So saying, he fell to at the meal she had interrupted, hot potatoes, cold pork, dried venison, and blueberry pie vanishing down his throat with an alacrity and dispatch that augured well for the thorough "vittling" he intended, while Sary went about folding chunks of boiled ham, thick slices of brown bread, solid rounds of "sody biskit," and slab-sided turnovers in a newspaper, filling a flat bottle with whiskey, and now and then casting a look at the low bed where young Harry McAlister lay, very much whiter than the sheets about him, and quite as unconscious of surroundings, the blood oozing slowly through such bandages as Scott Peck"s rude surgery had twisted about a gunshot-wound in his thigh, and brought to close tension by a stick thrust through the folds, turned as tight as could be borne, and strapped into place by a bit of coa.r.s.e twine.
It was a long journey paddling up the Racquette River, across creek and carry, with the boat on his back, to the lakes, and then from Martin"s to "Harri"tstown," where he knew a surgeon of repute from a great city was spending his vacation. It was touch-and-go with Harry before Scott and Dr. Drake got back. Sary had dosed him with venison-broth, hot and greasy, weak whiskey and water, and a little milk (only a little), for their cow was old and pastured chiefly on leaves and twigs, and she only came back to the shanty when she liked or needed to come, so their milk supply was uncertain, and Sary dared not leave her patient long enough to row to the end of Tupper"s Lake, where the nearest cow was kept. But youth has a power of recovery that defies circ.u.mstance, and Dr. Drake was very skilful. Long weeks went by, and the green woods of July had brightened and faded into October"s dim splendor before Harry McAlister could be carried up the river and over to Bartlett"s, where his mother had been called to meet him. She was a widow, and he her only child; and, though she was rather silly and altogether unpractical, she had a tender, generous heart, and was ready to do anything possible for Scott and Sarah Peck to show her grat.i.tude for their kindness to her boy. She did not consult Harry at all. He had lost much blood from his accident and recovered strength slowly. She kept everything like thought or trouble out of his way as far as she could, and when the family physician found her heart was set on taking him to Florida for the winter, because he looked pale and her grandmother"s aunt had died of consumption, Dr. Peet, like a wise man, rubbed his hands together, bowed, and a.s.sured her it would be the very thing. But something must be done for the Pecks before she went away. It occurred to her how difficult it must be for them to row everywhere in a small boat. A horse would be much better. Even if the roads were not good they could ride, Sarah behind Scott. And so useful in farming, too. Her mind was made up at once. She dispatched a check for three hundred dollars to Peter Haas, her old coachman, who had bought a farm in Vermont with his savings, and retired, with the cook for his wife, into the private life of a farmer.
Mrs. McAlister had much faith in Peter"s knowledge of horses and his honesty. She wrote him to buy a strong, steady animal, and convey it to Scott Peck, either sending him word to come up to Bartlett"s after it, or taking it down the river; but, at any rate, to make sure he had it.
If the check would not pay all expenses, he was to draw on her for more.
Peter took the opportunity to get rid of a horse he had no use for in winter; a beast restive as a racer when not in daily use, but strong enough for any work, and steady enough if he had work. Two hundred and fifty dollars was the price now set on his head, though Peter had bought him for seventy-five, and thought him dear at that. The remaining fifty was ample for expenses; but Peter was a prudent German and liked a margin. There was no difficulty in getting the horse as far as Martin"s, and by dint of patient insistence Peter contrived to have him conveyed to Bartlett"s; but here he rested and sent a messenger down to Scott Peck, while he himself returned to Bridget at the farm, slowly cursing the country and the people as he went his way, for his delays and troubles had been numerous.
"Gosh!" said Scott Peck, when he stepped up to the log-house that served for the guides, unknowing what awaited him, for the messenger had not found him at home, but left word he was to come to Bartlett"s for something, and the first thing he saw was this gray horse.
"What fool fetched his hoss up here?"
The guides gathered about the door of their hut, burst into a loud cackle of laughter; even the beautiful hounds in their rough kennel leaped up and bayed.
"W-a-a-l;" drawled lazy Joe Tucker, "the feller "t owns him ain"t n.o.body"s fool. Be ye, Scotty?"
"Wha-t!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Scott.
