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diff --git a/old/12179.txt b/old/12179.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ca4db92 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12179.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12917 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Vandemark's Folly, by Herbert Quick + +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: Vandemark's Folly + +Author: Herbert Quick + +Release Date: April 27, 2004 [EBook #12179] +Last updated: August 21, 2015 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VANDEMARK'S FOLLY *** + + + + +Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Charlie Kirschner and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + +[Illustration: "I must think!" I said. "Let me be!"] + +VANDEMARK'S FOLLY + +BY HERBERT QUICK + +1922 + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + +I A Flat Dutch Turnip Begins Its Career. +II I Learn and Do Some Teaching. +III I See the World, and Suffer a Great Loss. +IV I Become a Sailor, and Find a Clue. +V The End of a Long Quest. +VI I Become Cow Vandemark. +VII Adventure on the Old Ridge Road. +VIII My Load Receives an Embarrassing Addition. +IX The Grove of Destiny. +X The Grove of Destiny Does Its Work. +XI In Defense of the Proprieties. +XII Hell Slew, Alias Vandemark's Folly. +XIII The Plow Weds the Sod. +XIV I Become a Bandit and a Terror. +XV I Save a Treasure, and Start a Feud. +XVI The Fewkeses in Clover at Blue-grass Manor. +XVII I Receive a Proposal--and Accept. +XVIII Rowena's Way Out--The Prairie Fire. +XIX Gowdy Acknowledges His Son. +XX Just as Grandma Thorndyke Expected. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +The work of writing the history of this township--I mean Vandemark +Township, Monterey County, State of Iowa--has been turned over to me. I +have been asked to do this I guess because I was the first settler in +the township; it was named after me; I live on my own farm--the oldest +farm operated by the original settler in this part of the country; I +know the history of these thirty-six square miles of land and also of +the wonderful swarming of peoples which made the prairies over; and the +agent of the Excelsior County History Company of Chicago, having heard +of me as an authority on local history, has asked me to write this part +of their new History of Monterey County for which they are now +canvassing for subscribers. I can never write this as it ought to be +written, and for an old farmer with no learning to try to do it may seem +impudent, but some time a great genius may come up who will put on paper +the strange and splendid story of Iowa, of Monterey County, and of +Vandemark Township; and when he does write this, the greatest history +ever written, he may find such adventures as mine of some use to him. +Those who lived this history are already few in number, are fast passing +away and will soon be gone. I lived it, and so did my neighbors and old +companions and friends. So here I begin. + +The above was my first introduction to this history; and just here, +after I had written a nice fat pile of manuscript, this work came mighty +close to coming to an end. + +I suppose every person is more or less of a fool, but at my age any man +ought to be able to keep himself from being gulled by the traveling +swindlers who go traipsing about the country selling lightning rods, +books, and trying by every means in their power to get the name of +honest and propertied men on the dotted line. Just now I began tearing +up the opening pages of my History of Vandemark Township, and should +have thrown them in the base-burner if it had not been for my +granddaughter, Gertrude. + +The agent of the Excelsior County History Company called and asked me +how I was getting along with the history, and when I showed him what I +have written, he changed the subject and began urging me to subscribe +for a lot of copies when it is printed, and especially, to make a +contract for having my picture in it. He tried to charge me two hundred +seventy-five dollars for a steel engraving, and said I could keep the +plate and have others made from it. Then I saw through him. He never +wanted my history of the township. He just wanted to swindle me into +buying a lot of copies to give away, and he wanted most to bamboozle me +into having a picture made, not half so good as I can get for a few +dollars a dozen at any good photographer's, and pay him the price of a +good team of horses for it. He thought he could gull old Jake Vandemark! +If I would pay for it, I could get printed in the book a few of my +remarks on the history of the township, and my +two-hundred-and-seventy-five-dollar picture. Others would write about +something else, and get their pictures in. In that way this smooth +scoundrel would make thousands of dollars out of people's vanity--and he +expected me to be one of them! If I can put him in jail I'll do it--or +I would if it were not for posting myself as a fool. + +"Look here," I said, after he had told me what a splendid thing it would +be to have my picture in the book so future generations could see what a +big man I was. "Do you want what I know about the history of Vandemark +Township in your book, or are you just out after my money?" + +"Well," he said, "if, after you've written twenty or thirty pages, and +haven't got any nearer Vandemark Township than a canal-boat, somewhere +east of Syracuse, New York, in 1850, I'll need some money if I print the +whole story--judging of its length by that. Of course, the publication +of the book must be financed." + +"There's the door!" I said, and pointed to it. + +He went out like a shot, and Gertrude, who was on the front porch, came +flying in to see what he was running from. I was just opening the stove +door. In fact I had put some scraps of paper in; but there was no fire. + +"Why, grandpa," she cried, "what's the matter? What's this manuscript +you're destroying? Tell me about it!" + +"Give it to me!" I shouted; but she sat down with it and began reading. +I rushed out, and was gone an hour. When I came back, she had pasted the +pages together, and was still reading them. She came to me and put her +arms about my neck and kissed me; and finally coaxed me into telling her +all about the disgraceful affair. + +Well, the result of it all was that she has convinced me of the fact +that I had better go on with the history. She says that these +county-history promoters are all slippery people, but that if I can +finish the history as I have begun, it may be well worth while. + +"There are publishers," she said, "who do actually print such things. +Maybe a real publisher will want this. I know a publisher who may be +glad to get it. And, anyhow, it is a shame for all your experiences to +be lost to the world. It's very interesting as far as you've got. Go on +with it; and if no publisher wants to print it now, we'll give the +manuscript to the Public Library in Monterey Centre, and maybe, long +after both of us are dead and gone, some historian will find it and have +it printed. Some time it will be found precious. Write it, grandpa, for +my sake! We can make a wonderful story of it." + +"We?" I said. + +"You, I mean, of course," she replied; "but, if you really want me to do +it, I will type it for you, and maybe do a little editing. Maybe you'll +let me do a little footnote once in a while, so my name will go into it +with yours. I'd be awfully proud, grandpa." + +"It'll take a lot of time," I said. + +"And you can spare the time as well as not," she answered. + +"You all think because I don't go into the field with a team any more," +I objected, "that I don't amount to anything on the farm; but I tell you +that what I do in the way of chores and planning, practically amounts to +a man's work." + +"Of course it does," she admitted, though between you and me it wasn't +so. "But any man can do the chores, and the planning you can do +still--and nobody can write the History of Vandemark Township but +Jacobus Teunis Vandemark. You owe it to the West, and to the world." + +So, here I begin the second time. I have been bothered up to now by +feeling that I have not been making much progress; but now there will +be no need for me to skip anything. I begin, just as that canvassing +rascal said, a long way from Vandemark Township, and many years ago in +point of time; but I am afloat with my prow toward the setting sun on +that wonderful ribbon of water which led to the West. I was caught in +the current. Nobody could live along the Erie Canal in those days +without feeling the suck of the forests, and catching a breath now and +then of the prairie winds. So all this really belongs in the history. + +J.T. VANDEMARK. + + + +VANDEMARK'S FOLLY + +CHAPTER I + +A FLAT DUTCH TURNIP BEGINS ITS CAREER + +My name is Jacobus Teunis Vandemark. I usually sign J.T. Vandemark; and +up to a few years ago I thought as much as could be that my first name +was Jacob; but my granddaughter Gertrude, who is strong on family +histories, looked up my baptismal record in an old Dutch Reformed church +in Ulster County, New York, came home and began teasing me to change to +Jacobus. At first I would not give up to what I thought just her silly +taste for a name she thought more stylish than plain old Jacob; but she +sent back to New York and got a certified copy of the record. So I had +to knuckle under. Jacobus is in law my name just as much as Teunis, and +both of them, I understand, used to be pretty common names among the +Vandemarks, Brosses, Kuyckendalls, Westfalls and other Dutch families +for generations. It makes very little difference after all, for most of +the neighbors call me Old Jake Vandemark, and some of the very oldest +settlers still call me Cow Vandemark, because I came into the county +driving three or four yoke of cows--which make just as good draught +cattle as oxen, being smarter but not so powerful. This nickname is +gall and wormwood to Gertrude, but I can't quite hold with her whims on +the subject of names. She spells the old surname van der Marck--a little +_v_ and a little _d_ with an _r_ run in, the first two syllables written +like separate words, and then the big _M_ for Mark with a _c_ before the +_k_. But she will know better when she gets older and has more judgment. +Just now she is all worked up over the family history on which she began +laboring when she went east to Vassar and joined the Daughters of the +American Revolution. She has tried to coax me to adopt "van der Marck" +as my signature, but it would not jibe with the name of the township if +I did; and anyhow it would seem like straining a little after style to +change a name that has been a household word hereabouts since there were +any households. The neighbors would never understand it, anyhow; and +would think I felt above them. Nothing loses a man his standing among us +farmers like putting on style. + +I was born of Dutch parents in Ulster County, New York, on July 27, +1838. It is the only anniversary I can keep track of, and the only +reason why I remember it is because on that day, except when it came on +a Sunday, I have sown my turnips ever since 1855. Everybody knows the +old rhyme: + + "On the twenty-seventh of July + Sow your turnips, wet or dry." + +And wet or dry, my parents in Ulster County, long, long ago, sowed their +little red turnip on that date. + +I often wonder what sort of dwelling it was, and whether the July heat +was not pretty hard on my poor mother. I think of this every birthday. +I guess a habit of mind has grown up which I shall never break off; the +moment I begin sowing turnips I think of my mother bringing forth her +only child in the heat of dog-days, and of the sweat of suffering on her +forehead as she listened to my first cry. She is more familiar to me, +and really dearer in this imaginary scene than in almost any real memory +I have of her. + +I do not remember Ulster County at all. My first memory of my mother is +of a time when we lived in a little town the name and location of which +I forget; but it was by a great river which must have been the Hudson I +guess. She had made me a little cap with a visor and I was very proud of +it and of myself. I picked up a lump of earth in the road and threw it +over a stone fence, covered with vines that were red with autumn +leaves--woodbine or poison-ivy I suppose. I felt very big, and ran on +ahead of my mother until she called to me to stop for fear of my falling +into the water. We had come down to the big river. I could hardly see +the other side of it. The whole scene now grows misty and dim; but I +remember a boat coming to the shore, and out of it stepped John Rucker. + +Whether he was then kind or cross to me or to my mother I can not +remember. Probably my mind was too young to notice any difference less +than that between love and cruelty. I know I was happy; and it seems to +me that the chief reason of my joy was the new cap and the fact that my +heart swelled and I was proud of myself. I do not believe that I was +more than three years old. All this may be partly a dream; but I +think not. + +John Rucker was no dream. He was my mother's second husband; and by the +time I was five years old, and had begun to go to one little school +after another as we moved about, John Rucker had become the dark cloud +in my life. He paid little attention to me, but I recollect that by the +time we had settled ourselves at Tempe I was afraid of him. Two or three +times he whipped me, but no more severely than was the custom among +parents. Other little boys were whipped just as hard, and still were not +afraid of their fathers. I think now that I was afraid of him because my +mother was. I can not tell how he looked then, except that he was a tall +stooped man with a yellowish beard all over his face and talked in a +sort of whine to others, and in a sharp domineering way to my mother. To +me he scarcely ever spoke at all. At Tempe he had some sort of a shop in +which he put up a dark-colored liquid--a patent medicine--which he sold +by traveling about the country. I remember that he used to complain of +lack of money and of the expense of keeping me; and that my mother made +clothes for people in the village. + +Tempe was a little village near the Erie Canal somewhere between Rome +and Syracuse. There was a dam and water-power in Tempe or near there, +which, I think, was the overflow from a reservoir built as a +water-supply for the Erie Canal--but I am not sure. I can not find Tempe +on the map; but many names have been changed since those days. I think +it was farther west than Canastota, but I am not sure--it was a +long time ago. + + + +2 + +Once, for some reason of his own, and when he had got some money in an +unexpected way, Rucker took my mother and me to Oneida for an outing. +My mother and I camped by the roadside while Rucker went somewhere to a +place where a lot of strangers were starting a colony of Free Lovers. +After he returned he told my mother that we had been invited to join the +colony, and argued that it would be a good thing for us all; but my +mother got very mad at him, and started to walk home leading me by the +hand. She sobbed and cried as we walked along, especially after it grew +late in the afternoon and Rucker had not overtaken us with the horse and +democrat wagon. She seemed insulted, and broken-hearted; and was angry +for the only time I remember. When we at last heard the wagon clattering +along behind us in the woods, we sat down on a big rock by the side of +the road, and Rucker meanly pretended not to see us until he had driven +on almost out of sight. My mother would not let me call out to him; and +I stood shaking my fist at the wagon as it went on past us, and feeling +for the first time that I should like to kill John Rucker. Finally he +stopped and made us follow on until we overtook him, my mother crying +and Rucker sneering at both of us. This must have been when I was nine +or ten years old. The books say that the Oneida Community was +established there in 1847, when I was nine. + +Long before this I had been put out by John Rucker to work in a factory +in Tempe. It was a cotton mill run, I think, by the water-power I have +mentioned. We lived in a log house on a side-hill across the road and +above the cotton mill. We had no laws in those days against child labor +or long hours. In the winter I worked by candle-light for two hours +before breakfast. We went to work at five--I did this when I was six +years old--and worked until seven, when we had half an hour for +breakfast. As I lived farther from the mill than most of the children +who were enslaved there, my breakfast-time was very short. At half past +seven we began again and worked until noon, when we had an hour for +dinner. At one o'clock we took up work once more and quit at half past +five for supper. At six we began our last trick and worked until +eight--thirteen hours of actual labor. + +I began this so young and did so much of it that I feel sure my growth +was stunted by it--I never grew above five feet seven, though my mother +was a good-sized woman, and she told me that my father was six feet +tall--and my children are all tall. Maybe I should never have been tall +anyhow, as the Dutch are usually broad rather than long. Of course this +life was hard. I was very little when I began watching machines and +tending spindles, and used to cry sometimes because I was so tired. I +almost forgot what it was to play; and when I got home at night I +staggered with sleepiness. + +My mother used to undress me and put me to bed, when she was not pressed +with her own work; and even then she used to come and kiss me and see +that I had not kicked the quilt off before she lay down for her short +sleep. I remember once or twice waking up and feeling her tears on my +face, while she whispered "My poor baby!" or other loving and motherly +words over me. When John Rucker went off on his peddling trips she would +take me out of the factory for a few days and send me to school. The +teachers understood the case, and did all they could to help me in spite +of my irregular attendance; so that I learned to read after a fashion, +and as for arithmetic, I seemed to understand that naturally. I was a +poor writer, though; and until I was grown I never could actually write +much more than my name. I could always make a stagger at a letter when I +had to by printing with a pen or pencil, and when I did not see my +mother all day on account of her work and mine, I used to print out a +letter sometimes and leave it in a hollow apple-tree which stood before +the house. We called this our post-office. I am not complaining, though, +of my lack of education. I have had a right good chance in life, and +have no reason to complain--except that I wish I could have had a little +more time to play and to be with my mother. It was she, though, that had +the hard time. + +By this time I had begun to understand why John Rucker was always so +cross and cruel to my mother. He was disappointed because he had +supposed when he married her that she had property. My father had died +while a lawsuit for the purpose of settling his father's estate was +pending, and Rucker had thought, and so had my mother, that this lawsuit +would soon be ended, and that she would have the property, his share of +which had been left to her by my father's will. I have never known why +the law stood in my mother's way, or why it was at last that Rucker gave +up all hope and vented his spite on my mother and on me. I do not blame +him for feeling put out, for property is property after all, but to +abuse me and my mother shows what a bad man he was. Sometimes he used to +call me a damned little beggar. The first time he did that my mother +looked at him with a kind of lost look as if all the happiness in life +were gone. After that, even when a letter came from the lawyers who were +looking after the case, holding out hope, and always asking for money, +and Rucker for a day or so was quite chipper and affectionate to my +mother in a sickening sort of sneaking way, her spirits never rose so +far as I could see. I suppose she was what might be called a +broken-hearted woman. + +This went on until I was thirteen years old. I was little and not very +strong, and had a cough, caused, perhaps, by the hard steady work, and +the lint in the air of the factory. There were a good many cases every +year of the working people there going into declines and dying of +consumption; so my mother had taken me out of the factory every time +Rucker went away, and tried to make me play. It was so in all the +factories in those days, I guess. I did not feel like playing, and had +no playmates; but I used to go down by the canal and watch the boats go +back and forth. Sometimes the captains of the boats would ask me if I +didn't want a job driving; but I scarcely knew what they meant. I must +have been a very backward child, and I surely was a scared and conquered +one. I used to sit on a stump by the tow-path, and so close to it that +the boys driving the mules or horses drawing the boats could almost +strike me with their whips, which they often tried to do as they went +by. Then I would scuttle back into the brush and hide. There was a lock +just below, but I seldom went to it because all the drivers were egged +on to fight each other during the delay at the locks, and the canallers +would have been sure to set them on me for the fun of seeing a fight. + +On the most eventful evening of my life, perhaps, I sat on this stump, +watching a boat which, after passing me, was slowing down and stopping. +I heard the captain swearing at some one, and saw him come ashore and +start back along the tow-path toward me as if looking for something. He +was a tall man whom I had seen pass at other times, and I was wondering +whether he would speak to me or not, when I felt somebody's hand snatch +at my collar, and a whip came down over my thin shirt with a cut which +as I write I seem to feel yet. It was John Rucker, coming home when we +were not expecting him, and mad at finding me out of the factory. + +"I'll learn yeh to steal my time!" he was saying. "I'll learn your +mother to lie to me about your workin'. A great lubber like you +traipsin' around idle, and my woman bringin' a doctor's bill on me by +workin' night an' day to make up your wages to me--and lyin' to her +husband! I'll track you by the blood! Take that--and that--and that!" + +I had never resisted him: and even now I only tried to wiggle away from +him. He held me with one hand, though; and at every pause in his +scolding he cut me with the whip. Weeks after the welts on my back and +shoulders turned dark along the line of the whip, and greenish at the +edges. I did not cry. I felt numbed with fright and rage. Suddenly, +however, the tall canal-boat captain, coming back along the tow-path, +put in his oar by striking the whip out of John Rucker's hand; and +snatched me away from him. + +"I'll have the law on you!" snarled Rucker. + +"The devil you will!" said the captain. + +"I'll put you through!" screamed Rucker. + +The captain eased himself forward by advancing his left foot, and with +his right fist he smashed Rucker somewhere about the face. Rucker went +down, and the captain picked up the whip, and carefully laying Rucker +on his face stripped up his shirt and revenged me, lash for lash; and +counting each cut stopped when he reached ten. + +"I guess that's the number," said he, taking a look at my bloody back; +"but for fear of fallin' short, here's another!" And he drew the whip +back, and brought it down with a quick, sharp, terrible whistle that +proved its force. "Now," said he, "you've got somethin' to put me +through fer!" + +Then he started back toward the boat, after picking up a clevis which it +seems the driver-boy had dropped. I looked at Rucker a moment wondering +what to do. He was slowly getting on his feet, groaning, bloody of face +and back, miserable and pitiable. But when he saw me his look of hatred +drove out of my mind my first impulse to help him. I turned and ran +after the captain. That worthy never looked at me; but when he reached +the boat he said to some one on board: "Bill, I call you to bear witness +that I refused Bubby here a chance to run away." + +"Ay, ay, sir," responded a voice from the boat. + +The captain took me gently by the hand and helped me over the gunwale. + +"Get out o' here," he shouted, "an' go back to your lovin' father!" + +I sought to obey, but he winked at me and motioned me into the little +cabin forward. + +"An' now, my buck," said he, "that you've stowed yourself away and got +so far from home that to put you ashore would be to maroon you in the +wilderness, do you want to take a job as driver? That boy I've got lives +in Salina, and we'll take you on if you feel like a life on the ocean +wave. Can you drive?" + +"I do' know!" said I. + +"Have you ever worked?" he asked. + +"I've worked ever since I was six," I answered. + +"Would you like to work for me?" said he. + +I looked him in the face for a moment, and answered confidently, "Yes." + +"It's a whack," said he. "Maybe we'd better doctor that back o' your'n a +little, and git yeh heartened up for duty." + +And so, before I knew it, I was whisked off into a new life. + + + +CHAPTER II + +I LEARN AND DO SOME TEACHING + +I lay in a bunk in one of the two little forward cabins next the stable, +shivering and sobbing, a pitiful picture of misery, I suppose, as any +one ever saw. I began bawling as soon as the captain commenced putting +arnica on my back--partly because it smarted so, and partly because he +was so very gentle about it; although all the time he was swearing at +John Rucker and wishing he had skinned him alive, as he pretty nearly +did. To feel a gentle hand on my shredded back, and to be babied a +little bit--these things seemed to break my heart almost, though while +Rucker was flogging me I bore it without a cry or a tear. The captain +dressed my back, and said, "There, there, Bubby!" and went away, +leaving me alone. + +I could hear the ripple of the water against the side of the boat, and +once in a while a gentle lift as we passed another boat; but there was +nothing much in these things to cheer me up. I was leaving John Rucker +behind, it was true, but I was also getting farther and farther from my +mother every minute. What would she do without me? What should I do +without her? I should be free of the slavery of the factory; but I did +not think of that. I should have been glad to the bottom of my heart if +I could have blotted out of my life all this new tragedy and gone back +to the looms and spindles. The factory seemed an awful place now that I +was free, but it was familiar; and being free was awful, too; but I +never once thought of going back. I knew I could learn to drive the +horses, and I knew I should stay with the captain who had flogged John +Rucker. I who had never thought of running away was just as much +committed to the new life as if I had planned for it for years. Inside +my spirit I suppose I had been running away every time I had gone down +and watched the boats float by; and something stronger than my conscious +will floated me along, also. I fought myself to keep from crying; but I +never thought of running up on deck, jumping ashore and going home, as I +could easily have done at any time within an hour of boarding the boat. +I buried my face in the dirty pillow with no pillow-case on it, and +filled my mouth with the patchwork quilt. It seemed as though I should +die of weeping. My breath came in long spasmodic draughts, as much +deeper and bitterer than sighs as sighs are sadder and more pitiful than +laughter. My whipped back pained and smarted me, but that was not what +made me cry so dreadfully; I was in the depths of despair; I was +humiliated; I was suffering from injustice; I had lost my mother--and at +this thought my breath almost refused to come at all. Presently I opened +my eyes and found the captain throwing water in my face. He never +mentioned it afterward; but I suppose I had fainted away. Then I went to +sleep, and when I awoke it was dark and I did not know where I was, and +screamed. The captain himself quieted me for a few minutes, and I +dropped off to sleep again. He had moved me without my knowing it, from +the drivers' cabin forward to his own. But I must not spend our time on +these things. + +The captain's name was Eben Sproule. He had been a farmer and sawmill +man, and still had a farm between Herkimer and Little Falls on the +Mohawk River. He owned his boat, and seemed to be doing very well with +her. The other driver was a boy named Asa--I forget his other name. We +called him Ace. He lived at Salina, or Salt Point, which is now a part +of Syracuse; and was always, in his talk to me, daring the captain to +discharge him, and threatening to get a job in the salt Works at Salina +if ever he quit the canal. He seemed to think this would spite Captain +Sproule very much. I expected him to leave the boat when we reached +Syracuse; but he never did, and I think he kept on driving after I quit. +Our wages cost the boat twenty dollars a month--ten dollars each--and +the two hands we carried must have brought the pay-roll up to about +seventy a month besides our board. We always had four horses, two in the +stable forward, and two pulling the boat. We plied through to Buffalo, +and back to Albany, carrying farm products, hides, wool, wheat, other +grain, and such things as potash, pearlash, staves, shingles, and salt +from Syracuse, and sometimes a good deal of meat; and what the railway +people call "way-freight" between all the places along the route. Our +boat was much slower than the packets and the passenger boats which had +relays of horses at stations and went pretty fast, and had good cabins +for the passengers, too, and cooks and stewards, serving fine meals; +while all our cooking was done by the captain or one of our hands, +though sometimes we carried a cook. + +Bill, the man who answered "Ay, ay, sir!" when the captain asked him to +witness that he had refused me passage on the boat, was a salt-water +sailor who had signed on with the boat while drunk at Albany and now +said he was going to Buffalo to try sailing on the Lakes. The other man +was a green Irishman called Paddy, though I suppose that was not his +name. He was good only as a human derrick or crane. We used to look upon +all Irishmen as jokes in those days, and I suppose they realized it. +Paddy used to sing Irish comeallyes on the deck as we moved along +through the country; and usually got knocked down by a low bridge at +least once a day as he sang, or sat dreaming in silence. Bill despised +Paddy because he was a landsman, and used to drown Paddy's Irish songs +with his sailor's chanties roared out at the top of his voice. And +mingled with us on the boat would be country people traveling to or from +town, pedlers, parties going to the stopping-places of the passenger +boats, people loading and unloading freight, drovers with live stock for +the market, and all sorts of queer characters and odd fish who haunted +the canal as waterside characters infest the water-front of ports. If I +could live that strange life over again I might learn more about it; but +I saw very little meaning in it then. That is always the way, I guess. +We must get away from a type of life or we can't see it plainly. That +has been the way as to our old prairie life in Iowa. It is only within +the past few years that I have begun to see a little more of what it +meant. It was not long though until even I began to feel the West +calling to me with a thousand voices which echoed back and forth along +the Erie Canal, and swelled to a chorus at the western gateway, Buffalo. + + + +2 + +Captain Sproule had carried me aft from the drivers' cabin to his own +while I was in a half-unconscious condition, and out of pure pity, I +suppose; but that was the last soft treatment I ever got from him. He +came into the cabin just as I was thinking of getting up, and sternly +ordered me forward to my own cabin. I had nothing to carry, and it was +very little trouble to move. We were moored to the bank just then taking +on or discharging freight, and Ace was in the cabin to receive me. + +"That upper bunk's your'n," he said. "No greenhorn gits my bunk away +from me!" + +I stood mute. Ace glared at me defiantly. + +"Can you fight?" he asked. + +"I do' know," I was obliged to answer. + +"Then you can't," said Ace, with bitter contempt. "I can lick you with +one hand tied behind me!" + +He drew back his fist as if to strike me, and I wonder that I did not +run from the cabin and jump ashore, but I stood my ground, more from +stupor and what we Dutch call dumbness than anything else. Ace let his +fist fall and looked me over with more respect. He was a slender boy, +hard as a whip-lash, wiry and dark. He was no taller than I, and not so +heavy; but he had come to have brass and confidence from the life he +lived. As a matter of fact, he was not so old as I, but had grown +faster; and was nothing like as strong after I had got my muscles +hardened, as was proved many a time. + +"You'll make a great out of it on the canal," he said. + +"What?" said I. + +"A boy that can't fight," said he, "don't last long drivin'. I've had +sixteen fights this month!" + +A bell sounded on deck, and we heard the voice of Bill calling us to +breakfast. Ace yelled to me to come on, and all hands including the +captain gathered on deck forward, where we had coffee, good home-made +bread bought from a farmer's wife, fried cakes, boiled potatoes, and +plenty of salt pork, finishing with pie. All the cook had to do was to +boil potatoes, cook eggs when we had them and make coffee; for the most +of our victuals we bought as we passed through the country. The captain +had a basket of potatoes or apples on the deck which he used as cash +carriers. He would put a piece of money in a potato and throw it to +whoever on shore had anything to sell, and the goods, if they could be +safely thrown, would come whirling over to be caught by some of us on +deck. We got many a nice chicken or loaf of bread or other good victuals +in that way; and we lived on the fat of the land. All sorts of berries +and fruit, milk, butter, eggs, cakes, pies and the like came to the +canal without any care on our part; everything was cheap, and every meal +was a feast. This first breakfast was a trial, but I made a noble meal +of it. The sailor, Bill, pretended to believe that I had killed a man on +shore and had gone to sea to escape the gallows. Ace and Paddy to +frighten me, I suppose, talked about the dangers and difficulties of the +driver's life; while the captain gave all of us stern looks over his +meal and looked fiercely at me as if to deny that he had ever been kind. +When the meal was over he ordered Ace to the tow-path, and told him to +take me along and show me how to drive. + +"Here," he snapped at me, "is where we make a spoon or spoil a horn. Go +'long with you!" + +Ace climbed on the back of one of the horses. I looked up wondering what +I was to do. + +"You'll walk," said Ace; "an' keep your eyes skinned." + +So we started off. Each horse leaned into the collar, and slowly the +hundred tons or so of dead weight started through the water. The team +knew that it was of no use to surge against the load to get it started, +as horses do with a wagon; but they pulled steadily and slowly, +gradually getting the boat under way, and soon it was moving along with +the team at a brisk walk, and with less labor than a hundredth part of +the weight would have called for on land. I have always believed in +inland waterways for carrying the heavy freight of this nation; because +the easiest and cheapest way to transport anything is to put it in the +water and float it. This lesson I learned when Ace whipped up Dolly and +Jack and took our craft off toward Syracuse. + +It was a hard day for me. We were passing boats all the time, and we had +to make speed to keep craft which had no right to pass us from getting +by, especially just before reaching a lock. To allow another boat to +steal our lockage from us was a disgrace; and many of the fights between +the driver boys grew out of the rights of passing by and the struggle to +avoid delays at the locks. Sometimes such affairs were not settled by +the boys on the tow-path--they fought off the skirmishes; the real +battles were between the captains or members of the crews. + +If there were rules I don't know now what they were, and nobody paid +much attention to them. Of course we let the passenger boats pass +whenever they overtook us, unless we could beat them into a lock. We +delayed them then by laying our boat out into the middle of the canal +and quarreling until we reached the lock; under cover maybe of some +pretended mistake. Our laying the boat out to shut off a passing rival +was dangerous to the slow boat, for the reason that a collision meant +that the strongly-built stem-end of the boat coming up from behind could +crush the weaker stern of the obstructing craft. Such are some of the +things I had to learn. + + + +3 + +The passing of us by a packet brought me my first grief. She came up +behind us with her horses at the full trot. Their boat was down the +canal a hundred yards or so at the end of the tow-line; and just before +the boat itself drew even with ours she was laid over by her steersman +to the opposite side of the ditch, her horses were checked so as to let +her line so slacken as to drop down under our boat, her horses were +whipped up by a sneering boy on a tall bay steed, her team went outside +ours on the tow-path, and the passage was made. They made, as was always +the case, a moving loop of their line, one end hauled by the packet, and +the other by the team. I was keeping my eye skinned to see how the thing +was done, when the tow-line of the packet came by, tripped me up and +threw me into the canal, from which I was fished out by Bill as our boat +came along. There was actual danger in this unless the steersman +happened to be really steering, and laid the boat off so as to miss me. + +Captain Sproule gazed at me in disgust. Ace laughed loudly away out +ahead on the horse. Bill said that if it had been in the middle of the +ocean I never would have been shamed by being hauled up on deck. He was +sorry for my sake, as I never would live this thing down. + +"Go change your clothes," said the captain, "and try not to be such a +lummox next time." + +I had no change of clothes, and therefore, I took the first opportunity +to get out on the tow-path, wet as I was, and begin again to learn my +first trade. It was a lively occupation. There were some four thousand +boats on the Erie Canal at that time, or an average of ten boats to the +mile. I suppose there were from six to eight thousand boys driving then +on the "Grand Canal" alone, as it was called. More than half of these +boys were orphans, and it was not a good place for any boy, no matter +how many parents or guardians he might have. Five hundred or more +convicts in the New York State Penitentiary were men who, as I learned +from a missionary who came aboard to pray with us, sing hymns and exhort +us to a better life, had been canal-boat drivers. The boys were at the +mercy of their captains, and were often cheated out of their wages. +There were stories of young boys sick with cholera, when that disease +was raging, or with other diseases, being thrown off the boats and +allowed to live or die as luck might determine. There were hardship, +danger and oppression in the driver's life; and every sort of vice was +like an open book before him as soon as he came to understand it--which, +at first, I did not. If my mother knew, as I suppose she did, what sort +of occupation I had entered upon, I do not see how she could have been +anything but miserable as she thought of me--though she realized keenly +from what I had escaped. + +Back on the tow-path, I was earning the contempt of Ace by dodging every +issue, like a candidate for office. I learned quickly to snub the boat +by means of a rope and the numerous snubbing-posts along the canal. This +was necessary in stopping, in entering locks, and in rounding some +curves; and my first glimmer of courage came from the fact that I seemed +to know at once how this was to be done--the line to be passed twice +about the post, and so managed as to slip around it with a great deal of +friction so as to bring her to. + + + +4 + +I was afraid of the other drivers, however, and I was afraid of Ace. He +drove me like a Simon Legree. He ordered me to fight other drivers, and +when I refused, he took the fights off my hands or avoided them as the +case might require. He flicked at my bare feet with his whip. When we +were delayed by taking on or discharging freight, he would try to corner +me and throw me into the canal. He made me do all the work of taking +care of our bunks, and cuffed my ears whenever he got a chance. He made +me do his share as well as my own of the labor of cleaning the stables, +and feeding and caring for the horses, sitting by and giving orders with +a comical exaggeration of the manner of Captain Sproule. In short, he +was hazing me unmercifully--as every one on the boat knew, though some +of the things he did to me I do not think the captain would have +permitted if he had known about them. + +I was more miserable with the cruelty and tyranny of Ace than I had been +at home; for this was a constant misery, night and day, and got worse +every minute. He ruled even what I ate and drank. When I took anything +at meal-times, I would first glance at him, and if he looked forbidding +or shook his head, I did not eat the forbidden thing. I knew on that +voyage from Syracuse to Buffalo exactly what servitude means. No slave +was ever more systematically cruelized[1], no convict ever more +brutishly abused--unless his oppressor may have been more ingenious than +Ace. He took my coverlets at night. He starved me by making me afraid to +eat. He worked, me as hard as the amount of labor permitted. He +committed abominable crimes against my privacy and the delicacy of my +feelings--and all the time I could not rebel. I could only think of +running away from the boat, and was nearly at the point of doing so, +when he crowded me too far one day, and pushed me to the point of one of +those frenzied revolts for which the Dutch are famous. + +[1] The author insists that "cruelized" is the exact word to express his +meaning, and will consent to no change.--G.v.d.M. + +A little girl peeking at me from an orchard beside the tow-path tossed +me an apple--a nice, red juicy apple. I caught it, and put it in my +pocket. That evening we tied up at a landing and were delayed for an +hour or so taking on freight. I slipped into the stable to eat my apple, +knowing that Ace would pound me if he learned that I had kept anything +from him, whether he really wanted it or not. Suddenly I grew sick with +terror, as I saw him coming in at the door. He saw what I was doing, and +glared at me vengefully. He actually turned white with rage at this +breach of his authority, and came at me with set teeth and doubled +fists. "Give me that apple, damn yeh!" he cried. "You sneakin' skunk, +you, I'll larn ye to eat my apples!" + +He snatched at the apple, and was too successful; for before he reached +it I opened my hand in obedience to his onslaught; and the apple rolled +in the manure and litter of the stable, and was soiled and befouled. + +"Throwin' my apple in the manure, will yeh!" he yelled. "I'll larn ye! +Pick that apple up!" + +I reached for it with trembling hand, and held it out to him. + +"It ain't fit for anything but the hogs!" he yelled. "Eat it, hog!" + +I looked at the filthy thing, and raised my hand to my mouth; but before +I touched it with my lips a great change came over me. I trembled still +more, now; but it was not with fear. I suddenly felt that if I could +kill Ace, I would be willing to die. I was willing to die trying to kill +him. I could not get away from him because he was between me and the +door, but now suddenly I did not want to get away. I wanted to get at +him. I threw the apple down. + +"Pick that apple up and eat it," he said in a low tone, looking me +straight in the eye, "or I'll pound you till you can't walk." + +"I won't," said I. + +Ace rushed at me, and as he rushed, he struck me in the face. I went +down, and he piled on me, hitting me as he could. I liked the feel of +his blows; it was good to realize that they did not hurt me half so much +as his abuse had done. I did not know how to fight, but I grappled with +him fiercely. I reached for his hair, and he tried to bite my thumb, +actually getting it in his mouth, but I jerked it aside and caught his +cheek in my grip, my thumb inside the cheek-pouch, and my fingers +outside. I felt a hot thrill of joy as my nails sank into his cheek +inside and out, and he cringed. I held him at arm's length, helpless, +and with his head drawn all askew; and still keeping my unfair hold, I +rolled him over, and coming on top of him, thrust the other thumb in the +other side of his mouth, frenziedly trying to rip his cheeks, and +pounding his head on the deck. We rolled back into the corner, where he +jerked my thumbs from his mouth, now bleeding at the corners, and +desperately tried to roll me. My hand came into touch with a horseshoe +on the stable floor, which I picked up, and filled with joy at the +consciousness that I was stronger than he, I began beating him over the +face and head with it, with no thought of anything but killing him. He +turned over on his face and began trying to shield his head with his +arms, at which I tore like a crazy boy, beating at arms, head, hands and +neck with the dull horseshoe, and screaming, "I'll kill you! I'll kill +you! I'll kill you!" + +In the meantime, it gradually dawned on Ace that he was licked, and he +began yelling, "Enough! Enough!" which according to the rules of the +game entitled him to be let alone; but I knew nothing about the rules of +the game. I saw the blood spurting from one or two cuts in his scalp. I +felt it warm and slimy on my hands, and I rained my blows on him, madly +and blindly, but with cruel effect after all. I did not see the captain +when he came in. I only felt his grip on my right arm, as he seized it +and snatched the horseshoe from me. I did not hear what he said, though +I heard him saying something. When he caught both my hands, I threw +myself down on the cowering Ace and tried to bite him. When he lifted +me up I kicked the prostrate Ace in the face as a parting remembrance. +When he stood me up in the corner of the stable and asked me what in +hell I was doing, I broke away from him and threw myself on the +staggering Ace with all the fury of a bulldog. And when Bill came and +helped the captain hold me, I was crying like a baby, and deaf to all +commands. I struggled to get at Ace until they took him away; and then I +collapsed and had a miserable time of it while my anger was cooling. + +"I thought Ace would crowd the mourners too hard," said the captain. +"Now, Jake," said he, "will you behave?" + +There was no need to ask me. A baby could have held me then. + +"Don't you know," said the captain, "that you ortn't to pound a feller +with a horseshoe? Do you always act like this when you fight?" + +"I never had a fight before," I sobbed. + +"Well, you won't have another with Ace," said the captain. "You damned +near killed him. And next time fight fair!" + +That night I drove alone, which I had been doing now for some time, +taking my regular trick; and when we tied up at some place west of +Lockport, I went to my bunk expecting to find Ace ready to renew his +tyrannies, and determined to resist to the death. He was lying in the +lower bunk asleep, and his bandaged head looked rather pitiful. For all +that my anger flamed up again as I looked at him. I shook him roughly by +the shoulder. He awakened with a moan. + +"Get out of that bunk!" I commanded. + +"Let me alone," he whimpered, but he got out as I told him to do. + +"Climb into that upper bunk," I said. + +He looked at me a moment, and climbed up. I turned in, in the lower +bunk, but I could not sleep. I was boss! It was Ace now who would be the +underling. It was not a cold night; but pretty soon I thought of the +quilts in the upper berth, and imitating Ace's cruelty, I called up to +him fiercely, awakening him again. "Throw down that quilt," I said, +"I want it." + +"You let me alone," whimpered Ace, but the quilt was thrown down on the +deck, where I let it lie. Ace lay there, breathing occasionally with a +long quivering sigh--the most pitiful thing a child ever does--and we +were both children, remember, put in a most unchildlike position. I +dropped asleep, but soon awakened. It had grown cold, and I reached for +the quilt; but something prompted me to reach up and see whether Ace was +still there. He lay there asleep, and, as I could feel, cold. I picked +up the quilt, threw it over him, tucked him in as my mother used to tuck +me in,--thinking of her as I did it--and went back to my bunk. I was +sorry I had cut Ace's head, and had already begun to forget how cruelly +he had used me. I seemed to feel his blood on my hands, and got up and +washed them. The thought of Ace's bandages, and the vision of wounds +under them filled me with remorse--but I was boss! Finally I dropped +asleep, and awoke to find that Ace had got up ahead of me. I was +embarrassed by my new authority; and sorry for what I had been obliged +to do to get it; but I was a new boy from that day. + +It never pays to be a slave. It never benefits a man or a people to +submit to tyranny. A slave is a man forgotten of God. If only the +negroes, when they were brought to this country, had refused to work, +and elected to die as other races of men have done, what a splendid +thing it would have been for the world. That fight against slavery was a +beautiful, a joyful thing to me, with all its penalties of compassion +and guilty feeling afterward. I think the best thing a man or boy can do +is to find out how far and to whom he is a slave, and fight that +servitude tooth and nail as I fought Ace. It would make this a different +world. + + + +CHAPTER III + +I SEE THE WORLD, AND SUFFER A GREAT LOSS + +The strange thing to me about my fight with Ace was that nobody thought +of such a thing as punishing me for it. I was free to fight or not as I +pleased. I needed to be free more than anything else, and I wanted +plenty of good food and fresh air. All these I got, for Captain Sproule, +while stern and strict with us, enforced only those rules which were for +the good of the boat, and these seemed like perfect liberty to me--after +I whipped Ace. As for my old tyrant, he recovered his spirits very soon, +and took the place of an underling quite contentedly. I suppose he had +been used to it. I ruled in a manner much milder than his. I had never +learned to swear--or to use harder words than gosh, and blast, and dang +where the others swore the most fearful oaths as a matter of ordinary +talk. I made a rule that Ace must quit swearing; and slapped him up to a +peak a few times for not obeying--which was really a hard thing for him +to do while driving; and when he was in a quarrel I always overlooked +his cursing, because he could not fight successfully unless he had the +right to work himself up into a passion by calling names and swearing. + +As for myself I walked and rode erect and felt my limbs as light as +feathers, as compared with their leaden weight when I lived at Tempe and +worked in the factory. Soon I took on my share of the fighting as a +matter of course. I did it as a rule without anger and found that beyond +a bloody nose or a scratched face, these fights did not amount to much. +I was small for my age, and like most runts I was stronger than I +looked, and gave many a driver boy a bad surprise. I never was whipped, +though I was pummeled severely at times. When the fight grew warm enough +I began to see red, and to cry like a baby, boring in and clinching in a +mad sort of way; and these young roughs knew that a boy who fought and +cried at the same time had to be killed before he would say enough. So I +never said enough; and in my second year I found I had quite a +reputation as a fighter--but I never got any joy out of it. + +If I could have forgotten my wish to see my mother it would have been in +many ways a pleasant life to me. I was never tired of the new and +strange things I saw--new regions, new countries. I was amazed at the +Montezuma Marsh, with its queer trade of selling flags for chair seats +and the like--and I was almost eaten alive by the mosquitoes while +passing through it. Our boat floated along through the flags, the horses +on a tow-path just wide enough to enable the teams to pass, with bog on +one side and canal on the other, water birds whistling and calling, +frogs croaking, and water-lilies dotting every open pool. My spirits +soared as I passed spots where the view was not shut off by the reeds, +and I could look out over the great expanse of flags, just as my heart +rose when I first looked upon the Iowa prairies. The Fairport level gave +me another thrill--an embankment a hundred feet high with the canal on +the top of it, a part of a seventeen-mile level, like a river on +a hilltop. + +We were a happy crew, here. Ace was quite recovered from our temporary +difference of opinion--for I was treating him better than he expected. +He used to sing merrily a song which was a real canal-chantey, one of +the several I heard, the words of which ran like this: + + "Come, sailors, landsmen, one and all, + And I'll sing you the dangers of the raging canawl; + For I've been at the mercy of the winds and the waves, + And I'm one of the merry fellows what expects a + watery grave. + + "We left Albiany about the break of day; + As near as I can remember, 'twas the second day of May; + We depended on our driver, though he was very small, + Although we knew the dangers of the raging canawl." + +The rest of it I forget; but I remember that after Bill had sung one of +his chanties, like "Messmates hear a brother sailor sing the dangers of +the seas," or, "We sailed from the Downs and fair Plymouth town," +telling how + + "To our surprise, + The storms did arise, + Attended by winds and loud thunder; + Our mainmast being tall + Overboard she did fall, + And five of our best men fell under," + +Ace would pipe up about the dangers of the raging canal; and finally +this encouraged Paddy to fill in with some song like this: + + "In Dublin City, where I was born, + On Stephen's Green, where I die forlorn; + 'Twas there I learned the baking trade, + And 'twas there they called me the Roving Blade." + +All the rest of the story was of a hanging. No wonder it was hard +sometimes for an Irishman to reverence the law. They sang of hanging and +things leading up to it from their childhood. I remember, too, how the +boys of Iowa used to sing a song celebrating the deeds of the James boys +of Missouri--and about the same time we had troubles with horse-thieves. +There is a good deal of power in songs and verses, whether there's much +truth in poetry or not. + +2 + +I am spending too much time on this part of my life, if it were my life +only which were concerned; but the Erie Canal, and the gaps through the +Alleghany Mountains, are a part of the history of Vandemark Township. +The west was on the road, then, floating down the Ohio, wagoning or +riding on horseback through mountain passes, boating it up the +Mississippi and Missouri, sailing up the Lakes, swarming along the Erie +Canal. Not only was Iowa on the road, spending a year, two years, a +generation, two generations on the way and getting a sort of wandering +and gipsy strain in her blood, but all the West, and even a part of +Canada was moving. We once had on board from Lockport west, a party of +emigrants from England to Ontario. They had come by ship from England to +New York, by steamboat to Albany and canal to Lockport; and for some +reason had to take a deck trip from Lockport to Buffalo, paying Captain +Sproule a good price for passage. Their English dialect was so broad +that I could not understand it; and I abandoned to Ace the company of +their little girl who was one of a family of five--father, mother, and +two boys, besides the daughter. I suppose that their descendants are in +Ontario yet, or scattered out on the prairies of Western Canada. Just so +the people of the canals and roads are in Iowa, and in +Vandemark Township. + +Buffalo was a marvel to me. It was the biggest town I had ever seen, and +was full of sailors, emigrants, ships, waterside characters and trade; +and I could see, feel, taste, smell, and hear the West everywhere. I was +by this time on the canal almost at my ease as a driver; but here I +flocked by myself like Cunningham's bull, instead of mingling with the +crowds of boys whom I found here passing a day or so in idleness, while +the captains and hands amused themselves as sailors do in port, and the +boats made contracts for east-bound freight, and took it on. Whenever I +could I attached myself to Captain Sproule like a lost dog, not thinking +that perhaps he would not care to be tagged around by a child like me; +and thus I saw things that should not have been seen by a boy, or by any +one else--things that I never forgot, and that afterward had an +influence on me at a critical time in my life. There were days spent in +grog-shops, there were quarrels and brawls, and some fights, drunken men +calling themselves and one another horrible names and bragging of their +vices, women and men living in a terrible imitation of pleasure. I have +often wondered as I have seen my boys brought up cleanly and taught +steady and industrious lives in a settled community, how they would look +upon the things I saw and lived through, and how well they could have +stood the things that were ready to drag me down to the worst vices and +crimes. I moved through all this in a sort of daze, as if it did not +concern me, not even thinking much less of Captain Sproule for his +doings, some of which I did not even understand: for remember I was a +very backward boy for my age. This was probably a good thing for me--a +very good thing. There are things in the Bible which children read +without knowing their meaning, and are not harmed by them. I was harmed +by what I saw in the book of life now opened to me, but not so much as +one might think. + +3 + +One evening, in a water-front saloon, Captain Sproule and another man--a +fellow who was a shipper of freight, as I remember--spent an hour or so +with two women whose bad language and painted faces would have told +their story to any older person; but to me they were just acquaintances +of the captain, and that was all. After a while the four left the saloon +together, and I followed, as I followed the captain everywhere. + +"That young one had better be sent to bed," said the captain's friend, +pointing to me. + +"Better go back to the boat, Jake," said the captain, laughing in a +tipsy sort of way. + +"I don't know where it is," said I; "it's been towed off somewhere." + +"That's so," said the captain, "I've got to hunt it up myself--or stay +all night in a tavern. Wal, come along. I'll be going home early." + +The other man gave a sort of sarcastic laugh. "Bring up your boys as you +like, Cap'n," said he. "He'll come to it anyhow in a year or so by +himself, I guess." + +"I'm going home early," said the captain. + +"Course you be," said the woman, seizing the captain's arm. "Come on, +Bubby!" + +There were more drinks where we went, and other women like those in our +party. I could not understand why they behaved in so wild and immodest a +manner, but thought dimly that it was the liquor. In the meantime I grew +very sleepy, being worn out by a day of excitement and wonder; and +sitting down in a corner of the room, I lopped over on the soft carpet +and went to sleep. The last I heard was the sound of an accordion played +by a negro who had been invited in, and the scuff of feet as they +danced, with loud and broken speech, much of which was quite blind to +me. Anyhow, I lost myself for a long time, as I felt, when some one +shook me gently by the shoulder and woke me up. I thought I was at home, +in my attic bed, and that it was my mother awakening me to go to work in +the factory. + +"Ma," I said. "Is that you, ma!" + +A woman was bending over me, her breasts almost falling from the low-cut +red dress she wore. She was painted and powdered like the rest, and her +face looked drawn and pale over her scarlet gown. As I pronounced the +name I always called my mother, I seem to remember that her expression +changed from the wild and reckless look I was becoming used to, to +something like what I had always seen in my mother's eyes. + +"Who you driving for, Johnny?" she asked. + +"Captain Sproule," said I. "Where is he?" For on looking about I saw +that there was no one there but this woman and myself. + +"He'll be back after a while," said she. "Poor young one! Come with me +and get a good sleep." + +I was numb with sleep, and staggered when I stood up; and she put her +arm around me as we moved toward the door, where we were met by two +men, canallers or sailors, by their looks, who stopped her with drunken +greetings. + +"Ketchin' em young, Sally," said one of them. "Wot will the world come +to, Jack, when younkers like this get a-goin'? Drop the baby, Sally, and +come along o' me!" + +The woman looked at him a moment steadily. + +"Let me go," said she; "I don't want anything to do with you." + +"Don't, eh?" said he. "Git away, Bub, an' let your betters have way." + +I clung closer to her side, and looked at him rather defiantly. He drew +back his flat hand to slap me over; but the woman pulled me behind her, +and faced him, with a drawn knife in her hand. He made as if to take it +from her; but his companion held him back. + +"Do you want six inches o' cold steel in your liver?" he asked. "Let her +be. There's plenty o' others." + +"My money is jest as good's any one else's," said the first. "Jest as +good's any one else's;" and began wrangling with his friend. + +The woman pushed me before her and we went up-stairs to a bedroom, the +door of which she closed and locked. She said nothing about what had +taken place below, and I at once made up my mind that it had been some +sort of joke. + +"You oughtn't to sleep on that floor," said she, "You'll take your death +o' cold. Lay down here, and have a good comfortable nap. I'll see that +Captain Sproule finds you." + +I started to lie down in my clothes. "Take off them clothes," said she, +as if astonished. "Do you think I want my bed all dirtied up with 'em?" +And she began undressing me as if I had been a baby. She was so tender +and motherly about it that I permitted her to strip me to my shirt, and +then turned in. The bed was soft, and sleep began to come back to me. I +saw my new friend preparing for bed, and presently I awoke to find her +lying by me, and holding me in her arms: I heard her sitheing[2], and I +was sure she was crying. This woke me up, and I lay wondering if there +was anything I could do for her, but I said nothing. Pretty soon there +came a loud rap at the door, and a woman asked to be let in. + +[2] The writer insists that "sitheing" is quite a different thing from +sighing, being a long-drawn, quivering sigh. In this I think he is +correct.--G.v.d.M. + +"What do you want?" asked my friend, getting out of bed as if scared, +and beginning to put on her clothes, I hustled out and began dressing--a +very short job with me. In the meantime the woman at the door grew +louder and more commanding in her demand, so much so, that before she +was fully dressed, my strange friend opened the door, and there stood a +great fleshy woman, wearing a lot of jewelry; red-faced, and very angry. +I can't remember much that was said; but I remember that the fat woman +kept saying, "What do you mean? What do you mean? I want you to +understand that my guests have their rights. One man's money is as good +as another's," and the like. "Whose brat is this?" she finally asked, +pointing at me. + +"He's driving for a man with money," said my friend sarcastically. + +"Who you driving for, Johnny?" she asked; and I told her. + +"Captain Sproule is down-stairs," said she. "He's looking for you. Go +on down! And as for you, Madam, you get out of my house, and don't come +back until you can please my visitors--you knife-drawin' hussy!" + +I went down to the room where the captain had left me; and just as he +had begun making some sly blind jokes at my expense, the woman who had +befriended me came down, followed by the fat virago, cursing her and +ordering her out. + +"Don't let 'em hurt her!" said I. "She's a good woman. She put me to +bed, and was good to me. Don't let 'em hurt her!" + +We all went out together, the captain asking me what I meant; and then +went on walking beside the woman, whom he called Sally, and trying to +understand the case. I heard her say, "Mine would be about that size if +he had lived. I s'pose every woman must be a darned fool once in a +while!" The rest of the case I did not understand very well; but I knew +that she went to a tavern where we all spent the night, and that the +captain seemed very thoughtful when we went to bed at last--the second +time for me. When we finally pulled out of Buffalo for the East, Sally +was on the boat--not a very uncommon thing in those days; but the +captain was very good and respectful to her until we reached a little +village two or three days' journey eastward, when Sally got off the boat +after kissing me good-by and telling me to be good, and try to grow up +and be a good man; and went off on a country road as if she knew where +she was going. + +"Where did Sally go?" I asked of Captain Sproule. + +"Home," said he; "and may God have mercy on her soul!" + +4 + +I looked forward more longingly than ever to the time when I should be +able to drop off the boat at Tempe, and run up to see my mother; and I +fixed it up with Captain Sproule so that when we made our return trip I +was to be allowed to stop over a day with her, and taking a fast boat +catch up with our own craft farther east. I was proud of the fact that I +had two good suits of clothes, a good hat and boots, and money in my +pocket. I expected to turn my money out on the table and leave it with +her. I thought a good deal of my meeting with John Rucker, and hoped +fervently that I should find him absent on one of his peddling trips, in +which case I meant to stay over night with my mother; and I seriously +pondered the matter as to whether or not I should fight Rucker if he +attacked me, as I expected he might; and Ace and I had many talks as to +the best way for me to fight him, if I should decide on such a course. +Ace was quite sure I could best Rucker; but I did not share this +confidence. A fight with a boy was quite a different thing from a battle +with a man, even though he might be a coward as I was sure Rucker was. + +This proposed visit became the greatest thing in my life, a great +adventure, as we glided back from Buffalo, past the locks at Lockport, +where there was much fighting; past lock after lock, where the +lock-tenders tried to sell magic oils, balsams and liniments for man and +beast and once in a while did so; and to whom Ace became a customer for +hair-oil; after using which he sought the attention of girls by the +canal side, and also those who might be passengers on our boat, or +members of the emigrant families which crowded the boats going west; +past the hill at Palmyra, from which Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet, +claimed to have dug the gold plates of the Book of Mormon; past the +Fairport level and embankment; for three days floating so untroubled +along the Rochester level without a single lock; through the Montezuma +Marsh again; and then in a short time would come Tempe, and maybe my +great meeting with Rucker, my longed-for visit to my mother. And then +Captain Sproule got a contract for a cargo of salt to Buffalo, and we +turned westward again! It would be late in the fall before we returned; +but I should have more money then, and should be stronger and a +better fighter. + +Canal-boating was fast becoming a routine thing with me; and I must +leave out all my adventures on that voyage to Buffalo, and back to +Tempe. I do not remember them very clearly anyhow. + +One thing happened which I must describe, because it is important. We +were somewhere west of Jordan, when we met a packet boat going west. It +was filled with passengers, and drew near to us with the sound of +singing and musical instruments. It was crowded with emigrants always +hopeful and merry, bound westward. Evidently the hold had not been able +to take in all the household goods of the passengers, for there was a +deck-load of these things, covered with tarpaulins. + +I was sitting on the deck of our boat, wondering when I should join the +western movement. When I got old enough, and had money enough, I was +determined to go west and seek my fortune; for I always felt that +canalling was, somehow, beneath what I wanted to do and become. The +packet swept past us, giving me a good deal the same glimpse into a +different sort of life that a deckhand on a freighter has when he gazes +at a liner ablaze with lights and echoing with music. + +On the deck of the packet sat a group of people who were listening to a +tall stooped man, who seemed to be addressing them on some matter of +interest. There was something familiar in his appearance; and I kept my +eye on him as we went by. + +As the boat passed swiftly astern, I saw that it was John Rucker. + +He was better dressed than I had ever seen him; his beard was trimmed, +and he was the center of his group. He was talking to a hunchback--a +strange-looking person with a black beard. I wondered what had made such +a change in Rucker; but I was overjoyed at the thought that he was off +on a peddling trip, and that I should not meet him at home. + +We floated along toward Tempe in a brighter world than I had known since +the time when I felt my bosom swell at the wearing of the new cap my +mother had made for me, the day when I, too young to be sad, had thrown +the clod over the stone fence as we went down to the great river to meet +John Rucker. + +5 + +We tied up for the night some seven miles west of Tempe, but I could not +sleep. I felt that I must see my mother that night, and so I trudged +along the tow-path in the light of a young moon, which as I plodded on +threw my shadow along the road before me. I walked treading on my own +shadow, a very different boy from the one who had come over this same +route sobbing himself almost into convulsions not many months before. + +I was ready to swap canal repartee with any of the canallers. It had +become my world. I felt myself a good deal of a man. I could see my +mother's astonished look as she opened the door, and heard me in the +gruffest voice I could command asking her if she could tell me where +Mrs. Rucker lived--and yet, I felt anxious. Somehow a fear that all was +not right grew in me; and when I reached the path leading up to the +house I turned pale, I feel sure, to see that there was no light. + +I tapped at the door; but there was no response. I felt for the key in +the place where we used to leave it, but no key was there. + +There were no curtains, and as I looked into a room with windows at the +opposite side, I saw no furniture. The house was vacant. I went to the +little leanto which was used as a summer kitchen, and tried a window +which I knew how to open. It yielded to my old trick, and I crawled in. +As I had guessed, the place was empty. I called to my mother, and was +scared, I can't tell how much, at the echo of my voice in the deserted +cabin. I ventured up the stairs, though I was mortally afraid, and found +nothing save the litter of removal. I felt about the closet in my +mother's bedroom, to find out if any of her clothes were there, half +expecting that she would be where I wanted to find her even in the +vacant house. Down in a corner I felt some small article, which I soon +found was a worn-out shoe. With this, the only thing left to remember +her by, I crawled out of the window, shut it carefully behind me--for I +had been brought up to leave things as I found them--and stood alone, +the most forlorn and deserted boy in America, as I truly believe. + +The moon had gone down, and it was dark. There was frost on the dead +grass, and I went out under the old apple-tree and sat down. What should +I do? Where was my mother? She was the only one in the world whom I +cared for or who loved me. She was gone, it was night, I was alone and +hungry and cold and lost. Perhaps some of the neighbors might know where +John Rucker had taken my mother--this thought came to me only after I +had sat there until every house was dark. The people had all gone to +bed. I tried to think of some neighbor to whom my mother might have told +her destination when she moved; but I could recall none of that sort. +She had been too unhappy, here in Tempe, to make friends. So I sat there +shivering until morning, unwilling to go away, altogether bewildered, +quite at my wits' end, steeped in despair. The world seemed too hard and +tough for me. + +In the morning I asked at every house if the people knew Mrs. Rucker, +and where she had gone, but got no help. One woman knew her, and had +employed her as a seamstress; but had found the house vacant the last +time she had sent her work. + +"Is she a relative of yours?" she asked. + +"She is my--" I remember I stopped here and looked away a long time +before I could finish the reply, "She is my mother." + +"And where were you, my poor boy," said she, "when she moved?" + +"I was away at work," I replied. + +"Well," said she, "she left word for you somewhere, you may be sure of +that. Where did you stay last night?" + +"I sat under a tree," said I, "in the yard--up where we used to live." + +"And where did you get breakfast?" she asked. + +"I wasn't hungry," I answered. "I've been hunting for my mother since +daylight." + +"You poor child!" said she. "Come right into the kitchen and I'll get +you some breakfast. Come in, and we'll find out how you can find +your mother!" + +While she got me the breakfast which I needed as badly as any meal I +ever ate, she questioned me as to relatives, friends, habits, and +everything which a good detective would want to know in forming a theory +as to how a clue might be obtained. She suggested that I find every man +in the village who had a team and did hauling, and ask each one if he +had moved Mr. Rucker's family. + +"Why didn't she write to you?" she finally queried. + +"She didn't know where I was," I replied. + +"Did she ever leave word for you anywhere," asked the woman, "before you +ran away?" + +"We had a place we called our post-office," I answered. "An old hollow +apple-tree. We used to leave letters for each other in that. It is the +tree I sat under all night." + +"Look there," said the woman. "You'll find her! She wouldn't have gone +without leaving a trace." + +Without stopping to thank her for her breakfast and her sympathy, I ran +at the top of my speed for the old apple-tree. I felt in the hollow--it +seemed to be filled with nothing but leaves. Just as I was giving up, I +touched something stiffer than an autumn leaf, and pulling it out found +a letter, all discolored by wet and mold, but addressed to me in my +mother's handwriting. I tore it open and read: + +"My poor, wandering boy: We are going away--I don't know where. This +only I know, we are going west to settle somewhere up the Lakes. The +lawsuit is ended, and we got the money your father left me, and are +going west to get a new and better start in the world. If you will write +me at the post-office in Buffalo, I will inquire there for mail. I +wonder if you will ever get this! I wonder if I shall ever see you +again! I shall find some way to send word to you. Mr. Rucker says he +knows the captain of the boat you work on, and can get his address for +me in Syracuse--then I will write you. I am going very far away, and if +you ever see this, and never see me again, keep it always, and whenever +you see it remember that I would always have died willingly for you, and +that I am going to build up for you a fortune which will give you a +better life than I have lived. Be a good boy always. Oh, I don't want to +go, but I have to!" + +It was not signed. I read it slowly, because I was not very good at +reading, and turned my eyes west--where my mother had gone. I had lost +her! How could any one be found who had disappeared into that region +which swallowed up thousands every month? I had no clue. I did not +believe that Rucker would try to help her find me. She had been kidnaped +away from me. I threw myself down on the dead grass, and found the +worn-out shoe I had picked up in the closet. It had every curve of her +foot--that foot which had taken so many weary steps for me. I put my +forehead down upon it, and lay there a long time--so long that when I +roused myself and went down to the canal, I had not sat on my old stump +a minute when I saw Captain Sproule's boat approaching from the west. +With a heavy heart I stepped aboard, carrying the worn-out shoe and the +letter, which I have yet. The boat was the only home left me. It had +become my world. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +I BECOME A SAILOR, AND FIND A CLUE + +I was just past thirteen when I had my great wrestle with loneliness and +desertion that night under the old apple-tree at Tempe; and the next +three and a half years are not of much concern to the reader who is +interested only in the history of Vandemark Township. I was just a +growing boy, tussling, more alone than I should have been, and with no +guidance or direction, with that problem of keeping soul and body +together, which, after all, is the thing with which all of us are +naturally obliged to cope all through our lives. I lived here and there, +most of the time looking to Eben Sproule as a prop and support, as a boy +must look to some one, or fall into bad and dangerous ways--and even +then, maybe he will. + +I was a backward boy, and this saved me from some deadfalls, I guess; +and I had the Dutch hard mouth and a tendency to feel my ground and see +how the land lay, which made me take so long to balk at any new vice or +virtue that the impulse or temptation was sometimes past before I could +get ready to embrace it. I guess there are some who may read this who +have let chances for sinful joys go by while an inward debate went on in +their own souls; and if they will only own up to it, found themselves +afterward guiltily sorry for not falling from grace. "As a man thinketh +in his heart, so is he," is Scripture, and must be true if rightly +understood; but I wonder if it is as bad for one of us tardy people to +regret not having sinned, as it would have been if he had been quicker +and done so. I hardly think it can be as bad; for many a saint must have +had such experiences--which really is thinking both right and wrong, and +doing right, even if he did think wrong afterward. + +That first winter, I lived on Captain Sproule's farm, and had my board, +washing and mending. His sister kept house for him, and his younger +brother, Finley, managed the place summers, with such help in handling +it as the captain had time to give when he passed the farm on his +voyages. It was quite a stock farm, and here I learned something about +the handling of cattle,--and in those days this meant breaking and +working them. It was a hard winter, and there was so much work on the +farm that I got only one month's schooling. + +The teacher was a man named Lockwood. He kept telling us that we ought +to read about farming, and study the business by which we expected to +live; and this made a deep impression on me. Lockwood was a real +teacher, and like all such worked without realizing it on stuff more +lasting than steel or stone,--young, soft human beings. I did not see +that there was much to study about as to driving on the canal; and when +I told him that he said that the business of taking care of the horses +and feeding them was something that ought to be closely studied if I +expected to be a farmer. This looked reasonable to me; and I soon got to +be one of those driver boys who were noted for the sleekness and fatness +of their teams, and began getting the habit of studying any task I had +to do. But I was more interested in cattle than anything else, and was +sorry when spring came and we unmoored the old boat and pulled down to +Albany for a cargo west. This summer was like the last, except that I +was now a skilled driver, larger, stronger, and more confident +than before. + +I used to ask leave to go on ahead on some fast boat when we drew near +to the Sproule farm, so I could spend a day or two at farm work, see the +family, and better than this, I am afraid--for they were pretty good to +me--look the cattle over, pet and feed the calves, colts and lambs, +count the little pigs and generally enjoy myself. On these packet boats, +too, I could talk with travelers, and try to strike the trail of +John Rucker. + +I had one never-failing subject of conversation with the Sproules and +all my other acquaintances--how to find my mother. We went over the +whole matter a thousand times. I had no post-office address, and my +mother had depended on Rucker's getting Captain Sproule's address at +Syracuse--which of course he had never meant to do--and had not asked me +to inquire at any place for mail. I wrote letters to her at Buffalo as +she had asked me to do in her letter, but they were returned unclaimed. +It was plain that Rucker meant to give me the slip, and had done so. He +could be relied upon to balk every effort my mother might make to find +me. I inquired for letters at the post-offices in Buffalo, Syracuse, +Albany and Tempe at every chance, but finally gave up in despair. + +2 + +I had only one hope, and that was to find the hump-backed man with the +black beard--the man Rucker was talking to on the boat we had passed on +our voyage eastward before I found my home deserted. This was a very +slim chance, but it was all there was left. Captain Sproule had noticed +him, and said he had seen him a great many times before. He was a land +agent, who made it a business to get emigrants to go west, away up the +lakes somewhere. + +"If your stepfather had any money," said the captain, "you can bet that +hunchback tried to bamboozle him into some land deal, and probably did. +And if he did, he'll remember him and his name, and where he left the +canal or the Lakes, and maybe where he located." + +"I must watch for him," I said. + +"We'll all watch for him," said the captain. + +Paddy was not with us the next summer; but Bill was, and so was Ace, +with whom I was now on the best of terms. We all agreed to keep our eyes +peeled for a hunchback with a black beard. Bill said he'd spear him with +a boathook as soon as he hove in sight for fear he'd get away. Ace was +sure the hunchback was a witch[3] who had spirited off my folks; and +looked upon the situation without much hope. He would agree to sing out +if he saw this monster; but that was as far as he would promise to +help me. + +[3] "Witch" in American dialect is of the common gender. "Wizard" has no +place in the vocabulary.