Chapter 11
Chapter 11. A Sudden Resolution. The storm did not abate. All day long it raged around the cabin, and the four prisoners talked, ate, and drank without grumbling at their captivity. When bedtime approached, Lucas addressed Tilda Jane in an apologetic manner. You see, we ain't used to havin' little gals, and I'm afeard we can't make you very comfy.
As my old woman says, but we'll do the best we can. This room's all we've got, but I'm gonna try to make it two. See here." In rising, he went to one of the rough bunks built against the wall opposite the fire. I'm gonna drape ye off a place for yourself and dog. And hanging a blanket on a hook by the fireplace, he called loudly for a nail
to drive in the logs across the corner. The two boys who were playing cards at the table jumped up and presently Tilda Jane had a snug corner to herself. Lucas had dragged out one of the fragrant fir beds from one of the bunks. The rustling of the evergreen inside reminded her of her narrow straw bed at the orphanage, and drawing the blanket over her, she nestled down and patiently waited for her friends to seek their equally fragrant couches.
She was very sleepy, but she must not drop off until she had said her prayers. It never occurred to her to repeat them to herself. She must get up and say them aloud and upon her knees. After some time there was silence outside her screen, except for the heavy breathing of the sleepers, and the slow, deliberate crackling of the fire, holding her over the fresh wood heaped upon it by Lucas. She crept quietly from her bed and knelt down.
Dear Father in Heaven, I thank thee for saving my life. I might have been dead at this minute if thou hadst not sent that good dog to find me. Please make me a better girl for being saved. I'll take good care of that old man if thou wilt let me find him. Bless the red-haired man that owns this cabin. I guess he is a good man, Lord, but if he kills deer, wilt thou not lay on his heart a coal from thy altar? If he was a deer, he would not like to be
killed. Bless him, dear Father in Heaven, and his two boys, and bless me and Gippie, and Poacher, and keep us safe for evermore, and bless the lady-boards, and the matron, and all the little orphans, and let them find good homes and get out of asylum. Lord, I will write them a letter as soon as I get settled and confess what is wickedness and what ain't. I don't want to be a bad little girl. I want to live straight and go to heaven when I die, but I'm sorry I had to begin in asylum.
It ain't a place for children what likes animals. For Jesus' sake, amen. With a relieved sigh, Tilda Jane crept back to bed and went to sleep, quite unaware that her petition had awakened Lucas, who slept as lightly as a cat. She had waked him, and now he could not go to sleep. For a long time he lay motionless in his bunk, then softly getting up, he seated himself on one of the boxes before the fire and let his head sink on his hands. Years ago he had a deeply
religious mother, one who would rise at dead of night and pray earnestly for her children. Tilda Jane's childish prayer had brought this mother back from her grave. What a good woman she had been! Dying wind, sobbing and sighing without, called to mind the camp meetings that he used to attend when he was a boy. Churches were few and far between, and it was the event of the year. For the scattered religious people to gather together under the pines for out-of-door services,
he could hear the women singing now. The weird sound of their voices floated down the chimney. Surely he was among them again, that good religious crowd. He shook himself, muttered an impatient exclamation, and went back to bed. No, they were mostly dead, his mother was in heaven, and he was a hard, impenitent man. But his children, something ought to be done about them. This little girl had stirred these old memories. Zebedee and Joe must quit this life.
And with a snarl of determination on his brow, he turned over and fell into a profound and resolved slumber. Early the next morning, Tilda Jane heard someone stirring quietly about the cabin. She peeped from behind the screen and found that it was the father of the boys. He was making coffee and taking dishes from a shelf to set them on the small table. He was also frying meat. Tilda Jane did not like to venture out until the boys had made their toilet,
which they presently did by springing from the beds, drawing on their boots, and smoothing their thick locks with a piece of comb that reposed on a small shelf near a broken-looking glass. When they had finished, she piped through the screen, will you please give me a lend of the comb? It was politely handed to her, and in a short time she made her appearance.
