| Show J the he light in the clearing clearen I 1 A TALE of 0 the NORTH COUNTRY in the TIME of SILAS WRIGHT by Q ay iy IRVING BACHELLER 15 A wf T author of eben holden dri and 1 I darrel ot of tho the ady alv V Blessed islea islas keeping up with lizzle lizzie etc etc copyright by irvcng Bachell cr r CHAPTER VI continued 7 one lay day la in december of that year I 1 hod had my first trial in the full responsibility lity of mans work I 1 was allowed to load and harness an and hitch up and go to tit the e will mill without assistance my uncle and purvis our hired man were busy with the chopping and we were out of flour and meal it took a lot efthem of them to keep the axes going so I 1 filled two sacks with corn and two to with wheat and put them into the box wagon for the ground was hire bare and hitched up my horses and set out I 1 preached beached the milt mill safely and bero fa flip the grain was uns ground the earth find and the sky above were white with snow driving down in a cold stiff wind out of the northwest I 1 loaded my griets and covered them with a blanket and hurried awny awas the snow cattle came so fast that it almost blinded me there were times when I 1 could scarcely see the road or tile the horses the vind came colder and soon it was hard work to hold tile the reins and keep my iny hands from freezing suddenly the wheels began jumping over rocks rocki the horses were in the ditch I 1 knew ft what hat was the matter for my eyes bad been filling with snow and I 1 had had to brush them often of course the team had offered in a like manner before I 1 could stop I 1 leard the crack of a felly and a front wheel dropped to its hub I 1 checked the horses and jumped out and went to their leads heads and cleared their cacs the snow enow was up to my knees then how the thought of that broken wheel smote me I 1 it was our only heavy wagon and we baying to pay tile the mortgage mort gagel what would my uncle say the query brought tears to my eyes I 1 unhitched and led my horses up into the cover coer of the pines how grateful it seemed for the wind was slack below but howling in the trec I 1 knew that I 1 wits was four miles from home and knew not how I 1 was to got get there chilled to the bone I 1 gathered some pitch pine and soon had a fire going with my flint and under tinder I 1 knew that I 1 could mount one of the horses and lead the other and reach home ably but there was tile the grist gilst 11 e needed that I 1 knew that we should have hae to go hungry without the grist it bould got get wet from above and below if I 1 tried to carry cairy it on the back of a n horse hoise I 1 warmed wari lied myself mi self by tile the me fire and hitched my team near it so as to thaw the frost out of their forelocks fore for locks clocks and eyebrows I 1 folt felt in my coat pockets and found it a handful of nails everybody ever body carried nails in one pocket in those days and I 1 remember that my dunles pockets were a museum of bolts und and nuts and screws and washers TIP idea occurred to me that I 1 would make it a kind of sled which was tailed called a jumper so I 1 got my ax out of the wagon and won si on found a couple of small trees with the right crook for the forward end of a runner and cut them end and hewed their bottoms as smoothly as I 1 could then I 1 made notches in them near the top of their crooks and fitted a stout stick into the notches and secured it with nails driven by the ashead thus I 1 got a hold for my evener that done I 1 chopped and hewed an arch to cross the middle of the runners a and ad hold them apart and used nil all my nails to secure and brace it I 1 got the two boards which were fastened together and constituted constitute i my wason wagon seat scat and laid aid them over the arch and front brace how to make them fast was my mi worst problem I 1 succeeded in a green stick to hold the he bolt of the evener just under its head while I 1 heated its lower end in the fire and kept its lead head cool with snow with this I 1 burnt a hole in the end of oe each board and fastened them to the front brace with withes of moosewood it was late in the day clay and there was no time for the slow process of bu burning rn inore e holes so I 1 notel notched icil the other ends of the boards and lashed them to the rear brace with a length of my owns ains then I 1 re tempered my bolt and up the grist and chain and fastened the latter between the boards in the e of the front brace hitched my wara to the chain and set out again sitting on the bags it was pitch dark and the horses wading to ineil bellies and the snow dwle aitor 6 G r when we turned lato Rattle road soon I 1 heard a loud halloo and knew that it was the voice of uncle peabody ue ile had started out to meet me in the storm and shep shell was w as with him thank god ive found yell yel lie shouted im blind and tired out and I 1 keep a lantern goin to save tile me are ye froze im till all right but these horses are awful tired had to let lem em rest every few minutes I 1 told him about uie the wagon and how it relieved lell eved me to hoar hear him bilm say As long as youre all right boy I 1 aint goin to worry bout tile the ol oi wagon not a bit ye git yet yer jumper made it with the ax and some nails mils I 1 answered after we got to the barn door at last lic