"Please lemme give ye some whiskey," he pleaded, pressing the gla.s.s to her lips.
"No--no, take it away--I hate it. My baby shall be clean and strong or I want to die."
The decision seemed to brace her spirit for the last test when the trembling feet entered the shadows of the dim valley that lies between Life and Death.
The dark, slender figure lay still and white at last. A sharp cry from l.u.s.ty lungs, and the grey eyes slowly opened, with a timid wondering look.
"Tom!" she cried with quick eager tones.
"Yes, Nancy, yes!"
"A boy?"
"Of course--and a buster he is, too."
"Give him to me--quick!"
The stalwart figure bent over the bed and laid the little red bundle in her arms. She pressed him tenderly to her heart, felt his breath on her breast and the joyous tears slowly poured down her cheeks.
III
Before the first year of the boy"s life had pa.s.sed the task of teaching his good-natured, stubborn father became impossible. The best the wife could do was to make him trace his name in sprawling letters that resembled writing and painfully spell his way through the simplest pa.s.sages in the Bible.
The day she gave up was one of dumb despair. She resolved at last to live in her boy. All she had hoped and dreamed of life should be his and he would be hers. Her hands could make him good or bad, brave or cowardly, n.o.ble or ign.o.ble.
He was a remarkable child physically, and grew out of his clothes faster than she could make them. It was easy to see from his second year that he would be a man of extraordinary stature. Both mother and father were above the average height, but he would overtop them both. When he tumbled over the bear rugs on the cabin floor his father would roar with laughter:
"For the Lord"s sake, Nancy, look at them legs! They"re windin" blades.
Ef he ever gits grown, he won"t have ter ax fer a blessin", he kin jest reach up an" hand it down hisself!"
He was four years old when he got the first vision of his mother that time should never blot out. His father was away on a carpenter job of four days. Sleeping in the lower bunk in the corner, he waked with a start to hear the chickens cackling loudly. His mother was quietly dressing. He leaped to his feet shivering in the dark and whispered:
"What is it, Ma?"
"Something"s after the chickens."
"Not a hawk?"
"No, nor an owl, or fox, or weasel--or they"d squall--they"re cackling."
The rooster cackled louder than ever and the Boy recognized the voice of his speckled hen accompanying him. How weird it sounded in the darkness of the still spring night! The cold chills ran down his back and he caught his mother"s dress as she reached for the rifle that stood beside her bed.
"You"re not goin" out there, Ma?" the Boy protested.
"Yes. It"s a dirty thief after our horse."
Her voice was low and steady and her hand was without tremor as she grasped his.
"Get back in bed. I won"t be gone a minute."
She left the cabin and noiselessly walked toward the low shed in which the horse was stabled.
The Boy was at her heels. She knew and rejoiced in the love that made him brave for her sake.
She paused a moment, listened, and then lifted her tall, slim form and advanced steadily. Her bare feet made no noise. The waning moon was shining with soft radiance. The Boy"s heart was in his throat as he watched her slender neck and head outlined against the sky. Never had he seen anything so calm and utterly brave.
There was a slight noise at the stable. The chickens cackled with louder call. Five minutes pa.s.sed and they were silent. A shadowy figure appeared at the corner of the stable. She raised the rifle and flashed a dagger-like flame into the darkness.
A smothered cry, the shadow leaped the fence and the beat of swift feet could be heard in the distance.
The Boy clung close to her side and his voice was husky as he spoke:
"Ain"t you afraid, Ma?"
The calm answer rang forever through his memory:
"I don"t know what fear means, my Boy. It"s not the first time I"ve caught these prowling scoundrels."
Next morning he saw the dark blood marks on the trail over which the thief had fled, and looked into his mother"s wistful grey eyes with a new reverence and awe.
IV
The Boy was quick to know and love the birds of hedge and field and woods. The martins that built in his gourds on the tall pole had opened his eyes. The red and bluebirds, the thrush, the wren, the robin, the catbird, and song sparrows were his daily companions.
A mocking-bird came at last to build her nest in a bush beside the garden, and her mate began to make the sky ring with his song. The puzzle of the feathered tribe whose habits he couldn"t fathom was the whip-poor-will. His mother seemed to dislike his ominous sound. But the soft mournful notes appealed to the Boy"s fancy. Often at night he sat in the doorway of the cabin watching the gathering shadows and the flicker of the fire when supper was cooking, listening to the tireless song within a few feet of the house.
"Why don"t you like "em, Ma?" he asked, while one was singing with unusually deep and haunting voice so near the cabin that its echo seemed to come from the chimney jamb.
It was some time before she replied:
"They say it"s a sign of death for them to come so close to the house."
The Boy laughed:
"You don"t believe it?"
"I don"t know."
"Well, I like "em," he stoutly declared. "I like to feel the cold shivers when they sing right under my feet. You"re not afraid of a little whip-poor-will?"
He looked up into her sombre face with a smile.
"No," was the gentle answer, "but I want to live to see my Boy a fine strong man," she paused, stooped, and drew him into her arms.
There was something in her tones that brought a lump into his throat.
The moon was shining in the full white glory of the Southern spring. A night of marvellous beauty enfolded the little cabin. He looked into her eyes and they were shining with tears.