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diff --git a/23631-h/23631-h.htm b/23631-h/23631-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6107ac9 --- /dev/null +++ b/23631-h/23631-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3496 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /> + <title> + The Moonshiners at Hoho-hebee Falls, by Charles Egbert Craddock + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Moonshiners At Hoho-Hebee Falls, by +Charles Egbert Craddock (AKA Mary Noailles Murfree) + +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: The Moonshiners At Hoho-Hebee Falls + 1895 + +Author: Charles Egbert Craddock (AKA Mary Noailles Murfree) + +Illustrator: A. B. Frost + +Release Date: November 26, 2007 [EBook #23631] +Last Updated: March 8, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MOONSHINERS *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <div style="height: 8em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + THE MOONSHINERS AT HOHO-HEBEE FALLS + </h1> + <h2> + By Charles Egbert Craddock <br /><br /> 1895 + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + Contents + </h2> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> I </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> II </a> + </p> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + List of Illustrations + </h2> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0001"> An Active Day, Inducing a Keen Thirst + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#linkimage-0002"> Look Out! Somebody's Thar! </a> + </p> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + I + </h2> + <p> + If the mission of the little school-house in Holly Cove was to impress + upon the youthful mind a comprehension and appreciation of the eternal + verities of nature, its site could hardly have been better chosen. All + along the eastern horizon deployed the endless files of the Great Smoky + Mountains—blue and sunlit, with now and again the apparition of an + unfamiliar peak, hovering like a straggler in the far-distant rear, and + made visible for the nonce by some exceptional clarification of the + atmosphere; or lowering, gray, stern; or with ranks of clouds hanging on + their flanks, while all the artillery of heaven whirled about them, and + the whole world quaked beneath the flash and roar of its volleys. The + seasons successively painted the great landscape—spring, with its + timorous touch, its illumined haze, its tender, tentative green and gray + and yellow; summer, with its flush of completion, its deep, luscious, + definite verdure, and the golden richness of fruition; autumn, with a full + brush and all chromatic splendors; winter, in melancholy sepia tones, + black and brown and many sad variations of the pallors of white. So high + was the little structure on the side of a transverse ridge that it + commanded a vast field of sky above the wooded ranges; and in the + immediate foreground, down between the slopes which were cleft to the + heart, was the river, resplendent with the reflected moods of the heavens. + In this deep gorge the winds and the pines chanted like a Greek chorus; + the waves continuously murmured an intricate rune, as if conning it by + frequent repetition; a bird would call out from the upper air some joyous + apothegm in a language which no creature of the earth has learned enough + of happiness to translate. + </p> + <p> + But the precepts which prevailed in the little school-house were to the + effect that rivers, except as they flowed as they listed to confusing + points of the compass, rising among names difficult to remember, and + emptying into the least anticipated body of water, were chiefly to be + avoided for their proclivity to drown small boys intent on swimming or + angling. Mountains, aside from the desirability of their recognition as + forming one of the divisions of land somewhat easily distinguishable by + the more erudite youth from plains, valleys, and capes, were full of crags + and chasms, rattlesnakes and vegetable poisons, and a further familiarity + with them was liable to result in the total loss of the adventurous—to + see friends, family, and home no more. + </p> + <p> + These dicta, promulgated from the professorial chair, served to keep the + small body of callow humanity, with whose instruction Abner Sage was + intrusted by the State, well within call and out of harm's way during the + short recesses, while under his guidance they toddled along the rough road + that leads up the steeps to knowledge. But one there was who either bore a + charmed life or possessed an unequalled craft in successfully defying + danger; who fished and swam with impunity; who was ragged and torn from + much climbing of crags; whose freckled face bore frequent red tokens of an + indiscriminate sampling of berries. It is too much to say that Abner Sage + would have been glad to have his warnings made terrible by some bodily + disaster to the juvenile dare-devil of the school, but Leander Yerby's + disobedient incredulity as to the terrors that menaced him, and his + triumphant immunity, fostered a certain grudge against him. Covert though + it was, unrecognized even by Sage himself, it was very definitely apparent + to Tyler Sudley when sometimes, often, indeed, on his way home from + hunting, he would pause at the school-house window, pulling open the + shutter from the outside, and gravely watch his protégé, who stood + spelling at the head of the class. + </p> + <p> + For Leander Yerby's exploits were not altogether those of a physical + prowess. He was a mighty wrestler with the multiplication table. He had + met and overthrown the nine line in single-handed combat. He had attained + unto some interesting knowledge of the earth on which he lived, and could + fluently bound countries with neatness and precision, and was on terms of + intimacy with sundry seas, volcanoes, islands, and other sizable objects. + The glib certainty of his contemptuous familiarity with the alphabet and + its untoward combinations, as he flung off words in four syllables in his + impudent chirping treble, seemed something uncanny, almost appalling, to + Tyler Sudley, who could not have done the like to save his stalwart life. + He would stare dumfounded at the erudite personage at the head of the + class; Leander's bare feet were always carefully adjusted to a crack + between the puncheons of the floor, literally “toeing the mark “; his + broad trousers, frayed out liberally at the hem, revealed his skinny and + scarred little ankles, for his out-door adventures were not without a + record upon the more impressionable portions of his anatomy; his waistband + was drawn high up under his shoulder-blades and his ribs, and girt over + the shoulders of his unbleached cotton shirt by braces, which all his + learning did not prevent him from calling “galluses”; his cut, scratched, + calloused hands were held stiffly down at the side seams in his nether + garments in strict accordance with the regulations. But rules could not + control the twinkle in his big blue eyes, the mingled effrontery and + affection on his freckled face as he perceived the on-looking visitor, nor + hinder the wink, the swiftly thrust-out tongue, as swiftly withdrawn, the + egregious display of two rows of dishevelled jagged squirrel teeth, when + once more, with an offhand toss of his tangled brown hair, he nimbly + spelled a long twisted-tailed word, and leered capably at the grave intent + face framed in the window. “Why, Abner!” Tyler Sudley would break out, + addressing the teacher, all unmindful of scholastic etiquette, a flush of + pleasure rising to his swarthy cheek as he thrust back his wide black hat + on his long dark hair and turned his candid gray eyes, all aglow, upon the + cadaverous, ascetic preceptor, “ain't Lee-yander a-gittin' on powerful, <i>powerful</i> + fas' with his book?” + </p> + <p> + “Not in enny ways so special,” Sage would reply in cavalier + discouragement, his disaffected gaze resting upon the champion scholar, + who stood elated, confident, needing no commendation to assure him of his + pre-eminence; “but he air disobejient, an' turr'ble, turr'ble bad.” + </p> + <p> + The nonchalance with which Leander Yerby hearkened to this criticism + intimated a persuasion that there were many obedient people in this world, + but few who could so disport themselves in the intricacies of the English + language; and Sudley, as he plodded homeward with his rifle on his + shoulder, his dog running on in advance, and Leander pattering along + behind, was often moved to add the weight of his admonition to the + teacher's reproof. + </p> + <p> + “Lee-yander,” he would gently drawl, “ye mustn't be so bad, honey; ye <i>mustn't</i> + be so turr'ble bad.” + </p> + <p> + “Naw, ma'am, I won't,” Leander would cheerily pipe out, and so the + procession would wend its way along. + </p> + <p> + For he still confused the gender in titles of respect, and from force of + habit he continued to do so in addressing Tyler Sudley for many a year + after he had learned better. + </p> + <p> + These lapses were pathetic rather than ridiculous in the hunter's ears. It + was he who had taught Leander every observance of verbal humility toward + his wife, in the forlorn hope of propitiating her in the interest of the + child, who, however, with his quick understanding that the words sought to + do honor and express respect, had of his own accord transferred them to + his one true friend in the household. The only friend he had in the world, + Sudley often felt, with a sigh over the happy child's forlorn estate. And, + with the morbid sensitiveness peculiar to a tender conscience, he winced + under the knowledge that it was he who, through wrong-headedness or + wrongheartedness, had contrived to make all the world besides the boy's + enemy. Both wrongheaded and wronghearted he was, he sometimes told + himself. For even now it still seemed to him that he had not judged amiss, + that only the perversity of fate had thwarted him. Was it so fantastically + improbable, so hopeless a solace that he had planned, that he should have + thought his wife might take comfort for the death of their own child in + making for its sake a home for another, orphaned, forlorn, a burden, and a + glad riddance to those into whose grudging charge it had been thrown? This + bounty of hope and affection and comfort had seemed to him a free gift + from the dead baby's hands, who had no need of it since coming into its + infinite heritage of immortality, to the living waif, to whom it was like + life itself, since it held all the essential values of existence. The idea + smote him like an inspiration. He had ridden' twenty miles in a snowy + night to beg the unwelcome mite from the custody of its father's + half-brothers, who were on the eve of moving to a neighboring county with + all their kin and belongings. + </p> + <p> + Tyler Sudley was a slow man, and tenacious of impressions. He could + remember every detail of the events as they had happened—the + palpable surprise, the moment of hesitation, the feint of denial which + successively ensued on his arrival. It mattered not what the season or the + hour—he could behold at will the wintry dawn, the deserted cabin, + the glow of embers dying on the hearth within; the white-covered wagon + slowly a-creak along the frozen road beneath the gaunt, bare, overhanging + trees, the pots and pans as they swung at the rear, the bucket for water + swaying beneath, the mounted men beside it, the few head of swine and + cattle driven before them. Years had passed, but he could feel anew the + vague stir of the living bundle which he held on the pommel of his saddle, + the sudden twist it gave to bring its inquiring, apprehensive eyes, so + large in its thin, lank-jawed, piteous little countenance, to bear on his + face, as if it understood its transfer of custody, and trembled lest a + worse thing befall it. One of the women stopped the wagon and ran back to + pin about its neck an additional wrapping, an old red-flannel petticoat, + lest it should suffer in its long, cold ride. His heart glowed with + vicarious gratitude for her forethought, and he shook her hand warmly and + wished her well, and hoped that she might prosper in her new home, and + stood still to watch the white wagon out of sight in the avenue of the + snow-laden trees, above which the moon was visible, a-journeying too, + swinging down the western sky. + </p> + <p> + Laurelia Sudley sat in stunned amazement when, half-frozen, but triumphant + and flushed and full of his story, he burst into the warm home atmosphere, + and put the animated bundle down upon the hearth-stone in front of the + glowing fire. For one moment she met its forlorn gaze out of its peaked + and pinched little face with a vague hesitation in her own worn, + tremulous, sorrow-stricken eyes. Then she burst into a tumult of tears, + upbraiding her husband that he could think that another child could take + the place of her dead child—all the dearer because it was dead; that + she could play the traitor to its memory and forget her sacred grief; that + she could do aught as long as she should live but sit her down to bewail + her loss, every tear a tribute, every pang its inalienable right, her + whole smitten existence a testimony to her love. It was in vain that he + expostulated. The idea of substitution had never entered his mind. But he + was ignorant, and clumsy of speech, and unaccustomed to analyze his + motives. He could not put into words his feeling that to do for the + welfare of this orphaned and unwelcome little creature all that they would + have done for their own was in some sort a memorial to him, and brought + them nearer to him—that she might find in it a satisfaction, an + occupation—that it might serve to fill her empty life, her empty + arms. + </p> + <p> + But no! She thought, and the neighbors thought, and after a time Tyler + Sudley came to think also, that he had failed in the essential duty to the + dead—that of affectionate remembrance; that he was recreant, + strangely callous. They all said that he had seemed to esteem one baby as + good as another, and that he was surprised that his wife was not consoled + for the loss of her own child because he took it into his head to go and + toll off the Yerby baby from his father's half-brothers “ez war movin' + away an' war glad enough ter get rid o' one head o' human stock ter kerry, + though, <i>bein human</i>, they oughter been ashamed ter gin him away like + a puppy-dog, or an extry cat, all hands consarned.” + </p> + <p> + From the standpoint she had taken Laurelia had never wavered. It was an + added and a continual reproach to her husband that all the labor and care + of the ill-advised acquisition fell to her share. She it was who must feed + and clothe and tend the gaunt little usurper; he needs must be accorded + all the infantile prerogatives, and he exacted much time and attention. + Despite the grudging spirit in which her care was given she failed in no + essential, and presently the interloper was no longer gaunt or pallid or + apprehensive, but grew pink and cherubic of build, and arrogant of mind. + He had no sensitive sub-current of suspicion as to his welcome; he filled + the house with his gay babbling, and if no maternal chirpings encouraged + the development of his ideas and his powers of speech, his cheerful + spirits seemed strong enough to thrive on their own stalwart endowments. + His hair began to curl, and a neighbor, remarking on it to Laurelia, and + forgetting for the moment his parentage, said, in admiring glee, twining + the soft tendrils over her finger, that Mrs. Sudley had never before had a + child so well-favored as this one. From this time forth was infused a + certain rancor into his foster-mother's spirit toward him. Her sense of + martyrdom was complete when another infant was born and died, leaving her + bereaved once more to watch this stranger grow up in her house, strong and + hearty, and handsomer than any child of hers had been. + </p> + <p> + The mountain gossips had their own estimate of her attitude. + </p> + <p> + “I ain't denyin' but what she hed nat'ral feelin' fur her own chil'ren, + bein' dead,” said the dame who had made the unfortunate remark about the + curling hair, “but Laurelia Sudley war always a contrary-minded, + lackadaisical kind o' gal afore she war married, sorter set in opposition, + an' now ez she ain't purty like she useter was, through cryin' her eyes + out, an' gittin' sallow-complected an' bony, I kin notice her + contrariousness more. Ef Tyler hedn't brung that chile home, like ez not + she'd hev sot her heart on borryin' one herself from somebody. Lee-yander + ain't in nowise abused, ez I kin see—ain't acquainted with the rod, + like the Bible say he oughter be, an' ennybody kin see ez Laurelia don't + like the name he gin her, yit she puts up with it. She larnt him ter call + Ty 'Cap'n,' bein' she's sorter proud of it, 'kase Ty war a cap'n of a + critter company in the war: 'twarn't sech a mighty matter nohow; he jes + got ter be cap'n through the other off'cers bein' killed off. An' the + leetle boy got it twisted somehows, an' calls <i>her</i> 'Cap'n 'an' Ty + 'Neighbor,' from hearin' old man Jeemes, ez comes in constant, givin' him + that old-fashioned name. 'Cap'n' 'bout fits Laurelia, though, an' that's a + fac'.” + </p> + <p> + Laurelia's melancholy ascendency in the household was very complete. It + was characterized by no turbulence, no rages, no long-drawn argument or + objurgation; it expressed itself only in a settled spirit of disaffection, + a pervasive suggestion of martyrdom, silence or sighs, or sometimes a + depressing singing of hymn tunes. For her husband had long ago ceased to + remonstrate, or to seek to justify himself. It was with a spirit of making + amends that he hastened to concede every point of question, to defer to + her preference in all matters, and Lauretta's sway grew more and more + absolute as the years wore on. Leander Yerby could remember no other + surroundings than the ascetic atmosphere of his home. It had done naught + apparently to quell the innate cheerfulness of his spirit. He evidently + took note, however, of the different standpoint of the “Captain” and his + “Neighbor,” for although he was instant in the little manifestations of + respect toward her which he had been taught, his childish craft could not + conceal their spuriousness. + </p> + <p> + “That thar boy treats me ez ef I war a plumb idjit,” Laurelia said one + day, moved to her infrequent anger. “Tells me, 'Yes, ma'am, cap'n,' an' + 'Naw, ma'am, cap'n,' jes ter quiet me—like folks useter do ter old + Ed'ard Green, ez war in his dotage—an' then goes along an' does the + very thing I tell him not ter do.” + </p> + <p> + Sudley looked up as he sat smoking his pipe by the fire, a shade of + constraint in his manner, and a contraction of anxiety in his slow, dark + eyes, never quite absent when she spoke to him aside of Leander. + </p> + <p> + She paused, setting her gaunt arms akimbo, and wearing the manner of one + whose kindly patience is beyond limit abused. “Kems in hyar, he do, + a'totin' a fiddle. An' I says, 'Lee-yander Yerby, don't ye know that thar + thing's the devil's snare?' 'N'aw, ma'am, cap'n,' he says, grinnin' like a + imp; 'it's <i>my</i> snare, fur I hev bought it from Peter Teazely fur two + rabbits what I cotch in my trap, an' my big red rooster, an' a bag o' seed + pop-corn, an' the only hat I hev got in the worl'. An' with that the + consarn gin sech a yawp, it plumb went through my haid, An' then the + critter jes tuk ter a-bowin' it back an' forth, a-playin' 'The Chicken in + the Bread-trough' like demented, a-dancin' off on fust one foot an' then + on t'other till the puncheons shuck. An' I druv him out the house. I won't + stan' none o' Satan's devices hyar! I tole him he couldn't fetch that + fiddle hyar whenst he kems home ter-night, an' I be a-goin' ter make him a + sun-bonnet or a nightcap ter wear stiddier his hat that he traded off.” + </p> + <p> + She paused. + </p> + <p> + Her husband had risen, the glow of his pipe fading in his unheeding hand, + his excited eyes fixed upon her. “Laurely,” he exclaimed, “ye ain't + meanin' ez that thar leetle critter could play a chune fust off on a + fiddle 'thout no larnin'!” + </p> + <p> + She nodded her head in reluctant admission. + </p> + <p> + He opened his mouth once or twice, emitting no sound. She saw how his + elation, his spirit of commendation, his pride, set at naught her + displeasure, albeit in self-defence, perchance, he dared not say a word. + With an eye alight and an absorbed face, he laid his pipe on the + mantel-piece, and silently took his way out of the house in search of the + youthful musician. + </p> + <p> + Easily found! The racked and tortured echoes were all aquake within half a + mile of the spot where, bareheaded, heedless of the threatened ignominy + alike of sun-bonnet or nightcap, Leander sat in the flickering sunshine + and shadow upon a rock beside the spring, and blissfully experimented with + all the capacities of catgut to produce sound. + </p> + <p> + “Listen, Neighbor!” he cried out, descrying Tyler Sudley, who, indeed, + could do naught else—“<i>listen!