he went to the house and lighted his lantern and came back with w ith it wrapped in a blanket and aunt deel came with him how proud it mide made m ide me to hear him say doel dee our boy Is a roan man now made this jumper till all lone loie by himself an has got through all right 11 she came and held the lantern up to my face and looked at my hands well W e 11 roy y stars bardae BarU at Ae e exclaimed 11 aline d I 1 lna it a in moment b ye would f freeze reeze up boll solid ayes aes poor boy I 1 wo we carried the grist in and aunt deel made some pudding how good it was to feel the warmth of the fire and of the hearts of those who loved me I 1 how I 1 enjoyed the pudding and milk and bread and butter I 1 1 I guess youve gone through the second peril that ol 01 kate spoke of said aunt deel as I 1 went upstairs uncle peabody went out to look at the horses when I 1 awoke in the morning I 1 observed that uncle peabodys ys bed had bad not been slept in I 1 hurried down and hoard heart that our olt oft horse had died in the alie night of colic aunt deel was crying As he saw me uncle peabody began bagin to dance a jig in the middle of the floor Da balance lance yer partners I 1 he shouted you an I 1 aint coln to bo be discouraged if all the bosses die be we bart never I 1 answered the falkl if ne esary well hitch purvis up with vother boss an git our li nulin done ile he and purvis roared with I 1 laughter r and the strength ui ta the curre current n t swep swept t me ma along with them were the luckiest folks in the world anyway uncle peabody went on barts alive an theres three feet 0 snow on the level an more moie comin an its col caldern dern greenland it was such buch a bitter day that we worked w 01 led only three hours and came back to the house and played old sledge by the fireside rodney barnes came over that afternoon and said that lie he would lend us a horse for the hauling we had good after that and got our bark and salts to market and earned 08 but while we got our pity pay in paper bank money we had to pay our debts in wheat salts or corn so that our earnings really amounted to only my uncle said we gave the balance and ten tea bushels of wheat to sir mr grimshaw for a spay spavined ined horse after which he agreed to give us at least a years extension on the principal p we felt easy crisy then CHAPTER VII I 1 my third peril mr purvis took his pay in salts and stayed with us until my iny first great adventure cut him off it come came one july day when I 1 was in my sixteenth year i ear lie ile behaved badly and 1 I as any normal boy would have done who had had my schooling in the candle light we lind had kept grimshaw Gilm Grims shaw baw from fam our door by paying pas ing interest and the sum of 80 on oil the principal le it had been beau hard work to live comfortably and carry cany the burden of debt again GrIni grimshaw shaw had begun to press us my uncle wanted to get its his paper and learn if possible when the senator was expected in canton so he gave me to ride with purvis to the post offic a distance of three miles to get the mall mail purvis rode in our only saddle anda and I 1 ba bareback eback on a handsome white filly which my undo uncle had given me sooil otter after she was foaled coaled I 1 had fed and petted betted and brolien broken and groomed her pud and she had grown so fond of me that my whistled call would bring bergal loping from the remotest reaches of the pasture I 1 had named her sally because that was the only name which seemed to express my fondness mr pu was not an experienced rider my filly led him at a swift gallop over the hills and I 1 heard many a muttered complaint behind me bu but t she sa s1 I 1 e liked a free head when we took the road together and I 1 let her have her way coming back we fell in with another rider who had been resting at little tavern through the heat beat of the day lie ile was a traveler on his way to 10 ca canton ton and had missed the right trail and wandered far afield ile he had abig n big military saddle with bags and shiny brass trimmings and a pistol la in a holster all of which appealed to my eye and interest the filly was a little tired and the stronger stranger and I 1 were rid ridi ing abreast at a walk while purvis trailed behind us we heard a quick stir in the bushes by the roadside that purvis demanded in a half tt whisper elsper of excitement we stopped then promptly a voice a voice which edid idid I 1 did not recognize broke the silence with these menacing words sharply spoken your sour money or your life I 1 mr burvis whirled his horse and slashed him up the hill glancing backward I 1 saw him lose a stirrup and fall and pick litin himself self up and run as if his life depended on it I 1 saw saw the stranger draw his pistol A gun wen went t off in the edge ot 0 the bushes clo close be by the hash flash of fire from its muzzle leaped at the stranger the horses reared and plunged and mine threw me in a clump of small copples by the roadside dashed down the hill my fall on the stony siding had stunned me and I 1 lay for three or four seconds as nearly as I 1 can citi estimate mate it in a strange and peaceful dream wily why did I 1 dream of amos grimshaw corna I 1 A 3 10 gun went off in the edge of the bushes close by ing to visit me ninin again and why above