"The Cunnel"s not to home, suh," said Bill. "But you bettah come in and seddown. I"ll go call the folks."
"Never mind," said the visitor. "I reckon I"ll just walk around a little outside. I hear Colonel Blount is off on a bear hunt."
"Ya.s.sah," said Bill. "An" when he goes he mostly gits b"ah. I"se right "spondent dis time, though, "deed I is, suh."
"What"s the matter?"
"Why, you see, suh," replied Bill, leaning comfortably back against a gallery post, "it"s dis-away. I"m just goin" out to fix up old Hec"s foot. He"s ouah bestest b"ah-dog, but he got so blame biggoty, las"
time he was out, stuck his foot right intoe a b"ah"s mouth. Now, Hec"s lef" home, an" me lef home to "ten" to Hec. How kin Cunnel Blount git ary b"ah "dout me and Hec along? I"se right "spondent, dat"s whut I is."
"Well, now, that"s too bad," said the stranger, with a smile.
"Too bad? I reckon it sho" is. Fer, if Cunnel Blount don"t git no b"ah--look out den, _I_ kin tell you."
"Gets his dander up, eh?"
"Dandah--dandah! You know him? Th"ain"t no better boss, but ef he goes out huntin" b"ah an" don"t get no _b"ah_--why, then th" ain"t no reason goin" _do_ foh him."
"Is Mrs. Blount at home, Bill?"
"Th"ain"t no Mrs. Blount, and I don"t reckon they neveh will be.
Cunnel too busy huntin" b"ah to git married. They"s two ladies heah, no relation o" him; they done come heah a yeah er so ago, and they- all keeps house fer the Cunnel. That"s Mrs. Ellison and her dahteh, Miss Lady. She"s a pow"ful fine gal, Miss Lady."
"I don"t know them," said the visitor.
"No, sah," said Bill. "They ain"t been heah long. Dese heah low-down n.i.g.g.e.rs liken to steal the Cunnel blin", he away so much. One day, he gits right mad. "Lows he goin" to advehtize fer a housekeepah-lady.
Then Mas" Henry "Cherd--he"s gemman been livin" couple o" yeahs "er so down to near Vicksburg, some"rs; he"s out huntin" now with the Cunnel--why, Mas" "Cherd he "lows he knows whah thah"s a lady, jus"
the thing. Law! Cunnel didn"t spec" no real lady, you know, jes"
wantin" housekeepah. But long comes this heah lady, Mrs. Ellison, an"
brings this heah young lady, too--real quality. "Miss Lady" we-all calls her, right to once. Orto see Cunnel Cal Blount den! "Now, I reckon I kin go huntin" peaceful," says he. So dem two tuk holt. Been heah ever since. Mas" "Cherd, he has in min" this heah yallah gal, Delpheem. Right soon, heah come Delpheem "long too. Reckon she runs the kitchen all right. Anyways we"s got white folks in the parlah, whah they allus _orto_ be white folks."
"Well, you ought to thank your friend--what is his name--d.u.c.h.erd-- Decherd? Seems as though I had heard that name, below somewhere."
"Yas, Mas" Henry "Cherd. We does thank him. He sut"nly done fix us all up wid women-folks. We couldn"t no _mo"_ git erlong "dout Miss Lady now, "n we could "dout _me,_ er the Cunnel. But, _law!_ it don"t make no diff"ence to Cunnel Blount who"s heah or who ain"t heah, he jest gotter hunt _b"ah._ You come "long wid me, I could show you b"ah hides up stairs, b"ah hides on de roof, b"ah hides on de sheds, b"ah hides on de barn, and a tame b"ah hitched to the cotton-gin ovah thah."
"He seems to make a sort of specialty of bear, doesn"t he? Got a pretty good pack, eh?"
"Pack? I should say we has! We got the bestest b"ah pack in Miss"ippi, er in de whole worl". We sho" is fixed up fer huntin".
