CHAPTER XVI

CONCERNING TEMPESTS AND INDIANS

Shortly after dark that evening, the tall, swarthy man who had come up on the Paul Revere sauntered slowly up and down that part of Main Street facing the Court House. Ostensibly he was inspecting store windows along the way, but in reality he was on the lookout for a man he had agreed to meet at a point just above the tavern,--a casual meeting, it was to appear, and between two strangers. Barry Lapelle came out of the tavern at the stroke of eight and walked eastward a few paces, halting at the dark open lot between Johnson's place and Smith's store beyond. The swarthy man approached slowly, unconcernedly. He accosted Lapelle, inquiring:

"Is that the tavern, Mister?"

"Yes," replied Barry, needlessly pointing down the street. "Well?"

"It's her," said the stranger. "I had a good look at her 'long about five o'clock from the woods across from her house. She's a heap sight older but I knowed her all right."

"You are sure?"

"Sure as my name is--"

"Sh!"

"Course I'm sure. She was Owen Carter's widder. He was killt by a tree fallin' on him. Oh, I got a good memory. I can't afford to have a bad one. I remember her as plain as if it wuz yestiday." He pointed off in a westerly direction for the benefit of a pa.s.serby.

"Thank ye, mister. You say it's not more'n six mile out yan way?"

Lowering his voice, he went on: "A feller wouldn't be likely to fergit a woman like her. Gosh, I used to wish--but wishin' don't count fer much in this world."

"Get on with it. We can't stand here talking all night."

"Well, she's the woman that run off with Bob Gwynne. There ain't no doubt about it. Everybody knowed it. I wuz there at the time, workin' fer Ed Peters. He left his wife an' a little boy. His wife was a daughter of ole Squire Blythe,--d.a.m.n his heart! He had me hoss-whipped in public fer--well, fer some triflin' thing I done.

Seems to me Mrs. Carter had a little baby girl. Maybe not. I ain't much of a hand fer noticin' babies."

"You are sure,--absolutely positive about all this?" whispered Lapelle intensely.

"You bet yer boots I am."

"She ran off with a married man?"

"She did. A feller by the name o' Gwynne, as I said afore,--Bob Gwynne. An' I want to tell you, he got out o' that town jest in time or I'd have slit his gizzard fer him. He had me arrested fer stealin' a saddle an' bridle. He never WOULD have got away ef I hadn't been locked up in Jim Hatcher's smokehouse with two men settin' outside with guns fer a solid month, keepin' watch on me day an' night. I wuz--"

"That's all for to-night," snapped Barry impatiently. "You get out of town at once. Mart will be waiting for you down below Granny Neff's cabin,--this side of the tanyard,--as arranged."

"What about that other business? Mart'll want to know when we're to--"

"He knows. The Paul Revere goes south day after to-morrow morning.

If the plans are changed before that time, I'll get word to him.

It may not be necessary to do anything at all. You've given me information that may bring the old woman to her senses."

"Them two fellers that come up on the boat to-day. Air you sure you c'n--"

"That's all for to-night," interrupted Barry, and strode off up the street, leaving Jasper Suggs, sometime Simon Braley of the loathsome Girty stock, to wend his lonely way out into a silence as black as the depths of his own benighted soul.

The night was sultry. Up in the marshy fastnesses of Lake Stansbury all the frogs in the universe seemed to have congregated for a grand festival of song. The treble of baby frogs, the diapason of ancient frogs, the l.u.s.ty alto of frogs in the prime of life, were united in an unbroken, penetrating chant to the starless sky. The melancholy hoot of the owl, the blithesome chirp of the cricket, even the hideous yawp of the roaming loon, were lost in the din and clatter of Lake Stansbury's mighty chorus.

There was promise of storm in the lifeless air. Zachariah, resting his elbows on the fence, confided this prognostication to an almost invisible Hattie on the opposite side of the barrier between two back yards.

"Ah allus covers my haid up wid de blanket--an' de bolster--an' de piller when hit's astormin'," said Hattie, in an awed undertone.

"An' Ah squeals lak a pig ev' time hit claps."

"Shucks, gal!" scoffed Zachariah. "What yo' all so skeert o'

lightnin' fo'? Why, good lan' o' Goshen, Ah hain't no mo' askeert o' storms dan Ah is ob--ob YOU!" He chuckled rather timorously after blurting out this inspired and (to him) audacious remark. To his relief and astonishment, Hattie was not offended.

"Ah bet yo' all hain't see no setch thunderstorms as we has 'round dis yere neck o' de woods," said she, with conviction. "Ah bet yo'

be skeert ef you--"

"Don' yo' talk to me, gal," boasted Zachariah. "Wuzzin Ah in de wustest storm dis yere valley has seed sence dat ole Noah he climb up in dat ole ark an' sez, 'Lan' sakes, Ah wonder ef Ah done gone an'

fergit anyt'ing.' Yes, MA'AM,--dat evenin' out to Ma.r.s.e Striker's--dat wuz a storm, gal. Wuz Ah skeert? No, SUH! Ah stup right out in de middle of it, lightnin' strikin' all 'round an' de thunder so turrible Ma.r.s.e Kenneth an' ever'body ailse wuz awonderin' ef de good Lord could hear 'em prayin' fo' mercy. Yas, suh--yas, SUH!