--G.v.d.M. + +The summer went by with no news and no hunchback; and that winter I +stayed with an aunt of Captain Sproule's, taking care of her stock. I +got five dollars a month, and my keep, but no schooling. She wanted me +to stay the summer with her, and offered me what was almost a man's +wages; which shows how strong I was getting, and how much of a farmer I +was. I did stay and helped through the spring's work; but on Captain +Sproule's second passing of Mrs. Fogg's farm, I joined him, not as a +driver, but as a full hand. I kept thinking all the time of my mother, +and felt that if I kept to the canal I surely should find some trace of +her. In this I was doing what any detective would have done; for +everything sooner or later passed through the Erie Canal--news, goods +and passengers. But I had little hope when I thought of the flood which +surged back and forth through this river of news, and of the little bit +of a net with which I fished it for information. + +All this time the stream of emigration and trade swelled, and swelled +until it became a torrent. I thought at times that all the people in the +world had gone crazy to move west. We took families, even neighborhoods, +household goods, live stock, and all the time more and more people. They +were talking about Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, and +once in a while the word Iowa was heard; and one family astonished us by +saying that they were going to Texas. + +The Mormons had already made their great migration to Utah, and the +Northwestern Trail across the plains to Oregon and to California took +its quota of gold-seekers every year. John C. Fremont had crossed the +continent to California, and caused me to read my first book, _The Life +of Kit Carson_. + +Bill, who never could speak in hard enough terms about sailing on the +mud-puddle Lakes, which he had never done as yet, once went to +Pittsburgh, meaning to go from there down the Ohio and up the Missouri. +He had heard of the Missouri River fur-trade, and big wages on the +steamboats carrying emigrants from St. Louis up-stream to Nebraska, Iowa +and Dakota Territory, and bringing back furs and hides. But at +Pittsburgh he was turned back by news of the outbreak of cholera at New +Orleans, a disease which had struck us with terror along the canal two +or three years before. That summer there were medicine pedlers working +on all the boats, selling a kind of stuff they called "thieves' vinegar" +which was claimed to be a medicine that was used in the old country +somewhere by thieves who robbed the infected houses in safety, protected +by this wonderful "vinegar"; and only told how it was made to save their +lives when they were about to be hanged. A man offered me a bottle of +this at Rochester, for five dollars, and finally came down to fifty +cents. This made me think it was of no use, and I did not buy, though +just before I had been wondering whether I had not better borrow the +money of Captain Sproule; so I saved my money, which was getting to be a +habit of mine. + +California, the Rockies, the fur-trade, the Ohio Valley, the new cities +up the Lakes and the new farms in the woods back of them, and some few +tales of the prairies--all these voices of the West kept calling us more +loudly and plainly every year, and every year I grew stronger and more +confident of myself. + +The third year I had made up my mind that I would get work on a +passenger boat so as to be able to see and talk with more people who +were going up and down the Lakes and the canal. I went from one to +another as I met folks who were coming back from the West, and asked +every one if he had known a man out west named John Rucker; but, though +I found traces of two or three Ruckers in the course of the three years, +it did not take long in each case to find out that it was not the man I +hated so, and so much wanted to find. People used to point me out as the +boy who was trying to find a man named Rucker; and two or three came to +me and told me of men they had met who might be my man. I became known +to many who traveled the canal as being engaged in some mysterious +quest. I suppose I had an anxious and rather strange expression as I +made my inquiries. + +It took me two years to make up my mind to change to a passenger boat, +so slow was I to alter my way of doing things. I have always been that +way. My wife read _Knickerbocker's History of New York_ after the +children were grown up and she had more time for reading, and always +told the children that she was positive their father must be descended +from that ancient Dutchman[4] who took thirteen months to look the +ground over before he began to put up that well-known church in +Rotterdam of which he was the builder. After smoking over it to the tune +of three hundred pounds of Virginia tobacco, after knocking his head--to +jar his ideas loose, maybe--and breaking his pipe against every church +in Holland and parts of France and Germany; after looking at the site of +his church from every point of view--from land, from water, and from the +air which he went up into by climbing other towers; this good old Dutch +contractor and builder pulled off his coat and five pairs of breeches, +and laid the corner-stone of the church. I think that this delay was a +credit to him. Better be slow than sorry. The church was, according to +my wife, a very good one; and if the man had jumped into the job on the +first day of his contract it might have been a very bad one. So, when I +used to take a good deal of time to turn myself before beginning any +job, and my wife would say to one of the boys: "Just wait! He'll start +to build that church after a while!" I always took it as a compliment. +Finally I always did the thing, if after long study it seemed the right +thing to do, or if some one else had not done it in the meantime; just +as I finally told Captain Sproule that I expected to work on a passenger +boat the next summer, and was told by him that he had sold his boat to a +company, and was to be a passenger-boat captain himself the next summer; +and would sign me on if I wanted to stay with him--which I did. + +[4] Irving's impersonation of Homer must have nodded when he named this +safe, sane and staunch worthy Hermanus Van Clattercop.--G.v.d.M. + +3 + +I was getting pretty stocky now, and no longer feared anything I was +likely to meet. I was well-known to the general run of canallers, and +had very little fighting to do; once in a while a fellow would pick a +fight with me because of some spite, frequently because I refused to +drink with him, or because he was egged on to do it; and this year I was +licked by three toughs in Batavia. They left me senseless because I +would not say "enough." I was getting a good deal of reputation as a +wrestler. I liked wrestling better than fighting; and though a smallish +man always, like my fellow Iowan Farmer Burns, I have seldom found my +master at this game. It is much more a matter of sleight than strength. +A man must be cautious, wary, cool, his muscles always ready, as quick +as a flash to meet any strain; but the main source of my success seemed +to be my ability to use all the strength in every muscle of my body at +any given instant, so as to overpower a much stronger opponent by +pouring out on him so much power in a single burst of force that he was +carried away and crushed. I have thrown over my head and to a distance +of ten feet men seventy-five pounds heavier than I was. This is the only +thing I ever did so well that I never met any one who could beat me. + +I was of a fair complexion, with blue eyes, and my upper lip and chin +were covered with a reddish fuzz over a very ruddy skin--a little like +David's of old, I guess. On the passenger boats I met a great many +people, and was joked a good deal about the girls, some of whom seemed +to take quite a shine to me, just as they do to any fair-haired, +reasonably clean-looking boy; especially if he has a little reputation; +but though I sometimes found myself looking at one of them with +considerable interest there was not enough time for as slow a boy as I +to begin, let alone to finish any courting operations on even as long a +voyage as that from Albany to Buffalo. I was really afraid of them all, +and they seemed to know it, and made a good deal of fun of me. + +We did not carry our horses on this boat; but stopped at relay stations +for fresh teams, and after we had pulled out from one of these stations, +we went flying along at from six to eight miles an hour, with a cook +getting up fine meals; and we often had a "sing" as we called it when in +the evening the musical passengers got together and tuned up. Many of +them carried dulcimers, accordions, fiddles, flutes and various kinds of +brass horns, and in those days a great many people could sing the good +old hymns in the _Carmina Sacra_, and the glees and part-songs in the +old _Jubilee_, with the soprano, tenor, bass and alto, and the high +tenor and counter which made better music than any gathering of people +are likely to make nowadays. All they needed was a leader with a +tuning-fork, and off they would start, making the great canal a pretty +musical place on fine summer evenings. We traveled night and day, and at +night the boat, lighted up as well as we could do it then, with lanterns +and lamps burning whale-oil, and with candles in the cabin, looked like +a traveling banquet-hall or opera-house or tavern. + +We were always crowded with immigrants when we went west; and on our +eastern voyages even, our passenger traffic was mostly related to the +West, its trade, and its people. Many of the men had been out west +"hunting country," and sat on the decks or in the cabins until late at +night, telling their fellow-travelers what they had found, exchanging +news, and sometimes altering their plans to take advantage of what +somebody else had found. Some had been looking for places where they +could establish stores or set up in some other business. Some had gone +to sell goods. Some were travelers for the purpose of preying on others. +I saw a good deal of the world, that summer, some of which I understood, +but not much. I understand it far better now as I look back upon it. + +I noticed for the first time now that class of men with whom we became +so well acquainted later, the land speculators. These, and the bankers, +many of whom seemed to have a good deal of business in the West, formed +a class by themselves, and looked down from a far height on the working +people, the farmers, and the masses generally, who voyaged on the same +boats with them. They talked of development, and the growth of the +country, and the establishments of boats and the building of railways; +while the rest of us thought about homes and places to make our livings. +The young doctors and lawyers, and some old ones, too, who were going +out to try life on the frontiers, occupied places in between these +exalted folk and the rest of us. There were preachers among our +passengers, but most of them were going west. On almost every voyage +there would be a minister or missionary who would ask to have the +privilege of holding prayer on the boat; and Captain Sproule always +permitted it. The ministers, too, were among those who hunted up the +singers in the crowds and organized the song services from the +_Carmina Sacra_. + +4 + +I was getting used to the life and liked it, and gradually I found my +resolve to go west getting less and less strong; when late in the summer +of 1854 something happened which restored it to me with tenfold +strength. We had reached Buffalo, had discharged our passengers and +cargo, and were about starting on our eastward voyage when I met Bill, +the sailor, as he was coming out of a water-front saloon. I ran to him +and called him by name; but at first he did not know me. + +"This ain't little Jake, is it?" he said. "By mighty, I b'lieve it is! +W'y, you little runt, how you've growed. Come in an' have a drink with +your ol' friend Bill as nussed you when you was a baby!" + +I asked to be excused; for I hadn't learned to drink more than a thin +glass of rum and water, and that only when I got chilled. I turned the +subject by asking him what he was doing; and at that he slapped his +thigh and said he had great news for me. + +"I've found that hump-backed bloke," he said. "He came down on the boat +with us from Milwaukee. I knowed him as soon as I seen him, but I +couldn't think all the v'yage what in time I wanted to find him fer. You +jest put it in my mind!" + +"Where is he?" I shouted. "You hain't lost him, have you?" + +Bill stood for quite a while chewing tobacco, and scratching his head. + +"Where is he?" I yelled. + +"Belay bellering," said Bill. "I'm jest tryin' to think whuther he went +on a boat east, or a railroad car, or a stage-coach, or went to a +tavern. He went to a tavern, that's what he done. A drayman I know took +his dunnage!" + +"Come on," I cried, "and help me find the drayman!" + +"I'll have to study on this," said Bill. "My mind hain't as active as +usual. I need somethin' to brighten me up!" + +"What do you need?" I inquired. "Can't you think where he stays?" + +"A little rum," he answered, "is great for the memory. I b'lieve most +any doctor'd advise a jorum of rum for a man in my fix, to restore the +intellects." + +I took him back into the grog-shop and bought him rum, taking a very +little myself, with a great deal of blackstrap and water. Bill's +symptoms were such as to drive me to despair. He sat looking at me like +an old owl, and finally took my glass and sipped a little from it. + +"Hain't you never goin' to grow up?" he asked; and poured out a big +glass of the pure quill for me, and fiercely ordered me to drink it. By +this time I was desperate; so I smashed his glass and mine; and taking +him by the throat I shook him and told him that if he did not take me to +the hump-backed man or to the drayman, and that right off, I'd shut off +his wind for good. When he clinched with me I lifted him from the floor, +turned him upside down, and lowered him head-first into an empty barrel. +By this time the saloon-keeper was on the spot making all sorts of +threats about having us both arrested, and quite a crowd had gathered. I +lifted Bill out of the barrel and seated him in a chair, and paid for +the glasses; all the time watching Bill for fear he might renew the +tussle, and take me in flank; but he sat as if dazed until I had quieted +matters down, when he rose and addressed the crowd. + +"My little son," said he, patting me on the shoulder. "Stoutest man of +his inches in the world. We'll be round here's evenin'--give a show. +C'mon, Jake!" + +"Wot I said about growin' up," said he, as we went along the street, "is +all took back, Jake!" + +We had not gone more than a quarter of a mile when we came to a place +where there was a stand for express wagons and drays; and Bill picked +out from the crowd, with a good deal of difficulty, I thought, a +hard-looking citizen to whom he introduced me as the stoutest man on the +Erie Canal. The drayman seemed to know me. He said he had seen me +wrestle. When I asked him about the hunchback he said he knew right +where he was; but there was no hurry, and tried to get up a wrestling +match between me and a man twice my size who made a specialty of hauling +salt, and bragged that he could take a barrel of it by the chimes, and +lift it into his dray. I told him that I was in a great hurry and begged +to be let off; but while I was talking they had made up a purse of +twenty-one shillings to be wrestled for by us two. I finally persuaded +the drayman to show me the hunchback's tavern, and promised to come back +and wrestle after I had found him; to which the stake-holder agreed, but +all the rest refused to consent, and the money was given back to the +subscribers. The drayman, Bill and I went off together to find the +tavern--which we finally did. + +It was a better tavern than we were used to, and I was a little bashful +when I inquired if a man with a black beard was stopping there, and was +told that there were several. + +"What's his name?" asked the clerk. + +"'E's a hunchback," said Bill--I had been too diffident to describe him +so. + +"Mr. Wisner, of Southport, Wisconsin," said the clerk, "has a back that +ain't quite like the common run of backs. Want to see him?" + +He was in a nice room, with a fire burning and was writing at a desk +which opened and shut, and was carried with him when he traveled. He +wore a broadcloth, swallow-tailed coat, a collar that came out at the +sides of his neck and stood high under his ears; and his neck was +covered with a black satin stock. On the bed was a tall, black beaver, +stove-pipe hat. There were a great many papers on the table and the bed, +and the room looked as if it had been used by crowds of people--the +floor was muddy about the fireplace, and there were tracks from the door +to the cheap wooden chairs which seemed to have been brought in to +accommodate more visitors than could sit on the horsehair chairs and +sofa that appeared to belong in the room. Mr. Wisner looked at us +sharply as we came in, and shook hands first with Bill and then with me. + +"Glad to see you again," said he heartily. "Glad to see you again! I +want to tell you some more about Wisconsin. I haven't told you the half +of its advantages." + +I saw that he thought we had been there before, and was about to correct +his mistake, when Bill told him that that's what we had come for. + +"What you said about Wisconsin," said Bill, winking at me, "has sort of +got us all worked up." + +"Is it a good country for a boy to locate in?" I asked. + +"A paradise for a boy!" he said, in a kind of bubbly way. "And for a +poor man, it's heaven! Plenty of work. Good wages. If you want a home, +it's the only God's country. What kind of land have you been farming in +the past?" + +Bill said that he had spent his life plowing the seas, but that all the +fault I had was being a landsman. I admitted that I had farmed some +near Herkimer. + +"And," sneered Mr. Wisner crushingly, "how long does it take a man to +clear and grub out and subdue enough land in Herkimer County to make a +living on? Ten years! Twenty years! Thirty years! Why, in Herkimer +County a young man doesn't buy anything when he takes up land: he sells +something! He sells himself to slavery for life to the stumps and +sprouts and stones! But in Wisconsin you can locate on prairie land +ready for the plow; or you can have timber land, or both kinds, or +opening's that are not quite woods nor quite prairie--there's every kind +of land there except poor land! It's a paradise, and land's cheap. I can +sell you land right back of Southport, with fine market for whatever you +raise, on terms that will pay themselves--pay themselves. Just go aboard +the first boat, and I'll give you a letter to my partner in +Southport--and your fortunes will be made in ten years!" + +"The trouble is," said Bill, "that we'll be so damned lonesome out where +we don't know any one. If we could locate along o' some of our ol' +mates, somebody like old John Tucker,--it would be a--a paradise, +eh, Jake?" + +"The freest-hearted people in the world," said Mr. Wisner. "They'll +travel ten miles to take a spare-rib or a piece of fresh beef to a new +neighbor. Invite the stranger in to stay all night as he drives along +the road. You'll never miss your old friends; and probably you'll find +old neighbors most anywhere. Why, this country has moved out to +Wisconsin. It won't be long till you'll have to go there to find +'em--ha, ha, ha!" + +"If we could find a man out there named Tucker--" + +"An old--sort of--of relative of mine," I put in, seeing that Bill was +spoiling it all, "John Rucker." + +"I know him!" cried Wisner. "Kind of a tall man with a sandy beard? Good +talker? Kind of plausible talker? Used to live down east of Syracuse? +Pretty well fixed? Went out west three years ago? Calls himself +Doctor Rucker?" + +"I guess that's the man," said I; "do you know where he is now?" + +"Had a wife and no children?" asked Wisner. "And was his wife a quiet, +kind of sad-looking woman that never said much?" + +"Yes! Yes!" said I. "If you know where they are, I'll go there by the +next boat." + +"Hum," said Wisner. "Whether I can tell you the exact township and +section is one thing; but I can say that they went to Southport on the +same boat with me, and at last accounts were there or thereabouts--there +or thereabouts." + +"Come on, Bill," said I, "I want to take passage on the next boat!" + +Mr. Wisner kept us a long time, giving me letters to his partner; trying +to find out how much money I would have when I got to Southport; warning +me not to leave that neighborhood even if I found it hard to find the +Rucker family; and assuring me that if it weren't for the fact that he +had several families along the canal ready to move in a week or two, he +would go back with me and place himself at my service. + +"And it won't be long," said he, "until I can be with you. My boy, I +feel like a father to the young men locating among us, and I beg of you +don't make any permanent arrangements until I get back. I can save you +money, and start you on the way to a life of wealth and happiness. God +bless you, and give you a safe voyage!" + +"Bill," said I, as we went down the stairs, "this is the best news I +ever had. I'm going to find my mother! I had given up ever finding her, +Bill; and I've been so lonesome--you don't know how lonesome I've been!" + +"I used to have a mother," said Bill, "in London. Next time I'm there +I'll stay sober for a day and have a look about for her. You never have +but about one mother, do you, Jake? A mother is a great thing--when she +ain't in drink." + +"I wish I could have Mr. Wisner with me when I get to Southport," I +said. "He'd help me. He is such a Christian man!" + +"Wal," said Bill, "I ain't as sure about him as I am about mothers. He +minds me of a skipper I served under once; and he starved us, and let +the second officer haze us till we deserted and lost our wages. He's +about twice too slick. I'd give him the go-by, Jake." + +"And now for a boat," I said. + +"Wal," said Bill, "I'm sailin' to-morrow mornin' on the schooner _Mahala +Peters_, an' we're short-handed. Go aboard an' ship as an A. B." + +I protested that I wasn't a sailor; but Bill insisted that beyond being +hazed by the mate there was no reason why I shouldn't work my passage. + +"If there's a crime," said he, "it's a feller like you payin' his +passage. Let's get a drink or two an' go aboard." + +I explained to the captain, in order that I might be honest with him, +that I was no sailor, but had worked on canal boats for years, and would +do my best. He swore at his luck in having to ship land-lubbers, but +took me on; and before we reached Southport--now Kenosha--I was good +enough so that he wanted me to ship back with him. It was on this trip +that I let the cook tattoo this anchor on my forearm, and thus got the +reputation among the people of the prairies of having been a sailor, +and therefore a pretty rough character. As a matter of fact the sailors +on the Lakes were no rougher than the canallers--and I guess not +so rough. + +I was sorry, many a time, on the voyage, that I had not taken passage on +a steamer, as I saw boats going by us in clouds of smoke that left +Buffalo after we did; but we had a good voyage, and after seeing +Detroit, Mackinaw and Milwaukee, we anchored in Southport harbor so late +that the captain hurried on to Chicago to tie up for the winter. I had +nearly three hundred dollars in a belt strapped around my waist, and +some in my pocket; and went ashore after bidding Bill good-by--I never +saw the good fellow again--and began my search for John Rucker. I did +not need to inquire at Mr. Wisner's office, and I now think I probably +saved money by not going there; for I found out from the proprietor of +the hotel that Rucker, whom he called Doc Rucker, had moved to Milwaukee +early in the summer. + +"Friend of yours?" he asked. + +"No," I said with a good deal of emphasis; "but I want to find +him--bad!" + +"If you find him," said he, "and can git anything out of him, let me +know and I'll make it an object to you. An' if you have any dealings +with him, watch him. Nice man, and all that, and a good talker, but +watch him." + +"Did you ever see his wife?" I inquired. + +"They stopped here a day or two before they left," said the +hotel-keeper. "She looked bad. Needed a doctor, I guess--a +different doctor!" + +There was a cold northeaster blowing, and it was spitting snow as I went +back to the docks to see if I could get a boat for Milwaukee. A steamer +in the offing was getting ready to go, and I hired a man with a skiff +to put me and my carpetbag aboard. We went into Milwaukee in a howling +blizzard, and I was glad to find a warm bar in the tavern nearest the +dock; and a room in which to house up while I carried on my search. I +now had found out that the stage lines and real-estate offices were the +best places to go for traces of immigrants; and I haunted these places +for a month before I got a single clue to Rucker's movements. It almost +seemed that he had been hiding in Milwaukee, or had slipped through so +quickly as not to have made himself remembered--which was rather odd, +for there was something about his tall stooped figure, his sandy beard, +his rather whining and fluent talk, and his effort everywhere to get +himself into the good graces of every one he met that made it easy to +identify him. His name, too, was one that seemed to stick in +people's minds. + + + +5 + +At last I found a man who freighted and drove stage between Milwaukee +and Madison, who remembered Rucker; and had given him passage to Madison +sometime, as he remembered it, in May or June--or it might have been +July, but it was certainly before the Fourth of July. + +"You hauled him--and his wife?" I asked. + +"Him and his wife," said the man, "and a daughter." + +"A daughter!" I said in astonishment. "They have no daughter." + +"Might have been his daughter, and not her'n," said the stage-driver. +"Wife was a good deal younger than him, an' the girl was pretty old to +be her'n. Prob'ly his. Anyhow, he said she was his daughter." + +"It wasn't his daughter," I cried. + +"Well, you needn't get het up about it," said he; "I hain't to blame no +matter whose daughter she wasn't. She can travel with me any time she +wants to. Kind of a toppy, fast-goin', tricky little rip, with a +sorrel mane." + +"I don't understand it," said I. "Did you notice his wife--whether she +seemed to be feeling well?" + +"Looked bad," said he. "Never said nothing to nobody, and especially not +to the daughter. Used to go off to bed while the old man and the girl +held spiritualist doin's wherever we laid over. Went into trances, the +girl did, and the old man give lectures about the car of progress that +always rolls on and on and on, pervided you consult the spirits. Picked +up quite a little money 's we went along, too." + +I sat in the barroom and thought about this for a long time. There was +something wrong about it. My mother's health was failing, that was plain +from what I had heard in Southport; but it did not seem to me, no matter +how weak and broken she might be, that she would have allowed Rucker to +pass off any stray trollop like the one described by the stage-driver as +his daughter, or would have traveled with them for a minute. But, I +thought, what could she do? And maybe she was trying to keep the affair +within bounds as far as possible. A good woman is easily deceived, too. +Perhaps she knew best, after all; and maybe she was going on and on with +Rucker from one misery to another in the hope that I, her only son, and +the only relative she had on earth, might follow and overtake her, and +help her out of the terrible situation in which, even I, as young and +immature as I was, could see that she must find herself. I had seen too +much of the under side of life not to understand the probable meaning of +this new and horrible thing. I remembered how insulted my mother was +that time so long ago when Rucker proposed that they join the +Free-Lovers at Oneida; and how she had refused to ride home with him, at +first, and had walked back on that trail through the woods, leading me +by the hand, until she was exhausted, and how Rucker had tantalized her +by driving by us, and sneering at us when mother and I finally climbed +into the democrat wagon, and rode on with him toward Tempe. I could +partly see, after I had thought over it for a day or so, just what this +new torture might mean to her. + +I was about to start on foot for Madison, and looked up my stage-driver +acquaintance to ask him about the road. + +"Why don't you go on the railroad?" he asked. "The damned thing has put +me out of business, and I'm no friend of it; but if you're in a hurry +it's quicker'n walkin'." + +I had seen the railway station in Milwaukee, and looked at the train; +but it had never occurred to me that I might ride on it to Madison. Now +we always expect a railway to run wherever we want to go; but then it +was the exception--and the only railroad running out of Milwaukee was +from there to Madison. On this I took that day my first ride in a +railway car, reaching Madison some time after three. This seemed like +flying to me. I had seen plenty of railway tracks and trains in New +York; but I had to come to Wisconsin to patronize one. + +I rode on, thinking little of this new experience, as I remember, so +filled was I with the hate of John Rucker which almost made me forget my +love for my mother. Perhaps the one was only the reverse side of the +other. I had made up my mind what to do. I would try hard not to kill +Rucker, though I tried him and condemned him to death in my own mind +several times for every one of the eighty miles I rode; but I knew that +this vengeance was not for me. + +I would take my mother away from him, though, in spite of everything; +and she and I would move on to a new home, somewhere, living happily +together for the rest of our lives. + +I was happy when I thought of this home, in which, with my new-found, +fresh strength, my confidence in myself, my knack of turning my hand to +any sort of common work, my ability to defend her against everything and +everybody--against all the Ruckers in the world--my skill in so many +things that would make her old age easy and happy, I would repay her for +all this long miserable time,--the cruelty of Rucker when she took me +out of the factory while he was absent, the whippings she had seen him +give me, the sacrifices she had made to give me the little schooling I +had had, the nights she had sewed to make my life a little easier, the +tears she dropped on my bed when she came and tucked me in when I was +asleep, the pangs of motherhood, and the pains worse than those of +motherhood which she had endured because she was poor, and married to +a beast. + +I would make all this up to her if I could. I went into Madison, much as +a man goes to his wedding; only the woman of my dreams was my mother. +But I felt as I did that night when I returned to Tempe after my first +summer on the canal--full of hope and anticipation, and yet with a +feeling in my heart that again something would stand in my way. + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE END OF A LONG QUEST + +I went to seek my mother in my best clothes. I had bought some new +things in Milwaukee, and was sure that my appearance would comfort her +greatly. Instead of being ragged, poverty-stricken, and +neglected-looking, I was a picture of a clean, well-clothed working boy. +I had on a good corduroy suit, and because the weather was cold, I wore +a new Cardigan jacket. My shirt was of red flannel, very warm and thick; +and about my neck I tied a flowered silk handkerchief which had been +given me by a lady who was very kind to me once during a voyage by +canal, and was called "my girl" by the men on the boat. I wore good kip +boots with high tops, with shields of red leather at the knees, each +ornamented with a gilt moon and star--the nicest boots I ever had; and I +wore my pants tucked into my boot-tops so as to keep them out of the +snow and also to show these glories in leather. With clouded woolen +mittens on my hands, given me as a Christmas present by Mrs. Fogg, +Captain Sproule's sister, that winter I worked for her near Herkimer, +and a wool cap, trimmed about with a broad band of mink fur, and a long +crocheted woolen comforter about my neck, I was as well-dressed a boy +for a winter's day as a body need look for. I took a look at myself in +the glass, and felt that even at the first glance, my mother would feel +that in casting her lot with me she would be choosing not only the +comfort of living with her only son but the protection of one who had +proved himself a man. + +I glowed with pride as I thought of our future together, and of all I +would do to make her life happy and easy. I never was a better boy in my +life than on that winter evening when I went up the hilly street from +the tavern in Madison to the place on a high bluff overlooking a sheet +of ice, stretching away almost as far as I could see, which they told me +was Fourth Lake, to the house in which I was informed Doctor Rucker +lived--a small frame house among stocky, low burr oak trees, on which +the dead leaves still hung, giving forth a dreary hiss as the bitter +north wind blew through them. + +I knocked at the door, and was answered by a red-haired young woman, +with a silly grin on her face, the smirk flanked on each side with +cork-screw curls which hung down over her bright blue dress; which, as I +could see, was pulled out at the seams under her round and shapely arms. +She put out a soft and plump hand to me, but I did not take it. She +looked in my face, and shrank back as if frightened. + +"Where's Rucker?" I asked; but before I had finished the question he +came forward from the other room, clothed in dirty black broadcloth, his +patent-medicine-pedler's smile all over his face, with a soiled frilled +shirt showing back of his flowered vest, which was unbuttoned except at +the bottom, to show the nasty finery beneath. He had on a broad black +scarf filling the space between the points of his wide-open standing +collar, and sticking out on each side. I afterward recalled the +impression of a gold watch-chain, and a broad ring on his finger. He +was quite changed in outward appearance from the poverty-stricken skunk +I had once known; but was if anything more skunk-like than ever: yet I +had to look twice to be sure of him. + +"I am exceedingly glad to see you in the flesh," said he, coming forward +with his hand stuck out--a hand which I stared at but never +touched--"exceedingly glad to see you, my young brother. I have had a +spiritual vision of you. Honor us by coming in by the fire!" + +"Where's my mother?" I asked, still standing in the open door. + +Rucker started at the sound of my voice, which had changed from the +boy's soprano into a deep bass--much deeper than it is now. It was the +hoarse croak of the hobbledehoy. + +The young woman had shrunk back behind him now. + +"Your mother?" said he, in a sort of panther-like purr. "A spirit has +been for three days seeking to speak to a lost child through my +daughter. Come in, and let us see. Let us see if my daughter can not +pierce the mysteries of the unseen in your case. Come in!" + +The cold was blowing in at the open door, and his tone was a little like +that of a man who wants to say, but does not feel it wise to do so, +"Come in and shut the door after you!" + +"Your daughter!" I said, trying to think of something to say that would +show what I thought of him, her, and their dirty pretense; "your +daughter! Hell!" + +"Young man," said he, drawing himself up stiffly, "what do you mean--?" + +"I mean to find my mother!" I cried. "Where is she?" + +Suddenly the thought of being halted thus longer, and the fear that my +mother was not there, drove me crazy. I lunged at Rucker, and with a +sweep of my arms, threw him staggering across the room. The girl +screamed, and ran to, and behind him. I stormed through to the kitchen, +expecting to find my mother back there, working for this smooth, sly, +scroundrelly pair; but the place was deserted. There were dirty pots and +pans about; and a pile of unwashed dishes stacked high in the sink--and +this struck me with despair. If my mother had been about, and able to +work, such a thing would have been impossible. So she either was not +there or was not able to work--my instinct told me that; and I ran to +the foot of the stairs, and calling as I had so often done when a child, +"Ma, Ma! Where are you, ma!" I waited to hear her answer. + +Rucker, pale as a sheet, came up to me, his quivering mouth trying to +work itself into a sneaking sort of smile. + +"Why, Jacob, Jakey," he drooled, "is this you? I didn't know you. Sit +down, my son, and I'll tell you the sad, sad news!" + +I heard him, but I did not trust nor understand him, and I went through +that house from cellar to garret, looking for her; my heart freezing +within me as I saw how impossible it would be for her to live so. There +were two bedrooms, both beds lying just as they had been left in the +morning--and my mother always opened her beds up for an airing when she +rose, and made them up right after breakfast. + +The room occupied by the young woman was the room of a slut; the +clothes she had taken off the night before, or even before that, lay in +a ring about the place where her feet had been when she dropped them in +the dust and lint which rolled about in the corners like feathers. Her +corset was thrown down in a corner; shoes and stockings littered the +floor; her comb was clogged with red hair like a wire fence with dead +grass after a freshet; dingy, grimy underclothing lay about. I peered +into a closet, in which there were more garments on the floor than on +the nails. The other bedroom was quite as unkempt; looking as if the +occupant must always do his chamber work at the last moment before going +to bed. They were as unclean outwardly as inwardly. + +After ransacking the house up-chamber, I ran down-stairs and went into +the room from which Rucker had come, where I found the girl hiding +behind a sofa, peeking over the back of it at me, and screaming "Go +away!" All the walls in this room were hung with some thin black cloth, +and it looked like the inside of a hearse. There was a stand in one +corner, and a large extension table in the middle of the room, with +chairs placed about it. In the corner across from the stand was a +spiritualist medium's cabinet; and hanging on the walls were a guitar, a +banjo and a fiddle. A bell stood in the middle of the table, and there +were writing materials, slates, and other things scattered about, which +theatrical people call "properties," I am told. I tore the black +draperies down, and searched for a place where my mother might be--in +bed I expected to find her, if at all; but she was not there. I tried +the cellar, but it was nothing but a vegetable cave, dug in the earth, +with no walls, and dark as a dungeon when the girl shut down the +trap-door and stood on it: from which I threw her by putting my back +under it and giving a surge. When I came up she was staggering to her +feet, and groaning as she felt of her head for the results of some +suspected cut or bump from her fall. Rucker was following me about +calling me Jacob and Jakey, a good deal as a man will try to smooth down +or pacify a vicious horse or mule; and after I had looked everywhere, I +faced him, took him by the throat, and choked him until his tongue stuck +out, and his face was purple. + +"My God," said the girl, who had grown suddenly quiet, "you're killing +him!" + +I looked at his empurpled face, and my madness came back on me like a +rush of fire through my veins--and I shut down on his throat again until +I could feel the cords draw under my fingers like taut ropes. + +She laid her hand rather gently on my breast, and looked me steadily in +the eye. + +"Fool!" she almost whispered. "Your mother's dead! Will it bring her +back to life for you to stretch hemp?" + +I guess that by that action she saved my life; but it has been only of +late years that I have ceased to be sorry that I did not kill him. I +looked back into her eyes for a moment--I remember yet that they were +bright blue, with a lighter band about the edge of the sight, instead of +the dark edging that most of us have; and as I understood her meaning I +took my hands from Rucker's throat, and threw him from me. He lay on the +floor for a minute, and as he scrambled to his feet I sank down on the +nearest chair and buried my face in my hands. + +It was all over, then; my long lone quest for my mother--a quest I had +carried on since I was a little, scared, downtrodden child. I should +never have the chance to serve her in my way as she had served me in +hers--my way that would never have been anything but a very small and +easy one at the most; while hers had been a way full of torment and +servitude. All my strength was gone; and the girl seemed to know it; for +she came over to me and patted me on the shoulder in a motherly sort +of way. + +"Poor boy!" she said. "Poor boy! To-morrow, come to me and I'll show you +your mother's grave. I'll take you to the doctor that attended her. I +know how you feel." + +I had passed a sleepless night before I remembered to feel revolted at +the sympathy of this hussy who had helped to bring my mother to her +death--and I did not go near her. But I inquired my way from one doctor +to another--there were not many in Madison then--until I found one, +named Mix, who had treated my mother in her last illness. She was weak +and run down, he said, and couldn't stand a run of lung fever, which had +carried her off. + +"Did she mention me?" I asked. + +"At the very last," said Doctor Mix, "she said once or twice, 'He had to +work too hard!' I don't know who she meant. Not Rucker, eh?" + +I shook my head--I knew what she meant. + +"And," said he, "if you can see your way clear to arrange with old +Rucker to pay my bill--winter is on now, and I could use the money." + +I pulled out my pocketbook and paid the bill. + +"Thank you, my boy," said he, "thank you!" + +"I'm glad to do it," I answered--and turned away my head. + +"Anything more I can do for you?" asked Doctor Mix, much kinder than +before. + +"I'd be much obliged," I replied, "if you could tell me where I can find +some one that'll be able to show me my mother's grave." + +"I'll take you there," he said quickly. + +We rode to the graveyard in his sleigh, the bells jingling too merrily +by far, I thought; and then to a marble-cutter from whom I bought a +headstone to be put up in the spring. I worked out an epitaph which +Doctor Mix, who seemed to see through the case pretty well, put into +good language, reading as follows: "Here lies the body of Mary Brouwer +Vandemark, born in Ulster County, New York, in 1815; died Madison, +Wisconsin, October 19, 1854. Erected to her memory by her son, Jacob T. +Vandemark." So I cut the name of Rucker from our family record; but, of +course, he never knew. + +Then the doctor took me back to the tavern, trying to persuade me on the +way to locate in Madison. He had some vacant lots he wanted to show me; +and said that he and a company of friends had laid out new towns at half +a dozen different places in Wisconsin, and even in Minnesota and Iowa. +Before we got back he saw, though I tried to be civil, that I was not +thinking about what he was saying, and so he let me think in peace; but +he shook hands with me kindly at parting, and wished I could have got +there in September. + +"Things might have been different," said he. "You're a darned good boy; +and if you'll stay here till spring I'll get you a job." + +2 + +There was no fire in my room, and it was cold; so there was no place to +sit except in the barroom, which I found deserted but for one man, when +I went back and sat down to think over my future. Should I go back to +the canal? I hated to do this, though all my acquaintances were there, +and the work was of the sort I had learned to do best; besides, here I +was in the West, and all the opportunities of the West were before me, +though it looked cold and dreary just now, and no great chances seemed +lying about for a boy like me. I was perplexed. I had lost my desire for +revenge on Rucker; and just then I felt no ambition, and saw no light. I +was ready, I suppose, to begin a life of drifting; this time with no +aim, not even a remote one--for my one object in life had vanished. But +something in the way of guidance always has come to me at such times; +and it came now. The one man who was in the bar when I came in got up, +and moving over by me, sat down in a chair by my side. + +"Cold day," said he. + +I agreed, and looked him over carefully. He was a tall man who wore a +long black Prince Albert coat which came down below his knees, a broad +felt hat, and no overcoat. He looked cold, and rather shabby; but he +talked with a good deal of style, and used many big words. + +"Stranger here?" he asked. + +I admitted that I was. + +"May I offer," said he, "the hospitalities of the city in the form of a +hot whisky toddy?" + +I thanked him and asked to be excused. + +"Your name," he ventured, after clearing his throat, "is Vandemark." + +Then I looked at him still more sharply. How did he know my name? + +"I have been looking for you," said he, "for some months--some months; +and I was so fortunate as to observe the fact when you made a call last +evening on our fellow-citizen, Doctor Rucker. I was--ahem--consulted +professionally by the late lamented Mrs. Rucker--I am a lawyer, +sir--before her death, for the purpose of securing my services in +looking after the interests of her son, Mr. Jacob H. Vandemark." + +"Jacob T. Vandemark," said I. + +"Why, damn me," said he, looking again at his book, "it _is_ a 'T.' +Lawyer's writing, Jacob, lawyer's writing--notoriously bad, you know." + +I sat thinking about the expression, "the interests of Jacob T. +Vandemark," for a long time; but the truth did not dawn an me, my mind +working slowly as usual. + +"What interests?" I asked finally. + +"The interest," said he, "of her only child in the estate of Mrs. +Rucker." + +Then there recurred to my mind the words in my mother's last letter; +that the money had been paid on the settlement of my father's estate, +and that she and Rucker were coming out West to make a new start in +life. I had never given it a moment's thought before, and should have +gone away without asking anybody a single question about it, if this +scaly pettifogger, as I now know him to have been, had not sidled up +to me. + +"The estate," said my new friend, "is small, Jacob; but right is right, +and there is no reason why this man Rucker should not be made to +disgorge every cent that's coming to you--every cent! I know Doctor +Rucker slightly, and I hope I shall not shock you if I say that in my +opinion he would steal the Lord's Supper, and wipe his condemned lousy +red whiskers and his freckled claws with the table-cloth! That's the +kind of pilgrim and stranger Rucker is. He will cheat you out of your +eye teeth, sir, unless you are protected by the best legal talent to be +had--the best to be had--the talent and the advice of the man to whom +your late lamented mother went for counsel." + +"Yes," said I after a while, "I think he will." + +"That is why your mother," he went on, "advised with me; for even if I +have to say it, I'm a living whirlwind in court. Suppose we have +a drink!" + +I sat with my drink before me, slowly sipping it, and trying to see +through this man and the new question he had brought up. Certainly, I +was entitled to my mother's property--all of it by rights, whatever the +law might be--for it came through my father. Surely this lawyer must be +a good man, or my mother wouldn't have consulted him. But when I +mentioned to my new friend, whose name was Jackway, my claim to the +whole estate he assured me that Rucker was the legal owner of his share +in it--I forget how much. + +"And," said he, "I make no doubt the old scoundrel has reduced the whole +estate to possession, and is this moment," lowering his voice +secretively, "acting as executor _de son tort_--executor _de son tort_, +sir! I wouldn't put it past him!" + +I wrote this, with some other legal expressions in my note-book. + +"How can I get this money away from him?" said I, coming to the point. + +"Money!" said he. "How do we know it is money? It may be chattels, +goods, wares or merchandise. It may be realty. It may be _choses in +action_. We must require of him a complete discovery. We may have to go +back to the original probate proceedings through which your mother +became seized of this property to obtain the necessary information. How +old are you?" + +I told him that I was sixteen the twenty-seventh of the last July. + +"A minor," said he; "in law an infant. A guardian _ad litem_ will have +to be appointed to protect your interests, and to bring suit for you. I +shall be glad to serve you, sir, in the name of justice; and to confound +those with whom robbery of the orphan is an occupation, sir, a daily +occupation. Come up to my office with me, and we will begin proceedings +to make Rucker sweat!" + +3 + +But this was too swift for a Vandemark. In spite of his urging, I +insisted that I should have to think it over. He grew almost angry at me +at last, I thought; but he went away finally, after I had taken the hint +he gave and bought him another drink. The next morning he was back +again, urging me to proceed immediately, "so that the property might not +be further sequestrated and wasted." He did not know how slow I was to +think and act; and suspected that I was going to some other lawyer, I +now believe; for I noticed him shadowing me, as the detectives say, +every time I walked out. On the third day, while I was still studying +the matter, and making no progress, Rucker himself came into the tavern, +with his neck bandaged and his head on one side, and in his best +clothes; and sitting on the edge of his chair between me and the door, +as if ready to take wing at any hostile movement on my part, he broached +the subject of my share in my mother's estate. + +"I want to deal with you," said he in that dangerous whine of his, "as +with my own son, Jacob, my own son." + +There was nothing to say to this, and I said nothing. I only looked at +him. He was studying me closely, but had never taken pains to learn my +peculiarities when I lived with him, and had to study a total stranger, +and a person who was too old to be treated as a child, but who at the +same time must be very green in money matters. I was a puzzle to him, +and my lack of words made me still more of a problem. + +"You know, of course," he finally volunteered, "that the estate when it +was finally wound up had mostly been eaten up by court expenses and +lawyers' fees--the robbers!" + +I could see he was in earnest in this last remark: but of course +lawyers' fees and court expenses were all a mystery to me. I did not +even know that lawyers and courts had anything to do with estates. I did +not know what an estate was--so I continued to keep still. + +"There was hardly anything left," said he. + +I was astonished at this; and I did not believe it. After thinking it +over for a few minutes, earnestly, and without any thought of saying +anything to catch him up, I said: "You traveled in good style coming +west on the canal. You took a steamer up the Lakes. You have been +dressing fine ever since the money came in; and you're keeping a woman." + +He made no reply, except to say that I did not understand, but would +when he showed me where every cent of the estate money had gone which +he had spent, and just how much was left. As for his daughter--he +supposed I knew--but he never finished this speech. I rose to my feet; +and he left hurriedly, saying that he would show me a statement in the +morning. "I expect to pay your board here," said he, "for a few days, +you know--until you decide to move on--or move back." + +For a week or so I refused to talk with Rucker or Jackway; but sat +around and tried to make up my mind what to do. To hire Jackway would +take all my savings; and the schedules which Rucker brought me on +legal-cap paper I refused even to touch with my hands. I am sure, now, +that Rucker had sent Jackway to me in the first place, never suspecting +that the matter of the estate had been so far from my mind; and thereby, +by too much craft, he lost the opportunity of stealing it all. Jackway +kept telling me of Rucker's rascalities, so as to get into my good +graces and confidence, in which he succeeded better than he knew; and +urging me to pay him a few dollars--just a few dollars--"to begin +proceedings to stay waste and sequestration"; but I did not give him +anything because it seemed a first step into something I had not +understood. + +4 + +I began calling on land agents, thinking I might use what little money I +had left to make a first payment on a farm; but the land around Madison +was too high in price for me. Two or three of these real estate agents +were also lawyers; and I caught Rucker and Jackway together, looking +worried and anxious, when I came from the office of one of them who very +kindly informed me that, if he were in my place, he would go across the +Mississippi and settle in Iowa. He had been as far west as Fort Dodge, +and described to me the great prairies, unbroken by the plow, the +railroads which were just ready to cross the Mississippi, the rich soil, +the chance there was to get a home, and to become my own master. I began +to feel an interest in Iowa. + +I think these days must have been anxious ones for Rucker, greedy as he +was for my little fortune, ignorant as he was of the depth of the +ignorance of the silent stupid boy with whom he was dealing--and a boy, +too, who had made that one remark about his way of living and traveling +that seemed to show a knowledge of just what he was doing, and had done. +I could see after that, that he thought me much sharper than I was. +Lawyer Jackway haunted the hotel, and was spending more money--Rucker's +money, I know. He had bought a new overcoat, and was drinking a good +deal more than was good for him; but he wormed out of me something about +my desire for a farm, and after having had a chance to see Rucker he +began talking of a compromise. + +"The old swindler," said he, "has all the evidence in his own hands; and +he and that red-headed spiritual partner of his will swear to anything. +As your legal adviser," said he, "and the legal adviser of your sainted +mother, I'd advise you to take anything he is willing to give--within +bounds, of course, within bounds." + +So the next time Rucker sidled into the tavern, and began beslavering me +about the way the money left by my mother was being eaten up by expenses +and debts, I blurted out: "Well, what will you give me to clear out and +let you and your red-headed woodpecker alone?" + +"Now," said he, "you are talking sensibly--sensibly. There is a little +farm-out near Blue Mounds that I could, by a hard struggle, let you +have; but it would be more than your share--more than your share." + +This was forty acres, and would have a mortgage on it. I waited a day or +so, and told him I wouldn't take it. What I was afraid of was the +mortgage; but I didn't give my reasons. Then he came back with a vacant +lot in Madison, and then three vacant lots, which I went and looked at, +and found in a swamp. Then I told him I wanted money or farm land; and +he offered me a lead mine near Mineral Point. All the time he was +getting more and more worried and excited; he used to tremble when he +talked to me; and as the winter wore away, and the season drew nearer +when he wanted to go on his travels, or deal with the properties in +which I had found out by this time he was speculating with my mother's +money, just as everybody was speculating then, in mines, town sites, +farm lands, railway stocks and such things, he was on tenter-hooks, I +could see that, to get rid of me, whom he thought he had given the slip +forever. Finally he came to me one morning, just as a warm February wind +had begun to thaw the snow, and said, beaming as if he had found a gold +mine for me: "Jacob, I've got just what you want--a splendid farm +in Iowa." + +And he laid on the table the deed to my farm in Vandemark Township, a +section of land in one solid block a mile square. "Of course," said he, +"I can't let you have all of it--'but let us say eighty acres, or even I +might clean up a quarter-section, here along the east side,"--and he +pointed to a plat of it pinned fast to the deed. + +"The whole piece," said I, "is worth eight hundred dollars, and not a +cent more--if it's all good land. That ain't enough." + +"All good land!" said he--and I could see he was surprised at the fact +that I knew Iowa land was selling at a dollar and a quarter an acre. +"Why, there ain't anything but good land there. You can put a plow in +one corner of that section, and plow every foot of it without taking the +share out of the ground." + +"All or nothing," said I, "and more." + +Next day he came back and said he would let me have the whole section; +but that it would break him. He wanted to be fair with me--more than +fair. People had set me against him, he said, looking at Jackway who +was drinking at the bar; but nobody could say that he was a man who +would not deal fairly with an ignorant boy. + +"I've got to have a team, a wagon, a cover for the wagon, and provisions +for the trip," I said, "and a few hundred dollars to live on for a while +after I get to Iowa." + +At this he threw his hands up, and left me, saying that if I wanted to +ruin him I would have to do it through the courts. He had gone as far as +he would go, and I would never have another offer as generous as he had +made me. The next day I met on the street the red-headed girl, who went +by the name of Alice Rucker, and was notorious as a medium. She stopped +me, and asked why I hadn't been to see her--carrying the conversation +off casually, as if we had been ordinary acquaintances. All I could +say--for I was a little embarrassed, was "I do' know"--which was what I +had told Rucker and Jackway, in answer to a thousand questions, until +they were crazy to know how to come at me. + +"Let me tell you something," said she. "If you want that Iowa farm, +pa--" + +"Who?" said I. + +"Rucker," said she, brazening it out with me. "He'll give you the land, +and your outfit. Don't let them fool you out of the team and wagon." + +"Thank you for telling me," said I; "but I guess I'll have to have +more." + +"If you go into court he'll beat you," said she, "and I'm telling you +that as a friend, even if you don't believe me." + +"I'm much obliged," I said; and I believed then, and believe now, that +she was sincere. + +"And when you start," said she, "if you want some one to cook and take +care of you, let me know. I like traveling." + +I turned red at this; and halted and mumbled, until she tripped away, +laughing, but looking back at me; but I remembered what she had said, +and within a week I had consented that Jackway be appointed guardian _ad +litem_ for me in the court proceedings; and in a short time I received a +good team of mares, a bay named Fanny and a sorrel named Flora, good, +twelve hundred pound chunks, but thin in flesh--I would not take +geldings--a wagon, nearly new, a set of wagon bows, enough heavy +drilling to make a cover, some bedding, a stove, an old double-barreled +shotgun, two pounds of powder and a lot of shot, harness for the team, +horse-feed, and as complete an outfit as I could think of, even to the +box of axle-grease swinging under the wagon-box. Rucker groaned at every +addition; and finally balked when I asked him for a hundred dollars in +cash. The court entered up the proper decree, I put my deeds in my +pocket, and after making a feed-box for the horses to hang on the back +of the wagon-box, I pulled out for Iowa three weeks too soon--for the +roads were not yet settled. + + + +5 + +The night before I started, I sat in the warm barroom, half pleased and +half frightened at the new world into which I was about to enter, +thinking of my new wagon and the complete equipage of emigration now +shown to be mine by the bills of sale and deeds in my pocket, and +occasionally putting my fingers to my nose to catch the good smell of +the horse which soap and water had not quite removed. This scent I had +acquired by currying and combing my mares for hours, clipping their +manes and fetlocks, and handling them all over to see if they were free +from blemishes. The lawyer, Jackway, my guardian _ad litem_, came into +the tavern in a high and mighty and popular way, saying "How de do, +ward?" in a way I didn't like, went to the bar and throwing down a big +piece of money began drinking one glass after another. + +As he drank he grew boastful. He bragged to the men about him of his +ability. Nobody ever hired Jackway to care for his interests, said he, +without having his interests taken care of. + +"You can go out," said he to a peaceful-looking man who stood watching +him, "into the street there, and stab the first man you meet, and +Jackway'll get you clear. I'm a living whirlwind! And," looking at me as +I sat in the chair by the wall, "you can steal a woman's estate and I'll +get it away from her heirs for you." + +I wondered if he meant me. I hardly believed that he could; for all the +while he had made a great to-do about protecting my interests; and I now +remembered that he had taken an oath to do so. But he kept sneering at +me all the evening, and just as I was leaving to go to bed, he called +the crowd up to drink with him. + +"This is on the estate," he hiccoughed--for he was very drunk by this +time--"and I'll give you a toast." + +They all lined up, slapping him on the back; and as I stood in the door, +they all lifted their glasses, and Jackway gave them what he called his +"toast," which ran as follows: + + "Sold again + And got the tin, + And sucked another Dutchman in!" + +He paid out of a fat pocketbook, staggering, and pointing at me and +looking like a tipsy imp of some sort; and finally he started over +toward me, saying, "Hey, Dutchman! Wait a minute an' I'll tell you how +you got sucked in!" + +I grew suddenly very angry; and slammed the door in his face to prevent +myself from doing him harm. I had not yet seen why I ought to do him +harm; and along the road to Iowa, I was all the time wondering why I got +madder and madder at Jackway; and that rhyme kept running through my +mind, oftener and oftener, as I drew nearer and nearer my journey's end: + + "Sold again + And got the tin, + And sucked another Dutchman in!" + +It was in the latter part of March. There were snowdrifts in places +along the road, and when I reached a place about where Mt. Horeb now is, +I had to stop and lie up for three days for a snow-storm. I was ahead +of the stream of immigrants that poured over that road in the spring of +1855 in a steady tide. + +As I made my start from Madison I saw Rucker and Alice standing at the +door of the tavern seemingly making sure that I was really getting out +of town. He dodged back into the house when I glanced at them; but she +walked out into the street and stopped me, as bold as brass. + +"I'm waiting," said she. "Where shall I ride?" And she put one foot on +the hub and stepped up with the other into the wagon box. + +"I'm just pulling out for Iowa," I said, my face as red as her hair, I +suppose. + +"_We're_ just pulling out," said she. + +"I've got to move on," said I; "be careful or you'll get your dress +muddy on the wheel." + +She couldn't have expected me to take her, of course; but I thought she +looked kind of hurt. There seemed to be something like tears in her eyes +as she put her arms around my neck. + +"Kiss your little step-sister good-by," she said. "She's been a better +friend of yours than you'll ever know--you big, nice, blundering +greenhorn!" + +She laid her lips on mine. It was the first kiss I had ever had from any +one since I was a little boy; and as I half struggled against but +finally returned it, it thrilled me powerfully. Afterward I was +disgusted with myself for kissing this castaway; but as I drove on, +leaving her standing in the middle of the road looking after me, it +almost seemed as if I were leaving a friend. Perhaps she was, in her +way, the nearest thing to a friend I had then in the world--strange as +it seems. As for Rucker, he was rejoicing, of course, at having trimmed +neatly a dumb-head of a Dutch boy--a wrong to my poor mother, the very +thought of which even after all these years, makes my blood boil. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +I BECOME COW VANDEMARK + +I was off with the spring rush of 1855 for the new lands of the West! I +kept thinking as I drove along of Lawyer Jackway's sarcastic toast, +"Sold again, and got the tin, and sucked another Dutchman in!" But after +all I couldn't keep myself from feeling pretty proud, as I watched the +play of my horses' ears as they seemed to take in each new westward view +as we went over the tops of the low hills, and as I listened to the +"chuck, chuck" of the wagon wheels on their well-greased skeins. Rucker +and Jackway might have given me a check on the tow-path; but yet I felt +hopeful that I was to make a real success of my voyage of life to a home +and a place where I could be somebody. There was pleasure in looking +back at my riches in the clean, hard-stuffed straw-tick, the stove, the +traveling home which belonged to me. + +It seems a little queer to me now to think of it as I look out of my +bay-window at my great fields of corn, my pastures dotted with stock, my +feedyard full of fat steers; or as I sit in the directors' room of the +bank and take my part as a member of the board. But I am really not as +rich now as I was then. + +I was going to a country which seemed to be drawing everybody else, and +must therefore be a good country--and I had a farm. I had a great farm. +It was a mile square. It was almost like the estate that General Cantine +had near the canal at Ithaca I thought. To my boy's mind it looked too +big for me; and sometimes I wondered if I should not be able to rent it +out to tenants and grow rich on my income, like the Van Rensselaers of +the Manor before the Anti-Rent difficulties. + +All the while I was passing outfits which were waiting by the roadside, +or making bad weather of it for some reason or other; or I was passed by +those who had less regard for their horse flesh than I, or did not +realize that the horses had to go afoot; or those that drew lighter +loads. There were some carriages which went flourishing along with +shining covers; these were the aristocrats; there were other slow-going +rigs drawn by oxen. Usually there would be two or more vehicles in a +train. They camped by the roadside cooking their meals; they stopped at +wayside taverns. They gave me all sorts of how-d'ye-does as I passed. +Girls waved their hands at me from the hind-ends of rigs and said bold +things--to a boy they would not see again; but which left him blushing +and thinking up retorts for the next occasion--retorts that never seemed +to fit when the time came; and talkative women threw remarks at me about +the roads and the weather. + +Men tried half a dozen times a day to trade me out of my bay mare Fanny, +or my sorrel mare Flora--they said I ought to match up with two of a +color; and the crow-baits offered me would have stocked a horse-ranch. +People with oxen offered me what looked like good swaps, because they +were impatient to make better time; and as I went along so stylishly I +began turning over in my mind the question as to whether it might not +be better to get to Iowa a little later in the year with cattle for a +start than to rush the season with my fine mares and pull up standing +like a gentleman at my own imaginary door. + +2 + +As I went on to the westward, I began to see Blue Mound rising like a +low mountain off my starboard bow, and I stopped at a farm in the +foot-hills of the Mound where, because it was rainy, I paid four +shillings for putting my horses in the stable. There were two other +movers stopping at the same place. They had a light wagon and a yoke of +good young steers, and had been out of Madison two days longer than I +had been. I noticed that they left their wagon in a clump of bushes, and +that while one of them--a man of fifty or more, slept in the house, the +other, a young fellow of twenty or twenty-two, lay in the wagon, and +that one or the other seemed always to be on guard near the vehicle. The +older man had a long beard and a hooked nose, and seemed to be a still +sort of person, until some one spoke of slavery; then he broke out in a +fierce speech denouncing slaveholders, and the slavocracy that had the +nation in its grip. + +"You talk," said the farmer, "like a black Abolitionist." + +"I'm so black an Abolitionist," said he, "that I'd be willing to +shoulder a gun any minute if I thought I could wipe out the curse +of slavery." + +The farmer was terribly scandalized at this, and when the old man walked +away to his wagon, he said to the young man and me that that sort of +talk would make trouble and ruin the nation; and that he didn't want +any more of it around his place. + +"Well," said the traveler, "you won't have any more of it from us. We're +just pulling out." After the farmer went away, he spoke to me about it. + +"What do you think of that kind of talk?" he asked. + +"I don't own any niggers," said I. "I don't ever expect to own any. I +don't see how slavery can do me any good; and I think the slaves +are human." + +I had no very clear ideas on the subject, and had done little thinking +about it; but what I said seemed to be satisfactory to the young man. He +told his friend about it, and after a while the old man, whose name was +Dunlap, came to me and shook my hand, saying that he was glad to meet a +young fellow of my age who was of the right stripe. + +"Can you shoot?" he asked. + +I told him I never had had much chance to learn, but I had a good gun, +and had got some game with it almost every day so far. + +"What kind of a gun?" he asked. + +I told him it was a double-barreled shotgun, and he looked rather +disappointed. Then he asked me if I had ever thought of going to Kansas. +No, I told him, I thought I should rather locate in Iowa. + +"We are going to Kansas," he said. "There's work for real men in +Kansas--men who believe in freedom. You had better go along with Amos +Thatcher and me." + +I said I didn't believe I could--I had planned to locate in Iowa. He +dropped the subject by saying that I would overtake him and Thatcher on +the road, and we could talk it over again. When did I think of getting +under way? I answered that I thought I should stay hauled up to rest my +horses for a half-day anyhow, so perhaps we might camp that +night together. + +"A good idea," said Thatcher, smilingly, as they drove off. "Join us; we +get lonesome." + +I laid by that forenoon because one of my mares had limped a little the +day before, and I was worrying for fear she might not be perfectly +sound. I hitched up after noon and drove on, anxiously watching her to +see whether I had not been sucked in on horse flesh, as well as in the +general settlement of my mother's estate. She seemed to be all right, +however, and we were making good headway as night drew on, and I was +halted by Amos Thatcher who said he was on the lookout for me. + +"We have a station off the road a mile or so," said he, "and you'll have +a hearty welcome if you come with me--stable for your horses, and a bed +to sleep in, and good victuals." + +I couldn't think what he meant by a station; but it was about time to +make camp anyhow, and so I took him into the wagon with me, and we drove +across country by a plain trail, through a beautiful piece of oak +openings, to a big log house in a fine grove of burr oaks, with a log +barn back of it--as nice a farmstead as I had seen. There were fifteen +or twenty cattle in the yards, and some sheep and hogs, and many fat +hens. If this was a station, I thought, I envied the man who owned it. +As we drove up I saw a little negro boy peeping at us from the back of +the house, and as we halted a black woman ran out and seized the +pickaninny by the ear, and dragged him back out of sight. I heard a +whimper from the little boy, which seemed suddenly smothered by +something like a hand clapped over his mouth. Mr. Dunlap's wagon was not +in sight, but its owner came out at the front door and greeted me in a +very friendly way. + +"What makes you call this a station?" I asked of Thatcher. + +Dunlap looked at him sternly. + +"I forgot myself," said Thatcher, more to Dunlap than to me. + +"Never mind," replied Dunlap. "If I can tell B from a bull's foot, it's +all right." + +Then turning to me he said, "The old lady inside has a meal of victuals +ready for us. Come in and we'll let into it." + +There was nothing said at the meal which explained the things that were +so blind to me; but there was a good deal of talk about rifles. The +farmer was named Preston, a middle-aged man who shaved all his beard +except what grew under his chin, which hung down in a long black fringe +over his breast like a window-lambrequin. His wife's father, who was an +old Welshman named Evans, had worked in the lead mines over toward +Dubuque, until Preston had married his daughter and taken up his farm in +the oak openings. They had been shooting at a mark that afternoon, with +Sharp's rifles carried by Dunlap and Thatcher, and the old-fashioned +squirrel rifles owned on the farm. After supper they brought out these +rifles and compared them. Preston insisted that the squirrel rifles +were better. + +"Not for real service," said Dunlap, throwing a cartridge into the +breech of the Sharp, and ejecting it to show how fast it could be done. + +"But I can roll a squirrel's eye right out of his head most every time +with the old-style gun," said Preston. "This is the gun that won the +Battle of New Orleans." + +"It wouldn't have won against the Sharp," said Thatcher; "and you know +we expect to have a larger mark than a squirrel's head, when we get +to Kansas." + +This was the first breech-loader I had ever seen, and I looked it over +with a buying eye. It didn't seem to me that it would be much better for +hunting than the old-fashioned rifle, loaded with powder and a molded +bullet rammed down with a patch of oiled cloth around it; for after you +have shot at your game once, you either have hit it, or it runs or flies +away. If you have hit it, you can generally get it, and if it goes away, +you have time to reload. Besides those big cartridges must be costly, I +thought, and said so to Mr. Dunlap. + +"When you're hunting Border Ruffians," said he, "a little expense don't +count one way or the other; and you may be willing to pay dear for a +chance to reload three or four times while the other man is ramming home +a new charge. Give me the new guns, the new ideas, and the old doctrine +of freedom to fight for. Don't you see?" + +"Why, of course," said I, "I'm for freedom. That's why I'm going out on +the prairies." + +"Prairies!" said old Evans. "Prairies! What do you expect to do on the +prairies?" + +"Farm," I answered. + +"All these folks that are rushing to the prairies," said the old man, +"will starve out and come back. God makes trees grow to show men where +the good land is. I read history, and there's no country that's good for +anything, except where men have cut the trees, niggered off the logs, +grubbed out the stumps, and made fields of it--and if there are stones, +it's all the better. 