The Lost Hunter Part 16

"n.o.body roll me in a wheelbarrow," said the General, drawing himself up, and affecting to be offended.

"I would ha' given all my old shirts to see a darkey riding Ba.s.set,"

said Tom, whose merriment increased the more he dwelt on the idea.

"A colored pusson as light complexum as a white man in de dark,"

exclaimed Primus, grinning.

"Well, old Prime, you're the cleverest n.i.g.g.e.r I ever did see," said Tom, slapping him on the back, and still laughing; "but take care you don't feel too proud after your ride. Put a n.i.g.g.e.r on horseback, and you know where he goes. But what have you got there?" he inquired, seeing the General draw a paper out of his pocket.

"Dis paper fall out ob Missa Ba.s.set hat when de ghost strike him last night, and I pick him up."

"Golly! if it ain't the warrant. Prime, you're the ace o' clubs. I'm gladder of this than if I found a good dinner."

"Well, what shall I do wid him?"

"Why, man, burn it up; it's the constable's sword and gun, and baggonit and cartridge-box; he can't do nothing without it; why, without the warrant, he's just like a cat without claws. He daresn't touch a man without a warrant."

"If Missa Ba.s.set trow de paper away, I 'spose he don't want him, and he ain't good for noting, and n.o.body can find fault wid me for burning up a little piece ob waste paper, just to kindle de fire," said Primus, throwing the warrant into the flames, where it was immediately consumed.

"There, we've drawn Ba.s.set's eye-teeth now," said Gladding. "Holden's as safe as you or me. And, Prime," he added, rising, and, as he took leave, making a peculiar gesture with the thumb of his right hand touching the end of his nose, and his fingers twinkling in the air, "you're too old a fox to need teaching, but it will do no harm to say I advise you to keep as dark as your skin."

Such was the conversation that, on the morning after the adventure of the island, took place at the cabin of Primus, and the reader will now perfectly understand (if, indeed, he has not before discovered it) the relation which the a.s.sociates bore to the constable. Yet, there was some difference in the feelings of the two: Gladding felt only unmitigated contempt for Ba.s.set, while the good-nature of the negro (proverbial of the race) infused some pity into the sentiment.

"Tom Gladding hab no manners," said Primus to himself, after the departure of his friend. "It is bery onpleasant to hear sich pussonal inflections. But, prob.u.mbly, arter he keep company wid me a little longer, he larn better."

How it got out, n.o.body could tell. Tom and the General both declared they had said nothing about it, and Ba.s.set was equally positive he had not opened his mouth. It is, therefore, singular that, before twelve o'clock the next day, rumors of the adventure had reached the ears of more than one-half the inhabitants of Hillsdale. True, none were very accurate, nor did any two agree; for, as is apt to happen, in such cases, each one who told the story took care, most conscientiously, it should lose nothing in the repet.i.tion. Hence, before noon, it was, like most of our modern literature, "splendidly embellished."

It was not strange, then, that the doctor, in his morning round among his patients and friends, should get some inkling of it. Divested of ornaments, enough remained to satisfy him that an attempt to arrest Holden had been made. For the cause, he was at first at a loss; for, though he had heard of the disturbance at the conference, he hardly supposed that an offence which he regarded as so venial, would have drawn along such serious consequences. But when he heard that generally a.s.signed as the reason, having no words of his own to express his astonishment, he was obliged to resort to his unfailing treasury--

"'Can such things be, And overcome us like a summer cloud, Without our special wonder?'"

The quotation did not seem fully to answer the purpose, and he added, "Foolery, sir, does walk about the orb like the sun: it shines everywhere." This gave him relief. It acted more soothingly than his own anodyne drops; and, having thus recovered his equanimity, he determined to ascertain if the Armstrongs had heard the news.

He found Miss Armstrong at home, but not her father.

"You have heard the news, Faith, this morning. I suppose?" said the doctor.

"No; we are not much like the Athenians. Neither my father nor myself are accustomed to get the first edition. What is it, doctor?"

But the doctor did not relish being called, by the remotest implication, an Athenian. As inquisitive as the most prying Yankee is said to be, he stoutly repelled the imputation of inquisitiveness, as applied to himself or to his countrymen. "It was," he was in the habit of saying, "a slander invented by your porter-guzzling Englishmen and smoking Dutchmen. What can you expect of people who are involved in a perpetual cloud either of their own raising or of the making of Providence? They are adapted to circ.u.mstances. It never was intended they should have more than one idea a week; it would be too much for their const.i.tution; and therefore they ask no questions. No wonder, then, they feel uncomfortable when they get into a clear climate, where they can see the sun, and hear ideas buzzing about their ears like a swarm of bees."

