diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:39:07 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:39:07 -0700 |
| commit | 0a9f21d7c81a4c70978404928c5d3eb56d78475a (patch) | |
| tree | 280c2f81be4468242a0a37709630b8b177ffa8aa | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28680-8.txt | 8581 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28680-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 141388 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28680-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 786206 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28680-h/28680-h.htm | 8868 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28680-h/images/frontis.jpg | bin | 0 -> 33965 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28680-h/images/i001.jpg | bin | 0 -> 11841 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28680-h/images/i002.jpg | bin | 0 -> 39419 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28680-h/images/i003.jpg | bin | 0 -> 7596 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28680-h/images/i004.jpg | bin | 0 -> 4506 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28680-h/images/i005.jpg | bin | 0 -> 24708 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28680-h/images/i006.jpg | bin | 0 -> 25895 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28680-h/images/i007.jpg | bin | 0 -> 13560 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28680-h/images/i008.jpg | bin | 0 -> 23066 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28680-h/images/i009.jpg | bin | 0 -> 38704 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28680-h/images/i010.jpg | bin | 0 -> 28364 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28680-h/images/i011.jpg | bin | 0 -> 25937 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28680-h/images/i012.jpg | bin | 0 -> 24843 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28680-h/images/i013.jpg | bin | 0 -> 26945 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28680-h/images/i014.jpg | bin | 0 -> 26700 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28680-h/images/i015.jpg | bin | 0 -> 11215 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28680-h/images/i016.jpg | bin | 0 -> 24126 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28680-h/images/i017.jpg | bin | 0 -> 36437 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28680-h/images/i018.jpg | bin | 0 -> 31073 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28680-h/images/i019.jpg | bin | 0 -> 30765 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28680-h/images/i020.jpg | bin | 0 -> 43549 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28680-h/images/i021.jpg | bin | 0 -> 26545 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28680-h/images/i022.jpg | bin | 0 -> 31791 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28680-h/images/i023.jpg | bin | 0 -> 27673 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28680-h/images/titlepage.jpg | bin | 0 -> 21212 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28680.txt | 8581 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28680.zip | bin | 0 -> 141367 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
34 files changed, 26046 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/28680-8.txt b/28680-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..41ebd1e --- /dev/null +++ b/28680-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8581 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Young Surveyor;, by J. T. Trowbridge + +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 Young Surveyor; + or Jack on the Prairies + +Author: J. T. Trowbridge + +Release Date: May 4, 2009 [EBook #28680] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE YOUNG SURVEYOR; *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + THE YOUNG SURVEYOR; + + OR, + + JACK ON THE PRAIRIES. + + BY J. T. TROWBRIDGE + + AUTHOR OF "JACK HAZARD AND HIS FORTUNES," ETC. + + _WITH ILLUSTRATIONS._ + + +BOSTON: +JAMES R. OSGOOD AND COMPANY, +LATE TICKNOR & FIELDS, AND FIELDS, OSGOOD, & CO. +1875. + +Copyright, 1875. +BY JAMES R. OSGOOD & CO. + +UNIVERSITY PRESS: WELCH, BIGELOW, & CO., +CAMBRIDGE. + + + + +[Illustration: HOW THE BOYS WENT TO THE RIVER FOR WATER.] + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + I. "NOTHING BUT A BOY" + + II. OLD WIGGETT'S SECTION CORNER + + III. THE HOMEWARD TRACK + + IV. A DEER HUNT, AND HOW IT ENDED + + V. THE BOY WITH ONE SUSPENDER + + VI. "LORD BETTERSON'S" + + VII. JACK AT THE "CASTLE" + + VIII. HOW VINNIE MADE A JOURNEY + + IX. VINNIE'S ADVENTURE + + X. JACK AND VINNIE IN CHICAGO + + XI. JACK'S NEW HOME + + XII. VINNIE'S FUTURE HOME + + XIII. WHY JACK DID NOT FIRE AT THE PRAIRIE CHICKEN + + XIV. SNOWFOOT'S NEW OWNER + + XV. GOING FOR A WITNESS + + XVI. PEAKSLOW GETS A QUIRK IN HIS HEAD + + XVII. VINNIE MAKES A BEGINNING + + XVIII. VINNIE'S NEW BROOM + + XIX. LINK'S WOOD-PILE + + XX. MORE WATER THAN THEY WANTED + + XXI. PEAKSLOW SHOWS HIS HAND + + XXII. THE WOODLAND SPRING + + XXIII. JACK'S "BIT OF ENGINEERING" + + XXIV. PREPARING FOR THE ATTACK + + XXV. THE BATTLE OF THE BOUNDARY FENCE + + XXVI. VICTORY + + XXVII. VINNIE IN THE LION'S DEN + + XXVIII. AN "EXTRAORDINARY" GIRL + + XXIX. ANOTHER HUNT, AND HOW IT ENDED + + XXX. JACK'S PRISONER + + XXXI. RADCLIFF + + XXXII. AN IMPORTANT EVENT + + XXXIII. MRS. WIGGETT'S "NOON-MARK" + + XXXIV. THE STRANGE CLOUD + + XXXV. PEAKSLOW IN A TIGHT PLACE.--CECIE + + XXXVI. "ON THE WAR TRAIL" + + XXXVII. THE MYSTERY OF A PAIR OF BREECHES + + XXXVIII. THE MORNING AFTER + + XXXIX. FOLLOWING UP THE MYSTERY + + XL. PEAKSLOW'S HOUSE-RAISING + + XLI. CONCLUSION + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + +SETTING THE STAKES + +JACK AND THE STRANGE YOUTH + +UP-HILL WORK + +"LORD BETTERSON" + +TOO OBLIGING BY HALF + +LINK DOESN'T CARE TO BE KISSED + +SHOT ON THE WING + +THE AMIABLE MR. PEAKSLOW + +VINNIE'S STRATAGEM + +LINK'S WOOD-PILE + +HOW THE BOYS WENT TO THE RIVER FOR WATER + +TESTING THE LEVEL + +OLD WIGGETT + +"STOP, OR I'LL SHOOT!" + +RETURNING IN TRIUMPH + +THE END OF THE CHASE + +JACK AND HIS JOLLY PRISONER + +THE TORNADO COMING + +PEAKSLOW REAPPEARS + +FOLLOWING THE WAR TRAIL UNDER DIFFICULTIES + +THE WATER QUESTION SETTLED + + + + +THE YOUNG SURVEYOR. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +"NOTHING BUT A BOY." + + +[Illustration] + +A young fellow in a light buggy, with a big black dog sitting composedly +beside him, enjoying the ride, drove up, one summer afternoon, to the +door of a log-house, in one of the early settlements of Northern +Illinois. + +A woman with lank features, in a soiled gown trailing its rags about her +bare feet, came and stood in the doorway and stared at him. + +"Does Mr. Wiggett live here?" he inquired. + +"Wal, I reckon," said the woman, "'f he ain't dead or skedaddled of a +suddent." + +"Is he at home?" + +"Wal, I reckon." + +"Can I see him?" + +"I dunno noth'n' to hender. Yer, Sal! run up in the burnt lot and fetch +your pap. Tell him a stranger. You've druv a good piece," the woman +added, glancing at the buggy-wheels and the horse's white feet, stained +with black prairie soil. + +"I've driven over from North Mills," replied the young fellow, regarding +her pleasantly, with bright, honest features, from under the shade of +his hat-brim. + +"I 'lowed as much. Alight and come into the house. Old man'll be yer in +a minute." + +He declined the invitation to enter; but, to rest his limbs, leaped down +from the buggy. Thereupon the dog rose from his seat on the +wagon-bottom, jumped down after him, and shook himself. + +"All creation!" said the woman, "what a pup that ar is! Yer, you young +uns! Put back into the house, and hide under the bed, or he'll eat ye up +like ye was so much cl'ar soap-grease!" + +At that moment the dog stretched his great mouth open, with a formidable +yawn. Panic seized the "young uns," and they scampered; their bare legs +and exceedingly scanty attire (only three shirts and a half to four +little barbarians) seeming to offer the dog unusual facilities, had he +chosen to regard them as soap-grease and to regale himself on that sort +of diet. But he was too well-bred and good-natured an animal to think of +snapping up a little Wiggett or two for his luncheon; and the fugitives, +having first run under the bed and looked out, ventured back to the +door, and peeped with scared faces from behind their mother's gown. + +To hide his laughter, the young fellow stood patting and stroking his +horse's neck until Sal returned with her "pap." + +"Mr. Wiggett?" inquired the youth, seeing a tall, spare, rough old man +approach. + +"That's my name, stranger. What can I dew for ye to-day?" + +"I've come to see what I can do for _you_, Mr. Wiggett. I believe you +want your section corner looked up." + +"That I dew, stranger. But I 'lowed 't would take a land-surveyor for +that." + +"I am a land-surveyor," said the young fellow, with a modest smile. + +"A land-surveyor? Why, you're noth'n' but a boy!" And the tall old man, +bending a little, and knitting his gray eyebrows, looked down upon his +visitor with a sort of amused curiosity. + +"That's so," replied the "boy," with a laugh and a blush. "But I think I +can find your corner, if the bearings are all right." + +"Whur's your instruments?" asked the old man, leaning over the buggy. +"Them all? What's that gun to do with land-surveyin'?" + +"Nothing; I brought that along, thinking I might get a shot at a rabbit +or a prairie hen. But we shall need an axe and a shovel." + +"I 'lowed your boss would come himself, in place of sendin' a boy!" +muttered the old man, taking up the gun,--a light double-barrelled +fowling-piece,--sighting across it with an experienced eye, and laying +it down again. "Sal, bring the axe; it's stickin' in the log thar by the +wood-pile. Curi's thing, to lose my section corner, hey?" + +"It's not a very uncommon thing," replied the young surveyor. + +"Fact is," said the old man, "I never found it I bought of Seth +Parkins's widder arter Seth died, and banged if I've ever been able to +find the gov'ment stake." + +"Maybe somebody pulled it up, or broke it off, to kill a rattlesnake +with," suggested the young surveyor. + +"Like enough," said the old man. "Can't say 't I blame him; though he +might 'a' got a stick in the timber by walkin' a few rods. He couldn't +'a' been so bad off as one o' you surveyor chaps was when the gov'ment +survey went through. He was off on the Big Perairie, footin' it to his +camp, when he comes to a rattler curled up in the grass, and shakin' his +tarnal buzz-tail at him. He steps back, and casts about him for some +sort of we'pon; he hadn't a thing in his fist but a roll of paper, and +if ever a chap hankered arter a stick or a stun, they say he did. But it +was all jest perairie grass; nary rock nor a piece of timber within +three mile. Snake seemed to 'preciate his advantage, and flattened his +head and whirred his rattle sassier 'n ever. Surveyor chap couldn't +stan' that. So what does he dew, like a blamed fool, but jest off with +his boot and hurl it, 'lowin' he could kill a rattler that way? He +missed shot. Then, to git his boot, he had to pull off t' other, and +tackle the snake with that. Lost that tew. Then he was in a +perdickerment; snake got both boots; curled up on tew 'em, ready to +strike, and seemin' to say, 'If you've any more boots to spar', bring +'em on.' Surveyor chap hadn't no more boots, to his sorrow; and, arter +layin' siege to the critter till sundown, hopin' he'd depart in peace +and leave him his property, he guv it up as a bad job, and footed it to +the camp in his stockin's, fancyin' he was treadin' among rattlers all +the way." + +The story was finished by the time the axe was brought; the old man +picked up a rusty shovel lying by the house, and, getting into the buggy +with his tools, he pointed out to his young companion a rough road +leading through the timber. + +This was a broad belt of woodland, skirting the eastern side of a wide, +fertile river-bottom, and giving to the settlement the popular name of +"Long Woods." + +On the other side of the timber lay the high prairie region, covered +with coarse wild grass, and spotted with flowers, without tree or shrub +visible until another line of timber, miles away, marked the vicinity of +another stream. + +The young surveyor and the old man, in the jolting buggy, followed by +the dog, left the log-house and the valley behind them; traversed the +woods, through flickering sun and shade; and drove southward along the +edge of the rolling prairie, until the old man said they had better stop +and hitch. + +"I don't hitch my horse," said the young surveyor. "The dog looks out +for him. Here, old fellow, watch!" + +"The section corner, I ca'c'late," said the old man, shouldering his +axe, "is off on the perairie thar, some'er's. Come, and I'll show ye the +trees." + +"Is that big oak with the broken limb one of them?" + +"Wal, now, how did ye come to guess that?--one tree out of a hundred ye +might 'a' picked." + +"It is a prominent tree," replied the youth, "and, if I had been the +surveyor, I think I should have chosen it for one, to put my bearings +on." + +"Boy, you're right! But it took me tew days to decide even that. The +underbrush has growed up around it, and the old scar has nigh about +healed over." + +The old man led the way through the thickets, and, reaching a small +clear space at the foot of the great oak, pointed out the scar, where +the trunk had been blazed by the axemen of the government survey. On a +surface about six inches broad, hewed for the purpose, the distance and +direction of the tree from the corner stake had, no doubt, been duly +marked. But only a curiously shaped wound was left. The growth of the +wood was rapid in that rich region, and, although the cut had been made +but a few years before, a broad lip of smooth new bark had rolled up +about it from the sides, and so nearly closed over it that only a +narrow, perpendicular, dark slit remained. + +"What do you make of that?" said Mr. Wiggett, putting his fingers at the +opening, and looking down at his companion. + +"I don't make much of it as it looks now," the young surveyor replied. + +"Didn't I tell you 't would take an old head to find my corner? T' other +tree is in a wus shape than this yer. Now I reckon you'll be satisfied +to turn about and whip home, and tell your boss it's a job for him." + +"Give me your axe," was the reply. + +"Boy, take kere what you're about!" + +"O, I will take care; don't be afraid!" And, grasping the axe, the young +surveyor began to cut away the folds of new wood which had formed over +the scar. + +"I see what you're up tew," said the old man, gaining confidence at +every stroke. "Give me the axe; you ain't tall enough to work handy." +And with a few strokes, being a skilful chopper, he cleared the old +blaze, and exposed the blackened tablet which Nature had so nearly +enclosed in her casket of living wood. + +There, cut into the old hewed surface, were the well-preserved marks of +the government survey: + + N. 48° 15' W. + 18 R. 10 L. + +"What does that mean?" asked the old man, as the youth made a copy of +these marks in his notebook. + +"It means that this tree is eighteen rods and ten links from your corner +stake, in a direction forty-eight degrees and fifteen minutes west of +north." + +"I can understand your rods and links," said the old man; "for I know +your surveyor's chain is four rods long, and has a hundred links. But +banged if I know anything about your degrees and minutes." + +"All that is just as simple," replied the young surveyor. "A circle is +supposed to be divided into three hundred and sixty degrees. Each degree +is divided into sixty minutes; and so forth. Now, if you stand looking +directly north, then turn a quarter of the way round, and look straight +west, you have turned a quarter of a circle, or ninety degrees; and the +angle where you stand--where the north line and the west line meet--is +called an angle of ninety degrees. Half as far is forty-five degrees. +Seen from the corner stake, wherever it is, this tree bears a little +more than forty-five degrees west of north; it is forty-eight degrees +and a quarter. Where's the other tree?" + +That was ten or eleven rods away, still in the edge of the timber; and +it bore on its blazed trunk, facing the open prairie, the +inscription--laid bare by the old man's ready axe-- + + N. 82° 27' w. + 16 R. 29 L. + +"Eighty-two degrees twenty-seven minutes west of north, and sixteen rods +twenty-nine links, from your corner," the young surveyor read aloud, as +he copied the marks into his notebook. "The other tree is so surrounded +by undergrowth, it would take you and your axe an hour to cut a passage +through so that I could run a line; and I am going to try running a line +from this tree alone. Be cutting a few good stakes, while I go and bring +up my horse and set him to eating grass." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +OLD WIGGETT'S SECTION CORNER. + + +The horse was driven to a good shady place on the edge of the woods, +relieved of his bridle, and left in charge of the dog. In the mean while +the old man cut a few oak saplings and hewed them into stakes. + +"Now, I want ye to give me a notion of how you're gwine to work," he +said, as the youth brought his compass and set it up on its tripod at +the foot of the tree. "For, otherwise, how am I to be sure of my corner, +when you say you've found it?" + +"O, I think we shall find something to convince you! However, look here, +and I'll explain." + +While waiting for the wavering needle to settle in its place, the youth +made a hasty diagram in a page of his notebook. + +"Here we are on the edge of the timber. _A_ is your first tree. _B_ is +the one where we are. Now if the bearings are correct, and I run two +lines accordingly, the place where they meet will be the place for your +corner stake; say at _C_." + +"That looks cute; I like the shape of that!" said the old man, +interested. + +[Illustration: SETTING THE STAKES.] + +"If the distance was short,--feet instead of rods,--all the instruments +we should want," said the young surveyor, with his peculiarly bright +smile, "would be a foot measure and two strings." + +[Illustration] + +"How so?" said the old man, who could not believe that science was as +simple a thing as that. + +"Why, for instance, we will say the tree _A_ is eighteen feet from the +corner you want to find; _B_, sixteen feet. Now take a string eighteen +feet long, and fasten the end of it by a nail to the centre of the +blazed trunk, _A_; fasten another sixteen feet long to _B_; then stretch +out the loose ends of both until they just meet; and there is the place +for your stake." + +"I declar'!" exclaimed the old man. "That's the use of the tew trees. +Banged if I dew see, though, how you're gwine to git along by runnin' a +line from jest one." + +"If I run two lines, as I have shown you, where they meet will be the +point. Now if I run one line, and measure it, I shall find the point +where the other line ought to meet it. We'll see. Here on my compass is +a circle and a scale of degrees, which shows me how to set it according +to the bearings. Now look through these sights, and you are looking +straight in the direction of your section corner." + +"Curi's, ain't it?" grinned the old man. "'Cordin' to that, my corner is +out on the perairie, jest over beyant that ar knoll." + +"You're right. Now go forward to the top of it, while I sight you, and +we'll set a stake there. As I signal with my hands this way, or this, +move your stake to the right or left, till I make _this_ motion; then +you are all right." + +The young surveyor had got his compass into position, by looking back +through the sights at the tree. He now placed himself between it and the +tree, and, sighting forward, directed the old man, who went on over the +knoll, where to set his stakes. + +On the other side of the knoll, it was found that the line crossed a +slough,--or "slew," as the old man termed it,--which lay in a long, +winding hollow of the hills. This morass was partly filled with stagnant +water; and the old man gave it a bad name. + +"It's the wust slew in the hull country. I've lost tew cows in 't. I +wouldn't go through it for the price of my farm. Couldn't git through; a +man would sink intew it up tew his neck." + +"Then we may have to get a boat to find your section corner," laughed +the young surveyor. + +"But it's noth'n' but a bog this time o' year; ye can't navigate a boat +thar. And it'll take till middle o' next week to build a brush road +acrost. Guess we're up a stump now, hey?" + +"O, no; stumps are not so plenty, where I undertake jobs! Let's have a +stake down there, pretty near the _slew_; then we will measure our line, +and see how much farther we have to go." + +The old man helped bear the chain; and a careful measurement showed that +the stake at the edge of the slough was still four rods and thirty links +from the corner they sought. + +"Banged if it don't come jest over on t' other side of the slew!" the +old man exclaimed, computing the distance with his eye. "But we can't +measure a rod furder; and yer we be stuck." + +"Not yet, old friend!" cried the young surveyor. "Since we can't cross, +we'll measure the rest of our distance along on this shore." + +The old man looked down upon him with indignation and amazement. + +"Think I'm a dog-goned fool?" he cried. "The idee of turnin' from our +course, and measurin' along by the slew! What's the good of that?" + +Finding that the old man would not aid or abet what seemed to him such +complete folly, the young surveyor made another little diagram in his +notebook, and explained:-- + +[Illustration] + +"Here is the end of our line running from the direction +_B_,--theoretically a straight, horizontal line, though it curves over +the knoll. You noticed how, coming down the slope ahead of you, I held +my end of the chain up from the ground, to make it horizontal, and then +with my plumb-line found the corresponding point in the ground, to start +fresh from. That was to get the measurement of a horizontal line; for if +you measure all the ups and downs of hills and hollows, you'll find your +surveying will come out in queer shape." + +The old man scratched his bushy gray head, and said he hadn't thought of +that. + +"Well," the young surveyor continued, "we are running our line off +towards _C_, when we come to the slew. Our last stake is at _D_,--say +this little thing with a flag on it. Now, what is to be done? for we +must measure four rods and thirty links farther. I measure that distance +from _D_ to _E_, along this shore, running my new line at an angle of +sixty degrees from the true course. Then, with my compass at _E_, I +sight another line at an angle of sixty degrees from my last. I am +making what is called an equilateral triangle; that is, a triangle with +equal sides and equal angles. Each angle must measure sixty degrees. +With two angles and one side, we can always get the other two sides; and +the other angle will be where those two sides meet. They will meet at +_C_. Now, since the sides are of equal length, the distance from _D_ to +_C_ is the same as from _D_ to _E_,--that is, four rods and thirty +links, just the distance we wish to go; _C_, then, is the place for your +corner stake." + +"It looks very well on paper," said the old man, "but"--casting his eye +across the bog--"how in the name of seven kingdoms are ye ever gwine to +fix yer stake thar?" + +"That is easy. Go round to the other side of the slew, get yourself in +range with our line from the tree, by sighting across the stakes, and +walk down toward the slew,--that is, on this dotted line. Having got my +angle of sixty degrees at _E_, I will sight across and stop you when I +see you at _C_. There stick your last stake." + +"Banged if that ain't cute! Young man, what mout be your name?" + +"I was only boy a few minutes ago," said the young surveyor, slyly. +"Now, if you are ready, we'll set to work and carry out this plan." + +The line from _D_ to _E_ was measured off. Then the youth set his +compass to obtain the proper angle at _E_; while the old man, with his +axe and a fresh stake, tramped around to the eastern side of the slough. +Having got the range of the stakes, he was moving slowly back toward +them, holding his stake before him, when the youth signalled him to stop +just in the edge of the quagmire. + +The new stake stuck, the young surveyor, taking up his tripod and +compass, went round to him. + +"That stake," said he, "is not far from your corner. Are there any +signs?" + +"I've been thinkin'," said the old man, "the 'arth yer looks like it had +been disturbed some time; though it's all overgrowed so with these +clumps of slew-grass, ye can't tell what's a nat'ral hummock and what +ain't. Don't that look like a kind of a trench?" + +"Yes; and here's another at right angles with it. Surveyors cut such +places on the prairies, pile up the sods inside the angle, and drive +their corner stakes through them. But there must have been water here +when this job was done, which accounts for its not being done better. +We'll improve it. Go for the shovel. I'll get the bearings of those +trees in the mean while, and see how far wrong they make us out to be." + +When the old man returned with the shovel, he found his boy surveyor +standing by the compass, with folded arms, looking over at the woodland +with a smile of satisfaction. + +Sighting the trees, the tall, straight stems of which were both visible +over the knoll, he had found that their bearings corresponded with those +copied in his notebook. This proved his work to his own mind; but the +old man would not yet confess himself convinced. + +"We may be somewhur _nigh_ the spot, but I want to be sure of the +_exact_ spot," he insisted. + +"That you can't be sure of; not even if the best surveyor in the world +should come and get it from these bearings," replied the youth. +"Probably the bearings themselves are not exact. The government +surveyors do their work in a hurry. The common compass they use doesn't +make as fine angles as the theodolite or transit instrument does; and +then the chain varies a trifle in length with every variation of +temperature; the metal contracts and expands, you know. Surveying, where +the land is worth a dollar and a quarter a foot, instead of a dollar and +a quarter an acre, is done more carefully. Yet I am positive, from the +indications here, that we are within a few inches of your corner." + +"A few inches, or a few feet, or a few rods!" muttered the old man, +crossly. "Seems like thar's a good deal of guess-work, arter all." + +"I am sorry you think so," replied the young surveyor, quietly removing +his tripod. "If, however, you are dissatisfied with my work, you can +employ another surveyor; if he tells you I am far out of the way, why, +then, you needn't pay me." + +The old man made no reply, but, seizing the shovel, began to level the +hummock a little, in order to prepare it for a pile of fresh sods. He +was slashing away at it, with the air of a petulant man working off his +discontent, when he struck something hard. + +"What's that ar?" he growled. "Can't be a stone. Ain't a rock as big as +a hazel-nut this side the timber." + +Digging round the obstacle, he soon exposed the splintered end of an +upright piece of wood. He laid hold of it and tried to pull it up. The +youth, with lively interest, took the shovel, and dug and pried. +Suddenly up came the stick, and the old man went over backwards with it +into the bog. + +He scrambled to his feet, dripping with muddy water, and brandished his +trophy, exclaiming:-- + +"Dog my cats! if 't ain't the end of the ol' corner stake, left jest +whur't was broke off, when the rest was wanted to pry a wheel out o' the +slew, or to kill a rattler with!" + +He appeared jubilant over the discovery, while the young surveyor +regarded it simply as a piece of good luck. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE HOMEWARD TRACK. + + +The new stake having been stuck in the hole left by the point of the old +one, and plenty of fresh turf piled up about it, the old man wiped his +fingers on the dry prairie-grass, thrust a hand into his pocket, and +brought forth an ancient leather wallet. + +"My friend," said he, "shall I settle with you or with your boss?" + +"You may as well settle with me." + +"Nuff said. What's yer tax?" + +"Two dollars and a half." + +"Tew dollars and a--dog-gone-ation! You've been only tew hours and a +half about the job. I can hire a man all day for half a dollar." + +"It is an afternoon's work for me," argued the young surveyor. "I've had +a long way to drive. Then, you must understand, we surveyors" (this was +said with an air of importance) "don't get pay merely for the time we +are employed, but also for our knowledge of the business, which it has +taken us time to learn. If I had been obliged to hire the horse I drive, +you see, I shouldn't have much left out of two dollars and a half." + +"Friend, you're right. Tew 'n' a half is reasonable. And if I have +another job of land-surveyin', you are the man for my money." + +"A man, am I, now?" And with a laugh the young surveyor pocketed his +fee. + +"Good as a man, I allow, any time o' day. You've worked at this yer +thing right smart, and I'll give ye the credit on't. How long have ye +been larnin the trade?" + +"O, two years, more or less, studying at odd spells! But I never made a +business of it until I came to this new country." + +"What State be ye from?" + +"New York." + +"York State! That's whur I hail from." + +"One wouldn't think so; you have a good many Southern and Western words +in your talk." + +"I come by 'em honest," said the old man. "I run away from home when I +was a boy, like a derned fool; I've lived a'most everywhur; and I've +married four wives, and raised four craps of children. My fust wife I +picked up in ol' Kaintuck. My next was an Arkansaw woman. My third was a +Michigander. My present was born and raised in the South, but I married +her in Southern Illinois. She's nigh on to forty year younger 'n I be, +and smart as a steel trap, tell you! So you see we're kind of a mixed-up +family. My fust and second broods of children's married off, or +buried,--scattered to the four winds o' heaven! Tew boys o' the third +brood, and that ar Sal, is with me yit. Some of the present brood you've +seen. Thar's been twenty-one in all." + +"Of the fourth brood?" + +"No, of the lot. Whose hoss mout that be?" + +"Mine; I brought him from the East with me." + +"What do you have to pay for a beast like that, now, in York State?" + +"I didn't pay anything for him." + +"Somebody gi'n him tew ye?" + +"Not exactly." + +"Ye gambled for him?" + +"No." + +"Raised him from a colt, then?" + +"No." + +"Stole him?" + +"Not much." + +"Picked him up astray?" + +The young surveyor, laughing, shook his head. + +"Then how in the name o' seven kingdoms did ye come by him, if ye didn't +find him, nor steal him, nor raise him from a colt, nor buy him, nor +have him gi'n tew ye?" + +"I borrowed him of a neighbor, and drove him to a show, where the old +elephant broke loose and had the handling of him for about a second and +a half. The owners of the elephant paid the damages; and I kept the +horse. Nobody thought he would get well; but he is now scarcely lame at +all. I can show you the scars where he was hurt." + +The two had approached the wagon during this talk; and now the old man +examined the horse with a good deal of curiosity. + +"That your dog tew?" + +"Yes, sir. Here, Lion!" + +"Cost ye suth'n, didn't it, to bring yer animals West with ye?" + +"Not a great deal. When my friends wrote for me to come, they said good +horses were scarce and high-priced out here, and advised me to bring +mine. I couldn't leave my dog behind,--could I, old Lion?" + +"Who mout your friends be?" + +"Mr. and Mrs. Lanman, at North Mills; and Mrs. Lanman's brother,--my +boss, as you call him,--Mr. Felton, the surveyor. They came out last +year; and last winter they wrote to me, offering me a good chance if I +should come. It was in winter; I drove Snowfoot in a cutter, and crossed +the Detroit River on the ice just before it broke up. There the +sleighing left me; so I sold my cutter, bought a saddle, and made the +rest of the journey on horseback. That was rather hard on the dog, but I +got the stage-drivers to give him a lift once in a while." + +"What did you say your name was?" the old man inquired. + +"I don't think I said. But I will say now. My name is Ragdon,--Henry +Ragdon. My friends call me Jack." + +"And it ain't yer name?" + +"O, yes, it is, and yet it isn't! I was brought up to it. My friends +like it, and so I keep it."[1] + +[Footnote 1: See "FAST FRIENDS"; also the previous volumes of this +series,--"JACK HAZARD AND HIS FORTUNES," "A CHANCE FOR HIMSELF," and +"DOING HIS BEST," in which is given a full account of the young +surveyor's early life and adventures.] + +"Wal, Jack,--if you'll rank me with your friends, and le' me call ye +so," said the old man, with a cordial grip of his great, flat hand,--"I +s'pose we part yer, and say good by. I'll shoulder my tools, and take a +cow-path through the woods; you'll find a better road than the one we +come by, furder north. Jest keep along the edge of the perairie. I +sha'n't forgit this job." + +"Nor I," said the young surveyor, with a curious smile. + +It was the first work of the kind he had undertaken on his own account, +and without assistance; for which reason he felt not a little proud of +it. But he did not tell the old man so. + +After parting company with him, he drove in the shade of the woods, +along a track so little travelled that the marks of wheels looked like +dark ruled lines in the half-trodden grass. + +The pleasant summer afternoon was drawing to a close. The peculiar wild +scent of the prairie, which seems to increase as the cool evening comes +on, filled all the air. The shadows of the forest were stretching in a +vast, uneven belt over summit and hollow; while far away beyond, in +seemingly limitless expanse, swept the golden-green undulations of the +sunlit hills. + +Jack--for I trust we shall also be entitled to call him so--kept his eye +out for game, as he drove leisurely along; stopped once or twice for a +rabbit on the edge of the woods; and, finally, pulled up sharply, as a +prairie-hen shot whirring out, almost from under his wheels. + +He sprang to his feet and faced about, raising his gun; but before he +could take aim, the bird, at the end of a short, straight flight, +dropped into the prairie-grass a few rods away. + +Jack followed on foot, holding his piece ready to fire. Knowing the shy +habits of the bird, he trampled the grass about the spot where she had +alighted, hoping to scare her up. He also sent his dog coursing about; +but Lion, though an intelligent animal, had no scent for birds. + +Suddenly, from the very ground between the hunter's feet, with a +startling rush and thunder of wings, the hen rose. Up went gun to +shoulder. But instantly the dog gave chase, and kept so exactly in the +line of flight, that Jack durst not fire. + +"You silly boy's dog!" he said; "don't you know better than that? You'll +get a stray shot some day, if you run before my gun-barrels in that +fashion. Now go to the horse, and stay." + +The dog, who had fancied that he was doing good service, dropped ears +and tail at this rebuke, and retired from the field. + +Jack was continuing the hunt, when all at once a strange spell seemed to +come over him. It found him on one foot, and he remained on one foot, +poising the other behind him, for several seconds. Then, softly putting +down the lifted leg, and lowering his gun, he stole swiftly back, in a +crouching attitude, to his wagon by the woodside. + +Taking his horse by the bridle, he led him down into a little hollow. +Then, piercing the undergrowth, he hastened to a commanding position, +where, himself hidden by the bushes, he could look off on the prairie. + +His heart beat fast, and his hand shook, as he drew the bird-shot out of +the two barrels of his fowling-piece, reloading one with buck-shot, the +other with an ounce ball. + +All the while his eye kept glancing from his gun to the shadowy slope of +a distant hill, where were two objects which looked like a deer and a +fawn feeding. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +A DEER HUNT, AND HOW IT ENDED. + + +They were a long way off,--more than half a mile, he thought. Evidently +they had not seen him. Though marvellously quick to catch scent or +sound, deer have not a fine sense of sight for distant objects. + +"They have left the covert early, to go out and feed," thought he. "If +not frightened, they will browse around in the hollows there until +dark." + +He was wondering how he should manage to creep near, and get a shot at +the shy creatures, when the dog barked. + +"That won't do!" he muttered; and, hurrying to silence Lion, he saw a +stranger loitering along the prairie road. + +Jack stepped out of the bushes into the hollow, and beckoned. + +"I've sighted a couple of deer that I'm trying to get a shot at; if you +go over the hill, you'll scare 'em." + +The stranger--a slender youth in soiled shirt-sleeves, carrying a coat +on his arm--looked at him saucily, with his head on one side and a quid +turning in the cheek, and said,-- + +"Well! and why shouldn't I scare 'em?" + +"I can't hinder you, of course; but," said Jack, "if _you_ were hunting, +and _I_ should be passing by, I should think it a matter of honor--" + +"Honor is an egg that don't hatch in this country," interrupted the +stranger; and the quid went into the other cheek, while the head went +over on the other side, as if to balance it. "But never mind; 'tain't my +cut to interfere with another feller's luck. Show me your deer." + +Jack took him through the thickets to his ambush. There were the deer +still feeding; the old one lifting her head occasionally as if on the +lookout for danger. They seemed to be moving slowly along the slope. + +The dark eyes of the strange youth kindled; then he said, with a low +laugh,-- + +"I'd like a cut-bore rifle for them fellers! You never can get 'em with +that popgun." + +"I believe I can if you'll help me. You notice there's a range of hills +between us and them; and they are on the north slope of one. I've been +surveying a little of the country off south, and I think you can get +around the range that way, and come out beyond the deer, before they see +you. There's everything in our favor. The wind blows to us from them. At +the first alarm they'll start for the woods; and they'll be pretty sure +to keep along in the hollow. I'll watch here, and take them as they come +in." + +Quid and head rolled again; and the strange youth said jeeringly, with +one eye half closed, looking at Jack,-- + +"So you expect me to travel a mile or two, and drive the deer in for +you?" He then pulled down the nether lid of the half-closed eye, and +inquired, somewhat irrelevantly, whether Jack saw anything green there. +"Not by this light!" he answered his own question, as he let up his +eyelid and snapped his thumb and finger. "Ye can't ketch old birds with +chaff. I've been through the lot. Parley-voo frong-say?" + +Jack regarded him with astonishment, declaring that there was no catch +about it. "Only help me, and we will share the game together." + +Still the fellow demurred. "I've walked my legs off to-day already; +you'll find 'em back in the road here! Had nothing to eat since morning; +wore myself down lean as a rail; felt for the last two hours as though +there was nothing but my backbone between me and eternity! No, sir-ree! +I wouldn't walk that fur out of my way for a herd of deer. If I had a +horse to ride I wouldn't mind." + +Jack was greatly excited. He had never yet had a good shot at a deer; +and if, at the end of his day's work, he could carry home a good fat +doe, and perhaps a fawn, of his own shooting, it would be a triumph. So, +without a moment's reflection, he said,-- + +"You may ride mine. Then, if you don't want a share of the game, I'll +pay you for your trouble." + +The strange youth took time to shift his quid and balance it; then +replied in a manner which appeared provokingly cool to the fiery Jack,-- + +"I'll look at him. Does he ride easy?" + +"Yes. Hurry!" + +Jack ran down to the horse, led him into the bushes, where the wagon +could be left concealed, and had already taken him out of the shafts, +before the stranger came lounging to the spot. + +"Pull off the harness," said the latter, with the easy air of ordering a +nag at a stable. "And give me that blanket out of the buggy. I don't +ride bareback for nobody." And he spat reckless tobacco-juice. + +Jack complied, though angry at the fellow for being so dilatory and +fastidious at such a time. The strange youth then spread his coat over +the blanket, laid his right hand on it, and his left on bridle and mane, +and with a leap from the ground threw himself astride the horse,--a +display of agility which took Jack by surprise. + +"I see you have been on horseback before!" + +"Never in my life," said the stranger, with a gleam in his dark eyes +which belied his words. And now Jack noticed that he had a little switch +in his hand. + +"He won't need urging. Be sure and ride well beyond that highest hill +before you turn; and then come quietly around, so as not to frighten the +deer too much." + +The fellow laughed. "I've seen a deer before to-day!" And, clapping +heels to the horse's sides, he dashed through the bushes. + +Jack followed a little way, and from his ambush saw him come out of the +undergrowth, strike across the prairie, and disappear around the range +of hills. + +[Illustration: JACK AND THE STRANGE YOUTH.] + +The deer were still in sight, stopping occasionally to feed, and then, +with heads in air, moving a few paces along the slope. Jack waited with +breathless anxiety to see his horseman emerge from among the hills +beyond. Several minutes elapsed; then, though no horseman appeared, the +old deer, startled by sound or scent of the enemy, threw high her head, +and began to leap, with graceful, undulating movements, along the +hillside. + +The fawn darted after her, and for a minute they were hidden from view +in a hollow. The stratagem had so far succeeded. They had started toward +the woods. + +Jack, in an ague of agitation, waited for the game to show itself again, +and, by its movements, guide his own. At length the fawn appeared on the +summit of a low hill, and stopped. The doe came up and stopped too, with +elevated nostrils, snuffing. For a rifle, in approved hands, there would +have been a chance for a shot. But the game was far beyond the range of +Jack's gun. + +To try his nerve, however, he took aim, or, rather, attempted to take +aim. His hands--if the truth must be confessed--shook so that he could +not keep his piece steady for an instant. Cool fellow enough on ordinary +occasions, he now had a violent attack of what is called the "buck +fever." + +Fortunately, the deer had not seen the horseman; and, while they were +recovering from their first alarm, they gave the young hunter time to +subdue, with resolute good sense, his terrible nervous agitation. + +They did not stop to feed any more, but moved on, with occasional +pauses, toward the woods; following the line of the hollows, as Jack had +foreseen. + +All this time the dog lay whining at his young master's heels. He knew +instinctively that there was sport on foot, and could hardly be kept +quiet. + +The deer took another and final start, and came bounding along toward +the spot where the wagon had stood. But for the excitement of the +moment, Jack must have felt a touch of pity at sight of those two +slender, beautiful creatures, so full of life, making for their covert +in the cool woods. But the hunter's spirit was uppermost. He took aim at +the doe, followed her movements a moment with the moving gun, then +fired. She plunged forward, and dropped dead. + +The fawn, confused by the report and by the doe's sudden fall, stood for +an instant quite still, then made a few bounds up toward the very spot +where the young hunter was concealed. It stopped again, within twenty +paces of the levelled gun. There it stood, its pretty spotted side +turned toward him, so fair a mark, and so charming a picture, that for a +moment, excited though he was, he could not have the heart to shoot. Ah! +what is this spirit of destruction, which has come down to us from our +barbarous forefathers, and which gives even good-hearted boys like Jack +a wild joy in taking life? + +The dog, rendered ungovernable by the firing of the gun, made a noise in +the thicket. The fawn heard, and started to run away. The provocation +was too great for our young hunter, and he sent a charge of buck-shot +after it. The fawn did not fall. + +"Take 'em, Lion!" shouted Jack; and out rushed the dog. + +The poor thing had been wounded, and the dog soon brought it down. Jack +ran after, to prevent a tearing of the hide and flesh. Then he set up a +wild yell, which might have been heard a mile away on the prairie,--a +call for his horseman, who had not yet reappeared. + +Jack dragged the fawn and placed it beside its dam. There lay the two +pretty creatures, slaughtered by his hand. + +"It can't be helped," thought he. "If it is right to hunt game, it is +right to kill it. If we eat flesh, we must take life." + +So he tried to feel nothing but pure triumph at the sight. Yet I have +heard him say, in relating the adventure, that he could never afterwards +think of the dead doe and pretty fawn, lying there side by side, without +a pang. + +He now backed his buggy out of the woods, set the seat forward in order +to make room for the deer behind, and waited for his horse. + +"Where can that fellow have gone?" he muttered, with growing anxiety. + +He went to a hill-top, to get a good view, and strained his vision, +gazing over the prairie. The sun was almost set, and all the hills were +darkening, save now and then one of the highest summits. + +Over one of these Jack suddenly descried a distant object moving. It was +no deer this time, but a horse and rider far away, and going at a +gallop--in the wrong direction. + +He gazed until they disappeared over the crest, and the faint sundown +glory faded from it, and he felt the lonesome night shutting down over +the limitless expanse. Then he smote his hands together with fury and +despair. + +He knew that the horse was his own, and the rider the strange youth in +whose hands he had so rashly intrusted him. And here he was, five miles +from home, with the darkening forest on one side, and the vast prairie +on the other; the dead doe and fawn lying down there on the dewy grass, +the empty buggy and harness beside them; and only his dog to keep him +company. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE BOY WITH ONE SUSPENDER. + + +Jack's first thought, after assuring himself that his horse was +irrevocably gone, was to run for help to the line of settlements on the +other side of the grove, where some means of pursuit might be obtained. + +He knew that the road which Mr. Wiggett had described could not be much +beyond the hollow where his wagon was; and, dashing forward, he soon +found it. Then, stopping to give a last despairing look at the billowy +line of prairie over which his horse had disappeared, he started to run +through the woods. + +He had not gone far when he heard a cowbell rattle, and the voice of a +boy shouting. He paused to take breath and listen; and presently with a +crashing of bushes three or four horned cattle came pushing their way +through the undergrowth, into the open road, followed by a lad without a +jacket, with one suspender and a long switch. + +"Boy," Jack cried, "how far is it to the nearest house?" + +"Our house is jest down through the woods here," replied the boy, +stopping to stare. + +"How far is that?" + +"Not quite so far as it is to Peakslow's house." + +"Where is Peakslow's house?" + +"Next house to ours, down the river." + +Seeing that this line of questions was not likely to lead to anything +very satisfactory, Jack asked,-- + +"Can I get a horse of anybody in your neighborhood,--a good fast horse +to ride?" + +The boy whipped a bush with his switch, and replied,-- + +"There ain't any good horses around here, 'thout 'tis Peakslow's; but +one of his has got the spring halt, and t' other's got the blind +staggers; and he's too mean to lend his horses; and, besides, he went to +Chicago with 'em both this morning." + +Jack did not stop to question the probability of a span thus afflicted +being driven on so long a journey; but asked if Mr. Wiggett had horses. + +"No--yes. I believe his horses are all oxen," replied the boy; "not very +fast or good to ride either." + +Thereupon Jack, losing all patience, cried out,-- + +"Isn't there a decent nag to be had in this region?" + +"Who said there wasn't?" retorted the boy. + +"Where is there one?" + +"We've got one." + +"A horse?" + +"No; a mare." + +"Why didn't you tell me before?" + +"'Cause you asked for horses; you didn't say anything about mares." + +"Is she good to ride?" + +"Pretty good,--though if you make her go much faster 'n she takes a +notion to, she's got the heaves so folks'll think there's a small +volcano coming!" + +"How fast will she go?" + +"As fast as a good slow walk; that's her style," said the boy, and +whipped the bushes. "But, come to think, father's away from home, and +you'll have to wait till to-morrow night before you can see him, and get +him to let you take her." + +"Boy," said Jack, tired of the lad's tone of levity, and thinking to +interest him by a statement of the facts in the case, "I've been +hunting, and a rascal I trusted with my horse has run off with him, and +I have a harness and a buggy and a couple of dead deer out there on the +prairie." + +"Deer?" echoed the lad, pricking up his ears at once. "Did you shoot +'em? Where? Can I go and see 'em?" + +Jack was beginning to see the hopelessness of pursuing the horse-thief +that night, or with any help to to be had in that region; and he now +turned his thoughts to getting the buggy home. + +"Yes, boy; come with me," he said. + +The boy shouted and switched his stick at the cattle browsing by the +wayside, and started them on a smart trot down the road, then hastened +with Jack to the spot where the wagon and game had been left, guarded by +Lion. + +But Jack had another object in view than simply to gratify the lad's +curiosity. + +"If you will hold up the shafts and pull a little, I'll push behind, and +we can take the buggy through the woods. After we get it up out of this +hollow, and well into the road, it will be down-hill the rest of the +way." + +"You want to make a horse of me, do ye?" cried the boy. "I wasn't born +in a stable!" + +"Neither was I," said Jack. "But I don't object to doing a horse's work. +I'll pull in the shafts." + +"O good!" screamed the boy, making his switch whistle about his head. +"And I'll get on the seat and drive!" And he made a spring at the wagon. + +But Lion had something to say about that. Having been placed on guard, +and not yet relieved, he would permit no hand but his master's to touch +anything in his charge. A frightful growl made the boy recoil and go +backwards over the dead deer. + +"Here, Lion! down with you!" cried Jack, as the excited dog was pouncing +on the supposed intruder. + +The boy scrambled to his feet, and was starting to run away, in great +terror, when Jack, fearing to lose him, called out,-- + +"Don't run! He may chase you if you do. Now he knows you are my friend, +you are safe, only stay where you are." + +"Blast his pictur'!" exclaimed the boy. "He's a perfect cannibal! What +does anybody want to keep such a savage critter as that for?" + +"I had told him to watch. Now he is all right. Come!" + +"Me? Travel with that dog? I wouldn't go with him," the boy declared, +meaning to make the strongest possible statement, "if 't was a million +miles, and the road was full of sugar-candy!" And he backed off warily. + +[Illustration: UP-HILL WORK.] + +Jack got over the difficulty by sending the dog on before; and finally, +by an offer of money which would purchase a reasonable amount of +sugar-candy,--enough to pave the short road to happiness, for a boy of +thirteen,--induced him to help lift the deer into the buggy, and then to +go behind and push. + +They had hard work at first, getting the wagon up out of the hollow; and +the boy, when they reached at last the top of the hill, and stopped to +rest, declared that there wasn't half the fun in it there was in going a +fishing; the justice of which remark Jack did not question. But after +that the way was comparatively easy; and with Jack pulling in the +shafts, his new acquaintance pushing in the rear, and Lion trotting on +before, the buggy went rattling down the woodland road in lively +fashion. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +"LORD BETTERSON'S." + + +On a sort of headland jutting out from the high timber region into the +low prairie of the river bottom, stood a house, known far and near as +"Lord Betterson's," or, as it was sometimes derisively called, "Lord +Betterson's Castle," the house being about as much a castle as the owner +was a lord. + +The main road of the settlement ran between it and the woods; while on +the side of the river the land swept down in a lovely slope to the +valley, which flowed away in a wider and more magnificent stream of +living green. It was really a fine site, shaded by five or six young +oaks left standing in the spacious door-yard. + +The trouble was, that the house had been projected on somewhat too grand +a scale for the time and country and, what was worse, for the owner's +resources. He had never been able to finish it; and now its +weather-browned clapboards, unpainted front pillars, and general shabby, +ill-kept appearance, set off the style of architecture in a way to make +beholders smile. + +"Lord Betterson took a bigger mouthful than he could swaller, when he +sot out to build his castle here," said his neighbor, Peakslow. + +The proprietor's name--it may as well be explained--was Elisha Lord +Betterson. It was thus he always wrote it, in a large round hand, with a +bold flourish. Now the common people never will submit to call a man +_Elisha_. The furthest they can possibly go will be _'Lisha_, or +_'Lishy_; and, ten to one, the tendency to monosyllables will result in +_'Lishe_. There had been a feeble attempt among the vulgar to +familiarize the public mind with _'Lishe Betterson_; but the name would +not stick to a person of so much dignity of character. It was useless to +argue that his dignity was mere pomposity; or that a man who, in +building a fine house, broke down before he got the priming on, was +unworthy of respect; still no one could look at him, or call up his +image, and say, conscientiously, "'Lishe Betterson." He who, in this +unsettled state of things, taking a hint from the middle name, +pronounced boldly aloud, "LORD BETTERSON," was a public benefactor. +"Lord Betterson" and "Lord Betterson's Castle" had been popular ever +since. + +The house, with its door-posts of unpainted pine darkly soiled by the +contact of unwashed childish hands, and its unfinished rooms, some of +them lathed, but unplastered (showing just the point at which the +owner's resources failed), looked even more shabby within than without. + +This may have been partly because the house-keeper was sick. She must +have been sick, if that was she, the pale, drooping figure, sitting +wrapped in an old red shawl, that summer afternoon. She looked not only +sick, but exceedingly discouraged. And no wonder. + +[Illustration: "LORD BETTERSON."] + +At her right hand was an empty cradle; and she held a puny infant in her +arms, trying to still its cries. At her left was a lounge, on which lay +the helpless form of an invalid child, a girl about eleven years old. +The room was comfortless. An old, high-colored piece of carpeting half +covered the rough floor; its originally gaudy pattern, out of which all +but the red had faded, bearing witness to some past stage of family +gentility, and serving to set off the surrounding wretchedness. + +Tipped back in a chair against the rough and broken laths, his knees as +high as his chin, was a big slovenly boy of about seventeen, looking +lazily out from under an old ragged hat-rim, pushed over his eyes. +Another big, slovenly boy, a year or two younger, sat on the doorstep, +whittling quite as much for his own amusement as for that of a little +five-year-old ragamuffin outside. + +Not much comfort for the poor woman and the sick girl shone from these +two indifferent faces. Indeed, the only ray of good cheer visible in +that disorderly room gleamed from the bright eyes of a little girl not +more than nine or ten years old,--so small, in truth, that she had to +stand on a stool by the table, where she was washing a pan of dishes. + +"O boys!" said the woman in a feeble, complaining tone, "do, one of you, +go to the spring and bring some fresh water for your poor, sick sister." + +"It's Rufe's turn to go for water," said the boy on the doorstep. + +"'T ain't my turn, either," muttered the boy tipped back against the +laths. "Besides, I've got to milk the cow soon as Link brings the cattle +home. Hear the bell yet, Wad?" + +"Never mind, Cecie!" cried the little dish-washer, cheerily. "I'll bring +you some water as soon as I have done these dishes." And, holding her +wet hands behind her, she ran to give the young invalid a kiss in the +mean while. + +Cecie returned a warm smile of love and thanks, and said she was in no +hurry. Then the child, stopping only to give a bright look and a +pleasant word to the baby, ran back to her dishes. + +"I should think you would be ashamed, you two great boys!" said the +woman, "to sit round the house and let that child Lilian wait upon you, +get your suppers, wash your dishes, and then go to the spring for water +for your poor suffering sister!" + +"I'm going to petition the Legislature," said Wad, "to have that spring +moved up into our back yard; it's too far to go for water. There come +the cattle, Rufe." + +"Tell Chokie to go and head 'em into the barnyard," yawned Rufe, from +his chair. "I wonder nobody ever invented a milking-machine. Wish I had +one. Just turn a crank, you know." + +"You'll be wanting a machine to breathe with, next," said the little +dish-washer. + +"Y-a-as," drawled Rufe. "I think a breathing machine would be popular in +this family. Children cry for it. Get me the milk-pail, Lill; that's a +nice girl!" + +"Do get it yourself, Rufus," said the mother. "You'll want your little +sister to milk for you, soon." + +"I think it belongs to girls to milk," said Rufe. "There's Sal +Wiggett,--ain't she smart at it, though? She can milk your head off! Is +that a wagon coming, Wad?" + +"Yes!" cried Wad, jumping to his feet with unusual alacrity. "A wagon +without a horse, a fellow pulling in the shafts, and Link pushing +behind; coming right into the front yard!" + +Rufe also started up at this announcement, and went to the door. + +"Hallo!" he said, "had a break-down? What's that in the hind part of +your wagon? Deer! a deer and a fawn! Where did you shoot 'em? Where's +your horse?" + +"Look out, Rufe!" screamed the small boy from behind, rushing forward. +"Touch one of these deer, and the dog'll have ye! We've got two deer, +but we've lost our horse,--scamp rode him away,--and we want--" + +"We do, do we?" interrupted Wad, mockingly. "How many deer did _you_ +shoot, Link?" + +"Well, I helped get the buggy over, anyway! And that's the savagest dog +ever was! And--say! will mother let us take the old mare to drive over +to North Mills this evening?" + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +JACK AT THE "CASTLE." + + +For an answer to this question, the person most interested in it, who +had as yet said least, was shown into the house. Rufe and Wad and Link +and little Chokie came crowding in after him, all eager to hear him talk +of the adventure. + +"And, O ma!" cried Link, after Jack had briefly told his story, "he says +he will give us the fawn, and pay me besides, if I will go with him +to-night, and bring back the old mare in the morning." + +"I don't know," said the woman, wrapping her red shawl more closely +about her, to conceal from the stranger her untidy attire. "I suppose, +if Mr. Betterson was at home, he would let you take the mare. But you +know, Lincoln,"--turning with a reproachful look to the small boy,--"you +have never been brought up to take money for little services. Such +things are not becoming in a family like ours." + +And in the midst of her distress she put on a complacent smirk, +straightened her emaciated form, and sat there, looking like the very +ghost of pride, wrapped in an old red shawl. + +"Did you speak of Mr. Betterson?" Jack inquired, interested. + +"That is my husband's name." + +"Elisha L. Betterson?" + +"Certainly. You know my husband? He belongs to the Philadelphia +Bettersons,--a very wealthy and influential family," said the woman with +a simper. "Very wealthy and influential." + +"I have heard of your husband," said Jack. "If I am not mistaken, you +are Mrs. Caroline Betterson,--a sister of Vinnie Dalton, sometimes +called Vinnie Presbit." + +"You know my sister Lavinia!" exclaimed Mrs. Betterson, surprised, but +not overjoyed. "And you know Mr. Presbit's people?" + +"I have never seen them," replied Jack, "but I almost feel as if I had, +I have heard so much about them. I was with Vinnie's foster-brother, +George Greenwood, in New York, last summer, when he was sick, and she +went down to take care of him." + +"And I presume," returned Mrs. Betterson, taking another reef in her +shawl, "that you heard her tell a good deal about us; things that would +no doubt tend to prejudice a stranger; though if all the truth was known +she wouldn't feel so hard towards us as I have reason to think she +does." + +Jack hastened to say that he had never heard Vinnie speak unkindly of +her sister. + +"You are very polite to say so," said Mrs. Betterson, rocking the +cradle, in which the baby had been placed. "But I know just what she +has said. She has told you that after I married Mr. Betterson I felt +above my family; and that when her mother died (she was not _my_ mother, +you know,--we are only half-sisters), I suffered her to be taken and +brought up by the Presbits, when I ought to have taken her and been as a +mother to her,--she was so much younger than I. She is even younger by a +month or two than my oldest son; and we have joked a good deal about his +having an aunt younger than he is." + +"Yes," spoke up Rufe, standing in the door; "and I've asked a hundred +times why we don't ever hear from her, or write to her, or have her +visit us. Other folks have their aunts come and see 'em. But all the +answer I could ever get was, 'family reasons, Rufus!'" + +"That is it, in a word," said Mrs. Betterson; "family reasons. I never +could explain them; so I have never written to poor, dear +Lavinia--though, Heaven knows, I should be glad enough to see her; and I +hope she has forgiven what seemed my hardness; and--do tell me" (Mrs. +Betterson wiped her eyes) "what sort of a girl is she? how has she come +up?" + +"She is one of the kindest-hearted, most unselfish, beautiful girls in +the world!" Jack exclaimed. "I mean, beautiful in her spirit," he added, +blushing at his own enthusiasm. + +"The Presbits are rather coarse people to bring up such a girl," said +Mrs. Betterson, with a sigh--of self-reproach, Jack thought. + +"But she has a natural refinement which nothing could make her lose," he +replied. "Then, it was a good thing for her to be brought up with George +Greenwood. She owes a great deal to the love of books he inspired in +her. You ought to know your sister, Mrs. Betterson." + +The lady gave way to a flood of tears. + +"It is too bad! such separations are unnatural. Certainly," she went on, +"I can't be accused of feeling above my family now. Mr. Betterson has +had three legacies left him, two since our marriage; but he has been +exceedingly unfortunate." + +"Two such able-bodied boys must be a help and comfort to you," said +Jack. + +"Rufus and Wadleigh," said Mrs. Betterson, "are good boys, but they have +been brought up to dreams of wealth, and they have not learned to take +hold of life with rough hands." + +Jack suggested that it might have been better for them not to have such +dreams. + +"Yes--if our family is to be brought down to the common level. But I +can't forget, I can't wish them ever to forget, that they have Betterson +blood in their veins." + +Jack could hardly repress a smile as he glanced from those stout heirs +of the Betterson blood to the evidences of shiftlessness and +wretchedness around them, which two such sturdy lads, with a little +less of the precious article in their veins, might have done something +to remedy. + +But his own unlucky adventure absorbed his thoughts, and he was glad +when Link vociferously demanded if he was to go and catch the mare. + +"Yes! yes! do anything but kill me with that dreadful voice!" replied +the mother, waving him off with her trembling hand. "Don't infer from +what I have said," she resumed, gathering herself up again with feeble +pride, "that we are poor. Mr. Betterson will come into a large fortune +when an uncle of his dies; and he gets help from him occasionally now. +Not enough, however, to enable him to carry on a farm; and it requires +capital, you are aware, to make agriculture a respectable profession." + +Jack could not forbear another hit at the big boys. + +"It requires land," he said; "and that you have. It also requires bone +and muscle; and I see some here." + +"True," simpered Mrs. Betterson. "But their father hasn't encouraged +them very much in doing the needful labors of the farm." + +"He hasn't set us the example," broke in Rufe, piqued by Jack's remark. +"If he had taken hold of work, I suppose we should. But while he sits +down and waits for something or somebody to come along and help him, +what can you expect of us?" + +"Our Betterson blood shows itself in more ways than one!" said Wad with +a grin, illustrating his remark by lazily seating himself once more on +the doorstep. + +Evidently the boys were sick of hearing their mother boast of the +aristocratic family connection. She made haste to change the subject. + +"Sickness has been our great scourge. The climate has never agreed with +either me or my husband. Then our poor Cecilia met with an accident a +year ago, which injured her so that she has scarcely taken a step +since." + +"An accident done a-purpose!" spoke up Rufe, angrily. "Zeph Peakslow +threw her out of a swing,--the meanest trick! They're the meanest family +in the world, and there's a war between us. I'm only waiting my chance +to pay off that Zeph." + +"Rufus!" pleaded the little invalid from the lounge, "you know he could +never have meant to hurt me so much. Don't talk of paying him off, +Rufus!" + +"Cecie is so patient under it all!" said Mrs. Betterson. "She never +utters a word of complaint. Yet she doesn't have the care she ought to +have. With my sick baby, and my own aches and pains, what can I do? +There are no decent house-servants to be had, for love or money. O, what +wouldn't I give for a good, neat, intelligent, sympathizing girl! Our +little Lilian, here,--poor child!--is all the help I have." + +At that moment the bright little dish-washer, having put away the +supper things, and gone to the spring for water, came lugging in a small +but brimming pail. + +"It is too bad!" replied Jack. "You should have help about the hard +work," with another meaning glance at the boys. + +"Yes," said Rufe, "we ought to; and we did have Sal Wiggett a little +while this summer. But she had never seen the inside of a decent house +before. About all she was good for was to split wood and milk the cow." + +"O, how good this is!" said the invalid, drinking. "I was so thirsty! +Bless you, dear Lill! What should we do without you?" + +Jack rose to his feet, hardly repressing his indignation. + +"Would you like a drink, sir?" said Lill, taking a fresh cupful from her +pail, and looking up at him with a bright smile. + +"Thank you, I should very much! But I can't bear the thought of your +lugging water from the spring for me." + +"Why, Lilie!" said Cecie, softly, "you should have offered it to him +first." + +"I thought I did right to offer it to my sick sister first," replied +Lill, with a tender glance at the lounge. + +"You did right, my good little girl!" exclaimed Jack, giving back the +cup. He looked from one to the other of the big boys, and wondered how +they could witness this scene and not be touched by it. But he only +said, "Have these young men too much Betterson blood in them to dress +the fawn, if I leave it with you?" + +"We'll fall back on our Dalton blood long enough for that," said Wad, +taking the sarcasm in good part. + +"A little young venison will do Cecie so much good!" said Mrs. +Betterson. "You are very kind. But don't infer that we consider the +Dalton blood inferior. I was pleased with what you said of Lavinia's +native refinement. I feel as if, after all, she was a sister to be proud +of." + +At this last display of pitiful vanity Jack turned away. + +"The idea of such a woman concluding that she may be proud of a sister +like Vinnie!" thought he. + +But he spoke only to say good by; for just then Link came riding the +mare to the door. + +She was quickly harnessed to the buggy, while Link, at his mother's +entreaty, put on a coat, and made himself look as decent as possible. +Then Jack drove away, promising that Link, who accompanied him, should +bring the mare back in the morning. + +"Mother," said the thoughtful Lill, "we ought to have got him some +supper." + +"I thought of it," said the sick woman, "but you know we have nothing +fit to set before him." + +"He won't famish," said Rufe, "with the large supply of sauce which he +keeps on hand! Mother, I wish you wouldn't ever speak of our Betterson +blood again; it only makes us ridiculous." + +Thereupon Mrs. Betterson burst into tears, complaining that her own +children turned against her. + +"O, bah!" exclaimed Rufe, with disgust, stalking out of the room, +banging a milk-pail, and waking the baby. "Be sharpening the knives, +Wad, while I milk; then we'll dress that fawn in a hurry. Wish the +fellow had left us the doe instead." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +HOW VINNIE MADE A JOURNEY. + + +Leaving Jack to drive home the borrowed mare in the harness of the +stolen horse, and to take such measures as he can for the pursuit of the +thief and the recovery of his property, we have now to say a few words +of Mrs. Betterson's younger sister. + +Vinnie had perhaps thriven quite as well in the plain Presbit household +as she would have done in the home of the ambitious Caroline. The tasks +early put upon her, instead of hardening and imbittering her, had made +her self-reliant, helpful, and strong, with a grace like that acquired +by girls who carry burdens on their heads. For it is thus that labors +cheerfully performed, and trials borne with good-will and lightness of +heart, give a power and a charm to body and mind. + +It was now more than a year since George Greenwood, who had been brought +up with her in his uncle's family, had left the farm, and gone to seek +his fortune in the city. A great change in the house, and a very unhappy +change for Vinnie, had been the result. It was not that she missed her +foster-brother so much; but his going out had occasioned the coming in +of another nephew, who brought a young wife with him. The nephew filled +George's place on the farm, and the young wife showed a strong +determination to take Vinnie's place in the household. + +As long as she was conscious of being useful, in however humble a +sphere, Vinnie was contented. She did her daily outward duty, and fed +her heart with secret aspirations, and kept a brave, bright spirit +through all. But now nothing was left to her but to contend for her +rights with the new-comer, or to act the submissive part of drudge where +she had almost ruled before. Strife was hateful to her; and why should +she remain where her services were now scarcely needed? + +So Vinnie lapsed into an unsettled state of mind, common enough to a +certain class of girls of her age, as well as to a larger class of boys, +when the great questions of practical life confront them: "What am I to +be? What shall I do for a living?" + +How ardently she wished she had money, so that she could spend two or +three entire years at school! How eagerly she would have used those +advantages for obtaining an education which so many, who have them, +carelessly throw away! But Vinnie had nothing--could expect +nothing--which she did not earn. + +At one time she resolved to go to work in a factory; at another, to try +teaching a district school; and again, to learn some trade, like that of +dress-maker or milliner. Often she wished for the freedom to go out into +the world and gain her livelihood like a boy. + +In this mood of mind she received two letters. One was from Jack, +describing his accidental visit to her sister's family. The other was +from Caroline herself, who made that visit the occasion of writing a +plaintive letter to her "dear, neglected Lavinia." + +Many tears she shed over these letters. The touching picture Jack drew +of the invalid Cecie, and the brave little Lilian, and of the sick +mother and baby, with Caroline's sad confession of distress, and of her +need of sympathy and help, wakened springs of love and pity in the young +girl's heart. She forgot that she had anything to forgive. All her +half-formed schemes for self-help and self-culture were at once +discarded, and she formed a courageous resolution. + +"I will go to Illinois," she said, "and take care of my poor sister and +her sick children." + +Such a journey, from Western New York, was no small undertaking in those +days. But she did not shrink from it. + +"What!" said Mrs. Presbit, when Vinnie's determination was announced to +her, "you will go and work for a sister who has treated you so +shamefully all these years? Only a half-sister, at that! I'm astonished +at you! I thought you had more sperit." + +"For anything she may have done wrong, I am sure she is sorry enough +now," Vinnie replied. + +"Yes, now she has need of you!" sneered Mrs. Presbit. + +"Besides," Vinnie continued, "I ought to go, for the children's sake, if +not for hers. Think of Cecie and the poor baby; and Lilian not ten years +old, trying to do the housework! I can do so much for them!" + +"No doubt of that; for I must say you are as handy and willing a girl as +ever I see. But there's the Betterson side to the family,--two great, +lubberly boys, according to your friend's account; a proud, domineering +set, I warrant ye! The idee of making a slave of yourself for them! +You'll find it a mighty uncomf'table place, mark my word!" + +"I hope no more so than the place I am in now,--excuse me for saying it, +Aunt Presbit," added Vinnie, in a trembling voice. "It isn't your fault. +But you know how things are." + +"O, la, yes! _she_ wants to go ahead, and order everything; and I think +it's as well to let her,--though she'll find she can't run over _me_! +But I don't blame you the least mite, Vinnie, for feeling sensitive; and +if you've made up your mind to go, I sha'n't hender ye,--I'll help ye +all I can." + +So it happened that, only four days after the receipt of her sister's +letter, Vinnie, with all her worldly possessions contained in one not +very large trunk, bid her friends good by, and, not without misgivings, +set out alone on her long journey. + +She took a packet-boat on the canal for Buffalo. At Buffalo, with the +assistance of friends she had made on board the boat, she found the +captain of a schooner, who agreed to give her a passage around the lakes +to Chicago, for four dollars. There were no railroads through Northern +Ohio and across Michigan and Indiana in those days; and although there +were steamboats on the lakes, Vinnie found that a passage on one of them +would cost more money than she could afford. So she was glad to go in +the schooner. + +The weather was fine, the winds favored, and the Heron made a quick +trip. Vinnie, after two or three days of sea-sickness, enjoyed the +voyage, which was made all the more pleasant to her by the friendship of +the captain and his wife. + +She was interested in all she saw,--in watching the waves, the sailors +hauling the ropes, the swelling of the great sails,--in the vessels they +met or passed, the ports at which they touched,--the fort, the Indians, +and the wonderfully clear depth of the water at Mackinaw. But the voyage +grew tiresome toward the close, and her heart bounded with joy when the +captain came into the cabin early one morning and announced that they +had reached Chicago. + +The great Western metropolis was then a town of no more than eight or +ten thousand inhabitants, hastily and shabbily built on the low level of +the plain stretching for miles back from the lake shore. In a short walk +with the captain's wife, Vinnie saw about all of the place she cared +to; noting particularly a load of hay "slewed," or mired, in the +mud-holes of one of the principal streets; the sight of which made her +wonder if a great and flourishing city could ever be built there! + +Meanwhile the captain, by inquiry in the resorts of market-men, found a +farmer who was going to drive out to the Long Woods settlement that +afternoon, and who engaged to come with his wagon to the wharf where the +Heron lay, and take off Vinnie and her trunk. + +"O, how fortunate!" she exclaimed. "How good everybody is to me! Only +think, I shall reach my sister's house to-night!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +VINNIE'S ADVENTURE. + + +In due time a rough farm-wagon was backed down upon the wharf, and a +swarthy man, with a high, hooked nose, like the inverted prow of a ship, +boarded the schooner, and scratched his head, through its shock of +stiff, coarse hair, by way of salutation to Vinnie, who came on deck to +meet him. + +"Do' no's you'll like ridin' with me, in a lumber-wagon, on a stiff +board seat." + +"O, I sha'n't mind!" said Vinnie, who was only too glad to go. + +"What part of the settlement ye goin' to?" he asked, as he lifted one +end of the trunk, while the captain took up the other. + +"To Mr. Betterson's house; Mrs. Betterson is my sister," said Vinnie. + +The man dropped his end of the trunk, and turned and glared at her. + +"You've got holt o' the wrong man this time!" he said. "I don't take +nobody in my wagon to the house of no sich a man as Lord Betterson. Ye +may tell him as much." + +"Will you take me to any house near by?" said the astonished Vinnie. + +"Not if you're a connection of the Bettersons, I won't for no money! +I've nothin' to do with that family, but to hate and despise 'em. Tell +'em that too. But they know it a'ready. My name's Dudley Peakslow." + +And, in spite of the captain's remonstrance, the angry man turned his +back upon the schooner, and drove off in his wagon. + +It took Vinnie a minute to recover from the shock his rude conduct gave +her. Then she smiled faintly, and said,-- + +"It's too bad I couldn't have a ride in his old wagon! But he wouldn't +be very agreeable company, would he?" So she tried to console herself +for the disappointment. She had thought all along: "If I can do no +better, I will take the stage to North Mills; Jack will help me get over +to my sister's from there." And it now seemed as if she might have to +take that route. + +The schooner was discharging her miscellaneous freight of Eastern +merchandise,--dry goods, groceries, hardware, boots and shoes,--and the +captain was too much occupied to do anything more for her that +afternoon. + +She grew restless under the delay; and feeling that she ought to make +one more effort to find a conveyance direct to Long Woods, she set off +alone to make inquiries for herself. + +The first place she visited was a hotel she had noticed in her morning's +walk,--the Farmers' Home; and she was just going away from the door, +having met with no success, when a slim youth, carrying his head +jauntily on one side, came tripping after her, and accosted her with an +apologetic smile and lifted hat. + +"Excuse me,--I was told you wanted to find somebody going out to Mr. +Betterson's at Long Woods." + +"O yes! do you know of anybody I can ride with?" + +"I am in a way of knowing,--why, yes,--I think there is a gentleman +going out early to-morrow morning. A gentleman and his daughter. Wife +and daughter, in fact. A two-seated wagon; you might ride on the +hind-seat with the daughter. Stopping at the Prairie Flower." + +"O, thank you! And can I go there and find them?" + +"I am going that way, and, if you please, I will introduce you," said +the youth. + +Vinnie replied that, if he would give her their names, she would save +him the trouble. For, despite his affability, there was something about +him she distrusted and disliked,--an indefinable air of insincerity, and +a look out of his eyes of gay vagabondism and dissipation. + +He declared that it would be no trouble; moreover, he could not at that +moment recall the names; so, as there was no help for it, she let him +walk by her side. + +At the Prairie Flower,--which was not quite so lovely or fragrant a +public-house as the name had led her to expect,--he showed her into a +small, dingy sitting-room, up one flight of stairs, and went to speak +with the clerk. + +"The ladies will be here presently," he said, returning to her in a few +minutes. "Meanwhile I thought I would order some refreshments." And he +was followed into the room by a waiter bringing a basket of cake and two +glasses of wine. + +[Illustration: TOO OBLIGING BY HALF.] + +"No refreshments for me!" cried Vinnie, quickly. + +"The other ladies will like some," said the youth, carelessly. "Intimate +friends of mine. Just a little cake and sweet wine." + +"But you have ordered only two glasses! And a few minutes ago you +couldn't think of their names,--those intimate friends of yours!" +returned Vinnie, with sparkling eyes. + +The youth took up a glass, threw himself back in a chair, and laughed. + +"It's a very uncommon name,--Jenkins; no, Judkins; something like that. +Neighbors of the Bettersons; intimate friends of _theirs_, I mean. You +think I'm not acquainted out there? Ask Carrie! ask the boys, hi, +hi!"--with a giggle and a grimace, as he sipped the wine. + +"You do really know my sister Caroline?" said Vinnie. + +The youth set down his glass and stared. + +"Your sister! I wondered who in thunder you could be, inquiring your way +to Betterson's; but I never dreamed--Excuse me, I wouldn't have played +such a joke, if I had known!" + +"What joke?" Vinnie demanded. + +"Why, there's no Jenkins,--Judkins,--what did I call their names? I just +wanted to have a little fun, and find you out." + +Vinnie trembled with indignation. She started to go. + +"But you haven't found _me_ out," he said, with an impudent chuckle. + +"I've found out all I wish to know of you," said Vinnie, ready to cry +with vexation. "I've come alone all the way from my home in Western New +York, and met nobody who wasn't kind and respectful to me, till I +reached Chicago to-day." + +The wretch seemed slightly touched by this rebuke; but he laughed again +as he finished his glass. + +"Well, it was a low trick. But't was all in fun, I tell ye. Come, drink +your wine, and make up; we'll be friends yet. Won't drink? Here goes, +then!" And he tossed off the contents of the second glass. "Now we'll +take a little walk, and talk over our Betterson friends by the way." + +She was already out of the room. He hastened to her side; she walked +faster still, and he came tripping lightly after her down the stairs. + +Betwixt anger and alarm, she was wondering whether she should try to run +away from him, or ask the protection of the first person she met, when, +looking eagerly from the doorway as she hurried out, she saw, across the +street, a face she knew, and uttered a cry of joy. + +"Jack! O Jack!" + +It seemed almost like a dream, that it should indeed be Jack, then and +there. He paused, glanced up and down, then across at the girlish figure +starting toward him, and rushed over to her, reaching out both hands, +and exclaiming,-- + +"Vinnie Dalton! is it you?" + +In the surprise and pleasure of this unexpected meeting, she forgot all +about the slim youth she was so eager to avoid a moment before. When she +thought of him again, and looked about her, he had disappeared, having +slipped behind her, and skipped back up the stairs with amazing agility +at sight of Jack. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +JACK AND VINNIE IN CHICAGO. + + +Vinnie poured out her story to her friend as they walked along the +street. + +Jack was so incensed, when she came to the upshot of the adventure, that +he wished to go back at once and make the slim youth's acquaintance. But +she would not permit so foolish a thing. + +"It is all over now. What good would it do for you to see him?" + +"I don't know; I'd like to tell the scamp what I think of him, if +nothing more. He wanted a little fun, did he?" And Jack stood, pale with +wrath, looking back at the hotel. + +"If it hadn't been for him, I might not have seen you," said Vinnie. +"Maybe you can't forgive him that!" + +Jack looked into her eyes, full of a sweet, mirthful light, and forgot +his anger. + +"I'll forgive him the rest, _because_ of that. Besides, I've no time to +waste on him. I'm hunting for my horse." + +He had written to Vinnie of his loss; and she was now eager to know if +Snowfoot had been heard from. + +"Not a hair of him!" said Jack. "I got an old hunter and trapper to go +with me the next day; we struck his trail on the prairie, and after a +deal of trouble tracked him to a settler's cabin. There the rogue had +stopped, and asked for supper and lodgings, which he promised to pay for +in the morning. The man and his wife had gone to bed, but they got up, +fed him and the horse, and then made him up a bed on the cabin floor. He +pretended to be very careful of his horse, and he had to go out and make +sure that he was all right before he went to bed; and that was the last +they saw of him. He bridled Snowfoot, and rode off so slyly that they +never knew which way he went. He had struck the travelled road, and +there we lost all trace of him. I went on to Joliet, and looked along +the canal, and set stablemen to watch for him, while my friend took the +road to Chicago; but neither of us had any luck. I've hunted all about +the country for him; and now, for a last chance, I've come to Chicago +myself." + +"How long have you been here?" Vinnie asked. + +"Only about two hours; and I must go back to-morrow. I've not much hope +of finding Snowfoot here; but as I had a chance to ride in with a +neighbor, I thought best to take advantage of it. Lucky I did! Why +didn't you write and let somebody know you were coming?" + +"I did write to my sister; but I didn't expect anybody to meet me here +in Chicago, since I couldn't tell just when I should arrive." + +"Where are you stopping?" + +"On board the schooner that brought me. She is lying quite near here, at +a wharf in the river." + +"Can you stay on board till to-morrow?" + +Vinnie thought the captain and his wife would be glad to keep her. + +"Though it isn't very nice," she added, "now that they are discharging +the cargo." + +"Perhaps you had better go to the Farmers' Home, where my friend and I +have put up," said Jack. + +"You at the Farmers' Home! Why couldn't I have known it?" said Vinnie. +"It was there I went to inquire for Long Woods people, and met that +scape-grace. When do you go home?" + +"We start early to-morrow morning. You can go with us as well as not,--a +good deal better than not!" said the overjoyed Jack. "Nothing but a +little load of groceries. You shall go home with me to North Mills; Mrs. +Lanman will be glad to see you. Then I'll drive you over to Long Woods +in three or four days." + +"Three or four days!" exclaimed Vinnie, not daring to be as happy as +these welcome words might have made her. "I should like much to visit +your friends; but I must get to my sister's as soon as possible." + +Jack's face clouded. + +"Vinnie, I'm afraid you don't know what you have undertaken. I can't +bear the thought of your going into that family. Why do you? The Lanmans +will be delighted to have you stay with them." + +"O, but I must go where I am needed," Vinnie answered. "And you mustn't +say a word against it. You must help me, Jack!" + +"They need you enough, Heaven knows, Vinnie!" Jack felt that he ought +not to say another word to discourage her, so he changed the subject. +"Which way now is your schooner?" + +Vinnie said she would show him; but she wished to buy a little present +for the captain's wife on the way. As they passed along the street, she +made him tell all he knew of her sister's family; and then asked if he +had heard from George Greenwood lately. + +"Only a few days ago he sent me a magazine with a long story of his in +it, founded on our adventure with the pickpockets," replied Jack. "He +writes me a letter about once a month. You hear from him, of course?" + +"O yes. And he sends me magazines. He has wonderful talent, don't you +think so?" + +And the two friends fell to praising the absent George. + +"I wonder if you have noticed one thing?" said Vinnie. + +"What, in particular?" + +"That Grace Manton has been the heroine of all his last stories." + +"I fancied I could see you in one or two of them," replied Jack. + +"Perhaps. But I am not the heroine; I am only the goody-goody girl," +laughed Vinnie. "When you see beauty, talent, accomplishments,--that's +Grace. I am glad they are getting on so well together." + +"So am I!" said Jack, with an indescribable look at the girl beside him. + +"Mr. Manton is dead,--I suppose you know it," said Vinnie. + +Jack knew it, and was not sorry; though he had much to say in praise of +the man's natural talents, which dissipation had ruined. + +The purchase made, they visited the schooner, where it was decided that +Vinnie should remain on board. Jack then left her, in order to make the +most of his time looking about the city for his horse. + +He continued his search, visiting every public stable, making inquiries +of the hostlers, and nailing up or distributing a small handbill he had +had printed, offering a reward of twenty dollars for "a light, reddish +roan horse, with white forefeet, a conspicuous scar low down on the near +side, just behind the shoulder, and a smaller scar on the off hip." + +In the mean time he kept a sharp lookout for roan horses in the streets. +But all to no purpose. There were roan horses enough, but he could see +and hear nothing of the particular roan he wanted. + +In the evening he went to see Vinnie on board the schooner, and talked +of his ill success. + +"A light roan? that's a kind of gray, ain't it?" said the captain of the +Heron. "That bearish fellow from Long Woods, who wouldn't take into his +wagon anybody connected with the Bettersons--" + +"Dudley Peakslow,--I sha'n't soon forget his name!" said Vinnie. + +"He drove such a horse," said the captain; "though I didn't notice the +forefeet or any scars." + +Jack laughed, and shook his head. + +"That's what everybody says. But the scars and forefeet are the main +points in my case. I wouldn't give a cent for a roan horse without 'em!" +Then he changed the subject. "It's a beautiful night, Vinnie; let's go +for a little stroll on the lake shore, and forget all about +roans,--light roans, dark roans, white feet, black, blue, green, yellow +feet! Perhaps your friends will go with us." + +Jack hoped they wouldn't, I regret to say. But the night was so +pleasant, and the captain's wife had become so attached to Vinnie, that +she persuaded her husband to go. + +The lake shore was charming; for in those early days it had not been +marred by breakwaters and docks. The little party strolled along the +beach, with the sparkling waves dashing at their feet, and the lake +spread out before them, vast, fluctuating, misty-gray, with here and +there a white crest tossing in the moon. + +Singing snatches of songs with Vinnie, telling stories with the captain, +skipping pebbles on the lake,--ah, how happy Jack was! He was glad, +after all, that they had all come together, since there was now no +necessity of Vinnie's hastening back to the schooner, to prevent her +friends from sitting up for her. + +"I've been in this port fifty times," said the captain, "but I've never +been down here before, neither has my wife; and I'm much obliged to you +for bringing us." + +"I like the lake," said his wife, "but I like it best from shore." + +"O, so do I!" said Vinnie, filled with the peace and beauty of the +night. + +It was late when they returned to the schooner. There Jack took his +leave, bidding Vinnie hold herself in readiness to be taken off, with +her trunk, in a grocer's wagon early the next morning. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +JACK'S NEW HOME. + + +In due time the wagon was driven to the wharf; and Vinnie, parting from +the captain and his wife with affectionate good-byes, rode out in the +freshness of the morning across the great plain stretching back from the +city. + +The plain left behind, groves and streams and high prairies were passed; +all wearing a veil of romance to the eye of the young girl, which saw +everything by its own light of youth and hope. + +But the roads were in places rough and full of ruts; the wagon was +pretty well loaded; and Vinnie was weary enough, when, late in the +afternoon, they approached the thriving new village of North Mills. + +"Here we come to Lanman's nurseries," said Jack, as they passed a field +of rich dark soil, ruled with neat rows of very young shrubs and trees. +"Felton is interested in the business with him; and I work for them a +good deal when we've no surveying to do. They're hardly established yet; +but they're sure of a great success within a few years, for all this +immense country must have orchards and garden fruits, you know. Ah, +there's Lion!" + +The dog came bounding to the front wheels, whining, barking, leaping +up, wagging his tail, and finally rolling over in the dirt, to show his +joy at seeing again his young master. + +The Lanman cottage was close by; and there in the door was its young +mistress, who, warned by the dog of the wagon's approach, had come out +to see if Jack's horse was with him. + +"No news of Snowfoot?" she said, walking to the gate as the wagon +stopped. + +"Not a bit. But I've had good luck, after all. For here is--who do you +suppose? Vinnie Dalton! Vinnie, this is the friend you have heard me +speak of, Mrs. Annie Felton Lanman." + +Vinnie went out of the wagon almost into the arms of Annie; so well had +both been prepared by Jack to know and to love each other. + +Of course the young girl received a cordial welcome; and to her the +little cottage seemed the most charming in the world. It contained few +luxuries, but everything in it was arranged with neatness and taste, and +exhaled an atmosphere of sweetness and comfort which mere luxury can +never give. + +"Lion has been watching for you with the anxiety of a lover all the +afternoon," Mrs. Lanman said to Jack, as, side by side, with Vinnie +between them, they walked up the path to the door. "And he is jealous +because you don't give him more attention." + +"Not jealous; but he wants to be introduced to Vinnie. Here, old +fellow!" + +Vinnie was delighted to make acquaintance with the faithful dog, and +listened eagerly to Annie's praise of him as they entered the house. + +"He is useful in doing our errands," said Mrs. Lanman. "If I wish to +send him to the grocery for anything, I write my order on a piece of +paper, put it into a basket, and give the basket to him, just lifting my +finger, and saying, 'Go to the grocery, go to the grocery,' twice; and +he never makes a mistake. To-day, Jack, for the first time, he came home +without doing his errand." + +"Why, Lion! I'm surprised at you!" said Jack; while Lion lay down on the +floor, looking very much abashed. + +"I sent him for butter, which we wanted to use at dinner. As I knew, +when he came back, that the order, which I placed in a dish in the +basket, had not been touched, I sent him again. 'Don't come home,' I +said, 'till somebody gives you the butter.' He then went, and didn't +return at all. So, as dinner-time came, I sent my brother to look after +him. He found the grocery closed, and Lion waiting with his basket on +the steps." + +"The grocer is sick," Jack explained; "his son had gone to town with me; +and so the clerk was obliged to shut up the store when he went to +dinner." And he praised and patted Lion, to let him know that they were +not blaming him for his failure to bring the butter. + +"One day," said Annie, "he had been sent to the butcher's for a piece of +meat. On his way home he saw a small dog of his acquaintance engaged in +a desperate fight with a big dog,--as big as Lion himself. At first he +ran up to them much excited; then he seemed to remember his basket of +meat. He couldn't go into the fight with that, and he was too prudent to +set it down in the street. For a moment he looked puzzled; then he ran +to the grocery, which was close by,--the same place where we send him +for things; but instead of holding up his basket before one of the men, +as he does when his errand is with them, he went and set it carefully +down behind a barrel in a corner. Then he rushed out and gave the big +dog a severe punishing. The men in the grocery watched him; and, knowing +that he would return for the basket, they hid it in another place, to +see what he would do. He went back into the store, to the corner behind +the barrel, and appeared to be in great distress. He snuffed and +whimpered about the store for a while, then ran up to the youngest of +the men--" + +"Horace,--the young fellow who came out with us to-day," commented Jack. +"He is full of his fun; and Lion knew that it would be just like him to +play such a trick." + +--"He ran up to Horace," Annie continued, "and barked furiously; and +became at last so fiercely threatening, that it was thought high time to +give him the basket. Lion took it and ran home in extraordinary haste; +but it was several days before he would have anything more to do with +Horace." + +"Who can say, after this, that dogs do not think?" said the admiring +Vinnie. + +"Mr. Lanman thinks he has some St. Bernard blood," said Jack, "and that +is what gives him his intelligence. He knows just what we are talking +about now; and see! he hardly knows whether to be proud or ashamed. I +don't approve of his fighting, on ordinary occasions; and I've had to +punish him for it once or twice. The other evening, as I was coming home +from a hunt after my horse, I saw two dogs fighting near the saw-mill." + +Jack had got so far when Lion, who had seemed to take pleasure in being +in the room till that moment, got up very quietly and went out with +drooping ears and tail. + +"He knows what is coming, and doesn't care to hear it. There's a little +humbug about Lion, as there is about the most of us. It was growing +dark, and the dogs were a little way off, and I wasn't quite sure of +Lion; but some boys who saw the fight told me it was he, and I called to +him. But what do you think he did? Instead of running to greet me, as he +always does when he sees me return after an absence, he fought a little +longer, then pretended to be whipped, and ran around the saw-mill, +followed by the other dog. The other dog came back, but Lion didn't. I +was quite surprised, when I got home, to see him rush out to meet me in +an ecstasy of delight, as if he then saw me for the first time. His +whole manner seemed to say, 'I am tickled to see you, Jack! and if you +think you saw me fighting the sawyer's dog just now, you're much +mistaken.' I don't know but I might have been deceived, in spite of the +boys; but one thing betrayed him,--he was wet. In order to get home +before me, without passing me on the road, he had swum the river." + +"Now you must tell the story of the chickens," said Annie. + +"Another bit of humbug," laughed Jack. "Our neighbors' chickens trouble +us by scratching in our yard, and I have told Lion he must keep them +out. But I noticed that sometimes, even when he had been on guard, there +were signs that the chickens had been there and scratched. So I got Mrs. +Lanman to watch him for two or three days, while he watched the +chickens. Now Lion is very fond of company; so, as soon as I was out of +sight, he would let the chickens come in, and scratch and play all about +him, while he would lie with his nose on his paws and blink at them as +good-naturedly as possible. But he kept an eye out for me all the while, +and the moment I came in sight he would jump up, and go to frightening +away the chickens with a great display of vigor and fidelity. So you +see, Lion isn't a perfect character, by any means. I could tell you a +good deal more about his peculiarities; but I think you are too tired +now to listen to any more dog stories." + +Jack carried Vinnie's trunk to a cosey little room; and there she had +time to rest and make herself presentable, before Mrs. Lanman came to +tell her that tea was ready. + +"See here, Vinnie, a minute!" said Jack, peeping from a half-opened +door. "Don't make a noise!" he whispered, as if there were a great +mystery within. "I'll show you something very precious." + +Mrs. Lanman followed, smiling, as Jack led Vinnie to a crib, lifted a +light veil, and discovered a lovely little cherub of a child, just +opening its soft blue eyes, and stretching out its little rosy hands, +still dewy with sleep. + +"O how sweet!" said Vinnie, thrilled with love and tenderness at the +sight. + +"She has a smile for you, see!" said the pleased young mother. + +Of course Vinnie had never seen so pretty a baby, such heavenly eyes, or +such cunning little hands. + +"The hands are little," said Jack, in a voice which had an unaccustomed +tremor in it; "but they are stronger than a giant's; they have hold of +all our heart-strings." + +"I never knew a boy so fond of a baby as Jack is," said Annie. + +"O, but I shouldn't be so fond of any other baby!" Jack replied, bending +down to give the little thing a fond caress. + +As they went out to tea, there was a happy light on all their faces, as +if some new, deep note of harmony had just been struck in their hearts. + +At tea Vinnie made the acquaintance of Annie's brother and husband, and +Jack's friends, Mr. Forrest Felton and Mr. Percy Lanman, and--so +pleasant and genial were their ways--felt at home in their presence at +once. This was a great relief to her; for she felt very diffident at +meeting men whom she had heard Jack praise so highly. + +Any one could see that Vinnie was not accustomed to what is called +society; but her native manners were so simple and sincere, and there +was such an air of fresh, young, joyous, healthy life about her, that +she produced an effect upon beholders which the most artificially +refined young lady might have envied. + +Jack watched her and Annie a good deal slyly; and there was in his +expression a curious mixture of pride and anxiety, as if he were trying +to look at each with the other's eyes, and thinking how they must like +each other, yet having some fears lest they might not see all he saw to +admire. + +Vinnie was made to talk a good deal of her journey; and she told the +story with so much simplicity, speaking with unfeigned gratitude and +affection of the friendships she had made, and touching with quiet +mirthfulness upon the droll events, as if she hardly knew herself that +they were droll, that all--and especially Jack--were charmed. + +But she had not the least idea of "showing off." Indeed, she thought +scarcely at all of what others thought of her; but said often to +herself, "What a beautiful home Jack has, and what pleasant +companions!" + +After tea she must see more of the baby; then Jack wanted to show her +the greenhouses and the nurseries; and then all settled down to a social +evening. + +"Vinnie is pretty tired," said Jack, "and I think a little music will +please her better than anything else." + +And so a little concert was got up for her entertainment. + +Forrest Felton was a fine performer on the flute; Mr. Lanman played the +violin, and his wife the piano; and they discoursed some excellent +music. Then, still better, there was singing. The deep-chested Forrest +had a superb bass voice; Lanman a fine tenor; Annie's voice was light, +but exceedingly sweet and expressive; and they sang several pieces +together, to her own accompaniment on the piano. Then Lanman said,-- + +"Now it is your turn, Jack." + +"But you know," replied Jack, "I never play or sing for anybody, when +your wife or Forrest is present." + +"True; but you can dance." + +"O yes! a dance, Jack!" cried Annie. + +Vinnie clapped her hands. "Has Jack told you," she said, "how, on the +steamboat going from Albany to New York, after they had had their +pockets picked, he and George Greenwood collected a little +money,--George playing the flute and Jack dancing, for the amusement of +the passengers?" + +Jack laughed, and looked at his shoes. + +"Well, come to the kitchen, where there's no carpet on the floor, and +I'll give you what I call the 'Canal Driver's Hornpipe.' Bring your +flute, Forrest." + +So they went to the kitchen; and all stood, while Jack, with wild grace +of attitude and wonderful ease and precision of movement, performed one +of his most difficult and spirited dances. + +When it was ended, in the midst of the laughter and applause, he caught +up a hat, and gayly passed it around for pennies. But while the men were +feeling in their pockets, he appeared suddenly to remember where he was. + +"Beg pardon," he cried, sailing his hat into a corner, and whirling on +his heel,--"I forgot myself; I thought I was on the deck of the +steamboat!" + +This closed the evening's entertainment. + +When Vinnie, retiring to her room, laid her head on the pillow, she +thought of the night before and of this night, and asked her heart if it +could ever again know two evenings so purely happy. + +Then a great wave of anxiety swept over her mind, as she thought of the +other home, to which she must hasten on the morrow. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +VINNIE'S FUTURE HOME. + + +A lively sensation was produced, the next forenoon, when a youth and a +girl, in a one-horse wagon, with a big dog and a small trunk, arrived at +Lord Betterson's "castle." + +Link dashed into the house, screaming, "They've come! they've come!" + +"Who has come?" gasped poor Mrs. Betterson, with a start of alarm, +glancing her eye about the disordered room. + +"Jack What's-his-name! the fellow that shot the deer and lost his horse. +It's Aunt Lavinny with him, I bet!" + +And out the boy rushed again, to greet the new-comers. + +Lill, who was once more washing dishes at the table, stepped down from +her stool, and ran out too, drying her fingers on her apron by the way. +Five-year-old Chokie got up from his holes in the earth by the doorstep, +and stood with dangling hands and sprawling fingers, grinning, +dirty-faced. + +Vinnie, springing to the ground with Jack's help, at the side door +caught Lill in her arms, and gave her an ardent kiss. + +"I have heard of you!" she said; for she had recognized the bright, +wistful face. + +"Dear auntie!" said the child, with tears and smiles of joy, "I'm so +glad you've come!" + +"Here is Link--my friend Link," said Jack. "Don't overlook him." + +"I've heard a good deal about you too, Link!" said Vinnie, embracing him +also, but not quite so impulsively. + +"Ye needn't mind kissing me!" said Link, bashfully turning his face. +"And as for him,"--as she passed on to the five-year-old,--"that's +Chokie; he's a reg'lar prairie gopher for digging holes; you won't find +a spot on him big as a sixpence clean enough to kiss, I bet ye two +million dollars!" + +[Illustration: LINK DOESN'T CARE TO BE KISSED.] + +Vinnie did not accept the wager, convinced, probably, that she would +lose it if she did. As she bent over the child, however, the report of a +kiss was heard,--a sort of shot in the air, not designed to come very +near the mark. + +"I'm didding a well," said Chokie, in a solemn voice, "so the boys won't +have to go to the spring for water." + +Mrs. Betterson tottered to the door, convulsively wrapping her red shawl +about her. + +"Lavinia! Is it sister Lavinia?" + +At sight of her, so pale and feeble, Vinnie was much affected. She could +hardly speak; but, supporting the emaciated form in her strong, +embracing arms, she led her back into the house. + +"You are so good to come!" said Mrs. Betterson, weeping, as she sank in +her chair. "I am worse than when I wrote to you; and the baby is no +better; and Cecie--poor Cecie! though she can sit up but little, she +does more than any of us for the sick little thing." + +Vinnie turned to the lounge, where Cecie, with the baby in her arms, lay +smiling with bright, moist eyes upon the new-comer. She bent over and +kissed them both; and, at sight of the puny infant,--so pitiful a +contrast to Mrs. Lanman's fair and healthy child,--she felt her heart +contract with grief and her eyes fill. + +Then, as she turned away with an effort at self-control, and looked +about the room, she must have noticed, too, the painful contrast between +Jack's home and this, which was to be hers; and have felt a sinking of +the heart, which it required all her strength and courage to overcome. + +"We are not looking fit to be seen; I know it, Lavinia!" sighed Mrs. +Betterson. "But you'll excuse it--you've already excused so many things +in the past! It seems a dreadful, unnatural thing for _our_ family to be +so--so very--yet don't think we are absolutely reduced, Lavinia. Mr. +Betterson's connections, as everybody knows, are very wealthy and +aristocratic, and they are sure to do something for him soon. This is my +husband, sister Lavinia." And, with a faint simper of satisfaction, she +looked up at a person who just then entered from an adjoining room. + +He was a tall, well-made man, who looked (Vinnie could not help +thinking) quite capable of doing something for himself. He might have +been called fine-looking, but that his fine looks, like his gentility, +of which he made a faded show in his dress and manners, appeared to have +gone somewhat to seed. He greeted Vinnie with polite condescension, said +a few commonplace words, settled his dignified chin in his limp dicky, +which was supported by a high, tight stock (much frayed about the +edges), and went on out of the house. + +"Now you have seen him!" whispered Mrs. Betterson, as if it had been a +great event in Vinnie's life. "Very handsome, and perfectly well-bred, +as you observe. Not at all the kind of man to be neglected by his +family, aristocratic as they are; do you think he is? Yes, my dear +Lavinia," she added, with a sickly smile, "you have seen a real, live +Betterson!" + +These evidences of a foolish pride surviving affliction made poor Vinnie +more heartsick than anything else; and for a moment the brave girl was +almost overcome with discouragement. + +In the meanwhile the real, live Betterson walked out into the yard, +where Jack--who had not cared to follow Vinnie into the house--was +talking with Link. + +"Will you walk in, sir?" And the stately Betterson neck bent slightly in +its stiff stock. + +"No, I thank you," replied Jack. "But I suppose this trunk goes in." + +"Ah! to be sure. Lincoln,"--with a wave of the aristocratic Betterson +hand,--"show the young man where to put the trunk. He can take it to +Cecie's room." + +"I can, can I? That's a privilege!" thought Jack. He was perfectly +willing to be a porter, or anything else, in a good cause; and it was a +delight for him to do Vinnie a service; but why did the noble Betterson +stand there and give directions about the trunk, in that pompous way, +instead of taking hold of one end of it? Jack, who had a lively spirit, +and a tongue of his own, was prompted to say something sarcastic, but he +wisely forbore. + +"I'll place it here for the present," he said, and set the trunk down by +the doorstep. He thought it would be better for him to see Vinnie and +bid her good-by a little later, after the meeting between the sisters +should be well over; so he turned to Link, and asked where his big +brothers were. + +"I d'n' know," said Link; "guess they're down in the lot hunting prairie +hens." + +"Let's go and find 'em," said Jack. + +Both Link and Lion were delighted with this proposal, and they set off +in high glee, boy and dog capering at each side of the more steady-going +Jack. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +WHY JACK DID NOT FIRE AT THE PRAIRIE CHICKEN. + + +"A well?" said Jack, as they passed a curb behind the house. "I thought +you had to go to the spring for water." + +"So we do," said Link. + +"Why don't you use the well?" + +"I d'n' know; 't ain't good for anything. 'T ain't deep enough." + +"Why wasn't it dug deeper?" + +"I d'n' know; father got out of patience, I guess, or out of money. 'T +was a wet time, and the water came into it, so they stunned it up; and +now it's dry all summer." + +They passed a field on the sunny slope, and Jack said, "What's here?" + +"I d'n' know; _'t was_ potatoes, but it's run all to weeds." + +"Why didn't you hoe them?" + +"I d'n' know; folks kind o' neglected 'em, till 't was too late." + +Beyond the potatoes was another crop, which the weeds, tall as they +were, could not hide. + +"Corn?" said Jack. + +"Meant for corn," replied Link. "But the cattle and hogs have been in +it, and trampled down the rows." + +"I should think so! They look like the last rows of summer!" Jack said. +"Why don't you keep the cattle and hogs out?" + +"I d'n' know; 't ain't much of a fence; hogs run under and cattle jump +over." + +"Plenty of timber close by,--why don't your folks make a better fence?" + +"I d'n' know; they don't seem to take a notion." + +Jack noticed that the river was quite near, and asked if there was good +boating. + +"I d'n' know,--pretty good, only when the water's too low." + +"Do you keep a boat?" + +"Not exactly,--we never had one of our own," said Link. "But one came +floating down the river, and the boys nabbed that. A fust-rate boat, +only it leaked like a sieve." + +"Leaked? Doesn't it leak now?" + +"No?" said Link, stoutly. "They hauled it up, and last winter they +worked on it, odd spells, and now it don't leak a drop." + +Jack was surprised to hear of so much enterprise in the Betterson +family, and asked,-- + +"Stopped all the leaks in the old boat! They puttied and painted it, I +suppose?" + +"No, they didn't." + +"Calked and pitched it, then?" + +"No, they didn't." + +"What did they do to it?" + +"Made kindling-wood of it," said Link, laughing, and hitching up his one +suspender. + +Jack laughed too, and changed the subject. + +"Is that one of your brothers with a gun?" + +"That's Wad; Rufe is down on the grass." + +"What sort of a crop is that,--buckwheat?" + +Link grinned. "There's something funny about that! Ye see, a +buckwheat-lot is a great place for prairie hens. So one day I took the +old gun, and the powder and shot you gave me for carrying you home that +night, and went in, and scared up five or six, and fired at 'em, but I +didn't hit any. Wad came along and yelled at me. 'Don't you know any +better 'n to be trampling down the buckwheat?' says he. 'Out of there, +quicker!' And he took the gun away from me. But he'd seen one of the +hens I started light again on the edge of the buckwheat; so he went in +to find her. 'You're trampling the buckwheat yourself!' says I. 'No, I +ain't,' says he,--'I step between the spears; and I'm coming out in a +minute.' He stayed in, though, about an hour, and went all over the +patch, and shot two prairie chickens. Then Rufe came along, and he was +mad enough, 'cause Wad was treading down the buckwheat. 'Come out of +that!' says he, 'or I'll go in after ye, and put that gun where you +won't see it again.' So Wad came out; and the sight of his chickens made +Rufe's eyes shine. 'Did ye shoot _them_ in the buckwheat?' says he. +'Yes,' says Wad; 'and I could shoot plenty more; the patch is full of +'em.' Rufe said he wanted the gun to go and shoot ducks with, on the +river; but he didn't find any ducks, and coming along back he thought he +would try _his_ luck in the buckwheat,--treading between the spears! He +had shot three prairie chickens, when father came along, and scolded +him, and made him come out. 'I've heard you fire twenty times,' says +father; 'you're wasting powder and ruining the crop. Let _me_ take the +gun.' 'But _you_ mustn't ruin the crop,' says Rufe. Father's a splendid +shot,--can drop a bird every time,--only he don't like to go hunting +very often. He thought 't would pay for _him_ to go through the patch +_once_; besides, he said, if the birds were getting the buckwheat, we +might as well get the birds. He thought _he_ could tread between the +spears! Well, since then," said Link, "we've just made a hunting-ground +of that patch, always treading between the spears till lately; now it's +got so trampled it never'll pay to cut it; so we just put it through. +See that hen!" + +There was a sound of whirring wings,--a flash, a loud report, a curl of +smoke,--a broken-winged grouse shooting down aslant into the buckwheat, +and a young hunter running to the spot. + +"That's the way he does it," said Rufe, getting up from the grass. + +He greeted Jack good-naturedly, inquired about Snowfoot, heard with +surprise of Vinnie's arrival, and finally asked if Jack would like to +try his hand at a shot. + +"I should," replied Jack, "if it wasn't for treading down your +buckwheat." + +"That's past caring for," said Rufe, with a laugh. "Here, Wad, bring us +the gun." + +"Is that your land the other side of the fence?" Jack asked. + +"That lot belongs to old Peakslow," said Rufe, speaking the name with +great contempt. "And he pretends to claim a big strip this side too. +That's what caused the feud between our families." + +"He hates you pretty well, I should judge," replied Jack; and he told +the story, as Vinnie had told it to him, of her encounter with Peakslow +on the deck of the schooner. + +"He's the ugliest man!" Rufe declared, reddening angrily. "You may thank +your stars you've nothing to do with him. Now take the gun,"--Wad had by +this time brought it,--"go through to the fence and back, and be ready +to fire the moment a bird rises. Keep your dog back, and look out and +not hit one of Peakslow's horses, the other side of the fence." + +"He brought home a new horse from Chicago a day or two ago," said Wad; +"and he's just been out there looking at him and feeling for ringbones. +If he's with him now, and if you _should_ happen to shoot _one_ of 'em, +I hope it won't be the horse!" + +Jack laughed, and started to go through the buckwheat. He had got about +half-way, when a hen rose a few feet from him, at his right. He was not +much accustomed to shooting on the wing; and it is much harder to hit +birds rising suddenly, at random, in that way, than when they are +started by a trained dog. But good luck made up for what he lacked in +skill; and at his fire the hen dropped fluttering in the grass that +bordered the buckwheat. + +[Illustration: SHOT ON THE WING.] + +"I'll pick her up!" cried Link; and he ran to do so; while Wad carried +Jack the powder and shot for another load. + +"But I ought not to use up your ammunition in this way!" Jack protested. + +"I guess you can afford to," replied Wad. "It was mostly bought with +money we sold that fawn-skin for." + +Jack was willing enough to try another shot; and, the piece reloaded, he +resumed his tramp. + +He had nearly reached the fence, when a bird rose between it and him, +and flew over Peakslow's pasture. Jack had brought the gun to his +shoulder, and was about to pull the trigger, when he remembered +Peakslow's horses, and stopped to give a hasty glance over the fence. + +Down went the gun, and Jack stood astonished, the bird forgotten, and +his eyes fixed on an object beyond. + +What Wad said of their neighbor having brought out a new horse from +Chicago, together with what the captain of the Heron said of one of +Peakslow's span being a light roan, rushed through his thoughts. He ran +up to the fence, and looked eagerly over; then gave a shout of joy. + +After all his futile efforts to find him,--chasing about the country, +offering rewards, scattering hand-bills,--there was the lost horse, the +veritable Snowfoot, grazing quietly in the amiable Mr. Peakslow's +pasture! + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +SNOWFOOT'S NEW OWNER. + + +Jack left the gun standing by the fence, leaped over, gave a familiar +whistle, and called, "Come, Snowfoot! Co' jock! co' jock!" + +There were two horses feeding in the pasture, not far apart. But only +one heeded the call, lifted head, pricked up ears, and answered with a +whinny. It was the lost Snowfoot, giving unmistakable signs of pleasure +and recognition, as he advanced to meet his young master. + +Jack threw his arms about the neck of his favorite, and hugged and +patted and I don't know but kissed him; while the Betterson boys went up +to the fence and looked wonderingly over. + +In a little while, as they did not venture to go to him, Jack led +Snowfoot by the forelock up to the rails, which they had climbed for a +better view. + +"Is he your horse?" they kept calling to him. + +"Don't you see?" replied Jack, when he had come near enough to show the +white feet and the scars; and his face gleamed with glad excitement. +"Look! he and the dog know each other!" + +It was not a Betterson, but a Peakslow style of fence, and Lion could +not leap it; but the two animals touched noses, with tokens of friendly +recognition, between the rails. + +"I never expected such luck!" said Jack. "I've not only found my horse, +but I've saved the reward offered." + +"You haven't got him yet," said Rufe. "I guess Peakslow will have +something to say about that." + +"What he says won't make much difference. I've only to prove property, +and take possession. A stolen horse is the owner's, wherever he finds +him. But of course I'll act in a fair and open way in the matter; I'll +go and talk with Peakslow, and if he's a reasonable man--" + +"Reasonable!" interrupted Wad. "He holds a sixpence so near to his eye, +that it looks bigger to him than all the rest of the world; he can't see +reason, nor anything else." + +"I'll make him see it. Will you go and introduce me?" + +"You'd better not have one of our family introduce you, if you want to +get anything out of Dud Peakslow!" said Rufe. "We'll wait here." + +Jack got over the fence, and walked quickly along on the Betterson side +of it, followed by Lion, until he reached the road. A little farther +down was a house; behind the house was a yard; and in the yard was a +swarthy man with a high, hooked nose, pulling a wheel off a wagon, the +axletree of which, on that side, was supported by a propped rail. Close +by was a boy stirring some grease in a pot, with a long stick. + +Jack waited until the man had got the wheel off and rested it against +the wagon; then said,-- + +"Is this Mr. Peakslow?" + +"That happens to be my name," replied the man, scarcely giving his +visitor a glance, as he turned to take the stick out of the grease, and +to rub it on the axletree. + +The boy, on one knee in the dirt, holding the grease-pot to catch the +drippings, looked up and grinned at Jack. + +"I should like a few minutes' talk with you, Mr. Peakslow, when you are +at leisure," said Jack, hardly knowing how to introduce his business. + +"I'm at leisure now, much as I shall be to-day," said Mr. Peakslow with +the air of a man who did not let words interfere with work. "I've got to +grease this wagon, and then harness up and go to haulin'. I haven't had +a hoss that would pull his share of a decent load till now. Tend to what +you're about, Zeph!" + +"I have called to say," remarked Jack as calmly as he could, though his +heart was beating fast, "that there is a horse in your pasture which +belongs to me." + +The man straightened his bent back, and looked blackly at the speaker, +while the grease dripped from the end of the stick. + +"A hoss in my pastur' that belongs to you! What do ye mean by that?" + +"Perhaps you haven't seen this handbill?" And Jack took the printed +description of Snowfoot from his pocket, unfolded it, and handed it to +the astonished Peakslow. + +[Illustration: THE AMIABLE MR. PEAKSLOW.] + +"'Twenty dollars reward,'" he read. "'Stolen from the owner--a light, +reddish roan hoss--white forefeet--scar low down on the near side, jest +behind the shoulder--smaller scar on the off hip.' What's the meanin' of +all this?" he said, glancing at Jack. + +"Isn't it plain enough?" replied Jack, quietly standing his ground. +"That is the description of the stolen horse; the horse is down in your +pasture." + +"Do you mean to say _I_'ve stole your hoss?" demanded Peakslow, his +voice trembling with passion. + +"Not by any means. He may have passed through a dozen hands since the +thief had him. All I know is, he is in your possession now." + +"And what if he is?" + +"Why, naturally a man likes to have what is his own, doesn't he? Suppose +a man steals your horse; you find him after a while in my stable; is he +your horse, or mine?" + +"But how do I know but this is a conspyracy to cheat me out of a hoss?" +retorted Peakslow, looking again at the handbill, with a terrible frown. +"It may have all been cut and dried aforehand. You've your trap sot, +and, soon as ever the animal is in my hands, ye spring it. How do I know +the hoss is yourn, even if ye have got a description of him? Anybody can +make a description of anybody's hoss, and then go and claim him. +Besides, how happens it a boy like you owns a hoss, anyway?" + +In a few words Jack told his story, accounting at once for his +ownership, and for the scars on the horse's side and hip. + +"There are two other scars I can show you, under his belly. I didn't +mention them in the handbill, because they are not noticeable, unless +one is looking for them." + +"Ye may show me scars all over him, fur's I know," was Peakslow's reply +to this argument. "That may prove that he's been hurt by suth'n or +other,--elephant, or not; but it don't prove you ever owned him." + +"I can satisfy you with regard to that," said Jack, confidently. "Do you +object to going down with me and looking at him?" + +"Not in the least, only wait till I git this wheel on. Ye may go and +_see_ the hoss in my presence, but ye can't _take_ the hoss, without I'm +satisfied you've the best right to him." + +"That's all I ask, Mr. Peakslow; I want only what belongs to me. If you +are a loser, you must look for redress to the man who sold you my +property; and he must go back on the next man." + +"How's that?" put in Zeph, grinning over his grease-pot. "Pa thinks he's +got a good deal better hoss than he put away; and you ain't agoin' to +crowd him out of a good bargain, I bet!" + +"Hold your tongue!" growled Peakslow. "I can fight my own battles, +without any of your tongue. I put away a pooty good hoss, and I gin +fifteen dollars to boot." + +"What man did you trade with?" Jack inquired. + +"A truckman in Chicago. He liked my hoss, and I liked hisn, and we +swapped. He wanted twenty dollars, I offered him ten, and we split the +difference. He won't want to give me back my hoss and my money, now; and +ye can't blame him. And the next man won't want to satisfy _him_. Grant +the hoss is stole, for the sake of the argyment," said Peakslow. "I +maintain that when an animal that's been stole, and sold, and traded, +finally gits into an honest man's hands, it's right he should stay +there." + +"Even if it's your horse, and the honest man who gets him is your +neighbor?" queried Jack. + +"I do'no'--wal--yes!" said Peakslow. "It's a hard case, but no harder +one way than t' other." + +"But the law looks at it in only one way," replied Jack. "And with +reason. Men must be careful how they deal with thieves or get hold of +stolen property. How happens it that you, Mr. Peakslow, didn't know that +such a horse had been stolen? Some of your neighbors knew it very well." + +"Some of my neighbors I don't have nothin' to say to," answered +Peakslow, gruffly. "If you mean the Bettersons, they're a pack of +thieves and robbers themselves, and I don't swap words with none of 'em, +without 't is to tell 'em my mind; that I do, when I have a chance." + +"You use pretty strong language when you call them thieves and robbers, +Mr. Peakslow." + +"Strong or not, it's the truth. Hain't they cheated me out o' the best +part of my farm?" + +"The Bettersons--cheated you!" exclaimed Jack. + +They were now on the way to the pasture; and Peakslow, in a sort of +lurid excitement, pointed to the boundary fence. + +"My line, by right, runs five or six rod t' other side. I took up my +claim here, and Betterson bought hisn, 'fore ever the guv'ment survey +run through. That survey fixed my line 'way over yender in their +cornfield. And there I claim it belongs, to this day." + +"But, Mr. Peakslow, how does it happen that a man like Mr. Betterson has +been able to rob a man like _you_,--take a part of your farm before your +very eyes? He is a rather slack, easy man; while you, if I'm not greatly +mistaken, are in the habit of standing up for your rights." + +"I can gin'ly look out for myself," said Peakslow. "And don't suppose +that Lord Betterson took me down and put his hands in my pockets, +alone." + +"Nine men, with masks on," cried Zeph, "come to our house one night, and +told pa they'd jest tear his ruf right down over his head, and drive him +out of the county, if he didn't sign a deed givin' Betterson that land." + +"Hold your yawp, Zeph!" muttered Peakslow. "I can tell my own story. +There was nine of 'em, all armed, and what could I do?" + +"This is a most extraordinary story!" exclaimed Jack. "Did you sign the +deed?" + +"I couldn't help myself," said Peakslow. + +"It seems to me I _would_ have helped myself, if the land was +rightfully mine!" cried Jack. "They _might_ tear my house down,--they +_might_ try to drive me out of the county,--I don't believe I would deed +away my land, just because they threatened me, and I was afraid." + +"It's easy to talk that way," Peakslow replied. "But, come case in +hand,--the loaded muzzles in your face,--you'd change your mind." + +"Didn't they pay for the land they took?" + +"Barely nothin'; jest the guv'ment price; dollar 'n' a quarter an acre. +But jest look at that land to-day,--the best in the State,--wuth twenty +dollars an acre, if 't is a cent." + +"What was Betterson's claim?" Jack asked; "for men don't often do such +things without some sort of excuse." + +"They hild that though the survey gin me the land, it was some Betterson +had supposed belonged to his purchase. Meanwhile he had j'ined a +land-claim society, where the members all agreed to stand by one +another; and that was the reason o' their takin' sich high-handed +measures with me." + +Jack was inclined to cross-question Peakslow, and sift a little this +astonishing charge against Betterson and the land-claim society. But +they had now reached the pasture bars, and the question relating to the +ownership of the horse was to be settled. + +The Betterson boys were still sitting on the fence, where Jack had left +them; but Snowfoot had returned to his grazing. + +"Call him," said Jack. "If he doesn't come for you, then see if he will +come for me." + +Peakslow grumblingly declined the test. + +"He doesn't always come when I call him," said Jack. "I'll show you what +I do then. Here, Lion!" + +He took from his pocket an ear of corn he had picked by the way, placed +one end of it between the dog's jaws, saying, "Bring Snowfoot, Lion! +bring Snowfoot!" and let him through the bars. + +Lion trotted into the pasture, trotted straight up to the right horse, +coaxed and coquetted with him for a minute, and then trotted back. +Snowfoot followed, leering and nipping, and trying to get the ear of +corn. + +Lion brought the ear to Jack, and Jack gave it to Snowfoot, taking him +at the same time by the forelock. + +"What do you think of that?" he said, looking round in triumph at +Peakslow. + +"I don't see as it's anything to make sich a fuss over," said Peakslow, +looking angrily across at the spectators on the boundary fence, as they +cheered the success of the man[oe]uvre. "It shows you've larnt your dog +tricks,--nothin' more. 'Most any hoss would foller an ear of corn that +way." + +"Why didn't your hoss follow it?" + +"The dog didn't go for my hoss." + +"Why didn't he go for your horse, as soon as for mine?" urged Jack. + +To which Peakslow could only reply,-- + +"Ye needn't let down the top bar; ye can't take that hoss through! I +traded for him, and paid boot, and you've got to bring better evidence +than your say-so, or a dog's trick, 'fore I give up my claim." + +"I'll bring you evidence," said Jack, turning away in no little +impatience and disgust. + +He hastened back to Mr. Betterson's house, and was met by the boys as he +came into the yard. + +"What did I tell you?" said Rufe. "Couldn't get him, could you?" + +"No, but I will!" replied Jack, untying the horse, which he had left +hitched to an oak-tree. "I'm going for a witness." He backed the wagon +around. "Get in, if you like,"--to Rufus. + +Rufus did like; and the two rode off together, to the great +dissatisfaction of Wad and Link, who also wanted to go and see the fun. