I have been here watching you for a long time, and I know just how +romantic the dreams are that you have been dreaming. I could tell by the +way you turned,--this way and that,--looking up and down the river. It +always bewitches you when the sun goes and the shadows come. I knew I +should find you here, just like this; and I came on purpose to wake and +scold you." + +She pretended to draw her pretty brow into a frown, but she could not +help smiling. + +"Seriously, dear, you must stop dreaming. It is a dreadful thing to be a +dreamer in a new country. State makers should all be wide-awake workers. +You are out of place here; as Uncle Philip Alston says--" + +"Then why did he put me here?" the boy burst out bitterly. + +"David!" she cried in wounded reproach, "how can you? It hurts me to +hear you say things like that. I can't bear to hear any one say anything +against him--I love him so. And from you--who owe him almost as much as +I do--" + +The tears were very near. But she was a little angry, too, and her blue +eyes flashed. + +"No; no one owes him so much--as myself. He couldn't have been so +good--no one ever could be so good to any one else as he has always been +to me. Still"--softening suddenly, for she was fond of the boy, and +something in his sensitive face went to her tender heart--"think, David, +dear, we owe him everything we have,--our names, our home, our clothes, +our education, our very lives. We must never for a moment forget that it +was he who found us all alone--you in a cabin on the Wilderness Road and +me in a boat at Duff's Fort--and brought us in his own arms to Cedar +House. And you know as well as I do that he would have given us a home +in his own house if it had not been so rough and bare a place, a mere +camp. And then there was no woman in it to take care of us, and we were +only little mites of babies--poor, crying, helpless morsels of humanity. +Where do you think we came from, David? I wonder and wonder and wonder!" +wistfully, with her gaze on the darkening river. + +It was an old question, and one that they had been asking themselves +and one another and every one, over and over, ever since they had been +old enough to think. The short story which Philip Alston had told was +all that he or any one knew or ever was to know. The boy silently shook +his head. The girl went on:-- + +"Sometimes I am sorry that we couldn't live in his house. You would have +understood him better and have loved him more--as he deserves. It is +only that you don't really know each other," she said gently. "And then +I should like to do something for him--something to cheer him--who does +everything for me. It must be very sad to be alone and old. It grieves +me to see him riding away to that desolate cabin, especially on stormy +nights. But he never will let me come to his house, though I beg and +beg. He says it is too rough, and that too many strange men are coming +and going on business." + +"Yes; too many strange men on very strange business." + +She did not hear or notice what he said, because the sound of horses' +feet echoing behind them just at that moment caused her to turn her +head. Two horsemen were riding along the river bank, but they were a +long way off and about turning into the forest path as her gaze fell +upon them. She stood still, silently looking after them till they +disappeared among the trees. + +"Father Orin and Toby will get home before dark to-night. That is +something uncommon," she said with a smile. + +Toby was the priest's horse, but no one ever spoke of the one without +thinking of the other; and then, Toby's was a distinct and widely +recognized personality. + +"But who is the stranger with them, David? Oh, I remember! It must be +the new doctor,--the young doctor who has lately come and who is curing +the Cold Plague. The Sisters told me. They said that he and Father Orin +often visited the sick together and were already great friends. How tall +he is--even taller than Father Orin, and broader shouldered. I should +like to see his face. And how straight he sits in the saddle. You would +expect a man who holds himself so to carry a lance and tilt fearlessly +at everything that he thought was wrong." + +She turned, quickly tossing the willow branches aside and laughing +gayly. "There now, that will set you off thinking of your knights again! +But you must not. Truly, you must not. For it is quite true, dear; you +are a dreamer, a poet. You do indeed belong to the Arcadian Hills. You +should be there now, playing a gentle shepherd's pipe and herding his +peaceful flocks. And instead--alas!"--she looked at him in perplexity +which was partly real and partly assumed--"instead you are here in this +awful wilderness, carrying a rifle longer and heavier than yourself, and +trying to pretend that you like to kill wild beasts, or can endure to +hurt any living thing." + +David said nothing; there seemed to be no response for him to make. When +a well-grown youth of eighteen or thereabouts is spoken to by a girl +near his own age as he had just been spoken to by Ruth, he rarely finds +anything to say. No words could do justice to what he feels. And there +is nothing for him to do either, unless it be to take refuge in a +dignified silence which disdains the slightest notice of the offence. +This was what David resorted to, and, bending down, he calmly and +quietly raised his forgotten rifle from the ground to his shoulder. He +did it very slowly and impressively, however, in the hope that Ruth +might realize the fact that he had killed the buck whose huge horns made +the rifle's rest on his cabin walls. But she saw and realized only that +he was wounded, and instantly darted toward him like a swallow. She +caught his rigid rifle arm and clung to it, looking up in his set face. +Her blue eyes were already filling with tears while the smile was still +on her lips. That was Ruth's way; her smiles and tears were even closer +together than most women's are; she was nearly always quiveringly poised +between gayety and sadness; like a living sunbeam continually glancing +across life's shadows. + +"What is it, David, dear?" she pleaded, with her sweet lips close to his +ear. "What foolish thing have I said? You must know--whatever it +was--that it was all in fun. Why, I wouldn't have you different, dear, +if I could! I couldn't love you so much if you were not just what you +are. And yet," sighing, "it might be better for you." + +She laid her head against his shoulder and drew closer to him in that +soft little nestling way of hers. David looked straight over the lovely +head, keeping his grim gaze as high as he could. He knew how it would be +if his stern gray eyes were to meet Ruth's wet blue ones. He was still a +boy, but trying to be a man--and beginning to understand. No man with +his heart in the right place could hold out against her pretty coaxing. +It was sweet enough to wile the very birds out of the trees. It made no +difference that he had been used to her wiles from babyhood up. To be +used to Ruth's ways only made them harder to resist. No stranger could +possibly have foreseen his defeat as clearly as David foresaw his at the +moment that she started toward him. But self-respect required him to +stand firm as long as possible, although he felt the strength going out +of his rifle arm under her clinging touch. She felt it going, too, and +began to smile through her tears. And then, sure of her victory, she +threw caution to the winds--as older and wiser women have done too +openly in vanquishing stronger and more masterful men. She let him see +that she knew she had conquered, which is always a fatal mistake on the +part of a woman toward a man. Smiling and dimpling, she put up her hand +and patted his cheek--precisely as if he had been a child. + +The boy shrunk as if the caress had been a touch of fire. He broke away +and strode off up the hillside with his longest, manliest stride. This +humiliation was past bearing or forgiving. He could have forgiven being +called a dreamer--a useless drone--among the men of clear heads and +strong hands who had already wrested a great state from the wilderness, +and who, through this conquest, were destined to become the immortal +founders of the Empire of the West. He could have overlooked being +spoken to like a child by a girl who might be younger than himself for +all he or she knew to the contrary--though this would have been harder. +He might even have forgiven that pat on his cheek which was downy with +beard, had he been either younger or older. But as it was--well, the +matter may safely be left to the sympathy of the man who remembers the +most sensitive time of his own youth; that trying period when he feels +himself to be no longer a boy and nobody else considers him a man. + +David did not know where he was going or what he meant to do. He was +blindly striding up the river bank away from Ruth, fairly aflame with +the determination to do something--anything--to prove his manhood. For +nothing ever makes a boy resolve quite so suddenly and firmly to become +a man instantly as to be treated by a girl as he had been by Ruth. Had +the most desperate danger then come in David's way, he would have hailed +and hazarded it with delight. But he could not think of anything to +overwhelm her with just at that moment, and so he could only stride on +in helpless, angry silence. Ruth flew after him as if her thin white +skirts had been strong, swift wings. She overtook him before he had gone +very far, and clung to him again more than ever like some beautiful +white spirit of the woods wreathed in mist, with her soft blown garments +and her softer blown hair. She merely wound herself around him at first, +breathless and panting. But as soon as she caught her breath the +coaxing, the laughing, and the crying came all together. David kept from +looking down as long as he could, but his pace slackened and his arm +again relaxed. Finally--taken off guard--he glanced at the face so near +his breast. The dusk could not dim its beauty and only made it more +lovely. No more resistance was possible for him--or for any man or +boy--who saw Ruth as she looked then. David's big rough hand was now +surrendered meekly enough to the quick clasp of her little fingers, +and--forgetting all the daring deeds that he meant to do--he was led +like any lamb up the hill to the open door of Cedar House. + + + + +II + +THE HOUSE OF CEDAR + + +So far as they knew, there was no tie of blood or relationship binding +them to the kind people of Cedar House. Yet it was the only home that +they could remember and very dear to them both. + +It was a great square of rough, dark logs, and seemed now, seen through +the uncertain light, to stand in the centre of a shadowy hamlet, so many +smaller cabins were clustered around it. The custom of the country was +to add cabin after cabin as the family outgrew the original log house. +The instinct of safety, the love of kindred, and the longing for society +in the perilous loneliness of the wilderness held these first +Kentuckians very close together. So that as their own villages thus grew +around them and only their own dwelt near them, they naturally became as +clannish as their descendants have been ever since. + +The cabin nearest Cedar House contained two rooms, and was used by its +master, Judge Knox, for his own bedroom and law office. There was a +still larger cabin somewhat more distant from the main building, which +was intended for the use of his nephew, William Pressley, on the +marriage of that young lawyer to Ruth. But the wedding was some time off +yet, having been set for Christmas Eve, and the cabin which was to +welcome the bride from Cedar House was not quite complete. The smallest +and the oldest cabin was David's. The long black line of cabins +crouching under the hillside where the shadows were deepest, marked the +quarters of the slaves,--a dark storm-cloud already settling heavily on +the fair horizon of the new state. + +Cedar House itself was the grandest of its time in all that country. +Built entirely of huge red cedar logs it was two stories in height, the +first house of more than one story standing on the shores of the +southern Ohio. Its roof was the wonder and envy of the whole region for +many years. The shingles were of black walnut, elegantly rounded at the +butt-ends. They were fastened on with solid walnut pegs driven in holes +bored through both the shingles and the laths with a brace and a bit. +For there was not a nail in Cedar House from its firm foundation to its +fine roof. Even the hinges and the latch of the wide front door were +made of wood. The judge often mentioned this fact with much pride, and +never failed to add that the leathern latch-string always hung outside. +But he was still prouder of the massive, towering chimney of Cedar +House, and with good reason. The other houses thinly scattered through +the wilderness had humble chimneys of sticks covered with clay. The +chimney of Cedar House was of rough stone--of one hundred wagon loads, +as the judge boasted--which had been hauled with great difficulty over a +long distance, because there was none near by. + +On the wide hearth of this great chimney a fire was always burning. No +matter what the season or the weather might be, there was always a +solemn ceremony around the hearth when the fire was renewed, at the +beginning and the close of every day all the year round. In winter it +was a glorious bonfire consuming great logs. In summer it was the merest +glimmer that could hold a flickering spark. Between winter and summer, +as on this mild October evening, a bright flame sometimes danced gayly +behind the big brass andirons, while all the windows and doors were wide +open. But through cold and heat, and burning high or low, the fire was +never entirely forgotten, never quite permitted to go out. Thus ever +alight it burned like a sacred flame on the altar of home. + +Streaming from the doors and windows that night, it gave the youth and +the maiden a cheerful welcome as they came up the darkening hillside. +Lamplight also began to glimmer, and candles flitted here and there +before the windows and door, borne by the dark shapes of the servants +who were laying the table for supper. The main room of Cedar House +opened directly upon the river front; and when brightly lighted, it +could be distinctly seen from without. Ruth and David paused on the +threshold, still unconsciously holding one another's hands, and looked +in. + +There were five persons in the room, three men and two women, and they +were all members of the household with the exception of Philip Alston, +the white-haired gentleman, whose appearance bore no other mark of age. +And he also might have been considered as one of the family, since he +had been coming to the house daily for many years. He came usually to +see Ruth, but of late he had found it necessary to see William Pressley +more often; and they were talking eagerly and in a low tone, rather +apart, when the boy and girl paused to see and hear what was taking +place within the great room. William Pressley sat in the easiest chair +in the warmest corner, close to the hearth. There are some men--and a +few women--who always take the softest seat in the best place, and they +do it so naturally that no one ever thinks of their doing anything else +or expects them to sit elsewhere. William Pressley was one of these +persons. In the next easiest chair, on the other side of the hearth, was +his aunt, the widow Broadnax, whose short, broad, shapeless, inert +figure was lying rather than sitting almost buried in a heap of +cushions. This lady was the sister of the judge and the half-sister of +the other lady, Miss Penelope Knox,--the thin, nervous, restless little +old woman,--who was fidgeting back and forth between the hearth and the +doorway leading to the distant kitchen. The relationship of these two +ladies to one another, and the difference in their relationship to the +head of Cedar House, caused much dissension in the household, and gave +rise to certain domestic complications which always rose when least +expected. + +The fire had been freshly kindled with small twigs of the sugar maple, +that priceless tree often standing fifty to an acre in the wilderness, +and giving the pioneers their best fire-wood, their coolest shade, and +their sweetest food. Vivid blue sparks were still flashing among the +little white stars of the gray moss on the big backlog. From the blazing +ends of the log there came the soft, airy music and the faint, sweet +scent of bubbling sap. This main room of Cedar House was very large, +almost vast, taking up the whole lower floor. It was the dining room as +well as the sitting room; and when some grand occasion arose, it served +even as a drawing-room, and did it handsomely, too. This great room of +Cedar House always reminded David of the ancient halls in "The Famous +History of Montilion," a romance of chivalry from which most of his +ideas of life were taken, and upon which most of his ideals of living +were formed. Surely, he thought, the castle of the "Knight of the +Oracle" could not be grander than this great room of Cedar House. + +The rich dark wood of its walls and floor--all rudely smoothed with the +broadaxe and the whipsaw--hung overhead in massive beams. From these +low, blackened timbers there swung many antique lamps, splendid enough +for a palace and strangely out of place in a log house of the +wilderness. On the rough walls there were also large sconces of +burnished silver but poorly filled with tallow candles. In the bare +spaces between these silver sconces were the heads of wild animals +mingled with many rifles, both old and new, and other arms of the +hunter. Over the tall mantelpiece there were crossed two untarnished +swords which had been worn by the judge's father in the Revolution. On +the red cedar of the floor, polished by wear and rubbing, there lay the +skins of wild beasts, together with costly foreign rugs. The same +strange mixture of rudeness and refinement was to be seen everywhere +throughout the room. The table standing in the centre of the floor, +ready for the evening meal, was made of unplaned boards, rudely put +together by the unskilled hands of the backwoods. Yet it was set with +the finest china, the rarest glass, and the richest silver that the +greatest skill of the old world could supply. The chairs placed around +the table were made of unpainted wood from the forest, with seats woven +out of the coarse rushes from the river. And there, between the front +windows, stood Ruth's piano, the first in that part of the wilderness, +and as fine as the finest of its day anywhere. + +It is true that something like the same confusion of luxury and wildness +was becoming more or less common throughout the country. The wain trains +which had lately followed the packhorse trains over the +Alleghanies--with the widening of the Wilderness Road--were already +bringing many comforts and even luxuries to the cabins of the well-to-do +settlers. But nothing like those which were fetched constantly to Cedar +House ever came to any other household; and it was not the family who +caused them to be brought there. For while the judge was a man of wealth +for his time and place, and able to give his family greater comfort than +his poorer neighbors could afford, he was far from having the means, +much less the taste and culture, to gather such costly, beautiful, and +rare things as were gathered together in Cedar House. It was through +Philip Alston that everything of this kind had come. It was he who had +chosen everything and paid for it, and ordered it fetched over the +mountains from Virginia or up the river from France or Spain--all as +gifts from him to Ruth. It was natural enough that he should give her +whatever he wished her to have, and there was no reason why she should +not accept any and everything that he gave. She was held by him and by +every one as his adopted daughter. He had no children of his own, no +relations of any degree so far as any one knew, and he was known to be +generous and believed to be very rich. Indeed no one thought much about +his gifts to Ruth; they had long since become a matter of course, a part +of the everyday life of Cedar House. They had begun with Ruth's coming +more than seventeen years before. As a baby she had been rocked in a +cradle such as never before had been seen in the wilderness,--a very gem +of wonderful carving and inlaid work from Spain. As a little child she +had been dressed--as no little one of the wild wood ever had been +before--in the finest fabrics and the daintiest needlework from the +looms and convents of France. Very strange things may become familiar +through use. The simple people of Cedar House and their rude neighbors +were well used to all this. They had seen the beautiful blue-eyed baby +grow to be a more beautiful child, and the child to a most beautiful +maiden, and always surrounded by the greatest refinement and luxury that +love and means could bring into the wilderness. Naturally enough they +now found nothing to wonder at, in the daily presence of this radiant +young figure among them. + +It was only for an instant that the girl and boy stood thus unseen on +the threshold of Cedar House, looking into the great room. Philip Alston +saw them almost at once. He had been watching and waiting for Ruth, as +he always was when she was out of his sight even for a moment. He sprang +up, quickly and alertly, like a strong young man, and went to meet her +with his gallant air. She held up her cheek smilingly; he bent and +kissed it, and taking her hand with his grand bow, led her across the +room. The judge and his nephew also arose, as they always did when she +came in or went out. The judge did this unconsciously, without thinking, +and scarcely knowing that he did do it; for he was a plain man, rather +awkward and very absent-minded, and deeply absorbed in the study of his +profession. William Pressley did it with deliberate intention and +self-consciousness, as he did everything that he deemed fitting. It was +his nature to give grave thought to the least thing that he said or did. +It was his sincere conviction that the smallest matter affecting himself +was of infinitely greater importance than the greatest that could +possibly concern any one else. There are plenty of people who believe +this as sincerely as he believed it, but there are few who show the +belief with his candor. When he now stood up to place a chair for Ruth +beside his own, he did the simple service as if the critical eyes of the +world had been upon him. And his manner was so consciously correct that +no one observed that the chair which he gave her was not so comfortable +as his own. He was uncommonly good-looking, also, and tall and shapely, +yet there was something about his full figure--that vague, +indescribable something--which unmistakably marks the lack of virility +in mind or body, no matter how large or handsome a man may be. He stood +for a moment after Ruth was seated, and then, seeing that Philip Alston +was about to lift a candle-stand which was heaped with parcels, he went +to aid him, and the two men together set the little table before her. +She looked at it with soft, excited cries of surprise and delight, +instantly divining that the unopened parcels and sealed boxes contained +more of the gifts which her foster-father was constantly lavishing upon +her. He smiled down at her beaming face and dancing eyes, and then +taking out his pocket-knife he cut the cords and removed the covers of +the boxes. As the wrappings fell away, there was a shimmer of dazzling +tissues, silver and gold. + +"Oh! oh!" she cried. + +"Just a few pretty trifles, my dear," he said. "You like them?" + +"Like them!" + +Repeating his words she sprang up, and running round the candle-stand, +stood on the very tips of her toes so that she might throw her arms +about his neck. He bent his head to meet her upturned face, and if ever +tenderness shone in a man's pale, grave face, it shone then in his. If +ever love--pure and unselfish--beamed from a man's eyes, it was beaming +now from those looking down in the girl's face. His tender gaze +followed her fondly as she went back to the candle-stand and began to +examine each article again more than once and with lingering and growing +delight. She found new beauties every moment, and pointed them out to +the three men and the boy who were now gathered around her. She called +the ladies also, over and over, but they did not come, although they +cast many glances at the candle-stand. + +Miss Penelope was engaged in making the coffee for supper; and while she +did not consider the making of the coffee for supper quite so vital a +matter as the making of the coffee for breakfast, she still could not +think of leaving the hearth under any inducement so long as the +coffee-pot sat on its trivet above the glowing coals. The widow Broadnax +stirred among her cushions once or twice, as if almost on the point of +trying to get out of her chair. She was fonder of finery than her +half-sister was, and she would have liked very much to see these +beautiful things nearer. But she was still fonder of her own ease than +of finery, and it was really a great deal of trouble to get out of her +deep, broad low chair. And then she never moved or took her eyes off her +half-sister while that energetic lady was engaged in making the coffee. + +Knowing the ladies' ways, Ruth did not expect them to come. She was +quite satisfied to have the men share her pleasure in the presents. +They were looking at her and not at the gifts lying heaped on the +candle-stand, but she did not notice that. She gave the judge a +priceless piece of lace to hold. He took it with the awkward, helpless +embarrassment of a manly man handling a woman's delicate +belongings,--the awkwardness that goes straight to a woman's heart, +because she sees and feels its true reverence--a reverence just as plain +and just as sweet to the simplest country girl as to the wisest woman of +the world. The perception of it is a matter of intuition, not one of +experience. The least experienced woman instantly distrusts the man who +can touch her garments with ease or composure. Ruth's gay young voice +broke into a sweet chime of delighted laughter when the judge seized the +airy bit of lace as if it had been the heaviest and hottest of crowbars. +She laughed again when she looked at his face. He had an odd trick of +lifting one of his eyebrows very high and at an acute angle when +perplexed or ill at ease. This eccentric left eyebrow--now quite +wedge-shaped--had gone up almost to the edge of his tousled gray hair. +Ruth patted his great clumsy hands with her little deft ones. + +"Well, I'll have to take to the woods, if there's no other way of +escape," said the judge, making his greatest threat. + +"You dear!" she said, running her arm through his and giving it a little +squeeze. "That's right. Hold it tight--be careful, or it will break. +Here, William," piling the young man's arms full of delicately tinted +gauze, "this is a sunset cloud. And these," casting lengths of exquisite +tissue over the boy's shoulder, "these are the mists of the dawn, +David,--all silvery white and golden rose and jewelled blue. But--oh! +oh!--these are the loveliest of all! A pair of slippers in +orange-blossom kid, spangled with silver! Look at them! Just look, +everybody!" + +Holding them in her hand she ran round the table again to throw her arms +about Philip Alston's neck the second time, like a happy, excited child. +The little white slippers went up with her arms and touched his cheek. +And then he drew them down, and clasping her slender wrists, held her +out before him and looked at her with fond, smiling eyes. + +"I don't believe that the Empress Josephine has any prettier slippers +than those," he said. "I ordered the prettiest and the finest in Paris." + +"Who fetched all these things?" the judge broke in, with something like +a sudden realization of the number and the value of the gifts. + +"Oh, a friend of mine," responded Philip Alston, carelessly, and without +turning his head,--"a friend who has many ships constantly going and +coming between New Orleans and France. He orders anything I wish; and +when it comes to him, he sends it on to me by the first flatboat +cordelled up the river." + +"What is his name?" asked the judge, with a persistence very uncommon in +him. + +Philip Alston turned now and glanced at him with an easy, almost +bantering smile. + +"I don't like to tell you his name, because you--with a good many other +honestly mistaken people--are most unjustly prejudiced against him. And +then you know well enough that I am speaking of my respected and trusted +friend, Monsieur Jean Lafitte." + +The judge dropped the lace as if it had burnt his hand. He went back to +his seat by the window in silence. He sat down heavily and looked at +Philip Alston in perplexity, rubbing his great shock of rough grizzled +hair the wrong way as he always did when worried. His thoughts were +plainly to be read on his open, rugged face. This liking of Philip +Alston's for a man under a national ban was an old subject of worry and +perplexity. Yet Alston was always as frank and as firm about it as he +had been just now, and the judge's confidence in him was absolute. +Robert Knox's own character must have changed greatly before he could +have doubted the sincerity of any one whom he had known as long, as +intimately, and as favorably as he had known Philip Alston. We all judge +others by ourselves,--whether we do it consciously or not,--since we +have no other way of judging. And the judge himself was so simple, so +sincere, so essentially honest, that he could not doubt one who was in a +way a member of his own family. And then he was absent-minded, +unobservant, easy-going, indolent, and the slave of habit, as such a +nature is apt to be. Moreover, he was not always master of the slight +power of observation which had been given him. That very day, while on +his way home from the court-house, he had stopped at a cabin where +liquor was sold. As a consequence, this sudden touch of uneasiness which +aroused him for an instant was forgotten nearly as suddenly as it came. +So that after looking bewilderedly at Philip Alston once or twice, he +now began to nod and doze. + + + + +III + +"PHILIP ALSTON, GENTLEMAN" + + +Philip Alston still stood before the candle-stand. His gaze rested on +the girl's radiant face with wistful tenderness. It was plain that he +thought nothing of all these rich, rare gifts which he had given her, +save only as they gave her pleasure and might win from her another +loving look, another butterfly kiss on his cheek. + +As he stood there that night in the great room of Cedar House, before +the firelight and under the beams of the swinging lamps, he scarcely +appeared to need the help of any gift in winning a woman's love. His was +a presence to hold the gaze. He was very tall and straight and slender, +yet most finely proportioned. The heavy hair, falling back from his +handsome face and tied in a queue, must once have been as black as +Ruth's own; surely, no paler shade could have become so silvery white. +His eyes, also, were as blue as hers, and none could have been bluer. +His skin was almost as fair and smooth as hers, his manner as gentle and +kind, his voice as soft and his smile as sweet. He was elegantly +dressed, as he always was, his fine long coat of forest green +broadcloth had a wide velvet collar and large gold buttons. His velvet +knee-breeches and the wide riband which tied his queue were of the same +rich shade of dark green. The most delicate ruffles filled the front of +his swan's-down vest and fell over his hands, which were remarkably +white and small and taper-fingered, like a fine lady's. His white silk +stockings and his low shoes were held by silver buckles. So looked +Philip Alston, Gentleman,--and so he was called,--as he stood in the +great room of Cedar House on that night of October, nearly a hundred +years ago. And thus he is described in the few rare old histories which +touch the romance of this region when he ruled it like a king, by the +power of his intelligence and the might of his will. + +He was foremost in the politics of the time as in everything else, and +he and William Pressley had been discussing this subject at the moment +of Ruth's appearance, which had interrupted their conversation. Philip +Alston had forgotten the unfinished topic, but William Pressley had not. +He, also, had been pleased to look on for a while at the girl's radiant +delight; and he, also, had enjoyed the charming scene. But there was a +lull now, and he at once turned back to the matter in which he was most +deeply interested. Ambition for political preferment was the theme which +most absorbed his mind, and ambition was the one thing which could +always light a spark of fire in his cold, hard, shallow hazel eyes. +This was not for the reason that he cared especially for politics in +itself, which he did not. But he turned to it in preference to warfare, +since the choice of the ambitious young men of the wilderness lay +between the two. Politics seemed to him to open the surest and shortest +road to the prominence which he craved above everything else. He was one +of those unfortunates who can never be happy on a level--even with the +highest--and who must look down in order to be at all content with life. +Yet with this overweening and insatiable craving for distinction and +prominence, he had been given no talent by which distinction may be won; +had been granted no quality, mental, moral, or physical, by which he +might rise above the mass of his fellows. It was a cruel trick for +Nature to play, and one that she plays far too often. The sufferers from +it are certainly far more to be pitied than blamed, and it is harmful +only to the afflicted themselves, so long as it meets, or still expects, +a measure of gratification. When they are permitted to reach any height +from which to look down, the terrible craving appears to be temporarily +appeased; and they become kind, and even generous, to all who look up +with willing, unwandering gaze. It is only when the sufferers fail to +reach any height, or when they lose what little they may have attained, +or when the gaze of the world wanders, that they become hard, sour, +bitter, and merciless toward all who have succeeded where they have +failed. The only mercy that Nature has shown them in their affliction, +is to make most of them slow to realize that they can never gain the one +thing they crave. And this miserable awakening had not yet come to +William Pressley. On that evening he had every reason to be content and +well pleased with himself. The future promised all that he most +earnestly wished for. He was already moderately successful in the +practice of his profession. This was mainly owing to his uncle's +influence, but he was far from suspecting the fact. His domestic life, +also, was admirably settled; he was fond of Ruth and proud of her, as he +was of everything belonging to himself. But the thing which made him +happiest was a suggestion of Philip Alston's, first offered on the +previous day; and it was to this that he now recurred at the first +opportunity. + +He spoke with an eagerness curiously apart from his words: + +"There seems to be no doubt that the Shawnees are really gone. Men, +women, and children, they have all disappeared from their town on the +other side of the river. A hunter who has been over there told me so +yesterday. It appears reasonably certain that the warriors are gathering +under the Prophet at Tippecanoe." + +"Yes, it is undoubtedly true that the Indians are rising," replied +Philip Alston, still looking at Ruth. "Well, it was bound to come,--this +last decisive struggle between the white and the red race,--and the +sooner the better, perhaps. I hear, too, that the troops are already +moving upon the Shawnee encampment." + +"Have you heard anything more about the attorney-general's offering his +services? Is it decided that he will go?" asked William Pressley. + +He spoke more quickly and with more spirit than was common with him. And +he sank back with an involuntary movement of disappointment when Philip +Alston shook his head. + +"However, there is little doubt that he will go. He is almost sure to," +Philip Alston went on. "It is his way to put his own shoulder to the +wheel. You remember, judge--" + +"What's that!" cried the judge, starting up from his doze. + +"We are talking about Joseph Hamilton Daviess," said Philip Alston. + +"A great man. A great lawyer--the first lawyer west of the Alleghanies +to go to Washington and plead a case before the Supreme Court," said the +judge. + +"He has certainly been untiring and fearless in the discharge of his +duty as the United States Attorney," Philip Alston said warmly. "I was +just going to remind you of the journey that he made across the +wilderness from Kentucky to St. Louis to find out, if he could, at first +hand, what treason Aaron Burr was plotting over there with the +commandant of the military post as a tool. He didn't find out a great +deal. That old fox knows how to cover his tracks. But the +attorney-general did more than any one else could have done. He hauled +Burr to trial, almost single-handed, and against the greatest public +clamor. He leaves nothing undone in the pursuit of his duty. I +understand that he is to be here soon. He thinks that something should +be done to put down the lawlessness of this country as Andrew Jackson +has subdued it in his territory." + +"But he must, of course, resign the office, if he intends going to +Tippecanoe," said William Pressley. + +He was so intent upon this one point of interest to himself that he had +scarcely heard what had been said. He now turned with dignified +impatience when his aunt broke in, speaking from the hearth. Miss +Penelope always spoke with a greater or less degree of suddenness and +irrelevance. She commonly said what she had to say at the instant that +the thought occurred to her, regardless of what others might be talking +or thinking about. The tenor of nearly everything that she said was +singularly gloomy. Her mind was full of superstition of a homely, +domestic kind. She was a great believer in signs, and the signs with +which she was most familiar were usually forewarnings of some great and +mysterious public or private calamity. Her voice was remarkably soft, +low, and sweet, so that to hear these alarming threats and these +appalling prophecies uttered in the tones of a cooing dove, was very +singular indeed. + +"'Pon my word!" she now exclaimed, facing the room, but still keeping +close to the coffee-pot. "How you all can expect anything but terrible +troubles and awful misfortunes is more than I can understand. The +warning of that comet sent a-flying wild across the heavens is enough +for me." + +No one noticed what she said--which certainly seemed to require no +notice; but it never made any difference to Miss Penelope whether her +remarks were warmly or coolly received. After stooping to turn the +coffee-pot round on its trivet she faced the room again. + +"Yes, the warning is plenty plain enough for me!" she cooed. "And just +look at the dreadful things that have happened already! Just look at +what came to pass between the time we first heard of that comet early in +the summer, and the time we first saw it early in September. Didn't all +the wasps and flies go blind and die sooner than common, right in the +middle of the hottest weather? Who ever heard of such a thing before? +And look at the fruit crop,--the apple trees, the peach trees, all kind +of fruit trees--and the grape-vines a-bending and a-breaking clear down +to the ground because they can't bear the weight." + +"It is probable that the early dying of the wasps and flies may have +had something to do with the fineness of the fruit," said William +Pressley, quite seriously, with formal politeness and a touch of +impatience at the interruption. + +Miss Penelope took him up tartly in her softest tone: "Then, William, +may I ask why the people all over the country are calling this year's +vintage 'comet wines'? For that's the way they are marking it, and +everybody is putting it to itself--as something very uncommon. But never +mind! I am used to having what I say mocked at in this house. It's +nothing new to me to have my words passed over as if they hadn't been +spoken. I can bear it and it don't alter my duty. I am bound to go on +a-doing what I believe to be right just the same, however I am treated. +I can't sit by and say nothing when I know that I ought to lift up my +voice in warning. So I say again--you can mark my word or not as you +think best--that we are all a-going to see some mighty wild sights +before we see the last of that comet's tail." + +"Pooh! Pooh! Pooh!" cried the widow Broadnax, roughly and hoarsely, as +she nearly always spoke, and sitting up suddenly among her cushions. +"Who's afraid of a comet with only one tail? I'll have you to know, +sister Penelope, that my grandmother--my own grandmother and Robert's +own grandmother, not yours--could remember the famous comet of +seventeen hundred and forty-four, and that had six tails." + +Miss Penelope was daunted and silenced for the moment. She did not mind +the greater number of the rival comet's tails. It was not that which +made her feel herself at a disadvantage. It was the slur at her lesser +relationship to the master of the house. Any reference to that was a +blow which never failed to make her flinch; and one which the widow +never lost a chance to deal. But Miss Penelope had not yielded an inch +through the ceaseless contention of years, and held her ground now; +since there was nothing to say in reply, she ignored the taunt as she +had done all that had gone before. She turned upon William Pressley, +however, as we are prone to turn upon those whom we do not fear, when we +dare not attack those with whom we are really offended. + +"Well, William, maybe you think that the early dying and the going blind +of the wasps and the flies caused the breaking out of the 'Jerks,' too. +You and the rest all think you know better than I do. I don't +complain--maybe you all do know better. But some day, when I am dead and +gone, some day, and it mayn't be very long, when my hands are stone cold +and crossed under the coffin-lid, you will think differently about a +good many matters," she cooed, as if saying the mildest, pleasantest +things in the world. "The Jerks have brought many a proud head low. +Others besides myself will see a warning in the Jerks before they are +gone. And now here are the Shawnees a-coming to welter us in our blood. +And the Cold Plague already come to shake the life out of the few that +are left. But it is their own fault. There's nobody but themselves to +blame. It's easy enough to keep from having the plague," Miss Penelope +added confidently. "Anybody can keep from having it, if they will only +take the trouble to blow real hard three times on a blue yarn string +before breakfast." + +William Pressley turned gravely and was about to protest against such +absurd superstition, but Philip Alston interfered tactfully, to assure +the lady that she was quite right, that it could not fail to benefit +almost any one to breathe on anything, especially if the breathing were +very deep and very early in the morning. + +"And then the new doctor knows how to cure the plague, aunt Penelope, +dear," said Ruth, suddenly looking up from the things on the +candle-stand. She was always the peacemaker of the family. "The Sisters +told me. They are not afraid now that he has come. They were never +afraid for themselves; it was for the children--the orphans. They said +that little ones were dying all over the wilderness like frozen lambs." + +"This new doctor is a most presumptuous person," said William Pressley, +with the chilly deliberation which invariably marked his irritation. "He +refuses to bleed his patients or to allow them to be bled. These +unheard-of objections of his are levelled at the fundamental principles +of the established practice and calculated to undermine it. Every +physician of reputable standing will tell you that bleeding is the only +efficacious treatment for the Cold Plague, and that it is entirely safe +if no more than eight ounces of blood be taken at a time, and not +oftener than once in two or three hours."[1] + +[Footnote 1: "Medical Repository," 1815, p. 222.] + +No one said anything for a moment. When William Pressley spoke in that +tone, which he frequently did, there seemed to be nothing left for any +one else to say. The subject appeared to have been done up hard and fast +in a bundle and laid away for good and all. The judge was dozing again, +Philip Alston was still gazing at Ruth, Miss Penelope was busy over the +coffee-pot, and the widow Broadnax was watching every movement that she +made. It was Ruth who replied after a momentary pause. She never lacked +courage to stand by her own opinions, timid and gentle as they were; and +she spoke now firmly though gently: + +"But, William, just think! These were little bits of babies. Such poor, +weak, bloodless little mites anyway. And it is said that the greatest +pain and danger from the plague is from weakness and cold. The strongest +men shiver and shiver till they freeze out of the world." + +William Pressley bent his head in the courtesy that stings more than +rudeness. He never argued. He had spoken; there was no need to say +anything more. So that with this bow to Ruth he turned to Philip Alston +and again took up the topic which he was so anxious to resume. It had +already been interrupted, he thought, by far too much unimportant talk. +Ruth looked at him expectantly when he started to speak, but he was +looking at Philip Alston and spoke to him. + +"You have, I suppose, sir, mentioned to my uncle what you so kindly +suggested to me, in the event that the attorney-general should resign on +going to Tippecanoe." + +The deepest feeling that Ruth had ever heard in his voice thrilled it +now. She involuntarily bent forward. Her eager lips were apart, her +radiant eyes were upon him. Was he going with the attorney-general to +Tippecanoe? She was afraid, glad, frightened, proud, all in a breath. +She had forgotten the beautiful gifts that lay before her. The mere +mention, the merest thought of the noble and the great, stirred her +heart like the throb of mighty drums. + +"No, but I will speak to him about it now," replied Philip Alston. +"Judge, Judge Knox!" raising his voice. + +The judge, aroused, sat up, looking round. But William Pressley spoke +again before Philip Alston could explain. + +"If the attorney-general really intends to go, he must resign. There +will, of course, be many applicants for the place, and we can hardly be +too prompt in applying for it, if I am to succeed him." + +Ruth sank back in her chair. The fabric which she had held unconsciously +now dropped unheeded from her hand. She could not have told why she felt +such a shock of revulsion and disappointment. She had known something +like it before, when this man who was to be her husband had shown some +strange insensibility to great things which had moved her own heart to +its depths. But the feeling had never been so strong as it was now; had +never come so near revealing to her the real character of him with whom +her whole life was to be spent; and she was still more bewildered and +perplexed than shocked or distressed. She thought that she must have +misunderstood; that he could not have meant thus to pass over this great +national crisis,--this noble offering of a great man's life to the +service of his country,--in unfeeling haste to grasp some selfish profit +from it. She looked at him wonderingly, with all the light gone out of +her face. Being what she was, she could not see that he was just as true +to his nature as she was to hers; that he was following it with entire +sincerity in looking at the noblest things in life and the greatest +things in the world, solely as they affected himself and his own +interests. It was not for a nature like hers ever to understand that a +nature like his would, if it could, bend the whole universe to his own +ends without a doubt that such was its best possible use. + +Philip Alston, also, was regarding William Pressley with rather an +inscrutable look. But his estimate and understanding were fairer than +Ruth's, for the reason that he could come nearer to giving the young man +his due. He knew that William Pressley was honest and sincere in his +vanity and conceit, and was assured that these traits were the worst he +possessed. Philip Alston knew men, and he had found that those who +honestly thought highly of themselves usually had something, more or +less, to found the opinion upon. He had never known a bad man who +sincerely thought himself a good one. He knew that many dull men really +believed themselves to be intelligent,--but that was a comparatively +harmless mistake,--and he had never observed that a woman thought less +of a man who thought well of himself. Aside from this surface weakness +William Pressley was a most worthy young fellow; far more worthy to be +Ruth's husband than any one else in that rough and thinly settled +country. The nearer the time for the marriage approached, the more +Philip Alston came to believe that he had chosen wisely in selecting +William Pressley. Fully convinced at last that he could not do better +for her future than to intrust it to this serious, conscientious young +man, who was unquestionably fond of her and to whom she was much +attached, he now rested content. He still found, to be sure, some +amusement in the young man's estimate of himself; but he never doubted +its sincerity or questioned its harmlessness. It did not occur to him +that Ruth might be troubled by these matters which merely made him +smile. + +There would have been a warning for him in the look which she now gave +William Pressley had he seen it. But he was looking at the judge, who +could not grasp the meaning of what had been said; and he tried again to +put the facts before him, but the judge would not allow him to finish. + +"Who says Joe Daviess is going away?" he demanded excitedly. "Why, he +can't leave. It's out of the question. There is nobody to take his +place. We can't spare him. It is preposterous to think of his going to +be slaughtered by those red devils. A man like that! when there are +plenty of no-account wretches good enough to make food for powder. He +mustn't go. The country needs him more here than there--or anywhere. And +I will see him to-morrow, for he is coming; tell him so, by ----!" + +"You will have your trouble for nothing, then, sir," said Philip Alston, +quietly, interrupting him. "The attorney-general is not a man to let +another man tell him what to do or not to do. And we are merely +considering the probability of his going. If he should go, some one +must, of course, take his place. In that case I can think of no one +more fit than William here," laying his hand on the young man's arm. +"With his qualifications, backed by your influence and mine, there +should not be much difficulty. But we must press his claims in time; the +notice will be short." + +The idea was new to the judge and startling. He turned quickly and +looked at his nephew blankly for a moment, and then his left eyebrow +went up. His opinion was easy enough to read on his open, rugged face as +it always was, and Philip Alston read it like large print; but it did +not suit him to show that he did, and no one else saw it. Ruth's face +was buried in her hands as she sat with her elbows on the candle-stand. +William was looking at the floor with the quiet air of one who is calmly +conscious of his own merits, and can afford to await their recognition, +even though it may be tardy. The ladies were deeply absorbed in the +duties binding them to the hearth. The coffee was now ready, and Miss +Penelope lifted the pot from its trivet, and, carrying it to the table, +called everybody to supper. No affairs of state ever were, or ever could +be, of sufficient importance in her eyes to justify letting the coffee +get cold. + +Philip Alston went to her side with his deferential air, and told her +that he could not stay for the evening meal. He explained that he was +expecting several friends that night over the Wilderness Road. It was +possible that they might already have arrived and were now awaiting him +in his cabin. He must hasten homeward as fast as possible. So saying he +took her bony little hand and bowed over it, and made another bow of +precisely the same ceremony over the widow Broadnax's pudgy fingers. He +always brought his finest tact to bear upon his acquaintance with these +ladies. + +He looked around for Ruth and held out his hand. She came to him, and +went with him to the door. They stood close together for a moment, +talking with one another while the others were settling around the +table. When he had mounted his horse and set out, she still stood gazing +after him till the judge's voice, exclaiming, caused her to turn. + +"Call Alston back, if he isn't out of hearing!" he said. + +Ruth shook her head. Philip Alston always rode very fast. He was already +out of sight in the falling night. + +"Pshaw! I never seem able to keep my mind on anything these days," the +judge said, fretted with himself. "I fully meant to ask Alston to take +that money to the salt-works. It wouldn't have been much out of his way. +I don't know what makes me so forgetful lately--and always so drowsy. I +promised faithfully to pay for that cargo of salt to-day, so that it +would be on the river bank ready for loading when the flatboat comes +to-morrow. The owner of the boat sent the money yesterday. I've got it +here in my pocket. And the salt was to be delivered for cash; it will +not be sent till it is paid for." He paused a moment in troubled +thought. "David! Call that boy. He's always hidden off somewhere." + +"Here, sir," said David, standing up and coming out of the shadow +beneath the stairs. + +"You will have to help me in this matter, my lad," said the judge, +kindly, forgetting his momentary irritation. "I'll have to send the +money by you." + +He drew from his pocket a queer-looking roll which he called his wallet. +It was a strip of thin, fine deerskin, bound with a narrow black riband +and tied with a leathern string. The bank-notes were rolled in this, and +the gold pieces and the "bits"--which were small wedges of coin cut from +silver dollars--were in two pouches sewed across the end of the strip. +It was very seldom that this wallet of the judge's contained so large a +sum of money as on that night, for salt was dear in the wilderness. It +required eight hundred gallons of the weak salt water and many cords of +fire-wood, and the work of many men for many days, to make a single +bushel of the precious article. It was still scarce and hard to get +thereabouts at five dollars a bushel, so that a large sum was needed to +pay for an entire cargo. Drops of perspiration stood on the judge's +forehead as he counted out the bank-notes, the gold, and the cut money. +He cared little for his own money, and he rarely had much at a time; +but he was scrupulously careful in his handling of other people's. And +he knew that his eyes were not very clear that night, and that his +fingers were not so sure as they should be of anything that they +touched. Ruth saw how it was with a tender pang at her heart, for she +knew how honest he was and how good, and she loved him. She knelt down +at his side and helped him count the money, over which his clumsy hands +were fumbling pathetically, so that there might be no error in the +counting. + +"There!" he said, tying the string round the wallet, which was now +almost empty, and putting it back in his pocket. "I want you, David, to +take this and go over to the salt-works very early in the morning, as +soon after daybreak as you can see your way. Take two of the best black +men with you,--they will take care of you and the money, too," he added, +with his easy-going laugh. And then he grew suddenly sobered with a +touch of shame. "I wouldn't give you the money to-night, my boy," he +said hesitatingly, "but--I am hard to wake in the morning. I am afraid +you couldn't wake me early enough for me to give you the money in time +to get you off by dawn. And my client will be here with his boat, +waiting for the cargo, if you are any later in starting. But you can +take just as good care of the money as I could. You are not so likely to +lose it." + +"I will do my best, sir," said the boy, quietly. + +He took the money and put it away in his safest pocket. When he had +eaten supper with the family, he went back to his shadowed corner under +the stairs. But he could not read his book; his mind was too full of +thoughts which were fast becoming a purpose. Ruth looked at him and at +his book now and then, while she talked to the others, and her teasing +glances hastened his decision. She would never laugh at him again for +dreaming over romances, if he could prove that he was able to do an +earnest man's part in the world. Yes, this was the chance which he had +been wishing for. He would go to the salt-works at once--that very +night--without waiting for daylight and without calling the black men. +The judge would not care; he never cared for anything that did not give +trouble, and he need not know until afterward. David stood up suddenly +in the shadows under the stairs. He had decided; he would go as soon as +he could get away from the great room and put his saddle on the pony. +Even Ruth must acknowledge that a night's ride over the Wilderness Road +was the work of a man--the work of a strong, brave man. + + + + +IV + +THE NIGHT RIDE + + +He left the great room for his own cabin at the usual hour. No one but +Ruth observed his going. She smiled at him as he passed, and caught his +hand and gave it a little teasing, affectionate squeeze. He must leave +"The Famous History of Montilion" unread for one night,--so she +said,--and he must go to bed at once, since he was to be up before the +sun. These little ways of Ruth's were usually very sweet to him, but he +did not find them so that night. He made no reply, and looked at her +gravely, without an answering smile. Had anything been needed to fix his +purpose, this gentle raillery would have been more than enough. + +He went straight from the door of Cedar House to the stable under the +hill, stopping at his cabin only long enough to get his rifle. The +stable was very dark within, but he knew where to find the pony that he +always rode, and the saddle and bridle which he always used, without +needing to see. And the pony knew him, too, for all the darkness, and +welcomed him with a friendly whinny which said so as plainly as words. +For the boy and the pony were good friends, and moreover they +understood one another perfectly, which is rarely the case with the best +of friends. And then they were both foundlings, and that may have made +another bond between them. The pony had been a wild colt caught in the +forest on the other side of the river. Nothing was known of his +ancestors, although they were supposed by those who knew best, to have +been the worn-out horses of good blood which had been deserted in the +wilderness by the Spaniards. But then everything cruel was laid at the +door of the hated Spaniards in those days, when they had so lately been +forced to take their throttling grasp from the throat of the Beautiful +River. The pony certainly bore no outward mark of noble ancestry. He was +a homely, humble, rough-coated little beast. Yet David liked him better +than all the other finer horses in the judge's stables, notwithstanding +that some of these had real pedigrees; for good horses were already +appearing in Kentucky. The judge allowed David to claim the pony as his +own. Robert Knox was a kind man when he did not forget, and he never +forgot any one without forgetting himself,--first and most of all,--as +he did sometimes. + +David always thought of the pony as an orphan like himself, and his own +bruised feelings were very tender toward the friendless little fellow. +He led him from the stable now as a mark of respect and because it was +dark; for he knew that the pony, with a word, would follow him anywhere, +at any time, like a faithful dog. It was not quite so dark outside, and +springing into the saddle, the boy bent down and stroked the rough neck +and the tangled mane that no brush could ever make smooth. The pony +lifted his head to meet the caress, and then these two orphans of the +wilderness looked out dimly, wondering, over this wonderful new country +into which both were come, without knowing how or why or whence, through +no will or choice of their own. + +That portion of Kentucky rises gently but steadily from the river, and +rolls gradually upward toward its eastern hills. On this October night +so close to the very beginning of the commonwealth, these terraced hills +were still covered with the primeval forest. Hill after hill, and forest +after forest, on and on and higher and higher, till the earth and the +heavens came together. Near the river on the natural open spaces, and +where earliest the clearings had been made, the boy could see the widely +scattered rude homes, the young orchards, and the new fields, which the +first Kentuckians had won from the wilderness, from the savage, from the +wild beast and the pestilence. Southward, and a long way off, lay the +great Cypress Swamp. The wavering sable line of its tree-tops spread a +pall across the starless horizon. The deadly white mists which shrouded +its gloomy mystery through the sunniest day were now creeping out to +enshroud the higher land. Through the mingled mist and darkness the +sombre trunks of the towering cypress trees rose with supernatural +blackness. The mysterious "knees," those strange, naked, blackened +roots, so wildly gnarled and twisted about the foot of the cypress, +appeared to writhe out of the swamp's awful dimness like monstrous +serpents seen in a dreadful dream. + +And thus these dark fancies swayed the boy's imagination as wind sways +flame, till he suddenly remembered and turned from them more quickly and +firmly than ever before. He had made up his mind to cease dreaming with +his eyes open. He was resolved to see only real sights and to hear only +real sounds from this time on. He did not deceive himself by thinking +that this ever could be easy for him to do. He knew too well that in +place of the cool, steady common-sense which should dwell in every man's +breast, there dwelt something strangely hot and restless in his own. He +had always felt this difference without understanding it; but he had +hoped that no one else knew it--up to the cruel revelation of Ruth's +laughing and kindly meant words. Well, neither Ruth nor any one should +ever again have cause to laugh at him for romantic weakness, if he might +help it by keeping guard over his fancy. + +He therefore sternly kept his eyes away from the swamp where mystery +always brooded. He would not look at the wonderful mound near the swamp, +which he never before had passed without wonder. It was then--as it is +now--such an amazing monument to a vanished race. It is so unaccountably +placed, this mountain of earth in the midst of level lowlands; so +astounding in size and so unmistakably the work of unknown human hands. +Never till that night had David's fervid imagination turned toward it +without his beginning forthwith to wonder over the secrets of the ages +which lie buried beneath. He had hitherto always thought of this mound +in association with the mysterious blazed trail through the forest. But +that was much farther off and more directly south, and no one but the +boy had ever found any connection between the two. He, dreaming, would +sometimes imagine that the same vanished race had marked the path +through the forest by cutting the trees on either side--this marvellous +blazed trail which De Soto is sometimes said to have found when he came, +and again to have made himself, regardless of the fact that history does +not mention his being anywhere near. The romance of the buried treasure +which this mystic path was believed to lead to, perpetually held David +under a spell of enchantment. But he would not allow himself to linger +over these mysteries now. He also resisted the horrible fascination of +the Dismal Slough--that long, frightful black pit--linking the swamp to +the river. And most of all he shrunk from giving a thought or a glance +toward the gloom hanging over Duff's Fort, which was still farther off, +and the strongest, most bloody link in the long and unbroken chain of +crime then stretching clear across southwestern Kentucky. + +As these uneasy thoughts thronged, a faint sound borne by the wind +caused him to turn his head with a nervous start, and he saw something +moving in the deeper darkness that surrounded the swamp. He pulled up +the pony, tightening his grip on the rifle, and strained his eyes, +trying to make out what this moving object was. The wavering mists were +very thick, and he thought at first that it might be nothing worse than +a denser gathering of the deadly vapor creeping out of the swamp. The +fog suddenly fell like a heavy curtain, and he could see nothing. And +then lifting again, it gave him a fleeting glimpse of a body of horsemen +riding rapidly in the edge of the forest, as if seeking the shadow of +the trees. He could see only the black outline of the swiftly moving +shapes, but he knew that they must be part of the band which was filling +the whole country with terror, violence, and death. None other could be +riding at night toward Duff's Fort. He thought of the money in his +pocket, and felt the thumping of his heart as his hand involuntarily +went up to touch it, making sure that it was still safe. He sat +motionless--scarcely daring to breathe--watching the shadows till he +suddenly realized with a breath of relief that they were going the other +way, in the opposite direction from his own road. And then after waiting +and watching a little longer, in order to make sure that they were out +of sight, he rode on. + +The courage and calmness which he had found in himself under this test, +heartened him and made him the more determined to control his wandering +fancy. Looking now neither to the right nor the left, he pressed on +through the clearing toward the buffalo track in the border of the +forest which would lead him into the Wilderness Road. Sternly setting +his thoughts on the errand that was taking him to the salt-works, he +began to think of the place in which they were situated, and to wonder +why so bare, so brown, and so desolate a spot should have been called +Green Lick. There was no greenness about it, and not the slightest sign +that there ever had been any verdure, although it still lay in the very +heart of an almost tropical forest. It must surely have been as it was +now since time immemorial. Myriads of wild beasts coming and going +through numberless centuries to drink the salt water, had trodden the +earth around it as hard as iron, and had worn it down far below the +surface of the surrounding country. The boy had seen it often, but +always by daylight, and never alone, so that he noted many things now +which he had not observed before. The huge bison must have gone over +that well-beaten track one by one, to judge by its narrowness. He could +see it dimly, running into the clearing like a black line beginning far +off between the bordering trees; but as he looked, the darkness +deepened, the mists thickened, and a look of unreality came over +familiar objects. And then through the wavering gloom there suddenly +towered a great dark mass topped by something which rose against the +wild dimness like a colossal blacksmith's anvil. It might have been +Vulcan's own forge, so strange and fabulous a thing it seemed! The boy's +heart leaped with his pony's leap. His imagination spread its swift +wings ere he could think; but in another instant he reminded himself. +This was not an awful apparition, but a real thing, wondrous and +unaccountable enough in its reality. It was Anvil Rock--a great, +solitary rock--rising abruptly from the reckless loam of a level +country, and lifting its single peak, rudely shaped like a blacksmith's +anvil, straight up toward the clouds. It was already serving as a +landmark in the wilderness, and must continue so to serve all that +portion of Kentucky, so long as the levelling hand of man may be +withheld from one of the natural wonders of the world. + +Beyond Anvil Rock the night grew blacker. When David reached the buffalo +track he could no longer see even dimly, the forest closing densely in +on both sides of the narrow path, and arching darkly overhead. +Instinctively he put up his hand again and touched the money in his +breast pocket. His grasp on the rifle unconsciously grew firmer, but he +loosed the bridle-rein for a moment to pat the pony. The little beast +entered the shadows of the trees without a tremor; yet there were +dangers therein for him no less than for his rider, and his excited +breathing told that he knew this quite as well as his master. It was so +dark that neither could see the path, and the boy was trusting more to +the pony than to himself, as they went swiftly forward through the still +darkness of the forest. The pony's unshod feet made scarcely a sound on +the soft, moist earth. There had been no frost to thin the thick +branches hanging low over their heads. The few leaves which had drifted +down were still unwithered, and only made the hoof-beats more soundless +on the yielding earth, so that there was not a rustle at the noiseless +passing of the pony and his rider. Only a sudden gust of wind now and +then sent a murmur through the dark tree-tops and gently swayed the +sombre boughs. And so they sped on, drawing nearer and nearer to the +Wilderness Road, till presently the wind brought the strong odor of +boiling salt water. The woods became now still further darkened and +entangled by many fallen trees which had been felled to make fuel for +the furnaces, and by huge heaps of logs piled ready for burning. Here +and there were great whitening giants of the forest still standing +after they had been slain, as soldiers--death-stricken--stand for an +instant on the field of battle. It seemed to the fanciful boy that the +wind sighed most mournfully among these wan ghosts of trees, and that +the dead boughs, moved by the sighing wind, smote one another with +infinite sadness. + +There was no sound other than this moaning of the wind through the +forest and the muffled beating of the pony's feet on the leaf-covered +path. Once a great owl flew across the dark way with a deadened beating +of his heavy wings. Again wolves howled, but so far in the distance that +the sound came as the faintest echo. A stronger gust of the fitful wind +filled the forest with the sulphurous vapors arising from the +evaporating furnaces. A moment more, and the vivid glare of the fires +flared luridly through the wild tangle of the undergrowth. Against this +red glare many black shadows--the dark forms of the firemen--could now +be indistinctly seen moving like evil spirits around the smoking, +flaming pits. + +It was a wild, strange sight, wild and strange enough to fire a cooler +fancy than David's. He forgot his errand, forgot the money, forgot where +he was--everything but the romance of the scene which had taken him +captive. Every nerve in his tense young body was strung like the cord of +a harp; his young heart was beating as if a heavy hammer swung in his +breast. And then, without so much as the warning rustle of a leaf or a +sound more alarming than the sigh of the wind, two blurred black shapes +burst out of the forest upon him. + + + + +V + +ON THE WILDERNESS ROAD + + +The pony fell back almost to his haunches before the boy could draw the +reins. The two horses recoiled with equal suddenness and violence. An +unexpected encounter with the unknown in the darkness filled even the +dumb brutes with alarm, and brute and human alike had reason to be +alarmed; for this time and this place--stamped in blood on +history--marked the very height and centre of the reign of terror on the +Wilderness Road. + +The boy strained his terrified gaze through the dark, but he could see +nothing except those vague, black forms of two horsemen, looming large +and threatening against the lurid glow of the furnace fires which +faintly lit the forest. The men and their horses looked like monstrous +creatures, half human and half beast, both as silent and motionless as +himself. He felt that they also were listening and watching in tense +waiting as he waited and watched, hearing only the frightened panting of +the horses and the faint rustle of the sable leaves overhead. And so all +held for an instant, which seemed endless, till a sudden gust of wind +swung the boughs and sent the glare of the furnace flames far and high +through the forest. The vivid flash came and went like lightning, but it +lasted long enough for the boy to recognize one of the black shapes. + +"Father!" he cried. "Father Orin!" + +"Bless my soul--it's young David!" exclaimed the priest. + +There was as much relief in his tone as in the boy's, and he turned +hastily to the horseman at his side. + +"Doctor, this is a young friend of mine--a member of Judge Knox's +family. You have heard of the judge. And, David, this is Doctor Colbert. +You, no doubt, have heard of him." + +David murmured something. He had never before been introduced to any +one; and had never before been so acutely conscious that he had no +surname. The doctor sent his horse forward, coming close to the pony's +side. He held out his hand--as David felt rather than saw--and he took +the boy's hand in a warm, kind clasp. It was the first time that a man +had given David his hand as one frank, earnest, fearless man gives it to +another--but never to a woman, and rarely to a boy. David did not know +what it was that he felt as their hands met in the darkness, but he knew +that the touch was like balm to his bruised pride, which had been aching +so sorely throughout the lonely ride. Father Orin now rode nearer on +the other side, and although no more than the dimmest outline of any +object could be seen, the boy saw that the priest continued to turn his +head and cast backward glances into the dark forest. When he spoke, it +was in a low tone, strangely guarded and serious for him, who was always +as outspoken and light-hearted as though his hard life of toil and +self-sacrifice had been the most thoughtless and happiest play. + +"But how does it happen that you are here, my son?" he asked, almost in +a whisper. "I can't understand the judge's allowing it. Can it be +possible that he has sent you--on business? Why--! A man isn't safe on +this part of the Wilderness Road at night, and hardly at midday, alone. +For a child like you--" + +There it was again, like a blow on a bruise! The boy instantly sat +higher in the saddle, trying to look as tall as he could, and forgetting +that no one could see. And replying hastily in his deepest, most manly +voice, he said scornfully, that there was nothing to be afraid of with +his rifle across the saddle-bow, declaring proudly that he knew how to +deal with wild beasts, should any cross his path. As for the Indians, he +scoffed at the idea; there were none in that country, and never had been +any thereabouts, except as they came and went over the Shawnee Crossing. + +"But you are mistaken; the Meek boys--James and Charles--were killed +only a few weeks ago, just across the river," said the priest. "And +they were better able to take care of themselves than you are, my child. +Come, you must turn back with us. We cannot go with you, and we must not +allow you to go on alone." + +Saying this, Father Orin turned his horse and moved forward. David made +no movement to follow. Tightening the reins on the pony's neck, he did +not try to turn him. Something in the stiff lines of the boy's dark +figure told the doctor part of the truth. He broke in quickly, speaking +not as a man speaks to a child, but as one man to another. + +"There are worse things than wild beasts or Indians to be met on the +Wilderness Road," he said. "And the strongest and the bravest are +helpless against a stab in the back, or a trap in the dark." + +David felt a sudden wish to see the speaker's face. He longed to see how +a man looked who had a voice like that. It stirred him, and yet soothed +him at the same time. Every tone of it rang clear and true, like a bell +of purest metal. All who heard it felt the strength that it +sounded--strength of body and mind and heart and spirit. + +David fell under its influence at once. He was turning the pony's head +when Father Orin in his anxiety erred again. + +"I am surprised at the judge," the priest said. "This isn't like +him--forgetful as he is about most things. And what are you here for, my +son? Where were you going?" + +"The judge has nothing to do with my coming to-night. He merely told me +to take this money--" + +"Hush! Hush!" cried the two men in a breath. At the instant they pressed +closer to the boy's side, as if the same instinct of protection moved +them both at the same moment. "Come on! Let's ride faster," they said +together. "It is not so dark or so dangerous in the buffalo track." + +The pony, turning suddenly, pressed forward with the other horses, more +of his own accord than with his rider's consent, and gallantly kept his +place between them, although they were soon going at the top of their +speed. Nothing more was said for several minutes, and then the doctor +spoke to the boy. + +"You will give us the pleasure of your company all the way, I trust, +sir," he said ceremoniously, and as no one ever had spoken to David. "It +is a long, lonesome ride, and my home is still farther off than yours." + +David murmured a pleased, bashful assent. They had now reached the +buffalo track, which was not wide enough for the three to ride abreast. +It was therefore necessary for them to fall into single file, and David +managed to get the lead. This made him feel better, and more of a man, +for the darkness was still deep, and the black boughs overhead still +hung low and heavy. Neither of the horsemen spoke again for a long time +after entering upon the buffalo track. Once more the only sound was the +steady, muffled beating of the horses' swiftly moving feet. The two men +were buried in their own thoughts of duties and aims far beyond the +boy's understanding, and he was not thinking of these silent companions +by his side--he was scarcely thinking at all; he was merely feeling. He +was held under a spell, dumb and breathless, enchanted by the mystery of +the wilderness at night. + +It was so black, so beautiful, so terrible, so soundless, so motionless, +so unfathomable. There was no moon. The few pale stars glimmered dimly +far above the dark arches of the trees. No bird moved among the sable +branches, or even twittered in its sleep as if disturbed by the light, +swift passing of the shadowy horsemen. No wild animal stirred in his +uneasy rest or even breathed less deeply in his hunting dreams, at the +flitting of the shadows across his hidden lair. + +The mystery, the beauty, and the terror went beyond the black border of +the forest. Out in the open and over the clearing, the mists from the +swamp mingling with the darkness gave everything a look of fantastic +unreality yet wilder than it had worn earlier in the night. Dense +earth-clouds were thus massed about the base of Anvil Rock. Its +blackened peak loomed through the clouds,--a strange, wild sight, +apparently belonging neither to earth or to heaven. But far beyond and +above was a stranger, wilder sight still; the strangest and wildest of +all; one of the strangest and wildest, surely, that human eyes ever +rested upon. + +There across the northern sky sped the great comet. Come, none ever knew +whence, and speeding none ever knew whither, it reached on that +night--on this fifteenth of October--the summit of its swift, awful, +arching flight. It was now at the greatest of its terrible splendor and +appalling beauty. It was now at the very height of its boundless +influence over the hopes and fears of the superstitious, romantic, +emotional, poetic race which was struggling to people the wilderness. As +it thus burst upon the vision of the three horsemen, each felt its power +in his own way,--the man of faith, the man of science, and the fanciful +boy,--each was differently but deeply moved. The men looked at the comet +as the wise and learned of the earth look at the marvels of another +world. The boy gazed quiveringly, like a harp struck by a powerful hand. +He strove to cast his fancies aside, and to remember what he had heard +before the comet had become visible to this country. He tried vainly to +recall the talk about it--not the idle and foolish superstitions which +Miss Penelope had mentioned, and which all the common people +believed--but the scientific facts so far as they were known. Yet even +his imagination failed to realize that this flaming head, with its +strange halo of darkness, and its horrible hair of livid green light, +was four million times greater than the earth; or that its luminous +veil--woven of star-dust so fine that other stars shone +through--streamed across one hundred million of miles, thick strewn with +other stars. + +"Listen!" cried the doctor. "Hear that!" A distant roaring, like the +oncoming of a sudden storm, rolled upward from the mists and darkness +lying thicker around the swamp. + +"There it is again!" Doctor Colbert went on, as if he had been waiting +and listening for the sound. "There must be great excitement at the +camp-meeting on this last night. Does it still interest you, Father? It +does me, intensely. This is not the usual peculiar excitement which +seems to belong to a crowd, though that, too, is always curious, +mysterious, and interesting. We all know well enough that for some +unknown reason a crowd will do wild, strange, and foolish things, which +the individuals composing it would never be guilty of alone. But this is +something entirely different and still more curious and mysterious. +Those people down yonder keep this up by themselves when they are +alone--it attacks some of them before they have ever seen one of the +meetings. It is certainly the strangest phenomenon of its kind that the +world ever saw. It never loses its painful fascination for me. I can't +pass it by. How is it with you?" + +The priest hesitated before replying. "Any form of faith--the crudest, +the most absurd that any soul ever staked its salvation upon--must +always be the most interesting subject in the world to every thinking +mind." + +"It seems so to me," the doctor replied. "And I assure you that there is +no irreverence in the scientific curiosity which I feel in this +extraordinary epidemic of religious frenzy; for it is certainly +something of that sort. It is unmistakably contagious. I have become +more and more certain of that as I have watched the poor wretches who +are shrieking down yonder. It is a mental and moral epidemic, and so +highly contagious that it has swept the whole state, till it now sweeps +the remotest corner of the wilderness. And it seems to have originated +in Kentucky. It is something peculiarly our own." + +"Yes," said Father Orin, "Kentucky is the pioneer in religion, as well +as politics, for the whole West. But my church came first," he added +with a chuckle. "Remember that! The Catholics always lead the way and +clear up the brush, with the Methodists following close behind. I got a +little the start of brother Peter Cartwright; but that was my good luck, +and not any lack of zeal on his part. And I've got to stir my stumps to +keep ahead of him, I can tell you." + +"He is down there at the meeting to-night, no doubt. He is its leading +spirit. I should like to know what he really thinks of it all. He is by +nature a wonderfully intelligent young fellow. And what do you really +think of it, Father?" the doctor pressed. "Is this the same thing that +has come down the ages? Is it the same that we find in the Bible--making +great men and wise ones do such wild things? Is it the same that made a +dignified gentleman, like David, dance--as those fanatics are doing down +there--till he became a laughing-stock? Is it the same that made a +sensible man like Saul join his faith to a witch and believe that he saw +visions? And then, just remember the scandalous capers--even worse than +the others--that the decent Jeremiah cut." + +"Tut! Tut! Tut!" exclaimed the priest, in a voice that betrayed a smile. +"Those were holy men, my young friend. I cannot allow them to be laughed +at." + +"Oh, come now, Father, be honest," said the doctor, laughing aloud, but +adding quickly in a serious tone: "I am quite in earnest. What do you +make of it all? I should greatly like to have your opinion. Is there +anything in the science of your profession to explain it? There isn't in +mine. The more of it I see, and the longer I study it, the farther I am +from finding its source, its cause, and its real character. There! Just +hear that!" + +"Well, well," said Father Orin, with a sigh of evasion, "if you are +going on to the camp-meeting, Toby and I will have to leave you here. We +have a sick call 'way over on the Eagle Creek flats. And it's a ticklish +business, going over there in the dark, isn't it, old man?" he said, +patting his big gray horse. "The last time we went in the night the limb +of a tree, that I couldn't see, dragged me from the saddle." He laughed +as if this were a joke on Toby or himself, or both. "But Toby is a +better swimmer than I am. He's better at a good many things. He got me +out all right that time and a good many other times. He always does his +part of our duty, and never lets me shirk mine, if he can help it. Well, +then, we must be moving along, Toby, old man." He turned suddenly to the +boy. "Will you go with me, David? My way passes close to Cedar House." + +"Perhaps, sir, you would like to go on to the meeting," said the doctor +to David. "It would give me pleasure to have you with me--if you prefer +to go with me. Afterward we can ride home together. My cabin is not far +beyond Cedar House." + +After a little more talk it was decided that the boy should go with the +doctor, and the priest bade them both a cheerful good night. + +"Now, Toby, we must be putting in our best licks. If you don't look out, +old man, we will be getting into idle ways. Keep us up to the +mark--right up to the mark, old man!" + +And so, talking to Toby, and chuckling as if Toby made telling replies, +the good man and his good horse vanished in the earth-clouds round Anvil +Rock. But the doctor and the boy sat their horses in motionless silence, +listening to the kind, merry voice and the faithful beat, beat, of the +steady feet, till both gradually died away behind the night's heavy +black curtain. + + + + +VI + +THE CAMP-MEETING + + +As they turned and were riding on toward the camp-meeting, the doctor +spoke of the priest and his horse. The boy listened with the wondering +awe that most of us feel, when some stranger points out the heroism of a +simple soul or an everyday deed which we have known, unknowingly, all +our lives. + +"Father Orin and Toby are a pair to take your hat off to," the young +doctor said. "I have come to know them fairly well by this time, +although I have not been here very long. It isn't necessary for any one +to be long in the neighborhood before finding out what those two are +doing. And then my own work among the suffering gives me many +opportunities to know what they are doing and trying to do. The church +side is only one side of their good work. I am not a Catholic, and +consequently see little of that side; but I meet them everywhere +constantly caring for the poor and the afflicted without any regard for +creed. And they never have any money, worth speaking of, to help with. +They have only their time and their strength and their whole laborious, +self-sacrificing lives to give. The expedients that they resort to in a +pinch would make anybody laugh--to keep from crying. They were out the +other day with a brand-new plan. They travelled about fifty miles +through the wilderness trying to find a purchaser for the new overcoat +that a Methodist friend gives Father Orin every fall. He, of course, had +given his old coat to some shivering wretch last spring while it was +still cold, but that didn't make the slightest difference. He didn't +even remember the fact till I reminded him of it. It is only October +now--so that he can do without the overcoat--and a poor fellow who has +come with his wife and baby to live in that deserted cabin near the +court-house, is in sore need of a horse for his fall ploughing. Father +Orin had suggested Toby's drawing the plough, thinking that some of his +own work might be attended to on foot. But Toby, it seems, drew the line +at that. It was a treat to hear Father Orin laugh when he told how Toby +made it plain that he thought there were more important duties for him +to perform, how firmly he refused to drag the plough. He was quite +willing, however, to do his best to sell the overcoat, so that they +might have money to hire a horse for the ploughing." + +The doctor broke off suddenly. The roar coming from the darkness around +the swamp rose high on the gusty wind. He and David were now riding +fast, and the roaring grew rapidly more continuous and distinct. The +vast volume of inarticulate sound presently began to break into many +human voices. At last a single voice pierced all the rest. Its shrill +cry of spiritual anguish filled the dark forest with the wailing of a +soul in extremity. + +"And it's a woman, too!" cried the doctor. + +He spoke shortly, almost angrily, but something in his tone told David +that he also was shivering, although the night was warm, and that his +heart was full of pity. They were now drawing near the camp-meeting, but +they could not see it, nor even the light from it. They had reentered +the forest, which was here made darker and wilder by many fallen trees, +blown down and tossed together by the fierce tempests which often rent +the swamp. The torn roots, the decaying trunks, and the shattered +branches of the dead giants of the ancient wood, were dank with +water-moss. Rank poison vines writhed everywhere, and crept like vipers +beyond the deadly borders of the great Cypress Swamp. Through such dark +and tangled density as this the smoky torches, burning dimly around the +camp, could cast their light but a little way. And thus it was by +hearing and not by seeing, that they came at last upon the spot almost +by accident. They had scarcely got hurriedly down from their horses, and +hastily tied them to a swinging bough when the scene burst upon them--a +wild vision revealed by the dim flickering torchlight. + +[Illustration: "A dark, confused ... writhing mass of humanity."] + +There was a long, low shed of vast extent. It was covered with rough +boards, and upheld by tree-trunks which still bore the bark. There was +no floor other than the bare earth, and there were no seats other than +unhewn logs. Here, under the deep shadows of this great shed, all darkly +shut in by the black wilderness and dimly lit by a wide circle of +smoking, flaring torches, there surged a dark, confused, convulsed, +roaring, writhing mass of humanity. And there were many hundreds in that +shadowy multitude--swaying, struggling, groaning, laughing, weeping, +shouting, praying, dancing, leaping, and falling. + +"It does not seem possible that there can be so many in all the +wilderness," said the doctor. "But they come from long distances, from +as far as fifty and sixty miles around. And they have been coming for +weeks--day and night--just like this." + +He spoke sadly, and with deep feeling. He laid his firm, gentle hand on +David's shaking arm, knowing how the awful spectacle must affect the +sensitive boy. David instinctively drew nearer to his side feeling the +support of his calm, sane, strong presence, and began gradually to see +with clearer eyes, so that this awful vision became by degrees a more +awful reality. + +"Listen!" cried the doctor. "They are beginning to sing!" + +Ah, listen indeed! For a stranger, wilder chant than this which now +went swelling up from that frenzied, swaying mass of humanity surely +never stirred all that is most mystical in the soul of man! Pealing +grandly, awfully upward through the star-lit spaces of a grander temple +than ever was reared by human hands, it rolled heavenward, on and on, +and higher and higher, to the very dome of the firmament. + +With the wild chanting, the madness of the multitude increased. Many men +and women--ay, and little children, too--all dropped to their knees, +heedless of being trodden underfoot by the unfallen frenzied, and thus +crept the length of the earthen floor to the foot of the rude altar. +Here, before the pulpit of rough-hewn logs, great heaps of straw were +strewn thick and broadcast. On these straw heaps men and women fell +prostrate side by side, and lay as if they were dead. Others, both men +and women, were suddenly seized with the unnatural, convulsive jerking +which gave this mysterious visitation its best-known name. Under this +dreadful tremor the long hair of delicate ladies poured unnoticed over +the most modest shoulders and flew back and forth with the sound of a +whip; for those so wildly wrought upon were not solely of the humble and +the ignorant. The highest and the most refined of the whole country were +there. The earth was strewn with costly raiment. Gentlemen rent the fine +ruffles from their wrists and their bosoms; gentlewomen cast their +richest ornaments to the winds. And all the while that this awful, +majestic, soul-stirring chant was thus mounting higher and growing +wilder, many were whirling and dancing. + +David shrunk back, and the doctor drew him closer to his side, as a man +suddenly burst out of the swirling mass of maddened humanity, and dashed +past them into the forest. There, still within the wide circle of +flaring, smoking, torchlight, the poor creature threw his arms around a +tree, and uttering strange, savage cries like the barking of a dog, he +dashed his head against the tree-trunk till the blood gushed out and +poured down his ghastly face. David clung closer to the doctor's arm and +turned his eyes away, feeling sick and faint with horror. + +"Don't look at him. Turn your head. I must go to him and help him if I +can," the doctor said, gently loosing the boy's grasp. "I shouldn't have +brought you here. But--Good God! Who is that?" he cried sharply. "Look! +Quick! Do you know that girl? Over there by the last pillar--yonder, +yonder, with her face turned this way!" + +In his eagerness he seized the boy, fairly lifting him from the ground, +and held him up so that he could see over all the heads of the surging, +swirling crowd. The girl was still there, and David recognized Ruth. She +was standing not far off and near the edge of the shed. Close behind her +the torches threw out gloomy banners of smoke and vivid streamers of +flame, and against them she appeared a quiet, white spirit among many +tossed dark shades. When David first saw her, he thought she was looking +at him. But in another moment her beautiful face, which had been pale +enough before, turned as white as her frock and her large eyes widened +with terror. And then David knew that she was looking beyond him and had +seen the horror by the tree. He forgot his own horrified faintness, he +forgot where he was, the doctor--everything but Ruth and that look in +her dear face. He sprang toward her with a piercing cry and outstretched +arms. + +"Ruth!" he cried. "Here I am, Ruth, dear. I am coming to you. I'll take +you away!" + +It was a single voice raised against the deafening roar of a hurricane. +Only the doctor heard or heeded, and he laid a restraining hand on +David's shoulder. + +"You are right," he said. "Take her away as soon as you can. She should +not have come. Is she your sister? Come this way. We will go round," he +went on, without waiting for an answer. "We may be able to reach her +from the other side of the shed." + +The firm touch and calm tone partly brought the boy to himself, and he +followed as closely as he could, but only to be beaten back again and +again. That terrific chant was now at its highest and wildest, and he +and the doctor were caught in the human maelstrom and swirled hither +and thither like straws. They were swept far apart, and when they were +quickly driven together again, they had lost sight of Ruth. They were +tossed once more, and thrown outside the fiercest swirl. Standing still, +they held to a tree, gasping, and searched the crowd with their gaze, +trying to find her. She was nowhere to be seen. But while they thus +paused, waiting for breath to go on, they saw a tall man near by, +leaning against a pillar and quietly overlooking the wild scene. He +stood within the circle of torchlight, and they could see him +distinctly. Neither the doctor nor David had ever seen him before and +neither ever saw him again, but they never forgot just how he looked +that night. + +He was a very tall man of more than six feet in height. He was very +erect and very slender, with the slenderness that gives a look of youth +as well as grace. There was no tinge of gray in his tawny hair, which +fell heavily back from his high, narrow forehead, without any of the +stiffness seen in his later portraits. He was not more than thirty-five +years of age at this time, but his face was already lined with care and +trouble and exposure. It was naturally pale and thin, almost haggard. +Its sole redeeming feature was the wonderful brilliance of his blue +eyes. The doctor and David could not see the color of his eyes, and yet +he seemed to them a singularly handsome man, as he did to almost every +one. There was something about him that may be called a presence, for +lack of a better term, something which drew the gaze of the crowd and +held it everywhere. Many eyes were upon him that night in the very +height and centre of all the frenzy. Glances were cast at him even from +the pulpit, which was not far away. One of the ministering preachers +gave him a look of recognition, and then, bending down, whispered in the +ear of another preacher, a very young man who stood below the pulpit +among the fallen, exhorting them to repentance. The exhorter shook off +the whisperer and went on with his impassioned plea. He, too, was well +worth looking at, and better worth listening to--this inspired young +backwoodsman, Peter Cartwright. His swarthy face was pale with the +pallor of fanaticism, and his dark eyes were aflame with some mystic +fire. His long black hair was wildly blown by the wind which bore his +broken words still more brokenly:-- + +"Such a time as this has not been seen since the day of Pentecost.... A +sacred flame is surely sweeping sin from the earth.... Come all ye. Take +up your cross and follow Him.... Heaven's gate stands wide to-night.... +Praise the Lord!... Come in.... Come at once.... Do not delay--or the +gate may close, never to open again. Come! Come with me to the mercy +seat. I was once like you. My soul, like yours, was rent in agony. I +wept, I strove, I prayed, I was in utter despair ... just as you are +now.... Sometimes it seemed as if I could almost lay hold on the +Saviour.... Then--all of a sudden--such a fear of the devil fell upon me +that he appeared to stand right by my side ready to drag me down to +hell. But I prayed on, and said, 'Lord if there be mercy for me, let me +find it!' ... At last, in the midst of this awful struggle of soul, I +came to the foot of the altar--here--where I am begging you to come.... +And then it was as if a voice out of heaven said to me, 'Thy sins are +forgiven thee.' ... Glory! Glory! Delight flashed all around me. Joy +unspeakable sprung up in my soul. It seemed to me that I was already in +paradise. The very trees, the very leaves on the trees, seemed to be +singing together and praising God.... Will you share this divine peace +with me? Will you come with me this night to the foot of the cross?... +Then come now--now--for this may be the accepted hour of your +salvation.... Come.... If you wait, you are lost ... lost!" + +But these simple, broken words are only the cold and lifeless echo of +Peter Cartwright's fiery, living eloquence. Nothing can ever bring that +back as it really was. None may hope to tell those who never heard him +what it was like. No one, perhaps among the numberless thousands who did +hear him, ever knew what the power was, by which this unlettered +backwoodsman swayed multitudes at his will. Perhaps David afterward +described it as nearly as any one could, when he said that the mere +sound of Peter Cartwright's voice that night--when he could not hear the +words--made him feel so sorry, so grieved, so ashamed, that he wanted to +fall down on the earth and hide his face and weep like a woman, for his +own sins and the sins of the whole world. + +"There she is!" cried the doctor. "We can reach her now." + +But another roaring wave of humanity dashed over them, sweeping them +farther from Ruth and nearer the pulpit. They were so near that they +could see the fire that flashed over the pale darkness of the young +preacher's face as his brother preacher bent down for the second time +and touched him warningly, and whispered again. Peter Cartwright, who +was still bending over the men and women lying at his feet, suddenly +stood erect. He threw back his long black hair, and flung a flaming +glance at the tall man leaning against the pillar. And then his voice +rang out like a trumpet calling to combat. + +"What if it _is_ General Jackson?" he cried. "What is Andrew Jackson but +a sinner, too? Let him come with the rest of these poor sinners to beg +for pardon before the throne of grace. And let him make haste--or a just +and offended God will punish him as if he were the lowest of earth!" + +The challenge sounded clear and far. It must have reached the ears of +Andrew Jackson, the proud and feared hero of many battles. No man living +was more intolerant of indignity or quicker to resent the slightest +affront. An alarmed murmur circled through all the tumult; the doctor +and David heard it distinctly, and turned with those about them to look +at the man thus challenged. But Andrew Jackson himself stood quite still +and gave no sign that he had heard. He barely bowed his head when a +short, thick-set man pressed through the crowd and touched his arm. The +man was a henchman of his, widely and not favorably known in the +country, a gambler and adventurer whose name was Tommy Dye. He was +leading the general's horse. There were a few words between them, and +then the tall figure vaulted into the saddle and disappeared in the +surrounding blackness of the forest. + +"Now! Here she is. Quick!" cried the doctor. + +So crying, he plunged into the storm-lashed sea of humanity like a +strong swimmer. The boy followed as well as he could, using all his +strength, but they were both dashed back again and again, till at last a +wilder wave caught them up and cast them down beside Ruth. Instantly the +doctor lifted her in his arms before David found breath, and held her as +lightly as if she had been but a wreath of smoke blown across his +breast. Holding her thus, and lifting her higher above those wild +waves, he bore her through them as if they had been but rippling water. +On and on he went to the border of the forest beyond the tumult where +the torchlight was brightest, and there he gently set her down. And then +all alone they stood silently looking at each other. They were still +gazing down into one another's faces, when the boy ran up, panting. At +the sight of him the wonder went out of Ruth's blue eyes, and the fright +came back. The spell was broken, and she remembered where she was. + +"David! Come to me. Take me away!" she cried. "Oh, what a fearful place! +I can never forget it while I live. Where is William? We were separated +by the crowd." + +But even as she spoke, in tones that trembled with alarm, while yet her +beautiful face was white and her blue eyes full of tears, there came one +of the swift changes that gave her beauty its greatest charm. A vivid +blush dyed her cheek, the long, wet lashes suddenly unveiled a +coquettish glance, there was a dazzling smile, her hands went up to put +her blown hair in order, and she drew on the forgotten gypsy bonnet +which was hanging by its strings on her arm. She drew closer to the boy, +but she looked at the doctor over her shoulder. + +"Who is this gentleman, David?" she faltered. "And how--" + +Paul Colbert spoke for himself, telling her his name. + +"I am a doctor--the new doctor of the neighborhood," he said, adding +with a smile, "I beg your pardon. There was no other way. This young +gentleman--who came with me--saw you. We had been trying for an hour or +more to reach you. We were afraid to lose the first chance to get you +out of that dangerous crush." + +His voice was drowned by a sudden roar which lifted the frenzy higher +and brought it nearer. The color and smiles fled again from Ruth's face, +and she clung to David in greater alarm. + +"Take me home. Oh--oh--isn't it terrible! I can't wait to find William. +I must go now. I wouldn't be afraid to go alone with you, dear. Not in +the least afraid. Take me--take me!" + +"Come, then," said David. "The pony's over here." + +"But I don't know where my horse is. I don't know where William tied it. +I am so turned round that I don't know anything." She was beginning to +smile again at her own bewilderment. + +"The pony can take us both," said the boy. + +She was turning away with him when the doctor interfered with hesitating +eagerness:-- + +"If you will permit me--I would suggest that your friend who came with +you may be anxious. He will naturally try to find you. Not knowing that +you are gone, he must be alarmed. If I knew him by sight, I could find +him and tell him--" + +Again his voice was lost in the rising roar of the multitude. The girl +buried her face against the boy's shoulder, shudderingly and trembling, +and burst into weeping. + +"Tell me what to do, David! I can't bear this any longer," she sobbed. +"Take me away. Tell me what to do! Oh! Oh!" putting her shaking hands +over her ears to shut out the dreadful sounds. + +The doctor touched her arm. "If you would allow me to take you home, +perhaps this young gentleman could stay and find the person who came +with you." He turned quickly to the boy. "You know him?" + +"Yes," David replied unwillingly. + +His heart had begun to beat high. Here was a better chance to prove +himself a man than he had dared hope for. And now this bold stranger was +trying to rob him of it. He struggled with himself for a moment, before +he could give it up. But Ruth was crying and trembling and clinging to +him. + +"I will find William," he then said hastily. "Let the doctor take you +home." + +"But my horse is lost," Ruth lifted her head from David's shoulder and +flashed a tearful, smiling glance at the doctor. "How can you take me?" + +"Leave it to me," Paul Colbert said quickly, in the tone of a man used +to meeting emergencies. "Come with me. I will find a way." + +It seemed to Ruth and David that he was one to find a way to whatever +he wished. They followed him like two children, to the spot where his +horse was tied beside the pony. He untied the bridle with the quickness +of constant practice, and sprang into the saddle with the ease of the +practiced horseman. He threw the reins over the pommel, and then bending +down, held out his arms. + +"Now!" he cried. "Give the young lady your hand for her foot!" + +David hesitated, not understanding what he meant. It was the custom for +the women of the wilderness to ride behind the men; but it was plain +that this was not the young doctor's intention. He sat far back in his +large saddle, and when Ruth set her foot in the palm of David's hand, +and fluttered upward like a freed bird, he caught her and seated her +before him. A word to his horse and they were away. He was holding Ruth +close to his breast, and her white garments were blown about him, as +they vanished in the black wilderness. + + + + +VII + +A MORNING IN CEDAR HOUSE + + +It was almost morning when the boy and William Pressley reached home. +David did not go to bed, but set out at the first glimmer of dawn to do +the judge's bidding, calling the black men to go with him, since there +was no great glory to be won by going alone in the daylight. There was +time for a little rest after coming back, and it was still very early +when he arose from his bed and began to get ready for breakfast. + +He looked from his cabin window at the river which always drew his +waking gaze. It was sparkling like a stream of liquid diamonds under the +flood of sunlight pouring over the dazzled earth. The fringing rushes +rippled as gently as the water under the snowy breasts of many swans. +The trees along the shore were freshly green and newly alive with the +color and chatter of the paroquets. Looking and listening, he thought +what a poetic notion it was that these vivid birds should carry the seed +pearls of the mistletoe from one mighty oak to another, bearing the tiny +treasures in the wax on their feet. + +Far up the wide, shining river a great, heavy-laden barge was gliding +swiftly down. Its worn and clumsy sail seemed as white and graceful as +the wings of the swans in the sun. Its dull and tangled coils of +cordelles caught an unwonted charm from the sunbeams. Its merry crew was +singing a song, which came gayly over the flashing water:-- + + "Hi-ho, the boatmen row, + The Kentuck boys and the O-hi-o. + Dance, the boatmen, dance, + Dance, the boatmen, dance; + Dance all night till broad daylight, + And go home with the gals in the mornin'." + +Watching the barge pass out of sight beneath the overhanging trees, +David turned to see a small dark object, leading two long verging lines +of silvery ripples across the glittering current. This cleft the water +near the Shawnee Crossing, and might, not long before, have been the +plumed head of a warrior wanting his canoe. But since the warriors were +all gone so strangely and suddenly, this brown speck now crossing the +river must have been the antlered head of a deer swimming to the other +side, thus giving the hunters warning that these green hills would soon +be white with snow. If so, there was no other sign of nearing winter. +The sombre forest stretching away from the opposite shore had not yet +been brightened by a touch of frost. The leaves on the near-by trees, +the great oaks and elms and poplars standing around Cedar House, were +thinning only through ripeness, and drifting very slowly down to the +green and growing grass. On the tall maples perfection alone had culled +the foliage, so wreathing the bronze boughs with rarer garlands of +fretted gold. + +No dread of wintry storms had yet driven away any of the birds that Ruth +fed every day on the sill of her chamber window. They were all there as +usual--the whole feathered colony--as if they wished to be polite, even +though they were not hungry on that sunny morning. The little ones, to +be sure, pecked a crumb now and then with a languid indifference. The +blue jays--as usual--were brazen in their ingratitude for any dole of +commonplace crumbs, while spicy seeds were still strewn by every scented +breeze. But shy and bold alike, they all flocked around Ruth's window, +and sat on the sill within reach of her hand, and cocked their pretty +heads as if it were feast enough only to look at her. + +She had already been downstairs to fetch the birds' breakfast, and had +gone into the garden where the sweetest and reddest roses of all the +year were still blooming. She held a big bunch of them in her hand as +she stood at the open window and waved it at David in a morning +greeting, when she saw him crossing the yard. She came down the broad +stairs as he entered the great room, and she was wearing a fresh white +frock and her arms were full of the fragrant red roses. + +The rest of the family were already in the room, and the table was laid +for breakfast. Ruth greeted each one with a smile, but she did not +speak, and began to move quietly about the table, giving those dainty +little finishing touches which no true woman ever leaves to a servant. +She put some of the roses in a vase, and rearranged this and that, +moving lightly and softly about. Her footsteps were as soundless as the +fall of tender leaves, and her garments made no more rustle than the +unfolding of a flower. She threw one of the red roses at David, and +wafted the judge a kiss. Once or twice she turned to speak to William, +but forthwith smilingly gave up all thought of it for the time being. + +There never was any use in anybody's trying to speak while Miss Penelope +was in the height of the excitement of making the morning coffee. An +opportunity for a word might possibly occur during the making of the +coffee for dinner or supper. Miss Penelope did not consider this +function quite so solemn a ceremony at dinner or supper time. Sometimes, +at rare intervals, she had been known to allow the coffee for dinner or +supper to be made by the cook in the kitchen. But the making of the +breakfast coffee was a very different and far more imposing ceremonial. +This must always be performed in the presence of the, entire assembled +household, by her own hand, on the wide hearth in the great room of +Cedar House. To have permitted the cook to make the morning coffee in +the kitchen, would have been in Miss Penelope's eyes, to relegate a +sacred rite to profane hands in an unconsecrated place. Her own making +of the morning coffee had indeed much of the solemnity of a religious +ceremony--or would have had, if those who looked on, had been unable to +hear, or even slightly dull of hearing. For the sound of Miss Penelope's +voice was charming when the listener could not hear what it said. And +her dulcet tone always ran through the whole performance like the faint, +sweet echo of distant music. But when the listener's ears were keen, and +he could hear the things that this kind, caressing voice was saying, the +threats that it was uttering!