'In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,' +said God to Adam, and when you go to the prairies where it's all ready +for the plow, you are trying to dodge God's curse on our first parents. +You won't prosper. It stands to reason that any land that is good will +grow trees." + +"Some of this farm was prairie," put in Preston, "and I don't see but +it's just as good as the rest." + +"It was all openings," replied Evans. "The trees was here once, and got +killed by the fires, or somehow. It was all woods once." + +"You cut down trees to make land grow grass," said Thatcher. "I should +think that God must have meant grass to be the sign of good ground." + +"Isn't the sweat of your face just as plenty when you delve in the +prairies?" asked Dunlap. + +"You fly in the face of God's decree, and run against His manifest +warning when you try to make a prairie into a farm," said Evans. +"You'll see!" + +"Sold again, and got the tin, and sucked another Dutchman in!" was the +ditty that ran through my head as I heard this. Old man Evans' way of +looking at the matter seemed reasonable to my cautious mind; and, +anyhow, when a man has grown old he knows many things that he can give +no good reason for. I have always found that the well-educated fellow +with a deep-sounding and plausible philosophy that runs against the +teachings of experience, is likely, especially in farming, to make a +failure when he might have saved himself by doing as the old settlers +do, who won't answer his arguments but make a good living just the same, +while the new-fangled practises send their followers to the poor-house. +At that moment, I would have traded my Iowa farm for any good piece of +land covered with trees. But Dunlap and Thatcher had something else to +talk to me about. They were for the prairies, especially the prairies +of Kansas. + +"Kansas," said Dunlap, "will be one of the great states of the Union, +one of these days. Come with us, and help make it a free state. We need +a hundred thousand young farmers, who believe in liberty, and will fight +for it. Come with us, take up a farm, and carry a Sharp's rifle against +the Border Ruffians!" + +This sounded convincing to me, but of course I couldn't make up my mind +to anything of this sort without days and days of consideration; but I +listened to what they said. They told me of an army of free-state +emigrants that was gathering along the border to win Kansas for freedom. +They, Dunlap and Thatcher, were going to Marion, Iowa, and from there by +the Mormon Trail across to a place called Tabor, and from there to +Lawrence, Kansas. They were New England Yankees. Thatcher had been to +college, and was studying law. Dunlap had been a business man in +Connecticut, and was a friend of John Brown, who was then on his way +to Kansas. + +"The Missouri Compromise has been repealed," said Thatcher, his eyes +shining, "and the Kansas-Nebraska Bill has thrown the fertile state of +Kansas into the ring to be fought for by free-state men and pro-slavery +men. The Border Ruffians of Missouri are breaking the law every day by +going over into Kansas, never meaning to live there only long enough to +vote, and are corrupting the state government. They are corrupting it by +violence and illegal voting. If slavery wins in Kansas and Nebraska, it +will control the Union forever. The greatest battle in our history is +about to be fought out in Kansas, a battle to see whether this nation +shall be a slave nation, in every state and every town, or free. Dunlap +and I and thousands of others are going down there to take the state of +Kansas into our own hands, peacefully if we can, by violence if we must. +We are willing to die to make the United States a free nation. Come +with us!" + +"But we don't expect to die," urged Dunlap, seeing that this looked +pretty serious to me. "We expect to live, and get farms, and make homes, +and prosper, after we have shown the Border Ruffians the muzzles of +those rifles. Thatcher, bring the passengers in!" + +3 + +Thatcher went out of the room the back way. + +"We call this a station," went on Dunlap, "because it's a stopping-place +on the U. G. Railway." + +"What's the U. G. Railway?" I asked. + +"Don't you know that?" he queried. + +"I'm only a canal hand," I answered, "going to a farm out on the +prairie, that I was euchred into taking in settling with a scoundrel for +my share of my father's property; and I'm pretty green." + +Thatcher came in then, leading the little black boy by the hand, and +following him was the negro woman carrying a baby at her breast, and +holding by the hand a little woolly-headed pickaninny about three years +old. They were ragged and poverty-stricken, and seemed scared at +everything. The woman came in bowing and scraping to me, and the two +little boys hid behind her skirts and peeked around at me with big +white eyes. + +"Tell the gentleman," said Thatcher, "where you're going." + +"We're gwine to Canayda," said she, "'scusin' your presence." + +"How are you going to get to Canada?" asked Thatcher. + +"The good white folks," said she, "will keep us hid out nights till we +gits thar." + +"What will happen," said Thatcher, "if this young man tells any one that +he's seen you?" + +"The old massa," said she, "will find out, an' he'll hunt us wif houn's, +an' fotch us back', and then he'll sell us down the ribber to the +cotton-fiel's." + +I never heard anything quite so pitiful as this speech. I had never +known before what it must mean to be really hunted. The woman shrank +back toward the door through which she had come, her face grew a sort of +grayish color; and then ran to me and throwing herself on her knees, she +took hold of my hands, and begged me for God's sake not to tell on her, +not to have her carried back, not to fix it so she'd be sold down the +river to work in the cotton-fields. + +"I won't," I said, "I tell you I won't. I want you to get to Canada!" + +"God bress yeh," she said. "I know'd yeh was a good young gemman as soon +as I set eyes on yeh! I know'd yeh was quality!" + +"Who do you expect to meet in Canada?" asked Thatcher. + +"God willin'," said she, "I'm gwine to find Abe Felton, the pa of dese +yere chillun." + +"The Underground Railway," said Dunlap, "knows where Abe is, and will +send Sarah along with change of cars. You may go, Sarah. Now," he went +on, as the negroes disappeared, "you have it in your power to exercise +the right of an American citizen and perform the God-accursed legal duty +to report these fugitives at the next town, join a posse to hunt them +down under a law of the United States, get a reward for doing it, and +know that you have vindicated the law--or you can stand with God and +tell the law to go to hell--where it came from--and help the Underground +Railway to carry these people to heaven. Which will you do?" + +"I'll tell the law to go to hell," said I. + +Dunlap and Thatcher looked at each other as if relieved. I have always +suspected that I was taken into their secret without their ordinary +precautions; and that for a while they were a little dubious for fear +that they had spilt the milk of secrecy. But all my life people have +told me their secrets. + +They urged me hard to go with them; and talked so favorably about the +soil of the prairies that I began to think well again of my Iowa farm. +When I had made it plain that I had to have a longer time to think it +over, they began urging me to let them have my horses on some sort of a +trade; and I began to see that a part of what they had wanted all the +time was a faster team as well as a free-state recruit. They urged on me +the desirability of having cattle instead of horses when I reached +my farm. + +"Cows, yes," said I, "but not steers." + +So I slept over it until morning. Then I made them the proposition that +if they would arrange with Preston to trade me four cows, which I would +select from his herd, and would provide for my board with Preston until +I could break them to drive, and would furnish yokes and chains in +place of my harness, I would let them have the team for a hundred +dollars boot-money. Preston said he'd like to have me make my selection +first, and when I picked out three-year-old heifers, two of which were +giving milk, he said it was a whack, if it didn't take me more than a +week to break them. Dunlap and Thatcher hitched up, and started off the +next morning. I had become Cow Vandemark overnight, and am still Cow +Vandemark in the minds of the old settlers of Vandemark Township and +some who have just picked the name up. + +But I did not take on my new name without a struggle, for Flora and +Fanny had become dear to me since leaving Madison--my first horses. How +I got my second team of horses is connected with one of the most +important incidents in my life; it was a long time before I got them and +it will be some time before I can tell about it. In the meantime, there +were Flora and Fanny, hitched to Dunlap and Thatcher's light wagon, +disappearing among the burr oaks toward the Dubuque highway. I thought +of my pride as I drove away from Madison with these two steeds, and of +the pretty figure I cut the morning when red-haired Alice climbed up, +offered to go with me, and kissed me before she climbed down. Would she +have done this if I had been driving oxen, or still worse, those animals +which few thought worth anything as draught animals--cows? And then I +thought of Flora's lameness the day before yesterday. Was it honest to +let Dunlap and Thatcher drive off to liberate the nation with a horse +that might go lame? + +"Let me have a horse," said I to Preston. "I want to catch them and tell +them something." + +I rode up behind the Abolitionists' wagon, waving my hat and shouting. +They pulled up and waited. + +"What's up?" asked Dunlap. "Going with us after all? I hope so, my boy." + +"No," said I, "I just wanted to say that that nigh mare was lame day +before yesterday, and I--I--I didn't want you to start off with her +without knowing it." + +Dunlap asked about her lameness, and got out to look her over. He felt +of her muscles, and carefully scrutinized her for swelling or swinney or +splint or spavin or thoroughpin. Then he lifted one foot after another, +and cleaned out about the frog, tapping the hoof all over for soreness. +Down deep beside the frog of the foot which she had favored he found a +little pebble. + +"That's what it was," said he, holding the pebble up. "She'll be all +right now. Thank you for telling me. It was the square thing to do." + +"If you don't feel safe to go on with the team," said I, "I'll trade +back." + +"No," said he, "we're needed in Kansas; and," turning up an oil-cloth +and showing me a dozen or so of the Sharp's rifles, "so are these. And +let me tell you, boy, if I'm any judge of men, the time will come when +you won't feel so bad to lose half a dozen horses, as you feel now to be +traded out of Flora and Fanny, and make a hundred dollars by the trade. +Get up, Flora; go long, Fanny; good-by, Jake!" And they drove off to the +Border Wars. I had made my first sacrifice to the cause of the +productiveness of the Vandemark Farm. + +That night a wagon went away from the Preston farm with the passengers +going to Canada by the U.G. Railway The next morning I began the task of +fitting yokes to my two span of heifers, and that afternoon, I gave +Lily and Cherry their first lesson. I had had some experience in driving +cattle on Mrs. Fogg's farm in Herkimer County, but I should have made a +botch job of it if it had not been for Mr. Preston, who knew all there +was to know about cattle, and while protesting that cows could not be +driven, helped me drive them. In less than a week my cows were driving +as prettily as any oxen. They were light and active, and overtook team +after team of laboring steers every day I drove them. Furthermore, they +gave me milk. I fed them well, worked them rather lightly, and by +putting the new milk in a churn I bought at Mineral Point, I found that +the motion of the wagon would bring the butter as well as any churning. +I had cream for my coffee, butter for my bread, milk for my mush, and +lived high. A good deal of fun was poked at me about my team of cows; +but people were always glad to camp with me and share my fare. + +Economically, our cows ought to be made to do a good deal of the work of +the farms. I have always believed this; but now a German expert has +proved it. I read about it the other day in a bulletin put out by the +Agricultural Department; but I proved it in Vandemark Township before +the man was born that wrote the bulletin. If not pushed too hard, cows +will work and give almost as much milk as if not worked at all. This +statement of course won't apply to the fancy cows which are high-power +milk machines, and need to be packed in cotton, and kept in satin-lined +stalls; but to such cows as farmers have, and always will have, it +does apply. + +I was sorry to leave the Prestons, they were such whole-souled, earnest +people; and before I did leave them I was a full-fledged Abolitionist +so far as belief was concerned. I never did become active, however, in +spiriting slaves from one station to another of the U.G. Railway. + +I drove out to the highway, and turning my prow to the west, I joined +again in the stream of people swarming westward. The tide had swollen in +the week during which I had laid by at the Prestons'. The road was +rutted, poached deep where wet and beaten hard where dry, or pulverized +into dust by the stream of emigration. Here we went, oxen, cows, mules, +horses; coaches, carriages, blue jeans, corduroys, rags, tatters, silks, +satins, caps, tall hats, poverty, riches; speculators, missionaries, +land-hunters, merchants; criminals escaping from justice; couples +fleeing from the law; families seeking homes; the wrecks of homes +seeking secrecy; gold-seekers bearing southwest to the Overland Trail; +politicians looking for places in which to win fame and fortune; editors +hunting opportunities for founding newspapers; adventurers on their way +to everywhere; lawyers with a few books; Abolitionists going to the +Border War; innocent-looking outfits carrying fugitive slaves; officers +hunting escaped negroes; and most numerous of all, homeseekers "hunting +country"--a nation on wheels, an empire in the commotion and pangs of +birth. Down I went with the rest, across ferries, through Dodgeville, +Mineral Point and Platteville, past a thousand vacant sites for farms +toward my own farm so far from civilization, shot out of civilization by +the forces of civilization itself. + +I saw the old mining country from Mineral Point to Dubuque, where lead +had been dug for many years, and where the men lived who dug the holes +and were called Badgers, thus giving the people of Wisconsin their +nickname as distinguished from the Illinois people who came up the +rivers to work in the spring, and went back in the fall, and were +therefore named after a migratory fish and called Suckers; and at last, +I saw from its eastern bank far off to the west, the bluffy shores of +Iowa, and down by the river the keen spires and brick and wood buildings +of the biggest town I had seen since leaving Milwaukee, the town +of Dubuque. + +I camped that night in the northwestern corner of Illinois, in a regular +city of movers, all waiting their turns at the ferry which crossed the +Mississippi to the Land of Promise. + + + +4 + +Iowa did not look much like a prairie country from where I stood. The +Iowa shore towered above the town of Dubuque, clothed with woods to the +top, and looking more like York State than anything I had seen since I +had taken the schooner at Buffalo to come up the Lakes. I lay that +night, unable to sleep. For one thing, I needed to be wakeful, lest some +of the motley crowd of movers might take a fancy to my cattle. I was +learning by experience how to take care of myself and mine; besides, I +wanted to be awake early so as to take passage by ferry-boat "before +soon" as the Hoosiers say, in the morning. + +That April morning was still only a gray dawn when I drove down to the +ferry, without stopping for my breakfast. A few others of those who +looked forward to a rush for the boat had got there ahead of me, and we +waited in line. I saw that I should have to go on the second trip rather +than the first, but movers can not be impatient, and the driving of +cattle cures a person of being in a hurry; so I was in no great taking +because of this little delay. As I sat there in my wagon, a +black-bearded, scholarly-looking man stepped up and spoke to me. + +"Going across?" he asked. + +"As soon as the boat will take me," I said. + +"Heavy loaded?" he asked. "Have you room for a passenger?" + +"I guess I can accommodate you," I answered. "Climb in." + +"It isn't for myself I'm asking," he said. "There's a lady here that +wants to ride in a covered wagon, and sit back where she can't see the +water. It makes her dizzy--and scares her awfully; can you take her?" + +"If she can ride back there on the bed," said I. + +He peeped in, and said that this was the very place for her. She could +lie down and cover up her head and never know she was crossing the river +at all. In a minute, and while it was still twilight, just as the +ferry-boat came to the landing, he returned with the lady. She was +dressed in some brown fabric, and wore a thick veil over her face; but +as she climbed in I saw that she had yellow hair and bright eyes and +lips; and that she was trembling so that her hands shook as she took +hold of the wagon-bow, and her voice quivered as she thanked me, in low +tones. The man with the black beard pressed her hand as he left her. He +offered me a dollar for her passage; but I called his attention to the +fact that it would cost only two shillings more for me to cross with her +than if I went alone, and refused to take more. + +"There are a good many rough fellows," said he, "at these ferries, that +make it unpleasant for a lady, sometimes--" + +"Not when she's with me," I said. + +He looked at me sharply, as if surprised that I was not so green as I +looked--though I was pretty verdant. Anyhow, he said, if I should be +asked if any one was with me, it would save her from being scared if I +would say that I was alone--she was the most timid woman in the world. + +"I'll have to tell the ferryman," I said. + +"Will you?" he asked. "Why?" + +"I'd be cheating him if I didn't," I answered. + +"All right," he said, as if provoked at me, "but don't tell any one +else." + +"I ain't very good at lying," I replied. + +He said for me to do the best I could for the lady, and hurried off. In +the meantime, the lady had crept back on my straw-bed, and pulled the +quilts completely over her. She piled pillows on one side of her, and +stirred the straw up on the other, so that when she lay down the bed was +as smooth as if nobody was in it. It looked as it might if a heedless +boy had crawled out of it after a night's sleep, and carelessly thrown +the coverlet back over it. I could hardly believe I had a passenger. +When I was asked for the ferriage, I paid for two, and the ferryman +asked where the other was. + +"Back in the bed," I said. + +He looked back, and said, "Well, I owe you something for your honesty. +I never'd have seen him. Sick?" + +"Not very," said I. "Don't like the water." + +"Some are that way," he returned, and went on collecting fares. + +As we drove up from the landing, through the rutted streets of the old +mining and Indian-trading town, the black-bearded man came to me as we +stopped, held back by a jam of covered wagons--a wonderful sight, even +to me--and as if talking to me, said to the woman, "You'd better ride on +through town;" and then to me, "Are you going on through?" + +"I've got to buy some supplies," said I; "but I've nothing to stop me +but that." + +"Tell me what you want," he said hurriedly, and looking about as if +expecting some danger, "and I'll buy it for you and bring it on. Which +way are you going?" + +"West into Iowa," I answered. + +"Go on," said he, "and I'll make it right with you. Camp somewhere west +of town. I'll come along to-night or to-morrow. I'll make it right +with you." + +"I don't see through this," I said, with my usual indecision as to doing +something I did not understand. "I thought I'd look around Dubuque +a little." + +"For God's sake," said the woman from the bed, "take me on--take me on!" + +Her tones were so pleading, she seemed in such an agony of terror, that +I suddenly made up my mind in her favor. Surely there would be no harm +in carrying her on as she wished. + +"All right," I said to her, but looking at him, "I'll take you on! You +can count on me." And then to him, "I'll drive on until I find a good +camping-place late this afternoon. You'll have to find us the best +way you can." + +He thanked me, and I gave him a list of the things I wanted. Then he +went on up the street ahead of us, walking calmly, and looking about him +as any stranger might have done. We stood for some time, waiting for the +jam of teams to clear, and I gee-upped and whoa-hawed on along the +street, until we came to a building on which was a big sign, +"Post-Office." There was a queue of people waiting for their mail, +extending out at the door, and far down the sidewalk. In this string of +emigrants stood our friend, the black-bearded man. Just as we passed, a +rather thin, stooped man, walking along on the other side of the street, +rushed across, right in front of my lead team, and drawing a pistol, +aimed at the black-bearded man, who in turn stepped out of line and drew +his own weapon. + +"I call upon you all to witness," said the black-bearded man, "that I +act in self-defense." + +A bystander seized the thin man's pistol hand, and yelled at him not to +shoot or he might kill some one--of course he meant some one he did not +aim at, but it sounded a little funny, and I laughed. Several joined in +the laugh, and there was a good deal of confusion. At last I heard the +black-bearded man say, "I'm here alone. He's accused his wife of being +too thick with a dozen men. He's insanely jealous, gentlemen. I suppose +his wife may have left him, but I'm here alone. I just crossed the river +alone, and I'm going west. If he's got a warrant, he's welcome to have +it served if he finds his wife with me. Come on, gentlemen--but take the +fool's pistol away from him." + +As I drove on I saw that the woman had thrown off the quilt, and was +peeping out at the opening in the cover at the back, watching the +black-bearded and the thin man moving off in a group of fellows, one of +whom held the black-bearded man by the arm a good deal as a deputy +sheriff might have done. + +The roads leading west out of Dubuque were horrible, then, being steep +stony trails coming down the hollows and washed like watercourses at +every rain. Teams were stalled, sometimes three and four span of animals +were used to get one load to the top, and we were a good deal delayed. I +was so busy trying to keep from upsetting when I drove around stalled +outfits and abandoned wagons, and so occupied in finding places where I +might stop and breathe my team, that I paid little attention to my +queer-acting passenger; but once when we were standing I noticed that +she was covered up again, and seemed to be crying. As we topped the +bluffs, and drew out into the open, she sat up and began to rearrange +her hair. After a few miles, we reached a point from which I could see +the Iowa prairie sweeping away as far as the eye could see. I drew out +by the roadside to look at it, as a man appraises one with whom he must +live--as a friend or an enemy. + +I shall never forget the sight. It was like a great green sea. The old +growth had been burned the fall before, and the spring grass scarcely +concealed the brown sod on the uplands; but all the swales were coated +thick with an emerald growth full-bite high, and in the deeper, wetter +hollows grew cowslips, already showing their glossy, golden flowers. The +hillsides were thick with the woolly possblummies[5] in their furry +spring coats protecting them against the frost and chill, showing +purple-violet on the outside of a cup filled with golden stamens, the +first fruits of the prairie flowers; on the warmer southern slopes a +few of the splendid bird's-foot violets of the prairie were showing the +azure color which would soon make some of the hillsides as blue as the +sky; and standing higher than the peering grass rose the rough-leafed +stalks of green which would soon show us the yellow puccoons and +sweet-williams and scarlet lilies and shooting stars, and later the +yellow rosin-weeds, Indian dye-flower and goldenrod. The keen northwest +wind swept before it a flock of white clouds; and under the clouds went +their shadows, walking over the lovely hills like dark ships over an +emerald sea. + +[5] "Paas-bloeme" one suspects is the Rondout Valley origin of this term +applied to a flower, possibly seen by the author on this occasion for +the first time--the American pasque-flower, the Iowa prairie type of +which is _Anemone patens_: the knightliest little flower of the Iowa +uplands.--G.v.d.M. + +The wild-fowl were clamoring north for the summer's campaign of nesting. +Everywhere the sky was harrowed by the wedged wild geese, their voices +as sweet as organ tones; and ducks quacked, whistled and whirred +overhead, a true rain of birds beating up against the wind. Over every +slew, on all sides, thousands of ducks of many kinds, and several sorts +of geese hovered, settled, or burst up in eruptions of birds, their +back-feathers shining like bronze as they turned so as to reflect the +sunlight to my eyes; while so far up that they looked like specks, away +above the wind it seemed, so quietly did they circle and sail, floated +huge flocks of cranes--the sand-hill cranes in their slaty-gray, and the +whooping cranes, white as snow with black heads and feet, each bird with +a ten-foot spread of wing, piping their wild cries which fell down to me +as if from another world. + +It was sublime! Bird, flower, grass, cloud, wind, and the immense +expanse of sunny prairie, swelling up into undulations like a woman's +breasts turgid with milk for a hungry race. I forgot myself and my +position in the world, my loneliness, my strange passenger, the +problems of my life; my heart swelled, and my throat filled. I sat +looking at it, with the tears trickling from my eyes, the uplift of my +soul more than I could bear. It was not the thought of my mother that +brought the tears to my eyes, but my happiness in finding the newest, +strangest, most delightful, sternest, most wonderful thing in the +world--the Iowa prairie--that made me think of my mother. If I only +could have found her alive! If I only could have had her with me! And as +I thought of this I realized that the woman of the ferry had climbed +over the back of the spring-seat and was sitting beside me. + +"I don't wonder," said she, "that you cry. Gosh! It scares me to death!" + + + +CHAPTER VII + +ADVENTURE ON THE OLD RIDGE ROAD + +Vandemark Township and Monterey County, as any one may see by looking at +the map of Iowa, had to be reached from Wisconsin by crossing the +Mississippi at Dubuque and then fetching across the prairie to the +journey's end; and in 1855 a traveler making that trip naturally fell in +with a good many of his future neighbors and fellow-citizens pressing +westward with him to the new lands. + +Some were merely hunting country, and were ready to be whiffled off +toward any neck of the woods which might be puffed up by a wayside +acquaintance as ignorant about it as he. Some were headed toward what +was called "the Fort Dodge country," which was anywhere west of the Des +Moines River. Some had been out and made locations the year before and +were coming on with their stuff; some were joining friends already on +the ground; some had a list of Gardens of Eden in mind, and meant to +look them over one after the other until a land was found flowing with +milk and honey, and inhabited by roast pigs with forks sticking in their +backs and carving knives between their teeth. + +Very few of the tillers of the soil had farms already marked down, +bought and paid for as I had; and I sometimes talked in such a way as +to show that I was a little on my high heels; but they were freer to +tack, go about, and run before the wind than I; for some one was sure to +stick to each of them like a bur and steer him to some definite place, +where he could squat and afterward take advantage of the right of +preemption, while I was forced to ferret out a particular square mile of +this boundless prairie, and there settle down, no matter how far it +might be from water, neighbors, timber or market; and fight out my +battle just as things might happen. If the woman in the wagon was +"scared to death" at the sight of the prairie, I surely had cause to be +afraid; but I was not. I was uplifted. I felt the same sense of freedom, +and the greatness of things, that came over me when I first found myself +able to take in a real eyeful in driving my canal-boat through the +Montezuma Marsh, or when I first saw big waters at Buffalo. I was made +for the open, I guess. + +There were wagon trails in every westerly direction from all the +Mississippi ferries and landings; and the roads branched from Dubuque +southwestward to Marion, and on to the Mormon trail, and northwestward +toward Elkader and West Union; but I had to follow the Old Ridge Road +west through Dubuque, Delaware, Buchanan and Blackhawk Counties, and +westward. It was called the Ridge Road because it followed the knolls +and hog-backs, and thus, as far as might be, kept out of the slews. + +The last bit of it so far as I know was plowed up in 1877 in the +northeastern part of Grundy County. I saw this last mile of the old road +on a trip I made to Waterloo, and remember it. This part of it had been +established by a couple of Hardin County pioneers who got lost in the +forty-mile prairie between the Iowa and Cedar Rivers about three years +before I came in and showed their fitness for citizenship by filling +their wagon with stakes on the way back and driving them on every +sightly place as guides for others--an Iowa Llano Estacado was +Grundy Prairie. + +This last bit of it ran across a school section that had been left in +prairie sod till then. The past came rolling back upon me as I stopped +my horses and looked at it, a wonderful road, that never was a highway +in law, curving about the side of a knoll, the comb between the tracks +carrying its plume of tall spear grass, its barbed shafts just ripe for +boys to play Indian with, which bent over the two tracks, washed deep by +the rains, and blown out by the winds; and where the trail had crossed a +wet place, the grass and weeds still showed the effects of the plowing +and puddling of the thousands of wheels and hoofs which had poached up +the black soil into bubbly mud as the road spread out into a bulb of +traffic where the pioneering drivers sought for tough sod which would +bear up their wheels. A plow had already begun its work on this last +piece of the Old Ridge Road, and as I stood there, the farmer who was +breaking it up came by with his big plow and four horses, and stopped to +talk with me. + +"What made that old road?" I asked. + +"Vell," said he, "dot's more as I know. Somebody, I dank." + +And yet, the history of Vandemark Township was in that old road that he +complained of because he couldn't do a good job of breaking across +it--he was one of those German settlers, or the son of one, who invaded +the state after the rest of us had opened it up. + +The Old Ridge Road went through Dyersville, Manchester, Independence, +Waterloo, and on to Fort Dodge--but beyond there both the road and--so +far as I know--the country itself, was a vague and undefined thing. So +also was the road itself beyond the Iowa River, and for that matter it +got to be less and less a beaten track all the way as the wagons spread +out fanwise to the various fords and ferries and as the movers stopped +and settled like nesting cranes. Of course there was a fringe of +well-established settlements a hundred miles or so beyond Fort Dodge, of +people who, most of them, came up the Missouri River. + +Our Iowa wilderness did not settle up in any uniform way, but was +inundated as a field is overspread by a flood; only it was a flood which +set up-stream. First the Mississippi had its old town, away off south of +Iowa, near its mouth; then the people worked up to the mouth of the +Missouri and made another town; then the human flood crept up the +Mississippi and the Missouri, and Iowa was reached; then the Iowa +valleys were occupied by the river immigration, and the tide of +settlement rose until it broke over the hills on such routes as the Old +Ridge Road; but these cross-country streams here and there met other +trickles of population which had come up the belts of forest on the +streams. I was steering right into the wilderness; but there were far +islands of occupation--the heft of the earliest settlements strongly +southern in character--on each of the Iowa streams which I was to cross, +snuggled down in the wooded bottom lands on the Missouri, and even away +beyond at Salt Lake, and farther off in Oregon and California where the +folk-freshet broke on the Pacific--a wave of humanity dashing against a +reef of water. + +Of course, I knew very little of these things as I sat there, ignorant +as I was, looking out over the grassy sea, in my prairie schooner, my +four cows panting from the climb, and with the yellow-haired young woman +beside me, who had been wished on me by the black-bearded man on leaving +the Illinois shore. Most of it I still had to spell out through age and +experience, and some reading. I only knew that I had been told that the +Ridge Road would take me to Monterey County, if the weather wasn't too +wet, and I didn't get drowned in a freshet at a ferry or slewed down and +permanently stuck fast somewhere with all my goods. + +"Gee-up," I shouted to my cows, and cracked my blacksnake over their +backs; and they strained slowly into the yoke. The wagon began +chuck-chucking along into the unknown. + +"Stop!" said my passenger. "I've got to wait here for my--for my +husband." + +"I can't stop," said I, "till I get to timber and water." + +"But I must wait," she pleaded. "He can't help but find us here, because +it's the only way to come; but if we go on we may miss him--and--and-- +I've just got to stop. Let me out, if you won't stop." + +I whoaed up and she made as if to climb out. + +"He may not get out of Dubuque to-day," I said. "He said so. And for you +to wait here alone, with all these movers going by, and with no place to +stay to-night will be a pretty pokerish thing to do." + +Finally we agreed that I should drive on to water and timber, unless +the road should fork; in which case we were to wait at the forks no +matter what sort of camp it might be. + +The Ridge Road followed pretty closely the route afterward taken by the +Illinois Central Railroad; but the railroad takes the easiest grades, +while the Ridge Road kept to the high ground; so that at some places it +lay a long way north or south of the railway route on which trains were +running as far as Manchester within about two years. It veered off +toward the head waters of White Water Creek on that first day's journey; +and near a new farm, where they kept a tavern, we stopped because there +was water in the well, and hay and firewood for sale. It was still +early. The yellow-haired woman, whose name I did not know, alighted, and +when I found that they would keep her for the night, went toward the +farm-house without thanking me--but she was too much worried about +something to think of that, I guess; but she turned and came back. + +"Which way is Monterey Centre?" she asked. + +"Away off to the westward," I answered. + +"Is it far?" + +"A long ways," I said. + +"Is it on this awful prairie?" she inquired. + +"Yes," said I, "I guess it is. It's farther away from timber than this I +calculate." + +"My lord," she burst out. "I'll simply die of the horrors!" + +She looked over the trail toward Dubuque, and then slowly went into the +house. + +So, then, these two with all their strange actions were going to +Monterey County! They would be neighbors of mine, maybe; but probably +not. They looked like town people; and I knew already the distance that +separated farmers from the dwellers in the towns--a difference that as I +read history, runs away back through all the past. They were far removed +from what I should be--something that I realized more and more all +through my life--the difference between those who live on the farms and +those who live on the farmers. + +There was a two-seated covered carriage standing before the house, and +across the road were two mover-wagons, with a nice camp-fire blazing, +and half a dozen men and women and a lot of children about it cooking a +meal of victuals. I pulled over near them and turned my cows out, tied +down head and foot so they could bait and not stray too far. I noticed +that their cows, which were driven after the wagon, had found too fast +for them the pace set by the horse teams, had got very foot-sore, and +were lying down and not feeding--for I drove them up to see what was the +matter with them. + + + +2 + +Before starting-time in the morning, I had swapped two of my driving +cows for four of their lame ones, and hauled up by the side of the road +until I could break my new animals to the yoke and allow them to +recuperate. I am a cattleman by nature, and was more greedy for stock +than anxious to make time--maybe that's another reason for being called +Cow Vandemark. The neighbors used to say that I laid the foundation of +my present competence by trading one sound cow for two lame ones every +few miles along the Ridge Road, coming into the state, and then feeding +my stock on speculators' grass in the summer and straw that my neighbors +would otherwise have burned up in the winter. What was a week's time to +me? I had a lifetime in Iowa before me. + +"Whose rig is that?" I asked, pointing to the carriage. + +"Belongs to a man name of Gowdy," the mover told me. "Got a hell-slew of +wuthless land in Monterey County an' is going out to settle on it." + +"How do you know it's worthless?" I inquired pretty sharply; for a man +must stand up for his own place whether he's ever seen it or not. + +"They say so," said he. + +"Why?" I asked. + +"Out in the middle of the Monterey Prairie," he said. "You can't live in +this country 'less you settle near the timber." + +"Instead of stopping at this farm," I said, "I should think he'd have +gone on to the next settlement. Horses lame?" + +"Best horses I've seen on the road," was the answer. "Kentucky horses. +Gowdy comes from Kentucky. Stopped because his wife is bad sick." + +"Where's he?" I asked. + +"Out shooting geese," said he. "Don't seem to fret his gizzard about his +wife; but they say she's struck with death." + +All the while I was cooking my supper I was thinking of this woman, +"struck with death," and her husband out shooting geese, while she +struggled with our last great antagonist alone. One of the women came +over from the other camp with her husband, and I spoke to her about it. + +"This man," said she, "jest acts out what all the men feel. A womern is +nothing but a thing to want as long as she is young and can work. But +this womern hain't quite alone. She's got a little sister with her that +knows a hull lot better how to do for her than any darned man would!" + +It grew dark and cold--a keen, still, frosty spring evening which filled +the sky with stars and bespoke a sunny day for to-morrow, with settled +warmer weather. The geese and ducks were still calling from the sky, and +not far away the prairie wolves were howling about one of the many +carcasses of dead animals which the stream of immigration had already +dropped by the wayside. I was dead sleepy, and was about to turn in, +when my black-bearded man last seen in Dubuque with a constable holding +him by the arm, came driving up, and went about among the various wagons +as if looking for something. I knew he was seeking me, and spoke to him. + +"Oh!" he said, as if all at once easier in his mind. "Where's my--" + +"She's in the house," I said; "this is a kind of a tavern." + +"Good!" said he. "I'm much obliged to you. Here's your supplies. I had +to buy this light wagon and a team of horses in Dubuque, and it took a +little time, it took a little time." + +I now noticed that he had a way of repeating his words, and giving them +a sort of friendly note as if he were taking you into his confidence. +When I offered to pay him for the supplies, he refused. "I'm in debt to +you. I don't remember what they cost--got them with some things for +myself; a trifle, a trifle. Glad to do more for you--no trouble at all, +none whatever." + +"Didn't you have any trouble in Dubuque?" I asked, thinking of the man +who had threatened to shoot him in front of the post-office, and how the +black-bearded man had called upon the bystanders to bear witness that he +was about to shoot in self-defense. He gave me a sharp look; but it was +too dark to make it worth anything to him. + +"No trouble at all," he said. "What d'ye mean?" + +Before I could answer there came up a man carrying a shotgun in one +hand, and a wild goose over his shoulder. Following him was a darky with +a goose over each shoulder. I threw some dry sticks on my fire, and it +flamed up showing me the faces of the group. Buckner Gowdy, or as +everybody in Monterey County always called him, Buck Gowdy, stood before +us smiling, powerful, six feet high, but so big of shoulder that he +seemed a little stooped, perfectly at ease, behaving as if he had always +known all of us. He wore a little black mustache which curled up at the +corners of his mouth like the tail feathers of a drake. His clothes were +soaked and gaumed up with mud from his tramping and crawling through the +marshes; but otherwise he looked as fresh as if he had just risen from +his bed, while the negro seemed ready to drop. + +When Buck Gowdy spoke, it was always with a little laugh, and that +slight stoop toward you as if there was something between him and you +that was a sort of secret--the kind of laugh a man gives who has had +many a joke with you and depends on your knowing what it is that pleases +him. His eyes were brown, and a little close together; and his head was +covered with a mass of wavy dark hair. His voice was rich and deep, and +pitched low as if he were telling you something he did not want +everybody to hear. He swore constantly, and used nasty language; but he +had a way with him which I have seen him use to ministers of the gospel +without their seeming to take notice of the improper things he said. +There was something intimate in his treatment of every one he spoke to; +and he was in the habit of saying things, especially to women, that had +all sorts of double meanings--meanings that you couldn't take offense at +without putting yourself on some low level which he could always vow was +far from his mind. And there was a vibration in his low voice which +always seemed to mean that he felt much more than he said. + +"My name's Gowdy," he said; "all you people going west for your health?" + +"I," said the black-bearded man, "am Doctor Bliven; and I'm going west, +I'm going west, not only for my health, but for that of the community." + +"Glad to make your acquaintance," said Gowdy; "and may I crave the +acquaintance of our young Argonaut here?" + +"Let me present Mr.--" said Doctor Bliven, "Mr.--Mr.--" + +"Vandemark," said I. + +"Let me present Mr. Vandemark," said the doctor, "a very obliging young +man to whom I am already under many obligations, many obligations." + +Buckner Gowdy took my hand, bringing his body close to me, and looking +me in the eyes boldly and in a way which was quite fascinating to me. + +"I hope, Mr. Vandemark," said he, "that you and Doctor Bliven are going +to settle in the neighborhood to which I am exiled. Where are you two +bound for?" + +"I expect to open a drug store and begin the practise of medicine," said +the doctor, "at the thriving town of Monterey Centre." + +"I've got some land in Monterey County," said I; "but I don't know where +in the county it is." + +Doctor Bliven started; and Buckner Gowdy shook my hand again, and then +the doctor's. + +"A sort of previous neighborhood reunion," said he. "I expect one of +these days to be one of the old residenters of Monterey County myself. I +am a fellow-sufferer with you, Mr. Vandemark--I also have land there. +Won't you and the doctor join me in a night-cap in honor of our +neighborship; and drink to better acquaintance? And let's invite our +fellow wayfarers, too. I have some game for them." + +He looked across to the other camp, and we went over to it, Gowdy giving +the third goose and the gun to the negro who had hard work to manage +them. I had a roadside acquaintance with the movers, but did not know +their names. In a jiffy Gowdy had all of them, and had found out that +they expected to locate near Waverly. In five minutes he had begun +discussing with a pretty young woman the best way to cook a goose; and +soon wandered away with her on some pretense, and we could hear his +subdued, vibratory voice and low laugh from the surrounding darkness, +and from time to time her nervous giggle. Suddenly I remembered his +wife, certainly very sick in the house, and the talk that she was +"struck with death"--and he out shooting geese, and now gallivanting +around with a strange girl in the dark. + +There must be some mistake--this man with the bold eyes and the warm +and friendly handclasp, with the fascinating manners and the neighborly +ideas, could not possibly be a person who would do such things. But even +as I thought this, and made up my mind that, after all, I would join him +and the queer-behaving doctor in a friendly drink, a woman came flying +out of the house and across the road, calling out, asking if any one +knew where Mr. Gowdy was, that his wife was dying. + +He and the girl came to the fire quickly, and as they came into view I +saw a movement of his arm as if he was taking it from around her waist. + +"I'm here," said he--and his voice sounded harder, somehow. "What's the +matter?" + +"Your wife," said the woman, "--she's taken very bad, Mr. Gowdy." + +He started toward the house without a word; but before he went out of +sight he turned and looked for a moment with a sort of half-smile at the +girl. For a while we were all as still as death. Finally Doctor Bliven +remarked that lots of folks were foolish about sick people, and that +more patients were scared to death by those about them than died of +disease. The girl said that that certainly was so. Doctor Bliven then +volunteered the assertion that Mr. Gowdy seemed to be a fine fellow, and +a gentleman if he ever saw one. Just then the woman came from across the +road again and asked for "the man who was a doctor." + +"I'm a doctor," said Bliven. "Somebody wants me?" + +She said that Mr. Gowdy would like to have him come into the house--and +he went hurriedly, after taking a medicine-case from his democrat wagon. +I saw my yellow-haired passenger of the Dubuque ferry meet him before +the door, throw her arms about him and kiss him. He returned her +greeting, and they went through the door together into the house. + + + +3 + +I turned in, and slept several hours very soundly, and then suddenly +found myself wide awake. I got up, and as I did almost every night, went +out to look after my cattle. I found all but one of them, and fetched a +compass about the barns and stables, searching until I found her. As I +passed in front of the door I heard moanings and cryings from a bench +against the side of the house, and stopped. It was dawn, and I could see +that it was either a small woman or a large child, huddled down on the +bench crying terribly, with those peculiar wrenching spasms that come +only when you have struggled long, and then quite given up to misery. I +went toward her, then stepped back, then drew closer, trying to decide +whether I should go away and leave her, or speak to her; and arguing +with myself as to what I could possibly say to her. She seemed to be +trying to choke down her weeping, burying her head in her hands, holding +back her sobs, wrestling with herself. Finally she fell forward on her +face upon the bench, her hands spread abroad and hanging down, her face +on the hard cold wood--and all her moanings ceased. It seemed to me that +she had suddenly dropped dead; for I could not hear from her a single +sigh or gasp or breath, though I stepped closer and listened--not a sign +of life did she give. So I put my arm under her and raised her up, only +to see that her face was ghastly white, and that she seemed quite dead. +I picked her up, and found that, though she was slight and girlish, she +was more woman than child, and carried her over to the well where there +was cold water in the trough, from which I sprinkled a few icy drops in +her face--and she gasped and looked at me as if dazed. + +"You fainted away," I said, "and I brought you to." + +"I wish you hadn't!" she cried. "I wish you had let me die!" + +"What's the matter, little girl?" I asked, seating her on the bench once +more. "Is there anything I can do?" + +"Oh! oh! oh! oh!" she cried, maybe a dozen times--and nothing more, +until finally she burst out: "She was all I had in the world. My God, +what will become of me!" And she sprang up, and would have run off, I +believe, if Buckner Gowdy had not overtaken her, and coaxingly led her +back into the house. + + * * * * * + +We come now into a new state of things in the history of Vandemark +Township. + +We meet not only the things that made it, but the actors in the play. + +Buckner Gowdy, Doctor Bliven, their associates, and others not yet +mentioned will be found helping to make or mar the story all through the +future; for an Iowa community was like a growing child in this, that its +character in maturity was fixed by its beginnings. + +I know communities in Iowa that went into evil ways, and were blighted +through the poison distilled into their veins by a few of the earliest +settlers; I know others that began with a few strong, honest, thinking, +reading, praying families, and soon began sending out streams of good +influence which had a strange power for better things; I knew other +settlements in which there was a feud from the beginning between the bad +and the good; and in some of them the blight of the bad finally +overwhelmed the good, while in others the forces of righteousness at +last grappled with the devil's gang, and, sometimes in violence, +redeemed the neighborhood to a place in the light. + +In one of these classes Monterey County, and even Vandemark Township, +took its place. Buckner Gowdy and Doctor Bliven, the little girl who +fainted away on the wooden bench in the night, and the yellow-haired +woman who stole a ride with me across the Dubuque ferry had their part +in the building up of our great community--and others worked with them, +some for the good and some for the bad. + +Now I come to people whose histories I know by the absorption of a +lifetime's experience. I know that it was Mrs. Bliven's husband--we +always called her that, of course--who expected to arrest the pair of +them as they crossed the Dubuque ferry; and that I was made a cat's-paw +in slipping her past her pursuers and saving Bliven from arrest. I know +that Buckner Gowdy was a wild and turbulent rakehell in Kentucky and +after many bad scrapes was forced to run away from the state, and was +given his huge plantation of "worthless" land--as he called it--in Iowa; +that he had married his wife, who was a poor girl of good family named +Ann Royall, because he couldn't get her except by marrying her. + +I know that her younger sister, Virginia Royall, came with them to Iowa, +because she had no other relative or friend in the world except Mrs. +Gowdy. I pretty nearly know that Virginia would have killed herself that +night on the prairie by the Old Ridge Road, because of a sudden feeling +of terror, at the situation in which she was left, at the prairies and +the wild desolate road, at Buck Gowdy, at life in general--if she had +had any means with which to destroy her life. I know that Buck Gowdy +took her into the house and comforted her by telling her that he would +care for her, and send her back to Kentucky. + + * * * * * + +A funeral by the wayside! This was my first experience with a kind of +tragedy which was not quite so common as you might think. Buckner Gowdy +instead of giving his wife a grave by the road, as many did, sent the +man of the house back to Dubuque for a hearse, the women laid out the +corpse, and after a whole day of waiting, the hearse came, and went back +over the road down the Indian trail through the bluffs to some graveyard +in the old town by the river. Virginia Royall sat in the back seat of +the carriage with Buckner Gowdy, and the darky, Pinckney Johnson--we all +knew him afterward--drove solemnly along wearing white gloves which he +had found somewhere. Virginia shrank away over to her own side of the +seat as if trying to get as far from Buckner Gowdy as possible. + +The movers moved on, leaving me four of their cows instead of two of +mine, and I went diligently to work breaking them to the yoke. New +prairie schooners came all the time into view from the East, and others +went over the sky-line into the West. + +4 + +And that day the Fewkes family hove into sight in a light democrat wagon +drawn by a good-sized apology for a horse, poor as a crow, and carrying +sail in the most ferocious way of any beast I ever saw. He had had a bad +case of poll-evil and his head was poked forward as if he was just about +to bite something, and his ears were leered back tight to his head with +an expression of the most terrible anger--I have known people who went +through the world in a good deal the same way for much the same reasons. + +Old Man Fewkes was driving, and sitting by him was Mrs. Fewkes in a +faded calico dress, her shoulders wrapped in what was left of a shawl. +Fewkes was letting old Tom take his own way, which he did by rushing +with all vengeance through every bad spot and then stopping to rest as +soon as he reached a good bit of road. The old man was thin and +light-boned, with a high beak of a nose which ought to have indicated +strength of character, I suppose; but the other feature that also tells +a good deal, the chin, was hidden by a gray beard which hung in long +curving locks over his breast and saved him the expense of a collar or +cravat. His hands were like claws--I never saw such hands doing much of +the hard work of the world--and, like his face, were covered with great +patches which, if they had not been so big would have been freckles. His +wife was a perfect picture of those women who had the life drailed out +of them by a yielding to the whiffling winds of influence that carried +the dead leaves of humanity hither and yon in the advance of the +frontier. She sat stooped over on the stiff broad seat, with her +shoulders drawn down as no shoulders but hers could be drawn. It was her +one outstanding point that she had no collar-bones. It doesn't seem +possible that this could be so; but she could bring her shoulders +together in front until they touched. She was rather proud of this--I +suppose every one must have something to be proud of. + +I guess the old man's chin must have been pretty weak; for the boys, who +were seated on the back seat, both had high noses and no chins to speak +of. The oldest was over twenty, I suppose, and was named Celebrate. His +mother explained to me that he was born on the Fourth of July, and they +called him at first Celebrate Independence Fewkes; but finally changed +it to Celebrate Fourth--I am telling you this so as to give you an idea +as to what sort of folks they were. Celebrate was tall and well-built, +and could be a good hand if he tried; which he would do once in a while +for half a day or so if flattered. The second son was named Surajah +Dowlah Fewkes--the name was pronounced Surrager by everybody. Old Man +Fewkes said they named him this because a well-read man had told them it +might give him force of character; but it failed. He was a harmless +little chap, and there was nothing bad about him except that he was +addicted to inventions. When they came into camp that day he was +explaining to Celebrate a plan for catching wild geese with fish-hooks +baited with corn, and that evening came to me to see if he couldn't +borrow a long fish-line. + +"I can ketch meat for a dozen outfits with it," he said, "if I can +borrow a fish-hook." + +Walking along behind the wagon came the fifth member of the family, +Rowena, a girl of seventeen. She went several rods behind the wagon, and +as they rushed and plodded along according to old Tom's temper, I +noticed that she rambled over the prairie a good deal picking flowers; +and you would hardly have thought to look at her that she belonged to +the Fewkes outfit at all. I guess that was the way she wanted it to +look. She was as vigorous as the others were limpsey and boneless; and +there was in her something akin to the golden plovers that were running +in hundreds that morning over the prairies--I haven't seen one for +twenty-five years! That is, she skimmed over the little knolls rather +than walked, as if made of something lighter than ordinary human clay. +Her dress was ragged, faded, and showed through the tears in it a +tattered quilted petticoat, and she wore no bonnet or hat; but carried +in her hand a boy's cap--which, according to the notions harbored by us +then, it would have been immodest for her to wear. Her hair was brown +and blown all about her head, and her face was tanned to a rich brown--a +very bad complexion then, but just the thing the society girl of to-day +likes to show when she returns from the seashore. + +When her family had halted, she did not come to them at once, but made a +circuit or two about the camp, like a shy bird coming to its nest, or as +if she hated to do it; and when she did come it was in a sort of defiant +way, swinging herself and tossing her head, and looking at every one as +bold as brass. I was staring at the astonishing horse, the queer wagon, +and the whole outfit with more curiosity than manners, I reckon, when +she came into the circle, and caught my unmannerly eye. + +"Well," she said, her face reddening under the tan, "if you see anything +green throw your hat at it! Sellin' gawp-seed, or what is your +business?" + +"I beg your pardon," "I meant no offense," and even "Excuse me" were +things I had never learned to say. I had learned to fight any one who +took offense at me; and if they didn't like my style they could lump +it--such was my code of manners, and the code of my class. To beg pardon +was to knuckle under--and it took something more than I was master of in +the way of putting on style to ask to be excused, even if the element of +back-down were eliminated. Remember, I had been "educated" on the canal. +So I tried to look her out of countenance, grew red, retreated, and went +about some sort of needless work without a word--completely defeated. I +thought she seemed rather to like this; and that evening I went over and +offered Mrs. Fewkes some butter and milk, of which I had a plenty. + +I was soon on good terms with the Fewkes family. Old Man Fewkes told me +he was going to Negosha--a region of which I had never heard. It was +away off to the westward, he said; and years afterward I made up my mind +that the name was made up of the two words Nebraska and Dakota--not very +well joined together. Mrs. Fewkes was not strong for Negosha; and when +Fewkes offered to go to Texas, she objected because it was so far. + +"Why," said the old man indignantly, "it hain't only a matter of fifteen +hundred mile! An' the trees is in constant varder!" + +He still harped on Negosha, though, and during the evening while we were +fattening up on my bread and meat, which I had on a broad hint added to +our meal, he told me that what he really wanted was an estate where he +could have an artificial lake and keep some deer and plenty of ducks and +geese. Swans, too, he said could be raised at a profit, and sold to +other well-to-do people. He said that by good farming he could get +along with only a few hundred acres of plow land. Mrs. Fewkes grew more +indulgent to these ideas as the food satisfied her hungry stomach. +Celebrate believed that if he could once get out among 'em he could do +well as a hunter and trapper; while Surajah kept listening to the +honking of the wild geese and planning to catch enough of them with +baited hooks to feed the whole family all the way to Negosha, and +provide plenty of money by selling the surplus to the emigrants. Rowena +sat in her ragged dress, her burst shoes drawn in under her skirt, +looking at her family with an expression of unconcealed scorn. When she +got a chance to speak to me, she did so in a very friendly manner. + +"Did you ever see," said she, "such a set of darned infarnal fools as we +are?" + +Before the evening was over, however, and she had hidden herself away in +her clothes under a thin and ragged comforter in their wagon, she had +joined in the discussion of their castle in Spain in a way that showed +her to be a legitimate Fewkes. She spoke for a white saddle horse, a +beautiful side-saddle, a long blue riding-habit with shot in the seam, +and a man to keep the horse in order. She wanted to be able to rub the +horse with a white silk handkerchief without soiling it. Ah, well! +dreams hovered over all our camps then. The howling of the wolves +couldn't drive them away. Poor Rowena! + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +MY LOAD RECEIVES AN EMBARRASSING ADDITION + +I still had some corn for my cattle, of the original supply which I had +got from Rucker in Madison. Hay was fifteen dollars a ton, and all it +cost the producer was a year's foresight and the labor of putting it up; +for there were millions of acres of wild grass going to waste which made +the sweet-smelling hay that old horsemen still prefer to tame hay. It +hadn't quite the feeding value, pound for pound, that the best timothy +and clover has; but it was a wonderful hay that could be put up in the +clear weather of the fall when the ground is dry and warm, and cured so +as to be free from dust. My teams never got the heaves when I fed +prairie hay. It graveled me like sixty to pay such a price, but I had to +do it because the season was just between hay and grass. Sometimes I +thought of waiting over until the summer of 1856 to make hay for sale to +the movers; but having made my start for my farm I could not bring +myself to give up reaching it that spring. So I only waited occasionally +to break in or rest up the foot-sore and lame cattle for which I traded +from time to time. + +The Fewkes family went on after I had given them some butter, some side +pork and a milking of milk. While I was baking pancakes that last +morning, Rowena came to my fire, and snatching the spider away from me +took the job off my hands, baking the cakes while I ate. She was a +pretty girl, slim and well developed, and she had a fetching way with +her eyes after friendly relations were established with her--which was +pretty hard because she seemed to feel that every one looked down on +her, and was quick to take offense. + +"Got any saleratus?" she asked. + +"No," said I. "Why?" + +She stepped over to the Fewkes wagon and brought back a small packet of +saleratus, a part of which she stirred into the batter. + +"It's gettin' warm enough so your milk'll sour on you," said she. "This +did. Don't you know enough to use saleratus to sweeten the sour milk? +You better keep this an' buy some at the next store." + +"I wish I had somebody along that could cook," said I. + +"Can't you cook?" she asked. "I can." + +I told her, then, all about my experience on the canal; and how we used +to carry a cook on the boat sometimes, and sometimes cooked for +ourselves. I induced her to sit by me on the spring seat which I had set +down on the ground, and join me in my meal while I told her of my +adventures. She seemed to forget her ragged and unwashed dress, while +she listened to the story of my voyages from Buffalo to Albany, and my +side trips to such places as Oswego. This canal life seemed powerfully +thrilling to the poor girl. She could only tell of living a year or so +at a time on some run-down or never run-up farm in Indiana or Illinois, +always in a log cabin in a clearing; or of her brothers and sisters who +had been "bound out" because the family was so large; and now of this +last voyage in search of an estate in Negosha. + +"I can make bread," said she, after a silence. "Kin you?" + +When I told her I couldn't she told me how. It was the old-fashioned +salt-rising bread, the receipt for which she gave me; and when I asked +her to write it down I found that she was even a poorer scribe than I +was. We were two mighty ignorant young folks, but we got it down, and +that night I set emptins[6] for the first time, and I kept trying, and +advising with the women-folks, until I could make as good salt-rising +bread as any one. When we had finished this her father was calling her +to come, as they were starting on toward Negosha; and I gave Rowena +money enough to buy her a calico dress pattern at the next settlement. +She tried to resist, and her eyes filled with tears as she took the +money and chokingly tried to thank me for it. She climbed into the wagon +and rode on for a while, but got out and came back to me while old Tom +went on in those mad rushes of his, and circling within a few yards of +me she said, "You're right good," and darted off over the prairie at a +wide angle to the road. + +[6] Our author resists firmly all arguments in favor of the generally +accepted dictionary spelling, "emptyings." He says that the term can not +possibly come from any such idea as things which are emptied, or emptied +out. The editor is reconciled to this view in the light of James Russell +Lowell's discussion of "emptins" in which he says: "Nor can I divine the +original." Mr. Lowell surely must have considered "emptyings"--and +rejected it.--G.v.d.M. + +I watched her with a buying eye, as she circled like a pointer pup and +finally caught up with the wagon, a full mile on to the westward. I had +wondered once if she had not deserted the Fewkes party forever. I had +even, such is the imagination of boyhood, made plans and lived them +through in my mind, which put Rowena on the nigh end of the spring seat, +and made her a partner with me in opening up the new farm. But she waved +her hand as she joined her family--or I thought so at least, and waved +back--and was gone. + +The Gowdy outfit did not return until after I had about cured the +lameness of my newly-acquired cows and set out on my way over the Old +Ridge Road for the West. The spring was by this time broadening into the +loveliest of all times on the prairies (when the weather is fine), the +days of the full blowth of the upland bird's-foot violets. Some southern +slopes were so blue with them that you could hardly tell the distant +hill from the sky, except for the greening of the peeping grass. The +possblummies were still blowing, but only the later ones. The others +were aging into tassels of down. + +The Canada geese, except for the nesters, had swept on in that marvelous +ranked army which ends the migration, spreading from the east to the +west some warm morning when the wind is south, and extending from a +hundred feet in the air to ten thousand, all moved by a common impulse +like myself and my fellow-migrants, pressing northward though, instead +of westward, with the piping of a thousand organs, their wings whirring, +their eyes glistening as if with some mysterious hope, their black +webbed feet folded and stretched out behind, their necks strained out +eagerly to the north, and held a little high I thought as if to peer +over the horizon to catch a glimpse of their promised land of blue +lakes, tall reeds, and broad fields of water-celery and wild rice, with +dry nests downy with the harvests of their gray breasts; and fluffy +goslings swimming in orderly classes after their teachers. And up from +the South following these old honkers came the snow geese, the Wilson +geese, and all the other little geese (we ignorantly called all of them +"brants"), with their wild flutings like the high notes of +clarinets--and the ponds became speckled with teal and coot. + +The prairie chickens now became the musicians of the morning and evening +on the uplands, with their wild and intense and almost insane chorus, +repeated over and over until it seemed as if the meaning of it must be +forced upon every mind like a figure in music played with greatening +power by a violinist so that the heart finally almost breaks with +it--"Ka-a-a-a-a-a, ka, ka, ka, ka! _Ka-a-a-a-a-a-a,_ ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, +ka, ka! KA-A-A-A-A-A-A, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka!"--Oh, there is +no way to tell it!--And then the cock filled in the harmony with his +lovely contribution: facing the courted hen, he swelled out the great +orange globes at the sides of his head, fluffed out his feathers, +strutted forward a few steps, and tolled his deep-toned bell, with all +the skill of a ventriloquist, making it seem far away when he was on a +near-by knoll, like a velvet gong sounded with no stroke of the hammer, +as if it spoke from some inward vibration set up by a mysterious +current--a liquid "Do, re, me," here full and distinct, there afar off, +the whole air tremulous with it, the harmony to the ceaseless fugue in +the soprano clef of the rest of the flock--nobody will ever hear it +again! Nobody ever drew from it, and from the howling of the wolves, the +honking of the geese, the calls of the ducks, the strange cries of the +cranes as they soared with motionless wings high overhead, or rowed +their way on with long slow strokes of their great wings, or danced +their strange reels and cotillions in the twilight; and from the myriad +voices of curlew, plover, gopher, bob-o-link, meadowlark, dick-cissel, +killdeer and the rest--day-sounds and night-sounds, dawn-sounds and +dusk-sounds--more inspiration than did the stolid Dutch boy plodding +west across Iowa that spring of 1855, with his fortune in his teams of +cows, in the covered wagon they drew, and the deed to his farm in a flat +packet of treasures in a little iron-bound trunk--among them a +rain-stained letter and a worn-out woman's shoe. + +2 + +I got the saleratus at Dyersville, and just as I came out of the little +store which was, as I remember it, the only one there, I saw the Gowdy +carriage come down the short street, the horses making an effort to +prance under the skilful management of Pinck Johnson, who occupied the +front seat alone, while Virginia Royall sat in the back seat with +Buckner Gowdy, her arm about the upright of the cover, her left foot +over the side as it might be in case of a person who was ready to jump +out to escape the danger of a runaway, an overturn, or some other peril. + +Gowdy did not recognize me, or if he did he did not speak to me. He got +out of the carriage and went first into the store, coming out presently +with some packages in his hand which he tossed to the darky, and then he +joined the crowd of men in front of the saloon across the way. Soon I +saw him go into the gin-mill, the crowd following him, and the noise of +voices grew louder. I had had enough experience with such things to know +pretty well what was going on; the stink of spilled drinks, and +profanity and indecency--there was nothing in them to toll me in from +the flowery prairie. + +As I passed the carriage Virginia nodded to me; and looking at her I saw +that she was pale and tremulous, with a look in her eyes like that of a +crazy man I once knew who imagined that he was being followed by enemies +who meant to kill him. There is no word for it but a hunted look. + +She came to my wagon, pretty soon, and surprised me by touching my arm +as I was about to start on so as to make a few more miles before +camping. I had got my team straightened out, and ready to start, when I +felt her hand on my arm, and on turning saw her standing close to me, +and speaking almost in a whisper. + +"Do you know any one," she asked, "good people--along the road +ahead--people we'll overtake--that would be friends to a girl that +needs help?" + +"Be friends," I blundered, "be friends? How be friends?" + +"Give her work," she said; "take her in; take care of her. This girl +needs friends--other girls--women--some one to take the place of a +mother and sisters. Yes, and she needs friends to take the place of a +father and brothers. A girl needs friends--friends all the time--as you +were to me back there in the night." + +I wondered if she meant herself; and after thinking over it for two or +three days I made up my mind that she did; and then I was provoked at +myself for not understanding: but what could I have done or said if I +had understood? I remembered, though, how she had skithered[7] back to +the carriage as she saw Pinck Johnson coming out of the saloon with Buck +Gowdy; and had then clambered out again and gone into the little hotel +where they seemed to have decided to stay all night; while I went on +over roads which were getting more and more miry as I went west. I had +only been able to tell her of the Fewkes family--Old Man Fewkes, with +his bird's claws and a beard where a chin should have been, Surajah +Dowlah Fewkes with no thought except for silly inventions, Celebrate +Fourth Fewkes with no ideas at all-- + +[7] A family word, to the study of which one would like to direct the +attention of the philologists, since traces of it are found in the +conversation of folk of unsophisticated vocabulary outside the Clan van +de Marck. Doubtless it is of Yankee origin, and hence old English. It +may, of course, be derived according to Alice-in-Wonderland principles +from "skip" and "hither" or "thither" or all three; but the claim is +here made that it comes, like monkeys and men, from a common linguistic +ancestor.--G.v.d.M. + +"But isn't there a man among them?" she had asked. + +"A man!" I repeated. + +"A man that knows how to shoot a pistol, or use a knife," she explained; +"and who would shoot or stab for a weak girl with nobody to take care +of her." + +I shook my head. Not one of these was a real man in the Kentucky, or +other proper sense: and Ma Fewkes with her boneless shoulders was not +one of those women of whom I had seen many in my life, who could be more +terrible to a wrong-doer than an army with bowie-knives. + +"There's only two in the outfit," I went on, "that have got any sprawl +to them; and they are old Tom their bunged-up horse, and Rowena Fewkes." + +"Who is she?" inquired Virginia Royall. + +"A girl about your age," said I. "She's ragged and dirty, but she has a +little gumption." + +And then she had skipped away, as I finally concluded, to keep Gowdy +from seeing her in conversation with me. + +3 + +I pulled out for Manchester with Nathaniel Vincent Creede, whom +everybody calls just "N.V.," riding in the spring seat with me, and his +carpetbag and his law library in the back of the wagon. + +His library consisted of _Blackstone's Commentaries_--I saw them in his +present library in Monterey Centre only yesterday--_Chitty on Pleading_, +the _Code of Iowa of_ 1850, the _Session Laws_ of the state so far as it +had any session laws--a few thin books bound in yellow and pink boards. +Even these few books made a pretty heavy bundle for a man to carry in +one hand while he lugged all his other worldly goods in the other. + +"Books are damned heavy, Mr. Vandemark," said he; "law books are +particularly heavy. My library is small; but there is an adage in our +profession which warns us to beware of the man of one book. He's always +likely to know what's in the damned thing, you know, Mr. Vandemark; and +the truth being a seamless web, if a lawyer knows all about the law in +one book, he's prone to make a hell of a straight guess at what's in the +rest of 'em. Hence beware of the man of one book. I may safely lay claim +to being that man--in a figurative way; though there are half a dozen +volumes or so back there--the small pedestal on which I stand reaching +up toward a place on the Supreme Bench of the United States." + +He had had a drink or two with Buckner Gowdy back there in the saloon, +and this had taken the brakes off his tongue--if there were any +provided in his temperament. So, aside from Buck Gowdy, I was the first +of his fellow-citizens of Monterey County to become acquainted with N.V. +Creede. He reminded me at first of Lawyer Jackway of Madison, the +guardian _ad litem_ who had sung the song that still recurred to me +occasionally-- + + "Sold again, + And got the tin, + And sucked another Dutchman in!" + +But N.V. looked a little like Jackway from the fact only that he wore a +long frock coat, originally black, a white shirt, and a black cravat. He +was very tall, and very erect, even while carrying those books and that +bag. He was smooth-shaven, and was the first man I ever saw who shaved +every day, and could do the trick without a looking-glass. His eyes were +black and very piercing; and his voice rolled like thunder when he grew +earnest--which he was likely to do whenever he spoke. He would begin to +discuss my cows, the principles of farming, the sky, the birds of +passage, the flowers, the sucking in of the Dutchman--which I told him +all about before we had gone five miles--the mire-holes in the slews, +anything at all--and rising from a joke or a flighty notion which he +earnestly advocated, he would lower his voice and elevate his language +and utter a little gem of an oration. After which he would be still and +solemn for a while--to let it sink in I thought. + +N.V. was at that time twenty-seven years old. He came from Evansville, +Indiana, by the Ohio from Evansville to St. Louis, and thence up the +Mississippi. From Dubuque he had partly walked and partly ridden with +people who were willing to give him a lift. + +"I am like unto the Apostle Peter," he said when he asked for the chance +to ride with me, "silver and gold have I none; but such as I have I give +unto thee." + +"What do you mean?" I asked; for it is just as well always to be sure +beforehand when it comes to pay--though, of course, I should have been +glad to have him with me without money and without price. + +"In the golden future of Iowa," he said, "you will occasionally want +legal advice. I will accept transportation in your very safe, but +undeniably slow equipage as a retainer." + +"Captain Sproule used to say," I said, "that what you pay the lawyer is +the least of the matter when you go to law." + +"Wise Captain Sproule," replied N.V.; "and my rule shall be to keep my +first client, Mr. Jacob T. Vandemark, out of the courts; and in addition +to my prospective legal services, I can wield the goad-stick and +manipulate the blacksnake. Moreover, when these feet of mine get their +blisters healed, I can help drive the cattle; and I can gather firewood, +kindle fires, and perhaps I may suggest that my conversation may not be +entirely unprofitable." + +I told him I would take him in as a passenger; and there our life-long +friendship began. His conversation was not unprofitable. He had the +vision of the future of Iowa which I had until then lacked. He could see +on every quarter-section a prosperous farm, and he knew what the +building of the railways must mean. As we forded the Maquoketa he +laughed at the settlers working at the timber, grubbing out stumps, +burning off the logs, struggling with roots. + +"Your ancestors, the Dutch," said he, "have been held up to ridicule +because they refused to establish a town until they found a place where +dykes had to be built to keep out the sea, though there were plenty of +dry places available. These settlers are acting just as foolishly. They +have been used to grubbing, and they go where grubbing has to be done. +Two miles either way is better land ready for the plow! Why can't every +one be wise like us?" + +"They have to have wood for houses, stables, and fuel," I said. "I hope +my land has timber on it." + +"The railroads are coming," said he, "and they will bring you coal and +wood and everything you want. They are racing for the crossings of the +Mississippi. Soon they will reach the Missouri--and some day they will +cross the continent to the Pacific. No more Erie Canals; no more Aaron +Burr conspiracies for the control of the mouth of the Mississippi. +Towns! Cities! Counties! States! We are pioneers; but civilization is +treading on our heels. I feel it galling my kibes[8]--and what are a few +blisters to me! I see in my own adopted city of Lithopolis, Iowa, a +future Sparta or Athens or Rome, or anyhow, a Louisville or Cincinnati +or Dubuque--a place in which to achieve greatness--or anyhow, a chance +to deal in town lots, defend criminals, or prosecute them, and where the +unsettled will have to be settled in the courts as well as on the farm. +On to Lithopolis! G'lang, Whiteface, g'lang!" + +[8] The editor acknowledges the invaluable assistance of Honorable N.V. +Creede in the editing of the proofs of this and a few other +passages.