"I shakes my head. I likes the boy, an" I don"t want ter see him take sech big chances o" gittin" inter trouble. Somebody might tell Sneath, an" then it might be all off about his bein" flume boss. Besides, n.o.body had never run no pianner down no flume before, an" yeh couldn"t tell what might happen.
""D" yeh think, honest, Oram," says he, "the ol" flume"s likely ter give way anywheres?"
""No," says I; "she"s strong as a railroad-track."
""Wal, then," says he, "I"m a-goin" to do it. You come down Sunday an"
we"ll take her out afore anybody"s out o" the bunk-house."
"I tries to argy him out of it, but he won"t listen. So Sunday, about five in the mornin", I goes up to Skyland, an" we slides the big boat inter the flume an" gits the pianner onto the rollers, an" "t ain"t much trouble to load her all right; fer, yer know, them big boats has flat tops like decks, an" things sets up on top of "em. But while we was a-doin" that an" the boat is. .h.i.tched tight to a stanchion "longside o"
the flume, the water backs up behind so high that it looks as though the pianner is a-goin" ter git wet. This skeers Jud, an" he seems to lose his head someways.
""Hustle up, Oram!" says he, very nervous-like. "The boat"s crowdin"
down so it won"t let any water past. Ontie that rope."
"I takes a good notice o" the pianner, an" I don"t like her looks, sittin" up there so high on that little deck.
""We oughter tie her on good an" tight," says I.
"She"s a upright, yeh see, an" she"s as top-heavy as a pile-driver. I was afeard she"d strike a low limb or somethin" an" git smashed. So I goes to settle her a bit an" lay her down on her back an" tie her on; but he says he don"t know about that layin"-down business, an" declares she"ll ride all right. He speaks pretty sharp, too. So I gits a little huffy an" onties the rope, an" we starts.
"Wal, she don"t go very fast at first, "cos she"s heavy an" they ain"t none too much water in front; but after a while we comes to the Devil"s Slide,--you remember the place,--an" we scoots down there like the mill-tails o" h.e.l.l.
""Gee-whiz!" says Jud. "She"s a-rockin" like a teeter. I hope she"ll stay on all right." He was settin" back with me, behind the pianner, an"
we both tries to holt on to her an" keep her stiddy, but we cain"t do much more"n set down an" cuss haff the time, we"re so afeard we"ll git throwed out. Wal, after we come to the foot of the slide, we breathes easy-like, an" Jud he says it"s all right, for that there was the wust place. For about three miles the pianner set on that boat as stiddy as a church, an" from there on down to Four it was pretty good sailin". Of course we went a good deal faster in the steep places than any other boat ever sent down the flume, because the heft o" the thing, when she got started, was bound to make her fly, water or no water. In a good many places we run ahead o" the stream, an" then in the quiet spots the water would catch up to us an" back up behind us an" shove us along.
"Between Four an" Five there"s a place we used ter call Cape Horn. The flume is bracketed onto a cliff, yeh know, fer about a mile, an" it"s a skeery place any way yeh shoot it; yeh scoot aroun" them there sharp curves so lively, an" yeh look down there four or five hundred feet inter the bottom o" the canon. That"s where yeh shut yer eyes. Yeh remember? Wal, when I sees Cape Horn ahead I gits a little skeer"d when I thinks how she might rock. We run onto a place where I could look away ahead, an" there, wavin" her ap.r.o.n or somethin", is a gal, an" I knows it"s Jess, out from Five to see the pianner come down. Jud he knows, too, an" waves back.
"We runs out onto the brackets, turns a sharp curve, an" she begins to wabble an" stagger like a drunken man, floppin" back an" forth, an" the strings an" things inside is a-hummin" an" a-drummin".
""Slow her down!" yells Jud. "Slow her down, or we"ll never git past the Horn!"
"I claps on the brake, but she"s so heavy she don"t pay no "tention to it, though I makes smoke "long them planks, I tell yer. She scoots ahead faster"n ever, an" bows to the scenery, this way an" that, like she was crazy, an" a-hummin" harder than ever.
""Slow her down! Ease her down!" hollers Jud, grittin" his teeth an"
holdin" onto her with all his hundred an" eighty pounds weight. But "t ain"t no good. I gits a holt oncet, but the water backs up behind us an"
we goes a-scootin" down on a big wave that sloshes out o" the flume on both sides an" sends us flyin" toward that Horn fer further orders.
"When we gits to the sharpest curve we knows we"re there all right. She wabbles on one side an" then on the other, so I can see chunks o" sky ahead right under her. An" then, all of a sudden, she gives a whoopin"
big jump right off the top o" the boat, an" over the side o" the flume she goes, her strings all a-singin" like mad, an" sailin" down four hundred feet. Jud had a holt of her before she dropped, an" if I hadn"t "a" grabbed him he"d "a" gone over, too.
"You might not believe it, pardner, but we run a quarter of a mile down that there flume before we hears her strike. Jeroosalem! What a crash! I ever heer"d one o" them big redwoods that made half so much noise when she dropped. How she did roar! An" I tell yeh what was strange about that there noise: it seemed like all the music that everybody had ever expected to play on that pianner for the nex" hundred years come a-boomin" out all to oncet in one great big whoop-hurray that echered up an" down that canon fer half an hour.
