And then:
"Doc, am I goin" sh.o.r.e?" This question the surgeon answered with another, bending low.
"Jim, what message shall I give your wife?" The curious smile came back.
"Doc, this is Christmas, ain"t it?"
"Yes, Jim."
"Doc, you"re sh.o.r.e, air ye, that n.o.body knows who done it?"
"n.o.body but you, Jim."
The man had been among men the terror of the hills for years, but on the last words that pa.s.sed his gray lips his soul must have swung upward toward the soul of the Man who lived and died for the peace of those hills.
"Doc," he said thickly, "you jus" tell the old girl Jim says: "Happy Christmas!""
The surgeon started back at the grim cheer of that message, but he took it like a priest and carried it back through the little h.e.l.l that flared down the ravine on Jim now through the window. And like a priest he told it to but one living soul.
THE ANGEL FROM VIPER
He had violet eyes, the smile of a seraph, and a halo of yellow hair, and he came from Viper, which is a creek many, many hills away from Happy Valley. He came on foot and alone to St. Hilda, who said sadly that she had no room for him. But she sighed helplessly when the Angel smiled--and made room for him. To the teachers he became Willie--to his equals he was Bill. In a few weeks he got homesick and, without a word, disappeared. A fortnight later he turned up again with a little brother, and again he smiled at St. Hilda.
"Jeems Henery hyeh," he said, ""lowed as how _he"d_ come along"--and James Henry got a home. Jeems was eight, and the Angel, who was ten, was brother and father to him. He saw to it that Jeems Henery worked and worked hard and that he behaved himself, so that his concern for the dull, serious little chap touched St. Hilda deeply. That concern seemed, indeed, sacrificial--and was.
When spring breathed on the hills the Angel got restless. He was homesick again and must go to see his mother.
"But, Willie," said St. Hilda, "you told me your mother died two years ago."
"She come _might" nigh_ dyin"," said the Angel. "That"s what I said."
St. Hilda reasoned with him to no avail, and because she knew he would go anyhow gave him permission.
"Miss Hildy, I"m a-leavin" Jeems Henery with ye now, an" I reckon I oughter tell you somethin"."
"Yes, Willie," answered St. Hilda absently.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
"Miss Hildy, Jeems Henery is the bigges" liar on Viper."
"Yes," repeated St. Hilda; "_what_?"
"The truth ain"t in Jeems Henery," the Angel went on placidly. "You can"t lam" it inter "im an" tain"t no use to try. You jus" watch him close while I"m gone."
"I will."
Half an hour later the Angel put his hand gently on St. Hilda"s knee, and his violet eyes were troubled. "Miss Hildy," he said solemnly, "Jeems Henery is the cussin"est boy on Viper. I reckon Jeems Henery is the cussin"est boy in the world. You"ve got to watch him while I"m gone, or no tellin" whut he _will_ larn them young uns o" yours."
"All right. I"ll do the best I can."
"An" that ain"t all," added the Angel solemnly. "Jeems Henery"--St. Hilda almost held her breath--"Jeems Henery is the gamblin"est boy on Viper.
Jeems Henery jes" can"t _look_ at a marble without tremblin" all over.
If you don"t watch him like a hawk while I"m gone I reckon Jeems Henery"ll larn them young uns o" yours all the devilment in the world."
"Gracious!"
James Henry veered into view just then around the corner of the house.
"Jeems Henery," called the Angel sternly, "come hyeh!" And James Henry stood before the bar of the Angel"s judgment.
"Jeems Henery, air you the gamblin"est boy on Viper?" James Henry nodded cheerfully.
"Air you the cussin"est boy on Viper?" Again there was a nod of cheerful acknowledgment.
"Jeems Henery, air you the bigges" liar on Viper?" James Henry, looking with adoring eyes at the Angel, nodded shameless shame for the third time, and the Angel turned triumphantly.
"Thar now!" Astounded, St. Hilda looked from one brother to the other.
"Well, not one word of this have I heard before."
"Jeems Henery is a sly un--ain"t you, Jeems Henery?"
"Uh-huh."
"Ain"t n.o.body who can ketch up Jeems Henery "ceptin" me."
"Well, Willie, if this is more than I can handle, don"t you think you"d better not go home but stay here and help me with James Henry?" The Angel did not even hesitate.
"I reckon I better," he said, and he visibly swelled with importance.
"I had to lam" Jeems Henery this mornin", an" I reckon I"ll have to keep on lammin" him "most every day."
"Don"t you lam" James Henry at all," said St. Hilda decisively.
"All right," said the Angel. "Jeems Henery, git about yo" work now."
Thereafter St. Hilda kept watch on James Henry and he was, indeed, a sly one. There was gambling going on. St. Hilda did not encourage tale-bearing, but she knew it was going on. Still she could not catch James Henry. One day the Angel came to her.
"I"ve got Jeems Henery to stop gamblin"," he whispered, "an" I didn"t have to lam" him." And, indeed, gambling thereafter ceased. The young man who had come for the summer to teach the boys the games of the outside world reported that much swearing had been going on but that swearing too had stopped.
"I"ve got Jeems Henery to stop cussin"," reported the Angel, and so St. Hilda rewarded him with the easy care of the nice new stable she had built on the hillside. His duty was to clean it and set things in order every day.
Some ten days later she was pa.s.sing near the scene of the Angel"s new activities, and she hailed him.
"How are you getting along?" She called.