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +GOING FOR A WITNESS. + + +"Did Peakslow say anything to you about our folks?" Rufe asked. + +"I rather think he did!" said Jack; and he repeated the story of the +land robbery. + +Rufe showed his contempt for it by a scornful laugh. "I'll tell you just +what there is in it; and it will show you the sort of man you have to +deal with. We haven't an inch of his land. Do you think father is a man +to crowd a neighbor?" + +"And a neighbor like Peakslow! That's just what I told him," said Jack. + +"You see," said Rufe, "these claims through here were all taken up +before the government survey. Most of the settlers were decent men; and +they knew that when the survey came to be made, there would be trouble +about the boundaries, if they didn't take measures beforehand to prevent +it. So they formed a society to protect each other against squatters and +claim-jumpers, and particularly to settle disputed boundary questions +between themselves. They all signed a paper, agreeing to 'deed and +redeed,'--that is, if your land adjoined mine, and the government survey +didn't correspond with our lines, but gave you, for instance, a part of +the land I had improved, then you agreed to redeed that part to me, for +the government price; just as I agreed to redeed to my neighbors what +the survey might give me of their claims." + +"I understand," said Jack. + +"Well, father and almost everybody in the county joined the society; but +there were some who didn't. Peakslow was one." + +"What were his objections?" + +"He couldn't give any good ones. All he would say was, 'I'll see; I'll +think about it.' He was just waiting to see if there was any advantage +to be gained over his neighbors by _not_ joining with them. Finally, the +survey came through; and the men run what they called a 'random line,' +which everybody thought, at first, was the true line. According to that, +the survey would have given us a big strip of Peakslow's farm, including +his house and barn. That frightened him. He came over, and shook his +fist in father's face, and threatened I don't know what, if he took the +land. + +"'You really think I ought to redeed to you all your side of our old +line?' says father. + +"'Of course I do!' says Peakslow. 'It's mine; you never claimed it; and +I'll shoot the fust man who sets foot on 't, to take it away from me.' + +"'Then,' says father, 'why don't you join the society, and sign the +agreement to redeed, with the rest of us? That will save trouble.' + +"So Peakslow rushed off in a fearful hurry, and put his name to the +paper. Then--what do you think? The surveyors, in a few days, run the +correct line, and that gave Peakslow a strip of _our_ farm." + +"Capital!" laughed Jack. + +"It wasn't capital for us! He was then, if you will believe it, more +excited than when the boot seemed to be on the other leg. He vowed that +the random line was a mere pretence to get him to sign the agreement; +that it was all a fraud, which he never would submit to; that he +wouldn't redeed, but that he would have what the survey gave him. That's +the kind of man he is," added Rufus. + +"But he did redeed?" + +"Yes, in some such way as he told you. The dispute came before the +society for arbitration, and of course the decision was in father's +favor. But Peakslow still held out, and talked of shooting and all that +sort of thing, till the society got tired of his nonsense. So, one +night, nine men did give him a call; they had called on a claim-jumper +down the river a few nights before, and made kindling-wood of his +shanty; Peakslow knew it, and knew they were not men to be trifled with. +They told him that if he expected to live in the county, he must sign +the deed. And he signed it. My father wasn't one of the men, but +Peakslow turned all his spite against him." + +"He imagines he has been wronged," said Jack. + +"I suppose so, for he is one of that kind who never can see any side to +a quarrel but their own. The land is growing more valuable every year; +he covets it accordingly, and so the ferment in his mind is kept up. Of +course," Rufe confessed, "we have done, or neglected to do, a good many +things which have kept adding fuel to the fire; for it's impossible to +live peaceably alongside of such a selfish, passionate, unreasonable +neighbor. We boys have taken up the quarrel, and now I owe that Zeph a +cudgelling, for hurting Cecie." + +"How did he hurt her?" + +"We had a swing up in the woods. The Peakslows are always interfering in +our affairs, and, one day, when Link and the girls went to swing, they +found a couple of little Peakslows there. Link drove 'em away, and they +went off bellowing to their big brothers. In a little while Zeph came +along, when Cecie happened to be in the swing; and he pushed her so hard +that she fell out." + +"I shouldn't think cudgelling him would give you much satisfaction," +said Jack. "It was a dreadful thing to happen! But did he intend it?" + +"I don't think he is sorry for it. Father went to see Mr. Peakslow about +it; but he got nothing but abuse from him. What do you think he said? +'The swing,' says he, 'is on a part of the land you robbed me of; if you +had gin me what the guv'ment survey did, then your children wouldn't +have been there, and the thing wouldn't have occurred.' That is the man +who has got your horse." + +Meanwhile, they had driven past Peakslow's house, proceeding down the +river road; and now once more Jack reined up before old Wiggett's cabin. + +At the sight of the wagon approaching three or four half-naked little +barbarians ran into the house, like wild creatures into their hole, +giving an alarm which brought out old Wiggett himself, stooping through +the low doorway. + +"Mr. Wiggett, do you remember me?" said Jack. + +"Wal, I reckon!" said the old man, advancing to the wagon, reaching up, +and giving Jack's hand a hearty shake. "You're the young chap that found +my section corner." + +"And do you remember my horse?" + +"I 'low I oughter; for your elephant story, and the scars you showed me, +was drea'ful curi's. I heard the hoss was stole." + +"He _was_ stolen. But I have found him; and I want you to go with me and +identify him, if you will be so good. Mr. Peakslow has him." + +"Peakslow?" said the old man, with a dubious shake of the head. "It's +nigh about the easiest thing in the world to git into trouble with Dud +Peakslow. I gener'ly go my way, and let Peakslow go hisn, and waste few +words on him. But I don't mind gwine with ye, if ye say so. How did +Peakslow come by him?" + +Jack told the story, whilst driving back to Peakslow's house. There he +left Rufus in the wagon, and walked on with Mr. Wiggett into the +barnyard. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +PEAKSLOW GETS A QUIRK IN HIS HEAD. + + +Peakslow had finished greasing his wheels, and was about harnessing a +pair of horses which Zeph held by their halters at the door of a +log-stable. One of the horses was Snowfoot. + +"Please wait a minute, Mr. Peakslow," said Jack, turning pale at the +sight. "I've brought a witness to prove my property." + +Peakslow looked at his neighbor Wiggett, and gave a grunt. + +"So you've come to interfere in this business, hey?" + +Mr. Wiggett made no reply, but walked up to Snowfoot, stroked his sides, +examined the scars, looked at him before and behind, and nodded slowly +several times. Then he spoke. + +"I hain't come over to interfere in nobody's business, Mr. Peakslow. But +I happen to know this yer young man; and I know this yer hoss. At his +request, I've come over to say so. I could pick out that animal, and +sw'ar to him, among ten thousan'." + +"What can you swear to?" Peakslow demanded, poising a harness. + +"I can sw'ar this is the hoss the young man druv the day he come over to +find my section corner." + +"That all?" + +"Isn't that enough?" said Jack. + +"No!" said Peakslow, and threw the rattling harness upon Snowfoot's +back. "It don't prove the hoss belonged to you, if ye did drive him. +And, even though he did belong to you, it don't prove but what ye sold +him arterward, and then pretended he was stole, to cheat some honest man +out of his prop'ty. Hurry up, boy! buckle them hames." And he went to +throw on the other harness. + +Jack stepped in Zeph's way. "This is my horse, and I've a word to say +about buckling those hames." + +"Ye mean to hender my work?" roared Peakslow, turning upon him. "Ye mean +to git me mad?" + +Jack had before been hardly able to speak, for his rising wrath and +beating heart; but he was now getting control of himself. + +"I don't see the need of anybody's getting mad, Mr. Peakslow. There's a +right and a wrong in this case; and if we both want the right, we shall +agree." + +"Every man has his own way o' lookin' at the right," said Peakslow, +slightly mollified. "The right, to your notion, is that I shall give ye +up the hoss. I've got possession of the hoss, and I mean to keep +possession; and that's what's about right, to my notion." + +"I want only what is lawfully my own," Jack answered, firmly. "If you +want what isn't yours, that's _not_ right, but wrong. There's such a +thing as justice, aside from our personal interest in a matter." + +Probably Peakslow had never thought of that. + +"Wal, what ye goin' to do about it?" he asked. + +"I am going to have my horse," replied Jack. "If you let me take him +peaceably, very well. If you compel me to go to law, I shall have him +all the same, and you will have the costs to pay." + +Peakslow winced. The threat of costs touched him in his tenderest spot. + +"How's that?" he anxiously asked. + +"I haven't been about the country looking for my horse, without knowing +something of the law for the recovery of stolen property," replied Jack. +"If I find him in your hands, and you give him up, I've no action +against you. If you hold on to him, I can do one of two things. I can go +to a magistrate, and by giving bonds to an amount that will cover all +damages to you or anybody else if I fail to make good my claim, get out +a _writ of replevin_, and send a sheriff with it to take the horse. Or I +can let you keep him, and sue you for damages. In either case, the one +who is beaten will have the costs to pay," Jack insisted, turning the +screw again where he saw it pinch. + +The swarthy brow was covered with perspiration, as Peakslow answered, +making a show of bluster,-- + +"I can fight ye with the law, or any other way, 's long's you want to +fight. I've got money. Ye can't scare me with your sheriffs and writs. +But jest look at it. I'm to be throwed out of a hoss at a busy time o' +year. _You_ wouldn't like that, Mr. Wiggett--you nor nobody else." + +"No," said Mr. Wiggett, who stood looking on in an impartial way, "it +moutn't feel good, I allow. And it don't seem like it would feel much +better, to have to stan' by and see a hoss that was stole from me, bein' +worked by a neighbor. This yer young man tells a straightfor'ard story, +and there's no doubt of its bein' his hoss. You've no doubt on't in your +own mind, Dudley Peakslow. If he goes to law, he'll bring his +proofs,--he's got friends to back him,--and you'll lose. Then why not +come to a right understanding and save right smart o' trouble and cost. +I 'low that'll be best for both." + +"Wal, what's your idee of a right understandin'?" said Peakslow, flushed +and troubled, turning to Jack. "_My_ hoss is in Chicago--that is, if +_this_ hoss ain't mine. I might go in and see about gittin' on him back, +but I don't want to spend the time, 'thout I can take in a little jag o' +stuff; and how can I do that, if you break up my team?" + +"Mr. Peakslow," replied Jack, quickly making up his mind what he would +do, "while I ask for my rights, I don't wish to put you or any man to an +inconvenience." He took Snowfoot by the bridle. "Here is my horse; and, +with Mr. Wiggett for a witness, I make you this offer: you may keep him +one week, and do any light work with him you please. You may drive him +to Chicago, and use him in recovering your horse from the truckman. But +mind, you are to be responsible for him, and bring him back with you. Is +that a fair proposal?" + +"Wal, I do'no' but what 't is; I'll think on 't." + +"I want you to say now, in Mr. Wiggett's presence, whether you accept +it." + +"I'll agree to bring him back; but I do'no' 'bout deliverin' on him up +to you," said Peakslow. + +"Leave it so, then," replied Jack, with a confident smile. "I call you +to witness, Mr. Wiggett, that the horse is in my possession now" (he +still held Snowfoot by the bridle), "and that I lend him to Mr. +Peakslow. Now you can buckle the hames, Zeph," letting go the bridle, +and stepping back. + +"Gi' me a copy o' that handbill," said Peakslow. "I shall want that, and +I ought to have a witness besides, to make the truckman hear to reason." + +"If he happens to be an unreasonable man," said Jack, with a smile, "you +have the same remedy which I have,--a suit for damages. I don't believe +he will wait for that. I'll see you in one week. Good-day, Mr. +Peakslow." + +"Looks like you was takin' a big resk, to let him drive the hoss to +Chicago," Mr. Wiggett remarked confidentially, following Jack out of the +yard. + +"I don't see that it is," Jack replied, wiping the sweat from his +forehead. "I didn't wish to be hard on him. It does men good, sometimes, +to trust them." + +"Mabbe. But Dud Peakslow ain't like no other man ye ever see. He's got +some quirk in his head, or he never'd have agreed to be responsible for +the hoss and bring him back; ye may bet on that. He means to take some +advantage. Now I'm interested in the case, and I shall hate to see you +swindled." + +Jack thanked the old man warmly; but he failed to see what advantage +Peakslow could hope to gain. + +"I know him a heap better 'n you dew," said Mr. Wiggett. "Now, it struck +me, when he said he might need a witness, I'd offer to go with him to +Chicago. I could help him with the truckman, and mabbe find out what new +trick he's up tew. Anyhow, I could look arter your hoss a little." + +"That would oblige me ever so much!" exclaimed Jack. "But I see no +reason why you should take that trouble for me." + +"I take a notion tew ye, in the fust place. Next place, I've been gwine +to Chicago for the past tew weeks, but couldn't somehow git started. +Now, banged if I won't go in with Peakslow!" + +Having parted with Jack, the old man returned to propose the arrangement +to his neighbor. He was just in time to hear Peakslow say to his son,-- + +"I see a twist in this matter 't he don't, shrewd as he thinks he is. If +I lose a good bargain, I'm bound to make it up 'fore ever this hoss goes +out of my hands. You ag'in, Wiggett?" + +It was Mr. Wiggett, who concluded that he was quite right in saying that +Peakslow had a quirk in his head. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +VINNIE MAKES A BEGINNING. + + +Vinnie learned only too soon why Jack had dreaded so much to have her +enter the Betterson household; and, in a momentary depression of +spirits, she asked herself whether, if she had known all she was +undertaking, she would not have shrunk from it. + +The sight of the sick ones, the mother enfeebled in mind as well as in +body, Lord Betterson pompous and complacent in the midst of so much +misery, little Lill alone making headway against a deluge of +disorder,--all this filled her with distress and dismay. + +She could think of no relief but in action. + +"I shall stifle," thought she, "unless I go to work at once, setting +things to rights." + +And the thought of helping others cheered herself. + +She needed something from her trunk. That was at the door, just where +Jack had left it. She went out, and found that Chokie had changed his +mind with regard to digging a well, and was building a pyramid, using +the door-yard sand for his material, a shingle for a shovel, and the +trunk for a foundation. + +"Why, Chokie!" she said; "what are you doing?" + +"I makin' a Fourth-of-Duly," replied Chokie, flourishing his shingle. +"After I dit it about twice as bid as the house, I doin' to put some +powder in it, and tout'th it off." + +"O dear!" said Vinnie; "I'm afraid you'll blow my trunk to pieces; and I +must have my trunk now!" + +"I doin' to blow it to pieces, and you tan't have it," cried Chokie, +stoutly. + +"But I've something for you in it," said Vinnie, "and we never can get +it for you, if you touch off your Fourth-of-July on it." + +"O, wal, you may dit it." And he began to shovel the sand off, throwing +it into his clothing, into the house, and some into Vinnie's eyes. + +Lord Betterson, who was walking leisurely about his castle, now came +forward, and, seeing Vinnie in some distress, inquired, in his lofty +way, if he could do anything for her. + +"If you please," she replied, laughing, as she brushed the sand away +from her eyes, "I should like to have this trunk carried in." + +Betterson drew himself up with dignified surprise; for he had not meant +to proffer any such menial service. Vinnie perceived the little mistake +she had made; but she was not so overpoweringly impressed by his +nobility as to think that an apology was due. She even permitted herself +to be amused; and, retiring behind the sand in her eyes, which she made +a great show of winking and laughing away, she waited to see what he +would do. + +He looked around, and coughed uncomfortably. + +"Where are the boys?" he asked. "This--hem--is very awkward. I don't +know why the trunk was left here; I directed that it should be taken to +Cecie's room."-- + +Vinnie mischievously resolved that the noble Betterson back should bend +beneath that burden. + +"It is quite light," she said. "If you want help, I can lift one end of +it." + +The implication that it was not greatness of character, but weakness of +body, which kept him above such service, touched my lord. As she, at the +same time, actually laid hold of one handle, he waived her off, with +ostentatious gallantry. + +"Permit me!" And, with a smile of condescension, which seemed to say, +"The Bettersons are not used to this sort of thing; but they can always +be polite to the ladies," he took up the trunk by both handles, and went +politely _backward_ with it into the house, a performance at which Jack +would have smiled. I say _performance_ advisedly, for Betterson showed +by his bearing, lofty and magnificent even under the burden, that this +was not an ordinary act of an ordinary man. + +Having set down the trunk in its place, he brushed his fingers with a +soiled handkerchief, and retired, exceedingly flushed and puffy in his +tight stock. + +Vinnie thanked him with charming simplicity; while Cecie, on her lounge, +laughed slyly, and Mrs. Betterson looked amazed. + +"Why, Lavinia! how did you ever dare?" + +"Dare what?" + +"To ask Mr. Betterson to carry your trunk?" + +[Illustration: VINNIE'S STRATAGEM.] + +"Why not?" said Vinnie, with round eyes. + +"A gentleman like him! and a Betterson!" replied Caroline, in a whisper +of astonishment and awe. + +"Who should have done it?" said Vinnie, trying hard to see the enormity +of her offence. "I couldn't very well do it alone; I am sure you +couldn't have helped me; and my friend who brought me over, he has done +so much for me already that I should have been ashamed to ask him. +Besides, he is not here, and I wanted the trunk. Mr. Betterson seems +very strong. Has he the rheumatism?" + +"O Lavinia! Lavinia!"--and Caroline wrapped her red shawl despairingly +about her. "But you will understand Mr. Betterson better by and by. You +are quite excusable now. Arthur, dear! what do you want?" + +"In her trunt, what she's doin' to dive me, I want it," said the boy, +invading the house for that purpose. + +"Yes, you shall have it," cried Vinnie, skilfully giving his nose a wipe +behind the mother's back (it needed it sadly). "But is your name Arthur? +I thought they called you Chokie." + +"Chokie is the nickname for Arthur," Lill explained. + +Vinnie did not understand how that could be. + +"It is the boys' invention; they are full of their nonsense," said +Caroline, with a sorrowful head-shake. "It was first Arthur, then Artie, +then Artichoke, then Chokie,--you see?" + +Vinnie laughed, while her sister went on, in complaining accents,-- + +"I tell them such things are beneath the dignity of our family; but they +will have their fun." + +Vinnie took from her trunk a barking dog and a candy meeting-house, +which made Chokie forget all about his threatened Fourth-of-July. She +also had a pretty worsted scarf of many colors for Lill, and a copy of +Mrs. Hemans's Poems--popular in those days--for Cecie. + +"For you, sister Caroline," she added, laughing, "I have +brought--myself." + +"This book is beautiful, and I love poetry so much!" said Cecie, with +eyes full of love and gratitude. "But you have brought mother the best +present." + +"O, you don't know about that!" replied Vinnie. + +"Yes, I do," said Cecie, with a smile which seemed to tremble on the +verge of tears. And she whispered, as Vinnie bent down and kissed her, +"I love you already; we shall all love you so much!" + +"Dear Cecie!" murmured Vinnie in the little invalid's ear, "that pays me +for coming. I am glad I am here, if only for your sake." + +"I dot the bestest pwesents," cried Chokie, sitting on the floor with +his treasures. "Don't tome here, Lill; my dod will bite!" He made the +little toy squeak violently. "He barks at folks doin' to meetin'. Dim me +some pins." + +"What do you want of pins?" Vinnie asked, taking some from her dress. + +"To make mans and womans doin' to meetin'. One dood bid black pin for +the minister," said Chokie. + +Vinnie helped him stick up the pins in the floor, and even found the +required big black one to head the procession. Then she pointed out the +extraordinary fact of the dog being so much larger than the entire +congregation; at which even the sad Caroline smiled, over her sick babe. +Chokie, however, gloried in the superior size and prowess of the +formidable monster. + +Lill was delighted with her scarf,--all the more so when she learned +that it had been wrought by Vinnie's own hand. + +"O Aunt Vinnie!" said Cecie; "will you teach me to do such work? I +should enjoy it so much--lying here!" + +"With the greatest pleasure, my dear!" exclaimed Vinnie, her heart +brimming with hope and joy at sight of the simple happiness her coming +had brought. + +She then hastened to put on a household dress; while Cecie looked at her +book, and Lill sported her scarf, and Chokie earned himself a new +nickname,--that of Big-Bellied Ben,--by making a feast of his +meeting-house, beginning with the steeple. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +VINNIE'S NEW BROOM. + + +Returning from his interview with Mr. Peakslow, Jack drove up on the +roadside before the "castle," asked Rufe to hold the horse a minute, and +ran to the door to bid Vinnie good by. + +"Here, Link!" Rufe called, "stand by this horse!" + +"I can't," answered Link from the wood-pile, "I've got to get some wood, +to make a fire, to heat some water, to dip the chickens, to loosen their +feathers, and then to cook 'em for dinner." + +"Never mind the wood and the chickens and feathers! Come along!" + +"I guess I _will_ mind, and I guess I _won't_ come along, for you, or +anybody, for _she_ asked me to." + +"She? Who?" + +"Aunt Vinnie; and, I tell you, she's real slick." And Link slashed away +at the wood with an axe; for that was the Betterson style,--to saw and +split the sticks only as the immediate necessities of the house +required. + +Rufe might have hitched the horse, but he was not a fellow to give +himself any trouble that could well be avoided; and just then he saw Wad +coming out of the yard with two pails. + +Wad, being cordially invited to stay and hold the horse, also declined, +except on condition that Rufe should himself go at once to the spring +for water. + +"Seems to me you're in a terrible pucker for water!" said Rufe. "Two +pails? what's the row, Wad?" For it was the time-honored custom of the +boys to put off going for water as long as human patience could endure +without it, and never, except in great emergencies, to take two pails. + +"_She_ asked me to, and of course I'd go for _her_," said Wad. "She has +gone into that old kitchen, and, I tell you, she'll make things buzz!" + +Meanwhile Jack had gone straight to the said kitchen,--much to Mrs. +Betterson's dismay,--and found Vinnie in a neat brown dress, with apron +on and sleeves pinned up. He thought he had never seen her look so +bright and beautiful. + +"At work so soon!" he exclaimed. + +"The sooner the better," she replied. "Don't look around you; my sister +is sick, you know." + +"I won't hinder you a minute," Jack said. "I just ran in to tell you the +good news about my horse,--though I suppose you've heard that from the +boys,--and to say good by,--and one word more!" lowering his voice. "If +anything happens,--if it isn't pleasant for you to be here, you +know,--there is a home at Mrs. Lanman's; it will be always waiting for +you." + +"I thank you and Mrs. Lanman very much!" said Vinnie, with a trembling +lip. "But I mean to _make_ things pleasant here," a smile breaking +through the momentary trouble of her face. + +Jack declined an urgent invitation to stay and see what sort of a dinner +she could get. + +"By the way," he whispered, as she followed him to the door, "who +carried in that trunk?" When she told him, he was hugely delighted. "You +will get along! Here comes Rufe. Rufus, this is your Aunt Vinnie." + +Rufus (who had finally got Chokie to hold the horse's halter) blushed to +the roots of his hair at meeting his relative, and finding her so very +youthful (I think it has already been said that the aunt was younger +than the nephew), and altogether so fresh and charming in her apron and +pinned-up sleeves. + +She smilingly gave him her hand, which he took rather awkwardly, and +said,-- + +"How d' 'e do, Aunt Lavinia. I suppose I must call you _aunt_." + +"Call me just Vinnie; the idea of my being _aunt_ to young men like +you!" + +There was a little constraint on both sides, which Link relieved by +pushing between them with a big armful of wood. + +"Well, good by," said Jack. "She will need a little looking after, +Rufus; see that she doesn't work too hard." + +"_You_ are not going to work hard for _us_!" said Rufus, with some +feeling, after Jack was gone. + +"That depends," Vinnie replied. "_You_ can make things easy for me, as I +am sure you will." + +"Of course; just let me know if they don't go right. Call on Link or Wad +for anything; make 'em stand round." + +Vinnie smiled at Rufe's willingness to have his brothers brought into +the line of discipline. + +"They are both helping me now. But I find there are no potatoes in the +house, and I've been wondering who would get them. Lill says they are to +be dug in the field, and that she digs them sometimes; but that seems +too bad!" + +"That's when Wad and Link--there's no need of _her_--I don't believe in +girls digging potatoes!" Rufe stammered. + +"O, but you know," cried Lill, "sometimes we shouldn't have any potatoes +for dinner if I didn't go and dig them! I don't care, only it's such +hard work!" + +Vinnie looked admiringly at the bright, brave little girl. Rufe colored +redder than ever, and said,-- + +"Don't _you_, now, do such a thing! Only let me know in season what's +wanted; I'll be after those boys with a sharp stick!" + +Vinnie couldn't help laughing. + +"So, when we're going to want a handful of wood, a pail of water, or a +basket of potatoes, I am to go for you, and you will go for the boys, +and drive them up with your sharp stick! I don't think I shall like +that. Wouldn't it be better for you to see that there are always +potatoes in the bin, and wood in the box, and other things on hand that +you know will be needed?" + +It was perhaps quite as much her winning way as the good sense of this +appeal which made it irresistible. + +"Of course it would be better! I'll get you a basket of potatoes now, +and some green corn, and I'll look out for the water and wood." + +"O, thank you!" said Vinnie. "That will make things so much easier and +pleasanter for all of us!" + +The potatoes and corn were got with a cheerful alacrity which quite +astonished Rufe's mother and sisters. + +The inertia of a large body being thus overcome, that well-known +property of matter tended to keep Rufus still in motion; and while +Vinnie, with Lill's help, was getting the dinner ready, he might have +been seen approaching the wood-pile with an eye to business. + +"See here, Wad! This wood is pretty dry now; don't you think it had +better be cut up and got in before there comes a rain?" + +"Yes, s'pose 't would be a good idea." + +"We ought to be ashamed," Rufe went on, "to have _her_ calling for a +handful of wood every time it's wanted, or going out to hack a little +for herself, if we're not around; for she'll do it." + +"I s'pose so," Wad assented. "Why don't you go to work and cut it up? +I'll sit down on a log and whittle, and keep you company." + +"Pshaw! don't talk that way. I'll go to work at it if you will. Come! +Will you saw, or split?" + +Wad laughed, and said he would split,--perhaps because the sawing must +be done first. + +"This saw is in a frightful condition!" Rufe said, stopping to breathe +after sawing a few sticks. + +"So is this axe; look at the edge! It's too dull even to split with," +said Wad. "A small boy might ride to mill on it without suffering any +very great inconvenience." + +"If father would only file and set this saw, I'd help you grind the +axe," said Rufe. + +The paternal Betterson was just then returning from a little walk about +his estate. As he approached, hat in hand, wiping his noble forehead, +under the shade of the oaks, Rufe addressed him. + +"We've got to have wood in the house; now _she_'s come, it won't do to +get it by little driblets, and have her waiting for it and worrying +about it. I'll saw it, if you'll only set the saw; you know how, and I +don't; we'll do the hard work if you'll furnish a little of your skill." + +Rufe knew how to appeal to the paternal vanity. The idea of furnishing, +not labor, but skill, flattered my lord. + +"Ah! let me look at the saw. And bring me the file. And set out the +shave-horse. I'll show you how the thing is done." + +When Link, who in the mean while had been dressing the prairie chickens +behind the house, came round and saw his pompous papa sitting under an +oak-tree, astride the "shave-horse," filing away at the saw held in its +clumsy jaws, and Wad turning the grindstone close by, while Rufe held on +the axe, he ran into the house laughing. + +"Mother! just look out there! Father and Rufe and Wad all at work at +once! Guess the world's coming to an end!" + +"I hope some of our troubles are coming to an end," sighed poor Mrs. +Betterson, who sat nursing her babe with a bottle. "It's all owing to +_her_. A new broom sweeps clean. She brings a very good influence; but I +can't hope it will last." + +"O mother!" said Cecie, from her lounge, "don't say that. I am sure it +will last; she is so good! You'll do all you can for her, won't you, +Link?" + +"I bet!" was Link's laconic response. "If _they_ only will, too, for +there ain't much fun in doing chores while father and Rufe and Wad are +just loafing round." + +He hastened to Vinnie with his chickens. + +"Just look out there once! All at it! Ain't it fun?" + +It was fun to Vinnie, indeed. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +LINK'S WOOD-PILE. + + +The dinner, though late that day, was unusually sumptuous, and Betterson +and his boys brought to it keen appetites from their work. Vinnie's +cooking received merited praise, and the most cordial good-will +prevailed. Even little Chokie, soiling face and fingers with a +"drum-stick" he was gnawing, lisped out his commendation of the repast. + +"I wish Aunt Vinnie would be here forever, and div us dood victuals." + +"I second the motion!" cried Link, sucking a "wish-bone," and then +setting it astride his nose,--"to dry," as he said. + +"One would think we never had anything fit to eat before," said Mrs. +Betterson; while my lord looked flushed and frowning over his frayed +stock. + +"You know, mother," said Lill, "I never could cook prairie chickens. And +you haven't been well enough to, since the boys began to shoot them." + +"Lincoln," said Mrs. Betterson, "remove that unsightly object from your +nose! Have you forgotten your manners?" + +"He never had any!" exclaimed Rufe, snatching the wish-bone from its +perch. + +"Here! give that back! I'm going to keep it, and wish with Cecie bimeby, +and we're both going to wish that Aunt Vinnie had come here a year +ago--that is--I mean--pshaw!" said Link, whose ideas were getting rather +mixed. + +Poor Mrs. Betterson complained a great deal to her sister that afternoon +of the impossibility of keeping up the style and manners of the family +in that new country. + +Vinnie--who sat holding the baby by Cecie's lounge--asked why the family +had chosen that new country. + +"Mr. Betterson had been unfortunate in business at the East, and it was +thought best that he should try Illinois," was Caroline's way of stating +that after her husband had run through two small fortunes which had +fallen to him, and exhausted the patience of relatives upon whom he was +constantly calling for help, a wealthy uncle had purchased this farm for +him, and placed him on it to be rid of him. + +"I should think you might sell the farm and move away," said Vinnie. + +"There are certain obstacles," replied Caroline; the said uncle, knowing +that Lord could not keep property from flying away, having shrewdly tied +this down by means of a mortgage. + +"One thing," Caroline continued, "I have always regretted. A +considerable sum of money fell to Mr. Betterson after we came here; and +he--wisely, we thought at the time, but unfortunately, as it +proved--put it into this house. We expected to have a large part of it +left; but the cost of building was such that all was absorbed before the +house was finished." + +Such was Caroline's account of the manner in which the "castle" came to +be built. Vinnie was amazed at the foolish vanity and improvidence of +the lord of it; but she only said,-- + +"There seems to be a great deal of unused room in the house; I should +think you might let that, and a part of the farm, to another family." + +Caroline smiled pityingly. + +"Lavinia dear, you don't understand. _We_ could never think of taking +another family into _our_ house, for the sake of _money_! though it +might be well to let the farm. Besides, there is really one more in the +family than you see. I think I haven't yet spoken to you of +Radcliff,--my husband's nephew." + +"You mentioned such a person in your letter to me," replied Vinnie. + +"Ah, yes; when I was giving some of the reasons why we had never had you +come and live with us. Well off as we were at one time,--and are now in +prospect, if not in actual appearance,--we could not very well take you +as a child into our family, if we took Radcliff. He was early left an +orphan, and it was thought best by the connections that he should be +brought up by my husband. I assure you, Lavinia, that nobody but a +Betterson should ever have been allowed to take your place in _our_ +family." + +Vinnie pictured to herself a youth of precious qualities and great +promise, and asked,-- + +"Where is Radcliff now?" + +"He is not with us just at present. He is of age, and his own master; +and though we make a home for him, he's away a good deal." + +"What is his business?" + +"He has no fixed pursuit. He is, in short, a gentleman at large." + +"What supports him?" + +"He receives a limited allowance from our relatives on the Betterson +side," said Caroline, pleased with the interest her sister seemed to +take in the illustrious youth. "He is not so stylish a man as my +husband, by any means; my husband is a Betterson of the Bettersons. But +Radcliff has _the blood_, and is _very_ aristocratic in his tastes." + +Caroline enlarged upon this delightful theme, until Cecie (who seemed to +weary of it) exclaimed,-- + +"O mother, do see how Aunt Vinnie soothes the baby!" + +Indeed, it seemed as if the puny thing must have felt the flood of +warmth and love from Vinnie's heart bathing its little life. + +That afternoon Rufe and Wad sawed and split the wood, and Link (with +Chokie's powerful assistance) carried it into an unfinished room behind +the kitchen,--sometimes called the "back-room," and sometimes the +"lumber-room,"--and corded it up against the wall. An imposing pile it +was, of which the young architect was justly proud, no such sight ever +having been seen in that house before. + +[Illustration: LINK'S WOOD-PILE.] + +Every ten or fifteen minutes he called Vinnie or Lill to see how the +pile grew; and at last he insisted on bringing Cecie, and letting her be +astonished. + +Cecie was only too glad of any little diversion. She could walk with a +good deal of assistance; Vinnie almost lifted the poor girl in her +loving arms; Link supported her on the other side; and so they bore her +to the back-room, where she leaned affectionately on Vinnie, while Link +stood aside and pointed proudly at his wood-pile. + +"We never could get him to bring in a stick of wood before, without +teasing or scolding him," said Lill. + +"This is different; there's some fun in this," said Link. "Rufe and Wad +have been at work like sixty; and we wanted to see how big a pile we +could make." + +All praised the performance; and Mrs. Betterson so far forgot herself as +to say she felt rich now, with so much nice, dry, split wood in the +house. + +"But what a remark," she added immediately, turning to Vinnie, "for one +of _our_ family to make!" + +"I was never so proud of my brothers!" said Cecie. "If I was only well +enough, how I should like to help pile up that wood!" + +"Dear Cecie!" cried Vinnie, embracing her, "I wish you _were_ well +enough! And I hope you will be some time." + +The wood was all disposed of that afternoon, and the boys concluded that +they had had a pretty good time over it. + +"Now we can loaf for a whole week, and make a business of it," said Wad. + +"There's one more job that ought to be done," said Rufe. "That +potato-patch. We can't keep the pigs out of it, and it's time the +potatoes were dug." + +"I s'pose so," said Wad. "Wish we had a hired man." + +"It isn't much of a job," said Rufe. "And we don't want to be seen +loafing round, now _she's_ here." + +"We can go up in the woods and loaf," said Wad. + +"Don't talk silly," said Rufe. "Come, I'll go at the potatoes to-morrow, +if you will. We'll dig, and make Link pick 'em up." + +"I was going to shoot some more prairie chickens to-morrow. We've no +other meat for dinner." + +"We'll get father to shoot them. Come, Wad, what do you say?" + +Wad declined to commit himself to an enterprise requiring so large an +outlay of bone and muscle. All Rufe could get from him was a promise to +"sleep on the potatoes" and say what he thought of them in morning. + +The next morning accordingly, before the cattle were turned out of the +yard, Rufe said,-- + +"Shall we yoke up the steers and take the wagon down into the +potato-patch? We can be as long as we please filling it." + +"Yes, we may as well take it down there and leave it," Wad assented; and +the steers were yoked accordingly. + +Lord Betterson was not surprised to see the wagon go to the +potato-patch, where he thought it might as well stay during the rest of +the season, as anywhere else. But he _was_ surprised afterward to see +the three boys--or perhaps we should say four, for Chokie was of the +party--start off with their hoes and baskets. + +"We are going to let _you_ shoot the prairie chickens this forenoon," +said Rufe. "You'll find the gun and ammunition all ready, in the +back-room. We are going at the potatoes." + +Link went ahead and pulled the tops, and afterward picked up the +potatoes, filling the baskets, which his brothers helped him carry off +and empty into the wagon-box; while Chokie dug holes in the black loam +to his heart's content. + +"We might have had a noble crop here," said Rufe, "if it hadn't been for +the weeds and pigs. Wad, we mustn't let the weeds get the start of us so +another year. And we'll do some repairs on the fences this fall. I'm +ashamed of 'em!" + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +MORE WATER THAN THEY WANTED. + + +A doctor from North Mills came once a week to visit Cecie and the sick +mother and baby. One afternoon he brought in his chaise a saddle and +bridle, which he said a young fellow would call for in a day or two. The +boys laughed as they put the saddle away; they knew who the young fellow +was, and they hoped he would have a chance to use it. + +Snowfoot's week was up the next forenoon; and at about ten o'clock Jack, +accompanied by Lion, and carrying a double-barrelled fowling-piece, with +which he had shot a brace of prairie hens by the way, walked into the +Betterson door-yard. + +He found the boys at the lower end of the house, with the steers and +wagon. + +"What's the news?" he asked. + +"The news with us is, that we're out of rainwater," Rufe replied. + +"I should think so," said Jack, looking into a dry hogshead which stood +under the eaves-spout. + +"It's too much of a bother to bring all our water by the pailful. So we +are going to fill these things at the river and make the steers haul +'em." + +There were three wash-tubs and a barrel, which the boys were putting up +on the bottom boards of the wagon-box, from which the sides had been +removed. + +Jack was pleased with this appearance of enterprise; he also noticed +with satisfaction that the yard had been cleared up since he last saw +it. + +He asked about Vinnie, and learned from the looks and answers the boys +gave him that she was popular. + +"Your saddle came yesterday," said Wad; "so I s'pose you expect to ride +home." + +"I feel rather inclined that way. How is our friend Peakslow?" + +"Don't know; he went to Chicago, and he hasn't got back." + +"Hasn't got back!" said Jack, astonished. "That's mean business!" + +He smothered his vexation, however, and told the boys that he would go +with them to the river, after he had spoken with Vinnie. + +Entering the house, he was still more surprised at the changes which had +taken place since his last visit. + +"Her coming has been the greatest blessing!" said Caroline, detaining +him in the sitting-room. "We are all better,--the doctor noticed it +yesterday; Cecie and baby and I are all better. Lavinia dear will see +you presently; I think she is just taking some bread out of the oven." + +"Let me go into the kitchen--she won't mind me," said Jack. + +Vinnie, rosy-red from her baking, met him at the door. He had been very +anxious about her since he left her there; but a glance showed him that +all had gone well. + +"You have survived!" he said. + +"Yes, indeed!" she replied. "I told you I would make things pleasant +here." + +"The boys like you, I see." + +"And I like them. They do all they can for me. Rufus even helped me +about the washing,--pounded and wrung out the clothes. You must stay to +dinner to-day." + +"I think I may have to," said Jack; "for my horse hasn't come back from +Chicago yet, and I don't mean to go home without him." + +When he went out he found the boys waiting, and accepted a seat with +Wad and Link on a board placed across two of the tubs. Rufe walked by +the cattle's horns; while in the third tub sat Chokie. + +"You can't sit in that tub going back, you know," said Link. + +"Yes, I can! I will!" And Chokie clung fast to the handles. + +"O, well, you can if you want to, I suppose!" said Link; "but it will be +full of water." + +They passed the potato-patch (Jack smiled to see that the potatoes had +been dug), crossed a strip of meadow-land below, and then rounded a bend +in the river, in the direction of a deep place the boys knew. + +"I always hate to ride after oxen,--they go so tormented slow!" said +Link. "Why don't somebody invent a wagon to go by steam?" + +"Did you ever see a wagon go by water?" Jack asked. + +"No, nor anybody else!" + +"I have," said Jack. "I know a man in this county who has one." + +"What man? I'd go five miles to see one!" + +"You can see one without going so far. The man is your father, and this +is the wagon. It is going by water now." + +"By water--yes! By the river!" said Link, amused and vexed. + +"Link," said Jack, "do you remember that little joke of yours about the +boys stopping the leak in the boat? Well, we are even now." + +Rufe backed the hind-wheels of the wagon into the river, over the deep +place, and asked Wad which he would do,--dip the water and pass it up by +the pailful, or stay in the wagon and receive it. + +"Whoever dips it up has to stand in the river above his knees," said +Wad; "and I don't mean to get wet to-day." + +"Very well; stay in the wagon, then. You'll get as wet as I shall; for +I'm going to pull off my shoes and roll up my trousers. Chokie, you keep +in that tub, just where you are, till the tub is wanted. Link, you'd +better go into the river with me, and dip the pails, while I pass 'em up +to Wad." + +"I never can keep my trousers-legs rolled up, and I ain't going to get +wet," said Link. Then, whispering to Jack: "There's leeches in this +river; they get right into a fellow's flesh and suck his blood like +sixty." + +Wad proposed to begin with the barrel, and to have Link stand at the end +of the wagon, receive the pails, pass them to him, and pass them back to +Rufe empty. + +"Why not move the barrel to the end of the wagon, and fill it about two +thirds full, and then move it back again? I'll help you do that," said +Link. + +"All right; I'll fill the barrel and one of the tubs; then you shall +fill the other two tubs." + +Link agreed to this; while Jack smiled to hear so much talk about doing +so small a thing. + +Rufe went in bare-legged, and stood on the edge of the deep hole, where +the water was hardly up to his knees. Much as he disliked, ordinarily, +to set about any work, he was strong and active when once roused; and +the pails of water went up on the wagon about as fast as Wad cared to +take them. + +"Hullo! Don't slop so! You're wetting my feet!" cried Wad. + +"I can't keep from spilling a drop once in a while. You might have taken +off your shoes and rolled up your trousers as I did." + +The barrel was soon two thirds full, and Wad called upon Link to help +him move it forward. Link left his seat by Jack's side, and walked back +to the rear of the wagon. Wad, as we know, was already there. So was the +barrel of water, standing just back of the rear axletree. So also was a +fresh pail of water, which Rufe had placed at the extreme end, because +Wad was not ready to take it. + +At that moment the oxen, hungry for fresh grass, and having nipped all +within reach of their noses, started up a little. Jack, thinking to +prevent mischief by running to their heads, leaped from the front of the +wagon. + +This abrupt removal of weight from one end, and large increase of +avoirdupois at the other, produced a natural but very surprising result. +Chokie in his tub, though at the long end of the beam, so to speak (the +rear axletree being the fulcrum), was not heavy enough to counterbalance +two brothers and a barrel of water at the short end. + +He suddenly felt himself rising in the air, and sliding with the empty +tubs. His brothers at the same moment felt themselves sinking and +pitching. There was a chorus of shrieks, as they made a desperate effort +to save themselves. Too late; the wagon-bottom reared, and away went +barrel, boys, tubs, everything. + +The oxen, starting at the alarm, helped to precipitate the catastrophe. +Fortunately, Jack was at hand to stop them, or the dismantled wagon +might have gone flying across the lot, even fast enough to suit Link's +notion of speed. + +Rufe made one quick effort to prevent the boards from tipping up, then +leaped aside, while the discharged load shot past him. + +Chokie, screaming, held fast to the sides of his tub with both hands. +Wad, intending to jump, plunged into the deepest part of the river. Link +made a snatch at the barrel, and, playing at leap-frog over it (very +unwillingly), went headlong into the deep hole. + +Chokie met with a wonderfully good fortune; his tub was launched so +neatly, and ballasted so nicely by him sitting in the bottom, that it +shipped but a splash of water, and he floated away, unhurt and scarcely +wet at all, amidst the general ruin. + +The wagon-boards, relieved of their load, tumbled back upon the wheels. +To add to the confusion, Lion barked furiously. + +Jack, frightened at first, finally began to laugh, when he saw Chokie +sailing away, under full scream, and Wad and Link scrambling out of the +water. + +"So you were the fellows that were not going to get wet!" cried Rufe. +"Pick out your barrel and empty tubs, while I catch Chokie!" + +The river, even in the deepest place, was not very deep; and Wad and +Link came wading out, blowing water from their mouths, flirting water +from their hair, and shaking water from their rescued hats, in a way +that made Rufe (after he had stranded Chokie in his tub) roll upon the +grass in convulsions. + +"Laugh, then!" cried Wad in a rage; "I'll give you something to laugh +at!" And, catching up a tub partly filled with water, he rushed with it +to take wet vengeance on his dry brother. + +Before Rufe, helpless with laughter, could move to defend himself, tub, +water, and Wad, all together, were upon him,--the tub capsizing over his +head and shoulders, Wad tumbling upon the tub, and the water running out +in little rivulets below. + +Rufe was pretty wet, but still laughing, when he crawled out, like a +snail from under his shell, and got upon his feet, clutching the tub to +hurl it at Wad, who fled. + +"You are the only one who has got any dry fun out of this scrape!" Rufe +said, trying to brush the water out of his neck and breast. + +His words were addressed to Jack, and they proved more strictly true +than he intended; for just then Chokie, trying to get out of his +stranded tub, tipped it over, and went out of it, upon his hands and +knees, into the river. By the time he was pulled out and set upon dry +ground, the boys were all pretty good-natured. + +"How about those leeches, Link? Did you find any?" said Jack. + +"I'm too dizzy yet, to think about leeches," replied Link. "I turned a +somerset out of that wagon so quick, I could see the patch on the seat +of my trousers!" + +"I thought I was going through to China," said Wad, "and expected, when +I came up, to see men with pigtails." + +He stood on the edge of the water, holding another tub for Rufe, if he +should come too near. + +"Quit your nonsense now!" cried Rufe, "and hand up that barrel." + +"I'll quit if you will,--as the poultry-thief said when the old gobbler +chased him. 'Quit, quit!' says the turkey. 'Quit your ownself!' says the +thief. And I'm just of his way of thinking," said Wad. + +"Well! help me put this wagon into shape," said Rufe. "Then we'll fill +our tubs and barrel without any more fooling." + +The wagon-boards were replaced and loaded without any further accident. +The well-filled tubs were set one upon another, and Wad stood holding +them; while Link, having placed the board seat over the barrel of water, +sat upon it. They found it a pretty sloppy ride; but they could laugh +defiance at a little water now. Chokie, it need hardly be said, did not +ride in a tub of water, but walked between Jack and Rufe beside the +oxen. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +PEAKSLOW SHOWS HIS HAND. + + +"Hullo!" cried Link from his perch, as the wagon passed the +potato-patch, "there comes Peakslow down the road through the +woods,--just turning the corner for home!" + +Jack started with sudden excitement. + +"Can you see his team?" + +"Yes; one of the horses looks like yours; and he has an extra horse led +behind." + +Jack ran up to the road to get a look, and came laughing back to the +house, where the boys and their load of water had by that time arrived. + +"He is driving my horse, and leading one of his own. I am going to get +my bridle, and call on him." + +"You'll come back to dinner?" said Rufe. + +"Yes, if you'll have my prairie chickens cooked." + +And, leaving the boys to astonish the family with their wet clothes, +Jack, with the bridle on his arm, walked down the road. + +Just as he was entering Peakslow's yard, he met Mr. Wiggett coming out +with his arms full of brown-paper parcels. + +"Mr. Wiggett! glad to see you!" + +"Same to yourself," replied the old man. "Got my arms full o' this yer +stuff, or I'd shake hands. I've a lot more o' comforts for wife and +young uns in the wagon; but I thought I'd lug along suthin, or they +wouldn't be glad to see me." + +"Is it all right about the horse?" + +"I 'low it's all right." + +"Is Peakslow up to any trick?" + +"Nary, as I kin diskiver; and I pumped him, tew, right smart, a-comin' +over the perairie." + +"Did he have much trouble getting back his horse?" + +"Not sich a dog-goned sight. Truckman's a straightfor'ard, honest chap. +Says he guv eighty dollars for your hoss; thinks he had him of the thief +himself; and 'lows he knows the rascal. He stuck out a little at fust, +and you should 'a' heard Peakslow talk tew him! 'Twas ekal to gwine to +preachin'." + +"What did he say?" + +"Said none but a fool or a scoundrel would ca'c'late he could hang ontew +a piece o' prop'ty that had been stole, or traded for what had been +stole. Talked, of course, just t' other way from what he did when he +talked to you. Truckman didn't mind his gab, but when he was satisfied +the hoss he put away had been stole, he guv up Peakslow's, and the +fifteen dollars to boot. Now, how in the name of seven kingdoms +Peakslow's gwine to turn it about to make anything more, beats all my +understandin'!" + +Jack thanked the old man warmly for the interest he had taken in the +affair, and asked how he could pay him for his trouble. + +"I haven't looked for no pay," replied the old man. "But one thing I +should like to have ye dew for me, if ever ye come my way agin with yer +compass. My woman guv me right smart of her jaw for forgittin' it when +ye was thar before. She wants a noon-mark on our kitchen floor." + +"All right," said Jack. "She shall have it." + +The old man went on with his bundles, while Jack entered Peakslow's +yard. + +Peakslow, who was unharnessing his team, with the help of two stout +boys, looked up and said, in a tone which he meant should be +friendly,---- + +"How are ye? On hand, I see," with a grim smile at the bridle. + +"I was on hand a little before you were," replied Jack. "Your week was +up an hour ago. Though I don't care about that. You've got your horse, I +see." + +"That's the main thing I went for; course I've got him. Here's a paper, +with the truckman's name wrote on 't; he wants you to come and see him +when you go to town, pervided he don't come to see you fust." + +"Did he say anything about a bridle and a blanket that were on the horse +when he was stolen?" + +"He's got 'em," Peakslow coolly replied; "but as no reward was offered +for anything but the hoss, I didn't take 'em." + +Jack didn't quite see the logic of this remark. + +"Never mind; they are trifles," he said. "It's glory enough for one +while, to get my horse again. I've a bridle here for him; I'll slip it +on, Zeph, if you'll slip yours off." + +"You can slip your bridle on that hoss, and take him away, when you've +fulfilled the conditions; not before," said Peakslow. + +"What conditions? You don't pretend to claim my horse now you've got +your own back?" + +"I've got a claim on him," Peakslow replied. "Here's your own handbill +for it. Twenty Dollars Reward! I've got back your hoss for ye, and I +demand the reward." + +This, then, after all, was the quirk in Peakslow's head. The boys +grinned. Jack was astounded. + +"Peakslow," he exclaimed indignantly, "you know that's an absurd claim! +You didn't find my horse and deliver him to me; I found him in your +hands, and you even refused to give him up! The truckman has a better +claim for the reward than you have, for he had him first; and then I +don't see but the thief himself has a prior claim to either." + +"You talk like a fool!" said Peakslow. + +"You _act_ like a fool and a knave!" Jack retorted, in a sudden blaze. +"I won't have any more words with you. Sue for the reward, if you think +you can get it. I'm just going to take my horse!" + +"Not till the reward is paid, if I live!" said Peakslow, his black eyes +sparkling. "Zeph, step and hand out the old gun!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +THE WOODLAND SPRING. + + +Very pale, with the bridle dangling from his arm, and Lion walking +dejectedly by his side (the sympathetic dog always knew when his master +was in trouble), Jack returned to the "castle." + +Lord Betterson, meeting him in the door-yard, touched his hat and bowed. + +"Where--is--your--quadruped?" he asked, with a cool, deliberate +politeness, which fell upon Jack's mood like drops of water on red-hot +steel. + +"That villain! he claims the reward for him! But I never'll pay it in +the world!" + +Betterson smiled and said, "Ah! Peakslow! Highly characteristic!" + +"He threatened to shoot me!" + +"Very likely. He has threatened to shoot _me_, on one or two occasions. +I said, 'Shoot!'" (Jack wondered whether he said it with that +condescending smile and gracious gesture.) "It isn't agreeable to have +dealings with a person who talks of shooting his fellow-men; but I +imagine there's no danger, if you keep cool." + +"I couldn't keep cool," said Jack. "I got as mad as he was. I could have +shot _him_." + +"That, my friend," Lord Betterson replied, with a wave of the hand, "was +an error,--quite natural, but still an error. You stay to dinner?" + +"Thank you, I have promised myself that pleasure." + +Jack was ashamed of having given way to his anger; and he determined +from that moment, whatever happened, to keep calm. + +As he threw his useless bridle down, and left Lion to guard it, he saw +Wad starting off with a pail, and asked where he was going. + +"For water," said Wad. + +"More water? I should think you all had enough for one day!" + +"Yes, for the outer man," drawled Wad. "Where's your horse?" + +"I concluded to let Peakslow keep him a little longer. He seemed willing +to; and I am not ready to ride home. May I go with you?" + +"Glad to have ye," said Wad. + +They walked a little way along the road toward Peakslow's house, then +entered the woodland, descended into a little ravine, and, on the slope +beyond, found a spring of running water in the shade of an oak grove. + +Jack was not inclined to talk of Snowfoot, but he had a good deal to say +about the spring. + +"Why, this is charming! What a clear basin of water! Is it always +running over?" + +"Always, even in the driest season. We first noticed that little stream +trickling down into the ravine; and that's about all there was to be +seen, till Rufe and I hollowed out this basin." + +"Why don't you come here with your wagon and tubs, instead of going to +the river?" + +"There's no good way to get in here with a wagon; and, besides, we can't +dip up more than two or three pailfuls at a time,--then we must wait for +the spring to fill." + +"You could sink a barrel," said Jack, "and always have that full, to +start upon. Now dip your pail, and let's see how long it takes for the +basin to fill." + +The experiment was tried, and Jack grew quite enthusiastic over the +result. + +"See! how fast the water comes in! I say, Wad, you've got something +valuable here." + +"Yes," said Wad. "I only wish the house had been built somewhere near. +This is part of the land Peakslow pretended to claim. The swing, where +Cecie got hurt, is in the grove, just up here." + +The place was so cool and pleasant that Jack let Wad return alone with +the water, and walked about the spring and the swing, and up into the +woods beyond, calming his inward excitement, until dinner-time. + +At table he gave a humorous account of his late interview with Peakslow. + +"He was so very cordial in his request that I should leave Snowfoot, +that I couldn't well refuse,--though I _did_ decline to trouble him, +till he brought out a double-barrelled argument,--stub twist, percussion +lock,--which finally persuaded me. He is one of the most urgent men I +ever saw," added Jack, mashing his potato. + +Vinnie smiled, while the others laughed; but her eyes were full of +anxiety, as they beamed on Jack. + +"Isn't it possible," she said, "to meet such arguments with kindness? I +didn't think there was a man so bad that he couldn't be influenced by +reason and good-will." + +"It might rain reasons on Peakslow, forty days and forty nights,--he +would shed 'em, as a duck does water," Jack replied. "Isn't it so, Mr. +Betterson?" + +"I have certainly found him impervious," said my lord. + +"I might have stopped to argue with him, and threaten him with the law +and costs of court, and perhaps have settled the matter for five or ten +dollars. But the truth is," Jack confessed, "I lost patience and temper. +I am not going to have any more words with him. Now let's drop Peakslow, +and speak of something more important. That spring over in your woods, +Mr. Betterson,--I've been looking at it. Is it soft water?" (Jack lifted +a glass and sipped it;) "as good for washing as it is for the table?" + +"It is excellent water for any purpose," said Mr. Betterson. "There is +only one fault in that spring,--it is too far off." + +"We are going to move the house up there, so as to have it handy," said +Link. + +"That is one of my young friend's jokes," said Jack. "But, seriously, +Mr. Betterson, instead of moving the house to the spring, why don't you +bring the spring to the house?" + +"How do you mean? It doesn't seem quite--ah--practicable, to move a +spring that way." + +"I don't mean the spring itself, of course, but the water. You might +have that running, a constant stream, in your kitchen or back-room." + +"I apprehend your drift," said Betterson, helping Jack to a piece of +prairie chicken. "You mean, bring it in pipes." + +"Thank you. Precisely." + +"But I apprehend a difficulty; it is not easy to make water run up +hill." + +Jack smiled, and blushed a little, at Betterson's polite condescension +in making this mild objection. + +"Water running down hill may force itself up another hill, if confined +in pipes, I think you will concede." + +"Most assuredly. But it will not rise again higher than its source. And +the spring is lower than we are,--lower than our kitchen sink." + +"I don't quite see that," replied Jack, with the air of a candid +inquirer. "I have been over the ground, and it didn't strike _me_ so." + +"It certainly looks to be several feet lower," said Betterson; and the +boys agreed with him. + +"We generally speak of going _down_ to the spring," said Rufe. "We go +down the road, then down the bank of the ravine, and then a little way +up the other bank. I don't know how we can tell just how much lower it +is. We can't see the spring from the house." + +"If I had my instruments here, I could tell you which is lower, and how +much lower, pretty soon. While I am waiting for Snowfoot, (I can't go +home, you know, without Snowfoot!) I may, perhaps, do a bit of +engineering, as it is." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +JACK'S "BIT OF ENGINEERING." + + +The boys got around Jack after dinner, and asked him about that bit of +engineering. + +"In the first place," said Jack, standing outside the door, and looking +over toward the spring, hidden by intervening bushes on a ridge, "we +must have a water-level, and I think I can make one. Get me a piece of +shingle, or any thin strip of wood. And I shall want a pail of water." + +A shingle brought, Jack cut it so that it would float freely in the +pail; and, having taken two thin strips of equal length from the sides, +he set them up near each end, like the masts of a boy's boat. + +"Now, this is our level," he said; "and these masts are the sights. To +see that they are exact, we will look across them at some object, then +turn the level end for end, and look across them again; if the range is +the same both ways, then our sights are right, are they not? But I see +we must lay a couple of sticks across the pail, to hold our level still +while we are using it." + +The boys were much interested; and Link said he didn't see what anybody +wanted of a better level than that. + +[Illustration: TESTING THE LEVEL.] + +"It will do for the use we are going to make of it," said Jack; "but it +might not be quite convenient for field service; you couldn't carry a +pail of water, and a floating shingle with two masts, in your +overcoat-pocket, you know. We'll aim at a leg of that grindstone. Go and +stick your knife where I tell you, Link." + +Jack soon got his level so that it would stand the test, and called the +boys to look. + +"Here! you stand back, Chokie!" cried Link; while Rufe and Wad, one +after the other, got down on the ground and sighted across the level at +the knife-blade. + +"Now," Jack explained, "I am going to set this pail of water in your +kitchen window, by the sink. That will be our starting-point. Then I +want one of you boys to go, with a long-handled pitchfork, in the +direction of the spring, as far as you can and keep the pail in sight; +then set up your fork, and pin a piece of white paper on it just where I +tell you. As I raise my hand, you will slide the paper up; and, as I +lower my hand, you will slip it down." + +Wad and Link both went with the fork, which they set up on the borders +of the woodland, back from the road. Then Wad, wrapping a piece of +newspaper about the handle, held it there as high as his head, with a +good strip of it visible above his hand. + +Jack, standing in the kitchen, looked across the sights of his level +placed in the open window, and laughed. + +"What do you think, Rufe? Is the paper high enough?" + +"It ought to be a foot or two higher," was Rufe's judgment. + +"_I_ say _a foot_ higher," remarked Lord Betterson, coming up behind. + +"What do you say, Vinnie?" + +"I think the paper is too high." + +"Now look across the level," said Jack. + +All were astonished; and Lord Betterson could hardly be convinced that +the level was constructed on sound principles. It showed that the top of +the paper should be just below Wad's knee. + +"Now we will take our level," said Jack, after the paper was pinned in +its proper place, "and go forward and make another observation." + +He chose a place at the top of the ridge beyond Wad, where, after +cutting a few bushes, he was able to look back and see the fork-handle, +and also to look forward and see the spring. There he set his pail on +the ground, waited for the water to become still, adjusted his level, +and caused a second strip of paper to be pinned to the fork-handle, in +range with the sights. + +The boys then gathered around the fork, while Jack, taking a pocket-rule +from his coat, ascertained that the second paper was six feet and an +inch above the first. + +"Which shows that our level is now six feet and an inch higher than it +stood on the kitchen window," said he. "Now let's see how much higher it +is than the spring." + +Link was already on his hands and knees by the pail, turning the sights +in range with the spring on the farther side of the little ravine. He +suddenly flapped his arms and crowed. + +"No need of setting the fork over there," he said. "The spring is +_almost_ as high as the pail!" + +"Let's be exact," said Jack; and he went himself and thrust the fork, +handle downward, into the basin of the spring. "Now, Link, you be the +engineer; show your skill; tell me where to fix this paper." + +Link was delighted with the important part assigned him. + +"Higher!" he commanded, from behind the pail. "Not quite so high. Not +quite so low. Now just a millionth part of an inch higher--there!" + +"A millionth part of an inch is drawing it rather fine," said Jack, as +he pinned the paper. + +Afterward, going and looking across the level, he decided that Link had +taken a very accurate aim. Then, his pocket-measure being once more +applied, the paper was found to be only seven inches higher than the +water in the basin. + +"Seven inches from six feet one inch, leaves five feet six inches as the +height of the spring water above the level of our sights at the kitchen +window. Now, I measured, and found they were there thirteen inches +higher than the bottom of the sink; which shows that if you carry this +water in pipes, you can have your spout, or faucet, thirteen inches +higher than the bottom of your sink, and still have a head of water of +five feet and six inches, to give you a running stream." + +The boys were much astonished, and asked how it happened that they had +been so deceived. + +"You have unconsciously based all your calculations on the fact that you +go _down_ to Peakslow's. The road falls a little all the way. But it +doesn't fall much between your house and the place where you turn into +the woodland. There you take a path among the bushes, which really rises +all the way, though quite gradually, until you pass the ridge and go +down into the ravine. Vinnie hasn't been accustomed to talk of going +down to the spring, as you have; and so, you see, she was the only one +who thought Wad at first placed his paper too high. Perhaps this doesn't +account for your mistake; but it is the best reason I can give." + +"How about the pipes?" Rufe asked. + +"You can use pump-logs for pipes." + +"But we have no pump-logs!" + +"You have enough to reach from here to North Mills and return. They are +growing all about you." + +"Trees!" said Wad. "They are not pump-logs." + +"Pump-logs in the rough," replied Jack. "They only need cutting, boring, +and jointing. All pump-logs were once trees. These small-sized oaks are +just the thing for the purpose; you have acres of them, and in places +the timber needs thinning out. You can use the straight stems for your +aqueduct, and the limbs and branches for firewood." + +"That's an idea!" said Rufe, rubbing his forehead and walking quickly +about. "But how are we going to turn our tree-trunks into pump-logs? We +have no tools for boring and jointing." + +"No, and it would cost a good deal to get them. You want an iron rod, or +auger-shaft, long enough to bore half-way through your longest log; then +a bit,--an inch bore would be large enough, but I suppose it would be +just as easy, perhaps easier, to make a two-inch bore,--the auger would +be more apt to get clogged and cramped in a smaller hole; then a reamer +and a circular joint-plane, to make your joints,--the taper end of one +log is to be fitted into the bore of the next, you know. You will also +need some apparatus for holding your log and directing the rod, so that +you sha'n't bore out, but make your holes meet in the middle, when you +bore from both ends; and I don't know what else. I've watched men boring +logs, but I don't remember all the particulars about it." + +"You seem to remember a good deal," said Wad. "And I like the idea of a +stream from this spring running in our back-room,--think of it, Rufe! +But it _can't be did_,--as the elephant said when he tried to climb a +tree. No tools, no money to buy or hire 'em, or to hire the work done." + +"You boys can do a good deal of the work yourselves," said Jack. "You +can cut the logs, and get them all ready for boring. Then you can get +the pump-maker at the Mills to come over with his tools and help you +bore them by hand; or you can haul your logs to him, and have them bored +by machinery,--he has a tread-mill, and a horse to turn it. In either +case, I've no doubt you could pay for his labor by furnishing logs for +his pumps." + +"I believe we can!" said Rufe, by this time quite warmed up to the +subject. "But how about laying the logs? They have to be put pretty deep +into the ground, don't they?" + +"Deep enough so that the water in them won't freeze. A trench four feet +deep will answer." + +"How wide?" + +"Just wide enough for a man to get into it and lay the logs and drive +the joints together. And, by the way, you'd better be sure that there +are no leaks, and that the water comes through all right, before you +cover your logs." + +"But there's work in digging such a trench as that!" said Wad, shaking +his head. + +"So there is work in everything useful that is ever accomplished. Often +the more work, the greater the satisfaction in the end. But you boys +have got it in you,--I see that; and, let me tell you," said Jack, "if I +were you, I would take hold of things on this place in downright +earnest, and make a farm and a home to be proud of." + +"I never could get in love with work," replied Wad. "I'm +_constitutionally tired_, as the lazy man said. The thought of that +trench makes my back ache." + +"It won't be such a back-aching job as you suppose. You've only to take +one stroke with a pick or shovel at a time. And as for that +constitutional weariness you complain of, now is the time in your lives +to get rid of it,--to work it out of your blood,--and lay the +foundations of your manhood." + +"I must say, you preach pretty well!" observed Wad. + +"I'm not much of a preacher," replied Jack; "but I can't help feeling a +good deal, and saying just a word, when I see young fellows like you +neglecting your opportunities." + +"If father and Rad would take hold with us, we would just straighten +things," said Rufe. + +"Don't wait for your father to set you an example," replied Jack. "I +don't know about Rad, though I've heard you speak of him." + +"Our cousin, Radcliff," said Rufe. "He's a smart fellow, in his way, but +he don't like work any better than we do, and he's off playing the +gentleman most of the time." + +"Or playing the loafer," said Wad. + +"Let him stay away," said Jack. "You'll do better without any gentlemen +loafers around." + +"Did _you_ ever do much hard work?" Wad asked. + +"What do you think?" replied Jack, with a smile. + +"I think you've seen something of the world." + +"Yes, and I've had my way to make in it. I was brought up on the Erie +Canal,--a driver, ignorant, ragged, saucy; you wouldn't believe me if I +should tell you what a little wretch I was. All the education I have, I +have gained by hard study, mostly at odd spells, in the last three +years. I had got a chance to work on a farm, and go to school in winter; +then I took to surveying, and came out here to be with Mr. Felton. So, +you see, I must have done something besides loafing; and if I talk work +to you I have earned the right to." + +"I say, boys!" cried Link, "le's put this thing through, and have the +water running in the house." + +"It will do for you to talk," said Wad; "mighty little of the work +you'll do." + +"You'll see, Wad Betterson! Hain't I worked the past week as hard as +either of you?" + +"This thing isn't to be pitched into in a hurry," said Rufe, more +excited than he wished to appear. "We shall have to look it all over, +and talk with the pump-maker, and do up some of the farm-work that is +behindhand." + +"Why don't you take the farm of your father," said Jack, "and see what +you can make out of it? I never knew what it was to be really interested +in work till I took some land with another boy, and we raised a crop on +our own account." + +Rufe brightened at the idea; but Wad said he wasn't going to be a +farmer, anyway. + +"What are you going to be?" + +"I haven't made up my mind yet." + +"Till you do make up your mind, my advice is for you to take hold of +what first comes to your hand, do that well, and prepare yourself for +something more to your liking." + +"I believe that's good advice," said Rufe. "But it is going to be hard +for us to get out of the old ruts." + +"I know it; and so much the more credit you will have when you succeed." + +Jack moved away. + +"Where are you going now?" Rufe asked. + +"To reconnoitre a little, and see what Peakslow has done with my horse. +I ride that horse home, you understand!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +PREPARING FOR THE ATTACK. + + +The boys showed Jack a way through the timber to a wooded hill opposite +Peakslow's house. There Link climbed a tree to take an observation. + +[Illustration: OLD WIGGETT.] + +"I can look right over into his barnyard," he reported to his companions +below. "There's old Wiggett with his ox-cart, unloading something out +of Peakslow's wagon; and there's Peakslow with him. Hark!" After a +pause, Link laughed and said: "Peakslow's talking loud; I could hear him +say, 'That air hoss,' and 'Not if I live!' Now old Wiggett's hawing his +oxen around out of the yard." + +"I must head him off and have a word with him," said Jack. And away he +dashed through the undergrowth. + +Reaching a clump of hazels by the roadside, he waited till the old man +and his slow ox-team came along. + +"What's the news, Mr. Wiggett?" Jack said, coming out and accosting him. + +"Whoa! hush! back!" the old man commanded, beating his cattle across the +face with a short ox-goad. He shook with laughter as he turned to Jack. +"It's dog-gone-ation funny! He had a quirk in his head, arter all. +Hankers arter that reward of twenty dollars!" + +"What did you say to him?" + +"Told him he had no shadder of a claim,--he might sue ye through all the +courts in seven kingdoms, he couldn't find a jury to give him the reward +for stolen prop'ty found in his hands. He said for that reason he meant +to hold ontew the hoss till you'd agree to suthin." + +"Where is the horse now?" + +"In Peakslow's stable. He wants to turn him out to pastur', but he's +afraid you're hangin' round. He has set his boys to diggin' taters over +ag'in Betterson's lot, where they can watch for ye. What he re'ly wants +is, for you to come back and make him an offer, to settle the hash; for +he's a little skittish of your clappin' the law ontew him." + +"I wonder he didn't think of that before." + +"He did, but he says you'd showed yerself a kind of easy, accomodatin' +chap, and he'd no notion o' your gettin' so blamed riled all of a +suddint." + +"That shows how much good it does to be easy with a man like him!" And +Jack, thanking old Wiggett for his information, disappeared in the +woods. + +He found the boys waiting for him, and told them what he had learned. +"Now my cue is," said he, "to make Peakslow think I've gone home. So I +may as well leave you for the present. Please take care of my saddle and +bridle and gun till I call for them. Good by. If you _should_ happen to +come across the Peakslow boys--you understand!" + +Rufe carelessly returned Jack's good-by. Then, leaving Wad and Link to +go by the way of the spring and take care of the pail and fork, he +walked down through the woods to the road, where he found Zeph and his +older brother Dud digging potatoes in Peakslow's corner patch. + +"Hullo!" Dud called out, so civilly that Rufe knew that something was +wanted of him. + +"Hullo yourself and see how you like it," Rufe retorted. + +"Where's that fellow that owns the hoss?" + +"How should I know?" + +"He stopped to your house." + +"That's so. But he's gone now." + +"Where?" + +"I don't know. He told us to keep his saddle and bridle and gun till he +called for 'em, and went off. You'll hear from him before many days." + +Rufe's tone was defiant; and the young potato-diggers, having, as they +supposed, got the information they wanted, suffered their insolence to +crop out. + +"We ain't afraid of him nor you either," said Zeph, leaning on his hoe. + +"Yes, you are afraid of me, too, you young blackguard! I'll tie you into +a bow-knot and hang you on a tree, if I get hold of you." + +"Le's see ye do it!" + +Rufe answered haughtily: "You wouldn't stand there and sass me, if you +didn't have Dud to back you. Just come over the fence once, and leave +Dud on the other side; I'll pitch you into the middle of next week so +quick you'll be dizzy the rest of your natural life." And he walked on +up the road. + +"Here! come back! I'll fight you! You're afraid!" Zeph yelled after him. + +"I'll come round and 'tend to your case pretty soon," Rufe replied. +"I've something of more importance to look after just now; I've a pig to +poke." + +Dud went on digging potatoes; but Zeph presently threw down his hoe and +ran to the house. Shortly after, he returned; and then Jack, who had sat +down to rest in a commanding position, on the borders of the woodland, +was pleased to see Peakslow lead Snowfoot down the slope from the barn, +and turn him into the pasture. + +Rufe got home some time before his brothers, who seemed to linger at the +spring. + +"There they are!" said Lill; "Link with the fork on his shoulder, and +Wad bringing the pail." + +Rufe was sitting on the grindstone frame, as they came into the yard. + +"Did you hear me blackguard the Peakslow boys? They think Jack--Hullo!" +Rufe suddenly exclaimed. "I thought you was Wad!" + +"I am, for the present," said Jack, laughing under Wad's hat. "Do you +think Peakslow will know me ten rods off?" + +"Not in that hat and coat! Lill and I both took you for Wad." + +"I am all right, then! Where's your father? I wonder if he wouldn't like +to try my gun." + +Lord Betterson now came out of the house, fresh from his after-dinner +nap, and looked a good deal of polite surprise at seeing Jack in Wad's +hat and coat. + +"Mr. Betterson," said Jack, "Peakslow thinks I have gone home, and he +has turned Snowfoot out to grass. Now, if I _should_ wish to throw down +a corner of the fence between his pasture and your buckwheat, have you +any objection?" + +"None whatever," replied my lord, with a flourish, as if giving Jack the +freedom of his acres. + +"And perhaps," said Jack, "you would like to go down to the +buckwheat-lot with me and try my gun. I hear you are a crack shot." + +"I can't boast much of my marksmanship nowadays; I could fetch down a +bird once. Thank you,--I'll go with pleasure." + +"You are not going to get into trouble, Jack?" said Vinnie, with lively +concern, seeing him tie the halter to his back. + +"O no! Mr. Betterson is going to give me a lesson in shooting on the +wing. I'll take the bridle, so that if Snowfoot should happen to jump +the fence when he sees me, I shall be ready for him, you know. Now I +wonder if we can take Lion along without his being seen. He is tired of +sitting still." + +"We can take him to the farther side of the cornfield, easily enough." + +"That will answer. Come, Lion!" The dog bounded with joy. "Keep right by +my heels now, old fellow, and mind every word I say. Don't be anxious +about us, Vinnie. And, Rufe, if you could manage to engage the Peakslow +boys in conversation, about the time we are shooting hens pretty near +the fence, you might help the sport." + +"I'll follow you along, and branch off toward the potato-patch, and ask +Zeph what he meant by offering to fight me," said Rufe. + +"I'm going to get up on the cow-shed, and see the battle," said Link. +"On Linden when the sun was low, and the buckwheat-patch was all in +blow,--I'm a poet, you know!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +THE BATTLE OF THE BOUNDARY FENCE. + + +The little party set off, watched by Vinnie with a good deal of anxiety. +The dog was left in the edge of the corn; and Jack, with a good milky +ear in his pocket, followed Mr. Betterson into the buckwheat-field. + +"There's Wad and his dad after prairie chickens," said Zeph. + +"Yes," said Dud, "and here comes Rufe after you. He'll give you _Hail +Columby_ one of these days, when I ain't round." + +"I'll resk him," muttered Zeph. + +"Look here, you young scape-grace!" Rufe called from over the fence, +"I've come to take you at your word. Want to fight me, do ye? I'm ready, +if you're particular about it." + +"Come near me, and I'll sink a stun in your head!" said Zeph, +frightened. + +"You've got that phrase from the Wiggett boys," said Rufe. "I'd fight +with something besides borrowed slang, if I was you." + +Betterson meanwhile brought down a prairie chicken with a grace of +gesture and suddenness of aim which Jack would have greatly admired if +he had not had other business on his mind. + +The bird fell in the direction of the boundary fence. Jack ran as if to +pick it up, at the same time giving a low whistle for his dog. He +stooped, and was for a minute hidden by the fence from the Peakslow +boys,--if, indeed, Rufe gave them leisure just then to look in that +direction. + +Darting forward to the fence, Jack took down the top rails of a corner, +and made a motion to Lion, who leaped over. + +"Catch Snowfoot! catch Snowfoot!" said Jack, quickly placing the ear of +corn in the dog's mouth. + +The horse was feeding some six rods off, near Peakslow's pair, when the +dog, singling him out, ran up and began to coquet with him, flourishing +the ear of corn. + +The boys were talking so loud, and Jack had let down the rails so +gently, and Lion had sped away so silently, that the movement was not +observed by the enemy until Snowfoot started for the fence. Even then +the excited boys did not see what was going on. But Peakslow did. + +If Snowfoot had been in his usual spirits he would have soon been off +the Peakslow premises. But his long pull from Chicago had tamed him; and +though hunger induced him to follow the ear of corn, it was at a pace +which Jack found exasperatingly slow,--especially when he saw Peakslow +running to the pasture, gun in hand, and heard him shout,-- + +"Let that hoss alone! I'll shoot you, and your dog and hoss too!" + +Jack answered by calling, "Co' jock! co' jock! Come, lion! Come, +Snowfoot! Co' jock!" + +At the same time Zeph and Dud took the alarm, and ran toward the gap +Jack had made,--they on one side of the fence, while Rufe raced with +them on the other. Meanwhile Betterson, having coolly reloaded his +discharged barrel, walked with his usual quiet, dignified step to the +broken fence. + +"Better keep this side," he said with deliberate politeness to Jack. +"You are on my land; you've a right here." + +"Oh! but that horse never will come!" said Jack. "Co' jock! co' jock!" + +"He is all right; keep cool, keep cool!" said Betterson. + +On came Peakslow, the inverted prow of his hooked nose cutting the +air,--both hands grasping the gun, ready for a shot. + +Jack did not heed him. Snatching the corn from Lion's mouth, he held it +out to Snowfoot: in a moment Snowfoot was crunching corn and bits, and +the bridle was slipping over his ears. + +"Head him off, boys!" shouted Peakslow. Then to Jack, "Stop, or I'll +shoot!" + +"If there's any shooting to be done," said Betterson, without for a +moment losing his politeness of tone and manner, "I can shoot as quick +as anybody; and, by the powers above, I will, if you draw trigger on +that boy!" + +"Take care of him,--go!" cried Jack, giving Lion the bridle-rein and +Snowfoot a slap. Then confronting Peakslow, "I've got my horse; I'm on +Mr. Betterson's land; what have you to say about it?" + +[Illustration: "STOP, OR I'LL SHOOT!"] + +"I'll shoot your dog!" + +"No, you won't!" And Jack sprang between the infuriated man and Lion +leading off the horse. + +Dud and Zeph were by this time on Betterson's side of the fence, +hurrying to head off Snowfoot. + +"Keep out of our buckwheat!" cried Rufe. "By George, Zeph, now I've got +you where I want you." + +"Help! Dud, Dud--help!" screamed Zeph. + +But Dud had something else to do. He sprang to seize Snowfoot's bridle; +when Lion, without loosing his hold of it, turned with such fury upon +the intruder, that he recoiled, and, tripping his heels in the trodden +buckwheat, keeled over backward. + +Meanwhile Rufe had Zeph down, and was rubbing the soft black loam of the +tilled field very thoroughly into his features, giving especial +attention to his neck and ears. Zeph was spitting the soil of the +country, and screaming; and Rufe was saying,-- + +"Lie still! I'll give your face such a scouring as it hasn't had since +you was a baby and fell into the soft-soap barrel!" + +Jack backed quietly off, as Peakslow, cocking his gun, pressed upon him +with loud threats and blazing eyes. The angry man was striding through +the gap, when Betterson stepped before him, courteous, stately, with a +polite but dangerous smile. + +"Have a care, friend Peakslow!" he said. "If you come upon my premises +with a gun, threatening to shoot folks, I'll riddle you with small shot; +I'll fill you as full of holes as a pepper-box!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +VICTORY. + + +Peakslow halted in the gap of the fence, his fury cooling before Lord +Betterson's steady eyes and quiet threat. + +Betterson went on, speaking deliberately, while his poised and ready +barrels gave emphasis to his remarks,-- + +"You've talked a good deal of shooting, one time and another, friend +Peakslow. I think it is about time to have done with that foolishness. +Excuse my frankness." + +"I've a right to defend my property and my premises!" said Peakslow, +glowing and fuming, but never stepping beyond the gap. + +"What property or premises, good neighbor? The horse is this young +man's; and nobody has set foot on your land." + +"That dog was on my land." + +"And so was the horse," put in Jack. + +"Take him off, pa! he's smotherin' on me!" shouted Zeph. + +"Your boy is abusin' mine. I'll take care o' _him_!" And Peakslow set a +foot over the two lower rails left in the gap. + +"You'd better stay where you are,--accept a friend's disinterested +advice," remarked Betterson. "If your boy had been on the right side of +the fence, minding his own business,--you will bear with me if I am +quite plain in my speech,--my boy would have had no occasion to soil his +hands with him." + +Peakslow appeared quite cowed by this unexpected show of determination +in his easy-going neighbor. He stood astride the rails, just where +Betterson had arrested his advance, and contented himself with urging +Dud to the rescue of his brother. + +"Why do ye stan' there and see Zeph treated that way? Why don't ye pitch +in?" + +"That's a game two can play at," said Jack. "Hands off, Dud, my boy." +And he stood by to see fair play. + +"My boy had a right on that land; it's by good rights mine to-day!" +exclaimed Peakslow. + +"We won't discuss that question; it has been settled once, neighbor," +replied Betterson. "Rufus, I think you've done enough for that boy; his +face is blacker than I ever saw it, which is saying a good deal. Let him +go. Mr. Peakslow,"--with a bow of gracious condescension over the frayed +stock,--"you are welcome to as much of this disputed territory as you +can shake out of that youngster's clothes,--not any more." + +"That seems to be a good deal," said Jack, laughing to see Zeph scramble +up, gasping, blubbering, flirting soil from his clothes and hair, and +clawing it desperately from his besmeared face. + +"That's for daring me to fight you," said Rufe, as he let him go. "I'll +pay you some other time for what you did to Cecie"; while Zeph went off +howling. + +"No more, Rufus," said Betterson. "Come and put up this fence." + +"I'll do that," said Jack. "I'm bound to leave it as I found it; if Mr. +Peakslow will please step either forward or back." + +Peakslow concluded to step back; and Jack and Rufe laid up the corner, +rail by rail. + +"Don't you think you've played me a perty shabby trick?" said Peakslow, +glaring at Jack. + +"You are hardly the man to speak with a very good grace of _anybody's_ +shabby tricks," Jack replied, putting up the top rail before the hooked +nose. + +"I didn't think it of you!" And Peakslow cast longing eyes after the +horse. + +"You must have forgotten what you thought," said Jack. "You didn't dare +turn the horse out till Zeph told you I'd gone home; and it seems you +kept pretty close watch of him then." + +Peakslow choked back his wrath, and muttered,-- + +"Ye might 'a' gi'n me suthin for my trouble." + +"So I would, willingly, if you had acted decently." + +"Gi' me suthin now, and settle it." + +"I consider it already settled,--like your land-claim dispute," said +Jack. "But no matter; how much do you want? Don't bid too high, you +know." + +"Gi' me a dollar, anyhow!" + +Jack laughed. + +"If I should give you enough to pay for the charge in your gun, wouldn't +that satisfy you? Though, as you didn't fire it at me, I don't quite see +that I ought to defray the expense of it. Good day, Mr. Peakslow." + +Jack went to find the chicken that had been shot; and Peakslow vented +his rage upon his neighbor across the fence. + +"What a pattern of a man you be! stuck-up, struttin',--a turkey-gobbler +kind of man, I call ye. Think I'm afraid o' yer gun?" + +"I have no answer to make to remarks of that nature," said Lord +Betterson, retiring from the fence. + +"Hain't, hey?" Peakslow roared after him. "Feel above a common man like +me, do ye? Guess I pay _my_ debts. If I set out to build, guess I look +out and not bu'st up 'fore I get my paintin' and plasterin' done. +Nothin' to say to me, hey?" + +Betterson coolly resumed his slow and stately march across the +buckwheat, looking for prairie chickens. + +"You puffed-up, pompous, would-be 'ristocrat!" said Peakslow, more and +more furious, "where'd you be if your relations didn't furnish ye money? +Poorer 'n ye be now, I guess. What if I should tell ye what yer +neighbors say of ye? Guess ye wouldn't carry yer head so plaguy high!" + +Two chickens rose from before Betterson's feet, and flew to right and +left. With perfect coolness and precision of aim he fired and brought +down one, then turned and dropped the other, with scarce an interval of +three seconds between the reports. + +"This is a very pretty piece of yours," he observed smilingly, with a +stately wave of the hand toward Jack. + +"I never saw anything so handsomely done!" exclaimed Jack, bringing the +chicken previously shot. + +At the same time he could not help glancing with some apprehension at +Peakslow, not knowing what that excitable neighbor might do, now that +Betterson's two barrels were empty. + +"I think I will stay and have one or two more shots," said Betterson. "A +very pretty piece indeed!" + +The muttering thunder of Peakslow's wrath died away in the distance, as +he retired with his forces. Rufe picked up the last two prairie chickens +and followed Jack, who ran to overtake the dog and horse. + +Lion still held the bridle-rein, letting Snowfoot nip the grass that +grew along the borders of the corn, but keeping him from the corn +itself. Jack patted and praised the dog, and stroked and caressed the +horse, looking him all over to see if he had received any fresh injury. + +Then Rufe joined him; and presently Wad came bounding down the slope +from the barn, laughing, carrying Jack's coat; and Link appeared, +running and limping, having hurt his ankle in jumping down from the +cow-shed. Behind came Chokie, trudging on his short legs, and tumbling +and sprawling at every few steps. + +The boys were jubilant over the victory, and Jack was the object of loud +congratulations; while Lion and Snowfoot formed the centre of the little +group. + +"Much obliged to you, Wad," said Jack, as they re-exchanged coats and +hats. "Thanks to you, I've got my horse again. Thanks to all of you. +Boys, I was perfectly astonished at your father's pluck!" And he could +not help thinking what a really noble specimen of a man Betterson might +have made, if he had not been standing on his dignity and waiting for +legacies all his life. + +"Not many folks know what sort of a man father is," replied Rufe. +"Peakslow would have found out, if he had drawn a bead on you. How quick +he stopped, and changed countenance! He can govern his temper when he +finds he must; and he can cringe and crawl when he sees it's for his +interest. Think of his asking you at last,--after you had got your horse +in spite of him, and at the risk of your life,--think of his begging you +to give him a dollar!" + +Jack said, "Look at that galled spot on Snowfoot's neck! Peakslow has +got all he could out of him the past week,--kept him low and worked him +hard in a cruel collar. Never mind, old Snowfoot! better times have come +now, for both of us. Here, Link, you are lame; want a ride?" + +Link did want a ride, of course,--who ever saw a boy that didn't? Jack +took hold of his foot and helped him mount upon Snowfoot's back; then +called to Chokie, who was getting up from his last tumble (with loud +lamentations), a few yards off. + +"Here, Chokie; don't cry; fun isn't all over yet; you can ride too." +Tossing the urchin up, Jack set him behind Link. "Hold on now, Chokie; +hug brother tight!" + +[Illustration: RETURNING IN TRIUMPH.] + +Both chubby arms reaching half around Link's waist, one chubby cheek +pressed close to Link's suspender, and two chubby legs sticking out on +Snowfoot's back, Chokie forgot his griefs, and, with the tear-streaks +still wet on his cheeks, enjoyed the fearful pleasure of the ride. + +Vinnie's bright face watched from the door, the delighted Lill clapped +her hands, and Mrs. Betterson and Cecie looked eagerly from the window, +as the little procession approached the house,--Lion walking sedately +before, then Link and Chokie riding the lost horse, and Jack and Rufe +and Wad following with the prairie chickens. + +More congratulations. Then Lord Betterson came from the field with +another bird. Then Snowfoot was saddled, and Jack, with dog and gun, and +two of the prairie chickens, took leave of his friends, and rode home in +triumph. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +VINNIE IN THE LION'S DEN. + + +When Link the next morning went to the spring for water he found that +the Peakslow boys (it could have been nobody else) had, by a dastardly +trick, taken revenge for the defeat of the day before. + +Link came limping back (his ankle was still sore) with an empty pail, +and loud complaints of the enemy. + +"They've been and gone and filled the spring with earth and leaves and +sticks, and all sorts of rubbish! It will take an hour to dig it out, +and then all day for the water to settle and be fit to drink." + +"Those dreadful Peakslow boys! what _shall_ we do?" Caroline said +despairingly. "No water for breakfast, and no near neighbors but the +Peakslows; but their well is the last place where we should think of +going for water." + +"I'll tell you what _I_'ll do!" said Link. "I'll go to-night and give +'em such a dose in their well, that they won't want any water from it +for the next two months! I know where there's a dead rabbit. The +Peakslows don't get the start of us!" + +"I don't see but that one of the boys will have to go to Mr. Wiggett's +for water," said poor Caroline, bemoaning her troubles. + +"Rufe and Wad are doing the chores," said Link, "and I'm lame. Besides, +you don't catch one of us going to old Wiggett's for water, for we +should have to pass Peakslow's house, and it would please 'em too well." + +"Let me take the pail; I will get some water," said Vinnie. + +"Why, Lavinia dear!" Caroline exclaimed, "what are you thinking of? +Where are you going?" + +"To Mr. Peakslow's," Vinnie answered with a smile. + +"Going into the lion's den! Don't think of such a thing, Lavinia dear!" + +"No, by sixty!" cried Link. "I don't want them boys to sass you! I'd +rather go a mile in the other direction for water,--bother the lame +foot!" + +But Vinnie quietly persisted, saying it would do no harm for her to try; +and putting on her bonnet, she started off with the empty pail. + +I cannot say that she felt no misgivings; but the consciousness of doing +a simple and blameless act helped to quiet the beating of her heart as +she approached the Peakslow door. + +It was open, and she could see the family at breakfast within, while the +loud talking prevented her footsteps from being heard. + +Besides Dud and Zeph, there were three or four younger children, girls +and boys, the youngest of whom--a child with bandaged hands and +arms--sat in its father's lap. + +Vinnie remembered the swarthy face, bushy beard, and hooked nose; and +yet she could hardly believe that this was the same man who once showed +her such ruffianly manners on the wharf in Chicago. He was fondling and +feeding the child, and talking to it, and drumming on the table with his +knife to amuse it and still its complaining cries. + +"Surely," thought Vinnie, "there must be some good in a man who shows so +much affection even toward his own child." And with growing courage she +advanced to the threshold. + +Mrs. Peakslow--a much-bent, over-worked woman, with a pinched and +peevish face--looked up quickly across the table and stared at the +strange visitor. In a moment all eyes were turned upon Vinnie. + +"I beg your pardon," she said, pausing at the door. "I wish to get a +pail of water. Can I go to your well and help myself?" + +The children--and especially Dud and Zeph--looked in astonishment at the +bright face and girlish form in the doorway. As Mr. Peakslow turned his +face toward her, all the tenderness went out of it. + +"What do Betterson's folks send here for water for? And what makes 'em +send a gal? Why don't they come themselves?" + +"They did not send me," Vinnie answered as pleasantly as she could. "I +came of my own accord." + +Peakslow wheeled round on his chair. + +"Queer sort of folks, they be! An' seems to me you must be queer, to be +stoppin' with 'em." + +"Mrs. Betterson is my sister," replied Vinnie in a trembling voice. "I +came to her because she is sick, and Cecie--because I was needed," she +said, avoiding the dangerous ground of Zeph's offence. + +"I've nothin' pa'tic'lar ag'in Mis' Betterson as I know on," said +Peakslow, "though of course she sides with him ag'in me, an' of course +_you_ side with _her_." + +"I've nothing to do with Mr. Betterson's quarrels," Vinnie answered, +drawing back from the door. "Will you kindly permit me to get a pail of +water? I am sorry if I give you any trouble." + +"No trouble; water's cheap," said Peakslow. "But why don't they have a +well o' their own, 'ste'd o' dependin' on their neighbors? What makes +'em so plaguy shif'less?" + +"They have a well, but it is dry this summer, and--" + +"Dry every summer, ain't it? What a way to dig a well that was!" + +"They have a very good spring," Vinnie said, "but something happened to +it last night." At which Dud and Zeph giggled and looked sheepish. + +"What happened to the spring?" + +"Somebody put rubbish into it." + +"Who done it, did you hear 'em say?" + +"I don't know who did it; and I should be sorry to accuse any person of +such an act," Vinnie answered with firm but serene dignity. + +The boys looked more sheepish and giggled less. + +"I know who put stuff in the spring," spoke up a little one, proud of +being able to convey useful information; "Dud and Zeph--" + +But at that moment Dud's hand stopped the prattler's mouth. + +"I don't believe my boys have done anything of the kind," said Peakslow; +"though 't wouldn't be strange if they did. See how that great lubberly +Rufe treated our Zeph yist'day! rubbed the dirt into his skin so 't he +hain't got it washed out yit." + +"I am sorry for these misunderstandings," said Vinnie, turning to Mrs. +Peakslow with an appealing look. "I wish you and my sister knew each +other better. You have a sick child, too, I see." + +"'T ain't sick, 'xac'ly," replied the mother in a peevish, snarling +tone. "Pulled over the teapot, and got hands and arms scalt." + +"O, poor little thing!" Vinnie exclaimed. "What have you done for it?" + +"Hain't done nothin' much, only wrapped up the blistered places in Injin +meal; that's coolin'." + +"No doubt; but I've some salve, the best thing in the world for burns. I +wish you would let me bring you some." + +"I guess Bubby'll git along 'thout no help from outside," said Peakslow, +his ill-natured growl softened by a feeling of tenderness for the child +which just then came over him. "He's weathered the wust on 't." + +But Bubby's fretful cries told that what was left was bad enough. + +"I will bring you the salve," said Vinnie, "and I hope you will try it; +it is so hard to see these little ones suffer." + +She was retiring, when Peakslow called after her,-- + +"Goin' 'ithout the water?" + +"I--thought--you had not told me I could have it." + +"Have it! of course you can have it; I wouldn't refuse nobody a pail o' +water. Ye see where the well is?" + +"O yes; thank you." And Vinnie hastened to the curb. + +"She can't draw it," snickered Zeph. "Handle's broke; and the crank'll +slip out of her hands and knock her to Jericho, if she don't look out." + +"Seems to be a perty spoken gal," said Peakslow, turning to finish his +breakfast. "I've nothin' ag'in _her_. You've finished your breakfast; +better go out, Dudley, and tell her to look out about the crank." + +With mixed emotions in his soul, Dud went; his countenance enlivened at +one and the same time with a blush of boyish bashfulness and a malicious +grin. As he drew near, and saw Vinnie embarrassed with the windlass, +which seemed determined to let the bucket down too fast (as if animated +with a genuine Peakslow spite toward her), the grin predominated; but +when she turned upon him a troubled, smiling face, the grin subsided, +and the blush became a general conflagration, extending to the tips of +his ears. + +"How does 't go?" + +"It's inclined to go altogether too fast," said Vinnie, stopping the +windlass; "and it hurts my hands." + +"Le' me show ye." + +And Dud, taking her place by the curb, let the windlass revolve with +moderated velocity under the pressure of his rough palms, until the +bucket struck the water. Then, drawing it up, he filled her pail. + +The grin had by this time faded quite out of his countenance; and when +she thanked him sweetly and sincerely for helping her, the blush became +a blush of pleasure. + +"It is more than I can carry," she said. "I shall have to pour out +some." + +Thereupon Dud Peakslow astonished himself by an extraordinary act of +gallantry. + +"I'll carry it for ye as fur as the road; I'd carry it all the way, if +'t was anywhere else." And he actually took up the pail. + +"You seem to have a very bad opinion of my relations," Vinnie said. + +"Good reason! They hate us, too!" + +"And think _they_ have good reason. But I'm sure you are not so bad as +they believe; and _you_ may possibly be mistaken about _them_. Let me +take the pail now. You are very kind." + +Dud gave up the pail with reluctance, and gazed after her up the road, +his stupid mouth ajar with an expression of wistful wonder and pleasure. + +"Hurry now and git up the team, Dud!" his father called from the door. +"What ye stan'in' there for? Didn't ye never see a gal afore?" + +When Vinnie reached home with her pail of water, all gathered around, +eager to hear her adventure. + +"The lions were not very savage, after all," she said, laughing. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +AN "EXTRAORDINARY" GIRL. + + +After breakfast Vinnie left Lill to "do the dishes," and went with her +box of salve to fulfil her promise to Mrs. Peakslow. Dud and Zeph were +off at work with their father; and she was glad to find the mother alone +with the younger children. + +"Oh! you ag'in?" said Mrs. Peakslow, by the chimney, looking up from a +skillet she was stooping over and scraping. "Ye need n't 'a' took the +trouble. Guess Bubby's burns 'll git along." + +But Vinnie was not to be rebuffed. + +"I have brought some linen rags to spread the salve on. Will you let me +do it myself? I wish you would; the poor thing is suffering so." + +And Vinnie knelt down beside the girl who was holding Bubby in her arms. + +"Is 't any o' the Betterson folks's sa'v'?" Mrs. Peakslow inquired, +scraping away at her skillet. + +"No; it is some I brought from the East with me, thinking I should find +a use for it in my sister's family; it is good for various things." + +"Better keep it for her family!" snarled Mrs. Peakslow. Scrape, scrape. + +"There's plenty and to spare," said Vinnie, unrolling her rags. "And my +sister will be only too glad if it can be of any service to you." + +"Think so?" Mrs. Peakslow stopped her scraping and scowled at Vinnie. +"Her folks hain't never showed us none too much good-will." + +"They have never known you,--you have never understood each other," said +Vinnie. "It is too bad that the troubles between the men should prevent +you and her from being on neighborly terms. Can I use a corner of this +table to spread the salve? And can I see the little thing's burns, so as +to shape the plasters to cover them?" + +"He tol' me not to use the sa'v', if ye brought it," said Mrs. Peakslow +doubtfully, laying down the skillet. + +"When he sees the good effect of it I am sure he won't complain; he is +too fond of his little boy," said Vinnie, placing rags and salve on the +table. "Will you let me take a case-knife and a pair of scissors?" + +"Got rags enough of my own. Needn't trouble yourself to cut and spread +plasters. _Try_ the sa'v', 'f ye say so." + +Vinnie did say so, and dressed Bubby's burns with her own hands, doing +the work so deftly and tenderly, talking now to the child, now to the +mother, who had taken him into her lap, and showing in every look and +tone so cheerful and sweet a spirit that poor Mrs. Peakslow's peevish +heart warmed and softened toward her. + +"I do declare," she said, as the outer bandages were going on, "Bubby +feels comforted a'ready. Must be dreffle good sa'v'! _Much_ obleeged to +ye, I'm sure. How _is_ yer sister?" + +"Much better than she was; and the baby is better too. Indeed," said +Vinnie, "I think the baby will get well as soon as the mother does." + +"And Cecie--how's Cecie?" Mrs. Peakslow timidly asked. + +"O, Cecie is in very good spirits! She is the most gentle, patient, +beautiful girl you ever saw! She never complains; and she is always so +grateful for any little thing that is done for her!" + +"S'pose the folks feel hard to our Zeph; don't they?" + +"I believe the boys do, and you can hardly wonder at it, Mrs. Peakslow," +said Vinnie; "their own dear sister! crippled for life, perhaps. But +Cecie won't allow that your son _meant_ to hurt her; she always takes +his part when the subject is brought up." + +"Does she?" exclaimed Mrs. Peakslow, surprised into sudden tears. "I +wouldn't 'a' believed that! Must _be_ she's a good gal. Truth is, Zeph +hadn't no notion o' hurtin' on her. It's re'ly troubled me,--it's +troubled all on us, though I don't s'pose her folks'll believe it." + +And Mrs. Peakslow, not finding it convenient to get at her apron, with +Bubby in her lap, wiped her eyes with a remnant of Vinnie's rags. + +"Isn't it too sad that this quarrel is kept up?" said Vinnie. + +"O dear me! nobody knows," said Mrs. Peakslow, in a quavering voice, +"what a life it is! Our folks is _some_ to blame, I s'pose. But the +Bettersons have been _so_ aggravatin'! Though I've nothin' ag'in the +gals. They're as perty gals as I'd ask to have play with my children. My +children is sufferin' for mates. I want society, too, for it's a dreffle +life,--a dreffle life!" And the quavering voice broke into sobs. + +Vinnie was surprised and pained at this outburst, and hardly knew what +reply to make. + +"Lyddy, wipe them dishes!" Mrs. Peakslow went on again, sopping her eyes +with the remnant of rags. "Lecty Ann! here, take Bubby. Scuse me, miss; +I d'n' know what sot me goin' this way; but my heart's been shet up so +long; I've _so_ wanted sympathy!" And now the apron did service in place +of the rags. + +"Yes, I know," said Vinnie. "This is a lonesome country, unless you have +friends around you. There seem to be a few nice people here,--people +from the East; you are from the East, I suppose?" + +"O yes; but _he_ ain't a very social man, an' he's dreffle sot in his +way. He don't go out nowheres, 'thout he has business, an' he don't +think there's any need of a woman's goin' out. So there it is. The +Wiggetts, our neighbors on one side, ain't our kind o' people; then +there's the Bettersons on t'other side. An' there's allus so many things +a wife has to put up with, an' hold her tongue. O dear! O dear! Keep to +your work, gals! hear?" + +There was something almost comical in this sharp and shrill winding-up +of the good woman's pathetic discourse; but Vinnie never felt less like +laughing. + +"I am glad you can speak freely to me," she said. "I'll come and see you +again, if you will let me; and I want you some time to come and see my +sister." + +"I d'n' know! I d'n' know!" said Mrs. Peakslow, still weeping. "_You_ +may come _here_,--like to have ye,--only it'll be jest as well if you +time your visits when me an' the gals is alone; you know what men-folks +be." + +"You are really an extraordinary girl, Lavinia dear!" Caroline said, +when Vinnie went home and told her story. "Did you know it?" + +Vinnie laughed. + +"Why, no; I never thought of such a thing; what I do comes so very +natural." + +"Extraordinary!" Caroline repeated, regarding her admiringly. "I'm proud +of such a sister. I always told Mr. Betterson there was good blood on +our side too. I wonder what Radcliff would think of you." + +Vinnie sincerely believed that so fine a young gentleman would not think +anything of her at all, but feared it might seem like affectation in him +to say so. + +"And I wonder," Caroline continued, with the usual simper which her +favorite theme inspired, "what you would think of Radcliff. Ah, Lavinia +dear! it is a comfort for me to reflect that it was a Betterson--nobody +less than a thoroughbred Betterson--who took the place in our family +which you would otherwise have filled." + +Evidently Caroline's conscience was not quite easy on the subject of her +early neglect of so "extraordinary" a sister; for she often alluded to +it in this way. Vinnie now begged her not to mention it again. + +"And you really cherish no hard feelings?" + +"None whatever." + +"You are _very_ good. And pretty; did you know it? Quite pretty." + +Vinnie laughed again. + +"Mrs. Presbit brought me up to the wholesome belief that I was quite +plain." + +"That was to prevent you from becoming vain. Vanity, you know," said +Caroline, with her most exquisite simper, "spoils so many girls! I'm +thankful it doesn't run in _our_ family! But didn't your glass undeceive +you?" + +"On the contrary, I used to look in it and say to myself, 'It is a very +_common_ face; I _wish_ it was pretty, but Aunt Presbit is right; I'm a +homely little thing!'" + +"And you felt bad?" + +"I never mourned over it; though, of course, I should have much +preferred to be handsome." + +"And hasn't anybody ever told you you _were_ handsome?" + +Vinnie blushed. + +"Of course I've heard a good deal of nonsense talked now and then." + +"Lavinia dear, you _are_ extraordinary. And handsome, though not in the +usual sense of the word. Your face _is_ rather common, in repose, but it +lights up wonderfully. And, after all, I don't know that it is so much +your face, as the expression you throw into it, that is so enchanting. +What _would_ Radcliff Betterson say to you, I wonder?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +ANOTHER HUNT, AND HOW IT ENDED. + + +Jack had one day been surveying a piece of land a few miles east of Long +Woods. It was not very late in the afternoon when he finished his work; +and he found that, by going a little out of his way and driving rather +fast, he could, before night, make Vinnie and her friends a call, and +perhaps give Mrs. Wiggett the promised noon-mark on her kitchen floor. + +Leaving in due time the more travelled thoroughfare, he turned off upon +the neighborhood road, which he knew passed through the woods and struck +the river road near Betterson's house. Away on his left lay the rolling +prairie, over a crest of which he, on a memorable occasion, saw Snowfoot +disappear with his strange rider; and he was fast approaching the scene +of his famous deer-hunt. + +Jack had his gun with him; and, though he did not stop to give much +attention to the prairie hens which now and then ran skulkingly across +the track, or flew up from beside his buggy-wheels, he could not help +looking for larger game. + +"I'd like to see another doe and fawn feeding off on the prairie there," +thought he. "Wonder if I could find some obliging young man to drive +them in!" + +He whipped up Snowfoot, and presently, riding over a swell of land, +discovered a stranger walking on before him in the road. + +"No deer or fawn," thought he; "but there's possibly an obliging young +man." + +As he drove on, fast overtaking the pedestrian, Jack was very much +struck by his appearance. He was a slender person; he walked at a +loitering pace; and he carried his coat on his arm. There was something +also in the jaunty carriage of the head, and in the easy slouch of the +hat-brim, which startled Jack. + +"I vow, it's my obliging young man himself!" he muttered through his +teeth,--"or a vision of him!" + +Just then the stranger, hearing the sound of wheels, cast a quick glance +over his shoulder. It was the same face, and Jack could almost have +taken his oath to the quid in the cheek. + +He was greatly astonished and excited. It seemed more like a dream than +anything else, that he should again meet with the person who had given +him so much trouble, so near the place where he had seen him first, in +precisely similar hat and soiled shirt-sleeves, and carrying (to all +appearances) the same coat on his arm! + +The stranger gave no sign of the recognition being mutual, but stepped +off upon the roadside to let the buggy pass. + +"How are you?" said Jack, coming up to him, and drawing rein; while Lion +snuffed suspiciously at the rogue's heels. + +"All right, stranger; how are you yourself?" And a pair of reckless dark +eyes flashed saucily up at Jack. + +"Better than I was that night after you ran off with my horse!" Jack +replied. + +"Glad you're improving. Wife on the mending hand? And how are the little +daisies? Which is the road to Halleluia Corners? I branch off here; good +day, fair stranger." + +These words were rattled off with great volubility, which seemed all the +greater because of their surprising irrelevancy; while the head, thrown +gayly to one side, balanced the quid in the bulged cheek. + +Before Jack could answer, the youth with a wild laugh struck off from +the road, and began to walk fast toward the woodland. Jack called after +him,-- + +"Hold on! I want to speak with you!" + +"Speak quick, then; I'm bound for the Kingdom,--will you go to glory +with me?" the rogue shouted back over his shoulder, with a defiant grin, +never slacking his pace. + +Jack gave Snowfoot a touch of the whip, reined out of the track, and +drove after him. + +The fellow at the same time quickened his step to a run, and before he +could be overtaken he had come to rough ground, where fast driving was +dangerous. + +Jack pulled up unwillingly, revolving rapidly in his mind what he +should do. Though he had recovered his horse, he felt the strongest +desire to have the thief taken and punished. Moreover, he had lately +seen the truckman to whom the stolen animal was sold, and had promised +to do what he could to help him obtain justice. + +He might have levelled his gun and threatened to shoot the fugitive; but +he would not have felt justified in carrying out such a threat, and +recent experience had disgusted him with the shooting business. + +He would have jumped from the wagon, and followed on foot; but, though a +good runner, he was convinced that his heels were no match for the +stranger's. There was then but one thing to do. + +"Stop, or I'll let the dog take you!" Jack yelled. + +For reply, the fugitive threw up his hand over his shoulder, with +fingers spread and thumb pointing toward the mid-region of countenance +occupied by the nose; which did not, however, take the trouble to turn +and make itself visible. + +Lion was already eager for the chase; and Jack had only to give him a +signal. + +"Take care of him, Lion!" And away sped the dog. + +Fleet of foot as the fellow was, and though he now strained every nerve +to get away, the distance between him and the dog rapidly diminished; +and a hurried glance behind showed him the swift, black, powerful +animal, coming with terrible bounds, and never a bark, hard at his +heels. + +The thickets were near,--could he reach them before the dog reached him? +Would they afford him a refuge or a cudgel? He threw out his quid, and +_leaned_. + +Jack drove after as fast as he could, in order to prevent mortal +mischief when Lion should bring down his game; for the dog, when too +much in earnest with a foe, had an overmastering instinct for searching +out the windpipe and jugular vein. + +The rogue had reached the edge of the woods, when he found himself so +closely pursued that he seemed to have no resource but to turn and dash +his coat into the dog's face. That gave him an instant's reprieve; then +Lion was upon him again; and he had just time to leap to the low limb of +a scraggy oak-tree, and swing his lower limbs free from the ground, when +the fierce eyes and red tongue were upon the spot. + +Lion gave one leap, but missed his mark; the trap-like jaws snapping +together with a sound which could not have been very agreeable to the +youth whose dangling legs had been actually grazed by the passing +muzzle. + +With a wistful, whining yelp, Lion gave another upward spring; and this +time his fangs closed upon something--only cloth, fortunately; but as +the thief clambered up out of their range, it was with a very good +chance for a future patch upon the leg of his trousers. + +Leaping from his wagon, Jack rushed to the tree, and found his obliging +young man perched comfortably in it, with one leg over a limb; while +Lion, below, made up for his long silence by uttering frantic barks. + +[Illustration: THE END OF THE CHASE.] + +"What are you up there for?" said Jack. + +"To take an observation," the fellow replied, out of breath, but still +cheerful. "First-rate view of the country up here. I fancy I see a doe +and a fawn off on the prairie; wouldn't you like a shot at 'em?" + +"I've other game to look after just now!" Jack replied. + +"Better look out for your horse; he's running away!" + +"My horse isn't in the habit of running away without help. Will you come +down?" + +"I was just going to invite you to come up. I'll share my lodgings with +you,--give you an upper berth. A very good tavern; rooms airy, fine +prospect; though the table don't seem to be very well supplied, and I +can't say I fancy the entrance. 'Sich gittin' up stairs I never did +see!'" + +Jack checked this flow of nonsense by shouting, "Will you come down, or +not?" + +"Suppose not?" said the fellow. + +"Then I leave the dog to guard the door of your tavern, and go for a +warrant and a constable, to bring you down." + +"What would you have me come down for? You seem to be very pressing in +your attentions to a stranger!" + +"Don't say stranger,--you who drove the deer in for me! I am anxious to +pay you for that kindness. I want you to ride with me." + +"Why didn't you say so before?" cried the rogue, rolling a fresh quid +in his cheek. "I always ride when you ask me to, don't I? Say, did you +ever know me to refuse when you offered me a ride? Which way are you +going?" + +"Down through the woods," said Jack, amused, in spite of himself, at the +scamp's reckless gayety. + +"Why, that's just the way I am going! Why didn't you mention it? I never +should have put up at this tavern if I had thought a friend would come +along and give me a lift in his carriage. Please relieve the guard, and +I'll descend." + +The dog was driven off, and the youth dropped from the branches to the +ground. + +"Pick up your coat," said Jack, "and do pretty much as I tell you now, +or there'll be trouble. None of your tricks this time!" + +He held the reins and the gun while he made the fellow get into the +buggy; then took his seat, with the prisoner on his left and the gun on +his right, drove on to the travelled track, and turned into the woods; +the vigilant Lion walking close by the wheel. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +JACK'S PRISONER. + + +For a second time Jack now travelled that woodland road under odd +circumstances; the first occasion being that on which he himself had +pulled in the shafts, while Link pushed behind. He laughed as he thought +of that adventure, of which the present seemed a fitting sequel. Before, +he had been obliged to go home without his horse; what a triumph it +would now be to carry home the thief! But to do this, great care and +vigilance would be necessary; and he calculated all the chances, and +resolved just what he would do, should his captive attempt to escape. +The rogue, on the contrary, appeared contented with his lot. + +"Young man," said he, "I can't call your name, but let me say you +improve upon acquaintance. This is galorious! better by a long chalk +than a horseback gallop without a saddle. I suppose you will call for me +with a barouche next time!" + +"At all events, I may help you to free lodgings,--not up in a tree, +either!" Jack said, as he touched up Snowfoot. + +He had, of course, abandoned the idea of giving Mrs. Wiggett her +noon-mark that day. But he could not think of passing the "castle" +without stopping at the door. + +"What will Vinnie say?" thought he, with a thrill of anticipation. And +it must be confessed that he felt no little pride at the prospect of +showing his prisoner to Lord Betterson and the boys. + +Descending the long declivity, the fellow was strangely silent, for one +so rattle-brained, until the "castle" appeared in sight through an +opening of the woods. "He's plotting mischief," Jack thought. And when +suddenly the rogue made a movement with his arms, Jack started, ready +for a grapple. + +"Don't be excited; I'm only putting on my coat." + +"All right," said Jack; and the garment was put on. "Anything else I can +do for you?" + +"I'm dying with thirst; they had nothing to drink at that tavern where +you found me." + +"May be we can get some water at this house," Jack said. + +"Are you acquainted here?" the prisoner inquired, with a curious, sober +face. + +"Yes, well enough to ask for a glass of water." And Jack drove into the +yard. + +The rogue kept on his sober face, but seemed to be laughing prodigiously +inside. + +As Jack reined up to the door, Lill came out, clapped her hands with +sudden surprise, and screamed, "O mother!" Then Vinnie appeared, her +face radiant on seeing Jack, but changing suddenly at sight of his +companion. Mrs. Betterson followed, and, perceiving the faces in the +buggy, uttered a cry, tottered, and clung to Vinnie's shoulder. + +Link at the same time ran out from behind the house, dropped a dirty +stick, wiped his hands on his trousers, and shouted, "Hullo! by sixty! +ye don't say so!" while Rufe and Wad came rushing up from the barn. Jack +had rather expected to produce a sensation,--not, however, until he +should fairly have shown his prisoner; and this premature commotion +puzzled him. + +The rogue's suppressed laughter was now bubbling freely; a frothy and +reckless sort of mirth, without much body of joy to it. + +"How are ye all?" he cried. "Don't faint at sight of me, Aunt Carrie. +This is an unexpected pleasure!" and he bowed gayly to Vinnie. + +"O Radcliff! you again? and in _this_ style!" said poor Caroline. "Where +_did_ you come from?" + +"From up a tree, at last accounts. Hullo, boys! I'd come down on my +trotters, and hug you all round, but my friend here would be jealous." + +Jack was confounded. + +"Is _this_ your Cousin Rad?" he cried, as the boys crowded near. "I'm +sorry to know it, for he's the fellow who ran off with my horse. Where +did _you_ ever see him before, Vinnie?" + +"He is the one I told you about,--in Chicago," said Vinnie, astonished +to find her waggish acquaintance, the elegant Radcliff Betterson, and +this captive vagabond, the same person. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +RADCLIFF. + + +Lord Betterson now came out of the house, calm and stately, but with +something of the look in his eye, as he turned it upon his nephew, which +Jack had observed when it menaced Peakslow at the gap of the fence. + +"Ah, Radcliff! you have returned? Why don't you alight?" And he touched +his hat to Jack. + +"Your nephew may tell you the reason, if he will," Jack replied. + +"The long and the short of it is this," said Radcliff, betraying a good +deal of trouble, under all his assumed carelessness: "When I was on my +way home, a few weeks ago, this young man asked me to drive in some deer +for him. He gave me his horse to ride. I made a mistake, and rode him +too far." + +"You, Radcliff!" said Lord Betterson, sternly; while Mrs. Betterson went +into hysterics on Vinnie's shoulder, and was taken into the house. + +"We thought of Rad when you described him," Rufe said to Jack. "But we +couldn't believe he would do such a thing." + +[Illustration: JACK AND HIS JOLLY PRISONER.] + +"'Twas the most natural thing in the world," Rad explained. "I was +coming home because I was hard up. I didn't steal the horse,--he was put +into my hands; it was a breach of trust, that's all you can make of it. +Necessity compelled me to dispose of him. With money in my pocket, what +was the use of my coming home? I took my clothes out of pawn, and was +once more a gentleman. Money all gone, I spouted my clothes again,--fell +back upon this inexpensive rig,--took to the country, remembered I had a +home, and was making for it, when this young man overtook me just now, +and gave me a seat in his buggy." + +"The matter appears serious," said Lord Betterson. "Am I to understand +that you have taken my nephew prisoner?" + +"He can answer that question," said Jack. + +"Well, I suppose that is the plain English of it," replied Radcliff. +"Come, now, Uncle Lord! this ain't the first scrape you've got me out +of; fix it up with him, can't you?" + +"It is my duty to save the honor of the name; but you are bent on +destroying it. Will you please to come into the house with my nephew, +and oblige me?" Betterson said to Jack. + +"Certainly, if you wish it," Jack replied. "Get down, Radcliff. Be +quiet, Lion! I was never in so hard a place in my life," he said to the +boys, as they followed Rad and his uncle into the house. "I never +dreamed of his being your cousin!" + +"He's a wild fellow,--nothing very bad about him, only he's just full +of the Old Harry," said Rufe. "I guess father'll settle it, somehow." + +Meanwhile, Mrs. Betterson had retired to her room, where Vinnie was +engaged, with fan and hartshorn, in restoring--not her consciousness, +for that she had not lost, but her equanimity. + +"Lavinia!" she said brokenly, at intervals, "Lavinia dear! don't think I +intended to deceive you. It was, perhaps, too much the ideal Radcliff I +described to you,--the Betterson Radcliff, the better Betterson +Radcliff, if I may so speak; for he is, after all, you know, a--but that +is the agony of it! The name is disgraced forever! Fan me, Lavinia +dear!" + +"I don't see how the act of one person should disgrace anybody else, +even of the same name," Vinnie replied. + +"But--a Betterson!" groaned Caroline. "My husband's nephew! Brought back +here like a reprobate! The hartshorn, Lavinia dear!" + +Hard as it was freely to forgive her sister for holding up to her so +exclusively the "ideal Radcliff" in her conversations, Vinnie continued +to apply the fan and hartshorn, with comforting words, until Link came +in and said that Jack wished her to be present in the other room. + +"Don't leave me, Lavinia dear!" said Caroline, feeling herself utterly +helpless without Vinnie's support. + +"If we open this door between the rooms, and you sit near it, while I +remain by you,--perhaps that will be the best way," said Vinnie. + +The door was opened, showing Jack and Rad and Mr. Betterson seated, and +the boys standing by the outer door. Rad was trying hard to keep up his +appearance of gay spirits, chucking Chokie under the chin, and winking +playfully at Rufe and Wad. But Jack and Lord were serious. + +"I have reasons for wanting you to hear this talk, Vinnie," said Jack. +"I was just telling Mr. Betterson that you had met his nephew before, +and he was quite surprised. It seems to me singular that you never told +your friends here of that adventure." + +"I suppose I know what you mean," spoke up Caroline. "And I confess that +_I_ am at fault. Lavinia dear did tell me and the girls of a young man +beguiling her to a public-house in Chicago, and offering her wine; and +Cecie whispered to me that she was sure it must have been Radcliff; but +I couldn't, I wouldn't believe a Betterson could be guilty of--Fan me, +Lavinia dear!" + +Vinnie fanned, and Caroline went on,-- + +"'T was I who cautioned the children against saying anything disparaging +of Radcliff's character in Lavinia dear's presence. I had such faith in +the stock! and now to think how I have been deluded! The hartshorn, +Lavinia dear!" + +"Seems to me you make a pile of talk about trifles!" Radcliff said with +a sneer. "I owe an apology to this young lady. But she knows I meant no +harm,--only my foolish fun. As for the horse, the owner has got him +again; and so I don't see but it's all right." + +"It's all right enough, as far as I am concerned," said Jack. "I won't +say a word about the trouble and expense you put me to. But, whether +taking my horse as you did was stealing or not, you sold him, you +obtained money under false pretences, you swindled an honest man." + +"Well, that can't be helped now," said Radcliff, with a scoffing laugh. +"A feller is obliged sometimes to do things that may not be exactly on +the square." + +"I don't know about anybody's being obliged to go off and play the +gentleman (if that's what you call it), and have a good time (if there's +any good in such a time), at somebody else's expense. I call such +conduct simply scoundrelism," said Jack, his strong feeling on the +subject breaking forth in plain speech and ringing tones. "And I +determined, if I ever caught you, to have you punished." + +"O, well! go ahead! put it through! indulge!" said Radcliff, folding his +arms, and stretching out his legs with an air of easy and reckless +insolence, but suddenly drawing up one of them, as he noticed the tear +Lion's teeth had made. "Guess I can stand it if the others can. What do +you say, Uncle Lord? Give me up as a bad job, eh?" + +"Hem!" Lord coughed, and rubbed his chin with his palm. "If this sort of +conduct is to continue, the crisis may as well come now, I suppose, as +later; and, unless you give a solemn pledge to alter your course, I +shall let it come." + +"O, I'll give the solem'est sort of a pledge!" Radcliff replied. + +"You will notice--ahem!