--They were alarming enough to curdle the +blood of the little cup-bearers, black, brown, and yellow, who always +flew like shuttles back and forth between the big house and the distant +kitchen while Miss Penelope was making the breakfast coffee. It required +much flying of small dusky legs, to and fro, before the cold water was +cold enough, the hot water hot enough, and the fresh egg fresh enough, +to satisfy Miss Penelope that the coffee would be all that it should be. + +On this particular morning the usual excitement had reached its crisis +as Ruth came down the stairs. There was usually a slight lull when the +first slender and almost invisible column of steam arose from the long +spout of the coffee-pot. That was the most critical moment, and it now +being safely past, Miss Penelope hastily sent away all the cup-bearers +in a body. But she still hovered anxiously over the pot, gravely +considering how many minutes longer it should rest on its trivet over +the glowing coals. Hers was a quaint little figure. She wore a queer +little black dress, very short and narrow, made after some peculiar +fashion of her own, and over it a queerer little cape of the same stuff. +Her cap on the other hand was singularly large and white, and the ruffle +around her face was very wide and very stiff. The snapping black eyes +under the ruffle were never still, and the clawlike little hands were +never at rest. David in his idle way used to wonder what she worried +about and fidgeted over in her sleep. But it was hard to think of her +asleep; it would have been easier to fancy a sleeping weasel. +Nevertheless the boy liked Miss Penelope. Ruth and he had learned while +they were little children, that there was no unkindness in the snapping +of her sharp little black eyes, and that the terrible things she said +were as harmless as heat lightning. Even the little cup-bearers, black, +brown, and yellow, all knew how kind-hearted she was, and did not mind +in the least the most appalling threats uttered by her sweet, soft +voice. She always gave them something before she sent them flying back +to the cabins. Everybody liked her better than the widow Broadnax who +never scolded or meddled and indeed, rarely spoke at all to any one upon +any subject. For the household had long since come to understand that +this lady, like many another of her kind, was silent mainly because she +had nothing to say; and that she never found fault, simply because she +did not care. Indifference like hers often passes for amiability; and +that sort of motionless silence conceals a vacuum quite as often as it +covers a deep. Only one thing ever fully aroused the widow Broadnax; and +this was to see her half-sister taking authority in her own brother's +house. And indeed, that were enough to rouse the veriest mollusk of a +woman. In the case of the widow Broadnax this natural feeling was not at +all affected by the fact that she was too indolent to make the exertion +to claim and fill her rightful place as mistress of the house. It did +not matter in the least that she lay and slept like a sloth while poor +little Miss Penelope was up and working like a beaver. No woman's claims +ever have anything to do with her deserts; perhaps no man's ever have +either; perhaps all who claim most deserve least. At all events, it was +perfectly natural that the widow Broadnax should feel as truly and +deeply aggrieved at her half-sister's ruling her own brother's house, as +if she, herself, had been the most energetic and capable of +housekeepers. + +On that morning her dull eyes kept an unwavering, unwinking watch over +the coffee making; as they always did over every encroachment upon her +rights. Her heavy eyelids were only partially lifted, yet not a movement +of Miss Penelope's restless little body, not a gesture of her nervous +little hands was allowed to escape. Now that the coffee was nearly +ready, Miss Penelope had become rather more composed. She still stood +guard over the coffee-pot; she never left it till she carried it to the +table with her own hands, but she was lapsing into a sort of spent +silence. She merely sighed at intervals with the contented weariness +that comes from a sense of duty well done. But her half-sister still +eyed her as a fat, motionless spider eyes a buzzing little fly which is +ceasing to flutter. Miss Penelope had not observed a large pewter cup +resting on the floor near the widow Broadnax's chair. It had been left +there by a careless servant, who had used a portion of the mixture of +red paint and sour buttermilk with which it was filled, to give the wide +hearth its fine daily gloss. Miss Penelope had not observed it because +she was always oblivious to everything else while hanging over the +coffee-pot. The widow Broadnax had seen the cup at once because it was +slightly in the way of her foot; and she was quick enough to notice the +least discomfort. But she had not immediately perceived the longed-for +opportunity which it gave her. That came like an inspiration a few +moments later, when Miss Penelope was off guard for an instant. Her back +was turned only long enough for her to go to the table and see if the +tray was ready for the coffee-pot, but the widow Broadnax found this +plenty of time. With a quickness truly surprising in one of her habitual +slowness, she swooped down and seized the cup of buttermilk and paint. +In a flash she lifted the lid of the coffee-pot, poured the contents of +the cup in the coffee, set the empty cup down in its place, and was back +again, resting among the cushions as if she had never stirred, when poor +little Miss Penelope, all unsuspecting, returned to her post. + +"You really must get up, Sister Molly," that lady said resolutely, +renewing an altercation. "I hid the pantry keys under your chair +cushions at supper, last night. That's always the safest place. But I +forgot to take them out before you sat down. And you must get up--there +isn't enough sugar for the coffee." + +"Let me," said Ruth, coming forward with a smile, in her pretty, coaxing +way. + +When the antagonism between the sisters broke into open hostility, it +was nearly always she who managed to soothe them and restore a temporary +semblance of peace--for beyond that no mortal power could go. She now +prevailed upon the widow Broadnax to rise with her assistance, thus +securing the keys, and when that lady was once on her feet she was +easier to move, so that Ruth now led her to her place at the breakfast +table without further trouble. There was, however, always more or less +trouble about the place itself. It was but woman nature to feel it to be +very hard for a whole sister to sit at the side of the table while a +half sister sat at its head. The judge always did what he could to spare +her feelings, and Miss Penelope's at the same time. He was a bachelor, +and held women in the half-gallant, half-humorous regard which sets the +bachelor apart from the married man, and places him at a disadvantage +which he is commonly unaware of. The judge thought he understood the +distinctively feminine weaknesses particularly well, and that he made +uncommonly large allowance for them, as the bachelor always thinks and +never does. And then when the quarrel reached a crisis, and he was +entirely at the end of his resources for keeping the peace, he could +always threaten to take to the woods, and that usually brought a short +truce. + +"Ruth, my dear, what's all this about some stranger's bringing you home +last night?" he inquired, taking his seat at the foot of the table. +"Where were you, William? and what were you doing? You shouldn't have +taken Ruth to such a place, or anywhere, if you couldn't take care of +her," with unusual severity. + +Ruth sprang to William's defence. She said that it was not his fault. +They were separated by the crowd. He had done his best, and all that any +one could have done. + +"I made William take me. He didn't want to do it. And I am not sorry +that I went, although I was so much frightened at the time. Without +seeing it, no one can ever know what this strange and awful thing is +like. No description can possibly describe it," she said, with darkening +eyes and rising color. + +"A most shocking and improper scene," said William Pressley, as one who +weighs his words. "A most shocking and improper scene." + +Ruth looked at him wonderingly. + +"Shocking--improper!" she faltered, perplexedly. "What a strange way to +think of it. To me it was a great, grave, terrible spectacle. The awe of +it overwhelmed me, alarmed as I was. Why, it was like seeing the Soul +universal--bared and quivering." + +William Pressley said nothing more. He never discussed anything. Once he +had spoken, the subject seemed to him finally disposed of. + +"Great Grief!" cried Miss Penelope in the blankest amazement and the +greatest dismay. "For the land's sake!" + +As the faithful high-priestess of the coffee-pot she was always the +first to taste her own brew. She now set her cup down hastily. Her red, +wrinkled little face was a study. The widow Broadnax, whose cup was +untouched, sat silent and impassive as usual, regarding her with the +same dull, half-open, unwinking gaze. + +"What under the sun!" gasped Miss Penelope, still more and more amazed +and dismayed, and growing angry as she rallied from the shock. + +"Come, come!--if I can't eat breakfast in peace, I'll take to the woods. +What's the matter?" exclaimed the judge. "Didn't you get the coffee made +to suit you, after all that rumpus? Isn't it good?" + +"Good!" shrieked Miss Penelope. "It's poisoned, I do believe! Don't +drink it, any of you, if you value your lives!" + +"Oh, nonsense!" said the judge. "You are too hard to please, Sister +Penelope. And you spoil the rest of us, making the coffee yourself. +Never mind--never mind!" + +He took a sip and made a wry face, but he hardly ever knew what he was +eating, and pushing the cup back, forgot all about it. He was more +interested in Ruth's account of the meeting, and asked many questions +about her ride home. + +"This young doctor must be a fine fellow," he said. "I have been hearing +a good deal about him from Father Orin. They are already great friends, +it seems. They meet often among the poor and the sick, and work +together. I hope, my dear, that you thought to ask him to call. You +remembered, didn't you, to tell him that the latch-string of Cedar House +always hangs on the outside? I want to thank him and then I should like +to know such a man. He is an addition to the community." + +"Oh, yes, I thought of that, of course," said Ruth, simply. "I told him +I knew you and William would like to thank him. He is coming to-day. I +hope, uncle Robert, that you will be here when he does come." + +"I shall be here to thank him," said William. "Uncle need take no +trouble in the matter. I will do all that is necessary." + +A woman must be deeply in love before she likes to hear the note of +ownership in a man's voice when speaking of herself. Ruth was not at all +in love--in that way--although she did not yet know that she was not. +The delicate roses of her cheeks deepened suddenly to the tint of the +rich red ones which she held again in her hands. Her blue eyes darkened +with revolt, and she gave William a clear, level look, throwing up her +head. Then her soft heart smote her, and her gentle spirit reproached +her. She believed William Pressley to be a good man, and she was ever +ready to feel herself in the wrong. She got up in a timid flurry and +went to the door and stood a moment looking out at the sun-lit river. +Presently she quietly returned, and shyly pausing behind William's +chair, rested her hand on the back of it. There was a timid apology in +the gesture. She was thinking only of her own shortcomings. Had she been +critical of him or even observant, she would have seen that there was +something peculiarly characteristic in the very way that he handled his +knife and fork; a curious, satisfied self-consciousness in the very +lift of his wrists which seemed to say that this, and no other, was the +correct manner of eating, and that he disapproved of everybody else's +manner. But she saw nothing of the kind, for hers was not the poor +affection that stands ever ready to pick flaws. He did not know that she +was near him until the judge spoke to her; and then he sprang to his +feet at once. He was much too fine a gentleman to keep his seat while +any lady stood. Ruth smilingly motioned him back to his chair, and going +round the table, leant over the judge's shoulder. He had been examining +a packet of legal papers, and he laid a yellow document before her, +spreading it out on the table-cloth. + +"You were asking the other day about the buffalo--when they were here, +and so on. Now, listen to this old note of hand, dated the fifteenth of +October, seventeen hundred and ninety-two, just nineteen years ago. Here +it is: 'For value Rec'd, I promise to pay Peter Wilson or his Agent, +twenty pounds worth of good market Buffalo Beef free from Boone, to be +delivered at Red Banks on the Ohio River, or at aney other place that he +or his shall salt beef on the banks of said river, and aney time in the +ensuing fawl before this fawl's hunting is over.' There now, my dear! +That would seem to prove that there were plenty of buffalo hereabouts +not long ago. A hundred dollars in English gold must have bought a +large amount of wild meat. If this meant Virginia pounds it was still a +great deal. And the hunter who drew this note must have known how he was +going to pay it." + +"Rachel Robards says there were lots of buffalo when she came," said +Miss Penelope, who was gradually recovering from the shock of tasting +the coffee, and now prudently thought best to say no more about the +matter. "I always call her Rachel Robards, because I knew her so well by +that name. I am not a-disputing her marriage with General Jackson. If +she wasn't married to him when she first thought she was, she is now, +hard and fast enough. I have got nothing to say about that one way or +another. As a single woman, it don't become me to be a-talking about +such matters. But married or not married, I have always stood up for +Rachel Robards. Lewis Robards would have picked a fuss with the Angel +Gabriel, let alone a fire-eater like Andrew Jackson. Give the devil his +due. But all the same, if Andrew Jackson does try to chastise Peter +Cartwright for what he said last night, there's a-going to be trouble. +Now mark my word! I know as well, and better than any of you, that Peter +is only a boy. Many's the time that I've seen his mother take off her +slipper and turn him across her lap. And she never hit him a lick amiss, +either. But that's neither here nor there. His being young don't keep me +from seeing that he has surely got the Gift. It don't make any +difference that he hasn't cut his wisdom teeth, as they say. What if he +hasn't?" demanded Miss Penelope, with the most singular contrast between +her mild tone and her fierce words. "What has the cutting of wisdom +teeth got to do with preaching, when the preacher has been given the +Gift!" + +So speaking, she suddenly started up from the table with an exclamation +of surprise, and ran to the open door. + +"Peter! Oh, Peter Cartwright!" she called. "Wait--stop a minute. To +think of your going by right at the very minute that we were a-talking +about you!" + +She went out under the trees where the square-built, stern-faced, +swarthy young preacher had brought his horse to a standstill. + +"Now, Peter, you surely ain't a-going up to the court-house to see +Andrew Jackson," she said in sudden alarm. + +"No, no, not now," said Peter, hurriedly. "I am riding fast to keep an +appointment to preach on the other side of the river." + +"But you can stop long enough to eat breakfast. I lay you haven't had a +bite this blessed day." + +Peter shook his head, gathering up the reins. + +"And ten to one that you haven't got a cent of money!" Miss Penelope +accused him. + +Peter's grim young face relaxed in a faint smile. He put his hand in his +pocket and drew out two small pieces of silver. + +"Ah, ha, I knew it!" exulted Miss Penelope. "Now do wait just one +minute till I run in the house and get you some money." + +"No, no, there isn't time. I'll miss my appointment to preach. I will +get along somehow. Thank you--good-by." + +Miss Penelope, reaching up, seized the bridle-reins and held on by main +force with one hand while she rummaged in her out pocket with the other. + +"There!--here are three bits--every cent I've got with me," she said +indignantly, shoving it in his hand. "Well, Peter Cartwright, if your +mother could know--" + +But the young backwoodsman, whose fame was already filling the +wilderness, and was to fill the whole Christian world, now pressed on +riding fast, and was soon beyond her kind scolding. + +"Well, 'pon my word! Did anybody ever see the like of that!" she cried, +seeing that Ruth had followed her to the door. "That boy don't know half +the time whether he has had anything to eat or not. And it's just +exactly the same to him when he's got money and when he hasn't." + +The girl did not hear what Miss Penelope said. Her heart was responding, +as it always did, to everything great or heroic, and she looked after +this boy preacher with newly opened eyes. She suddenly saw as by a flash +of white light, that he and the other pioneer men of God--these +soldiers of the cross who were bearing it through the trackless +wilderness--were of the greatest. Her dim eyes followed the young +man--this brave bearer of the awful burden of the divine +mission--watching him press on to the river. She thought of the many +rivers that he must swim, the forests that he must thread, the savages +that he must contend against, the wild beasts that he must conquer, the +plague that he must defy, the shelterless nights that he must sleep +under the trees--freezing, starving, struggling through winter's cold +and summer's heat, and all for the love of God and the good of mankind. + + + + +VIII + +THE LOG TEMPLE OF JUSTICE + + +Most of those dauntless soldiers, who first bore the cross through the +wilderness were as ready to fight as to pray--as they had to be. No +power of earth or evil which he had been able to combat could have +turned young Peter Cartwright that day or have held him back. Pressing +on without rest or food, he was in time to preach. When this duty was +done, he returned over the Shawnee Crossing and rode straight to the +court-house. To go there was in his eyes the next service due the Word. + +The court-house was a single large, low room built of rough logs, and +standing in the depths of the primeval forest. Great trees arched their +branches over its roof and the immemorial "Oh, yes, oh, yes, oh, yes," +went up through their heavy dark tops. It must have been strange thus to +hear this formal summons before the bar of human justice, strange indeed +to see the precise motion of man's law in so wild a spot. Roundabout +there still stretched the wilderness which is subject only to nature's +law--the one immutable law which takes no heed of justice or mercy; +which recks neither man's needs nor his deserts. + +The court-house in the wilderness stood quite alone, with no other +building near. There was not even a fence round it, nor so much as a +hitching-post in front of the rude door which was rarely closed. Those +who came--the judge, the jury, the lawyers, the clients, the +spectators--all hitched their horses to the swinging limbs of the trees. +The sole sign of man's handiwork, beyond the log walls of the +court-house itself, was a crude attempt at bridge-building. A creek ran +between the court-house and the home of Judge Knox, who was the judge of +the court, and over this a few rough boards had been loosely laid across +two rotting logs. The structure being both weak and unsteady, it was the +judge's habit to dismount on coming to the bridge and to cross it on +foot, leading his horse by the bridle. It was then but a stone's throw +to the court-house, and as he was heavy, clumsy, and an awkward rider, +he did not mount again, but walked on till he came to the spot where he +always stopped to tie the bridle to the same limb. And there he +invariably tied it in his absent-minded way, without ever thinking of +looking round to see if the horse was tied with the bridle. Sometimes he +was and again he was not, for this was as that sagacious and dignified +animal himself thought best. He commonly made up his mind upon this +point when they got to the bridge, where he could tell easily enough by +the judge's gait in crossing over, whether or not it would be advisable +to follow. If the horse then saw fit to turn back and go home, as a hint +to the family to send for the judge at the proper time, he never +hesitated to pull his head out of the old bridle which he could do very +easily. So that the judge sometimes went on and tied the empty bridle in +the usual place, never knowing the difference; while his horse calmly +turned round and soberly walked back to the stable. Seeing him thus pass +the windows, the good people of Cedar House sighed a little, and shook +their heads, but they nevertheless always knew exactly what to do. + +On this late October day, however, the horse followed the judge without +demur, assured by his own observation that all was right. The judge, +honest, simple soul, rarely failed to turn over a new leaf and make a +fresh start on the morning after the meeting of the grand jury, which +gravely and respectfully found an indictment against him almost as +regularly at it met. He had already assessed and--gravely ordering it +written up--paid his own fine on this occasion without a murmur, as he +always did, and he was now quite sober and ready to resume his place on +the bench. He had held it for a long time to the public satisfaction; +and he continued to hold it for many years afterward with honor, +ability, and distinction, notwithstanding these occasional lapses. His +one weakness was of course well known but his profound knowledge of the +law, and his unimpeachable integrity were still better known. It was +said of him that he never had anything to say which could not be shouted +out from the court-house door. And these qualities were sorely needed on +the bench of the wilderness, more sorely needed at this time than ever +before or since. + +The whole country had lately been overrun by open and defiant +lawlessness. It was fast coming to be known far and wide as "Rogue's +Harbor." It had already become the recognized refuge and hiding-place of +the outcasts from the older states. The breakers of all laws human and +divine,--the makers of counterfeit money, the forgers of land titles, +the stealers of horses, robbers, murderers, thieves and criminals of +every sort and condition, the fine gentleman and the ruffian, the +duelist and the assassin--all these were now flocking to Rogue's Harbor. +Once there, they were not long content merely to find a hiding place +from the wrath of broken law and outraged civilization. They were soon +seeking and finding opportunity to commit other and worse offences. It +was no longer a secret that regular stations of outlawry were firmly +established between Natchez on the one side and Duff's Fort, on the +other. The most dreaded of these were known to be within the new state's +border along the line of the Wilderness Road, although the law had not +been able to lay its hand upon them. And thus was southern Kentucky now +bound, blinded and helpless, in a long, strong, bloody chain of crime. + +It was knowing this and feeling his own responsibility and powerlessness +that made the judge's good-humored face stern on that October morning. +It was this which made his absent-minded eyes clear and keen as he drew +near the court-house. He had come earlier than usual but others, equally +anxious, were there before him. And then the court-house was in a way +the mart of the whole region, especially for the sale of horses. +Rough-looking men with the marks of the stable and the race-track upon +them, were riding the best quarter nags up and down the forest path and +pointing out the delicate leg, the well-proportioned head, and the +elegant form, which made the traits of the first race-horses in +Kentucky. Foremost among these first men of the turf was Tommy Dye, +scanning the quarter nags with a trained eye. As soon as the judge saw +him, he knew that General Jackson was not far away, for wherever the +general went, there also was to be found his faithful henchman, Tommy +Dye. It was he who arranged the cockfights in which the general +delighted, declaring a game cock to be the bravest thing alive. It was +he who was always trying to find for him a race-horse which could beat +Captain Haynie's Maria. This famous racer had beaten the general's +Decatur in that year's sweepstakes, and he had sworn by his strongest +oath that he would find a horse to beat her if there was one in the +world that could do it. But Tommy Dye and other eager, tireless agents +of the general had already searched far and wide. They had gone over all +the horse-raising states with a drag-net, they had sent as far as other +countries. And no horse which even promised to beat Maria had yet been +found, so that the general's defeat was still rankling bitterly, for it +was the bitterest that he had ever met or ever was to meet. He did not +feel his defeat in the first race for the Presidency nearly so deeply +and keenly as this; and then that was afterward retrieved by a most +brilliant victory. But, as a friend once said of him--although he went +on achieving great victories of many kinds, overcoming powerful enemies, +conquering the Indians, subduing the lawless, defying the Spanish and +the French, vanquishing the British and slaying single-handed the Dragon +of the Bank--he could never find a horse to beat Maria. + +But he was still trying everywhere and under all circumstances however +unpromising. On that day he cast anxious glances through the open door +of the log court-house at the horses which Tommy Dye, in a forlorn hope, +was having paraded up and down the forest path. He turned away with a +sigh, and went on talking to the United States Attorney for Kentucky at +whose request he had come to the court-house that day. He had done for +his own territory in a lesser degree, the identical thing which Joseph +Hamilton Daviess was desperately striving to do for this country; and he +had consented to give him the benefit of his own experience, and to +advise him as to ways and means. These were always strenuous with Andrew +Jackson, and Joe Daviess himself was not a man of half measures. In mind +and body he was quite as powerful as the man to whom he now listened +with such profound deference. He was also a handsomer man and younger. +He was fully as tall, too, with as lordly a bearing; the most marked +contrast in their appearance being in their dress. General Jackson wore +broadcloth of the cut seen in all his older portraits; Joe Daviess wore +buckskin breeches and a hunting shirt belted at the waist, both richly +fringed on the leg and sleeve. The suit was the same that he had worn +when he rode over the Alleghanies to Washington, to plead the historic +case before the Supreme Court. But the rudest garb could never make him +seem other than the courtly gentleman that he was. He was a scholar +moreover, and a writer of books. A great mind, and ever eager to learn, +he now stood listening to General Jackson with the humility of true +greatness. He bowed to the judge, seeing him enter, but he did not move +or cease to listen. His grave, intent face brightened suddenly as if a +light had passed over it, when he saw Father Orin's merry, ruddy +countenance look in at the open door. He and the priest were close +friends, although they held widely different faiths, and argued fiercely +over their differences of opinion whenever they met--and had time--and +notwithstanding that neither ever yielded to the other so much as a +single hair's breadth. + +Father Orin now came straight toward him, merely nodding and smiling at +those whom he passed, and reaching Joe Daviess' side, he coolly ran his +hand deep down in his friend's pocket, precisely as if it had been his +own. The attorney-general made believe to strike out backward with his +left hand--his right being full of papers. But he laughed, and he did +not turn his head to see how much money the priest had taken and was +calmly transferring to his own pocket. And then, chuckling and nodding +his gray head, Father Orin quietly made his way round the court room, +keeping close to the wall, and taking care to pass behind the jury which +sat on a bench of boards laid across two logs. He was now making his way +to the little platform of logs on which the judge was sitting. The judge +saw him coming and hastily shook his head, knowing from long experience +what he was coming for. But Father Orin only chuckled more merrily and +drew nearer. When he put out his hand the judge surrendered, knowing how +useless it would be to resist while a few Spanish dollars or even a few +bits of cut money were left in his wallet, or there was want in the +wilderness which the priest's persistence could relieve. But his left +eyebrow went up very high in a very acute angle, as he leant far over to +one side and ran his hand into the depths of his breeches pocket. + +"There!" he said, handing over what he had. "I am glad I haven't got any +more. Hereafter, when I see you coming, I'm going to take to the woods. +Much or little, you always get all there is," he said, ostentatiously +buttoning the flap over his empty pocket. "Oh, by the way, Father, +somebody wants you over yonder in that corner. Those men, standing +there, asked me just now if I knew where you were. They have got into +some sort of a snarl, and they want you to straighten it out." + +"Very well, I will go and see," said the priest, simply, being used to +all sorts of calls, temporal as well as spiritual. + +The two men had already seen him, and were standing to receive him when +he came up. One of them was a member of his own church and known to him +as a man of large affairs. The other, a lawyer and a Protestant, he had +a much slighter acquaintance with. It was the lawyer who spoke after +both had greeted him warmly, as if they felt his appearance to be a +relief. + +"We have been hoping you might come. We are in trouble and think you are +the man to help us set matters right," said the lawyer. + +"What is it?" laughed Father Orin. "I don't know anything about law." + +The lawyer laughed too. "Well, you see, Father, it isn't law exactly. +That is, not the kind of law that I know. That's just where you come in. +It's this way. My client here has won a suit. He was bound to win it and +I told him so before it came to trial. The law was clear enough. But you +see, Father, law isn't always justice. You can keep within the law and +do mighty mean things. And my client here doesn't want to do anything +that isn't right. He, as you know, is a clean, straight man. He has +scruples about the rights that this decision gives him. It's a knotty +question. The other man thinks that he is being cheated, and my client +isn't quite sure himself. I didn't know what to advise in such a case. I +could tell him what the law of the land and the court--of this +court--was, and I have told him. But I couldn't tell him anything about +the law of that other land or that Higher Court. I don't know any more +about those than you know about my laws and my court. And so we have +decided to ask you, to leave the whole dispute to you, and the other man +has agreed to let you decide it. He is a Protestant, as I am, but that +has nothing to do with this business. We are all perfectly willing to +leave it to you; we will all abide by your decision without another +word." + +Father Orin hesitated. "I don't know that I can see any more clearly +than the rest of you. Well, call the other man," he then said. "We can +try to find out what is right, anyway. We can't go far wrong if we do +our best to treat the other man as we should like him to treat us. Come +over here where we will be more to ourselves, and fetch the other man." + +The judge was too busy to notice the consultation, but after a while he +saw the four men leaving the court room together, with quiet, smiling +faces. They all stopped for a moment in the doorway to allow Father Orin +to shake hands with Peter Cartwright. The young preacher had been +delayed on his way, and was just now entering the court-house. He did +not smile when the priest said something which made the others laugh. +His square jaw was grimly set, and his fiery black eyes looked over the +heads of the crowd at the tall figure of General Jackson which towered +above every one else in the court room, with the exception of the +attorney-general. These two great lawyers still stood absorbed in +low-toned conversation. But the young preacher had no eyes for Joe +Daviess nor for any one except Andrew Jackson. As soon as he could free +his hand from Father Orin's clasp he entered the court room and went +straight up to General Jackson and stood still in front of him, looking +at him. Both the gentlemen turned in surprise at the young +backwoodsman's abrupt approach. Both were much older and taller than he, +and very different altogether from this square-built, rough-mannered +youth. But they may have felt the power that was his as well as theirs, +for neither gave a sign of the impatience that both were quick to feel +and almost as quick to show. Peter Cartwright was gazing steadily up +into General Jackson's eagle eyes--which few could face, which turned +many a stout heart from a firm purpose--without swerving for an instant +from what he meant to do. + +[Illustration: "'I wanted to shake the hand of a man like you.'"] + +"This is General Jackson, I believe," he said. + +Andrew Jackson bent his haughty head. His gaze was now enough to make +the bravest flinch. But the young preacher went on without the slightest +flinching. + +"I have been told, sir, that you wanted to see me. I am Peter +Cartwright. I understand that you intend to chastise me for what I said +at the camp-meeting. Well, here I am." + +Andrew Jackson stared at him silently for a moment, as if he did not get +the drift of the words. And then he suddenly burst into a great roar. + +"The man who told you that was an infernal fool! I did say that I wanted +to see you--to meet you. But I said so because I desired the honor of +knowing you, sir. I wanted to shake the hand of a man like you. Will you +give it to me now, sir? I shall take it as an honor. I am proud to know +a man who is ready to do his duty in spite of anybody on God's earth--as +a preacher should be. A minister of Jesus Christ should love everybody, +and fear no mortal man. Give me your hand again, sir. By the eternal, if +I had a few officers like you, and a well-drilled army, I could take old +England!" + +With the meeting of the two men's hands a shout rang out from the crowd +now pressing in at the door. Shout followed shout, till the outcry +sounded far through the forest. It reached the ears of Philip Alston and +William Pressley, who were riding slowly toward the court-house. They +spurred their horses forward, wondering what could be the cause of the +unusual noise and excitement. When they had reached the court-house and +learned what the shouting meant, Philip Alston smiled in approval. + +"Very fine, very patriotic," he said. + +But his real attention was not for the crowd; he cared nothing for its +cries. He was looking at Joe Daviess and Andrew Jackson, the two famous +attorneys, who were again absorbed in grave, low-toned consultation. + +"Do you happen to know, William, what these distinguished gentlemen are +discussing with such interest and gravity? It must be something of +importance. But of course you know, my dear boy. You needn't tell me if +it is any matter of state or any sort of a secret. I asked without +thinking. Pardon me," said Philip Alston. + +He spoke in a low tone of gentle indifference. There was nothing to +indicate that he felt any special interest, but William Pressley +answered the question at once, and without reserve. Nothing pleased that +young man more than a chance to display his own first knowledge of +political affairs, either local, state, or national. A single word of +politics never failed to fire his ambition, to light that one spark in +his cold eyes. And Philip Alston knew how to strike the flint that lit +this spark, as he knew how to do almost anything that he wished to do. +So that William now told him what it was that these two powerful +guardians of the public peace and safety had met to discuss. He also +told him everything that the judge had said of his own determination to +do his utmost to aid Joe Daviess in carrying out the plans which were to +be laid that day. Philip Alston listened in silence, with his eyes on +General Jackson and Kentucky's attorney-general; looking first at the +one and then at the other, admiring and appreciating both. He had a +sincere, although purely intellectual admiration for any real greatness. +Thus gazing at the two men he saw how great was the responsibility +resting on them, and how ably and fearlessly they were meeting it. He +realized clearly that these two grave, honest, earnest, fearless +thinkers must find help for the whole country solely in the might of +their own minds and in the strength of their own hands. He knew that no +aid ever had been given, or ever would be given, by the government as +none could know better than themselves. All this and much more came to +Philip Alston, as he stood looking at Andrew Jackson and Joe Daviess +while listening to William Pressley. Through his whole life this had +been his attitude. He had always looked one way and rowed another, like +the boatman in The Pilgrim's Progress. + +"And doubtless you too are giving valuable assistance," he said, turning +his inscrutable gaze on William Pressley, and speaking in the tone of +deference which often covered his contempt. "You will, however, be in a +position to make your services far more valuable and much more widely +recognized, should the attorney-general resign. There can be no doubt of +your succeeding him. No one else stands so close to the place. You shall +have it without fail if any influence can aid you. And then, when things +are as we wish them to be in this vicinity, we will send you to Congress +to look after our larger interests. But in order to do this, we must +both keep a keen lookout beforehand--there must be no mistakes. It might +be well for you to meet me to-morrow at Anvil Rock. I shall pass there +at twelve o'clock on my way to Duff's Fort. You can then tell me the +plans which these able gentlemen are now making. You will learn them +from your uncle. Take care to remember the smallest detail. Bear in +mind, my dear boy, that you will soon have this whole responsibility on +your own shoulders. You are now in excellent training for it. +Everything that passes between these brilliant lawyers must be of +personal value to you in the discharge of your future duties, and to me, +also, in order that I may serve you." + +William's chest swelled out with pride, and he held his head higher in +conscious rectitude. He had not a doubt of his ability to fill the +place, nor thought of doubting that he was doing what was right and wise +in being perfectly candid with Philip Alston. He thought it most likely +that he could secure the appointment without that gentleman's influence. +He was quite sure that he would not require any one's assistance in +filling it. Still, he was willing to pay all proper deference to an old +friend, and to the foster-father of the girl who was to be his wife. +These thoughts were an open book which Philip Alston read with another +queer smile, while thanking him for the promise to come to Anvil Rock. + +"I will leave you now," Philip Alston said. "I have business to-day, +also, at Duff's Fort. And you, left alone, will be free to join your +uncle and the distinguished gentlemen who are working with him." + +The two great lawyers had not seen Philip Alston up to the moment that +he turned to leave the court-house, when General Jackson's eagle eye +fell upon him. + +"Why, there's Philip Alston now!" he exclaimed in an undertone and with +a frown. "The splendid audacity of the magnificent rascal! Think of his +coming here--right under our noses--to-day, too, of all days! And he +knows perfectly well that we know him to be the leader, the originator, +the head and the brains of all this villany!" + +"Yes. But how are we going to prove it?" asked the attorney-general. +"Believing a thing and proving it are two different things. If I could +only once get my hand on a particle of evidence.--Do you suppose he +could have known what we were talking about?" with sudden uneasiness. +"He is intelligent enough to guess, without hearing a word. It is +scarcely possible that Judge Knox could have been so thoughtless as to +speak of our plans to his nephew--that solemn, pompous young fool who +was with Alston. Surely, even Robert Knox couldn't have been so +indiscreet in a matter of life and death, such as this!" + +"Not when he was sober; and he hasn't been drinking to-day. As for +yesterday--that is another matter," said General Jackson. "Robert Knox +always means to do exactly what is right, but what a man means is +sometimes very different from what he does, especially when he doesn't +know what he is doing." + + + + +IX + +PAUL'S FIRST VISIT TO RUTH + + +None of this strife had yet touched Cedar House. Even the hazy sadness +which had dimmed Ruth's bright spirits as she had watched the young +preacher ride away, had passed as quickly as mist before the sun. For it +is one of the mercies that happy youth never sees life's struggle quite +clearly, and that it is soon allowed to forget the fleeting glimpses +which may cloud its happiness for an instant. + +Her thoughts were now solely of the young doctor's coming. He had not +named the hour; the epidemic made him uncertain of his own time. But he +had said that he would come during the day, so that it was necessary to +be ready to receive him at any moment. And there were many pleasant +things to do in preparation for his coming. More roses were to be +gathered, and other flowers also, were blooming gayly among the sober +vegetables as if it were mid-summer. So that the first thing Ruth did +was to strip the garden, with David to help her and no one to hinder. + +The judge and William had gone away from the house as soon as breakfast +was over, saying they would try to return in time to see the visitor. +Miss Penelope was busy in seeing that the coffee-pot was washed with hot +water and rinsed with cold, and scoured inside and out till it shone +like burnished silver. The widow Broadnax, too, was as busy as she ever +was, sitting in her usual place in the chimney-corner, looking like some +large, clumsily graven image in dark stone, and watching her +half-sister's every movement without winking or turning her head. So +that Ruth and David were left to follow their own fanciful devices, free +to put flowers everywhere. They wrought out their fancies to the fullest +and the more fantastic, as the artistic instinct rarely fails to do in +its first freedom. When they were done, the great room of Cedar House +was an oddly charming sight, worth going far to see. Never before had it +been so wonderful, strange, and beautiful. It had now become an +enchanted bower of mingled bloom and fragrance, shadowed within yet open +to the sun-lit day and the flashing river. + +"There!" cried Ruth, looking round, with her head on one side. "There +isn't one forgotten spot for another flower. Now, I must run and dress. +And you must wait here till I come back, David, dear, for the doctor may +arrive at any moment, and somebody should be ready to welcome him. Why! +aunt Molly has actually followed aunt Penelope clear to the kitchen, so +that there is no one left but you. Don't go till I come back." + +She went up the broad, dark stairs, turning on almost every step to +look down over the room and drink in the beauty and sweetness. David, +also, drank it in still more eagerly, taking deep intoxicating draughts, +as the thirsty take cool, sparkling wine. He then sat quietly looking +about and waiting. His book was in his pocket, as it nearly always was +when not in his hand. But he had grown shy of reading "The Famous +History of Montilion--Knight of the Oracle, Son to the true Mirror of +Princes, the most Renowned Pericles, showing his Strange Birth, +Unfortunate Love, Perilous Adventures in Arms: and how he came to the +Knowledge of his Parents, interlaced with a Variety of Pleasant and +Delightful Discourse," since Ruth had laughed at it, and had laid the +blame for his weakness upon the romance. And then his craving for the +romantic and beautiful was satisfied for the moment by gazing about this +big, strange, shadowy, embowered room. Moreover, Ruth came back very +soon. When beauty is young, fresh, natural, and very, very great, it +does not need much time for its adornment. Ruth's toilet was like a +bird's. A quick dip in pure, cold water--a flutter of soft garments as +the radiant wings cast off the crystal drops--and she was ready to meet +the full glory of the sunlight. When she thus came smiling down the +stairs that day, with the dew of life's morning fresh upon her, David +turned from the flowers. + +"Yes, indeed! Isn't it a lovely frock!" she cried, running her hand +lightly over the big, puffy, short sleeve. "It is one of the last uncle +Philip had made in New Orleans, and fetched up the river. You might draw +this muslin through my smallest ring. See this dear little girdle--way +up here right under my arms--and so delicately worked in these pale blue +forget-me-nots, that look as if they were just in bloom. See!"--lifting +the gauzy skirt as a child lifts its apron--"Here is a border of the +forget-me-nots all around the bottom. But you are such a goose that you +don't know how pretty it is unless I tell you," pretending to shake him, +with trills of happy laughter. "All the same, you shall look at the +slippers, too! You shall see that the kid is as blue as the +forget-me-nots,--whether you want to or not!" drawing back the skirt and +putting out her foot. + +And the boy gazing at her face, forgot his bashfulness far enough to +admire the frock and the slippers as much as she thought they deserved. +Neither of these children of the wilderness knew how unsuitable her +dress was, that it had never been intended for wearing in the morning +anywhere, or for the forest at any time. Ruth had worn only the +daintiest and finest of garments all her life, without any regard for +suitableness. From her babyhood to this day of her girlhood, it had been +Philip Alston's pride and happiness to dress her as the proudest and +richest father might dress his daughter, in the midst of the highest +civilization. Ruth knew nothing else, and those who knew her would +scarcely have known her, seeing her otherwise. It was only the few +strangers stopping at Cedar House, on their way over the Wilderness +Road, who gazed at Ruth in wondering amazement. Naturally enough, those +who had never seen her before could not at first believe the evidence of +their own dazzled eyes. To them this radiant young creature in her rich, +delicate raiment could not seem real at first; she was too lovely, too +like an enchanting vision born of the dim green shadows of the forest, a +bewitching dryad, an exquisite sprite. + +Some such thoughts as these crossed the mind of Paul Colbert as he +looked at her through the open door. He had ridden up unheard, had +dismounted, tying his horse to a tree, and had then stood for several +minutes without being seen by Ruth or David. When he spoke, they thought +that he had just arrived. Ruth went forward to welcome him with the ease +and grace that marked everything she did. Nature had given her a pretty, +gentle dignity, and Philip Alston's cultured example had polished her +manner. She now did all the graceful offices of the hostess, quietly and +simply. She said how sorry she was that neither her uncle nor her cousin +was at home. They wished, she said, to be there when he came, so that +they might try to thank him for his kindness to her. But one or the +other would return very soon; both had hoped to do so before his +arrival. + +"It is early for a visit," Paul Colbert said, in a tone of apology; "but +I couldn't come at all to-day, unless I stopped now in passing." + +"Oh, no!" said Ruth, quickly. "It isn't very early." + +"And then I thought you might like to see this," he said. + +Rising, he stepped to her side, and gave her a sheet of paper torn from +his note-book and covered with writing. He did not return to the chair +which he had arisen from, but took another much nearer her own. + +"Poetry!" she said. "Is it something that you have written?" + +He smiled. "I have merely copied it. I saw the poem for the first time +an hour or so ago at Mr. Audubon's. It is new and has never been +printed. It was written by the young English poet, John Keats, to his +brother George Keats, who is a partner of Mr. Audubon in the mill on the +river. Mr. Keats and his wife are here now, the guests of Mr. Audubon. +The poem came in a letter which has just been received. I have copied a +part of it, and a few words from the letter, also. Mr. George Keats was +kind enough to allow me, and I thought you would like to see them. I +hadn't time to copy the entire poem, though it isn't very long." + +"It was very kind," said Ruth. "I am so glad to see it. May I read it +now? This is what the letter says," reading it aloud, so that David also +might hear. "If I had a prayer to make for any great good ... it should +be that one of your children should be the first American poet?" + +"The first English hand across the sea!" said Paul Colbert. + +Ruth read on from this letter of John Keats to his brother: "I have a +mind to make a prophecy. They say that prophecies work out their own +fulfilment." And then she read as much of "A Prophecy" as the doctor had +copied. + + * * * * * + + "Though, the rushes that will make + Its cradle are by the lake-- + Though the linen that will be + Its swathe is on the cotton tree-- + Though the woollen that will keep + It warm is on the silly sheep-- + Listen, starlight, listen, listen, + Glisten, glisten, glisten, glisten, + And hear my lullaby! + Child, I see thee! Child, I've found thee! + Midst the quiet all around thee! + Child, I see thee! Child, I spy thee! + And thy mother sweet is nigh thee. + Child, I know thee! Child no more, + But a poet ever-more! + See, see, the lyre, the lyre! + In a flame of fire + Upon the little cradle's top + Flaring, flaring, flaring, + Past the eyesight's bearing. + Wake it from its sleep, + And see if it can keep + Its eyes upon the blaze-- + Amaze, amaze! + It stares, it stares, it stares, + It dares what none dares! + It lifts its little hand into the flame + Unharmed and on the strings + Paddles a little tune and sings, + With dumb endeavor sweetly-- + Bard thou art completely; + Little child, + O' the western wild...." + +Ruth looked at Paul with shining eyes. "I thank you again for thinking +that I would like this," she said. + +"A little chap whom I saw last night made me feel like making a prophecy +that he would be the first Kentucky astronomer," said Paul, with a +smile. "He was hardly more than a baby, not much over two years old--a +toddling curly-head. Yet there he stood by the roadside, looking up at +the heavens, as solemn as you please. And he said that 'man couldn't +make moons.' I didn't hear him say this, but his brother repeated what +he said." + +"Yes, I know. You mean' little Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel. His people live +near here, over on Highland Creek. His father came there from Virginia. +He intended to bore for salt water, meaning to make salt. But he found +more interest in the wild multiflora roses that bloom all around the +Lick, and the bones of unknown animals buried fifty feet beneath the +surface of the earth--though the bones were not found just there--but +farther off at another Lick." + +"Then Master Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel is the true son of his father," +smiled Paul Colbert. "Neither seems commonplace enough to be content +with what everyday people find between heaven and earth." + +He said this idly, as we all speak to one another when casting about for +mutual interests before really knowing each other. Thus the talk drifted +for a few moments, with a shy word now and then from David. And +presently a chance reference to the epidemic brought a new light into +the doctor's eyes, and a new earnestness into his voice. + +"The fathers and mothers of the country are much alarmed for their +children," he said. "But there is far more need to be alarmed for +themselves. The Cold Plague attacks the strong rather than the weak. But +all the people, young and old, everywhere through the wilderness, are +almost frantic with terror. They fear infection from every newcomer. +There was a panic throughout this vicinity a few days ago, over the +landing of a flatboat, and the coming ashore of the unfortunates who +were on it. They were in a most pitiful plight. I hope never to see a +sadder sight than that poverty-stricken little family. But they were not +suffering from any disease more contagious than want; they were only +cold, wet, tired, hungry, and disheartened. The poor mother was sitting +on the damp sand near the water's edge, with her little ones around her, +when I found them. They were merely stopping to rest on their way from +another portion of the state, to the wild country on the other side of +the river." + +"We saw them, too, poor things," said Ruth, quickly, with pity in her +soft eyes. "Father Orin and Toby came by to tell us, and David and I +went at once to do what we could. I can't forget how the mother looked. +She was young, but had such a sad, haggard face, with such a prominent +forehead, and such steady gray eyes. She held a strange looking little +child on her lap. She said that her name was Nancy Lincoln, and she +called the baby 'Abe.' He couldn't have been more than two years of age, +but he looked up at Father Orin, and from his face to ours, like some +troubled little old man." + +"Yes, Father Orin and Toby were first to the rescue, as they always are. +I can't imagine when those two sleep, and I am sure they never rest when +awake." + +And then, seeing her interest and sympathy, he went on to tell of three +little ones, orphaned by the plague, and left alone and utterly +helpless, in a cabin on the Wilderness Road. As he spoke, he remembered +with a pang of self-reproach, that Father Orin was with them now and +waiting for him. He rose suddenly, saying that he must go, but a slight +noise at the door caused him to pause and turn. It was William Pressley +coming in, and Ruth went forward to meet him, and introduced him to the +doctor, who sat down again for a few moments. The two young men then +talked with one another as strangers do, of the current topics of the +day and the country, speaking mostly of the Shawnee danger--the one +subject then most earnestly and universally discussed throughout the +wilderness. The nearest approach to a personal tone was in William +Pressley's formal expression of thanks. Paul Colbert put these aside as +formally as they were offered, and in a moment more he got up to take +leave. Yet in that brief space the two men had begun to dislike each +other. + +This was natural enough on the part of William Pressley. It is indeed +the first instinct of his kind toward any equal or superior. When a +man's or a woman's vanity is so great that it instinctively and +instantly levies on all within reach--demanding incense--nothing can be +so dislikeful as a bearing which refuses to swing the censer. From its +very nature it must instantly resent any such conscious or unconscious +claim to equality, to say nothing of superiority. Those so afflicted +must of necessity like only their inferiors and must have only inferiors +for friends, if they have any friends at all. So that this is maybe the +real reason why many reasonably good and perfectly sincere men and +women go almost friendless through useful and blameless lives. And this +was William Pressley's natural feeling toward Paul Colbert. The honest, +sincere young lawyer could have forgiven the honest, sincere young +doctor almost any real sin or weakness and have liked him well enough; +but he could not forgive the polite indifference of his manner toward +himself, or his looking over his head at Ruth, or turning from him to +speak to David. Least of all could he forgive him for being at that +moment the most conspicuous figure in the whole region, on account of +his single-handed struggle with the mysterious disease, which, defying +the other doctors, had been devastating the new settlements of the +wilderness. Nor could the difference in their aims affect this feeling +in the least. To a nature like William Pressley's, anything won by +another is something taken from himself. Yet the dislike for Paul +Colbert, which thus hardened within him, had no taint of jealousy in the +ordinary sense of that term. He did not think of Ruth at all in the +matter. It did not occur to him to associate her with this stranger, or +with any one but himself. It was in keeping with his character for him +to be slower than a less vain man to suspect her--or any one whom he +knew--of personal preference for another than himself; for vanity of +this supreme order has its comforts as well as its torments. + +On the part of Paul Colbert, the feeling was wholly different, and +largely impersonal. It was merely the dislike that every busy man feels +for a new acquaintance which promises no interest, even at the outset. +Had he been less busy, and his mind more free, he might perhaps have +found some amusement in trying to find out how far this serious young +man was mistaken in his high estimate of himself. He thought at a first +glance that he was a good deal in error, but he also saw that he was +sincere in his conviction; so that the young doctor was tolerantly +amused at the lofty air of the young lawyer, without the slightest +feeling of real resentment. He made one or two straightforward, friendly +efforts to thaw the ice of William Pressley's manner. His own was +naturally frank and cordial. He always wished to be liked, which is the +natural wish of every truly kind nature. And then, above and beyond +this, was the right-minded lover's instinctive desire to secure the +good-will of all who are near the one whom he loves; for Paul Colbert +had fallen in love with Ruth, and he knew it, as few do who have fallen +in love at first sight. He could, indeed, have told the very instant at +which love had come--like a bolt from the blue. + +He was therefore more than willing to be friendly with William Pressley, +and already seeking a pretext to come again. He now said, turning to +Ruth with a smile: + +"Since you are fond of poetry, perhaps you will allow me to fetch you a +new volume of poems by a young Englishman, Lord Byron. A friend sent it +to me from London. He says it is being severely treated by the critics. +They say that they never would have believed that any one could have +been as idle and as worthless generally, as those 'Hours of Idleness' +prove the author to be. But I think you will like the poems, especially +one called 'The Tear.' It is said that the poet means to write something +about Daniel Boone." + +"There should be many tears in that poem," said Ruth, a shadow falling +over the brightness of her face. "To think of the poor old hero as he is +now makes the heart ache." + +"It should make us all ashamed," said Paul Colbert. "He gave us the +whole state, and we are not willing to give him back enough of it to +rest his failing feet upon, nor a log cabin to shelter his feeble body, +worn out in our service. It is the blackest ingratitude. It is a +disgrace to the commonwealth." + +"Pardon me," said William Pressley, with his cool smile; "but as I look +at the matter, there is no one but himself to blame. It is solely the +result of his own negligence and ignorance. He did not observe the plain +requirement of the law." + +"But, William," said Ruth, impulsively, with a brighter color in her +cheek, "just think! How could he know--a simple old hunter, just like a +little child, only as brave as a lion!" There was a quiver in her voice +and a flash in her soft eyes. + +"We can but hope that the state will remember what it owes," said the +doctor, moving toward the door. + +He felt that he had been tempted to linger too long. Father Orin was +still waiting for him in the desolate cabin where the Cold Plague had +left the three orphans. His conscience smote him for lingering, and yet +he could not leave, even now, without speaking again of the poems, and +saying that he would fetch the book and leave it the next time he rode +by Cedar House. + +When he was gone, Ruth looked at William Pressley in silent, troubled +perplexity. She was wondering vaguely why she had felt so +ashamed--almost as if she had done some shameful thing herself--when he +had spoken as he had done before the doctor about Daniel Boone. It must +have been plain to the visitor that she did not think as William +thought. And yet she flinched again, recalling the doctor's glance at +William, and wondered why it should have hurt her, as if it had fallen +upon herself. She was not old enough or wise enough to have learned that +the mere promise to marry a man makes a sensitive woman begin forthwith, +to feel responsible for everything that he says and does; and that this +is one of the deep, mysterious sources of the misery and happiness of +marriage. + + + + +X + +FATHER ORIN AND TOBY MEET TOMMY DYE + + +Under the spur of his conscience the young doctor rode fast. He was not +the man to let duty wait even on love, without trying to make amends. +But a sharper pang stung him when he reached the desolate cabin in which +the Cold Plague had left the orphans. + +It seemed to him that Toby, standing by the broken door, gave him a look +of reproach. Toby had not failed or been slow in doing his part; Father +Orin and he had already done all that they could, though this was +piteously little. The one had cut fire-wood from the near-by fallen +trees, and the other had drawn it to the cabin door, so that there was a +good fire blazing on the earthen hearth. But the rotting, falling logs +of the cabin's walls were far apart, the mud which had once made them +snug having dropped out; and the chilly, rising wind blew bitterly +through the miserable hut. The covers on the bed were few and thin, +although Father Orin had spread Toby's blanket over them. The three +little white faces lying in a pathetic row on the ragged pillows, lay so +still that the doctor was not sure they were alive, till the oldest +child, a boy of three, languidly opened his eyes, looked up unseeingly, +and wearily closed them again. + +There was a tightening in the doctor's throat when he turned away, and +he was glad to smile at Father Orin's housekeeping. The priest certainly +had left nothing in his power undone, to keep life in the frail little +bodies. On the hearth was such food as he had been able to prepare, +carefully covered to keep it warm. As the young man's gaze thus wandered +sadly about the cabin, his eyes encountered the old man's. The laughter +with which he was fighting emotion died on his lips, and their hands met +in a close clasp. + +"The poor little things!" the young man said. "Ah, Father, it is wild +work--this making of a state. The soil of Kentucky should bear a rich +harvest. It is being deeply sown in pain and sorrow, and well-watered +with tears and blood." + +They stood silent for a moment, looking helplessly at the bed and the +little white faces. + +"What shall we do?" then asked Father Orin. "These children can't stay +here through another night. That wind blows right over the bed, and +there is no way to keep it out. They could hardly live till morning. And +yet they may die on the way if we try to take them to the Sisters at +once." + +"That is their only chance. We are bound to take the risk. We must do +our best to get them to the Sisters as quickly as possible. Women know +better than doctors how to take care of babies. What is there to put +round them--to wrap them in?" + +There were no wrappings, nothing that could be used for the purpose, +except the bed covers and Toby's blanket. The men took these and with +awkward tenderness covered the helpless, limp little bodies as well as +they could. Father Orin then went out of the cabin, and with a nod +summoned Toby to do his part. When the priest was seated in the saddle, +the doctor turned back to the bed, and lifting one of the three limp +little burdens, carried it out and carefully placed it in Father Orin's +arms. + +"But you can't carry both of the others," said the priest, in sudden +perplexity. "And we can't leave one here alone while we take the others +and return. Maybe it would be better to take one at a time. I can either +stay or go." + +"Oh, no, indeed! I can take these two easy enough--one on each arm. They +weigh nothing--poor little atoms--and I don't need a hand for the reins. +My horse often goes in a run with them thrown over the pommel. He went +on a bee-line with them so last night." + +With both arms thus filled with the helpless morsels of humanity, he had +no trouble in seating himself in the saddle. He laughed a little, +thinking what a spectacle they must make; and Father Orin laughed too, +with the shamefacedness that the best men feel when they do such +gentle things. And then the strange, pathetic journey through the +wilderness began. + +[Illustration: Father Orin and Toby.] + +"Steady, Toby. That's right, old man," said the priest, now and then. + +The doctor kept a close, anxious watch over the child in Father Orin's +arms, and frequently glanced down at the two little faces lying in the +hollow of his own arms. Any one of the three,--or all of them--might +cease to breathe at any moment. It seemed to both the anxious men that +they were a long time in going to the Sisters' house, although the +distance was but a few miles. When the log refuge first came in sight +through the trees, they breathed a deep sigh of relief in the same +breath. The Sisters, who had been warned, saw them coming, and ran to +meet them, and took the babies from their arms. When the little ones had +been borne in the house and put to bed, the doctor sat down beside them +to see what more might be done. But the priest, without rest or delay, +set out on another errand of mercy. Toby, needing no word or hint, at +once quickened his pace, knowing full well the difference between this +business and that which was just finished, so far as they were +responsible. + +"You're right, old man. Keep us up to the mark, right up to the mark," +chuckled Father Orin. "I'm mighty tired, and I'm afraid I might shirk if +you would let me." + +As he bent down with a bantering chuckle to pat the horse's inflexible +neck, a man's voice suddenly hailed them from the darkening woods lying +at their back. + +"Hello! Hello! Hold on!" the unseen man shouted. + +They turned quickly and stood still, looking in the direction from which +the shouting came. A horseman soon appeared under the trees and came +galloping after them, and when he had drawn nearer, the priest saw, with +some annoyance, that it was Tommy Dye. As he reined up beside them, Toby +turned his head slowly and gave the horse precisely the same look that +Father Orin gave the rider. Toby wanted to have nothing more to do with +a tricky race-horse than Father Orin wished to have to do with a shady +adventurer. + +Tommy Dye looked at them both with a grin. "I saw you just now--you and +the new doctor--a-toting them there youngsters." + +Father Orin straightened up, feeling and showing the embarrassment and +indignation that every man, lay and clerical alike, feels and shows at +being seen by another man acting as a nurse to a child. + +"Well, what of it?" he retorted, as naturally as if he had never worn a +cassock. + +Tommy Dye grinned again, more broadly than before. He took off his hat +and rubbed his shock of red hair the wrong way. The humor of the +recollection became too much for him, and he roared with laughter. Toby +of his own indignant accord now moved to go on, and Father Orin gathered +up the reins saying rather shortly that he had urgent business, and must +be riding along. + +"I say--wait a minute. What makes you in such an all-fired hurry?" Tommy +Dye called after them. + +Toby stopped reluctantly, and he and Father Orin waited with visible +unwillingness, until Tommy Dye came up again and stammeringly began what +he had to say. He did not know how to address a priest. He had never +before had occasion to speak to a churchman of any denomination. So that +he now plunged in without any address at all: + +"I say--who pays for them there youngsters, yonder?" he blurted. + +Father Orin merely looked at him in silence for a moment, and then +gathered up the reins once more. + +Tommy Dye saw that there was something amiss, that he had made some +mistake, and not knowing what it was, he resorted to the means which he +usually employed to set all matters right. He hastily plunged his hand +in the outer pocket of his coat, and then dropped the bottle back in its +place still more hastily, after another glance at the priest. + +"Well, I thought you might like it," he said with a touch of defiance, +feeling it necessary to assert himself. "When a man's face is as red as +yours, I don't see why a fellow mightn't ask him to take a drink." + +Father Orin laughed with ready good humor. + +"My face is red, my friend. I can't deny that fact; but the redness +comes from a thin skin and rough weather. What is it you want? I haven't +time to wait." + +"Say, I kinder thought, seeing you and the doctor with them babies just +now,"--grinning again at the comical recollection--"that maybe you would +let me come into the game. I'd like to take a hand in the deal, if +there's room for another player. I'll put up the stakes right now." His +hand went into his breeches pocket this time. "Here's the roll I won on +the fall races. Put it all up on the game. What's the odds? Come easy, +go easy." + +He held out the money. "I saw you at the court-house, too," he added +sheepishly, as if trying to excuse what he did. + +"I beg your pardon, sir," said Father Orin, gravely. "I didn't +understand. I've done you great injustice." + +"Hey? What did you say?" + +"The Sisters would be only too glad to use this money for those +children, and for other little ones just as helpless and needy," +murmuring something about the use purifying the source. "But I want you +to take it to them yourself, and give it to them with your own hands." + +"Me! Old Tommy Dye!" + +The coarse face actually turned pale under its big freckles. Its dismay +was so comical that Father Orin laughed till the woods rang with his +hearty, merry voice. Toby turned his head in sober disapproval of such +unseemly levity, and Tommy Dye was a good deal miffed. + +"'Pears to me you are mighty lively--and most of the time, too," he +said, in a tone of offence, tinged with wonder. + +"Why not?" said the priest, still chuckling. "Why shouldn't I be +lively?" + +Tommy Dye hesitated, more puzzled now than angry. "Well, you see, your +job has always seemed to me just about the lonesomest there is." + +Father Orin began to laugh again, but he was hushed by the soft, sweet +pealing of the Angelus through the shadowed forest. The gambler also +listened, with a softening change in the recklessness of his face. + +"The sound of that bell always makes me feel queer," he stammered. "It +sets me to thinking about home, too,--and home folks. I'm blamed if I +can see how it is. I never had any home, and if I've got any kin-folks, +I don't know where they live. But anyhow, that's the way the ringing of +that bell always makes me feel. Say! there's lots of things about your +church that come over a fellow like that. Now there the very name of +that little house back yonder amongst them trees--Our Lady's Chapel. +That's just it--just to the notch what I mean--there's something kind +of homelike in the name itself. And that's the very difference between +your church and the other churches. The Protestant church seems real +lonesome, like a sort of bachelor's hall. The Catholic church makes you +feel at home, because there's always a mother in the house." + +"Take care!" exclaimed the priest. "But I am sure you don't mean to be +irreverent, my friend. And about your generosity to the orphans. Here, +let me give the money back. I am in earnest in asking you to give it to +the Sisters with your own hands. When they see you and you see them, you +will both understand each other better than if I were to try ever so +long and hard to explain." + +He looked at Tommy Dye for a moment with a returning smile, but the pity +of it all put the humor aside. + +"The doctor will be coming along in a moment--ah, there he comes now! I +will ask him to go with you to see the Sisters. I am sorry that I cannot +turn back with you myself. I should be glad to." + +It did not take long to state the case to the doctor, who readily agreed +to do what the priest asked. Tommy Dye was by this time so thoroughly +cowed by the situation in which he thus found himself that he no longer +resisted. There was one uncertain instant when, seeing the Sisters +appear in the door, he was undecided whether to run away or go on. But +he was afraid to flee, with the Sisters' eyes upon him, and the doctor +led him into the house. The ladies had been frightened by the doctor's +unexpected and speedy return; but he soon quieted their fears, and made +them happy by telling them the reason of his turning back. Sister +Teresa, the Lady Superior, keenly touched, quickly turned to Tommy Dye +and he handed her the money in awkward haste. + +"How good of you! How generous--how noble! Ah, you don't know how much +good this will do," she said, with her eyes full of tears. "We thank you +with all our hearts for ourselves and for the children." + +"Thank _you_,--ma'am," stammered Tommy Dye, scarlet, and almost dumb. + +None of the many sins of which he had been suspected had ever made him +feel nearly so uncomfortable as he felt now. None of the many sins of +which he had been convicted had ever made him look half so guilty as he +looked now. + +"You mustn't call me 'ma'am,'" said Sister Teresa. "You must call me +Sister, and Sister Elizabeth and Sister Angela are your sisters, too. +You must always think of us as your real sisters, and the little ones +belong to you after this, as much as they do to us. You must always +remember that. Will you come into the other room and see them? Or I will +fetch--" + +But Tommy Dye could not endure any more. He turned with hardly a word, +and fled in desperate haste. The Sisters gazed after him in surprise, +and with a good deal of alarm, until Paul Colbert told them about him, +who and what he was, of his meeting with Father Orin, and the whole +story of the money. + +"The poor fellow," said Sister Teresa, softly. "We will pray that the +gift may bring him some of the good that it will do the children. Yes, +we will hereafter remember him, also, in the prayers for our +benefactors," turning her gentle, smiling gaze on the young doctor. + +And then he reddened almost as suddenly as Tommy Dye had done, and he +likewise was hastening to make his escape when Sister Teresa called him +back, to ask if he would not be passing Cedar House on the way home. He +said that he would, reddening again. Whereupon the Sister begged as a +favor, that he would stop at the door and tell Ruth to come on the next +day, if possible, to look at the sewing which Sister Angela was doing +for her. + +"Sister Angela is a wonderful needle-woman," Sister Teresa could not +help adding with modest pride. "She learned to sew and to do the finest +embroidery while she was studying in a convent in France. She could earn +a great deal of money for the little ones if we were where there were +more patrons who wished to have such fine sewing done. But nobody in +this wild country ever wants it except Mr. Alston for Ruth." + +"Mr. Alston for Ruth," Paul Colbert repeated, wonderingly. + +"Oh, yes. He thinks nothing is fine enough for Ruth," said Sister +Teresa, simply. "And he pays anything that Sister Angela asks. He never +says a word about the price. Sometimes I fear we ask too much. But then, +the children need so many things, and we have so few ways of earning +money. You won't mind stopping to tell Ruth, doctor? Ask her to come +early to-morrow morning, please. And another thing, if it isn't too much +trouble. Tell her to bring more of the finest thread lace." + +This was the first time that Paul Colbert had heard Philip Alston's name +associated with Ruth. It was a shock to hear the names called in the +same breath, for he already knew as much of Philip Alston as any one was +permitted to know. He was aware of the suspicion which blackened his +reputation. He had learned this on first coming to the country. Father +Orin, when asked, had told him something of the reasons for the general +distrust and fear of the man. But the doctor himself had never seen him, +and, naturally enough, thought of him as the usual coarse leader of +lawlessness, only more daring and cunning, perhaps, than the rest of his +kind. Thus it was that trying to understand only bewildered the young +man more and more, so that he was still filled with shocked wonder when +he came within sight of Ruth's home. + +The day was nearing its close. In the forest bordering the bridle-path, +dark shades were noiselessly marshalling beneath the great trees. But +the sunset still reddened the river, and the reflected light shone on +the windows of Cedar House. He glanced at her chamber window before +seeing that she stood on the grass by the front door, giving the swan +bits of bread from her fingers while the jealous birds, forgetting to go +to roost, watched and scolded from the low branches overhead. But she +had seen him a long way off and looked up as he approached. + +"Isn't he a bold buccaneer?" she said, with a smile, meaning the swan. +"We thought at first that he couldn't be tamed--Mr. Audubon, too, +thought he couldn't--and we clipped his wings to keep him from flying +away. And now he wouldn't go. See! He is the most daring creature. Why, +he will go in the great room before everybody and walk right up to aunt +Penelope when she's making the coffee, without turning a feather!" + +It was not till he was leaving that Paul remembered the Sister's message +which had served him as a pretext for stopping. And he was sorry when he +had given it, for a shadow instantly came over the brightness of Ruth's +beautiful face. Riding on to his cabin he wondered what could have cast +the shadow. + + + + +XI + +THE DANCE IN THE FOREST + + +She did not go on the next morning. That day had been chosen for the +dance in the forest, one of the two merrymakings dearest to the hearts +of those earliest Kentuckians. The May party came first, with its +crowning of the queen of love and beauty and its dance round the +May-pole; and after that this festival of dancing and feasting under the +golden trees. + +Both of these were held as regularly as the opening of the spring +flowers and the tinting of the autumn leaves. No one ever asked why or +when they were first begun; it was never the way of the Kentuckians to +ask any questions about anything that they had always been used to. And +indeed, had they tried ever so hard, they could hardly have found in +their own history the origin of these ancient customs. Those must have +been sought much farther back than the coming of those first settlers +into the wilderness,--as far back, perhaps, as the oldest traditions of +the purest stock of the old English yeomanry from which these people +were sprung. For in their veins throbbed the same warm red blood, +which, having little to do with the tilling of the soil or the building +trade, had everything to do with the fighting of battles and the making +of homes. For in their strong simple hearts was the same love of country +that bore England's flag to victory, and the same love of the fireside +that made peace as welcome as conquest. + +And as these old English fighters had danced with their sweethearts on +the greensward in the intervals between wars, so these fighters of the +wilderness now went on with the dance in the forest just as if there had +been no fierce conflict at hand. They might be called to fight to-morrow +and they would be ready, but they would dance to-day, just as their +forefathers had done. To go elsewhere than to the dance on the morning +selected for it was, therefore, not to be thought of by any young person +of the neighborhood. Ruth had asked David to take her, explaining that +William Pressley could not accompany her quite so early as she wished to +go. He had business which would detain him, she explained with a painful +blush. And then, when she had said this with a troubled look, she +flashed round on the boy, demanding to know why William should not do +whatever he thought best. + +"William always has a good reason for everything he does, or doesn't do. +He is never neglectful of any duty. Never!" with her blue eyes, which +were usually like turquoises, flashing into sapphires. "He takes time to +think--time to be sure that he is right. He isn't forever rushing into +mistakes and being sorry, like you and me!" + +In another moment she laughed and coaxed, patting his arm. + +"Do be ready, David, dear, and wear your nicest clothes," she said, in +her sweetest way. "And no girl there will have a handsomer gallant than +mine, than my Knight of the Oracle, my--" + +The boy teased but smiling ran away to do her bidding, as he always did. +He had no clothes besides the worn suit of homespun which he was then +wearing, except one other of buckskin, gayly fringed on the sleeves and +on the outer seam of the breeches. This had been his pride till of late. +But he now took it down from its peg behind his cabin door and eyed it +with new dissatisfaction. Fashions were changing in the wilderness. +Gentlemen no longer clothed themselves in the skins of wild beasts, nor +even in the coarse homespun. Not many, to be sure, were dressed like +Philip Alston; but David had lately seen Mr. Audubon hunting in velvet +knee-breeches and white silk stockings, with fine ruffles over his +hands. That gentleman had laughed at himself for doing it, but the sight +had pleased the boy's taste and gratified his craving for everything +refined and beautiful. It humiliated him to have no choice between the +shabby homespun and the fantastic buckskin. But he tried to find comfort +in thinking that he would have a boughten suit before very long. The +judge had given him a calf. The master of Cedar House was always kind +when he did not forget, as has already been said, and he was most +generous at all times. The calf was now ready for sale to the first +passing buyer of cattle. Nevertheless, David sighed as he put on the +buckskin suit, wishing, as only the young can wish for what they desire, +that he had the boughten suit then to wear to the dance in the forest. + +Yet Ruth smiled at him as if she were well pleased with his looks. There +were, to be sure, certain tangles in the gay fringes for her deft +fingers to untangle. There were, of course, many swift little touches to +be given here and there, the caressing touches that no true woman can +withhold from the dress of a man whom she is fond of. So that David's +buckskin suit suddenly seemed to him just what it should be--as all that +a man wears or has or is always does seem, when a woman's caressing +touches have convinced him that everything is right. Indeed, David +forgot to think any more of his own clothes or of himself. Looking at +Ruth he thought only of her. + +He did not know what it was that she wore. He did not know that the +muslin of her dress had cost an hundred francs the yard. He did not know +how charmingly odd the mode of its make was, since Ruth's little hands +had planned it out of her own pretty head in enchanting ignorance of the +fashion. He knew nothing of the value of the three-cornered kerchief of +white lace which tied down her gypsy hat. He did not notice that the +flowers on her hat were primroses, or that the long gloves meeting the +short sleeves and the slender little slippers peeping from beneath her +skirt, were both of the finest primrose kid. He saw only the beauty of +her face smiling at him from under the gypsy hat, the sweetness of her +red lips, and the charm of her blue eyes. And she seeing only the look +that she had seen in every man's eyes ever since she could remember, was +not made vain thereby, as a less beautiful girl might have been. She +took it all for granted and thought no more about it. Rising on the tips +of her toes, she put back an unruly lock of David's hair with a last +loving little pat. + +"There now! We are all ready," she said, with a happy sigh. + +"Yes, the coffee is the first thing on the top of the basket," said Miss +Penelope, coming in from the kitchen. "That's it in the biggest bottle. +You can have it warmed over the campfire. I shouldn't like to drink +warmed-over coffee, myself. But then nobody in this house ever thinks +as I do about anything. It isn't my notion of what's right and +proper--to say nothing of Christian--to be a-dancing when everybody +ought to be a-praying. Not a day passes without something in the way of +a warning. Now there is the big hole that they've just found in the +earth right over yonder--a hollowness without end or bottom, and as dark +as the bottomless pit. That's what it ought to be called, too--instead +of the Mammoth Cave. For if that don't show that there is nothing but a +dreadful, empty shell left of this awful world, I don't know what any +true sign is. But all the same, I know very well that nobody in this +house pays any attention to what I say. Howsomever, the works of the +light-minded who are a-dancing on the edge of perdition don't make any +difference in my plain duty. And I am a-going to do it as near as I can +so long as I breathe the breath of life. When my cold, stiff hands are +crossed under the coffin-lid, nobody left 'pon top of this mournful +earth ever can say that I sat by, like a bump on a log, and never said a +word when I saw all these awful calamities a-coming." + +Thus voicing these vague alarms in her sweetest tones, Miss Penelope +turned nervously and glanced at her half-sister. She was always afraid +of her, as very talkative, restless people often are of those who say +little and watch a great deal. But the widow Broadnax seemed to be +dozing among her cushions, and Miss Penelope felt it quite safe to go +on with the softly uttered threats which scattered the small dark +servitors, who were still flying about her like a flock of frightened +blackbirds, although the basket was packed. + +"No," said Miss Penelope, "it don't make any difference in my duty. If +folks won't listen to what I am bound to say, that is no fault of mine. +My duty is to give warning when I see true signs of what's a-going to +happen. For a true sign is as plain as daylight to me. I never had a +caul, and I don't lay any claim to second sight. But I know what it +means when I hear the dogs a-baying the midnight moon. I know, too, +what's a-coming to pass when the death-watch goes thump, thump, thumping +in the wall right over my head the whole blessed night. And more than +that, I was a-looking for both these true signs of bad luck before I +heard 'em. That big black ring round the comet's head that I've seen for +a night or two back told me plain enough what to expect. And look at the +things that have already happened--all over the country. Nobody in this +world of trouble surely ever saw the like. Just look at the twins!" + +This was the chance that the widow Broadnax had been waiting and +watching for in motionless silence. She seized it as suddenly as a +seemingly sleepy cat seizes an unwary mouse. + +"I don't see any sign of bad luck in twins, or triplets either, for my +part," she said hoarsely and loudly. "They are every one of 'em bound to +be whole brothers and sisters. To my mind, it don't make any difference +how big a family is so long as it ain't mixed up." + +Ruth and David seized the basket, and escaped--laughing and +running--carrying it between them. + +The spot chosen for this Indian Summer dance in the forest was near +Cedar House. It was one of the natural open spaces, of which there were +many in the wilderness, and it overlooked the river. High walls of thick +green leaves enfolded it upon three sides, and it had a broad level +floor of greener sward. It was sun-lit when the shadowed woods were +dark. In the spring the greensward was gay with wild flowers; for it was +in these open spaces between the trees that Nature displayed her most +brilliant floral treasures which would not bloom in the shade. In the +fall the leafy walls were more brilliant than the flowery sward, and +they now rose toward the azure dome, gorgeously hung with bronzed and +golden vines, blossoming here and there with vivid scarlet leaves. Below +ran a dazzling border of shrubs--the sumac, which does not wait for the +coming of the frost king to put on its royal livery; the sassafras +already gleaming with touches of fire; the wild grape as red as the +reddest wine, and rioting over all the rich green; the bright wahoo with +its graceful clusters of flame-colored berries overrunning its soberer +neighbors; the hazel, the pawpaw, the dog-wood, the red-bud, the +spice-wood, the sweet-strife, the angelica. On the west the velvet turf +began to unroll gently downward toward the river. The quiet stream ran +with molten silver on that flawless October day, and deep shadows of +royal purple hung curtains of wondrous beauty above the water. Back +under the trees the shadows were darkly blue, bluer even than the +cloudless sky arching so high above the tall tree-tops. + +Nature indeed always made more preparations and much finer ones, for the +dance in the woods than the simple people of the wilderness ever thought +of making. The word merely went from one log house to another, fixing +the day for the dance. The hunters' daughters with the help of their +mothers, filled the big baskets with simple good things on the night +before; for the young hunters came very early to go with their +sweethearts to the festival, and there was no time to spare on the +morning of the dance. The dancing sometimes began at nine o'clock in the +morning. The three black men from Cedar House who played for the dancing +were in their places long before that hour, with their instruments +already in tune. One had an old fiddle, another the remnant of a guitar, +and the third a clumsy iron triangle which he had made himself. +Nevertheless they were famous for their dance music and known +throughout the wilderness to all the dancers. Those old-time country +fiddlers--all of them, black or white--how wonderful they were! They +have always been the wonder and the despair of all musicians who have +played by rule and note. The very way that the country fiddler held his +fiddle against his chest and never against his shoulder like the trained +musician! The very way that the country fiddler grasped his bow, firmly +and squarely in the middle, and never lightly at the end like a trained +musician! The very way that he let go and went off and kept on--the +amazing, inimitable spirit, the gayety, the rhythm, the swing! No +trained musician ever heard the music of the country fiddler without +wondering at its power, and longing in vain to know the secret of its +charm. It would be worth a good deal to know where and how they learned +the tunes that they played. Possibly these were handed down by ear from +one to another; some perhaps have never been pent up in notes, and +others may have been given to the note reader under other names than +those by which the country fiddlers knew them. This is said to have been +the case with "Old Zip Coon," and the names of many of them would seem +to prove that they belonged to the time and the country. But there is a +delightful uncertainty about the origin and the history of almost all of +them--about "Leather Breeches" and "Sugar in the Gourd" and "Wagoner" +and "Cotton-eyed Joe," and so on through a long list. + +On this day the musicians sat in a row on a fallen tree, and the grass +beside it was very soon worn away, and the earth before it beaten as +hard as any ballroom floor under the gay and ceaseless patting of their +feet. On the other side of the wide level space was a green bower made +of freshly cut boughs. This was a retiring room, intended for the use of +any fair dancer whose hair might fall into disorder or whose skirt might +be torn in the dancing. The baskets were all put out of sight till +wanted, hidden beneath the bushes that bordered the open space. But now +and then, when the soft warm breeze swayed the leafy screen of green and +gold and crimson, there were tantalizing glimpses of the folded +table-cloths covering the baskets, like much belated or very early +snowdrifts. + +Most of the hunters' daughters came to the dance riding behind their +sweethearts, after the pleasant custom of the country. They were fine +girls for their station in life, and well fitted for the hardships which +must be their portion. They were large, strong, brave, simple, +good--healthy in body and mind, warm in heart, and cool in courage, with +pleasing faces roughened by exposure, and capable hands hardened by +work. They were dressed in homespun as became their looks, their means, +and manner of living. In all things these future mothers of a great +state were the natural and suitable mates for the gallant young +state-makers. And each one of the young hunters now standing beside +them, held his head high as he led out the girl of his choice, feeling +his own right to be prouder and happier than any of his fellows. + +The dancing had begun before Ruth and David came, although they were so +early. The spot being near, they had walked through the forest swinging +the basket between them like two happy children, and coming to the open +space, they stopped for a moment and looked on, thinking what a pleasing +scene it was. The girls, tripping through the dance, smiled at Ruth as +they passed. They knew her very well, and had seen her so often that +they no longer looked at her as plump brown partridges might look at an +exquisite bird of paradise. And then, they felt that Ruth was +unconscious of any difference between herself and them. There was a +sweet, cordial friendliness about her, an innate warm-hearted, magnetic +charm which won women as well as men. The hunters' daughters liked her +because they knew that she liked them for, after all, most of us get +what we give in our larger relation to humanity--seldom, if ever, +anything else, either more or less. Those who truly love their kind can +never be really hated: those who hate their kind can never be really +loved. The balance may waver one way or the other at times, but it +cannot fail to weigh truly at last. + +Ruth danced first with David and then with one of the bashful young +hunters. But all the while she was looking toward the opening in the +undergrowth, expecting to see Paul Colbert. He had said that he would be +there, and presently she saw him standing in the opening between the +trees, with the shining river at his back. He was wearing his best and +Ruth thought with a leap of her heart, that she had not known till now +how handsome he was. His hair was fairer than she had thought, as fair +as hers was dark, and she liked it all the better for that. His eyes +were gray and clear and steady and fearless. He had a proud way, too, of +throwing up his head, as if he tossed away all petty thoughts. She saw +him do this as he crossed the greensward, coming straight to her side. +It pleased her that he did not stop for a single glance round. She felt +his unlikeness to another man, when she saw that he had no thought of +any eyes that might be upon himself. And because of this comparison, and +the pang of uneasiness and self-reproach which it brought, she blushed +when her eyes met his as she had not done heretofore. + +There is little use in trying to put into words what he thought of her, +or what any true lover thinks of the beloved. The rose of the dawn, and +the breath of the zephyr were not glowing or delicate enough to portray +Ruth as she was to Paul that day. The beauty of her face under the gypsy +hat; the witchery of her dark blue eyes smiling up at him; the pink +roses blooming on her fair cheeks; the red rose of her perfect +mouth--all this gave him at a glance a likeness of her to lay away in +his memory: a vivid flashing, imperishable treasure to keep forever. + + * * * * * + +The gayety of the Indian Summer dance was now at its height. The mellow +sunlight fell straight down through the arching green branches of the +bordering trees. The earth, still warm with the summer's fires, lifted a +cool face to the soft breeze. The dancers growing tired and hungry about +noon, sat down on the greensward in little groups, while the baskets +were taken from their hiding-places and the simple feast was soon +spread. The black men served it with the coffee which they had heated +over the campfire built at some distance in the forest. The homespun +linen of the table-cloths looked very white on the dark green of the +rich grass. But the single square of fine damask from Ruth's basket was +not whiter than its humble neighbors, and she did not think of her finer +linen or richer food. With Paul Colbert seated on the grass at her right +hand, and David at her left, she took what was given her, knowing only +that she was quite content and perfectly happy. She was indeed so happy +that she was less gay than usual, for the greatest happiness makes least +noise. She listened to all that was said, saying almost nothing herself. +Paul's eyes hardly left her face, and he instantly observed that a +shadow suddenly clouded it, the same shadow which had fallen over it on +the evening before. Turning his eyes in the direction of her gaze, he +saw William Pressley standing not far away. He did not know that the +white-haired gentleman who stood beside the young man was Philip Alston, +but he noted that the shadow quickly left Ruth's face at sight of the +older man, when, brightening and smiling, she beckoned the newcomers to +approach. And he also saw what she seemed not to see, that the older man +turned a frowning face on the younger, and said something which was not +cordially received. Had he known William Pressley better, he would have +seen the dignified protest that was in every line of his large +slow-moving figure as he followed Philip Alston across the wide open +space to Ruth's side. To her, William's very step said as plain as words +could have spoken that he was used to being misunderstood, but none the +less sure of having done his whole duty. She looked up with the little +uneasy flutter which this manner of his always caused her. She so craved +love and approval that a dark look made her tender heart ache, even +though she was unconscious of having done anything to deserve it. This +was nearly always the state of feeling between her betrothed and +herself, but up to this moment she had never doubted that her own +shortcomings were wholly to blame. She hurriedly drew her thin skirt +closer about her, nervously trying to make room for him between David +and herself. The boy and doctor rose to their feet as the two men +approached. Ruth sat still on the grass, lifting her blue eyes to +William Pressley's face with a timid, wistful, almost frightened glance. + +"You have met Doctor Colbert, William," she said quickly, and then she +turned with a smile that was like a flash of light. "And uncle +Philip--Mr. Alston--this is the doctor." + +Paul Colbert in his utter amazement took the hand which Philip Alston +held out. He could not have refused it had there been time to think, for +her eyes were on him, and there was no doubting her affection for Philip +Alston; that shone like sunlight on her face and thrilled in every +tender tone of her voice. The young doctor could scarcely believe the +evidence of his own eyes and ears. This Philip Alston! It was +incredible, impossible; there was certainly some mistake. Nevertheless +he hastily withdrew his hand and Philip Alston noted the haste, +understanding it as well as Paul Colbert himself. His own manner was +quiet and calm, showing none of the irritation which he felt at William +Pressley's negligence. He lost none of his graciousness through seeing +the young doctor's involuntary recoil. His intuitions were unerring; he +knew instantly that this newcomer was already acquainted with the +stories told about himself, but he cared little for that. He was +considering the interference with his plans which might come from the +sudden appearance of a young man of this young doctor's looks and +intelligence. Hardly half a dozen commonplace remarks had been exchanged +between them before he had recognized the unusual power of mind and body +which he might soon have to contend with. He turned and looked at +William Pressley and then back at Paul Colbert with a clouded brow, but +he glanced down with a smile when Ruth touched his arm. + +"Dearest uncle Philip," she said, "I am so--so--glad that you have come. +You are just in time to dance with me. You did once, you know, at the +May party, and none of the other girls had so courtly a partner. They +couldn't have because I wouldn't let them have you. I should be jealous +if you were to dance with any one else, and there is no one anywhere +like you." + +Looking up with her eyes full of affection she took his hand and pressed +it against her pink cheek. At the sight a stab of pain and a thrill of +fear went through the doctor's perplexed thoughts. He suddenly realized +that the girl's life was closely bound up with this man's. He felt that +any distrust of him must wound her, and although he still knew nothing +of the bond between them, he saw that there could be no question of its +being very close and strong. His first impulse was to try to persuade +himself that the suspicion against Philip Alston might be unfounded; as +it was certainly unproven. And then, finding himself unable to do this, +he felt tempted to put the whole problem of the man's guilt or innocence +aside, as no concern of his own. It is always the lover's temptation to +shut his eyes when he must choose between the neglect of duty and the +wounding of the woman he loves. And alas! this is a choice that comes +sooner or later, in one form or another, to all who love. The woman +sometimes can find an invisible thread leading through the labyrinth of +the feminine conscience which may help her to follow a middle course. +The man never has any such subtle resource and he knows, from first to +last, that he must do what is wrong if he does not do what is right. + +Paul Colbert's troubled perplexity grew deeper as he continued to look +at Philip Alston and to listen as he talked. The softness of his voice, +the culture that every word revealed, the intellectual quality of each +thought, the clear, calm, steady gaze of his fine eyes, the noble shape +of his distinguished head--all these things taken together almost made +the young doctor feel that Philip Alston was the victim of monstrous +calumny. And yet some unerring intuition told him that the terrible +things which he had heard were true. His gaze wandered from Philip +Alston to Ruth, and he grew sick. A sudden cold dampness gathered on his +forehead under all the mellow warmth of the sun. He began to wish that +he could get away long enough to clear his mind--to think. It was rather +a relief when Philip Alston suggested that William Pressley should lead +Ruth out for the next dance. Paul Colbert's gaze followed them as they +walked away across the sun-lit grass, but he scarcely knew that he was +looking at them till Philip Alston spoke. + +"They are a handsome, well-matched young couple, are they not?" he said +with a smile, and with his eyes on the young doctor's face. "You know, +of course, that they are to be married on Christmas Eve." + + + + +XII + +THE EVE OF ALL SOULS' + + +Ruth saw Paul Colbert when he passed Cedar House for the first time +without stopping. He was riding very fast, and she feared that the Cold +Plague must be growing worse. Still, a glance at her chamber window +would not have delayed him, and she wondered why he did not turn his +head. She was almost sure he must know that she always gave the birds +their supper on the window-sill at that hour. She did not know that he +had seen her without looking, and had borne away in his heart a picture +of her slight white form, framed by the sun-lit window, and surrounded +by the fluttering birds. Disappointed, wondering, and vaguely troubled, +she gazed after him as long as he was visible amid the green gloom of +the forest path. And then when he was lost to sight, she turned sharply +on the boldest blue jay. + +"Go 'way, you greedy thing! You startled me. I wasn't thinking about any +of you. How tiresome you all are! To teach you better manners, I am +going to throw this down to Trumpeter," leaning forward to see the swan +which stood on the grass below, anxiously watching everything that went +on above. "There! That is the last nice fat crumb." + +The day had seemed endlessly long. She went wearily down the stairs +again, as she had done many times since morning. Neither the judge nor +William was at home. Miss Penelope and the widow Broadnax were in their +accustomed places, and matters around the hearth were going forward as +usual. Miss Penelope had asked fiercely in her mildest tone, what +anybody could expect to become of any country, when one of the biggest +towns in it built a theatre before building any kind of a church, as +Louisville had done. The widow Broadnax had replied in her loudest, +roughest voice, that she supposed the people there, as well as +elsewhere, could keep on getting married two or three times, and mixing +up families that otherwise might have lived in peace, just as well +without a church as with one. But the girl listened listlessly and +unsmilingly, hardly hearing what was said. Going out of the room she sat +for a long time on the doorstep, watching the forest path with patient +wistfulness. But there was no sign of the young doctor's coming back and +it was a relief when David came up the river bank. He reminded her that +she had asked him to go with her to the Sisters' house, and she arose +and went indoors to get her bonnet. + +"You'd just as well take the orphans one of the biggest fatty gourds of +maple sugar," sighed Miss Penelope. "Ten to one none of us will ever +live to eat much of anything, with that comet a-hanging over us. It's +just as well to get ready as soon as you can, when you've been warned. I +know what to look for when I've dreamt of wading through muddy water +three times a-hand-running. Tell the Sisters that all the maple sugar +that was ever poured into fatty gourds couldn't hurt the children's +teeth now. The poor little things, and all of us, will have mighty +little use for teeth--or stomachs either, for that matter--if things +don't take a turn for the better a good deal sooner than I think they +will. For my part, I don't see what else anybody can expect with that +big black ring round the comet's head a-getting bigger and blacker every +night of our miserable lives." + +She called all the small cup-bearers,--for some unknown reason she never +called one or two without calling all,--and sent them running to the +smoke-house to fetch the fatty gourd. She threatened them fiercely in +her dovelike tones, saying what she would do if they loitered, or +stopped to put their little black paws in the sugar. But the cup-bearers +knew Miss Penelope quite as well as she knew them, and when they came +back with the fatty gourd they waited, as a matter of course, till she +gave each one of them a generous handful of the sugar, before handing +the gourd to David. + +The Sisters' house was within walking distance, and Ruth and David had +gone about half the way when they met Father Orin and Toby. These +co-workers were not moving with their usual speed on account of an +unwieldy burden. Tied on behind the priest's saddle was a great bag, +containing the weekly mail for the neighborhood. He went to the +postoffice oftener than any one else, and it had become his custom to +fetch the mail to the chapel once a week, and distribute it after +service on Sundays. When possible, he sent the letters of those who were +not of his congregation by some neighbor who was present; but he often +rode miles out of his way to deliver them with his own hand. It was in +carrying the mail on a bitter winter's day, when the earth was a +glittering sheet of ice, that he had fallen and broken his arm. It was a +serious accident, and would have disabled any one else for a long time, +but he was out again and as busy as ever within a few days, though he +had to carry his arm in a sling for several weeks. He now hailed the two +young people with his kind, merry greeting. + +"There's a great letter up at the convent," he said, when he came up +beside them. "The Sisters have got it, and they will show it to you. Ask +them to read it to you. That letter will have a place in Kentucky +history. This is where we must turn out. No, Toby, old man, there's no +time for you to be listening and enjoying yourself, nor for nibbling +pea-vine, either. Move on, move on! Good-by, my children. Don't forget +to ask the Sisters to show you the bishop's letter." + +Sister Teresa held it in her hand when she came to the door to meet +them. Both the girl and the boy had been her pupils, and she had formed +an attachment for them which had not been weakened by their leaving the +little school. Sister Elizabeth also hastened to receive them most +cordially. Sister Angela merely waved her hand through the window, but +the little faces peeping over the sill, and the tops of the little curly +heads bobbing up and down at her side, told why she could not come with +the others to meet the welcome guests. Sister Teresa did not wait to be +asked to read the letter, she was too much excited over it to forget it +for a moment; its coming was the greatest event that the convent had +ever known. + +"This, my dear children," she began almost as soon as they were within +hearing, "is a letter from Bishop Flaget, the first bishop of Kentucky, +the first bishop of the whole northwest. Of course you must know, my +dears, that this is far too important a letter to have been written to +an humble little community like ours, or even to Father Orin, much as he +is esteemed. This is merely a copy of the letter which Bishop Flaget is +sending back to France, and the original was addressed to the French +Association for the Propagation of the Faith. It was written in June of +this year, soon after the arrival of his Reverence in Kentucky, but our +copy has reached us only to-day. Listen! This is what he says about his +coming to Bardstown: 'It was on the 9th of June, 1811, that I made my +entry into this little village, accompanied by two priests, and three +young students for the ecclesiastical state. Not only had I not a cent +in my purse, but I was compelled to borrow nearly two thousand francs in +order to reach my destination. Thus, without money, without a house, +without property, almost without acquaintances, I found myself in the +midst of a diocese, two or three times larger than all France, +containing five large states and two immense territories, and myself +speaking the language, too, very imperfectly. Add to this that almost +all the Catholics were emigrants, but newly settled and poorly +furnished.' Ah, but he was welcomed with all our hearts!" cried Sister +Teresa, with tears springing to her gentle eyes. "Listen to this, from +another letter, telling how he came to St. Stephen's. It is like a +beautiful painting--you can see how it looked! 