Dat's de gospel trufe. An' me right out dere in dat ole barnyard doin' de ch.o.r.es fo' ole Mis' Striker. Ma.r.s.e Kenneth he stick his haid out'n de winder an' yell, 'Zachariah, yo' come right in heah dis minnit! Yo' heah me? Wha' yo' all doin' out dere in dat h.e.l.l-fire an' brimstone? Ah knows yo' is de bravest n.i.g.g.e.r in all dis world, but fo' mah sake, Zachariah, won't yo' PLEASE come in?' Well, suh, jes' den Ah happens to look up from what Ah wuz doin' an' sees a streak o' lightnin' comin' straight to'ards de cabin. So Ah yells fo' him to pull his haid in mighty quick, an' sh.o.r.e 'nuff he got it in jes' in de nick o' time. Dat streak o' lightnin' went right pa.s.s de winder an' hit de groun'. Den hit sort o' bounce up in de air an' lep right over mah haid an' hitten a tree--"

"Wuz hit rainin' all dis time?"

"Rainin'? Mah lan', gal, course hit wuz rainin'," replied Zachariah, somewhat testily. "Hitten a tree not more'n ten foot from where Ah wuz--"

"Hain't yo' all got no sense at all, n.i.g.g.e.r?" demanded Hattie, witheringly. "Don' yo' know 'nough to go in out'n de rain?"

Zachariah was flabbergasted. Here was a bolt from a supposedly clear and tranquil sky; it flattened him out as no stroke of lightning could ever have done. For once in his life he was rendered speechless.

Hattie, who had got religion on several unforgettable occasions and was at this very time on the point of returning to the spiritual fold which she had more or less secretly abandoned at the behest of the flesh, regarded this as an excellent opportunity to re-establish herself as a disciple of salvation.

"An' what's more, n.i.g.g.e.r," she went on severely, "ef de good Lord ever cotch setch a monst'ous liar as yo' is out in a hurricane lak what yo' all sez it wuz, dere wouldn't be no use buryin' what wuz lef' of yo'. 'Cause why, 'cause yo' jes' gwine to be a lil black cinder no bigger'n a c.h.i.n.kapin. I knows all about how brave yo'

wuz out to Ma.r.s.e Striker's. Miss Violy she done tell how yo' all snuck under de table an' prayed an' carried on somefin' scan'lous."

Zachariah, though crushed, made a n.o.ble effort to extricate himself from the ruins. "Ah lak to know what Miss Violy knows about me on dat yere occasion. Yas, suh,--dat's what Ah lak to know. She never lay eyes on me dat night. 'Ca'se why? 'Ca'se I wuz out in de barnlot all de time. She done got me contwisted wid dat other fool n.i.g.g.e.r, dat's what she done."

"What other fool n.i.g.g.e.r?"

"Didden she tell yo' all about dat n.i.g.g.e.r we fotch along up from Craffordsville to--"

"Yas, suh, she done tole all about dat Craffordsville n.i.g.g.e.r, ef dat's de one yo' means."

Zachariah was staggered. "She--she tole yo' about--about dat Craffordsville n.i.g.g.e.r?"

"Yas, suh,--she did. Miss Violy she say he wuz de han'somest boy she ever did see,--great big strappin' boy wid de grandest eyes an'--"

"Dat's enough,--dat'll do," exclaimed Zachariah in considerable heat. "Ma.r.s.e Kenneth he got to change his tune, dat's all I got to say. He say Ah am de biggest liar in dis yere land,--but, by golly, he ain' ever heared about dis yere gal Hattie. No, SUH! When Ah lies, Ah lies about SOMEFIN', but when yo' lies, yo' jes' lies about NUFFIN',--'ca'se why? 'Ca'se dat Craffordsville n.i.g.g.e.r he ain' nuffin'. Yo' ought to be 'shamed o' yo'self, n.i.g.g.e.r, makin'

out Miss Violy to be a liar lak dat,--an' her bein' de fines' lady in--"

"Go on 'way wid yo', n.i.g.g.e.r," retorted Hattie airily. "Don' yo'

come aroun' heah no mo' makin' out how brave yo' is,--'ca'se Ah knows a brave n.i.g.g.e.r when Ah sees one, lemme tell yo' dat, Mistah Zachariah Whatever-yo'-name is."

Silence followed this Parthian shot. Zachariah, being a true philosopher, rested his case without further argument. He appeared to have given himself up to reflection. Presently Hattie, tempering her voice with honey, remarked:

"Ah suttinly is mighty glad yo' is come up yere to live, Zachariah."