"Did you see any signs on the dawg when he got home?" The gaunt man hesitated, with one swift glance at the boy, who almost paled in answer.
"Why," said the school-master, and again he hesitated, but old Joel, in a voice that was without hope, encouraged him:
"Go on!"
"What was they?"
"Jack had blood on his muzzle, and a little strand o" wool behind one ear."
There was no hope against that testimony. Melissa broke away from her mother and ran out to the road-weeping. Chad dropped with a sob to his bench and put his arms around the dog: then he rose up and walked out the opening while Jack leaped against his leash to follow. The school-master put out his hand to stop him, but the boy struck it aside without looking up and went on. He could not stay to see Jack condemned. He knew what the verdict would be, and in twenty minutes the jury gave it, without leaving their seats.
"Guilty!"
The Sheriff came forward. He knew Jack and Jack knew him, and wagged his tail and whimpered up at him when he took the leash.
"Well, by --, this is a job I don"t like, an" I"m d.a.m.ned ef I"m agoin" to shoot this dawg afore he knows what I"m shootin" him fer. I"m goin" to show him that sheep fust. Whar"s that sheep, Daws?"
Daws led the way down the road, over the fence, across the meadow, and up the hill-side where lay the slain sheep. Chad and Melissa saw them coming-the whole crowd-before they themselves were seen. For a minute the boy watched them. They were going to kill Jack where the Dillons said he had killed the sheep, and the boy jumped to his feet and ran up the hill a little way and disappeared in the bushes, that he might not hear Jack"s death-shot, while Melissa sat where she was, watching the crowd come on. Daws was at the foot of the hill, and she saw him make a gesture toward her, and then the Sheriff came on with Jack-over the fence, past her, the Sheriff saying, kindly, "Howdy, Melissa. I sh.o.r.ely am sorry ta have to kill Jack," and on to the dead sheep, which lay fifty yards beyond. If the Sheriff expected to drop head and tail and look mean he was greatly mistaken. Jack neither hung back nor sniffed at the carca.s.s. Instead he put one fore foot on it and with the other bent in the air, looked without shame into the Sheriff"s eyes-as much as to say:
"Yes, this is a wicked and shameful thing, but what have I got to do with it? Why are you bringing ME here?"
The Sheriff came back greatly puzzled and shaking his head. Pa.s.sing Melissa, he stopped to let the unhappy little girl give Jack a last pat, and it was there that Jack suddenly caught scent of Chad"s tracks. With one mighty bound the dog s.n.a.t.c.hed the rawhide string from the careless Sheriff"s hand, and in a moment, with his nose to the ground, was speeding up toward the woods. With a startled yell and a frightful oath the Sheriff threw his rifle to his shoulder, but the little girl sprang up and caught the barrel with both hands, shaking it fiercely up and down and hieing Jack on with shriek after shriek. A minute later Jack had disappeared in the bushes, Melissa was running like the wind down the hill toward home, while the whole crowd in the meadow was rushing up toward the Sheriff, led by the Dillons, who were yelling and swearing like madmen. Above them, the crestfallen Sheriff waited. The Dillons crowded angrily about him, gesticulating and threatening, while he told his story. But nothing could be done-nothing. They did not know that Chad was up in the woods or they would have gone in search of him-knowing that when they found him they would find Jack-but to look for Jack now would be like searching for a needle in a hay-stack. There was nothing to do, then, but to wait for Jack to come home, which he would surely do-to get to Chad-and it was while old Joel was promising that the dog should be surrendered to the Sheriff that little Tad Dillon gave an excited shriek.
"Look up thar!"
And up there at the edge of the wood was Chad standing and, at his feet, Jack sitting on his haunches, with his tongue out and looking as though nothing had happened or could ever happen to Chad or to him.
"Come up hyeh," shouted Chad.
"You come down hyeh," shouted the Sheriff, angrily. So Chad came down, with Jack trotting after him. Chad had cut off the rawhide string, but the Sheriff caught Jack by the nape of the neck.
"You won"t git away from me agin, I reckon."
"Well, I reckon you ain"t goin" to shoot him," said Chad. "Leggo that dawg."
"Don"t be a fool, Jim," said old Joel. "The dawg ain"t goin" to leave the boy." The Sheriff let go.
"Come on up hyeh," said Chad. "I got somethin" to show ye."
The boy turned with such certainty that with out a word Squire, Sheriff, Turners, Dillons, and spectators followed. As they approached a deep ravine the boy pointed to the ground where were evidences of some fierce struggle-the dirt thrown up, and several small stones scattered about with faded stains of blood on them.