--a change in our family," Lord went on. "The +boys have applied themselves to business,--in plain terms, gone to work. +Although I have said little on the subject, I have silently observed, +and I am free to confess that I have been gratified. Since our +circumstances are what they are, they have done well,--I may add, they +have done nobly." + +"Fan me, Lavinia dear!" whispered Caroline. + +"Hey, boys? what's got into you?" said Radcliff, really astonished. + +Lord put up his hand, to prevent the boys from answering, and +continued,-- + +"Your unusually long absence, I am persuaded, has had a wholesome +effect. But to the presence of new elements in the family I attribute +the better state of things, in a large measure." Lord indicated Lavinia, +by a gracious wave of the hand, adding, "Though a man of few words, I am +not blind, and I am not ungrateful." + +This recognition of her influence, before Jack and the whole family, +brought the quick color to Vinnie's cheeks and tears to her eyes. She +was surprised by what Lord said, and still more surprised that any words +of his could touch her so. He had hitherto treated her with civil, +quiet reserve, and she had never been able to divine his secret thought +of her. Nor had she cared much, at first, what that might be; but day by +day she had learned to know that under all his weaknesses there was +something in his character worthy of her esteem. + +"If you choose to fall into the new course of things, Radcliff, you will +be welcome here, as you always have been. Not otherwise." + +And again Jack was reminded of the look and tone with which he had seen +Lord Betterson confront Peakslow at the gap of the fence. + +"Of course I'll fall in, head over heels," said Radcliff, with a laugh, +and a look at Vinnie, which Jack did not like. "I think I shall fancy +the new elements, as you call 'em." + +Jack started up, with sparkling eyes; but, on an instant's reflection, +bridled his tongue, and settled down again, merely giving Vinnie a swift +glance, which seemed to say, "If he has any more of his _fun_ with you, +I'll--" + +"No more trifling," said Betterson. "If you stay, you will come under +the new _régime_. That means, in plain speech--work; we all work." + +"Oh!" gasped poor Caroline, and reached out helplessly to her sister. +"The hartshorn, Lavinia dear!" + +"I'll stay, and I'll work,--I'll do as the rest do," said Radcliff. "But +when the Philadelphia partners pony up, of course I have my dividend." + +"A word here," said Lord, "is due to our friends. By the Philadelphia +partners, my nephew means the relatives who occasionally send us money. +Now, as to his dividend: when he came into our family, it was with the +understanding that he would be clothed and educated at the expense of +those connections. Accordingly, when money has been sent to me, a +portion has always gone to him. As soon as he gets money, it burns him +till he goes off and squanders it. When it is gone, he comes home here, +and waits for another supply." + +Then Jack spoke up. + +"I say, when the next supply comes, eighty dollars of it--if there's as +much--should be paid over to that truckman he swindled. I insist upon +that." + +Radcliff snapped his fingers. "That's a foolish way of doing business!" + +"Foolish or not," cried Jack, "you shall agree to it." + +"You have anticipated me," remarked Betterson, with a high courtesy +contrasting with Jack's haste and heat. "I was about to propose a +similar arrangement. Radcliff's money passes through my hands. I will +see to it,--the truckman shall be paid. Do you agree, Radcliff? If not, +I have nothing more to urge." + +"Of course I agree, since I can't help myself. But next time I have a +horse to dispose of," Radcliff added with a derisive smile at Jack, "I +shall go farther. So take care!" + +"No need of giving me that warning," Jack made answer, rising to his +feet. He went over and stood by Vinnie, and looked back with strong +distrust upon the jeering Radcliff. "I don't know that I do right, Mr. +Betterson; but I'll leave him here, if you say so." + +"I think it best, on the whole," Mr. Betterson replied. + +"O, bosh!" cried Radcliff, giving Jack a sinister look. "You and I'll be +better acquainted, some day! Come, boys, show me what you've been about +lately. And, see here, Rufe,--haven't I got a pair of pants about the +house somewhere? See how that dog tore my trousers-leg! I'll pay _him_ +my compliments, too, some time!" + +As he was walking out of the house, Lion at the door gave a growl. Jack +silenced the dog, and then took leave. Vinnie urged him to stay to +supper. + +"It will be ready in five minutes," she said; "I was just going to set +the table when you came." + +But Jack replied, with a bitter smile, that he believed his appetite +would be better after a ride of a few miles in the open air. + +"Look out for the scamp!" he whispered in her ear; and then, with brief +good-byes to the rest, he sprang into the buggy, called Lion to a seat +by his side, and drove away. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +AN IMPORTANT EVENT. + + +Radcliff resumed his place in the family. But he soon found that his +relations to it were no longer what they had been before the days of +Vinnie and Jack. + +The "new elements" had produced a greater change than he supposed. He no +longer possessed the boundless influence over the boys which his wild +spirits formerly gave him. They saw him in the light of this last +revelation of his character, and contrasted his coarse foolery, once so +attractive, with the gentle manners and cheerful earnestness of Vinnie +and Jack; in which comparison this flower of the Betterson stock +suffered blight. + +The boys did not take a holiday in honor of Rad's return, but went +steadily on with their tasks. Lord Betterson himself seemed suddenly to +have changed his views of things, for he now offered to assist the boys +in repairing the fences, for which they had been cutting poles in the +woods. + +Rad worked a little, but, seeing how things were going, sulked a good +deal more. He tried to be very gallant toward Vinnie, but her quiet +dignity of manner was proof against all his pleasantries. Even Cecie +and Lill could not somehow enjoy his jests as they used to; and +Caroline--there was no disguising the fact--had ceased to view his +faults through the golden haze of a sentimental fancy. + +So Radcliff found himself out of place, unappreciated; and discontent +filled his soul. At length an event occurred which blew his smouldering +restlessness into a flame. + +The "Philadelphia partners" were heard from. + +Rufe and Wad, who had been over to the Mills one day, completing their +arrangements with the pump-maker for boring the logs of their aqueduct, +brought home from the mail one of those envelopes whose post-mark and +superscription always gladdened the eyes of the Bettersons. + +It was from Philadelphia, and it contained a draft for two hundred and +fifty dollars. + +One third of this sum was for Radcliff's "benefit." + +It would have been wise, perhaps, to keep from him the knowledge of this +fact; but it would have been impossible. + +"A pittance, a mere pittance," said Lord, holding the precious bit of +paper up to the light. "Uncle George could just as well have made it a +thousand, without feeling it. However, small favors gratefully +received." And he placed the draft in his pocket-book with calm +satisfaction. + +Joy overflowed the family; Caroline began to build fresh castles in the +air; and Vinnie heard Radcliff say to the boys,-- + +"You can afford to lay by now, and have a good time, with that money." + +"Radcliff Betterson!" cried Vinnie, "you provoke me!" + +"How so, my charmer?" said Rad, bowing and smiling saucily. + +"With your foolish talk. But I hope--yes, I know--the boys will pay no +attention to it. To stop work now, and go and play, just because a +little money has come into the house,--I should lose all my respect for +them, if they were to do so silly a thing." + +"Well, I was only joking," said Rad. + +"We could very well spare some of your jokes," Vinnie replied. + +"And me too, I suppose you think?" + +"You might be more useful to yourself and others than you are; it is +easy to see that." + +"Well, give me a smile now and then; don't be so cross with a feller," +said Rad. "You don't show me very much respect." + +"It isn't my fault; I should be glad to show you more." + +Such was about the usual amount of satisfaction Radcliff got from his +talk with Vinnie. She was always "up to him," as the boys said. + +When he walked off, and found them laughing at his discomfiture, he +laughed too, with a fresh quid in his cheek, and his head on one-side, +but with something not altogether happy in his mirth. + +"Uncle Lord," said he in the evening, "if you'll put your name to that +draft, I'll go over to the Mills in the morning and cash it for you." + +"Thank you, Radcliff," said his uncle. "I've some bills to pay, and I +may as well go myself." + +"Let the bills slide, why don't you, and get some good out of the +money?" said Radcliff. "And see here, uncle,--what's the use of paying +off that truckman in such a hurry? I want some of that money; it was +intended for me, and I ain't going to be cheated out of it." + +"As to that," replied Lord, "you entered into a certain agreement, which +seemed to me just; and I do not like now to hear you speak of being +cheated,--you, of all persons, Radcliff." + +"O, well, I suppose you'll do as you like, since you've got the thing +into your hands!" And Radcliff walked sulkily out of the house. + +The next day Mr. Betterson drove over to the Mills, cashed the draft, +made some necessary purchases, paid some bills which had been long +outstanding, and called to hand Jack eighty dollars, on Radcliff's +account, for the swindled truckman. + +Jack was off surveying with Forrest Felton, and was not expected home +for a day or two. Mr. Betterson hardly knew what to do in that case, but +finally concluded to keep the money, and leave Jack word that he had it +for him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +MRS. WIGGETT'S "NOON-MARK." + + +Jack returned home, unexpectedly, that night. He jumped for joy when +told of Mr. Betterson's call and the message he had left. The promise of +money due himself could not have pleased him so much as the prospect now +presented of justice being done to the truckman. + +He felt some concern, it must be owned, lest the money should, after +all, be diverted from its course; he determined, therefore, to act +promptly in the matter, and go to Long Woods the next day. + +He and Forrest were laying out town lots somewhere up the river; and he +was closely occupied all the next forenoon and a part of the afternoon +with his calculations and drawings. + +At last he leaped up gayly, with that sense of satisfaction and relief +which comes from the consciousness of work well done. + +He harnessed Snowfoot, put his compass into the buggy, thinking he would +give Mrs. Wiggett her noon-mark this time without fail, winked assent at +Lion, eager to accompany him, and drove off with a feeling of enjoyment, +to which the thought of some one he was going to meet gave a wonderful +zest. + +As it was getting late in the day when he reached the settlement, he +stopped only a moment at the "castle," to speak with Vinnie, and leave +word that he would call and see Mr. Betterson on his way back; then +drove on to Mr. Wiggett's log-cabin. + +His reception there was most cordial, especially when it was found that +he had come with his compass, prepared to make the noon-mark. + +"House don't front no sort of a way," said the old man; "and I reckon +you'll have to give us a kin' of a slantin'diclar line from 'bout this +yer direction," indicating a wood-pile by the road. + +The little Wiggetts meanwhile thronged the doorway, staring at Jack and +his strange machine, and their old acquaintance, the dog. + +"Cl'ar the kitchen, you young uns!" the mother stormed after them, +cuffing right and left. "Noon-mark'll cut ye plumb in tew, 'f ye don't +scatter! It's comin' into this yer door, like it was a bullet from pap's +rifle!" + +The grimy faces and bare legs "scattered"; while Mrs. Wiggett called to +Jack,-- + +"How long 'fore ye gwine to shute that ar thing off? 'Low I oughter +scoop up a little fust." + +"Scoop up?" Jack repeated, not quite taking her meaning. + +"Right smart o' dirt on the floor yer; it'll be in your way, I reckon." + +"Not at all," said Jack. "My line will cut through; and you can _scoop_ +down to it, at your leisure. I must get you to remove these iron +wedges, Mr. Wiggett; the needle won't work with so much iron near." + +The wedges removed, the needle settled; and Jack, adjusting the sights +of his compass to a north-and-south line, got Mr. Wiggett to mark its +bearings for him, with a chalk pencil, on the floor of the open doorway. + +"All creation!" shrieked the woman, suddenly making a pounce at the +kneeling old man; "we don't want a noon-mark thar, cl'ar away from the +jamb, ye fool! We want it whur the shadder o' the jamb 'll hit it plumb +at noon." + +The old man looked up from his position on "all-fours," and parried her +attack with his lifted hand. + +"Ye mout wait a minute!" he said; "then you'll see if me an' this yer +youngster's both fools. I had a lesson that larnt me onct that he knows +better 'n I dew what he's about; an' I 'lowed, this time, I'd go by +faith, an' make the marks 'thout no _re_marks o' my own." + +"The line will come just where you want it, Mrs. Wiggett," Jack assured +her, hiding a laugh behind his compass. + +Having got the old man to mark two points on his north-and-south line, +one at the threshold and the other a little beyond, Jack put his rule to +them and drew a pencil-line; Mrs. Wiggett watching with a jealous scowl, +not seeing that her mark was coming where she wanted it,--"right ag'in +the jamb,"--after all. + +Then, by a simple operation, which even she understood, Jack surprised +her. + +He first measured the distance of his line from the jamb. Then he set +off two points, on the same side, at the same distance from the line, +farther along on the floor. Then through these points he drew a second +line, parallel to the first, and touching the corner of the jamb, by +which the noon shadow was to be cast. Into this new line Jack sank his +noon-mark with a knife. + +"There," said he, "is a true noon-mark, which will last as long as your +house does,"--a prediction which, by a very astonishing occurrence, was +to be proved false that very afternoon. + +"I reckon the woman is satisfied," said the old man; "anyhow, I be; an' +now what's the tax for this yer little scratch on the floor?" + +"Not anything, Mr. Wiggett." + +"Hey? ye make noon-marks for folks 'thout pay?" + +"That depends. Sometimes, when off surveying, I'm hailed at the door of +a house, and asked for a noon-mark. I never refuse it. Then, if +convenient, I take my pay by stopping to dinner or supper. But I never +accept money." + +"Sartin!" cried the old man. "Yer, ol' woman!" (it must be remembered +that Mrs. Wiggett was forty years younger than her husband), "fly +round,--make things hum,--git up a supper as suddent as ye kin, an' ax +our friend yer. Whur's that Sal?" + +Mrs. Wiggett, who had appeared all pride and sunny smiles regarding her +noon-mark (particularly after hearing it was not to be paid for), fell +suddenly into a stormy mood, and once more began to cuff the children +right and left. + +Jack hastened to relieve her mind by saying that Mr. Wiggett had quite +mistaken his meaning; that he had an engagement which must deprive him +of the pleasure of taking supper with her and her interesting family. +Thereupon she brightened again. The old man shook him warmly by the +hand; and Jack, putting his compass into the buggy, drove back up the +valley road. + +Vinnie had told him that the Betterson boys were cutting logs for their +aqueduct; and hearing the sound of an axe on his way back, Jack tied +Snowfoot to a sapling by the road, and went up into the woods to find +them. + +"What! you coming too, Lion?" he said, after he had gone several rods. +"Didn't I tell you to watch? Well, I believe I didn't. Never mind; +Snowfoot is hitched." + +He found Rufe and Wad cutting trees with great industry, having +determined to have the logs laid from the spring to the house without +delay. + +"We've taken the farm of father, as you suggested," said Wad. "He is +helping us do the fall ploughing while we get out our logs. He and Link +are at it with the oxen, over beyond the house, now." + +"And where's that precious cousin of yours?" + +"I believe he has gone to the house to see if supper is about ready," +said Rufe. "He's smart to work, when he does take hold, but his interest +doesn't hold out, and the first we know, he is off." + +Jack stopped and talked with the boys about their water-works for about +half an hour. Then Rad came up through the woods, by way of the spring, +and announced that supper was ready, greeting Jack with a jeering laugh. + +"You'll take tea with us, of course," Rufe said to Jack. + +"I suppose your father will be at the house by this time; I'll stop and +see him, at any rate," was Jack's reply. + +Rufe went with him down through the woods to where Snowfoot was left +hitched. As they were getting into the buggy, Rufe noticed Zeph Peakslow +coming out of some bushes farther down the road, and going towards home. + +"See him slink off?" said Rufe. "He's afraid of me yet; but he needn't +be,--I've promised Vinnie not to meddle with him." + +Then, on the way home, Rufe surprised Jack by telling him how Vinnie had +made acquaintance with the Peakslow family, and how Mrs. Peakslow, +taking advantage of her husband's absence from home, had called on the +Bettersons, under pretence of returning Vinnie's box of salve. + +Mr. Betterson had not yet come to the house; and Jack, having hitched +Snowfoot to an oak-tree, and told of his business with the Wiggetts, +asked Vinnie and her sister if they would not like a noon-mark on their +floor. "It will be a good thing to set your clock by when it goes +wrong," he explained. + +Vinnie gladly accepted the offer. + +"And, O Jack!" she said, "I wish you would give Mrs. Peakslow one too." + +"I would, certainly," said Jack; "but" (his pride coming up) "wouldn't +it look as if I was anxious to make my peace with Peakslow?" + +"Never mind that; I think even he will appreciate the kindness. I wish +you would!" + +"I will--to please you," said Jack. "This afternoon, if I have time." +And he went to the buggy for his compass. + +He fumbled in the blanket under the seat, looked before and behind, and +uttered an exclamation. + +"What's the trouble, Jack?" Rufe asked. + +"It is gone! my compass is gone!" said Jack. "Somebody has taken it." + +"That Zeph--we saw him, you know!" said Rufe. "It's one of his tricks." + +"I'll overhaul that Zeph!" said Jack; "I'll teach him to play his tricks +on me!" + +Vinnie ran after him as he was starting off. + +"Jack! don't be hasty or unkind!" + +"O no! I won't be unkind," said Jack, with something bitter in his +laugh. "I just want my compass, that's all." And he hurried down the +road. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +THE STRANGE CLOUD. + + +Jack's call on the Peakslows was brief and unsatisfactory. He returned +to the "castle" without his compass, and looking flushed and disturbed. + +"I didn't accuse Zeph of stealing," said Jack, fearful of being blamed +by Vinnie. "They were at supper; and I just said, 'Zeph, my boy, what +did you do with my compass?' He denied having touched it. I explained. +Great commotion. Mamma Peakslow looked frightened out of her wits, and +papa blazed away at me like a seventy-four-gun ship. In short, you will +have to wait for your noon-mark, Mrs. Betterson. So will Mrs. Peakslow. +I didn't tell her I was going to make her one, if Zeph hadn't stolen my +compass." + +"But you don't know he stole it," said Vinnie. + +"We don't know that he and Dud put rubbish in our spring," Rufe made +answer for Jack, "and yet we know it as well as we know anything we +don't know." + +"I can't tell what I was thinking of," said Jack, "to leave any property +of mine unguarded, within reach of the Peakslows. Lion was up in the +woods with me before I knew it." + +"Where are you going now?" Vinnie asked. + +"To look for my compass in the bushes. Zeph must have hid it somewhere, +for he didn't have it when we saw him." + +"Wait till after supper, and I will go with you," said Rufe. "Father is +here now." + +Mr. Betterson was coming up from the stable, accompanied by Radcliff. +Rad had hastened to waylay him, and make a last appeal for the money +which he knew Jack was waiting to receive. He talked and gesticulated +earnestly; but Lord shook his head and compressed his lips with great +firmness, whereupon Rad, instead of coming to supper with the rest, +wandered sulkily away. + +When Mr. Betterson had washed his hands and face, and brushed his hair, +and put on his threadbare black coat and frayed stock, the family sat +down at the table. Jack waited unwillingly, and soon excused himself, +saying he must look for his compass before dark. + +"I'll attend to our truckman's little matter when I come back," he said, +and hurried away. + +Link jumped up from the table and went with him; Rufe and Wad promising +to follow as soon as they were through with their supper. + +Careful search was made all about the roadside bushes where the wagon +had been partially concealed when the compass was taken. Lion was also +set to hunt. But all in vain. Some faint footprints were found, but Jack +could not be sure that they were not either his own or Rufe's. + +"Lion don't know what we are looking for; he's after rabbits," said +Link. "Was this all the compass you had?" + +"The only surveyor's compass; and the worst of it is, 't was a borrowed +one. It belongs to Forrest Felton. He has a theodolite which we use for +fine work; and I've a little pocket-compass, given me by an old lady a +few years ago. I wouldn't have lost this for twice its value,--it's a +most exasperating trick!" Jack muttered. "And now it is suddenly growing +dark." + +It was very suddenly growing very dark. A strange cloud was blackening +the sunset sky. "Did you ever see anything so funny?" said Link. + +"It is like the lower half of an immense balloon, the top spreading +out," said Jack. "See that long, hanging, pear-shaped end!" + +"I wonder if the folks at the house see it!" Link exclaimed, growing +excited. "It looks like an elephant's trunk! By sixty, it's growing!" + +"It's moving this way," said Jack. "Fast, too! and roaring,--hear it? +There's an awful storm coming!" + +"Oh!" cried Link, "see the lightning-forks! It will be here in a jiffy." + +The "elephant's trunk," which had seemed to be feeling its way up the +valley, now swung toward the line of timber; the roar which accompanied +it became deafening; and suddenly the cloud, and all the air about it, +seemed filled with whirling and flying objects, like the broken boughs +and limbs of trees. It was like some living monster, vast, supernatural, +rushing through the sky, and tearing and trampling the earth with fury. +The mysterious swinging movement, the uproar, the gloom, the lightnings, +were appalling. And now Lion set up a fearful, ominous howl. + +"A whirlwind!" Jack exclaimed, shrieking to make himself heard. "I must +go to my horse." + +"Let's put for the house!" Link yelled. + +But hardly had they reached the road when the storm was upon them. + +Shortly after Jack and Link had left the table, Lord Betterson gave +Rufus a small key, and told him to bring a certain pocket-book from the +till of the family chest in the next room. + +"We will have our friend's eighty dollars ready for him, against his +return," Lord said; and, counting out the money, he placed it under the +pocket-book, beside his plate. + +Rufe and Wad were now ready to go and help Jack search for his compass; +but a discussion which had been going on at intervals, ever since the +draft came, was now renewed, and they stopped to take part in it. + +"If I am going to get out to Divine service again, I _must_ have a silk +dress," said Caroline. "And, Mr. Betterson, _you_ need a new suit; and +you know--we all know--nothing becomes you but broadcloth, and the +finest broadcloth. What do you think, Lavinia dear?" + +"I am sure broadcloth is becoming to him," Vinnie replied quietly. "And +I should like to see you come out in silk. And Cecie and Lilian need new +things. But--how much of the two hundred and fifty dollars is left, Mr. +Betterson?" + +"Deducting Radcliff's share, one hundred and twenty odd dollars," said +Lord, touching the pocket-book by his plate. + +"One hundred and twenty dollars will go but a little way, in a family +where so many things are absolutely needed!" said Vinnie. "It seems to +me I should want to get this room and your room plastered, the first +thing,--merely for comfort, in the cold weather that is coming." + +"And carpeted, Lavinia dear," simpered Caroline. + +"And if the house is ever to be painted," spoke up Rufe, "it must be +done soon. It won't be worth painting if it is neglected much longer." + +"And we need so many things in the kitchen!" said Lill. "Vinnie knows +it, but she won't say anything." + +"And lots of things on the farm," said Wad. "If Rufe and I are going to +do anything, we must have conveniences. The idea of having such a house +as this, and nothing but a miserable log-barn and stable!" + +"We can't build a new barn for a hundred and twenty dollars," said Mr. +Betterson. "And we can't buy farming tools, and kitchen utensils, and +carpets, and silk, and broadcloth, and tea and sugar, and clothing for +the children, and paint and plaster the house, all with so limited a +sum. The question then arises, just _what_ shall we do with the money?" + +"O dear! just a little money like that is only an aggravation!" Caroline +sighed, discouraged. "And I had hoped some of it would be left for +Lavinia dear; she deserves it if anybody does." + +"O, never mind me," Vinnie replied. "However, if I might suggest--" + +But the family had been so long deciding this question, that Fortune +seemed now to take it out of their hands, and decide it for them. + +It suddenly grew dark, and an outcry from the boys interrupted Vinnie. +The tornado was coming. + +All rose, save Cecie,--who remained seated where she had been placed at +the table,--and pressed to the door and windows. + +The baby wakened in the next room, and began to cry, and Caroline went +to take it up. The boys rushed out of the house. Vinnie turned pale and +asked, "Where are they? Jack and Link!" + +"As well off as they would be here probably," replied Lord Betterson. +"Shut doors and windows fast. That horse should have been taken care +of." + +"Jack wouldn't let us put him up. I'll do it now," cried Rufe. + +But he had hardly begun to undo the halter, when he saw the utter +impossibility of getting the horse to the stable before the storm would +be upon them. So, to prevent Snowfoot from breaking away and dashing the +buggy to pieces, he determined to leave him tied to the tree, and stand +by his head, until the first whirl or rush should have passed. This he +attempted to do; and patted and encouraged the snorting, terrified +animal, till he was himself flung by the first buffet of the hurricane +back against the pillar of the porch, where he clung. + +"Oh! what is that?" screamed Lill, watching with Vinnie from the window. + +[Illustration: THE TORNADO COMING.] + +Some huge, unwieldy object had risen and rolled for an instant in the +dim air, over Peakslow's house, then disappeared as suddenly. + +At the same time Jack and Link appeared, half running, half blown by the +tempest up the road. Vinnie watched them from the window, and saw the +enormous sloping pillar of dust and leaves, and torn boughs, whirling +above their heads, and overwhelming everything in its roaring cloud. + +The last she remembered was Jack and Link darting by the corner of the +house, and Snowfoot tugging at his halter. Then a strange electric +thrill shot through her, the house shook with a great crash, and all was +dark. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +PEAKSLOW IN A TIGHT PLACE.--CECIE. + + +The storm could not have been two minutes in passing. Then it suddenly +grew light, the tempest lulled, the heavens cleared, and in not more +than ten minutes the sunset sky was smiling again, a sea of tranquil +gold, over the western woods. + +Fortunately, only the skirt of the storm had swept over Betterson's +house, doing no very serious damage. + +When Vinnie looked again from the window, she saw Snowfoot, still tied +by the halter, standing with drooping head and tail, wet with rain. +Jack, hat in hand, his hair wildly tumbled, was already at the horse's +head, laughing excitedly, and looking back at Rufe and Link, who were +coming to his side. The buggy, he noticed, had been whirled half-way +round by the wind, so that the rear end was turned toward the porch. + +Through it all, Lill had clung in terror to Vinnie, whose arms were +still about her. Cecie sat in her chair by the supper-table, white and +speechless from the electric shock which all had felt, and she more +sensibly than the rest. Caroline was in the next room with the child, +whose cries, for a while drowned in the terrible uproar, now broke +forth again, strenuous and shrill. Mr. Betterson, holding the frightened +Chokie, opened the door, and calmly asked the boys if they were hurt. + +"We are all right, I guess," cried Rufe. "Wad put for the barn, to make +room for the horse and buggy, which I didn't have time to get there. I +don't know where Rad is." + +Wad now appeared; and at the same time the cattle, started homeward by +the storm, came cantering down the woodland road, with the rattling +cowbell, and ran for refuge to the barnyard. + +"The big oak behind the house, there,--have you seen it?" cried Wad. +"It's twisted off. And where's the well-curb?" + +"That flew to pieces, and the boards went up into the air like kites,--I +saw them," said Link. "Where's the dog?" + +"He's in the bushes, or under a log somewhere," Jack replied. "He was +shot at once, with a gun held close to his head,--luckily, there was no +lead in it. For a long time he was afraid of a gun; and thunder, or any +big noise, frightens him even now." + +"Some of our fences look pretty flat,--rails tumbled every which way!" +said Rufe. "A good deal of damage must have been done south of us." + +"Something looks odd over there toward Peakslow's,--what is it?" cried +Link. + +"Some of the tree-tops by the road have been lopped off," replied Jack. + +"That isn't all," said Lord Betterson. "Sure as fate, something has +happened to Peakslow's buildings." + +"That is what I saw!" Vinnie exclaimed. "Something turned over in the +air like the roof of a house." + +"I thought just now I heard cries in that direction," said Jack. "Hark a +moment!" + +"There comes somebody," said Rufe, as a girl of twelve years, barefoot, +bonnetless, wild with fright, came running up the road. "It's 'Lecty +Ann!" + +Out of breath, almost out of her wits, the girl ran as far as the +door-yard fence, then stopped, as if unable or afraid to go farther, +caught hold of the pickets, and, putting her pale face between them, +gasped out something which nobody could understand. + +"What is it?--what's the matter?" cried Jack, advancing toward her. + +"House--blowed down--covered up!" was all she could articulate. + +"Who is covered up?" + +"Don't know--some of the folks--pa, I guess." + +Jack did not stop to hear more; but, fired with a generous impulse to +aid the unfortunate, whoever they might be, gave one backward look, +threw up his hand as a signal, shouted "Help, boys!" ran to a length of +fence which the wind had thrown down, bounded over like a deer, and was +off. + +Vinnie followed; but was soon overtaken by Mr. Betterson and the boys, +who passed her, as if running a race. Then she heard screams behind; +and there was Chokie, sprawling over the prostrate fence, which he had +rashly taken, in his eagerness to keep up with Lill. + +By the time Chokie was extricated Mrs. Betterson appeared, babe in arms, +tottering out of the door, and hastening, in the excitement of the +moment, to learn what dreadful catastrophe had overtaken their +neighbors. + +"Stay with Arthur and your mother," Vinnie said to Lill; "_I_ may do +something to help." And away she sped. + +'Lecty Ann, met by Mrs. Betterson at the gate, was now able to tell more +of her story; and so strange, so tragical it seemed, that Caroline +forgot all about her ill health, the baby in her arms, and Cecie left +alone in the house, and brought up the rear of the little +procession,--Lill and 'Lecty Ann and Chokie preceding her down the road. + +They had not gone far, when Lion came out of the woods, with downcast +ears and tail, ashamed of his recent cowardly conduct. And so, +accompanied by the dog and the children,--Lill lugging the baby at +last,--Caroline approached the scene of the disaster. + +The whole force of the tornado seemed to have fallen upon Peakslow's +buildings. The stable was unroofed, and the barn had lost a door. + +The house had fared still worse: it was--even as 'Lecty Ann had +said--almost literally "blowed down." + +It had consisted of two parts,--a pretty substantial log-cabin, which +dated back to the earliest days of the settlement, and a framed +addition, called a lean-to, or "linter." The roof of the old part had +been lifted, and tumbled, with some of the upper logs, a mass of ruins, +over upon the linter, which had been crushed to the ground by the +weight. + +Mrs. Peakslow and the girls and younger children were in the log-house +at the time; and, marvellous as it seemed, all had escaped serious +injury. + +The boys were in the field with their father, and had run a race with +the tornado. The tornado beat. Dud was knocked down within a few rods of +the house. Zeph was blown up on a stack of hay, and lodged there; the +stack itself--and this was one of the curious freaks of the +whirlwind--being uninjured, except that it was canted over a little, and +ruffled a good deal, as if its feathers had been stroked the wrong way. + +Mr. Peakslow was ahead of the boys; and they thought he must have +reached the linter. + +Zeph, slipping down from his perch in the haystack, as soon as the storm +had passed, and seeing the house in ruins, and his mother and sisters +struggling to get out, had run screaming for help down the road toward +Mr. Wiggett's. Dud remained; and by pushing from without, while the +imprisoned family lifted and pulled from within, helped to move a log +which had fallen down against the closed door, and so aided the escape +from the house. + +'Lecty Ann ran to the nearest neighbor's up the river. The rest stayed +by the ruins; and there Lord Betterson and Jack--the earliest on the +spot--found them, a terrified group, bewildered, bewailing, gazing +hopelessly and helplessly at the unroofed cabin and crushed linter, and +calling for "Pa." + +"Where is your husband, Mrs. Peakslow?" cried Jack. + +"O, I don't know where he is, 'thout he's there!" said the poor woman, +with a gesture of despair toward the ruined linter. + +"This rubbish must be removed," said Lord Betterson. "If friend Peakslow +is under it, he can't be taken out too soon." + +And with his own hands he set to work, displaying an energy of will and +coolness of judgment which would have astonished Jack, if he had not +once before seen something of what was in the man. + +Jack and the boys seconded their father; and now Dud came and worked +side by side with Wad and Rufe. + +A broken part of the roof was knocked to pieces, and the rafters were +used for levers and props. The main portion of the roof was next turned +over, and got out of the way. Then one by one the logs were removed; all +hands, from Lord Betterson down to Link, working like heroes. + +Meanwhile, Vinnie did what she could to aid and comfort Mrs. Peakslow; +and Caroline and her little company came and looked on. + +Mr. Wiggett also arrived, with Zeph, and helped get away the last of the +logs. + +Under the logs was the crushed shell of the linter; and all looked +anxiously, to see what was under that. + +A good many things were under it,--pots and kettles, wash-tubs, +milk-pans (badly battered), churn and cheese-press, bed and +trundle-bed,--but no Peakslow. + +It was a disappointment, and yet a relief, not to find him there, after +all. But where was he? Dud ran back to the field, to look for him; while +the others rested from their labors. + +"Did the wind do you much damage, Mr. Wiggett?" Lord inquired. + +"Not so much as it mout," replied the old man. "It was mighty suddent. +Banged if I knowed what in seven kingdoms was a-gwine to happen. It +roared and bellered that orful, I didn't know but the etarnal smash-up +had come." + +"It must have passed pretty near your house,--I saw it swing that way," +said Jack. + +"Wal, I reckon you're right thar, young man. It jest took holt o' my +cabin, an' slewed one corner on't around about five or six inches; an' +done no more damage, in partic'lar, fur's I can diskiver; only, of +course, it discomfusticated that ar' noon-mark. I left the ol' woman +mournin' over that!" + +Jack laughed, and promised to replace the noon-mark. + +"There's Dud a-yelling!" said Link. + +[Illustration: PEAKSLOW REAPPEARS.] + +The roof of the shed--which must have been the object Vinnie saw rise +and turn in the air--had been taken off very neatly, with the two gable +pieces, whirled over once or more, and then landed gently, right side up +with care, on the edge of the potato-patch, two or three rods away. Dud, +hunting for his father, passed near it, and heard stifled cries come +from under it. He was yelling, indeed, as Link said. + +In a moment a dozen feet rushed to the spot, and a dozen hands laid hold +of one side of the roof, under which Jack thrust a lever. Some lifted on +the lever, while some lifted on the edge of the roof itself; and out +crawled--bushy head and hooked nose fore-most--the shaggy shape of the +elder Peakslow. + +The roof was let down again as soon as Peakslow's legs were well +from under it, and a wondering group--men, boys, women, and +children--gathered round to see if he was hurt. + +"Wal!" said Peakslow, getting upon his feet, giving his clothes a brush +with his broad hand, and staring about him, "this is a mighty perty +piece of business! Didn't none on ye hear me call?" + +"Did you call?" said Mrs. Peakslow, trembling with joy and fright. + +"Call?" echoed Peakslow, feeling his left shoulder with his right hand. +"I believe I b'en callin' there for the last half-hour. What was ye +knockin' that ruf to pieces for? I could hear ye, an' see ye, an' I +wanted to put a stop to 't. Hadn't the wind damaged me enough, but you +must pitch in?" + +"We thought you were under the ruins," Mr. Betterson replied with +dignity. + +"Thought I was under the ruins! What made ye think that?" growled +Peakslow. + +"I thought so--I told them so," Mrs. Peakslow explained; while Lord +Betterson walked away with calm disgust. + +"Ye might 'a' knowed better'n that! Here I was under this ruf all the +time. It come over on to me like a great bird, knocked me down with a +flop of its wing,--mos' broke my shoulder, I believe; an' when I come to +myself, and peeked through a crack, there was a crew knockin' the ruf o' +the house to flinders. I was too weak to call very loud, but, if you'd +cared much, I should think ye might 'a' heard me. Look a' that house, +now! look a' that shed! It's the blastedest luck!" + +Jack couldn't help smiling. Peakslow turned upon him furiously. + +"You here? So ye think my boy's a thief, do ye?" + +"Come, Lion! come, boys!" said Jack, and started to follow Mr. +Betterson, without more words. + +"Come here and 'cuse my boy o' stealin'!" said Peakslow, turning, and +looking all about him, as if he had hardly yet regained his senses. "I +had a hat somewheres. Hundred dollars--no, nor two hundred--won't pay +the damage done to me this day." + +"But the children, they are all safe," said Mrs. Peakslow, "and we ought +to be thankful." + +"Thankful! Look a' that linter! _Three_ hundred won't do it!" + +"O pa!" cried Zeph, "you've got a great gash on the back o' your head!" + +"Never mind the gash," said Peakslow, putting up his hand. "That'll +heal itself. Holes in the buildin's won't." + +Vinnie meanwhile conferred with Jack and Mr. Betterson, as they were +about going away; and also called her sister, and afterward Mrs. +Peakslow, to the consultation. + +"O, I don't know, Lavinia dear!" said Caroline in great distress of +mind. + +But Lord Betterson spoke out manfully,-- + +"Lavinia is right. Mrs. Peakslow, we have plenty of spare room in our +house, which you are welcome to till you can do better." + +"O Mr. Betterson!" the poor woman sobbed out, quite overcome by this +unexpected kindness, "you are too good!" + +"I beg your pardon," replied Lord Betterson, in his most gracious +manner. "We wish simply to do as we might wish neighbors to do by us +under similar circumstances. Our boys will help yours get your things +over to my house,--whatever you want, Mrs. Peakslow." + +Lord did not much mind the woman's outburst of tears and thanks; but +when he observed the look of admiration and gratitude in Vinnie's deep +eyes, fixed upon him, he felt an unaccustomed thrill. + +Mrs. Peakslow went weeping back to her husband. + +"I am sorry you spoke as you did," she said. "We all thought you was +under the linter; and they was all workin' so hard--as if they had been +our best friends--to get you out." + +"Best friends!" repeated Peakslow, with a snort of angry contempt. + +"Yes, pa; and now,--will you believe it?--now that we haven't a ruf to +our heads, they offer us shelter in _their_ house!" + +"In the castle?--huh!" sneered Peakslow. "I never thought 't would come +to that!" + +"Where else _can_ we go?" said Mrs. Peakslow. "It's 'most night,--nights +are beginnin' to be cold,--and think o' the children! 'T will be weeks, +I s'pose, 'fore ye can rebuild." + +"If I couldn't rebuild in all etarnity, I wouldn't set foot in Lord +Betterson's castle!" said Peakslow. He looked again at the ruined house, +then at the children, and added: "Me an' the boys, we can stop in the +stable, or dig holes in the stack, to make ourselves comf'table. Do what +you're a min' ter, for the rest. But don't say _I_ told ye to ask or +accept a favor of _them_." + +The Bettersons, Vinnie, and Jack were waiting between the ruined house +and the road; and Mrs. Betterson was saying, "Lillie, you and I _must_ +be going back; remember, we left Cecie all alone; and the evening air is +too chill for the baby," when Link cried,-- + +"Who's that coming down the road?" + +All turned; and Vinnie and Jack and Link ran out to look. They could +scarcely believe their eyes. + +"It can't be!" said Vinnie. + +"Yes, it is," exclaimed Link; "it's her--it's her!" + +"Who?" Caroline inquired anxiously, dreading some new calamity. + +"Cecie! Cecie, sure as the world!" said two or three at once. + +It was indeed the little invalid, who, though she had scarcely taken a +step without help for many months, was actually coming down the road, +walking, and walking fast, without even the crutch she had sometimes +tried to use! + +She was beckoning and calling. Jack and Vinnie and the boys ran to meet +her. She was pale and very much excited, and it was some time before she +could speak coherently. + +"Radcliff!" was almost her first word. + +"What about Radcliff? where is he?" Vinnie asked. + +"Gone!" + +"Gone where?" + +"I don't know. He came into the house--he saw the pocket-book and money +on the table--I told him he mustn't take them!" + +"And did he?" said Rufe. + +"Yes. He only laughed at me. He said his chance had come." + +"Which way did he go?" + +"He drove up through the woods." + +"Drove?" echoed Jack. + +"He took the horse and buggy." + +"_My_ horse and buggy!" And Jack, followed by Lion and Rufe and Link, +started up the road. + +Though shocked at Radcliff's conduct, Vinnie thought less of the loss of +the money, and of the horse and buggy, than of the seeming miracle in +Cecie's case. + +"How could you walk so, Cecie?" + +"I don't know. I suppose it was the excitement. Strength came to me. I +called, but could not make anybody hear, and I thought you ought to +know." + +Mr. Betterson would have carried her home in his arms, but she would not +let him. + +"I can walk better and better! That numbness of my limbs is almost gone. +I believe I am going to be cured, after all!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +"ON THE WAR TRAIL." + + +There could be no mistake about it,--pocket-book and money, and horse +and buggy, were gone with Radcliff. + +"He has taken the road to Chicago," said Jack, easily tracking the +wheels after the recent rain. "But he'll find it not so easy selling the +horse there a second time." + +"But he'll spend all that money," said Rufe. "He'll find it easy enough +to do that." + +"I wish it wasn't night," said Jack. "I would track him! And I will as +it is. Have you a lantern?" + +"Yes--I'll go with you! Shall we take the mare and one-horse wagon?" + +"If you like. But, Rufe, if you go with me, you'll have to travel all +night. I am on the war trail!" + +"I'm with you!" said Rufe; and he gave an Indian war-whoop. + +Mr. Betterson, coming up, approved of this resolution. "And, boys," he +said, "if you _should_ lay hands on Radcliff, you may as well bring him +back with you. We'll try to have a more satisfactory settlement with him +this time." + +Jack left his friends to harness the mare to the wagon, and went on +alone, with Lion and the lantern, up through the woods. + +For a while he had no trouble in following the fresh marks of hoofs and +wheels over the wet ground. But when he reached the prairie, an +unforeseen difficulty appeared. The rain had not extended so far, and +the tracks were not easily distinguished. + +It was nearly dark when Rufe, following in the wagon, emerged from the +woods. Lonesome and gloomy stretched the great prairie before him, under +a sky of flying clouds. The insects of the autumn night filled the air +with their shrill, melancholy notes. An owl hooted in the forest; a pair +of whippoorwills were vociferating somewhere in the thickets; and far +off on the prairie the wolves howled. Now and then a rift of dark blue +sky and a few wildly hurrying stars were visible through the flocking +clouds. No other light, or sign of life, until Rufe descried far before +him in the darkness a waving, ruddy gleam, and knew it was the ray from +the lantern swinging in Jack's hand. + +Driving on as fast as the mare's somewhat decrepit paces would allow, he +found Jack waiting for him at a point where the road divided, one branch +taking a northerly direction, the other trending easterly, toward the +great road to Chicago. + +"Here's a puzzle," said Jack, as Rufe drove up. "I've tracked the fellow +as far as here, notwithstanding he has tried the trick of driving off on +the prairie in two or three places. But here, instead of taking the +direct road to Chicago, as we supposed, he has taken this by-road, if my +eyes are good for anything. Lion says I am right; for I believe I've +made him understand we are hunting Snowfoot." + +Rufe jumped down from the wagon, and saw by the light of the lantern the +imperfect and yet peculiar marks of Snowfoot's rather smooth-worn shoes, +and of the narrow wheel-tires. + +"It is a game of his to mislead us," said Rufe. "I believe if we follow +him on to where this by-road crosses the main road, we shall find he has +there turned off toward the city." + +"Go ahead, Lion; find Snowfoot!" cried Jack, and jumped into the wagon +with Rufe. + +They got on as fast as they could; but the pursuit was necessarily slow, +for not only was the mare a creature of very indifferent speed, but the +boys found it useful to stop every now and then and examine the tracks +by the light of the lantern. + +"The dog is right; and we are right so far, sure!" said Jack, after they +had proceeded about half a mile in this way. "_Slow and sure_ is our +policy. We've all the fall before us, Rufe; and we'll overhaul your +pretty cousin, unless something breaks. Now, drive straight on to the +main road, and we'll see what we can discover there." + +To the surprise of both again, the fugitive, instead of turning +cityward, kept the northerly road. + +"He is cunning," said Rufe. "He knows Chicago is the first place where +one would be apt to look for him; and, besides, I think he is getting +too well known in Chicago." + +"He is bound for Wisconsin," cried Jack. "Whip along. This road passes +through the timber, and brings us to the river again; we shall soon find +settlements, where we can inquire for our game." + +"If you can speak Dutch, and if it wasn't too late when Rad passed +through," Rufe replied. "There is a colony of _meinheers_ up here; they +go to bed a little after sundown." + +As they drove on from the crossing, Jack said, "That left-hand road goes +to North Mills. But I sha'n't see North Mills to-night, nor for a good +many nights, I'm afraid." + +Jack, however, as we shall see, was mistaken. + +The road above the crossing was much more travelled than below; and for +a while the boys found it very difficult to make out Snowfoot's tracks. +But soon again fortune favored them. + +"Rain--it has been raining here!" said Jack, examining the road where it +entered the skirts of the timber, "and raining hard! We must be nearing +the path of the whirlwind again." + +They passed through a belt of woods, where the storm had evidently +passed but without doing much damage; for it was a peculiarity of that +elephant of a cloud that it appeared to draw up its destroying trunk +once or twice, and skip over a few miles in its course, only to swing it +down again with greater fury. + +The road was now drenched all the way, and the trail they followed was +so distinct that the boys did not stop to make inquiries at the log-huts +which began to appear before they were well through the woods. + +They made comparatively rapid progress up the valley, until they came to +a point where the river, in its winding course, was crossed by the road. +There, again, the tornado had done a brisk business; the bridge was +destroyed, the side of the road gullied, and the river swollen. + +Both boys alighted and examined the track. + +"Here is where he stopped and hesitated, finding the bridge gone," said +Jack. "And see! here are his own tracks, as if he had got out of the +buggy and gone ahead to reconnoitre." + +"As well he might," Rufe answered. "Look at these tree-tops, and the +timbers of the bridge lodged in the middle of the river!" + +"He seems to have got through, and I guess we can," said Jack. "I've +forded this stream, below the bridge, before now, when I've wanted to +water my horse; but it was free from all this sort of rubbish then. +There must have been a great fall of rain up here!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +THE MYSTERY OF A PAIR OF BREECHES. + + +Jack went out with the lantern upon the ruined abutment of the bridge, +and showed a space beside the drift-wood, in the turbid and whirling +current, where fording seemed practicable. + +Then the boys got into the wagon again, and the mare was driven +cautiously forward, by the glimmering light which the lantern shed +faintly before and around them. Lion swam ahead, throwing up his muzzle +and barking loud, like a faithful pilot showing the safest way. The +wheels went in over the hubs; the water came into the bottom of the +wagon-box; the flood boiled and plashed and gurgled, and swept away in +black, whirling eddies; and Jack said, "This wouldn't be a very nice +place to break down, eh,--would it?" + +But they got safely through; and on the farther bank they were pleased +to find again the trail of the horse and buggy. + +They were now in high spirits. The whirlwind having passed up the river, +the road lay aside from its direct path, but still within the area of +rain. + +"This is gay!" said Jack. "He thinks he has baffled us; and he will put +up somewhere for the night; and we won't! We shall circumvent Master +Radcliff!" + +[Illustration: FOLLOWING THE WAR TRAIL UNDER DIFFICULTIES.] + +But soon the boys were again puzzled. Reaching another cross-road, and +bringing the lantern to bear upon the trail, they found that, instead of +continuing northward, toward Wisconsin, or turning to the right, in the +direction of Chicago, it turned at a sharp angle to the left, in the +direction of North Mills. + +"This move is a perfect mystery to me!" Jack exclaimed. "It seems as if +he had thought the thing all over, and finally chosen the very last +place one would expect him to make for." + +"Are you sure this road leads to North Mills?" + +"Perfectly sure; I've been this way three or four times. But another +road branches from it, and passes a mile north of the Mills; he has +probably taken that." + +But no; after a good deal of trouble--the road appearing once more dry +and much trodden--they discovered that the horse and buggy had not taken +the branch, but kept the direct route to the Mills! + +"It doesn't seem possible! there must be some mistake here," said Jack. +And every rod of their progress seemed now to increase the boys' doubts. + +The road, long before they reached the Mills, became a mere bed of brown +dust, in which it required a pretty vivid imagination to distinguish one +track from another. The boys' spirits sank accordingly. Lion still led +them boldly on; but his guidance could no longer be trusted. + +"He's bound for home now," said Jack, "and he'll go straight there." + +"If Rad _did_ come this way," said Rufe, "he was shrewd, after all. He +knew that by passing through a busy place like the Mills, he would hide +his tracks as he couldn't in any other way." + +"To find 'em again," Jack replied, rather gloomily, "we shall have to +examine every road going out of this place." + +It must have been near midnight when they entered the village. The +houses were all dark and still; not a ray at a window, not even the bark +of a dog, gave sign of life as they passed. + +"This looks discouraging," said Jack. + +"A needle in a haystack is no comparison," replied Rufe. "The lantern is +almost out." + +"I can get another at our house," said Jack. "We may as well follow the +dog now. What did I tell you? He is going straight home!" + +The dog trotted up to the gate before Mr. Lanman's cottage, and the +wagon turned up after him. + +"What's that ahead of us?" said Jack, as the mare came to a sudden stop. + +"Seems to be a wagon standing," said Rufe, shading his eyes from the +lantern and peering into the darkness. + +Jack jumped out, ran forward, and gave a shout. The wagon was a buggy, +and the horse was Snowfoot, standing before the gate, waiting patiently +to be let in. + +Quite wild with delight and astonishment, Jack took the lantern and +examined horse and vehicle. + +"Old Lion! you were right," he exclaimed. "The scamp must have let the +horse go, and taken to his heels. And the horse made for home." + +"The most he cared for was to get off with the money," said Rufe, not +quite so abundantly pleased as his friend. "What's this thing under the +seat?" + +"The compass!" said Jack, if possible, still more surprised and +overjoyed, "which I accused Zeph of stealing!" + +Rufe continued rummaging, and, holding the lantern with one hand, lifted +up a limp garment with the other. + +"What in thunder? A pair of breeches! Rad's breeches! Where can the +scamp have gone without his breeches? See what's in the pocket there, +Jack." + +Jack thrust in his hand, and brought out some loose bank-notes. He +thrust in his hand again, and brought out a pocket-book, containing more +bank-notes. It was Mr. Betterson's pocket-book, and the notes were the +stolen money. + +Jack was hastily turning them over--not counting them, he was too much +amazed and excited to do that--when the candle in the lantern gave a +final flicker and went out, leaving the boys and the mystery of the +compass and the money and Rad's pantaloons enveloped in sudden +darkness. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +THE MORNING AFTER. + + +Bright rose the sun the next morning over the leafy tops of Long Woods, +and smiled upon the pleasant valley. + +It found many a trace of the previous day's devastation,--trees uprooted +or twisted off at their trunks, branches and limbs broken and scattered, +fences blown down, and more than one man's buildings unroofed or +demolished. + +It found Peakslow, accompanied by the two older boys, walking about his +private and particular pile of ruins, in a gloomy and bewildered state +of mind, as if utterly at a loss to know where the repair of such +tremendous damages should begin. And (the sun itself must have been +somewhat astonished) it found Mrs. Peakslow and the younger children, +five in number, comfortably quartered in Lord Betterson's "castle." + +It also had glimpses of Rufe, with light and jolly face, driving home by +prairie and grove, alone in the one-horse wagon. + +Link ran out to meet him, swinging his cap and shouting for the news. + +"Good news!" Rufe shouted back, while still far up the road. "Tell the +folks!" And he held up the pocket-book. + +It was good news indeed which he brought; but the mystery at the bottom +of it all was a mystery still. + +The family gathered around, with intense interest, while he told his +story and displayed Rad's pantaloons. + +"The eighty dollars, which you had counted out,--you remember, +father,--was loose in the pocket. I left that with Jack; he will send it +to Chicago to-day. The rest of the money, I believe, is all here in the +pocket-book." + +"And you've heard nothing of Radcliff?" said Mr. Betterson. + +"Not a word. Jack made me stop with him over night; and I should have +come home the way we went, and looked for Rad, if it hadn't been so far; +we must have driven twelve or fifteen miles in that roundabout chase." + +"Some accident must certainly have happened to Radcliff," said Mr. +Betterson. And much wonder and many conjectures were expressed by the +missing youth's not very unhappy relatives. + +"I bet I know!" said Link. "He drove so fast he overtook the tornado, +and it twisted him out of his breeches, and hung him up in a tree +somewhere!" + +An ingenious theory, which did not, however, obtain much credence with +the family. + +"One thing seems to be proved, and I am very glad," said Vinnie. "It +was not Zeph who took Jack's compass." + +"Rad must have taken that, to spite Jack, and hid it somewhere near the +road in the timber, where it would be handy if he ever wanted to make +off with it; that's what Jack thinks," said Rufe. "Then, as he was +driving past the spot, he put it into the buggy again." + +"Maybe he intended to set up for a surveyor somewhere," Wad remarked. +"He must have taken another pair of trousers with him." + +"I am sure he didn't," said Cecie. + +"And even if he did," said Rufe, "that wouldn't account for his leaving +the money in the pocket." + +The family finally settled down upon a theory which had been first +suggested by Jack,--that in fording the river Rad had caught his wheels +in the tree-tops or timbers of the ruined bridge, and, to keep his lower +garments dry, had taken them off and left them in the buggy, while he +waded in to remove the rubbish, when the horse had somehow got away from +him, and gone home. It also seemed quite probable that Rad himself had +become entangled in drift-wood, and been drowned. + +"Feed the mare, boys," said Lord Betterson. "As soon as she is well +rested, I'll drive up to the broken bridge, and see if any discoveries +can be made." + +Meanwhile, whatever Radcliff's fate, it did not prevent the family from +rejoicing over the recovery of the lost money. And now Rufe's attention +was called to another happy circumstance, one which promised to be to +them a source of deeper and more lasting satisfaction. + +Cecie could walk! + +Yes, the marvellous effects of the previous day's events were still +manifest in the case of the little invalid. Either the tremendous +excitement, thrilling and rousing her whole system, or the electric +shock which accompanied the whirlwind, or the exertions she felt +compelled to make when Rad ran off with the money,--or all combined (for +the doctors were divided in opinion on the subject),--had overcome the +paralysis of her limbs, which a long course of medical treatment had +failed to remove. + +The family physician, who chanced to come over from the Mills that day, +maintained that what he had been doing for the injured spine, the source +of Cecie's troubles, had prepared the way for this result; while +neighbor Peakslow, when he heard the news, grunted, and said he "guessed +the gal could 'a' walked all the time if she had only thought she could, +or wanted to very much." All which made Cecie smile. She only knew that +she was cured, and was too proud and glad to care much what was said of +her. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +FOLLOWING UP THE MYSTERY. + + +In the course of the day Mr. Betterson and Rufe visited the supposed +scene of Rad's disaster, and there met by chance Jack and his friend +Forrest Felton, who for a similar object had driven up from North Mills. + +The river had gone down almost as rapidly as it had risen, and fording +it now by daylight was no such difficult matter. But there still were +the timbers and tree-tops amidst which the vehicles had passed the night +before. + +Jack showed marks on one of his wheels where the spokes had been sharply +raked, and told how, examining Snowfoot by daylight, he had found muddy +splashes on his flank, as if he had been struck there by a bough or +branch drenched in turbid water. + +"I think," said he, "that as Rad was getting the buggy clear, the limb +of a tree turned over and hit the horse. That started him, and away he +went. I don't believe Rad is drowned." + +Search was made among the rubbish at the bridge, and for some distance +down the river; but no traces of Rad were discovered. + +"Maybe he has gone home by water," was Rufe's rather too playful way of +saying that the drowned body might have floated down stream. + +"If he got out alive," said Jack's friend Felton, "he must have found +his way to some house near by, in quest of pantaloons." And the party +now proceeded to make inquiries at the scattered huts of the Dutch--or +rather German--settlers along the edge of the timber. + +At the first two doors where they stopped they found only women and +children, who could speak no English. But at the next house they saw a +girl, who eagerly answered "Yah! yah!" to their questions, and ran and +called a man working at the back door. + +He was a short, thick-set man, with a big russet beard and serious blue +eyes. + +"Goot morgin," he said, coming to the road to greet the strangers. "Der +been some vind dis vay,--you see some?--vas las' ebening." + +The strangers acknowledged that they had experienced some effects of the +wind the night before, and repeated their questions regarding Radcliff. + +"Young man,--no priches,--yah! yah!" replied Meinheer. "He come 'long +here, vas 'pout nine hours, may pe some more." + +"A little after nine o'clock last night?" suggested Jack. + +"Yah, yah! I vas bed shleepin', somebody knock so loud, I git some +candle light, and make de door open, and der vas some young feller, his +face sick, his clo'es all so vet but his priches,--his priches vas not +vet, for he has no priches, only some shoes." + +"Where did he come from?" + +"He say he come from up stream; he pass de pridge over, and der vas no +pridge; and he dhrive 'cross de vaser, and he cannot dhrive 'cross; so +he git out, only his priches not git out, for de vaser vas vet, and his +priches keeps in de vagon, vile he keeps in de vaser; he make some lift +on some logs, and someding make de hoss fright, and de hoss jump and +jerk de vagon, and de vagon jerk someding vat jerk him; and de priches +rides off, and he shtop in de vaser, and dhink some, and git sick, and +he say de log in his shtomach and so much vaser was pad, and I mus' give +him some dhink viskey and some dry priches, and I gives 'em." + +"A pair of _your_ breeches?" cried Rufe, eying the baggy proportions of +Meinheer's nether garments. + +"I have no oder; I fetch 'em from faderland; and I gives him some. He +stick his legs in, and some of his legs come too much under; de priches +vas some too vide, and some not long genoof. He dhink more viskey, and +feel goot, and say he find his team and bring back my priches to-morrow, +and it is to-morrow yet, and he not come." + +Even the grave uncle of the luckless nephew had to laugh as he thought +of the slim legs pursuing their travels in the short but enormous +"priches" fetched from fatherland. + +"How much were your breeches worth?" Lord said, taking out some money. + +"I don't know--I don't keeps priches to sell; may pe vun tollar." + +Betterson gave the German a dollar, saying,-- + +"Allow me to pay for them; for, if I mistake not, you will never see the +young man or your breeches again." + +He was quite right: the German never did. + +Neither--it may as well be said here--did Radcliff's own relatives see +him again for many years. What various adventures were his can only be +surmised, until one of the "Philadelphia partners," settling up his +accounts with the world, left him a legacy of six thousand dollars, when +he once more bloomed out as a fine gentleman, and favored his Western +friends with a visit. + +He ran through his little fortune in a few months, and once more +disappeared from view, to turn up again, five or six years later (when +Jack and Vinnie saw him for the last time), as a runner for one of the +great Chicago hotels. + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +PEAKSLOW'S HOUSE-RAISING. + + +"Mercy on me!" said Caroline, hearing an unusual noise in the front part +of the house; "now we are to have the racket of those Peakslow children! +What could you have been thinking of, Lavinia dear? I'm sure _I_ didn't +know what I was saying when I gave _my_ consent to their coming. The +idea of their turning our library into a kitchen! Not that I blame +_you_, Lavinia dear. _I_ ought to have considered." + +"Surely you wouldn't have denied the houseless family a shelter?" Vinnie +replied. "That would have seemed too bad, with those great chambers +unoccupied. As for the _library_,"--Vinnie smiled, for the unfurnished +room called by that choice name had nothing in it but a fireplace,--"I +don't think any harm can happen to that." + +Vinnie had a plan regarding the Peakslow children, which she laid before +Mrs. Peakslow as soon as the new inmates were fairly settled in the +house. + +"Since my sister and the baby have been so much better, I have begun a +little school, with only two scholars,--Cecie and Lilian. Wouldn't your +children like to join it? I think it would be pleasant." + +"Whuther they would or not, I'd like to have 'em," replied Mrs. +Peakslow, gratefully. "The chances for schoolin' is dreffle slim in this +country; we've no school-house within nigh two mile. But how shall I pay +ye?" + +"You needn't mind about that." + +"Yes, I shall mind too. We must do somethin' for you in return." + +"Well, then," said Vinnie, "if you like, you may let one of the girls +help a little in my sister's kitchen, to make up for the time I spend +with them." + +"I'll do it, sartin! You shall have Lyddy. She's a good smart hand at +housework, and you may git all out of her you can." + +So it was arranged. The little school of two was increased to five; the +"parlor"--used only to store grain in hitherto--was turned into a +school-room; and Lyddy worked in Mrs. Betterson's kitchen. + +"Lavinia dear, you _are_ an extraordinary girl!" said Caroline. "It +seems the greatest miracle of all to see one of the Peakslows washing +_our_ dishes!" + +No one was better pleased with this arrangement than Jack, who could +never be reconciled to seeing Vinnie--with all her health and strength +and cheery spirits--doing the hardest of the housework. + +Jack took early occasion, on visiting Long Woods, to go and see Mr. +Peakslow, and make him a frank apology for having once suspected Zeph of +taking his compass. But he got only an ugly scowl and surly grunt for +his pains. + +For a while Peakslow did not go near his family, quartered in his +enemy's house; but slept in the haystack, with Dud and Zeph, and ate the +meals his wife cooked and sent to him three times a day. + +But soon Dud went to sleep at the "castle," and found he had nothing +more formidable to meet than Vinnie's bright eyes,--for Dud had suddenly +developed into a bashful youth. + +Zeph in a night or two followed his example, and Peakslow was left alone +in his haystack. + +And the nights were growing chill; and the repair of the buildings went +on slowly, carpenters being scarce; and Peakslow, who had a heart for +domestic comforts, began to yearn for the presence of his family at +mealtime and bedtime. + +At length he stole into the house after dark one evening, and stole out +again before light the next morning. That did not seem to hurt him; on +the contrary, it suited Peakslow; his neighbor's house was better than a +haystack. Then he came to supper and stayed to breakfast. Then there was +no good reason why he should not come to dinner; and he came +accordingly. + +Then he stopped after dinner one day to see how Vinnie conducted her +little school, and went away looking wonderfully thoughtful. The boys +remembered that he did not scold them so sharply that afternoon as he +had been wont to do since the tornado disturbed his temper. + +One morning, as he was going out, Peakslow saw Lord Betterson in the +yard, and advanced awkwardly toward him, holding his hat in one hand and +scratching his head with the other. There was, after all, a vein of +diffidence in the rough quartz of the man's character; and somehow, on +this occasion, he couldn't help showing his neighbor a good deal of +respect. + +"I'm a-gun to have a bee this arternoon,--a raisin',--gun to try to git +the logs back on to the house, an' the ruf on to the shed,--everything +ready,--some o' the neighbors comin' to help,--and if you an' your boys +can lend a hand, I'll do as much for you some time." + +"Surely; very glad to serve you, Neighbor Peakslow," Lord Betterson +replied, in his magnificently polite way, much as if he had been a +monarch dismissing a foreign ambassador. + +Jack came over to Long Woods that afternoon, and, having rectified Mrs. +Wiggett's noon-mark, stopped at Peakslow's raising on his way back up +the valley. + +He found a group of men and boys before the house, partaking of some +refreshments,--sweetened whiskey and water, passed round in a pail with +a tin dipper by Zeph, and "nut-cakes" and "turn-overs," served by Mrs. +Peakslow and 'Lecty Ann. + +The sight of Snowfoot tied to his fence made Peakslow glare; nor was his +ruffled spirit smoothed when he saw Jack come forward with a cheery face +and a compass in his hand. + +Jack greeted the Bettersons, Mr. Wiggett, and one or two others he +knew, and was talking pleasantly with them, when Peakslow pushed the +inverted cut-water of his curved beak through the crowd, and confronted +him. + +"So that air's the compass, is it?" + +"This is the compass, Mr. Peakslow." + +"Keep it in yer hand, now'days, do ye? Don't trust it in the wagon? Good +idee! No danger of its bein' stole, an' your comin' agin to 'cuse my +boys of the theft!" + +Peakslow's ancient wrath rekindled as he spoke; his voice trembled and +his eyes flamed. + +Jack kept his temper admirably, and answered with a frank and honest +face,-- + +"I have made the best amends I could for that mistake, by apologizing to +you for it, Mr. Peakslow. I don't keep the compass in my hand because I +am afraid it may be stolen. I have called--as I promised Mrs. Peakslow +the other day that I would do--to give her a noon-mark on her kitchen +floor." + +"How's this?--promised her?--I don't understand that!" growled Peakslow. + +"Yes, pa!" said Mrs. Peakslow, with a frightened look. "I seen him to +Mis' Betterson's. He'd made a noon-mark for Mis' Wiggett, and Mis' +Betterson's sister asked me if I wouldn't like one, as he was comin' to +make them one some day." + +Off went Peakslow's hat, and into his bushy hair went his fingers again, +while he stammered out,-- + +"But he can't make no noon-mark this arternoon,--we're all in a mess an' +litter, so!" + +"Just as well now as any time," said Jack. "The doorway is clear. I +sha'n't interfere with anybody." + +"What'll be to pay?" Peakslow asked. + +"O, I don't charge anything for a little job like this,--to one of Mr. +Betterson's neighbors." + +"That's jes' so; he didn't charge me nary red," said Mr. Wiggett. "An' +he's done the job for me now tew times,--fust time, the tornado come and +put the noon-mark out o' j'int, 'fore ever a noon come round." + +Jack adjusted his compass, while the house-raisers looked on, to see how +the thing was done, Peakslow appearing as much interested as anybody. + +Jack got Link to make the first marks for him on the floor, and laughed, +as he looked through the sights of the compass, to hear Mr. Wiggett +describe the finding of his section corner,--"runnin' a line plumb to +the old stake, out on the open perairie,"--and praise the boy-surveyor's +skill. + +The mark was made with quickness and precision; friends and strangers +crowded around Jack with kind words and questions; and he was surprised +to find himself all at once a person of importance. + +Peakslow puffed hard at his pipe. His face was troubled; and two or +three times he pulled the pipe out of his mouth, thrust his knuckles +under his hat, and took a step toward the young surveyor. He also +cleared his throat. He evidently had a word to say. But the word would +not come. + +When at last he let Jack go off without offering him even a syllable of +thanks, the bystanders smiled, and somebody might have been heard to +mutter, "Peakslow all over! Just like his hoggishness!" + +Jack smiled too as he went, for he had shrewdly observed his enemy, and +he knew it was not "hoggishness" which kept Peakslow's lips closed, but +a feeling which few suspected in that grasping, hard, and +violent-tempered man. + +Peakslow was abashed! + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +CONCLUSION. + + +The house made once more inhabitable, Peakslow's family moved back into +it. But this change did not take Lyddy away from the "castle," nor break +up Vinnie's school. + +The "castle" now underwent some renovation. The long-neglected +plastering was done, and the rooms in daily use were made comfortable. + +Meanwhile the boys were full of ambition regarding their water-works. +The project had cost them a good deal more trouble than they had +anticipated at first; but they were amply repaid for all on the day when +the water was finally let on, and they saw it actually run from the +spout in the back-room! Such a result had seemed to them almost too good +ever to come true; and their joy over it was increased ten-fold by the +doubts and difficulties overcome. + +Jack had come over to be present when the water was brought in, and he +was almost as happy over it as they. + +"No more trouble with the old well!" said Rufe. + +"No more lugging water from the grove!" said Wad. + +"Or going into the river head-first after it, as you and I did!" said +Link. + +Vinnie was proud of her nephews, and Caroline and Lord were proud of +their sons. + +[Illustration: THE WATER QUESTION SETTLED.] + +"How fine it will be for your dairy, in summer,--this cold, running +water!" said Vinnie. + +But Chokie seemed best pleased, because he would no longer be dependent +upon precarious rains filling the hogshead, but would have a whole +tankful of water--an ocean in the back-room--to sail his shingle boats +on. + +The boys had also acted on another suggestion of Jack's, and taken the +farm to work. This plan also promised to succeed well. The prospect of +doing something for themselves, roused energies which might have lain +dormant all their lives, if they had been contented to sit still and +wait for others to help them. + +As Vinnie's school became known, other pupils appeared from up and down +the river, and by the first snowfall she had more than a dozen scholars. +Among these were Sal Wiggett and two big boys belonging to the paternal +Wiggett's "third crap" of children, and Dud and Zeph Peakslow. + +The Betterson boys also attended the school, Wad and Link as pupils, and +Rufe partly as a pupil and partly as an assistant. Vinnie could teach +him penmanship and grammar, but she was glad to turn over to him the +classes in arithmetic, for which study he had a natural aptitude. + +The Peakslow children, both boys and girls, had a good deal in them that +was worth cultivating; and amid the genial associations of the little +school they fast outgrew their rude and uncouth ways. It was interesting +to see Zeph and Cecie reciting the same lessons side by side, and Rufe +showing Dud about the sums that bothered him. + +Caroline had very much objected to Vinnie's enlarging her school, and +especially to her receiving the big boys. The success of the experiment +surprised her. Vinnie had a charming way with the younger children, and +a peculiarly subduing influence over the big boys. + +"Lavinia dear," said Caroline "what have I always said? You are a most +extraordinary girl!" + +And now things came round curiously enough; and an event occurred of +which nobody could have dreamed when Vinnie set out alone, with a brave +heart, to do her simple duty to her sister's family. + +It was found that she had a happy faculty for interesting and +instructing the young. So when, in the spring, a girls' school was +opened at North Mills, she was offered a place in it as assistant +teacher, which her friends there--Jack's friends--prevailed on her to +accept. + +Leaving Long Woods cost her many regrets. But the better order of things +was now well established at the "castle" (which was fast ceasing to be a +castle, in the popular speech); and she felt that its inmates could +spare her very well,--if they would only think so! + +Other considerations also consoled her for the change. She would still +be where she could see her relatives often; and now Jack's delightful +home was to be her own. + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Young Surveyor;, by J. T. Trowbridge + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE YOUNG SURVEYOR; *** + +***** This file should be named 28680-8.txt or 28680-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/6/8/28680/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + +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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/28680-8.zip b/28680-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..55d6f6c --- /dev/null +++ b/28680-8.zip diff --git a/28680-h.zip b/28680-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5bb52f0 --- /dev/null +++ b/28680-h.zip diff --git a/28680-h/28680-h.htm b/28680-h/28680-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b695bd1 --- /dev/null +++ b/28680-h/28680-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8868 @@ +<!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"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Young Surveyor;, by J. T. Trowbridge. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} +--> + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Young Surveyor;, by J. T. Trowbridge + +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 Young Surveyor; + or Jack on the Prairies + +Author: J. T. Trowbridge + +Release Date: May 4, 2009 [EBook #28680] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE YOUNG SURVEYOR; *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + +<h1>THE YOUNG SURVEYOR;</h1> + +<h3>OR,</h3> + +<h2>JACK ON THE PRAIRIES.</h2> + +<h2>BY J. T. TROWBRIDGE</h2> + +<h3>AUTHOR OF "JACK HAZARD AND HIS FORTUNES," ETC.</h3> + +<h3><i>WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.</i></h3> + + +<h4>BOSTON:<br /> +JAMES R. OSGOOD AND COMPANY,<br /> +<span class="smcap">Late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co.</span><br /> +1875.</h4> + +<h4>Copyright, 1875.<br /> +<span class="smcap">By</span> JAMES R. OSGOOD & CO.</h4> + +<h4><span class="smcap">University Press: Welch, Bigelow, & Co.,</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Cambridge.</span></h4> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a href="images/titlepage.jpg"><img src="images/titlepage.jpg" alt=""/></a> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="frontis" id="frontis"></a> +<img src="images/frontis.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>HOW THE BOYS WENT TO THE RIVER FOR WATER.</h3> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p> +<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I. <span class="smcap">"Nothing but a Boy"</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II. <span class="smcap">Old Wiggett's Section Corner</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III. <span class="smcap">The Homeward Track</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV. <span class="smcap">A Deer Hunt, and how it ended</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V. <span class="smcap">The Boy with One Suspender</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI. <span class="smcap">"Lord Betterson's"</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII. <span class="smcap">Jack at the "Castle"</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII. <span class="smcap">How Vinnie made a Journey</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX. <span class="smcap">Vinnie's Adventure</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X. <span class="smcap">Jack and Vinnie in Chicago</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI. <span class="smcap">Jack's New Home</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII. <span class="smcap">Vinnie's Future Home</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII. <span class="smcap">Why Jack did not fire at the Prairie Chicken</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV. <span class="smcap">Snowfoot's New Owner</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV. <span class="smcap">Going for a Witness</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI. <span class="smcap">Peakslow gets a Quirk in his Head</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII. <span class="smcap">Vinnie makes a Beginning</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII. <span class="smcap">Vinnie's new Broom</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX. <span class="smcap">Link's Wood-Pile</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX. <span class="smcap">More Water than they wanted</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI. <span class="smcap">Peakslow shows his Hand</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII. <span class="smcap">The Woodland Spring</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">CHAPTER XXIII. <span class="smcap">Jack's "Bit of Engineering"</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">CHAPTER XXIV. <span class="smcap">Preparing for the Attack</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">CHAPTER XXV. <span class="smcap">The Battle of the Boundary Fence</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">CHAPTER XXVI. <span class="smcap">Victory</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">CHAPTER XXVII. <span class="smcap">Vinnie in the Lion's Den</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">CHAPTER XXVIII. <span class="smcap">An "Extraordinary" Girl</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">CHAPTER XXIX. <span class="smcap">Another Hunt, and how it ended</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXX">CHAPTER XXX. <span class="smcap">Jack's Prisoner</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI">CHAPTER XXXI. <span class="smcap">Radcliff</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII">CHAPTER XXXII. <span class="smcap">An Important Event</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIII">CHAPTER XXXIII. <span class="smcap">Mrs. Wiggett's "Noon-Mark"</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIV">CHAPTER XXXIV. <span class="smcap">The Strange Cloud</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXV">CHAPTER XXXV. <span class="smcap">Peakslow in a Tight Place.—Cecie</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVI">CHAPTER XXXVI. <span class="smcap">"On the War Trail"</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVII">CHAPTER XXXVII. <span class="smcap">The Mystery of a Pair of Breeches</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVIII">CHAPTER XXXVIII. <span class="smcap">The Morning after</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIX">CHAPTER XXXIX. <span class="smcap">Following up the Mystery</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XL">CHAPTER XL. <span class="smcap">Peakslow's House-Raising</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XLI">CHAPTER XLI. <span class="smcap">Conclusion</span></a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2> + +<p><a href="#frontis"><span class="smcap">How the Boys went to the River for Water</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#i002"><span class="smcap">Setting the Stakes</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#i005"><span class="smcap">Jack and the Strange Youth</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#i006"><span class="smcap">Up-Hill Work</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#i007"><span class="smcap">"Lord Betterson"</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#i008"><span class="smcap">Too obliging by Half</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#i009"><span class="smcap">Link doesn't care to be kissed</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#i010"><span class="smcap">Shot on the Wing</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#i011"><span class="smcap">The Amiable Mr. Peakslow</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#i012"><span class="smcap">Vinnie's Stratagem</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#i013"><span class="smcap">Link's Wood-Pile</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#i014"><span class="smcap">Testing the Level</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#i015"><span class="smcap">Old Wiggett</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#i016"><span class="smcap">"Stop, or I'll shoot!"</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#i017"><span class="smcap">Returning in Triumph</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#i018"><span class="smcap">The End of the Chase</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#i019"><span class="smcap">Jack and his Jolly Prisoner</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#i020"><span class="smcap">The Tornado coming</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#i021"><span class="smcap">Peakslow reappears</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#i022"><span class="smcap">Following the War Trail under Difficulties</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#i023"><span class="smcap">The Water Question settled</span></a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE YOUNG SURVEYOR.</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<h3>"NOTHING BUT A BOY."</h3> + + +<p>A young fellow in a light buggy, with a big black dog sitting composedly +beside him, enjoying the ride, drove up, one summer afternoon, to the +door of a log-house, in one of the early settlements of Northern +Illinois.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="i001" id="i001"></a> +<img src="images/i001.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>A woman with lank features, in a soiled gown trailing its rags about her +bare feet, came and stood in the doorway and stared at him.</p> + +<p>"Does Mr. Wiggett live here?" he inquired.</p> + +<p>"Wal, I reckon," said the woman, "'f he ain't dead or skedaddled of a +suddent."</p> + +<p>"Is he at home?"</p> + +<p>"Wal, I reckon."</p> + +<p>"Can I see him?"</p> + +<p>"I dunno noth'n' to hender. Yer, Sal! run up in the burnt lot and fetch +your pap. Tell him a stranger. You've druv a good piece," the woman +added, glancing at the buggy-wheels and the horse's white feet, stained +with black prairie soil.</p> + +<p>"I've driven over from North Mills," replied the young fellow, regarding +her pleasantly, with bright, honest features, from under the shade of +his hat-brim.</p> + +<p>"I 'lowed as much. Alight and come into the house. Old man'll be yer in +a minute."</p> + +<p>He declined the invitation to enter; but, to rest his limbs, leaped down +from the buggy. Thereupon the dog rose from his seat on the +wagon-bottom, jumped down after him, and shook himself.</p> + +<p>"All creation!" said the woman, "what a pup that ar is! Yer, you young +uns! Put back into the house, and hide under the bed, or he'll eat ye up +like ye was so much cl'ar soap-grease!"</p> + +<p>At that moment the dog stretched his great mouth open, with a formidable +yawn. Panic seized the "young uns," and they scampered; their bare legs +and exceedingly scanty attire (only three shirts and a half to four +little barbarians) seeming to offer the dog unusual facilities, had he +chosen to regard them as soap-grease and to regale himself on that sort +of diet. But he was too well-bred and good-natured an animal to think of +snapping up a little Wiggett or two for his luncheon; and the fugitives, +having first run under the bed and looked out, ventured back to the +door, and peeped with scared faces from behind their mother's gown.</p> + +<p>To hide his laughter, the young fellow stood patting and stroking his +horse's neck until Sal returned with her "pap."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Wiggett?" inquired the youth, seeing a tall, spare, rough old man +approach.</p> + +<p>"That's my name, stranger. What can I dew for ye to-day?"</p> + +<p>"I've come to see what I can do for <i>you</i>, Mr. Wiggett. I believe you +want your section corner looked up."</p> + +<p>"That I dew, stranger. But I 'lowed 't would take a land-surveyor for +that."</p> + +<p>"I am a land-surveyor," said the young fellow, with a modest smile.</p> + +<p>"A land-surveyor? Why, you're noth'n' but a boy!" And the tall old man, +bending a little, and knitting his gray eyebrows, looked down upon his +visitor with a sort of amused curiosity.</p> + +<p>"That's so," replied the "boy," with a laugh and a blush. "But I think I +can find your corner, if the bearings are all right."</p> + +<p>"Whur's your instruments?" asked the old man, leaning over the buggy. +"Them all? What's that gun to do with land-surveyin'?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing; I brought that along, thinking I might get a shot at a rabbit +or a prairie hen. But we shall need an axe and a shovel."</p> + +<p>"I 'lowed your boss would come himself, in place of sendin' a boy!" +muttered the old man, taking up the gun,—a light double-barrelled +fowling-piece,—sighting across it with an experienced eye, and laying +it down again. "Sal, bring the axe; it's stickin' in the log thar by the +wood-pile. Curi's thing, to lose my section corner, hey?"</p> + +<p>"It's not a very uncommon thing," replied the young surveyor.</p> + +<p>"Fact is," said the old man, "I never found it I bought of Seth +Parkins's widder arter Seth died, and banged if I've ever been able to +find the gov'ment stake."</p> + +<p>"Maybe somebody pulled it up, or broke it off, to kill a rattlesnake +with," suggested the young surveyor.</p> + +<p>"Like enough," said the old man. "Can't say 't I blame him; though he +might 'a' got a stick in the timber by walkin' a few rods. He couldn't +'a' been so bad off as one o' you surveyor chaps was when the gov'ment +survey went through. He was off on the Big Perairie, footin' it to his +camp, when he comes to a rattler curled up in the grass, and shakin' his +tarnal buzz-tail at him. He steps back, and casts about him for some +sort of we'pon; he hadn't a thing in his fist but a roll of paper, and +if ever a chap hankered arter a stick or a stun, they say he did. But it +was all jest perairie grass; nary rock nor a piece of timber within +three mile. Snake seemed to 'preciate his advantage, and flattened his +head and whirred his rattle sassier 'n ever. Surveyor chap couldn't +stan' that. So what does he dew, like a blamed fool, but jest off with +his boot and hurl it, 'lowin' he could kill a rattler that way? He +missed shot. Then, to git his boot, he had to pull off t' other, and +tackle the snake with that. Lost that tew. Then he was in a +perdickerment; snake got both boots; curled up on tew 'em, ready to +strike, and seemin' to say, 'If you've any more boots to spar', bring +'em on.' Surveyor chap hadn't no more boots, to his sorrow; and, arter +layin' siege to the critter till sundown, hopin' he'd depart in peace +and leave him his property, he guv it up as a bad job, and footed it to +the camp in his stockin's, fancyin' he was treadin' among rattlers all +the way."</p> + +<p>The story was finished by the time the axe was brought; the old man +picked up a rusty shovel lying by the house, and, getting into the buggy +with his tools, he pointed out to his young companion a rough road +leading through the timber.</p> + +<p>This was a broad belt of woodland, skirting the eastern side of a wide, +fertile river-bottom, and giving to the settlement the popular name of +"Long Woods."</p> + +<p>On the other side of the timber lay the high prairie region, covered +with coarse wild grass, and spotted with flowers, without tree or shrub +visible until another line of timber, miles away, marked the vicinity of +another stream.</p> + +<p>The young surveyor and the old man, in the jolting buggy, followed by +the dog, left the log-house and the valley behind them; traversed the +woods, through flickering sun and shade; and drove southward along the +edge of the rolling prairie, until the old man said they had better stop +and hitch.</p> + +<p>"I don't hitch my horse," said the young surveyor. "The dog looks out +for him. Here, old fellow, watch!"</p> + +<p>"The section corner, I ca'c'late," said the old man, shouldering his +axe, "is off on the perairie thar, some'er's. Come, and I'll show ye the +trees."</p> + +<p>"Is that big oak with the broken limb one of them?"</p> + +<p>"Wal, now, how did ye come to guess that?—one tree out of a hundred ye +might 'a' picked."</p> + +<p>"It is a prominent tree," replied the youth, "and, if I had been the +surveyor, I think I should have chosen it for one, to put my bearings +on."</p> + +<p>"Boy, you're right! But it took me tew days to decide even that. The +underbrush has growed up around it, and the old scar has nigh about +healed over."</p> + +<p>The old man led the way through the thickets, and, reaching a small +clear space at the foot of the great oak, pointed out the scar, where +the trunk had been blazed by the axemen of the government survey. On a +surface about six inches broad, hewed for the purpose, the distance and +direction of the tree from the corner stake had, no doubt, been duly +marked. But only a curiously shaped wound was left. The growth of the +wood was rapid in that rich region, and, although the cut had been made +but a few years before, a broad lip of smooth new bark had rolled up +about it from the sides, and so nearly closed over it that only a +narrow, perpendicular, dark slit remained.</p> + +<p>"What do you make of that?" said Mr. Wiggett, putting his fingers at the +opening, and looking down at his companion.</p> + +<p>"I don't make much of it as it looks now," the young surveyor replied.</p> + +<p>"Didn't I tell you 't would take an old head to find my corner? T' other +tree is in a wus shape than this yer. Now I reckon you'll be satisfied +to turn about and whip home, and tell your boss it's a job for him."</p> + +<p>"Give me your axe," was the reply.</p> + +<p>"Boy, take kere what you're about!"</p> + +<p>"O, I will take care; don't be afraid!" And, grasping the axe, the young +surveyor began to cut away the folds of new wood which had formed over +the scar.</p> + +<p>"I see what you're up tew," said the old man, gaining confidence at +every stroke. "Give me the axe; you ain't tall enough to work handy." +And with a few strokes, being a skilful chopper, he cleared the old +blaze, and exposed the blackened tablet which Nature had so nearly +enclosed in her casket of living wood.</p> + +<p>There, cut into the old hewed surface, were the well-preserved marks of +the government survey:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">N. 48° 15' W.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">18 R. 10 L.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"What does that mean?" asked the old man, as the youth made a copy of +these marks in his notebook.</p> + +<p>"It means that this tree is eighteen rods and ten links from your corner +stake, in a direction forty-eight degrees and fifteen minutes west of +north."</p> + +<p>"I can understand your rods and links," said the old man; "for I know +your surveyor's chain is four rods long, and has a hundred links. But +banged if I know anything about your degrees and minutes."</p> + +<p>"All that is just as simple," replied the young surveyor. "A circle is +supposed to be divided into three hundred and sixty degrees. Each degree +is divided into sixty minutes; and so forth. Now, if you stand looking +directly north, then turn a quarter of the way round, and look straight +west, you have turned a quarter of a circle, or ninety degrees; and the +angle where you stand—where the north line and the west line meet—is +called an angle of ninety degrees. Half as far is forty-five degrees. +Seen from the corner stake, wherever it is, this tree bears a little +more than forty-five degrees west of north; it is forty-eight degrees +and a quarter. Where's the other tree?"</p> + +<p>That was ten or eleven rods away, still in the edge of the timber; and +it bore on its blazed trunk, facing the open prairie, the +inscription—laid bare by the old man's ready axe—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">N. 82° 27' w.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">16 R. 29 L.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Eighty-two degrees twenty-seven minutes west of north, and sixteen rods +twenty-nine links, from your corner," the young surveyor read aloud, as +he copied the marks into his notebook. "The other tree is so surrounded +by undergrowth, it would take you and your axe an hour to cut a passage +through so that I could run a line; and I am going to try running a line +from this tree alone. Be cutting a few good stakes, while I go and bring +up my horse and set him to eating grass."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<h3>OLD WIGGETT'S SECTION CORNER.</h3> + + +<p>The horse was driven to a good shady place on the edge of the woods, +relieved of his bridle, and left in charge of the dog. In the mean while +the old man cut a few oak saplings and hewed them into stakes.</p> + +<p>"Now, I want ye to give me a notion of how you're gwine to work," he +said, as the youth brought his compass and set it up on its tripod at +the foot of the tree. "For, otherwise, how am I to be sure of my corner, +when you say you've found it?"</p> + +<p>"O, I think we shall find something to convince you! However, look here, +and I'll explain."</p> + +<p>While waiting for the wavering needle to settle in its place, the youth +made a hasty diagram in a page of his notebook.</p> + +<p>"Here we are on the edge of the timber. <i>A</i> is your first tree. <i>B</i> is +the one where we are. Now if the bearings are correct, and I run two +lines accordingly, the place where they meet will be the place for your +corner stake; say at <i>C</i>."</p> + +<p>"That looks cute; I like the shape of that!" said the old man, +interested.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="i002" id="i002"></a> +<img src="images/i002.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>SETTING THE STAKES.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"If the distance was short,—feet instead of rods,—all the instruments +we should want," said the young surveyor, with his peculiarly bright +smile, "would be a foot measure and two strings."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="i003" id="i003"></a> +<img src="images/i003.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"How so?" said the old man, who could not believe that science was as +simple a thing as that.</p> + +<p>"Why, for instance, we will say the tree <i>A</i> is eighteen feet from the +corner you want to find; <i>B</i>, sixteen feet. Now take a string eighteen +feet long, and fasten the end of it by a nail to the centre of the +blazed trunk, <i>A</i>; fasten another sixteen feet long to <i>B</i>; then stretch +out the loose ends of both until they just meet; and there is the place +for your stake."</p> + +<p>"I declar'!" exclaimed the old man. "That's the use of the tew trees. +Banged if I dew see, though, how you're gwine to git along by runnin' a +line from jest one."</p> + +<p>"If I run two lines, as I have shown you, where they meet will be the +point. Now if I run one line, and measure it, I shall find the point +where the other line ought to meet it. We'll see. Here on my compass is +a circle and a scale of degrees, which shows me how to set it according +to the bearings. Now look through these sights, and you are looking +straight in the direction of your section corner."</p> + +<p>"Curi's, ain't it?" grinned the old man. "'Cordin' to that, my corner is +out on the perairie, jest over beyant that ar knoll."</p> + +<p>"You're right. Now go forward to the top of it, while I sight you, and +we'll set a stake there. As I signal with my hands this way, or this, +move your stake to the right or left, till I make <i>this</i> motion; then +you are all right."</p> + +<p>The young surveyor had got his compass into position, by looking back +through the sights at the tree. He now placed himself between it and the +tree, and, sighting forward, directed the old man, who went on over the +knoll, where to set his stakes.</p> + +<p>On the other side of the knoll, it was found that the line crossed a +slough,—or "slew," as the old man termed it,—which lay in a long, +winding hollow of the hills. This morass was partly filled with stagnant +water; and the old man gave it a bad name.</p> + +<p>"It's the wust slew in the hull country. I've lost tew cows in 't. I +wouldn't go through it for the price of my farm. Couldn't git through; a +man would sink intew it up tew his neck."</p> + +<p>"Then we may have to get a boat to find your section corner," laughed +the young surveyor.</p> + +<p>"But it's noth'n' but a bog this time o' year; ye can't navigate a boat +thar. And it'll take till middle o' next week to build a brush road +acrost. Guess we're up a stump now, hey?"</p> + +<p>"O, no; stumps are not so plenty, where I undertake jobs! Let's have a +stake down there, pretty near the <i>slew</i>; then we will measure our line, +and see how much farther we have to go."</p> + +<p>The old man helped bear the chain; and a careful measurement showed that +the stake at the edge of the slough was still four rods and thirty links +from the corner they sought.</p> + +<p>"Banged if it don't come jest over on t' other side of the slew!" the +old man exclaimed, computing the distance with his eye. "But we can't +measure a rod furder; and yer we be stuck."</p> + +<p>"Not yet, old friend!" cried the young surveyor. "Since we can't cross, +we'll measure the rest of our distance along on this shore."</p> + +<p>The old man looked down upon him with indignation and amazement.</p> + +<p>"Think I'm a dog-goned fool?" he cried. "The idee of turnin' from our +course, and measurin' along by the slew! What's the good of that?"</p> + +<p>Finding that the old man would not aid or abet what seemed to him such +complete folly, the young surveyor made another little diagram in his +notebook, and explained:—</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="i004" id="i004"></a> +<img src="images/i004.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"Here is the end of our line running from the direction +<i>B</i>,—theoretically a straight, horizontal line, though it curves over +the knoll. You noticed how, coming down the slope ahead of you, I held +my end of the chain up from the ground, to make it horizontal, and then +with my plumb-line found the corresponding point in the ground, to start +fresh from. That was to get the measurement of a horizontal line; for if +you measure all the ups and downs of hills and hollows, you'll find your +surveying will come out in queer shape."</p> + +<p>The old man scratched his bushy gray head, and said he hadn't thought of +that.</p> + +<p>"Well," the young surveyor continued, "we are running our line off +towards <i>C</i>, when we come to the slew. Our last stake is at <i>D</i>,—say +this little thing with a flag on it. Now, what is to be done? for we +must measure four rods and thirty links farther. I measure that distance +from <i>D</i> to <i>E</i>, along this shore, running my new line at an angle of +sixty degrees from the true course. Then, with my compass at <i>E</i>, I +sight another line at an angle of sixty degrees from my last. I am +making what is called an equilateral triangle; that is, a triangle with +equal sides and equal angles. Each angle must measure sixty degrees. +With two angles and one side, we can always get the other two sides; and +the other angle will be where those two sides meet. They will meet at +<i>C</i>. Now, since the sides are of equal length, the distance from <i>D</i> to +<i>C</i> is the same as from <i>D</i> to <i>E</i>,—that is, four rods and thirty +links, just the distance we wish to go; <i>C</i>, then, is the place for your +corner stake."</p> + +<p>"It looks very well on paper," said the old man, "but"—casting his eye +across the bog—"how in the name of seven kingdoms are ye ever gwine to +fix yer stake thar?"</p> + +<p>"That is easy. Go round to the other side of the slew, get yourself in +range with our line from the tree, by sighting across the stakes, and +walk down toward the slew,—that is, on this dotted line. Having got my +angle of sixty degrees at <i>E</i>, I will sight across and stop you when I +see you at <i>C</i>. There stick your last stake."</p> + +<p>"Banged if that ain't cute! Young man, what mout be your name?"</p> + +<p>"I was only boy a few minutes ago," said the young surveyor, slyly. +"Now, if you are ready, we'll set to work and carry out this plan."</p> + +<p>The line from <i>D</i> to <i>E</i> was measured off. Then the youth set his +compass to obtain the proper angle at <i>E</i>; while the old man, with his +axe and a fresh stake, tramped around to the eastern side of the slough. +Having got the range of the stakes, he was moving slowly back toward +them, holding his stake before him, when the youth signalled him to stop +just in the edge of the quagmire.</p> + +<p>The new stake stuck, the young surveyor, taking up his tripod and +compass, went round to him.</p> + +<p>"That stake," said he, "is not far from your corner. Are there any +signs?"</p> + +<p>"I've been thinkin'," said the old man, "the 'arth yer looks like it had +been disturbed some time; though it's all overgrowed so with these +clumps of slew-grass, ye can't tell what's a nat'ral hummock and what +ain't. Don't that look like a kind of a trench?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; and here's another at right angles with it. Surveyors cut such +places on the prairies, pile up the sods inside the angle, and drive +their corner stakes through them. But there must have been water here +when this job was done, which accounts for its not being done better. +We'll improve it. Go for the shovel. I'll get the bearings of those +trees in the mean while, and see how far wrong they make us out to be."</p> + +<p>When the old man returned with the shovel, he found his boy surveyor +standing by the compass, with folded arms, looking over at the woodland +with a smile of satisfaction.</p> + +<p>Sighting the trees, the tall, straight stems of which were both visible +over the knoll, he had found that their bearings corresponded with those +copied in his notebook. This proved his work to his own mind; but the +old man would not yet confess himself convinced.</p> + +<p>"We may be somewhur <i>nigh</i> the spot, but I want to be sure of the +<i>exact</i> spot," he insisted.</p> + +<p>"That you can't be sure of; not even if the best surveyor in the world +should come and get it from these bearings," replied the youth. +"Probably the bearings themselves are not exact. The government +surveyors do their work in a hurry. The common compass they use doesn't +make as fine angles as the theodolite or transit instrument does; and +then the chain varies a trifle in length with every variation of +temperature; the metal contracts and expands, you know. Surveying, where +the land is worth a dollar and a quarter a foot, instead of a dollar and +a quarter an acre, is done more carefully. Yet I am positive, from the +indications here, that we are within a few inches of your corner."</p> + +<p>"A few inches, or a few feet, or a few rods!" muttered the old man, +crossly. "Seems like thar's a good deal of guess-work, arter all."</p> + +<p>"I am sorry you think so," replied the young surveyor, quietly removing +his tripod. "If, however, you are dissatisfied with my work, you can +employ another surveyor; if he tells you I am far out of the way, why, +then, you needn't pay me."</p> + +<p>The old man made no reply, but, seizing the shovel, began to level the +hummock a little, in order to prepare it for a pile of fresh sods. He +was slashing away at it, with the air of a petulant man working off his +discontent, when he struck something hard.</p> + +<p>"What's that ar?" he growled. "Can't be a stone. Ain't a rock as big as +a hazel-nut this side the timber."</p> + +<p>Digging round the obstacle, he soon exposed the splintered end of an +upright piece of wood. He laid hold of it and tried to pull it up. The +youth, with lively interest, took the shovel, and dug and pried. +Suddenly up came the stick, and the old man went over backwards with it +into the bog.</p> + +<p>He scrambled to his feet, dripping with muddy water, and brandished his +trophy, exclaiming:—</p> + +<p>"Dog my cats! if 't ain't the end of the ol' corner stake, left jest +whur't was broke off, when the rest was wanted to pry a wheel out o' the +slew, or to kill a rattler with!"</p> + +<p>He appeared jubilant over the discovery, while the young surveyor +regarded it simply as a piece of good luck.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<h3>THE HOMEWARD TRACK.</h3> + + +<p>The new stake having been stuck in the hole left by the point of the old +one, and plenty of fresh turf piled up about it, the old man wiped his +fingers on the dry prairie-grass, thrust a hand into his pocket, and +brought forth an ancient leather wallet.</p> + +<p>"My friend," said he, "shall I settle with you or with your boss?"</p> + +<p>"You may as well settle with me."</p> + +<p>"Nuff said. What's yer tax?"</p> + +<p>"Two dollars and a half."</p> + +<p>"Tew dollars and a—dog-gone-ation! You've been only tew hours and a +half about the job. I can hire a man all day for half a dollar."</p> + +<p>"It is an afternoon's work for me," argued the young surveyor. "I've had +a long way to drive. Then, you must understand, we surveyors" (this was +said with an air of importance) "don't get pay merely for the time we +are employed, but also for our knowledge of the business, which it has +taken us time to learn. If I had been obliged to hire the horse I drive, +you see, I shouldn't have much left out of two dollars and a half."</p> + +<p>"Friend, you're right. Tew 'n' a half is reasonable. And if I have +another job of land-surveyin', you are the man for my money."</p> + +<p>"A man, am I, now?" And with a laugh the young surveyor pocketed his +fee.</p> + +<p>"Good as a man, I allow, any time o' day. You've worked at this yer +thing right smart, and I'll give ye the credit on't. How long have ye +been larnin the trade?"</p> + +<p>"O, two years, more or less, studying at odd spells! But I never made a +business of it until I came to this new country."</p> + +<p>"What State be ye from?"</p> + +<p>"New York."</p> + +<p>"York State! That's whur I hail from."</p> + +<p>"One wouldn't think so; you have a good many Southern and Western words +in your talk."</p> + +<p>"I come by 'em honest," said the old man. "I run away from home when I +was a boy, like a derned fool; I've lived a'most everywhur; and I've +married four wives, and raised four craps of children. My fust wife I +picked up in ol' Kaintuck. My next was an Arkansaw woman. My third was a +Michigander. My present was born and raised in the South, but I married +her in Southern Illinois. She's nigh on to forty year younger 'n I be, +and smart as a steel trap, tell you! So you see we're kind of a mixed-up +family. My fust and second broods of children's married off, or +buried,—scattered to the four winds o' heaven! Tew boys o' the third +brood, and that ar Sal, is with me yit. Some of the present brood you've +seen. Thar's been twenty-one in all."</p> + +<p>"Of the fourth brood?"</p> + +<p>"No, of the lot. Whose hoss mout that be?"</p> + +<p>"Mine; I brought him from the East with me."</p> + +<p>"What do you have to pay for a beast like that, now, in York State?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't pay anything for him."</p> + +<p>"Somebody gi'n him tew ye?"</p> + +<p>"Not exactly."</p> + +<p>"Ye gambled for him?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"Raised him from a colt, then?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"Stole him?"</p> + +<p>"Not much."</p> + +<p>"Picked him up astray?"</p> + +<p>The young surveyor, laughing, shook his head.</p> + +<p>"Then how in the name o' seven kingdoms did ye come by him, if ye didn't +find him, nor steal him, nor raise him from a colt, nor buy him, nor +have him gi'n tew ye?"</p> + +<p>"I borrowed him of a neighbor, and drove him to a show, where the old +elephant broke loose and had the handling of him for about a second and +a half. The owners of the elephant paid the damages; and I kept the +horse. Nobody thought he would get well; but he is now scarcely lame at +all. I can show you the scars where he was hurt."</p> + +<p>The two had approached the wagon during this talk; and now the old man +examined the horse with a good deal of curiosity.</p> + +<p>"That your dog tew?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. Here, Lion!"</p> + +<p>"Cost ye suth'n, didn't it, to bring yer animals West with ye?"</p> + +<p>"Not a great deal. When my friends wrote for me to come, they said good +horses were scarce and high-priced out here, and advised me to bring +mine. I couldn't leave my dog behind,—could I, old Lion?"</p> + +<p>"Who mout your friends be?"</p> + +<p>"Mr. and Mrs. Lanman, at North Mills; and Mrs. Lanman's brother,—my +boss, as you call him,—Mr. Felton, the surveyor. They came out last +year; and last winter they wrote to me, offering me a good chance if I +should come. It was in winter; I drove Snowfoot in a cutter, and crossed +the Detroit River on the ice just before it broke up. There the +sleighing left me; so I sold my cutter, bought a saddle, and made the +rest of the journey on horseback. That was rather hard on the dog, but I +got the stage-drivers to give him a lift once in a while."</p> + +<p>"What did you say your name was?" the old man inquired.</p> + +<p>"I don't think I said. But I will say now. My name is Ragdon,—Henry +Ragdon. My friends call me Jack."</p> + +<p>"And it ain't yer name?"</p> + +<p>"O, yes, it is, and yet it isn't! I was brought up to it. My friends +like it, and so I keep it."<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> See "<span class="smcap">Fast Friends</span>"; also the previous volumes of this +series,—"<span class="smcap">Jack Hazard and his Fortunes</span>," "<span class="smcap">A Chance for Himself</span>," and +"<span class="smcap">Doing His Best</span>," in which is given a full account of the young +surveyor's early life and adventures.</p></div> + +<p>"Wal, Jack,—if you'll rank me with your friends, and le' me call ye +so," said the old man, with a cordial grip of his great, flat hand,—"I +s'pose we part yer, and say good by. I'll shoulder my tools, and take a +cow-path through the woods; you'll find a better road than the one we +come by, furder north. Jest keep along the edge of the perairie. I +sha'n't forgit this job."</p> + +<p>"Nor I," said the young surveyor, with a curious smile.</p> + +<p>It was the first work of the kind he had undertaken on his own account, +and without assistance; for which reason he felt not a little proud of +it. But he did not tell the old man so.</p> + +<p>After parting company with him, he drove in the shade of the woods, +along a track so little travelled that the marks of wheels looked like +dark ruled lines in the half-trodden grass.</p> + +<p>The pleasant summer afternoon was drawing to a close. The peculiar wild +scent of the prairie, which seems to increase as the cool evening comes +on, filled all the air. The shadows of the forest were stretching in a +vast, uneven belt over summit and hollow; while far away beyond, in +seemingly limitless expanse, swept the golden-green undulations of the +sunlit hills.</p> + +<p>Jack—for I trust we shall also be entitled to call him so—kept his eye +out for game, as he drove leisurely along; stopped once or twice for a +rabbit on the edge of the woods; and, finally, pulled up sharply, as a +prairie-hen shot whirring out, almost from under his wheels.</p> + +<p>He sprang to his feet and faced about, raising his gun; but before he +could take aim, the bird, at the end of a short, straight flight, +dropped into the prairie-grass a few rods away.</p> + +<p>Jack followed on foot, holding his piece ready to fire. Knowing the shy +habits of the bird, he trampled the grass about the spot where she had +alighted, hoping to scare her up. He also sent his dog coursing about; +but Lion, though an intelligent animal, had no scent for birds.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, from the very ground between the hunter's feet, with a +startling rush and thunder of wings, the hen rose. Up went gun to +shoulder. But instantly the dog gave chase, and kept so exactly in the +line of flight, that Jack durst not fire.</p> + +<p>"You silly boy's dog!" he said; "don't you know better than that? You'll +get a stray shot some day, if you run before my gun-barrels in that +fashion. Now go to the horse, and stay."</p> + +<p>The dog, who had fancied that he was doing good service, dropped ears +and tail at this rebuke, and retired from the field.</p> + +<p>Jack was continuing the hunt, when all at once a strange spell seemed to +come over him. It found him on one foot, and he remained on one foot, +poising the other behind him, for several seconds. Then, softly putting +down the lifted leg, and lowering his gun, he stole swiftly back, in a +crouching attitude, to his wagon by the woodside.</p> + +<p>Taking his horse by the bridle, he led him down into a little hollow. +Then, piercing the undergrowth, he hastened to a commanding position, +where, himself hidden by the bushes, he could look off on the prairie.</p> + +<p>His heart beat fast, and his hand shook, as he drew the bird-shot out of +the two barrels of his fowling-piece, reloading one with buck-shot, the +other with an ounce ball.</p> + +<p>All the while his eye kept glancing from his gun to the shadowy slope of +a distant hill, where were two objects which looked like a deer and a +fawn feeding.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<h3>A DEER HUNT, AND HOW IT ENDED.</h3> + + +<p>They were a long way off,—more than half a mile, he thought. Evidently +they had not seen him. Though marvellously quick to catch scent or +sound, deer have not a fine sense of sight for distant objects.</p> + +<p>"They have left the covert early, to go out and feed," thought he. "If +not frightened, they will browse around in the hollows there until +dark."</p> + +<p>He was wondering how he should manage to creep near, and get a shot at +the shy creatures, when the dog barked.</p> + +<p>"That won't do!" he muttered; and, hurrying to silence Lion, he saw a +stranger loitering along the prairie road.</p> + +<p>Jack stepped out of the bushes into the hollow, and beckoned.</p> + +<p>"I've sighted a couple of deer that I'm trying to get a shot at; if you +go over the hill, you'll scare 'em."</p> + +<p>The stranger—a slender youth in soiled shirt-sleeves, carrying a coat +on his arm—looked at him saucily, with his head on one side and a quid +turning in the cheek, and said,—</p> + +<p>"Well! and why shouldn't I scare 'em?"</p> + +<p>"I can't hinder you, of course; but," said Jack, "if <i>you</i> were hunting, +and <i>I</i> should be passing by, I should think it a matter of honor—"</p> + +<p>"Honor is an egg that don't hatch in this country," interrupted the +stranger; and the quid went into the other cheek, while the head went +over on the other side, as if to balance it. "But never mind; 'tain't my +cut to interfere with another feller's luck. Show me your deer."</p> + +<p>Jack took him through the thickets to his ambush. There were the deer +still feeding; the old one lifting her head occasionally as if on the +lookout for danger. They seemed to be moving slowly along the slope.</p> + +<p>The dark eyes of the strange youth kindled; then he said, with a low +laugh,—</p> + +<p>"I'd like a cut-bore rifle for them fellers! You never can get 'em with +that popgun."</p> + +<p>"I believe I can if you'll help me. You notice there's a range of hills +between us and them; and they are on the north slope of one. I've been +surveying a little of the country off south, and I think you can get +around the range that way, and come out beyond the deer, before they see +you. There's everything in our favor. The wind blows to us from them. At +the first alarm they'll start for the woods; and they'll be pretty sure +to keep along in the hollow. I'll watch here, and take them as they come +in."</p> + +<p>Quid and head rolled again; and the strange youth said jeeringly, with +one eye half closed, looking at Jack,—</p> + +<p>"So you expect me to travel a mile or two, and drive the deer in for +you?" He then pulled down the nether lid of the half-closed eye, and +inquired, somewhat irrelevantly, whether Jack saw anything green there. +"Not by this light!" he answered his own question, as he let up his +eyelid and snapped his thumb and finger. "Ye can't ketch old birds with +chaff. I've been through the lot. Parley-voo frong-say?"</p> + +<p>Jack regarded him with astonishment, declaring that there was no catch +about it. "Only help me, and we will share the game together."</p> + +<p>Still the fellow demurred. "I've walked my legs off to-day already; +you'll find 'em back in the road here! Had nothing to eat since morning; +wore myself down lean as a rail; felt for the last two hours as though +there was nothing but my backbone between me and eternity! No, sir-ree! +I wouldn't walk that fur out of my way for a herd of deer. If I had a +horse to ride I wouldn't mind."</p> + +<p>Jack was greatly excited. He had never yet had a good shot at a deer; +and if, at the end of his day's work, he could carry home a good fat +doe, and perhaps a fawn, of his own shooting, it would be a triumph. So, +without a moment's reflection, he said,—</p> + +<p>"You may ride mine. Then, if you don't want a share of the game, I'll +pay you for your trouble."</p> + +<p>The strange youth took time to shift his quid and balance it; then +replied in a manner which appeared provokingly cool to the fiery Jack,—</p> + +<p>"I'll look at him. Does he ride easy?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Hurry!"</p> + +<p>Jack ran down to the horse, led him into the bushes, where the wagon +could be left concealed, and had already taken him out of the shafts, +before the stranger came lounging to the spot.</p> + +<p>"Pull off the harness," said the latter, with the easy air of ordering a +nag at a stable. "And give me that blanket out of the buggy. I don't +ride bareback for nobody." And he spat reckless tobacco-juice.</p> + +<p>Jack complied, though angry at the fellow for being so dilatory and +fastidious at such a time. The strange youth then spread his coat over +the blanket, laid his right hand on it, and his left on bridle and mane, +and with a leap from the ground threw himself astride the horse,—a +display of agility which took Jack by surprise.</p> + +<p>"I see you have been on horseback before!"</p> + +<p>"Never in my life," said the stranger, with a gleam in his dark eyes +which belied his words. And now Jack noticed that he had a little switch +in his hand.</p> + +<p>"He won't need urging. Be sure and ride well beyond that highest hill +before you turn; and then come quietly around, so as not to frighten the +deer too much."</p> + +<p>The fellow laughed. "I've seen a deer before to-day!" And, clapping +heels to the horse's sides, he dashed through the bushes.</p> + +<p>Jack followed a little way, and from his ambush saw him come out of the +undergrowth, strike across the prairie, and disappear around the range +of hills.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="i005" id="i005"></a> +<img src="images/i005.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>JACK AND THE STRANGE YOUTH.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + + +<p>The deer were still in sight, stopping occasionally to feed, and then, +with heads in air, moving a few paces along the slope. Jack waited with +breathless anxiety to see his horseman emerge from among the hills +beyond. Several minutes elapsed; then, though no horseman appeared, the +old deer, startled by sound or scent of the enemy, threw high her head, +and began to leap, with graceful, undulating movements, along the +hillside.</p> + +<p>The fawn darted after her, and for a minute they were hidden from view +in a hollow. The stratagem had so far succeeded. They had started toward +the woods.</p> + +<p>Jack, in an ague of agitation, waited for the game to show itself again, +and, by its movements, guide his own. At length the fawn appeared on the +summit of a low hill, and stopped. The doe came up and stopped too, with +elevated nostrils, snuffing. For a rifle, in approved hands, there would +have been a chance for a shot. But the game was far beyond the range of +Jack's gun.</p> + +<p>To try his nerve, however, he took aim, or, rather, attempted to take +aim. His hands—if the truth must be confessed—shook so that he could +not keep his piece steady for an instant. Cool fellow enough on ordinary +occasions, he now had a violent attack of what is called the "buck +fever."</p> + +<p>Fortunately, the deer had not seen the horseman; and, while they were +recovering from their first alarm, they gave the young hunter time to +subdue, with resolute good sense, his terrible nervous agitation.</p> + +<p>They did not stop to feed any more, but moved on, with occasional +pauses, toward the woods; following the line of the hollows, as Jack had +foreseen.</p> + +<p>All this time the dog lay whining at his young master's heels. He knew +instinctively that there was sport on foot, and could hardly be kept +quiet.</p> + +<p>The deer took another and final start, and came bounding along toward +the spot where the wagon had stood. But for the excitement of the +moment, Jack must have felt a touch of pity at sight of those two +slender, beautiful creatures, so full of life, making for their covert +in the cool woods. But the hunter's spirit was uppermost. He took aim at +the doe, followed her movements a moment with the moving gun, then +fired. She plunged forward, and dropped dead.</p> + +<p>The fawn, confused by the report and by the doe's sudden fall, stood for +an instant quite still, then made a few bounds up toward the very spot +where the young hunter was concealed. It stopped again, within twenty +paces of the levelled gun. There it stood, its pretty spotted side +turned toward him, so fair a mark, and so charming a picture, that for a +moment, excited though he was, he could not have the heart to shoot. Ah! +what is this spirit of destruction, which has come down to us from our +barbarous forefathers, and which gives even good-hearted boys like Jack +a wild joy in taking life?</p> + +<p>The dog, rendered ungovernable by the firing of the gun, made a noise in +the thicket. The fawn heard, and started to run away. The provocation +was too great for our young hunter, and he sent a charge of buck-shot +after it. The fawn did not fall.</p> + +<p>"Take 'em, Lion!" shouted Jack; and out rushed the dog.</p> + +<p>The poor thing had been wounded, and the dog soon brought it down. Jack +ran after, to prevent a tearing of the hide and flesh. Then he set up a +wild yell, which might have been heard a mile away on the prairie,—a +call for his horseman, who had not yet reappeared.</p> + +<p>Jack dragged the fawn and placed it beside its dam. There lay the two +pretty creatures, slaughtered by his hand.</p> + +<p>"It can't be helped," thought he. "If it is right to hunt game, it is +right to kill it. If we eat flesh, we must take life."</p> + +<p>So he tried to feel nothing but pure triumph at the sight. Yet I have +heard him say, in relating the adventure, that he could never afterwards +think of the dead doe and pretty fawn, lying there side by side, without +a pang.</p> + +<p>He now backed his buggy out of the woods, set the seat forward in order +to make room for the deer behind, and waited for his horse.</p> + +<p>"Where can that fellow have gone?" he muttered, with growing anxiety.</p> + +<p>He went to a hill-top, to get a good view, and strained his vision, +gazing over the prairie. The sun was almost set, and all the hills were +darkening, save now and then one of the highest summits.</p> + +<p>Over one of these Jack suddenly descried a distant object moving. It was +no deer this time, but a horse and rider far away, and going at a +gallop—in the wrong direction.</p> + +<p>He gazed until they disappeared over the crest, and the faint sundown +glory faded from it, and he felt the lonesome night shutting down over +the limitless expanse. Then he smote his hands together with fury and +despair.</p> + +<p>He knew that the horse was his own, and the rider the strange youth in +whose hands he had so rashly intrusted him. And here he was, five miles +from home, with the darkening forest on one side, and the vast prairie +on the other; the dead doe and fawn lying down there on the dewy grass, +the empty buggy and harness beside them; and only his dog to keep him +company.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<h3>THE BOY WITH ONE SUSPENDER.</h3> + + +<p>Jack's first thought, after assuring himself that his horse was +irrevocably gone, was to run for help to the line of settlements on the +other side of the grove, where some means of pursuit might be obtained.</p> + +<p>He knew that the road which Mr. Wiggett had described could not be much +beyond the hollow where his wagon was; and, dashing forward, he soon +found it. Then, stopping to give a last despairing look at the billowy +line of prairie over which his horse had disappeared, he started to run +through the woods.