Jim Todd."
"What is the significance of this paper, my Gouverneur Faulkner?" I asked after I had made the attempt to translate to myself the very peculiar writing he had given to me.
"I do not know just exactly myself, Robert," answered my Gouverneur Faulkner as he dropped his head upon his hands while he rested his elbows on the polished table among its scattered papers. "I am convinced now that this mule contract business is the plot against my honor that the General believes it to be and has been trying to get to a legal surface. In some way Jim Todd has got hold of one end of the conspiracy. It has been hard for me to believe that a woman would sell me out. If I take it to her in the morning I"ll perhaps get an explanation that will satisfy me. The men who are in with Jeff Whitworth are the best financiers in the State and it is impossible to believe that--"
Very suddenly it happened in my heart to know what to compel that very large man beside me to do for the rescue of his honor. He must see the matter, not through the lies of that beautiful Madam Whitworth, the instrument of that very ugly husband, but he must look into the matter with his blood friend, that Mr. Jim Todd.
"You must go immediately to that Mr. Jim Todd and his prisoner to discover truth, Your Excellency," I said with a very firm determination as I looked straight into his sad eyes that had in them almost the look of shame for dishonor.
"It"s twenty-four hours on horseback across Old Harpeth from Springtown, boy. The trip would take three days. I can"t do it with these guests here, even if they are robbers. I"ll have to stay and dig down to the root of the matter here. I may find it in the hearts of my friends," he answered me with a look of great despair.
"The root of the matter is that man who is a prisoner, my Gouverneur Faulkner. I say that you go; that you start while yet it is night and while no man can advise you not to take that journey. It can be done while this entertainment to the farm of the Brices is made for the inspection of mules and also the running of horses. It is necessary!"
As I spoke to him in that manner a great force rose in me that I poured out to him through my eyes.
"Great Heavens, boy, I believe I"ll do it. I could never get anything if I went when they knew I was going, but I might find out the whole thing if I went to it in secret. If I go now they"ll not have time to get their breath before I am back. I"ll be able to think out there is those hills and I"m--a--man who needs to think--with a vision un.o.bscured." For a long minute my Gouverneur Faulkner sat with his head bowed in his hands as he rested his elbows on that table, then he rose to his feet. "Let"s get away while it is still the dead of night, Robert. I"ll leave a note with Cato to tell the General that I"ve taken you, and n.o.body except himself must know where I have gone or why. He"ll put up the right bluff and we"ll be back before they get anything out of him. It"s three o"clock and we must be far out on the road by daybreak. We"ll take your car and leave it in hiding at Springtown, where by sunup we"ll get horses to cross the mountains."
"Is it that I must go for three days out into those mountains with you, my Gouverneur Faulkner?" faltered that ridiculous and troublesome Roberta, Marquise of Grez and Bye.
"Why, no, Robert, unless--unless--Oh, well, I suppose this prisoner of Jim"s can speak English as they all can. I rather wanted you--but perhaps it is best for me to fight it out alone. Will you help me pack a bag? Get the one from my dressing room while I take a plunge."
"Quick, Robert Carruthers, make an excuse to that Roberta, Marquise of Grez and Bye, who is of such a foolishness, that you must go with your beloved Gouverneur Faulkner for his aid," I said to myself.
"It is necessary that your foreign secretary accompany you to deal with that gentleman of France who is in prison, my Gouverneur Faulkner," I said with decision as I rose from the side of the table with a great quickness. "I must return home for a few necessities of my toilet for those three days, but I will be back in what that good Kizzie says to be a jiffy, when speaking of cooking that is delayed."
"Good," answered me my beloved Gouverneur Faulkner. Then he laid his hand upon my shoulder as we stood together in the dimness out from the rays of the light. "There is something in your eyes, Robert, that renews my faith in the truths of--of life. I"m going out into the wilderness on a grave mission whose result may shake down some houses of--of cards, but because of your being with me I feel as if I were starting off on a picnic or a day"s fishing at the age of ten. Now, I"ll hurry." And as he spoke my Gouverneur Faulkner made a start in the direction of his room for the bath.
"Is it that I may begin the packing of your bag for you, Your Excellency, before I go for those necessities of my own?" I asked of him.
