ON 
 
 NeVFOUND 
 RIY6R 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER 
 
 BY 
 
 THOMAS NELSON PAGE 
 
 AUTHOR OF " IN OLE VIRGINIA," " Two LITTLE 
 CONFEDERATES," ETC. 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER S SONS 
 1891 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1891, 
 BY CHARLES SCRIBNER S SONS. 
 
tty gear 
 
 ANNE BRUCE PAGE 
 
 M11974 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER 
 
 A STORY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 NEWFOUND RIVER, or, as it is called by the 
 denizens of that section of Virginia through 
 which it glides, " Newfound," steals through 
 two or three counties of Eastern Virginia in 
 such a leisurely, unobtrusive fashion that it 
 was not supposed by the early settlers to 
 be different from the numerous " branches " 
 which are found between the undulations, 
 there considered hills, until it was discovered 
 that it stretched for fifty miles in an almost 
 direct line. It thereupon received its baptis 
 mal name, which was, after a little time, 
 abbreviated into " Newfound," by which it 
 is, in the phrase of the law, still called and 
 known. 
 
 War and its effects have wrought a sor 
 rowful change in the old county, as in other 
 
 1 
 
2 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 sections of the State. It lay right in the 
 track of the armies, and the civilization which 
 existed there in the old days before the war 
 has perished. But at the time when the events 
 herein related occurred, the country on New 
 found was one of the typical " neighborhoods " 
 of the State. The Landons and others of their 
 kind ruled unquestioned in an untitled mano 
 rial system; their poor neighbors stood in 
 a peculiar relation to them, part friend, part 
 retainer, the line between independence and 
 vassalage being impalpable; and peace and 
 plenty reigned over a smiling land. 
 
 The value of a plantation in those old 
 times was largely determined by the amount 
 of "bottom-land" on it, the uplands being 
 poor. 
 
 The finest " bottom " on Newfound was 
 that at Landon Hall, which was, indeed, the 
 only one distinguished by the more dignified 
 name of "low ground." Year in and year out 
 it brought corn so " rank " that, in the pictur 
 esque language of the negroes, "you just could 
 follow the balk," by which was meant that 
 one could just detect or follow with the eye 
 the spaces between the rows. 
 
 Perhaps it was this perennial abundance 
 
ON NEWFOUND 1UVER. 6 
 
 of the harvest which gave the Landons their 
 prestige in the county quite as much as the 
 fact that they held their lands under the same 
 grant which had been issued by Charles II. 
 to the first of the name who had crossed the 
 seas. 
 
 Father and son, for six generations they had 
 held it, and it was their boast that in all this 
 period they had lost but one field. 
 
 This was the tract of a hundred acres or 
 so of arable land, and a little more of marsh, 
 beyond Newfound, which the fourth Landon 
 had in very exuberance of recklessness lost 
 one night at cards to a neighbor. That side 
 of Newfound was swampy, at best, from the 
 backwater of the mill-pond, and the tract was 
 chiefly valuable because on it stood the quaint 
 old gray frame-dwelling with its dormer win 
 dows and hipped roof, which the first Landon 
 had built and named " Landon Hill," and in 
 which they had lived until they erected the 
 imposing mansion on the eminence on the 
 other side of the stream, which they called 
 "Landon Hall." His friend had badgered him 
 to bet the land, and he had done so and lost. 
 He offered to redeem at twice its value ; but 
 the proposal was rejected. The friends be- 
 
4 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 came bitter enemies, and a duel had in time 
 followed in which Landon had shot his adver 
 sary. 
 
 This had not, however, remedied the mat 
 ter. 
 
 It was found that the owner had the night 
 before, with malignant prevision, executed a 
 will leaving the land entailed as far as pos 
 sible, and with conditions which effectually 
 prevented it again passing into the hands of 
 a Landon for several generations. 
 
 From this time the old place was Naboth s 
 vineyard to the Landons. The house, peaked 
 and gray with age, stood on a rise across the 
 low grounds and the river immediately in 
 front of the lofty hill on which rose the Lan 
 dons commanding mansion. It was so situ 
 ated that it could not be shut out of the 
 landscape. It was the one place in sight 
 which did not belong to the Landons, and it 
 had been the cradle of the race : of a race 
 which prided itself on being an older branch 
 than that which remained in England, and 
 on having brought its landholding instincts 
 across the water. 
 
 No wonder the Landons chafed and fretted 
 over its loss. 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 5 
 
 The son of the one who threw away the 
 old home retrieved the impaired fortunes of 
 the family by marrying an heiress, and the 
 Landons became wealthier than ever. Large 
 offers were made to the owner of the place 
 to repurchase it ; but the will of the duellist 
 effectually prevented its recovery, and Colonel 
 Landon compensated himself and his wife by 
 adding to the estate on the other side, and 
 rebuilding Landon Hall in magnificent style. 
 The limitation did not expire for two genera 
 tions, and he left in his will a provision incul 
 cating the necessity of securing the lost tract 
 as soon as it was possible to do so. The 
 colonel s son, who was Major Landon, on 
 coming into the estate endeavored faithfully 
 to fulfil his father s behest, and watched 
 eagerly for the death of the old woman with 
 whose life the limitations on the lost land 
 expired. She lived in the far south, and 
 the place for several years was unoccupied 
 and neglected, the fences going down, the 
 old, quaint, frame-house falling into disrepair, 
 and the fields growing up in sassafras and 
 pine. As soon as Major Landon heard of her 
 death he despatched an agent to the south 
 to secure from the heir the option to pur- 
 
G ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 chase ; but to his mortification and chagrin 
 he found that the property had the day be 
 fore he applied for it been sold to an old 
 navy surgeon, one Dr. Browne. He immedi 
 ately wrote and offered the purchaser a hand 
 some advance on his price ; but it was declined 
 on the ground that the doctor had bought it 
 for a home and would not sell it at any figure 
 whatsoever. 
 
 This almost threw the major into a fever. 
 
 Shortly afterwards the old doctor arrived 
 with his family, which consisted of a little 
 granddaughter and two old negroes, one of 
 whom was his body-servant, and the other 
 the child s mammy. 
 
 Major Landon, after the custom of the 
 country, called formally on the new neighbor; 
 but he was not received, and it soon became 
 known that the newcomer was not at home 
 to visitors and wished to be let alone. This 
 was as open a violation of the custom on New 
 found as if the new settler had waylaid his 
 neighbor from behind a fence, and from that 
 time the aversion of the major, and the sus 
 picion of the rest of the community fell 
 upon him. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THEY were an austere people, the Landons, 
 reaping where they had not sown, and gather 
 ing where they had not strewn. Tall, straight, 
 keen-eyed, aquiline they grew, father and 
 son, for generation after generation, as dis 
 tinct from their plain neighbors on New 
 found as a Lombardy poplar is from the com 
 mon pine. The major was the austerest of 
 the race. He reigned supreme on Newfound. 
 
 It was an accepted fact on Newfound that 
 every man, woman, and child gave way to 
 the major except Bruce. Bruce was his only 
 son, and the prospective heir to the Landon 
 Hall plantation, with its four thousand acres 
 and its five hundred negroes. 
 
 As Bruce sprang up tall and slim, yet 
 straight and active, the resemblance between 
 him and the major, " the Landon favor," was 
 marked. There was in both the same finely 
 cut face and clean figure, the same deep-set 
 clear gray eyes under strong brows, the 
 
 7 
 
8 O^V NEWFOUND ItlVER. 
 
 slightly aquiline nose, the wide mouth full 
 of fine teeth, and the firm chin and jaw. The 
 same spirit discovered itself in each: an in 
 domitable resolution to carry out his will 
 which showed itself in every line of the face 
 and every fibre of the frame. The major was 
 stern and imperative ; the boy was resolute 
 and defiant. One of the servants expressed it 
 once by the saying, " De chip don fly fur from 
 de stump." 
 
 "lie has the Landon bull-dog in him," 
 said the major, proudly; "he will not give 
 up unless you kill him." Once when Bruce 
 was being thrashed for going fishing in dis 
 obedience to orders, he faced the major, and 
 looking him straight in the eyes said dog 
 gedly, " You d better give me two now ; for 
 I m going again." To the credit of the major, 
 it must be said, that this exhibition of the 
 unconquerable will of the family for that 
 time got the boy off. 
 
 By the time Bruce was thirteen he was as 
 well known on Newfound as his father. At 
 least twice he had been fished out of the mill- 
 pond unconscious (once when he was pulled 
 out by Dick Runaway, and once when he 
 had got Dick out), besides any number of 
 
ON NEWFOUND EIVEE. 9 
 
 times when he had fallen in and been got out 
 before he reached that state. 
 
 Sam Mills considered him a prodigy. He 
 always spoke of his qualities as if he had been 
 a young puppy. It was more than rumored 
 that Bruce had once or twice met some of 
 the runaway negroes who skulked around in 
 the woods, and had hunted with them. No 
 one but Bruce could have stood this charge. 
 Bruce did not deny it. He simply claimed 
 that Dick Runaway, as he was called, was his 
 father s negro, and no one had anything to 
 do with it. 
 
 There was only one person with whom the 
 boy was not on good terms. A young man 
 had come to the neighborhood a year or two 
 before, drifted from no one knew where, 
 though a strong accent and familiarity with 
 the purlieus of a great city led to grave sus 
 picion of his origin, which was subsequently 
 verified. He was too lazy to engage in reg 
 ular work, and lived generally by his wits. 
 His only ostensible occupation was hunting. 
 This he extended occasionally to hunting and 
 capturing such runaway negroes as might from 
 time to time, for fancied or real grievances, 
 leave their homes and take to the woods. 
 
10 CLV NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 Once or twice he appeared to have large 
 amounts of money, which he said had. been 
 left him, and which he had gone off to get. 
 He soon ran through them, however. At 
 other times he used to hang around the Cross 
 roads " groggery," drinking whenever he 
 could get whiskey. Pie was a heavy, muscu 
 lar fellow, with black hair, a red skin, and 
 small eyes ; a man of whom one would at once 
 say the moral fibres were as coarse as a door 
 mat. He was much hated by the negroes, 
 and generally detested by the whites ; but he 
 possessed a certain shrewdness united to a 
 deal of effrontery which made him feared if 
 not popular with the lowest members of the 
 lowest class. He called himself " Mr. Green," 
 but a long, deep purple mark on the side of 
 his heavy jaw and neck, which might have 
 been a scar, but which he averred was a birth 
 mark, had given him the name of "Poke- 
 berry." Between this man and Bruce there 
 was the deepest hatred, which neither pre 
 tended to conceal. Pokeberry was a born 
 bully, and Bruce brooked no insolence. On 
 one occasion when they met at Jones s Cross 
 roads, and Pokeberry made some allusion to 
 the story of his meeting the runaway negroes 
 
ON NEWFOUND EIVEE. 11 
 
 and hunting with them, the boy retorted by 
 calling him a "nigger-hunter." A fierce 
 quarrel ensued, and Bruce had got much ap 
 plause by suddenly attacking the bully and 
 felling him to the ground with a stick which 
 lay conveniently at hand. From this time 
 they were sworn enemies. 
 
 As much credit, however, as Bruce gained 
 from these things, his reputation 011 New 
 found was based less on them than on his 
 well-known resistance to his father. He was 
 the only person who dared stand out against 
 the major. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 "!T S becus they s so high sperited," a thin 
 dim-looking fellow of about forty dressed in 
 an old suit, of which the coat was much too 
 large for him, and the trousers much too small, 
 explained drawlingly one afternoon to a con 
 templative group around him at Jones s Cross 
 roads, where the family traits of the Landons 
 were being discussed. 
 
 The speaker was Sam Mills. Sam was a 
 great friend of the major s, and was an 
 authority. 
 
 " It s becus they s got so much of the devil 
 in em," declared Squire Johnson, burning at 
 the recollection of the scarcely veiled con 
 tempt and the sharp-edged speeches with 
 which the major usually deigned to recog 
 nize his existence. 
 
 " Ef I ever git him befo me, I m gwine to 
 show him who s th majistrit in this district/" 
 
 The squire was a large, burly man, with a 
 smooth-shaven red face, and a heavy bunch 
 12 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 13 
 
 of grizzled whisker growing under his large 
 chin. 
 
 "Ef you does," said one, u you won be 
 majistrit long." He looked over towards 
 Mills for corroboration. 
 
 The squire was turning to him when Mills 
 intercepted him. 
 
 "You ain never gwine to git him befo 
 you," he drawled; "he ain got no use for 
 law." 
 
 The justice turned his quid of tobacco over 
 and over in his mouth, chewing with a force 
 which attested the violence of his feelings. 
 Mills understood the act as if it had been 
 articulate speech. 
 
 " I heard him say so myself," he asserted, 
 as if he had been contradicted. 
 
 " What d he say ? " a chewing animal on 
 the fence, in brown jeans and an old straw hat, 
 found the energy to inquire. 
 
 " He said he d a had old Dr. Browne up 
 for turning his cows into his corn long ago 
 if th had a had a jestice with any sense ; 
 but he ruther let the cows eat his corn than 
 make a fool of heself going befo a fool to 
 try an git jestice." 
 
 There was a gleam of satisfaction in the 
 
14 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 small gray eyes of the speaker as he glanced 
 over at the man in the chair, and saw how 
 his shafts had penetrated his armor of self- 
 conceit. The individual referred to, whose 
 mouth was too full to admit of an attempt to 
 speak, chewed rancorously. 
 
 " He ain never forgive me for goin against 
 him when he run for the Convention," he 
 said, wiping his stained mouth on the palm 
 of his hand. 
 
 "He ain never forgive you for whippin 
 that nigger Dick of his whar you all caught 
 out without a pass that night," said Mills, 
 with the air of a man who knows the secret 
 things. " He said you an Pokeberry was 
 the cusses of the county an stirred up mo 
 trouble with the niggers n anything else." 
 
 The magistrate swore under his breath. 
 Being classed with Pokeberry was more than 
 he could stand. 
 
 " Ef I foun a nigger roamin aroun -with 
 out a pass, was I to change the law becus 
 twas one of his niggers ? " he said, in a com 
 plaining tone. 
 
 " He said twant the law ; that the nigger 
 give a good excuse : he told you he was gwine 
 for th doctor, and he was on a mule ; and if 
 
ON NEWFOUND EIVE&. 15 
 
 you d a had any sense you would a knowed 
 it. He said he don t allow nobody to touch 
 one o his niggers ; and he said the law talks 
 about discretion of them whar am got as 
 much discretion as his horse." 
 
 " Them Landons is the hard feelin est folks 
 in Ameriky. They s wuss n Injuns ! " de 
 clared the dispenser of justice. 
 
 " Don know bout that," drawled Mills ; 
 " but he cert ny s got some n against you. I 
 don think you ll git his endorsement next 
 time." 
 
 This sally provoked a chuckle of amuse 
 ment from the speaker and his auditors, 
 which was so distasteful to the justice that 
 he rose. 
 
 " I don ixpect him and I don want him," 
 he declared, looking defiantly at his torment 
 ors. " Ef I ever git him befo me, I ll show 
 him who s the jestice in this district" 
 
 He stalked over to where his lean horse 
 stood tied to the fence, and prepared to 
 leave. 
 
 " He says the squa r don know as much 
 law as his horse," said Mills, in a confidential 
 undertone. " He says if he had known what 
 a fool he was, he d a took the place himself." 
 
1C ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 " Fd like to see the major befo him onct," 
 hazarded his companion. 
 
 " You d see the ha r fly," was Mills s reply. 
 
 " They is a curisome folks," he added medi 
 tatively, presently, after a pause during which 
 the pompous old magistrate had mounted his 
 dejected beast and ridden away. 
 
 " Ain a kinder-hearteder man in th worl 
 than the ole major if you take him right; 
 but you can t shove him, not a inch, not 
 a inch," he repeated. 
 
 A grunt of acquiescence from his compan 
 ions reached him. 
 
 They were ruminant animals, these quiet 
 dwellers on Newfound; they chewed their 
 straws, or tobacco, as placidly as oxen. Mills 
 evidently did not expect any other answer, 
 for he proceeded. 
 
 " When my ole ooman was took down that 
 time, he corned over thar mo reg lar n th 
 doctor, and he knowed what to do for her jes 
 as good as him." 
 
 The slanting sun fell through the trees on 
 the little group in their coarse, rusty, old 
 coats, and lit up their rugged faces. 
 
 " But if you stir im up, umph ! " (The in 
 articulate grunt expressed fully the speaker s 
 
O.V NEWFOUND RIVER. 17 
 
 views.) What you heard me tell the ole 
 squa r thar jes now is the truth. He ain 
 never gwine forgive him. He ain th for- 
 givin kind." 
 
 "Ain but two folks in th worl he don 
 like, the squa r an ole Dr. Browne." 
 
 "Three, you ought to say," interrupted 
 one of his friends, a short, wiry, sunburned, 
 red-headed fellow named Hall, with a turned- 
 up nose and a big mouth. " An Pokeberry. 
 Thar he comes now." 
 
 The members of the group turned them 
 selves lazily and glanced up the sandy road, 
 down which, at a slouching pace, came a 
 stout, heavy-set man of about thirty, with a 
 gun thrown across his arm, and two thin, 
 undersized, spotted hounds walking at his 
 heel. 
 
 The contemplation of Pokeberry as he 
 approached appeared to engross all the fac 
 ulties of the little group against the fence, 
 and they chewed their tobacco in silence 
 until he had turned in at the open door of 
 the little store and disappeared from their 
 view. 
 
 "Yes, an Pokeberry," said Mills, taking 
 up the thread just where he had left off. 
 
18 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 "He put him an the squa r together. He 
 said he won t have him trackin his uiggers 
 with houn s." 
 
 " Houn s cain t hurt nobody," drawled one 
 of the group. " Houn s is the feardest dogs 
 in the worl ." 
 
 44 Taint that," explained Mills, with superi 
 ority. " He says, tis the feelin ." 
 
 " I wonder the major ain never had the 
 squa r turned out ? " said a man on the fence. 
 
 44 Nor ; he wouldn put himself out enough 
 to do that," explained Mills. 44 He knows 
 the squa r is po , and he won t take no step 
 to take the office away from him." 
 
 44 1 b lieve he d rather keep the squa r in 
 than to turn him out," suggested Hall, who 
 had some sense of humor. 44 If he was to 
 los him, he wouldn have nobody to abuse." 
 
 44 He could abuse that tother ole man crost 
 the river yonder where s got his land," said 
 Mills, with a sideways nod of his head to the 
 smoky ridge away across the wooded bottom 
 to the right, through which Newfound crept. 
 
 44 That s so," assented Hall, cordially. 
 44 Wonder what makes the major d spise him 
 so? Becus he wouldn sell him the ole 
 place?" 
 
ON NEWFOUND UIVER. 19 
 
 "Nor; becus he s so curious; becus he 
 won t have nothin tall to do with nobody, 
 and jes keeps himself shet up with them two 
 ole niggers an that little gal o his. They 
 say, to be sure, he s mighty good to her 
 leastways, so the niggers says, and they 
 knows everything." 
 
 " The major says he ain never been able to 
 lay eyes on him since he come heah an settle 
 down on that place right crost the river from 
 him, where his fathers was born and raised, 
 and where by rights b longest to him anyhow. 
 He says he shet himself up like a snake in his 
 hole, and he wisht he d shet his cows up too." 
 
 There was a gleam of amusement at the 
 witticism about the cows which was appreci 
 ated by the plain farmer folk. 
 
 " Ain never seen him in that time," re 
 peated one or two. " Does look like some 
 thing was wrong." 
 
 This was enough in a neighborhood where 
 every incident of every man s life was as well 
 known and as freely canvassed by his neigh 
 bors as if it had happened to themselves. It 
 was inexplicable except on the theory of either 
 madness or crime, and, like more enlightened 
 people, the dwellers on Newfound chose the 
 
20 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 less charitable theory. As, however, it was 
 not the custom under that civilization for a 
 man to interfere with any one else unless 
 some personal act was committed which pecul 
 iarly affected him, the old recluse with his two 
 attendants was left unmolested in his pine- 
 surrounded hermitage; and his wealthy neigh 
 bor contented himself with abusing him, and 
 with forbidding Bruce ever to extend his fish 
 ing or hunting excursions to the other side of 
 the little river, or even to go on his land. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 WHETHER it was that the best fishing-holes 
 were on Dr. Browne s side of the river, and 
 that the duck especially loved the " collard-" 
 filled cove which the backwater from the 
 major s mill-pond made on that bank, or 
 whether it was Brace s natural and inevitable 
 propensity to do that which was forbidden, 
 the boy very shortly disobeyed his father s 
 injunction. He came home one day with a 
 fine string of fish which he boldly announced 
 that he and Dick had caught on Dr. Browne s 
 bank. 
 
 The major was immediately in a passion. 
 He declared that Bruce had ruined Dick 
 and made him a runaway, and wound up by 
 demanding that the boy should with his own 
 hands immediately take the fish straight back 
 to their owner. 
 
 Bruce refused. 
 
 There was a pitched battle, in which the 
 major gave Bruce, as usual, a tremendous 
 
 21 
 
22 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 thrashing ; but received still the same dogged 
 reply lie had made him from the first, " I 
 won t do it if you kill me." Then he ordered 
 him to bed. 
 
 The boy went, though it was early in the 
 afternoon. 
 
 Then his mother, who always acted the 
 peacemaker between the two, went up stairs 
 to him. Bruce was lying in bed, looking 
 longingly out of the window. His eyes had 
 an angry gleam in them, and his mouth was 
 drawn. It is not far, however, from a 
 mother s heart to her son s, and in a few 
 moments the boy was weeping in his mother s 
 arms. Her tenderness brought the submis 
 sion which the major s discipline had failed 
 to secure. Sitting on the bed by the boy, 
 holding his hand in both of hers, she told 
 him a story. 
 
 It was that long years before when his 
 father was a boy just his age, he had had an 
 elder brother named Bruce. He was wilful 
 and disobedient; defied all authority. One 
 day his father, angered at his insubordina 
 tion, in a passion said to him that he was 
 a disgrace to the name he bore. " Then I 
 will never disgrace it any more," he said 
 
ON NEWFOUND EIVEE. 23 
 
 angrily ; " for I never will bear it again," and 
 with that he had rushed out of the house 
 and disappeared. The next day his hat was 
 found floating on the pond. The dam was 
 cut, the river was dragged, and every effort 
 was made to recover the body, but in vain. 
 It killed his mother, and embittered his 
 father s whole after-life. He never got over 
 it. 
 
 Mrs. Landon broke down, weeping at the 
 thought of the sad, bereft mother. She leaned 
 over and drew her son to her bosom, and kissed 
 him agai* and again. 
 
 " O Bruce, Bruce ! my son ! my son ! " she 
 sobbed. 
 
 In a little while Bruce came down and said 
 he would take the fish back. He, however, 
 announced boldly that he was going because 
 his mother wished him to go, and thought 
 that he ought not to catch fish on another s 
 land without permission, and not because he 
 had been whipped. 
 
 The boy s feelings as, after he crossed the 
 river, he rode his colt along the old road 
 through the pines were so strange and so 
 complex that he remembered them years 
 afterwards. It was the first time he had ever 
 
24 O.V NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 been on the place, and he had never seen any 
 one who had been there except Dick Run 
 away. 
 
 The shame he felt as he rode along at hav 
 ing to confess that he had caught the fish on 
 another s property without permission gave 
 way to a feeling of curiosity as he came in 
 sight of the dense hedge of cedars which sur 
 rounded the yard as with a wall. The pines 
 grew up almost to the hedge. He passed be 
 tween two old leaning gate-posts from one of 
 which hung the broken fragment of an ancient 
 gate, and found himself in a yard !! grown 
 up in weeds and bushes. Just before him 
 was a long, low, weather-stained frame-dwell 
 ing with a hipped roof, queer wings, and 
 quaint dormer windows jutting out. 
 
 Bruce rode up, and stopped in front of the 
 door. As no one appeared, he called, 
 
 " Hello ! " 
 
 From an old and ruinous out-building came 
 back, " Hello ! " but there was no one in sight. 
 
 " Hello ! " he called again, and again came 
 the short reply, " Hello !" which he found 
 was nothing but an echo from the old build 
 ing at the side. 
 
 After waiting a moment, he decided that 
 
ON NEWFOUND EIVER. 25 
 
 he could not have been seen, and rode on and 
 tied his horse to an overhanging limb, and 
 went up to the door. 
 
 He knocked. The stillness was so intense 
 that the sound of his rapping made him jump. 
 He was about to leave and go around to the 
 other side of the house, when a door opened 
 at the far end of the passage, and an elderly 
 negro woman, thin and black, and with her 
 head tied up in a handkerchief, appeared and 
 came slowly towards him. 
 
 " Good evening," said Bruce, and then, 
 without waiting for her to speak, began 
 rapidly : 
 
 "Here is a string of fish I caught down 
 yonder on your side of the pond, and my 
 mother sent me to bring them back." He 
 paused to swallow, for his throat was dry. 
 
 " Who you say sent em ? " asked the 
 woman, looking at them curiously. 
 
 " My mother, my father Major Landon. 
 I caught them." 
 
 The woman s face brightened. 
 
 " Thankee, little marster," she said. 
 
 The boy saw that she considered them a 
 present. The temptation was strong to leave 
 her under the impression ; for he had told her 
 
26 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 once why he had brought them back; but 
 Bruce was as honest as day. A Landon 
 would not lie. He thought of that saying 
 of Brian de Bois Guilbert, " Many a law and 
 many a commandment have I broken ; but 
 my word never," and he gulped out, 
 
 " They are not a present I caught them 
 on this side, on your side, and my mother 
 -and my father sent them back: my 
 father is Major Landon." 
 
 " What s all this ? " inquired a stern voice. 
 
 Bruce turned in amazement at the sound of 
 the voice. An old gentleman, tall and gray, 
 stood behind him. 
 
 " What was that you were saying ? " he 
 asked sharply, his keen dark eyes gleaming 
 from beneath his shaggy white eyebrows. 
 The stern voice and the flash of the deep 
 eyes seemed so familiar to the boy, that he 
 insensibly assumed a hostile attitude. But 
 he went through his formula honestly. 
 
 "I caught some fish on your side of the 
 river, and I have brought them back, as my 
 mother and father thought I ought not to 
 have done it without permission." 
 
 The sturdy honesty of the boy and the 
 evident struggle he underwent attracted the 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 27 
 
 old man, and a kindly light stole into his 
 eyes. 
 
 " So you caught them without permission, 
 did you, and they made you bring them 
 back?" 
 
 A curious look shone even through his 
 long beard. 
 
 " I brought them because my mother wanted 
 me to do it," said Bruce doggedly. 
 
 " Oh, because your mother wanted it ? " he 
 muttered. He had averted his face slightly, 
 but now he turned to the boy, and laying 
 his hand on his head, he said gently, 
 
 " You have my permission to fish or hunt, 
 or do anything you wish anywhere on my 
 property; but, my son, remember this, Honor 
 thy father and thy mother, that thy days 
 may be long in the land which the Lord thy 
 God giveth thee. " He suddenly turned and 
 walked into the house. 
 
 When Bruce came home that night he 
 avowed himself the friend of his new ac 
 quaintance, and from that time he was his 
 steadfast champion. 
 
 He gave notice of the permission he had 
 received, and boldly announced his purpose 
 to avail himself of it. There was another 
 
28 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 battle which might be said to have been 
 drawn, as neither side was conquered, and 
 each stood at the end just where he stood 
 at the beginning of the contest. 
 
 It was not very long afterwards that he 
 carried out his purpose, and crossing the 
 pond went over to the forbidden bank. The 
 ducks he was after, however, were not found, 
 having been probably frightened off by the 
 cows that were grazing down in the marsh, 
 and whose bells he heard in the distance. 
 He followed a narrow path which led along 
 the edge of a little inlet filled with tasselled 
 alder bushes. Up at its further point inland 
 a fine spring bubbled from beneath a flat 
 rock above which towered a poplar, straight 
 and clean of limb for fifty feet. Another 
 path came down the hill to the spring from 
 the woods above. The water from the spring 
 for some distance ran down rippling over a 
 bed of clean sand just beside the path and 
 then turned away into the thickets of alders. 
 
 Bruce, laying his gun down, stooped and 
 drank at the spring, and then flung himself 
 on the ground at the foot of the poplar, and 
 fixing his head comfortably, gazed up at the 
 blue summer sky. He heard the faint clatter 
 
ON NEWFOUND EIVEE. 29 
 
 of the cow-bells below him, softened by the 
 distance to a low, mellow, and irregular 
 tinkle. He heard the water purling over 
 some pebbles close by; he heard a wood- 
 wren s bright note in a tree above ; he heard 
 the faint call of his father s ploughmen across 
 the pond to their teams, and then he felt 
 a hand or something 011 his face, and then 
 some one kissed him ; and, opening his eyes, 
 he found himself looking up into the wide- 
 open, and somewhat startled big brown eyes 
 of a little girl who was kneeling beside him, 
 bending over him with a look of mingled 
 wonderment and pleasure. Her cheeks were 
 as pink as roses, and her curling hair was 
 hanging in tangles on either side of her 
 throat, leaving her oval face like a picture 
 set in a frame of loosely twisted dull red 
 gold. 
 
 As Bruce opened his eyes, she drew back 
 with a start. 
 
 " Oh, it s come true ! " she exclaimed with 
 a little gasp, throwing herself back and sitting 
 on her feet, and clasping her small hands 
 tightly in her excitement. Her great dark 
 eyes were dancing in her head. 
 
 The child was so pretty that the boy lay 
 
30 ON NEWFOUND EIVER. 
 
 still with his eyes on her, fearing that a 
 motion might frighten her. 
 
 "What has come true ?" he asked presently. 
 
 "What grandpapa and mammy read me 
 out of the fairy hook," she said, throwing her 
 hair hack out of her way. 
 
 "What was that?" 
 
 " Why, about the prince who came down 
 out of the sky ; (but he was asleep,) and the 
 princess that kissed him, and waked him up, 
 and made him love her, and they lived hap 
 pily together all their lives." 
 
 " Oh ! about that ! " said Bruce, definitely. 
 
 " Aren t you the prince ? " she asked sweetly, 
 moved by a faint suspicion at something in 
 his voice. 
 
 " You are the princess, at any rate," said 
 the boy, gallantly, raising himself on his 
 elbow and looking at her with admiration. 
 
 "No, I m not the princess; I m nothing 
 but a little girl ; but when I found you here 
 I knew you were the prince, and I thought it 
 might do even if I were not the princess, and 
 I do want somebody to play with so bad." 
 The little face was quite pitiful. 
 
 " Grandpapa an mammy an Unc Folium 
 an Laz rus and George Washington do all 
 
ON NEWFOUND EIVEE. 31 
 
 they can ; but I want a prince. Aren t you 
 a prince, sure enough? " She asked the ques 
 tion with a sudden return of faith, struck, 
 perhaps, by the smile which lit up the hand 
 some face of her companion. 
 