</p> + +<p>He had not gone far when he heard a cowbell rattle, and the voice of a +boy shouting. He paused to take breath and listen; and presently with a +crashing of bushes three or four horned cattle came pushing their way +through the undergrowth, into the open road, followed by a lad without a +jacket, with one suspender and a long switch.</p> + +<p>"Boy," Jack cried, "how far is it to the nearest house?"</p> + +<p>"Our house is jest down through the woods here," replied the boy, +stopping to stare.</p> + +<p>"How far is that?"</p> + +<p>"Not quite so far as it is to Peakslow's house."</p> + +<p>"Where is Peakslow's house?"</p> + +<p>"Next house to ours, down the river."</p> + +<p>Seeing that this line of questions was not likely to lead to anything +very satisfactory, Jack asked,—</p> + +<p>"Can I get a horse of anybody in your neighborhood,—a good fast horse +to ride?"</p> + +<p>The boy whipped a bush with his switch, and replied,—</p> + +<p>"There ain't any good horses around here, 'thout 'tis Peakslow's; but +one of his has got the spring halt, and t' other's got the blind +staggers; and he's too mean to lend his horses; and, besides, he went to +Chicago with 'em both this morning."</p> + +<p>Jack did not stop to question the probability of a span thus afflicted +being driven on so long a journey; but asked if Mr. Wiggett had horses.</p> + +<p>"No—yes. I believe his horses are all oxen," replied the boy; "not very +fast or good to ride either."</p> + +<p>Thereupon Jack, losing all patience, cried out,—</p> + +<p>"Isn't there a decent nag to be had in this region?"</p> + +<p>"Who said there wasn't?" retorted the boy.</p> + +<p>"Where is there one?"</p> + +<p>"We've got one."</p> + +<p>"A horse?"</p> + +<p>"No; a mare."</p> + +<p>"Why didn't you tell me before?"</p> + +<p>"'Cause you asked for horses; you didn't say anything about mares."</p> + +<p>"Is she good to ride?"</p> + +<p>"Pretty good,—though if you make her go much faster 'n she takes a +notion to, she's got the heaves so folks'll think there's a small +volcano coming!"</p> + +<p>"How fast will she go?"</p> + +<p>"As fast as a good slow walk; that's her style," said the boy, and +whipped the bushes. "But, come to think, father's away from home, and +you'll have to wait till to-morrow night before you can see him, and get +him to let you take her."</p> + +<p>"Boy," said Jack, tired of the lad's tone of levity, and thinking to +interest him by a statement of the facts in the case, "I've been +hunting, and a rascal I trusted with my horse has run off with him, and +I have a harness and a buggy and a couple of dead deer out there on the +prairie."</p> + +<p>"Deer?" echoed the lad, pricking up his ears at once. "Did you shoot +'em? Where? Can I go and see 'em?"</p> + +<p>Jack was beginning to see the hopelessness of pursuing the horse-thief +that night, or with any help to to be had in that region; and he now +turned his thoughts to getting the buggy home.</p> + +<p>"Yes, boy; come with me," he said.</p> + +<p>The boy shouted and switched his stick at the cattle browsing by the +wayside, and started them on a smart trot down the road, then hastened +with Jack to the spot where the wagon and game had been left, guarded by +Lion.</p> + +<p>But Jack had another object in view than simply to gratify the lad's +curiosity.</p> + +<p>"If you will hold up the shafts and pull a little, I'll push behind, and +we can take the buggy through the woods. After we get it up out of this +hollow, and well into the road, it will be down-hill the rest of the +way."</p> + +<p>"You want to make a horse of me, do ye?" cried the boy. "I wasn't born +in a stable!"</p> + +<p>"Neither was I," said Jack. "But I don't object to doing a horse's work. +I'll pull in the shafts."</p> + +<p>"O good!" screamed the boy, making his switch whistle about his head. +"And I'll get on the seat and drive!" And he made a spring at the wagon.</p> + +<p>But Lion had something to say about that. Having been placed on guard, +and not yet relieved, he would permit no hand but his master's to touch +anything in his charge. A frightful growl made the boy recoil and go +backwards over the dead deer.</p> + +<p>"Here, Lion! down with you!" cried Jack, as the excited dog was pouncing +on the supposed intruder.</p> + +<p>The boy scrambled to his feet, and was starting to run away, in great +terror, when Jack, fearing to lose him, called out,—</p> + +<p>"Don't run! He may chase you if you do. Now he knows you are my friend, +you are safe, only stay where you are."</p> + +<p>"Blast his pictur'!" exclaimed the boy. "He's a perfect cannibal! What +does anybody want to keep such a savage critter as that for?"</p> + +<p>"I had told him to watch. Now he is all right. Come!"</p> + +<p>"Me? Travel with that dog? I wouldn't go with him," the boy declared, +meaning to make the strongest possible statement, "if 't was a million +miles, and the road was full of sugar-candy!" And he backed off warily.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="i006" id="i006"></a> +<img src="images/i006.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>UP-HILL WORK.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Jack got over the difficulty by sending the dog on before; and finally, +by an offer of money which would purchase a reasonable amount of +sugar-candy,—enough to pave the short road to happiness, for a boy of +thirteen,—induced him to help lift the deer into the buggy, and then to +go behind and push.</p> + +<p>They had hard work at first, getting the wagon up out of the hollow; and +the boy, when they reached at last the top of the hill, and stopped to +rest, declared that there wasn't half the fun in it there was in going a +fishing; the justice of which remark Jack did not question. But after +that the way was comparatively easy; and with Jack pulling in the +shafts, his new acquaintance pushing in the rear, and Lion trotting on +before, the buggy went rattling down the woodland road in lively +fashion.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<h3>"LORD BETTERSON'S."</h3> + + +<p>On a sort of headland jutting out from the high timber region into the +low prairie of the river bottom, stood a house, known far and near as +"Lord Betterson's," or, as it was sometimes derisively called, "Lord +Betterson's Castle," the house being about as much a castle as the owner +was a lord.</p> + +<p>The main road of the settlement ran between it and the woods; while on +the side of the river the land swept down in a lovely slope to the +valley, which flowed away in a wider and more magnificent stream of +living green. It was really a fine site, shaded by five or six young +oaks left standing in the spacious door-yard.</p> + +<p>The trouble was, that the house had been projected on somewhat too grand +a scale for the time and country and, what was worse, for the owner's +resources. He had never been able to finish it; and now its +weather-browned clapboards, unpainted front pillars, and general shabby, +ill-kept appearance, set off the style of architecture in a way to make +beholders smile.</p> + +<p>"Lord Betterson took a bigger mouthful than he could swaller, when he +sot out to build his castle here," said his neighbor, Peakslow.</p> + +<p>The proprietor's name—it may as well be explained—was Elisha Lord +Betterson. It was thus he always wrote it, in a large round hand, with a +bold flourish. Now the common people never will submit to call a man +<i>Elisha</i>. The furthest they can possibly go will be <i>'Lisha</i>, or +<i>'Lishy</i>; and, ten to one, the tendency to monosyllables will result in +<i>'Lishe</i>. There had been a feeble attempt among the vulgar to +familiarize the public mind with <i>'Lishe Betterson</i>; but the name would +not stick to a person of so much dignity of character. It was useless to +argue that his dignity was mere pomposity; or that a man who, in +building a fine house, broke down before he got the priming on, was +unworthy of respect; still no one could look at him, or call up his +image, and say, conscientiously, "'Lishe Betterson." He who, in this +unsettled state of things, taking a hint from the middle name, +pronounced boldly aloud, "<span class="smcap">Lord Betterson</span>," was a public benefactor. +"Lord Betterson" and "Lord Betterson's Castle" had been popular ever +since.</p> + +<p>The house, with its door-posts of unpainted pine darkly soiled by the +contact of unwashed childish hands, and its unfinished rooms, some of +them lathed, but unplastered (showing just the point at which the +owner's resources failed), looked even more shabby within than without.</p> + +<p>This may have been partly because the house-keeper was sick. She must +have been sick, if that was she, the pale, drooping figure, sitting +wrapped in an old red shawl, that summer afternoon. She looked not only +sick, but exceedingly discouraged. And no wonder.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="i007" id="i007"></a> +<img src="images/i007.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"LORD BETTERSON."</h3> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>At her right hand was an empty cradle; and she held a puny infant in her +arms, trying to still its cries. At her left was a lounge, on which lay +the helpless form of an invalid child, a girl about eleven years old. +The room was comfortless. An old, high-colored piece of carpeting half +covered the rough floor; its originally gaudy pattern, out of which all +but the red had faded, bearing witness to some past stage of family +gentility, and serving to set off the surrounding wretchedness.</p> + +<p>Tipped back in a chair against the rough and broken laths, his knees as +high as his chin, was a big slovenly boy of about seventeen, looking +lazily out from under an old ragged hat-rim, pushed over his eyes. +Another big, slovenly boy, a year or two younger, sat on the doorstep, +whittling quite as much for his own amusement as for that of a little +five-year-old ragamuffin outside.</p> + +<p>Not much comfort for the poor woman and the sick girl shone from these +two indifferent faces. Indeed, the only ray of good cheer visible in +that disorderly room gleamed from the bright eyes of a little girl not +more than nine or ten years old,—so small, in truth, that she had to +stand on a stool by the table, where she was washing a pan of dishes.</p> + +<p>"O boys!" said the woman in a feeble, complaining tone, "do, one of you, +go to the spring and bring some fresh water for your poor, sick sister."</p> + +<p>"It's Rufe's turn to go for water," said the boy on the doorstep.</p> + +<p>"'T ain't my turn, either," muttered the boy tipped back against the +laths. "Besides, I've got to milk the cow soon as Link brings the cattle +home. Hear the bell yet, Wad?"</p> + +<p>"Never mind, Cecie!" cried the little dish-washer, cheerily. "I'll bring +you some water as soon as I have done these dishes." And, holding her +wet hands behind her, she ran to give the young invalid a kiss in the +mean while.</p> + +<p>Cecie returned a warm smile of love and thanks, and said she was in no +hurry. Then the child, stopping only to give a bright look and a +pleasant word to the baby, ran back to her dishes.</p> + +<p>"I should think you would be ashamed, you two great boys!" said the +woman, "to sit round the house and let that child Lilian wait upon you, +get your suppers, wash your dishes, and then go to the spring for water +for your poor suffering sister!"</p> + +<p>"I'm going to petition the Legislature," said Wad, "to have that spring +moved up into our back yard; it's too far to go for water. There come +the cattle, Rufe."</p> + +<p>"Tell Chokie to go and head 'em into the barnyard," yawned Rufe, from +his chair. "I wonder nobody ever invented a milking-machine. Wish I had +one. Just turn a crank, you know."</p> + +<p>"You'll be wanting a machine to breathe with, next," said the little +dish-washer.</p> + +<p>"Y-a-as," drawled Rufe. "I think a breathing machine would be popular in +this family. Children cry for it. Get me the milk-pail, Lill; that's a +nice girl!"</p> + +<p>"Do get it yourself, Rufus," said the mother. "You'll want your little +sister to milk for you, soon."</p> + +<p>"I think it belongs to girls to milk," said Rufe. "There's Sal +Wiggett,—ain't she smart at it, though? She can milk your head off! Is +that a wagon coming, Wad?"</p> + +<p>"Yes!" cried Wad, jumping to his feet with unusual alacrity. "A wagon +without a horse, a fellow pulling in the shafts, and Link pushing +behind; coming right into the front yard!"</p> + +<p>Rufe also started up at this announcement, and went to the door.</p> + +<p>"Hallo!" he said, "had a break-down? What's that in the hind part of +your wagon? Deer! a deer and a fawn! Where did you shoot 'em? Where's +your horse?"</p> + +<p>"Look out, Rufe!" screamed the small boy from behind, rushing forward. +"Touch one of these deer, and the dog'll have ye! We've got two deer, +but we've lost our horse,—scamp rode him away,—and we want—"</p> + +<p>"We do, do we?" interrupted Wad, mockingly. "How many deer did <i>you</i> +shoot, Link?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I helped get the buggy over, anyway! And that's the savagest dog +ever was! And—say! will mother let us take the old mare to drive over +to North Mills this evening?"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<h3>JACK AT THE "CASTLE."</h3> + + +<p>For an answer to this question, the person most interested in it, who +had as yet said least, was shown into the house. Rufe and Wad and Link +and little Chokie came crowding in after him, all eager to hear him talk +of the adventure.</p> + +<p>"And, O ma!" cried Link, after Jack had briefly told his story, "he says +he will give us the fawn, and pay me besides, if I will go with him +to-night, and bring back the old mare in the morning."</p> + +<p>"I don't know," said the woman, wrapping her red shawl more closely +about her, to conceal from the stranger her untidy attire. "I suppose, +if Mr. Betterson was at home, he would let you take the mare. But you +know, Lincoln,"—turning with a reproachful look to the small boy,—"you +have never been brought up to take money for little services. Such +things are not becoming in a family like ours."</p> + +<p>And in the midst of her distress she put on a complacent smirk, +straightened her emaciated form, and sat there, looking like the very +ghost of pride, wrapped in an old red shawl.</p> + +<p>"Did you speak of Mr. Betterson?" Jack inquired, interested.</p> + +<p>"That is my husband's name."</p> + +<p>"Elisha L. Betterson?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly. You know my husband? He belongs to the Philadelphia +Bettersons,—a very wealthy and influential family," said the woman with +a simper. "Very wealthy and influential."</p> + +<p>"I have heard of your husband," said Jack. "If I am not mistaken, you +are Mrs. Caroline Betterson,—a sister of Vinnie Dalton, sometimes +called Vinnie Presbit."</p> + +<p>"You know my sister Lavinia!" exclaimed Mrs. Betterson, surprised, but +not overjoyed. "And you know Mr. Presbit's people?"</p> + +<p>"I have never seen them," replied Jack, "but I almost feel as if I had, +I have heard so much about them. I was with Vinnie's foster-brother, +George Greenwood, in New York, last summer, when he was sick, and she +went down to take care of him."</p> + +<p>"And I presume," returned Mrs. Betterson, taking another reef in her +shawl, "that you heard her tell a good deal about us; things that would +no doubt tend to prejudice a stranger; though if all the truth was known +she wouldn't feel so hard towards us as I have reason to think she +does."</p> + +<p>Jack hastened to say that he had never heard Vinnie speak unkindly of +her sister.</p> + +<p>"You are very polite to say so," said Mrs. Betterson, rocking the +cradle, in which the baby had been placed. "But I know just what she +has said. She has told you that after I married Mr. Betterson I felt +above my family; and that when her mother died (she was not <i>my</i> mother, +you know,—we are only half-sisters), I suffered her to be taken and +brought up by the Presbits, when I ought to have taken her and been as a +mother to her,—she was so much younger than I. She is even younger by a +month or two than my oldest son; and we have joked a good deal about his +having an aunt younger than he is."</p> + +<p>"Yes," spoke up Rufe, standing in the door; "and I've asked a hundred +times why we don't ever hear from her, or write to her, or have her +visit us. Other folks have their aunts come and see 'em. But all the +answer I could ever get was, 'family reasons, Rufus!'"</p> + +<p>"That is it, in a word," said Mrs. Betterson; "family reasons. I never +could explain them; so I have never written to poor, dear +Lavinia—though, Heaven knows, I should be glad enough to see her; and I +hope she has forgiven what seemed my hardness; and—do tell me" (Mrs. +Betterson wiped her eyes) "what sort of a girl is she? how has she come +up?"</p> + +<p>"She is one of the kindest-hearted, most unselfish, beautiful girls in +the world!" Jack exclaimed. "I mean, beautiful in her spirit," he added, +blushing at his own enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>"The Presbits are rather coarse people to bring up such a girl," said +Mrs. Betterson, with a sigh—of self-reproach, Jack thought.</p> + +<p>"But she has a natural refinement which nothing could make her lose," he +replied. "Then, it was a good thing for her to be brought up with George +Greenwood. She owes a great deal to the love of books he inspired in +her. You ought to know your sister, Mrs. Betterson."</p> + +<p>The lady gave way to a flood of tears.</p> + +<p>"It is too bad! such separations are unnatural. Certainly," she went on, +"I can't be accused of feeling above my family now. Mr. Betterson has +had three legacies left him, two since our marriage; but he has been +exceedingly unfortunate."</p> + +<p>"Two such able-bodied boys must be a help and comfort to you," said +Jack.</p> + +<p>"Rufus and Wadleigh," said Mrs. Betterson, "are good boys, but they have +been brought up to dreams of wealth, and they have not learned to take +hold of life with rough hands."</p> + +<p>Jack suggested that it might have been better for them not to have such +dreams.</p> + +<p>"Yes—if our family is to be brought down to the common level. But I +can't forget, I can't wish them ever to forget, that they have Betterson +blood in their veins."</p> + +<p>Jack could hardly repress a smile as he glanced from those stout heirs +of the Betterson blood to the evidences of shiftlessness and +wretchedness around them, which two such sturdy lads, with a little +less of the precious article in their veins, might have done something +to remedy.</p> + +<p>But his own unlucky adventure absorbed his thoughts, and he was glad +when Link vociferously demanded if he was to go and catch the mare.</p> + +<p>"Yes! yes! do anything but kill me with that dreadful voice!" replied +the mother, waving him off with her trembling hand. "Don't infer from +what I have said," she resumed, gathering herself up again with feeble +pride, "that we are poor. Mr. Betterson will come into a large fortune +when an uncle of his dies; and he gets help from him occasionally now. +Not enough, however, to enable him to carry on a farm; and it requires +capital, you are aware, to make agriculture a respectable profession."</p> + +<p>Jack could not forbear another hit at the big boys.</p> + +<p>"It requires land," he said; "and that you have. It also requires bone +and muscle; and I see some here."</p> + +<p>"True," simpered Mrs. Betterson. "But their father hasn't encouraged +them very much in doing the needful labors of the farm."</p> + +<p>"He hasn't set us the example," broke in Rufe, piqued by Jack's remark. +"If he had taken hold of work, I suppose we should. But while he sits +down and waits for something or somebody to come along and help him, +what can you expect of us?"</p> + +<p>"Our Betterson blood shows itself in more ways than one!" said Wad with +a grin, illustrating his remark by lazily seating himself once more on +the doorstep.</p> + +<p>Evidently the boys were sick of hearing their mother boast of the +aristocratic family connection. She made haste to change the subject.</p> + +<p>"Sickness has been our great scourge. The climate has never agreed with +either me or my husband. Then our poor Cecilia met with an accident a +year ago, which injured her so that she has scarcely taken a step +since."</p> + +<p>"An accident done a-purpose!" spoke up Rufe, angrily. "Zeph Peakslow +threw her out of a swing,—the meanest trick! They're the meanest family +in the world, and there's a war between us. I'm only waiting my chance +to pay off that Zeph."</p> + +<p>"Rufus!" pleaded the little invalid from the lounge, "you know he could +never have meant to hurt me so much. Don't talk of paying him off, +Rufus!"</p> + +<p>"Cecie is so patient under it all!" said Mrs. Betterson. "She never +utters a word of complaint. Yet she doesn't have the care she ought to +have. With my sick baby, and my own aches and pains, what can I do? +There are no decent house-servants to be had, for love or money. O, what +wouldn't I give for a good, neat, intelligent, sympathizing girl! Our +little Lilian, here,—poor child!—is all the help I have."</p> + +<p>At that moment the bright little dish-washer, having put away the +supper things, and gone to the spring for water, came lugging in a small +but brimming pail.</p> + +<p>"It is too bad!" replied Jack. "You should have help about the hard +work," with another meaning glance at the boys.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Rufe, "we ought to; and we did have Sal Wiggett a little +while this summer. But she had never seen the inside of a decent house +before. About all she was good for was to split wood and milk the cow."</p> + +<p>"O, how good this is!" said the invalid, drinking. "I was so thirsty! +Bless you, dear Lill! What should we do without you?"</p> + +<p>Jack rose to his feet, hardly repressing his indignation.</p> + +<p>"Would you like a drink, sir?" said Lill, taking a fresh cupful from her +pail, and looking up at him with a bright smile.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, I should very much! But I can't bear the thought of your +lugging water from the spring for me."</p> + +<p>"Why, Lilie!" said Cecie, softly, "you should have offered it to him +first."</p> + +<p>"I thought I did right to offer it to my sick sister first," replied +Lill, with a tender glance at the lounge.</p> + +<p>"You did right, my good little girl!" exclaimed Jack, giving back the +cup. He looked from one to the other of the big boys, and wondered how +they could witness this scene and not be touched by it. But he only +said, "Have these young men too much Betterson blood in them to dress +the fawn, if I leave it with you?"</p> + +<p>"We'll fall back on our Dalton blood long enough for that," said Wad, +taking the sarcasm in good part.</p> + +<p>"A little young venison will do Cecie so much good!" said Mrs. +Betterson. "You are very kind. But don't infer that we consider the +Dalton blood inferior. I was pleased with what you said of Lavinia's +native refinement. I feel as if, after all, she was a sister to be proud +of."</p> + +<p>At this last display of pitiful vanity Jack turned away.</p> + +<p>"The idea of such a woman concluding that she may be proud of a sister +like Vinnie!" thought he.</p> + +<p>But he spoke only to say good by; for just then Link came riding the +mare to the door.</p> + +<p>She was quickly harnessed to the buggy, while Link, at his mother's +entreaty, put on a coat, and made himself look as decent as possible. +Then Jack drove away, promising that Link, who accompanied him, should +bring the mare back in the morning.</p> + +<p>"Mother," said the thoughtful Lill, "we ought to have got him some +supper."</p> + +<p>"I thought of it," said the sick woman, "but you know we have nothing +fit to set before him."</p> + +<p>"He won't famish," said Rufe, "with the large supply of sauce which he +keeps on hand! Mother, I wish you wouldn't ever speak of our Betterson +blood again; it only makes us ridiculous."</p> + +<p>Thereupon Mrs. Betterson burst into tears, complaining that her own +children turned against her.</p> + +<p>"O, bah!" exclaimed Rufe, with disgust, stalking out of the room, +banging a milk-pail, and waking the baby. "Be sharpening the knives, +Wad, while I milk; then we'll dress that fawn in a hurry. Wish the +fellow had left us the doe instead."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<h3>HOW VINNIE MADE A JOURNEY.</h3> + + +<p>Leaving Jack to drive home the borrowed mare in the harness of the +stolen horse, and to take such measures as he can for the pursuit of the +thief and the recovery of his property, we have now to say a few words +of Mrs. Betterson's younger sister.</p> + +<p>Vinnie had perhaps thriven quite as well in the plain Presbit household +as she would have done in the home of the ambitious Caroline. The tasks +early put upon her, instead of hardening and imbittering her, had made +her self-reliant, helpful, and strong, with a grace like that acquired +by girls who carry burdens on their heads. For it is thus that labors +cheerfully performed, and trials borne with good-will and lightness of +heart, give a power and a charm to body and mind.</p> + +<p>It was now more than a year since George Greenwood, who had been brought +up with her in his uncle's family, had left the farm, and gone to seek +his fortune in the city. A great change in the house, and a very unhappy +change for Vinnie, had been the result. It was not that she missed her +foster-brother so much; but his going out had occasioned the coming in +of another nephew, who brought a young wife with him. The nephew filled +George's place on the farm, and the young wife showed a strong +determination to take Vinnie's place in the household.</p> + +<p>As long as she was conscious of being useful, in however humble a +sphere, Vinnie was contented. She did her daily outward duty, and fed +her heart with secret aspirations, and kept a brave, bright spirit +through all. But now nothing was left to her but to contend for her +rights with the new-comer, or to act the submissive part of drudge where +she had almost ruled before. Strife was hateful to her; and why should +she remain where her services were now scarcely needed?</p> + +<p>So Vinnie lapsed into an unsettled state of mind, common enough to a +certain class of girls of her age, as well as to a larger class of boys, +when the great questions of practical life confront them: "What am I to +be? What shall I do for a living?"</p> + +<p>How ardently she wished she had money, so that she could spend two or +three entire years at school! How eagerly she would have used those +advantages for obtaining an education which so many, who have them, +carelessly throw away! But Vinnie had nothing—could expect +nothing—which she did not earn.</p> + +<p>At one time she resolved to go to work in a factory; at another, to try +teaching a district school; and again, to learn some trade, like that of +dress-maker or milliner. Often she wished for the freedom to go out into +the world and gain her livelihood like a boy.</p> + +<p>In this mood of mind she received two letters. One was from Jack, +describing his accidental visit to her sister's family. The other was +from Caroline herself, who made that visit the occasion of writing a +plaintive letter to her "dear, neglected Lavinia."</p> + +<p>Many tears she shed over these letters. The touching picture Jack drew +of the invalid Cecie, and the brave little Lilian, and of the sick +mother and baby, with Caroline's sad confession of distress, and of her +need of sympathy and help, wakened springs of love and pity in the young +girl's heart. She forgot that she had anything to forgive. All her +half-formed schemes for self-help and self-culture were at once +discarded, and she formed a courageous resolution.</p> + +<p>"I will go to Illinois," she said, "and take care of my poor sister and +her sick children."</p> + +<p>Such a journey, from Western New York, was no small undertaking in those +days. But she did not shrink from it.</p> + +<p>"What!" said Mrs. Presbit, when Vinnie's determination was announced to +her, "you will go and work for a sister who has treated you so +shamefully all these years? Only a half-sister, at that! I'm astonished +at you! I thought you had more sperit."</p> + +<p>"For anything she may have done wrong, I am sure she is sorry enough +now," Vinnie replied.</p> + +<p>"Yes, now she has need of you!" sneered Mrs. Presbit.</p> + +<p>"Besides," Vinnie continued, "I ought to go, for the children's sake, if +not for hers. Think of Cecie and the poor baby; and Lilian not ten years +old, trying to do the housework! I can do so much for them!"</p> + +<p>"No doubt of that; for I must say you are as handy and willing a girl as +ever I see. But there's the Betterson side to the family,—two great, +lubberly boys, according to your friend's account; a proud, domineering +set, I warrant ye! The idee of making a slave of yourself for them! +You'll find it a mighty uncomf'table place, mark my word!"</p> + +<p>"I hope no more so than the place I am in now,—excuse me for saying it, +Aunt Presbit," added Vinnie, in a trembling voice. "It isn't your fault. +But you know how things are."</p> + +<p>"O, la, yes! <i>she</i> wants to go ahead, and order everything; and I think +it's as well to let her,—though she'll find she can't run over <i>me</i>! +But I don't blame you the least mite, Vinnie, for feeling sensitive; and +if you've made up your mind to go, I sha'n't hender ye,—I'll help ye +all I can."</p> + +<p>So it happened that, only four days after the receipt of her sister's +letter, Vinnie, with all her worldly possessions contained in one not +very large trunk, bid her friends good by, and, not without misgivings, +set out alone on her long journey.</p> + +<p>She took a packet-boat on the canal for Buffalo. At Buffalo, with the +assistance of friends she had made on board the boat, she found the +captain of a schooner, who agreed to give her a passage around the lakes +to Chicago, for four dollars. There were no railroads through Northern +Ohio and across Michigan and Indiana in those days; and although there +were steamboats on the lakes, Vinnie found that a passage on one of them +would cost more money than she could afford. So she was glad to go in +the schooner.</p> + +<p>The weather was fine, the winds favored, and the Heron made a quick +trip. Vinnie, after two or three days of sea-sickness, enjoyed the +voyage, which was made all the more pleasant to her by the friendship of +the captain and his wife.</p> + +<p>She was interested in all she saw,—in watching the waves, the sailors +hauling the ropes, the swelling of the great sails,—in the vessels they +met or passed, the ports at which they touched,—the fort, the Indians, +and the wonderfully clear depth of the water at Mackinaw. But the voyage +grew tiresome toward the close, and her heart bounded with joy when the +captain came into the cabin early one morning and announced that they +had reached Chicago.</p> + +<p>The great Western metropolis was then a town of no more than eight or +ten thousand inhabitants, hastily and shabbily built on the low level of +the plain stretching for miles back from the lake shore. In a short walk +with the captain's wife, Vinnie saw about all of the place she cared +to; noting particularly a load of hay "slewed," or mired, in the +mud-holes of one of the principal streets; the sight of which made her +wonder if a great and flourishing city could ever be built there!</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the captain, by inquiry in the resorts of market-men, found a +farmer who was going to drive out to the Long Woods settlement that +afternoon, and who engaged to come with his wagon to the wharf where the +Heron lay, and take off Vinnie and her trunk.</p> + +<p>"O, how fortunate!" she exclaimed. "How good everybody is to me! Only +think, I shall reach my sister's house to-night!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<h3>VINNIE'S ADVENTURE.</h3> + + +<p>In due time a rough farm-wagon was backed down upon the wharf, and a +swarthy man, with a high, hooked nose, like the inverted prow of a ship, +boarded the schooner, and scratched his head, through its shock of +stiff, coarse hair, by way of salutation to Vinnie, who came on deck to +meet him.</p> + +<p>"Do' no's you'll like ridin' with me, in a lumber-wagon, on a stiff +board seat."</p> + +<p>"O, I sha'n't mind!" said Vinnie, who was only too glad to go.</p> + +<p>"What part of the settlement ye goin' to?" he asked, as he lifted one +end of the trunk, while the captain took up the other.</p> + +<p>"To Mr. Betterson's house; Mrs. Betterson is my sister," said Vinnie.</p> + +<p>The man dropped his end of the trunk, and turned and glared at her.</p> + +<p>"You've got holt o' the wrong man this time!" he said. "I don't take +nobody in my wagon to the house of no sich a man as Lord Betterson. Ye +may tell him as much."</p> + +<p>"Will you take me to any house near by?" said the astonished Vinnie.</p> + +<p>"Not if you're a connection of the Bettersons, I won't for no money! +I've nothin' to do with that family, but to hate and despise 'em. Tell +'em that too. But they know it a'ready. My name's Dudley Peakslow."</p> + +<p>And, in spite of the captain's remonstrance, the angry man turned his +back upon the schooner, and drove off in his wagon.</p> + +<p>It took Vinnie a minute to recover from the shock his rude conduct gave +her. Then she smiled faintly, and said,—</p> + +<p>"It's too bad I couldn't have a ride in his old wagon! But he wouldn't +be very agreeable company, would he?" So she tried to console herself +for the disappointment. She had thought all along: "If I can do no +better, I will take the stage to North Mills; Jack will help me get over +to my sister's from there." And it now seemed as if she might have to +take that route.</p> + +<p>The schooner was discharging her miscellaneous freight of Eastern +merchandise,—dry goods, groceries, hardware, boots and shoes,—and the +captain was too much occupied to do anything more for her that +afternoon.</p> + +<p>She grew restless under the delay; and feeling that she ought to make +one more effort to find a conveyance direct to Long Woods, she set off +alone to make inquiries for herself.</p> + +<p>The first place she visited was a hotel she had noticed in her morning's +walk,—the Farmers' Home; and she was just going away from the door, +having met with no success, when a slim youth, carrying his head +jauntily on one side, came tripping after her, and accosted her with an +apologetic smile and lifted hat.</p> + +<p>"Excuse me,—I was told you wanted to find somebody going out to Mr. +Betterson's at Long Woods."</p> + +<p>"O yes! do you know of anybody I can ride with?"</p> + +<p>"I am in a way of knowing,—why, yes,—I think there is a gentleman +going out early to-morrow morning. A gentleman and his daughter. Wife +and daughter, in fact. A two-seated wagon; you might ride on the +hind-seat with the daughter. Stopping at the Prairie Flower."</p> + +<p>"O, thank you! And can I go there and find them?"</p> + +<p>"I am going that way, and, if you please, I will introduce you," said +the youth.</p> + +<p>Vinnie replied that, if he would give her their names, she would save +him the trouble. For, despite his affability, there was something about +him she distrusted and disliked,—an indefinable air of insincerity, and +a look out of his eyes of gay vagabondism and dissipation.</p> + +<p>He declared that it would be no trouble; moreover, he could not at that +moment recall the names; so, as there was no help for it, she let him +walk by her side.</p> + +<p>At the Prairie Flower,—which was not quite so lovely or fragrant a +public-house as the name had led her to expect,—he showed her into a +small, dingy sitting-room, up one flight of stairs, and went to speak +with the clerk.</p> + +<p>"The ladies will be here presently," he said, returning to her in a few +minutes. "Meanwhile I thought I would order some refreshments." And he +was followed into the room by a waiter bringing a basket of cake and two +glasses of wine.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="i008" id="i008"></a> +<img src="images/i008.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>TOO OBLIGING BY HALF.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"No refreshments for me!" cried Vinnie, quickly.</p> + +<p>"The other ladies will like some," said the youth, carelessly. "Intimate +friends of mine. Just a little cake and sweet wine."</p> + +<p>"But you have ordered only two glasses! And a few minutes ago you +couldn't think of their names,—those intimate friends of yours!" +returned Vinnie, with sparkling eyes.</p> + +<p>The youth took up a glass, threw himself back in a chair, and laughed.</p> + +<p>"It's a very uncommon name,—Jenkins; no, Judkins; something like that. +Neighbors of the Bettersons; intimate friends of <i>theirs</i>, I mean. You +think I'm not acquainted out there? Ask Carrie! ask the boys, hi, +hi!"—with a giggle and a grimace, as he sipped the wine.</p> + +<p>"You do really know my sister Caroline?" said Vinnie.</p> + +<p>The youth set down his glass and stared.</p> + +<p>"Your sister! I wondered who in thunder you could be, inquiring your way +to Betterson's; but I never dreamed—Excuse me, I wouldn't have played +such a joke, if I had known!"</p> + +<p>"What joke?" Vinnie demanded.</p> + +<p>"Why, there's no Jenkins,—Judkins,—what did I call their names? I just +wanted to have a little fun, and find you out."</p> + +<p>Vinnie trembled with indignation. She started to go.</p> + +<p>"But you haven't found <i>me</i> out," he said, with an impudent chuckle.</p> + +<p>"I've found out all I wish to know of you," said Vinnie, ready to cry +with vexation. "I've come alone all the way from my home in Western New +York, and met nobody who wasn't kind and respectful to me, till I +reached Chicago to-day."</p> + +<p>The wretch seemed slightly touched by this rebuke; but he laughed again +as he finished his glass.</p> + +<p>"Well, it was a low trick. But't was all in fun, I tell ye. Come, drink +your wine, and make up; we'll be friends yet. Won't drink? Here goes, +then!" And he tossed off the contents of the second glass. "Now we'll +take a little walk, and talk over our Betterson friends by the way."</p> + +<p>She was already out of the room. He hastened to her side; she walked +faster still, and he came tripping lightly after her down the stairs.</p> + +<p>Betwixt anger and alarm, she was wondering whether she should try to run +away from him, or ask the protection of the first person she met, when, +looking eagerly from the doorway as she hurried out, she saw, across the +street, a face she knew, and uttered a cry of joy.</p> + +<p>"Jack! O Jack!"</p> + +<p>It seemed almost like a dream, that it should indeed be Jack, then and +there. He paused, glanced up and down, then across at the girlish figure +starting toward him, and rushed over to her, reaching out both hands, +and exclaiming,—</p> + +<p>"Vinnie Dalton! is it you?"</p> + +<p>In the surprise and pleasure of this unexpected meeting, she forgot all +about the slim youth she was so eager to avoid a moment before. When she +thought of him again, and looked about her, he had disappeared, having +slipped behind her, and skipped back up the stairs with amazing agility +at sight of Jack.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<h3>JACK AND VINNIE IN CHICAGO.</h3> + + +<p>Vinnie poured out her story to her friend as they walked along the +street.</p> + +<p>Jack was so incensed, when she came to the upshot of the adventure, that +he wished to go back at once and make the slim youth's acquaintance. But +she would not permit so foolish a thing.</p> + +<p>"It is all over now. What good would it do for you to see him?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know; I'd like to tell the scamp what I think of him, if +nothing more. He wanted a little fun, did he?" And Jack stood, pale with +wrath, looking back at the hotel.</p> + +<p>"If it hadn't been for him, I might not have seen you," said Vinnie. +"Maybe you can't forgive him that!"</p> + +<p>Jack looked into her eyes, full of a sweet, mirthful light, and forgot +his anger.</p> + +<p>"I'll forgive him the rest, <i>because</i> of that. Besides, I've no time to +waste on him. I'm hunting for my horse."</p> + +<p>He had written to Vinnie of his loss; and she was now eager to know if +Snowfoot had been heard from.</p> + +<p>"Not a hair of him!" said Jack. "I got an old hunter and trapper to go +with me the next day; we struck his trail on the prairie, and after a +deal of trouble tracked him to a settler's cabin. There the rogue had +stopped, and asked for supper and lodgings, which he promised to pay for +in the morning. The man and his wife had gone to bed, but they got up, +fed him and the horse, and then made him up a bed on the cabin floor. He +pretended to be very careful of his horse, and he had to go out and make +sure that he was all right before he went to bed; and that was the last +they saw of him. He bridled Snowfoot, and rode off so slyly that they +never knew which way he went. He had struck the travelled road, and +there we lost all trace of him. I went on to Joliet, and looked along +the canal, and set stablemen to watch for him, while my friend took the +road to Chicago; but neither of us had any luck. I've hunted all about +the country for him; and now, for a last chance, I've come to Chicago +myself."</p> + +<p>"How long have you been here?" Vinnie asked.</p> + +<p>"Only about two hours; and I must go back to-morrow. I've not much hope +of finding Snowfoot here; but as I had a chance to ride in with a +neighbor, I thought best to take advantage of it. Lucky I did! Why +didn't you write and let somebody know you were coming?"</p> + +<p>"I did write to my sister; but I didn't expect anybody to meet me here +in Chicago, since I couldn't tell just when I should arrive."</p> + +<p>"Where are you stopping?"</p> + +<p>"On board the schooner that brought me. She is lying quite near here, at +a wharf in the river."</p> + +<p>"Can you stay on board till to-morrow?"</p> + +<p>Vinnie thought the captain and his wife would be glad to keep her.</p> + +<p>"Though it isn't very nice," she added, "now that they are discharging +the cargo."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you had better go to the Farmers' Home, where my friend and I +have put up," said Jack.</p> + +<p>"You at the Farmers' Home! Why couldn't I have known it?" said Vinnie. +"It was there I went to inquire for Long Woods people, and met that +scape-grace. When do you go home?"</p> + +<p>"We start early to-morrow morning. You can go with us as well as not,—a +good deal better than not!" said the overjoyed Jack. "Nothing but a +little load of groceries. You shall go home with me to North Mills; Mrs. +Lanman will be glad to see you. Then I'll drive you over to Long Woods +in three or four days."</p> + +<p>"Three or four days!" exclaimed Vinnie, not daring to be as happy as +these welcome words might have made her. "I should like much to visit +your friends; but I must get to my sister's as soon as possible."</p> + +<p>Jack's face clouded.</p> + +<p>"Vinnie, I'm afraid you don't know what you have undertaken. I can't +bear the thought of your going into that family. Why do you? The Lanmans +will be delighted to have you stay with them."</p> + +<p>"O, but I must go where I am needed," Vinnie answered. "And you mustn't +say a word against it. You must help me, Jack!"</p> + +<p>"They need you enough, Heaven knows, Vinnie!" Jack felt that he ought +not to say another word to discourage her, so he changed the subject. +"Which way now is your schooner?"</p> + +<p>Vinnie said she would show him; but she wished to buy a little present +for the captain's wife on the way. As they passed along the street, she +made him tell all he knew of her sister's family; and then asked if he +had heard from George Greenwood lately.</p> + +<p>"Only a few days ago he sent me a magazine with a long story of his in +it, founded on our adventure with the pickpockets," replied Jack. "He +writes me a letter about once a month. You hear from him, of course?"</p> + +<p>"O yes. And he sends me magazines. He has wonderful talent, don't you +think so?"</p> + +<p>And the two friends fell to praising the absent George.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if you have noticed one thing?" said Vinnie.</p> + +<p>"What, in particular?"</p> + +<p>"That Grace Manton has been the heroine of all his last stories."</p> + +<p>"I fancied I could see you in one or two of them," replied Jack.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps. But I am not the heroine; I am only the goody-goody girl," +laughed Vinnie. "When you see beauty, talent, accomplishments,—that's +Grace. I am glad they are getting on so well together."</p> + +<p>"So am I!" said Jack, with an indescribable look at the girl beside him.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Manton is dead,—I suppose you know it," said Vinnie.</p> + +<p>Jack knew it, and was not sorry; though he had much to say in praise of +the man's natural talents, which dissipation had ruined.</p> + +<p>The purchase made, they visited the schooner, where it was decided that +Vinnie should remain on board. Jack then left her, in order to make the +most of his time looking about the city for his horse.</p> + +<p>He continued his search, visiting every public stable, making inquiries +of the hostlers, and nailing up or distributing a small handbill he had +had printed, offering a reward of twenty dollars for "a light, reddish +roan horse, with white forefeet, a conspicuous scar low down on the near +side, just behind the shoulder, and a smaller scar on the off hip."</p> + +<p>In the mean time he kept a sharp lookout for roan horses in the streets. +But all to no purpose. There were roan horses enough, but he could see +and hear nothing of the particular roan he wanted.</p> + +<p>In the evening he went to see Vinnie on board the schooner, and talked +of his ill success.</p> + +<p>"A light roan? that's a kind of gray, ain't it?" said the captain of the +Heron. "That bearish fellow from Long Woods, who wouldn't take into his +wagon anybody connected with the Bettersons—"</p> + +<p>"Dudley Peakslow,—I sha'n't soon forget his name!" said Vinnie.</p> + +<p>"He drove such a horse," said the captain; "though I didn't notice the +forefeet or any scars."</p> + +<p>Jack laughed, and shook his head.</p> + +<p>"That's what everybody says. But the scars and forefeet are the main +points in my case. I wouldn't give a cent for a roan horse without 'em!" +Then he changed the subject. "It's a beautiful night, Vinnie; let's go +for a little stroll on the lake shore, and forget all about +roans,—light roans, dark roans, white feet, black, blue, green, yellow +feet! Perhaps your friends will go with us."</p> + +<p>Jack hoped they wouldn't, I regret to say. But the night was so +pleasant, and the captain's wife had become so attached to Vinnie, that +she persuaded her husband to go.</p> + +<p>The lake shore was charming; for in those early days it had not been +marred by breakwaters and docks. The little party strolled along the +beach, with the sparkling waves dashing at their feet, and the lake +spread out before them, vast, fluctuating, misty-gray, with here and +there a white crest tossing in the moon.</p> + +<p>Singing snatches of songs with Vinnie, telling stories with the captain, +skipping pebbles on the lake,—ah, how happy Jack was! He was glad, +after all, that they had all come together, since there was now no +necessity of Vinnie's hastening back to the schooner, to prevent her +friends from sitting up for her.</p> + +<p>"I've been in this port fifty times," said the captain, "but I've never +been down here before, neither has my wife; and I'm much obliged to you +for bringing us."</p> + +<p>"I like the lake," said his wife, "but I like it best from shore."</p> + +<p>"O, so do I!" said Vinnie, filled with the peace and beauty of the +night.</p> + +<p>It was late when they returned to the schooner. There Jack took his +leave, bidding Vinnie hold herself in readiness to be taken off, with +her trunk, in a grocer's wagon early the next morning.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<h3>JACK'S NEW HOME.</h3> + + +<p>In due time the wagon was driven to the wharf; and Vinnie, parting from +the captain and his wife with affectionate good-byes, rode out in the +freshness of the morning across the great plain stretching back from the +city.</p> + +<p>The plain left behind, groves and streams and high prairies were passed; +all wearing a veil of romance to the eye of the young girl, which saw +everything by its own light of youth and hope.</p> + +<p>But the roads were in places rough and full of ruts; the wagon was +pretty well loaded; and Vinnie was weary enough, when, late in the +afternoon, they approached the thriving new village of North Mills.</p> + +<p>"Here we come to Lanman's nurseries," said Jack, as they passed a field +of rich dark soil, ruled with neat rows of very young shrubs and trees. +"Felton is interested in the business with him; and I work for them a +good deal when we've no surveying to do. They're hardly established yet; +but they're sure of a great success within a few years, for all this +immense country must have orchards and garden fruits, you know. Ah, +there's Lion!"</p> + +<p>The dog came bounding to the front wheels, whining, barking, leaping +up, wagging his tail, and finally rolling over in the dirt, to show his +joy at seeing again his young master.</p> + +<p>The Lanman cottage was close by; and there in the door was its young +mistress, who, warned by the dog of the wagon's approach, had come out +to see if Jack's horse was with him.</p> + +<p>"No news of Snowfoot?" she said, walking to the gate as the wagon +stopped.</p> + +<p>"Not a bit. But I've had good luck, after all. For here is—who do you +suppose? Vinnie Dalton! Vinnie, this is the friend you have heard me +speak of, Mrs. Annie Felton Lanman."</p> + +<p>Vinnie went out of the wagon almost into the arms of Annie; so well had +both been prepared by Jack to know and to love each other.</p> + +<p>Of course the young girl received a cordial welcome; and to her the +little cottage seemed the most charming in the world. It contained few +luxuries, but everything in it was arranged with neatness and taste, and +exhaled an atmosphere of sweetness and comfort which mere luxury can +never give.</p> + +<p>"Lion has been watching for you with the anxiety of a lover all the +afternoon," Mrs. Lanman said to Jack, as, side by side, with Vinnie +between them, they walked up the path to the door. "And he is jealous +because you don't give him more attention."</p> + +<p>"Not jealous; but he wants to be introduced to Vinnie. Here, old +fellow!"</p> + +<p>Vinnie was delighted to make acquaintance with the faithful dog, and +listened eagerly to Annie's praise of him as they entered the house.</p> + +<p>"He is useful in doing our errands," said Mrs. Lanman. "If I wish to +send him to the grocery for anything, I write my order on a piece of +paper, put it into a basket, and give the basket to him, just lifting my +finger, and saying, 'Go to the grocery, go to the grocery,' twice; and +he never makes a mistake. To-day, Jack, for the first time, he came home +without doing his errand."</p> + +<p>"Why, Lion! I'm surprised at you!" said Jack; while Lion lay down on the +floor, looking very much abashed.</p> + +<p>"I sent him for butter, which we wanted to use at dinner. As I knew, +when he came back, that the order, which I placed in a dish in the +basket, had not been touched, I sent him again. 'Don't come home,' I +said, 'till somebody gives you the butter.' He then went, and didn't +return at all. So, as dinner-time came, I sent my brother to look after +him. He found the grocery closed, and Lion waiting with his basket on +the steps."</p> + +<p>"The grocer is sick," Jack explained; "his son had gone to town with me; +and so the clerk was obliged to shut up the store when he went to +dinner." And he praised and patted Lion, to let him know that they were +not blaming him for his failure to bring the butter.</p> + +<p>"One day," said Annie, "he had been sent to the butcher's for a piece of +meat. On his way home he saw a small dog of his acquaintance engaged in +a desperate fight with a big dog,—as big as Lion himself. At first he +ran up to them much excited; then he seemed to remember his basket of +meat. He couldn't go into the fight with that, and he was too prudent to +set it down in the street. For a moment he looked puzzled; then he ran +to the grocery, which was close by,—the same place where we send him +for things; but instead of holding up his basket before one of the men, +as he does when his errand is with them, he went and set it carefully +down behind a barrel in a corner. Then he rushed out and gave the big +dog a severe punishing. The men in the grocery watched him; and, knowing +that he would return for the basket, they hid it in another place, to +see what he would do. He went back into the store, to the corner behind +the barrel, and appeared to be in great distress. He snuffed and +whimpered about the store for a while, then ran up to the youngest of +the men—"</p> + +<p>"Horace,—the young fellow who came out with us to-day," commented Jack. +"He is full of his fun; and Lion knew that it would be just like him to +play such a trick."</p> + +<p>—"He ran up to Horace," Annie continued, "and barked furiously; and +became at last so fiercely threatening, that it was thought high time to +give him the basket. Lion took it and ran home in extraordinary haste; +but it was several days before he would have anything more to do with +Horace."</p> + +<p>"Who can say, after this, that dogs do not think?" said the admiring +Vinnie.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Lanman thinks he has some St. Bernard blood," said Jack, "and that +is what gives him his intelligence. He knows just what we are talking +about now; and see! he hardly knows whether to be proud or ashamed. I +don't approve of his fighting, on ordinary occasions; and I've had to +punish him for it once or twice. The other evening, as I was coming home +from a hunt after my horse, I saw two dogs fighting near the saw-mill."</p> + +<p>Jack had got so far when Lion, who had seemed to take pleasure in being +in the room till that moment, got up very quietly and went out with +drooping ears and tail.</p> + +<p>"He knows what is coming, and doesn't care to hear it. There's a little +humbug about Lion, as there is about the most of us. It was growing +dark, and the dogs were a little way off, and I wasn't quite sure of +Lion; but some boys who saw the fight told me it was he, and I called to +him. But what do you think he did? Instead of running to greet me, as he +always does when he sees me return after an absence, he fought a little +longer, then pretended to be whipped, and ran around the saw-mill, +followed by the other dog. The other dog came back, but Lion didn't. I +was quite surprised, when I got home, to see him rush out to meet me in +an ecstasy of delight, as if he then saw me for the first time. His +whole manner seemed to say, 'I am tickled to see you, Jack! and if you +think you saw me fighting the sawyer's dog just now, you're much +mistaken.' I don't know but I might have been deceived, in spite of the +boys; but one thing betrayed him,—he was wet. In order to get home +before me, without passing me on the road, he had swum the river."</p> + +<p>"Now you must tell the story of the chickens," said Annie.</p> + +<p>"Another bit of humbug," laughed Jack. "Our neighbors' chickens trouble +us by scratching in our yard, and I have told Lion he must keep them +out. But I noticed that sometimes, even when he had been on guard, there +were signs that the chickens had been there and scratched. So I got Mrs. +Lanman to watch him for two or three days, while he watched the +chickens. Now Lion is very fond of company; so, as soon as I was out of +sight, he would let the chickens come in, and scratch and play all about +him, while he would lie with his nose on his paws and blink at them as +good-naturedly as possible. But he kept an eye out for me all the while, +and the moment I came in sight he would jump up, and go to frightening +away the chickens with a great display of vigor and fidelity. So you +see, Lion isn't a perfect character, by any means. I could tell you a +good deal more about his peculiarities; but I think you are too tired +now to listen to any more dog stories."</p> + +<p>Jack carried Vinnie's trunk to a cosey little room; and there she had +time to rest and make herself presentable, before Mrs. Lanman came to +tell her that tea was ready.</p> + +<p>"See here, Vinnie, a minute!" said Jack, peeping from a half-opened +door. "Don't make a noise!" he whispered, as if there were a great +mystery within. "I'll show you something very precious."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lanman followed, smiling, as Jack led Vinnie to a crib, lifted a +light veil, and discovered a lovely little cherub of a child, just +opening its soft blue eyes, and stretching out its little rosy hands, +still dewy with sleep.</p> + +<p>"O how sweet!" said Vinnie, thrilled with love and tenderness at the +sight.</p> + +<p>"She has a smile for you, see!" said the pleased young mother.</p> + +<p>Of course Vinnie had never seen so pretty a baby, such heavenly eyes, or +such cunning little hands.</p> + +<p>"The hands are little," said Jack, in a voice which had an unaccustomed +tremor in it; "but they are stronger than a giant's; they have hold of +all our heart-strings."</p> + +<p>"I never knew a boy so fond of a baby as Jack is," said Annie.</p> + +<p>"O, but I shouldn't be so fond of any other baby!" Jack replied, bending +down to give the little thing a fond caress.</p> + +<p>As they went out to tea, there was a happy light on all their faces, as +if some new, deep note of harmony had just been struck in their hearts.</p> + +<p>At tea Vinnie made the acquaintance of Annie's brother and husband, and +Jack's friends, Mr. Forrest Felton and Mr. Percy Lanman, and—so +pleasant and genial were their ways—felt at home in their presence at +once. This was a great relief to her; for she felt very diffident at +meeting men whom she had heard Jack praise so highly.</p> + +<p>Any one could see that Vinnie was not accustomed to what is called +society; but her native manners were so simple and sincere, and there +was such an air of fresh, young, joyous, healthy life about her, that +she produced an effect upon beholders which the most artificially +refined young lady might have envied.</p> + +<p>Jack watched her and Annie a good deal slyly; and there was in his +expression a curious mixture of pride and anxiety, as if he were trying +to look at each with the other's eyes, and thinking how they must like +each other, yet having some fears lest they might not see all he saw to +admire.</p> + +<p>Vinnie was made to talk a good deal of her journey; and she told the +story with so much simplicity, speaking with unfeigned gratitude and +affection of the friendships she had made, and touching with quiet +mirthfulness upon the droll events, as if she hardly knew herself that +they were droll, that all—and especially Jack—were charmed.</p> + +<p>But she had not the least idea of "showing off." Indeed, she thought +scarcely at all of what others thought of her; but said often to +herself, "What a beautiful home Jack has, and what pleasant +companions!"</p> + +<p>After tea she must see more of the baby; then Jack wanted to show her +the greenhouses and the nurseries; and then all settled down to a social +evening.</p> + +<p>"Vinnie is pretty tired," said Jack, "and I think a little music will +please her better than anything else."</p> + +<p>And so a little concert was got up for her entertainment.</p> + +<p>Forrest Felton was a fine performer on the flute; Mr. Lanman played the +violin, and his wife the piano; and they discoursed some excellent +music. Then, still better, there was singing. The deep-chested Forrest +had a superb bass voice; Lanman a fine tenor; Annie's voice was light, +but exceedingly sweet and expressive; and they sang several pieces +together, to her own accompaniment on the piano. Then Lanman said,—</p> + +<p>"Now it is your turn, Jack."</p> + +<p>"But you know," replied Jack, "I never play or sing for anybody, when +your wife or Forrest is present."</p> + +<p>"True; but you can dance."</p> + +<p>"O yes! a dance, Jack!" cried Annie.</p> + +<p>Vinnie clapped her hands. "Has Jack told you," she said, "how, on the +steamboat going from Albany to New York, after they had had their +pockets picked, he and George Greenwood collected a little +money,—George playing the flute and Jack dancing, for the amusement of +the passengers?"</p> + +<p>Jack laughed, and looked at his shoes.</p> + +<p>"Well, come to the kitchen, where there's no carpet on the floor, and +I'll give you what I call the 'Canal Driver's Hornpipe.' Bring your +flute, Forrest."</p> + +<p>So they went to the kitchen; and all stood, while Jack, with wild grace +of attitude and wonderful ease and precision of movement, performed one +of his most difficult and spirited dances.</p> + +<p>When it was ended, in the midst of the laughter and applause, he caught +up a hat, and gayly passed it around for pennies. But while the men were +feeling in their pockets, he appeared suddenly to remember where he was.</p> + +<p>"Beg pardon," he cried, sailing his hat into a corner, and whirling on +his heel,—"I forgot myself; I thought I was on the deck of the +steamboat!"</p> + +<p>This closed the evening's entertainment.</p> + +<p>When Vinnie, retiring to her room, laid her head on the pillow, she +thought of the night before and of this night, and asked her heart if it +could ever again know two evenings so purely happy.</p> + +<p>Then a great wave of anxiety swept over her mind, as she thought of the +other home, to which she must hasten on the morrow.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<h3>VINNIE'S FUTURE HOME.</h3> + + +<p>A lively sensation was produced, the next forenoon, when a youth and a +girl, in a one-horse wagon, with a big dog and a small trunk, arrived at +Lord Betterson's "castle."</p> + +<p>Link dashed into the house, screaming, "They've come! they've come!"</p> + +<p>"Who has come?" gasped poor Mrs. Betterson, with a start of alarm, +glancing her eye about the disordered room.</p> + +<p>"Jack What's-his-name! the fellow that shot the deer and lost his horse. +It's Aunt Lavinny with him, I bet!"</p> + +<p>And out the boy rushed again, to greet the new-comers.</p> + +<p>Lill, who was once more washing dishes at the table, stepped down from +her stool, and ran out too, drying her fingers on her apron by the way. +Five-year-old Chokie got up from his holes in the earth by the doorstep, +and stood with dangling hands and sprawling fingers, grinning, +dirty-faced.</p> + +<p>Vinnie, springing to the ground with Jack's help, at the side door +caught Lill in her arms, and gave her an ardent kiss.</p> + +<p>"I have heard of you!" she said; for she had recognized the bright, +wistful face.</p> + +<p>"Dear auntie!" said the child, with tears and smiles of joy, "I'm so +glad you've come!"</p> + +<p>"Here is Link—my friend Link," said Jack. "Don't overlook him."</p> + +<p>"I've heard a good deal about you too, Link!" said Vinnie, embracing him +also, but not quite so impulsively.</p> + +<p>"Ye needn't mind kissing me!" said Link, bashfully turning his face. +"And as for him,"—as she passed on to the five-year-old,—"that's +Chokie; he's a reg'lar prairie gopher for digging holes; you won't find +a spot on him big as a sixpence clean enough to kiss, I bet ye two +million dollars!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="i009" id="i009"></a> +<img src="images/i009.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>LINK DOESN'T CARE TO BE KISSED.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Vinnie did not accept the wager, convinced, probably, that she would +lose it if she did. As she bent over the child, however, the report of a +kiss was heard,—a sort of shot in the air, not designed to come very +near the mark.</p> + +<p>"I'm didding a well," said Chokie, in a solemn voice, "so the boys won't +have to go to the spring for water."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Betterson tottered to the door, convulsively wrapping her red shawl +about her.</p> + +<p>"Lavinia! Is it sister Lavinia?"</p> + +<p>At sight of her, so pale and feeble, Vinnie was much affected. She could +hardly speak; but, supporting the emaciated form in her strong, +embracing arms, she led her back into the house.</p> + +<p>"You are so good to come!" said Mrs. Betterson, weeping, as she sank in +her chair. "I am worse than when I wrote to you; and the baby is no +better; and Cecie—poor Cecie! though she can sit up but little, she +does more than any of us for the sick little thing."</p> + +<p>Vinnie turned to the lounge, where Cecie, with the baby in her arms, lay +smiling with bright, moist eyes upon the new-comer. She bent over and +kissed them both; and, at sight of the puny infant,—so pitiful a +contrast to Mrs. Lanman's fair and healthy child,—she felt her heart +contract with grief and her eyes fill.</p> + +<p>Then, as she turned away with an effort at self-control, and looked +about the room, she must have noticed, too, the painful contrast between +Jack's home and this, which was to be hers; and have felt a sinking of +the heart, which it required all her strength and courage to overcome.</p> + +<p>"We are not looking fit to be seen; I know it, Lavinia!" sighed Mrs. +Betterson. "But you'll excuse it—you've already excused so many things +in the past! It seems a dreadful, unnatural thing for <i>our</i> family to be +so—so very—yet don't think we are absolutely reduced, Lavinia. Mr. +Betterson's connections, as everybody knows, are very wealthy and +aristocratic, and they are sure to do something for him soon. This is my +husband, sister Lavinia." And, with a faint simper of satisfaction, she +looked up at a person who just then entered from an adjoining room.</p> + +<p>He was a tall, well-made man, who looked (Vinnie could not help +thinking) quite capable of doing something for himself. He might have +been called fine-looking, but that his fine looks, like his gentility, +of which he made a faded show in his dress and manners, appeared to have +gone somewhat to seed. He greeted Vinnie with polite condescension, said +a few commonplace words, settled his dignified chin in his limp dicky, +which was supported by a high, tight stock (much frayed about the +edges), and went on out of the house.</p> + +<p>"Now you have seen him!" whispered Mrs. Betterson, as if it had been a +great event in Vinnie's life. "Very handsome, and perfectly well-bred, +as you observe. Not at all the kind of man to be neglected by his +family, aristocratic as they are; do you think he is? Yes, my dear +Lavinia," she added, with a sickly smile, "you have seen a real, live +Betterson!"</p> + +<p>These evidences of a foolish pride surviving affliction made poor Vinnie +more heartsick than anything else; and for a moment the brave girl was +almost overcome with discouragement.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile the real, live Betterson walked out into the yard, +where Jack—who had not cared to follow Vinnie into the house—was +talking with Link.</p> + +<p>"Will you walk in, sir?" And the stately Betterson neck bent slightly in +its stiff stock.</p> + +<p>"No, I thank you," replied Jack. "But I suppose this trunk goes in."</p> + +<p>"Ah! to be sure. Lincoln,"—with a wave of the aristocratic Betterson +hand,—"show the young man where to put the trunk. He can take it to +Cecie's room."</p> + +<p>"I can, can I? That's a privilege!" thought Jack. He was perfectly +willing to be a porter, or anything else, in a good cause; and it was a +delight for him to do Vinnie a service; but why did the noble Betterson +stand there and give directions about the trunk, in that pompous way, +instead of taking hold of one end of it? Jack, who had a lively spirit, +and a tongue of his own, was prompted to say something sarcastic, but he +wisely forbore.</p> + +<p>"I'll place it here for the present," he said, and set the trunk down by +the doorstep. He thought it would be better for him to see Vinnie and +bid her good-by a little later, after the meeting between the sisters +should be well over; so he turned to Link, and asked where his big +brothers were.</p> + +<p>"I d'n' know," said Link; "guess they're down in the lot hunting prairie +hens."</p> + +<p>"Let's go and find 'em," said Jack.</p> + +<p>Both Link and Lion were delighted with this proposal, and they set off +in high glee, boy and dog capering at each side of the more steady-going +Jack.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<h3>WHY JACK DID NOT FIRE AT THE PRAIRIE CHICKEN.</h3> + + +<p>"A well?" said Jack, as they passed a curb behind the house. "I thought +you had to go to the spring for water."</p> + +<p>"So we do," said Link.</p> + +<p>"Why don't you use the well?"</p> + +<p>"I d'n' know; 't ain't good for anything. 'T ain't deep enough."</p> + +<p>"Why wasn't it dug deeper?"</p> + +<p>"I d'n' know; father got out of patience, I guess, or out of money. 'T +was a wet time, and the water came into it, so they stunned it up; and +now it's dry all summer."</p> + +<p>They passed a field on the sunny slope, and Jack said, "What's here?"</p> + +<p>"I d'n' know; <i>'t was</i> potatoes, but it's run all to weeds."</p> + +<p>"Why didn't you hoe them?"</p> + +<p>"I d'n' know; folks kind o' neglected 'em, till 't was too late."</p> + +<p>Beyond the potatoes was another crop, which the weeds, tall as they +were, could not hide.</p> + +<p>"Corn?" said Jack.</p> + +<p>"Meant for corn," replied Link. "But the cattle and hogs have been in +it, and trampled down the rows."</p> + +<p>"I should think so! They look like the last rows of summer!" Jack said. +"Why don't you keep the cattle and hogs out?"</p> + +<p>"I d'n' know; 't ain't much of a fence; hogs run under and cattle jump +over."</p> + +<p>"Plenty of timber close by,—why don't your folks make a better fence?"</p> + +<p>"I d'n' know; they don't seem to take a notion."</p> + +<p>Jack noticed that the river was quite near, and asked if there was good +boating.</p> + +<p>"I d'n' know,—pretty good, only when the water's too low."</p> + +<p>"Do you keep a boat?"</p> + +<p>"Not exactly,—we never had one of our own," said Link. "But one came +floating down the river, and the boys nabbed that. A fust-rate boat, +only it leaked like a sieve."</p> + +<p>"Leaked? Doesn't it leak now?"</p> + +<p>"No?" said Link, stoutly. "They hauled it up, and last winter they +worked on it, odd spells, and now it don't leak a drop."</p> + +<p>Jack was surprised to hear of so much enterprise in the Betterson +family, and asked,—</p> + +<p>"Stopped all the leaks in the old boat! They puttied and painted it, I +suppose?"</p> + +<p>"No, they didn't."</p> + +<p>"Calked and pitched it, then?"</p> + +<p>"No, they didn't."</p> + +<p>"What did they do to it?"</p> + +<p>"Made kindling-wood of it," said Link, laughing, and hitching up his one +suspender.</p> + +<p>Jack laughed too, and changed the subject.</p> + +<p>"Is that one of your brothers with a gun?"</p> + +<p>"That's Wad; Rufe is down on the grass."</p> + +<p>"What sort of a crop is that,—buckwheat?"</p> + +<p>Link grinned. "There's something funny about that! Ye see, a +buckwheat-lot is a great place for prairie hens. So one day I took the +old gun, and the powder and shot you gave me for carrying you home that +night, and went in, and scared up five or six, and fired at 'em, but I +didn't hit any. Wad came along and yelled at me. 'Don't you know any +better 'n to be trampling down the buckwheat?' says he. 'Out of there, +quicker!' And he took the gun away from me. But he'd seen one of the +hens I started light again on the edge of the buckwheat; so he went in +to find her. 'You're trampling the buckwheat yourself!' says I. 'No, I +ain't,' says he,—'I step between the spears; and I'm coming out in a +minute.' He stayed in, though, about an hour, and went all over the +patch, and shot two prairie chickens. Then Rufe came along, and he was +mad enough, 'cause Wad was treading down the buckwheat. 'Come out of +that!' says he, 'or I'll go in after ye, and put that gun where you +won't see it again.' So Wad came out; and the sight of his chickens made +Rufe's eyes shine. 'Did ye shoot <i>them</i> in the buckwheat?' says he. +'Yes,' says Wad; 'and I could shoot plenty more; the patch is full of +'em.' Rufe said he wanted the gun to go and shoot ducks with, on the +river; but he didn't find any ducks, and coming along back he thought he +would try <i>his</i> luck in the buckwheat,—treading between the spears! He +had shot three prairie chickens, when father came along, and scolded +him, and made him come out. 'I've heard you fire twenty times,' says +father; 'you're wasting powder and ruining the crop. Let <i>me</i> take the +gun.' 'But <i>you</i> mustn't ruin the crop,' says Rufe. Father's a splendid +shot,—can drop a bird every time,—only he don't like to go hunting +very often. He thought 't would pay for <i>him</i> to go through the patch +<i>once</i>; besides, he said, if the birds were getting the buckwheat, we +might as well get the birds. He thought <i>he</i> could tread between the +spears! Well, since then," said Link, "we've just made a hunting-ground +of that patch, always treading between the spears till lately; now it's +got so trampled it never'll pay to cut it; so we just put it through. +See that hen!"</p> + +<p>There was a sound of whirring wings,—a flash, a loud report, a curl of +smoke,—a broken-winged grouse shooting down aslant into the buckwheat, +and a young hunter running to the spot.</p> + +<p>"That's the way he does it," said Rufe, getting up from the grass.</p> + +<p>He greeted Jack good-naturedly, inquired about Snowfoot, heard with +surprise of Vinnie's arrival, and finally asked if Jack would like to +try his hand at a shot.</p> + +<p>"I should," replied Jack, "if it wasn't for treading down your +buckwheat."</p> + +<p>"That's past caring for," said Rufe, with a laugh. "Here, Wad, bring us +the gun."</p> + +<p>"Is that your land the other side of the fence?" Jack asked.</p> + +<p>"That lot belongs to old Peakslow," said Rufe, speaking the name with +great contempt. "And he pretends to claim a big strip this side too. +That's what caused the feud between our families."</p> + +<p>"He hates you pretty well, I should judge," replied Jack; and he told +the story, as Vinnie had told it to him, of her encounter with Peakslow +on the deck of the schooner.</p> + +<p>"He's the ugliest man!" Rufe declared, reddening angrily. "You may thank +your stars you've nothing to do with him. Now take the gun,"—Wad had by +this time brought it,—"go through to the fence and back, and be ready +to fire the moment a bird rises. Keep your dog back, and look out and +not hit one of Peakslow's horses, the other side of the fence."</p> + +<p>"He brought home a new horse from Chicago a day or two ago," said Wad; +"and he's just been out there looking at him and feeling for ringbones. +If he's with him now, and if you <i>should</i> happen to shoot <i>one</i> of 'em, +I hope it won't be the horse!"</p> + +<p>Jack laughed, and started to go through the buckwheat. He had got about +half-way, when a hen rose a few feet from him, at his right. He was not +much accustomed to shooting on the wing; and it is much harder to hit +birds rising suddenly, at random, in that way, than when they are +started by a trained dog. But good luck made up for what he lacked in +skill; and at his fire the hen dropped fluttering in the grass that +bordered the buckwheat.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="i010" id="i010"></a> +<img src="images/i010.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>SHOT ON THE WING.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"I'll pick her up!" cried Link; and he ran to do so; while Wad carried +Jack the powder and shot for another load.</p> + +<p>"But I ought not to use up your ammunition in this way!" Jack protested.</p> + +<p>"I guess you can afford to," replied Wad. "It was mostly bought with +money we sold that fawn-skin for."</p> + +<p>Jack was willing enough to try another shot; and, the piece reloaded, he +resumed his tramp.</p> + +<p>He had nearly reached the fence, when a bird rose between it and him, +and flew over Peakslow's pasture. Jack had brought the gun to his +shoulder, and was about to pull the trigger, when he remembered +Peakslow's horses, and stopped to give a hasty glance over the fence.</p> + +<p>Down went the gun, and Jack stood astonished, the bird forgotten, and +his eyes fixed on an object beyond.</p> + +<p>What Wad said of their neighbor having brought out a new horse from +Chicago, together with what the captain of the Heron said of one of +Peakslow's span being a light roan, rushed through his thoughts. He ran +up to the fence, and looked eagerly over; then gave a shout of joy.</p> + +<p>After all his futile efforts to find him,—chasing about the country, +offering rewards, scattering hand-bills,—there was the lost horse, the +veritable Snowfoot, grazing quietly in the amiable Mr. Peakslow's +pasture!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<h3>SNOWFOOT'S NEW OWNER.</h3> + + +<p>Jack left the gun standing by the fence, leaped over, gave a familiar +whistle, and called, "Come, Snowfoot! Co' jock! co' jock!"</p> + +<p>There were two horses feeding in the pasture, not far apart. But only +one heeded the call, lifted head, pricked up ears, and answered with a +whinny. It was the lost Snowfoot, giving unmistakable signs of pleasure +and recognition, as he advanced to meet his young master.</p> + +<p>Jack threw his arms about the neck of his favorite, and hugged and +patted and I don't know but kissed him; while the Betterson boys went up +to the fence and looked wonderingly over.</p> + +<p>In a little while, as they did not venture to go to him, Jack led +Snowfoot by the forelock up to the rails, which they had climbed for a +better view.</p> + +<p>"Is he your horse?" they kept calling to him.</p> + +<p>"Don't you see?" replied Jack, when he had come near enough to show the +white feet and the scars; and his face gleamed with glad excitement. +"Look! he and the dog know each other!"</p> + +<p>It was not a Betterson, but a Peakslow style of fence, and Lion could +not leap it; but the two animals touched noses, with tokens of friendly +recognition, between the rails.</p> + +<p>"I never expected such luck!" said Jack. "I've not only found my horse, +but I've saved the reward offered."</p> + +<p>"You haven't got him yet," said Rufe. "I guess Peakslow will have +something to say about that."</p> + +<p>"What he says won't make much difference. I've only to prove property, +and take possession. A stolen horse is the owner's, wherever he finds +him. But of course I'll act in a fair and open way in the matter; I'll +go and talk with Peakslow, and if he's a reasonable man—"</p> + +<p>"Reasonable!" interrupted Wad. "He holds a sixpence so near to his eye, +that it looks bigger to him than all the rest of the world; he can't see +reason, nor anything else."</p> + +<p>"I'll make him see it. Will you go and introduce me?"</p> + +<p>"You'd better not have one of our family introduce you, if you want to +get anything out of Dud Peakslow!" said Rufe. "We'll wait here."</p> + +<p>Jack got over the fence, and walked quickly along on the Betterson side +of it, followed by Lion, until he reached the road. A little farther +down was a house; behind the house was a yard; and in the yard was a +swarthy man with a high, hooked nose, pulling a wheel off a wagon, the +axletree of which, on that side, was supported by a propped rail. Close +by was a boy stirring some grease in a pot, with a long stick.</p> + +<p>Jack waited until the man had got the wheel off and rested it against +the wagon; then said,—</p> + +<p>"Is this Mr. Peakslow?"</p> + +<p>"That happens to be my name," replied the man, scarcely giving his +visitor a glance, as he turned to take the stick out of the grease, and +to rub it on the axletree.</p> + +<p>The boy, on one knee in the dirt, holding the grease-pot to catch the +drippings, looked up and grinned at Jack.</p> + +<p>"I should like a few minutes' talk with you, Mr. Peakslow, when you are +at leisure," said Jack, hardly knowing how to introduce his business.</p> + +<p>"I'm at leisure now, much as I shall be to-day," said Mr. Peakslow with +the air of a man who did not let words interfere with work. "I've got to +grease this wagon, and then harness up and go to haulin'. I haven't had +a hoss that would pull his share of a decent load till now. Tend to what +you're about, Zeph!"</p> + +<p>"I have called to say," remarked Jack as calmly as he could, though his +heart was beating fast, "that there is a horse in your pasture which +belongs to me."</p> + +<p>The man straightened his bent back, and looked blackly at the speaker, +while the grease dripped from the end of the stick.</p> + +<p>"A hoss in my pastur' that belongs to you! What do ye mean by that?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you haven't seen this handbill?" And Jack took the printed +description of Snowfoot from his pocket, unfolded it, and handed it to +the astonished Peakslow.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="i011" id="i011"></a> +<img src="images/i011.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>THE AMIABLE MR. PEAKSLOW.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"'Twenty dollars reward,'" he read. "'Stolen from the owner—a light, +reddish roan hoss—white forefeet—scar low down on the near side, jest +behind the shoulder—smaller scar on the off hip.' What's the meanin' of +all this?" he said, glancing at Jack.</p> + +<p>"Isn't it plain enough?" replied Jack, quietly standing his ground. +"That is the description of the stolen horse; the horse is down in your +pasture."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to say <i>I</i>'ve stole your hoss?" demanded Peakslow, his +voice trembling with passion.</p> + +<p>"Not by any means. He may have passed through a dozen hands since the +thief had him. All I know is, he is in your possession now."</p> + +<p>"And what if he is?"</p> + +<p>"Why, naturally a man likes to have what is his own, doesn't he? Suppose +a man steals your horse; you find him after a while in my stable; is he +your horse, or mine?"</p> + +<p>"But how do I know but this is a conspyracy to cheat me out of a hoss?" +retorted Peakslow, looking again at the handbill, with a terrible frown. +"It may have all been cut and dried aforehand. You've your trap sot, +and, soon as ever the animal is in my hands, ye spring it. How do I know +the hoss is yourn, even if ye have got a description of him? Anybody can +make a description of anybody's hoss, and then go and claim him. +Besides, how happens it a boy like you owns a hoss, anyway?"</p> + +<p>In a few words Jack told his story, accounting at once for his +ownership, and for the scars on the horse's side and hip.</p> + +<p>"There are two other scars I can show you, under his belly. I didn't +mention them in the handbill, because they are not noticeable, unless +one is looking for them."</p> + +<p>"Ye may show me scars all over him, fur's I know," was Peakslow's reply +to this argument. "That may prove that he's been hurt by suth'n or +other,—elephant, or not; but it don't prove you ever owned him."</p> + +<p>"I can satisfy you with regard to that," said Jack, confidently. "Do you +object to going down with me and looking at him?"</p> + +<p>"Not in the least, only wait till I git this wheel on. Ye may go and +<i>see</i> the hoss in my presence, but ye can't <i>take</i> the hoss, without I'm +satisfied you've the best right to him."</p> + +<p>"That's all I ask, Mr. Peakslow; I want only what belongs to me. If you +are a loser, you must look for redress to the man who sold you my +property; and he must go back on the next man."</p> + +<p>"How's that?" put in Zeph, grinning over his grease-pot. "Pa thinks he's +got a good deal better hoss than he put away; and you ain't agoin' to +crowd him out of a good bargain, I bet!"</p> + +<p>"Hold your tongue!" growled Peakslow. "I can fight my own battles, +without any of your tongue. I put away a pooty good hoss, and I gin +fifteen dollars to boot."</p> + +<p>"What man did you trade with?" Jack inquired.</p> + +<p>"A truckman in Chicago. He liked my hoss, and I liked hisn, and we +swapped. He wanted twenty dollars, I offered him ten, and we split the +difference. He won't want to give me back my hoss and my money, now; and +ye can't blame him. And the next man won't want to satisfy <i>him</i>. Grant +the hoss is stole, for the sake of the argyment," said Peakslow. "I +maintain that when an animal that's been stole, and sold, and traded, +finally gits into an honest man's hands, it's right he should stay +there."</p> + +<p>"Even if it's your horse, and the honest man who gets him is your +neighbor?" queried Jack.</p> + +<p>"I do'no'—wal—yes!" said Peakslow. "It's a hard case, but no harder +one way than t' other."</p> + +<p>"But the law looks at it in only one way," replied Jack. "And with +reason. Men must be careful how they deal with thieves or get hold of +stolen property. How happens it that you, Mr. Peakslow, didn't know that +such a horse had been stolen? Some of your neighbors knew it very well."</p> + +<p>"Some of my neighbors I don't have nothin' to say to," answered +Peakslow, gruffly. "If you mean the Bettersons, they're a pack of +thieves and robbers themselves, and I don't swap words with none of 'em, +without 't is to tell 'em my mind; that I do, when I have a chance."</p> + +<p>"You use pretty strong language when you call them thieves and robbers, +Mr. Peakslow."</p> + +<p>"Strong or not, it's the truth. Hain't they cheated me out o' the best +part of my farm?"</p> + +<p>"The Bettersons—cheated you!" exclaimed Jack.</p> + +<p>They were now on the way to the pasture; and Peakslow, in a sort of +lurid excitement, pointed to the boundary fence.</p> + +<p>"My line, by right, runs five or six rod t' other side. I took up my +claim here, and Betterson bought hisn, 'fore ever the guv'ment survey +run through. That survey fixed my line 'way over yender in their +cornfield. And there I claim it belongs, to this day."</p> + +<p>"But, Mr. Peakslow, how does it happen that a man like Mr. Betterson has +been able to rob a man like <i>you</i>,—take a part of your farm before your +very eyes? He is a rather slack, easy man; while you, if I'm not greatly +mistaken, are in the habit of standing up for your rights."</p> + +<p>"I can gin'ly look out for myself," said Peakslow. "And don't suppose +that Lord Betterson took me down and put his hands in my pockets, +alone."</p> + +<p>"Nine men, with masks on," cried Zeph, "come to our house one night, and +told pa they'd jest tear his ruf right down over his head, and drive him +out of the county, if he didn't sign a deed givin' Betterson that land."</p> + +<p>"Hold your yawp, Zeph!" muttered Peakslow. "I can tell my own story. +There was nine of 'em, all armed, and what could I do?"</p> + +<p>"This is a most extraordinary story!" exclaimed Jack. "Did you sign the +deed?"</p> + +<p>"I couldn't help myself," said Peakslow.</p> + +<p>"It seems to me I <i>would</i> have helped myself, if the land was +rightfully mine!" cried Jack. "They <i>might</i> tear my house down,—they +<i>might</i> try to drive me out of the county,—I don't believe I would deed +away my land, just because they threatened me, and I was afraid."</p> + +<p>"It's easy to talk that way," Peakslow replied. "But, come case in +hand,—the loaded muzzles in your face,—you'd change your mind."</p> + +<p>"Didn't they pay for the land they took?"</p> + +<p>"Barely nothin'; jest the guv'ment price; dollar 'n' a quarter an acre. +But jest look at that land to-day,—the best in the State,—wuth twenty +dollars an acre, if 't is a cent."</p> + +<p>"What was Betterson's claim?" Jack asked; "for men don't often do such +things without some sort of excuse."</p> + +<p>"They hild that though the survey gin me the land, it was some Betterson +had supposed belonged to his purchase. Meanwhile he had j'ined a +land-claim society, where the members all agreed to stand by one +another; and that was the reason o' their takin' sich high-handed +measures with me."</p> + +<p>Jack was inclined to cross-question Peakslow, and sift a little this +astonishing charge against Betterson and the land-claim society. But +they had now reached the pasture bars, and the question relating to the +ownership of the horse was to be settled.</p> + +<p>The Betterson boys were still sitting on the fence, where Jack had left +them; but Snowfoot had returned to his grazing.</p> + +<p>"Call him," said Jack. "If he doesn't come for you, then see if he will +come for me."</p> + +<p>Peakslow grumblingly declined the test.</p> + +<p>"He doesn't always come when I call him," said Jack. "I'll show you what +I do then. Here, Lion!"</p> + +<p>He took from his pocket an ear of corn he had picked by the way, placed +one end of it between the dog's jaws, saying, "Bring Snowfoot, Lion! +bring Snowfoot!" and let him through the bars.</p> + +<p>Lion trotted into the pasture, trotted straight up to the right horse, +coaxed and coquetted with him for a minute, and then trotted back. +Snowfoot followed, leering and nipping, and trying to get the ear of +corn.</p> + +<p>Lion brought the ear to Jack, and Jack gave it to Snowfoot, taking him +at the same time by the forelock.</p> + +<p>"What do you think of that?" he said, looking round in triumph at +Peakslow.</p> + +<p>"I don't see as it's anything to make sich a fuss over," said Peakslow, +looking angrily across at the spectators on the boundary fence, as they +cheered the success of the man[oe]uvre. "It shows you've larnt your dog +tricks,—nothin' more. 'Most any hoss would foller an ear of corn that +way."</p> + +<p>"Why didn't your hoss follow it?"</p> + +<p>"The dog didn't go for my hoss."</p> + +<p>"Why didn't he go for your horse, as soon as for mine?" urged Jack.</p> + +<p>To which Peakslow could only reply,—</p> + +<p>"Ye needn't let down the top bar; ye can't take that hoss through! I +traded for him, and paid boot, and you've got to bring better evidence +than your say-so, or a dog's trick, 'fore I give up my claim."</p> + +<p>"I'll bring you evidence," said Jack, turning away in no little +impatience and disgust.</p> + +<p>He hastened back to Mr. Betterson's house, and was met by the boys as he +came into the yard.</p> + +<p>"What did I tell you?" said Rufe. "Couldn't get him, could you?"</p> + +<p>"No, but I will!" replied Jack, untying the horse, which he had left +hitched to an oak-tree. "I'm going for a witness." He backed the wagon +around. "Get in, if you like,"—to Rufus.</p> + +<p>Rufus did like; and the two rode off together, to the great +dissatisfaction of Wad and Link, who also wanted to go and see the fun.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + +<h3>GOING FOR A WITNESS.</h3> + + +<p>"Did Peakslow say anything to you about our folks?" Rufe asked.</p> + +<p>"I rather think he did!" said Jack; and he repeated the story of the +land robbery.</p> + +<p>Rufe showed his contempt for it by a scornful laugh. "I'll tell you just +what there is in it; and it will show you the sort of man you have to +deal with. We haven't an inch of his land. Do you think father is a man +to crowd a neighbor?"</p> + +<p>"And a neighbor like Peakslow! That's just what I told him," said Jack.</p> + +<p>"You see," said Rufe, "these claims through here were all taken up +before the government survey. Most of the settlers were decent men; and +they knew that when the survey came to be made, there would be trouble +about the boundaries, if they didn't take measures beforehand to prevent +it. So they formed a society to protect each other against squatters and +claim-jumpers, and particularly to settle disputed boundary questions +between themselves. They all signed a paper, agreeing to 'deed and +redeed,'—that is, if your land adjoined mine, and the government survey +didn't correspond with our lines, but gave you, for instance, a part of +the land I had improved, then you agreed to redeed that part to me, for +the government price; just as I agreed to redeed to my neighbors what +the survey might give me of their claims."</p> + +<p>"I understand," said Jack.</p> + +<p>"Well, father and almost everybody in the county joined the society; but +there were some who didn't. Peakslow was one."</p> + +<p>"What were his objections?"</p> + +<p>"He couldn't give any good ones. All he would say was, 'I'll see; I'll +think about it.' He was just waiting to see if there was any advantage +to be gained over his neighbors by <i>not</i> joining with them. Finally, the +survey came through; and the men run what they called a 'random line,' +which everybody thought, at first, was the true line. According to that, +the survey would have given us a big strip of Peakslow's farm, including +his house and barn. That frightened him. He came over, and shook his +fist in father's face, and threatened I don't know what, if he took the +land.</p> + +<p>"'You really think I ought to redeed to you all your side of our old +line?' says father.</p> + +<p>"'Of course I do!' says Peakslow. 'It's mine; you never claimed it; and +I'll shoot the fust man who sets foot on 't, to take it away from me.'</p> + +<p>"'Then,' says father, 'why don't you join the society, and sign the +agreement to redeed, with the rest of us? That will save trouble.'</p> + +<p>"So Peakslow rushed off in a fearful hurry, and put his name to the +paper. Then—what do you think? The surveyors, in a few days, run the +correct line, and that gave Peakslow a strip of <i>our</i> farm."</p> + +<p>"Capital!" laughed Jack.</p> + +<p>"It wasn't capital for us! He was then, if you will believe it, more +excited than when the boot seemed to be on the other leg. He vowed that +the random line was a mere pretence to get him to sign the agreement; +that it was all a fraud, which he never would submit to; that he +wouldn't redeed, but that he would have what the survey gave him. That's +the kind of man he is," added Rufus.</p> + +<p>"But he did redeed?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, in some such way as he told you. The dispute came before the +society for arbitration, and of course the decision was in father's +favor. But Peakslow still held out, and talked of shooting and all that +sort of thing, till the society got tired of his nonsense. So, one +night, nine men did give him a call; they had called on a claim-jumper +down the river a few nights before, and made kindling-wood of his +shanty; Peakslow knew it, and knew they were not men to be trifled with. +They told him that if he expected to live in the county, he must sign +the deed. And he signed it. My father wasn't one of the men, but +Peakslow turned all his spite against him."</p> + +<p>"He imagines he has been wronged," said Jack.</p> + +<p>"I suppose so, for he is one of that kind who never can see any side to +a quarrel but their own. The land is growing more valuable every year; +he covets it accordingly, and so the ferment in his mind is kept up. Of +course," Rufe confessed, "we have done, or neglected to do, a good many +things which have kept adding fuel to the fire; for it's impossible to +live peaceably alongside of such a selfish, passionate, unreasonable +neighbor. We boys have taken up the quarrel, and now I owe that Zeph a +cudgelling, for hurting Cecie."</p> + +<p>"How did he hurt her?"</p> + +<p>"We had a swing up in the woods. The Peakslows are always interfering in +our affairs, and, one day, when Link and the girls went to swing, they +found a couple of little Peakslows there. Link drove 'em away, and they +went off bellowing to their big brothers. In a little while Zeph came +along, when Cecie happened to be in the swing; and he pushed her so hard +that she fell out."</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't think cudgelling him would give you much satisfaction," +said Jack. "It was a dreadful thing to happen! But did he intend it?"</p> + +<p>"I don't think he is sorry for it. Father went to see Mr. Peakslow about +it; but he got nothing but abuse from him. What do you think he said? +'The swing,' says he, 'is on a part of the land you robbed me of; if you +had gin me what the guv'ment survey did, then your children wouldn't +have been there, and the thing wouldn't have occurred.' That is the man +who has got your horse."</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, they had driven past Peakslow's house, proceeding down the +river road; and now once more Jack reined up before old Wiggett's cabin.</p> + +<p>At the sight of the wagon approaching three or four half-naked little +barbarians ran into the house, like wild creatures into their hole, +giving an alarm which brought out old Wiggett himself, stooping through +the low doorway.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Wiggett, do you remember me?" said Jack.</p> + +<p>"Wal, I reckon!" said the old man, advancing to the wagon, reaching up, +and giving Jack's hand a hearty shake. "You're the young chap that found +my section corner."</p> + +<p>"And do you remember my horse?"</p> + +<p>"I 'low I oughter; for your elephant story, and the scars you showed me, +was drea'ful curi's. I heard the hoss was stole."</p> + +<p>"He <i>was</i> stolen. But I have found him; and I want you to go with me and +identify him, if you will be so good. Mr. Peakslow has him."</p> + +<p>"Peakslow?" said the old man, with a dubious shake of the head. "It's +nigh about the easiest thing in the world to git into trouble with Dud +Peakslow. I gener'ly go my way, and let Peakslow go hisn, and waste few +words on him. But I don't mind gwine with ye, if ye say so. How did +Peakslow come by him?"</p> + +<p>Jack told the story, whilst driving back to Peakslow's house. There he +left Rufus in the wagon, and walked on with Mr. Wiggett into the +barnyard.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> + +<h3>PEAKSLOW GETS A QUIRK IN HIS HEAD.</h3> + + +<p>Peakslow had finished greasing his wheels, and was about harnessing a +pair of horses which Zeph held by their halters at the door of a +log-stable. One of the horses was Snowfoot.</p> + +<p>"Please wait a minute, Mr. Peakslow," said Jack, turning pale at the +sight. "I've brought a witness to prove my property."</p> + +<p>Peakslow looked at his neighbor Wiggett, and gave a grunt.</p> + +<p>"So you've come to interfere in this business, hey?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Wiggett made no reply, but walked up to Snowfoot, stroked his sides, +examined the scars, looked at him before and behind, and nodded slowly +several times. Then he spoke.</p> + +<p>"I hain't come over to interfere in nobody's business, Mr. Peakslow. But +I happen to know this yer young man; and I know this yer hoss. At his +request, I've come over to say so. I could pick out that animal, and +sw'ar to him, among ten thousan'."</p> + +<p>"What can you swear to?" Peakslow demanded, poising a harness.</p> + +<p>"I can sw'ar this is the hoss the young man druv the day he come over to +find my section corner."</p> + +<p>"That all?"</p> + +<p>"Isn't that enough?" said Jack.</p> + +<p>"No!" said Peakslow, and threw the rattling harness upon Snowfoot's +back. "It don't prove the hoss belonged to you, if ye did drive him. +And, even though he did belong to you, it don't prove but what ye sold +him arterward, and then pretended he was stole, to cheat some honest man +out of his prop'ty. Hurry up, boy! buckle them hames." And he went to +throw on the other harness.</p> + +<p>Jack stepped in Zeph's way. "This is my horse, and I've a word to say +about buckling those hames."</p> + +<p>"Ye mean to hender my work?" roared Peakslow, turning upon him. "Ye mean +to git me mad?"</p> + +<p>Jack had before been hardly able to speak, for his rising wrath and +beating heart; but he was now getting control of himself.</p> + +<p>"I don't see the need of anybody's getting mad, Mr. Peakslow. There's a +right and a wrong in this case; and if we both want the right, we shall +agree."</p> + +<p>"Every man has his own way o' lookin' at the right," said Peakslow, +slightly mollified. "The right, to your notion, is that I shall give ye +up the hoss. I've got possession of the hoss, and I mean to keep +possession; and that's what's about right, to my notion."</p> + +<p>"I want only what is lawfully my own," Jack answered, firmly. "If you +want what isn't yours, that's <i>not</i> right, but wrong. There's such a +thing as justice, aside from our personal interest in a matter."</p> + +<p>Probably Peakslow had never thought of that.</p> + +<p>"Wal, what ye goin' to do about it?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I am going to have my horse," replied Jack. "If you let me take him +peaceably, very well. If you compel me to go to law, I shall have him +all the same, and you will have the costs to pay."</p> + +<p>Peakslow winced. The threat of costs touched him in his tenderest spot.</p> + +<p>"How's that?" he anxiously asked.</p> + +<p>"I haven't been about the country looking for my horse, without knowing +something of the law for the recovery of stolen property," replied Jack. +"If I find him in your hands, and you give him up, I've no action +against you. If you hold on to him, I can do one of two things. I can go +to a magistrate, and by giving bonds to an amount that will cover all +damages to you or anybody else if I fail to make good my claim, get out +a <i>writ of replevin</i>, and send a sheriff with it to take the horse. Or I +can let you keep him, and sue you for damages. In either case, the one +who is beaten will have the costs to pay," Jack insisted, turning the +screw again where he saw it pinch.</p> + +<p>The swarthy brow was covered with perspiration, as Peakslow answered, +making a show of bluster,—</p> + +<p>"I can fight ye with the law, or any other way, 's long's you want to +fight. I've got money. Ye can't scare me with your sheriffs and writs. +But jest look at it. I'm to be throwed out of a hoss at a busy time o' +year. <i>You</i> wouldn't like that, Mr. Wiggett—you nor nobody else."</p> + +<p>"No," said Mr. Wiggett, who stood looking on in an impartial way, "it +moutn't feel good, I allow. And it don't seem like it would feel much +better, to have to stan' by and see a hoss that was stole from me, bein' +worked by a neighbor. This yer young man tells a straightfor'ard story, +and there's no doubt of its bein' his hoss. You've no doubt on't in your +own mind, Dudley Peakslow. If he goes to law, he'll bring his +proofs,—he's got friends to back him,—and you'll lose. Then why not +come to a right understanding and save right smart o' trouble and cost. +I 'low that'll be best for both."</p> + +<p>"Wal, what's your idee of a right understandin'?" said Peakslow, flushed +and troubled, turning to Jack. "<i>My</i> hoss is in Chicago—that is, if +<i>this</i> hoss ain't mine. I might go in and see about gittin' on him back, +but I don't want to spend the time, 'thout I can take in a little jag o' +stuff; and how can I do that, if you break up my team?"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Peakslow," replied Jack, quickly making up his mind what he would +do, "while I ask for my rights, I don't wish to put you or any man to an +inconvenience." He took Snowfoot by the bridle. "Here is my horse; and, +with Mr. Wiggett for a witness, I make you this offer: you may keep him +one week, and do any light work with him you please. You may drive him +to Chicago, and use him in recovering your horse from the truckman. But +mind, you are to be responsible for him, and bring him back with you. Is +that a fair proposal?"</p> + +<p>"Wal, I do'no' but what 't is; I'll think on 't."</p> + +<p>"I want you to say now, in Mr. Wiggett's presence, whether you accept +it."</p> + +<p>"I'll agree to bring him back; but I do'no' 'bout deliverin' on him up +to you," said Peakslow.</p> + +<p>"Leave it so, then," replied Jack, with a confident smile. "I call you +to witness, Mr. Wiggett, that the horse is in my possession now" (he +still held Snowfoot by the bridle), "and that I lend him to Mr. +Peakslow. Now you can buckle the hames, Zeph," letting go the bridle, +and stepping back.</p> + +<p>"Gi' me a copy o' that handbill," said Peakslow. "I shall want that, and +I ought to have a witness besides, to make the truckman hear to reason."</p> + +<p>"If he happens to be an unreasonable man," said Jack, with a smile, "you +have the same remedy which I have,—a suit for damages. I don't believe +he will wait for that. I'll see you in one week. Good-day, Mr. +Peakslow."</p> + +<p>"Looks like you was takin' a big resk, to let him drive the hoss to +Chicago," Mr. Wiggett remarked confidentially, following Jack out of the +yard.</p> + +<p>"I don't see that it is," Jack replied, wiping the sweat from his +forehead. "I didn't wish to be hard on him. It does men good, sometimes, +to trust them."</p> + +<p>"Mabbe. But Dud Peakslow ain't like no other man ye ever see. He's got +some quirk in his head, or he never'd have agreed to be responsible for +the hoss and bring him back; ye may bet on that. He means to take some +advantage. Now I'm interested in the case, and I shall hate to see you +swindled."</p> + +<p>Jack thanked the old man warmly; but he failed to see what advantage +Peakslow could hope to gain.</p> + +<p>"I know him a heap better 'n you dew," said Mr. Wiggett. "Now, it struck +me, when he said he might need a witness, I'd offer to go with him to +Chicago. I could help him with the truckman, and mabbe find out what new +trick he's up tew. Anyhow, I could look arter your hoss a little."</p> + +<p>"That would oblige me ever so much!" exclaimed Jack. "But I see no +reason why you should take that trouble for me."</p> + +<p>"I take a notion tew ye, in the fust place. Next place, I've been gwine +to Chicago for the past tew weeks, but couldn't somehow git started. +Now, banged if I won't go in with Peakslow!"</p> + +<p>Having parted with Jack, the old man returned to propose the arrangement +to his neighbor. He was just in time to hear Peakslow say to his son,—</p> + +<p>"I see a twist in this matter 't he don't, shrewd as he thinks he is. If +I lose a good bargain, I'm bound to make it up 'fore ever this hoss goes +out of my hands. You ag'in, Wiggett?"</p> + +<p>It was Mr. Wiggett, who concluded that he was quite right in saying that +Peakslow had a quirk in his head.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> + +<h3>VINNIE MAKES A BEGINNING.</h3> + + +<p>Vinnie learned only too soon why Jack had dreaded so much to have her +enter the Betterson household; and, in a momentary depression of +spirits, she asked herself whether, if she had known all she was +undertaking, she would not have shrunk from it.</p> + +<p>The sight of the sick ones, the mother enfeebled in mind as well as in +body, Lord Betterson pompous and complacent in the midst of so much +misery, little Lill alone making headway against a deluge of +disorder,—all this filled her with distress and dismay.</p> + +<p>She could think of no relief but in action.</p> + +<p>"I shall stifle," thought she, "unless I go to work at once, setting +things to rights."</p> + +<p>And the thought of helping others cheered herself.</p> + +<p>She needed something from her trunk. That was at the door, just where +Jack had left it. She went out, and found that Chokie had changed his +mind with regard to digging a well, and was building a pyramid, using +the door-yard sand for his material, a shingle for a shovel, and the +trunk for a foundation.</p> + +<p>"Why, Chokie!" she said; "what are you doing?"</p> + +<p>"I makin' a Fourth-of-Duly," replied Chokie, flourishing his shingle. +"After I dit it about twice as bid as the house, I doin' to put some +powder in it, and tout'th it off."</p> + +<p>"O dear!" said Vinnie; "I'm afraid you'll blow my trunk to pieces; and I +must have my trunk now!"</p> + +<p>"I doin' to blow it to pieces, and you tan't have it," cried Chokie, +stoutly.</p> + +<p>"But I've something for you in it," said Vinnie, "and we never can get +it for you, if you touch off your Fourth-of-July on it."</p> + +<p>"O, wal, you may dit it." And he began to shovel the sand off, throwing +it into his clothing, into the house, and some into Vinnie's eyes.</p> + +<p>Lord Betterson, who was walking leisurely about his castle, now came +forward, and, seeing Vinnie in some distress, inquired, in his lofty +way, if he could do anything for her.</p> + +<p>"If you please," she replied, laughing, as she brushed the sand away +from her eyes, "I should like to have this trunk carried in."</p> + +<p>Betterson drew himself up with dignified surprise; for he had not meant +to proffer any such menial service. Vinnie perceived the little mistake +she had made; but she was not so overpoweringly impressed by his +nobility as to think that an apology was due. She even permitted herself +to be amused; and, retiring behind the sand in her eyes, which she made +a great show of winking and laughing away, she waited to see what he +would do.</p> + +<p>He looked around, and coughed uncomfortably.</p> + +<p>"Where are the boys?" he asked. "This—hem—is very awkward. I don't +know why the trunk was left here; I directed that it should be taken to +Cecie's room."—</p> + +<p>Vinnie mischievously resolved that the noble Betterson back should bend +beneath that burden.</p> + +<p>"It is quite light," she said. "If you want help, I can lift one end of +it."</p> + +<p>The implication that it was not greatness of character, but weakness of +body, which kept him above such service, touched my lord. As she, at the +same time, actually laid hold of one handle, he waived her off, with +ostentatious gallantry.</p> + +<p>"Permit me!" And, with a smile of condescension, which seemed to say, +"The Bettersons are not used to this sort of thing; but they can always +be polite to the ladies," he took up the trunk by both handles, and went +politely <i>backward</i> with it into the house, a performance at which Jack +would have smiled. I say <i>performance</i> advisedly, for Betterson showed +by his bearing, lofty and magnificent even under the burden, that this +was not an ordinary act of an ordinary man.</p> + +<p>Having set down the trunk in its place, he brushed his fingers with a +soiled handkerchief, and retired, exceedingly flushed and puffy in his +tight stock.</p> + +<p>Vinnie thanked him with charming simplicity; while Cecie, on her lounge, +laughed slyly, and Mrs. Betterson looked amazed.</p> + +<p>"Why, Lavinia! how did you ever dare?"</p> + +<p>"Dare what?"</p> + +<p>"To ask Mr. Betterson to carry your trunk?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="i012" id="i012"></a> +<img src="images/i012.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>VINNIE'S STRATAGEM.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"Why not?" said Vinnie, with round eyes.</p> + +<p>"A gentleman like him! and a Betterson!" replied Caroline, in a whisper +of astonishment and awe.</p> + +<p>"Who should have done it?" said Vinnie, trying hard to see the enormity +of her offence. "I couldn't very well do it alone; I am sure you +couldn't have helped me; and my friend who brought me over, he has done +so much for me already that I should have been ashamed to ask him. +Besides, he is not here, and I wanted the trunk. Mr. Betterson seems +very strong. Has he the rheumatism?"</p> + +<p>"O Lavinia! Lavinia!"—and Caroline wrapped her red shawl despairingly +about her. "But you will understand Mr. Betterson better by and by. You +are quite excusable now. Arthur, dear! what do you want?"</p> + +<p>"In her trunt, what she's doin' to dive me, I want it," said the boy, +invading the house for that purpose.</p> + +<p>"Yes, you shall have it," cried Vinnie, skilfully giving his nose a wipe +behind the mother's back (it needed it sadly). "But is your name Arthur? +I thought they called you Chokie."</p> + +<p>"Chokie is the nickname for Arthur," Lill explained.</p> + +<p>Vinnie did not understand how that could be.</p> + +<p>"It is the boys' invention; they are full of their nonsense," said +Caroline, with a sorrowful head-shake. "It was first Arthur, then Artie, +then Artichoke, then Chokie,—you see?"</p> + +<p>Vinnie laughed, while her sister went on, in complaining accents,—</p> + +<p>"I tell them such things are beneath the dignity of our family; but they +will have their fun."</p> + +<p>Vinnie took from her trunk a barking dog and a candy meeting-house, +which made Chokie forget all about his threatened Fourth-of-July. She +also had a pretty worsted scarf of many colors for Lill, and a copy of +Mrs. Hemans's Poems—popular in those days—for Cecie.</p> + +<p>"For you, sister Caroline," she added, laughing, "I have +brought—myself."</p> + +<p>"This book is beautiful, and I love poetry so much!" said Cecie, with +eyes full of love and gratitude. "But you have brought mother the best +present."</p> + +<p>"O, you don't know about that!" replied Vinnie.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I do," said Cecie, with a smile which seemed to tremble on the +verge of tears. And she whispered, as Vinnie bent down and kissed her, +"I love you already; we shall all love you so much!"</p> + +<p>"Dear Cecie!" murmured Vinnie in the little invalid's ear, "that pays me +for coming. I am glad I am here, if only for your sake."</p> + +<p>"I dot the bestest pwesents," cried Chokie, sitting on the floor with +his treasures. "Don't tome here, Lill; my dod will bite!" He made the +little toy squeak violently. "He barks at folks doin' to meetin'. Dim me +some pins."</p> + +<p>"What do you want of pins?" Vinnie asked, taking some from her dress.</p> + +<p>"To make mans and womans doin' to meetin'. One dood bid black pin for +the minister," said Chokie.</p> + +<p>Vinnie helped him stick up the pins in the floor, and even found the +required big black one to head the procession. Then she pointed out the +extraordinary fact of the dog being so much larger than the entire +congregation; at which even the sad Caroline smiled, over her sick babe. +Chokie, however, gloried in the superior size and prowess of the +formidable monster.</p> + +<p>Lill was delighted with her scarf,—all the more so when she learned +that it had been wrought by Vinnie's own hand.</p> + +<p>"O Aunt Vinnie!" said Cecie; "will you teach me to do such work? I +should enjoy it so much—lying here!"</p> + +<p>"With the greatest pleasure, my dear!" exclaimed Vinnie, her heart +brimming with hope and joy at sight of the simple happiness her coming +had brought.</p> + +<p>She then hastened to put on a household dress; while Cecie looked at her +book, and Lill sported her scarf, and Chokie earned himself a new +nickname,—that of Big-Bellied Ben,—by making a feast of his +meeting-house, beginning with the steeple.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> + +<h3>VINNIE'S NEW BROOM.</h3> + + +<p>Returning from his interview with Mr. Peakslow, Jack drove up on the +roadside before the "castle," asked Rufe to hold the horse a minute, and +ran to the door to bid Vinnie good by.</p> + +<p>"Here, Link!" Rufe called, "stand by this horse!"</p> + +<p>"I can't," answered Link from the wood-pile, "I've got to get some wood, +to make a fire, to heat some water, to dip the chickens, to loosen their +feathers, and then to cook 'em for dinner."</p> + +<p>"Never mind the wood and the chickens and feathers! Come along!"</p> + +<p>"I guess I <i>will</i> mind, and I guess I <i>won't</i> come along, for you, or +anybody, for <i>she</i> asked me to."</p> + +<p>"She? Who?"</p> + +<p>"Aunt Vinnie; and, I tell you, she's real slick." And Link slashed away +at the wood with an axe; for that was the Betterson style,—to saw and +split the sticks only as the immediate necessities of the house +required.</p> + +<p>Rufe might have hitched the horse, but he was not a fellow to give +himself any trouble that could well be avoided; and just then he saw Wad +coming out of the yard with two pails.</p> + +<p>Wad, being cordially invited to stay and hold the horse, also declined, +except on condition that Rufe should himself go at once to the spring +for water.</p> + +<p>"Seems to me you're in a terrible pucker for water!" said Rufe. "Two +pails? what's the row, Wad?" For it was the time-honored custom of the +boys to put off going for water as long as human patience could endure +without it, and never, except in great emergencies, to take two pails.</p> + +<p>"<i>She</i> asked me to, and of course I'd go for <i>her</i>," said Wad. "She has +gone into that old kitchen, and, I tell you, she'll make things buzz!"</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Jack had gone straight to the said kitchen,—much to Mrs. +Betterson's dismay,—and found Vinnie in a neat brown dress, with apron +on and sleeves pinned up. He thought he had never seen her look so +bright and beautiful.</p> + +<p>"At work so soon!" he exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"The sooner the better," she replied. "Don't look around you; my sister +is sick, you know."</p> + +<p>"I won't hinder you a minute," Jack said. "I just ran in to tell you the +good news about my horse,—though I suppose you've heard that from the +boys,—and to say good by,—and one word more!" lowering his voice. "If +anything happens,—if it isn't pleasant for you to be here, you +know,—there is a home at Mrs. Lanman's; it will be always waiting for +you."</p> + +<p>"I thank you and Mrs. Lanman very much!" said Vinnie, with a trembling +lip. "But I mean to <i>make</i> things pleasant here," a smile breaking +through the momentary trouble of her face.</p> + +<p>Jack declined an urgent invitation to stay and see what sort of a dinner +she could get.</p> + +<p>"By the way," he whispered, as she followed him to the door, "who +carried in that trunk?" When she told him, he was hugely delighted. "You +will get along! Here comes Rufe. Rufus, this is your Aunt Vinnie."</p> + +<p>Rufus (who had finally got Chokie to hold the horse's halter) blushed to +the roots of his hair at meeting his relative, and finding her so very +youthful (I think it has already been said that the aunt was younger +than the nephew), and altogether so fresh and charming in her apron and +pinned-up sleeves.</p> + +<p>She smilingly gave him her hand, which he took rather awkwardly, and +said,—</p> + +<p>"How d' 'e do, Aunt Lavinia. I suppose I must call you <i>aunt</i>."</p> + +<p>"Call me just Vinnie; the idea of my being <i>aunt</i> to young men like +you!"</p> + +<p>There was a little constraint on both sides, which Link relieved by +pushing between them with a big armful of wood.</p> + +<p>"Well, good by," said Jack. "She will need a little looking after, +Rufus; see that she doesn't work too hard."</p> + +<p>"<i>You</i> are not going to work hard for <i>us</i>!" said Rufus, with some +feeling, after Jack was gone.</p> + +<p>"That depends," Vinnie replied. "<i>You</i> can make things easy for me, as I +am sure you will."</p> + +<p>"Of course; just let me know if they don't go right. Call on Link or Wad +for anything; make 'em stand round."</p> + +<p>Vinnie smiled at Rufe's willingness to have his brothers brought into +the line of discipline.</p> + +<p>"They are both helping me now. But I find there are no potatoes in the +house, and I've been wondering who would get them. Lill says they are to +be dug in the field, and that she digs them sometimes; but that seems +too bad!"</p> + +<p>"That's when Wad and Link—there's no need of <i>her</i>—I don't believe in +girls digging potatoes!" Rufe stammered.</p> + +<p>"O, but you know," cried Lill, "sometimes we shouldn't have any potatoes +for dinner if I didn't go and dig them! I don't care, only it's such +hard work!"</p> + +<p>Vinnie looked admiringly at the bright, brave little girl. Rufe colored +redder than ever, and said,—</p> + +<p>"Don't <i>you</i>, now, do such a thing! Only let me know in season what's +wanted; I'll be after those boys with a sharp stick!"</p> + +<p>Vinnie couldn't help laughing.</p> + +<p>"So, when we're going to want a handful of wood, a pail of water, or a +basket of potatoes, I am to go for you, and you will go for the boys, +and drive them up with your sharp stick! I don't think I shall like +that. Wouldn't it be better for you to see that there are always +potatoes in the bin, and wood in the box, and other things on hand that +you know will be needed?"</p> + +<p>It was perhaps quite as much her winning way as the good sense of this +appeal which made it irresistible.</p> + +<p>"Of course it would be better! I'll get you a basket of potatoes now, +and some green corn, and I'll look out for the water and wood."</p> + +<p>"O, thank you!" said Vinnie. "That will make things so much easier and +pleasanter for all of us!"</p> + +<p>The potatoes and corn were got with a cheerful alacrity which quite +astonished Rufe's mother and sisters.</p> + +<p>The inertia of a large body being thus overcome, that well-known +property of matter tended to keep Rufus still in motion; and while +Vinnie, with Lill's help, was getting the dinner ready, he might have +been seen approaching the wood-pile with an eye to business.</p> + +<p>"See here, Wad! This wood is pretty dry now; don't you think it had +better be cut up and got in before there comes a rain?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, s'pose 't would be a good idea."</p> + +<p>"We ought to be ashamed," Rufe went on, "to have <i>her</i> calling for a +handful of wood every time it's wanted, or going out to hack a little +for herself, if we're not around; for she'll do it."</p> + +<p>"I s'pose so," Wad assented. "Why don't you go to work and cut it up? +I'll sit down on a log and whittle, and keep you company."</p> + +<p>"Pshaw! don't talk that way. I'll go to work at it if you will. Come! +Will you saw, or split?"</p> + +<p>Wad laughed, and said he would split,—perhaps because the sawing must +be done first.</p> + +<p>"This saw is in a frightful condition!" Rufe said, stopping to breathe +after sawing a few sticks.</p> + +<p>"So is this axe; look at the edge! It's too dull even to split with," +said Wad. "A small boy might ride to mill on it without suffering any +very great inconvenience."</p> + +<p>"If father would only file and set this saw, I'd help you grind the +axe," said Rufe.</p> + +<p>The paternal Betterson was just then returning from a little walk about +his estate. As he approached, hat in hand, wiping his noble forehead, +under the shade of the oaks, Rufe addressed him.</p> + +<p>"We've got to have wood in the house; now <i>she</i>'s come, it won't do to +get it by little driblets, and have her waiting for it and worrying +about it. I'll saw it, if you'll only set the saw; you know how, and I +don't; we'll do the hard work if you'll furnish a little of your skill."</p> + +<p>Rufe knew how to appeal to the paternal vanity. The idea of furnishing, +not labor, but skill, flattered my lord.</p> + +<p>"Ah! let me look at the saw. And bring me the file. And set out the +shave-horse. I'll show you how the thing is done."</p> + +<p>When Link, who in the mean while had been dressing the prairie chickens +behind the house, came round and saw his pompous papa sitting under an +oak-tree, astride the "shave-horse," filing away at the saw held in its +clumsy jaws, and Wad turning the grindstone close by, while Rufe held on +the axe, he ran into the house laughing.</p> + +<p>"Mother! just look out there! Father and Rufe and Wad all at work at +once! Guess the world's coming to an end!"</p> + +<p>"I hope some of our troubles are coming to an end," sighed poor Mrs. +Betterson, who sat nursing her babe with a bottle. "It's all owing to +<i>her</i>. A new broom sweeps clean. She brings a very good influence; but I +can't hope it will last."</p> + +<p>"O mother!" said Cecie, from her lounge, "don't say that. I am sure it +will last; she is so good! You'll do all you can for her, won't you, +Link?"</p> + +<p>"I bet!" was Link's laconic response. "If <i>they</i> only will, too, for +there ain't much fun in doing chores while father and Rufe and Wad are +just loafing round."</p> + +<p>He hastened to Vinnie with his chickens.</p> + +<p>"Just look out there once! All at it! Ain't it fun?"</p> + +<p>It was fun to Vinnie, indeed.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h2> + +<h3>LINK'S WOOD-PILE.</h3> + + +<p>The dinner, though late that day, was unusually sumptuous, and Betterson +and his boys brought to it keen appetites from their work. Vinnie's +cooking received merited praise, and the most cordial good-will +prevailed. Even little Chokie, soiling face and fingers with a +"drum-stick" he was gnawing, lisped out his commendation of the repast.</p> + +<p>"I wish Aunt Vinnie would be here forever, and div us dood victuals."</p> + +<p>"I second the motion!" cried Link, sucking a "wish-bone," and then +setting it astride his nose,—"to dry," as he said.</p> + +<p>"One would think we never had anything fit to eat before," said Mrs. +Betterson; while my lord looked flushed and frowning over his frayed +stock.</p> + +<p>"You know, mother," said Lill, "I never could cook prairie chickens. And +you haven't been well enough to, since the boys began to shoot them."</p> + +<p>"Lincoln," said Mrs. Betterson, "remove that unsightly object from your +nose! Have you forgotten your manners?"</p> + +<p>"He never had any!" exclaimed Rufe, snatching the wish-bone from its +perch.</p> + +<p>"Here! give that back! I'm going to keep it, and wish with Cecie bimeby, +and we're both going to wish that Aunt Vinnie had come here a year +ago—that is—I mean—pshaw!" said Link, whose ideas were getting rather +mixed.</p> + +<p>Poor Mrs. Betterson complained a great deal to her sister that afternoon +of the impossibility of keeping up the style and manners of the family +in that new country.</p> + +<p>Vinnie—who sat holding the baby by Cecie's lounge—asked why the family +had chosen that new country.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Betterson had been unfortunate in business at the East, and it was +thought best that he should try Illinois," was Caroline's way of stating +that after her husband had run through two small fortunes which had +fallen to him, and exhausted the patience of relatives upon whom he was +constantly calling for help, a wealthy uncle had purchased this farm for +him, and placed him on it to be rid of him.</p> + +<p>"I should think you might sell the farm and move away," said Vinnie.</p> + +<p>"There are certain obstacles," replied Caroline; the said uncle, knowing +that Lord could not keep property from flying away, having shrewdly tied +this down by means of a mortgage.</p> + +<p>"One thing," Caroline continued, "I have always regretted. A +considerable sum of money fell to Mr. Betterson after we came here; and +he—wisely, we thought at the time, but unfortunately, as it +proved—put it into this house. We expected to have a large part of it +left; but the cost of building was such that all was absorbed before the +house was finished."</p> + +<p>Such was Caroline's account of the manner in which the "castle" came to +be built. Vinnie was amazed at the foolish vanity and improvidence of +the lord of it; but she only said,—</p> + +<p>"There seems to be a great deal of unused room in the house; I should +think you might let that, and a part of the farm, to another family."</p> + +<p>Caroline smiled pityingly.</p> + +<p>"Lavinia dear, you don't understand. <i>We</i> could never think of taking +another family into <i>our</i> house, for the sake of <i>money</i>! though it +might be well to let the farm. Besides, there is really one more in the +family than you see. I think I haven't yet spoken to you of +Radcliff,—my husband's nephew."</p> + +<p>"You mentioned such a person in your letter to me," replied Vinnie.</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes; when I was giving some of the reasons why we had never had you +come and live with us. Well off as we were at one time,—and are now in +prospect, if not in actual appearance,—we could not very well take you +as a child into our family, if we took Radcliff. He was early left an +orphan, and it was thought best by the connections that he should be +brought up by my husband. I assure you, Lavinia, that nobody but a +Betterson should ever have been allowed to take your place in <i>our</i> +family."</p> + +<p>Vinnie pictured to herself a youth of precious qualities and great +promise, and asked,—</p> + +<p>"Where is Radcliff now?"</p> + +<p>"He is not with us just at present. He is of age, and his own master; +and though we make a home for him, he's away a good deal."</p> + +<p>"What is his business?"</p> + +<p>"He has no fixed pursuit. He is, in short, a gentleman at large."</p> + +<p>"What supports him?"</p> + +<p>"He receives a limited allowance from our relatives on the Betterson +side," said Caroline, pleased with the interest her sister seemed to +take in the illustrious youth. "He is not so stylish a man as my +husband, by any means; my husband is a Betterson of the Bettersons. But +Radcliff has <i>the blood</i>, and is <i>very</i> aristocratic in his tastes."</p> + +<p>Caroline enlarged upon this delightful theme, until Cecie (who seemed to +weary of it) exclaimed,—</p> + +<p>"O mother, do see how Aunt Vinnie soothes the baby!"</p> + +<p>Indeed, it seemed as if the puny thing must have felt the flood of +warmth and love from Vinnie's heart bathing its little life.</p> + +<p>That afternoon Rufe and Wad sawed and split the wood, and Link (with +Chokie's powerful assistance) carried it into an unfinished room behind +the kitchen,—sometimes called the "back-room," and sometimes the +"lumber-room,"—and corded it up against the wall. An imposing pile it +was, of which the young architect was justly proud, no such sight ever +having been seen in that house before.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="i013" id="i013"></a> +<img src="images/i013.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>LINK'S WOOD-PILE.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Every ten or fifteen minutes he called Vinnie or Lill to see how the +pile grew; and at last he insisted on bringing Cecie, and letting her be +astonished.</p> + +<p>Cecie was only too glad of any little diversion. She could walk with a +good deal of assistance; Vinnie almost lifted the poor girl in her +loving arms; Link supported her on the other side; and so they bore her +to the back-room, where she leaned affectionately on Vinnie, while Link +stood aside and pointed proudly at his wood-pile.</p> + +<p>"We never could get him to bring in a stick of wood before, without +teasing or scolding him," said Lill.</p> + +<p>"This is different; there's some fun in this," said Link. "Rufe and Wad +have been at work like sixty; and we wanted to see how big a pile we +could make."</p> + +<p>All praised the performance; and Mrs. Betterson so far forgot herself as +to say she felt rich now, with so much nice, dry, split wood in the +house.</p> + +<p>"But what a remark," she added immediately, turning to Vinnie, "for one +of <i>our</i> family to make!"</p> + +<p>"I was never so proud of my brothers!" said Cecie. "If I was only well +enough, how I should like to help pile up that wood!"</p> + +<p>"Dear Cecie!" cried Vinnie, embracing her, "I wish you <i>were</i> well +enough! And I hope you will be some time."</p> + +<p>The wood was all disposed of that afternoon, and the boys concluded that +they had had a pretty good time over it.</p> + +<p>"Now we can loaf for a whole week, and make a business of it," said Wad.</p> + +<p>"There's one more job that ought to be done," said Rufe. "That +potato-patch. We can't keep the pigs out of it, and it's time the +potatoes were dug."</p> + +<p>"I s'pose so," said Wad. "Wish we had a hired man."</p> + +<p>"It isn't much of a job," said Rufe. "And we don't want to be seen +loafing round, now <i>she's</i> here."</p> + +<p>"We can go up in the woods and loaf," said Wad.</p> + +<p>"Don't talk silly," said Rufe. "Come, I'll go at the potatoes to-morrow, +if you will. We'll dig, and make Link pick 'em up."</p> + +<p>"I was going to shoot some more prairie chickens to-morrow. We've no +other meat for dinner."</p> + +<p>"We'll get father to shoot them. Come, Wad, what do you say?"</p> + +<p>Wad declined to commit himself to an enterprise requiring so large an +outlay of bone and muscle. All Rufe could get from him was a promise to +"sleep on the potatoes" and say what he thought of them in morning.</p> + +<p>The next morning accordingly, before the cattle were turned out of the +yard, Rufe said,—</p> + +<p>"Shall we yoke up the steers and take the wagon down into the +potato-patch? We can be as long as we please filling it."</p> + +<p>"Yes, we may as well take it down there and leave it," Wad assented; and +the steers were yoked accordingly.