Oh, dears meet, said Joe, sniffing joyfully. Where did you get it, Pop? Found half a carcass leaning again the door this morning, he said briefly. Some of the boys must have left it on their way out, remarked Zebedee. Hard blow to travel in. Give me some, Pop. Lucas had settled himself at the table and was eating with every appearance of enjoyment. Nop, he said, pausing and speaking with his mouth full. The Thor is for you and the
little gal. The boys stared at him in undisguised astonishment. Full, too, he said inexorably. Eat your bacon and beans and be thankful you got them. There's many an empty stomach in the woods this morning. Joe, who was readier of speech than his brother, found his tongue first. Ain't you gonna give us any fresh meat, Pop? No, sir. You ain't got loony in the night, Pop.
You don't calculate to eat half a carcass yourself, do you? said Zebedee with a feeble attempt at a joke. Nop, what I don't eat, a lug off in the woods. He's loony, said Joe with resignation and serving himself with bacon. Tilda Jane was silently eating bread and beans, and to her Lucas addressed himself. Little gal, the storms are going to conclude according to my reckoning.
Can you foot it out on snowshoes this morning to the nearest house? Do you suppose? Yes, sir, she said quietly. And you two boys will keep her company, said Lucas, turning to his sons. I'm going to march on to Morsus camp. There was a howl of dismay from Joe. You give me your word, Zebedee was to go. And I give you my word now that you're to go, said his father sternly.
In an hour I'll make tracks. You two wait till the last flake's settled, then take the little gal and get her out safe and sound to William Mercer's. Ask him to hitch up and take her over to Nicotou's station, and I'll settle with him. Then you skedaddle for home, get out your books, and tomorrow go to school. This time there was a simultaneous howl from the boys, and in the midst of their distress could be heard faintly articulating the words,
Pop, books, school. Lucas turned to Tilda Jane. Yes, wear poachers, little gal, and when I ask ye to say nothing about what ye have seen and heard here, I know ye'll keep as mum as we do. I'm a poacher, and I'm going to have a hard time to give it up. They used to call me king of the poachers, till another feller come along smarter nor I was. Anyway, I can't give it up yet. It's in my blood now, and men as old as I be don't repent easy.
It's when you're young and squishy that you repents, but these two cubs of mine, and he eyed his boys with determination, has got to give up evil ways right off. You've got to go to school, sons, and learn something, and quit poaching, and having the law hanging over ye all the time. The boys looked ugly and rebellious, and perceiving it, he went on, come on, none of that. When you're respectable, hard-working men, you'll be ashamed
of your father, and that'll be my punishment if I don't get out of this, and you needn't kick, cause I'll lick you all to splinters if I catch as one of you in the woods this spring. You've got to turn right around. I'll turn right around and come back, said Zebedee. Bitterly and furiously, Lucas got up, took him by the coat collar, and without a word,
let him outside the cabin. A few minutes later they returned, both flushed. Lucas grim and determined, and Zebedee sulky and conquered. Hear you also cravin' for an argument? asked Lucas, ironically, of Joe. I'm cravin' to lick ya, said the boy, burstin' out into a wild raven and swearin' at him. Swearin' when there's ladies present? said his father,
ceasing him by the shoulder and dragging him the way his brother had gone. Tilda Jane stopped eating and sat miserably with downcast eyes. She felt dimly that she had made trouble in this family and brought additional misfortune upon herself. For what kind of escorts would these whipped boys be? Lucas's tussle with Joe was a longer one than the former with Zebedee had been. And not until after some time did he return. Joe hung about outside for an hour.