'The bishop there found +the faithful kneeling on the grass, and singing canticles in English: +the country women were nearly all dressed in white, and many of them +were still fasting, though it was four o'clock in the evening; they +having indulged the hope to be able to assist at his Mass, and receive +the Holy Communion from his hands. An altar had been prepared at the +entrance of the first court under a bower composed of four small trees +which overshadowed it with their foliage. Here the bishop put on his +pontifical robes. After the aspersion of the holy water, he was +conducted to the chapel in procession, with the singing of the Litany of +the Blessed Virgin; and the whole function closed with the prayers and +ceremonies prescribed for the occasion in Roman Pontifical.' Ah, yes; we +did our best for him!" + +Sister Teresa's soft eyes were shining now behind her tears. + +"And hear this, also written by the same dear friend who sends us the +bishop's letter. The priest, M. Badin, to whom this letter refers, is in +charge of St. Stephen's, so that it was his duty as well as his pleasure +to make preparations for the bishop's coming. This letter says that: 'M. +Badin had for his lodgings one poor log house ... and it was with great +difficulty that he was enabled to build and prepare for his illustrious +friend, and the ecclesiastics who accompanied him, two miserable log +cabins, sixteen feet square: and one of the missionaries was even +compelled to sleep on a mattress in the garret of this strange episcopal +palace, which was whitewashed with lime, and contained no other +furniture than a bed, six chairs, two tables, and a few planks for a +library. Here the bishop still resides, esteeming himself happy to live +thus in the midst of apostolic poverty.'" The Sister broke off suddenly. +"But I must not allow you to stand out here, my dear children. It soon +grows chilly on these late fall evenings. Come indoors at once, my +dears. And then, Ruth, Sister Angela is very anxious to show you the +sewing which she has finished." + +"Oh, I know how beautiful it is without seeing it," said Ruth, with a +sudden shrinking; but she added hastily, "There is no such needle-woman +as Sister Angela anywhere." + +She followed the Sister into the larger of the two rooms which the house +contained. David bashfully stayed behind, lingering on the threshold, +and keeping man's respectful distance from the mysteries of feminine +wear. But the three white caps and the flower-wreathed bonnet drew close +together over the dainty garments, all a foam of lace and ruffles and +embroidery. David heard the terms rolling and whipping, and felling and +overcasting and hemstitching and herring-boning which were an unknown +tongue to him. Ruth praised everything, till even Sister Angela was +quite satisfied. That pretty young sister was indeed so elated that she +turned to admire Ruth's dress but the Sister Superior gently reminded +her that it was the eve of All Souls', when they and every one should be +thinking of graver things. + +"This year the souls and the safety of the living, as well as the repose +of the dead, will need all our prayers," said Sister Teresa. "There +seems no doubt of the war with the Shawnees. Ah me, ah me! And the Cold +Plague growing worse every day!" + +"But Doctor Colbert is curing that," said Ruth, eagerly. + +"As God wills, my daughter," said the Sister, making the sign of the +cross. "More recover, certainly, since he came. Before, the little ones +always died." + +"He told me that three babies were coming to you yesterday. Are they +here? The poor, poor little things! And may I see them, Sister? I should +like to help take care of them, if I might," Ruth said timidly, not +knowing that her pink cheeks bloomed into blush roses. + +The Sister led the way into the other room--the first orphan asylum in +the wilderness--and Ruth smiled and talked to the desolate little waifs +of humanity as brightly as she could with dim eyes and quivering lips. +She, herself, and David, also, had been like this. He had followed her +into the room, and was now standing by her side, so that she could clasp +his hand and hold it close. + +Walking homeward through the darkening shadows of the forest, she still +held his hand. Both were thinking sadly enough of their own coming into +this wild country, they knew not--whence or how or wherefore--and were +never to know. + +"Fathers and mothers must go suddenly when they leave their children +so," said Ruth, musingly. "Ours must have died--" + +"Or have been murdered!" David broke out fiercely. + +"No, no!" cried Ruth, shrinking closer to his side. "I could not bear to +think that." + +But the boy went on, as if speaking thoughts which had long rankled in +bitter silence. "It isn't so bad as to believe that they deserted us, or +died without leaving a word. Fathers and mothers who love their children +well enough to bear them in their arms through hundreds of weary miles +over high mountains and down long rivers, and into the depths of the +wilderness, would never desert them at the hard journey's end. Fathers +and mothers who loved their children so dearly could hardly be taken +away by lightning so quickly that they would not leave behind a single +token of their love. And we have never seen a sign showing that ours +ever lived. There is something wrong--something unaccounted +for--something that we have not been permitted to know!" + +"David, dear, dear David!" + +"I have always believed it--ever since I have been able to think. As +soon as I am old enough to speak like a man, I mean to demand the truth +from Philip Alston!" + +She dropped his hand and drew away from him with a look of wondering +distress. It was the one thing over which they had ever disagreed. + +"You must never again say anything of that kind to me, David," she said +firmly. "I beg that you will never say it to any one, never even think +it. For in thinking it, let alone saying it, you are not only unjust, +but ungrateful. What possible object could Philip Alston have in +concealing anything that he might know about you and me? Hasn't he +always been our best friend?" + +And then the quick anger which had flashed out of her loyalty turned to +gentle pleading. + +"I can't bear a word said against him, dear. And it grieves me to see +you making yourself unhappy over such useless brooding. What does it +matter, after all--our knowing nothing about ourselves, who we are, or +where we came from? We are happy, everybody is kind and good to us." + +They started at the sound of a voice calling her name, and they saw +William Pressley come out of the dark shadows beneath the trees, and +stand still, waiting for them to approach. + +"It is late, my dear, for you to be roaming about the woods like this," +he said, when they were near enough. + +He used the term of endearment in the tone of calm, moderate reproof +which a justly displeased, but self-controlled husband sometimes uses. +And Ruth felt the resentment that every woman feels at its unconscious +mockery. + +"Why, there isn't any danger," she said. "We haven't been out of sight +and hearing from Cedar House." + +"I was thinking of seemliness, not of danger," William Pressley replied +coldly. "And then Mr. Alston is waiting for you." + +Ruth moved nearer, and laid her hand on his arm, smiling rather timidly, +with conciliatory, upward glances. Her first effort, whenever they met, +was always to make something right--often before she could remember what +it was that she had done or not done to displease him. This feeling was +the natural attitude of a gentle, loving nature toward a harsh, unloving +one, and it was the most natural thing of all that he should mistake her +gentleness for weakness; that he should mistake her fear of giving +offence for a lack of moral courage. This is a common mistake often made +by those who care little for the feelings of others, about those who +care, perhaps, too much. And as the three young people walked along +toward Cedar House, Ruth gave David her left hand, and spoke to him now +and then, just as affectionately and freely as she had done while they +had been alone. William Pressley did not speak to the boy at all or +notice him in any way. He did not dislike him, for he never disliked +anything that was not of some importance. He disapproved of his +impractical, visionary character, and thought that it might have rather +an undesirable influence over Ruth. For this reason he tacitly +discouraged all intimacy between them, but he did not take the trouble +to express it and merely ignored the lad. And David, seeing how it was, +felt instantly and strongly, that being overlooked was harder to bear +than being misused--as most of us are apt to feel. + +"We have been at the Sisters' house," said Ruth, shyly, breaking a +strained silence. "They sent for me--to see the sewing that Sister +Angela has been getting ready for Christmas Eve." + +William Pressley looked down at her uplifted, blushing face, and smiled, +as the most self-centred and serious of men must do, when the girl who +is to be his wife speaks to him of her wedding clothes. + + + + +XIII + +SEEING WITH DIFFERENT EYES + + +It was on the boy's account that they had their first and last serious +quarrel a few hours later. This was by no means the first time that they +had openly disagreed, and had come to rather sharp words. Their views of +many things were too far apart for that to have been the case, but there +had never before been any great or lasting trouble by reason of their +difference of opinion. Ruth, gentle and yielding, was ever most timidly +fearful of being at fault; William, hard and unyielding, was always +perfectly certain of being in the right. It was therefore to be expected +that his opinions should generally rule, and that he should construe her +readiness to yield and her self-distrust, as proofs that he was not +mistaken. Rock-ribbed infallibility could hardly be expected to +comprehend the doubts that assail a sensitive soul. + +William, naturally enough, had never noted that in giving way, Ruth had +not turned far or long from anything involving a principle. The truth +was that she had merely evaded his intolerance of any and all difference +of opinion--as a deep stream quietly flows round an immovable +rock--only to turn gently back into its own course as soon as might be. +And even in doing this, she had put aside only her own opinions and +feelings and rights, never those of any one else. But this present +dispute over David was wholly unlike any that had gone before. This +concerned the boy's feelings and rights, so that she suddenly found +herself forced to take a firm stand--affection, justice, and even mercy, +now forbidding her to yield. Yet it was, nevertheless, just as clear to +her in this as in everything else, that William sincerely thought he was +right. That was the trouble. That is always the trouble with people like +William Pressley, who are often harder to deal with and sometimes harder +to live with, than those who knowingly do wrong. + +The three had scarcely entered the great room of Cedar House that +evening, when the judge asked the boy to go on an errand to a +neighbor's. This was to take some seed wheat which the judge had +promised to send for the fall sowing. The growing of wheat was still an +interesting and important experiment which was exciting the whole +country. There had been good corn in abundance from the first; on those +deep, rich, river-bottom lands the grains had but to reach the fertile +earth to produce an hundred bushels to the acre. But the settlers were +tired of eating corn-bread; their wives and children were pining for the +delicate white loaves made from the sweet fine wheat which they had +eaten in their old Virginia homes. So that the culture of the best wheat +had lately become a vital question, and this new seed was making a stir +of eager interest throughout the region. Philip Alston had given it to +the judge, and he, in turn, was dividing it among the neighbors. Each +grain was accordingly treasured and valued like a grain of gold, and the +judge cautioned the boy to be careful in tying the bag; wheat in the +grain is a slippery thing to handle, and he wished none of this to be +lost. + +"You must have a good, strong string--one that can't slip," said Ruth, +in her thoughtful, housewifely way. "Let me think--what kind would be +best?" + +"Here!" the judge drew out his wallet, and took off the string that +bound it. "You may use this, David, but take care not to lose it. This +is the strongest, finest strip of doeskin--" + +Ruth's sweet laughter chimed in, "It looks like minkskin--it's so +black!" touching it gingerly with the tips of her fingers. + +The judge laughed, too. Everything that she said and did pleased him. +But he cautioned the boy again not to lose the string, and to be careful +to bring it back. William Pressley looked on in grave, indifferent +silence. A slight frown gathered on his brow when he saw Ruth trying the +knot, to make sure of its firmness, after the bag was tied. His gaze +darkened somewhat and followed her when she went to the door to see the +boy set out; and he watched her stand looking after him, with her hands +raised to shield her eyes from the rays of the setting sun. It +displeased William to see her show such regard for any one of so little +importance--the personality of the boy did not enter into the matter. +While gazing at her in this cold disapproval, he noted with increased +annoyance that she then turned and looked long and wistfully toward the +forest path. It did not occur to him that she might be expecting or +wishing to see some one riding along the path. He was merely irritated +at what seemed to him an indication of unseemly restlessness and +empty-mindedness. To his mind the unusual and the unseemly were always +one and the same. And it was eminently unseemly in his eyes that the +woman who was to be his wife should wish to look away from the spot in +which he was sitting. And then, his displeasure turned to anger when +Ruth, after standing still and gazing up the forest path, till he felt +that he must go out to her and utter the reproof that was on his lips, +did not come back to her seat by his side, but began instead to play +with the swan. + +He sat motionless and silent, calmly biding his time to express the +disapproval which such childish behavior made incumbent upon him. Cold, +hard anger like his can always wait; and waiting only makes it colder +and harder; there is never heat enough in it to melt its merciless ice. + +A sudden darkening of the sky sent her into the house at last, and even +then she did not return to her proper place by his side. She did not +even look at him, but spoke to the judge who was just leaving the great +room to go to the cabin which he used as his bedroom and office. Ruth +begged him not to start out, saying that the storm seemed so near that +it might break before he could reach the cabin. But he went on with a +smiling shake of his head, after a glance at the dark clouds which were +gathering blackly on the other side of the river behind the spectral +cottonwoods, now bare of leaves and ghostly white. + +"Did David have to go through the big deadening, William?" she asked +suddenly, speaking over her shoulder, without leaving her anxious post +in the doorway, though the wind was whipping her skirts about her +slender figure and loosing her long, black hair. "I wish he would come. +He should be back by this time. I am afraid--the great trees fall so in +a storm. Father Orin and the doctor, too, often ride through there. And +it is such a dangerous place when the wind blows. Oh!" with a cry of +relief, "there's David now! Here he comes. David, David dear--I am so +glad!" + +She sprang down the steps and ran to meet the boy. The rush of the +rising storm kept from hearing William Pressley's call for her to come +back. He stood still for a moment, hesitating, and then, seeing that she +flew on, he followed and overtook her just as she reached David, who was +getting down from the pony and taking the empty bag from the saddle. The +wind was now very violent, and the darkened air was thick with the dead +leaves of the forest swirling into the river which was already lashed +into waves and dashing against the shore. Waterfowl flew landward with +frightened cries; a low, dark cloud was being drawn up the stream over +the ashen face of the water--a strange, thick, terrible black curtain, +shaken by the tempest and bordered by the lightning--pressed onward by +the resistless powers of the air. + +There was a lull just as William Pressley reached Ruth's side. It was +one of those tense spaces which are among the greatest terrors of a +storm by reason of their suddenness, their stillness, and their +suspense. He grasped her hand, and she clung to his as she would have +clung to anything that she chanced to touch in her fright. He said +rather sternly that she must come to the house at once, and she turned +obediently, following the motion of his hand rather than the meaning of +his words. He spoke to David also, without looking at the boy, but she +was clinging to him and hiding her face on his arm whenever the +lightning flashed, and did not notice what he had said until he repeated +his words:-- + +"You have of course brought back the doeskin string." + +Ruth suddenly lifted her face from his arm, loosed her grasp upon it and +stood away from him. Yet in that first dazed instant she could not +believe that she had heard aright. It was impossible for her, being what +she was, to understand that he had never in all his life done anything +more true to his nature, more thoroughly characteristic, than to ask +this question at such a time. She forgot the lightning while she waited +till he asked it for the third time. And then, straining her incredulous +ears again, she heard the boy murmur something, and she saw him +hurriedly and confusedly searching his pockets for the string. + +"I can't find it," he stammered. "I must have dropped it when I poured +out the wheat. I am so sorry--I will go to-morrow--" + +"You will go now;" said William, calmly. "The string will be lost by +to-morrow. And then," judicially, "you will remember a needed lesson +better if you go at once." + +"William!" burst out Ruth almost with a scream. "You can't mean what you +say. Listen to the roar of the coming storm. It's almost here. Surely +you don't know what you are saying. Send David through the deadening in +the very teeth of a tempest like this, for a bit of string!" + +"Come to the house, my dear. It is beginning to rain. I am afraid you +will take cold. You, sir, will go back at once," turning to the boy. +"You know, of course, that the string itself is of no importance in this +matter. It is absurd to speak of such a thing. But it is my duty to +teach you, as far as I can, to perform yours. I tell you again to go at +once. That is all I have to say, I believe, concerning this matter. +Come, Ruth, it is beginning to rain." + +She shrunk away from his hand as if its touch horrified her. Her tears +were falling faster than the heavy, isolated drops that fell on her bare +head. But her courage was rising at need, as it always rose, and she was +not too much blinded by tears to see that the boy was getting on the +pony again. She ran to him and caught his sleeve, and turned upon +William Pressley with the reckless fierceness of a gentle creature made +daring in defence of what it loves. + +"You are cruel," she said, speaking calmly, steadied by the very +extremity of her excitement and distress. "You have no more heart than a +stone. You feel nothing that does not touch yourself. You have always +been unkind to David. But you shall not do this. I will prevent +you--defy you. You shall not send him to his death for some narrow, +tyrannical notion. He is like my brother. I love him as if he were. And +I wouldn't allow you to treat a stranger so. It's inhuman! It shall not +be!" panting, and clinging to the boy. + +William Pressley stared at her as if he thought she had suddenly lost +her senses. Could this be Ruth speaking like that--and to himself? +Instinctively he threw into his voice the whole weight of his heavy, +cold rage, which had never yet failed to crush all life and spirit out +of her most fiery resistance. + +"This is truly shocking. I scarcely know what to say. I am merely trying +to do my unpleasant duty in a perfectly simple matter. If I didn't try +to do it, I should always think less well of myself--" + +"Think less well of yourself!" she cried. "Nothing in the world could +ever make you do that! Nothing! Whatever you think and say and do is +always right; whatever anybody else thinks or says or does is always +wrong. I have given up in almost everything because I loved peace more +than my own way, and because I am not often sure that I know best. But I +will not give up in this!" shrinking and quivering at a peal of thunder, +but clinging closer to the boy's arm. + +William Pressley came nearer and laid his hand on her shoulder. + +"Come to the house, my dear," he said quietly. "It is beginning to rain +harder. You will certainly take cold. Come at once. When you have time +to think, you will see how childish and foolish all this is. We will say +no more about it. You, sir, know what is right for you to do. You know +as well as I do what the judge's positive orders were. You have +disregarded them--" + +"But uncle Robert never meant anything like this," she said. "He is +kind and tender-hearted. I will call him. He would not--" + +The boy had turned proudly and silently, meaning to get back in the +saddle, but she would not loose her hold on his arm. And then came the +first furious blast of the tempest, and the greatest trees--the +mightiest giants of the ancient forest--bent and crouched before it, +bracing themselves for the fierce conflict with the elements in which +they must gain or lose centuries of life. The rain now began to fall +heavily, and William abruptly told the boy to come in the house till the +storm was over. In yielding thus far, he was not influenced by Ruth's +threat to appeal to his uncle. He had scarcely heard what she said, and +he was never in awe of the judge's opinion, and never looked for +opposition from any source, because he could not anticipate an opinion +different from his own. He merely dropped the argument for the moment +because he saw the urgent necessity of bringing an undignified scene to +a speedy close, and could not see any other or better way of doing it. + +When they had gone indoors and had gathered around the fire, so that +their damp clothes might dry, he was by far the most composed of the +three. The boy was deeply agitated and suffering as only the +supersensitive can suffer from harshness, whether merited or not. Ruth +was still quivering with excitement and distress, and very soon her +tender conscience also was aching. She could not recall very distinctly +all that she had said, but she knew how bitter her words must have been, +and was already wondering how she ever could have uttered them. How they +came in her mind and heart she could not comprehend. She had always +thought William a good man, and worthy of all respect, and she now felt +that there had been much truth in what he had said. David was a dreamer, +poor boy, and it would be well if he could be taught to remember, to be +practical and useful like other people. She still could not think it +right for him to have been forced to go back through the storm to +correct an error; but she now thought that William had not really +intended to send him. It seemed suddenly plain that William's sole +intention must have been to impress him with the necessity of doing what +he was told to do. She had scolded the boy herself about that very thing +many a time. The fault was hers, she had been too hasty, too excitable, +too impetuous. Ah, yes, that was always her fault! She looked at William +with everything that she thought and felt clearly to be seen on her +transparent face. But a ray of comfort shone through the cloud which +darkened her spirits. Surely this and everything else would be well when +she had told him how sorry she was, and how plainly she saw her mistake. +They had been such good friends as far back as she could remember; the +bond between them had been such a close and strong one that it +certainly could not be broken or even strained by a few hasty, +passionate words, repented at once. Her lovely eyes were already seeking +his face and silently appealing to this old and faithful affection. + +But William's gaze did not meet hers. He was looking into the fire and +seeing what had occurred with wholly different eyes. To him everything +was altered, and nothing could ever make the relation between them what +it had been. No tenderness of affection, no length of association, no +faithfulness of service, could stand for an instant against a single one +of the many blows that his morbid self-love had received. For self-love +like his is an incurable disease of sensibility, a spreading canker +which poisons the whole character, as an unsound spot in the flesh +poisons the whole body. To those who have not come in close contact with +this form of morbidity, it may seem impossible that William Pressley's +love for Ruth, which had been real so far as it went, should have +hardened into dislike almost as soon as the words that wounded it had +left her lips. Yet that was precisely what had taken place, quite +naturally and even inevitably. He had loved her as much as he was +capable of loving, mainly because of the deep gratification which he +found in her great esteem for himself. No one else had ever come so near +granting his self-love all that it demanded. Her sweet presence, always +looking up to him, had been like the perpetual swinging of a censer +perpetually giving the fragrant incense that his vanity craved. And now +all this was changed. The gentle acolyte was gone, the censer no longer +swung, and instead there was a keen critic armed with words as hard as +stones. No, there was nothing strange in the fact that, when William +Pressley finally turned his gaze on Ruth, he looked at her as if she had +been a stranger whom he had never seen before; an utter stranger, and +one moreover whose presence was so utterly antagonistic to him that +there was not the remotest possibility of any liking between them. But +he said nothing, and gave no indication of what he felt. No feeling was +ever strong enough to cause him to say or do an unconsidered thing. In +this, as in all things, he waited to be sure that he was doing what +would place himself in the best possible light. While he had never a +moment's doubt of being wholly in the right, he thought it best to wait +and consider his own appearance in the matter. And then, just at that +time, political affairs were claiming his first attention, for that was +a period of intense public stress. + + + + +XIV + +A SPIRITUAL CENTAUR + + +The whole wilderness, the whole country, the whole heart of the nation, +was now aflame over the coming conflict at Tippecanoe. + +Father Orin, like every one else, was thinking of this, a day or so +later, as he rode along the forest path. There was a heavy weight in his +merciful breast as he looked across the river. Over there, beyond those +spectral cottonwoods and on the banks of its tributary, the Wabash, the +white and the red races were about to meet in a supreme struggle now +close at hand. He had just been told that Joe Daviess had offered his +sword, and the news had brought the public trouble home to his own +heart, for he loved the man. + +And thus it was that, seeing Tommy Dye riding toward him, he had only a +grave word of greeting, without any of the merry banter that the +adventurer had come to expect. He stopped, however, feeling that Tommy +had something to say, but he listened in rather abstracted silence, till +Tommy spoke of having been to see the Sisters in order to tell them +good-by. + +"For I am going to Tippecanoe, too. I leave to-night. The general can't +go. It looks like the wound from that infernal duel with Dickinson never +would get well. But I like to be where things are stirring, and I am +going, anyhow. So is Joe Daviess." + +"Yes, I know," said Father Orin, sadly. "Good men as well as bad must +go, I suppose, if wars must be fought." + +Tommy Dye looked hard at him for a moment, and taking off his hat, +rubbed his red hair the wrong way till it stood on end. His stare +gradually turned to a sort of sheepish embarrassment before he spoke;-- + +"I'll swear some of the babies up yonder ain't much bigger than my +fist!" he finally blurted out. "I took the Sisters the wad I won on the +last chicken fight. 'Twasn't much, but there ain't any use taking it +over the river for the red devils to get, if they get me--and maybe they +will--for they say the Prophet is a fighter. If the Shawnees don't get +me, I can make plenty more, so it's just as broad as it's long. Anyhow, +the Sisters will know what to do with the wad. Say! I wish it had been +bigger. They took me into the room where the youngsters stay," he said +huskily, rubbing his head harder than ever. "They said--them real ladies +said--that they would raise up the children to love me, and pray for me. +When I come away they cried--them real ladies--about me, old Tommy Dye, +that ain't even a heretic." + +"You are kind, my friend; you have a good heart, and you are generous," +said Father Orin; "but I wish you could earn your money in another and a +better way. Somehow it grates--" + +"Now, look here!" cried Tommy Dye, bristling at once, and jamming his +hat back on his red head. He was always cowed at the very sight of the +gentle Sisters; but as man to man--even though one be a priest--he was +up again at once, and quite ready to hold his own. "Every man to his own +notion," he blustered and swaggered. "I've got mine and you've got +yours. That's my way of making a living, and I dare anybody to say it +ain't honest. Just let any man come out flat foot and tell me so, face +to face. I play fair, and I bet as square as the next one. I take my +chances the same as the other man. I may fight rough and tumble, but I +always give warning, and I never gouge. If any man's got anything to say +against my honesty or fairness, he's only got to come on and say it." + +"Come, come!" said Father Orin, too sad to be amused at the outburst, as +he might have been at another time. "I beg your pardon if I have +offended you. I had no thought of doing that. But I wish I could induce +you to think before you go into danger. All who go over yonder will not +come back. The Shawnees have been getting ready for this test of +strength for a long time. There is great danger. I beg you, my friend, +to think. Will you come back with me to the chapel? Just for a little +while. There is no one there, and we can have a quiet talk." + +"Now, what's the use of raking all that up again? We've gone over all +that--and more than once--haven't we? You thought one way and I another, +when we had it out the other day. And we've both got the same right now +that we had then, to think as we like about something that neither of us +knows the first blamed thing about, haven't we? Well, I think just the +same now that I did then, and I reckon you do, too. I haven't seen any +reason to change, have you? I haven't had any fresh news from up +yonder"--pointing heavenward--"and I don't suppose you have either. So +you see one of us is bound to be most damnable mistaken--" + +"Shut up," shouted Father Orin, "you unmannerly rascal! I have a great +mind to jump down and pull you off that horse and give you a thrashing +to teach you some respect for religion, and how to keep a civil tongue +in your head. And you know I could do it, too!" + +They looked fiercely at each other for a moment. Father Orin was of a +fiery spirit, and all his goodness could not always subdue it. Tommy Dye +was a ready and a good fighter, but he paused now, and silently +regarded the priest. He looked at his large, sturdy form, at his brawny +shoulders, at his deep chest and his long arms, remembering suddenly +that he had seen him roll, with his own hands, the largest logs in the +little chapel which no one else could move. + +"I reckon you could," Tommy Dye finally conceded frankly. + +Father Orin burst into his good-humored, chuckling laugh, and Tommy Dye +grinned, but their faces sobered instantly. The pity of it touched and +moved the priest through his sense of humor. The gambler was softened +and ashamed, he hardly knew why. With one simultaneous impulse they sent +their horses forward, and coming closer together clasped hands. + +"God bless and guard you, my friend," said Father Orin. "You can't keep +me from saying that, and you can't help my praying for your safety," +trying to smile. + +Tommy Dye found nothing more to say and, laughing very loud, he put +spurs to his horse and galloped away through the darkening forest. +Father Orin and Toby stood still looking after him till he had passed +out of sight. And then they turned to go on their way. They went along +in silence for a while, and at last Father Orin began the conversation +with a heavy sigh. "Well, old man, there's another bad failure that we +have got to set down in our book--you and me. That was another of the +times when we didn't know what to do. That is to say, I didn't. I +suppose you did--you always do. You never make mistakes and lose your +temper like I do nearly every day. If I could do my part as well as you +do yours, we wouldn't fail so often, would we, old man?" + +Toby quickly turned his head with a friendly, encouraging whinny, as if +he saw his co-worker's trouble and wanted to give him what comfort he +could. He always seemed to know as well when his friend needed +encouragement as when he required to be kept up to his duty. It is a +wonderful, wonderful thing, this bond between the good rider and the +good horse! It is so wonderfully close and strong; the closest and +strongest binding the human being to his brute brother. It is infinitely +more subtle too, than that which binds any other, even the kindest +master to the most faithful dog; for the man and his horse are not +merely master and servant, they are friends and even equals in a way. +Neither is nearly so complete or powerful without the other; but +together--with body and spirit coming in living, throbbing contact--they +form the mightiest force in flesh and blood. Along the marvellous +electric currents of life there flashes from the man to the horse, +intelligence, feeling, purpose, even thought perhaps, so that to the +true horseman the centaur can never be wholly a fabulous creature. + +One of the greatest things about this wonderful bond is that it reaches +all classes of riders and horses. Every good rider and every good horse +may rely upon it, no matter which of the many roads through life they +may travel together: all may trustingly rely upon it till one or both +shall have breasted "Sleep's dreamy hill." The horse of the fox-hunter, +of the race-rider, of the mounted soldier--every one of these noble +beasts has the fullest understanding of his rider's calling, and gives +it his completest sympathy with the greatest assistance in his power. +Who that has known the horse at his best can have failed to observe and +recognize and be moved by this fact? We have all seen that the hunter +hardly needs the touch of his rider's knee to be off like the wind and +to go without urging from whip or spur on to the end of the chase; never +flagging, no matter how long or hard it may be; never flinching at the +deepest ditch nor fouling at the highest fence; straining every sinew to +the last, for his rider's defeat is his own failure, his rider's success +his own victory. And we have all seen the gallant response of the +race-horse to every movement of his rider's body--a loyal gallantry that +ennobles even the merely mercenary; and the sight of these two--now +one--flying toward the goal, always makes the heart beat faster and grow +warm with its brave showing of this magical bond. And above all, we have +seen the trooper's horse, which comes closer to him than the comrade +fighting by his side; for it is to his horse more than to his sword that +the soldier must owe any glory that he may hope to win; and when +strength and courage can no longer serve, it is his horse that often +gives his own body to shield his rider from death. + +And if all this be true, as all horsemen know it to be--even when the +bond is strained by cruelty and tainted by gain and stained by +blood--how much closer and stronger must have been the tie between this +priest of the wilderness and his friend. Toby's loyalty was never tried +like the hunter's by seeing some dumb brother tortured and slain--and +that the hunter feels the test keenly, no one can doubt after seeing the +horror in his eloquent eyes. Toby never had to suffer from a broken +heart because of a lost race, or because he shared the disgrace of his +rider's dishonesty, and many noble beasts have seemed to suffer +something strangely like this. Toby never had to lend his strength to +the taking of human life, like the trooper's horse; and the soldier's +horse does not need the power of speech to tell that he suffers almost +as much in the spirit as in the flesh from the horrors of the +battle-field. Toby and his friend worked together solely for peace, +kindness, and mercy, for the relief of suffering, and the saving of +bodies and souls; all and always, solely for the good of the world, of +their fellow-creatures, and the glory of God. + +Think of what it was that Father Orin and his partner did! They had +ecclesiastical jurisdiction over a strip of country which was more than +fifty miles wide and little less than four hundred miles long. This lay +on both sides of the Ohio River, much of it being the trackless forest, +so that Father Orin and Toby used the Shawnee Crossing oftener than the +Shawnees themselves. They went unharmed, too, where no other pioneers +ever dared go. Some mysterious power seemed to protect them, as the rude +cross drawn on a cabin door is said to have saved the inmates from the +savages. Father Orin and Toby thus travelled about two hundred miles +each week all the year through, without stopping for heat or cold. There +was only one church when they first began their labors, and this was the +little log chapel; but the members of that small and widely scattered +congregation were served with the offices of their religion by the +priest at many private houses which were far apart and called +"stations." There were about thirty of these in Kentucky, several in +Indiana and Illinois, and one or two in Tennessee, and Father Orin and +Toby visited them all, some as often as once a month and the others as +often as possible. To say Mass and to preach constituted but a part of +the duty which called them from place to place. They went wherever the +priest was needed to administer baptism to infants or older persons; +they went wherever any one, old or young, required instruction in +religion; they went wherever the priest was needed to hear confession; +they went far and wide, so that the priest might solemnize marriage for +Protestants as well as Catholics; they visited the sick, no matter how +distant, in summer and in winter alike, and Toy day or by night; they +went at any summons to bury the dead; and they tried to go again, so +that the priest might do what he could to comfort the living. Yet with +all this untiring zeal for the soul's welfare, there was also a +ceaseless care for the body's welfare, and a divine disregard of any +narrow line of faith; for wherever Toby carried Father Orin that good +man's heart was always moved by compassion for any distress of mind, +body, or estate, always overflowing with a deep, wide pity infinitely +greater and more Christian than any creed. + +It is not strange, then, that the good man and the good horse had become +almost one in mind and body, and that they were quite one in spirit. It +is not in the least strange, certainly, that Toby came to know the +nature of their errand almost as well and nearly as quickly as Father +Orin himself. He easily knew a sick call by the haste with which they +set out, and he knew its urgency by their going with the messenger. He +seemed to be able to tell unerringly when they were bearing the +Viaticum, and it was plain that he felt the responsibility thus resting +upon his speed and sureness of foot. Then it was that he would go like +the wind, through utter darkness, through storm and flood and over an +icy earth, without a pause or a misstep. Many a time, after such a +struggle as this, has Toby turned his head, as if trying to see why +Father Orin was slow in doing his part when the rain, freezing as it +fell, had frozen the priest's poor overcoat to the saddle, and his +ragged leggins were heavy and clumsy with icicles. But the apologetic +tone in which Father Orin always said, "Well, here we are, old man," and +the explanatory pat that he always gave Toby's neck, after going through +the respectful form of hitching him, never failed to make this right. +And when the priest came out of the house, he always had something in +his pocket for Toby, if any one had remembered to give himself anything +to eat. + +But their errands were not all so sad as this. Sometimes there were +weddings to attend, and Toby entered into the happy spirit of that +lively business quite as heartily as Father Orin. The only thing that +Toby was strict about then, was that his friend should not forget to +wear his best clothes, which he was too apt to do, even if he had not +given them away, and that there should not be a speck of mud on his own +coat, which had to be neglected in more urgent cases. Father Orin used +to declare that Toby eyed him from top to toe when he knew they were +going to a wedding; and that if there were a spot on his cassock, or a +hole in it, Toby's eye never failed to find it. At such leisurely times +he was indeed so exacting as to his own proper appearance that he would +not budge until the last "witch's stirrup" had been combed out of his +mane and tail. He was only a degree less particular when he knew they +were going to the christening of an infant. It was then plainly Toby's +opinion that, while they might not take quite so much time to christen +as to marry, there was still no need to rush off with the priest's +vestments out of order and his own fetlocks weighted with mire. The two +had many friendly contests on these occasions, but Toby's will was the +stronger, and his temper was not quite so mild; and as it is always the +less amiable who wins, it was commonly he who won, in the long run. + +Whenever the way before them was not quite clear, Father Orin would let +Toby lead, and only once in all their long pilgrimage together did he +ever fail to lead aright. It was on a wild winter's night, and neither +could see either heaven or earth; yet on against the bitter wind went +the priest and his horse, Toby stretching his fullest length at the top +of his speed, and Father Orin bending low to escape the boughs of unseen +trees; and thus they sped through the stormy blackness. Faster still +they went, up hill and down hill, leaping fallen trees, flying across +the hollows made by the uptorn roots, swimming swollen streams, while +the priest knelt on the saddle, holding the Viaticum high above the +rushing water which dashed over his knees. At last they stopped, +utterly exhausted, only to find that they were lost in the icy, dark +wilderness; and they went on groping blindly for any kind of shelter +under which to wait for the first glimmer of dawn. They finally came +upon a ruined cabin, and although the whole front of it was gone, some +of the roof and a part of the walls were left, and Father Orin led Toby +into the driest, corner. Taking off the wet saddle and the soaked, +half-frozen blanket, he laid them on the ground. He patted Toby as he +did this, and Toby's responsive whinny said it was all right, just as +plain as if he had been able to talk. But Father Orin was not quite +satisfied, and moving a little farther over in the corner, where it was +so dark that even Toby could not see what he was doing, he pulled off +his poor old overcoat, from which the water was dripping, but which was +still warm and partly dry on the inside. Stealing back to Toby, he laid +the coat over his shivering shoulders, chuckling to think that Toby +would never know that it was not the saddle-blanket. Feeling now that he +had done his best for his friend, he buttoned his cassock closer and +laid down on the freezing ground, with the frozen saddle for a pillow, +and tried to get what rest and sleep he could. + +At times like this--and they were not a few--it was hard for Father Orin +to believe that Toby had no soul. It was indeed so hard now and then, +as on that night, that he could not believe it; that he could not think +there would be no reward of any kind for such service as Toby was giving +the Faith. It was service as faithful as his own; he could not have +given his without Toby's help. Looking upward toward his own reward, +even this bitter, black winter's night became as nothing; but Toby--what +was there for Toby? He did not remember that he often gave Toby the food +which he needed himself, as he had just given him the warmth from his +own shivering body. He thought only of the things that Toby did for him +and for the Faith. And so thinking, very strange fancies about Toby +would now and then come to him with the profoundest reverence. And on +that dreary night, when their dauntless spirits seemed to touch, while +their exhausted bodies thus dozed side by side, a pleasant vision +vaguely blended Father Orin's half-conscious dreams with his perplexed +waking thoughts. + +Of a sudden, all was bright and warm, and he felt himself going up, up, +up, through flawless blue space. He thought he had no wings, but he did +not miss them, nor even think about them; he was missing and thinking +about Toby, and wondering, where he was, and what he was doing. But ah! +there he was all ready and waiting close to the gate of paradise. Yes, +there was Toby after all! There he was, standing by a celestial manger +overflowing with ambrosia, already blanketed with softest zephyrs, +saddled with shining clouds, and bitted with sunbeams--quite ready and +only waiting for the touch of his friend's hand on the bridle--to canter +up the radiant highway walled with jasper and paved with stars. + + + + +XV + +THE WEB THAT SEEMED TO BE WOVEN + + +The fancy pleased Father Orin, and he spoke jestingly to Toby about it, +reminding him, however, seriously enough, that it was only in visions +that there could be any such direct passing from earth to heaven. + +"For you see, old man, there's a place on the way where most of us must +tarry a while. Maybe you might be able to pass by and go straight on. I +am afraid there wouldn't be much of a chance for me." + +But they were both still far from their long, hard journey's end on that +gloomy November evening. They were merely turning a little aside from +their usual broad path for a still wider service to humanity. They had +not seen the doctor that day, and there was always reason to fear that +he might at any moment fall a victim to the epidemic which he was +ceaselessly fighting, so that they were now going in some anxiety to see +what had kept him away from the places in which they were used to seeing +him. They were both very tired, yet Toby, nevertheless, quickened his +weary pace at a gentle hint from Father Orin, and they got to the +doctor's house just as the sun went down behind the cottonwoods on the +other shore. + +The cabin stood near the river bank. It was a single room of logs, rough +without and bare within. The doctor was not very poor, as poverty and +riches were considered in the wilderness, having inherited a modest +fortune. But he was generous and charitable, and had gone from Virginia +into Kentucky with an earnest wish to serve his kind. And then his +acquaintance with Father Orin had brought him in close contact with want +as well as suffering, and would have given him good uses for larger +means than his own. Yet rude and empty as the cabin was, there were +traces of refinement here and there, as there always must be wherever +true refinement dwells. A miniature of his mother, whom he could not +remember, hung against the logs at the head of his bed. There were a few +good books on a rough shelf, and a spray of autumn leaves lay on the +table. The beauty of the leaves had drawn him to break the spray from +the bough and bring it home. But he had forgotten it as soon as he had +laid it down on the table, and the leaves were withering as he sat +beside them with his head bowed upon his hands. + +The man of conscience, who cares for the bodies of his kind, bears +almost as heavy a burden as he who cares for their souls. He must +everywhere, and unrestingly, fight ignorance and prejudice with one +hand, while he strives to heal with the other, and this double strife +was fiercer in the wilderness, just at that time, than almost anywhere +else within the furthest reach of science. On first coming he had found +more people being killed by calomel and jalap than by the plague. At +every turn he encountered this bane of the country which was called +callomy-jallopy, and at that moment he was utterly worn out, body and +soul, by a struggle to save the life of a man who had ignorantly +poisoned himself by drinking some acid after taking the dose. This was +not his first experience of the kind; but he had met the other trials +with the high courage of a light heart and a free mind. It was only +within the last two days that he had been weighed down by +discouragement, by heaviness of heart, and depression of mind. He was so +weary and absorbed now in disheartened thought, that he did not hear +Toby's approach, and he was startled when Father Orin appeared in the +open door. He greeted him with a warmly outstretched hand, but did not +say that he was glad to see him; they were too good friends for empty +phrases, such good friends that they sat down silently, neither needing +a word to know the other's sadness. It was the priest who finally broke +the silence. + +"You are troubled, my son," he said, quietly and gently. "I see there is +something besides the trouble which touches us all--this terror of what +is coming on the other side of the river. I see that there is something +else--some closer trouble of your own. If you wish to tell me about it, +I will do what I can to help you; but you know this without being told." + +He had spoken at the right moment, for there are moments in the lives of +the most reserved and self-reliant when the heart must speak to ease the +mind. Paul Colbert was a Protestant, and so firm and strong in his faith +that he was ready at all times to defend it, to fight for it; yet this +moment, which has nothing to do with any creed, had come to him, and he +spoke as one man speaks to another whom he trusts and knows to be his +friend. He told what he was suffering, and the cause of his +wretchedness. He spoke of his first meeting with Ruth, and of the love +for her that had leapt up in his heart at the first glimpse of her face, +before he had heard her voice, before he knew her name. He said how +happy he was when chance put her in his arms through that wild night's +ride. He described his visit to her on the next day, and said how far he +was from suspecting that William Pressley was more than a member of the +same family. He went on to speak of the other visits which he had paid +to Ruth, telling how fast his love had grown with every meeting. He +ended with the revelation at the dance in the woods. + +"But it wouldn't have made any difference had I known sooner. It +couldn't have made any difference in my loving her," he said. "I must +have loved her just the same no matter when or how we might have met. +Nothing ever could have altered that. I am afraid that I couldn't have +helped loving her had she been another man's wife. I am keeping nothing +back, you see, Father. I am telling you the whole truth. But perhaps it +wouldn't have been quite so hard to bear, had I known at the very first. +It can hardly be so hard to give up happiness when we have never dared +long for it. And I knew no reason why I might not try to make her love +me. As it is, from this time on, every thought of her must be like +constantly trying to kill some suffering thing that can never die!" + +He dropped his head on his arm which lay on the table. The priest gently +laid his hand on the thick, brown hair. + +"My son," he murmured. + +"If the man that she is to marry were only different," Paul groaned. "If +he were only more worthy, if I could only think that she would be +happy." + +He did not know that he was merely saying what every unfortunate lover +has thought since love and the world began; and it was a sad smile that +touched the sympathy of Father Orin's face. + +"William Pressley is not a bad young fellow," the priest said. "He means +well. He lives uprightly according to his dull, narrow ideas of right. +And none of us can do any better than to live up to our own ideals. +It's a good deal more than most of us do. I am afraid he is selfish," +with the hesitation which he always felt in pronouncing judgment upon +any one; "but then most of us men are, and maybe he will not be selfish +toward her, for he must be fond of her. Everybody loves the child." + +"But about her--is she fond of him? How can she be?" + +"I can't answer for that. There's no telling about a girl's fancy; in +fact, I have never given the engagement a thought. It was all settled; +it seemed a good, suitable arrangement--" + +"Arrangement!" groaned Paul. + +Father Orin shook his head. "It was most likely Philip Alston who +brought it about. He doubtless thought it a wise choice for both the +young people. He certainly never would have consented if he had not +believed it to be for Ruth's happiness--that always comes first with him +in everything." + +Paul Colbert sat up suddenly, throwing back his hair, and looked at the +priest with a clearing gaze. All the questions which he had been wishing +to ask now rushed to his lips. What was Ruth's relation to Philip +Alston? What right had he to choose her husband? What was his influence +over William Pressley? What was his hold upon Judge Knox? What was this +power that he wielded over the whole family of Cedar House? + +"He is no relation to her, is he? He isn't even her guardian. And +William Pressley is an honest man, isn't he, even though such a solemn, +pompous prig? He can hardly be a confederate of counterfeiters, forgers, +robbers, and murderers. And a single look at the judge's face shows him +to be the most upright of men; his open, unswerving honesty of thought +and deed, cannot be doubted. How is it, then, that Philip Alston can +move all these honorable and intelligent people to suit his villanous +purposes, as if they were pawns in a game of chess?" + +"Ah, you don't know much about Philip Alston. You have met him only +once--yet that must have made you feel the wonderful charm of the man, +his singular power. You have seen how he looks," laughing at some +recollection. "Sometimes when he has talked to me, looking me straight +in the face with his clear, soft, gentle, blue eyes, I have doubted +everything that I ever had heard against him. Things that I know to a +moral certainty to be true seemed a monstrous slander. You must have +felt something of this, though you have seen him but once; and the more +frequently you meet him the more you will feel it. The power of the man +is past words and past understanding. Did you know that he once held a +high office under Spain? Oh, yes, for years he controlled the arrogant, +treacherous, local government of Spain as absolutely as he controls the +simple family of Cedar House. He was living in Natchez then, and was +apparently a very devout Catholic, too, about this time. But the church +which he attended was mysteriously robbed; its altar was stripped of +everything precious,--gold, jewels, paintings,--when none but himself +had had access to the church unobserved. That is the story. I do not +vouch for its truth. There was no evidence against him--only suspicions +in this as in everything else. It was shortly afterward that he suddenly +appeared in this country a stanch Protestant; and then almost +immediately the present reign of crime began. Yet he has never been seen +in the company of any known law-breakers. Many mysterious visitors are +said to come to his house over the Wilderness Road, and to go as +mysteriously as they come. But no one claims to know who or what they +are, where they come from, or where they go. It is said that these men +who carry out his orders hardly know him by sight, that he sees only the +leaders, and that they never dare go to his house unless they are sent +for. It is believed that he rarely goes into detail, and does not wish +to know what they do in carrying out his wishes. It is said that he is +sickened by the slightest mention of bloodshed or cruelty, like any +delicate, sensitive woman, but is perfectly indifferent to all sorts of +atrocity that go on out of his sight and knowledge. There is, indeed, a +general opinion that he actually does not know half of the time what +his tools are guilty of; that he purposely avoids knowing. I have heard +it said that the boldest of the band would no more venture to tell him +of the crimes they commit while executing orders, than he would put his +head in a lion's mouth. It is understood that Alston simply points to a +thing when he wants it done, leaving all shocking details to his tools. +But this is mere hearsay. No one really knows anything about him; that +is to say, no one outside his band--if he actually has one. It is very +generally believed, however, that he has only to blow a single blast on +a horn at any hour of the day or night, and that from fifty to a hundred +armed men will instantly appear, as if they had sprung out of the earth. +It is also generally believed that he makes all the fine counterfeit +money with which this country is flooded, and that he does the work with +his own delicate, white hands. Yet not a dollar has ever been traced to +him, although its regular sale goes steadily on at a fixed rate of +sixteen bad dollars for one good dollar. It is generally believed, too, +that he keeps his money, both the good and the bad, buried somewhere in +the forest near his house, presumably for the double purpose of guarding +against robbery by his tools and against surprise by the officers of the +law. This, of course, is also mere speculation; nobody really knows +anything about what he does. I only know that his house is a bare log +hut, which is singular enough, seeing what a fine gentleman he is, and +what luxury he has surrounded the girl with. But I know that to be true, +because accident once took me to his house, and greater courtesy I never +found anywhere, though I was not invited to come again. It is known that +he owns a fleet of flatboats, and one of them is usually seen waiting +near Duff's Fort when horses are stolen, and it is always gone before +the dawn of the next day; but there is no proof of this, either. Boats +belonging to other people have a hard time getting past Duff's Fort. +More often than not, they are never seen or heard of after reaching that +fatal point, and the passengers vanish off the face of the earth. That +is what happened to Ruth's parents, as nearly as any one but Alston +knows. Most likely he knows nothing more." + +"And knowing this, she loves him, and the judge and his nephew trust +him?" + +"The child doesn't know anything about it. Who would tell her? He is +like her father--he could not have been more tender of her had she been +his own child. There is nothing strange in her loving him; it would be +far more strange if she did not. She is a gentle, loving nature, and he +has done everything to win her love, and you know what he is." + +"How can any creature in human form be so utterly unnatural--so wholly +a monster? How can he endure to see her, much less profess fondness for +her, knowing what he has done?" + +"I have thought a good deal about that, and I have never been able to +make up my mind. You see we don't know that he has done anything wrong. +Yet it may be an unconscious expiation. Who knows? The human heart is a +mysterious thing. But it is most likely that he simply began to love her +when she was a baby, just because she was so lovely that he couldn't +help it. She won all hearts in her cradle--the little witch. I remember +very well how she used to keep me from my work, by curling her rose leaf +of a hand around one of my rough fingers, before she could talk." + +"But why--loving her--should he wish to marry her against her will?" + +"We do not know that it is against her will. That is to say, I know +nothing of the kind, and I have no reason even to think it." + +There was a silence after this. Paul Colbert was suddenly realizing that +he also had no reason to think her unwilling; but this did not comfort +him or change his feeling. It is the delight and misery of love never to +have anything to do with reason. + +"It is not likely that Alston would approve anything that he did not +believe was for her happiness," Father Orin went on after a brief +silence. "But there may have been other inducements. With the judge's +nephew under his thumb, he need not have much fear of the law or the +court. That was the reason most generally assigned for his patronage of +William Pressley in the first place, before there was any engagement +between the young man and Ruth. But that will, as a matter of course, +bind him closer to Alston's interests, through her fondness for him. And +on yesterday I heard of a scheme to put Pressley in Joe Daviess' place. +It has been kept quiet, but is said to be well on foot, and I should not +be surprised if it were true. Pressley is politically ambitious above +anything, so that there are several reasons why he and Alston should +hold together. In the event of Pressley's securing the appointment, +there would not be much danger of the law's interference with any +unlawful plans that Alston might have. Mind you, I don't say that he has +any. I don't know that he has, and I am not even sure that I am right in +telling you these things, which are merely rumor, after all. Well, at +all events he has his good points. He is very generous, and always +ready, open-handed, to help any good work of the Sisters. I have had +scruples about letting them accept his gifts, but I have hesitated to +speak for they know nothing against him, and there is always danger of +doing injustice. We have no right to accuse anyone of anything that we +cannot prove." + +Paul was not listening to his friend's scruples. He had risen from his +chair, and was walking up and down the room. Presently he paused and +faced the priest with the air of a man who sees his way and has made up +his mind. His voice rang clear with decision. + +"Then this is the net that has been woven about her--the innocent, +helpless little thing! She is to be made a victim through her tenderest +and most natural affections. It's like seething a kid in its mother's +milk. And how utterly unprotected she is! Think of her father! Look at +the judge--for all his kindness! What is there to expect from him? And +Philip Alston, who pretends to love her? He is using her affection for +himself to bring about this marriage, so that she may bind this dull +tool--this pompous fool, Pressley--to the service of an organized band +of robbers and assassins." + +"You are rushing to conclusions, my son. There is no reason, is there, +to think that she doesn't love the young man? We haven't the slightest +right to assume that. I certainly have not--have you?" + +Father Orin spoke with a keen look at the pale, agitated young face, +which flushed painfully. Seeing this the priest went on more gently +without waiting for any reply. + +"And I must again remind you that we do not know that Philip Alston has +anything to do with the lawlessness of the country,--we merely suspect +him. Suspicion and evidence are different things; so widely different, +indeed, that I may have done grave wrong in even mentioning the first to +you." + +"Then we must try to find out the truth--try to lay our hand on the +evidence which will prove Alston's innocence or his guilt. Doing that +cannot harm her--if she is happy in this engagement," with a strong +effort, "and it may help her--if she is not." + +The priest shook his head. "You forget that many able men have already +tried hard to do what you suggest, and that every attempt has failed." + +"That hasn't a straw's weight with me. I shall not fail, because I am +going to try harder than any one else ever can have tried," with the +confidence and courage that belong to love. "I think I can do something +to aid the officers in gathering evidence. My work, carrying me over the +whole region where these villains do theirs, gives me opportunities to +know what is going on. I shall speak to the attorney-general early +to-morrow morning. Every honest man owes it to the state to give such +help as he can in this extremity." + +"Take care," said Father Orin, gently. "I am doubting more and more the +wisdom and right of having told you these stories about Philip Alston. +Remember, they are merely rumors, widespread and generally believed, it +is true, yet still wholly unsupported by evidence. We must be careful. +There is a bare possibility that we may be wrong, that we may be doing +a terrible injustice to an innocent man. I do not believe that anything +can be long believed by a great many honest people unless there is some +truth underneath for it to rest upon; and this about Philip Alston has +been believed by the best men of this country for a good many years. But +the fact that it hasn't been proven remains, nevertheless. There has +never been a shadow of real evidence, and we, as fair-minded men, are +bound to remember that." He hesitated for a moment, and looked at the +young doctor as if uncertain whether to say something else that was in +his kind, wise thoughts. "There is another thing that you would do well +to bear in mind, my son. Any one bringing any charges, supported or +unsupported, against Philip Alston, will break that little girl's heart. +She would never credit the strongest proof. A woman like that,--a +tender, soft, clinging, unreasoning little thing,--who is all affection +and trust, could not be reached by testimony that would convince any +jury. That is one of the merciful dispensations; that is one of the +reasons why men get so much more mercy here below than they deserve. +This gentle girl not only would never believe, but she would never, +never forgive you for breathing a word against Philip Alston. That is +the way with women of her kind. And you would not wish to hurt her, even +though--" + +"No! No--no!" + +"And then you must not forget that the young man whom she is to marry +is also more or less involved. And you must remember that he is +essentially an upright, well-meaning, well-trained young fellow. There +is no reason to think she doesn't love him. His conceit is the only +thing against him, and she may not mind that. A gentle, yielding nature +like hers is often attracted by a dominant, overbearing one like his. I +have often noticed it. Maybe it is intended by nature and providence to +keep the balance of things. What would become of the world if all the +strong ones or all the good ones were to come together, and leave all +the weak ones or all the bad ones by themselves? You can see at once +that that would never do--everything would be at once unbalanced. It's +hard on the good and the strong; but then, many of nature's provisions +are hard on the individual, and yet they all work for the welfare of +creation." + +He said this with a smile and a chuckle, hoping to win his friend to the +half-earnest, half-jesting talk with which they sometimes tried to +lighten the heavy burdens that both were constantly bearing. But he saw +that Paul could not respond, and he went back at once to the grave +sympathy with which he had been speaking. + +"At all events, this young couple have chosen one another for better or +worse, and we, as honest men, and Christians, cannot allow ourselves to +discuss, or even think of anything else. I wish I could help you, my +son, but I can only beg you to hold to your own road in life, to press +straight on upward as steadily and as bravely as you can. And you must +put all thought of Philip Alston, too, out of your mind. You and I must +work for the saving of men's bodies and souls--we have nothing to do +with their punishment. Work, my son! Work, work for others, that is the +secret of happiness! And if we work hard enough for the help and the +healing of others, it may be that after a while we will be allowed to +find help and healing for ourselves." + +And the young man looking sadly in the face of the old man promised that +he would try--that he would do his best. + + + + +XVI + +LOVE'S TOUCHSTONE + + +Ruth, meantime, was still waiting and watching the forest path, and +wondering why he did not come back. He nearly always passed Cedar House +more than once during the day, but he did not return now, although she +waited and watched from early morning till the sun went down. She was +tired of hearing the old ladies wrangling over the hearth, and going +outside the door she had played with the swan, and had grown tired of +that. Looking listlessly about for something else to do, she caught +sight of David sitting alone under the willows on the river bank. He +thought himself safely hidden for the reading of his book, but the +foliage was thinner now on the slender golden wands; some of them were +quite bare, and hung like long silken fringes of shining yellow. The +first frost had touched them on the night before; the soft breeze was +freighted with drifting leaves, and there was a fresh sparkle in the +crystalline air. + +She had put on a long coat of dove-colored cloth--one of the fine +garments that Philip Alston was always finding for her--on account of +the cool weather, and she was wearing her gypsy bonnet tied down with +its three-cornered handkerchief of white lace, so that she was all ready +for going further from the house. In another moment she was skimming +down the river bank toward the boy. He saw her coming; but she moved so +like a darting swallow that he barely had time to hide his book under +the mossy log on which he was sitting before she fluttered into a seat +beside him, nestling against his arm. + +"There now!" she sighed, smoothing down her skirts. "Now we can have a +nice long talk about love." + +The boy moved with the uneasiness that every boy feels at any abstract +approach to the great topic. The girl went straight on, with all the +serenity of the least experienced of her sex. Her big blue eyes were +gravely fixed on his reddened face. Her own was quite calm, and very +serious indeed. Her soft lips were set as firmly as one rose leaf may be +folded against another. The tips of her little fingers met in wisdom's +gesture. + +"Listen, David, dear. Listen well, and think hard. I have been thinking +a great deal about love lately. It is right, you know, that all young +people should. I will tell you everything that I have thought, and then +you must tell me what you think. For there are some things that I can't +find out by myself, though I have tried and tried. And boys ought to +know more than girls about love. But I don't believe they do!" + +The blue eyes gazed at him rather severely from under the gypsy hat. It +was the woman arraigning the man with the eternal challenge. The boy +looked down at the ground, and tried not to feel guilty, as the +challenged always do. Ruth saw how it was, and relented, as the woman +always does. She ran her arm through David's, and gave it an +affectionate teasing little squeeze. + +"You can't help not knowing anything, can you, poor dear?" she said, +with sweet laughter. "Well, then, never mind. We will try to find out +together. There are only three things that I really must know--that I +can't possibly do without knowing." + +The smile faded. She sat silently gazing across the wide, quiet river. + +"Only three really very, very important things," she presently went on. +"The first is this: How may a girl tell what people call 'true love' +from every other kind of love? You see, dear, there are so many kinds of +love, and they are all true, too. When a girl like me has loved every +one ever since she could remember--because every one has always been so +good and loving to her that she couldn't help it--she knows, of course, +when another kind of love comes; but she doesn't know whether it is +truer than all the rest. How can she tell? That is one of the things I +want to find out--the first of the three really important things that I +most wish to know," checking it off on her small forefinger. + +Resting her elbow on her knee, and her chin in the palm of her hand, she +fell suddenly silent again, and sat gazing across the river. Her blue +eyes seemed to be wistfully seeking the secret of love among the rosy +mists which the sunset had left beneath the shadowy trees. She did not +observe that the boy made no reply. Her lovely head was intently bent to +the other side, as if listening to hear some whisper from her own heart. +When she spoke, it was in a low, absent tone, as though she were +whispering to herself, or thinking only half aloud. + +"And what are the signs of true love? That is the next thing. What are +the sure signs that true love may be known by, so that there can be no +danger of making a mistake, no risk of taking one kind of love for +another? That is the question. How do the signs of true love look? How +do they feel, I wonder? Can it be one of the sure signs of true love to +feel at the first sight of a face that it is the one you have most +wanted to see all your life? Can it be one of the sure signs of true +love to have your heart leap at the first sound of a voice, so that you +are glad to be alive--glad--glad as you never were before, although you +have always been happy? I wonder--I wonder! And can it be another of the +sure signs of true love to feel utter content in one presence, to feel +that, walled in with it forever away from all the rest of the world, +there would be nothing left outside on the whole, wide earth to wish +for? Do you think so, David? I wonder if it can be. And then can it be +yet another of true love's sure signs to have a warm, sweet glow come +around the heart, as it never did before, and to have something tell you +that it will grow warmer and sweeter and brighter as long as you live? I +wonder--wonder--wonder. And could it be the surest sign of all, that you +don't know why any of all these things are so; that you only know that +everything some one is and says and thinks and does--satisfies and +delights your eyes and mind and heart and soul." + +Two heavy tears, like sudden drops from a summer shower, fell on her +clasped hands, although her lips were smiling and she was still softly +thinking aloud. + +"And yet there is another kind of love--quite, quite different from +this--and that, too, must be true. A feeling that you have had ever +since you could remember must be true, surely. And you are always +thinking about this one--always arguing with yourself about how right +and reasonable it is. There isn't any trouble in finding one the reasons +for this love. The only trouble about this kind of love is in your own +unworthiness. It's somehow disheartening and tiring to be always looking +up, higher than you can see, as though you stood all the time on your +tiptoes. And then when you are always feeling how unwise and childish +you are, it is hard to love wisdom and dignity as they deserve to be +loved." + +Saying this, Ruth turned suddenly upon David. Her soft eyes were +flashing through her tears. + +"Why do you sit there like a stone and never say a word!" she demanded. +"I knew you didn't know the first earthly thing about love, but I didn't +know you were dumb. Why don't you speak? Can't you say what a fine +fellow William is? You know it, just as well as I do! Everybody knows +it. Everybody respects William and looks up to him. Everybody is bound +to do it. He always does what is right and sensible. He isn't forever +doing and saying things that he has to be sorry for, as I am. He always +goes steadily straight ahead. He isn't moved by every heart-beat and +swayed by every fancy like you and me. Why even uncle Robert defers to +William, because he is so dignified and right-minded. He always knows +just what to do and say. Uncle Philip often speaks of it. _He_ +appreciates William. _He_ never criticises him for being serious when +other people are joking. And I've seen you do it many a time, when you +didn't know I was looking. Yes, and uncle Robert, too. I've seen his +eyebrow go up when he didn't know that it did. And I won't have it! Do +you hear? I won't have people laughing at William, just because he +never laughs. I like him all the better for it. I think all the more +highly of him because he never understands my silly, light little ways. +I do--I tell you I do!" + +She sprang up and stamped her foot, and then, sitting down again, burst +into helpless sobbing, and laid her head on the boy's shoulder. He could +only draw her closer, and hold her in silent tenderness, having no words +that he dared utter. After a time her sobs ceased, and lifting her head, +she looked round, dimpling and smiling through the tears which were +still heavy on her dark lashes. + +"Well, then, since you don't know anything about love, sir, look and see +what your silly old book says. Oh, you needn't pretend that you haven't +got it," she said gayly. "If it isn't in your hand, it is in your +pocket, or you have hidden it. Get it instantly," pretending to shake +him. + +The boy bashfully drew the book from beneath the log, while Ruth +bantered him with sweet, bubbling laughter that made him think of +awakening birds and blossoming orchards. He turned the leaves in +embarrassed haste. + +"I don't find anything about love," he stammered. "But here is something +about marriage." + +"As if they weren't one and the same!" cried Ruth. "Read it. Let's hear +what it says. Read every word carefully and distinctly." + +David then read aloud what the Knight of the Oracle said to the Most +Fair Constantia:-- + +"They are truly married that have with united hearts plighted promise of +perpetual friendship, electing one another by true love and not by +outward ceremony; for where true love is not there can be no perfect +marriage, though the outward ceremony be never so well performed." + +"As if everybody didn't know that already!" scouted Ruth. "Any gosling +of a girl knows that without having to be told. There isn't a single +word there to tell what true love is, and what its signs are. If I +didn't love you so dearly, David, I couldn't love you at all when you +are so dull. What do you mean by reading anything so tiresome out of +that foolish book? I think worse of it than ever." + +Her smiles vanished like watery sunbeams. David trembled for fear she +might begin crying again. But she looked fondly up in his face, and +beamed brightly when she saw how frightened he was. + +"But you know I do love you, David, dear. You know that you are all I +have, of my very own," she said. "I am unreasonable--I know that well +enough; but I couldn't help being hurt at your injustice to William. +Could I, dear?" + +"Oh, no! No indeed!" responded the boy, with vague eagerness. + +"Well, then, I will forgive you if you promise never to do it again. +And do you know any more about birds than you do about love, you poor +dear? Look at that one flying over the river. Why do they always cross +the stream in a slanting direction? Why do they never fly straight +across? And why do birds sing so seldom in the depths of the forest? And +is it true that none of the singing birds were here till the settlers +came? It is said that they came with the settlers. I've heard many +persons state that as a fact. But how does anybody know? Did any bird +say so? Those paroquets could tell if they would; but they never will. +They only chatter to scold one another. Just listen! I am sure they +could tell lots of things if they liked. They are not so green as they +look--not half so green as you, my dear. I shall have to ask Mr. Audubon +if there were any birds here before the settlers came. He will know; he +doesn't go round all the time with his head in the clouds, as you do. +You don't even know how old a snow-goose has to be before it turns from +gray to white. And you really ought to know that, because you are a +goose yourself. I saw a pure white snow-goose the other day on the pond +back of Cedar House, and when the snow-goose comes, then winter is here, +and it isn't long till Christmas." + +She suddenly stood up shivering, and said she was cold; but it was the +thought of Christmas Eve, not the frost in the air, that sent the chill +to her heart. + + + + +XVII + +THE ONCOMING OF THE STORM + + +On entering the great room of Cedar House they found the rest of the +family in a most unusual state of excitement. The lamps and candles had +not been lighted, as it was not yet quite dark, but the firelight was +bright, and they could plainly see the anxiety on every face. + +Miss Penelope was in her accustomed place, which she could no more get +away from than a planet could leave its orbit. But her attention was +wandering, as it rarely did, and she was silently casting uneasy glances +at the judge and his nephew who sat on the other side of the room, +talking to each other in a loud, excited tone. The widow Broadnax, also, +was in her usual seat in the chimney-corner, yet looking now and then at +the two men; and the mere fact that she thus allowed her gaze to stray +for a moment from what her half-sister was doing, indicated the uncommon +disturbance of her mind. + +Ruth and David hardly knew the judge as he looked and spoke now, for it +was he who was speaking as they came in. He had just motioned his +nephew to silence with a sternness which was not to be disobeyed. His +voice rang with a decision and severity, such as none of the household +had ever heard from him, who was commonly so carelessly mild and +abstracted. + +"No one shall, with my consent, or even my knowledge, go from my house +to Duff's Fort on any account whatever." + +"Pardon me, sir," began William, stiffly. + +He was keeping his self-control with the air of one who does it under +great provocation, and who has scant respect for those who lose it; but +his face was flushed, and his eyes were angry. The strained coldness of +his tone and manner were like oil to the flame of his uncle's wrath. The +judge's hand went out in a gesture that had almost the force of a blow. + +"Stop!" he shouted. "I refuse even to discuss the matter. It is enough +for me to tell you again that no one shall go from under my roof to the +place where robbers and cutthroats congregate. It's a disgrace that I +haven't been able to break up their den. I have done my best, and I am +still doing it, but the reproach of this band's existence, here at my +very door, nevertheless rests on me more than on any one else. I am the +representative of the law--the law, good God! with the country in the +murderous clutches of that lawless gang! Keep away, I tell you! And I +will ask Alston what he means by even seeming to give countenance to +those scoundrels by going nigh them. Business! What business can he or +any other decent man have with the nest of rattlesnakes that we can't +drag out from under that bluff?" + +"It is a very simple matter, sir, if you would permit me to explain," +William said more coldly and deliberately than ever. "Mr. Alston is +merely making a trade for a boatload of horses, and simply asked me, as +his attorney, to meet him at Duff's Fort to draw up the contract with +Mason and Sturtevant." + +The judge stared blankly for a moment, so overwhelmed by surprise that +he forgot his anger. "Mason and Sturtevant," he repeated. "Do you mean +to tell me that a man of half Alston's intelligence doesn't know that +those men never have a horse that they haven't stolen?" + +William Pressley said nothing more; he suspected that his uncle had been +drinking a little more heavily than common. Moreover, it scarcely seemed +worth while to argue with blind prejudice, drunk or sober. + +"Then if you've got nothing more to say, it's with Alston that I will +settle this matter. But all the same, I forbid you to go near Duff's +Fort. I have a right to forbid you, as a member of my household. I have +a right to forbid any one belonging to my family to do anything that +touches my own honor, my good name. And this touches both to the quick." + +"Very well, sir. I shall tell Mr. Alston what you say. I must, of +course, give some reason for breaking a professional engagement," said +William. + +"I shall tell him a few things myself," stormed the judge. "It's all +very well for him to put on his high-and-mighty tolerant air about the +state of things hereabouts, and to keep on saying, soothingly, that +everything will come right after a while, as it does in all new +countries; but neither he nor any honest man can afford to handle pitch. +It sticks to the cleanest hands. See that you keep yours out of it. +Nobody belonging to me shall be smirched--and just now, too, when we are +going to cleanse the whole country of it at last, thank God! We have +only been waiting for a chance to carry out the plan which was arranged +while General Jackson was here. Joe Daviess has now found the +opportunity, and our campaign has already begun. He is determined to put +it in motion before he leaves for Tippecanoe--" + +"Then he is really going?" broke in William, quickly, with a marked +change of tone and manner. + +The judge paid no attention to the question. He seldom noticed what his +nephew said, and his thoughts were now solely of the undertaking which +absorbed him heart and soul. After thinking deeply in silence for a few +moments, he spoke of the plan more fully, even freely, as he was in the +habit of speaking in the bosom of his own family. There was no one else +present; even the servants were gone out of the room. Moreover, he had +been drinking, as his nephew suspected, and the stimulant, together with +the excitement, carried him beyond all prudence. He did not even lower +his tone. + +"Yes, we begin the good work this very night. We've got the chance we +have been waiting for--the chance to catch those cutthroats red-handed! +We had news yesterday that three men were coming over the Wilderness +Road, bringing a large sum of money to buy land. The negotiation has +been under way for weeks. We have learned that this fact, and the time +when these men are expected to pass through here, are both as well known +at Duff's Fort as they are to us. We have also had news of the coming of +a large flatboat with a rich cargo, which is due to pass down the river +by Duff's Fort some time during to-morrow night. Those hungry demons are +said to be ready and waiting for the travellers by land and water--and +we are ready and waiting for them! Just let them lift a hand to rob or +murder, and we will be on hand, too! The attorney-general has sent a +large posse of picked men down the river to come up overland on the +further side of the fort. Another posse has gone round by the swamp to +guard that quarter, and there is a boat in readiness on the other side +of the river, well armed and fully manned. Yes, we've got the scoundrels +safe enough this time! We've run them to earth at last. There is only +one loophole, and the attorney-general himself is to guard that--the +path round Anvil Rock. That is the band's highway. The rock is their +rallying-point and we couldn't see at first how we were to watch it +without putting the scoundrels on their guard. To send any number of +men, even two or three, in that direction, would have been to give the +alarm at once--as the moon is about full. After consultation, it was +decided that the attorney-general alone should attend to this delicate +part of the plan. It was his own suggestion that he should go to Anvil +Rock immediately after dark to-morrow night, and wait there in the +shadow--watching everything that passes--till his men join him, after +beating the bushes and going over the country with a drag-net. It's a +dangerous task that he has taken on himself, notwithstanding that the +posse guarding the swamp should be in hearing of his voice by the time +he reaches Anvil Rock. I told him so; but he said that it must be done +by some one man, since more than one would defeat our whole undertaking, +and that it was the duty of no one but himself. However, he has ordered +all his men--the different posses sent out in various directions--to +draw in toward Anvil Rock, so that he will not be there long alone, and +not at any time beyond the hearing of his men, should he find it +necessary to call for help. Anyway, I couldn't dissuade him from going +alone. It was no more than General Jackson had done, he declared, when I +protested; and he also thought that being alone made it unlikely that he +would be observed. The main object was for him to be near by when his +men should need him, and that purpose would be best served by his +waiting in the shadow of Anvil Rock. I said what I could, and urged him +to let me go with him, but he stuck to it that only one man must go." +The judge spoke anxiously, wearily now, all anger forgotten. "And he +will be there. He never knew what fear was, in doing his duty; he would +walk straight into the devil's den and attack him single-handed, without +the quiver of a nerve." + +"Allow me to congratulate you, sir," William Pressley said distantly, +with an air of polite concession to somewhat foolish enthusiasm. "I +think you have perhaps been rather more troubled over certain outbreaks +of lawlessness than you need have been. They are to be expected, I +suppose, in all new countries, and they gradually disappear before the +advance of civilization, as Mr. Alston says. All that is in the natural +order of human events. However, since you have been so much disturbed, I +am truly pleased that you are so soon to be relieved of all uneasiness +from this source. May I ask, sir, if you can tell me the precise date of +the attorney-general's departure--for the seat of war, I mean--for +Tippecanoe?" + +The judge shook his head, hardly hearing the inquiry. The agitation +which had shaken him was leaving him greatly spent. The old look of +abstraction came back, quickly dulling his gaze, and, sinking down in +his chair, he very soon began to nod and doze. + +"With your permission, sir," William went on with a touch of sarcasm in +his cool, slow voice, "I should like to call upon Mr. Alston to-morrow. +You have, I presume, no objection to my going to see him in his own +house. It is impossible to drop a matter of business without a word of +explanation. And if you have no objection, I will mention to him the +matters of which you have just been speaking. No one has a deeper +interest in the public welfare, and certainly no one could be more +eminently discreet. However, I shall, of course, speak in the strictest +confidence." + +The judge bent his head, but it was in nodding not in assent, for he had +not heard a word that his nephew said. And William saw nothing but the +nod with a sidewise glance of aversion at the signs of his uncle's +weakness. + +It was the boy who heard and saw everything, and remembered and weighed +it, with a feeling of alarm that he knew no reason for, and could not +explain to himself. It was his instinct to dislike anything that William +Pressley said or did, and to distrust everything in which Philip Alston +was concerned. He looked round at Ruth to see if she shared his +feeling, and saw that she was gazing at William Pressley with troubled +eyes. + +They had scarcely exchanged a word since their quarrel, although she had +made many timid advances toward a reconciliation. It was conscience and +not love which had moved her in all that she had done, but this fact was +not yet clear to her own mind. She was beginning to see it, but she +tried to shut her eyes to the truth, being a loyal soul, and firm in her +high regard for the man whom she had promised to marry. There had been +no opportunity to tell him what she felt; and she was still more +distressed to see that he avoided seeing her alone. It was of this cloud +between them that she was thinking now, and it was that which shadowed +her face. She had not noted very keenly what was going forward about +her. She had shrunk from the judge's excitement and agitation, as she +always did from all violence; but the meaning of his words had not +impressed her deeply or even clearly. Her gentle nature and her tranquil +life were too far from strife, cruelty, and crime for her to grasp the +full purport of the story. She had heard William Pressley speak of +telling Philip Alston, without giving the matter a thought. It was right +in her eyes that he should be told everything. The mention of his name +caused her to think that it would be well to tell him of her quarrel +with William and of her regret and self-reproach. He was wise and kind, +and would know what was right and best to do. Perhaps he might even see +some way by which the engagement could be broken without wrong or hurt +to William's feelings. A measure of peace came with the hope, and she +was presently gazing into the fire, dreaming more than thinking, and +feeling assured that the doctor would stop when he went by on the next +morning. + +The boy saw how absorbed she was, and felt that there was no use in +waiting to speak to her, to tell her of the vague alarm which had seized +him. And then what was there to tell her or any one? He would only be +laughed at for fancying things, as he often had been before, and +remembering this, he crept off to his own cabin and went to bed. But he +could not go to sleep for a long time, and when he awoke at dawn the +formless dread was still dark in his mind, like some fearsome shape +behind an impenetrable curtain. And there it stayed all the day through, +never quite coming out into the light, but growing steadily larger and +darker and more terrible as the long heavy hours wore on. When--at +last--the dusk began to creep down the river, he grew so restless in his +nameless misery that he wandered into the forest, and there met the +doctor riding along the path on the way to his lonely cabin. + +Paul's face brightened at the sight of the boy; he had always liked +him, and had been drawn to him before knowing of Ruth's existence. Still +the thought of her was now foremost in his mind as he looked at David. +We are all glad to see those who are near the one whom we love; we are +even eager to seek those whom we would otherwise avoid when they are +near our beloved from whom we are parted. This eagerness was in Paul +Colbert's face as he looked at the boy and asked with some hesitation if +he was in haste. + +"If you are not," he said, "I should like to have a little talk with +you. Let's sit down on that fallen tree." + +Dismounting, he led his horse along the path, with the boy following in +silence. They sat down side by side on the tree-trunk, the doctor +holding his horse by the bridle. There were new lines in his face which +did not belong to youth, and which had not been graven by his fierce +struggle with the Cold Plague. The boy noticed them and knew that they +had not been there when he had last seen the doctor's face. Its look of +gloom also had come back. That had lifted at the moment of meeting, but +it was too deep to go so suddenly, and it had now returned. He turned to +the boy uncertainly, for there had been no clear purpose in his speaking +to the lad. He had spoken on an irresistible impulse to learn something +of Ruth, blindly clutching at a possible bond between her and himself. +It seemed years rather than days since he had heard from her. But in a +single glance his trained eyes saw that David was in trouble, and by +asking a few adroit questions he brought out all that the boy knew. The +doctor sat so still for an instant after hearing what had passed between +the judge and William Pressley, that David looked up in surprise to see +what was the matter. Paul Colbert was very pale, and his eyes were +glancing round, searching the deepening shadows of the forest. He made a +gesture, warning the boy to speak lower, and his own voice was scarcely +above a whisper. + +"What time to-day did Pressley leave Cedar House? Had he come back when +you came away? Tell me again just what he said about telling Philip +Alston. Try to remember every word--a valuable life may hang upon it. +Keep as cool as you can--and be careful, don't be alarmed, but be quick. +Every word now--once more." + +The boy repeated everything as accurately as he could. While he was +speaking, the doctor, rising to his feet, gathered up the bridle-reins, +and hastily bending down, was tightening the girth. When the last item +of information had been gathered, he vaulted into the saddle. + +"There isn't any time for our talk. I must gallop home for a fresh +horse. This one is too tired for the speed we need." He saw the surprise +and, the alarm in the boy's gaze, and leaning over, took his trembling +hand. "Don't be troubled. You are in no way to blame, whatever happens. +You have done the very best thing possible in telling me this. It may +not be too late. I shall try. I am going at once to do all that I can to +warn or to guard a great man's life. The delay in getting the fresh +horse is the worst; but," hastily grasping his hand again, "if I am too +late, if I fail and never come back, tell Ruth that I did my best. Tell +her that I have done my best ever since I have known. I have kept away +from Cedar House--have only seen her far off, feeding the birds. But +that was all I could do. I couldn't help thinking of her, I couldn't +help what I felt. You will remember--and tell her?" + +He looked down in the boy's frightened face with a strange smile, and +then touching his horse with the spur, he flashed out of sight among the +trees. + + + + +XVIII + +THE GENTLEST ARE THE BRAVEST + + +The boy stood staring after him in dazed alarm. He could not comprehend +the cause of his friend's sudden agitation and abrupt departure, but +they filled him with vague, helpless terror. He did not know what to do +till he suddenly felt the urgency of the message to Ruth, and the +thought of her made him turn and start running back to Cedar House. + +As he went, he instinctively tried to calm himself; he was fast learning +to hide the emotion which was always shaking him. On reaching the door +he paused for a moment, and strove hard to control his panting breath. +He almost hoped that this might prove to be merely one of the fancies +which were constantly swaying him. And then there was an instinctive +feeling that it would be best not to tell any one except Ruth what had +occurred. The meaning of the message to her was not yet clear to him, +but he nevertheless felt it to be something which she might not wish +others to hear. He did not remember that the message was not to be given +her unless Paul failed to come back. There had not been time for Paul +to impress this upon him, and it was natural enough that the boy, +startled and frightened, should not have noted all that was said. + +His one aim now was to get a word alone with Ruth, and hastily looking +round the room, he saw her sitting near the hearth. But there was no +chance to approach her, or to speak without being overheard by the whole +family. Every member of the household was present, it being the evening +hour when all households come closest together around the fireside. The +supper-table was laid, and a servant moved about lighting the lamps and +candles. William Pressley was sitting near Ruth, but it was she who had +last taken a seat and he was silent, save as some timid advance from her +compelled him to make a coldly civil reply. His resentment was as +implacable as ever; the wound to his self-love had only grown deeper +with nursing, as it always does with a nature like his. The breaking of +the engagement was with him, now, merely a question of timeliness, of +discretion and expediency. In these matters he was not considering +Ruth's feelings as she was considering his, despite her own most eager +wish to be free. He was thinking first of the light in which he, +himself, would be placed. After this he was considering Philip Alston's +view of his conduct. Knowing that he wished the marriage to take place, +William Pressley felt reasonably sure that Philip Alston would be +displeased at any breach, and that he would make his displeasure felt, +should the first movement toward the breaking of the engagement come +from himself. The displeasure of Philip Alston was not a thing to be +lightly incurred at any time. No one knew this better than William +Pressley, and he saw it to be particularly undesirable to displease him +and possibly incur his enmity, just at the moment when his good-will +might be useful in the matter of the appointment. William Pressley did +not believe Philip Alston's influence to be at all essential--merit was +in his opinion the only essential. Still it seemed best, under the +circumstances, to let the engagement stand till a time more auspicious +for breaking it. And then his sore self-love found some balm in the +girl's self-reproach, which he saw plainly enough, without understanding +it in the least. It was like him to consider the effect which the +breaking of the engagement might have on his political prospects, and to +postpone it on the bare chance of its affecting them adversely. But it +was still more like him merely to postpone it with an immovable +determination in his mind, utterly unaffected by all the girl's winning +gentleness and open regret. And it was most of all like him never for an +instant to allow any thought of Philip Alston's fortune to make him +waver. All the gold in the world could have done nothing to make William +Pressley forget, or forgive, the wound which his self-love had received. + +She continued for a while in her shy, gentle efforts to win him back to +something like the old friendliness, which had existed between them +before they had become engaged to be married. It was this which she +longed to have restored, with her craving for affection and her dread of +hard feeling. But despairing at last, she arose with a sigh and went to +the hearth, and began talking to the two old ladies, who left off +quarrelling when she came, as they nearly always did. From the hearth +she turned to the supper-table, to give it the delicate finishing +touches, and then there was a general movement as the family settled +into their places. + +It seemed to David that the meal would never end, that he should never +be able to tell Ruth. As he sat looking down at his untasted food, and +had time to think, he came gradually to understand something of the +meaning of the young doctor's sudden agitation, his solemn message, and +his hurried departure. The boy could not keep his distress out of his +face, and Ruth saw it in her first glance at him across the table. In +the shadows of the room she had not seen him distinctly until now, and +the sight of his trouble touched her as it never failed to do even when +she believed it to be imaginary. As soon as possible she left the table +and went to the door, glancing at him over her shoulder. He followed +instantly and, passing her swiftly as she stood in the doorway, he +beckoned her to come outside. + +"What is it?" she asked, running to him. + +She grasped his arm and turned white and began to tremble, not knowing +what she feared. There was something in his look, and something in her +own heart, which told her that this was no boyish whim or fancy, such as +she was often called to comfort and beguile for him. She could not see +his face distinctly enough to gather anything from looking at him; they +were standing beyond the broad band of light streaming from the open +door. But there was no need for sight; he poured out the story almost in +a breath, ending with Paul's message to her. And she understood more +than he had said, far more than he could ever say or understand, before +the words had fairly left his lips. The divination of a woman's +love--that marvellous white light--flashed the whole truth, and she +uttered a smothered cry as she saw it. So crying out, she shrank away +from him, and threw off his hand and struck at him fiercely, like some +soft little wild thing suddenly hurt. + +"How could you? Why did you tell him?" she cried. "I hate you. I'll hate +you for this as long as I live. You have sent him to his death--you +meddler, you simpleton! And you don't even know what you have done. You +have sent him to his death, I tell you! Yes, that's what you have done, +and I will never forgive you while I breathe. He has gone to warn the +attorney-general, and he will be killed, too. You heard what uncle said +about the danger. What are the robbers or the country to me--beside him? +What do I care about what happens to the attorney-general? I wouldn't +care if every other man in the world was lying dead, this minute, if I +could know that he was safe. Oh! Oh! And you knew that he and the +attorney-general were friends. You knew he would go to help him. And yet +you told him--and he is gone--" + +She broke into a helpless passion of weeping so pitiful that the boy +could do nothing but go to her and take her in his arms. She did not +resist; her anger was instantly melted in grief. Her arms went round his +neck, and she sobbingly implored his pardon. + +"Forgive me--forgive me. I didn't know--I don't know what I am saying. +Oh! my heart is breaking, David! Help me--help me to think! We must do +something--we mustn't stand here crying like this. Think! Think! Help me +to think what we can do." + +She pushed him away and stood pressing her trembling hands hard against +her temples, trying desperately to clear her thoughts. The thought of +calling on any one in the house did not cross her mind. There was +nothing to expect from the judge; he had fallen asleep in his chair at +the table. William Pressley would not believe there was any danger. He +never believed in any trouble or agitation. It would only annoy him. +Indeed, she scarcely thought of him at all. She caught the boy's arm +wildly, with her tears suddenly dried. + +"Why don't you say something--do something!" she cried bitterly, "You +are no better than, a girl yourself." + +She turned toward the house and ran a few steps only to come flying +back. + +"I have thought of something--you must go after him! That's what you +must do! He may be wounded. He may need you to help him. Surely you +could fight if you tried. I could, myself! And you will try, dear, I +know you will, for my sake. Come! Run! Run! Let's go to the stable and +get the pony. He goes fast." + +Her passionate excitement swept them along, and she and the boy were now +running toward the stable, hand in hand, hardly knowing what they did. +Her head was bare, her white dress and her delicate slippers were very +thin, and the chill of the autumnal night was already coming on. But she +thought of none of these things, felt none of them, and did not stop at +the door of the stable, although she had never entered it before, and it +was now very dark within. But there was nothing for her to fear, she +knew all about the horses, as every girl of the country did, since +riding was a part of the life of the wilderness. Keeping close to +David's side, she followed him to the pony's stall, and when she heard +him take down the saddle and bridle that hung overhead, her hands +eagerly went out in the darkness to help him buckle the girth. + +"There! You will ride as fast as you can--I know you will. And you will +help him fight. Make haste. Why didn't we think to get your rifle? Oh, +why! You are very slow. There! Isn't it ready?" + +But as the boy started to lead the pony from the stable, a sudden +thought flashed through her mind, and she acted upon it as quickly as +she grasped it. + +"Let me have the pony," she gasped. "You can get one of the other horses +for yourself. Make haste! I must have the pony because he is all ready. +Hurry! Hurry! I have just thought--uncle Philip will help us. He can do +anything. He will do anything in the world for me if I can only reach +him. He is nearly always coming to Cedar House about this time. I am +going to meet him. Everything will be safe and right if I can find him +and tell him. Help me up to the saddle, quick! quick!" + +They were now out of the stable and could see each other dimly. He +exclaimed in affright, grasping her skirt and holding her back when she +attempted to mount. + +"It's my saddle, too, you couldn't ride that!" he cried. + +"What difference does the saddle make? I have ridden it many a +time--and many a time without any. If you will not--" + +She caught the pommel, and he, seeing how utterly useless it was to +contend further, now held out his hand and she set her foot in his palm. +With a leap and a swift, lithe turn of one knee under the other she was +seated in his saddle as easily and firmly as if it had been her own, and +grasped the reins. + +"Follow as quickly as you can," she called back over her shoulder. "I am +going to meet uncle Philip in the buffalo path beyond Anvil Rock." + +And then the pony sprang away and was running into the falling night. + + + + +XIX + +UNDER THE HUNTER'S MOON + + +It was not very dark, and all the cleared country rolling widely away +from Cedar House could be dimly seen. A gusty wind was driving wild +clouds across the stars, and tall cloud mountains rose on the north +covering the great comet; but higher in the dark blue dome of the +firmament the Hunter's Moon swung full and free, casting its wonderful +crystalline light over the darkened earth. + +This most marvellous of crystal lamps always appears to be shining by +its own living radiance, and never to be beaming by the merely reflected +glory that gilds the lifeless Harvest Moon. The Hunter's Moon has indeed +no rival among all the lights which heaven lends to the world of night. +It is the whitest, the brightest, the most sparkling that ever falls on +the darkness, and it was in truth the hunter's very own. By its light he +could see how to go on with his hunt hours after the close of the short +November days, and far into the long November nights, and still find his +way home through the deep heart of the mighty wood. + +So that even on this dreary November night, when its clearness was +dimmed by the flight of the wind-hunted clouds, it was able to lighten +in a measure the furthest and darkest reaches of this wild new world. It +touched the mystery of the burial mound; it lifted the misty winding +sheet spread by the swamp; it raised the pall laid along the horizon by +the sable tops of the cypress trees; it reached almost to the darkness +hanging over Duff's Fort--that awful and mysterious blackness--which the +noonday sun could never wholly remove. + +But the girl's gaze was not following the moonbeams. Looking neither to +the one side nor the other, she gave a single glance ahead. This was +only to see that she was going straight toward Anvil Rock by the +shortest road. And the one look was enough for she knew that the great +shadowy mass glooming in the dark distance must be what she sought. And +then bending forward and low over the pony's neck, she sent him onward +by an unconscious movement of her own body. She had known how to ride +almost as long as she had known how to walk--the one was an easy and as +natural as the other. Instinctively she now bent still lower, and still +farther forward over the pony's neck, as a boy does in riding a race; +for she also was riding a great race, and for the greatest of stakes. +She did not stop to think how great the stake was; she had not yet +realized that it was the life of the man she loved; she had not yet +had time to face the truth, and to know that she loved Paul Colbert. She +only realized that she must reach Anvil Rock before Philip Alston could +pass it on his way to Cedar House, or turn into another path. Raising +her head, she flashed another look into the dark distance, where the +goal was and grew sick with fear, seeing how far off it was. And then +rallying, she began to use her voice as well as the reins, to urge the +pony to greater speed. + +[Illustration: "For she also was riding a great race."] + +"That's it! Good boy. But faster--faster!" + +Thus crying she silently prayed that Philip Alston might be within +hearing of the sound of her voice. She never doubted that he would come +at her first cry. It never once crossed her mind that he could hesitate +to do what she wished in this. He had never in all her life refused her +anything, and she knew of no reason to fear refusal now. The only fear +that she felt was the dread of reaching Anvil Rock too late. She tried +to still the quivering of her nerves by reminding herself that he nearly +always came to Cedar House at this hour, if he had not been there +earlier in the day. But she could not help remembering that there were +times when he did not come. If he should not be on the way now, if she +should fail to meet him, if he should be still at his far-off home, or +have gone elsewhere--But she threw the paralyzing thought from her and +suddenly began to strike the pony again and again, with her soft little +open hands. + +"Faster! You must go faster--you must! Surely you can. Please! It isn't +very far. We must be almost there!" + +It would have been hard to tell whether the short, sharp strokes were +blows or caresses, and they ceased almost as abruptly as they had begun. +She was now nearly lying across his straining shoulders, and her soft, +bare arms were around his rough, shaggy neck. She did not know what she +was doing, the boy had taught her to ride so--barebacked in the +fields--when she was a child. And she did not know that the pony's mane +was wet with her tears. There was no sound of weeping or faltering in +the tone with which she urged him on. That rang clear and strong with +the invincible courage and strength which love's miracle gives to the +most timid and the weakest. + +She was not holding to the saddle, but was clinging to it as +unconsciously as the mist clung to her skirts. Her long black hair, +fallen away from its fastenings, streamed in the wind; but she gave it +no heed except to toss it out of her eyes so that she might see the +pony's head, and try to look beyond toward Anvil Rock. How far off it +still seemed! Would she never reach it? The night seemed to be growing +darker, and she could not make out the mass glooming through the +darkness as she had seen it at first. But she was not afraid of the +growing blackness. This timid, gentle girl, who had hitherto been afraid +of her own shadow, was now suddenly lost to all sense of fear. She +thought nothing of the wild darkness into which she was thus flying +blindly and alone. She had forgotten the terror of the time, and the +dangers of the wilderness. She was oblivious of the utter silence, which +wrapped the region in awful mystery. She heard nothing but the rush of +the pony's running feet, and felt nothing but the leaping of her own +heart. Her only thought was to reach the goal in time; her only fear was +that she might fail. + +Her ceaseless cry was goading the brave little beast like a spur. He +still leapt in response to it; but his every sinew was already strained +to breaking, and he was nearing the end of his endurance. The night had +now become so dark that neither the pony nor the girl could see whither +they were speeding. And then suddenly the Hunter's Moon broke the frail +bars of its cloud prison, and was again free to cast its full splendor +over the blackness. Under this sudden burst of light, Anvil Rock leapt +out of the shadows--vague, black, huge, terrible--and she uttered a cry +startled and relieved at seeing it so near by, when she had thought it +much farther off. But as she looked again to make sure that it was real, +and not some delusion of the mist, the first pang of fear struck back +her leaping heart. She drew up the panting, staggering pony with a +convulsive clutch on the reins--and waited, trembling and scarcely +daring to breathe. Some large dark form moved among the shadows around +the base of Anvil Rock. + +Another swirl of the shrieking wind sent the fugitive clouds flying +again across the white face of the moon. But only for an instant, and +once more the darkness fled before the light of the crystal lamp. Yet +its bright beams could not pierce the thick gloom which hung heaviest at +the foot of the dark mass. Something still stood there, large, shadowy, +and motionless. Ruth's trembling hand unconsciously went up and threw +back the wildly blown hair which obscured her vision. As the white +moonlight thus fell full on her face, the dark shape instantly sprang +out of the gloom, and she recognized Paul Colbert almost as soon as he +saw her. + +Neither uttered a cry of surprise or even of relief, for neither felt +any strangeness in this most strange meeting. When two hearts and two +souls and two spirits have rushed together at the first meeting of the +eyes,--as these two had,--no separation of mere flesh and blood can ever +again really keep them apart. These two were now only facing outwardly +the images which they constantly bore within their breasts. He had been +thinking more of her through that wild ride than of the friend whose +life he was perilling his own to save. She had felt his presence at her +side with every step of the pony's flying feet; it was merely his body +which she was striving to find and shield from harm. So that when they +thus suddenly came face to face in the moonlight there was no need for a +cry or a word. He sprang from his horse and leapt to the pony's side; +and she--as silently and as naturally--held out her arms to meet his +embrace. + +But they started apart before touching one another. The distant sound of +horses' beating hoofs came with a gust of wind. It was borne from the +direction of Duff's Fort, and out from among the dark trees there now +rushed into the misty moonlight a score or more of dim shapes, vague and +terrible as phantom horsemen. Nearer and nearer these came rushing +through the wavering mists, with scarcely a sound after that first +warning roar brought by the wind. Paul sprang to regain his horse, but +the animal was startled by the suddenness of the attempt, and frightened +by the rapid approach of the other horses, so that he jerked the bridle +from his master's grasp and reared beyond the reach of his hand. There +was no time to pursue the horse; worse still, there was no chance to +seize the rifle which hung from the pommel of the saddle. Paul had only +one other weapon, the long hunting-knife carried by all the men of the +wilderness. He drew this from his belt and it flashed in the moonlight +as he ran back to the pony's head and stood between Ruth and the dimly +visible danger which was rapidly approaching. + +"They are coming the other way, too," she gasped. "I hear them behind +us." + +He did not reply and could not turn. She said nothing more and began +sending up silent prayers. They could no longer see even dimly, for +thick clouds again covered the moon. But she heard a fearful clash in +the darkness, and then there followed those awful muffled sounds which +are heard when men close silently in mortal combat. There was no sharp +sound of firing--only the hideous thud of furious flesh against furious +flesh--the one sound that the bravest woman cannot hear in silence. +Ruth's cry for help pierced the very heavens. Again and again her +anguished appeal rang through the night. In the height of her frenzied +fear she heard the galloping of a horse and knew that it was coming +nearer. This must be Philip Alston. The flash of the thought brought a +gleam of hope and sent her louder cry farther into the darkness. + +"Uncle Philip, for God's sake, come to me! Quick! quick! It's +Ruth--uncle Philip! Philip Alston!" + +Instantly all was still. The invisible conflict which had been waging +with such fury so near by, now ceased as suddenly and as completely as +if it had been ended by an unseen lightning stroke. The assailants +silently drew back and stood motionless; but Ruth could not see what was +taking place, and this sudden, strange stillness falling upon utter +darkness filled her with greater terror. She thought that Paul had been +killed. Alive, he would not leave her alone like this. Not for an +instant would he forget her if he had strength to creep to her side. He +was dead. He would never let these torturing moments pass without +speaking to her if he had breath to speak. + +"Uncle Philip! Philip Alston!" she cried again and again. "Don't you +know me? It's Ruth." + +"Here, I'm coming!" a man's voice shouted out of the distance. "Where +are you? Speak again. Let me find you by the sound." + +"They have killed him!" she shrieked. "I can't find him in the dark." + +She was out of the saddle now, bending down and groping with her +shaking, tender little hands on the torn and trampled earth. A wilder +gust of wind brought the beat of rapidly retreating hoofs to her +strained ears. She sprang up with a new fear and cried it aloud high and +far above the shriek of the wind. + +"They are taking him away! Will you never come? Is it you--uncle Philip? +Oh--why--don't you come to me? It's Ruth." + +"It is I--Father Orin," said the priest near by. + +She did not reply, nor even glance at him, although the cloud curtain +was now suddenly lifted again, and she could see clearly. She did not +notice that all the horsemen had vanished. She saw only the motionless +form of the man she loved lying some distance away. It was plain that he +had pressed the assassins as far from her as he could; that his +outstretched arms had fallen in some supreme effort. The hunting-knife +glittered in the moonlight at a distance from his hand. He must have +fought on with his bare hands after his only weapon had been struck from +his grasp. His eyes were closed, and his face was like the face of the +dead. + +Ruth, dropping to the earth beside him, had taken his head on her lap +before the priest could come up and dismount. She did not reply, nor +even hear his alarmed questioning. + +"See if he is living, Father," she said. "Here, put your hand on his +heart--here--where my hand is. Make haste. Why are you so slow?" Then +flashing round on him in her impetuous way: "Why don't you say that you +feel his heart beat? Of course you do! Of course he is alive. How could +he be dead--in a moment--a flash--like this! He is so young. He has only +begun to live. And so strong and brave. Oh, so brave, Father! Dear +Father Orin--if you could have seen how fearlessly he stood, between +them and me--waiting for them to come! Only one, too, against so many. +But I wasn't afraid while I could see him. No, not for a moment, even +against them all. And then when it was dark, and I couldn't see him, and +I could only hear--" she broke down, shuddering and weeping. + +While she spoke the priest had been unfastening Paul's collar and was +trying to find the wound. The bosom of his shirt was already darkly dyed +with blood. + +"He is alive; his heart is still beating," said Father Orin, huskily. + +This daring, gifted young doctor had come to be like his own son in +their work together for the suffering. He turned back his coat and found +the deep knife-wound in his shoulder, and set about stanching the flow +of blood with the simple knowledge of surgery that the life of the +wilderness taught to all. But it was Ruth who thought of Paul's medical +case which always hung on his saddle. The horse was gone, but the case +was lying not far away, on the ground where it had fallen, and there +were bandages and lint in it, as she hoped there would be. But when they +had done all that they could, he still lay motionless and barely +breathing. She dropped down beside him in fresh alarm, and again took +his head on her lap. Father Orin stood up, looking helplessly through +the moonlight and murmuring something about getting the doctor back to +his cabin. + +"We will take him to Cedar House," she said. "There is no one to nurse +him in his own cabin. Oh!" with a smothered scream. "They are coming +back!" + +She could not suppress that one cry of fright which burst from her lips. +But there was only one, she stilled the others and tried at once to +control the trembling of her knees under his head. The dove will sit +still when a cruel hand comes close to her nest; but no living creature +has the courage of the gentlest woman when the man she loves is +helpless--through no lack of strength or courage in himself--and in +danger. The things which timid women have done then, stand among the +bravest that have ever been set down to the credit of humanity. +Believing that some hideous, unknown peril was sweeping upon them, this +mere slip of a girl now bent quietly over the prone head and spoke close +to the deaf ear without thinking whether or not it could hear. + +"There, dear heart, there! Never mind. All is well. Lie still, or your +wound will bleed. We are here, Father Orin and I. We will take care of +you. Only lie still." + +Two horsemen were now in sight and they were spurring straight toward +Anvil Rock. While they were yet a long way off, Ruth felt, rather than +saw, that one of them was David. She told the priest who it was, and +they both knew that only a friend could be coming with the boy. Her +whole form relaxed under the relief. If Paul could but open his eyes, if +his breath would but come a little more quickly, and a little less +faintly! Her tears were falling on his still, white face, now that there +was no further need for self-control, or courage. She steadied her +voice, and told the story as clearly as she could, when Father Orin +asked again how she came to be in such a place, and what it was that had +led to the wounding of Paul Colbert. + +While she was speaking the horsemen reached them, and they saw that the +man with David was the attorney-general. He hurriedly knelt down by his +friend's side. He did not ask what had happened. He had already gathered +much of the truth from what the boy had told him. He knew that Paul +Colbert lay there, badly wounded, dying perhaps, in his place. He was +too much moved at first to speak. + +"He knew that I was coming alone over this road to-night. He suspected a +plot to waylay me, too late to warn me. When he could not do that he +came to share the danger. It was like him," he said when he found voice. + +He took the nerveless hand and held it a moment in silence, and then he +laid it gently down and stood up, looking about through the moonlight, +toward the cypress swamp and Duff's Fort. + +"But why did the scoundrels run away before finishing their infamous +work? And where is the doctor's horse? Ah! They have stolen that, of +course. Which way did they go? Did you see or hear them, Father?" + +"No; Toby and I were too far off," the priest replied. "We were coming +back from a sick call. It was too dark to see. The first and only sound +I heard was Ruth's voice, calling Philip Alston's name." + +"Oh!