 " Well, they don t have many princes 
 around here," said Bruce, evasively, and then 
 a sudden thought struck him. "I will play 
 that I am your prince." 
 
 " Oh, will you? And you will love me 
 and play with me ? " 
 
 She leant forward, and in her earnestness 
 put one little plump, brown hand on the back 
 of Bruce s. It thrilled him, boy as he was, 
 with a sudden sense of ownership and pro 
 tection. 
 
 " Yes," he nodded. 
 
 "And you will be good to Laz rus and 
 George Washington ? " 
 
 Bruce nodded affirmatively; then in 
 quired, 
 
 "Who are they?" 
 
 " Why, they are my cats, and they both 
 have kittens." 
 
 "Have they?" exclaimed Bruce, in un 
 feigned surprise at this astonishing informa 
 tion. 
 
32 ON NEWFOUND RIVEE. 
 
 She nodded : 
 
 Umh umh !" 
 
 "What is your name, Prince?" she asked 
 presently. 
 
 " Bruce." 
 
 " Oh, I know : - Bruce, prince of Scotland. 
 Grandpapa told me about him. I m so glad ! 
 I was afraid maybe you were an Eastern 
 prince." 
 
 " No," said Bruce ; " I am not one of those. 
 Do you think I look like one ? " 
 
 "Well, you must be mighty rich;" she 
 gazed at his watch-chain with a look of ap 
 praisement; "but they wear chewnics, and 
 are black like Unc Folium." 
 
 "Who is Unc Folium?" asked Bruce. 
 
 "Unc Folium? don t you know him? 
 He s my mammy s husband, and my grand 
 papa s body-servant." 
 
 " Who is your grandpapa? " 
 
 " Grandpapa ! Oh, he don t know grand 
 papa," she laughed in glee. "Well, how 
 funny! why, he s my grandpapa, my grand 
 father, you know," she explained. 
 
 " What s his name ? " 
 
 "What s his name? Why, he hasn t got 
 any name he s just grandpapa, so. Oh, 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 33 
 
 yes ; mammy and Unc Folium call him Mas 
 ter. I reckon that must be his name." 
 
 "No, that isn t a name at all," urged 
 Bruce ; " they call him that because they are 
 slaves." 
 
 "They aren t slaves! My mammy ain t 
 any slave ! " exclaimed the child. 
 
 " Oh, ain t she ? Where do you live ? " he 
 asked. 
 
 " Up there, at home." She pointed up the 
 path. 
 
 The cow-bells sounded more distinctly, as 
 the cows passed up the hill. She rose and 
 brushed the leaves and small sticks from her 
 dress. 
 
 "It s getting late; I must go. I hear 
 Teensey going home; mammy s got her. 
 Will you come with me ? " 
 
 " No, I must go home," said Bruce. 
 
 " Well, will you come again to-morrow ? " 
 
 " Yes ; good evening." 
 
 "Good evening, Prince Bruce." She put 
 up her mouth to be kissed, and the boy 
 stooped and kissed her gently. 
 
 " Run away, and I will wait until you are 
 at the top of the hill," he said coaxingly. 
 She started, and then stopped. 
 
34 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 "Will you play with me?" she asked, 
 turning and looking back at him. 
 
 " Yes ; run along." 
 
 " And you will come back to-morrow ? " 
 
 " Yes ; to-morrow afternoon." 
 
 u Yes; when mammy comes after the 
 cows ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 "Good by." And she ran up the hill, her 
 little bare legs shining, and her loose hair 
 streaming behind her. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 WHEN Bruce reached home that evening 
 he gave so graphic a description of his meet 
 ing with the little girl that his father was 
 too much interested to upbraid him with his 
 disobedience, and his mother was outspoken 
 in her sympathy. 
 
 " What was her name ? " she asked. 
 
 "I didn t think to ask her," Bruce replied. 
 
 "What, sir! Kiss a girl, and not know 
 who she is ? " said his father. 
 
 "She was mighty pretty," responded the 
 boy, nai vely. 
 
 " Oh, she was ? The name then doesn t 
 make so much difference," laughed his 
 father. 
 
 " Oh, yes ! her name is Margaret Reid," 
 said Bruce. " Sam Mills told me so once." 
 
 The next afternoon Bruce was true to his 
 appointment; but when he arrived at the 
 spring, his little friend was not there. After 
 waiting what, in his boyish impatience, ap- 
 
 35 
 
36 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 peared to him an age, he started up the path 
 which led up the hill. Just before reaching 
 the top, however, he heard a coaxing voice 
 calling, " Kitty, Kitty, Kitty ! Come along, 
 Kitty ! " and through the woods at a little dis 
 tance appeared his little girl. Her head was 
 bare, and she was carrying something in her 
 large poke bonnet, the edges of which she 
 was with much pains keeping together, whilst 
 behind her, with tails erect, walked two cats, 
 mewing and looking up at her. 
 
 At sight of Bruce she smiled and quickened 
 her pace. 
 
 " Oh, have you come ? " she called in a 
 pleased tone. " T was late because George 
 Washington wouldn t come, and King Alfred 
 got under the porch and spit at me. Get 
 back there ! " This was to a kitten whose lit 
 tle black head was protruding from the bon 
 net. 
 
 " Which is George Washington ? " asked 
 Bruce. 
 
 " That s she, with the white nose. And 
 King Alfred is her kitten. Here they are." 
 And she suddenly let go one side of the cal 
 ico bonnet and poured out on the ground 
 a half-dozen kittens, on which the two cats 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 37 
 
 immediately pounced with maternal solici 
 tude. 
 
 "King Alfred will never go to heaven," 
 she said suddenly, with that serious manner 
 which characterized her utterances. 
 
 "Why, cats don t go to heaven," said 
 Bruce. 
 
 " Oh, they do ! " 
 
 " Where did you get that idea ? " 
 
 " Why, grandpapa says that everything 
 that loves goes to heaven; that Heaven is 
 love." 
 
 This was a little too abstruse for the boy ; 
 but he saw that it would grieve her to dis 
 turb her belief, so he asked, 
 
 " What makes you think that King Alfred 
 won t go to heaven ? " 
 
 " Because he doesn t mind what is said to 
 him." 
 
 "Does that keep people from going to 
 heaven ? " 
 
 " Yes ; grandpapa says that it s the aw -full 
 est thing there is." 
 
 In his heart Bruce trusted that that partic 
 ular sin did not shut the gates of mercy 
 beyond hope ; but he said nothing. 
 
 " Who is your mamma? " he asked presently. 
 
38 O.V XEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 " She is in heaven," said the child, simply. 
 
 " Who is your papa?" 
 
 " Papa is there too. He was a soldier." 
 
 There was a pause in which she was mani 
 festly reflecting. 
 
 " Ban quo is there too," she said presently. 
 
 " Who is he ? " inquired Bruce, with a dim 
 recollection of having read of some one of 
 that name, he could not recall where. 
 
 " He s grandpapa s old dog." 
 
 "It seems to be a very large place," he 
 suggested. 
 
 " It is," she said with quiet serenity. 
 
 By this time they had reached the spring, 
 and the kittens were allowed a second release 
 from their confinement in the bonnet. 
 
 "I told grandpapa about you," she said 
 presently. 
 
 " You did ? What did he say ? " 
 
 "He said that you were not a prince at 
 all." 
 
 "Did he say that?" 
 
 " Yes ; and he said that I was a princess in 
 his eyes." She seated herself on the ground 
 beside Bruce, and leaned her elbow on his 
 knee with perfect confidingness. 
 
 "And he said that you had better not come 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 39 
 
 up there up home." She waved her little 
 hand up towards the top of the hill. 
 
 "Ah!" 
 
 " Yes ; because your father would not like 
 it." 
 
 A guilty feeling came over the boy, and he 
 felt a longing to leave her under the belief in 
 his innocence ; but he said resolutely, 
 
 " He wouldn t." 
 
 "Why wouldn t he like it?" she asked, 
 with the calm persistence of childhood. 
 
 "I don t know; he doesn t like a good 
 many things I do." 
 
 "Oh, doesn t he? I do." 
 
 The unaffected praise of the child was very 
 grateful to the boy, and a smile of pleasure 
 came over his handsome face. 
 
 "I wish we could live together, don t you?" 
 she said, suddenly turning and nestling up 
 against him with perfect trustfulness. 
 
 The conndingness of the act was so sweet 
 that the boy stooped over and kissed her 
 gently. 
 
 " I wish we could," he said. 
 
 " We can get married, and I ll give you my 
 kitties, and you can have my mammy and 
 grandpapa." 
 
40 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 "All right," said Bruce, laughing at her 
 seriousness. 
 
 " All right. I told grandpapa last night 
 we were going to be married." 
 
 " You did ? What did he say ? " 
 
 " At first he laughed, and then he took me 
 up on his knee and told me I did not know 
 what I was talking about. And he said that 
 when I grew up you would spise me, and 
 that I would hate you ; and then he got up 
 and walked about and looked so angry I had 
 to climb up on the chair and kiss him, and 
 tell him I would not marry anybody but him." 
 
 She had grown eloquent as she narrated 
 the interview, and the boy thought she looked 
 like a fairy, as she stood there instinctively 
 imitating her grandfather s angry gestures. 
 When she had ended she sank down beside 
 him again. 
 
 "You won t spise me, will you?" she asked 
 pleadingly. 
 
 " No, that I won t," said Bruce, sincerely. 
 
 " And you will play with me, won t you ? 
 because I did wake you up, didn t I ? " 
 
 " Yes. And you won t ever hate me ? " 
 
 " No ; and here s my ring ; it s mine ; and 
 you must keep it just like we were married, 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVEE. 41 
 
 and there s mammy calling me, and I must 
 go. Come here, kitties ! " 
 
 She made a rush upon the kittens, which 
 were drowsily taking their suppers, and gath 
 ering them up tossed them irrto her bonnet 
 without much reference to their comfort, 
 and with a hasty " Good by," ran up the hill, 
 hugging her precious burden to her bosom, 
 and followed by the faithful Lazarus and 
 George Washington mewing faintly. 
 
 That evening Bruce s recital was not re 
 ceived by his father with the same com 
 placency which he had exhibited the evening 
 before. 
 
 " I thought I told you not to go over there 
 again ? " said he, sternly. 
 
 " You did not tell me so yesterday," as 
 serted the boy. 
 
 " Did not tell you so yesterday ? Do you 
 think, sir, that I have nothing else to do but to 
 spend my time telling you the same thing?" 
 
 He paused for a moment s reflection ; then 
 he said, 
 
 "Bruce, I want you to promise me not to 
 go over there again." 
 
 The boy was silent ; but the dogged look 
 settled on his face. His father noted it. 
 
42 ON NEWFOUND RIVER, 
 
 " I should think you d be ashamed to asso 
 ciate with such people. They are low, and 
 worthless, and unfit associates for a gentle 
 man," he said sneeringly. 
 
 An angry light came into the boy s eyes. 
 " They are not," he said. 
 
 " Don t contradict me, sir. They may be 
 very fit associates for you if you have a taste 
 for such companions ; but they are nothing 
 but common people. That little girl is the 
 daughter of a low, common man like Poke- 
 berry Green, or his associates." He selected 
 his shaft carefully. 
 
 " She is not," contradicted the boy, defi 
 antly. "She is as much a lady as as 
 any one, and I will go there. And I will 
 marry her when I grow up, and am a man." 
 He stood before his father, with flashing eyes 
 and fearless mien. 
 
 " Go to your room, sir," said the major. 
 
 Bruce left the library and went up stairs 
 to his room ; but his determination was un 
 changed. 
 
 The next day he learned that he was to be 
 sent off to school at once, and that afternoon 
 he was driven away in the carriage on his 
 way to a school in another State. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 BRUCE LANDON remained from home the 
 best part of eight years. The major de 
 termined to give him not only the best edu 
 cation, but the advantages of travel as well. 
 Bruce, having applied himself, easily won 
 enough honors to satisfy even his father s 
 ambition. The Landons had been noted of 
 old for their distinction at William and 
 Mary, and Bruce s successes awakened all 
 his father s pride. On the few occasions 
 when Bruce was home from college the rela 
 tions between them were, therefore, com 
 pletely altered. 
 
 During this period things on Newfound 
 remained in their wonted condition. Eight 
 years made little difference in that quiet life. 
 If affairs moved at all, they moved so slowly 
 that a longer arc than eight years was needed 
 to detect it. The pines had grown closer 
 about Landon Hill, where the recluse doctor 
 still kept himself shut up. The major still 
 
 43 
 
44 ON NEWFOUND RIVEIt. 
 
 gazed at the old place across the low grounds, 
 and still cherished a negative kind of ani 
 mosity against his neighbor, declaiming with 
 much rancor of expression against the iniquity 
 of his remaining secluded and allowing his 
 cows to run on other people. Mills and Hall 
 and other dwellers on the river still absorbed 
 and reflected mildly the major s opinions. 
 Squire Johnson, unmolested, still held his 
 little office, contenting himself with an as 
 sertion of independence behind the major s 
 back. And Newfound still crept lazily be 
 tween its low wood or corn covered banks, 
 moving, like the people who lived upon it, 
 slow, calm, sleepy. 
 
 What passed within the pine-girt hermi 
 tage where Dr. Browne lived with his grand 
 daughter and two old domestics no one 
 outside knew. The little negro man with 
 his quaint old faded and patched uniform, 
 his worn beaver, and his exaggerated manner, 
 occasionally paid a visit to the mill for a small 
 bag of meal or flour, or to the post-office to 
 inquire for a letter, and except for these they 
 held no more communication with the outer 
 world than if they had been imprisoned in a 
 dungeon. 
 
ON NEWFOUND EIVER. 45 
 
 Suspicion, fostered by Pokeberry Green, 
 centred upon the old recluse with rather 
 more defmiteness than before. It seemed to 
 have a little more foundation. Pokeberry 
 still followed his ungracious calling of trying 
 to recapture runaway negroes. He had re 
 ceived another legacy which he had quickly 
 squandered. Once or twice Pokeberry had 
 started a report that Dr. Browne gave aid and 
 comfort to the runaways; but it had died 
 out. Had any one else but this man circulated 
 such a report it would have been sufficient to 
 have occasioned an investigation, if not to 
 have driven the old man from the county. 
 Had there not been the overwhelming cir 
 cumstances of the doctor s suspicious con 
 duct, Pokeberry s character was so bad that 
 nothing he said could have had any weight. 
 As it was, the two together were just sufficient 
 to keep gossip alive about the owner of the 
 old Landon place, and to make him and 
 everything connected with him a matter of 
 keen interest. 
 
 The eight years wrought more changes in 
 the doctor s granddaughter than in almost 
 any one else on Newfound. The little girl 
 that had found the prince under the poplar 
 
46 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 tree beside the spring grew up among the 
 pines ; her companions : her grandfather, her 
 mammy, the progeny of Lazarus and George 
 Washington, the roses and hollyhocks in the 
 ancient tangled garden, and the friends she 
 found in the few old volumes in the bookcase. 
 They were a curious lot: Evelina, Clarissa 
 Harlow, Sir Charles Grandison, Pamela, Sir 
 Roger de Coverley, Lord Orville, Lizzie 
 Bennet, Mr. Darcy, Emma Woodhouse, and 
 a few others. Her grandfather was a great 
 sufferer from an old wound, a confirmed 
 invalid, and was often confined to his room 
 and chair. 
 
 An invalid is next to a child in developing 
 a woman s instincts. She read to him, tended 
 him, and petted him as if he were a baby. 
 
 Once or twice she ventured, when a young 
 girl, to accompany her mammy to the Cross 
 roads store to make a few little purchases ; 
 but some tipsy men, one of whom had a long, 
 ugly, purple scar on his sunburned cheek and 
 neck, stared so at the straight, handsome, 
 half-grown girl with her large brown eyes 
 under her coarse hat, that she never again 
 went beyond the pines in which was her 
 world. Twice she met the same man with 
 
ON NEWFOUND EIVEE. 47 
 
 the purple scar, down on the pond. He came 
 upon her each time as she was fishing. He 
 tried to talk to her ; but she hastily left the 
 pond and ran home. The last time, he said 
 something to her which she felt was imperti 
 nence, and she ever afterwards avoided that 
 part of the pond. 
 
 Pokeberry, at the grocery, had drunkenly 
 declared his devotion, and duly declared 
 there, subsequently, his repulse. 
 
 One day she found up stairs in the dark 
 little garret several old trunks covered with 
 dust and cobwebs. She opened one of them 
 and found it filled with old dresses, and 
 odds and ends of woman s wear, all curious, 
 but rich. They must have been nearly a 
 hundred years old. Some were lawns, filmy 
 and faded as if with age, others stiff brocades 
 with long waists and padded petticoats and 
 stomachers. They made her eyes open. 
 
 Whom could they have belonged to ? 
 
 She took them out tenderly and turned 
 them over and over with caressing hands ; 
 measured them by her own straight, supple 
 figure, and in her fancy pictured them as 
 belonging to the fine ladies she knew in the 
 brown calf-backed books down stairs. She 
 
48 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 ventured to ask her grandfather about them. 
 He seemed startled and desired her not to go 
 into the trunks. Her grandfather s wish was 
 law to her, and she went no more for a long 
 time. One day, however, she asked him 
 about her mother. He became too agitated 
 to tell her a great deal, except that she had 
 died when she, Margaret, was born. Marga 
 ret knew that her father had been killed in a 
 battle. And this was all she knew of her 
 father or mother except that when she asked 
 her mammy what she was like she always 
 told her, " Like you, honey ; jes your size an* 
 all, only prettier." 
 
 So she passed her time growing up, with her 
 large eyes, and her sunny hair, tending her 
 grandfather as he sat in his old armchair; 
 living with her friends in the age-browned 
 books ; fishing in the pond ; wandering in the 
 pines; going after the cows; tending, be 
 cause they were pretty, her hollyhocks, sweet- 
 peas, and roses in the garden, as wild, yet as 
 much at home among them, as the sparrows 
 and thrushes which built in the lilacs. 
 
 If, as she ran wild about the place, or fol 
 lowed the paths through the pines in her 
 search for the vagrant cows, she sometimes 
 
ON NEWFOUND EIVEE. 49 
 
 glanced over across the placid pond and the 
 alder thickets to the green low-grounds and 
 fields of Landon Hall, and may have felt a 
 vague surmise as to the boy whom she had 
 once found asleep under the tree by the 
 spring, it was simply an act of memory, and 
 the feeling was too vague to take definite 
 shape. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE eight years spent by Bruce Landon at 
 school and college had, for Bruce, borne fruit 
 in many ways. In none, however, more than 
 in the change in the relationship between 
 himself and his father. As soon as they were 
 separated, and the friction of wills was want 
 ing, they became great friends and mutual 
 admirers. Bruce could not but admire the 
 stern character of the old gentleman, who was 
 inflexible in purpose, indomitable in will, and 
 transparently honest in every word and act, 
 however intolerant he might be and constitu 
 tionally incapable of yielding his opinion once 
 formed on any subject. On the other hand, 
 the high character of the boy, and the brilliant 
 stand he had taken from the first, and which 
 he maintained until he graduated with distin 
 guished honors, had caused his father very 
 early in his course to forgive his boyish way 
 wardness, and to overlook the infractions of 
 collegiate discipline which were reported to 
 60 
 
ON NEWFOUND EIVEE. 51 
 
 him from time to time with more or less fre 
 quency. It was only when Bruce was at 
 home for the holidays, and the two were 
 thrown together, that their wills came in con 
 flict. It was soon apparent to both that the 
 safest way to preserve the delightful relations 
 between them was to remain separated. Thus 
 it was, that Bruce was at home very little dur 
 ing the eight years of his school and college 
 life, and usually spent his vacations in travel. 
 When, therefore, he finally came home, he was 
 almost a stranger. 
 
 As the carriage rolled up to the front door, 
 and Bruce sprang out on the sanded walk, 
 his father and mother both came running out 
 to meet him, and both folded him in their 
 arms. It was the only time Major Landon 
 ever so far unbent. 
 
 The straight boy had become a tall, straight 
 man, muscular and clean as a race-horse. 
 
 As, after the custom of the Landons, on 
 the day he was twenty-one he stood for meas 
 urement on the threshold of the wide wain 
 scoted picture-hung hall, with his back to 
 the old massive mahogany front door, where 
 the Landons for generations, on attaining their 
 majority, had been measured for height and 
 
52 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 breadth, there had hardly been one in all the 
 list who had equalled him. 
 
 "Why, Bruce, you are the champion of 
 three generations ! " exclaimed his mother, 
 looking up at his mark with pride. 
 
 " No ; there have been several as tall ; and 
 one, the old general, my grandfather, was 
 taller and broader," corrected his father, ex 
 amining the door closely for the almost oblit 
 erated marks. The young man cast his eyes 
 across the hall at the painting of his ancestor 
 dressed in the military dress of Marlborough s 
 time. 
 
 u He was a pretty good-looking fellow," he 
 said, with lazy admiration. 
 
 " So is his descendant," smiled his mother. 
 
 " We got our height and our tempers both 
 from him, didn t we ? " 
 
 " No, sir ; we may have got our stature from 
 him, but we got our tempers from the devil," 
 replied the major. "No one but the devil 
 can ever be held responsible for such devilish 
 tempers." 
 
 " I quite agree with you," said the young 
 man, complacently. 
 
 " I am pleased to receive the intelligence," 
 replied the old gentleman, with a twinkle. 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 53 
 
 44 1 believe it is the first time my views have 
 ever received such a compliment." 
 
 " Oh, no ! we both agree in admiration of 
 this lady, sir," said Bruce, putting his arm 
 around his mother. Mrs. Landon smiled up 
 at him, and the major looked pleased at the 
 delicate turn. 
 
 " There s where you get your beauty," 
 said Mrs. Landon, pointing across the hall 
 to a full-length portrait of a lady, quite 
 young, in rich brocade, with the long waist 
 and satin petticoat of two generations before. 
 The clear-cut face, with its dark .eyes, was, 
 indeed, beautiful, and would have been per 
 fect, but for the haughtiness which shone 
 even through the painter s art. 
 
 "I know where I got my beauty," said 
 Bruce, leaning down and kissing his mother. 
 Mrs. Landon blushed like a girl. 
 
 " But my grandmother was a beauty, wasn t 
 she?" 
 
 He went over and examined the portrait 
 critically. 
 
 44 It s good enough for a Kneller," he said. 
 44 And that patrician face and old costume 
 make her look like a young countess. One 
 might fancy her turning her back on the 
 prince himself." 
 
54 ON NEWFOUND ElVER. 
 
 " She would have done it," said his father. 
 " She turned her back on the President. He 
 had not stood up to your grandfather. It 
 lost my father the senatorship. But he always 
 said it was cheap for the price." 
 
 Bruce found himself in a new life, almost 
 wholly unknown to him. He had suddenly 
 become the companion of the man who had 
 always been to him the incarnation of pride 
 and reserve. His father seemed not able to 
 let him get out of his sight. If he went only 
 to the stables, he invited him to come with 
 him. He told him of all his affairs ; consulted 
 him ; deferred to him. At the same time, he 
 was treated like a distinguished guest. It 
 was very new and very pleasant to him. The 
 best wine was brought from the cellar : Ma 
 deira imported by his grandfather. The major 
 insisted on his riding his saddle-horse, and he 
 himself rode another. 
 
 A day or two after his arrival Bruce was 
 lounging in an easy-chair in the hall, looking 
 over some fishing-tackle which he had ex 
 humed. His mother was near by engaged in 
 some little household occupation; but with 
 her smiling eyes mainly directed towards her 
 son. The major came in fuming. His neigh 
 bor s cows were in his corn. 
 
ON NEWFOUND EIVEE. 55 
 
 " In there again ! " he said to his wife. " I 
 believe he thinks my cornfield belongs to 
 him. I have stood it too long already. His 
 cows have been living on me for twenty years, 
 and now I am tired of it." He addressed 
 Bruce. 
 
 " My dear, I would not be hasty," said Mrs. 
 Landon, soothingly. 
 
 " Hasty ! you don t call it c hasty, when 
 I have been fattening his cattle for twenty 
 years, do you ? They graze in my cornfield 
 as if it were nothing but his marsh pasture, 
 sir. But, at least, I ve got them for a while. 
 I ve made Bailiff have them driven up into 
 my barnyard, and there they shall stay till he 
 sends for them." 
 
 He was speaking to Bruce. 
 
 The reference to the pasture or the marsh, 
 or something brought up to Bruce the mem 
 ory of a summer evening long since ; of cow 
 bells tinkling faintly, and of drowsy sounds 
 broken by a child s voice. How long ago 
 it all appeared ! 
 
 "What ever became bf your queer old 
 neighbor across the river, whose fish I used 
 to catch, in defiance of the Decalogue ? " he 
 asked, looking up ; " is he dead ? " 
 
56 O^V NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 "Dead? No; that sort don t die. That 
 is he, now," said his father. "It is a pity 
 I did not let you catch his fish ; I d have got 
 at least that much compensation, for he has 
 been pasturing his old cows on my corn 
 ever since. He drives them over, sir, regu 
 larly." 
 
 " Oh ! now, my dear, you know he doesn t 
 do that," urged Mrs. Landon. 
 
 "Then they fly," said the major, dryly. 
 He pulled off his gloves. 
 
 " What a stir there used to be about it ! " 
 said Bruce, deep in reflection. "I wonder 
 you stand it, sir," he added, coming to the 
 present issue. " I d break it up. I d sue him. 
 I d do it at once." 
 
 " I m going to break it up. I ll take your 
 advice. I will give orders to my overseer to 
 have a warrant served at once," said his 
 father. " You are right. It will be tried next 
 Saturday, at Jones s Crossroads. You d better 
 go up ; I ll give you the case. You can flesh 
 your maiden sword. I d like to have you 
 there." 
 
 "No, I don t know that I will take the 
 case," said the young man, languidly ; " but 
 I may. I ll go up and see the fun, anyhow. 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 57 
 
 I should have supposed that old man was 
 dead. He appeared very feeble the only time 
 that I ever saw him." 
 
 " No, sir. Dead? Not he. He has com 
 promised with the devil to live here always, 
 and do his work for him, I believe." 
 
 "What an old wretch he must be!" said 
 Bruce, sympathetically. "What ever became 
 of his little granddaughter, whose head was 
 so full of nonsense ? Has she ever married? " 
 
 " No ; my neighbor, Sam Mills, tells me 
 that she is there still. I have never seen her. 
 She is cracked, too. Sam Mills says she has 
 a great reputation, or would have, except 
 that she keeps herself shut up at home all 
 the time. An excellent man, Mills," he 
 explained to his son. "I have a very high 
 esteem of him. An honest, upright man. 
 The fact is, sir, there never was a braver, 
 better people than our population, around 
 through this country. That fellow has all 
 the instincts of a gentleman. He is a philoso 
 pher. A remarkable man, sir. We agree on 
 every subject. Now, if we had him as magis 
 trate ! " 
 
 " She was a beautiful child. By Jove ! sir, 
 I believe I owe her my education," laughed 
 
58 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 Bruce, ignoring the tribute to his neighbor, 
 Mills. "I remember I swore to marry her, 
 or something, and you shipped me off next 
 day, post haste." 
 
 " I have never seen her ; but she is very 
 unpopular in the neighborhood ; at least, so 
 Mills tells me. It seems that she thinks her 
 self better than these other common people 
 around and will have nothing to do with 
 them." 
 
 " Oh, it is simply prejudice," said Mrs. 
 Landon. " The old man is very infirm, and 
 she stays at home to take care of him that s 
 all. People are so uncharitable." 
 
 " Why, she has not had to stay at home for 
 six or eight years on that account, I reckon ; 
 and I am not so well satisfied about his being 
 infirm. I am sure as to his moral infirmity ; 
 but his bodily health is good enough, and too 
 good for his neighbors security. If he had 
 been a gentleman, he d have let me have that 
 old place back. I offered to let him name his 
 own price. Why, I called on him once, sir, 
 and he never even " 
 
 u My dear," interrupted Mrs. Landon, "I 
 thought you had forgiven him." 
 
 u Forgiven him ! No ! I don t believe any 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 59 
 
 one forgives unless he forgets," sniffed the 
 major. 
 
 " Do they still keep themselves mewed up 
 in their fortress as they used to do? " inquired 
 Bruce, examining a line critically. 
 
 " Yes, sir ; he has never been off the place 
 since he came there, that I know of, except 
 at night, and his daughter, or granddaughter 
 whichever she is confines herself in the 
 same way. They stay at home and send the 
 cows around." 
 
 " Well, it is nobody s business except their 
 own," suggested Mrs. Landon. 
 
 "Nobody s business ! " exclaimed the major, 
 hotly. " Yes, it is, it s everybody s business 
 when a man behaves in that extraordinary 
 way; it s against the peace and dignity of 
 the commonwealth! If it wasn t for that 
 lying rascal, Pokeberry s saying so, I d be 
 lieve that the reports about him are true, and 
 that he is one of these Yankee abolitionists." 
 
 " Why, my dear, they say he is just as 
 kind and charitable as possible. When old 
 Mrs. Mills was sick, he used to go over there 
 every night and attend her, and he sent her 
 medicine; and when Mr. Hackett had his 
 house burnt " 
 
60 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 44 That may all be a part of his scheme. It 
 is a cheap price to pay for security, lie ought 
 to have been investigated and run out long 
 ago," asserted the major. 
 
 "I thought she d have married before this," 
 said Bruce, irrelevantly. "I wonder if his 
 granddaughter is pretty?" he added, address 
 ing the question generally. 
 
 " They say she is quite a beauty," said his 
 mother. 
 
 44 A beauty ! No. Who ever heard of one 
 of that class of people having beauty?" sniffed 
 the major. u They say that Pokeberry Green 
 is courting her." 
 
 Bruce laid his line down in his astonish 
 ment. 
 
 44 That creature ! Why, he used to be a 
 perfect young ruffian ! " 
 
 44 He is now," said his father; 44 a ruffian, 
 a drunkard, and a thief. But he is in love 
 with her, I understand, at least, there s some 
 story about them." 
 
 44 Oh, pshaw ! " said Mrs. Landon. " I did 
 hear that ; but it was contradicted. I heard 
 that he fancied himself in love with her, 
 and had even ventured to speak to her once 
 on the road ; but she was so indignant that 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 61 
 
 he slunk away. I think some one came 
 up." 
 
 "That s the reason she was indignant, I 
 reckon," said the major, dryly. 
 
 Mrs. Landon, with a woman s instinct to 
 defend her sex, repudiated the idea warmly. 
 
 Bruce was so astonished at the idea of 
 Pokeberry Green being the victim of the ten 
 der passion, that he led the conversation off 
 to him, and the major was soon engaged in 
 telling what a turbulent element in the neigh 
 borhood he had become. 
 