""We"ve lost somethin"," says I, cheerful-like, fer I thinks the" "s no use cryin" over spilt pianners.
"But Jud he never says nothin",--jest sets there like he was froze plumb stiff an" couldn"t stir a eyelid--sets there, starin" straight ahead down the flume. Looks like his face is caught in the air and held that way.
"Of course, now our load"s gone, the brake works all right, an" I hooks a-holt onto the side about a hundred feet from where Jess stands like a marble statute, lookin" down inter the gulch.
""Come on, Jud," says I, layin" my hand onto his arm soft-like; "we gits out here."
"He don"t say nothin", but tries to shake me off. I gits him out at last, an" we goes over to where poor Jess stands, stiff an" starin" down inter the gulch. When she hears our feet on the side planks, she starts up an" begins to beller like a week-old calf; an" that fetches Jud outer his trance for a while, an" he puts his arm aroun" her an" he helps her back along the walk till we comes to a place where we gits down an" goes over to view the wreck.
"Great snakes, pardner, but it was a sight! The pianner had flew down an" lit onto a big, flat rock, an" the" wasn"t a piece of her left as big as that there plate. There was all kinds o" wires a-wrigglin" aroun"
on the ground an" a-shinin" in the sun, an" the" was white keys an"
black keys an" the greatest lot o" them little woolly things that strikes the strings all mixed up with little bits o" mahogany an" nuts an" bolts an" little sc.r.a.ps o" red flannel an" leather, an" pegs an"
bits o" iron that didn"t look as if it had ever been any part o" the machine. It was the dernedest mess! I picked up somethin" Jess said was a pedal,--a little piece o" shiny iron about as long as that,--"n" that was the only thing that seemed to have any shape left to it. The litter didn"t make any pile at all--jest a lot o" siftin" sawdust-stuff scattered aroun" on the rocks.
""She struck tol"able hard," says I, lookin" at Jud. But he don"t say nothin"; jest stan"s over there on the side o" the rock an" looks as if he"d like to jump off another fifty feet the" was there.
""Don"t take it like that, Jud," says Jess, grabbin" holt o" him an" not payin" any "tention to my bein" there. "Cry, cuss, swear--anything, but don"t be so solemn-like. It"s my fault, Juddie dear--all my fault. Can yeh ever, ever fergive me? Yeh said yeh didn"t think it was safe, an" I kep" a-goadin" yeh to it; an" now----" She broke out a-blubberin" an"
a-bellerin" again, an" he puts his arm aroun" her an" smiles, an" says soft-like:
""It don"t matter much. I can raise the money an" buy a new one fer Mis"
Sneath. How much do they cost?" says he.
""Oh, I dunno! Five hundred dollars, I think. It"s an awful lot o"
money!"
""Wal, I got three-fifty saved up,--you know what fer,--an" I can raise the rest an" put a new pianner in the place o" that one," says he.
"He looks at the wreck, an" fer the first time I sees his eyes is jest a little damp.
"They didn"t either of "em seem to take any notice o" me, an" I didn"t feel that I counted, nohow.
""An" we cain"t git married," says Jud, sorrowful-like, "fer ever so long. There"ll be nothin" to house-keep on till I can save up some more."
""Yes, we can, too," says she. "I don"t keer if yeh ain"t got so much as a piece o" bale-rope."
""But yer paw?"
""I don"t keer," says she, very hard-like, a-stampin" her foot. "He can like it or lump it."
"Wal, I sneaks away an" leaves "em there, an" by an" by they comes up to where I sets on top o" the boat, an" Jud isn"t so plumb gloomy as I thinks he"d be.
"Him an" her goes down ter Fresno nex" day an" buys one o" that same identical make o" pianners an" has it shipped up on the first freight-wagon to Skyland. An" they puts it inter the warehouse, an"
there she stands till Mr. Sneath comes home with his wife.
"When Mis" Sneath she sees the pianner brung inter her house she don"t notice any difference fer a while; but one day she sets down ter play, an" she pounds out a few music, an" then she gives a jump an" looks all over the machine an" she says, "Good Lord!" An" Sneath he comes in, an"
they has a great time over how the" "s be"n sech a change in that pianner. She finally makes up her mind it"s a bran"-new one, an" sends fer Jud an" asts him what he knows about it. An" he cain"t lie a little bit, so he up an" tells her that her pianner is all inter sawdust an"
sc.r.a.p-iron down on the rocks, an" that this is a new one that he owes a hundred an" fifty dollars on down ter Fresno.
"Then she busts out a-laughin", an" says:
""Why, that old tin-pan! I"m glad it flew the flume. It wasn"t wuth twenty dollars. I got a noo grand pianner on the way here that I ordered in Noo York. I"ll make this here one a weddin" present to you an" Jess."
"And the soop"rintendent he writes out his check an" sends it down to Fresno to pay off the hundred an" fifty, an" when the weddin" it comes off he gives "em a set o" chiny dishes besides.
"Jud"s flume boss now, an" Jess she plays that pianner an" sings like a bird. When we gits down ter Mill Flat I"ll show yeh their house. It"s a white one up on the side o" the hill, jest across the gulch from the mill.