by Zane Grey
The girls noticed, however, that he never approached Betty after service, or on any occasion, and while it caused some wonder and gossip among them, for Betty enjoyed the distinction of being the belle of the border, they were secretly pleased. Little hints and knowing smiles, with which girls are so skillful, made known to Betty all of this, and, although she was apparently indifferent, it hurt her sensitive feelings. It had the effect of making her believe she hated the cause of it more than ever.
What would have happened had things gone on in this way, I am not prepared to say; probably had not a meddling Fate decided to take a hand in the game, Betty would have continued to think she hated Alfred, and I would never have had occasion to write his story; but Fate did interfere, and, one day in the early fall, brought about an incident which changed the whole world for the two young people.
It was the afternoon of an Indian summer day — in that most beautiful time of all the year — and Betty, accompanied by her dog, had wandered up the hillside into the woods. From the hilltop the broad river could be seen winding away in the distance, and a soft, bluish, smoky haze hung over the water. The forest seemed to be on fire. The yellow leaves of the poplars, the brown of the white and black oaks, the red and purple of the maples, and the green of the pines and hemlocks flamed in a glorious blaze of color. A stillness, which was only broken now and then by the twittering of birds uttering the plaintive notes peculiar to them in the autumn as they band together before their pilgrimage to the far south, pervaded the forest.
Betty loved the woods, and she knew all the trees. She could tell their names by the bark or the shape of the leaves. The giant black oak, with its smooth shiny bark and sturdy limbs, the chestnut with its rugged, seamed sides and bristling burrs, the hickory with its lofty height and curled shelling bark, were all well known and well loved by Betty. Many times had she wondered at the trembling, quivering leaves of the aspen, and the foliage of the silver-leaf as it glinted in the sun. To-day, especially, as she walked through the woods, did their beauty appeal to her. In the little sunny patches of clearing which were scattered here and there in the grove, great clusters of goldenrod grew profusely. The golden heads swayed gracefully on the long stems Betty gathered a few sprigs and added to them a bunch of warmly tinted maple leaves.
The chestnuts burrs were opening. As Betty mounted a little rocky eminence and reached out for a limb of a chestnut tree, she lost her footing and fell. Her right foot had twisted under her as she went down, and when a sharp pain shot through it she was unable to repress a cry. She got up, tenderly placed the foot on the ground and tried her weight on it, which caused acute pain. She unlaced and removed her moccasin to find that her ankle had commenced to swell. Assured that she had sprained it, and aware of the serious consequences of an injury of that nature, she felt greatly distressed. Another effort to place her foot on the ground and bear her weight on it caused such severe pain that she was compelled to give up the attempt. Sinking down by the trunk of the tree and leaning her head against it she tried to think of a way out of her difficulty.
The fort, which she could plainly see, seemed a long distance off, although it was only a little way down the grassy slope. She looked and looked, but not a person was to be seen. She called to Tige. She remembered that he had been chasing a squirrel a short while ago, but now there was no sign of him. He did not come at her call. How annoying! If Tige were only there she could have sent him for help. She shouted several times, but the distance was too great for her voice to carry to the fort. The mocking echo of her call came back from the bluff that rose to her left. Betty now began to be alarmed in earnest, and the tears started to roll down her cheeks. The throbbing pain in her ankle, the dread of having to remain out in that lonesome forest after dark, and the fear that she might not be found for hours, caused Betty’s usually brave spirit to falter; she was weeping unreservedly.
In reality she had been there only a few minutes — although they seemed hours to her — when she heard the light tread of moccasined feet on the moss behind her. Starting up with a cry of joy she turned and looked up into the astonished face of Alfred Clarke.
Returning from a hunt back in the woods he had walked up to her before being aware of her presence. In a single glance he saw the wildflowers scattered beside her, the little moccasin turned inside out, the woebegone, tearstained face, and he knew Betty had come to grief.
Confused and vexed, Betty sank back at the foot of the tree. It is probable she would have encountered Girty or a member of his band of redmen, rather than have this young man find her in this predicament. It provoked her to think that of all the people at the fort it should be the only one she could not welcome who should find her in such a sad plight.