"It"s your"n, man, sure as shootin"!" laughed Hearty Jack, Joe Tucker"s brother.
"Mine? Jehoshaphat! Blaze that air track, will ye? I"m lost, sure."
"Well, Bartlett"s gone out Keeseville way, so"t kinder was lef" to me to tell ye. "Member that ar chap that shot hisself in the leg down to your shanty this summer?"
"Well, I expect I do, seein" I ain"t more"n a hundred year old,"
sarcastically answered Scott.
"He"s cleared out South-aways some"eres, and his ma consaited she was dredful obleeged to ye; "n I"m blessed if she didn"t send an old Dutch feller up here fur to fetch ye that hoss fur a present. He couldn"t noways wait to see ye pus"nally, he sed, fur he mistrusted the" was snows here sometimes "bout this season. Ho! ho! ho!"
"Good land!" said Scott, sitting down on a log, and putting his hands in his pockets, the image of perplexity, while the men about him roared with fresh laughter. "What be I a-goin" to do with the critter?" he asked of the crowd.
"Blessed if I know," answered Hearty Jack.
"Can"t ye get him out to "Sable Falls or Keeseville "n sell him fur what he"ll fetch?" suggested Joe Tucker.
"I can"t go now, noways. Sary"s wood-pile"s nigh gin out, "n there was a mighty big sundog yesterday; "nd moreover I smell snow. It"ll be suthin"
to git hum as "tis. Mabbe Bartlett"ll keep him a spell."
"No, he won"t; you kin bet your head. His fodder"s a-runnin" short for the hornid critters. He"s bought some up to Martin"s, that"s a-comin"
down dyrect; but "tain"t enough. He"s put to"t for more. Shouldn"t wonder ef he had to draw from North Elby when sleddin" sets in."
"Well, I dono"s there"s but one thing for to do; fetch him hum somehow or "nother; "nd there"s my boat over to the carry!"
"You"d better tie the critter on behind an" let him wade down the Racket!"
Another shout of laughter greeted this proposal.
"I s"all take ze boat for you!" quietly said a little brown Canadian--Jean Poiton. "I am go to Tupper to-morrow. I have one hunt to make. I can take her."
"Well said, Gene. I"ll owe you a turn. But, fur all, how be I goin" to get that animile "long the trail?"
"I dono!" answered Joe Tucker. "I expect, if it"s got to be did, you"ll fetch it somehow. But I"m mighty glad "tain"t my job!"
Scott Peck thought Joe had good reason for joy in that direction before he had gone a mile on his homeward way! The trail was only a trail, rough, devious, crossed with roots of trees, brushed with boughs of fir and pine, and the horse was restive and unruly. By nightfall he had gone only a few miles, and when he had tied the beast to a tree and covered him with a blanket brought from Bartlett"s for the purpose, and strapped on his own back all the way, the light of the camp-fire startled the horse so that Scott was forced to blind him with a comforter before he would stand still. Then in the middle of the night, a great owl hooting from the tree-top just above him was a fresh scare, and but that the strap and rope both were new and strong he would have escaped. Scott listened to his rearing, trampling, snorts, and wild neigh with the composure of a sleepy man; but when he awoke at daylight, and found four inches of snow had fallen during the night, he swore.
This was too much. Even to his practised woodcraft it seemed impossible to get the horse safe to his clearing without harm. It was only by dint of the utmost care and patience, the greatest watchfulness of the way, that he got along at all. Every rod or two he stumbled, and all but fell himself. Here and there a loaded hemlock bough, weighed out of its uprightness by the wet snow, snapped in his face and blinded him with its damp burden; and he knew long before nightfall that another night in the woods was inevitable. He could feed the horse on young twigs of beech and birch; fresh moss, and new-peeled bark (fodder the animal would have resented with scorn under any other conditions); but hunger has no law concerning food. Scott himself was famished; but his pipe and tobacco were a refuge whose value he knew before, and his charge was tired enough to be quiet this second night; so the man had an undisturbed sleep by his comfortable fire. It was full noon of the next day when he reached his cabin. Jean Poiton had tied his boat to its stake, and gone on without stopping to speak to Sarah; so her surprise was wonderful when she saw Scott emerge from the forest, leading a gray creature, with drooping head and shambling gait, tired and dispirited.