 " He is the greatest scoundrel unhung," he 
 declared in conclusion. "I am confident that 
 he is a professional thief, and that he fools 
 negroes into running away in order to get the 
 reward for them by catching them. Some 
 day he will be hung. If we had a magistrate 
 worth a button, we d have been rid of him 
 long ago. But what can you do with such a 
 fool as old Johnson ? Bray him in a mortar, 
 and he d still be a fool." 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE major informed Bruce next day that 
 he had acted on his advice and instituted the 
 suit. 
 
 He told Mrs. Landon in the strict confi 
 dence of their chamber that Bruce was the 
 wisest young man he ever knew. 
 
 " He reminds me veiy much of you," he 
 said naively. Mrs. Landon repaid the compli 
 ment by declaring with equal sincerity that 
 he was veiy much like him. 
 
 An afternoon or two after this, Bruce, wea 
 ried with talking over and advising about the 
 pending warrant which his father had insti 
 tuted against his neighbor for the damage in 
 flicted by his cows, had taken a fishing-rod 
 and sauntered down to the river. He tried 
 several well-remembered holes, but the fish 
 would not bite, and at length he found him 
 self wandering in a rather listless way up the 
 bank, uncertain whether to return home or 
 not. Just where a path went down to the 
 62 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 63 
 
 water s edge he discovered a boat tied to a 
 small gum-tree which hung over the bank, 
 and he determined to try the fishing on the 
 other side. 
 
 As he paddled across the pond he experi 
 enced something of the exhilaration of boy 
 hood. He dipped his hand down in the clear 
 water and let it ripple against his wrist, 
 thinking of the old days when he had so often 
 done the same thing. 
 
 On the other side he tied his boat and 
 climbed the bank to hunt for the old fishing- 
 hole where he had caught the fish that after 
 noon so many years ago. When he had 
 reached the spot he found that a tree had 
 fallen over the bank, and its branches lay in 
 the water, destroying all chance of sport at 
 that place. So he retraced his steps and 
 started up the pond through the woods. As 
 he proceeded he fell into the path which led 
 around the alder thickets by the old spring 
 at the foot of the poplar, and a sudden thirst 
 struck him to drink from the cool depths 
 which bubbled from under the great flat 
 rock. He followed the track, and reaching 
 the spring, flung his rod on the ground. A 
 gourd brown with age and use lay on the 
 
64 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 rock ; but under an impulse guided by remi 
 niscence he knelt down, and bending over, 
 drank from the spring itself. He remained 
 in that attitude for some minutes, looking 
 into the clear dark depths. He was drinking 
 at the spring of memory. 
 
 How long ago it all was ! 
 
 When he rose, he did not leave the spot ; 
 but sauntering to the great poplar, he flung 
 himself at its foot and gave himself up to 
 reverie. The sky overhead was blue and 
 fleeced with long white films of cloud, which 
 appeared quite stationary, and the dark green 
 poplar boughs above him were unstirred by 
 any breeze. The faint melody of a distant 
 cow-bell in the marsh below him brought 
 back his boyhood and filled him with drowsy 
 content. 
 
 He was aroused by hearing a light step 
 behind him, and he turned his head and 
 looked around just as the " calush " of a 
 bucket dipped into the water reached him. 
 
 A slender young woman, dressed in a plain 
 light calico dress spotlessly clean, was stoop 
 ing over the spring, holding her skirts back 
 with one hand, whilst with the other she 
 lifted the dripping bucket. Bruce could not 
 
ON NEWFOUND 1UVEE. 6e5 
 
 see her face ; but he knew she was young 
 from the pliant, supple figure, which the 
 dress fitted closely, the easy pose, the plump 
 arm, and the strong grasp of her hand on 
 the bucket as she lifted it. A large, coarse 
 straw hat was on her head ; but its plainness 
 was relieved by a loose twist of some white 
 lawny stuff around it, tied on one side in a 
 great bow-knot. She lifted the bucket, and 
 set it on the rock. As she did so, her hair, 
 suddenly loosened, slipped, and fell down on 
 her shoulders in a rich crinkling mass. She 
 removed her hat, and began to coil her hair. 
 The curves and lines of her figure were 
 clearly marked, from the small well-poised 
 head, round neck, and fine shoulders to the 
 delicate ankle. She was as straight as an 
 arrow. Bruce thought instinctively of a 
 Diana he had once seen. He rose to his 
 feet and leaned against the poplar. The 
 slight noise he made caught her ear, and 
 she turned quickly, raising her head. At 
 the sight of a stranger so close to her, the 
 rich color fled from her cheeks, leaving them 
 a sudden white, and the large, dark eyes 
 widened with startled surprise. Bruce rec 
 ognized immediately the oval face, framed 
 
66 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 in loose masses of dim gold; but he saw 
 that she did not know him. 
 
 Instinctively he took off his hat, and ad 
 vanced with a smile, thinking, " By Jove ! 
 how pretty she is ! " 
 
 " How do you do ? " he said. 
 
 She drew herself up for a second, at being 
 approached by a stranger. Then a look, at 
 first of bewilderment, and presently of pleased 
 recognition, came over her face. It was, 
 however, not unmixed with embarrassment; 
 for she blushed, and made a hasty little up 
 ward movement of her hand, as if to arrange 
 her collar. 
 
 " Don t you know me ? " he said. 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " I have come back." 
 
 He had the old engagement in his mind. 
 He meant the speech to put them on the old 
 friendly footing, for he felt that it was a 
 kindness to her ; and perhaps both his look 
 and voice showed it. 
 
 " You are several years behind your time," 
 she said calmly. 
 
 " Yes, I am ; but it was not my fault ; they 
 sent me off to school." 
 
 He felt, as soon as he had given an excuse, 
 
ON NEWFOUND EIVER. 67 
 
 that he had made a mistake, and had lowered 
 himself in her eyes. 
 
 She bowed with so slight an inclination 
 that he almost hoped she had not heard him. 
 
 " You have been at school some time ? " 
 
 It may have been the faintest suggestion 
 of sarcasm in her tone ; it may have been the 
 slight curve in her red lip ; or it may have 
 been Bruce s fancy ; but he felt himself flush. 
 
 "I have never been home for any length 
 of time," he said. 
 
 She looked at him quietly. 
 
 " At least, in the fishing season, I mean ; 
 and this is the first time since that afternoon 
 when you were a little girl, and came 
 hunting for your prince." He added the 
 last clause tentatively. 
 
 " I have grown wiser since then," she said 
 quietly. 
 
 " A sadder and a wiser woman ? " he sug 
 gested. 
 
 "No, not sadder, only wiser. Only men 
 are sad at gaining wisdom. It brings women 
 peace." 
 
 " Have you never found the prince ? " 
 
 " I have never sought for him. He does 
 not exist." 
 
68 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 Bruce felt somehow a vague regret. He 
 had hoped she would think of him as she used 
 to do; though he also hoped she did not 
 divine his thoughts. He wondered at his em 
 barrassment. He was accustomed to women, 
 especially young women ; and he was accus 
 tomed to have them appreciate any attention 
 he might pay them. He felt that this girl, 
 in her plain dress and her coarse straw hat, 
 was inferior to the women he was accustomed 
 to, and to himself. It was, therefore, a strange 
 sensation to find himself wondering what she 
 thought of him, and hoping that the result 
 was in his favor. 
 
 " Do you know you are very pretty ? " he 
 said suddenly, breaking the ice, and throwing 
 a look of admiration into his eyes as he moved 
 a step nearer to her. He intended to catch 
 hold of her hand, and, perhaps, on the least 
 encouragement, to kiss her. lie had often 
 tried the same tactics with eminent success. 
 He held that every woman would be pleased 
 to accept the incense. 
 
 She drew herself up slightly, but sufficiently 
 to stop him. 
 
 " Do you know it is a liberty to take to say 
 that to a woman unless you know her well ? " 
 
ON NEWFOUND E1VEE. 69 
 
 Her eyes flashed, and her lips were com 
 pressed with sudden resentment. 
 
 Bruce was taken quite aback. 
 
 "Confound it!" he thought; "I wonder if 
 she really resents it. She cannot. It is not 
 human." 
 
 "It is not usually considered a deadly 
 insult," he said, with an attempt at a smile, 
 trying to cover his retreat, but feeling very 
 silly. 
 
 " I suppose not to the women to whom you 
 are accustomed to saying it." 
 
 It put him on the defensive. 
 
 "No; I don t have the provocation often. 
 I am accustomed to saying what I please, and 
 to doing what I please," he added, after a 
 second s pause, looking her full in the eyes. 
 
 The girl drew herself up, and gave him a 
 look of defiance. 
 
 " I have to go," she said quietly, leaning 
 over and taking up her hat. 
 
 "Mayn t I go with you?" asked Bruce, 
 willing to make amend. " Let me carry your 
 bucket." 
 
 " No, thank you. Good evening." 
 
 She leaned over and picked up her bucket, 
 and without deigning another glance walked 
 
70 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 slowly up the hill, her pliant figure swaying a 
 little to one side under the weight of the 
 bucket. 
 
 Bruce, leaning against the poplar, watched 
 her until she was out of sight, and then going 
 to his boat, crossed the pond, and went home. 
 As he walked up the path he had a perplexed, 
 absent air, as of a man who had sustained a 
 loss, but who could not tell just what. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 BRUCE took to fishing industriously after 
 this; and whether it was that the fish would 
 not bite on his own side of the pond, or what 
 ever the cause, he availed himself fully of 
 the permission given so long ago by the old 
 doctor, and every afternoon found him loung 
 ing, rod in hand, up the bank, or as fre 
 quently lying on the ground by the spring 
 on the doctor s side of the water. 
 
 It was remarkable how often he became 
 thirsty, and how long a distance he would 
 walk to drink at the spring that bubbled from 
 under the rock. Sometimes he spent the 
 whole afternoon lounging in the shade of the 
 great poplar. He, however, was not fortunate 
 enough to meet Miss Reid again. 
 
 One afternoon he had been up to the spring 
 as usual, and had spent some time there enjoy 
 ing the quiet which was broken only by the 
 crackling of leaves, the occasional note of a 
 bird, and the sound of two cow-bells far up 
 
 71 
 
72 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 the pond. The bells had grown fainter and 
 fainter, and had finally ceased. He had saun 
 tered up the stream in the opposite direction 
 to that he usually took. He had with some 
 difficulty crossed a small creek which ran into 
 the pond, and was making his way along a 
 little path, through the thick growth of pines, 
 gums, alders, and other bushes, when he was 
 almost startled to meet in the narrow cow- 
 track an old negro woman. She was tall and 
 thin, and exceedingly black; and her short, 
 gray hair peeped out from under the pointed 
 white handkerchief bound around the top of 
 her head. 
 
 Bruce recognized instantly the old woman 
 with whom he had had the interview years 
 ago on the occasion when he had carried the 
 fish back to Dr. Browne. She had evidently 
 been walking rapidly, for her face was stream 
 ing with perspiration. She was startled at 
 meeting a stranger there in the woods ; but 
 Bruce greeted her kindly, which seemed to 
 set her at her case. 
 
 " You sarvent, marster," she said, stepping 
 out of the path, and courtesying with a quaint 
 little bend at the knees. 
 
 Bruce spoke to her kindly. 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 73 
 
 "You ain see nuthin o no cows down 
 dat away, is you, marster?" she asked doubt 
 fully. 
 
 "No, I have not," said Bruce. "I heard 
 the cow-bells over that way somewhere, a 
 half-hour or more ago." He indicated the 
 direction in which he was going. "Have 
 your cows bells on?" 
 
 "Yes, suh; bofe on em," she said. "I 
 done been up dat away, an ain see nuthin 
 on em. I mightly feared dee done gone crost 
 de pawn an git in Mr. Landon s corn agin ; 
 but I ain see whar dee cross nowhar, up 
 dere." She stood still in evident perplexity. 
 
 "How do they get across?" asked Bruce. 
 
 " I clar , marster, I don know. They s jes 
 natchel rovers ; they git whar bud can t fly." 
 
 " Why do you let them run down here ? " 
 inquired Bruce. "Why do you not keep 
 them up ? " 
 
 " Well, to tell you de truf, marster," said 
 the old woman, simply, " we ain got nuthin 
 to feed em on. We bleeged to le em run 
 down heah. Dee s all de pendence we got. 
 You see, ole marster, he s so ailin now he 
 cyarn git bout to do nuthin ; an Folium 
 he s my ole man, he so cruppled up wid 
 
74 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 rheumatis, he cyarn hardly do nuthin , an 
 all he kin do is to wait on ole marster, an 
 help liim de little bit he s able to do, an to 
 fish. Sometimes he ketch some right smart." 
 She said this almost pathetically. "An de 
 cows an de chickens is we main dependence." 
 
 Bruce put his hand into his pocket and 
 made a mental estimate of the amount of 
 change he found there. 
 
 " We didn t use to have much trouble wid 
 em," she went on, "so long as dee had plenty 
 o grass on dis side ; but now dee done fine de 
 way cross we have to watch em study all de 
 time. We do right well as long as my young 
 mistis or I one kin watch em ; but ef we teck 
 our eye off em now, dee gone." 
 
 Bruce was all attention now, and the old 
 woman, with feminine instinct recognizing 
 his sympathy, was glad to relieve her troubles 
 by imparting them to another. 
 
 " Dee got way de other day when ole 
 marster was so po ly, and got into Mr. Lan- 
 don s corn over yonder, right over cross de 
 pawn," she pointed, "an he meek de over 
 seer drive em up, an put em in he lot. I 
 had to go over dere after em. He overseer 
 didn t warn le me have em at fust. Teensey 
 
ON NEWFOUND EIVER. 75 
 
 she went back right smart, an Princess she 
 gone back a heap, from not being milked 
 reg lar, you know," she explained. 
 
 Bruce nodded. 
 
 " But I so glad to fine em an git em back 
 agin, I ain mine nuthin . At fust, I begin to 
 think I ain gwine git em no mo de way 
 dat man talk ; but I promise him faithful I 
 wouldn t le em git in de corn no mo , an 
 den he le me bring em long, an he suin ole 
 marster bout de corn. De man come heah 
 one day las week an gi him de paper." 
 
 She turned, preparatory to continuing her 
 search. 
 
 " Wait a minute," said Bruce. He paused 
 irresolutely. " How do you live ? " he asked 
 abruptly. 
 
 " Well, we got some chickens, an we sell 
 de aigs an de butter," she explained, "an 
 sometimes we ketch some fish." 
 
 " Here, let me give you something," said 
 Bruce. He raked up all the change in his 
 pocket, and handed it to her, half shame 
 facedly. 
 
 Her thanks were mute astonishment. She 
 looked first at him, and then at her hand, full 
 of the silver he had given her, and which she 
 
76 ON NEWFOUND E1VER. 
 
 held out half-way to him, as if not certain 
 that he had not made a mistake. 
 
 " Come on ; I will help yon find your cows," 
 he said. " You go that Avay, and I will go 
 this," and he plunged ahead through the 
 bushes. 
 
 He found in the search a new pleasure. It 
 brought back the zest of his boyhood ; and 
 he went in and out along the edge of the 
 pond, examining carefully every place where 
 the cows could have gone down to the water. 
 At last he came on their tracks, and follow 
 ing them, found that the cows had gone up 
 around the pond, and had crossed over near 
 its head, where the water was shallow. A 
 less keen eye might have missed the trail. 
 The difficulty of getting over was considera 
 ble ; but a faint jangle of bells reached him 
 from the other bank. The cows were evi 
 dently in the cornfield, on the opposite side. 
 
 As Bruce had pledged himself, there was 
 no help for it; so, after going up a little 
 higher, he was able to get across, though not 
 without difficulty. The cows were found; 
 and after an exciting chase through the corn, 
 in which a great deal of grain was trampled 
 down, Bruce got them to the point where 
 
ON NEWFOUND EIVEE. 77 
 
 they had crossed, and drove them back. He 
 was walking carefully on the hummocks, and 
 was nearly over, when his foot slipped, and 
 he went down into the water to his waist. 
 He gave expression to an objurgation at the 
 cows, and climbed out, dripping. Just then, 
 looking up, right before him on the bank 
 stood the young girl he had met before. A 
 distressed expression was on her face. 
 
 "How do you do?" said Bruce, feeling 
 that he must cut a sorry figure. 
 
 " Did they get into your corn again ? " she 
 asked. " I am so dreadfully sorry. We will 
 keep them up hereafter." 
 
 "No, you will not," said Bruce, almost 
 roughly. 
 
 She misinterpreted his reply. " Indeed, I 
 will ; it was an entire accident that they got 
 away to-day. My grandfather was sick, and 
 I just " 
 
 "I don t care anything about that," said 
 Bruce. 
 
 She misunderstood him ; but he proceeded. 
 
 "I promised your old woman to find her 
 cows for her, and as they set the fashion of 
 wading, I had to follow it." 
 
 She said " Thank you " so cordially, and 
 
78 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 added, " I m so afraid that you will catch 
 cold," so solicitously, that Bruce forgot his 
 unpresentable appearance, and said : 
 
 "I don t mind it the least bit. When I 
 was a boy I used to know every foot of the 
 pond, and I have hunted often, wet to the 
 skin, almost for days at a time." He was 
 after gaining time. To have her leave him 
 suddenly looked like putting out the sun. 
 To gain a respite he would promptly have 
 changed his tone, and have avowed himself 
 ready to die with cold. She started up the 
 path, and allowed him, without anything be 
 ing said about it, to walk with her down 
 the pond, taking the easy pace at which the 
 two cows lazily sauntered homewards along 
 the narrow path, one behind the other, stop 
 ping now and then to browse the grass or 
 young bushes beside the way. 
 
 Before the walk was over, they were on 
 terms of confidence. Bruce had forgotten the 
 difference in their stations. She told him of 
 her fondness for the woods, and of how, as a 
 girl, she used to know every path in the 
 pines, and every nook on the pond. 
 
 " I used to like to fish," she said ; " but I 
 don t love my frogs, and I cannot handle 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 79 
 
 them as if I did. I cannot bear to see the 
 poor fish struggling and gasping for breath. 
 Besides that, there is a dreadful man who 
 comes down here sometimes and frightens 
 me. He seems to haunt the place," she ex 
 plained. She had met him once or twice. 
 He had once stopped her, and attempted 
 to detain her in conversation. She described 
 him : " He has a great purplish mark across 
 his throat, and looks brutal and dangerous. 
 He always carries a gun." 
 
 Bruce had no difficulty in recognizing 
 Pokeberry. As she lifted her eyes with the 
 timid expression in them, born of the recol 
 lection of the interview, he was filled with a 
 sudden desire to throttle the brute who dared 
 to frighten her. 
 
 Nothing arouses a man s tenderness so 
 surely as a woman s exhibiting fear, and yet 
 silently confiding in his protection. 
 
 "I will see that you are not molested 
 further," said Bruce, quietly. 
 
 " Oh you must not say anything to him. 
 Please don t," she said quickly, stopping and 
 making an earnest little gesture of entreaty 
 towards him. " He always carries a gun, 
 and I m so afraid he would shoot you." She 
 
80 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 looked at him with anxious, uplifted, large 
 eyes. 
 
 " I will take care that he doesn t do that," 
 said Bruce. 
 
 "I admire courage more than anything in 
 the world," she said naively. "I suppose it 
 is because I am so afraid of everything my 
 self. I remember I used as a child to make 
 myself perform things that I was afraid of, 
 just to have the sense of overcoming my 
 fear." 
 
 Bruce, with a look of admiration in his 
 eyes, asked what sort of things she referred 
 to. 
 
 44 Why, I remember once making myself 
 go to the old graveyard in the dark. I was 
 dreadfully afraid of the dark. I was in a 
 terrible fright. Ugh!" She gave a little 
 shiver at the recollection. " The grape-vines 
 hanging down from the old trees were in the 
 dark all like snakes. They just crawled, and 
 made a noise. Of course it was only the 
 leaves rustling, but I was such a coward I 
 nearly fainted. It was so creepy." 
 
 Bruce had a look in his eyes which showed 
 what he thought of such cowardice. He for 
 the first time noted the lirm lines about her 
 
02V NEWFOUND ElVER. 81 
 
 mouth and chin. Somehow, they reminded 
 him of his father. He said to her : 
 
 " Did you ever hear of Marshal Turenne 
 saying of his knees, which were trembling 
 as he mounted his horse to command in 
 a great battle, that if they knew where 
 he was going to take them that day they 
 would shake more than they were shaking 
 then?" 
 
 "Oh! it was not courage in me," she 
 smiled ; " it was nothing but pride. I was 
 always proud enough ; in fact, it is one of my 
 deadly sins, at least, so grandpapa always 
 says. Mammy used to call it obstinacy. I 
 remember once, as a child, actually starving 
 myself as a practice, because Katherine was 
 starved into submission by Petruchio. I 
 wanted to be able, by practice, to meet my 
 Petruchio when he should come. Wasn t 
 it silly ? I kept it up till I got really sick. 
 Then grandpapa gave me some dreadful stuff 
 to take. That cured me. No Petruchio ever 
 came ; but had he done so, he would not have 
 conquered me by starvation. Grandpapa says 
 I got it from him. But his pride is noble. I 
 have seen him endure torture without a groan. 
 You do not know how brave he is. He is 
 
82 O^Y NEWFOUND H1VER. 
 
 almost blind, and will soon be quite so ; yet 
 he never says a word of it." 
 
 There was a look of softness in her face as 
 she spoke of her grandfather, which, follow 
 ing the expression of determination that it 
 had borne just before, made her more beauti 
 ful than ever. Bruce Landon looked at her 
 with new interest. He had never met any 
 one just like this until now. He had never 
 taken in her full beauty before. He was 
 conscious that he had suddenly grown bash 
 ful. He hardly dared to touch her hand as 
 he helped her over a fallen tree across the 
 path. Her warm touch thrilled him as her 
 hand lay in his. He had never noticed before 
 what a delicate shapely hand she had ; the 
 fingers long and tapering, the wrist so small, 
 the skin so fine. He was overcome with a 
 sudden sense of her beauty ; her pliant figure, 
 her white throat, the curves of her cheek and 
 chin, the delicate, rich mouth, the white 
 teeth, -the fine nose, the changing color, the 
 large, lustrous, sweet eyes, they entranced 
 him, made his heart beat. 
 
 "You must go back now," she said gently, 
 as they neared the top of the hill. " I have 
 to make a cup of tea for my grandfather. 1 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 83 
 
 have no doubt he has. been expecting me for 
 a half-hour." 
 
 " Cannot I go with you ? " Bruce found 
 courage to ask. " I should like very much 
 to meet him. I did once, as a boy." 
 
 " No ; he never sees visitors," she said sim 
 ply, with a little smile. " He is a great in 
 valid. Good by." She held out her hand. 
 
 He took it and pressed it. 
 
 Good by." 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 MARGARET passed quite through the pines, 
 and reached the opening beyond which was 
 what was once the yard, but was now simply 
 a tangle of bushes and briars. Instead of 
 going on to the house, she passed along the 
 path to an outhouse on the side of the yard, 
 and went in. A moment later she came out, 
 and going over to a little wood-pile, began to 
 pick up some chips. 
 
 It was perhaps a quarter of an hour after 
 wards that she left the old kitchen, and 
 passed along to the house with a waiter 
 covered with a napkin, on which were an 
 old-fashioned teapot and cream-jug, and a 
 cup and saucer of old blue china. 
 
 As she entered the house, a high, queru 
 lous voice sounded from an inner room, 
 
 "Margaret! Margaret! Margaret!" 
 
 " Yes, grandpapa, I m coming," she called, 
 quickening her step, and opening a door on 
 the left of the long passage. 
 84 
 
ON NEWFOUND EIVEE. 85 
 
 The room she entered was furnished as a 
 bedroom. The few articles of furniture, 
 though old and worn, were of handsomer 
 workmanship than anything about the place 
 would have prepared one to expect. A high 
 and old, massive carved mahogany bedstead, 
 with tall tester reaching up to the top of the 
 low-pitched room, took up half of one side of 
 the apartment ; and the two or three straight- 
 backed chairs and the legs of the round table 
 were carved with an elaborateness which told 
 of a former age. 
 
 By the open window, propped up with pil 
 lows, in an armchair sat an old man, whose 
 black, deep-set eyes, gleaming from beneath 
 his shaggy white brows, gave the only sug 
 gestion of color in his pallid face. The thin 
 sharp face, the keen aquiline nose, the stern 
 pose of the white head, and the restless deep 
 eyes gave the invalid a resemblance to an old 
 gray eagle, which was not diminished by the 
 long, thin hands, which, as Margaret entered, 
 clutched the arms of his chair nervously, as 
 he faced the door. 
 
 "Well, where have you been?" he de 
 manded, as the girl entered the room. "Here 
 I have been shouting myself hoarse for two 
 hours." 
 
86 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 His granddaughter, before she answered, 
 crossed the room, and placed the waiter on 
 the small table. Then she approached the 
 invalid, and proceeded deftly to arrange his 
 pillows. There was a little flush on her face 
 as she met the keen eyes. 
 
 " Where have I been ? " she smiled, as she 
 smoothed the creases and patted the white 
 napkin. "Well, I have been rubbing my 
 lamp, and demanding a spring that bubbles 
 up hot tea, and I have been getting a pitcher 
 of cream from the cow that jumped over the 
 moon, and all for the most spoilt baby that 
 ever cried 4 two hours on a stretch, and 
 here they are." 
 
 She stooped over, and kissed the old man 
 tenderly on the forehead. As she turned 
 away to bring the table closer, the expression 
 on the invalid s face changed, and the hawk 
 eyes followed her with a new tenderness. 
 
 " Ah yes, you are a dear little fairy," he 
 said, " and I am an old tyrant." 
 
 " Oh no ! you are not ; you shall not say 
 such things of yourself. You are my dear 
 old grandpapa." She kissed him again. 
 
 " I am the worst enemy you ever had on 
 earth," said the old man, bitterly. 
 
ON NEWFOUND EIVEE. 87 
 
 " You are nothing of the kind, and you are 
 not to talk that way. It always excites and 
 fatigues you, and you must stop it. You 
 know that you promised me never to speak 
 that way. Here, your tea is getting cold. 
 No ; you must drink it at once." 
 
 She held the cup to him with a pretty 
 authority, and the old man accepted it. 
 
 Bruce walked home like a man in a trance. 
 He was divided between his recollection of 
 Margaret Reid and his determination to 
 persuade his father to dismiss his warrant. 
 When, however, he reached the house, he 
 found his father seated on the porch, in a state 
 of high indignation. He was indulging in a 
 philippic against his neighbor across the river. 
 
 " Why, sir," he said, taking Bruce into his 
 audience in the middle of a sentence ; " why, 
 sir, he has turned his cows into my cornfield 
 again ! Right on the eve of the warrant ! 
 He s simply flouting me ! " 
 
 Bruce declared that it was impossible. 
 
 " Impossible ! I tell you that it is so. I 
 heard the cow-bells myself down there in my 
 field ; and when my overseer went down there, 
 he found where they had been chasing around, 
 trampling down my best corn. He saw the 
 
88 O.V NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 track of the man that was with them. I believe 
 he comes over and cuts the corn regularly." 
 
 "Well, the man was driving them out," 
 said Bruce. 
 
 "No such thing. Bailiff says he saw where 
 he came up from the water." 
 
 "Well, I know he was," asserted Bruce; 
 " for I drove them out myself." 
 
 " Ah, you were acting as cowherd for old 
 Browne ? or perhaps it was his daughter ? " 
 said his father, with that dry, acrid tone 
 which burned like a hot iron. 
 
 The young man winced. He set his teeth 
 hard together. 
 
 " I hope that you will pasture them some 
 where else hereafter except in my best corn," 
 said his father. 
 
 " I am not his cowherd," said Bruce ; " but 
 perhaps if you would keep up your fences, 
 you would not have to lay the blame on your 
 neighbors." 
 
 " You had better appear at the trial, and air 
 your views there. They may be deemed of 
 more value by the magistrate than I consider 
 them. He is a fool. If he hadn t been, I d have 
 brought the warrant years ago." 
 
 It was the old gentleman s manner, not his 
 words, which cut. 
 
ON NEWFOUND EIVEE. 89 
 
 Bruce remembered his own advice to him 
 to bring the warrant. 
 
 " I shall not go to the trial at all," he said. 
 
 " Ah ! you will not ? You will do me the 
 favor to remain neutral ? Thank you." 
 
 The major s fine nose looked even thinner 
 than ever, and the nostrils dilated. 
 
 Bruce had never been so patient before. He 
 thought of the picture the old negro woman 
 had drawn of their poverty, and it brought 
 him self-control. 
 
 "They are very poor he began, and 
 paused. "If you knew how poor they are, 
 you would not be so hard on them," he broke 
 out suddenly. 
 
 The major never intended to be hard on 
 any one ; but he was thoroughly angry now, 
 and was blind to everything. 
 
 " You have been investigating the matter, 
 and sitting in judgment on me ? You had bet 
 ter go and ask Johnson to let you try the case. 
 He usually makes up his mind before he hears 
 any evidence, and you would be a very good 
 associate for him. I don t know how poor your 
 prote*g is ; but he ought to be rich, as he has 
 been fattening his cattle in my corn so long." 
 
 He rose and marched into the house. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE warrant brought by the major against 
 the old "doctor " was the absorbing topic on 
 Newfound. Other men had brought warrants. 
 Indeed, Squire Johnson sat monthly on the 
 fourth Saturday in every month, at Jones s 
 Crossroads, and dispensed justice among the 
 neighbors, at an average of one dollar a case. 
 But the major had never gone to law before. 
 He had always boasted that he had never had 
 a suit in his life. His neighbor s cows had 
 been running on him for years, and he had 
 contented himself with growling about it, or, 
 when he was particularly exasperated, with 
 threatening to sue for damages. He had 
 never carried the threat into execution : some 
 said, only because Squire Johnson was magis 
 trate, whilst others ascribed it to a better 
 motive. 
 
 At any rate, now, after a long waiting, the 
 major, who had for twenty years scouted the 
 justice, and ridiculed with his biting speeches 
 90 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 91 
 
 the pitiful dissensions of his neighbors, had 
 broken his boasted record and had gone to 
 law himself. 
 
 " Yes ; I m a fool, too," he admitted caus 
 tically to one of his friends who rallied him 
 on his taking the step of an appeal to law 
 after having so often inveighed against it. 
 " Yes ; I m a fool like the rest. But if I re 
 main so different from my neighbors, they all 
 impose on me and eat me up." 
 
 On the morning of the trial Bruce Lan- 
 don and his father met at breakfast. The 
 major s face was unusually grim, and the look 
 in his deep-set eyes, and the expression on 
 his thin, clean-shaven lip, were not auspicious 
 of peace. He was evidently girded up for 
 battle. Bruce also was prepared for what 
 ever might happen. His morning greeting, 
 as he entered the long breakfast-roon^, was 
 suspiciously polite ; but his face was set with 
 a look of defiance, and everv movement was 
 a declaration of resistance. The meal, how 
 ever, passed off without an outbreak ; indeed, 
 almost in silence. The major, having finished, 
 rose and marched out of the room, shutting 
 the door behind him with a slam. He might 
 have been heard walking backwards and for- 
 
92 ON NEWFOUND E1VEE. 
 
 wards with a sharp, quick step from one room 
 to another, as he made his preparations to set 
 out, and when he left the house his tread 
 was that of a grenadier. He carried in one 
 hand a heavy riding-whip, and in the other 
 an old law-hook which he had heen studying 
 assiduously for several days, and which had 
 the leaves turned down in many places. At 
 the rack he gave the volume to a negro boy, 
 and calling to another to tell Mr. Bailiff he 
 had gone, he mounted his horse and rode away. 
 