--I begin to understand," said the attorney-general. + +He stopped--remembering--and looked down at Ruth. She had not heard +what he said. She was bending closer to Paul's white face and listening +to his laboring breath. + +"We must get him home as quickly as possible," the attorney-general went +on. "My duty at Duff's Fort must wait on this. And I am not sacrificing +the state to a friend, or to gratitude. It would be worse than useless +to go on to-night, now that our plans are betrayed. I am very anxious +about my men. They should be here before now. According to our plans, +they should have been within hearing of the first sound of trouble and +ready to come at once. I am afraid they, too, have fallen into a trap; +but I can't do anything now for them, and I must do my best for this +poor fellow, and quickly, too. Come, Father,--come, David,--let us +consult as to the best way to get him home." + +The three men drew a little apart and stood talking together in a low +tone, so that Ruth was left for a moment alone with Paul. + +"Dear heart!" she breathed, with her cheek against his. "Listen, love. +Can you hear what I say? Try. Try hard. For if you can hear, maybe my +heart will not break. Listen, then," as softly as if her spirit spoke to +his. "Listen. I am yours and you are mine. Can you hear--dear heart? If +you live or if you die--it is just the same--always--to me and to you. +We belong to one another forever." + + + + +XX + +BALANCING LIFE AND DEATH + + +While they consulted, several of the attorney-general's men galloped up. +They had been delayed and sent astray by a false message purporting to +come from him. But they had met with no harm and were now in time to +help in lifting the wounded man's helpless weight into the priest's +saddle. This was the best plan that could be devised in haste, and +Father Orin hastily mounted behind the unconscious body, to hold it in +place. He being much the strongest among the men, the duty naturally +fell to him. It was also natural that the double burden should be laid +upon Toby, because the heaviest burdens of life are always laid upon +those who are readiest to bear them. + +And Toby appeared to feel his responsibility, for, setting out at a +rapid pace, which seemed to show that he knew the need of haste, he yet +moved with so steady a step that Father Orin did not require the aid of +the other hands which were held out to help him. Nevertheless, every +hand was constantly in readiness, and all kept close together; so that +thus moving through the dim light, the shadowy mounted figures looked +like some fabulous monster of gigantic size and with many arms, all +extended toward a common burden. But the pony kept closest to Toby's +side and in the gloom that followed the going down of the Hunter's Moon, +a trembling little hand stole out now and then, to touch the still, cold +one which swung so pathetically over Father Orin's strong arm. + +The stars were paling, and the dark east was growing wan, when Cedar +House rose at last out of the gray shadows. At the first glimpse of it +Ruth suddenly sent the pony forward and urging him to a run, left the +others far behind. Reaching the house, she leapt to the ground and ran +to the front door. It was deeply in shadow, but she did not need sight +to find the latch string, which she had played with as a child, and in +another instant she stood in the great dark room. It was deserted all +the household being asleep, and never dreaming that she also was not +safely in bed. The fire had been covered as it always was at night, but +it blazed when she stirred it, and by the light of the flame she found a +candle on the tall mantelpiece. Holding this to the blaze, it seemed to +her as if it would never catch the flame. When the wick caught she went +running up the stairs with the lighted candle in her hand, arousing the +sleeping household by repeated calls. She did not pause to answer the +alarmed cries that came in response. She heard a scream from Miss +Penelope's room, with, muffled sounds from the widow Broadnax's, and +the disapproving tones of William Pressley's voice. But she was utterly +heedless of everything, except the necessity of getting the room ready +in time, so that there should be no waiting before doing what might be +done. She quivered with terror to think how long the delay had been +already. The servants were too far away to be summoned quickly, so that +there was only herself to do what must be done, and she set about it in +desperate haste. Hers was the only chamber that could be given him. +Every room in Cedar House was occupied, and it was always her room which +was given to a guest, so that she often slept on a couch in Miss +Penelope's chamber. But she did not think of that; there was no thought +of herself, beyond wishing to give him her own room. Had there been ever +so many guest chambers, she would still have wished him to have hers. +But to get it ready in time! To make sure that there should be no +further waiting before doing all that human power could do. Even now it +might be too late. The wood fire had almost burned out, and to kindle a +blaze was the first thing to be done, so that she ran straight to the +hearth and dropped on her knees beside it. There was a little heap of +sticks in the chimney-corner, but her hands trembled so that she could +hardly put them on the dying coals. The breath that she coaxed the flame +with came in gasps, but a blaze quickly sprang up and leapt among the +sticks, and then she flew to prepare the bed. If she might only get it +ready before they came! The thought of that helpless head lying against +Father Orin's shoulder was like a stab at her heart. + +Footsteps were rushing up and down stairs, and excited voices were +calling her name all over the house, but she did not pause or turn from +her task. It was Miss Penelope who first found her and clamored to know +what had happened; but she did not stop to answer, and went on turning +back the covers of the bed--the last thing needing to be done--and +listening for the sounds of the horses' hoofs. They could now be heard +approaching with that sad, slow, solemn rhythm--that subdued beat, beat, +beat, of horses' feet--which has fallen on all our bruised hearts as an +awful part of the funeral march. She ran out of the room and downstairs, +drawing her skirt away from Miss Penelope's frightened grasp, and +passing William Pressley, as if his restraining words had been no more +than the gusty wind. She was waiting outside when the three horsemen +drew up at the door. The burden which they bore was still apparently +lifeless, and with a sickening pang of fear she bent over the parted +lips as they lowered him from the saddle, thinking for one despairing +moment that he no longer breathed. But the faint flutter went on, and +she gave way so that he might be borne up the stairs, and running +before, she told them where to lay him down. + +William Pressley made one or two efforts to direct what was being done, +and although the girl's passionate excitement swept him aside, he still +did what he could, and offered to furnish a fresh horse for the quicker +fetching of the doctor, when the attorney-general said he would go for +him at once. It was like William Pressley to do this; it would have been +unlike him to neglect any duty that he saw. But the offering of the +horse and the full performance of his own duty did not keep him from +looking at Ruth in severe displeasure. He did not yet know how this +thing had happened, and was far from suspecting that she had been out of +the house that night. Yet it disturbed and angered him to see her flying +here and there, and running to and fro to get things that were wanted, +as though the servants could not be quick enough. With all this in his +tone, he coldly and strongly urged her to join the rest of the family, +pointing out the fact that there was nothing more to be done by any one +till the doctor should come. But she merely shook her head, without +speaking, and slid softly into a seat by the bedside, and there William +Pressley left her, disdaining to contend. She thought that she was +alone--so far as she thought of herself at all--but the boy sat unseen +and forgotten in a shadowed corner of the chamber. He was gazing at her, +but her gaze never once wandered from the still white face on the +pillow. + +The rest of the family were gathered around the hearth in the great room +downstairs. The judge had been summoned from the cabin in which he +slept, and he was now plying Father Orin with questions. There was a cry +of alarmed amazement when the priest told of finding Ruth at Anvil Rock. +Only William Pressley said nothing, and sat perfectly still, with a +sudden stiffening of his bearing. It was not easy for the priest to make +the whole story clear, for he did not understand it quite clearly +himself. But he told as much as he knew of the night's events. And when +he was done, the judge's voice stilled the clamor of the other excited +voices. + +"How can the child have known what was going on? Where is she? We must +find out at once how she came to do so wild and strange a thing. What +under heaven could she have been doing there--in such a place, at such a +time? Where is she?" But he went on with another thought, without +waiting for an answer. "How can those murderous scoundrels have known +that the attorney-general would ride to Anvil Rock alone? It is plain +enough that they did know. The question is--How? By what means can they +possibly have learned anything about the plan? That's the thing! How did +they find out enough to enable them to set this villanous trap? All +those assassins hidden there in the darkness of the Cypress Swamp, +waiting to spring out on one man!" He turned suddenly to the priest. +"What is your opinion, Father? Have you the slightest idea how they +could have learned anything of our plan?" + +Father Orin looked straight at William Pressley. + +"Yes, I have an idea," he said quietly, with his gaze still fixed on the +young lawyer. "But it is merely unfounded suspicion. I have no real +reason for my suspicions." + +"Well, what are they?" asked the judge, eagerly. "You can hardly be +afraid of doing any injustice to those scoundrels. It would be hard to +suspect such murderous villains of any sneaking treachery that they +wouldn't be guilty of if they could. How do you think they found out? +That's what I want to know." + +Father Orin was still looking steadily at William Pressley, who returned +the look just as steadily with one that was easier to read than the +priest's. William Pressley's gaze expressed a large, patient tolerance +for prejudice, slightly touched with calm contempt, and there was no +doubting its entire sincerity. + +"I think," said Father Orin, slowly, "that these banded robbers and +murderers must have learned of the plan through some one's inadvertence. +It is my opinion that the plan was betrayed by some one who did not mean +to betray it, and who may not have known what he had done." + +William Pressley regarded him with an incredulous smile. "It is hardly +likely that the plan can have been revealed in any such way as you +suggest, sir," he said, with the politeness which is more exasperating +than rudeness. "You are certainly overlooking the fact that only a few +knew what the attorney-general intended to do, and that those who did +know are the ablest and most reliable men in the country. It is +therefore utterly out of the question to assume that any one among them, +any man of their intelligence and standing, could have made such a +blunder. Really, my dear sir, if you will pardon my saying so, the idea +is absurd." + +The priest made no reply and his eyes were still fixed on the young +lawyer's face, but as he gazed, the expression of his own face changed. +A half smile lighted it for a moment. The good man's sense of humor was +keen. But this passed quickly and in its stead there came the compassion +which any purely human weakness, however great or small, always awoke in +his truly compassionate breast. + +The judge apparently had not heard what his nephew said. He always began +to feel impatient as soon as the young man commenced to speak. And he +now gave his tousled head the old, unconscious toss, like a horse +shaking his mane at the lighting of a persistent fly. And then, paying +no more attention to William Pressley and drawing his chair nearer +Father Orin's, he went on with the grave talk. It was he, however, who +did all the talking now; the priest had suddenly become a passive +listener. He had no more ideas to advance. + +The three men turned many anxious looks on the open door. It was still a +framed space of misty gray, filled only with the melancholy mystery of +the wintry dawn. It seemed to the watchers to stay unchanged for a long +time, as it always does to those who watch for its brightening in +trouble and anxiety. Yet while they longed for the light they dreaded to +see it, as the troubled and alarmed always dread, lest it should reveal +something terrible which the darkness has concealed. Their words grew +fewer, also, under this strain of waiting, and they gradually fell into +the tone that night watchers use, when they speak of mysterious things +under the gloomy spell of this sad half-light which is neither night nor +day. In the silences between their hesitating words, they bent forward +and listened. All was still--there was no distant sound of the +attorney-general's return or of the old doctor's coming. In the tense +stillness they could hear only the sad murmur of the river gliding under +the darkness and--now and then--the sudden hurrying of footsteps in the +chamber overhead where the wounded man lay. + +And so a long, heavy hour dragged by. The leaden gray framed by the +doorway began to glimmer with a silvery pallor. The quicker breath of +the awakening world sent a heavier shower of leaves from the trees. The +birds still lingering among the cold, bare branches were already awake, +and calling cheerily to one another, as if the higher world in which +they lived was all untouched by the struggle and strife of this lower +human world. The heavy-hearted men in the great room of Cedar House +listened with the vague wistfulness that the happiness of bird voices +always brings to the troubled. They also heard the low trumpeting of the +swans as the breath of the morning swayed the rushes and that, too, +filled them with a deeper longing for peace. But suddenly the far-off +echo of a horse's rapid approach made them forget everything else. The +doctor was coming at last! As one man, the three men sprang to open the +door, and leapt out into the pallid daylight. The horseman was now near +by and in another moment they saw that the rider was not the doctor, nor +yet the attorney-general, but Philip Alston. + +The priest shrank back with an uncontrollable recoil and then stood +still and silent, watching every movement of the tall figure which had +reined up and was dismounting with the ease of a boy. The judge and his +nephew had made an exclamation at the sight of him; but they were merely +surprised at the unusual hour of his appearance and he explained this at +once. + +"Where is Ruth? What is wrong? Has anything happened?" he asked, turning +in visible agitation from one to another. "What was it that those men +on horseback brought here? I could barely make out something moving this +way. Has anything happened to Ruth? The light was dim, and I was a long +way off. I was coming from the river where I had been attending to the +loading of a boat, and so happened to see that something was going on. +But I wasn't near enough to tell what it was. Of course I came at once +to see if there was any trouble, and to do what I could. Is anything +wrong with Ruth? My horse fell and lamed himself, or I should have been +here much sooner. Tell me instantly! What have you done with the child? +What have you allowed to happen to her? By God, if--" + +He demanded this accounting in a tone of passionate fierceness such as +none of those present had ever heard in him, turning first upon William +Pressley and then upon Robert Knox. His face was white, and his eyes +were blazing, and they did not at once resume their natural look when he +had been assured of Ruth's safety. But he said nothing more, and only +Father Orin noted how altered and worn and old he looked, when he +entered the room and the brighter light fell upon him. + +He came to the fireside and sat down with the light of a swinging lamp +falling full on his face. His clear blue eyes, growing quiet, now looked +straight into Father Orin's--which were openly searching and +suspicious--during the second telling of the story of the night. It was +not easy for suspicion to stand against such a gaze. The priest's +wavered in spite of its strength. No one could believe evil of Philip +Alston while looking in his noble, open face. He did not speak +immediately after the story was told. When he did, it was to say, +quietly and naturally, precisely what any right-minded man would have +said under the circumstances:-- + +"This young stranger is certainly a man of courage. He has protected the +attorney-general at the risk of his own life. In doing this, he has done +a great service for all of us--for the whole country. We must now do +what we can for him. Is he badly, hurt? Where is he? Who is with him?" + +The priest saw that he flinched for the first time when told that the +wounded man had been taken to Ruth's room. + +"That was wrong," said Philip Alston, with a subtle change in his tone. +"Ruth must have nothing further to do with this extraordinary and most +unfortunate affair. She has had far too much to do with it already. That +mooning, foolish boy must have led her into this romantic folly through +some girlish enthusiasm about Joe Daviess, the popular hero of romance. +It is plainly the boy's fault that she was induced to do so dangerous +and unheard-of a thing. She could never have thought of it herself. I +shall see that he keeps his place hereafter. We must look to it, +William," turning upon the young man with more severity than his voice +often expressed. "Where is she? What is she doing? I wish to see her." + +It was the judge who told him that she was in her own room, together +with the older ladies, all in attendance upon the injured man. The +priest then saw the second swift darkening of Philip Alston's face. + +"I will go up to her room," he said quietly. "I wish to be sure that she +has not been harmed." + +As he rose, there was a sound outside. He turned to the open door and +saw two horsemen approaching at a gallop. It was light enough for him to +see and recognize the attorney-general and the doctor. The other men +hurriedly went out to meet them. Philip Alston stood still in a shadowed +corner of the great room, while the rest hastened up the stairway and +into the chamber where Paul Colbert lay. And then he followed them with +his swift, light step, and pausing upon the threshold, looked into the +open room, his gaze first seeking Ruth. She stood on the other side of +the chamber, apart from the group around the bed. But she did not see +him; her eyes and hands and thoughts were on the bandages which she was +hastily preparing. He shrank from what she was doing and turning hastily +away fixed his eyes on the attorney-general. Thus, silently looking and +listening, he presently heard him say how deeply he regretted being +compelled to leave the country before knowing the result of his friend's +wound, adding that he was leaving on the next day for Tippecanoe. Philip +Alston barely glanced at the white face lying against the pillow. He was +disturbed and even shocked to see it there. He felt this stranger's +presence in her chamber to be a desecration. And then the sight of +suffering always made him uncomfortable. He wondered how she could +endure it. The repulsion which the average man feels for any affliction +of mind, body, or estate was so intensified in him that he could not, +with all his intelligence, understand that the very sight of great +suffering nobly borne, does much to win a woman's heart. + + + + +XXI + +THE EAGLE IN THE DOVE'S NEST + + +The worst hurt that Paul Colbert had received was from a blow on the +head, which had stunned and nearly killed him. But there had been no +lasting injury, even from this, and the knife-wound in his shoulder had +healed rapidly; he was young, and strong, and healthy. + +On the morning of the seventh day he awoke and looked at Ruth. He was +feeling almost well, but had no inclination to stir. It was pleasant +enough just to lie there and look at her, and let his gaze wander around +her chamber. This white shrine of maidenhood! He had felt its influence +before he was able to understand, and the reverential awe had grown with +his returning strength. How dainty it was, for all its rough board floor +and rude log walls! Even those were as white as the driven snow. The bed +was like the warm, soft breast of a snow-white swan, and its drawn +curtains like folded wings. There were spotless muslin curtains over the +windows, and the little toilet table also was draped in white and strewn +with bits of carved ivory. The whole room showed the same mingling of +luxury and simplicity that was to be seen in the great room below. +These fine ivory carvings, the rare prints and a painting or two on the +rude walls, the alabaster vase on the rude stand,--filled with fresh, +late-blooming flowers,--the costly white fur rug on the floor, the +delicate work basket with its coquettish bows of riband, contrasted +oddly with the other simple things which had evidently been made in the +wilderness by unskilled hands. Yet even those were tasteful and all +painted white, so that the whole was purity, beauty, and exquisiteness. + +Yet his gaze quickly turned from the room to her. He knew that she +believed him to be asleep; but it was so pleasant to watch her that he +did not hasten to let her know that he was awake. She was very busy at +the window, with her back to him, and deeply absorbed in something that +she was doing. Moving lightly and swiftly to and fro across the light, +she was working hard, with no more noise than the sunbeams made in +glancing about her slender form. He lay watching her for some time in +dreamy delight, before he saw what it was that she was doing. But +presently he knew that she was making an aeolian harp. The two fragile +bits of vibrant wood to hold the strings were already in place on either +side of the window, just where the upper and lower sash came together. +She was now engaged in carrying the threads of fine silk floss, which +were to form the strings of this simple wind-harp, from one piece of +wood to the other. Back and forth she wove them across the current of +air, moving with swift, noiseless motions of exquisite grace. As the +last fine fibre thus fell into place and was firmly drawn, a soft, +musical sigh breathed through the shadowed room, the very shadow of +music's sweet self. + +[Illustration: "She was making an aeolian harp."] + +"Thank you," Paul Colbert said. "What beautiful things you think of, +what lovely things you do!" + +She turned quickly with a smile and a blush, and came to the bedside. + +"Why--you were not to wake up yet! It's much too early for a sick man to +open his eyes." + +"But I am not a sick man any longer. I am almost well. I could get up +now, if I wished," jestingly, "I am getting well as fast as I can, just +to convict the other doctor of a mistaken diagnosis. What a fine old +fellow he is!" with a quick change to earnestness. "How kind he has +been, how untiring in his attention and goodness to me. And so skilful, +too. I am ashamed of my presumption. A mere beginner like myself, to +question his methods in dealing with the Cold Plague! I don't believe he +made the mistakes they said he did. He couldn't!" + +It was an unlucky recollection. The thought of this mysterious epidemic +which had grown worse, till it was now devastating the whole country, +made him suddenly restless. His patients were needing him sorely while +he lay here, still bound hand and foot by weakness. He turned his head +miserably on the pillow. It was not the first time that this thought had +troubled him, and she knew the signs. Laying a gentle, soothing hand on +his tossing head, she spoke in the quieting tone that a woman always +uses to soothe and comfort a child or a man whom she loves. + +"It will not be long now. You can soon go back to them," she said. + +The tone was none the less soothing because a bitter pang went through +her own heart with the words. What should she do when he was gone? And +he was almost strong enough to return to the work which was calling him. +But the aching of a true woman's own heart has nothing to do with the +peace that she gives to those whom she loves. And then it may have been +only the sweet sadness of the spirit harp's sighing that made Ruth's +lips quiver under their bright smile. + +"But they need me now," he groaned. "They are dying untended while I lie +helpless here. The old doctor cannot take care of them. He has too many +patients of his own. He is riding day and night. He tries to hide the +truth, but I know it. The Cold Plague grows in violence every day." + +He suddenly raised himself on his elbow with a great effort. + +"Maybe I can sit up if I try very hard," he gasped. "The will has much +to do with the strength. I am determined--" + +"No! no!" cried Ruth in alarm. + +But he had already sunk back exhausted. His lids drooped heavily for a +moment through weakness. And then he looked up in her frightened face +with a reassuring smile as she gently pressed his head down upon the +pillow. + +"What strict little mother," he murmured. + +She shook her head and drew the counterpane closer about his neck, +carefully lightening the weight over his wounded shoulder. With soft +light touches she smoothed out the smallest wrinkle marring the comfort +of the narrow, bed. When this was done and he lay quiet again, she began +to talk quietly but brightly of other things, hoping to divert his +thoughts. She told him all the innocent gossip of the neighborhood. Most +of this had come to her from the Sisters, for she seldom saw any one +else. There was much to tell of their little charges, and particularly +of the three babies whom he and Father Orin had taken from the deserted, +plague-stricken cabin in the wilderness. She did not say that these +little ones had become her own special care, but caused his smile to +grow brighter by telling how like children the gentle Sisters themselves +were. She repeated what they had said of Tommy Dye's last visit. Their +serious, perplexed account of it was now unconsciously colored by her +own gentle, fine sense of humor which also came so close to pathos that +a lump rose in Paul Colbert's throat as he listened. He could see just +how poor Tommy Dye had looked, but his eyes grew dim while his lips +smiled. And now another and deeper shadow swiftly swept over his face. + +"So even poor old Tommy Dye has gone to Tippecanoe. Everybody but me is +gone or going. I alone am left behind. And yet--even if this hadn't +happened--I must still have stood at my post," he said sadly. + +Her hand fluttered down upon his like a startled dove. There was a +sudden radiance in her dark blue eyes. She barely breathed the next +words that she spoke:-- + +"Yes; you must have stayed, anyway. The doctor of the wilderness--the +healer everywhere--can never march with other soldiers. He can never go +shoulder to shoulder with cheering comrades at the roll of drums and the +blare of trumpets under waving banners--to seek glory on the +battle-field while all the world looks on and applauds. No--no--the +doctor of the wilderness--the healer everywhere--is a solitary soldier, +who must always go alone and silently to meet Death single-handed, and +struggle with him, day after day, and night after night, so long as he +may live, fighting ceaselessly for his own life as well as the lives of +others." + +There was a quivering silence, filled only with the sighing of the +wind-harp. The young doctor's hand had closed over hers. She went on in +a lower tone:-- + +"And surely the man who risks his life to save is braver than he who +risks it to slay." + +Startled at her own boldness, she drew away when he tried, with the +slight strength that he had, to draw her to him. They had not spoken to +each other of love. He knew little of what had taken place that night at +Anvil Rock when she had believed that his soul and her heart were +parting with all earthly things. He had not heard what she had said +then, and they had not been left alone together since his hurt until +this morning. There had been many constantly coming and going about the +sick bed during the first days, and to him those days were mere blanks +of suffering and blurs of pain. It was only to-day that he had begun to +regain in a measure the power of his mind and will. If he could but have +had for one instant the old power of his body! He did not know whether +this beautiful, tender young creature beside him was still under promise +to marry another man. There had been no opportunity for any confidential +talk. The name of William Pressley had never been mentioned between +them. The thought of him was like a touch of fire to Paul Colbert, so +burning was the contempt which he felt for this conceited dullard whose +blundering had nearly been his own death. But he could not say anything +of this to her--the fact that she had once been engaged to be married to +the man held him silent. It might be that she was still bound, and yet +there was something in her soft eyes that led him to hope that she was +free--something, at least, which seemed to give him leave to wrest +freedom for her from the strongest that might try to hold her against +her sweet will. If only he were not stretched here, a mere burden, a +clog. + +The look in his sunken eyes,--glowing like coals,--the burning words +which she read on his silent lips, made her slip her hands from his and +move hastily away. She went confusedly over to the window and hailed the +sight of the birds on the sill with sudden relief. + +"My little feathered family are all here," she said without looking +round. "Can you see the blue jay? He is on the window-sill trying his +best to peep over it at you." + +"I hope he is jealous of me," trying to speak lightly. + +"He's a great tyrant. He has driven away all the other birds. He will +not allow them to have one of the crumbs that I put out. Most of them +are sitting in a forlorn little row on the nearest tree. I wonder what +he is saying to them in that rough voice, yet maybe it is better not to +know. It must be something very rude, the redbird's bearing makes me +think so. He is standing very straight and holding his head very high, +but he isn't saying a word--of course. He is too much of a gentleman to +quarrel with a rowdy like the blue jay. Just hear how he is domineering! +These little song sparrows must surely be ladybirds--they are talking +back in such a saucy twitter. Can you hear them? I wish you could see +them. They are turning their pretty heads from side to side as much as +to say, that he can't keep them from speaking their minds if he does +keep them from getting the crumbs. Can you hear the silvery ripple of +their plaints? Nothing could be sweeter. There! I will raise the window +just a hair's breadth. Listen! Isn't it like a chime of fairy bells, +heard in a dream? But I hope you haven't felt any draught. It is much +colder than yesterday." + +Dropping the sash she went to the fireplace and laid several sticks on +the blaze. She stood still for a moment, gazing down at the fire and +then she took a low chair beside the hearth. She knew that Paul Colbert +was looking at her, but she did not turn her head to meet his gaze. For +she also knew that he was merely biding his time, merely gathering +strength to speak, merely waiting till he had found words strong and +tender enough. If her eyes were to meet his, she must go to him--she +could not resist--and yet she felt that she must not go while her +plighted word was given to another man. It did not matter that the +promise had been made under persuasion and in ignorance of what love +meant. It made no difference that she was sure that William, too, longed +to be free. The promise had been made, and she was bound by it, until +she could tell William Pressley the truth and ask him to set her free. +Soft and feminine as her nature was, she had nevertheless a singularly +clear, firm sense of honor as most men understand that term--and as few +women do. She had already tried more than once to tell him, but he had +been almost constantly away from home of late. It was to her mind simply +a question of honor. The dread of giving him pain which she had shrunk +from at first, had now wholly passed away. It was so plain that he also +recognized the mistake of this engagement and would be glad to be free, +that the last weight was lifted from her heart. She had been truly +attached to him as she was to almost every one with whom she came in +daily contact, and this affection was not altered. Hers was such a +loving nature that it was as natural for her to love those about her as +for a young vine to cling to everything that it touches. Every instinct +of her heart was a tender, sensitive tendril of affection, and all these +soft and growing tendrils reaching out in the loneliness of her life had +clung even to William Pressley, as a fine young vine will twine round a +hard cold rock when it can reach nothing softer or warmer or higher. Her +own rich, warm, loving nature had indeed so wreathed his coldness and +hardness that she could not see him as he really was. And now--without +any change in either the vine or the rock--everything was wholly +different. It was as if a tropical storm had suddenly lifted all these +clinging tendrils away from the unresponsive rock and had borne them +heavenward into the eager arms of a living oak. + +She knew now the difference between the love that a loving nature gives +to all, and the love which a strong nature gives to only one. Her heart +was beating so under this new, deep knowledge of life, that she feared +lest the man whom she loved might hear. Yet she sat still with her +little hands tightly clasped on her lap, as if to hold herself firm, and +she held herself from looking round, though the silence continued +unbroken. William must be told before she might listen to the words +which she so longed to hear from Paul's lips. It was noble of him to +hold them back. Every moment that she had been sitting by the hearth she +had been expecting to hear them. So that she sat now in tense, quivering +suspense, waiting, fearing, longing, dreading, through this strange, +long silence; filled only by the sighing of the wind-harp and the +crackling of the fire. And then, being a true woman, she could endure it +no longer, and turning slightly she gave him a shy, timid glance. As she +looked she cried out in terror. + +His head, which had been so eagerly raised a moment before, had fallen; +his eyes, which had been aglow but an instant since, were closed. The +effort, the agitation, had been too great for his slight strength. The +strong spirit, impatient of the weak flesh, was again slipping away from +it. + +She thought he was dying, and forgetting everything but her love for +him, she flew to him and fell on her knees by his side. Raising his +heavy head in her arms she held it against her bosom. She did not know +that her lips touched his, she was seeking only to learn if he breathed. +When his eyes opened blankly, she kissed them till they closed again, +because she could not bear to see the dreadful blankness that was in +them. When he moaned she fell to rocking gently back and forth, holding +his head closer against her breast, and presently began to croon softly. +She never once thought of calling for help; it was to her as if there +had been no one but themselves in the whole world. And presently his +faintness passed away, and when his arms, so weakly raised, went round +her, she did not try to escape. After a little he found strength to +speak a part of all that was in his heart, and she told him what she +could of all that was in hers. And both spoke as a great love speaks +when it first turns slowly back from facing death. + + + + +XXII + +"A COMET'S GLARE FORETOLD THIS SAD EVENT" + + +When the barriers had thus been broken down, she had spoken of the +breach between William and herself. There had not been a bitter word or +a harsh thought in all that she said. It had been merely a mutual +mistake; they had both mistaken the affection which grows out of +familiar association, for the love that instantly draws a man and a +woman together, though they may never before have seen one another, and +holds them forever, away from all the rest of the world. + +"I know the difference now," she said several days later, with a deeper +tint in her cheeks and a brighter light in her blue eyes. "And I am sure +that William does, too. It's plain enough that he will be glad to be +free, but he cannot say so, because he is a gentleman. Don't you see? +For that very reason, just because he is so high-minded, I am all the +more bound to do what is right. You do see, don't you?" + +He was sitting up for the first time that day, his chair was by the +window and she was sewing beside him. + +"I see what you think is right," Paul said smilingly. "And he certainly +should be told at once. But perhaps I might--" + +"Oh, no! I must tell him myself. That would only be treating him with +due respect. And William thinks a great deal of respect--much more than +he does of love. But I can't get a chance to speak to him. He is always +coming and going of late, and all the family are present when I do see +him. You must wait; you must not say a word to uncle Robert till I have +told William; it wouldn't be honorable on my part." + +"But you are forgetting, little girl, that there may be scruples on my +side, too. If my strength should come back as fast in the next two or +three days, I shall be able to leave Cedar House before the end of the +week. I cannot go away in silence; there must be no sort of secrecy. You +perceive there is a question of honor there, too. I must speak to the +judge--" + +"It isn't any question of secrecy. There is nothing to keep secret," she +protested and coaxed. "I am thinking only of William's feelings, and +trying to spare his pride. I know him best and I am fond of him. Don't +forget that. There has not been the least change in my affection for +him," holding her beautiful head very straight. "Don't think for a +moment that my regard for William has been lessened," suddenly dimpling, +softening, and beaming, "by my falling in love with you. That is an +entirely different thing." + +"I should hope so, indeed!" suddenly bending forward and catching her in +his arms with a happy laugh. "You see how strong I am. Well, then, you +needn't expect to have your own way all the time much longer. I yield +only so far as to give you three days--exactly three days from the +moment that I leave this house, and not one moment more. At the end of +that time I shall come to see the judge." + +"And uncle Philip. I couldn't be happy without his approval. I have been +longing to tell him. I would have told him at once if I hadn't felt +bound to speak to William first. Dear uncle Philip! He is always happy +over anything that makes me happy. Next to you, dear heart, there is no +one in all the world that I love so much--not half so much. And there is +no one whom he loves as he does me; he thinks only of my happiness." + +Her eyes sought his with a wistful look. She felt that he did not like +Philip Alston, and there was distress in the thought that these two, +whom she loved most out of all on earth, should not be the warmest of +friends. + +"You mustn't think him indifferent because he hasn't been to see you," +she pleaded. "Please don't think that, for it isn't true. He hasn't come +because he never can bear the sight of suffering. He says it's purely a +physical peculiarity which he cannot control. Anything that makes him +think of violence or cruelty shocks and repulses him. He shrinks from it +as he would from a harsh sound or an evil odor. He says it's because his +refinement is greater than his humanity. But it is really his tender +heart. Some day when you know him better you will find his heart as +tender as I have always found it." + +He, knowing what was in her loving heart, could not meet her gaze, and +hastily looked away gazing across the river. His thoughts swiftly +followed his eyes, for he would not have been the man that he was, could +even this great new love which was now filling his heart, and was to +fill all his future life, have made him forget his old love for this +great new state, and the awful crises through which it was passing. + +For that was a time of great stress, of deep anxiety, and of almost +intolerable suspense. Those early days and nights of November in the +year eighteen hundred and eleven, were indeed among the most stressful +in the whole stormy history of Kentucky. And through her--since her fate +was to be the fate of the Empire of the West--they were as portentous as +any that the nation has ever known. On that very day in truth, and not +very far off, there had already been enacted one of the mightiest events +that went to the shaping of the national destiny. Over the river on the +banks of its tributary, the Wabash, the battle of Tippecanoe had been +fought and won between the darkness and daylight of that gloomy seventh +of November. The young doctor, like all the people of the country, knew +that the long-dreaded hour had struck, that this last decisive struggle +between the white race and the red must be close at hand; but neither he +nor any one in that region knew that it was already ended. There had not +been a single sign or sound to tell when the conflict was actually going +on. It was said that the roar of the cannon was heard much farther away, +as far even as Monk's Mound, where the Trappists--those most ill-fated +of Kentucky pioneers--had found temporary refuge. But if this be true, +it must have been by reason of the fact that sound carries very far over +vast level prairies, when it cannot cross a much shorter distance which +rises in hills covered with forests, such as shut out every echo of the +battle from Cedar House. + +Paul Colbert got up suddenly and began to walk the room, though he +staggered from weakness. He could not sit still under the torture of +such suspense, when he thought of all that was at stake on the outcome +of the conflict which might even then be waging beyond those spectral +trees. The safety of the people living along the river, their homes, +their lives--all these were hanging upon the strength of the soldier's +arm. He knew how small the white army was. If it should be conquered, +the opposite shore might at any instant be red with victorious savages +rushing to the great Shawnee Crossing. And then--he looked at Ruth, +feeling his helplessness as he had not felt the keenest pain of his +wound. She saw the look, and felt its distress, although she did not +understand all that it meant. She gently urged him back to his chair, +frightened to see how weak he was. + +"Sit still till I come back. I will run downstairs and see if there is +any news," she coaxed in a soothing tone. + +The household was gathered in the great room waiting and watching. The +old ladies by the hearth scarcely noticed one another. The judge sitting +apart half started up at the faint rustle of Ruth's approach, but +finding that it was no messenger bringing news, he sat down again with a +weary sigh, and his gaze went back to the other side of the river. His +appearance told how great his anxiety was. His rugged, homely face was +haggard and unshorn, and his rough dress was even more careless than +common. William Pressley arose and came forward to give Ruth a chair. +There was no visible change in him, his dress was as immaculate as it +always was. His manner was just as coldly implacable as it had been ever +since the quarrel; but then his temper never had anything to do with his +looks or his manners. No degree of uneasiness could ever make him forget +appearances or the smallest form of courtesy; and he would have thought +it a pitiable sort of man who could be moved by emotion to any kind of +irregularity. His way of placing the chair proclaimed that he never +failed to do all that became a gentleman, no matter how neglectful +emotional people might sometimes become. + +Philip Alston, coming in just at that moment, saw something of this with +mingled amusement and satisfaction. The candor of William Pressley's +self-consciousness, the sincerity of his self-conceit, the firmness of +his belief in his own infallibility, claimed a measure of real respect, +and Philip Alston gave it in full. He thought none the less of him +because he could not help smiling a little at the solemn progress which +the young lawyer was then making across the great room. To be able to +smile at anything on that day of strain was a boon. And then it was +always pleasing and cheering to see any fresh sign that he had read the +young lawyer's character aright, and he was glad to see again what a +good-looking, well-mannered, right-minded young fellow he was. Nothing +could be said against him. Everything--or almost everything--was to be +said in his praise. The open fact that he thought all this himself would +be nothing against him with Ruth. A man's faith in himself is indeed +often the chief cause of a woman's faith in him. No one knew this better +than Philip Alston. As he looked at William that day, a new feeling of +peace came into his perturbed breast. He was beginning to be +disheartened by unexpected opposition to his plan to have the young +lawyer appointed to the office of attorney-general. Had he been closer +in touch with the governor, he would have known that all his efforts +were useless, for the office was held by appointment in those days, and +not by election as it is now. But it was a long way to the state capital +on horseback, and he had seen no newspapers, so that he knew nothing +positively, and was only beginning to fear. And thinking about the +uncertainty, he was encouraged to feel that even failure in this would +not alter his belief that the marriage was the best Ruth could make. +There was something purely unselfish in the content that he felt. With +clouds lowering around his own head, it comforted him to feel that her +future would be safe whatever came. He smiled at her, shaking his head +when she asked if he had heard any news, and drew her down by his side. +At the first opportunity he must ask about Sister Angela's progress with +the wedding clothes. It was not long now till Christmas Eve, and he +wanted to hear more about the preparations for the marriage. These had +seemed to lag of late. + + * * * * * + +The blood-red sun went down behind threatening clouds on that terrible +day, and the second morning came in with a wintry storm of icy winds and +swirling snow. Then followed two more gloomy, gray days and two more +wild, black nights. The fifth day dawned still wilder and darker, but +Paul Colbert found strength to go away. On the sixth it seemed to Ruth +that her heart would break with its aching for his absence; and with the +sadness that came from listening to a sobbing wind which sighed +despairingly through the naked forest; and with watching a melancholy +rain which hung a dark curtain between Cedar House and the other side of +the river. And thus the dreadful time dragged on into the seventh +endless day, and still there was no news from Tippecanoe. A courier +could have brought it in a few hours by riding fast through the wide, +trackless wilderness, and swimming broad, unbridged rivers. But no +couriers came toward Cedar House. There was no reason for sending a +special messenger to a corner of one state when the whole nation was +clamoring to hear. So that the couriers were speeding with all possible +haste toward the National Capital, and the people of Cedar House could +only wait and watch like those who were much farther off. + +And thus it was that after a whole week had passed, they still did not +know that the battle of Tippecanoe had been fought, and that a precious +victory had been bought at a fearful price. And even now, who knows +whether or not that fearful price need have been paid? It is hard to see +the truth clearly, looking back through the mists of nearly a hundred +years. In the strange story of that famous battle, only one fact stands +out clear beyond all dispute, and that is so incredible as to stagger +belief. It appears at first utterly past belief that the white army, +marching against the red army with the open purpose of attacking it on +the next day, should have lain down almost at the feet of the desperate +foe, and have gone quietly to sleep. Only the recorded word of the +general in command makes this fact credible. He also says, to be sure, +that the soldiers "would have been called in two minutes more;" but he +admits that they had not been called when the red army made the attack, +without waiting till the white army woke of its own accord to begin +fighting at leisure by daylight, without even waiting those two minutes +for the general's convenience. What happened to the helpless sleepers +then, when the waking warriors thus fell upon the sleeping soldiers, may +be most eloquently told in the general's own words. "Such of them as +were awake or easily awakened, seized their arms and took their +stations, others, more tardy, had to contend with the enemy at the doors +of their tents." Turning the yellowed pages of this most amazing report, +the reader can only wonder that the furious tide of battle which set so +overwhelmingly against the soldiers in the beginning, ever could have +been turned by all the brave blood poured out before its turning. + +On the eighth anguished day of suspense Ruth went to the door to welcome +Philip Alston, and looking toward the forest path, saw Father Orin and +Toby approaching. There was something in the way they moved that told +they had news, and when they reached Cedar House, the whole household +was breathlessly waiting for them. The white family was gathered inside +the front door, and the black people, running up from the quarters, +crowded round the door on the outside, with ashen faces, for their fear +of the savages was, if possible, greater than the white people's. All +pressed around Toby, and Father Orin told the good news as quickly as he +could, without taking time to dismount; but his voice trembled so that +he could hardly speak, and his eyes were so full of tears that he could +not see. He was not yet able to rejoice over a victory which had cost +the life of a dear friend. + +"And Joe Daviess?" asked Philip Alston. + +Father Orin silently turned his face toward the river and made the sign +of the cross; but he turned back and patted Ruth's head when she pressed +it against Toby's mane and burst into sobbing. + +"It was he who saved the day," the priest said huskily. "He led the +desperate charge that won the battle, when everything seemed lost. He +received his death wound in the charge, but he lived long enough to know +that the victory was ours." + +"He was a great man; his name will never be forgotten. His sword has now +carved it imperishably on the key-stone of the new state's triumphal +arch," said Philip Alston. + +"And Tommy Dye?" asked Ruth, lifting her wet eyes. "The Sisters are so +anxious." + +"And poor Tommy Dye, also," answered Father Orin. + +These two brave men who lived their lives so far apart, had fallen +almost side by side. Joe Daviess, the noble, the fearless, the highly +gifted, the honored, the famous; and Tommy Dye, the kindly, the +reckless, the poorly endowed, the misguided, the obscure,--both had done +all that the noblest could do. The mould and the dead leaves of the +wilderness would cover both their graves. Only the initials of his name +roughly cut on a tree would mark the glorious resting-place of the one. +Only an humble heap of unmarked earth would tell where a noble death had +closed the ignoble life of the other. + + + + +XXIII + +LOVE CLAIMS HIS OWN + + +The tears had been heavy on Ruth's dark lashes when she had fallen +asleep, but she awoke with a smile, radiant and expectant. She could not +remember at first what made her so happy, and a pang touched her heart +at the sudden recollection of the night's sadness. And then suddenly she +began to glow again at the thought of her lover's coming. The week of +his exile was ended on that day, and he would come. She knew just how he +would look when he came with his head held high, and his clear eyes, so +kind, and yet so fearless, looking straight in every face. She could +tell the very moment when he would come, for she had the +happiness--which every woman prizes and few ever know--of loving a man +who kept his word in the letter as well as the spirit. If men could but +know the difference there is to a woman! But they hardly ever do know, +because this is a little thing, and they can never understand that it is +the little things and not the large ones that make the happiness or the +wretchedness of most women. + +She exulted in the thought that he would come at the very instant he had +named, no sooner and no later, and this would be precisely at four +o'clock. She looked round with a smile, trying to tell by the mark on +the window-sill what the time was then. But the day was gloomy, and +there was no sunlight to mark the hour. Solitary snowflakes were +drifting irresolutely across the window, as if uncertain whether to go +on earthward or return whence they came. The birds sat on the bare +branches near the window waiting for their breakfast in ruffled +impatience, the blue jay having done his best to call her to the window +earlier. And he said so, in his own way, as she scattered the crumbs +with a cheery good morning. + +When she went down to breakfast, the family received her much as the +birds had done. Her coming cheered them also, as if a sunbeam had +entered the dark room. Miss Penelope left off what she was saying about +the calamities that must be expected in consequence of the comet's tail +coming loose from its head. The widow Broadnax relaxed her watch for a +moment, as the fair young figure came toward the hearth and stood by her +chair, resting a hand on her shoulder. The judge brightened, without +knowing what it was that suddenly heartened him, and David came out of +his corner under the stairs, as he never did, unless she was in the +room. Only William held aloof after a formal bow. At the sight of her, +smiling and radiant, the sullen anger within him glowed like a covered +fire under a sudden breeze. She had not been punished enough; her face +was far too bright, her manner far too frank. When she approached him +and tried to speak to him in a tone that no one else could hear, he +arose, and murmuring a stiff apology moved away, just as he had done +every time she had made the attempt. She flushed and lifted her head, +for there was no lack of pride or spirit in her softness. Yet by and by +she could not help looking at him across the table with another soft +appeal in her sweet eyes which plead dumbly for old times' sake. And +after breakfast was over she tried again, knowing that this would be the +last opportunity, and yearning with all her loving heart to win back +some of the old friendliness that she still prized as a precious thing, +which she could not give up for a mere touch of pride. Such soft +persistence is even harder to evade than to resist, and she followed +William to the door as he was going away later in the day, and was +bravely gathering courage while he looked at her in implacable coldness. + +He was not softened by the fact that his hopes were high that morning +over what appeared to be the certainty of his receiving the appointment. +There was, he thought, not the slightest doubt if he could manage to +secure the influence of one or two other leading citizens. As it was, +there seemed to be little danger of failure, and when he now saw Philip +Alston coming, he paused and waited for him to come up, so that he +might tell him what he had been doing. He did not know that he was +merely telling Philip Alston how his own orders had been carried out, +and there was nothing in that gentleman's manner to remind him. + +William Pressley, accordingly, went on talking with the modest +consciousness of having done all that was possible for any man to do, +and he said, as they were entering the great room, that he considered +his success a mere question of time. + +"A mere question of time, and a very short time, too," repeated Philip +Alston, heartily. "I congratulate you. I am proud of you. We are all +proud of him--hey, judge?" + +"I hope he knows what he is trying to undertake," the judge said +abruptly, turning a glum look on his nephew. "I trust, William, that you +are realizing the responsibility of this office. Most men would hesitate +to assume it. I should tremble at the thought." + +"I think, sir, that I shall be able to do my duty." William Pressley +spoke stiffly, with a touch of condescension and a shade of resentment, +such as he always evinced at any sign that the censer might cease to +swing. + +"It isn't a simple matter of duty. It's a much more complicated matter +of ability," the judge said sternly. + +"Pardon me, sir, but it really does not seem to me such a difficult +place to fill," said William, loftily. "In this, as in any other +position of life, the man who is influenced solely by the profoundest +and most conscientious conviction, and who is firm in following his +convictions, can hardly go far astray." + +The judge looked at him over his big spectacles in perplexed, troubled +silence for a moment. So gazing, he gave the old impatient toss of his +tousled head, and the old quizzical look came under his suddenly +uplifted eyebrow. + +"All _right_, William!" he said at last, almost immediately lapsing into +silence, and presently beginning to nod. + +Philip Alston scarcely glanced at the judge and his nephew. He was +looking at Ruth, and noting with adoring eyes that her beauty had +blossomed like some rare flower of late. It seemed to him that the roses +on her fair cheeks were of a more exquisite, yet brighter tint, that her +eyes were bluer and brighter and softer than ever. There also appeared +to be a new maturity in the delicate curves of her graceful figure. But +there was no change in the childlike affection of her bearing toward +him. She clung round him just as she had always done, and when she +turned to leave his side to take a chair, he called her back, +unconsciously falling into the tone of fond playfulness that he had used +in her childhood. + +"If a little girl about your size were to come and look in her uncle's +pockets, she might find something that she would like--" + +Ruth did not wait for him to finish what he was saying, but ran to him +as if she had been the little toddler of other days, needing only the +sight of his dear face, or the sound of his kind voice, to fly into his +outstretched arms. In a moment more her eager hands were swiftly +searching his pockets, and making believe to have great difficulty in +finding the hidden treasure. She knew all the while where it was, but +she also knew that he liked her to be a long time in getting it out. His +worshipping eyes looked down on her hands fluttering like white doves +about his heart,--for it was hard to keep away from that inner breast +pocket--and at last, when she could not wait any longer, she went deep +down in it, and drew out a flat packet. This looked as if it had +travelled a long distance. There were many wrappings around it, and many +seals and foreign marks were stamped upon it. She laid it on his knee, +and pretended to shake him, when he made out that he meant to take time +to untie the cords which bound the wrappings, instead of cutting them. +And when he had cut the cords with his pen-knife, the wrappings fell +off, disclosing a jewel case of white satin richly wrought in gold. At +the quick touch of her fingers the lid of the case flew up, revealing a +long string of large pearls,--great frozen drops of the rainbow, wrapped +in silvery white mist,--treasures that a queen might have coveted. + +The girl did not know how wonderful the pearls were and had not the +faintest conception of their value. But she saw their beauty and felt +their charm, for a beautiful woman loves and longs for the jewels that +belong to her beauty, as naturally as the rose loves and longs to gather +and keep the dewdrops in its heart. + +"Oh! Oh!" was all that she could say, and she could think of nothing to +do, except stand on tiptoe and touch Philip Alston's cheek with a +butterfly kiss. And then when he had put the string of pearls around her +neck, so that it swung far down over her rounded young bosom, she danced +across the room to the largest mirror. But the corner in which it hung +was always full of shadows and so dark on this gloomy day that she could +not see, and with pretty imperiousness she called for candles to be +lighted and brought to her. William Pressley mechanically got up to +obey, but Philip Alston moved more quickly. Going to the hearth he took +two candles from the mantelpiece, lit them at the fire, and carried them +to her. He expected to have the pleasure of holding them so that she +might see the lovely vision, which he was already looking upon. But she +took them from his hands and raising them high above her head, danced +back to the mirror, and stood gazing at her own image, as artlessly as a +lily bends over its shadow in a crystal pool. And as she thus gazed in +the mirror, it suddenly reflected something which moved her more than +her own likeness. It showed her the opening of the front door, and gave +her a glimpse of her lover standing in the room. She whirled round, +blushing, and with her eyes shining like stars, and cried out:--"See, +Paul! See--was there ever anything so lovely?" + +She went swiftly toward him, holding the candles still higher, so that +the pearls caught a rosy lustre from the light that fell on her radiant +face. She was laughing with pure delight at the sight of him, forgetting +the pearls. She did not know that she had called him by his Christian +name but she would have called him so, had she taken time to think. She +had called him so ever since they had known that they loved each other, +and she did not stop to realize that this was the first time they had +met in the presence of others since becoming plighted lovers. She +realized nothing except his presence--that alone filled her whole world +with joy and content. He came straight to meet her, holding out his +hands; but before he could cross the great room, or even had time to +speak, Philip Alston stepped forward and spoke suddenly in clear +tones:-- + +"Yes, see the wedding gift! The bridal pearls are here at last; all +ready for Christmas Eve." + +Paul Colbert paused. He was an ardent and bold lover, but the words were +like a breath of frost on love's flowering. No ardor, no confidence, can +keep a sensitive man from feeling a chill when he sees the woman he +loves decked in the beautiful things which are beauty's birthright, and +realizes for the first time that he cannot give them to her. With the +painful shock which this feeling brought to the young doctor there was a +greater shock in the sudden thought of the possible source of the riches +which the pearls represented. A feeling of horror rushed over him, as if +he had seen that soft, white throat encircled by a serpent, and he +sprang forward to tear it off. + +Ruth had turned her head to look at Philip Alston, with a start of +surprise and a little disquietude, but without fear or distrust. She +could not believe that he would wish her to marry William after he knew +that she loved Paul; such a thought never crossed her mind. Yet, as she +looked, a strange feeling of alarm which she did not comprehend swept +over her, filling her with formless terror. Some instinct made her +shrink, as if this wonderful string of pearls, which she had thought so +beautiful a moment before, had turned into a cruel chain and was binding +her fast. She did not know that many a weaker man has thus bound many a +stronger woman with chains of gold and ropes of pearls. But she felt it, +and her instinct was quicker than her lover's thought. Had her hands +been free she would have thrown the fetters from her, and finding +herself helpless, she turned to Paul Colbert for help. + +"Take them off! Quick--quick! They are too heavy," she gasped. + +It was Philip Alston who reached her first, and took the pearls from +her neck and the candles from her hands; but she did not look at him, +and went to her lover as if he had called her. Paul's arm going out to +meet her drew her to his side, and then, as the young couple thus stood +close together, the truth was plain enough to every one whose eyes +rested upon them. Philip Alston's face turned very white, and he made a +movement as if he would spring between them and part them by force. But +he checked the impulse, after that uncontrollable start, and stood +still, bearing in enforced silence, and as best he could, as hard a +trial as love ever put before pride. William Pressley also stood still +and silent, suffering bitterer pangs through his wounded self-love than +love itself ever could have inflicted upon him. Judge Knox straightened +up from his doze in bewildered astonishment, and made a displeased +exclamation, but it passed unheard. The old ladies by the hearth were +dumb with amazement. The boy stood unnoticed in his dark corner under +the stairs. + +The young doctor now began to speak deliberately, calmly, and clearly, +being fully prepared with every word that he wished to utter. He told +the whole story with the simple directness that was natural to him. He +explained why he had not spoken sooner, and dwelt upon Ruth's scruples +because he wished her position to be fully understood, not because he +felt it necessary to excuse anything upon his own account. When he had +said everything that he thought should be said, and when he had spoken +modestly and proudly of their love for each other, he went on to make +frank mention of his affairs, his family, and his place in life. And +then he turned to the judge:-- + +"There is, as you see, sir, no reason why I should not ask you to give +her to me," he said with a boyish blush dyeing his handsome young face, +"since I have been so honored, so happy, and so fortunate as to win her +consent. I am ready and eager to tell you anything else that you may +wish to know, sir." + +The judge lurched heavily out of his chair and rose unsteadily to his +feet in the sudden, angry excitement that flames out of drink. + +"By--! 'Pon my soul, young sir, you are taking a high hand in my house. +Keep your place, sir, keep your place! Who are you that come here +putting your hand on my niece, and ordering the family about? Come to +me, Ruth! Come to me instantly!" + +Philip Alston laid a restraining hand on his arm, and even William +Pressley uttered a warning word. In the presence of the girl there must +not be a violent word, much less a violent deed, no matter what the +feelings of the men might be, and no matter what might come after. That +was the first article in the code of chivalry toward women which ruled +these first Kentuckians, as it rules most brave, strong men living +simple, strenuous lives in the open. It ruled the judge also, as soon +as he had time to think, and controlled him through all the fog that +clouded his faculties. + +"My dear," he appealed humbly, piteously, bending his rough gray head +before the girl, "I beg your pardon." + +She flew to him and ran her arm through his, thus ranging herself on his +side with a fiery air of loyalty, and she turned on her lover with her +soft eyes flashing:-- + +"How can you, Paul! I am surprised. I wouldn't have believed it of you. +What do you mean by speaking so to my uncle Robert? Don't you see he +isn't well? You must know that when he is well everybody respects and +looks up to him--that the whole county depends on him," she said. + +The old judge and the young doctor looked at each other over her head as +men look at one another when women do things as true to their nature as +this was to hers. And then, in spite of themselves, the judge's left +eyebrow went up very high, and a sunny smile brightened the doctor's +grave face. Even Philip Alston smiled and felt a sudden relief. With +such a child as Ruth had just shown herself to be, there must be some +hope of leading her by gentleness and persuasion. There was, at least, a +chance to gain time, and he moved eagerly to seize it. He looked at +William Pressley with an expression of undisguised contempt, seeing him +stand utterly unmoved. He could not help giving a glance of scorn, which +measured him against Paul Colbert. Who could blame the girl? +Nevertheless Philip Alston went to her and took her hand from the +judge's arm, and placed it within his own. Holding it fast against his +side, he turned to the doctor. + +"It might be best for all concerned if you would allow us to talk this +matter over quietly among ourselves. We hardly know what to say, having +it sprung in this totally unexpected way. If you would be so kind as to +leave us for the present--" + +The doctor had drawn himself up to his full height. He was about to say +that he recognized no right on the part of Philip Alston to interfere, +and to declare that he held himself accountable to no one but the judge. +Yet as this purpose formed, his gaze instinctively sought Ruth's, and he +saw that she was looking up at Philip Alston with love--unmistakable +love--in her face. The sight brought back all the helplessness that he +always felt when forced to realize her fondness for the man. He felt as +he might have done had he seen some deadly thing coiled about her so +closely that he could not strike it without wounding her tender breast. +The trouble had been like that from the first and it was like that +now--perhaps it always would be. He did not know what to do or say, with +her blue eyes appealing from him to Philip Alston. He was glad when +William Pressley broke the silence. The young lawyer had been thinking +hard; he never did anything on mere impulse. He always stopped to +consider how a thing would look, no matter how angry he might be. His +vanity had been slowly swallowing a bitter morsel, and it was now quite +clear to him that he must act promptly in order to escape a still +bitterer humiliation. Moreover, the chief consideration which had kept +him from allowing Ruth to break the engagement sooner, was now removed. +Philip Alston could hardly blame him in view of what had happened; no +one could think ill of him now. + +"Just a moment, if you please," he said coldly and bitterly, addressing +all who were present. "There is no cause for delay or hesitation so far +as I can see--certainly there need be none on my account. The engagement +between Ruth and myself was tacitly broken some weeks ago. She has been +over-scrupulous in thinking that anything was due me. She was quite free +from any promise to me. You owe me nothing," turning to her with a bow. +"You have my best wishes." + +She went to him, holding out her hand. "William, it hurts me to hear you +speak like that. I did my best to tell you--alone--and earlier. We were +both mistaken--neither was to blame. There surely is no reason for hard +feeling. My affection for you is just the same. William, dear--just for +old time's sake." + +He took her hand, not because her loving gentleness won his forgiveness, +but because he thought that no gentleman could refuse a lady's hand. And +when she turned away with a long sigh and quivering lips, he stood firm +and invincible, supported by the conviction that he alone of all those +present had been right in everything. And such a conviction of one's own +infallibility must be a very great support under life's trials and +disappointments. There can hardly be any other armor so nearly +impenetrable to all those barbed doubts and fears which perpetually +assail and wound the unarmored. Think of what it must mean!--never to +feel that you might have been kinder or more just, or more generous or +more merciful than you were; never to have doubts and fears come +knocking, knocking, knocking at your heart till you are compelled to see +your mistakes when it is too late to do what was left undone, +and--saddest and bitterest of all--too late to undo what was done. + +But no one except Ruth looked at William Pressley or thought of him. +Philip Alston calmly and courteously repeated his request, and with +Ruth's gaze urging it, Paul Colbert could not refuse to grant it. He +took up his hat and went toward the door with Ruth walking by his side. +And then, with his hand on the latch, he paused and turned, and looking +over her head, gazed steadily and meaningly into the eyes of the three +men. He looked first and longest at Philip Alston; then at William +Pressley, and finally at the judge, with a slight change of expression. +To each one of the three men his look said as plainly as if it had been +put into words, that he held himself ready for anything and everything +that any or all of them might have to say to him--out of her sight and +hearing and knowledge. And they, in turn, understood, for that was the +way of their country, of their time, and their kind; and having done +this he went quietly away. + + + + +XXIV + +OLD LOVE'S STRIVING WITH YOUNG LOVE + + +That night Philip Alston stayed later than usual at Cedar House. He was +waiting for the others to go to bed, so that he might have a quiet talk +with Ruth. On one or two rare occasions they had been left alone +together before the wide hearth, and they both looked back on these +times as among the pleasantest they had ever known. But the +opportunities for privacy are very few where there is only one living +room for an entire family, and the size and publicity of this great room +of Cedar House made them fewer than they could have been in almost any +other household. And Ruth, seeing what he wished, was looking forward +now with even greater delight than she had felt heretofore; the delight +that young love feels at the thought of giving its first confidence to a +loving, sympathetic heart. She looked at him often through the waiting, +with shining eyes, so happy, so eager to ask him to share her happiness +that she could hardly wait till the others were gone. William Pressley +did not tax her patience long and the judge, too, soon went away to his +cabin with David to see that he reached it safely. The old ladies were +slower in going; Miss Penelope had many domestic duties to perform, and +the movements of the widow Broadnax were always governed entirely by +hers. But they, also, went at last with Ruth to assist the stouter lady +in getting up the stairs. + +The girl came flying down again, with her eyes dancing and her heart +playing a tune. Philip Alston rose as she approached, and stood awaiting +her with a look on his face that she had never seen before. + +"You are tired, dear uncle Philip," she said, taking his hand and +holding it against her cheek as she raised her radiant eyes to his face. +"Come to the fire and take this big chair. I will sit on the footstool +at your knee. There, now! You can rest and be happy. Isn't it sweet to +be alone--just you and I--together like this! I love you so dearly, dear +uncle Philip. It seems as if I had never before really known just how +much I do love you. It seems as if my heart couldn't hold quite all the +happiness that fills it to-night. And the tenderness filling it to the +brim brings a new feeling of your goodness to me." + +She had taken the low seat by his side, and now laid her head down on +his knee. He stroked her hair with an unsteady hand; sorely troubled and +not knowing what to say. He suddenly looked very old, and felt more +helpless than ever before in his life. Looking down on this beautiful +head he realized in every sensitive fibre of his soul and body that this +lovely young creature, clinging to his knee, was the one thing in the +whole world that he had ever loved--deeply, truly, purely, and +unselfishly; that her gentle heart was the only heart out of all the +hearts beating on the earth that had ever loved him as the innocent love +the good. Thinking of this he shrank and trembled, feeling that he held +in his grasp a fragile treasure precious beyond all price, which a rude +touch might destroy forever. He knew the evil reputation which rumor had +given him, and he had seen that Paul Colbert believed the worst. There +had been no disguise in the expression of the young doctor's eyes. His +gaze bold and keen as an unhooded falcon's, had frankly proclaimed his +dislike and mistrust, making it only too plain that he asked no favor by +pretending ignorance or on the score of any friendliness that he did not +feel. His look and attitude had indeed been so unmistakable that Philip +Alston now wondered in sudden terror if she had not already observed +them, and he--who had feared nothing in all his life--quailed and +quivered before this sudden fear with abject cowardice. In another +moment he knew that her trust in him had not been shaken; the resting of +her head on his knee told him so much. But how long would it or could it +stand against the doubts of the man she loved? That was the question +which went through Philip Alston's breast like the thrust of a sword. +Her husband's influence would be supreme. A tender, gentle creature, she +would be easily influenced through her affections. The young doctor +might keep silence, seeing her love for himself and respecting her +regard for her foster-father; but he was not the man to hide what he +really thought and felt, and she must divine the truth before long. +Philip Alston had no hope of changing Paul Colbert's opinion of himself; +he knew the world and mankind too well to think for a moment that any +man might hope to live down such charges as those which had been brought +against himself. Ruth must know sooner or later, and, knowing, would she +still love him? There came now a sort of piteous appeal in the touch of +his unsteady hand on her hair. The slightest suspicion must blast the +exquisite flower of her tender love. With his quick, full appreciation +of everything truly noble he had often noted the firm principles, which +lay under her sweet gentleness like fine white marble under soft green +moss. He did not know that this very trait for which he had loved her, +and which now made him afraid, had already been tested again and again; +and that her love for him and trust in him, had stood against every +attack as firmly as great rocks stand against shallow waves. No, he knew +nothing of all this, and he was now in such desperate fear that he +dared not speak or move or do anything but stroke her hair with a +shaking hand, and stare over her head at the fire trying to clear his +mind. She had been silent also, but presently she spoke, putting up her +hand to pat the one that was stroking her hair. + +"I am waiting, dear heart," she said softly, "waiting to hear what you +think of my Paul. I have been wanting so long to tell you; it was on +account of William that I waited. But you know now, and I am so glad--so +glad! Tell me what you think of him. There is no one but you who can see +all that he is. And there is no one but him who can see all that you +are. But you two, my dearest, are capable of appreciating each other. +And I am a happy, happy girl." + +He was feeling faint and sick under the hopelessness of any struggle +between old love and young love. With every look of her radiant eyes, +with every gentle word that fell from her sweet lips, he was feeling +more and more how utterly useless would be any attempt to come between +her and her lover. And looking at her he could not think of making any +such attempt. When an all-absorbing love has taken complete possession +of an empty and worldly heart, that heart becomes more powerless before +that love, than a fuller and softer heart ever does. He could not speak, +but he murmured something and she went on:-- + +"How sweet it is to be here alone with you, like this, in the dear, +dark, big, old room. Why, uncle, dear, it seems only yesterday that you +were rocking me in my cradle, over there in the chimney-corner; when you +were already petting and spoiling me, just as you have always done. And +to think that I am talking to you to-night about my Paul! Can you +realize that it's true? Well, it is--the very truest thing in all the +world." + +She paused for a moment, but she did not observe that he made no +response, and she began again:-- + +"You see, dear uncle, I didn't mean to love him. I meant to love William +and I did in a way as I do now. He is such a good man, but I have found +out that goodness, just by itself, is not enough. It may make love last, +but it can't make it begin. Why, I never even thought whether my Paul +was good or not. I must have loved him just the same." + +"But you couldn't love a man if you found out that he was bad, after +believing him to be good. It wouldn't be possible for you to do that, +would it?" in strange, agitated haste. + +She lifted her head and looked at him wonderingly. "I don't know what +you mean. My Paul is good! Why, he is here in the wilderness solely for +love of humanity, giving his strength, his skill, his time, and all that +he has to the service of his country and his kind, just because he is +good, and for no other reason. There is no better man living, not even +Father Orin, not even you, sir," throwing her arms around his knee and +giving it a loving squeeze. "And you know it, too, you are only laughing +at me. I don't mind at all. I am too happy to care for teasing." + +She laid her head back on his knees and fell happily silent, gazing +dreamily into the flames. The wind was rising, and went roaring through +the trees around the house; but she heard it with the peaceful feeling +of shelter and safety that only happiness feels in wild weather. +Presently she asked him if he thought that souls could speak to one +another. + +"It was at Anvil Rock," she said as simply as if she had been thinking +aloud. "I had never thought about loving him. He had never told me that +he loved me, but I knew then that he did. Something told me while he was +lying on the ground like a dead man. What do you think it could have +been? What was it?" + +Looking up she saw the shrinking in his face, and she thought it came +from his dislike of any mention of painful subjects; but her whole heart +was in this question so that she could not let it go without pressing it +a little further. + +"But tell me, dearest, can souls communicate without speech or sign--if +they only love enough?" she urged. + +"You are a fanciful, romantic child," he said, trying to smile and to +speak lightly. "Why--the man was an utter stranger then--you didn't know +him at all." + +He had taken her chin in his hand, and his eyes were now looking +steadily into hers; but the courage of the moment fled when she +involuntarily drew away. He was alarmed at the effect of this one slight +effort. + +"Such things are too subtle for an old man, my child, too subtle, +perhaps, for any man either young or old," he said hurriedly and +confusedly. "You women see and feel many things that fly high above our +heads. And then I am duller than usual to-night. I am anxious about +business matters. The river is rising rapidly, there is danger of a +disastrous flood. My boats are not in safe places, and worst of all the +Cold Plague broke out to-day on one of them. The boat is tied up to the +island. I sent it over there immediately so that you, and the rest of +the family, might be in no danger from the spread of the epidemic. But +it worries me, and one of the boatmen is said to be dying." + +"Send for my Paul. He can cure him. The plague-stricken hardly ever die +if he can get to them in time." + +She said this with a pretty air of pride in her lover, and a gentle lift +of her head. He made no reply, and she turned her eyes from the fire to +his face to see why he was silent so long. He was pale with a strange +gray pallor, and he met her gaze with a startled, alarmed look. It was +the look of a man who blanches and shrinks before some sudden great +temptation. She misread the look, taking it for unwillingness to send +for her lover. + +"You mustn't think of sending for Doctor Colbert if you prefer the other +doctor," with swift, fiery jealousy. "But I warn you that if you do, the +man will certainly die." + +"Do you know where he is to be found in case I should want to send for +him?" he said after a moment's silence, and with constraint and +hesitation. + +"He is riding so much that it is hard to tell; but, uncle, dear," +melting and putting her arms about him, "I should not be really +offended, of course, if you were to send for the other doctor. You can, +dear, if you want to. I like him ever so much better myself, since he +took such good care of my Paul." + +He laughed uneasily and got up, saying that he was going to see about +the trouble on the boat. He saw that he must have a cleared mind and +steadied nerves with time to think. And he could not think in her +presence, he could only feel her blue eyes on his face and her little +hands clasped around his knee or about his arm. He tried not to look at +her, and hurriedly began buttoning his coat before starting on his cold +way home. In drawing his coat closer, his hand came in contact with the +pearls which he had forgotten. He drew them out and hung them again +around her neck. She thanked him with a smile, but he saw that she +scarcely looked at them, that she was thinking only of her love and her +lover, though she held his hand and walked beside him to the front door. + +From it they could see dimly and were able to make out the black bulk of +the boat lying far out in the river beside the island. As he looked at +it a feeling of the worthlessness of all that he owned swept over him, +overwhelming him with despair. All the gold that he had gathered, or +ever could gather, would be worthless yellow dust if he might not use it +to give her comfort or pleasure or happiness. He realized suddenly that +this was everything that his riches had meant to him ever since she had +wound herself around his heart. Money could do little for him; he was +weary and old and sad and had come to feel--as every rich man must come +to feel sooner or later--that for himself his riches meant, after all, +only food and clothes. And now he found himself facing the end of the +sole interest and happiness that he could ever hope to find in life. +Henceforth it would be with the utmost that he could do, as it had been +just now with these pearls. He fully recognized the hopelessness of +trying to win her away from her lover. That had grown plainer with every +gentle word that she had said while they had sat before the fire. And he +knew that this proud young fellow, whose glance had met his like the +crossing of swords, would never allow her to touch a penny of his money, +or anything that it could buy, if he could help it. The thought was like +tearing the heart out of his breast, and another thought sprang up again +in defence of all that he held dear. He began to breathe quickly and +heavily, like a man who has been running. He feared that she must feel +the plunging of his heart, for she was leaning against him, looking out +at the wild, windy night. But she heard only the mournful wail of the +wind through the great trees, and the roar of the river rushing under +the misty darkness. There was no moon, but the stars were shining in the +dark dome of the universe. + +"I wonder why the stars look so old, while the world looks so new," she +murmured, with her head on his shoulder and her face upturned. "I wonder +why there is such a look of changelessness about the heavens, while the +earth seems changing so fast!" + +Her eyes were wandering over the infinite starry spaces with wondering +awe, but he was looking down at her and he started when she cried out in +amazement, touched with alarm. She lifted her hand and pointed, and +following its direction, he saw that the comet had disappeared. + +The celestial visitor was gone almost as suddenly and mysteriously as it +had come. + + + + +XXV + +THE PASSING OF PHILIP ALSTON + + +The cold wind died down with the coming of dawn. Going to the window to +call the birds, she found the air grown unseasonably warm and saw that +it was filled with a dull mist. Leaning from the window, she looked up +the forest path, wondering if Paul had ridden along it during the night +on his way to the boat. The low, broad craft was still lying in the same +place beside the island, with no movement about it. She thought of the +sick man with pity, wishing that she could do something for him; but if +Paul had been called in time, all must be well--she had not a doubt of +that; and an unconscious smile of pride touched her anxious face. She +hardly knew why she felt vaguely anxious and uneasy, but thought that it +might be on account of the gloom of the dreary morning, and the strange +look of the swollen river. How gray and dark it was, and how heavily it +ran, almost like molten lead. + +As her wandering gaze followed the stream, she saw something which was +still grayer and darker than the troubled waters. She could not tell at +first what it was, for it was a long way off, and far up the river. +With her hands over her eyes, she strained her sight, but the distance +was too great, and the yellow haze too thick. She could make out only a +wide, dark line, wavering down from the woods to the water--a strange, +moving thing without beginning or end--which seemed to be going faster +than the river. The strangeness of the night alarmed her and as she +gazed at it, fascinated, she saw David running toward the house and +waving his arms to call her attention. + +"Look! Look up the river!" he shouted as soon as he had come within +hearing. "I was afraid you wouldn't see it. It's an army of squirrels +marching steadily, just like soldiers, millions and millions of them! It +has been like that for hours. I have been watching it since daylight. +The squirrels are trying to cross the river, and thousands and thousands +are already drowned. The water is brown with their bodies." + +"The poor little things! What in the world can it mean, David? And look +at the birds! They don't come at all when I call them. What is the +matter with them? I don't see anything to disturb them, yet see how they +look! And hear the waterfowl screaming! And the trees, too. Why do the +leaves droop like that? How can it be so hot in December? It was never +like this before. There isn't a breath of air." + +"I have noticed how strange everything seems. The forest is stiller than +I ever saw it, but the wild things that live in it are strangely +restless. I have been watching them all the morning, and I heard them in +the night." + +"But what does it mean, dear? Surely some dreadful thing must be going +to happen! I wish Paul would come. Have you seen him? He is always +riding, and the woods are dangerous in a storm, and it can't be anything +else. Why don't you answer? I asked if you had seen him." + +The boy turned from gazing at the strange, dark line which was still +wavering ceaselessly from the woods to the water. + +"Yes, I saw him and Father Orin going home an hour or so ago. They had +been out all night." He said this absently, with his eyes turning back +to the wonderful spectacle. + +"My Paul is wanted in many places at once," she said, forgetting her +uneasiness in a woman's pride in the power of the man she loves. "But I +hope he found time to visit the sick man on uncle Philip's boat," +mindful even then of a woman's wish to draw together the men she loves. +"Can you see any clouds, David? I can't--and yet this strange yellow +vapor that thickens the air is certainly growing heavier every moment. +What can it be? It isn't at all like a fog. I am frightened. Come +indoors. I am coming downstairs. Maybe uncle Robert or William can tell +us what all this means." + +But there was nothing to be learned in the great room below. The men of +the family were as helpless as the women. All were waiting and watching +for some nameless calamity, weighed down by that overwhelming, +paralyzing dread of the unknown which unnerves the bravest and makes the +most powerful utterly powerless. The old ladies, trembling and silent, +clung close to the chimney-corner, scarcely looking at one another. The +judge and his nephew were sitting in silence near the front door which +had been opened on account of the sudden heat. They got up hurriedly, +and turned nervously, startled even by the faint rustle of Ruth's skirts +on the stairs. And before they could speak, the strained stillness was +violently torn by a sudden loud, shrill sound, such as none of the +terrified listeners had ever heard before--a long, unearthly shriek, +which seemed to come from neither brute nor human. For a moment not a +cry was uttered, not a word was spoken, and terrified eyes stared +unseeingly into whitening faces. And then the judge, suddenly realizing +what the sound was, broke into shaken, painful laughter. + +"It is the whistle of the steamboat--the first steamboat on the Ohio. +How could we have forgotten?" he said. "It is the _Orleans_ passing down +the river. Come to the door. We must see it go by. It doesn't stop here +and none of us should miss seeing it, for the sight of the first steamer +on western waters is something to be stored in memory. Never mind the +signs of the storm. There will be many other storms, but never another +first steamboat down the Ohio. Come out and see it." + +"We can get a better view from the river bank," cried Ruth. "Come along, +David!" + +Holding hands, the girl and the boy ran to the shore, leaving the others +to watch the great spectacle from the doorstep. And thus all stood, +marvelling like every living creature whose eyes followed it down that +long river. But only the judge could partly grasp the greatness of the +event; only he could partly realize what it meant to the West and the +world. Yet every one waited and watched as if spellbound, till the last +of those first victorious banners of blue smoke thus unfurled over the +conquered wilderness, had waved slowly out of sight around the great +river's majestic bend. + +This had brought a momentary forgetfulness of the strange look of the +heavens and the earth; but the consciousness of it now rushed back with +increased alarm. There were still no clouds to be seen anywhere, no +visible signs of an approaching storm; but the thick veil of yellowish +vapor was fast drawing an unnatural twilight over the noonday. Through +this awful dimness the sun was shining faintly, like a great globe of +heated copper, thus shedding a strange light, even more alarming than +the sinister darkness. + +Every soul in the wilderness must now have shrunk, shuddering and +appalled, before this unmistakable approach of some frightful +convulsion of nature. The people of Cedar House, like all the rest, +could do nothing but wait in agony for the unknown blow to fall. It +seemed an endless time in falling; under the breathless, torturing +suspense the moments became hours, with no change except a darkening of +the unnatural twilight, an increase of the unnatural sultriness, and a +deepening of the unnatural stillness. The little group in the great room +of Cedar House sat still and silent, save as they unconsciously drew +closer together, moved by the instinct of humanity in common danger. + +The girl alone kept her post by the open door and her watch over the +forest path, looking for the coming of her lover. She knew that but one +thing could keep him from her side, and with all her longing for his +presence, a thrill of happiness came from his absence. Through all its +distress her heart exulted in the thought that he was faithful in his +service to suffering humanity, even when love itself beckoned him away. +A great tide of religious gratitude rose in her heart sweeping all fear +before it. The love of a man who was both strong and good--the greatest +gift that life could give to any woman--was safely hers. Holding this +assurance to her heart, she grew wonderfully calm. There could be +nothing to fear. In this world or the next, all was well. A wonderful +spiritual exaltation bore her upward on its strong, swift wings, high +above all the surrounding gloom and terror, till she rested on a white +height of perfect peace. There was a rapt look on her quiet, pale face +as she sat thus with it turned toward the forest path. She arose quietly +and stood in the door, gazing at a shadowy form which came suddenly from +under the dark trees. The thick yellow mist wrapped it darkly, but she +presently knew by intuition rather than by sight that Paul was really +coming at last, and she flew toward him like a homing bird. He was +urging his horse, but the animal held back with an unwillingness such as +he had never shown before; so that when the young man saw the girl +flying toward him he leapt from the saddle, leaving the horse to follow +or not as he would, and ran to meet her. As soon as she could speak, she +told him that she was not afraid now that he had come, saying it over +and over; yet she nevertheless clung to him as if she would never let +him go. + +"And you will take care of the others, too," she said. "Uncle Robert +doesn't know what to do, nor William. Oh! Look! The poor black people! +There they come running up from the quarters. See how they are crowding +round the door, wild with terror! But you will know what to say to them +as well as the others. I am not afraid, with you," quietly looking up in +his grave face. "Is it the end of the world, dear heart?" + +He said that he knew no more than herself what it could be, unless some +terrific tempest might be near. They moved hurriedly on toward the +house, and as they went he told her that he was going to the boat where +he had been called to see a man ill of the plague. The call had come +during the night, but he could not leave another patient to answer it +more quickly. And now he would not leave her, for all the rest of the +world, till they knew what this awful thing was which seemed about to +happen. The white people had come out of the house and stood speechless +and motionless, looking up at the heavens and down at the earth, seeing +both but dimly through that ghastly twilight so awfully lit by that +lurid ball of fire. + +"Here comes Father Orin!" cried the doctor. "Look at Toby and my horse; +see how they are walking!" + +The horses could be indistinctly seen advancing slowly and reluctantly +through the yellowish gloom with a curious, sliding motion, as if +stepping on ice. Paul started toward them, but paused, struck +motionless, and held by a sight still more strange. The same breathless +stillness brooded over everything; the windless air now weighed like +lead, and yet at this moment the greatest trees and smallest bushes +suddenly began to quiver from bottom to top. As far as the horror-struck +eyes could reach through that unnatural twilight, the mightiest +cottonwoods were now bending and nodding like the frailest reeds. And +then there arose in the far northeast a faint rumbling which rushed +swiftly onward toward the southeast, growing, louder as it came, and +breaking over Cedar House in a thunderous roar. At the deafening crash +Paul turned and ran back to Ruth, catching her in his arms. The ground +was now sliding beneath their feet. The solid earth was waving and +rising and falling like a stormy sea. + +"It's an earthquake," he whispered, with his lips against her cheek. +"Don't fear, it will pass." + +A second shock followed the first, and there was no lightening of the +dreadful gloom which was one of the greatest horrors of that horrible +time. But the men were rallying now that they knew what they had to +meet, and they quickly and firmly drew the terror-stricken, helpless old +women further away from the house, fearing that the massive logs of its +walls might be shaken down. + +"That isn't far enough," said Father Orin. "Come still farther," +glancing round for the safest refuge. "Merciful God! Look at the river!" + +The Ohio, beaten back by the lashed and maddened Mississippi, was +leaping in great furious waves, high and wild, as the ocean's in a +tempest. These monstrous, foaming billows were springing far up the +shores on both sides of the river, and devouring vast stretches of land +covered with gigantic trees. The giants of the forest fell, groaning, +into the boiling, swirling flood which leapt to catch them and swallowed +them up with a hideous, hissing noise. Sunken trees which had lain for +ages on the bottom of the river rose above the water like ghosts rising +to meet the newly slain. + +"The boat," moaned Ruth. "Uncle Philip's boat, and the sick man!" + +Every eye turned in the direction of the island. No one spoke after that +first look. None marvelled to see that the boat was missing; nothing +afloat could live in that seething maelstrom, thickened with melted +earth and tangled with fallen trees. The overwhelming thing which their +faculties could not grasp was the fact that the island itself was gone. +They could only stand staring, expecting to see it between the +mountainous waves, utterly unable to believe the truth, that it had sunk +out of sight and was resting on the bottom of the river. And as they +were thus still searching the wild, dark flood with incredulous eyes, +they suddenly saw a small row-boat in the middle of the stream. It +darted down a towering wave and flew up the next, and came flying on +like some wild, winged thing, toward the Kentucky shore. Another and a +wilder wave caught it, lifted it aloft, and tossed it still nearer the +land. It was not far away now, and there came a sudden lightening of the +gloom, so that they could see two men in the little boat. + +"They can never live to reach the shore!" cried the doctor. + +"As God wills," said the priest. + +Instinctively every eye but the girl's was scanning the shore, trying to +find something that would float, something that might help to save the +men in the boat. But there was nothing in sight; the fierce waves had +swallowed everything, and the helpless people on the bank could only +turn again to watch the little boat. Ruth's gaze had never wandered from +it, and she still watched it flying from one wave to another, gazing as +intently as she could through the tears that rained over her pale +cheeks. She saw it go up a gigantic wave with a flying leap and dart +down again, and then it was lost to sight so long that they thought it +was gone. But at last it came up near the shore, overturned, and with +only one man clinging to it. He was on the far side of the frail shell, +so that they could not see him distinctly, although he was not far from +the shore and there was more light. And then a swirl of the wild waters +brought him to the nearer side, and raised him higher. + +"It's an old man!" sobbed Ruth. "His head is white. Oh! Oh! It's uncle +Philip! It's uncle Philip! He has been to the island. Save him, Paul!" + +The doctor had already thrown off his coat, and was throwing aside his +boots. He had not waited for her last words; he was not sure that it +was Philip Alston; but he knew that some fellow-creature was perishing +almost within reach of his arm. He was now running down the trembling +bank, and in another instant had plunged into the boiling, roaring, +furious flood, and was swimming toward that wildly rising and falling +silver head, which shone like a beacon, through the lurid light. It was +hard to keep anything in sight. He was a strong swimmer, but his full +strength had not come back, and the fury of the waves was swirling trees +like straws. + +After that one involuntary appeal, Ruth was silent. Her heart almost +stopped beating as she realized what her cry had done. A woman's mind +acts with marvellous quickness when all she loves is at stake. As in a +lightning flash she knew that she had sent her lover to risk his life +for her foster-father, without knowing what she did. What she would have +done had there been time to hesitate she could not tell, dared not +think. It must have been a bitter choice, this risking of her lover's +life against the certainty of her father's death. But now she realized +nothing, felt nothing, except that the desperate die was cast. She did +not notice that the others followed as she flew after Paul to the +river's very brink. The earth had ceased quivering, but the shores were +still crumbling under the crushing blows of the maddened waves. The +thick, dark water coiled unheeded about her feet, as she stood silent, +straining her eyes after her lover as he swam toward that silver head +which still rose and fell with the waves. She did not move when she saw +a gigantic cottonwood lean, uprooted and tottering. She did not utter a +cry when it fell behind him, cutting him off and hiding him, so that +neither he nor the silver head could be seen from the land. She stood as +if turned to stone, waiting--only waiting--hardly hoping that it had not +carried them both down. She began to weep softly, and her hands were +suddenly and unconsciously clasped in silent prayer, when she saw him +once more swimming--still swimming--but coming back around the top of +the tree. + +It had struck the little boat in its fall, sending it down to come up in +fragments, but the man was left hanging to a bough, and it was toward +him that Paul Colbert was struggling against the fury of the flood. The +tree hung to the bank by its loosened roots, but its trunk and branches +were swaying wildly, fiercely tossed by the waves. The man was sinking +lower in the water, his strength almost was gone, and his hold was +giving way, when Paul reached him. The white head, turning, revealed +Philip Alston's face and Paul Colbert thought that he shrank under his +touch. Neither spoke for a moment; both needed all their breath to reach +a higher bough. + +"Let me help you," gasped Paul Colbert. "Try to climb to the next limb. +It is stronger and steadier." + +"Thank you," panted Philip Alston. + +They reached it together and could now see the shore, and both looked at +Ruth through the swaying boughs and flying spray. The young man's heart +leapt and his courage rose at the sight of the slender, girlish form. He +saw her stretch out her arms, and remembering that she loved this old +man, panting and struggling at his side, he shouted with all the power +that he had, telling her that he would do his best to bring him to land. +Philip Alston gave him a strange look, and then turned his gaze again +toward the little figure on the shore. In a tone that was even more +strange than his look, he murmured something about being on his way back +from the island. He also said something about going to the boat early in +the morning to countermand an order that he had given on the night +before. + +"I changed my mind--I found I couldn't do--" + +Paul Colbert did not understand, and scarcely heard the confused, +gasping, hurried words. He was looking at Ruth, and longing to loose his +hold on the bough, long enough to wave the assurance that his voice +could not carry across the roaring waters. And this was the instant that +Nature chose to mock the pitting of his puny powers against her +resistless forces. A fierce wave tore away the roots that the tree bound +to the bank, and hurled it into the flood. It swung round and turned +partly over, burying the bough that they clung to, deep under the water. +Both went down with it and Paul Colbert thought, with the quickness and +clearness of mind that comes to the drowning, that they could never come +up again. When he found his own head once more above water, with his +hand grasping a bough of a smaller tree, which had been driven close to +the shore, he looked round for Philip Alston. There was no silver head +anywhere to be seen now above the thick, dark river. Half stunned, he +gazed again blankly, feeling vaguely that his own head must go down very +soon; his strength was wholly gone; he could not even see the shore, +though it was very near, because he was not strong enough to lift +himself above the trunk of the tree which hid it from his sight. And +then at last he heard Father Orin's voice:-- + +"Hold fast, my boy. Hold fast just a moment longer. We are coming, Toby +and I. Try to hold on. We are almost there." + +They reached him as his hand let go and his head sunk, and they bore him +to the shore and laid him down at Ruth's feet, unconscious, but alive. + + * * * * * + +When Nature has thus rent the trembling earth and thus smitten appalled +humanity by some stupendous convulsion, the outburst of passion nearly +always passes quickly, and she hastens to console by concealing its +traces. These fatal throes were hardly over before she was quelling the +frenzied river by her sudden coldness, and only a few days had passed +before she was covering its subdued waters with a heavy white sheet of +glittering ice. And then, as if to make the torn land lovely again at +once, she wrapped it in a dazzling robe of spotless snow. Above this she +hurriedly hung the broken boughs of the wrecked cottonwoods with +countless flashing prisms, encrusting the smallest twigs to the very top +in sparkling crystal; and coming down she stilled the murmur of the +reeds under icy helmets--binding all together with crystalline cables of +frost. So that under the rainbow light of the brilliant winter sun the +world was once more radiant with peace and joy and beauty unspeakable. + +And Cedar House, too, was now just as it had been before. From its open +door nothing could be seen of the marks left by Nature's passionate +fury; marks which must remain forever unless some more furious passion +should come to erase them. It was hard to tell just how and wherein the +whole face of the country had been so greatly changed. The people of +Cedar House knew that a great lake nearly seventy miles in length and +deeper in places than the height of the tallest trees whose tops barely +showed above the water, had taken the place of a range of high hills +covered with primeval forest. But this was too far away to be seen from +Cedar House, and no one there had the heart to approach it. One sad +pilgrimage had been made, and that was to the ruins of Philip Alston's +house. It was now a mere heap of fallen logs, and although these were +lifted and laid in orderly rows, and the ground searched over inch by +inch, there was nothing but his fine clothes and some simple furniture +to show that it had ever been occupied. + +"To think that he lived like this--that he gave me everything and kept +nothing for himself," Ruth said softly through her tears, looking up in +Paul Colbert's troubled face. "Such a desolate, lonely life. It breaks +my heart to think of it. But I would have lived in his house if I could. +I wanted to live in it--I wouldn't have cared how plain and rough it +was. I wanted to live with him and cheer him and make him happy, as if +he had been my own father. I couldn't have loved him more dearly if he +had been. And you would have loved him, too, if you had known him +better. I am sure that you would. You couldn't have helped loving +him--if only for his goodness to me. And he was kind to every one. I +never heard him speak a harsh word of any living thing. It was in being +kind that he lost his life; he must have gone to see the man who was ill +on the boat." + +The young doctor looked away and fixed his eyes on the men who were +going over the ground around the cabin. + +"Who are those men, Paul? And what are they doing here?" she asked +suddenly, observing that they seemed to be looking for something. "It +hurts me to have strangers handling these things that belonged to him. +What are they looking for? Who are they?" + +"Dearest, when a thing like this happens the law has to take certain--" + +"What has the law to do with my uncle Philip's clothes? No one shall +touch them but me or you!" bending over the garments and gathering them +up in her arms. "What are they digging for? Make them stop. Oh, stop +them; this spot is like his grave, the only grave he can ever have." + + * * * * * + +Paul could not tell her then, nor for months afterward, that it was +impossible to stop the search for the gold which was believed to be +buried in the earth of the forest near the ruined cabin. He waited till +the forest was once more quivering with tender young leaves and the +river was gentle and warm again--and she had become his wife. When he +gently told her at last, she looked at him wonderingly like a child, and +was silent for some time. She knew so little about money or the +eagerness for riches. And then she smiled and said that she herself +would certainly claim any gold belonging to Philip Alston that ever +might be found, and that David and the Sisters and Father Orin and Toby +should have the spending of it. + +"For that is what he would like and we have no need of more, now that +you are becoming famous. We have all and more than we want. Uncle Robert +has plenty for himself and his sisters. William will soon be going to +Congress, if you and uncle Robert work hard for him. Yes, David and the +Sisters and Father Orin and Toby shall have dear uncle Philip's gold. He +would wish them to have it. Think how generous he always was to them and +every one, and how kind to all. If you only could have known him just a +little longer, dear heart! Knowing him better, you would have known, as +I do, how truly he loved everything fine and noble and great." + +He did not reply but silently laid his hand on hers. Sighing and +smiling, she nestled closer to his side. And then as they sat thus with +their eyes on the glorious afterglow, the Angelus began to peal softly +through the shadows, and the Beautiful River seemed in the softened +light to curve its majestic arm more closely around this wonderful new +country, from which a blighting shadow was lifted forever. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Round Anvil Rock, by Nancy Huston Banks + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11379 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ad743ad --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #11379 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11379) diff --git a/old/11379.txt b/old/11379.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8035445 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11379.