by John Fox
CHAPTER 5.
OUT OF THE WILDERNESS
On the way to God's Country at last! Already Chad had schooled himselffor the parting with Jack, and but for this he must--little man that hewas--have burst into tears. As it was, the lump in his throat stayedthere a long while, but it passed in the excitement of that mad racedown the river. The old Squire had never known such a tide.
"Boys," he said, gleefully, "we're goin' to make a REcord on thistrip--you jus' see if we don't. That is, if we ever git thar alive."
All the time the old man stood in the middle of the raft yellingorders. Ahead was the Dillon raft, and the twin brothers--the giants,one mild, the other sour-faced--were gesticulating angrily at eachother from bow and stern. As usual, they were quarrelling. On theTurner raft, Dolph was at the bow, the school-master at the stern,while Rube--who was cook--and Chad, in spite of a stinging pain in onefoot, built an oven of stones, where coffee could be boiled and baconbroiled, and started a fire, for the air was chill on the river,especially when they were running between the hills and no sun couldstrike them.
When the fire blazed up, Chad sat by it watching Tall Tom and theschool-master at the stern oar and Rube at the bow. When the turn wassharp, how they lashed the huge white blades through the yellowwater--with the handle across their broad chests, catching with theirtoes in the little notches that had been chipped along the logs andtossing the oars down and up with a mighty swing that made the bladesquiver and bend like the tops of pliant saplings! Then, on a run, theywould rush back to start the stroke again, while the old Squire yelled:
"Hit her up thar now--easy--easy! NOW! Hit her up! Hit her up--NOW!"
Now they passed between upright, wooded, gray mountain-sides, threadedwith faint lines of the coming green; now between gray walls of rockstreaked white with water-falls, and now past narrow little valleyswhich were just beginning to sprout with corn. At the mouth of thecreeks they saw other rafts making ready and, now and then, a raftwould shoot out in the river from some creek ahead or behind them. Inan hour, they struck a smooth run of several hundred yards where themen at the oars could sit still and rest, while the raft shot lightlyforward in the middle of the stream; and down the river they could seethe big Dillons making the next sharp turn and, even that far away,they could hear Jerry yelling and swearing at his patient brother.
"Some o' these days," said the old Squire, "that fool Jake's a-goin' topick up somethin' an' knock that mean Jerry's head off. I wonder hehain't done it afore. Hit's funny how brothers can hate when they dogit to hatin'."
That night, they tied up at Jackson--to be famous long after the war asthe seat of a bitter mountain-feud. At noon the next day, they struck"the Nahrrers" (Narrows), where the river ran like a torrent betweenhigh steep walls of rock, and where the men stood to the oarswatchfully and the old squire stood upright, watching every movement ofthe raft; for "bowing" there would have meant destruction to the raftand the death of them all. That night they were in Beattyville, whencethey floated next day, along lower hills and, now and then, past abroad valley. Once Chad looked at the school-master--he wondered ifthey were approaching the Bluegrass--but Caleb Hazel smiled and shookhis head. And had Chad waited another half hour, he would not haveasked the question, even with his eyes, for they swept between highcliffs again--higher than he had yet seen.
That night they ran from dark to dawn, for the river was broader and abrilliant moon was high; and, all night, Chad could hear the swish ofthe oars, as they floated in mysterious silence past the trees and thehills and the moonlit cliffs, and he lay on his back, looking up at themoon and the stars, and thinking about the land to which he was goingand of Jack back in the land he had left; and of little Melissa. Shehad behaved very strangely during the last few days before the boy hadleft. She had not been sharp with him, even in play. She had been veryquiet--indeed, she scarcely spoke a word to him, but she did littlethings for him that she had never done before, and she was unusuallykind to Jack. Once, Chad found her crying behind the barn, and then shewas very sharp with him, and told him to go away and cried more thanever. Her little face looked very white, as she stood on the bank, and,somehow, Chad saw it all that night in the river and among the treesand up among the stars, but he little knew what it all meant to him orto her. He thought of the Turners back at home, and he could see themsitting around the big fire--Joel with his pipe, the old motherspinning flax, Jack asleep on the hearth, and Melissa's big solemn eyesshining from the dark corner where she lay wide-awake in bed and, whenhe went to sleep, her eyes followed him in his dreams.