</i> Ye won't hear much better + fiddlin' this side o' kingdom come!” And with glad assurance he capered up + and down, the bow elongating the sound to a cadence of frenzied glee, as + his arms sought to accommodate the nimbler motions of his legs. + </p> + <p> + Thus it was the mountaineers later said that Leander fell into bad + company. For, the fiddle being forbidden in the sober Laurelia's house, he + must needs go elsewhere to show his gift and his growing skill, and he + found a welcome fast enough. Before he had advanced beyond his stripling + youth, his untutored facility had gained a rude mastery over the + instrument; he played with a sort of fascination and spontaneity that + endeared his art to his uncritical audiences, and his endowment was held + as something wonderful. And now it was that Laure-lia, hearing him, far + away in the open air, play once a plaintive, melodic strain, fugue-like + with the elfin echoes, felt a strange soothing in the sound, found tears + in her eyes, not all of pain but of sad pleasure, and assumed thenceforth + something of the port of a connoisseur. She said she “couldn't abide a + fiddle jes sawed helter-skelter by them ez hedn't larned, but ter play + saaft an' slow an' solemn, and no dancin' chune, no frolic song—she + warn't set agin that at all.” And she desired of Leander a repetition of + this sunset motive that evening when he had come home late, and she + discovered him hiding the obnoxious instrument under the porch. But in + vain. He did not remember it. It was some vague impulse, as unconsciously + voiced as the dreaming bird's song in the sudden half-awake intervals of + the night. Over and again, as he stood by the porch, the violin in his + arms, he touched the strings tentatively, as if, perchance, being so + alive, they might of their own motion recall the strain that had so lately + thrilled along them: + </p> + <p> + He had grown tall and slender. He wore boots to his knees now, and + pridefully carried a “shoot-in'-iron” in one of the long legs—to his + great discomfort. The freckles of his early days were merged into the warm + uniform tint of his tanned complexion. His brown hair still curled; his + shirt-collar fell away from his throat, round and full and white—the + singer's throat—as he threw his head backward and cast his large + roving eyes searchingly along the sky, as if the missing strain had wings. + </p> + <p> + The inspiration returned no more, and Laurelia experienced a sense of + loss. “Some time, Lee-yander, ef ye war ter kem acrost that chune agin, + try ter set it in yer remembrance, an' play it whenst ye kem home,” she + said, wistfully, at last, as if this errant melody were afloat somewhere + in the vague realms of sound, where one native to those haunts might hope + to encounter it anew. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, ma'am, cap'n, I will,” he said, with his facile assent. But his tone + expressed slight intention, and his indifference bespoke a too great + wealth of “chunes”; he could feel no lack in some unremembered + combination, sport of the moment, when another strain would come at will, + as sweet perchance, and new. + </p> + <p> + She winced as from undeserved reproach when presently Leander's + proclivities for the society of the gay young blades about the + countryside, sometimes reputed “evil men,” were attributed to this exile + of the violin from the hearth-stone. She roused herself to disputation, to + indignant repudiation. + </p> + <p> + “They talk ez ef it war <i>me</i> ez led the drinkin', an' the gamin', an' + the dancing and sech, ez goes on in the Cove, 'kase whenst Lee-yander war + about fryin' size I wouldn't abide ter hev him a-sawin' away on the fiddle + in the house enough ter make me deef fur life. At fust the racket of it + even skeered Towse so he wouldn't come out from under the house fur two + days an' better; he jes sot under thar an' growled, an' shivered, an' + showed his teeth ef enny-body spoke ter him. Nobody don't like + Lee-yan-der's performin' better'n I do whenst he plays them saaft, + slippin'-away, slow medjures, ez sound plumb religious—ef 'twarn't a + sin ter say so. Naw, sir, ef ennybody hev sot Lee-yander on ter evil ways + 'twarn't me. My conscience be clear.” + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless she was grievously ill at ease when one day there rode up to + the fence a tall, gaunt, ill-favored man, whose long, lean, sallow + countenance, of a Pharisaic cast, was vaguely familiar to her, as one + recognizes real lineaments in the contortions of a caricature or the + bewilderments of a dream. She felt as if in some long-previous existence + she had seen this man as he dismounted at the gate and came up the path + with his saddle-bags over his arm. But it was not until he mustered an + unready, unwilling smile, that had of good-will and geniality so slight an + intimation that it was like a spasmodic grimace, did she perceive how time + had deepened tendencies to traits, how the inmost thought and the secret + sentiment had been chiselled into the face in the betrayals of the + sculpture of fifteen years. + </p> + <p> + “Nehemiah Yerby!” she exclaimed. “I would hev knowed ye in the happy land + o' Canaan.” + </p> + <p> + “Let's pray we may all meet thar, Sister Sudley,” he responded. “Let's + pray that the good time may find none of us unprofitable servants.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Sudley experienced a sudden recoil. Not that she did not echo his + wish, but somehow his manner savored of an exclusive arrogation of piety + and a suggestion of reproach. + </p> + <p> + “That's my prayer,” she retorted, aggressively. “Day an' night, that's my + prayer.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes'm, fur us an' our households, Sister Sudley—we mus' think o' + them c'mitted ter our charge.” + </p> + <p> + She strove to fling off the sense of guilt that oppressed her, the mental + attitude of arraignment. He was a young man when he journeyed away in that + snowy dawn. She did not know what changes had come in his experience. + Perchance his effervescent piety was only a habit of speech, and had no + significance as far as she was concerned. The suspicion, however, tamed + her in some sort. She attempted no retort. With a mechanical, reluctant + smile, ill adjusted to her sorrow-lined face, she made an effort to assume + that the greeting had been but the conventional phrasings of the day. “Kem + in, kem in, Nehemiah; Tyler will be glad ter see ye, an' I reckon ye will + be powerful interested ter view how Lee-yander hev growed an' prospered.” + </p> + <p> + She felt as if she were in some terrible dream as she beheld him slowly + wag his head from side to side. He had followed her into the large main + room of the cabin, and had laid his saddle-bags down by the side of the + chair in which he had seated himself, his elbows on his knees, his hands + held out to the flickering blaze in the deep chimney-place, his eyes + significantly narrowing as he gazed upon it. + </p> + <p> + “Naw, Sister Sudley,” he wagged his head more mournfully still. “I kin but + grieve ter hear how my nevy Lee-yander hev 'prospered,' ez ye call it, an' + I be s'prised ye should gin it such a name. Oh-h-h, Sister Sudley!” in + prolonged and dreary vocative, “I 'lowed ye war a godly woman. I knowed + yer name 'mongst the church-goers an' the church-members.” A faint flush + sprang into her delicate faded cheek; a halo encircled this repute of + sanctity; she felt with quivering premonition that it was about to be + urged as a testimony against her. “Elsewise I wouldn't hev gin my cornsent + ter hev lef the leetle lam', Lee-yander, in yer fold. Precious, precious + leetle lam'!” + </p> + <p> + Poor Laurelia! Were it not that she had a sense of fault under the + scathing arraignment of her motives, her work, and its result, although + she scarcely saw how she was to blame, that she had equally with him + esteemed Leander's standpoint iniquitous, she might have made a better + fight in her own interest. Why she did not renounce the true culprit as + one on whom all godly teachings were wasted, and, adopting the + indisputable vantage-ground of heredity, carry the war into the enemy's + country, ascribing Leander's shortcomings to his Yerby blood, and with + stern and superior joy proclaiming that he was neither kith nor kin of + hers, she wondered afterward, for this valid ground of defence did not + occur to her then. In these long mourning years she had grown dull; her + mental processes were either a sad introspection or reminiscence. Now she + could only take into account her sacrifices of feeling, of time, of care; + the illnesses she had nursed, the garments that she had made and mended—ah, + how many! laid votive on the altar of Leander's vigor and his agility, for + as he scrambled about the crags he seemed, she was wont to say, to climb + straight out of them. The recollection of all this—the lesser and + unspiritual maternal values, perchance, but essential—surged over + her with bitterness; she lost her poise, and fell a-bickering. + </p> + <p> + “'Precious leetle lam','” she repeated, scornfully. “Precious he mus' hev + been! Fur when ye lef him he hedn't a whole gyarmint ter his back, an' + none but them that kivered him.” + </p> + <p> + Nehemiah Yerby changed color slightly as the taunt struck home, but he was + skilled in the more aesthetic methods of argument. + </p> + <p> + “We war pore—mighty pore indeed, Sister Sudley.” + </p> + <p> + Now, consciously in the wrong, Sister Sudley, with true feminine + inconsistency, felt better. She retorted with bravado. + </p> + <p> + “Needle an' thread ain't 'spensive nowhar ez I knows on, an' the gov'mint + hev sot no tax on saaft home-made soap, so far ez hearn from.” + </p> + <p> + She briskly placed her chair, a rude rocker, the seat formed of a + taut-stretched piece of ox-hide, beside the fire, and took up her + knitting. A sock for Leander it was—one of many of all sizes. She + remembered the first that she had measured for the bare pink toes which he + had brought there, forlorn candidates for the comfortable integuments in + which they were presently encased, and how she had morbidly felt that + every stitch she took was a renunciation of her own children, since a + stranger was honored in their place. The tears came into her eyes. It was + only this afternoon that she had experienced a pang of self-reproach to + realize how near happiness she was—as near as her temperament could + approach. But somehow the air was so soft; she could see from where she + sat how the white velvet buds of the aspen-trees in the dooryard had + lengthened into long, cream-tinted, furry tassels; the maples on the + mountain-side lifted their red flowering boughs against the delicate blue + sky; the grass was so green; the golden candlesticks bunched along the + margin of the path to the rickety gate were all a-blossoming. The sweet + appeal of spring had never been more insistent, more coercive. Somehow + peace, and a placid content, seemed as essential incidents in the inner + life as the growth of the grass anew, the bursting of the bud, or the soft + awakening of the zephyr. Even within the house, the languors of the fire + drowsing on the hearth, the broad bar of sunshine across the puncheon + floor, so slowly creeping away, the sense of the vernal lengthening of the + pensive afternoon, the ever-flitting shadow of the wren building under the + eaves, and its iterative gladsome song breaking the fireside stillness, + partook of the serene beatitude of the season and the hour. The visitor's + drawling voice rose again, and she was not now constrained to reproach + herself that she was too happy. + </p> + <p> + “Yes'm, pore though we war then—an' we couldn't look forward ter the + Lord's prosperin' us some sence—we never would hev lef the precious + leetle lam'”—his voice dwelt with unvanquished emphasis upon the + obnoxious words—“'mongst enny but them persumed ter be godly folks. + Tyler war a toler'ble good soldier in the war, an' hed a good name in the + church, but <i>ye</i> war persumed to be a plumb special Christian with no + pledjure in this worl'.” + </p> + <p> + Laurelia winced anew. This repute of special sanctity was the pride of her + ascetic soul. Few of the graces of life or of the spirit had she coveted, + but her pre-eminence as a religionist she had fostered and cherished, and + now through her own deeds of charity it seemed about to be wrested from + her. + </p> + <p> + “Lee-yander Yerby hev larnt nuthin' but good in this house, an' all my + neighbors will tell you the same word. The Cove 'lows I hev been <i>too</i> + strict.” + </p> + <p> + Nehemiah was glancing composedly about the room. “That thar 'pears ter be + a fiddle on the wall, ain't it, Mis' Sudley?” he said, with an incidental + air and the manner of changing the subject. + </p> + <p> + Alack, for the aesthetic perversion! Since the playing of those melancholy + minor strains in that red sunset so long ago, which had touched so + responsive a chord in Laurelia's grief-worn heart, the crazy old fiddle + had been naturalized, as it were, and had exchanged its domicile under the + porch for a position on the wall. It was boldly visible, and apparently no + more ashamed of itself than was the big earthen jar half full of cream, + which was placed close to the fireplace on the hearth in the hope that its + contents might become sour enough by to-morrow to be churned. + </p> + <p> + Laurelia looked up with a start at the instrument, red and lustrous + against the brown log wall, its bow poised jauntily above it, and some + glistening yellow reflection from the sun on the floor playing among the + strings, elusive, soundless fantasies. + </p> + <p> + Her lower jaw dropped. She was driven to her last defences, and sore + beset. “It air a fiddle,” she said, slowly, at last, and with an air of + conscientious admission, as if she had had half a mind to deny it. “A + fiddle the thing air.” Then, as she collected her thoughts, “Brother Pete + Vickers 'lows ez he sees no special sin in playin' the fiddle. He 'lows ez + in some kentries—I disremember whar—they plays on 'em in + church, quirin' an' hymn chunes an' sech.” + </p> + <p> + Her voice faltered a little; she had never thought to quote this fantasy + in her own defence, for she secretly believed that old man Vickers must + have been humbugged by some worldly brother skilled in drawing the long + bow himself. + </p> + <p> + Nehemiah Yerby seemed specially endowed with a conscience for the guidance + of other people, so quick was he to descry and pounce upon their + shortcomings. If one's sins are sure to find one out, there is little + doubt but that Brother Nehemiah would be on the ground first. + </p> + <p> + “Air you-uns a-settin' under the preachin' o' Brother Peter Vickers?” he + demanded in a sepulchral voice. + </p> + <p> + “Naw, naw,” she was glad to reply. “'Twar onderstood ez Brother Vickers + wanted a call ter the church in the Cove, bein' ez his relations live + hyar-abouts, an' he kem up an' preached a time or two. But he didn't git + no call. The brethren 'lowed Brother Vickers war too slack in his idees o' + religion. Some said his hell warn't half hot enough. Thar air some + powerful sinners in the Cove, an' nuthin' but good live coals an' a liquid + blazin' fire air a-goin' ter deter them from the evil o' thar ways. So + Brother Vickers went back the road he kem.” + </p> + <p> + She knit off her needle while, with his head still bent forward, Nehemiah + Yerby sourly eyed her, feeling himself a loser with Brother Vickers, in + that he did not have the reverend man's incumbency as a grievance. + </p> + <p> + “He 'pears ter me ter see mo' pleasure in religion 'n penance, ennyhow,” + he observed, bitterly. “An' the Lord knows the bes' of us air sinners.” + </p> + <p> + “An' he laughs loud an' frequent—mightily like a sinner,” she + agreed. “An' whenst he prays, he prays loud an' hearty, like he jes + expected ter git what he axed fur sure's shootin.' Some o' the breth-erin' + sorter taxed him with his sperits, an' he 'lowed he couldn't holp but be + cheerful whenst he hed the Lord's word fur it ez all things work tergether + fur good. An' he laffed same ez ef they hedn't spoke ter him serious.” + </p> + <p> + “Look at that, now!” exclaimed Nehemiah. “An' that thar man ez good ez + dead with the heart-disease.” + </p> + <p> + Laurelia's eyes were suddenly arrested by his keen, pinched, lined face. + What there was in it to admonish her she could hardly have said, nor how + it served to tutor her innocent craft. + </p> + <p> + “I ain't so sure 'bout Brother Vickers bein' so wrong,” she said, slowly. + “He 'lowed ter me ez I hed spent too much o' my life a-sorrowin', + 'stiddier a-praisin' the Lord for his mercies.” Her face twitched + suddenly; she could not yet look upon her bereavements as mercies. “He + 'lowed I would hev been a happier an' a better 'oman ef I hed took the + evil ez good from the Lord's hand, fur in his sendin' it's the same. An' I + know that air a true word. An' that's what makes me 'low what he said war + true 'bout'n that fiddle; that I ought never ter hev pervented the boy + from playin' 'round home an' sech, an' 'twarn't no sin but powerful + comfortable an' pleasurable ter set roun' of a cold winter night an' hear + him play them slow, sweet, dyin'-away chunes—” She dropped her + hands, and gazed with the rapt eyes of remembrance through the window at + the sunset clouds which, gathering red and purple and gold on the + mountain's brow, were reflected roseate and amethyst and amber at the + mountain's base on the steely surface of the river. “Brother Vickers + 'lowed he never hearn sech in all his life. It brung the tears ter his + eyes—it surely did.” + </p> + <p> + “He'd a heap better be weepin' fur them black sheep o' his congregation + an' fur Lee-yander's short-comin's, fur ez fur ez I kin hear he air about + ez black a sheep ez most pastors want ter wrestle with fur the turnin' + away from thar sins. Yes'm, Sister Sudley, that's jes what p'inted out my + jewty plain afore my eyes, an' I riz up an' kem ter be instant in a-do-in' + of it. 'I'll not leave my own nevy in the tents o' sin,' I sez. 'I hev + chil'in o' my own, hearty feeders an' hard on shoe-leather, ter support, + but I'll not grudge my brother's son a home.' Yes, Laurely Sudley, I hev + kem ter kerry him back with me. Yer jewty ain't been done by him, an' I'll + leave him a dweller in the tents o' sin no longer.” + </p> + <p> + His enthusiasm had carried him too far. Lau-relia's face, which at first + seemed turning to stone as she gradually apprehended his meaning and his + mission, changed from motionless white to a tremulous scarlet while he + spoke, and when he ceased she retorted herself as one of the ungodly. + </p> + <p> + “Ye mus' be mighty ambitious ter kerry away a skin full o' broken bones! + Jes let Tyler Sudley hear ez ye called his house the tents o' the ungodly, + an' that ye kem hyar a-faultin' me, an' tellin' me ez I 'ain't done my + jewty ennywhar or ennyhow!” she exclaimed, with a pride which, as a pious + saint, she had never expected to feel in her husband's reputation as a + high-tempered man and a “mighty handy fighter,” and with implicit reliance + upon both endowments in her quarrel. + </p> + <p> + “Only in a speritchual sense, Sister Sudley,” Nehemiah gasped, as he made + haste to qualify his asseveration. “I only charge you with havin' sp'iled + the boy; ye hev sp'iled him through kindness ter him, an' not <i>ye</i> so + much ez Ty. Ty never hed so much ez a dog that would mind him! His dog + wouldn't answer call nor whistle 'thout he war so disposed. <i>I</i> never + faulted ye, Sister Sudley; 'twar jes Ty I faulted. I know Ty.” + </p> + <p> + He knew, too, that it was safer to call Ty and his doings in question, big + and formidable and belligerent though he was, than his meek-mannered, + melancholy, forlorn, and diminutive wife. Nehemiah rose up and walked back + and forth for a moment with an excited face and a bent back, and a sort of + rabbit-like action. “Now, I put it to you, Sister Sudley, air Ty a-makin' + that thar boy plough terday?