The doctor appeared to have forgotten his own question, and not to have heard Miss Armstrong's.

"You are looking remarkably well," he said. "You ought to be ashamed to meet me: if everybody else were like you, I should starve."

"All your own fault, dear doctor. Your presence brings cheerfulness and health."

"To say nothing of the medicine. Of that (in confidence between us), the less the better. If I should ever become crazy enough to prescribe any other than bread pills, be sure to throw them out of the window.

There, you have the secret of medical success; though if I pursue the system much longer, I think I shall be obliged to adopt the Emperor of China's plan, and require a salary for your health, on condition it shall stop when you are sick."

"I admire the Emperor's plan, so let it be understood that is the arrangement between us. I have the best of the bargain, for I shall secure a greater number of visits."

"You provoking creature! smothering me with compliments, and pretending you are not dying with curiosity. This is always the way with your tormenting s.e.x:

'Let Hercules do what he may, The cat will mew'"--

"And girls will have their way," interrupted Faith, laughing, and finishing the quotation to suit herself. "But, doctor, you have conquered, and please now 'unmuzzle your wisdom.'"

"Methinks," cried the doctor, "'sometimes I have no more wit than a Christian or an ordinary man; but I am a great eater of beef, and I believe that does harm to my wit,' else I should not allow you to tease me. But," added he, in a more serious tone, "there is a report in the village that an attempt has been made to arrest Holden."

"To arrest whom?" exclaimed Faith, turning pale, "father Holden! For what?"

"He is not taken yet, and, were one to believe all the stories one hears, not likely to be. According to them, his enchanted castle on Salmon Island is protected, not only by his own stalwart arm, but by legions of ghosts and hobgoblins; and, since that is the case, he may safely defy the _posse comitatus_ itself, with the sheriff at its head. But, for the cause--

"'It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul, Let me not name it to you, ye chaste stars, It is the cause'--

Why, because he made the most interesting speech at conference the other evening."

Miss Armstrong, whom the jesting manner of the doctor somewhat re-a.s.sured, begged him to give her all the information he had obtained; but, throwing aside what he considered the embellishments of fancy, it was no more than what he had already imparted.

"What would be the punishment for such an offence?" inquired Faith.

"I am more learned in pills than in points of law; but I suppose some trifling fine."

"It would be of no great consequence, were it any one else," said Faith; "but it would grieve me to have Mr. Holden subjected to an indignity he would feel sensibly. It was through my father's and my entreaties he attended the meeting, and if censure is to fall anywhere, it ought to alight on us, and not on him, who certainly supposed he was performing a duty, however much he might be mistaken.

Dear doctor, I shall trust in you to watch that no harm befalls him. I should forever reproach myself as the cause, if any did."

"You may rely on me, my dear. It is not so much on account of the old fellow, who richly deserves to be fined and shut up a week for running about the country and frightening the children with his long beard--why my horse started at it the other day--but because you take an interest in him, and I am above all jealousy; therefore, command me,

'Be't to fly, To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride On the curled clouds; to thy strong bidding task Ariel and all his quality."

"My commands will not be so difficult to perform, I trust," said Faith, smiling.

"Understand me metaphorically, parabolically, poetically," cried he, taking leave.

After he was gone Miss Armstrong sat musing over what she had heard.

The idea that any annoyance should happen to the Solitary, growing out of a circ.u.mstance with which she was in some manner connected, distressed her exceedingly, and, dissatisfied with the meagre statement of the doctor, she determined to go over to Judge Bernard's, to try to procure more satisfactory information.

"He will, at least," she said, "be better acquainted with the law than Doctor Elmer, and there is no favor he will refuse me."

But the Judge was unable to add anything of importance. He had heard the same rumors, but could not vouch for their truth. With regard to the issuing of a warrant for such a cause, he could not say but that persons might be found malignant enough to get one out, and justices of the peace foolish and ignorant enough to be made their instruments, but if it came to the worst, the penalty could only be a fine, which he would gladly pay himself.

"He cannot be imprisoned then?" inquired Miss Armstrong.

"No; they would not dare," he said, to himself in a tone so low that Faith could catch only a word or two here and there, "send him--disorderly--no settlement--no, no--too bad--might be done. No, Faith," he said, "you need antic.i.p.ate no serious trouble about your _protege_."

"Cannot we prevent his being arrested? It would mortify him exceedingly."

"For that, perhaps, there is no remedy, but we will see. We are all equally amenable to the laws. But after all, the thing may not be noticed. These may be only rumors put out by some mischievous person to keep Holden away from the village."