Then he came in shaking and stamping the snow from him, and, as if nothing had happened, sat down and finished his breakfast. Lucas, meanwhile, had been making preparations for his long tramp. Tilda Jane watched him with interest as he took a sack, tied a potato in each corner, and proceeded to fill it with parcels of provisions. When at last he sat down, took off his cowhide moccasins, and began to tie on soft moose moccasins,
fit for snowshoeing, he addressed his two boys. When parents tell their children things ere to be did, they ought to be did. When the children raves and tears, they ought to be licked. And when the licking's over, the reasons come. Are you cyanethery to see the inside of state prison? Are you Zebedee? No, sir, said the boy shortly. Are you Joe? Joe, with his mouth full of beans, replied that he was
not. Well, that's where you land if you don't quit breaking state's law. He ain't either one of you as clever as I be, but I've got to try to give it up, too. I've been feeling that ye'd get caught some day, and I've made up my mind, and I'll hold it to my dying day. I'm gonna crowd ye out of this risky game. If I catch one of you after deer again, I'll give you up to the warden myself. I swan, I will. And he brought his hand down energetically on the table. Now you go home,
go to school with smart boys and gals till summer vacation, and then you can tell me what you think of it. I'll not pretend. I'll let ye out of it if you don't like it, but I guess you will. You've been to school before and made good progress, and I ask ye pardon for taking ye out. Zimmy listened in quiet resentfulness, but Joe, who possessed a more volatile disposition, and who having satisfied his hunger, was comparatively good-natured, remarked,
What'll ye do about poacher, Pop? Lucas's face darkened suddenly and unhappily. Come here, old boy, he said, and when the dog went to him, he bowed his head for a minute over him. We've been good friends, me and you. Many's the trap I led ye in, and many a time my heart would have been a sore if ye'd been caught. And now, count to my transgression, you're a wanderin' sheep.
You'll never get back in the field again unless some good sheep leads ye. There's something ye can't make over, said Zebedee briefly. He'll chase deer as long as he can wag a leg. Leel gal, said Lucas suddenly, would ye like to have this dog? To have him? That beauty dog? Tilda Jane gasped confusedly.
Oh, sir, you'd never give him away. I'd most as soon give a child away, said Lucas, and I'd never do it. If it weren't for his habits. You're a goner, Ciscasset, which is something of a place, and a ways from the woods. And you'll pet him and kind of cherish him, and keep him from fretting and being lonely. My old woman don't set much store by dogs, and when I'm working in the tannery,
he's off dogging deer by himself. He's nearly got shot dead. See those ripples in his back? That's where he's been grazed. Poacher, old boy, you've gotta go with this leel gal, if she'll have ye. Tilda Jane hesitated, stammered, looked into the dog's anxious face, and the boys protesting ones, and said at last, but the old man where I'm going, maybe he'll breach at my having two dogs. Probably he will, said Lucas.
But you crowd right up to him. Folks is queer about dogs. Them is don't like him, don't want to give him standing room on this earth. But you walk right up to him and say, this dog has as good a right to a place on God's footstool as you have. And I'm gonna see he gets it. If you was more like a dog yourself, you'd be more thought of. Ye cross-grained cranky old Skillingsby. Come, you sons, quit that scowling.
Do ye know why I'm giving that dog to the little gal? Stiddy you? They uttered a brief negative. "'Cause she knows dog language," said Lucas, dropping his voice to a whisper, and looking mysteriously over his shoulder. And if there was a deer here, you'd find she know deer talk. You sons is fond of dogs, but not in the style leel gal is, or Ivey.
It's a kind of smartness at getting inside the animal's skin. He don't verily talk. He just understand him without talk. Leel gal, what's Poacher saying now? "'Oh, he don't want to go with me,' burst out tilted Jane with energy. He's a sick dog. Look at his eyes and his drooping ears. He don't want you to give him away.
He don't want me to take him. Oh, I can't.' And she buried her face in her hands as if to hide temptation from her. "'He's gotta go,' said Lucas, stroking Poacher's head. And mine dog—' and he put his hand under the dog's jaws, lifted them so he could look in his eyes. No running away from Sisgasset. Ye stay with that leel gal. Don't you come chasing round here, cause if you do, I'll turn my back on ye for a run away and you'll feel worse than you do now,
when we part on speaking terms. Say, is it a bargain, old feller? Call him, leel gal.' Tilted Jane was overawed by Lucas's determined manner, and dropping her hands, she ejaculated feebly. "'Here, Poacher, Poacher,' the dog looked at her, then pressed closer to his master, whereupon Lucas seized a stick by the fireplace and struck him sharply. Poacher turned his large brown eyes on him in one despairing reproachful glance,
then with drooping head, sauntered across the room to the boys. "'Call him,' said Lucas, to tilted Jane. "'Speak up, as if he knew he was your dog.' "'Poacher,' she said in a firm voice, "'come here. You're most as unhappy as I be. We'll be unhappy together.' The suffering animal moved slowly toward her and laid his head on her lap. There were tears in his eyes, and the little girl groaned as she wiped them away."