—jes <i>be-you-ti-ful</i> field + weather!” + </p> + <p> + Sister Sudley, victorious, having regained her normal position by one + single natural impulse of self-assertion, not as a religionist, but as + Tyler Sud-ley's wife, and hence entitled to all the show of respect which + that fact unaided could command, sat looking at him with a changed face—a + face that seemed twenty years younger; it had the expression it wore + before it had grown pinched and ascetic and insistently sorrowful; one + might guess how she had looked when Tyler Sudley first went up the + mountain “a-courtin,” She sought to assume no other stand-point. Here she + was intrenched. She shook her head in negation. The affair was none of + hers. Ty Sudley could take ample care of it. + </p> + <p> + Nehemiah gave a little skip that might suggest a degree of triumph. “Aha, + not ploughin'! But <i>Ty</i> is ploughin', I seen him in the field. An' + Lee-yander ain't ploughin'! An' how did I know? Ez I war a-ridin' along + through the woods this mornin' I kem acrost a striplin' lad a-walkin' + through the undergrowth ez onconsarned ez a killdee an' ez nimble. An' + under his chin war a fiddle, an' his head war craned down ter it.” He + mimicked the attitude as he stood on the hearth. “He never looked up + wunst. Away he walked, light ez a plover, an' <i>a-ping, pang, ping, pang</i>,” + in a high falsetto, “went that fiddle! I war plumb 'shamed fur the + critters in the woods ter view sech idle sinfulness, a ole <i>owel</i>, + a-blinkin' down out'n a hollow tree, kem ter see what <i>ping, pang, ping, + pang</i> meant, an' thar war a rabbit settin' up on two legs in the bresh, + an' a few stray razor-back hawgs; I tell ye I war mortified 'fore even + sech citizens ez them, an' a lazy, impident-lookin' dog ez followed him.” + </p> + <p> + “How did ye know 'twar Lee-yander?” demanded Mrs. Sudley, recognizing the + description perfectly, but after judicial methods requiring strict proof. + </p> + <p> + “Oh-h! by the fambly favor,” protested the gaunt and hard-featured + Nehemiah, capably. “I knowed the Yerby eye.” + </p> + <p> + “He hev got his mother's eyes.” Mrs. Sudley had certainly changed her + stand-point with a vengeance. “He hev got his mother's <i>be-you-ti-ful + blue</i> eyes and her curling, silken brown hair—sorter red; little + Yerby in <i>that</i>, mebbe; but sech eyes, an' sech lashes, an' sech fine + curling hair ez none o' yer fambly ever hed, or ever will.” + </p> + <p> + “Mebbe so. I never seen him more'n a minit. But he might ez well hev a <i>be-you-ti-ful</i> + curlin' nose, like the elephint in the show, for all the use he air, or I + be afeard air ever likely ter be.” + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + Tyler Sudley's face turned gray, despite his belligerent efficiencies, + when his wife, hearing the clank of the ox-yoke as it was flung down in + the shed outside, divined the home-coming of the ploughman and his team, + and slipped out to the barn with her news. She realized, with a strange + enlightenment as to her own mental processes, what angry jealousy the look + on his face would have roused in her only so short a time ago—jealousy + for the sake of her own children, that any loss, any grief, should be + poignant and pierce his heart save for them. Now she was sorry for him; + she felt with him. + </p> + <p> + But as he continued silent, and only stared at her dumfounded and piteous, + she grew frightened—she knew not of what. + </p> + <p> + “Shucks, Ty!” she exclaimed, catching him by the sleeve with the impluse + to rouse him, to awaken him, as it were, to his own old familiar identity; + “ye ain't 'feared o' that thar snaggle-toothed skeer-crow in yander; he + would be plumb comical ef he didn't look so mean-natured an' sech a + hyper-crite.” + </p> + <p> + He gazed at her, his eyes eloquent with pain. + </p> + <p> + “Laurely!” he gasped, “this hyar thing plumb knocks me down; it jes takes + the breath o' life out'n me!” + </p> + <p> + She hesitated for a moment. Any anxiety, any trouble, seemed so + incongruous with the sweet spring-tide peace in the air, that one did not + readily take it home to heart. Hope was in the atmosphere like an + essential element; one might call it oxygen or caloric or vitality, + according to the tendency of mind and the habit of speech. But the heart + knew it, and the pulses beat strongly responsive to it. Faith ruled the + world. Some tiny bulbous thing at her feet that had impeded her step + caught her attention. It was coming up from the black earth, and the + buried darkness, and the chill winter's torpor, with all the impulses of + confidence in the light without, and the warmth of the sun, and the fresh + showers that were aggregating in the clouds somewhere for its nurture—a + blind inanimate thing like that! But Tyler Sudley felt none of it; the + blow had fallen upon him, stunning him. He stood silent, looking gropingly + into the purple dusk, veined with silver glintings of the moon, as if he + sought to view in the future some event which he dreaded, and yet shrank + to see. + </p> + <p> + She had rarely played the consoler, so heavily had she and all her griefs + leaned on his supporting arm. It was powerless now. She perceived this, + all dismayed at the responsibility that had fallen upon her. She made an + effort to rally his courage. She had more faith in it than in her own. + </p> + <p> + “'Feard o' <i>him!</i>” she exclaimed, with a sharp tonic note of satire. + “Kem in an' view him.” + </p> + <p> + “Laurely,” he quavered, “I oughter hev got it down in writin' from him; I + oughter made him sign papers agreein' fur me ter keep the boy till he + growed ter be his own man.” + </p> + <p> + She, too, grew pale. “Ye ain't meanin' ter let him take the boy sure + enough!” she gasped. + </p> + <p> + “I moughtn't be able ter holp it; I dun'no' how the law stands. He air kin + ter Lee-yander, an' mebbe hev got the bes' right ter him.” + </p> + <p> + She shivered slightly; the dew was falling, and all the budding herbage + was glossed with a silver glister. The shadows were sparse. The white + branches of the aspens cast only the symmetrical outline of the tree form + on the illumined grass, and seemed scarcely less bare than in winter, but + on one swaying bough the mocking-bird sang all the joyous prophecies of + the spring to the great silver moon that made his gladsome day so long. + </p> + <p> + She was quick to notice the sudden cessation of his song, the alert, + downward poise of his beautiful head, his tense critical attitude. A + mimicking whistle rose on the air, now soft, now keen, with swift changes + and intricate successions of tones, ending in a brilliant borrowed + roulade, delivered with a wonderful velocity and <i>elan</i>. The long + tail feathers, all standing stiffly upward, once more drooped; the + mocking-bird turned his head from side to side, then lifting his full + throat he poured forth again his incomparable, superb, infinitely + versatile melody, fixing his glittering eye on the moon, and heeding the + futilely ambitious worldling no mote. + </p> + <p> + The mimicking sound heralded the approach of Leander. Laurelia's heart, + full of bitterness for his sake, throbbed tenderly for him. Ah, what was + to be his fate! What unkind lot did the future hold for him in the + clutches of a man like this! Suddenly she was pitying his mother—her + own children, how safe! + </p> + <p> + She winced to tell him what had happened, but she it was who, bracing her + nerves, made the disclosure, for Sudley remained silent, the end of the + ox-yoke in his trembling hands, his head bare to the moon and the dew, his + face grown lined and old. + </p> + <p> + Leander stood staring at her out of his moonlit blue eyes, his hat far + back on the brown curls she had so vaunted, damp and crisp and clinging, + the low limp collar of his unbleached shirt showing his round full throat, + one hand resting on the high curb of the well, the other holding a great + brown gourd full of the clear water which he had busied himself in + securing while she sought to prepare him to hear the worst. His lips, like + a bent bow as she thought, were red and still moist as he now and then + took the gourd from them, and held it motionless in the interest of her + narration, that indeed touched him so nearly. Then, as she made point + after point clear to his comprehension, he would once more lift the gourd + and drink deeply, for he had had an active day, inducing a keen thirst. + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0001" id="linkimage-0001"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/241.jpg" alt="An Active Day, Inducing a Keen Thirst 241 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + She had been preparing herself for the piteous spectacle of his frantic + fright, his futile reliance on them who had always befriended him, his + callow forlorn helplessness, his tears, his reproaches; she dreaded them. + </p> + <p> + He was silent for a reflective moment when she had paused. “But what's he + want with me, Cap'n?” he suddenly demanded. “Mought know I warn't + industrious in the field, ez he seen me off a-fiddlin' in the woods whilst + Neighbor war a-ploughin'.” + </p> + <p> + “Mebbe he 'lows he mought <i>make</i> ye industrious an' git cornsider'ble + work out'n ye,” she faltered, flinching for him. + </p> + <p> + After another refreshing gulp from the gourd he canvassed this + dispassionately. “Say his own chil'n air 'hearty feeders an' hard on + shoe-leather?' Takes a good deal o' goadin' ter git ploughin' enough fur + the wuth o' feed out'n a toler'ble beastis like old Blaze-face thar, don't + it, Neighbor?—an' how is it a-goin' ter be with a human ez mebbe + will hold back an' air sot agin plough-in' ennyhow, an' air sorter idle by + profession? 'Twould gin him a heap o' trouble—more'n the ploughin' + an' sech would be wuth—a heap o' trouble.” Once more he bowed his + head to the gourd. + </p> + <p> + “He 'lowed ye shouldn't dwell no mo' in the tents o' sin. He seen the + fiddle, Lee; it's all complicated with the fiddle,” she quavered, very + near tears of vexation. + </p> + <p> + He lifted a smiling moonlit face; his half-suppressed laugh echoed + gurglingly in the gourd. “Cap'n,” he said, reassuringly, “jes let's hear + Uncle Nehemiah talk some mo', an' ef I can't see no mo' likely work fur me + 'n ploughin', I'll think myself mighty safe.” + </p> + <p> + They felt like three conspirators as after supper they drew their chairs + around the fire with the unsuspicious Uncle Nehemiah. However, Nehemiah + Yerby could hardly be esteemed unsuspicious in any point of view, so full + of vigilant craft was his intention in every anticipation, so slyly + sanctimonious was his long countenance. + </p> + <p> + There could hardly have been a greater contrast than Tyler Sudley's aspect + presented. His candid face seemed a mirror for his thought; he had had + scant experience in deception, and he proved a most unlikely novice in the + art. His features were heavy and set; his manner was brooding and + depressed; he did not alertly follow the conversation; on the contrary, he + seemed oblivious of it as his full dark eyes rested absently on the fire. + More than once he passed his hand across them with a troubled, harassed + manner, and he sighed heavily. For which his co-conspirators could have + fallen upon him. How could he be so dull, so forgetful of all save the + fear of separation from the boy whom he had reared, whom he loved as his + own son; how could he fail to know that a jaunty, assured mien might best + serve his interests until at any rate the blow had fallen; why should he + wear the insignia of defeat before the strength of his claim was tested? + Assuredly his manner was calculated to greatly reinforce Nehemiah Yerby's + confidence, and to assist in eliminating difficulties in the urging of his + superior rights and the carrying out of his scheme. Mrs. Sudley's heart + sank as she caught a significant gleam from the boy's eyes; he too + appreciated this disastrous policy, this virtual surrender before a blow + was struck. + </p> + <p> + “An' Ty ain't afeard o' bars,” she silently commented, “nor wolves, nor + wind, nor lightning, nor man in enny kind o' a free fight; but bekase he + dun'no' how the <i>law</i> stands, an' air afeard the law <i>mought</i> be + able ter take Lee-yander, he jes sets thar ez pitiful ez a lost kid, + fairly ready ter blate aloud.” + </p> + <p> + She descried the covert triumph twinkling among the sparse light lashes + and “crow-feet” about Nehemiah's eyes as he droned on an ever-lengthening + account of his experiences since leaving the county. + </p> + <p> + “It's a mighty satisfyin' thing ter be well off in yearthly goods an' + chattels,” said Laurelia, with sudden inspiration. “Ty, thar, is in debt.” + </p> + <p> + For Uncle Nehemiah had been dwelling unctuously upon the extent to which + it had pleased the Lord to prosper him. His countenance fell suddenly. His + discomfiture in her unexpected disclosure was twofold, in that it + furnished a reason for Tyler's evident depression of spirits, demolishing + the augury that his manner had afforded as to the success of the guest's + mission, and furthermore, to Nehemiah's trafficking soul, it suggested + that a money consideration might be exacted to mollify the rigors of + parting. + </p> + <p> + For Nehemiah Yerby had risen to the dignities, solvencies, and + responsibilities of opening a store at the cross-roads in Kildeer County. + It was a new and darling enterprise with him, and his mind and speech + could not long be wiled away from the subject. This abrupt interjection of + a new element into his cogitations gave him pause, and he did not observe + the sudden rousing of Tyler Sud-ley from his revery, and the glance of + indignant reproach which he cast on his wife. No man, however meek, or + however bowed down with sorrow, will bear unmoved a gratuitous mention of + his debts; it seems to wound him with all the rancor of insult, and to + enrage him with the hopelessness of adequate retort or reprisal. It is an + indignity, like taunting a ghost with cock-crow, or exhorting a clergyman + to repentance. He flung himself all at once into the conversation, to bar + and baffle any renewed allusion to that subject, and it was accident + rather than intention which made him grasp Nehemiah in the vise of a + quandary also. + </p> + <p> + “Ye say ye got a store an' a stock o' truck, Nehemiah. Air ye ekal ter + keepin' store an' sech?” he demanded, speculatively, with an inquiring and + doubtful corrugation of his brows, from which a restive lock of hair was + flung backward like the toss of a horse's mane. + </p> + <p> + “I reckon so,” Nehemiah sparely responded, blinking at him across the + fireplace. + </p> + <p> + “An' ye say ye hev applied fur the place o' postmaster?” Tyler prosed on. + “All that takes a power o' knowledge—readin' an' writin' an' + cipher-in' an' sech. How air ye expectin' to hold out, 'kase I know ye + never hed no mo' larnin' than me, an' I war acquainted with ye till ye war + thirty years old an' better?” + </p> + <p> + The tenor of this discourse did not comport with his customary suavity and + tactful courtesy toward a guest, but he was much harassed and had lost his + balance. He had a vague idea that Mrs. Sudley hung upon the flank of the + conversation with a complete summary of amounts, dates, and names of + creditors, and he sought to balk this in its inception. Moreover, his + forbearance with Nehemiah, with his presence, his personality, his + mission, had begun to wane. Bitter reflections might suffice to fill the + time were he suffered to be silent; but since a part in the conversation + had been made necessary, he had for it no honeyed words. + </p> + <p> + “I'd make about ez fit a postmaster, I know, ez that thar old ow<i>el</i> + a-hootin' out yander. I could look smart an' sober like him, but that's + 'bout all the fur my school-larnin' kerried me, an' yourn didn't reach ter + the nex' mile-post—an' that I know.” + </p> + <p> + Nehemiah's thin lips seemed dry. More than once his tongue appeared along + their verges as he nervously moistened them. His small eyes had brightened + with an excited look, but he spoke very slowly, and to Laurelia it seemed + guardedly. + </p> + <p> + “I tuk ter my book arterward, Brother Sudley. I applied myself ter larnin' + vigorous. Bein' ez I seen the Lord's hand war liberal with the gifts o' + this worl', I wanted ter stir myself ter desarve the good things.” + </p> + <p> + Sudley brought down the fore-legs of his chair to the floor with a thump. + Despite his anxiety a slow light of ridicule began to kindle on his face; + his curling lip showed his strong white teeth. + </p> + <p> + “Waal, by gum! ye mus' hev been a sight ter be seen! Ye, forty or fifty + years old, a-settin' on the same seat with the chil'n at the deestric' + school, an' a-competin' with the leetle tadpoles fur 'Baker an' Shady' an + sech!” + </p> + <p> + He was about to break forth with a guffaw of great relish when Nehemiah + spoke hastily, forestalling the laughter. + </p> + <p> + “Naw; Abner Sage war thar fur a good while las' winter a-visitin' his + sister, an' he kem an' gin me lessons an' set me copies thar at my house, + an' I larnt a heap.” + </p> + <p> + Leander lifted his head suddenly. The amount of progress possible to this + desultory and limited application he understood only too well. He had not + learned so much himself to be unaware how much in time and labor learning + costs. The others perceived no incongruity. Sudley's face was florid with + pride and pleasure, and his wife's reflected the glow. + </p> + <p> + “Ab Sage at the cross-roads! Then he mus' hev tole ye 'bout Lee-yander + hyar, an' his larnin'. Ab tole, I know.” + </p> + <p> + Nehemiah drew his breath in quickly. His twinkling eyes sent out the + keenest glance of suspicion, but the gay, affectionate, vaunting laugh, as + Tyler Sudley turned around and clapped the boy a ringing blow on his + slender shoulder, expressed only the plenitude of his simple vainglory. + </p> + <p> + “Lee-yander hyar <i>knows it all!</i>” he boasted. “Old Ab himself don't + know no mo'! I'll be bound old Ab went a-braggin'—hey, Lee-yander?” + </p> + <p> + But the boy shrank away a trifle, and his smile was mechanical as he + silently eyed his relative. + </p> + <p> + “Ab 'lowed he war tur'ble disobejient,” said Nehemiah, after a pause, and + cautiously allowing himself to follow in the talk, “an' gi'n over ter + playin' the fiddle.” He hesitated for a moment, longing to stigmatize its + ungodliness; but the recollection of Tyler Sudley's uncertain temper + decided him, and he left it unmolested. “But Ab 'lowed ye war middlin' + quick at figgers, Lee-yander—middlin' quick at figgers!” + </p> + <p> + Leander, still silent and listening, flushed slightly. This measured + praise was an offence to him; but he looked up brightly and obediently + when his uncle wagged an uncouthly sportive head (Nehe-miah's anatomy lent + itself to the gay and graceful with much reluctance), thrust his hands + into his pockets, and, tilting himself back in his chair, continued: + </p> + <p> + “I'll try ye, sonny—I'll try ye. How much air nine times seven?—nine + times seven?” + </p> + <p> + “Forty-two!” replied the boy, with a bright, docile countenance fixed upon + his relative. + </p> + <p> + There was a pause. “Right!” exclaimed Nehe-miah, to the relief of Sudley + and his wife, who had trembled during the pause, for it seemed so + threatening. They smiled at each other, unconscious that the examination + meant aught more serious than a display of their prodigy's learning. + </p> + <p> + “An', now, how much air twelve times eight?” demanded Nehemiah. + </p> + <p> + “Sixty-six!” came the answer, quick as lightning. + </p> + <p> + “Right, sir, every time!” cried Nehemiah with a glow of genuine + exultation, as he brought down the fore-legs of the chair to the floor, + and the two Sudleys laughed aloud with pleasure. + </p> + <p> + Leander saw them all distorted and grimacing while the room swam round. + The scheme was clear enough to him now. The illiterate Nehemiah, whose + worldly prosperity had outstripped his mental qualifications, had + bethought himself of filling the breach with his nephew, given away as + surplusage in his burdensome infancy, but transformed into a unique + utility under the tutelage of Abner Sage. It was his boasting of his + froward pupil, doubtless, that had suggested the idea, and Leander + understood now that he was to do the work of the store and the post-office + under the nominal incumbency of this unlettered lout. Had the whole + transaction been open and acknowledged, Leander would have had scant + appetite for the work under this master; but he revolted at the flimsy, + contemptible sham; he bitterly resented the innuendoes against the piety + of the Sudleys, not that he cared for piety, save in the abstract; he was + daunted by the brutal ignorance, the doltish inefficiency of the imposture + that had so readily accepted his patently false answers to the simple + questions. He had a sort of crude reverence for education, and it had + seemed to him a very serious matter to take such liberties with the + multiplication table. He valued, too, with a boy's stalwart vanity, his + reputation for great learning, and he would not have lightly jeopardized + it did he not esteem the crisis momentous. He knew not what he feared. The + fraud of the intention, the groundless claim to knowledge, made Nehemiah's + scheme seem multifariously guilty in some sort; while Tyler Sudley and his + wife, albeit no wiser mathematically, had all the sanctions of probity in + their calm, unpretending ignorance. + </p> + <p> + “Ef Cap'n or Neighbor wanted ter run a post-office on my larnin', or ter + keep store, they'd be welcome; but I won't play stalkin'-horse fur that + thar man's still-hunt, sure ez shootin',” he said to himself. + </p> + <p> + The attention which he bent upon the conversation thenceforth was an + observation of its effect rather than its matter. He saw that he was alone + in his discovery. Neither Sudley nor his wife had perceived any connection + between the store, the prospective post-office, and the desire of the + illiterate would-be postmaster to have his erudite nephew restored to his + care. + </p> + <p> + It may be that the methods of his “Neighbor” and the “Captain” in the + rearing of Leander, the one with unbridled leniency, the other with + spurious severity and affected indifference, had combined to foster + self-reliance and decision of character, or it may be that these qualities + were inherent traits. At all events, he encountered the emergency without + an instant's hesitation. He felt no need of counsel. He had no doubts. He + carried to his pallet in the roof-room no vacillations and no problems. + His resolve was taken. For a time, as he listened to the movements + below-stairs, the sound of voices still