But, now, look heah, two three days ago the railroad kyahs done run ovah a fine colt whut de Cunnel was raisin" fer a saddle hoss--kilt it plumb daid. That riled him a heap. "d.a.m.n the railroad kyahs," sez he. An" den off he goes huntin", sort o" riled like. Now, ef he comes back, and ef he don"t git no _b"ah,_ why, you won"t see old Bill "round heah fer "bout fo" days."
"You seem to know him pretty well."
"Know him? I orto. Raised wid him, an" lived heah all my life. Now, when you see Cunnel Blount come home, he"ll come up "long dat lane, him an" de dogs, an" dem no "count n.i.g.g.e.rs he done took "long wid him; an" when he gits up to whah de lane crosses de railroad track, ef he come ridin" "long easy like, now an" den tootin" his hawn to so"ht o" let us know he"s a-comin"--ef he do dat-away, dat"s all right,--dat"s all right." Here the garrulous old servant shook his head. "But ef he don"t--well den--"
"That"s bad, if he doesn"t, eh?"
"Ya.s.sah. Ef he don" come a-blowin" an" ef he _do_ come _a-singin"_, den look out! I allus did notice, ef Cunnel Blount "gins to sing "ligious hymns, somethin"s wrong, and somethin" gwine ter drap. He hain"t right easy ter git along wid when he"s a-singin". But if you"ll "scuse me, suh, I gotter take care o" old Hec. Jest make yourself to home, suh,--anyways you like."
The visitor contented himself with wandering about the yard, until at length he seated himself on the board-pile beneath the evergreen trees, and so sank into an idle reverie, his chin in his hand, and his eyes staring out across the wide field. His face, now in repose, seemed more meditative; indeed one might have called it almost mournful. The shoulders drooped a trifle, as though their owner for the time forgot to pull himself together. He sat thus for some time, and the sun was beginning to encroach upon his refuge, when suddenly he was aroused by the faint and far-off sound of a hunting horn. That the listener distinguished it at such a distance might have argued that he himself had known hound and saddle in his day; yet he readily caught the note of the short hunting horn universally used by the southern hunters, and recognized the a.s.sembly call for the hunting pack. As it came near, all the dogs that remained in the kennel yards heard it and raged to escape from their confinement. Old Bill came hobbling around the corner. Steps were heard on the gallery, and the visitor"s face showed a slight uneasiness as he caught a glimpse of a certain spot now suddenly made alive by the flutter of a soft gown and the flash of a bunch of scarlet ribbons. Thither he gazed as directly as he might in these circ.u.mstances.
"Dat"s her! dat"s Miss Lady!" said Bill to his new friend, in a low voice. "Han"somest young lady in de hull Delta. Dey"ll all be right glad ter see de Cunnel back. He"s got a b"ah sho", fer he"s comin" a- blowin"."
Bill"s joy was not long-lived, for even as the little cavalcade came in view, a tall figure on a chestnut hunting horse riding well in advance, certain colored stragglers following, and the party-colored pack trotting or limping along on all sides, the music of the summoning horn suddenly ceased. Looking neither to the right nor to the left, the leader of the hunt rode on up the lane, sitting loose and careless in the saddle, his right hand steadying a short rifle across the saddle front. He rode thus until presently those at the Big House heard, softly rising on the morning air, the chant of an old church hymn: "On Jordan"s strand I"ll _take_ my stand, An-n-n--"
"Oh, Lawd!" exclaimed Bill. "Dat"s his very wustest chune." Saying which he dodged around the corner of the house.
CHAPTER IV
A QUESTION OP VALUATION
Turning in from the lane at the yard gate, Colonel Calvin Blount and his retinue rode close up to the side door of the plantation house; but even here the master vouchsafed no salutation to those who awaited his coming. He was a tall man, broad-shouldered, lean and muscular; yet so far from being thin and dark, he was spare rather from physical exercise than through gaunt habit of body; his complexion was ruddy and sun-colored, and the long mustache hanging across his jaws showed a deep mahogany-red. Western ranchman one might have called him, rather than southern planter. Scotch-Irish, generations back, perhaps, yet southern always, and by birth-right American, he might have been a war-lord of another land and day. No feudal baron ever dismounted with more a.s.suredness at his own hall, to toss careless rein to a retainer. He stood now, tall and straight, a trifle rough-looking in his careless planter"s dress, but every inch the master. A slight frown puckered up his forehead, giving to his face an added hint of sternness.