When he awoke, the day was just glimmering over the hills, and thechill air made him shiver, as he built up the fire and began to getbreakfast ready. At noon, that day, though the cliffs were still high,the raft swung out into a broader current, where the water ran smoothlyand, once, the hills parted and, looking past a log-cabin on the bankof the river, Chad saw a stone house--relic of pioneer days--and,farther out, through a gap in the hills, a huge house with greatpillars around it and, on the hill-side, many sheep and fat cattle anda great barn. There dwelt one of the lords of the Bluegrass land, andagain Chad looked to the school-master and, this time, theschool-master smiled and nodded as though to say:
"We're getting close now, Chad." So Chad rose to his feet thrilled, andwatched the scene until the hills shut it off again. One more night andone more dawn, and, before the sun rose, the hills had grown smallerand smaller and the glimpses between them more frequent and, at last,far down the river, Chad saw a column of smoke and all the men on theraft took off their hats and shouted. The end of the trip was near, forthat black column meant the capital!
Chad trembled on his feet and his heart rose into his throat, whileCaleb Hazel seemed hardly less moved. His hat was off and he stoodmotionless, with his face uplifted, and his grave eyes fastened on thatdark column as though it rose from the pillar of fire that was leadinghim to some promised land.
As they rounded the next curve, some monster swept out of the low hillson the right, with a shriek that startled the boy almost into terrorand, with a mighty puffing and rumbling, shot out of sight again. Theschool-master shouted to Chad, and the Turner brothers grinned at himdelightedly:
"Steam-cars!" they cried, and Chad nodded back gravely, trying to holdin his wonder.
Sweeping around the next curve, another monster hove in sight with thesame puffing and a long "h-o-o-ot!" A monster on the river and movingup stream steadily, with no oar and no man in sight, and the Turnersand the school-master shouted again. Chad's eyes grew big with wonderand he ran forward to see the rickety little steamboat approach and,with wide eyes, devoured it, as it wheezed and labored up-stream pastthem--watched the thundering stern-wheel threshing the water into awake of foam far behind it and flashing its blades, water-dripping inthe sun--watched it till it puffed and wheezed and labored on out ofsight. Great Heavens! to think that he--Chad--was seeing all that!
About the next bend, more but thinner columns of smoke were visible.Soon the very hills over the capital could be seen, with little greenwheat-fields dotting them and, as the raft drew a little closer, Chadcould see houses on the hills--more strange houses of wood and stone,and porches, and queer towers on them from which glistened shiningpoints.
"What's them?" he asked.
"Lightnin'-rods," said Tom, and Chad understood, for the school-masterhad told him about them back in the mountains. Was there anything thatCaleb Hazel had not told him? The haze over the town was now visible,and soon they swept past tall chimneys puffing out smoke, greatwarehouses covered on the outside with weather-brown tin, and, straightahead--Heavens, what a bridge!--arching clear over the river andcovered like a house, from which people were looking down on them asthey swept under. There were the houses, in two rows on the streets,jammed up against each other and without any yards. And people! Wherehad so many people come from? Close to the river and beyond the bridgewas another great mansion, with tall pillars, about it was a greenyard, as smooth as a floor, and negro
es and children were standing onthe outskirting stone wall and looking down at them as they floated by.And another great house still, and a big garden with little pathsrunning through it and more patches of that strange green grass. Wasthat bluegrass? It was, but it didn't look blue and it didn't look likeany other grass Chad had ever seen. Below this bridge was anotherbridge, but not so high, and, while Chad looked, another black monsteron wheels went crashing over it.