rose, drowsy as the hour waxed + late; the light that flickered through the cracks in the puncheon flooring + gradually dulled, and presently a harsh grating noise acquainted him with + the fact that Sudley was shovelling the ashes over the embers; then the + tent-like attic was illumined only by the moonlight admitted through the + little square window at the gable end—so silent, so still, it seemed + that it too slept like the silent house. The winds slumbered amidst the + mute woods; a bank of cloud that he could see from his lowly couch lay in + the south becalmed. The bird's song had ceased. It seemed to him as he + lifted himself on his elbow that he had never known the world so hushed. + The rustle of the quilt of gay glazed calico was of note in the quietude; + the impact of his bare foot on the floor was hardly a sound, rather an + annotation of his weight and his movement; yet in default of all else the + sense of hearing marked it. His scheme seemed impracticable as for an + instant he wavered at the head of the ladder that served as a stairway; + the next moment his foot was upon the rungs, his light, lithe figure + slipping down it like a shadow. The room below, all eclipsed in a brown + and dusky-red medium, the compromise between light and darkness that the + presence of the embers fostered, was vaguely revealed to him. He was + hardly sure whether he saw the furniture all in place, or whether he knew + its arrangement so well that he seemed to see. Suddenly, as he laid his + hand on the violin on the wall, it became visible, its dark red wood + richly glowing against the brown logs and the tawny clay daubing. A tiny + white flame had shot up in the midst of the gray ashes, as he stood with + the cherished object in his cautious hand, his excited eyes, dilated and + expectant, searching the room apprehensively, while a vague thrill of a + murmur issued from the instrument, as if the spirit of music within it had + been wakened by his touch—too vague, too faintly elusive for the + dormant and somewhat dull perceptions of Nehemiah Yerby, calmly slumbering + in state in the best room. + </p> + <p> + The faint jet of flame was withdrawn in the ashes as suddenly as it had + shot forth, and in the ensuing darkness, deeper for the contrast with that + momentary illumination, it was not even a shadow that deftly mounted the + ladder again and emerged into the sheeny twilight of the moonlit + roof-room. Lean-der was somehow withheld for a moment motionless at the + window; it may have been by compunction; it may have been by regret, if it + be possible to the very young to definitely feel either. There was an + intimation of pensive farewell in his large illumined eyes as they rested + on the circle of familiar things about him—the budding trees, the + well, with its great angular sweep against the sky, the still sward, the + rail-fences glistening with the dew, the river with the moonlight in a + silver blazonry on its lustrous dark surface, the encompassing shadows of + the gloomy mountains. There was no sound, not even among the rippling + shallows; he could hear naught but the pain of parting throbbing in his + heart, and from the violin a faint continuous susurrus, as if it murmured + half-asleep memories of the melodies that had thrilled its waking moments. + It necessitated careful handling as he deftly let himself out of the + window, the bow held in his mouth, the instrument in one arm, while the + other hand clutched the boughs of a great holly-tree close beside the + house. It was only the moonlight on those smooth, lustrous leaves, but it + seemed as if smiling white faces looked suddenly down from among the + shadows: at this lonely hour, with none awake to see, what, strange things + may there not be astir in the world, what unmeasured, unknown forces, + sometimes felt through is the dulling sleep of mortals, and then called + dreams! As he stood breathless upon the ground the wind awoke. He heard it + race around the corner of the house, bending the lilac bushes, and then it + softly buffeted him full in the face and twirled his hat on the ground. As + he stooped to pick it up he heard whispers and laughter in the lustrous + boughs of the holly, and the gleaming faces shifted with the shadows. He + looked fearfully over his shoulder; the rising wind might waken some one + of the household. His “Neighbor” was, he knew, solicitous about the + weather, and suspicious of its intentions lest it not hold fine till all + the oats be sown. A pang wrung his heart; he remembered the long line of + seasons when, planting corn in the pleasant spring days, his “Neighbor” + had opened the furrow with the plough, and the “Captain” had followed, + dropping the grains, and he had brought up the rear with his hoe, covering + them over, while the clouds floated high in the air, and the mild sun + shone, and the wind kept the shadows a-flicker, and the blackbird and the + crow, complacently and craftily watching them from afar, seemed the only + possible threatening of evil in all the world. He hastened to stiffen his + resolve. He had need of it. Tyler Sudley had said that he did not know how + the law stood, and for himself, he was not willing to risk his liberty on + it. He gazed apprehensively upon the little batten shutter of the window + of the room where Nehe-miah Yerby slept, expecting to see it slowly swing + open and disclose him there. It did not stir, and gathering resolution + from the terrors that had beset him when he fancied his opportunity + threatened, he ran like a frightened deer fleetly down the road, and + plunged into the dense forest. The wind kept him company, rollicking, + quickening, coming and going in fitful gusts. He heard it die away, but + now and again it was rustling among a double file of beech-trees all up + the mountainside. He saw the commotion in their midst, the effect of swift + movement as the scant foliage fluttered, then the white branches of the + trees all a-swaying like glistening arms flung upward, as if some bevy of + dryads sped up the hill in elusive rout through the fastnesses. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + The next day ushered in a tumult and excitement unparalleled in the + history of the little log-cabin. When Leander's absence was discovered, + and inquiry of the few neighbors and search of the vicinity proved + fruitless, the fact of his flight and its motive were persistently forced + upon Ne-hemiah Yerby's reluctant perceptions, with the destruction of his + cherished scheme as a necessary sequence. With some wild craving for + vengeance he sought to implicate Sudley as accessory to the mysterious + disappearance. He found some small measure of solace in stumping up and + down the floor before the hearth, furiously railing at the absent host, + for Sudley had not yet relinquished the bootless quest, and indignantly + upbraiding the forlorn, white-faced, grief-stricken Laurelia, who sat + silent and stony, her faded eyes on the fire, heedless of his words. She + held in her lap sundry closely-rolled knitted balls—the boy's socks + that she had so carefully made and darned. A pile of his clothing lay at + her feet. He had carried nothing but his fiddle and the clothes he stood + in, and if she had had more tears she could have wept for his + improvidence, for the prospective tatters and rents that must needs befall + him in that unknown patchless life to which he had betaken himself. + </p> + <p> + Nehemiah Yerby argued that it was Sudley who had prompted the whole thing; + he had put the boy up to it, for Leander was not so lacking in feeling as + to flee from his own blood-relation. But he would set the law to spy them + out. He would be back again, and soon. + </p> + <p> + He may have thought better of this presently, for he was in great haste to + be gone when Tyler Sudley returned, and to his amazement in a counterpart + frame of mind, charging Nehemiah with the responsibility of the disaster. + It was strange to Laurelia that she, who habitually strove to fix her mind + on religious things, should so relish the aspect of Ty Sudley in his + secular rage on this occasion. + </p> + <p> + “Ye let we-uns hev him whilst so leetle an' helpless, but now that he air + so fine growed an' robustious ye want ter git some work out'n him, an' he + hev runned away an' tuk ter the woods tarrified by the very sight of ye,” + he averred. “He'll never kem back; no, he'll never kem back; fur he'll + 'low ez ye would kem an? take him home with you; an' now the Lord only + knows whar he is, an' what will become of him.” + </p> + <p> + His anger and his tumultuous grief, his wild, irrepressible anxiety for + Leander's safety, convinced the crafty Nehemiah that he was no party to + the boy's scheme. Sudley's sorrow was not of the kind that renders the + temper pliable, and when Nehemiah sought to point a moral in the absence + of the violin, and for the first time in Sudley's presence protested that + he desired to save Leander from that device of the devil, the master of + the house shook his inhospitable fist very close indeed to his guest's + nose, and Yerby was glad enough to follow that feature unimpaired out to + his horse at the bars, saying little more. + </p> + <p> + He aired his views, however, at each house where he made it convenient to + stop on his way home, and took what comfort there might be in the rôle of + martyr. Leander was unpopular in several localities, and was esteemed a + poor specimen of the skill of the Sudleys in rearing children. He had been + pampered and spoiled, according to general report, and more than one of + his successive interlocutors were polite enough to opine that the change + to Nehemiah's charge would have been a beneficent opportunity for + much-needed discipline. Nehemiah was not devoid of some skill in + interrogatory. He contrived to elicit speculations without giving an + intimation of unduly valuing the answer. + </p> + <p> + “He's 'mongst the moonshiners, I reckon,” was the universal surmise. + “He'll be hid mighty safe 'mongst them.” + </p> + <p> + For where the still might be, or who was engaged in the illicit business, + was even a greater mystery than Leander's refuge. Nothing more definite + could be elicited than a vague rumor that some such work was in progress + somewhere along the many windings of Hide-and-Seek Creek. + </p> + <p> + Nehemiah Yerby had never been attached to temperance principles, and, + commercially speaking, he had thought it possible that whiskey on which no + tax had been paid might be more profitably dispensed at his store than + that sold under the sanctions of the government. These considerations, + however, were as naught in view of the paralysis which his interests and + schemes had suffered in Leander's flight. He dwelt with dismay upon the + possibility that he might secure the postmastership without the capable + assistant whose services were essential. In this perverse sequence of + events disaster to his application was more to be desired than success. He + foresaw himself browbeaten, humiliated, detected, a butt for the ridicule + of the community, his pretensions in the dust, his pitiful imposture + unmasked. And beyond these aesthetic misfortunes, the substantial + emoluments of “keepin' store,” with a gallant sufficiency of arithmetic to + regulate prices and profits, were vanishing like the elusive matutinal + haze before the noontide sun. Nehemiah Yerby groaned aloud, for the + financial stress upon his spirit was very like physical pain. And in this + inauspicious moment he bethought himself of the penalties of violating the + Internal Revenue Laws of the United States. + </p> + <p> + Now it has been held by those initiated into such mysteries that there is + scant affinity between whiskey and water. Nevertheless, in this + connection, Nehemiah Yerby developed an absorbing interest in the + watercourses of the coves and adjacent mountains, especially their more + remote and sequestered tributaries. He shortly made occasion to meet the + county surveyor and ply him with questions touching the topography of the + vicinity, cloaking the real motive under the pretence of an interest in + water-power sufficient and permanent enough for the sawing of lumber, and + professing to contemplate the erection of a saw-mill at the most eligible + point. The surveyor had his especial vanity, and it was expressed in his + frequent boast that he carried a complete map of the county graven upon + his brain; he was wont to esteem it a gracious opportunity when a casual + question in a group of loungers enabled him to display his familiarity + with every portion of his rugged and mountainous region, which was indeed + astonishing, even taking into consideration his incumbency for a number of + terms, aided by a strong head for locality. Nehemiah Yerby's scheme was + incalculably favored by this circumstance, but he found it unexpectedly + difficult to support the figment which he had propounded as to his + intentions. Fiction is one of the fine arts, and a mere amateur like + Nehemiah is apt to fail in point of consistency. He was inattentive while + the surveyor dilated on the probable value, the accessibility, and the + relative height of the “fall” of the various sites, and their available + water-power, and he put irrelevant queries concerning ineligible streams + in other localities. No man comfortably mounted upon his hobby relishes an + interruption. The surveyor would stop with a sort of bovine surprise, and + break out in irritable parenthesis. + </p> + <p> + “That branch on the t'other side o' Panther Ridge? Why, man alive, that + thread o' water wouldn't turn a spider web.” + </p> + <p> + Nehemiah, quaking under the glance of his keen questioning eye, would once + more lapse into silence, while the surveyor, loving to do what he could do + well, was lured on in his favorite subject by the renewed appearance of + receptivity in his listener. + </p> + <p> + “Waal, ez I war a-sayin', I know every furlong o' the creeks once down in + the Cove, an' all their meanderings, an' the best part o' them in the + hills amongst the laurel and the wildernesses. But now the ways of sech a + stream ez Hide-an'-Seek Creek are past finding out. It's a 'sinking + creek,' you know; goes along with a good volume and a swift current for a + while to the west, then disappears into the earth, an' ain't seen fur five + mile, then comes out agin running due north, makes a tre-menjious jump—the + Hoho-hebee Falls—then pops into the ground agin, an' ain't seen no + more forever,” he concluded, dramatically. + </p> + <p> + “How d'ye know it's the same creek?” demanded Nehemiah, sceptically, and + with a wrinkling brow. + </p> + <p> + “By settin' somethin' afloat on it before it sinks into the ground—a + piece of marked bark or a shingle or the like—an' finding it agin + after the stream comes out of the caves,” promptly replied the man of the + compass, with a triumphant snap of the eye, as if he entertained a certain + pride in the vagaries of his untamed mountain friend. “Nobody knows how + often it disappears, nor where it rises, nor where it goes at last. It's + got dozens of fust-rate millin' sites, but then it's too fur off fur you + ter think about.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh no 'tain't!” exclaimed Nehemiah, suddenly. + </p> + <p> + The surveyor stared. “Why, you ain't thinkin' 'bout movin' up inter the + wilderness ter live, an' ye jes applied fur the post-office down at the + crossroads? Ye can't run the post-office thar an' a sawmill thirty mile + away at the same time.” + </p> + <p> + Nehemiah was visibly disconcerted. His wrinkled face showed the flush of + discomfiture, but his craft rallied to the emergency. + </p> + <p> + “Moughtn't git the post-office, arter all's come an' gone. Nothin' is + sartin in this vale o' tears.” + </p> + <p> + “An' ye air goin' ter take ter the woods ef ye don't?” demanded the + surveyor, incredulously. “Thought ye war goin' ter keep store?” + </p> + <p> + “Waal, I dun'no'; jes talkin' round,” said Nehemiah, posed beyond + recuperation. “I mus' be a-joggin', ennyhow. Time's a-wastin'.” + </p> + <p> + As he made off hastily in the direction of his house, for this + conversation had taken place at the blacksmith's shop at the cross-roads, + the surveyor gazed after him much mystified. + </p> + <p> + “What is that old fox slyin' round after? He ain't studyin' 'bout no + saw-mill, inquirin' round about all the out-o'-the-way water-power in the + ken-try fifty mile from where he b'longs. He's a heap likelier to be goin' + ter start a wild-cat still in them wild places—git his whiskey cheap + ter sell in his store.” + </p> + <p> + He shook his head sagely once for all, for the surveyor's mind was of the + type prompt in reaching conclusions, and he was difficult to divert from + his convictions. + </p> + <p> + A feature of the development of craft to a certain degree is the + persuasion that this endowment is not shared. A fine world it would be if + the Nehemiah Yerbys were as clever as they think themselves, and their + neighbors as dull. He readily convinced himself that he had given no + intimation that his objects and motives were other than he professed, and + with unimpaired energy he went to work upon the lines which he had marked + out for himself. A fine chase Hide-and-Seek Creek led him, to be sure, and + it tried his enthusiasms to the uttermost. What affinity this brawling + vagrant had for the briers and the rocks and the tangled fastnesses! + Seldom, indeed, could he press in to its banks and look down upon its + dimpled, laughing, heedless face without the sacrifice of fragments of + flesh and garments left impaled upon the sharp spikes of the budding + shrubs. Often it so intrenched itself amidst the dense woods, and the + rocks and chasms of its craggy banks, that approach was impossible, and he + followed it for miles only by the sound of its wild, sweet, woodland + voice. And this, too, was of a wayward fancy; now, in turbulent glee among + the rocks, riotously chanting aloud, challenging the echoes, and waking + far and near the forest quiet; and again it was merely a low, restful + murmur, intimating deep, serene pools and a dallying of the currents, + lapsed in the fulness of content. Then Nehemiah Yerby would be beset with + fears that he would lose this whisper, and his progress was slight; he + would pause to listen, hearing nothing; would turn to right, to left; + would take his way back through the labyrinth of the laurel to catch a + thread of sound, a mere crystalline tremor, and once more follow this + transient lure. As the stream came down a gorge at a swifter pace and in a + succession of leaps—a glassy cataract visible here and there, airily + sporting with rainbows, affiliating with ferns and moss and marshy + growths, the bounding spray glittering in the sunshine—it flung + forth continuously tinkling harmonies in clear crystal tones, so + penetrating, so definitely melodic, that more than once, as he paced along + on his jaded horse, he heard in their midst, without disassociating the + sounds, the <i>ping, pang, ping, pang</i>, of the violin he so condemned. + He drew up at last, and strained his ear to listen. It did not become more + distinct, always intermingled with the recurrent rhythm of the falling + water, but always vibrating in subdued throbbings, now more acute, now + less, as the undiscriminated melody ascended or descended the scale. It + came from the earth, of this he was sure, and thus he was reminded anew of + the caves which Hide-and-Seek Creek threaded in its long course. There was + some opening near by, doubtless, that led to subterranean passages, dry + enough here, since it was the stream's whim to flow in the open sunshine + instead of underground. He would have given much to search for it had he + dared. His leathery, lean, loose cheek had a glow of excitement upon it; + his small eyes glistened; for the first time in his life, possibly, he + looked young. But he did not doubt that this was the stronghold of the + illicit distillers, of whom one heard so much in the Cove and saw so + little. A lapse of caution, an inconsiderate movement, and he might be + captured and dealt with as a spy and informer. + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless his discovery was of scant value unless he utilized it + further. He had always believed that his nephew had fled to the secret + haunts of the moonshiners. Now he only knew it the more surely; and what + did this avail him, and how aid in the capture of the recusant clerk and + assistant postmaster? He hesitated a moment; then fixing the spot in his + mind by the falling of a broad crystal sheet of water from a ledge some + forty feet high, by a rotting log at its base that seemed to rise + continually, although the moving cataract appeared motionless, by certain + trees and their relative position, and the blue peaks on a distant skyey + background of a faint cameo yellow, he slowly turned his horse's rein and + took his way out of danger. It was chiefly some demonstration on the + animal's part that he had feared. A snort, a hoof-beat, a whinny would + betray him, and very liable was the animal to any of these expressions. + One realizes how unnecessary is speech for the exposition of opinion when + brought into contradictory relations with the horse which one rides or + drives. All day had this animal snorted his doubts of his master's sanity; + all day had he protested against these