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8753 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Round Anvil Rock, by Nancy Huston Banks + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Round Anvil Rock + A Romance + +Author: Nancy Huston Banks + +Release Date: February 29, 2004 [EBook #11379] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROUND ANVIL ROCK *** + + + + +Produced by Gene Smethers and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +ROUND ANVIL ROCK + + +_A ROMANCE_ + + +BY + +NANCY HUSTON BANKS + +AUTHOR OF "OLDFIELD" + + +1903 + +[Illustration: "The Angelus was pealing from the bell of the little +log chapel."] + + +TO MY FATHER + + +A PREFACE + +In weaving a romance round a real rock and through actual events, this +tale has taken no great liberty with fact. It has, indeed, claimed the +freedom of fiction only in drawing certain localities and incidents +somewhat closer together than they were in reality. And it has done this +notably in but three instances: by allowing the Wilderness Road to seem +nearer the Ohio River than it really was; by anticipating the +establishment of the Sisters of Charity; and by disregarding the +tradition that Philip Alston had gone from the region of Cedar House +before the time of the story, and that he died elsewhere. These +deviations are all rather slight, yet they are, nevertheless, essential +to any faithful description of the country, the time, and the people, +which this tale tries to describe. The Wilderness Road--everywhere--came +so close to the life of the whole country that no true story of the time +can ever be told apart from it. The Sisters of Charity were established +so early and did so much in the making of Kentucky, that a few months +earlier in coming to one locality or a few years later in reaching +another, cannot make their noble work any less vitally a part of every +tale of the wilderness. The influence of Philip Alston over the country +in which he lived, lasted so much longer than his life, and the precise +date and manner of his death are go uncertain, that his romantic career +must always remain inseparably interwoven with all the romance of +southern Kentucky. And it is for these reasons that this story of nearly +a hundred years ago, has thus claimed a few of the many privileges of +fiction. + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I. THE GIRL AND THE BOY + + II. THE HOUSE OF CEDAR + + III. "PHILIP ALSTON, GENTLEMAN" + + IV. THE NIGHT RIDE + + V. ON THE WILDERNESS ROAD + + VI. THE CAMP-MEETING + + VII. A MORNING IN CEDAR HOUSE + + VIII. THE LOG TEMPLE OF JUSTICE + + IX. PAUL'S FIRST VISIT TO RUTH + + X. FATHER ORIN AND TOBY MEET TOMMY DYE + + XI. THE DANCE IN THE FOREST + + XII. THE EVE OF ALL SOULS' + + XIII. SEEING WITH DIFFERENT EYES + + XIV. A SPIRITUAL CENTAUR + + XV. THE WEB THAT SEEMED TO BE WOVEN + + XVI. LOVE'S TOUCHSTONE + + XVII. THE ONCOMING OF THE STORM + +XVIII. THE GENTLEST ARE THE BRAVEST + + XIX. UNDER THE HUNTER'S MOON + + XX. BALANCING LIFE AND DEATH + + XXI. THE EAGLE IN THE DOVE'S NEST + + XXII. "A COMET'S GLARE FORETOLD THIS SAD EVENT" + +XXIII. LOVE CLAIMS HIS OWN + + XXIV. OLD LOVE'S STRIVING WITH YOUNG LOVE + + XXV. THE PASSING OF PHILIP ALSTON + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +"The Angelus was pealing from the bell of the little log chapel" + +"A dark, confused ... writhing mass of humanity" + +"'I wanted to shake the hand of a man like you'" + +Father Orin and Toby + +"For she also was riding a great race" + +"She was making an aeolian harp" + + + +ROUND ANVIL ROCK + + + +I + +THE GIRL AND THE BOY + + +The Beautiful River grows very wide in making its great bend around +western Kentucky. On the other side, its shores are low for many miles, +but well guarded by giant cottonwoods. These spectral trees stand close +to its brink and stretch their phantom arms far over its broad waters, +as if perpetually warding off the vast floods that rush down from the +North. + +But the floods are to be feared only in the winter or spring, never in +the summer or autumn. And nearly a hundred years ago, when the river's +shores were bound throughout their great length by primeval forests, +there was less reason to fear at any season. So that on a day of October +in the year eighteen hundred and eleven, the mighty stream lay safely +within its deep bounds flowing quietly on its way to join the Father of +Waters. + +So gently it went that there was scarcely a ripple to break its silvery +surface. It seemed indeed hardly to move, reflecting the shadowy +cottonwoods like a long, clear, curving mirror which was dimmed only by +the breath of the approaching dusk. Out in the current beyond the +shadows of the trees, there still lingered a faint glimmer of the +afterglow's pale gold. But the red glory of the west was dying behind +the whitening cottonwoods and beyond the dense dark forest--reaching on +and on to the seeming end of the earth--a billowing sea of ever +deepening green. The last bright gleam of golden light was passing away +on the white sail of a little ship which was just turning the distant +bend, where the darkening sky bent low to meet the darkened wilderness. + +The night was creeping from the woods to the waters as softly as the +wild creatures crept to the river's brim to drink before sleeping. The +still air was lightly stirred now and then by rushing wings, as the +myriad paroquets settled among the shadowy branches. The soft murmuring +of the reeds that fringed the shores told where the waterfowl had +already found resting-places. The swaying of the cane-brakes--near and +far--signalled the secret movements of the wingless wild things which +had only stealth to guard them against the cruelty of nature and against +one another. The heaviest waves of cane near the great Shawnee Crossing +might have followed a timid red deer. For the Shawnees had vanished from +their town on the other side of the Ohio. Warriors and women and +children--all were suddenly and strangely gone; there was not even a +canoe left to rock among the rushes. The swifter, rougher waving of the +cane farther off may have been in the wake of a bold gray wolf. The +howling of wolves came from the distance with the occasional gusts of +wind, and as often as the wolves howled, a mysterious, melancholy +booming sounded from the deeper shadows along the shores. It was an +uneasy response from the trumpeter swans, resting like some wonderful +silver-white lilies on the quiet bosom of the dark river. + +A great river has all the sea's charm and much of its mystery and +sadness. The boy standing on the Kentucky shore was under this spell as +he listened to these sounds of nature at nightfall on the Ohio, and +watched the majestic sweep of its waters--unfettered and +unsullied--through the boundless and unbroken forests. Yet he turned +eagerly to listen to another sound that came from human-kind. It was the +wild music of the boatman's horn winding its way back from the little +ship, now far away and rounding the dusky bend. Partly flying and partly +floating, it stole softly up the shadowed river. The melody echoed from +the misty Kentucky hills, lingered under the overhanging trees, rambled +through the sighing cane-brakes, loitered among the murmuring +rushes--thus growing ever fainter, sweeter, wilder, sadder, as it came. +He did not know why this sound of the boatman's horn always touched him +so keenly and moved him so deeply. He could not have told why his eyes +grew strangely dim as he heard it now, or why a strange tightening came +around his heart. He was but an ignorant lad of the woods. It was not +for him to know that these few notes--so few, so simple, so artlessly +blown by a rude boatman--touched the deep fountain of the soul, loosing +the mighty torrent pent up in every human breast. Pity, tenderness, +yearning, the struggle and the triumph of life,--the boy felt everything +and all unknowingly, but with quivering sensibility. For he was not +merely an ignorant lad; he was also one of those who are set apart +throughout their lives to feel many things which they are never +permitted to comprehend. + +When the last echo of the boatman's horn had melted among the darkling +hills, he turned as instinctively as a sun-worshipper faces the east and +drank in another musical refrain. The Angelus was pealing faintly from +the bell of the little log chapel far up the river, hidden among the +trees. The faith which it betokened was not his own faith, nor the faith +of those with whom he lived, but the beauty and sweetness of the token +appealed to him none the less. How beautiful, how sweet it was! As it +thus came drifting down with the river's deepening shadows, he thought +of the little band of Sisters--angels of charity--kneeling under that +rough roof; those brave gentlewomen of high birth and delicate breeding +who were come with the very first to take an heroic part in the making +of Kentucky and, so doing, in the winning of the whole West. As the boy +thought of them with a swelling heart,--for they had been kind to +him,--it seemed that they were braver than the hunters, more courageous +than the soldiers. Listening to the appeal of the Angelus stealing so +tenderly through the twilight, with the strain of poetry that was in him +thrilling in response, he felt that the prayers then going up must fill +the cruel wilderness with holy incense; that the coming of these gentle +Sisters must subdue the very wild beasts, as the presence of the lovely +martyrs subdued the lions of old. + +"Ah, David! David!" cried a gay young voice behind him. "Dreaming +again--with your eyes wide open. And seeing visions, too, no doubt." + +He turned with a guilty start and looked up at Ruth. She was standing +near by but higher on the river bank, and her slender white form was +half concealed by the drooping foliage of a young willow tree. There was +something about Ruth herself that always made him think of a young +willow with every graceful wand in bloom. And now--as nearly +always--there was a flutter of soft whiteness about her, for the day was +as warm as mid-summer. He could not have told what it was that she wore, +but her fluttering white garments might have been woven of the mists +training over the hills, so ethereal they looked, seen through the +golden green of the delicate willow leaves that were still gilded by +the afterglow which had vanished from the shadowed river. Her smiling +face could not have been more radiant had the sunlight shone full upon +it. The dusk of evening seemed always lingering under the long curling +lashes that made her blue eyes so dark, and her hair was as black at +midday as at midnight. So that now--when she shook her head at the +boy--a wonderful long, thick, silky lock escaped its fastenings, and the +wind caught it and spun it like silk into the finest blue-black floss. + +"Yes, sir, you've been dreaming again! You needn't pretend you were +thinking--you don't know how to think. Thinking is not romantic enough. +I have been here watching you for a long time, and I know just how +romantic the dreams are that you have been dreaming. I could tell by the +way you turned,--this way and that,--looking up and down the river. It +always bewitches you when the sun goes and the shadows come. I knew I +should find you here, just like this; and I came on purpose to wake and +scold you." + +She pretended to draw her pretty brow into a frown, but she could not +help smiling. + +"Seriously, dear, you must stop dreaming. It is a dreadful thing to be a +dreamer in a new country. State makers should all be wide-awake workers. +You are out of place here; as Uncle Philip Alston says--" + +"Then why did he put me here?" the boy burst out bitterly. + +"David!" she cried in wounded reproach, "how can you? It hurts me to +hear you say things like that. I can't bear to hear any one say anything +against him--I love him so. And from you--who owe him almost as much as +I do--" + +The tears were very near. But she was a little angry, too, and her blue +eyes flashed. + +"No; no one owes him so much--as myself. He couldn't have been so +good--no one ever could be so good to any one else as he has always been +to me. Still"--softening suddenly, for she was fond of the boy, and +something in his sensitive face went to her tender heart--"think, David, +dear, we owe him everything we have,--our names, our home, our clothes, +our education, our very lives. We must never for a moment forget that it +was he who found us all alone--you in a cabin on the Wilderness Road and +me in a boat at Duff's Fort--and brought us in his own arms to Cedar +House. And you know as well as I do that he would have given us a home +in his own house if it had not been so rough and bare a place, a mere +camp. And then there was no woman in it to take care of us, and we were +only little mites of babies--poor, crying, helpless morsels of humanity. +Where do you think we came from, David? I wonder and wonder and wonder!" +wistfully, with her gaze on the darkening river. + +It was an old question, and one that they had been asking themselves +and one another and every one, over and over, ever since they had been +old enough to think. The short story which Philip Alston had told was +all that he or any one knew or ever was to know. The boy silently shook +his head. The girl went on:-- + +"Sometimes I am sorry that we couldn't live in his house. You would have +understood him better and have loved him more--as he deserves. It is +only that you don't really know each other," she said gently. "And then +I should like to do something for him--something to cheer him--who does +everything for me. It must be very sad to be alone and old. It grieves +me to see him riding away to that desolate cabin, especially on stormy +nights. But he never will let me come to his house, though I beg and +beg. He says it is too rough, and that too many strange men are coming +and going on business." + +"Yes; too many strange men on very strange business." + +She did not hear or notice what he said, because the sound of horses' +feet echoing behind them just at that moment caused her to turn her +head. Two horsemen were riding along the river bank, but they were a +long way off and about turning into the forest path as her gaze fell +upon them. She stood still, silently looking after them till they +disappeared among the trees. + +"Father Orin and Toby will get home before dark to-night. That is +something uncommon," she said with a smile. + +Toby was the priest's horse, but no one ever spoke of the one without +thinking of the other; and then, Toby's was a distinct and widely +recognized personality. + +"But who is the stranger with them, David? Oh, I remember! It must be +the new doctor,--the young doctor who has lately come and who is curing +the Cold Plague. The Sisters told me. They said that he and Father Orin +often visited the sick together and were already great friends. How tall +he is--even taller than Father Orin, and broader shouldered. I should +like to see his face. And how straight he sits in the saddle. You would +expect a man who holds himself so to carry a lance and tilt fearlessly +at everything that he thought was wrong." + +She turned, quickly tossing the willow branches aside and laughing +gayly. "There now, that will set you off thinking of your knights again! +But you must not. Truly, you must not. For it is quite true, dear; you +are a dreamer, a poet. You do indeed belong to the Arcadian Hills. You +should be there now, playing a gentle shepherd's pipe and herding his +peaceful flocks. And instead--alas!"--she looked at him in perplexity +which was partly real and partly assumed--"instead you are here in this +awful wilderness, carrying a rifle longer and heavier than yourself, and +trying to pretend that you like to kill wild beasts, or can endure to +hurt any living thing." + +David said nothing; there seemed to be no response for him to make. When +a well-grown youth of eighteen or thereabouts is spoken to by a girl +near his own age as he had just been spoken to by Ruth, he rarely finds +anything to say. No words could do justice to what he feels. And there +is nothing for him to do either, unless it be to take refuge in a +dignified silence which disdains the slightest notice of the offence. +This was what David resorted to, and, bending down, he calmly and +quietly raised his forgotten rifle from the ground to his shoulder. He +did it very slowly and impressively, however, in the hope that Ruth +might realize the fact that he had killed the buck whose huge horns made +the rifle's rest on his cabin walls. But she saw and realized only that +he was wounded, and instantly darted toward him like a swallow. She +caught his rigid rifle arm and clung to it, looking up in his set face. +Her blue eyes were already filling with tears while the smile was still +on her lips. That was Ruth's way; her smiles and tears were even closer +together than most women's are; she was nearly always quiveringly poised +between gayety and sadness; like a living sunbeam continually glancing +across life's shadows. + +"What is it, David, dear?" she pleaded, with her sweet lips close to his +ear. "What foolish thing have I said? You must know--whatever it +was--that it was all in fun. Why, I wouldn't have you different, dear, +if I could! I couldn't love you so much if you were not just what you +are. And yet," sighing, "it might be better for you." + +She laid her head against his shoulder and drew closer to him in that +soft little nestling way of hers. David looked straight over the lovely +head, keeping his grim gaze as high as he could. He knew how it would be +if his stern gray eyes were to meet Ruth's wet blue ones. He was still a +boy, but trying to be a man--and beginning to understand. No man with +his heart in the right place could hold out against her pretty coaxing. +It was sweet enough to wile the very birds out of the trees. It made no +difference that he had been used to her wiles from babyhood up. To be +used to Ruth's ways only made them harder to resist. No stranger could +possibly have foreseen his defeat as clearly as David foresaw his at the +moment that she started toward him. But self-respect required him to +stand firm as long as possible, although he felt the strength going out +of his rifle arm under her clinging touch. She felt it going, too, and +began to smile through her tears. And then, sure of her victory, she +threw caution to the winds--as older and wiser women have done too +openly in vanquishing stronger and more masterful men. She let him see +that she knew she had conquered, which is always a fatal mistake on the +part of a woman toward a man. Smiling and dimpling, she put up her hand +and patted his cheek--precisely as if he had been a child. + +The boy shrunk as if the caress had been a touch of fire. He broke away +and strode off up the hillside with his longest, manliest stride. This +humiliation was past bearing or forgiving. He could have forgiven being +called a dreamer--a useless drone--among the men of clear heads and +strong hands who had already wrested a great state from the wilderness, +and who, through this conquest, were destined to become the immortal +founders of the Empire of the West. He could have overlooked being +spoken to like a child by a girl who might be younger than himself for +all he or she knew to the contrary--though this would have been harder. +He might even have forgiven that pat on his cheek which was downy with +beard, had he been either younger or older. But as it was--well, the +matter may safely be left to the sympathy of the man who remembers the +most sensitive time of his own youth; that trying period when he feels +himself to be no longer a boy and nobody else considers him a man. + +David did not know where he was going or what he meant to do. He was +blindly striding up the river bank away from Ruth, fairly aflame with +the determination to do something--anything--to prove his manhood. For +nothing ever makes a boy resolve quite so suddenly and firmly to become +a man instantly as to be treated by a girl as he had been by Ruth. Had +the most desperate danger then come in David's way, he would have hailed +and hazarded it with delight. But he could not think of anything to +overwhelm her with just at that moment, and so he could only stride on +in helpless, angry silence. Ruth flew after him as if her thin white +skirts had been strong, swift wings. She overtook him before he had gone +very far, and clung to him again more than ever like some beautiful +white spirit of the woods wreathed in mist, with her soft blown garments +and her softer blown hair. She merely wound herself around him at first, +breathless and panting. But as soon as she caught her breath the +coaxing, the laughing, and the crying came all together. David kept from +looking down as long as he could, but his pace slackened and his arm +again relaxed. Finally--taken off guard--he glanced at the face so near +his breast. The dusk could not dim its beauty and only made it more +lovely. No more resistance was possible for him--or for any man or +boy--who saw Ruth as she looked then. David's big rough hand was now +surrendered meekly enough to the quick clasp of her little fingers, +and--forgetting all the daring deeds that he meant to do--he was led +like any lamb up the hill to the open door of Cedar House. + + + + +II + +THE HOUSE OF CEDAR + + +So far as they knew, there was no tie of blood or relationship binding +them to the kind people of Cedar House. Yet it was the only home that +they could remember and very dear to them both. + +It was a great square of rough, dark logs, and seemed now, seen through +the uncertain light, to stand in the centre of a shadowy hamlet, so many +smaller cabins were clustered around it. The custom of the country was +to add cabin after cabin as the family outgrew the original log house. +The instinct of safety, the love of kindred, and the longing for society +in the perilous loneliness of the wilderness held these first +Kentuckians very close together. So that as their own villages thus grew +around them and only their own dwelt near them, they naturally became as +clannish as their descendants have been ever since. + +The cabin nearest Cedar House contained two rooms, and was used by its +master, Judge Knox, for his own bedroom and law office. There was a +still larger cabin somewhat more distant from the main building, which +was intended for the use of his nephew, William Pressley, on the +marriage of that young lawyer to Ruth. But the wedding was some time off +yet, having been set for Christmas Eve, and the cabin which was to +welcome the bride from Cedar House was not quite complete. The smallest +and the oldest cabin was David's. The long black line of cabins +crouching under the hillside where the shadows were deepest, marked the +quarters of the slaves,--a dark storm-cloud already settling heavily on +the fair horizon of the new state. + +Cedar House itself was the grandest of its time in all that country. +Built entirely of huge red cedar logs it was two stories in height, the +first house of more than one story standing on the shores of the +southern Ohio. Its roof was the wonder and envy of the whole region for +many years. The shingles were of black walnut, elegantly rounded at the +butt-ends. They were fastened on with solid walnut pegs driven in holes +bored through both the shingles and the laths with a brace and a bit. +For there was not a nail in Cedar House from its firm foundation to its +fine roof. Even the hinges and the latch of the wide front door were +made of wood. The judge often mentioned this fact with much pride, and +never failed to add that the leathern latch-string always hung outside. +But he was still prouder of the massive, towering chimney of Cedar +House, and with good reason. The other houses thinly scattered through +the wilderness had humble chimneys of sticks covered with clay. The +chimney of Cedar House was of rough stone--of one hundred wagon loads, +as the judge boasted--which had been hauled with great difficulty over a +long distance, because there was none near by. + +On the wide hearth of this great chimney a fire was always burning. No +matter what the season or the weather might be, there was always a +solemn ceremony around the hearth when the fire was renewed, at the +beginning and the close of every day all the year round. In winter it +was a glorious bonfire consuming great logs. In summer it was the merest +glimmer that could hold a flickering spark. Between winter and summer, +as on this mild October evening, a bright flame sometimes danced gayly +behind the big brass andirons, while all the windows and doors were wide +open. But through cold and heat, and burning high or low, the fire was +never entirely forgotten, never quite permitted to go out. Thus ever +alight it burned like a sacred flame on the altar of home. + +Streaming from the doors and windows that night, it gave the youth and +the maiden a cheerful welcome as they came up the darkening hillside. +Lamplight also began to glimmer, and candles flitted here and there +before the windows and door, borne by the dark shapes of the servants +who were laying the table for supper. The main room of Cedar House +opened directly upon the river front; and when brightly lighted, it +could be distinctly seen from without. Ruth and David paused on the +threshold, still unconsciously holding one another's hands, and looked +in. + +There were five persons in the room, three men and two women, and they +were all members of the household with the exception of Philip Alston, +the white-haired gentleman, whose appearance bore no other mark of age. +And he also might have been considered as one of the family, since he +had been coming to the house daily for many years. He came usually to +see Ruth, but of late he had found it necessary to see William Pressley +more often; and they were talking eagerly and in a low tone, rather +apart, when the boy and girl paused to see and hear what was taking +place within the great room. William Pressley sat in the easiest chair +in the warmest corner, close to the hearth. There are some men--and a +few women--who always take the softest seat in the best place, and they +do it so naturally that no one ever thinks of their doing anything else +or expects them to sit elsewhere. William Pressley was one of these +persons. In the next easiest chair, on the other side of the hearth, was +his aunt, the widow Broadnax, whose short, broad, shapeless, inert +figure was lying rather than sitting almost buried in a heap of +cushions. This lady was the sister of the judge and the half-sister of +the other lady, Miss Penelope Knox,--the thin, nervous, restless little +old woman,--who was fidgeting back and forth between the hearth and the +doorway leading to the distant kitchen. The relationship of these two +ladies to one another, and the difference in their relationship to the +head of Cedar House, caused much dissension in the household, and gave +rise to certain domestic complications which always rose when least +expected. + +The fire had been freshly kindled with small twigs of the sugar maple, +that priceless tree often standing fifty to an acre in the wilderness, +and giving the pioneers their best fire-wood, their coolest shade, and +their sweetest food. Vivid blue sparks were still flashing among the +little white stars of the gray moss on the big backlog. From the blazing +ends of the log there came the soft, airy music and the faint, sweet +scent of bubbling sap. This main room of Cedar House was very large, +almost vast, taking up the whole lower floor. It was the dining room as +well as the sitting room; and when some grand occasion arose, it served +even as a drawing-room, and did it handsomely, too. This great room of +Cedar House always reminded David of the ancient halls in "The Famous +History of Montilion," a romance of chivalry from which most of his +ideas of life were taken, and upon which most of his ideals of living +were formed. Surely, he thought, the castle of the "Knight of the +Oracle" could not be grander than this great room of Cedar House. + +The rich dark wood of its walls and floor--all rudely smoothed with the +broadaxe and the whipsaw--hung overhead in massive beams. From these +low, blackened timbers there swung many antique lamps, splendid enough +for a palace and strangely out of place in a log house of the +wilderness. On the rough walls there were also large sconces of +burnished silver but poorly filled with tallow candles. In the bare +spaces between these silver sconces were the heads of wild animals +mingled with many rifles, both old and new, and other arms of the +hunter. Over the tall mantelpiece there were crossed two untarnished +swords which had been worn by the judge's father in the Revolution. On +the red cedar of the floor, polished by wear and rubbing, there lay the +skins of wild beasts, together with costly foreign rugs. The same +strange mixture of rudeness and refinement was to be seen everywhere +throughout the room. The table standing in the centre of the floor, +ready for the evening meal, was made of unplaned boards, rudely put +together by the unskilled hands of the backwoods. Yet it was set with +the finest china, the rarest glass, and the richest silver that the +greatest skill of the old world could supply. The chairs placed around +the table were made of unpainted wood from the forest, with seats woven +out of the coarse rushes from the river. And there, between the front +windows, stood Ruth's piano, the first in that part of the wilderness, +and as fine as the finest of its day anywhere. + +It is true that something like the same confusion of luxury and wildness +was becoming more or less common throughout the country. The wain trains +which had lately followed the packhorse trains over the +Alleghanies--with the widening of the Wilderness Road--were already +bringing many comforts and even luxuries to the cabins of the well-to-do +settlers. But nothing like those which were fetched constantly to Cedar +House ever came to any other household; and it was not the family who +caused them to be brought there. For while the judge was a man of wealth +for his time and place, and able to give his family greater comfort than +his poorer neighbors could afford, he was far from having the means, +much less the taste and culture, to gather such costly, beautiful, and +rare things as were gathered together in Cedar House. It was through +Philip Alston that everything of this kind had come. It was he who had +chosen everything and paid for it, and ordered it fetched over the +mountains from Virginia or up the river from France or Spain--all as +gifts from him to Ruth. It was natural enough that he should give her +whatever he wished her to have, and there was no reason why she should +not accept any and everything that he gave. She was held by him and by +every one as his adopted daughter. He had no children of his own, no +relations of any degree so far as any one knew, and he was known to be +generous and believed to be very rich. Indeed no one thought much about +his gifts to Ruth; they had long since become a matter of course, a part +of the everyday life of Cedar House. They had begun with Ruth's coming +more than seventeen years before. As a baby she had been rocked in a +cradle such as never before had been seen in the wilderness,--a very gem +of wonderful carving and inlaid work from Spain. As a little child she +had been dressed--as no little one of the wild wood ever had been +before--in the finest fabrics and the daintiest needlework from the +looms and convents of France. Very strange things may become familiar +through use. The simple people of Cedar House and their rude neighbors +were well used to all this. They had seen the beautiful blue-eyed baby +grow to be a more beautiful child, and the child to a most beautiful +maiden, and always surrounded by the greatest refinement and luxury that +love and means could bring into the wilderness. Naturally enough they +now found nothing to wonder at, in the daily presence of this radiant +young figure among them. + +It was only for an instant that the girl and boy stood thus unseen on +the threshold of Cedar House, looking into the great room. Philip Alston +saw them almost at once. He had been watching and waiting for Ruth, as +he always was when she was out of his sight even for a moment. He sprang +up, quickly and alertly, like a strong young man, and went to meet her +with his gallant air. She held up her cheek smilingly; he bent and +kissed it, and taking her hand with his grand bow, led her across the +room. The judge and his nephew also arose, as they always did when she +came in or went out. The judge did this unconsciously, without thinking, +and scarcely knowing that he did do it; for he was a plain man, rather +awkward and very absent-minded, and deeply absorbed in the study of his +profession. William Pressley did it with deliberate intention and +self-consciousness, as he did everything that he deemed fitting. It was +his nature to give grave thought to the least thing that he said or did. +It was his sincere conviction that the smallest matter affecting himself +was of infinitely greater importance than the greatest that could +possibly concern any one else. There are plenty of people who believe +this as sincerely as he believed it, but there are few who show the +belief with his candor. When he now stood up to place a chair for Ruth +beside his own, he did the simple service as if the critical eyes of the +world had been upon him. And his manner was so consciously correct that +no one observed that the chair which he gave her was not so comfortable +as his own. He was uncommonly good-looking, also, and tall and shapely, +yet there was something about his full figure--that vague, +indescribable something--which unmistakably marks the lack of virility +in mind or body, no matter how large or handsome a man may be. He stood +for a moment after Ruth was seated, and then, seeing that Philip Alston +was about to lift a candle-stand which was heaped with parcels, he went +to aid him, and the two men together set the little table before her. +She looked at it with soft, excited cries of surprise and delight, +instantly divining that the unopened parcels and sealed boxes contained +more of the gifts which her foster-father was constantly lavishing upon +her. He smiled down at her beaming face and dancing eyes, and then +taking out his pocket-knife he cut the cords and removed the covers of +the boxes. As the wrappings fell away, there was a shimmer of dazzling +tissues, silver and gold. + +"Oh! oh!" she cried. + +"Just a few pretty trifles, my dear," he said. "You like them?" + +"Like them!" + +Repeating his words she sprang up, and running round the candle-stand, +stood on the very tips of her toes so that she might throw her arms +about his neck. He bent his head to meet her upturned face, and if ever +tenderness shone in a man's pale, grave face, it shone then in his. If +ever love--pure and unselfish--beamed from a man's eyes, it was beaming +now from those looking down in the girl's face. His tender gaze +followed her fondly as she went back to the candle-stand and began to +examine each article again more than once and with lingering and growing +delight. She found new beauties every moment, and pointed them out to +the three men and the boy who were now gathered around her. She called +the ladies also, over and over, but they did not come, although they +cast many glances at the candle-stand. + +Miss Penelope was engaged in making the coffee for supper; and while she +did not consider the making of the coffee for supper quite so vital a +matter as the making of the coffee for breakfast, she still could not +think of leaving the hearth under any inducement so long as the +coffee-pot sat on its trivet above the glowing coals. The widow Broadnax +stirred among her cushions once or twice, as if almost on the point of +trying to get out of her chair. She was fonder of finery than her +half-sister was, and she would have liked very much to see these +beautiful things nearer. But she was still fonder of her own ease than +of finery, and it was really a great deal of trouble to get out of her +deep, broad low chair. And then she never moved or took her eyes off her +half-sister while that energetic lady was engaged in making the coffee. + +Knowing the ladies' ways, Ruth did not expect them to come. She was +quite satisfied to have the men share her pleasure in the presents. +They were looking at her and not at the gifts lying heaped on the +candle-stand, but she did not notice that. She gave the judge a +priceless piece of lace to hold. He took it with the awkward, helpless +embarrassment of a manly man handling a woman's delicate +belongings,--the awkwardness that goes straight to a woman's heart, +because she sees and feels its true reverence--a reverence just as plain +and just as sweet to the simplest country girl as to the wisest woman of +the world. The perception of it is a matter of intuition, not one of +experience. The least experienced woman instantly distrusts the man who +can touch her garments with ease or composure. Ruth's gay young voice +broke into a sweet chime of delighted laughter when the judge seized the +airy bit of lace as if it had been the heaviest and hottest of crowbars. +She laughed again when she looked at his face. He had an odd trick of +lifting one of his eyebrows very high and at an acute angle when +perplexed or ill at ease. This eccentric left eyebrow--now quite +wedge-shaped--had gone up almost to the edge of his tousled gray hair. +Ruth patted his great clumsy hands with her little deft ones. + +"Well, I'll have to take to the woods, if there's no other way of +escape," said the judge, making his greatest threat. + +"You dear!" she said, running her arm through his and giving it a little +squeeze. "That's right. Hold it tight--be careful, or it will break. +Here, William," piling the young man's arms full of delicately tinted +gauze, "this is a sunset cloud. And these," casting lengths of exquisite +tissue over the boy's shoulder, "these are the mists of the dawn, +David,--all silvery white and golden rose and jewelled blue. But--oh! +oh!--these are the loveliest of all! A pair of slippers in +orange-blossom kid, spangled with silver! Look at them! Just look, +everybody!" + +Holding them in her hand she ran round the table again to throw her arms +about Philip Alston's neck the second time, like a happy, excited child. +The little white slippers went up with her arms and touched his cheek. +And then he drew them down, and clasping her slender wrists, held her +out before him and looked at her with fond, smiling eyes. + +"I don't believe that the Empress Josephine has any prettier slippers +than those," he said. "I ordered the prettiest and the finest in Paris." + +"Who fetched all these things?" the judge broke in, with something like +a sudden realization of the number and the value of the gifts. + +"Oh, a friend of mine," responded Philip Alston, carelessly, and without +turning his head,--"a friend who has many ships constantly going and +coming between New Orleans and France. He orders anything I wish; and +when it comes to him, he sends it on to me by the first flatboat +cordelled up the river." + +"What is his name?" asked the judge, with a persistence very uncommon in +him. + +Philip Alston turned now and glanced at him with an easy, almost +bantering smile. + +"I don't like to tell you his name, because you--with a good many other +honestly mistaken people--are most unjustly prejudiced against him. And +then you know well enough that I am speaking of my respected and trusted +friend, Monsieur Jean Lafitte." + +The judge dropped the lace as if it had burnt his hand. He went back to +his seat by the window in silence. He sat down heavily and looked at +Philip Alston in perplexity, rubbing his great shock of rough grizzled +hair the wrong way as he always did when worried. His thoughts were +plainly to be read on his open, rugged face. This liking of Philip +Alston's for a man under a national ban was an old subject of worry and +perplexity. Yet Alston was always as frank and as firm about it as he +had been just now, and the judge's confidence in him was absolute. +Robert Knox's own character must have changed greatly before he could +have doubted the sincerity of any one whom he had known as long, as +intimately, and as favorably as he had known Philip Alston. We all judge +others by ourselves,--whether we do it consciously or not,--since we +have no other way of judging. And the judge himself was so simple, so +sincere, so essentially honest, that he could not doubt one who was in a +way a member of his own family. And then he was absent-minded, +unobservant, easy-going, indolent, and the slave of habit, as such a +nature is apt to be. Moreover, he was not always master of the slight +power of observation which had been given him. That very day, while on +his way home from the court-house, he had stopped at a cabin where +liquor was sold. As a consequence, this sudden touch of uneasiness which +aroused him for an instant was forgotten nearly as suddenly as it came. +So that after looking bewilderedly at Philip Alston once or twice, he +now began to nod and doze. + + + + +III + +"PHILIP ALSTON, GENTLEMAN" + + +Philip Alston still stood before the candle-stand. His gaze rested on +the girl's radiant face with wistful tenderness. It was plain that he +thought nothing of all these rich, rare gifts which he had given her, +save only as they gave her pleasure and might win from her another +loving look, another butterfly kiss on his cheek. + +As he stood there that night in the great room of Cedar House, before +the firelight and under the beams of the swinging lamps, he scarcely +appeared to need the help of any gift in winning a woman's love. His was +a presence to hold the gaze. He was very tall and straight and slender, +yet most finely proportioned. The heavy hair, falling back from his +handsome face and tied in a queue, must once have been as black as +Ruth's own; surely, no paler shade could have become so silvery white. +His eyes, also, were as blue as hers, and none could have been bluer. +His skin was almost as fair and smooth as hers, his manner as gentle and +kind, his voice as soft and his smile as sweet. He was elegantly +dressed, as he always was, his fine long coat of forest green +broadcloth had a wide velvet collar and large gold buttons. His velvet +knee-breeches and the wide riband which tied his queue were of the same +rich shade of dark green. The most delicate ruffles filled the front of +his swan's-down vest and fell over his hands, which were remarkably +white and small and taper-fingered, like a fine lady's. His white silk +stockings and his low shoes were held by silver buckles. So looked +Philip Alston, Gentleman,--and so he was called,--as he stood in the +great room of Cedar House on that night of October, nearly a hundred +years ago. And thus he is described in the few rare old histories which +touch the romance of this region when he ruled it like a king, by the +power of his intelligence and the might of his will. + +He was foremost in the politics of the time as in everything else, and +he and William Pressley had been discussing this subject at the moment +of Ruth's appearance, which had interrupted their conversation. Philip +Alston had forgotten the unfinished topic, but William Pressley had not. +He, also, had been pleased to look on for a while at the girl's radiant +delight; and he, also, had enjoyed the charming scene. But there was a +lull now, and he at once turned back to the matter in which he was most +deeply interested. Ambition for political preferment was the theme which +most absorbed his mind, and ambition was the one thing which could +always light a spark of fire in his cold, hard, shallow hazel eyes. +This was not for the reason that he cared especially for politics in +itself, which he did not. But he turned to it in preference to warfare, +since the choice of the ambitious young men of the wilderness lay +between the two. Politics seemed to him to open the surest and shortest +road to the prominence which he craved above everything else. He was one +of those unfortunates who can never be happy on a level--even with the +highest--and who must look down in order to be at all content with life. +Yet with this overweening and insatiable craving for distinction and +prominence, he had been given no talent by which distinction may be won; +had been granted no quality, mental, moral, or physical, by which he +might rise above the mass of his fellows. It was a cruel trick for +Nature to play, and one that she plays far too often. The sufferers from +it are certainly far more to be pitied than blamed, and it is harmful +only to the afflicted themselves, so long as it meets, or still expects, +a measure of gratification. When they are permitted to reach any height +from which to look down, the terrible craving appears to be temporarily +appeased; and they become kind, and even generous, to all who look up +with willing, unwandering gaze. It is only when the sufferers fail to +reach any height, or when they lose what little they may have attained, +or when the gaze of the world wanders, that they become hard, sour, +bitter, and merciless toward all who have succeeded where they have +failed. The only mercy that Nature has shown them in their affliction, +is to make most of them slow to realize that they can never gain the one +thing they crave. And this miserable awakening had not yet come to +William Pressley. On that evening he had every reason to be content and +well pleased with himself. The future promised all that he most +earnestly wished for. He was already moderately successful in the +practice of his profession. This was mainly owing to his uncle's +influence, but he was far from suspecting the fact. His domestic life, +also, was admirably settled; he was fond of Ruth and proud of her, as he +was of everything belonging to himself. But the thing which made him +happiest was a suggestion of Philip Alston's, first offered on the +previous day; and it was to this that he now recurred at the first +opportunity. + +He spoke with an eagerness curiously apart from his words: + +"There seems to be no doubt that the Shawnees are really gone. Men, +women, and children, they have all disappeared from their town on the +other side of the river. A hunter who has been over there told me so +yesterday. It appears reasonably certain that the warriors are gathering +under the Prophet at Tippecanoe." + +"Yes, it is undoubtedly true that the Indians are rising," replied +Philip Alston, still looking at Ruth. "Well, it was bound to come,--this +last decisive struggle between the white and the red race,--and the +sooner the better, perhaps. I hear, too, that the troops are already +moving upon the Shawnee encampment." + +"Have you heard anything more about the attorney-general's offering his +services? Is it decided that he will go?" asked William Pressley. + +He spoke more quickly and with more spirit than was common with him. And +he sank back with an involuntary movement of disappointment when Philip +Alston shook his head. + +"However, there is little doubt that he will go. He is almost sure to," +Philip Alston went on. "It is his way to put his own shoulder to the +wheel. You remember, judge--" + +"What's that!" cried the judge, starting up from his doze. + +"We are talking about Joseph Hamilton Daviess," said Philip Alston. + +"A great man. A great lawyer--the first lawyer west of the Alleghanies +to go to Washington and plead a case before the Supreme Court," said the +judge. + +"He has certainly been untiring and fearless in the discharge of his +duty as the United States Attorney," Philip Alston said warmly. "I was +just going to remind you of the journey that he made across the +wilderness from Kentucky to St. Louis to find out, if he could, at first +hand, what treason Aaron Burr was plotting over there with the +commandant of the military post as a tool. He didn't find out a great +deal. That old fox knows how to cover his tracks. But the +attorney-general did more than any one else could have done. He hauled +Burr to trial, almost single-handed, and against the greatest public +clamor. He leaves nothing undone in the pursuit of his duty. I +understand that he is to be here soon. He thinks that something should +be done to put down the lawlessness of this country as Andrew Jackson +has subdued it in his territory." + +"But he must, of course, resign the office, if he intends going to +Tippecanoe," said William Pressley. + +He was so intent upon this one point of interest to himself that he had +scarcely heard what had been said. He now turned with dignified +impatience when his aunt broke in, speaking from the hearth. Miss +Penelope always spoke with a greater or less degree of suddenness and +irrelevance. She commonly said what she had to say at the instant that +the thought occurred to her, regardless of what others might be talking +or thinking about. The tenor of nearly everything that she said was +singularly gloomy. Her mind was full of superstition of a homely, +domestic kind. She was a great believer in signs, and the signs with +which she was most familiar were usually forewarnings of some great and +mysterious public or private calamity. Her voice was remarkably soft, +low, and sweet, so that to hear these alarming threats and these +appalling prophecies uttered in the tones of a cooing dove, was very +singular indeed. + +"'Pon my word!" she now exclaimed, facing the room, but still keeping +close to the coffee-pot. "How you all can expect anything but terrible +troubles and awful misfortunes is more than I can understand. The +warning of that comet sent a-flying wild across the heavens is enough +for me." + +No one noticed what she said--which certainly seemed to require no +notice; but it never made any difference to Miss Penelope whether her +remarks were warmly or coolly received. After stooping to turn the +coffee-pot round on its trivet she faced the room again. + +"Yes, the warning is plenty plain enough for me!" she cooed. "And just +look at the dreadful things that have happened already! Just look at +what came to pass between the time we first heard of that comet early in +the summer, and the time we first saw it early in September. Didn't all +the wasps and flies go blind and die sooner than common, right in the +middle of the hottest weather? Who ever heard of such a thing before? +And look at the fruit crop,--the apple trees, the peach trees, all kind +of fruit trees--and the grape-vines a-bending and a-breaking clear down +to the ground because they can't bear the weight." + +"It is probable that the early dying of the wasps and flies may have +had something to do with the fineness of the fruit," said William +Pressley, quite seriously, with formal politeness and a touch of +impatience at the interruption. + +Miss Penelope took him up tartly in her softest tone: "Then, William, +may I ask why the people all over the country are calling this year's +vintage 'comet wines'? For that's the way they are marking it, and +everybody is putting it to itself--as something very uncommon. But never +mind! I am used to having what I say mocked at in this house. It's +nothing new to me to have my words passed over as if they hadn't been +spoken. I can bear it and it don't alter my duty. I am bound to go on +a-doing what I believe to be right just the same, however I am treated. +I can't sit by and say nothing when I know that I ought to lift up my +voice in warning. So I say again--you can mark my word or not as you +think best--that we are all a-going to see some mighty wild sights +before we see the last of that comet's tail." + +"Pooh! Pooh! Pooh!" cried the widow Broadnax, roughly and hoarsely, as +she nearly always spoke, and sitting up suddenly among her cushions. +"Who's afraid of a comet with only one tail? I'll have you to know, +sister Penelope, that my grandmother--my own grandmother and Robert's +own grandmother, not yours--could remember the famous comet of +seventeen hundred and forty-four, and that had six tails." + +Miss Penelope was daunted and silenced for the moment. She did not mind +the greater number of the rival comet's tails. It was not that which +made her feel herself at a disadvantage. It was the slur at her lesser +relationship to the master of the house. Any reference to that was a +blow which never failed to make her flinch; and one which the widow +never lost a chance to deal. But Miss Penelope had not yielded an inch +through the ceaseless contention of years, and held her ground now; +since there was nothing to say in reply, she ignored the taunt as she +had done all that had gone before. She turned upon William Pressley, +however, as we are prone to turn upon those whom we do not fear, when we +dare not attack those with whom we are really offended. + +"Well, William, maybe you think that the early dying and the going blind +of the wasps and the flies caused the breaking out of the 'Jerks,' too. +You and the rest all think you know better than I do. I don't +complain--maybe you all do know better. But some day, when I am dead and +gone, some day, and it mayn't be very long, when my hands are stone cold +and crossed under the coffin-lid, you will think differently about a +good many matters," she cooed, as if saying the mildest, pleasantest +things in the world. "The Jerks have brought many a proud head low. +Others besides myself will see a warning in the Jerks before they are +gone. And now here are the Shawnees a-coming to welter us in our blood. +And the Cold Plague already come to shake the life out of the few that +are left. But it is their own fault. There's nobody but themselves to +blame. It's easy enough to keep from having the plague," Miss Penelope +added confidently. "Anybody can keep from having it, if they will only +take the trouble to blow real hard three times on a blue yarn string +before breakfast." + +William Pressley turned gravely and was about to protest against such +absurd superstition, but Philip Alston interfered tactfully, to assure +the lady that she was quite right, that it could not fail to benefit +almost any one to breathe on anything, especially if the breathing were +very deep and very early in the morning. + +"And then the new doctor knows how to cure the plague, aunt Penelope, +dear," said Ruth, suddenly looking up from the things on the +candle-stand. She was always the peacemaker of the family. "The Sisters +told me. They are not afraid now that he has come. They were never +afraid for themselves; it was for the children--the orphans. They said +that little ones were dying all over the wilderness like frozen lambs." + +"This new doctor is a most presumptuous person," said William Pressley, +with the chilly deliberation which invariably marked his irritation. "He +refuses to bleed his patients or to allow them to be bled. These +unheard-of objections of his are levelled at the fundamental principles +of the established practice and calculated to undermine it. Every +physician of reputable standing will tell you that bleeding is the only +efficacious treatment for the Cold Plague, and that it is entirely safe +if no more than eight ounces of blood be taken at a time, and not +oftener than once in two or three hours."[1] + +[Footnote 1: "Medical Repository," 1815, p. 222.] + +No one said anything for a moment. When William Pressley spoke in that +tone, which he frequently did, there seemed to be nothing left for any +one else to say. The subject appeared to have been done up hard and fast +in a bundle and laid away for good and all. The judge was dozing again, +Philip Alston was still gazing at Ruth, Miss Penelope was busy over the +coffee-pot, and the widow Broadnax was watching every movement that she +made. It was Ruth who replied after a momentary pause. She never lacked +courage to stand by her own opinions, timid and gentle as they were; and +she spoke now firmly though gently: + +"But, William, just think! These were little bits of babies. Such poor, +weak, bloodless little mites anyway. And it is said that the greatest +pain and danger from the plague is from weakness and cold. The strongest +men shiver and shiver till they freeze out of the world." + +William Pressley bent his head in the courtesy that stings more than +rudeness. He never argued. He had spoken; there was no need to say +anything more. So that with this bow to Ruth he turned to Philip Alston +and again took up the topic which he was so anxious to resume. It had +already been interrupted, he thought, by far too much unimportant talk. +Ruth looked at him expectantly when he started to speak, but he was +looking at Philip Alston and spoke to him. + +"You have, I suppose, sir, mentioned to my uncle what you so kindly +suggested to me, in the event that the attorney-general should resign on +going to Tippecanoe." + +The deepest feeling that Ruth had ever heard in his voice thrilled it +now. She involuntarily bent forward. Her eager lips were apart, her +radiant eyes were upon him. Was he going with the attorney-general to +Tippecanoe? She was afraid, glad, frightened, proud, all in a breath. +She had forgotten the beautiful gifts that lay before her. The mere +mention, the merest thought of the noble and the great, stirred her +heart like the throb of mighty drums. + +"No, but I will speak to him about it now," replied Philip Alston. +"Judge, Judge Knox!" raising his voice. + +The judge, aroused, sat up, looking round. But William Pressley spoke +again before Philip Alston could explain. + +"If the attorney-general really intends to go, he must resign. There +will, of course, be many applicants for the place, and we can hardly be +too prompt in applying for it, if I am to succeed him." + +Ruth sank back in her chair. The fabric which she had held unconsciously +now dropped unheeded from her hand. She could not have told why she felt +such a shock of revulsion and disappointment. She had known something +like it before, when this man who was to be her husband had shown some +strange insensibility to great things which had moved her own heart to +its depths. But the feeling had never been so strong as it was now; had +never come so near revealing to her the real character of him with whom +her whole life was to be spent; and she was still more bewildered and +perplexed than shocked or distressed. She thought that she must have +misunderstood; that he could not have meant thus to pass over this great +national crisis,--this noble offering of a great man's life to the +service of his country,--in unfeeling haste to grasp some selfish profit +from it. She looked at him wonderingly, with all the light gone out of +her face. Being what she was, she could not see that he was just as true +to his nature as she was to hers; that he was following it with entire +sincerity in looking at the noblest things in life and the greatest +things in the world, solely as they affected himself and his own +interests. It was not for a nature like hers ever to understand that a +nature like his would, if it could, bend the whole universe to his own +ends without a doubt that such was its best possible use. + +Philip Alston, also, was regarding William Pressley with rather an +inscrutable look. But his estimate and understanding were fairer than +Ruth's, for the reason that he could come nearer to giving the young man +his due. He knew that William Pressley was honest and sincere in his +vanity and conceit, and was assured that these traits were the worst he +possessed. Philip Alston knew men, and he had found that those who +honestly thought highly of themselves usually had something, more or +less, to found the opinion upon. He had never known a bad man who +sincerely thought himself a good one. He knew that many dull men really +believed themselves to be intelligent,--but that was a comparatively +harmless mistake,--and he had never observed that a woman thought less +of a man who thought well of himself. Aside from this surface weakness +William Pressley was a most worthy young fellow; far more worthy to be +Ruth's husband than any one else in that rough and thinly settled +country. The nearer the time for the marriage approached, the more +Philip Alston came to believe that he had chosen wisely in selecting +William Pressley. Fully convinced at last that he could not do better +for her future than to intrust it to this serious, conscientious young +man, who was unquestionably fond of her and to whom she was much +attached, he now rested content. He still found, to be sure, some +amusement in the young man's estimate of himself; but he never doubted +its sincerity or questioned its harmlessness. It did not occur to him +that Ruth might be troubled by these matters which merely made him +smile. + +There would have been a warning for him in the look which she now gave +William Pressley had he seen it. But he was looking at the judge, who +could not grasp the meaning of what had been said; and he tried again to +put the facts before him, but the judge would not allow him to finish. + +"Who says Joe Daviess is going away?" he demanded excitedly. "Why, he +can't leave. It's out of the question. There is nobody to take his +place. We can't spare him. It is preposterous to think of his going to +be slaughtered by those red devils. A man like that! when there are +plenty of no-account wretches good enough to make food for powder. He +mustn't go. The country needs him more here than there--or anywhere. And +I will see him to-morrow, for he is coming; tell him so, by ----!" + +"You will have your trouble for nothing, then, sir," said Philip Alston, +quietly, interrupting him. "The attorney-general is not a man to let +another man tell him what to do or not to do. And we are merely +considering the probability of his going. If he should go, some one +must, of course, take his place. In that case I can think of no one +more fit than William here," laying his hand on the young man's arm. +"With his qualifications, backed by your influence and mine, there +should not be much difficulty. But we must press his claims in time; the +notice will be short." + +The idea was new to the judge and startling. He turned quickly and +looked at his nephew blankly for a moment, and then his left eyebrow +went up. His opinion was easy enough to read on his open, rugged face as +it always was, and Philip Alston read it like large print; but it did +not suit him to show that he did, and no one else saw it. Ruth's face +was buried in her hands as she sat with her elbows on the candle-stand. +William was looking at the floor with the quiet air of one who is calmly +conscious of his own merits, and can afford to await their recognition, +even though it may be tardy. The ladies were deeply absorbed in the +duties binding them to the hearth. The coffee was now ready, and Miss +Penelope lifted the pot from its trivet, and, carrying it to the table, +called everybody to supper. No affairs of state ever were, or ever could +be, of sufficient importance in her eyes to justify letting the coffee +get cold. + +Philip Alston went to her side with his deferential air, and told her +that he could not stay for the evening meal. He explained that he was +expecting several friends that night over the Wilderness Road. It was +possible that they might already have arrived and were now awaiting him +in his cabin. He must hasten homeward as fast as possible. So saying he +took her bony little hand and bowed over it, and made another bow of +precisely the same ceremony over the widow Broadnax's pudgy fingers. He +always brought his finest tact to bear upon his acquaintance with these +ladies. + +He looked around for Ruth and held out his hand. She came to him, and +went with him to the door. They stood close together for a moment, +talking with one another while the others were settling around the +table. When he had mounted his horse and set out, she still stood gazing +after him till the judge's voice, exclaiming, caused her to turn. + +"Call Alston back, if he isn't out of hearing!" he said. + +Ruth shook her head. Philip Alston always rode very fast. He was already +out of sight in the falling night. + +"Pshaw! I never seem able to keep my mind on anything these days," the +judge said, fretted with himself. "I fully meant to ask Alston to take +that money to the salt-works. It wouldn't have been much out of his way. +I don't know what makes me so forgetful lately--and always so drowsy. I +promised faithfully to pay for that cargo of salt to-day, so that it +would be on the river bank ready for loading when the flatboat comes +to-morrow. The owner of the boat sent the money yesterday. I've got it +here in my pocket. And the salt was to be delivered for cash; it will +not be sent till it is paid for." He paused a moment in troubled +thought. "David! Call that boy. He's always hidden off somewhere." + +"Here, sir," said David, standing up and coming out of the shadow +beneath the stairs. + +"You will have to help me in this matter, my lad," said the judge, +kindly, forgetting his momentary irritation. "I'll have to send the +money by you." + +He drew from his pocket a queer-looking roll which he called his wallet. +It was a strip of thin, fine deerskin, bound with a narrow black riband +and tied with a leathern string. The bank-notes were rolled in this, and +the gold pieces and the "bits"--which were small wedges of coin cut from +silver dollars--were in two pouches sewed across the end of the strip. +It was very seldom that this wallet of the judge's contained so large a +sum of money as on that night, for salt was dear in the wilderness. It +required eight hundred gallons of the weak salt water and many cords of +fire-wood, and the work of many men for many days, to make a single +bushel of the precious article. It was still scarce and hard to get +thereabouts at five dollars a bushel, so that a large sum was needed to +pay for an entire cargo. Drops of perspiration stood on the judge's +forehead as he counted out the bank-notes, the gold, and the cut money. +He cared little for his own money, and he rarely had much at a time; +but he was scrupulously careful in his handling of other people's. And +he knew that his eyes were not very clear that night, and that his +fingers were not so sure as they should be of anything that they +touched. Ruth saw how it was with a tender pang at her heart, for she +knew how honest he was and how good, and she loved him. She knelt down +at his side and helped him count the money, over which his clumsy hands +were fumbling pathetically, so that there might be no error in the +counting. + +"There!" he said, tying the string round the wallet, which was now +almost empty, and putting it back in his pocket. "I want you, David, to +take this and go over to the salt-works very early in the morning, as +soon after daybreak as you can see your way. Take two of the best black +men with you,--they will take care of you and the money, too," he added, +with his easy-going laugh. And then he grew suddenly sobered with a +touch of shame. "I wouldn't give you the money to-night, my boy," he +said hesitatingly, "but--I am hard to wake in the morning. I am afraid +you couldn't wake me early enough for me to give you the money in time +to get you off by dawn. And my client will be here with his boat, +waiting for the cargo, if you are any later in starting. But you can +take just as good care of the money as I could. You are not so likely to +lose it." + +"I will do my best, sir," said the boy, quietly. + +He took the money and put it away in his safest pocket. When he had +eaten supper with the family, he went back to his shadowed corner under +the stairs. But he could not read his book; his mind was too full of +thoughts which were fast becoming a purpose. Ruth looked at him and at +his book now and then, while she talked to the others, and her teasing +glances hastened his decision. She would never laugh at him again for +dreaming over romances, if he could prove that he was able to do an +earnest man's part in the world. Yes, this was the chance which he had +been wishing for. He would go to the salt-works at once--that very +night--without waiting for daylight and without calling the black men. +The judge would not care; he never cared for anything that did not give +trouble, and he need not know until afterward. David stood up suddenly +in the shadows under the stairs. He had decided; he would go as soon as +he could get away from the great room and put his saddle on the pony. +Even Ruth must acknowledge that a night's ride over the Wilderness Road +was the work of a man--the work of a strong, brave man. + + + + +IV + +THE NIGHT RIDE + + +He left the great room for his own cabin at the usual hour. No one but +Ruth observed his going. She smiled at him as he passed, and caught his +hand and gave it a little teasing, affectionate squeeze. He must leave +"The Famous History of Montilion" unread for one night,--so she +said,--and he must go to bed at once, since he was to be up before the +sun. These little ways of Ruth's were usually very sweet to him, but he +did not find them so that night. He made no reply, and looked at her +gravely, without an answering smile. Had anything been needed to fix his +purpose, this gentle raillery would have been more than enough. + +He went straight from the door of Cedar House to the stable under the +hill, stopping at his cabin only long enough to get his rifle. The +stable was very dark within, but he knew where to find the pony that he +always rode, and the saddle and bridle which he always used, without +needing to see. And the pony knew him, too, for all the darkness, and +welcomed him with a friendly whinny which said so as plainly as words. +For the boy and the pony were good friends, and moreover they +understood one another perfectly, which is rarely the case with the best +of friends. And then they were both foundlings, and that may have made +another bond between them. The pony had been a wild colt caught in the +forest on the other side of the river. Nothing was known of his +ancestors, although they were supposed by those who knew best, to have +been the worn-out horses of good blood which had been deserted in the +wilderness by the Spaniards. But then everything cruel was laid at the +door of the hated Spaniards in those days, when they had so lately been +forced to take their throttling grasp from the throat of the Beautiful +River. The pony certainly bore no outward mark of noble ancestry. He was +a homely, humble, rough-coated little beast. Yet David liked him better +than all the other finer horses in the judge's stables, notwithstanding +that some of these had real pedigrees; for good horses were already +appearing in Kentucky. The judge allowed David to claim the pony as his +own. Robert Knox was a kind man when he did not forget, and he never +forgot any one without forgetting himself,--first and most of all,--as +he did sometimes. + +David always thought of the pony as an orphan like himself, and his own +bruised feelings were very tender toward the friendless little fellow. +He led him from the stable now as a mark of respect and because it was +dark; for he knew that the pony, with a word, would follow him anywhere, +at any time, like a faithful dog. It was not quite so dark outside, and +springing into the saddle, the boy bent down and stroked the rough neck +and the tangled mane that no brush could ever make smooth. The pony +lifted his head to meet the caress, and then these two orphans of the +wilderness looked out dimly, wondering, over this wonderful new country +into which both were come, without knowing how or why or whence, through +no will or choice of their own. + +That portion of Kentucky rises gently but steadily from the river, and +rolls gradually upward toward its eastern hills. On this October night +so close to the very beginning of the commonwealth, these terraced hills +were still covered with the primeval forest. Hill after hill, and forest +after forest, on and on and higher and higher, till the earth and the +heavens came together. Near the river on the natural open spaces, and +where earliest the clearings had been made, the boy could see the widely +scattered rude homes, the young orchards, and the new fields, which the +first Kentuckians had won from the wilderness, from the savage, from the +wild beast and the pestilence. Southward, and a long way off, lay the +great Cypress Swamp. The wavering sable line of its tree-tops spread a +pall across the starless horizon. The deadly white mists which shrouded +its gloomy mystery through the sunniest day were now creeping out to +enshroud the higher land. Through the mingled mist and darkness the +sombre trunks of the towering cypress trees rose with supernatural +blackness. The mysterious "knees," those strange, naked, blackened +roots, so wildly gnarled and twisted about the foot of the cypress, +appeared to writhe out of the swamp's awful dimness like monstrous +serpents seen in a dreadful dream. + +And thus these dark fancies swayed the boy's imagination as wind sways +flame, till he suddenly remembered and turned from them more quickly and +firmly than ever before. He had made up his mind to cease dreaming with +his eyes open. He was resolved to see only real sights and to hear only +real sounds from this time on. He did not deceive himself by thinking +that this ever could be easy for him to do. He knew too well that in +place of the cool, steady common-sense which should dwell in every man's +breast, there dwelt something strangely hot and restless in his own. He +had always felt this difference without understanding it; but he had +hoped that no one else knew it--up to the cruel revelation of Ruth's +laughing and kindly meant words. Well, neither Ruth nor any one should +ever again have cause to laugh at him for romantic weakness, if he might +help it by keeping guard over his fancy. + +He therefore sternly kept his eyes away from the swamp where mystery +always brooded. He would not look at the wonderful mound near the swamp, +which he never before had passed without wonder. It was then--as it is +now--such an amazing monument to a vanished race. It is so unaccountably +placed, this mountain of earth in the midst of level lowlands; so +astounding in size and so unmistakably the work of unknown human hands. +Never till that night had David's fervid imagination turned toward it +without his beginning forthwith to wonder over the secrets of the ages +which lie buried beneath. He had hitherto always thought of this mound +in association with the mysterious blazed trail through the forest. But +that was much farther off and more directly south, and no one but the +boy had ever found any connection between the two. He, dreaming, would +sometimes imagine that the same vanished race had marked the path +through the forest by cutting the trees on either side--this marvellous +blazed trail which De Soto is sometimes said to have found when he came, +and again to have made himself, regardless of the fact that history does +not mention his being anywhere near. The romance of the buried treasure +which this mystic path was believed to lead to, perpetually held David +under a spell of enchantment. But he would not allow himself to linger +over these mysteries now. He also resisted the horrible fascination of +the Dismal Slough--that long, frightful black pit--linking the swamp to +the river. And most of all he shrunk from giving a thought or a glance +toward the gloom hanging over Duff's Fort, which was still farther off, +and the strongest, most bloody link in the long and unbroken chain of +crime then stretching clear across southwestern Kentucky. + +As these uneasy thoughts thronged, a faint sound borne by the wind +caused him to turn his head with a nervous start, and he saw something +moving in the deeper darkness that surrounded the swamp. He pulled up +the pony, tightening his grip on the rifle, and strained his eyes, +trying to make out what this moving object was. The wavering mists were +very thick, and he thought at first that it might be nothing worse than +a denser gathering of the deadly vapor creeping out of the swamp. The +fog suddenly fell like a heavy curtain, and he could see nothing. And +then lifting again, it gave him a fleeting glimpse of a body of horsemen +riding rapidly in the edge of the forest, as if seeking the shadow of +the trees. He could see only the black outline of the swiftly moving +shapes, but he knew that they must be part of the band which was filling +the whole country with terror, violence, and death. None other could be +riding at night toward Duff's Fort. He thought of the money in his +pocket, and felt the thumping of his heart as his hand involuntarily +went up to touch it, making sure that it was still safe. He sat +motionless--scarcely daring to breathe--watching the shadows till he +suddenly realized with a breath of relief that they were going the other +way, in the opposite direction from his own road. And then after waiting +and watching a little longer, in order to make sure that they were out +of sight, he rode on. + +The courage and calmness which he had found in himself under this test, +heartened him and made him the more determined to control his wandering +fancy. Looking now neither to the right nor the left, he pressed on +through the clearing toward the buffalo track in the border of the +forest which would lead him into the Wilderness Road. Sternly setting +his thoughts on the errand that was taking him to the salt-works, he +began to think of the place in which they were situated, and to wonder +why so bare, so brown, and so desolate a spot should have been called +Green Lick. There was no greenness about it, and not the slightest sign +that there ever had been any verdure, although it still lay in the very +heart of an almost tropical forest. It must surely have been as it was +now since time immemorial. Myriads of wild beasts coming and going +through numberless centuries to drink the salt water, had trodden the +earth around it as hard as iron, and had worn it down far below the +surface of the surrounding country. The boy had seen it often, but +always by daylight, and never alone, so that he noted many things now +which he had not observed before. The huge bison must have gone over +that well-beaten track one by one, to judge by its narrowness. He could +see it dimly, running into the clearing like a black line beginning far +off between the bordering trees; but as he looked, the darkness +deepened, the mists thickened, and a look of unreality came over +familiar objects. And then through the wavering gloom there suddenly +towered a great dark mass topped by something which rose against the +wild dimness like a colossal blacksmith's anvil. It might have been +Vulcan's own forge, so strange and fabulous a thing it seemed! The boy's +heart leaped with his pony's leap. His imagination spread its swift +wings ere he could think; but in another instant he reminded himself. +This was not an awful apparition, but a real thing, wondrous and +unaccountable enough in its reality. It was Anvil Rock--a great, +solitary rock--rising abruptly from the reckless loam of a level +country, and lifting its single peak, rudely shaped like a blacksmith's +anvil, straight up toward the clouds. It was already serving as a +landmark in the wilderness, and must continue so to serve all that +portion of Kentucky, so long as the levelling hand of man may be +withheld from one of the natural wonders of the world. + +Beyond Anvil Rock the night grew blacker. When David reached the buffalo +track he could no longer see even dimly, the forest closing densely in +on both sides of the narrow path, and arching darkly overhead. +Instinctively he put up his hand again and touched the money in his +breast pocket. His grasp on the rifle unconsciously grew firmer, but he +loosed the bridle-rein for a moment to pat the pony. The little beast +entered the shadows of the trees without a tremor; yet there were +dangers therein for him no less than for his rider, and his excited +breathing told that he knew this quite as well as his master. It was so +dark that neither could see the path, and the boy was trusting more to +the pony than to himself, as they went swiftly forward through the still +darkness of the forest. The pony's unshod feet made scarcely a sound on +the soft, moist earth. There had been no frost to thin the thick +branches hanging low over their heads. The few leaves which had drifted +down were still unwithered, and only made the hoof-beats more soundless +on the yielding earth, so that there was not a rustle at the noiseless +passing of the pony and his rider. Only a sudden gust of wind now and +then sent a murmur through the dark tree-tops and gently swayed the +sombre boughs. And so they sped on, drawing nearer and nearer to the +Wilderness Road, till presently the wind brought the strong odor of +boiling salt water. The woods became now still further darkened and +entangled by many fallen trees which had been felled to make fuel for +the furnaces, and by huge heaps of logs piled ready for burning. Here +and there were great whitening giants of the forest still standing +after they had been slain, as soldiers--death-stricken--stand for an +instant on the field of battle. It seemed to the fanciful boy that the +wind sighed most mournfully among these wan ghosts of trees, and that +the dead boughs, moved by the sighing wind, smote one another with +infinite sadness. + +There was no sound other than this moaning of the wind through the +forest and the muffled beating of the pony's feet on the leaf-covered +path. Once a great owl flew across the dark way with a deadened beating +of his heavy wings. Again wolves howled, but so far in the distance that +the sound came as the faintest echo. A stronger gust of the fitful wind +filled the forest with the sulphurous vapors arising from the +evaporating furnaces. A moment more, and the vivid glare of the fires +flared luridly through the wild tangle of the undergrowth. Against this +red glare many black shadows--the dark forms of the firemen--could now +be indistinctly seen moving like evil spirits around the smoking, +flaming pits. + +It was a wild, strange sight, wild and strange enough to fire a cooler +fancy than David's. He forgot his errand, forgot the money, forgot where +he was--everything but the romance of the scene which had taken him +captive. Every nerve in his tense young body was strung like the cord of +a harp; his young heart was beating as if a heavy hammer swung in his +breast. And then, without so much as the warning rustle of a leaf or a +sound more alarming than the sigh of the wind, two blurred black shapes +burst out of the forest upon him. + + + + +V + +ON THE WILDERNESS ROAD + + +The pony fell back almost to his haunches before the boy could draw the +reins. The two horses recoiled with equal suddenness and violence. An +unexpected encounter with the unknown in the darkness filled even the +dumb brutes with alarm, and brute and human alike had reason to be +alarmed; for this time and this place--stamped in blood on +history--marked the very height and centre of the reign of terror on the +Wilderness Road. + +The boy strained his terrified gaze through the dark, but he could see +nothing except those vague, black forms of two horsemen, looming large +and threatening against the lurid glow of the furnace fires which +faintly lit the forest. The men and their horses looked like monstrous +creatures, half human and half beast, both as silent and motionless as +himself. He felt that they also were listening and watching in tense +waiting as he waited and watched, hearing only the frightened panting of +the horses and the faint rustle of the sable leaves overhead. And so all +held for an instant, which seemed endless, till a sudden gust of wind +swung the boughs and sent the glare of the furnace flames far and high +through the forest. The vivid flash came and went like lightning, but it +lasted long enough for the boy to recognize one of the black shapes. + +"Father!" he cried. "Father Orin!" + +"Bless my soul--it's young David!" exclaimed the priest. + +There was as much relief in his tone as in the boy's, and he turned +hastily to the horseman at his side. + +"Doctor, this is a young friend of mine--a member of Judge Knox's +family. You have heard of the judge. And, David, this is Doctor Colbert. +You, no doubt, have heard of him." + +David murmured something. He had never before been introduced to any +one; and had never before been so acutely conscious that he had no +surname. The doctor sent his horse forward, coming close to the pony's +side. He held out his hand--as David felt rather than saw--and he took +the boy's hand in a warm, kind clasp. It was the first time that a man +had given David his hand as one frank, earnest, fearless man gives it to +another--but never to a woman, and rarely to a boy. David did not know +what it was that he felt as their hands met in the darkness, but he knew +that the touch was like balm to his bruised pride, which had been aching +so sorely throughout the lonely ride. Father Orin now rode nearer on +the other side, and although no more than the dimmest outline of any +object could be seen, the boy saw that the priest continued to turn his +head and cast backward glances into the dark forest. When he spoke, it +was in a low tone, strangely guarded and serious for him, who was always +as outspoken and light-hearted as though his hard life of toil and +self-sacrifice had been the most thoughtless and happiest play. + +"But how does it happen that you are here, my son?" he asked, almost in +a whisper. "I can't understand the judge's allowing it. Can it be +possible that he has sent you--on business? Why--! A man isn't safe on +this part of the Wilderness Road at night, and hardly at midday, alone. +For a child like you--" + +There it was again, like a blow on a bruise! The boy instantly sat +higher in the saddle, trying to look as tall as he could, and forgetting +that no one could see. And replying hastily in his deepest, most manly +voice, he said scornfully, that there was nothing to be afraid of with +his rifle across the saddle-bow, declaring proudly that he knew how to +deal with wild beasts, should any cross his path. As for the Indians, he +scoffed at the idea; there were none in that country, and never had been +any thereabouts, except as they came and went over the Shawnee Crossing. + +"But you are mistaken; the Meek boys--James and Charles--were killed +only a few weeks ago, just across the river," said the priest. "And +they were better able to take care of themselves than you are, my child. +Come, you must turn back with us. We cannot go with you, and we must not +allow you to go on alone." + +Saying this, Father Orin turned his horse and moved forward. David made +no movement to follow. Tightening the reins on the pony's neck, he did +not try to turn him. Something in the stiff lines of the boy's dark +figure told the doctor part of the truth. He broke in quickly, speaking +not as a man speaks to a child, but as one man to another. + +"There are worse things than wild beasts or Indians to be met on the +Wilderness Road," he said. "And the strongest and the bravest are +helpless against a stab in the back, or a trap in the dark." + +David felt a sudden wish to see the speaker's face. He longed to see how +a man looked who had a voice like that. It stirred him, and yet soothed +him at the same time. Every tone of it rang clear and true, like a bell +of purest metal. All who heard it felt the strength that it +sounded--strength of body and mind and heart and spirit. + +David fell under its influence at once. He was turning the pony's head +when Father Orin in his anxiety erred again. + +"I am surprised at the judge," the priest said. "This isn't like +him--forgetful as he is about most things. And what are you here for, my +son? Where were you going?" + +"The judge has nothing to do with my coming to-night. He merely told me +to take this money--" + +"Hush! Hush!" cried the two men in a breath. At the instant they pressed +closer to the boy's side, as if the same instinct of protection moved +them both at the same moment. "Come on! Let's ride faster," they said +together. "It is not so dark or so dangerous in the buffalo track." + +The pony, turning suddenly, pressed forward with the other horses, more +of his own accord than with his rider's consent, and gallantly kept his +place between them, although they were soon going at the top of their +speed. Nothing more was said for several minutes, and then the doctor +spoke to the boy. + +"You will give us the pleasure of your company all the way, I trust, +sir," he said ceremoniously, and as no one ever had spoken to David. "It +is a long, lonesome ride, and my home is still farther off than yours." + +David murmured a pleased, bashful assent. They had now reached the +buffalo track, which was not wide enough for the three to ride abreast. +It was therefore necessary for them to fall into single file, and David +managed to get the lead. This made him feel better, and more of a man, +for the darkness was still deep, and the black boughs overhead still +hung low and heavy. Neither of the horsemen spoke again for a long time +after entering upon the buffalo track. Once more the only sound was the +steady, muffled beating of the horses' swiftly moving feet. The two men +were buried in their own thoughts of duties and aims far beyond the +boy's understanding, and he was not thinking of these silent companions +by his side--he was scarcely thinking at all; he was merely feeling. He +was held under a spell, dumb and breathless, enchanted by the mystery of +the wilderness at night. + +It was so black, so beautiful, so terrible, so soundless, so motionless, +so unfathomable. There was no moon. The few pale stars glimmered dimly +far above the dark arches of the trees. No bird moved among the sable +branches, or even twittered in its sleep as if disturbed by the light, +swift passing of the shadowy horsemen. No wild animal stirred in his +uneasy rest or even breathed less deeply in his hunting dreams, at the +flitting of the shadows across his hidden lair. + +The mystery, the beauty, and the terror went beyond the black border of +the forest. Out in the open and over the clearing, the mists from the +swamp mingling with the darkness gave everything a look of fantastic +unreality yet wilder than it had worn earlier in the night. Dense +earth-clouds were thus massed about the base of Anvil Rock. Its +blackened peak loomed through the clouds,--a strange, wild sight, +apparently belonging neither to earth or to heaven. But far beyond and +above was a stranger, wilder sight still; the strangest and wildest of +all; one of the strangest and wildest, surely, that human eyes ever +rested upon. + +There across the northern sky sped the great comet. Come, none ever knew +whence, and speeding none ever knew whither, it reached on that +night--on this fifteenth of October--the summit of its swift, awful, +arching flight. It was now at the greatest of its terrible splendor and +appalling beauty. It was now at the very height of its boundless +influence over the hopes and fears of the superstitious, romantic, +emotional, poetic race which was struggling to people the wilderness. As +it thus burst upon the vision of the three horsemen, each felt its power +in his own way,--the man of faith, the man of science, and the fanciful +boy,--each was differently but deeply moved. The men looked at the comet +as the wise and learned of the earth look at the marvels of another +world. The boy gazed quiveringly, like a harp struck by a powerful hand. +He strove to cast his fancies aside, and to remember what he had heard +before the comet had become visible to this country. He tried vainly to +recall the talk about it--not the idle and foolish superstitions which +Miss Penelope had mentioned, and which all the common people +believed--but the scientific facts so far as they were known. Yet even +his imagination failed to realize that this flaming head, with its +strange halo of darkness, and its horrible hair of livid green light, +was four million times greater than the earth; or that its luminous +veil--woven of star-dust so fine that other stars shone +through--streamed across one hundred million of miles, thick strewn with +other stars. + +"Listen!" cried the doctor. "Hear that!" A distant roaring, like the +oncoming of a sudden storm, rolled upward from the mists and darkness +lying thicker around the swamp. + +"There it is again!" Doctor Colbert went on, as if he had been waiting +and listening for the sound. "There must be great excitement at the +camp-meeting on this last night. Does it still interest you, Father? It +does me, intensely. This is not the usual peculiar excitement which +seems to belong to a crowd, though that, too, is always curious, +mysterious, and interesting. We all know well enough that for some +unknown reason a crowd will do wild, strange, and foolish things, which +the individuals composing it would never be guilty of alone. But this is +something entirely different and still more curious and mysterious. +Those people down yonder keep this up by themselves when they are +alone--it attacks some of them before they have ever seen one of the +meetings. It is certainly the strangest phenomenon of its kind that the +world ever saw. It never loses its painful fascination for me. I can't +pass it by. How is it with you?" + +The priest hesitated before replying. "Any form of faith--the crudest, +the most absurd that any soul ever staked its salvation upon--must +always be the most interesting subject in the world to every thinking +mind." + +"It seems so to me," the doctor replied. "And I assure you that there is +no irreverence in the scientific curiosity which I feel in this +extraordinary epidemic of religious frenzy; for it is certainly +something of that sort. It is unmistakably contagious. I have become +more and more certain of that as I have watched the poor wretches who +are shrieking down yonder. It is a mental and moral epidemic, and so +highly contagious that it has swept the whole state, till it now sweeps +the remotest corner of the wilderness. And it seems to have originated +in Kentucky. It is something peculiarly our own." + +"Yes," said Father Orin, "Kentucky is the pioneer in religion, as well +as politics, for the whole West. But my church came first," he added +with a chuckle. "Remember that! The Catholics always lead the way and +clear up the brush, with the Methodists following close behind. I got a +little the start of brother Peter Cartwright; but that was my good luck, +and not any lack of zeal on his part. And I've got to stir my stumps to +keep ahead of him, I can tell you." + +"He is down there at the meeting to-night, no doubt. He is its leading +spirit. I should like to know what he really thinks of it all. He is by +nature a wonderfully intelligent young fellow. And what do you really +think of it, Father?" the doctor pressed. "Is this the same thing that +has come down the ages? Is it the same that we find in the Bible--making +great men and wise ones do such wild things? Is it the same that made a +dignified gentleman, like David, dance--as those fanatics are doing down +there--till he became a laughing-stock? Is it the same that made a +sensible man like Saul join his faith to a witch and believe that he saw +visions? And then, just remember the scandalous capers--even worse than +the others--that the decent Jeremiah cut." + +"Tut! Tut! Tut!" exclaimed the priest, in a voice that betrayed a smile. +"Those were holy men, my young friend. I cannot allow them to be laughed +at." + +"Oh, come now, Father, be honest," said the doctor, laughing aloud, but +adding quickly in a serious tone: "I am quite in earnest. What do you +make of it all? I should greatly like to have your opinion. Is there +anything in the science of your profession to explain it? There isn't in +mine. The more of it I see, and the longer I study it, the farther I am +from finding its source, its cause, and its real character. There! Just +hear that!" + +"Well, well," said Father Orin, with a sigh of evasion, "if you are +going on to the camp-meeting, Toby and I will have to leave you here. We +have a sick call 'way over on the Eagle Creek flats. And it's a ticklish +business, going over there in the dark, isn't it, old man?" he said, +patting his big gray horse. "The last time we went in the night the limb +of a tree, that I couldn't see, dragged me from the saddle." He laughed +as if this were a joke on Toby or himself, or both. "But Toby is a +better swimmer than I am. He's better at a good many things. He got me +out all right that time and a good many other times. He always does his +part of our duty, and never lets me shirk mine, if he can help it. Well, +then, we must be moving along, Toby, old man." He turned suddenly to the +boy. "Will you go with me, David? My way passes close to Cedar House." + +"Perhaps, sir, you would like to go on to the meeting," said the doctor +to David. "It would give me pleasure to have you with me--if you prefer +to go with me. Afterward we can ride home together. My cabin is not far +beyond Cedar House." + +After a little more talk it was decided that the boy should go with the +doctor, and the priest bade them both a cheerful good night. + +"Now, Toby, we must be putting in our best licks. If you don't look out, +old man, we will be getting into idle ways. Keep us up to the +mark--right up to the mark, old man!" + +And so, talking to Toby, and chuckling as if Toby made telling replies, +the good man and his good horse vanished in the earth-clouds round Anvil +Rock. But the doctor and the boy sat their horses in motionless silence, +listening to the kind, merry voice and the faithful beat, beat, of the +steady feet, till both gradually died away behind the night's heavy +black curtain. + + + + +VI + +THE CAMP-MEETING + + +As they turned and were riding on toward the camp-meeting, the doctor +spoke of the priest and his horse. The boy listened with the wondering +awe that most of us feel, when some stranger points out the heroism of a +simple soul or an everyday deed which we have known, unknowingly, all +our lives. + +"Father Orin and Toby are a pair to take your hat off to," the young +doctor said. "I have come to know them fairly well by this time, +although I have not been here very long. It isn't necessary for any one +to be long in the neighborhood before finding out what those two are +doing. And then my own work among the suffering gives me many +opportunities to know what they are doing and trying to do. The church +side is only one side of their good work. I am not a Catholic, and +consequently see little of that side; but I meet them everywhere +constantly caring for the poor and the afflicted without any regard for +creed. And they never have any money, worth speaking of, to help with. +They have only their time and their strength and their whole laborious, +self-sacrificing lives to give. The expedients that they resort to in a +pinch would make anybody laugh--to keep from crying. They were out the +other day with a brand-new plan. They travelled about fifty miles +through the wilderness trying to find a purchaser for the new overcoat +that a Methodist friend gives Father Orin every fall. He, of course, had +given his old coat to some shivering wretch last spring while it was +still cold, but that didn't make the slightest difference. He didn't +even remember the fact till I reminded him of it. It is only October +now--so that he can do without the overcoat--and a poor fellow who has +come with his wife and baby to live in that deserted cabin near the +court-house, is in sore need of a horse for his fall ploughing. Father +Orin had suggested Toby's drawing the plough, thinking that some of his +own work might be attended to on foot. But Toby, it seems, drew the line +at that. It was a treat to hear Father Orin laugh when he told how Toby +made it plain that he thought there were more important duties for him +to perform, how firmly he refused to drag the plough. He was quite +willing, however, to do his best to sell the overcoat, so that they +might have money to hire a horse for the ploughing." + +The doctor broke off suddenly. The roar coming from the darkness around +the swamp rose high on the gusty wind. He and David were now riding +fast, and the roaring grew rapidly more continuous and distinct. The +vast volume of inarticulate sound presently began to break into many +human voices. At last a single voice pierced all the rest. Its shrill +cry of spiritual anguish filled the dark forest with the wailing of a +soul in extremity. + +"And it's a woman, too!" cried the doctor. + +He spoke shortly, almost angrily, but something in his tone told David +that he also was shivering, although the night was warm, and that his +heart was full of pity. They were now drawing near the camp-meeting, but +they could not see it, nor even the light from it. They had reentered +the forest, which was here made darker and wilder by many fallen trees, +blown down and tossed together by the fierce tempests which often rent +the swamp. The torn roots, the decaying trunks, and the shattered +branches of the dead giants of the ancient wood, were dank with +water-moss. Rank poison vines writhed everywhere, and crept like vipers +beyond the deadly borders of the great Cypress Swamp. Through such dark +and tangled density as this the smoky torches, burning dimly around the +camp, could cast their light but a little way. And thus it was by +hearing and not by seeing, that they came at last upon the spot almost +by accident. They had scarcely got hurriedly down from their horses, and +hastily tied them to a swinging bough when the scene burst upon them--a +wild vision revealed by the dim flickering torchlight. + +[Illustration: "A dark, confused ... writhing mass of humanity."] + +There was a long, low shed of vast extent. It was covered with rough +boards, and upheld by tree-trunks which still bore the bark. There was +no floor other than the bare earth, and there were no seats other than +unhewn logs. Here, under the deep shadows of this great shed, all darkly +shut in by the black wilderness and dimly lit by a wide circle of +smoking, flaring torches, there surged a dark, confused, convulsed, +roaring, writhing mass of humanity. And there were many hundreds in that +shadowy multitude--swaying, struggling, groaning, laughing, weeping, +shouting, praying, dancing, leaping, and falling. + +"It does not seem possible that there can be so many in all the +wilderness," said the doctor. "But they come from long distances, from +as far as fifty and sixty miles around. And they have been coming for +weeks--day and night--just like this." + +He spoke sadly, and with deep feeling. He laid his firm, gentle hand on +David's shaking arm, knowing how the awful spectacle must affect the +sensitive boy. David instinctively drew nearer to his side feeling the +support of his calm, sane, strong presence, and began gradually to see +with clearer eyes, so that this awful vision became by degrees a more +awful reality. + +"Listen!" cried the doctor. "They are beginning to sing!" + +Ah, listen indeed! For a stranger, wilder chant than this which now +went swelling up from that frenzied, swaying mass of humanity surely +never stirred all that is most mystical in the soul of man! Pealing +grandly, awfully upward through the star-lit spaces of a grander temple +than ever was reared by human hands, it rolled heavenward, on and on, +and higher and higher, to the very dome of the firmament. + +With the wild chanting, the madness of the multitude increased. Many men +and women--ay, and little children, too--all dropped to their knees, +heedless of being trodden underfoot by the unfallen frenzied, and thus +crept the length of the earthen floor to the foot of the rude altar. +Here, before the pulpit of rough-hewn logs, great heaps of straw were +strewn thick and broadcast. On these straw heaps men and women fell +prostrate side by side, and lay as if they were dead. Others, both men +and women, were suddenly seized with the unnatural, convulsive jerking +which gave this mysterious visitation its best-known name. Under this +dreadful tremor the long hair of delicate ladies poured unnoticed over +the most modest shoulders and flew back and forth with the sound of a +whip; for those so wildly wrought upon were not solely of the humble and +the ignorant. The highest and the most refined of the whole country were +there. The earth was strewn with costly raiment. Gentlemen rent the fine +ruffles from their wrists and their bosoms; gentlewomen cast their +richest ornaments to the winds. And all the while that this awful, +majestic, soul-stirring chant was thus mounting higher and growing +wilder, many were whirling and dancing. + +David shrunk back, and the doctor drew him closer to his side, as a man +suddenly burst out of the swirling mass of maddened humanity, and dashed +past them into the forest. There, still within the wide circle of +flaring, smoking, torchlight, the poor creature threw his arms around a +tree, and uttering strange, savage cries like the barking of a dog, he +dashed his head against the tree-trunk till the blood gushed out and +poured down his ghastly face. David clung closer to the doctor's arm and +turned his eyes away, feeling sick and faint with horror. + +"Don't look at him. Turn your head. I must go to him and help him if I +can," the doctor said, gently loosing the boy's grasp. "I shouldn't have +brought you here. But--Good God! Who is that?" he cried sharply. "Look! +Quick! Do you know that girl? Over there by the last pillar--yonder, +yonder, with her face turned this way!" + +In his eagerness he seized the boy, fairly lifting him from the ground, +and held him up so that he could see over all the heads of the surging, +swirling crowd. The girl was still there, and David recognized Ruth. She +was standing not far off and near the edge of the shed. Close behind her +the torches threw out gloomy banners of smoke and vivid streamers of +flame, and against them she appeared a quiet, white spirit among many +tossed dark shades. When David first saw her, he thought she was looking +at him. But in another moment her beautiful face, which had been pale +enough before, turned as white as her frock and her large eyes widened +with terror. And then David knew that she was looking beyond him and had +seen the horror by the tree. He forgot his own horrified faintness, he +forgot where he was, the doctor--everything but Ruth and that look in +her dear face. He sprang toward her with a piercing cry and outstretched +arms. + +"Ruth!" he cried. "Here I am, Ruth, dear. I am coming to you. I'll take +you away!" + +It was a single voice raised against the deafening roar of a hurricane. +Only the doctor heard or heeded, and he laid a restraining hand on +David's shoulder. + +"You are right," he said. "Take her away as soon as you can. She should +not have come. Is she your sister? Come this way. We will go round," he +went on, without waiting for an answer. "We may be able to reach her +from the other side of the shed." + +The firm touch and calm tone partly brought the boy to himself, and he +followed as closely as he could, but only to be beaten back again and +again. That terrific chant was now at its highest and wildest, and he +and the doctor were caught in the human maelstrom and swirled hither +and thither like straws. They were swept far apart, and when they were +quickly driven together again, they had lost sight of Ruth. They were +tossed once more, and thrown outside the fiercest swirl. Standing still, +they held to a tree, gasping, and searched the crowd with their gaze, +trying to find her. She was nowhere to be seen. But while they thus +paused, waiting for breath to go on, they saw a tall man near by, +leaning against a pillar and quietly overlooking the wild scene. He +stood within the circle of torchlight, and they could see him +distinctly. Neither the doctor nor David had ever seen him before and +neither ever saw him again, but they never forgot just how he looked +that night. + +He was a very tall man of more than six feet in height. He was very +erect and very slender, with the slenderness that gives a look of youth +as well as grace. There was no tinge of gray in his tawny hair, which +fell heavily back from his high, narrow forehead, without any of the +stiffness seen in his later portraits. He was not more than thirty-five +years of age at this time, but his face was already lined with care and +trouble and exposure. It was naturally pale and thin, almost haggard. +Its sole redeeming feature was the wonderful brilliance of his blue +eyes. The doctor and David could not see the color of his eyes, and yet +he seemed to them a singularly handsome man, as he did to almost every +one. There was something about him that may be called a presence, for +lack of a better term, something which drew the gaze of the crowd and +held it everywhere. Many eyes were upon him that night in the very +height and centre of all the frenzy. Glances were cast at him even from +the pulpit, which was not far away. One of the ministering preachers +gave him a look of recognition, and then, bending down, whispered in the +ear of another preacher, a very young man who stood below the pulpit +among the fallen, exhorting them to repentance. The exhorter shook off +the whisperer and went on with his impassioned plea. He, too, was well +worth looking at, and better worth listening to--this inspired young +backwoodsman, Peter Cartwright. His swarthy face was pale with the +pallor of fanaticism, and his dark eyes were aflame with some mystic +fire. His long black hair was wildly blown by the wind which bore his +broken words still more brokenly:-- + +"Such a time as this has not been seen since the day of Pentecost.... A +sacred flame is surely sweeping sin from the earth.... Come all ye. Take +up your cross and follow Him.... Heaven's gate stands wide to-night.... +Praise the Lord!... Come in.... Come at once.... Do not delay--or the +gate may close, never to open again. Come! Come with me to the mercy +seat. I was once like you. My soul, like yours, was rent in agony. I +wept, I strove, I prayed, I was in utter despair ... just as you are +now.... Sometimes it seemed as if I could almost lay hold on the +Saviour.... Then--all of a sudden--such a fear of the devil fell upon me +that he appeared to stand right by my side ready to drag me down to +hell. But I prayed on, and said, 'Lord if there be mercy for me, let me +find it!' ... At last, in the midst of this awful struggle of soul, I +came to the foot of the altar--here--where I am begging you to come.... +And then it was as if a voice out of heaven said to me, 'Thy sins are +forgiven thee.' ... Glory! Glory! Delight flashed all around me. Joy +unspeakable sprung up in my soul. It seemed to me that I was already in +paradise. The very trees, the very leaves on the trees, seemed to be +singing together and praising God.... Will you share this divine peace +with me? Will you come with me this night to the foot of the cross?... +Then come now--now--for this may be the accepted hour of your +salvation.... Come.... If you wait, you are lost ... lost!" + +But these simple, broken words are only the cold and lifeless echo of +Peter Cartwright's fiery, living eloquence. Nothing can ever bring that +back as it really was. None may hope to tell those who never heard him +what it was like. No one, perhaps among the numberless thousands who did +hear him, ever knew what the power was, by which this unlettered +backwoodsman swayed multitudes at his will. Perhaps David afterward +described it as nearly as any one could, when he said that the mere +sound of Peter Cartwright's voice that night--when he could not hear the +words--made him feel so sorry, so grieved, so ashamed, that he wanted to +fall down on the earth and hide his face and weep like a woman, for his +own sins and the sins of the whole world. + +"There she is!" cried the doctor. "We can reach her now." + +But another roaring wave of humanity dashed over them, sweeping them +farther from Ruth and nearer the pulpit. They were so near that they +could see the fire that flashed over the pale darkness of the young +preacher's face as his brother preacher bent down for the second time +and touched him warningly, and whispered again. Peter Cartwright, who +was still bending over the men and women lying at his feet, suddenly +stood erect. He threw back his long black hair, and flung a flaming +glance at the tall man leaning against the pillar. And then his voice +rang out like a trumpet calling to combat. + +"What if it _is_ General Jackson?" he cried. "What is Andrew Jackson but +a sinner, too? Let him come with the rest of these poor sinners to beg +for pardon before the throne of grace. And let him make haste--or a just +and offended God will punish him as if he were the lowest of earth!" + +The challenge sounded clear and far. It must have reached the ears of +Andrew Jackson, the proud and feared hero of many battles. No man living +was more intolerant of indignity or quicker to resent the slightest +affront. An alarmed murmur circled through all the tumult; the doctor +and David heard it distinctly, and turned with those about them to look +at the man thus challenged. But Andrew Jackson himself stood quite still +and gave no sign that he had heard. He barely bowed his head when a +short, thick-set man pressed through the crowd and touched his arm. The +man was a henchman of his, widely and not favorably known in the +country, a gambler and adventurer whose name was Tommy Dye. He was +leading the general's horse. There were a few words between them, and +then the tall figure vaulted into the saddle and disappeared in the +surrounding blackness of the forest. + +"Now! Here she is. Quick!" cried the doctor. + +So crying, he plunged into the storm-lashed sea of humanity like a +strong swimmer. The boy followed as well as he could, using all his +strength, but they were both dashed back again and again, till at last a +wilder wave caught them up and cast them down beside Ruth. Instantly the +doctor lifted her in his arms before David found breath, and held her as +lightly as if she had been but a wreath of smoke blown across his +breast. Holding her thus, and lifting her higher above those wild +waves, he bore her through them as if they had been but rippling water. +On and on he went to the border of the forest beyond the tumult where +the torchlight was brightest, and there he gently set her down. And then +all alone they stood silently looking at each other. They were still +gazing down into one another's faces, when the boy ran up, panting. At +the sight of him the wonder went out of Ruth's blue eyes, and the fright +came back. The spell was broken, and she remembered where she was. + +"David! Come to me. Take me away!" she cried. "Oh, what a fearful place! +I can never forget it while I live. Where is William? We were separated +by the crowd." + +But even as she spoke, in tones that trembled with alarm, while yet her +beautiful face was white and her blue eyes full of tears, there came one +of the swift changes that gave her beauty its greatest charm. A vivid +blush dyed her cheek, the long, wet lashes suddenly unveiled a +coquettish glance, there was a dazzling smile, her hands went up to put +her blown hair in order, and she drew on the forgotten gypsy bonnet +which was hanging by its strings on her arm. She drew closer to the boy, +but she looked at the doctor over her shoulder. + +"Who is this gentleman, David?" she faltered. "And how--" + +Paul Colbert spoke for himself, telling her his name. + +"I am a doctor--the new doctor of the neighborhood," he said, adding +with a smile, "I beg your pardon. There was no other way. This young +gentleman--who came with me--saw you. We had been trying for an hour or +more to reach you. We were afraid to lose the first chance to get you +out of that dangerous crush." + +His voice was drowned by a sudden roar which lifted the frenzy higher +and brought it nearer. The color and smiles fled again from Ruth's face, +and she clung to David in greater alarm. + +"Take me home. Oh--oh--isn't it terrible! I can't wait to find William. +I must go now. I wouldn't be afraid to go alone with you, dear. Not in +the least afraid. Take me--take me!" + +"Come, then," said David. "The pony's over here." + +"But I don't know where my horse is. I don't know where William tied it. +I am so turned round that I don't know anything." She was beginning to +smile again at her own bewilderment. + +"The pony can take us both," said the boy. + +She was turning away with him when the doctor interfered with hesitating +eagerness:-- + +"If you will permit me--I would suggest that your friend who came with +you may be anxious. He will naturally try to find you. Not knowing that +you are gone, he must be alarmed. If I knew him by sight, I could find +him and tell him--" + +Again his voice was lost in the rising roar of the multitude. The girl +buried her face against the boy's shoulder, shudderingly and trembling, +and burst into weeping. + +"Tell me what to do, David! I can't bear this any longer," she sobbed. +"Take me away. Tell me what to do! Oh! Oh!" putting her shaking hands +over her ears to shut out the dreadful sounds. + +The doctor touched her arm. "If you would allow me to take you home, +perhaps this young gentleman could stay and find the person who came +with you." He turned quickly to the boy. "You know him?" + +"Yes," David replied unwillingly. + +His heart had begun to beat high. Here was a better chance to prove +himself a man than he had dared hope for. And now this bold stranger was +trying to rob him of it. He struggled with himself for a moment, before +he could give it up. But Ruth was crying and trembling and clinging to +him. + +"I will find William," he then said hastily. "Let the doctor take you +home." + +"But my horse is lost," Ruth lifted her head from David's shoulder and +flashed a tearful, smiling glance at the doctor. "How can you take me?" + +"Leave it to me," Paul Colbert said quickly, in the tone of a man used +to meeting emergencies. "Come with me. I will find a way." + +It seemed to Ruth and David that he was one to find a way to whatever +he wished. They followed him like two children, to the spot where his +horse was tied beside the pony. He untied the bridle with the quickness +of constant practice, and sprang into the saddle with the ease of the +practiced horseman. He threw the reins over the pommel, and then bending +down, held out his arms. + +"Now!" he cried. "Give the young lady your hand for her foot!" + +David hesitated, not understanding what he meant. It was the custom for +the women of the wilderness to ride behind the men; but it was plain +that this was not the young doctor's intention. He sat far back in his +large saddle, and when Ruth set her foot in the palm of David's hand, +and fluttered upward like a freed bird, he caught her and seated her +before him. A word to his horse and they were away. He was holding Ruth +close to his breast, and her white garments were blown about him, as +they vanished in the black wilderness. + + + + +VII + +A MORNING IN CEDAR HOUSE + + +It was almost morning when the boy and William Pressley reached home. +David did not go to bed, but set out at the first glimmer of dawn to do +the judge's bidding, calling the black men to go with him, since there +was no great glory to be won by going alone in the daylight. There was +time for a little rest after coming back, and it was still very early +when he arose from his bed and began to get ready for breakfast. + +He looked from his cabin window at the river which always drew his +waking gaze. It was sparkling like a stream of liquid diamonds under the +flood of sunlight pouring over the dazzled earth. The fringing rushes +rippled as gently as the water under the snowy breasts of many swans. +The trees along the shore were freshly green and newly alive with the +color and chatter of the paroquets. Looking and listening, he thought +what a poetic notion it was that these vivid birds should carry the seed +pearls of the mistletoe from one mighty oak to another, bearing the tiny +treasures in the wax on their feet. + +Far up the wide, shining river a great, heavy-laden barge was gliding +swiftly down. Its worn and clumsy sail seemed as white and graceful as +the wings of the swans in the sun. Its dull and tangled coils of +cordelles caught an unwonted charm from the sunbeams. Its merry crew was +singing a song, which came gayly over the flashing water:-- + + "Hi-ho, the boatmen row, + The Kentuck boys and the O-hi-o. + Dance, the boatmen, dance, + Dance, the boatmen, dance; + Dance all night till broad daylight, + And go home with the gals in the mornin'." + +Watching the barge pass out of sight beneath the overhanging trees, +David turned to see a small dark object, leading two long verging lines +of silvery ripples across the glittering current. This cleft the water +near the Shawnee Crossing, and might, not long before, have been the +plumed head of a warrior wanting his canoe. But since the warriors were +all gone so strangely and suddenly, this brown speck now crossing the +river must have been the antlered head of a deer swimming to the other +side, thus giving the hunters warning that these green hills would soon +be white with snow. If so, there was no other sign of nearing winter. +The sombre forest stretching away from the opposite shore had not yet +been brightened by a touch of frost. The leaves on the near-by trees, +the great oaks and elms and poplars standing around Cedar House, were +thinning only through ripeness, and drifting very slowly down to the +green and growing grass. On the tall maples perfection alone had culled +the foliage, so wreathing the bronze boughs with rarer garlands of +fretted gold. + +No dread of wintry storms had yet driven away any of the birds that Ruth +fed every day on the sill of her chamber window. They were all there as +usual--the whole feathered colony--as if they wished to be polite, even +though they were not hungry on that sunny morning. The little ones, to +be sure, pecked a crumb now and then with a languid indifference. The +blue jays--as usual--were brazen in their ingratitude for any dole of +commonplace crumbs, while spicy seeds were still strewn by every scented +breeze. But shy and bold alike, they all flocked around Ruth's window, +and sat on the sill within reach of her hand, and cocked their pretty +heads as if it were feast enough only to look at her. + +She had already been downstairs to fetch the birds' breakfast, and had +gone into the garden where the sweetest and reddest roses of all the +year were still blooming. She held a big bunch of them in her hand as +she stood at the open window and waved it at David in a morning +greeting, when she saw him crossing the yard. She came down the broad +stairs as he entered the great room, and she was wearing a fresh white +frock and her arms were full of the fragrant red roses. + +The rest of the family were already in the room, and the table was laid +for breakfast. Ruth greeted each one with a smile, but she did not +speak, and began to move quietly about the table, giving those dainty +little finishing touches which no true woman ever leaves to a servant. +She put some of the roses in a vase, and rearranged this and that, +moving lightly and softly about. Her footsteps were as soundless as the +fall of tender leaves, and her garments made no more rustle than the +unfolding of a flower. She threw one of the red roses at David, and +wafted the judge a kiss. Once or twice she turned to speak to William, +but forthwith smilingly gave up all thought of it for the time being. + +There never was any use in anybody's trying to speak while Miss Penelope +was in the height of the excitement of making the morning coffee. An +opportunity for a word might possibly occur during the making of the +coffee for dinner or supper. Miss Penelope did not consider this +function quite so solemn a ceremony at dinner or supper time. Sometimes, +at rare intervals, she had been known to allow the coffee for dinner or +supper to be made by the cook in the kitchen. But the making of the +breakfast coffee was a very different and far more imposing ceremonial. +This must always be performed in the presence of the, entire assembled +household, by her own hand, on the wide hearth in the great room of +Cedar House. To have permitted the cook to make the morning coffee in +the kitchen, would have been in Miss Penelope's eyes, to relegate a +sacred rite to profane hands in an unconsecrated place. Her own making +of the morning coffee had indeed much of the solemnity of a religious +ceremony--or would have had, if those who looked on, had been unable to +hear, or even slightly dull of hearing. For the sound of Miss Penelope's +voice was charming when the listener could not hear what it said. And +her dulcet tone always ran through the whole performance like the faint, +sweet echo of distant music. But when the listener's ears were keen, and +he could hear the things that this kind, caressing voice was saying, the +threats that it was uttering!