CHAPTER XXIV.
Upon reaching home shortly after nightfall the Major found visitors waiting for him in the library--Wash Sanders, old Gid, Jim Taylor, Low, and a red bewhiskered neighbor named Perdue. A bright fire was crackling in the great fire-place; and with stories of early steamboat days upon the Mississippi, Gid was regaling the company when the hero of the yarn opened the door and looked in. Getting to their feet with a scuffle and a clatter of shovel and tongs (which some one knocked down) they cried him a welcome to his own house.
"Gentlemen," said the Major, "just wait till I eat a bite and I"ll be with you. Have you all been to supper?"
"We have all been stuffed," Gid took the liberty to answer, "all but Wash Sanders and he----"
"Don"t eat enough to keep a chicken alive," Sanders struck in. "Wish I could eat with you, Major, but I ain"t got no relish for vidults. But I"m glad to know that other folks ain"t that bad off. Jest go on and take your time like we want here waitin" for you."
While the Major was in the dining-room, Gid came out and told him that the priest had said to him and to others that it might be well to call at the Major"s house immediately upon his return from Brantly.
"He"s all right," said the Major, getting up and taking the lead toward the library. And when he had sat down in his chair, bottomed with sheep-skin, he told his friends of his fears of a negro insurrection, of the dispatch and of the answer from the governor; and he related his talk with the Frenchman, whereupon Low, the Englishman, spoke up:
"I know that chap. It wouldn"t surprise me to learn that he put some rascally black up to the trick of punching that hole in my bath. For a time he came about my place quite a bit, you know, but I gave him to understand one day that I vastly preferred to choose my own a.s.sociates.
And you may rest with the a.s.surance that he will be against the whites.
Ah, with a Frenchman it is never a question as to which side he shall take. By jove, he always finds out which side the Englishman is on and then takes the other. I have brought with me a bit of Scotch whisky and I shall be pleased to have you gentlemen join me."
"Wait a minute," said the Major. "I have some liquor that was distilled sixty years ago by the grandfather of the commander of the Alabama.
We"ll try that first."
"Good!" cried the Briton. "I can"t deny the Alabama claim, you know."
And then he added: "Most extraordinary, I a.s.sure you."
"Just wait till you smack your mouth on it," said Gid. "Why, sir, there"s the smile of a G.o.ddess in each drop and a "Paradise Regained" in a swallow. Sit down, Wash Sanders--a swig of it would shoot you into the air like a rocket."
"But really, Mr. Gid, I think a little of it would help my appet.i.te,"
Sanders replied, looking anxiously toward the Major.
"Appet.i.te!" Gid cried. "You can eat the hind leg of a rhinoceros right now."
"Do you mean to insult me, sir?" Sanders retorted, weakly bristling up; and the Major turning from the sideboard, with the odd-shaped bottle and several gla.s.ses in his hands, looked at Batts and said: "Don"t, Gid."
"All right, but I was joking," the old rascal declared. "Wash and I always prank with each other. You can take a joke, can"t you, Wash?"
"With the best of them," Sanders answered. "Yes, sir, and before the doctors proved to me that I couldn"t get well I was joking all the time." He raised his hand and with his long finger nail scratched his chin. "But they showed me that I couldn"t get well and if that ain"t enough to sadden a man"s life I don"t know what is."
"Now, gentlemen," said the Major, "I want you to help yourselves, and not be afraid, for the gla.s.ses are shallow and the bottle is deep."
The red bewhiskered man Perdue, who had said nothing, took out his quid of tobacco and with a loud "spat," threw it against the chimney-back.
"I"ll join you," he said, grinning. "Never saw any liquor too old for me."
They stood and touched gla.s.ses. Gid walled his eyes like a steer, and with a rub of his breast and an "ah-hah," he nodded at Low. "What do you think of that?" he cried. "Isn"t it a miracle?"
"Ah, it is very smooth," Low answered, sipping. "Most uncommon I should think."
"Smooth," said Gid. "Did you say smooth? It is as silk woven in the loom of a dream. Wash, how does it strike you?"
"I think it will help me," Sanders answered.