"Won"t be time for you to go home, boy," he answered me, looking at a clock upon the mantel over his large fireplace. "You are still in your evening clothes, I see. But that"s easy: you climb into that pink coat and a pair of those corduroy trousers of mine you see hanging in my dressing room. I haven"t hunted for two years but they are still there. Put linen in that saddlebag on the shelf for us both out of the drawers in the old chest over there. Take heavy socks to go under the leggings. You"d better put on a flannel shirt, too, and take an extra one for both of us. We"ll travel light. I"ll only be in the bath a couple of minutes." With which a.s.surance he entered the room of the bath and closed the door upon me.
"_Mon Dieu_, Roberta, Marquise of Grez and Bye!" was all that I allowed myself to exclaim as I made a very quick rush for that dressing room, switched on the light, flung off my coat, seized a pair of corduroy riding breeches that hung in a corner beside another pair, discarded my own of broadcloth and struggled with both of my legs the same moment into them. Then in a hurry as great as I shall ever know I discovered a gray flannel shirt in a drawer of the very tall old mahogany chest and inserted myself into that with an equal rapidity. A wide leather belt made the two very large garments secure around my waist and I again allowed breath to come into my lungs. I then opened a very queer bag which I knew to be for a saddle, that was upon a shelf in the dressing room, and began to put things into it according to directions of the Gouverneur Faulkner. The other pair of those riding breeches I laid with another of the flannel shirts in a great conspicuousness upon a chair in the bedroom directly in front of the door from the dressing room.
"We"re going to make a record get-away, boy," said that Gouverneur Faulkner to me as in a few minutes he came, clothed in those riding trousers and that flannel shirt, to the door of his dressing room, where I was just making a finish of putting needful clothing into his bag. "You"ll find the other things we need in the bathroom. Put it all in while I get together a few papers I want. We can start now in two minutes."
"All is ready now, my Gouverneur Faulkner," I made the announcement after a wading into that very wet room of the bath and a return.
"Here, give me the bag, and you go ahead with this electric torch.
Quiet now," admonished that Gouverneur Faulkner to me as we took our departure through the dark hall.
"This is the maddest escapade that a Governor of this ancient State has ever undertaken, and the weight of years has slid from me, boy,"
said that Gouverneur Faulkner to me as the Cherry made a long glide from the city out into the open road.
The day was just beginning to come with its light from behind the very large and crooked old mountain that is called Old Harpeth, when my Gouverneur Faulkner made me to turn my good Cherry from off the main road into a little road, of much narrowness and of beautiful brown dirt the color of the riding trousers that I wore, and stop beside a very humble, small house, which was covered with a vine in beautiful bud, and around which many chickens hovered in waiting for a morning breakfast. Behind the small house was a large barn and as I made a nice turn and stop beside the white gate a man in a blue garment that I now know is called overalls, came to the door of the barn.
"h.e.l.lo, Bud. Are Lightfoot and Steady in good condition for a trip across to Turkey-Gulch?" called my Gouverneur Faulkner as he alighted from the car.
"Fit as fiddles, Governor Bill," answered the man as he came to the gate to shake hands with the Gouverneur Faulkner. ""Light and come in to breakfast. Granny has got a couple of chickens already in the skillet. And say, I want you to see what Mandy have got in the bed with her. Ten pounds, Gov."
"Congratulations, Bud; that is some--boy?" said my Gouverneur Faulkner with a question as he again grasped the hand of the large man.
"Naw, Gov; we didn"t have no luck this first shot but I tells Mandy that we"ve got about a dozen more chanstes if she does as well by me as she oughter. Anyway what"s the matter with a gal child?" And the nice young father of the poor little female made a bristle of his disposition in defense of his daughter.
"Not a thing on earth, Bud; except that the whole s.e.x are the unknown quant.i.ty. This is my secretary, Robert Carruthers, the General"s nephew. Come in, Robert, and you"ll have one square meal in your life if you never get another. Get me the usual food wallet together, Bud, please, and let me have it and the horses the very moment I"ve swallowed the last bite of my drum bone, will you? We"ve got to ride fast and far to-day and I want n.o.body on my trail. Understand?"
"Yep, Gov," was the answer that good Bud man made as my Gouverneur Faulkner and I took our way through many chickens into the low little house.