"Wait hyeh!" said the boy, and he slid down the ravine and appeared again dragging something after him. Tall Tom ran down to help him and the two threw before the astonished crowd the body of a black and white dog. "Now I reckon you know whar Whizzer is," panted Chad vindictively to the Dillons.
"Well, what of it?" snapped Daws
"Oh, nothin"," said the boy with fine sarcasm. "Only WHIZZER killed that sheep and Jack killed Whizzer." From every Dillon throat came a scornful grunt.
"Oh, I reckon so," said Chad, easily. "Look dhar!" He lifted the dead dog"s head, and pointed at the strands of wool between his teeth. He turned it over, showing the deadly grip in the throat and close to the jaws, that had choked the life from Whizzer-Jack"s own grip.
"Ef you will jes" rickollect, Jack had that same grip the time afore-when I pulled him off o" Whizzer."
"By --, that is so," said Tall Tom, and Dolph and Rube echoed him amid a dozen voices, for not only old Joel, but many of his neighbors knew Jack"s method of fighting, which had made him a victor up and down the length of Kingdom Come.
There was little doubt that the boy was right-that Jack had come on Whizzer killing the sheep, and had caught him at the edge of the ravine, where the two had fought, rolling down and settling the old feud between them in the darkness at the bottom. And up there on the hill-side, the jury that p.r.o.nounced Jack guilty p.r.o.nounced him innocent, and, as the Turners started joyfully down the hill, the sun that was to have sunk on Jack stiff in death sank on Jack frisking before them-home.
And yet another wonder was in store for Chad. A strange horse with a strange saddle was. .h.i.tched to the Turner fence; beside it was an old mare with a boy"s saddle, and as Chad came through the gate a familiar voice called him cheerily by name. On the porch sat Major Buford.
CHAPTER 14.
THE MAJOR IN THE MOUNTAINS
The quivering heat of August was giving way and the golden peace of autumn was spreading through the land. The breath of mountain woods by day was as cool as the breath of valleys at night. In the mountains, boy and girl were leaving school for work in the fields, and from the c.u.mberland foothills to the Ohio, boy and girl were leaving happy holidays for school. Along a rough, rocky road and down a shining river, now sunk to deep pools with trickling riffles between-for a drouth was on the land-rode a tall, gaunt man on an old brown mare that switched with her tail now and then at a long-legged, rough-haired colt stumbling awkwardly behind. Where the road turned from the river and up the mountain, the man did a peculiar thing, for there, in that lonely wilderness, he stopped, dismounted, tied the reins to an overhanging branch and, leaving mare and colt behind, strode up the mountain, on and on, disappearing over the top. Half an hour later, a st.u.r.dy youth hove in sight, trudging along the same road with his cap in his hand, a long rifle over one shoulder and a dog trotting at his heels. Now and then the boy would look back and scold the dog and the dog would drop his muzzle with shame, until the boy stooped to pat him on the head, when he would leap frisking before him, until another affectionate scolding was due. The old mare turned her head when she heard them coming, and nickered. Without a moment"s hesitation the lad untied her, mounted and rode up the mountain. For two days the man and the boy had been "riding and tying," as this way of travel for two men and one horse is still known in the hills, and over the mountain, they were to come together for the night. At the foot of the spur on the other side, boy and dog came upon the tall man sprawled at full length across a moss-covered bowlder. The dog dropped behind, but the man"s quick eye caught him:
"Where"d that dog come from, Chad?" Jack put his belly to the earth and crawled slowly forward-penitent, but determined.
"He broke loose, I reckon. He come tearin" up behind me "bout an hour ago, like a house afire. Let him go." Caleb Hazel frowned.
"I told you, Chad, that we"d have no place to keep him."
"Well, we can send him home as easy from up thar as we can from hyeh-let him go."
"All right!" Chad understood not a whit better than the dog; for Jack leaped to his feet and jumped around the school-master, trying to lick his hands, but the school-master was absorbed and would none of him. There, the mountain-path turned into a wagon-road and the school-master pointed with one finger.
"Do you know what that is, Chad?"
"No, sir." Chad said "sir" to the school-master now.
"Well, that"s"-the school-master paused to give his words effect-"that"s the old Wilderness Road."
Ah, did he not know the old, old Wilderness Road! The boy gripped his rifle unconsciously, as though there might yet be a savage lying in ambush in some covert of rhododendron close by. And, as they trudged ahead, side by side now, for it was growing late, the school-master told him, as often before, the story of that road and the pioneers who had trod it-the hunters, adventurers, emigrants, fine ladies and fine gentlemen who had stained it with their blood; and how that road had broadened into the mighty way for a great civilization from sea to sea. The lad could see it all, as he listened, wishing that he had lived in those stirring days, never dreaming in how little was he of different mould from the stout-hearted pioneers who beat out the path with their moccasined feet; how little less full of danger were his own days to be; how little different had been his own life, and was his our pose now-how little different after all was the bourn to which his own restless feet were bearing him.
