THE next morning, long before the sun showed himself above the tree-tops, the Evans family were all astir. They always rose at an early hour, and it was probably more from the force of habit than for any other reason, for, with the exception of Mrs. Evans, none of them did any work until after they had eaten breakfast. Even the chores were left until the male members of the family had broken their fast, for Godfrey declared that it was not healthy, in that climate, to breathe too much of the early morning air, it was so laden with miasma and the seeds of fever and ague; but he did not seem to think it at all injurious if inhaled through the fumes of tobacco smoke, and while seated on the bench beside the cabin door. That bench served Godfrey in lieu of an easy-chair. When he was not hunting in the woods or loafing at the landing, he was always to be found there, smoking and thinking.
[Pg 126]On the morning of this particular day, Godfrey arose from his “shake down” with the air of a lord, and astonished two members of his family and alarmed another, by giving them all a hearty greeting. When he had dressed himself he filled his pipe, and walking out of the door with a slow and dignified step, stood with his hands on his hips, looking about him as if he were monarch of all he surveyed. Mrs. Evans said to herself that that was the way he used to act in the good old days; while Dan communed thus with himself:
“If me an’ pop had been out a diggin’ fur that thar bar’l last night, an’ had done found it, I should know that that was what ails him this mornin’; but seein’ we didn’t dig fur the bar’l, I don’t know what’s the matter of him. He don’t walk with that big leg, an’ sling on all them extry frills, fur nothin’, an’ I’m afeared he’s smelled out somethin’. If he has——”
Dan did not say what he should do, but he shook his head in the most threatening manner, and having drawn on his clothes, clapped his hat on his head, and hurried out of the door. His father looked at him as he disappeared around the corner of the cabin, but made no sign beyond looking in at the door to[Pg 127] satisfy himself that the rawhide was hanging in its accustomed place.
In a few minutes Dan returned and confronted his sire. His face wore a fierce frown, and he looked mad enough for almost anything. He began operations by jumping up and knocking his heels together, coming down with a jar and with his feet spread out as if he were bracing himself for a shock of some kind. This is an indispensable prelude to all games of fisticuffs in the South and West. No backwoods pugilist ever thinks of going into a fight without thus preparing himself for it. Sometimes a few Indian yells, given with all the power of the lungs, help matters wonderfully. Dan went through the performance just to show his father how angry he was, and to give him some idea of the damage he would do if he only possessed the power. Godfrey looked pleasantly at him, and seated himself on the bench.
“Give me them six dollars an’ six bits, dog-gone my buttons,” sputtered Dan, who could hardly speak plainly enough to be understood. Then he seemed to regain control of his tongue, and without giving his father a chance to reply, went on: “I knowed yesterday that ye was up to something,” said he,[Pg 128] “an’ I knowed this mornin’ when I first seed ye a struttin’ about, that ye’d been an’ done some mean trick. You’ve been a pokin’ into my things. You’ve got my money an’ my powder an’ lead, an’ I want ’em. The money’s mine, an’ I——”
“It’s your’n, is it?” exclaimed Godfrey. “Whar did ye get it, an’ how come ye by it?”
“Didn’t I tell ye I got three an’ a half fur that hind quarter of beef?”
“Yes, but whar did ye get the rest?”
“Didn’t ye tell me it didn’t make no odds to ye whar I got it so long as I did get it?” asked Dan.
“That was yesterday,” answered Godfrey. “It didn’t make no odds to me yesterday, but it’s to-morrer now, an’ it makes a heap of odds. It’s my bounden duty to find out whar ye got it an’ how ye came by it, kase mebbe it wasn’t honest.”
“Whoop!” yelled Dan, jumping up and knocking his heels together in the excess of his rage. “Honest! It’s a heap honester nor it is to go arter dark into a man’s tater-patch an’ dig up the bar’l o’ money he’s got kivered up thar. Now, ole man, I’ll tell ye what’s the gospel truth about that thar bar’l,” added Dan, a bright idea striking him. “If ye’ll give my money back to me, I won’t say nothing[Pg 129] about it; but if ye don’t, I’ll go straight to the gen’ral——”
“Whoop!” shouted Godfrey, in his turn.