--They were alarming enough to curdle the +blood of the little cup-bearers, black, brown, and yellow, who always +flew like shuttles back and forth between the big house and the distant +kitchen while Miss Penelope was making the breakfast coffee. It required +much flying of small dusky legs, to and fro, before the cold water was +cold enough, the hot water hot enough, and the fresh egg fresh enough, +to satisfy Miss Penelope that the coffee would be all that it should be. + +On this particular morning the usual excitement had reached its crisis +as Ruth came down the stairs. There was usually a slight lull when the +first slender and almost invisible column of steam arose from the long +spout of the coffee-pot. That was the most critical moment, and it now +being safely past, Miss Penelope hastily sent away all the cup-bearers +in a body. But she still hovered anxiously over the pot, gravely +considering how many minutes longer it should rest on its trivet over +the glowing coals. Hers was a quaint little figure. She wore a queer +little black dress, very short and narrow, made after some peculiar +fashion of her own, and over it a queerer little cape of the same stuff. +Her cap on the other hand was singularly large and white, and the ruffle +around her face was very wide and very stiff. The snapping black eyes +under the ruffle were never still, and the clawlike little hands were +never at rest. David in his idle way used to wonder what she worried +about and fidgeted over in her sleep. But it was hard to think of her +asleep; it would have been easier to fancy a sleeping weasel. +Nevertheless the boy liked Miss Penelope. Ruth and he had learned while +they were little children, that there was no unkindness in the snapping +of her sharp little black eyes, and that the terrible things she said +were as harmless as heat lightning. Even the little cup-bearers, black, +brown, and yellow, all knew how kind-hearted she was, and did not mind +in the least the most appalling threats uttered by her sweet, soft +voice. She always gave them something before she sent them flying back +to the cabins. Everybody liked her better than the widow Broadnax who +never scolded or meddled and indeed, rarely spoke at all to any one upon +any subject. For the household had long since come to understand that +this lady, like many another of her kind, was silent mainly because she +had nothing to say; and that she never found fault, simply because she +did not care. Indifference like hers often passes for amiability; and +that sort of motionless silence conceals a vacuum quite as often as it +covers a deep. Only one thing ever fully aroused the widow Broadnax; and +this was to see her half-sister taking authority in her own brother's +house. And indeed, that were enough to rouse the veriest mollusk of a +woman. In the case of the widow Broadnax this natural feeling was not at +all affected by the fact that she was too indolent to make the exertion +to claim and fill her rightful place as mistress of the house. It did +not matter in the least that she lay and slept like a sloth while poor +little Miss Penelope was up and working like a beaver. No woman's claims +ever have anything to do with her deserts; perhaps no man's ever have +either; perhaps all who claim most deserve least. At all events, it was +perfectly natural that the widow Broadnax should feel as truly and +deeply aggrieved at her half-sister's ruling her own brother's house, as +if she, herself, had been the most energetic and capable of +housekeepers. + +On that morning her dull eyes kept an unwavering, unwinking watch over +the coffee making; as they always did over every encroachment upon her +rights. Her heavy eyelids were only partially lifted, yet not a movement +of Miss Penelope's restless little body, not a gesture of her nervous +little hands was allowed to escape. Now that the coffee was nearly +ready, Miss Penelope had become rather more composed. She still stood +guard over the coffee-pot; she never left it till she carried it to the +table with her own hands, but she was lapsing into a sort of spent +silence. She merely sighed at intervals with the contented weariness +that comes from a sense of duty well done. But her half-sister still +eyed her as a fat, motionless spider eyes a buzzing little fly which is +ceasing to flutter. Miss Penelope had not observed a large pewter cup +resting on the floor near the widow Broadnax's chair. It had been left +there by a careless servant, who had used a portion of the mixture of +red paint and sour buttermilk with which it was filled, to give the wide +hearth its fine daily gloss. Miss Penelope had not observed it because +she was always oblivious to everything else while hanging over the +coffee-pot. The widow Broadnax had seen the cup at once because it was +slightly in the way of her foot; and she was quick enough to notice the +least discomfort. But she had not immediately perceived the longed-for +opportunity which it gave her. That came like an inspiration a few +moments later, when Miss Penelope was off guard for an instant. Her back +was turned only long enough for her to go to the table and see if the +tray was ready for the coffee-pot, but the widow Broadnax found this +plenty of time. With a quickness truly surprising in one of her habitual +slowness, she swooped down and seized the cup of buttermilk and paint. +In a flash she lifted the lid of the coffee-pot, poured the contents of +the cup in the coffee, set the empty cup down in its place, and was back +again, resting among the cushions as if she had never stirred, when poor +little Miss Penelope, all unsuspecting, returned to her post. + +"You really must get up, Sister Molly," that lady said resolutely, +renewing an altercation. "I hid the pantry keys under your chair +cushions at supper, last night. That's always the safest place. But I +forgot to take them out before you sat down. And you must get up--there +isn't enough sugar for the coffee." + +"Let me," said Ruth, coming forward with a smile, in her pretty, coaxing +way. + +When the antagonism between the sisters broke into open hostility, it +was nearly always she who managed to soothe them and restore a temporary +semblance of peace--for beyond that no mortal power could go. She now +prevailed upon the widow Broadnax to rise with her assistance, thus +securing the keys, and when that lady was once on her feet she was +easier to move, so that Ruth now led her to her place at the breakfast +table without further trouble. There was, however, always more or less +trouble about the place itself. It was but woman nature to feel it to be +very hard for a whole sister to sit at the side of the table while a +half sister sat at its head. The judge always did what he could to spare +her feelings, and Miss Penelope's at the same time. He was a bachelor, +and held women in the half-gallant, half-humorous regard which sets the +bachelor apart from the married man, and places him at a disadvantage +which he is commonly unaware of. The judge thought he understood the +distinctively feminine weaknesses particularly well, and that he made +uncommonly large allowance for them, as the bachelor always thinks and +never does. And then when the quarrel reached a crisis, and he was +entirely at the end of his resources for keeping the peace, he could +always threaten to take to the woods, and that usually brought a short +truce. + +"Ruth, my dear, what's all this about some stranger's bringing you home +last night?" he inquired, taking his seat at the foot of the table. +"Where were you, William? and what were you doing? You shouldn't have +taken Ruth to such a place, or anywhere, if you couldn't take care of +her," with unusual severity. + +Ruth sprang to William's defence. She said that it was not his fault. +They were separated by the crowd. He had done his best, and all that any +one could have done. + +"I made William take me. He didn't want to do it. And I am not sorry +that I went, although I was so much frightened at the time. Without +seeing it, no one can ever know what this strange and awful thing is +like. No description can possibly describe it," she said, with darkening +eyes and rising color. + +"A most shocking and improper scene," said William Pressley, as one who +weighs his words. "A most shocking and improper scene." + +Ruth looked at him wonderingly. + +"Shocking--improper!" she faltered, perplexedly. "What a strange way to +think of it. To me it was a great, grave, terrible spectacle. The awe of +it overwhelmed me, alarmed as I was. Why, it was like seeing the Soul +universal--bared and quivering." + +William Pressley said nothing more. He never discussed anything. Once he +had spoken, the subject seemed to him finally disposed of. + +"Great Grief!" cried Miss Penelope in the blankest amazement and the +greatest dismay. "For the land's sake!" + +As the faithful high-priestess of the coffee-pot she was always the +first to taste her own brew. She now set her cup down hastily. Her red, +wrinkled little face was a study. The widow Broadnax, whose cup was +untouched, sat silent and impassive as usual, regarding her with the +same dull, half-open, unwinking gaze. + +"What under the sun!" gasped Miss Penelope, still more and more amazed +and dismayed, and growing angry as she rallied from the shock. + +"Come, come!--if I can't eat breakfast in peace, I'll take to the woods. +What's the matter?" exclaimed the judge. "Didn't you get the coffee made +to suit you, after all that rumpus? Isn't it good?" + +"Good!" shrieked Miss Penelope. "It's poisoned, I do believe! Don't +drink it, any of you, if you value your lives!" + +"Oh, nonsense!" said the judge. "You are too hard to please, Sister +Penelope. And you spoil the rest of us, making the coffee yourself. +Never mind--never mind!" + +He took a sip and made a wry face, but he hardly ever knew what he was +eating, and pushing the cup back, forgot all about it. He was more +interested in Ruth's account of the meeting, and asked many questions +about her ride home. + +"This young doctor must be a fine fellow," he said. "I have been hearing +a good deal about him from Father Orin. They are already great friends, +it seems. They meet often among the poor and the sick, and work +together. I hope, my dear, that you thought to ask him to call. You +remembered, didn't you, to tell him that the latch-string of Cedar House +always hangs on the outside? I want to thank him and then I should like +to know such a man. He is an addition to the community." + +"Oh, yes, I thought of that, of course," said Ruth, simply. "I told him +I knew you and William would like to thank him. He is coming to-day. I +hope, uncle Robert, that you will be here when he does come." + +"I shall be here to thank him," said William. "Uncle need take no +trouble in the matter. I will do all that is necessary." + +A woman must be deeply in love before she likes to hear the note of +ownership in a man's voice when speaking of herself. Ruth was not at all +in love--in that way--although she did not yet know that she was not. +The delicate roses of her cheeks deepened suddenly to the tint of the +rich red ones which she held again in her hands. Her blue eyes darkened +with revolt, and she gave William a clear, level look, throwing up her +head. Then her soft heart smote her, and her gentle spirit reproached +her. She believed William Pressley to be a good man, and she was ever +ready to feel herself in the wrong. She got up in a timid flurry and +went to the door and stood a moment looking out at the sun-lit river. +Presently she quietly returned, and shyly pausing behind William's +chair, rested her hand on the back of it. There was a timid apology in +the gesture. She was thinking only of her own shortcomings. Had she been +critical of him or even observant, she would have seen that there was +something peculiarly characteristic in the very way that he handled his +knife and fork; a curious, satisfied self-consciousness in the very +lift of his wrists which seemed to say that this, and no other, was the +correct manner of eating, and that he disapproved of everybody else's +manner. But she saw nothing of the kind, for hers was not the poor +affection that stands ever ready to pick flaws. He did not know that she +was near him until the judge spoke to her; and then he sprang to his +feet at once. He was much too fine a gentleman to keep his seat while +any lady stood. Ruth smilingly motioned him back to his chair, and going +round the table, leant over the judge's shoulder. He had been examining +a packet of legal papers, and he laid a yellow document before her, +spreading it out on the table-cloth. + +"You were asking the other day about the buffalo--when they were here, +and so on. Now, listen to this old note of hand, dated the fifteenth of +October, seventeen hundred and ninety-two, just nineteen years ago. Here +it is: 'For value Rec'd, I promise to pay Peter Wilson or his Agent, +twenty pounds worth of good market Buffalo Beef free from Boone, to be +delivered at Red Banks on the Ohio River, or at aney other place that he +or his shall salt beef on the banks of said river, and aney time in the +ensuing fawl before this fawl's hunting is over.' There now, my dear! +That would seem to prove that there were plenty of buffalo hereabouts +not long ago. A hundred dollars in English gold must have bought a +large amount of wild meat. If this meant Virginia pounds it was still a +great deal. And the hunter who drew this note must have known how he was +going to pay it." + +"Rachel Robards says there were lots of buffalo when she came," said +Miss Penelope, who was gradually recovering from the shock of tasting +the coffee, and now prudently thought best to say no more about the +matter. "I always call her Rachel Robards, because I knew her so well by +that name. I am not a-disputing her marriage with General Jackson. If +she wasn't married to him when she first thought she was, she is now, +hard and fast enough. I have got nothing to say about that one way or +another. As a single woman, it don't become me to be a-talking about +such matters. But married or not married, I have always stood up for +Rachel Robards. Lewis Robards would have picked a fuss with the Angel +Gabriel, let alone a fire-eater like Andrew Jackson. Give the devil his +due. But all the same, if Andrew Jackson does try to chastise Peter +Cartwright for what he said last night, there's a-going to be trouble. +Now mark my word! I know as well, and better than any of you, that Peter +is only a boy. Many's the time that I've seen his mother take off her +slipper and turn him across her lap. And she never hit him a lick amiss, +either. But that's neither here nor there. His being young don't keep me +from seeing that he has surely got the Gift. It don't make any +difference that he hasn't cut his wisdom teeth, as they say. What if he +hasn't?" demanded Miss Penelope, with the most singular contrast between +her mild tone and her fierce words. "What has the cutting of wisdom +teeth got to do with preaching, when the preacher has been given the +Gift!" + +So speaking, she suddenly started up from the table with an exclamation +of surprise, and ran to the open door. + +"Peter! Oh, Peter Cartwright!" she called. "Wait--stop a minute. To +think of your going by right at the very minute that we were a-talking +about you!" + +She went out under the trees where the square-built, stern-faced, +swarthy young preacher had brought his horse to a standstill. + +"Now, Peter, you surely ain't a-going up to the court-house to see +Andrew Jackson," she said in sudden alarm. + +"No, no, not now," said Peter, hurriedly. "I am riding fast to keep an +appointment to preach on the other side of the river." + +"But you can stop long enough to eat breakfast. I lay you haven't had a +bite this blessed day." + +Peter shook his head, gathering up the reins. + +"And ten to one that you haven't got a cent of money!" Miss Penelope +accused him. + +Peter's grim young face relaxed in a faint smile. He put his hand in his +pocket and drew out two small pieces of silver. + +"Ah, ha, I knew it!" exulted Miss Penelope. "Now do wait just one +minute till I run in the house and get you some money." + +"No, no, there isn't time. I'll miss my appointment to preach. I will +get along somehow. Thank you--good-by." + +Miss Penelope, reaching up, seized the bridle-reins and held on by main +force with one hand while she rummaged in her out pocket with the other. + +"There!--here are three bits--every cent I've got with me," she said +indignantly, shoving it in his hand. "Well, Peter Cartwright, if your +mother could know--" + +But the young backwoodsman, whose fame was already filling the +wilderness, and was to fill the whole Christian world, now pressed on +riding fast, and was soon beyond her kind scolding. + +"Well, 'pon my word! Did anybody ever see the like of that!" she cried, +seeing that Ruth had followed her to the door. "That boy don't know half +the time whether he has had anything to eat or not. And it's just +exactly the same to him when he's got money and when he hasn't." + +The girl did not hear what Miss Penelope said. Her heart was responding, +as it always did, to everything great or heroic, and she looked after +this boy preacher with newly opened eyes. She suddenly saw as by a flash +of white light, that he and the other pioneer men of God--these +soldiers of the cross who were bearing it through the trackless +wilderness--were of the greatest. Her dim eyes followed the young +man--this brave bearer of the awful burden of the divine +mission--watching him press on to the river. She thought of the many +rivers that he must swim, the forests that he must thread, the savages +that he must contend against, the wild beasts that he must conquer, the +plague that he must defy, the shelterless nights that he must sleep +under the trees--freezing, starving, struggling through winter's cold +and summer's heat, and all for the love of God and the good of mankind. + + + + +VIII + +THE LOG TEMPLE OF JUSTICE + + +Most of those dauntless soldiers, who first bore the cross through the +wilderness were as ready to fight as to pray--as they had to be. No +power of earth or evil which he had been able to combat could have +turned young Peter Cartwright that day or have held him back. Pressing +on without rest or food, he was in time to preach. When this duty was +done, he returned over the Shawnee Crossing and rode straight to the +court-house. To go there was in his eyes the next service due the Word. + +The court-house was a single large, low room built of rough logs, and +standing in the depths of the primeval forest. Great trees arched their +branches over its roof and the immemorial "Oh, yes, oh, yes, oh, yes," +went up through their heavy dark tops. It must have been strange thus to +hear this formal summons before the bar of human justice, strange indeed +to see the precise motion of man's law in so wild a spot. Roundabout +there still stretched the wilderness which is subject only to nature's +law--the one immutable law which takes no heed of justice or mercy; +which recks neither man's needs nor his deserts. + +The court-house in the wilderness stood quite alone, with no other +building near. There was not even a fence round it, nor so much as a +hitching-post in front of the rude door which was rarely closed. Those +who came--the judge, the jury, the lawyers, the clients, the +spectators--all hitched their horses to the swinging limbs of the trees. +The sole sign of man's handiwork, beyond the log walls of the +court-house itself, was a crude attempt at bridge-building. A creek ran +between the court-house and the home of Judge Knox, who was the judge of +the court, and over this a few rough boards had been loosely laid across +two rotting logs. The structure being both weak and unsteady, it was the +judge's habit to dismount on coming to the bridge and to cross it on +foot, leading his horse by the bridle. It was then but a stone's throw +to the court-house, and as he was heavy, clumsy, and an awkward rider, +he did not mount again, but walked on till he came to the spot where he +always stopped to tie the bridle to the same limb. And there he +invariably tied it in his absent-minded way, without ever thinking of +looking round to see if the horse was tied with the bridle. Sometimes he +was and again he was not, for this was as that sagacious and dignified +animal himself thought best. He commonly made up his mind upon this +point when they got to the bridge, where he could tell easily enough by +the judge's gait in crossing over, whether or not it would be advisable +to follow. If the horse then saw fit to turn back and go home, as a hint +to the family to send for the judge at the proper time, he never +hesitated to pull his head out of the old bridle which he could do very +easily. So that the judge sometimes went on and tied the empty bridle in +the usual place, never knowing the difference; while his horse calmly +turned round and soberly walked back to the stable. Seeing him thus pass +the windows, the good people of Cedar House sighed a little, and shook +their heads, but they nevertheless always knew exactly what to do. + +On this late October day, however, the horse followed the judge without +demur, assured by his own observation that all was right. The judge, +honest, simple soul, rarely failed to turn over a new leaf and make a +fresh start on the morning after the meeting of the grand jury, which +gravely and respectfully found an indictment against him almost as +regularly at it met. He had already assessed and--gravely ordering it +written up--paid his own fine on this occasion without a murmur, as he +always did, and he was now quite sober and ready to resume his place on +the bench. He had held it for a long time to the public satisfaction; +and he continued to hold it for many years afterward with honor, +ability, and distinction, notwithstanding these occasional lapses. His +one weakness was of course well known but his profound knowledge of the +law, and his unimpeachable integrity were still better known. It was +said of him that he never had anything to say which could not be shouted +out from the court-house door. And these qualities were sorely needed on +the bench of the wilderness, more sorely needed at this time than ever +before or since. + +The whole country had lately been overrun by open and defiant +lawlessness. It was fast coming to be known far and wide as "Rogue's +Harbor." It had already become the recognized refuge and hiding-place of +the outcasts from the older states. The breakers of all laws human and +divine,--the makers of counterfeit money, the forgers of land titles, +the stealers of horses, robbers, murderers, thieves and criminals of +every sort and condition, the fine gentleman and the ruffian, the +duelist and the assassin--all these were now flocking to Rogue's Harbor. +Once there, they were not long content merely to find a hiding place +from the wrath of broken law and outraged civilization. They were soon +seeking and finding opportunity to commit other and worse offences. It +was no longer a secret that regular stations of outlawry were firmly +established between Natchez on the one side and Duff's Fort, on the +other. The most dreaded of these were known to be within the new state's +border along the line of the Wilderness Road, although the law had not +been able to lay its hand upon them. And thus was southern Kentucky now +bound, blinded and helpless, in a long, strong, bloody chain of crime. + +It was knowing this and feeling his own responsibility and powerlessness +that made the judge's good-humored face stern on that October morning. +It was this which made his absent-minded eyes clear and keen as he drew +near the court-house. He had come earlier than usual but others, equally +anxious, were there before him. And then the court-house was in a way +the mart of the whole region, especially for the sale of horses. +Rough-looking men with the marks of the stable and the race-track upon +them, were riding the best quarter nags up and down the forest path and +pointing out the delicate leg, the well-proportioned head, and the +elegant form, which made the traits of the first race-horses in +Kentucky. Foremost among these first men of the turf was Tommy Dye, +scanning the quarter nags with a trained eye. As soon as the judge saw +him, he knew that General Jackson was not far away, for wherever the +general went, there also was to be found his faithful henchman, Tommy +Dye. It was he who arranged the cockfights in which the general +delighted, declaring a game cock to be the bravest thing alive. It was +he who was always trying to find for him a race-horse which could beat +Captain Haynie's Maria. This famous racer had beaten the general's +Decatur in that year's sweepstakes, and he had sworn by his strongest +oath that he would find a horse to beat her if there was one in the +world that could do it. But Tommy Dye and other eager, tireless agents +of the general had already searched far and wide. They had gone over all +the horse-raising states with a drag-net, they had sent as far as other +countries. And no horse which even promised to beat Maria had yet been +found, so that the general's defeat was still rankling bitterly, for it +was the bitterest that he had ever met or ever was to meet. He did not +feel his defeat in the first race for the Presidency nearly so deeply +and keenly as this; and then that was afterward retrieved by a most +brilliant victory. But, as a friend once said of him--although he went +on achieving great victories of many kinds, overcoming powerful enemies, +conquering the Indians, subduing the lawless, defying the Spanish and +the French, vanquishing the British and slaying single-handed the Dragon +of the Bank--he could never find a horse to beat Maria. + +But he was still trying everywhere and under all circumstances however +unpromising. On that day he cast anxious glances through the open door +of the log court-house at the horses which Tommy Dye, in a forlorn hope, +was having paraded up and down the forest path. He turned away with a +sigh, and went on talking to the United States Attorney for Kentucky at +whose request he had come to the court-house that day. He had done for +his own territory in a lesser degree, the identical thing which Joseph +Hamilton Daviess was desperately striving to do for this country; and he +had consented to give him the benefit of his own experience, and to +advise him as to ways and means. These were always strenuous with Andrew +Jackson, and Joe Daviess himself was not a man of half measures. In mind +and body he was quite as powerful as the man to whom he now listened +with such profound deference. He was also a handsomer man and younger. +He was fully as tall, too, with as lordly a bearing; the most marked +contrast in their appearance being in their dress. General Jackson wore +broadcloth of the cut seen in all his older portraits; Joe Daviess wore +buckskin breeches and a hunting shirt belted at the waist, both richly +fringed on the leg and sleeve. The suit was the same that he had worn +when he rode over the Alleghanies to Washington, to plead the historic +case before the Supreme Court. But the rudest garb could never make him +seem other than the courtly gentleman that he was. He was a scholar +moreover, and a writer of books. A great mind, and ever eager to learn, +he now stood listening to General Jackson with the humility of true +greatness. He bowed to the judge, seeing him enter, but he did not move +or cease to listen. His grave, intent face brightened suddenly as if a +light had passed over it, when he saw Father Orin's merry, ruddy +countenance look in at the open door. He and the priest were close +friends, although they held widely different faiths, and argued fiercely +over their differences of opinion whenever they met--and had time--and +notwithstanding that neither ever yielded to the other so much as a +single hair's breadth. + +Father Orin now came straight toward him, merely nodding and smiling at +those whom he passed, and reaching Joe Daviess' side, he coolly ran his +hand deep down in his friend's pocket, precisely as if it had been his +own. The attorney-general made believe to strike out backward with his +left hand--his right being full of papers. But he laughed, and he did +not turn his head to see how much money the priest had taken and was +calmly transferring to his own pocket. And then, chuckling and nodding +his gray head, Father Orin quietly made his way round the court room, +keeping close to the wall, and taking care to pass behind the jury which +sat on a bench of boards laid across two logs. He was now making his way +to the little platform of logs on which the judge was sitting. The judge +saw him coming and hastily shook his head, knowing from long experience +what he was coming for. But Father Orin only chuckled more merrily and +drew nearer. When he put out his hand the judge surrendered, knowing how +useless it would be to resist while a few Spanish dollars or even a few +bits of cut money were left in his wallet, or there was want in the +wilderness which the priest's persistence could relieve. But his left +eyebrow went up very high in a very acute angle, as he leant far over to +one side and ran his hand into the depths of his breeches pocket. + +"There!" he said, handing over what he had. "I am glad I haven't got any +more. Hereafter, when I see you coming, I'm going to take to the woods. +Much or little, you always get all there is," he said, ostentatiously +buttoning the flap over his empty pocket. "Oh, by the way, Father, +somebody wants you over yonder in that corner. Those men, standing +there, asked me just now if I knew where you were. They have got into +some sort of a snarl, and they want you to straighten it out." + +"Very well, I will go and see," said the priest, simply, being used to +all sorts of calls, temporal as well as spiritual. + +The two men had already seen him, and were standing to receive him when +he came up. One of them was a member of his own church and known to him +as a man of large affairs. The other, a lawyer and a Protestant, he had +a much slighter acquaintance with. It was the lawyer who spoke after +both had greeted him warmly, as if they felt his appearance to be a +relief. + +"We have been hoping you might come. We are in trouble and think you are +the man to help us set matters right," said the lawyer. + +"What is it?" laughed Father Orin. "I don't know anything about law." + +The lawyer laughed too. "Well, you see, Father, it isn't law exactly. +That is, not the kind of law that I know. That's just where you come in. +It's this way. My client here has won a suit. He was bound to win it and +I told him so before it came to trial. The law was clear enough. But you +see, Father, law isn't always justice. You can keep within the law and +do mighty mean things. And my client here doesn't want to do anything +that isn't right. He, as you know, is a clean, straight man. He has +scruples about the rights that this decision gives him. It's a knotty +question. The other man thinks that he is being cheated, and my client +isn't quite sure himself. I didn't know what to advise in such a case. I +could tell him what the law of the land and the court--of this +court--was, and I have told him. But I couldn't tell him anything about +the law of that other land or that Higher Court. I don't know any more +about those than you know about my laws and my court. And so we have +decided to ask you, to leave the whole dispute to you, and the other man +has agreed to let you decide it. He is a Protestant, as I am, but that +has nothing to do with this business. We are all perfectly willing to +leave it to you; we will all abide by your decision without another +word." + +Father Orin hesitated. "I don't know that I can see any more clearly +than the rest of you. Well, call the other man," he then said. "We can +try to find out what is right, anyway. We can't go far wrong if we do +our best to treat the other man as we should like him to treat us. Come +over here where we will be more to ourselves, and fetch the other man." + +The judge was too busy to notice the consultation, but after a while he +saw the four men leaving the court room together, with quiet, smiling +faces. They all stopped for a moment in the doorway to allow Father Orin +to shake hands with Peter Cartwright. The young preacher had been +delayed on his way, and was just now entering the court-house. He did +not smile when the priest said something which made the others laugh. +His square jaw was grimly set, and his fiery black eyes looked over the +heads of the crowd at the tall figure of General Jackson which towered +above every one else in the court room, with the exception of the +attorney-general. These two great lawyers still stood absorbed in +low-toned conversation. But the young preacher had no eyes for Joe +Daviess nor for any one except Andrew Jackson. As soon as he could free +his hand from Father Orin's clasp he entered the court room and went +straight up to General Jackson and stood still in front of him, looking +at him. Both the gentlemen turned in surprise at the young +backwoodsman's abrupt approach. Both were much older and taller than he, +and very different altogether from this square-built, rough-mannered +youth. But they may have felt the power that was his as well as theirs, +for neither gave a sign of the impatience that both were quick to feel +and almost as quick to show. Peter Cartwright was gazing steadily up +into General Jackson's eagle eyes--which few could face, which turned +many a stout heart from a firm purpose--without swerving for an instant +from what he meant to do. + +[Illustration: "'I wanted to shake the hand of a man like you.'"] + +"This is General Jackson, I believe," he said. + +Andrew Jackson bent his haughty head. His gaze was now enough to make +the bravest flinch. But the young preacher went on without the slightest +flinching. + +"I have been told, sir, that you wanted to see me. I am Peter +Cartwright. I understand that you intend to chastise me for what I said +at the camp-meeting. Well, here I am." + +Andrew Jackson stared at him silently for a moment, as if he did not get +the drift of the words. And then he suddenly burst into a great roar. + +"The man who told you that was an infernal fool! I did say that I wanted +to see you--to meet you. But I said so because I desired the honor of +knowing you, sir. I wanted to shake the hand of a man like you. Will you +give it to me now, sir? I shall take it as an honor. I am proud to know +a man who is ready to do his duty in spite of anybody on God's earth--as +a preacher should be. A minister of Jesus Christ should love everybody, +and fear no mortal man. Give me your hand again, sir. By the eternal, if +I had a few officers like you, and a well-drilled army, I could take old +England!" + +With the meeting of the two men's hands a shout rang out from the crowd +now pressing in at the door. Shout followed shout, till the outcry +sounded far through the forest. It reached the ears of Philip Alston and +William Pressley, who were riding slowly toward the court-house. They +spurred their horses forward, wondering what could be the cause of the +unusual noise and excitement. When they had reached the court-house and +learned what the shouting meant, Philip Alston smiled in approval. + +"Very fine, very patriotic," he said. + +But his real attention was not for the crowd; he cared nothing for its +cries. He was looking at Joe Daviess and Andrew Jackson, the two famous +attorneys, who were again absorbed in grave, low-toned consultation. + +"Do you happen to know, William, what these distinguished gentlemen are +discussing with such interest and gravity? It must be something of +importance. But of course you know, my dear boy. You needn't tell me if +it is any matter of state or any sort of a secret. I asked without +thinking. Pardon me," said Philip Alston. + +He spoke in a low tone of gentle indifference. There was nothing to +indicate that he felt any special interest, but William Pressley +answered the question at once, and without reserve. Nothing pleased that +young man more than a chance to display his own first knowledge of +political affairs, either local, state, or national. A single word of +politics never failed to fire his ambition, to light that one spark in +his cold eyes. And Philip Alston knew how to strike the flint that lit +this spark, as he knew how to do almost anything that he wished to do. +So that William now told him what it was that these two powerful +guardians of the public peace and safety had met to discuss. He also +told him everything that the judge had said of his own determination to +do his utmost to aid Joe Daviess in carrying out the plans which were to +be laid that day. Philip Alston listened in silence, with his eyes on +General Jackson and Kentucky's attorney-general; looking first at the +one and then at the other, admiring and appreciating both. He had a +sincere, although purely intellectual admiration for any real greatness. +Thus gazing at the two men he saw how great was the responsibility +resting on them, and how ably and fearlessly they were meeting it. He +realized clearly that these two grave, honest, earnest, fearless +thinkers must find help for the whole country solely in the might of +their own minds and in the strength of their own hands. He knew that no +aid ever had been given, or ever would be given, by the government as +none could know better than themselves. All this and much more came to +Philip Alston, as he stood looking at Andrew Jackson and Joe Daviess +while listening to William Pressley. Through his whole life this had +been his attitude. He had always looked one way and rowed another, like +the boatman in The Pilgrim's Progress. + +"And doubtless you too are giving valuable assistance," he said, turning +his inscrutable gaze on William Pressley, and speaking in the tone of +deference which often covered his contempt. "You will, however, be in a +position to make your services far more valuable and much more widely +recognized, should the attorney-general resign. There can be no doubt of +your succeeding him. No one else stands so close to the place. You shall +have it without fail if any influence can aid you. And then, when things +are as we wish them to be in this vicinity, we will send you to Congress +to look after our larger interests. But in order to do this, we must +both keep a keen lookout beforehand--there must be no mistakes. It might +be well for you to meet me to-morrow at Anvil Rock. I shall pass there +at twelve o'clock on my way to Duff's Fort. You can then tell me the +plans which these able gentlemen are now making. You will learn them +from your uncle. Take care to remember the smallest detail. Bear in +mind, my dear boy, that you will soon have this whole responsibility on +your own shoulders. You are now in excellent training for it. +Everything that passes between these brilliant lawyers must be of +personal value to you in the discharge of your future duties, and to me, +also, in order that I may serve you." + +William's chest swelled out with pride, and he held his head higher in +conscious rectitude. He had not a doubt of his ability to fill the +place, nor thought of doubting that he was doing what was right and wise +in being perfectly candid with Philip Alston. He thought it most likely +that he could secure the appointment without that gentleman's influence. +He was quite sure that he would not require any one's assistance in +filling it. Still, he was willing to pay all proper deference to an old +friend, and to the foster-father of the girl who was to be his wife. +These thoughts were an open book which Philip Alston read with another +queer smile, while thanking him for the promise to come to Anvil Rock. + +"I will leave you now," Philip Alston said. "I have business to-day, +also, at Duff's Fort. And you, left alone, will be free to join your +uncle and the distinguished gentlemen who are working with him." + +The two great lawyers had not seen Philip Alston up to the moment that +he turned to leave the court-house, when General Jackson's eagle eye +fell upon him. + +"Why, there's Philip Alston now!" he exclaimed in an undertone and with +a frown. "The splendid audacity of the magnificent rascal! Think of his +coming here--right under our noses--to-day, too, of all days! And he +knows perfectly well that we know him to be the leader, the originator, +the head and the brains of all this villany!" + +"Yes. But how are we going to prove it?" asked the attorney-general. +"Believing a thing and proving it are two different things. If I could +only once get my hand on a particle of evidence.--Do you suppose he +could have known what we were talking about?" with sudden uneasiness. +"He is intelligent enough to guess, without hearing a word. It is +scarcely possible that Judge Knox could have been so thoughtless as to +speak of our plans to his nephew--that solemn, pompous young fool who +was with Alston. Surely, even Robert Knox couldn't have been so +indiscreet in a matter of life and death, such as this!" + +"Not when he was sober; and he hasn't been drinking to-day. As for +yesterday--that is another matter," said General Jackson. "Robert Knox +always means to do exactly what is right, but what a man means is +sometimes very different from what he does, especially when he doesn't +know what he is doing." + + + + +IX + +PAUL'S FIRST VISIT TO RUTH + + +None of this strife had yet touched Cedar House. Even the hazy sadness +which had dimmed Ruth's bright spirits as she had watched the young +preacher ride away, had passed as quickly as mist before the sun. For it +is one of the mercies that happy youth never sees life's struggle quite +clearly, and that it is soon allowed to forget the fleeting glimpses +which may cloud its happiness for an instant. + +Her thoughts were now solely of the young doctor's coming. He had not +named the hour; the epidemic made him uncertain of his own time. But he +had said that he would come during the day, so that it was necessary to +be ready to receive him at any moment. And there were many pleasant +things to do in preparation for his coming. More roses were to be +gathered, and other flowers also, were blooming gayly among the sober +vegetables as if it were mid-summer. So that the first thing Ruth did +was to strip the garden, with David to help her and no one to hinder. + +The judge and William had gone away from the house as soon as breakfast +was over, saying they would try to return in time to see the visitor. +Miss Penelope was busy in seeing that the coffee-pot was washed with hot +water and rinsed with cold, and scoured inside and out till it shone +like burnished silver. The widow Broadnax, too, was as busy as she ever +was, sitting in her usual place in the chimney-corner, looking like some +large, clumsily graven image in dark stone, and watching her +half-sister's every movement without winking or turning her head. So +that Ruth and David were left to follow their own fanciful devices, free +to put flowers everywhere. They wrought out their fancies to the fullest +and the more fantastic, as the artistic instinct rarely fails to do in +its first freedom. When they were done, the great room of Cedar House +was an oddly charming sight, worth going far to see. Never before had it +been so wonderful, strange, and beautiful. It had now become an +enchanted bower of mingled bloom and fragrance, shadowed within yet open +to the sun-lit day and the flashing river. + +"There!" cried Ruth, looking round, with her head on one side. "There +isn't one forgotten spot for another flower. Now, I must run and dress. +And you must wait here till I come back, David, dear, for the doctor may +arrive at any moment, and somebody should be ready to welcome him. Why! +aunt Molly has actually followed aunt Penelope clear to the kitchen, so +that there is no one left but you. Don't go till I come back." + +She went up the broad, dark stairs, turning on almost every step to +look down over the room and drink in the beauty and sweetness. David, +also, drank it in still more eagerly, taking deep intoxicating draughts, +as the thirsty take cool, sparkling wine. He then sat quietly looking +about and waiting. His book was in his pocket, as it nearly always was +when not in his hand. But he had grown shy of reading "The Famous +History of Montilion--Knight of the Oracle, Son to the true Mirror of +Princes, the most Renowned Pericles, showing his Strange Birth, +Unfortunate Love, Perilous Adventures in Arms: and how he came to the +Knowledge of his Parents, interlaced with a Variety of Pleasant and +Delightful Discourse," since Ruth had laughed at it, and had laid the +blame for his weakness upon the romance. And then his craving for the +romantic and beautiful was satisfied for the moment by gazing about this +big, strange, shadowy, embowered room. Moreover, Ruth came back very +soon. When beauty is young, fresh, natural, and very, very great, it +does not need much time for its adornment. Ruth's toilet was like a +bird's. A quick dip in pure, cold water--a flutter of soft garments as +the radiant wings cast off the crystal drops--and she was ready to meet +the full glory of the sunlight. When she thus came smiling down the +stairs that day, with the dew of life's morning fresh upon her, David +turned from the flowers. + +"Yes, indeed! Isn't it a lovely frock!" she cried, running her hand +lightly over the big, puffy, short sleeve. "It is one of the last uncle +Philip had made in New Orleans, and fetched up the river. You might draw +this muslin through my smallest ring. See this dear little girdle--way +up here right under my arms--and so delicately worked in these pale blue +forget-me-nots, that look as if they were just in bloom. See!"--lifting +the gauzy skirt as a child lifts its apron--"Here is a border of the +forget-me-nots all around the bottom. But you are such a goose that you +don't know how pretty it is unless I tell you," pretending to shake him, +with trills of happy laughter. "All the same, you shall look at the +slippers, too! You shall see that the kid is as blue as the +forget-me-nots,--whether you want to or not!" drawing back the skirt and +putting out her foot. + +And the boy gazing at her face, forgot his bashfulness far enough to +admire the frock and the slippers as much as she thought they deserved. +Neither of these children of the wilderness knew how unsuitable her +dress was, that it had never been intended for wearing in the morning +anywhere, or for the forest at any time. Ruth had worn only the +daintiest and finest of garments all her life, without any regard for +suitableness. From her babyhood to this day of her girlhood, it had been +Philip Alston's pride and happiness to dress her as the proudest and +richest father might dress his daughter, in the midst of the highest +civilization. Ruth knew nothing else, and those who knew her would +scarcely have known her, seeing her otherwise. It was only the few +strangers stopping at Cedar House, on their way over the Wilderness +Road, who gazed at Ruth in wondering amazement. Naturally enough, those +who had never seen her before could not at first believe the evidence of +their own dazzled eyes. To them this radiant young creature in her rich, +delicate raiment could not seem real at first; she was too lovely, too +like an enchanting vision born of the dim green shadows of the forest, a +bewitching dryad, an exquisite sprite. + +Some such thoughts as these crossed the mind of Paul Colbert as he +looked at her through the open door. He had ridden up unheard, had +dismounted, tying his horse to a tree, and had then stood for several +minutes without being seen by Ruth or David. When he spoke, they thought +that he had just arrived. Ruth went forward to welcome him with the ease +and grace that marked everything she did. Nature had given her a pretty, +gentle dignity, and Philip Alston's cultured example had polished her +manner. She now did all the graceful offices of the hostess, quietly and +simply. She said how sorry she was that neither her uncle nor her cousin +was at home. They wished, she said, to be there when he came, so that +they might try to thank him for his kindness to her. But one or the +other would return very soon; both had hoped to do so before his +arrival. + +"It is early for a visit," Paul Colbert said, in a tone of apology; "but +I couldn't come at all to-day, unless I stopped now in passing." + +"Oh, no!" said Ruth, quickly. "It isn't very early." + +"And then I thought you might like to see this," he said. + +Rising, he stepped to her side, and gave her a sheet of paper torn from +his note-book and covered with writing. He did not return to the chair +which he had arisen from, but took another much nearer her own. + +"Poetry!" she said. "Is it something that you have written?" + +He smiled. "I have merely copied it. I saw the poem for the first time +an hour or so ago at Mr. Audubon's. It is new and has never been +printed. It was written by the young English poet, John Keats, to his +brother George Keats, who is a partner of Mr. Audubon in the mill on the +river. Mr. Keats and his wife are here now, the guests of Mr. Audubon. +The poem came in a letter which has just been received. I have copied a +part of it, and a few words from the letter, also. Mr. George Keats was +kind enough to allow me, and I thought you would like to see them. I +hadn't time to copy the entire poem, though it isn't very long." + +"It was very kind," said Ruth. "I am so glad to see it. May I read it +now? This is what the letter says," reading it aloud, so that David also +might hear. "If I had a prayer to make for any great good ... it should +be that one of your children should be the first American poet?" + +"The first English hand across the sea!" said Paul Colbert. + +Ruth read on from this letter of John Keats to his brother: "I have a +mind to make a prophecy. They say that prophecies work out their own +fulfilment." And then she read as much of "A Prophecy" as the doctor had +copied. + + * * * * * + + "Though, the rushes that will make + Its cradle are by the lake-- + Though the linen that will be + Its swathe is on the cotton tree-- + Though the woollen that will keep + It warm is on the silly sheep-- + Listen, starlight, listen, listen, + Glisten, glisten, glisten, glisten, + And hear my lullaby! + Child, I see thee! Child, I've found thee! + Midst the quiet all around thee! + Child, I see thee! Child, I spy thee! + And thy mother sweet is nigh thee. + Child, I know thee! Child no more, + But a poet ever-more! + See, see, the lyre, the lyre! + In a flame of fire + Upon the little cradle's top + Flaring, flaring, flaring, + Past the eyesight's bearing. + Wake it from its sleep, + And see if it can keep + Its eyes upon the blaze-- + Amaze, amaze! + It stares, it stares, it stares, + It dares what none dares! + It lifts its little hand into the flame + Unharmed and on the strings + Paddles a little tune and sings, + With dumb endeavor sweetly-- + Bard thou art completely; + Little child, + O' the western wild...." + +Ruth looked at Paul with shining eyes. "I thank you again for thinking +that I would like this," she said. + +"A little chap whom I saw last night made me feel like making a prophecy +that he would be the first Kentucky astronomer," said Paul, with a +smile. "He was hardly more than a baby, not much over two years old--a +toddling curly-head. Yet there he stood by the roadside, looking up at +the heavens, as solemn as you please. And he said that 'man couldn't +make moons.' I didn't hear him say this, but his brother repeated what +he said." + +"Yes, I know. You mean' little Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel. His people live +near here, over on Highland Creek. His father came there from Virginia. +He intended to bore for salt water, meaning to make salt. But he found +more interest in the wild multiflora roses that bloom all around the +Lick, and the bones of unknown animals buried fifty feet beneath the +surface of the earth--though the bones were not found just there--but +farther off at another Lick." + +"Then Master Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel is the true son of his father," +smiled Paul Colbert. "Neither seems commonplace enough to be content +with what everyday people find between heaven and earth." + +He said this idly, as we all speak to one another when casting about for +mutual interests before really knowing each other. Thus the talk drifted +for a few moments, with a shy word now and then from David. And +presently a chance reference to the epidemic brought a new light into +the doctor's eyes, and a new earnestness into his voice. + +"The fathers and mothers of the country are much alarmed for their +children," he said. "But there is far more need to be alarmed for +themselves. The Cold Plague attacks the strong rather than the weak. But +all the people, young and old, everywhere through the wilderness, are +almost frantic with terror. They fear infection from every newcomer. +There was a panic throughout this vicinity a few days ago, over the +landing of a flatboat, and the coming ashore of the unfortunates who +were on it. They were in a most pitiful plight. I hope never to see a +sadder sight than that poverty-stricken little family. But they were not +suffering from any disease more contagious than want; they were only +cold, wet, tired, hungry, and disheartened. The poor mother was sitting +on the damp sand near the water's edge, with her little ones around her, +when I found them. They were merely stopping to rest on their way from +another portion of the state, to the wild country on the other side of +the river." + +"We saw them, too, poor things," said Ruth, quickly, with pity in her +soft eyes. "Father Orin and Toby came by to tell us, and David and I +went at once to do what we could. I can't forget how the mother looked. +She was young, but had such a sad, haggard face, with such a prominent +forehead, and such steady gray eyes. She held a strange looking little +child on her lap. She said that her name was Nancy Lincoln, and she +called the baby 'Abe.' He couldn't have been more than two years of age, +but he looked up at Father Orin, and from his face to ours, like some +troubled little old man." + +"Yes, Father Orin and Toby were first to the rescue, as they always are. +I can't imagine when those two sleep, and I am sure they never rest when +awake." + +And then, seeing her interest and sympathy, he went on to tell of three +little ones, orphaned by the plague, and left alone and utterly +helpless, in a cabin on the Wilderness Road. As he spoke, he remembered +with a pang of self-reproach, that Father Orin was with them now and +waiting for him. He rose suddenly, saying that he must go, but a slight +noise at the door caused him to pause and turn. It was William Pressley +coming in, and Ruth went forward to meet him, and introduced him to the +doctor, who sat down again for a few moments. The two young men then +talked with one another as strangers do, of the current topics of the +day and the country, speaking mostly of the Shawnee danger--the one +subject then most earnestly and universally discussed throughout the +wilderness. The nearest approach to a personal tone was in William +Pressley's formal expression of thanks. Paul Colbert put these aside as +formally as they were offered, and in a moment more he got up to take +leave. Yet in that brief space the two men had begun to dislike each +other. + +This was natural enough on the part of William Pressley. It is indeed +the first instinct of his kind toward any equal or superior. When a +man's or a woman's vanity is so great that it instinctively and +instantly levies on all within reach--demanding incense--nothing can be +so dislikeful as a bearing which refuses to swing the censer. From its +very nature it must instantly resent any such conscious or unconscious +claim to equality, to say nothing of superiority. Those so afflicted +must of necessity like only their inferiors and must have only inferiors +for friends, if they have any friends at all. So that this is maybe the +real reason why many reasonably good and perfectly sincere men and +women go almost friendless through useful and blameless lives. And this +was William Pressley's natural feeling toward Paul Colbert. The honest, +sincere young lawyer could have forgiven the honest, sincere young +doctor almost any real sin or weakness and have liked him well enough; +but he could not forgive the polite indifference of his manner toward +himself, or his looking over his head at Ruth, or turning from him to +speak to David. Least of all could he forgive him for being at that +moment the most conspicuous figure in the whole region, on account of +his single-handed struggle with the mysterious disease, which, defying +the other doctors, had been devastating the new settlements of the +wilderness. Nor could the difference in their aims affect this feeling +in the least. To a nature like William Pressley's, anything won by +another is something taken from himself. Yet the dislike for Paul +Colbert, which thus hardened within him, had no taint of jealousy in the +ordinary sense of that term. He did not think of Ruth at all in the +matter. It did not occur to him to associate her with this stranger, or +with any one but himself. It was in keeping with his character for him +to be slower than a less vain man to suspect her--or any one whom he +knew--of personal preference for another than himself; for vanity of +this supreme order has its comforts as well as its torments. + +On the part of Paul Colbert, the feeling was wholly different, and +largely impersonal. It was merely the dislike that every busy man feels +for a new acquaintance which promises no interest, even at the outset. +Had he been less busy, and his mind more free, he might perhaps have +found some amusement in trying to find out how far this serious young +man was mistaken in his high estimate of himself. He thought at a first +glance that he was a good deal in error, but he also saw that he was +sincere in his conviction; so that the young doctor was tolerantly +amused at the lofty air of the young lawyer, without the slightest +feeling of real resentment. He made one or two straightforward, friendly +efforts to thaw the ice of William Pressley's manner. His own was +naturally frank and cordial. He always wished to be liked, which is the +natural wish of every truly kind nature. And then, above and beyond +this, was the right-minded lover's instinctive desire to secure the +good-will of all who are near the one whom he loves; for Paul Colbert +had fallen in love with Ruth, and he knew it, as few do who have fallen +in love at first sight. He could, indeed, have told the very instant at +which love had come--like a bolt from the blue. + +He was therefore more than willing to be friendly with William Pressley, +and already seeking a pretext to come again. He now said, turning to +Ruth with a smile: + +"Since you are fond of poetry, perhaps you will allow me to fetch you a +new volume of poems by a young Englishman, Lord Byron. A friend sent it +to me from London. He says it is being severely treated by the critics. +They say that they never would have believed that any one could have +been as idle and as worthless generally, as those 'Hours of Idleness' +prove the author to be. But I think you will like the poems, especially +one called 'The Tear.' It is said that the poet means to write something +about Daniel Boone." + +"There should be many tears in that poem," said Ruth, a shadow falling +over the brightness of her face. "To think of the poor old hero as he is +now makes the heart ache." + +"It should make us all ashamed," said Paul Colbert. "He gave us the +whole state, and we are not willing to give him back enough of it to +rest his failing feet upon, nor a log cabin to shelter his feeble body, +worn out in our service. It is the blackest ingratitude. It is a +disgrace to the commonwealth." + +"Pardon me," said William Pressley, with his cool smile; "but as I look +at the matter, there is no one but himself to blame. It is solely the +result of his own negligence and ignorance. He did not observe the plain +requirement of the law." + +"But, William," said Ruth, impulsively, with a brighter color in her +cheek, "just think! How could he know--a simple old hunter, just like a +little child, only as brave as a lion!" There was a quiver in her voice +and a flash in her soft eyes. + +"We can but hope that the state will remember what it owes," said the +doctor, moving toward the door. + +He felt that he had been tempted to linger too long. Father Orin was +still waiting for him in the desolate cabin where the Cold Plague had +left the three orphans. His conscience smote him for lingering, and yet +he could not leave, even now, without speaking again of the poems, and +saying that he would fetch the book and leave it the next time he rode +by Cedar House. + +When he was gone, Ruth looked at William Pressley in silent, troubled +perplexity. She was wondering vaguely why she had felt so +ashamed--almost as if she had done some shameful thing herself--when he +had spoken as he had done before the doctor about Daniel Boone. It must +have been plain to the visitor that she did not think as William +thought. And yet she flinched again, recalling the doctor's glance at +William, and wondered why it should have hurt her, as if it had fallen +upon herself. She was not old enough or wise enough to have learned that +the mere promise to marry a man makes a sensitive woman begin forthwith, +to feel responsible for everything that he says and does; and that this +is one of the deep, mysterious sources of the misery and happiness of +marriage. + + + + +X + +FATHER ORIN AND TOBY MEET TOMMY DYE + + +Under the spur of his conscience the young doctor rode fast. He was not +the man to let duty wait even on love, without trying to make amends. +But a sharper pang stung him when he reached the desolate cabin in which +the Cold Plague had left the orphans. + +It seemed to him that Toby, standing by the broken door, gave him a look +of reproach. Toby had not failed or been slow in doing his part; Father +Orin and he had already done all that they could, though this was +piteously little. The one had cut fire-wood from the near-by fallen +trees, and the other had drawn it to the cabin door, so that there was a +good fire blazing on the earthen hearth. But the rotting, falling logs +of the cabin's walls were far apart, the mud which had once made them +snug having dropped out; and the chilly, rising wind blew bitterly +through the miserable hut. The covers on the bed were few and thin, +although Father Orin had spread Toby's blanket over them. The three +little white faces lying in a pathetic row on the ragged pillows, lay so +still that the doctor was not sure they were alive, till the oldest +child, a boy of three, languidly opened his eyes, looked up unseeingly, +and wearily closed them again. + +There was a tightening in the doctor's throat when he turned away, and +he was glad to smile at Father Orin's housekeeping. The priest certainly +had left nothing in his power undone, to keep life in the frail little +bodies. On the hearth was such food as he had been able to prepare, +carefully covered to keep it warm. As the young man's gaze thus wandered +sadly about the cabin, his eyes encountered the old man's. The laughter +with which he was fighting emotion died on his lips, and their hands met +in a close clasp. + +"The poor little things!" the young man said. "Ah, Father, it is wild +work--this making of a state. The soil of Kentucky should bear a rich +harvest. It is being deeply sown in pain and sorrow, and well-watered +with tears and blood." + +They stood silent for a moment, looking helplessly at the bed and the +little white faces. + +"What shall we do?" then asked Father Orin. "These children can't stay +here through another night. That wind blows right over the bed, and +there is no way to keep it out. They could hardly live till morning. And +yet they may die on the way if we try to take them to the Sisters at +once." + +"That is their only chance. We are bound to take the risk. We must do +our best to get them to the Sisters as quickly as possible. Women know +better than doctors how to take care of babies. What is there to put +round them--to wrap them in?" + +There were no wrappings, nothing that could be used for the purpose, +except the bed covers and Toby's blanket. The men took these and with +awkward tenderness covered the helpless, limp little bodies as well as +they could. Father Orin then went out of the cabin, and with a nod +summoned Toby to do his part. When the priest was seated in the saddle, +the doctor turned back to the bed, and lifting one of the three limp +little burdens, carried it out and carefully placed it in Father Orin's +arms. + +"But you can't carry both of the others," said the priest, in sudden +perplexity. "And we can't leave one here alone while we take the others +and return. Maybe it would be better to take one at a time. I can either +stay or go." + +"Oh, no, indeed! I can take these two easy enough--one on each arm. They +weigh nothing--poor little atoms--and I don't need a hand for the reins. +My horse often goes in a run with them thrown over the pommel. He went +on a bee-line with them so last night." + +With both arms thus filled with the helpless morsels of humanity, he had +no trouble in seating himself in the saddle. He laughed a little, +thinking what a spectacle they must make; and Father Orin laughed too, +with the shamefacedness that the best men feel when they do such +gentle things. And then the strange, pathetic journey through the +wilderness began. + +[Illustration: Father Orin and Toby.] + +"Steady, Toby. That's right, old man," said the priest, now and then. + +The doctor kept a close, anxious watch over the child in Father Orin's +arms, and frequently glanced down at the two little faces lying in the +hollow of his own arms. Any one of the three,--or all of them--might +cease to breathe at any moment. It seemed to both the anxious men that +they were a long time in going to the Sisters' house, although the +distance was but a few miles. When the log refuge first came in sight +through the trees, they breathed a deep sigh of relief in the same +breath. The Sisters, who had been warned, saw them coming, and ran to +meet them, and took the babies from their arms. When the little ones had +been borne in the house and put to bed, the doctor sat down beside them +to see what more might be done. But the priest, without rest or delay, +set out on another errand of mercy. Toby, needing no word or hint, at +once quickened his pace, knowing full well the difference between this +business and that which was just finished, so far as they were +responsible. + +"You're right, old man. Keep us up to the mark, right up to the mark," +chuckled Father Orin. "I'm mighty tired, and I'm afraid I might shirk if +you would let me." + +As he bent down with a bantering chuckle to pat the horse's inflexible +neck, a man's voice suddenly hailed them from the darkening woods lying +at their back. + +"Hello! Hello! Hold on!" the unseen man shouted. + +They turned quickly and stood still, looking in the direction from which +the shouting came. A horseman soon appeared under the trees and came +galloping after them, and when he had drawn nearer, the priest saw, with +some annoyance, that it was Tommy Dye. As he reined up beside them, Toby +turned his head slowly and gave the horse precisely the same look that +Father Orin gave the rider. Toby wanted to have nothing more to do with +a tricky race-horse than Father Orin wished to have to do with a shady +adventurer. + +Tommy Dye looked at them both with a grin. "I saw you just now--you and +the new doctor--a-toting them there youngsters." + +Father Orin straightened up, feeling and showing the embarrassment and +indignation that every man, lay and clerical alike, feels and shows at +being seen by another man acting as a nurse to a child. + +"Well, what of it?" he retorted, as naturally as if he had never worn a +cassock. + +Tommy Dye grinned again, more broadly than before. He took off his hat +and rubbed his shock of red hair the wrong way. The humor of the +recollection became too much for him, and he roared with laughter. Toby +of his own indignant accord now moved to go on, and Father Orin gathered +up the reins saying rather shortly that he had urgent business, and must +be riding along. + +"I say--wait a minute. What makes you in such an all-fired hurry?" Tommy +Dye called after them. + +Toby stopped reluctantly, and he and Father Orin waited with visible +unwillingness, until Tommy Dye came up again and stammeringly began what +he had to say. He did not know how to address a priest. He had never +before had occasion to speak to a churchman of any denomination. So that +he now plunged in without any address at all: + +"I say--who pays for them there youngsters, yonder?" he blurted. + +Father Orin merely looked at him in silence for a moment, and then +gathered up the reins once more. + +Tommy Dye saw that there was something amiss, that he had made some +mistake, and not knowing what it was, he resorted to the means which he +usually employed to set all matters right. He hastily plunged his hand +in the outer pocket of his coat, and then dropped the bottle back in its +place still more hastily, after another glance at the priest. + +"Well, I thought you might like it," he said with a touch of defiance, +feeling it necessary to assert himself. "When a man's face is as red as +yours, I don't see why a fellow mightn't ask him to take a drink." + +Father Orin laughed with ready good humor. + +"My face is red, my friend. I can't deny that fact; but the redness +comes from a thin skin and rough weather. What is it you want? I haven't +time to wait." + +"Say, I kinder thought, seeing you and the doctor with them babies just +now,"--grinning again at the comical recollection--"that maybe you would +let me come into the game. I'd like to take a hand in the deal, if +there's room for another player. I'll put up the stakes right now." His +hand went into his breeches pocket this time. "Here's the roll I won on +the fall races. Put it all up on the game. What's the odds? Come easy, +go easy." + +He held out the money. "I saw you at the court-house, too," he added +sheepishly, as if trying to excuse what he did. + +"I beg your pardon, sir," said Father Orin, gravely. "I didn't +understand. I've done you great injustice." + +"Hey? What did you say?" + +"The Sisters would be only too glad to use this money for those +children, and for other little ones just as helpless and needy," +murmuring something about the use purifying the source. "But I want you +to take it to them yourself, and give it to them with your own hands." + +"Me! Old Tommy Dye!" + +The coarse face actually turned pale under its big freckles. Its dismay +was so comical that Father Orin laughed till the woods rang with his +hearty, merry voice. Toby turned his head in sober disapproval of such +unseemly levity, and Tommy Dye was a good deal miffed. + +"'Pears to me you are mighty lively--and most of the time, too," he +said, in a tone of offence, tinged with wonder. + +"Why not?" said the priest, still chuckling. "Why shouldn't I be +lively?" + +Tommy Dye hesitated, more puzzled now than angry. "Well, you see, your +job has always seemed to me just about the lonesomest there is." + +Father Orin began to laugh again, but he was hushed by the soft, sweet +pealing of the Angelus through the shadowed forest. The gambler also +listened, with a softening change in the recklessness of his face. + +"The sound of that bell always makes me feel queer," he stammered. "It +sets me to thinking about home, too,--and home folks. I'm blamed if I +can see how it is. I never had any home, and if I've got any kin-folks, +I don't know where they live. But anyhow, that's the way the ringing of +that bell always makes me feel. Say! there's lots of things about your +church that come over a fellow like that. Now there the very name of +that little house back yonder amongst them trees--Our Lady's Chapel. +That's just it--just to the notch what I mean--there's something kind +of homelike in the name itself. And that's the very difference between +your church and the other churches. The Protestant church seems real +lonesome, like a sort of bachelor's hall. The Catholic church makes you +feel at home, because there's always a mother in the house." + +"Take care!" exclaimed the priest. "But I am sure you don't mean to be +irreverent, my friend. And about your generosity to the orphans. Here, +let me give the money back. I am in earnest in asking you to give it to +the Sisters with your own hands. When they see you and you see them, you +will both understand each other better than if I were to try ever so +long and hard to explain." + +He looked at Tommy Dye for a moment with a returning smile, but the pity +of it all put the humor aside. + +"The doctor will be coming along in a moment--ah, there he comes now! I +will ask him to go with you to see the Sisters. I am sorry that I cannot +turn back with you myself. I should be glad to." + +It did not take long to state the case to the doctor, who readily agreed +to do what the priest asked. Tommy Dye was by this time so thoroughly +cowed by the situation in which he thus found himself that he no longer +resisted. There was one uncertain instant when, seeing the Sisters +appear in the door, he was undecided whether to run away or go on. But +he was afraid to flee, with the Sisters' eyes upon him, and the doctor +led him into the house. The ladies had been frightened by the doctor's +unexpected and speedy return; but he soon quieted their fears, and made +them happy by telling them the reason of his turning back. Sister +Teresa, the Lady Superior, keenly touched, quickly turned to Tommy Dye +and he handed her the money in awkward haste. + +"How good of you! How generous--how noble! Ah, you don't know how much +good this will do," she said, with her eyes full of tears. "We thank you +with all our hearts for ourselves and for the children." + +"Thank _you_,--ma'am," stammered Tommy Dye, scarlet, and almost dumb. + +None of the many sins of which he had been suspected had ever made him +feel nearly so uncomfortable as he felt now. None of the many sins of +which he had been convicted had ever made him look half so guilty as he +looked now. + +"You mustn't call me 'ma'am,'" said Sister Teresa. "You must call me +Sister, and Sister Elizabeth and Sister Angela are your sisters, too. +You must always think of us as your real sisters, and the little ones +belong to you after this, as much as they do to us. You must always +remember that. Will you come into the other room and see them? Or I will +fetch--" + +But Tommy Dye could not endure any more. He turned with hardly a word, +and fled in desperate haste. The Sisters gazed after him in surprise, +and with a good deal of alarm, until Paul Colbert told them about him, +who and what he was, of his meeting with Father Orin, and the whole +story of the money. + +"The poor fellow," said Sister Teresa, softly. "We will pray that the +gift may bring him some of the good that it will do the children. Yes, +we will hereafter remember him, also, in the prayers for our +benefactors," turning her gentle, smiling gaze on the young doctor. + +And then he reddened almost as suddenly as Tommy Dye had done, and he +likewise was hastening to make his escape when Sister Teresa called him +back, to ask if he would not be passing Cedar House on the way home. He +said that he would, reddening again. Whereupon the Sister begged as a +favor, that he would stop at the door and tell Ruth to come on the next +day, if possible, to look at the sewing which Sister Angela was doing +for her. + +"Sister Angela is a wonderful needle-woman," Sister Teresa could not +help adding with modest pride. "She learned to sew and to do the finest +embroidery while she was studying in a convent in France. She could earn +a great deal of money for the little ones if we were where there were +more patrons who wished to have such fine sewing done. But nobody in +this wild country ever wants it except Mr. Alston for Ruth." + +"Mr. Alston for Ruth," Paul Colbert repeated, wonderingly. + +"Oh, yes. He thinks nothing is fine enough for Ruth," said Sister +Teresa, simply. "And he pays anything that Sister Angela asks. He never +says a word about the price. Sometimes I fear we ask too much. But then, +the children need so many things, and we have so few ways of earning +money. You won't mind stopping to tell Ruth, doctor? Ask her to come +early to-morrow morning, please. And another thing, if it isn't too much +trouble. Tell her to bring more of the finest thread lace." + +This was the first time that Paul Colbert had heard Philip Alston's name +associated with Ruth. It was a shock to hear the names called in the +same breath, for he already knew as much of Philip Alston as any one was +permitted to know. He was aware of the suspicion which blackened his +reputation. He had learned this on first coming to the country. Father +Orin, when asked, had told him something of the reasons for the general +distrust and fear of the man. But the doctor himself had never seen him, +and, naturally enough, thought of him as the usual coarse leader of +lawlessness, only more daring and cunning, perhaps, than the rest of his +kind. Thus it was that trying to understand only bewildered the young +man more and more, so that he was still filled with shocked wonder when +he came within sight of Ruth's home. + +The day was nearing its close. In the forest bordering the bridle-path, +dark shades were noiselessly marshalling beneath the great trees. But +the sunset still reddened the river, and the reflected light shone on +the windows of Cedar House. He glanced at her chamber window before +seeing that she stood on the grass by the front door, giving the swan +bits of bread from her fingers while the jealous birds, forgetting to go +to roost, watched and scolded from the low branches overhead. But she +had seen him a long way off and looked up as he approached. + +"Isn't he a bold buccaneer?" she said, with a smile, meaning the swan. +"We thought at first that he couldn't be tamed--Mr. Audubon, too, +thought he couldn't--and we clipped his wings to keep him from flying +away. And now he wouldn't go. See! He is the most daring creature. Why, +he will go in the great room before everybody and walk right up to aunt +Penelope when she's making the coffee, without turning a feather!" + +It was not till he was leaving that Paul remembered the Sister's message +which had served him as a pretext for stopping. And he was sorry when he +had given it, for a shadow instantly came over the brightness of Ruth's +beautiful face. Riding on to his cabin he wondered what could have cast +the shadow. + + + + +XI + +THE DANCE IN THE FOREST + + +She did not go on the next morning. That day had been chosen for the +dance in the forest, one of the two merrymakings dearest to the hearts +of those earliest Kentuckians. The May party came first, with its +crowning of the queen of love and beauty and its dance round the +May-pole; and after that this festival of dancing and feasting under the +golden trees. + +Both of these were held as regularly as the opening of the spring +flowers and the tinting of the autumn leaves. No one ever asked why or +when they were first begun; it was never the way of the Kentuckians to +ask any questions about anything that they had always been used to. And +indeed, had they tried ever so hard, they could hardly have found in +their own history the origin of these ancient customs. Those must have +been sought much farther back than the coming of those first settlers +into the wilderness,--as far back, perhaps, as the oldest traditions of +the purest stock of the old English yeomanry from which these people +were sprung. For in their veins throbbed the same warm red blood, +which, having little to do with the tilling of the soil or the building +trade, had everything to do with the fighting of battles and the making +of homes. For in their strong simple hearts was the same love of country +that bore England's flag to victory, and the same love of the fireside +that made peace as welcome as conquest. + +And as these old English fighters had danced with their sweethearts on +the greensward in the intervals between wars, so these fighters of the +wilderness now went on with the dance in the forest just as if there had +been no fierce conflict at hand. They might be called to fight to-morrow +and they would be ready, but they would dance to-day, just as their +forefathers had done. To go elsewhere than to the dance on the morning +selected for it was, therefore, not to be thought of by any young person +of the neighborhood. Ruth had asked David to take her, explaining that +William Pressley could not accompany her quite so early as she wished to +go. He had business which would detain him, she explained with a painful +blush. And then, when she had said this with a troubled look, she +flashed round on the boy, demanding to know why William should not do +whatever he thought best. + +"William always has a good reason for everything he does, or doesn't do. +He is never neglectful of any duty. Never!" with her blue eyes, which +were usually like turquoises, flashing into sapphires. "He takes time to +think--time to be sure that he is right. He isn't forever rushing into +mistakes and being sorry, like you and me!" + +In another moment she laughed and coaxed, patting his arm. + +"Do be ready, David, dear, and wear your nicest clothes," she said, in +her sweetest way. "And no girl there will have a handsomer gallant than +mine, than my Knight of the Oracle, my--" + +The boy teased but smiling ran away to do her bidding, as he always did. +He had no clothes besides the worn suit of homespun which he was then +wearing, except one other of buckskin, gayly fringed on the sleeves and +on the outer seam of the breeches. This had been his pride till of late. +But he now took it down from its peg behind his cabin door and eyed it +with new dissatisfaction. Fashions were changing in the wilderness. +Gentlemen no longer clothed themselves in the skins of wild beasts, nor +even in the coarse homespun. Not many, to be sure, were dressed like +Philip Alston; but David had lately seen Mr. Audubon hunting in velvet +knee-breeches and white silk stockings, with fine ruffles over his +hands. That gentleman had laughed at himself for doing it, but the sight +had pleased the boy's taste and gratified his craving for everything +refined and beautiful. It humiliated him to have no choice between the +shabby homespun and the fantastic buckskin. But he tried to find comfort +in thinking that he would have a boughten suit before very long. The +judge had given him a calf. The master of Cedar House was always kind +when he did not forget, as has already been said, and he was most +generous at all times. The calf was now ready for sale to the first +passing buyer of cattle. Nevertheless, David sighed as he put on the +buckskin suit, wishing, as only the young can wish for what they desire, +that he had the boughten suit then to wear to the dance in the forest. + +Yet Ruth smiled at him as if she were well pleased with his looks. There +were, to be sure, certain tangles in the gay fringes for her deft +fingers to untangle. There were, of course, many swift little touches to +be given here and there, the caressing touches that no true woman can +withhold from the dress of a man whom she is fond of. So that David's +buckskin suit suddenly seemed to him just what it should be--as all that +a man wears or has or is always does seem, when a woman's caressing +touches have convinced him that everything is right. Indeed, David +forgot to think any more of his own clothes or of himself. Looking at +Ruth he thought only of her. + +He did not know what it was that she wore. He did not know that the +muslin of her dress had cost an hundred francs the yard. He did not know +how charmingly odd the mode of its make was, since Ruth's little hands +had planned it out of her own pretty head in enchanting ignorance of the +fashion. He knew nothing of the value of the three-cornered kerchief of +white lace which tied down her gypsy hat. He did not notice that the +flowers on her hat were primroses, or that the long gloves meeting the +short sleeves and the slender little slippers peeping from beneath her +skirt, were both of the finest primrose kid. He saw only the beauty of +her face smiling at him from under the gypsy hat, the sweetness of her +red lips, and the charm of her blue eyes. And she seeing only the look +that she had seen in every man's eyes ever since she could remember, was +not made vain thereby, as a less beautiful girl might have been. She +took it all for granted and thought no more about it. Rising on the tips +of her toes, she put back an unruly lock of David's hair with a last +loving little pat. + +"There now! We are all ready," she said, with a happy sigh. + +"Yes, the coffee is the first thing on the top of the basket," said Miss +Penelope, coming in from the kitchen. "That's it in the biggest bottle. +You can have it warmed over the campfire. I shouldn't like to drink +warmed-over coffee, myself. But then nobody in this house ever thinks +as I do about anything. It isn't my notion of what's right and +proper--to say nothing of Christian--to be a-dancing when everybody +ought to be a-praying. Not a day passes without something in the way of +a warning. Now there is the big hole that they've just found in the +earth right over yonder--a hollowness without end or bottom, and as dark +as the bottomless pit. That's what it ought to be called, too--instead +of the Mammoth Cave. For if that don't show that there is nothing but a +dreadful, empty shell left of this awful world, I don't know what any +true sign is. But all the same, I know very well that nobody in this +house pays any attention to what I say. Howsomever, the works of the +light-minded who are a-dancing on the edge of perdition don't make any +difference in my plain duty. And I am a-going to do it as near as I can +so long as I breathe the breath of life. When my cold, stiff hands are +crossed under the coffin-lid, nobody left 'pon top of this mournful +earth ever can say that I sat by, like a bump on a log, and never said a +word when I saw all these awful calamities a-coming." + +Thus voicing these vague alarms in her sweetest tones, Miss Penelope +turned nervously and glanced at her half-sister. She was always afraid +of her, as very talkative, restless people often are of those who say +little and watch a great deal. But the widow Broadnax seemed to be +dozing among her cushions, and Miss Penelope felt it quite safe to go +on with the softly uttered threats which scattered the small dark +servitors, who were still flying about her like a flock of frightened +blackbirds, although the basket was packed. + +"No," said Miss Penelope, "it don't make any difference in my duty. If +folks won't listen to what I am bound to say, that is no fault of mine. +My duty is to give warning when I see true signs of what's a-going to +happen. For a true sign is as plain as daylight to me. I never had a +caul, and I don't lay any claim to second sight. But I know what it +means when I hear the dogs a-baying the midnight moon. I know, too, +what's a-coming to pass when the death-watch goes thump, thump, thumping +in the wall right over my head the whole blessed night. And more than +that, I was a-looking for both these true signs of bad luck before I +heard 'em. That big black ring round the comet's head that I've seen for +a night or two back told me plain enough what to expect. And look at the +things that have already happened--all over the country. Nobody in this +world of trouble surely ever saw the like. Just look at the twins!" + +This was the chance that the widow Broadnax had been waiting and +watching for in motionless silence. She seized it as suddenly as a +seemingly sleepy cat seizes an unwary mouse. + +"I don't see any sign of bad luck in twins, or triplets either, for my +part," she said hoarsely and loudly. "They are every one of 'em bound to +be whole brothers and sisters. To my mind, it don't make any difference +how big a family is so long as it ain't mixed up." + +Ruth and David seized the basket, and escaped--laughing and +running--carrying it between them. + +The spot chosen for this Indian Summer dance in the forest was near +Cedar House. It was one of the natural open spaces, of which there were +many in the wilderness, and it overlooked the river. High walls of thick +green leaves enfolded it upon three sides, and it had a broad level +floor of greener sward. It was sun-lit when the shadowed woods were +dark. In the spring the greensward was gay with wild flowers; for it was +in these open spaces between the trees that Nature displayed her most +brilliant floral treasures which would not bloom in the shade. In the +fall the leafy walls were more brilliant than the flowery sward, and +they now rose toward the azure dome, gorgeously hung with bronzed and +golden vines, blossoming here and there with vivid scarlet leaves. Below +ran a dazzling border of shrubs--the sumac, which does not wait for the +coming of the frost king to put on its royal livery; the sassafras +already gleaming with touches of fire; the wild grape as red as the +reddest wine, and rioting over all the rich green; the bright wahoo with +its graceful clusters of flame-colored berries overrunning its soberer +neighbors; the hazel, the pawpaw, the dog-wood, the red-bud, the +spice-wood, the sweet-strife, the angelica. On the west the velvet turf +began to unroll gently downward toward the river. The quiet stream ran +with molten silver on that flawless October day, and deep shadows of +royal purple hung curtains of wondrous beauty above the water. Back +under the trees the shadows were darkly blue, bluer even than the +cloudless sky arching so high above the tall tree-tops. + +Nature indeed always made more preparations and much finer ones, for the +dance in the woods than the simple people of the wilderness ever thought +of making. The word merely went from one log house to another, fixing +the day for the dance. The hunters' daughters with the help of their +mothers, filled the big baskets with simple good things on the night +before; for the young hunters came very early to go with their +sweethearts to the festival, and there was no time to spare on the +morning of the dance. The dancing sometimes began at nine o'clock in the +morning. The three black men from Cedar House who played for the dancing +were in their places long before that hour, with their instruments +already in tune. One had an old fiddle, another the remnant of a guitar, +and the third a clumsy iron triangle which he had made himself. +Nevertheless they were famous for their dance music and known +throughout the wilderness to all the dancers. Those old-time country +fiddlers--all of them, black or white--how wonderful they were! They +have always been the wonder and the despair of all musicians who have +played by rule and note. The very way that the country fiddler held his +fiddle against his chest and never against his shoulder like the trained +musician! The very way that the country fiddler grasped his bow, firmly +and squarely in the middle, and never lightly at the end like a trained +musician! The very way that he let go and went off and kept on--the +amazing, inimitable spirit, the gayety, the rhythm, the swing! No +trained musician ever heard the music of the country fiddler without +wondering at its power, and longing in vain to know the secret of its +charm. It would be worth a good deal to know where and how they learned +the tunes that they played. Possibly these were handed down by ear from +one to another; some perhaps have never been pent up in notes, and +others may have been given to the note reader under other names than +those by which the country fiddlers knew them. This is said to have been +the case with "Old Zip Coon," and the names of many of them would seem +to prove that they belonged to the time and the country. But there is a +delightful uncertainty about the origin and the history of almost all of +them--about "Leather Breeches" and "Sugar in the Gourd" and "Wagoner" +and "Cotton-eyed Joe," and so on through a long list. + +On this day the musicians sat in a row on a fallen tree, and the grass +beside it was very soon worn away, and the earth before it beaten as +hard as any ballroom floor under the gay and ceaseless patting of their +feet. On the other side of the wide level space was a green bower made +of freshly cut boughs. This was a retiring room, intended for the use of +any fair dancer whose hair might fall into disorder or whose skirt might +be torn in the dancing. The baskets were all put out of sight till +wanted, hidden beneath the bushes that bordered the open space. But now +and then, when the soft warm breeze swayed the leafy screen of green and +gold and crimson, there were tantalizing glimpses of the folded +table-cloths covering the baskets, like much belated or very early +snowdrifts. + +Most of the hunters' daughters came to the dance riding behind their +sweethearts, after the pleasant custom of the country. They were fine +girls for their station in life, and well fitted for the hardships which +must be their portion. They were large, strong, brave, simple, +good--healthy in body and mind, warm in heart, and cool in courage, with +pleasing faces roughened by exposure, and capable hands hardened by +work. They were dressed in homespun as became their looks, their means, +and manner of living. In all things these future mothers of a great +state were the natural and suitable mates for the gallant young +state-makers. And each one of the young hunters now standing beside +them, held his head high as he led out the girl of his choice, feeling +his own right to be prouder and happier than any of his fellows. + +The dancing had begun before Ruth and David came, although they were so +early. The spot being near, they had walked through the forest swinging +the basket between them like two happy children, and coming to the open +space, they stopped for a moment and looked on, thinking what a pleasing +scene it was. The girls, tripping through the dance, smiled at Ruth as +they passed. They knew her very well, and had seen her so often that +they no longer looked at her as plump brown partridges might look at an +exquisite bird of paradise. And then, they felt that Ruth was +unconscious of any difference between herself and them. There was a +sweet, cordial friendliness about her, an innate warm-hearted, magnetic +charm which won women as well as men. The hunters' daughters liked her +because they knew that she liked them for, after all, most of us get +what we give in our larger relation to humanity--seldom, if ever, +anything else, either more or less. Those who truly love their kind can +never be really hated: those who hate their kind can never be really +loved. The balance may waver one way or the other at times, but it +cannot fail to weigh truly at last. + +Ruth danced first with David and then with one of the bashful young +hunters. But all the while she was looking toward the opening in the +undergrowth, expecting to see Paul Colbert. He had said that he would be +there, and presently she saw him standing in the opening between the +trees, with the shining river at his back. He was wearing his best and +Ruth thought with a leap of her heart, that she had not known till now +how handsome he was. His hair was fairer than she had thought, as fair +as hers was dark, and she liked it all the better for that. His eyes +were gray and clear and steady and fearless. He had a proud way, too, of +throwing up his head, as if he tossed away all petty thoughts. She saw +him do this as he crossed the greensward, coming straight to her side. +It pleased her that he did not stop for a single glance round. She felt +his unlikeness to another man, when she saw that he had no thought of +any eyes that might be upon himself. And because of this comparison, and +the pang of uneasiness and self-reproach which it brought, she blushed +when her eyes met his as she had not done heretofore. + +There is little use in trying to put into words what he thought of her, +or what any true lover thinks of the beloved. The rose of the dawn, and +the breath of the zephyr were not glowing or delicate enough to portray +Ruth as she was to Paul that day. The beauty of her face under the gypsy +hat; the witchery of her dark blue eyes smiling up at him; the pink +roses blooming on her fair cheeks; the red rose of her perfect +mouth--all this gave him at a glance a likeness of her to lay away in +his memory: a vivid flashing, imperishable treasure to keep forever. + + * * * * * + +The gayety of the Indian Summer dance was now at its height. The mellow +sunlight fell straight down through the arching green branches of the +bordering trees. The earth, still warm with the summer's fires, lifted a +cool face to the soft breeze. The dancers growing tired and hungry about +noon, sat down on the greensward in little groups, while the baskets +were taken from their hiding-places and the simple feast was soon +spread. The black men served it with the coffee which they had heated +over the campfire built at some distance in the forest. The homespun +linen of the table-cloths looked very white on the dark green of the +rich grass. But the single square of fine damask from Ruth's basket was +not whiter than its humble neighbors, and she did not think of her finer +linen or richer food. With Paul Colbert seated on the grass at her right +hand, and David at her left, she took what was given her, knowing only +that she was quite content and perfectly happy. She was indeed so happy +that she was less gay than usual, for the greatest happiness makes least +noise. She listened to all that was said, saying almost nothing herself. +Paul's eyes hardly left her face, and he instantly observed that a +shadow suddenly clouded it, the same shadow which had fallen over it on +the evening before. Turning his eyes in the direction of her gaze, he +saw William Pressley standing not far away. He did not know that the +white-haired gentleman who stood beside the young man was Philip Alston, +but he noted that the shadow quickly left Ruth's face at sight of the +older man, when, brightening and smiling, she beckoned the newcomers to +approach. And he also saw what she seemed not to see, that the older man +turned a frowning face on the younger, and said something which was not +cordially received. Had he known William Pressley better, he would have +seen the dignified protest that was in every line of his large +slow-moving figure as he followed Philip Alston across the wide open +space to Ruth's side. To her, William's very step said as plain as words +could have spoken that he was used to being misunderstood, but none the +less sure of having done his whole duty. She looked up with the little +uneasy flutter which this manner of his always caused her. She so craved +love and approval that a dark look made her tender heart ache, even +though she was unconscious of having done anything to deserve it. This +was nearly always the state of feeling between her betrothed and +herself, but up to this moment she had never doubted that her own +shortcomings were wholly to blame. She hurriedly drew her thin skirt +closer about her, nervously trying to make room for him between David +and herself. The boy and doctor rose to their feet as the two men +approached. Ruth sat still on the grass, lifting her blue eyes to +William Pressley's face with a timid, wistful, almost frightened glance. + +"You have met Doctor Colbert, William," she said quickly, and then she +turned with a smile that was like a flash of light. "And uncle +Philip--Mr. Alston--this is the doctor." + +Paul Colbert in his utter amazement took the hand which Philip Alston +held out. He could not have refused it had there been time to think, for +her eyes were on him, and there was no doubting her affection for Philip +Alston; that shone like sunlight on her face and thrilled in every +tender tone of her voice. The young doctor could scarcely believe the +evidence of his own eyes and ears. This Philip Alston! It was +incredible, impossible; there was certainly some mistake. Nevertheless +he hastily withdrew his hand and Philip Alston noted the haste, +understanding it as well as Paul Colbert himself. His own manner was +quiet and calm, showing none of the irritation which he felt at William +Pressley's negligence. He lost none of his graciousness through seeing +the young doctor's involuntary recoil. His intuitions were unerring; he +knew instantly that this newcomer was already acquainted with the +stories told about himself, but he cared little for that. He was +considering the interference with his plans which might come from the +sudden appearance of a young man of this young doctor's looks and +intelligence. Hardly half a dozen commonplace remarks had been exchanged +between them before he had recognized the unusual power of mind and body +which he might soon have to contend with. He turned and looked at +William Pressley and then back at Paul Colbert with a clouded brow, but +he glanced down with a smile when Ruth touched his arm. + +"Dearest uncle Philip," she said, "I am so--so--glad that you have come. +You are just in time to dance with me. You did once, you know, at the +May party, and none of the other girls had so courtly a partner. They +couldn't have because I wouldn't let them have you. I should be jealous +if you were to dance with any one else, and there is no one anywhere +like you." + +Looking up with her eyes full of affection she took his hand and pressed +it against her pink cheek. At the sight a stab of pain and a thrill of +fear went through the doctor's perplexed thoughts. He suddenly realized +that the girl's life was closely bound up with this man's. He felt that +any distrust of him must wound her, and although he still knew nothing +of the bond between them, he saw that there could be no question of its +being very close and strong. His first impulse was to try to persuade +himself that the suspicion against Philip Alston might be unfounded; as +it was certainly unproven. And then, finding himself unable to do this, +he felt tempted to put the whole problem of the man's guilt or innocence +aside, as no concern of his own. It is always the lover's temptation to +shut his eyes when he must choose between the neglect of duty and the +wounding of the woman he loves. And alas! this is a choice that comes +sooner or later, in one form or another, to all who love. The woman +sometimes can find an invisible thread leading through the labyrinth of +the feminine conscience which may help her to follow a middle course. +The man never has any such subtle resource and he knows, from first to +last, that he must do what is wrong if he does not do what is right. + +Paul Colbert's troubled perplexity grew deeper as he continued to look +at Philip Alston and to listen as he talked. The softness of his voice, +the culture that every word revealed, the intellectual quality of each +thought, the clear, calm, steady gaze of his fine eyes, the noble shape +of his distinguished head--all these things taken together almost made +the young doctor feel that Philip Alston was the victim of monstrous +calumny. And yet some unerring intuition told him that the terrible +things which he had heard were true. His gaze wandered from Philip +Alston to Ruth, and he grew sick. A sudden cold dampness gathered on his +forehead under all the mellow warmth of the sun. He began to wish that +he could get away long enough to clear his mind--to think. It was rather +a relief when Philip Alston suggested that William Pressley should lead +Ruth out for the next dance. Paul Colbert's gaze followed them as they +walked away across the sun-lit grass, but he scarcely knew that he was +looking at them till Philip Alston spoke. + +"They are a handsome, well-matched young couple, are they not?" he said +with a smile, and with his eyes on the young doctor's face. "You know, +of course, that they are to be married on Christmas Eve." + + + + +XII + +THE EVE OF ALL SOULS' + + +Ruth saw Paul Colbert when he passed Cedar House for the first time +without stopping. He was riding very fast, and she feared that the Cold +Plague must be growing worse. Still, a glance at her chamber window +would not have delayed him, and she wondered why he did not turn his +head. She was almost sure he must know that she always gave the birds +their supper on the window-sill at that hour. She did not know that he +had seen her without looking, and had borne away in his heart a picture +of her slight white form, framed by the sun-lit window, and surrounded +by the fluttering birds. Disappointed, wondering, and vaguely troubled, +she gazed after him as long as he was visible amid the green gloom of +the forest path. And then when he was lost to sight, she turned sharply +on the boldest blue jay. + +"Go 'way, you greedy thing! You startled me. I wasn't thinking about any +of you. How tiresome you all are! To teach you better manners, I am +going to throw this down to Trumpeter," leaning forward to see the swan +which stood on the grass below, anxiously watching everything that went +on above. "There! That is the last nice fat crumb." + +The day had seemed endlessly long. She went wearily down the stairs +again, as she had done many times since morning. Neither the judge nor +William was at home. Miss Penelope and the widow Broadnax were in their +accustomed places, and matters around the hearth were going forward as +usual. Miss Penelope had asked fiercely in her mildest tone, what +anybody could expect to become of any country, when one of the biggest +towns in it built a theatre before building any kind of a church, as +Louisville had done. The widow Broadnax had replied in her loudest, +roughest voice, that she supposed the people there, as well as +elsewhere, could keep on getting married two or three times, and mixing +up families that otherwise might have lived in peace, just as well +without a church as with one. But the girl listened listlessly and +unsmilingly, hardly hearing what was said. Going out of the room she sat +for a long time on the doorstep, watching the forest path with patient +wistfulness. But there was no sign of the young doctor's coming back and +it was a relief when David came up the river bank. He reminded her that +she had asked him to go with her to the Sisters' house, and she arose +and went indoors to get her bonnet. + +"You'd just as well take the orphans one of the biggest fatty gourds of +maple sugar," sighed Miss Penelope. "Ten to one none of us will ever +live to eat much of anything, with that comet a-hanging over us. It's +just as well to get ready as soon as you can, when you've been warned. I +know what to look for when I've dreamt of wading through muddy water +three times a-hand-running. Tell the Sisters that all the maple sugar +that was ever poured into fatty gourds couldn't hurt the children's +teeth now. The poor little things, and all of us, will have mighty +little use for teeth--or stomachs either, for that matter--if things +don't take a turn for the better a good deal sooner than I think they +will. For my part, I don't see what else anybody can expect with that +big black ring round the comet's head a-getting bigger and blacker every +night of our miserable lives." + +She called all the small cup-bearers,--for some unknown reason she never +called one or two without calling all,--and sent them running to the +smoke-house to fetch the fatty gourd. She threatened them fiercely in +her dovelike tones, saying what she would do if they loitered, or +stopped to put their little black paws in the sugar. But the cup-bearers +knew Miss Penelope quite as well as she knew them, and when they came +back with the fatty gourd they waited, as a matter of course, till she +gave each one of them a generous handful of the sugar, before handing +the gourd to David. + +The Sisters' house was within walking distance, and Ruth and David had +gone about half the way when they met Father Orin and Toby. These +co-workers were not moving with their usual speed on account of an +unwieldy burden. Tied on behind the priest's saddle was a great bag, +containing the weekly mail for the neighborhood. He went to the +postoffice oftener than any one else, and it had become his custom to +fetch the mail to the chapel once a week, and distribute it after +service on Sundays. When possible, he sent the letters of those who were +not of his congregation by some neighbor who was present; but he often +rode miles out of his way to deliver them with his own hand. It was in +carrying the mail on a bitter winter's day, when the earth was a +glittering sheet of ice, that he had fallen and broken his arm. It was a +serious accident, and would have disabled any one else for a long time, +but he was out again and as busy as ever within a few days, though he +had to carry his arm in a sling for several weeks. He now hailed the two +young people with his kind, merry greeting. + +"There's a great letter up at the convent," he said, when he came up +beside them. "The Sisters have got it, and they will show it to you. Ask +them to read it to you. That letter will have a place in Kentucky +history. This is where we must turn out. No, Toby, old man, there's no +time for you to be listening and enjoying yourself, nor for nibbling +pea-vine, either. Move on, move on! Good-by, my children. Don't forget +to ask the Sisters to show you the bishop's letter." + +Sister Teresa held it in her hand when she came to the door to meet +them. Both the girl and the boy had been her pupils, and she had formed +an attachment for them which had not been weakened by their leaving the +little school. Sister Elizabeth also hastened to receive them most +cordially. Sister Angela merely waved her hand through the window, but +the little faces peeping over the sill, and the tops of the little curly +heads bobbing up and down at her side, told why she could not come with +the others to meet the welcome guests. Sister Teresa did not wait to be +asked to read the letter, she was too much excited over it to forget it +for a moment; its coming was the greatest event that the convent had +ever known. + +"This, my dear children," she began almost as soon as they were within +hearing, "is a letter from Bishop Flaget, the first bishop of Kentucky, +the first bishop of the whole northwest. Of course you must know, my +dears, that this is far too important a letter to have been written to +an humble little community like ours, or even to Father Orin, much as he +is esteemed. This is merely a copy of the letter which Bishop Flaget is +sending back to France, and the original was addressed to the French +Association for the Propagation of the Faith. It was written in June of +this year, soon after the arrival of his Reverence in Kentucky, but our +copy has reached us only to-day. Listen! This is what he says about his +coming to Bardstown: 'It was on the 9th of June, 1811, that I made my +entry into this little village, accompanied by two priests, and three +young students for the ecclesiastical state. Not only had I not a cent +in my purse, but I was compelled to borrow nearly two thousand francs in +order to reach my destination. Thus, without money, without a house, +without property, almost without acquaintances, I found myself in the +midst of a diocese, two or three times larger than all France, +containing five large states and two immense territories, and myself +speaking the language, too, very imperfectly. Add to this that almost +all the Catholics were emigrants, but newly settled and poorly +furnished.' Ah, but he was welcomed with all our hearts!" cried Sister +Teresa, with tears springing to her gentle eyes. "Listen to this, from +another letter, telling how he came to St. Stephen's. It is like a +beautiful painting--you can see how it looked! 