Chad had changed a good deal since that night after Jack"s trial, when the kind-hearted old Major had turned up at Joel"s cabin to take him back to the Bluegra.s.s. He was taller, broader at shoulder, deeper of chest; his mouth and eyes were prematurely grave from much brooding and looked a little defiant, as though the boy expected hostility from the world and was prepared to meet it, but there was no bitterness in them, and luminous about the lad was the old atmosphere of brave, sunny cheer and simple self-trust that won people to him.
The Major and old Joel had talked late that night after Jack"s trial. The Major had come down to find out who Chad was, if possible, and to take him back home, no matter who he might be. The old hunter looked long into the fire.
"Co"se I know hit "ud be better fer Chad, but, Lawd, how we"d hate to give him up. Still, I reckon I"ll have to let him go, but I can stand hit better, if you can git him to leave Jack hyeh." The Major smiled. Did old Joel know where Nathan Cherry lived? The old hunter did. Nathan was a "d.a.m.ned old skinflint who lived across the mountain on Stone Creek-who stole other folks" farms and if he knew anything about Chad the old hunter would squeeze it out of his throat; and if old Nathan, learning where Chad now was, tried to pester him he would break every bone in the skinflint"s body." So the Major and old Joel rode over next day to see Nathan, and Nathan with his shifting eyes told them Chad"s story in a high, cracked voice that, recalling Chad"s imitation of it, made the Major laugh. Chad was a foundling, Nathan said: his mother was dead and his father had gone off to the Mexican War and never come back: he had taken the mother in himself and Chad had been born in his own house, when he lived farther up the river, and the boy had begun to run away as soon as he was old enough to toddle. And with each sentence Nathan would call for confirmation on a silent, dark-faced daughter who sat inside: "Didn"t he, Betsy?" or "Wasn"t he, gal?" And the girl would nod sullenly, but say nothing. It seemed a hopeless mission except that, on the way back, the Major learned that there were one or two Bufords living down the c.u.mberland, and like old Joel, shook his head over Nathan"s pharisaical philanthropy to a homeless boy and wondered what the motive under it was-but he went back with the old hunter and tried to get Chad to go home with him. The boy was rock-firm in his refusal.
"I"m obleeged to you, Major, but I reckon I better stay in the mountains." That was all Chad would say, and at last the Major gave up and rode back over the mountain and down the c.u.mberland alone, still on his quest. At a blacksmith"s shop far down the river he found a man who had "heerd tell of a Chad Buford who had been killed in the Mexican War and whose daddy lived "bout fifteen mile down the river." The Major found that Buford dead, but an old woman told him his name was Chad, that he had "fit in the War o" 1812 when he was nothin" but a chunk of a boy, and that his daddy, whose name, too, was Chad, had been killed by Injuns some"eres aroun" c.u.mberland Gap." By this time the Major was as keen as a hound on the scent, and, in a cabin at the foot of the sheer gray wall that crumbles into the Gap, he had the amazing luck to find an octogenarian with an unclouded memory who could recollect a queer-looking old man who had been killed by Indians-"a ole feller with the curiosest hair I ever did see," added the patriarch. His name was Colonel Buford, and the old man knew where he was buried, for he himself was old enough at the time to help bury him. Greatly excited, the Major hired mountaineers to dig into the little hill that the old man pointed out, on which there was, however, no sign of a grave, and, at last, they uncovered the skeleton of an old gentleman in a wig and peruke! There was little doubt now that the boy, no matter what the blot on his "scutcheon, was of his own flesh and blood, and the Major was tempted to go back at once for him, but it was a long way, and he was ill and anxious to get back home. So he took the Wilderness Road for the Bluegra.s.s, and wrote old Joel the facts and asked him to send Chad to him whenever he would come. But the boy would not go. There was no definite reason in his mind. It was a stubborn instinct merely-the instinct of pride, of stubborn independence-of shame that festered in his soul like a hornet"s sting. Even Melissa urged him. She never tired of hearing Chad tell about the Bluegra.s.s country, and when she knew that the Major wanted him to go back, she followed him out in the yard that night and found him on the fence whittling. A red star was sinking behind the mountains. "Why won"t you go back no more, Chad?" she said.
""Cause I HAIN"T got no daddy er mammy." Then Melissa startled him.
"Well, I"d go-an" I hain"t got no daddy er mammy." Chad stopped his whittling.
"Whut"d you say, Lissy?" he asked, gravely.
Melissa was frightened-the boy looked so serious.