Behind this leading figure of the cavalcade came a younger man. In age perhaps at the mid thirties, tall, slender, with dark hair and eyes and with a dark mustache shading his upper lip, Henry Decherd, formerly of New Orleans, for a few years dweller in the Delta, sometime guest of Colonel Blount at the Big House plantation and companion of the hunt, made now a figure if not wholly eye-filling, at least handsome and distinguished. His dress was neat to the verge of foppishness, nor did it seem much disordered by the hardships of the chase. Upon his clean-cut face there sat a certain arrogance, as of one at least desirous of having his own way in his own sphere. Not an ill-looking man, upon the whole, was Henry Decherd, though his reddish-yellow eyes, a bit oblique in their setting, gave the impression alike of a certain touchiness of temper and an unpleasantly fox-like quality of character. There was an air not barren of self-consciousness as he threw himself out of the saddle, for it might have been seen that under his saddle, and not that of Colonel Blount, there rested the black and glossy hide of the great bear which had been the object of the chase. Decherd stood with his hand resting on the hide and gazed somewhat eagerly, one might have thought, toward the gallery whence came the flash of scarlet ribbons.
Colonel Blount busied himself with directions as to the horses and dogs. The latter came straggling along in groups or pairs or singles, some of them hobbling on three legs, many showing bitter wounds. The chase of the great bear had proved stern pastime for them. Of half a hundred hounds which had started, not two-thirds were back again, and many of these would be unfit for days for the resumption of their savage trade. None the less, as the master sounded again, loud and clear, the call for the a.s.sembly, all the dogs about the place, young and old, homekeepers and warriors, came pouring in with heads uplifted, each pealing out his sweet and mournful music. Colonel Blount spoke to dozens of them, calling each by its proper name.
"Here, Bill," he called to that worthy, who had now ventured to return from his hiding-place, "take them out to the yard and fix them up. Now, boys, go around to the kitchen and tell them to give you something to eat."
In the confusion of the disbandment of the hunt, the master of the Big House had as yet hardly found time to look about him, but now, as the conclave scattered, he found himself alone, and turning, discovered the occupant of the board-pile, who arose and advanced, offering his hand.
"This is Colonel Blount, I presume," said he.
"Yes, sir, that"s my name. I beg your pardon, I"m sure, but I didn"t know you were there. Come right on into the house and sit down, sir.
Now, your name is--?"
"Eddring," said the new-comer. "John Eddring. I am just down on the morning train from the city."
"I"m right glad to see you, Mr. Eddring," said Colonel Blount, extending his hand. "It seems to me I ought to know your family. Over round Hillsboro, aren"t you? Tell me, you"re not the son of old Dan H. Eddring of the Tenth Mississippi in the war?"
"That was an uncle of mine."
"Is that so, is that so? Why, Dan H. Eddring was my father"s friend.
They slept and fought and ate together for four years, until my father was killed in the Wilderness."
"And my uncle before Richmond; John Eddring, my father, long before, at Ball"s Bluff."
"I was in some of that fighting myself," said Colonel Blount, rubbing his chin. "I was a boy, just a boy. Well, it"s all over now. Come on in. I"m mighty glad to see you." Yet the two, without plan, had now wandered over toward the shade of the evergreen, and presently they seated themselves on the board-pile.
"Well, Colonel Blount," said the visitor, "I reckon you must have had a good hunt."
"Yes, sir, there ain"t a b"ah in the Delta can get away from those dogs. We run this fellow straight on end for ten miles; put him across the river twice, and all around the Black Bayou, but the dogs kept him hot all the time, I"m telling you, for more than five miles through the cane, clean beyond the bayou."
"Who got the shot, Colonel?" asked Eddring--a question apparently most unwelcome.