"Heaven"s to Betsey, Scott Peck! What hev you got theer?"
"The devil!" growled Scott.
Sary screamed.
"Do hold your jaw, gal, an" git me su"thin" hot to eat "n drink. I"m savager"n an Injin. Come, git along." And, tying his horse to a stump, the hungry man followed Sarah into the house and helped himself out of a keg in the corner to a long, reviving draught.
"Du tell!" said Sarah, when the pork began to frizzle in the pan. "What upon airth did you buy a hoss for?" (She had discovered it was a horse.)
"Buy it! I guess not. I ain"t no such blamed fool as that comes to. That feller you nussed up here a spell back, he up an" sent it roun" to Bartlett"s, for a present to me."
"Well! Did he think you was a-goin" to set up canawl long o" Racket?"
"I expect he calc"lated I"d go racin"," dryly answered Scott.
"But what be ye a-goin" to feed him with?" said Sary, laying venison steaks into the pan.
"Lord knows! I don"t. Shut up, Sary! I"m tuckered out with the beast.
I"d ruther still-hunt three weeks on eend than fetch him in from Sar"nac, now I tell ye. Ain"t them did enough? I could eat a raw bear."
Sary laughed and asked no more questions till the ravenous man had satisfied himself with the savory food; but, if she had asked them, Scott would have had no answer, for his mind was perplexed to the last degree. He fed the beast for a while on potatoes; but that was taking the bread out of his own mouth, though he supplemented it with now and then a boat-load of coa.r.s.e, frost-killed gra.s.s, but the horse grew more and more gaunt and restive. His eyes glared with hunger and fury. He kicked out one side of the cowshed and snapped at Scott whenever he came near him. Want of use and food had restored him to the original savagery of his race. Hitherto Scott had never acknowledged Mrs McAlister"s gift; but Sary, who had a vague idea of good manners, caught from the picture papers and occasional dime novels the tribe of Adirondack travellers strew even in such a wilderness, kept pecking at him.
"Ta"n"t no more"n civil to say thank ye, to the least," she said, till Scott"s temper gave way.
"Stop a-pesterin" of me! I"ve hed too much. I ain"t a speck thankful!
I"m mightily t"other thing, whatever "tis. Write to her yourself, if you"re a mind tu. You can make a better fist at it, anyways. Comes as nateral to women to lie as sap to run. I"ll be etarnally blessed ef I touch paper for to do it." And he flung out of the door with a bang.
Of course Sary wrote the letter, which one balmy day electrified Harry and his mother as they sat basking in Southern sunshine:
"MIS MACALLISTUR: This is fur to say wee is reel obliged to ye fur the HOSS."
"Good gracious, mother! Did you send them a horse?" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Harry.
"Why, my dear, I wanted to show my sense of their kindness, and I could not offer these people money. I thought a horse would be so useful!"
"Useful! in the Adirondack woods!" And Harry burst into a fit of laughter that scarcely permitted his mother to go on; but at last she proceeded:
"But Scotty and me ain"t ackwainted So to speak with Hoss ways; he seems kinder Hum-sick if you may say that of a Cretur. We air etarnally gratified to You for sech a Valewble Pressent, but if you was Wiling we shood Like to swapp it of in spring fur a kow, ourn Being some in years.
"yours to Command, SARY PECK."
But long before Mrs. McAlister"s permission to "swap" the horse reached Scott Peck, the creature took his destiny into his own hands. Scott had gone away on a desperate errand, to fetch some sort of food for the poor creature, whose bones stared him in the face, and Sary went out one morning to give him her potato-peelings and some sc.r.a.ps of bread, when, suddenly, he jerked his head fiercely, snapped his halter in two, and wheeled round upon the frightened woman, rearing, snorting, and showing his long, yellow teeth. Sary fled at once and barred the door behind her; but neither she nor Scott ever saw their "gift horse" again. For aught I know he still roams the Adirondack forest, and maybe personates the ghostly and ghastly white deer of song and legend. Who can tell? But he was lifted off Scott Peck"s shoulders, and all Scott said by way of epitaph on the departed, when he came home to find his white steed gone, was, "Hang presents!"