“Why, Miss Zane!” he exclaimed, after a moment of hesitation. “What in the world has happened? Have you been hurt? May I help you?”
“It is nothing,” said Betty, bravely, as she gathered up her flowers and the moccasin and rose slowly to her feet. “Thank you, but you need not wait.”
The cold words nettled Alfred and he was in the act of turning away from her when he caught, for the fleetest part of a second, the full gaze of her eyes. He stopped short. A closer scrutiny of her face convinced him that she was suffering and endeavoring with all her strength to conceal it.
“But I will wait. I think you have hurt yourself. Lean upon my arm,” he said, quietly.
“Please let me help you,” he continued, going nearer to her.
But Betty refused his assistance. She would not even allow him to take the goldenrod from her arms. After a few hesitating steps she paused and lifted her foot from the ground.
“Here, you must not try to walk a step farther,” he said, resolutely, noting how white she had suddenly become. “You have sprained your ankle and are needlessly torturing yourself. Please let me carry you?”
“Oh, no, no, no!” cried Betty, in evident distress. “I will manage. It is not so — very — far.”
She resumed the slow and painful walking, but she had taken only a few steps when she stopped again and this time a low moan issued from her lips. She swayed slightly backward and if Alfred had not dropped his rifle and caught her she would have fallen.
“Will you — please — for some one?” she whispered faintly, at the same time pushing him away.
“How absurd!” burst out Alfred, indignantly. “Am I then, so distasteful to you that you would rather wait here and suffer a half hour longer while I go for assistance? It is only common courtesy on my part. I do not want to carry you. I think you would be quite heavy.”
He said this in a hard, bitter tone, deeply hurt that she would not accept even a little kindness from him. He looked away from her and waited. Presently a soft, half-smothered sob came from Betty and it expressed such utter wretchedness that his heart melted. After all she was only a child. He turned to see the tears running down her cheeks, and with a suppressed imprecation upon the wilfulness of young women in general, and this one in particular, he stepped forward and before she could offer any resistance, he had taken her up in his arms, goldenrod and all, and had started off at a rapid walk toward the fort.
Betty cried out in angry surprise, struggled violently for a moment, and then, as suddenly, lay quietly in his arms. His anger changed to self-reproach as he realized what a light burden she made. He looked down at the dark head lying on his shoulder. Her face was hidden by the dusky rippling hair, which tumbled over his breast, brushed against his cheek, and blew across his lips. The touch of those fragrant tresses was a soft caress. Almost unconsciously he pressed her closer to his heart. And as a sweet mad longing grew upon him he was blind to all save that he held her in his arms, that uncertainty was gone forever, and that he loved her. With these thoughts running riot in his brain he carried her down the hill to Colonel Zane’s house.
The negro, Sam, who came out of the kitchen, dropped the bucket he had in his hand and ran into the house when he saw them. When Alfred reached the gate Colon
el Zane and Isaac were hurrying out to meet him.
“For Heaven’s sake! What has happened? Is she badly hurt? I have always looked for this,” said the Colonel, excitedly.
“You need not look so alarmed,” answered Alfred. “She has only sprained her ankle, and trying to walk afterward hurt her so badly that she became faint and I had to carry her.”
“Dear me, is that all?” said Mrs. Zane, who had also come out. “We were terribly frightened. Sam came running into the house with some kind of a wild story. Said he knew you would be the death of Betty.”
“How ridiculous! Colonel Zane, that servant of yours never fails to say something against me,” said Alfred, as he carried Betty into the house.
“He doesn’t like you. But you need not mind Sam. He is getting old and we humor him, perhaps too much. We are certainly indebted to you,” returned the Colonel.
Betty was laid on the couch and consigned to the skillful hands of Mrs. Zane, who pronounced the injury a bad sprain.
“Well, Betty, this will keep you quiet for a few days,” said she, with a touch of humor, as she gently felt the swollen ankle.
“Alfred, you have been our good angel so often that I don’t see how we shall ever reward you,” said Isaac to Alfred.