As the word left his lips he jumped up from the bench and made a furious rush toward his son, but did not succeed in laying hands upon him. The place where Dan was standing became suddenly vacant, and a moment afterward a very scared face looked at Godfrey between the rails of the fence that surrounded the cabin.
“Yes, I will,” repeated Dan, who felt comparatively safe now. “I’ll go straight to the gen’ral an’ tell him what ye’re up to, an’ then what’ll become of yer bar’l with the eighty thousand into it?”
“An’ what’ll become of yer shiny hats an’ boots, an’ yer circus hosses, an’ yer guns that break in two in the middle?” retorted Godfrey, as soon as his rage would allow him to speak.
“I don’t care,” replied Dan, “I want my six dollars and six bits fust; an’ if I don’t get ’em, I’ll knock all yer ’rangements higher nor the moon. I will, I don’t care if I don’t sleep in the house fur a month arter it.”
“Ye’ll never sleep in my house again if ye do that,” said Godfrey. “But, Dannie, thar ain’t no[Pg 130] use in me an’ you fightin’ over these few greenbacks, when thar’s eighty thousand dollars in gold and silver to be had fur the diggin’.”
“I don’t want to fight nuther, but I want my money,” said Dan.
“Now, Dannie, be a good boy an’ let yer poor ole pop take keer on it fur ye.”
“No, I won’t.”
“Kase I’m the oldest an’ know the most, ye know, an’ it’s the properest thing to do.”
But Dan only shook his head decidedly, and retreated as his father approached the fence. Godfrey continued to argue the matter, but he could make no impression upon Dan, whose only reply was, “Give me my money;” and his father was finally forced to the conclusion that he must either do it, or have all his hopes of possessing that bar’l of gold blasted. He was well enough acquainted with Dan to know that he never made idle threats, and he saw that he must compromise in some way, and that too, if possible, without any loss to his dignity.
“Now, Dannie,” said he, “I hope ye see that yer pop is a heap smarter nor ye be, don’t yer?”
“Give me them six dollars an’ six bits,” replied Dan.
[Pg 131]“No, ye can’t have ’em—bar’l or no bar’l, that’s flat—till ye tell me whar ye got ’em. I’m yer pop, an’ it’s my bounden duty to know how ye come by ’em.”
Dan hesitated. If he complied with his father’s demand, he might whistle for the other five dollars which Don Gordon still owed David—or, rather, which he would owe him as soon as the pointer was field-broken. If he refused to comply, he would lose six dollars and seventy-five cents, and that was a small fortune to him. No matter what he decided to do, he had a fine prospect of losing money, unless—
“Yes, pop,” he replied suddenly, trying hard to conceal the excitement occasioned by a lucky thought that just then occurred to him, “I know yer a heap smarter nor I be, an’ I’ll be a good son to ye, an’ never try to fool ye no more.”
“That’s a good boy, Dannie,” said his father, thrusting his hand through the fence in the hope that Dan would lay his own within it. “Put it thar, my lad.”
Dan came a step nearer to the fence, but his actions indicated that he had no desire to shake hands with his father. On the contrary, he kept safely out of his reach.
[Pg 132]“No, I’ll never fool ye no more,” said he, “honor bright. An’ will ye promise, honor bright, to give me the money, all of it, when I tell ye whar I got it?”
“In course I will.”
“Say honor bright.”
His father said it, placing his hand in his pocket at the same time to show that he was ready to keep his word, and Dan continued:
“Silas Jones give it to me. I made five dollars outen him choppin’ wood.”
“That’s the way to get rich, my boy,” said Godfrey. “Allers do sich little chores when ye can get ’em to do, an’ hold fast to the money, an’ some day ye’ll be wuth yer thousands.”
“Now hand it out here,” said Dan.
“Ye............