 Bruce spent the morning in lounging list 
 lessly about the house. He tried reading, 
 writing, and several other things ; but his 
 favorite authors palled on him, and his pen 
 refused to finish the sentence he begun. He 
 saw nothing but Margaret Reid, heard noth 
 ing but her voice. At last, about midday, 
 he took his fishing-tackle and strolled down 
 towards the pond. 
 
 The little yard at Jones s Crossroads was 
 quite full an hour before the time set for the 
 hearing. The neighborhood had turned out, 
 and the little store did a thriving business in 
 calico, nails, and whiskey. 
 
 The first person to arrive connected with 
 the case was Hall the constable. He was 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 93 
 
 watched with great interest as he tied his 
 horse to the fence, and took off with exag 
 gerated deliberation his saddle-bags. They 
 were known to contain his official papers, 
 and were watched with expectation approach 
 ing to awe by the crowd in the little yard 
 across the road. They insensibly lowered 
 their voices, and gazed at the officer as if 
 they expected some kind of animal to jump 
 out of his leather pockets. He entered the 
 little yard, greeting every one he met with 
 that exaggerated cordiality and condescension 
 which usually appertains to public office. A 
 group immediately surrounded him, to whom 
 he began to tell of his visit to Dr. Browne s. 
 
 "I was just about to pin the summons on 
 the do and come away," he said, u when 
 roun the house there came the pretties 
 young lady that my eyes ever see, or ever 
 expec to see." He took out a bundle of 
 papers, and resting his finger on it, contin 
 ued : " I have done made the return on thar 
 that I explained the nature of the summons 
 to her, and that she was over sixteen; but 
 the fact is I didn t do much explainment, 
 and the Lord knows I don t know whether 
 she s sixteen or not. I know I d ruther fling 
 
94 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 up the orfis than a axed her. But I jes 
 lowed she couldn a growed all that pretty 
 in less than sixteen years, that s all. Don t 
 you think I am right, Sam?" 
 
 As Hall was a widower of some months 
 standing, this reasoning struck his audience 
 as irresistible. 
 
 " Talk about Pokeberry? why, she wouldn 
 look at him cept to kick him out of her way," 
 he said, as a stout, heavy man approached the 
 group. His face was a deeper red than that 
 of even the sunburned men about him. His 
 eyes were bloodshot, and his gait was slightly 
 unsteady. He caught the closing part of the 
 constable s speech, and gave a harsh, grating 
 laugh, which he followed with a storm of 
 oaths. One of the little hounds at his heel 
 was so unfortunate as to get in his way ; he 
 gave the beast a savage kick which sent it 
 off yelping with pain. 
 
 "Pokeberry, you agree with me, I know?" 
 said the constable ; at which sally there was a 
 general laugh. A violent outburst of oaths 
 was his answer. 
 
 " All I want to do is to git my chance at 
 em. I never missed gittin even yet, when I 
 laid my mind to it." 
 
ON NEWFOUND EIVEE. 95 
 
 " Sometimes you gits rather ahead of em, 
 I expect," said Hall. 
 
 "I b lieve the major bring that warrant 
 more to git a sight at them folks 11 anything 
 else," declared one of the party, meaning to 
 change the subject. " He ain keering nothin 
 about the little cawn them cows eat." 
 
 " He s another one I ll git even with," 
 growled Pokeberry, steadying himself against 
 a tree. 
 
 " Whyn t you say that to him ? " asked 
 Hall. A guffaw greeted the thrust, and Poke- 
 berry turned scowling away. 
 
 " What s a little cawn to a man who s got 
 them flats?" pursued the first speaker, not 
 heeding the interruption. "If I had them 
 cawnfiel s, I d want cows to git in thar some 
 times, jes to let me see that I didii feel it." 
 
 " He ain keerin bout the cawn so much as 
 bout the old doctor lettiii his cows keep on 
 gittin on him," explained the constable, in 
 the authoritative tone of one who, holding a 
 public office, is presumed to know whatever 
 is necessary on every subject. 
 
 "That s so," chimed in a tall, thin, con 
 sumptive-looking man with a red beard, whose 
 name was Hackett. " He don want cows nor 
 
96 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 nothin else runnin over him, an he ain gwine 
 have it." 
 
 "No, that he ain ," asserted Mills. "And 
 he jes as live have things runnin over him 
 as over that Ian . He thinks as much o that 
 Ian o hisn as if it was a gold mine. They 
 ain a acre on the place he don think much 
 of as if it was pu low ground. He s always 
 talking bout it, an spendin money on it. 
 Why, he s spent money enough on that place 
 to buy three plantations. He s takin keer of 
 it for Bruce." The tone was dry. He was 
 stating the fact with the air of a man who 
 did not suppose any one would question it. 
 
 " I wonder what he d a done if his brother 
 had a lived to divide the place with him ? " 
 said one of the crowd. "I b lieve twould kill 
 him to give up a acre of that land." 
 
 " I b lieve twould," assented Mills. " He s 
 always talkin about keepin it in trust for 
 Bruce." 
 
 " Bruce is come home, I ve heerd, and th 
 say he s mighty fine and assumptions," one of 
 the others remarked. 
 
 " He s a mighty nice boy," said Mills. " In 
 course, he s kind o curried up, but he don 
 put on no airs. He s all right." 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 97 
 
 Pokeberry had returned to the group. 
 
 "D n him, too! He s another one," he 
 said. 
 
 " Why, you seem to be after them all to 
 day," laughed Hall. 
 
 " I m after him" said Pokeberry, angrily. 
 
 " You better keep some distance after him, 
 too," said Mills. " You remember that hand 
 spike he hit you with when he wasn t nothin 
 but a boy ? Well, if he hits you now, you ll 
 think a mule s kicked you." 
 
 Pokeberry swore inarticulately. 
 
 " I wonder if he an the old major sets 
 horses any better than they used to ? " Hall 
 asked generally. 
 
 " Oh yes ! the major thinks all the worl 
 of him," replied Mills. " He s talkin about 
 puttin him in charge, and turnin over 
 ev y thing right to him. They say he s goin 
 to marry a furreign lady, mighty fine an 
 rich. I didn t hear the major say so," he 
 explained. 
 
 " I heard that Bruce was gwine to manage 
 the case for his pa to-day?" said Hall. The 
 faint interrogation in his tone justified Mills 
 in giving evidence of his acquaintance with 
 the affairs of his friend. 
 
98 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 " He is," he said, nodding his head senten- 
 tiously. " He made him bring it." 
 
 The arrival of the magistrate, who was to 
 try the case, turned the discussion into a new 
 channel. It was Squire Johnson. The group 
 watched the old man intently as he came 
 around to the gate with his book " Mayo s 
 Guide " under his arm. 
 
 " He s got his chance now about which he 
 was talkin eight or ten years ago, that evenin 
 you and me was here devilin him," said Mills 
 in an undertone to Hall. 
 
 The constable s mouth was full of tobacco. 
 He waited a moment, then turned the quid 
 in his mouth. 
 
 The old man bustled about with amusing 
 self-importance, arranging his table under a 
 tree, and laying out his book and papers ; but 
 no one paid any attention to him, for the in 
 terest of the crowd was suddenly centred on 
 a small black negro, who at this moment was 
 coming up the sandy road at a slow, limping 
 gait. He was not above five feet tall, and he 
 wore a beaver hat of a style long obsolete, 
 set on the back of his gray head. As he 
 reached the outskirts of the crowd he paused, 
 and took off his hat deferentially. 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 99 
 
 " Sarvent, marsters," he said, with a low, 
 sweeping salaam to the crowd. The gesture 
 had an apparent effect ; for a dozen men near 
 him returned the greeting, and the general 
 manner towards him was one of kindness. 
 
 " Gent men, ken you have the civility to 
 show me which are the jestice?" he inquired 
 with a Chesterfieldian air. 
 
 This inquiry immediately directed attention 
 to that functionary, who came through the 
 opening which the crowd instinctively made. 
 
 The old negro advanced. 
 
 " Jestice," he said, by way of salutation, 
 with another of his profound bows to the 
 portly magistrate ; and then, after some 
 search, took a letter from the lining of his 
 old hat. He advanced a step. 
 
 "My marster have direct me to renounce 
 that he have the honor to present you a 
 letter." 
 
 He advanced and delivered the missive to 
 the magistrate, whose assumed dignity in the 
 presence of the perfectly natural and real 
 dignity of the little negro sank at once to 
 the point of a manifest counterfeit. 
 
 The pause in which the squire with awk 
 ward fingers was handling the note, was 
 
100 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 broken by some one inquiring of the negro 
 as to the health of his master. 
 
 "I thank you, marster, not so very well. 
 He s most in general uncommon indisposed. 
 He find it impossible to repear himself on 
 this recasion. An he reques me to meek 
 his ixcuses to you gent men on that recount." 
 
 This excessive mark of his master s esteem 
 was accepted by the crowd with due dignity. 
 The magistrate had by this time opened the 
 letter which was written in a fine clear hand, 
 and read its contents. 
 
 They ran as follows : 
 
 " To JOHNSON, Esq., Justice of the Peace: 
 
 " SIR : I have no defence to the action instituted 
 against me by Charles Landon, of Landon Hall, Esq., 
 for trespass, and I plead guilty thereto, always saving 
 any criminal intention in the same. 
 
 " I have instructed my servant to satisfy whatever 
 judgment you may see fit to enter against me, and 
 should it exceed the amount he has at present, I re 
 quest that no additional costs may be added other 
 than are necessary, as I will meet whatever balance 
 there may be by to-morrow evening. 
 
 " Resp y your obd t serv t, 
 
 " THOMAS BKOWNE." 
 
 The effect of this letter on the burly mag 
 istrate was to put him into a state of violent 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 101 
 
 excitement. He read it and re-read it, and 
 then sat down and, adjusting his spectacles, 
 studied it carefully. 
 
 Finally, he rose and beckoning to the con 
 stable, walked out of the gate to a point across 
 the road out of earshot of the crowd, where 
 he proceeded to read the letter to him. 
 
 The conference was long and earnest. 
 
 " What in the - did he have to go and 
 plead guilty for, anyways?" he asked angrily 
 of his friend. 
 
 " You was for him befo you got that letter* 
 warn t you?" inquired the constable. 
 
 " For him ! In cose I was for him ! You 
 ain s pose I was gwine to d cide in favor of 
 that air overridin , slanderin Whig, is you, not 
 withouten I was obleeged to ! I ain forgot 
 how he talk about me, I tell you. I was 
 gwine to show him who was the majistrit of 
 this district, I was ; an I m gwine to yit ef 
 they is any way to do it. What I want to 
 know is, ain they any way to git roun it?" 
 He indicated the letter. 
 
 "Read it again," said the constable. 
 
 He read it. 
 
 " c Savin any criminal intention. What 
 do that mean? " asked the constable, shutting 
 
102 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 one eye in the effort to focus his mind on the 
 interpretation of the abstruse words. 
 
 "That s hit! that s hit! What a fool I 
 am ! Of cose, that s hit ! 4 Savin any crimi 
 nal intention of the same. He can t plead 
 guilty without they being a criminal inten 
 tion ? Jim, you s got a blame good head on 
 you. Ef you bed the experience, you d meek 
 a first-class majistrit." 
 
 The constable looked complacent under this 
 compliment. 
 
 " Is you heard that Sam Mills is a candi 
 date for my place?" the magistrate asked 
 suddenly, suspiciously. 
 
 Hall looked a little embarrassed. 
 
 "Nor; Sam ain no candidate," he said. 
 He turned towards the yard, perhaps to put 
 an end to the conversation. 
 
 "You d meek a sight better majistrit n 
 Sam," said the justice, insinuatingly. " Sam 
 ain got the head on him." 
 
 This commendation was received by the 
 sub-official with becoming modesty, and the 
 two strolled back across the sandy road, just 
 as a horseman appeared around the curve a 
 quarter of a mile away, approaching on a tall, 
 handsome horse, at a slow, easy gallop. He 
 
ON NEWFOUND EIVER. 103 
 
 was dressed in white linen, and carried an 
 umbrella. The murmur of the crowd an 
 nounced that he was a personage of consider 
 ation. 
 
 " There he comes," said several persons. 
 
 " That s his horse," announced a number, 
 more corroboratively. 
 
 The major rode up and dismounted, flinging 
 his bridle to a negro boy, who stepped for 
 ward with his hat off and his teeth shining. 
 The major raised his umbrella with delib 
 eration. Then he came around to the gate, sa 
 luting every man he met. His manner, if 
 a little condescending, was perfectly easy 
 with all, and with some was cordial. It was 
 apparent that he was highly esteemed, for 
 the people crowded up to speak to him. His 
 greetings evinced an accurate knowledge of 
 each man s affairs. He even saluted politely, 
 if a little contemptuously, the scowling jus 
 tice, who, as he approached, suddenly engaged 
 in conversation with some one, and pretended 
 not to be aware of his arrival. 
 
 In a few moments the magistrate took his 
 seat, got out his silver-rimmed spectacles, 
 wiped them carefully and put them on; 
 cleared his mouth of tobacco, and looked at 
 
104 07V NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 the major, who was busy talking to one of 
 his neighbors about his sick cow. 
 
 As no attention was paid to him, the justice 
 called the constable, and raising his voice, 
 ordered him to " open cote." 
 
 When this was done, by a short and inco 
 herent proclamation, without attracting the 
 notice of the major who still discoursed with 
 an admiring group around him, the magistrate 
 directed the constable to inform him that his 
 case was called. The officer, after waiting 
 respectfully for perhaps five minutes for a 
 break in the major s speech on the subject of 
 the dry weather, delivered his message. 
 
 " Tell him I am not ready," said the gentle 
 man, with an easy assurance, which sent the 
 messenger back somewhat abashed, and the 
 speech flowed on as before, only with in 
 creased urbanity. 
 
 A few moments later his overseer, with a 
 law-book in his hand, rode up and came into 
 the yard. 
 
 He approached his employer and waited 
 respectfully for a time, after which he turned 
 away to talk to some of his friends. But 
 when the major, after delivering himself to 
 a group with much affability on the subject 
 
ON NEWFOUND EIVEE. 105 
 
 of the difference between clover and orchard- 
 grass as a food for stock, turned suddenly and 
 walked up to the little table beside which sat 
 the scowling magistrate, his manager was im 
 mediately behind him. 
 
 He swept the crowd with a swift glance. 
 He was aware that the defendant was not 
 on the ground, and anticipating a motion for 
 a continuance, was prepared to deliver him 
 self with much force on the subject. 
 
 " I am ready ; where is the defendant?" he 
 asked, taking off his hat. 
 
 For answer, the magistrate leaned over, and 
 with accentuated pomposity, handed him the 
 note, turning his quid in his mouth, in token 
 of his perfect indifference. 
 
 The major s countenance fell as he read 
 the paper. He re-read it, and then handed it 
 back. 
 
 " I see he pleads guilty," he remarked. 
 
 "No, he don t," asserted the officer, again 
 rolling his quid in his mouth, this time in 
 token of his determination. 
 
 The major frowned. 
 
 " Why, he does." 
 
 " Whar do he do it?" inquired the justice, 
 with suspicious blandness. 
 
106 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 " Why, there," pointing to the paper. 
 
 " I don t see it." 
 
 " Well, I know you don t ; you never see 
 anything you don t wish to see ; but you 
 would unless you were blind mentally and 
 morally as well as physically," asserted the 
 irate major, seizing the paper. 
 
 The crowd appreciated the hit, and a 
 chuckle of enjoyment went through it. The 
 gentleman read the note aloud, with strong 
 emphasis. He was reading to the crowd, and 
 they appreciated the compliment. 
 
 "Isn t that pleading guilty?" he asked, 
 looking through his gold-rimmed spectacles. 
 
 " What does it say ? Savin any criminal 
 intention in the same. What does that 
 mean ? " 
 
 "It don t mean anything. It means that 
 he is a word-splitting old jackass, like some 
 other people ; that s what it means," asserted 
 the major. 
 
 The crowd applauded with a guffaw. 
 
 The major turned to them, read and re-read 
 the paper, talked to them over it, and so 
 berated the old magistrate, that he was 
 thrown entirely on the defensive. He looked 
 over at the constable for assistance ; but that 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 107 
 
 official had incontinently deserted and gone 
 over to the majority, and was now grinning 
 from ear to ear, over the major s comments 
 on the magistrate s judicial construction. 
 
 " If you cannot see what is written plainly 
 on paper, we have men among us who are 
 less afflicted," declared the major. 
 
 The crowd understood this to be a refer 
 ence to Sam Mills, and several of them 
 nudged him. Sam only chewed silently. 
 
 Finally, carried along by the force of his 
 own eloquence, and inspired by the sympathy 
 of the crowd, the major launched out against 
 the defendant. 
 
 " Why does he remain skulking at home 
 when summoned by law to appear before a 
 magistrate of this county and State?" he 
 asked. " Why does he not come forward and 
 defend himself like a man, if he is an honest 
 man ? Is he afraid to face daylight, that he 
 prowls around at night, and cannot be drawn 
 out of his hole even by process of the Com 
 monwealth? What is he? Is he a mur 
 derer, a counterfeiter, or an abolitionist ? He 
 ought to be made to appear ; he ought to be 
 investigated. This is no longer a mere pri 
 vate and personal matter; his conduct is 
 
108 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 against the peace and dignity of the Com 
 monwealth." 
 
 This, and much more to the same effect, 
 the old gentleman delivered to the apprecia 
 tive crowd, who broke into loud applause at 
 his Avords. 
 
 When, therefore, he threw the paper on 
 the table, and insisted that the magistrate 
 at once try the case and give him judg 
 ment, or he would, at the next court, have 
 an inquiry instituted as to his sanity, and 
 see if a sane man could not be found to 
 take his place, the justice did not have the 
 courage to resist, and with a turn of his 
 quid in his mouth, proceeded to try the 
 case. 
 
 The overseer was duly sworn, and proved 
 the facts and the amount of estimated dam 
 ages ; and then the defendant was called, 
 and failing to appear, the justice, after much 
 figuring, gravely delivered judgment in favor 
 of the major, for a little less than he claimed ; 
 delivering, at the same time, a speech, which 
 was a marvel of unintelligible contradictions, 
 attempting to reconcile his present action 
 with the stand he had at first taken. 
 
 The contemptuous indifference with which 
 
ON NEWFOUND EIVER. 109 
 
 the major received his announcement was 
 noted and enjoyed by the crowd. He turned 
 to the constable. 
 
 " Levy immediately," he said. " I ll bring 
 the old abolitionist out of his hole." 
 
 He turned away. As he did so, he was 
 arrested by the little black pressing for 
 ward, and taking off his old hat. He 
 bowed low to the major. His grandilo 
 quence had disappeared, and in the pres 
 ence of the gentleman he was the picture 
 of humility. 
 
 " How much is it, marster ? " he asked. 
 
 " Five dollars and thirty-seven cents," said 
 the justice. 
 
 The negro s countenance fell. 
 
 " Dat s mo - he began ; then stopped ; 
 and after much fumbling, took out of his 
 pocket an old rag wrapped about something, 
 and carefully tied with a string. This he 
 worked at for some time, until he had un 
 tied it. Unwrapping it carefully, he leaned 
 over, and poured out on the table a hand 
 ful of small silver and copper coins, which 
 he carefully pushed into the very centre of 
 the table, as if fearful that they might 
 roll off. 
 
110 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 " Will you please count dem, marster ?" he 
 said timidly. 
 
 The coin was counted ; the crowd looking 
 on with breathless interest ; the major stand 
 ing with arms folded, looking down with 
 contemptuous amusement. 
 
 " Five dollars and twenty-five cents," said 
 the magistrate, looking over the table, and 
 moving every paper so as to prove that none 
 was overlooked. 
 
 " Five dollars and twenty-five cents, five 
 dollars and twenty-five cents," repeated the 
 negro to himself, looking around the table. 
 " How much does that lack ? " 
 
 After a slight calculation the amount was 
 announced, 
 
 " Twelve cents." 
 
 This sum was wanting. The negro turned 
 to the major. 
 
 " Ef you could wait, marster, for about a 
 week " he began. 
 
 " I won t wait," said the major, grimly. 
 
 A pause of uncertainty ensued, in which 
 the negro meditated. His face showed the 
 deepest concern. 
 
 " Dat s ev y cent dee is on de place," he 
 said, half audibly, to himself. Then, in a 
 little louder tone, 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. Ill 
 
 "If any gent man would lend me twelve 
 cents ? " He looked around him. 
 
 " There it is," said the major, tossing him 
 a dollar, and putting on his glove. 
 
 The old man s eyes gleamed as he seized 
 the coin and laid it on the pile. 
 
 The major walked towards the gate, but 
 the magistrate overtook him, holding the 
 money in one hand and a paper in the other. 
 He stopped. 
 
 " What s this ? " he inquired impatiently. 
 
 " This is the judgment for you to mark 
 satisfied. " 
 
 The old justice was glad of the opportunity 
 to display his superior knowledge on this one 
 point at least. The major walked back to 
 the table, and wrote the receipt on the paper. 
 Then he pulled on his glove slowly, and was 
 turning away when the justice held out to 
 him the money. He stopped angrily, but 
 held out his hand. 
 
 " Count it," he said shortly. 
 
 The officer counted it out coin by coin into 
 his palm. 
 
 The major looked at him with an ugly 
 gleam in his eye; but just then the little 
 negro passed by with a low salute. 
 
112 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 " Here ! " he said, and pitched the handful 
 of money to him. 
 
 When the major cantered out of sight, the 
 negro was still on his knees searching in the 
 short grass for some of the coins. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 ALL that afternoon a crowd remained 
 around the little store at the Crossroads, 
 drinking and discussing the trial. Several 
 rows occurred ; Pokeberry being concerned 
 in more than one of them, and being the 
 aggressor. Towards sunset he was quite 
 under the influence of liquor, as were sev 
 eral others. When he was drunk he was 
 always quarrelsome. He appeared now to 
 have a special grudge against the major. 
 He came up to a group in which were Mills 
 and Hall, and began a tirade against Major 
 Landon for his contempt, as he charged, of 
 a poor man. Mills took it up and denied 
 flatly that there was any ground for such a 
 charge. 
 
 " Any hones po man the major is got as 
 much respec for as if he owned a big planta 
 tion and three hundred niggers," he declared. 
 " He said once that a man as was proud of 
 his money was like a blacksmith as bragged 
 
 113 
 
114 CLV NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 of the iron in his shop and didn have sense 
 to do any work on it." 
 
 The crowd applauded this view, and Poke- 
 berry, enraged, growled an angry threat 
 against the Landons. 
 
 " Why don t you go an tell em so?" asked 
 Mills. " You have mighty good opportunities, 
 and I ain never heard of you tellin either of 
 em." 
 
 The laugh of the crowd stung the bully, 
 and with an oath he declared that any man 
 was a hound who followed a Landon. 
 
 Mills was seated on the fence. He looked 
 at him with slightly contracted eyes, but said 
 nothing. This was accepted by Pokeberry 
 as a sign that he was afraid of him, and he 
 stepped a little nearer him. The crowd 
 stopped talking and fell back. Pokeberry 
 addressed himself directly to Mills. 
 
 " I know about you," he began. 
 
 Mills lazily let his long legs down, and 
 slipped from the fence, which he leaned 
 against. 
 
 " Look a-here, Pokeberry," he said slowly, 
 with another contraction of his eyes, "go 
 skeer runaway niggers. Don you try it on 
 me. If you does, runaway niggers won have 
 nobody to fool em away." 
 
ON NEWFOUND EIVER. 115 
 
 Pokeberry s answer to this was a furious 
 demand to know what Mills meant, and a 
 tirade against any and all persons who insin 
 uated anything connecting him Avith negroes. 
 
 He could whip any man, he declared, who 
 said anything connecting him with niggers. 
 
 " Look a-here, Pokeberry," said Mills, with 
 a slight bend towards him, "talkin s cheap; 
 but if you lay the weight of your hand on 
 me, I ll take my pocket-knife and cut your 
 throat from ear to ear." 
 
 His thin sun-browned face was grim, and 
 his gray eyes burnt back under his brows ; 
 but he was very quiet. There was a murmur 
 from the bystanders. One or two of them 
 advised Pokeberry to let him alone. Sam 
 Mills was not a man to trifle with. 
 
 Whether it was that Pokeberry was afraid 
 of the spare wiry creature who looked at him 
 with such fearless eyes, or whether he deemed 
 it unwise to fight with such a cause of quar 
 rel, cannot be known. But he began suddenly 
 an attack on Dr. Browne, whom he boldly 
 declared to be an abolitionist. He adjourned 
 to the little bar-room in the back of the store. 
 
 This episode broke up the crowd, and as it 
 was sundown, Mills and the sober ones went 
 
116 O.V NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 home, leaving, however, a considerable num 
 ber still hanging around the bar. 
 
 There Pokeberry continued his attack on 
 Dr. Browne. He told of the disappearance 
 of the two negroes, and charged that the 
 old man had helped to get them away. He 
 adroitly used the major s speech of that day, 
 with additions of his own, as a lever to move 
 the drunken crowd. 
 
 " He s a abolitionist," he kept on asserting, 
 with many oaths ; " and he ought to be run 
 out. That s what the major said. He s a 
 abolitionist. He ought to be tarred and 
 feathered, and run out, and I am the man 
 to do it." 
 
 By the time he had repeated this a score of 
 times, with such embellishments as his brutal 
 brain suggested, he had got the drunken set 
 around him into a state in which they be 
 lieved the major had suggested the tarring 
 and feathering and would warmly approve it. 
 A few, with a little reason left, protested 
 against such a lawless measure ; but the ma 
 jority, to the number of a dozen or more of 
 the most worthless characters in the county, 
 applauded. 
 
 "I m the man to do it," asserted Pokeberry, 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 117 
 
 pulling off his coat, and turning it wrong side 
 outwards. 
 
 A few minutes later he was out in the 
 dark, with a drunken gang around him, 
 clamorous to "drive the d d abolitionist 
 out, as the major said." 
 
 Meantime, Major Landon had arrived at 
 home in unusually good spirits. He had car 
 ried his point, and won his first suit ; he had 
 publicly shown that the pompous and self- 
 important old magistrate who had long 
 opposed him was a fool, and had held him 
 up to open scorn and derision ; and he had 
 vindicated his rights, which were what he 
 always contended for. Accordingly, as he 
 mounted the long stone steps of his mansion, 
 and turned, as he reached the top, to look back 
 over his wide estate, an expression of benig 
 nity most unusual to his firm face rested there. 
 
 The scene before him was one which might 
 well have pleased him. As far as the eye 
 could reach in either direction, the rolling 
 fields, green with grain and grass, and trav 
 ersed by broVn fences, belonged to Landon 
 Hall. Only immediately opposite, where the 
 hills rose on the other side of Newfound, was 
 a break in his domain. There was Landon 
 
118 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 Hill, the first home of his forefathers, held by 
 an unknown stranger. There, surrounded by 
 dense woods, and keeping himself wholly se 
 cluded, never leaving his plantation, and de 
 clining either to receive or to return visits, 
 lived his strange neighbor. The tops of the 
 clump of old oak trees marking the yard 
 showed above the pines which had been 
 allowed to grow and cover the fields, as if to 
 conceal the old frame hip-roofed house and its 
 surroundings from the gaze of its imposing 
 neighbor opposite. 
 
 A slight frown crossed Major Landon s 
 brow, as his eye rested for a moment on this 
 spot. It was, perhaps, but the recollection of 
 the contest he had just been tlirough with his 
 recluse neighbor. 
 
 The shadow passed in a moment, and he 
 turned away and entered the wide hall. 
 
 "He ll keep his cows to himself now, I 
 reckon, the old abolitionist ! " he said, with a 
 half-laugh. 
 
 As his footstep sounded on the polished 
 floor, a door on one side of the hall opened, 
 and his wife came forward and advanced 
 toward him with a smile of welcome. Mrs. 
 Landon still retained much of the beauty 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 119 
 
 which had made her years before the belle of 
 her county. Yet there was a suggestion of 
 sadness in her manner or her countenance, 
 it could scarcely be told which, though it 
 might have been the contrast between the 
 white hair on her brow and the brilliant dark 
 eyes which shone in her pale face like stars, 
 and which, when she smiled, made her look 
 like a girl. As she came forward with a 
 smile to meet her husband, his whole manner 
 changed. The gray eyes softened, the hard 
 strong mouth with the clean-shaven lip re 
 laxed, and a smile lit up his face. 
 
 " Well ? " she said, with a rising inflection 
 of interrogation and of welcome. 
 
 " Oh ! I won ; I beat him. Routed him 
 4 horse, foot, and dragoons. " 
 
 He put his hat on the table, placed his 
 gloves carefully in it, laid his horsewhip on 
 top, and put his arm around his wife like a 
 young lover. 
 
 " I am so glad you beat," she said ; " but I 
 hope you were not too hard on him." 
 
 "Lucy, I believe you would take up for 
 the devil," said her husband, half jestingly. 
 
 "Well, if he needed it, perhaps," she smiled 
 up at him. 
 
120 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 " Well, I wasn t hard on them at all. If I 
 had not warranted him, there never would 
 have been any end to it. You will bear me 
 witness that I had stood it for years; had 
 sent him word ; and had shown the forbear 
 ance of a saint, and I was forced to apply to 
 the law. The rascal ! It is as well he did 
 not come there, for I might have been tempted 
 to lay my horsewhip over his shoulders. I 
 believe he drove his cows across the river into 
 my fields, anyhow. I do not see how they 
 managed otherwise to get through the swamp 
 so readily. 
 
 " I am afraid they are very- poor, and you 
 know he might have been sick when you sent 
 him word," sighed Mrs. Landon. 
 
 " Sick ! the mischief ! He has not been 
 sick for twenty years, I reckon ; and he has 
 been hiding from me that long. It is my 
 opinion that he has been at the bottom of all 
 the devilment that has been going on so long 
 in the country." 
 
 " I wish they would let me do something 
 for them," said Mrs. Landon, who was the 
 incarnation of charity. 
 
 "I don t want to do anything for them, 
 except get rid of them and their cows," as- 
 
O^Y NEWFOUND 1UVEE. 121 
 
 serted the major. " If I had anything to go 
 on, I would lodge a complaint against him ; 
 that is what I d do. I hoped to have got a 
 sight of him to-day ; but the rascal was afraid 
 to face me." The major was working him 
 self up to the usual pitch of excitement over 
 his wrongs. 
 