aimless, fruitless rambles; all day + had he held back with a high head and a hard mouth, while whip and spur + pressed him through laurel almost impenetrable, and through crevices of + crags almost impassable. For were there not all the fair roads of the + county to pace and gallop upon if one must needs be out and jogging! + Unseen objects, vaguely discerned to be moving in the undergrowth + affrighted the old plough-horse of the levels—infinitely reassured + and whinnying with joyful relief when the head of horned cattle showed + presently as the cause of the commotion. He would have given much a + hundred times that day, and he almost said so a hundred times, too, to be + at home, with the old bull-tongue plough behind him, running the straight + rational furrow in the good bare open field, so mellow for corn, lying in + the sunshine, inviting planting. + </p> + <p> + “Ef I git ye home wunst more, I'll be bound I'll leave ye thar,” Nehemiah + said, ungratefully, as they wended their way along; for without the horse + he could not have traversed the long distances of his search, however + unwillingly the aid was given. + </p> + <p> + He annotated his displeasure by a kick in the ribs; and when the old + equine farmer perceived that they were absolutely bound binward, and that + their aberrations were over for the present, he struck a sharp gait that + would have done honor to his youthful days, for he had worn out several + pairs of legs in Nehemiah's fields, and was often spoken of as being upon + the last of those useful extremities. He stolidly shook his head, which he + thought so much better than his master's, and bedtime found them twenty + miles away and at home. + </p> + <p> + Nehemiah felt scant fatigue. He was elated with his project. He scented + success in the air. It smelled like the season. It too was suffused with + the urgent pungency of the rising sap, with the fragrance of the + wild-cherry, with the vinous promise of the orchard, with the richness of + the mould, with the vagrant perfume of the early flowers. + </p> + <p> + He lighted a tallow dip, and he sat him down with writing materials at the + bare table to indite a letter while all his household slept. The windows + stood open to the dark night, and Spring hovered about outside, and + lounged with her elbows on the sill, and looked in. He constantly saw + something pale and elusive against the blackness, for there was no moon, + but he thought it only the timid irradiation with which his tallow dip + suffused the blossoming wands of an azalea, growing lithe and tall hard + by. With this witness only he wrote the letter—an anonymous letter, + and therefore he was indifferent to the inadequacies of his penmanship and + his spelling. He labored heavily in its composition, now and then + perpetrating portentous blots. He grew warm, although the fire that had + served to cook supper had long languished under the bank of ashes. The + tallow dip seemed full of caloric, and melted rapidly in pendulous + drippings. He now and again mopped his red face, usually so bloodless, + with his big bandanna handkerchief, while all the zephyrs were fanning the + flying tresses of Spring at the window, and the soft, sweet, delicately + attuned vernal chorus of the marshes were tentatively running over <i>sotto + voce</i> their allotted melodies for the season. Oh, it was a fine night + outside, and why should a moth, soft-winged and cream-tinted and + silken-textured, come whisking in from the dark, as silently as a spirit, + to supervise Nehe-miah Yerby's letter, and travel up and down the page all + befouled with the ink? And as he sought to save the sense of those + significant sentences from its trailing silken draperies, why should it + rise suddenly, circling again and again about the candle, pass through the + flame, and fall in quivering agonies once more upon the page? He looked at + it, dead now, with satisfaction. It had come so very near ruining his + letter—an important letter, describing the lair of the illicit + distillers to a deputy marshal of the revenue force, who was known to be + in a neighboring town. He had good reason to withhold his signature, for + the name of the informer in the ruthless vengeance of the region would be + as much as his life was worth. The moth had not spoiled the letter—the + laborious letter; he was so glad of that! He saw no analogies, he received + not even a subtle warning, as he sealed and addressed the envelope and + affixed the postage-stamp. Then he snuffed out the candle with great + satisfaction. + </p> + <p> + The next morning the missive was posted, and all Nehemiah Yerby's plans + took a new lease of life. The information he had given would result in an + immediate raid upon the place. Leander would be captured among the + moonshiners, but his youth and his uncle's representations—for he + would give the officers an inkling of the true state of the case—would + doubtless insure the boy's release, and his restoration to those + attractive commercial prospects which had been devised for him. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + II + </h2> + <p> + The ordering of events is an intricate process, and to its successful + exploitation a certain degree of sagacious prescience is a prerequisite, + as well as a thorough mastery of the lessons of experience. For a day or + so all went well in the inner consciousness of Nehemiah Yerby. The letter + had satisfied his restless craving for some action toward the consummation + of his ambition, and he had not the foresight to realize how soon the + necessity of following it up would supervene. He first grew uneasy lest + his letter had not reached its destination; then, when the illimitable + field of speculation was thus opened out, he developed an ingenuity of + imagination in projecting possible disaster. Day after day passed, and he + heard naught of his cherished scheme. The revenuers—craven wretches + he deemed them, and he ground his teeth with rage because of their seeming + cowardice in their duty, since their duty could serve his interests—might + not have felt exactly disposed to risk their lives in these sweet spring + days, when perhaps even a man whose life belongs to the government might + be presumed to take some pleasure in it, by attempting to raid the den of + a gang of moonshiners on the scanty faith of an informer's word, tenuous + guaranty at best, and now couched in an anonymous letter, itself synonym + for a lie. Oh, what fine eulogies rose in his mind upon the manly virtue + of courage! How enthusing it is at all times to contemplate the courage of + others!—and how safe! + </p> + <p> + Then a revulsion of belief ensued, and he began to fear that they might + already have descended upon their quarry, and with all their captives have + returned to the county town by the road by which they came—nearer + than the route through the crossroads, though far more rugged. Why had not + this possibility before occurred to him! He had so often prefigured their + triumphant advent into the hamlet with all their guarded and shackled + prisoners, the callow Leander in the midst, and his own gracefully enacted + rôle of virtuous, grief-stricken, pleading relative, that it seemed a + recollection—something that had really happened—rather than + the figment of anticipation. But no word, no breath of intimation, had + ruffled the serenity of the crossroads. The calm, still, yellow sunshine + day by day suffused the land like the benignities of a dream—almost + too good to be true. Every man with the heart of a farmer within him was + at the plough-handles, and making the most of the fair weather. The + cloudless sky and the auspicious forecast of fine days still to come did + more to prove to the farmer the existence of an all-wise, overruling + Providence than all the polemics of the world might accomplish. The + furrows multiplied everywhere save in Nehemiah's own fields, where he + often stood so long in the turn-row that the old horse would desist from + twisting his head backward in surprise, and start at last of his own + motion, dragging the plough, the share still unanchored in the ground, + half across the field before he could be stopped. The vagaries of these + “lands” that the absent-minded Nehemiah laid off attracted some attention. + </p> + <p> + “What ails yer furrows ter run so crooked, Nehemiah?” observed a + passer-by, a neighbor who had been to the blacksmith-shop to get his + plough-point sharpened; he looked over the fence critically. “Yer eyesight + mus' be failin' some.” + </p> + <p> + “I dun'no',” rejoined Nehemiah, hastily. Then reverting to his own + absorption. “War it you-uns ez I hearn say thar war word kem ter the + crossroads 'bout some revenuers raid in' 'round some-whar in the woods?” + </p> + <p> + The look of surprise cast upon him seemed to his alert anxiety to betoken + suspicion. “Laws-a-massy, naw!” exclaimed his interlocutor. “Ye air the + fust one that hev named sech ez that in these diggin's, fur I'd hev hearn + tell on it, sure, ef thar hed been enny sech word goin' the rounds.” + </p> + <p> + Nehemiah recoiled into silence, and presently his neighbor went whistling + on his way. He stood motionless for a time, until the man was well out of + sight, then he began to hastily unhitch the plough-gear. His resolution + was taken. He could wait no longer. For aught he knew the raiders might + have come and gone, and be now a hundred miles away with their prisoners + to stand their trial in the Federal court, his schemes might have all gone + amiss, leaving him in naught the gainer. He could rest in uncertainty no + more. He feared to venture further questions when no rumor stirred the + air. They rendered him doubly liable to suspicion—to the law-abiding + as a possible moonshiner, to any sympathizer with the distillers as a + probable informer. He determined to visit the spot, and there judge how + the enterprise had fared. + </p> + <p> + When next he heard that fine sylvan symphony of the sound of the falling + water—the tinkling bell-like tremors of its lighter tones mingling + with the sonorous, continuous, deeper theme rising from its weight and + volume and movement; with the surging of the wind in the pines; with the + occasional cry of a wild bird deep in the new verdure of the forests + striking through the whole with a brilliant, incidental, detached effect—no + faint vibration was in its midst of the violin's string, listen as he + might. More than once he sought to assure himself that he heard it, but + his fancy failed to respond to his bidding, although again and again he + took up his position where it had before struck his ear. The wild + minstrelsy of the woods felt no lack, and stream and wind and harping pine + and vagrant bird lifted their voices in their wonted strains. He could + hardly accept the fact; he would verify anew the landmarks he had made and + again return to the spot, his hat in his hand, his head bent low, his face + lined with anxiety and suspense. No sound, no word, no intimation of human + presence. The moonshiners were doubtless all gone long ago, betrayed into + captivity, and Leander with them. He had so hardened his heart toward his + recalcitrant young kinsman and his Sudley friends, he felt so entirely + that in being among the moonshiners Leander had met only his deserts in + coming to the bar of Federal justice, that he would have experienced scant + sorrow if the nephew had not carried off with his own personality his + uncle's book-keeper and postmaster's clerk. And so—alas, for + Leander! As he meditated on the untoward manner in which he had overshot + his target, this marksman of fate forgot the caution which had + distinguished his approach, for hitherto it had been as heedful as if he + fully believed the lion still in his den. He slowly patrolled the bank + below the broad, thin, crystal sheet, seeing naught but its rainbow + hovering elusively in the sun, and its green and white skein-like + draperies pendulous before the great dark arch over which the cataract + fell. The log caught among the rocks in the spray at the base was still + there, seeming always to rise while the restless water seemed motionless. + </p> + <p> + No trace that human beings had ever invaded these solitudes could he + discover. No vague, faint suggestion of the well-hidden lair of the + moonshiners did the wild covert show forth. “The revenuers war smarter'n + me; I'll say that fur 'em,” he muttered at last as he came to a + stand-still, his chin in his hand, his perplexed eyes on the ground. And + suddenly—a footprint on a marshy spot; only the heel of a boot, for + the craggy ledges hid all the ground but this, a mere sediment of sand in + a tiny hollow in the rock from which the water had evaporated. It was a + key' to the mystery. Instantly the rugged edges of the cliff took on the + similitude of a path. Once furnished with this idea, he could perceive + adequate footing all adown the precipitous way. He was not young; his + habits had been inactive, and were older even than his age. He could not + account for it afterward, but he followed for a few paces this suggestion + of a path down the precipitous sides of the stream. He had a sort of + triumph in finding it so practicable, and he essayed it still farther, + although the sound of the water had grown tumultuous at closer approach, + and seemed to foster a sort of responsive turmoil of the senses; he felt + his head whirl as he looked at the bounding, frothing spray, then at the + long swirls of the current at the base of the fall as they swept on their + way down the gorge. As he sought to lift his fascinated eyes, the smooth + glitter of the crystal sheet of falling water so close before him dazzled + his sight. He wondered afterward how his confused senses and trembling + limbs sustained him along the narrow, rugged path, here and there covered + with oozing green moss, and slippery with the continual moisture. It + evidently was wending to a ledge. All at once the contour of the place was + plain to him; the ledge led behind the cataract that fell from the + beetling heights above. And within were doubtless further recesses, where + perchance the moonshiners had worked their still. As he reached the ledge + he could see behind the falling water and into the great concave space + which it screened beneath the beetling cliff. It was as he had expected—an + arched portal of jagged brown rocks, all dripping with moisture and oozing + moss, behind the semi-translucent green-and-white drapery of the cascade. + </p> + <p> + But he had not expected to see, standing quietly in the great vaulted + entrance, a man with his left hand on a pistol in his belt, the mate of + which his more formidable right hand held up with a steady finger on the + trigger. + </p> + <p> + This much Nehemiah beheld, and naught else, for the glittering profile of + the falls, visible now only aslant, the dark, cool recess beyond, that + menacing motionless figure at the vanishing-point of the perspective, all + blended together in an indistinguishable whirl as his senses reeled. He + barely retained consciousness enough to throw up both his hands in token + of complete submission. And then for a moment he knew no more. He was + still leaning motionless against the wall of rock when he became aware + that the man was sternly beckoning to him to continue his approach. His + dumb lips moved mechanically in response, but any sound must needs have + been futile indeed in the pervasive roar of the waters. He felt that he + had hardly strength for another step along the precipitous way, but there + is much tonic influence in a beckoning revolver, and few men are so weak + as to be unable to obey its behests. Poor Nehemiah tottered along as + behooved him, leaving all the world, liberty, volition, behind him as the + descending sheet of water fell between him and the rest of life and shut + him off. + </p> + <p> + “That's it, my leetle man! I thought you could make it!” were the first + words he could distinguish as he joined the mountaineer beneath the crag. + </p> + <p> + Nehemiah Yerby had never before seen this man. That in itself was + alarming, since in the scanty population of the region few of its denizens + are unknown to each other, at least by sight. The tone of satire, the + gleam of enjoyment in his keen blue eye, were not reassuring to the object + of his ridicule. He was tall and somewhat portly, and he had a bluff and + offhand manner, which, however, served not so much to intimate his + good-will toward you as his abounding good-humor with himself. He was a + man of most arbitrary temper, one could readily judge, not only from his + own aspect and manner, but from the docile, reliant, approving cast of + countenance of his reserve force—a half-dozen men, who were somewhat + in the background, lounging on the rocks about a huge copper still. They + wore an attentive aspect, but offered to take no active part in the scene + enacted before them. One of them—even at this crucial moment Yerby + noticed it with a pang of regretful despair—held noiseless on his + knee a violin, and more than once addressed himself seriously to rubbing + rosin over the bow. There was scant music in his face—a square + physiognomy, with thick features, and a shock of hay-colored hair striped + somewhat with an effect of darker shades like a weathering stack. He + handled the bow with a blunt, clumsy hand that augured little of delicate + skill, and he seemed from his diligence to think that rosin is what makes + a fiddle play. He was evidently one of those unhappy creatures furnished + with some vague inner attraction to the charms of music, with no gift, no + sentiment, no discrimination. Something faintly sonorous there was in his + soul, and it vibrated to the twanging of the strings. He was far less + alert to the conversation than the others, whose listening attitudes + attested their appreciation of the importance of the moment. + </p> + <p> + “Waal,” observed the moonshiner, impatiently, eying the tremulous and + tongue-tied Yerby, “hev ye fund what ye war a-huntin' fur?” + </p> + <p> + So tenacious of impressions was Nehemiah that it was the violin in those + alien hands which still focussed his attention as he stared gaspingly + about. Leander was not here; probably had never been here; and the + twanging of those strings had lured him to his fate. Well might he contemn + the festive malevolence of the violin's influence! His letter had failed; + no raider had intimidated these bluff, unafraid, burly law-breakers, and + he had put his life in jeopardy in his persistent prosecution of his + scheme. He gasped again at the thought. + </p> + <p> + “<i>Waal</i>.” said the moonshiner, evidently a man of short patience, and + with a definite air of spurring on the visitor's account of himself, “we + 'ain't been lookin' fur any spy lately, but I'm 'lowin' ez we hev fund + him.” + </p> + <p> + His fear thus put into words so served to realize to Yerby his immediate + danger that it stood him in the stead of courage, of brains, of invention; + his flaccid muscles were suddenly again under control; he wreathed his + features with his smug artificial smile, that was like a grimace in its + best estate, and now hardly seemed more than a contortion. But beauty in + any sense was not what the observer was prepared to expect in Nehemiah, + and the moonshiner seemed to accept the smile at its face value, and to + respect its intention. + </p> + <p> + “Spies don't kem climbin' down that thar path o' yourn in full view + through the water”—for the landscape was as visible through the thin + falling sheet as if it had been the slightly corrugated glass of a window—“do + they?” Yerby asked, with a jocose intonation. “That thar shootin'-iron o' + yourn liked ter hev skeered me ter death whenst I fust seen it.” + </p> + <p> + His interlocutor pondered on this answer for a moment. He had an adviser + among his corps whose opinion he evidently valued; he exchanged a quick + glance with one of the men who was but dimly visible in the shadows beyond + the still, where there seemed to be a series of troughs leading a rill of + running water down from some farther spring and through the tub in which + the spiral worm was coiled. This man had a keen, white, lean face, with an + ascetic, abstemious expression, and he looked less like a distiller than + some sort of divine—some rustic pietist, with strange theories and + unhappy speculations and unsettled mind. It was a face of subtle + influences, and the very sight of it roused in Nehemiah a more heedful + fear than the “shootin'-iron” in the bluff moonshiners hand had induced. + He was silent, while the other resumed the office of spokesman. + </p> + <p> + “Ye ain't 'quainted hyar “—he waved his hand with the pistol in it + around at the circle of uncowering men, although the mere movement made + Nehemiah cringe with the thought that an accidental discharge might as + effectually settle his case as premeditated and deliberate murder. “Ye + dun'no' none o' us. What air ye a-doin' hyar?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, that thar war the very trouble,” Yerby hastily explained. “<i>I + didn't know none o' ye!