"Help you!" And under his breath Gid added: "Ought to kill you."
"What did you say?" Sanders asked.
"Said it wouldn"t kill you."
"Oh, I think not. Really, after a while I might be tempted to go out and eat something. How are you gettin" along, Perdue?"
"Shakin" hands with my grandfather in the speret," Perdue declared, and running his fingers through his fiery whiskers he laughed with a hack that cut like the bleat of a sheep.
"Jim," said the Major, turning to Taylor, who had not left his seat, "you"d better try a little. It won"t hurt you."
"No, thank you, Major, I"m afraid of it."
"Let him alone," Gid spoke. "One drink of this and he"d carry off the gate, posts and all and leave them on the hill. Don"t tempt him."
"Gentlemen," said Perdue, "I have always made it a rule never to repeat anything that my children say, for I know how such a thing bores folks, but I will tell you what my son Ab said the other night. His mother was gettin" him ready for bed--just a little more, Major. There, that"s a plenty. Mother was gettin" him ready for bed and he looked up----"
"I feel the blood of youth mounting from the feet of the past to the head of the present," Gid broke in. "I can jump a ten rail fence, staked and ridered."
"And I"m pretty jumpy myself," the Major declared. "But what were you going to say, Perdue?"
"I was goin" to say that I always make it a rule never to repeat anything that my children say, for I have often had fellers bore me with the smart sayin"s of their children--and I know that most every man thinks that his children are the brightest in the country and all that--but the other night as my wife was gettin" Ab ready for bed he looked up----"
"We never had any children at our house," said Wash Sanders, scratching his chin with his polished finger-nail, "but I jest as good as raised one nephew. You remember Dan, don"t you, Major?"
"Mighty well. Went to Texas, didn"t he?"
"Yes, and got to cowboyin" around and was killed."
"I recall that he was a very bright young man," said the Major. "But what were you going to say, Perdue?"
"I was goin" to say that I always make it a rule never to tell anything that my children say, knowin" how it seems to pester folks, for I have been nearly bored to death by fellers breakin" in and tellin" what they of course thought was a powerful smart thing, said by one of their children--so I am mighty keerful about such things, makin" it a rule never to repeat anything said by my children, but the other night as my wife was gettin" Ab ready for bed----"
"Somebody"s hollering h.e.l.loa at the gate," said Jim. "Hush a minute.
There it is again."
The Major went out and presently returned, bringing with him a large blue envelope. "It"s from the county clerk," he said, sitting down and breaking the seal. "Brought by a deputy sheriff, and he said that he had ridden hard all the way and was in a great hurry to get back. Let"s see what old Billy has to say." And now having put on his spectacles, he read aloud the following:
"Marcus T. Berry, sheriff of this the county of Cranceford, in the State of Arkansas, did on this day seek to break up a den of negro gamblers at Sa.s.safras, in the before mentioned county of Cranceford, and State as above set forth, and while in the discharge of his duty, was then and there fired upon and so desperately wounded that in his home in the town of Brantly, seat of the said county of Cranceford, State as before mentioned, he now lies at the point of death. The negroes claimed that they were not gambling, but engaged in lawful merchandise; but be that as it may, the sheriff and his posse were there and then fired upon, and besides the wounding of the sheriff, two men were killed outright, to-wit, one James Mattox and one Leon Smyers, and the same were left there. The sheriff managed to make his escape, albeit he was followed and repeatedly fired upon. And be it known that the report now reaches here that the atrocity did not cease with the firing on of the sheriff"s posse, but that a sharp fight afterward took place between negroes and white men near by; and we are now informed that a strong force of negroes, at the instance of one Mayo, is now gathering in the southwestern part of the county, preparatory to a march upon this, the seat of the county of Cranceford. Therefore, it behooves all good citizens to meet in the before mentioned town for the defense of life and property, as it is here that the blow is to fall.
William N. Haines,
Clerk of the County of Cranceford, in the State of Arkansas."
Scarcely observing a pause the Major had read the letter, and no word of surprise had been spoken by his listeners; and now in silence they looked at one another, Gid with his mouth open, Sanders with an expression of pain.
"Well," said the Major, "that settles it."