--G.v.d.M. + +"I thought you were going to Monterey Centre," I said. + +"Not if the court knows itself," he said, "and it thinks it does. +Lithopolis is the permanent town in Monterey County, and Monterey Centre +is the mushroom." + + + +4 + +Monterey County, like all the eastern counties of Iowa, all the counties +along the Missouri, and every other county which was crossed by a +considerable river, was dotted with paper towns. We passed many of these +staked-out sites on the Old Ridge Road; and we heard of them from buyers +of and dealers in their lots. + +Lithopolis was laid out by Judge Horace Stone, the great outsider in the +affairs of the county until he died. He platted a town in Howard County +when the town-lot fever first broke out, at a place called Stone's +Ferry, and named it Lithopolis, because his name was Stone, and for the +additional reason that there was a stone quarry there. I've been told +that the word means Stone City. The people insisted upon calling it +Stone's Ferry and would not have the name Lithopolis. Judge Stone raved +and tore, but he was voted down, and pulled up stakes in disgust, sold +out his interests and went on to Monterey County, where he could +establish a new city and name it Lithopolis. He seemed to care more for +the name than anything else, and never seemed to see how funny it was +that he felt it possible to make a city wherever he decreed. This was a +part of the spirit of the time. The prairies were infested with +Romuluses and Remuses, flourishing, not on the milk of the wolves, but +seemingly on their howls, of which they often gave a pretty fair +imitation. + +"But Monterey Centre is the county-seat," I suggested. + +"It just thinks it's going to be," said N.V. "The fact is that Monterey +County is not organized, but is attached to the county south of it for +judicial purposes. Let me whisper in your ear that it will soon be +organized, and that the county-seat will not be Monterey Centre, but +Lithopolis--that classic municipality whose sonorous name will be the +admiration of all true Americans and the despair of the spelling classes +in our schools. Lithopolis! It has the cadence of Alexander, and +Alcibiades, and Numa Pompilius, and Belisarius--it reeks of greatness! +Monterey Centre--ever been there? Ever seen that poverty-stricken, +semi-hamlet, squatting on the open prairie, and inhabited by a parcel of +dreaming Nimshies?" + +"No," said I; "have you?" + +"No," he replied. "What difference does it make? He that goeth up +against Lithopolis and them that dwell therein, the same is a +dreaming Nimshi." + +The beginnings of faction were in our town-sites; for most of them were +in no sense towns, or even villages. There was a future county-seat +fight in the rivalry between Monterey Centre and Lithopolis--and not +only these, but in the rival rivalries of Cole's Grove, Imperial City, +Rocksylvania, New Baltimore, Cathedral Rock, Waynesville and I know not +how many more projects, all ambitiously laid out in the +still-unorganized county of Monterey, and all but one or two now quite +lost to all human memory or thought, except as some diligent abstractor +of titles or real-estate lawyer discovers something of them in the chain +of title of a farm; the spires and gables of the 'fifties realized only +in the towering silo, the spinning windmill, or the vine-clad porch of a +substantial farm-house. But in the heyday of their new-driven corner +stakes, what wars were waged for the power to draw people into them; and +especially, how the county-seat fights raged like prairie fires set out +by those Nimrods who sought to make up in the founding of cities for +what they lacked as hunters, in comparison with the establisher of Babel +and Erech and Accad and Calneh in the land of Shinar. + +Between the Maquoketa and Independence I lost N.V. Creede, merely +because I traded for some more lame cows and a young Alderney bull, and +had to stop to break them. He stayed with me two days, and then caught a +ride with one of Judge Horace Stone's teams which was making a quick +trip to Lithopolis. + +"Good-by, Mr. Vandemark," said he at parting, "and good luck. I am sorry +not to be able to remunerate you for your hospitality, which I shall +always remember for its improving conversation, its pancakes, its pork +and beans, and its milk and butter, rather than for its breathless +speed. And take the advice of your man of the law in parting: in your +voyages over the inland waterways of life, look not upon the flush when +it is red--not even the straight one; for had I not done that on a +damned steamboat coming up from St. Louis I should not have been thus in +my old age forsaken. And let me tell you, one day my coachman will pull +up at the door of your farm-house and take you and your wife and +children in my coach and four for a drive--perhaps to see the laying of +the corner-stone of the United States court-house in Lithopolis. I go +from your ken, but I shall return--good-by." + +I was sorry to see him go. It was lonesome without him; and I was +troubled by my live stock. I soon saw that I was getting so many cattle +that without help in driving them I should be obliged to leave and come +back for some of them. I found a farmer named Westervelt who lived by +the roadside, and had come to Iowa from Herkimer County, in York State. +He even knew some of the relatives of Captain Sproule; so in view of the +fact that he seemed honest, I left my cattle with him, all but four +cows, and promised to return for them not later than the middle of July. +I made him give me a receipt for them, setting forth just what the +bargain was, and I paid him then and there for looking out for them--and +N.V. Creede said afterward that the thing was a perfectly good legal +document, though badly spelled. + +"It calls," said he, "for an application of the doctrine of _idem +sonans_--but it will serve, it will serve." + +I marveled that the Gowdy carriage still was astern of me after all this +time; and speculated as to whether there was not some other road between +Dyersville and Independence, by which they had passed me; but a few +miles east of Independence they came up behind me as I lay bogged down +in a slew, and drove by on the green tough sod by the roadside. I had +just hitched the cows to the end of the tongue, by means of the chain, +when they trotted by, and sweeping down near me halted. Virginia still +sat as if she had never moved, her hand gripping the iron support of the +carriage top, her foot outside the box as if she was ready to spring +out. Buck Gowdy leaped out and came down to me. + +"In trouble, Mr. Vandemark?" he inquired. "Can we be of any assistance?" + +"I guess I can make it," I said, scraping the mud off my trousers and +boots. "Gee-up there, Liney!" + +My cows settled slowly into the yoke, and standing, as they did now, on +firm ground, they deliberately snaked the wagon, hub-deep as it was, out +of the mire, and stopped at the word on the western side of +the mud-hole. + +"Good work, Mr. Vandemark!" he said. "Those knowledgy folk back along +the road who said you were trading yourself out of your patrimony ought +to see you put the thing through. If you ever need work, come to my +place out in the new Earthly Eden." + +"I'll have plenty of work of my own," I said; "but maybe, sometime, I +may need to earn a little money. I'll remember." + +I stopped at Independence that night; and so did the Gowdy party. I was +on the road before them in the morning, but they soon passed me, +Virginia looking wishfully at me as they went by, and Buck Gowdy waving +his hand in a way that made me think he must be a little tight--and then +they drove on out of sight, and I pursued my slow way wondering why +Virginia Royall had asked me so anxiously if I knew any good people who +would take in and shelter a friendless girl--and not only take her in, +but fight for her. I could not understand what she had said in any +other way. + +I had a hard time that day. The road was already cut up and at the +crossings of the swales the sod on which we relied to bear up our wheels +was destroyed by the host of teams that had gone on before me. That +endless stream across the Dubuque ferry was flowing on ahead of me; and +the fast-going part of it was passing me every hour like swift schooners +outstripping a slow, round-bellied Dutch square-rigger. + +The mire-holes were getting deeper and deeper; for the weather was +showery. I helped many teams out of their troubles, and was helped by +some; though my load was not overly heavy, and I had four true-pulling +heavy cows that, when mated with the Alderney bull I had left behind me +with Mr. Westervelt, gave me the best stock of cattle--they and my other +cows--in Monterey County, until Judge Horace Stone began bringing in his +pure-bred Shorthorns; and even then, by grading up with Shorthorn blood +I was thought by many to have as good cattle as he had. So I got out of +most of my troubles on the Old Ridge Road with my cows, as I did later +with them and their descendants when the wheat crop failed us in the +'seventies; but I had a hard time that day. It grew better in the +afternoon; and as night drew on I could see the road for miles ahead of +me a solitary stretch of highway, without a team; but far off, coming +over a hill toward me, I saw a figure that looked strange and mysterious +to me, somehow. + + + +5 + +It seemed to be a woman or girl, for I could see even at that distance +her skirts blown out by the brisk prairie wind. She came over the hill +as if running, and at its summit she appeared to stop as if looking for +something afar off. At that distance I could not tell whether she gazed +backward, forward, to the left or the right, but it impressed me that +she stood gazing backward over the route to the west along which she had +come. Then, it was plain, she began running down the gentle declivity +toward me, and once she fell and either lay or sat on the ground for +some time. Presently, though, she got up, and began coming on more +slowly, sometimes as if running, most of the time going from side to +side of the road as if staggering--and finally she went out of my sight, +dropping into a wide valley, to the bottom of which I could not see. It +was strange, as it appeared to me; this lone woman, the prairie, night, +and the sense of trouble; but, I thought, like most queer things, it +would have some quite simple explanation if one could see it close-by. + +I made camp a few hundred yards from the road by a creek, along the +banks of which grew many willows, and some little groves of box-elders +and popples, which latter in this favorable locality grew eight or ten +feet tall, and were already breaking out their soft greenish catkins and +tender, quivering, pointed leaves: in one of these clumps I hid my +wagon, and in the midst of it I kindled my camp-fire. It seemed already +a little odd to find myself where I could not look out afar over +the prairie. + +The little creek ran bank-full, but clear, and not muddy as our streams +now always are after a rain. One of the losses of Iowa through +civilization has been the disappearance of our lovely little brooks. +Then every few miles there ran a rivulet as clear as crystal, its bottom +checkered at the riffles into a brilliant pattern like plaid delaine by +the shining of the clean red, white and yellow granite pebbles through +the crossed ripples from the banks. Now these watercourses are robbed of +their flow by the absorption of the rich plowed fields, are all silted +up, and in summer are dry; and in spring and fall they are muddy +bankless wrinkles in the fields, poached full by the hoofs of cattle and +the snouts of hogs; and through many a swale, you would now be surprised +to know, in 1855 there ran a brook two feet wide in a thousand little +loops, with beautiful dark quiet pools at the turns, some of them +mantled with white water-lilies, and some with yellow. Over-hanging +banks of rooty turf, had these creeks, under which the larger and +soberer fishes lurked in dignified caution like bank presidents, too +wise for any common bait, but eager for the big good things. The +narrower reaches were all overshadowed by the long grass until you had +to part the greenery to see the water. Now such a valley is a forest of +corn unbroken by any vestige of brook, creek, rivulet or rill. + +That night at a spot which is now plow-land, I have no doubt, I listened +to the frogs and prairie-chickens while I caught a mess of chubs, +shiners, punkin-seeds and bullheads in a little pond not ten feet broad, +within a hundred yards of my wagon, and then rolled them in flour and +fried them in butter over my fire, wondering all the time about the +woman I had seen coming eastward on the road ahead of me. + +I was still in sight of the road, and the twilight was settling down +gradually; the air was so clear that even in the absence of a moon, it +was long after sunset before it was dark; so I could sit in my dwarf +forest, and keep watch of the road to the west to see whether that woman +was really a lonely wanderer against the stream of travel, or only a +stray from some mover's wagon camped ahead of me along the road. + +A pack of wolves just off the road and to the west at that moment began +their devilish concert over some wayside carcass--just at the moment +when she came in sight. She appeared in the road where it came into my +view twenty rods or so beyond the creek, and on the other side of it. + +I heard her scream when the first howls of the wolves broke the +silence; and then she came running, stumbling, falling, partly toward me +and partly toward a point up-stream, where I thought she must mean to +cross the brook--a thing which was very easy for one on foot, since it +called only for a little jump from one bank to the other. She seemed to +be carrying something which when she fell would fly out of her hand, and +which in spite of her panic she would pick up before she ran on again. + +She came on uncertainly, but always running away from the howls of the +wolves, and just before she reached the little creek, she stopped and +looked back, as if for a sight of pursuers--and there were pursuers. +Perhaps a hundred yards back of her I saw four or five slinking dark +forms; for the cowardly prairie wolf becomes bold when fled from, and +partly out of curiosity, and perhaps looking forward to a feast on some +dead or dying animal, they were stalking the girl, silent, shadowy, +evil, and maybe dangerous. She saw them too--and with another scream she +plunged on through the knee-high grass, fell splashing into the icy +water of the creek, and I lost sight of her. + +My first thought was that she was in danger of drowning, notwithstanding +the littleness of the brook; and I ran to the point from which I had +heard her plunge into the water, expecting to have to draw her out on +the bank; but I found only a place where the grass was wallowed down as +she had crawled out, and lying on the ground was the satchel she had +been carrying. Dark as it was I could see her trail through the grass as +she had made her way on; and I followed it with her sachel in my hand, +with some foolish notion of opening a conversation with her by giving it +back to her. + +A short distance farther, on the upland, were my four cows, tied head +and foot so they could graze, lying down to rest; and staggering on +toward them went the woman's form, zigzagging in bewilderment. She came +all at once upon the dozing cows, which suddenly gathered themselves +together in fright, hampered by their hobbling ropes, and one of them +sent forth that dreadful bellow of a scared cow, worse than a lion's +roar. The woman uttered another piercing cry, louder and shriller than +any she had given yet; she turned and ran back to me, saw my dark form +before her, and fell in a heap in the grass, helpless, unnerved, +quivering, quite done for. + +"Don't be afraid," said I; "I won't let them hurt you--I won't let +anything hurt you!" + +I didn't go very near her at first, and I did not touch her. I stood +there repeating that the wolves would not hurt her, that it was only a +gentle cow which had made that awful noise, that I was only a boy on my +way to my farm, and not afraid of wolves at all, or of anything else. I +kept repeating these simple words of reassurance over and over, standing +maybe a rod from her; and from that distance stepping closer and closer +until I stood over her, and found that she was moaning and catching her +breath, her face in her arms, stretched out on the cold ground, wet and +miserable, all alone on the boundless prairie except for a foolish boy +who did not know what to do with her or with himself, but was repeating +the promise that he would not let anything hurt her. She has told me +since that if I had touched her she would have died. It was a long time +before she said anything. + +"The wolves!" she cried. "The wolves!" + +"They are gone," I said. "They are all gone--and I've got a gun." + +"Oh! Oh!" she cried: "Keep them away! Keep them away!" + +She kept saying this over and over, sitting on the ground and staring +out into the darkness, starting at every rustle of the wind, afraid of +everything. It was a long time before she uttered a word except +exclamations of terror, and every once in a while she broke down in +convulsive sobbings. I thought there was something familiar in her +voice; but I could not see well enough to recognize her features, though +it was plain that she was a young girl. + +"The wolves are gone," I said; "I have scared them off." + +"Don't let them come back," she sobbed. "Don't let them come back!" + +"I've got a little camp-fire over yonder," I said; "and if we go to it, +I'll build it up bright, and that will scare them most to death. They're +cowards, the wolves--camp-fire will make 'em run. Let's go to the fire." + +She made an effort to get up, but fell back to the ground in a heap. I +was just at that age when every boy is afraid of girls; and while I had +had my dreams of rescuing damsels from danger and serving them in other +heroic ways as all boys do, when the pinch came I did not know what to +do; she put up her hand, though, and I took it and helped her to her +feet; but she could not walk. Summoning up my courage I picked her up +and carried her toward the fire. She said nothing, except, of course, +that she was too heavy for me to carry; but she clung to me +convulsively. I could feel her heart beating furiously against me, and +she was twitching and quivering in every limb. + +"You are the boy who took care of me back there when my sister died," +said she as I carried her along. + +"Are you Mrs. Gowdy's sister?" I asked. + +"I am Virginia Royall," she said. + +6 + +She was very wet and very cold. I set her down on the spring seat where +she could lean back, and wrapped her in a buffalo robe, building up the +fire until it warmed her. + +"I'm glad it's you!" she said. + +Presently I had hot coffee for her, and some warm milk, with the fish +and good bread and butter, and a few slices of crisp pork which I had +fried, and browned warmed-up potatoes. There was smear-case too, milk +gravy and sauce made of English currants. She began picking at the food, +saying that she could not eat; and I noticed that her lips were pale, +while her face was crimson as if with fever. She had had nothing to eat +for twenty-four hours except some crackers and cheese which she had +hidden in her satchel before running away; so in spite of the fact that +she was in a bad way from all she had gone through, she did eat a fair +meal of victuals. + +I thought she ought to be talked to so as to take her mind from her +fright; but I could think of nothing but my way of cooking the victuals, +and how much I wished I could give her a better meal--just the same sort +of talk a woman is always laughed at for--but she did not say much to +me. I suppose her strange predicament began returning to her mind. + +I had already made up my mind that she should sleep in the wagon, while +I rolled up in the buffalo robe by the fire; but it seemed a very bad +and unsafe thing to allow her to go to bed wet as she was. I was afraid +to mention it to her, however, until finally I saw her shiver as the +fire died down. I tried to persuade her to use the covered wagon as a +bedroom, and to let me dry her clothes by the fire; but she hung back, +saying little except that she was not very wet, and hesitating and +seeming embarrassed; but after I had heated the bed-clothes by the fire, +and made up the bed as nicely as I could, I got her into the wagon and +handed her the satchel which I had clung to while bringing her back; and +although she had never consented to my plan she finally poked her +clothes out from under the cover at the side of the wagon, in a sort of +damp wad, and I went to work getting them in condition to wear again. + +I blushed as I unfolded the wet dress, the underwear, and the +petticoats, and spread them over a drying rack of willow wands which I +had put up by the fire. I had never seen such things before; and it +seemed as if it would be very hard for me to meet Virginia in the open +day afterward--and yet as I watched by the clothes I had a feeling of +exaltation like that which young knights may have had as they watched +through the darkness by their armor for the ceremony of knighthood; +except that no such knight could have had all my thoughts and feelings. + +Perhaps the Greek boy who once intruded upon a goddess in her temple had +an experience more like mine; though in my case the goddess had taken +part in the ceremony and consented to it. There would be something +between us forever, I felt, different from anything that had ever taken +place between a boy and girl in all the world (it always begins in that +way), something of which I could never speak to her or to any one, +something which would make her different to me, in a strange, intimate, +unspeakable way, whether I ever saw her again or not. Oh, the lost +enchantment of youth, which makes an idol of a discarded pair of +corsets, and locates a dream land about the combings of a woman's hair; +and lives a century of bliss in a day of embarrassed silence! + +It must have been three o'clock, for the rooster of the half-dozen fowls +which I had traded for had just crowed, when Virginia called to me from +the wagon. + +"That man," said she in a scared voice, "is hunting for me." + +"Yes," said I, only guessing whom she meant. + +"If he takes me I shall kill myself!" + +"He will never take you from me," I said. + +"What can you do?" + +"I have had a thousand fights," I said; "and I have never been whipped!" + +I afterward thought of one or two cases in which bigger boys had bested +me, though I had never cried "Enough!" and it seemed to me that it was +not quite honest to leave her thinking such a thing of me when it was +not quite so. And it looked a little like bragging; but it appeared to +quiet her, and I let it go. From the mention she had made back there at +Dyersville of men who could fight, using pistol or knife, she apparently +was accustomed to men who carried and used weapons; but, thought I, I +had never owned, much less carried, any weapons except my two hard +fists. Queer enough to say I never thought of the strangeness of a boy's +making his way into a new land with a strange girl suddenly thrown on +his hands as a new and precious piece of baggage to be secreted, +smuggled, cared for and defended. + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE GROVE OF DESTINY + +When I had got up in the morning and rounded up my cows I started a fire +and began whistling. I was not in the habit of whistling much; but I +wanted her to wake up and dress so I could get the makings of the +breakfast out of the wagon. After I had the fire going and had whistled +all the tunes I knew--_Lorena, The Gipsy's Warning, I'd Offer Thee This +Hand of Mine,_ and _Joe Bowers_, I tapped on the side of the wagon, and +said "Virginia!" + +She gave a scream, and almost at once I heard her voice calling in +terror from the back of the wagon; and on running around to the place I +found that she had stuck her head out of the opening of the wagon cover +and was calling for help and protection. + +"Don't be afraid," said I. "There's nobody here but me." + +"Somebody called me 'Virginia,'" she cried, her face pale and her whole +form trembling. "Nobody but that man in all this country would call +me that." + +She hardly ever called Gowdy by any other name but "that man," so far as +I have heard. Something had taken place which struck her with a sort of +dumbness; and I really believe she could not then have spoken the name +Gowdy if she had tried. What it was that happened she never told any +one, unless it was Grandma Thorndyke, who was always dumb regarding the +sort of thing which all the neighbors thought took place. To Grandma +Thorndyke sex must have seemed the original curse imposed on our first +parents; eggs and link sausages were repulsive because they suggested +the insides of animals and vital processes; and a perfect human race +would have been to her made up of beings nourished by the odors of +flowers, and perpetuated by the planting of the parings of finger-nails +in antiseptic earth--or something of the sort. My live-stock business +always had to her its seamy side and its underworld which she always +turned her face away from--though I never saw a woman who could take a +new-born pig, calf, colt or fowl, once it was really brought forth so it +could be spoken of, and raise it from the dead, almost, as she could. +But every trace of the facts up to that time had to be concealed, and if +not they were ignored by Grandma Thorndyke. New England all over! + +If Gowdy was actually guilty of the sort of affront to little Virginia +for which the public thought him responsible, I do not see how the girl +could ever have told it to grandma. I do not see how grandma could ever +have been made to understand it. I suspect that the worst that grandma +ever believed, was that Gowdy swore or used what she called vulgar +language in Virginia's presence. Knowing him as we all did afterward, we +suspected that he attempted to treat her as he treated all women--and as +I believe he could not help treating them. It seems impossible of +belief--his wife's orphan sister, the recent death of Ann Gowdy, the +girl's helplessness and she only a little girl; but Buck Gowdy was Buck +Gowdy, and that escape of his wife's sister and her flight over the +prairie was the indelible black mark against him which was pointed at +from time to time forever after whenever the people were ready to +forgive those daily misdoings to which a frontier people were not so +critical as perhaps they should have been. Indeed he gained a certain +popularity from his boast that all the time he needed to gain control +over any woman was half an hour alone with her--but of that later, if +at all. + +"That was me that called you 'Virginia,'" said I. "I want to get into +the wagon to get things for breakfast--after you get up." + +"I never thought of your calling me Virginia," she answered--and I had +no idea what was in her mind. I saw no reason why I shouldn't call her +by her first name. "Miss" Royall would have been my name for the wife of +a man named Royall. It was not until long afterward that I found out how +different my manners were from those to which she was accustomed. + +I never thought of such a thing as varying from my course of conduct on +her account; and just as would have been the case if my outfit had been +a boat for which time and tide would not wait, I yoked up, after the +breakfast was done, and prepared to negotiate the miry crossing of the +creek and pull out for Monterey County, which I hoped to reach in time +to break some land and plant a small crop. We did not discuss the matter +of her going with me--I think we both took that for granted. She stood +on a little knoll while I was making ready to start, gazing westward, +and when the sound of cracking whips and the shouts of teamsters told of +the approach of movers from the East, even though we were some distance +off the trail, she crept into the wagon so as to be out of sight. She +had eaten little, and seemed weak and spent; and when we started, I +arranged the bed in the wagon for her to lie upon, just as I had done +for Doctor Bliven's woman, and she seemed to hide rather than anything +else as she crept into it. So on we went, the wagon jolting roughly at +times, and at times running smoothly enough as we reached dry roads worn +smooth by travel. + +Sometimes as I looked back, I could see her face with the eyes fixed +upon me questioningly; and then she would ask me if I could see any one +coming toward us on the road ahead. + +"Nobody," I would say; or, "A covered wagon going the wrong way," or +whatever I saw. "Don't be afraid," I would add; "stand on your rights. +This is a free country. You've got the right to go east or west with any +one you choose, and nobody can say anything against it. And you've got a +friend now, you know." + +"Is anybody in sight?" she asked again, after a long silence. + +I looked far ahead from the top of a swell in the prairie and then back. +I told her that there was no one ahead so far as I could see except +teams that we could not overtake, and nobody back of us but outfits even +slower than mine. So she came forward, and I helped her over the back of +the seat to a place by my side. For the first time I could get a good +look at her undisturbed--if a bashful boy like me could be undisturbed +journeying over the open prairie with a girl by his side--a girl +altogether in his hands. + +First I noticed that her hair, though dark brown, gave out gleams of +bright dark fire as the sun shone through it in certain ways. I kept +glancing at that shifting gleam whenever we turned the slow team so that +her hair caught the sun. I have seen the same flame in the mane of a +black horse bred from a sorrel dam or sire. As a stock breeder I have +learned that in such cases there is in the heredity the genetic unit of +red hair overlaid with black pigment. It is the same in people. +Virginia's father had red hair, and her sister Ann Gowdy had hair which +was a dark auburn. I was fascinated by that smoldering fire in the +girl's hair; and in looking at it I finally grew bolder, as I saw that +she did not seem to suspect my scrutiny, and I saw that her brows and +lashes were black, and her eyes very, very blue--not the buttermilk blue +of the Dutchman's eyes, like mine, with brows and lashes lighter than +the sallow Dutch skin, but deep larkspur blue, with a dark edging to the +pupil--eyes that sometimes, in a dim light, or when the pupils are +dilated, seem black to a person who does not look closely. Her skin, +too, showed her ruddy breed--for though it was tanned by her long +journey in the sun and wind, there glowed in it, even through her +paleness, a tinge of red blood--and her nose was freckled. Glimpses of +her neck and bosom revealed a skin of the thinnest, whitest +texture--quite milk-white, with pink showing through on account of the +heat. She had little strong brown hands, and the foot which she put on +the dashboard was a very trim and graceful foot like that of a +thoroughbred mare, built for flight rather than work, and it swelled +beautifully in its grass-stained white stocking above her slender ankle +to the modest skirt. + +A great hatred for Buck Gowdy surged through me as I felt her beside me +in the seat and studied one after the other her powerful +attractions--the hatred, not for the man who misuses the defenseless +girl left in his power by cruel fate; but the lust for conquest over the +man who had this girl in his hands and who, as she feared, was searching +for her. I mention these things because, while they do not excuse some +things that happened, they do show that, as a boy who had lived the +uncontrolled and, by association, the evil life which I had lived, I was +put in a very hard place. + +2 + +After a while Virginia looked back, and clutched my arm convulsively. + +"There's a carriage overtaking us!" she whispered. "Don't stop! Help me +to climb back and cover myself up!" + +She was quite out of sight when the carriage turned out to pass, drove +on ahead, and then halted partly across the road so as to show that the +occupants wanted word with me. I brought my wagon to a stop beside them. + +"We are looking," said the man in the carriage, "for a young girl +traveling alone on foot over the prairie." + +The man was clearly a preacher. He wore a tall beaver hat, though the +day was warm, and a suit of ministerial black. His collar stood out in +points on each side of his chin, and his throat rested on a heavy +stock-cravat which went twice around his neck and was tied in a stout +square knot under his chin on the second turn. Under this black choker +was a shirt of snowy white, as was his collar, while his coat and +trousers looked worn and threadbare. His face was smooth-shaven, and his +hair once black was now turning iron-gray. He was then about sixty +years old. + +"A girl," said I deceitfully, "traveling afoot and alone on the prairie? +Going which way?" + +The woman in the carriage now leaned forward and took part in the +conversation. She was Grandma Thorndyke, of whom I have formerly made +mention. Her hair was white, even then. I think she was a little older +than her husband; but if so she never admitted it. He was a slight small +man, but wiry and strong; while she was taller than he and very spare +and grave. She wore steel-bowed spectacles, and looked through you when +she spoke. I am sure that if she had ever done so awful a thing as to +have put on a man's clothes no one would have seen through her disguise +from her form, or even by her voice, which was a ringing tenor and was +always heard clear and strong carrying the soprano in the First +Congregational Church of Monterey Centre after Elder Thorndyke had +succeeded in getting it built. + +"Her name is Royall," said Grandma Thorndyke--I may as well begin +calling her that now as ever--"Genevieve Royall. When last seen she was walking +eastward on this road, where she is subject to all sorts of dangers from +wild weather and wild beasts. A man on horseback named Gowdy, with a +negro, came into Independence looking for her this morning after +searching everywhere along the road from some place west back to the +settlement. She is sixteen years old. There wouldn't be any other girl +traveling alone and without provision. Have you passed such a person?" + +"No, I hain't," said I. The name "Genevieve" helped me a little in this +deceit. + +"You haven't heard any of the people on the road speak of this wandering +girl, have you?" asked Elder Thorndyke. + +"No," I answered; "and I guess if any of them had seen her they'd have +mentioned it, wouldn't they?" + +"And you haven't seen any lone girl or woman at all, even at a +distance?" inquired Grandma Thorndyke. + +"If she passed me," I said, turning and twisting to keep from telling an +outright lie, "it was while I was camped last night. I camped quite a +little ways from the track." + +"She has wandered off upon the trackless prairie!" exclaimed Grandma +Thorndyke. "God help her!" + +"He will protect her," said the elder piously. + +"Maybe she met some one going west," I suggested, rather truthfully, I +thought, "that took her in. She may be going back west with some one." + +"Mr. Gowdy told us back in Independence," returned Elder Thorndyke, +"that he had inquired of every outfit he met from the time she left him +clear back to that place; and he overtook the only two teams on that +whole stretch of road that were going east. It is hard to understand. +It's a mystery." + +"Was he going on east?" I asked--and I thought I heard a stir in the bed +back of me as I waited for the answer. + +"No," said the elder, "he is coming back this way, hunting high and low +for her. I have no doubt he will find her. She can not have reached a +point much farther east than this. She is sure to be found somewhere +between here and Independence--or within a short distance of here. There +is nothing dangerous in the weather, the wild animals, or anything, but +the bewilderment of being lost and the lack of food. God will not allow +her to be lost." + +"I guess not," said I, thinking of the fate which led me to my last +night's camp, and of Gowdy's search having missed me as he rode by in +the night. + +They drove on, leaving us standing by the roadside. Virginia crept +forward and peeked over the back of the seat after them until they +disappeared over a hillock. Then she began begging me to go where Gowdy +could not find us. He would soon come along, she said, with that tool of +his, Pinck Johnson, searching high and low for her as that man had said. +Everybody would help him but me. I was all the friend she had. Even +those two good people who were inquiring were helping Gowdy. I must +drive where he could not find us. I must! + +"He can't take you from me," I declared, "unless you want to go!" + +"What can you do?" she urged wildly. "You are too young to stand in his +way. Nobody can stand in his way. Nobody ever did! And they are two to +one. Let us hide! Let us hide!" + +"I can stand in anybody's way," I said, "if I want to." + +I was not really afraid of them if worst came to worst, but I did see +that it was two to one; so I thought of evading the search, but the +hiding of a team of four cows and a covered wagon on the open Iowa +prairie was no easy trick. If I turned off the road my tracks would +show for half a mile. If once the problem of hiding my tracks was +solved, the rest would be easy. I could keep in the hollows for a few +miles until out of sight of the Ridge Road, and Gowdy might rake the +wayside to his heart's content and never find us except by accident; but +I saw no way of getting off the traveled way without advertising my +flight. Of course Gowdy would follow up every fresh track because it was +almost the only thing he could do with any prospect of striking the +girl's trail. I thought these things over as I drove on westward. I +quieted her by saying that I had to think it out. + +It was a hot afternoon by this time, and looked like a stormy evening. +The clouds were rolling up in the north and west in lofty thunderheads, +pearl-white in the hot sun, with great blue valleys and gorges below, +filled with shadows. Virginia, in a fever of terror, spent a part of her +time looking out at the hind-end of the wagon-cover for Gowdy and Pinck +Johnson, and a part of it leaning over the back of the seat pleading +with me to leave the road and hide her. Presently the clouds touched the +sun, and in a moment the day grew dark. Far down near the horizon I +could see the black fringe of the falling rain under the tumbling +clouds, and in a quarter of an hour the wind began to blow from the +storm, which had been mounting the sky fast enough to startle one. The +storm-cloud was now ripped and torn by lightning, and deep rumbling +peals of thunder came to our ears all the time louder and nearer. The +wind blew sharper, and whistled shrilly through the rigging of my +prairie schooner, there came a few drops of rain, then a scud of finer +spray: and then the whole plain to the northwest turned white with a +driving sheet of water which came on, swept over us, and blotted +everything from sight in a great commingling of wind, water, fire +and thunder. + +Virginia cowered on the bed, throwing the quilt over her. My cattle +turned their rumps to the storm and stood heads down, the water running +from their noses, tails and bellies, and from the bows and yokes. I had +stopped them in such a way as to keep us as dry as possible, and tried +to cheer the girl up by saying that this wasn't bad, and that it would +soon be over. In half an hour the rain ceased, and in an hour the sun +was shining again, and across the eastern heavens there was displayed a +beautiful double rainbow, and a faint trace of a third. + +"That means hope," I said. + +She looked at the wonderful rainbow and smiled a little half-smile. + +"It doesn't mean hope," said she, "unless you can think out some way of +throwing that man off our track." + +"Oh," I answered, with the brag that a man likes to use when a helpless +woman throws herself on his resources, "I'll find some way if I make up +my mind I don't want to fight them." + +"You mustn't think of that," said she. "You are too smart to be so +foolish. See how well you answered the questions of that man and woman." + +"And I didn't lie, either," said I, after getting under way again. + +"Wouldn't you lie," said she, "for me?" + +It was, I suppose, only a little womanly probe into character; but it +thrilled me in a way the poor girl could not have supposed possible. + +"I would do anything for you," said I boldly; "but I'd a lot rather +fight than lie." + +3 + +The cloud-burst had flooded the swales, and across the hollows ran broad +sheets of racing water. I had crossed two or three of these, wondering +whether I should be able to ford the next real watercourse, when we came +to a broad bottom down the middle of which ran a swift shallow stream +which rose over the young grass. For a few rods the road ran directly +down this casual river of flood water, and as I looked back it all at +once came into my mind that I might follow this flood and leave no +track; so instead of swinging back into the road I took instantly the +important resolution to leave the Ridge Road. By voice and whip I turned +my cattle down the stream to the south, and for a mile I drove in water +half-hub deep. + +Looking back I saw that I left no trace except where two lines of open +water showed through the grass on the high spots where cattle and wheels +had passed, and I knew that in an hour the flood would run itself off +and wipe out even this trace. I felt a sense of triumph, and mingled +with this was a queer thrill that set my hands trembling at the +consciousness that the prairie had closed about me and this girl with +the milk-white neck and the fire in her hair who had asked me if I would +not even lie "for her." + +We wound down the flooded swale, we left the Ridge Road quite out of +sight, we finally drew up out of the hollow and took to the ridges and +hog-backs making a new Ridge Road for ourselves. Nowhere in sight was +there the slightest trace of humanity or human settlement. We were +alone. Still bearing south I turned westwardly, after rolling up the +covers to let in the drying wind. I kept looking back to see if we were +followed; for now I was suddenly possessed of the impulse to hide, like +a thief making for cover with stolen goods. Virginia, wearied out with +the journey, the strain of her escape, and the nervous tension, was +lying on the couch, often asking me if I saw any one coming up +from behind. + +The country was getting more rolling and broken as we made our way down +toward the Cedar River, or some large creek making into it--but, of +course, journeying without a map or chart I knew nothing about the lay +of the land or the watercourses. I knew, though, that I was getting into +the breaks of a stream. Finally, in the gathering dusk I saw ahead of me +the rounded crowns of trees; and pretty soon we entered one of those +beautiful groves of hardwood timber that were found at wide distances +along the larger prairie streams--I remember many of them and their +names, Buck Grove, Cole's Grove, Fifteen Mile Grove, Hickory Grove, +Crabapple Grove, Marble's Grove, but I never knew the name of this, the +shelter toward which we had been making. I drove in between scattered +burr oaks like those of the Wisconsin oak openings, and stopped my +cattle in an open space densely sheltered by thickets of crabapple, plum +and black-haw, and canopied by two spreading elms. Virginia started up, +ran to the front of the wagon and looked about. + +"Where are we?" she asked. + +"This is our hiding-place," I replied. + +"But that man--won't he follow our tracks?" + +"We didn't leave any tracks," I said. + +"How could we come without leaving tracks?" she queried, standing close +to me and looking up into my face. + +"Did you notice," said I, "that for miles we drove in the water--back +there on the prairie after the rain?" + +"Yes." + +"We drove in the water when we left the road, and we left no tracks. Not +even an Indian could track us. We can't be tracked. We've lost +Gowdy--forever." + +I thought at first that she was going to throw her arms about my neck; +but instead she took both my hands and pressed them in a long clasp. It +was the first time she had touched me, or shown emotion toward +me--emotion of the sort for which I was now eagerly longing. I did not +return her pressure. I merely let her hold my hands until she dropped +them. I wanted to do a dozen things, but there is nothing stronger than +the unbroken barriers of a boy's modesty--barriers strong as steel, +which once broken down become as though they never were; while a woman +even in her virgin innocence, is always offering unconscious invitation, +always revealing ways of seeming approach, always giving to the stalled +boy, arguments against his bashfulness--arguments which may prove absurd +or not when he acts upon them. It is the way of a maid with a man, +Nature's way--but a perilous way for such a time and such a situation. + +That night we sat about the tiny camp-fire and talked. She told me of +her life in Kentucky, of her grief at the loss of her sister, of many +simple things; and I told her of my farm--a mile square--of my plans, +of my life on the canal--which seemed to impress her as it had Rowena +Fewkes as a very adventurous career. I was sure she was beginning to +like me; but of one thing I did not tell her. I did not mention my long +unavailing search for my mother, nor the worn shoe and the sad farewell +letter in the little iron-bound trunk in the wagon. I searched for tales +which would make of me a man; but when it grew dark I put out the fire. +I was not afraid of Buck Gowdy's finding us; but I did not want any one +to discover us. And that night I drew out the loads of chicken shot from +my gun and reloaded it with buckshot. + +I could not sleep. After Virginia +had lain down in the wagon, I walked about silently so as not to rouse +her, prowling like a wolf. I crept to the side of the wagon and listened +for her breathing; and when I heard it my hands trembled, and my heart +pounded in my breast. All the things through which I had lived without +partaking of them came back into my mind. I thought of what I heard +every day on the canal--that all women were alike; that they existed +only for that sort of companionship with men with which my eyes were so +ignorantly familiar; that all their protestations and refusals were for +effect only; that a man need only to be a man, to know what he wanted, +and conquer it. And I felt rising in me like a tide the feeling that I +was now a man. The reader who has believed of me that I passed through +that canal life unspotted by its vileness has asked too much of me. The +thing was not possible. I now thought of the irregular companionships of +that old time as inexplicable no longer. They were the things for which +men lived--the inevitable things for every real man. Only this which +agitated me so terribly was different from them--no matter what +happened, it would be pure and blameless--for it would be us! + + + +4 + +I suppose it may have been midnight or after, when I heard a far-off +splashing sound in the creek far above us. At first I thought of +buffalo--though there were none in Iowa so far as I knew at that +time--and only a few deer or bear; but finally, as the sound, which was +clearly that of much wading, drew even with my camp, I began to hear the +voices of men--low voices, as if even in that wilderness the speakers +were afraid of being overheard. + +"I'm always lookin'," said one, "to find some of these damned movers +campin' in here when we come in with a raise." + +"If I find any," said another, "they will be nepoed, damned quick." + +This, I knew--I had heard plenty of it--was the lingo of thieves and +what the story-writers call bandits--though we never knew until years +afterward that we had in Iowa a distinct class which we should have +called bandits, but knew it not. They stole horses, dealt in counterfeit +money, and had scattered all over the West from Ohio to the limits of +civilization a great number of "stations" as they called them where any +man "of the right stripe" might hide either himself or his unlawful or +stolen goods. "A raise" was stolen property. "A sight" was a prospect +for a robbery, and to commit it was, to "raise the sight," or if it was +a burglary or a highway robbery, the man robbed was "raked down." A man +killed was "nepoed"--a word which many new settlers in Wisconsin got +from the Indians[9]. + +[9] This bit of frontier argot was rather common in the West in the +'fifties. The reappearance in the same sense of "napoo" for death in the +armies of the Allies in France is a little surprising.--G.v.d.M. + +In a country in which horses constitute the means of communication, the +motive power for the farm and the most easily marketable form of +property, the stealing of horses was the commonest sort of crime; and +where the population was so sparse and unorganized, and unprovided with +means of sending news abroad, horse-stealing, offering as it did to the +criminally inclined a ready way of making an easy living, gradually grew +into an occupation which flourished, extended into other forms of crime, +had its connections with citizens who were supposed to be honest, +entered our politics, and finally was the cause of a terrible crisis in +the affairs of Monterey County, and, indeed, of other counties in Iowa +as well as in Illinois. + +I softly reached for my shotgun, and then lay very quiet, hoping that +the band would pass our camp by. There were three men as I made them +out, each riding one horse and leading another. They had evidently made +their way into the creek at some point higher up, and were wading +down-stream so as to leave no trail. Cursing as their mounts plunged +into the deep holes in the high water, calling one another and their +steeds the vilest of names seemingly as a matter of ordinary +conversation, they went on down-stream and out of hearing. It did not +take long for even my slow mind to see that they had come to this grove +as I had done, for the purpose of hiding, nor to realize that it might +be very unsafe for us to be detected in any discovery of these men in +possession of whatever property they might have seized. It did not seem +probable that we should be "nepoed"--but, after all, why not? Dead men +tell no tales, cattle as well as merchandise were salable; and as for +Virginia, I could hardly bring myself to look in the face the dangers to +which she might be exposed in this worst case which I found myself +conjuring up. + +I listened intently for any sound of the newcomers, but everything was +as silent as it had been before they had passed like evil spirits of the +night; and from this fact I guessed that, they had made camp farther +down-stream among the trees. I stepped to the back of the wagon, and +putting in my hand I touched the girl's hair. She took my hand in hers, +and then dropped it. + +"What is it?" she whispered. + +"Don't be scared," I said, "but be very still. Some men just went by, +and I'm afraid they are bad." + +"Is it that man?" she asked. + +"No," said I, "strangers--bad characters. I want them to go on without +knowing we're here." + +She seemed rather relieved at that, and told me that she was not +frightened. Then she asked me where they went. I told her, and said that +when it got lighter I meant to creep after them and see if they were +still in the grove. + +"Don't leave me," said she. "I reckon I'm a little frightened, after +all, and it's very lonesome in here all alone. Please get into the +wagon with me!" + +I said nothing. Instead I sat for some time on the wagon-tongue and +asked myself what I should do, and what she meant by this invitation. +At last I started up, and trembling like a man climbing the gallows, I +climbed into the wagon. There, sitting in the spring seat in the gown +she had worn yesterday, with her little shoes on the dashboard, sat +Virginia trying to wrap herself in the buffalo-robe. + +I folded it around her and took my seat by her side. With scarcely a +whisper between us we sat there and watched the stars wheel over to the +west and down to their settings. At last I felt her leaning over against +my shoulder, and found that she was asleep; and softly putting my arms +about her outside the warm buffalo-robe, I held her sleeping like a baby +until the shrill roundelays of the meadow-larks told me it was morning. + +Then after taking away my arms I awakened her. + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE GROVE OF DESTINY DOES ITS WORK + +Virginia opened her eyes and smiled at me. I think this was the first +time that she had given me more than just a trace of a smile; but now +she smiled, a very sweet winning smile; and getting spryly out of the +wagon she said that she had been a lazy and useless passenger all the +time she had been with me, and that from then on she was going to do the +cooking. I told her that I wasn't going to let her do it, that I was +strong and liked to cook; and I stammered and blundered when I tried to +hint that I liked cooking for her. She looked very dense at this and +insisted that I should build the fire, and show her where the things +were; and when I had done so she pinned back her skirts and went about +the work in a way that threw me into a high fever. + +"You may bring the new milk," said she, "and by that time I'll have a +fine breakfast for you." + +When the milk was brought, breakfast was still a little behindhand, but +she would not let me help. Anyhow, I felt in spite of my talk that I +wanted to do some other sort of service for her: I wanted to show off, +to prove myself a protector, to fight for her, to knock down or drive +off her foes and mine; and as I saw the light smoke curling up through +the tree-tops I asked myself where those men were who had made their way +past us in such a dark and secret sort of way and with so much bad talk +back there in the middle of the night. I wondered if they had camped +where they could see the smoke of our fire, or hear our voices or the +other sounds we made. + +I almost wished that they might. I had now in a dim, determined, +stubborn way claimed this girl in my heart for my own; and I felt +without really thinking of it, that I could best foreclose my lien by +defeating all comers before I dragged her yielding to my cave. It is the +way of all male animals--except spiders, perhaps, and bees--and a male +animal was all that I was that morning. I picked up my gun and told her +that I must find out where those men were before breakfast. + +"No, no!" said she anxiously, "don't leave me! They might shoot +you--and--then--" + +I smiled disdainfully. + +"If there's any shooting to be done, I'll shoot first. I won't let them +see me, though; but I must find out what they are up to. Wait and keep +quiet. I'll soon be back." + +I knew that I should find their horses' hoof-marks at whatever place +they had left the stream; and I followed the brook silently, craftily +and slowly, like a hunter trailing a wild beast, examining the bank of +soft black rooty earth for their tracks. Once or twice I passed across +open spaces in the grove. Here I crept on my belly through the brush and +weeds shoving my gun along ahead of my body. + +My heart beat high. I never for a moment doubted the desperate character +of the men, and in this I think I showed good judgment; for what honest +horsemen would have left the Ridge Road, or if any honest purpose had +drawn them away, what honest men would have forced their horses to wade +in the channel of a swollen stream in the middle of the night? They must +have been trying to travel without leaving tracks, just as I had done. +Their talk showed them to be bad characters, and their fox-like actions +proved the case against them. So I crawled forward believing fully that +I should be in danger if they once found out that I had uncovered their +lurking-place. I carefully kept from making any thrashing or swishing of +boughs, any crackling of twigs, or from walking with a heavy footfall; +and I wondered more and more as I neared what I knew must be the other +end of the grove, why they had not left the water and made camp. For +what other purpose had they come to this patch of woods? + +At last I heard the stamping of horses, and I lay still for a while and +peered all about me for signs of the animals or their possessors. I +moved slowly, then, so as to bring first this open space in line with my +eyes, and then that, until, crawling like a lizard, I found my men. They +were lying on the ground, wrapped in blankets, all asleep, very near the +other end of the grove. In the last open spot of the timber, screened +from view from the prairie by clumps of willows and other bushes, were +six horses, picketed for grazing. There were two grays, a black, two +bays and a chestnut sorrel--the latter clearly a race-horse. They were +all good horses. There were rifles leaning against the trees within +reach of the sleeping men; and from under the coat which one of them was +using for a pillow there stuck out the butt of a navy revolver. + +Something--perhaps it was that consciousness which horses have of the +approach of other beings, scent, hearing, or a sense of their own which +we can not understand--made the chestnut race-horse lift his head and +nicker. One of the men rose silently to a sitting posture, and reached +for his rifle. For a moment he seemed to be looking right at me; but his +eyes passed on, and he carefully examined every bit of foliage and every +ant-hill and grass-mound, and all the time he strained his ears for +sounds. I held my breath. At last he lay down again; but in a few +minutes he got up, and woke the others. + +This was my first sight of Bowie Bushyager. Everybody in Monterey +County, and lots of other people will remember what the name of Bowie +Bushyager once meant; but it meant very little more than that of his +brother, Pitt Bushyager, who got up, grumbling and cursing when Bowie +shook him awake. Bowie was say twenty-eight then, and a fine specimen of +a man in build and size. He was six feet high, had a black beard which +curled about his face, and except for his complexion, which was almost +that of an Indian, his dead-black eye into which you could see no +farther than into a bullet, and for the pitting of his face by smallpox, +he would have been handsome. + +"Shut up!" said he to his brother Pitt. "It's time we're gittin' our +grub and pullin' out." + +Pitt was even taller than Bowie, and under twenty-five in years. His +face was smooth-shaven except for a short, curly black mustache and a +little goatee under his mouth His eyes were larger than Bowie's and deep +brown, his hair curled down over his rolling collar, and he moved with +an air of ease and grace that were in contrast with the slow power of +Bowie. There was no doubt of it--Pitt Bushyager was handsome in a rough, +daredevil sort of way. + +I am describing them, not from the memory of that morning, but because I +knew them well afterward. I knew all the Bushyager boys, and their +father and mother and sisters; and in spite of everything, I rather +liked both Pitt and Claib. Bowie was a forbidding fellow, and Asher, who +was between Bowie and Pitt in age, while he was as big and strong as any +of them, was the gentlest man I ever saw in his manners. He did more of +the planning than Bowie did. Claiborne Bushyager was about my own age; +while Forrest was older than Bowie. He was always able to convince +people that he was not a member of the gang, and now, an old +white-haired, soft-spoken man, still owns the original Bushyager farm, +with two hundred acres added, where I must confess he has always made +enough money by good farming to account for all the property he has. + +These men were an important factor in the history of Monterey County for +many years, and I knew all of them well; but had they known that I saw +them that morning in the grove I guess I should not have lived to write +this history; though it was years before the people came to believing +such things of them. The third man in the grove I never saw again. +Judging from what we learned afterward, I think it is safe to say that +this Unknown was one of the celebrated Bunker gang of bandits, whose +headquarters were on the Iowa River somewhere between Eldora and +Steamboat Rock, in Hardin County. He was a small man with light hair and +eyes, and kept both the Bushyagers on one side of him all the time I had +them in view. When he spoke it was almost in a whisper, and he kept +darting sharp glances from side to side all the time, and especially at +the Bushyagers. When they left he rode the black horse and led one of +the grays. I know, because I crept back to my own camp, took my +breakfast with Virginia, and then spied on the Bushyagers until +dinner-time. After dinner I still found them there arguing about the +policy of starting on or waiting until night. Bowie wanted to start; but +finally the little light-haired man had his way; and they melted away +across the knolls to the west just after sunset. I returned with all the +air of having driven them off, and ate my third meal cooked by +Virginia Royall. + +2 + +I do not know how long we camped in this lonely little forest; for I +lost reckoning as to time. Once in a while Virginia would ask me when I +thought it would be safe to go on our way; and I always told her that it +would be better to wait. + +I had forgotten my farm. When I was with her, I could not overcome my +bashfulness, my lack of experience, my ignorance of every manner of +approach except that of the canallers to the waterside women, with which +I suddenly found myself as familiar through memory as with the route +from my plate to my mouth; that way I had fully made up my mind to +adopt; but something held me back. + +I now began leaving the camp and from some lurking-place in the distance +watching her as a cat watches a bird. I lived over in my mind a thousand +times the attack I would make upon her defense, and her yielding after a +show of resistance. I became convinced at last that she would not make +even a show of resistance; that she was probably wondering what I was +waiting for, and making up her mind that, after all, I was not much of +a man. + +I saw her one evening, after looking about to see if she was observed, +take off her stockings and go wading in the deep cool water of the +creek--and I lay awake at night wondering whether, after all, she had +not known that I was watching her, and had so acted for my benefit--and +then I left my tossed couch and creeping to the side of the wagon +listened, trembling in every limb, with my ear to the canvas until I was +able to make out her regular breathing only a few inches from my ear. +And when in going away--as I always did, finally--I made a little noise +which awakened her, she called and asked me if I had heard anything, I +said no, and pacified her by saying that I had been awake and watching +all the time. Then I despised myself for saying nothing more. + +I constantly found myself despising my own decency. I felt the girl in +my arms a thousand times as I had felt her for those delicious hours the +night she had invited me to share the wagon with her, and we had sat in +the spring seat wrapped in the buffalo-robe, as she slept with her head +on my shoulder. I tormented myself by asking if she had really slept, or +only pretended to sleep. Once away from her, once freed from the +innocent look in her eyes, I saw in her behavior that night every +advance which any real man might have looked for, as a signal to action. +Why had I not used my opportunity to make her love me--to force from her +the confession of her love? Had I not failed, not only in doing what I +would have given everything I possessed or ever hoped to possess to have +been able to do; but also had I not failed in that immemorial duty which +man owes to woman, and which she had expected of me? Would she not laugh +at me with some more forceful man when she had found him? Was she not +scorning me even now? + +I had heard women talk of greenhorns and backwoods boys in those days +when I had lived a life in which women played an important, a +disturbing, and a baleful part for every one but the boy who lived his +strange life on the tow-path or in the rude cabin; and now these outcast +women came back to me and through the very memories of them poisoned and +corrupted my nature. They peopled my dreams, with their loud voices, +their drunkenness, their oaths, their obscenities, their lures, their +tricks, their awful counterfeit of love; and, a figure apart from them +in these dreams, partaking of their nature only so far as I desired to +have it so, walked Virginia Royall, who had come to me across the +prairie to escape a life with Buckner Gowdy. But to the meaning of this +fact I shut the eye of my mind. I was I, and Gowdy was Gowdy. It was no +time for thought. Every moment I pressed closer and closer to that +action which I was sure would have been taken by Eben Sproule, or Bill +the Sailor--the only real friends I had ever possessed. + +We used to go fishing along the creek; and ate many a savory mess of +bullheads, sunfish and shiners, which I prepared and cooked. We had +butter, and the cows, eased of the labors of travel, grew sleek and +round, and gave us plenty of milk. I saved for Virginia all the eggs +laid by my hens, except those used by her in the cooking. She gave me +the daintiest of meals; and I taught her to make bread. To see her +molding it with her strong small hands, was enough to have made me +insane if I had had any sense left. She showed me how to make vinegar +pies; and I failed in my pies made of the purple-flowered prairie +oxalis; but she triumphed over me by using the deliriously acid leaves +as a flavoring for sandwiches--we were getting our first experience as +prairie-dwellers in being deprived of the common vegetable foods of the +garden and forest. One day I cooked a delicious mess of cowslip greens +with a ham-bone. She seemed to be happy; and I should have been if I had +not made myself so miserable. I remember almost every moment of this +time--so long ago. + +One day as we were fishing we were obliged to clamber along the bank +where a tree crowded us so far over the water that Virginia, in stooping +to pass under the body of the tree, was about to fall; and I jumped down +into the stream and caught her in my arms as she was losing her hold. I +found her arms about my neck as she clung to me; and, standing in the +water, I turned her about in my arms, rather roughly of necessity, +caught one arm about her waist and the other under the hollows of her +knees and held her so. + +"Don't let me fall," she begged. + +"I won't," I said--and I could say no more. + +"You've got your feet all wet," said she. + +"I don't care," I said--and stopped. + +"How clumsy of me!" she exclaimed. + +"It was a hard place to get around," said I. + +"I hope you didn't lose the fish," said she. + +"No," said I, "I dropped the string of them in the grass." + +Now this conversation lasted a second, from one way of looking at it, +and a very long time from another; and all the time I was standing +there, knee-deep in the water, with Virginia's arms about my neck, her +cheek almost against mine, one of my arms about her waist and the other +under the hollows of her knees--and I had made no movement for putting +her ashore. + +"You're very strong," said she, "or you would have dropped me in the +water." + +"Oh," said I, "that's nothing"--and I pressed her closer. + +"How will you get me back on land?" she asked; and really it was a +subject which one might have expected to come up sooner or later. + +I turned about with her and looked down-stream; then I turned back and +looked up-stream; then I looked across to the opposite bank, at least +six feet away; then I carried her up-stream for a few yards; then I +started back down-stream. + +"There's no good place there," said I--and I looked a long, long look +into her eyes which happened to be scanning my face just then. She +blushed rosily. + +"Any place will do," she said. "Let me down right here where I can get +the fish!" + +And slowly, reluctantly, with great pains that she should not be +scratched by briars, bitten by snakes, brushed by poison-ivy, muddied by +the wet bank, or threatened with another fall, I put her down. She +looked diligently in the grass for the fish, picked them up, and ran off +to camp. After she had disappeared, I heard the bushes rustle, and +looked up as I sat on the bank wringing the water from my socks and +pouring it from my boots. + +"Thank you for keeping me dry," said she. "You did it very nicely. And +now you must stay in the wagon while I dry your socks and boots for +you--you poor wet boy!" + + + +3 + +She had not objected to my holding her so long; she rather seemed to +like it; she seemed willing to go on camping here as long as I wished; +she was wondering why I was so backward and so bashful; she was in my +hands; why hold back? Why not use my power? If I did not I should make +myself forever ridiculous to all men and to all women--who, according to +my experience, were never in higher feather than when ridiculing some +greenhorn of a boy. This thing must end. My affair with Virginia must be +brought to a crisis and pushed to a decision. At once! + +I wandered off again and from my vantage-point I began to watch her and +gather courage from watching her. I could still feel her in my arms--so +much more of a woman than I had at first suspected from seeing her about +the camp. I could see her in my mind's eye wading the stream like a +beautiful ghost. I could think of nothing but her all the time,--of her +and the wild life of boats and backwoods harbors. + +And at last I grew suddenly calm. I began to laugh at myself for my lack +of decision. I would carefully consider the matter, and that night I +would act. + +I took my gun and wandered off across the prairie after a few birds for +our larder. There were upland plover in great plenty; and before I had +been away from the camp fifteen minutes I had several in my pockets. It +was early in the afternoon; but instead of walking back to camp at once +I sat down on a mound at the mouth of the old den of a wolf or badger +and laid my plans; much as a wolf or badger might have done. + +Then I went back. The sun was shining with slanting mid-afternoon rays +down among the trees by the creek. I looked for Virginia; but she was +not about the wagon, neither sitting in the spring seat, nor on her +box by the fire, nor under her favorite crabapple-tree. I looked boldly +in the wagon, without the timid tapping which I had always used to +announce my presence--for what did I care now for her privacy?--but she +was not there. I began searching for her along the creek in the secluded +nooks which abounded, and at last I heard her voice. + +I was startled. To whom could she be speaking? I would have nobody +about, now. I would show him, whoever he was! This grove was mine as +long as I wanted to stay there with my girl. The blood rose to my head +as I went quietly forward until I could see Virginia. + +She was alone! She had taken a blanket from the wagon and spread it on +the ground upon the grass under a spreading elm, and scattered about on +it were articles of clothing which she had taken from her satchel--that +satchel to which the poor child had clung so tightly while she had come +to my camp across the prairie on the Ridge Road that night--which now +seemed so long ago. There was a dress on which she had been sewing; for +the needle was stuck in the blanket with the thread still in the +garment; but she was not working. She had in her lap as she sat +cross-legged on the blanket, a little wax doll to which she was babbling +and talking as little girls do. She had taken off its dress, and was +carefully wiping its face, telling it to shut its eyes, saying that +mama wouldn't hurt it, asking it if she wasn't a bad mama to keep it +shut up all the time in that dark satchel, asking it if it wasn't afraid +in the dark, assuring it that mama wouldn't let anybody hurt it--and all +this in the sweetest sort of baby-talk. And then she put its dress on, +gently smoothed its hair, held it for a while against her bosom as she +swayed from side to side telling it to go to sleep, hummed gently a +cradle song, and put it back in the satchel as a mother might put her +sleeping baby in its cradle. I crept silently away. + +It was dark when I returned to camp, and she had supper ready and was +anxiously awaiting me. She ran to me and took my hand affectionately. + +"What kept you so long?" she asked earnestly. "I have been anxious. I +thought something must have happened to you!" + +And as we approached the fire, she looked in my face, and cried out in +astonishment. + +"Something has happened to you. You are as white as a sheet. What is it? +Are you sick? What shall I do if you get sick!" + +"No," I said, "I am not sick. I am all right--now." + +"But something has happened," she insisted. "You are weak as well as +pale. Let me do something for you. What was it?" + +"A snake," I said, for an excuse. "A rattlesnake. It struck at me and +missed. It almost struck me. I'll be all right now." + +The longer I live the surer I am that I told her very nearly the truth. + +That night we sat up late and talked. She was only a dear little child, +now, with a bit of the mother in her. She was really affectionate to me, +more so than ever before, and sometimes I turned cold as I thought of +how her affection might have been twisted into deviltry had it not been +so strangely brought home to me that she was a child, with a good deal +of the mother in her. I turned cold as I thought of her playing with her +doll while I had been out on the prairie laying poison plots against her +innocence, her defenselessness, her trust in me. + +Why, she was like my mother! I had not thought of my mother for days. +When she had been young like Virginia, she must have been as beautiful; +and she had played with dolls; but never except while she was an +innocent child, as Virginia now was. + +For the first time I talked of mother to Virginia. I told her of my +mother's goodness to me while Rucker was putting me out to work in the +factory--and Virginia grew hot with anger at Rucker, and very pitiful of +the poor little boy going to work before daylight and coming home after +dark. I told her of my running away, and of my life on the canal, with +all the beautiful things I had seen and the interesting things I had +done, leaving out the fighting and the bad things. I told her of how I +had lost my mother, and my years of search for her, ending at that +unmarked grave by the lake. Virginia's eyes shone with tears and she +softly pressed my hand. + +I took from my little iron-bound trunk that letter which I had found in +the old hollow apple-tree, and we read it over together by the +flickering light of a small fire which I kindled for the purpose; and +from the very bottom of the trunk, wrapped in a white handkerchief +which I had bought for this use, I took that old worn-out shoe which I +had found that dark day at Tempe--and I began telling Virginia how it +was that it was so run over, and worn in such a peculiar way. + +My mother had worked so hard for me that she had had a good deal of +trouble with her feet--and such a flood of sorrow came over me that I +broke down and cried. I cried for my mother, and for joy at being able +to think of her again, and for guilt, and with such a mingling of +feeling that finally I started to rush off into the darkness--but +Virginia clung to me and wiped away my tears and would not let me go. +She said she was afraid to be left alone, and wanted me with her--and +that I was a good boy. She didn't wonder that my mother wanted to work +for me--it must have been almost the only comfort she had. + +"If she had only lived," I said, "so I could have made a home for her!" + +"She knows all about that," said Virginia; "and when she sees you making +a home for some one else, how happy it will make her!" + +Virginia was the older of the two, now, the utterer of words of comfort; +and I was the child. The moon rose late, but before we retired it +flooded the grove with light. The wolves howled on the prairie, and the +screech-owls cried pitifully in the grove; but I was happy. I told +Virginia that we must break camp in the morning and move on. I must get +to my land, and begin making that home. She sighed; but she did not +protest. She would always remember this sojourn in the grove, she said; +she had felt so safe! She hardly knew what she would do when we reached +the next settlement; but she must think out some way to get back to +Kentucky. When the time came for her to retire, I carried her to the +wagon and lifted her in--and then went to my own bed to sleep the first +sound sweet sleep I had enjoyed for days. The air had been purified by +the storm. + + + +CHAPTER XI + +IN DEFENSE OF THE PROPRIETIES + +Virginia and I arrived in Waterloo about two days after we left the +Grove of Destiny, as my granddaughter Gertrude insists on calling the +place at which we camped after we left Independence. We went in a sort +of rather-guess way back to the Ridge Road, very happy, talking to each +other about ourselves all the while, and admiring everything we saw +along the way. + +The wild sweet-williams were in bloom, now, and scattered +among them were the brilliant orange-colored puccoons; and the grass +even on the knolls was long enough to wave in the wind like a rippling +sea. It was a cool and sunny spell of weather, with fleecy clouds +chasing one another up from the northwest like great ships under full +sail running wing-and-wing before the northwest wind which blew strong +day and night. It was a new sort of weather to me--the typical +high-barometer weather of the prairies after a violent "low." The +driving clouds on the first day were sometimes heavy enough to spill +over a scud of rain (which often caught Virginia like a cold splash from +a hose), and were whisked off to the southeast in a few minutes, +followed by a brilliant burst of sunshine--and all the time the shadows +of the clouds raced over the prairie in big and little bluish patches +speeding forever onward over a groundwork of green and gold dotted with +the white and purple and yellow of the flowers. + +We were now on terms of simple trust and confidence. We played. We bet +each other great sums of money as to whether or not the rain-scud coming +up in the west would pass over us, or miss us, or whether or not the +shadow of a certain cloud would pass to the right or the left. People +with horse teams who were all the time passing us often heard us +laughing, and looked at us and smiled, waving their hands, as Virginia +would cry out, "I won that time!" or "You drove slow, just to beat me!" +or "Well, I lost, but you owe me twenty-five thousand dollars yet!" + +Once an outfit with roan horses and a light wagon stopped and hailed us. +The woman, sitting by her husband, had been pointing at us and +talking to him. + +"Right purty day," he said. + +"Most of the time," I answered; for it had just sloshed a few barrels of +water from one of those flying clouds and forced us to cover +ourselves up. + +"Where's your folks?" he asked. + +"We ain't too old to travel alone," I replied; "but we'll catch up with +the young folks at Waterloo!" + +He laughed and whipped up his team. + +"Go it while you're young!" he shouted as he went out of hearing. + +We were rather an unusual couple, as any one could see; though most +people doubtless supposed that there were others of our party riding +back under the cover. Virginia had not mentioned Buckner Gowdy since we +camped in the Grove of Destiny; and not once had she looked with her old +look of terror at an approaching or overtaking team, or scuttled back +into the load to keep from being seen. I guess she had come to believe +in the sufficiency of my protection. + +2 + +Waterloo was a town of seven or eight years of age--a little straggling +village on the Red Cedar River, as it was then called, building its +future on the growth of the country and the water-power of the stream. +It was crowded with seekers after "country," and its land dealers and +bankers were looking for customers. It seemed to be a strong town in +money, and I had a young man pointed out to me who was said to command +unlimited capital and who was associated with banks and land companies +in Cedar Rapids and Sioux City,--I suppose he was a Greene, a Weare, a +Graves, a Johnson or a Lusch. Many were talking of the Fort Dodge +country, and of the new United States Land Office which was just then on +the point of opening at Fort Dodge. They tried to send me to several +places where land could be bought cheaply, in the counties between the +Cedar and the Iowa Rivers, and as far west as Webster County; but when I +told them that I had bought land they at once lost interest in me. + +We camped down by the river among the trees, and it was late before we +were free to sleep, on account of the visits we received from movers and +land men; but finally the camp-fires died down, the songs ceased, the +music of accordions and fiddles was heard no more, and the camp of +emigrants became silent. + +Virginia bade me good night, and I rolled up in my blankets under the +wagon. I began wondering, after the questions which had been asked as +to our relationship, just what was to be the end of this strange journey +of the big boy and the friendless girl. We were under some queer sort of +suspicion--that was clear. Two or three wives among the emigrants had +tried to get a word with Virginia in private; and some of the men had +grinned and winked at me in a way that I should have been glad to notice +according to my old canal habits; but I had sense enough to see that +that would never do. + +Virginia was now as free from care as if she had been traveling with her +brother; and what could I say? What did I want to say? By morning I had +made up my mind that I would take her to my farm and care for her there, +regardless of consequences--and I admit that I was not clear as to the +proprieties. Every one was a stranger to every one else in this country. +Whose business was it anyhow? Doctor Bliven and his companion--I had +worked out a pretty clear understanding of their case by this time--were +settling in the new West and leaving their past behind them. Who could +have anything to say against it if I took this girl with me to my farm, +cared for her, protected her; and gave her the home that nobody else +seemed ready to give? + +"Do you ever go to church?" asked Virginia. "It's Sunday." + +"Is there preaching here to-day?" I asked. + +"Don't you hear the bell?" she inquired. + +"Let's go!" said I. + +We were late; and the heads of the people were bowed in prayer as we +went in; so we stood by the door until the prayer was over. The preacher +was Elder Thorndyke. I was surprised at seeing him because he had told +me that he and his wife were going to Monterey Centre; but there he was, +laboring with his text, speaking in a halting manner, and once in a +while bogging down in a dead stop out of which he could not pull himself +without giving a sort of honk like a wild goose. It was his way. I never +sat under a preacher who had better reasoning powers or a worse way of +reasoning. Down in front of him sat Grandma Thorndyke, listening +intently, and smiling up to him whenever he got in hub-deep; but at the +same time her hands were clenched into fists in her well-darned +black-silk gloves. + +I did not know all this then, for her back was toward us; but I saw it +so often afterward! It was that honking habit of the elder's which had +driven them, she often told me, from New England to Ohio, then to +Illinois, and finally out to Monterey Centre. The new country caught the +halt like Elder Thorndyke, the lame like the Fewkeses, the outcast like +the Bushyagers and the Blivens, the blind like me, the far-seeing like +N.V. Creede, the prophets like old Dunlap the Abolitionist and Amos +Thatcher, and the great drift of those who felt a drawing toward the +frontier like iron filings to a magnet, or came with the wind of +emigration like tumble-weeds before the autumn blast. + +I remembered that when Virginia was with me back there by the side of +the road that first day, Elder Thorndyke and his wife had come by +inquiring for her; and I did not quite relish the idea of being found +here with her after all these long days; so when church was out I took +Virginia by the hand and tried to get out as quickly as possible; but +when we reached the door, there were Elder Thorndyke and grandma +shaking hands with the people, and trying to be pastoral; though it was +clear that they were as much strangers as we. The elder was filling the +vacant pulpit that day by mere chance, as he told me; but I guess he was +really candidating a little after all. It would have been a bad thing +for Monterey Centre if he had received the call. + +They greeted Virginia and me with warm handclasps and hearty inquiries +after our welfare; and we were passing on, when Grandma Thorndyke headed +us off and looked me fairly in the face. + +"Why," said she, "you're that boy! Wait a minute." + +She stepped over and spoke to her husband, who seemed quite in the dark +as to what she was talking about. She pointed to us--and then, in +despair, she came back to us and asked us if we wouldn't wait until the +people were gone, as she wanted us to meet her husband. + +"Oh, yes," said Virginia, "we'll be very glad to." + +"Let us walk along together," said grandma, after the elder had joined +us. "Ah--this is my husband, Mr. Thorndyke, Miss--" + +"Royall," said Virginia, "Virginia Royall. And this is Jacob Vandemark." + +"Where do you live?" asked grandma. + +"I'm going out to my farm in Monterey County," I said; "and Virginia +is--is--riding with me a while." + +"We are camping," said Virginia, smiling, "down by the river. Won't you +come to dinner with us?" + +3 + +Grandma ran to some people who were waiting, I suppose, to take them to +the regular minister's Sunday dinner, and seemed to be making some sort +of plea to be excused. What it could have been I have no idea; but I +suspect it must have been because of the necessity of saving souls; some +plea of duty; anyhow she soon returned, and with her and the elder we +walked in silence down to the grove where our wagon stood among the +trees, with my cows farther up-stream picketed in the grass. + +"Just make yourselves comfortable," said I; "while I get dinner." + +"And," said the elder, "I'll help, if I may." + +"You're company," I said. + +"Please let me," he begged; "and while we work we'll talk." + +In the meantime Grandma Thorndyke was turning Virginia inside out like a +stocking, and looking for the seamy side. She carefully avoided asking +her about our whereabouts for the last few days, but she scrutinized +Virginia's soul and must have found it as white as snow. She found out +how old she was, how friendless she was, how--but I rather think not +why--Virginia had run away from Buck Gowdy; and all that could be +learned about me which could be learned without entering into details of +our hiding from the world together all those days alone on the trackless +prairie. That subject she avoided, though of course she must have had +her own ideas about it. And after that, she came and helped me with the +dinner, talking all the time in such a way as to draw me out as to my +past. I told her of my life on the canal--and she looked distrustfully +at me. I told her of my farm, and of how I got it; and that brought out +the story of my long hunt for my mother, and of my finding of her +unmarked grave. Of my relations with Virginia she seemed to want no +information. By the time our dinner was over--one of my plentiful +wholesome meals, with some lettuce and radishes and young onions I had +bought the night before--we were chatting together like old friends. + +"That was a better dinner," said the elder, "than we'd have had at Mr. +Smith's." + +"But Jacob, here," said grandma, "is not a deacon of the church." + +"That doesn't lessen my enjoyment of the dinner," said the elder. + +"No," said Grandma Thorndyke dryly, "I suppose not. But now let us talk +seriously. This child"--taking Virginia's hand--"is the girl they were +searching for back there along the road." + +"Ah," said the elder. + +"She had perfectly good reasons for running away," went on Grandma +Thorndyke, "and she is not going back to that man. He has no claim upon +her. He is not her guardian. He is only the man who married her +sister--and as I firmly believe, killed her!" + +"I wouldn't say that," said the elder. + +"Now I calculate," said Grandma Thorndyke, "and unless I am corrected I +shall so report--and I dare any one to correct me!