 " My dear, they say he is a most kind and 
 gentle person, and does a great deal of good, 
 and if he choose to withdraw himself He 
 must be a good man ; because 
 
 "A good man, Lucy!" interrupted the 
 major, hotly. " Who ever heard of a good 
 man shunning the daylight, and hiding from 
 the eyes of his neighbors, and going out only 
 at night like a mink or a ground-hog? He 
 is an abolitionist, in my opinion." 
 
 When the major expressed a thing as his 
 " opinion," Mrs. Landon knew that there was 
 the end of it ; that it was useless to attempt 
 to combat it. 
 
 " You did not make them pay any money, 
 I hope," she said sweetly, as she drew a chair 
 up near that into which her husband had 
 thrown himself. 
 
 "Of course I didn t, that is, I gave it 
 back after I had made him pay it," he re- 
 
122 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 plied. He did not think it worth while 
 to tell her just how he had given it back. 
 Indeed, the manner of its return did not 
 strike him now as being altogether as praise 
 worthy as he had considered it when, in the 
 presence of a gaping throng, he had tossed 
 it disdainfully to the old negro, who had 
 counted it out so quietly after the justice 
 had decided against his master. 
 
 He did not know that at that moment Poke- 
 berry Green, half sotted with liquor, was 
 urging his word to a drunken crowd as a 
 justification for an act of outrageous violence. 
 
 The soft evening air came through the 
 open windows with the odor of grass upon 
 it. It brought back a reminiscence to the 
 major, and he went off into reflection. Sud 
 denly he aroused himself. 
 
 " Where is Bruce? " he asked. 
 
 " He took his rod and went off after lunch 
 to take a fish," said Mrs. Landon, quickly. 
 A faint shade of anxiety came into her eyes, 
 and she looked around, taking in her hus 
 band s face in her glance. 
 
 He shifted in his chair, and presently 
 reached over and took a book from the table. 
 The act was full of emphasis. He opened 
 
O^Y NEWFOUND RIVER. 123 
 
 the book and turned over the leaves impa 
 tiently. 
 
 " I wish he would stay at home sometimes. 
 I don t like the way he is carrying on," he 
 said abruptly, throwing the book back on the 
 table, and rising with a jerk from the chair. 
 
 The look of anxiety on Mrs. Landon s face 
 deepened. 
 
 " My dear, I hope you will not say any 
 thing to him Avhen he comes in," she said 
 with a tone of entreaty. " He is very " 
 She paused. 
 
 " Certainly not, if you wish it," said the 
 major ; " but things have come to a pretty 
 pass. I am to stand all his humors and dis 
 obedience and never say a word. What is 
 he always going over there after? " 
 
 " My dear, you forget that Bruce is a man 
 now." 
 
 "I don t care if he is forty men," inter 
 rupted the major, hotly ; " if he stays here, he 
 has to conform to my wishes. I thought he 
 had improved, but I believe that he is worse 
 than ever." 
 
 Mrs. Landon walked up and put her hand 
 over his mouth. 
 
 " Don t say that." 
 
124 O.V NEWFOUND 1UVEE. 
 
 " It is base ingratitude. I have given him 
 
 every advantage and have spent a fortune on 
 
 him, and he takes no notice of my requests 
 
 none whatever. I asked him to go up 
 
 with me to-day, and " 
 
 " He could not have understood you," de 
 fended his mother. 
 
 " Could not? He could not have misun 
 derstood me ; but he is bent on thwarting 
 my wishes." 
 
 " Oh, no ! I am sure that you misjudge 
 him." 
 
 " Nothing of the kind ; he was determined 
 I should dismiss my warrant against that 
 rascal, and when I would not, he refused to 
 do what I asked him. Why is he suddenly 
 so interested in that old creature ? Ten days 
 ago he was urging me to bring suit." 
 
 Mrs. Landon did not answer, hoping to 
 put an end to the conversation ; but the ma 
 jor s mind was working. 
 
 " It was a great mistake to send him off to 
 school when we did. He has got chocked 
 full of all those fool notions about humanita- 
 rianism those people have, and which they 
 substitute for law and order and religion and 
 everything else." 
 
O^V NEWFOUND EIVEE. 125 
 
 " Oh, I don t think so ; you are unjust to 
 him," urged his wife. 
 
 "Why, he insisted that I should dismiss 
 the warrant, and let old Browne s cows eat 
 up my corn. What do you call that?" 
 
 " I think it was very kind and generous in 
 him." 
 
 The major gave a sniff. 
 
 " Kind and generous, the mischief ! It s 
 easy to be kind and generous on other peo 
 ple s money. It s my opinion that he is ex 
 traordinarily interested in old Browne s cows 
 all of a sudden. The first thing you know 
 he ll be involved in some scandal. The 
 idea of his running opposition to Pokeberry 
 Green ! " 
 
 "I do not think there is any danger of 
 that," Mrs. Landon said warmly. 
 
 " What makes him go down fishing every 
 afternoon on that side of the mill-pond. He 
 is certainly not after fish, for he never catches 
 any." 
 
 " Oh, yes, he does," began Mrs. Landon. 
 
 " Well, in my opinion, it is not fish he s 
 after. I will put a stop to it. I shall give 
 him my orders, and if he wishes to stay here, 
 he must obey them." 
 
120 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 " You will not do any such thing," said his 
 wife, rising, and placing her hand on his 
 shoulder, coaxingly. 
 
 The entrance of a servant put an end to 
 the discussion. 
 
 Whether the major was right or not as to 
 Bruce s general luck, he was correct about 
 that occasion; for when Bruce returned he 
 had not so much as one fish to show. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 IF, however, Bruce had not had any good 
 luck with fish, he had had what he deemed 
 yet better fortune. He had met Margaret 
 Reid again. 
 
 He was sauntering along the path which 
 led up the pond, through the bushes and 
 pines, when he came suddenly upon her gath 
 ering blackberries. She turned and faced 
 him smilingly as he unexpectedly appeared. 
 
 A man may become ever so successful in 
 after life ; he may amass wealth, secure 
 power, and achieve fame ; but after a certain 
 age he can never turn a corner in the street 
 or a curve in the road, and meet an angel 
 face to face with the glory of heaven all 
 about her. This belongs to youth, and youth 
 alone. It happened to Bruce. He turned a 
 clump of bushes, and the dull hillside became 
 suddenly transformed with an ineffable glory. 
 It was only a girl with a big straw hat on 
 her brown head, and with a glow in her 
 
 127 
 
128 OA 7 NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 cheeks, her half-startled look changing into 
 one of pleased surprise ; but she seemed to 
 him to shed a radiance around her, and to fill 
 the woods with light. 
 
 He helped her to fill the bucket she had. 
 The afternoon sun shone down sultry, and 
 the summer air was still. The not distant 
 "Coo -coo, coo-oo-oo" of a dove was the 
 only sound that reached them. He made 
 Margaret sit down in the shade, and cutting 
 some long bits of the blackberry bush filled 
 with white blossoms pealed the briars from 
 them for her as he lounged beside her. 
 
 Bruce had something on his conscience 
 which he wished to tell her. Until this was 
 done he felt uneasy. He could not, however, 
 see his way to begin. 
 
 She took off her large hat and wreathed 
 the boughs around it. 
 
 " What a pity we cannot always have the 
 thorns cut from among the flowers for us," 
 she said. 
 
 Bruce rose to his feet. 
 
 " I have something to tell you, but I do not 
 know how to say it," he began. 
 
 She stood up and looked at him with grave 
 surprise in her eyes. 
 
ON NEWFOUND EIVEE. 129 
 
 " What is it? " she presently asked. 
 
 " You know that my father has brought a 
 warrant, a suit, against your grandfather ? - 
 
 Her face flushed slightly and her eyes 
 opened wider. He saw she knew all about 
 it, and proceeded, 
 
 " I wish to tell you I want you to know 
 that it was my fault, that it was I who 
 made him do it, who started it." 
 
 Her head straightened on her shoulders 
 and her expression changed. It was plainly 
 a shock to her. 
 
 "I wanted you to know that it was not 
 my father. If I had known something that 
 I now know ; if I had met your old woman 
 before, I would never have done what I did. 
 I would make any reparation in the world 
 I could. You don t know how much I regret 
 it." 
 
 She suddenly turned away and began to 
 cry quietly. 
 
 " I did not think you would have been so 
 cruel," she sobbed. " If you knew how my 
 grandfather has suffered how he bears 
 She could say no more. 
 
 " I do know. I regret it more than I can 
 tell you. It was inexcusable in me." 
 
130 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 He took hold of her hand and kissed it. 
 
 " If you knew how deeply I regret it, you 
 would forgive me." 
 
 She said nothing, but she did not draw her 
 hand away until he had kissed it again. 
 
 He had a new feeling for her, and one 
 which he had never had before for any 
 one. He wanted to comfort her. He longed 
 to take her in his arms. Yet lie hardly 
 dared to touch her hand. He had suddenly 
 grown afraid of her. What if she should 
 be angry with him? If she should not for 
 give him ? Life seemed to grow dark at the 
 thought. 
 
 " Do you forgive me ? " he asked in a low 
 voice of entreaty, as she moved slightly. 
 
 " Yes," with her face still averted. 
 
 She was wiping her eyes like a little girl. 
 The sun once more came out. He felt like a 
 ransomed criminal. 
 
 " I must go now," she said. " I always give 
 my grandfather his cup of tea in the after 
 noon ; he is so feeble, and has been so wor 
 ried about that suit." 
 
 " May I walk home with you ? " He asked 
 it as if she had the power of life and death. 
 
 She allowed him to walk as far as the 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 131 
 
 spring. He felt grateful for even this, and 
 followed her humbly. 
 
 At the spring she said good by, and held 
 out her hand. 
 
 He took it and pressed it; and then, rais 
 ing it quickly, pressed it to his lips. 
 
 " Good by." 
 
 She gave a little start, and drew it away. 
 
 He did not dare to look at her. When he 
 did look up, her face was still turned away 
 from him, and she moved towards the path 
 which led up to the house. 
 
 When Bruce reached home, he was too 
 much filled with thoughts of Margaret Reid 
 to care for other company. He did not 
 care to meet his father, who he knew would 
 be full of his case. So he sauntered into 
 the library, and pretended to look over a 
 book; but he found himself unable to read, 
 and he was sinking into a drowsy state of 
 insensibility to everything around him, when 
 he was aroused by a rapid step outside, fol 
 lowed by a quick knock on the door. 
 
 " Come in," he called. He had some curi 
 osity ; for it was not often in that placid 
 atmosphere that any step so energetic was 
 heard, or any rap so excited. 
 
132 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 A servant entered, and shutting the door 
 behind him, stopped, hat in hand. He was 
 manifestly under unusual excitement. 
 
 " Well, Henry, what is it ? " inquired his 
 master. 
 
 " I heah dee s some trouble gwine on over 
 on the other side of the pawn," he began hesi 
 tatingly, " and I thought I d better come and 
 let marster know." 
 
 " Yes, that s right," said Bruce, languidly. 
 "What is it?" 
 
 "I don know, suh. Dick Dick Runa 
 way s jes come home, he s been off two 
 or three days, an he heah somehow about 
 de warrant tryin to-day, an lie say he heah 
 dat after marster come away dee all got to 
 drinkin at de groggery, an dat Pokeberry 
 got em sort o stirred up, an Dick Runaway 
 say dee s gone over to old Dr. Browne s to 
 breck him up, to tar an feather him, an 
 burn his house down." 
 
 Bruce sprang to his feet. 
 
 "What s that?" he asked sharply. "A 
 mob ! Why have they gone there ? " 
 
 " I don know, suh. Dick says dee s a whole 
 parcel on em," said the negro, looking down 
 at the side of his shoe. " He say he heah em 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 133 
 
 talkin , an dee say tis cause he s a ; aboli- 
 tioner, or someV ; I don t know nuthin bout 
 it." He gave a sort of uneasy laugh at the 
 word. 
 
 " Dat feller Pokeberry s a bad feller," he 
 added. 
 
 " All right," said Bruce ; " I ll see about it. 
 That s all." 
 
 He turned and hurried to his room, and the 
 negro retired. 
 
 A minute later Bruce left the house by a 
 side door, with his shot-gun in his hand, and 
 descended the hill towards the river at a swift 
 trot. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 WHEN Margaret had given her grandfather 
 his tea, she went to her room. Somehow she 
 was filled with a mysterious unrest. What 
 had come over her? She did not know her 
 self. For the first time the life she was lead 
 ing failed to satisfy her ; she was stifled and 
 confined. She had suddenly outgrown her 
 surroundings and become miserable. 
 
 Why did her grandfather remain shut up ? 
 she thought ! Why had he always discounte 
 nanced her going out into the neighborhood ? 
 Why was he so silent about her mother? 
 Why was he so strange sometimes ? Oh, if 
 he should die and leave her ! Why were 
 they so secluded? Had he been rich once? 
 The old dresses in the trunks in the garret 
 were of the finest stuffs. Whose could they 
 have been ? Why was she suddenly so dis 
 satisfied and wretched? And, oh! why was 
 she thinking at all of Bruce Landon ? He 
 was nothing to her. He must be infinitely 
 134 
 
ON NEWFOUND 1UVEB. 135 
 
 above her. She knew he was ; yet she did 
 not feel it. He had kissed her hand. Why 
 had he done it? He had taken a liberty 
 with her, and she had permitted it, and now 
 he despised her. She felt sure of it. She 
 despised herself. She would never see him 
 again. Yes, she would go and meet him, and 
 show him that she was not one to be kissed 
 and taken liberties with. She was so wretched 
 that she ended by throwing herself on her 
 bed and crying herself to sleep. When she 
 awaked, it was nearly dark. Her grand 
 father was calling her. 
 
 There was a lovely, old curious-flowered 
 lawn, with short sleeves and a short waist. 
 She had brought it down from the garret, 
 and had tried it on. It just fitted her. It 
 had lain in her dresser ever since. She took 
 it out and, under an impulse, put it on. It 
 was the first time she had worn anything but 
 the plain, coarse stuff bought in the country. 
 She could not help being pleased at the result. 
 If Bruce Landon could only see her in it! 
 She determined to surprise her grandfather. 
 
 " All right ; I m coming in a moment," she 
 called cheerfully to him, in answer to his 
 impatient summons. 
 
136 ON NEWFOUND RIVES. 
 
 When she walked in, the old man nearly 
 sprang from his chair. She was a vision. 
 
 "Gracious God! where did you get that?" 
 he gasped. 
 
 She told him. He sank back in his chair 
 and closed his eyes. A groan escaped his 
 pale lips. 
 
 " What is it, grandpapa ? " she asked, fright 
 ened at the effect on him. 
 
 "Nothing; only you startled me," he said. 
 
 She pressed him. 
 
 " I have made you an outcast, I have sold 
 your birthright," he said bitterly. " You will 
 live to curse me." 
 
 u Oh, grandpapa!" She kissed him ten 
 derly. " You are my all - all I have in the 
 world." 
 
 " Yes, all all you have in the world ; and 
 when I have gone, what will you have ? It 
 is the same with every one. I seem to have 
 cursed them all, to have put a blight upon 
 them. I have been cursed." 
 
 He was speaking to himself. 
 
 "Oh, grandpapa, please don t!" sobbed 
 Margaret, putting her hands on him caress 
 ingly. 
 
 " I have been your worst enemy," groaned 
 
ON NEWFOUND B1VEE. 137 
 
 the old man. " If you knew all, you would 
 curse me." 
 
 Margaret knelt beside him and flung her 
 arms around him. 
 
 " I would love you as I do, better than all 
 the world." 
 
 " I hoped you would escape," he muttered, 
 his head sinking back on his pillow. 
 
 " Grandpapa, tell me about my mother," 
 she pleaded, laying her hand on his shoulder. 
 
 He became too agitated to do so. But 
 after a time he grew calmer. 
 
 " She was an angel," he said. 
 
 He had not understood her, and had been 
 too hard with her ; had opposed her marriage 
 to a young officer, whom she loved, and she 
 had married him against his wishes. He was 
 killed shortly afterwards. But even then, he 
 had been cruel and had refused to forgive her. 
 Then she, Margaret, had been born, and she 
 had sent for him to come and forgive her 
 before she died, and he had gone to her, and 
 reached her just in time. She had died in 
 his arms, forgiven ; but after she had placed 
 her baby in his hands in token of her love 
 for him. He had resigned from the navy, 
 bought this place, and come here to live. 
 
138 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 It was the first time he had ever said so 
 much of her, and the girl s hungry spirit was 
 feeding on the details and memories the old 
 gentleman recalled, as if they were the bread 
 of life. 
 
 "Grandpapa, was she beautiful?" she 
 asked. 
 
 "As an angel," he said gravely. "She 
 was very like you, my darling. She was 
 fitted to shine in any station." The current 
 of his thoughts seemed to change. 
 
 "Margaret," he said suddenly, "you have 
 met that young man young Landon?" 
 
 " Yes, grandpapa," in a very low voice. 
 She was glad the twilight shielded her. 
 
 "He is proud and vain of his name and 
 position?" There was an interrogation 
 rather than an affirmation in his tone. 
 
 " I do not know I cannot tell." 
 
 "He is handsome? and self-confident?" 
 Again the interrogation. 
 
 Her heart gave a bound at the picture the 
 terms called up. 
 
 " Yes, grandpapa exceedingly." 
 
 " It is the way with all of them," he mur 
 mured. 
 
 "You love him?" 
 
ON NEWFOUND EIVEE. 139 
 
 " No, grandpapa," with a little gasp. 
 
 " You will fall in love with him," said the 
 old gentleman, this time without the inter 
 rogation in his tone. " And he will not fall 
 in love with you he paused, " unless, 
 unless He broke off. 
 
 " You will live to curse me," he said bit 
 terly. " I am cursed. I have always been." 
 His head sank on his breast. 
 
 The girl flung herself on her knees be 
 side him, and, stretching out her arms, 
 placed her hands on his shoulders and held 
 him. 
 
 " Grandpapa," she said, eagerly lifting her 
 face, "I am not in love with him; I will 
 never be in love with him without your full 
 approval. I promise you here on my knees. 
 Oh, grandfather ! " Her voice broke. She 
 laid her face against him and began to sob. 
 A moment after she raised up. " I am your 
 granddaughter," she said with pride, " and I 
 will never be in love with him unless he is 
 first in love with me, and then not without 
 your consent." She rose and seated herself 
 calmly in her chair. 
 
 A look of admiration came over the ohl 
 man s face, 
 
140 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 " He will be in love with you," he said, as 
 if to himself. 
 
 Suddenly both started, as a strange noise 
 came to them from without. 
 
 Any sound was a novelty in that quiet spot, 
 where even the cackling of a hen, the low of 
 the cows, or the voices of the birds made 
 themselves felt and noted on the utter silence 
 of the place. 
 
 But this noise was peculiar: it was con 
 fused, unwonted, threatening. 
 
 Margaret s eyes opened wide as she sat 
 straight upright in her chair, and turned her 
 head to the window. The noise swelled. 
 Suddenly a gun was fired without, and loud 
 shouts, mingled with boisterous laughter, 
 sounded in the yard. Margaret sprang to 
 her feet, with a white face, and her grand 
 father suddenly rose from his chair, under 
 the excitement of the moment oblivious of 
 his rheumatism, and started to the door. 
 
 " Youee yah ah," came the shouts from 
 without, followed by loud boisterous laughter ; 
 and then high above it all came the shrill, ex 
 cited voice of old Milly, the words drowned by 
 the confusion and derision which greeted them. 
 Margaret pressed close to her grandfather. 
 
O^V NEWFOUND E1VEE. 141 
 
 " Oh, grandfather ! what is it coming ? 
 Who are they? What can they want? 
 Don t go out, please," as the old man 
 started to the door. 
 
 Old Milly s voice suddenly rang out, 
 
 " Ole marster." 
 
 The effect was electrical. The old officer 
 turned back, and, reaching up over the man 
 tel, seized the dusty sabre which had hung 
 there for many a long day, and strode 
 towards the door. Before he could reach it, 
 however, the outer door, which always re 
 mained unlocked, was flung open, and a num 
 ber of intruders crowded pell-mell into the 
 narrow hall with shouts and oaths. 
 
 " Come out of your hole, you old aboli 
 tionist ! " they cried. 
 
 Margaret started to spring to the door of 
 the chamber to lock it, but before she could 
 reach it, it was thrown open violently, disclos 
 ing a coarse, burly fellow, his face blackened 
 as a disguise, and with a long, charred pine 
 torch in his hand, as heavy as a club ; whilst 
 behind him were a half-a-dozen others, also 
 with blackened faces, and all evidently full of 
 liquor. 
 
 The girl shrank back with a cry of terror 
 
142 ON NEWFOUND UIVER. 
 
 as the ruffian in front broke into a loud 
 laugh and, calling to those behind to come 
 on, stepped in the door. The old surgeon, 
 with a quick movement, put the girl behind 
 him, and seizing the weapon in both hands, 
 jerked the sword from the rusty scabbard. 
 Youth had suddenly come back to his veins ; 
 the emaciated frame straightened, and the 
 sunken eyes blazed like coals. An angry 
 exclamation burst from his lips, and he took 
 a step forward, about to dash upon the mob. 
 But Margaret, in her terror, was clinging to 
 him and holding him. As it was, the ruffians 
 gave back at the sudden transformation and 
 retreated almost out of the room. They 
 stood thus, for a moment, blocking the door. 
 Then the blackened-faced leader called to 
 his comrades to come on, and with drunken 
 bravado advanced again into the apartment, 
 cursing his companions for not backing him. 
 They were just closing up again, when some 
 thing occurred outside which drove the lead 
 ers confusedly several steps into the room, 
 and so close to the old man as he stood at 
 bay, that he raised his sword with a furious 
 oath to cut the leader down. 
 
 Before he could do so, however, the mob 
 
ON NEWFOUND &1VEE. 148 
 
 which blocked the door was suddenly split, 
 and a young fellow burst through them, 
 flinging them right and left. He was bare 
 headed, and in one hand he grasped a shot 
 gun. As he sprang into the room and faced 
 about, the mob fell back, squeezing out of 
 the door as fast as they could, for it was 
 Bruce Landon, with his Landon blood up and 
 a gun in his hand. 
 
 " Get out of here, you ruffians ! " he said, 
 bringing his gun down upon them. They 
 did not need this. They were getting out 
 as fast as they could, all, at least, except the 
 leader, who was Pokeberry Green. 
 
 With the bravado born of his brutal nature 
 inflamed by liquor, he turned and jerked out 
 a pistol. As he did so, however, Bruce sprang 
 on him. The impetus of the leap sent him 
 spinning out into the passage, where, in the 
 dark, they wrestled and struggled for life. 
 
 Bruce was unable to use one hand well, as 
 he still held his gun; but he had driven 
 Pokeberry to the door and was forcing him 
 steadily back when there was a deafening 
 report, a sudden blaze of light in his face, 
 and he felt a sensation as if a hot needle had 
 run into his shoulder. He sank back, letting 
 
144 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 go his antagonist; but mustering all his 
 strength, swung his gun around his head 
 with his uninjured arm and gave him a blow 
 which sent him staggering backward, out into 
 the darkness. He heard him fall heavily 
 on the portico, and then he remembered no 
 more. 
 
 The next thing he knew, he felt a soft 
 touch on his arm and was conscious that 
 his shoulder hurt him a good deal, and that 
 he was violently thirsty. Some one was say 
 ing something in a low voice, and he opened 
 his eyes. He was lying on a bed with white 
 curtains around it, in a little, low-pitched 
 room. One arm was bare, and his shoulder 
 was being bandaged by two persons, one of 
 whom was an old man, with a long, white 
 beard and eyes set far back under his heavy 
 brows, who was sitting on the bed ; and the 
 other, a young girl, who was kneeling beside 
 him, with her face nearly on a level with 
 his. Her hands were busy with the band 
 ages, one on his arm and one holding the 
 roll. Her face was very grave and solici 
 tous. When he first opened his eyes her dark 
 lashes were almost lying on her cheek, as she 
 looked down at her work. As he moved, 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 145 
 
 however, she glanced at his face, and as she 
 caught his gaze, her great dark eyes suddenly 
 lit up, lighting her whole face. Bruce never 
 forgot the look, nor the sensation of her soft 
 hand on his arm. 
 
 " I must get up," he said immediately ; but 
 both voices, at once, insisted that he must do 
 nothing of the kind ; the old man, with grave 
 decision, and the girl, with sweet earnest 
 ness. As Bruce was feeling weak, he sank 
 back and languidly gazed at the two or three 
 old slender chairs, and the thin-legged table, 
 on which were a few books, and a bowl filled 
 with jonquils, which shone like gold against 
 the snowy drapery of the dresser beyond. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 BRUCE S wound proved, after all, not to 
 be serious ; and he walked home next day, 
 though he was pallid and feeble from loss of 
 blood. 
 
 There was intense excitement at Landon 
 Hall when next morning the fact that he 
 had been shot was known. His father was 
 in a consuming fury. He vowed that he 
 would at once have the entire gang of ruf 
 fians arrested and sent to the penitentiary. 
 He was only restrained by the knowledge 
 that to do this it would be necessary to 
 bring out the fact of Bruce s presence on the 
 occasion ; and this he was unwilling to do. 
 He could not tolerate the idea of his name 
 being dragged into public in connection with 
 one whom he despised. This, however, did 
 not prevent his publicly denouncing the 
 affair in terms little short of violent. 
 
 That such an outrage should have been 
 perpetrated in his immediate neighborhood, 
 146 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 147 
 
 under his very nose, and, as it were, actually 
 on the borders of his own plantation, was a 
 crime not to be overlooked. The major had 
 no conception that his words had borne a 
 part in the instigation of the act : they had 
 been spoken in heat, and he had never given 
 a thought to them since. Indeed, he could 
 not have been induced to believe that any 
 connection existed between them and the 
 outrageous act which had been perpetrated. 
 Words were one thing, every man had a 
 right to talk and express his opinion ; but to 
 go and break into a man s house in the night, 
 and attempt to drag him out why, it was 
 monstrous ! He would have gone over to 
 Dr. Browne s and have advised him to have 
 the whole set of ruffians arrested, but he had 
 sworn that he would never set his foot on the 
 place until he owned it. He contented him 
 self, therefore, with riding about the neighbor 
 hood, denouncing the whole affair with all the 
 vigor of a somewhat picturesque vocabulary, 
 and threatening to go to court himself and 
 have every scoundrel in the party indicted. 
 
 Indeed, more than once he found some of 
 the perpetrators as he believed, and gave his 
 opinion of their act in such forcible terms 
 
148 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 that they slunk away with blanched faces. 
 Pokeberry, he publicly affirmed, ought to be 
 hung, and he openly prophesied that he would 
 be, only expressing his fear that some un 
 toward accident might cheat the gallows out 
 of its due. 
 
 The old gentleman was at heart intensely 
 pleased at Bruce s rescue of his neighbors, 
 and behind his back referred to his cour 
 age and decision as having held at bay a 
 large mob and as having been worthy of a 
 Landon. This, however, did not prevent 
 him from being very scornful to Bruce him 
 self about his sudden appearance at "old 
 Browne s " and his engaging in a disreputable 
 brawl, when, not long subsequently, he found 
 Bruce, one afternoon, with his arm still in a 
 sling, returning from that side of the stream, 
 without even the time-worn excuse of a 
 fishing-rod. He flung a caustic gibe at him 
 about engaging in permanent rivalry with 
 his friend Pokeberry. Bruce s face, which 
 had flushed with self-consciousness on coming 
 unexpectedly on his father, turned a sudden 
 white. He was in no mood for jesting ; for 
 he had been waiting and watching in vain all 
 the long afternoon in the hope of catching a 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVEE. 149 
 
 glimpse of the face which now never left his 
 mind during his waking hours. He started 
 to reply ; but by a strong effort controlled 
 himself, and, turning away, walked home. 
 
 The major, on reaching the house, sought 
 his wife and held a long interview with her. 
 He would as soon not have confessed his 
 shortcomings to the Deity as to his wife. 
 As a result of this conference he, after tea, 
 sent for Bruce, and had a short interview with 
 him. It began inauspiciously ; for both were 
 heated at the start. In the first place, Bruce 
 knocked at the door of the library, where 
 his father was. This offended the old gen 
 tleman, who was in a mood in which he 
 might have been offended if he had not 
 knocked. 
 
 " You are formal," he said coldly, as the 
 young man entered, and remained standing. 
 
 "I thought it was a formal interview to 
 which I was invited, sir," said Bruce, with 
 marked dignity. 
 
 "It depends upon you," said the major. 
 " Take a seat ; I wish to speak to you." 
 
 He came to the point quickly. 
 
 "Bruce," he said, "I want you to go 
 abroad." 
 
150 ON NEWFOUND RtVER. 
 
 The young man started. Go abroad, and 
 never see Margaret Reid again ! 
 
 His father continued : 
 
 " I want you to go abroad at once. I will 
 give you all the money you wish to spend, 
 and you can be as independent as you please. 
 You already have many pleasant acquaint 
 ances in England and France ; and I feel 
 sure that I can secure for you a position as 
 secretary with one of the legations, per 
 haps in one of those countries. It will fur 
 nish you something to do, and give you 
 official position." 
 
 He ended, and looked at Bruce hopefully. 
 He had got through better than he had 
 expected. 
 
 "I am very much obliged to you," said 
 Bruce, with great urbanity. "But I don t 
 want to go." 
 
 The major s calm forsook him. 
 
 " Well, sir, I order you to go." 
 
 " May I ask, sir, why you propose to take 
 me up and banish me like an exile ? Why 
 not shut me up on a lettre de cachet?" in 
 quired the young man. 
 
 " Yes, sir, you may. It is because you are 
 throwing away your life in an idle, worthless 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 151 
 
 fashion ; associating with people who are not 
 fit associates for a gentleman; consorting 
 with an unknown young woman ; making 
 yourself the talk of the country, and drag 
 ging your name, which is an honorable one, 
 into the vulgar gossip at every Crossroads 
 groggery in the neighborhood!" His sen 
 tences were shot out one after the other. 
 
 Bruce sprang to his feet. 
 
 " It is not true," he said angrily ; then 
 qualified it. " You are not speaking of your 
 own knowledge ; and whoever has informed 
 you has said what is false. Miss Reid is a 
 lady- 
 
 " No%so, sir," retorted the major. " It is 
 true, and I do speak of my own knowledge : 
 even the negroes are talking about it. It is 
 a disgrace ; and whether you go to Europe or 
 not, I forbid you ever to go again to that 
 place. You cannot be going to marry the 
 young woman, and I will not stand any dis 
 grace. If I hear of you doing anything dis 
 graceful I will cut you off with a shilling. 
 What is more, I will not have my name 
 dragged into the mire of low scandal-mon- 
 gering, and if you go again, you go at your 
 peril." He turned to leave. 
 
152 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 Bruce s face turned white. 
 
 " You do not know what you are talking 
 about. I am a gentleman." 
 
 The major made a gesture. 
 