</p> + +<p>Lord Betterson was not surprised to see the wagon go to the +potato-patch, where he thought it might as well stay during the rest of +the season, as anywhere else. But he <i>was</i> surprised afterward to see +the three boys—or perhaps we should say four, for Chokie was of the +party—start off with their hoes and baskets.</p> + +<p>"We are going to let <i>you</i> shoot the prairie chickens this forenoon," +said Rufe. "You'll find the gun and ammunition all ready, in the +back-room. We are going at the potatoes."</p> + +<p>Link went ahead and pulled the tops, and afterward picked up the +potatoes, filling the baskets, which his brothers helped him carry off +and empty into the wagon-box; while Chokie dug holes in the black loam +to his heart's content.</p> + +<p>"We might have had a noble crop here," said Rufe, "if it hadn't been for +the weeds and pigs. Wad, we mustn't let the weeds get the start of us so +another year. And we'll do some repairs on the fences this fall. I'm +ashamed of 'em!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX.</h2> + +<h3>MORE WATER THAN THEY WANTED.</h3> + + +<p>A doctor from North Mills came once a week to visit Cecie and the sick +mother and baby. One afternoon he brought in his chaise a saddle and +bridle, which he said a young fellow would call for in a day or two. The +boys laughed as they put the saddle away; they knew who the young fellow +was, and they hoped he would have a chance to use it.</p> + +<p>Snowfoot's week was up the next forenoon; and at about ten o'clock Jack, +accompanied by Lion, and carrying a double-barrelled fowling-piece, with +which he had shot a brace of prairie hens by the way, walked into the +Betterson door-yard.</p> + +<p>He found the boys at the lower end of the house, with the steers and +wagon.</p> + +<p>"What's the news?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"The news with us is, that we're out of rainwater," Rufe replied.</p> + +<p>"I should think so," said Jack, looking into a dry hogshead which stood +under the eaves-spout.</p> + +<p>"It's too much of a bother to bring all our water by the pailful. So we +are going to fill these things at the river and make the steers haul +'em."</p> + +<p>There were three wash-tubs and a barrel, which the boys were putting up +on the bottom boards of the wagon-box, from which the sides had been +removed.</p> + +<p>Jack was pleased with this appearance of enterprise; he also noticed +with satisfaction that the yard had been cleared up since he last saw +it.</p> + +<p>He asked about Vinnie, and learned from the looks and answers the boys +gave him that she was popular.</p> + +<p>"Your saddle came yesterday," said Wad; "so I s'pose you expect to ride +home."</p> + +<p>"I feel rather inclined that way. How is our friend Peakslow?"</p> + +<p>"Don't know; he went to Chicago, and he hasn't got back."</p> + +<p>"Hasn't got back!" said Jack, astonished. "That's mean business!"</p> + +<p>He smothered his vexation, however, and told the boys that he would go +with them to the river, after he had spoken with Vinnie.</p> + +<p>Entering the house, he was still more surprised at the changes which had +taken place since his last visit.</p> + +<p>"Her coming has been the greatest blessing!" said Caroline, detaining +him in the sitting-room. "We are all better,—the doctor noticed it +yesterday; Cecie and baby and I are all better. Lavinia dear will see +you presently; I think she is just taking some bread out of the oven."</p> + +<p>"Let me go into the kitchen—she won't mind me," said Jack.</p> + +<p>Vinnie, rosy-red from her baking, met him at the door. He had been very +anxious about her since he left her there; but a glance showed him that +all had gone well.</p> + +<p>"You have survived!" he said.</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed!" she replied. "I told you I would make things pleasant +here."</p> + +<p>"The boys like you, I see."</p> + +<p>"And I like them. They do all they can for me. Rufus even helped me +about the washing,—pounded and wrung out the clothes. You must stay to +dinner to-day."</p> + +<p>"I think I may have to," said Jack; "for my horse hasn't come back from +Chicago yet, and I don't mean to go home without him."</p> + +<p>When he went out he found the boys waiting, and accepted a seat with +Wad and Link on a board placed across two of the tubs. Rufe walked by +the cattle's horns; while in the third tub sat Chokie.</p> + +<p>"You can't sit in that tub going back, you know," said Link.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I can! I will!" And Chokie clung fast to the handles.</p> + +<p>"O, well, you can if you want to, I suppose!" said Link; "but it will be +full of water."</p> + +<p>They passed the potato-patch (Jack smiled to see that the potatoes had +been dug), crossed a strip of meadow-land below, and then rounded a bend +in the river, in the direction of a deep place the boys knew.</p> + +<p>"I always hate to ride after oxen,—they go so tormented slow!" said +Link. "Why don't somebody invent a wagon to go by steam?"</p> + +<p>"Did you ever see a wagon go by water?" Jack asked.</p> + +<p>"No, nor anybody else!"</p> + +<p>"I have," said Jack. "I know a man in this county who has one."</p> + +<p>"What man? I'd go five miles to see one!"</p> + +<p>"You can see one without going so far. The man is your father, and this +is the wagon. It is going by water now."</p> + +<p>"By water—yes! By the river!" said Link, amused and vexed.</p> + +<p>"Link," said Jack, "do you remember that little joke of yours about the +boys stopping the leak in the boat? Well, we are even now."</p> + +<p>Rufe backed the hind-wheels of the wagon into the river, over the deep +place, and asked Wad which he would do,—dip the water and pass it up by +the pailful, or stay in the wagon and receive it.</p> + +<p>"Whoever dips it up has to stand in the river above his knees," said +Wad; "and I don't mean to get wet to-day."</p> + +<p>"Very well; stay in the wagon, then. You'll get as wet as I shall; for +I'm going to pull off my shoes and roll up my trousers. Chokie, you keep +in that tub, just where you are, till the tub is wanted. Link, you'd +better go into the river with me, and dip the pails, while I pass 'em up +to Wad."</p> + +<p>"I never can keep my trousers-legs rolled up, and I ain't going to get +wet," said Link. Then, whispering to Jack: "There's leeches in this +river; they get right into a fellow's flesh and suck his blood like +sixty."</p> + +<p>Wad proposed to begin with the barrel, and to have Link stand at the end +of the wagon, receive the pails, pass them to him, and pass them back to +Rufe empty.</p> + +<p>"Why not move the barrel to the end of the wagon, and fill it about two +thirds full, and then move it back again? I'll help you do that," said +Link.</p> + +<p>"All right; I'll fill the barrel and one of the tubs; then you shall +fill the other two tubs."</p> + +<p>Link agreed to this; while Jack smiled to hear so much talk about doing +so small a thing.</p> + +<p>Rufe went in bare-legged, and stood on the edge of the deep hole, where +the water was hardly up to his knees. Much as he disliked, ordinarily, +to set about any work, he was strong and active when once roused; and +the pails of water went up on the wagon about as fast as Wad cared to +take them.</p> + +<p>"Hullo! Don't slop so! You're wetting my feet!" cried Wad.</p> + +<p>"I can't keep from spilling a drop once in a while. You might have taken +off your shoes and rolled up your trousers as I did."</p> + +<p>The barrel was soon two thirds full, and Wad called upon Link to help +him move it forward. Link left his seat by Jack's side, and walked back +to the rear of the wagon. Wad, as we know, was already there. So was the +barrel of water, standing just back of the rear axletree. So also was a +fresh pail of water, which Rufe had placed at the extreme end, because +Wad was not ready to take it.</p> + +<p>At that moment the oxen, hungry for fresh grass, and having nipped all +within reach of their noses, started up a little. Jack, thinking to +prevent mischief by running to their heads, leaped from the front of the +wagon.</p> + +<p>This abrupt removal of weight from one end, and large increase of +avoirdupois at the other, produced a natural but very surprising result. +Chokie in his tub, though at the long end of the beam, so to speak (the +rear axletree being the fulcrum), was not heavy enough to counterbalance +two brothers and a barrel of water at the short end.</p> + +<p>He suddenly felt himself rising in the air, and sliding with the empty +tubs. His brothers at the same moment felt themselves sinking and +pitching. There was a chorus of shrieks, as they made a desperate effort +to save themselves. Too late; the wagon-bottom reared, and away went +barrel, boys, tubs, everything.</p> + +<p>The oxen, starting at the alarm, helped to precipitate the catastrophe. +Fortunately, Jack was at hand to stop them, or the dismantled wagon +might have gone flying across the lot, even fast enough to suit Link's +notion of speed.</p> + +<p>Rufe made one quick effort to prevent the boards from tipping up, then +leaped aside, while the discharged load shot past him.</p> + +<p>Chokie, screaming, held fast to the sides of his tub with both hands. +Wad, intending to jump, plunged into the deepest part of the river. Link +made a snatch at the barrel, and, playing at leap-frog over it (very +unwillingly), went headlong into the deep hole.</p> + +<p>Chokie met with a wonderfully good fortune; his tub was launched so +neatly, and ballasted so nicely by him sitting in the bottom, that it +shipped but a splash of water, and he floated away, unhurt and scarcely +wet at all, amidst the general ruin.</p> + +<p>The wagon-boards, relieved of their load, tumbled back upon the wheels. +To add to the confusion, Lion barked furiously.</p> + +<p>Jack, frightened at first, finally began to laugh, when he saw Chokie +sailing away, under full scream, and Wad and Link scrambling out of the +water.</p> + +<p>"So you were the fellows that were not going to get wet!" cried Rufe. +"Pick out your barrel and empty tubs, while I catch Chokie!"</p> + +<p>The river, even in the deepest place, was not very deep; and Wad and +Link came wading out, blowing water from their mouths, flirting water +from their hair, and shaking water from their rescued hats, in a way +that made Rufe (after he had stranded Chokie in his tub) roll upon the +grass in convulsions.</p> + +<p>"Laugh, then!" cried Wad in a rage; "I'll give you something to laugh +at!" And, catching up a tub partly filled with water, he rushed with it +to take wet vengeance on his dry brother.</p> + +<p>Before Rufe, helpless with laughter, could move to defend himself, tub, +water, and Wad, all together, were upon him,—the tub capsizing over his +head and shoulders, Wad tumbling upon the tub, and the water running out +in little rivulets below.</p> + +<p>Rufe was pretty wet, but still laughing, when he crawled out, like a +snail from under his shell, and got upon his feet, clutching the tub to +hurl it at Wad, who fled.</p> + +<p>"You are the only one who has got any dry fun out of this scrape!" Rufe +said, trying to brush the water out of his neck and breast.</p> + +<p>His words were addressed to Jack, and they proved more strictly true +than he intended; for just then Chokie, trying to get out of his +stranded tub, tipped it over, and went out of it, upon his hands and +knees, into the river. By the time he was pulled out and set upon dry +ground, the boys were all pretty good-natured.</p> + +<p>"How about those leeches, Link? Did you find any?" said Jack.</p> + +<p>"I'm too dizzy yet, to think about leeches," replied Link. "I turned a +somerset out of that wagon so quick, I could see the patch on the seat +of my trousers!"</p> + +<p>"I thought I was going through to China," said Wad, "and expected, when +I came up, to see men with pigtails."</p> + +<p>He stood on the edge of the water, holding another tub for Rufe, if he +should come too near.</p> + +<p>"Quit your nonsense now!" cried Rufe, "and hand up that barrel."</p> + +<p>"I'll quit if you will,—as the poultry-thief said when the old gobbler +chased him. 'Quit, quit!' says the turkey. 'Quit your ownself!' says the +thief. And I'm just of his way of thinking," said Wad.</p> + +<p>"Well! help me put this wagon into shape," said Rufe. "Then we'll fill +our tubs and barrel without any more fooling."</p> + +<p>The wagon-boards were replaced and loaded without any further accident. +The well-filled tubs were set one upon another, and Wad stood holding +them; while Link, having placed the board seat over the barrel of water, +sat upon it. They found it a pretty sloppy ride; but they could laugh +defiance at a little water now. Chokie, it need hardly be said, did not +ride in a tub of water, but walked between Jack and Rufe beside the +oxen.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI.</h2> + +<h3>PEAKSLOW SHOWS HIS HAND.</h3> + + +<p>"Hullo!" cried Link from his perch, as the wagon passed the +potato-patch, "there comes Peakslow down the road through the +woods,—just turning the corner for home!"</p> + +<p>Jack started with sudden excitement.</p> + +<p>"Can you see his team?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; one of the horses looks like yours; and he has an extra horse led +behind."</p> + +<p>Jack ran up to the road to get a look, and came laughing back to the +house, where the boys and their load of water had by that time arrived.</p> + +<p>"He is driving my horse, and leading one of his own. I am going to get +my bridle, and call on him."</p> + +<p>"You'll come back to dinner?" said Rufe.</p> + +<p>"Yes, if you'll have my prairie chickens cooked."</p> + +<p>And, leaving the boys to astonish the family with their wet clothes, +Jack, with the bridle on his arm, walked down the road.</p> + +<p>Just as he was entering Peakslow's yard, he met Mr. Wiggett coming out +with his arms full of brown-paper parcels.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Wiggett! glad to see you!"</p> + +<p>"Same to yourself," replied the old man. "Got my arms full o' this yer +stuff, or I'd shake hands. I've a lot more o' comforts for wife and +young uns in the wagon; but I thought I'd lug along suthin, or they +wouldn't be glad to see me."</p> + +<p>"Is it all right about the horse?"</p> + +<p>"I 'low it's all right."</p> + +<p>"Is Peakslow up to any trick?"</p> + +<p>"Nary, as I kin diskiver; and I pumped him, tew, right smart, a-comin' +over the perairie."</p> + +<p>"Did he have much trouble getting back his horse?"</p> + +<p>"Not sich a dog-goned sight. Truckman's a straightfor'ard, honest chap. +Says he guv eighty dollars for your hoss; thinks he had him of the thief +himself; and 'lows he knows the rascal. He stuck out a little at fust, +and you should 'a' heard Peakslow talk tew him! 'Twas ekal to gwine to +preachin'."</p> + +<p>"What did he say?"</p> + +<p>"Said none but a fool or a scoundrel would ca'c'late he could hang ontew +a piece o' prop'ty that had been stole, or traded for what had been +stole. Talked, of course, just t' other way from what he did when he +talked to you. Truckman didn't mind his gab, but when he was satisfied +the hoss he put away had been stole, he guv up Peakslow's, and the +fifteen dollars to boot. Now, how in the name of seven kingdoms +Peakslow's gwine to turn it about to make anything more, beats all my +understandin'!"</p> + +<p>Jack thanked the old man warmly for the interest he had taken in the +affair, and asked how he could pay him for his trouble.</p> + +<p>"I haven't looked for no pay," replied the old man. "But one thing I +should like to have ye dew for me, if ever ye come my way agin with yer +compass. My woman guv me right smart of her jaw for forgittin' it when +ye was thar before. She wants a noon-mark on our kitchen floor."</p> + +<p>"All right," said Jack. "She shall have it."</p> + +<p>The old man went on with his bundles, while Jack entered Peakslow's +yard.</p> + +<p>Peakslow, who was unharnessing his team, with the help of two stout +boys, looked up and said, in a tone which he meant should be +friendly,——</p> + +<p>"How are ye? On hand, I see," with a grim smile at the bridle.</p> + +<p>"I was on hand a little before you were," replied Jack. "Your week was +up an hour ago. Though I don't care about that. You've got your horse, I +see."</p> + +<p>"That's the main thing I went for; course I've got him. Here's a paper, +with the truckman's name wrote on 't; he wants you to come and see him +when you go to town, pervided he don't come to see you fust."</p> + +<p>"Did he say anything about a bridle and a blanket that were on the horse +when he was stolen?"</p> + +<p>"He's got 'em," Peakslow coolly replied; "but as no reward was offered +for anything but the hoss, I didn't take 'em."</p> + +<p>Jack didn't quite see the logic of this remark.</p> + +<p>"Never mind; they are trifles," he said. "It's glory enough for one +while, to get my horse again. I've a bridle here for him; I'll slip it +on, Zeph, if you'll slip yours off."</p> + +<p>"You can slip your bridle on that hoss, and take him away, when you've +fulfilled the conditions; not before," said Peakslow.</p> + +<p>"What conditions? You don't pretend to claim my horse now you've got +your own back?"</p> + +<p>"I've got a claim on him," Peakslow replied. "Here's your own handbill +for it. Twenty Dollars Reward! I've got back your hoss for ye, and I +demand the reward."</p> + +<p>This, then, after all, was the quirk in Peakslow's head. The boys +grinned. Jack was astounded.</p> + +<p>"Peakslow," he exclaimed indignantly, "you know that's an absurd claim! +You didn't find my horse and deliver him to me; I found him in your +hands, and you even refused to give him up! The truckman has a better +claim for the reward than you have, for he had him first; and then I +don't see but the thief himself has a prior claim to either."</p> + +<p>"You talk like a fool!" said Peakslow.</p> + +<p>"You <i>act</i> like a fool and a knave!" Jack retorted, in a sudden blaze. +"I won't have any more words with you. Sue for the reward, if you think +you can get it. I'm just going to take my horse!"</p> + +<p>"Not till the reward is paid, if I live!" said Peakslow, his black eyes +sparkling. "Zeph, step and hand out the old gun!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII.</h2> + +<h3>THE WOODLAND SPRING.</h3> + + +<p>Very pale, with the bridle dangling from his arm, and Lion walking +dejectedly by his side (the sympathetic dog always knew when his master +was in trouble), Jack returned to the "castle."</p> + +<p>Lord Betterson, meeting him in the door-yard, touched his hat and bowed.</p> + +<p>"Where—is—your—quadruped?" he asked, with a cool, deliberate +politeness, which fell upon Jack's mood like drops of water on red-hot +steel.</p> + +<p>"That villain! he claims the reward for him! But I never'll pay it in +the world!"</p> + +<p>Betterson smiled and said, "Ah! Peakslow! Highly characteristic!"</p> + +<p>"He threatened to shoot me!"</p> + +<p>"Very likely. He has threatened to shoot <i>me</i>, on one or two occasions. +I said, 'Shoot!'" (Jack wondered whether he said it with that +condescending smile and gracious gesture.) "It isn't agreeable to have +dealings with a person who talks of shooting his fellow-men; but I +imagine there's no danger, if you keep cool."</p> + +<p>"I couldn't keep cool," said Jack. "I got as mad as he was. I could have +shot <i>him</i>."</p> + +<p>"That, my friend," Lord Betterson replied, with a wave of the hand, "was +an error,—quite natural, but still an error. You stay to dinner?"</p> + +<p>"Thank you, I have promised myself that pleasure."</p> + +<p>Jack was ashamed of having given way to his anger; and he determined +from that moment, whatever happened, to keep calm.</p> + +<p>As he threw his useless bridle down, and left Lion to guard it, he saw +Wad starting off with a pail, and asked where he was going.</p> + +<p>"For water," said Wad.</p> + +<p>"More water? I should think you all had enough for one day!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, for the outer man," drawled Wad. "Where's your horse?"</p> + +<p>"I concluded to let Peakslow keep him a little longer. He seemed willing +to; and I am not ready to ride home. May I go with you?"</p> + +<p>"Glad to have ye," said Wad.</p> + +<p>They walked a little way along the road toward Peakslow's house, then +entered the woodland, descended into a little ravine, and, on the slope +beyond, found a spring of running water in the shade of an oak grove.</p> + +<p>Jack was not inclined to talk of Snowfoot, but he had a good deal to say +about the spring.</p> + +<p>"Why, this is charming! What a clear basin of water! Is it always +running over?"</p> + +<p>"Always, even in the driest season. We first noticed that little stream +trickling down into the ravine; and that's about all there was to be +seen, till Rufe and I hollowed out this basin."</p> + +<p>"Why don't you come here with your wagon and tubs, instead of going to +the river?"</p> + +<p>"There's no good way to get in here with a wagon; and, besides, we can't +dip up more than two or three pailfuls at a time,—then we must wait for +the spring to fill."</p> + +<p>"You could sink a barrel," said Jack, "and always have that full, to +start upon. Now dip your pail, and let's see how long it takes for the +basin to fill."</p> + +<p>The experiment was tried, and Jack grew quite enthusiastic over the +result.</p> + +<p>"See! how fast the water comes in! I say, Wad, you've got something +valuable here."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Wad. "I only wish the house had been built somewhere near. +This is part of the land Peakslow pretended to claim. The swing, where +Cecie got hurt, is in the grove, just up here."</p> + +<p>The place was so cool and pleasant that Jack let Wad return alone with +the water, and walked about the spring and the swing, and up into the +woods beyond, calming his inward excitement, until dinner-time.</p> + +<p>At table he gave a humorous account of his late interview with Peakslow.</p> + +<p>"He was so very cordial in his request that I should leave Snowfoot, +that I couldn't well refuse,—though I <i>did</i> decline to trouble him, +till he brought out a double-barrelled argument,—stub twist, percussion +lock,—which finally persuaded me. He is one of the most urgent men I +ever saw," added Jack, mashing his potato.</p> + +<p>Vinnie smiled, while the others laughed; but her eyes were full of +anxiety, as they beamed on Jack.</p> + +<p>"Isn't it possible," she said, "to meet such arguments with kindness? I +didn't think there was a man so bad that he couldn't be influenced by +reason and good-will."</p> + +<p>"It might rain reasons on Peakslow, forty days and forty nights,—he +would shed 'em, as a duck does water," Jack replied. "Isn't it so, Mr. +Betterson?"</p> + +<p>"I have certainly found him impervious," said my lord.</p> + +<p>"I might have stopped to argue with him, and threaten him with the law +and costs of court, and perhaps have settled the matter for five or ten +dollars. But the truth is," Jack confessed, "I lost patience and temper. +I am not going to have any more words with him. Now let's drop Peakslow, +and speak of something more important. That spring over in your woods, +Mr. Betterson,—I've been looking at it. Is it soft water?" (Jack lifted +a glass and sipped it;) "as good for washing as it is for the table?"</p> + +<p>"It is excellent water for any purpose," said Mr. Betterson. "There is +only one fault in that spring,—it is too far off."</p> + +<p>"We are going to move the house up there, so as to have it handy," said +Link.</p> + +<p>"That is one of my young friend's jokes," said Jack. "But, seriously, +Mr. Betterson, instead of moving the house to the spring, why don't you +bring the spring to the house?"</p> + +<p>"How do you mean? It doesn't seem quite—ah—practicable, to move a +spring that way."</p> + +<p>"I don't mean the spring itself, of course, but the water. You might +have that running, a constant stream, in your kitchen or back-room."</p> + +<p>"I apprehend your drift," said Betterson, helping Jack to a piece of +prairie chicken. "You mean, bring it in pipes."</p> + +<p>"Thank you. Precisely."</p> + +<p>"But I apprehend a difficulty; it is not easy to make water run up +hill."</p> + +<p>Jack smiled, and blushed a little, at Betterson's polite condescension +in making this mild objection.</p> + +<p>"Water running down hill may force itself up another hill, if confined +in pipes, I think you will concede."</p> + +<p>"Most assuredly. But it will not rise again higher than its source. And +the spring is lower than we are,—lower than our kitchen sink."</p> + +<p>"I don't quite see that," replied Jack, with the air of a candid +inquirer. "I have been over the ground, and it didn't strike <i>me</i> so."</p> + +<p>"It certainly looks to be several feet lower," said Betterson; and the +boys agreed with him.</p> + +<p>"We generally speak of going <i>down</i> to the spring," said Rufe. "We go +down the road, then down the bank of the ravine, and then a little way +up the other bank. I don't know how we can tell just how much lower it +is. We can't see the spring from the house."</p> + +<p>"If I had my instruments here, I could tell you which is lower, and how +much lower, pretty soon. While I am waiting for Snowfoot, (I can't go +home, you know, without Snowfoot!) I may, perhaps, do a bit of +engineering, as it is."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2> + +<h3>JACK'S "BIT OF ENGINEERING."</h3> + + +<p>The boys got around Jack after dinner, and asked him about that bit of +engineering.</p> + +<p>"In the first place," said Jack, standing outside the door, and looking +over toward the spring, hidden by intervening bushes on a ridge, "we +must have a water-level, and I think I can make one. Get me a piece of +shingle, or any thin strip of wood. And I shall want a pail of water."</p> + +<p>A shingle brought, Jack cut it so that it would float freely in the +pail; and, having taken two thin strips of equal length from the sides, +he set them up near each end, like the masts of a boy's boat.</p> + +<p>"Now, this is our level," he said; "and these masts are the sights. To +see that they are exact, we will look across them at some object, then +turn the level end for end, and look across them again; if the range is +the same both ways, then our sights are right, are they not? But I see +we must lay a couple of sticks across the pail, to hold our level still +while we are using it."</p> + +<p>The boys were much interested; and Link said he didn't see what anybody +wanted of a better level than that.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="i014" id="i014"></a> +<img src="images/i014.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>TESTING THE LEVEL.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"It will do for the use we are going to make of it," said Jack; "but it +might not be quite convenient for field service; you couldn't carry a +pail of water, and a floating shingle with two masts, in your +overcoat-pocket, you know. We'll aim at a leg of that grindstone. Go and +stick your knife where I tell you, Link."</p> + +<p>Jack soon got his level so that it would stand the test, and called the +boys to look.</p> + +<p>"Here! you stand back, Chokie!" cried Link; while Rufe and Wad, one +after the other, got down on the ground and sighted across the level at +the knife-blade.</p> + +<p>"Now," Jack explained, "I am going to set this pail of water in your +kitchen window, by the sink. That will be our starting-point. Then I +want one of you boys to go, with a long-handled pitchfork, in the +direction of the spring, as far as you can and keep the pail in sight; +then set up your fork, and pin a piece of white paper on it just where I +tell you. As I raise my hand, you will slide the paper up; and, as I +lower my hand, you will slip it down."</p> + +<p>Wad and Link both went with the fork, which they set up on the borders +of the woodland, back from the road. Then Wad, wrapping a piece of +newspaper about the handle, held it there as high as his head, with a +good strip of it visible above his hand.</p> + +<p>Jack, standing in the kitchen, looked across the sights of his level +placed in the open window, and laughed.</p> + +<p>"What do you think, Rufe? Is the paper high enough?"</p> + +<p>"It ought to be a foot or two higher," was Rufe's judgment.</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> say <i>a foot</i> higher," remarked Lord Betterson, coming up behind.</p> + +<p>"What do you say, Vinnie?"</p> + +<p>"I think the paper is too high."</p> + +<p>"Now look across the level," said Jack.</p> + +<p>All were astonished; and Lord Betterson could hardly be convinced that +the level was constructed on sound principles. It showed that the top of +the paper should be just below Wad's knee.</p> + +<p>"Now we will take our level," said Jack, after the paper was pinned in +its proper place, "and go forward and make another observation."</p> + +<p>He chose a place at the top of the ridge beyond Wad, where, after +cutting a few bushes, he was able to look back and see the fork-handle, +and also to look forward and see the spring. There he set his pail on +the ground, waited for the water to become still, adjusted his level, +and caused a second strip of paper to be pinned to the fork-handle, in +range with the sights.</p> + +<p>The boys then gathered around the fork, while Jack, taking a pocket-rule +from his coat, ascertained that the second paper was six feet and an +inch above the first.</p> + +<p>"Which shows that our level is now six feet and an inch higher than it +stood on the kitchen window," said he. "Now let's see how much higher it +is than the spring."</p> + +<p>Link was already on his hands and knees by the pail, turning the sights +in range with the spring on the farther side of the little ravine. He +suddenly flapped his arms and crowed.</p> + +<p>"No need of setting the fork over there," he said. "The spring is +<i>almost</i> as high as the pail!"</p> + +<p>"Let's be exact," said Jack; and he went himself and thrust the fork, +handle downward, into the basin of the spring. "Now, Link, you be the +engineer; show your skill; tell me where to fix this paper."</p> + +<p>Link was delighted with the important part assigned him.</p> + +<p>"Higher!" he commanded, from behind the pail. "Not quite so high. Not +quite so low. Now just a millionth part of an inch higher—there!"</p> + +<p>"A millionth part of an inch is drawing it rather fine," said Jack, as +he pinned the paper.</p> + +<p>Afterward, going and looking across the level, he decided that Link had +taken a very accurate aim. Then, his pocket-measure being once more +applied, the paper was found to be only seven inches higher than the +water in the basin.</p> + +<p>"Seven inches from six feet one inch, leaves five feet six inches as the +height of the spring water above the level of our sights at the kitchen +window. Now, I measured, and found they were there thirteen inches +higher than the bottom of the sink; which shows that if you carry this +water in pipes, you can have your spout, or faucet, thirteen inches +higher than the bottom of your sink, and still have a head of water of +five feet and six inches, to give you a running stream."</p> + +<p>The boys were much astonished, and asked how it happened that they had +been so deceived.</p> + +<p>"You have unconsciously based all your calculations on the fact that you +go <i>down</i> to Peakslow's. The road falls a little all the way. But it +doesn't fall much between your house and the place where you turn into +the woodland. There you take a path among the bushes, which really rises +all the way, though quite gradually, until you pass the ridge and go +down into the ravine. Vinnie hasn't been accustomed to talk of going +down to the spring, as you have; and so, you see, she was the only one +who thought Wad at first placed his paper too high. Perhaps this doesn't +account for your mistake; but it is the best reason I can give."</p> + +<p>"How about the pipes?" Rufe asked.</p> + +<p>"You can use pump-logs for pipes."</p> + +<p>"But we have no pump-logs!"</p> + +<p>"You have enough to reach from here to North Mills and return. They are +growing all about you."</p> + +<p>"Trees!" said Wad. "They are not pump-logs."</p> + +<p>"Pump-logs in the rough," replied Jack. "They only need cutting, boring, +and jointing. All pump-logs were once trees. These small-sized oaks are +just the thing for the purpose; you have acres of them, and in places +the timber needs thinning out. You can use the straight stems for your +aqueduct, and the limbs and branches for firewood."</p> + +<p>"That's an idea!" said Rufe, rubbing his forehead and walking quickly +about. "But how are we going to turn our tree-trunks into pump-logs? We +have no tools for boring and jointing."</p> + +<p>"No, and it would cost a good deal to get them. You want an iron rod, or +auger-shaft, long enough to bore half-way through your longest log; then +a bit,—an inch bore would be large enough, but I suppose it would be +just as easy, perhaps easier, to make a two-inch bore,—the auger would +be more apt to get clogged and cramped in a smaller hole; then a reamer +and a circular joint-plane, to make your joints,—the taper end of one +log is to be fitted into the bore of the next, you know. You will also +need some apparatus for holding your log and directing the rod, so that +you sha'n't bore out, but make your holes meet in the middle, when you +bore from both ends; and I don't know what else. I've watched men boring +logs, but I don't remember all the particulars about it."</p> + +<p>"You seem to remember a good deal," said Wad. "And I like the idea of a +stream from this spring running in our back-room,—think of it, Rufe! +But it <i>can't be did</i>,—as the elephant said when he tried to climb a +tree. No tools, no money to buy or hire 'em, or to hire the work done."</p> + +<p>"You boys can do a good deal of the work yourselves," said Jack. "You +can cut the logs, and get them all ready for boring. Then you can get +the pump-maker at the Mills to come over with his tools and help you +bore them by hand; or you can haul your logs to him, and have them bored +by machinery,—he has a tread-mill, and a horse to turn it. In either +case, I've no doubt you could pay for his labor by furnishing logs for +his pumps."</p> + +<p>"I believe we can!" said Rufe, by this time quite warmed up to the +subject. "But how about laying the logs? They have to be put pretty deep +into the ground, don't they?"</p> + +<p>"Deep enough so that the water in them won't freeze. A trench four feet +deep will answer."</p> + +<p>"How wide?"</p> + +<p>"Just wide enough for a man to get into it and lay the logs and drive +the joints together. And, by the way, you'd better be sure that there +are no leaks, and that the water comes through all right, before you +cover your logs."</p> + +<p>"But there's work in digging such a trench as that!" said Wad, shaking +his head.</p> + +<p>"So there is work in everything useful that is ever accomplished. Often +the more work, the greater the satisfaction in the end. But you boys +have got it in you,—I see that; and, let me tell you," said Jack, "if I +were you, I would take hold of things on this place in downright +earnest, and make a farm and a home to be proud of."</p> + +<p>"I never could get in love with work," replied Wad. "I'm +<i>constitutionally tired</i>, as the lazy man said. The thought of that +trench makes my back ache."</p> + +<p>"It won't be such a back-aching job as you suppose. You've only to take +one stroke with a pick or shovel at a time. And as for that +constitutional weariness you complain of, now is the time in your lives +to get rid of it,—to work it out of your blood,—and lay the +foundations of your manhood."</p> + +<p>"I must say, you preach pretty well!" observed Wad.</p> + +<p>"I'm not much of a preacher," replied Jack; "but I can't help feeling a +good deal, and saying just a word, when I see young fellows like you +neglecting your opportunities."</p> + +<p>"If father and Rad would take hold with us, we would just straighten +things," said Rufe.</p> + +<p>"Don't wait for your father to set you an example," replied Jack. "I +don't know about Rad, though I've heard you speak of him."</p> + +<p>"Our cousin, Radcliff," said Rufe. "He's a smart fellow, in his way, but +he don't like work any better than we do, and he's off playing the +gentleman most of the time."</p> + +<p>"Or playing the loafer," said Wad.</p> + +<p>"Let him stay away," said Jack. "You'll do better without any gentlemen +loafers around."</p> + +<p>"Did <i>you</i> ever do much hard work?" Wad asked.</p> + +<p>"What do you think?" replied Jack, with a smile.</p> + +<p>"I think you've seen something of the world."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and I've had my way to make in it. I was brought up on the Erie +Canal,—a driver, ignorant, ragged, saucy; you wouldn't believe me if I +should tell you what a little wretch I was. All the education I have, I +have gained by hard study, mostly at odd spells, in the last three +years. I had got a chance to work on a farm, and go to school in winter; +then I took to surveying, and came out here to be with Mr. Felton. So, +you see, I must have done something besides loafing; and if I talk work +to you I have earned the right to."</p> + +<p>"I say, boys!" cried Link, "le's put this thing through, and have the +water running in the house."</p> + +<p>"It will do for you to talk," said Wad; "mighty little of the work +you'll do."</p> + +<p>"You'll see, Wad Betterson! Hain't I worked the past week as hard as +either of you?"</p> + +<p>"This thing isn't to be pitched into in a hurry," said Rufe, more +excited than he wished to appear. "We shall have to look it all over, +and talk with the pump-maker, and do up some of the farm-work that is +behindhand."</p> + +<p>"Why don't you take the farm of your father," said Jack, "and see what +you can make out of it? I never knew what it was to be really interested +in work till I took some land with another boy, and we raised a crop on +our own account."</p> + +<p>Rufe brightened at the idea; but Wad said he wasn't going to be a +farmer, anyway.</p> + +<p>"What are you going to be?"</p> + +<p>"I haven't made up my mind yet."</p> + +<p>"Till you do make up your mind, my advice is for you to take hold of +what first comes to your hand, do that well, and prepare yourself for +something more to your liking."</p> + +<p>"I believe that's good advice," said Rufe. "But it is going to be hard +for us to get out of the old ruts."</p> + +<p>"I know it; and so much the more credit you will have when you succeed."</p> + +<p>Jack moved away.</p> + +<p>"Where are you going now?" Rufe asked.</p> + +<p>"To reconnoitre a little, and see what Peakslow has done with my horse. +I ride that horse home, you understand!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2> + +<h3>PREPARING FOR THE ATTACK.</h3> + + +<p>The boys showed Jack a way through the timber to a wooded hill opposite +Peakslow's house. There Link climbed a tree to take an observation.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="i015" id="i015"></a> +<img src="images/i015.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>OLD WIGGETT.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"I can look right over into his barnyard," he reported to his companions +below. "There's old Wiggett with his ox-cart, unloading something out +of Peakslow's wagon; and there's Peakslow with him. Hark!" After a +pause, Link laughed and said: "Peakslow's talking loud; I could hear him +say, 'That air hoss,' and 'Not if I live!' Now old Wiggett's hawing his +oxen around out of the yard."</p> + +<p>"I must head him off and have a word with him," said Jack. And away he +dashed through the undergrowth.</p> + +<p>Reaching a clump of hazels by the roadside, he waited till the old man +and his slow ox-team came along.</p> + +<p>"What's the news, Mr. Wiggett?" Jack said, coming out and accosting him.</p> + +<p>"Whoa! hush! back!" the old man commanded, beating his cattle across the +face with a short ox-goad. He shook with laughter as he turned to Jack. +"It's dog-gone-ation funny! He had a quirk in his head, arter all. +Hankers arter that reward of twenty dollars!"</p> + +<p>"What did you say to him?"</p> + +<p>"Told him he had no shadder of a claim,—he might sue ye through all the +courts in seven kingdoms, he couldn't find a jury to give him the reward +for stolen prop'ty found in his hands. He said for that reason he meant +to hold ontew the hoss till you'd agree to suthin."</p> + +<p>"Where is the horse now?"</p> + +<p>"In Peakslow's stable. He wants to turn him out to pastur', but he's +afraid you're hangin' round. He has set his boys to diggin' taters over +ag'in Betterson's lot, where they can watch for ye. What he re'ly wants +is, for you to come back and make him an offer, to settle the hash; for +he's a little skittish of your clappin' the law ontew him."</p> + +<p>"I wonder he didn't think of that before."</p> + +<p>"He did, but he says you'd showed yerself a kind of easy, accomodatin' +chap, and he'd no notion o' your gettin' so blamed riled all of a +suddint."</p> + +<p>"That shows how much good it does to be easy with a man like him!" And +Jack, thanking old Wiggett for his information, disappeared in the +woods.</p> + +<p>He found the boys waiting for him, and told them what he had learned. +"Now my cue is," said he, "to make Peakslow think I've gone home. So I +may as well leave you for the present. Please take care of my saddle and +bridle and gun till I call for them. Good by. If you <i>should</i> happen to +come across the Peakslow boys—you understand!"</p> + +<p>Rufe carelessly returned Jack's good-by. Then, leaving Wad and Link to +go by the way of the spring and take care of the pail and fork, he +walked down through the woods to the road, where he found Zeph and his +older brother Dud digging potatoes in Peakslow's corner patch.</p> + +<p>"Hullo!" Dud called out, so civilly that Rufe knew that something was +wanted of him.</p> + +<p>"Hullo yourself and see how you like it," Rufe retorted.</p> + +<p>"Where's that fellow that owns the hoss?"</p> + +<p>"How should I know?"</p> + +<p>"He stopped to your house."</p> + +<p>"That's so. But he's gone now."</p> + +<p>"Where?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. He told us to keep his saddle and bridle and gun till he +called for 'em, and went off. You'll hear from him before many days."</p> + +<p>Rufe's tone was defiant; and the young potato-diggers, having, as they +supposed, got the information they wanted, suffered their insolence to +crop out.</p> + +<p>"We ain't afraid of him nor you either," said Zeph, leaning on his hoe.</p> + +<p>"Yes, you are afraid of me, too, you young blackguard! I'll tie you into +a bow-knot and hang you on a tree, if I get hold of you."</p> + +<p>"Le's see ye do it!"</p> + +<p>Rufe answered haughtily: "You wouldn't stand there and sass me, if you +didn't have Dud to back you. Just come over the fence once, and leave +Dud on the other side; I'll pitch you into the middle of next week so +quick you'll be dizzy the rest of your natural life." And he walked on +up the road.</p> + +<p>"Here! come back! I'll fight you! You're afraid!" Zeph yelled after him.</p> + +<p>"I'll come round and 'tend to your case pretty soon," Rufe replied. +"I've something of more importance to look after just now; I've a pig to +poke."</p> + +<p>Dud went on digging potatoes; but Zeph presently threw down his hoe and +ran to the house. Shortly after, he returned; and then Jack, who had sat +down to rest in a commanding position, on the borders of the woodland, +was pleased to see Peakslow lead Snowfoot down the slope from the barn, +and turn him into the pasture.</p> + +<p>Rufe got home some time before his brothers, who seemed to linger at the +spring.</p> + +<p>"There they are!" said Lill; "Link with the fork on his shoulder, and +Wad bringing the pail."</p> + +<p>Rufe was sitting on the grindstone frame, as they came into the yard.</p> + +<p>"Did you hear me blackguard the Peakslow boys? They think Jack—Hullo!" +Rufe suddenly exclaimed. "I thought you was Wad!"</p> + +<p>"I am, for the present," said Jack, laughing under Wad's hat. "Do you +think Peakslow will know me ten rods off?"</p> + +<p>"Not in that hat and coat! Lill and I both took you for Wad."</p> + +<p>"I am all right, then! Where's your father? I wonder if he wouldn't like +to try my gun."</p> + +<p>Lord Betterson now came out of the house, fresh from his after-dinner +nap, and looked a good deal of polite surprise at seeing Jack in Wad's +hat and coat.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Betterson," said Jack, "Peakslow thinks I have gone home, and he +has turned Snowfoot out to grass. Now, if I <i>should</i> wish to throw down +a corner of the fence between his pasture and your buckwheat, have you +any objection?"</p> + +<p>"None whatever," replied my lord, with a flourish, as if giving Jack the +freedom of his acres.</p> + +<p>"And perhaps," said Jack, "you would like to go down to the +buckwheat-lot with me and try my gun. I hear you are a crack shot."</p> + +<p>"I can't boast much of my marksmanship nowadays; I could fetch down a +bird once. Thank you,—I'll go with pleasure."</p> + +<p>"You are not going to get into trouble, Jack?" said Vinnie, with lively +concern, seeing him tie the halter to his back.</p> + +<p>"O no! Mr. Betterson is going to give me a lesson in shooting on the +wing. I'll take the bridle, so that if Snowfoot should happen to jump +the fence when he sees me, I shall be ready for him, you know. Now I +wonder if we can take Lion along without his being seen. He is tired of +sitting still."</p> + +<p>"We can take him to the farther side of the cornfield, easily enough."</p> + +<p>"That will answer. Come, Lion!" The dog bounded with joy. "Keep right by +my heels now, old fellow, and mind every word I say. Don't be anxious +about us, Vinnie. And, Rufe, if you could manage to engage the Peakslow +boys in conversation, about the time we are shooting hens pretty near +the fence, you might help the sport."</p> + +<p>"I'll follow you along, and branch off toward the potato-patch, and ask +Zeph what he meant by offering to fight me," said Rufe.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to get up on the cow-shed, and see the battle," said Link. +"On Linden when the sun was low, and the buckwheat-patch was all in +blow,—I'm a poet, you know!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV.</h2> + +<h3>THE BATTLE OF THE BOUNDARY FENCE.</h3> + + +<p>The little party set off, watched by Vinnie with a good deal of anxiety. +The dog was left in the edge of the corn; and Jack, with a good milky +ear in his pocket, followed Mr. Betterson into the buckwheat-field.</p> + +<p>"There's Wad and his dad after prairie chickens," said Zeph.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Dud, "and here comes Rufe after you. He'll give you <i>Hail +Columby</i> one of these days, when I ain't round."</p> + +<p>"I'll resk him," muttered Zeph.</p> + +<p>"Look here, you young scape-grace!" Rufe called from over the fence, +"I've come to take you at your word. Want to fight me, do ye? I'm ready, +if you're particular about it."</p> + +<p>"Come near me, and I'll sink a stun in your head!" said Zeph, +frightened.</p> + +<p>"You've got that phrase from the Wiggett boys," said Rufe. "I'd fight +with something besides borrowed slang, if I was you."</p> + +<p>Betterson meanwhile brought down a prairie chicken with a grace of +gesture and suddenness of aim which Jack would have greatly admired if +he had not had other business on his mind.</p> + +<p>The bird fell in the direction of the boundary fence. Jack ran as if to +pick it up, at the same time giving a low whistle for his dog. He +stooped, and was for a minute hidden by the fence from the Peakslow +boys,—if, indeed, Rufe gave them leisure just then to look in that +direction.</p> + +<p>Darting forward to the fence, Jack took down the top rails of a corner, +and made a motion to Lion, who leaped over.</p> + +<p>"Catch Snowfoot! catch Snowfoot!" said Jack, quickly placing the ear of +corn in the dog's mouth.</p> + +<p>The horse was feeding some six rods off, near Peakslow's pair, when the +dog, singling him out, ran up and began to coquet with him, flourishing +the ear of corn.</p> + +<p>The boys were talking so loud, and Jack had let down the rails so +gently, and Lion had sped away so silently, that the movement was not +observed by the enemy until Snowfoot started for the fence. Even then +the excited boys did not see what was going on. But Peakslow did.</p> + +<p>If Snowfoot had been in his usual spirits he would have soon been off +the Peakslow premises. But his long pull from Chicago had tamed him; and +though hunger induced him to follow the ear of corn, it was at a pace +which Jack found exasperatingly slow,—especially when he saw Peakslow +running to the pasture, gun in hand, and heard him shout,—</p> + +<p>"Let that hoss alone! I'll shoot you, and your dog and hoss too!"</p> + +<p>Jack answered by calling, "Co' jock! co' jock! Come, lion! Come, +Snowfoot! Co' jock!"</p> + +<p>At the same time Zeph and Dud took the alarm, and ran toward the gap +Jack had made,—they on one side of the fence, while Rufe raced with +them on the other. Meanwhile Betterson, having coolly reloaded his +discharged barrel, walked with his usual quiet, dignified step to the +broken fence.</p> + +<p>"Better keep this side," he said with deliberate politeness to Jack. +"You are on my land; you've a right here."</p> + +<p>"Oh! but that horse never will come!" said Jack. "Co' jock! co' jock!"</p> + +<p>"He is all right; keep cool, keep cool!" said Betterson.</p> + +<p>On came Peakslow, the inverted prow of his hooked nose cutting the +air,—both hands grasping the gun, ready for a shot.</p> + +<p>Jack did not heed him. Snatching the corn from Lion's mouth, he held it +out to Snowfoot: in a moment Snowfoot was crunching corn and bits, and +the bridle was slipping over his ears.</p> + +<p>"Head him off, boys!" shouted Peakslow. Then to Jack, "Stop, or I'll +shoot!"</p> + +<p>"If there's any shooting to be done," said Betterson, without for a +moment losing his politeness of tone and manner, "I can shoot as quick +as anybody; and, by the powers above, I will, if you draw trigger on +that boy!"</p> + +<p>"Take care of him,—go!" cried Jack, giving Lion the bridle-rein and +Snowfoot a slap. Then confronting Peakslow, "I've got my horse; I'm on +Mr. Betterson's land; what have you to say about it?"</p> + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="i016" id="i016"></a> +<img src="images/i016.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"STOP, OR I'LL SHOOT!"</h3> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"I'll shoot your dog!"</p> + +<p>"No, you won't!" And Jack sprang between the infuriated man and Lion +leading off the horse.</p> + +<p>Dud and Zeph were by this time on Betterson's side of the fence, +hurrying to head off Snowfoot.</p> + +<p>"Keep out of our buckwheat!" cried Rufe. "By George, Zeph, now I've got +you where I want you."</p> + +<p>"Help! Dud, Dud—help!" screamed Zeph.</p> + +<p>But Dud had something else to do. He sprang to seize Snowfoot's bridle; +when Lion, without loosing his hold of it, turned with such fury upon +the intruder, that he recoiled, and, tripping his heels in the trodden +buckwheat, keeled over backward.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Rufe had Zeph down, and was rubbing the soft black loam of the +tilled field very thoroughly into his features, giving especial +attention to his neck and ears. Zeph was spitting the soil of the +country, and screaming; and Rufe was saying,—</p> + +<p>"Lie still! I'll give your face such a scouring as it hasn't had since +you was a baby and fell into the soft-soap barrel!"</p> + +<p>Jack backed quietly off, as Peakslow, cocking his gun, pressed upon him +with loud threats and blazing eyes. The angry man was striding through +the gap, when Betterson stepped before him, courteous, stately, with a +polite but dangerous smile.</p> + +<p>"Have a care, friend Peakslow!" he said. "If you come upon my premises +with a gun, threatening to shoot folks, I'll riddle you with small shot; +I'll fill you as full of holes as a pepper-box!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI.</h2> + +<h3>VICTORY.</h3> + + +<p>Peakslow halted in the gap of the fence, his fury cooling before Lord +Betterson's steady eyes and quiet threat.</p> + +<p>Betterson went on, speaking deliberately, while his poised and ready +barrels gave emphasis to his remarks,—</p> + +<p>"You've talked a good deal of shooting, one time and another, friend +Peakslow. I think it is about time to have done with that foolishness. +Excuse my frankness."</p> + +<p>"I've a right to defend my property and my premises!" said Peakslow, +glowing and fuming, but never stepping beyond the gap.</p> + +<p>"What property or premises, good neighbor? The horse is this young +man's; and nobody has set foot on your land."</p> + +<p>"That dog was on my land."</p> + +<p>"And so was the horse," put in Jack.</p> + +<p>"Take him off, pa! he's smotherin' on me!" shouted Zeph.</p> + +<p>"Your boy is abusin' mine. I'll take care o' <i>him</i>!" And Peakslow set a +foot over the two lower rails left in the gap.</p> + +<p>"You'd better stay where you are,—accept a friend's disinterested +advice," remarked Betterson. "If your boy had been on the right side of +the fence, minding his own business,—you will bear with me if I am +quite plain in my speech,—my boy would have had no occasion to soil his +hands with him."</p> + +<p>Peakslow appeared quite cowed by this unexpected show of determination +in his easy-going neighbor. He stood astride the rails, just where +Betterson had arrested his advance, and contented himself with urging +Dud to the rescue of his brother.</p> + +<p>"Why do ye stan' there and see Zeph treated that way? Why don't ye pitch +in?"</p> + +<p>"That's a game two can play at," said Jack. "Hands off, Dud, my boy." +And he stood by to see fair play.</p> + +<p>"My boy had a right on that land; it's by good rights mine to-day!" +exclaimed Peakslow.</p> + +<p>"We won't discuss that question; it has been settled once, neighbor," +replied Betterson. "Rufus, I think you've done enough for that boy; his +face is blacker than I ever saw it, which is saying a good deal. Let him +go. Mr. Peakslow,"—with a bow of gracious condescension over the frayed +stock,—"you are welcome to as much of this disputed territory as you +can shake out of that youngster's clothes,—not any more."</p> + +<p>"That seems to be a good deal," said Jack, laughing to see Zeph scramble +up, gasping, blubbering, flirting soil from his clothes and hair, and +clawing it desperately from his besmeared face.</p> + +<p>"That's for daring me to fight you," said Rufe, as he let him go. "I'll +pay you some other time for what you did to Cecie"; while Zeph went off +howling.</p> + +<p>"No more, Rufus," said Betterson. "Come and put up this fence."</p> + +<p>"I'll do that," said Jack. "I'm bound to leave it as I found it; if Mr. +Peakslow will please step either forward or back."</p> + +<p>Peakslow concluded to step back; and Jack and Rufe laid up the corner, +rail by rail.</p> + +<p>"Don't you think you've played me a perty shabby trick?" said Peakslow, +glaring at Jack.</p> + +<p>"You are hardly the man to speak with a very good grace of <i>anybody's</i> +shabby tricks," Jack replied, putting up the top rail before the hooked +nose.</p> + +<p>"I didn't think it of you!" And Peakslow cast longing eyes after the +horse.</p> + +<p>"You must have forgotten what you thought," said Jack. "You didn't dare +turn the horse out till Zeph told you I'd gone home; and it seems you +kept pretty close watch of him then."</p> + +<p>Peakslow choked back his wrath, and muttered,—</p> + +<p>"Ye might 'a' gi'n me suthin for my trouble."</p> + +<p>"So I would, willingly, if you had acted decently."</p> + +<p>"Gi' me suthin now, and settle it."</p> + +<p>"I consider it already settled,—like your land-claim dispute," said +Jack. "But no matter; how much do you want? Don't bid too high, you +know."</p> + +<p>"Gi' me a dollar, anyhow!"</p> + +<p>Jack laughed.</p> + +<p>"If I should give you enough to pay for the charge in your gun, wouldn't +that satisfy you? Though, as you didn't fire it at me, I don't quite see +that I ought to defray the expense of it. Good day, Mr. Peakslow."</p> + +<p>Jack went to find the chicken that had been shot; and Peakslow vented +his rage upon his neighbor across the fence.</p> + +<p>"What a pattern of a man you be! stuck-up, struttin',—a turkey-gobbler +kind of man, I call ye. Think I'm afraid o' yer gun?"</p> + +<p>"I have no answer to make to remarks of that nature," said Lord +Betterson, retiring from the fence.</p> + +<p>"Hain't, hey?" Peakslow roared after him. "Feel above a common man like +me, do ye? Guess I pay <i>my</i> debts. If I set out to build, guess I look +out and not bu'st up 'fore I get my paintin' and plasterin' done. +Nothin' to say to me, hey?"</p> + +<p>Betterson coolly resumed his slow and stately march across the +buckwheat, looking for prairie chickens.</p> + +<p>"You puffed-up, pompous, would-be 'ristocrat!" said Peakslow, more and +more furious, "where'd you be if your relations didn't furnish ye money? +Poorer 'n ye be now, I guess. What if I should tell ye what yer +neighbors say of ye? Guess ye wouldn't carry yer head so plaguy high!"</p> + +<p>Two chickens rose from before Betterson's feet, and flew to right and +left. With perfect coolness and precision of aim he fired and brought +down one, then turned and dropped the other, with scarce an interval of +three seconds between the reports.</p> + +<p>"This is a very pretty piece of yours," he observed smilingly, with a +stately wave of the hand toward Jack.</p> + +<p>"I never saw anything so handsomely done!" exclaimed Jack, bringing the +chicken previously shot.</p> + +<p>At the same time he could not help glancing with some apprehension at +Peakslow, not knowing what that excitable neighbor might do, now that +Betterson's two barrels were empty.</p> + +<p>"I think I will stay and have one or two more shots," said Betterson. "A +very pretty piece indeed!"</p> + +<p>The muttering thunder of Peakslow's wrath died away in the distance, as +he retired with his forces. Rufe picked up the last two prairie chickens +and followed Jack, who ran to overtake the dog and horse.</p> + +<p>Lion still held the bridle-rein, letting Snowfoot nip the grass that +grew along the borders of the corn, but keeping him from the corn +itself. Jack patted and praised the dog, and stroked and caressed the +horse, looking him all over to see if he had received any fresh injury.</p> + +<p>Then Rufe joined him; and presently Wad came bounding down the slope +from the barn, laughing, carrying Jack's coat; and Link appeared, +running and limping, having hurt his ankle in jumping down from the +cow-shed. Behind came Chokie, trudging on his short legs, and tumbling +and sprawling at every few steps.</p> + +<p>The boys were jubilant over the victory, and Jack was the object of loud +congratulations; while Lion and Snowfoot formed the centre of the little +group.</p> + +<p>"Much obliged to you, Wad," said Jack, as they re-exchanged coats and +hats. "Thanks to you, I've got my horse again. Thanks to all of you. +Boys, I was perfectly astonished at your father's pluck!" And he could +not help thinking what a really noble specimen of a man Betterson might +have made, if he had not been standing on his dignity and waiting for +legacies all his life.</p> + +<p>"Not many folks know what sort of a man father is," replied Rufe. +"Peakslow would have found out, if he had drawn a bead on you. How quick +he stopped, and changed countenance! He can govern his temper when he +finds he must; and he can cringe and crawl when he sees it's for his +interest. Think of his asking you at last,—after you had got your horse +in spite of him, and at the risk of your life,—think of his begging you +to give him a dollar!"</p> + +<p>Jack said, "Look at that galled spot on Snowfoot's neck! Peakslow has +got all he could out of him the past week,—kept him low and worked him +hard in a cruel collar. Never mind, old Snowfoot! better times have come +now, for both of us. Here, Link, you are lame; want a ride?"</p> + +<p>Link did want a ride, of course,—who ever saw a boy that didn't? Jack +took hold of his foot and helped him mount upon Snowfoot's back; then +called to Chokie, who was getting up from his last tumble (with loud +lamentations), a few yards off.</p> + +<p>"Here, Chokie; don't cry; fun isn't all over yet; you can ride too." +Tossing the urchin up, Jack set him behind Link. "Hold on now, Chokie; +hug brother tight!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="i017" id="i017"></a> +<img src="images/i017.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>RETURNING IN TRIUMPH.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Both chubby arms reaching half around Link's waist, one chubby cheek +pressed close to Link's suspender, and two chubby legs sticking out on +Snowfoot's back, Chokie forgot his griefs, and, with the tear-streaks +still wet on his cheeks, enjoyed the fearful pleasure of the ride.</p> + +<p>Vinnie's bright face watched from the door, the delighted Lill clapped +her hands, and Mrs. Betterson and Cecie looked eagerly from the window, +as the little procession approached the house,—Lion walking sedately +before, then Link and Chokie riding the lost horse, and Jack and Rufe +and Wad following with the prairie chickens.</p> + +<p>More congratulations. Then Lord Betterson came from the field with +another bird. Then Snowfoot was saddled, and Jack, with dog and gun, and +two of the prairie chickens, took leave of his friends, and rode home in +triumph.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII.</h2> + +<h3>VINNIE IN THE LION'S DEN.</h3> + + +<p>When Link the next morning went to the spring for water he found that +the Peakslow boys (it could have been nobody else) had, by a dastardly +trick, taken revenge for the defeat of the day before.</p> + +<p>Link came limping back (his ankle was still sore) with an empty pail, +and loud complaints of the enemy.</p> + +<p>"They've been and gone and filled the spring with earth and leaves and +sticks, and all sorts of rubbish! It will take an hour to dig it out, +and then all day for the water to settle and be fit to drink."</p> + +<p>"Those dreadful Peakslow boys! what <i>shall</i> we do?" Caroline said +despairingly. "No water for breakfast, and no near neighbors but the +Peakslows; but their well is the last place where we should think of +going for water."</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you what <i>I</i>'ll do!" said Link. "I'll go to-night and give +'em such a dose in their well, that they won't want any water from it +for the next two months! I know where there's a dead rabbit. The +Peakslows don't get the start of us!"</p> + +<p>"I don't see but that one of the boys will have to go to Mr. Wiggett's +for water," said poor Caroline, bemoaning her troubles.</p> + +<p>"Rufe and Wad are doing the chores," said Link, "and I'm lame. Besides, +you don't catch one of us going to old Wiggett's for water, for we +should have to pass Peakslow's house, and it would please 'em too well."</p> + +<p>"Let me take the pail; I will get some water," said Vinnie.</p> + +<p>"Why, Lavinia dear!" Caroline exclaimed, "what are you thinking of? +Where are you going?"</p> + +<p>"To Mr. Peakslow's," Vinnie answered with a smile.</p> + +<p>"Going into the lion's den! Don't think of such a thing, Lavinia dear!"</p> + +<p>"No, by sixty!" cried Link. "I don't want them boys to sass you! I'd +rather go a mile in the other direction for water,—bother the lame +foot!"</p> + +<p>But Vinnie quietly persisted, saying it would do no harm for her to try; +and putting on her bonnet, she started off with the empty pail.</p> + +<p>I cannot say that she felt no misgivings; but the consciousness of doing +a simple and blameless act helped to quiet the beating of her heart as +she approached the Peakslow door.</p> + +<p>It was open, and she could see the family at breakfast within, while the +loud talking prevented her footsteps from being heard.</p> + +<p>Besides Dud and Zeph, there were three or four younger children, girls +and boys, the youngest of whom—a child with bandaged hands and +arms—sat in its father's lap.</p> + +<p>Vinnie remembered the swarthy face, bushy beard, and hooked nose; and +yet she could hardly believe that this was the same man who once showed +her such ruffianly manners on the wharf in Chicago. He was fondling and +feeding the child, and talking to it, and drumming on the table with his +knife to amuse it and still its complaining cries.</p> + +<p>"Surely," thought Vinnie, "there must be some good in a man who shows so +much affection even toward his own child." And with growing courage she +advanced to the threshold.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Peakslow—a much-bent, over-worked woman, with a pinched and +peevish face—looked up quickly across the table and stared at the +strange visitor. In a moment all eyes were turned upon Vinnie.</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon," she said, pausing at the door. "I wish to get a +pail of water. Can I go to your well and help myself?"</p> + +<p>The children—and especially Dud and Zeph—looked in astonishment at the +bright face and girlish form in the doorway. As Mr. Peakslow turned his +face toward her, all the tenderness went out of it.</p> + +<p>"What do Betterson's folks send here for water for? And what makes 'em +send a gal? Why don't they come themselves?"</p> + +<p>"They did not send me," Vinnie answered as pleasantly as she could. "I +came of my own accord."</p> + +<p>Peakslow wheeled round on his chair.</p> + +<p>"Queer sort of folks, they be! An' seems to me you must be queer, to be +stoppin' with 'em."</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Betterson is my sister," replied Vinnie in a trembling voice. "I +came to her because she is sick, and Cecie—because I was needed," she +said, avoiding the dangerous ground of Zeph's offence.</p> + +<p>"I've nothin' pa'tic'lar ag'in Mis' Betterson as I know on," said +Peakslow, "though of course she sides with him ag'in me, an' of course +<i>you</i> side with <i>her</i>."</p> + +<p>"I've nothing to do with Mr. Betterson's quarrels," Vinnie answered, +drawing back from the door. "Will you kindly permit me to get a pail of +water? I am sorry if I give you any trouble."</p> + +<p>"No trouble; water's cheap," said Peakslow. "But why don't they have a +well o' their own, 'ste'd o' dependin' on their neighbors? What makes +'em so plaguy shif'less?"</p> + +<p>"They have a well, but it is dry this summer, and—"</p> + +<p>"Dry every summer, ain't it? What a way to dig a well that was!"</p> + +<p>"They have a very good spring," Vinnie said, "but something happened to +it last night." At which Dud and Zeph giggled and looked sheepish.</p> + +<p>"What happened to the spring?"</p> + +<p>"Somebody put rubbish into it."</p> + +<p>"Who done it, did you hear 'em say?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know who did it; and I should be sorry to accuse any person of +such an act," Vinnie answered with firm but serene dignity.</p> + +<p>The boys looked more sheepish and giggled less.</p> + +<p>"I know who put stuff in the spring," spoke up a little one, proud of +being able to convey useful information; "Dud and Zeph—"</p> + +<p>But at that moment Dud's hand stopped the prattler's mouth.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe my boys have done anything of the kind," said Peakslow; +"though 't wouldn't be strange if they did. See how that great lubberly +Rufe treated our Zeph yist'day! rubbed the dirt into his skin so 't he +hain't got it washed out yit."</p> + +<p>"I am sorry for these misunderstandings," said Vinnie, turning to Mrs. +Peakslow with an appealing look. "I wish you and my sister knew each +other better. You have a sick child, too, I see."</p> + +<p>"'T ain't sick, 'xac'ly," replied the mother in a peevish, snarling +tone. "Pulled over the teapot, and got hands and arms scalt."</p> + +<p>"O, poor little thing!" Vinnie exclaimed. "What have you done for it?"</p> + +<p>"Hain't done nothin' much, only wrapped up the blistered places in Injin +meal; that's coolin'."</p> + +<p>"No doubt; but I've some salve, the best thing in the world for burns. I +wish you would let me bring you some."</p> + +<p>"I guess Bubby'll git along 'thout no help from outside," said Peakslow, +his ill-natured growl softened by a feeling of tenderness for the child +which just then came over him. "He's weathered the wust on 't."</p> + +<p>But Bubby's fretful cries told that what was left was bad enough.</p> + +<p>"I will bring you the salve," said Vinnie, "and I hope you will try it; +it is so hard to see these little ones suffer."</p> + +<p>She was retiring, when Peakslow called after her,—</p> + +<p>"Goin' 'ithout the water?"</p> + +<p>"I—thought—you had not told me I could have it."</p> + +<p>"Have it! of course you can have it; I wouldn't refuse nobody a pail o' +water. Ye see where the well is?"</p> + +<p>"O yes; thank you." And Vinnie hastened to the curb.</p> + +<p>"She can't draw it," snickered Zeph. "Handle's broke; and the crank'll +slip out of her hands and knock her to Jericho, if she don't look out."</p> + +<p>"Seems to be a perty spoken gal," said Peakslow, turning to finish his +breakfast. "I've nothin' ag'in <i>her</i>. You've finished your breakfast; +better go out, Dudley, and tell her to look out about the crank."</p> + +<p>With mixed emotions in his soul, Dud went; his countenance enlivened at +one and the same time with a blush of boyish bashfulness and a malicious +grin. As he drew near, and saw Vinnie embarrassed with the windlass, +which seemed determined to let the bucket down too fast (as if animated +with a genuine Peakslow spite toward her), the grin predominated; but +when she turned upon him a troubled, smiling face, the grin subsided, +and the blush became a general conflagration, extending to the tips of +his ears.</p> + +<p>"How does 't go?"</p> + +<p>"It's inclined to go altogether too fast," said Vinnie, stopping the +windlass; "and it hurts my hands."</p> + +<p>"Le' me show ye."</p> + +<p>And Dud, taking her place by the curb, let the windlass revolve with +moderated velocity under the pressure of his rough palms, until the +bucket struck the water. Then, drawing it up, he filled her pail.</p> + +<p>The grin had by this time faded quite out of his countenance; and when +she thanked him sweetly and sincerely for helping her, the blush became +a blush of pleasure.</p> + +<p>"It is more than I can carry," she said. "I shall have to pour out +some."</p> + +<p>Thereupon Dud Peakslow astonished himself by an extraordinary act of +gallantry.</p> + +<p>"I'll carry it for ye as fur as the road; I'd carry it all the way, if +'t was anywhere else." And he actually took up the pail.</p> + +<p>"You seem to have a very bad opinion of my relations," Vinnie said.</p> + +<p>"Good reason! They hate us, too!"</p> + +<p>"And think <i>they</i> have good reason. But I'm sure you are not so bad as +they believe; and <i>you</i> may possibly be mistaken about <i>them</i>. Let me +take the pail now. You are very kind."</p> + +<p>Dud gave up the pail with reluctance, and gazed after her up the road, +his stupid mouth ajar with an expression of wistful wonder and pleasure.</p> + +<p>"Hurry now and git up the team, Dud!" his father called from the door. +"What ye stan'in' there for? Didn't ye never see a gal afore?"</p> + +<p>When Vinnie reached home with her pail of water, all gathered around, +eager to hear her adventure.</p> + +<p>"The lions were not very savage, after all," she said, laughing.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h2> + +<h3>AN "EXTRAORDINARY" GIRL.</h3> + + +<p>After breakfast Vinnie left Lill to "do the dishes," and went with her +box of salve to fulfil her promise to Mrs. Peakslow. Dud and Zeph were +off at work with their father; and she was glad to find the mother alone +with the younger children.</p> + +<p>"Oh! you ag'in?" said Mrs. Peakslow, by the chimney, looking up from a +skillet she was stooping over and scraping. "Ye need n't 'a' took the +trouble. Guess Bubby's burns 'll git along."</p> + +<p>But Vinnie was not to be rebuffed.</p> + +<p>"I have brought some linen rags to spread the salve on. Will you let me +do it myself? I wish you would; the poor thing is suffering so."</p> + +<p>And Vinnie knelt down beside the girl who was holding Bubby in her arms.</p> + +<p>"Is 't any o' the Betterson folks's sa'v'?" Mrs. Peakslow inquired, +scraping away at her skillet.</p> + +<p>"No; it is some I brought from the East with me, thinking I should find +a use for it in my sister's family; it is good for various things."</p> + +<p>"Better keep it for her family!" snarled Mrs. Peakslow. Scrape, scrape.</p> + +<p>"There's plenty and to spare," said Vinnie, unrolling her rags. "And my +sister will be only too glad if it can be of any service to you."</p> + +<p>"Think so?" Mrs. Peakslow stopped her scraping and scowled at Vinnie. +"Her folks hain't never showed us none too much good-will."</p> + +<p>"They have never known you,—you have never understood each other," said +Vinnie. "It is too bad that the troubles between the men should prevent +you and her from being on neighborly terms. Can I use a corner of this +table to spread the salve? And can I see the little thing's burns, so as +to shape the plasters to cover them?"</p> + +<p>"He tol' me not to use the sa'v', if ye brought it," said Mrs. Peakslow +doubtfully, laying down the skillet.</p> + +<p>"When he sees the good effect of it I am sure he won't complain; he is +too fond of his little boy," said Vinnie, placing rags and salve on the +table. "Will you let me take a case-knife and a pair of scissors?"</p> + +<p>"Got rags enough of my own. Needn't trouble yourself to cut and spread +plasters. <i>Try</i> the sa'v', 'f ye say so."</p> + +<p>Vinnie did say so, and dressed Bubby's burns with her own hands, doing +the work so deftly and tenderly, talking now to the child, now to the +mother, who had taken him into her lap, and showing in every look and +tone so cheerful and sweet a spirit that poor Mrs. Peakslow's peevish +heart warmed and softened toward her.</p> + +<p>"I do declare," she said, as the outer bandages were going on, "Bubby +feels comforted a'ready. Must be dreffle good sa'v'! <i>Much</i> obleeged to +ye, I'm sure. How <i>is</i> yer sister?"</p> + +<p>"Much better than she was; and the baby is better too. Indeed," said +Vinnie, "I think the baby will get well as soon as the mother does."</p> + +<p>"And Cecie—how's Cecie?" Mrs. Peakslow timidly asked.</p> + +<p>"O, Cecie is in very good spirits! She is the most gentle, patient, +beautiful girl you ever saw! She never complains; and she is always so +grateful for any little thing that is done for her!"</p> + +<p>"S'pose the folks feel hard to our Zeph; don't they?"</p> + +<p>"I believe the boys do, and you can hardly wonder at it, Mrs. Peakslow," +said Vinnie; "their own dear sister! crippled for life, perhaps. But +Cecie won't allow that your son <i>meant</i> to hurt her; she always takes +his part when the subject is brought up."</p> + +<p>"Does she?" exclaimed Mrs. Peakslow, surprised into sudden tears. "I +wouldn't 'a' believed that! Must <i>be</i> she's a good gal. Truth is, Zeph +hadn't no notion o' hurtin' on her. It's re'ly troubled me,—it's +troubled all on us, though I don't s'pose her folks'll believe it."</p> + +<p>And Mrs. Peakslow, not finding it convenient to get at her apron, with +Bubby in her lap, wiped her eyes with a remnant of Vinnie's rags.</p> + +<p>"Isn't it too sad that this quarrel is kept up?" said Vinnie.</p> + +<p>"O dear me! nobody knows," said Mrs. Peakslow, in a quavering voice, +"what a life it is! Our folks is <i>some</i> to blame, I s'pose. But the +Bettersons have been <i>so</i> aggravatin'! Though I've nothin' ag'in the +gals. They're as perty gals as I'd ask to have play with my children. My +children is sufferin' for mates. I want society, too, for it's a dreffle +life,—a dreffle life!" And the quavering voice broke into sobs.</p> + +<p>Vinnie was surprised and pained at this outburst, and hardly knew what +reply to make.</p> + +<p>"Lyddy, wipe them dishes!" Mrs. Peakslow went on again, sopping her eyes +with the remnant of rags. "Lecty Ann! here, take Bubby. Scuse me, miss; +I d'n' know what sot me goin' this way; but my heart's been shet up so +long; I've <i>so</i> wanted sympathy!" And now the apron did service in place +of the rags.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know," said Vinnie. "This is a lonesome country, unless you have +friends around you. There seem to be a few nice people here,—people +from the East; you are from the East, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"O yes; but <i>he</i> ain't a very social man, an' he's dreffle sot in his +way. He don't go out nowheres, 'thout he has business, an' he don't +think there's any need of a woman's goin' out. So there it is. The +Wiggetts, our neighbors on one side, ain't our kind o' people; then +there's the Bettersons on t'other side. An' there's allus so many things +a wife has to put up with, an' hold her tongue. O dear! O dear! Keep to +your work, gals! hear?"</p> + +<p>There was something almost comical in this sharp and shrill winding-up +of the good woman's pathetic discourse; but Vinnie never felt less like +laughing.</p> + +<p>"I am glad you can speak freely to me," she said. "I'll come and see you +again, if you will let me; and I want you some time to come and see my +sister."</p> + +<p>"I d'n' know! I d'n' know!" said Mrs. Peakslow, still weeping. "<i>You</i> +may come <i>here</i>,—like to have ye,—only it'll be jest as well if you +time your visits when me an' the gals is alone; you know what men-folks +be."</p> + +<p>"You are really an extraordinary girl, Lavinia dear!" Caroline said, +when Vinnie went home and told her story. "Did you know it?"</p> + +<p>Vinnie laughed.</p> + +<p>"Why, no; I never thought of such a thing; what I do comes so very +natural."</p> + +<p>"Extraordinary!" Caroline repeated, regarding her admiringly. "I'm proud +of such a sister. I always told Mr. Betterson there was good blood on +our side too. I wonder what Radcliff would think of you."</p> + +<p>Vinnie sincerely believed that so fine a young gentleman would not think +anything of her at all, but feared it might seem like affectation in him +to say so.</p> + +<p>"And I wonder," Caroline continued, with the usual simper which her +favorite theme inspired, "what you would think of Radcliff. Ah, Lavinia +dear! it is a comfort for me to reflect that it was a Betterson—nobody +less than a thoroughbred Betterson—who took the place in our family +which you would otherwise have filled."</p> + +<p>Evidently Caroline's conscience was not quite easy on the subject of her +early neglect of so "extraordinary" a sister; for she often alluded to +it in this way. Vinnie now begged her not to mention it again.</p> + +<p>"And you really cherish no hard feelings?"</p> + +<p>"None whatever."</p> + +<p>"You are <i>very</i> good. And pretty; did you know it? Quite pretty."</p> + +<p>Vinnie laughed again.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Presbit brought me up to the wholesome belief that I was quite +plain."</p> + +<p>"That was to prevent you from becoming vain. Vanity, you know," said +Caroline, with her most exquisite simper, "spoils so many girls! I'm +thankful it doesn't run in <i>our</i> family! But didn't your glass undeceive +you?"</p> + +<p>"On the contrary, I used to look in it and say to myself, 'It is a very +<i>common</i> face; I <i>wish</i> it was pretty, but Aunt Presbit is right; I'm a +homely little thing!'"</p> + +<p>"And you felt bad?"</p> + +<p>"I never mourned over it; though, of course, I should have much +preferred to be handsome."</p> + +<p>"And hasn't anybody ever told you you <i>were</i> handsome?"</p> + +<p>Vinnie blushed.</p> + +<p>"Of course I've heard a good deal of nonsense talked now and then."</p> + +<p>"Lavinia dear, you <i>are</i> extraordinary. And handsome, though not in the +usual sense of the word. Your face <i>is</i> rather common, in repose, but it +lights up wonderfully. And, after all, I don't know that it is so much +your face, as the expression you throw into it, that is so enchanting. +What <i>would</i> Radcliff Betterson say to you, I wonder?"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX.</h2> + +<h3>ANOTHER HUNT, AND HOW IT ENDED.</h3> + + +<p>Jack had one day been surveying a piece of land a few miles east of Long +Woods. It was not very late in the afternoon when he finished his work; +and he found that, by going a little out of his way and driving rather +fast, he could, before night, make Vinnie and her friends a call, and +perhaps give Mrs. Wiggett the promised noon-mark on her kitchen floor.</p> + +<p>Leaving in due time the more travelled thoroughfare, he turned off upon +the neighborhood road, which he knew passed through the woods and struck +the river road near Betterson's house. Away on his left lay the rolling +prairie, over a crest of which he, on a memorable occasion, saw Snowfoot +disappear with his strange rider; and he was fast approaching the scene +of his famous deer-hunt.</p> + +<p>Jack had his gun with him; and, though he did not stop to give much +attention to the prairie hens which now and then ran skulkingly across +the track, or flew up from beside his buggy-wheels, he could not help +looking for larger game.</p> + +<p>"I'd like to see another doe and fawn feeding off on the prairie there," +thought he. "Wonder if I could find some obliging young man to drive +them in!"</p> + +<p>He whipped up Snowfoot, and presently, riding over a swell of land, +discovered a stranger walking on before him in the road.</p> + +<p>"No deer or fawn," thought he; "but there's possibly an obliging young +man."</p> + +<p>As he drove on, fast overtaking the pedestrian, Jack was very much +struck by his appearance. He was a slender person; he walked at a +loitering pace; and he carried his coat on his arm. There was something +also in the jaunty carriage of the head, and in the easy slouch of the +hat-brim, which startled Jack.</p> + +<p>"I vow, it's my obliging young man himself!" he muttered through his +teeth,—"or a vision of him!"</p> + +<p>Just then the stranger, hearing the sound of wheels, cast a quick glance +over his shoulder. It was the same face, and Jack could almost have +taken his oath to the quid in the cheek.</p> + +<p>He was greatly astonished and excited. It seemed more like a dream than +anything else, that he should again meet with the person who had given +him so much trouble, so near the place where he had seen him first, in +precisely similar hat and soiled shirt-sleeves, and carrying (to all +appearances) the same coat on his arm!</p> + +<p>The stranger gave no sign of the recognition being mutual, but stepped +off upon the roadside to let the buggy pass.</p> + +<p>"How are you?" said Jack, coming up to him, and drawing rein; while Lion +snuffed suspiciously at the rogue's heels.</p> + +<p>"All right, stranger; how are you yourself?" And a pair of reckless dark +eyes flashed saucily up at Jack.</p> + +<p>"Better than I was that night after you ran off with my horse!" Jack +replied.</p> + +<p>"Glad you're improving. Wife on the mending hand? And how are the little +daisies? Which is the road to Halleluia Corners? I branch off here; good +day, fair stranger."</p> + +<p>These words were rattled off with great volubility, which seemed all the +greater because of their surprising irrelevancy; while the head, thrown +gayly to one side, balanced the quid in the bulged cheek.</p> + +<p>Before Jack could answer, the youth with a wild laugh struck off from +the road, and began to walk fast toward the woodland. Jack called after +him,—</p> + +<p>"Hold on! I want to speak with you!"</p> + +<p>"Speak quick, then; I'm bound for the Kingdom,—will you go to glory +with me?" the rogue shouted back over his shoulder, with a defiant grin, +never slacking his pace.</p> + +<p>Jack gave Snowfoot a touch of the whip, reined out of the track, and +drove after him.</p> + +<p>The fellow at the same time quickened his step to a run, and before he +could be overtaken he had come to rough ground, where fast driving was +dangerous.</p> + +<p>Jack pulled up unwillingly, revolving rapidly in his mind what he +should do. Though he had recovered his horse, he felt the strongest +desire to have the thief taken and punished. Moreover, he had lately +seen the truckman to whom the stolen animal was sold, and had promised +to do what he could to help him obtain justice.</p> + +<p>He might have levelled his gun and threatened to shoot the fugitive; but +he would not have felt justified in carrying out such a threat, and +recent experience had disgusted him with the shooting business.</p> + +<p>He would have jumped from the wagon, and followed on foot; but, though a +good runner, he was convinced that his heels were no match for the +stranger's. There was then but one thing to do.</p> + +<p>"Stop, or I'll let the dog take you!" Jack yelled.</p> + +<p>For reply, the fugitive threw up his hand over his shoulder, with +fingers spread and thumb pointing toward the mid-region of countenance +occupied by the nose; which did not, however, take the trouble to turn +and make itself visible.</p> + +<p>Lion was already eager for the chase; and Jack had only to give him a +signal.</p> + +<p>"Take care of him, Lion!" And away sped the dog.</p> + +<p>Fleet of foot as the fellow was, and though he now strained every nerve +to get away, the distance between him and the dog rapidly diminished; +and a hurried glance behind showed him the swift, black, powerful +animal, coming with terrible bounds, and never a bark, hard at his +heels.</p> + +<p>The thickets were near,—could he reach them before the dog reached him? +Would they afford him a refuge or a cudgel? He threw out his quid, and +<i>leaned</i>.</p> + +<p>Jack drove after as fast as he could, in order to prevent mortal +mischief when Lion should bring down his game; for the dog, when too +much in earnest with a foe, had an overmastering instinct for searching +out the windpipe and jugular vein.</p> + +<p>The rogue had reached the edge of the woods, when he found himself so +closely pursued that he seemed to have no resource but to turn and dash +his coat into the dog's face. That gave him an instant's reprieve; then +Lion was upon him again; and he had just time to leap to the low limb of +a scraggy oak-tree, and swing his lower limbs free from the ground, when +the fierce eyes and red tongue were upon the spot.</p> + +<p>Lion gave one leap, but missed his mark; the trap-like jaws snapping +together with a sound which could not have been very agreeable to the +youth whose dangling legs had been actually grazed by the passing +muzzle.</p> + +<p>With a wistful, whining yelp, Lion gave another upward spring; and this +time his fangs closed upon something—only cloth, fortunately; but as +the thief clambered up out of their range, it was with a very good +chance for a future patch upon the leg of his trousers.</p> + +<p>Leaping from his wagon, Jack rushed to the tree, and found his obliging +young man perched comfortably in it, with one leg over a limb; while +Lion, below, made up for his long silence by uttering frantic barks.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="i018" id="i018"></a> +<img src="images/i018.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>THE END OF THE CHASE.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"What are you up there for?" said Jack.</p> + +<p>"To take an observation," the fellow replied, out of breath, but still +cheerful. "First-rate view of the country up here. I fancy I see a doe +and a fawn off on the prairie; wouldn't you like a shot at 'em?"</p> + +<p>"I've other game to look after just now!" Jack replied.</p> + +<p>"Better look out for your horse; he's running away!"</p> + +<p>"My horse isn't in the habit of running away without help. Will you come +down?"</p> + +<p>"I was just going to invite you to come up. I'll share my lodgings with +you,—give you an upper berth. A very good tavern; rooms airy, fine +prospect; though the table don't seem to be very well supplied, and I +can't say I fancy the entrance. 'Sich gittin' up stairs I never did +see!'"</p> + +<p>Jack checked this flow of nonsense by shouting, "Will you come down, or +not?"</p> + +<p>"Suppose not?" said the fellow.</p> + +<p>"Then I leave the dog to guard the door of your tavern, and go for a +warrant and a constable, to bring you down."</p> + +<p>"What would you have me come down for? You seem to be very pressing in +your attentions to a stranger!"</p> + +<p>"Don't say stranger,—you who drove the deer in for me! I am anxious to +pay you for that kindness. I want you to ride with me."</p> + +<p>"Why didn't you say so before?" cried the rogue, rolling a fresh quid +in his cheek. "I always ride when you ask me to, don't I? Say, did you +ever know me to refuse when you offered me a ride? Which way are you +going?"</p> + +<p>"Down through the woods," said Jack, amused, in spite of himself, at the +scamp's reckless gayety.</p> + +<p>"Why, that's just the way I am going! Why didn't you mention it? I never +should have put up at this tavern if I had thought a friend would come +along and give me a lift in his carriage. Please relieve the guard, and +I'll descend."</p> + +<p>The dog was driven off, and the youth dropped from the branches to the +ground.</p> + +<p>"Pick up your coat," said Jack, "and do pretty much as I tell you now, +or there'll be trouble. None of your tricks this time!"</p> + +<p>He held the reins and the gun while he made the fellow get into the +buggy; then took his seat, with the prisoner on his left and the gun on +his right, drove on to the travelled track, and turned into the woods; +the vigilant Lion walking close by the wheel.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXX" id="CHAPTER_XXX"></a>CHAPTER XXX.</h2> + +<h3>JACK'S PRISONER.</h3> + + +<p>For a second time Jack now travelled that woodland road under odd +circumstances; the first occasion being that on which he himself had +pulled in the shafts, while Link pushed behind. He laughed as he thought +of that adventure, of which the present seemed a fitting sequel. Before, +he had been obliged to go home without his horse; what a triumph it +would now be to carry home the thief! But to do this, great care and +vigilance would be necessary; and he calculated all the chances, and +resolved just what he would do, should his captive attempt to escape. +The rogue, on the contrary, appeared contented with his lot.</p> + +<p>"Young man," said he, "I can't call your name, but let me say you +improve upon acquaintance. This is galorious! better by a long chalk +than a horseback gallop without a saddle. I suppose you will call for me +with a barouche next time!"</p> + +<p>"At all events, I may help you to free lodgings,—not up in a tree, +either!" Jack said, as he touched up Snowfoot.</p> + +<p>He had, of course, abandoned the idea of giving Mrs. Wiggett her +noon-mark that day. But he could not think of passing the "castle" +without stopping at the door.</p> + +<p>"What will Vinnie say?" thought he, with a thrill of anticipation. And +it must be confessed that he felt no little pride at the prospect of +showing his prisoner to Lord Betterson and the boys.</p> + +<p>Descending the long declivity, the fellow was strangely silent, for one +so rattle-brained, until the "castle" appeared in sight through an +opening of the woods. "He's plotting mischief," Jack thought. And when +suddenly the rogue made a movement with his arms, Jack started, ready +for a grapple.</p> + +<p>"Don't be excited; I'm only putting on my coat."</p> + +<p>"All right," said Jack; and the garment was put on. "Anything else I can +do for you?"</p> + +<p>"I'm dying with thirst; they had nothing to drink at that tavern where +you found me."</p> + +<p>"May be we can get some water at this house," Jack said.</p> + +<p>"Are you acquainted here?" the prisoner inquired, with a curious, sober +face.</p> + +<p>"Yes, well enough to ask for a glass of water." And Jack drove into the +yard.</p> + +<p>The rogue kept on his sober face, but seemed to be laughing prodigiously +inside.</p> + +<p>As Jack reined up to the door, Lill came out, clapped her hands with +sudden surprise, and screamed, "O mother!" Then Vinnie appeared, her +face radiant on seeing Jack, but changing suddenly at sight of his +companion. Mrs. Betterson followed, and, perceiving the faces in the +buggy, uttered a cry, tottered, and clung to Vinnie's shoulder.</p> + +<p>Link at the same time ran out from behind the house, dropped a dirty +stick, wiped his hands on his trousers, and shouted, "Hullo! by sixty! +ye don't say so!" while Rufe and Wad came rushing up from the barn. Jack +had rather expected to produce a sensation,—not, however, until he +should fairly have shown his prisoner; and this premature commotion +puzzled him.</p> + +<p>The rogue's suppressed laughter was now bubbling freely; a frothy and +reckless sort of mirth, without much body of joy to it.</p> + +<p>"How are ye all?" he cried. "Don't faint at sight of me, Aunt Carrie. +This is an unexpected pleasure!" and he bowed gayly to Vinnie.</p> + +<p>"O Radcliff! you again? and in <i>this</i> style!" said poor Caroline. "Where +<i>did</i> you come from?"</p> + +<p>"From up a tree, at last accounts. Hullo, boys! I'd come down on my +trotters, and hug you all round, but my friend here would be jealous."</p> + +<p>Jack was confounded.</p> + +<p>"Is <i>this</i> your Cousin Rad?" he cried, as the boys crowded near. "I'm +sorry to know it, for he's the fellow who ran off with my horse. Where +did <i>you</i> ever see him before, Vinnie?"</p> + +<p>"He is the one I told you about,—in Chicago," said Vinnie, astonished +to find her waggish acquaintance, the elegant Radcliff Betterson, and +this captive vagabond, the same person.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXI" id="CHAPTER_XXXI"></a>CHAPTER XXXI.</h2> + +<h3>RADCLIFF.</h3> + + +<p>Lord Betterson now came out of the house, calm and stately, but with +something of the look in his eye, as he turned it upon his nephew, which +Jack had observed when it menaced Peakslow at the gap of the fence.</p> + +<p>"Ah, Radcliff! you have returned? Why don't you alight?" And he touched +his hat to Jack.</p> + +<p>"Your nephew may tell you the reason, if he will," Jack replied.</p> + +<p>"The long and the short of it is this," said Radcliff, betraying a good +deal of trouble, under all his assumed carelessness: "When I was on my +way home, a few weeks ago, this young man asked me to drive in some deer +for him. He gave me his horse to ride. I made a mistake, and rode him +too far."</p> + +<p>"You, Radcliff!" said Lord Betterson, sternly; while Mrs. Betterson went +into hysterics on Vinnie's shoulder, and was taken into the house.</p> + +<p>"We thought of Rad when you described him," Rufe said to Jack. "But we +couldn't believe he would do such a thing."</p> + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="i019" id="i019"></a> +<img src="images/i019.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>JACK AND HIS JOLLY PRISONER.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"'Twas the most natural thing in the world," Rad explained. "I was +coming home because I was hard up. I didn't steal the horse,—he was put +into my hands; it was a breach of trust, that's all you can make of it. +Necessity compelled me to dispose of him. With money in my pocket, what +was the use of my coming home? I took my clothes out of pawn, and was +once more a gentleman. Money all gone, I spouted my clothes again,—fell +back upon this inexpensive rig,—took to the country, remembered I had a +home, and was making for it, when this young man overtook me just now, +and gave me a seat in his buggy."</p> + +<p>"The matter appears serious," said Lord Betterson. "Am I to understand +that you have taken my nephew prisoner?"</p> + +<p>"He can answer that question," said Jack.</p> + +<p>"Well, I suppose that is the plain English of it," replied Radcliff. +"Come, now, Uncle Lord! this ain't the first scrape you've got me out +of; fix it up with him, can't you?"</p> + +<p>"It is my duty to save the honor of the name; but you are bent on +destroying it. Will you please to come into the house with my nephew, +and oblige me?" Betterson said to Jack.</p> + +<p>"Certainly, if you wish it," Jack replied. "Get down, Radcliff. Be +quiet, Lion! I was never in so hard a place in my life," he said to the +boys, as they followed Rad and his uncle into the house. "I never +dreamed of his being your cousin!"</p> + +<p>"He's a wild fellow,—nothing very bad about him, only he's just full +of the Old Harry," said Rufe. "I guess father'll settle it, somehow."</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, Mrs. Betterson had retired to her room, where Vinnie was +engaged, with fan and hartshorn, in restoring—not her consciousness, +for that she had not lost, but her equanimity.</p> + +<p>"Lavinia!" she said brokenly, at intervals, "Lavinia dear! don't think I +intended to deceive you. It was, perhaps, too much the ideal Radcliff I +described to you,—the Betterson Radcliff, the better Betterson +Radcliff, if I may so speak; for he is, after all, you know, a—but that +is the agony of it! The name is disgraced forever! Fan me, Lavinia +dear!"</p> + +<p>"I don't see how the act of one person should disgrace anybody else, +even of the same name," Vinnie replied.</p> + +<p>"But—a Betterson!" groaned Caroline. "My husband's nephew! Brought back +here like a reprobate! The hartshorn, Lavinia dear!"</p> + +<p>Hard as it was freely to forgive her sister for holding up to her so +exclusively the "ideal Radcliff" in her conversations, Vinnie continued +to apply the fan and hartshorn, with comforting words, until Link came +in and said that Jack wished her to be present in the other room.</p> + +<p>"Don't leave me, Lavinia dear!" said Caroline, feeling herself utterly +helpless without Vinnie's support.</p> + +<p>"If we open this door between the rooms, and you sit near it, while I +remain by you,—perhaps that will be the best way," said Vinnie.</p> + +<p>The door was opened, showing Jack and Rad and Mr. Betterson seated, and +the boys standing by the outer door. Rad was trying hard to keep up his +appearance of gay spirits, chucking Chokie under the chin, and winking +playfully at Rufe and Wad. But Jack and Lord were serious.</p> + +<p>"I have reasons for wanting you to hear this talk, Vinnie," said Jack. +"I was just telling Mr. Betterson that you had met his nephew before, +and he was quite surprised. It seems to me singular that you never told +your friends here of that adventure."</p> + +<p>"I suppose I know what you mean," spoke up Caroline. "And I confess that +<i>I</i> am at fault. Lavinia dear did tell me and the girls of a young man +beguiling her to a public-house in Chicago, and offering her wine; and +Cecie whispered to me that she was sure it must have been Radcliff; but +I couldn't, I wouldn't believe a Betterson could be guilty of—Fan me, +Lavinia dear!"</p> + +<p>Vinnie fanned, and Caroline went on,—</p> + +<p>"'T was I who cautioned the children against saying anything disparaging +of Radcliff's character in Lavinia dear's presence. I had such faith in +the stock! and now to think how I have been deluded! The hartshorn, +Lavinia dear!"</p> + +<p>"Seems to me you make a pile of talk about trifles!" Radcliff said with +a sneer. "I owe an apology to this young lady. But she knows I meant no +harm,—only my foolish fun. As for the horse, the owner has got him +again; and so I don't see but it's all right."</p> + +<p>"It's all right enough, as far as I am concerned," said Jack. "I won't +say a word about the trouble and expense you put me to. But, whether +taking my horse as you did was stealing or not, you sold him, you +obtained money under false pretences, you swindled an honest man."</p> + +<p>"Well, that can't be helped now," said Radcliff, with a scoffing laugh. +"A feller is obliged sometimes to do things that may not be exactly on +the square."</p> + +<p>"I don't know about anybody's being obliged to go off and play the +gentleman (if that's what you call it), and have a good time (if there's +any good in such a time), at somebody else's expense. I call such +conduct simply scoundrelism," said Jack, his strong feeling on the +subject breaking forth in plain speech and ringing tones. "And I +determined, if I ever caught you, to have you punished."</p> + +<p>"O, well! go ahead! put it through! indulge!" said Radcliff, folding his +arms, and stretching out his legs with an air of easy and reckless +insolence, but suddenly drawing up one of them, as he noticed the tear +Lion's teeth had made. "Guess I can stand it if the others can. What do +you say, Uncle Lord? Give me up as a bad job, eh?"</p> + +<p>"Hem!" Lord coughed, and rubbed his chin with his palm. "If this sort of +conduct is to continue, the crisis may as well come now, I suppose, as +later; and, unless you give a solemn pledge to alter your course, I +shall let it come."</p> + +<p>"O, I'll give the solem'est sort of a pledge!" Radcliff replied.</p> + +<p>"You will notice—ahem!—a change in our family," Lord went on. "The +boys have applied themselves to business,—in plain terms, gone to work. +Although I have said little on the subject, I have silently observed, +and I am free to confess that I have been gratified. Since our +circumstances are what they are, they have done well,—I may add, they +have done nobly."</p> + +<p>"Fan me, Lavinia dear!" whispered Caroline.</p> + +<p>"Hey, boys? what's got into you?" said Radcliff, really astonished.</p> + +<p>Lord put up his hand, to prevent the boys from answering, and +continued,—</p> + +<p>"Your unusually long absence, I am persuaded, has had a wholesome +effect. But to the presence of new elements in the family I attribute +the better state of things, in a large measure." Lord indicated Lavinia, +by a gracious wave of the hand, adding, "Though a man of few words, I am +not blind, and I am not ungrateful."</p> + +<p>This recognition of her influence, before Jack and the whole family, +brought the quick color to Vinnie's cheeks and tears to her eyes. She +was surprised by what Lord said, and still more surprised that any words +of his could touch her so. He had hitherto treated her with civil, +quiet reserve, and she had never been able to divine his secret thought +of her. Nor had she cared much, at first, what that might be; but day by +day she had learned to know that under all his weaknesses there was +something in his character worthy of her esteem.</p> + +<p>"If you choose to fall into the new course of things, Radcliff, you will +be welcome here, as you always have been. Not otherwise."</p> + +<p>And again Jack was reminded of the look and tone with which he had seen +Lord Betterson confront Peakslow at the gap of the fence.</p> + +<p>"Of course I'll fall in, head over heels," said Radcliff, with a laugh, +and a look at Vinnie, which Jack did not like. "I think I shall fancy +the new elements, as you call 'em."</p> + +<p>Jack started up, with sparkling eyes; but, on an instant's reflection, +bridled his tongue, and settled down again, merely giving Vinnie a swift +glance, which seemed to say, "If he has any more of his <i>fun</i> with you, +I'll—"</p> + +<p>"No more trifling," said Betterson. "If you stay, you will come under +the new <i>régime</i>. That means, in plain speech—work; we all work."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" gasped poor Caroline, and reached out helplessly to her sister. +"The hartshorn, Lavinia dear!"</p> + +<p>"I'll stay, and I'll work,—I'll do as the rest do," said Radcliff. "But +when the Philadelphia partners pony up, of course I have my dividend."</p> + +<p>"A word here," said Lord, "is due to our friends. By the Philadelphia +partners, my nephew means the relatives who occasionally send us money. +Now, as to his dividend: when he came into our family, it was with the +understanding that he would be clothed and educated at the expense of +those connections. Accordingly, when money has been sent to me, a +portion has always gone to him. As soon as he gets money, it burns him +till he goes off and squanders it. When it is gone, he comes home here, +and waits for another supply."</p> + +<p>Then Jack spoke up.</p> + +<p>"I say, when the next supply comes, eighty dollars of it—if there's as +much—should be paid over to that truckman he swindled. I insist upon +that."</p> + +<p>Radcliff snapped his fingers. "That's a foolish way of doing business!"</p> + +<p>"Foolish or not," cried Jack, "you shall agree to it."</p> + +<p>"You have anticipated me," remarked Betterson, with a high courtesy +contrasting with Jack's haste and heat. "I was about to propose a +similar arrangement. Radcliff's money passes through my hands. I will +see to it,—the truckman shall be paid. Do you agree, Radcliff? If not, +I have nothing more to urge."</p> + +<p>"Of course I agree, since I can't help myself. But next time I have a +horse to dispose of," Radcliff added with a derisive smile at Jack, "I +shall go farther. So take care!"</p> + +<p>"No need of giving me that warning," Jack made answer, rising to his +feet. He went over and stood by Vinnie, and looked back with strong +distrust upon the jeering Radcliff. "I don't know that I do right, Mr. +Betterson; but I'll leave him here, if you say so."</p> + +<p>"I think it best, on the whole," Mr. Betterson replied.</p> + +<p>"O, bosh!" cried Radcliff, giving Jack a sinister look. "You and I'll be +better acquainted, some day! Come, boys, show me what you've been about +lately. And, see here, Rufe,—haven't I got a pair of pants about the +house somewhere? See how that dog tore my trousers-leg! I'll pay <i>him</i> +my compliments, too, some time!"</p> + +<p>As he was walking out of the house, Lion at the door gave a growl. Jack +silenced the dog, and then took leave. Vinnie urged him to stay to +supper.</p> + +<p>"It will be ready in five minutes," she said; "I was just going to set +the table when you came."</p> + +<p>But Jack replied, with a bitter smile, that he believed his appetite +would be better after a ride of a few miles in the open air.</p> + +<p>"Look out for the scamp!" he whispered in her ear; and then, with brief +good-byes to the rest, he sprang into the buggy, called Lion to a seat +by his side, and drove away.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXII" id="CHAPTER_XXXII"></a>CHAPTER XXXII.</h2> + +<h3>AN IMPORTANT EVENT.</h3> + + +<p>Radcliff resumed his place in the family. But he soon found that his +relations to it were no longer what they had been before the days of +Vinnie and Jack.</p> + +<p>The "new elements" had produced a greater change than he supposed. He no +longer possessed the boundless influence over the boys which his wild +spirits formerly gave him. They saw him in the light of this last +revelation of his character, and contrasted his coarse foolery, once so +attractive, with the gentle manners and cheerful earnestness of Vinnie +and Jack; in which comparison this flower of the Betterson stock +suffered blight.</p> + +<p>The boys did not take a holiday in honor of Rad's return, but went +steadily on with their tasks. Lord Betterson himself seemed suddenly to +have changed his views of things, for he now offered to assist the boys +in repairing the fences, for which they had been cutting poles in the +woods.</p> + +<p>Rad worked a little, but, seeing how things were going, sulked a good +deal more. He tried to be very gallant toward Vinnie, but her quiet +dignity of manner was proof against all his pleasantries. Even Cecie +and Lill could not somehow enjoy his jests as they used to; and +Caroline—there was no disguising the fact—had ceased to view his +faults through the golden haze of a sentimental fancy.</p> + +<p>So Radcliff found himself out of place, unappreciated; and discontent +filled his soul. At length an event occurred which blew his smouldering +restlessness into a flame.</p> + +<p>The "Philadelphia partners" were heard from.</p> + +<p>Rufe and Wad, who had been over to the Mills one day, completing their +arrangements with the pump-maker for boring the logs of their aqueduct, +brought home from the mail one of those envelopes whose post-mark and +superscription always gladdened the eyes of the Bettersons.</p> + +<p>It was from Philadelphia, and it contained a draft for two hundred and +fifty dollars.</p> + +<p>One third of this sum was for Radcliff's "benefit."</p> + +<p>It would have been wise, perhaps, to keep from him the knowledge of this +fact; but it would have been impossible.</p> + +<p>"A pittance, a mere pittance," said Lord, holding the precious bit of +paper up to the light. "Uncle George could just as well have made it a +thousand, without feeling it. However, small favors gratefully +received." And he placed the draft in his pocket-book with calm +satisfaction.</p> + +<p>Joy overflowed the family; Caroline began to build fresh castles in the +air; and Vinnie heard Radcliff say to the boys,—</p> + +<p>"You can afford to lay by now, and have a good time, with that money."</p> + +<p>"Radcliff Betterson!" cried Vinnie, "you provoke me!"</p> + +<p>"How so, my charmer?" said Rad, bowing and smiling saucily.</p> + +<p>"With your foolish talk. But I hope—yes, I know—the boys will pay no +attention to it. To stop work now, and go and play, just because a +little money has come into the house,—I should lose all my respect for +them, if they were to do so silly a thing."</p> + +<p>"Well, I was only joking," said Rad.</p> + +<p>"We could very well spare some of your jokes," Vinnie replied.</p> + +<p>"And me too, I suppose you think?"</p> + +<p>"You might be more useful to yourself and others than you are; it is +easy to see that."</p> + +<p>"Well, give me a smile now and then; don't be so cross with a feller," +said Rad. "You don't show me very much respect."</p> + +<p>"It isn't my fault; I should be glad to show you more."</p> + +<p>Such was about the usual amount of satisfaction Radcliff got from his +talk with Vinnie. She was always "up to him," as the boys said.</p> + +<p>When he walked off, and found them laughing at his discomfiture, he +laughed too, with a fresh quid in his cheek, and his head on one-side, +but with something not altogether happy in his mirth.</p> + +<p>"Uncle Lord," said he in the evening, "if you'll put your name to that +draft, I'll go over to the Mills in the morning and cash it for you."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Radcliff," said his uncle. "I've some bills to pay, and I +may as well go myself."</p> + +<p>"Let the bills slide, why don't you, and get some good out of the +money?" said Radcliff. "And see here, uncle,—what's the use of paying +off that truckman in such a hurry? I want some of that money; it was +intended for me, and I ain't going to be cheated out of it."</p> + +<p>"As to that," replied Lord, "you entered into a certain agreement, which +seemed to me just; and I do not like now to hear you speak of being +cheated,—you, of all persons, Radcliff."</p> + +<p>"O, well, I suppose you'll do as you like, since you've got the thing +into your hands!" And Radcliff walked sulkily out of the house.</p> + +<p>The next day Mr. Betterson drove over to the Mills, cashed the draft, +made some necessary purchases, paid some bills which had been long +outstanding, and called to hand Jack eighty dollars, on Radcliff's +account, for the swindled truckman.</p> + +<p>Jack was off surveying with Forrest Felton, and was not expected home +for a day or two. Mr. Betterson hardly knew what to do in that case, but +finally concluded to keep the money, and leave Jack word that he had it +for him.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXXIII.</h2> + +<h3>MRS. WIGGETT'S "NOON-MARK."</h3> + + +<p>Jack returned home, unexpectedly, that night. He jumped for joy when +told of Mr. Betterson's call and the message he had left. The promise of +money due himself could not have pleased him so much as the prospect now +presented of justice being done to the truckman.</p> + +<p>He felt some concern, it must be owned, lest the money should, after +all, be diverted from its course; he determined, therefore, to act +promptly in the matter, and go to Long Woods the next day.</p> + +<p>He and Forrest were laying out town lots somewhere up the river; and he +was closely occupied all the next forenoon and a part of the afternoon +with his calculations and drawings.</p> + +<p>At last he leaped up gayly, with that sense of satisfaction and relief +which comes from the consciousness of work well done.</p> + +<p>He harnessed Snowfoot, put his compass into the buggy, thinking he would +give Mrs. Wiggett her noon-mark this time without fail, winked assent at +Lion, eager to accompany him, and drove off with a feeling of enjoyment, +to which the thought of some one he was going to meet gave a wonderful +zest.</p> + +<p>As it was getting late in the day when he reached the settlement, he +stopped only a moment at the "castle," to speak with Vinnie, and leave +word that he would call and see Mr. Betterson on his way back; then +drove on to Mr. Wiggett's log-cabin.</p> + +<p>His reception there was most cordial, especially when it was found that +he had come with his compass, prepared to make the noon-mark.</p> + +<p>"House don't front no sort of a way," said the old man; "and I reckon +you'll have to give us a kin' of a slantin'diclar line from 'bout this +yer direction," indicating a wood-pile by the road.</p> + +<p>The little Wiggetts meanwhile thronged the doorway, staring at Jack and +his strange machine, and their old acquaintance, the dog.</p> + +<p>"Cl'ar the kitchen, you young uns!" the mother stormed after them, +cuffing right and left. "Noon-mark'll cut ye plumb in tew, 'f ye don't +scatter! It's comin' into this yer door, like it was a bullet from pap's +rifle!"</p> + +<p>The grimy faces and bare legs "scattered"; while Mrs. Wiggett called to +Jack,—</p> + +<p>"How long 'fore ye gwine to shute that ar thing off? 'Low I oughter +scoop up a little fust."</p> + +<p>"Scoop up?" Jack repeated, not quite taking her meaning.</p> + +<p>"Right smart o' dirt on the floor yer; it'll be in your way, I reckon."</p> + +<p>"Not at all," said Jack. "My line will cut through; and you can <i>scoop</i> +down to it, at your leisure. I must get you to remove these iron +wedges, Mr. Wiggett; the needle won't work with so much iron near."</p> + +<p>The wedges removed, the needle settled; and Jack, adjusting the sights +of his compass to a north-and-south line, got Mr. Wiggett to mark its +bearings for him, with a chalk pencil, on the floor of the open doorway.</p> + +<p>"All creation!" shrieked the woman, suddenly making a pounce at the +kneeling old man; "we don't want a noon-mark thar, cl'ar away from the +jamb, ye fool! We want it whur the shadder o' the jamb 'll hit it plumb +at noon."</p> + +<p>The old man looked up from his position on "all-fours," and parried her +attack with his lifted hand.</p> + +<p>"Ye mout wait a minute!" he said; "then you'll see if me an' this yer +youngster's both fools. I had a lesson that larnt me onct that he knows +better 'n I dew what he's about; an' I 'lowed, this time, I'd go by +faith, an' make the marks 'thout no <i>re</i>marks o' my own."</p> + +<p>"The line will come just where you want it, Mrs. Wiggett," Jack assured +her, hiding a laugh behind his compass.</p> + +<p>Having got the old man to mark two points on his north-and-south line, +one at the threshold and the other a little beyond, Jack put his rule to +them and drew a pencil-line; Mrs. Wiggett watching with a jealous scowl, +not seeing that her mark was coming where she wanted it,—"right ag'in +the jamb,"—after all.</p> + +<p>Then, by a simple operation, which even she understood, Jack surprised +her.</p> + +<p>He first measured the distance of his line from the jamb. Then he set +off two points, on the same side, at the same distance from the line, +farther along on the floor. Then through these points he drew a second +line, parallel to the first, and touching the corner of the jamb, by +which the noon shadow was to be cast. Into this new line Jack sank his +noon-mark with a knife.</p> + +<p>"There," said he, "is a true noon-mark, which will last as long as your +house does,"—a prediction which, by a very astonishing occurrence, was +to be proved false that very afternoon.</p> + +<p>"I reckon the woman is satisfied," said the old man; "anyhow, I be; an' +now what's the tax for this yer little scratch on the floor?"</p> + +<p>"Not anything, Mr. Wiggett."</p> + +<p>"Hey? ye make noon-marks for folks 'thout pay?"</p> + +<p>"That depends. Sometimes, when off surveying, I'm hailed at the door of +a house, and asked for a noon-mark. I never refuse it. Then, if +convenient, I take my pay by stopping to dinner or supper. But I never +accept money."</p> + +<p>"Sartin!" cried the old man. "Yer, ol' woman!" (it must be remembered +that Mrs. Wiggett was forty years younger than her husband), "fly +round,—make things hum,—git up a supper as suddent as ye kin, an' ax +our friend yer. Whur's that Sal?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Wiggett, who had appeared all pride and sunny smiles regarding her +noon-mark (particularly after hearing it was not to be paid for), fell +suddenly into a stormy mood, and once more began to cuff the children +right and left.</p> + +<p>Jack hastened to relieve her mind by saying that Mr. Wiggett had quite +mistaken his meaning; that he had an engagement which must deprive him +of the pleasure of taking supper with her and her interesting family. +Thereupon she brightened again. The old man shook him warmly by the +hand; and Jack, putting his compass into the buggy, drove back up the +valley road.</p> + +<p>Vinnie had told him that the Betterson boys were cutting logs for their +aqueduct; and hearing the sound of an axe on his way back, Jack tied +Snowfoot to a sapling by the road, and went up into the woods to find +them.</p> + +<p>"What! you coming too, Lion?" he said, after he had gone several rods. +"Didn't I tell you to watch? Well, I believe I didn't. Never mind; +Snowfoot is hitched."</p> + +<p>He found Rufe and Wad cutting trees with great industry, having +determined to have the logs laid from the spring to the house without +delay.</p> + +<p>"We've taken the farm of father, as you suggested," said Wad. "He is +helping us do the fall ploughing while we get out our logs. He and Link +are at it with the oxen, over beyond the house, now."</p> + +<p>"And where's that precious cousin of yours?"</p> + +<p>"I believe he has gone to the house to see if supper is about ready," +said Rufe. "He's smart to work, when he does take hold, but his interest +doesn't hold out, and the first we know, he is off."</p> + +<p>Jack stopped and talked with the boys about their water-works for about +half an hour. Then Rad came up through the woods, by way of the spring, +and announced that supper was ready, greeting Jack with a jeering laugh.</p> + +<p>"You'll take tea with us, of course," Rufe said to Jack.</p> + +<p>"I suppose your father will be at the house by this time; I'll stop and +see him, at any rate," was Jack's reply.</p> + +<p>Rufe went with him down through the woods to where Snowfoot was left +hitched. As they were getting into the buggy, Rufe noticed Zeph Peakslow +coming out of some bushes farther down the road, and going towards home.</p> + +<p>"See him slink off?" said Rufe. "He's afraid of me yet; but he needn't +be,—I've promised Vinnie not to meddle with him."</p> + +<p>Then, on the way home, Rufe surprised Jack by telling him how Vinnie had +made acquaintance with the Peakslow family, and how Mrs. Peakslow, +taking advantage of her husband's absence from home, had called on the +Bettersons, under pretence of returning Vinnie's box of salve.</p> + +<p>Mr. Betterson had not yet come to the house; and Jack, having hitched +Snowfoot to an oak-tree, and told of his business with the Wiggetts, +asked Vinnie and her sister if they would not like a noon-mark on their +floor. "It will be a good thing to set your clock by when it goes +wrong," he explained.</p> + +<p>Vinnie gladly accepted the offer.</p> + +<p>"And, O Jack!" she said, "I wish you would give Mrs. Peakslow one too."</p> + +<p>"I would, certainly," said Jack; "but" (his pride coming up) "wouldn't +it look as if I was anxious to make my peace with Peakslow?"</p> + +<p>"Never mind that; I think even he will appreciate the kindness. I wish +you would!"</p> + +<p>"I will—to please you," said Jack. "This afternoon, if I have time." +And he went to the buggy for his compass.</p> + +<p>He fumbled in the blanket under the seat, looked before and behind, and +uttered an exclamation.</p> + +<p>"What's the trouble, Jack?" Rufe asked.</p> + +<p>"It is gone! my compass is gone!" said Jack. "Somebody has taken it."</p> + +<p>"That Zeph—we saw him, you know!" said Rufe. "It's one of his tricks."</p> + +<p>"I'll overhaul that Zeph!" said Jack; "I'll teach him to play his tricks +on me!"</p> + +<p>Vinnie ran after him as he was starting off.</p> + +<p>"Jack! don't be hasty or unkind!"</p> + +<p>"O no! I won't be unkind," said Jack, with something bitter in his +laugh. "I just want my compass, that's all." And he hurried down the +road.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXXIV.</h2> + +<h3>THE STRANGE CLOUD.</h3> + + +<p>Jack's call on the Peakslows was brief and unsatisfactory. He returned +to the "castle" without his compass, and looking flushed and disturbed.</p> + +<p>"I didn't accuse Zeph of stealing," said Jack, fearful of being blamed +by Vinnie. "They were at supper; and I just said, 'Zeph, my boy, what +did you do with my compass?' He denied having touched it. I explained. +Great commotion. Mamma Peakslow looked frightened out of her wits, and +papa blazed away at me like a seventy-four-gun ship. In short, you will +have to wait for your noon-mark, Mrs. Betterson. So will Mrs. Peakslow. +I didn't tell her I was going to make her one, if Zeph hadn't stolen my +compass."</p> + +<p>"But you don't know he stole it," said Vinnie.</p> + +<p>"We don't know that he and Dud put rubbish in our spring," Rufe made +answer for Jack, "and yet we know it as well as we know anything we +don't know."</p> + +<p>"I can't tell what I was thinking of," said Jack, "to leave any property +of mine unguarded, within reach of the Peakslows. Lion was up in the +woods with me before I knew it."</p> + +<p>"Where are you going now?" Vinnie asked.</p> + +<p>"To look for my compass in the bushes. Zeph must have hid it somewhere, +for he didn't have it when we saw him."</p> + +<p>"Wait till after supper, and I will go with you," said Rufe. "Father is +here now."</p> + +<p>Mr. Betterson was coming up from the stable, accompanied by Radcliff. +Rad had hastened to waylay him, and make a last appeal for the money +which he knew Jack was waiting to receive. He talked and gesticulated +earnestly; but Lord shook his head and compressed his lips with great +firmness, whereupon Rad, instead of coming to supper with the rest, +wandered sulkily away.</p> + +<p>When Mr. Betterson had washed his hands and face, and brushed his hair, +and put on his threadbare black coat and frayed stock, the family sat +down at the table. Jack waited unwillingly, and soon excused himself, +saying he must look for his compass before dark.</p> + +<p>"I'll attend to our truckman's little matter when I come back," he said, +and hurried away.</p> + +<p>Link jumped up from the table and went with him; Rufe and Wad promising +to follow as soon as they were through with their supper.</p> + +<p>Careful search was made all about the roadside bushes where the wagon +had been partially concealed when the compass was taken. Lion was also +set to hunt. But all in vain. Some faint footprints were found, but Jack +could not be sure that they were not either his own or Rufe's.</p> + +<p>"Lion don't know what we are looking for; he's after rabbits," said +Link. "Was this all the compass you had?"</p> + +<p>"The only surveyor's compass; and the worst of it is, 't was a borrowed +one. It belongs to Forrest Felton. He has a theodolite which we use for +fine work; and I've a little pocket-compass, given me by an old lady a +few years ago. I wouldn't have lost this for twice its value,—it's a +most exasperating trick!" Jack muttered. "And now it is suddenly growing +dark."</p> + +<p>It was very suddenly growing very dark. A strange cloud was blackening +the sunset sky. "Did you ever see anything so funny?" said Link.</p> + +<p>"It is like the lower half of an immense balloon, the top spreading +out," said Jack. "See that long, hanging, pear-shaped end!"</p> + +<p>"I wonder if the folks at the house see it!" Link exclaimed, growing +excited. "It looks like an elephant's trunk! By sixty, it's growing!"</p> + +<p>"It's moving this way," said Jack. "Fast, too! and roaring,—hear it? +There's an awful storm coming!"</p> + +<p>"Oh!" cried Link, "see the lightning-forks! It will be here in a jiffy."</p> + +<p>The "elephant's trunk," which had seemed to be feeling its way up the +valley, now swung toward the line of timber; the roar which accompanied +it became deafening; and suddenly the cloud, and all the air about it, +seemed filled with whirling and flying objects, like the broken boughs +and limbs of trees. It was like some living monster, vast, supernatural, +rushing through the sky, and tearing and trampling the earth with fury. +The mysterious swinging movement, the uproar, the gloom, the lightnings, +were appalling. And now Lion set up a fearful, ominous howl.</p> + +<p>"A whirlwind!" Jack exclaimed, shrieking to make himself heard. "I must +go to my horse."</p> + +<p>"Let's put for the house!" Link yelled.</p> + +<p>But hardly had they reached the road when the storm was upon them.</p> + +<p>Shortly after Jack and Link had left the table, Lord Betterson gave +Rufus a small key, and told him to bring a certain pocket-book from the +till of the family chest in the next room.</p> + +<p>"We will have our friend's eighty dollars ready for him, against his +return," Lord said; and, counting out the money, he placed it under the +pocket-book, beside his plate.</p> + +<p>Rufe and Wad were now ready to go and help Jack search for his compass; +but a discussion which had been going on at intervals, ever since the +draft came, was now renewed, and they stopped to take part in it.</p> + +<p>"If I am going to get out to Divine service again, I <i>must</i> have a silk +dress," said Caroline. "And, Mr. Betterson, <i>you</i> need a new suit; and +you know—we all know—nothing becomes you but broadcloth, and the +finest broadcloth. What do you think, Lavinia dear?"</p> + +<p>"I am sure broadcloth is becoming to him," Vinnie replied quietly. "And +I should like to see you come out in silk. And Cecie and Lilian need new +things. But—how much of the two hundred and fifty dollars is left, Mr. +Betterson?"</p> + +<p>"Deducting Radcliff's share, one hundred and twenty odd dollars," said +Lord, touching the pocket-book by his plate.</p> + +<p>"One hundred and twenty dollars will go but a little way, in a family +where so many things are absolutely needed!" said Vinnie. "It seems to +me I should want to get this room and your room plastered, the first +thing,—merely for comfort, in the cold weather that is coming."</p> + +<p>"And carpeted, Lavinia dear," simpered Caroline.</p> + +<p>"And if the house is ever to be painted," spoke up Rufe, "it must be +done soon. It won't be worth painting if it is neglected much longer."</p> + +<p>"And we need so many things in the kitchen!" said Lill. "Vinnie knows +it, but she won't say anything."</p> + +<p>"And lots of things on the farm," said Wad. "If Rufe and I are going to +do anything, we must have conveniences. The idea of having such a house +as this, and nothing but a miserable log-barn and stable!"</p> + +<p>"We can't build a new barn for a hundred and twenty dollars," said Mr. +Betterson. "And we can't buy farming tools, and kitchen utensils, and +carpets, and silk, and broadcloth, and tea and sugar, and clothing for +the children, and paint and plaster the house, all with so limited a +sum. The question then arises, just <i>what</i> shall we do with the money?"</p> + +<p>"O dear! just a little money like that is only an aggravation!" Caroline +sighed, discouraged. "And I had hoped some of it would be left for +Lavinia dear; she deserves it if anybody does."</p> + +<p>"O, never mind me," Vinnie replied. "However, if I might suggest—"</p> + +<p>But the family had been so long deciding this question, that Fortune +seemed now to take it out of their hands, and decide it for them.</p> + +<p>It suddenly grew dark, and an outcry from the boys interrupted Vinnie. +The tornado was coming.</p> + +<p>All rose, save Cecie,—who remained seated where she had been placed at +the table,—and pressed to the door and windows.</p> + +<p>The baby wakened in the next room, and began to cry, and Caroline went +to take it up. The boys rushed out of the house. Vinnie turned pale and +asked, "Where are they? Jack and Link!"</p> + +<p>"As well off as they would be here probably," replied Lord Betterson. +"Shut doors and windows fast. That horse should have been taken care +of."</p> + +<p>"Jack wouldn't let us put him up. I'll do it now," cried Rufe.</p> + +<p>But he had hardly begun to undo the halter, when he saw the utter +impossibility of getting the horse to the stable before the storm would +be upon them. So, to prevent Snowfoot from breaking away and dashing the +buggy to pieces, he determined to leave him tied to the tree, and stand +by his head, until the first whirl or rush should have passed. This he +attempted to do; and patted and encouraged the snorting, terrified +animal, till he was himself flung by the first buffet of the hurricane +back against the pillar of the porch, where he clung.</p> + +<p>"Oh! what is that?" screamed Lill, watching with Vinnie from the window.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="i020" id="i020"></a> +<img src="images/i020.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>THE TORNADO COMING.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Some huge, unwieldy object had risen and rolled for an instant in the +dim air, over Peakslow's house, then disappeared as suddenly.</p> + +<p>At the same time Jack and Link appeared, half running, half blown by the +tempest up the road. Vinnie watched them from the window, and saw the +enormous sloping pillar of dust and leaves, and torn boughs, whirling +above their heads, and overwhelming everything in its roaring cloud.</p> + +<p>The last she remembered was Jack and Link darting by the corner of the +house, and Snowfoot tugging at his halter. Then a strange electric +thrill shot through her, the house shook with a great crash, and all was +dark.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXV" id="CHAPTER_XXXV"></a>CHAPTER XXXV.</h2> + +<h3>PEAKSLOW IN A TIGHT PLACE.—CECIE.</h3> + + +<p>The storm could not have been two minutes in passing. Then it suddenly +grew light, the tempest lulled, the heavens cleared, and in not more +than ten minutes the sunset sky was smiling again, a sea of tranquil +gold, over the western woods.</p> + +<p>Fortunately, only the skirt of the storm had swept over Betterson's +house, doing no very serious damage.</p> + +<p>When Vinnie looked again from the window, she saw Snowfoot, still tied +by the halter, standing with drooping head and tail, wet with rain. +Jack, hat in hand, his hair wildly tumbled, was already at the horse's +head, laughing excitedly, and looking back at Rufe and Link, who were +coming to his side. The buggy, he noticed, had been whirled half-way +round by the wind, so that the rear end was turned toward the porch.</p> + +<p>Through it all, Lill had clung in terror to Vinnie, whose arms were +still about her. Cecie sat in her chair by the supper-table, white and +speechless from the electric shock which all had felt, and she more +sensibly than the rest. Caroline was in the next room with the child, +whose cries, for a while drowned in the terrible uproar, now broke +forth again, strenuous and shrill. Mr. Betterson, holding the frightened +Chokie, opened the door, and calmly asked the boys if they were hurt.</p> + +<p>"We are all right, I guess," cried Rufe. "Wad put for the barn, to make +room for the horse and buggy, which I didn't have time to get there. I +don't know where Rad is."</p> + +<p>Wad now appeared; and at the same time the cattle, started homeward by +the storm, came cantering down the woodland road, with the rattling +cowbell, and ran for refuge to the barnyard.</p> + +<p>"The big oak behind the house, there,—have you seen it?" cried Wad. +"It's twisted off. And where's the well-curb?"</p> + +<p>"That flew to pieces, and the boards went up into the air like kites,—I +saw them," said Link. "Where's the dog?"