Nicholas picked up his fishing line and wound it slowly round the cork.
"There"s a powerful lot of minnows in this creek," he remarked amicably.
"When you lean over that log you can catch "em in your hat."
"Let"s do it," said Eugenia, starting up, and they went out upon the slippery log between the reedy banks. Over the smooth, pebbly bed of the stream flashed the shining bodies of hundreds of minnows, pa.s.sing back and forth with brisk wriggles of their fine, steel-coloured tails.
On the Battle side of the bank a huge, blue-winged dragonfly buzzed above the flaunting red and yellow faces of three tiger-lilies.
Jim sat on the brookside and watched the minnows, having ventured midway upon the log, to retreat at the sight of his own reflection in the water.
"He"s a coward," said Bernard teasingly, alluding to the recreant Jim.
"I wouldn"t have a dog that was a coward."
"He ain"t a coward," returned Eugenia pa.s.sionately. "He jes" don"t like looking at his own face, that"s all. Here, Nick, hand me your hat."
Nick obediently gave her his hat, and Eugenia leaned over the stream, her bare arms and vivid face mirrored against the silvery minnows, when a shrill call came from the house.
"Nick! Who-a Ni-ck!"
"That"s Sairy Jane," said Nicholas, reaching for his hat. "Ma wants me."
"Who is Sairy Jane?"
"Sister."
Eugenia handed him his dripping hat, and stood shaking her fingers free from the sparkling drops.
"Will you come and fish with me to-morrow?" she asked.
"If I ain"t got to work in the field--"
"Don"t work."
"Can"t help it."
The call was repeated, and Nicholas sped over the mossy log and across the ploughed field, while Bernard and Eugenia toiled up the hillside.
As they pa.s.sed the Sweet Gum Spring they saw Delphy, the washerwoman, standing in her doorway, quarrelling with her son-in-law, Moses, who was hoeing a small garden patch in the rear of an adjoining cabin. Delphy was a large mulatto woman, with a broad, flat bosom and enormous hands that looked as if they had been parboiled into a livid blue tint.
""Tain" no use fer to hoe groun" dat ain" got no richness," she was saying, shaking her huge head until the dipper hanging on the lintel of the door rattled, "en"tain" no use preachin" ter a n.i.g.g.e.r dat ain" got no gumption. Es de tree fall, so hit" gwine ter lay, en es a fool"s done been born, so he gwine ter die. "Tain" no use a-tryin" fer to do over a job dat de Lawd done slighted. You may ding about hit en you may dung about hit, but ef"n it won"t, hit won"t."
Moses, a meek-looking negro with an honest face, hoed silently, making no response to his mother-in-law"s vituperations, which grew voluble before his non-resistance.
"Dar ain" no use er my frettin" en perfumin" over dat ar n.i.g.g.e.r," she concluded, as if addressing a third person. "He wuz born a syndicate en he"ll die er syndicate. De Debbil, he ain" gwine tu"n "m en de Lawd he can"t. De preachin" it runs off "im same es water off er duck"s back.
I"se done talked ter him day in en day out twell dar ain" no breff lef fer me ter blow wid, an" he ain" changed a hyar f"om what de Lawd made "im. Seems like he ain" got de sperit uv--"
"Why, Delphy!" exclaimed Bernard, interrupting the flow of speech.
"What"s the matter with Moses?"
Delphy snorted contemptuously and took breath for procedure, when the sharp cry of a baby came from Moses" cabin, and Eugenia broke in excitedly:
"Why, there"s a baby in there, Delphy! Whose baby is that?"
"Git er long wid you, chile," said Delphy. "You knows er plum sight mo"
now"n you ought ter." Then she added with a snort: "Hit"s es black es er crow"s foot."
"Is it Betsey"s baby?"
"I reckon"tis. Moses he says ez what"tis, but he"s de mos" outlandish n.i.g.g.e.r on dis yer place. Dar ain" no relyin" on him, noways."
"When did it come, Delphy? Who brought it? I saw Dr. Debs yesterday, an"
his saddle-bag bulged mightily."
"De Lawd didn"t brung hit," returned Delphy emphatically. "De Lawd wouldn"t er teched hit wid er ten-foot pole. Dis yer Moses, he ain" wuth de salt dat"s put in his bread. He"s de wuss er de hull lot--"
"Why doesn"t Betsey get rid of him?" asked Bernard, eyeing the shrinking Moses with disfavour. "I heard Aunt Chris say that Mrs. Willie Wilson in Richmond got a divorce from her husband for good and all--"
"Lawdy, chile! Huccome you think I"se gwine ter pay fer a dervoge fer sech er low-lifeted creetur ez dat? He ain" wuth no dervogin", he ain".
When it come ter dervogin", I"ll dervoge "im wid my fis" en foot--"
Here the baby cried again, and the irate Delphy disappeared into Moses"
cabin, while the meek-looking son-in-law hoed the garden patch and muttered beneath his breath.
The children pa.s.sed the spring, crossed the meadow, and followed the grapevine trellis to the back steps, when Eugenia rushed through the wide hall with an impetuous flutter of short skirts.
"Papa!" she cried, bursting upon the general as he sat smoking upon the front porch. "What do you think has happened? There"s a new baby came to Moses" cabin, an" Delphy says it"s as black as--"
"Well, I am blessed!" groaned the general, knocking the ashes from his pipe. "Another mouth to feed. Eugie, they"ll ruin me yet."
"I reckon they will," returned Eugenia hopelessly. She seated herself upon the topmost step and made a place for Jim beside her.
The general was silent for some time, smoking thoughtfully and staring past the aspens and the well-house to the waving cornfield. When he spoke it was with embarra.s.sed hesitation.
"I say, daughter."
Eugenia looked up eagerly.
"Didn"t that spotted cow of Moses" die last week?"
"That it did," replied Eugenia emphatically. "It got loose in your clover, pasture and ate itself too full. Moses says it bu"st."
"Pish!" exclaimed the general angrily. "My clover! I tell you, they won"t leave me a roof over my head. They"ll eat me into the poorhouse.
But I"ll turn them off. I"ll send them packing, bag and baggage. My clover!"
"Moses ain"t got much of a garden patch," said Eugenia. "It looks mighty poor. The potato-bugs ate all his potatoes."
The general was silent again.
"I say, daughter," he began at last, blowing a heavy cloud of smoke upon the air, "the next time you go by Sweet Gum Spring you had just as well tell Moses that I can let him have a side of bacon if he wants it. The rascal can"t starve. But they won"t leave me a mouthful--not one. And Eugie--"
"Yes, sir."