“Oh, that time will come. Don’t worry about that,” said Alfred, jestingly, and then, turning to the others he continued, earnestly. “I will apologize for the manner in which I disregarded Miss Zane’s wish not to help her. I am sure I could do no less. I believe my rudeness has spared her considerable suffering.”
“What did he mean, Betts?” asked Isaac, going back to his sister after he had closed the door. “Didn’t you want him to help you?”
Betty did not answer. She sat on the couch while Mrs. Zane held the little bare foot and slowly poured the hot water over the swollen and discolored ankle. Betty’s lips were pale. She winced every time Mrs. Zane touched her foot, but as yet she had not uttered even a sigh.
“Betty, does it hurt much?” asked Isaac.
“Hurt? Do you think I am made of wood? Of course it hurts,” retorted Betty. “That water is so hot. Bessie, will not cold water do as well?”
“I am sorry. I won’t tease any more,” said Isaac, taking his sister’s hand. “I’ll tell you what, Betty, we owe Alfred Clarke a great deal, you and I. I am going to tell you something so you will know how much more you owe him. Do you remember last month when that red heifer of yours got away. Well, Clarke chased her away and finally caught her in the woods. He asked me to say I had caught her. Somehow or other he seems to be afraid of you. I wish you and he would be good friends. He is a mighty fine fellow.”
In spite of the pain Betty was suffering a bright blush suffused her face at the words of her brother, who, blind as brothers are in regard to their own sisters, went on praising his friend.
Betty was confined to the house a week or more and during this enforced idleness she had ample time for reflection and opportunity to inquire into the perplexed state of her mind.
The small room, which Betty called her own, faced the river and fort. Most of the day she lay by the window trying to read her favorite books, but often she gazed out on the quiet scene, the rolling river, the everchanging trees and the pastures in which the red and white cows grazed peacefully; or she would watch with idle, dreamy eyes the flight of the crows over the hills, and the graceful motion of the hawk as he sailed around and around in the azure sky, looking like a white sail far out on a summer sea.
But Betty’s mind was at variance with this peaceful scene. The consciousness of a change, which she could not readily define, in her feelings toward Alfred Clarke, vexed and irritated her. Why did she think of him so often? True, he had saved her brother’s life. Still she was compelled to admit to herself that this was not the reason. Try as she would, she could not banish the thought of him. Over and over again, a thousand times, came the recollection of that moment when he had taken her up in his arms as though she were a child. Some vague feeling stirred in her heart as she remembered the strong yet gentle clasp of his arms.
Several times from her window she had seen him coming across the square between the fort and her brother’s house, and womanlike, unseen herself, she had watched him. How erect was his carriage. How pleasant his deep voice sounded as she heard him talking to her brother. Day by day, as her ankle grew stronger and she knew she could not remain much longer in her room, she dreaded more and more the thought of meeting him. She could not understand herself; she had strange dreams; she cried seemingly without the slightest cause and she was restless and unhappy. Finally she grew angry and scolded herself. She said she was silly and sentimental. This had the effect of making her bolder, but it did not quiet her unrest. Betty did not know that the little blind God, who steals unawares on his victim, had marked her for his own, and that all this sweet perplexity was the unconscious awakening of the heart.
One afternoon, near the end of Betty’s siege indoors, two of her friends, Lydia Boggs and Alice Reynolds, called to see her.
Alice had bright blue eyes, and her nut brown hair hung in rebellious curls around her demure and pretty face. An adorable dimple lay hidden in her rosy cheek and flashed into light with her smiles.
“Betty, you are a lazy thing!” exclaimed Lydia. “Lying here all day long doing nothing but gaze out of the window.”
“Girls, I am glad you came over,” said Betty. “I am blue. Perhaps you will cheer me up.”
“Betty needs some one of the sterner sex to cheer her,” said Alice, mischievously, her eyes twinkling. “Don’t you think so, Lydia?”
“Of course,” answered Lydia. “When I get blue—”
“Please spare me,” interrupted Betty, holding up her hands in protest. “I have not a single doubt that your masculine remedies are sufficient for all your ills. Girls who have lost their interest in the old pleasures, who spend their spare time in making linen and quilts, and who have sunk their very personalities in a great big tyrant of a man, are not liable to get blue. They are afraid he may see a tear or a frown. But thank goodness, I have not yet reached that stage.”
