After the supper the young folks sang and danced before the big fires until ten o"clock, and then the crowd began to thin, and by eleven the last man was gone and the harvest festival was over.
It was nearly twelve before the Boy knelt at his mother"s knee to say his prayers.
When the last words were spoken he still knelt, his eyes gazing into the flickering fire.
The mother bent low:
"What are you thinking about, Boy? The house you"re going to build for me?"
"No."
"What?"
"That n.i.g.g.e.r--wasn"t he funny? You don"t want me to get you any n.i.g.g.e.rs with the house do you?"
"No."
"I didn"t think you would," he went on thoughtfully, "because you said General Washington set his slaves free and wanted everybody else to do it too."
He paused and shook his head thoughtfully. "But he was funny--he was laughin" and whistlin" and singin"!"
V
The air of the Southern autumn was like wine. The Boy"s heart beat with new life. The scarlet and purple glory of the woods fired his imagination. He found himself whistling and singing at his tasks. He proudly showed a bee tree to his mother, the honey was gathered and safely stored. A barrel of walnuts, a barrel of hickory-nuts and two bushels of chestnuts were piled near his bed in the loft.
But the day his martins left, he came near breaking down. He saw them circle high in graceful sweeping curves over the gourds, chattering and laughing with a strange new note in their cries.
He watched them wistfully. His mother found him looking with shining eyes far up into the still autumn sky. His voice was weak and unsteady when he spoke:
"I--can--hardly--hear--"em--now; they"re so high!"
A slender hand touched his tangled hair:
"Don"t worry, Boy, they"ll come again."
"You"re sure, Ma?" he asked, pathetically.
"Sure."
"Will they know when it"s time?"
"Some one always tells them."
"Who?"
"G.o.d. That"s what the Bible means when it says, "the stork knoweth her appointed time." I read that to you the other night, don"t you remember?"
"But maybe G.o.d"ll be so busy he"ll forget my birds?"
"He never forgets, he counts the beat of a sparrow"s wing."
The mother"s faith was contagious. The drooping spirit caught the flash of light from her eyes and smiled.
"We"ll watch for "em next spring, won"t we? And I"ll put up new gourds long before they come!"
Comforted at last, he went to the woods to gather chinquapins. The squirrels were scampering in all directions and he asked his father that night to let him go hunting with him next day.
"All right, Boy!" was the hearty answer. "We"ll have some fun this winter."
He paused as he saw the mother"s lips suddenly close and a shadow pa.s.s over her dark, sensitive face.
"Hit"s no use ter worry, Nancy," he went on good-naturedly. "I promised you not ter take him "less he wanted ter go. But hit"s in the blood, and hit"s got ter come out."
Tom picked the Boy up and placed him on his knee and stroked his dark head. Sarah crouched at his feet and smiled. He was going to tell about the Indians again. She could tell by the look in his eye as he watched the flames leap over the logs.
"Did ye know, Boy," he began slowly, "that we come out to Kaintuck with Daniel Boone?"
"Did we?"
"Yes sirree, with old Dan"l hisself. It wuz thirty years ago. I wuz a little shaver no bigger"n you, but I remember jest as well ez ef it wuz yistiddy. Lordy, Boy, thar wuz er man that wuz er man! Ye couldn"t a made no jackleg carpenter outen him----" He paused and cast a sly wink at Nancy as she bent over her knitting.
"Tell me about him?" the Boy cried.
"Yessir, Dan"l Boone wuz a man an" no mistake. The Indians would ketch "im an" keep er ketchin" "im an" he"d slip through their fingers slicker"n a eel. The very fust trip he tuck out here he wuz captured by the Redskins. Dan"l wuz with his friend John Stuart.
"They left their camp one day an" set out on a big hunt, and all of a sudden they wuz grabbed by the Injuns."
"Why didn"t they shoot "em?" the Boy asked.
"They wuz too many of "em an" they wuz too quick for Dan"l. He didn"t have no show at all. The Injuns robbed "em of everything they had an"
kept "em prisoners.
"But ole Dan"l wuz a slick un. He"d been studyin" Injuns all his life an" he knowed "em frum a ter izard. They didn"t have nothin" but bows an" arrers then an" he had a rifle thes like mine. He never got fl.u.s.tered or riled by the way they wuz treatin" him, but let on like he wuz happy ez er June bug. Dan"l would raise his rifle, put a bullet twixt a buffalo"s eyes an" he"d drap in his tracks. The Injuns wuz tickled ter death an" thought him the greatest man that ever lived--an"
he wuz, too. So they got ter likin" him an" treatin" "im better. For seven days an" nights him an" Stuart helped "em hunt an" showed "em how ter work er rifle. The Injuns was plum fooled by Dan"l"s friendly ways an" didn"t watch "im so close.
"So one night Dan"l helped "em ter eat a bigger supper than ever. They wuz all full enough ter bust, an" went ter sleep an" slept like logs.
Hit wuz a dark night an" the fire burned low, an" long "bout midnight Dan"l made up his mind ter give "em the slip.
"Hit wuz er dangerous job. Ef he failed hit wuz death sh.o.r.e-nuff, for nothin" makes a Injun so pizen mad ez fer anybody ter be treated nice by "em an" then try ter get away. The Redskins wuz all sleepin" round the fire. They wuz used ter jumpin" in the middle o" the night or any minute. Mebbe they wuz all ersleep, an" mebbe they wasn"t.
"Old Dan"l he pertended ter be sleepin" the sleep er the dead, an" I tell ye he riz mighty keerful, shuck Stuart easy, waked him up an"
motioned him ter foller. Talk about sneakin" up on a wild duck er a turkey--ole Dan"l done some slick business gettin" away frum that fire!
Man, ef they"d rustled a leaf er broke a twig, them savages would a all been up an" on "em in a minute. Holdin" tight to their guns--you kin bet they didn"t leave them--and a steppin" light ez feathers they crept away from the fire an" out into the deep dark o" the woods. They stopped an"
stood as still ez death an" watched till they see the Injuns hadn"t waked----"
The pioneer paused and his white teeth shone through his black beard as he c.o.c.ked his s.h.a.ggy head to one side and looked into the Boy"s wide eyes.
"And then what do you reckon Dan"l Boone done, sir?"