Other Main-Travelled Roads. Garland Hamlin

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СКАЧАТЬ back his chair and glared around from under his bushy eyebrows. "We can't do too much this afternoon. That seeder's got t' be set up an' a lot o' seed-wheat cleaned up. You unload the machine while I feed the pigs."

      Lime sat still till the old man was heard outside calling "Oo-ee, poo-ee" to the pigs in the yard; then he smiled at Marietta, but she said:—

      "He's got on one of his fits, Lime; I don't b'lieve you'd better tackle him t'-day."

      "Don't you worry; I'll fix him. Come, now, give me a kiss."

      "Why, you great thing! You—took—"

      "I know, but I want you to give 'em to me. Just walk right up to me an' give me a smack t' bind the bargain."

      "I ain't made any bargain," laughed the girl. Then, feeling the force of his tender tone, she added: "Will you behave, and go right off to your work?"

      "Jest like a little man—hope t' die!"

      "Lime!" roared the old man from the barn.

      "Hello!" replied Lime, grinning joyously and winking at the girl, as much as to say, "This would paralyze the old man if he saw it."

      He went out to the shed where Bacon was at work, as serene as if he had not a fearful task on hand. He was apprehensive that the father might "gig back" unless rightly approached, and so he awaited a good opportunity.

      The right moment seemed to present itself along about the middle of the afternoon. Bacon was down on the ground under the machine, tightening some burrs. This was a good chance for two reasons. In the first place, the keen, almost savage eyes were no longer where they could glare on him, and in spite of his cool exterior Lime had just as soon not have the old man looking at him.

      Besides, the old farmer had been telling about his "river eighty," which was without a tenant; the man who had taken it, having lost his wife, had grown disheartened and had given it up.

      "It's an almighty good chance for a man with a small family. Good house an' barn, good land. A likely young feller with a team an' a woman could do tiptop on that eighty. If he wanted more, I'd let him have an eighty j'inun'—"

      "I'd like t' try that m'self," said Lime, as a feeler. The old fellow said nothing in reply for a moment.

      "Ef you had a team an' tools an' a woman, I'd jest as lief you'd have it as anybody."

      "Sell me your blacks, and I'll pay half down—the balance in the fall. I can pick up some tools, and as for a woman, Merry Etty an' me have talked that over to-day. She's ready to—ready to marry me whenever you say go."

      There was an ominous silence under the seeder, as if the father could not believe his ears.

      "What's—what's that!" he stuttered. "Who'd you say? What about Merry Etty?"

      "She's agreed to marry me."

      "The hell you say!" roared Bacon, as the truth burst upon him. "So that's what you do when I go off to town and leave you to chop wood. So you're goun' to git married, hey?"

      He was now where Lime could see him, glaring up into his smiling blue eyes. Lime stood his ground.

      "Yes, sir. That's the calculation."

      "Well, I guess I'll have somethin' t' say about that," said Bacon, nodding his head violently.

      "I rather expected y' would. Blaze away. Your privilege—my bad luck. Sail in ol' man. What's y'r objection to me fer a son-in-law?"

      "Don't you worry, young feller. I'll come at it soon enough," went on Bacon, as he turned up another burr in a very awkward corner. In his nervous excitement the wrench slipped, banging his knuckle.

      "Ouch! Thunder—m-m-m!" howled and snarled the wounded man.

      "What's the matter? Bark y'r knuckle?" queried Lime, feeling a mighty impulse to laugh. But when he saw the old savage straighten up and glare at him he sobered. Bacon was now in a frightful temper. The veins in his great, bare, weather-beaten neck swelled dangerously.

      "Jest let me say right here that I've had enough o' you. You can't live on the same acre with my girl another day."

      "What makes ye think I can't?" It was now the young man's turn to draw himself up, and as he faced the old man, his arms folded and each vast hand grasping an elbow, he looked like a statue of red granite, and the hands resembled the paws of a crouching lion; but his eyes smiled.

      "I don't think, I know ye won't."

      "What's the objection to me?"

      "Objection? Hell! What's the inducement? My hired man, an' not three shirts to yer back!"

      "That's another; I've got four. Say, old man, did you ever work out for a living?"

      "That's none o' your business," growled Bacon a little taken down. "I've worked an' scraped, an' got t'gether a little prop'ty here, an' they ain't no sucker like you goun' to come 'long here, an' live off me, an' spend my prop'ty after I'm dead. You can jest bet high on that."

      "Who's goin' t' live on ye?"

      "You're aimun' to."

      "I ain't, neither."

      "Yes, y'are. You've loafed on me ever since I hired ye."

      "That's a—" Lime checked himself for Marietta's sake, and the enraged father went on:—

      "I hired ye t' cut wood, an' you've gone an' fooled my daughter away from me. Now you just figger up what I owe ye, and git out o' here. Ye can't go too soon t' suit me."

      Bacon was renowned as the hardest man to handle in Cedar County, and though he was getting old, he was still a terror to his neighbors when roused. He was honest, temperate, and a good neighbor until something carried him off his balance; then he became as cruel as a panther and as savage as a grisly. All this Lime knew, but it did not keep his anger down so much as did the thought of Marietta. His silence infuriated Bacon, who yelled hoarsely:—

      "Git out o' this!"

      "Don't be in a rush, ol' man—"

      Bacon hurled himself upon Lime, who threw out one hand and stopped him, while he said in a low voice:—

      "Stay right where you are, ol' man. I'm dangerous. It's for Merry's sake—"

      The infuriated old man struck at him. Lime warded off the blow, and with a sudden wrench and twist threw him to the ground with frightful force. Before Bacon could rise, Marietta, who had witnessed the scene, came flying from the house.

      "Lime! Father! What are you doing?"

      "I—couldn't help it, Merry. It was him 'r me," said Lime, almost sadly.

      "Dad, ain't you got no sense? What 're you thinking of? You jest stop right now. I won't have it."

      He rose while she clung to him; he seemed a little dazed. It was the first time he had ever been thrown, and he could not but feel a СКАЧАТЬ