--that this +child"--squeezing Virginia's hand--"had taken refuge at some dwelling +along the road, and that this morning--not later than this morning--as +Jacob drove along into Waterloo he overtook Virginia walking into town +where she was going to seek a position of some kind. So that you two +children were together not longer than from seven this morning until +just before church. You ought not to travel on the Sabbath!" + +"No, ma'am," said I; for she was attacking me. + +"Now we are poor," went on Grandma Thorndyke, "but we never have starved +a winter yet; and we want a child like you to comfort us, and to help +us--and we mustn't leave you as you are any longer. You must ride on +with Mr. Thorndyke and me." + +This to Virginia--who stretched out her hands to me, and then buried her +face in them in Grandma Thorndyke's lap. She was crying so that she did +not hear me when I asked: + +"Why can't we go on as we are? I've got a farm. I'll take care of her!" + +"Children!" snorted grandma. "Babes in the wood!" + +I think she told the elder in some way without words to take me off to +one side and talk to me; for he hummed and hawed, and asked me if I +wouldn't show him my horses. I told him that I was driving cows, and +went with him to see them. I now had six again, besides those I had left +with Mr. Westervelt back along the road toward Dubuque; and it took me +quite a while to explain to him how I had traded and traded along the +road, first my two horses for my first cows, and then always giving one +sound cow for two lame ones, until I had great riches for those days +in cattle. + +He thought this wonderful, and said that I was a second Job; and had +every faculty for acquiring riches. I had actually made property while +moving, an operation that was so expensive that it bankrupted many +people. It was astonishing, he insisted; and began looking upon me with +more respect--making property being the thing in which he was weakest, +except for laying up treasures in Heaven. He was surprised, too, to +learn that cows could be made draught animals. He had always thought of +them as good for nothing but giving milk. In fact I found myself so much +wiser than he was in the things we had been discussing that when he +began to talk to me about Virginia and the impossibility of our going +together as we had been doing, it marked quite a change in our +relationship--he having been the scholar and I the teacher. + +"Quite a strange meeting," said he, "between you and Miss Royall." + +"Yes," said I, thinking it over, from that first wolf-hunted approach to +my camp to our yesterday of clouds and sunshine; "I never had anything +like it happen to me." + +"Mrs. Thorndyke," said he, "is a mighty smart woman. She knows what'll +do, and what won't do better than--than any of us." + +I wasn't ready to admit this, and therefore said nothing. + +"Don't you think so?" he asked. + +"I do' know," I said, a little sullenly. + +"A girl," said he, "has a pretty hard time in life if she loses her +reputation." + +Again I made no reply. + +"You are just two thoughtless children," said he; "aren't you now?" + +"She's nothing," said I, "but a little innocent child!" + +"Now that's so," said he, "that's so; but after all she's old enough so +that evil things might be thought of her--evil things might be said; and +there'd be no answer to them, no answer. Why, she's a woman grown--a +woman grown; and as for you, you're getting a beard. This won't do, you +know; it is all right if there were just you and Miss Royall and my wife +and me in the world; but you wouldn't think for a minute of traveling +with this little girl the way you have been--the way you speak of doing, +I mean--if you knew that in the future, when she must make her way in +the world with nothing but her friends, this little boy-and-girl +experience might take her friends from her; and when she will have +nothing but her good name you don't want, and would not for the world +have anything thoughtlessly done now, that might take her good name from +her. You are too young to understand this as you will some day----" + +"The trouble with me," I blurted out, "is that I've never had much to do +with good women--only with my mother and Mrs. Fogg--and they could never +have anything said against them--neither of them!" + +"Where have you lived all your life?" he asked. + +Then I told him of the way I had picked up my hat and come up instead of +being brought up, of the women along the canal, of her who called +herself Alice Rucker, of the woman who stole across the river with +me--but I didn't mention her name--of as much as I could think of in my +past history; and all the time Elder Thorndyke gazed at me with +increasing interest, and with something the look we have in listening to +tales of midnight murder and groaning ghosts. I must have been an +astonishing sort of mystery to him. Certainly I was a castaway and an +outcast to his ministerial mind; and boy as I was, he seemed to feel for +me a sort of awed respect mixed up a little with horror. + +"Heavenly Father!" he blurted out. "You have escaped as by the skin of +your teeth." + +"I do' know," said I. + +"But don't you understand," he insisted, "that this trip has got to end +here? Suppose your mother, when she was a child in fact, but a woman +grown also, like Miss Royall, had been placed as she is with a boy of +your age and one who had lived your life----" + +"No," said I, "it won't do. You can have her!" + + + +4 + +I really felt as if I was giving up something that had belonged to me. I +felt the pangs of renunciation. + +We walked back to the wagon in silence, and found Virginia and Grandma +Thorndyke sitting on the spring seat with grandma's arm about the girl, +with a handkerchief in her hand, just as if she had been wiping the +tears from Virginia's eyes; but the girl was laughing and talking in a +manner more lively than I had ever seen her exhibit. She was as happy, +apparently, as I was gloomy and downcast. + +I wanted the Thorndykes to go away so that I could have a farewell talk +with Virginia; but they stayed on and stayed on, and finally, after +dark, grandma rose with a look at Virginia which she seemed to +understand, and they took my girl's satchel and all walked off together +toward the tavern. + +I sat down and buried my face in my hands, Virginia's good-by had been +so light, so much like the parting of two mere strangers. And after all +what was I to her but a stranger? She was of a different sort from me. +She had lived in cities. She had a good education--at least I thought +so. She was like the Thorndykes--city folks, educated people, who could +have no use for a clodhopper like me, a canal hand, a rough character. +And just as I had plunged myself into the deepest despair, I heard a +light footfall, and Virginia knelt down before me on the ground and +pulled my hands from my eyes. + +"Don't cry," said she. "We'll see each other again. I came back to bid +you good-by, and to say that you've been so good to me that I can't +think of it without tears! Good-by, Jacob!" + +She lifted my face between her two hands, kissed me the least little +bit, and ran off. Back in the darkness I saw the tall figure of Grandma +Thorndyke, who seemed to be looking steadily off into the distance. +Virginia locked arms with her and they went away leaving me with my cows +and my empty wagon--filled with the goods in which I took so much pride +when I left Madison. + +With the first rift of light in the east I rose from my sleepless bed +under the wagon--I would not profane her couch inside by occupying +it--and yoked up my cattle. Before noon I was in Cedar Falls; and from +there west I found the Ridge Road growing less and less a beaten track +owing to decreasing travel; but plainly marked by stakes which those two +pioneers had driven along the way as I have said for the guidance of +others in finding a road which they had missed themselves. + +We were developing citizenship and the spirit of America. Those wagon +loads of stakes cut on the Cedar River in 1854 and driven in the prairie +sod as guides for whoever might follow showed forth the true spirit of +the American pioneer. + +But I was in no frame of mind to realize this. I was drawing nearer and +nearer my farm, but for a day or so this gave me no pleasure. My mind +was on other things. I was lonelier than I had been since I found Rucker +in Madison. I talked to no one--I merely followed the stakes--until one +morning I pulled into a strange cluster of houses out on the green +prairie, the beginning of a village. I drew up in front of its +blacksmith shop and asked the name of the place. The smith lifted his +face from the sole of the horse he was shoeing and replied, +"Monterey Centre." + +I looked around at my own county, stretching away in green waves on all +sides of the brand-new village; which was so small that it did not +interfere with the view. I had reached my own county! I had been a part +of it on this whole wonderful journey, getting acquainted with its +people, picking up the threads of its future, now its history. + +Prior to this time I had been courting the country; now I was to be +united with it in that holy wedlock which binds the farmer to the soil +he tills. Out of this black loam was to come my own flesh and blood, and +the bodies, and I believe, in some measure, the souls of my children. +Some dim conception of this made me draw in a deep, deep breath of the +fresh prairie air. + + + +CHAPTER XII + +HELL SLEW, ALIAS VANDEMARK'S FOLLY + +That last night before I reached my "home town" of Monterey Centre, I +had camped within two or three miles of the settlement. I forgot all +that day to inquire where I was: so absent-minded was I with all my +botheration because of losing Virginia. I was thinking all the time of +seeing her again, wondering if I should ever see her alone or to speak +to her, ashamed of my behavior toward her--in my thoughts at +least--vexed because I had felt toward her, except for the last two or +three days, things that made it impossible to get really acquainted and +friendly with her. I was absorbed in the attempt to figure out the +meaning of her friendly acts when we parted, especially her coming back, +as I was sure she had, against the will of Grandma Thorndyke; and that +kiss she had given me was a much greater problem than making time on my +journey: I lived it over and over again a thousand times and asked +myself what I ought to have done when she kissed me, and never feeling +satisfied with myself for not doing more of something or other, I knew +not what. It was well for me that my teams were way-wised so that they +drove themselves. I could have made Monterey Centre easily that night; +for it was only about eight o'clock by the sun next morning when I +pulled up at the blacksmith shop, and was told by Jim Boyd, the smith, +that I was in Monterey Centre. + +And now I did not know what to do. I did not know where my land was, nor +how to find out. Monterey Prairie was as blank as the sea, except for a +few settlers' houses scattered about within a mile or two of the +village. I sat scratching my head and gazing about me like a lunkhead +while Boyd finished shoeing a horse, and had begun sharpening the lay of +a breaking-plow--when up rode Pitt Bushyager on one of the horses he and +his gang had had in the Grove of Destiny back beyond Waterloo. + +I must have started when I saw him; for he glanced at me sharply and +suspiciously, and his dog-like brown eyes darted about for a moment, as +if the dog in him had scented game: then he looked at my jaded cows, at +my muddy wagon, its once-white cover now weather-beaten and ragged, and +at myself, a buttermilk-eyed, tow-headed Dutch boy with a face covered +with down like a month-old gosling; and his eyes grew warm and friendly, +as they usually looked, and his curly black mustache parted from his +little black goatee with a winning smile. After he had turned his horse +over to the smith, he came over and talked with me. He said he had seen +cows broken to drive by the Pukes--as we used to call the +Missourians--but never except by those who were so "pore" that they +couldn't get horses, and he could see by my nice outfit, and the number +of cows I had, that I could buy and sell some of the folks that drove +horses. What was my idea in driving cows? + +"They are faster than oxen," I said, "and they'll make a start in stock +for me when I get on my farm; and they give milk when you're traveling. +I traded my horses for my first cows, and I've been trading one sound +cow for two lame ones all along the road. I've got some more back +along the way." + +"Right peart notion," said he. "I reckon you'll do for Iowa. Where you +goin'?" + +Then I explained about my farm, and my problem in finding it. + +"Oh, that's easy!" said he. "Oh, Mr. Burns!" he called to a man standing +in a doorway across the street. "Come over here, if you can make it +suit. He's a land-locater," he explained to me. "Makes it a business to +help newcomers like you to get located. Nice man, too." + +By this time Henderson L. Burns had started across the street. He was +dressed stylishly, and came with a sort of prance, his head up and his +nostrils flaring like a Jersey bull's, looking as popular as a man could +appear. We always called him "Henderson L." to set him apart from Hiram +L. Burns, a lawyer that tried to practise here for a few years, and +didn't make much of an out of it. + +"Mr. Burns," said Pitt Bushyager, "this is Mr.--" + +"Vandemark," said I: "Jacob Vandemark"--you see I did not know then that +my correct name is Jacobus. + +"Mine's Bushyager," said he, "Pitt Bushyager, Got a raft of brothers and +sisters--so you'll know us better after a while. Mr. Burns, this is Mr. +Vandemark." + +"Glad to meet you, Mr. Vandemark," said Henderson L., flaring his +nostrils, and shaking my hand till it ached. "Hope you're locating in +Monterey County. Father with you?" + +"No," said I, "I am alone in the world--and this outfit is all I've +got." + +"Nice outfit," said he. "Good start for a young fellow; and let me give +you a word of advice. Settle in Monterey County, as close to Monterey +Centre as you can get. People that drive through, hunting for the +earthly paradise, are making a great mistake; for this is the garden +spot of the garden of the world. This is practically, and will without a +shadow of doubt be permanently the county-seat of the best county in +Iowa, and that means the best in the known world. We are just the right +distance from the river to make this the location of the best town in +the state, and probably eventually the state capital. Land will increase +in value by leaps and bounds. No stumps, no stones, just the right +amount of rainfall--the garden spot of the West, Mr. Vandemark, the +garden spot--" + +"This boy," said Pitt Bushyager, "has land already entered. I told him +you'd be able to show it to him." + +"Land already entered?" he queried. "I don't seem to remember the name +of Vandemark on the records. Sure it's in this county?" + +I went back to the little flat package in the iron-bound trunk, found my +deed, and gave it to him. He examined it closely. + +"Not recorded," said he. "Out near Hell Slew, somewhere. Better let me +take you over to the recorder's office, and have him send it in for +record. Name of John Rucker on the records. I think the taxes haven't +been paid for a couple of years. Better have him send and get a +statement. I'll take you to the land. That's my business--guarantee it's +the right place, find the corners, and put you right as a trivet all for +twenty-five dollars." + +"To-day?" I asked. "I want to get to breaking." + +"Start as soon as we get through here," said he as we entered the little +board shack which bore the sign, "County Offices." "No time to lose if +you're going to plant anything this year. Le'me have that deed. This is +Mr. Vandemark, Bill." + +I don't remember what "Bill's" full name was, for he went back to the +other county as soon as the government of Monterey was settled. He took +my deed, wrote a memorandum of filing on the back of it, and tossed it +into a basket as if it amounted to nothing, after giving me a receipt +for it. Henderson L. had some trouble to get me to leave the deed, and +the men about the little substitute for a court-house thought it mighty +funny, I guess; but I never could see anything funny about being +prudent. Then he got his horse, hitched to a buckboard buggy, and wanted +me to ride out to the land with him; but I would not leave my cows and +outfit. Henderson L. said he couldn't bother to wait for cows; but when +he saw my shotgun, and the twenty-five dollars which I offered him, he +said if I would furnish the gun and ammunition he would kill time along +the road, so that the whole outfit could be kept together. He even +waited while I dickered with Jim Boyd for a breaking plow, which I +admitted I should need the first thing, as soon as Jim mentioned it +to me[10]. + +[10] The date on the deed shows this to have been May 25, 1855--the day +the author first saw what has since become Vandemark Township. Although +its history is so far written, the township was not yet legally in +existence.--G.v.d.M. + +"This is Mr. Thorkelson," said he as he rejoined me after two or three +false starts. "He's going to be a neighbor of yours. I'm going to +locate him on a quarter out your way--Mr. Vandemark, Mr. Thorkelson." + +Magnus Thorkelson gave me his hand bashfully. He was then about +twenty-five; and had on the flat cap and peasant's clothes that he wore +on the way over from Norway. He had red hair and a face spotted with +freckles; and growing on his chin and upper lip was a fiery red beard. +He was so tall that Henderson L. tried to tell him not to come to the +Fourth of July celebration, or folks might think he was the fireworks; +but Magnus only smiled. I don't believe he understood: for at that time +his English was not very extensive; but after all, he is as silent now +as he was then. We looked down on all kinds of "old countrymen" then, +and thought them much below us; but Magnus and I got to be friends as we +drove the cows across the prairie, and we have been friends ever since. +It was not until years after that I saw what a really remarkable man +Magnus was, physically, and mentally--he was so mild, so silent, so +gentle. He carried a carpetbag full of belongings in one hand, which he +put in the wagon, and a fiddle in its case in the other. It was a long +time, too, before I began to feel how much better his fiddling was than +any I had ever heard. It didn't seem to have as much tune to it as the +old-style fiddling, and he would hardly ever play for dances; but his +fiddle just seemed to sing. He became a part of the history of Vandemark +Township; and was the first fruits of the Scandinavian movement to our +county so far as I know. + +2 + +As we turned back over the way I had come for about half a mile, we met +coming into town, the well-known spanking team of horses of Buckner +Gowdy; but now it was hitched to a light buggy, but was still driven by +Pinck Johnson, who had the horses on a keen gallop as if running after a +doctor for snake-bite or apoplexy. It was the way Gowdy always went +careering over the prairies, killing horses by the score, and laughingly +answering criticisms by saying that there would be horses left in the +world after he was gone. He said he hadn't time to waste on saving +horses; but he always had one or two teams that he took good care of; +and once in a while Pinck Johnson went back, to Kentucky, it was said, +and brought on a fresh supply. As they came near to us the negro pulled +up, and halted just after they had passed us. We stopped, and Gowdy came +back to my wagon. + +"How do you do, Mr. Vandemark," he said. "I am glad to see that you +survived all the dangers of the voyage." + +"How-de-do," I answered, looking as blank as I could; for Virginia was +on my mind as soon as I saw him. "I come slow, but I'm here." + +All through this talk, Gowdy watched my face as if to catch me telling +something crooked; and I made up my mind to give him just enough of the +truth to cover what he was sure to find out whether I told him or not. + +"Did you pick up any passengers as you came along?" he asked, with a +sharp look. + +"Yes," I said. "I had a lawyer with me for a day or two--Mr. Creede." + +"Heard of him," said Gowdy. "Locating over at our new town of +Lithopolis, isn't he? See anybody you knew on the way?" + +"Yes," I said. "I saw your sister-in-law in Waterloo. She was with a +minister and his wife--a Mr. and Mrs. Thorndyke--or something +like that." + +"Yes," said Gowdy, trying to be calm. "Friends of ours--of hers." + +"They're here in the city," said Henderson L. "He's going to be the new +preacher." + +"I know," said Gowdy. "I know. Able man, too. How did it happen that I +didn't see your outfit, Mr. Vandemark? I went back over the road after I +passed you there at the mud-hole, and returned, and wondered why I +didn't see you. Thought you had turned off and given Monterey County up. +Odd I didn't see you." And all the time he was looking at me like a +lawyer cross-examining a witness. + +"Oh," said I, "I went off the road a few miles to break in some cattle I +had traded for, and to let them get over their sore-footedness, and to +leave some that I couldn't bring along. I had so many that I couldn't +make time. I'm going back for them as soon as I can get around to it. +You must have missed me that way." + +"Trust Mr. Vandemark," said he, "to follow off any cattle track that +shows itself. He is destined to be the cattle king of the prairies, Mr. +Burns. I'm needing all the men I can get, Mr. Vandemark, putting up my +house and barns and breaking prairie. I wonder if you wouldn't like to +turn an honest penny by coming over and working for me for a while?" + +He had been astonished and startled at the word that Virginia, after +escaping from him, had found friends, and tried to pass the matter off +as something of which he knew; but now he was quite his smiling, +confidential self again, talking as if his offering me work was a favor +he was begging in a warm and friendly sort of manner. I explained that +I myself was getting my farm in condition to live upon, but might be +glad to come to him later; and we drove on--I all the time sweating like +a butcher under the strain of this getting so close to my great +secret--and Virginia's. + +Would it not all have to come out finally? What would Gowdy do to get +Virginia back? Would he try at all? Did he have any legal right to her +control and custody? I trusted completely in Grandma Thorndyke's +protection of her--an army with banners would not have given me more +confidence; for I could not imagine any one making her do anything she +thought wrong, and ten armies with all the banners in the world could +not have forced her to allow anything improper--and she had said that +she and the elder were going to take care of the poor friendless +girl--yet, I looked back at the Gowdy buggy flying on toward the +village, in two minds as to whether or not I ought to go back and +do--something. If I could have seen what that something might have been, +I should probably have gone back; but I could not think just where I +came into the play here. + +So I went on toward the goal of all my ambitions, my square mile of Iowa +land, steered by Henderson L. Burns, who, between shooting prairie +chickens, upland plover and sickle-billed curlew, guided me toward my +goal by pointing out lone boulders, and the mounds in front of the dens +of prairie wolves and badgers. We went on for six miles, and finally +came to a place where the land slopes down in what is a pretty steep +hill for Iowa, to a level bottom more than a mile across, at the farther +side of which the land again rises to the general level of the country +in another slope, matching the one on the brow of which we halted. The +general course of the two hills is easterly and westerly, and we stood +on the southern side of the broad flat valley. + + + +3 + +As I write, I can look out over it. The drainage of the flat now runs +off through a great open ditch which I combined with my neighbors to +have dredged through by a floating dredge in 1897. The barge set in two +miles above me, and after it had dug itself down so as to get water in +which to float, it worked its way down to the river eight miles away. +The line of this ditch is now marked by a fringe of trees; but in 1855, +nothing broke the surface of the sea of grass except a few clumps of +plum trees and willows at the foot of the opposite slope, and here and +there along the line of the present ditch, there were ponds of open +water, patches of cattails, and the tent-like roofs of muskrat-houses. I +had learned enough of the prairies to see that this would be a miry +place to cross, if a crossing had to be made; so I waited for Henderson +L. to come up and tell me how to steer my course. + +"This is Hell Slew," said he as he came up. "But I guess we won't have +to cross. Le's see; le's see! Yes, here we are." + +He looked at his memorandum of the description of my land, looked about +him, drove off a mile south and came back, finally put his horse down +the hill to the base of it, and out a hundred yards in the waving grass +that made early hay for the town for fifteen years, he found the corner +stake driven by the government surveyors, and beckoned for me to +come down. + +"This is the southeast corner of your land," said he. "Looks like a +mighty good place for a man with as good a shotgun as that--ducks and +geese the year round!" + +"Where are the other corners?" I asked. + +"That's to be determined," he answered. + +To determine it, he tied his handkerchief about the felly of his buggy +wheel, held a pocket compass in his left hand to drive by, picked out a +tall rosin-weed to mark the course for me, and counted the times the +handkerchief went round as the buggy traveled on. He knew how many turns +made a mile. The horse's hoofs sucked in the wet sod as we got farther +out into the marsh, and then the ground rose a little and we went up +over a headland that juts out into the marsh; then we went down into the +slew again, and finally stopped in a miry place where there was a +flowing spring with tall yellow lady's-slippers and catkined willows +growing around it. After a few minutes of looking about, Burns found my +southwest corner. We made back to the edge of the slope, and Henderson +L. looked off to the north in despair. + +"My boy," said he, "I've actually located your two south corners, and +you can run the south line yourself from these stakes. The north line is +three hundred and twenty rods north of and parallel to it--and the east +and west lines will run themselves when you locate the north +corners--but I'll have to wait till the ground freezes, or get Darius +Green to help me--and the great tide of immigration hain't brought him +to this neck of the woods yet." + +"But where's my land?" I queried: for I did not understand all this +hocus-pocus of locating any given spot in the Iowa prairies in 1855. +"Where's my land?" + +"The heft of it," said he, "is right down there in Hell Slew. It's all +pretty wet; but I think you've got the wettest part of it; the best duck +ponds, and the biggest muskrat-houses. This slew is the only blot in the +'scutcheon of this pearl of counties, Mr. Vandemark--the only blot; and +you've got the blackest of it." + +I leaned back against the buggy, completely unnerved. Magnus put out his +hand as if to grasp mine, but I did not take it. There went through my +head that rhyme of Jackway's that he hiccoughed out as he drank with his +cronies--on my money--that day last winter back in Madison: "Sold again, +and got the tin, and sucked another Dutchman in!" This huge marsh was +what John Rucker, after killing my mother, had deeded me for my +inheritance! + +In that last word I had from her, the poor stained letter she left in +the apple-tree--perhaps it was her tears, and not the rain that had +stained it so--she had said: "I am going very far away, and if you ever +see this, keep it always, and whenever you see it remember that I would +always have died willingly for you, and that I am going to build up for +you a fortune which will give you a better life than I have lived." And +this was the fortune which she had built up for me! I hated myself for +having been gulled--it seemed as if I had allowed my mother to be +cheated more than myself. Good land, I thought, was selling in Monterey +County for two dollars an acre. The next summer when I bought an eighty +across the road so as to have more plow-land, I paid three dollars and a +half an acre, and sorrowed over it afterward: for in 1857 I could have +got all I wanted of the best land--if I had had the money, which I had +not--at a dollar and a quarter. At the going price then, in 1855, this +section of land, if it had been good land, would have been worth only +twelve or thirteen hundred dollars. At that rate, what was this swamp +worth? Nothing! + +I can still feel sorry for that poor boy, myself, green as grass, and +without a friend in the world to whom he could go for advice, halted in +his one-sided battle with the world, out there on the bare prairie, +looking out on what he thought was the scene of his ruin, and thinking +that every man's hand had been against him, and would always be. Where +were now all my dreams of fat cattle, sleek horses, waddling hogs, and +the fine house in which I had had so many visions of spending my life, +with a more or less clearly-seen wife--especially during those days +after Rowena Fewkes had told me how well she could cook, and proved it +by getting me my breakfast; and the later days of my stay in the Grove +of Destiny with Virginia Royall. Any open prairie farm, with no house, +nothing with which to make a house, and no home but a wagon, and no +companions but my cows would have been rather forbidding at first +glance; but this--I was certain I was ruined; I suppose I must have +looked a little bad, for Henderson L. laid his hand on my shoulder. + +"Don't cave in, my boy," said he. "You're young--and there's oceans of +good land to be had. Keep a stiff upper lip!" + +"I'll kill him!" I shouted. "I'll kill John Rucker!" + +"Don't, till you catch him," said Burns. "And what good would it do +anyhow?" + +"Is there any plow-land on it?" I asked, after getting control of +myself. + +"Some," said Henderson L. cheerfully. "Don't you remember that we drove +up over a spur of the hill back there? Well, all the dry land north of +our track is yours. Finest building-spot in the world, Jake. We'll make +a farm of this yet. Come back and I'll show you." + +4 + +So we went back and looked over all the dry ground I possessed, and +agreed that there were about forty acres of it, and as Burns insisted, +sixty in a dry season; and he stuck to it that a lot of that slew was as +good pasture especially in a dry time as any one could ask for. This +would be fine for a man as fond of cows as I was, though, of course, +cows could range at will all over the country. It was fine hay land, he +said, too, except in the wettest places; but it was true also, that any +one could make hay anywhere. + +I paid Henderson L., bade good-by to Magnus Thorkelson, drove my outfit +up on the "building-spot," and camped right where my biggest silo now +stands. I sat there all the afternoon, not even unhitching my teams, +listening as the afternoon drew on toward night, to the bitterns crying +"plum pudd'n'" from the marsh, to the queer calls of the water-rail, and +to the long-drawn "whe-e-ep--whe-e-e-ew!" of the curlews, as they +alighted on the prairie and stretched their wings up over their backs. + +I could never be much of a man, I thought, on a forty-acre farm, nor +build much of a house. I had come all the way from York State for this! +The bubble had grown brighter and brighter as I had made my strange way +across the new lands, putting on more and more of the colors of the +rainbow, and now, all had ended in this spot of water on the floor of +the earth. I compared myself with the Fewkeses, as I remembered how I +had told Virginia just how the rooms of the house should be arranged, +and allowed her to change the arrangement whenever she desired, and even +to put great white columns in front as she said they did in Kentucky. We +had agreed as to just what trees should be set out, and what flowers +should be planted in the blue-grass lawn. + +All this was gone glimmering now--and yet as I sit here, there are the +trees, and there are the flowers, very much as planned, in the soft +blue-grass lawn; about the only thing lacking being the white columns. + +I was lying on the ground, looking out across the marsh, and as my +misfortunes all rolled back over my mind I turned on my face and cried +like a baby. Finally, I felt a large light hand laid softly on my head. +I looked up and saw Magnus Thorkelson bending over me. + +"Forty acres," said he, "bane pretty big farm in Norvay. My fadder on +twenty acres, raise ten shildren. Not so gude land like dis. Vun of dem +shildern bane college professor, and vun a big man in leggislatur. Forty +acre bane gude farm, for gude farmer." + +I turned over, wiped my sleeve across my eyes, and sat up. + +"I guess I dropped asleep," I said. + +"Yass," he said. "You bane sleep long time. I came back to ask if I stay +vith you. I halp you. You halp me. Ve halp each udder. Ve be neighbors +alvays. I get farm next you. I halp you build house, an' you halp me. +Maybe ve lif togedder till you git vooman, or I git vooman--if American +vooman marry Norwegian man. I stay?" + +I took his hand and pressed it. After a few days' studying over it, I +made up my mind that in the kindness of his heart he had come back just +to comfort me. And all that he had said we would do, we did. Before long +we had a warm dugout barn built in the eastern slope of the hillside, +partly sheltered from the northwestern winds, and Magnus and I slept in +one end of it on the sweet hay we cut in the marsh while the cows ranged +on the prairie. Together we broke prairie, first on his land, then on +mine. Together we hauled lumber from the river for my first +little house. + +If we first settlers in Iowa had possessed the sense the Lord gives to +most, we could have built better and warmer, and prettier houses than +the ones we put up, of the prairie sod which we ripped up in long black +ribbons of earth; but we all were from lands of forests, and it took a +generation to teach our prairie pioneers that a sod house is a good +house. I never saw any until the last of Iowa was settling up, out in +the northwestern part of the state, in Lyon, Sioux and Clay Counties. + +All that summer, every wagon and draught animal in Monterey County was +engaged in hauling lumber--some of it such poor stuff as basswood sawed +in little sawmills along the rivers; and it was not until in the +'eighties that the popular song, _The Little Old Sod Shanty on the +Claim_ proved two things--that the American pioneer had learned to build +with something besides timber, and that the Homestead Law had come into +effect. What Magnus and I were doing, all the settlers on the Monterey +County farms were doing--raising sod corn and potatoes and buckwheat +and turnips, preparing shelter for the winter, and wondering what they +would do for fuel. Magnus helped me and I helped him. + +A lot is said nowadays about the Americanization of the foreigner; but +the only thing that will do the thing is to work with the foreigner, as +I worked with Magnus--let him help me, and be active in helping him. The +Americanization motto is, "Look upon the foreigner as an equal. Help +him. Let him help you. Make each other's problems mutual problems--and +then he is no longer a foreigner." When Magnus Thorkelson came back on +foot across the prairie from Monterey Centre, to lay his hand on the +head of that weeping boy alone on the prairie, and to offer to live with +him and help him, his English was good enough for me, and to me he was +as fully naturalized as if all the judges in the world had made him lift +his hand while he swore to support the Constitution of the United States +and of the State of Iowa. He was a good enough American for Jacobus +Teunis Vandemark. + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE PLOW WEDS THE SOD + +The next day was a wedding-day--the marriage morning of the plow and the +sod. It marked the beginning of the subdual of that wonderful wild +prairie of Vandemark Township and the Vandemark farm. No more fruitful +espousal ever took place than that--when the polished steel of my new +breaking plow was embraced by the black soil with its lovely fell of +greenery. Up to that fateful moment, the prairie of the farm and of the +township had been virgin sod; but now it bowed its neck to the yoke of +wedlock. Nothing like it takes place any more; for the sod of the +meadows and pastures is quite a different thing from the untouched skin +of the original earth. Breaking prairie was the most beautiful, the most +epochal, and most hopeful, and as I look back at it, in one way the most +pathetic thing man ever did, for in it, one of the loveliest things ever +created began to come to its predestined end. + +The plow itself was long, low, and yacht-like in form; a curved blade of +polished steel. The plowman walked behind it in a clean new path, +sheared as smooth as a concrete pavement, with not a lump of crumbled +earth under his feet--a cool, moist, black path of richness. The +furrow-slice was a long, almost unbroken ribbon of turf, each one laid +smoothly against the former strand, and under it lay crumpled and +crushed the layer of grass and flowers. The plow-point was long and +tapering, like the prow of a clipper, and ran far out under the beam, +and above it was the rolling colter, a circular blade of steel, which +cut the edge of the furrow as cleanly as cheese. The lay of the plow, +filed sharp at every round, lay flat, and clove the slice neatly from +the bosom of earth where it had lain from the beginning of time. As the +team steadily pulled the machine along, I heard a curious thrilling +sound as the knife went through the roots, a sort of murmuring as of +protest at this violation--and once in a while, the whole engine, and +the arms of the plowman also, felt a jar, like that of a ship striking a +hidden rock, as the share cut through a red-root--a stout root of wood, +like red cedar or mahogany, sometimes as large as one's arm, topped with +a clump of tough twigs with clusters of pretty whitish blossoms. + +As I looked back at the results of my day's work, my spirits rose; for +in the East, a man might have worked all summer long to clear as much +land as I had prepared for a crop on that first day. This morning it had +been wilderness; now it was a field--a field in which Magnus Thorkelson +had planted corn, by the simple process of cutting through the sods with +an ax, and dropping in each opening thus made three kernels of corn. +Surely this was a new world! Surely, this was a world in which a man +with the will to do might make something of himself. No waiting for the +long processes by which the forests were reclaimed; but a new world with +new processes, new neighbors, new ideas, new opportunities, new +victories easily gained. + +Not so easy, Jacobus! In the first place, we Iowa pioneers so ignorant +of our opportunities that we hauled timber a hundred miles with which to +build our houses, when that black sod would have made us better ones, +were also so foolish as to waste a whole year of the time of that land +which panted to produce. To be sure, we grew some sod-corn, and some +sod-potatoes, and sowed some turnips and buckwheat on the new breaking; +but after my hair was gray, I found out, for the first time as we all +did, that a fine crop of flax might have been grown that first year. +Dakota taught us that. But the farmer of old was inured to waiting--and +so we waited until another spring for the sod to rot, and in the +meantime, it grew great crops of tumble-weeds, which in the fall raced +over the plain like scurrying scared wolves, piling up in brown +mountains against every obstacle, and in every hole. If we had only +known these simple things, what would it have saved us! But skill grows +slowly. We were the first prairie generation bred of a line of +foresters, and were a little like the fools that came to Virginia and +Plymouth Colony, who starved in a country filled with food. How many +fool things are we doing now, I wonder, to cause posterity to laugh, as +foolish as the dying of Sir John Franklin in a land where Stefansson +grew fat; many, I guess, as foolish as we did when Magnus Thorkelson and +I were Vandemark Township. + +The sod grew too mature for breaking after the first of June, and not +enough time was left for it to rot during the summer; and my cows left +with Mr. Westervelt were on my mind; so I stopped the plow and after +Magnus and I had built my house and made a lot of hay in the marsh, I +began to think of going back after my live stock. I planned to travel +light with one span to Westervelt's, pick up another yoke of cows, go on +to Dubuque for a load of freight for Monterey Centre, and come back, +bringing the rest of my herd with me on the return. When I went to "the +Centre," as we called it, I waited until I saw Grandma Thorndyke go down +to the store, and then tapped at their door. I thought they might want +me to bring them something. They were living in a little house by the +public square, where the great sugar maples stand now. These trees were +then little beanpoles with tufts of twigs at the tops. + + + +2 + +Virginia Royall came to the door, as I sort of suspected she might. At +first she started back as if she hardly knew me. Maybe she didn't; for +Magnus Thorkelson had got me to shaving, and with all that gosling's +down off my face, I suppose I looked older and more man-like than +before. So she took a long look at me, and then ran to me and took both +my hands in hers and pressed them--pressed them so that I remembered +it always. + +"Why, Teunis," she cried, "is it you? I thought I was never going to see +you again!" + +"Yes," I said, "it's me--it's me. I came--" and then I stopped, bogged +down. + +"You came to see me," she said, "and I think you've waited long enough. +Only three friends in the world, you, and Mrs. Thorndyke, and Mr. +Thorndyke--and you off there on the prairie all these weeks and never +came to see me--or us! Tell me about the farm, and the cows, and the +new house--I've heard of it--and your foreigner friend, and all about +it. Have you any little calves?" + +I was able to report that Spot, the heifer that we had such a time +driving, had a little calf that was going to look just like its mother; +and then I described to her the section of land--all but a little of it +down in Hell Slew; and how I hoped to buy a piece across the line so as +to have a real farm. Pretty soon we were talking just as we used to talk +back there east of Waterloo. + +"I came to see you and Elder Thorndyke and his wife," I said, "because +I'm going back to Dubuque to get a load of freight, and I thought I +might bring something for you." + +"Oh," said she, "take me with you, Teunis, take me with you!" + +"Could you go?" I asked, my heart in my mouth. + +"No, oh, no!" she said. "There's nobody in Kentucky for me to go to; and +I haven't any money to pay my way with anyhow. I am alone in the world, +Teunis, except for you and my new father and mother--and I'm afraid they +are pretty poor, Teunis, to feed and clothe a big girl like me!" + +"How much money would it take?" I asked. "I guess I could raise it for +you, Virginia." + +"You're a nice boy, Teunis," she said, with tears in her eyes, "and I +know how well you like money, too; but there's nobody left there. I'm +very lonely--but I'm as well off here as anywhere. I'd just like to go +with you, though, for when I'm with you I feel so--so safe." + +"Safe?" said I. "Why aren't you safe here? Is any one threatening you? +Has Buckner Gowdy been around here? Just tell me if he bothers you, and +I'll--I'll--" + +"Well," said she, "he came here and claimed me from Mr. Thorndyke. He +said I was an infant--what do you think of that?--an infant--in law; and +that he is my guardian. And a lawyer named Creede, came and talked about +his right, not he said by consanguinity, but affinity, whatever +that is--" + +"I know Mr. Creede," said I. "He rode with me for two or three days. I +don't believe he'll wrong any one." + +"Mrs. Thorndyke told them to try their affinity plan if they dared, and +she'd show them that they couldn't drag a poor orphan away from her +friends against her will. And I hung to her, and I cried, and said I'd +kill myself before I'd go with him; and that man"--meaning Gowdy--"tried +to talk sweet and affectionate and brotherly to me, and I hid my face in +Mrs. Thorndyke's bosom--and Mr. Creede looked as if he were sick of his +case, and told that man that he would like further consultation with him +before proceeding further--and they went away. But every time I see that +man he acts as if he wanted to talk with me, and smiles at me--but I +won't look at him. Oh, why can't they all be good like you, Teunis?" + +Then she told me that I looked a lot better when I shaved--at which I +blushed like everything, and this seemed to tickle her very much. Then +she asked if I wasn't surprised when she called me Teunis. She had +thought a good deal over it, she said, and she couldn't, couldn't like +the name of Jacob, or Jake; but Teunis was a quality name. Didn't I +think I'd like it if I changed my way of writing my name to J. Teunis +Vandemark? + +"I like to have you call me Teunis," I said; "but I wouldn't like to +have any one else do it. I like to have you have a name to call me by +that nobody else uses." + +"That's a very gallant speech," she said, blushing--and I vow, I didn't +know what gallant meant, and was a little flustered for fear her blushes +were called out by something shady. + +"Besides," I said, "I have always heard that nobody but a dandy ever +parts his name or his hair in the middle!" + +"Rubbish!" said she. "My father's name was A. Fletcher Royall, and he +was a big strong man, every inch of him. I reckon, though, that the +customs are different in the North. Then you won't take me with you, and +go back by way of our grove, and--" + +And just then Elder Thorndyke came in, and we wished that Mrs. Thorndyke +would come to tell what I should bring from Dubuque. He told me in the +meantime, about his plans for building a church, and how he was teaching +Virginia, so that she could be a teacher herself when she was +old enough. + +"We'll be filling this country with schools, soon," he said, "and +they'll want nice teachers like Virginia." + +"Won't that be fine?" asked Virginia. "I just love children. I play with +dolls now--a little. And then I can do something to repay my new father +and mother for all they are doing for me. And you must come to +church, Teunis." + +"Virginia says," said the elder, "that you have a good voice. I wish +you'd come and help out with the singing." + +"Oh, I can't sing," I demurred; "but I'd like to come. I will come, when +I get back." + +"Yes, you can sing," said Virginia. "Here's a song he taught me back on +the prairie: + + "'Down the river, O down the river, O down the river we go-o-o; + Down the river, O down the river, O down the Ohio-o-o! + + "'The river was up, the channel was deep, the wind was steady + and strong, + The waves they dashed from shore to shore as we went sailing along-- + + "'Down the river, O down the river, O down the river we go-o-o; + Down the river, O down the river, O down the Ohio-o-o!'" + +"I think you learned a good deal--for one day," said Mrs. Thorndyke, +coming in. "How do you do, Jacob? I'm glad to see you." + +Thus she again put forth her theory that Virginia and I had been +together only one day. It is what N.V. Creede called, when I told him of +it years afterward, "a legal fiction which for purposes of pleading was +incontrovertible." + +The river of immigration was still flowing west over the Ridge Road, +quite as strong as earlier in the season, and swollen by the stream of +traffic setting to and from the settlements for freight. People I met +told me that the railroad was building into Dubuque--or at least to the +river at Dunlieth. I met loads of lumber which were going out for Buck +Gowdy's big house away out in the middle of his great estate; and other +loads for Lithopolis, where Judge Stone was making his struggle to build +up a rival to Monterey Centre. I reached Dubuque on the seventeenth of +July, and put up at a tavern down near the river, where they had room +for my stock; and learned that the next day the first train would arrive +at Dunlieth, and there was to be a great celebration. + +It was the greatest day Dubuque had ever seen, they told me, with cannon +fired from the bluff at sunrise, a long parade, much speech-making, and +a lot of wild drunkenness. The boatmen from the river boats started in +to lick every railroad man they met, and as far as I could see, did so +in ninety per cent. of the cases; but in the midst of a fight in which +all my canal experiences were in a fair way to be outdone, a woman came +into the crowd leading four little crying children. She asked our +attention while she explained that their father had had his hand blown +off when the salute was fired in the morning, and asked us if we felt +like giving something to him to enable him to keep a roof over these +little ones. The fight stopped, and we all threw money on the ground +in the ring. + +There were bridges connecting the main island with the business part of +the city, and lines of hacks and carts running from the main part of the +town to deep water. There were from four to six boats a day on the +river. Lead was the main item of freight, although the first tricklings +of the great flood of Iowa and Illinois wheat were beginning to run the +metal a close second. To show what an event it was, I need only say that +there were delegates at the celebration from as far east as Cleveland; +and folks said that a ferry was to be built to bring the railway trains +into Dubuque. And the best of all these dreams was, that they came true; +and we were before many years freed of the great burden of coming so far +to market. + +During the next winter the word came to us that the railroad--another +one--had crept as far out into the state as Iowa City, and when the +freighting season of 1856 opened up, we swung off to the railhead there. +Soon, however, the road was at Manchester, then at Waterloo, then at +Cedar Falls, and before many years the Iowa Central came up from the +south clear to Mason City, and the days of long-distance freighting were +over for most of the state; which is now better provided with railways, +I suppose, than any other agricultural region in the world. + +I couldn't then foresee any such thing, however. They talk of the +far-sighted pioneers; but as far as I was concerned I didn't know B from +a bull's foot in this business of the progress of the country. I +whoa-hawed and gee-upped my way back to Monterey Centre, thinking how +great a disadvantage it would be always to have to wagon it back and +forth to the river--with the building of the railway into Dunlieth that +year right before my face and eyes. + +3 + +I found Magnus Thorkelson surrounded by a group of people arguing with +him about something; and Magnus in a dreadful pucker to know what to do. +In one group were Judge Horace Stone, N.V. Creede and Forrest Bushyager, +then a middle-aged man, and an active young fellow of twenty-five or so +named Dick McGill, afterward for many years the editor of the Monterey +Centre _Journal_. These had a petition asking that the county-seat be +located at Lithopolis, Judge Stone's new town, and they wanted Magnus to +sign it. I suppose he would have done so, if it had not been for the +other delegation, consisting of Henderson L. Burns and Doctor Bliven, +who had another petition asking for the establishment of the county-seat +permanently "at its present site," Monterey Centre. They took me into +the confabulation as soon as I weighed anchor in front of the house; and +just as they had begun to pour their arguments into me they were joined +by another man, who drove up in a two-seated democrat wagon drawn by a +fine team of black horses, and in the back seat I saw a man and woman +sitting. I thought the man looked like Elder Thorndyke; but the woman's +face was turned away from me, and I did not recognize her at first. She +had on a new calico dress that I hadn't seen before. It was Virginia. + +The man who got out and joined the group was a red-faced, hard-visaged +man of about fifty, dressed in black broadcloth, and wearing a beaver +hat. He had a black silk cravat tied about a standing collar, with high +points that rolled out in front, and he looked rich and domineering. He +was ever afterward a big man in Monterey County, and always went by the +name of Governor Wade, because he was a candidate for governor two or +three times. He was the owner of a big tract of land over to the +southwest, next to the Gowdy farm the largest in the county. He came +striding over to us as if whatever he said was the end of the law. With +him and Henderson L. and N.V. Creede pitching into a leatherhead like +me, no wonder I did not recognize Virginia in her new dress; I was in +such a stew that I hardly knew which end my head was on. + +Each side seemed to want to impress me with the fact that in signing one +or the other of those petitions I had come to the parting of the ways. +They did not say much about what was best for the county, but bore down +on the fact that the way I lined up on that great question would make +all the difference in the world with me. Each tried to make me think +that I should always be an outsider and a maverick if I didn't stand +with his crowd. + +"Why," said N.V., "I feel sure that it won't take you long to make up +your mind. This little group of men we have here," pointing to Henderson +L. and Governor Wade, "are the County Ring that's trying to get this new +county in their clutches--the County Ring!" + +This made a little grain of an impression on me; and it was the first +time I had ever heard the expression so common in local history "the +County Ring." I looked at Governor Wade to see what he would say to it. +His face grew redder, and he laughed as if Creede were not worth +noticing; but he noticed him for all that. + +"Young man," said he, "or young men, I should say, both of you want to +be somebody in this new community. Monterey Centre represents already, +the brains--" + +"Like a dollar sign," said Dick McGill, "it represents it, but it hasn't +any." + +"--the brains," went on Governor Wade, glaring at him, "the culture, the +progress and the wealth--" + +"That they hope to steal," put in Dick McGill. + +"--the wealth," went on the Governor, who hated to be interrupted, "of +this Gem of the Prairies, Monterey County. Don't make the mistake, which +you can never correct, of taking sides with this little gang of +town-site sharks led by my good friend Judge Stone." + +Here was another word which I was to hear pretty often in county +politics--Gang. One crowd was called a Ring; the other a Gang, I looked +at N.V. to see how wrathy he must be, but he only smiled sarcastically, +as I have often seen him do in court; and shaking his head at me waved +his hand as if putting Governor Wade quite off the map. Just then my +team began acting up--they had not been unhitched and were thirsty and +hungry; and I went over to straighten them out, leaving the Ring and the +Gang laboring with Magnus, who was sweating freely--and then I went over +to speak with the elder. + +"How do you do, Teunis?" said Virginia very sweetly. "You'll sign our +petition, won't you?" + +"We don't want to influence your judgment," said the elder, "but I +wanted to say to you that if the county-seat remains at Monterey Centre, +it will be a great thing for the religious work which under God I hope +to do. It will give me a parish. I should like to urge that upon you." + +"Do you want me to sign it?" I asked him, looking at Virginia. + +"Yes," said he, "if you have no objection." + +"Please do!" said Virginia. "I know you can't have any objection." + +I turned on my heel, went back to Governor Wade, and signed the petition +for Monterey Centre; and then Magnus Thorkelson did the same. Then we +both signed another petition carried by both parties, asking that an +election be called by the judge of the county south which had +jurisdiction over us, for the election of officers. And just as I had +expected one side to begin crowing over the other, and I had decided +that there would be a fight, both crowds jumped into their rigs and went +off over the prairie, very good naturedly it seemed to me, after the +next settler. + +"Jake," said N.V., as they turned their buggy around, "you'll make some +woman a damned good husband, some day!" and he took off his hat very +politely to Virginia, who blushed as red as the reddest rose then +blooming on the prairie. + +That was the way counties were organized in Iowa. It is worth +remembering because it was the birth of self-government. The people made +their counties and their villages and their townships as they made their +farms and houses and granaries. Everybody was invited to take part--and +it was not until long afterward that I confessed to Magnus that I had +never once thought when I signed those petitions that I was not yet a +voter; and then he was frightened to realize that he was not either. He +had not yet been naturalized. The only man in the county known to me who +took no interest in the contest was Buck Gowdy. When Judge Stone asked +him why, he said he didn't give a damn. There was too much government +for him there already, he said. + +We did get the election called, and after we had elected our officers +there was no county-seat for them to dwell in; so that county judge off +to the south appointed a commission to locate the county-seat, which +after driving over the country a good deal and drinking a lot of whisky, +according to Dick McGill, made Monterey Centre the county town, which it +still remains. The Lithopolis people gained one victory--they elected +Judge Horace Stone County Treasurer. Within a month N.V. Creede had +opened a law office in Monterey Centre, Dick McGill had begun the +publication of the Monterey Centre _Journal_ of fragrant memory, +Lithopolis began to advertise its stone quarries, and Grizzly Reed, an +old California prospector, who had had his ear torn off by a bear out in +the mountains, began prospecting for gold along the creek, and talking +mysteriously. The sale of lots in Lithopolis went on faster than ever. + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +I BECOME A BANDIT AND A TERROR + +When General Weaver was running for governor, a Populist worker called +on my friend Wilbur Wheelock, who was then as now a stock buyer at our +little town of Ploverdale, and asked him if he were a Populist. + +"No," said Wilbur, "but I have all the qualifications, sir!" + +"What do you regard as the qualifications?" asked the organizer. + +"I've run for county office and got beat," said Wilbur: "and that takes +you in, too, don't it, Jake?" he asked, turning to me. + +Wilbur, like most of our older people, has a good memory. Most of the +folks hereabouts had already forgotten that I was a candidate on Judge +Stone's Reform and Anti-Monopoly ticket, for County Supervisor, in 1874, +and that I was defeated with the rest. This was the only time I ever had +anything to do with politics, more than to be a delegate to the county +convention two or three times. I mention it here, because of the chance +it gave Dick McGill to rake me over the coals in his scurrilous paper, +the Monterey Centre _Journal_, that most people have always said was +never fit to enter a decent home, but which they always subscribed for +and read as quick as it came. + +Within fifteen minutes after McGill got his paper to Monterey Centre he +and what he had called the County Ring were as thick as thieves, and +always stayed so as long as Dick had the county printing. So when I was +put on the independent ticket to turn this ring out of office, Dick went +after me as if I had been a horse-thief, and made a great to-do about +what he called "Cow Vandemark's criminal record." Now that I have a +chance to put the matter before the world in print, I shall take +advantage of it; for that "criminal record" is a part of this history of +Vandemark Township. + +The story grew out of my joining the Settlers' Club in 1856. The rage +for land speculation was sweeping over Iowa like a prairie fire, getting +things all ready for the great panic of 1857 that I have read of since, +but of which I never heard until long after it was over. All I knew was +that there was a great fever for buying and selling land and laying out +and booming town-sites--the sites, not the towns--and that afterward +times were very hard. The speculators had bought up a good part of +Monterey County by the end of 1856, and had run the price up as high as +three dollars and a half an acre. + +This made it hard for poor men who came in expecting to get it for a +dollar and a quarter; and a number of settlers in the township, as they +did all over the state, went on their land relying on the right to buy +it when they could get the money--what was called the preemption right. +I could see the houses of William Trickey, Ebenezer Junkins and Absalom +Frost from my house; and I knew that Peter and Amos Bemisdarfer and +Flavius Bohn, Dunkards from Pennsylvania, had located farther south. All +these settlers were located south of Hell Slew, which was coming to be +known now, and was afterward put down on the map, as "Vandemark's +Folly Marsh." + +And now there came into the county and state a class of men called +"claim-jumpers," who pushed in on the claims of the first comers, and +stood ready to buy their new homes right out from under them. It was +pretty hard on us who had pushed on ahead of the railways, and soaked in +the rain and frozen in the blizzards, and lived on moldy bacon and +hulled corn, to lose our chance to get title to the lands we had broken +up and built on. It did not take long for a settler to see in his land a +home for him and his dear ones, and the generations to follow; and we +felt a great bitterness toward these claim-jumpers, who were no better +off than we were. + +My land was paid for, such as it was; but when the people who, like me, +had drailed out across the prairies with the last year's rush, came and +asked me to join the Settlers' Club to run these intruders off, it +appeared to me that it was only a man's part in me to stand to it and +take hold and do. I felt the old urge of all landowners to stand +together against the landless, I suppose. What is title to land anyhow, +but the right of those who have it to hold on to it? No man ever made +land--except my ancestors, the Dutch, perhaps. All men do is to get +possession of it, and run everybody else off, either with clubs, guns, +or the sheriff. + +I did not look forward to all the doings of the Settlers' Club, but I +joined it, and I have never been ashamed of it, even when Dick McGill +was slangwhanging me about what we did. I never knew, and I don't know +now, just what the law was, but I thought then, and I think now, that +the Settlers' Club had the right of it. I thought so the night we went +over to run the claim-jumper off Absalom Frost's land, within a week of +my joining. + +It was over on Section Twenty-seven, that the claim-jumper had built a +hut about where the schoolhouse now is, with a stable in one end of it, +and a den in which to live in the other. He was a young man, with no +dependents, and we felt no compunctions of conscience, that dark night, +when two wagon-loads of us, one of which came from the direction of +Monterey Centre, drove quietly up and knocked at the door. + +"Who's there?" he said, with a quiver in his voice. + +"Open up, and find out!" said a man in the Monterey Centre crowd, who +seemed to take command as a matter of course. "Kick the door +open, Dutchy!" + +As he said this he stepped aside, and pushed me up to the door. I gave +it a push with my knee, and the leader jerked me aside, just in time to +let a charge of shot pass my head. + +"It's only a single-barrel gun," said he. "Grab him!" + +I was scared by the report of the gun, scared and mad, too, as I +clinched with the fellow, and threw him; then I pitched him out of the +door, when the rest of them threw him down and began stripping him. At +the same time, some one kindled a fire under a kettle filled with tar, +and in a few minutes, they were smearing him with it. This looked like +going too far, to me, and I stepped back--I couldn't stand it to see the +tar smeared over his face, even if it did look like a map of the devil's +wild land, as he kicked and scratched and tried to bite, swearing all +the time like a pirate. It seemed a degrading kind of thing to defile a +human being in that way. The leader came up to me and said, "That was +good work, Dutchy. Lucky I was right about its being a single-barrel, +ain't it? Help get his team hitched up. We want to see him +well started." + +"All right, Mr. McGill," I said; for that was his name, now first told +in all the history of the county. + +"Shut up!" he said. "My name's Smith, you lunkhead!" + +Well, we let the claim-jumper put on his clothes over the tar and +feathers, and loaded his things into his wagon, hitched up his team, and +whipped them up to a run and let them go over the prairie. All the time +he was swearing that he would have blood for this, but he never stopped +going until he was out of sight and hearing. + +2 + +("What a disgraceful affair!" says my granddaughter Gertrude, as she +finishes reading that page. "I'm ashamed of you, grandpa; but I'm glad +he didn't shoot you. Where would I have been?" Well, it does seem like +rather a shady transaction for me to have been mixed up in. The side of +it that impresses me, however, is the lapse of time as measured in +conditions and institutions. That was barbarism; and it was Iowa! And it +was in my lifetime. It was in a region now as completely developed as +England, and it goes back to things as raw and primitive as King +Arthur's time. I wonder if his knights were not in the main, pretty +shabby rascals, as bad as Dick McGill--or Cow Vandemark? But Gertrude +has not yet heard all about that night's work.) + +"Now," said McGill, "for the others! Load up, and come on. This fellow +will never look behind him!" + +But he did! + +The next and the last stop, was away down on Section Thirty-five--two +miles farther. I was feeling rather wamble-cropped, because of the +memory of that poor fellow with the tar in his eyes--but I went all +the same. + +There was a little streak of light in the east when we got to the place, +but we could not at first locate the claim-jumpers. They had gone down +into a hollow, right in the very corner of the section, as if trying +barely to trespass on the land, so as to be able almost to deny that +they were on it at all, and were seemingly trying to hide. We could +scarcely see their outfit after we found it, for they were camped in +tall grass, and their little shanty was not much larger than a dry-goods +box. Their one horse was staked out a little way off, their one-horse +wagon was standing with its cover on beside a mound of earth which +marked where a shallow well had been dug for water. I heard a rustling +in the wagon as we passed it, like that of a bird stirring in the +branches of a tree. + +McGill pounded on the door. + +"Come out," he shouted. "You've got company!" + +There was a scrabbling and hustling around in the shanty, and low +talking, and some one asked who was there; to which McGill replied for +them to come out and see. Pretty soon, a little doddering figure of a +man came to the door, pulling on his breeches with trembling hands as he +stepped, barefooted, on the bare ground which came right up to the +door-sill. + +"What's wanted, gentlemen?" he quavered. "I cain't ask you to come +in--jist yit. What's wanted?" + +He had not said two words when I knew him for Old Man Fewkes, whom I +had last seen back on the road west of Dyersville, on his way to +"Negosha." Where was Ma Fewkes, and where were Celebrate Fourth and +Surajah Dowlah? And where, most emphatically, where was Rowena? I +stepped forward at McGill's side. Surely, I thought, they were not going +to tar and feather these harmless, good-for-nothing waifs of the +frontier; and even as I thought it, I saw the glimmering of the fire +they were kindling under the tar-kettle. + +"We want you, you infernal claim-jumper!" said McGill. "We'll show you +that you can't steal the land from us hard-working settlers, you set of +sneaks! Take off your clothes, and we'll give you a coat that will make +you look more like buzzards than you do now." + +"There's some of 'em runnin' away!" yelled one of the crowd. "Catch +'em!" + +There was a flight through the grass from the back of the shanty, a rush +of pursuit, some feeble yells jerked into bits by rough handling; and +presently, Celebrate and Surajah were dragged into the circle of light, +just as poor Ma Fewkes, with her shoulder-blades drawn almost together +came forward and tried to tear from her poor old husband's arm the hand +of an old neighbor of mine whose name I won't mention even at this late +day. I will not turn state's evidence notwithstanding the Statute of +Limitations has run, as N.V. Creede advises me, against any one but Dick +McGill--and the reason for my exposing him is merely tit for tat. Ma +Fewkes could not unclasp the hands; but she produced an effect just +the same. + +"Say," said a man who had all the time sat in one of the wagons, +holding the horses. "You'd better leave out the stripping, boys!" + +They began dragging the boys and the old man toward the tar-kettle, and +McGill, with his hat drawn down over his eyes, went to the slimy mass +and dipped into it a wooden paddle with which they had been stirring it. +Taking as much on it as it would carry, he made as if to smear it over +the old man's head and beard. I could not stand this--the poor harmless +old coot!--and I ran up and struck McGill's arm. + +"What in hell," he yelled, for some of the tar went on him, "do you +mean!" + +"Don't tar and feather 'em," I begged. "I know these folks. They are a +poor wandering family, without money enough to buy land away from +any one." + +"We jist thought we'd kind o' settle down," said Old Man Fewkes +whimperingly; "and I've got the money promised me to buy this land. So +it's all right and straight!" + +The silly old leatherhead didn't know he was doing anything against +public sentiment; and told the very thing that made a case against him. +I have found out since who the man was that promised him the money and +was going to take the land; but that was just one circumstance in the +land craze, and the man himself was wounded at Fort Donelson, and died +in hospital--so I won't tell his name. The point is, that the old man +had turned the jury against me just as I had finished my plea. + +"You have got the money promised you, have you?" repeated McGill. "Grab +him, boys!" + +All this time I was wondering where Rowena could be. I recollected how +she had always seemed to be mortified by her slack-twisted family, and +I could see her as she meeched off across the prairie back along the Old +Ridge Road, as if she belonged to another outfit; and yet, I knew how +much of a Fewkes she was, as she joined in the conversation when they +planned their great estates in the mythical state of Negosha, or in +Texas, or even in California. I grew hot with anger as I began to +realize what a humiliation this tarring and feathering would be to +her--and I kept wondering, as I have said, where she could be, even as I +felt the thrill a man experiences when he sees that he must fight: and +just as I felt this thrill, one of our men closed with the old fellow +from behind, and wrenching his bird's-claw hands behind his back, thrust +the wizened old bearded face forward for its coat of tar. + +I clinched with our man, and getting a rolling hip-lock on him, I +whirled him over my head, as I had done with so many wrestling +opponents, and letting him go in mid-air, he went head over heels, and +struck ten feet away on the ground. Then I turned on McGill, and with +the flat of my hand, I slapped him over against the shanty, with his +ears ringing. They were coming at me in an undecided way: for my onset +had been both sudden and unexpected; when I saw Rowena running from the +rear with a shotgun in her hand, which she had picked up as it leaned +against a wagon wheel where one of our crowd had left it. + +"Stand back!" she screamed. "Stand back, or I'll blow somebody's head +off!" + +I heard a chuckling laugh from a man sitting in one of the wagons, and a +word or two from him that sounded like, "Good girl!" Our little mob fell +back, the man I had thrown limping, and Dick McGill rubbing the side of +his head. The dawn was now broadening in the east, and it was getting +almost light enough so that faces might be recognized; and one or two of +the crowd began to retreat toward the wagons. + +"I'll see to it," said I, "that these people will leave this land, and +give up their settlement on it." + +"No we won't," said Rowena. "We'll stay here if we're killed." + +"Now, Rowena," said her father, "don't be so sot. We'll leave right off. +Boys, hitch up the horse. We'll leave, gentlemen. I was gittin' tired of +this country anyway. It's so tarnal cold in the winter. The trees is in +constant varder in Texas, an' that's where we'll go." + +By this time the mob had retreated to their wagons, their courage giving +way before the light of day, rather than our resistance; though I could +see that the settlers had no desire to get into a row with one of their +neighbors: so shouting warnings to the Fewkeses to get out of the +country while they could, they drove off, leaving me with the +claim-jumpers. I turned and saw poor Rowena throw herself on the ground +and burst into a most frightful fit of hysterical weeping. She would not +allow her father or her brothers to touch her, and when her mother tried +to comfort her, she said "Go away, ma. Don't touch me!" Finally I went +to her, and she caught my hand in hers and pressed it, and after I had +got her to her feet--the poor ragged waif, as limpsey as a rag, and +wearing the patched remnants of the calico dress I had bought for her on +the way into Iowa the spring before--she broke down and cried on my +shoulder. She sobbed out that I was the only man she had ever known. She +wished to God she were a man like me. The only way I could stop her was +to tell her that her face ought to be washed; when I said that to her, +she stopped her sitheing and soon began making herself pretty: and she +was quite gay on the road to my place, where I took them because I +couldn't think of anything else to do with them, though I knew that the +whole family, not counting Rowena, couldn't or wouldn't do enough work +to pay the board of their horse. + +3 + +They hadn't more than got there and eaten a solid meal, than Surajah +asked me for tools so he could work on a patent mouse-trap he was +inventing, and when I came in from work that evening, he was explaining +it to Magnus Thorkelson, who had come over to borrow some sugar from me. +Magnus was pretending to listen, but he was asking his questions of +Rowena, who stood by more than half convinced that Surrager had finally +hit upon his great idea--which was a mouse-trap that would always be +baited, and with two compartments, one to catch the mice, and one to +hold them after they were caught. When they went into the second +compartment, they tripped a little lever which opened the door for a new +captive, and at the same time baited the trap again. + +It seemed as if Magnus could not understand what Surajah said, but that +Rowena's speech was quite plain to him. After that, he came over every +evening and Rowena taught him to read in McGuffey's _Second Reader._ I +knew that Magnus had read this through time and again; but he said he +could learn to speak the words better when Rowena taught him. The fact +was, though, that he was teaching her more than she him; but she never +had a suspicion of this. That evening Magnus came over and brought his +fiddle. Pa Fewkes was quite disappointed when Magnus said he could not +play the _Money Musk_ nor _Turkey in the Straw_, nor the _Devil's +Dream,_ but when he went into one of his musical trances and played +things with no tune to them but with a great deal of harmony, and some +songs that almost made you cry, Rowena sat looking so lost to the world +and dreamy that Magnus was moist about the eyes himself. He shook hands +with all of us when he went away, so as to get the chance to hold +Rowena's hand I guess. + +Every day while they were there, Magnus came to see us; but did not act +a bit like a boy who came sparking. He did not ask Rowena to sit up with +him, though I think she expected him to do so; but he talked with her +about Norway, and his folks there, and how lonely it was on his farm, +and of his hopes that one day he would be a well-to-do farmer. + +After one got used to her poor clothes, and when she got tamed down a +little on acquaintance and gave a person a chance to look at her, and +especially into her eyes, she was a very pretty girl. She had grown +since I had seen her the summer before, and was fuller of figure. Her +hair was still of that rich dark brown, just the color of her eyes and +eyebrows. She had been a wild girl last summer, but now she was a woman, +with spells of dreaming and times when her feelings were easily hurt. +She still was ready to flare up and fight at the drop of the +hat--because, I suppose, she felt that everybody looked down on her and +her family; but to Magnus and me she was always gentle and sometimes I +thought she was going to talk confidentially to me. + +After she had had one of her lessons one evening she said to me, "I +wish I wa'n't so darned infarnal ignorant. I wish I could learn enough +to teach school!" + +"We're all ignorant here," I said. + +"Magnus ain't," said she. "He went to a big school in the old country. +He showed me the picture of it, and of his father's house. It's got four +stone chimneys." + +"I wonder," said I, "if what they learn over there is real learning." + +And that ended our confidential talk. + +About the time I began wondering how long they were to stay with me, +Buck Gowdy came careering over the prairie, driving his own horse, just +as I was taking my nooning and was looking at the gun which Rowena had +used to drive back the Settlers' Club, and which we had brought along +with us. I thought I remembered where I had seen that gun, and when Buck +came up I handed it to him. + +"Here's your shotgun," I said. "It's the one you shot the geese with +back toward the Mississippi." + +"Good goose gun," said he. "Thank you for keeping it for me. I see you +have caught me out getting acquainted with Iowa customs. If you had +needed any help that night, you'd have got it." + +"I came pretty near needing it," I said; "and I had help." + +"I see you brought your help home with you," he said. "I think I +recognize that wagon, don't I?" I nodded. "I wonder if they could come +and help me on the farm. I'd like to see them. I need help, inside the +house and out." + +I left him talking with the whole Fewkes family, except Rowena, who kept +herself out of sight somewhere, and went out to the stable to work. +Gowdy was talking to them in that low-voiced, smiling way of his, with +the little sympathetic tremor in his voice like that in the tone of an +organ. He had already told Surajah that his idea for a mouse-trap looked +like something the world had been waiting for, and that there might be a +fortune in the scheme. Ma Fewkes was looking up at him, as if what he +said must be the law and gospel. He had them all hypnotized, or as we +called it then, mesmerized--so I thought as I went out of sight of them. +After a while, Rowena came around the end of a haystack, and spoke +to me. + +"Mr. Gowdy wants us all to go to work for him," she said. "He wants pa +and the boys to work around the place, and he says he thinks some of +Surrager's machines are worth money. He'll give me work in the house." + +"It looks like a good chance," said I. + +"You know I don't know much about housework," said she; "poor as we've +always been." + +"You showed me how to make good bread," I replied. + +"I could do well for a poor man," said Rowena, looking at me rather +sadly. Then she waited quite a while for me to say something. + +"Shall I go, Jake?" she asked, looking up into my face. + +"It looks like a good chance for all of you," I answered. + +"I don't want to," said she, "I couldn't stay here, could I? ... No, of +course not!" + +So away went the Fewkeses with Buck Gowdy. That is, Rowena went away +with him in his buggy, and the rest of the family followed in a day or +so with the cross old horse--now refreshed by my hay and grain, and the +rest we had given him,--in their rickety one-horse wagon. I remember how +Rowena looked back at us, her hair blowing about her face which looked, +just a thought, pale and big-eyed, as the Gowdy buggy went off like the +wind, with Buck's arm behind the girl to keep her from bouncing out. + +This day's work was not to cease in its influence on Iowa affairs for +half a century, if ever. State politics, the very government of the +commonwealth, the history of Monterey County and of Vandemark Township, +were all changed when Buck Gowdy went off over the prairie that day, +holding Rowena Fewkes in the buggy seat with that big brawny arm of his. +Ma Fewkes seemed delighted to see Mr. Gowdy holding her daughter in +the buggy. + +"Nobody can tell what great things may come of this!" she cried, as they +went out of sight over a knoll. + +She never said a truer thing. To be sure, it was only the hiring by a +very rich man, as rich men went in those days, of three worthless hands +and a hired girl; but it tore the state's affairs in pieces. Whenever I +think of it I remember some verses in the _Fifth Reader_ that my +children used in school: + + "Somewhere yet that atom's force + Moves the light-poised universe[11]." + +[11] See _Gowdy vs. Buckner_, et al, Ia. Rep. Also accounts of relations +of the so-called Gowdy Estate litigation to "The Inside of Iowa +Politics" by the editor of these MSS.--in press.