Tom and the school-master were working the raft slowly to the shorenow, and, a little farther down, Chad could see more rafts tiedup--rafts, rafts, nothing but rafts on the river, everywhere! Up thebank a mighty buzzing was going on, amid a cloud of dust, and littlecars with logs on them were shooting about amid the gleamings of manysaws, and, now and then, a log would leap from the river and start uptoward that dust-cloud with two glistening iron teeth sunk in one endand a long iron chain stretching up along a groove built of boards--andHeaven only knew what was pulling it up. On the bank was a stout,jolly-looking man, whose red, kind face looked familiar to Chad, as heran down shouting a welcome to the Squire. Then the raft slipped alonganother raft, Tom sprang aboard it with the grape-vine cable, and theschool-master leaped aboard with another cable from the stern.
"Why, boy," cried the stout man. "Where's yo' dog?" Then Chadrecognized him, for he was none other than the cattle-dealer who hadgiven him Jack.
"I left him at home."
"Is he all right?"
"Yes--I reckon."
"Then I'd like to have him back again."
Chad smiled and shook his head.
"Not much."
"Well, he's the best sheep-dog on earth."
The raft slowed up, creaking--slower--straining and creaking, andstopped. The trip was over, and the Squire had made his "record," forthe red-faced man whistled incredulously when the old man told him whatday he had left Kingdom Come.
An hour later the big Dillon twins hove in sight, just as the Turnerparty was climbing the sawdust hill into the town, where Dolph and Rubewere for taking the middle of the street like other mountaineers, whowere marching thus ahead of them, single file, but Tom and theschool-master laughed at them and drew them over to the sidewalk.Bricks and stones laid down for people to walk on--how wonderful. Andall the houses were of brick or were weather-boarded--all builttogether wall against wall. And the stores with the big glass windowsall filled with wonderful things! Then a pair of swinging greenshutters through which, while Chad and the school-master waitedoutside, Tom insisted on taking Dolph and Rube and giving them theirfirst drink of Bluegrass whiskey--red liquor, as the hill-men call it.A little farther on, they all stopped still on a corner of the street,while the school-master pointed out to Chad and Dolph and Rube theCapitol--a mighty structure of massive stone, with majestic stonecolumns, where people went to the Legislature. How they looked withwondering eyes at the great flag floating lazily over it, and at thewonderful fountain tossing water in the air, and with the water threewhite balls which leaped and danced in the jet of shining spray andnever flew away from it. How did they stay there? The school-masterlaughed--Chad had asked him a question at last that he couldn't answer.And the tall spiked iron fence that ran all the way around the yard,which was full of trees--how wonderful that was, too! As they stoodlooking, law-makers and visitors poured out through the doors--a bravearray--some of them in tight trousers, high hats, and blue coats withbrass buttons, and, as they passed, Caleb Hazel reverently whisperedthe names of those he knew--distinguished lawyers, statesmen, andMexican veterans: witty Tom Marshall; Roger Hanson, bulky, brilliant;stately Preston, eagle-eyed Buckner, and Breckenridge, the magnificent,forensic in bearing. Chad was thrilled.
A little farther on, they turned to the left, and the school-masterpointed out the Governor's mansion, and there, close by, was a highgray wall--a wall as high as a house, with a wooden box taller than aman on each corner, and, inside, another big gray building in which,visible above the walls, were grated windows--the penitentiary! Everymountaineer has heard that word, and another--the Legislator.
Chad shivered as he looked, for he could recall that sometimes down inthe mountains a man would disappear for years and turn up again athome, whitened by confinement; and, during his absence, when anyoneasked about him, the answer was penitentiary. He wondered what thoseboxes on the walls were for, and he was about to ask, when a guardstepped from one of them with a musket and started to patrol the wall,and he had no need to ask. Tom wanted to go up on the hill and look atthe Armory and the graveyard, but the school-master said they did nothave time, and, on the moment, the air was startled with whistles farand near--six o'clock! At once Caleb Hazel led the way to supper in theboarding-house, where a kind-faced old lady spoke to Chad in a motherlyway, and where the boy saw his first hot biscuit and was almost afraidto eat anything at the table for fear he might do something wrong. Forthe first time in his life, too, he slept on a mattress without anyfeather-bed, and Chad lay wondering, but unsatisfied still. Not yet hadhe been out of sight of the hills, but the master had told him thatthey would see the Bluegrass next day, when they were to start back tothe mountains by train as far as Lexington. And Chad went to sleep,dreaming his old dream.