</p> + +<p>"He's in the bushes, or under a log somewhere," Jack replied. "He was +shot at once, with a gun held close to his head,—luckily, there was no +lead in it. For a long time he was afraid of a gun; and thunder, or any +big noise, frightens him even now."</p> + +<p>"Some of our fences look pretty flat,—rails tumbled every which way!" +said Rufe. "A good deal of damage must have been done south of us."</p> + +<p>"Something looks odd over there toward Peakslow's,—what is it?" cried +Link.</p> + +<p>"Some of the tree-tops by the road have been lopped off," replied Jack.</p> + +<p>"That isn't all," said Lord Betterson. "Sure as fate, something has +happened to Peakslow's buildings."</p> + +<p>"That is what I saw!" Vinnie exclaimed. "Something turned over in the +air like the roof of a house."</p> + +<p>"I thought just now I heard cries in that direction," said Jack. "Hark a +moment!"</p> + +<p>"There comes somebody," said Rufe, as a girl of twelve years, barefoot, +bonnetless, wild with fright, came running up the road. "It's 'Lecty +Ann!"</p> + +<p>Out of breath, almost out of her wits, the girl ran as far as the +door-yard fence, then stopped, as if unable or afraid to go farther, +caught hold of the pickets, and, putting her pale face between them, +gasped out something which nobody could understand.</p> + +<p>"What is it?—what's the matter?" cried Jack, advancing toward her.</p> + +<p>"House—blowed down—covered up!" was all she could articulate.</p> + +<p>"Who is covered up?"</p> + +<p>"Don't know—some of the folks—pa, I guess."</p> + +<p>Jack did not stop to hear more; but, fired with a generous impulse to +aid the unfortunate, whoever they might be, gave one backward look, +threw up his hand as a signal, shouted "Help, boys!" ran to a length of +fence which the wind had thrown down, bounded over like a deer, and was +off.</p> + +<p>Vinnie followed; but was soon overtaken by Mr. Betterson and the boys, +who passed her, as if running a race. Then she heard screams behind; +and there was Chokie, sprawling over the prostrate fence, which he had +rashly taken, in his eagerness to keep up with Lill.</p> + +<p>By the time Chokie was extricated Mrs. Betterson appeared, babe in arms, +tottering out of the door, and hastening, in the excitement of the +moment, to learn what dreadful catastrophe had overtaken their +neighbors.</p> + +<p>"Stay with Arthur and your mother," Vinnie said to Lill; "<i>I</i> may do +something to help." And away she sped.</p> + +<p>'Lecty Ann, met by Mrs. Betterson at the gate, was now able to tell more +of her story; and so strange, so tragical it seemed, that Caroline +forgot all about her ill health, the baby in her arms, and Cecie left +alone in the house, and brought up the rear of the little +procession,—Lill and 'Lecty Ann and Chokie preceding her down the road.</p> + +<p>They had not gone far, when Lion came out of the woods, with downcast +ears and tail, ashamed of his recent cowardly conduct. And so, +accompanied by the dog and the children,—Lill lugging the baby at +last,—Caroline approached the scene of the disaster.</p> + +<p>The whole force of the tornado seemed to have fallen upon Peakslow's +buildings. The stable was unroofed, and the barn had lost a door.</p> + +<p>The house had fared still worse: it was—even as 'Lecty Ann had +said—almost literally "blowed down."</p> + +<p>It had consisted of two parts,—a pretty substantial log-cabin, which +dated back to the earliest days of the settlement, and a framed +addition, called a lean-to, or "linter." The roof of the old part had +been lifted, and tumbled, with some of the upper logs, a mass of ruins, +over upon the linter, which had been crushed to the ground by the +weight.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Peakslow and the girls and younger children were in the log-house +at the time; and, marvellous as it seemed, all had escaped serious +injury.</p> + +<p>The boys were in the field with their father, and had run a race with +the tornado. The tornado beat. Dud was knocked down within a few rods of +the house. Zeph was blown up on a stack of hay, and lodged there; the +stack itself—and this was one of the curious freaks of the +whirlwind—being uninjured, except that it was canted over a little, and +ruffled a good deal, as if its feathers had been stroked the wrong way.</p> + +<p>Mr. Peakslow was ahead of the boys; and they thought he must have +reached the linter.</p> + +<p>Zeph, slipping down from his perch in the haystack, as soon as the storm +had passed, and seeing the house in ruins, and his mother and sisters +struggling to get out, had run screaming for help down the road toward +Mr. Wiggett's. Dud remained; and by pushing from without, while the +imprisoned family lifted and pulled from within, helped to move a log +which had fallen down against the closed door, and so aided the escape +from the house.</p> + +<p>'Lecty Ann ran to the nearest neighbor's up the river. The rest stayed +by the ruins; and there Lord Betterson and Jack—the earliest on the +spot—found them, a terrified group, bewildered, bewailing, gazing +hopelessly and helplessly at the unroofed cabin and crushed linter, and +calling for "Pa."</p> + +<p>"Where is your husband, Mrs. Peakslow?" cried Jack.</p> + +<p>"O, I don't know where he is, 'thout he's there!" said the poor woman, +with a gesture of despair toward the ruined linter.</p> + +<p>"This rubbish must be removed," said Lord Betterson. "If friend Peakslow +is under it, he can't be taken out too soon."</p> + +<p>And with his own hands he set to work, displaying an energy of will and +coolness of judgment which would have astonished Jack, if he had not +once before seen something of what was in the man.</p> + +<p>Jack and the boys seconded their father; and now Dud came and worked +side by side with Wad and Rufe.</p> + +<p>A broken part of the roof was knocked to pieces, and the rafters were +used for levers and props. The main portion of the roof was next turned +over, and got out of the way. Then one by one the logs were removed; all +hands, from Lord Betterson down to Link, working like heroes.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, Vinnie did what she could to aid and comfort Mrs. Peakslow; +and Caroline and her little company came and looked on.</p> + +<p>Mr. Wiggett also arrived, with Zeph, and helped get away the last of the +logs.</p> + +<p>Under the logs was the crushed shell of the linter; and all looked +anxiously, to see what was under that.</p> + +<p>A good many things were under it,—pots and kettles, wash-tubs, +milk-pans (badly battered), churn and cheese-press, bed and +trundle-bed,—but no Peakslow.</p> + +<p>It was a disappointment, and yet a relief, not to find him there, after +all. But where was he? Dud ran back to the field, to look for him; while +the others rested from their labors.</p> + +<p>"Did the wind do you much damage, Mr. Wiggett?" Lord inquired.</p> + +<p>"Not so much as it mout," replied the old man. "It was mighty suddent. +Banged if I knowed what in seven kingdoms was a-gwine to happen. It +roared and bellered that orful, I didn't know but the etarnal smash-up +had come."</p> + +<p>"It must have passed pretty near your house,—I saw it swing that way," +said Jack.</p> + +<p>"Wal, I reckon you're right thar, young man. It jest took holt o' my +cabin, an' slewed one corner on't around about five or six inches; an' +done no more damage, in partic'lar, fur's I can diskiver; only, of +course, it discomfusticated that ar' noon-mark. I left the ol' woman +mournin' over that!"</p> + +<p>Jack laughed, and promised to replace the noon-mark.</p> + +<p>"There's Dud a-yelling!" said Link.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="i021" id="i021"></a> +<img src="images/i021.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>PEAKSLOW REAPPEARS.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The roof of the shed—which must have been the object Vinnie saw rise +and turn in the air—had been taken off very neatly, with the two gable +pieces, whirled over once or more, and then landed gently, right side up +with care, on the edge of the potato-patch, two or three rods away. Dud, +hunting for his father, passed near it, and heard stifled cries come +from under it. He was yelling, indeed, as Link said.</p> + +<p>In a moment a dozen feet rushed to the spot, and a dozen hands laid hold +of one side of the roof, under which Jack thrust a lever. Some lifted on +the lever, while some lifted on the edge of the roof itself; and out +crawled—bushy head and hooked nose fore-most—the shaggy shape of the +elder Peakslow.</p> + +<p>The roof was let down again as soon as Peakslow's legs were well +from under it, and a wondering group—men, boys, women, and +children—gathered round to see if he was hurt.</p> + +<p>"Wal!" said Peakslow, getting upon his feet, giving his clothes a brush +with his broad hand, and staring about him, "this is a mighty perty +piece of business! Didn't none on ye hear me call?"</p> + +<p>"Did you call?" said Mrs. Peakslow, trembling with joy and fright.</p> + +<p>"Call?" echoed Peakslow, feeling his left shoulder with his right hand. +"I believe I b'en callin' there for the last half-hour. What was ye +knockin' that ruf to pieces for? I could hear ye, an' see ye, an' I +wanted to put a stop to 't. Hadn't the wind damaged me enough, but you +must pitch in?"</p> + +<p>"We thought you were under the ruins," Mr. Betterson replied with +dignity.</p> + +<p>"Thought I was under the ruins! What made ye think that?" growled +Peakslow.</p> + +<p>"I thought so—I told them so," Mrs. Peakslow explained; while Lord +Betterson walked away with calm disgust.</p> + +<p>"Ye might 'a' knowed better'n that! Here I was under this ruf all the +time. It come over on to me like a great bird, knocked me down with a +flop of its wing,—mos' broke my shoulder, I believe; an' when I come to +myself, and peeked through a crack, there was a crew knockin' the ruf o' +the house to flinders. I was too weak to call very loud, but, if you'd +cared much, I should think ye might 'a' heard me. Look a' that house, +now! look a' that shed! It's the blastedest luck!"</p> + +<p>Jack couldn't help smiling. Peakslow turned upon him furiously.</p> + +<p>"You here? So ye think my boy's a thief, do ye?"</p> + +<p>"Come, Lion! come, boys!" said Jack, and started to follow Mr. +Betterson, without more words.</p> + +<p>"Come here and 'cuse my boy o' stealin'!" said Peakslow, turning, and +looking all about him, as if he had hardly yet regained his senses. "I +had a hat somewheres. Hundred dollars—no, nor two hundred—won't pay +the damage done to me this day."</p> + +<p>"But the children, they are all safe," said Mrs. Peakslow, "and we ought +to be thankful."</p> + +<p>"Thankful! Look a' that linter! <i>Three</i> hundred won't do it!"</p> + +<p>"O pa!" cried Zeph, "you've got a great gash on the back o' your head!"</p> + +<p>"Never mind the gash," said Peakslow, putting up his hand. "That'll +heal itself. Holes in the buildin's won't."</p> + +<p>Vinnie meanwhile conferred with Jack and Mr. Betterson, as they were +about going away; and also called her sister, and afterward Mrs. +Peakslow, to the consultation.</p> + +<p>"O, I don't know, Lavinia dear!" said Caroline in great distress of +mind.</p> + +<p>But Lord Betterson spoke out manfully,—</p> + +<p>"Lavinia is right. Mrs. Peakslow, we have plenty of spare room in our +house, which you are welcome to till you can do better."</p> + +<p>"O Mr. Betterson!" the poor woman sobbed out, quite overcome by this +unexpected kindness, "you are too good!"</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon," replied Lord Betterson, in his most gracious +manner. "We wish simply to do as we might wish neighbors to do by us +under similar circumstances. Our boys will help yours get your things +over to my house,—whatever you want, Mrs. Peakslow."</p> + +<p>Lord did not much mind the woman's outburst of tears and thanks; but +when he observed the look of admiration and gratitude in Vinnie's deep +eyes, fixed upon him, he felt an unaccustomed thrill.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Peakslow went weeping back to her husband.</p> + +<p>"I am sorry you spoke as you did," she said. "We all thought you was +under the linter; and they was all workin' so hard—as if they had been +our best friends—to get you out."</p> + +<p>"Best friends!" repeated Peakslow, with a snort of angry contempt.</p> + +<p>"Yes, pa; and now,—will you believe it?—now that we haven't a ruf to +our heads, they offer us shelter in <i>their</i> house!"</p> + +<p>"In the castle?—huh!" sneered Peakslow. "I never thought 't would come +to that!"</p> + +<p>"Where else <i>can</i> we go?" said Mrs. Peakslow. "It's 'most night,—nights +are beginnin' to be cold,—and think o' the children! 'T will be weeks, +I s'pose, 'fore ye can rebuild."</p> + +<p>"If I couldn't rebuild in all etarnity, I wouldn't set foot in Lord +Betterson's castle!" said Peakslow. He looked again at the ruined house, +then at the children, and added: "Me an' the boys, we can stop in the +stable, or dig holes in the stack, to make ourselves comf'table. Do what +you're a min' ter, for the rest. But don't say <i>I</i> told ye to ask or +accept a favor of <i>them</i>."</p> + +<p>The Bettersons, Vinnie, and Jack were waiting between the ruined house +and the road; and Mrs. Betterson was saying, "Lillie, you and I <i>must</i> +be going back; remember, we left Cecie all alone; and the evening air is +too chill for the baby," when Link cried,—</p> + +<p>"Who's that coming down the road?"</p> + +<p>All turned; and Vinnie and Jack and Link ran out to look. They could +scarcely believe their eyes.</p> + +<p>"It can't be!" said Vinnie.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it is," exclaimed Link; "it's her—it's her!"</p> + +<p>"Who?" Caroline inquired anxiously, dreading some new calamity.</p> + +<p>"Cecie! Cecie, sure as the world!" said two or three at once.</p> + +<p>It was indeed the little invalid, who, though she had scarcely taken a +step without help for many months, was actually coming down the road, +walking, and walking fast, without even the crutch she had sometimes +tried to use!</p> + +<p>She was beckoning and calling. Jack and Vinnie and the boys ran to meet +her. She was pale and very much excited, and it was some time before she +could speak coherently.</p> + +<p>"Radcliff!" was almost her first word.</p> + +<p>"What about Radcliff? where is he?" Vinnie asked.</p> + +<p>"Gone!"</p> + +<p>"Gone where?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. He came into the house—he saw the pocket-book and money +on the table—I told him he mustn't take them!"</p> + +<p>"And did he?" said Rufe.</p> + +<p>"Yes. He only laughed at me. He said his chance had come."</p> + +<p>"Which way did he go?"</p> + +<p>"He drove up through the woods."</p> + +<p>"Drove?" echoed Jack.</p> + +<p>"He took the horse and buggy."</p> + +<p>"<i>My</i> horse and buggy!" And Jack, followed by Lion and Rufe and Link, +started up the road.</p> + +<p>Though shocked at Radcliff's conduct, Vinnie thought less of the loss of +the money, and of the horse and buggy, than of the seeming miracle in +Cecie's case.</p> + +<p>"How could you walk so, Cecie?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. I suppose it was the excitement. Strength came to me. I +called, but could not make anybody hear, and I thought you ought to +know."</p> + +<p>Mr. Betterson would have carried her home in his arms, but she would not +let him.</p> + +<p>"I can walk better and better! That numbness of my limbs is almost gone. +I believe I am going to be cured, after all!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXXVI.</h2> + +<h3>"ON THE WAR TRAIL."</h3> + + +<p>There could be no mistake about it,—pocket-book and money, and horse +and buggy, were gone with Radcliff.</p> + +<p>"He has taken the road to Chicago," said Jack, easily tracking the +wheels after the recent rain. "But he'll find it not so easy selling the +horse there a second time."</p> + +<p>"But he'll spend all that money," said Rufe. "He'll find it easy enough +to do that."</p> + +<p>"I wish it wasn't night," said Jack. "I would track him! And I will as +it is. Have you a lantern?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—I'll go with you! Shall we take the mare and one-horse wagon?"</p> + +<p>"If you like. But, Rufe, if you go with me, you'll have to travel all +night. I am on the war trail!"</p> + +<p>"I'm with you!" said Rufe; and he gave an Indian war-whoop.</p> + +<p>Mr. Betterson, coming up, approved of this resolution. "And, boys," he +said, "if you <i>should</i> lay hands on Radcliff, you may as well bring him +back with you. We'll try to have a more satisfactory settlement with him +this time."</p> + +<p>Jack left his friends to harness the mare to the wagon, and went on +alone, with Lion and the lantern, up through the woods.</p> + +<p>For a while he had no trouble in following the fresh marks of hoofs and +wheels over the wet ground. But when he reached the prairie, an +unforeseen difficulty appeared. The rain had not extended so far, and +the tracks were not easily distinguished.</p> + +<p>It was nearly dark when Rufe, following in the wagon, emerged from the +woods. Lonesome and gloomy stretched the great prairie before him, under +a sky of flying clouds. The insects of the autumn night filled the air +with their shrill, melancholy notes. An owl hooted in the forest; a pair +of whippoorwills were vociferating somewhere in the thickets; and far +off on the prairie the wolves howled. Now and then a rift of dark blue +sky and a few wildly hurrying stars were visible through the flocking +clouds. No other light, or sign of life, until Rufe descried far before +him in the darkness a waving, ruddy gleam, and knew it was the ray from +the lantern swinging in Jack's hand.</p> + +<p>Driving on as fast as the mare's somewhat decrepit paces would allow, he +found Jack waiting for him at a point where the road divided, one branch +taking a northerly direction, the other trending easterly, toward the +great road to Chicago.</p> + +<p>"Here's a puzzle," said Jack, as Rufe drove up. "I've tracked the fellow +as far as here, notwithstanding he has tried the trick of driving off on +the prairie in two or three places. But here, instead of taking the +direct road to Chicago, as we supposed, he has taken this by-road, if my +eyes are good for anything. Lion says I am right; for I believe I've +made him understand we are hunting Snowfoot."</p> + +<p>Rufe jumped down from the wagon, and saw by the light of the lantern the +imperfect and yet peculiar marks of Snowfoot's rather smooth-worn shoes, +and of the narrow wheel-tires.</p> + +<p>"It is a game of his to mislead us," said Rufe. "I believe if we follow +him on to where this by-road crosses the main road, we shall find he has +there turned off toward the city."</p> + +<p>"Go ahead, Lion; find Snowfoot!" cried Jack, and jumped into the wagon +with Rufe.</p> + +<p>They got on as fast as they could; but the pursuit was necessarily slow, +for not only was the mare a creature of very indifferent speed, but the +boys found it useful to stop every now and then and examine the tracks +by the light of the lantern.</p> + +<p>"The dog is right; and we are right so far, sure!" said Jack, after they +had proceeded about half a mile in this way. "<i>Slow and sure</i> is our +policy. We've all the fall before us, Rufe; and we'll overhaul your +pretty cousin, unless something breaks. Now, drive straight on to the +main road, and we'll see what we can discover there."</p> + +<p>To the surprise of both again, the fugitive, instead of turning +cityward, kept the northerly road.</p> + +<p>"He is cunning," said Rufe. "He knows Chicago is the first place where +one would be apt to look for him; and, besides, I think he is getting +too well known in Chicago."</p> + +<p>"He is bound for Wisconsin," cried Jack. "Whip along. This road passes +through the timber, and brings us to the river again; we shall soon find +settlements, where we can inquire for our game."</p> + +<p>"If you can speak Dutch, and if it wasn't too late when Rad passed +through," Rufe replied. "There is a colony of <i>meinheers</i> up here; they +go to bed a little after sundown."</p> + +<p>As they drove on from the crossing, Jack said, "That left-hand road goes +to North Mills. But I sha'n't see North Mills to-night, nor for a good +many nights, I'm afraid."</p> + +<p>Jack, however, as we shall see, was mistaken.</p> + +<p>The road above the crossing was much more travelled than below; and for +a while the boys found it very difficult to make out Snowfoot's tracks. +But soon again fortune favored them.</p> + +<p>"Rain—it has been raining here!" said Jack, examining the road where it +entered the skirts of the timber, "and raining hard! We must be nearing +the path of the whirlwind again."</p> + +<p>They passed through a belt of woods, where the storm had evidently +passed but without doing much damage; for it was a peculiarity of that +elephant of a cloud that it appeared to draw up its destroying trunk +once or twice, and skip over a few miles in its course, only to swing it +down again with greater fury.</p> + +<p>The road was now drenched all the way, and the trail they followed was +so distinct that the boys did not stop to make inquiries at the log-huts +which began to appear before they were well through the woods.</p> + +<p>They made comparatively rapid progress up the valley, until they came to +a point where the river, in its winding course, was crossed by the road. +There, again, the tornado had done a brisk business; the bridge was +destroyed, the side of the road gullied, and the river swollen.</p> + +<p>Both boys alighted and examined the track.</p> + +<p>"Here is where he stopped and hesitated, finding the bridge gone," said +Jack. "And see! here are his own tracks, as if he had got out of the +buggy and gone ahead to reconnoitre."</p> + +<p>"As well he might," Rufe answered. "Look at these tree-tops, and the +timbers of the bridge lodged in the middle of the river!"</p> + +<p>"He seems to have got through, and I guess we can," said Jack. "I've +forded this stream, below the bridge, before now, when I've wanted to +water my horse; but it was free from all this sort of rubbish then. +There must have been a great fall of rain up here!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXXVII.</h2> + +<h3>THE MYSTERY OF A PAIR OF BREECHES.</h3> + + +<p>Jack went out with the lantern upon the ruined abutment of the bridge, +and showed a space beside the drift-wood, in the turbid and whirling +current, where fording seemed practicable.</p> + +<p>Then the boys got into the wagon again, and the mare was driven +cautiously forward, by the glimmering light which the lantern shed +faintly before and around them. Lion swam ahead, throwing up his muzzle +and barking loud, like a faithful pilot showing the safest way. The +wheels went in over the hubs; the water came into the bottom of the +wagon-box; the flood boiled and plashed and gurgled, and swept away in +black, whirling eddies; and Jack said, "This wouldn't be a very nice +place to break down, eh,—would it?"</p> + +<p>But they got safely through; and on the farther bank they were pleased +to find again the trail of the horse and buggy.</p> + +<p>They were now in high spirits. The whirlwind having passed up the river, +the road lay aside from its direct path, but still within the area of +rain.</p> + +<p>"This is gay!" said Jack. "He thinks he has baffled us; and he will put +up somewhere for the night; and we won't! We shall circumvent Master +Radcliff!"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="i022" id="i022"></a> +<img src="images/i022.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>FOLLOWING THE WAR TRAIL UNDER DIFFICULTIES.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>But soon the boys were again puzzled. Reaching another cross-road, and +bringing the lantern to bear upon the trail, they found that, instead of +continuing northward, toward Wisconsin, or turning to the right, in the +direction of Chicago, it turned at a sharp angle to the left, in the +direction of North Mills.</p> + +<p>"This move is a perfect mystery to me!" Jack exclaimed. "It seems as if +he had thought the thing all over, and finally chosen the very last +place one would expect him to make for."</p> + +<p>"Are you sure this road leads to North Mills?"</p> + +<p>"Perfectly sure; I've been this way three or four times. But another +road branches from it, and passes a mile north of the Mills; he has +probably taken that."</p> + +<p>But no; after a good deal of trouble—the road appearing once more dry +and much trodden—they discovered that the horse and buggy had not taken +the branch, but kept the direct route to the Mills!</p> + +<p>"It doesn't seem possible! there must be some mistake here," said Jack. +And every rod of their progress seemed now to increase the boys' doubts.</p> + +<p>The road, long before they reached the Mills, became a mere bed of brown +dust, in which it required a pretty vivid imagination to distinguish one +track from another. The boys' spirits sank accordingly. Lion still led +them boldly on; but his guidance could no longer be trusted.</p> + +<p>"He's bound for home now," said Jack, "and he'll go straight there."</p> + +<p>"If Rad <i>did</i> come this way," said Rufe, "he was shrewd, after all. He +knew that by passing through a busy place like the Mills, he would hide +his tracks as he couldn't in any other way."</p> + +<p>"To find 'em again," Jack replied, rather gloomily, "we shall have to +examine every road going out of this place."</p> + +<p>It must have been near midnight when they entered the village. The +houses were all dark and still; not a ray at a window, not even the bark +of a dog, gave sign of life as they passed.</p> + +<p>"This looks discouraging," said Jack.</p> + +<p>"A needle in a haystack is no comparison," replied Rufe. "The lantern is +almost out."</p> + +<p>"I can get another at our house," said Jack. "We may as well follow the +dog now. What did I tell you? He is going straight home!"</p> + +<p>The dog trotted up to the gate before Mr. Lanman's cottage, and the +wagon turned up after him.</p> + +<p>"What's that ahead of us?" said Jack, as the mare came to a sudden stop.</p> + +<p>"Seems to be a wagon standing," said Rufe, shading his eyes from the +lantern and peering into the darkness.</p> + +<p>Jack jumped out, ran forward, and gave a shout. The wagon was a buggy, +and the horse was Snowfoot, standing before the gate, waiting patiently +to be let in.</p> + +<p>Quite wild with delight and astonishment, Jack took the lantern and +examined horse and vehicle.</p> + +<p>"Old Lion! you were right," he exclaimed. "The scamp must have let the +horse go, and taken to his heels. And the horse made for home."</p> + +<p>"The most he cared for was to get off with the money," said Rufe, not +quite so abundantly pleased as his friend. "What's this thing under the +seat?"</p> + +<p>"The compass!" said Jack, if possible, still more surprised and +overjoyed, "which I accused Zeph of stealing!"</p> + +<p>Rufe continued rummaging, and, holding the lantern with one hand, lifted +up a limp garment with the other.</p> + +<p>"What in thunder? A pair of breeches! Rad's breeches! Where can the +scamp have gone without his breeches? See what's in the pocket there, +Jack."</p> + +<p>Jack thrust in his hand, and brought out some loose bank-notes. He +thrust in his hand again, and brought out a pocket-book, containing more +bank-notes. It was Mr. Betterson's pocket-book, and the notes were the +stolen money.</p> + +<p>Jack was hastily turning them over—not counting them, he was too much +amazed and excited to do that—when the candle in the lantern gave a +final flicker and went out, leaving the boys and the mystery of the +compass and the money and Rad's pantaloons enveloped in sudden +darkness.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXXVIII.</h2> + +<h3>THE MORNING AFTER.</h3> + + +<p>Bright rose the sun the next morning over the leafy tops of Long Woods, +and smiled upon the pleasant valley.</p> + +<p>It found many a trace of the previous day's devastation,—trees uprooted +or twisted off at their trunks, branches and limbs broken and scattered, +fences blown down, and more than one man's buildings unroofed or +demolished.</p> + +<p>It found Peakslow, accompanied by the two older boys, walking about his +private and particular pile of ruins, in a gloomy and bewildered state +of mind, as if utterly at a loss to know where the repair of such +tremendous damages should begin. And (the sun itself must have been +somewhat astonished) it found Mrs. Peakslow and the younger children, +five in number, comfortably quartered in Lord Betterson's "castle."</p> + +<p>It also had glimpses of Rufe, with light and jolly face, driving home by +prairie and grove, alone in the one-horse wagon.</p> + +<p>Link ran out to meet him, swinging his cap and shouting for the news.</p> + +<p>"Good news!" Rufe shouted back, while still far up the road. "Tell the +folks!" And he held up the pocket-book.</p> + +<p>It was good news indeed which he brought; but the mystery at the bottom +of it all was a mystery still.</p> + +<p>The family gathered around, with intense interest, while he told his +story and displayed Rad's pantaloons.</p> + +<p>"The eighty dollars, which you had counted out,—you remember, +father,—was loose in the pocket. I left that with Jack; he will send it +to Chicago to-day. The rest of the money, I believe, is all here in the +pocket-book."</p> + +<p>"And you've heard nothing of Radcliff?" said Mr. Betterson.</p> + +<p>"Not a word. Jack made me stop with him over night; and I should have +come home the way we went, and looked for Rad, if it hadn't been so far; +we must have driven twelve or fifteen miles in that roundabout chase."</p> + +<p>"Some accident must certainly have happened to Radcliff," said Mr. +Betterson. And much wonder and many conjectures were expressed by the +missing youth's not very unhappy relatives.</p> + +<p>"I bet I know!" said Link. "He drove so fast he overtook the tornado, +and it twisted him out of his breeches, and hung him up in a tree +somewhere!"</p> + +<p>An ingenious theory, which did not, however, obtain much credence with +the family.</p> + +<p>"One thing seems to be proved, and I am very glad," said Vinnie. "It +was not Zeph who took Jack's compass."</p> + +<p>"Rad must have taken that, to spite Jack, and hid it somewhere near the +road in the timber, where it would be handy if he ever wanted to make +off with it; that's what Jack thinks," said Rufe. "Then, as he was +driving past the spot, he put it into the buggy again."</p> + +<p>"Maybe he intended to set up for a surveyor somewhere," Wad remarked. +"He must have taken another pair of trousers with him."</p> + +<p>"I am sure he didn't," said Cecie.</p> + +<p>"And even if he did," said Rufe, "that wouldn't account for his leaving +the money in the pocket."</p> + +<p>The family finally settled down upon a theory which had been first +suggested by Jack,—that in fording the river Rad had caught his wheels +in the tree-tops or timbers of the ruined bridge, and, to keep his lower +garments dry, had taken them off and left them in the buggy, while he +waded in to remove the rubbish, when the horse had somehow got away from +him, and gone home. It also seemed quite probable that Rad himself had +become entangled in drift-wood, and been drowned.</p> + +<p>"Feed the mare, boys," said Lord Betterson. "As soon as she is well +rested, I'll drive up to the broken bridge, and see if any discoveries +can be made."</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, whatever Radcliff's fate, it did not prevent the family from +rejoicing over the recovery of the lost money. And now Rufe's attention +was called to another happy circumstance, one which promised to be to +them a source of deeper and more lasting satisfaction.</p> + +<p>Cecie could walk!</p> + +<p>Yes, the marvellous effects of the previous day's events were still +manifest in the case of the little invalid. Either the tremendous +excitement, thrilling and rousing her whole system, or the electric +shock which accompanied the whirlwind, or the exertions she felt +compelled to make when Rad ran off with the money,—or all combined (for +the doctors were divided in opinion on the subject),—had overcome the +paralysis of her limbs, which a long course of medical treatment had +failed to remove.</p> + +<p>The family physician, who chanced to come over from the Mills that day, +maintained that what he had been doing for the injured spine, the source +of Cecie's troubles, had prepared the way for this result; while +neighbor Peakslow, when he heard the news, grunted, and said he "guessed +the gal could 'a' walked all the time if she had only thought she could, +or wanted to very much." All which made Cecie smile. She only knew that +she was cured, and was too proud and glad to care much what was said of +her.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXXIX.</h2> + +<h3>FOLLOWING UP THE MYSTERY.</h3> + + +<p>In the course of the day Mr. Betterson and Rufe visited the supposed +scene of Rad's disaster, and there met by chance Jack and his friend +Forrest Felton, who for a similar object had driven up from North Mills.</p> + +<p>The river had gone down almost as rapidly as it had risen, and fording +it now by daylight was no such difficult matter. But there still were +the timbers and tree-tops amidst which the vehicles had passed the night +before.</p> + +<p>Jack showed marks on one of his wheels where the spokes had been sharply +raked, and told how, examining Snowfoot by daylight, he had found muddy +splashes on his flank, as if he had been struck there by a bough or +branch drenched in turbid water.</p> + +<p>"I think," said he, "that as Rad was getting the buggy clear, the limb +of a tree turned over and hit the horse. That started him, and away he +went. I don't believe Rad is drowned."</p> + +<p>Search was made among the rubbish at the bridge, and for some distance +down the river; but no traces of Rad were discovered.</p> + +<p>"Maybe he has gone home by water," was Rufe's rather too playful way of +saying that the drowned body might have floated down stream.</p> + +<p>"If he got out alive," said Jack's friend Felton, "he must have found +his way to some house near by, in quest of pantaloons." And the party +now proceeded to make inquiries at the scattered huts of the Dutch—or +rather German—settlers along the edge of the timber.</p> + +<p>At the first two doors where they stopped they found only women and +children, who could speak no English. But at the next house they saw a +girl, who eagerly answered "Yah! yah!" to their questions, and ran and +called a man working at the back door.</p> + +<p>He was a short, thick-set man, with a big russet beard and serious blue +eyes.</p> + +<p>"Goot morgin," he said, coming to the road to greet the strangers. "Der +been some vind dis vay,—you see some?—vas las' ebening."</p> + +<p>The strangers acknowledged that they had experienced some effects of the +wind the night before, and repeated their questions regarding Radcliff.</p> + +<p>"Young man,—no priches,—yah! yah!" replied Meinheer. "He come 'long +here, vas 'pout nine hours, may pe some more."</p> + +<p>"A little after nine o'clock last night?" suggested Jack.</p> + +<p>"Yah, yah! I vas bed shleepin', somebody knock so loud, I git some +candle light, and make de door open, and der vas some young feller, his +face sick, his clo'es all so vet but his priches,—his priches vas not +vet, for he has no priches, only some shoes."</p> + +<p>"Where did he come from?"</p> + +<p>"He say he come from up stream; he pass de pridge over, and der vas no +pridge; and he dhrive 'cross de vaser, and he cannot dhrive 'cross; so +he git out, only his priches not git out, for de vaser vas vet, and his +priches keeps in de vagon, vile he keeps in de vaser; he make some lift +on some logs, and someding make de hoss fright, and de hoss jump and +jerk de vagon, and de vagon jerk someding vat jerk him; and de priches +rides off, and he shtop in de vaser, and dhink some, and git sick, and +he say de log in his shtomach and so much vaser was pad, and I mus' give +him some dhink viskey and some dry priches, and I gives 'em."</p> + +<p>"A pair of <i>your</i> breeches?" cried Rufe, eying the baggy proportions of +Meinheer's nether garments.</p> + +<p>"I have no oder; I fetch 'em from faderland; and I gives him some. He +stick his legs in, and some of his legs come too much under; de priches +vas some too vide, and some not long genoof. He dhink more viskey, and +feel goot, and say he find his team and bring back my priches to-morrow, +and it is to-morrow yet, and he not come."</p> + +<p>Even the grave uncle of the luckless nephew had to laugh as he thought +of the slim legs pursuing their travels in the short but enormous +"priches" fetched from fatherland.</p> + +<p>"How much were your breeches worth?" Lord said, taking out some money.</p> + +<p>"I don't know—I don't keeps priches to sell; may pe vun tollar."</p> + +<p>Betterson gave the German a dollar, saying,—</p> + +<p>"Allow me to pay for them; for, if I mistake not, you will never see the +young man or your breeches again."</p> + +<p>He was quite right: the German never did.</p> + +<p>Neither—it may as well be said here—did Radcliff's own relatives see +him again for many years. What various adventures were his can only be +surmised, until one of the "Philadelphia partners," settling up his +accounts with the world, left him a legacy of six thousand dollars, when +he once more bloomed out as a fine gentleman, and favored his Western +friends with a visit.</p> + +<p>He ran through his little fortune in a few months, and once more +disappeared from view, to turn up again, five or six years later (when +Jack and Vinnie saw him for the last time), as a runner for one of the +great Chicago hotels.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XL" id="CHAPTER_XL"></a>CHAPTER XL.</h2> + +<h3>PEAKSLOW'S HOUSE-RAISING.</h3> + + +<p>"Mercy on me!" said Caroline, hearing an unusual noise in the front part +of the house; "now we are to have the racket of those Peakslow children! +What could you have been thinking of, Lavinia dear? I'm sure <i>I</i> didn't +know what I was saying when I gave <i>my</i> consent to their coming. The +idea of their turning our library into a kitchen! Not that I blame +<i>you</i>, Lavinia dear. <i>I</i> ought to have considered."</p> + +<p>"Surely you wouldn't have denied the houseless family a shelter?" Vinnie +replied. "That would have seemed too bad, with those great chambers +unoccupied. As for the <i>library</i>,"—Vinnie smiled, for the unfurnished +room called by that choice name had nothing in it but a fireplace,—"I +don't think any harm can happen to that."</p> + +<p>Vinnie had a plan regarding the Peakslow children, which she laid before +Mrs. Peakslow as soon as the new inmates were fairly settled in the +house.</p> + +<p>"Since my sister and the baby have been so much better, I have begun a +little school, with only two scholars,—Cecie and Lilian. Wouldn't your +children like to join it? I think it would be pleasant."</p> + +<p>"Whuther they would or not, I'd like to have 'em," replied Mrs. +Peakslow, gratefully. "The chances for schoolin' is dreffle slim in this +country; we've no school-house within nigh two mile. But how shall I pay +ye?"</p> + +<p>"You needn't mind about that."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I shall mind too. We must do somethin' for you in return."</p> + +<p>"Well, then," said Vinnie, "if you like, you may let one of the girls +help a little in my sister's kitchen, to make up for the time I spend +with them."</p> + +<p>"I'll do it, sartin! You shall have Lyddy. She's a good smart hand at +housework, and you may git all out of her you can."</p> + +<p>So it was arranged. The little school of two was increased to five; the +"parlor"—used only to store grain in hitherto—was turned into a +school-room; and Lyddy worked in Mrs. Betterson's kitchen.</p> + +<p>"Lavinia dear, you <i>are</i> an extraordinary girl!" said Caroline. "It +seems the greatest miracle of all to see one of the Peakslows washing +<i>our</i> dishes!"</p> + +<p>No one was better pleased with this arrangement than Jack, who could +never be reconciled to seeing Vinnie—with all her health and strength +and cheery spirits—doing the hardest of the housework.</p> + +<p>Jack took early occasion, on visiting Long Woods, to go and see Mr. +Peakslow, and make him a frank apology for having once suspected Zeph of +taking his compass. But he got only an ugly scowl and surly grunt for +his pains.</p> + +<p>For a while Peakslow did not go near his family, quartered in his +enemy's house; but slept in the haystack, with Dud and Zeph, and ate the +meals his wife cooked and sent to him three times a day.</p> + +<p>But soon Dud went to sleep at the "castle," and found he had nothing +more formidable to meet than Vinnie's bright eyes,—for Dud had suddenly +developed into a bashful youth.</p> + +<p>Zeph in a night or two followed his example, and Peakslow was left alone +in his haystack.</p> + +<p>And the nights were growing chill; and the repair of the buildings went +on slowly, carpenters being scarce; and Peakslow, who had a heart for +domestic comforts, began to yearn for the presence of his family at +mealtime and bedtime.</p> + +<p>At length he stole into the house after dark one evening, and stole out +again before light the next morning. That did not seem to hurt him; on +the contrary, it suited Peakslow; his neighbor's house was better than a +haystack. Then he came to supper and stayed to breakfast. Then there was +no good reason why he should not come to dinner; and he came +accordingly.</p> + +<p>Then he stopped after dinner one day to see how Vinnie conducted her +little school, and went away looking wonderfully thoughtful. The boys +remembered that he did not scold them so sharply that afternoon as he +had been wont to do since the tornado disturbed his temper.</p> + +<p>One morning, as he was going out, Peakslow saw Lord Betterson in the +yard, and advanced awkwardly toward him, holding his hat in one hand and +scratching his head with the other. There was, after all, a vein of +diffidence in the rough quartz of the man's character; and somehow, on +this occasion, he couldn't help showing his neighbor a good deal of +respect.</p> + +<p>"I'm a-gun to have a bee this arternoon,—a raisin',—gun to try to git +the logs back on to the house, an' the ruf on to the shed,—everything +ready,—some o' the neighbors comin' to help,—and if you an' your boys +can lend a hand, I'll do as much for you some time."</p> + +<p>"Surely; very glad to serve you, Neighbor Peakslow," Lord Betterson +replied, in his magnificently polite way, much as if he had been a +monarch dismissing a foreign ambassador.</p> + +<p>Jack came over to Long Woods that afternoon, and, having rectified Mrs. +Wiggett's noon-mark, stopped at Peakslow's raising on his way back up +the valley.</p> + +<p>He found a group of men and boys before the house, partaking of some +refreshments,—sweetened whiskey and water, passed round in a pail with +a tin dipper by Zeph, and "nut-cakes" and "turn-overs," served by Mrs. +Peakslow and 'Lecty Ann.</p> + +<p>The sight of Snowfoot tied to his fence made Peakslow glare; nor was his +ruffled spirit smoothed when he saw Jack come forward with a cheery face +and a compass in his hand.</p> + +<p>Jack greeted the Bettersons, Mr. Wiggett, and one or two others he +knew, and was talking pleasantly with them, when Peakslow pushed the +inverted cut-water of his curved beak through the crowd, and confronted +him.</p> + +<p>"So that air's the compass, is it?"</p> + +<p>"This is the compass, Mr. Peakslow."</p> + +<p>"Keep it in yer hand, now'days, do ye? Don't trust it in the wagon? Good +idee! No danger of its bein' stole, an' your comin' agin to 'cuse my +boys of the theft!"</p> + +<p>Peakslow's ancient wrath rekindled as he spoke; his voice trembled and +his eyes flamed.</p> + +<p>Jack kept his temper admirably, and answered with a frank and honest +face,—</p> + +<p>"I have made the best amends I could for that mistake, by apologizing to +you for it, Mr. Peakslow. I don't keep the compass in my hand because I +am afraid it may be stolen. I have called—as I promised Mrs. Peakslow +the other day that I would do—to give her a noon-mark on her kitchen +floor."</p> + +<p>"How's this?—promised her?—I don't understand that!" growled Peakslow.</p> + +<p>"Yes, pa!" said Mrs. Peakslow, with a frightened look. "I seen him to +Mis' Betterson's. He'd made a noon-mark for Mis' Wiggett, and Mis' +Betterson's sister asked me if I wouldn't like one, as he was comin' to +make them one some day."</p> + +<p>Off went Peakslow's hat, and into his bushy hair went his fingers again, +while he stammered out,—</p> + +<p>"But he can't make no noon-mark this arternoon,—we're all in a mess an' +litter, so!"</p> + +<p>"Just as well now as any time," said Jack. "The doorway is clear. I +sha'n't interfere with anybody."</p> + +<p>"What'll be to pay?" Peakslow asked.</p> + +<p>"O, I don't charge anything for a little job like this,—to one of Mr. +Betterson's neighbors."</p> + +<p>"That's jes' so; he didn't charge me nary red," said Mr. Wiggett. "An' +he's done the job for me now tew times,—fust time, the tornado come and +put the noon-mark out o' j'int, 'fore ever a noon come round."</p> + +<p>Jack adjusted his compass, while the house-raisers looked on, to see how +the thing was done, Peakslow appearing as much interested as anybody.</p> + +<p>Jack got Link to make the first marks for him on the floor, and laughed, +as he looked through the sights of the compass, to hear Mr. Wiggett +describe the finding of his section corner,—"runnin' a line plumb to +the old stake, out on the open perairie,"—and praise the boy-surveyor's +skill.</p> + +<p>The mark was made with quickness and precision; friends and strangers +crowded around Jack with kind words and questions; and he was surprised +to find himself all at once a person of importance.</p> + +<p>Peakslow puffed hard at his pipe. His face was troubled; and two or +three times he pulled the pipe out of his mouth, thrust his knuckles +under his hat, and took a step toward the young surveyor. He also +cleared his throat. He evidently had a word to say. But the word would +not come.</p> + +<p>When at last he let Jack go off without offering him even a syllable of +thanks, the bystanders smiled, and somebody might have been heard to +mutter, "Peakslow all over! Just like his hoggishness!"</p> + +<p>Jack smiled too as he went, for he had shrewdly observed his enemy, and +he knew it was not "hoggishness" which kept Peakslow's lips closed, but +a feeling which few suspected in that grasping, hard, and +violent-tempered man.</p> + +<p>Peakslow was abashed!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLI" id="CHAPTER_XLI"></a>CHAPTER XLI.</h2> + +<h3>CONCLUSION.</h3> + + +<p>The house made once more inhabitable, Peakslow's family moved back into +it. But this change did not take Lyddy away from the "castle," nor break +up Vinnie's school.</p> + +<p>The "castle" now underwent some renovation. The long-neglected +plastering was done, and the rooms in daily use were made comfortable.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the boys were full of ambition regarding their water-works. +The project had cost them a good deal more trouble than they had +anticipated at first; but they were amply repaid for all on the day when +the water was finally let on, and they saw it actually run from the +spout in the back-room! Such a result had seemed to them almost too good +ever to come true; and their joy over it was increased ten-fold by the +doubts and difficulties overcome.</p> + +<p>Jack had come over to be present when the water was brought in, and he +was almost as happy over it as they.</p> + +<p>"No more trouble with the old well!" said Rufe.</p> + +<p>"No more lugging water from the grove!" said Wad.</p> + +<p>"Or going into the river head-first after it, as you and I did!" said +Link.</p> + +<p>Vinnie was proud of her nephews, and Caroline and Lord were proud of +their sons.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="i023" id="i023"></a> +<img src="images/i023.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>THE WATER QUESTION SETTLED.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"How fine it will be for your dairy, in summer,—this cold, running +water!" said Vinnie.</p> + +<p>But Chokie seemed best pleased, because he would no longer be dependent +upon precarious rains filling the hogshead, but would have a whole +tankful of water—an ocean in the back-room—to sail his shingle boats +on.</p> + +<p>The boys had also acted on another suggestion of Jack's, and taken the +farm to work. This plan also promised to succeed well. The prospect of +doing something for themselves, roused energies which might have lain +dormant all their lives, if they had been contented to sit still and +wait for others to help them.</p> + +<p>As Vinnie's school became known, other pupils appeared from up and down +the river, and by the first snowfall she had more than a dozen scholars. +Among these were Sal Wiggett and two big boys belonging to the paternal +Wiggett's "third crap" of children, and Dud and Zeph Peakslow.</p> + +<p>The Betterson boys also attended the school, Wad and Link as pupils, and +Rufe partly as a pupil and partly as an assistant. Vinnie could teach +him penmanship and grammar, but she was glad to turn over to him the +classes in arithmetic, for which study he had a natural aptitude.</p> + +<p>The Peakslow children, both boys and girls, had a good deal in them that +was worth cultivating; and amid the genial associations of the little +school they fast outgrew their rude and uncouth ways. It was interesting +to see Zeph and Cecie reciting the same lessons side by side, and Rufe +showing Dud about the sums that bothered him.</p> + +<p>Caroline had very much objected to Vinnie's enlarging her school, and +especially to her receiving the big boys. The success of the experiment +surprised her. Vinnie had a charming way with the younger children, and +a peculiarly subduing influence over the big boys.</p> + +<p>"Lavinia dear," said Caroline "what have I always said? You are a most +extraordinary girl!"</p> + +<p>And now things came round curiously enough; and an event occurred of +which nobody could have dreamed when Vinnie set out alone, with a brave +heart, to do her simple duty to her sister's family.</p> + +<p>It was found that she had a happy faculty for interesting and +instructing the young. So when, in the spring, a girls' school was +opened at North Mills, she was offered a place in it as assistant +teacher, which her friends there—Jack's friends—prevailed on her to +accept.</p> + +<p>Leaving Long Woods cost her many regrets. But the better order of things +was now well established at the "castle" (which was fast ceasing to be a +castle, in the popular speech); and she felt that its inmates could +spare her very well,—if they would only think so!</p> + +<p>Other considerations also consoled her for the change. She would still +be where she could see her relatives often; and now Jack's delightful +home was to be her own.</p> + +<h3>THE END.</h3> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Young Surveyor;, by J. T. Trowbridge + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE YOUNG SURVEYOR; *** + +***** This file should be named 28680-h.htm or 28680-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/6/8/28680/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + +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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/28680-h/images/frontis.jpg b/28680-h/images/frontis.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..25851b6 --- /dev/null +++ b/28680-h/images/frontis.jpg diff --git a/28680-h/images/i001.jpg b/28680-h/images/i001.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9b27b84 --- /dev/null +++ b/28680-h/images/i001.jpg diff --git a/28680-h/images/i002.jpg b/28680-h/images/i002.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..65726e3 --- /dev/null +++ b/28680-h/images/i002.jpg diff --git a/28680-h/images/i003.jpg b/28680-h/images/i003.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fc80c95 --- /dev/null +++ b/28680-h/images/i003.jpg diff --git a/28680-h/images/i004.jpg b/28680-h/images/i004.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5a2ada4 --- /dev/null +++ b/28680-h/images/i004.jpg diff --git a/28680-h/images/i005.jpg b/28680-h/images/i005.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9abec45 --- /dev/null +++ b/28680-h/images/i005.jpg diff --git a/28680-h/images/i006.jpg b/28680-h/images/i006.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fd55cf5 --- /dev/null +++ b/28680-h/images/i006.jpg diff --git a/28680-h/images/i007.jpg b/28680-h/images/i007.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..83328b5 --- /dev/null +++ b/28680-h/images/i007.jpg diff --git a/28680-h/images/i008.jpg b/28680-h/images/i008.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8979cdb --- /dev/null +++ b/28680-h/images/i008.jpg diff --git a/28680-h/images/i009.jpg b/28680-h/images/i009.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7f4b177 --- /dev/null +++ b/28680-h/images/i009.jpg diff --git a/28680-h/images/i010.jpg b/28680-h/images/i010.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9e3b641 --- /dev/null +++ b/28680-h/images/i010.jpg diff --git a/28680-h/images/i011.jpg b/28680-h/images/i011.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a775b83 --- /dev/null +++ b/28680-h/images/i011.jpg diff --git a/28680-h/images/i012.jpg b/28680-h/images/i012.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a2c3daf --- /dev/null +++ b/28680-h/images/i012.jpg diff --git a/28680-h/images/i013.jpg b/28680-h/images/i013.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9c25248 --- /dev/null +++ b/28680-h/images/i013.jpg diff --git a/28680-h/images/i014.jpg b/28680-h/images/i014.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d586b97 --- /dev/null +++ b/28680-h/images/i014.jpg diff --git a/28680-h/images/i015.jpg b/28680-h/images/i015.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..771c585 --- /dev/null +++ b/28680-h/images/i015.jpg diff --git a/28680-h/images/i016.jpg b/28680-h/images/i016.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d8f799c --- /dev/null +++ b/28680-h/images/i016.jpg diff --git a/28680-h/images/i017.jpg b/28680-h/images/i017.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f0fa5a3 --- /dev/null +++ b/28680-h/images/i017.jpg diff --git a/28680-h/images/i018.jpg b/28680-h/images/i018.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9595a9c --- /dev/null +++ b/28680-h/images/i018.jpg diff --git a/28680-h/images/i019.jpg b/28680-h/images/i019.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3c8d7f6 --- /dev/null +++ b/28680-h/images/i019.jpg diff --git a/28680-h/images/i020.jpg b/28680-h/images/i020.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1901e66 --- /dev/null +++ b/28680-h/images/i020.jpg diff --git a/28680-h/images/i021.jpg b/28680-h/images/i021.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..aa4c533 --- /dev/null +++ b/28680-h/images/i021.jpg diff --git a/28680-h/images/i022.jpg b/28680-h/images/i022.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..875f2db --- /dev/null +++ b/28680-h/images/i022.jpg diff --git a/28680-h/images/i023.jpg b/28680-h/images/i023.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..163e5dc --- /dev/null +++ b/28680-h/images/i023.jpg diff --git a/28680-h/images/titlepage.jpg b/28680-h/images/titlepage.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1dd51e9 --- /dev/null +++ b/28680-h/images/titlepage.jpg diff --git a/28680.txt b/28680.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7c87350 --- /dev/null +++ b/28680.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8581 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Young Surveyor;, by J. T. Trowbridge + +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 Young Surveyor; + or Jack on the Prairies + +Author: J. T. Trowbridge + +Release Date: May 4, 2009 [EBook #28680] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE YOUNG SURVEYOR; *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + THE YOUNG SURVEYOR; + + OR, + + JACK ON THE PRAIRIES. + + BY J. T. TROWBRIDGE + + AUTHOR OF "JACK HAZARD AND HIS FORTUNES," ETC. + + _WITH ILLUSTRATIONS._ + + +BOSTON: +JAMES R. OSGOOD AND COMPANY, +LATE TICKNOR & FIELDS, AND FIELDS, OSGOOD, & CO. +1875. + +Copyright, 1875. +BY JAMES R. OSGOOD & CO. + +UNIVERSITY PRESS: WELCH, BIGELOW, & CO., +CAMBRIDGE. + + + + +[Illustration: HOW THE BOYS WENT TO THE RIVER FOR WATER.] + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + I. "NOTHING BUT A BOY" + + II. OLD WIGGETT'S SECTION CORNER + + III. THE HOMEWARD TRACK + + IV. A DEER HUNT, AND HOW IT ENDED + + V. THE BOY WITH ONE SUSPENDER + + VI. "LORD BETTERSON'S" + + VII. JACK AT THE "CASTLE" + + VIII. HOW VINNIE MADE A JOURNEY + + IX. VINNIE'S ADVENTURE + + X. JACK AND VINNIE IN CHICAGO + + XI. JACK'S NEW HOME + + XII. VINNIE'S FUTURE HOME + + XIII. WHY JACK DID NOT FIRE AT THE PRAIRIE CHICKEN + + XIV. SNOWFOOT'S NEW OWNER + + XV. GOING FOR A WITNESS + + XVI. PEAKSLOW GETS A QUIRK IN HIS HEAD + + XVII. VINNIE MAKES A BEGINNING + + XVIII. VINNIE'S NEW BROOM + + XIX. LINK'S WOOD-PILE + + XX. MORE WATER THAN THEY WANTED + + XXI. PEAKSLOW SHOWS HIS HAND + + XXII. THE WOODLAND SPRING + + XXIII. JACK'S "BIT OF ENGINEERING" + + XXIV. PREPARING FOR THE ATTACK + + XXV. THE BATTLE OF THE BOUNDARY FENCE + + XXVI. VICTORY + + XXVII. VINNIE IN THE LION'S DEN + + XXVIII. AN "EXTRAORDINARY" GIRL + + XXIX. ANOTHER HUNT, AND HOW IT ENDED + + XXX. JACK'S PRISONER + + XXXI. RADCLIFF + + XXXII. AN IMPORTANT EVENT + + XXXIII. MRS. WIGGETT'S "NOON-MARK" + + XXXIV. THE STRANGE CLOUD + + XXXV. PEAKSLOW IN A TIGHT PLACE.--CECIE + + XXXVI. "ON THE WAR TRAIL" + + XXXVII. THE MYSTERY OF A PAIR OF BREECHES + + XXXVIII. THE MORNING AFTER + + XXXIX. FOLLOWING UP THE MYSTERY + + XL. PEAKSLOW'S HOUSE-RAISING + + XLI. CONCLUSION + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + +SETTING THE STAKES + +JACK AND THE STRANGE YOUTH + +UP-HILL WORK + +"LORD BETTERSON" + +TOO OBLIGING BY HALF + +LINK DOESN'T CARE TO BE KISSED + +SHOT ON THE WING + +THE AMIABLE MR. PEAKSLOW + +VINNIE'S STRATAGEM + +LINK'S WOOD-PILE + +HOW THE BOYS WENT TO THE RIVER FOR WATER + +TESTING THE LEVEL + +OLD WIGGETT + +"STOP, OR I'LL SHOOT!" + +RETURNING IN TRIUMPH + +THE END OF THE CHASE + +JACK AND HIS JOLLY PRISONER + +THE TORNADO COMING + +PEAKSLOW REAPPEARS + +FOLLOWING THE WAR TRAIL UNDER DIFFICULTIES + +THE WATER QUESTION SETTLED + + + + +THE YOUNG SURVEYOR. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +"NOTHING BUT A BOY." + + +[Illustration] + +A young fellow in a light buggy, with a big black dog sitting composedly +beside him, enjoying the ride, drove up, one summer afternoon, to the +door of a log-house, in one of the early settlements of Northern +Illinois. + +A woman with lank features, in a soiled gown trailing its rags about her +bare feet, came and stood in the doorway and stared at him. + +"Does Mr. Wiggett live here?" he inquired. + +"Wal, I reckon," said the woman, "'f he ain't dead or skedaddled of a +suddent." + +"Is he at home?" + +"Wal, I reckon." + +"Can I see him?" + +"I dunno noth'n' to hender. Yer, Sal! run up in the burnt lot and fetch +your pap. Tell him a stranger. You've druv a good piece," the woman +added, glancing at the buggy-wheels and the horse's white feet, stained +with black prairie soil. + +"I've driven over from North Mills," replied the young fellow, regarding +her pleasantly, with bright, honest features, from under the shade of +his hat-brim. + +"I 'lowed as much. Alight and come into the house. Old man'll be yer in +a minute." + +He declined the invitation to enter; but, to rest his limbs, leaped down +from the buggy. Thereupon the dog rose from his seat on the +wagon-bottom, jumped down after him, and shook himself. + +"All creation!" said the woman, "what a pup that ar is! Yer, you young +uns! Put back into the house, and hide under the bed, or he'll eat ye up +like ye was so much cl'ar soap-grease!" + +At that moment the dog stretched his great mouth open, with a formidable +yawn. Panic seized the "young uns," and they scampered; their bare legs +and exceedingly scanty attire (only three shirts and a half to four +little barbarians) seeming to offer the dog unusual facilities, had he +chosen to regard them as soap-grease and to regale himself on that sort +of diet. But he was too well-bred and good-natured an animal to think of +snapping up a little Wiggett or two for his luncheon; and the fugitives, +having first run under the bed and looked out, ventured back to the +door, and peeped with scared faces from behind their mother's gown. + +To hide his laughter, the young fellow stood patting and stroking his +horse's neck until Sal returned with her "pap." + +"Mr. Wiggett?" inquired the youth, seeing a tall, spare, rough old man +approach. + +"That's my name, stranger. What can I dew for ye to-day?" + +"I've come to see what I can do for _you_, Mr. Wiggett. I believe you +want your section corner looked up." + +"That I dew, stranger. But I 'lowed 't would take a land-surveyor for +that." + +"I am a land-surveyor," said the young fellow, with a modest smile. + +"A land-surveyor? Why, you're noth'n' but a boy!" And the tall old man, +bending a little, and knitting his gray eyebrows, looked down upon his +visitor with a sort of amused curiosity. + +"That's so," replied the "boy," with a laugh and a blush. "But I think I +can find your corner, if the bearings are all right." + +"Whur's your instruments?" asked the old man, leaning over the buggy. +"Them all? What's that gun to do with land-surveyin'?" + +"Nothing; I brought that along, thinking I might get a shot at a rabbit +or a prairie hen. But we shall need an axe and a shovel." + +"I 'lowed your boss would come himself, in place of sendin' a boy!" +muttered the old man, taking up the gun,--a light double-barrelled +fowling-piece,--sighting across it with an experienced eye, and laying +it down again. "Sal, bring the axe; it's stickin' in the log thar by the +wood-pile. Curi's thing, to lose my section corner, hey?" + +"It's not a very uncommon thing," replied the young surveyor. + +"Fact is," said the old man, "I never found it I bought of Seth +Parkins's widder arter Seth died, and banged if I've ever been able to +find the gov'ment stake." + +"Maybe somebody pulled it up, or broke it off, to kill a rattlesnake +with," suggested the young surveyor. + +"Like enough," said the old man. "Can't say 't I blame him; though he +might 'a' got a stick in the timber by walkin' a few rods. He couldn't +'a' been so bad off as one o' you surveyor chaps was when the gov'ment +survey went through. He was off on the Big Perairie, footin' it to his +camp, when he comes to a rattler curled up in the grass, and shakin' his +tarnal buzz-tail at him. He steps back, and casts about him for some +sort of we'pon; he hadn't a thing in his fist but a roll of paper, and +if ever a chap hankered arter a stick or a stun, they say he did. But it +was all jest perairie grass; nary rock nor a piece of timber within +three mile. Snake seemed to 'preciate his advantage, and flattened his +head and whirred his rattle sassier 'n ever. Surveyor chap couldn't +stan' that. So what does he dew, like a blamed fool, but jest off with +his boot and hurl it, 'lowin' he could kill a rattler that way? He +missed shot. Then, to git his boot, he had to pull off t' other, and +tackle the snake with that. Lost that tew. Then he was in a +perdickerment; snake got both boots; curled up on tew 'em, ready to +strike, and seemin' to say, 'If you've any more boots to spar', bring +'em on.' Surveyor chap hadn't no more boots, to his sorrow; and, arter +layin' siege to the critter till sundown, hopin' he'd depart in peace +and leave him his property, he guv it up as a bad job, and footed it to +the camp in his stockin's, fancyin' he was treadin' among rattlers all +the way." + +The story was finished by the time the axe was brought; the old man +picked up a rusty shovel lying by the house, and, getting into the buggy +with his tools, he pointed out to his young companion a rough road +leading through the timber. + +This was a broad belt of woodland, skirting the eastern side of a wide, +fertile river-bottom, and giving to the settlement the popular name of +"Long Woods." + +On the other side of the timber lay the high prairie region, covered +with coarse wild grass, and spotted with flowers, without tree or shrub +visible until another line of timber, miles away, marked the vicinity of +another stream. + +The young surveyor and the old man, in the jolting buggy, followed by +the dog, left the log-house and the valley behind them; traversed the +woods, through flickering sun and shade; and drove southward along the +edge of the rolling prairie, until the old man said they had better stop +and hitch. + +"I don't hitch my horse," said the young surveyor. "The dog looks out +for him. Here, old fellow, watch!" + +"The section corner, I ca'c'late," said the old man, shouldering his +axe, "is off on the perairie thar, some'er's. Come, and I'll show ye the +trees." + +"Is that big oak with the broken limb one of them?" + +"Wal, now, how did ye come to guess that?--one tree out of a hundred ye +might 'a' picked." + +"It is a prominent tree," replied the youth, "and, if I had been the +surveyor, I think I should have chosen it for one, to put my bearings +on." + +"Boy, you're right! But it took me tew days to decide even that. The +underbrush has growed up around it, and the old scar has nigh about +healed over." + +The old man led the way through the thickets, and, reaching a small +clear space at the foot of the great oak, pointed out the scar, where +the trunk had been blazed by the axemen of the government survey. On a +surface about six inches broad, hewed for the purpose, the distance and +direction of the tree from the corner stake had, no doubt, been duly +marked. But only a curiously shaped wound was left. The growth of the +wood was rapid in that rich region, and, although the cut had been made +but a few years before, a broad lip of smooth new bark had rolled up +about it from the sides, and so nearly closed over it that only a +narrow, perpendicular, dark slit remained. + +"What do you make of that?" said Mr. Wiggett, putting his fingers at the +opening, and looking down at his companion. + +"I don't make much of it as it looks now," the young surveyor replied. + +"Didn't I tell you 't would take an old head to find my corner? T' other +tree is in a wus shape than this yer. Now I reckon you'll be satisfied +to turn about and whip home, and tell your boss it's a job for him." + +"Give me your axe," was the reply. + +"Boy, take kere what you're about!" + +"O, I will take care; don't be afraid!" And, grasping the axe, the young +surveyor began to cut away the folds of new wood which had formed over +the scar. + +"I see what you're up tew," said the old man, gaining confidence at +every stroke. "Give me the axe; you ain't tall enough to work handy." +And with a few strokes, being a skilful chopper, he cleared the old +blaze, and exposed the blackened tablet which Nature had so nearly +enclosed in her casket of living wood. + +There, cut into the old hewed surface, were the well-preserved marks of +the government survey: + + N. 48 deg. 15' W. + 18 R. 10 L. + +"What does that mean?" asked the old man, as the youth made a copy of +these marks in his notebook. + +"It means that this tree is eighteen rods and ten links from your corner +stake, in a direction forty-eight degrees and fifteen minutes west of +north." + +"I can understand your rods and links," said the old man; "for I know +your surveyor's chain is four rods long, and has a hundred links. But +banged if I know anything about your degrees and minutes." + +"All that is just as simple," replied the young surveyor. "A circle is +supposed to be divided into three hundred and sixty degrees. Each degree +is divided into sixty minutes; and so forth. Now, if you stand looking +directly north, then turn a quarter of the way round, and look straight +west, you have turned a quarter of a circle, or ninety degrees; and the +angle where you stand--where the north line and the west line meet--is +called an angle of ninety degrees. Half as far is forty-five degrees. +Seen from the corner stake, wherever it is, this tree bears a little +more than forty-five degrees west of north; it is forty-eight degrees +and a quarter. Where's the other tree?" + +That was ten or eleven rods away, still in the edge of the timber; and +it bore on its blazed trunk, facing the open prairie, the +inscription--laid bare by the old man's ready axe-- + + N. 82 deg. 27' w. + 16 R. 29 L. + +"Eighty-two degrees twenty-seven minutes west of north, and sixteen rods +twenty-nine links, from your corner," the young surveyor read aloud, as +he copied the marks into his notebook. "The other tree is so surrounded +by undergrowth, it would take you and your axe an hour to cut a passage +through so that I could run a line; and I am going to try running a line +from this tree alone. Be cutting a few good stakes, while I go and bring +up my horse and set him to eating grass." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +OLD WIGGETT'S SECTION CORNER. + + +The horse was driven to a good shady place on the edge of the woods, +relieved of his bridle, and left in charge of the dog. In the mean while +the old man cut a few oak saplings and hewed them into stakes. + +"Now, I want ye to give me a notion of how you're gwine to work," he +said, as the youth brought his compass and set it up on its tripod at +the foot of the tree. "For, otherwise, how am I to be sure of my corner, +when you say you've found it?" + +"O, I think we shall find something to convince you! However, look here, +and I'll explain." + +While waiting for the wavering needle to settle in its place, the youth +made a hasty diagram in a page of his notebook. + +"Here we are on the edge of the timber. _A_ is your first tree. _B_ is +the one where we are. Now if the bearings are correct, and I run two +lines accordingly, the place where they meet will be the place for your +corner stake; say at _C_." + +"That looks cute; I like the shape of that!" said the old man, +interested. + +[Illustration: SETTING THE STAKES.] + +"If the distance was short,--feet instead of rods,--all the instruments +we should want," said the young surveyor, with his peculiarly bright +smile, "would be a foot measure and two strings." + +[Illustration] + +"How so?" said the old man, who could not believe that science was as +simple a thing as that. + +"Why, for instance, we will say the tree _A_ is eighteen feet from the +corner you want to find; _B_, sixteen feet. Now take a string eighteen +feet long, and fasten the end of it by a nail to the centre of the +blazed trunk, _A_; fasten another sixteen feet long to _B_; then stretch +out the loose ends of both until they just meet; and there is the place +for your stake." + +"I declar'!" exclaimed the old man. "That's the use of the tew trees. +Banged if I dew see, though, how you're gwine to git along by runnin' a +line from jest one." + +"If I run two lines, as I have shown you, where they meet will be the +point. Now if I run one line, and measure it, I shall find the point +where the other line ought to meet it. We'll see. Here on my compass is +a circle and a scale of degrees, which shows me how to set it according +to the bearings. Now look through these sights, and you are looking +straight in the direction of your section corner." + +"Curi's, ain't it?" grinned the old man. "'Cordin' to that, my corner is +out on the perairie, jest over beyant that ar knoll." + +"You're right. Now go forward to the top of it, while I sight you, and +we'll set a stake there. As I signal with my hands this way, or this, +move your stake to the right or left, till I make _this_ motion; then +you are all right." + +The young surveyor had got his compass into position, by looking back +through the sights at the tree. He now placed himself between it and the +tree, and, sighting forward, directed the old man, who went on over the +knoll, where to set his stakes. + +On the other side of the knoll, it was found that the line crossed a +slough,--or "slew," as the old man termed it,--which lay in a long, +winding hollow of the hills. This morass was partly filled with stagnant +water; and the old man gave it a bad name. + +"It's the wust slew in the hull country. I've lost tew cows in 't. I +wouldn't go through it for the price of my farm. Couldn't git through; a +man would sink intew it up tew his neck." + +"Then we may have to get a boat to find your section corner," laughed +the young surveyor. + +"But it's noth'n' but a bog this time o' year; ye can't navigate a boat +thar. And it'll take till middle o' next week to build a brush road +acrost. Guess we're up a stump now, hey?" + +"O, no; stumps are not so plenty, where I undertake jobs! Let's have a +stake down there, pretty near the _slew_; then we will measure our line, +and see how much farther we have to go." + +The old man helped bear the chain; and a careful measurement showed that +the stake at the edge of the slough was still four rods and thirty links +from the corner they sought. + +"Banged if it don't come jest over on t' other side of the slew!" the +old man exclaimed, computing the distance with his eye. "But we can't +measure a rod furder; and yer we be stuck." + +"Not yet, old friend!" cried the young surveyor. "Since we can't cross, +we'll measure the rest of our distance along on this shore." + +The old man looked down upon him with indignation and amazement. + +"Think I'm a dog-goned fool?" he cried. "The idee of turnin' from our +course, and measurin' along by the slew! What's the good of that?" + +Finding that the old man would not aid or abet what seemed to him such +complete folly, the young surveyor made another little diagram in his +notebook, and explained:-- + +[Illustration] + +"Here is the end of our line running from the direction +_B_,--theoretically a straight, horizontal line, though it curves over +the knoll. You noticed how, coming down the slope ahead of you, I held +my end of the chain up from the ground, to make it horizontal, and then +with my plumb-line found the corresponding point in the ground, to start +fresh from. That was to get the measurement of a horizontal line; for if +you measure all the ups and downs of hills and hollows, you'll find your +surveying will come out in queer shape." + +The old man scratched his bushy gray head, and said he hadn't thought of +that. + +"Well," the young surveyor continued, "we are running our line off +towards _C_, when we come to the slew. Our last stake is at _D_,--say +this little thing with a flag on it. Now, what is to be done? for we +must measure four rods and thirty links farther. I measure that distance +from _D_ to _E_, along this shore, running my new line at an angle of +sixty degrees from the true course. Then, with my compass at _E_, I +sight another line at an angle of sixty degrees from my last. I am +making what is called an equilateral triangle; that is, a triangle with +equal sides and equal angles. Each angle must measure sixty degrees. +With two angles and one side, we can always get the other two sides; and +the other angle will be where those two sides meet. They will meet at +_C_. Now, since the sides are of equal length, the distance from _D_ to +_C_ is the same as from _D_ to _E_,--that is, four rods and thirty +links, just the distance we wish to go; _C_, then, is the place for your +corner stake." + +"It looks very well on paper," said the old man, "but"--casting his eye +across the bog--"how in the name of seven kingdoms are ye ever gwine to +fix yer stake thar?" + +"That is easy. Go round to the other side of the slew, get yourself in +range with our line from the tree, by sighting across the stakes, and +walk down toward the slew,--that is, on this dotted line. Having got my +angle of sixty degrees at _E_, I will sight across and stop you when I +see you at _C_. There stick your last stake." + +"Banged if that ain't cute! Young man, what mout be your name?" + +"I was only boy a few minutes ago," said the young surveyor, slyly. +"Now, if you are ready, we'll set to work and carry out this plan." + +The line from _D_ to _E_ was measured off. Then the youth set his +compass to obtain the proper angle at _E_; while the old man, with his +axe and a fresh stake, tramped around to the eastern side of the slough. +Having got the range of the stakes, he was moving slowly back toward +them, holding his stake before him, when the youth signalled him to stop +just in the edge of the quagmire. + +The new stake stuck, the young surveyor, taking up his tripod and +compass, went round to him. + +"That stake," said he, "is not far from your corner. Are there any +signs?" + +"I've been thinkin'," said the old man, "the 'arth yer looks like it had +been disturbed some time; though it's all overgrowed so with these +clumps of slew-grass, ye can't tell what's a nat'ral hummock and what +ain't. Don't that look like a kind of a trench?" + +"Yes; and here's another at right angles with it. Surveyors cut such +places on the prairies, pile up the sods inside the angle, and drive +their corner stakes through them. But there must have been water here +when this job was done, which accounts for its not being done better. +We'll improve it. Go for the shovel. I'll get the bearings of those +trees in the mean while, and see how far wrong they make us out to be." + +When the old man returned with the shovel, he found his boy surveyor +standing by the compass, with folded arms, looking over at the woodland +with a smile of satisfaction. + +Sighting the trees, the tall, straight stems of which were both visible +over the knoll, he had found that their bearings corresponded with those +copied in his notebook. This proved his work to his own mind; but the +old man would not yet confess himself convinced. + +"We may be somewhur _nigh_ the spot, but I want to be sure of the +_exact_ spot," he insisted. + +"That you can't be sure of; not even if the best surveyor in the world +should come and get it from these bearings," replied the youth. +"Probably the bearings themselves are not exact. The government +surveyors do their work in a hurry. The common compass they use doesn't +make as fine angles as the theodolite or transit instrument does; and +then the chain varies a trifle in length with every variation of +temperature; the metal contracts and expands, you know. Surveying, where +the land is worth a dollar and a quarter a foot, instead of a dollar and +a quarter an acre, is done more carefully. Yet I am positive, from the +indications here, that we are within a few inches of your corner." + +"A few inches, or a few feet, or a few rods!" muttered the old man, +crossly. "Seems like thar's a good deal of guess-work, arter all." + +"I am sorry you think so," replied the young surveyor, quietly removing +his tripod. "If, however, you are dissatisfied with my work, you can +employ another surveyor; if he tells you I am far out of the way, why, +then, you needn't pay me." + +The old man made no reply, but, seizing the shovel, began to level the +hummock a little, in order to prepare it for a pile of fresh sods. He +was slashing away at it, with the air of a petulant man working off his +discontent, when he struck something hard. + +"What's that ar?" he growled. "Can't be a stone. Ain't a rock as big as +a hazel-nut this side the timber." + +Digging round the obstacle, he soon exposed the splintered end of an +upright piece of wood. He laid hold of it and tried to pull it up. The +youth, with lively interest, took the shovel, and dug and pried. +Suddenly up came the stick, and the old man went over backwards with it +into the bog. + +He scrambled to his feet, dripping with muddy water, and brandished his +trophy, exclaiming:-- + +"Dog my cats! if 't ain't the end of the ol' corner stake, left jest +whur't was broke off, when the rest was wanted to pry a wheel out o' the +slew, or to kill a rattler with!" + +He appeared jubilant over the discovery, while the young surveyor +regarded it simply as a piece of good luck. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE HOMEWARD TRACK. + + +The new stake having been stuck in the hole left by the point of the old +one, and plenty of fresh turf piled up about it, the old man wiped his +fingers on the dry prairie-grass, thrust a hand into his pocket, and +brought forth an ancient leather wallet. + +"My friend," said he, "shall I settle with you or with your boss?" + +"You may as well settle with me." + +"Nuff said. What's yer tax?" + +"Two dollars and a half." + +"Tew dollars and a--dog-gone-ation! You've been only tew hours and a +half about the job. I can hire a man all day for half a dollar." + +"It is an afternoon's work for me," argued the young surveyor. "I've had +a long way to drive. Then, you must understand, we surveyors" (this was +said with an air of importance) "don't get pay merely for the time we +are employed, but also for our knowledge of the business, which it has +taken us time to learn. If I had been obliged to hire the horse I drive, +you see, I shouldn't have much left out of two dollars and a half." + +"Friend, you're right. Tew 'n' a half is reasonable. And if I have +another job of land-surveyin', you are the man for my money." + +"A man, am I, now?" And with a laugh the young surveyor pocketed his +fee. + +"Good as a man, I allow, any time o' day. You've worked at this yer +thing right smart, and I'll give ye the credit on't. How long have ye +been larnin the trade?" + +"O, two years, more or less, studying at odd spells! But I never made a +business of it until I came to this new country." + +"What State be ye from?" + +"New York." + +"York State! That's whur I hail from." + +"One wouldn't think so; you have a good many Southern and Western words +in your talk." + +"I come by 'em honest," said the old man. "I run away from home when I +was a boy, like a derned fool; I've lived a'most everywhur; and I've +married four wives, and raised four craps of children. My fust wife I +picked up in ol' Kaintuck. My next was an Arkansaw woman. My third was a +Michigander. My present was born and raised in the South, but I married +her in Southern Illinois. She's nigh on to forty year younger 'n I be, +and smart as a steel trap, tell you! So you see we're kind of a mixed-up +family. My fust and second broods of children's married off, or +buried,--scattered to the four winds o' heaven! Tew boys o' the third +brood, and that ar Sal, is with me yit. Some of the present brood you've +seen. Thar's been twenty-one in all." + +"Of the fourth brood?" + +"No, of the lot. Whose hoss mout that be?" + +"Mine; I brought him from the East with me." + +"What do you have to pay for a beast like that, now, in York State?" + +"I didn't pay anything for him." + +"Somebody gi'n him tew ye?" + +"Not exactly." + +"Ye gambled for him?" + +"No." + +"Raised him from a colt, then?" + +"No." + +"Stole him?" + +"Not much." + +"Picked him up astray?" + +The young surveyor, laughing, shook his head. + +"Then how in the name o' seven kingdoms did ye come by him, if ye didn't +find him, nor steal him, nor raise him from a colt, nor buy him, nor +have him gi'n tew ye?" + +"I borrowed him of a neighbor, and drove him to a show, where the old +elephant broke loose and had the handling of him for about a second and +a half. The owners of the elephant paid the damages; and I kept the +horse. Nobody thought he would get well; but he is now scarcely lame at +all. I can show you the scars where he was hurt." + +The two had approached the wagon during this talk; and now the old man +examined the horse with a good deal of curiosity. + +"That your dog tew?" + +"Yes, sir. Here, Lion!" + +"Cost ye suth'n, didn't it, to bring yer animals West with ye?" + +"Not a great deal. When my friends wrote for me to come, they said good +horses were scarce and high-priced out here, and advised me to bring +mine. I couldn't leave my dog behind,--could I, old Lion?" + +"Who mout your friends be?" + +"Mr. and Mrs. Lanman, at North Mills; and Mrs. Lanman's brother,--my +boss, as you call him,--Mr. Felton, the surveyor. They came out last +year; and last winter they wrote to me, offering me a good chance if I +should come. It was in winter; I drove Snowfoot in a cutter, and crossed +the Detroit River on the ice just before it broke up. There the +sleighing left me; so I sold my cutter, bought a saddle, and made the +rest of the journey on horseback. That was rather hard on the dog, but I +got the stage-drivers to give him a lift once in a while." + +"What did you say your name was?" the old man inquired. + +"I don't think I said. But I will say now. My name is Ragdon,--Henry +Ragdon. My friends call me Jack." + +"And it ain't yer name?" + +"O, yes, it is, and yet it isn't! I was brought up to it. My friends +like it, and so I keep it."[1] + +[Footnote 1: See "FAST FRIENDS"; also the previous volumes of this +series,--"JACK HAZARD AND HIS FORTUNES," "A CHANCE FOR HIMSELF," and +"DOING HIS BEST," in which is given a full account of the young +surveyor's early life and adventures.] + +"Wal, Jack,--if you'll rank me with your friends, and le' me call ye +so," said the old man, with a cordial grip of his great, flat hand,--"I +s'pose we part yer, and say good by. I'll shoulder my tools, and take a +cow-path through the woods; you'll find a better road than the one we +come by, furder north. Jest keep along the edge of the perairie. I +sha'n't forgit this job." + +"Nor I," said the young surveyor, with a curious smile. + +It was the first work of the kind he had undertaken on his own account, +and without assistance; for which reason he felt not a little proud of +it. But he did not tell the old man so. + +After parting company with him, he drove in the shade of the woods, +along a track so little travelled that the marks of wheels looked like +dark ruled lines in the half-trodden grass. + +The pleasant summer afternoon was drawing to a close. The peculiar wild +scent of the prairie, which seems to increase as the cool evening comes +on, filled all the air. The shadows of the forest were stretching in a +vast, uneven belt over summit and hollow; while far away beyond, in +seemingly limitless expanse, swept the golden-green undulations of the +sunlit hills. + +Jack--for I trust we shall also be entitled to call him so--kept his eye +out for game, as he drove leisurely along; stopped once or twice for a +rabbit on the edge of the woods; and, finally, pulled up sharply, as a +prairie-hen shot whirring out, almost from under his wheels. + +He sprang to his feet and faced about, raising his gun; but before he +could take aim, the bird, at the end of a short, straight flight, +dropped into the prairie-grass a few rods away. + +Jack followed on foot, holding his piece ready to fire. Knowing the shy +habits of the bird, he trampled the grass about the spot where she had +alighted, hoping to scare her up. He also sent his dog coursing about; +but Lion, though an intelligent animal, had no scent for birds. + +Suddenly, from the very ground between the hunter's feet, with a +startling rush and thunder of wings, the hen rose. Up went gun to +shoulder. But instantly the dog gave chase, and kept so exactly in the +line of flight, that Jack durst not fire. + +"You silly boy's dog!" he said; "don't you know better than that? You'll +get a stray shot some day, if you run before my gun-barrels in that +fashion. Now go to the horse, and stay." + +The dog, who had fancied that he was doing good service, dropped ears +and tail at this rebuke, and retired from the field. + +Jack was continuing the hunt, when all at once a strange spell seemed to +come over him. It found him on one foot, and he remained on one foot, +poising the other behind him, for several seconds. Then, softly putting +down the lifted leg, and lowering his gun, he stole swiftly back, in a +crouching attitude, to his wagon by the woodside. + +Taking his horse by the bridle, he led him down into a little hollow. +Then, piercing the undergrowth, he hastened to a commanding position, +where, himself hidden by the bushes, he could look off on the prairie. + +His heart beat fast, and his hand shook, as he drew the bird-shot out of +the two barrels of his fowling-piece, reloading one with buck-shot, the +other with an ounce ball. + +All the while his eye kept glancing from his gun to the shadowy slope of +a distant hill, where were two objects which looked like a deer and a +fawn feeding. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +A DEER HUNT, AND HOW IT ENDED. + + +They were a long way off,--more than half a mile, he thought. Evidently +they had not seen him. Though marvellously quick to catch scent or +sound, deer have not a fine sense of sight for distant objects. + +"They have left the covert early, to go out and feed," thought he. "If +not frightened, they will browse around in the hollows there until +dark." + +He was wondering how he should manage to creep near, and get a shot at +the shy creatures, when the dog barked. + +"That won't do!" he muttered; and, hurrying to silence Lion, he saw a +stranger loitering along the prairie road. + +Jack stepped out of the bushes into the hollow, and beckoned. + +"I've sighted a couple of deer that I'm trying to get a shot at; if you +go over the hill, you'll scare 'em." + +The stranger--a slender youth in soiled shirt-sleeves, carrying a coat +on his arm--looked at him saucily, with his head on one side and a quid +turning in the cheek, and said,-- + +"Well! and why shouldn't I scare 'em?" + +"I can't hinder you, of course; but," said Jack, "if _you_ were hunting, +and _I_ should be passing by, I should think it a matter of honor--" + +"Honor is an egg that don't hatch in this country," interrupted the +stranger; and the quid went into the other cheek, while the head went +over on the other side, as if to balance it. "But never mind; 'tain't my +cut to interfere with another feller's luck. Show me your deer." + +Jack took him through the thickets to his ambush. There were the deer +still feeding; the old one lifting her head occasionally as if on the +lookout for danger. They seemed to be moving slowly along the slope. + +The dark eyes of the strange youth kindled; then he said, with a low +laugh,-- + +"I'd like a cut-bore rifle for them fellers! You never can get 'em with +that popgun." + +"I believe I can if you'll help me. You notice there's a range of hills +between us and them; and they are on the north slope of one. I've been +surveying a little of the country off south, and I think you can get +around the range that way, and come out beyond the deer, before they see +you. There's everything in our favor. The wind blows to us from them. At +the first alarm they'll start for the woods; and they'll be pretty sure +to keep along in the hollow. I'll watch here, and take them as they come +in." + +Quid and head rolled again; and the strange youth said jeeringly, with +one eye half closed, looking at Jack,-- + +"So you expect me to travel a mile or two, and drive the deer in for +you?" He then pulled down the nether lid of the half-closed eye, and +inquired, somewhat irrelevantly, whether Jack saw anything green there. +"Not by this light!" he answered his own question, as he let up his +eyelid and snapped his thumb and finger. "Ye can't ketch old birds with +chaff. I've been through the lot. Parley-voo frong-say?" + +Jack regarded him with astonishment, declaring that there was no catch +about it. "Only help me, and we will share the game together." + +Still the fellow demurred. "I've walked my legs off to-day already; +you'll find 'em back in the road here! Had nothing to eat since morning; +wore myself down lean as a rail; felt for the last two hours as though +there was nothing but my backbone between me and eternity! No, sir-ree! +I wouldn't walk that fur out of my way for a herd of deer. If I had a +horse to ride I wouldn't mind." + +Jack was greatly excited. He had never yet had a good shot at a deer; +and if, at the end of his day's work, he could carry home a good fat +doe, and perhaps a fawn, of his own shooting, it would be a triumph. So, +without a moment's reflection, he said,-- + +"You may ride mine. Then, if you don't want a share of the game, I'll +pay you for your trouble." + +The strange youth took time to shift his quid and balance it; then +replied in a manner which appeared provokingly cool to the fiery Jack,-- + +"I'll look at him. Does he ride easy?" + +"Yes. Hurry!" + +Jack ran down to the horse, led him into the bushes, where the wagon +could be left concealed, and had already taken him out of the shafts, +before the stranger came lounging to the spot. + +"Pull off the harness," said the latter, with the easy air of ordering a +nag at a stable. "And give me that blanket out of the buggy. I don't +ride bareback for nobody." And he spat reckless tobacco-juice. + +Jack complied, though angry at the fellow for being so dilatory and +fastidious at such a time. The strange youth then spread his coat over +the blanket, laid his right hand on it, and his left on bridle and mane, +and with a leap from the ground threw himself astride the horse,--a +display of agility which took Jack by surprise. + +"I see you have been on horseback before!" + +"Never in my life," said the stranger, with a gleam in his dark eyes +which belied his words. And now Jack noticed that he had a little switch +in his hand. + +"He won't need urging. Be sure and ride well beyond that highest hill +before you turn; and then come quietly around, so as not to frighten the +deer too much." + +The fellow laughed. "I've seen a deer before to-day!" And, clapping +heels to the horse's sides, he dashed through the bushes. + +Jack followed a little way, and from his ambush saw him come out of the +undergrowth, strike across the prairie, and disappear around the range +of hills. + +[Illustration: JACK AND THE STRANGE YOUTH.] + +The deer were still in sight, stopping occasionally to feed, and then, +with heads in air, moving a few paces along the slope. Jack waited with +breathless anxiety to see his horseman emerge from among the hills +beyond. Several minutes elapsed; then, though no horseman appeared, the +old deer, startled by sound or scent of the enemy, threw high her head, +and began to leap, with graceful, undulating movements, along the +hillside. + +The fawn darted after her, and for a minute they were hidden from view +in a hollow. The stratagem had so far succeeded. They had started toward +the woods. + +Jack, in an ague of agitation, waited for the game to show itself again, +and, by its movements, guide his own. At length the fawn appeared on the +summit of a low hill, and stopped. The doe came up and stopped too, with +elevated nostrils, snuffing. For a rifle, in approved hands, there would +have been a chance for a shot. But the game was far beyond the range of +Jack's gun. + +To try his nerve, however, he took aim, or, rather, attempted to take +aim. His hands--if the truth must be confessed--shook so that he could +not keep his piece steady for an instant. Cool fellow enough on ordinary +occasions, he now had a violent attack of what is called the "buck +fever." + +Fortunately, the deer had not seen the horseman; and, while they were +recovering from their first alarm, they gave the young hunter time to +subdue, with resolute good sense, his terrible nervous agitation. + +They did not stop to feed any more, but moved on, with occasional +pauses, toward the woods; following the line of the hollows, as Jack had +foreseen. + +All this time the dog lay whining at his young master's heels. He knew +instinctively that there was sport on foot, and could hardly be kept +quiet. + +The deer took another and final start, and came bounding along toward +the spot where the wagon had stood. But for the excitement of the +moment, Jack must have felt a touch of pity at sight of those two +slender, beautiful creatures, so full of life, making for their covert +in the cool woods. But the hunter's spirit was uppermost. He took aim at +the doe, followed her movements a moment with the moving gun, then +fired. She plunged forward, and dropped dead. + +The fawn, confused by the report and by the doe's sudden fall, stood for +an instant quite still, then made a few bounds up toward the very spot +where the young hunter was concealed. It stopped again, within twenty +paces of the levelled gun. There it stood, its pretty spotted side +turned toward him, so fair a mark, and so charming a picture, that for a +moment, excited though he was, he could not have the heart to shoot. Ah! +what is this spirit of destruction, which has come down to us from our +barbarous forefathers, and which gives even good-hearted boys like Jack +a wild joy in taking life? + +The dog, rendered ungovernable by the firing of the gun, made a noise in +the thicket. The fawn heard, and started to run away. The provocation +was too great for our young hunter, and he sent a charge of buck-shot +after it. The fawn did not fall. + +"Take 'em, Lion!" shouted Jack; and out rushed the dog. + +The poor thing had been wounded, and the dog soon brought it down. Jack +ran after, to prevent a tearing of the hide and flesh. Then he set up a +wild yell, which might have been heard a mile away on the prairie,--a +call for his horseman, who had not yet reappeared. + +Jack dragged the fawn and placed it beside its dam. There lay the two +pretty creatures, slaughtered by his hand. + +"It can't be helped," thought he. "If it is right to hunt game, it is +right to kill it. If we eat flesh, we must take life." + +So he tried to feel nothing but pure triumph at the sight. Yet I have +heard him say, in relating the adventure, that he could never afterwards +think of the dead doe and pretty fawn, lying there side by side, without +a pang. + +He now backed his buggy out of the woods, set the seat forward in order +to make room for the deer behind, and waited for his horse. + +"Where can that fellow have gone?" he muttered, with growing anxiety. + +He went to a hill-top, to get a good view, and strained his vision, +gazing over the prairie. The sun was almost set, and all the hills were +darkening, save now and then one of the highest summits. + +Over one of these Jack suddenly descried a distant object moving. It was +no deer this time, but a horse and rider far away, and going at a +gallop--in the wrong direction. + +He gazed until they disappeared over the crest, and the faint sundown +glory faded from it, and he felt the lonesome night shutting down over +the limitless expanse. Then he smote his hands together with fury and +despair. + +He knew that the horse was his own, and the rider the strange youth in +whose hands he had so rashly intrusted him. And here he was, five miles +from home, with the darkening forest on one side, and the vast prairie +on the other; the dead doe and fawn lying down there on the dewy grass, +the empty buggy and harness beside them; and only his dog to keep him +company. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE BOY WITH ONE SUSPENDER. + + +Jack's first thought, after assuring himself that his horse was +irrevocably gone, was to run for help to the line of settlements on the +other side of the grove, where some means of pursuit might be obtained. + +He knew that the road which Mr. Wiggett had described could not be much +beyond the hollow where his wagon was; and, dashing forward, he soon +found it. Then, stopping to give a last despairing look at the billowy +line of prairie over which his horse had disappeared, he started to run +through the woods. + +He had not gone far when he heard a cowbell rattle, and the voice of a +boy shouting. He paused to take breath and listen; and presently with a +crashing of bushes three or four horned cattle came pushing their way +through the undergrowth, into the open road, followed by a lad without a +jacket, with one suspender and a long switch. + +"Boy," Jack cried, "how far is it to the nearest house?" + +"Our house is jest down through the woods here," replied the boy, +stopping to stare. + +"How far is that?" + +"Not quite so far as it is to Peakslow's house." + +"Where is Peakslow's house?" + +"Next house to ours, down the river." + +Seeing that this line of questions was not likely to lead to anything +very satisfactory, Jack asked,-- + +"Can I get a horse of anybody in your neighborhood,--a good fast horse +to ride?" + +The boy whipped a bush with his switch, and replied,-- + +"There ain't any good horses around here, 'thout 'tis Peakslow's; but +one of his has got the spring halt, and t' other's got the blind +staggers; and he's too mean to lend his horses; and, besides, he went to +Chicago with 'em both this morning." + +Jack did not stop to question the probability of a span thus afflicted +being driven on so long a journey; but asked if Mr. Wiggett had horses. + +"No--yes. I believe his horses are all oxen," replied the boy; "not very +fast or good to ride either." + +Thereupon Jack, losing all patience, cried out,-- + +"Isn't there a decent nag to be had in this region?" + +"Who said there wasn't?" retorted the boy. + +"Where is there one?" + +"We've got one." + +"A horse?" + +"No; a mare." + +"Why didn't you tell me before?" + +"'Cause you asked for horses; you didn't say anything about mares." + +"Is she good to ride?" + +"Pretty good,--though if you make her go much faster 'n she takes a +notion to, she's got the heaves so folks'll think there's a small +volcano coming!" + +"How fast will she go?" + +"As fast as a good slow walk; that's her style," said the boy, and +whipped the bushes. "But, come to think, father's away from home, and +you'll have to wait till to-morrow night before you can see him, and get +him to let you take her." + +"Boy," said Jack, tired of the lad's tone of levity, and thinking to +interest him by a statement of the facts in the case, "I've been +hunting, and a rascal I trusted with my horse has run off with him, and +I have a harness and a buggy and a couple of dead deer out there on the +prairie." + +"Deer?" echoed the lad, pricking up his ears at once. "Did you shoot +'em? Where? Can I go and see 'em?" + +Jack was beginning to see the hopelessness of pursuing the horse-thief +that night, or with any help to to be had in that region; and he now +turned his thoughts to getting the buggy home. + +"Yes, boy; come with me," he said. + +The boy shouted and switched his stick at the cattle browsing by the +wayside, and started them on a smart trot down the road, then hastened +with Jack to the spot where the wagon and game had been left, guarded by +Lion. + +But Jack had another object in view than simply to gratify the lad's +curiosity. + +"If you will hold up the shafts and pull a little, I'll push behind, and +we can take the buggy through the woods. After we get it up out of this +hollow, and well into the road, it will be down-hill the rest of the +way." + +"You want to make a horse of me, do ye?" cried the boy. "I wasn't born +in a stable!" + +"Neither was I," said Jack. "But I don't object to doing a horse's work. +I'll pull in the shafts." + +"O good!" screamed the boy, making his switch whistle about his head. +"And I'll get on the seat and drive!" And he made a spring at the wagon. + +But Lion had something to say about that. Having been placed on guard, +and not yet relieved, he would permit no hand but his master's to touch +anything in his charge. A frightful growl made the boy recoil and go +backwards over the dead deer. + +"Here, Lion! down with you!" cried Jack, as the excited dog was pouncing +on the supposed intruder. + +The boy scrambled to his feet, and was starting to run away, in great +terror, when Jack, fearing to lose him, called out,-- + +"Don't run! He may chase you if you do. Now he knows you are my friend, +you are safe, only stay where you are." + +"Blast his pictur'!" exclaimed the boy. "He's a perfect cannibal! What +does anybody want to keep such a savage critter as that for?" + +"I had told him to watch. Now he is all right. Come!" + +"Me? Travel with that dog? I wouldn't go with him," the boy declared, +meaning to make the strongest possible statement, "if 't was a million +miles, and the road was full of sugar-candy!" And he backed off warily. + +[Illustration: UP-HILL WORK.] + +Jack got over the difficulty by sending the dog on before; and finally, +by an offer of money which would purchase a reasonable amount of +sugar-candy,--enough to pave the short road to happiness, for a boy of +thirteen,--induced him to help lift the deer into the buggy, and then to +go behind and push. + +They had hard work at first, getting the wagon up out of the hollow; and +the boy, when they reached at last the top of the hill, and stopped to +rest, declared that there wasn't half the fun in it there was in going a +fishing; the justice of which remark Jack did not question. But after +that the way was comparatively easy; and with Jack pulling in the +shafts, his new acquaintance pushing in the rear, and Lion trotting on +before, the buggy went rattling down the woodland road in lively +fashion. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +"LORD BETTERSON'S." + + +On a sort of headland jutting out from the high timber region into the +low prairie of the river bottom, stood a house, known far and near as +"Lord Betterson's," or, as it was sometimes derisively called, "Lord +Betterson's Castle," the house being about as much a castle as the owner +was a lord. + +The main road of the settlement ran between it and the woods; while on +the side of the river the land swept down in a lovely slope to the +valley, which flowed away in a wider and more magnificent stream of +living green. It was really a fine site, shaded by five or six young +oaks left standing in the spacious door-yard. + +The trouble was, that the house had been projected on somewhat too grand +a scale for the time and country and, what was worse, for the owner's +resources. He had never been able to finish it; and now its +weather-browned clapboards, unpainted front pillars, and general shabby, +ill-kept appearance, set off the style of architecture in a way to make +beholders smile. + +"Lord Betterson took a bigger mouthful than he could swaller, when he +sot out to build his castle here," said his neighbor, Peakslow. + +The proprietor's name--it may as well be explained--was Elisha Lord +Betterson. It was thus he always wrote it, in a large round hand, with a +bold flourish. Now the common people never will submit to call a man +_Elisha_. The furthest they can possibly go will be _'Lisha_, or +_'Lishy_; and, ten to one, the tendency to monosyllables will result in +_'Lishe_. There had been a feeble attempt among the vulgar to +familiarize the public mind with _'Lishe Betterson_; but the name would +not stick to a person of so much dignity of character. It was useless to +argue that his dignity was mere pomposity; or that a man who, in +building a fine house, broke down before he got the priming on, was +unworthy of respect; still no one could look at him, or call up his +image, and say, conscientiously, "'Lishe Betterson." He who, in this +unsettled state of things, taking a hint from the middle name, +pronounced boldly aloud, "LORD BETTERSON," was a public benefactor. +"Lord Betterson" and "Lord Betterson's Castle" had been popular ever +since. + +The house, with its door-posts of unpainted pine darkly soiled by the +contact of unwashed childish hands, and its unfinished rooms, some of +them lathed, but unplastered (showing just the point at which the +owner's resources failed), looked even more shabby within than without. + +This may have been partly because the house-keeper was sick. She must +have been sick, if that was she, the pale, drooping figure, sitting +wrapped in an old red shawl, that summer afternoon. She looked not only +sick, but exceedingly discouraged. And no wonder. + +[Illustration: "LORD BETTERSON."] + +At her right hand was an empty cradle; and she held a puny infant in her +arms, trying to still its cries. At her left was a lounge, on which lay +the helpless form of an invalid child, a girl about eleven years old. +The room was comfortless. An old, high-colored piece of carpeting half +covered the rough floor; its originally gaudy pattern, out of which all +but the red had faded, bearing witness to some past stage of family +gentility, and serving to set off the surrounding wretchedness. + +Tipped back in a chair against the rough and broken laths, his knees as +high as his chin, was a big slovenly boy of about seventeen, looking +lazily out from under an old ragged hat-rim, pushed over his eyes. +Another big, slovenly boy, a year or two younger, sat on the doorstep, +whittling quite as much for his own amusement as for that of a little +five-year-old ragamuffin outside. + +Not much comfort for the poor woman and the sick girl shone from these +two indifferent faces. Indeed, the only ray of good cheer visible in +that disorderly room gleamed from the bright eyes of a little girl not +more than nine or ten years old,--so small, in truth, that she had to +stand on a stool by the table, where she was washing a pan of dishes. + +"O boys!" said the woman in a feeble, complaining tone, "do, one of you, +go to the spring and bring some fresh water for your poor, sick sister." + +"It's Rufe's turn to go for water," said the boy on the doorstep. + +"'T ain't my turn, either," muttered the boy tipped back against the +laths. "Besides, I've got to milk the cow soon as Link brings the cattle +home. Hear the bell yet, Wad?" + +"Never mind, Cecie!" cried the little dish-washer, cheerily. "I'll bring +you some water as soon as I have done these dishes." And, holding her +wet hands behind her, she ran to give the young invalid a kiss in the +mean while. + +Cecie returned a warm smile of love and thanks, and said she was in no +hurry. Then the child, stopping only to give a bright look and a +pleasant word to the baby, ran back to her dishes. + +"I should think you would be ashamed, you two great boys!" said the +woman, "to sit round the house and let that child Lilian wait upon you, +get your suppers, wash your dishes, and then go to the spring for water +for your poor suffering sister!" + +"I'm going to petition the Legislature," said Wad, "to have that spring +moved up into our back yard; it's too far to go for water. There come +the cattle, Rufe." + +"Tell Chokie to go and head 'em into the barnyard," yawned Rufe, from +his chair. "I wonder nobody ever invented a milking-machine. Wish I had +one. Just turn a crank, you know." + +"You'll be wanting a machine to breathe with, next," said the little +dish-washer. + +"Y-a-as," drawled Rufe. "I think a breathing machine would be popular in +this family. Children cry for it. Get me the milk-pail, Lill; that's a +nice girl!" + +"Do get it yourself, Rufus," said the mother. "You'll want your little +sister to milk for you, soon." + +"I think it belongs to girls to milk," said Rufe. "There's Sal +Wiggett,--ain't she smart at it, though? She can milk your head off! Is +that a wagon coming, Wad?" + +"Yes!" cried Wad, jumping to his feet with unusual alacrity. "A wagon +without a horse, a fellow pulling in the shafts, and Link pushing +behind; coming right into the front yard!" + +Rufe also started up at this announcement, and went to the door. + +"Hallo!" he said, "had a break-down? What's that in the hind part of +your wagon? Deer! a deer and a fawn! Where did you shoot 'em? Where's +your horse?" + +"Look out, Rufe!" screamed the small boy from behind, rushing forward. +"Touch one of these deer, and the dog'll have ye! We've got two deer, +but we've lost our horse,--scamp rode him away,--and we want--" + +"We do, do we?" interrupted Wad, mockingly. "How many deer did _you_ +shoot, Link?" + +"Well, I helped get the buggy over, anyway! And that's the savagest dog +ever was! And--say! will mother let us take the old mare to drive over +to North Mills this evening?" + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +JACK AT THE "CASTLE." + + +For an answer to this question, the person most interested in it, who +had as yet said least, was shown into the house. Rufe and Wad and Link +and little Chokie came crowding in after him, all eager to hear him talk +of the adventure. + +"And, O ma!" cried Link, after Jack had briefly told his story, "he says +he will give us the fawn, and pay me besides, if I will go with him +to-night, and bring back the old mare in the morning." + +"I don't know," said the woman, wrapping her red shawl more closely +about her, to conceal from the stranger her untidy attire. "I suppose, +if Mr. Betterson was at home, he would let you take the mare. But you +know, Lincoln,"--turning with a reproachful look to the small boy,--"you +have never been brought up to take money for little services. Such +things are not becoming in a family like ours." + +And in the midst of her distress she put on a complacent smirk, +straightened her emaciated form, and sat there, looking like the very +ghost of pride, wrapped in an old red shawl. + +"Did you speak of Mr. Betterson?" Jack inquired, interested. + +"That is my husband's name." + +"Elisha L. Betterson?" + +"Certainly. You know my husband? He belongs to the Philadelphia +Bettersons,--a very wealthy and influential family," said the woman with +a simper. "Very wealthy and influential." + +"I have heard of your husband," said Jack. "If I am not mistaken, you +are Mrs. Caroline Betterson,--a sister of Vinnie Dalton, sometimes +called Vinnie Presbit." + +"You know my sister Lavinia!" exclaimed Mrs. Betterson, surprised, but +not overjoyed. "And you know Mr. Presbit's people?" + +"I have never seen them," replied Jack, "but I almost feel as if I had, +I have heard so much about them. I was with Vinnie's foster-brother, +George Greenwood, in New York, last summer, when he was sick, and she +went down to take care of him." + +"And I presume," returned Mrs. Betterson, taking another reef in her +shawl, "that you heard her tell a good deal about us; things that would +no doubt tend to prejudice a stranger; though if all the truth was known +she wouldn't feel so hard towards us as I have reason to think she +does." + +Jack hastened to say that he had never heard Vinnie speak unkindly of +her sister. + +"You are very polite to say so," said Mrs. Betterson, rocking the +cradle, in which the baby had been placed. "But I know just what she +has said. She has told you that after I married Mr. Betterson I felt +above my family; and that when her mother died (she was not _my_ mother, +you know,--we are only half-sisters), I suffered her to be taken and +brought up by the Presbits, when I ought to have taken her and been as a +mother to her,--she was so much younger than I. She is even younger by a +month or two than my oldest son; and we have joked a good deal about his +having an aunt younger than he is." + +"Yes," spoke up Rufe, standing in the door; "and I've asked a hundred +times why we don't ever hear from her, or write to her, or have her +visit us. Other folks have their aunts come and see 'em. But all the +answer I could ever get was, 'family reasons, Rufus!'" + +"That is it, in a word," said Mrs. Betterson; "family reasons. I never +could explain them; so I have never written to poor, dear +Lavinia--though, Heaven knows, I should be glad enough to see her; and I +hope she has forgiven what seemed my hardness; and--do tell me" (Mrs. +Betterson wiped her eyes) "what sort of a girl is she? how has she come +up?" + +"She is one of the kindest-hearted, most unselfish, beautiful girls in +the world!" Jack exclaimed. "I mean, beautiful in her spirit," he added, +blushing at his own enthusiasm. + +"The Presbits are rather coarse people to bring up such a girl," said +Mrs. Betterson, with a sigh--of self-reproach, Jack thought. + +"But she has a natural refinement which nothing could make her lose," he +replied. "Then, it was a good thing for her to be brought up with George +Greenwood. She owes a great deal to the love of books he inspired in +her. You ought to know your sister, Mrs. Betterson." + +The lady gave way to a flood of tears. + +"It is too bad! such separations are unnatural. Certainly," she went on, +"I can't be accused of feeling above my family now. Mr. Betterson has +had three legacies left him, two since our marriage; but he has been +exceedingly unfortunate." + +"Two such able-bodied boys must be a help and comfort to you," said +Jack. + +"Rufus and Wadleigh," said Mrs. Betterson, "are good boys, but they have +been brought up to dreams of wealth, and they have not learned to take +hold of life with rough hands." + +Jack suggested that it might have been better for them not to have such +dreams. + +"Yes--if our family is to be brought down to the common level. But I +can't forget, I can't wish them ever to forget, that they have Betterson +blood in their veins." + +Jack could hardly repress a smile as he glanced from those stout heirs +of the Betterson blood to the evidences of shiftlessness and +wretchedness around them, which two such sturdy lads, with a little +less of the precious article in their veins, might have done something +to remedy. + +But his own unlucky adventure absorbed his thoughts, and he was glad +when Link vociferously demanded if he was to go and catch the mare. + +"Yes! yes! do anything but kill me with that dreadful voice!" replied +the mother, waving him off with her trembling hand. "Don't infer from +what I have said," she resumed, gathering herself up again with feeble +pride, "that we are poor. Mr. Betterson will come into a large fortune +when an uncle of his dies; and he gets help from him occasionally now. +Not enough, however, to enable him to carry on a farm; and it requires +capital, you are aware, to make agriculture a respectable profession." + +Jack could not forbear another hit at the big boys. + +"It requires land," he said; "and that you have. It also requires bone +and muscle; and I see some here." + +"True," simpered Mrs. Betterson. "But their father hasn't encouraged +them very much in doing the needful labors of the farm." + +"He hasn't set us the example," broke in Rufe, piqued by Jack's remark. +"If he had taken hold of work, I suppose we should. But while he sits +down and waits for something or somebody to come along and help him, +what can you expect of us?" + +"Our Betterson blood shows itself in more ways than one!" said Wad with +a grin, illustrating his remark by lazily seating himself once more on +the doorstep. + +Evidently the boys were sick of hearing their mother boast of the +aristocratic family connection. She made haste to change the subject. + +"Sickness has been our great scourge. The climate has never agreed with +either me or my husband. Then our poor Cecilia met with an accident a +year ago, which injured her so that she has scarcely taken a step +since." + +"An accident done a-purpose!" spoke up Rufe, angrily. "Zeph Peakslow +threw her out of a swing,--the meanest trick! They're the meanest family +in the world, and there's a war between us. I'm only waiting my chance +to pay off that Zeph." + +"Rufus!" pleaded the little invalid from the lounge, "you know he could +never have meant to hurt me so much. Don't talk of paying him off, +Rufus!" + +"Cecie is so patient under it all!" said Mrs. Betterson. "She never +utters a word of complaint. Yet she doesn't have the care she ought to +have. With my sick baby, and my own aches and pains, what can I do? +There are no decent house-servants to be had, for love or money. O, what +wouldn't I give for a good, neat, intelligent, sympathizing girl! Our +little Lilian, here,--poor child!--is all the help I have." + +At that moment the bright little dish-washer, having put away the +supper things, and gone to the spring for water, came lugging in a small +but brimming pail. + +"It is too bad!" replied Jack. "You should have help about the hard +work," with another meaning glance at the boys. + +"Yes," said Rufe, "we ought to; and we did have Sal Wiggett a little +while this summer. But she had never seen the inside of a decent house +before. About all she was good for was to split wood and milk the cow." + +"O, how good this is!" said the invalid, drinking. "I was so thirsty! +Bless you, dear Lill! What should we do without you?" + +Jack rose to his feet, hardly repressing his indignation. + +"Would you like a drink, sir?" said Lill, taking a fresh cupful from her +pail, and looking up at him with a bright smile. + +"Thank you, I should very much! But I can't bear the thought of your +lugging water from the spring for me." + +"Why, Lilie!" said Cecie, softly, "you should have offered it to him +first." + +"I thought I did right to offer it to my sick sister first," replied +Lill, with a tender glance at the lounge. + +"You did right, my good little girl!" exclaimed Jack, giving back the +cup. He looked from one to the other of the big boys, and wondered how +they could witness this scene and not be touched by it. But he only +said, "Have these young men too much Betterson blood in them to dress +the fawn, if I leave it with you?" + +"We'll fall back on our Dalton blood long enough for that," said Wad, +taking the sarcasm in good part. + +"A little young venison will do Cecie so much good!" said Mrs. +Betterson. "You are very kind. But don't infer that we consider the +Dalton blood inferior. I was pleased with what you said of Lavinia's +native refinement. I feel as if, after all, she was a sister to be proud +of." + +At this last display of pitiful vanity Jack turned away. + +"The idea of such a woman concluding that she may be proud of a sister +like Vinnie!" thought he. + +But he spoke only to say good by; for just then Link came riding the +mare to the door. + +She was quickly harnessed to the buggy, while Link, at his mother's +entreaty, put on a coat, and made himself look as decent as possible. +Then Jack drove away, promising that Link, who accompanied him, should +bring the mare back in the morning. + +"Mother," said the thoughtful Lill, "we ought to have got him some +supper." + +"I thought of it," said the sick woman, "but you know we have nothing +fit to set before him." + +"He won't famish," said Rufe, "with the large supply of sauce which he +keeps on hand! Mother, I wish you wouldn't ever speak of our Betterson +blood again; it only makes us ridiculous." + +Thereupon Mrs. Betterson burst into tears, complaining that her own +children turned against her. + +"O, bah!" exclaimed Rufe, with disgust, stalking out of the room, +banging a milk-pail, and waking the baby. "Be sharpening the knives, +Wad, while I milk; then we'll dress that fawn in a hurry. Wish the +fellow had left us the doe instead." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +HOW VINNIE MADE A JOURNEY. + + +Leaving Jack to drive home the borrowed mare in the harness of the +stolen horse, and to take such measures as he can for the pursuit of the +thief and the recovery of his property, we have now to say a few words +of Mrs. Betterson's younger sister. + +Vinnie had perhaps thriven quite as well in the plain Presbit household +as she would have done in the home of the ambitious Caroline. The tasks +early put upon her, instead of hardening and imbittering her, had made +her self-reliant, helpful, and strong, with a grace like that acquired +by girls who carry burdens on their heads. For it is thus that labors +cheerfully performed, and trials borne with good-will and lightness of +heart, give a power and a charm to body and mind. + +It was now more than a year since George Greenwood, who had been brought +up with her in his uncle's family, had left the farm, and gone to seek +his fortune in the city. A great change in the house, and a very unhappy +change for Vinnie, had been the result. It was not that she missed her +foster-brother so much; but his going out had occasioned the coming in +of another nephew, who brought a young wife with him. The nephew filled +George's place on the farm, and the young wife showed a strong +determination to take Vinnie's place in the household. + +As long as she was conscious of being useful, in however humble a +sphere, Vinnie was contented. She did her daily outward duty, and fed +her heart with secret aspirations, and kept a brave, bright spirit +through all. But now nothing was left to her but to contend for her +rights with the new-comer, or to act the submissive part of drudge where +she had almost ruled before. Strife was hateful to her; and why should +she remain where her services were now scarcely needed? + +So Vinnie lapsed into an unsettled state of mind, common enough to a +certain class of girls of her age, as well as to a larger class of boys, +when the great questions of practical life confront them: "What am I to +be? What shall I do for a living?" + +How ardently she wished she had money, so that she could spend two or +three entire years at school! How eagerly she would have used those +advantages for obtaining an education which so many, who have them, +carelessly throw away! But Vinnie had nothing--could expect +nothing--which she did not earn. + +At one time she resolved to go to work in a factory; at another, to try +teaching a district school; and again, to learn some trade, like that of +dress-maker or milliner. Often she wished for the freedom to go out into +the world and gain her livelihood like a boy. + +In this mood of mind she received two letters. One was from Jack, +describing his accidental visit to her sister's family. The other was +from Caroline herself, who made that visit the occasion of writing a +plaintive letter to her "dear, neglected Lavinia." + +Many tears she shed over these letters. The touching picture Jack drew +of the invalid Cecie, and the brave little Lilian, and of the sick +mother and baby, with Caroline's sad confession of distress, and of her +need of sympathy and help, wakened springs of love and pity in the young +girl's heart. She forgot that she had anything to forgive. All her +half-formed schemes for self-help and self-culture were at once +discarded, and she formed a courageous resolution. + +"I will go to Illinois," she said, "and take care of my poor sister and +her sick children." + +Such a journey, from Western New York, was no small undertaking in those +days. But she did not shrink from it. + +"What!" said Mrs. Presbit, when Vinnie's determination was announced to +her, "you will go and work for a sister who has treated you so +shamefully all these years? Only a half-sister, at that! I'm astonished +at you! I thought you had more sperit." + +"For anything she may have done wrong, I am sure she is sorry enough +now," Vinnie replied. + +"Yes, now she has need of you!" sneered Mrs. Presbit. + +"Besides," Vinnie continued, "I ought to go, for the children's sake, if +not for hers. Think of Cecie and the poor baby; and Lilian not ten years +old, trying to do the housework! I can do so much for them!" + +"No doubt of that; for I must say you are as handy and willing a girl as +ever I see. But there's the Betterson side to the family,--two great, +lubberly boys, according to your friend's account; a proud, domineering +set, I warrant ye! The idee of making a slave of yourself for them! +You'll find it a mighty uncomf'table place, mark my word!" + +"I hope no more so than the place I am in now,--excuse me for saying it, +Aunt Presbit," added Vinnie, in a trembling voice. "It isn't your fault. +But you know how things are." + +"O, la, yes! _she_ wants to go ahead, and order everything; and I think +it's as well to let her,--though she'll find she can't run over _me_! +But I don't blame you the least mite, Vinnie, for feeling sensitive; and +if you've made up your mind to go, I sha'n't hender ye,--I'll help ye +all I can." + +So it happened that, only four days after the receipt of her sister's +letter, Vinnie, with all her worldly possessions contained in one not +very large trunk, bid her friends good by, and, not without misgivings, +set out alone on her long journey. + +She took a packet-boat on the canal for Buffalo. At Buffalo, with the +assistance of friends she had made on board the boat, she found the +captain of a schooner, who agreed to give her a passage around the lakes +to Chicago, for four dollars. There were no railroads through Northern +Ohio and across Michigan and Indiana in those days; and although there +were steamboats on the lakes, Vinnie found that a passage on one of them +would cost more money than she could afford. So she was glad to go in +the schooner. + +The weather was fine, the winds favored, and the Heron made a quick +trip. Vinnie, after two or three days of sea-sickness, enjoyed the +voyage, which was made all the more pleasant to her by the friendship of +the captain and his wife. + +She was interested in all she saw,--in watching the waves, the sailors +hauling the ropes, the swelling of the great sails,--in the vessels they +met or passed, the ports at which they touched,--the fort, the Indians, +and the wonderfully clear depth of the water at Mackinaw. But the voyage +grew tiresome toward the close, and her heart bounded with joy when the +captain came into the cabin early one morning and announced that they +had reached Chicago. + +The great Western metropolis was then a town of no more than eight or +ten thousand inhabitants, hastily and shabbily built on the low level of +the plain stretching for miles back from the lake shore. In a short walk +with the captain's wife, Vinnie saw about all of the place she cared +to; noting particularly a load of hay "slewed," or mired, in the +mud-holes of one of the principal streets; the sight of which made her +wonder if a great and flourishing city could ever be built there! + +Meanwhile the captain, by inquiry in the resorts of market-men, found a +farmer who was going to drive out to the Long Woods settlement that +afternoon, and who engaged to come with his wagon to the wharf where the +Heron lay, and take off Vinnie and her trunk. + +"O, how fortunate!" she exclaimed. "How good everybody is to me! Only +think, I shall reach my sister's house to-night!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +VINNIE'S ADVENTURE. + + +In due time a rough farm-wagon was backed down upon the wharf, and a +swarthy man, with a high, hooked nose, like the inverted prow of a ship, +boarded the schooner, and scratched his head, through its shock of +stiff, coarse hair, by way of salutation to Vinnie, who came on deck to +meet him. + +"Do' no's you'll like ridin' with me, in a lumber-wagon, on a stiff +board seat." + +"O, I sha'n't mind!" said Vinnie, who was only too glad to go. + +"What part of the settlement ye goin' to?" he asked, as he lifted one +end of the trunk, while the captain took up the other. + +"To Mr. Betterson's house; Mrs. Betterson is my sister," said Vinnie. + +The man dropped his end of the trunk, and turned and glared at her. + +"You've got holt o' the wrong man this time!" he said. "I don't take +nobody in my wagon to the house of no sich a man as Lord Betterson. Ye +may tell him as much." + +"Will you take me to any house near by?" said the astonished Vinnie. + +"Not if you're a connection of the Bettersons, I won't for no money! +I've nothin' to do with that family, but to hate and despise 'em. Tell +'em that too. But they know it a'ready. My name's Dudley Peakslow." + +And, in spite of the captain's remonstrance, the angry man turned his +back upon the schooner, and drove off in his wagon. + +It took Vinnie a minute to recover from the shock his rude conduct gave +her. Then she smiled faintly, and said,-- + +"It's too bad I couldn't have a ride in his old wagon! But he wouldn't +be very agreeable company, would he?" So she tried to console herself +for the disappointment. She had thought all along: "If I can do no +better, I will take the stage to North Mills; Jack will help me get over +to my sister's from there." And it now seemed as if she might have to +take that route. + +The schooner was discharging her miscellaneous freight of Eastern +merchandise,--dry goods, groceries, hardware, boots and shoes,--and the +captain was too much occupied to do anything more for her that +afternoon. + +She grew restless under the delay; and feeling that she ought to make +one more effort to find a conveyance direct to Long Woods, she set off +alone to make inquiries for herself. + +The first place she visited was a hotel she had noticed in her morning's +walk,--the Farmers' Home; and she was just going away from the door, +having met with no success, when a slim youth, carrying his head +jauntily on one side, came tripping after her, and accosted her with an +apologetic smile and lifted hat. + +"Excuse me,--I was told you wanted to find somebody going out to Mr. +Betterson's at Long Woods." + +"O yes! do you know of anybody I can ride with?" + +"I am in a way of knowing,--why, yes,--I think there is a gentleman +going out early to-morrow morning. A gentleman and his daughter. Wife +and daughter, in fact. A two-seated wagon; you might ride on the +hind-seat with the daughter. Stopping at the Prairie Flower." + +"O, thank you! And can I go there and find them?" + +"I am going that way, and, if you please, I will introduce you," said +the youth. + +Vinnie replied that, if he would give her their names, she would save +him the trouble. For, despite his affability, there was something about +him she distrusted and disliked,--an indefinable air of insincerity, and +a look out of his eyes of gay vagabondism and dissipation. + +He declared that it would be no trouble; moreover, he could not at that +moment recall the names; so, as there was no help for it, she let him +walk by her side. + +At the Prairie Flower,--which was not quite so lovely or fragrant a +public-house as the name had led her to expect,--he showed her into a +small, dingy sitting-room, up one flight of stairs, and went to speak +with the clerk. + +"The ladies will be here presently," he said, returning to her in a few +minutes. "Meanwhile I thought I would order some refreshments." And he +was followed into the room by a waiter bringing a basket of cake and two +glasses of wine. + +[Illustration: TOO OBLIGING BY HALF.] + +"No refreshments for me!" cried Vinnie, quickly. + +"The other ladies will like some," said the youth, carelessly. "Intimate +friends of mine. Just a little cake and sweet wine." + +"But you have ordered only two glasses! And a few minutes ago you +couldn't think of their names,--those intimate friends of yours!" +returned Vinnie, with sparkling eyes. + +The youth took up a glass, threw himself back in a chair, and laughed. + +"It's a very uncommon name,--Jenkins; no, Judkins; something like that. +Neighbors of the Bettersons; intimate friends of _theirs_, I mean. You +think I'm not acquainted out there? Ask Carrie! ask the boys, hi, +hi!"