“Oh, Betty Zane! Just you wait! Wait!” exclaimed Lydia, shaking her finger at Betty. “Your turn is coming. When it does do not expect any mercy from us, for you shalt never get it.”
“Unfortunately, you and Alice have monopolized the attentions of the only two eligible young men at the fort,” said Betty, with a laugh.
“Nonsense there plenty of young men all eager for our favor, you little coquette,” answered Lydia. “Harry Martin, Will Metzer, Captain Swearengen, of Short Creek, and others too numerous to count. Look at Lew Wetzel and Billy Bennet.”
“Lew cares for nothing except hunting Indians and Billy’s only a boy,” said Betty.
“Well, have it your own way,” said Lydia. “Only this, I know Billy adores you, for he told me so, and a better lad never lived.”
“Lyde, you forget to include one other among those prostrate before Betty’s charms,” said Alice.
“Oh, yes, you mean Mr. Clarke. To be sure, I had forgotten him,” answered Lydia. “How odd that he should be the one to find you the day you hurt your foot. Was it an accident?”
“Of course. I slipped off the bank,” said Betty.
“No, no. I don’t mean that. Was his finding you an accident?”
“Do you imagine I waylaid Mr. Clarke, and then sprained my ankle on purpose?” said Betty, who began to look dangerous.
“Certainly not that; only it seems so odd that he should be the one to rescue all the damsels in distress. Day before yesterday he stopped a runaway horse, and saved Nell Metzer who was in the wagon, a severe shaking up, if not something more serious. She is desperately in love with him. She told me Mr. Clarke—”
“I really do not care to hear about it,” interrupted Betty.
“But, Betty, tell us. Wasn’t it dreadful, his carrying you?” asked Alice, with a sly glance at Betty. “You know you are so — so prudish, one m
ay say. Did he take you in his arms? It must have been very embarrassing for you, considering your dislike of Mr. Clarke, and he so much in love with—”
“You hateful girls,” cried Betty, throwing a pillow at Alice, who just managed to dodge it. “I wish you would go home.”
“Never mind, Betty. We will not tease anymore,” said Lydia, putting her arm around Betty. “Come, Alice, we will tell Betty you have named the day for your wedding. See! She is all eyes now.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The young people of the frontier settlements were usually married before they were twenty. This was owing to the fact that there was little distinction of rank and family pride. The object of the pioneers in moving West was, of course, to better their condition; but, the realization of their dependence on one another, the common cause of their labors, and the terrible dangers to which they were continually exposed, brought them together as one large family.
Therefore, early love affairs were encouraged — not frowned upon as they are to-day — and they usually resulted in early marriages.
However, do not let it be imagined that the path of the youthful swain was strewn with flowers. Courting or “sparking” his sweetheart had a painful as well as a joyous side. Many and varied were the tricks played on the fortunate lover by the gallants who had vied with him for the favor of the maid. Brave, indeed, he who won her. If he marched up to her home in the early evening he was made the object of innumerable jests, even the young lady’s family indulging in and enjoying the banter. Later, when he come out of the door, it was more than likely that, if it were winter, he would be met by a volley of water soaked snowballs, or big buckets of icewater, or a mountain of snow shoved off the roof by some trickster, who had waited patiently for such an opportunity. On summer nights his horse would be stolen, led far into the woods and tied, or the wheels of his wagon would be taken off and hidden, leaving him to walk home. Usually the successful lover, and especially if he lived at a distance, would make his way only once a week and then late at night to the home of his betrothed. Silently, like a thief in the dark, he would crawl through the grass and shrubs until beneath her window. At a low signal, prearranged between them, she would slip to the door and let him in without disturbing the parents. Fearing to make a light, and perhaps welcoming that excuse to enjoy the darkness beloved by sweethearts, they would sit quietly, whispering low, until the brightening in the east betokened the break of day, and then he was off, happy and lighthearted, to his labors.