Sis"s response to this transparent fib was an infectious peal of laughter, and a kiss which amply repaid Teague for any discomfort to which he may have been subjected.
Once, after Sis had nestled up against Teague, she asked somewhat irrelevantly--
"Pap, do you reckon Mr. Woodward was a revenue spy after all?"
"Well, not to"rds the last. He drapped that business airter he once seed its which-aways. What makes you ast?"
"Because I hate and despise revenue spies."
"Well, they hain"t been a-botherin" roun lately, an" we hain"t got no call to hate "em tell they gits in sight. Hatin" is a mighty ha"sh disease. When Puss"s preacher comes along, he talks ag"in it over the Bible, an" when you call "im in to dinner, he talks ag"in it over the chicken-bones. I reckon hit"s mighty bad--mighty bad."
"Did you like him?"
"Who? Puss"s preacher?"
"Now, you know I don"t mean _him_, pap."
"_Oh!_ Cap"n Woodward. Well, I tell you what, he had mighty takin"
ways. Look in his eye, an" you wouldn"t see no muddy water; an" he had grit. They hain"t no two ways about that. When I ast "im out with us that night, he went like a man that had a stool to a quiltin"-bee; an"
when Duke Dawson an" Sid Parmalee flung out some er the"r slurs, he thes snapt his fingers in the"r face, an" ups an" says, says he, "Gents, ef youer up for a frolic, I"m your man, an" ef youer in for a fight, thes count me in," says he. The boys wuz a little drinky," said Teague, apologetically.
Sis squeezed up a little closer against her father"s shoulder.
"Did they fight, pap?"
"Lord bless you, no. I thes taken am" flung my han" in Duke"s collar an" fetched "im a shake er two, an put "im in a good humour thereckly; an" then airterwerds Tip Watson sot "em all right when he read out the letter you foun" on the floor."
"Oh, pap!" Sis exclaimed in a horrified tone, "I _slapped_ that letter out of Mr. Woodward"s _hand!_"
Teague laughed exultantly.
"What"d he say?"
"He didn"t say _anything_. He looked like he expected the floor to open and swallow him. I never was so ashamed in my life. I"ve cried about it a thousand times."
"Why, honey, I wouldn"t take an" _cry_ "bout it ef I wuz you."
"Yes you would, pap, if--if--you were me. I don"t know what came over me; I don"t know how I could be so hateful. No _lady_ would ever do such a thing as that."
Sis gave her opinion with great emphasis. Teague took his pipe out of his mouth.
"Well, I tell you what, honey, they mought er done wuss. I let you know, when folks is got to be a-runnin" here an" a-hidin" yander, hit"s thes about time for the gals for to lose the"r manners. n.o.body wouldn"t a-blamed you much ef you"d a-fetched the Cap"n a clip stidder the letter; leastways, I wouldn"t."
The girl shivered and caught her breath.
"If I had hit _him_," she exclaimed vehemently, "I should have gone off and killed myself."
"_Shoo!_" said Teague in a tone intended to be at once contemptuous and rea.s.suring, but it was neither the one nor the other.
This conversation gave Teague fresh cause for anxiety. From his point of view, Sis"s newly-developed humility was absolutely alarming, and it added to his uneasiness. He recognised in her tone a certain shyness which seemed to appeal to him for protection, and he was profoundly stirred by it without at all understanding it. With a tact that might be traced to either instinct or accident, he refrained from questioning her as to her troubles. He was confused, but watchful. He kept his own counsel, and had no more conferences with Puss. Perhaps Puss was also something of a mystery; if so, she was old enough to take care of her own affairs.
Teague had other talks with Sis--some general, some half-confidential,--and he finally became aware of the fact that every subject led to Woodward. He humoured this, awkwardly but earnestly, and thought he had a clew, but it was a clew that pestered him more than ever.
He turned it round in his mind and brooded over it. Woodward was a man of fine appearance and winning manners, and Sis, with all the advantages--comparative advantages merely--that the Gullettsville Academy had given her, was only a country girl after all. What if----?
Teague turned away from the suspicion in terror. It was a horrible one; but as often as he put it aside, so often he returned to it. It haunted him. Turn where he might, go where he would, it pursued him night and day.