</i> I hed hearn ez thar war a still somewhars on + Hide-an'-Seek Creek”—once more there ensued a swift exchange of + glances among the party—“but nobody knew who run it nor whar 'twar. + An' one day, considerable time ago, I war a-passin' nigh 'bouts an' I + hearn that fiddle, an' that revealed the spot ter me. An' I kem ter-day + 'lowin' ye an' me could strike a trade.” + </p> + <p> + Once more the bluff man of force turned an anxious look of inquiry to the + pale, thoughtful face in the brown and dark green shadows beyond the + copper gleam of the still. If policy had required that Nehemiah should be + despatched, his was the hand to do the deed, and his the stomach to + support his conscience afterward. But his brain revolted from the + discriminating analysis of Nehemiah's discourse and a decision on its + merits. “Trade fur what?” he demanded at last, on his own responsibility, + for no aid had radiated from the face which his looks had interrogated. + </p> + <p> + “Fur whiskey, o' course.” Nehemiah made the final plunge boldly. “I be + goin' ter open a store at the cross-roads, an' I 'lowed I could git + cheaper whiskey untaxed than taxed. I 'lowed ye wouldn't make it ef ye + didn't expec' ter sell it. I didn't know none o' you-uns, an' none o' yer + customers. An' ez I expec' ter git mo' profit on sellin' whiskey 'n + ennything else in the store, I jes took foot in hand an' kem ter see + 'boutn it mysef. I never 'lowed, though, ez it mought look cur'ous ter + you-uns, or like a spy, ter kem ez bold ez brass down the path in full + sight.” + </p> + <p> + The logic of the seeming security of his approach, and the apparent value + of his scheme, had their full weight. He saw credulity gradually + overpowering doubt and distrust, and his heart grew light with relief. + Even their cautious demur, intimating a reserve of opinion to the effect + that they would think about it, did not daunt him now. He believed, in the + simplicity of his faith in his own craft, now once more in the ascendant, + that if they should accept his proposition he would be free to go without + further complication of his relations with wild-cat whiskey. He could not + sufficiently applaud his wits for the happy termination of the adventure + to which they had led him. He had gone no further in the matter than he + had always intended. Brush whiskey was the commodity that addressed itself + most to his sense of speculation. For this he had always expected to + ferret out some way of safely negotiating. He had gone no further than he + should have done, at all events, a little later. He even began mentally to + “figger on the price” down to which he should be able to bring the + distillers, as he accepted a proffered seat in the circle about the still. + He could neither divide nor multiply by fractions, and it is not too much + to say that he might have been throttled on the spot if the moonshiners + could have had a mental vision of the liberties the stalwart integers were + taking with their price-current, so to speak, and the preternatural + discount that was making so free with their profits. So absorbed in this + pleasing intellectual exercise was Nehemiah that he did not observe that + any one had left the coterie; but when a stir without on the rocks + intimated an approach he was suddenly ill at ease, and this discomfort + increased when the new-comer proved to be a man who knew him. + </p> + <p> + “Waal, Nehemiah Yerby!” he exclaimed, shaking his friend's hand, “I never + knowed you-uns ter be consarned in sech ez moonshinin'. I hev been + a-neighborin' Isham hyar,” he laid his heavy hand on the tall moonshiner's + shoulder, “fur ten year an' better, but I won't hev nuthin' ter do with + bresh whiskey or aidin' or abettin' in illicit 'stillin'. I like Isham, + an' Isham he likes me, an' we hev jes agreed ter disagree.” + </p> + <p> + Nehemiah dared not protest nor seek to explain. He could invent no story + that would not give the lie direct to his representations to the + moonshiners. He felt that their eyes were upon him. He could only hope + that his silence did not seem to them like denial—and yet was not + tantamount to confession in the esteem of his upbraider. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, sir,” his interlocutor continued, “it's a mighty bad government ter + run agin.” Then he turned to the moonshiner, evidently taking up the + business that had brought him here. “Lemme see what sorter brand ye hev + registered fur yer cattle, Isham.” + </p> + <p> + Yerby's heart sank when the suspicion percolated through his brain that + this man had been induced to come here for the purpose of recognizing him. + More fixed in this opinion was he when no description of the brand of the + cattle could be found, and the visitor finally went away, his errand + bootless. + </p> + <p> + From time to time during the afternoon other-men went out and returned + with recruits on various pretexts, all of which Nehemiah believed masked + the marshalling of witnesses to incriminate him as one of themselves, in + order to better secure his constancy to the common interests, and in case + he was playing false to put others into possession of the facts as to the + identity of the informer. His liability to the law for aiding and abetting + in moonshining was very complete before the day darkened, and his jeopardy + as to the information he had given made him shake in his shoes. + </p> + <p> + For at any moment, he reflected, in despair, the laggard raiders might + swoop down upon them, and the choice of rôles offered to him was to seem + to them a moonshiner, or to the moonshiners an informer. The first was far + the safer, for the clutches of the law were indeed feeble as contrasted + with the popular fury that would pursue him unwearied for years until its + vengeance was accomplished. From the one, escape was to the last degree + improbable; from the other, impossible. + </p> + <p> + Any pretext to seek to quit the place before the definite arrangements of + his negotiation were consummated seemed even to him, despite his eagerness + to be off, too tenuous, too transparent, to be essayed, although he + devised several as he sat meditative and silent amongst the group about + the still. The prospect grew less and less inviting as the lingering day + waned, and the evening shadows, dank and chill, perceptibly approached. + The brown and green recesses of the grotto were at once murkier, and yet + more distinctly visible, for the glow of the fire, flickering through the + crevices of the metal door of the furnace, had begun to assert its + luminous quality, which was hardly perceptible in the full light of day, + and brought out the depth of the shadows. The figures and faces of the + moonshiners showed against the deepening gloom. The sunset clouds were + still red without; a vague roseate suffusion was visible through the + falling water. The sun itself had not yet sunk, for an oblique and almost + level ray, piercing the cataract, painted a series of faint prismatic + tints on one side of the rugged arch. But while the outer world was still + in touch with the clear-eyed day, night was presently here, with mystery + and doubt and dark presage. The voice of Hoho-hebee Falls seemed to him + louder, full of strange, uncomprehended meanings, and insistent iteration. + Vague echoes were elicited. Sometimes in a seeming pause he could catch + their lisping sibilant tones repeating, repeating—what? As the + darkness encroached yet more heavily upon the cataract, the sense of its + unseen motion so close at hand oppressed his very soul; it gave an idea of + the swift gathering of shifting invisible multitudes, coming and going—who + could say whence or whither? So did this impression master his nerves that + he was glad indeed when the furnace door was opened for fuel, and he could + see only the inanimate, ever-descending sheet of water—the reverse + interior aspect of Hoho-hebee Falls—all suffused with the uncanny + tawny light, but showing white and green tints like its diurnal outer + aspect, instead of the colorless outlines, resembling a drawing of a + cataract, which the cave knew by day. He did not pause to wonder whether + the sudden transient illumination was visible without, or how it might + mystify the untutored denizens of the woods, bear, or deer, or wolf, + perceiving it aglow in the midst of the waters like a great topaz, and + anon lost in the gloom. He pined to see it; the momentary cessation of + darkness, of the effect of the sounds, so strange in the obscurity, and of + the chill, pervasive mystery of the invisible, was so grateful that its + influence was tonic to his nerves, and he came to watch for its occasion + and to welcome it. He did not grudge it even when it gave the opportunity + for a close, unfriendly, calculating scrutiny of his face by the latest + comer to the still. This was the neighboring miller, also liable to the + revenue laws, the distillers being valued patrons of the mill, and since + he ground the corn for the mash he thereby aided and abetted in the + illicit manufacture of the whiskey. His life was more out in the world + than that of his underground <i>confrères</i>, and perhaps, as he had a + thriving legitimate business, and did not live by brush whiskey, he had + more to lose by detection than they, and deprecated even more any + unnecessary risk. He evidently took great umbrage at the introduction of + Nehemiah amongst them. + </p> + <p> + “Oh yes,” he observed, in response to the cordial greeting which he met; + “an' I'm glad ter see ye all too. I'm powerful glad ter kem ter the still + enny time. It's ekal ter goin' ter the settlemint, or plumb ter town on a + County Court day. Ye see <i>everybody</i>, an' hear <i>all</i> the news, + an' meet up with <i>interesting strangers</i>, I tell ye, now, the mill's + plumb lonesome compared ter the still, an' the mill's always hed the name + of a place whar a heap o' cronies gathered ter swap lies, an' sech.” + </p> + <p> + The irony of this description of the social delights and hospitable + accessibilities of a place esteemed the very stronghold of secrecy itself—the + liberty of every man in it jeopardized by the slightest lapse of vigilance + or judgment—was very readily to be appreciated by the group, who + were invited by this fair show of words to look down the vista of the + future to possible years of captivity in the jails of far-away States as + Federal prisoners. The men gazed heavily and anxiously from one to another + as the visitor sank down on the rocks in a relaxed attitude, his elbow on + a higher ledge behind him, supporting his head on his hand; his other hand + was on his hip, his arm stiffly akimbo, while he looked with an expression + of lowering exasperation at Yerby. It was impossible to distinguish the + color of his garb, so dusted with flour was he from head to foot; but his + long boots drawn over his trousers to the knee, and his great spurs, and a + brace of pistols in his belt, seemed incongruous accessories to the + habiliments of a miller. His large, dark hat was thrust far back on his + head; his hair, rising straight in a sort of elastic wave from his brow, + was powdered white; the effect of his florid color and his dark eyes was + accented by the contrast; his pointed beard revealed its natural tints + because of his habit of frequently brushing his hand over it, and was + distinctly red. He was lithe and lean and nervous, and had the impatient + temper characteristic of mercurial natures. It mattered not to him what + was the coercion of the circumstances which had led to the reception of + the stranger here, nor what was the will of the majority; he disapproved + of the step; he feared it; he esteemed it a grievance done him in his + absence; and he could not conceal his feelings nor wait a more fitting + time to express them in private. His irritation and objection evidently + caused some solicitude amongst the others. He was important to them, and + they deprecated his displeasure. Isham Beaton listened to the half-covert + sneers of his words with perturbation plainly depicted on his face, and + the man whom Nehemiah had at first noticed as one whose character seemed + that of adviser, and whose opinion was valued, now spoke for the first + time. He handed over a broken-nosed pitcher with the remark, “Try the + flavor of this hyar whiskey, Alfred; 'pears like ter me the bes' we-uns + hev ever hed.” + </p> + <p> + His voice was singularly smooth; it had all the qualities of culture; + every syllable, every lapse of his rude dialect, was as distinct as if he + had been taught to speak in this way; his tones were low and even, and + modulated to suave cadences; the ear experienced a sense of relief after + the loud, strident voice of the miller, poignantly penetrating and pitched + high. + </p> + <p> + “Naw, Hilary, I don't want nuthin' ter drink. 'Bleeged ter ye, but I ain't + wantin' nuthin' ter drink,” reiterated the miller, plaintively. + </p> + <p> + Isham Beaton cast a glance of alarm at the dimly seen, monastic face of + his adviser in the gloom. It was unchanged. Its pallor and its keen + outline enabled its expression to be discerned as he himself went through + the motions of sampling the rejected liquor, shook his head discerningly, + wiped his mouth on the back of his hand, and deposited the pitcher near by + on a shelf of the rock. + </p> + <p> + A pause ensued. Nehemiah, with every desire to be agreeable, hardly knew + how to commend himself to the irate miller, who would have none of his + very existence. No one could more eagerly desire him to be away than he + himself. But his absence would not satisfy the miller; nothing less than + that the intruder should never have been here. Every perceptible lapse of + the moonshiners into anxiety, every recurrent intimation of their most + pertinent reason for this anxiety, set Nehemiah a-shaking in his shoes. + Should it be esteemed the greatest good to the greatest number to make + safely away with him, his fate would forever remain unknown, so cautious + had he been to leave no trace by which he might be followed. He gazed with + deprecating urbanity, and with his lips distended into a propitiating + smile, at the troubled face powdered so white and with its lowering eyes + so dark and petulant. He noted that the small-talk amongst the others, + mere un individualized lumpish fellows with scant voice in the government + of their common enterprise, had ceased, and that they no longer busied + themselves with the necessary work about the still, nor with the + snickering interludes and horse-play with which they were wont to beguile + their labors. They had all seated them-selves, and were looking from one + to the other of the more important members of the guild with an air which + betokened the momentary expectation of a crisis. The only exception was + the man who had the violin; with the persistent, untimely industry of + incapacity, he twanged the strings, and tuned and retuned the instrument, + each time producing a result more astonishingly off the key than before. + </p> + <p> + He was evidently unaware of this till some one with senses ajar would + suggest that all was not as it should be in the drunken reeling catch he + sought to play, when he would desist in surprise, and once more diligently + rub the bow with rosin, as if that mended the matter. The miller's + lowering eyes rested on his shadowy outline as he sat thus engaged, for a + moment, and then he broke out suddenly: + </p> + <p> + “Yes, this hyar still is the place fur news, an' the place ter look out + fur what ye don't expec' ter happen. It's powerful pleasant ter be + a-meetin' of folks hyar—this hyar stranger this evenin' “—his + gleaming teeth in the semi-obscurity notified Yerby that a smile of + spurious politeness was bent upon him, and he made haste to grin very + widely in response—“an' that thar fiddle 'minds me o' how unexpected + 'twar whenst I met up with Lee-yander hyar—'pears ter me, Bob, ez ye + air goin' ter diddle the life out'n his fiddle—an' Hilary jes begged + an' beseeched me ter take the boy with me ter help 'round the mill, ez he + war a-runnin' away. Ye want me ter 'commodate this stranger too, ez mebbe + air runnin' from them ez wants him, hey Hilary?” + </p> + <p> + The grin was petrified on Nehemiah's face. He felt his blood rush quickly + to his head in the excitement of the moment. So here was the bird very + close at hand! And here was his enterprise complete and successful. He + could go away after the cowardly caution of the moonshiners should have + expended itself in dallying and delay, with his negotiation for the + “wild-cat” ended, and his accomplished young relative in charge. He drew + himself erect with a sense of power. The moonshiners, the miller, would + not dare to make an objection. He knew too much! he knew far too much! + </p> + <p> + The door of the furnace was suddenly flung ajar, but he was too much + absorbed to perceive the change that came upon the keen face of Hilary + Tarbetts, who knelt beside it, as the guest's portentous triumphant smile + was fully revealed. Yerby did not lose, however, the glance of reproach + which the moonshiner cast upon the miller, nor the miller's air at once + triumphant, ashamed, and regretful. He had in petulant pique disclosed the + circumstance which he had pledged himself not to disclose. + </p> + <p> + “This man's name is Yerby too,” Hilary said, significantly, gazing + steadily at the miller. + </p> + <p> + The miller looked dumfounded for a moment. He stared from one to the other + in silence. His conscious expression changed to obvious discomfiture. He + had expected no such result as this. He had merely given way to a + momentary spite in the disclosure, thinking it entirely insignificant, + only calculated to slightly annoy Hilary, who had made the affair his own. + He would not in any essential have thwarted his comrade's plans + intentionally, nor in his habitual adherence to the principles of fair + play would he have assisted in the boy's capture. He drew himself up from + his relaxed posture; his spurred feet shuffled heavily on the stone floor + of the grotto. A bright red spot appeared on each cheek; his eyes had + become anxious and subdued in the quick shiftings of temper common to the + red-haired gentry; his face of helpless appeal was bent on Hilary + Tarbetts, as if relying on his resources to mend the matter; but ever and + anon he turned his eyes, animated with a suspicious dislike, on Yerby, + who, however, could have snapped his fingers in the faces of them all, so + confident, so hilariously triumphant was he. + </p> + <p> + “Yerby, I b'lieve ye said yer name war, an' so did Peter Green,” said + Tarbetts, still kneeling by the open furnace door, his pale cheek + reddening in the glow of the fire. + </p> + <p> + Thus reminded of the testimony of his acquaintance, Yerby did not venture + to repudiate his cognomen. + </p> + <p> + “An' what did ye kem hyar fur?” blustered the miller. “A-sarchin' fur the + boy?” + </p> + <p> + Yerby's lips had parted to acknowledge this fact, but Tarbetts suddenly + anticipated his response, and answered for him: + </p> + <p> + “Oh no, Alfred. Nobody ain't sech a fool ez ter kem hyar ter this hyar + still, a stranger an' mebbe suspected ez a spy, ter hunt up stray + children, an' git thar heads shot off, or mebbe drownded in a mighty handy + water-fall, or sech. This hyar man air one o' we-uns. He air a-tradin' fur + our liquor, an' he'll kerry a barrel away whenst he goes.” + </p> + <p> + Yerby winced at the suggestion conveyed so definitely in this crafty + speech; he was glad when the door of the furnace closed, so that his face + might not tell too much of the shifting thoughts and fears that possessed + him. + </p> + <p> + The miller's fickle mind wavered once more. If Yerby had not come for the + boy, he himself had done no damage in disclosing Leander's whereabouts. + Once more his quickly illumined anger was kindled against Tarbetts, who + had caused him a passing but poignant self-reproach. “Waal, then, Hilary,” + he demanded, “what air ye a-raisin' sech a row fur? Lee-yander ain't + noways so special precious ez I knows on. Toler'ble lazy an' triflin', an' + mightily gi'n over ter moonin' over a readin'-book he hev got. That thar + mill war a-grindin' o' nuthin' at all more'n haffen ter-day, through me + bein' a-nap-pin', and Lee-yander plumb demented by his book so ez he + furgot ter pour enny grist inter the hopper. Shucks! his kin is welcome + ter enny sech critter ez that, though I ain't denyin' ez he'd be toler'ble + spry ef he could keep his nose out'n his book,” he qualified, relenting, + “or his fiddle out'n his hands. I made him leave his fiddle hyar ter the + still, an' I be goin' ter hide his book.” + </p> + <p> + “No need,” thought Nehemiah, scornfully. Book and scholar and it might be + fiddle too, so indulgent had the prospect of success made him, would by + tomorrow be on the return route to the cross-roads. He even ventured to + differ with the overbearing miller. + </p> + <p> + “I dun'no' 'bout that; books an' edication in gin'ral air toler'ble useful + wunst in a while;” he was thinking of the dark art of dividing and + multiplying by fractions. “The Yerbys hev always hed the name o' bein' + quick at thar book.” + </p> + <p> + Now the democratic sentiment in this country is bred in the bone, and few + of its denizens have so diluted it with Christian grace as to willingly + acknowledge a superior. In such a coterie as this “eating humble-pie” is + done only at the muzzle of a “shootin'-iron.” + </p> + <p> + “Never hearn afore ez enny o' the Yerbys knowed B from bull-foot,” + remarked one of the unindividualized lumpish moonshiners, shadowy, + indistinguishable