'The bishop there found +the faithful kneeling on the grass, and singing canticles in English: +the country women were nearly all dressed in white, and many of them +were still fasting, though it was four o'clock in the evening; they +having indulged the hope to be able to assist at his Mass, and receive +the Holy Communion from his hands. An altar had been prepared at the +entrance of the first court under a bower composed of four small trees +which overshadowed it with their foliage. Here the bishop put on his +pontifical robes. After the aspersion of the holy water, he was +conducted to the chapel in procession, with the singing of the Litany of +the Blessed Virgin; and the whole function closed with the prayers and +ceremonies prescribed for the occasion in Roman Pontifical.' Ah, yes; we +did our best for him!" + +Sister Teresa's soft eyes were shining now behind her tears. + +"And hear this, also written by the same dear friend who sends us the +bishop's letter. The priest, M. Badin, to whom this letter refers, is in +charge of St. Stephen's, so that it was his duty as well as his pleasure +to make preparations for the bishop's coming. This letter says that: 'M. +Badin had for his lodgings one poor log house ... and it was with great +difficulty that he was enabled to build and prepare for his illustrious +friend, and the ecclesiastics who accompanied him, two miserable log +cabins, sixteen feet square: and one of the missionaries was even +compelled to sleep on a mattress in the garret of this strange episcopal +palace, which was whitewashed with lime, and contained no other +furniture than a bed, six chairs, two tables, and a few planks for a +library. Here the bishop still resides, esteeming himself happy to live +thus in the midst of apostolic poverty.'" The Sister broke off suddenly. +"But I must not allow you to stand out here, my dear children. It soon +grows chilly on these late fall evenings. Come indoors at once, my +dears. And then, Ruth, Sister Angela is very anxious to show you the +sewing which she has finished." + +"Oh, I know how beautiful it is without seeing it," said Ruth, with a +sudden shrinking; but she added hastily, "There is no such needle-woman +as Sister Angela anywhere." + +She followed the Sister into the larger of the two rooms which the house +contained. David bashfully stayed behind, lingering on the threshold, +and keeping man's respectful distance from the mysteries of feminine +wear. But the three white caps and the flower-wreathed bonnet drew close +together over the dainty garments, all a foam of lace and ruffles and +embroidery. David heard the terms rolling and whipping, and felling and +overcasting and hemstitching and herring-boning which were an unknown +tongue to him. Ruth praised everything, till even Sister Angela was +quite satisfied. That pretty young sister was indeed so elated that she +turned to admire Ruth's dress but the Sister Superior gently reminded +her that it was the eve of All Souls', when they and every one should be +thinking of graver things. + +"This year the souls and the safety of the living, as well as the repose +of the dead, will need all our prayers," said Sister Teresa. "There +seems no doubt of the war with the Shawnees. Ah me, ah me! And the Cold +Plague growing worse every day!" + +"But Doctor Colbert is curing that," said Ruth, eagerly. + +"As God wills, my daughter," said the Sister, making the sign of the +cross. "More recover, certainly, since he came. Before, the little ones +always died." + +"He told me that three babies were coming to you yesterday. Are they +here? The poor, poor little things! And may I see them, Sister? I should +like to help take care of them, if I might," Ruth said timidly, not +knowing that her pink cheeks bloomed into blush roses. + +The Sister led the way into the other room--the first orphan asylum in +the wilderness--and Ruth smiled and talked to the desolate little waifs +of humanity as brightly as she could with dim eyes and quivering lips. +She, herself, and David, also, had been like this. He had followed her +into the room, and was now standing by her side, so that she could clasp +his hand and hold it close. + +Walking homeward through the darkening shadows of the forest, she still +held his hand. Both were thinking sadly enough of their own coming into +this wild country, they knew not--whence or how or wherefore--and were +never to know. + +"Fathers and mothers must go suddenly when they leave their children +so," said Ruth, musingly. "Ours must have died--" + +"Or have been murdered!" David broke out fiercely. + +"No, no!" cried Ruth, shrinking closer to his side. "I could not bear to +think that." + +But the boy went on, as if speaking thoughts which had long rankled in +bitter silence. "It isn't so bad as to believe that they deserted us, or +died without leaving a word. Fathers and mothers who love their children +well enough to bear them in their arms through hundreds of weary miles +over high mountains and down long rivers, and into the depths of the +wilderness, would never desert them at the hard journey's end. Fathers +and mothers who loved their children so dearly could hardly be taken +away by lightning so quickly that they would not leave behind a single +token of their love. And we have never seen a sign showing that ours +ever lived. There is something wrong--something unaccounted +for--something that we have not been permitted to know!" + +"David, dear, dear David!" + +"I have always believed it--ever since I have been able to think. As +soon as I am old enough to speak like a man, I mean to demand the truth +from Philip Alston!" + +She dropped his hand and drew away from him with a look of wondering +distress. It was the one thing over which they had ever disagreed. + +"You must never again say anything of that kind to me, David," she said +firmly. "I beg that you will never say it to any one, never even think +it. For in thinking it, let alone saying it, you are not only unjust, +but ungrateful. What possible object could Philip Alston have in +concealing anything that he might know about you and me? Hasn't he +always been our best friend?" + +And then the quick anger which had flashed out of her loyalty turned to +gentle pleading. + +"I can't bear a word said against him, dear. And it grieves me to see +you making yourself unhappy over such useless brooding. What does it +matter, after all--our knowing nothing about ourselves, who we are, or +where we came from? We are happy, everybody is kind and good to us." + +They started at the sound of a voice calling her name, and they saw +William Pressley come out of the dark shadows beneath the trees, and +stand still, waiting for them to approach. + +"It is late, my dear, for you to be roaming about the woods like this," +he said, when they were near enough. + +He used the term of endearment in the tone of calm, moderate reproof +which a justly displeased, but self-controlled husband sometimes uses. +And Ruth felt the resentment that every woman feels at its unconscious +mockery. + +"Why, there isn't any danger," she said. "We haven't been out of sight +and hearing from Cedar House." + +"I was thinking of seemliness, not of danger," William Pressley replied +coldly. "And then Mr. Alston is waiting for you." + +Ruth moved nearer, and laid her hand on his arm, smiling rather timidly, +with conciliatory, upward glances. Her first effort, whenever they met, +was always to make something right--often before she could remember what +it was that she had done or not done to displease him. This feeling was +the natural attitude of a gentle, loving nature toward a harsh, unloving +one, and it was the most natural thing of all that he should mistake her +gentleness for weakness; that he should mistake her fear of giving +offence for a lack of moral courage. This is a common mistake often made +by those who care little for the feelings of others, about those who +care, perhaps, too much. And as the three young people walked along +toward Cedar House, Ruth gave David her left hand, and spoke to him now +and then, just as affectionately and freely as she had done while they +had been alone. William Pressley did not speak to the boy at all or +notice him in any way. He did not dislike him, for he never disliked +anything that was not of some importance. He disapproved of his +impractical, visionary character, and thought that it might have rather +an undesirable influence over Ruth. For this reason he tacitly +discouraged all intimacy between them, but he did not take the trouble +to express it and merely ignored the lad. And David, seeing how it was, +felt instantly and strongly, that being overlooked was harder to bear +than being misused--as most of us are apt to feel. + +"We have been at the Sisters' house," said Ruth, shyly, breaking a +strained silence. "They sent for me--to see the sewing that Sister +Angela has been getting ready for Christmas Eve." + +William Pressley looked down at her uplifted, blushing face, and smiled, +as the most self-centred and serious of men must do, when the girl who +is to be his wife speaks to him of her wedding clothes. + + + + +XIII + +SEEING WITH DIFFERENT EYES + + +It was on the boy's account that they had their first and last serious +quarrel a few hours later. This was by no means the first time that they +had openly disagreed, and had come to rather sharp words. Their views of +many things were too far apart for that to have been the case, but there +had never before been any great or lasting trouble by reason of their +difference of opinion. Ruth, gentle and yielding, was ever most timidly +fearful of being at fault; William, hard and unyielding, was always +perfectly certain of being in the right. It was therefore to be expected +that his opinions should generally rule, and that he should construe her +readiness to yield and her self-distrust, as proofs that he was not +mistaken. Rock-ribbed infallibility could hardly be expected to +comprehend the doubts that assail a sensitive soul. + +William, naturally enough, had never noted that in giving way, Ruth had +not turned far or long from anything involving a principle. The truth +was that she had merely evaded his intolerance of any and all difference +of opinion--as a deep stream quietly flows round an immovable +rock--only to turn gently back into its own course as soon as might be. +And even in doing this, she had put aside only her own opinions and +feelings and rights, never those of any one else. But this present +dispute over David was wholly unlike any that had gone before. This +concerned the boy's feelings and rights, so that she suddenly found +herself forced to take a firm stand--affection, justice, and even mercy, +now forbidding her to yield. Yet it was, nevertheless, just as clear to +her in this as in everything else, that William sincerely thought he was +right. That was the trouble. That is always the trouble with people like +William Pressley, who are often harder to deal with and sometimes harder +to live with, than those who knowingly do wrong. + +The three had scarcely entered the great room of Cedar House that +evening, when the judge asked the boy to go on an errand to a +neighbor's. This was to take some seed wheat which the judge had +promised to send for the fall sowing. The growing of wheat was still an +interesting and important experiment which was exciting the whole +country. There had been good corn in abundance from the first; on those +deep, rich, river-bottom lands the grains had but to reach the fertile +earth to produce an hundred bushels to the acre. But the settlers were +tired of eating corn-bread; their wives and children were pining for the +delicate white loaves made from the sweet fine wheat which they had +eaten in their old Virginia homes. So that the culture of the best wheat +had lately become a vital question, and this new seed was making a stir +of eager interest throughout the region. Philip Alston had given it to +the judge, and he, in turn, was dividing it among the neighbors. Each +grain was accordingly treasured and valued like a grain of gold, and the +judge cautioned the boy to be careful in tying the bag; wheat in the +grain is a slippery thing to handle, and he wished none of this to be +lost. + +"You must have a good, strong string--one that can't slip," said Ruth, +in her thoughtful, housewifely way. "Let me think--what kind would be +best?" + +"Here!" the judge drew out his wallet, and took off the string that +bound it. "You may use this, David, but take care not to lose it. This +is the strongest, finest strip of doeskin--" + +Ruth's sweet laughter chimed in, "It looks like minkskin--it's so +black!" touching it gingerly with the tips of her fingers. + +The judge laughed, too. Everything that she said and did pleased him. +But he cautioned the boy again not to lose the string, and to be careful +to bring it back. William Pressley looked on in grave, indifferent +silence. A slight frown gathered on his brow when he saw Ruth trying the +knot, to make sure of its firmness, after the bag was tied. His gaze +darkened somewhat and followed her when she went to the door to see the +boy set out; and he watched her stand looking after him, with her hands +raised to shield her eyes from the rays of the setting sun. It +displeased William to see her show such regard for any one of so little +importance--the personality of the boy did not enter into the matter. +While gazing at her in this cold disapproval, he noted with increased +annoyance that she then turned and looked long and wistfully toward the +forest path. It did not occur to him that she might be expecting or +wishing to see some one riding along the path. He was merely irritated +at what seemed to him an indication of unseemly restlessness and +empty-mindedness. To his mind the unusual and the unseemly were always +one and the same. And it was eminently unseemly in his eyes that the +woman who was to be his wife should wish to look away from the spot in +which he was sitting. And then, his displeasure turned to anger when +Ruth, after standing still and gazing up the forest path, till he felt +that he must go out to her and utter the reproof that was on his lips, +did not come back to her seat by his side, but began instead to play +with the swan. + +He sat motionless and silent, calmly biding his time to express the +disapproval which such childish behavior made incumbent upon him. Cold, +hard anger like his can always wait; and waiting only makes it colder +and harder; there is never heat enough in it to melt its merciless ice. + +A sudden darkening of the sky sent her into the house at last, and even +then she did not return to her proper place by his side. She did not +even look at him, but spoke to the judge who was just leaving the great +room to go to the cabin which he used as his bedroom and office. Ruth +begged him not to start out, saying that the storm seemed so near that +it might break before he could reach the cabin. But he went on with a +smiling shake of his head, after a glance at the dark clouds which were +gathering blackly on the other side of the river behind the spectral +cottonwoods, now bare of leaves and ghostly white. + +"Did David have to go through the big deadening, William?" she asked +suddenly, speaking over her shoulder, without leaving her anxious post +in the doorway, though the wind was whipping her skirts about her +slender figure and loosing her long, black hair. "I wish he would come. +He should be back by this time. I am afraid--the great trees fall so in +a storm. Father Orin and the doctor, too, often ride through there. And +it is such a dangerous place when the wind blows. Oh!" with a cry of +relief, "there's David now! Here he comes. David, David dear--I am so +glad!" + +She sprang down the steps and ran to meet the boy. The rush of the +rising storm kept from hearing William Pressley's call for her to come +back. He stood still for a moment, hesitating, and then, seeing that she +flew on, he followed and overtook her just as she reached David, who was +getting down from the pony and taking the empty bag from the saddle. The +wind was now very violent, and the darkened air was thick with the dead +leaves of the forest swirling into the river which was already lashed +into waves and dashing against the shore. Waterfowl flew landward with +frightened cries; a low, dark cloud was being drawn up the stream over +the ashen face of the water--a strange, thick, terrible black curtain, +shaken by the tempest and bordered by the lightning--pressed onward by +the resistless powers of the air. + +There was a lull just as William Pressley reached Ruth's side. It was +one of those tense spaces which are among the greatest terrors of a +storm by reason of their suddenness, their stillness, and their +suspense. He grasped her hand, and she clung to his as she would have +clung to anything that she chanced to touch in her fright. He said +rather sternly that she must come to the house at once, and she turned +obediently, following the motion of his hand rather than the meaning of +his words. He spoke to David also, without looking at the boy, but she +was clinging to him and hiding her face on his arm whenever the +lightning flashed, and did not notice what he had said until he repeated +his words:-- + +"You have of course brought back the doeskin string." + +Ruth suddenly lifted her face from his arm, loosed her grasp upon it and +stood away from him. Yet in that first dazed instant she could not +believe that she had heard aright. It was impossible for her, being what +she was, to understand that he had never in all his life done anything +more true to his nature, more thoroughly characteristic, than to ask +this question at such a time. She forgot the lightning while she waited +till he asked it for the third time. And then, straining her incredulous +ears again, she heard the boy murmur something, and she saw him +hurriedly and confusedly searching his pockets for the string. + +"I can't find it," he stammered. "I must have dropped it when I poured +out the wheat. I am so sorry--I will go to-morrow--" + +"You will go now;" said William, calmly. "The string will be lost by +to-morrow. And then," judicially, "you will remember a needed lesson +better if you go at once." + +"William!" burst out Ruth almost with a scream. "You can't mean what you +say. Listen to the roar of the coming storm. It's almost here. Surely +you don't know what you are saying. Send David through the deadening in +the very teeth of a tempest like this, for a bit of string!" + +"Come to the house, my dear. It is beginning to rain. I am afraid you +will take cold. You, sir, will go back at once," turning to the boy. +"You know, of course, that the string itself is of no importance in this +matter. It is absurd to speak of such a thing. But it is my duty to +teach you, as far as I can, to perform yours. I tell you again to go at +once. That is all I have to say, I believe, concerning this matter. +Come, Ruth, it is beginning to rain." + +She shrunk away from his hand as if its touch horrified her. Her tears +were falling faster than the heavy, isolated drops that fell on her bare +head. But her courage was rising at need, as it always rose, and she was +not too much blinded by tears to see that the boy was getting on the +pony again. She ran to him and caught his sleeve, and turned upon +William Pressley with the reckless fierceness of a gentle creature made +daring in defence of what it loves. + +"You are cruel," she said, speaking calmly, steadied by the very +extremity of her excitement and distress. "You have no more heart than a +stone. You feel nothing that does not touch yourself. You have always +been unkind to David. But you shall not do this. I will prevent +you--defy you. You shall not send him to his death for some narrow, +tyrannical notion. He is like my brother. I love him as if he were. And +I wouldn't allow you to treat a stranger so. It's inhuman! It shall not +be!" panting, and clinging to the boy. + +William Pressley stared at her as if he thought she had suddenly lost +her senses. Could this be Ruth speaking like that--and to himself? +Instinctively he threw into his voice the whole weight of his heavy, +cold rage, which had never yet failed to crush all life and spirit out +of her most fiery resistance. + +"This is truly shocking. I scarcely know what to say. I am merely trying +to do my unpleasant duty in a perfectly simple matter. If I didn't try +to do it, I should always think less well of myself--" + +"Think less well of yourself!" she cried. "Nothing in the world could +ever make you do that! Nothing! Whatever you think and say and do is +always right; whatever anybody else thinks or says or does is always +wrong. I have given up in almost everything because I loved peace more +than my own way, and because I am not often sure that I know best. But I +will not give up in this!" shrinking and quivering at a peal of thunder, +but clinging closer to the boy's arm. + +William Pressley came nearer and laid his hand on her shoulder. + +"Come to the house, my dear," he said quietly. "It is beginning to rain +harder. You will certainly take cold. Come at once. When you have time +to think, you will see how childish and foolish all this is. We will say +no more about it. You, sir, know what is right for you to do. You know +as well as I do what the judge's positive orders were. You have +disregarded them--" + +"But uncle Robert never meant anything like this," she said. "He is +kind and tender-hearted. I will call him. He would not--" + +The boy had turned proudly and silently, meaning to get back in the +saddle, but she would not loose her hold on his arm. And then came the +first furious blast of the tempest, and the greatest trees--the +mightiest giants of the ancient forest--bent and crouched before it, +bracing themselves for the fierce conflict with the elements in which +they must gain or lose centuries of life. The rain now began to fall +heavily, and William abruptly told the boy to come in the house till the +storm was over. In yielding thus far, he was not influenced by Ruth's +threat to appeal to his uncle. He had scarcely heard what she said, and +he was never in awe of the judge's opinion, and never looked for +opposition from any source, because he could not anticipate an opinion +different from his own. He merely dropped the argument for the moment +because he saw the urgent necessity of bringing an undignified scene to +a speedy close, and could not see any other or better way of doing it. + +When they had gone indoors and had gathered around the fire, so that +their damp clothes might dry, he was by far the most composed of the +three. The boy was deeply agitated and suffering as only the +supersensitive can suffer from harshness, whether merited or not. Ruth +was still quivering with excitement and distress, and very soon her +tender conscience also was aching. She could not recall very distinctly +all that she had said, but she knew how bitter her words must have been, +and was already wondering how she ever could have uttered them. How they +came in her mind and heart she could not comprehend. She had always +thought William a good man, and worthy of all respect, and she now felt +that there had been much truth in what he had said. David was a dreamer, +poor boy, and it would be well if he could be taught to remember, to be +practical and useful like other people. She still could not think it +right for him to have been forced to go back through the storm to +correct an error; but she now thought that William had not really +intended to send him. It seemed suddenly plain that William's sole +intention must have been to impress him with the necessity of doing what +he was told to do. She had scolded the boy herself about that very thing +many a time. The fault was hers, she had been too hasty, too excitable, +too impetuous. Ah, yes, that was always her fault! She looked at William +with everything that she thought and felt clearly to be seen on her +transparent face. But a ray of comfort shone through the cloud which +darkened her spirits. Surely this and everything else would be well when +she had told him how sorry she was, and how plainly she saw her mistake. +They had been such good friends as far back as she could remember; the +bond between them had been such a close and strong one that it +certainly could not be broken or even strained by a few hasty, +passionate words, repented at once. Her lovely eyes were already seeking +his face and silently appealing to this old and faithful affection. + +But William's gaze did not meet hers. He was looking into the fire and +seeing what had occurred with wholly different eyes. To him everything +was altered, and nothing could ever make the relation between them what +it had been. No tenderness of affection, no length of association, no +faithfulness of service, could stand for an instant against a single one +of the many blows that his morbid self-love had received. For self-love +like his is an incurable disease of sensibility, a spreading canker +which poisons the whole character, as an unsound spot in the flesh +poisons the whole body. To those who have not come in close contact with +this form of morbidity, it may seem impossible that William Pressley's +love for Ruth, which had been real so far as it went, should have +hardened into dislike almost as soon as the words that wounded it had +left her lips. Yet that was precisely what had taken place, quite +naturally and even inevitably. He had loved her as much as he was +capable of loving, mainly because of the deep gratification which he +found in her great esteem for himself. No one else had ever come so near +granting his self-love all that it demanded. Her sweet presence, always +looking up to him, had been like the perpetual swinging of a censer +perpetually giving the fragrant incense that his vanity craved. And now +all this was changed. The gentle acolyte was gone, the censer no longer +swung, and instead there was a keen critic armed with words as hard as +stones. No, there was nothing strange in the fact that, when William +Pressley finally turned his gaze on Ruth, he looked at her as if she had +been a stranger whom he had never seen before; an utter stranger, and +one moreover whose presence was so utterly antagonistic to him that +there was not the remotest possibility of any liking between them. But +he said nothing, and gave no indication of what he felt. No feeling was +ever strong enough to cause him to say or do an unconsidered thing. In +this, as in all things, he waited to be sure that he was doing what +would place himself in the best possible light. While he had never a +moment's doubt of being wholly in the right, he thought it best to wait +and consider his own appearance in the matter. And then, just at that +time, political affairs were claiming his first attention, for that was +a period of intense public stress. + + + + +XIV + +A SPIRITUAL CENTAUR + + +The whole wilderness, the whole country, the whole heart of the nation, +was now aflame over the coming conflict at Tippecanoe. + +Father Orin, like every one else, was thinking of this, a day or so +later, as he rode along the forest path. There was a heavy weight in his +merciful breast as he looked across the river. Over there, beyond those +spectral cottonwoods and on the banks of its tributary, the Wabash, the +white and the red races were about to meet in a supreme struggle now +close at hand. He had just been told that Joe Daviess had offered his +sword, and the news had brought the public trouble home to his own +heart, for he loved the man. + +And thus it was that, seeing Tommy Dye riding toward him, he had only a +grave word of greeting, without any of the merry banter that the +adventurer had come to expect. He stopped, however, feeling that Tommy +had something to say, but he listened in rather abstracted silence, till +Tommy spoke of having been to see the Sisters in order to tell them +good-by. + +"For I am going to Tippecanoe, too. I leave to-night. The general can't +go. It looks like the wound from that infernal duel with Dickinson never +would get well. But I like to be where things are stirring, and I am +going, anyhow. So is Joe Daviess." + +"Yes, I know," said Father Orin, sadly. "Good men as well as bad must +go, I suppose, if wars must be fought." + +Tommy Dye looked hard at him for a moment, and taking off his hat, +rubbed his red hair the wrong way till it stood on end. His stare +gradually turned to a sort of sheepish embarrassment before he spoke;-- + +"I'll swear some of the babies up yonder ain't much bigger than my +fist!" he finally blurted out. "I took the Sisters the wad I won on the +last chicken fight. 'Twasn't much, but there ain't any use taking it +over the river for the red devils to get, if they get me--and maybe they +will--for they say the Prophet is a fighter. If the Shawnees don't get +me, I can make plenty more, so it's just as broad as it's long. Anyhow, +the Sisters will know what to do with the wad. Say! I wish it had been +bigger. They took me into the room where the youngsters stay," he said +huskily, rubbing his head harder than ever. "They said--them real ladies +said--that they would raise up the children to love me, and pray for me. +When I come away they cried--them real ladies--about me, old Tommy Dye, +that ain't even a heretic." + +"You are kind, my friend; you have a good heart, and you are generous," +said Father Orin; "but I wish you could earn your money in another and a +better way. Somehow it grates--" + +"Now, look here!" cried Tommy Dye, bristling at once, and jamming his +hat back on his red head. He was always cowed at the very sight of the +gentle Sisters; but as man to man--even though one be a priest--he was +up again at once, and quite ready to hold his own. "Every man to his own +notion," he blustered and swaggered. "I've got mine and you've got +yours. That's my way of making a living, and I dare anybody to say it +ain't honest. Just let any man come out flat foot and tell me so, face +to face. I play fair, and I bet as square as the next one. I take my +chances the same as the other man. I may fight rough and tumble, but I +always give warning, and I never gouge. If any man's got anything to say +against my honesty or fairness, he's only got to come on and say it." + +"Come, come!" said Father Orin, too sad to be amused at the outburst, as +he might have been at another time. "I beg your pardon if I have +offended you. I had no thought of doing that. But I wish I could induce +you to think before you go into danger. All who go over yonder will not +come back. The Shawnees have been getting ready for this test of +strength for a long time. There is great danger. I beg you, my friend, +to think. Will you come back with me to the chapel? Just for a little +while. There is no one there, and we can have a quiet talk." + +"Now, what's the use of raking all that up again? We've gone over all +that--and more than once--haven't we? You thought one way and I another, +when we had it out the other day. And we've both got the same right now +that we had then, to think as we like about something that neither of us +knows the first blamed thing about, haven't we? Well, I think just the +same now that I did then, and I reckon you do, too. I haven't seen any +reason to change, have you? I haven't had any fresh news from up +yonder"--pointing heavenward--"and I don't suppose you have either. So +you see one of us is bound to be most damnable mistaken--" + +"Shut up," shouted Father Orin, "you unmannerly rascal! I have a great +mind to jump down and pull you off that horse and give you a thrashing +to teach you some respect for religion, and how to keep a civil tongue +in your head. And you know I could do it, too!" + +They looked fiercely at each other for a moment. Father Orin was of a +fiery spirit, and all his goodness could not always subdue it. Tommy Dye +was a ready and a good fighter, but he paused now, and silently +regarded the priest. He looked at his large, sturdy form, at his brawny +shoulders, at his deep chest and his long arms, remembering suddenly +that he had seen him roll, with his own hands, the largest logs in the +little chapel which no one else could move. + +"I reckon you could," Tommy Dye finally conceded frankly. + +Father Orin burst into his good-humored, chuckling laugh, and Tommy Dye +grinned, but their faces sobered instantly. The pity of it touched and +moved the priest through his sense of humor. The gambler was softened +and ashamed, he hardly knew why. With one simultaneous impulse they sent +their horses forward, and coming closer together clasped hands. + +"God bless and guard you, my friend," said Father Orin. "You can't keep +me from saying that, and you can't help my praying for your safety," +trying to smile. + +Tommy Dye found nothing more to say and, laughing very loud, he put +spurs to his horse and galloped away through the darkening forest. +Father Orin and Toby stood still looking after him till he had passed +out of sight. And then they turned to go on their way. They went along +in silence for a while, and at last Father Orin began the conversation +with a heavy sigh. "Well, old man, there's another bad failure that we +have got to set down in our book--you and me. That was another of the +times when we didn't know what to do. That is to say, I didn't. I +suppose you did--you always do. You never make mistakes and lose your +temper like I do nearly every day. If I could do my part as well as you +do yours, we wouldn't fail so often, would we, old man?" + +Toby quickly turned his head with a friendly, encouraging whinny, as if +he saw his co-worker's trouble and wanted to give him what comfort he +could. He always seemed to know as well when his friend needed +encouragement as when he required to be kept up to his duty. It is a +wonderful, wonderful thing, this bond between the good rider and the +good horse! It is so wonderfully close and strong; the closest and +strongest binding the human being to his brute brother. It is infinitely +more subtle too, than that which binds any other, even the kindest +master to the most faithful dog; for the man and his horse are not +merely master and servant, they are friends and even equals in a way. +Neither is nearly so complete or powerful without the other; but +together--with body and spirit coming in living, throbbing contact--they +form the mightiest force in flesh and blood. Along the marvellous +electric currents of life there flashes from the man to the horse, +intelligence, feeling, purpose, even thought perhaps, so that to the +true horseman the centaur can never be wholly a fabulous creature. + +One of the greatest things about this wonderful bond is that it reaches +all classes of riders and horses. Every good rider and every good horse +may rely upon it, no matter which of the many roads through life they +may travel together: all may trustingly rely upon it till one or both +shall have breasted "Sleep's dreamy hill." The horse of the fox-hunter, +of the race-rider, of the mounted soldier--every one of these noble +beasts has the fullest understanding of his rider's calling, and gives +it his completest sympathy with the greatest assistance in his power. +Who that has known the horse at his best can have failed to observe and +recognize and be moved by this fact? We have all seen that the hunter +hardly needs the touch of his rider's knee to be off like the wind and +to go without urging from whip or spur on to the end of the chase; never +flagging, no matter how long or hard it may be; never flinching at the +deepest ditch nor fouling at the highest fence; straining every sinew to +the last, for his rider's defeat is his own failure, his rider's success +his own victory. And we have all seen the gallant response of the +race-horse to every movement of his rider's body--a loyal gallantry that +ennobles even the merely mercenary; and the sight of these two--now +one--flying toward the goal, always makes the heart beat faster and grow +warm with its brave showing of this magical bond. And above all, we have +seen the trooper's horse, which comes closer to him than the comrade +fighting by his side; for it is to his horse more than to his sword that +the soldier must owe any glory that he may hope to win; and when +strength and courage can no longer serve, it is his horse that often +gives his own body to shield his rider from death. + +And if all this be true, as all horsemen know it to be--even when the +bond is strained by cruelty and tainted by gain and stained by +blood--how much closer and stronger must have been the tie between this +priest of the wilderness and his friend. Toby's loyalty was never tried +like the hunter's by seeing some dumb brother tortured and slain--and +that the hunter feels the test keenly, no one can doubt after seeing the +horror in his eloquent eyes. Toby never had to suffer from a broken +heart because of a lost race, or because he shared the disgrace of his +rider's dishonesty, and many noble beasts have seemed to suffer +something strangely like this. Toby never had to lend his strength to +the taking of human life, like the trooper's horse; and the soldier's +horse does not need the power of speech to tell that he suffers almost +as much in the spirit as in the flesh from the horrors of the +battle-field. Toby and his friend worked together solely for peace, +kindness, and mercy, for the relief of suffering, and the saving of +bodies and souls; all and always, solely for the good of the world, of +their fellow-creatures, and the glory of God. + +Think of what it was that Father Orin and his partner did! They had +ecclesiastical jurisdiction over a strip of country which was more than +fifty miles wide and little less than four hundred miles long. This lay +on both sides of the Ohio River, much of it being the trackless forest, +so that Father Orin and Toby used the Shawnee Crossing oftener than the +Shawnees themselves. They went unharmed, too, where no other pioneers +ever dared go. Some mysterious power seemed to protect them, as the rude +cross drawn on a cabin door is said to have saved the inmates from the +savages. Father Orin and Toby thus travelled about two hundred miles +each week all the year through, without stopping for heat or cold. There +was only one church when they first began their labors, and this was the +little log chapel; but the members of that small and widely scattered +congregation were served with the offices of their religion by the +priest at many private houses which were far apart and called +"stations." There were about thirty of these in Kentucky, several in +Indiana and Illinois, and one or two in Tennessee, and Father Orin and +Toby visited them all, some as often as once a month and the others as +often as possible. To say Mass and to preach constituted but a part of +the duty which called them from place to place. They went wherever the +priest was needed to administer baptism to infants or older persons; +they went wherever any one, old or young, required instruction in +religion; they went wherever the priest was needed to hear confession; +they went far and wide, so that the priest might solemnize marriage for +Protestants as well as Catholics; they visited the sick, no matter how +distant, in summer and in winter alike, and Toy day or by night; they +went at any summons to bury the dead; and they tried to go again, so +that the priest might do what he could to comfort the living. Yet with +all this untiring zeal for the soul's welfare, there was also a +ceaseless care for the body's welfare, and a divine disregard of any +narrow line of faith; for wherever Toby carried Father Orin that good +man's heart was always moved by compassion for any distress of mind, +body, or estate, always overflowing with a deep, wide pity infinitely +greater and more Christian than any creed. + +It is not strange, then, that the good man and the good horse had become +almost one in mind and body, and that they were quite one in spirit. It +is not in the least strange, certainly, that Toby came to know the +nature of their errand almost as well and nearly as quickly as Father +Orin himself. He easily knew a sick call by the haste with which they +set out, and he knew its urgency by their going with the messenger. He +seemed to be able to tell unerringly when they were bearing the +Viaticum, and it was plain that he felt the responsibility thus resting +upon his speed and sureness of foot. Then it was that he would go like +the wind, through utter darkness, through storm and flood and over an +icy earth, without a pause or a misstep. Many a time, after such a +struggle as this, has Toby turned his head, as if trying to see why +Father Orin was slow in doing his part when the rain, freezing as it +fell, had frozen the priest's poor overcoat to the saddle, and his +ragged leggins were heavy and clumsy with icicles. But the apologetic +tone in which Father Orin always said, "Well, here we are, old man," and +the explanatory pat that he always gave Toby's neck, after going through +the respectful form of hitching him, never failed to make this right. +And when the priest came out of the house, he always had something in +his pocket for Toby, if any one had remembered to give himself anything +to eat. + +But their errands were not all so sad as this. Sometimes there were +weddings to attend, and Toby entered into the happy spirit of that +lively business quite as heartily as Father Orin. The only thing that +Toby was strict about then, was that his friend should not forget to +wear his best clothes, which he was too apt to do, even if he had not +given them away, and that there should not be a speck of mud on his own +coat, which had to be neglected in more urgent cases. Father Orin used +to declare that Toby eyed him from top to toe when he knew they were +going to a wedding; and that if there were a spot on his cassock, or a +hole in it, Toby's eye never failed to find it. At such leisurely times +he was indeed so exacting as to his own proper appearance that he would +not budge until the last "witch's stirrup" had been combed out of his +mane and tail. He was only a degree less particular when he knew they +were going to the christening of an infant. It was then plainly Toby's +opinion that, while they might not take quite so much time to christen +as to marry, there was still no need to rush off with the priest's +vestments out of order and his own fetlocks weighted with mire. The two +had many friendly contests on these occasions, but Toby's will was the +stronger, and his temper was not quite so mild; and as it is always the +less amiable who wins, it was commonly he who won, in the long run. + +Whenever the way before them was not quite clear, Father Orin would let +Toby lead, and only once in all their long pilgrimage together did he +ever fail to lead aright. It was on a wild winter's night, and neither +could see either heaven or earth; yet on against the bitter wind went +the priest and his horse, Toby stretching his fullest length at the top +of his speed, and Father Orin bending low to escape the boughs of unseen +trees; and thus they sped through the stormy blackness. Faster still +they went, up hill and down hill, leaping fallen trees, flying across +the hollows made by the uptorn roots, swimming swollen streams, while +the priest knelt on the saddle, holding the Viaticum high above the +rushing water which dashed over his knees. At last they stopped, +utterly exhausted, only to find that they were lost in the icy, dark +wilderness; and they went on groping blindly for any kind of shelter +under which to wait for the first glimmer of dawn. They finally came +upon a ruined cabin, and although the whole front of it was gone, some +of the roof and a part of the walls were left, and Father Orin led Toby +into the driest, corner. Taking off the wet saddle and the soaked, +half-frozen blanket, he laid them on the ground. He patted Toby as he +did this, and Toby's responsive whinny said it was all right, just as +plain as if he had been able to talk. But Father Orin was not quite +satisfied, and moving a little farther over in the corner, where it was +so dark that even Toby could not see what he was doing, he pulled off +his poor old overcoat, from which the water was dripping, but which was +still warm and partly dry on the inside. Stealing back to Toby, he laid +the coat over his shivering shoulders, chuckling to think that Toby +would never know that it was not the saddle-blanket. Feeling now that he +had done his best for his friend, he buttoned his cassock closer and +laid down on the freezing ground, with the frozen saddle for a pillow, +and tried to get what rest and sleep he could. + +At times like this--and they were not a few--it was hard for Father Orin +to believe that Toby had no soul. It was indeed so hard now and then, +as on that night, that he could not believe it; that he could not think +there would be no reward of any kind for such service as Toby was giving +the Faith. It was service as faithful as his own; he could not have +given his without Toby's help. Looking upward toward his own reward, +even this bitter, black winter's night became as nothing; but Toby--what +was there for Toby? He did not remember that he often gave Toby the food +which he needed himself, as he had just given him the warmth from his +own shivering body. He thought only of the things that Toby did for him +and for the Faith. And so thinking, very strange fancies about Toby +would now and then come to him with the profoundest reverence. And on +that dreary night, when their dauntless spirits seemed to touch, while +their exhausted bodies thus dozed side by side, a pleasant vision +vaguely blended Father Orin's half-conscious dreams with his perplexed +waking thoughts. + +Of a sudden, all was bright and warm, and he felt himself going up, up, +up, through flawless blue space. He thought he had no wings, but he did +not miss them, nor even think about them; he was missing and thinking +about Toby, and wondering, where he was, and what he was doing. But ah! +there he was all ready and waiting close to the gate of paradise. Yes, +there was Toby after all! There he was, standing by a celestial manger +overflowing with ambrosia, already blanketed with softest zephyrs, +saddled with shining clouds, and bitted with sunbeams--quite ready and +only waiting for the touch of his friend's hand on the bridle--to canter +up the radiant highway walled with jasper and paved with stars. + + + + +XV + +THE WEB THAT SEEMED TO BE WOVEN + + +The fancy pleased Father Orin, and he spoke jestingly to Toby about it, +reminding him, however, seriously enough, that it was only in visions +that there could be any such direct passing from earth to heaven. + +"For you see, old man, there's a place on the way where most of us must +tarry a while. Maybe you might be able to pass by and go straight on. I +am afraid there wouldn't be much of a chance for me." + +But they were both still far from their long, hard journey's end on that +gloomy November evening. They were merely turning a little aside from +their usual broad path for a still wider service to humanity. They had +not seen the doctor that day, and there was always reason to fear that +he might at any moment fall a victim to the epidemic which he was +ceaselessly fighting, so that they were now going in some anxiety to see +what had kept him away from the places in which they were used to seeing +him. They were both very tired, yet Toby, nevertheless, quickened his +weary pace at a gentle hint from Father Orin, and they got to the +doctor's house just as the sun went down behind the cottonwoods on the +other shore. + +The cabin stood near the river bank. It was a single room of logs, rough +without and bare within. The doctor was not very poor, as poverty and +riches were considered in the wilderness, having inherited a modest +fortune. But he was generous and charitable, and had gone from Virginia +into Kentucky with an earnest wish to serve his kind. And then his +acquaintance with Father Orin had brought him in close contact with want +as well as suffering, and would have given him good uses for larger +means than his own. Yet rude and empty as the cabin was, there were +traces of refinement here and there, as there always must be wherever +true refinement dwells. A miniature of his mother, whom he could not +remember, hung against the logs at the head of his bed. There were a few +good books on a rough shelf, and a spray of autumn leaves lay on the +table. The beauty of the leaves had drawn him to break the spray from +the bough and bring it home. But he had forgotten it as soon as he had +laid it down on the table, and the leaves were withering as he sat +beside them with his head bowed upon his hands. + +The man of conscience, who cares for the bodies of his kind, bears +almost as heavy a burden as he who cares for their souls. He must +everywhere, and unrestingly, fight ignorance and prejudice with one +hand, while he strives to heal with the other, and this double strife +was fiercer in the wilderness, just at that time, than almost anywhere +else within the furthest reach of science. On first coming he had found +more people being killed by calomel and jalap than by the plague. At +every turn he encountered this bane of the country which was called +callomy-jallopy, and at that moment he was utterly worn out, body and +soul, by a struggle to save the life of a man who had ignorantly +poisoned himself by drinking some acid after taking the dose. This was +not his first experience of the kind; but he had met the other trials +with the high courage of a light heart and a free mind. It was only +within the last two days that he had been weighed down by +discouragement, by heaviness of heart, and depression of mind. He was so +weary and absorbed now in disheartened thought, that he did not hear +Toby's approach, and he was startled when Father Orin appeared in the +open door. He greeted him with a warmly outstretched hand, but did not +say that he was glad to see him; they were too good friends for empty +phrases, such good friends that they sat down silently, neither needing +a word to know the other's sadness. It was the priest who finally broke +the silence. + +"You are troubled, my son," he said, quietly and gently. "I see there is +something besides the trouble which touches us all--this terror of what +is coming on the other side of the river. I see that there is something +else--some closer trouble of your own. If you wish to tell me about it, +I will do what I can to help you; but you know this without being told." + +He had spoken at the right moment, for there are moments in the lives of +the most reserved and self-reliant when the heart must speak to ease the +mind. Paul Colbert was a Protestant, and so firm and strong in his faith +that he was ready at all times to defend it, to fight for it; yet this +moment, which has nothing to do with any creed, had come to him, and he +spoke as one man speaks to another whom he trusts and knows to be his +friend. He told what he was suffering, and the cause of his +wretchedness. He spoke of his first meeting with Ruth, and of the love +for her that had leapt up in his heart at the first glimpse of her face, +before he had heard her voice, before he knew her name. He said how +happy he was when chance put her in his arms through that wild night's +ride. He described his visit to her on the next day, and said how far he +was from suspecting that William Pressley was more than a member of the +same family. He went on to speak of the other visits which he had paid +to Ruth, telling how fast his love had grown with every meeting. He +ended with the revelation at the dance in the woods. + +"But it wouldn't have made any difference had I known sooner. It +couldn't have made any difference in my loving her," he said. "I must +have loved her just the same no matter when or how we might have met. +Nothing ever could have altered that. I am afraid that I couldn't have +helped loving her had she been another man's wife. I am keeping nothing +back, you see, Father. I am telling you the whole truth. But perhaps it +wouldn't have been quite so hard to bear, had I known at the very first. +It can hardly be so hard to give up happiness when we have never dared +long for it. And I knew no reason why I might not try to make her love +me. As it is, from this time on, every thought of her must be like +constantly trying to kill some suffering thing that can never die!" + +He dropped his head on his arm which lay on the table. The priest gently +laid his hand on the thick, brown hair. + +"My son," he murmured. + +"If the man that she is to marry were only different," Paul groaned. "If +he were only more worthy, if I could only think that she would be +happy." + +He did not know that he was merely saying what every unfortunate lover +has thought since love and the world began; and it was a sad smile that +touched the sympathy of Father Orin's face. + +"William Pressley is not a bad young fellow," the priest said. "He means +well. He lives uprightly according to his dull, narrow ideas of right. +And none of us can do any better than to live up to our own ideals. +It's a good deal more than most of us do. I am afraid he is selfish," +with the hesitation which he always felt in pronouncing judgment upon +any one; "but then most of us men are, and maybe he will not be selfish +toward her, for he must be fond of her. Everybody loves the child." + +"But about her--is she fond of him? How can she be?" + +"I can't answer for that. There's no telling about a girl's fancy; in +fact, I have never given the engagement a thought. It was all settled; +it seemed a good, suitable arrangement--" + +"Arrangement!" groaned Paul. + +Father Orin shook his head. "It was most likely Philip Alston who +brought it about. He doubtless thought it a wise choice for both the +young people. He certainly never would have consented if he had not +believed it to be for Ruth's happiness--that always comes first with him +in everything." + +Paul Colbert sat up suddenly, throwing back his hair, and looked at the +priest with a clearing gaze. All the questions which he had been wishing +to ask now rushed to his lips. What was Ruth's relation to Philip +Alston? What right had he to choose her husband? What was his influence +over William Pressley? What was his hold upon Judge Knox? What was this +power that he wielded over the whole family of Cedar House? + +"He is no relation to her, is he? He isn't even her guardian. And +William Pressley is an honest man, isn't he, even though such a solemn, +pompous prig? He can hardly be a confederate of counterfeiters, forgers, +robbers, and murderers. And a single look at the judge's face shows him +to be the most upright of men; his open, unswerving honesty of thought +and deed, cannot be doubted. How is it, then, that Philip Alston can +move all these honorable and intelligent people to suit his villanous +purposes, as if they were pawns in a game of chess?" + +"Ah, you don't know much about Philip Alston. You have met him only +once--yet that must have made you feel the wonderful charm of the man, +his singular power. You have seen how he looks," laughing at some +recollection. "Sometimes when he has talked to me, looking me straight +in the face with his clear, soft, gentle, blue eyes, I have doubted +everything that I ever had heard against him. Things that I know to a +moral certainty to be true seemed a monstrous slander. You must have +felt something of this, though you have seen him but once; and the more +frequently you meet him the more you will feel it. The power of the man +is past words and past understanding. Did you know that he once held a +high office under Spain? Oh, yes, for years he controlled the arrogant, +treacherous, local government of Spain as absolutely as he controls the +simple family of Cedar House. He was living in Natchez then, and was +apparently a very devout Catholic, too, about this time. But the church +which he attended was mysteriously robbed; its altar was stripped of +everything precious,--gold, jewels, paintings,--when none but himself +had had access to the church unobserved. That is the story. I do not +vouch for its truth. There was no evidence against him--only suspicions +in this as in everything else. It was shortly afterward that he suddenly +appeared in this country a stanch Protestant; and then almost +immediately the present reign of crime began. Yet he has never been seen +in the company of any known law-breakers. Many mysterious visitors are +said to come to his house over the Wilderness Road, and to go as +mysteriously as they come. But no one claims to know who or what they +are, where they come from, or where they go. It is said that these men +who carry out his orders hardly know him by sight, that he sees only the +leaders, and that they never dare go to his house unless they are sent +for. It is believed that he rarely goes into detail, and does not wish +to know what they do in carrying out his wishes. It is said that he is +sickened by the slightest mention of bloodshed or cruelty, like any +delicate, sensitive woman, but is perfectly indifferent to all sorts of +atrocity that go on out of his sight and knowledge. There is, indeed, a +general opinion that he actually does not know half of the time what +his tools are guilty of; that he purposely avoids knowing. I have heard +it said that the boldest of the band would no more venture to tell him +of the crimes they commit while executing orders, than he would put his +head in a lion's mouth. It is understood that Alston simply points to a +thing when he wants it done, leaving all shocking details to his tools. +But this is mere hearsay. No one really knows anything about him; that +is to say, no one outside his band--if he actually has one. It is very +generally believed, however, that he has only to blow a single blast on +a horn at any hour of the day or night, and that from fifty to a hundred +armed men will instantly appear, as if they had sprung out of the earth. +It is also generally believed that he makes all the fine counterfeit +money with which this country is flooded, and that he does the work with +his own delicate, white hands. Yet not a dollar has ever been traced to +him, although its regular sale goes steadily on at a fixed rate of +sixteen bad dollars for one good dollar. It is generally believed, too, +that he keeps his money, both the good and the bad, buried somewhere in +the forest near his house, presumably for the double purpose of guarding +against robbery by his tools and against surprise by the officers of the +law. This, of course, is also mere speculation; nobody really knows +anything about what he does. I only know that his house is a bare log +hut, which is singular enough, seeing what a fine gentleman he is, and +what luxury he has surrounded the girl with. But I know that to be true, +because accident once took me to his house, and greater courtesy I never +found anywhere, though I was not invited to come again. It is known that +he owns a fleet of flatboats, and one of them is usually seen waiting +near Duff's Fort when horses are stolen, and it is always gone before +the dawn of the next day; but there is no proof of this, either. Boats +belonging to other people have a hard time getting past Duff's Fort. +More often than not, they are never seen or heard of after reaching that +fatal point, and the passengers vanish off the face of the earth. That +is what happened to Ruth's parents, as nearly as any one but Alston +knows. Most likely he knows nothing more." + +"And knowing this, she loves him, and the judge and his nephew trust +him?" + +"The child doesn't know anything about it. Who would tell her? He is +like her father--he could not have been more tender of her had she been +his own child. There is nothing strange in her loving him; it would be +far more strange if she did not. She is a gentle, loving nature, and he +has done everything to win her love, and you know what he is." + +"How can any creature in human form be so utterly unnatural--so wholly +a monster? How can he endure to see her, much less profess fondness for +her, knowing what he has done?" + +"I have thought a good deal about that, and I have never been able to +make up my mind. You see we don't know that he has done anything wrong. +Yet it may be an unconscious expiation. Who knows? The human heart is a +mysterious thing. But it is most likely that he simply began to love her +when she was a baby, just because she was so lovely that he couldn't +help it. She won all hearts in her cradle--the little witch. I remember +very well how she used to keep me from my work, by curling her rose leaf +of a hand around one of my rough fingers, before she could talk." + +"But why--loving her--should he wish to marry her against her will?" + +"We do not know that it is against her will. That is to say, I know +nothing of the kind, and I have no reason even to think it." + +There was a silence after this. Paul Colbert was suddenly realizing that +he also had no reason to think her unwilling; but this did not comfort +him or change his feeling. It is the delight and misery of love never to +have anything to do with reason. + +"It is not likely that Alston would approve anything that he did not +believe was for her happiness," Father Orin went on after a brief +silence. "But there may have been other inducements. With the judge's +nephew under his thumb, he need not have much fear of the law or the +court. That was the reason most generally assigned for his patronage of +William Pressley in the first place, before there was any engagement +between the young man and Ruth. But that will, as a matter of course, +bind him closer to Alston's interests, through her fondness for him. And +on yesterday I heard of a scheme to put Pressley in Joe Daviess' place. +It has been kept quiet, but is said to be well on foot, and I should not +be surprised if it were true. Pressley is politically ambitious above +anything, so that there are several reasons why he and Alston should +hold together. In the event of Pressley's securing the appointment, +there would not be much danger of the law's interference with any +unlawful plans that Alston might have. Mind you, I don't say that he has +any. I don't know that he has, and I am not even sure that I am right in +telling you these things, which are merely rumor, after all. Well, at +all events he has his good points. He is very generous, and always +ready, open-handed, to help any good work of the Sisters. I have had +scruples about letting them accept his gifts, but I have hesitated to +speak for they know nothing against him, and there is always danger of +doing injustice. We have no right to accuse anyone of anything that we +cannot prove." + +Paul was not listening to his friend's scruples. He had risen from his +chair, and was walking up and down the room. Presently he paused and +faced the priest with the air of a man who sees his way and has made up +his mind. His voice rang clear with decision. + +"Then this is the net that has been woven about her--the innocent, +helpless little thing! She is to be made a victim through her tenderest +and most natural affections. It's like seething a kid in its mother's +milk. And how utterly unprotected she is! Think of her father! Look at +the judge--for all his kindness! What is there to expect from him? And +Philip Alston, who pretends to love her? He is using her affection for +himself to bring about this marriage, so that she may bind this dull +tool--this pompous fool, Pressley--to the service of an organized band +of robbers and assassins." + +"You are rushing to conclusions, my son. There is no reason, is there, +to think that she doesn't love the young man? We haven't the slightest +right to assume that. I certainly have not--have you?" + +Father Orin spoke with a keen look at the pale, agitated young face, +which flushed painfully. Seeing this the priest went on more gently +without waiting for any reply. + +"And I must again remind you that we do not know that Philip Alston has +anything to do with the lawlessness of the country,--we merely suspect +him. Suspicion and evidence are different things; so widely different, +indeed, that I may have done grave wrong in even mentioning the first to +you." + +"Then we must try to find out the truth--try to lay our hand on the +evidence which will prove Alston's innocence or his guilt. Doing that +cannot harm her--if she is happy in this engagement," with a strong +effort, "and it may help her--if she is not." + +The priest shook his head. "You forget that many able men have already +tried hard to do what you suggest, and that every attempt has failed." + +"That hasn't a straw's weight with me. I shall not fail, because I am +going to try harder than any one else ever can have tried," with the +confidence and courage that belong to love. "I think I can do something +to aid the officers in gathering evidence. My work, carrying me over the +whole region where these villains do theirs, gives me opportunities to +know what is going on. I shall speak to the attorney-general early +to-morrow morning. Every honest man owes it to the state to give such +help as he can in this extremity." + +"Take care," said Father Orin, gently. "I am doubting more and more the +wisdom and right of having told you these stories about Philip Alston. +Remember, they are merely rumors, widespread and generally believed, it +is true, yet still wholly unsupported by evidence. We must be careful. +There is a bare possibility that we may be wrong, that we may be doing +a terrible injustice to an innocent man. I do not believe that anything +can be long believed by a great many honest people unless there is some +truth underneath for it to rest upon; and this about Philip Alston has +been believed by the best men of this country for a good many years. But +the fact that it hasn't been proven remains, nevertheless. There has +never been a shadow of real evidence, and we, as fair-minded men, are +bound to remember that." He hesitated for a moment, and looked at the +young doctor as if uncertain whether to say something else that was in +his kind, wise thoughts. "There is another thing that you would do well +to bear in mind, my son. Any one bringing any charges, supported or +unsupported, against Philip Alston, will break that little girl's heart. +She would never credit the strongest proof. A woman like that,--a +tender, soft, clinging, unreasoning little thing,--who is all affection +and trust, could not be reached by testimony that would convince any +jury. That is one of the merciful dispensations; that is one of the +reasons why men get so much more mercy here below than they deserve. +This gentle girl not only would never believe, but she would never, +never forgive you for breathing a word against Philip Alston. That is +the way with women of her kind. And you would not wish to hurt her, even +though--" + +"No! No--no!" + +"And then you must not forget that the young man whom she is to marry +is also more or less involved. And you must remember that he is +essentially an upright, well-meaning, well-trained young fellow. There +is no reason to think she doesn't love him. His conceit is the only +thing against him, and she may not mind that. A gentle, yielding nature +like hers is often attracted by a dominant, overbearing one like his. I +have often noticed it. Maybe it is intended by nature and providence to +keep the balance of things. What would become of the world if all the +strong ones or all the good ones were to come together, and leave all +the weak ones or all the bad ones by themselves? You can see at once +that that would never do--everything would be at once unbalanced. It's +hard on the good and the strong; but then, many of nature's provisions +are hard on the individual, and yet they all work for the welfare of +creation." + +He said this with a smile and a chuckle, hoping to win his friend to the +half-earnest, half-jesting talk with which they sometimes tried to +lighten the heavy burdens that both were constantly bearing. But he saw +that Paul could not respond, and he went back at once to the grave +sympathy with which he had been speaking. + +"At all events, this young couple have chosen one another for better or +worse, and we, as honest men, and Christians, cannot allow ourselves to +discuss, or even think of anything else. I wish I could help you, my +son, but I can only beg you to hold to your own road in life, to press +straight on upward as steadily and as bravely as you can. And you must +put all thought of Philip Alston, too, out of your mind. You and I must +work for the saving of men's bodies and souls--we have nothing to do +with their punishment. Work, my son! Work, work for others, that is the +secret of happiness! And if we work hard enough for the help and the +healing of others, it may be that after a while we will be allowed to +find help and healing for ourselves." + +And the young man looking sadly in the face of the old man promised that +he would try--that he would do his best. + + + + +XVI + +LOVE'S TOUCHSTONE + + +Ruth, meantime, was still waiting and watching the forest path, and +wondering why he did not come back. He nearly always passed Cedar House +more than once during the day, but he did not return now, although she +waited and watched from early morning till the sun went down. She was +tired of hearing the old ladies wrangling over the hearth, and going +outside the door she had played with the swan, and had grown tired of +that. Looking listlessly about for something else to do, she caught +sight of David sitting alone under the willows on the river bank. He +thought himself safely hidden for the reading of his book, but the +foliage was thinner now on the slender golden wands; some of them were +quite bare, and hung like long silken fringes of shining yellow. The +first frost had touched them on the night before; the soft breeze was +freighted with drifting leaves, and there was a fresh sparkle in the +crystalline air. + +She had put on a long coat of dove-colored cloth--one of the fine +garments that Philip Alston was always finding for her--on account of +the cool weather, and she was wearing her gypsy bonnet tied down with +its three-cornered handkerchief of white lace, so that she was all ready +for going further from the house. In another moment she was skimming +down the river bank toward the boy. He saw her coming; but she moved so +like a darting swallow that he barely had time to hide his book under +the mossy log on which he was sitting before she fluttered into a seat +beside him, nestling against his arm. + +"There now!" she sighed, smoothing down her skirts. "Now we can have a +nice long talk about love." + +The boy moved with the uneasiness that every boy feels at any abstract +approach to the great topic. The girl went straight on, with all the +serenity of the least experienced of her sex. Her big blue eyes were +gravely fixed on his reddened face. Her own was quite calm, and very +serious indeed. Her soft lips were set as firmly as one rose leaf may be +folded against another. The tips of her little fingers met in wisdom's +gesture. + +"Listen, David, dear. Listen well, and think hard. I have been thinking +a great deal about love lately. It is right, you know, that all young +people should. I will tell you everything that I have thought, and then +you must tell me what you think. For there are some things that I can't +find out by myself, though I have tried and tried. And boys ought to +know more than girls about love. But I don't believe they do!" + +The blue eyes gazed at him rather severely from under the gypsy hat. It +was the woman arraigning the man with the eternal challenge. The boy +looked down at the ground, and tried not to feel guilty, as the +challenged always do. Ruth saw how it was, and relented, as the woman +always does. She ran her arm through David's, and gave it an +affectionate teasing little squeeze. + +"You can't help not knowing anything, can you, poor dear?" she said, +with sweet laughter. "Well, then, never mind. We will try to find out +together. There are only three things that I really must know--that I +can't possibly do without knowing." + +The smile faded. She sat silently gazing across the wide, quiet river. + +"Only three really very, very important things," she presently went on. +"The first is this: How may a girl tell what people call 'true love' +from every other kind of love? You see, dear, there are so many kinds of +love, and they are all true, too. When a girl like me has loved every +one ever since she could remember--because every one has always been so +good and loving to her that she couldn't help it--she knows, of course, +when another kind of love comes; but she doesn't know whether it is +truer than all the rest. How can she tell? That is one of the things I +want to find out--the first of the three really important things that I +most wish to know," checking it off on her small forefinger. + +Resting her elbow on her knee, and her chin in the palm of her hand, she +fell suddenly silent again, and sat gazing across the river. Her blue +eyes seemed to be wistfully seeking the secret of love among the rosy +mists which the sunset had left beneath the shadowy trees. She did not +observe that the boy made no reply. Her lovely head was intently bent to +the other side, as if listening to hear some whisper from her own heart. +When she spoke, it was in a low, absent tone, as though she were +whispering to herself, or thinking only half aloud. + +"And what are the signs of true love? That is the next thing. What are +the sure signs that true love may be known by, so that there can be no +danger of making a mistake, no risk of taking one kind of love for +another? That is the question. How do the signs of true love look? How +do they feel, I wonder? Can it be one of the sure signs of true love to +feel at the first sight of a face that it is the one you have most +wanted to see all your life? Can it be one of the sure signs of true +love to have your heart leap at the first sound of a voice, so that you +are glad to be alive--glad--glad as you never were before, although you +have always been happy? I wonder--I wonder! And can it be another of the +sure signs of true love to feel utter content in one presence, to feel +that, walled in with it forever away from all the rest of the world, +there would be nothing left outside on the whole, wide earth to wish +for? Do you think so, David? I wonder if it can be. And then can it be +yet another of true love's sure signs to have a warm, sweet glow come +around the heart, as it never did before, and to have something tell you +that it will grow warmer and sweeter and brighter as long as you live? I +wonder--wonder--wonder. And could it be the surest sign of all, that you +don't know why any of all these things are so; that you only know that +everything some one is and says and thinks and does--satisfies and +delights your eyes and mind and heart and soul." + +Two heavy tears, like sudden drops from a summer shower, fell on her +clasped hands, although her lips were smiling and she was still softly +thinking aloud. + +"And yet there is another kind of love--quite, quite different from +this--and that, too, must be true. A feeling that you have had ever +since you could remember must be true, surely. And you are always +thinking about this one--always arguing with yourself about how right +and reasonable it is. There isn't any trouble in finding one the reasons +for this love. The only trouble about this kind of love is in your own +unworthiness. It's somehow disheartening and tiring to be always looking +up, higher than you can see, as though you stood all the time on your +tiptoes. And then when you are always feeling how unwise and childish +you are, it is hard to love wisdom and dignity as they deserve to be +loved." + +Saying this, Ruth turned suddenly upon David. Her soft eyes were +flashing through her tears. + +"Why do you sit there like a stone and never say a word!" she demanded. +"I knew you didn't know the first earthly thing about love, but I didn't +know you were dumb. Why don't you speak? Can't you say what a fine +fellow William is? You know it, just as well as I do! Everybody knows +it. Everybody respects William and looks up to him. Everybody is bound +to do it. He always does what is right and sensible. He isn't forever +doing and saying things that he has to be sorry for, as I am. He always +goes steadily straight ahead. He isn't moved by every heart-beat and +swayed by every fancy like you and me. Why even uncle Robert defers to +William, because he is so dignified and right-minded. He always knows +just what to do and say. Uncle Philip often speaks of it. _He_ +appreciates William. _He_ never criticises him for being serious when +other people are joking. And I've seen you do it many a time, when you +didn't know I was looking. Yes, and uncle Robert, too. I've seen his +eyebrow go up when he didn't know that it did. And I won't have it! Do +you hear? I won't have people laughing at William, just because he +never laughs. I like him all the better for it. I think all the more +highly of him because he never understands my silly, light little ways. +I do--I tell you I do!" + +She sprang up and stamped her foot, and then, sitting down again, burst +into helpless sobbing, and laid her head on the boy's shoulder. He could +only draw her closer, and hold her in silent tenderness, having no words +that he dared utter. After a time her sobs ceased, and lifting her head, +she looked round, dimpling and smiling through the tears which were +still heavy on her dark lashes. + +"Well, then, since you don't know anything about love, sir, look and see +what your silly old book says. Oh, you needn't pretend that you haven't +got it," she said gayly. "If it isn't in your hand, it is in your +pocket, or you have hidden it. Get it instantly," pretending to shake +him. + +The boy bashfully drew the book from beneath the log, while Ruth +bantered him with sweet, bubbling laughter that made him think of +awakening birds and blossoming orchards. He turned the leaves in +embarrassed haste. + +"I don't find anything about love," he stammered. "But here is something +about marriage." + +"As if they weren't one and the same!" cried Ruth. "Read it. Let's hear +what it says. Read every word carefully and distinctly." + +David then read aloud what the Knight of the Oracle said to the Most +Fair Constantia:-- + +"They are truly married that have with united hearts plighted promise of +perpetual friendship, electing one another by true love and not by +outward ceremony; for where true love is not there can be no perfect +marriage, though the outward ceremony be never so well performed." + +"As if everybody didn't know that already!" scouted Ruth. "Any gosling +of a girl knows that without having to be told. There isn't a single +word there to tell what true love is, and what its signs are. If I +didn't love you so dearly, David, I couldn't love you at all when you +are so dull. What do you mean by reading anything so tiresome out of +that foolish book? I think worse of it than ever." + +Her smiles vanished like watery sunbeams. David trembled for fear she +might begin crying again. But she looked fondly up in his face, and +beamed brightly when she saw how frightened he was. + +"But you know I do love you, David, dear. You know that you are all I +have, of my very own," she said. "I am unreasonable--I know that well +enough; but I couldn't help being hurt at your injustice to William. +Could I, dear?" + +"Oh, no! No indeed!" responded the boy, with vague eagerness. + +"Well, then, I will forgive you if you promise never to do it again. +And do you know any more about birds than you do about love, you poor +dear? Look at that one flying over the river. Why do they always cross +the stream in a slanting direction? Why do they never fly straight +across? And why do birds sing so seldom in the depths of the forest? And +is it true that none of the singing birds were here till the settlers +came? It is said that they came with the settlers. I've heard many +persons state that as a fact. But how does anybody know? Did any bird +say so? Those paroquets could tell if they would; but they never will. +They only chatter to scold one another. Just listen! I am sure they +could tell lots of things if they liked. They are not so green as they +look--not half so green as you, my dear. I shall have to ask Mr. Audubon +if there were any birds here before the settlers came. He will know; he +doesn't go round all the time with his head in the clouds, as you do. +You don't even know how old a snow-goose has to be before it turns from +gray to white. And you really ought to know that, because you are a +goose yourself. I saw a pure white snow-goose the other day on the pond +back of Cedar House, and when the snow-goose comes, then winter is here, +and it isn't long till Christmas." + +She suddenly stood up shivering, and said she was cold; but it was the +thought of Christmas Eve, not the frost in the air, that sent the chill +to her heart. + + + + +XVII + +THE ONCOMING OF THE STORM + + +On entering the great room of Cedar House they found the rest of the +family in a most unusual state of excitement. The lamps and candles had +not been lighted, as it was not yet quite dark, but the firelight was +bright, and they could plainly see the anxiety on every face. + +Miss Penelope was in her accustomed place, which she could no more get +away from than a planet could leave its orbit. But her attention was +wandering, as it rarely did, and she was silently casting uneasy glances +at the judge and his nephew who sat on the other side of the room, +talking to each other in a loud, excited tone. The widow Broadnax, also, +was in her usual seat in the chimney-corner, yet looking now and then at +the two men; and the mere fact that she thus allowed her gaze to stray +for a moment from what her half-sister was doing, indicated the uncommon +disturbance of her mind. + +Ruth and David hardly knew the judge as he looked and spoke now, for it +was he who was speaking as they came in. He had just motioned his +nephew to silence with a sternness which was not to be disobeyed. His +voice rang with a decision and severity, such as none of the household +had ever heard from him, who was commonly so carelessly mild and +abstracted. + +"No one shall, with my consent, or even my knowledge, go from my house +to Duff's Fort on any account whatever." + +"Pardon me, sir," began William, stiffly. + +He was keeping his self-control with the air of one who does it under +great provocation, and who has scant respect for those who lose it; but +his face was flushed, and his eyes were angry. The strained coldness of +his tone and manner were like oil to the flame of his uncle's wrath. The +judge's hand went out in a gesture that had almost the force of a blow. + +"Stop!" he shouted. "I refuse even to discuss the matter. It is enough +for me to tell you again that no one shall go from under my roof to the +place where robbers and cutthroats congregate. It's a disgrace that I +haven't been able to break up their den. I have done my best, and I am +still doing it, but the reproach of this band's existence, here at my +very door, nevertheless rests on me more than on any one else. I am the +representative of the law--the law, good God! with the country in the +murderous clutches of that lawless gang! Keep away, I tell you! And I +will ask Alston what he means by even seeming to give countenance to +those scoundrels by going nigh them. Business! What business can he or +any other decent man have with the nest of rattlesnakes that we can't +drag out from under that bluff?" + +"It is a very simple matter, sir, if you would permit me to explain," +William said more coldly and deliberately than ever. "Mr. Alston is +merely making a trade for a boatload of horses, and simply asked me, as +his attorney, to meet him at Duff's Fort to draw up the contract with +Mason and Sturtevant." + +The judge stared blankly for a moment, so overwhelmed by surprise that +he forgot his anger. "Mason and Sturtevant," he repeated. "Do you mean +to tell me that a man of half Alston's intelligence doesn't know that +those men never have a horse that they haven't stolen?" + +William Pressley said nothing more; he suspected that his uncle had been +drinking a little more heavily than common. Moreover, it scarcely seemed +worth while to argue with blind prejudice, drunk or sober. + +"Then if you've got nothing more to say, it's with Alston that I will +settle this matter. But all the same, I forbid you to go near Duff's +Fort. I have a right to forbid you, as a member of my household. I have +a right to forbid any one belonging to my family to do anything that +touches my own honor, my good name. And this touches both to the quick." + +"Very well, sir. I shall tell Mr. Alston what you say. I must, of +course, give some reason for breaking a professional engagement," said +William. + +"I shall tell him a few things myself," stormed the judge. "It's all +very well for him to put on his high-and-mighty tolerant air about the +state of things hereabouts, and to keep on saying, soothingly, that +everything will come right after a while, as it does in all new +countries; but neither he nor any honest man can afford to handle pitch. +It sticks to the cleanest hands. See that you keep yours out of it. +Nobody belonging to me shall be smirched--and just now, too, when we are +going to cleanse the whole country of it at last, thank God! We have +only been waiting for a chance to carry out the plan which was arranged +while General Jackson was here. Joe Daviess has now found the +opportunity, and our campaign has already begun. He is determined to put +it in motion before he leaves for Tippecanoe--" + +"Then he is really going?" broke in William, quickly, with a marked +change of tone and manner. + +The judge paid no attention to the question. He seldom noticed what his +nephew said, and his thoughts were now solely of the undertaking which +absorbed him heart and soul. After thinking deeply in silence for a few +moments, he spoke of the plan more fully, even freely, as he was in the +habit of speaking in the bosom of his own family. There was no one else +present; even the servants were gone out of the room. Moreover, he had +been drinking, as his nephew suspected, and the stimulant, together with +the excitement, carried him beyond all prudence. He did not even lower +his tone. + +"Yes, we begin the good work this very night. We've got the chance we +have been waiting for--the chance to catch those cutthroats red-handed! +We had news yesterday that three men were coming over the Wilderness +Road, bringing a large sum of money to buy land. The negotiation has +been under way for weeks. We have learned that this fact, and the time +when these men are expected to pass through here, are both as well known +at Duff's Fort as they are to us. We have also had news of the coming of +a large flatboat with a rich cargo, which is due to pass down the river +by Duff's Fort some time during to-morrow night. Those hungry demons are +said to be ready and waiting for the travellers by land and water--and +we are ready and waiting for them! Just let them lift a hand to rob or +murder, and we will be on hand, too! The attorney-general has sent a +large posse of picked men down the river to come up overland on the +further side of the fort. Another posse has gone round by the swamp to +guard that quarter, and there is a boat in readiness on the other side +of the river, well armed and fully manned. Yes, we've got the scoundrels +safe enough this time! We've run them to earth at last. There is only +one loophole, and the attorney-general himself is to guard that--the +path round Anvil Rock. That is the band's highway. The rock is their +rallying-point and we couldn't see at first how we were to watch it +without putting the scoundrels on their guard. To send any number of +men, even two or three, in that direction, would have been to give the +alarm at once--as the moon is about full. After consultation, it was +decided that the attorney-general alone should attend to this delicate +part of the plan. It was his own suggestion that he should go to Anvil +Rock immediately after dark to-morrow night, and wait there in the +shadow--watching everything that passes--till his men join him, after +beating the bushes and going over the country with a drag-net. It's a +dangerous task that he has taken on himself, notwithstanding that the +posse guarding the swamp should be in hearing of his voice by the time +he reaches Anvil Rock. I told him so; but he said that it must be done +by some one man, since more than one would defeat our whole undertaking, +and that it was the duty of no one but himself. However, he has ordered +all his men--the different posses sent out in various directions--to +draw in toward Anvil Rock, so that he will not be there long alone, and +not at any time beyond the hearing of his men, should he find it +necessary to call for help. Anyway, I couldn't dissuade him from going +alone. It was no more than General Jackson had done, he declared, when I +protested; and he also thought that being alone made it unlikely that he +would be observed. The main object was for him to be near by when his +men should need him, and that purpose would be best served by his +waiting in the shadow of Anvil Rock. I said what I could, and urged him +to let me go with him, but he stuck to it that only one man must go." +The judge spoke anxiously, wearily now, all anger forgotten. "And he +will be there. He never knew what fear was, in doing his duty; he would +walk straight into the devil's den and attack him single-handed, without +the quiver of a nerve." + +"Allow me to congratulate you, sir," William Pressley said distantly, +with an air of polite concession to somewhat foolish enthusiasm. "I +think you have perhaps been rather more troubled over certain outbreaks +of lawlessness than you need have been. They are to be expected, I +suppose, in all new countries, and they gradually disappear before the +advance of civilization, as Mr. Alston says. All that is in the natural +order of human events. However, since you have been so much disturbed, I +am truly pleased that you are so soon to be relieved of all uneasiness +from this source. May I ask, sir, if you can tell me the precise date of +the attorney-general's departure--for the seat of war, I mean--for +Tippecanoe?" + +The judge shook his head, hardly hearing the inquiry. The agitation +which had shaken him was leaving him greatly spent. The old look of +abstraction came back, quickly dulling his gaze, and, sinking down in +his chair, he very soon began to nod and doze. + +"With your permission, sir," William went on with a touch of sarcasm in +his cool, slow voice, "I should like to call upon Mr. Alston to-morrow. +You have, I presume, no objection to my going to see him in his own +house. It is impossible to drop a matter of business without a word of +explanation. And if you have no objection, I will mention to him the +matters of which you have just been speaking. No one has a deeper +interest in the public welfare, and certainly no one could be more +eminently discreet. However, I shall, of course, speak in the strictest +confidence." + +The judge bent his head, but it was in nodding not in assent, for he had +not heard a word that his nephew said. And William saw nothing but the +nod with a sidewise glance of aversion at the signs of his uncle's +weakness. + +It was the boy who heard and saw everything, and remembered and weighed +it, with a feeling of alarm that he knew no reason for, and could not +explain to himself. It was his instinct to dislike anything that William +Pressley said or did, and to distrust everything in which Philip Alston +was concerned. He looked round at Ruth to see if she shared his +feeling, and saw that she was gazing at William Pressley with troubled +eyes. + +They had scarcely exchanged a word since their quarrel, although she had +made many timid advances toward a reconciliation. It was conscience and +not love which had moved her in all that she had done, but this fact was +not yet clear to her own mind. She was beginning to see it, but she +tried to shut her eyes to the truth, being a loyal soul, and firm in her +high regard for the man whom she had promised to marry. There had been +no opportunity to tell him what she felt; and she was still more +distressed to see that he avoided seeing her alone. It was of this cloud +between them that she was thinking now, and it was that which shadowed +her face. She had not noted very keenly what was going forward about +her. She had shrunk from the judge's excitement and agitation, as she +always did from all violence; but the meaning of his words had not +impressed her deeply or even clearly. Her gentle nature and her tranquil +life were too far from strife, cruelty, and crime for her to grasp the +full purport of the story. She had heard William Pressley speak of +telling Philip Alston, without giving the matter a thought. It was right +in her eyes that he should be told everything. The mention of his name +caused her to think that it would be well to tell him of her quarrel +with William and of her regret and self-reproach. He was wise and kind, +and would know what was right and best to do. Perhaps he might even see +some way by which the engagement could be broken without wrong or hurt +to William's feelings. A measure of peace came with the hope, and she +was presently gazing into the fire, dreaming more than thinking, and +feeling assured that the doctor would stop when he went by on the next +morning. + +The boy saw how absorbed she was, and felt that there was no use in +waiting to speak to her, to tell her of the vague alarm which had seized +him. And then what was there to tell her or any one? He would only be +laughed at for fancying things, as he often had been before, and +remembering this, he crept off to his own cabin and went to bed. But he +could not go to sleep for a long time, and when he awoke at dawn the +formless dread was still dark in his mind, like some fearsome shape +behind an impenetrable curtain. And there it stayed all the day through, +never quite coming out into the light, but growing steadily larger and +darker and more terrible as the long heavy hours wore on. When--at +last--the dusk began to creep down the river, he grew so restless in his +nameless misery that he wandered into the forest, and there met the +doctor riding along the path on the way to his lonely cabin. + +Paul's face brightened at the sight of the boy; he had always liked +him, and had been drawn to him before knowing of Ruth's existence. Still +the thought of her was now foremost in his mind as he looked at David. +We are all glad to see those who are near the one whom we love; we are +even eager to seek those whom we would otherwise avoid when they are +near our beloved from whom we are parted. This eagerness was in Paul +Colbert's face as he looked at the boy and asked with some hesitation if +he was in haste. + +"If you are not," he said, "I should like to have a little talk with +you. Let's sit down on that fallen tree." + +Dismounting, he led his horse along the path, with the boy following in +silence. They sat down side by side on the tree-trunk, the doctor +holding his horse by the bridle. There were new lines in his face which +did not belong to youth, and which had not been graven by his fierce +struggle with the Cold Plague. The boy noticed them and knew that they +had not been there when he had last seen the doctor's face. Its look of +gloom also had come back. That had lifted at the moment of meeting, but +it was too deep to go so suddenly, and it had now returned. He turned to +the boy uncertainly, for there had been no clear purpose in his speaking +to the lad. He had spoken on an irresistible impulse to learn something +of Ruth, blindly clutching at a possible bond between her and himself. +It seemed years rather than days since he had heard from her. But in a +single glance his trained eyes saw that David was in trouble, and by +asking a few adroit questions he brought out all that the boy knew. The +doctor sat so still for an instant after hearing what had passed between +the judge and William Pressley, that David looked up in surprise to see +what was the matter. Paul Colbert was very pale, and his eyes were +glancing round, searching the deepening shadows of the forest. He made a +gesture, warning the boy to speak lower, and his own voice was scarcely +above a whisper. + +"What time to-day did Pressley leave Cedar House? Had he come back when +you came away? Tell me again just what he said about telling Philip +Alston. Try to remember every word--a valuable life may hang upon it. +Keep as cool as you can--and be careful, don't be alarmed, but be quick. +Every word now--once more." + +The boy repeated everything as accurately as he could. While he was +speaking, the doctor, rising to his feet, gathered up the bridle-reins, +and hastily bending down, was tightening the girth. When the last item +of information had been gathered, he vaulted into the saddle. + +"There isn't any time for our talk. I must gallop home for a fresh +horse. This one is too tired for the speed we need." He saw the surprise +and, the alarm in the boy's gaze, and leaning over, took his trembling +hand. "Don't be troubled. You are in no way to blame, whatever happens. +You have done the very best thing possible in telling me this. It may +not be too late. I shall try. I am going at once to do all that I can to +warn or to guard a great man's life. The delay in getting the fresh +horse is the worst; but," hastily grasping his hand again, "if I am too +late, if I fail and never come back, tell Ruth that I did my best. Tell +her that I have done my best ever since I have known. I have kept away +from Cedar House--have only seen her far off, feeding the birds. But +that was all I could do. I couldn't help thinking of her, I couldn't +help what I felt. You will remember--and tell her?" + +He looked down in the boy's frightened face with a strange smile, and +then touching his horse with the spur, he flashed out of sight among the +trees. + + + + +XVIII + +THE GENTLEST ARE THE BRAVEST + + +The boy stood staring after him in dazed alarm. He could not comprehend +the cause of his friend's sudden agitation and abrupt departure, but +they filled him with vague, helpless terror. He did not know what to do +till he suddenly felt the urgency of the message to Ruth, and the +thought of her made him turn and start running back to Cedar House. + +As he went, he instinctively tried to calm himself; he was fast learning +to hide the emotion which was always shaking him. On reaching the door +he paused for a moment, and strove hard to control his panting breath. +He almost hoped that this might prove to be merely one of the fancies +which were constantly swaying him. And then there was an instinctive +feeling that it would be best not to tell any one except Ruth what had +occurred. The meaning of the message to her was not yet clear to him, +but he nevertheless felt it to be something which she might not wish +others to hear. He did not remember that the message was not to be given +her unless Paul failed to come back. There had not been time for Paul +to impress this upon him, and it was natural enough that the boy, +startled and frightened, should not have noted all that was said. + +His one aim now was to get a word alone with Ruth, and hastily looking +round the room, he saw her sitting near the hearth. But there was no +chance to approach her, or to speak without being overheard by the whole +family. Every member of the household was present, it being the evening +hour when all households come closest together around the fireside. The +supper-table was laid, and a servant moved about lighting the lamps and +candles. William Pressley was sitting near Ruth, but it was she who had +last taken a seat and he was silent, save as some timid advance from her +compelled him to make a coldly civil reply. His resentment was as +implacable as ever; the wound to his self-love had only grown deeper +with nursing, as it always does with a nature like his. The breaking of +the engagement was with him, now, merely a question of timeliness, of +discretion and expediency. In these matters he was not considering +Ruth's feelings as she was considering his, despite her own most eager +wish to be free. He was thinking first of the light in which he, +himself, would be placed. After this he was considering Philip Alston's +view of his conduct. Knowing that he wished the marriage to take place, +William Pressley felt reasonably sure that Philip Alston would be +displeased at any breach, and that he would make his displeasure felt, +should the first movement toward the breaking of the engagement come +from himself. The displeasure of Philip Alston was not a thing to be +lightly incurred at any time. No one knew this better than William +Pressley, and he saw it to be particularly undesirable to displease him +and possibly incur his enmity, just at the moment when his good-will +might be useful in the matter of the appointment. William Pressley did +not believe Philip Alston's influence to be at all essential--merit was +in his opinion the only essential. Still it seemed best, under the +circumstances, to let the engagement stand till a time more auspicious +for breaking it. And then his sore self-love found some balm in the +girl's self-reproach, which he saw plainly enough, without understanding +it in the least. It was like him to consider the effect which the +breaking of the engagement might have on his political prospects, and to +postpone it on the bare chance of its affecting them adversely. But it +was still more like him merely to postpone it with an immovable +determination in his mind, utterly unaffected by all the girl's winning +gentleness and open regret. And it was most of all like him never for an +instant to allow any thought of Philip Alston's fortune to make him +waver. All the gold in the world could have done nothing to make William +Pressley forget, or forgive, the wound which his self-love had received. + +She continued for a while in her shy, gentle efforts to win him back to +something like the old friendliness, which had existed between them +before they had become engaged to be married. It was this which she +longed to have restored, with her craving for affection and her dread of +hard feeling. But despairing at last, she arose with a sigh and went to +the hearth, and began talking to the two old ladies, who left off +quarrelling when she came, as they nearly always did. From the hearth +she turned to the supper-table, to give it the delicate finishing +touches, and then there was a general movement as the family settled +into their places. + +It seemed to David that the meal would never end, that he should never +be able to tell Ruth. As he sat looking down at his untasted food, and +had time to think, he came gradually to understand something of the +meaning of the young doctor's sudden agitation, his solemn message, and +his hurried departure. The boy could not keep his distress out of his +face, and Ruth saw it in her first glance at him across the table. In +the shadows of the room she had not seen him distinctly until now, and +the sight of his trouble touched her as it never failed to do even when +she believed it to be imaginary. As soon as possible she left the table +and went to the door, glancing at him over her shoulder. He followed +instantly and, passing her swiftly as she stood in the doorway, he +beckoned her to come outside. + +"What is it?" she asked, running to him. + +She grasped his arm and turned white and began to tremble, not knowing +what she feared. There was something in his look, and something in her +own heart, which told her that this was no boyish whim or fancy, such as +she was often called to comfort and beguile for him. She could not see +his face distinctly enough to gather anything from looking at him; they +were standing beyond the broad band of light streaming from the open +door. But there was no need for sight; he poured out the story almost in +a breath, ending with Paul's message to her. And she understood more +than he had said, far more than he could ever say or understand, before +the words had fairly left his lips. The divination of a woman's +love--that marvellous white light--flashed the whole truth, and she +uttered a smothered cry as she saw it. So crying out, she shrank away +from him, and threw off his hand and struck at him fiercely, like some +soft little wild thing suddenly hurt. + +"How could you? Why did you tell him?" she cried. "I hate you. I'll hate +you for this as long as I live. You have sent him to his death--you +meddler, you simpleton! And you don't even know what you have done. You +have sent him to his death, I tell you! Yes, that's what you have done, +and I will never forgive you while I breathe. He has gone to warn the +attorney-general, and he will be killed, too. You heard what uncle said +about the danger. What are the robbers or the country to me--beside him? +What do I care about what happens to the attorney-general? I wouldn't +care if every other man in the world was lying dead, this minute, if I +could know that he was safe. Oh! Oh! And you knew that he and the +attorney-general were friends. You knew he would go to help him. And yet +you told him--and he is gone--" + +She broke into a helpless passion of weeping so pitiful that the boy +could do nothing but go to her and take her in his arms. She did not +resist; her anger was instantly melted in grief. Her arms went round his +neck, and she sobbingly implored his pardon. + +"Forgive me--forgive me. I didn't know--I don't know what I am saying. +Oh! my heart is breaking, David! Help me--help me to think! We must do +something--we mustn't stand here crying like this. Think! Think! Help me +to think what we can do." + +She pushed him away and stood pressing her trembling hands hard against +her temples, trying desperately to clear her thoughts. The thought of +calling on any one in the house did not cross her mind. There was +nothing to expect from the judge; he had fallen asleep in his chair at +the table. William Pressley would not believe there was any danger. He +never believed in any trouble or agitation. It would only annoy him. +Indeed, she scarcely thought of him at all. She caught the boy's arm +wildly, with her tears suddenly dried. + +"Why don't you say something--do something!" she cried bitterly, "You +are no better than, a girl yourself." + +She turned toward the house and ran a few steps only to come flying +back. + +"I have thought of something--you must go after him! That's what you +must do! He may be wounded. He may need you to help him. Surely you +could fight if you tried. I could, myself! And you will try, dear, I +know you will, for my sake. Come! Run! Run! Let's go to the stable and +get the pony. He goes fast." + +Her passionate excitement swept them along, and she and the boy were now +running toward the stable, hand in hand, hardly knowing what they did. +Her head was bare, her white dress and her delicate slippers were very +thin, and the chill of the autumnal night was already coming on. But she +thought of none of these things, felt none of them, and did not stop at +the door of the stable, although she had never entered it before, and it +was now very dark within. But there was nothing for her to fear, she +knew all about the horses, as every girl of the country did, since +riding was a part of the life of the wilderness. Keeping close to +David's side, she followed him to the pony's stall, and when she heard +him take down the saddle and bridle that hung overhead, her hands +eagerly went out in the darkness to help him buckle the girth. + +"There! You will ride as fast as you can--I know you will. And you will +help him fight. Make haste. Why didn't we think to get your rifle? Oh, +why! You are very slow. There! Isn't it ready?" + +But as the boy started to lead the pony from the stable, a sudden +thought flashed through her mind, and she acted upon it as quickly as +she grasped it. + +"Let me have the pony," she gasped. "You can get one of the other horses +for yourself. Make haste! I must have the pony because he is all ready. +Hurry! Hurry! I have just thought--uncle Philip will help us. He can do +anything. He will do anything in the world for me if I can only reach +him. He is nearly always coming to Cedar House about this time. I am +going to meet him. Everything will be safe and right if I can find him +and tell him. Help me up to the saddle, quick! quick!" + +They were now out of the stable and could see each other dimly. He +exclaimed in affright, grasping her skirt and holding her back when she +attempted to mount. + +"It's my saddle, too, you couldn't ride that!" he cried. + +"What difference does the saddle make? I have ridden it many a +time--and many a time without any. If you will not--" + +She caught the pommel, and he, seeing how utterly useless it was to +contend further, now held out his hand and she set her foot in his palm. +With a leap and a swift, lithe turn of one knee under the other she was +seated in his saddle as easily and firmly as if it had been her own, and +grasped the reins. + +"Follow as quickly as you can," she called back over her shoulder. "I am +going to meet uncle Philip in the buffalo path beyond Anvil Rock." + +And then the pony sprang away and was running into the falling night. + + + + +XIX + +UNDER THE HUNTER'S MOON + + +It was not very dark, and all the cleared country rolling widely away +from Cedar House could be dimly seen. A gusty wind was driving wild +clouds across the stars, and tall cloud mountains rose on the north +covering the great comet; but higher in the dark blue dome of the +firmament the Hunter's Moon swung full and free, casting its wonderful +crystalline light over the darkened earth. + +This most marvellous of crystal lamps always appears to be shining by +its own living radiance, and never to be beaming by the merely reflected +glory that gilds the lifeless Harvest Moon. The Hunter's Moon has indeed +no rival among all the lights which heaven lends to the world of night. +It is the whitest, the brightest, the most sparkling that ever falls on +the darkness, and it was in truth the hunter's very own. By its light he +could see how to go on with his hunt hours after the close of the short +November days, and far into the long November nights, and still find his +way home through the deep heart of the mighty wood. + +So that even on this dreary November night, when its clearness was +dimmed by the flight of the wind-hunted clouds, it was able to lighten +in a measure the furthest and darkest reaches of this wild new world. It +touched the mystery of the burial mound; it lifted the misty winding +sheet spread by the swamp; it raised the pall laid along the horizon by +the sable tops of the cypress trees; it reached almost to the darkness +hanging over Duff's Fort--that awful and mysterious blackness--which the +noonday sun could never wholly remove. + +But the girl's gaze was not following the moonbeams. Looking neither to +the one side nor the other, she gave a single glance ahead. This was +only to see that she was going straight toward Anvil Rock by the +shortest road. And the one look was enough for she knew that the great +shadowy mass glooming in the dark distance must be what she sought. And +then bending forward and low over the pony's neck, she sent him onward +by an unconscious movement of her own body. She had known how to ride +almost as long as she had known how to walk--the one was an easy and as +natural as the other. Instinctively she now bent still lower, and still +farther forward over the pony's neck, as a boy does in riding a race; +for she also was riding a great race, and for the greatest of stakes. +She did not stop to think how great the stake was; she had not yet +realized that it was the life of the man she loved; she had not yet +had time to face the truth, and to know that she loved Paul Colbert. She +only realized that she must reach Anvil Rock before Philip Alston could +pass it on his way to Cedar House, or turn into another path. Raising +her head, she flashed another look into the dark distance, where the +goal was and grew sick with fear, seeing how far off it was. And then +rallying, she began to use her voice as well as the reins, to urge the +pony to greater speed. + +[Illustration: "For she also was riding a great race."] + +"That's it! Good boy. But faster--faster!" + +Thus crying she silently prayed that Philip Alston might be within +hearing of the sound of her voice. She never doubted that he would come +at her first cry. It never once crossed her mind that he could hesitate +to do what she wished in this. He had never in all her life refused her +anything, and she knew of no reason to fear refusal now. The only fear +that she felt was the dread of reaching Anvil Rock too late. She tried +to still the quivering of her nerves by reminding herself that he nearly +always came to Cedar House at this hour, if he had not been there +earlier in the day. But she could not help remembering that there were +times when he did not come. If he should not be on the way now, if she +should fail to meet him, if he should be still at his far-off home, or +have gone elsewhere--But she threw the paralyzing thought from her and +suddenly began to strike the pony again and again, with her soft little +open hands. + +"Faster! You must go faster--you must! Surely you can. Please! It isn't +very far. We must be almost there!" + +It would have been hard to tell whether the short, sharp strokes were +blows or caresses, and they ceased almost as abruptly as they had begun. +She was now nearly lying across his straining shoulders, and her soft, +bare arms were around his rough, shaggy neck. She did not know what she +was doing, the boy had taught her to ride so--barebacked in the +fields--when she was a child. And she did not know that the pony's mane +was wet with her tears. There was no sound of weeping or faltering in +the tone with which she urged him on. That rang clear and strong with +the invincible courage and strength which love's miracle gives to the +most timid and the weakest. + +She was not holding to the saddle, but was clinging to it as +unconsciously as the mist clung to her skirts. Her long black hair, +fallen away from its fastenings, streamed in the wind; but she gave it +no heed except to toss it out of her eyes so that she might see the +pony's head, and try to look beyond toward Anvil Rock. How far off it +still seemed! Would she never reach it? The night seemed to be growing +darker, and she could not make out the mass glooming through the +darkness as she had seen it at first. But she was not afraid of the +growing blackness. This timid, gentle girl, who had hitherto been afraid +of her own shadow, was now suddenly lost to all sense of fear. She +thought nothing of the wild darkness into which she was thus flying +blindly and alone. She had forgotten the terror of the time, and the +dangers of the wilderness. She was oblivious of the utter silence, which +wrapped the region in awful mystery. She heard nothing but the rush of +the pony's running feet, and felt nothing but the leaping of her own +heart. Her only thought was to reach the goal in time; her only fear was +that she might fail. + +Her ceaseless cry was goading the brave little beast like a spur. He +still leapt in response to it; but his every sinew was already strained +to breaking, and he was nearing the end of his endurance. The night had +now become so dark that neither the pony nor the girl could see whither +they were speeding. And then suddenly the Hunter's Moon broke the frail +bars of its cloud prison, and was again free to cast its full splendor +over the blackness. Under this sudden burst of light, Anvil Rock leapt +out of the shadows--vague, black, huge, terrible--and she uttered a cry +startled and relieved at seeing it so near by, when she had thought it +much farther off. But as she looked again to make sure that it was real, +and not some delusion of the mist, the first pang of fear struck back +her leaping heart. She drew up the panting, staggering pony with a +convulsive clutch on the reins--and waited, trembling and scarcely +daring to breathe. Some large dark form moved among the shadows around +the base of Anvil Rock. + +Another swirl of the shrieking wind sent the fugitive clouds flying +again across the white face of the moon. But only for an instant, and +once more the darkness fled before the light of the crystal lamp. Yet +its bright beams could not pierce the thick gloom which hung heaviest at +the foot of the dark mass. Something still stood there, large, shadowy, +and motionless. Ruth's trembling hand unconsciously went up and threw +back the wildly blown hair which obscured her vision. As the white +moonlight thus fell full on her face, the dark shape instantly sprang +out of the gloom, and she recognized Paul Colbert almost as soon as he +saw her. + +Neither uttered a cry of surprise or even of relief, for neither felt +any strangeness in this most strange meeting. When two hearts and two +souls and two spirits have rushed together at the first meeting of the +eyes,--as these two had,--no separation of mere flesh and blood can ever +again really keep them apart. These two were now only facing outwardly +the images which they constantly bore within their breasts. He had been +thinking more of her through that wild ride than of the friend whose +life he was perilling his own to save. She had felt his presence at her +side with every step of the pony's flying feet; it was merely his body +which she was striving to find and shield from harm. So that when they +thus suddenly came face to face in the moonlight there was no need for a +cry or a word. He sprang from his horse and leapt to the pony's side; +and she--as silently and as naturally--held out her arms to meet his +embrace. + +But they started apart before touching one another. The distant sound of +horses' beating hoofs came with a gust of wind. It was borne from the +direction of Duff's Fort, and out from among the dark trees there now +rushed into the misty moonlight a score or more of dim shapes, vague and +terrible as phantom horsemen. Nearer and nearer these came rushing +through the wavering mists, with scarcely a sound after that first +warning roar brought by the wind. Paul sprang to regain his horse, but +the animal was startled by the suddenness of the attempt, and frightened +by the rapid approach of the other horses, so that he jerked the bridle +from his master's grasp and reared beyond the reach of his hand. There +was no time to pursue the horse; worse still, there was no chance to +seize the rifle which hung from the pommel of the saddle. Paul had only +one other weapon, the long hunting-knife carried by all the men of the +wilderness. He drew this from his belt and it flashed in the moonlight +as he ran back to the pony's head and stood between Ruth and the dimly +visible danger which was rapidly approaching. + +"They are coming the other way, too," she gasped. "I hear them behind +us." + +He did not reply and could not turn. She said nothing more and began +sending up silent prayers. They could no longer see even dimly, for +thick clouds again covered the moon. But she heard a fearful clash in +the darkness, and then there followed those awful muffled sounds which +are heard when men close silently in mortal combat. There was no sharp +sound of firing--only the hideous thud of furious flesh against furious +flesh--the one sound that the bravest woman cannot hear in silence. +Ruth's cry for help pierced the very heavens. Again and again her +anguished appeal rang through the night. In the height of her frenzied +fear she heard the galloping of a horse and knew that it was coming +nearer. This must be Philip Alston. The flash of the thought brought a +gleam of hope and sent her louder cry farther into the darkness. + +"Uncle Philip, for God's sake, come to me! Quick! quick! It's +Ruth--uncle Philip! Philip Alston!" + +Instantly all was still. The invisible conflict which had been waging +with such fury so near by, now ceased as suddenly and as completely as +if it had been ended by an unseen lightning stroke. The assailants +silently drew back and stood motionless; but Ruth could not see what was +taking place, and this sudden, strange stillness falling upon utter +darkness filled her with greater terror. She thought that Paul had been +killed. Alive, he would not leave her alone like this. Not for an +instant would he forget her if he had strength to creep to her side. He +was dead. He would never let these torturing moments pass without +speaking to her if he had breath to speak. + +"Uncle Philip! Philip Alston!" she cried again and again. "Don't you +know me? It's Ruth." + +"Here, I'm coming!" a man's voice shouted out of the distance. "Where +are you? Speak again. Let me find you by the sound." + +"They have killed him!" she shrieked. "I can't find him in the dark." + +She was out of the saddle now, bending down and groping with her +shaking, tender little hands on the torn and trampled earth. A wilder +gust of wind brought the beat of rapidly retreating hoofs to her +strained ears. She sprang up with a new fear and cried it aloud high and +far above the shriek of the wind. + +"They are taking him away! Will you never come? Is it you--uncle Philip? +Oh--why--don't you come to me? It's Ruth." + +"It is I--Father Orin," said the priest near by. + +She did not reply, nor even glance at him, although the cloud curtain +was now suddenly lifted again, and she could see clearly. She did not +notice that all the horsemen had vanished. She saw only the motionless +form of the man she loved lying some distance away. It was plain that he +had pressed the assassins as far from her as he could; that his +outstretched arms had fallen in some supreme effort. The hunting-knife +glittered in the moonlight at a distance from his hand. He must have +fought on with his bare hands after his only weapon had been struck from +his grasp. His eyes were closed, and his face was like the face of the +dead. + +Ruth, dropping to the earth beside him, had taken his head on her lap +before the priest could come up and dismount. She did not reply, nor +even hear his alarmed questioning. + +"See if he is living, Father," she said. "Here, put your hand on his +heart--here--where my hand is. Make haste. Why are you so slow?" Then +flashing round on him in her impetuous way: "Why don't you say that you +feel his heart beat? Of course you do! Of course he is alive. How could +he be dead--in a moment--a flash--like this! He is so young. He has only +begun to live. And so strong and brave. Oh, so brave, Father! Dear +Father Orin--if you could have seen how fearlessly he stood, between +them and me--waiting for them to come! Only one, too, against so many. +But I wasn't afraid while I could see him. No, not for a moment, even +against them all. And then when it was dark, and I couldn't see him, and +I could only hear--" she broke down, shuddering and weeping. + +While she spoke the priest had been unfastening Paul's collar and was +trying to find the wound. The bosom of his shirt was already darkly dyed +with blood. + +"He is alive; his heart is still beating," said Father Orin, huskily. + +This daring, gifted young doctor had come to be like his own son in +their work together for the suffering. He turned back his coat and found +the deep knife-wound in his shoulder, and set about stanching the flow +of blood with the simple knowledge of surgery that the life of the +wilderness taught to all. But it was Ruth who thought of Paul's medical +case which always hung on his saddle. The horse was gone, but the case +was lying not far away, on the ground where it had fallen, and there +were bandages and lint in it, as she hoped there would be. But when they +had done all that they could, he still lay motionless and barely +breathing. She dropped down beside him in fresh alarm, and again took +his head on her lap. Father Orin stood up, looking helplessly through +the moonlight and murmuring something about getting the doctor back to +his cabin. + +"We will take him to Cedar House," she said. "There is no one to nurse +him in his own cabin. Oh!" with a smothered scream. "They are coming +back!" + +She could not suppress that one cry of fright which burst from her lips. +But there was only one, she stilled the others and tried at once to +control the trembling of her knees under his head. The dove will sit +still when a cruel hand comes close to her nest; but no living creature +has the courage of the gentlest woman when the man she loves is +helpless--through no lack of strength or courage in himself--and in +danger. The things which timid women have done then, stand among the +bravest that have ever been set down to the credit of humanity. +Believing that some hideous, unknown peril was sweeping upon them, this +mere slip of a girl now bent quietly over the prone head and spoke close +to the deaf ear without thinking whether or not it could hear. + +"There, dear heart, there! Never mind. All is well. Lie still, or your +wound will bleed. We are here, Father Orin and I. We will take care of +you. Only lie still." + +Two horsemen were now in sight and they were spurring straight toward +Anvil Rock. While they were yet a long way off, Ruth felt, rather than +saw, that one of them was David. She told the priest who it was, and +they both knew that only a friend could be coming with the boy. Her +whole form relaxed under the relief. If Paul could but open his eyes, if +his breath would but come a little more quickly, and a little less +faintly! Her tears were falling on his still, white face, now that there +was no further need for self-control, or courage. She steadied her +voice, and told the story as clearly as she could, when Father Orin +asked again how she came to be in such a place, and what it was that had +led to the wounding of Paul Colbert. + +While she was speaking the horsemen reached them, and they saw that the +man with David was the attorney-general. He hurriedly knelt down by his +friend's side. He did not ask what had happened. He had already gathered +much of the truth from what the boy had told him. He knew that Paul +Colbert lay there, badly wounded, dying perhaps, in his place. He was +too much moved at first to speak. + +"He knew that I was coming alone over this road to-night. He suspected a +plot to waylay me, too late to warn me. When he could not do that he +came to share the danger. It was like him," he said when he found voice. + +He took the nerveless hand and held it a moment in silence, and then he +laid it gently down and stood up, looking about through the moonlight, +toward the cypress swamp and Duff's Fort. + +"But why did the scoundrels run away before finishing their infamous +work? And where is the doctor's horse? Ah! They have stolen that, of +course. Which way did they go? Did you see or hear them, Father?" + +"No; Toby and I were too far off," the priest replied. "We were coming +back from a sick call. It was too dark to see. The first and only sound +I heard was Ruth's voice, calling Philip Alston's name." + +"Oh!