"And besides," Austin urged, "this here"s a warnin" straight from the Lord--me and you must learn ter swim."
"That"s so, ain"t it?" the Boy agreed.
"It"s what I calls a sign from on high--and it pints right into the creek!"
They agreed that the thing to do was to heed at once this divine revelation and devote the whole Sabbath day to the solemn work--in the creek.
They found a beautifully sunny spot with an immense sand bar and wide shallow safe waters. They carefully placed their clothes to dry and basked in the bright sun. They practiced swimming in water waist deep and Austin learned to make three strokes and reach the length of his body before sinking.
They rolled in the sun again and ate their lunch. They ran naked through the woods to a branch that flowed into the creek, followed it to the source and drank at a beautiful spring.
Through the long afternoon they lived in a fairy world of freedom, of dreams and make-believe. They talked of great hunters and discussed the best methods of attacking all manner of wild beasts.
The sun was sinking toward the western hills when they hastily picked up their clothes and found a safe ford across which they could wade, holding their things above their heads.
The Boy reached the house just as the wagon drove up to the door. He hurried to help his father with the horse. A sense of elation filled his mind that he was shrewd enough to keep his own secrets. Of course, his mother needn"t know what had happened. He was none the worse for it.
In answer to her question of how he had spent the day he vaguely answered:
"In the woods. They"re awfully pretty now with the dogwood all in bloom."
He talked incessantly at supper, teasing Sarah about her jolly time at the meeting. Toward the end of the meal he grew silent. A curious sensation began on his back and shoulders and arms. He paid no attention to it at first, but it rapidly grew worse. The more he tried to shake off the feeling the more distinct and sharp it grew. At last every inch of his body seemed to be on fire.
He rose slowly from the table and walked to his stool in the corner wondering--wondering and fearing. He sat in dead silence for half an hour. The perspiration began to stand out on his forehead. It was no use longer to try to fool himself, there was something the matter--something big--something terrible! A fierce and scorching fever was burning him to death. He dared not move. Every muscle quivered with agony when he tried.
The mother"s keen eye saw the tears he couldn"t keep back.
"What"s the matter, Boy?" she tenderly asked while his father was at the stable putting the wagon under the shed.
"I don"t know "m," he choked. "I"m all on fire--I"m burnin" up----"
She touched his forehead and slipped her arm around his shoulders.
He screamed with pain.
The mother looked into his face with a sudden start.
"Why, what on earth, child? What have you been doing to-day?"
He hesitated and tried to be brave, but it was no use. He felt that he would drop dead the next moment unless relief came. He buried his face in her lap and sobbed his bitter confession.
"Do you think I"m going to die?" he asked.
She smiled:
"No, my Boy, you"re only sunburned. How long were you naked in the sun?"
"From "bout ten o"clock till nearly sundown----"
He moved again and screamed with agony.
The mother tenderly undressed the little, red, swollen body. The rough clothes had stuck to the blistered skin in one place and the pain was so frightful he nearly fainted before they were finally removed.
For two days and nights she never left his side, holding his hand to give him courage when he was compelled to move. Almost his entire body, inch by inch, was blistered. She covered it with cream and allowed only two greased linen cloths to touch him.
On the second day as he lay panting for breath and holding her hand with feverish grasp he looked into her pensive grey eyes through his own bleared and bloodshot with pain and said softly:
"I"m sorry, Ma."
She pressed his hand:
"It"s all right, my Boy; your mother loves you."
"I"m not sorry for the pain," he gasped. "What hurts me worse is that you"re so sweet to me!"
The dark face bent and kissed his trembling lips:
"It"s all for the best. You couldn"t have understood the preacher Sunday when he took the text: "The stars in their courses fought against Sisera." You learned it for yourself the only way we really learn anything. G.o.d"s in the wind and rain, the sun, the storm. All nature works with him. You can easily fool your mother. It"s not what you seem to others; it"s what you are that counts. G.o.d sees and knows. You see and know in your little heart. I want you to be a great man--only a good man can ever be great."
And so for an hour she poured into his heart her faith in G.o.d and His glory until He became the one power fixed forever in the child"s imagination.
VII
The Boy lost his skin but grew another and incidentally absorbed some ideas he never forgot.
On the day he was able to put on his clothes, it poured down rain and work in the fields was impossible. A sense of delicious joy filled him.
He worked because he had to, not because he liked it. He was too proud to shirk, too brave to cry when every nerve and muscle of his little body ached with mortal weariness, but he hated it.
The sun rose bright and warm and shone clear in the Southern sky next morning before he was called. He climbed down the ladder from his loft wondering what marvellous thing had happened that he should be sleeping with the sun already high in the heavens.
"What"s the matter, Ma?" he asked anxiously. "Why didn"t you call me?"
"It"s too wet to plow. Your father"s going to chop wood in the clearing.
He wanted you to pile brush after him, but I asked him to let you off to go fishing for me."
He ate breakfast with his heart beating a tattoo, rushed into the garden, dug a gourd full of worms, drew his long cane rod from the eaves of the cabin, and with old Boney trotting at his heels was soon on his way to a deep pool in the bend of the creek.
Fishing for _her_! His mother understood. He wondered why he had ever been fool enough to disobey her that Sunday. He could die for her without a moment"s hesitation.
It was glorious to have this marvellous day of spring all his own. The birds were singing on every field and hedge. The trees flashed their polished new leaves. The sweet languor of the South was in the air and he drew it in with deep breaths that sent the joy of life tingling through every vein.
Four joyous hours flew on tireless wings. He had caught five catfish and a big eel--more than enough for a good meal for the whole family.
He held them up proudly. How his mother"s eyes would sparkle! He could see Sarah"s admiring gaze and hear his father"s good-natured approval.
He had just struck the path for home when the forlorn figure of a rough bearded man came limping to meet him.