 "I refuse to be dictated to as if I were a 
 negro," said the young man. " I will go 
 wherever and whenever I please." 
 
 " At your peril." 
 
 The major, without awaiting his answer, left 
 the room, leaving him to reflect on his words. 
 
 The next morning the major mounted his 
 horse and rode down upon the river, with an 
 expression on his face which bespoke some 
 thing extraordinary. He was dressed in 
 immaculate linen from throat to hfcl, and 
 carried a light umbrella. His face above his 
 high collar was unusually severe. Every 
 thing that he saw was wrong. His overseer 
 told him " that fellow Dick Runaway " had 
 gone off again the night before, the second 
 time in three months. He " ought to sell 
 him; he could not do anything with him." 
 He "believed that old man over across the 
 pond hired him to take care of his cows ; 
 knew he harbored him." The major was 
 inclined to believe so too, but scouted the 
 notion to the overseer. He was not agreeing 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 153 
 
 with any one just then. However, he vowed 
 he would not stand Dick any longer. He 
 would not have a runaway negro. He would 
 sell him as soon as he was caught. 
 
 The overseer was so elated that he made a 
 slip. He didn t know anybody who could 
 catch him except Pokeberry; should he tell 
 Pokeberry to go after him ? 
 
 The mention of Pokeberry touched the 
 major into flame. 
 
 Pokeberry ! that scoundrel ! No ; he hoped 
 if he went after Dick, Dick would kill him ; 
 he would spend every dollar of his estate de 
 fending him if he did. He would rather never 
 have Dick back, rather lose every negro on his 
 place, than have that ruffian to go after him. 
 
 He left the overseer speechless and over 
 whelmed. 
 
 After finding fault with everything he saw, 
 he rode up the river, through the woods. It 
 was spring, and the trees were fresh and 
 tender, their varied tints looking in the land 
 scape like vast flowers. The old road, so 
 long unused, was in many places grown up 
 in bushes, the leafy limbs meeting across the 
 path, so that the major, to pass under them, 
 had frequently to lean down on his bay 
 
154 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 horse s neck. Still he pushed on, and it was 
 only when he came to the narrow ford across 
 the stream at the head of the pond that he 
 paused. 
 
 There he stopped, irresolute. The old car 
 riage-way down to the stream on his side and 
 up on the other had been washed into two 
 cuts ; but they were covered with old leaves, 
 and a spreading dogwood filled with snowy 
 bloom was growing right in the middle of 
 the cut. The major looked across. He had 
 not passed that boundary for fifteen years. 
 On the other side, the track was even less dis 
 tinct than on his ; for young pines were grow 
 ing up in it. lie looked beyond the stream, 
 and then, as if undecided, glanced back in 
 the direction from which he had come. Sud 
 denly he tightened the rein, and giving the 
 hesitating horse the whip, rode down to the 
 water, went floundering through the narrow, 
 miry stream, and pushed on up the long-un 
 used track. The struggle that it had cost 
 to bring him across had brought a cloud on 
 the major s face ; his brows were knit, and 
 now, as he walked his horse along, his look 
 was grim enough. To think that this was 
 the home of his fathers, the cradle of his 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 155 
 
 race ; held by an alien ; allowed to grow up 
 in a wilderness ; worse than any poor white s 
 place ! It was enough to make his father 
 turn in his grave. Why, those blackguards 
 were right, were almost right, had some 
 excuse for trying to drive him off. If he 
 were not an abolitionist, he was worse. And 
 to think of his son stooping to be in love 
 with this man s granddaughter ! It was a dis 
 grace ! He could not sustain the thought of it. 
 He would cut him off with a shilling if he 
 ever set foot on the place again. Things 
 had gone too far. He would stand no more ! 
 Pines everywhere. He would see the crea 
 ture and settle the matter for good and all. 
 She would hardly fail to accede to his wishes ; 
 few could. If she did, if she was brazen, 
 why, he would buy her off. 
 
 He passed over the hill through pines all 
 the way, and beyond where the fence used to 
 be. It was all rotted now, and he rode on 
 through the thicket towards the house. Just 
 as he arrived in sight of an opening some 
 distance ahead, which he knew must be the 
 yard, he came in view of some one walking 
 along the path before him, a young woman. 
 A large straw hat concealed her head, and 
 
156 O.V NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 she carried a basket on her arm. She was 
 tall and evidently young, and it occurred to 
 the major, as he did not know her, that she 
 was some visitor. Hearing his horse, she 
 turned hastily and looked back, but was too 
 far distant for him to see her face ; then she 
 quickened her step. The major, wishing to 
 get her to bear a message, pushed his horse 
 to a trot to overtake her. He came up to 
 her just as she reached the rude " bars " of 
 small unbarked pine poles, which, to keep 
 the cows in, were thrown across the road 
 between the two old gate-posts which had 
 once formed the entrance to the yard. 
 
 " I say, good morning," said the major, 
 sitting in an easy posture on his handsome 
 bay and gazing ahead at the old house which 
 could just be seen through the trees. He 
 did not even look at her. 
 
 " Can you take a message for me to the 
 3 r oung woman in there, Dr. Browne s grand 
 daughter, Miss Browne, or whatever her name 
 is?" 
 
 " I am Dr. Browne s granddaughter," said 
 the young woman, in a placid, melodious voice, 
 turning up to him a face a little flushed with 
 the excitement of the unexpected meeting; 
 
ON NEWFOUND EIVER. 157 
 
 but with calm, dark eyes under straight black 
 brows, and with a certain look which the 
 major thought of afterwards and which made 
 him forget all else. 
 
 " Oh ! ah ! ah ! You don t say so ! I beg 
 your pardon, I m sure," he began, and before 
 he knew it he had dismounted and was stand 
 ing down on the ground with his hat in his 
 hand. 
 
 How awkward it was, and how like a fool 
 he felt ! Why, she was a beauty and quite a 
 lady. What the deuce should he say ! 
 
 "It is a very fine day ah!" he began, 
 wishing himself at home, or in perdition, or 
 anywhere but where he was. 
 
 "Yes, I have been enjoying it," she said 
 placidly, looking him full in the eyes, her face 
 a little lifted and slightly flushed, her eyes 
 wide, and her lips the least bit compressed. 
 
 How melodious her voice was ! Quite like 
 a lady s voice, thought the major. He made a 
 remark about the flowers she had in her bas 
 ket, rather to gain time and avoid coming to 
 the point than because they pleased him par 
 ticularly. He was embarrassed by finding her 
 so different from what he expected, so self- 
 possessed, and undeniably beautiful. 
 
158 ON NEWFOUND EIVER. 
 
 " Yes ? " with a rising inflection. She 
 looked down at them gravely, and reaching 
 her hand around instinctively arranged them 
 in the basket. Then she looked at him in 
 quiringly. 
 
 There was no hope for it ; he must go on. 
 
 "I I . If you will allow me, I will put 
 on my hat ; the sun is a little warm," he said, 
 paltering. 
 
 She bowed, 
 
 " Certainly." 
 
 "I I I came to speak to you about my 
 son," began the major, and paused. 
 
 Her face flushed a little, and she drew in 
 her breath in a startled way, the lips growing 
 just a shade more compressed. 
 
 He looked away, and then growing angry 
 with himself, began rapidly, 
 
 " I want to say something to you about my 
 son, Mr. Bruce Landon?" 
 
 There was a shade of interrogation in his 
 tone, and she bowed slightly to show that 
 she understood him. She was standing very 
 straight. 
 
 " My son is is a gentleman - He 
 paused, abashed at his speech. 
 
 " Damnably unlike his father on this pres- 
 
ON NEWFOUND EIVER. 159 
 
 ent occasion," he thought suddenly, almost 
 amused at the reflection. Then he added 
 in a softer tone, 
 
 " He is my only son, and I I have 
 plans for him, and I wanted He paused. 
 
 " Yes?" she bowed inquiringly, still looking 
 him full in the face with that embarrassing, 
 unflinching gaze from her eyes. 
 
 " I don t want you to marry him," blurted 
 out the major, desperately. 
 
 "Neither do I. You need have no fear; 
 I have no idea of marrying him," she said 
 quietly, never taking her eyes from his face. 
 Her head straightened on her shoulders just 
 a little. 
 
 The major almost staggered. She refuse 
 Bruce ! His son ! Impossible ! 
 
 " He is my only son, and I have made plans 
 for him," explained the major again lamely, 
 in impotent contempt for himself. 
 
 "I will not prevent your carrying them 
 out," she said, raising her head perceptibly, 
 and standing more erect than she had done. 
 " I will never marry him." 
 
 " You are far too good for him," he began, 
 feeling that some amend was to be made her. 
 "I regret having to say what I have done " 
 
1GO ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 he was going on ; but the girl drew herself 
 up, and, without taking her eyes from his 
 face, said, 
 
 "You know nothing about me." Then as 
 the major paused abashed, added, still in the 
 same modulated voice, 
 
 "Is that all?" 
 
 " Yes," said the major, in a crestfallen tone, 
 gathering up his bridle-reins. 
 
 "I am sorry " he began, but again her 
 look stopped him. He dared not apologize. 
 
 She backed slightly away. It might have 
 been to get out of the reach of his horse ; but 
 it seemed to the major as if a queen were end 
 ing an audience. 
 
 " Good by. I am very much obliged to you," 
 said the old gentleman, in a rather subdued 
 tone, putting on his hat and turning to mount. 
 
 " Good day." She turned and walked slowly 
 towards the house. 
 
 The major rode off at a gallop, feeling more 
 contempt for himself than he ever had done 
 in his life. 
 
 Who was she like? 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE major had pulled in his horse and was 
 riding through the pines in deep reflection, 
 when a large man stepped suddenly out of 
 the thick growth beside the way into the 
 narrow path just before him, facing him. 
 The sudden apparition caused the spirited 
 horse that the major rode to bound and half 
 wheel around ; but the practised hand on the 
 bridle brought him back. It was Pokeberry 
 Green, and as usual he carried his long, 
 double-barrelled gun in the hollow of his 
 left arm. He stood, glowering, right in the 
 middle of the road. 
 
 The major s anger rose. 
 
 " What do you mean, sir, by jumping out 
 of the bushes in that manner in front of a 
 gentleman s horse? Have you no sense left? 
 Get out of the way, and let me come by." 
 
 " I want to see you," growled Pokeberry. 
 
 " Well, it s more than I do you. What do 
 you want to see me about?" 
 
 161 
 
162 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 " I hear," he began angrily, " that you said 
 I was in that mob that went tother night to 
 old man Browne s and broke in his house ? " 
 His manner was very threatening, and he 
 looked thoroughly dangerous. 
 
 "Well, you heard right," said the major, 
 boldly; "I did say so. And I said further 
 more that you ought to be prosecuted and 
 sent to the penitentiary, and I will have it 
 done if you don t look out. It s an outrage 
 that such a scoundrel should be allowed to 
 run free. You are a disgrace to the neigh 
 borhood." 
 
 The man with an angry oath suddenly 
 cocked his gun, and, flinging it a little for 
 ward, started to raise it. 
 
 If the major had quailed ever so little, 
 murder would have been done on the spot. 
 But he did not. The menacing act of the 
 ruffian simply enraged him. Intrepidly push 
 ing his frightened horse closer up to him, he 
 raised his whip. 
 
 " Lower that gun instantly, you scoundrel ! " 
 he said. " Do you think I am to be threat 
 ened ? If you dare to assault me in this way, 
 I ll have you tied to a tree and thrashed 
 within an inch of your life." 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 163 
 
 The absolute fearlessness of the old gentle 
 man, and his imperious anger, overwhelmed 
 the ruffian. His eyes quailed and fell, and, 
 dropping his gun, he stepped back out of the 
 way. 
 
 "I ain threatenin nobody," he half growled, 
 half whined. "I been squirrel-huntin , an I 
 jes wanted to tell you I didn had nothin to 
 do with that there thing tother night. I ll 
 swar on a stack of Bibles I didn , and I can 
 prove it by a hundred witnesses. I hope I 
 may die on the spot if I wan home sleep by 
 sundown. I was home drunk that evening," 
 he added corroboratively. 
 
 " I have no doubt that you can prove it by 
 the other scoundrels who were there," said 
 the implacable major, "who will quite will 
 ingly swear to that or any other invention 
 you may suggest ; but if you expect to get 
 off by that, I tell you now that you are mis 
 taken. There is some law left in the land, I 
 hope ; and unless you find it so, my name is 
 not Landon." 
 
 So saying, he passed on, leaving the crest 
 fallen and subdued Pokeberry cursing him 
 under his breath, and looking dangerously at 
 his black gun-barrels. 
 
164 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 He had not gone over a quarter of a mile 
 further, and had not quite readied the river, 
 when his horse again started and shied in the 
 narrow track. The major angrily faced him 
 towards the point from which he had veered, 
 thinking, perhaps, that Pokeberry had inter 
 cepted him. With pointed ears and high 
 head the horse backed aw r ay. His master 
 looked earnestly into the woods. 
 
 "Walk out from behind that tree, and 
 come here ! " he suddenly called sternly, to an 
 invisible person. 
 
 Finding himself discovered, a negro stepped 
 out, and came slowly and humbly towards 
 him. He was apparently about thirty years 
 of age, tall and strongly built, and very black. 
 
 " My marster," he said. 
 
 The major pitched into him with volubility. 
 Dick s spirits rose ; for it was Dick Runaway 
 himself. He recognized in his master s man 
 ner a by no means dangerous mood. It was 
 when he was stern and silent that he was to 
 be feared. 
 
 "What do you run away for?" finally de 
 manded the major. "Do you think that I 
 have nothing to do but support a worthless, 
 runaway vagabond, who lives half his time 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 165 
 
 in the woods ? I believe that you have lived 
 half your life in the woods. What did you 
 run away for this time ? " 
 
 The negro stood looking down on the 
 ground in some embarrassment. Suddenly 
 he broke off a long, stout dogwood switcli 
 from a thick clump of bushes which grew 
 beside the path, and stripped it of its leaves. 
 
 " Here, marster, whip me," he said, pushing 
 it into his hand, and pulling off his coat. 
 
 The major gave him an impatient cut with 
 the switch, as he might have given his shying 
 horse, and flung it away. 
 
 " Do you suppose I want to be soiling my 
 hands whipping a worthless rascal ? What I 
 want to know is, what made you run away ? 
 You are free enough at home, Heaven knows ; 
 lazy enough, anyhow; it breaks me to keep 
 you worthless rascals." 
 
 He paused and waited, with his eye on the 
 darkey, as if expecting a reply. 
 
 " What was it ? sheer worthlessness ? " 
 
 "Nor, suh, twant. Dat man say he was 
 gwine meek you sell me," said Dick, doubtfully. 
 
 " Make me sell you ? What man ? " 
 
 " Dat po white man Mist Bailiff." The 
 negro s sovereign contempt was in his tone. 
 
1G6 ON NEWFOUND EIVER. 
 
 " Don t you let me hear you speak of my 
 overseer that way, sir," said the major ; but 
 he did not look offended. Perhaps he was 
 secretly a little pleased. The negro recog 
 nized him as his natural and rightful chief, 
 and looked on the other with unfeigned dis 
 dain. 
 
 " Make me sell you?" he repeated. "Who 
 ever made me do anything? If he could 
 have made me sell you, I d have sold you 
 long ago, for you are not worth keeping. 
 Come along home with me this minute." 
 He rode on, the negro following. 
 
 He was walking behind, and could have 
 easily enough slipped off into the woods and 
 have escaped ; but he did not attempt it. 
 His master s will controlled him, as an officer 
 controls a soldier in battle. Indeed, as he 
 followed him, his whole manner had changed. 
 The look of doubt and difficulty had disap 
 peared from his face, and he even grinned to 
 himself every now and then. 
 
 When they had crossed the river to their 
 own side, and come in sight of the fields 
 through the woods, the major stopped. 
 
 "You d better go back by yourself," he 
 said; "it will be better for you. If you 
 
ON NEWFOUND EIVER. 167 
 
 come with me, they will think I brought you 
 back. Go that way." He pointed through 
 the woods in a direction at right angles to 
 the road they were in. 
 
 The negro hesitated, and made a gesture 
 of embarrassment. 
 
 " Marster " 
 
 " If the overseer says anything to you, tell 
 him I told you to say he was to come to see 
 me." The major thought that was his doubt. 
 
 " Nor, suh, tain dat," explained the darkey. 
 "Dat feller Pokeberry, Pokeberry Green, 
 dat nigger-hunter " He paused. 
 
 " Well, what about him ? " demanded the 
 major. 
 
 " He s a bad feller ! " he said earnestly. 
 
 "I have no doubt you think so," the major 
 said dryly, with a quizzical look in his eyes. 
 
 The negro missed the point. 
 
 " He got meanness in him ! " he said. " He 
 got he mine set for you and Marse Bruce, 
 too; and for dem folks over yonder, too." 
 He indicated Dr. Browne s place, across the 
 river. " He got meanness in him ! " 
 
 " Here, how do you know this ? " the major 
 demanded. 
 
 The negro paused. 
 
168 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 "I heah him say so. I been up to he 
 house." 
 
 " Been up to his house ? " 
 
 " Yes, suh ; I crope up dyah tother night, 
 and hearn him tellin another man all about 
 hit." 
 
 " I thought he had dogs ? " said the major. 
 
 " Dem ar little houn s ! " said the negro, dis 
 dainfully. "I don mind dem no mo n I 
 does mices. I done meek friends wid em," 
 he said, with a shrewd gleam in his eyes. 
 
 The major looked amused. 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 "I hearn him say," the negro proceeded, 
 "dat he was gwine long back whar he come 
 f om ; dat he was tired o livin down heah ; 
 he could go back dyah now, he said, cus ev y- 
 body is done dead whar knowed him. But 
 b fo he go, he said, he was gwine 4 lef he 
 mark behine him, and he name dem he 
 gwine lef he mark on." 
 
 The fellow s seriousness testified his truth, 
 and the major listened attentively. 
 
 u He say he gwine lef he mark on you, 
 marster, and Marse Bruce, an on dat ole man " 
 (again indicating the direction beyond the 
 stream), "and de young lady over dyah He 
 
ON NEWFOUND EIVEE. 169 
 
 said he could ketch her, and sometimes when 
 she was out in de woods he was gwine fine 
 her ; an Marse Bruce, he said he d git him ef 
 he hang for it. Dat man s got meanness in 
 him ! " he said again. 
 
 " You heard him say all this ? " said the 
 major, thoughtfully. 
 
 "Yes, suh; an a heap mo , too. I been 
 know him some time." He gave a quick glance 
 at his master. " I been know him ever since 
 dat time he cotch me and fotch me back tied, 
 an you buse him so." (The major looked 
 virtuous.) " He never forgive you for dat," 
 proceeded the negro. "He meet me once 
 arter dat, an ax me didn I warn run away 
 for good. He say whar he come f om de 
 niggers was all free, and had big house and 
 mule like white folks, and ef I d come wid 
 him, he could git me dyah ; dat we could 
 slip off some night, and go like I b longst 
 to him, tell we git whar he live, or somewhar 
 or nother." 
 
 " Ah ! Well, and what ? " 
 
 " I tell him, Nor, I run away enough now. 
 I don warn be no free nigger. I know I ain 
 gwine meek out I b longst to him," he said, 
 with contempt ; " not to dat mean, po white 
 
170 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 man." He thought of the time he had caught 
 and tied him, and of the other occasion when 
 he had had him whipped ; but did not deem 
 it worth while to recall these to his master. 
 " An it good I clidn ; cause dat night I talkin 
 bout, I heah him tellin dat turr man I ain 
 know, bout how he had try to git me to go 
 off wid him, an ef he had, he wuz gwine teck 
 me down to South Cyarliny an sell me. He 
 say he done sole too or three down dyah in 
 he time, an he laughed and tried to git de 
 urr man to go in wid him. Dat man got mean 
 ness in him ! " 
 
 The major was thoroughly attentive. 
 
 " Was that all you heard him say ? " 
 
 "Yes, suh, den," said the negro. "I got 
 skeered de dogs mought git to barkin , an 
 meek him let he gun off an put he mark 
 on me, an I slipped off. He over yonder in 
 de woods now." He nodded over towards 
 the other side of the stream. " I don t 
 know ef he arter Marse Bruce or dat young 
 lady." 
 
 " Go home," said the master, " and don t 
 say anything of this to any one." 
 
 "Yes, suh." 
 
 He went off, and the major rode on. 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 171 
 
 On the way through the fields he met his 
 overseer, who, unfortunately for him, re 
 curred to the conversation of the morning. 
 The major broke out on him : 
 
 " Sell one of my negroes ? No, sir ! I d as 
 soon think of selling you. I don t care how 
 often the fellow runs away. He must have 
 had some cause I don t know about. I d have 
 run away, too." 
 
 This was a deadly thrust at the overseer, 
 who looked dumfounded, and with much 
 humility said something about the major s 
 speech this morning. 
 
 " Well, sir, I never had the least intention 
 of it," he said truly. " I thought you knew 
 me well enough by this time to be able to 
 tell when I mean a thing and when I do 
 not." 
 
 He rode on to the house. As he entered 
 the hall his eyes fell on the portrait of his 
 grandmother as a bride, which hung on the 
 wall. 
 
 " By Jove ! how like her she is ! " he said. 
 " She looks as proud as she was, and she was 
 the proudest woman on earth." 
 
 At that moment Margaret Reid, her pride 
 forgot, was seated on the low porch with her 
 
172 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 head on her arm, where she had flung herself 
 more than an hour before. The basket of 
 wild flowers she had gathered was overturned 
 on the floor beside her, and the flowers lay 
 wilting in the sun. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 WHEN the major arrived at home, the first 
 thing he did was to consult his wife. This 
 he always did whatever the matter might be, 
 though he did not invariably follow her ad 
 vice, an independence he atoned for by 
 being always ready to admit its folly. 
 
 As he came out of the audience chamber, 
 his wife called after him, 
 
 " Let Dick drive them over." 
 
 The major gave her a look of admiration 
 as he passed out of the door. 
 
 A half-hour later Dick Runaway was driv 
 ing out of the gate of the river pasture the 
 two finest milch cows in the major s herd. 
 The major rode down, and joining him, ac 
 companied him to the other side of the river 
 to see the cows safely across. As he turned 
 back he called to the negro, 
 
 "Be sure to remember, you are not to 
 mention who sent them." 
 
 This Dick faithfully engaged not to do; 
 
 173 
 
174 ON NEWFOUND E1VER. 
 
 and the major rode slowly home as he saw 
 him start the cows up the hill, along the old 
 road through the pines. 
 
 Just as he emerged from the woods he was 
 met by Bailiff, his overseer, in a state of great 
 excitement. A negro had found him on some 
 other portion of the plantation, and told him 
 that a man had been seen down in the river 
 pasture actually driving two of the major s 
 cattle out of the field. He was thought to 
 be Dick Runaway. He was following on 
 their tracks in hot haste. 
 
 "You d better sell that nigger, sir," he 
 said earnestly. "He s ruinin every one on 
 this place." 
 
 The major looked quite sheepish. He told 
 the overseer with much embarrassment that 
 he had himself directed Dick to drive the 
 cows over to a neighbor s ; that Mrs. Landon 
 had heard his family was very poor, and 
 wished to relieve them. 
 
 It was this same day, towards the after 
 noon. 
 
 Old Dr. Browne was sitting alone in his 
 room. He had made Margaret get him pen, 
 ink, and paper, and then had sent her out to 
 walk. She had found her mammy getting 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 175 
 
 ready to go after the cows ; and as the old 
 woman was ailing with rheumatism, which 
 she called " a misery in her back," had told 
 her she would go in her place, and with an 
 injunction to her to look after her grand 
 father, had gone off through the pines down 
 towards the pond where the cows usually 
 roamed, sustaining themselves on the coarse 
 pond-grass. 
 
 She had not been gone long when the old 
 woman coming to her door on the way to the 
 house to fulfil Margaret s injunction, saw two 
 cows being let into the yard at the old gate 
 by a negro man. 
 
 With an exclamation of astonishment at 
 the strange sight, she hastened to meet the 
 man at as rapid a pace as her lameness per 
 mitted. 
 
 "Whose cows is dem you got dyah? and 
 what you drivin em thoo heah for? Don t 
 you know marster don t low folks to be 
 drivin stock thoo dis place ? " 
 
 She spoke with some asperity in her voice. 
 It was a little tempered by the sight of the 
 sleek coats and large milky bags of the cows, 
 at which she looked with the eye of a con 
 noisseur. 
 
176 ON NEWFOUND HIVER. 
 
 " Good evenin ," said the man, who 
 was Dick Runaway. " Dey s Dr. Browne s 
 cows." 
 
 " Dem am we cows," said the old woman. 
 " We ain got but two cows, an dee s po er n 
 dem." 
 
 " I cyarn help it," said Dick ; " dese is de 
 doctor s." 
 
 "Don t I know my own cows? Often as I 
 been milked Teensey and Princess ! " She 
 looked scornfully at him. 
 
 " Pears like you don t," said he, with an 
 air of mystery about him ; " cuz I tell you 
 dese is Dr. Browne s cows." 
 
 " Whar he git em, den ? " she asked, rest 
 ing her doubled fists on her hips. 
 
 This was a question Dick was unprepared 
 for. He remembered the major s injunction 
 that he was on no account to say a word as to 
 who sent them. 
 
 "Whar he git em?" he asked vacantly, 
 to gain time whilst he hunted around for 
 a plausible lie. " Whar he git em ? What 
 you got to do wid whar he git em ? I tell 
 you he got em. Ain dat nough for you to 
 know? You better go long an git bucket 
 to milk em, cause milk running out de bags 
 
ON NEWFOUND EIVER. 177 
 
 right now. You am never see no sich cows 
 as dese befo ! " He could not help indulging 
 in a little bragging, and was congratulating 
 himself on his reply. 
 
 "I believe you se done stolt dem cows, 
 and jes tryin to lef em heah to git youself 
 out o trouble, an git we in," said the old lady, 
 suspiciously. 
 
 This completely disarranged Dick s plans 
 and disposed of his complacency. He vowed, 
 with many asseverations, that he had not only 
 come by the cattle honestly, but had been in 
 structed by his master to bring them as a 
 present to Dr. Browne; and he was led 
 into such a glowing description of his mas 
 ter s wealth and grandeur, that before he 
 was half through, the old woman had learned 
 fully all the facts in the case. 
 
 She asked if he had brought a note. Dick, 
 thoroughly humbled, said he had not. So 
 with a sniff at him and his master she 
 accepted the cows without the note, and 
 made Dick drive them down to the "back 
 yard." 
 
 There she dismissed him, with a message of 
 thanks, couched in such language and accom 
 panied by an air of so much condescension, 
 
178 ON XEWFOUXD RIVER. 
 
 that Dick left with a mystified feeling, partly 
 astonishment, and partly awe. 
 
 " Dat ain no po white folks nigger," he 
 said to himself again and again, as he went 
 home. " She talk jes as assumptions as ef 
 she b longst to marster." 
 
 When the old woman had seen Dick well 
 out of sight her whole manner changed. In 
 place of the indifference she had displayed 
 before him, delight beamed from her wrinkled 
 black face, and importance showed in every 
 movement she made. 
 
 After she had first secured and made friends 
 with the two cows, and milked them a little 
 to satisfy herself, she went into the house to 
 acquaint her master with the important news. 
 Her eager manner, however, was put off, like 
 a garment, at his door, and when she entered 
 his chamber she was as quiet, and apparently 
 as calm, as usual. 
 
 The old gentleman was lying back in his 
 chair, with his eyes closed. His pen was in 
 his hand and his paper was on his knee. She 
 thought he was asleep, and was retiring, when 
 he spoke her name. 
 
 "Clarissa?" 
 
 "Sir?" 
 
ON NEWFOUND E1VEE. 179 
 
 "Come here." 
 
 She obeyed, and stood silent near his chair. 
 
 " Where is your mistress ? " he asked. 
 
 " She gone arter de cows. She would go, 
 suh ; I couldn Lender her." 
 
 He closed his eyes again and kept them 
 shut. She remained motionless. 
 
 " That young man, ah young Mr. Lan- 
 don, over the other side of the river, ah 
 you have seen him over on this side ? " 
 
 " Yes, suh." 
 
 "Ah! How often?" He put the ques 
 tions very slowly, and as if they fell between 
 his thoughts. 
 
 " I ain never see him but once, suh, not to 
 speak to," she said ; " but he comes over heah 
 right constant. He pears to be mighty foil 
 o fishing over heah, dthough I don think he 
 ketches much." 
 
 " What sort of a young man ah what 
 does he seem to be doing when he isn t catch 
 ing fish?" 
 
 " He pears to me, marster, to be kind o 
 trompin up an down. He ain arter fish, 
 marster; he s arter my mistis, my lamb," she 
 broke out suddenly. 
 
 Her master made no reply, but he opened 
 
180 OJV NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 his eyes and looked at her without moving. 
 Her tongue being loosed, she went on to tell 
 him all she knew of Bruce, who she declared 
 appeared to her to be " a mighty nice disposed 
 gent man." She instanced his going to drive 
 the cows back the day they went across the 
 river. 
 
 " I am getting very old and feeble," said 
 her master, when she paused after her ac 
 count. " I think I shall write a will. I had 
 not intended to do so, but I think now I shall. 
 I wish you to know where it is if anything 
 should happen." 
 
 She said, 
 
 " Yes, suh." 
 
 Then she proceeded to tell of the present 
 of the two cows, which she attributed to 
 Bruce. 
 
 This piece of news had a very different 
 effect on the old gentleman from that which 
 she expected. It threw him into a violent 
 passion. He declared that he would not sub 
 mit to such insolence, and directed that the 
 cows should be forthwith driven home. He 
 would write a note. No ; no note had been 
 sent with them ; none should go back with 
 them, but a message to Major Landon to say 
 
ON NEWFOUND EIVER. 181 
 
 that he had cows of his own, and wanted 
 neither his cows nor his interference. 
 
 The cows accordingly reappeared that even 
 ing at the Landon Hall barn, with a message 
 which had lost none of its vigor by transmis 
 sion through either old Folium or the over 
 seer to whom he delivered it. After receiving 
 it the major burnt at white heat ; even Mrs. 
 Landon s soothing influence having no effect 
 on him. 
 
 When, after having started the cows home 
 in her husband s charge, the old woman re 
 turned to her master, as he instructed her to 
 do, he was just folding up the paper which 
 he had written. He made her light a candle 
 and bring a piece of sealing-wax, and with it 
 he sealed the document carefully, using a 
 large seal containing a crest, which he had 
 on his watch chain. Then he endorsed it 
 with the words: 
 
 " Statement and Will of him known as Thomas 
 Browne, M.D., of Landon Hill. Written wholly with 
 his own Hand. To be opened only after his Death." 
 
 This paper he gave to the old woman and 
 directed her where to place it in a drawer in 
 an old desk in the corner, explaining to her 
 
182 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 with great care what it was, and impressing 
 on her its importance in event of his death 
 at any time. She promised, with an earnest 
 ness which satisfied him, that it should be 
 preserved and produced, and with a wave of 
 his hand he dismissed her. 
 