--I begin to understand," said the attorney-general. + +He stopped--remembering--and looked down at Ruth. She had not heard +what he said. She was bending closer to Paul's white face and listening +to his laboring breath. + +"We must get him home as quickly as possible," the attorney-general went +on. "My duty at Duff's Fort must wait on this. And I am not sacrificing +the state to a friend, or to gratitude. It would be worse than useless +to go on to-night, now that our plans are betrayed. I am very anxious +about my men. They should be here before now. According to our plans, +they should have been within hearing of the first sound of trouble and +ready to come at once. I am afraid they, too, have fallen into a trap; +but I can't do anything now for them, and I must do my best for this +poor fellow, and quickly, too. Come, Father,--come, David,--let us +consult as to the best way to get him home." + +The three men drew a little apart and stood talking together in a low +tone, so that Ruth was left for a moment alone with Paul. + +"Dear heart!" she breathed, with her cheek against his. "Listen, love. +Can you hear what I say? Try. Try hard. For if you can hear, maybe my +heart will not break. Listen, then," as softly as if her spirit spoke to +his. "Listen. I am yours and you are mine. Can you hear--dear heart? If +you live or if you die--it is just the same--always--to me and to you. +We belong to one another forever." + + + + +XX + +BALANCING LIFE AND DEATH + + +While they consulted, several of the attorney-general's men galloped up. +They had been delayed and sent astray by a false message purporting to +come from him. But they had met with no harm and were now in time to +help in lifting the wounded man's helpless weight into the priest's +saddle. This was the best plan that could be devised in haste, and +Father Orin hastily mounted behind the unconscious body, to hold it in +place. He being much the strongest among the men, the duty naturally +fell to him. It was also natural that the double burden should be laid +upon Toby, because the heaviest burdens of life are always laid upon +those who are readiest to bear them. + +And Toby appeared to feel his responsibility, for, setting out at a +rapid pace, which seemed to show that he knew the need of haste, he yet +moved with so steady a step that Father Orin did not require the aid of +the other hands which were held out to help him. Nevertheless, every +hand was constantly in readiness, and all kept close together; so that +thus moving through the dim light, the shadowy mounted figures looked +like some fabulous monster of gigantic size and with many arms, all +extended toward a common burden. But the pony kept closest to Toby's +side and in the gloom that followed the going down of the Hunter's Moon, +a trembling little hand stole out now and then, to touch the still, cold +one which swung so pathetically over Father Orin's strong arm. + +The stars were paling, and the dark east was growing wan, when Cedar +House rose at last out of the gray shadows. At the first glimpse of it +Ruth suddenly sent the pony forward and urging him to a run, left the +others far behind. Reaching the house, she leapt to the ground and ran +to the front door. It was deeply in shadow, but she did not need sight +to find the latch string, which she had played with as a child, and in +another instant she stood in the great dark room. It was deserted all +the household being asleep, and never dreaming that she also was not +safely in bed. The fire had been covered as it always was at night, but +it blazed when she stirred it, and by the light of the flame she found a +candle on the tall mantelpiece. Holding this to the blaze, it seemed to +her as if it would never catch the flame. When the wick caught she went +running up the stairs with the lighted candle in her hand, arousing the +sleeping household by repeated calls. She did not pause to answer the +alarmed cries that came in response. She heard a scream from Miss +Penelope's room, with, muffled sounds from the widow Broadnax's, and +the disapproving tones of William Pressley's voice. But she was utterly +heedless of everything, except the necessity of getting the room ready +in time, so that there should be no waiting before doing what might be +done. She quivered with terror to think how long the delay had been +already. The servants were too far away to be summoned quickly, so that +there was only herself to do what must be done, and she set about it in +desperate haste. Hers was the only chamber that could be given him. +Every room in Cedar House was occupied, and it was always her room which +was given to a guest, so that she often slept on a couch in Miss +Penelope's chamber. But she did not think of that; there was no thought +of herself, beyond wishing to give him her own room. Had there been ever +so many guest chambers, she would still have wished him to have hers. +But to get it ready in time! To make sure that there should be no +further waiting before doing all that human power could do. Even now it +might be too late. The wood fire had almost burned out, and to kindle a +blaze was the first thing to be done, so that she ran straight to the +hearth and dropped on her knees beside it. There was a little heap of +sticks in the chimney-corner, but her hands trembled so that she could +hardly put them on the dying coals. The breath that she coaxed the flame +with came in gasps, but a blaze quickly sprang up and leapt among the +sticks, and then she flew to prepare the bed. If she might only get it +ready before they came! The thought of that helpless head lying against +Father Orin's shoulder was like a stab at her heart. + +Footsteps were rushing up and down stairs, and excited voices were +calling her name all over the house, but she did not pause or turn from +her task. It was Miss Penelope who first found her and clamored to know +what had happened; but she did not stop to answer, and went on turning +back the covers of the bed--the last thing needing to be done--and +listening for the sounds of the horses' hoofs. They could now be heard +approaching with that sad, slow, solemn rhythm--that subdued beat, beat, +beat, of horses' feet--which has fallen on all our bruised hearts as an +awful part of the funeral march. She ran out of the room and downstairs, +drawing her skirt away from Miss Penelope's frightened grasp, and +passing William Pressley, as if his restraining words had been no more +than the gusty wind. She was waiting outside when the three horsemen +drew up at the door. The burden which they bore was still apparently +lifeless, and with a sickening pang of fear she bent over the parted +lips as they lowered him from the saddle, thinking for one despairing +moment that he no longer breathed. But the faint flutter went on, and +she gave way so that he might be borne up the stairs, and running +before, she told them where to lay him down. + +William Pressley made one or two efforts to direct what was being done, +and although the girl's passionate excitement swept him aside, he still +did what he could, and offered to furnish a fresh horse for the quicker +fetching of the doctor, when the attorney-general said he would go for +him at once. It was like William Pressley to do this; it would have been +unlike him to neglect any duty that he saw. But the offering of the +horse and the full performance of his own duty did not keep him from +looking at Ruth in severe displeasure. He did not yet know how this +thing had happened, and was far from suspecting that she had been out of +the house that night. Yet it disturbed and angered him to see her flying +here and there, and running to and fro to get things that were wanted, +as though the servants could not be quick enough. With all this in his +tone, he coldly and strongly urged her to join the rest of the family, +pointing out the fact that there was nothing more to be done by any one +till the doctor should come. But she merely shook her head, without +speaking, and slid softly into a seat by the bedside, and there William +Pressley left her, disdaining to contend. She thought that she was +alone--so far as she thought of herself at all--but the boy sat unseen +and forgotten in a shadowed corner of the chamber. He was gazing at her, +but her gaze never once wandered from the still white face on the +pillow. + +The rest of the family were gathered around the hearth in the great room +downstairs. The judge had been summoned from the cabin in which he +slept, and he was now plying Father Orin with questions. There was a cry +of alarmed amazement when the priest told of finding Ruth at Anvil Rock. +Only William Pressley said nothing, and sat perfectly still, with a +sudden stiffening of his bearing. It was not easy for the priest to make +the whole story clear, for he did not understand it quite clearly +himself. But he told as much as he knew of the night's events. And when +he was done, the judge's voice stilled the clamor of the other excited +voices. + +"How can the child have known what was going on? Where is she? We must +find out at once how she came to do so wild and strange a thing. What +under heaven could she have been doing there--in such a place, at such a +time? Where is she?" But he went on with another thought, without +waiting for an answer. "How can those murderous scoundrels have known +that the attorney-general would ride to Anvil Rock alone? It is plain +enough that they did know. The question is--How? By what means can they +possibly have learned anything about the plan? That's the thing! How did +they find out enough to enable them to set this villanous trap? All +those assassins hidden there in the darkness of the Cypress Swamp, +waiting to spring out on one man!" He turned suddenly to the priest. +"What is your opinion, Father? Have you the slightest idea how they +could have learned anything of our plan?" + +Father Orin looked straight at William Pressley. + +"Yes, I have an idea," he said quietly, with his gaze still fixed on the +young lawyer. "But it is merely unfounded suspicion. I have no real +reason for my suspicions." + +"Well, what are they?" asked the judge, eagerly. "You can hardly be +afraid of doing any injustice to those scoundrels. It would be hard to +suspect such murderous villains of any sneaking treachery that they +wouldn't be guilty of if they could. How do you think they found out? +That's what I want to know." + +Father Orin was still looking steadily at William Pressley, who returned +the look just as steadily with one that was easier to read than the +priest's. William Pressley's gaze expressed a large, patient tolerance +for prejudice, slightly touched with calm contempt, and there was no +doubting its entire sincerity. + +"I think," said Father Orin, slowly, "that these banded robbers and +murderers must have learned of the plan through some one's inadvertence. +It is my opinion that the plan was betrayed by some one who did not mean +to betray it, and who may not have known what he had done." + +William Pressley regarded him with an incredulous smile. "It is hardly +likely that the plan can have been revealed in any such way as you +suggest, sir," he said, with the politeness which is more exasperating +than rudeness. "You are certainly overlooking the fact that only a few +knew what the attorney-general intended to do, and that those who did +know are the ablest and most reliable men in the country. It is +therefore utterly out of the question to assume that any one among them, +any man of their intelligence and standing, could have made such a +blunder. Really, my dear sir, if you will pardon my saying so, the idea +is absurd." + +The priest made no reply and his eyes were still fixed on the young +lawyer's face, but as he gazed, the expression of his own face changed. +A half smile lighted it for a moment. The good man's sense of humor was +keen. But this passed quickly and in its stead there came the compassion +which any purely human weakness, however great or small, always awoke in +his truly compassionate breast. + +The judge apparently had not heard what his nephew said. He always began +to feel impatient as soon as the young man commenced to speak. And he +now gave his tousled head the old, unconscious toss, like a horse +shaking his mane at the lighting of a persistent fly. And then, paying +no more attention to William Pressley and drawing his chair nearer +Father Orin's, he went on with the grave talk. It was he, however, who +did all the talking now; the priest had suddenly become a passive +listener. He had no more ideas to advance. + +The three men turned many anxious looks on the open door. It was still a +framed space of misty gray, filled only with the melancholy mystery of +the wintry dawn. It seemed to the watchers to stay unchanged for a long +time, as it always does to those who watch for its brightening in +trouble and anxiety. Yet while they longed for the light they dreaded to +see it, as the troubled and alarmed always dread, lest it should reveal +something terrible which the darkness has concealed. Their words grew +fewer, also, under this strain of waiting, and they gradually fell into +the tone that night watchers use, when they speak of mysterious things +under the gloomy spell of this sad half-light which is neither night nor +day. In the silences between their hesitating words, they bent forward +and listened. All was still--there was no distant sound of the +attorney-general's return or of the old doctor's coming. In the tense +stillness they could hear only the sad murmur of the river gliding under +the darkness and--now and then--the sudden hurrying of footsteps in the +chamber overhead where the wounded man lay. + +And so a long, heavy hour dragged by. The leaden gray framed by the +doorway began to glimmer with a silvery pallor. The quicker breath of +the awakening world sent a heavier shower of leaves from the trees. The +birds still lingering among the cold, bare branches were already awake, +and calling cheerily to one another, as if the higher world in which +they lived was all untouched by the struggle and strife of this lower +human world. The heavy-hearted men in the great room of Cedar House +listened with the vague wistfulness that the happiness of bird voices +always brings to the troubled. They also heard the low trumpeting of the +swans as the breath of the morning swayed the rushes and that, too, +filled them with a deeper longing for peace. But suddenly the far-off +echo of a horse's rapid approach made them forget everything else. The +doctor was coming at last! As one man, the three men sprang to open the +door, and leapt out into the pallid daylight. The horseman was now near +by and in another moment they saw that the rider was not the doctor, nor +yet the attorney-general, but Philip Alston. + +The priest shrank back with an uncontrollable recoil and then stood +still and silent, watching every movement of the tall figure which had +reined up and was dismounting with the ease of a boy. The judge and his +nephew had made an exclamation at the sight of him; but they were merely +surprised at the unusual hour of his appearance and he explained this at +once. + +"Where is Ruth? What is wrong? Has anything happened?" he asked, turning +in visible agitation from one to another. "What was it that those men +on horseback brought here? I could barely make out something moving this +way. Has anything happened to Ruth? The light was dim, and I was a long +way off. I was coming from the river where I had been attending to the +loading of a boat, and so happened to see that something was going on. +But I wasn't near enough to tell what it was. Of course I came at once +to see if there was any trouble, and to do what I could. Is anything +wrong with Ruth? My horse fell and lamed himself, or I should have been +here much sooner. Tell me instantly! What have you done with the child? +What have you allowed to happen to her? By God, if--" + +He demanded this accounting in a tone of passionate fierceness such as +none of those present had ever heard in him, turning first upon William +Pressley and then upon Robert Knox. His face was white, and his eyes +were blazing, and they did not at once resume their natural look when he +had been assured of Ruth's safety. But he said nothing more, and only +Father Orin noted how altered and worn and old he looked, when he +entered the room and the brighter light fell upon him. + +He came to the fireside and sat down with the light of a swinging lamp +falling full on his face. His clear blue eyes, growing quiet, now looked +straight into Father Orin's--which were openly searching and +suspicious--during the second telling of the story of the night. It was +not easy for suspicion to stand against such a gaze. The priest's +wavered in spite of its strength. No one could believe evil of Philip +Alston while looking in his noble, open face. He did not speak +immediately after the story was told. When he did, it was to say, +quietly and naturally, precisely what any right-minded man would have +said under the circumstances:-- + +"This young stranger is certainly a man of courage. He has protected the +attorney-general at the risk of his own life. In doing this, he has done +a great service for all of us--for the whole country. We must now do +what we can for him. Is he badly, hurt? Where is he? Who is with him?" + +The priest saw that he flinched for the first time when told that the +wounded man had been taken to Ruth's room. + +"That was wrong," said Philip Alston, with a subtle change in his tone. +"Ruth must have nothing further to do with this extraordinary and most +unfortunate affair. She has had far too much to do with it already. That +mooning, foolish boy must have led her into this romantic folly through +some girlish enthusiasm about Joe Daviess, the popular hero of romance. +It is plainly the boy's fault that she was induced to do so dangerous +and unheard-of a thing. She could never have thought of it herself. I +shall see that he keeps his place hereafter. We must look to it, +William," turning upon the young man with more severity than his voice +often expressed. "Where is she? What is she doing? I wish to see her." + +It was the judge who told him that she was in her own room, together +with the older ladies, all in attendance upon the injured man. The +priest then saw the second swift darkening of Philip Alston's face. + +"I will go up to her room," he said quietly. "I wish to be sure that she +has not been harmed." + +As he rose, there was a sound outside. He turned to the open door and +saw two horsemen approaching at a gallop. It was light enough for him to +see and recognize the attorney-general and the doctor. The other men +hurriedly went out to meet them. Philip Alston stood still in a shadowed +corner of the great room, while the rest hastened up the stairway and +into the chamber where Paul Colbert lay. And then he followed them with +his swift, light step, and pausing upon the threshold, looked into the +open room, his gaze first seeking Ruth. She stood on the other side of +the chamber, apart from the group around the bed. But she did not see +him; her eyes and hands and thoughts were on the bandages which she was +hastily preparing. He shrank from what she was doing and turning hastily +away fixed his eyes on the attorney-general. Thus, silently looking and +listening, he presently heard him say how deeply he regretted being +compelled to leave the country before knowing the result of his friend's +wound, adding that he was leaving on the next day for Tippecanoe. Philip +Alston barely glanced at the white face lying against the pillow. He was +disturbed and even shocked to see it there. He felt this stranger's +presence in her chamber to be a desecration. And then the sight of +suffering always made him uncomfortable. He wondered how she could +endure it. The repulsion which the average man feels for any affliction +of mind, body, or estate was so intensified in him that he could not, +with all his intelligence, understand that the very sight of great +suffering nobly borne, does much to win a woman's heart. + + + + +XXI + +THE EAGLE IN THE DOVE'S NEST + + +The worst hurt that Paul Colbert had received was from a blow on the +head, which had stunned and nearly killed him. But there had been no +lasting injury, even from this, and the knife-wound in his shoulder had +healed rapidly; he was young, and strong, and healthy. + +On the morning of the seventh day he awoke and looked at Ruth. He was +feeling almost well, but had no inclination to stir. It was pleasant +enough just to lie there and look at her, and let his gaze wander around +her chamber. This white shrine of maidenhood! He had felt its influence +before he was able to understand, and the reverential awe had grown with +his returning strength. How dainty it was, for all its rough board floor +and rude log walls! Even those were as white as the driven snow. The bed +was like the warm, soft breast of a snow-white swan, and its drawn +curtains like folded wings. There were spotless muslin curtains over the +windows, and the little toilet table also was draped in white and strewn +with bits of carved ivory. The whole room showed the same mingling of +luxury and simplicity that was to be seen in the great room below. +These fine ivory carvings, the rare prints and a painting or two on the +rude walls, the alabaster vase on the rude stand,--filled with fresh, +late-blooming flowers,--the costly white fur rug on the floor, the +delicate work basket with its coquettish bows of riband, contrasted +oddly with the other simple things which had evidently been made in the +wilderness by unskilled hands. Yet even those were tasteful and all +painted white, so that the whole was purity, beauty, and exquisiteness. + +Yet his gaze quickly turned from the room to her. He knew that she +believed him to be asleep; but it was so pleasant to watch her that he +did not hasten to let her know that he was awake. She was very busy at +the window, with her back to him, and deeply absorbed in something that +she was doing. Moving lightly and swiftly to and fro across the light, +she was working hard, with no more noise than the sunbeams made in +glancing about her slender form. He lay watching her for some time in +dreamy delight, before he saw what it was that she was doing. But +presently he knew that she was making an aeolian harp. The two fragile +bits of vibrant wood to hold the strings were already in place on either +side of the window, just where the upper and lower sash came together. +She was now engaged in carrying the threads of fine silk floss, which +were to form the strings of this simple wind-harp, from one piece of +wood to the other. Back and forth she wove them across the current of +air, moving with swift, noiseless motions of exquisite grace. As the +last fine fibre thus fell into place and was firmly drawn, a soft, +musical sigh breathed through the shadowed room, the very shadow of +music's sweet self. + +[Illustration: "She was making an aeolian harp."] + +"Thank you," Paul Colbert said. "What beautiful things you think of, +what lovely things you do!" + +She turned quickly with a smile and a blush, and came to the bedside. + +"Why--you were not to wake up yet! It's much too early for a sick man to +open his eyes." + +"But I am not a sick man any longer. I am almost well. I could get up +now, if I wished," jestingly, "I am getting well as fast as I can, just +to convict the other doctor of a mistaken diagnosis. What a fine old +fellow he is!" with a quick change to earnestness. "How kind he has +been, how untiring in his attention and goodness to me. And so skilful, +too. I am ashamed of my presumption. A mere beginner like myself, to +question his methods in dealing with the Cold Plague! I don't believe he +made the mistakes they said he did. He couldn't!" + +It was an unlucky recollection. The thought of this mysterious epidemic +which had grown worse, till it was now devastating the whole country, +made him suddenly restless. His patients were needing him sorely while +he lay here, still bound hand and foot by weakness. He turned his head +miserably on the pillow. It was not the first time that this thought had +troubled him, and she knew the signs. Laying a gentle, soothing hand on +his tossing head, she spoke in the quieting tone that a woman always +uses to soothe and comfort a child or a man whom she loves. + +"It will not be long now. You can soon go back to them," she said. + +The tone was none the less soothing because a bitter pang went through +her own heart with the words. What should she do when he was gone? And +he was almost strong enough to return to the work which was calling him. +But the aching of a true woman's own heart has nothing to do with the +peace that she gives to those whom she loves. And then it may have been +only the sweet sadness of the spirit harp's sighing that made Ruth's +lips quiver under their bright smile. + +"But they need me now," he groaned. "They are dying untended while I lie +helpless here. The old doctor cannot take care of them. He has too many +patients of his own. He is riding day and night. He tries to hide the +truth, but I know it. The Cold Plague grows in violence every day." + +He suddenly raised himself on his elbow with a great effort. + +"Maybe I can sit up if I try very hard," he gasped. "The will has much +to do with the strength. I am determined--" + +"No! no!" cried Ruth in alarm. + +But he had already sunk back exhausted. His lids drooped heavily for a +moment through weakness. And then he looked up in her frightened face +with a reassuring smile as she gently pressed his head down upon the +pillow. + +"What strict little mother," he murmured. + +She shook her head and drew the counterpane closer about his neck, +carefully lightening the weight over his wounded shoulder. With soft +light touches she smoothed out the smallest wrinkle marring the comfort +of the narrow, bed. When this was done and he lay quiet again, she began +to talk quietly but brightly of other things, hoping to divert his +thoughts. She told him all the innocent gossip of the neighborhood. Most +of this had come to her from the Sisters, for she seldom saw any one +else. There was much to tell of their little charges, and particularly +of the three babies whom he and Father Orin had taken from the deserted, +plague-stricken cabin in the wilderness. She did not say that these +little ones had become her own special care, but caused his smile to +grow brighter by telling how like children the gentle Sisters themselves +were. She repeated what they had said of Tommy Dye's last visit. Their +serious, perplexed account of it was now unconsciously colored by her +own gentle, fine sense of humor which also came so close to pathos that +a lump rose in Paul Colbert's throat as he listened. He could see just +how poor Tommy Dye had looked, but his eyes grew dim while his lips +smiled. And now another and deeper shadow swiftly swept over his face. + +"So even poor old Tommy Dye has gone to Tippecanoe. Everybody but me is +gone or going. I alone am left behind. And yet--even if this hadn't +happened--I must still have stood at my post," he said sadly. + +Her hand fluttered down upon his like a startled dove. There was a +sudden radiance in her dark blue eyes. She barely breathed the next +words that she spoke:-- + +"Yes; you must have stayed, anyway. The doctor of the wilderness--the +healer everywhere--can never march with other soldiers. He can never go +shoulder to shoulder with cheering comrades at the roll of drums and the +blare of trumpets under waving banners--to seek glory on the +battle-field while all the world looks on and applauds. No--no--the +doctor of the wilderness--the healer everywhere--is a solitary soldier, +who must always go alone and silently to meet Death single-handed, and +struggle with him, day after day, and night after night, so long as he +may live, fighting ceaselessly for his own life as well as the lives of +others." + +There was a quivering silence, filled only with the sighing of the +wind-harp. The young doctor's hand had closed over hers. She went on in +a lower tone:-- + +"And surely the man who risks his life to save is braver than he who +risks it to slay." + +Startled at her own boldness, she drew away when he tried, with the +slight strength that he had, to draw her to him. They had not spoken to +each other of love. He knew little of what had taken place that night at +Anvil Rock when she had believed that his soul and her heart were +parting with all earthly things. He had not heard what she had said +then, and they had not been left alone together since his hurt until +this morning. There had been many constantly coming and going about the +sick bed during the first days, and to him those days were mere blanks +of suffering and blurs of pain. It was only to-day that he had begun to +regain in a measure the power of his mind and will. If he could but have +had for one instant the old power of his body! He did not know whether +this beautiful, tender young creature beside him was still under promise +to marry another man. There had been no opportunity for any confidential +talk. The name of William Pressley had never been mentioned between +them. The thought of him was like a touch of fire to Paul Colbert, so +burning was the contempt which he felt for this conceited dullard whose +blundering had nearly been his own death. But he could not say anything +of this to her--the fact that she had once been engaged to be married to +the man held him silent. It might be that she was still bound, and yet +there was something in her soft eyes that led him to hope that she was +free--something, at least, which seemed to give him leave to wrest +freedom for her from the strongest that might try to hold her against +her sweet will. If only he were not stretched here, a mere burden, a +clog. + +The look in his sunken eyes,--glowing like coals,--the burning words +which she read on his silent lips, made her slip her hands from his and +move hastily away. She went confusedly over to the window and hailed the +sight of the birds on the sill with sudden relief. + +"My little feathered family are all here," she said without looking +round. "Can you see the blue jay? He is on the window-sill trying his +best to peep over it at you." + +"I hope he is jealous of me," trying to speak lightly. + +"He's a great tyrant. He has driven away all the other birds. He will +not allow them to have one of the crumbs that I put out. Most of them +are sitting in a forlorn little row on the nearest tree. I wonder what +he is saying to them in that rough voice, yet maybe it is better not to +know. It must be something very rude, the redbird's bearing makes me +think so. He is standing very straight and holding his head very high, +but he isn't saying a word--of course. He is too much of a gentleman to +quarrel with a rowdy like the blue jay. Just hear how he is domineering! +These little song sparrows must surely be ladybirds--they are talking +back in such a saucy twitter. Can you hear them? I wish you could see +them. They are turning their pretty heads from side to side as much as +to say, that he can't keep them from speaking their minds if he does +keep them from getting the crumbs. Can you hear the silvery ripple of +their plaints? Nothing could be sweeter. There! I will raise the window +just a hair's breadth. Listen! Isn't it like a chime of fairy bells, +heard in a dream? But I hope you haven't felt any draught. It is much +colder than yesterday." + +Dropping the sash she went to the fireplace and laid several sticks on +the blaze. She stood still for a moment, gazing down at the fire and +then she took a low chair beside the hearth. She knew that Paul Colbert +was looking at her, but she did not turn her head to meet his gaze. For +she also knew that he was merely biding his time, merely gathering +strength to speak, merely waiting till he had found words strong and +tender enough. If her eyes were to meet his, she must go to him--she +could not resist--and yet she felt that she must not go while her +plighted word was given to another man. It did not matter that the +promise had been made under persuasion and in ignorance of what love +meant. It made no difference that she was sure that William, too, longed +to be free. The promise had been made, and she was bound by it, until +she could tell William Pressley the truth and ask him to set her free. +Soft and feminine as her nature was, she had nevertheless a singularly +clear, firm sense of honor as most men understand that term--and as few +women do. She had already tried more than once to tell him, but he had +been almost constantly away from home of late. It was to her mind simply +a question of honor. The dread of giving him pain which she had shrunk +from at first, had now wholly passed away. It was so plain that he also +recognized the mistake of this engagement and would be glad to be free, +that the last weight was lifted from her heart. She had been truly +attached to him as she was to almost every one with whom she came in +daily contact, and this affection was not altered. Hers was such a +loving nature that it was as natural for her to love those about her as +for a young vine to cling to everything that it touches. Every instinct +of her heart was a tender, sensitive tendril of affection, and all these +soft and growing tendrils reaching out in the loneliness of her life had +clung even to William Pressley, as a fine young vine will twine round a +hard cold rock when it can reach nothing softer or warmer or higher. Her +own rich, warm, loving nature had indeed so wreathed his coldness and +hardness that she could not see him as he really was. And now--without +any change in either the vine or the rock--everything was wholly +different. It was as if a tropical storm had suddenly lifted all these +clinging tendrils away from the unresponsive rock and had borne them +heavenward into the eager arms of a living oak. + +She knew now the difference between the love that a loving nature gives +to all, and the love which a strong nature gives to only one. Her heart +was beating so under this new, deep knowledge of life, that she feared +lest the man whom she loved might hear. Yet she sat still with her +little hands tightly clasped on her lap, as if to hold herself firm, and +she held herself from looking round, though the silence continued +unbroken. William must be told before she might listen to the words +which she so longed to hear from Paul's lips. It was noble of him to +hold them back. Every moment that she had been sitting by the hearth she +had been expecting to hear them. So that she sat now in tense, quivering +suspense, waiting, fearing, longing, dreading, through this strange, +long silence; filled only by the sighing of the wind-harp and the +crackling of the fire. And then, being a true woman, she could endure it +no longer, and turning slightly she gave him a shy, timid glance. As she +looked she cried out in terror. + +His head, which had been so eagerly raised a moment before, had fallen; +his eyes, which had been aglow but an instant since, were closed. The +effort, the agitation, had been too great for his slight strength. The +strong spirit, impatient of the weak flesh, was again slipping away from +it. + +She thought he was dying, and forgetting everything but her love for +him, she flew to him and fell on her knees by his side. Raising his +heavy head in her arms she held it against her bosom. She did not know +that her lips touched his, she was seeking only to learn if he breathed. +When his eyes opened blankly, she kissed them till they closed again, +because she could not bear to see the dreadful blankness that was in +them. When he moaned she fell to rocking gently back and forth, holding +his head closer against her breast, and presently began to croon softly. +She never once thought of calling for help; it was to her as if there +had been no one but themselves in the whole world. And presently his +faintness passed away, and when his arms, so weakly raised, went round +her, she did not try to escape. After a little he found strength to +speak a part of all that was in his heart, and she told him what she +could of all that was in hers. And both spoke as a great love speaks +when it first turns slowly back from facing death. + + + + +XXII + +"A COMET'S GLARE FORETOLD THIS SAD EVENT" + + +When the barriers had thus been broken down, she had spoken of the +breach between William and herself. There had not been a bitter word or +a harsh thought in all that she said. It had been merely a mutual +mistake; they had both mistaken the affection which grows out of +familiar association, for the love that instantly draws a man and a +woman together, though they may never before have seen one another, and +holds them forever, away from all the rest of the world. + +"I know the difference now," she said several days later, with a deeper +tint in her cheeks and a brighter light in her blue eyes. "And I am sure +that William does, too. It's plain enough that he will be glad to be +free, but he cannot say so, because he is a gentleman. Don't you see? +For that very reason, just because he is so high-minded, I am all the +more bound to do what is right. You do see, don't you?" + +He was sitting up for the first time that day, his chair was by the +window and she was sewing beside him. + +"I see what you think is right," Paul said smilingly. "And he certainly +should be told at once. But perhaps I might--" + +"Oh, no! I must tell him myself. That would only be treating him with +due respect. And William thinks a great deal of respect--much more than +he does of love. But I can't get a chance to speak to him. He is always +coming and going of late, and all the family are present when I do see +him. You must wait; you must not say a word to uncle Robert till I have +told William; it wouldn't be honorable on my part." + +"But you are forgetting, little girl, that there may be scruples on my +side, too. If my strength should come back as fast in the next two or +three days, I shall be able to leave Cedar House before the end of the +week. I cannot go away in silence; there must be no sort of secrecy. You +perceive there is a question of honor there, too. I must speak to the +judge--" + +"It isn't any question of secrecy. There is nothing to keep secret," she +protested and coaxed. "I am thinking only of William's feelings, and +trying to spare his pride. I know him best and I am fond of him. Don't +forget that. There has not been the least change in my affection for +him," holding her beautiful head very straight. "Don't think for a +moment that my regard for William has been lessened," suddenly dimpling, +softening, and beaming, "by my falling in love with you. That is an +entirely different thing." + +"I should hope so, indeed!" suddenly bending forward and catching her in +his arms with a happy laugh. "You see how strong I am. Well, then, you +needn't expect to have your own way all the time much longer. I yield +only so far as to give you three days--exactly three days from the +moment that I leave this house, and not one moment more. At the end of +that time I shall come to see the judge." + +"And uncle Philip. I couldn't be happy without his approval. I have been +longing to tell him. I would have told him at once if I hadn't felt +bound to speak to William first. Dear uncle Philip! He is always happy +over anything that makes me happy. Next to you, dear heart, there is no +one in all the world that I love so much--not half so much. And there is +no one whom he loves as he does me; he thinks only of my happiness." + +Her eyes sought his with a wistful look. She felt that he did not like +Philip Alston, and there was distress in the thought that these two, +whom she loved most out of all on earth, should not be the warmest of +friends. + +"You mustn't think him indifferent because he hasn't been to see you," +she pleaded. "Please don't think that, for it isn't true. He hasn't come +because he never can bear the sight of suffering. He says it's purely a +physical peculiarity which he cannot control. Anything that makes him +think of violence or cruelty shocks and repulses him. He shrinks from it +as he would from a harsh sound or an evil odor. He says it's because his +refinement is greater than his humanity. But it is really his tender +heart. Some day when you know him better you will find his heart as +tender as I have always found it." + +He, knowing what was in her loving heart, could not meet her gaze, and +hastily looked away gazing across the river. His thoughts swiftly +followed his eyes, for he would not have been the man that he was, could +even this great new love which was now filling his heart, and was to +fill all his future life, have made him forget his old love for this +great new state, and the awful crises through which it was passing. + +For that was a time of great stress, of deep anxiety, and of almost +intolerable suspense. Those early days and nights of November in the +year eighteen hundred and eleven, were indeed among the most stressful +in the whole stormy history of Kentucky. And through her--since her fate +was to be the fate of the Empire of the West--they were as portentous as +any that the nation has ever known. On that very day in truth, and not +very far off, there had already been enacted one of the mightiest events +that went to the shaping of the national destiny. Over the river on the +banks of its tributary, the Wabash, the battle of Tippecanoe had been +fought and won between the darkness and daylight of that gloomy seventh +of November. The young doctor, like all the people of the country, knew +that the long-dreaded hour had struck, that this last decisive struggle +between the white race and the red must be close at hand; but neither he +nor any one in that region knew that it was already ended. There had not +been a single sign or sound to tell when the conflict was actually going +on. It was said that the roar of the cannon was heard much farther away, +as far even as Monk's Mound, where the Trappists--those most ill-fated +of Kentucky pioneers--had found temporary refuge. But if this be true, +it must have been by reason of the fact that sound carries very far over +vast level prairies, when it cannot cross a much shorter distance which +rises in hills covered with forests, such as shut out every echo of the +battle from Cedar House. + +Paul Colbert got up suddenly and began to walk the room, though he +staggered from weakness. He could not sit still under the torture of +such suspense, when he thought of all that was at stake on the outcome +of the conflict which might even then be waging beyond those spectral +trees. The safety of the people living along the river, their homes, +their lives--all these were hanging upon the strength of the soldier's +arm. He knew how small the white army was. If it should be conquered, +the opposite shore might at any instant be red with victorious savages +rushing to the great Shawnee Crossing. And then--he looked at Ruth, +feeling his helplessness as he had not felt the keenest pain of his +wound. She saw the look, and felt its distress, although she did not +understand all that it meant. She gently urged him back to his chair, +frightened to see how weak he was. + +"Sit still till I come back. I will run downstairs and see if there is +any news," she coaxed in a soothing tone. + +The household was gathered in the great room waiting and watching. The +old ladies by the hearth scarcely noticed one another. The judge sitting +apart half started up at the faint rustle of Ruth's approach, but +finding that it was no messenger bringing news, he sat down again with a +weary sigh, and his gaze went back to the other side of the river. His +appearance told how great his anxiety was. His rugged, homely face was +haggard and unshorn, and his rough dress was even more careless than +common. William Pressley arose and came forward to give Ruth a chair. +There was no visible change in him, his dress was as immaculate as it +always was. His manner was just as coldly implacable as it had been ever +since the quarrel; but then his temper never had anything to do with his +looks or his manners. No degree of uneasiness could ever make him forget +appearances or the smallest form of courtesy; and he would have thought +it a pitiable sort of man who could be moved by emotion to any kind of +irregularity. His way of placing the chair proclaimed that he never +failed to do all that became a gentleman, no matter how neglectful +emotional people might sometimes become. + +Philip Alston, coming in just at that moment, saw something of this with +mingled amusement and satisfaction. The candor of William Pressley's +self-consciousness, the sincerity of his self-conceit, the firmness of +his belief in his own infallibility, claimed a measure of real respect, +and Philip Alston gave it in full. He thought none the less of him +because he could not help smiling a little at the solemn progress which +the young lawyer was then making across the great room. To be able to +smile at anything on that day of strain was a boon. And then it was +always pleasing and cheering to see any fresh sign that he had read the +young lawyer's character aright, and he was glad to see again what a +good-looking, well-mannered, right-minded young fellow he was. Nothing +could be said against him. Everything--or almost everything--was to be +said in his praise. The open fact that he thought all this himself would +be nothing against him with Ruth. A man's faith in himself is indeed +often the chief cause of a woman's faith in him. No one knew this better +than Philip Alston. As he looked at William that day, a new feeling of +peace came into his perturbed breast. He was beginning to be +disheartened by unexpected opposition to his plan to have the young +lawyer appointed to the office of attorney-general. Had he been closer +in touch with the governor, he would have known that all his efforts +were useless, for the office was held by appointment in those days, and +not by election as it is now. But it was a long way to the state capital +on horseback, and he had seen no newspapers, so that he knew nothing +positively, and was only beginning to fear. And thinking about the +uncertainty, he was encouraged to feel that even failure in this would +not alter his belief that the marriage was the best Ruth could make. +There was something purely unselfish in the content that he felt. With +clouds lowering around his own head, it comforted him to feel that her +future would be safe whatever came. He smiled at her, shaking his head +when she asked if he had heard any news, and drew her down by his side. +At the first opportunity he must ask about Sister Angela's progress with +the wedding clothes. It was not long now till Christmas Eve, and he +wanted to hear more about the preparations for the marriage. These had +seemed to lag of late. + + * * * * * + +The blood-red sun went down behind threatening clouds on that terrible +day, and the second morning came in with a wintry storm of icy winds and +swirling snow. Then followed two more gloomy, gray days and two more +wild, black nights. The fifth day dawned still wilder and darker, but +Paul Colbert found strength to go away. On the sixth it seemed to Ruth +that her heart would break with its aching for his absence; and with the +sadness that came from listening to a sobbing wind which sighed +despairingly through the naked forest; and with watching a melancholy +rain which hung a dark curtain between Cedar House and the other side of +the river. And thus the dreadful time dragged on into the seventh +endless day, and still there was no news from Tippecanoe. A courier +could have brought it in a few hours by riding fast through the wide, +trackless wilderness, and swimming broad, unbridged rivers. But no +couriers came toward Cedar House. There was no reason for sending a +special messenger to a corner of one state when the whole nation was +clamoring to hear. So that the couriers were speeding with all possible +haste toward the National Capital, and the people of Cedar House could +only wait and watch like those who were much farther off. + +And thus it was that after a whole week had passed, they still did not +know that the battle of Tippecanoe had been fought, and that a precious +victory had been bought at a fearful price. And even now, who knows +whether or not that fearful price need have been paid? It is hard to see +the truth clearly, looking back through the mists of nearly a hundred +years. In the strange story of that famous battle, only one fact stands +out clear beyond all dispute, and that is so incredible as to stagger +belief. It appears at first utterly past belief that the white army, +marching against the red army with the open purpose of attacking it on +the next day, should have lain down almost at the feet of the desperate +foe, and have gone quietly to sleep. Only the recorded word of the +general in command makes this fact credible. He also says, to be sure, +that the soldiers "would have been called in two minutes more;" but he +admits that they had not been called when the red army made the attack, +without waiting till the white army woke of its own accord to begin +fighting at leisure by daylight, without even waiting those two minutes +for the general's convenience. What happened to the helpless sleepers +then, when the waking warriors thus fell upon the sleeping soldiers, may +be most eloquently told in the general's own words. "Such of them as +were awake or easily awakened, seized their arms and took their +stations, others, more tardy, had to contend with the enemy at the doors +of their tents." Turning the yellowed pages of this most amazing report, +the reader can only wonder that the furious tide of battle which set so +overwhelmingly against the soldiers in the beginning, ever could have +been turned by all the brave blood poured out before its turning. + +On the eighth anguished day of suspense Ruth went to the door to welcome +Philip Alston, and looking toward the forest path, saw Father Orin and +Toby approaching. There was something in the way they moved that told +they had news, and when they reached Cedar House, the whole household +was breathlessly waiting for them. The white family was gathered inside +the front door, and the black people, running up from the quarters, +crowded round the door on the outside, with ashen faces, for their fear +of the savages was, if possible, greater than the white people's. All +pressed around Toby, and Father Orin told the good news as quickly as he +could, without taking time to dismount; but his voice trembled so that +he could hardly speak, and his eyes were so full of tears that he could +not see. He was not yet able to rejoice over a victory which had cost +the life of a dear friend. + +"And Joe Daviess?" asked Philip Alston. + +Father Orin silently turned his face toward the river and made the sign +of the cross; but he turned back and patted Ruth's head when she pressed +it against Toby's mane and burst into sobbing. + +"It was he who saved the day," the priest said huskily. "He led the +desperate charge that won the battle, when everything seemed lost. He +received his death wound in the charge, but he lived long enough to know +that the victory was ours." + +"He was a great man; his name will never be forgotten. His sword has now +carved it imperishably on the key-stone of the new state's triumphal +arch," said Philip Alston. + +"And Tommy Dye?" asked Ruth, lifting her wet eyes. "The Sisters are so +anxious." + +"And poor Tommy Dye, also," answered Father Orin. + +These two brave men who lived their lives so far apart, had fallen +almost side by side. Joe Daviess, the noble, the fearless, the highly +gifted, the honored, the famous; and Tommy Dye, the kindly, the +reckless, the poorly endowed, the misguided, the obscure,--both had done +all that the noblest could do. The mould and the dead leaves of the +wilderness would cover both their graves. Only the initials of his name +roughly cut on a tree would mark the glorious resting-place of the one. +Only an humble heap of unmarked earth would tell where a noble death had +closed the ignoble life of the other. + + + + +XXIII + +LOVE CLAIMS HIS OWN + + +The tears had been heavy on Ruth's dark lashes when she had fallen +asleep, but she awoke with a smile, radiant and expectant. She could not +remember at first what made her so happy, and a pang touched her heart +at the sudden recollection of the night's sadness. And then suddenly she +began to glow again at the thought of her lover's coming. The week of +his exile was ended on that day, and he would come. She knew just how he +would look when he came with his head held high, and his clear eyes, so +kind, and yet so fearless, looking straight in every face. She could +tell the very moment when he would come, for she had the +happiness--which every woman prizes and few ever know--of loving a man +who kept his word in the letter as well as the spirit. If men could but +know the difference there is to a woman! But they hardly ever do know, +because this is a little thing, and they can never understand that it is +the little things and not the large ones that make the happiness or the +wretchedness of most women. + +She exulted in the thought that he would come at the very instant he had +named, no sooner and no later, and this would be precisely at four +o'clock. She looked round with a smile, trying to tell by the mark on +the window-sill what the time was then. But the day was gloomy, and +there was no sunlight to mark the hour. Solitary snowflakes were +drifting irresolutely across the window, as if uncertain whether to go +on earthward or return whence they came. The birds sat on the bare +branches near the window waiting for their breakfast in ruffled +impatience, the blue jay having done his best to call her to the window +earlier. And he said so, in his own way, as she scattered the crumbs +with a cheery good morning. + +When she went down to breakfast, the family received her much as the +birds had done. Her coming cheered them also, as if a sunbeam had +entered the dark room. Miss Penelope left off what she was saying about +the calamities that must be expected in consequence of the comet's tail +coming loose from its head. The widow Broadnax relaxed her watch for a +moment, as the fair young figure came toward the hearth and stood by her +chair, resting a hand on her shoulder. The judge brightened, without +knowing what it was that suddenly heartened him, and David came out of +his corner under the stairs, as he never did, unless she was in the +room. Only William held aloof after a formal bow. At the sight of her, +smiling and radiant, the sullen anger within him glowed like a covered +fire under a sudden breeze. She had not been punished enough; her face +was far too bright, her manner far too frank. When she approached him +and tried to speak to him in a tone that no one else could hear, he +arose, and murmuring a stiff apology moved away, just as he had done +every time she had made the attempt. She flushed and lifted her head, +for there was no lack of pride or spirit in her softness. Yet by and by +she could not help looking at him across the table with another soft +appeal in her sweet eyes which plead dumbly for old times' sake. And +after breakfast was over she tried again, knowing that this would be the +last opportunity, and yearning with all her loving heart to win back +some of the old friendliness that she still prized as a precious thing, +which she could not give up for a mere touch of pride. Such soft +persistence is even harder to evade than to resist, and she followed +William to the door as he was going away later in the day, and was +bravely gathering courage while he looked at her in implacable coldness. + +He was not softened by the fact that his hopes were high that morning +over what appeared to be the certainty of his receiving the appointment. +There was, he thought, not the slightest doubt if he could manage to +secure the influence of one or two other leading citizens. As it was, +there seemed to be little danger of failure, and when he now saw Philip +Alston coming, he paused and waited for him to come up, so that he +might tell him what he had been doing. He did not know that he was +merely telling Philip Alston how his own orders had been carried out, +and there was nothing in that gentleman's manner to remind him. + +William Pressley, accordingly, went on talking with the modest +consciousness of having done all that was possible for any man to do, +and he said, as they were entering the great room, that he considered +his success a mere question of time. + +"A mere question of time, and a very short time, too," repeated Philip +Alston, heartily. "I congratulate you. I am proud of you. We are all +proud of him--hey, judge?" + +"I hope he knows what he is trying to undertake," the judge said +abruptly, turning a glum look on his nephew. "I trust, William, that you +are realizing the responsibility of this office. Most men would hesitate +to assume it. I should tremble at the thought." + +"I think, sir, that I shall be able to do my duty." William Pressley +spoke stiffly, with a touch of condescension and a shade of resentment, +such as he always evinced at any sign that the censer might cease to +swing. + +"It isn't a simple matter of duty. It's a much more complicated matter +of ability," the judge said sternly. + +"Pardon me, sir, but it really does not seem to me such a difficult +place to fill," said William, loftily. "In this, as in any other +position of life, the man who is influenced solely by the profoundest +and most conscientious conviction, and who is firm in following his +convictions, can hardly go far astray." + +The judge looked at him over his big spectacles in perplexed, troubled +silence for a moment. So gazing, he gave the old impatient toss of his +tousled head, and the old quizzical look came under his suddenly +uplifted eyebrow. + +"All _right_, William!" he said at last, almost immediately lapsing into +silence, and presently beginning to nod. + +Philip Alston scarcely glanced at the judge and his nephew. He was +looking at Ruth, and noting with adoring eyes that her beauty had +blossomed like some rare flower of late. It seemed to him that the roses +on her fair cheeks were of a more exquisite, yet brighter tint, that her +eyes were bluer and brighter and softer than ever. There also appeared +to be a new maturity in the delicate curves of her graceful figure. But +there was no change in the childlike affection of her bearing toward +him. She clung round him just as she had always done, and when she +turned to leave his side to take a chair, he called her back, +unconsciously falling into the tone of fond playfulness that he had used +in her childhood. + +"If a little girl about your size were to come and look in her uncle's +pockets, she might find something that she would like--" + +Ruth did not wait for him to finish what he was saying, but ran to him +as if she had been the little toddler of other days, needing only the +sight of his dear face, or the sound of his kind voice, to fly into his +outstretched arms. In a moment more her eager hands were swiftly +searching his pockets, and making believe to have great difficulty in +finding the hidden treasure. She knew all the while where it was, but +she also knew that he liked her to be a long time in getting it out. His +worshipping eyes looked down on her hands fluttering like white doves +about his heart,--for it was hard to keep away from that inner breast +pocket--and at last, when she could not wait any longer, she went deep +down in it, and drew out a flat packet. This looked as if it had +travelled a long distance. There were many wrappings around it, and many +seals and foreign marks were stamped upon it. She laid it on his knee, +and pretended to shake him, when he made out that he meant to take time +to untie the cords which bound the wrappings, instead of cutting them. +And when he had cut the cords with his pen-knife, the wrappings fell +off, disclosing a jewel case of white satin richly wrought in gold. At +the quick touch of her fingers the lid of the case flew up, revealing a +long string of large pearls,--great frozen drops of the rainbow, wrapped +in silvery white mist,--treasures that a queen might have coveted. + +The girl did not know how wonderful the pearls were and had not the +faintest conception of their value. But she saw their beauty and felt +their charm, for a beautiful woman loves and longs for the jewels that +belong to her beauty, as naturally as the rose loves and longs to gather +and keep the dewdrops in its heart. + +"Oh! Oh!" was all that she could say, and she could think of nothing to +do, except stand on tiptoe and touch Philip Alston's cheek with a +butterfly kiss. And then when he had put the string of pearls around her +neck, so that it swung far down over her rounded young bosom, she danced +across the room to the largest mirror. But the corner in which it hung +was always full of shadows and so dark on this gloomy day that she could +not see, and with pretty imperiousness she called for candles to be +lighted and brought to her. William Pressley mechanically got up to +obey, but Philip Alston moved more quickly. Going to the hearth he took +two candles from the mantelpiece, lit them at the fire, and carried them +to her. He expected to have the pleasure of holding them so that she +might see the lovely vision, which he was already looking upon. But she +took them from his hands and raising them high above her head, danced +back to the mirror, and stood gazing at her own image, as artlessly as a +lily bends over its shadow in a crystal pool. And as she thus gazed in +the mirror, it suddenly reflected something which moved her more than +her own likeness. It showed her the opening of the front door, and gave +her a glimpse of her lover standing in the room. She whirled round, +blushing, and with her eyes shining like stars, and cried out:--"See, +Paul! See--was there ever anything so lovely?" + +She went swiftly toward him, holding the candles still higher, so that +the pearls caught a rosy lustre from the light that fell on her radiant +face. She was laughing with pure delight at the sight of him, forgetting +the pearls. She did not know that she had called him by his Christian +name but she would have called him so, had she taken time to think. She +had called him so ever since they had known that they loved each other, +and she did not stop to realize that this was the first time they had +met in the presence of others since becoming plighted lovers. She +realized nothing except his presence--that alone filled her whole world +with joy and content. He came straight to meet her, holding out his +hands; but before he could cross the great room, or even had time to +speak, Philip Alston stepped forward and spoke suddenly in clear +tones:-- + +"Yes, see the wedding gift! The bridal pearls are here at last; all +ready for Christmas Eve." + +Paul Colbert paused. He was an ardent and bold lover, but the words were +like a breath of frost on love's flowering. No ardor, no confidence, can +keep a sensitive man from feeling a chill when he sees the woman he +loves decked in the beautiful things which are beauty's birthright, and +realizes for the first time that he cannot give them to her. With the +painful shock which this feeling brought to the young doctor there was a +greater shock in the sudden thought of the possible source of the riches +which the pearls represented. A feeling of horror rushed over him, as if +he had seen that soft, white throat encircled by a serpent, and he +sprang forward to tear it off. + +Ruth had turned her head to look at Philip Alston, with a start of +surprise and a little disquietude, but without fear or distrust. She +could not believe that he would wish her to marry William after he knew +that she loved Paul; such a thought never crossed her mind. Yet, as she +looked, a strange feeling of alarm which she did not comprehend swept +over her, filling her with formless terror. Some instinct made her +shrink, as if this wonderful string of pearls, which she had thought so +beautiful a moment before, had turned into a cruel chain and was binding +her fast. She did not know that many a weaker man has thus bound many a +stronger woman with chains of gold and ropes of pearls. But she felt it, +and her instinct was quicker than her lover's thought. Had her hands +been free she would have thrown the fetters from her, and finding +herself helpless, she turned to Paul Colbert for help. + +"Take them off! Quick--quick! They are too heavy," she gasped. + +It was Philip Alston who reached her first, and took the pearls from +her neck and the candles from her hands; but she did not look at him, +and went to her lover as if he had called her. Paul's arm going out to +meet her drew her to his side, and then, as the young couple thus stood +close together, the truth was plain enough to every one whose eyes +rested upon them. Philip Alston's face turned very white, and he made a +movement as if he would spring between them and part them by force. But +he checked the impulse, after that uncontrollable start, and stood +still, bearing in enforced silence, and as best he could, as hard a +trial as love ever put before pride. William Pressley also stood still +and silent, suffering bitterer pangs through his wounded self-love than +love itself ever could have inflicted upon him. Judge Knox straightened +up from his doze in bewildered astonishment, and made a displeased +exclamation, but it passed unheard. The old ladies by the hearth were +dumb with amazement. The boy stood unnoticed in his dark corner under +the stairs. + +The young doctor now began to speak deliberately, calmly, and clearly, +being fully prepared with every word that he wished to utter. He told +the whole story with the simple directness that was natural to him. He +explained why he had not spoken sooner, and dwelt upon Ruth's scruples +because he wished her position to be fully understood, not because he +felt it necessary to excuse anything upon his own account. When he had +said everything that he thought should be said, and when he had spoken +modestly and proudly of their love for each other, he went on to make +frank mention of his affairs, his family, and his place in life. And +then he turned to the judge:-- + +"There is, as you see, sir, no reason why I should not ask you to give +her to me," he said with a boyish blush dyeing his handsome young face, +"since I have been so honored, so happy, and so fortunate as to win her +consent. I am ready and eager to tell you anything else that you may +wish to know, sir." + +The judge lurched heavily out of his chair and rose unsteadily to his +feet in the sudden, angry excitement that flames out of drink. + +"By--! 'Pon my soul, young sir, you are taking a high hand in my house. +Keep your place, sir, keep your place! Who are you that come here +putting your hand on my niece, and ordering the family about? Come to +me, Ruth! Come to me instantly!" + +Philip Alston laid a restraining hand on his arm, and even William +Pressley uttered a warning word. In the presence of the girl there must +not be a violent word, much less a violent deed, no matter what the +feelings of the men might be, and no matter what might come after. That +was the first article in the code of chivalry toward women which ruled +these first Kentuckians, as it rules most brave, strong men living +simple, strenuous lives in the open. It ruled the judge also, as soon +as he had time to think, and controlled him through all the fog that +clouded his faculties. + +"My dear," he appealed humbly, piteously, bending his rough gray head +before the girl, "I beg your pardon." + +She flew to him and ran her arm through his, thus ranging herself on his +side with a fiery air of loyalty, and she turned on her lover with her +soft eyes flashing:-- + +"How can you, Paul! I am surprised. I wouldn't have believed it of you. +What do you mean by speaking so to my uncle Robert? Don't you see he +isn't well? You must know that when he is well everybody respects and +looks up to him--that the whole county depends on him," she said. + +The old judge and the young doctor looked at each other over her head as +men look at one another when women do things as true to their nature as +this was to hers. And then, in spite of themselves, the judge's left +eyebrow went up very high, and a sunny smile brightened the doctor's +grave face. Even Philip Alston smiled and felt a sudden relief. With +such a child as Ruth had just shown herself to be, there must be some +hope of leading her by gentleness and persuasion. There was, at least, a +chance to gain time, and he moved eagerly to seize it. He looked at +William Pressley with an expression of undisguised contempt, seeing him +stand utterly unmoved. He could not help giving a glance of scorn, which +measured him against Paul Colbert. Who could blame the girl? +Nevertheless Philip Alston went to her and took her hand from the +judge's arm, and placed it within his own. Holding it fast against his +side, he turned to the doctor. + +"It might be best for all concerned if you would allow us to talk this +matter over quietly among ourselves. We hardly know what to say, having +it sprung in this totally unexpected way. If you would be so kind as to +leave us for the present--" + +The doctor had drawn himself up to his full height. He was about to say +that he recognized no right on the part of Philip Alston to interfere, +and to declare that he held himself accountable to no one but the judge. +Yet as this purpose formed, his gaze instinctively sought Ruth's, and he +saw that she was looking up at Philip Alston with love--unmistakable +love--in her face. The sight brought back all the helplessness that he +always felt when forced to realize her fondness for the man. He felt as +he might have done had he seen some deadly thing coiled about her so +closely that he could not strike it without wounding her tender breast. +The trouble had been like that from the first and it was like that +now--perhaps it always would be. He did not know what to do or say, with +her blue eyes appealing from him to Philip Alston. He was glad when +William Pressley broke the silence. The young lawyer had been thinking +hard; he never did anything on mere impulse. He always stopped to +consider how a thing would look, no matter how angry he might be. His +vanity had been slowly swallowing a bitter morsel, and it was now quite +clear to him that he must act promptly in order to escape a still +bitterer humiliation. Moreover, the chief consideration which had kept +him from allowing Ruth to break the engagement sooner, was now removed. +Philip Alston could hardly blame him in view of what had happened; no +one could think ill of him now. + +"Just a moment, if you please," he said coldly and bitterly, addressing +all who were present. "There is no cause for delay or hesitation so far +as I can see--certainly there need be none on my account. The engagement +between Ruth and myself was tacitly broken some weeks ago. She has been +over-scrupulous in thinking that anything was due me. She was quite free +from any promise to me. You owe me nothing," turning to her with a bow. +"You have my best wishes." + +She went to him, holding out her hand. "William, it hurts me to hear you +speak like that. I did my best to tell you--alone--and earlier. We were +both mistaken--neither was to blame. There surely is no reason for hard +feeling. My affection for you is just the same. William, dear--just for +old time's sake." + +He took her hand, not because her loving gentleness won his forgiveness, +but because he thought that no gentleman could refuse a lady's hand. And +when she turned away with a long sigh and quivering lips, he stood firm +and invincible, supported by the conviction that he alone of all those +present had been right in everything. And such a conviction of one's own +infallibility must be a very great support under life's trials and +disappointments. There can hardly be any other armor so nearly +impenetrable to all those barbed doubts and fears which perpetually +assail and wound the unarmored. Think of what it must mean!--never to +feel that you might have been kinder or more just, or more generous or +more merciful than you were; never to have doubts and fears come +knocking, knocking, knocking at your heart till you are compelled to see +your mistakes when it is too late to do what was left undone, +and--saddest and bitterest of all--too late to undo what was done. + +But no one except Ruth looked at William Pressley or thought of him. +Philip Alston calmly and courteously repeated his request, and with +Ruth's gaze urging it, Paul Colbert could not refuse to grant it. He +took up his hat and went toward the door with Ruth walking by his side. +And then, with his hand on the latch, he paused and turned, and looking +over her head, gazed steadily and meaningly into the eyes of the three +men. He looked first and longest at Philip Alston; then at William +Pressley, and finally at the judge, with a slight change of expression. +To each one of the three men his look said as plainly as if it had been +put into words, that he held himself ready for anything and everything +that any or all of them might have to say to him--out of her sight and +hearing and knowledge. And they, in turn, understood, for that was the +way of their country, of their time, and their kind; and having done +this he went quietly away. + + + + +XXIV + +OLD LOVE'S STRIVING WITH YOUNG LOVE + + +That night Philip Alston stayed later than usual at Cedar House. He was +waiting for the others to go to bed, so that he might have a quiet talk +with Ruth. On one or two rare occasions they had been left alone +together before the wide hearth, and they both looked back on these +times as among the pleasantest they had ever known. But the +opportunities for privacy are very few where there is only one living +room for an entire family, and the size and publicity of this great room +of Cedar House made them fewer than they could have been in almost any +other household. And Ruth, seeing what he wished, was looking forward +now with even greater delight than she had felt heretofore; the delight +that young love feels at the thought of giving its first confidence to a +loving, sympathetic heart. She looked at him often through the waiting, +with shining eyes, so happy, so eager to ask him to share her happiness +that she could hardly wait till the others were gone. William Pressley +did not tax her patience long and the judge, too, soon went away to his +cabin with David to see that he reached it safely. The old ladies were +slower in going; Miss Penelope had many domestic duties to perform, and +the movements of the widow Broadnax were always governed entirely by +hers. But they, also, went at last with Ruth to assist the stouter lady +in getting up the stairs. + +The girl came flying down again, with her eyes dancing and her heart +playing a tune. Philip Alston rose as she approached, and stood awaiting +her with a look on his face that she had never seen before. + +"You are tired, dear uncle Philip," she said, taking his hand and +holding it against her cheek as she raised her radiant eyes to his face. +"Come to the fire and take this big chair. I will sit on the footstool +at your knee. There, now! You can rest and be happy. Isn't it sweet to +be alone--just you and I--together like this! I love you so dearly, dear +uncle Philip. It seems as if I had never before really known just how +much I do love you. It seems as if my heart couldn't hold quite all the +happiness that fills it to-night. And the tenderness filling it to the +brim brings a new feeling of your goodness to me." + +She had taken the low seat by his side, and now laid her head down on +his knee. He stroked her hair with an unsteady hand; sorely troubled and +not knowing what to say. He suddenly looked very old, and felt more +helpless than ever before in his life. Looking down on this beautiful +head he realized in every sensitive fibre of his soul and body that this +lovely young creature, clinging to his knee, was the one thing in the +whole world that he had ever loved--deeply, truly, purely, and +unselfishly; that her gentle heart was the only heart out of all the +hearts beating on the earth that had ever loved him as the innocent love +the good. Thinking of this he shrank and trembled, feeling that he held +in his grasp a fragile treasure precious beyond all price, which a rude +touch might destroy forever. He knew the evil reputation which rumor had +given him, and he had seen that Paul Colbert believed the worst. There +had been no disguise in the expression of the young doctor's eyes. His +gaze bold and keen as an unhooded falcon's, had frankly proclaimed his +dislike and mistrust, making it only too plain that he asked no favor by +pretending ignorance or on the score of any friendliness that he did not +feel. His look and attitude had indeed been so unmistakable that Philip +Alston now wondered in sudden terror if she had not already observed +them, and he--who had feared nothing in all his life--quailed and +quivered before this sudden fear with abject cowardice. In another +moment he knew that her trust in him had not been shaken; the resting of +her head on his knee told him so much. But how long would it or could it +stand against the doubts of the man she loved? That was the question +which went through Philip Alston's breast like the thrust of a sword. +Her husband's influence would be supreme. A tender, gentle creature, she +would be easily influenced through her affections. The young doctor +might keep silence, seeing her love for himself and respecting her +regard for her foster-father; but he was not the man to hide what he +really thought and felt, and she must divine the truth before long. +Philip Alston had no hope of changing Paul Colbert's opinion of himself; +he knew the world and mankind too well to think for a moment that any +man might hope to live down such charges as those which had been brought +against himself. Ruth must know sooner or later, and, knowing, would she +still love him? There came now a sort of piteous appeal in the touch of +his unsteady hand on her hair. The slightest suspicion must blast the +exquisite flower of her tender love. With his quick, full appreciation +of everything truly noble he had often noted the firm principles, which +lay under her sweet gentleness like fine white marble under soft green +moss. He did not know that this very trait for which he had loved her, +and which now made him afraid, had already been tested again and again; +and that her love for him and trust in him, had stood against every +attack as firmly as great rocks stand against shallow waves. No, he knew +nothing of all this, and he was now in such desperate fear that he +dared not speak or move or do anything but stroke her hair with a +shaking hand, and stare over her head at the fire trying to clear his +mind. She had been silent also, but presently she spoke, putting up her +hand to pat the one that was stroking her hair. + +"I am waiting, dear heart," she said softly, "waiting to hear what you +think of my Paul. I have been wanting so long to tell you; it was on +account of William that I waited. But you know now, and I am so glad--so +glad! Tell me what you think of him. There is no one but you who can see +all that he is. And there is no one but him who can see all that you +are. But you two, my dearest, are capable of appreciating each other. +And I am a happy, happy girl." + +He was feeling faint and sick under the hopelessness of any struggle +between old love and young love. With every look of her radiant eyes, +with every gentle word that fell from her sweet lips, he was feeling +more and more how utterly useless would be any attempt to come between +her and her lover. And looking at her he could not think of making any +such attempt. When an all-absorbing love has taken complete possession +of an empty and worldly heart, that heart becomes more powerless before +that love, than a fuller and softer heart ever does. He could not speak, +but he murmured something and she went on:-- + +"How sweet it is to be here alone with you, like this, in the dear, +dark, big, old room. Why, uncle, dear, it seems only yesterday that you +were rocking me in my cradle, over there in the chimney-corner; when you +were already petting and spoiling me, just as you have always done. And +to think that I am talking to you to-night about my Paul! Can you +realize that it's true? Well, it is--the very truest thing in all the +world." + +She paused for a moment, but she did not observe that he made no +response, and she began again:-- + +"You see, dear uncle, I didn't mean to love him. I meant to love William +and I did in a way as I do now. He is such a good man, but I have found +out that goodness, just by itself, is not enough. It may make love last, +but it can't make it begin. Why, I never even thought whether my Paul +was good or not. I must have loved him just the same." + +"But you couldn't love a man if you found out that he was bad, after +believing him to be good. It wouldn't be possible for you to do that, +would it?" in strange, agitated haste. + +She lifted her head and looked at him wonderingly. "I don't know what +you mean. My Paul is good! Why, he is here in the wilderness solely for +love of humanity, giving his strength, his skill, his time, and all that +he has to the service of his country and his kind, just because he is +good, and for no other reason. There is no better man living, not even +Father Orin, not even you, sir," throwing her arms around his knee and +giving it a loving squeeze. "And you know it, too, you are only laughing +at me. I don't mind at all. I am too happy to care for teasing." + +She laid her head back on his knees and fell happily silent, gazing +dreamily into the flames. The wind was rising, and went roaring through +the trees around the house; but she heard it with the peaceful feeling +of shelter and safety that only happiness feels in wild weather. +Presently she asked him if he thought that souls could speak to one +another. + +"It was at Anvil Rock," she said as simply as if she had been thinking +aloud. "I had never thought about loving him. He had never told me that +he loved me, but I knew then that he did. Something told me while he was +lying on the ground like a dead man. What do you think it could have +been? What was it?" + +Looking up she saw the shrinking in his face, and she thought it came +from his dislike of any mention of painful subjects; but her whole heart +was in this question so that she could not let it go without pressing it +a little further. + +"But tell me, dearest, can souls communicate without speech or sign--if +they only love enough?" she urged. + +"You are a fanciful, romantic child," he said, trying to smile and to +speak lightly. "Why--the man was an utter stranger then--you didn't know +him at all." + +He had taken her chin in his hand, and his eyes were now looking +steadily into hers; but the courage of the moment fled when she +involuntarily drew away. He was alarmed at the effect of this one slight +effort. + +"Such things are too subtle for an old man, my child, too subtle, +perhaps, for any man either young or old," he said hurriedly and +confusedly. "You women see and feel many things that fly high above our +heads. And then I am duller than usual to-night. I am anxious about +business matters. The river is rising rapidly, there is danger of a +disastrous flood. My boats are not in safe places, and worst of all the +Cold Plague broke out to-day on one of them. The boat is tied up to the +island. I sent it over there immediately so that you, and the rest of +the family, might be in no danger from the spread of the epidemic. But +it worries me, and one of the boatmen is said to be dying." + +"Send for my Paul. He can cure him. The plague-stricken hardly ever die +if he can get to them in time." + +She said this with a pretty air of pride in her lover, and a gentle lift +of her head. He made no reply, and she turned her eyes from the fire to +his face to see why he was silent so long. He was pale with a strange +gray pallor, and he met her gaze with a startled, alarmed look. It was +the look of a man who blanches and shrinks before some sudden great +temptation. She misread the look, taking it for unwillingness to send +for her lover. + +"You mustn't think of sending for Doctor Colbert if you prefer the other +doctor," with swift, fiery jealousy. "But I warn you that if you do, the +man will certainly die." + +"Do you know where he is to be found in case I should want to send for +him?" he said after a moment's silence, and with constraint and +hesitation. + +"He is riding so much that it is hard to tell; but, uncle, dear," +melting and putting her arms about him, "I should not be really +offended, of course, if you were to send for the other doctor. You can, +dear, if you want to. I like him ever so much better myself, since he +took such good care of my Paul." + +He laughed uneasily and got up, saying that he was going to see about +the trouble on the boat. He saw that he must have a cleared mind and +steadied nerves with time to think. And he could not think in her +presence, he could only feel her blue eyes on his face and her little +hands clasped around his knee or about his arm. He tried not to look at +her, and hurriedly began buttoning his coat before starting on his cold +way home. In drawing his coat closer, his hand came in contact with the +pearls which he had forgotten. He drew them out and hung them again +around her neck. She thanked him with a smile, but he saw that she +scarcely looked at them, that she was thinking only of her love and her +lover, though she held his hand and walked beside him to the front door. + +From it they could see dimly and were able to make out the black bulk of +the boat lying far out in the river beside the island. As he looked at +it a feeling of the worthlessness of all that he owned swept over him, +overwhelming him with despair. All the gold that he had gathered, or +ever could gather, would be worthless yellow dust if he might not use it +to give her comfort or pleasure or happiness. He realized suddenly that +this was everything that his riches had meant to him ever since she had +wound herself around his heart. Money could do little for him; he was +weary and old and sad and had come to feel--as every rich man must come +to feel sooner or later--that for himself his riches meant, after all, +only food and clothes. And now he found himself facing the end of the +sole interest and happiness that he could ever hope to find in life. +Henceforth it would be with the utmost that he could do, as it had been +just now with these pearls. He fully recognized the hopelessness of +trying to win her away from her lover. That had grown plainer with every +gentle word that she had said while they had sat before the fire. And he +knew that this proud young fellow, whose glance had met his like the +crossing of swords, would never allow her to touch a penny of his money, +or anything that it could buy, if he could help it. The thought was like +tearing the heart out of his breast, and another thought sprang up again +in defence of all that he held dear. He began to breathe quickly and +heavily, like a man who has been running. He feared that she must feel +the plunging of his heart, for she was leaning against him, looking out +at the wild, windy night. But she heard only the mournful wail of the +wind through the great trees, and the roar of the river rushing under +the misty darkness. There was no moon, but the stars were shining in the +dark dome of the universe. + +"I wonder why the stars look so old, while the world looks so new," she +murmured, with her head on his shoulder and her face upturned. "I wonder +why there is such a look of changelessness about the heavens, while the +earth seems changing so fast!" + +Her eyes were wandering over the infinite starry spaces with wondering +awe, but he was looking down at her and he started when she cried out in +amazement, touched with alarm. She lifted her hand and pointed, and +following its direction, he saw that the comet had disappeared. + +The celestial visitor was gone almost as suddenly and mysteriously as it +had come. + + + + +XXV + +THE PASSING OF PHILIP ALSTON + + +The cold wind died down with the coming of dawn. Going to the window to +call the birds, she found the air grown unseasonably warm and saw that +it was filled with a dull mist. Leaning from the window, she looked up +the forest path, wondering if Paul had ridden along it during the night +on his way to the boat. The low, broad craft was still lying in the same +place beside the island, with no movement about it. She thought of the +sick man with pity, wishing that she could do something for him; but if +Paul had been called in time, all must be well--she had not a doubt of +that; and an unconscious smile of pride touched her anxious face. She +hardly knew why she felt vaguely anxious and uneasy, but thought that it +might be on account of the gloom of the dreary morning, and the strange +look of the swollen river. How gray and dark it was, and how heavily it +ran, almost like molten lead. + +As her wandering gaze followed the stream, she saw something which was +still grayer and darker than the troubled waters. She could not tell at +first what it was, for it was a long way off, and far up the river. +With her hands over her eyes, she strained her sight, but the distance +was too great, and the yellow haze too thick. She could make out only a +wide, dark line, wavering down from the woods to the water--a strange, +moving thing without beginning or end--which seemed to be going faster +than the river. The strangeness of the night alarmed her and as she +gazed at it, fascinated, she saw David running toward the house and +waving his arms to call her attention. + +"Look! Look up the river!" he shouted as soon as he had come within +hearing. "I was afraid you wouldn't see it. It's an army of squirrels +marching steadily, just like soldiers, millions and millions of them! It +has been like that for hours. I have been watching it since daylight. +The squirrels are trying to cross the river, and thousands and thousands +are already drowned. The water is brown with their bodies." + +"The poor little things! What in the world can it mean, David? And look +at the birds! They don't come at all when I call them. What is the +matter with them? I don't see anything to disturb them, yet see how they +look! And hear the waterfowl screaming! And the trees, too. Why do the +leaves droop like that? How can it be so hot in December? It was never +like this before. There isn't a breath of air." + +"I have noticed how strange everything seems. The forest is stiller than +I ever saw it, but the wild things that live in it are strangely +restless. I have been watching them all the morning, and I heard them in +the night." + +"But what does it mean, dear? Surely some dreadful thing must be going +to happen! I wish Paul would come. Have you seen him? He is always +riding, and the woods are dangerous in a storm, and it can't be anything +else. Why don't you answer? I asked if you had seen him." + +The boy turned from gazing at the strange, dark line which was still +wavering ceaselessly from the woods to the water. + +"Yes, I saw him and Father Orin going home an hour or so ago. They had +been out all night." He said this absently, with his eyes turning back +to the wonderful spectacle. + +"My Paul is wanted in many places at once," she said, forgetting her +uneasiness in a woman's pride in the power of the man she loves. "But I +hope he found time to visit the sick man on uncle Philip's boat," +mindful even then of a woman's wish to draw together the men she loves. +"Can you see any clouds, David? I can't--and yet this strange yellow +vapor that thickens the air is certainly growing heavier every moment. +What can it be? It isn't at all like a fog. I am frightened. Come +indoors. I am coming downstairs. Maybe uncle Robert or William can tell +us what all this means." + +But there was nothing to be learned in the great room below. The men of +the family were as helpless as the women. All were waiting and watching +for some nameless calamity, weighed down by that overwhelming, +paralyzing dread of the unknown which unnerves the bravest and makes the +most powerful utterly powerless. The old ladies, trembling and silent, +clung close to the chimney-corner, scarcely looking at one another. The +judge and his nephew were sitting in silence near the front door which +had been opened on account of the sudden heat. They got up hurriedly, +and turned nervously, startled even by the faint rustle of Ruth's skirts +on the stairs. And before they could speak, the strained stillness was +violently torn by a sudden loud, shrill sound, such as none of the +terrified listeners had ever heard before--a long, unearthly shriek, +which seemed to come from neither brute nor human. For a moment not a +cry was uttered, not a word was spoken, and terrified eyes stared +unseeingly into whitening faces. And then the judge, suddenly realizing +what the sound was, broke into shaken, painful laughter. + +"It is the whistle of the steamboat--the first steamboat on the Ohio. +How could we have forgotten?" he said. "It is the _Orleans_ passing down +the river. Come to the door. We must see it go by. It doesn't stop here +and none of us should miss seeing it, for the sight of the first steamer +on western waters is something to be stored in memory. Never mind the +signs of the storm. There will be many other storms, but never another +first steamboat down the Ohio. Come out and see it." + +"We can get a better view from the river bank," cried Ruth. "Come along, +David!" + +Holding hands, the girl and the boy ran to the shore, leaving the others +to watch the great spectacle from the doorstep. And thus all stood, +marvelling like every living creature whose eyes followed it down that +long river. But only the judge could partly grasp the greatness of the +event; only he could partly realize what it meant to the West and the +world. Yet every one waited and watched as if spellbound, till the last +of those first victorious banners of blue smoke thus unfurled over the +conquered wilderness, had waved slowly out of sight around the great +river's majestic bend. + +This had brought a momentary forgetfulness of the strange look of the +heavens and the earth; but the consciousness of it now rushed back with +increased alarm. There were still no clouds to be seen anywhere, no +visible signs of an approaching storm; but the thick veil of yellowish +vapor was fast drawing an unnatural twilight over the noonday. Through +this awful dimness the sun was shining faintly, like a great globe of +heated copper, thus shedding a strange light, even more alarming than +the sinister darkness. + +Every soul in the wilderness must now have shrunk, shuddering and +appalled, before this unmistakable approach of some frightful +convulsion of nature. The people of Cedar House, like all the rest, +could do nothing but wait in agony for the unknown blow to fall. It +seemed an endless time in falling; under the breathless, torturing +suspense the moments became hours, with no change except a darkening of +the unnatural twilight, an increase of the unnatural sultriness, and a +deepening of the unnatural stillness. The little group in the great room +of Cedar House sat still and silent, save as they unconsciously drew +closer together, moved by the instinct of humanity in common danger. + +The girl alone kept her post by the open door and her watch over the +forest path, looking for the coming of her lover. She knew that but one +thing could keep him from her side, and with all her longing for his +presence, a thrill of happiness came from his absence. Through all its +distress her heart exulted in the thought that he was faithful in his +service to suffering humanity, even when love itself beckoned him away. +A great tide of religious gratitude rose in her heart sweeping all fear +before it. The love of a man who was both strong and good--the greatest +gift that life could give to any woman--was safely hers. Holding this +assurance to her heart, she grew wonderfully calm. There could be +nothing to fear. In this world or the next, all was well. A wonderful +spiritual exaltation bore her upward on its strong, swift wings, high +above all the surrounding gloom and terror, till she rested on a white +height of perfect peace. There was a rapt look on her quiet, pale face +as she sat thus with it turned toward the forest path. She arose quietly +and stood in the door, gazing at a shadowy form which came suddenly from +under the dark trees. The thick yellow mist wrapped it darkly, but she +presently knew by intuition rather than by sight that Paul was really +coming at last, and she flew toward him like a homing bird. He was +urging his horse, but the animal held back with an unwillingness such as +he had never shown before; so that when the young man saw the girl +flying toward him he leapt from the saddle, leaving the horse to follow +or not as he would, and ran to meet her. As soon as she could speak, she +told him that she was not afraid now that he had come, saying it over +and over; yet she nevertheless clung to him as if she would never let +him go. + +"And you will take care of the others, too," she said. "Uncle Robert +doesn't know what to do, nor William. Oh! Look! The poor black people! +There they come running up from the quarters. See how they are crowding +round the door, wild with terror! But you will know what to say to them +as well as the others. I am not afraid, with you," quietly looking up in +his grave face. "Is it the end of the world, dear heart?" + +He said that he knew no more than herself what it could be, unless some +terrific tempest might be near. They moved hurriedly on toward the +house, and as they went he told her that he was going to the boat where +he had been called to see a man ill of the plague. The call had come +during the night, but he could not leave another patient to answer it +more quickly. And now he would not leave her, for all the rest of the +world, till they knew what this awful thing was which seemed about to +happen. The white people had come out of the house and stood speechless +and motionless, looking up at the heavens and down at the earth, seeing +both but dimly through that ghastly twilight so awfully lit by that +lurid ball of fire. + +"Here comes Father Orin!" cried the doctor. "Look at Toby and my horse; +see how they are walking!" + +The horses could be indistinctly seen advancing slowly and reluctantly +through the yellowish gloom with a curious, sliding motion, as if +stepping on ice. Paul started toward them, but paused, struck +motionless, and held by a sight still more strange. The same breathless +stillness brooded over everything; the windless air now weighed like +lead, and yet at this moment the greatest trees and smallest bushes +suddenly began to quiver from bottom to top. As far as the horror-struck +eyes could reach through that unnatural twilight, the mightiest +cottonwoods were now bending and nodding like the frailest reeds. And +then there arose in the far northeast a faint rumbling which rushed +swiftly onward toward the southeast, growing, louder as it came, and +breaking over Cedar House in a thunderous roar. At the deafening crash +Paul turned and ran back to Ruth, catching her in his arms. The ground +was now sliding beneath their feet. The solid earth was waving and +rising and falling like a stormy sea. + +"It's an earthquake," he whispered, with his lips against her cheek. +"Don't fear, it will pass." + +A second shock followed the first, and there was no lightening of the +dreadful gloom which was one of the greatest horrors of that horrible +time. But the men were rallying now that they knew what they had to +meet, and they quickly and firmly drew the terror-stricken, helpless old +women further away from the house, fearing that the massive logs of its +walls might be shaken down. + +"That isn't far enough," said Father Orin. "Come still farther," +glancing round for the safest refuge. "Merciful God! Look at the river!" + +The Ohio, beaten back by the lashed and maddened Mississippi, was +leaping in great furious waves, high and wild, as the ocean's in a +tempest. These monstrous, foaming billows were springing far up the +shores on both sides of the river, and devouring vast stretches of land +covered with gigantic trees. The giants of the forest fell, groaning, +into the boiling, swirling flood which leapt to catch them and swallowed +them up with a hideous, hissing noise. Sunken trees which had lain for +ages on the bottom of the river rose above the water like ghosts rising +to meet the newly slain. + +"The boat," moaned Ruth. "Uncle Philip's boat, and the sick man!" + +Every eye turned in the direction of the island. No one spoke after that +first look. None marvelled to see that the boat was missing; nothing +afloat could live in that seething maelstrom, thickened with melted +earth and tangled with fallen trees. The overwhelming thing which their +faculties could not grasp was the fact that the island itself was gone. +They could only stand staring, expecting to see it between the +mountainous waves, utterly unable to believe the truth, that it had sunk +out of sight and was resting on the bottom of the river. And as they +were thus still searching the wild, dark flood with incredulous eyes, +they suddenly saw a small row-boat in the middle of the stream. It +darted down a towering wave and flew up the next, and came flying on +like some wild, winged thing, toward the Kentucky shore. Another and a +wilder wave caught it, lifted it aloft, and tossed it still nearer the +land. It was not far away now, and there came a sudden lightening of the +gloom, so that they could see two men in the little boat. + +"They can never live to reach the shore!" cried the doctor. + +"As God wills," said the priest. + +Instinctively every eye but the girl's was scanning the shore, trying to +find something that would float, something that might help to save the +men in the boat. But there was nothing in sight; the fierce waves had +swallowed everything, and the helpless people on the bank could only +turn again to watch the little boat. Ruth's gaze had never wandered from +it, and she still watched it flying from one wave to another, gazing as +intently as she could through the tears that rained over her pale +cheeks. She saw it go up a gigantic wave with a flying leap and dart +down again, and then it was lost to sight so long that they thought it +was gone. But at last it came up near the shore, overturned, and with +only one man clinging to it. He was on the far side of the frail shell, +so that they could not see him distinctly, although he was not far from +the shore and there was more light. And then a swirl of the wild waters +brought him to the nearer side, and raised him higher. + +"It's an old man!" sobbed Ruth. "His head is white. Oh! Oh! It's uncle +Philip! It's uncle Philip! He has been to the island. Save him, Paul!" + +The doctor had already thrown off his coat, and was throwing aside his +boots. He had not waited for her last words; he was not sure that it +was Philip Alston; but he knew that some fellow-creature was perishing +almost within reach of his arm. He was now running down the trembling +bank, and in another instant had plunged into the boiling, roaring, +furious flood, and was swimming toward that wildly rising and falling +silver head, which shone like a beacon, through the lurid light. It was +hard to keep anything in sight. He was a strong swimmer, but his full +strength had not come back, and the fury of the waves was swirling trees +like straws. + +After that one involuntary appeal, Ruth was silent. Her heart almost +stopped beating as she realized what her cry had done. A woman's mind +acts with marvellous quickness when all she loves is at stake. As in a +lightning flash she knew that she had sent her lover to risk his life +for her foster-father, without knowing what she did. What she would have +done had there been time to hesitate she could not tell, dared not +think. It must have been a bitter choice, this risking of her lover's +life against the certainty of her father's death. But now she realized +nothing, felt nothing, except that the desperate die was cast. She did +not notice that the others followed as she flew after Paul to the +river's very brink. The earth had ceased quivering, but the shores were +still crumbling under the crushing blows of the maddened waves. The +thick, dark water coiled unheeded about her feet, as she stood silent, +straining her eyes after her lover as he swam toward that silver head +which still rose and fell with the waves. She did not move when she saw +a gigantic cottonwood lean, uprooted and tottering. She did not utter a +cry when it fell behind him, cutting him off and hiding him, so that +neither he nor the silver head could be seen from the land. She stood as +if turned to stone, waiting--only waiting--hardly hoping that it had not +carried them both down. She began to weep softly, and her hands were +suddenly and unconsciously clasped in silent prayer, when she saw him +once more swimming--still swimming--but coming back around the top of +the tree. + +It had struck the little boat in its fall, sending it down to come up in +fragments, but the man was left hanging to a bough, and it was toward +him that Paul Colbert was struggling against the fury of the flood. The +tree hung to the bank by its loosened roots, but its trunk and branches +were swaying wildly, fiercely tossed by the waves. The man was sinking +lower in the water, his strength almost was gone, and his hold was +giving way, when Paul reached him. The white head, turning, revealed +Philip Alston's face and Paul Colbert thought that he shrank under his +touch. Neither spoke for a moment; both needed all their breath to reach +a higher bough. + +"Let me help you," gasped Paul Colbert. "Try to climb to the next limb. +It is stronger and steadier." + +"Thank you," panted Philip Alston. + +They reached it together and could now see the shore, and both looked at +Ruth through the swaying boughs and flying spray. The young man's heart +leapt and his courage rose at the sight of the slender, girlish form. He +saw her stretch out her arms, and remembering that she loved this old +man, panting and struggling at his side, he shouted with all the power +that he had, telling her that he would do his best to bring him to land. +Philip Alston gave him a strange look, and then turned his gaze again +toward the little figure on the shore. In a tone that was even more +strange than his look, he murmured something about being on his way back +from the island. He also said something about going to the boat early in +the morning to countermand an order that he had given on the night +before. + +"I changed my mind--I found I couldn't do--" + +Paul Colbert did not understand, and scarcely heard the confused, +gasping, hurried words. He was looking at Ruth, and longing to loose his +hold on the bough, long enough to wave the assurance that his voice +could not carry across the roaring waters. And this was the instant that +Nature chose to mock the pitting of his puny powers against her +resistless forces. A fierce wave tore away the roots that the tree bound +to the bank, and hurled it into the flood. It swung round and turned +partly over, burying the bough that they clung to, deep under the water. +Both went down with it and Paul Colbert thought, with the quickness and +clearness of mind that comes to the drowning, that they could never come +up again. When he found his own head once more above water, with his +hand grasping a bough of a smaller tree, which had been driven close to +the shore, he looked round for Philip Alston. There was no silver head +anywhere to be seen now above the thick, dark river. Half stunned, he +gazed again blankly, feeling vaguely that his own head must go down very +soon; his strength was wholly gone; he could not even see the shore, +though it was very near, because he was not strong enough to lift +himself above the trunk of the tree which hid it from his sight. And +then at last he heard Father Orin's voice:-- + +"Hold fast, my boy. Hold fast just a moment longer. We are coming, Toby +and I. Try to hold on. We are almost there." + +They reached him as his hand let go and his head sunk, and they bore him +to the shore and laid him down at Ruth's feet, unconscious, but alive. + + * * * * * + +When Nature has thus rent the trembling earth and thus smitten appalled +humanity by some stupendous convulsion, the outburst of passion nearly +always passes quickly, and she hastens to console by concealing its +traces. These fatal throes were hardly over before she was quelling the +frenzied river by her sudden coldness, and only a few days had passed +before she was covering its subdued waters with a heavy white sheet of +glittering ice. And then, as if to make the torn land lovely again at +once, she wrapped it in a dazzling robe of spotless snow. Above this she +hurriedly hung the broken boughs of the wrecked cottonwoods with +countless flashing prisms, encrusting the smallest twigs to the very top +in sparkling crystal; and coming down she stilled the murmur of the +reeds under icy helmets--binding all together with crystalline cables of +frost. So that under the rainbow light of the brilliant winter sun the +world was once more radiant with peace and joy and beauty unspeakable. + +And Cedar House, too, was now just as it had been before. From its open +door nothing could be seen of the marks left by Nature's passionate +fury; marks which must remain forever unless some more furious passion +should come to erase them. It was hard to tell just how and wherein the +whole face of the country had been so greatly changed. The people of +Cedar House knew that a great lake nearly seventy miles in length and +deeper in places than the height of the tallest trees whose tops barely +showed above the water, had taken the place of a range of high hills +covered with primeval forest. But this was too far away to be seen from +Cedar House, and no one there had the heart to approach it. One sad +pilgrimage had been made, and that was to the ruins of Philip Alston's +house. It was now a mere heap of fallen logs, and although these were +lifted and laid in orderly rows, and the ground searched over inch by +inch, there was nothing but his fine clothes and some simple furniture +to show that it had ever been occupied. + +"To think that he lived like this--that he gave me everything and kept +nothing for himself," Ruth said softly through her tears, looking up in +Paul Colbert's troubled face. "Such a desolate, lonely life. It breaks +my heart to think of it. But I would have lived in his house if I could. +I wanted to live in it--I wouldn't have cared how plain and rough it +was. I wanted to live with him and cheer him and make him happy, as if +he had been my own father. I couldn't have loved him more dearly if he +had been. And you would have loved him, too, if you had known him +better. I am sure that you would. You couldn't have helped loving +him--if only for his goodness to me. And he was kind to every one. I +never heard him speak a harsh word of any living thing. It was in being +kind that he lost his life; he must have gone to see the man who was ill +on the boat." + +The young doctor looked away and fixed his eyes on the men who were +going over the ground around the cabin. + +"Who are those men, Paul? And what are they doing here?" she asked +suddenly, observing that they seemed to be looking for something. "It +hurts me to have strangers handling these things that belonged to him. +What are they looking for? Who are they?" + +"Dearest, when a thing like this happens the law has to take certain--" + +"What has the law to do with my uncle Philip's clothes? No one shall +touch them but me or you!" bending over the garments and gathering them +up in her arms. "What are they digging for? Make them stop. Oh, stop +them; this spot is like his grave, the only grave he can ever have." + + * * * * * + +Paul could not tell her then, nor for months afterward, that it was +impossible to stop the search for the gold which was believed to be +buried in the earth of the forest near the ruined cabin. He waited till +the forest was once more quivering with tender young leaves and the +river was gentle and warm again--and she had become his wife. When he +gently told her at last, she looked at him wonderingly like a child, and +was silent for some time. She knew so little about money or the +eagerness for riches. And then she smiled and said that she herself +would certainly claim any gold belonging to Philip Alston that ever +might be found, and that David and the Sisters and Father Orin and Toby +should have the spending of it. + +"For that is what he would like and we have no need of more, now that +you are becoming famous. We have all and more than we want. Uncle Robert +has plenty for himself and his sisters. William will soon be going to +Congress, if you and uncle Robert work hard for him. Yes, David and the +Sisters and Father Orin and Toby shall have dear uncle Philip's gold. He +would wish them to have it. Think how generous he always was to them and +every one, and how kind to all. If you only could have known him just a +little longer, dear heart! Knowing him better, you would have known, as +I do, how truly he loved everything fine and noble and great." + +He did not reply but silently laid his hand on hers. Sighing and +smiling, she nestled closer to his side. And then as they sat thus with +their eyes on the glorious afterglow, the Angelus began to peal softly +through the shadows, and the Beautiful River seemed in the softened +light to curve its majestic arm more closely around this wonderful new +country, from which a blighting shadow was lifted forever. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Round Anvil Rock, by Nancy Huston Banks + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROUND ANVIL ROCK *** + +***** This file should be named 11379.txt or 11379.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/3/7/11379/ + +Produced by Gene Smethers and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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