--with a giggle and a grimace, as he sipped the wine. + +"You do really know my sister Caroline?" said Vinnie. + +The youth set down his glass and stared. + +"Your sister! I wondered who in thunder you could be, inquiring your way +to Betterson's; but I never dreamed--Excuse me, I wouldn't have played +such a joke, if I had known!" + +"What joke?" Vinnie demanded. + +"Why, there's no Jenkins,--Judkins,--what did I call their names? I just +wanted to have a little fun, and find you out." + +Vinnie trembled with indignation. She started to go. + +"But you haven't found _me_ out," he said, with an impudent chuckle. + +"I've found out all I wish to know of you," said Vinnie, ready to cry +with vexation. "I've come alone all the way from my home in Western New +York, and met nobody who wasn't kind and respectful to me, till I +reached Chicago to-day." + +The wretch seemed slightly touched by this rebuke; but he laughed again +as he finished his glass. + +"Well, it was a low trick. But't was all in fun, I tell ye. Come, drink +your wine, and make up; we'll be friends yet. Won't drink? Here goes, +then!" And he tossed off the contents of the second glass. "Now we'll +take a little walk, and talk over our Betterson friends by the way." + +She was already out of the room. He hastened to her side; she walked +faster still, and he came tripping lightly after her down the stairs. + +Betwixt anger and alarm, she was wondering whether she should try to run +away from him, or ask the protection of the first person she met, when, +looking eagerly from the doorway as she hurried out, she saw, across the +street, a face she knew, and uttered a cry of joy. + +"Jack! O Jack!" + +It seemed almost like a dream, that it should indeed be Jack, then and +there. He paused, glanced up and down, then across at the girlish figure +starting toward him, and rushed over to her, reaching out both hands, +and exclaiming,-- + +"Vinnie Dalton! is it you?" + +In the surprise and pleasure of this unexpected meeting, she forgot all +about the slim youth she was so eager to avoid a moment before. When she +thought of him again, and looked about her, he had disappeared, having +slipped behind her, and skipped back up the stairs with amazing agility +at sight of Jack. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +JACK AND VINNIE IN CHICAGO. + + +Vinnie poured out her story to her friend as they walked along the +street. + +Jack was so incensed, when she came to the upshot of the adventure, that +he wished to go back at once and make the slim youth's acquaintance. But +she would not permit so foolish a thing. + +"It is all over now. What good would it do for you to see him?" + +"I don't know; I'd like to tell the scamp what I think of him, if +nothing more. He wanted a little fun, did he?" And Jack stood, pale with +wrath, looking back at the hotel. + +"If it hadn't been for him, I might not have seen you," said Vinnie. +"Maybe you can't forgive him that!" + +Jack looked into her eyes, full of a sweet, mirthful light, and forgot +his anger. + +"I'll forgive him the rest, _because_ of that. Besides, I've no time to +waste on him. I'm hunting for my horse." + +He had written to Vinnie of his loss; and she was now eager to know if +Snowfoot had been heard from. + +"Not a hair of him!" said Jack. "I got an old hunter and trapper to go +with me the next day; we struck his trail on the prairie, and after a +deal of trouble tracked him to a settler's cabin. There the rogue had +stopped, and asked for supper and lodgings, which he promised to pay for +in the morning. The man and his wife had gone to bed, but they got up, +fed him and the horse, and then made him up a bed on the cabin floor. He +pretended to be very careful of his horse, and he had to go out and make +sure that he was all right before he went to bed; and that was the last +they saw of him. He bridled Snowfoot, and rode off so slyly that they +never knew which way he went. He had struck the travelled road, and +there we lost all trace of him. I went on to Joliet, and looked along +the canal, and set stablemen to watch for him, while my friend took the +road to Chicago; but neither of us had any luck. I've hunted all about +the country for him; and now, for a last chance, I've come to Chicago +myself." + +"How long have you been here?" Vinnie asked. + +"Only about two hours; and I must go back to-morrow. I've not much hope +of finding Snowfoot here; but as I had a chance to ride in with a +neighbor, I thought best to take advantage of it. Lucky I did! Why +didn't you write and let somebody know you were coming?" + +"I did write to my sister; but I didn't expect anybody to meet me here +in Chicago, since I couldn't tell just when I should arrive." + +"Where are you stopping?" + +"On board the schooner that brought me. She is lying quite near here, at +a wharf in the river." + +"Can you stay on board till to-morrow?" + +Vinnie thought the captain and his wife would be glad to keep her. + +"Though it isn't very nice," she added, "now that they are discharging +the cargo." + +"Perhaps you had better go to the Farmers' Home, where my friend and I +have put up," said Jack. + +"You at the Farmers' Home! Why couldn't I have known it?" said Vinnie. +"It was there I went to inquire for Long Woods people, and met that +scape-grace. When do you go home?" + +"We start early to-morrow morning. You can go with us as well as not,--a +good deal better than not!" said the overjoyed Jack. "Nothing but a +little load of groceries. You shall go home with me to North Mills; Mrs. +Lanman will be glad to see you. Then I'll drive you over to Long Woods +in three or four days." + +"Three or four days!" exclaimed Vinnie, not daring to be as happy as +these welcome words might have made her. "I should like much to visit +your friends; but I must get to my sister's as soon as possible." + +Jack's face clouded. + +"Vinnie, I'm afraid you don't know what you have undertaken. I can't +bear the thought of your going into that family. Why do you? The Lanmans +will be delighted to have you stay with them." + +"O, but I must go where I am needed," Vinnie answered. "And you mustn't +say a word against it. You must help me, Jack!" + +"They need you enough, Heaven knows, Vinnie!" Jack felt that he ought +not to say another word to discourage her, so he changed the subject. +"Which way now is your schooner?" + +Vinnie said she would show him; but she wished to buy a little present +for the captain's wife on the way. As they passed along the street, she +made him tell all he knew of her sister's family; and then asked if he +had heard from George Greenwood lately. + +"Only a few days ago he sent me a magazine with a long story of his in +it, founded on our adventure with the pickpockets," replied Jack. "He +writes me a letter about once a month. You hear from him, of course?" + +"O yes. And he sends me magazines. He has wonderful talent, don't you +think so?" + +And the two friends fell to praising the absent George. + +"I wonder if you have noticed one thing?" said Vinnie. + +"What, in particular?" + +"That Grace Manton has been the heroine of all his last stories." + +"I fancied I could see you in one or two of them," replied Jack. + +"Perhaps. But I am not the heroine; I am only the goody-goody girl," +laughed Vinnie. "When you see beauty, talent, accomplishments,--that's +Grace. I am glad they are getting on so well together." + +"So am I!" said Jack, with an indescribable look at the girl beside him. + +"Mr. Manton is dead,--I suppose you know it," said Vinnie. + +Jack knew it, and was not sorry; though he had much to say in praise of +the man's natural talents, which dissipation had ruined. + +The purchase made, they visited the schooner, where it was decided that +Vinnie should remain on board. Jack then left her, in order to make the +most of his time looking about the city for his horse. + +He continued his search, visiting every public stable, making inquiries +of the hostlers, and nailing up or distributing a small handbill he had +had printed, offering a reward of twenty dollars for "a light, reddish +roan horse, with white forefeet, a conspicuous scar low down on the near +side, just behind the shoulder, and a smaller scar on the off hip." + +In the mean time he kept a sharp lookout for roan horses in the streets. +But all to no purpose. There were roan horses enough, but he could see +and hear nothing of the particular roan he wanted. + +In the evening he went to see Vinnie on board the schooner, and talked +of his ill success. + +"A light roan? that's a kind of gray, ain't it?" said the captain of the +Heron. "That bearish fellow from Long Woods, who wouldn't take into his +wagon anybody connected with the Bettersons--" + +"Dudley Peakslow,--I sha'n't soon forget his name!" said Vinnie. + +"He drove such a horse," said the captain; "though I didn't notice the +forefeet or any scars." + +Jack laughed, and shook his head. + +"That's what everybody says. But the scars and forefeet are the main +points in my case. I wouldn't give a cent for a roan horse without 'em!" +Then he changed the subject. "It's a beautiful night, Vinnie; let's go +for a little stroll on the lake shore, and forget all about +roans,--light roans, dark roans, white feet, black, blue, green, yellow +feet! Perhaps your friends will go with us." + +Jack hoped they wouldn't, I regret to say. But the night was so +pleasant, and the captain's wife had become so attached to Vinnie, that +she persuaded her husband to go. + +The lake shore was charming; for in those early days it had not been +marred by breakwaters and docks. The little party strolled along the +beach, with the sparkling waves dashing at their feet, and the lake +spread out before them, vast, fluctuating, misty-gray, with here and +there a white crest tossing in the moon. + +Singing snatches of songs with Vinnie, telling stories with the captain, +skipping pebbles on the lake,--ah, how happy Jack was! He was glad, +after all, that they had all come together, since there was now no +necessity of Vinnie's hastening back to the schooner, to prevent her +friends from sitting up for her. + +"I've been in this port fifty times," said the captain, "but I've never +been down here before, neither has my wife; and I'm much obliged to you +for bringing us." + +"I like the lake," said his wife, "but I like it best from shore." + +"O, so do I!" said Vinnie, filled with the peace and beauty of the +night. + +It was late when they returned to the schooner. There Jack took his +leave, bidding Vinnie hold herself in readiness to be taken off, with +her trunk, in a grocer's wagon early the next morning. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +JACK'S NEW HOME. + + +In due time the wagon was driven to the wharf; and Vinnie, parting from +the captain and his wife with affectionate good-byes, rode out in the +freshness of the morning across the great plain stretching back from the +city. + +The plain left behind, groves and streams and high prairies were passed; +all wearing a veil of romance to the eye of the young girl, which saw +everything by its own light of youth and hope. + +But the roads were in places rough and full of ruts; the wagon was +pretty well loaded; and Vinnie was weary enough, when, late in the +afternoon, they approached the thriving new village of North Mills. + +"Here we come to Lanman's nurseries," said Jack, as they passed a field +of rich dark soil, ruled with neat rows of very young shrubs and trees. +"Felton is interested in the business with him; and I work for them a +good deal when we've no surveying to do. They're hardly established yet; +but they're sure of a great success within a few years, for all this +immense country must have orchards and garden fruits, you know. Ah, +there's Lion!" + +The dog came bounding to the front wheels, whining, barking, leaping +up, wagging his tail, and finally rolling over in the dirt, to show his +joy at seeing again his young master. + +The Lanman cottage was close by; and there in the door was its young +mistress, who, warned by the dog of the wagon's approach, had come out +to see if Jack's horse was with him. + +"No news of Snowfoot?" she said, walking to the gate as the wagon +stopped. + +"Not a bit. But I've had good luck, after all. For here is--who do you +suppose? Vinnie Dalton! Vinnie, this is the friend you have heard me +speak of, Mrs. Annie Felton Lanman." + +Vinnie went out of the wagon almost into the arms of Annie; so well had +both been prepared by Jack to know and to love each other. + +Of course the young girl received a cordial welcome; and to her the +little cottage seemed the most charming in the world. It contained few +luxuries, but everything in it was arranged with neatness and taste, and +exhaled an atmosphere of sweetness and comfort which mere luxury can +never give. + +"Lion has been watching for you with the anxiety of a lover all the +afternoon," Mrs. Lanman said to Jack, as, side by side, with Vinnie +between them, they walked up the path to the door. "And he is jealous +because you don't give him more attention." + +"Not jealous; but he wants to be introduced to Vinnie. Here, old +fellow!" + +Vinnie was delighted to make acquaintance with the faithful dog, and +listened eagerly to Annie's praise of him as they entered the house. + +"He is useful in doing our errands," said Mrs. Lanman. "If I wish to +send him to the grocery for anything, I write my order on a piece of +paper, put it into a basket, and give the basket to him, just lifting my +finger, and saying, 'Go to the grocery, go to the grocery,' twice; and +he never makes a mistake. To-day, Jack, for the first time, he came home +without doing his errand." + +"Why, Lion! I'm surprised at you!" said Jack; while Lion lay down on the +floor, looking very much abashed. + +"I sent him for butter, which we wanted to use at dinner. As I knew, +when he came back, that the order, which I placed in a dish in the +basket, had not been touched, I sent him again. 'Don't come home,' I +said, 'till somebody gives you the butter.' He then went, and didn't +return at all. So, as dinner-time came, I sent my brother to look after +him. He found the grocery closed, and Lion waiting with his basket on +the steps." + +"The grocer is sick," Jack explained; "his son had gone to town with me; +and so the clerk was obliged to shut up the store when he went to +dinner." And he praised and patted Lion, to let him know that they were +not blaming him for his failure to bring the butter. + +"One day," said Annie, "he had been sent to the butcher's for a piece of +meat. On his way home he saw a small dog of his acquaintance engaged in +a desperate fight with a big dog,--as big as Lion himself. At first he +ran up to them much excited; then he seemed to remember his basket of +meat. He couldn't go into the fight with that, and he was too prudent to +set it down in the street. For a moment he looked puzzled; then he ran +to the grocery, which was close by,--the same place where we send him +for things; but instead of holding up his basket before one of the men, +as he does when his errand is with them, he went and set it carefully +down behind a barrel in a corner. Then he rushed out and gave the big +dog a severe punishing. The men in the grocery watched him; and, knowing +that he would return for the basket, they hid it in another place, to +see what he would do. He went back into the store, to the corner behind +the barrel, and appeared to be in great distress. He snuffed and +whimpered about the store for a while, then ran up to the youngest of +the men--" + +"Horace,--the young fellow who came out with us to-day," commented Jack. +"He is full of his fun; and Lion knew that it would be just like him to +play such a trick." + +--"He ran up to Horace," Annie continued, "and barked furiously; and +became at last so fiercely threatening, that it was thought high time to +give him the basket. Lion took it and ran home in extraordinary haste; +but it was several days before he would have anything more to do with +Horace." + +"Who can say, after this, that dogs do not think?" said the admiring +Vinnie. + +"Mr. Lanman thinks he has some St. Bernard blood," said Jack, "and that +is what gives him his intelligence. He knows just what we are talking +about now; and see! he hardly knows whether to be proud or ashamed. I +don't approve of his fighting, on ordinary occasions; and I've had to +punish him for it once or twice. The other evening, as I was coming home +from a hunt after my horse, I saw two dogs fighting near the saw-mill." + +Jack had got so far when Lion, who had seemed to take pleasure in being +in the room till that moment, got up very quietly and went out with +drooping ears and tail. + +"He knows what is coming, and doesn't care to hear it. There's a little +humbug about Lion, as there is about the most of us. It was growing +dark, and the dogs were a little way off, and I wasn't quite sure of +Lion; but some boys who saw the fight told me it was he, and I called to +him. But what do you think he did? Instead of running to greet me, as he +always does when he sees me return after an absence, he fought a little +longer, then pretended to be whipped, and ran around the saw-mill, +followed by the other dog. The other dog came back, but Lion didn't. I +was quite surprised, when I got home, to see him rush out to meet me in +an ecstasy of delight, as if he then saw me for the first time. His +whole manner seemed to say, 'I am tickled to see you, Jack! and if you +think you saw me fighting the sawyer's dog just now, you're much +mistaken.' I don't know but I might have been deceived, in spite of the +boys; but one thing betrayed him,--he was wet. In order to get home +before me, without passing me on the road, he had swum the river." + +"Now you must tell the story of the chickens," said Annie. + +"Another bit of humbug," laughed Jack. "Our neighbors' chickens trouble +us by scratching in our yard, and I have told Lion he must keep them +out. But I noticed that sometimes, even when he had been on guard, there +were signs that the chickens had been there and scratched. So I got Mrs. +Lanman to watch him for two or three days, while he watched the +chickens. Now Lion is very fond of company; so, as soon as I was out of +sight, he would let the chickens come in, and scratch and play all about +him, while he would lie with his nose on his paws and blink at them as +good-naturedly as possible. But he kept an eye out for me all the while, +and the moment I came in sight he would jump up, and go to frightening +away the chickens with a great display of vigor and fidelity. So you +see, Lion isn't a perfect character, by any means. I could tell you a +good deal more about his peculiarities; but I think you are too tired +now to listen to any more dog stories." + +Jack carried Vinnie's trunk to a cosey little room; and there she had +time to rest and make herself presentable, before Mrs. Lanman came to +tell her that tea was ready. + +"See here, Vinnie, a minute!" said Jack, peeping from a half-opened +door. "Don't make a noise!" he whispered, as if there were a great +mystery within. "I'll show you something very precious." + +Mrs. Lanman followed, smiling, as Jack led Vinnie to a crib, lifted a +light veil, and discovered a lovely little cherub of a child, just +opening its soft blue eyes, and stretching out its little rosy hands, +still dewy with sleep. + +"O how sweet!" said Vinnie, thrilled with love and tenderness at the +sight. + +"She has a smile for you, see!" said the pleased young mother. + +Of course Vinnie had never seen so pretty a baby, such heavenly eyes, or +such cunning little hands. + +"The hands are little," said Jack, in a voice which had an unaccustomed +tremor in it; "but they are stronger than a giant's; they have hold of +all our heart-strings." + +"I never knew a boy so fond of a baby as Jack is," said Annie. + +"O, but I shouldn't be so fond of any other baby!" Jack replied, bending +down to give the little thing a fond caress. + +As they went out to tea, there was a happy light on all their faces, as +if some new, deep note of harmony had just been struck in their hearts. + +At tea Vinnie made the acquaintance of Annie's brother and husband, and +Jack's friends, Mr. Forrest Felton and Mr. Percy Lanman, and--so +pleasant and genial were their ways--felt at home in their presence at +once. This was a great relief to her; for she felt very diffident at +meeting men whom she had heard Jack praise so highly. + +Any one could see that Vinnie was not accustomed to what is called +society; but her native manners were so simple and sincere, and there +was such an air of fresh, young, joyous, healthy life about her, that +she produced an effect upon beholders which the most artificially +refined young lady might have envied. + +Jack watched her and Annie a good deal slyly; and there was in his +expression a curious mixture of pride and anxiety, as if he were trying +to look at each with the other's eyes, and thinking how they must like +each other, yet having some fears lest they might not see all he saw to +admire. + +Vinnie was made to talk a good deal of her journey; and she told the +story with so much simplicity, speaking with unfeigned gratitude and +affection of the friendships she had made, and touching with quiet +mirthfulness upon the droll events, as if she hardly knew herself that +they were droll, that all--and especially Jack--were charmed. + +But she had not the least idea of "showing off." Indeed, she thought +scarcely at all of what others thought of her; but said often to +herself, "What a beautiful home Jack has, and what pleasant +companions!" + +After tea she must see more of the baby; then Jack wanted to show her +the greenhouses and the nurseries; and then all settled down to a social +evening. + +"Vinnie is pretty tired," said Jack, "and I think a little music will +please her better than anything else." + +And so a little concert was got up for her entertainment. + +Forrest Felton was a fine performer on the flute; Mr. Lanman played the +violin, and his wife the piano; and they discoursed some excellent +music. Then, still better, there was singing. The deep-chested Forrest +had a superb bass voice; Lanman a fine tenor; Annie's voice was light, +but exceedingly sweet and expressive; and they sang several pieces +together, to her own accompaniment on the piano. Then Lanman said,-- + +"Now it is your turn, Jack." + +"But you know," replied Jack, "I never play or sing for anybody, when +your wife or Forrest is present." + +"True; but you can dance." + +"O yes! a dance, Jack!" cried Annie. + +Vinnie clapped her hands. "Has Jack told you," she said, "how, on the +steamboat going from Albany to New York, after they had had their +pockets picked, he and George Greenwood collected a little +money,--George playing the flute and Jack dancing, for the amusement of +the passengers?" + +Jack laughed, and looked at his shoes. + +"Well, come to the kitchen, where there's no carpet on the floor, and +I'll give you what I call the 'Canal Driver's Hornpipe.' Bring your +flute, Forrest." + +So they went to the kitchen; and all stood, while Jack, with wild grace +of attitude and wonderful ease and precision of movement, performed one +of his most difficult and spirited dances. + +When it was ended, in the midst of the laughter and applause, he caught +up a hat, and gayly passed it around for pennies. But while the men were +feeling in their pockets, he appeared suddenly to remember where he was. + +"Beg pardon," he cried, sailing his hat into a corner, and whirling on +his heel,--"I forgot myself; I thought I was on the deck of the +steamboat!" + +This closed the evening's entertainment. + +When Vinnie, retiring to her room, laid her head on the pillow, she +thought of the night before and of this night, and asked her heart if it +could ever again know two evenings so purely happy. + +Then a great wave of anxiety swept over her mind, as she thought of the +other home, to which she must hasten on the morrow. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +VINNIE'S FUTURE HOME. + + +A lively sensation was produced, the next forenoon, when a youth and a +girl, in a one-horse wagon, with a big dog and a small trunk, arrived at +Lord Betterson's "castle." + +Link dashed into the house, screaming, "They've come! they've come!" + +"Who has come?" gasped poor Mrs. Betterson, with a start of alarm, +glancing her eye about the disordered room. + +"Jack What's-his-name! the fellow that shot the deer and lost his horse. +It's Aunt Lavinny with him, I bet!" + +And out the boy rushed again, to greet the new-comers. + +Lill, who was once more washing dishes at the table, stepped down from +her stool, and ran out too, drying her fingers on her apron by the way. +Five-year-old Chokie got up from his holes in the earth by the doorstep, +and stood with dangling hands and sprawling fingers, grinning, +dirty-faced. + +Vinnie, springing to the ground with Jack's help, at the side door +caught Lill in her arms, and gave her an ardent kiss. + +"I have heard of you!" she said; for she had recognized the bright, +wistful face. + +"Dear auntie!" said the child, with tears and smiles of joy, "I'm so +glad you've come!" + +"Here is Link--my friend Link," said Jack. "Don't overlook him." + +"I've heard a good deal about you too, Link!" said Vinnie, embracing him +also, but not quite so impulsively. + +"Ye needn't mind kissing me!" said Link, bashfully turning his face. +"And as for him,"--as she passed on to the five-year-old,--"that's +Chokie; he's a reg'lar prairie gopher for digging holes; you won't find +a spot on him big as a sixpence clean enough to kiss, I bet ye two +million dollars!" + +[Illustration: LINK DOESN'T CARE TO BE KISSED.] + +Vinnie did not accept the wager, convinced, probably, that she would +lose it if she did. As she bent over the child, however, the report of a +kiss was heard,--a sort of shot in the air, not designed to come very +near the mark. + +"I'm didding a well," said Chokie, in a solemn voice, "so the boys won't +have to go to the spring for water." + +Mrs. Betterson tottered to the door, convulsively wrapping her red shawl +about her. + +"Lavinia! Is it sister Lavinia?" + +At sight of her, so pale and feeble, Vinnie was much affected. She could +hardly speak; but, supporting the emaciated form in her strong, +embracing arms, she led her back into the house. + +"You are so good to come!" said Mrs. Betterson, weeping, as she sank in +her chair. "I am worse than when I wrote to you; and the baby is no +better; and Cecie--poor Cecie! though she can sit up but little, she +does more than any of us for the sick little thing." + +Vinnie turned to the lounge, where Cecie, with the baby in her arms, lay +smiling with bright, moist eyes upon the new-comer. She bent over and +kissed them both; and, at sight of the puny infant,--so pitiful a +contrast to Mrs. Lanman's fair and healthy child,--she felt her heart +contract with grief and her eyes fill. + +Then, as she turned away with an effort at self-control, and looked +about the room, she must have noticed, too, the painful contrast between +Jack's home and this, which was to be hers; and have felt a sinking of +the heart, which it required all her strength and courage to overcome. + +"We are not looking fit to be seen; I know it, Lavinia!" sighed Mrs. +Betterson. "But you'll excuse it--you've already excused so many things +in the past! It seems a dreadful, unnatural thing for _our_ family to be +so--so very--yet don't think we are absolutely reduced, Lavinia. Mr. +Betterson's connections, as everybody knows, are very wealthy and +aristocratic, and they are sure to do something for him soon. This is my +husband, sister Lavinia." And, with a faint simper of satisfaction, she +looked up at a person who just then entered from an adjoining room. + +He was a tall, well-made man, who looked (Vinnie could not help +thinking) quite capable of doing something for himself. He might have +been called fine-looking, but that his fine looks, like his gentility, +of which he made a faded show in his dress and manners, appeared to have +gone somewhat to seed. He greeted Vinnie with polite condescension, said +a few commonplace words, settled his dignified chin in his limp dicky, +which was supported by a high, tight stock (much frayed about the +edges), and went on out of the house. + +"Now you have seen him!" whispered Mrs. Betterson, as if it had been a +great event in Vinnie's life. "Very handsome, and perfectly well-bred, +as you observe. Not at all the kind of man to be neglected by his +family, aristocratic as they are; do you think he is? Yes, my dear +Lavinia," she added, with a sickly smile, "you have seen a real, live +Betterson!" + +These evidences of a foolish pride surviving affliction made poor Vinnie +more heartsick than anything else; and for a moment the brave girl was +almost overcome with discouragement. + +In the meanwhile the real, live Betterson walked out into the yard, +where Jack--who had not cared to follow Vinnie into the house--was +talking with Link. + +"Will you walk in, sir?" And the stately Betterson neck bent slightly in +its stiff stock. + +"No, I thank you," replied Jack. "But I suppose this trunk goes in." + +"Ah! to be sure. Lincoln,"--with a wave of the aristocratic Betterson +hand,--"show the young man where to put the trunk. He can take it to +Cecie's room." + +"I can, can I? That's a privilege!" thought Jack. He was perfectly +willing to be a porter, or anything else, in a good cause; and it was a +delight for him to do Vinnie a service; but why did the noble Betterson +stand there and give directions about the trunk, in that pompous way, +instead of taking hold of one end of it? Jack, who had a lively spirit, +and a tongue of his own, was prompted to say something sarcastic, but he +wisely forbore. + +"I'll place it here for the present," he said, and set the trunk down by +the doorstep. He thought it would be better for him to see Vinnie and +bid her good-by a little later, after the meeting between the sisters +should be well over; so he turned to Link, and asked where his big +brothers were. + +"I d'n' know," said Link; "guess they're down in the lot hunting prairie +hens." + +"Let's go and find 'em," said Jack. + +Both Link and Lion were delighted with this proposal, and they set off +in high glee, boy and dog capering at each side of the more steady-going +Jack. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +WHY JACK DID NOT FIRE AT THE PRAIRIE CHICKEN. + + +"A well?" said Jack, as they passed a curb behind the house. "I thought +you had to go to the spring for water." + +"So we do," said Link. + +"Why don't you use the well?" + +"I d'n' know; 't ain't good for anything. 'T ain't deep enough." + +"Why wasn't it dug deeper?" + +"I d'n' know; father got out of patience, I guess, or out of money. 'T +was a wet time, and the water came into it, so they stunned it up; and +now it's dry all summer." + +They passed a field on the sunny slope, and Jack said, "What's here?" + +"I d'n' know; _'t was_ potatoes, but it's run all to weeds." + +"Why didn't you hoe them?" + +"I d'n' know; folks kind o' neglected 'em, till 't was too late." + +Beyond the potatoes was another crop, which the weeds, tall as they +were, could not hide. + +"Corn?" said Jack. + +"Meant for corn," replied Link. "But the cattle and hogs have been in +it, and trampled down the rows." + +"I should think so! They look like the last rows of summer!" Jack said. +"Why don't you keep the cattle and hogs out?" + +"I d'n' know; 't ain't much of a fence; hogs run under and cattle jump +over." + +"Plenty of timber close by,--why don't your folks make a better fence?" + +"I d'n' know; they don't seem to take a notion." + +Jack noticed that the river was quite near, and asked if there was good +boating. + +"I d'n' know,--pretty good, only when the water's too low." + +"Do you keep a boat?" + +"Not exactly,--we never had one of our own," said Link. "But one came +floating down the river, and the boys nabbed that. A fust-rate boat, +only it leaked like a sieve." + +"Leaked? Doesn't it leak now?" + +"No?" said Link, stoutly. "They hauled it up, and last winter they +worked on it, odd spells, and now it don't leak a drop." + +Jack was surprised to hear of so much enterprise in the Betterson +family, and asked,-- + +"Stopped all the leaks in the old boat! They puttied and painted it, I +suppose?" + +"No, they didn't." + +"Calked and pitched it, then?" + +"No, they didn't." + +"What did they do to it?" + +"Made kindling-wood of it," said Link, laughing, and hitching up his one +suspender. + +Jack laughed too, and changed the subject. + +"Is that one of your brothers with a gun?" + +"That's Wad; Rufe is down on the grass." + +"What sort of a crop is that,--buckwheat?" + +Link grinned. "There's something funny about that! Ye see, a +buckwheat-lot is a great place for prairie hens. So one day I took the +old gun, and the powder and shot you gave me for carrying you home that +night, and went in, and scared up five or six, and fired at 'em, but I +didn't hit any. Wad came along and yelled at me. 'Don't you know any +better 'n to be trampling down the buckwheat?' says he. 'Out of there, +quicker!' And he took the gun away from me. But he'd seen one of the +hens I started light again on the edge of the buckwheat; so he went in +to find her. 'You're trampling the buckwheat yourself!' says I. 'No, I +ain't,' says he,--'I step between the spears; and I'm coming out in a +minute.' He stayed in, though, about an hour, and went all over the +patch, and shot two prairie chickens. Then Rufe came along, and he was +mad enough, 'cause Wad was treading down the buckwheat. 'Come out of +that!' says he, 'or I'll go in after ye, and put that gun where you +won't see it again.' So Wad came out; and the sight of his chickens made +Rufe's eyes shine. 'Did ye shoot _them_ in the buckwheat?' says he. +'Yes,' says Wad; 'and I could shoot plenty more; the patch is full of +'em.' Rufe said he wanted the gun to go and shoot ducks with, on the +river; but he didn't find any ducks, and coming along back he thought he +would try _his_ luck in the buckwheat,--treading between the spears! He +had shot three prairie chickens, when father came along, and scolded +him, and made him come out. 'I've heard you fire twenty times,' says +father; 'you're wasting powder and ruining the crop. Let _me_ take the +gun.' 'But _you_ mustn't ruin the crop,' says Rufe. Father's a splendid +shot,--can drop a bird every time,--only he don't like to go hunting +very often. He thought 't would pay for _him_ to go through the patch +_once_; besides, he said, if the birds were getting the buckwheat, we +might as well get the birds. He thought _he_ could tread between the +spears! Well, since then," said Link, "we've just made a hunting-ground +of that patch, always treading between the spears till lately; now it's +got so trampled it never'll pay to cut it; so we just put it through. +See that hen!" + +There was a sound of whirring wings,--a flash, a loud report, a curl of +smoke,--a broken-winged grouse shooting down aslant into the buckwheat, +and a young hunter running to the spot. + +"That's the way he does it," said Rufe, getting up from the grass. + +He greeted Jack good-naturedly, inquired about Snowfoot, heard with +surprise of Vinnie's arrival, and finally asked if Jack would like to +try his hand at a shot. + +"I should," replied Jack, "if it wasn't for treading down your +buckwheat." + +"That's past caring for," said Rufe, with a laugh. "Here, Wad, bring us +the gun." + +"Is that your land the other side of the fence?" Jack asked. + +"That lot belongs to old Peakslow," said Rufe, speaking the name with +great contempt. "And he pretends to claim a big strip this side too. +That's what caused the feud between our families." + +"He hates you pretty well, I should judge," replied Jack; and he told +the story, as Vinnie had told it to him, of her encounter with Peakslow +on the deck of the schooner. + +"He's the ugliest man!" Rufe declared, reddening angrily. "You may thank +your stars you've nothing to do with him. Now take the gun,"--Wad had by +this time brought it,--"go through to the fence and back, and be ready +to fire the moment a bird rises. Keep your dog back, and look out and +not hit one of Peakslow's horses, the other side of the fence." + +"He brought home a new horse from Chicago a day or two ago," said Wad; +"and he's just been out there looking at him and feeling for ringbones. +If he's with him now, and if you _should_ happen to shoot _one_ of 'em, +I hope it won't be the horse!" + +Jack laughed, and started to go through the buckwheat. He had got about +half-way, when a hen rose a few feet from him, at his right. He was not +much accustomed to shooting on the wing; and it is much harder to hit +birds rising suddenly, at random, in that way, than when they are +started by a trained dog. But good luck made up for what he lacked in +skill; and at his fire the hen dropped fluttering in the grass that +bordered the buckwheat. + +[Illustration: SHOT ON THE WING.] + +"I'll pick her up!" cried Link; and he ran to do so; while Wad carried +Jack the powder and shot for another load. + +"But I ought not to use up your ammunition in this way!" Jack protested. + +"I guess you can afford to," replied Wad. "It was mostly bought with +money we sold that fawn-skin for." + +Jack was willing enough to try another shot; and, the piece reloaded, he +resumed his tramp. + +He had nearly reached the fence, when a bird rose between it and him, +and flew over Peakslow's pasture. Jack had brought the gun to his +shoulder, and was about to pull the trigger, when he remembered +Peakslow's horses, and stopped to give a hasty glance over the fence. + +Down went the gun, and Jack stood astonished, the bird forgotten, and +his eyes fixed on an object beyond. + +What Wad said of their neighbor having brought out a new horse from +Chicago, together with what the captain of the Heron said of one of +Peakslow's span being a light roan, rushed through his thoughts. He ran +up to the fence, and looked eagerly over; then gave a shout of joy. + +After all his futile efforts to find him,--chasing about the country, +offering rewards, scattering hand-bills,--there was the lost horse, the +veritable Snowfoot, grazing quietly in the amiable Mr. Peakslow's +pasture! + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +SNOWFOOT'S NEW OWNER. + + +Jack left the gun standing by the fence, leaped over, gave a familiar +whistle, and called, "Come, Snowfoot! Co' jock! co' jock!" + +There were two horses feeding in the pasture, not far apart. But only +one heeded the call, lifted head, pricked up ears, and answered with a +whinny. It was the lost Snowfoot, giving unmistakable signs of pleasure +and recognition, as he advanced to meet his young master. + +Jack threw his arms about the neck of his favorite, and hugged and +patted and I don't know but kissed him; while the Betterson boys went up +to the fence and looked wonderingly over. + +In a little while, as they did not venture to go to him, Jack led +Snowfoot by the forelock up to the rails, which they had climbed for a +better view. + +"Is he your horse?" they kept calling to him. + +"Don't you see?" replied Jack, when he had come near enough to show the +white feet and the scars; and his face gleamed with glad excitement. +"Look! he and the dog know each other!" + +It was not a Betterson, but a Peakslow style of fence, and Lion could +not leap it; but the two animals touched noses, with tokens of friendly +recognition, between the rails. + +"I never expected such luck!" said Jack. "I've not only found my horse, +but I've saved the reward offered." + +"You haven't got him yet," said Rufe. "I guess Peakslow will have +something to say about that." + +"What he says won't make much difference. I've only to prove property, +and take possession. A stolen horse is the owner's, wherever he finds +him. But of course I'll act in a fair and open way in the matter; I'll +go and talk with Peakslow, and if he's a reasonable man--" + +"Reasonable!" interrupted Wad. "He holds a sixpence so near to his eye, +that it looks bigger to him than all the rest of the world; he can't see +reason, nor anything else." + +"I'll make him see it. Will you go and introduce me?" + +"You'd better not have one of our family introduce you, if you want to +get anything out of Dud Peakslow!" said Rufe. "We'll wait here." + +Jack got over the fence, and walked quickly along on the Betterson side +of it, followed by Lion, until he reached the road. A little farther +down was a house; behind the house was a yard; and in the yard was a +swarthy man with a high, hooked nose, pulling a wheel off a wagon, the +axletree of which, on that side, was supported by a propped rail. Close +by was a boy stirring some grease in a pot, with a long stick. + +Jack waited until the man had got the wheel off and rested it against +the wagon; then said,-- + +"Is this Mr. Peakslow?" + +"That happens to be my name," replied the man, scarcely giving his +visitor a glance, as he turned to take the stick out of the grease, and +to rub it on the axletree. + +The boy, on one knee in the dirt, holding the grease-pot to catch the +drippings, looked up and grinned at Jack. + +"I should like a few minutes' talk with you, Mr. Peakslow, when you are +at leisure," said Jack, hardly knowing how to introduce his business. + +"I'm at leisure now, much as I shall be to-day," said Mr. Peakslow with +the air of a man who did not let words interfere with work. "I've got to +grease this wagon, and then harness up and go to haulin'. I haven't had +a hoss that would pull his share of a decent load till now. Tend to what +you're about, Zeph!" + +"I have called to say," remarked Jack as calmly as he could, though his +heart was beating fast, "that there is a horse in your pasture which +belongs to me." + +The man straightened his bent back, and looked blackly at the speaker, +while the grease dripped from the end of the stick. + +"A hoss in my pastur' that belongs to you! What do ye mean by that?" + +"Perhaps you haven't seen this handbill?" And Jack took the printed +description of Snowfoot from his pocket, unfolded it, and handed it to +the astonished Peakslow. + +[Illustration: THE AMIABLE MR. PEAKSLOW.] + +"'Twenty dollars reward,'" he read. "'Stolen from the owner--a light, +reddish roan hoss--white forefeet--scar low down on the near side, jest +behind the shoulder--smaller scar on the off hip.' What's the meanin' of +all this?" he said, glancing at Jack. + +"Isn't it plain enough?" replied Jack, quietly standing his ground. +"That is the description of the stolen horse; the horse is down in your +pasture." + +"Do you mean to say _I_'ve stole your hoss?" demanded Peakslow, his +voice trembling with passion. + +"Not by any means. He may have passed through a dozen hands since the +thief had him. All I know is, he is in your possession now." + +"And what if he is?" + +"Why, naturally a man likes to have what is his own, doesn't he? Suppose +a man steals your horse; you find him after a while in my stable; is he +your horse, or mine?" + +"But how do I know but this is a conspyracy to cheat me out of a hoss?" +retorted Peakslow, looking again at the handbill, with a terrible frown. +"It may have all been cut and dried aforehand. You've your trap sot, +and, soon as ever the animal is in my hands, ye spring it. How do I know +the hoss is yourn, even if ye have got a description of him? Anybody can +make a description of anybody's hoss, and then go and claim him. +Besides, how happens it a boy like you owns a hoss, anyway?" + +In a few words Jack told his story, accounting at once for his +ownership, and for the scars on the horse's side and hip. + +"There are two other scars I can show you, under his belly. I didn't +mention them in the handbill, because they are not noticeable, unless +one is looking for them." + +"Ye may show me scars all over him, fur's I know," was Peakslow's reply +to this argument. "That may prove that he's been hurt by suth'n or +other,--elephant, or not; but it don't prove you ever owned him." + +"I can satisfy you with regard to that," said Jack, confidently. "Do you +object to going down with me and looking at him?" + +"Not in the least, only wait till I git this wheel on. Ye may go and +_see_ the hoss in my presence, but ye can't _take_ the hoss, without I'm +satisfied you've the best right to him." + +"That's all I ask, Mr. Peakslow; I want only what belongs to me. If you +are a loser, you must look for redress to the man who sold you my +property; and he must go back on the next man." + +"How's that?" put in Zeph, grinning over his grease-pot. "Pa thinks he's +got a good deal better hoss than he put away; and you ain't agoin' to +crowd him out of a good bargain, I bet!" + +"Hold your tongue!" growled Peakslow. "I can fight my own battles, +without any of your tongue. I put away a pooty good hoss, and I gin +fifteen dollars to boot." + +"What man did you trade with?" Jack inquired. + +"A truckman in Chicago. He liked my hoss, and I liked hisn, and we +swapped. He wanted twenty dollars, I offered him ten, and we split the +difference. He won't want to give me back my hoss and my money, now; and +ye can't blame him. And the next man won't want to satisfy _him_. Grant +the hoss is stole, for the sake of the argyment," said Peakslow. "I +maintain that when an animal that's been stole, and sold, and traded, +finally gits into an honest man's hands, it's right he should stay +there." + +"Even if it's your horse, and the honest man who gets him is your +neighbor?" queried Jack. + +"I do'no'--wal--yes!" said Peakslow. "It's a hard case, but no harder +one way than t' other." + +"But the law looks at it in only one way," replied Jack. "And with +reason. Men must be careful how they deal with thieves or get hold of +stolen property. How happens it that you, Mr. Peakslow, didn't know that +such a horse had been stolen? Some of your neighbors knew it very well." + +"Some of my neighbors I don't have nothin' to say to," answered +Peakslow, gruffly. "If you mean the Bettersons, they're a pack of +thieves and robbers themselves, and I don't swap words with none of 'em, +without 't is to tell 'em my mind; that I do, when I have a chance." + +"You use pretty strong language when you call them thieves and robbers, +Mr. Peakslow." + +"Strong or not, it's the truth. Hain't they cheated me out o' the best +part of my farm?" + +"The Bettersons--cheated you!" exclaimed Jack. + +They were now on the way to the pasture; and Peakslow, in a sort of +lurid excitement, pointed to the boundary fence. + +"My line, by right, runs five or six rod t' other side. I took up my +claim here, and Betterson bought hisn, 'fore ever the guv'ment survey +run through. That survey fixed my line 'way over yender in their +cornfield. And there I claim it belongs, to this day." + +"But, Mr. Peakslow, how does it happen that a man like Mr. Betterson has +been able to rob a man like _you_,--take a part of your farm before your +very eyes? He is a rather slack, easy man; while you, if I'm not greatly +mistaken, are in the habit of standing up for your rights." + +"I can gin'ly look out for myself," said Peakslow. "And don't suppose +that Lord Betterson took me down and put his hands in my pockets, +alone." + +"Nine men, with masks on," cried Zeph, "come to our house one night, and +told pa they'd jest tear his ruf right down over his head, and drive him +out of the county, if he didn't sign a deed givin' Betterson that land." + +"Hold your yawp, Zeph!" muttered Peakslow. "I can tell my own story. +There was nine of 'em, all armed, and what could I do?" + +"This is a most extraordinary story!" exclaimed Jack. "Did you sign the +deed?" + +"I couldn't help myself," said Peakslow. + +"It seems to me I _would_ have helped myself, if the land was +rightfully mine!" cried Jack. "They _might_ tear my house down,--they +_might_ try to drive me out of the county,--I don't believe I would deed +away my land, just because they threatened me, and I was afraid." + +"It's easy to talk that way," Peakslow replied. "But, come case in +hand,--the loaded muzzles in your face,--you'd change your mind." + +"Didn't they pay for the land they took?" + +"Barely nothin'; jest the guv'ment price; dollar 'n' a quarter an acre. +But jest look at that land to-day,--the best in the State,--wuth twenty +dollars an acre, if 't is a cent." + +"What was Betterson's claim?" Jack asked; "for men don't often do such +things without some sort of excuse." + +"They hild that though the survey gin me the land, it was some Betterson +had supposed belonged to his purchase. Meanwhile he had j'ined a +land-claim society, where the members all agreed to stand by one +another; and that was the reason o' their takin' sich high-handed +measures with me." + +Jack was inclined to cross-question Peakslow, and sift a little this +astonishing charge against Betterson and the land-claim society. But +they had now reached the pasture bars, and the question relating to the +ownership of the horse was to be settled. + +The Betterson boys were still sitting on the fence, where Jack had left +them; but Snowfoot had returned to his grazing. + +"Call him," said Jack. "If he doesn't come for you, then see if he will +come for me." + +Peakslow grumblingly declined the test. + +"He doesn't always come when I call him," said Jack. "I'll show you what +I do then. Here, Lion!" + +He took from his pocket an ear of corn he had picked by the way, placed +one end of it between the dog's jaws, saying, "Bring Snowfoot, Lion! +bring Snowfoot!" and let him through the bars. + +Lion trotted into the pasture, trotted straight up to the right horse, +coaxed and coquetted with him for a minute, and then trotted back. +Snowfoot followed, leering and nipping, and trying to get the ear of +corn. + +Lion brought the ear to Jack, and Jack gave it to Snowfoot, taking him +at the same time by the forelock. + +"What do you think of that?" he said, looking round in triumph at +Peakslow. + +"I don't see as it's anything to make sich a fuss over," said Peakslow, +looking angrily across at the spectators on the boundary fence, as they +cheered the success of the man[oe]uvre. "It shows you've larnt your dog +tricks,--nothin' more. 'Most any hoss would foller an ear of corn that +way." + +"Why didn't your hoss follow it?" + +"The dog didn't go for my hoss." + +"Why didn't he go for your horse, as soon as for mine?" urged Jack. + +To which Peakslow could only reply,-- + +"Ye needn't let down the top bar; ye can't take that hoss through! I +traded for him, and paid boot, and you've got to bring better evidence +than your say-so, or a dog's trick, 'fore I give up my claim." + +"I'll bring you evidence," said Jack, turning away in no little +impatience and disgust. + +He hastened back to Mr. Betterson's house, and was met by the boys as he +came into the yard. + +"What did I tell you?" said Rufe. "Couldn't get him, could you?" + +"No, but I will!" replied Jack, untying the horse, which he had left +hitched to an oak-tree. "I'm going for a witness." He backed the wagon +around. "Get in, if you like,"--to Rufus. + +Rufus did like; and the two rode off together, to the great +dissatisfaction of Wad and Link, who also wanted to go and see the fun. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +GOING FOR A WITNESS. + + +"Did Peakslow say anything to you about our folks?" Rufe asked. + +"I rather think he did!" said Jack; and he repeated the story of the +land robbery. + +Rufe showed his contempt for it by a scornful laugh. "I'll tell you just +what there is in it; and it will show you the sort of man you have to +deal with. We haven't an inch of his land. Do you think father is a man +to crowd a neighbor?" + +"And a neighbor like Peakslow! That's just what I told him," said Jack. + +"You see," said Rufe, "these claims through here were all taken up +before the government survey. Most of the settlers were decent men; and +they knew that when the survey came to be made, there would be trouble +about the boundaries, if they didn't take measures beforehand to prevent +it. So they formed a society to protect each other against squatters and +claim-jumpers, and particularly to settle disputed boundary questions +between themselves. They all signed a paper, agreeing to 'deed and +redeed,'--that is, if your land adjoined mine, and the government survey +didn't correspond with our lines, but gave you, for instance, a part of +the land I had improved, then you agreed to redeed that part to me, for +the government price; just as I agreed to redeed to my neighbors what +the survey might give me of their claims." + +"I understand," said Jack. + +"Well, father and almost everybody in the county joined the society; but +there were some who didn't. Peakslow was one." + +"What were his objections?" + +"He couldn't give any good ones. All he would say was, 'I'll see; I'll +think about it.' He was just waiting to see if there was any advantage +to be gained over his neighbors by _not_ joining with them. Finally, the +survey came through; and the men run what they called a 'random line,' +which everybody thought, at first, was the true line. According to that, +the survey would have given us a big strip of Peakslow's farm, including +his house and barn. That frightened him. He came over, and shook his +fist in father's face, and threatened I don't know what, if he took the +land. + +"'You really think I ought to redeed to you all your side of our old +line?' says father. + +"'Of course I do!' says Peakslow. 'It's mine; you never claimed it; and +I'll shoot the fust man who sets foot on 't, to take it away from me.' + +"'Then,' says father, 'why don't you join the society, and sign the +agreement to redeed, with the rest of us? That will save trouble.' + +"So Peakslow rushed off in a fearful hurry, and put his name to the +paper. Then--what do you think? The surveyors, in a few days, run the +correct line, and that gave Peakslow a strip of _our_ farm." + +"Capital!" laughed Jack. + +"It wasn't capital for us! He was then, if you will believe it, more +excited than when the boot seemed to be on the other leg. He vowed that +the random line was a mere pretence to get him to sign the agreement; +that it was all a fraud, which he never would submit to; that he +wouldn't redeed, but that he would have what the survey gave him. That's +the kind of man he is," added Rufus. + +"But he did redeed?" + +"Yes, in some such way as he told you. The dispute came before the +society for arbitration, and of course the decision was in father's +favor. But Peakslow still held out, and talked of shooting and all that +sort of thing, till the society got tired of his nonsense. So, one +night, nine men did give him a call; they had called on a claim-jumper +down the river a few nights before, and made kindling-wood of his +shanty; Peakslow knew it, and knew they were not men to be trifled with. +They told him that if he expected to live in the county, he must sign +the deed. And he signed it. My father wasn't one of the men, but +Peakslow turned all his spite against him." + +"He imagines he has been wronged," said Jack. + +"I suppose so, for he is one of that kind who never can see any side to +a quarrel but their own. The land is growing more valuable every year; +he covets it accordingly, and so the ferment in his mind is kept up. Of +course," Rufe confessed, "we have done, or neglected to do, a good many +things which have kept adding fuel to the fire; for it's impossible to +live peaceably alongside of such a selfish, passionate, unreasonable +neighbor. We boys have taken up the quarrel, and now I owe that Zeph a +cudgelling, for hurting Cecie." + +"How did he hurt her?" + +"We had a swing up in the woods. The Peakslows are always interfering in +our affairs, and, one day, when Link and the girls went to swing, they +found a couple of little Peakslows there. Link drove 'em away, and they +went off bellowing to their big brothers. In a little while Zeph came +along, when Cecie happened to be in the swing; and he pushed her so hard +that she fell out." + +"I shouldn't think cudgelling him would give you much satisfaction," +said Jack. "It was a dreadful thing to happen! But did he intend it?" + +"I don't think he is sorry for it. Father went to see Mr. Peakslow about +it; but he got nothing but abuse from him. What do you think he said? +'The swing,' says he, 'is on a part of the land you robbed me of; if you +had gin me what the guv'ment survey did, then your children wouldn't +have been there, and the thing wouldn't have occurred.' That is the man +who has got your horse." + +Meanwhile, they had driven past Peakslow's house, proceeding down the +river road; and now once more Jack reined up before old Wiggett's cabin. + +At the sight of the wagon approaching three or four half-naked little +barbarians ran into the house, like wild creatures into their hole, +giving an alarm which brought out old Wiggett himself, stooping through +the low doorway. + +"Mr. Wiggett, do you remember me?" said Jack. + +"Wal, I reckon!" said the old man, advancing to the wagon, reaching up, +and giving Jack's hand a hearty shake. "You're the young chap that found +my section corner." + +"And do you remember my horse?" + +"I 'low I oughter; for your elephant story, and the scars you showed me, +was drea'ful curi's. I heard the hoss was stole." + +"He _was_ stolen. But I have found him; and I want you to go with me and +identify him, if you will be so good. Mr. Peakslow has him." + +"Peakslow?" said the old man, with a dubious shake of the head. "It's +nigh about the easiest thing in the world to git into trouble with Dud +Peakslow. I gener'ly go my way, and let Peakslow go hisn, and waste few +words on him. But I don't mind gwine with ye, if ye say so. How did +Peakslow come by him?" + +Jack told the story, whilst driving back to Peakslow's house. There he +left Rufus in the wagon, and walked on with Mr. Wiggett into the +barnyard. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +PEAKSLOW GETS A QUIRK IN HIS HEAD. + + +Peakslow had finished greasing his wheels, and was about harnessing a +pair of horses which Zeph held by their halters at the door of a +log-stable. One of the horses was Snowfoot. + +"Please wait a minute, Mr. Peakslow," said Jack, turning pale at the +sight. "I've brought a witness to prove my property." + +Peakslow looked at his neighbor Wiggett, and gave a grunt. + +"So you've come to interfere in this business, hey?" + +Mr. Wiggett made no reply, but walked up to Snowfoot, stroked his sides, +examined the scars, looked at him before and behind, and nodded slowly +several times. Then he spoke. + +"I hain't come over to interfere in nobody's business, Mr. Peakslow. But +I happen to know this yer young man; and I know this yer hoss. At his +request, I've come over to say so. I could pick out that animal, and +sw'ar to him, among ten thousan'." + +"What can you swear to?" Peakslow demanded, poising a harness. + +"I can sw'ar this is the hoss the young man druv the day he come over to +find my section corner." + +"That all?" + +"Isn't that enough?" said Jack. + +"No!" said Peakslow, and threw the rattling harness upon Snowfoot's +back. "It don't prove the hoss belonged to you, if ye did drive him. +And, even though he did belong to you, it don't prove but what ye sold +him arterward, and then pretended he was stole, to cheat some honest man +out of his prop'ty. Hurry up, boy! buckle them hames." And he went to +throw on the other harness. + +Jack stepped in Zeph's way. "This is my horse, and I've a word to say +about buckling those hames." + +"Ye mean to hender my work?" roared Peakslow, turning upon him. "Ye mean +to git me mad?" + +Jack had before been hardly able to speak, for his rising wrath and +beating heart; but he was now getting control of himself. + +"I don't see the need of anybody's getting mad, Mr. Peakslow. There's a +right and a wrong in this case; and if we both want the right, we shall +agree." + +"Every man has his own way o' lookin' at the right," said Peakslow, +slightly mollified. "The right, to your notion, is that I shall give ye +up the hoss. I've got possession of the hoss, and I mean to keep +possession; and that's what's about right, to my notion." + +"I want only what is lawfully my own," Jack answered, firmly. "If you +want what isn't yours, that's _not_ right, but wrong. There's such a +thing as justice, aside from our personal interest in a matter." + +Probably Peakslow had never thought of that. + +"Wal, what ye goin' to do about it?" he asked. + +"I am going to have my horse," replied Jack. "If you let me take him +peaceably, very well. If you compel me to go to law, I shall have him +all the same, and you will have the costs to pay." + +Peakslow winced. The threat of costs touched him in his tenderest spot. + +"How's that?" he anxiously asked. + +"I haven't been about the country looking for my horse, without knowing +something of the law for the recovery of stolen property," replied Jack. +"If I find him in your hands, and you give him up, I've no action +against you. If you hold on to him, I can do one of two things. I can go +to a magistrate, and by giving bonds to an amount that will cover all +damages to you or anybody else if I fail to make good my claim, get out +a _writ of replevin_, and send a sheriff with it to take the horse. Or I +can let you keep him, and sue you for damages. In either case, the one +who is beaten will have the costs to pay," Jack insisted, turning the +screw again where he saw it pinch. + +The swarthy brow was covered with perspiration, as Peakslow answered, +making a show of bluster,-- + +"I can fight ye with the law, or any other way, 's long's you want to +fight. I've got money. Ye can't scare me with your sheriffs and writs. +But jest look at it. I'm to be throwed out of a hoss at a busy time o' +year. _You_ wouldn't like that, Mr. Wiggett--you nor nobody else." + +"No," said Mr. Wiggett, who stood looking on in an impartial way, "it +moutn't feel good, I allow. And it don't seem like it would feel much +better, to have to stan' by and see a hoss that was stole from me, bein' +worked by a neighbor. This yer young man tells a straightfor'ard story, +and there's no doubt of its bein' his hoss. You've no doubt on't in your +own mind, Dudley Peakslow. If he goes to law, he'll bring his +proofs,--he's got friends to back him,--and you'll lose. Then why not +come to a right understanding and save right smart o' trouble and cost. +I 'low that'll be best for both." + +"Wal, what's your idee of a right understandin'?" said Peakslow, flushed +and troubled, turning to Jack. "_My_ hoss is in Chicago--that is, if +_this_ hoss ain't mine. I might go in and see about gittin' on him back, +but I don't want to spend the time, 'thout I can take in a little jag o' +stuff; and how can I do that, if you break up my team?" + +"Mr. Peakslow," replied Jack, quickly making up his mind what he would +do, "while I ask for my rights, I don't wish to put you or any man to an +inconvenience." He took Snowfoot by the bridle. "Here is my horse; and, +with Mr. Wiggett for a witness, I make you this offer: you may keep him +one week, and do any light work with him you please. You may drive him +to Chicago, and use him in recovering your horse from the truckman. But +mind, you are to be responsible for him, and bring him back with you. Is +that a fair proposal?" + +"Wal, I do'no' but what 't is; I'll think on 't." + +"I want you to say now, in Mr. Wiggett's presence, whether you accept +it." + +"I'll agree to bring him back; but I do'no' 'bout deliverin' on him up +to you," said Peakslow. + +"Leave it so, then," replied Jack, with a confident smile. "I call you +to witness, Mr. Wiggett, that the horse is in my possession now" (he +still held Snowfoot by the bridle), "and that I lend him to Mr. +Peakslow. Now you can buckle the hames, Zeph," letting go the bridle, +and stepping back. + +"Gi' me a copy o' that handbill," said Peakslow. "I shall want that, and +I ought to have a witness besides, to make the truckman hear to reason." + +"If he happens to be an unreasonable man," said Jack, with a smile, "you +have the same remedy which I have,--a suit for damages. I don't believe +he will wait for that. I'll see you in one week. Good-day, Mr. +Peakslow." + +"Looks like you was takin' a big resk, to let him drive the hoss to +Chicago," Mr. Wiggett remarked confidentially, following Jack out of the +yard. + +"I don't see that it is," Jack replied, wiping the sweat from his +forehead. "I didn't wish to be hard on him. It does men good, sometimes, +to trust them." + +"Mabbe. But Dud Peakslow ain't like no other man ye ever see. He's got +some quirk in his head, or he never'd have agreed to be responsible for +the hoss and bring him back; ye may bet on that. He means to take some +advantage. Now I'm interested in the case, and I shall hate to see you +swindled." + +Jack thanked the old man warmly; but he failed to see what advantage +Peakslow could hope to gain. + +"I know him a heap better 'n you dew," said Mr. Wiggett. "Now, it struck +me, when he said he might need a witness, I'd offer to go with him to +Chicago. I could help him with the truckman, and mabbe find out what new +trick he's up tew. Anyhow, I could look arter your hoss a little." + +"That would oblige me ever so much!" exclaimed Jack. "But I see no +reason why you should take that trouble for me." + +"I take a notion tew ye, in the fust place. Next place, I've been gwine +to Chicago for the past tew weeks, but couldn't somehow git started. +Now, banged if I won't go in with Peakslow!" + +Having parted with Jack, the old man returned to propose the arrangement +to his neighbor. He was just in time to hear Peakslow say to his son,-- + +"I see a twist in this matter 't he don't, shrewd as he thinks he is. If +I lose a good bargain, I'm bound to make it up 'fore ever this hoss goes +out of my hands. You ag'in, Wiggett?" + +It was Mr. Wiggett, who concluded that he was quite right in saying that +Peakslow had a quirk in his head. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +VINNIE MAKES A BEGINNING. + + +Vinnie learned only too soon why Jack had dreaded so much to have her +enter the Betterson household; and, in a momentary depression of +spirits, she asked herself whether, if she had known all she was +undertaking, she would not have shrunk from it. + +The sight of the sick ones, the mother enfeebled in mind as well as in +body, Lord Betterson pompous and complacent in the midst of so much +misery, little Lill alone making headway against a deluge of +disorder,--all this filled her with distress and dismay. + +She could think of no relief but in action. + +"I shall stifle," thought she, "unless I go to work at once, setting +things to rights." + +And the thought of helping others cheered herself. + +She needed something from her trunk. That was at the door, just where +Jack had left it. She went out, and found that Chokie had changed his +mind with regard to digging a well, and was building a pyramid, using +the door-yard sand for his material, a shingle for a shovel, and the +trunk for a foundation. + +"Why, Chokie!" she said; "what are you doing?" + +"I makin' a Fourth-of-Duly," replied Chokie, flourishing his shingle. +"After I dit it about twice as bid as the house, I doin' to put some +powder in it, and tout'th it off." + +"O dear!" said Vinnie; "I'm afraid you'll blow my trunk to pieces; and I +must have my trunk now!" + +"I doin' to blow it to pieces, and you tan't have it," cried Chokie, +stoutly. + +"But I've something for you in it," said Vinnie, "and we never can get +it for you, if you touch off your Fourth-of-July on it." + +"O, wal, you may dit it." And he began to shovel the sand off, throwing +it into his clothing, into the house, and some into Vinnie's eyes. + +Lord Betterson, who was walking leisurely about his castle, now came +forward, and, seeing Vinnie in some distress, inquired, in his lofty +way, if he could do anything for her. + +"If you please," she replied, laughing, as she brushed the sand away +from her eyes, "I should like to have this trunk carried in." + +Betterson drew himself up with dignified surprise; for he had not meant +to proffer any such menial service. Vinnie perceived the little mistake +she had made; but she was not so overpoweringly impressed by his +nobility as to think that an apology was due. She even permitted herself +to be amused; and, retiring behind the sand in her eyes, which she made +a great show of winking and laughing away, she waited to see what he +would do. + +He looked around, and coughed uncomfortably. + +"Where are the boys?" he asked. "This--hem--is very awkward. I don't +know why the trunk was left here; I directed that it should be taken to +Cecie's room."-- + +Vinnie mischievously resolved that the noble Betterson back should bend +beneath that burden. + +"It is quite light," she said. "If you want help, I can lift one end of +it." + +The implication that it was not greatness of character, but weakness of +body, which kept him above such service, touched my lord. As she, at the +same time, actually laid hold of one handle, he waived her off, with +ostentatious gallantry. + +"Permit me!" And, with a smile of condescension, which seemed to say, +"The Bettersons are not used to this sort of thing; but they can always +be polite to the ladies," he took up the trunk by both handles, and went +politely _backward_ with it into the house, a performance at which Jack +would have smiled. I say _performance_ advisedly, for Betterson showed +by his bearing, lofty and magnificent even under the burden, that this +was not an ordinary act of an ordinary man. + +Having set down the trunk in its place, he brushed his fingers with a +soiled handkerchief, and retired, exceedingly flushed and puffy in his +tight stock. + +Vinnie thanked him with charming simplicity; while Cecie, on her lounge, +laughed slyly, and Mrs. Betterson looked amazed. + +"Why, Lavinia! how did you ever dare?" + +"Dare what?" + +"To ask Mr. Betterson to carry your trunk?" + +[Illustration: VINNIE'S STRATAGEM.] + +"Why not?" said Vinnie, with round eyes. + +"A gentleman like him! and a Betterson!" replied Caroline, in a whisper +of astonishment and awe. + +"Who should have done it?" said Vinnie, trying hard to see the enormity +of her offence. "I couldn't very well do it alone; I am sure you +couldn't have helped me; and my friend who brought me over, he has done +so much for me already that I should have been ashamed to ask him. +Besides, he is not here, and I wanted the trunk. Mr. Betterson seems +very strong. Has he the rheumatism?" + +"O Lavinia! Lavinia!"--and Caroline wrapped her red shawl despairingly +about her. "But you will understand Mr. Betterson better by and by. You +are quite excusable now. Arthur, dear! what do you want?" + +"In her trunt, what she's doin' to dive me, I want it," said the boy, +invading the house for that purpose. + +"Yes, you shall have it," cried Vinnie, skilfully giving his nose a wipe +behind the mother's back (it needed it sadly). "But is your name Arthur? +I thought they called you Chokie." + +"Chokie is the nickname for Arthur," Lill explained. + +Vinnie did not understand how that could be. + +"It is the boys' invention; they are full of their nonsense," said +Caroline, with a sorrowful head-shake. "It was first Arthur, then Artie, +then Artichoke, then Chokie,--you see?" + +Vinnie laughed, while her sister went on, in complaining accents,-- + +"I tell them such things are beneath the dignity of our family; but they +will have their fun." + +Vinnie took from her trunk a barking dog and a candy meeting-house, +which made Chokie forget all about his threatened Fourth-of-July. She +also had a pretty worsted scarf of many colors for Lill, and a copy of +Mrs. Hemans's Poems--popular in those days--for Cecie. + +"For you, sister Caroline," she added, laughing, "I have +brought--myself." + +"This book is beautiful, and I love poetry so much!" said Cecie, with +eyes full of love and gratitude. "But you have brought mother the best +present." + +"O, you don't know about that!" replied Vinnie. + +"Yes, I do," said Cecie, with a smile which seemed to tremble on the +verge of tears. And she whispered, as Vinnie bent down and kissed her, +"I love you already; we shall all love you so much!" + +"Dear Cecie!" murmured Vinnie in the little invalid's ear, "that pays me +for coming. I am glad I am here, if only for your sake." + +"I dot the bestest pwesents," cried Chokie, sitting on the floor with +his treasures. "Don't tome here, Lill; my dod will bite!" He made the +little toy squeak violently. "He barks at folks doin' to meetin'. Dim me +some pins." + +"What do you want of pins?" Vinnie asked, taking some from her dress. + +"To make mans and womans doin' to meetin'. One dood bid black pin for +the minister," said Chokie. + +Vinnie helped him stick up the pins in the floor, and even found the +required big black one to head the procession. Then she pointed out the +extraordinary fact of the dog being so much larger than the entire +congregation; at which even the sad Caroline smiled, over her sick babe. +Chokie, however, gloried in the superior size and prowess of the +formidable monster. + +Lill was delighted with her scarf,--all the more so when she learned +that it had been wrought by Vinnie's own hand. + +"O Aunt Vinnie!" said Cecie; "will you teach me to do such work? I +should enjoy it so much--lying here!" + +"With the greatest pleasure, my dear!" exclaimed Vinnie, her heart +brimming with hope and joy at sight of the simple happiness her coming +had brought. + +She then hastened to put on a household dress; while Cecie looked at her +book, and Lill sported her scarf, and Chokie earned himself a new +nickname,--that of Big-Bellied Ben,--by making a feast of his +meeting-house, beginning with the steeple. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +VINNIE'S NEW BROOM. + + +Returning from his interview with Mr. Peakslow, Jack drove up on the +roadside before the "castle," asked Rufe to hold the horse a minute, and +ran to the door to bid Vinnie good by. + +"Here, Link!" Rufe called, "stand by this horse!" + +"I can't," answered Link from the wood-pile, "I've got to get some wood, +to make a fire, to heat some water, to dip the chickens, to loosen their +feathers, and then to cook 'em for dinner." + +"Never mind the wood and the chickens and feathers! Come along!" + +"I guess I _will_ mind, and I guess I _won't_ come along, for you, or +anybody, for _she_ asked me to." + +"She? Who?" + +"Aunt Vinnie; and, I tell you, she's real slick." And Link slashed away +at the wood with an axe; for that was the Betterson style,--to saw and +split the sticks only as the immediate necessities of the house +required. + +Rufe might have hitched the horse, but he was not a fellow to give +himself any trouble that could well be avoided; and just then he saw Wad +coming out of the yard with two pails. + +Wad, being cordially invited to stay and hold the horse, also declined, +except on condition that Rufe should himself go at once to the spring +for water. + +"Seems to me you're in a terrible pucker for water!" said Rufe. "Two +pails? what's the row, Wad?" For it was the time-honored custom of the +boys to put off going for water as long as human patience could endure +without it, and never, except in great emergencies, to take two pails. + +"_She_ asked me to, and of course I'd go for _her_," said Wad. "She has +gone into that old kitchen, and, I tell you, she'll make things buzz!" + +Meanwhile Jack had gone straight to the said kitchen,--much to Mrs. +Betterson's dismay,--and found Vinnie in a neat brown dress, with apron +on and sleeves pinned up. He thought he had never seen her look so +bright and beautiful. + +"At work so soon!" he exclaimed. + +"The sooner the better," she replied. "Don't look around you; my sister +is sick, you know." + +"I won't hinder you a minute," Jack said. "I just ran in to tell you the +good news about my horse,--though I suppose you've heard that from the +boys,--and to say good by,--and one word more!" lowering his voice. "If +anything happens,--if it isn't pleasant for you to be here, you +know,--there is a home at Mrs. Lanman's; it will be always waiting for +you." + +"I thank you and Mrs. Lanman very much!" said Vinnie, with a trembling +lip. "But I mean to _make_ things pleasant here," a smile breaking +through the momentary trouble of her face. + +Jack declined an urgent invitation to stay and see what sort of a dinner +she could get. + +"By the way," he whispered, as she followed him to the door, "who +carried in that trunk?" When she told him, he was hugely delighted. "You +will get along! Here comes Rufe. Rufus, this is your Aunt Vinnie." + +Rufus (who had finally got Chokie to hold the horse's halter) blushed to +the roots of his hair at meeting his relative, and finding her so very +youthful (I think it has already been said that the aunt was younger +than the nephew), and altogether so fresh and charming in her apron and +pinned-up sleeves. + +She smilingly gave him her hand, which he took rather awkwardly, and +said,-- + +"How d' 'e do, Aunt Lavinia. I suppose I must call you _aunt_." + +"Call me just Vinnie; the idea of my being _aunt_ to young men like +you!" + +There was a little constraint on both sides, which Link relieved by +pushing between them with a big armful of wood. + +"Well, good by," said Jack. "She will need a little looking after, +Rufus; see that she doesn't work too hard." + +"_You_ are not going to work hard for _us_!" said Rufus, with some +feeling, after Jack was gone. + +"That depends," Vinnie replied. "_You_ can make things easy for me, as I +am sure you will." + +"Of course; just let me know if they don't go right. Call on Link or Wad +for anything; make 'em stand round." + +Vinnie smiled at Rufe's willingness to have his brothers brought into +the line of discipline. + +"They are both helping me now. But I find there are no potatoes in the +house, and I've been wondering who would get them. Lill says they are to +be dug in the field, and that she digs them sometimes; but that seems +too bad!" + +"That's when Wad and Link--there's no need of _her_--I don't believe in +girls digging potatoes!" Rufe stammered. + +"O, but you know," cried Lill, "sometimes we shouldn't have any potatoes +for dinner if I didn't go and dig them! I don't care, only it's such +hard work!" + +Vinnie looked admiringly at the bright, brave little girl. Rufe colored +redder than ever, and said,-- + +"Don't _you_, now, do such a thing! Only let me know in season what's +wanted; I'll be after those boys with a sharp stick!" + +Vinnie couldn't help laughing. + +"So, when we're going to want a handful of wood, a pail of water, or a +basket of potatoes, I am to go for you, and you will go for the boys, +and drive them up with your sharp stick! I don't think I shall like +that. Wouldn't it be better for you to see that there are always +potatoes in the bin, and wood in the box, and other things on hand that +you know will be needed?" + +It was perhaps quite as much her winning way as the good sense of this +appeal which made it irresistible. + +"Of course it would be better! I'll get you a basket of potatoes now, +and some green corn, and I'll look out for the water and wood." + +"O, thank you!" said Vinnie. "That will make things so much easier and +pleasanter for all of us!" + +The potatoes and corn were got with a cheerful alacrity which quite +astonished Rufe's mother and sisters. + +The inertia of a large body being thus overcome, that well-known +property of matter tended to keep Rufus still in motion; and while +Vinnie, with Lill's help, was getting the dinner ready, he might have +been seen approaching the wood-pile with an eye to business. + +"See here, Wad! This wood is pretty dry now; don't you think it had +better be cut up and got in before there comes a rain?" + +"Yes, s'pose 't would be a good idea." + +"We ought to be ashamed," Rufe went on, "to have _her_ calling for a +handful of wood every time it's wanted, or going out to hack a little +for herself, if we're not around; for she'll do it." + +"I s'pose so," Wad assented. "Why don't you go to work and cut it up? +I'll sit down on a log and whittle, and keep you company." + +"Pshaw! don't talk that way. I'll go to work at it if you will. Come! +Will you saw, or split?" + +Wad laughed, and said he would split,--perhaps because the sawing must +be done first. + +"This saw is in a frightful condition!" Rufe said, stopping to breathe +after sawing a few sticks. + +"So is this axe; look at the edge! It's too dull even to split with," +said Wad. "A small boy might ride to mill on it without suffering any +very great inconvenience." + +"If father would only file and set this saw, I'd help you grind the +axe," said Rufe. + +The paternal Betterson was just then returning from a little walk about +his estate. As he approached, hat in hand, wiping his noble forehead, +under the shade of the oaks, Rufe addressed him. + +"We've got to have wood in the house; now _she_'s come, it won't do to +get it by little driblets, and have her waiting for it and worrying +about it. I'll saw it, if you'll only set the saw; you know how, and I +don't; we'll do the hard work if you'll furnish a little of your skill." + +Rufe knew how to appeal to the paternal vanity. The idea of furnishing, +not labor, but skill, flattered my lord. + +"Ah! let me look at the saw. And bring me the file. And set out the +shave-horse. I'll show you how the thing is done." + +When Link, who in the mean while had been dressing the prairie chickens +behind the house, came round and saw his pompous papa sitting under an +oak-tree, astride the "shave-horse," filing away at the saw held in its +clumsy jaws, and Wad turning the grindstone close by, while Rufe held on +the axe, he ran into the house laughing. + +"Mother! just look out there! Father and Rufe and Wad all at work at +once! Guess the world's coming to an end!" + +"I hope some of our troubles are coming to an end," sighed poor Mrs. +Betterson, who sat nursing her babe with a bottle. "It's all owing to +_her_. A new broom sweeps clean. She brings a very good influence; but I +can't hope it will last." + +"O mother!" said Cecie, from her lounge, "don't say that. I am sure it +will last; she is so good! You'll do all you can for her, won't you, +Link?" + +"I bet!" was Link's laconic response. "If _they_ only will, too, for +there ain't much fun in doing chores while father and Rufe and Wad are +just loafing round." + +He hastened to Vinnie with his chickens. + +"Just look out there once! All at it! Ain't it fun?" + +It was fun to Vinnie, indeed. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +LINK'S WOOD-PILE. + + +The dinner, though late that day, was unusually sumptuous, and Betterson +and his boys brought to it keen appetites from their work. Vinnie's +cooking received merited praise, and the most cordial good-will +prevailed. Even little Chokie, soiling face and fingers with a +"drum-stick" he was gnawing, lisped out his commendation of the repast. + +"I wish Aunt Vinnie would be here forever, and div us dood victuals." + +"I second the motion!" cried Link, sucking a "wish-bone," and then +setting it astride his nose,--"to dry," as he said. + +"One would think we never had anything fit to eat before," said Mrs. +Betterson; while my lord looked flushed and frowning over his frayed +stock. + +"You know, mother," said Lill, "I never could cook prairie chickens. And +you haven't been well enough to, since the boys began to shoot them." + +"Lincoln," said Mrs. Betterson, "remove that unsightly object from your +nose! Have you forgotten your manners?" + +"He never had any!" exclaimed Rufe, snatching the wish-bone from its +perch. + +"Here! give that back! I'm going to keep it, and wish with Cecie bimeby, +and we're both going to wish that Aunt Vinnie had come here a year +ago--that is--I mean--pshaw!" said Link, whose ideas were getting rather +mixed. + +Poor Mrs. Betterson complained a great deal to her sister that afternoon +of the impossibility of keeping up the style and manners of the family +in that new country. + +Vinnie--who sat holding the baby by Cecie's lounge--asked why the family +had chosen that new country. + +"Mr. Betterson had been unfortunate in business at the East, and it was +thought best that he should try Illinois," was Caroline's way of stating +that after her husband had run through two small fortunes which had +fallen to him, and exhausted the patience of relatives upon whom he was +constantly calling for help, a wealthy uncle had purchased this farm for +him, and placed him on it to be rid of him. + +"I should think you might sell the farm and move away," said Vinnie. + +"There are certain obstacles," replied Caroline; the said uncle, knowing +that Lord could not keep property from flying away, having shrewdly tied +this down by means of a mortgage. + +"One thing," Caroline continued, "I have always regretted. A +considerable sum of money fell to Mr. Betterson after we came here; and +he--wisely, we thought at the time, but unfortunately, as it +proved--put it into this house. We expected to have a large part of it +left; but the cost of building was such that all was absorbed before the +house was finished." + +Such was Caroline's account of the manner in which the "castle" came to +be built. Vinnie was amazed at the foolish vanity and improvidence of +the lord of it; but she only said,-- + +"There seems to be a great deal of unused room in the house; I should +think you might let that, and a part of the farm, to another family." + +Caroline smiled pityingly. + +"Lavinia dear, you don't understand. _We_ could never think of taking +another family into _our_ house, for the sake of _money_! though it +might be well to let the farm. Besides, there is really one more in the +family than you see. I think I haven't yet spoken to you of +Radcliff,--my husband's nephew." + +"You mentioned such a person in your letter to me," replied Vinnie. + +"Ah, yes; when I was giving some of the reasons why we had never had you +come and live with us. Well off as we were at one time,--and are now in +prospect, if not in actual appearance,--we could not very well take you +as a child into our family, if we took Radcliff. He was early left an +orphan, and it was thought best by the connections that he should be +brought up by my husband. I assure you, Lavinia, that nobody but a +Betterson should ever have been allowed to take your place in _our_ +family." + +Vinnie pictured to herself a youth of precious qualities and great +promise, and asked,-- + +"Where is Radcliff now?" + +"He is not with us just at present. He is of age, and his own master; +and though we make a home for him, he's away a good deal." + +"What is his business?" + +"He has no fixed pursuit. He is, in short, a gentleman at large." + +"What supports him?" + +"He receives a limited allowance from our relatives on the Betterson +side," said Caroline, pleased with the interest her sister seemed to +take in the illustrious youth. "He is not so stylish a man as my +husband, by any means; my husband is a Betterson of the Bettersons. But +Radcliff has _the blood_, and is _very_ aristocratic in his tastes." + +Caroline enlarged upon this delightful theme, until Cecie (who seemed to +weary of it) exclaimed,-- + +"O mother, do see how Aunt Vinnie soothes the baby!" + +Indeed, it seemed as if the puny thing must have felt the flood of +warmth and love from Vinnie's heart bathing its little life. + +That afternoon Rufe and Wad sawed and split the wood, and Link (with +Chokie's powerful assistance) carried it into an unfinished room behind +the kitchen,--sometimes called the "back-room," and sometimes the +"lumber-room,"--and corded it up against the wall. An imposing pile it +was, of which the young architect was justly proud, no such sight ever +having been seen in that house before. + +[Illustration: LINK'S WOOD-PILE.] + +Every ten or fifteen minutes he called Vinnie or Lill to see how the +pile grew; and at last he insisted on bringing Cecie, and letting her be +astonished. + +Cecie was only too glad of any little diversion. She could walk with a +good deal of assistance; Vinnie almost lifted the poor girl in her +loving arms; Link supported her on the other side; and so they bore her +to the back-room, where she leaned affectionately on Vinnie, while Link +stood aside and pointed proudly at his wood-pile. + +"We never could get him to bring in a stick of wood before, without +teasing or scolding him," said Lill. + +"This is different; there's some fun in this," said Link. "Rufe and Wad +have been at work like sixty; and we wanted to see how big a pile we +could make." + +All praised the performance; and Mrs. Betterson so far forgot herself as +to say she felt rich now, with so much nice, dry, split wood in the +house. + +"But what a remark," she added immediately, turning to Vinnie, "for one +of _our_ family to make!" + +"I was never so proud of my brothers!" said Cecie. "If I was only well +enough, how I should like to help pile up that wood!" + +"Dear Cecie!" cried Vinnie, embracing her, "I wish you _were_ well +enough! And I hope you will be some time." + +The wood was all disposed of that afternoon, and the boys concluded that +they had had a pretty good time over it. + +"Now we can loaf for a whole week, and make a business of it," said Wad. + +"There's one more job that ought to be done," said Rufe. "That +potato-patch. We can't keep the pigs out of it, and it's time the +potatoes were dug." + +"I s'pose so," said Wad. "Wish we had a hired man." + +"It isn't much of a job," said Rufe. "And we don't want to be seen +loafing round, now _she's_ here." + +"We can go up in the woods and loaf," said Wad. + +"Don't talk silly," said Rufe. "Come, I'll go at the potatoes to-morrow, +if you will. We'll dig, and make Link pick 'em up." + +"I was going to shoot some more prairie chickens to-morrow. We've no +other meat for dinner." + +"We'll get father to shoot them. Come, Wad, what do you say?" + +Wad declined to commit himself to an enterprise requiring so large an +outlay of bone and muscle. All Rufe could get from him was a promise to +"sleep on the potatoes" and say what he thought of them in morning. + +The next morning accordingly, before the cattle were turned out of the +yard, Rufe said,-- + +"Shall we yoke up the steers and take the wagon down into the +potato-patch? We can be as long as we please filling it." + +"Yes, we may as well take it down there and leave it," Wad assented; and +the steers were yoked accordingly. + +Lord Betterson was not surprised to see the wagon go to the +potato-patch, where he thought it might as well stay during the rest of +the season, as anywhere else. But he _was_ surprised afterward to see +the three boys--or perhaps we should say four, for Chokie was of the +party--start off with their hoes and baskets. + +"We are going to let _you_ shoot the prairie chickens this forenoon," +said Rufe. "You'll find the gun and ammunition all ready, in the +back-room. We are going at the potatoes." + +Link went ahead and pulled the tops, and afterward picked up the +potatoes, filling the baskets, which his brothers helped him carry off +and empty into the wagon-box; while Chokie dug holes in the black loam +to his heart's content. + +"We might have had a noble crop here," said Rufe, "if it hadn't been for +the weeds and pigs. Wad, we mustn't let the weeds get the start of us so +another year. And we'll do some repairs on the fences this fall. I'm +ashamed of 'em!" + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +MORE WATER THAN THEY WANTED. + + +A doctor from North Mills came once a week to visit Cecie and the sick +mother and baby. One afternoon he brought in his chaise a saddle and +bridle, which he said a young fellow would call for in a day or two. The +boys laughed as they put the saddle away; they knew who the young fellow +was, and they hoped he would have a chance to use it. + +Snowfoot's week was up the next forenoon; and at about ten o'clock Jack, +accompanied by Lion, and carrying a double-barrelled fowling-piece, with +which he had shot a brace of prairie hens by the way, walked into the +Betterson door-yard. + +He found the boys at the lower end of the house, with the steers and +wagon. + +"What's the news?" he asked. + +"The news with us is, that we're out of rainwater," Rufe replied. + +"I should think so," said Jack, looking into a dry hogshead which stood +under the eaves-spout. + +"It's too much of a bother to bring all our water by the pailful. So we +are going to fill these things at the river and make the steers haul +'em." + +There were three wash-tubs and a barrel, which the boys were putting up +on the bottom boards of the wagon-box, from which the sides had been +removed. + +Jack was pleased with this appearance of enterprise; he also noticed +with satisfaction that the yard had been cleared up since he last saw +it. + +He asked about Vinnie, and learned from the looks and answers the boys +gave him that she was popular. + +"Your saddle came yesterday," said Wad; "so I s'pose you expect to ride +home." + +"I feel rather inclined that way. How is our friend Peakslow?" + +"Don't know; he went to Chicago, and he hasn't got back." + +"Hasn't got back!" said Jack, astonished. "That's mean business!" + +He smothered his vexation, however, and told the boys that he would go +with them to the river, after he had spoken with Vinnie. + +Entering the house, he was still more surprised at the changes which had +taken place since his last visit. + +"Her coming has been the greatest blessing!" said Caroline, detaining +him in the sitting-room. "We are all better,--the doctor noticed it +yesterday; Cecie and baby and I are all better. Lavinia dear will see +you presently; I think she is just taking some bread out of the oven." + +"Let me go into the kitchen--she won't mind me," said Jack. + +Vinnie, rosy-red from her baking, met him at the door. He had been very +anxious about her since he left her there; but a glance showed him that +all had gone well. + +"You have survived!" he said. + +"Yes, indeed!" she replied. "I told you I would make things pleasant +here." + +"The boys like you, I see." + +"And I like them. They do all they can for me. Rufus even helped me +about the washing,--pounded and wrung out the clothes. You must stay to +dinner to-day." + +"I think I may have to," said Jack; "for my horse hasn't come back from +Chicago yet, and I don't mean to go home without him." + +When he went out he found the boys waiting, and accepted a seat with +Wad and Link on a board placed across two of the tubs. Rufe walked by +the cattle's horns; while in the third tub sat Chokie. + +"You can't sit in that tub going back, you know," said Link. + +"Yes, I can! I will!" And Chokie clung fast to the handles. + +"O, well, you can if you want to, I suppose!" said Link; "but it will be +full of water." + +They passed the potato-patch (Jack smiled to see that the potatoes had +been dug), crossed a strip of meadow-land below, and then rounded a bend +in the river, in the direction of a deep place the boys knew. + +"I always hate to ride after oxen,--they go so tormented slow!" said +Link. "Why don't somebody invent a wagon to go by steam?" + +"Did you ever see a wagon go by water?" Jack asked. + +"No, nor anybody else!" + +"I have," said Jack. "I know a man in this county who has one." + +"What man? I'd go five miles to see one!" + +"You can see one without going so far. The man is your father, and this +is the wagon. It is going by water now." + +"By water--yes! By the river!" said Link, amused and vexed. + +"Link," said Jack, "do you remember that little joke of yours about the +boys stopping the leak in the boat? Well, we are even now." + +Rufe backed the hind-wheels of the wagon into the river, over the deep +place, and asked Wad which he would do,--dip the water and pass it up by +the pailful, or stay in the wagon and receive it. + +"Whoever dips it up has to stand in the river above his knees," said +Wad; "and I don't mean to get wet to-day." + +"Very well; stay in the wagon, then. You'll get as wet as I shall; for +I'm going to pull off my shoes and roll up my trousers. Chokie, you keep +in that tub, just where you are, till the tub is wanted. Link, you'd +better go into the river with me, and dip the pails, while I pass 'em up +to Wad." + +"I never can keep my trousers-legs rolled up, and I ain't going to get +wet," said Link. Then, whispering to Jack: "There's leeches in this +river; they get right into a fellow's flesh and suck his blood like +sixty." + +Wad proposed to begin with the barrel, and to have Link stand at the end +of the wagon, receive the pails, pass them to him, and pass them back to +Rufe empty. + +"Why not move the barrel to the end of the wagon, and fill it about two +thirds full, and then move it back again? I'll help you do that," said +Link. + +"All right; I'll fill the barrel and one of the tubs; then you shall +fill the other two tubs." + +Link agreed to this; while Jack smiled to hear so much talk about doing +so small a thing. + +Rufe went in bare-legged, and stood on the edge of the deep hole, where +the water was hardly up to his knees. Much as he disliked, ordinarily, +to set about any work, he was strong and active when once roused; and +the pails of water went up on the wagon about as fast as Wad cared to +take them. + +"Hullo! Don't slop so! You're wetting my feet!" cried Wad. + +"I can't keep from spilling a drop once in a while. You might have taken +off your shoes and rolled up your trousers as I did." + +The barrel was soon two thirds full, and Wad called upon Link to help +him move it forward. Link left his seat by Jack's side, and walked back +to the rear of the wagon. Wad, as we know, was already there. So was the +barrel of water, standing just back of the rear axletree. So also was a +fresh pail of water, which Rufe had placed at the extreme end, because +Wad was not ready to take it. + +At that moment the oxen, hungry for fresh grass, and having nipped all +within reach of their noses, started up a little. Jack, thinking to +prevent mischief by running to their heads, leaped from the front of the +wagon. + +This abrupt removal of weight from one end, and large increase of +avoirdupois at the other, produced a natural but very surprising result. +Chokie in his tub, though at the long end of the beam, so to speak (the +rear axletree being the fulcrum), was not heavy enough to counterbalance +two brothers and a barrel of water at the short end. + +He suddenly felt himself rising in the air, and sliding with the empty +tubs. His brothers at the same moment felt themselves sinking and +pitching. There was a chorus of shrieks, as they made a desperate effort +to save themselves. Too late; the wagon-bottom reared, and away went +barrel, boys, tubs, everything. + +The oxen, starting at the alarm, helped to precipitate the catastrophe. +Fortunately, Jack was at hand to stop them, or the dismantled wagon +might have gone flying across the lot, even fast enough to suit Link's +notion of speed. + +Rufe made one quick effort to prevent the boards from tipping up, then +leaped aside, while the discharged load shot past him. + +Chokie, screaming, held fast to the sides of his tub with both hands. +Wad, intending to jump, plunged into the deepest part of the river. Link +made a snatch at the barrel, and, playing at leap-frog over it (very +unwillingly), went headlong into the deep hole. + +Chokie met with a wonderfully good fortune; his tub was launched so +neatly, and ballasted so nicely by him sitting in the bottom, that it +shipped but a splash of water, and he floated away, unhurt and scarcely +wet at all, amidst the general ruin. + +The wagon-boards, relieved of their load, tumbled back upon the wheels. +To add to the confusion, Lion barked furiously. + +Jack, frightened at first, finally began to laugh, when he saw Chokie +sailing away, under full scream, and Wad and Link scrambling out of the +water. + +"So you were the fellows that were not going to get wet!" cried Rufe. +"Pick out your barrel and empty tubs, while I catch Chokie!" + +The river, even in the deepest place, was not very deep; and Wad and +Link came wading out, blowing water from their mouths, flirting water +from their hair, and shaking water from their rescued hats, in a way +that made Rufe (after he had stranded Chokie in his tub) roll upon the +grass in convulsions. + +"Laugh, then!" cried Wad in a rage; "I'll give you something to laugh +at!" And, catching up a tub partly filled with water, he rushed with it +to take wet vengeance on his dry brother. + +Before Rufe, helpless with laughter, could move to defend himself, tub, +water, and Wad, all together, were upon him,--the tub capsizing over his +head and shoulders, Wad tumbling upon the tub, and the water running out +in little rivulets below. + +Rufe was pretty wet, but still laughing, when he crawled out, like a +snail from under his shell, and got upon his feet, clutching the tub to +hurl it at Wad, who fled. + +"You are the only one who has got any dry fun out of this scrape!" Rufe +said, trying to brush the water out of his neck and breast. + +His words were addressed to Jack, and they proved more strictly true +than he intended; for just then Chokie, trying to get out of his +stranded tub, tipped it over, and went out of it, upon his hands and +knees, into the river. By the time he was pulled out and set upon dry +ground, the boys were all pretty good-natured. + +"How about those leeches, Link? Did you find any?" said Jack. + +"I'm too dizzy yet, to think about leeches," replied Link. "I turned a +somerset out of that wagon so quick, I could see the patch on the seat +of my trousers!" + +"I thought I was going through to China," said Wad, "and expected, when +I came up, to see men with pigtails." + +He stood on the edge of the water, holding another tub for Rufe, if he +should come too near. + +"Quit your nonsense now!" cried Rufe, "and hand up that barrel." + +"I'll quit if you will,--as the poultry-thief said when the old gobbler +chased him. 'Quit, quit!' says the turkey. 'Quit your ownself!' says the +thief. And I'm just of his way of thinking," said Wad. + +"Well! help me put this wagon into shape," said Rufe. "Then we'll fill +our tubs and barrel without any more fooling." + +The wagon-boards were replaced and loaded without any further accident. +The well-filled tubs were set one upon another, and Wad stood holding +them; while Link, having placed the board seat over the barrel of water, +sat upon it. They found it a pretty sloppy ride; but they could laugh +defiance at a little water now. Chokie, it need hardly be said, did not +ride in a tub of water, but walked between Jack and Rufe beside the +oxen. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +PEAKSLOW SHOWS HIS HAND. + + +"Hullo!" cried Link from his perch, as the wagon passed the +potato-patch, "there comes Peakslow down the road through the +woods,--just turning the corner for home!" + +Jack started with sudden excitement. + +"Can you see his team?" + +"Yes; one of the horses looks like yours; and he has an extra horse led +behind." + +Jack ran up to the road to get a look, and came laughing back to the +house, where the boys and their load of water had by that time arrived. + +"He is driving my horse, and leading one of his own. I am going to get +my bridle, and call on him." + +"You'll come back to dinner?" said Rufe. + +"Yes, if you'll have my prairie chickens cooked." + +And, leaving the boys to astonish the family with their wet clothes, +Jack, with the bridle on his arm, walked down the road. + +Just as he was entering Peakslow's yard, he met Mr. Wiggett coming out +with his arms full of brown-paper parcels. + +"Mr. Wiggett! glad to see you!" + +"Same to yourself," replied the old man. "Got my arms full o' this yer +stuff, or I'd shake hands. I've a lot more o' comforts for wife and +young uns in the wagon; but I thought I'd lug along suthin, or they +wouldn't be glad to see me." + +"Is it all right about the horse?" + +"I 'low it's all right." + +"Is Peakslow up to any trick?" + +"Nary, as I kin diskiver; and I pumped him, tew, right smart, a-comin' +over the perairie." + +"Did he have much trouble getting back his horse?" + +"Not sich a dog-goned sight. Truckman's a straightfor'ard, honest chap. +Says he guv eighty dollars for your hoss; thinks he had him of the thief +himself; and 'lows he knows the rascal. He stuck out a little at fust, +and you should 'a' heard Peakslow talk tew him! 'Twas ekal to gwine to +preachin'." + +"What did he say?" + +"Said none but a fool or a scoundrel would ca'c'late he could hang ontew +a piece o' prop'ty that had been stole, or traded for what had been +stole. Talked, of course, just t' other way from what he did when he +talked to you. Truckman didn't mind his gab, but when he was satisfied +the hoss he put away had been stole, he guv up Peakslow's, and the +fifteen dollars to boot. Now, how in the name of seven kingdoms +Peakslow's gwine to turn it about to make anything more, beats all my +understandin'!" + +Jack thanked the old man warmly for the interest he had taken in the +affair, and asked how he could pay him for his trouble. + +"I haven't looked for no pay," replied the old man. "But one thing I +should like to have ye dew for me, if ever ye come my way agin with yer +compass. My woman guv me right smart of her jaw for forgittin' it when +ye was thar before. She wants a noon-mark on our kitchen floor." + +"All right," said Jack. "She shall have it." + +The old man went on with his bundles, while Jack entered Peakslow's +yard. + +Peakslow, who was unharnessing his team, with the help of two stout +boys, looked up and said, in a tone which he meant should be +friendly,---- + +"How are ye? On hand, I see," with a grim smile at the bridle. + +"I was on hand a little before you were," replied Jack. "Your week was +up an hour ago. Though I don't care about that. You've got your horse, I +see." + +"That's the main thing I went for; course I've got him. Here's a paper, +with the truckman's name wrote on 't; he wants you to come and see him +when you go to town, pervided he don't come to see you fust." + +"Did he say anything about a bridle and a blanket that were on the horse +when he was stolen?" + +"He's got 'em," Peakslow coolly replied; "but as no reward was offered +for anything but the hoss, I didn't take 'em." + +Jack didn't quite see the logic of this remark. + +"Never mind; they are trifles," he said. "It's glory enough for one +while, to get my horse again. I've a bridle here for him; I'll slip it +on, Zeph, if you'll slip yours off." + +"You can slip your bridle on that hoss, and take him away, when you've +fulfilled the conditions; not before," said Peakslow. + +"What conditions? You don't pretend to claim my horse now you've got +your own back?" + +"I've got a claim on him," Peakslow replied. "Here's your own handbill +for it. Twenty Dollars Reward! I've got back your hoss for ye, and I +demand the reward." + +This, then, after all, was the quirk in Peakslow's head. The boys +grinned. Jack was astounded. + +"Peakslow," he exclaimed indignantly, "you know that's an absurd claim! +You didn't find my horse and deliver him to me; I found him in your +hands, and you even refused to give him up! The truckman has a better +claim for the reward than you have, for he had him first; and then I +don't see but the thief himself has a prior claim to either." + +"You talk like a fool!" said Peakslow. + +"You _act_ like a fool and a knave!" Jack retorted, in a sudden blaze. +"I won't have any more words with you. Sue for the reward, if you think +you can get it. I'm just going to take my horse!" + +"Not till the reward is paid, if I live!" said Peakslow, his black eyes +sparkling. "Zeph, step and hand out the old gun!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +THE WOODLAND SPRING. + + +Very pale, with the bridle dangling from his arm, and Lion walking +dejectedly by his side (the sympathetic dog always knew when his master +was in trouble), Jack returned to the "castle." + +Lord Betterson, meeting him in the door-yard, touched his hat and bowed. + +"Where--is--your--quadruped?" he asked, with a cool, deliberate +politeness, which fell upon Jack's mood like drops of water on red-hot +steel. + +"That villain! he claims the reward for him! But I never'll pay it in +the world!" + +Betterson smiled and said, "Ah! Peakslow! Highly characteristic!" + +"He threatened to shoot me!" + +"Very likely. He has threatened to shoot _me_, on one or two occasions. +I said, 'Shoot!'" (Jack wondered whether he said it with that +condescending smile and gracious gesture.) "It isn't agreeable to have +dealings with a person who talks of shooting his fellow-men; but I +imagine there's no danger, if you keep cool." + +"I couldn't keep cool," said Jack. "I got as mad as he was. I could have +shot _him_." + +"That, my friend," Lord Betterson replied, with a wave of the hand, "was +an error,--quite natural, but still an error. You stay to dinner?" + +"Thank you, I have promised myself that pleasure." + +Jack was ashamed of having given way to his anger; and he determined +from that moment, whatever happened, to keep calm. + +As he threw his useless bridle down, and left Lion to guard it, he saw +Wad starting off with a pail, and asked where he was going. + +"For water," said Wad. + +"More water? I should think you all had enough for one day!" + +"Yes, for the outer man," drawled Wad. "Where's your horse?" + +"I concluded to let Peakslow keep him a little longer. He seemed willing +to; and I am not ready to ride home. May I go with you?" + +"Glad to have ye," said Wad. + +They walked a little way along the road toward Peakslow's house, then +entered the woodland, descended into a little ravine, and, on the slope +beyond, found a spring of running water in the shade of an oak grove. + +Jack was not inclined to talk of Snowfoot, but he had a good deal to say +about the spring. + +"Why, this is charming! What a clear basin of water! Is it always +running over?" + +"Always, even in the driest season. We first noticed that little stream +trickling down into the ravine; and that's about all there was to be +seen, till Rufe and I hollowed out this basin." + +"Why don't you come here with your wagon and tubs, instead of going to +the river?" + +"There's no good way to get in here with a wagon; and, besides, we can't +dip up more than two or three pailfuls at a time,--then we must wait for +the spring to fill." + +"You could sink a barrel," said Jack, "and always have that full, to +start upon. Now dip your pail, and let's see how long it takes for the +basin to fill." + +The experiment was tried, and Jack grew quite enthusiastic over the +result. + +"See! how fast the water comes in! I say, Wad, you've got something +valuable here." + +"Yes," said Wad. "I only wish the house had been built somewhere near. +This is part of the land Peakslow pretended to claim. The swing, where +Cecie got hurt, is in the grove, just up here." + +The place was so cool and pleasant that Jack let Wad return alone with +the water, and walked about the spring and the swing, and up into the +woods beyond, calming his inward excitement, until dinner-time. + +At table he gave a humorous account of his late interview with Peakslow. + +"He was so very cordial in his request that I should leave Snowfoot, +that I couldn't well refuse,--though I _did_ decline to trouble him, +till he brought out a double-barrelled argument,--stub twist, percussion +lock,--which finally persuaded me. He is one of the most urgent men I +ever saw," added Jack, mashing his potato. + +Vinnie smiled, while the others laughed; but her eyes were full of +anxiety, as they beamed on Jack. + +"Isn't it possible," she said, "to meet such arguments with kindness? I +didn't think there was a man so bad that he couldn't be influenced by +reason and good-will." + +"It might rain reasons on Peakslow, forty days and forty nights,--he +would shed 'em, as a duck does water," Jack replied. "Isn't it so, Mr. +Betterson?" + +"I have certainly found him impervious," said my lord. + +"I might have stopped to argue with him, and threaten him with the law +and costs of court, and perhaps have settled the matter for five or ten +dollars. But the truth is," Jack confessed, "I lost patience and temper. +I am not going to have any more words with him. Now let's drop Peakslow, +and speak of something more important. That spring over in your woods, +Mr. Betterson,--I've been looking at it. Is it soft water?" (Jack lifted +a glass and sipped it;) "as good for washing as it is for the table?" + +"It is excellent water for any purpose," said Mr. Betterson. "There is +only one fault in that spring,--it is too far off." + +"We are going to move the house up there, so as to have it handy," said +Link. + +"That is one of my young friend's jokes," said Jack. "But, seriously, +Mr. Betterson, instead of moving the house to the spring, why don't you +bring the spring to the house?" + +"How do you mean? It doesn't seem quite--ah--practicable, to move a +spring that way." + +"I don't mean the spring itself, of course, but the water. You might +have that running, a constant stream, in your kitchen or back-room." + +"I apprehend your drift," said Betterson, helping Jack to a piece of +prairie chicken. "You mean, bring it in pipes." + +"Thank you. Precisely." + +"But I apprehend a difficulty; it is not easy to make water run up +hill." + +Jack smiled, and blushed a little, at Betterson's polite condescension +in making this mild objection. + +"Water running down hill may force itself up another hill, if confined +in pipes, I think you will concede." + +"Most assuredly. But it will not rise again higher than its source. And +the spring is lower than we are,--lower than our kitchen sink." + +"I don't quite see that," replied Jack, with the air of a candid +inquirer. "I have been over the ground, and it didn't strike _me_ so." + +"It certainly looks to be several feet lower," said Betterson; and the +boys agreed with him. + +"We generally speak of going _down_ to the spring," said Rufe. "We go +down the road, then down the bank of the ravine, and then a little way +up the other bank. I don't know how we can tell just how much lower it +is. We can't see the spring from the house." + +"If I had my instruments here, I could tell you which is lower, and how +much lower, pretty soon. While I am waiting for Snowfoot, (I can't go +home, you know, without Snowfoot!) I may, perhaps, do a bit of +engineering, as it is." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +JACK'S "BIT OF ENGINEERING." + + +The boys got around Jack after dinner, and asked him about that bit of +engineering. + +"In the first place," said Jack, standing outside the door, and looking +over toward the spring, hidden by intervening bushes on a ridge, "we +must have a water-level, and I think I can make one. Get me a piece of +shingle, or any thin strip of wood. And I shall want a pail of water." + +A shingle brought, Jack cut it so that it would float freely in the +pail; and, having taken two thin strips of equal length from the sides, +he set them up near each end, like the masts of a boy's boat. + +"Now, this is our level," he said; "and these masts are the sights. To +see that they are exact, we will look across them at some object, then +turn the level end for end, and look across them again; if the range is +the same both ways, then our sights are right, are they not? But I see +we must lay a couple of sticks across the pail, to hold our level still +while we are using it." + +The boys were much interested; and Link said he didn't see what anybody +wanted of a better level than that. + +[Illustration: TESTING THE LEVEL.] + +"It will do for the use we are going to make of it," said Jack; "but it +might not be quite convenient for field service; you couldn't carry a +pail of water, and a floating shingle with two masts, in your +overcoat-pocket, you know. We'll aim at a leg of that grindstone. Go and +stick your knife where I tell you, Link." + +Jack soon got his level so that it would stand the test, and called the +boys to look. + +"Here! you stand back, Chokie!" cried Link; while Rufe and Wad, one +after the other, got down on the ground and sighted across the level at +the knife-blade. + +"Now," Jack explained, "I am going to set this pail of water in your +kitchen window, by the sink. That will be our starting-point. Then I +want one of you boys to go, with a long-handled pitchfork, in the +direction of the spring, as far as you can and keep the pail in sight; +then set up your fork, and pin a piece of white paper on it just where I +tell you. As I raise my hand, you will slide the paper up; and, as I +lower my hand, you will slip it down." + +Wad and Link both went with the fork, which they set up on the borders +of the woodland, back from the road. Then Wad, wrapping a piece of +newspaper about the handle, held it there as high as his head, with a +good strip of it visible above his hand. + +Jack, standing in the kitchen, looked across the sights of his level +placed in the open window, and laughed. + +"What do you think, Rufe? Is the paper high enough?" + +"It ought to be a foot or two higher," was Rufe's judgment. + +"_I_ say _a foot_ higher," remarked Lord Betterson, coming up behind. + +"What do you say, Vinnie?" + +"I think the paper is too high." + +"Now look across the level," said Jack. + +All were astonished; and Lord Betterson could hardly be convinced that +the level was constructed on sound principles. It showed that the top of +the paper should be just below Wad's knee. + +"Now we will take our level," said Jack, after the paper was pinned in +its proper place, "and go forward and make another observation." + +He chose a place at the top of the ridge beyond Wad, where, after +cutting a few bushes, he was able to look back and see the fork-handle, +and also to look forward and see the spring. There he set his pail on +the ground, waited for the water to become still, adjusted his level, +and caused a second strip of paper to be pinned to the fork-handle, in +range with the sights. + +The boys then gathered around the fork, while Jack, taking a pocket-rule +from his coat, ascertained that the second paper was six feet and an +inch above the first. + +"Which shows that our level is now six feet and an inch higher than it +stood on the kitchen window," said he. "Now let's see how much higher it +is than the spring." + +Link was already on his hands and knees by the pail, turning the sights +in range with the spring on the farther side of the little ravine. He +suddenly flapped his arms and crowed. + +"No need of setting the fork over there," he said. "The spring is +_almost_ as high as the pail!" + +"Let's be exact," said Jack; and he went himself and thrust the fork, +handle downward, into the basin of the spring. "Now, Link, you be the +engineer; show your skill; tell me where to fix this paper." + +Link was delighted with the important part assigned him. + +"Higher!" he commanded, from behind the pail. "Not quite so high. Not +quite so low. Now just a millionth part of an inch higher--there!" + +"A millionth part of an inch is drawing it rather fine," said Jack, as +he pinned the paper. + +Afterward, going and looking across the level, he decided that Link had +taken a very accurate aim. Then, his pocket-measure being once more +applied, the paper was found to be only seven inches higher than the +water in the basin. + +"Seven inches from six feet one inch, leaves five feet six inches as the +height of the spring water above the level of our sights at the kitchen +window. Now, I measured, and found they were there thirteen inches +higher than the bottom of the sink; which shows that if you carry this +water in pipes, you can have your spout, or faucet, thirteen inches +higher than the bottom of your sink, and still have a head of water of +five feet and six inches, to give you a running stream." + +The boys were much astonished, and asked how it happened that they had +been so deceived. + +"You have unconsciously based all your calculations on the fact that you +go _down_ to Peakslow's. The road falls a little all the way. But it +doesn't fall much between your house and the place where you turn into +the woodland. There you take a path among the bushes, which really rises +all the way, though quite gradually, until you pass the ridge and go +down into the ravine. Vinnie hasn't been accustomed to talk of going +down to the spring, as you have; and so, you see, she was the only one +who thought Wad at first placed his paper too high. Perhaps this doesn't +account for your mistake; but it is the best reason I can give." + +"How about the pipes?" Rufe asked. + +"You can use pump-logs for pipes." + +"But we have no pump-logs!" + +"You have enough to reach from here to North Mills and return. They are +growing all about you." + +"Trees!" said Wad. "They are not pump-logs." + +"Pump-logs in the rough," replied Jack. "They only need cutting, boring, +and jointing. All pump-logs were once trees. These small-sized oaks are +just the thing for the purpose; you have acres of them, and in places +the timber needs thinning out. You can use the straight stems for your +aqueduct, and the limbs and branches for firewood." + +"That's an idea!" said Rufe, rubbing his forehead and walking quickly +about. "But how are we going to turn our tree-trunks into pump-logs? We +have no tools for boring and jointing." + +"No, and it would cost a good deal to get them. You want an iron rod, or +auger-shaft, long enough to bore half-way through your longest log; then +a bit,--an inch bore would be large enough, but I suppose it would be +just as easy, perhaps easier, to make a two-inch bore,--the auger would +be more apt to get clogged and cramped in a smaller hole; then a reamer +and a circular joint-plane, to make your joints,--the taper end of one +log is to be fitted into the bore of the next, you know. You will also +need some apparatus for holding your log and directing the rod, so that +you sha'n't bore out, but make your holes meet in the middle, when you +bore from both ends; and I don't know what else. I've watched men boring +logs, but I don't remember all the particulars about it." + +"You seem to remember a good deal," said Wad. "And I like the idea of a +stream from this spring running in our back-room,--think of it, Rufe! +But it _can't be did_,--as the elephant said when he tried to climb a +tree. No tools, no money to buy or hire 'em, or to hire the work done." + +"You boys can do a good deal of the work yourselves," said Jack. "You +can cut the logs, and get them all ready for boring. Then you can get +the pump-maker at the Mills to come over with his tools and help you +bore them by hand; or you can haul your logs to him, and have them bored +by machinery,--he has a tread-mill, and a horse to turn it. In either +case, I've no doubt you could pay for his labor by furnishing logs for +his pumps." + +"I believe we can!" said Rufe, by this time quite warmed up to the +subject. "But how about laying the logs? They have to be put pretty deep +into the ground, don't they?" + +"Deep enough so that the water in them won't freeze. A trench four feet +deep will answer." + +"How wide?" + +"Just wide enough for a man to get into it and lay the logs and drive +the joints together. And, by the way, you'd better be sure that there +are no leaks, and that the water comes through all right, before you +cover your logs." + +"But there's work in digging such a trench as that!" said Wad, shaking +his head. + +"So there is work in everything useful that is ever accomplished. Often +the more work, the greater the satisfaction in the end. But you boys +have got it in you,--I see that; and, let me tell you," said Jack, "if I +were you, I would take hold of things on this place in downright +earnest, and make a farm and a home to be proud of." + +"I never could get in love with work," replied Wad. "I'm +_constitutionally tired_, as the lazy man said. The thought of that +trench makes my back ache." + +"It won't be such a back-aching job as you suppose. You've only to take +one stroke with a pick or shovel at a time. And as for that +constitutional weariness you complain of, now is the time in your lives +to get rid of it,--to work it out of your blood,--and lay the +foundations of your manhood." + +"I must say, you preach pretty well!" observed Wad. + +"I'm not much of a preacher," replied Jack; "but I can't help feeling a +good deal, and saying just a word, when I see young fellows like you +neglecting your opportunities." + +"If father and Rad would take hold with us, we would just straighten +things," said Rufe. + +"Don't wait for your father to set you an example," replied Jack. "I +don't know about Rad, though I've heard you speak of him." + +"Our cousin, Radcliff," said Rufe. "He's a smart fellow, in his way, but +he don't like work any better than we do, and he's off playing the +gentleman most of the time." + +"Or playing the loafer," said Wad. + +"Let him stay away," said Jack. "You'll do better without any gentlemen +loafers around." + +"Did _you_ ever do much hard work?" Wad asked. + +"What do you think?" replied Jack, with a smile. + +"I think you've seen something of the world." + +"Yes, and I've had my way to make in it. I was brought up on the Erie +Canal,--a driver, ignorant, ragged, saucy; you wouldn't believe me if I +should tell you what a little wretch I was. All the education I have, I +have gained by hard study, mostly at odd spells, in the last three +years. I had got a chance to work on a farm, and go to school in winter; +then I took to surveying, and came out here to be with Mr. Felton. So, +you see, I must have done something besides loafing; and if I talk work +to you I have earned the right to." + +"I say, boys!" cried Link, "le's put this thing through, and have the +water running in the house." + +"It will do for you to talk," said Wad; "mighty little of the work +you'll do." + +"You'll see, Wad Betterson! Hain't I worked the past week as hard as +either of you?" + +"This thing isn't to be pitched into in a hurry," said Rufe, more +excited than he wished to appear. "We shall have to look it all over, +and talk with the pump-maker, and do up some of the farm-work that is +behindhand." + +"Why don't you take the farm of your father," said Jack, "and see what +you can make out of it? I never knew what it was to be really interested +in work till I took some land with another boy, and we raised a crop on +our own account." + +Rufe brightened at the idea; but Wad said he wasn't going to be a +farmer, anyway. + +"What are you going to be?" + +"I haven't made up my mind yet." + +"Till you do make up your mind, my advice is for you to take hold of +what first comes to your hand, do that well, and prepare yourself for +something more to your liking." + +"I believe that's good advice," said Rufe. "But it is going to be hard +for us to get out of the old ruts." + +"I know it; and so much the more credit you will have when you succeed." + +Jack moved away. + +"Where are you going now?" Rufe asked. + +"To reconnoitre a little, and see what Peakslow has done with my horse. +I ride that horse home, you understand!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +PREPARING FOR THE ATTACK. + + +The boys showed Jack a way through the timber to a wooded hill opposite +Peakslow's house. There Link climbed a tree to take an observation. + +[Illustration: OLD WIGGETT.] + +"I can look right over into his barnyard," he reported to his companions +below. "There's old Wiggett with his ox-cart, unloading something out +of Peakslow's wagon; and there's Peakslow with him. Hark!" After a +pause, Link laughed and said: "Peakslow's talking loud; I could hear him +say, 'That air hoss,' and 'Not if I live!' Now old Wiggett's hawing his +oxen around out of the yard." + +"I must head him off and have a word with him," said Jack. And away he +dashed through the undergrowth. + +Reaching a clump of hazels by the roadside, he waited till the old man +and his slow ox-team came along. + +"What's the news, Mr. Wiggett?" Jack said, coming out and accosting him. + +"Whoa! hush! back!" the old man commanded, beating his cattle across the +face with a short ox-goad. He shook with laughter as he turned to Jack. +"It's dog-gone-ation funny! He had a quirk in his head, arter all. +Hankers arter that reward of twenty dollars!" + +"What did you say to him?" + +"Told him he had no shadder of a claim,--he might sue ye through all the +courts in seven kingdoms, he couldn't find a jury to give him the reward +for stolen prop'ty found in his hands. He said for that reason he meant +to hold ontew the hoss till you'd agree to suthin." + +"Where is the horse now?" + +"In Peakslow's stable. He wants to turn him out to pastur', but he's +afraid you're hangin' round. He has set his boys to diggin' taters over +ag'in Betterson's lot, where they can watch for ye. What he re'ly wants +is, for you to come back and make him an offer, to settle the hash; for +he's a little skittish of your clappin' the law ontew him." + +"I wonder he didn't think of that before." + +"He did, but he says you'd showed yerself a kind of easy, accomodatin' +chap, and he'd no notion o' your gettin' so blamed riled all of a +suddint." + +"That shows how much good it does to be easy with a man like him!" And +Jack, thanking old Wiggett for his information, disappeared in the +woods. + +He found the boys waiting for him, and told them what he had learned. +"Now my cue is," said he, "to make Peakslow think I've gone home. So I +may as well leave you for the present. Please take care of my saddle and +bridle and gun till I call for them. Good by. If you _should_ happen to +come across the Peakslow boys--you understand!" + +Rufe carelessly returned Jack's good-by. Then, leaving Wad and Link to +go by the way of the spring and take care of the pail and fork, he +walked down through the woods to the road, where he found Zeph and his +older brother Dud digging potatoes in Peakslow's corner patch. + +"Hullo!" Dud called out, so civilly that Rufe knew that something was +wanted of him. + +"Hullo yourself and see how you like it," Rufe retorted. + +"Where's that fellow that owns the hoss?" + +"How should I know?" + +"He stopped to your house." + +"That's so. But he's gone now." + +"Where?" + +"I don't know. He told us to keep his saddle and bridle and gun till he +called for 'em, and went off. You'll hear from him before many days." + +Rufe's tone was defiant; and the young potato-diggers, having, as they +supposed, got the information they wanted, suffered their insolence to +crop out. + +"We ain't afraid of him nor you either," said Zeph, leaning on his hoe. + +"Yes, you are afraid of me, too, you young blackguard! I'll tie you into +a bow-knot and hang you on a tree, if I get hold of you." + +"Le's see ye do it!" + +Rufe answered haughtily: "You wouldn't stand there and sass me, if you +didn't have Dud to back you. Just come over the fence once, and leave +Dud on the other side; I'll pitch you into the middle of next week so +quick you'll be dizzy the rest of your natural life." And he walked on +up the road. + +"Here! come back! I'll fight you! You're afraid!" Zeph yelled after him. + +"I'll come round and 'tend to your case pretty soon," Rufe replied. +"I've something of more importance to look after just now; I've a pig to +poke." + +Dud went on digging potatoes; but Zeph presently threw down his hoe and +ran to the house. Shortly after, he returned; and then Jack, who had sat +down to rest in a commanding position, on the borders of the woodland, +was pleased to see Peakslow lead Snowfoot down the slope from the barn, +and turn him into the pasture. + +Rufe got home some time before his brothers, who seemed to linger at the +spring. + +"There they are!" said Lill; "Link with the fork on his shoulder, and +Wad bringing the pail." + +Rufe was sitting on the grindstone frame, as they came into the yard. + +"Did you hear me blackguard the Peakslow boys? They think Jack--Hullo!" +Rufe suddenly exclaimed. "I thought you was Wad!" + +"I am, for the present," said Jack, laughing under Wad's hat. "Do you +think Peakslow will know me ten rods off?" + +"Not in that hat and coat! Lill and I both took you for Wad." + +"I am all right, then! Where's your father? I wonder if he wouldn't like +to try my gun." + +Lord Betterson now came out of the house, fresh from his after-dinner +nap, and looked a good deal of polite surprise at seeing Jack in Wad's +hat and coat. + +"Mr. Betterson," said Jack, "Peakslow thinks I have gone home, and he +has turned Snowfoot out to grass. Now, if I _should_ wish to throw down +a corner of the fence between his pasture and your buckwheat, have you +any objection?" + +"None whatever," replied my lord, with a flourish, as if giving Jack the +freedom of his acres. + +"And perhaps," said Jack, "you would like to go down to the +buckwheat-lot with me and try my gun. I hear you are a crack shot." + +"I can't boast much of my marksmanship nowadays; I could fetch down a +bird once. Thank you,--I'll go with pleasure." + +"You are not going to get into trouble, Jack?" said Vinnie, with lively +concern, seeing him tie the halter to his back. + +"O no! Mr. Betterson is going to give me a lesson in shooting on the +wing. I'll take the bridle, so that if Snowfoot should happen to jump +the fence when he sees me, I shall be ready for him, you know. Now I +wonder if we can take Lion along without his being seen. He is tired of +sitting still." + +"We can take him to the farther side of the cornfield, easily enough." + +"That will answer. Come, Lion!" The dog bounded with joy. "Keep right by +my heels now, old fellow, and mind every word I say. Don't be anxious +about us, Vinnie. And, Rufe, if you could manage to engage the Peakslow +boys in conversation, about the time we are shooting hens pretty near +the fence, you might help the sport." + +"I'll follow you along, and branch off toward the potato-patch, and ask +Zeph what he meant by offering to fight me," said Rufe. + +"I'm going to get up on the cow-shed, and see the battle," said Link. +"On Linden when the sun was low, and the buckwheat-patch was all in +blow,--I'm a poet, you know!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +THE BATTLE OF THE BOUNDARY FENCE. + + +The little party set off, watched by Vinnie with a good deal of anxiety. +The dog was left in the edge of the corn; and Jack, with a good milky +ear in his pocket, followed Mr. Betterson into the buckwheat-field. + +"There's Wad and his dad after prairie chickens," said Zeph. + +"Yes," said Dud, "and here comes Rufe after you. He'll give you _Hail +Columby_ one of these days, when I ain't round." + +"I'll resk him," muttered Zeph. + +"Look here, you young scape-grace!" Rufe called from over the fence, +"I've come to take you at your word. Want to fight me, do ye? I'm ready, +if you're particular about it." + +"Come near me, and I'll sink a stun in your head!" said Zeph, +frightened. + +"You've got that phrase from the Wiggett boys," said Rufe. "I'd fight +with something besides borrowed slang, if I was you." + +Betterson meanwhile brought down a prairie chicken with a grace of +gesture and suddenness of aim which Jack would have greatly admired if +he had not had other business on his mind. + +The bird fell in the direction of the boundary fence. Jack ran as if to +pick it up, at the same time giving a low whistle for his dog. He +stooped, and was for a minute hidden by the fence from the Peakslow +boys,--if, indeed, Rufe gave them leisure just then to look in that +direction. + +Darting forward to the fence, Jack took down the top rails of a corner, +and made a motion to Lion, who leaped over. + +"Catch Snowfoot! catch Snowfoot!" said Jack, quickly placing the ear of +corn in the dog's mouth. + +The horse was feeding some six rods off, near Peakslow's pair, when the +dog, singling him out, ran up and began to coquet with him, flourishing +the ear of corn. + +The boys were talking so loud, and Jack had let down the rails so +gently, and Lion had sped away so silently, that the movement was not +observed by the enemy until Snowfoot started for the fence. Even then +the excited boys did not see what was going on. But Peakslow did. + +If Snowfoot had been in his usual spirits he would have soon been off +the Peakslow premises. But his long pull from Chicago had tamed him; and +though hunger induced him to follow the ear of corn, it was at a pace +which Jack found exasperatingly slow,--especially when he saw Peakslow +running to the pasture, gun in hand, and heard him shout,-- + +"Let that hoss alone! I'll shoot you, and your dog and hoss too!" + +Jack answered by calling, "Co' jock! co' jock! Come, lion! Come, +Snowfoot! Co' jock!" + +At the same time Zeph and Dud took the alarm, and ran toward the gap +Jack had made,--they on one side of the fence, while Rufe raced with +them on the other. Meanwhile Betterson, having coolly reloaded his +discharged barrel, walked with his usual quiet, dignified step to the +broken fence. + +"Better keep this side," he said with deliberate politeness to Jack. +"You are on my land; you've a right here." + +"Oh! but that horse never will come!" said Jack. "Co' jock! co' jock!" + +"He is all right; keep cool, keep cool!" said Betterson. + +On came Peakslow, the inverted prow of his hooked nose cutting the +air,--both hands grasping the gun, ready for a shot. + +Jack did not heed him. Snatching the corn from Lion's mouth, he held it +out to Snowfoot: in a moment Snowfoot was crunching corn and bits, and +the bridle was slipping over his ears. + +"Head him off, boys!" shouted Peakslow. Then to Jack, "Stop, or I'll +shoot!" + +"If there's any shooting to be done," said Betterson, without for a +moment losing his politeness of tone and manner, "I can shoot as quick +as anybody; and, by the powers above, I will, if you draw trigger on +that boy!" + +"Take care of him,--go!" cried Jack, giving Lion the bridle-rein and +Snowfoot a slap. Then confronting Peakslow, "I've got my horse; I'm on +Mr. Betterson's land; what have you to say about it?" + +[Illustration: "STOP, OR I'LL SHOOT!"] + +"I'll shoot your dog!" + +"No, you won't!" And Jack sprang between the infuriated man and Lion +leading off the horse. + +Dud and Zeph were by this time on Betterson's side of the fence, +hurrying to head off Snowfoot. + +"Keep out of our buckwheat!" cried Rufe. "By George, Zeph, now I've got +you where I want you." + +"Help! Dud, Dud--help!" screamed Zeph. + +But Dud had something else to do. He sprang to seize Snowfoot's bridle; +when Lion, without loosing his hold of it, turned with such fury upon +the intruder, that he recoiled, and, tripping his heels in the trodden +buckwheat, keeled over backward. + +Meanwhile Rufe had Zeph down, and was rubbing the soft black loam of the +tilled field very thoroughly into his features, giving especial +attention to his neck and ears. Zeph was spitting the soil of the +country, and screaming; and Rufe was saying,-- + +"Lie still! I'll give your face such a scouring as it hasn't had since +you was a baby and fell into the soft-soap barrel!" + +Jack backed quietly off, as Peakslow, cocking his gun, pressed upon him +with loud threats and blazing eyes. The angry man was striding through +the gap, when Betterson stepped before him, courteous, stately, with a +polite but dangerous smile. + +"Have a care, friend Peakslow!" he said. "If you come upon my premises +with a gun, threatening to shoot folks, I'll riddle you with small shot; +I'll fill you as full of holes as a pepper-box!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +VICTORY. + + +Peakslow halted in the gap of the fence, his fury cooling before Lord +Betterson's steady eyes and quiet threat. + +Betterson went on, speaking deliberately, while his poised and ready +barrels gave emphasis to his remarks,-- + +"You've talked a good deal of shooting, one time and another, friend +Peakslow. I think it is about time to have done with that foolishness. +Excuse my frankness." + +"I've a right to defend my property and my premises!" said Peakslow, +glowing and fuming, but never stepping beyond the gap. + +"What property or premises, good neighbor? The horse is this young +man's; and nobody has set foot on your land." + +"That dog was on my land." + +"And so was the horse," put in Jack. + +"Take him off, pa! he's smotherin' on me!" shouted Zeph. + +"Your boy is abusin' mine. I'll take care o' _him_!" And Peakslow set a +foot over the two lower rails left in the gap. + +"You'd better stay where you are,--accept a friend's disinterested +advice," remarked Betterson. "If your boy had been on the right side of +the fence, minding his own business,--you will bear with me if I am +quite plain in my speech,--my boy would have had no occasion to soil his +hands with him." + +Peakslow appeared quite cowed by this unexpected show of determination +in his easy-going neighbor. He stood astride the rails, just where +Betterson had arrested his advance, and contented himself with urging +Dud to the rescue of his brother. + +"Why do ye stan' there and see Zeph treated that way? Why don't ye pitch +in?" + +"That's a game two can play at," said Jack. "Hands off, Dud, my boy." +And he stood by to see fair play. + +"My boy had a right on that land; it's by good rights mine to-day!" +exclaimed Peakslow. + +"We won't discuss that question; it has been settled once, neighbor," +replied Betterson. "Rufus, I think you've done enough for that boy; his +face is blacker than I ever saw it, which is saying a good deal. Let him +go. Mr. Peakslow,"--with a bow of gracious condescension over the frayed +stock,--"you are welcome to as much of this disputed territory as you +can shake out of that youngster's clothes,--not any more." + +"That seems to be a good deal," said Jack, laughing to see Zeph scramble +up, gasping, blubbering, flirting soil from his clothes and hair, and +clawing it desperately from his besmeared face. + +"That's for daring me to fight you," said Rufe, as he let him go. "I'll +pay you some other time for what you did to Cecie"; while Zeph went off +howling. + +"No more, Rufus," said Betterson. "Come and put up this fence." + +"I'll do that," said Jack. "I'm bound to leave it as I found it; if Mr. +Peakslow will please step either forward or back." + +Peakslow concluded to step back; and Jack and Rufe laid up the corner, +rail by rail. + +"Don't you think you've played me a perty shabby trick?" said Peakslow, +glaring at Jack. + +"You are hardly the man to speak with a very good grace of _anybody's_ +shabby tricks," Jack replied, putting up the top rail before the hooked +nose. + +"I didn't think it of you!" And Peakslow cast longing eyes after the +horse. + +"You must have forgotten what you thought," said Jack. "You didn't dare +turn the horse out till Zeph told you I'd gone home; and it seems you +kept pretty close watch of him then." + +Peakslow choked back his wrath, and muttered,-- + +"Ye might 'a' gi'n me suthin for my trouble." + +"So I would, willingly, if you had acted decently." + +"Gi' me suthin now, and settle it." + +"I consider it already settled,--like your land-claim dispute," said +Jack. "But no matter; how much do you want? Don't bid too high, you +know." + +"Gi' me a dollar, anyhow!" + +Jack laughed. + +"If I should give you enough to pay for the charge in your gun, wouldn't +that satisfy you? Though, as you didn't fire it at me, I don't quite see +that I ought to defray the expense of it. Good day, Mr. Peakslow." + +Jack went to find the chicken that had been shot; and Peakslow vented +his rage upon his neighbor across the fence. + +"What a pattern of a man you be! stuck-up, struttin',--a turkey-gobbler +kind of man, I call ye. Think I'm afraid o' yer gun?" + +"I have no answer to make to remarks of that nature," said Lord +Betterson, retiring from the fence. + +"Hain't, hey?" Peakslow roared after him. "Feel above a common man like +me, do ye? Guess I pay _my_ debts. If I set out to build, guess I look +out and not bu'st up 'fore I get my paintin' and plasterin' done. +Nothin' to say to me, hey?" + +Betterson coolly resumed his slow and stately march across the +buckwheat, looking for prairie chickens. + +"You puffed-up, pompous, would-be 'ristocrat!" said Peakslow, more and +more furious, "where'd you be if your relations didn't furnish ye money? +Poorer 'n ye be now, I guess. What if I should tell ye what yer +neighbors say of ye? Guess ye wouldn't carry yer head so plaguy high!" + +Two chickens rose from before Betterson's feet, and flew to right and +left. With perfect coolness and precision of aim he fired and brought +down one, then turned and dropped the other, with scarce an interval of +three seconds between the reports. + +"This is a very pretty piece of yours," he observed smilingly, with a +stately wave of the hand toward Jack. + +"I never saw anything so handsomely done!" exclaimed Jack, bringing the +chicken previously shot. + +At the same time he could not help glancing with some apprehension at +Peakslow, not knowing what that excitable neighbor might do, now that +Betterson's two barrels were empty. + +"I think I will stay and have one or two more shots," said Betterson. "A +very pretty piece indeed!" + +The muttering thunder of Peakslow's wrath died away in the distance, as +he retired with his forces. Rufe picked up the last two prairie chickens +and followed Jack, who ran to overtake the dog and horse. + +Lion still held the bridle-rein, letting Snowfoot nip the grass that +grew along the borders of the corn, but keeping him from the corn +itself. Jack patted and praised the dog, and stroked and caressed the +horse, looking him all over to see if he had received any fresh injury. + +Then Rufe joined him; and presently Wad came bounding down the slope +from the barn, laughing, carrying Jack's coat; and Link appeared, +running and limping, having hurt his ankle in jumping down from the +cow-shed. Behind came Chokie, trudging on his short legs, and tumbling +and sprawling at every few steps. + +The boys were jubilant over the victory, and Jack was the object of loud +congratulations; while Lion and Snowfoot formed the centre of the little +group. + +"Much obliged to you, Wad," said Jack, as they re-exchanged coats and +hats. "Thanks to you, I've got my horse again. Thanks to all of you. +Boys, I was perfectly astonished at your father's pluck!" And he could +not help thinking what a really noble specimen of a man Betterson might +have made, if he had not been standing on his dignity and waiting for +legacies all his life. + +"Not many folks know what sort of a man father is," replied Rufe. +"Peakslow would have found out, if he had drawn a bead on you. How quick +he stopped, and changed countenance! He can govern his temper when he +finds he must; and he can cringe and crawl when he sees it's for his +interest. Think of his asking you at last,--after you had got your horse +in spite of him, and at the risk of your life,--think of his begging you +to give him a dollar!" + +Jack said, "Look at that galled spot on Snowfoot's neck! Peakslow has +got all he could out of him the past week,--kept him low and worked him +hard in a cruel collar. Never mind, old Snowfoot! better times have come +now, for both of us. Here, Link, you are lame; want a ride?" + +Link did want a ride, of course,--who ever saw a boy that didn't? Jack +took hold of his foot and helped him mount upon Snowfoot's back; then +called to Chokie, who was getting up from his last tumble (with loud +lamentations), a few yards off. + +"Here, Chokie; don't cry; fun isn't all over yet; you can ride too." +Tossing the urchin up, Jack set him behind Link. "Hold on now, Chokie; +hug brother tight!" + +[Illustration: RETURNING IN TRIUMPH.] + +Both chubby arms reaching half around Link's waist, one chubby cheek +pressed close to Link's suspender, and two chubby legs sticking out on +Snowfoot's back, Chokie forgot his griefs, and, with the tear-streaks +still wet on his cheeks, enjoyed the fearful pleasure of the ride. + +Vinnie's bright face watched from the door, the delighted Lill clapped +her hands, and Mrs. Betterson and Cecie looked eagerly from the window, +as the little procession approached the house,--Lion walking sedately +before, then Link and Chokie riding the lost horse, and Jack and Rufe +and Wad following with the prairie chickens. + +More congratulations. Then Lord Betterson came from the field with +another bird. Then Snowfoot was saddled, and Jack, with dog and gun, and +two of the prairie chickens, took leave of his friends, and rode home in +triumph. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +VINNIE IN THE LION'S DEN. + + +When Link the next morning went to the spring for water he found that +the Peakslow boys (it could have been nobody else) had, by a dastardly +trick, taken revenge for the defeat of the day before. + +Link came limping back (his ankle was still sore) with an empty pail, +and loud complaints of the enemy. + +"They've been and gone and filled the spring with earth and leaves and +sticks, and all sorts of rubbish! It will take an hour to dig it out, +and then all day for the water to settle and be fit to drink." + +"Those dreadful Peakslow boys! what _shall_ we do?" Caroline said +despairingly. "No water for breakfast, and no near neighbors but the +Peakslows; but their well is the last place where we should think of +going for water." + +"I'll tell you what _I_'ll do!" said Link. "I'll go to-night and give +'em such a dose in their well, that they won't want any water from it +for the next two months! I know where there's a dead rabbit. The +Peakslows don't get the start of us!" + +"I don't see but that one of the boys will have to go to Mr. Wiggett's +for water," said poor Caroline, bemoaning her troubles. + +"Rufe and Wad are doing the chores," said Link, "and I'm lame. Besides, +you don't catch one of us going to old Wiggett's for water, for we +should have to pass Peakslow's house, and it would please 'em too well." + +"Let me take the pail; I will get some water," said Vinnie. + +"Why, Lavinia dear!" Caroline exclaimed, "what are you thinking of? +Where are you going?" + +"To Mr. Peakslow's," Vinnie answered with a smile. + +"Going into the lion's den! Don't think of such a thing, Lavinia dear!" + +"No, by sixty!" cried Link. "I don't want them boys to sass you! I'd +rather go a mile in the other direction for water,--bother the lame +foot!" + +But Vinnie quietly persisted, saying it would do no harm for her to try; +and putting on her bonnet, she started off with the empty pail. + +I cannot say that she felt no misgivings; but the consciousness of doing +a simple and blameless act helped to quiet the beating of her heart as +she approached the Peakslow door. + +It was open, and she could see the family at breakfast within, while the +loud talking prevented her footsteps from being heard. + +Besides Dud and Zeph, there were three or four younger children, girls +and boys, the youngest of whom--a child with bandaged hands and +arms--sat in its father's lap. + +Vinnie remembered the swarthy face, bushy beard, and hooked nose; and +yet she could hardly believe that this was the same man who once showed +her such ruffianly manners on the wharf in Chicago. He was fondling and +feeding the child, and talking to it, and drumming on the table with his +knife to amuse it and still its complaining cries. + +"Surely," thought Vinnie, "there must be some good in a man who shows so +much affection even toward his own child." And with growing courage she +advanced to the threshold. + +Mrs. Peakslow--a much-bent, over-worked woman, with a pinched and +peevish face--looked up quickly across the table and stared at the +strange visitor. In a moment all eyes were turned upon Vinnie. + +"I beg your pardon," she said, pausing at the door. "I wish to get a +pail of water. Can I go to your well and help myself?" + +The children--and especially Dud and Zeph--looked in astonishment at the +bright face and girlish form in the doorway. As Mr. Peakslow turned his +face toward her, all the tenderness went out of it. + +"What do Betterson's folks send here for water for? And what makes 'em +send a gal? Why don't they come themselves?" + +"They did not send me," Vinnie answered as pleasantly as she could. "I +came of my own accord." + +Peakslow wheeled round on his chair. + +"Queer sort of folks, they be! An' seems to me you must be queer, to be +stoppin' with 'em." + +"Mrs. Betterson is my sister," replied Vinnie in a trembling voice. "I +came to her because she is sick, and Cecie--because I was needed," she +said, avoiding the dangerous ground of Zeph's offence. + +"I've nothin' pa'tic'lar ag'in Mis' Betterson as I know on," said +Peakslow, "though of course she sides with him ag'in me, an' of course +_you_ side with _her_." + +"I've nothing to do with Mr. Betterson's quarrels," Vinnie answered, +drawing back from the door. "Will you kindly permit me to get a pail of +water? I am sorry if I give you any trouble." + +"No trouble; water's cheap," said Peakslow. "But why don't they have a +well o' their own, 'ste'd o' dependin' on their neighbors? What makes +'em so plaguy shif'less?" + +"They have a well, but it is dry this summer, and--" + +"Dry every summer, ain't it? What a way to dig a well that was!" + +"They have a very good spring," Vinnie said, "but something happened to +it last night." At which Dud and Zeph giggled and looked sheepish. + +"What happened to the spring?" + +"Somebody put rubbish into it." + +"Who done it, did you hear 'em say?" + +"I don't know who did it; and I should be sorry to accuse any person of +such an act," Vinnie answered with firm but serene dignity. + +The boys looked more sheepish and giggled less. + +"I know who put stuff in the spring," spoke up a little one, proud of +being able to convey useful information; "Dud and Zeph--" + +But at that moment Dud's hand stopped the prattler's mouth. + +"I don't believe my boys have done anything of the kind," said Peakslow; +"though 't wouldn't be strange if they did. See how that great lubberly +Rufe treated our Zeph yist'day! rubbed the dirt into his skin so 't he +hain't got it washed out yit." + +"I am sorry for these misunderstandings," said Vinnie, turning to Mrs. +Peakslow with an appealing look. "I wish you and my sister knew each +other better. You have a sick child, too, I see." + +"'T ain't sick, 'xac'ly," replied the mother in a peevish, snarling +tone. "Pulled over the teapot, and got hands and arms scalt." + +"O, poor little thing!" Vinnie exclaimed. "What have you done for it?" + +"Hain't done nothin' much, only wrapped up the blistered places in Injin +meal; that's coolin'." + +"No doubt; but I've some salve, the best thing in the world for burns. I +wish you would let me bring you some." + +"I guess Bubby'll git along 'thout no help from outside," said Peakslow, +his ill-natured growl softened by a feeling of tenderness for the child +which just then came over him. "He's weathered the wust on 't." + +But Bubby's fretful cries told that what was left was bad enough. + +"I will bring you the salve," said Vinnie, "and I hope you will try it; +it is so hard to see these little ones suffer." + +She was retiring, when Peakslow called after her,-- + +"Goin' 'ithout the water?" + +"I--thought--you had not told me I could have it." + +"Have it! of course you can have it; I wouldn't refuse nobody a pail o' +water. Ye see where the well is?" + +"O yes; thank you." And Vinnie hastened to the curb. + +"She can't draw it," snickered Zeph. "Handle's broke; and the crank'll +slip out of her hands and knock her to Jericho, if she don't look out." + +"Seems to be a perty spoken gal," said Peakslow, turning to finish his +breakfast. "I've nothin' ag'in _her_. You've finished your breakfast; +better go out, Dudley, and tell her to look out about the crank." + +With mixed emotions in his soul, Dud went; his countenance enlivened at +one and the same time with a blush of boyish bashfulness and a malicious +grin. As he drew near, and saw Vinnie embarrassed with the windlass, +which seemed determined to let the bucket down too fast (as if animated +with a genuine Peakslow spite toward her), the grin predominated; but +when she turned upon him a troubled, smiling face, the grin subsided, +and the blush became a general conflagration, extending to the tips of +his ears. + +"How does 't go?" + +"It's inclined to go altogether too fast," said Vinnie, stopping the +windlass; "and it hurts my hands." + +"Le' me show ye." + +And Dud, taking her place by the curb, let the windlass revolve with +moderated velocity under the pressure of his rough palms, until the +bucket struck the water. Then, drawing it up, he filled her pail. + +The grin had by this time faded quite out of his countenance; and when +she thanked him sweetly and sincerely for helping her, the blush became +a blush of pleasure. + +"It is more than I can carry," she said. "I shall have to pour out +some." + +Thereupon Dud Peakslow astonished himself by an extraordinary act of +gallantry. + +"I'll carry it for ye as fur as the road; I'd carry it all the way, if +'t was anywhere else." And he actually took up the pail. + +"You seem to have a very bad opinion of my relations," Vinnie said. + +"Good reason! They hate us, too!" + +"And think _they_ have good reason. But I'm sure you are not so bad as +they believe; and _you_ may possibly be mistaken about _them_. Let me +take the pail now. You are very kind." + +Dud gave up the pail with reluctance, and gazed after her up the road, +his stupid mouth ajar with an expression of wistful wonder and pleasure. + +"Hurry now and git up the team, Dud!" his father called from the door. +"What ye stan'in' there for? Didn't ye never see a gal afore?" + +When Vinnie reached home with her pail of water, all gathered around, +eager to hear her adventure. + +"The lions were not very savage, after all," she said, laughing. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +AN "EXTRAORDINARY" GIRL. + + +After breakfast Vinnie left Lill to "do the dishes," and went with her +box of salve to fulfil her promise to Mrs. Peakslow. Dud and Zeph were +off at work with their father; and she was glad to find the mother alone +with the younger children. + +"Oh! you ag'in?" said Mrs. Peakslow, by the chimney, looking up from a +skillet she was stooping over and scraping. "Ye need n't 'a' took the +trouble. Guess Bubby's burns 'll git along." + +But Vinnie was not to be rebuffed. + +"I have brought some linen rags to spread the salve on. Will you let me +do it myself? I wish you would; the poor thing is suffering so." + +And Vinnie knelt down beside the girl who was holding Bubby in her arms. + +"Is 't any o' the Betterson folks's sa'v'?" Mrs. Peakslow inquired, +scraping away at her skillet. + +"No; it is some I brought from the East with me, thinking I should find +a use for it in my sister's family; it is good for various things." + +"Better keep it for her family!" snarled Mrs. Peakslow. Scrape, scrape. + +"There's plenty and to spare," said Vinnie, unrolling her rags. "And my +sister will be only too glad if it can be of any service to you." + +"Think so?" Mrs. Peakslow stopped her scraping and scowled at Vinnie. +"Her folks hain't never showed us none too much good-will." + +"They have never known you,--you have never understood each other," said +Vinnie. "It is too bad that the troubles between the men should prevent +you and her from being on neighborly terms. Can I use a corner of this +table to spread the salve? And can I see the little thing's burns, so as +to shape the plasters to cover them?" + +"He tol' me not to use the sa'v', if ye brought it," said Mrs. Peakslow +doubtfully, laying down the skillet. + +"When he sees the good effect of it I am sure he won't complain; he is +too fond of his little boy," said Vinnie, placing rags and salve on the +table. "Will you let me take a case-knife and a pair of scissors?" + +"Got rags enough of my own. Needn't trouble yourself to cut and spread +plasters. _Try_ the sa'v', 'f ye say so." + +Vinnie did say so, and dressed Bubby's burns with her own hands, doing +the work so deftly and tenderly, talking now to the child, now to the +mother, who had taken him into her lap, and showing in every look and +tone so cheerful and sweet a spirit that poor Mrs. Peakslow's peevish +heart warmed and softened toward her. + +"I do declare," she said, as the outer bandages were going on, "Bubby +feels comforted a'ready. Must be dreffle good sa'v'! _Much_ obleeged to +ye, I'm sure. How _is_ yer sister?" + +"Much better than she was; and the baby is better too. Indeed," said +Vinnie, "I think the baby will get well as soon as the mother does." + +"And Cecie--how's Cecie?" Mrs. Peakslow timidly asked. + +"O, Cecie is in very good spirits! She is the most gentle, patient, +beautiful girl you ever saw! She never complains; and she is always so +grateful for any little thing that is done for her!" + +"S'pose the folks feel hard to our Zeph; don't they?" + +"I believe the boys do, and you can hardly wonder at it, Mrs. Peakslow," +said Vinnie; "their own dear sister! crippled for life, perhaps. But +Cecie won't allow that your son _meant_ to hurt her; she always takes +his part when the subject is brought up." + +"Does she?" exclaimed Mrs. Peakslow, surprised into sudden tears. "I +wouldn't 'a' believed that! Must _be_ she's a good gal. Truth is, Zeph +hadn't no notion o' hurtin' on her. It's re'ly troubled me,--it's +troubled all on us, though I don't s'pose her folks'll believe it." + +And Mrs. Peakslow, not finding it convenient to get at her apron, with +Bubby in her lap, wiped her eyes with a remnant of Vinnie's rags. + +"Isn't it too sad that this quarrel is kept up?" said Vinnie. + +"O dear me! nobody knows," said Mrs. Peakslow, in a quavering voice, +"what a life it is! Our folks is _some_ to blame, I s'pose. But the +Bettersons have been _so_ aggravatin'! Though I've nothin' ag'in the +gals. They're as perty gals as I'd ask to have play with my children. My +children is sufferin' for mates. I want society, too, for it's a dreffle +life,--a dreffle life!" And the quavering voice broke into sobs. + +Vinnie was surprised and pained at this outburst, and hardly knew what +reply to make. + +"Lyddy, wipe them dishes!" Mrs. Peakslow went on again, sopping her eyes +with the remnant of rags. "Lecty Ann! here, take Bubby. Scuse me, miss; +I d'n' know what sot me goin' this way; but my heart's been shet up so +long; I've _so_ wanted sympathy!" And now the apron did service in place +of the rags. + +"Yes, I know," said Vinnie. "This is a lonesome country, unless you have +friends around you. There seem to be a few nice people here,--people +from the East; you are from the East, I suppose?" + +"O yes; but _he_ ain't a very social man, an' he's dreffle sot in his +way. He don't go out nowheres, 'thout he has business, an' he don't +think there's any need of a woman's goin' out. So there it is. The +Wiggetts, our neighbors on one side, ain't our kind o' people; then +there's the Bettersons on t'other side. An' there's allus so many things +a wife has to put up with, an' hold her tongue. O dear! O dear! Keep to +your work, gals! hear?" + +There was something almost comical in this sharp and shrill winding-up +of the good woman's pathetic discourse; but Vinnie never felt less like +laughing. + +"I am glad you can speak freely to me," she said. "I'll come and see you +again, if you will let me; and I want you some time to come and see my +sister." + +"I d'n' know! I d'n' know!" said Mrs. Peakslow, still weeping. "_You_ +may come _here_,--like to have ye,--only it'll be jest as well if you +time your visits when me an' the gals is alone; you know what men-folks +be." + +"You are really an extraordinary girl, Lavinia dear!" Caroline said, +when Vinnie went home and told her story. "Did you know it?" + +Vinnie laughed. + +"Why, no; I never thought of such a thing; what I do comes so very +natural." + +"Extraordinary!" Caroline repeated, regarding her admiringly. "I'm proud +of such a sister. I always told Mr. Betterson there was good blood on +our side too. I wonder what Radcliff would think of you." + +Vinnie sincerely believed that so fine a young gentleman would not think +anything of her at all, but feared it might seem like affectation in him +to say so. + +"And I wonder," Caroline continued, with the usual simper which her +favorite theme inspired, "what you would think of Radcliff. Ah, Lavinia +dear! it is a comfort for me to reflect that it was a Betterson--nobody +less than a thoroughbred Betterson--who took the place in our family +which you would otherwise have filled." + +Evidently Caroline's conscience was not quite easy on the subject of her +early neglect of so "extraordinary" a sister; for she often alluded to +it in this way. Vinnie now begged her not to mention it again. + +"And you really cherish no hard feelings?" + +"None whatever." + +"You are _very_ good. And pretty; did you know it? Quite pretty." + +Vinnie laughed again. + +"Mrs. Presbit brought me up to the wholesome belief that I was quite +plain." + +"That was to prevent you from becoming vain. Vanity, you know," said +Caroline, with her most exquisite simper, "spoils so many girls! I'm +thankful it doesn't run in _our_ family! But didn't your glass undeceive +you?" + +"On the contrary, I used to look in it and say to myself, 'It is a very +_common_ face; I _wish_ it was pretty, but Aunt Presbit is right; I'm a +homely little thing!'" + +"And you felt bad?" + +"I never mourned over it; though, of course, I should have much +preferred to be handsome." + +"And hasn't anybody ever told you you _were_ handsome?" + +Vinnie blushed. + +"Of course I've heard a good deal of nonsense talked now and then." + +"Lavinia dear, you _are_ extraordinary. And handsome, though not in the +usual sense of the word. Your face _is_ rather common, in repose, but it +lights up wonderfully. And, after all, I don't know that it is so much +your face, as the expression you throw into it, that is so enchanting. +What _would_ Radcliff Betterson say to you, I wonder?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +ANOTHER HUNT, AND HOW IT ENDED. + + +Jack had one day been surveying a piece of land a few miles east of Long +Woods. It was not very late in the afternoon when he finished his work; +and he found that, by going a little out of his way and driving rather +fast, he could, before night, make Vinnie and her friends a call, and +perhaps give Mrs. Wiggett the promised noon-mark on her kitchen floor. + +Leaving in due time the more travelled thoroughfare, he turned off upon +the neighborhood road, which he knew passed through the woods and struck +the river road near Betterson's house. Away on his left lay the rolling +prairie, over a crest of which he, on a memorable occasion, saw Snowfoot +disappear with his strange rider; and he was fast approaching the scene +of his famous deer-hunt. + +Jack had his gun with him; and, though he did not stop to give much +attention to the prairie hens which now and then ran skulkingly across +the track, or flew up from beside his buggy-wheels, he could not help +looking for larger game. + +"I'd like to see another doe and fawn feeding off on the prairie there," +thought he. "Wonder if I could find some obliging young man to drive +them in!" + +He whipped up Snowfoot, and presently, riding over a swell of land, +discovered a stranger walking on before him in the road. + +"No deer or fawn," thought he; "but there's possibly an obliging young +man." + +As he drove on, fast overtaking the pedestrian, Jack was very much +struck by his appearance. He was a slender person; he walked at a +loitering pace; and he carried his coat on his arm. There was something +also in the jaunty carriage of the head, and in the easy slouch of the +hat-brim, which startled Jack. + +"I vow, it's my obliging young man himself!" he muttered through his +teeth,--"or a vision of him!" + +Just then the stranger, hearing the sound of wheels, cast a quick glance +over his shoulder. It was the same face, and Jack could almost have +taken his oath to the quid in the cheek. + +He was greatly astonished and excited. It seemed more like a dream than +anything else, that he should again meet with the person who had given +him so much trouble, so near the place where he had seen him first, in +precisely similar hat and soiled shirt-sleeves, and carrying (to all +appearances) the same coat on his arm! + +The stranger gave no sign of the recognition being mutual, but stepped +off upon the roadside to let the buggy pass. + +"How are you?" said Jack, coming up to him, and drawing rein; while Lion +snuffed suspiciously at the rogue's heels. + +"All right, stranger; how are you yourself?" And a pair of reckless dark +eyes flashed saucily up at Jack. + +"Better than I was that night after you ran off with my horse!" Jack +replied. + +"Glad you're improving. Wife on the mending hand? And how are the little +daisies? Which is the road to Halleluia Corners? I branch off here; good +day, fair stranger." + +These words were rattled off with great volubility, which seemed all the +greater because of their surprising irrelevancy; while the head, thrown +gayly to one side, balanced the quid in the bulged cheek. + +Before Jack could answer, the youth with a wild laugh struck off from +the road, and began to walk fast toward the woodland. Jack called after +him,-- + +"Hold on! I want to speak with you!" + +"Speak quick, then; I'm bound for the Kingdom,--will you go to glory +with me?" the rogue shouted back over his shoulder, with a defiant grin, +never slacking his pace. + +Jack gave Snowfoot a touch of the whip, reined out of the track, and +drove after him. + +The fellow at the same time quickened his step to a run, and before he +could be overtaken he had come to rough ground, where fast driving was +dangerous. + +Jack pulled up unwillingly, revolving rapidly in his mind what he +should do. Though he had recovered his horse, he felt the strongest +desire to have the thief taken and punished. Moreover, he had lately +seen the truckman to whom the stolen animal was sold, and had promised +to do what he could to help him obtain justice. + +He might have levelled his gun and threatened to shoot the fugitive; but +he would not have felt justified in carrying out such a threat, and +recent experience had disgusted him with the shooting business. + +He would have jumped from the wagon, and followed on foot; but, though a +good runner, he was convinced that his heels were no match for the +stranger's. There was then but one thing to do. + +"Stop, or I'll let the dog take you!" Jack yelled. + +For reply, the fugitive threw up his hand over his shoulder, with +fingers spread and thumb pointing toward the mid-region of countenance +occupied by the nose; which did not, however, take the trouble to turn +and make itself visible. + +Lion was already eager for the chase; and Jack had only to give him a +signal. + +"Take care of him, Lion!" And away sped the dog. + +Fleet of foot as the fellow was, and though he now strained every nerve +to get away, the distance between him and the dog rapidly diminished; +and a hurried glance behind showed him the swift, black, powerful +animal, coming with terrible bounds, and never a bark, hard at his +heels. + +The thickets were near,--could he reach them before the dog reached him? +Would they afford him a refuge or a cudgel? He threw out his quid, and +_leaned_. + +Jack drove after as fast as he could, in order to prevent mortal +mischief when Lion should bring down his game; for the dog, when too +much in earnest with a foe, had an overmastering instinct for searching +out the windpipe and jugular vein. + +The rogue had reached the edge of the woods, when he found himself so +closely pursued that he seemed to have no resource but to turn and dash +his coat into the dog's face. That gave him an instant's reprieve; then +Lion was upon him again; and he had just time to leap to the low limb of +a scraggy oak-tree, and swing his lower limbs free from the ground, when +the fierce eyes and red tongue were upon the spot. + +Lion gave one leap, but missed his mark; the trap-like jaws snapping +together with a sound which could not have been very agreeable to the +youth whose dangling legs had been actually grazed by the passing +muzzle. + +With a wistful, whining yelp, Lion gave another upward spring; and this +time his fangs closed upon something--only cloth, fortunately; but as +the thief clambered up out of their range, it was with a very good +chance for a future patch upon the leg of his trousers. + +Leaping from his wagon, Jack rushed to the tree, and found his obliging +young man perched comfortably in it, with one leg over a limb; while +Lion, below, made up for his long silence by uttering frantic barks. + +[Illustration: THE END OF THE CHASE.] + +"What are you up there for?" said Jack. + +"To take an observation," the fellow replied, out of breath, but still +cheerful. "First-rate view of the country up here. I fancy I see a doe +and a fawn off on the prairie; wouldn't you like a shot at 'em?" + +"I've other game to look after just now!" Jack replied. + +"Better look out for your horse; he's running away!" + +"My horse isn't in the habit of running away without help. Will you come +down?" + +"I was just going to invite you to come up. I'll share my lodgings with +you,--give you an upper berth. A very good tavern; rooms airy, fine +prospect; though the table don't seem to be very well supplied, and I +can't say I fancy the entrance. 'Sich gittin' up stairs I never did +see!'" + +Jack checked this flow of nonsense by shouting, "Will you come down, or +not?" + +"Suppose not?" said the fellow. + +"Then I leave the dog to guard the door of your tavern, and go for a +warrant and a constable, to bring you down." + +"What would you have me come down for? You seem to be very pressing in +your attentions to a stranger!" + +"Don't say stranger,--you who drove the deer in for me! I am anxious to +pay you for that kindness. I want you to ride with me." + +"Why didn't you say so before?" cried the rogue, rolling a fresh quid +in his cheek. "I always ride when you ask me to, don't I? Say, did you +ever know me to refuse when you offered me a ride? Which way are you +going?" + +"Down through the woods," said Jack, amused, in spite of himself, at the +scamp's reckless gayety. + +"Why, that's just the way I am going! Why didn't you mention it? I never +should have put up at this tavern if I had thought a friend would come +along and give me a lift in his carriage. Please relieve the guard, and +I'll descend." + +The dog was driven off, and the youth dropped from the branches to the +ground. + +"Pick up your coat," said Jack, "and do pretty much as I tell you now, +or there'll be trouble. None of your tricks this time!" + +He held the reins and the gun while he made the fellow get into the +buggy; then took his seat, with the prisoner on his left and the gun on +his right, drove on to the travelled track, and turned into the woods; +the vigilant Lion walking close by the wheel. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +JACK'S PRISONER. + + +For a second time Jack now travelled that woodland road under odd +circumstances; the first occasion being that on which he himself had +pulled in the shafts, while Link pushed behind. He laughed as he thought +of that adventure, of which the present seemed a fitting sequel. Before, +he had been obliged to go home without his horse; what a triumph it +would now be to carry home the thief! But to do this, great care and +vigilance would be necessary; and he calculated all the chances, and +resolved just what he would do, should his captive attempt to escape. +The rogue, on the contrary, appeared contented with his lot. + +"Young man," said he, "I can't call your name, but let me say you +improve upon acquaintance. This is galorious! better by a long chalk +than a horseback gallop without a saddle. I suppose you will call for me +with a barouche next time!" + +"At all events, I may help you to free lodgings,--not up in a tree, +either!" Jack said, as he touched up Snowfoot. + +He had, of course, abandoned the idea of giving Mrs. Wiggett her +noon-mark that day. But he could not think of passing the "castle" +without stopping at the door. + +"What will Vinnie say?" thought he, with a thrill of anticipation. And +it must be confessed that he felt no little pride at the prospect of +showing his prisoner to Lord Betterson and the boys. + +Descending the long declivity, the fellow was strangely silent, for one +so rattle-brained, until the "castle" appeared in sight through an +opening of the woods. "He's plotting mischief," Jack thought. And when +suddenly the rogue made a movement with his arms, Jack started, ready +for a grapple. + +"Don't be excited; I'm only putting on my coat." + +"All right," said Jack; and the garment was put on. "Anything else I can +do for you?" + +"I'm dying with thirst; they had nothing to drink at that tavern where +you found me." + +"May be we can get some water at this house," Jack said. + +"Are you acquainted here?" the prisoner inquired, with a curious, sober +face. + +"Yes, well enough to ask for a glass of water." And Jack drove into the +yard. + +The rogue kept on his sober face, but seemed to be laughing prodigiously +inside. + +As Jack reined up to the door, Lill came out, clapped her hands with +sudden surprise, and screamed, "O mother!" Then Vinnie appeared, her +face radiant on seeing Jack, but changing suddenly at sight of his +companion. Mrs. Betterson followed, and, perceiving the faces in the +buggy, uttered a cry, tottered, and clung to Vinnie's shoulder. + +Link at the same time ran out from behind the house, dropped a dirty +stick, wiped his hands on his trousers, and shouted, "Hullo! by sixty! +ye don't say so!" while Rufe and Wad came rushing up from the barn. Jack +had rather expected to produce a sensation,--not, however, until he +should fairly have shown his prisoner; and this premature commotion +puzzled him. + +The rogue's suppressed laughter was now bubbling freely; a frothy and +reckless sort of mirth, without much body of joy to it. + +"How are ye all?" he cried. "Don't faint at sight of me, Aunt Carrie. +This is an unexpected pleasure!" and he bowed gayly to Vinnie. + +"O Radcliff! you again? and in _this_ style!" said poor Caroline. "Where +_did_ you come from?" + +"From up a tree, at last accounts. Hullo, boys! I'd come down on my +trotters, and hug you all round, but my friend here would be jealous." + +Jack was confounded. + +"Is _this_ your Cousin Rad?" he cried, as the boys crowded near. "I'm +sorry to know it, for he's the fellow who ran off with my horse. Where +did _you_ ever see him before, Vinnie?" + +"He is the one I told you about,--in Chicago," said Vinnie, astonished +to find her waggish acquaintance, the elegant Radcliff Betterson, and +this captive vagabond, the same person. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +RADCLIFF. + + +Lord Betterson now came out of the house, calm and stately, but with +something of the look in his eye, as he turned it upon his nephew, which +Jack had observed when it menaced Peakslow at the gap of the fence. + +"Ah, Radcliff! you have returned? Why don't you alight?" And he touched +his hat to Jack. + +"Your nephew may tell you the reason, if he will," Jack replied. + +"The long and the short of it is this," said Radcliff, betraying a good +deal of trouble, under all his assumed carelessness: "When I was on my +way home, a few weeks ago, this young man asked me to drive in some deer +for him. He gave me his horse to ride. I made a mistake, and rode him +too far." + +"You, Radcliff!" said Lord Betterson, sternly; while Mrs. Betterson went +into hysterics on Vinnie's shoulder, and was taken into the house. + +"We thought of Rad when you described him," Rufe said to Jack. "But we +couldn't believe he would do such a thing." + +[Illustration: JACK AND HIS JOLLY PRISONER.] + +"'Twas the most natural thing in the world," Rad explained. "I was +coming home because I was hard up. I didn't steal the horse,--he was put +into my hands; it was a breach of trust, that's all you can make of it. +Necessity compelled me to dispose of him. With money in my pocket, what +was the use of my coming home? I took my clothes out of pawn, and was +once more a gentleman. Money all gone, I spouted my clothes again,--fell +back upon this inexpensive rig,--took to the country, remembered I had a +home, and was making for it, when this young man overtook me just now, +and gave me a seat in his buggy." + +"The matter appears serious," said Lord Betterson. "Am I to understand +that you have taken my nephew prisoner?" + +"He can answer that question," said Jack. + +"Well, I suppose that is the plain English of it," replied Radcliff. +"Come, now, Uncle Lord! this ain't the first scrape you've got me out +of; fix it up with him, can't you?" + +"It is my duty to save the honor of the name; but you are bent on +destroying it. Will you please to come into the house with my nephew, +and oblige me?" Betterson said to Jack. + +"Certainly, if you wish it," Jack replied. "Get down, Radcliff. Be +quiet, Lion! I was never in so hard a place in my life," he said to the +boys, as they followed Rad and his uncle into the house. "I never +dreamed of his being your cousin!" + +"He's a wild fellow,--nothing very bad about him, only he's just full +of the Old Harry," said Rufe. "I guess father'll settle it, somehow." + +Meanwhile, Mrs. Betterson had retired to her room, where Vinnie was +engaged, with fan and hartshorn, in restoring--not her consciousness, +for that she had not lost, but her equanimity. + +"Lavinia!" she said brokenly, at intervals, "Lavinia dear! don't think I +intended to deceive you. It was, perhaps, too much the ideal Radcliff I +described to you,--the Betterson Radcliff, the better Betterson +Radcliff, if I may so speak; for he is, after all, you know, a--but that +is the agony of it! The name is disgraced forever! Fan me, Lavinia +dear!" + +"I don't see how the act of one person should disgrace anybody else, +even of the same name," Vinnie replied. + +"But--a Betterson!" groaned Caroline. "My husband's nephew! Brought back +here like a reprobate! The hartshorn, Lavinia dear!" + +Hard as it was freely to forgive her sister for holding up to her so +exclusively the "ideal Radcliff" in her conversations, Vinnie continued +to apply the fan and hartshorn, with comforting words, until Link came +in and said that Jack wished her to be present in the other room. + +"Don't leave me, Lavinia dear!" said Caroline, feeling herself utterly +helpless without Vinnie's support. + +"If we open this door between the rooms, and you sit near it, while I +remain by you,--perhaps that will be the best way," said Vinnie. + +The door was opened, showing Jack and Rad and Mr. Betterson seated, and +the boys standing by the outer door. Rad was trying hard to keep up his +appearance of gay spirits, chucking Chokie under the chin, and winking +playfully at Rufe and Wad. But Jack and Lord were serious. + +"I have reasons for wanting you to hear this talk, Vinnie," said Jack. +"I was just telling Mr. Betterson that you had met his nephew before, +and he was quite surprised. It seems to me singular that you never told +your friends here of that adventure." + +"I suppose I know what you mean," spoke up Caroline. "And I confess that +_I_ am at fault. Lavinia dear did tell me and the girls of a young man +beguiling her to a public-house in Chicago, and offering her wine; and +Cecie whispered to me that she was sure it must have been Radcliff; but +I couldn't, I wouldn't believe a Betterson could be guilty of--Fan me, +Lavinia dear!" + +Vinnie fanned, and Caroline went on,-- + +"'T was I who cautioned the children against saying anything disparaging +of Radcliff's character in Lavinia dear's presence. I had such faith in +the stock! and now to think how I have been deluded! The hartshorn, +Lavinia dear!" + +"Seems to me you make a pile of talk about trifles!" Radcliff said with +a sneer. "I owe an apology to this young lady. But she knows I meant no +harm,--only my foolish fun. As for the horse, the owner has got him +again; and so I don't see but it's all right." + +"It's all right enough, as far as I am concerned," said Jack. "I won't +say a word about the trouble and expense you put me to. But, whether +taking my horse as you did was stealing or not, you sold him, you +obtained money under false pretences, you swindled an honest man." + +"Well, that can't be helped now," said Radcliff, with a scoffing laugh. +"A feller is obliged sometimes to do things that may not be exactly on +the square." + +"I don't know about anybody's being obliged to go off and play the +gentleman (if that's what you call it), and have a good time (if there's +any good in such a time), at somebody else's expense. I call such +conduct simply scoundrelism," said Jack, his strong feeling on the +subject breaking forth in plain speech and ringing tones. "And I +determined, if I ever caught you, to have you punished." + +"O, well! go ahead! put it through! indulge!" said Radcliff, folding his +arms, and stretching out his legs with an air of easy and reckless +insolence, but suddenly drawing up one of them, as he noticed the tear +Lion's teeth had made. "Guess I can stand it if the others can. What do +you say, Uncle Lord? Give me up as a bad job, eh?" + +"Hem!" Lord coughed, and rubbed his chin with his palm. "If this sort of +conduct is to continue, the crisis may as well come now, I suppose, as +later; and, unless you give a solemn pledge to alter your course, I +shall let it come." + +"O, I'll give the solem'est sort of a pledge!" Radcliff replied. + +"You will notice--ahem!--a change in our family," Lord went on. "The +boys have applied themselves to business,--in plain terms, gone to work. +Although I have said little on the subject, I have silently observed, +and I am free to confess that I have been gratified. Since our +circumstances are what they are, they have done well,--I may add, they +have done nobly." + +"Fan me, Lavinia dear!" whispered Caroline. + +"Hey, boys? what's got into you?" said Radcliff, really astonished. + +Lord put up his hand, to prevent the boys from answering, and +continued,-- + +"Your unusually long absence, I am persuaded, has had a wholesome +effect. But to the presence of new elements in the family I attribute +the better state of things, in a large measure." Lord indicated Lavinia, +by a gracious wave of the hand, adding, "Though a man of few words, I am +not blind, and I am not ungrateful." + +This recognition of her influence, before Jack and the whole family, +brought the quick color to Vinnie's cheeks and tears to her eyes. She +was surprised by what Lord said, and still more surprised that any words +of his could touch her so. He had hitherto treated her with civil, +quiet reserve, and she had never been able to divine his secret thought +of her. Nor had she cared much, at first, what that might be; but day by +day she had learned to know that under all his weaknesses there was +something in his character worthy of her esteem. + +"If you choose to fall into the new course of things, Radcliff, you will +be welcome here, as you always have been. Not otherwise." + +And again Jack was reminded of the look and tone with which he had seen +Lord Betterson confront Peakslow at the gap of the fence. + +"Of course I'll fall in, head over heels," said Radcliff, with a laugh, +and a look at Vinnie, which Jack did not like. "I think I shall fancy +the new elements, as you call 'em." + +Jack started up, with sparkling eyes; but, on an instant's reflection, +bridled his tongue, and settled down again, merely giving Vinnie a swift +glance, which seemed to say, "If he has any more of his _fun_ with you, +I'll--" + +"No more trifling," said Betterson. "If you stay, you will come under +the new _regime_. That means, in plain speech--work; we all work." + +"Oh!" gasped poor Caroline, and reached out helplessly to her sister. +"The hartshorn, Lavinia dear!" + +"I'll stay, and I'll work,--I'll do as the rest do," said Radcliff. "But +when the Philadelphia partners pony up, of course I have my dividend." + +"A word here," said Lord, "is due to our friends. By the Philadelphia +partners, my nephew means the relatives who occasionally send us money. +Now, as to his dividend: when he came into our family, it was with the +understanding that he would be clothed and educated at the expense of +those connections. Accordingly, when money has been sent to me, a +portion has always gone to him. As soon as he gets money, it burns him +till he goes off and squanders it. When it is gone, he comes home here, +and waits for another supply." + +Then Jack spoke up. + +"I say, when the next supply comes, eighty dollars of it--if there's as +much--should be paid over to that truckman he swindled. I insist upon +that." + +Radcliff snapped his fingers. "That's a foolish way of doing business!" + +"Foolish or not," cried Jack, "you shall agree to it." + +"You have anticipated me," remarked Betterson, with a high courtesy +contrasting with Jack's haste and heat. "I was about to propose a +similar arrangement. Radcliff's money passes through my hands. I will +see to it,--the truckman shall be paid. Do you agree, Radcliff? If not, +I have nothing more to urge." + +"Of course I agree, since I can't help myself. But next time I have a +horse to dispose of," Radcliff added with a derisive smile at Jack, "I +shall go farther. So take care!" + +"No need of giving me that warning," Jack made answer, rising to his +feet. He went over and stood by Vinnie, and looked back with strong +distrust upon the jeering Radcliff. "I don't know that I do right, Mr. +Betterson; but I'll leave him here, if you say so." + +"I think it best, on the whole," Mr. Betterson replied. + +"O, bosh!" cried Radcliff, giving Jack a sinister look. "You and I'll be +better acquainted, some day! Come, boys, show me what you've been about +lately. And, see here, Rufe,--haven't I got a pair of pants about the +house somewhere? See how that dog tore my trousers-leg! I'll pay _him_ +my compliments, too, some time!" + +As he was walking out of the house, Lion at the door gave a growl. Jack +silenced the dog, and then took leave. Vinnie urged him to stay to +supper. + +"It will be ready in five minutes," she said; "I was just going to set +the table when you came." + +But Jack replied, with a bitter smile, that he believed his appetite +would be better after a ride of a few miles in the open air. + +"Look out for the scamp!" he whispered in her ear; and then, with brief +good-byes to the rest, he sprang into the buggy, called Lion to a seat +by his side, and drove away. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +AN IMPORTANT EVENT. + + +Radcliff resumed his place in the family. But he soon found that his +relations to it were no longer what they had been before the days of +Vinnie and Jack. + +The "new elements" had produced a greater change than he supposed. He no +longer possessed the boundless influence over the boys which his wild +spirits formerly gave him. They saw him in the light of this last +revelation of his character, and contrasted his coarse foolery, once so +attractive, with the gentle manners and cheerful earnestness of Vinnie +and Jack; in which comparison this flower of the Betterson stock +suffered blight. + +The boys did not take a holiday in honor of Rad's return, but went +steadily on with their tasks. Lord Betterson himself seemed suddenly to +have changed his views of things, for he now offered to assist the boys +in repairing the fences, for which they had been cutting poles in the +woods. + +Rad worked a little, but, seeing how things were going, sulked a good +deal more. He tried to be very gallant toward Vinnie, but her quiet +dignity of manner was proof against all his pleasantries. Even Cecie +and Lill could not somehow enjoy his jests as they used to; and +Caroline--there was no disguising the fact--had ceased to view his +faults through the golden haze of a sentimental fancy. + +So Radcliff found himself out of place, unappreciated; and discontent +filled his soul. At length an event occurred which blew his smouldering +restlessness into a flame. + +The "Philadelphia partners" were heard from. + +Rufe and Wad, who had been over to the Mills one day, completing their +arrangements with the pump-maker for boring the logs of their aqueduct, +brought home from the mail one of those envelopes whose post-mark and +superscription always gladdened the eyes of the Bettersons. + +It was from Philadelphia, and it contained a draft for two hundred and +fifty dollars. + +One third of this sum was for Radcliff's "benefit." + +It would have been wise, perhaps, to keep from him the knowledge of this +fact; but it would have been impossible. + +"A pittance, a mere pittance," said Lord, holding the precious bit of +paper up to the light. "Uncle George could just as well have made it a +thousand, without feeling it. However, small favors gratefully +received." And he placed the draft in his pocket-book with calm +satisfaction. + +Joy overflowed the family; Caroline began to build fresh castles in the +air; and Vinnie heard Radcliff say to the boys,-- + +"You can afford to lay by now, and have a good time, with that money." + +"Radcliff Betterson!" cried Vinnie, "you provoke me!" + +"How so, my charmer?" said Rad, bowing and smiling saucily. + +"With your foolish talk. But I hope--yes, I know--the boys will pay no +attention to it. To stop work now, and go and play, just because a +little money has come into the house,--I should lose all my respect for +them, if they were to do so silly a thing." + +"Well, I was only joking," said Rad. + +"We could very well spare some of your jokes," Vinnie replied. + +"And me too, I suppose you think?" + +"You might be more useful to yourself and others than you are; it is +easy to see that." + +"Well, give me a smile now and then; don't be so cross with a feller," +said Rad. "You don't show me very much respect." + +"It isn't my fault; I should be glad to show you more." + +Such was about the usual amount of satisfaction Radcliff got from his +talk with Vinnie. She was always "up to him," as the boys said. + +When he walked off, and found them laughing at his discomfiture, he +laughed too, with a fresh quid in his cheek, and his head on one-side, +but with something not altogether happy in his mirth. + +"Uncle Lord," said he in the evening, "if you'll put your name to that +draft, I'll go over to the Mills in the morning and cash it for you." + +"Thank you, Radcliff," said his uncle. "I've some bills to pay, and I +may as well go myself." + +"Let the bills slide, why don't you, and get some good out of the +money?" said Radcliff. "And see here, uncle,--what's the use of paying +off that truckman in such a hurry? I want some of that money; it was +intended for me, and I ain't going to be cheated out of it." + +"As to that," replied Lord, "you entered into a certain agreement, which +seemed to me just; and I do not like now to hear you speak of being +cheated,--you, of all persons, Radcliff." + +"O, well, I suppose you'll do as you like, since you've got the thing +into your hands!" And Radcliff walked sulkily out of the house. + +The next day Mr. Betterson drove over to the Mills, cashed the draft, +made some necessary purchases, paid some bills which had been long +outstanding, and called to hand Jack eighty dollars, on Radcliff's +account, for the swindled truckman. + +Jack was off surveying with Forrest Felton, and was not expected home +for a day or two. Mr. Betterson hardly knew what to do in that case, but +finally concluded to keep the money, and leave Jack word that he had it +for him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +MRS. WIGGETT'S "NOON-MARK." + + +Jack returned home, unexpectedly, that night. He jumped for joy when +told of Mr. Betterson's call and the message he had left. The promise of +money due himself could not have pleased him so much as the prospect now +presented of justice being done to the truckman. + +He felt some concern, it must be owned, lest the money should, after +all, be diverted from its course; he determined, therefore, to act +promptly in the matter, and go to Long Woods the next day. + +He and Forrest were laying out town lots somewhere up the river; and he +was closely occupied all the next forenoon and a part of the afternoon +with his calculations and drawings. + +At last he leaped up gayly, with that sense of satisfaction and relief +which comes from the consciousness of work well done. + +He harnessed Snowfoot, put his compass into the buggy, thinking he would +give Mrs. Wiggett her noon-mark this time without fail, winked assent at +Lion, eager to accompany him, and drove off with a feeling of enjoyment, +to which the thought of some one he was going to meet gave a wonderful +zest. + +As it was getting late in the day when he reached the settlement, he +stopped only a moment at the "castle," to speak with Vinnie, and leave +word that he would call and see Mr. Betterson on his way back; then +drove on to Mr. Wiggett's log-cabin. + +His reception there was most cordial, especially when it was found that +he had come with his compass, prepared to make the noon-mark. + +"House don't front no sort of a way," said the old man; "and I reckon +you'll have to give us a kin' of a slantin'diclar line from 'bout this +yer direction," indicating a wood-pile by the road. + +The little Wiggetts meanwhile thronged the doorway, staring at Jack and +his strange machine, and their old acquaintance, the dog. + +"Cl'ar the kitchen, you young uns!" the mother stormed after them, +cuffing right and left. "Noon-mark'll cut ye plumb in tew, 'f ye don't +scatter! It's comin' into this yer door, like it was a bullet from pap's +rifle!" + +The grimy faces and bare legs "scattered"; while Mrs. Wiggett called to +Jack,-- + +"How long 'fore ye gwine to shute that ar thing off? 'Low I oughter +scoop up a little fust." + +"Scoop up?" Jack repeated, not quite taking her meaning. + +"Right smart o' dirt on the floor yer; it'll be in your way, I reckon." + +"Not at all," said Jack. "My line will cut through; and you can _scoop_ +down to it, at your leisure. I must get you to remove these iron +wedges, Mr. Wiggett; the needle won't work with so much iron near." + +The wedges removed, the needle settled; and Jack, adjusting the sights +of his compass to a north-and-south line, got Mr. Wiggett to mark its +bearings for him, with a chalk pencil, on the floor of the open doorway. + +"All creation!" shrieked the woman, suddenly making a pounce at the +kneeling old man; "we don't want a noon-mark thar, cl'ar away from the +jamb, ye fool! We want it whur the shadder o' the jamb 'll hit it plumb +at noon." + +The old man looked up from his position on "all-fours," and parried her +attack with his lifted hand. + +"Ye mout wait a minute!" he said; "then you'll see if me an' this yer +youngster's both fools. I had a lesson that larnt me onct that he knows +better 'n I dew what he's about; an' I 'lowed, this time, I'd go by +faith, an' make the marks 'thout no _re_marks o' my own." + +"The line will come just where you want it, Mrs. Wiggett," Jack assured +her, hiding a laugh behind his compass. + +Having got the old man to mark two points on his north-and-south line, +one at the threshold and the other a little beyond, Jack put his rule to +them and drew a pencil-line; Mrs. Wiggett watching with a jealous scowl, +not seeing that her mark was coming where she wanted it,--"right ag'in +the jamb,"--after all. + +Then, by a simple operation, which even she understood, Jack surprised +her. + +He first measured the distance of his line from the jamb. Then he set +off two points, on the same side, at the same distance from the line, +farther along on the floor. Then through these points he drew a second +line, parallel to the first, and touching the corner of the jamb, by +which the noon shadow was to be cast. Into this new line Jack sank his +noon-mark with a knife. + +"There," said he, "is a true noon-mark, which will last as long as your +house does,"--a prediction which, by a very astonishing occurrence, was +to be proved false that very afternoon. + +"I reckon the woman is satisfied," said the old man; "anyhow, I be; an' +now what's the tax for this yer little scratch on the floor?" + +"Not anything, Mr. Wiggett." + +"Hey? ye make noon-marks for folks 'thout pay?" + +"That depends. Sometimes, when off surveying, I'm hailed at the door of +a house, and asked for a noon-mark. I never refuse it. Then, if +convenient, I take my pay by stopping to dinner or supper. But I never +accept money." + +"Sartin!" cried the old man. "Yer, ol' woman!" (it must be remembered +that Mrs. Wiggett was forty years younger than her husband), "fly +round,--make things hum,--git up a supper as suddent as ye kin, an' ax +our friend yer. Whur's that Sal?" + +Mrs. Wiggett, who had appeared all pride and sunny smiles regarding her +noon-mark (particularly after hearing it was not to be paid for), fell +suddenly into a stormy mood, and once more began to cuff the children +right and left. + +Jack hastened to relieve her mind by saying that Mr. Wiggett had quite +mistaken his meaning; that he had an engagement which must deprive him +of the pleasure of taking supper with her and her interesting family. +Thereupon she brightened again. The old man shook him warmly by the +hand; and Jack, putting his compass into the buggy, drove back up the +valley road. + +Vinnie had told him that the Betterson boys were cutting logs for their +aqueduct; and hearing the sound of an axe on his way back, Jack tied +Snowfoot to a sapling by the road, and went up into the woods to find +them. + +"What! you coming too, Lion?" he said, after he had gone several rods. +"Didn't I tell you to watch? Well, I believe I didn't. Never mind; +Snowfoot is hitched." + +He found Rufe and Wad cutting trees with great industry, having +determined to have the logs laid from the spring to the house without +delay. + +"We've taken the farm of father, as you suggested," said Wad. "He is +helping us do the fall ploughing while we get out our logs. He and Link +are at it with the oxen, over beyond the house, now." + +"And where's that precious cousin of yours?" + +"I believe he has gone to the house to see if supper is about ready," +said Rufe. "He's smart to work, when he does take hold, but his interest +doesn't hold out, and the first we know, he is off." + +Jack stopped and talked with the boys about their water-works for about +half an hour. Then Rad came up through the woods, by way of the spring, +and announced that supper was ready, greeting Jack with a jeering laugh. + +"You'll take tea with us, of course," Rufe said to Jack. + +"I suppose your father will be at the house by this time; I'll stop and +see him, at any rate," was Jack's reply. + +Rufe went with him down through the woods to where Snowfoot was left +hitched. As they were getting into the buggy, Rufe noticed Zeph Peakslow +coming out of some bushes farther down the road, and going towards home. + +"See him slink off?" said Rufe. "He's afraid of me yet; but he needn't +be,--I've promised Vinnie not to meddle with him." + +Then, on the way home, Rufe surprised Jack by telling him how Vinnie had +made acquaintance with the Peakslow family, and how Mrs. Peakslow, +taking advantage of her husband's absence from home, had called on the +Bettersons, under pretence of returning Vinnie's box of salve. + +Mr. Betterson had not yet come to the house; and Jack, having hitched +Snowfoot to an oak-tree, and told of his business with the Wiggetts, +asked Vinnie and her sister if they would not like a noon-mark on their +floor. "It will be a good thing to set your clock by when it goes +wrong," he explained. + +Vinnie gladly accepted the offer. + +"And, O Jack!" she said, "I wish you would give Mrs. Peakslow one too." + +"I would, certainly," said Jack; "but" (his pride coming up) "wouldn't +it look as if I was anxious to make my peace with Peakslow?" + +"Never mind that; I think even he will appreciate the kindness. I wish +you would!" + +"I will--to please you," said Jack. "This afternoon, if I have time." +And he went to the buggy for his compass. + +He fumbled in the blanket under the seat, looked before and behind, and +uttered an exclamation. + +"What's the trouble, Jack?" Rufe asked. + +"It is gone! my compass is gone!" said Jack. "Somebody has taken it." + +"That Zeph--we saw him, you know!" said Rufe. "It's one of his tricks." + +"I'll overhaul that Zeph!" said Jack; "I'll teach him to play his tricks +on me!" + +Vinnie ran after him as he was starting off. + +"Jack! don't be hasty or unkind!" + +"O no! I won't be unkind," said Jack, with something bitter in his +laugh. "I just want my compass, that's all." And he hurried down the +road. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +THE STRANGE CLOUD. + + +Jack's call on the Peakslows was brief and unsatisfactory. He returned +to the "castle" without his compass, and looking flushed and disturbed. + +"I didn't accuse Zeph of stealing," said Jack, fearful of being blamed +by Vinnie. "They were at supper; and I just said, 'Zeph, my boy, what +did you do with my compass?' He denied having touched it. I explained. +Great commotion. Mamma Peakslow looked frightened out of her wits, and +papa blazed away at me like a seventy-four-gun ship. In short, you will +have to wait for your noon-mark, Mrs. Betterson. So will Mrs. Peakslow. +I didn't tell her I was going to make her one, if Zeph hadn't stolen my +compass." + +"But you don't know he stole it," said Vinnie. + +"We don't know that he and Dud put rubbish in our spring," Rufe made +answer for Jack, "and yet we know it as well as we know anything we +don't know." + +"I can't tell what I was thinking of," said Jack, "to leave any property +of mine unguarded, within reach of the Peakslows. Lion was up in the +woods with me before I knew it." + +"Where are you going now?" Vinnie asked. + +"To look for my compass in the bushes. Zeph must have hid it somewhere, +for he didn't have it when we saw him." + +"Wait till after supper, and I will go with you," said Rufe. "Father is +here now." + +Mr. Betterson was coming up from the stable, accompanied by Radcliff. +Rad had hastened to waylay him, and make a last appeal for the money +which he knew Jack was waiting to receive. He talked and gesticulated +earnestly; but Lord shook his head and compressed his lips with great +firmness, whereupon Rad, instead of coming to supper with the rest, +wandered sulkily away. + +When Mr. Betterson had washed his hands and face, and brushed his hair, +and put on his threadbare black coat and frayed stock, the family sat +down at the table. Jack waited unwillingly, and soon excused himself, +saying he must look for his compass before dark. + +"I'll attend to our truckman's little matter when I come back," he said, +and hurried away. + +Link jumped up from the table and went with him; Rufe and Wad promising +to follow as soon as they were through with their supper. + +Careful search was made all about the roadside bushes where the wagon +had been partially concealed when the compass was taken. Lion was also +set to hunt. But all in vain. Some faint footprints were found, but Jack +could not be sure that they were not either his own or Rufe's. + +"Lion don't know what we are looking for; he's after rabbits," said +Link. "Was this all the compass you had?" + +"The only surveyor's compass; and the worst of it is, 't was a borrowed +one. It belongs to Forrest Felton. He has a theodolite which we use for +fine work; and I've a little pocket-compass, given me by an old lady a +few years ago. I wouldn't have lost this for twice its value,--it's a +most exasperating trick!" Jack muttered. "And now it is suddenly growing +dark." + +It was very suddenly growing very dark. A strange cloud was blackening +the sunset sky. "Did you ever see anything so funny?" said Link. + +"It is like the lower half of an immense balloon, the top spreading +out," said Jack. "See that long, hanging, pear-shaped end!" + +"I wonder if the folks at the house see it!" Link exclaimed, growing +excited. "It looks like an elephant's trunk! By sixty, it's growing!" + +"It's moving this way," said Jack. "Fast, too! and roaring,--hear it? +There's an awful storm coming!" + +"Oh!" cried Link, "see the lightning-forks! It will be here in a jiffy." + +The "elephant's trunk," which had seemed to be feeling its way up the +valley, now swung toward the line of timber; the roar which accompanied +it became deafening; and suddenly the cloud, and all the air about it, +seemed filled with whirling and flying objects, like the broken boughs +and limbs of trees. It was like some living monster, vast, supernatural, +rushing through the sky, and tearing and trampling the earth with fury. +The mysterious swinging movement, the uproar, the gloom, the lightnings, +were appalling. And now Lion set up a fearful, ominous howl. + +"A whirlwind!" Jack exclaimed, shrieking to make himself heard. "I must +go to my horse." + +"Let's put for the house!" Link yelled. + +But hardly had they reached the road when the storm was upon them. + +Shortly after Jack and Link had left the table, Lord Betterson gave +Rufus a small key, and told him to bring a certain pocket-book from the +till of the family chest in the next room. + +"We will have our friend's eighty dollars ready for him, against his +return," Lord said; and, counting out the money, he placed it under the +pocket-book, beside his plate. + +Rufe and Wad were now ready to go and help Jack search for his compass; +but a discussion which had been going on at intervals, ever since the +draft came, was now renewed, and they stopped to take part in it. + +"If I am going to get out to Divine service again, I _must_ have a silk +dress," said Caroline. "And, Mr. Betterson, _you_ need a new suit; and +you know--we all know--nothing becomes you but broadcloth, and the +finest broadcloth. What do you think, Lavinia dear?" + +"I am sure broadcloth is becoming to him," Vinnie replied quietly. "And +I should like to see you come out in silk. And Cecie and Lilian need new +things. But--how much of the two hundred and fifty dollars is left, Mr. +Betterson?" + +"Deducting Radcliff's share, one hundred and twenty odd dollars," said +Lord, touching the pocket-book by his plate. + +"One hundred and twenty dollars will go but a little way, in a family +where so many things are absolutely needed!" said Vinnie. "It seems to +me I should want to get this room and your room plastered, the first +thing,--merely for comfort, in the cold weather that is coming." + +"And carpeted, Lavinia dear," simpered Caroline. + +"And if the house is ever to be painted," spoke up Rufe, "it must be +done soon. It won't be worth painting if it is neglected much longer." + +"And we need so many things in the kitchen!" said Lill. "Vinnie knows +it, but she won't say anything." + +"And lots of things on the farm," said Wad. "If Rufe and I are going to +do anything, we must have conveniences. The idea of having such a house +as this, and nothing but a miserable log-barn and stable!" + +"We can't build a new barn for a hundred and twenty dollars," said Mr. +Betterson. "And we can't buy farming tools, and kitchen utensils, and +carpets, and silk, and broadcloth, and tea and sugar, and clothing for +the children, and paint and plaster the house, all with so limited a +sum. The question then arises, just _what_ shall we do with the money?" + +"O dear! just a little money like that is only an aggravation!" Caroline +sighed, discouraged. "And I had hoped some of it would be left for +Lavinia dear; she deserves it if anybody does." + +"O, never mind me," Vinnie replied. "However, if I might suggest--" + +But the family had been so long deciding this question, that Fortune +seemed now to take it out of their hands, and decide it for them. + +It suddenly grew dark, and an outcry from the boys interrupted Vinnie. +The tornado was coming. + +All rose, save Cecie,--who remained seated where she had been placed at +the table,--and pressed to the door and windows. + +The baby wakened in the next room, and began to cry, and Caroline went +to take it up. The boys rushed out of the house. Vinnie turned pale and +asked, "Where are they? Jack and Link!" + +"As well off as they would be here probably," replied Lord Betterson. +"Shut doors and windows fast. That horse should have been taken care +of." + +"Jack wouldn't let us put him up. I'll do it now," cried Rufe. + +But he had hardly begun to undo the halter, when he saw the utter +impossibility of getting the horse to the stable before the storm would +be upon them. So, to prevent Snowfoot from breaking away and dashing the +buggy to pieces, he determined to leave him tied to the tree, and stand +by his head, until the first whirl or rush should have passed. This he +attempted to do; and patted and encouraged the snorting, terrified +animal, till he was himself flung by the first buffet of the hurricane +back against the pillar of the porch, where he clung. + +"Oh! what is that?" screamed Lill, watching with Vinnie from the window. + +[Illustration: THE TORNADO COMING.] + +Some huge, unwieldy object had risen and rolled for an instant in the +dim air, over Peakslow's house, then disappeared as suddenly. + +At the same time Jack and Link appeared, half running, half blown by the +tempest up the road. Vinnie watched them from the window, and saw the +enormous sloping pillar of dust and leaves, and torn boughs, whirling +above their heads, and overwhelming everything in its roaring cloud. + +The last she remembered was Jack and Link darting by the corner of the +house, and Snowfoot tugging at his halter. Then a strange electric +thrill shot through her, the house shook with a great crash, and all was +dark. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +PEAKSLOW IN A TIGHT PLACE.--CECIE. + + +The storm could not have been two minutes in passing. Then it suddenly +grew light, the tempest lulled, the heavens cleared, and in not more +than ten minutes the sunset sky was smiling again, a sea of tranquil +gold, over the western woods. + +Fortunately, only the skirt of the storm had swept over Betterson's +house, doing no very serious damage. + +When Vinnie looked again from the window, she saw Snowfoot, still tied +by the halter, standing with drooping head and tail, wet with rain. +Jack, hat in hand, his hair wildly tumbled, was already at the horse's +head, laughing excitedly, and looking back at Rufe and Link, who were +coming to his side. The buggy, he noticed, had been whirled half-way +round by the wind, so that the rear end was turned toward the porch. + +Through it all, Lill had clung in terror to Vinnie, whose arms were +still about her. Cecie sat in her chair by the supper-table, white and +speechless from the electric shock which all had felt, and she more +sensibly than the rest. Caroline was in the next room with the child, +whose cries, for a while drowned in the terrible uproar, now broke +forth again, strenuous and shrill. Mr. Betterson, holding the frightened +Chokie, opened the door, and calmly asked the boys if they were hurt. + +"We are all right, I guess," cried Rufe. "Wad put for the barn, to make +room for the horse and buggy, which I didn't have time to get there. I +don't know where Rad is." + +Wad now appeared; and at the same time the cattle, started homeward by +the storm, came cantering down the woodland road, with the rattling +cowbell, and ran for refuge to the barnyard. + +"The big oak behind the house, there,--have you seen it?" cried Wad. +"It's twisted off. And where's the well-curb?" + +"That flew to pieces, and the boards went up into the air like kites,--I +saw them," said Link. "Where's the dog?" + +"He's in the bushes, or under a log somewhere," Jack replied. "He was +shot at once, with a gun held close to his head,--luckily, there was no +lead in it. For a long time he was afraid of a gun; and thunder, or any +big noise, frightens him even now." + +"Some of our fences look pretty flat,--rails tumbled every which way!" +said Rufe. "A good deal of damage must have been done south of us." + +"Something looks odd over there toward Peakslow's,--what is it?" cried +Link. + +"Some of the tree-tops by the road have been lopped off," replied Jack. + +"That isn't all," said Lord Betterson. "Sure as fate, something has +happened to Peakslow's buildings." + +"That is what I saw!" Vinnie exclaimed. "Something turned over in the +air like the roof of a house." + +"I thought just now I heard cries in that direction," said Jack. "Hark a +moment!" + +"There comes somebody," said Rufe, as a girl of twelve years, barefoot, +bonnetless, wild with fright, came running up the road. "It's 'Lecty +Ann!" + +Out of breath, almost out of her wits, the girl ran as far as the +door-yard fence, then stopped, as if unable or afraid to go farther, +caught hold of the pickets, and, putting her pale face between them, +gasped out something which nobody could understand. + +"What is it?--what's the matter?" cried Jack, advancing toward her. + +"House--blowed down--covered up!" was all she could articulate. + +"Who is covered up?" + +"Don't know--some of the folks--pa, I guess." + +Jack did not stop to hear more; but, fired with a generous impulse to +aid the unfortunate, whoever they might be, gave one backward look, +threw up his hand as a signal, shouted "Help, boys!" ran to a length of +fence which the wind had thrown down, bounded over like a deer, and was +off. + +Vinnie followed; but was soon overtaken by Mr. Betterson and the boys, +who passed her, as if running a race. Then she heard screams behind; +and there was Chokie, sprawling over the prostrate fence, which he had +rashly taken, in his eagerness to keep up with Lill. + +By the time Chokie was extricated Mrs. Betterson appeared, babe in arms, +tottering out of the door, and hastening, in the excitement of the +moment, to learn what dreadful catastrophe had overtaken their +neighbors. + +"Stay with Arthur and your mother," Vinnie said to Lill; "_I_ may do +something to help." And away she sped. + +'Lecty Ann, met by Mrs. Betterson at the gate, was now able to tell more +of her story; and so strange, so tragical it seemed, that Caroline +forgot all about her ill health, the baby in her arms, and Cecie left +alone in the house, and brought up the rear of the little +procession,--Lill and 'Lecty Ann and Chokie preceding her down the road. + +They had not gone far, when Lion came out of the woods, with downcast +ears and tail, ashamed of his recent cowardly conduct. And so, +accompanied by the dog and the children,--Lill lugging the baby at +last,--Caroline approached the scene of the disaster. + +The whole force of the tornado seemed to have fallen upon Peakslow's +buildings. The stable was unroofed, and the barn had lost a door. + +The house had fared still worse: it was--even as 'Lecty Ann had +said--almost literally "blowed down." + +It had consisted of two parts,--a pretty substantial log-cabin, which +dated back to the earliest days of the settlement, and a framed +addition, called a lean-to, or "linter." The roof of the old part had +been lifted, and tumbled, with some of the upper logs, a mass of ruins, +over upon the linter, which had been crushed to the ground by the +weight. + +Mrs. Peakslow and the girls and younger children were in the log-house +at the time; and, marvellous as it seemed, all had escaped serious +injury. + +The boys were in the field with their father, and had run a race with +the tornado. The tornado beat. Dud was knocked down within a few rods of +the house. Zeph was blown up on a stack of hay, and lodged there; the +stack itself--and this was one of the curious freaks of the +whirlwind--being uninjured, except that it was canted over a little, and +ruffled a good deal, as if its feathers had been stroked the wrong way. + +Mr. Peakslow was ahead of the boys; and they thought he must have +reached the linter. + +Zeph, slipping down from his perch in the haystack, as soon as the storm +had passed, and seeing the house in ruins, and his mother and sisters +struggling to get out, had run screaming for help down the road toward +Mr. Wiggett's. Dud remained; and by pushing from without, while the +imprisoned family lifted and pulled from within, helped to move a log +which had fallen down against the closed door, and so aided the escape +from the house. + +'Lecty Ann ran to the nearest neighbor's up the river. The rest stayed +by the ruins; and there Lord Betterson and Jack--the earliest on the +spot--found them, a terrified group, bewildered, bewailing, gazing +hopelessly and helplessly at the unroofed cabin and crushed linter, and +calling for "Pa." + +"Where is your husband, Mrs. Peakslow?" cried Jack. + +"O, I don't know where he is, 'thout he's there!" said the poor woman, +with a gesture of despair toward the ruined linter. + +"This rubbish must be removed," said Lord Betterson. "If friend Peakslow +is under it, he can't be taken out too soon." + +And with his own hands he set to work, displaying an energy of will and +coolness of judgment which would have astonished Jack, if he had not +once before seen something of what was in the man. + +Jack and the boys seconded their father; and now Dud came and worked +side by side with Wad and Rufe. + +A broken part of the roof was knocked to pieces, and the rafters were +used for levers and props. The main portion of the roof was next turned +over, and got out of the way. Then one by one the logs were removed; all +hands, from Lord Betterson down to Link, working like heroes. + +Meanwhile, Vinnie did what she could to aid and comfort Mrs. Peakslow; +and Caroline and her little company came and looked on. + +Mr. Wiggett also arrived, with Zeph, and helped get away the last of the +logs. + +Under the logs was the crushed shell of the linter; and all looked +anxiously, to see what was under that. + +A good many things were under it,--pots and kettles, wash-tubs, +milk-pans (badly battered), churn and cheese-press, bed and +trundle-bed,--but no Peakslow. + +It was a disappointment, and yet a relief, not to find him there, after +all. But where was he? Dud ran back to the field, to look for him; while +the others rested from their labors. + +"Did the wind do you much damage, Mr. Wiggett?" Lord inquired. + +"Not so much as it mout," replied the old man. "It was mighty suddent. +Banged if I knowed what in seven kingdoms was a-gwine to happen. It +roared and bellered that orful, I didn't know but the etarnal smash-up +had come." + +"It must have passed pretty near your house,--I saw it swing that way," +said Jack. + +"Wal, I reckon you're right thar, young man. It jest took holt o' my +cabin, an' slewed one corner on't around about five or six inches; an' +done no more damage, in partic'lar, fur's I can diskiver; only, of +course, it discomfusticated that ar' noon-mark. I left the ol' woman +mournin' over that!" + +Jack laughed, and promised to replace the noon-mark. + +"There's Dud a-yelling!" said Link. + +[Illustration: PEAKSLOW REAPPEARS.] + +The roof of the shed--which must have been the object Vinnie saw rise +and turn in the air--had been taken off very neatly, with the two gable +pieces, whirled over once or more, and then landed gently, right side up +with care, on the edge of the potato-patch, two or three rods away. Dud, +hunting for his father, passed near it, and heard stifled cries come +from under it. He was yelling, indeed, as Link said. + +In a moment a dozen feet rushed to the spot, and a dozen hands laid hold +of one side of the roof, under which Jack thrust a lever. Some lifted on +the lever, while some lifted on the edge of the roof itself; and out +crawled--bushy head and hooked nose fore-most--the shaggy shape of the +elder Peakslow. + +The roof was let down again as soon as Peakslow's legs were well +from under it, and a wondering group--men, boys, women, and +children--gathered round to see if he was hurt. + +"Wal!" said Peakslow, getting upon his feet, giving his clothes a brush +with his broad hand, and staring about him, "this is a mighty perty +piece of business! Didn't none on ye hear me call?" + +"Did you call?" said Mrs. Peakslow, trembling with joy and fright. + +"Call?" echoed Peakslow, feeling his left shoulder with his right hand. +"I believe I b'en callin' there for the last half-hour. What was ye +knockin' that ruf to pieces for? I could hear ye, an' see ye, an' I +wanted to put a stop to 't. Hadn't the wind damaged me enough, but you +must pitch in?" + +"We thought you were under the ruins," Mr. Betterson replied with +dignity. + +"Thought I was under the ruins! What made ye think that?" growled +Peakslow. + +"I thought so--I told them so," Mrs. Peakslow explained; while Lord +Betterson walked away with calm disgust. + +"Ye might 'a' knowed better'n that! Here I was under this ruf all the +time. It come over on to me like a great bird, knocked me down with a +flop of its wing,--mos' broke my shoulder, I believe; an' when I come to +myself, and peeked through a crack, there was a crew knockin' the ruf o' +the house to flinders. I was too weak to call very loud, but, if you'd +cared much, I should think ye might 'a' heard me. Look a' that house, +now! look a' that shed! It's the blastedest luck!" + +Jack couldn't help smiling. Peakslow turned upon him furiously. + +"You here? So ye think my boy's a thief, do ye?" + +"Come, Lion! come, boys!" said Jack, and started to follow Mr. +Betterson, without more words. + +"Come here and 'cuse my boy o' stealin'!" said Peakslow, turning, and +looking all about him, as if he had hardly yet regained his senses. "I +had a hat somewheres. Hundred dollars--no, nor two hundred--won't pay +the damage done to me this day." + +"But the children, they are all safe," said Mrs. Peakslow, "and we ought +to be thankful." + +"Thankful! Look a' that linter! _Three_ hundred won't do it!" + +"O pa!" cried Zeph, "you've got a great gash on the back o' your head!" + +"Never mind the gash," said Peakslow, putting up his hand. "That'll +heal itself. Holes in the buildin's won't." + +Vinnie meanwhile conferred with Jack and Mr. Betterson, as they were +about going away; and also called her sister, and afterward Mrs. +Peakslow, to the consultation. + +"O, I don't know, Lavinia dear!" said Caroline in great distress of +mind. + +But Lord Betterson spoke out manfully,-- + +"Lavinia is right. Mrs. Peakslow, we have plenty of spare room in our +house, which you are welcome to till you can do better." + +"O Mr. Betterson!" the poor woman sobbed out, quite overcome by this +unexpected kindness, "you are too good!" + +"I beg your pardon," replied Lord Betterson, in his most gracious +manner. "We wish simply to do as we might wish neighbors to do by us +under similar circumstances. Our boys will help yours get your things +over to my house,--whatever you want, Mrs. Peakslow." + +Lord did not much mind the woman's outburst of tears and thanks; but +when he observed the look of admiration and gratitude in Vinnie's deep +eyes, fixed upon him, he felt an unaccustomed thrill. + +Mrs. Peakslow went weeping back to her husband. + +"I am sorry you spoke as you did," she said. "We all thought you was +under the linter; and they was all workin' so hard--as if they had been +our best friends--to get you out." + +"Best friends!" repeated Peakslow, with a snort of angry contempt. + +"Yes, pa; and now,--will you believe it?--now that we haven't a ruf to +our heads, they offer us shelter in _their_ house!" + +"In the castle?--huh!" sneered Peakslow. "I never thought 't would come +to that!" + +"Where else _can_ we go?" said Mrs. Peakslow. "It's 'most night,--nights +are beginnin' to be cold,--and think o' the children! 'T will be weeks, +I s'pose, 'fore ye can rebuild." + +"If I couldn't rebuild in all etarnity, I wouldn't set foot in Lord +Betterson's castle!" said Peakslow. He looked again at the ruined house, +then at the children, and added: "Me an' the boys, we can stop in the +stable, or dig holes in the stack, to make ourselves comf'table. Do what +you're a min' ter, for the rest. But don't say _I_ told ye to ask or +accept a favor of _them_." + +The Bettersons, Vinnie, and Jack were waiting between the ruined house +and the road; and Mrs. Betterson was saying, "Lillie, you and I _must_ +be going back; remember, we left Cecie all alone; and the evening air is +too chill for the baby," when Link cried,-- + +"Who's that coming down the road?" + +All turned; and Vinnie and Jack and Link ran out to look. They could +scarcely believe their eyes. + +"It can't be!" said Vinnie. + +"Yes, it is," exclaimed Link; "it's her--it's her!" + +"Who?" Caroline inquired anxiously, dreading some new calamity. + +"Cecie! Cecie, sure as the world!" said two or three at once. + +It was indeed the little invalid, who, though she had scarcely taken a +step without help for many months, was actually coming down the road, +walking, and walking fast, without even the crutch she had sometimes +tried to use! + +She was beckoning and calling. Jack and Vinnie and the boys ran to meet +her. She was pale and very much excited, and it was some time before she +could speak coherently. + +"Radcliff!" was almost her first word. + +"What about Radcliff? where is he?" Vinnie asked. + +"Gone!" + +"Gone where?" + +"I don't know. He came into the house--he saw the pocket-book and money +on the table--I told him he mustn't take them!" + +"And did he?" said Rufe. + +"Yes. He only laughed at me. He said his chance had come." + +"Which way did he go?" + +"He drove up through the woods." + +"Drove?" echoed Jack. + +"He took the horse and buggy." + +"_My_ horse and buggy!" And Jack, followed by Lion and Rufe and Link, +started up the road. + +Though shocked at Radcliff's conduct, Vinnie thought less of the loss of +the money, and of the horse and buggy, than of the seeming miracle in +Cecie's case. + +"How could you walk so, Cecie?" + +"I don't know. I suppose it was the excitement. Strength came to me. I +called, but could not make anybody hear, and I thought you ought to +know." + +Mr. Betterson would have carried her home in his arms, but she would not +let him. + +"I can walk better and better! That numbness of my limbs is almost gone. +I believe I am going to be cured, after all!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +"ON THE WAR TRAIL." + + +There could be no mistake about it,--pocket-book and money, and horse +and buggy, were gone with Radcliff. + +"He has taken the road to Chicago," said Jack, easily tracking the +wheels after the recent rain. "But he'll find it not so easy selling the +horse there a second time." + +"But he'll spend all that money," said Rufe. "He'll find it easy enough +to do that." + +"I wish it wasn't night," said Jack. "I would track him! And I will as +it is. Have you a lantern?" + +"Yes--I'll go with you! Shall we take the mare and one-horse wagon?" + +"If you like. But, Rufe, if you go with me, you'll have to travel all +night. I am on the war trail!" + +"I'm with you!" said Rufe; and he gave an Indian war-whoop. + +Mr. Betterson, coming up, approved of this resolution. "And, boys," he +said, "if you _should_ lay hands on Radcliff, you may as well bring him +back with you. We'll try to have a more satisfactory settlement with him +this time." + +Jack left his friends to harness the mare to the wagon, and went on +alone, with Lion and the lantern, up through the woods. + +For a while he had no trouble in following the fresh marks of hoofs and +wheels over the wet ground. But when he reached the prairie, an +unforeseen difficulty appeared. The rain had not extended so far, and +the tracks were not easily distinguished. + +It was nearly dark when Rufe, following in the wagon, emerged from the +woods. Lonesome and gloomy stretched the great prairie before him, under +a sky of flying clouds. The insects of the autumn night filled the air +with their shrill, melancholy notes. An owl hooted in the forest; a pair +of whippoorwills were vociferating somewhere in the thickets; and far +off on the prairie the wolves howled. Now and then a rift of dark blue +sky and a few wildly hurrying stars were visible through the flocking +clouds. No other light, or sign of life, until Rufe descried far before +him in the darkness a waving, ruddy gleam, and knew it was the ray from +the lantern swinging in Jack's hand. + +Driving on as fast as the mare's somewhat decrepit paces would allow, he +found Jack waiting for him at a point where the road divided, one branch +taking a northerly direction, the other trending easterly, toward the +great road to Chicago. + +"Here's a puzzle," said Jack, as Rufe drove up. "I've tracked the fellow +as far as here, notwithstanding he has tried the trick of driving off on +the prairie in two or three places. But here, instead of taking the +direct road to Chicago, as we supposed, he has taken this by-road, if my +eyes are good for anything. Lion says I am right; for I believe I've +made him understand we are hunting Snowfoot." + +Rufe jumped down from the wagon, and saw by the light of the lantern the +imperfect and yet peculiar marks of Snowfoot's rather smooth-worn shoes, +and of the narrow wheel-tires. + +"It is a game of his to mislead us," said Rufe. "I believe if we follow +him on to where this by-road crosses the main road, we shall find he has +there turned off toward the city." + +"Go ahead, Lion; find Snowfoot!" cried Jack, and jumped into the wagon +with Rufe. + +They got on as fast as they could; but the pursuit was necessarily slow, +for not only was the mare a creature of very indifferent speed, but the +boys found it useful to stop every now and then and examine the tracks +by the light of the lantern. + +"The dog is right; and we are right so far, sure!" said Jack, after they +had proceeded about half a mile in this way. "_Slow and sure_ is our +policy. We've all the fall before us, Rufe; and we'll overhaul your +pretty cousin, unless something breaks. Now, drive straight on to the +main road, and we'll see what we can discover there." + +To the surprise of both again, the fugitive, instead of turning +cityward, kept the northerly road. + +"He is cunning," said Rufe. "He knows Chicago is the first place where +one would be apt to look for him; and, besides, I think he is getting +too well known in Chicago." + +"He is bound for Wisconsin," cried Jack. "Whip along. This road passes +through the timber, and brings us to the river again; we shall soon find +settlements, where we can inquire for our game." + +"If you can speak Dutch, and if it wasn't too late when Rad passed +through," Rufe replied. "There is a colony of _meinheers_ up here; they +go to bed a little after sundown." + +As they drove on from the crossing, Jack said, "That left-hand road goes +to North Mills. But I sha'n't see North Mills to-night, nor for a good +many nights, I'm afraid." + +Jack, however, as we shall see, was mistaken. + +The road above the crossing was much more travelled than below; and for +a while the boys found it very difficult to make out Snowfoot's tracks. +But soon again fortune favored them. + +"Rain--it has been raining here!" said Jack, examining the road where it +entered the skirts of the timber, "and raining hard! We must be nearing +the path of the whirlwind again." + +They passed through a belt of woods, where the storm had evidently +passed but without doing much damage; for it was a peculiarity of that +elephant of a cloud that it appeared to draw up its destroying trunk +once or twice, and skip over a few miles in its course, only to swing it +down again with greater fury. + +The road was now drenched all the way, and the trail they followed was +so distinct that the boys did not stop to make inquiries at the log-huts +which began to appear before they were well through the woods. + +They made comparatively rapid progress up the valley, until they came to +a point where the river, in its winding course, was crossed by the road. +There, again, the tornado had done a brisk business; the bridge was +destroyed, the side of the road gullied, and the river swollen. + +Both boys alighted and examined the track. + +"Here is where he stopped and hesitated, finding the bridge gone," said +Jack. "And see! here are his own tracks, as if he had got out of the +buggy and gone ahead to reconnoitre." + +"As well he might," Rufe answered. "Look at these tree-tops, and the +timbers of the bridge lodged in the middle of the river!" + +"He seems to have got through, and I guess we can," said Jack. "I've +forded this stream, below the bridge, before now, when I've wanted to +water my horse; but it was free from all this sort of rubbish then. +There must have been a great fall of rain up here!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +THE MYSTERY OF A PAIR OF BREECHES. + + +Jack went out with the lantern upon the ruined abutment of the bridge, +and showed a space beside the drift-wood, in the turbid and whirling +current, where fording seemed practicable. + +Then the boys got into the wagon again, and the mare was driven +cautiously forward, by the glimmering light which the lantern shed +faintly before and around them. Lion swam ahead, throwing up his muzzle +and barking loud, like a faithful pilot showing the safest way. The +wheels went in over the hubs; the water came into the bottom of the +wagon-box; the flood boiled and plashed and gurgled, and swept away in +black, whirling eddies; and Jack said, "This wouldn't be a very nice +place to break down, eh,--would it?" + +But they got safely through; and on the farther bank they were pleased +to find again the trail of the horse and buggy. + +They were now in high spirits. The whirlwind having passed up the river, +the road lay aside from its direct path, but still within the area of +rain. + +"This is gay!" said Jack. "He thinks he has baffled us; and he will put +up somewhere for the night; and we won't! We shall circumvent Master +Radcliff!" + +[Illustration: FOLLOWING THE WAR TRAIL UNDER DIFFICULTIES.] + +But soon the boys were again puzzled. Reaching another cross-road, and +bringing the lantern to bear upon the trail, they found that, instead of +continuing northward, toward Wisconsin, or turning to the right, in the +direction of Chicago, it turned at a sharp angle to the left, in the +direction of North Mills. + +"This move is a perfect mystery to me!" Jack exclaimed. "It seems as if +he had thought the thing all over, and finally chosen the very last +place one would expect him to make for." + +"Are you sure this road leads to North Mills?" + +"Perfectly sure; I've been this way three or four times. But another +road branches from it, and passes a mile north of the Mills; he has +probably taken that." + +But no; after a good deal of trouble--the road appearing once more dry +and much trodden--they discovered that the horse and buggy had not taken +the branch, but kept the direct route to the Mills! + +"It doesn't seem possible! there must be some mistake here," said Jack. +And every rod of their progress seemed now to increase the boys' doubts. + +The road, long before they reached the Mills, became a mere bed of brown +dust, in which it required a pretty vivid imagination to distinguish one +track from another. The boys' spirits sank accordingly. Lion still led +them boldly on; but his guidance could no longer be trusted. + +"He's bound for home now," said Jack, "and he'll go straight there." + +"If Rad _did_ come this way," said Rufe, "he was shrewd, after all. He +knew that by passing through a busy place like the Mills, he would hide +his tracks as he couldn't in any other way." + +"To find 'em again," Jack replied, rather gloomily, "we shall have to +examine every road going out of this place." + +It must have been near midnight when they entered the village. The +houses were all dark and still; not a ray at a window, not even the bark +of a dog, gave sign of life as they passed. + +"This looks discouraging," said Jack. + +"A needle in a haystack is no comparison," replied Rufe. "The lantern is +almost out." + +"I can get another at our house," said Jack. "We may as well follow the +dog now. What did I tell you? He is going straight home!" + +The dog trotted up to the gate before Mr. Lanman's cottage, and the +wagon turned up after him. + +"What's that ahead of us?" said Jack, as the mare came to a sudden stop. + +"Seems to be a wagon standing," said Rufe, shading his eyes from the +lantern and peering into the darkness. + +Jack jumped out, ran forward, and gave a shout. The wagon was a buggy, +and the horse was Snowfoot, standing before the gate, waiting patiently +to be let in. + +Quite wild with delight and astonishment, Jack took the lantern and +examined horse and vehicle. + +"Old Lion! you were right," he exclaimed. "The scamp must have let the +horse go, and taken to his heels. And the horse made for home." + +"The most he cared for was to get off with the money," said Rufe, not +quite so abundantly pleased as his friend. "What's this thing under the +seat?" + +"The compass!" said Jack, if possible, still more surprised and +overjoyed, "which I accused Zeph of stealing!" + +Rufe continued rummaging, and, holding the lantern with one hand, lifted +up a limp garment with the other. + +"What in thunder? A pair of breeches! Rad's breeches! Where can the +scamp have gone without his breeches? See what's in the pocket there, +Jack." + +Jack thrust in his hand, and brought out some loose bank-notes. He +thrust in his hand again, and brought out a pocket-book, containing more +bank-notes. It was Mr. Betterson's pocket-book, and the notes were the +stolen money. + +Jack was hastily turning them over--not counting them, he was too much +amazed and excited to do that--when the candle in the lantern gave a +final flicker and went out, leaving the boys and the mystery of the +compass and the money and Rad's pantaloons enveloped in sudden +darkness. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +THE MORNING AFTER. + + +Bright rose the sun the next morning over the leafy tops of Long Woods, +and smiled upon the pleasant valley. + +It found many a trace of the previous day's devastation,--trees uprooted +or twisted off at their trunks, branches and limbs broken and scattered, +fences blown down, and more than one man's buildings unroofed or +demolished. + +It found Peakslow, accompanied by the two older boys, walking about his +private and particular pile of ruins, in a gloomy and bewildered state +of mind, as if utterly at a loss to know where the repair of such +tremendous damages should begin. And (the sun itself must have been +somewhat astonished) it found Mrs. Peakslow and the younger children, +five in number, comfortably quartered in Lord Betterson's "castle." + +It also had glimpses of Rufe, with light and jolly face, driving home by +prairie and grove, alone in the one-horse wagon. + +Link ran out to meet him, swinging his cap and shouting for the news. + +"Good news!" Rufe shouted back, while still far up the road. "Tell the +folks!" And he held up the pocket-book. + +It was good news indeed which he brought; but the mystery at the bottom +of it all was a mystery still. + +The family gathered around, with intense interest, while he told his +story and displayed Rad's pantaloons. + +"The eighty dollars, which you had counted out,--you remember, +father,--was loose in the pocket. I left that with Jack; he will send it +to Chicago to-day. The rest of the money, I believe, is all here in the +pocket-book." + +"And you've heard nothing of Radcliff?" said Mr. Betterson. + +"Not a word. Jack made me stop with him over night; and I should have +come home the way we went, and looked for Rad, if it hadn't been so far; +we must have driven twelve or fifteen miles in that roundabout chase." + +"Some accident must certainly have happened to Radcliff," said Mr. +Betterson. And much wonder and many conjectures were expressed by the +missing youth's not very unhappy relatives. + +"I bet I know!" said Link. "He drove so fast he overtook the tornado, +and it twisted him out of his breeches, and hung him up in a tree +somewhere!" + +An ingenious theory, which did not, however, obtain much credence with +the family. + +"One thing seems to be proved, and I am very glad," said Vinnie. "It +was not Zeph who took Jack's compass." + +"Rad must have taken that, to spite Jack, and hid it somewhere near the +road in the timber, where it would be handy if he ever wanted to make +off with it; that's what Jack thinks," said Rufe. "Then, as he was +driving past the spot, he put it into the buggy again." + +"Maybe he intended to set up for a surveyor somewhere," Wad remarked. +"He must have taken another pair of trousers with him." + +"I am sure he didn't," said Cecie. + +"And even if he did," said Rufe, "that wouldn't account for his leaving +the money in the pocket." + +The family finally settled down upon a theory which had been first +suggested by Jack,--that in fording the river Rad had caught his wheels +in the tree-tops or timbers of the ruined bridge, and, to keep his lower +garments dry, had taken them off and left them in the buggy, while he +waded in to remove the rubbish, when the horse had somehow got away from +him, and gone home. It also seemed quite probable that Rad himself had +become entangled in drift-wood, and been drowned. + +"Feed the mare, boys," said Lord Betterson. "As soon as she is well +rested, I'll drive up to the broken bridge, and see if any discoveries +can be made." + +Meanwhile, whatever Radcliff's fate, it did not prevent the family from +rejoicing over the recovery of the lost money. And now Rufe's attention +was called to another happy circumstance, one which promised to be to +them a source of deeper and more lasting satisfaction. + +Cecie could walk! + +Yes, the marvellous effects of the previous day's events were still +manifest in the case of the little invalid. Either the tremendous +excitement, thrilling and rousing her whole system, or the electric +shock which accompanied the whirlwind, or the exertions she felt +compelled to make when Rad ran off with the money,--or all combined (for +the doctors were divided in opinion on the subject),--had overcome the +paralysis of her limbs, which a long course of medical treatment had +failed to remove. + +The family physician, who chanced to come over from the Mills that day, +maintained that what he had been doing for the injured spine, the source +of Cecie's troubles, had prepared the way for this result; while +neighbor Peakslow, when he heard the news, grunted, and said he "guessed +the gal could 'a' walked all the time if she had only thought she could, +or wanted to very much." All which made Cecie smile. She only knew that +she was cured, and was too proud and glad to care much what was said of +her. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +FOLLOWING UP THE MYSTERY. + + +In the course of the day Mr. Betterson and Rufe visited the supposed +scene of Rad's disaster, and there met by chance Jack and his friend +Forrest Felton, who for a similar object had driven up from North Mills. + +The river had gone down almost as rapidly as it had risen, and fording +it now by daylight was no such difficult matter. But there still were +the timbers and tree-tops amidst which the vehicles had passed the night +before. + +Jack showed marks on one of his wheels where the spokes had been sharply +raked, and told how, examining Snowfoot by daylight, he had found muddy +splashes on his flank, as if he had been struck there by a bough or +branch drenched in turbid water. + +"I think," said he, "that as Rad was getting the buggy clear, the limb +of a tree turned over and hit the horse. That started him, and away he +went. I don't believe Rad is drowned." + +Search was made among the rubbish at the bridge, and for some distance +down the river; but no traces of Rad were discovered. + +"Maybe he has gone home by water," was Rufe's rather too playful way of +saying that the drowned body might have floated down stream. + +"If he got out alive," said Jack's friend Felton, "he must have found +his way to some house near by, in quest of pantaloons." And the party +now proceeded to make inquiries at the scattered huts of the Dutch--or +rather German--settlers along the edge of the timber. + +At the first two doors where they stopped they found only women and +children, who could speak no English. But at the next house they saw a +girl, who eagerly answered "Yah! yah!" to their questions, and ran and +called a man working at the back door. + +He was a short, thick-set man, with a big russet beard and serious blue +eyes. + +"Goot morgin," he said, coming to the road to greet the strangers. "Der +been some vind dis vay,--you see some?--vas las' ebening." + +The strangers acknowledged that they had experienced some effects of the +wind the night before, and repeated their questions regarding Radcliff. + +"Young man,--no priches,--yah! yah!" replied Meinheer. "He come 'long +here, vas 'pout nine hours, may pe some more." + +"A little after nine o'clock last night?" suggested Jack. + +"Yah, yah! I vas bed shleepin', somebody knock so loud, I git some +candle light, and make de door open, and der vas some young feller, his +face sick, his clo'es all so vet but his priches,--his priches vas not +vet, for he has no priches, only some shoes." + +"Where did he come from?" + +"He say he come from up stream; he pass de pridge over, and der vas no +pridge; and he dhrive 'cross de vaser, and he cannot dhrive 'cross; so +he git out, only his priches not git out, for de vaser vas vet, and his +priches keeps in de vagon, vile he keeps in de vaser; he make some lift +on some logs, and someding make de hoss fright, and de hoss jump and +jerk de vagon, and de vagon jerk someding vat jerk him; and de priches +rides off, and he shtop in de vaser, and dhink some, and git sick, and +he say de log in his shtomach and so much vaser was pad, and I mus' give +him some dhink viskey and some dry priches, and I gives 'em." + +"A pair of _your_ breeches?" cried Rufe, eying the baggy proportions of +Meinheer's nether garments. + +"I have no oder; I fetch 'em from faderland; and I gives him some. He +stick his legs in, and some of his legs come too much under; de priches +vas some too vide, and some not long genoof. He dhink more viskey, and +feel goot, and say he find his team and bring back my priches to-morrow, +and it is to-morrow yet, and he not come." + +Even the grave uncle of the luckless nephew had to laugh as he thought +of the slim legs pursuing their travels in the short but enormous +"priches" fetched from fatherland. + +"How much were your breeches worth?" Lord said, taking out some money. + +"I don't know--I don't keeps priches to sell; may pe vun tollar." + +Betterson gave the German a dollar, saying,-- + +"Allow me to pay for them; for, if I mistake not, you will never see the +young man or your breeches again." + +He was quite right: the German never did. + +Neither--it may as well be said here--did Radcliff's own relatives see +him again for many years. What various adventures were his can only be +surmised, until one of the "Philadelphia partners," settling up his +accounts with the world, left him a legacy of six thousand dollars, when +he once more bloomed out as a fine gentleman, and favored his Western +friends with a visit. + +He ran through his little fortune in a few months, and once more +disappeared from view, to turn up again, five or six years later (when +Jack and Vinnie saw him for the last time), as a runner for one of the +great Chicago hotels. + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +PEAKSLOW'S HOUSE-RAISING. + + +"Mercy on me!" said Caroline, hearing an unusual noise in the front part +of the house; "now we are to have the racket of those Peakslow children! +What could you have been thinking of, Lavinia dear? I'm sure _I_ didn't +know what I was saying when I gave _my_ consent to their coming. The +idea of their turning our library into a kitchen! Not that I blame +_you_, Lavinia dear. _I_ ought to have considered." + +"Surely you wouldn't have denied the houseless family a shelter?" Vinnie +replied. "That would have seemed too bad, with those great chambers +unoccupied. As for the _library_,"--Vinnie smiled, for the unfurnished +room called by that choice name had nothing in it but a fireplace,--"I +don't think any harm can happen to that." + +Vinnie had a plan regarding the Peakslow children, which she laid before +Mrs. Peakslow as soon as the new inmates were fairly settled in the +house. + +"Since my sister and the baby have been so much better, I have begun a +little school, with only two scholars,--Cecie and Lilian. Wouldn't your +children like to join it? I think it would be pleasant." + +"Whuther they would or not, I'd like to have 'em," replied Mrs. +Peakslow, gratefully. "The chances for schoolin' is dreffle slim in this +country; we've no school-house within nigh two mile. But how shall I pay +ye?" + +"You needn't mind about that." + +"Yes, I shall mind too. We must do somethin' for you in return." + +"Well, then," said Vinnie, "if you like, you may let one of the girls +help a little in my sister's kitchen, to make up for the time I spend +with them." + +"I'll do it, sartin! You shall have Lyddy. She's a good smart hand at +housework, and you may git all out of her you can." + +So it was arranged. The little school of two was increased to five; the +"parlor"--used only to store grain in hitherto--was turned into a +school-room; and Lyddy worked in Mrs. Betterson's kitchen. + +"Lavinia dear, you _are_ an extraordinary girl!" said Caroline. "It +seems the greatest miracle of all to see one of the Peakslows washing +_our_ dishes!" + +No one was better pleased with this arrangement than Jack, who could +never be reconciled to seeing Vinnie--with all her health and strength +and cheery spirits--doing the hardest of the housework. + +Jack took early occasion, on visiting Long Woods, to go and see Mr. +Peakslow, and make him a frank apology for having once suspected Zeph of +taking his compass. But he got only an ugly scowl and surly grunt for +his pains. + +For a while Peakslow did not go near his family, quartered in his +enemy's house; but slept in the haystack, with Dud and Zeph, and ate the +meals his wife cooked and sent to him three times a day. + +But soon Dud went to sleep at the "castle," and found he had nothing +more formidable to meet than Vinnie's bright eyes,--for Dud had suddenly +developed into a bashful youth. + +Zeph in a night or two followed his example, and Peakslow was left alone +in his haystack. + +And the nights were growing chill; and the repair of the buildings went +on slowly, carpenters being scarce; and Peakslow, who had a heart for +domestic comforts, began to yearn for the presence of his family at +mealtime and bedtime. + +At length he stole into the house after dark one evening, and stole out +again before light the next morning. That did not seem to hurt him; on +the contrary, it suited Peakslow; his neighbor's house was better than a +haystack. Then he came to supper and stayed to breakfast. Then there was +no good reason why he should not come to dinner; and he came +accordingly. + +Then he stopped after dinner one day to see how Vinnie conducted her +little school, and went away looking wonderfully thoughtful. The boys +remembered that he did not scold them so sharply that afternoon as he +had been wont to do since the tornado disturbed his temper. + +One morning, as he was going out, Peakslow saw Lord Betterson in the +yard, and advanced awkwardly toward him, holding his hat in one hand and +scratching his head with the other. There was, after all, a vein of +diffidence in the rough quartz of the man's character; and somehow, on +this occasion, he couldn't help showing his neighbor a good deal of +respect. + +"I'm a-gun to have a bee this arternoon,--a raisin',--gun to try to git +the logs back on to the house, an' the ruf on to the shed,--everything +ready,--some o' the neighbors comin' to help,--and if you an' your boys +can lend a hand, I'll do as much for you some time." + +"Surely; very glad to serve you, Neighbor Peakslow," Lord Betterson +replied, in his magnificently polite way, much as if he had been a +monarch dismissing a foreign ambassador. + +Jack came over to Long Woods that afternoon, and, having rectified Mrs. +Wiggett's noon-mark, stopped at Peakslow's raising on his way back up +the valley. + +He found a group of men and boys before the house, partaking of some +refreshments,--sweetened whiskey and water, passed round in a pail with +a tin dipper by Zeph, and "nut-cakes" and "turn-overs," served by Mrs. +Peakslow and 'Lecty Ann. + +The sight of Snowfoot tied to his fence made Peakslow glare; nor was his +ruffled spirit smoothed when he saw Jack come forward with a cheery face +and a compass in his hand. + +Jack greeted the Bettersons, Mr. Wiggett, and one or two others he +knew, and was talking pleasantly with them, when Peakslow pushed the +inverted cut-water of his curved beak through the crowd, and confronted +him. + +"So that air's the compass, is it?" + +"This is the compass, Mr. Peakslow." + +"Keep it in yer hand, now'days, do ye? Don't trust it in the wagon? Good +idee! No danger of its bein' stole, an' your comin' agin to 'cuse my +boys of the theft!" + +Peakslow's ancient wrath rekindled as he spoke; his voice trembled and +his eyes flamed. + +Jack kept his temper admirably, and answered with a frank and honest +face,-- + +"I have made the best amends I could for that mistake, by apologizing to +you for it, Mr. Peakslow. I don't keep the compass in my hand because I +am afraid it may be stolen. I have called--as I promised Mrs. Peakslow +the other day that I would do--to give her a noon-mark on her kitchen +floor." + +"How's this?--promised her?--I don't understand that!" growled Peakslow. + +"Yes, pa!" said Mrs. Peakslow, with a frightened look. "I seen him to +Mis' Betterson's. He'd made a noon-mark for Mis' Wiggett, and Mis' +Betterson's sister asked me if I wouldn't like one, as he was comin' to +make them one some day." + +Off went Peakslow's hat, and into his bushy hair went his fingers again, +while he stammered out,-- + +"But he can't make no noon-mark this arternoon,--we're all in a mess an' +litter, so!" + +"Just as well now as any time," said Jack. "The doorway is clear. I +sha'n't interfere with anybody." + +"What'll be to pay?" Peakslow asked. + +"O, I don't charge anything for a little job like this,--to one of Mr. +Betterson's neighbors." + +"That's jes' so; he didn't charge me nary red," said Mr. Wiggett. "An' +he's done the job for me now tew times,--fust time, the tornado come and +put the noon-mark out o' j'int, 'fore ever a noon come round." + +Jack adjusted his compass, while the house-raisers looked on, to see how +the thing was done, Peakslow appearing as much interested as anybody. + +Jack got Link to make the first marks for him on the floor, and laughed, +as he looked through the sights of the compass, to hear Mr. Wiggett +describe the finding of his section corner,--"runnin' a line plumb to +the old stake, out on the open perairie,"--and praise the boy-surveyor's +skill. + +The mark was made with quickness and precision; friends and strangers +crowded around Jack with kind words and questions; and he was surprised +to find himself all at once a person of importance. + +Peakslow puffed hard at his pipe. His face was troubled; and two or +three times he pulled the pipe out of his mouth, thrust his knuckles +under his hat, and took a step toward the young surveyor. He also +cleared his throat. He evidently had a word to say. But the word would +not come. + +When at last he let Jack go off without offering him even a syllable of +thanks, the bystanders smiled, and somebody might have been heard to +mutter, "Peakslow all over! Just like his hoggishness!" + +Jack smiled too as he went, for he had shrewdly observed his enemy, and +he knew it was not "hoggishness" which kept Peakslow's lips closed, but +a feeling which few suspected in that grasping, hard, and +violent-tempered man. + +Peakslow was abashed! + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +CONCLUSION. + + +The house made once more inhabitable, Peakslow's family moved back into +it. But this change did not take Lyddy away from the "castle," nor break +up Vinnie's school. + +The "castle" now underwent some renovation. The long-neglected +plastering was done, and the rooms in daily use were made comfortable. + +Meanwhile the boys were full of ambition regarding their water-works. +The project had cost them a good deal more trouble than they had +anticipated at first; but they were amply repaid for all on the day when +the water was finally let on, and they saw it actually run from the +spout in the back-room! Such a result had seemed to them almost too good +ever to come true; and their joy over it was increased ten-fold by the +doubts and difficulties overcome. + +Jack had come over to be present when the water was brought in, and he +was almost as happy over it as they. + +"No more trouble with the old well!" said Rufe. + +"No more lugging water from the grove!" said Wad. + +"Or going into the river head-first after it, as you and I did!" said +Link. + +Vinnie was proud of her nephews, and Caroline and Lord were proud of +their sons. + +[Illustration: THE WATER QUESTION SETTLED.] + +"How fine it will be for your dairy, in summer,--this cold, running +water!" said Vinnie. + +But Chokie seemed best pleased, because he would no longer be dependent +upon precarious rains filling the hogshead, but would have a whole +tankful of water--an ocean in the back-room--to sail his shingle boats +on. + +The boys had also acted on another suggestion of Jack's, and taken the +farm to work. This plan also promised to succeed well. The prospect of +doing something for themselves, roused energies which might have lain +dormant all their lives, if they had been contented to sit still and +wait for others to help them. + +As Vinnie's school became known, other pupils appeared from up and down +the river, and by the first snowfall she had more than a dozen scholars. +Among these were Sal Wiggett and two big boys belonging to the paternal +Wiggett's "third crap" of children, and Dud and Zeph Peakslow. + +The Betterson boys also attended the school, Wad and Link as pupils, and +Rufe partly as a pupil and partly as an assistant. Vinnie could teach +him penmanship and grammar, but she was glad to turn over to him the +classes in arithmetic, for which study he had a natural aptitude. + +The Peakslow children, both boys and girls, had a good deal in them that +was worth cultivating; and amid the genial associations of the little +school they fast outgrew their rude and uncouth ways. It was interesting +to see Zeph and Cecie reciting the same lessons side by side, and Rufe +showing Dud about the sums that bothered him. + +Caroline had very much objected to Vinnie's enlarging her school, and +especially to her receiving the big boys. The success of the experiment +surprised her. Vinnie had a charming way with the younger children, and +a peculiarly subduing influence over the big boys. + +"Lavinia dear," said Caroline "what have I always said? You are a most +extraordinary girl!" + +And now things came round curiously enough; and an event occurred of +which nobody could have dreamed when Vinnie set out alone, with a brave +heart, to do her simple duty to her sister's family. + +It was found that she had a happy faculty for interesting and +instructing the young. So when, in the spring, a girls' school was +opened at North Mills, she was offered a place in it as assistant +teacher, which her friends there--Jack's friends--prevailed on her to +accept. + +Leaving Long Woods cost her many regrets. But the better order of things +was now well established at the "castle" (which was fast ceasing to be a +castle, in the popular speech); and she felt that its inmates could +spare her very well,--if they would only think so! + +Other considerations also consoled her for the change. She would still +be where she could see her relatives often; and now Jack's delightful +home was to be her own. + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Young Surveyor;, by J. T. Trowbridge + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE YOUNG SURVEYOR; *** + +***** This file should be named 28680.txt or 28680.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/6/8/28680/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + +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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/28680.zip b/28680.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9a30689 --- /dev/null +++ b/28680.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9c5ebe3 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #28680 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28680) |