--G.v.d.M. + +It was a great deal more important then, though, that on that afternoon +I was arrested for a great many things--assault with intent to commit +great bodily injury, assault with intent to kill, just simple assault, +unlawful assembly, rioting, and I don't know but treason. Dick McGill, I +am sure it was, told the first claim-jumper we visited that I was at the +head of the mob, and he had me arrested. I was taken to Monterey Centre +by Jim Boyd, the blacksmith, who was deputy sheriff; but he did the fair +thing and allowed me to get Magnus Thorkelson to attend to my stock +while I was gone. + +I think that that passage in the Scriptures which tells us to visit +those who are in prison as well as the sick, is a thing that shows the +Bible to be an inspired work; but, this belief has come to me through my +remembrance of my sufferings when I was arrested. Not that I went to +prison. In fact, I do not believe there was anything like a jail nearer +than Iowa City or Dubuque; but Jim told me that he understood that I was +a terrible ruffian and would have to be looked after very closely. He +made me help him about the blacksmith shop, and I learned so much about +blacksmithing that I finally set up a nice little forge on the farm and +did a good deal of my own work. At last Jim said I was stealing his +trade, and when Virginia Royall came down to the post-office the day the +mail came in, which was a Friday in those days, and came to the shop to +see me, he told her what a fearful criminal I was. She laughed and told +Jim to stop his fooling, not knowing what a very serious thing it +was for me. + +When she asked me to come up to see the Elder and Grandma Thorndyke, and +I told her I was a prisoner, Jim paroled me to her, and made her give +him a receipt for me which he wrote out on the anvil on the leaf of his +pass-book, and had her sign it. He said he was glad to get rid of me for +two reasons: one was that I was stealing his trade, and the other that +I was likely to bu'st forth at any time and kill some one, especially a +claim-jumper if there were any left in the county, which he doubted. + +So I went with Virginia and spent the night at the elder's. Grandma +Thorndyke took my part, though she made a great many inquiries about +Rowena Fewkes; but the elder warned me solemnly against lawlessness, +though when we were alone together he made me tell him all about the +affair, and seemed to enjoy the more violent parts of it as if it had +been a novel; but when he asked me who were in the "mob" I refused to +tell him, and he said maybe I was right--that my honor might be +involved. Grandma Thorndyke seemed to have entirely got over her fear of +having me and Virginia together, and let us talk alone as much as +we pleased. + +I told them about the quantity of wild strawberries I had out in +Vandemark's Folly, and when Virginia asked the sheriff if the elder and +his wife and herself might go out there with me for a +strawberry-and-cream feast, he said his duty made it incumbent upon him +to insist that he and his wife go along, and that they would furnish the +sugar if I would pony up the cream--of which I had a plenty. So we had +quite a banquet out on the farm. Once in a while I would forget about +the assaults and the treason and be quite jolly--and then it would all +come back upon me, and I would break out in a cold sweat. Out of this +grew the first strawberry and cream festival ever held in any church in +Monterey Centre, the fruit being furnished, according to the next issue +of the _Journal_ "by the malefactors confined in the county +Bastille"--in other words by me. + +4 + +Virginia and I gathered the berries, and she was as happy as she could +be, apparently; but once in a while she would say, "Poor Teunis! Can't a +Dutchman see a joke?" + +After that, the elder and his wife used to come out to see me, bringing +Virginia with them, almost every week, and I prided myself greatly on my +fried chicken my nice salt-rising bread, my garden vegetables, my green +corn, my butter, milk and cream. I had about forgotten about being +arrested, when the grand jury indicted me, and Amos Bemisdarfer and +Flavius Bohn went bail for me. When the trial came on I was fined twenty +dollars, and before I could produce the money, it was paid by William +Trickey, Ebenezer Junkins and Absalom Frost, who told me that they got +me into it, and it wasn't fair for a boy to suffer through doing what +was necessary for the protection of the settlers, and what a lot of +older men had egged him on to do. So I came out of it all straight, and +was not much the less thought of. In fact, I seemed to have ten friends +after the affair to one before. But Dick McGill, whose connection with +it I have felt justified in exposing, still hounded me through his +paper. I have before me the copy of the _Journal_--little four-page +sheet yellowed with time, with the account of it which follows: + + "A desperado named Vandemark, well known to the annals of + local crime as 'Cow Vandemark,' was arrested last Wednesday + for leading the riots which have cleaned out those + industrious citizens who have been jumping claims in this + county. A reporter of the _Journal_, which finds out + everything before it happens, attended the ceremonies of + giving some of these people a coat of tar and feathers, and + can speak from personal observation as to the ferocity of + this ruffian Vandemark--also from slight personal contact. + + "This hardened wretch is in every feature a villain--except + that he has a rosy complexion, downy whiskers, and buttermilk + eyes, instead of the black flashing orbs of fiction. Sheriff + Boyd decoyed him into town, skilfully avoiding any rousing of + his tigerish disposition, and is now making a blacksmith of + him--or was until yesterday, when he paroled him to Miss + Virginia Royall, the ward of the Reverend Thorndyke. + + "This is a very questionable policy. If followed up it will + result in a saturnalia of crime in this community. Already + several of our young men are reading dime novels and taking + lessons in banditry; but the sheriff has stated that this + parole will not be considered a precedent. The affair has + resulted in some good, however. In addition to placing the + young man under Christian influences, and others, it has + unearthed a patch of the biggest, best, ripest and sweetest + wild strawberries in Monterey County on the ancestral estate + of the criminal, known as Vandemark's Folly, and by the use + of prison labor, and through the generosity and public spirit + of our rising young fellow-citizen, Jacob T. Vandemark--whom + we hereby salute--we are promised another strawberry festival + before the crop is gone. + + "In the meantime, it is worthy of mention that the industry + of claim-jumping has suffered a sudden slump, and that the + splendid pioneers who have opened up this Garden of Eden will + not be robbed of the fruits of their enterprise." + +When I came to run for county supervisor, he rehashed the matter without +giving any hint that after all what I did was approved of by the people +of the county in 1856 when these things took place or that he himself +was in it up to the neck! But enough of that: the historical fact is +that Settlers' Clubs did work of this sort all over Iowa in those times, +and right or wrong, the pioneers held to the lands they took up when the +great tide of the Republic broke over the Mississippi and inundated +Iowa. The history of Vandemark Township was the history of the state. + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +I SAVE A TREASURE, AND START A FEUD + +In the month of May, 1857, I went to a party. + +This was a new thing for me; for parties had been something of which I +had heard as of many things outside of the experience of a common fellow +like me, but always had thought about as a thing only to be read of, +like _porte cochères_ and riding to hounds, and butlers and books of +poems. Stuff for story-books, and not for Vandemark Township; though +when I saw the thing, it was not so very different from the dances and +"sings" we used to have on the boats of the Grand Canal, as the Erie +Ditch was then called when you wanted to put on a little style. + +The party was at the "great Gothic house" of Governor Wade, just +finished, over in Benton Township. The Governor was not even a citizen +of Vandemark Township, but he had some land in it. Buck Gowdy's great +estate lapped over on one corner of the township, Governor Wade's on the +other, and Hell Slew, nicknamed Vandemark's Folly Marsh cut it through +the middle, and made it hard for us to get out a full vote on anything +after we got the township organized. + +The control shifted from the north side of the slew to the south side +according to the weather; for you couldn't cross Vandemark's Folly in +wet weather. Once what was called the Cow Vandemark crowd got control +and kept it for years by calling the township meetings always on our own +side of the slew; and then Foster Blake sneaked in a full attendance on +us when we weren't looking by piling a couple of my haystacks in the +trail to drive on, and it was five years before we got it back. But in +the meantime we had voted taxes on them to build some schoolhouses and +roads. That was local politics in Iowa when Ring was a pup. + +But Governor Wade's party was not local politics, or so N.V. Creede +tells me. He says that this was one of the moves by which the governor +made Monterey County Republican. It had always been Democratic. The +governor had always been a Democrat, and had named his township after +Thomas H. Benton; but now he was the big gun of the new Republican Party +in our neck of the woods, and he invited all the people who he thought +would be good wheel-horses. + +You will wonder how I came to be invited. Well, it was this way. I +called on Judge Stone at the new court-house, the building of which +created such a scandal. He was county treasurer. He had been elected the +fall before. I wanted to see him about a cattle deal. He was talking +with Henderson L. Burns when I went in. + +"I don't see how I can go," said he. "I've got to watch the county's +money. If there was a safe in this county-seat any stronger than a +cheese box, I'd lock it up and go; but I guess my bondsmen are sitting +up nights worrying about their responsibility now. I'll have to decline, +I reckon." + +"Oh, darn the money!" said Henderson L. "You can't be expected to set +up with it like it had typhoid fever, can you? Take it with you, and put +it in Wade's big safe." + +"I might do that," said Judge Stone, "if I had a body-guard." + +"I'd make a good guard," said Henderson L. "Let me take care of it." + +"I'd have to win it back in a euchre game if I ever saw it again," said +the judge. "I hate to miss that party. There'll be some medicine made +there. I might go with a body-guard, eh?" + +"So if the Bunker gang gets after you," suggested H. L., "there'd be +somebody paid to take the load of buckshot. Well, here's Jake. He's our +local desperado. Ask Dick McGill, eh, Jake? He dared the shotgun the +night they run that claim-jumper off. I know a feller that was there, +and seen it--when he wa'n't seared blind. Take Jake." + +2 + +The Bunker gang was a group of bandits that had their headquarters in +the timber along the Iowa River near Eldora. They were afterward +caught--some of them--and treated very badly by the officers who started +to Iowa City with them. The officers, making quite a little posse, +stopped at a tavern down in Tama County, I think it was at Fifteen Mile +Grove, and took a drink or two too much. They had Old Man Bunker and one +of the boys in the wagon tied or handcuffed, I never knew which; and +while the posse was in the tavern getting their drinks the boy worked +himself loose, and lay there under the buffalo robe when the men came +back to take them on their journey to jail. + +When they had got well started again, it was decided by the sheriff or +deputy in charge that they would make Old Man Bunker tell who the other +members were of their gang. So they took him out of the wagon and hung +him to a tree to make him confess. When they let him down he stuck it +out and refused. They strung him up again, and just as they got him +hauled up they noticed that the boy--he wasn't over my age--was running +away. They ran after the boy and, numbed as he was lying in the wagon in +the winter's cold, he could not run fast, and they caught him. Then they +remembered that they had left Old Man Bunker hanging when they chased +off after the boy; and when they cut him down he was dead. + +They were scared, drunk as they were, and after holding a council of +war, they decided that they would make a clean sweep and hang the boy +too--I forgot this boy's name. This they did, and came back telling the +story that the prisoners had escaped, or been shot while escaping. I do +not recall which. It was kind of pitiful; but nothing was ever done +about it, though the story leaked out--being too horrible to stay +a secret. + +There was a great deal of sympathy with the Bunkers all over the +country, I know where one of the men who did the deed lives now, out in +Western Iowa, near Cherokee. He was always looked upon as a murderer +here--and so, of course, he was, if he consented. + +At the time when this conversation took place in Judge Stone's office, +the Bunkers were in the heyday of their bad eminence, and while they +were operating a good way off, there was some terror at the mention of +their name. The judge looked me over for a minute when Henderson L. +suggested me for the second time as a good man for his body-guard. + +"Will you go, Jake?" he asked. "Or are you scared of the Bunkers?" + +Now, as a general rule, I should have had to take half an hour or so to +decide a thing like that; but when he asked me if I was scared of the +Bunkers, it nettled me; and after looking from him to Henderson L. for +about five minutes, I said I'd go. I was not invited to the party, of +course; for it was an affair of the big bugs; but I never thought that +an invitation was called for. I felt just as good as any one, but I was +a little wamble-cropped when I thought that I shouldn't know how +to behave. + +"How you going, Judge?" asked Henderson L. + +"In my family carriage," said the judge. + +"The only family carriage I ever saw you have," said Henderson L., "is +that old buckboard." + +"I traded that off," answered the judge, "to a fellow driving through to +the Fort Dodge country. I got a two-seated covered carriage. When it was +new it was about such a rig as Buck Gowdy's." + +"That's style," said Burns. "Who's going with you--of course there's you +and your wife and now you have Jake; but you've got room for one more." + +"My wife," said the judge, "is going to take the preacher's adopted +daughter. The preacher's wife thought there might be worldly doings that +it might be better for her and the elder to steer clear of, but the girl +is going with us." + +"Well, Jake," said Henderson L., "you're in luck. You'll ride to the +party with your old flame, in a carriage. My wife and I are going on a +load of hay. Jim Boyd is the only other man here that's got a rig with +springs under it. The aristocracy of Monterey County, a lot of it, will +ride plugs or shank's mares. You're getting up among 'em, Jakey, my boy. +Never thought of this when you were in jail, did you?" + +Nobody can realize how this talk made me suffer; and yet I kind of liked +it. I suffered more than ever, because I had not seen Virginia for a +long time for several reasons. I quit singing in the choir in the fall, +when it was hard getting back and forth with no horses, and the heavy +snow of the winter of 1855-6 began coming down. + +It was a terrible winter. The deer were all killed in their stamping +grounds in the timber, where they trod down the snow and struggled to +get at the brush and twigs for forage. The settlers went in on snowshoes +and killed them with clubs and axes. We never could have preserved the +deer in a country like this, where almost every acre was destined to go +under plow--but they ought to have been given a chance for their lives. +I remember once when I was cussing[12] the men who butchered the pretty +little things while Magnus Thorkelson was staying all night with me to +help me get my stock through a bad storm--it was a blizzard, but we had +never heard the word then--and as I got hot in my blasting and +bedarning of them (though they needed the venison) he got up and grasped +my hand, and made as if to kiss me. + +[12] "Cussing" and "cursing" are quite different things, insists the +author. He would never have cursed any one, he protests; but a man is +always justified in cussing when a proper case for it is +presented.--G.v.d.M. + +"It is murder," said he, and backed off. + +I felt warmed toward him for wanting to kiss me, though I should have +knocked him down if he had. He told me it was customary for men to kiss +each other sometimes, in Norway. The Dunkards--like the Bohns and +Bemisdarfers--were the only Americans I ever knew anything about (if +they really were Americans, talking Pennsylvania Dutch as they did) who +ever practised it. They greeted each other with a "holy kiss" and washed +each other's feet at their great communion meeting every year. I never +went but once. The men kissed the men and the women the women. So I +never went but once; though they "fed the multitude" as a religious +function--and if there are any women who can cook bread and meat so it +will melt in your mouth, it is the Pennsylvania Dutch women. And the +Bohn and Bemisdarfer women seem to me the best cooks among them, they +and the Stricklers. They taught most of our wives the best cookery +they know. + +I was disappointed when we started from Monterey Centre, with Judge +Horace Stone and me in the front seat, and Virginia in the back. As I +started to say a while back, I had not been singing in the choir during +the winter. The storms kept me looking out for my stock until the snow +went off in the February thaw that covered Vandemark's Folly with water +from bluff to bluff; and by that time I had stayed out so long that I +thought I ought to be coaxed back into the choir by Virginia or Grandma +Thorndyke in order to preserve my self-respect. But neither of them +said anything about it. In fact, I thought that Grandma Thorndyke was +not so friendly in the spring as she had been in the fall--and, of +course, I could not put myself forward. I had the pure lunkhead pride. + +So I had not seen Virginia for months. We early Iowa settlers, the men +and women who opened up the country to its great career of development, +shivered through that winter and many like it, in hovels that only broke +the force of the tempest but could not keep it back. The storms swept +across without a break in their fury as we cowered there, with no such +shelters as now make our winters seemingly so much milder. Now it is +hard to convince a man from the East that our state was once +bare prairie. + +"It's funny," said the young doctor that married a granddaughter of mine +last summer, "that all your groves of trees seem to be in rows. Left +them that way, I suppose, when you cut down the forest." + +The country looks as well wooded as the farming regions of Ohio or +Indiana. Trees grew like weeds when we set them out; and we set them out +as the years passed, by the million. I never went to the timber when the +sap was down, without bringing home one or more elms, lindens, maples, +hickories or even oaks--though the latter usually died. Most of the +lofty trees we see in every direction now, however, are cottonwoods, +willows and Lombardy poplars that were planted by the mere sticking in +the ground of a wand of the green tree. They hauled these "slips" into +Monterey County by the wagon-load after the settlers began their great +rush for the prairies; and how they grew! It was no bad symbol of the +state itself--a forest on four wheels. + +What I began to write a few moments ago, though concerned the difference +between our winter climate then and now. Then the snow drifted before +our northwest winds in a moving ocean unbroken by corn-field, grove, or +farmstead. It smothered and overwhelmed you when caught out in it; and +after a drifting storm, the first groves we could see cast a shadow in +the blizzard; and there lay to the southeast of every block of trees a +long, pointed drift, diminishing to nothing at the point where ended the +influence of the grove--this new foe to the tempest which civilization +was planting. Our groves were yet too small of course to show themselves +in this fight against the elements that first winter, and there I had +hung like a leaf caught on a root in a freshet, an eighteen-year-old +boy, lonely, without older people to whom I could go for advice or +comfort, and filled with dreams, visions and doubts, and with no bright +spot in my frosty days and frostier nights but my visions and dreams. + +And I suppose my loneliness, my hardships, my lack of the fireplaces of +York State and the warm rooms that we were used to in a country where +fuel was plentiful, made my visions and dreams more to me than they +otherwise would have been. It is the hermit who loses the world in his +thoughts. And I dreamed of two things--my mother, and Virginia. Of my +mother I found myself thinking with less and less of that keenness of +grief which I had felt at Madison the winter before, and on my road +west; so I used to get out the old worn shoe and the rain-stained letter +she had left for me in the old apple-tree and try to renew my grief so +as to lose the guilty feeling of which I was conscious at the waning +sense of my loss of her. This was a strife against the inevitable; at +eighteen--or at almost any other age, to the healthy mind--it is the +living which calls, not the dead. + +In spite of myself, it was Virginia Royall to whom my dreams turned all +the time. Whether in the keen cold of the still nights when the howl of +the wolves came to me like the cries of torment, or in the howling +tempests which roared across my puny hovel like trampling hosts of wild +things, sifting the snow in at my window, powdering the floor, and +making my cattle in their sheds as white as sheep, I went to sleep every +night thinking of her, and thinking I should dream of her--but never +doing so; for I slept like the dead. I held her in my arms again as I +had done the night Ann Gowdy had died back there near Dubuque, all +senseless in her faint; or as I had when I scared the wolves away from +her back along the Old Ridge Road; or as when I had carried her across +the creek back in our Grove of Destiny--and she always, in my dreams, +was willing, and conscious that I held her so tight because I loved her. + +I saw her again as she played with her doll under the trees. Again I +rode by her side into Waterloo; and again she ran back to me to bid me +her sweet good-by after I had given her up. Often I did not give her up, +but brought her to my new home, built my house with her to cheer me; and +often I imagined that she was beside me, sheltered from the storm and +happy while she could be by my side and in my arms. Oh, I lived whole +lives over and over again with Virginia that lonely winter. She had +been such a dear little creature. I had been able to do so much for her +in getting her away from what she thought a great danger. She had done +so much for me, too. Had not she and I cried together over the memory of +my mother? Had she not been my intimate companion for weeks, cooked for +me, planned for me, advised me, dreamed with me? It was not nearly so +lonely as you might think, in one sense of the word. + +And now I had not seen her for such a long time that I wondered if she +were not forgetting me. No wonder that I was a little flighty, as I +crowded myself into my poor best suit which I was so rapidly outgrowing, +and walked into Monterey Centre in time to be Judge Horace Stone's +body-guard the night of the party--I heard it called a reception--at +Governor DeWitt Clinton Wade's new Gothic house, over in Benton Township +that was to be. + +I was proportionately miserable when I called at Elder Thorndyke's, to +find that Virginia was not ready to see me, and that Grandma Thorndyke +seemed cool and somehow different toward me. When she left me, I slipped +out and went to Stone's. + +"Thought you wasn't coming, Jake," said he. "Almost give you up. Just +time for you to get a bite to eat before we start." + +3 + +When we did start, his wife came out in a new black silk dress--for the +Stones were quality--and was helped into the back seat, and the judge +came out of the house carrying a satchel which when he handed it to me I +found to be very heavy. I should say, as I have often stated, that it +weighed about fifty to sixty pounds, and when he shoved it back under +the seat before sitting down, it gave as I seemed to remember afterward +a sort of muffled jingle. + +"The treasures of Golconda, or Goldarnit," said he, "or some of those +foreign places. Hear 'em jingle? Protect them with your life, Jake." + +"All right," I said, as glum as you please; for he had left the only +vacant place in the carriage back with Mrs. Stone. This was no way to +treat me! But I was almost glad when Virginia came out to the carriage +wearing a pink silk dress, and looking so fearful to the eyes of her +obscure adorer that he could scarcely speak to her--she was so +unutterably lovely and angelic-looking. + +"How do you do, Teunis!" said she, and paused for some one to help her +in. Judge Stone waited a moment, and gave her a boost at the elbow as +she skipped up the step. I could have bitten myself. I was the person +who should have helped her in. I was a lummox, a lunkhead, a lubber, a +fool, a saphead--I was everything that was awkward and clumsy and +thumb-hand-sided! To let an old married man get ahead of me in that way +was a crime. I slouched down into the seat, and the judge drove off, +after handing me a revolver. I slipped it into my pocket. + +"Jake's my body-guard to-night, Miss Royall," said the judge. "We've got +the county's money here. Did you hear it jingle?" + +"No, Judge, I didn't," said she, and she never could remember any jingle +afterward. + +"Aren't you afraid, Teunis?" + +"What of?" I inquired, looking around at her, just as she was spreading +a beautiful Paisley shawl about her shoulders. I dared now take a long +look at her. A silk dress and a Paisley shawl, even to my eyes, and I +knew nothing about their value or rarity at that time and place, struck +me all of a heap with their gorgeousness. They reminded me of the fine +ladies I had seen in Albany and Buffalo. + +"Of the Bunker boys," said she. "If they knew that we were out with all +this money, don't you suppose they would be after it? And what could you +and Mr. Stone do against such robbers?" + +"I've seen rougher customers than they are," said I; and then I wondered +if the man I had seen with the Bushyagers back in our Grove of Destiny +had not been one of the Bunker boys. They certainly had had a bunch of +stolen horses. If he was a member of the Bunker gang, weren't the +Bushyagers members of it also? And was it not likely that they, being +neighbors of ours, and acquainted with everything that went on in +Monterey Centre, would know that we were out with the money, and be +ready to pounce upon us? I secretly drew my Colt from my pocket and +looked to see that each of the five chambers was loaded, and that each +tube had its percussion cap. I wished, too, that I had had a little more +practise in pistol shooting. + +"What do you think of Virginia's dress and shawl?" asked Mrs. Stone, as +we drove along the trail which wound over the prairie, in disregard of +section lines, as all roads did then. The judge and I both looked at +Virginia again. + +"They're old persimmons," commented the judge. "You'll be the belle of +the ball, Virginia." + +"They're awful purty," said I, "especially the dress. Where did you get +'em, Virginia?" + +"They were found in Miss Royall's bedroom," said Mrs. Stone emphasizing +the "Miss"--for my benefit, I suppose; but it never touched me. "But I +guess she knows where they come from." + +"They were Ann's," said Virginia, a little sadly, and yet blushing and +smiling a little at our open admiration, "my sister's, you know." + +I scarcely said another word during all that trip. I was furious at the +thought of Buck Gowdy's smuggling those clothes into Virginia's room, so +she could have a good costume for the party. How did he know she was +invited, or going? To be sure, her sister Ann's things ought to have +been given to the poor orphan girl--that was all right; but back there +along the road she would never speak his name. Had it come to pass in +all these weeks and months in which I had not seen her that they had +come to be on speaking terms again? Had that scoundrel who had killed +her sister, after a way of speaking, and driven Virginia herself to run +away from him, and come to me, got back into her good graces so that she +was allowing him to draw his wing around her again? It was gall and +wormwood to think of it. But why were the dress and shawl smuggled into +her room, instead of being brought openly? Maybe they were not really on +terms of association after all. I wished I knew, or that I had the right +to ask. I forgot all about the Bunkers, until the judge whipped up the +horses as we turned into the Wade place, and brought us up standing +at the door. + +"Well," said he, with a kind of nervous laugh, "the Bunkers didn't get +us after all!" + +I was out before him this time, and helped Virginia and Mrs. Stone to +get down. The judge was wrestling with the heavy bag. The governor came +out to welcome us, and he and Judge Stone carried it in. Mrs. Wade, a +scared-looking little woman, stood in the hall and gave me her hand as +I went in. + +"Good evening, Mr.----," said she. + +"Mr. Vandemark," said the judge. "My body-guard, Mrs. Wade." + +The good lady looked at my worn, tight-fitting corduroys, at my clean +boiled shirt which I had done up myself, at my heavy boots, newly +greased for the occasion, and at my bright blue and red silk +neckerchief, and turned to other guests. After all I was dressed as well +as some of the rest of them. There are many who may read this account of +the way the Boyds, the Burnses, the Flemings, the Creedes, the Stones +and others of our county aristocracy, came to this party in alpacas, +delaines, figured lawns, and even calicoes, riding on loads of hay and +in lumber wagons with spring seats, who may be a little nettled when a +plain old farmer tells it; but they should never mind this: the time +will come when their descendants will be proud of it. For they were the +John Aldens, the Priscillas, the Miles Standishes and the Dorothy Q's of +as great a society as the Pilgrim Fathers and Pilgrim Mothers set +a-going: the society of the great commonwealth of Iowa. + +The big supper--I guess they would call it a dinner now--served in the +large room on a long table and some smaller ones, was the great event of +the party. The Wades were very strict church-members. Such a thing as +card playing was not to be thought of, and dancing was just as bad. +Both were worldly amusements whose feet took hold on hell. We have lost +this strictness now, and sometimes I wonder if we have not lost our +religion too. + +The Wades were certainly religious--that is the Governor and Mrs. Wade. +Jack Wade, the John P. Wade who was afterward one of the national bosses +of the Republican party, and Bob, the Robert S. Wade who became so +prominent in the financial circles of the state, were a little worldly. +A hired hand I once had was with the Wades for a while, and said that +when he and the Wade boys were out in the field at work (for they worked +as hard as any of the hands, and Bob was the first man in our part of +the country who ever husked a hundred bushels of corn in a day) the Wade +boys and the hired men cussed and swore habitually. But this scamp, when +they were having family worship, used to fill in with "Amen!" and "God +grant it!" and the like pious exclamations when the governor was +offering up his morning prayer. But one morning Bob Wade brought a +breast-strap from off the harness, and took care to kneel within easy +reach of the kneeling hired man's pants. When he began with his +responses that morning, a loud slap, and a smothered yell disturbed the +governor--but he only paused, and went on. + +"What in hell," asked the hired man when they got outside, "did you hit +me for with that blasted strap?" + +"To show you how to behave," said Bob. "When the governor is talking to +the Lord, you keep your mouth shut." + +I tell this, because it shows how even our richest and most aristocratic +family lived, and how we were supposed to defend religion against +trespass. I am told that in some countries the wickedest person is +likely to be a praying one. It seems, however, that in this country the +church-members are expected to protect their monopoly of the ear of God. +Anyhow, Bob Wade felt that he was doing a fitting if not a very seemly +thing in giving this physical rebuke to a man who was pretending to be +more religious than he was. The question is a little complex; but the +circumstance shows that there could be no cards or dancing at the +Wade's party. + +Neither could there be any drinking. The Wades had a vineyard and made +wine. The Flemings lived in the next farm-house down the road, and when +our party took place, the families were on fairly good terms; though the +governor and his wife regarded the Flemings as beneath them, and this +idea influenced the situation between the families when Bob Wade began +showing attentions to Kittie Fleming, a nice girl a year or so older +than I. Charlie Fleming, the oldest of the boys, was very sick one fall, +and they thought he was going to die. Doctor Bliven prescribed wine, and +the only wine in the neighborhood was in the cellar of Governor Wade; +so, even though the families were very much at the outs, owing to the +fuss about Bob and Kittie going together, Mrs. Fleming went over to the +Wades' to get some wine for her sick boy. + +"We can't allow you to have it," said the governor, with his jaws set a +little closer than usual. "We keep wine for sacramental purposes only." + +This proves how straight they were about violating their temperance +vows, and how pious. Though there are some lines of poetry in the _Fifth +Reader_ which seem to show that the governor missed a real sacrament. +They read: + + "Who gives himself with his alms feeds three-- + Himself, his hungering neighbor, and Me;" + +but Governor Wade was a practical man who made his religion fit what he +wanted to do, and what he felt was the proper thing. Bob and Jack were +worldly, like the rest of us. The governor got the reputation of being a +hard man, and the wine incident did a good deal to add to it. The point +is that there had to be some other way of entertaining the company at +the party, besides drinking, card-playing, or dancing. Of course the +older people could discuss the price of land, the county organization +and the like; but even the important things of the country were mostly +in the hands of young people--and young folks will be young folks. + +4 + +Kittie Fleming was a pretty black-eyed girl, who afterward made the +trouble between Bob Wade and his father. At this party the thing which +made it a sad affair to me was the attentions paid to Virginia by Bob. I +might have been comforted by the nice way Kittie Fleming treated me, if +I had had eyes for any one but Virginia; but when Kittie smiled on me, I +always thought how much sweeter was Virginia's smile. But _her_ smiles +that evening were all for Bob Wade. In fact, he gave nobody else a +chance. It really seemed as if the governor and his wife were pleased to +see him deserting Kittie Fleming, but whether or not this was because +they thought the poor orphan Virginia a better match, or for the reason +that any new flame would wean him from Kittie I could not say. And I +suppose they thought Kittie's encouraging behavior to me was not only a +proof of her low tastes, or rather her lack of ambition, but a sure sign +to Bob that she was not in his class. So far as I was concerned I was +wretched, especially when the younger people began turning the gathering +into a "play party." + +Now there was a difference between a play party and a kissing party or +kissing bee, as we used to call it. The play party was quite +respectable, and could be indulged in by church-members. In it the +people taking part sang airs each with its own words, and moved about in +step to the music. The absence of the fiddle and the "calling off" and +the name of dancing took the curse off. They went through figures a lot +like dances; swung partners by one hand or both; advanced and retreated, +"balanced to partners" bowing and saluting; clasping hands, right and +left alternately with those they met; and balanced to places, and the +like. Sometimes they had a couple to lead them, as in the dance called +the German, of which my granddaughter tells me; but usually they were +all supposed to know the way the play went, and the words were always +such as to help. Here is the one they started off with that night: + + "We come here to bounce around, + We come here to bounce around, + We come here to bounce around, + Tra, la, la! + Ladies, do si do, + Gents, you know, + Swing to the right, + And then to the left, + And all promenade!" + +Oh, yes! I have seen Wades and Flemings and Holbrooks and all the rest +singing and hopping about to the tune of _We Come Here to Bounce +Around_; and also _We'll All Go Down to Rowser_; and _Hey, Jim Along, +Jim Along Josie_; and _Angelina Do Go Home_; and _Good-by Susan Jane_; +and _Shoot the Buffalo_; and _Weevilly Wheat_; and _Sandy He Belonged to +the Mill_; and _I've Been to the East, I've Been to the West, I've Been +to the Jay-Bird's Altar_; and _Skip-to-My-Lou_; and _The Juniper Tree_; +and _Go In and Out the Window_; and _The Jolly Old Miller_; and _Captain +Jinks_; and lots more of them. Boyds and Burnses and Smythes tripping +the light fantastic with them, and not half a dozen dresses better than +alpacas in the crowd, and the men many of them in drilling trousers--and +half of them with hayseed in their hair from the load on which they rode +to the party! So, ye Iowa aristocracy, put that in your pipes and smoke +it, as ye bowl over the country in your automobiles--or your airships, +as I suppose it may be before you read this! + +I went round with the rest of them, for I had seen all these plays on +the canal boats, and had once or twice taken part in them. Kittie +Fleming, very graceful and gracious as she bowed to me, and as I swung +her around, was my partner. Bob Wade still devoted himself to Virginia, +who was like a fairy in her fine pink silk dress. + +"This is enough of these plays," shouted Bob at last, after looking +about to see that his father and mother were not in the room. "Let's +have the 'Needle's Eye'!" + +"The 'Needle's Eye'!" was the cry, then. + +"I won't play kissing games!" said one or two of the girls. + +"Le's have 'The Gay Balonza Man'!" shouted Doctor Bliven, who was in +the midst of the gaieties, while his wife too, plunged in as if to +outdo him. + +"Oh, yes!" she said, smiling up into the face of Frank Finster, with +whom she had been playing. "Let's have 'The Gay Balonza Man!' It's +such fun[13]!" + +[13] One here discovers a curious link between our recent past and olden +times in our Old Home, England. This game has like most of the kissing +or play-party games of our fathers (and mothers) more than one version. +By some it was called "The Gay Galoney Man," by others "The Gay Balonza +Man." It is a last vestige of the customs of the sixteenth century and +earlier in England. It was brought over by our ancestors, and survived +in Iowa at the time of its settlement, and probably persists still in +remote localities settled by British immigrants. The "Gay Balonza Man" +must be the character--the traveling beggar, pedler or tinker,--who was +the hero of country-side people, and of the poem attributed to James V. +called _The Gaberlunzie-Man_ (1512-1542) in which the event is summed up +in two lines relating to a peasant girl, "She's aff wi the +gaberlunzie-man." The words of the play run in part as follows: + +"See the gay balonza-man, the charming gay balonza-man; We'll do all +that ever we can, To cheat the gay balonza-man!" + +The things he was to be cheated of seemed to be osculations.--G.v.d.M. + +"The Needle's Eye" won, and we formed in a long line of couples--Wades, +Finsters, Flemings, Boyds and the rest of the roll of present-day +aristocrats, and marched, singing, between a boy and a girl standing on +chairs with their hands joined. Here is the song--I can sing the +tune to-day: + + "The needle's eye, + Which doth supply + The thread which runs so true; + {And many a lass + {Have I let pass + or + {And many a beau + {Have I let go + Because I wanted you!" + +At the word "you," the two on the chairs--they were Lizzie Finster and +Charley McKim at first--brought their arms down and caught a +couple--they caught Kittie and me--who were at that moment passing +through between the chairs--which were the needle's eye; and then they +sang, giving us room to execute: + + "And they bow so neat! + And they kiss so sweet! + We do intend before we end, to have this couple meet!" + +Crimson of face, awkward as a calf, I bowed to Kittie and she to me; and +then she threw her arms about me and kissed me on the lips. And then I +saw her wink slyly at Bob Wade. Then Kittie and I became the needle's +eye and she worked it so we caught Bob Wade and Virginia, even though it +was necessary to wait a moment after the word "you"--she meant to do it! +As Bob's lips met Virginia's I groaned, and turning my back on Kittie +Fleming, I rushed out of the room. Judge Stone tried to stop me. + +5 + +"Jake, Jake!" Judge Stone whispered in my ear, looking anxiously around, +"have you seen the governor in the last half or three-quarters of +an hour?" + +"He hain't been in here," I said, jerking away from him. + +"Sure?" he persisted. "I've looked everywhere except in his office where +he put the money--and that's locked." + +I broke away from him and went out. I had no desire to see Governor +Wade or any one else. I wanted to be alone. I had seen Virginia kissed +by Bob Wade--and they were still singing that sickish play in there. +They would be kissing and kissing all the rest of the night. She to be +kissed in this way, and I had been so careful of her, when I was all +alone with her for days, and would have given my right hand for a kiss! +It was terrible. I walked back and forth in the yard, and then came up +on the porch and sat down on a bench, so as to hear the play-singing. +They were singing _The Gay Balonza-Man_, now. I started up once to walk +home, but I thought that Judge Stone was paying me wages for guarding +the county's money, and turned to go back where I could watch the games, +lured by a sort of fascination to see how many times Virginia would +allow herself to be kissed. A woman came out of the house, and in +passing saw and recognized me. It was Mrs. Bliven. She dropped down on +the bench. + +"My God!" she sobbed. "I'll go crazy! I'll kill myself!" + +I sat down again on the bench. She had been so happy a few minutes ago, +to all appearances, that I was astonished; but after waiting quite a +while I could think of nothing to say to her. So I turned my face away +for fear that she might see what I felt must show in it. + +"You're in trouble, too," she said. "You babies! My God, how I'd like to +change places with you! Did you see him kissing them?" + +"Who?" I asked. + +"My man," she cried. "Bliven. You know how it is, with us. You're the +only one that knows about me--about us--Jake. I've been scared to death +for fear you'd tell ever since I found you were coming here to live; and +I dasn't tell him--he don't know you know. And now I almost wish you +would tell--put it in Dick McGill's paper. He wants somebody else +already. A woman that's done as I have--he can throw me away like an old +shoe! But I want you to promise me that if he ever shelves me you'll let +the world know. Did you see him hugging them girls? He's getting ready +to shelve me, I tell you!" + +I sat for some time thinking this matter over. Finally I spoke, and she +seemed surprised, as if she had forgotten I was there. + +"I'll tell you what I'll do," said I. "I won't tell on you just because +you think you want me to. What would happen if everything in the lives +of us folks out here was to be told, especially as it would be told in +Dick McGill's paper? But if you ever find out for sure that he is going +to--going to--to shelve you, why, come to me, and I'll go to him. I +think he would be a skunk to--to shelve you. And I don't see +that--that--that he--was any more fairce to hug and kiss than--than some +others. Than you!" + +"Or you," said she, sort of snickering through her tears. + +"I hated it!" I said. + +"So did I," said she. + +"Maybe Doc did, too," I suggested. + +"No," she replied, after a while. "I'll tell you, Jake, I'll hold you to +your promise. Sometime I may come to you or send for you. May I?" + +"Any time," I answered, and she went in, seeming quite cheered up. I +suppose she needed that blow-off, like an engine too full of steam. I +wonder if it was wrong to feel for her? But it must be remembered that I +had very little religious bringing up. + +Well, the party came to an end presently, and Judge Stone came out and +holloed for me to bring the team. When I drove up to the door he asked +me in a low tone to come and help carry the money out. The governor +unlocked his office, and then the safe, and took out the bag, which he +handed to Judge Stone. + +"Heavy as ever," said the judge. "Catch hold here, Jake, and help me +carry it." + +"A heavy responsibility at least," said the governor. The governor's +hired people of whom he had always a large force had not taken part in +the proceedings of the party, but most of them were gathered about as we +took our departure. They were to a great extent the younger men among +the settlers, and the governor in later times never got tired of saying +how much he had done for the early settlers in giving them employment. + +N.V. Creede in answering him in campaigns always said that if he gave +the boys work, they gave the governor labor in return, and at a dollar a +day it seemed to him that the governor was the one who was under +obligations to them. It is a curious thing that people who receive money +are supposed to be under obligations to those who pay it, no matter what +the deal may be. We say "thank you" to the man who pays us for a day's +wages; but why, if the work is worth the money? + +Well, as I looked about among the governor's working people, as I have +said, I saw a head taller than the rest, the big form of Pitt +Bushyager. He was looking at me with that daredevil smile of his, the +handsomest man there, with his curling brown mustache and goatee; and +nodded at me as the judge got into the carriage in the back seat with +Mrs. Stone, and Virginia came up in her pretty pink silk, with the +Paisley shawl around her shoulders, to be helped up into the front seat +with me. The satchel of money was placed under the seat where the judge +could feel it with his feet. + +We drove off in that silence which comes with the drowsiness that +follows excitement, especially along toward morning. The night was dark +and still. Virginia's presence reminded me of those days of happiness +wher we drove into Iowa alone together; but I was not happy I had lived +with this girl in my dreams ever since, and now I faced the wrench of +giving her up; for I repeated in my own mind over and over again that +she would never think of me with such big bugs as Bob Wade shining +around her. + +The Judge and Mrs. Stone were talking together now, and I heard +references to the money. Then I began to turn over in my slow mind the +fact, known to me alone, that there was a man at the Wade farm who was +one of a band of thieves, and who knew about our having the money. If he +really was connected with the Bunker boys, what was more likely than +that he had ways of passing the word along to some of them who might be +waiting to rob us on our way home? But the crime that I was sure had +been committed back along the road the spring before had been +horse-stealing. I wondered whether or not the business of outlawry was +not specialized, so that some stole horses, others robbed banks, others +were highwaymen, and the like. + +All this time Virginia seemed to be snuggling up a little closer. Maybe +Pitt Bushyager and his brothers were just plain horse-thieves, and +nothing else. Perhaps they were just hired to help drive in the horses; +but why, then, did Pitt have two animals in Monterey Centre when I saw +him there the morning I arrived? + +6 + +Jim Boyd's light buggy had got far ahead of us, out of hearing, and the +lumber wagons, with the bulk of the crowd, were far in the rear. We were +alone. As we came to a road which wound off to the south toward where +there was a settlement of Hoosiers who had made a trail to the Wade +place, I turned off and followed it, knowing that when I got to the +Hoosier settlement, I should find a road into the Centre. It was a +mistake made a-purpose, done on that instinct which protects the man who +feels that he may be trailed. I was on an unexpected path to any one +waiting for us. Finally Virginia spoke to me. + +"How is our farm?" she asked. + +Now I had not forgotten how she had been kissed by Bob Wade, and +probably, while I was outside sulking, by a dozen others. By instinct +again--the instinct of a jealous boy--I started in to punish her. + +"All right," I said surlily. + +"What crops have you planted?" she went on. + +"About ten acres of wheat," I said, "and the rest of my breaking in corn +and oats. You see, I have to put in all the time I can in breaking." + +"How is the white heifer?" she asked, inquiring as to one of my cattle +that she had petted a lot. + +"She has a calf," said I. + +"Oh, has she? How I wish I could see it! What color is it?" + +"Spotted." + +There followed a long silence, during which we went farther and farther +off the road. + +"Jake," said the judge, "whose house is that we just passed?" + +"It's that new Irishman's," said I. "Mike Cosgrove, ain't that his +name?" + +"Well, then," said the judge, "we're off the road. Stop!" + +"Yes," I said, "I made the wrong turn back there. It's only a little +farther." + +The judge was plainly put out about this. He even wanted to go back to +the regular road again, and when I explained that we would soon reach a +trail which would lead right into the Centre, he still persisted. + +"If we were to be robbed on this out-of-the-way road," said he, "it +would look funny." + +"It would look funnier," I said, "if we were to go back and then get +robbed. Any one waiting to rob us would be on the regular road, +wouldn't they?" + +So I stubbornly drove on, the judge grumbling all the while for a mile +or so. Then he and Mrs. Stone began talking in a low tone, under the +cover of which Virginia resumed her conversation with me. + +"You are a stubborn Dutchman," said she. To which I saw no need of +making any reply. + +"You seemed to have a good time," she said, presently. + +"I didn't," said I. "I'm nobody by the side of such people as Bob Wade. +I wasn't even invited. I'm just paid to come along with the judge to +protect the county's money. You'll never see me again at any of your +grand kissing parties." + +"It was the first I ever went to," said she; "but you seemed to know +what to do pretty well--you and Kittie Fleming." + +This stumped me for a while, and we drove on in silence. + +"I didn't kiss her," I said. + +"It looked like it," said Virginia. + +"She kissed me," I protested. + +"You seemed to like it," she insisted. + +"I didn't!" I said, mad all over. "And I quit just as soon as the +kissing began." + +"You ought to have stayed," she said stiffly. "The fun was just +beginning when you flounced out." + +And then came one of the interesting events of this eventful night. We +turned into the main road to Monterey Centre, just where Duncan +McAlpine's barn now stands, and I thought I saw down in the hollow where +it was still dark, though the light was beginning to dawn in the east, a +clump of dark objects like cattle or horses--or horsemen. As I looked, +they moved into the road as if to stop us. I drew my pistol, fired it +over their heads, and they scattered. Then, I was scared still more, by +a sound as of a cavalry or a battery of artillery coming behind us. It +was three loads of people on the hayracks, who had overtaken us on +account of our having gone by the roundabout way; coming at a keen +gallop down the hill to have the credit of passing a fancy carriage. +They passed us like a tornado; shouting as they went by, asking what I +had shot at, and telling us to hurry up so as to get home by breakfast +time. The horsemen ahead, whatever might have been their plans, did not +seem to care to argue matters with so large a force, and rode off in +several directions, while I pressed close to the rear of the last +hayrack. Thus we drove into Monterey Centre. + +"What did you shoot for?" asked the judge as we stopped at his house. + +"I wanted to warn a lot of men on horseback that were heading us off, +that there'd be trouble if they tried to stop us," I answered. + +"Damned foolishness," said the judge. "Well, come in and let's have a +bite to eat." + + + +7 + +Virginia was staying with them the rest of the night; but as I helped +her out, feeling in her stiffness that she was offended with me, I +insisted that I would go on home. The judge, who had been ready to abuse +me a moment before, now took hold of me and forced me into the house. As +we went in carrying the satchel, he lifted it up on the table. + +"We may as well take a look at it," said he. + +Mrs. Stone and Virginia and I all stood by the table as he unsnapped the +catch and opened the bag. It was full almost to the top. + +"That ain't the way I packed that money!" said the judge. + +His hands trembled as he pulled the contents out. It was full of the +bags and wrappers in which the money had been packed, according to the +judge's tell; but there was no money in the wrappers, and the bags were +full, not of coins, but of common salt. That was what made it so heavy; +and that was what always made it such a mystery: for all the salt used +in Monterey County then was common barrel salt. It was the same kind, +whether it was got from the barrel from which the farmer salted his +cattle, or from the supply in the kitchen of the dweller in the town. +There was no clue in it. It was just salt! We all cried out in surprise, +not understanding that we were looking at the thing which was to be +fought over until either Judge Stone or Governor Wade was destroyed. + +"I am ruined!" Judge Stone fell back into a chair groaning. Then he +jumped to his feet. "They've taken it out while we were at the party!" +he shouted. "The damned, canting, sniveling old thief! No wonder he's +got money! He probably stole it where he came from! Jake, we've got to +go back and make him give this money back--come on!" + +"Make who give it back?" I asked. + +"Who?" said he. "Why old DeWitt Clinton Wade, the old thief! Who else +had the key to the office or knew how to open that safe? Come on, Jake, +and bring your pistol!" + +I handed him the pistol. + +"I agreed to guard you and the county's money," I said, "and that's all. +You hain't got the county's money, it seems, and my job's over. I've got +to break prairie to-day, and I guess I'd better be going!" + +I passed out of the door, and as I went I heard them--the judge and his +wife, and I thought Virginia joined in--condemning me for deserting +them. But I needed to think this thing over before I could see into it. +It looked pretty dark for some one then, and I saw it was a matter to +see N.V. about before taking any further part. + +I never have seen through it. There it was: The money in the treasury, +and supposed to be in the bag, and placed in Governor Wade's safe. There +were the two men, both supposed to be rich. There was the time, when the +kissing games were going on, when the governor was not seen by any of +his guests. The governor was rich always afterward, while the judge +struggled along with adversity and finally went away from the county +poor as a church mouse. Then there was the jingle I seemed to remember +at starting, and Judge Stone's twice speaking of it--the jingle Virginia +did not hear. Salt does not jingle. + +For a long time it appeared to me that these things seemed to prove that +the governor got the money; but lately, since both the men have passed +away, I have had my doubts. Judge Stone was a much nicer man than the +governor to meet up with, but--well, what's the use? It is long past. It +was past for me, too, as I walked out to my farm that morning as the +dawn broadened into day, with the prairie-chickens singing their +wonderful morning song, and the blue-joint grass soaking me with dew +to my knees. + +At that moment, or soon after, in a stormy encounter at the Wade farm, +with witnesses that the judge took with him, began the great Wade-Stone +feud of Monterey County, Iowa. It lasted until the flood of new settlers +floated it away in a freshet of new issues during and after the great +Civil War. + +I took the story to N.V. as soon as I went to town. He sat looking at +me with a mysterious grin on his face, as I told him of the loss of the +county funds. + +"Well," said he, "this will make history. I venture the assertion that +the case will be compromised. I can't see this close corporation of a +county government making Stone's bondsmen pay the loss. Or Stone either. +And I can't see any one getting that amount of money out of old Wade, +whether it was in the bag when it went into his safe or not. Your +testimony on the jingle feature ain't worth a cuss. The Bunker boys had +that bag marked for their own; for we know now that they were out on a +raid that night and cleaned up several good horses. I must say, Jake, +that you are a hell of a hired man. If you had kept the main road, this +trouble which will raise blazes with things in this county till you and +I are gray-headed, never would have happened. The Bunkers would have had +that salt, and everybody else would have had an alibi. Maybe it was +Judge Stone's instinct for party harmony that made him cross at you for +dodging the Bunkers by driving down by the Hoosier settlement. He was +cross, wasn't he? Instinct is a great matter, says Falstaff. He was mad +on instinct, I reckon! And you drove off the road on instinct. Beware +instinct,' say I on the authority aforesaid. It would have smoothed +matters all out if the Bunker boys had got that salt!" + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE FEWKESES IN CLOVER AT BLUE-GRASS MANOR + +Iowa lived in the future in those days. It was a land of poverty and +privations and small things, but a land of dreams. We shivered in the +winter storms, and dreamed; we plowed and sowed and garnered in; but the +great things, the happy things, were our dreams and visions. We felt +that we were plowing the field of destiny and sowing for the harvest of +history; but we scarcely thought it. The power that went out of us as we +scored that wonderful prairie sod and built those puny towns was the +same power that nerved the heart of those who planted Massachusetts and +Rhode Island and Virginia, the power that has thrilled the world +whenever the white man has gone forth to put a realm under his feet. + +Our harvest of that day seems pitifully small as I sit on my veranda and +look at my barns and silos, and see the straight rows of corn leaning +like the characters of God's handwriting across the broad intervale of +Vandemark's Folly flat, sloping to the loving pressure of the steady +warm west wind of Iowa, and clapping a million dark green hands in +acclamation of the full tide of life sucked up from the richest breast +that Mother Earth in all her bountiful curves turns to the lips of her +offspring. But all our children for all future generations shall help to +put the harvests of those days into the barns and silos of the future +state. God save it from the mildews of monopoly and tyranny, and the Red +rot of insurrection and from repression's explosions! + +We were children, most of those of whom I have been writing. It was a +baby county, a baby state, and Vandemark Township was still struggling +up toward birth. "The thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts": but +after all they are only the stirrings of the event in the womb of life. +I would not have married Virginia on the day after the party at Governor +Wade's if she had in some way conveyed to me that she wanted me. I +should not have dared; for I was a child. I suppose that Magnus would +have taken Rowena Fewkes in a minute, for he was older; but I don't +know. It takes a Norwegian or a Swede a long time to get ripe. + +The destinies of the county and state were in the hands of youth, +dreaming of the future: and when the untamed prairie turned and bit us, +as it did in frosts and blizzards and floods and locusts and tornadoes, +we said to each other, like the boy in the story when the dog bit his +father, "Grin and bear it, Dad! It'll be the makin' o' the pup!" Even +the older men like Judge Stone and Governor Wade and Elder Thorndyke and +heads of families like the Bemisdarfers, were dreamers: and as for such +ne'er-do-weels as the Fewkeses, they, with Celebrate's schemes for +making money, and Surrager's inventions, and their plans for palaces and +estates, were only a little more absurd in their visions than the rest +of us. The actual life of to-day is to the dreams of that day as the +wheat plant to the lily. It starts to be a lily, but the finger and +thumb of destiny--mainly in the form of heredity--turn it into the +wheat, and then into the prosaic flour and bran in the bins. + +As I came driving into Monterey County, every day had its event, +different from that of the day before; but now comes a period when I +must count by years, not days, and a lot of time passes without much to +record. As for the awful to-do about the county's lost money, I heard +nothing of it, except when, once in a while, somebody, nosing into the +matter for one reason or another, would come prying around to ask me +about it. I began by telling them the whole story whenever they asked, +and Henderson L. Burns once took down what I said and made me swear to +it. Whenever I came to the jingle of the money in the bag as we put it +in the carriage on starting for the Wades', they cross-examined me till +I said I sort of seemed to kind of remember that it jingled, and anyhow +I recollected that Judge Stone had said "Hear it jingle, Jake!" This +proved either that the money was there and jingled, or that it wasn't +there and that the judge was, as N.V. said, "As guilty as hell." + +Dick McGill didn't know which way the cat would jump, and kept pretty +still about it in his paper; but he printed a story on me that made +everybody laugh. "There was once a Swede," said the paper, "that was +running away from the minions of the law, and took refuge in a cabin +where they covered him with a gunny sack. When the Hawkshaws came they +asked for the Swede. No information forthcoming. 'What's in that bag?' +asked the minions. 'Sleighbells,' replied the accomplices. The minion +kicked the bag, and there came forth from under it the cry, 'Yingle! +Yingle!' We know a Dutchman who is addicted to the same sort of +ventriloquism." (Monterey _Journal_, September 3, 1857.) + +In 1856 we cut our grain with cradles. In 1857 Magnus and I bought a +Seymour & Morgan hand-rake reaper. I drove two yoke of cows to this +machine, and Magnus raked off. I don't think we gained much over +cradling, except that we could work nights with the cows, and bind +day-times, or the other way around when the straw in the gavels got dry +and harsh so that heads would pull off as we cinched up the sheaves. At +that very moment, the Marsh brothers back in De Kalb County, Illinois, +were working on the greatest invention ever given to agriculture since +the making of the first steel plow, the Marsh Harvester. + +Every year we broke some prairie, and our cultivated land increased. By +the fall of 1857, my little cottonwood trees showed up in a pretty grove +of green for a distance of two or three miles, and were ten to fifteen +feet high: so I could lie in the shade of the trees I had planted. + +But if the trees flourished, the community did not. The panic of 1857 +came on in the summer and fall; but we knew nothing, out in our little +cabins, of the excitement in the cities, the throngs on Wall Street and +in Philadelphia, the closing banks, the almost universal bankruptcy of +the country. It all came from land speculation. According to what they +said, there was more land then laid out in town-sites in Kansas than in +all the cities and towns of the settled parts of the country. In Iowa +there were town-sites along all the streams and scattered all over the +prairies. Everybody was in debt, in the business world, and when land +stopped growing in value, sales stopped, and then the day of reckoning +came. All financial panics come from land speculation. Show me a way to +keep land from advancing in value, and I will tell you how to prevent +financial panics[14]. + +[14] The author, when his attention is called to the Mississippi Bubble, +insists that it was nothing more nor less than betting on the land +development of a great new region. As to the "Tulipomania" which once +created a small panic in Holland, he insists that such a fool notion can +not often occur, and never can have wide-spread results like a genuine +financial panic. In which the editor is inclined to believe the best +economists will agree with him.--G.v.d.M. + +But, though we knew nothing about this general wreck and ruin back east, +we knew that we were miserably poor. In the winter of 1857-8 Magnus and +I were beggarly ragged and so short of fuel and bedding that he came +over and stayed with me, so that we could get along with one bed and one +fire. My buffalo robes were the things that kept us warm, those howling +nights, or when it was so still that we could hear the ice crack in the +creek eighty rods off. My wife has always said that Magnus and I holed +up in our den like wild animals, and sometimes like a certain domestic +one. But what with Magnus and the fiddle and his stories of Norway and +mine of the canal we amused ourselves pretty well and got along without +baths. My cows, and the chickens, and our vegetables and potatoes, and +our white and buckwheat flour and the corn-meal mush and johnny-cake +kept us fat, and I entirely outgrew my best suit, so that I put it on +for every day, and burst it at most of the seams in a week. + + + +2 + +I was sorry for the people in the towns, and sold most of my eggs, +fowls, butter, cream and milk on credit: and though Virginia and I were +not on good terms and I never went to see her any more; and though +Grandma Thorndyke was, I felt sure, trying to get Virginia's mind fixed +on a better match, like Bob Wade or Paul Holbrook, I used to take eggs, +butter, milk or flour to the elder's family almost every time I went to +town: and when the weather was warm enough so that they would not +freeze, I took potatoes, turnips, and sometimes some cabbage for a +boiled dinner, with a piece of pork to go with it. + +When the elder found out who was sending it he tried to thank me, but I +made him promise not to tell his family where these things came from, on +pain of not getting any more. I said I had as good right to contribute +to the church as any one, and just because I had no money it was tough +to have the little I could give made public. By this time I had worked +up quite a case, and was looking like a man injured in his finest +feelings and twitted of his poverty. The elder looked bewildered, and +promised that he wouldn't tell. + +"But I'm sure, Jake, that the Lord won't let your goodness go +unrewarded, in the next world, anyhow, and I don't think in this." + +I don't think he actually told, but I have reason to believe he hinted. +In fact, Kittie Fleming told me when I went down to their place after +some seed oats, that Grandma Thorndyke had said at the Flemings' dinner +table that I was an exemplary boy, in my way, and when I grew up I would +make some girl a husband who would be kind and a good provider. + +"I was awful interested," she said. + +"Why?" I asked; for I couldn't see for the life of me how it interested +her. + +"I'm a girl," said she, "and I feel interested in--in--in such +things--husbands, and good providers." Here I grew hot all over, and +twisted around like a worm on a hot griddle. "I didn't think, when you +were playing the needle's eye with me, that you acted as if you would be +a very good husband!" + +I peeked up at her through my eyebrows, and saw she was grinning at me, +and sort of blushing, herself. But I had only one word for her. + +"Why?" + +"You didn't seem to--to--kiss back very much," she giggled; and as I was +struggling to think of something to say (for it seemed a dreadful +indictment as I looked at her, so winning to a boy who hadn't seen a +girl for weeks) she ran off; and it was not till I was sitting by the +stove at home after washing up the dishes that evening that I thought +what a fine retort it would have been if I had offered to pay back then, +with interest, all I owed her in the way of response. I spent much of +the evening making up nice little speeches which I wished I had had the +sprawl to get off on the spur of the moment. I grew fiery hot at the +thought of how badly I had come off in this little exchange of +compliments with Kittie. Poor Kittie! She supped sorrow with a big spoon +before many years; and then had a long and happy life. I forgave her, +even at the time, for making fun of the Hell Slew Dutch boy. All the +girls made fun of me but Virginia, and she did sometimes--Virginia and +Rowena Fewkes. + +Thinking of Rowena reminded me of the fact that I had not seen any of +the Fewkeses for nearly two years. This brought up the thought of Buck +Gowdy, who had carried them off to his great farmstead which he called +Blue-grass Manor. Whenever I was in conversation with him I was under a +kind of strain, for all the fact that he was as friendly with me as he +was with any one else. I remembered how I had smuggled Virginia away +from him; and wondered whether or not he had got intimate enough by this +time at Elder Thorndyke's so that she had given him any inkling as to my +share in that matter. + +This brought me back to Virginia--and then the whole series of Virginia +dreams recurred. She sat in the chair which I had bought for her, in the +warm corner next the window. She was sewing. She was reading to me. She +was coming over to my chair to sit in my lap while we talked over our +adventures. She looked at my chapped and cracked hands and told me I +must wear my mittens every minute. She--but every boy can go on with the +series: every boy who has been in the hopeless but blissful state in +which I then was: a state which out of hopelessness generates hope as a +dynamo generates current. + +This was followed by days of dark despondency. Magnus Thorkelson and I +were working together plowing for oats, for we did not work our oats on +the corn ground of last year then as we do now, and he tried to cheer me +up. I had been wishing that I had never left the canal; for there I +always had good clothes and money in my pocket. We couldn't stay in this +country, I said. Nobody had any money except a few money sharks, and +they robbed every one that borrowed of them with their two per cent. a +month. I was getting raggeder and raggeder every day. I wished I had not +bought this other eighty. I wished I had done anything rather than what +I had done. I wished I knew where I could get work at fair wages, and I +would let the farm go--I would that! I would be gosh-blasted if I +wouldn't, by Golding's bow-key[15]! + +[15] "By Golding's bow-key" was a very solemn objurgation. It could be +used by professors of religion, but under great provocation only. It +harks back to the time when every man who had oxen named them Buck and +Golding, and the bow-key held the yoke on. Ah, those far-off, Arcadian +days, and the blessing of blowing those who lived in them!--G.v.d.M. + +"Oh!" exclaimed Magnus, "you shouldn't talk so! Ve got plenty to eat. +Dere bane lots people in Norvay would yump at de shance to yange places +wit' us. What nice land here in Iovay! Some day you bane rich man. All +dis slew bane some day dry for plow. I see it in Norvay and Sveden. And +now dat ve got ralroad, dere bane t'ousan's an' t'ousan's people in +Norvay, and Denmark, and Sveden and Yermany come here to Iovay, an' you +an' your vife an' shildern bane big bugs. Yust vait, Yake. Maybe you see +your sons in county offices an' your girls married vit bankers, an' your +vife vare new calico dress every day. Yust vait, Yake. And to-night I +pop some corn if you furnish butter, hey?" + +To hear the pop-corn going off in the skillet, like the volleys of +musketry we were so soon to hear at Shiloh; to see Magnus with his coat +off, stirring it round and round in the sizzling butter until one or two +big white kernels popped out as a warning that the whole regiment was +about to fire; to see him, with his red hair all over his freckled face, +lift the hissing skillet and shake it until the volleys died down to +sharpshooting across the lines; and then to hear him laugh when he +turned the vegetable snowdrift out into the wooden butter-bowl a little +too soon, and a last shot or two blew the fluffy kernels all over the +room--all this was the very acme of success in making a pleasant +evening. All the time I was thinking of Magnus's prediction. + +"County officer!" I snorted. "Banker! Me!" + +"Ay dank so," said Magnus. "Or maybe lawyers and yudges." + +"Any girl I would have," I said, "wouldn't have me; and any girl that +would have me, the devil wouldn't have!" + +"Anybody else say dat to me, I lick him," he stated. + +"There ain't any farm girls out in this prairie," I said; "and no town +girl would come in here," and I spread my hands out to show that I +thought my house the worst place in the world, though I was really a +little proud of it--for wasn't it mine? made with my own hands, mainly? + +"Girls come where dey want to come," said he, "in spite of--" + +"Of hell and high water," I supplied, as he hesitated. + +"So!" he answered, adopting my words, and afterward using them at a +church social with some effect. "In spite of Hell Slew and high water. +An' if dey bane too soft in de hand to come, I bring you out a fine farm +girl from Norvay." + + + +3 + +This idea furnished us meat for much joking, and then it grew almost +earnest, as jokes will. We finally settled down to a cousin of his, +Christina Quale. And whenever I bought anything for the house, which I +did from time to time as I got money, we discussed the matter as to +whether or not Christina would like it. The first thing I bought was a +fine silver-plated castor, with six bottles in it, to put in the middle +of the table so that it could be turned around as the company helped +themselves to salt, mustard, vinegar, red or black pepper; and the sixth +thing I never could figure out until Grandma Thorndyke told me it was +oil. A castor was a sort of title of nobility, and this one always +lifted me in the opinions of every one that sat down at my table. Magnus +said he was sure Christina would be tickled yust plumb to death with it. +Ah! Christina was a wonderful legal fiction, as N.V. calls it. How many +times Virginia's ears must have burned as we tenderly discussed the poor +yellow-haired peasant girl far off there by the foaming fjords. + +One trouble with all of us Vandemark Township settlers was that we had +no money. I had long since stopped going to church or to see anybody, +because I was so beggarly-looking. Going away from our farms to earn +wages put back the development of the farms, and made the job of getting +started so much slower. It is so to-day in the new parts of the country, +and something ought to be done about it. With us it was hard to get +work, even when we were forced to look for it. I hated to work for Buck +Gowdy, because there was that thing between us, whether he knew it or +not; but when Magnus came to me one day after we had got our oats sowed, +and said that Mr. Gowdy wanted hands, I decided that I would go over +with Magnus and work out a while. + +4 + +I was astonished, after we had walked the nine miles between the edge of +the Gowdy tract and the headquarters, to see how much he had done. There +were square miles of land under plow, and the yards, barns, granaries +and houses looked almost as much like a town as Monterey Centre. We went +straight to Gowdy's office. His overseer was talking with us, when +Gowdy came in. + +"Hello, Thorkelson," said he; "you're quite a stranger. Haven't seen you +for a week." + +Magnus stole a look at me and blushed so that his face was as red as his +hair. I was taken aback by this for he had never said a word to me about +the frequent visits to the Gowdy ranch which Buck's talk seemed to show +had taken place. What had he been coming over for? I wondered, as I +heard Gowdy greeting me. + +"Glad to see you, Mr. Vandemark," said he. "What can I do for you-all?" + +"We heard you wanted a couple of hands," said I, "and we thought--" + +"I need a couple of hundred," said he. "Put 'em to work, Mobley," +turning to the overseer; and then he went off into a lot of questions +and orders about the work, after which he jumped into the buckboard +buggy, in which Pinck Johnson sat with the whip in his hands, and they +went off at a keen run, with Pinck urging the team to a faster pace, and +Gowdy holding to the seat as they went careering along like the wind. + +We lived in a great barracks with his other men, and ate our meals in a +long room like a company of soldiers. It was a most interesting business +experiment which he was trying; and he was going behind every day. Where +land is free nobody will work for any one else for less than he can make +working for himself; and land was pretty nearly free in Monterey County +then. All a man needed was a team, and he could get tools on credit; and +I know plenty of cases of people breaking speculator's land and working +it for years without paying rent or being molested. The rent wasn't +worth quarreling about. But Gowdy couldn't get, on the average, as much +out of his hired men in the way of work as they would do for themselves. + +Most of the aristocrats who came early to Iowa to build up estates, lost +everything they had, and became poor; for they did not work with their +own hands, and the work of others' hands was inefficient and cost, +anyhow, as much as it produced or more. Gowdy would have gone broke long +before the cheap land was gone, if it had not been for the money he got +from Kentucky. The poor men like me, the peasants from Europe like +Magnus--we were the ones who made good, while the gentility +went bankrupt. + +After a few years the land began to take on what the economists call +"unearned increment," or community value, and the Gowdy lands began the +work which finally made him a millionaire; but it was not his work. It +was mine, and Magnus Thorkelson's, and the work of the neighbors +generally, on the farms and in the towns. It was the railroads and +school and churches. He would have made property faster to let his land +lie bare until in the 'seventies. I could see that his labor was +bringing him a loss, every day's work of it; and at breakfast I was +studying out ways to organize it better,--when a small hand pushed a cup +of coffee past my cheek, and gave my nose a little pinch as it was drawn +back. I looked up, and there was Rowena, waiting on our table! + +"Hello, Jake!" said she. "I heared you was dead." + +"Hello, Rowena," I answered. "I'm just breathin' my last!" + +All the hands began yelling at us. + +"No sparkin' here!" + +"None o' them love pinches, Rowena!" + +"I swan to man if that Dutchman ain't cuttin' us all out!" + +"Quit courtin' an' pass them molasses, sweetness!" + +"Mo' po'k an' less honey, thar!"