"G.o.d bless my soul, if here ain"t the Governor come for a bite with Granny Bell this fine morning!" exclaimed a very nice old lady from above a stove, which was steaming with food of such an odor as to create a madness in my very empty stomach.
"More than any bite, Granny," answered my Gouverneur Faulkner as he came beside the stove to shake hands with the nice hostess.
"I"d like to feed you some gold, fried in silk. Governor Bill, fer that mercy to my nephew Timms. I can"t say what I feels and finish this cream gravy the right color for you," and as she spoke the fine old friend of my Gouverneur Faulkner wept as she shook a steaming sauce in a black pan and turned with the left hand a golden piece of bread upon another part of the stove.
"I don"t need anything more than your "well done," Granny," answered my Gouverneur Faulkner as he laid a gentle hand on the trembling shoulder of the nice old lady. "This youngster here got the word from Mary and you can give him both of the liver wings if you want to show your grat.i.tude to him."
"G.o.d bless you, young gentleman, and you shall have anything that Granny Bell has to give you in grat.i.tude. Now draw up two chairs and fall to, boys," and as she spoke she set the dishes of a beautiful odor upon a very clean table beside the stove.
"Is it that I may wash the grease stains of the car from my hands before eating, dear Madam?" I asked of her.
"Back porch, you"ll find the bucket and pan and towel, youngster. I can"t wait for you," made answer my Gouverneur Faulkner as he laughed and began upon the repast that must of necessity be a hurried one.
CHAPTER XVIII
THE CAMP HEAVEN
And I was very glad indeed that he did not go with me for that toilet to my hands, for it might have happened that a noise would have deprived me of a very beautiful thing that I discovered, through a window under a vine of roses that opened upon that back porch.
A very pretty young girl, with hair the color of the maize in the fields, lay upon a white bed beneath a quilt of many colors. Her sleeping garment was drawn back from her breast, against which lay a little human person drinking therefrom with much energy. The eyes of the mother were closed and her arm held the babe loosely as if in a deep dreaming. I softly poured the water into the basin, made clean my hands and quietly withdrew into the kitchen, with much care that I did not awaken her. On my cheeks I could feel a deep glow of color, and something within my heart pounded with force against my own breast under its gay red coat of a hunting man. I could not raise my eyes to those of my Gouverneur Faulkner and I ate not as much of that good breakfast as Robert Carruthers could have consumed if the woman in his heart had not been so stirred.
And all of that long day in the soft early spring which was bursting into a budding and a flowering under the feet of our horses and above our heads in the trees, it was the woman Roberta that rode at the side of my Gouverneur Faulkner, with her heart at an ache under her coat of a man. It was with a difficulty that I forced my eyes to meet and make answer to the merriment and joy of the woods in his deep ones; and I was of a great gladness when the descending of the sun brought a moon-silvered twilight down upon us from the young green branches of the large trees of the forest through which we rode.
"Time to make camp. We"ve got to old Jutting Rock. You are halfway up between heaven and earth, youngster," said my Gouverneur Faulkner as he drew to a halt his horse in front of me and pointed down into the dim valley that lay at our feet.
"I am glad that we have made this Camp Heaven," I answered to him as I slid from my horse, ungirthed him, and drew from his back the heavy saddle he had worn for the day, as I had been taught by my father to do after a day"s hunting, if no grooms came immediately. "Is it that you have hunger, my Gouverneur Faulkner?"
"Only about ten pounds of food craving," he made answer to me with a large laugh that was the first I had ever heard him to give forth.
"I"ll rustle the fire and water if you"ll open the food wallet and feed the horses."
"Immediately I will do all of that," I made an answer to him and because of the happiness of that laugh he had given forth, a gladness rose in my heart that made me again that merry boy Robert.
And it was with a great industry for a short hour that we prepared the Camp Heaven for a sojourn of a night. Upon a very nice hot fire I put good bacon to cook and my Gouverneur set also the pot of coffee upon the coals. Then, while I made crisp with the heat the brown corn pones, with which that Granny Bell had provided us, he brought a large armful of a very fragrant kind of tree and threw it not far into the shadow of the great tree which was the roof to our Camp Heaven.
"Bed," he said as he came and stood beside the fire in a large towering over me. I dropped beyond rescue a fragment of that corn bread into the extreme heat of the coals, but I said with a great composure and a briefness like unto his words:
"Supper."