 As she disappeared, he sank back on his 
 pillow, and his eyes closed. 
 
 " It was her due," he said to himself wea 
 rily. " I had not intended it ; but it was her 
 due. I have sacrificed everything, even her, 
 to what I deemed my expiation, and perhaps 
 after all it was but my pride. It has been my 
 curse all my life. I will not sacrifice her fur 
 ther. It shall not pursue her after my death. 
 I will make the amend to her. I will hum 
 ble them. Humble them ! " he repeated. 
 " There it is again ! God forgive me ! it 
 comes up even in my best action. It has 
 ruined my life ! blasted all it has touched ! 
 made me an outcast ! left her a beggar ! " 
 
 He leaned back with an expression of 
 unutterable weariness on his gray face. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 MARGARET was looking for the cows down 
 in the old pine-grown field on the river. She 
 had wanted the walk ; wanted anything that 
 would take her out of herself. 
 
 The time that had passed since her inter 
 view with Major Landon had been new to 
 her ; her life had been different. Why had 
 he come to see her ? Did Bruce Landon love 
 her? He had never himself intimated it. 
 And had she not promised that she would 
 not marry him? Given her word, which shut 
 him out from her forever ! Would she 
 could she marry him against the will of that 
 hard, cruel father of his, with his thin, proud 
 face and his cold words? How dare he to 
 speak so to her ! How dare he come to her 
 at all ! It was an insult. She, poor as she 
 was, would humble his pride. Her grand 
 father was better than he. She would show 
 him that she, too, was proud. And even 
 as she walked along the well-known paths 
 
 183 
 
184 O.V NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 through the pines, she at the thought held 
 her head erect and stepped with an offended 
 mien. But there it came again : the picture 
 of the handsome, calm, white face upturned, 
 with the eyes closed and the lashes on his 
 cheek, just as he had lain on the floor at her 
 feet that evening when she thought he was 
 dead, murdered by that ruffian. Why could 
 she not forget it ? Why had her heart stopped 
 beating, and then leaped into her throat ? She 
 had thought of him as he lay that afternoon 
 so long ago, asleep on his arm under the great 
 poplar with the sunbeams on his beautiful, 
 upturned face, as she had kissed him for the 
 fairy prince to bring him to life. Why had 
 she longed so to throw herself beside him as 
 he lay that night on the floor, and die with 
 him? Why had she thought of him all these 
 years ? why had she ever seen him ? Was he 
 not infinitely beyond her ? Besides, had she 
 not promised not to marry him, never to 
 marry him? 
 
 She clenched her slender hands as she 
 walked along, and pressed the nails into 
 her pink palms till they hurt. 
 
 She could see or hear nothing of the cows 
 along the branch where they could usually 
 
ON NEWFOUND EIVEE. 185 
 
 be found, so she went on towards the river, 
 thinking they might be there. She had 
 walked that path a thousand times, yet she 
 now thought only of the occasions when she 
 had met Bruce Landon. She would never 
 see him again; for his cruel, hard father 
 would tell him what she had said. He would 
 be angry with her for refusing to marry him 
 when he had never even said a word to her. 
 She pictured to herself his indignation when 
 his father should inform him of her prom 
 ise. What right had she to assume that he 
 wanted to marry her? She did not know 
 even that he loved her. He would go away 
 and stay another eight years ; he would 
 never come back. She would not marry 
 him if he did. 
 
 She stopped to listen, trying to think it 
 was for the cow-bells ; but the sorrowful notes 
 of a dove s " Coo-coo-oo, Coo-oo-oo " on some 
 dead limb deep in the pines were the only 
 sound she heard, and they made the silence 
 and loneliness more oppressive. 
 
 She turned and went towards the big 
 spring at the foot of the great poplar. 
 
 Was it to find the cows ? 
 
 She had almost reached the spring, when, 
 
186 OJV NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 at a turn in the path, she came face to face 
 with a man. 
 
 Her,heart leaped into her throat with fear ; 
 for she recognized at once the burly figure, 
 the coarse, bloated face crossed by the deep 
 red mark which had given his name to Poke- 
 berry Green. He had in his hand his gun. 
 He broke into a coarse laugh as he observed 
 the start she gave. 
 
 "So you were lookin fer me, my pretty 
 lady," he said with a leer, resting his gun on 
 the ground, and standing in the middle of 
 the narrow path. " I m havin luck to-day." 
 
 "Good evening; I was looking for my 
 cows," said Margaret .in as calm a voice as 
 she could command, moving out of the path 
 to let him get by. 
 
 " Lookin fer the cows ; en warn you 
 lookin fer nothin else ? Well, now, maybe 
 I ll help you look fer em. Pleasant to find 
 comp ny in a lonesome place onexpected, 
 am it? Kind o lonesome place down here 
 on the river ? " The fellow laughed amusedly 
 at the girl s frightened look. 
 
 "Let me pass, please," she said coldly, 
 moving to go by him. 
 
 " Oh, don" be in sich a hurry," he drawled. 
 
ON NEWFOUND EIVEE. 187 
 
 " We ain met in a long time, not to talk, 
 though I ve seen you often. I wuz lookin 
 fer somehody, something else besides you, an 
 not ixpectin to fine sich pretty game, sich a 
 pretty little duck, and I cain bear to give 
 you up. Don frown that wa}^; tain be- 
 comin to sich a pretty face. Cain you smile 
 a little on Poke ? " 
 
 " Let me by, sir ; don t you dare to speak 
 to me ! " said Margaret, raising her head de 
 fiantly and looking at the ruffian with flash 
 ing eyes. 
 
 He was somewhat abashed, and changed 
 his drawling tone ; but as she moved, he 
 seized her by the wrist. 
 
 " You vixen ! " he growled ; " I ve got you 
 now ; I have been waiting fer you." 
 
 Margaret was naturally wiry, and fear and 
 anger together gave her unwonted strength. 
 With a cry of anguish and fright, she 
 wrenched her arm from his grasp, lacerating 
 the wrist, and springing forward fled like a 
 frightened deer down the path. 
 
 "Ah! That s your game?" laughed the 
 ruffian, running after her. " You are worth 
 catching. Stop, or I ll shoot." 
 
 Margaret fled the faster. 
 
188 O.V NEWFOUND 1UVER. 
 
 He was overtaking her when he suddenly 
 stopped, and turned his head, and listened; 
 for a shout was heard down the path a short 
 distance ahead, and the sound of a man s 
 footsteps rushing towards them. Pokeberry 
 sprang into the bushes and dashed away, just 
 as Margaret rushed into the arms of Bruce 
 Landon. 
 
 "Oh, Bruce, Bruce!" she cried. 
 
 The next instant she was weeping hysteri 
 cally, and his strong arms were about her. 
 
 When the delirium had passed, Margaret 
 found herself sitting on the great rock by the 
 spring. Bruce was beside her, and his arm 
 was around her. Then she remembered. 
 She remembered how she had clung to him ; 
 how she had loved him ; how safe she had 
 felt in his arms, as if he alone could shield 
 and save her ; how he had soothed her, calmed 
 her, comforted her ; how furious he had been 
 with the ruffian who had insulted her; and 
 how he would have followed him and caught 
 him, and, she believed, have killed him, but 
 for her clinging to him, and telling him that 
 she would die if he left her there ; then how 
 he had kissed her and told her of his love ; 
 and how, with her face against his, she had 
 
OJV NEW FOUND RIVER. 189 
 
 told him that she loved him ; and how she 
 could willingly have died there in his arms. 
 All this she now, for the first time, remem 
 bered. 
 
 Her head was on his shoulder, and his arm 
 was around her, and she rested with a sense 
 of such perfect security and happiness that 
 when the recollection of the promise to his 
 father came suddenly to her it smote her 
 like the shock of death. She could not 
 act. She could not give him up. Stronger 
 and stronger, however, came the recollec 
 tion of her position and of the humiliation 
 which Major Landon had placed on her, 
 on her and on her grandfather. She 
 thought of the old gentleman sitting lonely 
 in his armchair in the bare room at home. 
 She thought of his patience, of his kindness, 
 and of his pride. What a blow it would be 
 to him to know it ! She opened her eyes and 
 gazed straight before her for a moment, think 
 ing it all over. 
 
 Suddenly she sprang up with a movement 
 so unexpected that Bruce started, and gazed 
 about him, supposing some one was approach 
 ing. 
 
 Margaret looked at him, her lips half 
 
190 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 formed for speech. An expression of deep 
 anxiety had taken the place of the look of 
 perfect content which had made her face so 
 sweet. 
 
 "Well, what is it?" Bruce reached out 
 his hand to her, with a smile, and then rose 
 to take her again in his arms. 
 
 "No; I cannot. I have been wrong. I 
 cannot marry you, ever, and I have no right 
 to love you ; it is impossible. No." She 
 backed away with a gesture of refusal, as 
 Bruce caught her, and with the smile still on 
 his lips, attempted to put his arm around her. 
 Her face was perfectly grave, and the happi 
 ness was dying slowly from it. 
 
 "What are you talking about?" he asked. 
 
 " Oh ! I cannot. No " (as he tried to draw 
 her to him), " no. Oh, why did I ever see 
 you ? Why did you ever come here ? " She 
 looked at him piteously, as if she asked the 
 question to receive an answer. " Why did 
 you ever come here ? " she repeated. 
 
 " I came because I loved you ; because you 
 are my soul ; because God drove me here. 
 I would have found you in a desert had you 
 been there," declared Bruce, vehemently, 
 catching her, and drawing her firmly up to 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 191 
 
 him. She put up her hands, and placing 
 them on his shoulders, held him at arms 
 length. 
 
 "No; you must not. I cannot; indeed I 
 cannot. I was wild, insane ; it is impossible. 
 I cannot love you." She kept him from her 
 by an effort of strength. 
 
 " But you do love me ; you said you did." 
 
 " No ; I was wrong. You cannot love me." 
 
 " But I can, and I do, better than earth, 
 better than heaven," declared Bruce, catch 
 ing and holding her by her arms. 
 
 " No ; you have no right to do it. I am 
 nothing but an unknown, poor girl. I know 
 nothing ; I have seen nothing. You are 
 Bruce Landon. Your father " 
 
 He would have interrupted her, but she 
 would not permit him. 
 
 " Your mother " 
 
 "My mother is an angel," declared the 
 young man, rejoiced to find one point he 
 could combat. 
 
 Her eyes softened, and she wavered. 
 
 " Is she ? What is she like ? " 
 
 Bruce seized the opportunity. 
 
 " She is an angel," he repeated earnestly. 
 "She is as beautiful in character and mind 
 
192 ON NEIVFOUXD RIVE1L 
 
 as she is in person, and she is the most beau 
 tiful woman in the world. One of the two 
 most beautiful," he added, his admiration 
 showing in his eyes. " My mother would 
 adore you, and you her," he said. 
 
 She sighed. But the thought of her grand 
 father came back to her ; of him sitting alone 
 in his room. Then the thought of Major 
 Landon came, as he had sat on his handsome 
 horse, looking over her head, and asking her 
 to " take a message to the young woman 
 there, Dr. Browne s granddaughter Miss 
 Browne, or whatever her name was." A hot 
 w r ave of shame swept over her. It was an 
 insult. 
 
 With an effort she suddenly released her 
 self from Bruce s grasp. 
 
 " It is impossible," she said in a changed 
 voice. " I can never marry you." 
 
 " But I don t understand? " broke in Bruce. 
 " You have told me that you love me." 
 
 " No ; I was wrong ; I do not. I cannot. 
 Your father I will not marry you." 
 
 " My father has nothing to do with me," 
 declared Bruce. " I love you. I have loved 
 you all my life ever since you were a 
 little girl, and I waked and found you at 
 
02V NEWFOUND EIVEE. 193 
 
 my side." He caught her hand and held it 
 fast. 
 
 "You have never been to see my grand 
 father. I will never marry I will never 
 love any one without his approval his full 
 approval," she said, faltering, her resolution 
 waning. 
 
 " But I will get it," he said eagerly. " I 
 asked you to let me go and see him, and you 
 would not; you remember?" 
 
 " Yes ; but you should have gone, anyhow," 
 she said weakly, driven from her position. 
 
 "I will go now. Come." 
 
 He started to turn, drawing her with him. 
 His face was eager with determination. 
 
 " No ; you are so hasty," she said, weaken 
 ing before his decision. 
 
 " Ah ! you are just teasing me ! " exclaimed 
 Bruce. He caught her, and, breaking down 
 the barrier of her arms, kissed her almost 
 violently. 
 
 She remained quiet in his arms a moment, 
 and then tried to free herself again. 
 
 " You must listen. You must not kiss me. 
 I will not love you." 
 
 "I will kiss you. I will not listen. You 
 shall love me ! " He kissed her again. 
 
194 CLV NEWFOUND 1UVEU. 
 
 " I am not teasing you," she said gravely, 
 as he smiled down into her eyes. " You must 
 go away, and not come here any more." 
 
 " I will not go away. I tell you now, I 
 will not," said Bruce. "You have given 
 yourself to me ; you have opened the gates 
 of heaven to me, and you shall not shut them ; 
 no one shall." He kissed her again. " You 
 love me, don t you ? Tell me." 
 
 " Yes ; I do." 
 
 " Then you will marry me." 
 
 " No ; I cannot. I will not. I have prom 
 ised- She stopped. 
 
 " Promised whom?" A sudden pang of 
 jealousy shot through him. 
 
 "I cannot tell." 
 
 " You shall ; you must." He seized her, 
 and looked into her eyes. " You must tell 
 me." 
 
 She was unable to resist him. His face 
 was so close to hers, his eager gaze fascinated 
 her. His will dominated her will. She felt 
 that his word was a command which she 
 could not disobey. 
 
 "Tell me," he repeated quietly; "whom 
 have you promised ? " 
 
 " Your father." She looked him in the 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 195 
 
 eyes, and spoke the words in a low voice, 
 almost timidly. 
 
 " My father ! When did you see him ? " 
 " Yesterday ; he came yesterday, and I 
 promised him." She looked at him humbly, 
 almost fearfully. 
 
 " Well ; you shall unpromise him. He 
 shall release you," he said, after a pause, 
 quietly, but with absolute confidence ; and, 
 for the first time, she looked down. And she 
 let him put his arm around her, and draw 
 her to him ; and quietly laid her head on his 
 shoulder. She felt that he had taken charge 
 of the matter, and lifted the responsibility 
 from her. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 WHEN Bruce left her he had obtained 
 from her a promise that she would meet him 
 at the spring the following evening at sunset. 
 His father was absent from home, but was to 
 return in the morning, when he would extort 
 from him a full release, and absolute permis 
 sion for him to claim the fulfilment of her 
 promise. He had no doubt that he would 
 secure these, and she had suddenly learned 
 to take her views from him. She wondered 
 how she could ever have doubted him. " He 
 had won her. She imposed these two condi 
 tions, that he should bring his father s release 
 from her pledge, and win her grandfather s 
 consent. He walked with her to the top of 
 the hill, and then bade her good by. He 
 went over, word by word, all he had told her 
 of his love. He would die for her. 
 
 When he left her, the last glimpse she had 
 of him was as he turned again to kiss his 
 hand to her. 
 196 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 197 
 
 " I love you," she heard him call. He was 
 clearly outlined against a bit of blue evening 
 sky in a break of the trees, tall and straight, 
 and as she looked back at him she felt that 
 he was her master. 
 
 When Bruce arrived at home, he found, as 
 he expected, that his father was not there. 
 The major had gone to the court-house, some 
 twenty-five miles away, to appear before the 
 grand jury. He had determined to have 
 the jury present Pokeberry, and, perhaps, the 
 other rioters who had attacked Dr. Browne s 
 house. Not that the old creature ought not to 
 be driven out, he explained, but that was not 
 the way to do it. Perhaps, he might present 
 him, too. But he would not have a gang of 
 drunken blackguards trespassing on private 
 property, and attacking a man in his own 
 house. It was an outrage on the Common 
 wealth. Besides, he would no longer submit to 
 such a scoundrel going unwhipped of justice. 
 
 After all, deep down in his heart was the 
 fear that the ruffian might do Bruce an 
 injury. He knew how, even from Bruce s 
 boyhood, there had been a mortal hatred 
 between them; and, of course, since Bruce 
 had foiled him in his attack on Dr. Browne, 
 
198 O.V XEU FOUND RIVER. 
 
 the ruffian liad a new grudge against him, 
 and the boy was always going where the 
 scoundrel might easily waylay him. If any 
 thing should happen to Bruce, what should 
 he do? The thought made him tremble. 
 Under all his sternness, he loved his son 
 passionately. He was his pride, his idol. 
 
 He did not return until the following after 
 noon. He was in high good humor. 
 
 Just after his arrival, Bruce found him in 
 the library. He greeted him pleasantly. 
 
 " Come in. Well, sir, I have at last set 
 the law in motion, and I think we shall be 
 rid of that ruffian Pokel>erry for a little while 
 at least," he began. u Hall will have him by 
 to-morrow night." 
 
 Bruce, however, was too impatient to de 
 lay longer the subject which engrossed his 
 thoughts. He merely acknowledged the 
 speech with a bow, and at once demanded 
 a release of the promise the old gentleman 
 had obtained from Miss Reid. In a moment 
 there was an explosion. The serenity in 
 which the major returned after having ac 
 complished his purpose at the court-house 
 gave way to a passion of anger, and he raged 
 over Bruce s revolt. 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 199 
 
 He positively refused. The young man, 
 however, sobered by his love for Margaret, 
 or by the gravity of the step he was tak 
 ing, remained cool, and iirmly demanded the 
 release. 
 
 " May I ask, sir, what you. propose to sup 
 port this young woman on?" inquired the 
 major, with an exasperating manner. 
 
 "Indeed, sir, I have not considered that 
 matter," replied Bruce, disdainfully. "It is 
 one which I think only concerns her and 
 me." 
 
 " It concerns you rather closely. I think 
 you had better consider it. You are not 
 counting, I hope, on my generosity." 
 
 " I never count on your generosity," re 
 plied the young man, with a serenity which 
 stung the major. " I might count on your 
 charity ; but never on your generosity." 
 
 " You are presuming on my charity now," 
 said the major, sternly. 
 
 "When I found that you had taken the 
 trouble to go, before I had even declared my 
 love for the young lady," said Bruce, " and 
 had exacted a promise from her to reject 
 my addresses when they should be made, I 
 could do no less than arrange to have her 
 
200 ON NEWFOUND KIVEE. 
 
 released, so that at least she might be free to 
 act ; and I thought it would be indelicate to 
 discuss any other matters. As you secured 
 from her a rejection of me when I was the 
 prospective heir to your opulence, I hardly 
 imagine the loss of that honor will add 
 greatly to the danger of my refusal." 
 
 "Bruce," said the major, making an effort to 
 remain cool, " consider carefully what you are 
 doing. If you marry that young woman " 
 He paused under the stress of his feelings. 
 "If you but ask her to marry you " He 
 paused again, unwilling to complete the 
 threat; for Bruce straightened himself, and 
 looked him full in the eyes. 
 
 " I have asked her to marry me," he said ; 
 " I love her, and I will marry her against both 
 heaven and hell." 
 
 He suddenly broke out, and passionately 
 demanded a release of the promise she had 
 given. 
 
 The major rose from his chair. 
 
 "Take it, and convey it to her with my 
 compliments," he said, standing straight and 
 white, waving his hand to the door. " And 
 marry her, and sink down to her level, a 
 shame and disgrace to your name. Leave 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 201 
 
 the house, and, after you marry that woman, 
 never come into my presence again." 
 
 Bruce s breast heaved. His face was deadly 
 white, and his hands were clenched. 
 
 " No other man on God s earth should speak 
 to me so and live. I accept your release and 
 your condition," he said almost quietly, look 
 ing his father fearlessly in the face. Then 
 he turned and went out. 
 
 It was late when Bruce reached the old 
 spring where he was to meet Margaret. The 
 deep quietude of the summer afternoon filled 
 the woods. Bruce dropped down at the foot 
 of the old poplar, and leaned back against it 
 as he had done so often before. He was 
 waiting for Margaret his Margaret. 
 
 A deep happiness filled his breast, driving 
 out all thought of the stormy scene with his 
 father. The pain it caused him had passed 
 away. Perhaps his mother could help him ; 
 at least, she would never forsake him. How 
 ever thoughts of them might recur hereafter, 
 there was no place for them in his heart now. 
 His memory was too full of Margaret Mar 
 garet who belonged to him Margaret who 
 was his life. As he half sat, half reclined, on 
 the ground, with the back of his head against 
 
202 ON NEWFOUND BIVER. 
 
 the tree-trunk, lie thought of the first time he 
 had ever seen her. It was on that very spot. 
 He had opened his eyes, and she had sat by 
 his side. There was the sky he remembered 
 as he dropped off to sleep; there were the 
 same soft sounds, the woodwren in the alders 
 below, the call of the ploughmen across the 
 pond to their teams ; the same cow-bells 
 brokenly chiming far up the pond. It made 
 him drowsy, and he let his eyes close, and 
 thought of Margaret. He dreamed he heard 
 Margaret coming nearer, nearer, and then 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 ALL day Margaret had gone about as in a 
 dream. She seemed to have found a new 
 world. 
 
 The sun was almost down when she slipped 
 softly out of her room, and, gliding across 
 the little space in the rear of the house, 
 which was still kept clear for a yard, entered 
 the wood by the old path which led down 
 to the spring. The sun-rays came slanting 
 through the trees. It was later than she sup 
 posed. She had not intended to be so late, 
 but the time had slipped away. She wanted 
 to look to look right, and it had taken 
 longer than she thought. The old dresses 
 were hard to choose between, and then it 
 took so long to fix exactly, the one she 
 selected ; the little glass was so small. And 
 now suppose any one should see her? Mammy 
 would not matter; but if her grandfather 
 should hear her and call ? At last, however, 
 she was safe. 
 
 203 
 
204 ON NEWFOUND 1UVEE. 
 
 Had any one seen her as she passed, trip 
 ping 1 down along the shady path, he would 
 indeed have been astonished. The dress that 
 she had selected was an old lawn, an em 
 pire dress, as soft as feathers, and as light, 
 faded by age to a tint which just left the rose- 
 sprays visible like shadows of roses which 
 had once lain on the delicate white. The 
 waist was short, and the skirt loosely flowing, 
 showing the little high-heeled slippers, and a 
 hint of the dainty ankle. The white throat 
 and shapely neck showed above the low col 
 lar. It was the dress she had worn that night 
 when he was wounded. What would he 
 think of her? She felt that she knew. 
 
 She was startled, as she came in sight of 
 the spring, to see a man disappear in the 
 bushes. She was sure it was that Pokeberry 
 Green. She stopped, but at the same mo 
 ment she caught sight of Bruce lying on the 
 other side of the tree, and instantly all her 
 fear disappeared. His presence filled every 
 place with safety. The man had evidently 
 seen him, and had run away. She stood still 
 and waited, to give whoever it was time to 
 get well out of hearing before going further. 
 Then she tripped on. 
 
ON NEWFOUND EIVEE. 205 
 
 Bruce did not stir. Ah ! he was asleep. 
 
 She would trip up and catch him, and sur 
 prise him. She remembered that time so long 
 ago when she had found him lying there. She 
 had kissed him then. A blush came to her 
 cheeks as she remembered it. She would 
 not now. She would just catch him by put 
 ting her hands over his eyes. She tripped up 
 softly, keeping the tree between them, and 
 kneeling down, put her hands around and 
 over his face. 
 
 Why, it was wet ; he was crying ! 
 
 She looked. 
 
 Good God ! he was covered with blood ! 
 He was dead ! 
 
 She sprang to her feet with a shriek which 
 reached the ploughmen turning their slow 
 mules at the end of the furrows the other 
 side of the pond, and made them stop and 
 listen, and which fell on the ears of the heavy 
 man with the ugly scar on his neck, hurrying 
 off through the pines with muttered oaths, 
 and made him quicken his pace to a run. 
 
 In a flash she had taken it in. Pokeberry, 
 that man she had seen, had murdered him. 
 But he could not be dead. She laid his head 
 gently down. She knew this was the way 
 
206 ON N E W FOUND EIVER. 
 
 to do when one fainted. She felt his wrist ; 
 tore open his collar; felt his heart; ran to 
 the spring, and dipping her handkerchief in, 
 ran back and bathed his white face, washing 
 the clotted blood from it, and from his hair. 
 There was the place, a great, ugly gash on 
 the head, over the eyes, as if he had been 
 struck with a club or a hammer. 
 
 " Bruce ! Bruce ! " she called him. 
 
 No, he was dead. 
 
 She sat down and took his head in her lap. 
 She was calm now, as calm as he was, and he 
 was calm forever. He was hers now. She 
 bent over and kissed him, thinking quite 
 calmly of the first time she had kissed him 
 when he lay there. She almost expected him 
 to wake now as he had done then. Anyhow, 
 he was hers. The blood still flowed a little. 
 She tore a strip from her dress and bound up 
 his head and stopped the flow. Then she 
 stood up. What should she do? Her grand 
 father and Uncle Folium were both crippled 
 and unable to walk, and mammy was away ; 
 gone after the cows. 
 
 The nearest place at which she could get 
 help, W as, yes, she must go there. He 
 had, she knew, crossed in a boat. She could 
 
07V NEWFOUND EIVER. 207 
 
 carry him, she felt so strong ; but that might 
 start the bleeding again, and he might not 
 be dead, please God, he might not ! Her 
 hopes revived. She felt his pulse, his heart 
 again, and then she dashed off. 
 
 It was not quite dusk in the great hall at 
 Landon Hall. The major was striding up 
 and down, justifying himself to his wife for 
 his treatment of Bruce. He had, in his anger 
 and wounded pride, said hard things about 
 him, and Mrs. Landon had been weeping. 
 He still felt bitter towards him, but not so 
 bitter as he had felt at first. He was, how 
 ever, still saying hard things about him, for 
 his pride was wounded. Bruce had beaten 
 him, had defied him, foiled him, overpowered 
 him. No, he did not care, and he said so, his 
 anger rising again against him. 
 
 " No ; I don t care if he never enters that 
 door again ; he shall never enter it with her," 
 he was saying, when there was a sound out 
 side : a sound of hurrying steps ; some one 
 ran up the gravel walk, sprang across the 
 veranda, and seizing the knob, turned it 
 hastily, first the wrong way and then the 
 right ; the great door flew open, and an appa 
 rition faced him. 
 
208 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 A young girl in a light dress, her hair 
 dishevelled, her face deadly white, her eyes 
 wild, her hands outstretched covered with 
 blood, stood before him. 
 
 Mrs. Landon gave a cry. 
 
 " In the name of God ! what is it ? " ex 
 claimed the major. 
 
 " He is dead ! Murdered ! " she gasped. 
 
 "Where? How? Who?" 
 
 " Bruce, your son, murdered at the 
 spring ! Dead ! " 
 
 She swayed, as if about to fall. 
 
 " Good God ! " The major caught her and 
 held her in his arms. 
 
 "Brandy!" he called; "brandy, quick!" 
 It was brought by Mrs. Landon, and he 
 poured some down Margaret s throat and 
 revived her. She staggered to her feet. 
 " Come, quick, for God s sake ! It may not 
 be too late. Come ! " She pulled him to 
 the door. 
 
 It was quite dark when they reached him. 
 He was still lying as Margaret had left him, 
 outstretched, motionless, unconscious. They 
 carried him to the old doctor s, as the nearest 
 place, and because Margaret ordered it. She 
 had taken charge. Her grandfather might 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 209 
 
 save him, she said. Once more she had be 
 come calm. 
 
 He was borne in and laid in her room, on 
 her bed, where he had lain that night after he 
 was wounded. 
 
 She had run forward and warned her grand 
 father, and when the men arrived, they met 
 them, and she led them in in the dark. A 
 candle was brought. 
 
 The old surgeon leaned over the body and 
 began his examination. 
 
 "Brandy," he said. Some one handed it 
 to him, and he poured a little between his 
 lips. 
 
 " He is living," he murmured. 
 
 Margaret sank down on the floor in a heap. 
 
 They picked her up, and in a little while 
 she revived and went out of the room. 
 
 A short time afterwards there was a knock 
 at the outer door. 
 
 It was Mrs. Landon, who had come over on 
 horseback, around the head of the pond. The 
 major went to meet her. She came in, her 
 face deadly white, and fell on her knees 
 silently beside the bed. She looked at no 
 one ; but, pressing her face against her son s 
 arm, uttered a low moaning sound. 
 
210 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 " There is no fracture," said the old sur 
 geon, gently. 
 
 She made no answer. She only moved 
 slightly and placed her hand on Bruce s hair. 
 
 The doctor uttered another sentence or two 
 of encouragement, and went out to get some 
 article. In a little while Margaret brought 
 it in. Major Landon had meantime stepped 
 out of the room, and Mrs. Landon was alone 
 with her son. She was still on her knees 
 beside him, but she rose as Margaret entered. 
 Margaret set the glass down and turned to 
 leave. As she did so she glanced up. Mrs. 
 Landon was looking at her, and their eyes 
 met. The girl s eyes fell, and she stood still 
 with her head bowed humbly. 
 
 " I know all," said Mrs. Landon, gently. 
 
 At the sound of her low voice Margaret 
 caught her hand, and, raising it, kissed it. It 
 was an act of obeisance. She looked up, and 
 in an instant the two women were in each 
 other s arms. 
 
 It was an hour afterwards when the old 
 doctor left Bruce s side again and went to his 
 own room. Margaret followed him. A mo 
 ment later the door opened, and the major 
 entered without warning. 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 211 
 
 The old man turned to him. It was the 
 first time he had faced him. He was dressed 
 in an old wrapper, and wore a black skull 
 cap, from under which his long white hair 
 fell down to his shoulders. He raised his 
 head as the major entered, and gave him an 
 almost fierce look from his piercing eyes. 
 
 " In God s name who are you ? " demanded 
 the major. 
 
 The old man half turned away. 
 
 " What is that to you ? " he said, in his 
 deep voice. "Have I ever wronged you? 
 ever interfered with you? ever asked of you 
 a favor ? ever demanded of you a right ? Let 
 me alone. Go back to your son. He will 
 get well. Take him home when he is well 
 enough, and keep him there." He turned his 
 back. 
 
 " No," said the major, who had never taken 
 his eyes from his face. " By ! you shall 
 tell me who you are." He caught him by 
 the arm almost fiercely, and turned him to 
 the light. 
 
 " What is your name ? " 
 
 " I have no name ; my name is dead," said 
 the old surgeon, with emotion. He moved 
 away, then suddenly turned back and, catch- 
 
212 ON NEWFOUND 1UVEE. 
 
 ing Margaret who, with wide eyes was stand 
 ing near him, her burning gaze on his face, 
 he pulled her forward. 
 
 " I have no name ; I am no one ; but this 
 child has a name and blood as good as yours, 
 Major Landon. She is Charles Landon s 
 great-granddaughter." He put her half be 
 fore him. 
 