in the circle about the rotund figure of the still. He + yet retained acrid recollections of unavailing struggles with the + alphabet, and was secretly of the opinion that education was a painful + thing, and, like the yellow-fever or other deadly disease, not worth + having. Nevertheless, since it was valued by others, the Yerbys should + scathless make no unfounded claims. “Ef the truth war knowed, nare one of + 'em afore could tell a book from a bear-trap.” + </p> + <p> + Nehemiah's flush the darkness concealed; he moistened his thin lips, and + then gave a little cackling laugh, as if he regarded this as pleasantry. + But the demolition of the literary pretensions of his family once begun + went bravely on. + </p> + <p> + “Abner Sage larnt this hyar boy all he knows,” another voice took up the + testimony. “Ab 'lows ez his mother war quick at school, but his dad—law! + I knowed Ebenezer Yerby! He war a frien'ly sorter cuss, good-nachured an' + kind-spoken, but ye could put all the larnin' he hed in the corner o' yer + eye.” + </p> + <p> + “An' Lee-yander don't favor none o' ye,” observed another of the + undiscriminated, unimportant members of the group, who seemed to the + groping scrutiny of Nehemiah to be only endowed with sufficient identity + to do the rough work of the still, and to become liable to the Federal + law. “Thar's Hil'ry—he seen it right off. Hil'ry he tuk a look at + Lee-yander whenst he wanted ter kem an' work along o' we-uns, 'kase his + folks wanted ter take him away from the Sudleys. Hil'ry opened the furnace + door—jes so; an' he cotch the boy by the arm”—the great brawny + fellow, unconsciously dramatic, suited the action to the word, his face + and figure illumined by the sudden red glow—“an' Hil'ry, he say, + 'Naw, by God—ye hev got yer mother's eyes in yer head, an' I'll + swear ye sha'n't larn ter be a sot!' An' that's how kem Hil'ry made Alf + Bixby take Lee-yander ter work in the mill. Ef ennybody tuk arter him he + war convenient ter disappear down hyar with we-uns. So he went ter the + mill.” + </p> + <p> + “An' I wisht I hed put him in the hopper an' ground him up,” said the + miller, in a blood-curdling tone, but with a look of plaintive anxiety in + his eyes. “He hev made a heap o' trouble 'twixt Hil'ry an' me fust an' + last. Whar's Hil'ry disappeared to, en-nyways?” + </p> + <p> + For the flare from the furnace showed that this leading spirit amongst the + moonshiners had gone softly out. Nehemiah, whose courage was dissipated by + some subtle influence of his presence, now made bold to ask, “An' what + made him ter set store on Lee-yander's mother's eyes?” His tone was as + bluffly sarcastic as he dared. + </p> + <p> + “Shucks—ye mus' hev hearn that old tale,” said the miller, + cavalierly. “This hyar Malviny Hixon—ez lived down in Tanglefoot + Cove then—her an' Hil'ry war promised ter marry, but the revenuers + captured him—he war a-runnin' a still in Tanglefoot then—an' + they kep' him in jail somewhar in the North fur five year. Waal, she + waited toler'ble constant fur two or three year, but Ebenezer Yerby he kem + a-visitin' his kin down in Tanglefoot Cove, an' she an' him met at a bran + dance, an' the fust thing I hearn they war married, an' 'fore Hil'ry got + back she war dead an' buried, an' so war Ebenezer.” + </p> + <p> + There was a pause while the flames roared in the furnace, and the falling + water desperately dashed upon the rocks, and its tumultuous voice + continuously pervaded the silent void wildernesses without, and the + sibilant undertone, the lisping whisperings, smote the senses anew. + </p> + <p> + “He met up with cornsider'ble changes fur five year,” remarked one of the + men, regarding the matter in its chronological aspect. + </p> + <p> + Nehemiah said nothing. He had heard the story before, but it had been + forgotten. A worldly mind like his is not apt to burden itself with the + sentimental details of an antenuptial romance of the woman whom his + half-brother had married many years ago. + </p> + <p> + A persuasion that it was somewhat unduly long-lived impressed others of + the party. + </p> + <p> + “It's plumb cur'us Hil'ry ain't never furgot her,” observed one of them. + “He hev never married at all. My wife says it's jes contrariousness. Ef + Mal-viny hed been his wife an' died, he'd hev married agin 'fore the year + war out. An' I tell my wife that he'd hev been better acquainted with her + then, an' would hev fund out ez no woman war wuth mournin' 'bout fur nigh + twenty year. My wife says she can't make out ez how Hil'ry 'ain't got + pride enough not ter furgive her fur givin' him the mitten like she done. + An' I tell my wife that holdin' a gredge agin a woman fur bein' fickle is + like holdin' a gredge agin her fur bein' a woman.” + </p> + <p> + He paused with an air, perceived somehow in the brown dusk, of having made + a very neat point. A stir of assent was vaguely suggested when some + chivalric impulse roused a champion at the farther side of the worm, whose + voice rang out brusquely: + </p> + <p> + “Jes listen at Tom! A body ter hear them tales he tells 'bout argufyin' + with his wife would 'low he war a mighty smart, apt man, an' the pore + foolish 'oman skeercely hed a sensible word ter bless herself with. When + everybody that knows Tom knows he sings mighty small round home. Ye + stopped too soon, Tom. Tell what yer wife said to that.” + </p> + <p> + Tom's embarrassed feet shuffled heavily on the rocks, apparently in search + of subterfuge. The dazzling glintings from the crevices of the furnace + door showed here and there gleaming teeth broadly agrin. + </p> + <p> + “Jes called me a fool in gineral,” admitted the man skilled in argument. + </p> + <p> + “An' didn't she 'low ez men folks war fickle too, an' remind ye o' yer + young days whenst ye went a-courtin' hyar an' thar, an' tell over a string + o' gals' names till she sounded like an off'cer callin' the roll?” + </p> + <p> + “Ye-es,” admitted Tom, thrown off his balance by this preternatural + insight, “but all them gals war a-tryin' ter marry me—not me tryin' + ter marry them.” + </p> + <p> + There was a guffaw at this modest assertion, but the disaffected miller's + tones dominated the rude merriment. + </p> + <p> + “Whenst a feller takes ter drink folks kin spell out a heap o' reasons but + the true one—an' that's 'kase he likes it. Hil'ry 'ain't never named + that 'oman's name ter me, an' I hev knowed him ez well ez ennybody hyar. + Jes t'other day whenst that boy kem, bein' foolish an' maudlin, he seen + suthin' on-common in Lee-yander's eyes—they'll be mighty oncommon ef + he keeps on readin' his tomfool book, ez he knows by heart, by the + firelight when it's dim. Ef folks air so sot agin strong drink, let 'em + drink less tharsefs. Hear Brother Peter Vickers preach agin liquor, an' + ye'd know ez all wine-bibbers air bound fur hell.” + </p> + <p> + “But the Bible don't name 'whiskey' once,” said the man called Tom, in an + argumentative tone. “Low wines I'll gin ye up;” he made the discrimination + in accents betokening much reasonable admission; “but nare time does the + Bible name whiskey, nor yit peach brandy, nor apple-jack.” + </p> + <p> + “Nor cider nor beer,” put in an unexpected recruit from the darkness. + </p> + <p> + The miller was silent for a moment, and gave token of succumbing to this + unexpected polemic strength. Then, taking thought and courage together, + “Ye can't say the Bible ain't down on 'strong drink'?” There was no answer + from the vanquished, and he went on in the overwhelming miller's voice: + “Hil'ry hed better be purtectin' his-self from strong drink, 'stiddier the + boy—by makin' him stay up thar at the mill whar he knows thar's no + drinkin' goin' on—ez will git chances at it other ways, ef not + through him, in the long life he hev got ter live. The las' time the + revenuers got Hil'ry 'twar through bein' ez drunk ez a fraish-biled owl. + It makes me powerful oneasy whenever I know ye air all drunk an' + a-gallopadin' down hyar, an' no mo' able to act reasonable in case o' need + an' purtect yersefs agin spies an' revenuers an' sech 'n nuthin' in this + worl'. The las' raid, ye 'member, we hed the still over yander;” he jerked + his thumb in the direction present to his thoughts, but unseen by his + coadjutors; “a man war wounded, an' we dun'no' but what killed in the + scuffle, an' it mought be a hang-in' matter ter git caught now. Ye oughter + keep sober; an' ye know, Isham, ye oughter keep Hil'ry sober. I dun'no' + why ye can't. I never could abide the nasty stuff—it's enough ter + turn a bullfrog's stomach. Whiskey is good ter sell—not ter drink. + Let them consarned idjits in the flat woods buy it, an' drink it. Whiskey + is good ter sell—not ter drink.” + </p> + <p> + This peculiar temperance argument was received in thoughtful silence, the + reason of all the mountaineers commending it, while certain of them knew + themselves and were known to be incapable of profiting by it. + </p> + <p> + Nehemiah had scant interest in this conversation. He was conscious of the + strain on his attention as he followed it, that every point of the + situation should be noted, and its utility canvassed at a leisure moment. + He marked the allusion to the man supposed to have been killed in the + skirmish with the raiders, and he appraised its value as coercion in any + altercation that he might have in seeking to take Leander from his present + guardians. But he felt in elation that this was likely to be of the + slightest; the miller evidently found himself hampered rather than helped + by the employment of the boy; and as to the moonshiner's sentimental + partisanship, for the sake of an old attachment to the dead-and-gone + mountain girl, there was hardly anything in the universe so tenuous as to + bear comparison with its fragility. “A few drinks ahead,” he said to + himself, with a sneer, “an' he won't remember who Malviny Hixon was, ef + thar is ennything in the old tale—which it's more'n apt thar ain't.” + </p> + <p> + He began, after the fashion of successful people, to cavil because his + success was not more complete. How the time was wasting here in this + uncomfortable interlude! Why could he not have discovered Leander's + whereabouts earlier, and by now be jogging along the road home with the + boy by his side? Why had he not bethought himself of the mill in the first + instance—that focus of gossip where all the news of the countryside + is mysteriously garnered and thence dispensed bounteously to all comers? + It was useless, as he fretted and chafed at these untoward omissions, to + urge in his own behalf that he did not know of the existence of the mill, + and that the miller, being an ungenial and choleric man, might have + perversely lent himself to resisting his demand for the custody of the + young runaway. No, he told himself emphatically, and with good logic, too, + the miller's acrimony rose from the fact of a stranger's discovery of the + still and the danger of his introduction into its charmed circle. And that + reflection reminded him anew of his own danger here—not from the + lawless denizens of the place, but from the forces which he himself had + evoked, and again he glanced out toward the water-fall as fearful of the + raiders as any moonshiner of them all. + </p> + <p> + But what sudden glory was on the waters, mystic, white, an opaque + brilliance upon the swirling foam and the bounding spray, a crystalline + glitter upon the smooth expanse of the swift cataract! The moon was in the + sky, and its light, with noiseless tread, sought out strange, lonely + places, and illusions were astir in the solitudes. Pensive peace, thoughts + too subtle for speech to shape, spiritual yearnings, were familiars of the + hour and of this melancholy splendor; but he knew none of them, and the + sight gave him no joy. He only thought that this was a night for the + saddle, for the quiet invasion of the woods, when the few dwellers by the + way-side were lost in slumber. He trembled anew at the thought of the + raiders whom he himself had summoned; he forgot his curses on their + laggard service; he upbraided himself again that he had not earlier made + shift to depart by some means—by any means—before the night + came with this great emblazoning bold-faced moon that but prolonged the + day; and he started to his feet with a galvanic jerk and a sharp + exclamation when swift steps were heard on the rocks outside, and a man + with the lightness of a deer sprang down the ledges and into the great + arched opening of the place. + </p> + <p> + “'Tain't nobody but Hil'ry,” observed Isham Beaton, half in reproach, half + in reassurance. The pervasive light without dissipated in some degree the + gloom within the grotto; a sort of gray visibility was on the + appurtenances and the figures about the still, not strong enough to + suggest color, but giving contour. His fright had been marked, he knew; a + sort of surprised reflectiveness was in the manner of several of the + moonshiners, and Ne-hemiah, with his ready fears, fancied that this + inopportune show of terror had revived their suspicions of him. It + required some effort to steady his nerves after this, and when footfalls + were again audible outside, and all the denizens of the place sat calmly + smoking their pipes without so much as a movement toward investigating the + sound, he, knowing whose steps he had invited thither, had great ado with + the coward within to keep still, as if he had no more reason to fear an + approach than they. + </p> + <p> + A great jargon in the tone of ecstasy broke suddenly on the air upon this + new entrance, shattering what little composure Nehemiah had been able to + muster; a wide-mouthed exaggeration of welcome in superlative phrases and + ready chorus. Swiftly turning, he saw nothing for a moment, for he looked + at the height which a man's head might reach, and the new-comer measured + hardly two feet in stature, waddled with a very uncertain gait, and + although he bore himself with manifest complacence, he had evidently heard + the like before, as he was jovially hailed by every ingratiating epithet + presumed to be acceptable to his infant mind. He was attended by a tall, + gaunt boy of fifteen, barefooted, with snaggled teeth and a shock of tow + hair, wearing a shirt of unbleached cotton, and a pair of trousers + supported by a single suspender drawn across a sharp, protuberant + shoulder-blade behind and a very narrow chest in front. + </p> + <p> + But his face was proud and happy and gleeful, as if he occupied some post + of honor and worldly emolument in attending upon the waddling wonder on + the floor in front of him, instead of being assigned the ungrateful task + of seeing to it that a very ugly baby closely related to him did not, with + the wiliness and ingenuity of infant nature, invent some method of making + away with himself. For he <i>was</i> an ugly baby as he stood revealed in + the flare of the furnace door, thrown open that his admirers and friends + might feast their eyes upon him. His short wisps of red hair stood + straight up in front; his cheeks were puffy and round, but very rosy; his + eyes were small and dark, but blandly roguish; his mouth was wide and + damp, and had in it a small selection of sample teeth, as it were; he wore + a blue checked homespun dress garnished down the back with big horn + buttons, sparsely set on; he clasped his chubby hands upon a somewhat + pompous stomach; he sidled first to the right, then to the left, in doubt + as to which of the various invitations he should accept. + </p> + <p> + “Kem hyar, Snooks!” “Right hyar, Toodles!” “Me hyar, Monkey Doodle!” + “Hurrah fur the lee-tle-est moonshiner on record!” resounded fulsomely + about him. Many were the compliments showered upon him, and if his + flatterers told lies, they had told more wicked ones. The pipes all went + out, and the broken-nosed pitcher languished in disuse as he trotted from + one pair of outstretched arms to another to give an exhibition of his + progress in the noble art of locomotion; and if he now and again sat down, + unexpectedly to himself and to the spectator, he was promptly put upon his + feet again with spurious applause and encouragement. He gave an exhibition + of his dancing—a funny little shuffle of exceeding temerity, + considering the facilities at his command for that agile amusement, but he + was made reckless by praise—and they all lied valiantly in chorus. + He repeated all the words he knew, which were few, and for the most part + unintelligible, crowed like a cock, barked like a dog, mewed like a cat, + and finally went away, his red cheeks yet more ruddily aglow, grave and + excited and with quickly beating pulses, like one who has achieved some + great public success and led captive the hearts of thousands. + </p> + <p> + The turmoils of his visit and his departure were great indeed. It all + irked Nehemiah Yerby, who had scant toleration of infancy and little + perception of the jocosity of the aspect of callow human nature, and it + seemed strange to him that these men, all with their liberty, even their + existence, jeopardized upon the chances that a moment might bring forth, + could so relax their sense of danger, so disregard the mandates of stolid + common-sense, and give themselves over to the puerile beguilements of the + visitor. The little animal was the son of one of them, he knew, but he + hardly guessed whom until he marked the paternal pride and content that + had made unwontedly placid the brow of the irate miller while the ovation + was in progress. Nehemiah greatly preferred the adult specimen of the + race, and looked upon youth as an infirmity which would mend only with + time. He was easily confused by a stir; the gurglings, the ticklings, the + loud laughter both in the deep bass of the hosts and the keen treble of + the guest had a befuddling effect upon him; his powers of observation were + numbed. As the great, burly forms shifted to and fro, resuming their + former places, the red light from the open door of the furnace illumining + their laughing, bearded countenances, casting a roseate suffusion upon the + white turmoils of the cataract, and showing the rugged interior of the + place with its damp and dripping ledges, he saw for the first time among + them Leander's slight figure and smiling face; the violin was in his hand, + one end resting on a rock as he tightened a string; his eyes were bent + upon the instrument, while his every motion was earnestly watched by the + would-be fiddler. + </p> + <p> + Nehemiah started hastily to his feet. He had not expected that the boy + would see him here. To share with one of his own household a secret like + this of aiding in illicit distilling was more than his hardihood could + well contemplate. As once more the contemned “ping-pang” of the process of + tuning fell upon the air, Leander chanced to lift his eyes. They smilingly + swept the circle until they rested upon his uncle. They suddenly dilated + with astonishment, and the violin fell from his nerveless hand upon the + floor. The surprise, the fear, the repulsion his face expressed suddenly + emboldened Nehemiah. The boy evidently had not been prepared for the + encounter with his relative here. Its only significance to his mind was + the imminence of capture and of being constrained to accompany his uncle + home. He cast a glance of indignant reproach upon Hilary Tarbetts, who was + not even looking at him. The moonshiner stood filling his pipe with + tobacco, and as he deftly extracted a coal from the furnace to set it + alight, he shut the door with a clash, and for a moment the whole place + sunk into invisibility, the vague radiance vouchsafed to the recesses of + the grotto by the moonbeams on the water without annihilated for the time + by the contrast with the red furnace glare. Nehemiah had a swift fear that + in this sudden eclipse Leander might slip softly out and thus be again + lost to him, but as the dull gray light gradually reasserted itself, and + the figures and surroundings emerged from the gloom, resuming shape and + consistency, he saw Leander still standing where he had disappeared in the + darkness; he could even distinguish his pale face and lustrous eyes. + Leander at least had no intention to shirk explanations. + </p> + <p> + “Why, Uncle Nehemiah!” he said, his boyish voice ringing out tense and + excited above the tones of the men, once more absorbed in their wonted + interests. A sudden silence ensued amongst them. “What air ye a-doin' + hyar?” + </p> + <p> + “Waal, ah, Lee-yander, boy—” Nehemiah hesitated. A half-suppressed + chuckle among the men, whom he had observed to be addicted to horse-play, + attested their relish of the situation. Ridicule is always of unfriendly + intimations, and the sound served to put Nehemiah on his guard anew. He + noticed that the glow in Hilary's pipe was still and dull: the smoker did + not even draw his breath as he looked and listened. Yerby did not dare + avow the true purpose of his presence after his representations to the + moonshiners, and yet he could not, he would not in set phrase align + himself with the illicit vocation. The boy was too young, too + irresponsible, too inimical to his uncle, he reflected in a sudden panic, + to be intrusted with this secret. If in his hap-hazard, callow folly he + should turn informer, he was almost too young to be amenable to the + popular sense of justice. He might, too, by some accident rather than + intention, divulge the important knowledge so unsuitable to his years and + his capacity for guarding it. He began to share the miller's aversion to + the introduction of outsiders to the still. He felt a glow of indignation, + as if he had always been a party in interest, that the common safety + should not be more jealously guarded. The danger which Leander's youth and + inexperience threatened had not been so apparent to him when he first + heard that the boy had been here, and the menace was merely for the + others. As he felt the young fellow's eyes upon him he recalled the + effusive piety of his conversation at Tyler Sudley's house, his + animadversions on violin-playing and liquor-drinking, and Brother Peter + Vickers's mild and merciful attitude toward sinners in those un-spiced + sermons of his, that held out such affluence of hope to the repentant + rather than to the self-righteous. The blood surged unseen into + Nehe-miah's face. For shame, for very shame he could not confess himself + one with these outcasts. He made a feint of searching in the + semi-obscurity for the rickety chair on which he had been seated, and + resumed his former attitude as Leander's voice once more rang out: + </p> + <p> + “What air ye a-doin' hyar, Uncle Nehemiah?” + </p> + <p> + “Jes a-visitin', sonny; jes a-visitin'.” + </p> + <p> + There was a momentary pause, and the felicity of the answer was + demonstrated by another chuckle from the group. His senses, alert to the + emergency, discriminated a difference in the tone. This time the laugh was + with him rather than at him. He noted, too, Leander's dumfounded pause, + and the suggestion of discomfiture in the boy's lustrous eyes, still + widely fixed upon him. As Leander stooped to pick up the violin he + remarked with an incidental accent, and evidently in default of retort, “I + be powerful s'prised ter view ye hyar.” + </p> + <p> + Nehemiah smarted under the sense of unmerited reproach; so definitely + aware was he of being out of the character which he had assumed and worn + until it seemed even to him his own, that he felt as if he were + constrained to some ghastly masquerade. Even the society of the + moonshiners as their guest was a reproach to one who had always piously, + and in such involuted and redundant verbiage, spurned the ways and haunts + of the evil-doer. According to the dictates of policy he should have + rested content with his advantage over the silenced lad. But his sense of + injury engendered a desire of reprisal, and he impulsively carried the war + into the enemy's country. + </p> + <p> + “I ain't in no ways s'prised ter view you-uns hyar, Lee-yander,” he said. + “From the ways, Lee-yander, ez ye hev been brung up by them slack-twisted + Sud-leys—ungodly folks 'ceptin' what little regeneration they kin + git from the sermons of Brother Peter Vick-ers, who air onsartain in his + mind whether folks ez ain't church-members air goin' ter be damned or no—I + ain't s'prised none ter view ye hyar.” He suddenly remembered poor + Laurelia's arrogations of special piety, and it was with exceeding ill + will that he added: “An' Mis' Sudley in partic'lar. Ty ain't no great + shakes ez a shoutin' Christian. I dun'no' ez I ever hearn him shout once, + but his wife air one o' the reg'lar, mournful, unrejicing members, always + questioning the decrees of Providence, an' what ain't no nigher salvation, + ef the truth war knowed, 'n a sinner with the throne o' grace yit ter + find.” + </p> + <p> + Leander had not picked up the violin; this disquisition had arrested his + hand until his intention was forgotten. He came slowly to the + perpendicular, and his eyes gleamed in the dusk. A vibration of anger was + in his voice as he retorted: + </p> + <p> + “Mebbe so—mebbe they air sinners; but they'd look powerful comical + 'visitin' 'hyar!” + </p> + <p> + “Ty Sudley ain't one o' the drinkin' kind,” interpolated the miller, who + evidently had the makings of a temperance man. “He never sot foot hyar in + his life.” + </p> + <p> + “Them ez kem a-visitin' hyar,” blustered the boy, full of the significance + of his observations and experience, “air either wantin' a drink or two + 'thout payin' fur it, or else air tradin' fur liquor ter sell, an' that's + the same ez moonshinin' in the law.” + </p> + <p> + There was a roar of delight from the circle of lumpish figures about the + still which told the boy that he had hit very near to the mark. Nehemiah + hardly waited for it to subside before he made an effort to divert + Leander's attention. + </p> + <p> + “An' what <i>air you-uns</i> doin' hyar?” he demanded. “Tit for tat.” + </p> + <p> + “Why,” bluffly declared Leander, “I be a-runnin' away from you-uns. An' I + 'lowed the still war one place whar I'd be sure o' not meetin' ye. Not ez + I hev got ennything agin moonshinin' nuther,” he added, hastily, mindful + of a seeming reflection on his refuge. “Moonshinin' <i>is business</i>, + though the United States don't seem ter know it. But I hev hearn ye carry + on so pious 'bout not lookin' on the wine whenst it be red, that I 'lowed + ye wouldn't like ter look on the still whenst—whenst it's yaller.” + He pointed with a burst of callow merriment at the big copper vessel, and + once more the easily excited mirth of the circle burst forth + irrepressibly. + </p> + <p> + Encouraged by this applause, Leander resumed: “Why, <i>I</i> even turns my + back on the still myself out'n respec' ter the family—Cap'n an' + Neighbor bein' so set agin liquor. Cap'n's ekal ter preachin' on it ef + ennything onexpected war ter happen ter Brother Vickers. An' when I <i>hev</i> + ter view it, I look at it sorter cross-eyed.” The flickering line of light + from the crevice of the furnace door showed that he was squinting + frightfully, with the much-admired eyes his mother had bequeathed to him, + at the rotund shadow, with the yellow gleams of the metal barely suggested + in the brown dusk. “So I tuk ter workin' at the mill. An' <i>I</i> hev got + nuthin' ter do with the still.” There was a pause. Then, with a strained + tone of appeal in his voice, for a future with Uncle Nehe-miah had seemed + very terrible to him, “So ye warn't a-sarchin' hyar fur me, war ye, Uncle + Nehemiah?” + </p> + <p> + Nehemiah was at a loss. There is a peculiar glutinous quality in the + resolve of a certain type of character which is not allied to + steadfastness of purpose, nor has it the enlightened persistence of + obstinacy. In view of his earlier account of his purpose he could not avow + his errand; it bereft him of naught to disavow it, for Uncle Nehemiah was + one of those gifted people who, in common parlance, do not mind what they + say. Yet his reluctance to assure Lean-der that he was not the quarry that + had led him into these wilds so mastered him, the spurious relinquishment + had so the aspect of renunciation, that he hesitated, started to speak, + again hesitated, so palpably that Hilary Tarbetts felt impelled to take a + hand in the game. + </p> + <p> + “Why don't ye sati'fy the boy, Yerby?” he said, brusquely. He took his + pipe out of his mouth and turned to Leander. “Naw, bub. He's jes tradin' + fur bresh whiskey, that's all; he's sorter skeery 'bout bein' a + wild-catter, an' he didn't want ye ter know it.” + </p> + <p> + The point of red light, the glow of his pipe, the only exponent of his + presence in the dusky recess where he sat, shifted with a quick, decisive + motion as he restored it to his lips. + </p> + <p> + The blood rushed to Nehemiah's head; he was dizzy for a moment; he heard + his heart thump heavily; he saw, or he fancied he saw, the luminous + distention of Leander's eyes as this Goliath of his battles was thus + delivered into his hands. To meet him here proved nothing; the law was not + violated by Nehemiah in the mere knowledge that illicit whiskey was in + process of manufacture; a dozen different errands might have brought him. + But this statement put a sword, as it were, into the boy's hands, and he + dared not deny it. + </p> + <p> + “'Pears ter me,” he blurted out at last, “ez ye air powerful slack with + yer jaw.” + </p> + <p> + “Lee-yander ain't,” coolly returned Tarbetts. “He knows all thar is ter + know 'bout we-uns—an' why air ye not ter share our per'ls?” + </p> + <p> + “I ain't likely ter tell,” Leander jocosely reassured him. “But I can't + help thinkin' how it would rejice that good Christian 'oman, Cap'n Sudley, + ez war made ter set on sech a low stool 'bout my pore old fiddle.” + </p> + <p> + And thus reminded of the instrument, he picked it up, and once more, with + the bow held aloft in his hand, he dexterously twanged the strings, and + with his deft fingers rapidly and discriminatingly turned the screws, this + one up and that one down. The earnest would-be musician, who had + languished while the discussion was in progress, now plucked up a + freshened interest, and begged that the furnace door might be set ajar to + enable him to watch the process of tuning and perchance to detect its + subtle secret. No objection was made, for the still was nearly empty, and + arrangements tending to replenishment were beginning to be inaugurated by + several of the men, who were examining the mash in tubs in the further + recesses of the place. They were lighted by a lantern which, swinging to + and fro as they moved, sometimes so swiftly as to induce a temporary + fluctuation threatening eclipse, suggested in the dusk the erratic orbit + of an abnormally magnified fire-fly. It barely glimmered, the dullest + point of white light, when the rich flare from the opening door of the + furnace gushed forth and the whole rugged interior was illumined with its + color. The inadequate moonlight fell away; the chastened white splendor on + the foam of the cataract, the crystalline glitter, timorously and + elusively shifting, were annihilated; the swiftly descending water showed + from within only a continuously moving glow of yellow light, all the + brighter from the dark-seeming background of the world glimpsed without. A + wind had risen, unfelt in these recesses and on the weighty volume of the + main sheet of falling water, but at its verge the fitful gusts diverted + its downward course, tossing slender jets aslant, and sending now and + again a shower of spray into the cavern. Nehemiah remembered his + rheumatism with a shiver. The shadows of the men, instead of an + unintelligible comminglement with the dusk, were now sharp and distinct, + and the light grotesquely duplicated them till the cave seemed full of + beings who were not there a moment before—strange gnomes, clumsy and + burly, slow of movement, but swift and mysterious of appearance and + disappearance. The beetling ledges here and there imprinted strong black + similitudes of their jagged contours on the floor; with the glowing, weird + illumination the place seemed far more uncanny than before, and Leander, + with his face pensive once more in response to the gentle strains slowly + elicited by the bow trembling with responsive ecstasy, his large eyes full + of dreamy lights, his curling hair falling about his cheek as it rested + upon the violin, his figure, tall and slender and of an adolescent grace, + might have suggested to the imagination a reminiscence of Orpheus in + Hades. They all listened in languid pleasure, without the effort to + appraise the music or to compare it with other performances—the bane + of more cultured audiences; only the ardent amateur, seated close at hand + on a bowlder, watched the bowing with a scrutiny which betokened earnest + anxiety that no mechanical trick might elude him. The miller's half-grown + son, whose ear for any fine distinctions in sound might be presumed to + have been destroyed by the clamors of the mill, sat a trifle in the + background, and sawed away on an imaginary violin with many flourishes and + all the exaggerations of mimicry; he thus furnished the zest of burlesque + relished by the devotees of horse-play and simple jests, and was + altogether unaware that he had a caricature in his shadow just behind him, + and was doing double duty in making both Leander and himself ridiculous. + Sometimes he paused in excess of interest when the music elicited an + amusement more to his mind than the long-drawn, pathetic cadences which + the violinist so much affected. For in sudden changes of mood and in + effective contrast the tones came showering forth in keen, quick staccato, + every one as round and distinct as a globule, but as unindividualized in + the swift exuberance of the whole as a drop in a summer's rain; the bow + was but a glancing line of light in its rapidity, and the bounding + movement of the theme set many a foot astir marking time. At last one + young fellow, an artist too in his way, laid aside his pipe and came out + to dance. A queer <i>pas seul</i> it might have been esteemed, but he was + light and agile and not ungraceful, and he danced with an air of elation—albeit + with a grave face—which added to the enjoyment of the spectator, for + it seemed so slight an effort. He was long-winded, and was still bounding + about in the double-shuffle and the pigeon-wing, his shadow on the wall + nimbly following every motion, when the violin's cadence quavered off in a + discordant wail, and Leander, the bow pointed at the waterfall, exclaimed: + “Look out! Somebody's thar! Out thar on the rocks!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="linkimage-0002" id="linkimage-0002"> + <!-- IMG --></a> + </p> + <div class="fig" style="width:80%"> + <img src="images/313.jpg" alt="Look Out! Somebody's Thar! 313 " width="100%" /><br /> + </div> + <p> + It was upon the instant, with the evident intention of a surprise, that a + dozen armed men rushed precipitately into the place. Nehemiah, his head + awhirl, hardly distinguished the events as they were confusedly enacted + before him. There were loud, excited calls, unintelligible, mouthing back + in the turbulent echoes of the place, the repeated word “Surrender!” alone + conveying meaning to his mind. The sharp, succinct note of a pistol-shot + was a short answer. Some quick hand closed the door of the furnace and + threw the place into protective gloom. He was vaguely aware that a + prolonged struggle that took place amongst a group of men near him was the + effort of the intruders to reopen it. All unavailing. He presently saw + figures drawing back to the doorway out of the <i>mêlée</i>, for + moonshiner and raider were alike indistinguishable, and he became aware + that both parties were equally desirous to gain the outer air. Once more + pistol-shots—outside this time—then a tumult of frenzied + voices. Struck by a pistol-ball, Tarbetts had fallen from the ledge under + the weight of the cataract and into the deep abysses below. The raiders + were swiftly getting to saddle again. Now and then a crack mountain shot + drew a bead upon them from the bushes; but mists were gathering, the moon + was uncertain, and the flickering beams deflected the aim. Two or three of + the horses lay dead on the river-bank, and others carried double, ridden + by men with riddled hats. They were in full retreat, for the catastrophe + on the ledge of the cliff struck dismay to their hearts. Had the man been + shot, according to the expectation of those who resist arrest, this would + be merely the logical sequence of events. But to be hurled from, a crag + into a cataract savored of atrocity, and they dreaded the reprisals of + capture. + </p> + <p> + It was soon over. The whole occurrence, charged with all the + definitiveness of fate, was scant ten minutes in transition. A laggard + hoof-beat, a faint echo amidst the silent gathering of the moonlit mists, + and the loud plaint of Hoho-hebee Falls were the only sounds that caught + Nehemiah's anxious ear when he crept out from behind the empty barrels and + tremulously took his way along the solitary ledges, ever and anon looking + askance at his shadow, that more than once startled him with a sense of + unwelcome companionship. The mists, ever thickening, received him into + their midst. However threatening to the retreat of the raiders, they were + friendly to him. Once, indeed, they parted, showing through the gauzy + involutions of their illumined folds the pale moon high in the sky, and + close at hand a horse's head just above his own, with wild, dilated eyes + and quivering nostrils. Its effect was as detached as if it were only + drawn upon a canvas; the mists rolled over anew, and but that he heard the + subdued voice of the rider urging the animal on, and the thud of the hoofs + farther away, he might have thought this straggler from the revenue party + some wild illusion born of his terrors. + </p> + <p> + The fate of Hilary Tarbetts remained a mystery. When the stream was + dragged for his body it was deemed strange that it should not be found, + since the bowlders that lay all adown the rocky gorge so interrupted the + sweep of the current that so heavy a weight seemed likely to be caught + amongst them. Others commented on the strength and great momentum of the + flow, and for this reason it was thought that in some dark underground + channel of Hide-and-Seek Creek the moonshiner had found his sepulchre. A + story of his capture was circulated after a time; it was supposed that he + dived and swam ashore after his fall, and that the raiders overtook him on + their retreat, and that he was now immured, a Federal prisoner. The still + and all the effects of the brush-whiskey trade disappeared as + mysteriously, and doubtless this silent flitting gave rise to the hopeful + rumor that Tarbetts had been seen alive and well since that fateful night, + and that in some farther recesses of the wilderness, undiscovered by the + law, he and like comrades continue their chosen vocation. However that may + be, the vicinity of Hoho-hebee Falls, always a lonely place, is now even a + deeper solitude. The beavers, unmolested, haunt the ledges; along their + precipitous ways the deer come down to drink; on bright days the rainbow + hovers about the falls; on bright nights they glimmer in the moon; but + never again have they glowed with the shoaling orange light of the + furnace, intensifying to the deep tawny tints of its hot heart, like the + rich glamours of some great topaz. + </p> + <p> + This alien glow it was thought had betrayed the place to the raiders, and + Nehemiah's instrumentality was never discovered. The post-office + appointment was bestowed upon his rival for the position, and it was + thought somewhat strange that he should endure the defeat with such + exemplary resignation. No one seemed to connect his candidacy with his + bootless search for his nephew. When Leander chanced to be mentioned, + however, he observed with some rancor that he reckoned it was just as well + he didn't come up with Lee-yander; there was generally mighty little good + in a runaway boy, and Lee-yander had the name of being disobejent an' + turr'ble bad. + </p> + <p> + Leander found a warm welcome at home. His violin had been broken in the <i>mêlée</i>, + and the miller, though ardently urged, never could remember the spot where + he had hidden the book—such havoc had the confusion of that + momentous night wrought in his mental processes. Therefore, unhampered by + music or literature, Leander addressed himself to the plough-handles, and + together that season he and “Neighbor” made the best crop of their lives. + </p> + <p> + Laurelia sighed for the violin and Leander's music, though, as she always + made haste to say, some pious people misdoubted whether it were not a + sinful pastime. On such occasions it went hard with Leander not to divulge + his late experiences and the connection of the pious Uncle Nehemiah + therewith. But he always remembered in time Laurelia's disability to + receive confidences, being a woman, and consequently unable to keep a + secret, and he desisted. + </p> + <p> + One day, however, when he and Ty Sudley, ploughing the corn, now + knee-high, were pausing to rest in the turn-row, a few furrows apart, in + an ebullition of filial feeling he told all that had befallen him in his + absence. Ty Sudley, divided between wrath toward Nehemiah and quaking + anxiety for the dangers that Leander had been constrained to run—<i>ex + post facto</i> tremors, but none the less acute—felt moved now and + then to complacence in his prodigy. + </p> + <p> + “So 'twar <i>you-uns ez</i> war smart enough ter slam the furnace door an' + throw the whole place inter darkness! That saved them moonshiners and + raiders from killin' each other. It saved a deal o' bloodshed—ez + sure ez shootin\ 'Twar mighty smart in ye. But”—suddenly bethinking + himself of sundry unfilial gibes at Uncle Nehemiah and the facetious + account of his plight—“Lee-yander, ye mustn't be so turr'ble bad, + sonny; ye <i>mustn't</i> be so <i>turr'ble</i> bad.” + </p> + <p> + “Naw, ma'am, Neighbor, I won't,” Leander protested. + </p> + <p> + And he went on following the plough down the furrow and singing loud and + clear. + </p> + <div style="height: 6em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Moonshiners At Hoho-Hebee Falls, by +Charles Egbert Craddock (AKA Mary Noailles Murfree) + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MOONSHINERS *** + +***** This file should be named 23631-h.htm or 23631-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/6/3/23631/ + +Produced by David Widger + +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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