One mild afternoon in the early spring, Mr. Philip Woodward, ex-deputy marshal, leaned against the railing of Broad Street bridge in the city of Atlanta, and looked northward to where Kennesaw Mountain rises like a huge blue billow out of the horizon and lends picturesqueness to the view. Mr. Woodward was in excellent humour. He had just made up his mind in regard to a matter that had given him no little trouble. A wandering prospector, the agent of a company of Boston capitalists, had told him a few hours before that he would be offered twenty thousand dollars for his land-lot on Hog Mountain. This was very important, but it was not of the highest importance. He nodded familiarly to Kennesaw, and thought: "I"ll slip by you to-morrow and make another raid on Hog Mountain, and compel that high-tempered girl to tell me what she means by troubling me so."
A train of cars ran puffing and roaring under the bridge, and as Woodward turned to follow it with his eye he saw standing upon the other side a tall, gaunt, powerful-looking man, whom he instantly recognised as Teague Poteet. Teague wore the air of awkward, recklessly-helpless independence which so often deceives those who strike the mountain men for a trade. Swiftly crossing the bridge, Woodward seized Teague and greeted him with a cordiality that amounted to enthusiasm.
"Well, of all the world, old man, you are the one I most wanted to see." Teague"s thoughts ran with grim directness to a reward that had been offered for a certain grey old Moonshiner who had made his headquarters on Hog Mountain. "How are all at home?" Woodward went on, "and what is the news?"
"The folks is porely and puny," Teague replied, "an" the news won"t skacely b"ar relatin". I hain"t a-denyin"," he continued, rubbing his chin and looking keenly at the other, "I hain"t a-denyin" but what I"m a-huntin" airter you, an" the business I come on hain"t got much howdyin" in it. Ef you uv got some place er nuther wher" ever"body hain"t a-c.o.c.kin" up the"r years at us, I"d like to pa.s.s some words wi"
you."
"Why, of course," exclaimed Woodward, hooking his arm in Teague"s.
"We"ll go to my room. Come! And after we get through, if you don"t say that my business with you is more important than your business with me, then I"ll agree to carry you to Hog Mountain on my back. Now that"s a fair and reasonable proposition. What do you say?"
Woodward spoke with unusual warmth, and there was a glow of boyish frankness in his tone and manners that Teague found it hard to resist.
"Well, they"s thes this much about it," he said; "my business is mighty troublesome, an" yit hit"s got to be settled up."
He had put a revolver in his pocket on account of this troublesome business.
"So is mine troublesome," responded Woodward, laughing, and then growing serious. "It has nearly worried me to death."
Presently they reached Woodward"s room, which was up a flight of stairs near the corner of Broad and Alabama Streets. It was a very plain apartment, but comfortably furnished, and kept with scrupulous neatness.
"Now, then," said Woodward, when Teague had seated himself, "I"ll settle my business, and then you can settle yours." He had seated himself in a chair, but he got up, shook himself, and walked around the room nervously. The lithograph of a popular burlesque actress stared brazenly at him from the mantelpiece. He took this remarkable work of art, folded it across the middle, and threw it into the grate. "I"ve had more trouble than enough," he went on, "and if I hadn"t met you to-day I intended to hunt you up to-morrow."
"In Atlanty?"
"No; on Hog Mountain. Oh, I know the risk," Woodward exclaimed, misinterpreting Teague"s look of surprise. "I know all about that, but I was going just the same. Has Miss Sis ever married?" he asked, stopping before Teague and blushing like a girl. "Not less"n it happened sence last We"n"sday, an" that hain"t noways likely," replied the other, with more interest than he had yet shown. Woodward"s embarra.s.sment was more impressive than his words.
"I hardly know how to say it," he continued, "but what I wanted to ask you was this: Suppose I should go up to Hog Mountain some fine morning, and call on you, and say, as the fellow did in the song, "Old man, old man, give me your daughter," and you should reply, "Go upstairs and take her if you want to," what do you suppose the daughter would say?"
Woodward tried in vain to give an air of banter to his words. Teague leaned forward with his hands upon his knees.
"Do you mean, would Sis marry you?" he asked.
"That is just exactly what I mean," Woodward replied.
The old mountaineer rose and stretched himself, and drew a deep sigh of relief. His horrible suspicion had no foundation. He need not fly to the mountains with Woodward"s blood upon his hands.
"Lemme tell you the honest truth, Cap," he said, placing his hand kindly on the young man"s shoulder. "I might "low she would, an" I might "low she wouldn"t; but I"m erbleege to tell you that I dunno nothin" "bout that chil" no more"n ef I hadn"t a-never seed "er. Wimmin is mighty kuse."
"Yes," said Woodward, "they are curious."