all should it have seemed to me that enough things were said and done in that little flash of a dream to fill a whole day enough of talk and play piny and going and coming coining the whole ending with a talk on tile the haymow again and again I 1 have wondered about that dream I 1 came to and lifted my head and my consciousness swung back upon the track of memory and took up the thread of the day the briefest remove from where it had broken I 1 peered through the bushes the light was unchanged I 1 could see quite clearly the horses were gone gohe it wai was very still the stranger lay helpless in the road and a figure was bending over ove him it was a man with a handkerchief hanging over its his face with holes cut opposite his eyes ile iio had not aeeti seen my fall and thought as I 1 learned later that ilhan ridden away ills his gun lay beside him its stool stock toward me I 1 observed that a piece of wood had been split spilt oft off tile the lower side of the stock I 1 jumped to my feet and seized a stone to hurt hurl at him AS I 1 did so the robber hed fled with gun in hund if the gun had been loaded I 1 suppose that this little history would never have been written quickly I 1 hurled the stone at the robber I 1 remember ber it was a smallish tone atone about the size of a hens egg I 1 saw it graze the side of his head I 1 saw his hand touch tile the place which the stone had grazed lie ile reeled and nearly fell and recovered himself and ran on but th tha little stone had put the mark maik of cali upon him the stranger lay still in the road I 1 lifted his head and dropped it quickly with a strange sickness the feel of it rind and the way it fell back upon the ground when I 1 let go scared me for aorl I 1 knew that he was dead the dust around hloi him was wet I 1 ran down dowa the 1 hill a lew few steps and stopped and whistled to my filly I 1 could hearberg hear her answering whinny far fa r down the dusty road and then her hoofs as she galloped toward me she came within h a few feet of me and stood snorting I 1 caught and mounted ifer her and rodo rode to the nearest house for help on oh tile the way I 1 saw why she had stopped A number of horses were feeding on oa the roadside near the log house where andrew C crampton ampton lived andrew had just unloaded some hay and was backing out of his barn I 1 hitched my filly and jumped on the rack saying drive up the road as quick as you can A man has been murdered what a a fearful word it was that I 1 had spoken I 1 what a panic it made in the little dooryard doory ardt I 1 the man gasped and jerked the reins and shouted to his horses and began swearing the woman uttered a little scream and the children ran crying to her side the physical facts which are further related to this tragedy are of little moment to me now the stranger ivas was dead and we took his body to our home and my uncle set out for the constable over and over again that night I 1 told the story of the shooting we went to the scene of the tragedy with lanterns and fenced it off and put some men on guard there in the morning they found the robbers footprints in the damp dirt diri of tile the road and measured them the whole countryside was afire with excitement cit eIt ement oil and searching the woods and fields for the highwayman the stranger was burled there was nothing upon him to indicate indica te his name mime or residence weeks passed with na no news of the man inan who had slain him I 1 had told of the gun with it a piece of wood broken out of its stock but botn no one knew of any such weapon in or near one day uncle peabody and I 1 drove up to GrIm grimshawe shaws to make a payment of money I 1 remember it was gold and silver which we carried ina in a little sack I 1 asked where amos was and mrs tired looking bony little woman who was never seen aown own h house 0 ule said I 1 that he was work working ing out on toe farm of ai a mr beekman near Platts plattsburg burg ne ile had gone over on the stage late in june to hire out for or the haying I 1 observed I 1 that hat roy uncle looked very thoughtful its is we rode roda back home and had little to say you never had any idee who that robber was did ye he asked by and by no I 1 auld not see plain it was so dusk 14 I 1 said the swift words your money or your life came out of my memoir memory and rang rang in it afelt its likeness to the scolding demands of mr grimshaw who was forever saying in effect your money or your home I 1 tant was like demanding our lives because we live without our home our all was in it mr grim shaws gun was the power he had over us and what a terrible weapon it wasl was I 1 credit him with never realizing how terrible we came to the sandhills sand hills and then U uncle peabody broke the silence by saying saving 1 I give fifty cents for as much ol 01 0 this land as a bird could fly around in a day then for a long time I 1 heard beard only the sound of feet and wheels muffled in theland the sand while my uncle sat looking thoughtfully at the siding when I 1 spoke to highe him he seemed not to hear bear me before we reached home I 1 knew what was in his mind but neither dared speak of it people came from canton and all the neighboring villages to TO see and talk with me and among ali them were the dunkelbergr Dunkel bergs unfounded tales |