--this from a Missourian. + +"Magnus, your pardner's cuttin' you out!" + +I do not need to say that all this hectoring from a lot of men who were +most of them strangers, almost put me under the table; but Rowena, +tossing her head, sent them back their change, with smiles for +everybody. She was as pretty a twenty-year-old lass as you would see in +a day's travel. No longer was she the ragged waif to whom I had given +the dress pattern back toward Dubuque. She was rosy, she was plump, her +new calico dress was as pretty as it could be, and her brown skin and +browner hair made with her dark eyes a study in brown and pink, as the +artists say. + +It was two or three days before I had a chance to talk with her. She had +changed a good deal, I sensed, as she told me all about her folks. Old +Man Fewkes was working in the vegetable garden. Celebrate was running a +team. Surajah was working on the machinery. Ma Fewkes was keeping house +for the family in a little cottage in the corner of the garden. I went +over and had a talk with them. Ma Fewkes, with her shoulder-blades +almost touching, assured me that they were in clover. + +"I feel sure," said she, "that Celebrate Fourth will soon git something +better to do than make a hand in the field. He has idees of makin' all +kinds of money, if he could git Mr. Gowdy to lis'en to him. But +Surrager Dowler is right where he orto be. He has got a patent +corn-planter all worked out, and I guess Mr. Gowdy'll help him make and +sell it. Mr. Gowdy is awful good to us--ain't he, Rowena." + +Rowena busied herself with her work; and when Mrs. Fewkes repeated her +appeal, the girl looked out of the window and paused a long time before +she answered. + +"Good enough," she finally said. "But I guess he ain't strainin' himself +any to make something of us." + +There was something strange and covered up in what she said, and in the +way she said it. She shot a quick glance at me, and then looked down at +her work again. + +"Well, Rowena Fewkes!" exclaimed her mother, with her hands thrown up as +if in astonishment or protest. "In all my born days, I never expected to +hear a child of mine--" + +Old Man Fewkes came in just then, and cut into the talk by his surprised +exclamation at seeing me there. He had supposed that I had gone out of +his ken forever. He had thought that one winter in this climate would be +all that a young man like me, free as I was to go and come as I pleased, +would stand. As he spoke about my being free, he looked at his wife and +sighed, combing his whiskers with his skinny bird's claws, and showing +the biggest freckles on the backs of his hands that I think I ever saw. +He was still more stooped and frail-looking than when I saw him last; +and when I told him I had settled down for life on my farm, I could see +that I had lost caste with him. He was pining for the open road. + +"Negosha," he said, "is the place for a young man. You can be a baron +out there with ten thousan' head of rattle. But the place for me is +Texas. Trees is in constant varder!" + +"But," said Ma Fewkes, repeating her speech of three years ago, "it's so +fur, Fewkes!" + +"Fur!" he scornfully shouted, just as he had before. "Fur!" this time +letting his voice fall in contempt for the distance, for any one that +spoke of the distance, and for things in general in Iowa. "Why, +Lord-heavens, womern, it hain't more'n fifteen hundred mile!" + +"Fewkes," she retorted, drawing her shoulders back almost as far as she +had had them forward a moment before, "I've been drailed around the +country, fifteen hundred miles here, and fifteen hundred miles there, +with old Tom takin' mad fits every little whip-stitch, about as much as +I'm a-going to!" + +"I don't," said Rowena, "see why you've got so sot on goin' into your +hole here, an' pullin' the hole in after you. You hook up ol' Tom, pa, +an' me an' you'll go to Texas. I'll start to-morrow morning, pa!" + +"I never seen sich a girl," said her mother; "to talk of movin' when +prospects is as good f'r you as they be now!" + +"Wal, le's stop jourin' at each other," said Rowena, hastily, as if to +change the subject. "It ain't the way to treat company." + +I discovered that Rowena was about to change her situation in the +Blue-grass Manor establishment. She was going into "the Big House" to +work under Mrs. Mobley, the wife of the superintendent, or as we called +him, the overseer. + +"Well, that'll be nice," said I. + +"I don't want to," she said. "I like to wait on table better." + +"Then why do you change?" said I. + +"Mr. Gowdy--," began Ma Fewkes, but was interrupted by her daughter, who +talked on until her mother was switched off from her explanation. + +"I wun't work with niggers!" said Rowena. "That Pinck has brought a +yellow girl here from Dubuque, and she's goin' to wait on the table as +she did in Dubuque. They claim they was married the last time he was +back there, an' he brought her here. I wun't work with her. I wun't +demean myself into a black slave--. But tell me, Jake," coming over and +sitting by me, "how you're gittin' along. Off here we don't hear no news +from folks over to the Centre at all. We go to the new railroad, an' +never see any one from over there--." + +"Exceptin' Magnus," said Ma Fewkes. + +"You ain't married, yet, be you?" Rowena asked. + +"I should say not! Me married!" + +We sat then for quite a while without saying anything. Rowena sat +smoothing out a calico apron she had on. Finally she said: "Am I wearin' +anything you ever seen before, Jake?" + +Looking her over carefully I saw nothing I could remember. I told her so +at last, and said she was dressed awful nice now and looked lots better +than I had ever seen her looking. My own rags were sorely on my mind +just then. + +"This apern," said she, spreading it out for me to see, "is the back +breadth of that dress you give me back along the road. I'm goin' to keep +it always. I hain't goin' to wear it ever only when you come to see me!" + +This was getting embarrassing; but her next remarks made it even more +so. + +"How old be you, Jake?" she asked. + +"I'll be twenty," said I, "the twenty-seventh day of next July." + +"We're jest of an age," she ventured--and after a long pause, "I should +think it would be awful hard work to keep the house and do your work +ou'-doors." + +I told her that it was, and spread the grief on very thick, thinking all +the time of the very precious way in which I hoped sometime to end my +loneliness, and give myself a house companion: in the very back of my +head even going over the plans I had made for an "upright" to the house, +with a bedroom, a spare room, a dining-room and a sitting-room in it. + +"Well," said she, "for a smart, nice-lookin' young man, like you, it's +your own fault--" + +5 + +And then there was a tap on the door. Rowena started, turned toward the +door, made as if to get up to open it, and then sat down again, her face +first flushed and then pale. Her mother opened the door, and there stood +Buckner Gowdy. He came in, with his easy politeness and sat down among +us like an old friend. + +"I didn't know you had company," said he; "but I now remember that Mr. +Vandemark is an old friend." + +He always called me Mr. Vandemark, because, I guess, I owned seven +hundred and twenty acres of land, and was not all mortgaged up. Virginia +told me afterward, that where they came from people who owned so much +land were the quality, and were treated more respectfully than the +poor whites. + +"Yes, sir," said Old Man Fewkes, "Jake is the onliest real old friend +we got hereabouts." + +Gowdy took me into the conversation, but he sat where he could look at +Rowena. He seemed to be carrying on a silent conversation with her with +his eyes, while he talked to me, looking into my eyes a good deal too, +and stooping toward me in that intimate, confidential way of his. When I +told him that I thought he was not getting as much done as he ought to +with all the hands he had, he said nobody knew it better than he; but +could I suggest any remedy? Now on the canal, we had to organize our +work, and I had seen a lot of public labor done between Albany and +Buffalo; so I had my ideas as to people's getting in one another's way. +I told him that his men were working in too large gangs, as I looked at +it. Where he had twenty breaking-teams following one another, if one +broke his plow, or ran on a boulder and had to file it, the whole gang +had to stop for him, or run around him and make a balk in the work. I +thought it would be better to have not more than two or three breaking +on the same "land," and then they would not be so much in one another's +way, and wouldn't have so good an excuse for stopping and having jumping +matches and boxing bouts and story-tellings. Then their work could be +compared, they could be made to work against one another in a kind of +competition, and the bad ones could be weeded out. It would be the same +with corn-plowing, and some other work. + +"There's sense in that, sir," he said, after thinking it over. "You see, +Mr. Vandemark, my days of honest industry are of very recent date. Thank +you for the suggestion, sir." + +I got up to leave. Rowena's father was pulling off his boots, which +with us then, was the signal that he was going to bed. If I stayed after +that alone with Rowena, it was a sign that we were to "sit up"--and that +was courtship. I was slowly getting it through my wool that it looked as +if Buckner Gowdy and Rowena were going to sit up, when I heard her +giving me back my good evening, and at the same time, behind his back, +motioning me to my chair, and shaking her head. And while I was backing +and filling, the door' opened and a woman appeared on the step. + +"Ah, Mrs. Mobley," said Buck, "anything for me?" + +She was very nicely dressed for a woman busy about her own home, but the +thing that I remembered was her pallor. Her hair was light brown and +curled about her forehead, and her eyes were very blue, like china. And +there was a quiver in her like that which you see in the little +quaking-asps in the slews--something pitiful, and sort of forsaken. Her +face was not so fresh as it had been a few years before, and on her +cheeks were little red spots, like those you see in the cheeks of people +with consumption--or a pot of face-paint. She was tall and +strong-looking, and somewhat portly, and quite masterful in her ways as +a general rule; but that night she seemed to be in a sort of pleading +mood, not a bit like herself when dealing with ordinary people. She was +not ordinary, as could be sensed by even an ignorant bumpkin like me. +She had more education than most, and had been taught better manners and +brought up with more style. + +"Mr. Mobley requested me to say," she said, her voice low and quivery, +bowing to all of us in a very polite and elegant way, "that he has +something of importance to say to you, Mr. Buckner." + +"I'm greatly obliged to you, Miss Flora," said he. "Let me go to him +with you. Good evening, Rowena. Good evening, Mr. Vandemark. I shall +certainly think over what you have been so kind as to suggest." + +He bowed to Rowena, nodded to me, and we all three left together. As we +separated I heard him talking to her in what in any other man I should +have called a loving tone; but there was a sort of warm note in the way +he spoke to me, too; and still more of that vital vibration I have +mentioned before, when he spoke to Rowena. But he did not take my arm, +as he did that of the imposing "Miss Flora" as he called Mrs. Mobley, to +whom he was "Mr. Buckner." I could see them walking very, very close +together, even in the darkness. + +6 + +When I found that Mr. Mobley was over at the barracks, and had been +there playing euchre with the boys since supper, I wondered. I wondered +why Mrs. Mobley had come with an excuse to get Mr. Gowdy away from +me--or after a couple of weeks' thinking, was it from Rowena? Yet Mr. +Gowdy did see Mr. Mobley that evening; for the next morning Mobley put +me over a gang of eight breaking-teams, "To handle the way you told Mr. +Gowdy last night," he said. + +He was a tall, limber-jointed, whipped-looking man with a red nose and a +long stringy mustache, and always wore his vest open clear down to the +lower button which was fastened, and thus his whole waistcoat was thrown +open so as to show a tobacco-stained shirt bosom. The Missourian whom I +had noticed at table said that this was done so that the wearer of the +vest could reach his dirk handily. But Mobley was the last man I should +have suspected of carrying a dirk, or if he did packing the gumption +to use it. + +I made good with my gang, and did a third more than any other eight +teams on the place. Before I went away, Gowdy talked around as if he +wanted me for overseer; but I couldn't decide without studying a long +time, to take a step so far from what I had been thinking of, and he +dropped the subject. I did not like the way things were going there. The +men were out of control. They despised Mobley, and said sly things about +his using his wife to keep him in a job. One day I told Magnus +Thorkelson about Mrs. Mobley's coming and taking Gowdy away from the +little cabin of the Fewkes family. + +"She do dat," said he, "a dozen times ven Ay bane dar. She alvays bane +chasing Buck Gowdy." + +"Well," I said, "who be you chasing, coming over here a dozen times when +I didn't know it? That's why you bought that mustang pony, eh?" + +"I yust go over," said he, squirming, "to help Surajah fix up his +machines--his inwentions. Sometimes I take over de wyolin to play for +Rowena. Dat bane all, Yake." + +When we went home, I with money enough for some new clothes, with what I +had by me, we caught a ride with one of Judge Stone's teams to a point +two-thirds of the way to Monterey Centre, and came into our own places +from the south. We were both glad to see long black streaks of new +breaking in the section of which my eighty was a part, and two new +shanties belonging to new neighbors. This would bring cultivated land up +to my south line, and I afterward found out, take the whole half of the +section into the new farms. The Zenas Smith family had moved on to the +southwest quarter, and the J.P. Roebuck family on the southeast. + +The Smiths and Roebucks still live in the township--as good neighbors as +a man need ask for; except that I never could agree with Zenas Smith +about line fences, when the time came for them. Once we almost came to +the spite-fence stage; but our children were such friends that they kept +us from that disgrace. But Mrs. Smith was as good a woman in sickness as +I ever saw. + +George Story was working for the Smiths, and was almost one of the +family. He finally took the northeast quarter of the section, and lives +there yet. David Roebuck, J.P.'s son, when he came of age acquired the +eighty next to me, and thus completed the settlement of the section. +Most of the Roebuck girls and boys became school-teachers, and they had +the biggest mail of anybody in the neighborhood. I never saw Dave +Roebuck spelled down but once, and that was by his sister Theodosia, +called "Dose" for short. + +We went to both houses and called as we went home so as to begin +neighboring with them. Magnus stopped at his own place, and I went on, +wondering if the Frost boy I had engaged to look out for my stock while +I was gone had been true to his trust. I saw that there had been a lot +of redding up done; and as I came around the corner of the house I heard +sounds within as of some one at the housework. The door was open, and as +I peeped in, there, of all people, was Grandma Thorndyke, putting the +last touches to a general house-cleaning. + +The floor was newly scrubbed, the dishes set away in order, and all +clean. The churn was always clean inwardly, but she had scoured it on +the outside. There was a geranium in bloom in the window, which was as +clear as glass could be made. The bed was made up on a different plan +from mine, and the place where I hung my clothes had a flowered cotton +curtain in front of it, run on cords. It looked very beautiful to me; +and my pride in it rose as I gazed upon it. Grandma Thorndyke had not +heard me coming, and gave way to her feelings as she looked at her +handiwork in her manner of talking to herself. + +"That's more like a human habitation!" she ejaculated, standing with her +hands on her hips. "I snum! It looked like a hooraw's nest!" + +"It looks a lot better," I agreed. + +She was startled at seeing me, for she expected to get away, with +Henderson L. Burns as he came back from his shooting of golden plover, +all unknown to me. But we had quite a visit all by ourselves. She said +quite pointedly, that somebody had been keeping her family in milk and +butter and vegetables and chickens and eggs all winter, and she was +doing a mighty little in repayment. Her eyes were full of tears as she +said this. + +"He who gives to the poor," said she, "lends to the Lord; and I don't +know any place where the Lord's credit has been lower than in Monterey +Centre for the past winter. Now le'me show you where things are, Jacob." + +I got all the news of the town from her. Several people had moved in; +but others had gone back east to live with their own or their wives' +folks. Elder Thorndyke, encouraged by the favor of "their two rich men," +had laid plans for building a church, and she believed their fellowship +would be blessed with greater growth if they had a consecrated building +instead of the hall where the secret societies met. On asking who their +two richest men were she mentioned Governor Wade, of course, and +Mr. Gowdy. + +"Mr. Gowdy," she ventured, "is in a very hopeful frame of mind. He is, +I fervently hope and believe, under conviction of sin. We pray for him +without ceasing. He would be a tower of strength, with his ability and +his wealth, if he should, under God, turn to the right and seek +salvation. If you and he could both come into the fold, Jacob, it would +be a wonderful thing for the elder and me." + +"I guess I'd ruther come in alone!" I said. + +"You mustn't be uncharitable," said she. "Mr. Gowdy is still hopeful of +getting that property for Virginia Royall. He is working on that all the +time. He came to get her signature to a paper this week. He is a changed +man, Jacob--a changed man." + +I can't tell how thunderstruck I was by this bit of news. Somehow, I +could not see Buck Gowdy as a member of the congregation of the +saints--I had seen too much of him lately: and yet, I could not now +remember any of the old hardness he had shown in every action back along +the Ridge Road in 1855. But Virginia must have changed toward him, or +she would not have allowed him to approach her with any kind of paper, +not even a patent of nobility. + +But I rallied from my daze and took Grandma Thorndyke to see my live +stock--birds and beasts. I discovered that she had been a farmer's +daughter in New England, and I began to suspect that it relieved her to +drop into New England farm talk, like "I snum!" and "Hooraw's nest." I +never saw a hooraw's nest, but she seemed to think it a very +disorderly place. + +"This ain't the last time, Jacob," said she, as she climbed into Jim +Boyd's buggy that Henderson L. had borrowed. "You may expect to find +your house red up any time when I can get a ride out." + +I was in a daze for some time trying to study out developments. Buck +Gowdy and Mrs. Mobley; Rowena and Magnus Thorkelson; Gowdy's calls on +Rowena, or at least at her home; Rowena's going to live in his house as +a hired girl; her warmth to me; her nervousness, or fright, at Gowdy; +Gowdy's religious tendency in the midst of his entanglements with the +fair sex; his seeming reconciliation with Virginia; his pulling of the +wool over the eyes of Mrs. Thorndyke, and probably the elder's--. Out of +this maze I came to a sudden resolution. I would go to Waterloo and get +me a new outfit of clothes, even to gloves and a pair of "fine boots." + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +I RECEIVE A PROPOSAL--AND ACCEPT + +Dogs and cats get more credit, I feel sure, for being animals of fine +feeling and intelligence, than in justice they are entitled to; because +they have so many ways of showing forth what they feel. A dog can growl +or bark in several ways, and show his teeth in at least two, to tell how +he feels. He can wag his tail, or let it droop, or curl it over his +back, or stick it straight out like a flag, or hold it in a bowed shape +with the curve upward, and frisk about, and run in circles, or sit up +silently or with howls; or stand with one foot lifted; or cock his head +on one side: and as for his eyes and his ears, he can almost talk +with them. + +As for a cat, she has no such rich language as a dog; but see what she +can do: purring, rubbing against things, arching her back, glaring out +of her eyes, setting her hair on end, swelling out her tail, sticking +out her claws and scratching at posts, sneaking along as if ready to +pounce, pouncing either in earnest or in fun, mewing in many voices, +catching at things with nails drawn back or just a little protruded, or +drawing the blood with them, laying back her ears, looking up pleadingly +and asking for milk--why a cat can say almost anything she wants to say. + +Now contrast these domestic animals with a much more necessary and +useful one, the cow. Any stockman knows that a cow is a beast of very +high nervous organization, but she has no very large number of ways of +telling us how she feels: just a few tones to her lowing, a few changes +of expression to her eye, a small number of shades of uneasiness, a +little manner with her eyes, showing the whites when troubled or letting +the lids droop in satisfaction--these things exhausted, and poor bossy's +tale is told. You can get nothing more out of her, except in some spasm +of madness. She is driven to extremes by her dumbness. + +I am brought to this sermon by two things: what happened to me when +Rowena Fewkes came over to see me in the early summer of 1859, a year +almost to a day from the time when Magnus and I left Blue-grass Manor +after our spell of work there: and what our best cow, Spot, did +yesterday. + +We were trying to lead Spot behind a wagon, and she did not like it. She +had no way of telling us how much she hated it, and how panicky she was, +as a dog or a cat could have done; and so she just hung back and acted +dumb and stubborn for a minute or two, and then she gave an awful +bellow, ran against the wagon as if she wanted to upset it, and when she +found she could not affect it, in as pathetic a despair and mental agony +as any man ever felt who has killed himself, she thrust one horn into +the ground, broke it off flush with her head, and threw herself down +with her neck doubled under her shoulder, as if trying to commit +suicide, as I verily believe she was. And yet dogs and cats get credit +for being creatures of finer feelings than cows, merely because cows +have no tricks of barking, purring, and the like. + +It is the same as between other people and a Dutchman. He has the same +poverty of expression that cows are cursed with. To wear his feelings +like an overcoat where everybody can see them is for him impossible. He +is the bovine of the human species. This is the reason why I used to +have such fearful crises once in a while in my dumb life, as when I was +treated so kindly by Captain Sproule just after my stepfather whipped +me; or when I nearly killed Ace, my fellow-driver, on the canal in my +first and successful rebellion; or when I used to grow white, and cry +like a baby in my fights with rival drivers. I am thought by my +children, I guess, an unfeeling person, because the surface of my nature +is ice, and does not ripple in every breeze; but when ice breaks up, it +rips and tears--and the thicker the ice, the worse the ravage. The only +reason for saying anything about this is that I am an old man, and I +have always wanted to say it: and there are some things I have said, and +some I shall now have to say, that will seem inconsistent unless the +truths just stated are taken into account. + +But there are some things to be told about before this crisis can be +understood. Life dragged along for all of us from one year to another in +the slow movement of a new country in hard times: only I was at bottom +better off than most of my neighbors because I had cattle, though I +could not see how they then did me much good. They grew in numbers, and +keeping them was just a matter of labor. My stock was the only thing I +had except land which was almost worthless; for I could use the land of +others for pasture and hay without paying rent. + +Town life went backward in most ways. My interest in it centered in +Virginia and through her in Elder Thorndyke's family; but of this family +I saw little except for my visits from Grandma Thorndyke. She came out +and red up the house as often as she could catch a ride, and I kept up +my now well-known secret policy of supplying the Thorndyke family with +my farm, dairy and poultry surplus. Why not? I lay in bed of nights +thinking that Virginia had been that day fed on what I grew, and in the +morning would eat buckwheat cakes from grain that I worked to grow, +flour from my wheat that I had taken to mill, spread with butter which I +had made with my own hands, from the cows she used to pet and that had +hauled her in my wagon back along the Ridge Road, and with nice sorghum +molasses from cane that I had grown and hauled to the sorghum mill. That +she would have meat that I had prepared for her, with eggs from the +descendants of the very hens to which she had fed our table scraps when +we were together. That maybe she would think of me when she made bread +for Grandma Thorndyke from my flour. It was sometimes almost like being +married to Virginia, this feeling of standing between her and hunger. +The very roses in her cheeks, and the curves in her developing form, +seemed of my making. But she never came with grandma to help red up. + +2 + +Grandma often told me that now I was getting pretty nearly old enough to +be married, or would be when I was twenty-one, which would be in +July--"Though," she always said, "I don't believe in folks's being +married under the spell of puppy love. Thirty is soon enough; but yet, +you might do well to marry when you are a little younger, because you +need a wife to keep you clean and tidy, and you can support a wife." She +began bringing girls with her to help fix my house up; and she would +always show them the castor and my other things. + +"Dat bane for Christina," said Magnus one time, when she was showing my +castor and a nice white china dinner set, to Kittie Fleming or Dose +Roebuck, both of whom were among her samples of girls shown me. "An' dat +patent churn--dat bane for Christina, too, eh, Yake?" + +"Christina who?" asked Grandma Thorndyke sharply. + +"Christina Quale," said Magnus, "my cousin in Norvay." + +This was nuts and apples for Grandma Thorndyke and the girls who came. +Magnus showed them Christina's picture, and told them that I had a copy +of it, and all about what a nice girl Christina was. Now grandma made a +serious thing of this and soon I had the reputation of being engaged to +Magnus's cousin, who was the daughter of a rich farmer, and could write +English; and even that I had received a letter from her. This seemed +unjust to me, though I was a little mite proud of it; for the letter was +only one page written in English in one of Magnus's. All the time +grandma was bringing girls with her to help, and making me work with +them when I helped. They were nice girls, too--Kittie, and Dose, Lizzie +Finster, and Zeruiah Strickler, and Amy Smith--all farmer girls. Grandma +was always talking about the wisdom of my marrying a farmer girl. + +"The best thing about Christina," said she, "is that she is the daughter +of a farmer." + +I struggled with this Christina idea, and tried to make it clear that +she was nothing to me, that it was just a joke. Grandma +Thorndyke smiled. + +"Of course you'd say that," said she. + +But the Christina myth grew wonderfully, and it made me more interesting +to the other girls. + + "You look too high + For things close by, + And slight the things around you!" + +So sang Zeruiah Strickler as she scrubbed my kitchen, and in pauses of +her cheerful and encouraging song told of the helplessness of men +without their women. I really believed her, in spite of my success in +getting along by myself. + +"Why don't you bring Virginia out some day?" I asked on one of these +occasions, when it seemed to me that Grandma Thorndyke was making +herself just a little too frequent a visitor at my place. + +"Miss Royall," said she, as if she had been speaking of the Queen of +Sheba, "is busy with her own circle of friends. She is now visiting at +Governor Wade's. She is almost a member of the family there. And her law +matters take up a good deal of her time, too. Mr. Gowdy says he thinks +he may be able to get her property for her soon. She can hardly be +expected to come out for this." + +And grandma swept her hands about to cast down into nothingness my +house, my affairs, and me. This plunged me into the depths of misery. + +So, when I furnished the cream for the donation picnic at Crabapple +Grove in strawberry time, I went prepared to see myself discarded by my +love. She was there, and I had not overestimated her coldness toward +me. Buck Gowdy came for only a few minutes, and these he spent eating +ice-cream with Elder Thorndyke, with Virginia across the table from him, +looking at her in that old way of his. Before he left, she went over and +sat with Bob Wade and Kittie Fleming; but he joined them pretty soon, +and I saw him bending down in that intimate way of his, first speaking +to Kittie, and then for a longer time, to Virginia--and I thought of the +time when she would not even speak his name! + +Once she walked off by herself in the trees, and looked back at me as +she went; but I was done with her, I said to myself, and hung back. She +soon returned to the company, and began flirting with Matthias Trickey, +who was no older than I, and just as much of a country bumpkin. I found +out afterward that right off after that, Matthias began going to see +her, with his pockets full of candy with mottoes on it. I called this +sparking, and the sun of my hopes set in a black bank of clouds. I do +not remember that I was ever so unhappy, not even when John Rucker was +in power over me and my mother, not even when I was seeking my mother up +and down the canal and the Lakes, not even when I found that she had +gone away on her last long journey that bleak winter day in Madison. I +now devoted myself to the memory of my old dreams for my mother, and +blamed myself for treason to her memory, getting out that old letter and +the poor work-worn shoe, and weeping over them in my lonely nights in +the cabin on the prairie. I can not now think of this without pity for +myself; and though Grandma Thorndyke was one of the best women that ever +lived on this footstool, and was much to me in my after life, I can not +think of her happiness at my despair without blaming her memory a +little. But she meant well. She had better plans, as she thought, for +Virginia, than any which she thought I could have. + +3 + +It was not more than a week after this donation picnic, when I came home +for my nooning one day, and found a covered wagon in the yard, and two +strange horses in the stable. When I went to the house, there were Old +Man Fewkes and Mrs. Fewkes, and Surajah Dowlah and Celebrate Fourth. I +welcomed them heartily. I was so lonesome that I would have welcomed a +stray dog, and that is pretty nearly what I was doing. + +"I guess," ventured the old man, after we had finished our dinner, "that +you are wondering where we're goin', Jake." + +"A long ways," I said, "by the looks of your rig." + +"You see us now," he went on, "takin' steps that I've wanted to take +ever sen' I found out what a den of inikerty we throwed ourselves into +when we went out yon'," pointing in the general direction of the +Blue-grass Manor. + +"What steps are you takin'?" I asked. + +"We are makin'," said he, "our big move for riches. Gold! Gold! Jake, +you must go with us! We are goin' out to the Speak." + +I had never heard of any place called the Speak, but I finally got it +through my head that he meant Pike's Peak. We were in the midst of the +Pike's Peak excitement for two or three years; and this was the earliest +sign of it that I had seen, though I had heard Pike's Peak mentioned. + +"Jake," said Old Man Fewkes, "it's a richer spot than the Arabian +Knights ever discovered. The streams are rollin' gold sand. Come along +of us to the Speak, an' we'll make you rich. Eh, ma?" + +"I have been drailed around," said ma, as she saw me looking at her, +"about as much as I expect to be; but this is like goin' home. It's the +last move; and as pa has said ag'in an' ag'in, it ain't but six or eight +hundred mile from Omaha, an' with the team an' wagin we've got, that's +nothin' if we find the gold, an' I calculate there ain't no doubt of +that. The Speak looks like the best place we ever started fur, and we +all hope you'll leave this Land o' Desolation, an' come with us. We like +you, an' we want you to be rich with us." + +"Where's Rowena?" I asked. + +Silence for quite a while. Then Ma Fewkes spoke. + +"Rowena," she said, her voice trembling, "Rowena ain't goin' with us." + +"Why," I said, "last summer, she seemed to want to start for Texas. She +ain't goin' with you? I want to know!" + +"She ain't no longer," said Old Man Fewkes, "a member o' my family. I +shall will my proputty away from her. I've made up my mind, Jake: an' +now le's talk about the Speak. Our plans was never better laid. +Celebrate, tell Jake how we make our money a-goin', and you, Surrager, +denote to him your machine f'r gittin' out the gold." + +I was too absorbed in thinking about Rowena to take in what Surajah and +Celebrate said. I have a dim recollection that Celebrate's plan for +making money was to fill the wagon box with white beans which were +scarce in Denver City, as we then called Denver, and could be sold for +big money when they got there. I have no remembrance of Surajah Dowlah's +plan for mining. I declined to go with them, and they went away toward +Monterey Centre, saying that they would stay there a few days, "to kind +of recuperate up," and they hoped I would join them. + +What about Rowena? They had been so mysterious about her, that I had a +new subject of thought now, and, for I was very fond of the poor girl, +of anxiety. Not that she would be the worse for losing her family. In +fact, she would be the better for it, one might think. Her older +brothers and sisters, I remembered, had been bound out back east, and +this seemed to show a lack of family affection; but the tremor in Ma +Fewkes's voice, and the agitation in which Old Man Fewkes had delivered +what in books would be his parental curse, led me to think that they +were in deep trouble on account of their breach with Rowena. Poor girl! +After all, they were her parents and brothers, and as long as she was +with them, she had not been quite alone in the world. My idea of what +had taken place may be judged by the fact that when I next saw Magnus I +asked him if he knew that Rowena and her people had had a fuss. I looked +upon the case as that of a family fuss, and that only. Magnus looked +very solemn, and said that he had seen none of the family since we had +finished our work for Gowdy--a year ago. + +"What said the old man, Yake?" he asked anxiously. + +"He said he was going to will his property away from her!" I replied, +laughing heartily at the idea: but Magnus did not laugh. "He said that +she ain't no longer a member of his family, Magnus. Don't that +beat you!" + +"Yes," said Magnus gravely, "dat beat me, Yake." + +He bowed his head in thought for a while, and then looked up. + +"Ay can't go to her, Yake. Ay can't go to her. But you go, Yake; you go. +An' you tal her--dat Magnus Thorkelson--Norsky Thorkelson--bane ready to +do what he can for her. All he can do. Tal her Magnus ready to live or +die for her. You tal her dat, Yake!" + +I had to think over this a few days before I could begin to guess what +it meant; and three days after, she came to see me. It was a Sunday +right after harvest. I had put on my new clothes thinking to go to hear +Elder Thorndyke preach, but when I thought that I had no longer any +pleasure in the thought of Virginia, no chance ever to have her for my +wife, no dreams of her for the future even, I sat in a sort of stupor +until it was too late to go, and then I walked out to look at things. + +The upland phlox, we called them pinks, were gone; the roses had fallen +and were represented by green haws, turning to red; the upland scarlet +lilies were vanished; but the tall lilies of the moist places were +flaming like yellow stars over the tall grass, each with its six dusty +anthers whirling like little windmills about its red stigma; and beside +these lilies, with their spotted petals turned back to their roots, +stood the clumps of purple marsh phlox; while towering over them all +were the tall rosin-weeds with their yellow blossoms like sunflowers, +and the Indian medicine plant waving purple plumes. There was a sense of +autumn in the air. Far off across the marsh I saw that the settlers had +their wheat in symmetrical beehive-shaped stacks while mine stood in the +shock, my sloping hillside slanting down to the marsh freckled with the +shocks until it looked dark--the almost sure sign of a bountiful crop. +And as I looked at this scene of plenty, I sickened at it. What use to +me were wheat in the shock, hay in the stack, cattle on the prairie, +corn already hiding the ground? Nothing! Less than nothing: for I had +lost the thing for which I had worked--lost it before I had claimed it. +I sat down and saw the opposite side of the marsh swim in my tears. + +4 + +And then Rowena came into my view as she passed the house. I hastily +dried my eyes, and went to meet her, astonished, for she was alone. She +was riding one of Gowdy's horses, and had that badge of distinction in +those days, a side-saddle and a riding habit. She looked very +distinguished, as she rode slowly toward me, her long skirt hanging +below her feet, one knee crooked about the saddle horn, the other in the +stirrup. I had not seen a woman riding thus since the time I had watched +them sweeping along in all their style in Albany or Buffalo. She came up +to me and stopped, looking at me without a word. + +"Why of all things!" I said. "Rowena, is this you!" + +"What's left of me," said she. + +I stood looking at her for a minute, thinking of what her father and +mother had said, and finally trying to figure out what seemed to be a +great change in her. There was something new in her voice, and her +manner of looking at me as she spoke; and something strange in the way +she looked out of her eyes. Her face was a little paler than it used to +be, as if she had been indoors more; but there was a pink flush in her +cheeks that made her look prettier than I had ever seen her. Her eyes +were bright as if with tears just trembling to fall, rather than with +the old glint of defiance or high spirits; but she smiled and laughed +more than ever I had seen her do. She acted as if she was in high +spirits, as I have seen even very quiet girls in the height of the fun +and frolic of a dance or sleigh-ride. When she was silent for a moment, +though, her mouth drooped as if in some sort of misery; and it was not +until our eyes met that the laughing expression came over her face, as +if she was gay only when she knew she was watched. She seemed +older--much older. + +Somehow, all at once there came into my mind the memory of the woman +away back there in Buffalo, who had taken me, a sleepy, lonely, +neglected little boy, to her room, put me to bed, and been driven from +the fearful place in which she lived, because of it. I have finally +thought of the word to describe what I felt in both these +cases--desperation; desperation, and the feeling of pursuit and flight. +I did not even feel all this as I stood looking at Rowena, sitting on +her horse so prettily that summer day at my farm; I only felt puzzled +and a little pitiful for her--all the more, I guess, because of her nice +clothes and her side-saddle. + +"Well, Mr. Vandemark," said she, finally, "I don't hear the perprietor +of the estate say anything about lighting and stayin' a while.' Help me +down, Jake!" + +I swung her from the saddle and tied her horse. I stopped to put a +halter on him, unsaddle him, and give him hay. I wanted time to think; +but I do not remember that I had done much if any thinking when I got +back to the house, and found that she had taken off her long skirt and +was sitting on the little stoop in front of my door. She wore the old +apron, and as I came up to her, she spread it out with her hands to call +my attention to it. + +"You see, Jake, I've come to work. Show me the morning's dishes, an' +I'll wash 'em. Or maybe you want bread baked? It wouldn't be breakin' +the Sabbath to mix up a bakin' for a poor ol' bach like you, would it? +I'm huntin' work. Show it to me." + +I showed her how clean everything was, taking pride in my housekeeping; +and when she seemed not over-pleased with this, I had in all honesty to +tell her how much I was indebted to Mrs. Thorndyke for it. + +"The preacher's wife?" she asked sharply. "An' that adopted daughter o' +theirn, Buck Gowdy's sister-in-law, eh?" + +I wished I could have admitted this; but I had to explain that Virginia +had not been there. For some reason she seemed in better spirits when +she learned this. When it came time for dinner, which on Sunday was at +one o'clock, she insisted on getting the meal; and seemed to be terribly +anxious for fear everything might not be good. It was a delicious meal, +and to see her preparing it, and then clearing up the table and washing +the dishes gave me quite a thrill. It was so much like what I had seen +in my visions--and so different. + +"Now," said she, coming and sitting down by me, and laying her hand on +mine, "ain't this more like it? Don't that beat doing everything +yourself? If you'd only try havin' me here a week, nobody could hire you +to go back to bachin' it ag'in. Think how nice it would be jest to go +out an' do your chores in the morning, an' when you come in with the +milk, find a nice breakfast all ready to set down to. Wouldn't that be +more like livin'?" + +"Yes," I said, "it--it would." + +"That come hard," said she, squeezing my hand, "like makin' a little boy +own up he likes a girl. I guess I won't ask you the next thing." + +"What was the next thing, Rowena?" + +"W'y, if it wouldn't be kind o' nice to have some one around, even if +she wa'n't very pretty, and was ignorant, if she was willin' to learn, +an' would always be good to you, to have things kind o' cheerful at +night--your supper ready; a light lit; dry boots warmed by the stove; +your bed made up nice, and maybe warmed when it was cold: even if she +happened to be wearin' an old apern like this--if you knowed she was +thinkin' in her thankful heart of the bashful boy that give it to her +back along the road when she was ragged and ashamed of herself every +time a stranger looked at her!" + +Dumbhead as I was I sat mute, and looked as blank as an idiot. In all +this description of hers I was struck by the resemblance between her +vision and mine; but I was dreaming of some one else. She looked at me a +moment, and took her hand away. She seemed hurt, and I thought I saw her +wiping her eyes. I could not believe that she was almost asking me to +marry her, it seemed so beyond belief--and I was joked so much about the +girls, and about getting me a wife that it seemed this must be just +banter, too. And yet, there was something a little pitiful in it, +especially when she spoke again about my little gift to her so long ago. + +"I never looked your place over," said she at last. "That's what I come +over fur. Show it to me, Jacob?" + +This delighted me. We looked first at the wheat, and the corn, and some +of my cattle were near enough so that we went and looked at them, too. I +told her where I had got every one of them. We looked at the chickens +and the ducks; and the first brood of young turkeys I ever had. I showed +her all my elms, maples, basswoods, and other forest trees which I had +brought from the timber, and even the two pines I had made live, then +not over a foot high. + +I just now came in from looking at them, and find them forty feet high +as I write this, with their branches resting on the ground in a great +brown ring carpeted with needles as they are in the pineries. + +We sat down on the blue-grass under what is now the big cottonwood in +front of the house. I had stuck this in the sod a little twig not two +feet long, and now it was ten or twelve feet high, and made a very +little shade, to be sure, but wasn't I proud of my own shade trees! Oh, +you can't understand it; for you can not realize the beauty of shade on +that great sun-bathed prairie, or the promise in the changing shadows +under that little tree! + +Rowena leaned back against the gray-green trunk, and patted the turf +beside her for me to be seated. + +Every circumstance of this strange day comes back to me as I think of +it, and of what followed. I remember just how the poor girl looked as +she sat leaning against the tree, her cheeks flushed by the heat of the +summer afternoon, that look of distress in her eyes as she looked around +so brightly and with so gay an air over my little kingdom. As she sat +there she loosened her belt and took a long breath as if relieved in +her weariness at the long ramble we had taken. + +"I never have had a home," she said. "I never had no idee how folk that +have got things lived--till I went over--over to that--that hell-hole +there!" And she waved her hand over toward Blue-grass Manor. I was +startled at her fierce manner and words. + +"Your folks come along here the other day," I said, to turn the subject, +I guess. + +"Did they?" she asked, with a little gasp. "What did they say?" + +"They said they were headed for Pike's Peak." + +"The old story," she said. "Huntin' f'r the place where the hawgs run +around ready baked, with knives an' forks stuck in 'em. I wish to God I +was with 'em!" + +Here she stopped for a while and sat with her hands twisted together in +her lap. Finally, "Did they say anything about me, Jacob?" + +"I thought," said I, "that they talked as if you'd had a fuss." + +"Yes," she said. "They're all I've got. They hain't much, I reckon, but +they're as good as I be, I s'pose. Yes, a lot better. They're my father +an' my mother, an' my brothers. In their way--in our way--they was +always as good to me as they knowed how. I remember when ma used to +kiss me, and pa held me on his lap. Do you remember he's got one finger +off? I used to play with his fingers, an' try to build 'em up into a +house, while he set an' told about new places he was goin' to to git +rich. I wonder if the time'll ever come ag'in when I can set on any +one's lap an' be kissed without any harm in it!" + +There was no false gaiety in her face now, as she sat and looked off +over the marsh from the brow of the hill-slope. A feeling of coming evil +swept over me as I looked at her, like that which goes through the +nerves of the cattle when a tornado is coming. I remembered now the +silence of her brothers when her father and mother had said that she was +no longer a member of their family, and was not going with them to +"the Speak." + +The comical threat of the old man that he would will his property away +from her did not sound so funny now; for there must have been something +more than an ordinary family disagreement to have made them feel thus. I +recalled the pained look in Ma Fewkes's face, as she sat with her +shoulder-blades drawn together and cast Rowena out from the strange +family circle. What could it be? I turned my back to her as I sat on the +ground; and she took me by the shoulders, pulled me down so that my head +was lying in her lap, and began smoothing my hair back from my forehead +with a very caressing touch. + +"Well," said she, "we wun't spoil our day by talkin' of my troubles. +This place here is heaven, to me, so quiet, so clean, so good! Le's not +spoil it." + +And before I knew what she meant to do, she stooped down and kissed me +on the lips--kissed me several times. I can not claim that I was +offended, she was so pretty, so rosy, so young and attractive; but at +the same time, I was a little scared. I wanted to end this situation; +so, pretty soon, I proposed that we go down to see where I kept my milk. +I felt like calling her attention to the fact that it was getting well +along in the afternoon, and that she would be late home if she did not +start soon; but that would not be very friendly, and I did not want to +hurt her feelings. So we went down to the spring at the foot of the +hill, where the secret lay of my nice, firm, sweet butter. She did not +seem very much interested, even when I showed her the tank in which the +pans of milk stood in the cool water. She soon went over to a big +granite boulder left there by the glaciers ages ago when the hill was +made by the melting ice dropping its earth and gravel, and sat down as +if to rest. So I went and sat beside her. + +"Jacob," said she, with a sort of gasp, "you wonder why I kissed you up +there, don't you?" + +I should not have confessed this when I was young, for it is not the +man's part I played; but I blushed, and turned my face away. + +"I love you, Jacob!" she took my hand as she said this, and with her +other hand turned my face toward her. "I want you to marry me. Will you, +Jacob? I--I--I need you. I'll be good to you, Jake. Don't say no! Don't +say no, for God's sake!" + +Then the tragic truth seemed to dawn on me, or rather it came like a +flash; and I turned and looked at her as I had not done before. I am +slow, or I should have known when her father and mother had spoken as +they did; but now I could see. I could see why she needed me. As an +unsophisticated boy, I had been blind in my failure to see something new +and unexpected to me in human relations; but once it came to me, it was +plain. I was a stockman, as well as a boy; and my life was closely +related to the mysterious processes by which the world is filled with +successive generations of living beings. I was like a family physician +to my animals; and wise in their days and generations. Rowena was +explained to me in a flash of lightning by my every-day experiences; +she was swept within the current of my knowledge. + +"Rowena," said I, "you are in trouble." + +She knew what I meant. + +I hope never again to see any one in such agony. Her face flamed, and +then turned as white as a sheet. She looked at me with that distressful +expression in her eyes, rose as if to go away, and then came back and +sitting down again on the stone, she buried her head on my breast and +wept so terribly that I was afraid. I tried to dry her tears, but they +burst out afresh whenever I looked in her face. The poor thing was +ashamed to look in my eyes; but she clung to me, sobbing, and crying +out, and then drawing long quivering breaths which seemed to be worse +than sobs. When she spoke, it was in short, broken sentences, sometimes +unfinished, as her agony returned upon her and would not let her go on. + +I could not feel any scorn or contempt for her; I could as soon have +looked down on a martyr burning at the stake for an act in which I did +not believe. She was like a dumb beast tied in a burning stall, only +able to moan and cry out and endure. + +I have often thought that to any one who had not seen and heard it, the +first thing she said might seem comic. + +"Jacob," she said, with her face buried in my breast, "they've got it +worked around so--I'm goin' to have a baby!" + +But when you think of the circumstances; the poor, pretty, inexperienced +girl; of that poor slack-twisted family; of her defenselessness in that +great house; of the experienced and practised and conscienceless +seducer into whose hands she had fallen--when you think of all this, I +do not see how you can fail to see how the words were wrung from her as +a statement of the truth. "They" meant all the forces which had been too +strong for her, not the least, her own weakness--for weakness is one of +the most powerful forces in our affairs. "They had got it worked +around"--as if the very stars in their courses had conspired to destroy +her. I had no impulse to laugh at her strange way of stating it, as if +she had had nothing to do with it herself: instead, I felt the tears of +sympathy roll down my face upon her hair of rich brown. + +"That's why my folks have throwed me off," she went on. "But I ain't +bad, Jacob. I ain't bad. Take me, and save me! I'll always be good to +you, Jake; I'll wash your feet with my hair! I'll kiss them! I'll eat +the crusts from the table an' be glad, for I love you, Jacob. I've loved +you ever since I saw you. If I have been untrue to you, it was because I +was overcome, and you never looked twice at me, and I thought I was to +be a great lady. Now I'll be mud, trod on by every beast that walks, an' +rooted over by the hawgs, unless you save me. I'll work my fingers to +the bone f'r you, Jacob, to the bone. You're my only hope. For Christ's +sake let me hope a little longer!" + +The thought that she was coming to me to save her from the results of +her own sin never came into my mind. I only saw her as a lost woman, +cast off even by her miserable family, whose only claim to +respectability was their having kept themselves from the one depth into +which she had fallen. I thought again of that wretch who had been kind +to me in Buffalo, and of poor Rowena, in poverty and want, stripped of +every defense against wrongs piled on wrongs, rooted over, as she said, +by the very swine, until she should come to some end so dreadful that I +could not imagine it; and not of her alone. There would be another life +to be thought of. I knew that Buckner Gowdy, for she had told me of his +blame in the matter, of her appeal to him, of his light-hearted cruelty +to her, of how now at last, after months of losing rivalry between her +and that other of his victims, the wife of Mobley the overseer, she had +come to me in desperation--I knew there was nothing in that cold heart +to which Rowena could make any appeal that had not been made +unsuccessfully by others in the same desperate case. + +I had no feeling that she should have told me all in the first place, +instead of trying to win me in my ignorance: for I felt that she was +driven by a thousand whips to things which might not be honest, but were +as free from blame as the doublings of a hunted deer. I felt no blame +for her then, and I have never felt any. I passed that by, and tried to +look in the face what I should have to give up if I took this girl for +my wife. That sacrifice rolled over me like a black cloud, as clear as +if I had had a month in which to realize it. + +I pushed her hands from my shoulders, and rose to my feet; and she knelt +down and clasped her arms around my knees. + +"I must think!" I said. "Let me be! Let me think!" + +I took a step backward, and as I turned I saw her kneeling there, her +hair all about her face, with her hands stretched out to me: and then I +walked blindly away into the long grass of the marsh. + +I finally found myself running as if to get away from the whole thing, +with the tall grass tangling about my feet. All my plans for my life +with Virginia came back to me: I lived over again every one of those +beautiful days I had spent with her. I remembered how she had come back +to bid me good-by when I left her at Waterloo, and turned her over again +to Grandma Thorndyke; but especially, I lived over again our days in the +grove. I remembered that for months, now, she had seemed lost to me, and +that all the hope I had had appeared to be that of living alone and +dreaming of her. I was not asked by poor Rowena to give up much; and yet +how much it was to me! But how little for me to lose to save her from +the fate in store for her! + +I can not hope to make clear to any one the tearing and rending in my +breast as these things passed through my mind while I went on and on, +through water and mud, blindly stumbling, dazed by the sufferings I +endured. I caught my feet in the long grass, fell--and it did not seem +worth while to rise again. + +The sun went down, and the dusk came on as I lay there with my hands +twisted in the grass which drooped over me. Then I thought of Rowena, +and I got upon my feet and started in search of her, but soon forgot her +in my thoughts of the life I should live if I did what she wanted of me. +I was in such a daze that I went within a rod of her as she sat on the +stone, without seeing her, though the summer twilight was still a +filtered radiance, when suddenly all went dark before my eyes, and I +fell again. Rowena saw me fall, and came to me. + +"Jacob," she cried, as she helped me to my feet, "Jacob, what's the +matter!" + +"Rowena," said I, trying to stand alone, "I've made up my mind. I had +other plans--but I'll do what you want me to!" + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +ROWENA'S WAY OUT--THE PRAIRIE FIRE + +The collapse of mind and body which I underwent in deciding the question +of marrying Rowena Fewkes or of keeping unstained and pure the great +love of my life, refusing her pitiful plea and passing by on the other +side, leaving her desolate and fordone, is a thing to which I hate to +confess; for it was a weakness. Yet, it was the directing fact of that +turning-point not only in my own life, but in the lives of many +others--of the life of Vandemark Township, of Monterey County, and of +the State of Iowa, to some extent. The excuse for it lies, as I have +said, in the way I am organized; in the bovine dumbness of my life, +bursting forth in a few crises in storms of the deepest bodily and +spiritual tempest. I could not and can not help it. I was weak as a +child, as she clasped me in her arms in gratitude when I told her I +would do as she wanted me to; and would have fallen again if she had not +held me up. + +"What's the matter, Jacob?" she said, in sudden fright at my strange +behavior. + +"I don't know," I gasped. "I wish I could lay down." + +She was mystified. She helped me up the hill, telling me all the time +how she meant to live so as to repay me for all I had promised to do for +her. She was stronger than I, then, and helped me into the house, which +was dark, now, and lighted the lamp; but when she came to me, lying on +the bed, she gave a great scream. + +"Jake, Jake!" she cried. "What's the matter! Are you dying, my darling?" + +"Who, me dying?" I said, not quite understanding her. "No--I'm all +right--I'll be all right, Rowena!" + +She was holding her hands up in the light. They were stained crimson +where she had pressed them to my bosom. + +"What's the matter of your hands?" I asked, though I was getting drowsy, +as if I had been long broken of my sleep. + +"It's blood, Jacob! You've hurt yourself!" + +I drew my hand across my mouth, and it came away stained red. She gave a +cry of horror; but did not lose her presence of mind. She sponged the +blood from my clothes, wiping my mouth every little while, until there +was no more blood coming from it. Presently I dropped off to sleep with +my hand in hers. She awoke me after a while and gave me some warm milk. +As I was drowsing off again, she spoke very gently to me. + +"Can you understand what I'm saying?" she asked; and I nodded a yes. "Do +you love her like that?" she asked. + +"Yes," I said, "I love her like that." + +Presently she lifted my hand to her lips and kissed it. She was quite +calm, now, as if new light had come to her in her darkness; and I +thought that it was my consent which had quieted her spirits: but I did +not understand her. + +"I can't let you do it, Jacob," said she, finally. "It's too much to +ask.... I've thought of another way, my dear.... Don't think of me or my +troubles any more.... I'll be all right.... You go on loving her, an' +bein' true to her ... and if God is good as they say, He'll make you +happy with her sometime. Do you understand, Jacob?" + +"Yes," I said, "but what will you...." + +"Never mind about me," said she soothingly. "I've thought of another way +out. You go to sleep, now, and don't think of me or my troubles +any more." + +I lay looking at her for a while, and wondering how she could suddenly +be so quiet after her agitation of the day; and after a while, the scene +swam before my eyes, and I went off into the refreshing sleep of a tired +boy. + +The sun was up when I awoke. Rowena was gone. I went out and found +that she had saddled her horse and left sometime in the night; afterward +I found out that it was in the gray of the morning. She had watched by +my bedside all night, and left only after it was plain that I was +breathing naturally and that my spasm had passed. She had come into my +life that day like a tornado, but had left it much as it had been +before, except that I wondered what was to become of her. I was +comforted by the thought that she had "thought of another way." And it +was a long time before the nobility of her action was plain to me; but +when I realized it, I never forgot it. I had offered her all I had when +she begged for it, she had taken it, and then restored it, as the dying +soldier gave the draught of water to his comrade, saying, "Thy necessity +is greater than mine." + +Once or twice I made an effort to tell Magnus Thorkelson about this, as +we worked at our after-harvest haying together that week; but it was a +hard thing to do. Perhaps it would not be a secret much longer; but as +yet it was Rowena's secret, not mine. I knew, too, that Magnus had been +haunting Rowena for two years; that he had been making visits to +Blue-grass Manor often when she was there, without taking me into his +confidence; that his excuse that he went to help Surajah Fewkes with his +inventions was not the real reason for his going. I remembered, too, +that Rowena had always spoken well of Magnus, and seemed to see what +most of us did not, that Magnus was better educated in the way +foreigners are taught than the rest of us; and she did not look down on +him the way we did then on folks from other countries. I had no way of +knowing how they stood toward each other, though Magnus had looked sad +and stopped talking lately whenever I had mentioned her. I knew it would +be a shock to him to learn of her present and coming trouble; and, +strange as it may seem, I began to put it back into the dark places in +my brain as if it had not happened; and when it came to mind clearly as +it kept doing, I tried to comfort myself with the thought that Rowena +had said that she had thought of another way out. + +We had frost early that year--a hard white frost sometime about the +tenth of September. Neither Magnus nor I had any sound corn, though our +wheat, oats and barley were heavy and fine; and we had oceans of hay. +The frost killed the grass early, and early in October we had a heavy +rain followed by another freeze, and then a long, calm, warm Indian +summer. The prairie was covered with a dense mat of dry grass which +rustled in the wind but furnished no feed for our stock. It was a +splendid fall for plowing, and I began to feel hope return to me as I +followed my plow around and around the lands I laid off, and watched the +black ribbon of new plowing widen and widen as the day advanced +toward night. + +Nothing is so good a soil for hope as new plowing. The act of making it +is inspired by hope. The emblem of hope should be the plow; not the plow +of the Great Seal, but a plow buried to the top of the mold-board in the +soil, with the black furrow-slice falling away from it--and for heaven's +sake, let it fall to the right, as it does where they do real farming, +and not to the left as most artists depict it! I know some plows are so +made that the nigh horse walks in the furrow, but I have mighty little +respect for such plows or the farms on which they are used. + +My cattle strayed off in the latter part of October; being tolled off in +this time between hay and grass by the green spears that grew up in the +wet places in the marsh and along the creek. I got uneasy about them on +the twentieth, and went hunting them on one of Magnus Thorkelson's +horses. Magnus was away from home working, and had left his team with +me. I made up my mind that I would scout along on my own side of the +marsh until I could cross below it, and then work west, looking from +every high place until I found the cattle, coming in away off toward the +Gowdy tract, and crossing the creek above the marsh on my way home. This +would take me east and west nearly twice across Vandemark Township as it +was finally established. + +I expected to get back before night, but when I struck the trail of the +stock it took me away back into the region in the north part of the +township back of Vandemark's Folly, as we used to say, where it was not +settled, on account of the slew and the distance from town, until in the +'seventies. Foster Blake had it to himself all this time, and ran a herd +of the neighbors' stock there until about 1877, when the Germans came in +and hemmed him in with their improvements, making the second great +impulse in the settlement of the township. + +2 + +There was a stiff, dry, west wind blowing, and a blue haze in the air. +As the afternoon advanced, the sun grew red as if looked at through +smoked glass, burning like a great coal of fire or a broad disk of +red-hot iron. + +There was a scent of burning grass in the air when I found my herd over +on Section Eight, about where the cooperative creamery and store now +stand. The cattle seemed to be uneasy, and when I started them toward +home, they walked fast, snuffing the air, and giving once in a while an +uneasy, anxious falsetto bellow; and now and then they would break into +a trot as they drew nearer to the places they knew. The smell of smoke +grew stronger, and I knew there was a prairie fire burning to the +westward. The sun was a deeper red, now, and once in a while almost +disappeared in clouds of vaporous smoke which rolled higher and higher +into the sky. Prairie chickens, plover and curlew, with once in a while +a bittern, went hurriedly along to the eastward, and several wolves +crossed our path, trotting along and paying no attention to me or the +cows; but stopping from time to time and looking back as if pursued +from the west. + +They were pursued. They were fleeing from the great prairie fire of +1859, which swept Monterey County from side to side, and never stopped +until it struck the river over in the next county. I felt a little +uneasy as I hiked my cattle down into the marsh on my own land, and saw +them picking their way across it toward my grove, which showed proudly a +mile away across the flat. I had plowed firebreaks about my buildings +and stacks, and burned off between the strips of plowing, but I felt +that I ought to be at home. So I rode on at a good trot to make my +circuit of the marsh to the west. The cattle could get through, but a +horse with a man on his back might easily get mired in Vandemark's Folly +anywhere along there; and my motto was, "The more hurry, the +less speed." + +As I topped the hill to get back to the high ground, I saw great clouds +of smoke pouring into the valley at the west passage into the big flat, +and the country to the south was hidden by the smoke, except where, away +off in the southwest in the changing of the wind, I could see the line +of fire as it came over the high ground west of the old Bill Trickey +farm. It was a broad belt of red flames, from which there crept along +the ground a great blanket of smoke, black at first, and then turning to +blue as it rose and thinned. I began making haste; for it now looked as +if the fire might reach the head of the slew before I could, and thus +cut me off. I felt in my pocket for matches; for in case of need, the +only way to fight fire is with fire. + +I was not scared, for I knew what to do; but not a mile from where I saw +the fire on the hilltop, a family of Indiana movers were at that moment +smothering and burning to death in the storm of flames--six people, old +and young, of the score or more lost in that fire; and the first deaths +of white people in Vandemark Township. Their name was Davis, and they +came from near Vincennes, we found out. + +And within five minutes, as I looked off to the northwest, I saw a woman +walking calmly toward the marsh. She was a long way off, and much nearer +the fire than I was. I looked for the wagon to which she might belong, +but saw none, and it took only one more glance at her to show me that +she was in mortal danger. For she was walking slowly and laboriously +along like a person carrying a heavy burden. The smoke was getting so +thick that it hid her from time to time, and I felt, even at my distance +from the fire, an occasional hot blast on my cheek--a startling proof of +the rapid march of the great oncoming army of flames. + +I kicked my heels into the horse's flanks and pushed him to a gallop. I +must reach her soon, or she would be lost, for it was plain that she was +paying no attention to her danger. I went down into a hollow, pounded up +the opposite hill, and over on the next rise of ground I saw her. She +was standing still, now, with her face turned to the fire: then she +walked deliberately toward it. I urged my horse to a faster gait, swung +my hat, and yelled at her, but she seemed not to hear. + +The smoke swept down upon her, and when I next could see, she was +stooped with her shawl drawn around her head; or was she on her knees? +Then she rose, and turning from the fire, ran as fast as she could, +until I wheeled my horse across her path, jumped to the ground and +stopped her with my arm about her waist. I looked at her. It was +Rowena Fewkes. + +"Rowena," I shouted, "what you doin' here? Don't you know you'll get +burnt up?" + +"I couldn't go any closer," she said, as if excusing herself. "Would it +hurt much? I got scared, Jake. Oh, don't let me burn!" + +There was no chance to make the circuit of the slew now, even if I had +not been hampered with her. I told her to do as she was told, and not +bother me. Then I gave her the horse to hold, and sternly ordered her +not to let loose of him no matter what he did. + +I gathered a little armful of dry grass, and lighted it with a match to +the leeward of us. It spread fast, though I lighted it where the grass +was thin so as to avoid a hot fire; but on the side toward the wind, +where the blaze was feeble, I carefully whipped it out with my slouch +hat. In a minute, or so, I had a line two or three rods long, of little +blazes, each a circle of fire burning more and more fiercely on the +leeward side, and more feebly on the side where the blaze was fanned +away from its fuel. This side of each circle I whipped out with my hat, +some of them with difficulty. Soon, we had a fierce fire raging, leaving +in front of us a growing area of black ashes. + +We were now between two fires; the great conflagration from which we +were trying to protect ourselves came on from the west like a roaring +tornado, its ashes falling all about us, its hot breath beginning to +scorch us, its snapping and crackling now reaching the ear along with +its roar; while on the east was the fire of my own kindling, growing in +speed, racing off away from us, leaving behind it our haven of refuge, a +tract swept clean of food for the flames, but hot and smoking, and as +yet all too small to be safe, for the heat and smoke might kill where +the flames could not reach. Between the two fires was the fast narrowing +strip of dry grass from which we must soon move. Our safety lay in the +following of one fire to escape the other. + +The main army of the flames coming on from the west, with its power of +suction, fanned itself to a faster pace than our new line could attain, +and the heat increased, both from the racing crimson line to the west, +and the slower-moving back-fire on the other side. We sweltered and +almost suffocated. Rowena buried her face in her shawl, and swayed as if +falling. I took her by the arm, and leading the excited horse, we moved +over into our zone of safety. She was trembling like a leaf. + +I was a little anxious for a few minutes for fear I had not started my +back-fire soon enough; but the fear soon passed. The fire came on with a +swelling roar. We followed our back-fire so close as to be almost +blistered by it, coughing, gasping, covering our mouths and nostrils in +such a heat and smother that I could scarcely support Rowena and keep my +own footing. Suddenly the heat and smoke grew less; I looked around, and +saw that the fire had reached our burnt area, and the line was cut for +lack of fuel. It divided as a wave is split by a rock, and went in two +great moving spouting fountains of red down the line of our back-fire, +and swept on, leaving us scorched, blackened, bloodshot of eye and sore +of lips, but safe. We turned, with great relief to me at least, and made +for the open country behind the lines. Then for the first time, I looked +at Rowena. + +If I had been surprised at the way in which, considering her trouble, +she had kept her prettiness and gay actions when I had last seen her, I +was shocked at the change in her now. The poor girl seemed to have given +up all attempt to conceal her condition or to care for her looks. All +her rosy bloom was gone. Her cheeks were pale and puffy, even though +emaciated. Her limbs looked thin through her disordered and torn +clothes. She wore a dark-colored hood over her snarled hair, in which +there was chaff mixed with the tangles as if she had been sleeping in +straw. She was black with smoke and ashes. Her skirts were draggled as +if with repeated soaking with dew and rain. Her shoes were worn through +at the toes, and through the holes the bare toes stuck out of openings +in her stockings. While her clothes were really better than when I had +first seen her, she had a beggarly appearance that, coupled with her +look of dejection and misery, went to my heart--she was naturally so +bright and saucy. She looked like a girl who had gone out into the +weather and lived exposed to it until she had tanned and bleached and +weathered and worn like a storm-beaten and discouraged bird with its +plumage soiled and soaked and its spirit broken. And over it all hung +the cloud of impending maternity--a cloud which should display the +rainbow of hope. But with her there was only a lurid light which is more +awful than darkness. + +I could not talk with her. I could only give her directions and lend her +aid. I tried putting her on the horse behind me, but he would not carry +double; so I put her in the saddle and walked by or ahead of the horse, +over the blackened and ashy prairie, lit up by the red glare of the +fire, and dotted here and there with little smokes which marked where +there were coals, the remains of vegetable matter which burned more +slowly than the dry grass. She said nothing; but two or three times she +gave a distressed little moan as if she were in pain; but this she +checked as if by an effort. + +When we reached the end of the slew, we turned south and crossed the +creek just above the pond which we called Plum Pudd'n' Pond, from the +number of bitterns that lived there. It disappeared when I drained the +marsh in the 'eighties. Then, though, it spread over several acres of +ground, the largest body of water in Monterey County. We splashed +through the west end of it, and Rowena looked out over it as it lay +shining in the glare of the great prairie fire, which had now swept +half-way down the marsh, roaring like a tornado and sending its flames +fifty feet into the air. I could not help thinking what my condition +would have been if I had tried to cross it and been mired in the bog, +and like any good stockman, I was hoping that my cattle had got safe +across in their rush for home and safety. + +"What water is that?" asked Rowena as we crossed. + +"Plum Pudd'n' Pond," I told her. + +"Is it deep?" she said. + +"Pretty deep in the middle." + +"Over your head?" + +"Oh, yes!" + +"I reckoned it was," said she. "I was huntin' fur it when you found me." + +"That was after you saw the fire," I said. + +"No," said she. "It was before." + +In my slow way I pondered on why she had been hunting water over her +head, and sooner than is apt to be the case with me I understood. The +despair in her face as she turned and looked at the shining water told +me. She had refused to accept my offer to be her protector, because she +saw how it hurt me; but she was now ready to balance the books--if it +ever does that--by taking shelter in the depths of the pool! And this +all for the pleasure of that smiling scoundrel! + +"I hope God will damn him," I said; and am ashamed of it now. + +"What good would that do?" said she wearily. "This world's hard enough, +Jake!" + +3 + +We got to my house, and I helped her in. I told her to wait while I went +to look at the fire to see whether my stacks were in danger, and to put +out and feed the horse. Then I went back, and found her sitting where I +had left her, and as I went in I heard again that little moan of pain. + +The house was as light as day, without a lamp. The light from the fire +shone against the western wall of the room almost as strong as sunlight, +and as we sat there we could hear the roar of the fire rising in the +gusts of the wind, dying down, but with a steady undertone, like the +wind in the rigging of a ship. I got some supper, and after saying that +she couldn't eat, Rowena ate ravenously. + +She had gone away from Blue-grass Manor, whipped forth by Mrs. Mobley's +abuse, days and days before, living on what she had carried with her +until it was gone, drinking from the brooks and runs of the prairie, and +then starving on rose-haws, and sleeping in stacks until I had found her +looking for the pool. If people could only have known! Presently she +moaned again, and I made her lie down on the bed. + +"What will you do with me, Jacob?" she asked. + +"We'll think about that in the morning," said I. + +"Maybe you can bury me in the morning," she said after a while. "Oh, +Jake, I'm scared, I'm scared. My trouble is comin' on! My time is up, +Jake. Oh, what shall I do! What shall I do?" + +I went out and sat on the stoop and thought about this. Finally I made +up my mind what she really meant by "her trouble," and I went back to +her side. I found her moaning louder and more agonizingly, now: and in +my turn I had my moment of panic. + +"Rowena," I said, "I'm goin' out to do something that has to be done. +Will you stay here, and not move out of this room till I come back?" + +"I'll have to," she said. "I guess I've walked my last." + +So I went out and saddled the fresh horse, and started through that +fiery night for Monterey Centre. The fire had burned clear past the +town, and when I got there I saw what was left of one or two barns or +houses which had caught fire from the burning prairie, still blazing in +heaps of embers. The village had had a narrower escape from the rain of +ashes and sparks which had swept to the very edges of the little cluster +of dwellings. I rode to Doctor Bliven's drug store, climbed the outside +stairway which led to his living-room above, and knocked. Mrs. Bliven +came to the door. I explained that I wanted the doctor at once to come +out to my farm. + +"He's not here," said she. "He is dressing some burns from the fire; +but he must be nearly through. I'll go after him." + +I refused to go in and sit until she came back, but stood at the foot of +the stair on the sidewalk. The time of waiting seemed long, but I +suppose he came at once. + +"Who's sick, Jake?" he asked. + +"A girl," I said. "A woman." + +"At your house?" asked he. "What is it?" + +"It's Rowena Fewkes," said I. + +"I thought they had gone to Colorado," said the doctor. + +"They said they were leaving her behind," said Mrs. Bliven. "They +said.... Do you say she's at your house? Who's with her?" + +"No one," said I. "She's alone. Hurry, Doctor: she needs you bad." + +"Just a minute," said he. "What seems to be the matter? Is she very +bad?" + +"It's a confinement case," said I. I had been thinking of the proper +word all the way. + +"And she alone!" exclaimed Mrs. Bliven. "Hurry, Doctor! I'll get your +instruments and medicine-case, and you can hitch up. You stay here, +Jake. I want to speak to you." + +She ran up-stairs, and down again in a few seconds, with the cases, and +wearing her bonnet and cloak. I could hear the doctor running his buggy +out of the shed, and speaking to his horses. She set the cases down on +the sidewalk, came up to me, put her hand on my arm and spoke. + +"Jake," said she, "are you and Rowena married?" + +"Us married!" I exclaimed. "Why, no!" + +"This is bad business," said she. "I am surprised, and there's no woman +out there with the poor little thing?" + +"No," I said; "as soon as I could I started for the doctor because I +thought he was needed first. But she needs a woman--a woman that won't +look down on her, I wish--I wish I knew where there was one!" + +"Jake," said she, "you've done the fair thing by me, and I'll stand by +you, and by her. I'll go to her in her trouble. I'll go now with the +doctor. And when I do the fair thing, see that you do the same. I'm not +the one to throw the first stone, and I won't. I'm going with +you, Doctor." + +"What for?" said he. + +"Just for the ride," she said. "I'll tell you more as we go." + +They outstripped me on the return trip, for my horse was winded, and I +felt that there was no place for me in what was going on at the farm, +though what that must be was very dim in my mind. + +I let my horse walk. The fire was farther off, now; but the sky, now +flecked with drifting clouds, was red with its light, and the sight was +one which I shall never see again: which I suppose nobody will ever see +again; for I do not believe there will ever be seen such an expanse of +grass as that of Iowa at that time. I have seen prairie fires in Montana +and Western Canada; but they do not compare to the prairie fires of old +Iowa. None of these countries bears such a coating of grass as came up +from the black soil of Iowa; for their climate is drier. I can see that +sight as if it were before my eyes now. The roaring came no longer to my +ears as I rode on through the night, except faintly when the breeze, +which had died down, sprang up as the fire reached some swale covered +with its ten-foot high saw-grass. Then, I could see from the top of some +rising ground the flames leap up, reach over, catch in front of the +line, kindle a new fire, and again be overleaped by a new tongue of +fire, so that the whole line became a belt of flames, and appeared to be +rolling along in a huge billow of fire, three or four rods across, and +miles in length. + +The advance was not in a straight line. In some places for one reason or +another, the thickness or thinness of the grass, the slope of the land, +or the varying strength of the wind, the fire gained or lost ground. In +some places great patches of land were cut off as islands by the joining +of advanced columns ahead of them, and lay burning in triangles and +circles and hollow squares of fire, like bodies of soldiers falling +behind and formed to defend themselves against pursuers. All this +unevenness of line, with the varying surface of the lovely Iowa prairie, +threw the fire into separate lines and columns and detachments more and +more like burning armies as they receded from view. + +Sometimes a whole mile or so of the line disappeared as the fire burned +down into lower ground; and then with a swirl of flame and smoke, the +smoke luminous in the glare, it moved magnificently up into sight, +rolling like a breaker of fire bursting on a reef of land, buried the +hillside in flame, and then whirled on over the top, its streamers +flapping against the horizon, snapping off shreds of flame into the air, +as triumphantly as a human army taking an enemy fort. Never again, never +again! We went through some hardships, we suffered some ills to be +pioneers in Iowa; but I would rather have my grandsons see what I saw +and feel what I felt in the conquest of these prairies, than to get up +by their radiators, step into their baths, whirl themselves away in +their cars, and go to universities. I am glad I had my share in those +old, sweet, grand, beautiful things--the things which never can +be again. + +An old man looks back on things passed through as sufferings, and feels +a thrill when he identifies them as among the splendors of life. Can +anything more clearly prove the vanity of human experiences? But look at +the wonders which have come out of those days. My youth has already +passed into a period as legendary as the days when King Alfred hid in +the swamp and was reproved by the peasant's wife for burning the cakes. +I have lived on my Iowa farm from times of bleak wastes, robber bands, +and savage primitiveness, to this day, when my state is almost as +completely developed as Holland. If I have a pride in it, if I look back +to those days as worthy of record, remember that I have some excuse. +There will be no other generation of human beings with a life so rich in +change and growth. And there never was such a thing in all the history +of the world before. + +I knew then, dimly, that what I saw was magnificent; but I was more +pleased with the safety of my farmstead and my stacks than with the grim +glory of the scene; and even as to my own good fortune in coming through +undamaged, I was less concerned than with the tragedy being enacted in +my house. I could not see into the future for Rowena, but I felt that it +would be terrible. The words "lost," "ruined," "outcast," which were +always applied to such as she had become, ran through my mind all the +time; and yet, she seemed a better girl when I talked with her than when +she was running over the prairie like a plover following old Tom and the +little clittering wagon. Now she seemed to have grown, to have taken on +a sort of greatness, something which commanded my respect, and almost +my awe. + +It was the sacredness of martyrdom. I know this now: but then I seemed +to feel that I was disgracing myself for not loathing her as +something unclean. + +"It's a boy!" said Doctor Bliven, as I came to the house. "The mother +ain't in very good shape. Seems exhausted--exhausted. She'll pull +through, though--she'll pull through; but the baby is fat and lusty. +Strange, how the mother will give everything to the offspring, and bring +it forth fat when she's as thin as a rail--thin as a rail. Mystery of +nature, you know--perpetuation of the race. Instinct, you know, +instinct. This girl, now--had an outfit of baby clothes in that bundle +of hers--instinct--instinct. My wife's going to stay a day or so. I'll +take her back next time I come out." + +"You must 'tend to her, Doc," said I. "I'll guarantee you your pay." + +"Very well, Jake. Of course you would--of course, of course," said he. +"But between you and me there wouldn't be any trouble about pay. Old +friends, you know; old friends. Favors in the past. You've done things +for me--my wife, too. Fellow travelers, you know. Never call on us for +anything and be refused. Be out to-morrow. Ought to have a woman here +when I go. Probably be milk for the child when it needs it; but needs +woman. Can get you a mover's wife's sister--widow--experienced with her +own. Want her? Bring her out for you--bring her out to-morrow. Eh?" + +I told him to bring the widow out, and was greatly relieved. I went to +Magnus's cabin that night to sleep, leaving Mrs. Bliven with Rowena. I +hoped I might not have to see Rowena before she went away; for the very +thought of seeing the girl with the child embarrassed me; but on the +third day the widow--they afterward moved on to the Fort Dodge +country--came to me, and standing afar off as if I was infected with +something malignant, told me that Mrs. Vandemark wanted to see me. + +"She ain't Mrs. Vandemark," I corrected. "Her name is Rowena Fewkes." + +"I make it a habit," said the widow, whose name was Mrs. Williams, "to +speak in the present tense." + +Whatever she may have meant was a problem to me; but I went in. Rowena +lay in my bed, and beside her was a little bundle wrapped in a blanket +made of one of my flannel sheets. The women were making free of my +property as a matter of course. + +"What are you goin' to do with me, Jake?" she asked again, looking up at +me pleadingly. + +"I'm goin' to keep you here till you're able to do for yourself," I +said. "Time enough to think of that after a while." + +She took my hand and pressed it, and turned her face to the pillow. +Pretty soon she turned the blanket back, and there lay the baby, red and +ugly and wrinkled. + +"Ain't he purty?" said she, her face glowing with love. "Oh, Jake, I +thank God I didn't find the pond before you found me. I didn't know very +well what I was doin'. I'll have something to love an' work fur, now. I +wonder if they'll let me be a good womern. I will be, in spite of hell +an' high water--f'r his sake, Jake." + + + +4 + +As I lay in Magnus's bed that night, I could see no way out for her. She +could get work, I knew, for there was always work for a woman in our +pioneer houses. The hired girl who went from place to place could find +employment most of the time; but the baby would be an incumbrance. It +would be a thing that the eye of censure could not ignore, like the +scarlet "A" on the breast of the girl in Nathaniel Hawthorne's story. I +could not foresee how the thing would work out, and lay awake pondering +on it until after midnight, and I had hardly fallen asleep, it seemed to +me, when the door was opened, and in came Magnus. He had finished his +job and come back. + +"You hare, Yake?" he said, in his quiet and unmoved way. "I'm glad. Your +house bane burn up in fire?" + +I told him the startling news, and as the story of poor Rowena slowly +made its way into his mind, I was startled and astonished at its effect +on him; for he has always been to me a man who would be calm in a +tornado, and who would meet shipwreck or earthquake without a tremor. I +have seen him standing in his place in the ranks with his comrades +falling all about loading and firing his musket, with no more change in +his expression than a cold light of battle in his mild buttermilk eyes. +I have seen him wipe from his face the blood of a fellow-soldier +spattered on him by a fragment of shell, as if it had been a splash of +water from a puddle. But now, he trembled. He turned pale. He raged up +and down the little room with his hands doubled into fists and beating +the air. He bit down upon his Norwegian words with clenched teeth. I was +afraid to talk to him at last. Finally, he turned to me and said: + +"Ay know de man! So it vas in de ol' country! Rich fallar bane t'inking +poor girl notting but like fresh fruit for him to eat; a cup of vine for +him to drink; an' he drink it! He eat de fruit. But dis bane different +country. Ay keel dis damned Gowdy! You hare, Yake? Ay keel him!" + +Of course I told him that this would never do, and talked the way we all +do when it is our duty to keep a friend from ruining himself. He sat +down while I was talking, and as far as I could see heard never a word +of what I said. Finally I talked myself out, and still he sat there as +silent as a statue. + +"Ay--tank--Ay--take--a--valk," he said at last, in the jerky way of the +Norwegian; and he went out into the night. + +I lay back expecting that he would come in pretty soon, when I had more +of which I had thought to talk to him about; but I went to sleep, and +having been a good deal broken of my rest, I slept late. He was still +absent when I woke up. When I got to my place, the widow told me that he +had been there and had a long talk with Rowena, and had hitched up his +team and driven away. + +Rowena was asleep when I looked in, and I went out to plow. If Magnus +had gone to kill Buck Gowdy, there was nothing I could do to prevent it. +As a matter of fact, I approved of his impulse. I had felt it myself, +though not with any such wrathful bitterness. I had known for a long +time that Magnus had a tenderness toward Rowena; but he was such a +gentle fellow, and seemed to be so slow in approaching her, with his +fooling with Surajah's inventions and the like, that I set down his +feeling as a sort of sheepish drawing toward her which never would +amount to anything. But now I saw that his rage against Gowdy was of the +kind that overpowered him, stolid as he had always seemed. It rose above +mine in proportion to the passion he must have felt for her, when she +was a girl that a man could take for a wife. I pitied him; and I did not +envy Buck Gowdy, if it chanced that they should come together while +Magnus's white-hot anger was burning; but I rather hoped they would +meet. I did not believe that in any just court Magnus would be punished +if he supplied the lack in the law. + +When I turned out at noon, I saw Magnus's team, and a horse hitched to a +buggy tied to my corn-crib; and when I went into the house, I half +expected to find Jim Boyd, the sheriff, there to arrest Magnus +Thorkelson for murder, at the bedside of Magnus's lady-love. I could +imagine how N. V. Creede, whom I had already resolved I would retain to +defend Magnus, would thrill the jury in his closing speech for the +prisoner as the bar. + +What I found was Elder Thorndyke and grandma and the widow, all standing +by Rowena's bed. The widow was holding the baby in her arms, but as I +came in she laid it in a chair and covered it up, as much as to indicate +that on this occasion the less seen of the infant the better. Magnus was +holding Rowena's hand, and the elder was standing on the other side of +the bed holding a book. Grandma Thorndyke stood at the bed's foot +looking severely at a _Hostetter's Almanac_ I had hanging on the +head-board. The widow was twittering around from place to place. When I +came in, Magnus motioned me to stand beside him, and as I took my place +handed me a gold ring. Rowena looked up at me piteously, as if to ask +forgiveness. Sometime during the ceremony we had the usual hitch over +the ring, for I had put it in my trousers pocket and had to find it so +that Magnus could put it on Rowena's finger. I had never seen a marriage +ceremony, and was at my wit's end to know what we were doing, thinking +sometimes that it was a wedding, and sometimes that it might be +something like extreme unction; when at last the elder said, "I +pronounce you man and wife!" + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +GOWDY ACKNOWLEDGES HIS SON + +Now I leave it to the reader--if I ever have one besides my +granddaughter Gertrude--whether in this case of the trouble of Rowena +Fewkes and her marriage to Magnus Thorkelson, I did anything by which I +ought to have forfeited the esteem of my neighbors, of the Reverend and +Mrs. Thorndyke, or of Virginia Royall. I never in all my life acted in a +manner which was more in accordance to the dictates of my conscience. +You have seen how badly I behaved, or tended to behave in the past, and +lost no friends by it. In a long life of dealing in various kinds of +property, including horse-trading, very few people have ever got the +best of me, and everybody knows that this is less a boast than a +confession; and yet, this one good act of standing by this poor girl in +her dreadful plight degraded me more in the minds of the community than +all the spavins, thorough-pins, poll-evils and the like I ever concealed +or glossed over. We are all schoolboys who usually suffer our whippings +for things that should be overlooked; and the fact that we get off scot +free when we should have our jackets tanned does not seem to make the +injustice any easier to bear. + +Dick McGill, the editor of the scurrilous Monterey _Journal_ was, as +usual, the chief imp of this as of any other deviltry his sensational +paper could take a part in. Of course, he would be on Buck Gowdy's side; +for what rights had such people as Magnus and Rowena and I? + +"A wedding took place out on the wild shores of Hell Slew last week," +said this paper. "It was not a case, exactly, of the funeral baked meats +coldly furnishing forth the marriage supper; but the economy was quite +as striking. The celebration of the arrival of the heir of the Manor +(though let us hope not of the manner) was merged in the wedding +festivities. We make our usual announcements: Married at the residence +of J.T. Vandemark, Miss Rowena Fewkes to Mr. Magnus Thorkelson. It's a +boy, standard weight. The ceremonies were presided over by Doctor +Bliven, our genial disciple of Esculapias, and by Elder Thorndyke, each +in his respective sphere of action. Great harmony marked the carrying +out of these usually separate functions. The amalgamation of peoples +goes on apace. Here we have Yankee, Scandinavian and Dutch so +intertwined that it will take no common 'glance of eye, thought of man, +wing of angel' to separate the sheep from the goats in the sequel. +_Nuff ced_." + +He little knew the sequel! + +I did not read this paper. In fact, I did not read anything in those +days; and I do not believe that Magnus and Rowena knew for some time +anything more about this vile and slanderous item than I did. It was +only by the way we were treated that we felt that the cold shoulder of +the little world of Vandemark Township and Monterey County was turned +toward us. Of course Magnus and Rowena expected this; but I was hurt +more deeply by this injustice than by anything in my whole life. +Grandma Thorndyke came out no more to red up my house, and exhibit her +samples of prospective wives to me. The neighbors called no more. I +began driving over to the new railroad to do my marketing, though it was +twice as close to go to Monterey Centre. When Elder Thorndyke, largely +through the contributions of Governor Wade and Buckner Gowdy, succeeded +in getting his church built, I was not asked to go to the doings of +laying the corner-stone or shingling the steeple. I was an outsider. + +I quit trying to neighbor with the Roebucks, Smiths, and George Story, +my new neighbors on the south; and took up with some French who moved in +on the east, the families of Pierre Lacroix and Napoleon B. Bouchard. We +called the one "Pete Lackwire" and the other "Poly Busher." They were +the only French people who came into the township. They were good +neighbors, and fair farmers, and their daughters made some of the best +wives the sons of the rest of us got. One of my grandsons married the +prettiest girl among their grandchildren--a Lacroix on one side and a +Bouchard on the other. + +It may well be understood that I now took no part in the township +history, which gets more complex with the coming in of more settlers; +but it was about this time that what is now Vandemark Township began +agitating for a separate township organization. We were attached to +Centre Township, in which was situated the town of Monterey Centre. This +town, dominated by the County Ring, clung to all the territory it could +control, so as to spend the taxes in building up the town. A great +four-room schoolhouse was finished in the summer of 1860; most of it +built by taxes paid by the speculators who still owned the bulk of +the land. + +The Vandemark Township people made a great outcry about the shape of +Centre Township, and called it "The Great Crane," with our township as +the neck, and a lot of other territory back of us for the body, and +Monterey Centre for the head. I took no part in this agitation, for I +was burning with a sense of indignation at the way people treated me; +but the County Ring compromised by building us a schoolhouse on my +southwest corner, now known as the Vandemark School. But I cared nothing +about this. I had no children to go to school, and while I never ceased +to dream of a future with Virginia as my wife, I kept saying to myself +that I never should have a family. Consistency is the least of the +necessaries of our visions and dreams. I never tried to see Virginia. I +avoided the elder and Grandma Thorndyke. I knew that she was disgusted +with me for even an innocent connection with the Thorkelson matter, and +I supposed that Virginia felt the same way. So I went on trying to be as +near to a hermit as I could. + +2 + +I know now that things began to change for me in the minds of the people +when Rowena's baby was christened. This took place early in the winter. +Magnus asked me to go to the church; so I was present when Magnus and +Rowena stood before the altar in a ceremony which Rowena would have +given anything to escape, and Magnus, too, but he believed that the +child's soul could not be saved if it died unchristened, and she yielded +to his urgings in the matter. He held his head high as he stood by her, +as he always stood in every relation in life, witnessing before God and +man that he believed her a victim, and that whatever guilt she may have +incurred, she had paid for it in full. After the responses had been +made, Elder Thorndyke unfolded a paper which had been handed him with +the name of the child on it; then he went on with his part of the +ceremony: "In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, I +baptize thee--" And then he carried on a whispered conversation with the +mother, gave the loudest honk I ever heard him utter, and went on: "I +baptize thee, Owen Lovejoy Gowdy." + +They said that Gowdy swore when he heard of this, and exclaimed, "I +don't care about her picking me out; but I hate to be joined with that +damned Black Abolitionist." + +The elder seemed dazed after he had done the deed, and looked around at +the new church building as if wondering whether he had not committed +some sort of crime in thus offending a man who had put so much money in +it. He had not, however; for in advertising in this way Gowdy's wrong to +one girl, he ended forever his sly approaches, under the excuses of +getting her some fictitious property, saving his soul, and the like, +to another. + +I think it was the word of what Gowdy said about the christening that +finally wrought Magnus up to the act he had all along resolved upon, the +attempt on Gowdy's life. He armed himself and went over to the +Blue-grass Manor looking for Buck; but found that his man had gone to +Kentucky. Magnus left word for Gowdy to go armed and be prepared to +protect himself, and went home. He said nothing to me about this; but +the next spring when Gowdy came back, Magnus started after him again +with a gun loaded with buckshot, and Gowdy, who, I suppose, looked upon +Magnus as beneath him, had him arrested. I went to Monterey Centre and +put my name on Magnus's bond when he was bound over to keep the peace. + +I hinted to Magnus that he needn't mind about the bond if he still +believed in his heart that Gowdy needed killing; but Rowena pleaded with +him not to ruin himself, me and her by pursuing his plan of executing +what both he and I believed to be justice on a man who had forfeited his +life by every rule of right. This lapse into lawlessness on his part and +mine can not be justified, of course. It is set forth here as a part of +the history of the place and the time. + +I am not equipped to write the history of the celebrated Gowdy Case, +which grew out of these obscure circumstances in the lives of a group of +pioneers in an Iowa township. Probably the writers of history will never +set it down. Yet, it swayed the destiny of the county and the state in +after years, when Gowdy had died and left his millions to be fought over +in courts, in caucuses, in conventions, state and county. If it does not +go into the histories, the histories will not tell the truth. If great +law firms, governors, judges, congressmen and senators, lobbyists and +manipulators, are not judged in the light of the secret as well as the +surface influence of the Gowdy Case, they will not be rightly judged. + +The same thing is true of the influence of the loss of the county funds +by Judge Stone. Who was guilty? Was the plan to have the bag of +"treasure" stolen from us by the Bunker gang a part of the scheme of +whoever took the money? Did the Bushyagers know about the satchel? Did +they know it was full of salt instead of money? Of course not, if they +were in the thing. + +Did some one mean to fix it so the Bunkers would rob us of the satchel +and thus let everybody off? And if so, what about me? I should have had +to fight for the money, for that was what I was hired for. Was I to be +killed to save Judge Stone, or Governor Wade, and if so, which? + +My part in the affair was never much spoken of in the hot newspaper and +stump-speech quarrels over the matter; but after a while, when I had had +time to figure it all out, I began to think I had not been treated quite +right; but what was I anyhow? This was another thing that made me sore +at all the Monterey Centre crowd, including the elder and grandma, with +their truckling to Gowdy and Wade and Stone and the rest who helped the +elder build his church. I suppose that the stolen money, some of it, +went to pay for that church; but if every church had remained unbuilt +that has stolen money in it, there would be fewer temples pointing, as +the old song says, with taper spire to heaven, wouldn't there? + +Of course these scandalous matters were soon lost sight of in the +excitement of the Civil War. This thing which changed all our lives the +way war does, came upon me like a clap of thunder. I was living like a +hermit, and working like a horse, not trying to make any splurge, as I +might have done, even having given up the idea of getting me a team of +horses, which I had been thinking of for a while back with the notion of +maybe getting a buggy and beginning to take Virginia out buggy-riding, +and thus working up in a year or two to popping the question to her. But +now I sulked in my cabin. + +3 + +I guess the war surprised the people who read about it as much as it did +me. I often thought of the poor slaves, and liked Dunlap and Thatcher, +the men I had run into back in Wisconsin on the road in 1855, for going +down into Kansas to fight for Free Soil; but as for fighting in which I +should have any interest; bless you, it never occurred to any of us, +either North or South. The trouble was always going to be off somewhere +else. I guess that's the way with the oncoming of wars. If we knew they +would come to us, we'd be less blood-thirsty. + +I heard of the Dred Scott Decision, and thought J.P. Roebuck was talking +foolishness when he came to me one day over in my back field to borrow a +chew of tobacco--he was always doing that--and said that this decision +made slavery a general thing all over the Union. I didn't see any +slavery around Vandemark Township, and no signs of any. I heard of Old +John Brown, and had a hazy idea that he was some kind of traitor who +ought to have been hanged, or the government wouldn't have hanged him. +You see how inconsistent I was. But wars are fought by inconsistent men +who suffer and die for other people's ideas: don't you think so? Abraham +Lincoln was nominated about corn-planting time; but I was not thrilled. +I had never heard of him. The nation was drifting down the rapids to the +falls; and for all the deafening roar that came to our ears, we did not +know or think of the cataract we were to be swept over. + +I was a voter now, and so was Magnus; but he was for Lincoln, and I was +not. It seemed to me that the Republican Party was too new. And yet I +was not satisfied with Douglas. Why? It was merely because I had got it +into my mind that he had been beaten in a debate by Lincoln, and it +seemed that this defeat ought to put him out of the running for +president. I sat down a few rods from the polls and thought over the +matter of choosing between Edward Everett and John C. Breckenridge, +pestered by Governor Wade and H.L. Burns and N.V. and the rest, until +finally they left me and when I had made my decision, I found that the +polls had closed. I was a good deal relieved. + +I am giving you a glimpse into the mind of a conscientious and ignorant +voter. If I had read more, my mind would have been made up beforehand, +but by some one else. I was not a fool; I was just slow and bewildered. +The average voter shoots at the flock and gets it over with. He has had +his mind made up for him by some one--and maybe it's just as well: for +when he tries, as I did, to make it up for himself, he is apt to find +that he has no basis for judgment. That is why all governments, free and +the other kind, have always been minority governments, and always will +be. And I reckon that's just as well, too. + +Lincoln's first call for volunteers took only a few men out of the +county, and none from Vandemark Township, except George Story. I had not +begun to take much interest in the matter; and when in the summer of +1861 there began to be war meetings to spur up young men to enlistment +the speakers all shouted to us that the war was not to free the slaves, +but to save the Union. Now this was a new slant on the question, and I +had to think over it for a while. + +Sitting in the wagon of history with my feet dangling down and facing +the rear, as we all ride, I can now see that the thing was as broad as +it was long. The Union could not be preserved without freeing the +slaves, for all of what Lincoln said when he stated that he would save +the Union by freeing the slaves if he could do that, or by keeping them +slaves if he could do that, or by freeing some of them and leaving the +rest in servitude if he could do that; but that save the Union he would. +Now in my narrow way, I could see some point in freeing the slaves, but +as for the Union, I hardly knew whether it was important or not. I +needed to think it over. It might be just as well not to fight to +preserve the Union; and when I had heard men say, "I enlisted to save +the Union, and not to free niggers," as a lot of them did, I scratched +my head and wondered why I could not feel so devoted to the Union as +they did. Looking back from the tail-end of the wagon, I now see what +Lincoln meant by the importance of keeping us all under one flag; but I +didn't know then, and I don't believe one man in a hundred who shouted +for the Union knew why the Union was so important. There never was a +better cause than the one we sung for in "The Union, the Union forever!" +but thousands and thousands sang and shouted it, and died for it--how +bravely and wonderfully they died for it!--who knew as little what it +meant as I did. And the rebels--how gallantly they died for their cause, +too. Not for slavery, as we blindly thought, misjudging them as we must +always misjudge our foes (or we should not have the hate in our hearts +to fight them); but for the very thing we were fighting for--liberty, as +they believed. + +Both sides are always right in war. + +I finally began to see light when I thought one night of my old life on +the canal, and asked myself how it would affect us in Iowa if York +State and the East should secede, as the South was trying to do. It +would put them in shape to starve us of the West by levying duties on +our crops when going to market. But, said I to myself, we could then +ship down the Mississippi; but the river was already closed and would +always be controlled by the Confederacy. This was serious; but when I +said to myself that the East would never secede, the question, Why not? +could not be answered if the principle of secession could once be set up +as correct and made good by victory. Then, it came into my mind after a +month or two of thinking, that any state or group of states could secede +whenever they liked; that others would go to war with them to keep such +unions as were left; and we should never be at peace long: so after all, +the Union _was_ important, and must be preserved. + +The question must be settled now in this war. + +But I don't know how long I should have studied this matter over in my +lonely benightedness, if I had not seen Virginia one night at a war +meeting that I sneaked into in the Centre, with a young man dressed in +store clothes whom I afterward knew as Will Lockwood, the principal of +the Monterey Centre school, who seemingly was going forward to put his +name down as enlisted. I jumped in ahead of him, so as to show Virginia +that her fellow was not the only patriot, and beat him to it. + +"So you are going to fight Kaintucky?" said she to me as if I had +engaged to ruin everything she held dear. + +"We must save the Union," I said. "I didn't think of you being on the +other side!" + +"Mr. Lockwood," said she, "this is Teunis Vandemark, an old friend of +mine. He's going to fight my friends, too." + +In two or three minutes I found that he was from Herkimer County, had +lived along the Erie Canal, and was actually the son of my old teacher +Lockwood, to whom I had gone when I was wintering with Mrs. Fogg in the +old canalling days. He was my best friend during all my service as a +soldier--which you will soon see was not long. We left him on the field +at Shiloh. + +4 + +The recruiting officer got us uniforms--or somebody did; and during the +nice weather--it was October when I enlisted--our company did some +drilling. We had no arms, but used shotguns, squirrel rifles, and even +sticks. Will Lockwood tried to drill us, but made a bad mess of it. Then +one day Buckner Gowdy, who had also enlisted, took charge of a squad of +men and in ten minutes showed that he knew more about drill than any one +else in the county. He had been educated at a military school +in Virginia. + +All the skill in drill that we ever got, we owed to him. The sharp word +of command; the quick swing to the proper position; the snappy step; +everything that we knew more than a lot of yokels might be expected to +know, we got from Buck Gowdy. Magnus admitted it, even; but he turned +pale whenever he was in a squad under Gowdy's command. It was gall and +wormwood for me, and worse for him; but when it came to electing a +captain of our company, I voted for Gowdy, and under the same conditions +would do it again. It was better to have a real captain who was a +scoundrel, than a man who knew nothing but kept the Commandments. War +is hell in more than one respect. I felt that Gowdy would be more likely +to bring us safe out of any bad hole in which we might find ourselves, +than any one else. But I was glad, sometimes, when he was rawhiding us +into shape, that Magnus Thorkelson was drilling with a wooden gun. I +wondered how the new captain himself felt about this. + +Governor Wade gave us a great entertainment at his farm just before we +marched--still without guns--to the railroad to take the cars for +Dubuque, where boats were supposed to be waiting to take us down the +river--if we could make it before navigation was closed by the ice. His +great barns were cleared out for tables, and the house was open, and +there were flags and transparencies expressing the heroism of those who +were willing to do anything to get us into the fight. + +Everybody was there--except Judge Stone. I remember looking through the +open door at the great iron safe into which he had put the county +satchel--I am careful not to commit myself as to the money part of +it--and all the events of the previous visit came back through my mind; +but mainly how angry I had been with Virginia for being kissed by Bob +Wade. And Bob was there, too, all spick and span in his new lieutenant's +uniform with Kittie Fleming hanging on his arm, her eyes drinking him in +with every glance. The governor was in no position to make a row about +this. The occasion had caused an armistice to be signed as to all our +neighborhood quarrels, and Bob Wade was emancipated from the stern +paternal control, as Jack had been when he went off with the first +flight in the original seventy-five thousand--emancipated by the +uniform. Bob and Kittie sailed along in the face and eyes of the +governor and his wife in spite of the fact that such association was +forbidden--and sailed down to Waterloo where they were married before we +went off hurrahing for the cause. + +Virginia was there with the elder and grandma. The old preacher and his +wife looked more shabby than I had ever seen them, grandma's gloves more +extensively darned, the elder's clothes shinier, his cuffs in all their +whiteness more frayed, and there were beautifully darned places in the +stiff starched bosom of his shirt. He pressed my hand warmly as he said, +"God bless you, Jacob, and bring you safe back to us, my boy!" Grandma's +eyes glistened as she echoed his sentiments and began asking me about my +underwear and especially my socks. Virginia looked the other way; but +when I went off by myself, Will Lockwood came and drew me away into a +corner to talk with me about old times along the canal; and suddenly we +found Virginia there, and Will all at once thought of some one he wanted +to speak to and left us together. + +"I didn't mean that I thought you ought not to go to the war, Teunis," +said she. "You must go, of course." + +"Maybe your friends," I said after standing dumb for a while, "will be +on the Union side." + +"No," said she. "I have no relations--and few friends there; but all I +have will be on the other side, I reckon. It makes no difference. +They've forgotten me by this time. Everybody has forgotten me that once +liked me--everybody but Elder Thorndyke and Mrs. Thorndyke. They love +me, but nobody else does." + +"I thought some others acted as if they did," I said. + +"You thought a lot about it!" she scoffed. Then we sat quite a while +silent. "I shall think every day," said she at last, "about the only +happy time I have had since Ann took sick--and long before that. The +only happy time, and the happiest, I reckon, that I ever'll have. I'll +think of it every day while you're at the front. I want you to know when +you are suffering and in danger that some one thinks of the kindest +thing you ever did--and maybe the kindest thing any boy ever did. You +don't care about it now, maybe; but the time may come when you will." + +"What time was that?" I asked. + +"You know, Teunis," the tears were falling in her lap now. "Those days +when we were together alone on the wide prairie--when you took me in and +was so good to me--and saved me from going wild, if not from anything +else bad. I remember that for the first few days, I was not quite easy +in my feelings--I reckon your goodness hadn't come to me yet; but one +day, after you had been away for a while, there in the grove where we +stayed so long, you looked so pale and sorry that I began talking to you +more intimately, you remember, and we suddenly drew close to each other, +and for the first time, I felt so safe, so safe! Something has come +between us lately, Teunis. I partly know what; and partly I don't; but +something--" + +She stopped in the middle of what she seemed to be saying. At first I +thought she had choked up with grief, but when I looked her in the face, +except for her eyes shining very bright, I could not see that she was at +all worked up in her feelings. She spoke quite calmly to some one that +passed by. I was abashed by the thought that she was giving me credit +for something I was not entitled to. She spoke of the day when I was in +my heart the meanest: but how could I explain? So I said nothing, much, +but hummed and hawed, with "I--" and "Yes, I--," and nothing to the +point. Finally, I bogged down, and quit. + +"We are very poor," said she, nodding toward the elder and grandma. "So, +ignorant as I am, I kept a school last summer--did you know that?" + +"Yes," I said, "I knew about it. Over in the Hoosier settlement." + +"I ain't a good teacher," she said, "only with the little children; but +sometimes we shouldn't have had the necessaries of life, if it hadn't +been for what I earned. I can't do too much for them. They have been +father and mother to me, and I shall be a daughter to them. If--if they +want me to go with--with--in circles which I--I--don't care half so much +about as for--for the birds, and flowers--and the people back in our +grove--and for people who don't care for me any more--why, I don't think +I ought to disobey Mrs. Thorndyke. But I don't believe as she does--or +did--about things that have happened to you since--since we parted and +got to be strangers, Teunis. And neither does any one else, nor she +herself any more. People respect you, Teunis. I wanted to say that to +you, too, before you go away--maybe forever, Teunis!" + +She touched on so many things--sore things and sacred things--in this +speech, that I only looked at her with tears in my eyes; and she saw +them. It was the only answer I could make, and before she could say any +more, the elder and his wife came and took her home. I had got half-way +to Cairo, Illinois, before I worked it out that by "the people back in +our grove," she must have meant me; for the only others there had been +that gang of horse-thieves: and if so she must have meant me when she +spoke of "people who don't care for me any more"--but it was too late to +do anything in the way of correcting this mistake then. All I could +pride myself on was having a good memory as to what she said. I guess +this proves my relationship to that other Dutchman who took so long to +build the church. Remember, though, that he finally built it. + + + +5 + +The Civil War is no part of the history of Vandemark Township; and I had +small part in the Civil War. But one thing that took place on the field +of Shiloh does belong in this history. Most of the members of my company +enlisted in October, 1861, but we did not get to the front until the +very day of the Battle of Shiloh. I was in one of the two regiments +whose part in the battle has caused so much controversy. I gave Senator +Cummins an affidavit about it only the other day to settle something +about a monument on the field. + +We came up the Tennessee River the night of the day before the battle, +and landed at Pittsburgh Landing at daybreak of the first day's fight. +We had not had our guns issued to us yet. Some have thought it a little +hard on us to be shoved into a great battle without ever having loaded +or fired our muskets. When we were landed the guns were issued to my +company, and we were given about half an hour's instruction in the way +they were worked. Of course most of us had done shooting, and were a +little better than green hands; but Will Lockwood during the fight +loaded his gun until it was full of unfired loads, and forgot to put a +cap on. Then he discovered his mistake, and put on a cap, and would have +blown off his own head by firing all the stuff out at once, when Captain +Gowdy saw what he was doing and snatched the gun away from him calling +him a damned fool, and broke the stock off the musket on the ground. +There were plenty of guns for Will to select from by that time which +were not in use, so he picked up another and made a new start; but +not for long. + +After the guns were issued to us, we stood there on the bank, and +lounged about on the landing, waiting for the issue of cartridges. An +orderly came to me with Magnus following him, and gave me the captain's +order to report to him in the cabin of the transport which lay tied up +at the river bank. We looked at each other in wonder, but followed the +orderly into the cabin, where we stood at attention. The captain +returned our salutes, dismissed the orderly, and after his footsteps had +gone out of hearing, turned to us. + +"Thorkelson and Vandemark," said he, "I have a few words to say to you. +I don't find anything in the books covering the case, and am speaking as +man to man." + +"Yes, sir," said I. + +"Ay hare," said Magnus. + +"Thorkelson," Gowdy went on, "you have had an ambition to put an end to +me. Well, now's your chance, or will be when we get out there where the +shooting is going on. You've had a poor chance to practise marksmanship; +but maybe you can shoot well enough to hit a man of my size from the +rear--for my men will be to the rear of me in a fight" + +He stopped and looked straight in Magnus's eyes; and Magnus stared +straight back. At last, Gowdy's eyes swept around toward me, and then +back again. + +"Well," said he, "what do you and your friend say? The bond to keep the +peace doesn't run in Tennessee." + +"I think," said I, "as man to man, that you deserve shooting; but maybe +this ain't the place for it. I voted for you for captain because you +seem to know your business--and I don't b'lieve we've got another that +does. That's how I feel." + +Gowdy laughed, that friendly, warm, musical laugh of his, just as he +would have laughed in a horse trade, or over the bar, or while helping +the church at a donation party. + +"Well," said he, "I called you in here--especially you, Thorkelson--to +say that if you feel bound by any vow you've made, to shoot me, why, you +may shoot and be damned. I shan't pay any attention to the matter. From +the way it sounds out there at the front, it will be only one bullet +added to a basketful. That's all, Thorkelson." + +"Captain Gowdy," said Magnus. + +"Go on, Thorkelson," said Gowdy. + +"Van Ay bane svorn in," said Magnus, "Ay take you for captain. You bane +a dam good-for-nothing rascal, but you bane best man for captain. Ay +bane tied up. You bane necessary to maybe save lives of a hundred dam +sight better men dan you. Ay not shoot. You insult me ven you talk +about it." + +"In spite of the somewhat uncomplimentary and insubordinate language in +which you express yourself," said Gowdy, "which I overlook under the +peculiar circumstances, I reckon I must admit that I did assume an +attitude on your part of which you are incapable, and that such an +assumption was insulting--if a private can be insulted by a commissioned +officer. This being man to man, I apologize. You may go, Thorkelson." + +Magnus clicked his heels together in the way he had learned in the old +country, and saluted; Captain Gowdy returned the salute, and Magnus +marched out with his head high, and his stomach drawn in. + +"Devilish good soldier!" said Gowdy as he went out. "Well, that clears +the atmosphere a little! So, Vandemark, you think I need killing, eh?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Well, it's all in the point of view," said he, leaning toward me and +smiling that ingratiating smile of his. "Sometimes I think so, too; but +there's only one policy for me--lose 'em and forget 'em. I sometimes +think that the time may come when I shall wish I had married that girl. +Have you seen the baby lately?" + +"I used to see it every few days," said I. "It's runnin' all over the +place." + +"Look like me?" + +"It will when it gits older." + +"When you go back," said he, "if I don't, will you do me and this little +offspring of mine--and its mother--a favor?" + +"I'll have to wait and see what it is," said I. + +"Same old cautious Vandemark!" said he, laughing. "Well, that's why I +picked you to do this, if you will be so good. You can look the matter +over in case it comes to anything, and act if you think best; but I +think you will decide to act. Please go to Lusch in Waterloo and ask for +a packet of papers I left there, to be opened in your presence and at +your request if I wink out in this irrepressible conflict. Remember, I +shall be on the other side of Jordan or some other stream. Inside of the +outer envelope will be a letter to Rowena, which please deliver. There +will also be one for you, with some securities and other things to be +held in trust for the benefit of Rowena's boy--and mine. I hate that +'Owen Lovejoy' part of his name; but he is entitled to the name of +Gowdy, and in view of the fact that he has it, I want him to have a good +chance--as good as he can have in view of the irregularity of his birth. +To tell you the plain truth, as my affairs are now situated, I'm giving +him more than he could take as my son if he were legitimate--for as +neighbor to neighbor, I'm practically bu'sted. All I'm doing is hanging +on for land to rise. Now this isn't much to do, and you won't have to +act unless you want to. Will you have the papers opened, and act for the +dead scoundrel if it seems the proper thing to do? You see, there's +hardly anybody else who is satisfactory to me, and at the same time a +friend to the other parties." + +"I'll have the papers opened," said I; "but remember, this don't take +back what I said a few minutes ago. I think you ought to be killed." + +"Thank you," said he. "Private Vandemark! You may go!" + +Now I have told this story over and over again in court, to +commissioners taking testimony, to lawyers in their offices, to lawyers +out at my farm. It has been printed in court records, including the +Reports of the Supreme Court of Iowa. Judges of the Supreme Court of +Iowa have been nominated or refused nomination because of their views, +or their lack of views, or their refusal to state in advance off in +some hole and corner, what their views would be on the legal effect of +this conversation between me and Buckner Gowdy in the cabin of the +transport on the morning of the first day's battle of Shiloh--so N.V. +says--but this is the first time I have had a chance to tell it as it +was, without some squirt of a lawyer pointing his finger at me and +trying to make me change the story; or some other limb of the law +interrupting me with objections that it was incompetent, irrelevant and +immaterial, not the best evidence, hearsay, a privileged communication, +and a lot of other balderdash. This is what took place, just as I have +stated it; and this is all the Vandemark Township, Monterey County, or +Iowa history there was in the battle so far as I know--except that Iowa +had more men in that fight than any other state in proportion to her +population. + +Just to show you that I didn't run away, I must tell you that we had +ammunition issued to us after a while, and were told how to use it. We +got forty rounds of cartridges at first and ten rounds right afterward. +Then we formed and marched, part of the time at the double, out into a +cotton-field. In front of us a few hundred yards off, was a line of +forest trees, and under the trees were tents, that I guess some of our +other men were driven out of that morning. Here we were at once under a +hot fire and lost a lot of men. We went into action about half-past nine +or ten o'clock in the forenoon, and two regiments of us stood the enemy +off along that line until about noon. Then they rushed us, and such of +us as could went away from there. Those that didn't are most of them +there yet. I stayed, because of a shot through my leg which splintered +the bone. The enemy trampled over me as they drove our men off the +field, and a horse stepped on my shoulder, breaking the collar-bone. +Then, when the Johnnies were driven back, I was mauled around again, but +don't remember much except that I was thirsty. And then, for months and +months, I was in one hospital or another; and finally I was discharged +as unfit for service, because I was too lame to march. I can feel it in +frosty weather yet; but it never amounted to much except to the dealers +in riding plows and the like. So ended my military life. I had borne +arms for my country for about three hours! + +It was the eighth of January, 1863, when I got home. I rode from the +railroad to Foster Blake's in his sleigh, looked over my herd which he +was running on shares for me, and crossed Vandemark's Folly Marsh on the +hard snow which was over the tall grass and reeds everywhere. How my +grove had grown that past summer! I began to feel at home, as I warmed +the little house up with a fire in the stove, and rolling up in my +blankets, which for a long time were more comfortable to me than a bed, +went to sleep on the floor. I never felt the sense of home more +delightfully than that night. I would set things to rights, and maybe go +over to Monterey Centre and see Virginia next day. I could see smoke at +Magnus's down the road. I felt a pleasure in thus sneaking in without +any one's knowing it. + +I had not gone to see Mr. Lusch in Waterloo, for I had learned that so +far from being killed, Captain Gowdy had come through Shiloh without a +scratch, and that he had soon afterward resigned and gone back to +Monterey County. It has always been believed, but I don't know why, that +he was allowed to resign either because of his relationship to the +great Confederate families of Kentucky, or because of his record there +before he went to Iowa. Anyhow, he never joined the G.A.R. or +fellowshipped with the soldiers after the war. I always hated him; but I +do him the justice to say here that he was a brave man, and except for +his one great weakness--the weakness that I am told Lord Byron was +destroyed by--he would have been a good man. I feel certain that if he +had been given a chance to make a career in either army, he would have +been a general before the war was over. + +That afternoon, J.P. Roebuck, who had seen my smoke, came over to +welcome me home and to talk politics with me. We must have a township +for ourselves, he said. Now look at the situation in the school. We had +a big school in the Vandemark schoolhouse, thirteen scholars being +enrolled. We had a good teacher, too, Virginia Royall. But there wasn't +enough fuel to last two days, and those Monterey Centre folks were dead +on their feet and nobody seemed to care if the school closed down. He +went on with his argument for a separate township organization; I all +the time thinking with my mind in a whirl that Virginia was near, and I +could see her next day. When he said that we would have to get the vote +of Doc Bliven, who was a member of the Board of Supervisors, I began to +take notice. + +"Bliven always seemed to like you," said Roebuck. "We all kind of wish +you'd see what you can do for us with him." + +"I think I can get his vote," I said, after thinking it over for a +while--and as I thought of it, the Dubuque ferry in 1855, the arrest of +Bliven in the queue of people waiting at the post-office, my smuggled +passenger, and the uplift I felt as the Iowa prairie opened to my view +as we drew out of the ravines to the top of the hills--all this rolled +over my memory. Roebuck looked at me like a person facing a medium in +a trance. + +"Yes," I said, "I believe I can get his vote. I'll try." + + + +CHAPTER XX + +JUST AS GRANDMA THORNDYKE EXPECTED + +I was surprised next morning to note the change which had taken place in +the weather. It had been cold and raw when I was crossing the prairies +to my farm, with the wind in the southeast, and filled with a bitter +chill. In the night the wind had gone down, and it was as still as death +in the morning. For the first time in my life, and it has happened but +twice since, I heard the whistles of the engines on the railroad twelve +miles away to the north. There was a little beard of hoar frost along +the side of every spear of grass and weed; which, as the sun rose +higher, dropped off and lay under every twig and bent, in a little heap +if it stood up straight, or in a windrow if it slanted; for so still was +the air that the frost went straight down, and lay as it fell. I could +hear the bawling of the cattle in every barnyard for miles around, and +the crowing of roosters as the fowls strutted about in the warm sun. It +was thawing by ten o'clock. The temperature had run up as the wind +dropped; and as I now know, with the lowering of the pressure of the +barometer, if we had had one. + +"This is a weather-breeder!" + +This was my way of telling to myself what a scientist would have +described as marked low barometer; and he would have predicted from his +maps that we should soon find ourselves in the northwest quadrant of +the "low" with high winds and falling temperature. It all comes to the +same thing. + +Instead of going to see Virginia before her school opened in the +morning, I went to work banking up my house, fixing my sheds, and +reefing things down for a gale as I learned to say on the Lakes. I made +up my mind that I would go to the schoolhouse just before four and +surprise Virginia, and hoped it would be a little stormy so I could have +an excuse to take her home. I need not have worried about the storm. +It came. + +At noon the northwestern sky, a third of the way to a point overhead, +was of an indigo-blue color; but it still seemed to be clear sky--though +I looked at it with suspicion, it was such an unusual thing for January. +As I stood gazing at it, Narcisse Lacroix, Pierre's twelve-year-old boy, +came by with his little sister. I asked him if school was out, and he +said the teacher had sent them home because there was no more fuel for +the stove; but it was so warm that the teacher was going to stay and +sweep out, and write up her register. + +As the children went out of sight, a strange and awful change came over +the face of nature. The bright sun was blotted out as it touched the +edge of that rising belt of indigo blue. This blanket of cloud, like a +curtain with puckering strings to bring it together in the southeast, +drew fast across the sky--very, very fast, considering that there was +not a breath of wind stirring. It was a fearful thing to see, the +blue-black cloud hurrying up the sky, over the sky, and far down until +there was no bright spot except a narrowing oval near the southeastern +horizon; and not a breath of wind. The storm was like a leaning wall, +that bent far over us while its foot dragged along the ground, miles and +miles behind its top. Everything had a tinge of strange, ghastly +greenish blue like the face of a corpse, and it was growing suddenly +dark as if the day had all at once shut down into dusk. + +I knew what it meant, though I had never seen the change from calm +warmth to cold wind come with such marked symptoms of suddenness and +violence. It meant a blizzard--though we never heard or adopted the word +until in the late 'seventies. I thought I had plenty of time, however, +and I went into the house and changed my clothes; for I wanted to look +my best when I saw my girl. I put on new and warm underwear, for I +foresaw that it might be bad before I could get home. I put on an extra +pair of drawers under my blue trousers, and a buckskin undervest under +my shirt. I thanked God for this forethought before the night was over. + +As I stood naked in making this change of clothes, suddenly the house +staggered as if it had been cuffed by a great hand. I peeped out of the +window, and against the dark sky I could see the young grove of trees +bowing before the great gusts which had struck them from the northwest. +The wall of wind and frost and death had moved against them. + +2 + +The thought in my mind was, Hurry! Hurry! For what if Virginia, in the +schoolhouse without fuel, should try to reach the place where she +boarded, or any inhabited house, in that storm? As yet there was no snow +in the air except the few flakes which were driven horizontally out of +the fierce squall; but I knew that this could not last; for the crust +on the blanket of snow already on the ground would soon be ground +through wherever exposed to the sand-blast of particles already driven +along the surface of the earth in a creeping sheet of white. As I +hurriedly finished my dressing, I heard the rattle of a shower of +missiles as they struck the house; and looking out I saw that the crust +was already being cut through by this grinding process; and as the wind +got a purchase under the crust, it was torn up in great flakes as if +blown up by a thousand explosions from underneath. In an instant, +almost, for these bursts of snow took place nearly all at once, the air +was filled with such a smother of snow that the landscape went out of +sight in a great cloud of deep-shaded whiteness. The blizzard was upon +us. I should have my work cut out for me in getting to the schoolhouse. + +I wonder if the people who have been born in or moved to Iowa in the +past thirty to forty years can be made to understand that we can not +possibly have such winter storms of this sort as we had then. The groves +themselves prevent it. The standing corn-stalks prevent it. Every object +that civilization and development have placed in the way of the wind +prevents it. Then, the snow, once lifted on the wings of the blast, +became a part of the air, and remained in it. The atmosphere for +hundreds of feet, for thousands of feet from the grassy surface of the +prairie, was a moving cloud of snow, which fell only as the very tempest +itself became over-burdened with it. As the storm continued, it always +grew cold; for it was the North emptying itself into the South. I knew +what the blizzard was; and my breath caught as I thought of Virginia, in +what I knew must be a losing struggle with it. + +Even to the strongest man, there was terror in this storm, the breath +of which came with a roar and struck with a shiver, as the trees creaked +and groaned, and the paths and roads were obliterated. As the tumult +grows hills are leveled, and hollows rise into hills. Every shed-roof is +the edge of an oblique Niagara of snow; every angle the center of a +whirlpool. If you are caught out in it, the Spirit of the Storm flies at +you and loads your eyebrows and eyelashes and hair and beard with +icicles and snow. As you look out into the white, the light through your +bloodshot eyelids turns everything to crimson. Your feet lag, as the +feathery whiteness comes almost to your knees. Your breath comes choked +as with water. If you are out far away from shelter, God help you! You +struggle along for a time, all the while fearing to believe that the +storm which did not seem so very dangerous, is growing more violent, and +that the daylight, which you thought would last for hours yet, seems to +be fading, and that night appears to be setting in earlier than usual. +It is! For there are two miles of snow between you and the sun. But in a +swiftly moving maze of snow, partly spit out of the lowering clouds, and +partly torn and swept up from the gray and cloud-like earth, in a roar +of rising wind, and oppressed by growing anxiety, you stubbornly +press on. + +Night shuts down darker. You can not tell, when you try to look about +you, what is sky and what is earth; for all is storm. You feel more and +more tired. All at once, you find that the wind which was at your side a +while ago, as you kept beating into it on your course toward help and +shelter, is now at your back. Has the wind changed? No; it will blow for +hours from the same quarter--perhaps for days! No; you have changed +your course, and are beating off with the storm! This will never do: you +rally, and again turn your cheek to the cutting blast: but you know that +you are off your path; yet you wonder if you may not be going right--if +the wind _has_ changed; or if you have not turned to the left when you +should have gone to the right. + +Loneliness, anxiety, weariness, uncertainty. An awful sense of +helplessness takes possession of you. If it were daylight, you could +pass around the deep drifts, even in this chaos; but now a drift looks +the same as the prairie grass swept bare. You plunge headlong into it, +flounder through it, creeping on hands and knees, with your face +sometimes buried in the snow, get on your feet again, and struggle on. + +You know that the snow, finer than flour, is beating through your +clothing. You are chilled, and shiver. Sometimes-you stop for a while +and with your hands over your eyes stand stooped with your back to the +wind. You try to stamp your feet to warm them, but the snow, soft and +yielding, forbids this. You are so tired that you stop to rest in the +midst of a great drift--you turn your face from the driving storm and +wait. It seems so much easier than stumbling wearily on. Then comes the +in-rushing consciousness that to rest thus is to die. You rush on in a +frenzy. You have long since ceased to think of what is your proper +course,--you only know that you must struggle on. You attempt a +shout;--ah, it seems so faint and distant even to yourself! No one else +could hear it a rod in this raging, howling, shrieking storm, in which +awful sounds come out of the air itself, and not alone from the things +against which it beats. And there is no one else to hear. + +You gaze about with snow-smitten eyeballs for some possible light from +a friendly window. Why, the sun itself could not pierce this moving +earth-cloud of snow! Your feet are not so cold as they were. You can not +feel them as you walk. You come to a hollow filled with soft snow. +Perhaps there is the bed of a stream deep down below. You plunge into +this hollow, and as you fall, turn your face from the storm. A strange +and delicious sense of warmth and drowsiness steals over you; you sink +lower, and feel the cold soft whiteness sifting over neck and cheek and +forehead: but you do not care. The struggle is over; and--in the morning +the sun glints coldly over a new landscape of gently undulating +alabaster. Yonder is a little hillock which marks the place where the +blizzard overtook its prey. Sometime, when the warm March winds have +thawed the snow, some gaunt wolf will snuff about this spot, and send up +the long howl that calls the pack to the banquet. + +Such thoughts as these were a part of our lives then, and with such +thoughts my mind was filled as I stepped out into the storm, my trousers +tied down over my boots with bag-strings; my fur cap drawn down over my +eyes, my blue military overcoat flapping about my legs; the cape of it +wrapped about my head, and tied with a woolen comforter. + +3 + +Through these wrappings, a strange sound came to my ears--the sound of +sleigh-bells; and in a moment, so close were they, there emerged from +the whirl of snow, a team of horses drawing a swell-body cutter, in +which sat a man driving, wrapped up in buffalo robes and blankets until +the box of the sleigh was filled. The horses came to a stop in the lee +of my house. There had been no such rig in the county before I had gone +to the war. + +"Is this the Vandemark schoolhouse?" came from the man in the cutter. + +"No, Captain," said I; for discipline is strong, "this is my farm." + +"Ah, it's you, Mr. Vandemark, is it?" said he. "Can you tell me the way +to the schoolhouse?" + +Discipline flew off into the storm. I never for a moment harbored the +idea that I was to allow Buck Gowdy to rescue Virginia from the +blizzard, and carry her off into either danger or safety. There was none +of my Dutch hesitation here. This was battle; and I behaved with as much +prompt decision as I did on the field of Shiloh, where, I have the +captain's word for it in writing, I behaved with a good deal of it. + +"Never mind about the schoolhouse," I said. "I'll attend to that!' + +"The hell you will!" said he, in that calm way of his. "Let me see. Your +house faces the north. These trees are on the section line.... The +schoolhouse is.... I have it, now. Sorry to cut in ahead of you; +but--get up, Susie--Winnie, go on!" + +But I had Susie and Winnie by the bits. + +"Vandemark," he said, and as he shouted this to make me hear I could +feel the authority I had grown to recognize in drill, "you forget +yourself! Let go those horses!" + +"Not by a damned sight!" + +I found myself swearing as if I were in the habit of it. + +Now the man in any kind of rig with another holding his horses' bits is +in an embarrassing fix. He can't do anything so long as he remains in +the vehicle; and neither can his horses. He must carry the fight to the +other man, or be made a fool of. + +Buck Gowdy was not a man to hesitate in such a case. He carried the +fight to me--and I was glad to see him coming. I had waited for this a +long time. I have no skill in describing fights, and I was too much +engaged in this to remember the details. How many blows were exchanged; +what sort of blows they were; how much damage they did until the last, +more than a cut lip on my part, I can not tell. Why no more damage was +done is clearer--we were both so wrapped up as to be unable to do much. +I only know that at the last, I had Gowdy down in the snow right by my +well-curb; and that without taking time to make any plan, I wrapped the +well-rope around him so as to make it necessary for him to take a little +time in getting loose; I wrote him a receipt for the team and rig, which +N.V. Creede tells me would not have done me any good; and I went out, +very much winded, shut the door behind me, and getting into the cutter, +drove off into the blizzard with Gowdy's team and sleigh, leaving him +rolling around on the floor unwinding the well-rope, swearing like a +trooper, and in a warm room where there was plenty to eat. + +"And in my opinion," said N.V., "no matter how much girl there was at +stake, the man that chose to go out into that storm when he could have +let the job out was the fool in the case." + +It was less than a mile to the schoolhouse, which I was lucky to find at +all. I could not see it twenty feet away; but I was almost upset by a +snow fort which the children had built, and taking this as the sure +sign of a playground, I guessed my way the fifty or sixty feet that more +by luck than judgment brought me to the back end of the house, instead +of the front. I made my way around on the windward side of the building, +hoping that the jingle of the bells might be heard as I passed the +windows--for I dared not leave the horses again, as I had done during my +contest with Gowdy. Nothing but the shelter in which they then found +themselves had kept them from bolting--that and their bewilderment. + +I pulled up before the door and shouted Virginia's name with all my +might, over and over again. But I suppose I sat there ten or fifteen +minutes before Virginia came to the door; and then, while she had all +her wraps on, she was in her anxiety just taking a look at the weather, +debating in her mind whether to try for the safety of the fireside, or +risk the stay in the schoolhouse with no fuel. She had not heard the +bells, or the trampling, or my holloing. More by my motions than +anything else, she saw that I was inviting her to get in; but she knew +no more than her heels who I was. She went back into the schoolhouse and +got her dinner-basket--lucky or providential act!--and in she climbed. +If I had been Buck Gowdy or Asher Bushyager or the Devil himself, she +would have done the same. She would have thought, of course, that it was +one of the neighbors come for her; and, anyhow, there was nothing +else to do. + +As I turned back the rich robes and the jingle of the bells came to her +ears, she started; but I drew her down into the seat, and pulled the +flannel-lined coonskin robe which was under us, up over our laps; I +wrapped the army blanket and the thick buffalo-robe over and under us; +and as I did so, a little black-and-tan terrier came shivering out from +under the coonskin robe and jumped into her lap. I started to put it +down again, but she held it--and as she did she looked at my blue +sleeve, and then up at the mass of wrappings I had over my face. I +thought she snuggled up against me a little closer, then. + +4 + +I turned the horses toward her boarding-place, which was with a new +family who had moved in at the head of the slew, near the pond for which +poor Rowena was making the day of the prairie fire; and in doing so, set +their faces right into the teeth of the gale. It seemed as if it would +strip the scalps from our heads, in spite of all our capes and +comforters and veils. Virginia pulled the robe up over her head. I had +to face the storm and manage my team; but before I had gone forty rods, +I saw that I was asking too much of them; and I let them turn to beat +off with it. At that moment I really abandoned control, and gave it over +to the wind and snow. But I thought myself steering for my own house. I +was not much worried; having the confidence of youth and strength. The +cutter was low and would not tip over easily. The horses were active and +powerful and resolute. We were nested down in the deep box, wrapped in +the warmest of robes; and it was not yet so very cold--not that cold +which draws down into the lungs; seals the nostrils and mouth; and +paralyzes the strength. That cold was coming--coming like an army with +banners; but it was not yet here. I was not much worried until I had +driven before the wind, beating up as much as I could to the east, +without finding my house, or anything in the way of grove or fence to +tell me where it was. I now remembered that I had not mounted the hill +on which my house stood. In fact, I had missed my farm, and was lost, so +far as knowing my locality was concerned: and the wind was growing +fiercer and the cold more bitter. + +For a moment I quailed inwardly; but I felt Virginia snuggled down by me +in what seemed to be perfect trust; and I brushed the snow from my +eye-opening and pushed on--hoping that I might by pure accident strike +shelter in that wild waste of prairie, and determined to make the fight +of my life for it if I failed. + +It was getting dusk. The horses were tiring. We plunged through a deep +drift under the lee of a knoll; and I stopped a few moments to let them +breathe. I knew that stopping was a bad symptom, unless one had a good +reason for it--but I gave myself a good reason. I felt Virginia pulling +at my sleeve; and I turned back the robes and looked at her. She pulled +my ear down to her lips. + +"I know you now," she shouted. "It's Teunis!" + +I nodded; and she squeezed my arm with her two hands. Give up! Not for +all the winds and snows of the whole of the Iowa prairie! I disarranged +the robes while I put my arm around her for a moment; while she patted +my shoulder. Then, putting tendernesses aside, when they must be +indulged in at the expense of snow in the sleigh, I put my horses into +it again. A few minutes ago, I gave you the thoughts that ran through my +mind as I conjured up the image of one lost in such a storm; but now I +thought of nothing--only for a few minutes after that pressure on my +arm--but getting on from moment to moment, keeping my sleigh from +upsetting, encouraging those brave mares, and peering around for +anything that might promise shelter. Virginia has always told of this to +the children, when I was not present, to prove that I am brave, even if +I am mortal slow; and if just facing danger from minute to minute +without looking further, is bravery, I suppose I am--and there is plenty +of good courage in the world which is nothing more, look at it how you +will. + +So far, the cutter and team of which I had robbed Buck Gowdy, had been a +benefit to us. They gave us transportation, and the warm sleigh in which +to nest down. I began to wonder, now, as it began to grow dark, as the +tempest greatened, as my horses disappeared in the smother, and as the +frost began to penetrate to our bodies, whether I should not have done +better to have stayed in the schoolhouse, and burned up the partitions +for fuel; but the thought came too late; though it troubled me much. Two +or three times, one of the mares fell in the drifts, and nothing but the +courage bred into them in the blue-grass fields of Kentucky saved us +from stalling out in that fearful moving flood of wind and frost and +snow. Two or three times we narrowly escaped being thrown out into it by +the overturn of the sleigh; and then I foresaw a struggle, in which +there would be no hope; for in a storm in which a strong man is +helpless, how could he expect to come out safe with a weak girl on +his hands? + +At last, the inevitable happened: the off mare dove into a great drift; +the nigh one pulled on: and they came to a staggering halt, one of them +was kept from falling partly by her own efforts, and partly by the snow +about her legs against which she braced herself. As they stood there, +they turned their heads and looked back as if to say that so far as they +were concerned, the fight was over. They had done all they could. + +I sat a moment thinking. I looked about, and saw, between gusts, that we +were almost against a huge straw-pile, where some neighbor had threshed +a setting of wheat. This might mean that we were close to a house, or it +might not. I handed the lines to Virginia under the robes, got out, and +struggled forward to look at my team. Their bloodshot eyes and quivering +flanks told me that they could help us no longer; so I unhitched them, +so as to keep the cutter as a possible shelter, and turned them loose. +They floundered off into the drifts, and left us alone. Cuffed and +mauled by the storm, I made a circuit of the stack, and stumbled over +the tumbling-rod of the threshing-machine, which was still standing +where it had been used. Leaning against the wheel was a shovel, carried +for use in setting the separator. This I took with me, with some notion +of building a snow-house for us; for I somehow felt that if there was +any hope for us, it lay in the shelter of that straw. As I passed the +side of the stack, just where the ground was scraped bare by the wind, I +saw what seemed to be a hole under and into the great loose pile of dry +straw. It looked exactly like one of those burrows which the children +used to make in play in such places. + +Virginia was safe for the moment, sitting covered up snugly with her +hands warmed by the little dog; but the cold was beginning to penetrate +the robes. I could leave her for the moment while I investigated the +burrow with the shovel. As I gained a little advantage over the snow +which was drifted in almost as fast as I could shovel it out, my heart +leaped as I found the hole opening out into the middle of the stack; and +I plunged in on my hands and knees, found it dry and free from snow +within ten feet of the mouth, and after enlarging it by humping up my +back under it where the settling had made it too small, I emerged and +went to Virginia; whom I took out with her dog, wrapped her in the robes +so as to keep them from getting snowy inside, and backing into the +burrow, hauled the pile of robes, girl and dog in after me, like a +gigantic mouse engaged in saving her young. I think no mouse ever +yearned over her treasures in such case more than I did. + +And then I went back to get the dinner-basket, which was already buried +under the snow which had filled the cutter; for I knew that there was +likely to be something left over of one of the bountiful dinners which a +farmer's wife puts up for the teacher. Then I went back into the little +chamber of straw in which we had found shelter, stopping up the mouth +with snow and straw as I went in. I drew a long breath. This was far +better than I had dared hope for. There is a warmth generated in such a +pile, from the slow fermentation of the straw juices; even when +seemingly dry as this was: and far in the middle of the stack, +vegetables might have been stored without freezing. The sound of the +tempest did not reach us here; it was still as death, and dark as tar. I +wondered that Virginia did not say anything; but she kept still because +she did not understand where she was, or what I had done with her. + +Finally, when she spoke it was to say, "Unwrap me, Teunis! I am +smothering with the heat!" + +I laughed a long loud laugh. I guess I was almost hysterical. The +change was so sudden, so complete. Virginia was actually complaining +of the heat! + +I unwrapped her carefully, and kissed her. Did ever any peril turn to +any one a face so full of clemency and tenderness as this blizzard +to me? + +"It takes," says she, "a storm to move _you_ to any speed faster than a +walk." + +The darkness in the burrow was now full of light for me. I made it soft +as a mouse-nest, by pulling down the clean straw, and spreading it in +the bottom, with the coonskin under her, and the buffalo-robe for a +coverlid. There was scarcely room for two there, but we made it do, and +found room for the little dog also. There was an inexpressible happiness +in our safety from the awful storm, which we knew raged all about our +nest; but to be together, and to feel that the things that stood between +us had all been swept away at once--even the chaff that fell down our +necks only gave us cause for laughter. + +"Your coat is all wet!" she exclaimed. + +"It was the snow, shoveling the way in," I said. "It's nothing." + +But she began right there to take care of me. She made me take off the +overcoat, and wrap myself in the blanket. The dampness went out into the +dry straw; but when drowsiness came upon us, she would not let me take +the chance of getting chilled, but made me wrap myself in the robes with +her; and we lay there talking until finally, tired by my labors, I went +to sleep with her arms about me, and her lips close to mine; and when I +awoke, she was asleep, and I lay there listening to her soft breathing +for hours. + +We were both hungry when she awoke, and in the total darkness we felt +about for the dinner-basket, in which were the dinners of the children +of the McConkey family with whom she had boarded, and who had gone home +at noon, because the fuel was gone. We ate frozen pie, and frozen boiled +eggs, and frozen bread and butter; and then lay talking and caressing +each other for hours. We talked about the poor horses, for which +Virginia felt a deep pity, out there in the fierce storm and the awful +cold. We talked of the beautiful cutter; and finally, I explained the +way in which I had robbed Gowdy of horses and robes and sleigh, and dog. + +"He can never have the dog back," said she. "And to think that I am +hiding out in a straw-stack with a robber and a horse-thief!" + +Then she said she reckoned we'd have to join the Bunker gang, if we +could find any of it to join. Certainly we should be fugitives from +justice when the storm was over; but she for herself would rather be a +fugitive always with me than to be rescued by "that man"--and it was +lucky for him, too, she said, that I had licked him and shut him up in a +house where he would be warm and fed; because he never would have been +able to save himself in this awful storm as I had done. Nobody could +have done so well as I had done. I had snatched her from the very +jaws of death. + +"Then," said I, "you're mine." + +"Of course I am," said she. "I've been yours ever since we lived +together so beautifully on the road, and in our Grove of Destiny. Of +course I'm yours--and you are mine, Teunis--ain't you?" + +"Then," said I, "just as soon as we get out of here, we'll be married." + +It took argument to establish this point, but the jury was with me from +the start; and finally nothing stood between me and a verdict but the +fact that she must finish her term of school. I urged upon her that my +house was nearer the school than was McConkey's, and she could finish it +if she chose. Then she said she didn't believe it would be legal for +Virginia Vandemark to finish a contract signed by Virginia Royall--and +pretty soon I realized that she was making fun of me, and I hugged her +and kissed her until she begged my pardon. + +And all the time the storm raged. We finished the food in the dinner +pail, and began wondering how long we had been imprisoned, and how +hungry we ought to be by this time. I was not in the least hungry +myself; but I began to feel panicky for fear Virginia might be starving +to death. She had a watch, of course, as a teacher; but it had run down +long ago, and even if it had not, we could not have lit a match in that +place by which to look at it. Becoming really frightened as the thought +of starvation and death from thirst came oftener and oftener into my +mind, I dug my way to the opening of the burrow, and found it black +night, and the snow still sweeping over the land; but there was hope in +the fact that I could see one or two bright stars overhead. The gale was +abating; and I went back with this word, and a basket of snow in lieu +of water. + +Whether it was the first night out or the second, I did not know, and +this offered ground for argument. Virginia said that we had lived +through so much that it had probably made the time seem longer than it +was; but I argued that the time of holding her in my arms, kissing her, +telling her how much I loved her, and persuading her to marry me as +soon as we could get to Elder Thorndyke's, made it seem shorter--and +this led to more efforts to make the time pass away. Finally, I dug out +again, just as we both were really and truly hungry, and went back after +Virginia. I made her wrap up warmly, and we crawled out, covered with +chaff, rumpled, mussed up, but safe and happy; and found the sun shining +over a landscape of sparkling frost, with sun-dogs in the sky and +spiracles of frost in the air, and a light breeze still blowing from the +northwest, so bitingly cold that a finger or cheek was nipped by it in a +moment's exposure. And within forty rods of us was the farmstead of Amos +Bemisdarfer; who stood looking at us in amazement as we came across the +rippled surface of the snow to his back door. + +"I kess," said Amos, "it mus' have peen your team I put in de parn lass +night. Come in. Preckfuss is retty." + + * * * * * + +I left it to Virginia--she had been so sensible and wise in all her +words since we had agreed to be married at once--to tell the elder and +Grandma Thorndyke about it. But she went to pieces when she tried it. +She ran into their little front room where the elder was working on a +sermon, pulling grandma out of the kitchen by the hand. + +"Teunis and I," she gasped, "have been lost in the storm, and nearly +froze to death, and he tied that man up with the well-rope, and maybe +he's starved to death in Teunis's house, and Teunis and I slept in a +straw-stack, and Teunis is just as brave as he can be, and we're going to +be married awful soon, and I'm going to board with him then, and that'll +be nicer than with the McConkeys' and nearer the schoolhouse, and +cheaper, and Teunis will build fires for me, and we'll be just as happy +as we can be, and when you quit this stingy church you'll both of you +live with us forever and ever, and I want you to kiss Teunis and call +him your son right now, and if you don't we'll both be mad at you +always--no we won't, no we won't, you dear things, but you will marry +us, won't you?" + +And then she cried hysterically and kissed us all. + +"What Virginia says," said I, "is all true--especially the getting +married right now, and your living with us. We'll both be awful sorry if +we can't have you right off." + +"I snum!" exclaimed Grandma Thorndyke. "Just as I expected!" + +Grandma outlived the elder by many years; and it was not very long +before she came, a widow, to live with us "until she could hear from her +folks in Massachusetts." She finally heard from them, but she lived with +us, and is buried in our lot in the Monterey Centre burying-ground. She +always expected everything that happened. I have given some hints of her +character; but she had one weakness; she always, when she was a little +down, spoke of herself as being a burden to us, especially in the hard +times in the 'seventies. There was never a better woman, or one that did +more for a family than she did for Virginia and me and our children--and +our chickens and our calves and our lambs and goslings and ducks and +young turkeys. Of course, she wanted Virginia to do better than to marry +me; and that was all right with me after I understood it: but grandma +made that good, by always taking my side of every little difference in +the family. Peace to her ashes! + + + +5 + +Now I have reached the point in this history where things get beyond me. +I can't tell the history of Monterey County; and the unsettled matters +like the Wade-Stone controversy, the outcome of the betrayal of Rowena +Fewkes by Buckner Gowdy, and other beginnings of things like the doings +of the Bushyager bandits; for some of them run out into the history of +the state as well as the county. And as for the township history, it is +now approaching the point where there is nothing to it but more +settlers, roads, schools, and the drainage of the slew--of which, so far +as the reader is concerned if he is not posted, he may post himself up +by getting that Excelsior County History, which he can do cheaply from +almost any one who was swindled by their slick agent. What remains to be +told here is a short horse and soon curried. Vandemark Township was set +off as a separate township within six weeks of the day we crawled out of +the straw-stack--and on that day we had been married a month, and +Virginia was boarding with me as she predicted. Doctor Bliven as a +member of the County Board voted for the new township just as his wife +said he would after I talked with her about it. + +N.V. Creede says that at this time I was threatened with political +ability; but happily recovered. One reason for this joke he finds in the +fact that I was elected justice of the peace in the township at the +first election of officers; and got some reputation out of the fact that +they named the township after me when it was fashionable to name them +after Lincoln, Colfax, Grant, Sherman, Sheridan and the rest of the +Civil War heroes. The second is the way I handled Dick McGill. N.V. says +this was very subtle. I knew that if he wrote up my dragging Virginia +into a straw-pile and keeping her there two nights and a day, while he +would make folks laugh all over the county, he would make us ashamed; +for he never failed to give everything a tint of his own color. So I +went to him and told him that if he said a word about it, I should maul +him into a slop and feed him to the hogs. This was my way of +being "subtle." + +"Why, Jake," he said, "I never would say anything to take the shine off +the greatest thing ever done in these parts. I've got it all written up, +and I'm sending a copy of it to the Chicago _Tribune_. It's an epic of +prairie life. Read it, and if you don't want it printed, why, it's me +for the swine; for it's already gone to Chicago." + +Of course it seemed all right to me, but I was afraid of it, and was +thinking of pounding him up right then, when in came Elder Thorndyke to +put in the paper something about his next Sunday's services, and McGill +asked him to read the story and act as umpire. And after he had gone +over it, he grasped my hand and said that Virginia and I had not told +them half of the strange story of our living through the blizzard out on +the prairie, and that it was a great drama of resolution, resource and +bravery on my part, and seemed almost like a miracle. + +"Will this hurt Virginia's feelings if it is printed?" I asked. + +"No, no," he said. "It will make her fiance a hero. It will tickle her," +said he, "half to death." + +Then I told Dick he might go on with it if he would leave it just as it +was. The joke was on him, after all, for there was nothing in it about +my fight with Buck Gowdy, or of my robbing him of the team and sleigh +and harness and robes and Nick, the little dog. + +The third thing that N.V. thought might have sent me down through the +greased tin horn of politics, which has ruined more good men than any +other form of gambling, was my management of the business of getting the +township set off, against the opposition of the whole Monterey Centre +Ring. But he did not know of that day in Dubuque, and of my smuggling of +Mrs. Bliven into Iowa, as I have told it in this history. It hurt Bliven +politically, but he kept on boosting me, and it was his electioneering, +that I knew nothing about, that elected me justice of the peace; and it +was Mrs. Bliven's urging that caused me to qualify by being sworn +in--though I couldn't see what she meant by her interest. + +6 + +On my next birthday, the twenty-seventh of July, however, something +happened that after a few months of figuring made me think that they +knew what they were about all the time; for on that day they (the +Blivens) got up a surprise party on us, and came in such rigs as they +had (there were more light rigs than at the Governor Wade reception, a +fact of historical interest as showing progress); though Virginia did +not seem to be much surprised. In the course of the evening Doc Bliven +started in making fun of me as a justice of the peace. + +"I helped a little to elect you, Jake," said he, "but I'll bet you +couldn't make out a mittimus if you had to send a criminal to jail +to-night." + +"I won't bet," I said, "I know I couldn't!" + +"I'll bet the oysters for the crowd, Squire Vandemark," he went on +deviling me, "that you couldn't perform the marriage ceremony." + +Now here he came closer to my abilities, for I had been through a +marriage ceremony lately, and I have a good memory--and oysters were a +novelty in Iowa, coming in tin cans and called cove oysters, put up in +Baltimore. It looked like a chance to stick Doc Bliven, and while I was +hesitating, Mrs. Bliven whispered that there was a form for the ceremony +in the instruction book. + +"I'll bet you the oysters for the crowd I can," I said. "You furnish the +happy couple--and I'll see that you furnish the oyster supper, too." + +"Any couple will do," said the doctor. "Come, Mollie, we may as well go +through it again." + +The word "again" seemed suspicious. I began to wonder: and before the +ceremony was over, I reading from the book of instructions, and people +interrupting with their jokes, I saw that this meant a good deal to the +Blivens. Mollie's voice trembled as she said "I do!"; and the doctor's +hand was not steady as he took hers. I asked myself what had become of +the man who had made the attack on Bliven as he stood in line for his +mail at the Dubuque post-office away back there in 1855. + +"Don't forget my certificate, Jake," said Mrs. Bliven, as they sat down; +and I had to write it out and give it to her. + +"And remember the report of it to the county clerk," said Henderson L. +Burns, who held that office himself. "The Doc will kick out of the +supper unless you do everything." + +I did not forget the report, and I suppose it is there in the old +records to this day. + +"We got word," whispered Mrs. Bliven to me as she went away, "that I +have been a widow for more than a year. You've been a good friend to me, +Jake[16]!" + +[16] There is no record of this marriage in the clerk's office; where it +was regarded, of course, as a joke. This was probably a unique case of a +secret marriage made in public; but there is no doubt as to its +validity. The editor remembers the Blivens as respected citizens. They +are dead long since, and left no descendants. Otherwise the historian +would not have told their story--which is not illustrative of anything +usual in our early history; but shows that in Iowa as in other new +countries there were those who were escaping from their past.--G.v.d.M. + +I shall not close this history, without clearing up my record as to the +mares, Susie and Winnie, and the cutter, and Nick, the black-and-tan, +that saved Virginia's fingers from freezing, and the robes. First, I +kept the property, and every horse on the farm is descended from Susie +and Winnie. Second, I paid Buck Gowdy all the outfit was worth, though +he never knew it, and never would have taken pay: I drove a bunch of +cattle over into his corn-field the next fall and left them just before +day one morning, and he took them up, advertised them as estrays, and +finally, as N.V. says, reduced them to possession. And third, they were +legally mine, anyhow; for when I got home, I found this paper lying on +the bed, where he had slept those two nights when we were nesting in the +straw-pile: + +BILL OF SALE + +In consideration of one lesson in the manly art of self-defense, of two +days' board and lodging, and of one dollar ($1.00) to me in hand by J.T. +Vandemark, the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, I hereby sell +and transfer to said J.T. Vandemark, possession having already been +given, the following described personal property, to wit: + +1 Bay Mare called Susie, weight 1150 lbs., with star in forehead, and +white left hind foot, five years old; + +1 Bay Mare called Winnie, weight 1175 lbs., with star in forehead, and +two white hind feet, six years old; + +1 one-seated, swell-body cutter, one fine army blanket, one coonskin +robe lined with flannel, one large buffalo robe. + +It is hereby understood that if any of said animals are ever returned to +me at Blue-grass Manor or elsewhere they will be hamstrung by the +undersigned and turned out to die. + +Signed, J. Buckner Gowdy. + +One of my grandsons, Frank McConkey, has just read over this chapter, +and remarks, "He was a dead game sport!" But he had also read what +Captain Gowdy had interlined, or rather written on the margin to go in +after the description of the property conveyed: "Also one blue-blooded +black-and-tan terrier name 'Nicodemus.' The tail goes with the hide, +Jacob!" Since his death, I have grown to liking the man much better; in +fact ever since I whaled him. + + * * * * * + +Here ends the story, so far as I can tell it. It is not my story. There +are some fifteen hundred townships in Iowa; and each of them had its +history like this; and so had every township in all the great, wonderful +West of the prairie. The thing in my mind has been to tell the truth; +not the truth of statistics; not just information: but the living truth +as we lived it. Every one of these townships has a history beginning in +the East, or in Scandinavia, or Germany, or the South. We are a result +of lines of effect which draw together into our story; and we are a +cause of a future of which no man can form a conjecture. + +The prairies took me, an ignorant, orphaned canal hand, and made me +something much better. How much better it is not for me to say. The best +prayer I can utter now is that it may do as well with my children and +grandchildren, with the tenants on these rich farms, and the farm-hands +that help till them, and with the owners who find that expensive land is +just like expensive clothes:--merely something you must have, and must +pay heavily for. + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Vandemark's Folly, by Herbert Quick + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VANDEMARK'S FOLLY *** + +***** This file should be named 12179.txt or 12179.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/1/7/12179/ + +Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Charlie Kirschner and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +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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