 " Good God ! " exclaimed the major. 
 
 He sprang forward and took the old sur 
 geon in his arms. He embraced him almost 
 fiercely again and again. 
 
 " Brother ! " he said, with deep emotion. 
 " My brother, my dear brother, my own 
 brother ! " His voice sounded like a caress. 
 He released him and caught him again, say 
 ing. 
 
 " My dear, dear brother ! " 
 
 Both men were weeping. The old doctor 
 was completely overcome. His head sank, 
 and his sobs were audible. Presently the 
 major let him go. 
 
 Margaret was standing by, deeply moved. 
 She stepped to her grandfather s side. 
 
 " Oli, grandfather ! " she said, putting her 
 arms about him. 
 
 When she let him go, the major turned 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 213 
 
 to her with grave courtesy, almost hu 
 mility. 
 
 " I do not ask your pardon," he said. He 
 took her hand, and, raising it, kissed it. It 
 was an act of homage such as he had never 
 before in all his life paid any other woman 
 but his wife. "But I ask your leave to thank 
 you for my son s life. I owe you everything. 
 He and all I have are yours. I only ask that 
 you will believe that I loved him better than 
 all the world. He is wiser than I. I owe 
 you his life." 
 
 Margaret flung herself into his arms and 
 wept on his shoulder. 
 
 " I loved him so," she sobbed. 
 
 " He loved you also," he said, soothing her 
 tenderly. 
 
CHAPTER XXL 
 
 WHILST Bruce was lying thus unconscious 
 between life and death, his would-be murderer 
 was fleeing for his life. His attack on Bruce 
 had put the neighborhood in a turmoil. Never 
 had there been such excitement on Newfound. 
 A hue and cry had been raised, and the whole 
 district was out scouring the country for the 
 murderer. Sam Mills took his old, long gun 
 from the forks over his door, and without 
 more than a word or two, but with an ugly 
 glitter in his eyes, struck out for the woods. 
 Squire Johnson, his old opposition and pom 
 posity alike forgotten, had issued the warrant, 
 and forthwith joined in the chase. Little 
 Hall, forgetting his official formula about 
 " the posse," enlisted the men, as he galloped 
 from house to house, by simply calling to 
 them to "git their guns and come on with 
 me and Sam; Pokeberry s done murdered 
 that boy, Bruce Landon." 
 
 It was a sympathetic people, slow to catch; 
 214 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 215 
 
 but when ignited, going up all together like 
 powder. 
 
 The whole country was out, and the gen 
 eral sentiment was that when the murderer 
 should be caught, it would be useless to wait 
 for a trial ; a simple waste of time. Indeed, in 
 every squad of men, one, at least, had a " plough- 
 line " hanging on his arm, ready for use. 
 
 The neighborhood was scoured. 
 
 Yet, after twenty-four hours, no trace of 
 him had been found. Many thought he had 
 escaped and gone off " back up whar he come 
 from." He had been saying, for some time, 
 he was going to do so. The miserable cabin 
 where he had lived was deserted, and the 
 two little hounds were found inside ; one 
 dead on the floor, with its brains dashed out, 
 the other, with an ugly gash in its head, 
 where it had evidently been struck with the 
 same intent. This was regarded as positive 
 proof that Pokeberry had fled the country ; 
 and when the roads had been picketed and 
 the woods scoured for twenty-four hours, 
 many of the pursuers gave up and returned 
 home. Little Hall, however, with the sheriff- 
 alty in his eye, and with a yet larger number, 
 continued the search, though without success, 
 
216 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 and on the afternoon of the second day, he 
 and a party were standing in the little yard 
 in front of Pokeherry s cabin, discussing the 
 futility of further search. Dick Runaway 
 was among them, listening anxiously. The 
 little hound, which had escaped Pokeberry s 
 murderous hand, slid timidly out from under 
 the house and became an object of interest. 
 
 " He might a left them po dawgs," said 
 one, " seem he made his livin by em. They 
 never done him no harm, anyways." 
 
 " It s a d d mean man as kills a dawg," 
 declared Sam Mills. 
 
 " An his own dawg, too." 
 
 " Any dawg," said Mills. 
 
 All assented to this proposition. Killing a 
 dog was regarded as quite as unpardonable 
 as murdering a man. The poor little beast, 
 meantime, with his tail between his legs, 
 circled around the group and singled out the 
 negro. He recognized in Dick an old friend, 
 and almost wagged his tail at him. Dick 
 stooped down and began to examine his 
 wound, which became the general subject of 
 discussion. This again aroused the feeling 
 against Pokeberry, and resulted in a determi 
 nation to make another effort to catch the 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 217 
 
 murderer. A man who would treat his own 
 dog that way was too dangerous to let escape. 
 
 The group went off again, leaving Hall, 
 who was completely broken down, and an 
 other man to watch the house, in case Poke- 
 berry should by any chance come back there. 
 It was then about dusk. 
 
 Dick set out towards home, the maimed 
 little hound following him. As he walked 
 along, the negro appeared in deep thought. 
 Every now and then he stopped and muttered 
 to himself, and several times he stooped and 
 petted the little animal at his heels, which 
 dumbly responded. At last, he stopped where 
 a narrow path ran off at right angles to the 
 one he was in. 
 
 "Done kill Marse Bruce, and mos kill 
 you, and warn sell me down to Souf Cyar- 
 liny," he muttered, as he stooped over the 
 little creature. He stood up presently, and 
 peered down the narrow path earnestly. 
 
 " Heah, come long," he said suddenly. " I 
 boun he down this way," and plunged down 
 the path through the woods. 
 
 An hour later he was in the well-known 
 territory of Landon Hill. 
 
 One seeing him threading the narrow cow- 
 
218 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 tracks would have supposed he was coon or 
 possum hunting. The hound was in front, 
 sniffing about, and several times started off. 
 At last Dick took a stout cord, which was 
 wrapped several times around his waist, and 
 tied one end around the dog s neck, so as to 
 control him. The waning moon rose late in 
 the night, and let an uncertain and ghostly 
 light fall through the trees. 
 
 All night long Dick remained in the woods, 
 slowly threading path after path, penetrat 
 ing the densest thickets on Newfound. The 
 hound, now thoroughly interested, several 
 times started off as if on a trail ; but Dick 
 pulled him up, and led him elsewhere. 
 
 " Dis ain no possum hunt, you ole fool," 
 he said, under his breath ; " you know you 
 ain no possum dawg." 
 
 It was towards morning that, deep down in 
 the pines on the bank of Newfound, the dog 
 struck a trail which the negro let him follow. 
 When he first came on it, his manner changed. 
 Dick was about to draw him away ; but the 
 dog pulled so, that finally he let him go on. 
 The trail went straight towards the river. At 
 last, in a little patch of pale moonlight, Dick 
 stooped and closely examined the ground. 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 219 
 
 A man s track, almost fresh, showed in the 
 soft earth. 
 
 " Ah ! heah he, de black, nigger-ketchin 
 devil," he muttered. 
 
 Dick peered anxiously through the bushes. 
 The dog, with his nose to the ground, pulled 
 on the -cord. 
 
 Dick paused. 
 
 " Dat man got meanness in him," he mut 
 tered to himself. 
 
 Suddenly he turned, and, pulling the dog 
 after him, started back. He talked to the 
 little beast reassuringly as he walked along. 
 "I know whar he is now; you needn be 
 feared, we gwine ketch him. He ain gwine 
 nowhar b fo we git back. I jes gwine for 
 help. I knowed he was down dyah," he con 
 cluded triumphantly. 
 
 In a little while he was in sight of the 
 little, mean-looking shanty where Pokeberry 
 had lived. He reconnoitred the space before 
 him and, stooping, approached cautiously ; for 
 he knew the two men were on watch, and 
 they might mistake him for the occupant. 
 
 His precaution was, however, unnecessary; 
 for, when he crept up to the door, both men 
 were fast asleep on the floor. 
 
220 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 Hall, who had been up all the night before, 
 had set the other man as his subordinate, on 
 guard for the first watch, and had pulled off 
 his heavy boots and gone regularly to sleep ; 
 and the guard had duly followed suit, with 
 an easy conscience, after a short interval. 
 
 The negro stole up to the constable and 
 touched him. 
 
 " Mr. Hall ! " 
 
 There was no response. Then he shook 
 him. 
 
 "Mr. Hall! Marse Jim!" 
 
 At the second or third shaking, Hall sprang 
 up, and, still half asleep, seized his gun. 
 
 " Tain nobody but me, Marse Jim, - 
 Dick, Major Landon Dick," said the 
 negro. 
 
 " Oh ! I thought twas that scoundrel 
 Pokeberry," said the little officer, in a disap 
 pointed tone. " I dreamt he was comin up 
 the path." 
 
 " Nor, suh ; but I done fine him," said the 
 negro. 
 
 In a second the little constable was wide 
 awake. He began to pull on his boots vigor 
 ously. His first impulse was to get a posse ; 
 but as he got on his boots, his courage in- 
 
ON NEWFOUND EIVER. 221 
 
 creased. The glory of catching the murderer 
 alone dawned on him. The sheriffalty the 
 goal of his highest ambition suddenly 
 loomed up in sight. 
 
 The sound slumber of his companion who, 
 with his head on his arm, and his mouth wide 
 open, slept peacefully on even through the 
 the noise of Hall s stamping in getting on his 
 boots, remained unbroken. 
 
 "Come on; me an you can ketch him," 
 said the constable to the negro, picking up 
 his gun. A loud snort from his friend caught 
 his ear. He gave him a look of contempt. 
 
 " He s a - - of a guard," he said ; " ain 
 he ! Pokeberry could have come and knocked 
 both our brains out like he done that boy s. 
 Come along." 
 
 He picked up a rope which lay on the floor, 
 and gave it to the negro. 
 
 Dick was not afraid. He possessed plenty 
 of physical courage. All he wanted was the 
 leadership the moral support of a white 
 man. His face now looked eager enough, as, 
 calling the little hound, the two men disap 
 peared down the path in the pines. 
 
 It was just daybreak, when, deep down in 
 the marsh, the dog suddenly stopped, and 
 
2-2-2 ON NEWFOUND RIVERA 
 
 raising his head, gave a low growl, his tail 
 dropping, and every hair on his thin back 
 rising. 
 
 " Ah ! " said the negro, under his breath, 
 seizing him. " Don you bark." 
 
 Hall cocked his gun. 
 
 They held a little whispered consultation, 
 and then the negro crept forward, Hall fol 
 lowing at his heels with his gun ready. 
 Reaching a heavy clump of bushes, Dick 
 parted them and peeped through. When he 
 turned, his eyes were almost popping out of 
 his head. He pointed silently for Hall to 
 look. 
 
 Ten feet ahead, on the ground, under a 
 tree, lay a heavy man fast asleep on his back. 
 The breast of his coarse dirty shirt was open, 
 and his thick red neck showed the deep pur 
 ple mark of Pokeberry. An empty whiskey- 
 flask was near him. A gun lay beside him, 
 and the handle of an ugly knife peeped out 
 from his belt. Another consultation was held, 
 and then Dick, taking the rope, and making 
 a large running knot, crept forward, whilst 
 Hall brought his gun half up, ready for use 
 if it were needed. Carefully placing the 
 open large loop around one of the sleeper s 
 
ON NEWFOUND EIVEE. 223 
 
 hands, which was raised from the ground and 
 enabled him to adjust it, Dick suddenly jerked 
 it tight. The murderer, with an oath, sprang 
 up into a sitting posture. As he did so, the 
 negro gave a turn of his rope around his 
 other hand, and then, with a dexterous twist, 
 wrapped it around his neck, and pulled it 
 taut. 
 
 Pokeberry lost a second trying to get at his 
 knife, in which Dick gave another turn of the 
 rope around his neck, and got his hands to 
 gether. Pokeberry rose, but the negro flung 
 himself on him. Even then it was a terrible 
 struggle, and the clothes of the two men as 
 they wrestled and rolled were torn to shreds. 
 
 Little Hall s gun was useless ; for he could 
 not shoot one without the other. He, how 
 ever, jumped around and encouraged Dick 
 with many oaths, standing ready to aid him 
 if it should become necessary. It did not 
 become necessary; for the liquor in Poke- 
 berry s brain, and the tangle of cord around 
 his wrists and neck decided the contest, and 
 Dick finally had the murderer bound and 
 subdued. His struggles but tightened the 
 cords around his throat. 
 
 " Loosen this rope, for God s sake ! " he 
 
224 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 gurgled. " I m chokin to death." His eyes, 
 in fact, looked as if he were speaking the truth. 
 
 " Wait till marster and them white mens 
 gits hold of you," said Dick, " an you ll have 
 a tighter rope n that roun yo neck." 
 
 He, however, relieved it a little. This 
 suggestion had its effect on the ruffian. 
 
 tk What they goin to do with me ? " he 
 asked. "Try me?" 
 
 " Hang you." 
 
 His jaws dropped. " When ? " 
 
 " Dee got rope waitin fer you now," said 
 Dick. 
 
 The ruffian s red face turned deadly white. 
 
 " I didn t do it," he said. " I swear " 
 
 "Yes, you did. Git up heah ; I gwine 
 carry you to him right now." 
 
 They lifted the fellow; but he dropped 
 down again. 
 
 44 Look here," he said ; " if you all will let 
 me get away, I ll I ll give you anything in 
 the world." 
 
 Hall laughed derisively. 
 
 44 Get up, and come on." 
 
 44 1 would n let you git way," said Dick, 
 44 not fer marster s big plantation an ev ry 
 mule on it. Git up heah ! " 
 
ON NEWFOUND 1UVER. 225 
 
 The two men jerked at the rope till the 
 brute, half strangled, agreed to come. 
 
 The twenty or more men assembled at the 
 Crossroads that morning were a sleepy and 
 dejected-looking set. Their search had failed ; 
 the murderer had escaped. Suddenly one 
 of them swore a great oath and pointed up 
 the road. There came three men, the fore 
 most with his hands and arms tied to his 
 body, and behind him, Hall and Dick Runa 
 way, walking like soldiers, with guns on their 
 shoulders. A little hound trotted at Dick s 
 heel. The crowd was instantly in a commo 
 tion. They streamed down the road to meet 
 the captors and their prisoner. 
 
 Pokeberry was taken from the two, who 
 were swept from their feet, and in a minute 
 a rope was around his neck. He recognized 
 his peril. His face was deadly white, and he 
 began to plead. His pleading, however, was 
 cut short. The mob was in no humor for 
 mercy. He was dragged along to the Cross 
 roads, w^here a brief stop was made, and was 
 tied to a tree, whilst a consultation was held. 
 It was determined to lynch him immediately. 
 The crowd again surrounded him. One or 
 two of them told him to pray. The poor 
 
226 ON 
 
 wretch broke forth into cries. But the mob 
 was pitiless. It contained a number who 
 had been his boon companions. His many 
 offences were enumerated, the attack on Dr. 
 Browne being one of them. 
 
 " Jim, you are the constable ; you ought 
 to protect me," he said to Hall. 
 
 "Protect you! I m going to hang you," 
 said Hall. 
 
 At this moment, a remark from Dick unex 
 pectedly intervened and saved him. 
 
 The negro was most eager to have him die, 
 but suggested that maybe his master would 
 like to see him hung. This opened a discus 
 sion ; and by one of the freaks which fre 
 quently operate on a mob, it turned the scale, 
 and it was decided to put the question to a 
 vote, whether he should or should not be 
 hung till the major could see him. 
 
 It was decided by a small majority that 
 the hanging should be put off, as it could 
 be at most for only a few hours. 
 
 The prisoner was locked up in a little out 
 house on the premises, with guards over him. 
 During the day, hundreds of people flocked 
 to the place, and the little groggery did the 
 largest business ever known, at least in whis- 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 22? 
 
 key. The guards furnished their part of the 
 patronage, and exhibited the prisoner as if he 
 had been a show. 
 
 By nightfall they were all in liquor, 
 and were drinking heavily. Hospitality de 
 manded that even a murderer should be 
 treated properly in this respect, standing, as 
 it were, somewhat in the place of a guest. 
 Pokeberry had been furnished all the liquor 
 he wanted. This was a great deal. He called 
 for it frequently. At dark he was apparently 
 drunk. His guards were certainly so. 
 
 The next morning, at daylight, the prisoner 
 was gone. No one could tell how; and as 
 there had been a heavy thunder-storm in the 
 night, there was small chance of tracking 
 him. The guards were too steeped in liquor 
 and overwhelmed with confusion to give any 
 coherent account. He had actually taken 
 their guns with him. He had been there at 
 two o clock. One of them had taken a last 
 drink with him. There was a great commo 
 tion. The guards were universally cursed 
 and derided, and sought consolation in stupor. 
 
 A hue and cry was again raised, and the 
 fugitive was hotly pursued. Dick Runaway 
 and the little hound, whose reputations were 
 
228 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 established, were recognized as important fac 
 tors in the chase, and were given honorable 
 positions in the front. 
 
 The crowd struck for Newfound. The 
 woods were systematically searched. 
 
 Towards sunset, the track of the fugitive 
 was discovered. The hound had followed the 
 scent to an old brush-pile, deep in a thicket. 
 The fugitive had evidently lain there con 
 cealed. The brush was scattered about, as if 
 he had left hastily. The little hound dashed 
 off towards the water. He was making for 
 the pond, and the dense thickets on the other 
 side. The little beast, thoroughly interested, 
 followed the trail with the precision of des 
 tiny. It cut straight for the river. It was 
 evidently warm, for he gave mouth, his long, 
 mellow note exciting the pursuers, who could 
 scarcely keep up with him. Once the trail 
 was lost for a little while, where the fugi 
 tive had waded in a branch; but the little 
 animal picked it up again, and struck out 
 confidently in the same direction. 
 
 At last, just at sunset, one of the pursuers 
 caught sight of a figure on a knoll a few hun 
 dred yards ahead, running with all his speed. 
 His shout gave new ardor to the chase, and 
 
ON NEWFOUND E1VEE. 229 
 
 the crowd, with loud cries, dashed through the 
 bush to head him off from the pond. 
 
 It was, indeed, Pokeberry. All day he had 
 lain concealed, crouched under a pile of brush 
 in the pines, in a spot which he had found an 
 hour or two after his escape. Newfound was 
 up a little, and he could not cross safely just 
 then ; but it would fall by night, and he could 
 get over. 
 
 He felt secure, and, overcome with fatigue 
 and relief, had fallen asleep. How long he 
 slept he could not tell. 
 
 He was aroused suddenly by shouts in the 
 distance. He lay still. He was so concealed 
 that they might pass within ten feet of him 
 and miss him. But suddenly he started up, 
 for the note of a hound, a note well known, 
 reached his ears. A deep oath fell from his 
 lips, and his face grew deadly white. It was 
 his own dog, and he was on a warm trail : 
 on his track. The notes came again clearer. 
 They were nearer; they were on his trail. 
 Springing up with an oath, and seizing his 
 gun, he dashed through the woods. If he 
 could get to the head of the pond, and reach 
 the other side, he would be safe. The old 
 ravines and the thickets of the swamp would 
 
230 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 conceal him till night, when he could steal 
 away and leave the country. He could not 
 swim, but he could cross the pond high up 
 by wading. He had not gone three hundred 
 yards, when, as he crossed a rise, he heard 
 his dog s well-known yelp, yelp, and looked 
 back. On the crest of a hill a few hundred 
 yards behind him, he caught sight of the little 
 beast. He was coining on at a gallop, straight 
 behind, his nose to the ground. A short dis 
 tance behind him were half-a-dozen men, Hall 
 in the lead. They caught sight of him at 
 the same instant, and a fierce shout went up 
 from them. With a great oath the fugitive 
 rushed on. His heart was thumping against 
 his ribs, and his face burned like fire. He 
 reached a little creek, and, springing in, ran 
 down it through the water. If he could throw 
 the dog from the scent, he might escape. The 
 briars tore his face, and the thorns stuck into 
 his flesh ; but he did not feel them. Life 
 was before, death was behind him. He clam 
 bered out, and rushed on. A vine caught 
 him and threw him to the ground ; a sharp 
 pain shot through his ankle ; but he scram 
 bled up, and fled, limping on through the 
 thickets. The water came in sight through 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 231 
 
 the bushes at the foot of the hill he was 
 descending. Perhaps the hound had been 
 thrown from the scent, and he was safe. He 
 wanted but ten minutes. He breathed freer, 
 and paused to listen. Suddenly, however, his 
 hopes were dashed to the ground ; for close 
 behind him he heard a noise, and, turning, 
 there was the dog. A fearful oath escaped 
 him. But hope suddenly rose again. He 
 would take him with him. He could drown 
 him in the pond. He turned and called him 
 in a low voice, 
 
 "Heah heah! Come heah, you d d 
 fool!" 
 
 The dog stopped and growled. 
 
 He took a few steps back towards him. 
 
 " Come heah ! Don you heah me ? " 
 
 The little beast, with the timidity of his 
 nature intensified, suddenly turned, and, tuck 
 ing his tail between his legs, retreated some 
 twenty yards, and, half turning round, gave 
 a loud angry bark. A shout answered back 
 in the woods. 
 
 With an oath Pokeberry raised and cocked 
 his gun, and brought it up to his shoulder. 
 The little wretch, at the threatening motion, 
 started to flee. There was a loud report. 
 
232 O.V NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 With a yelp the dog rolled over in the bushes, 
 stone-dead. 
 
 The living brute fled on again. 
 
 In a few moments he was at the water s 
 edge, wading through the alders which grew 
 in the shallows. They were deeper than he 
 had ever seen them. He emerged from the 
 bushes. Only a dozen yards away was the 
 other bank covered with a dense and almost 
 impenetrable thicket. Once there he was 
 safe. The pursuers were already almost on 
 him. He could hear their voices. Not a 
 moment was to be lost. He could not swim, 
 but the water before him was smooth. He 
 dashed in, and in two steps went down over 
 his head. 
 
 He came up choking and struggling, and 
 struck out wildly, only to go down again. 
 Rising again, he beat the water frantically, 
 and again went under; but once more got 
 to the top. His lungs were filled. He was 
 going down again, sinking, drowning. Good 
 God ! drowning ! He was strangling. Strug 
 gling to the top again, he gave a wild cry, 
 " Help, help ! " 
 
 The water filled his throat, drawing him 
 down, and drowned his despairing shriek. 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 233 
 
 The men through the bushes only a few 
 yards away heard the cry, wild, agonized, and 
 rushed into the alder thickets, through the 
 water. Parting the bushes, they gazed across 
 to the other bank. It lay calm and quiet in 
 the summer sunshine. They looked at the 
 water just before them. On it, a little way 
 down, just in the current, floated an old worn 
 hat. That was all. 
 
 The waters of Newfound slept below as 
 placid as ever. 
 
 It was late the following afternoon. 
 Bruce had been sleeping. He had never 
 recovered complete consciousness ; but he 
 was, his uncle said, "doing well." The 
 major and the doctor were sitting together 
 on the portico, talking. It seemed as if they 
 could not be separated a moment. Mrs. Lan- 
 don was with them. Margaret had taken 
 her place, and was with Bruce, sitting beside 
 his bed gently fanning him. No one else 
 was in the room. She was dressed in a curi 
 ous, rich old flowered silk with a high collar 
 and quaint long waist, which she had found 
 in one of the old trunks. It was the counter 
 part of that in which Mrs. Colonel Landon 
 
234 ON NEWFOUND EIVER. 
 
 had her portrait painted as a bride. She 
 looked in it as if she had stepped out of the 
 old picture over the piano at Landon Hall. 
 She moved from the bedside, and stood look 
 ing out of the window. Her profile was 
 clearly defined. It was as fine as a cameo. 
 The setting sun threw its golden rays upon 
 her, and bathed her in its light. Her slender 
 hands were clasped, and her uplifted pensive 
 face wore a sweet gravity. Bruce suddenly 
 opened his eyes. His gaze fell directly on 
 her. He looked at her long and curiously, 
 without stirring. 
 
 Presently he said half aloud to himself, 
 " That s my great-grandmother. * 
 
 Margaret started, then stepped softly to 
 his side. She noted his improvement, and 
 smiled as she leaned over him. 
 
 " Where am I ? " asked Bruce. 
 
 " At home," she said. 
 
 "Ami?" 
 
 He glanced around the room ; memory 
 seemed trying to reassert itself. 
 
 "At home?" 
 
 "Yes. Don t talk." Her voice was soft 
 and soothing. 
 
 " Can t I talk?" he asked like a child. 
 
O.V NEWFOUND RIVER. 235 
 
 " Not just now." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " Well ; because I tell you not : you belong 
 to me." She smiled. 
 
 " Do I ? Am I my grandfather, then ? " 
 
 She leaned over and kissed him softly. 
 
 "No, my darling, you are your own self, 
 Bruce. But you must not talk now." 
 
 " One word. Do you belong to me ? " he 
 asked. 
 
 "Yes; entirely, with all my heart." 
 
 " All right ; kiss me ; I ll go to sleep." 
 
 A few weeks later there was a small party 
 assembled, one afternoon, on the portico of the 
 old Landon place, Landon Hill. A remark 
 able transformation had taken place in the 
 time which had elapsed, and as two of the men 
 who were in the party on the porch had ridden 
 up, they had been discussing it in wondering 
 undertones. The old fields which but a few 
 weeks since had been thick with pines were 
 being cleared up ; roads were being made ; 
 fences built; and whichever way the eye 
 turned, bodies of negroes were at work cut 
 ting, clearing, and hauling. Loud laughter 
 and shouts in musical chorus came across the 
 
236 ON NEU FOUXD BIVER. 
 
 fields from the white-shirted workmen, arid 
 volumes of white and blue smoke rose from 
 the piles where the brush was being burned, 
 and, floating away over the fields, gave the 
 landscape the hazy, mellow look of Indian 
 summer. 
 
 " Well, this do beat everything," one of 
 the men, the smaller of the two, said to his 
 companion. 
 
 The speaker was Jim Hall, just elected 
 sheriff, and the other was Sam Mills, who, 
 owing to the paralysis of Squire Johnson a 
 day or two after the pursuit of Pokeberry, 
 had unexpectedly found himself elected to the 
 honorable position of justice of the peace. 
 
 tk The major s a team," said Mills, slowly, 
 as he took a survey of the scene around them. 
 " He must have half the Landon Hall niggers 
 over here clearin up." 
 
 " He s a team at gittin folks elected. If t 
 hadn been for him, you an I wouldn a 
 beat them lower een fellows so easy," said 
 Hall. 
 
 " I m glad the major got the old place 
 back," Mills said slowly, his mind working 
 quietly in the old direction. "He wouldn 
 take a heap for it." 
 
ON NEWFOUND EIVER. 237 
 
 "Why, I heard the old doctor was goin 
 to stay here, and that Bruce was goin to 
 stay with him, now he s married," said Hall, 
 in surprise. 
 
 Mills explained: 
 
 "So he is. But that s the same thing. 
 The major offered him the other place if he 
 wanted it. He d give him anything in the 
 world. Bruce havin it is the same as havin 
 it himself." 
 
 " He certainly am stingy," admitted Hall, 
 as they rode into the yard. " The way he 
 looks after the old squa r shows that, if 
 nothin else does. You know he went up 
 thar and told him he d keep him comfort ble 
 long as he lived ? " 
 
 They had ridden into the yard and tied 
 their horses. 
 
 There, too, they found the work of clearing 
 up performed: the hedges trimmed, the yard 
 cleaned, everything tidy. Bruce, who was 
 lounging on the porch in an easy-chair, be 
 side which sat a young lady, her hand on his 
 arm, came forward to meet them. His com 
 panion rose and entered the house. He was 
 still pale, and the bandage was not yet re 
 moved from his head. He greeted them cor- 
 
238 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 dially, and invited them into the house. The 
 major met them on the portico. He was fol 
 lowed by the young lady, dressed in a soft 
 white robe, and with an expectant smile in 
 her soft brown eyes, and whom he spoke of 
 with evident pride as, u My daughter," and 
 to whom he, in turn, presented each of the 
 visitors as, " My friend, Mr. Sam Mills," and 
 " My friend, Mr. James Hall." 
 
 Margaret shook hands with them with a 
 manner and a smile which at once gave her a 
 personal place in their friendship. In a little 
 while there was a step, and the old doctor 
 came slowly out accompanied by Mrs. Lan- 
 don. He looked old enough to be the major s 
 father. 
 
 " Brother, these are our two neighbors, Mr. 
 Mills and Mr. Hall, of whom I have spoken 
 to you," said the major. His voice appeared 
 to the two men to have a new softness in it ; 
 a tone of fresh tenderness. 
 
 Margaret slipped away, and presently re 
 turned, followed by two servants, each bear 
 ing a large silver waiter, one with tea-things 
 on it, and the other with fruit. One was the 
 old mammy, tall, spare, dignified; the other 
 was Dick Runaway. 
 
ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 239 
 
 " This is an old friend of yours, I believe ? " 
 she said, addressing Loth of the two men, as 
 Dick placed the tray 011 a little table before 
 her. 
 
 Dick s face shone at the reference to him 
 from his mistress, and a double row of very 
 white teeth were suddenly displayed. 
 
 After a little the two visitors stated their 
 business. They wanted the major to run 
 for governor, and Bruce for Congress. New 
 found would stand by them. Squire Johnson 
 had sent them word he d live on purpose to 
 vote for them. 
 
 The major thanked them, but was humor 
 ously inexorable in his refusal. He said he 
 had never aspired higher than to be a jus 
 tice or a constable ; he had aspired that high ; 
 but there had always been better men found 
 to fill those positions. Bruce might suit bet 
 ter. Bruce s pretty wife looked proudly at 
 him, and rested a slender white hand on his 
 shoulder. 
 
 As the two men an hour later rode away 
 through the evening light, the sky above was 
 a pale, soft blue. 
 
 The sun was just disappearing in a haze 
 over the western woods that crowned the hori- 
 
240 ON NEWFOUND RIVER. 
 
 zon beyond the wide bottom, through which, 
 a mile ahead, crept Newfound. 
 
 The fields were quiet now; but the rich 
 voices of laughing negroes floated up from the 
 paths by which they wended their way home ; 
 the mellowed clangle of cow-bells sounded 
 in the distance, accompanied by the lowing 
 of the cows as they came slowly up to their 
 calves from the pasture by the pond ; and a 
 single partridge, on a stump a hundred yards 
 away in the field, piped his three notes to 
 his vagrant mate. 
 
 The two men, touched perhaps by the peace 
 ful scene, rode for a little distance without 
 speaking. 
 
 Hall first broke the silence. 
 
 " Sam," he said, in a low, mysterious tone, 
 "s pose we run him for governor, anyways. 
 We can git him elected. He ll git every vote 
 on Newfound." 
 
 " I m for him for president," said Mills. 
 
 Typography by J. S. Gushing & Co., Boston. 
 Presswork by Berwick & Smith, Boston. 
 
P133 
 on 
 
 On Newfound river 
 
 M11974 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY